Category: The Arts

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 21, 201510:37 am

SDCC 2015 Open Registration Success!

In theory, I will go to San Diego Comic-Con this year—as a paying customer. For that I am most grateful and for the ease of the Open Registration process. From 2009 to 2014, I attended as registered press, but for some reason my status wasn’t re-certified. There was no formal rejection, just no approval during the typical “within 6 weeks” period after verification document submission.

SDCC’s streamlined process is a grabbag of chance. If you have an active ID on the system (before a cut-off date) and attended the previous year, you receive a code to participate in the registration process. That means using the number and last name to enter the waiting room between 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. PST. Anyone in the room when sales commence at 9 o`clock can be randomly chosen to purchase passe(s). Chrome refreshed me to the buying queue about 20 minutes after sales started.

Living by Joe WilcoxFeb 21, 20156:57 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Bicyclists

I am quite reflective about San Diego Comic-Con on this fine Saturday. An hour from now, thousands of people will begin the registration process that, from 9 a.m. PST, will let them into the online waiting room where they might be chosen to purchase tickets. I will be among them, for the first time since moving to San Diego in October 2007. My attendance was always guaranteed, for being a news reporter.

But SDCC has yet to re-certify my press status, and as time drags on the likelihood diminishes. Earlier this week, I received email indicating eligibility to participate in Open Registration, for which I am hugely appreciative. I worried about my uncertain status locking me out from purchasing tickets. Press get free admission, which is a benefit I can take or leave; paying is no problem. It is the assured admission that matters to me.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 19, 20158:45 am

Flickr a Day 50: ‘Happy Enough to be Caricaturized’

I strongly debated about whether or not to feature this photo, because the EXIF data isn’t readily visible. All pics picked for this series are authenticated for copyright, which is less certain when camera info […]

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 14, 20157:01 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Writer

Among the 12 profiles that are the core of my book Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, the one that follows offers the most interesting content for science fiction fans. The convention isn’t just about superheroes. Sci-fi is part of the core culture dating back to the very start during the 1970s, and it’s even stronger in the 2010s. Because what was niche more than 40 years ago is mainstream, and more, today.

This profile also introduces some valuable historical insight—if 10 years can be considered old, and measured by Internet time it most certainly is. Fans’response to a new sci-fi television show, and their torrenting it, kicked the pebbles eventually unleashing an avalanche of legitimately-available streamed TV programming. So-called video pirates of 2005 are indirectly responsible for there being Hulu, Netflix streaming, and Google’s purchase of newbie service YouTube.

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 7, 20151:26 pm

Comic-Con Heroes: The Nerd Culturist

Comic-Con’s contractual commitment to San Diego expires in 2016, and the event already entertains offers to move to another city. While conducting interviews during SDDC 2013 for Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, I asked numerous attendees about relocation. Among them: Tauri Miller, whose profile appears in the ebook.

For whatever it’s worth, I favor keeping the Con in San Diego. While the convention center limits the number of participants to about 130,000 over four days, the city already is a tourist destination with all the right amenities, which include hotels and the Gaslamp Quarter. Getting in out and around (including the airport) is much easier than Los Angeles, by contrast.

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 31, 20153:58 pm

Comic-Con Heroes: The Academic

My fourth installment of excerpts from ebook Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth takes an interesting directional shift. So far we’ve met The Dark Knight, Medieval fighter, and twin-brother toy collectors. Would you believe there are people who study toys as a profession? Read on to see.

To recap: I attended San Diego Comic-Con 2013 with intention of profiling one-dozen among the 130,000 attendees. As SDCC 2015 approaches, I am posting 13 installments, after which the book will release into the public domain, on July 8, 2015, when my current commitment for Amazon KDP Select ends.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 18, 20157:05 am

Flickr a Day 18: Painted

Student Satya Vrat Shukla should seriously consider just how good are his “outtakes”, which is how he describes this remarkable photograph. The colors and bokeh—painter and background—rivet my eyes.

“This is one of my really good friends, Ethi, who is an amazing painter”, Satya says. “She basically oil-painted this within a couple of minutes while I pestered her to ‘paint something good'”. Pester. I found the pic searching Flickr for the word—like yesterday’s selection, which shares something else: Camera choice. Satya shot with Canon EOS 550D and classic 50mm lens (f/1.8). Gotta love them Primes!

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxJan 17, 20159:54 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Fighter

One week ago, I started serializing my ebook, Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, which will go into the public domain ~~after the last segment posts~~ on July 8, 2015, after my current commitment for Amazon KDP Select ends. The first installment featured Ken Camarillo, as The Dark Knight. There is no shortage of people like Ken who dress up as someone else during the Con.

But the pop-culture event, and others like it, come around just once a year. Some people wear costumes, and assume other personas considerably more often—and that is the case with today’s Comic-Con Hero. She and her wonderful cohorts reach back into the past, recreating in modern times flavors of an era few people remember but should.

Society by Joe WilcoxNov 2, 20149:27 am

Our Neighborhood Library

When your tablet or ebook reader runs out of juice, hope is just down the street.

Culture by Joe WilcoxOct 20, 20146:26 pm

Viral Before There was Viral: 'The Blair Witch Project'

As Halloween approaches, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences takes a long look down memory lane—eh, scary forest paths—with a short documentary about “The Blair Witch Project“. Before there was Facebook and Flickr […]

Samsung by Joe WilcoxFeb 8, 20141:48 pm

Meet Andrew Bell

Meet the artist behind those lovable Android Collectibles and other cool creations from Dead Zebra. I interviewed the extremely likable Andrew Bell during Comic-Con 2012. I shot the previous video, from 2009, using a Sony […]

Storytelling by Joe WilcoxFeb 8, 20141:28 pm

Tofu the Vegan Zombie

I am in one of my moods, basking in the glow of those people lucky enough to make San Diego Comic-Con 2014 pre-registration. This will be my sixth year attending as official press. From SDDC 2013, I wrote Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth. Previous years, I focused on video interviews and photos. In reviewing the vids, I see that many are stuck in YouTube oblivion, and that I never blogged them. So let’s catch up with some oldies, most of which still have shelf life.