Atari 800 Laptop

Master builder Ben Heckendorn has really outdone himself this time!  His newest mod build is this Atari 800 laptop.  It comes complete with a built-in cartridge bay, speakers, volume knob, and a spring loaded tilting keyboard!  Now if only there was a way to include a built-in 5.25″ floppy drive we’d be in business.

Ben professionally builds portable versions of vintage gaming systems such as Nintendo, Sega, Atari, Commodore 64, etc.  If you’re interested in building one for yourself, he has written a book that shows you how called Hacking Video Game Consoles.

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And just like that, Comic Con was over.

Sunday, day 4, acted as a “cool down” phase for all of the vendors and attendees. We all had endured almost a week long marathon of pop culture overload, and it was just about time to go home. But before we all made the long trek home, there was still time for one last soiree  in the exhibit hall.

As the crowds thinned, the attractions began to be dismantled. There was still much to be seen, but the pageantry that was Saturday was now gone. The large movie screens that projected movie trailers and cartoon shorts were unplugged and inactive. Many of the freebie booths were handing out the remnants of their supplies. The fans too had a different energy today. Everyone was tired, burnt out, ready to sleep in their own beds in their own homes.

Like every year, Sunday’s hours were cut short, with the Comic Con officially ending around 5pm. This meant little to no panels for the day. The only one worth mentioning was the WB’s Smallville panel, but again, no thrills. Not worth the line.

Many of the vendors marked down their wares in hopes of selling off whatever they had left. There was some truly remarkable art work for sale. I only wish I had more money to buy them with. Alas, I took many a business card, and one day, mark my words, I will contact them all for commissions.

The comic book booths (DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse) gave out a lot today. Stacks and stacks of comics, buttons, pins, and stickers. Needless to say, my bags became full once again.

I took one last stroll around the convention center, trying to take everything in one last time. I snagged a few more pieces of swag, and bid the Comic Con adieu.

This week long convention is definitely not for everyone, and absolutely requires a passion and patience that few possess. With that said, if you have just one geeky bone in your body, this is the place you want to be. It truly is the epicenter of all that is good with the world. Where else can you find Klingons sharing a plate of nachos with Stormtroopers? Where else can you physically see the Green Lantern armwrestle Batman? Where else can you intelligently argue the real life implications of your favorite fictional movies and not be looked at like you’re crazy? Nowhere.

Thanks for the memories Comic Con… I’ll be back.

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This was it. The big guns. The day that all of the vendors at Comic Con pulled out all of the stops. Saturday, day 3.

It has been well documented that aside from “preview night,” Saturday is the biggest and busiest day of Comic Con. The crowds balloon, the freebies increase, and the attractions grow. And in addition to the back to back to back schedule of fantastic panels (including DC’s Green Lantern, Marvel’s Dark Reign, The Simpsons panel, the Iron Man II panel, The Boondock Saints II panel, a Kevin Smith panel, and events put on my Adult Swim and Blu Ray featuring the new Watchmen release), tonight was also the night of the infamous Masquerade Ball.

Today all bets were off. Every man for himself. Do or die.

Very quickly, I became impressed with the quality of the hand-made costumes that scattered the exhibit hall floor. Thousands upon thousands of people dressed up as their favorite characters of pop culture. Star Wars fans clad in stormtrooper attire marched through the hallways to the beat of the Darth Vader’s theme from the movie. Literally dozens of different variations of stormtroopers, royal guards, and yes, even a few Darth Vaders marched side by side as if it were a military exercise. Quite a sight. Not to be outdone, a few hours later, about 20 or so Predators marched in a funeral-type dirge to the comic book booths. Their costumes, much more elaborate than the stormtroopers, had to be both heavy and hot for the wearer. But man oh man were they cool.

The big winner of Saturday was undoubtedly Iron Man II and the Marvel comics booth. The talk of the Con had been buzzing with excitement on what may or may not be  shown at the panel and the fans who were luckly enough to snag a seat were not disappointed.

Jon Favreau, the director of the new movie, teased the audience with a low-par greenscreen clip that looked like a high schooler made it. The fans booed and hollered, but Favreau just shrugged and said that was all he had. Then, like a superhero, Robert Downey Jr. appeared and convinced Favreau to show the “real” footage. And so it was.

What followed was a series of clips that were just as good, if not better than the teasers for the first film. These clips had everything; Sam Jackson, Mickey Rourke with electro-whips, Gary Shandling, and yes, they even showed War Machine! Yes!!!

The other panels of the day couldn’t really compete with the powerhouse that was Iron Man II, but if any of them tried, the Boondock Saints panel got the closest. A swarm of loyal fans flooded the panel (a sight not seen since the Twilight panel a few days before) and free seats were scarce. I must have been wearing my lucky underwear, because I was the VERY last person let in. No joke. The panel was great and the teaser trailer that was premiered was awesome. The crowd really got into it.

After the Boondock’s panel, I took a breather and walked downtown again. To my surprise, the folks at the popular Heroes show decided to throw a free carnival!! There were games, a few freak show people running around, and plenty of free swag to promote the show.

If that wasn’t cool enough, just a few blocks down there were two ice cream trucks giving away FREE ICE CREAM. You read right. FREE ICE CREAM. I got me a Ninja Turtles sherbet ice cream on a stick and walked to my car as I ate it. It was delicious.

I returned to the Con not long after and made another round of the exhibit hall. It didn’t take long to fill up another two bags of swag. Just under 30 minutes, I’d guess. Never the less, I shlepped around, checking out the celebrities. I saw the guy who plays Freddy Kruger, the old guy from the Saw movies, Elvira, a few women from Star Trek TNG, and a couple of guys from Rob Zombie movies.

A few hours passed and I felt it was time to go. I had accomplished a lot on this day, and needed some rest before the next (and last) day of Comic Con. On the way back to the car I was handed a free energy drink and a giant tote bag from the show Mythbusters. I then went to a nearby pizza place and got two slices of pizza and a coke for six bucks. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Back at the hotel, I put on HBO and the new Hulk movie with Edward Norton. A good ending to a good day.

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With Comic Con now officially in full swing, I and the other 100,000 people woke early to find ourselves waiting in long lines that seemingly led off into nowhere. It was completely worth it though. Friday bore fruit in the form of freebies. Say that five times fast.

Today was just as packed as the day before, but still much lighter than preview night. And even though the “Masquerade Ball” (the annual evening dance and show for those who come in costume) wasn’t until Saturday night, there were hundreds and hundreds of people decked out in custom character gear. I saw stormtroopers, Jack from Jack in the Box, a handful of zombies, a couple pirates, a whole bunch of random anime characters I have no knowledge of, and of course, no Comic Con would be complete without a few Batman and Jokers running around. It was all very creepy, but welcoming at the same time.

Friday’s panels were mostly related to comic books. All of the major publishers and labels had their own unique discussions and meetings taking place. DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, IDW, Oni, all of the above. There were a few random film-related panels for Warner Brothers’ movies, and Disney childrens movies, but nothing noteworthy.

It was because of this that I found myself with a load of free time on my hands. I didn’t feel like doing any shopping,  and by mid-day I already had a bag full of freebies (Warner Brothers was still having difficulty handing out their goodies). After cruising around the exhibit hall one last time, I decided to go donate blood at an off-site hotel that happened to have a blood donor van there that weekend. An hour or so later, I was a few pints short, but another whole bag of swag richer.

Everyone who was kind enough to give blood and survive the constant heckling of a guy dressed up as The Joker (don’t know why he was in the blood donor room. He didn’t work for them. Just some random lonely guy doing impressions in a Joker costume.), was given a bag of random free stuff. My bag included a generic superhero t-shirt, a shirt from the HBO vampire series True Blood, a action figure of William Riker (with command chair, yes!) from Star Trek, a few comic books, and few postcards for other freebies I had to pick up back in the exhibit hall. I was pleased.

I walked down into the downtown area, away from all of the hub-bub of the convention,  got some food, and dropped my 30 pounds of swag at the car before I made my way back into the exhibit hall.

I snagged a few more freebies from Paramount (they had cool stuff all week), and then hit up the video game area to play the newest in hit games. The new DC superhero game was awesome, as was the new Ninja Turtle smash brothers-type game. The new Ratchet and Clank wasn’t all that fun, but they did give me an inflatable wrench for trying out the game. Nice.

Lastly, before I left the dank halls on day 2, I heard shouts and screams coming from the movie area in the exhibit hall and went to check it out. Turned out the celebrities were out in full force that night. Gene Simmons was back again, a few kids from Disney Channel shows, Tyrese Gibson, the cast from True Blood and few other once famous actors were scattered all about. The crowds were so massive and autograph hungry, that I turned away and left for the night. But not before I grabbed a free Transformers seat cushion from the Paramount Booth.

All in all, Friday was an excellent day to get things done, and to get free things while getting things done. I left with a smile on my face, eager to return the next day for more Comic Con craziness.

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After a good night’s sleep, a quick breakfast of sourgummy worms and Pringles potato chips, I once again made my way to the beautiful San Diego Convention Center. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and the smell of sunscreen was in the air. This was day 1 of Comic Con.

Despite the abnormally long line to register, the crowds on the inside were rather slim. I figure most people either had to work (it was a Thursday after all) or were burnt out from the festivities the night before. Either way, this was a good day to get things done at the Con.

In addition to being the first official day of Comic Con, this was also the first day for guest panels. Panels, for those of you who may not be familiar with the lingo, are specialized meetings that include question/answer sessions, promotion of the event(s), and discussions about whatever it is the panel is focused on. During Comic Con there are many panels devoted to new and upcoming movies, video games, comic books, toy releases, and basically everything pop culture.

Thursday’s biggest and most popular panel (by far) was the Disney 3D Animation panel that featured the new installment of the movie Tron, as well as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie. While I was unable to make it into the panel to witness it all for myself, word quickly spread on how spectacular it all was. In addition to being among the first to see exclusive trailers and clips from these movies (in 3d of course), the fans got a real treat when director Tim Burton said he brought his imaginary friend with him today. Then, out from the shadows, comes none other than Johnny Depp himself. He greeted the crowd, said a few words, and then disappeared back into oblivion.

Back in the exhibit hall, there was another commotion over a few of the new movie props that were being displayed. One of which was the Green Hornet’s car, The Black Beauty, that will be featured in the upcoming movie starring Seth Rogan. The promotional department for the film even had Green Hornet and Kato costumed people out in front of the car posing for photographs. Very smooth.

While it was definitely less chaotic than the night before, there was still electricity in the air. The ratio of costumed people to those dressed in normal pedestrian wear began to tilt, and the freebie piles began to grow. Movie posters, keychains, energy drinks, postcards, toy figurines, comic books and foam fingers filled the bags of lucky attendees. It seemed like everywhere you look, someone is trying to hand you something.

Many of the booths that were scattered along the exhibit hall had the pattern down pat. Attract customers, give them free stuff, attract more customers. A simple task? Not for some. The biggest and most obvious troublemaker was the Warner Brothers booth. For whatever reason, they just couldn’t keep a constant flow of people going. They would hand out a few items, then panic, then have people line up, then disperse the line claiming the booth was “closed”, only to open it again, hand out a few more items, and then shut down the booth for real for an hour or so. This was the 40th Comic Con for Christ sake!! Why was Warner Brothers having such a hard time? Maybe it was because Gene Simmons and his son were signing autographs nearby. Or perhaps it was Lou Ferrigno who was to blame. Who knows…

But as the sun set on day 1, I hauled my massive bags full of swag back to the parking lot and returned good ol’ room 244. I watched some free HBO, took some asprin, and went to bed. My god, there are still three more days of this?!?

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 To paraphrase the great Dr. Venkman, “I came, I saw, I kicked its ass!”

Comic Con: four days of complete and utter overstimulation for the geeky and geeky at heart. What follows is a day-by-day recap of my first hand account of the beast known as Comic Con. Enjoy.

 On the evening of July 22 (Wednesday, for those of you keeping track), thousands of sweaty geeks, pop culture aficionados, and film buffs packed the San Diego Convention Center to catch the first glimpse of what promised to be an event filled weekend at Comic Con. Armed with a backpack, a lukewarm Lunchable, and a can of Red Bull, I set out among the masses to learn their ways.

I was able to register, pickup my access badge, and receive my bag of freebies (which included the weekend’s program guide and various event schedules) in record time and was left with little to do. The doors to the exhibit hall weren’t set to open until 6:00pm, which meant I had about three hours to kill. After finding a suitable place to sit down away from all of the commotion, I forced myself to eat the Lunchable and guzzled the Red Bull. In retrospect, it was a mistake, but hey, live and learn.

Energized from the room temperature deli meats and crackers, I took a walk around the lobby and eventually found myself in the line to enter the exhibit hall. For the next three hours, I sat and spoke to those around me, waiting for the doors to open.

 The time passed quicker than I thought it would, and before I knew it, we were inside. My brain instantly went into a catatonic state. There was far too much going on here. Comics, movies, TV shows, Japanese animation, steampunk weaponry, toys, t-shirts, and video games, all at once!

Like a bathtub filling with water, so was the exhibit hall filling with people. The floor disappeared under the thousands of pairs of feet that were trampling it. Personal space was nonexistent. The air was thick and moist. This was chaos. This was home.

Amidst the pushing and shoving, there were those who hastily made their way to the toy stands to purchase rare and exclusive items. Others found themselves staring up at the numerous life-sized statues of their favorite fictional characters. And then there were those fueled by the lust of everything “free” that filled their bags with postcards, posters, and other promotional goodies. Oh the goodies… more on those later.

The fanatical rush of adrenaline and excitement continued for another three hours, until “preview night” officially ended. Then, it was back to the hotel to unload, rest up, and prepare for one heck of weekend.

Comic Con hadn’t even started yet.

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Resveratrol

Short answer…probably not.  If only the world was a simple place where anyone could eliminate all their health woes with one little miracle pill.

What is resveratrol, you ask?  In short, it’s a chemical found in the skin of red grapes.  Apparently it’s supposed to reduce heart disease and prevent cancer.  It’s been shown to extend the life of certain lab animals.

Ok, but what does this have to do with the French paradox?  Well, French people are known for having almost no issues with coronary heart disease despite having a high fat diet.  In fact, they consume more saturated fat than the average American.  So I guess Americans figure that taking resveratrol will put them in the same health category as the French.  Ha!  Fat chance of that happening (pun intended).

It may seem like a mystery to some, but really it’s all to clear.  We as Americans consume way too much processed food.  The French eat more natural foods and although these foods may contain more fat or what not, it hasn’t been altered or changed in any way.  One of the big evils in food processing is homogenization.  What happens in homogenation is the fat particles are extruded and broken apart from each other so like in milk they are evenly suspended in the liquid.  This causes problems because now all these broken up fat particles are more easily absorbed into your bloodstream which contributes more to heart disease and what not.

If you drink milk on a regular basis there are certain brands you can buy that don’t homogenize the fat in their milk.

1. Organic Pastures Dairy – In my opinion, the best milk you can buy!  Not only is their milk not homogenized, but it is not pasteurized as well so it contains all the beneficial enzymes and bacteria your body needs.  If you are lactose intolerant you can drink this milk no problem!
2. Claravale Farm – Also another raw milk distributor which sells their product in glass bottles.  Their milk is always top notch!
3. Straus Family Creamery – If you’re not ready for the jump to raw milk, Straus’ milk is pasteurized but not homogenized.  They sell their milk in glass bottles as well and the taste is quite good.

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Here is a nifty product from the guys at www.usbcell.com.  How about rechargeable batteries that charge via usb?  Yeah, ok cool idea but way too expensive.  It’s like $18 for TWO batteries!  However, if you hate searching for that charging receptacle you swear you had in your room somewhere, these handy dandy batteries would definitely be for you.

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I fork out my $16.50 for an IMAX ticket.  Ouch.  A little overpriced? Yeah.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely!  If you have the chance to see Star Trek in IMAX, then do it!  The bigger screen and sound system is perfect for this movie.  Also, whether you’re a trekkie or not, it’ll still be awesome.  The writers and J.J. Abrams seamlessly weave in traditional elements of the original series throughout the movie.  Trekkies of all levels will greatly appreciate these scenes.

All in all, Abrams does a great job injecting new life into the Star Trek franchise.  Will it inspire the spawning of new “neo-trekkies?”  Maybe.

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