My Afternoon With the Blue Catpeople: Thoughts on Pandora: the World of Avatar

I have to start by saying it feels really weird to be finally writing about Pandora: The World of Avatar now.  It feels like I'm extremely late to the party, and that the conversation in Disney Theme Park Internet World has moved on.  To a Galaxy far, far away in fact, and if anyone is talking about Pandora, it's judging it as a sort of test run for Star Wars: Nothing But Star Wars: Here, Have More Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

And comparing it to Harry Potter over in the competing park down the road.  That too.

I really don't want to do either of those things.  Instead, let's back up.  A long time ago, a terribly long time ago it feels, it was announced that a whole new Land was going to be built in a Walt Disney World theme park: Pandora, the World of Avatar.  I was generally more enthusiastic than, uh, everyone else it felt like.  You can read my initial thoughts here.  But that was many years ago and I've only got the chance to visit Pandora myself last month.  Everyone in the Disney Blog-verse has an opinion about the new land and here's mine:

I really like it.

I'm a sucker for a good, truly immersive, "You are in an imaginary land turned real" experience.  This delivers quite nicely.  The overall effect of the land is stunning, but I mostly appreciate all the smaller details.  And goodness, I wish I'd had more time to explore the land at night.

For now, Pandora has two rides.  I want to give some love to the Navi River Journey, as it tends to live in the shadow of Flight of Passage, the big state of the art headliner.  I'm just happy River Journey exists, because we've been losing so many slow-moving atmospheric rides lately.  Rides like The Great Movie Ride that you can enjoy with your grandmother.  "Grandma Rides", if you will.  If this is a genre, River Journey is an excellent standard for them.

And then, there's Flight of Passage.  I have no words, man.  This is damn near everything I always dreamed of in a flight simulator.  It's good and long, too!  It's also notoriously difficult to acquire Fastpasses for and has a standby line you could pretty much watch "Avatar" in while waiting.  Still, everything I've ever wanted from a flight simulator.

Plus it turns out I make for a pretty cute catgirl!  Look at my Avatar, look at her!  Dang, she even has the same "They're taking my picture! Oh, please don't blink..." look!

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Art of the Day:

Fishies!

Thoughts on "Terra Nova" and Pandora-Land!

And suddenly, it is Autumn! So far the weather has been pretty mild and sunny, good for reading and ill-conceived still life setups. And musing about things that have recently caused major rifts in the areas of the Internet where I frolic. We'll start with something I am disappointed in (and lots of people appear to be largely in agreement with me) and go on to something I am unabashedly optimistic about (and lots of people appear to be largely in disagreement with me).

You know, it seems like only yesterday it was the day after the Superbowl and I was picking apart the trailer for "Terra Nova". In that post, I had a list of things I hoped the producers wouldn't do. Unsurprisingly, they didn't listen to me, but I was alarmed to see that most of those things were right there in the pilot. In hindsight, I wish I had added to my "don't do this" list things like, "no annoying children please", "no annoying teenagers either", and "seriously, guys, don't just be '"Lost" Meets "Avatar" - But They're in the Cretaceous!'"

Too Long; Didn't Read Version: "Terra Nova", I am Disappoint.

Extended Dance Remix: Let's begin in the Uncreative Sh**ty Future that the first ten minutes or so of the show take place in. It is basically the same old post-apocalyptic (post-"Blade Runner", more honestly) land of smog and traffic and overcrowded cities and fascist police and black clothing and in light of everything else absurdly easy to break rules and blah whatever. Since we leave the Uncreative Sh**ty Future and go to Terra Nova pretty quickly, I'm not even sure why it's even part of the plot, except that it supplies the Main Family with Angst. God, this series has Angst. So much Angst. Angst everywhere. Most of it comes from the kids and we'll get to them in a bit. By the way, way to talk loudly about your secret plans on the way to Terra Nova, Annoying Older Brother.

So through a series of events that is too stupid to recount here, the Main Family goes through the Totally Not a Stargate to Terra Nova (the place). This is where we must talk about how the hell time/dimension-travel even works in "Terra Nova" (the series). Through exposition that is way too easy to miss, we learn that this giant rift I guess formed out of nowhere and that things sent through the rift never came back. They assumed this rift must lead to another dimension (another easily missed bit that really only exists so time paradoxes aren't an issue even though it brings up a ton of other problems) because the signals from the objects were never received by the scientists who APPARENTLY HAVE A RADIO THAT CAN COMMUNICATE WITH THE DISTANT PAST HOLY SH*T! If you hope to have this magic radio explained, you will be disappointed. They also don't explain how anyone learned how, if the rift takes you to a different time and dimension on a trip that there is no returning to the future from, the rift led to a place that is even habitable for humans instead of, like, the bottom of the sea or inside a volcano or on a planet with a toxic atmosphere or no atmosphere at all or, hell, in the middle of nowhere in outer space. I'd go on and on and on about all this but I am starting to feel myself getting a nosebleed.

So Main Family go through the rift and immediately start Angsting at each other, like you naturally do when you are a human who is suddenly in the Cretaceous Period holy sh*t! And you have just escaped the horrible post-apocalyptic future. And you are experiencing the sun and the moon and clouds and stars and clean water and clean air and edible plants and trees and ferns and flowers and nonhuman animals other than cockroaches and Cher for the very first time ever. This freakin' series, my God.

Annoying Older Brother is mad because his father was in prison for two years, and now he's mad because his father is no longer in prison, and now he's mad because his girlfriend is back (?) in the Sh**ty Future, and now he's mad because there's nothing to eat but Duran Duran Fruit, and now he's mad because his iPhone doesn't work, and holy sh*t shut the hell up already Older Brother! By the way, raise your hand if you would rather see a series focusing on the first scientists to explore and build Terra Nova instead of focusing on this Boring TGIF Sitcom Family.

And then there is the youngest daughter. Sweet Raptor Jesus. Finally we Jurassic Park readers have our book-accurate Lex. I am so Goddamn happy about this you guys, you don't even understand.

So... we learn that there is a group of Other people who went through the rift and live in an Other part of the forest and want to do things in the Cretaceous Other than what Colonel Quaritch wants to do. They've adapted to the weird new world long ago and are in on the local Ontological Mystery (tm) involving mystery numbers. So, yeah, the show basically does look a whole awful lot like '"Lost" Meets "Avatar" - But They're in the Cretaceous!'"

Which brings us, finally, to the dinosaurs. Oh man. We got our first look at a motion-capture dinosaur and it looks bad. Like more herky-jerky in it's movements than something Ray Harryhausen would have animated. That bad. We also get our first look at one of Brannon Braga's invented dinosaur species and...

Goddammitsomuch, Braga.

It might actually be easier to post this, so here is your Art of the Day:



(Edit: Thanks for noticing this one, guys! [And see Albertonychus' comments below as well.] Can you tell at what moment I was done with this series?)

"But Trish, it's just a TV show! Plus something about how it isn't really the Cetaceous Period and how it's more about the human characters! You should, to borrow a phrase, really just relax!"

You know, I want to. I wish I could. But the sad, sad truth is that more people are going to watch Braga's bulletproof gorilla suit Oviraptor-things tear up tanks with their tail-blades and assume that what they're seeing is the Bakker's-honest truth than will ever pick up a book. Or visit a museum. Or listen to teachers and scientists.

Listen, there are still folks out there who have no idea Dilophosaurus didn't have a ridiculous frill-thing. To the point where you will see such things on cheap knock-off toys. And to the point where a sign in a zoo I once visited - and dear reader you cannot imagine how much I want to be making this up - assured everyone that it's actual alive Frilled Dragons do not spit poison. So when your much-hyped fictional species looks like a not-sarcastic version of Matt's Prehistoric TV Reconstruction Kitteh, that makes me very, very sad. People, dinosaurs were perfectly normal animals just like you and me, not something that looks more at home in a D&D Monstrous Manual. (And anyway, as has been established, the human characters suck.)

Man, to think a few weeks ago we were all complaining about a dinosaur documentary!

Ah well, speaking of things the Internet likes to complain about, how about the "Avatar"-based section of Disney's Animal Kingdom that was announced a little while ago? Here are my thoughts, which are edited from things I posted over at DisBoards' thread on the subject. (I do not recommend reading the whole thing, which is damn near fifty pages of mostly "Wah! This isn't what I would have done with this intellectual property I didn't happen to create or own the rights to! I know better than the people in charge of my favorite things!" Unless you have a very strong drink handy.)

Here we have Walt Disney World teaming up with James Cameron. Cameron is a filmmaker who is a notorious taskmaster who goes on many an ego trip -- but who ALSO goes big, shoots for the moon, wants to blow the audience's mind, wants to show people things they've never seen before, has created some of the best-selling films of all time with some of the most passionate fans you will ever meet, and who, above all, basically invents technology along the way just to get a movie made.

Hmm... just like Walt Disney did.

So I have no problem whatsoever with a Disney/Cameron Marvel Teamup.

Now as far as the film "Avatar". Very few people were enamored of the story, even the hardcore fans. Why did people keep coming back to the theater? Why were an alarming number of ordinary folks crying at night, wishing they could turn into Navi and live on Pandora? (To which I say, my God, pull yourself together and book an ecotour of Costa Rica. Earth is pretty too. And real.) I'll tell you why:

World. Building.

Pandora was built in excruciating detail from the ground up. Some of the most creative minds were put in charge of every detail. I was sold on the movie once I heard Wayne D. Barlowe and Neville Page were involved. (As you may have guessed, I am a creature design nutcase.) So this is indeed a world as detailed as, say, Hogwarts. (I'll give you Star Wars, since we're dealing with several planet's worth of Barlowe and Terryl Witlatch critters rather than one planet we haven't even seen the aquatic fauna of -- yet.)

So there are a lot of interesting opportunities to be had here. One possibility I like (aside from the fairly obvious "Trudy Lives!" flight simulator, "Soarin' on a Turok", and "Neytiri and her Forest Friends") is an exhibit of the real organisms who inspired the fictional creatures: Lemurs, Ocelots, Tube Worms, Birds of Paradise, Lanternfish, Butterfly Lizards, Tree Ferns, Raffelasia, Flower Hat Jellyfish, and a whole slew of plants and animals who are strange, awesome, and need more love.

I've got the same attitude I already had with the Fantasyland expansion: I'm trusting Disney can pull it off and am ready to enjoy something new. Because in the end, we are getting a new themed land out of this. You HAVE to agree that's worth getting excited over.

That said, here's an interesting thing to ponder that I didn't even think of until the folks over at another message board brought it up: If we're going to get a park-within-a-park based on a fictional planet populated with strange creatures and a fully realized ecosystem, why Pandora and not Barsoom? I mean really, Disney. You're usually so good at shameless synergy.

Next Week - So many trip reports!

Costumes (already?) and some more trailers

It may still technically be summer, but there's a cold chill in the air at night, the pumpkin beers are out, and the Big Party (I refuse to call it iParty because, come on) is stocking it's shelves with Halloween Costumes! Hooray!

I haven't decided on who/what/where I want to be this year. I briefly entertained the idea of somehow assembling a Neytiri costume and... that plan still seems reasonable. Because the officially licensed "Avatar" costumes, to my astonishment and self-kicking lack of camera on hand, look like crap.

I'd like to say that this is some kind of cash-in. That somebody took a generic bodysuit, sewed whatever leftover tails they had lying around to it, and spray-painted the whole thing blue. But no, this thing right here is apparently the official Neytiri costume,and it retails for $72.00.

It's not the most upsetting women's costume available, however. That award would have gone to this little number here.  What you are looking at is called the "Sexy Cookie Monster Costume". It is real and I have seen it for myself. It reminded me why this old, old, old Infographic from The Onion is getting less and less funny and more and more horribly prescient every year.

However, it isn't the worst. Because in searching for a picture of the Sexy Cookie Monster, I found the worst ever Halloween costume for women. And it is the worst ever, because somebody went ahead and stole The Onion's idea.  Ignoring the brain-breaking reality of an actual non-satire real life Sexy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume for now, here are a few new animated film trailers that... broke my mind for other reasons. (You can read previous trailer reviews here.)

First off, here's a link to Cartoon Brew's reaction to the infamous "Double Tower" trailer for "Tangled". *Sigh...*

And here is the new trailer for Dreamwork's "Megamind", which is, of course, in three-effin'-dee. I wasn't all that excited about and looks... well, it looks like the very definition of "m'eh":



This thing is called "Alpha and Omega", from a brandy-new studio called Crest Animation, and it is -of course- also in three-effin'-dee. I am going to go ahead and pretend that this is, in actuality, "The DeviantArt Movie" (to go along with "The Social Network" "The Facebook Movie":



But really, the only bad things I can say about "Megamind" and "Alpha and Omega" is that they suffer from lack of imagination. Uninspired animation, boring music choices (it says a lot that the music cue at the 1:50 minute mark of the "A&O" clip made me groan instead of cheer), and generally reminding me of older, better films.
And I say that because this next trailer is for "Quantum Quest". It is "a sci-fi action film set in a scientifically accurate rendering of our solar system in 3-D stereoscopic (that) blends computer animation with billions of dollars of fantastic images captured during recent NASA space explorations". While I hate celebrity voices as a selling point in an animated film, it is worth noting that the promotional material proudly boasts that the cast includes "two Captain Kirks, two Darth Vaders, two Jedi Knights, and Neil Armstrong" OMG WTF LOLers!!!
So with all this in mind, it's kind of a tragedy that "Quantum Quest" looks like this:



Oh... oh God...

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Art of the Day!

Speaking of people in costumes:

Fight for nonhuman rights with a mech suit! - Thoughts on "District 9"

Once upon a time, Peter Jackson was hoping his friend Neill Blomkamp would direct the long in development limbo movie based upon "Halo". Sadly, that project was scrapped when the budget reached $145 million. Sorely disappointed, but not wanting to waste the creative energy that had been sparked by the project, Jackson went to Blomkamp and essentially said, "Here's 30 million dollars. Go have fun."
The result was "District 9", an expansion on one of Blomkamp's own short films, and it is outstanding. It might just be my favorite movie of the past year.*
I could go on and on and on, but you need to get "District 9" in your queue immediately. This is the first fantastic fiction film in a long time where, upon putting the DVD in my player, I honestly had no idea where it was going to go. No idea at all. Fellow sci-fi fans know what a big deal this is. I will try very hard to express how much this movie knocked me on my ass without spoiling anything (spoilers will be after the review itself).
Remember when the first teaser for "Avatar" came out and the general reaction was, surprisingly, a resounding "Well, okay, that's nice"? Yeah. Well, looking back, it turns out that his movie (that is to say, some guys in South Africa who were told they could go make whatever they wanted with thirty million dollars) stole James Cameron's thunder. That may be all that need be said.
I will say, however, that the character animation is incredible -- especially because I didn't know that it was animation I was looking at the first time I watched the movie. IMO, the best special effects are the ones you have to have pointed out to you because you did not notice them. Two fun facts: there is not a single "guy in a suit" alien (though there is literally one guy in a suit playing all the alien characters - the DVD special features are a trip in their own right), nor is the animation done by WETA. They happened to be busy with "Avatar" and the character animation duties were given to another studio in Canada.
But the visuals are not the main reason why I was blown away by "District 9". What won me over was the story and the characters. Good science fiction can take you to a new world, take you on an emotional journey, and it can make you think. I should say that this isn't a cheerful story (it is essentially "What Measure is a Nonhuman: the Movie" and that last shot is one hell of a tearjerker), but it's one that will stay with you for a long time. This is up there with "Duel" as far as exciting director debuts.
Let me spell it out for you: "District 9" is to "Avatar" what "The Matrix" was to "The Phantom Menace". Yeah.
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And on that note, here comes the spoilervision:
So what we have here is a science fiction action film about a man who had worked for an evil corporation composed of humans antagonizing an alien race. This man somehow becomes one of those aliens, and he naturally begins to sympathize with them. After much character development, the man turns against the humans. By the end of the film the protagonist is permanently transformed into an alien. Interesting coincidence, isn't it?
I liked "District 9" a lot more than "Avatar" (not that I didn't enjoy "Avatar" but... well, see the above Miller analogy) because, while the plots are remarkably similar in the broadest brushstrokes, it actually gave this scenario more thought. I'm wondering if it is a coincidence. My theory is that "District 9" is the preemptive deconstruction of "Avatar". Consider:
1) In "Avatar", the Na'Vi are essentially an entire species of Mary Sues (Mary Sue is that super-duper little miss perfect awesome at everything character type everyone hates.) They're tall, they're beautiful, they ride on dragons doin' barrel-rolls and s**t, and they are, like, one with Pandora and stuff. Meanwhile, nearly all the humans in the Not-Weyland/Yutani Corporation are bastards. We do have a couple of nice humans (Dr. Grace, ect.), but we don't see any mean Na'Vi. You'd want to turn into a Na'Vi.
In "D9", some humans are bastards, and indeed so are many of the prawns. This comes across better in the film than I can articulate here, but that little bit of depth adds so much.
2) The single most crucial difference: both films deal with a character who becomes a nonhuman Other.
In "Avatar", turning into the Other means you get to ride a dragon, be the baddest-a**ed Other there ever was, and make out with a cute Cat Girl.
In "District 9", it means almost getting vivisected by your former colleagues.
It is a pretty chilling reality check on James Cameron's pretty neon fantasy as this is what losing one's humanity would actually entail. You're no longer human, and you haven't turned into a pretty alien, so who cares about you?
More has been written about this, and better as it's by a better writer, here and a follow-up here. And it's something to think about. Especially at the next lobster supper...

* - There are several important 2009 films I still have not yet seen, but I'm willing to bet that "D9" is pretty safe at the top of my list for the year.

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Sketch of the day! I have started in on a new Sketchbook and here I was testing to see if it liked watercolors. Click for big:

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Feederwatch Friday!
Had a scary, scary storm on Monday, which greatly affected my backyard's population. That said, I've never seen so many Juncos.

Rock Pigeon	5
Black-capped Chickadee	1
Tufted Titmouse	2
American Robin	2
Dark-eyed Junco	7
House Sparrow	15

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Guess what happens a week from tomorrow? Apparently, it is Draw a Dinosaur Day! No real rules, just draw a dinosaur and share it on the website, I guess.

"I wanna live like the blue catpeople!" - Thoughts on "Avatar"

Alright, just got back from the Gandalf Google-plex. Bad immediate thoughts first:
1) The 3D can get very overwhelming. In particular, I'm thinking of the scenes where there were leaves or bubbles or dust particles floating around, where the camera was looking at a transparent surface with smudges or marks on it, and where there were two characters fighting or chasing each other and the camera follows them around. They messed with my visual cortex badly. It couldn't keep track of what to focus on during these scenes. ("That's just the illusion of a window. But it looks like a real scratched-up window and I have to adjust my focus to look at the thing behind that window... but neither the window or the thing behind it is real and - woah... woaaah... woaaaaahhh.")
2) With that in mind, walking out of the theater was very like coming down from a weird high. I was a little disoriented and had a bit of a headache. So the 3D technology still needs some work. It could also be partially because, so help me, Pandora still looks like everything on DeviantArt ever. (On that note, it took a remarkably short time for the "Avatar" fandom to grow a scary-obsessed branch, didn't it?)
3) And while this isn't the most unusual thing to b*tch about in a review of "Avatar", it does bear repeating: I've seen this story before. You've seen this story before. Heck, if you like animation and fantastic fiction, you've seen many, many different versions of this story multiple times. So yeah, the story is pretty boring and the initial "Ferngully: Dances With Thundercats" assessment from the early trailers was pretty spot-on.
As for the good things:
1) The overall impact of the movie, my knee-jerk reaction coming out of the theater was, and I quote, "Holy sh*t!!!" "Avatar" is awesome. Really, really awesome.
Aside from the nagging things I already mentioned, the 3D is crap-your-pants amazing. It sounds like a broken record by now but you really have no idea how amazing this movie looks until you see it in the theater.
With that said, I'm not sure what I'd have thought of "Avatar", or if I'd enjoyed it as much, if I'd seen it in a conventional theater or in an IMAX 3D theater. The IMAX 3D, as you know, was very uncomfortable for me after a little while, and based on subsequent comments I've read/heard online, I would have greatly disliked the IMAX version.
2) If there is an Art of Avatar book out there, I want it. Because I want to pore over those crazy awesome Wayne Barlowe and Neville (happy "Cloverfield" day!) Page creature designs. Tapejarid-wyverns! Hammerhead Lairons! Hoverchameleons! This may be as close as we ever get to an honest-to-goodness Expedition movie. (Yeah, I know, but "Alien Planet" sucked.)
(Turns out that such a book exists, but does not include much in terms of concept art. Still, might be worth a thumb-through.)
3) It's James Cameron! I like him! Hell, I've got "Terminator 2" in the background as I write this!
4) I cannot. Effing. WAIT. To see what WETA does with this technology next. As you may have heard, Cameron was inventing new technology as he was making this movie. Future animated and live-action/animation films will benefit greatly from what he learned. You realize what this means? It means "The Hobbit" is going to be unreal.
In short, you should go see "Avatar". This movie is an experience. I went with three other friends and not one of us had a bad time watching it. We went on a weekday and joined a very diverse crowd - there was every imaginable "target audience" present - and the whole theater was enthralled (and very quiet, which is darned refreshing). You don't want to wait until this hits DVD and I don't care how good your theater system is at home. "Avatar" is on a different level, and it demands to be seen in a theater.
That said, be prepared for a pretty lackluster story (with a puzzling subtext, but more about that in another review.) After a few days, I realized that the things that really stayed with me about the movie were the amazing setting and creatures and trippy visuals. But this isn't "Disney's Dinosaur"; "Avatar" does not qualify as an epic fail by any stretch of the imagination. It is, in case I haven't stated it before, really awesome.
The right attitude here is to go in expecting the best "scenery porn" ever.
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Sketch of the day!

I like this dragon! I may have to bring him to finish later.
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BIG DAMN NEWS!!!
It's funny I mentioned DeviantArt above, isn't it? You may notice a new link under "My Other Websites" at the right. Yes, I have joined the DVA party. I figured, even though Flickr is ridiculously easier to use and looks much nicer, and even though DeviantArt has a case of Sturgeon's Law like nothing else in this world and is far harder to navigate, it behooves me (whatever that means) to join the most popular art-sharing site and make more contacts. Plus, I am on good authority that their print service is very good. It was certainly easy to set my store up. And to that end, you know you want a Liopleurodon coffee mug. I will make a little less than a dollar if you buy one!
For now, I've got three pieces on DVA (not counting my ID). I may roll out three more every... as-yet undetermined length of time. I'll see how these first three go over.

Boston Comicon fallout: In which I meet awesome people and get some swag

First off, something silly that me and Michele Witchipoo and George Burnett drew together. It came out of us making fun of romance comics from the fifties at the CAG table during a slow point in the convention. I love when different styles collide.
Mind you, I don't let other people draw in my Sketchbook lightly. Comicons are where I make the exception, especially when it turns out that your next-table neighbor inks Dr. McNinja.



OMG Kent Archer is drawing Yoshi in my Sketchbook!!!
I'm usually a little nervous about asking people to sign my Sketchbook, even though most artists are totally cool about it. It's more because I am afraid of acting like a crazy fangirl.
Anyway, Kent was very nice. If you are unfamiliar with Dr. McNinja, I highly recommend it. If you for some reason do not want to read about the adventures of the only physician in a long line of legendary Irish Ninjas whose office is in the middle of a haunted forest and whose secretary is a gorilla AND who -in just one such adventure- stumbled upon a conspiracy involving Ronald McDonald, MySpace, and a man whose incredible abdominal muscles have somehow transformed into a built-in jetpack, than what in the world DO you want?!?
Now, as I mentioned in part one, I didn't get to walk around and meet people until almost the last minute. The line to meet Tim Sale was almost out the door by then (which is probably for the best as I wouldn't have been able to not say anything about the "Heroes" writers' inability to resolve plot points), and I somehow missed Geof Darrow twice. And apparently Walt Simonson visited the CAG after-party minutes after I had to leave.
However, I did get to meet Tak Toyoshima, who not only writes "Secret Asian Man" but is also the art director for The Weekly Dig. And I had another "wait, I swear we met each other at UMass years ago" conversation with Craig Rousseau.
But what really blew me away was the fact that people wanted me to draw in THEIR Sketchbooks, to which my initial reaction was, 😳. But then...

Well, why not? New fans are new fans, right? Anyway, if I'd said, "no", that'd kill what little reputation I have.
Now, there fortunately weren't that many crazy things that happened at this convention, but one thing struck me as very strange: There were at least as many babies at the con as there were people dressed as Boba Fett. They ranged in age from just-able-to-walk to what can only be described as JUST-recently-arrived-in-this-world. As with Disney World or R-rated movies, I guess I can understand bringing a baby to Comicon IF and only if this is the ONE and ONLY TIME EVER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE you'll be able to go and EVERY BABYSITTER IN THE CITY was busy.
I just set myself up for some very angry comments from parents. Oh well. Let me show you my swag!

Here's a small fraction of the most interesting free stuff I picked up. "After Watchmen" is a little strange, but it did give me a good list of books to look for (I am very happy to see that my local library has expanded it's graphic novel collection quite a bit; see below). The Spring edition of BCC will be in a larger building by the waterfront, and I can't wait. The Boston Comics Roundtable is way over in Harvard Square, but I may have to give them a visit some time as they sound like fun. I had donated three prints to the Sci-Fi Saturday Night show and it's likely they'll be the reward for one of their upcoming trivia contests. The Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science... man, I don't know. I missed the "Star Wars" and Lord of the Rings exhibits, and... yeah.

Now, sadly, I did not purchase a single older comic book at the Convention. I did, however, support lesser-known artists. At left are some of the books put out by the Boston Comics Roundtable. Aya Rothwell's work is lovely. I obviously had to get a hard copy of Dr. McNinja. In the lower-left are the books produced by my CAG table-mates Mark Anderson and Michele Witchipoo. And in the upper-left is a recycled autumny Sketchbook that was too cute to leave.


I picked these up at the library.  So even though I am currently exhausted and have a splitting headache and *still* have stuff to sort through and need to replenish my supply of promotional cards, I had a wonderful wonderful time. Oh, why can't every day be like Boston Comicon?

Tricia's Common Sense pipes up and answers, "Because although that sounds really wonderful and a lot of fun in theory, it would probably work out just as well as Christmas every day in all those stories where kids wish that it could be Christmas every day."

Ah. Good point. And at this age, I honestly think it would be nicer if every other Thursday was Arbor Day. 

Now that I'm totally off-topic, how about some Comicon drawings? As always, click to see the originals and more of these:

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At the Realm of Madness, I am starting a series of Movies the (James Cameron) "Avatar" Trailer Reminded People Of, starting with "Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within".

Further "Avatar" thoughts...

I and other keenly observant watchers of the "Avatar" trailer have noticed something about the design of the film's alien characters, the Na'vi. These characters, who are "Unlike anything you have ever seen before, even in your wildest imagination," seem strangely familiar.
Let's be blunt: They look like something off of DeviantART.
They have animal features but are still very human-like, they have ginormous golden Anime eyeballs, and -most damning- they are that particular shade of blue everyone at DA seems to love, and -even more damning- they glow.
Really the only things missing are the glowing "Mystical Symbols" floating around their beautiful, beautiful Blue Jay patterned Angel wings.
I decided I wanted to play this game too! Here's what I came up with:


"Fun in the Backyard!" - Episode 38
Originally uploaded by Babbletrish
Click for big!

Yeah...
By the way, no offense is meant to the approximately 10% of awesome Furry artists on DA. I am obviously in no position to make fun of you and I won't for a minute pretend that Sturgeon's Law doesn't apply to Flickr too. It's just that your Online Portfolio Website of choice is a *little* bit more notorious for it.

So, about the *other* "Avatar" teaser.

"Avatar" as in the 3D animated movie that James Cameron has been working on since before you and I were born, unless it just feels that way. Not the dubiously necessary live-action adaptation of the well-loved recent animated series of the same title. Here's the trailer for you to watch before I share my thoughts:


OK? OK.
So I'm actually of two minds looking at this trailer. Let me explain.
The twelve-year-old in me was thinking, "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Floating islands and spaceships and glowy blue catpeople riding dragons!!! DRAGONS!!!"
But the mean old lady in me was thinking, "Is it me or is the animation downright sh**ty when the alien guy starts talking? Why in the world is the guy who directed 'Aliens From the Deep' giving us a movie where the aliens look like weird humans*? And, aside from looking like 'Ferngully: the Spirits Within' and vaguely reminding me of this music video, what is this movie even about?"
Now with all that said, I still can confidently predict that the actual movie will probably kick all of our asses. Do you remember back in the day when everyone was SURE "Titanic" was going to tank?
(OK, so "Titanic" had The Power of Leo going for it, where "Avatar" seems to have only The Power of Catgirls, but still.)

* - I am watching this trailer on the day of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Burgess Shale fossils. I've read a lot of positive comments admiring how "REALLY alien" the glowy blue catpeople are. My friend Opabina would like a word with you.

In other news, why in the hell is this happening?!?