I should have some stories by now, shouldn’t I? Oh, wait, I do.
I’m here in LA, doing the networking and meeting thing post-San Diego. I’ve got one meeting set up for the trip, and a bunch of lunches and dinners. I’m also going to participate in my first Drink and Draw tonight, so Woo and Hoo!
Obviously, the big story is that I went to Amoeba Records and stayed under my limit… oh, wait, no. There was an earthquake.
My first in LA. I’ve noticed two in my time in Ohio. Bob Ingersoll and I were in our car, driving to visit a friend at Warner Brothers and stopped at a stoplight when the car started to bounce, like someone was rocking the bumper. Once I determined it wasn’t Bob’s driving, I looked and saw the streetlights were bouncing too. “Hey, Bob,” I said, “I think it’s an earthquake.”
It was. And the last I heard, it was a 5.4 or something.
It wasn’t bad, and for my first one, I wasn’t scared. I was sorry that I broke my word to my Aunt Bunny who said “Don’t have any earthquakes” before I left. Though how I had one, I haven’t figured out yet. Once I harness that power, I’ll use it for good. Or evil. I have a PhD in Horrible, after all.
The big thing it did was mess up the phone lines. Oddly, I could call out to Ohio (which I did to let some people know I was okay) but I couldn’t call California. So I wasn’t able to make that WB meeting, since a phone call was involved there. We went to a mall and everyone seemed to be lacking cell service. We saw a couple TV reports about the quake, too.
All things being equal, I think I liked the Earthquake ride at Universal Studios better.
Bob and I saw The Dark Knight in Imax, which was quite the experience. A number of scenes were Imaxified, including just about all of the city establishing shots. Whoa, was that cool. The theatre has been sold out of the Imax DK shows by 3:00 or so every day. I love that this movie is getting that kind of traction.
It was a good theatre audience, too. No one with their bright LED phone displays Twittering away (no slight to the Twitter, which I do, but there’s a time and a place), very quiet and just a nice filmgoing bunch. And they clapped during the pencil and truck scenes, as well as at the end. That was just cool.
Oddly, after we left the theatre and were walking back to our car, we passed Tiny Lister, who played the convict in the movie. He was also the President in The Fifth Element. That was a little jarring, but cool nonetheless.
That’s been the big stuff so far. The Drink and Draw is tonight, and I’ll be seeing some friends and colleauges in the next couple of days. And then, back home. I love coming to visit, and I like the opportunities it opens, but I think I’m just about ready to be home, too.
Just sayin'...
Christmas presents as I watched the obligatory Sunday night Cowboys game, or maybe just collapsing on the couch. 
I started thinking about the breakdown of this page compared to other issues. This is the latest that Mark or the Crusader has appeared, with him arriving in the last panel of page four. In previous issues, FCBD specifically, Crusader appeared on the first page of issue #7, and while Mark appeared on page one of issue #4 he didn't appear in costume until page four. I figure that was okay since the Arachnerd appeared on the first page.