Four For the Fourth: At Least We Have This to Enjoy This July

(This is the fourth article, going Four For the Fourth on the 4th of July, hope you read the others) 

Thank God there's a decent-looking Superman movie on the horizon:

In terms of technical skill, the Snyder Man Of Steel/DCU movies were okay, but too grim and dark for the more aspirational, brightly lit world of Superman. It may have worked for Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy as Batman is meant for the shadows and moral compromises, but not for a hero who represents Hope. Well, along with Truth and Justice. Just not "the American Way," because in these trumpian times the American Way is sadistic and cruel.

I Survived Tampa Bay Comic Con 2023

I've not gone to as many of these comic cons over the past few years - PANDEMIC, people! - and I skipped last year's Tampa Bay Comic Con because I didn't see many celebrities of personal interest. This year, I skipped Orlando MegaCon's for mostly that reason - also because they were in the North/South Pavilion again and I hated all the walking I had to do for that one to get to the discussion panels I wanted to visit - and so decided to go to this year's Tampa Bay con to keep my interests peaked.

This time around, my nephew Drew's birthday fell on the same day, and there was a breakfast event for the family, meaning I delayed my arrival to the comic con just as the nearest parking garage filled up (whoa). Previous experience is that the lines to get in are insane even BEFORE the opening - they start taking in the outside line around 9:00am to take tickets, and open the vendor's floor at 10:00am - so when I got there by 10:30am the line was still stretched across the Tampa Riverwalk and it took another 30 minutes just to get into the air conditioning.

Nephew Drew was planning to attend as well, but was going with friends from university and coming in later (I warned him), and so he was off on adventures of his own (although we agreed to meet up so I could buy him a birthday present of his choice). Here then was how the comic con looked.

As I am not an autograph hound, I wasn't there for the celebrities doing the signings and the meet-and-greets. Alas, I discovered that this year's con did not include many discussion panels, at least not with artists or authors of interest. The one writing panel was about working with magic rules in fantasy works, something I've already studied and not much into my leaning towards scifi. It had also started at 10:30am and was almost over by the time I got there by 11:25am (argh).

I did get to see a giant Pikachu, however.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW???

Also, I saw a Grimace. He was there to tempt more victims to his #GrimaceShake experience.

Nephew Drew showed up by the time my stomach was growling, so I met him in line for some food in the first floor cafe area, along with his friend (Drew, you're gonna need to remind me his name and his cosplay, thank you).

No, Drew did NOT go as Oppenheimer in honor of the Barbieheimer Experience. He didn't have the fedora and stove pipe for props yet. He did come as a character from a 1979 Japanese live-action movie called The Man Who Stole the Sun - my nephew has gotten into anime/Japanese film in a big way - so be grateful Drew showed up in a suit and tie.

There was, rather shocking to me, a decided lack of Oppenheimer cosplay: Usually the cosplayers will dress up in the hottest hippest geek trend to show off their costuming skills. I barely saw any Barbies - I counted five - and the only thing I could think of was that the film's production efforts of taking every pink outfit on the planet was the reason why there wasn't enough pink clothing to go around.

Maybe next year.

Anywho. Back to the visuals!

There were a couple of things missing this year - I did not see an R2-D2 display area (there was only one R2 rolling the floor and I could not find the time to pose with him) and I did not find a Lego display area. I just realized I didn't see the 501st cosplaying that extensively this year. I wonder if they were all up on the 4th floor which I did not visit because it was all stairwells and I didn't care to look for elevators.

None of the celebrities doing the main auditorium discussions drew my interest, so this was kind of a quiet comic con for me. Drew did find his birthday present - a Lego kit - and I hope he has fun putting it together.

Here's hoping I find more interest to intrigue me for next year's comic con.

Damn You 2020 (The Hero Gotham Needed)

I found out this morning that Tom "Tiny" Lister passed away likely from COVID-19 complications.

NOOOOO DAMN YOU 2020!

If you watched movies since the 1980s, you can't miss him. He's the tall scary-looking black guy with unexpected gravitas (via William Hughes at AVClub):

Tom “Tiny” Lister Jr. has died. Although he gained some acclaim from a short-lived wrestling career in the WWF in the early 1990s, Lister was best known as an actor, contributing his unforgettable physical presence to literally hundreds of TV shows and movies across a 30-plus-year career. As the villainous Deebo in the Friday films, the no-nonsense president in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element, and a nameless, noble prisoner in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Lister intimidated, elevated, and impressed in equal parts. Per Variety, he died today after reportedly displaying symptoms of COVID-19. Lister was 62...

And in the meantime, well: Lister worked. His 200-plus-role resumé is a laundry list of small roles made much harder to forget by the man performing them: A Klingon in Star Trek: Enterprise here, a brief turn on Nash Bridges there, a major role as one of the demonic brothers in Little Nicky over there. (His political role as “Galactic President” in The Fifth Element might not be entirely clear, but the gravitas he brought to the part certainly was.) And that’s the point: It’s not that Lister was big, or that he had an intriguing face. (He was born with a detached retina in his right eye, giving his gaze a distinctive mien.) It’s that he was able to project certainty in a way few other actors could, and practically never with so few words...

All of which brings us to The Dark Knight, and one of the most memorable (if small) roles in Christopher Nolan’s entire superhero trilogy. As the prisoner who rejects the Joker’s attempt to turn a ferry full of Gotham City inmates into one of his sick social experiments, Lister’s character—identified only as “Tattooed Prisoner”—stands right at the heart of Nolan’s film. Intentionally invoking the “scary black man” tropes that unfortunately defined what could and should have been a far more varied career, Lister projects calm—even a bit of seduction—into the request for the prison officials to hand over the deadly remote. And then the real performance comes through just as powerfully, as he calmly chucks the device through the window, weary contempt visible on his face. It’s a small performance, a blip in a movie that stretches to sometimes histrionic heights. But like the man giving it, it was also deceptively huge...

That last bit has to be put in context. Throughout the movie, the Joker had been playing a game of Sadistic Choice, forcing his victims to make decisions they normally would not commit - often with a gun or bomb threatening their lives - to prove the Joker's point that humans are bastards willing to turn on each other once the mask of civilization falls away.

I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. Hmmm? You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan". But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!

It culminates in a point where the Joker has threatened the entire city of Gotham itself, forcing residents to flee on ferries on which the Joker's mooks had hidden bombs on two of them. Because the police under Gordon's (battlefield promotion) authority as Police Commissioner was worried Joker's plan would involve breaking out criminals to unleash chaos on the city, one of the ferries was commandeered to transit the worst of the worst. The second ferry was filled with scared civilians ranging in income, ethnicity, gender, and age (families are prominently shown).

The Joker stalls the ferries in the middle of Gotham Harbor, and issues his next "joke" (his ultimate step to prove himself right about the darkness in people): The detonator for each ferry's bombs are on the other boat. One ship has to turn the key on their detonator to blow up the other ship by midnight, otherwise the Joker detonates both ships. If the ferry filled with prisoners overwhelm the guards to seize their switch, they blow up innocent lives. If the ferry filled with families are terrified enough that the other ferry will jump first, they blow up criminals but must live with the guilt that they themselves became killers. Either way, the Joker wins.

The civilian ferry goes through the process of rationalizing their guilt by going through a quick vote on whether to do what the Joker wants. While the majority vote is clearly in favor of saving their own lives, nobody at first is willing to do it. Even the ferry captain holding the detonator is openly pondering "we're still here, the other boat hasn't done it yet" implying hope that he won't have to do the deed.

Meanwhile on the prisoner ferry, the prisoners are rioting but held at bay by the guards while the warden trembles holding the detonator. When it seems like the prisoners will risk getting shot to get at the switch, the scariest-looking of them (Lister) stands up and approaches the warden. Not even the guards aim at him, terrified at his approach.

You don't want to die, but you don't know how to take a life. Give it to me. These men would kill you, and take it anyway. Give it to me. You can tell 'em I took it by force. Give it to me, and I'll do what you shoulda did ten minutes ago.

When I heard him say that in the theater first time I saw the movie, I sat upright and nodded. I understood exactly what Lister's character was going to do...

Meanwhile back on the civilian ferry, a frustrated businessman stands up and declares he's willing to make the hard decision nobody else on the boat wants to make. This is a clear contrast to the black criminal who just made a moral decision to spare the civilian ferry. The businessman makes a lot of bluster about doing it, but with the detonator in his own hands he finds he can't cross that line himself, and quietly puts the switch back in its box.

The Joker, watching all of this from a nearby skyscraper, was eagerly waiting with a captive Batman to see the fireworks. He was genuinely convinced both ships would be blowing the other up by the midnight deadline. The laughing grin fading into confused disappointment is one of the great moments in an already great movie. The Joker was finally confronted by two things he could not comprehend: That innocent civilians had hope that the worst would not happen; and that hardened prisoners can have moral compasses seeking atonement.

In that moment, Lister's unnamed prisoner - moreso than the businessman character - was the moral hero Gotham needed.

It may be a small scene, just mere minutes in an epic film, but Mr. Lister's understated, important performance in a key scene in a movie that will be watched and praised forever will echo through the ages. 

RIP Mr. Lister sir.

 

Superheroes Shouldn't Die 2020 Edition: Wakanda Forever

(Update 8/31: Thank you again Batocchio for the link to Crooks&Liars Mike's Blog Round-Up! Please do click on the link below to John Lewis' eulogy as well, thank ye)

2020 is starting to suck in ways that even 2016 never thought of.

T'Challa died! (well, the actor):

...(Chadwick) Boseman is well known in our realm for playing T’Challa the Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but famously also played Jackie Robinson in 42, along with roles in Draft Day, Gods of Egypt, Marshall, and more...

I just wrote this last month, covering the passing of Civil Rights icon John Lewis:

There's a saying in pop culture: Representation matters. It's why little girls look up to giant posters of Wonder Woman and cry when running into Gal Gadot (it's why getting a Wonder Woman movie made period since the superhero movie boom of the late 1980s was a big f-cking deal). It's why not just African-Americans but Africans looked to Black Panther as a role model since the 1960s when Lee and Kirby created his character. It's why the push for Asian heroes to get introduced into the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is front-page news.

After Black Panther movie came out, there were serious efforts to get the Wakandan salute done properly in the real world:

photo from Jose Luis Magana (AP Photo)

Comic books, it should be noted, is a place where legends are formed and cultures shaped. The best tales, the best heroes, become larger-than-life figures who can inspire and motivate. It's not that Superman can lift cars over his head, it's that Superman can show up on a ledge next to a teenage girl and talk her down from suicide. It's that Captain Marvel can stand up after all these men knock her down with the awareness she doesn't have to prove a damn thing to them. It's that Black Panther can defend an African nation - all of Africa in some stories - from the scars and damage of colonization to build a better future.

This is a huge passing. Boseman was poised to carry the Marvel Cinematic franchise into the 2020s, playing a character whose legendary status is on par with Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, in some places even Superman. Representation matters. Black Panther is a global hero, and the actor playing him helps build that identity in ways that any replacement actor will struggle to achieve (look to how hard it is to find someone to fill Christopher Reeve's iconic take on Superman, or filling Leonard Nimoy's role as Spock).

Also lost in this passing is a good person, who had been fighting colon cancer (stage 3, which is serious) while starring in a string of movies - not just Black Panther and the Avengers movies, but played Thurgood Marshall in a biopic and in a Spike Lee Da 5 Bloods Vietnam War tale - since 2016. Boseman was an actor with range, pathos, and wit.

If anything, Boseman helped confirmed the folly of white people and potato salad forever:

"Ah Hell Naw, Karen, keep your bland-ass potato salad to yourself!" "In the face!"

/crying

Dammit. Now I Got a Crush On Her Even More

Oh.
My.
God.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just quoted from the classics. To wit:

AND THE GEEKS ON TWITTER REJOICED.

Making it a nice touch is that she quotes the author of the graphic novel rather than the questionably okay 2009 movie version. That means IMHO she's not faking this. She knows which version matters to the generation(s) to which she speaks and hopes to appeal.

So to the Concern Trolls that tried to bash her on Politico earlier, talking about "reining her in," she beat you, sons. She rolled up and mic-dropped and rolled away with you all just standing there going "what the hell happened."

So like I said before, DAMMIT. I think I have a crush on her.

I just wanna let everyone know I'm not gonna go all creepy or anything, okay? We cool? We cool. I just... will start this little altar over against the wall with a few pictures, and some candles and voodoo dolls of her enemies and...

I Survived Tampa Bay Comic Con 2018: Surprising Amount of Walking Within Such a Small Space

I dunno if I ever mention in my previous discussions of attending comic cons, but there is a massive difference in floorspace between the Orlando (Orange County) Convention Center and Tampa Convention Center. I mean, Orlando's West Hall alone is arguably double the length and equal the height of Tampa's. On the bright side, it's a vast improvement over previous Tampa Bay comic cons when they were held in standalone hotels' meeting rooms out near the airport. With the convention center, you at least get enough places to host discussions and guest star speakers.

Still, it's an adventure just to even get inside Tampa's center for the annual Tampa Bay Comic Con, which I shall document here for the amused and amazed to enjoy.

Parking was a nightmare this year because the nearest parking garage - next to Amelie Arena - was blocked off for some reason (there is ongoing construction next to it which may be an expansion). After that, they had rearranged the entry point from the south side (facing the Channel) to the north side (facing the River). This *did* create a nicer pathway in as this video attests:

Yes, I filmed this portrait instead of landscape. Sue me.

Meanwhile, here's further documentation of the long long day I spent hanging out with fellow gamers, readers, writers, geeks, nerds, spazzes, goofballs, motorheads, sportos, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads, and other religious denominations.

A selfie for the day. And yes, I went solo again to a comic-con.
Things just kinda are that way.

It's around 11 AM and there's already a healthy lineup for fans seeking autographs.

This was a packed con this year. Last year's had a smaller turnout due to Miami's Supercon
conflicting with celebrity schedules drawing away the fandom.

 

I had attended a writer's panel on writing Villains, and this is their Bard's Tower pavilion.

One of the things that's happened the past few years is that the cons
have been widening the walkways. There's still a few alleys that are narrow
but now there's a few wide areas to help with foot traffic.

NOW ALL THEY NEED ARE PLACES TO SIT (ow my feets)

Hey, I found writer/fellow Gainesville survivor William Hatfield's booth... but he's vanished!
Prolly at another writer's panel...

Well I *did* find comic book author/guy-who-brought-a-llama-to-my-nephew's-birthday-party-ages-ago person John Crowther, who's busy promoting his latest series of biographies of famous wrestlers such as Lenny "The Genius" Poffo (who was off to the side discussing quantum mechanics with a n00b, I believe).

Oh, there's Hatfield, ready to discuss writing about strong female characters in fantasy/science fiction!

There were a couple of interesting panels this year, and a couple of writing ones that had newer topics than earlier, so the day was fun for the writer-wannabe that I am.

And back again to the Guest Star area. The vendor hall is on the top floor, while the meeting rooms
are on the bottom floor. It gets hectic going up and down, but where else you gonna go...?

Now this was something I had just noticed at the MegaCon convention earlier this year, but had little idea was the deal was. There's a thing about "Mystery Boxes" where you buy this themed box that's filled with collectibles of some kind, and people were circling the pavilion waiting in line to buy a box. Thing is, you have no idea what you're getting until you get it. If anything, you're getting a fancy carry box. The TARDIS box was tempting but Gods Old and New it was expensive. At the price they were offering, it needed to contain an actual Doctor in it to make it worthwhile.

The Mystery Box pavilion was at the north end, with the Guest Stars at the south end, and between it all were the walkways.

At this end of the vendors' universe sat the Signing Booths for our celebrities who dared survive the trip to Tampa. Save for one:

Camren "Selina Kyle" Bicondova wasn't able to get a flight out in time for Saturday.

Bummer. I was going to try to ask her "just what the hell kind of drugs are the Gotham writers on? That is some crazy-ass storytelling going on with that show."

Anyway. There were other celebrities to see. Although I was really only keen on two others for the day.

One was this guy who's become a cult favorite for his performance in Game of Thrones uh Hot Fuzz: YARP.

It's kind of hard to see Rory McCann under that hat, but he was a hoot and a half talking about how
he went from lumberjack to the Anti-Hero of millions. However, he *did* lose his harmonica some point
during this Q&A, and he threatened to eat every f00king chicken in the room.

McCann did mention that for him the Game of Thrones series had ended - filming the live-action parts already done - and so he knows how it all ends... which is more than can be said for a certain author who won't freaking finish the novels!!! I don't care what Neil says, GRRM is our bitch. GET TO WORK.

And then, it was time, to say hello to...

AND IT'S NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD. To whomever is buying up the Fox movie studio in order to get all Marvel movies under one umbrella: STANDALONE MOVIE! With fewer dick jokes and more biting sarcasm.

I have no idea who the person walking in late to take a seat is. I didn't think to ask for an autograph or anything...

Seeing Brianna Hildebrand was kinda the last thing on the day I wanted to do, so after that it was straight home to feed the cats and regain my strength for the battles ahead.

How fares the comic cons in your corners of the world?

P.S. I plan on being at Clermont Comic Con in November. JOIN ME AND DIE. Um, Cake Or Death! There that's better.

P.S.S. I only realize just now writing this that I did NOT SEE any of the organized cosplayers like the 501st this comic con. Unless they were in a part of the vendor floor I didn't walk by... and I did not see any R2 units like always. I didn't find the droids I was looking for! /cries

I Survived Orlando MegaCon 2018: And What a Shindig It Was

I've been a bit busy being outraged by the sins of the week, but I do need to note previous weekend trip to Orlando's Orange County Convention Center to cause chaos and anarchy among the mobs of cosplayers and vendors!

As always, I go on the Saturday because that's when the costume contests are going on, meaning a lot of cosplayers and costumes to witness. It also means it's the busiest day of the weekend, so expect a lot of long lines...

Like this one, just to get inside the West Concourse itself.

LONG LINE...

I am, in my own way, cosplaying here. This is my GEEK costume from my college days of yore when I went to UF and haunted all the comic book stores between 1988 and 1992 (yeah, that old).

Once you get your ticket checked in and you receive the daily wristband, then you get into ANOTHER line to wait to get into the vendor floor and artist alley that opens an hour later.

 And then, the mad rush inside!!!

 Oh, great, been here less than ten minutes and already Deathstroke's angry at me.

 Documenting the atrocities. Say hello to a 10 dollar burrito.

 Death is here to enjoy the long walks, the stressful waiting, the hurried running from event to event...

And more walking, and more walking...

WE NEED MORE BENCHES IN THE AISLES.

The "Harlem Shake" song started playing nearby so I asked the Jurassic Park cosplayers to keep dancing...

 It's the DC Writers panel! Unfortunately, none of them were hiring (oh, cmon, guys, I can write a great Brother Power miniseries...)

The main hallways of costumers gathered to cosplay their hearts out. I did not get a chance to go down to the lower level where all the Deadpools had herded. Another time, Wade!!!

Say hello to a friend: Laura, from my gaming days playing the MMO City of Heroes! She's not the one making silly faces to the selfie camera...

And now, the reason why I decided a few weeks ago to attend MegaCon this year: our one, our only, the best wrench wench in the 'Verse all the way from some place in Canada: JEWEL STAITE (I apologize, how DO you pronounce the name...?)

 Mal: I don't believe there's a power in the 'Verse can stop Kaylee from being cheerful.

With brief YouTube clip: alas, we were seated away from the room's speakers so we only got to hear her straight from the stage.

Ms. Staite spent much of the chat sharing stories about starring in Firefly, and Stargate Atlantis, and a couple of other shows. She was sweet and charming and a pure delight.

As she was one of the last major stars of the evening, it was 7:30 or so when she finished - oy, long day - and so Laura and I did our best to go find a place along International Drive to eat... took us a half hour to walk to the parking lot (the shuttles would have been stuck in traffic) and then WE got stuck in traffic and didn't get to a decent place to nosh - Bahama Breeze, incredibly good Caribbean food - until 9 PM. Spent the time sharing the photos each of us took during our 'con experience - she had been there to get celeb photos with Ms. Staite and a certain Jeff Goldblum - and talking about gaming since City of Heroes shut down a few years back.

All in all, a fun day. Just remember, MegaCon, WE NEED MORE REST STOPS oy my feets ow ow ow ow ow...