Going back a bit further, I want to mention the end of day one for a moment.  Benjamin, Sgt. Angle, Ash, Street Fece and I wandered through the streets of SF ’til we found ourselves in the good company of the Dragatomi crew, drinking many beverages of alcoholic constitution.  I bring this up because at some point you may see some pictures of a pant-less Ash and I wanted you to understand that the evening, full of magical moments as it was, happened at the behest of our worser natures let free upon the world by beer and shots.

Now to WonderCon 2010, day two.

The day started off great when Ash, Sgt. Angle, Street Fece and myself surprised our fearless leader, Benjamin, with an iPad, fresh and steamy from the SF Apple Store.  It’s Benji’s birthday soon and we were able to get up a bit early and (without too much difficulty) procure said device for the good man.

At the convention, many shenanigans were afoot: The Losers panel featured a buffed-out Chris Evans who was not able to answer a single Cap America questions, which I understand since it was a Losers panel, but it’s still a bit disappointing.  Cage mumbled his way through another fan fest, promoting Kick Ass — I honestly believe that he’s ALWAYS high.  If you ask me, he’s a bum, but whatever.  There was a Nightmare on Elm Street panel with the great Haley available to all.  But the big surprise, the moment everybody seemed to get the most excited about, was the Nolan walkout where he spoke a bit about Inception and showed some clips.  Wow.  Just… Wow.

Disney was there as well, selling Tron (more virally than anything else), Prince of Persia and Toy Story 3.  I didn’t catch anything on those panels, but I haven’t heard anything exciting either, so let’s just say I probably didn’t miss much.  Equally underwhelming was Milla Jovovich’s two-day attendance to promote yet another romp through the bewildering world of Resident Evil.

The day ended with all of us at the Vinyl Addiction party where we enjoyed some amazing artwork and vinyl toy — free beer and booze didn’t hurt none either.  We got to see a couple episodes of the show and were unsuccessful at winning any of the many raffled off items from various sponsors.  It was great.

Today we will not be attending the Con, so I’m afraid Semantink’s report ends here.  But I’m sure some of the more seasoned bloggers will be writing about their personal moments and experiences throughout the next week, so stay tuned for more in-depth coverage coming over the next few days from Semantinl.com!

James Ninness

Just when you thought you were done reading my blogs, Ben asks me to report on Day One of WonderCon 2010!

On Thursday I drove up here with Benjamin, Sgt. Angle, Street Fece and Ash — the trip itself was fine.  Nothing exciting happened save the ramblings of five delusional and not-quite-matured men killing time with penis jokes and embellished stories of our youthful conquests.

We go to our hotel, the Marcone Marriott in San Francisco around 9:00ish and immediately made our way to the hotel bar where alcohol is expensive but desperately needed.  After a couple gin and tonics we decided to finish our prep for the weekend and continued working through the evening.

At around 6:00am this morning our room alarm clock went off with a fruious rigor that was answered by my fists.  Ben, Sgt. Angle and myself went to Starbucks in an attempt to restore our positive attitudes with coffee.  After the rest of the team was up it was onward to WonderCon!

This was Semantink’s first time at WonderCon and we were’nt too sure what to expect, but I’m pleased to say that it was, for the most part, awesome.

The Good

Panels had just enough star power and insight.  Whether you were going to hear Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter introduce their new Resident Evil trailer in 3D, wanted to hear Chiklas talk about his new comic, or just had the inkling to get some insight from one of your favorite comic producers — WonderCon had it all.

Layout was perfect.  We started at the end of the hall with the Artist’s Alley and Indie Publishers, then made our way across it all through the comic vendors, big-league booths and into vinyl toy-ville.  We got just enough of everything and spent little-to-know-time wondering where we were.  This may sound like a “meh” concern, but if you’ve ever been to San Diego Comic Con, then you know how detrimental poor planning can be during the larger conventions and how easy it is to get, literally, lost in the crowd.

The talent was spot on!  I saw some amazing up and coming artists, some soon-to-be-huge indie publishers, a few bigger names signing/sketching, just enough big-budget booths to satiate my palette and more than a few fantastic custom toy companies.  Sure, there were a few not-so-soon-to-be-famous folks as well, but it didn’t feel to heavily skewed in one direction or another.  There was success and there was hope for success and a good convention needs both ends of the spectrum.

The Bad

The staff was incredibly bad.  Upon our arrival we talked to three security guards who all told us that professional registration was at a different location.  In between talking to those three guards, we talked to four other guards who wouldn’t listen when we tried to ask where to go for professional registration.  When we finally got registered went downstairs where an incredibly rude guard told us that we couldn’t go in and told us that we had to wait in a special room — we said we’d just go back outside and were told that we’d “never get in.”  Snarky!

The organization was complete and utter shit.  Lines were formed haphazardly with tweens guiding us from one point to another (most of them texting while doing so), a writer/artist “speed dating” event that Sgt. Angle went to was very lopsided and he ended up talking to other writers most of the time, and none of the personnel seemed to know what was going on — I can’t remember how many times I received “I don’t know” as an answer to general queries…

Day One of WonderCon was, overall, a great time.  The entire Semantink team walked away exhausted, but satiated.  We got to see some old friends (Lord Mesa, Nathan Hamill and Dragatomy) and make a ton of new ones (Jackie Huang, John Giang, Westside Laserworks, Geek Chic and Lauren Venell).  We’re going to go through the TONS of cards/postcards we picked up today, check out everybody’s online resources and try to make even more new friends tomorrow!

I have to go now — Benjamin, Street Fece and I have a meeting, but stay tuned for some more from Ash and Sgt. Angle when they return from their TRON LEGACY shenanigans!!

James Ninness

Hello all!  I was fortunate enough to join the Semantink boys on another convention outing yesterday back to Long Beach, for the Long beach Comic Expo!  The Long Beach Comic Con kicked off its first year just a few months ago, and a second year is coming in October, but the good people behind the LBC’s comic craze decided to give us a one day sort of midpoint break in patience.  While yesterday’s event was only a miniscule sampling of the glory that is the Long Beach Comic Con proper, it hailed a haughty list of talent:

• Amanda Dawn Wolf
• Bernie Wrightson
• Beth Sotelo
• Brian Haberlin
• Cat Staggs
• Christian Beranek
• Christian Meesey
• Chris Moreno
• Dan Brereton
• Dan Wickline
• Dan Taylor
• David Wohl
• Drew Johnson
• Dustin Nguyen
• Eddie Nuñez
• Eric Basaldua
• Eric Canete
• Frank Mastromauro
• Gus Vazquez
• J.T. Krul
• Jim Daly
• JJ Kirby
• Joe Benitez
• Joe Rubinstein
• Jordan Raskin
• Josh Dysart
• Lauren Perry
• Joshua Hale Fialkov
• Livio Ramondelli
• Lou Ferrigno
• Mark Dos Santos
• Mark Roslan
• Michael Lopez
• Naomi Baker
• Norm Rapmund
• Peter Steigerwald
• Philip Tan
• Ray-Anthony Height
• Richard Starkings
• Rick Basaldua
• Rob Levin
• Scott Lobdell
• Stan Sakai
• Steve Niles
• Tim Bradstreet
• Tim Vigil
• Todd Nauck
• Tone Rodriguez
• Tony DeZuniga
• Tony Fleecs
• Trent Kaniuga
• Trevor Goring
• Vince Hernandez
• Whilce Portacio

Sgt. Angle and Benjamin Glibert give R2 the “what’s-what.”

Ben, Sgt. Angle, Ash, Admiral Eo and I made our way up to Long Beach in the wee hours of Saturday morning and pushed through minimal traffic-resistance, arriving at the Convention Center just after doors opened at 10am.  We were greeted by a few cars resembling entertainment icons and pushed past a group of Clone Wars veterans into the expo.  Now this event was not in the main hall, as the convention was, but in a smaller room to the side of the main entrance — but it worked.  There was enough space to get around and sample each of the vendors/artists/writers/publisher’s tables without feeling to cramped.

Admiral Eo and James Ninness don’t mind Huey Lewis, but hate the News.

Once we had our wristbands, we leisurely strolled through the hubbub and ran into Mike Mignola and Steve Niles (both incredibly personable) — not a bad start.  After a very lovely discussion with Tone Rodriguez (who told me that he was in DEXTER, something I did not know), we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping.  One of the booths was selling everything at 40% off, so between the five of us, a few hundred dollars was spent and everybody went home with goodies galore.

Admiral Eo, James Ninness and Ash think Anakin acts like a girl.

Cosplay was ensuing, with quite a good many fantastic costumes, and a few not so good ones…  But it was great to see fans out in force, enjoying each others geekery.  While I wish that there was more, I understand that this was a $10.00, one day event and I’m not complaining, I just wish there was more to see or do.  There were no panels (understandable), no contests (again, understandable) and no incentive to stay after doing a couple laps around the showroom floor.  It was, as one would think it to be, simple.  We went, talked to some amazing people, met some courageous fans, and bought some fantastically priced merch — a fine time.

ZBladeXX scares Sgt. Angle

I look forward to the Con-proper in October (assuming I’m invited again) and have to hand it to the Long Beach organizers, MAD Event Management and the Long Beach Comic Convention, they made a lot of people very happy on an otherwise plain February afternoon — so a very special thanks to them!

Talk to you guys soon!

James Ninness

PS:  The response to MYTHOI has been overwhelming — thank you all!  I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Do you like vampires?

Do you still like vampires after seeing that video?  If you say “no,” I don’t blame you.  Chan-Wook Park has crafted what some call “the non-vampire,” vampire film.  A horror movie for everyone who is sick of these teeny bopper vampires, and a movie that tends to break a lot of the societal norms for vampires in general.  “Thirst” will be released in the United States on July 31st, 2009, starting off its U.S. screenings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. (Eventually gaining a wider release to all cities across the U.S.)

This “NSFW” poster was banned in Korea because of their respect for clergy.

All of Chan-Wook’s films seem to push the viewer to the edge.  The edge of insanity, I should say.  His story telling and natural dialogue and humor in his films make them a treat to experience (I attribute that to his advantage of being able write the screenplays on most of his films.)  If you aren’t familiar with Chan-Wook Park, then you might know him from Old Boy.  Old Boy was a great, albeit disturbing film, loosely based on a Japanese Manga of the same name.   The rest of the “Vengeance Trilogy” is just as good (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance) and I recommend seeing all of them if you are going to attempt any of them at all.

On a side note, “Thirst” stars Kang-Ho Song, who was fantastic in The Host (another Korean Horror Film.)

“Thirst,” is great in many ways.  First of all, look at the irony of the priest (a person who normally is fighting mosters) as the main protagonist and antagonist.  How crazy is that?  When Chan-Wook Park was being interviewed (a video I will hopefully be able to include in an update to this post) at Comic Con, he talked about how he didn’t want to do another vampire film to just do another vampire film.  Hollywood has already seen it’s fare share of the good (Interview With The Vampire, Let The Right One In) and the bad (BloodRayne, Once Bitten) in the realm of bloodsuckers.  The reason Chan-Wook said he picked to do a vampire film is simply because it fit the story line he was writing.  He wanted to make a movie about a priest who was in the middle of deep suffering.  A priest who had some sort of ailment that fueled his internal struggle.  Vampirism was a perfect fit.  In the priests’ attempt at helping someone who is “diseased,” he receives a blood tranfusion.  The vampirism is treated like a disease.  Crosses don’t do anything, a priest obviously has no affect on the curse, and strangest of all, no fangs are involved.  It’s ideas like these that get me excited for this fresh, bloody take on vampires…
^ — ^

-“Ash”

p.s.  Check out this awesome poster for the finale in the “Vengeance Trilogy,” Lady Vengeance.

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Hello my internet peoples!

I am pleased to introduce my weekly section here at Semantink.com, “Cinegasm.”  I’m stoked that Ben invited me to help contribute to his already amazing blog and website.  Semantink Publishing has some awesome things in store this fall, so stay tuned!

So, I’m sure you are all wondering, “What the hell is/are ‘Cinegasms?’”  Cinegasm will be my weekly indulgence in the world of cinema and all things rad.  I love movies.  I’ve been watching awesome movies since I was a fetus.  My palette has a wide range, so don’t fret.  I’ll be covering new and upcoming films, old films, comic related films, films I think you should see before you die, and an occasional DVD review as well.  Over the years I have begun to notice the convergence of art.  Everything from graphic design and technology, to toy design and graffiti art.  To me, art is art.  Comics, movies, video games, etc. are all art to me.  Recently, comics and movies have become pretty good friends again.  I haven’t seen a surge of comic based movies like this since the 90’s, so attending Comic Con was as good as ever.  I grew up a child of the 80’s.  I’ve always loved science and computers (I’m the resident MacTard in my circle of friends) so Tron, to me, has always been one of the definitive Sci-Fi films of its time.  I know what you’re thinking, “You went to Comic Con? Did you see the Tron Guy?!?”

“Wanna toss my disc of Tron?”

Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of being blessed with the presence of Jay Maynard in tight spandex.  I actually can’t even say I got the opportunity to see the new trailer for Tron Legacy in 3D.  :(  Take a look at the classic Tron trailer to reboot your memories of the film:

Now bask in the glory of the logo for the new, Tron Legacy!

Sooo gloooowy…

Luckily, Disney has released the trailer online in glorious and crisp HD. Here’s a quick look at it if you don’t have the bandwith/computer to handle HD (If you do, I highly recommend the HD version.)
Tron Legacy Trailer

I took the liberty of making some desktop pics
out of the HD trailer for you to download:

(Click to the thumbnails to embiggen.)

Enjoy!

-“Ash”

P.S.  My favorite French Robot DJ’s, Daft Punk, are confirmed to be working on the Tron Legacy soundtrack!  Check out the first leaked track:
Daft Punk — Tron Legacy Theme

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