On Vacation and Recuperating from Comic Con

Hi All,

I'm on vacation so blogging post Comic Con really isn't on my agenda.... however I'll invite you to visit my daily blog fix: Tea with Lemon to see his wrap up of our long LONG days working at Comic Con. This particular post is an overview of the stars that were paraded past us to their panels.

Remember, I'm on the job and can look (but not directly - no oogoling allowed!) but can't touch!

I'm also going to include this YouTube clip because this is how I too watched the Johnny Depp arrival and departure from the HIGHLY anticipated (well highly anticipated by ME) movie Alice In Wonderland. According to the very few that were there - he waited sequestered in a car until it was time to rush onto stage, arrived on stage - slightly freaked out by the response to his arrival (watch the clip, you'll see), and left. Toot-Sweet. In and gone.....

To The Moon!

Today marks the 40th anniversary of America's trip to the Moon.

There has been a small amount of fanfair sprinkled in the news here and there. And for those of you that still don't believe we ever made it to the moon you can check with the Mythbuster guys and decide for yourself.

What this 40 year anniversary reminds me most is that there are no flying cars, no voice activated homes, no replicators to make my "earl grey hot" (yes, my geek flag flies!) or transporters. Instead we have cell phones / smart phones, bluetooth on our ears and in our cars, and Internet porn.

So when do we go to Mars?

That Guy

At some point everyone seems to have encountered the 'that guy' who makes you cringe and smirk all at the same time.

Recently the 'that guy' was highlighted in the sleeper hit The Hangover. Zach Galifianakis' character in this movie was an extreme version and he was the 'he was there because he was the to-be brother-in-law and if you've seen the movie you already know what his role in their Vegas trip was....

Anyhoo, enough about Zach!

On Friday I went to an 80's Retro concert where Berlin and ABC were the bands I was there to see ~ yes there were a couple more but I just won't mention them since we stayed at the bar and grill waiting for them to finish.

Because we waited for the 'opening acts' to end we only found our seats just before Berlin took the stage. Once settled we noticed that the row directly in front of us was four couples but interestingly the 4 women were huddled together and the men were together right in front of our seats. We took note of the separation and then once the band was ready to hit the stage we figured out why the women weren't sitting with "their" men -there was ONE 'that guy' in the bunch. He was loud, overly friendly with both his friends and those of us sitting around him, he definitely thought he was the life of the party.

I will admit that he was funny - but not in the way he thought. Judy and I tried to keep our laughs to ourselves but it was nearly impossible! As he jumped around, kissed the cheeks of his guy friends, sang loudly with everyone around him, he kept trying to high-five everyone, etc, etc....

At the end of the row was the one guy who wasn't actually participating with the 'that guy' in the group, he had a buffer of another man between him that 'TG' - he took the time to turn around and assure us that 'TG' was harmless and when he told us that 'TG' was his brother-in-law I laughed out loud because it meant that 'TG' really WAS the guy from The Hangover!! HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!

The show was wonderful. Berlin put on a PG-13 show, which though very unlike them, was really good. Teri made use of her wireless mic and made her way into to audience and even came up to the second tier where we were seated. (what was funny about Teri coming into the audience was that all four couples left to go to the bar and they missed her entirely - I can only imagine what 'TG' would have done if they had been there). ABC also put on a very good show. Judy and I would have preferred Berlin to have been the headliner but we both realized that ABC was more of a mainstream band with more crossover appeal.

Next concert on the calendar is Depeche Mode which will most likely have a different audience…. I just hope we don’t get seated next to another ‘That Guy’.

My Summer Must List

Inspired by a recent Entertainment Weekly here is my Summer Must List....

Television

• I get my weekly Soup fix with Joel McHale and I just couldn’t do without it.
• Of course, So You Think You Can Dance is a necessity in my life….
• I am also enjoying the ‘current’ last year season of The F Word with Gordon Ramsey. (it's from 2008 but it's new to us on this side of the pond)
  

• Above all, I’m eagerly awaiting Project Runway!

Though it’s now on Lifetime it seems as if nothing has changed, same judges, Heidi and the most definitely needed Tim Gunn… it’s not Project Runway without Tim!!!

• And my true guilty pleasure is Tori & Dean on Oxygen

~ I can’t stomach the new 90210 but I was a fan of the original and though Donna wasn’t my favorite character I really enjoy watching her now with her family being what seems to be a “real person”.

Movies

Sadly I’ve fallen behind in my movie watching… I only just finally saw Hangover which was a blast! It’s definitely the ‘what not to do in Vegas’ guideline to follow for all future trips to Vegas.

• I’m so behind that I haven’t seen Up yet but REALLY really want to!
• I will, however, make time to go see Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince opening weekend!! Can’t wait!

Music / Concerts

• My summer concerts will begin this week with the Regeneration Tour: 80’s ‘reduex’ with Berlin (who I can’t wait to see again) and ABC as the headlining band. Sadly, Heaven 17 did not make it... which is sad since I was really looking forward to them!
  
• There is a very good chance that I will end my summer with Outside Lands with DMB.

Martin Fry of ABC

• But before Outside Lands happens, I’m most looking forward to Depeche Mode. Depeche Mode is my absolute "Must" band.

The Depeche Mode concert will be the day after my birthday so we'll be celebrating for sure! Also, DM was my first ever concert back in 1985 and this year I’ll be seeing them with the same BFF I saw them with then, so it's like I'm turning back the hands of time, however now we are clearly old enough to buy drinks!

I’m not sure I’ll be buying any DM stuff, in ‘85 the tix only cost $13.50 and T-shirts were *expensive* at $20 each. Now buttons are gonna be $10, and T-shirts will be $50…sheesh..

Vacation

After exhausting myself at ComicCon later this month I’m really looking forward to staying down in San Diego the following week to actually take vacation time during my vacation time. There is a plan in the works to head to Mexico for a overnight trip which will also be fun since the last time I was in Mexico was ’87 and I was only in Tijuana for an afternoon with a couple girlfriends. This time I have checked the crystal ball and hopefully a trip to the spa is in my future while we are there.

Then it’ll be back to the real world and work but thank goodness for the above things on my must list, as they will keep me going and I’m certain my DVR will be full by the time I’m home.