Saturday, July 25, 2009

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2009 recap coming

Hey guys and gals. I know I'm behind on this, but it's been crazy busy here in sunny San Diego, and I've got a lot of updates to present. I'm trying to get this stuff ready to post, but please just bear with me a bit longer. I should have a HUGE update on Monday the 27th, possibly a few things up sooner than that. In the meantime, just to tease what you'll be hearing about and seeing on Bigfanboy.com...

My one-on-one interview with Megan Fox

My one-on-one interview with Stan Lee

My one-on-one interview with Michael Jai White and director Scott Sanders

My one-on-one interviews with Zoe Bell, Doug Jones, and Ted Raimi

My one-on-one interview with Kelly LeBrock

The TWILIGHT: NEW MOON press conference

The JENNIFER'S BODY press conference

Interviews with the cast of CHUCK

Interviews with Chan Wook-Park for THIRST

Interviews with Natasha Henstridge

and more!


STAY TUNED FRIENDS, LOTS OF STUFF COMING!!!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2008 recap... in progress

WEDNESDAY: Driving in from L.A., setting up, and Preview Night

For those uninitiated, Wednesday night at San Diego Comic-Con is "Preview Night", which started out as a rather exclusive opportunity for industry professionals to see what each other has coming up, and pick up some cool goodies the rest of the crowd would never see. Unfortunately "Preview Night" is now open to anyone and everyone, and as a result has become a madhouse evening that serves only as a not-so-gentle reminder of the hell exhibitors are going to face over the next four days. After spending the night in Bernie Wrightson's studio (wish I could say it was haunted or something :P), I woke up at 5am to get dressed and ready, and Bernie and Liz picked me up right about 6am to get on the road. We drove pretty much straight there, parking downstairs and unloading Bernie's booth display. Earlier this year, shortly before his unfortunate death, ROCKETEER creator Dave Stevens had a yard sale, and Bernie and Liz bought his backdrop booth display that Dave had used year after year in San Diego. This year Dave's spirit would be back at the show, courtesy of Bernie and Liz. Upon arriving and unloading, we wasted no time getting the booth put together. Bernie and I assmbled the snap-together pieces, and despite what appeared to be a rocky start, eventually got that thing together with style. I told Bernie and Liz that somewhere up there Dave was looking down at us and laughing. There were six overhead lights, all connected, that we affixed to the top of the display. When we plugged them in and turned them on, the last light on the right came on for a second... then burned out. The rest stayed on. One light out. Now I'm not saying it has to mean anything, but maybe... just maybe... that was Dave saying goodbye. Passing the torch as it were.

I claim this ship (right out of THE WATCHMEN) to be bad-ass!

After walking the floor briefly, I stumbled across an unmistakable vessel. Leaping from the pages of WATCHMEN, it was Nite Owl's ship, just sitting comfortably at the Warner Bros. Animation booth. I walked around it, drooled a little, walked around it again... I had to tell someone, share this with someone. As I walked to the front I noticed my buddy Adam Hughes setting up an aisle away. So I stopped by to say hi, and quickly asked if he had seen Nite Owl's ship yet. Adam replied, "No" so I said "You have to come with me." We proceeded over to the beautifully realized piece of comic book history, and began taking photos, inside and out. See, this ship had a fully articulated interior cabin as well, complete with pilot chairs and control monitors. It was quite simply awesome. I think Adam and I both let loose a little pee.

The incredible 1/4 scale Indiana Jones statue from Sideshow

After Adam and I hosed ourselves off from the excitement, I met up with Cat Staggs and walked over to Sideshow, where we marveled at the awesome product they had coming up. The 1/4 scale Indiana Jones was even more stunning in person than the online pics could've ever conveyed. There was so much stuff to see, and before long the doors opened to the general public. Holy crap! There were SO MANY people bustling around you would've thought it was Saturday already. At one point while in front of the Paramount booth, there was such a frenzy with folks trying to get the new STAR TREK posters that a kid (roughly 7 years old) got knocked onto the floor in front of me. I picked him up and bitched out the guy who put him there. The guy showed little to no remorse. He was more concerned with getting his stupid poster. This attitude pretty much reflected the rest of the crowd, sad to say.

That night I was supposed to stay with my buddy Jim Daly, but plans changed a bit, and I ended up crashing at a beach house with Ludon Lee, my buddy Tom Jane's business partner. Ludon was nice enough to open his home to me in a pinch, and it was a relaxing way to spend the first evening of the show. Since I had just come back from Japan the day before, my fatigue was beginning to take its toll on me. Despite that, I maybe got 5 off and on hours of sleep... ugh.



THURSDAY: The women of sci-fi, more craziness at the show

I began my Thursday by waking up EARLY and catching a cab with Ludon to the show. It was cool to have a chance to talk one on one with Ludon in the cab, as most of our previous conversations were always in the midst of others. He's a smart cat, and has some great ideas brewing. I arrived at the show and met up with my good buddy Paul Salfen, who somehow snuck out to the press balcony upstairs... where he wasn't supposed to be. I mean Paul is press, like myself, but that balcony was supposed to be invitation only, and only for the highest ranking members of the press. So naturally, I snuck out there to join him. Heh. Of course the joke ended up being on us, as once out there we really couldn't do anything. All of the interviews were by appointment only, so after standing outside for about 10 minutes, I convinced Paul we were wasting time and we went back in. After a quick bite to eat, we proceeded to my first invited press junket, which was interviewing the ladies of sci-fi... Lucy Lawless (XENA herself), Jaime King (star of THE SPIRIT), and Pia Guerra (artist of Y THE LAST MAN). Kevin Smith had moderated their panel, but unfortunately wasn't able to make it to the junket. I'm happy to say that Lucy Lawless has aged beautifully. I dare say she's more sexy now that she's ever been. Jaime King arrived a little late, allowing me to announce a rather amusing "Hi Jaime!" in the middle of our interviews. Pia Guerra talked quite a bit about working in the comic industry, and her thoughts on comics becoming Hollywood films. It was a fun Q&A, and hopefully I'll have video up here shortly.

The rest of the day consisted of walking around the show floor, and trying not to let my Japan jet lag get to me. Not an easy feat. That night myself, Cat Staggs, and her friend Zach headed back to my hotel for room service, and got ready to start the Thursday night Bigfanboy Livecast. We did the show with ease, then walked to Cat's hotel for reason's I forget. At that point Tim Bradstreet called me from having dinner with Frank Darabont, and told us we could crash their group if we wanted to. So Cat and I hopped in a cab and headed to the restaurant (I ain't telling where). Upon arriving we met up with Steve Niles, Sarah Wilkinson, Bernie Wrightson, Liz Wrightson, Tom Jane, Tim Bradstreet, Adam Hughes, Todd Farmer, and of course Frank Darabont. We proceeded to have several drinks... and several more... and several more. William Stout and Mike Mignola left early... they were smart. All in all it was a fun way to end the day.

FRIDAY: Getting rest, watching the WATCHMEN, on the PINEAPPLE EXPRESS

I started off the day by sleeping in. I had to. I was so incredibly tired I thought I was going to die. But sadly my sleeping in meant I had to skip a breakfast hosted by 20th Century Fox for the upcoming movie MIRRORS. Talent on hand included Kiefer Sutherland, Amy Smart, and Alexander Aja. Yes, I skipped having breakfast with Kiefer Sutherland because I was tired. I know. You're thinking "WHY?!?!" Trust me, this was the kind of tired that the human body can't ignore. I really would've liked to be there. But all was not lost, as I arrived in time for my interviews with the cast (and director Zack Snyder) of WATCHMEN. We're talking just about everyone here - Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian), Jackie Earl Haley (Rorschach), Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan), Carla Gugino (Silk Spectre), Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre II), Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl II), Matthew Goode (Ozymandias), and last but certainly not least, the artist who illustrated the original masterpiece, Dave Gibbons. This was the coolest moment of the show for me, as WATCHMEN has always been my favorite comic book storyline, and I'm so glad to see this getting the treatment it has always deserved. Interviews will be posted soon.

One of my favorite comic book creators - Dave Gibbons, artist of WATCHMEN


After the show, I high-tailed it over to the Pacific Gaslamp Theater for an advance screening of PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. I needed to see it that night, because I was interviewing the cast and crew the next day. Now normally the last thing I want to do during San Diego Comic-Con is go watch a movie. During this show I did that twice, and I'm happy to say both times were pleasurable experiences. PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is very funny, and we were treated to a Q&A with the cast following the movie. It was so much fun I stuck around for the Q&A, despite knowing I was going to talk to these guys on Saturday anyway. After the screening I met Jud Apatow (you gotta respect a guy wearing a GHOSTBUSTERS shirt) and his beautiful wife Leslie Mann. It was a great start to a big evening.

Immediately following the screening I walked over to The U.S. Grant Hotel for the Raw Entertainment party. This year was terrific, featuring a nice mix of people, and a larger hotel room with considerably more space that the 2007 chapter. Jim Daly had run into Samuel L. Jackson in the lobby, and invited him to come up. We all wondered if he would. He never did, sad to say. However, all of us (the Dallas crew) ran into Casper Van Dien at one point when riding the elevator, and extended the invitation for him to join the party as well. He was at Comic-Con to promote STARSHIP TROOPERS 3. And guess what... he showed up! As more and more folks came to the party, hotel security showed up twice asking us to keep the noise down. It wasn't looking good, especially since despite Tom and I barking at people repeatedly to keep it down, everyone maintained their obnoxious volume of conversation. Around midnight Tom comes up to me and says "Let's get pizza!" So we assembled a group of aobut a dozen folks, and walked around the block to a late hours pizza place. There we proceeded to sit on the patio acting like idiots, eating pizza and just relaxing. Oddly enough, we never returned to the party. Ludon was left to close that down instead. Once we finished the pies, Tom and Tim and myself began walking back to our hotels. I remember telling Tim how surprised I was we got to our beds before 2am. All in all it was a fun night.

I AM IN THE PROCESS OF UPDATING THIS, SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME. I'M FURIOUSLY TYPING NOW!

SATURDAY: Saving the cheerleader, I've been McG'd, a MUTANT kind of night

TO BE WRITTEN - Hayden Panetierre signing at Official Pix booth.

TO BE WRITTEN - TERMINATOR: SALVATION press conference

TO BE WRITTEN - PINEAPPLE EXPRESS interviews

TO BE WRITTEN - UNDERWORLD 3 interviews

TO BE WRITTEN - MUTANT CHRONICLES screening

TO BE WRITTEN - MUTANT CHRONICLES after-party



SUNDAY: Finishing up at the show, dinner at Horton's, the Graffiti Party

TO BE WRITTEN - Wind down

TO BE WRITTEN - Horton's

TO BE WRITTEN - Graffiti Party - Dave Stevens

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Finally back from San Diego...


After an exhausting week in Japan, and a non-stop event-filled week in San Diego, I have returned home barely awake but with tons of great memories. I apologize for the lack of updates in the blog, but using an iPhone to update Blogspot is a lot easier said than done. So check back late Wednesday night, and I'll hopefully have a day by day recap complete with loads of photos. Outside of what I mentioned already, I'll also have interviews with the cast of PINAPPLE EXPRESS (including Seth Rogen and James Franco), UNDERWORLD 3 (including Rhona Mitra and Bill Nighy), information from the cast and director (McG) of TERMINATOR: SALVATION, and a review of Tom Jane's new movie THE MUTANT CHRONICLES (along with Pics from the after party with Ron Perlman and Devon Aoki). Good God, there's SO much to talk about it's not even funny.

It will all be right here... very soon... I promise.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Updates from San Diego Comic-Con 2008

Sorry for the lack of promised updates, things have been pretty crazy. I haven't had access to a computer, and I'm typing this on my iPhone... which is much harder than imagined. But I will have lots of news soon... including working with Hayden Panitierre, interviews with Lucy Lawless, McG, the cast of Watchmen with director Zack Snyder, and so much more. Check back here soon.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Back from TREK EXPO 2008 - recap/report

Well I just got back in town from the Tulsa TREK EXPO, and once again I had a blast. Their guest list was terrific, featuring classic STAR TREK actors like Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE stars like Linda Park and Vaughn Armstrong, the STAR TREK: GENERATIONS Klingon "Duras" sisters Barbara March and Gwyneth Walsh, plus various TREK series alums such as Casey Biggs (Dumar on DEEP SPACE 9), Steve Rankin (featured in multiple TREK series), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris on VOYAGER), and Bill Jones, not to mention more non-TREK guests who were great as well. My lovely friend Amy Allen (Jedi Master Aayla Secura in STAR WARS: EPISODE II and III) flew in from New York where she had been working behind-the-scenes on a remake of THE TAKING OF PELHAM- 123 with director Tony Scott. Amy was a hit with the fans, but that's to be expected... I mean come on, she's gorgeous.

The Q&A panels were awesome. Ron B. Moore, who handled special effects on several of the TREK series, all the way up until the end of ENTERPRISE, gave a fantastic presentation about the various memorable FX shots he handled. He showed select scenes and explained how they were put together. It was a great look behind-the-scenes, and easily one of the coolest panels at the show. But as is to be expected, many of the other Q&A sessions were highly entertaining. I never get tired of listening to classic STAR TREK actors telling stories of their days working on both the series and motion pictures.

I got to work one-on-one with Helen Slater (SUPERGIRL) during her signing, and she was absolutely delightful. I always liked Helen as an actress, and I think people forget just how many great roles she's had. There is of course the classic LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN, and THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS, but let us not forget her in RUTHLESS PEOPLE and CITY SLICKERS. Even tonight as I was watching a SEINFELD rerun I noticed her playing Jerry's hot neighbor (Becky Gelke) and subject of his longtime crush. Helen recently returned to the SUPERMAN universe playing Clark Kent birth mother Lara-El on SMALLVILLE. At first things were a little hectic with her signing, and she's a little new to the whole convention scene. But since Helen and I had a chance to talk beforehand, we had discussed the Dallas shows, and knowing that I had run quite a few of them she quickly said "You tell me what to do... you know how these things are supposed to go." Thankfully, it all went really well. She is a total sweetheart, great with fans, and very pleasant to talk to. Helen also has two music CDs out which sho wrote and sang on, so look for those if you get a chance. I'm hoping we'll have her soon for a Dallas Comic Con.

I also got to work with FIREFLY and SERENITY's Adam Baldwin... you know, the man called Jayne. Adam had been a guest with us for a Dallas Comic Con back in 2005, a few weeks after SERENITY had opened in theaters, so we had met before. However this show was a treat, because on Saturday night we ended up hanging out all evening, and even shared some fine cigars together. Adam is a big fan of news and radio programs, and we actually ended up talking politics for a majority of the evening. That man knows how to debate! At one point, after many hours of us talking (and many beers to boot), a trio of unknown folks walked outside and overheard Adam's political points. What quickly turned into a heated debate on issues fortunately ended with everyone being friends. The man knows how to get his point across, but is also sensitive to others feelings, and made peace even better (and faster) than our own president could ever hope to. One last note on Baldwin, he had been up the night before shooting CHUCK (already one of my favorite new series on NBC), and didn't finish shooting until 6:30am Saturday morning. But without going to bed, he jumped on a plane and headed to Tulsa, arrived at the show and hopped on stage for a Q&A, follwed it with a 2-hour signing session, attended the Tulsa Boys Home charity dinner, and STILL stayed up until 1am in the morning just to hang out. He had to leave for the airport at 7:30am! The guy is a machine. FYI - There's cool stuff coming on CHUCK. He told me a few things about the season premiere I can't wait to see. I only have a couple of photos from the trip, and the following is one of them. This is myself, Adam, and my good buddy Joe Bob Williams (who I've known forever) having cigars and unwinding after a long day. Is it just me, or does this remind you of the photo in THE UNTOUCHABLES? Maybe we all three could star in the sequel.


Mark Walters, Adam Baldwin, and Joe Bob Williams - TREK EXPO 2008

My thanks to John and Audrey Harper, Joe Bob and Mary Kay Williams, Tom the limo driver, Sue in the Green Room, Ronnie, Jamal, Lolita Fatjo, and the unbelievably friendly staff of the Hilton Garden Inn.

For more info on TREK EXPO check out http://www.trekexpo.net

Thursday, June 5, 2008

A-Kon 19 report

Last weekend was A-KON 19, the biggest and best Anime convention in the Southwest. I swear this show gets busier every year. We handed out a ton of promotional product, including posters from THE DARK KNIGHT, PUNISHER: WAR ZONE, THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE, THE SPIRIT, MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, BANGKOK DANGEROUS, WANTED, and INCREDIBLE HULK, plus t-shirts from THE LOVE GURU and SON OF RAMBOW. It all went fast too!


X-FILES 2 posters were a hit, though folks were shocked to hear there was a sequel!

Weeks after its release, SPEED RACER posters were still popular with the fans.



See all those folks in the background? That's just PART of our line.



Some lucky fans got to walk away with posters for THE DARK KNIGHT.


Lots of great costumes as usual, and we took a few select photos of some of the best that came by our table. Enjoy:

Doctor Who!


She liked the mini-posters the best.


In costume and proud of it.


This guy had his poses down, we watched him do like 20 poses in under a minute.


Okay... who called 'em? And look, they're equal opportunity now!


Very good lookin', and great poses too!


The nefarious Hamburgler is on the loose! Hold the clown, I gotta score to settle.


Tifa never looked better... and blonder!

And now, drumroll please...

I present to you THE hottest girl at the show. She took my breath away.

I got a thing for fairies now... and no, that's not a gay joke.

For more information on A-KON check out http://www.a-kon.com

Here we go...


Okay, so I'm a little behind on this "blogging" stuff, but I figured it can wait no more. This looks to be a big summer with a lot going on, so I'll try to keep everyone updated right here. Here's what my current calendar looks like for the next few months:

June 6-8 Tulsa TREK EXPO - http://www.trekexpo.net/

June 13-15 FED CON DALLAS - http://www.fedconusa.com/

June 20-22 HEROES CON - http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon.html

June 27-29 WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO (tentative on this one) - http://www.wizardworld.com/guests-ch.html

July 19-21 STAR WARS CELEBRATION JAPAN - http://www.celebrationjapan.com/

July 24-27 SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON - http://www.comic-con.org/

August 1-3 Tulsa DEF-CON - http://www.tulsadefcon.com/

Aug 29 - Sept 1 DRAGON-CON - http://www.dragoncon.org/

and possibly more, but that's enough for now... sheesh! I'm tired just thinking about it. In the meantime, check out the BIGFANBOY LIVECAST every Thursday night by going here - http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=10514&cmd=tc or just visit me at http://www.bigfanboy.com/