The Flash meets The Boy

Last year, the boy had 2 goals — #1 being to meet Adam Savage & nerd out about his dream of being a future Mythbuster. That was all he talked about for weeks… that is until it was announced that Grant Gustin would be there. As a massive fan of The Flash tv show, getting an autograph from the “Scarlet Speedster” (heh) became his priority, & after several hours in a line & a couple hundred dollars later (I did get a “thanks Dad!” at least) he seemed like the happiest kid in the building.

A chipper, if tired, Adam West @ 2017 SVCC

We wandered the halls on Saturday & Sunday trying to catch Adam out in the open (& I did suspect he was inside that Totoro costume… #TrueFan), but never quite made it.

But all was not lost: We played games, bought comics, felt guilty for not finishing my R2D2 build (yet!) like these other guys, met the one & only Adam West, I got teary-eyed talking to the genuinely wonderful Caroll Spinney (Big Bird! Omg! Don’t mind me… just… remembering… my childhood… *sniffles*) , & we just had a grand old time among the artists, fans, & pop culture.

Then we found out late Sunday that Adam was meeting fans down near his “Cosplay Cave & Repair” area (a great service to those sweating out the crowds in costume btw). We trooped down & joined a very…very…long line that snaked around 2 corners. Everyone there was genuinely excited to show Adam bits of their costume or to just say “hi” & squeee at him.

After a hour or so we were getting closer to the door, & finally the unthinkable happened: it was getting late, the convention was wrapping up, & they had to let Adam leave. The line was cut off just one spot in front of the boy…

To his credit, he blinked back his disappointment, pretended he wasn’t *crushed*, & talked up what a great time he had all weekend, despite this little bit of bad luck. Its tough to watch your kids feeling letdown, obviously.

But I wasn’t upset, and I didn’t mind him missing his “hero”.  Not at all. For real.

The difference here, & what made the line that afternoon so long & so slow… was that Adam Savage was actually meeting the fans. There wasn’t an advance setup or announced photo op. We didn’t prepay $50 or $100 to get an signed 8×10 or an extra $100 to spend 10 seconds next to him & have a photo snapped like one of the other celebrity assembly lines.

No, he was talking to people, admiring their handiwork, encouraging their hobby (& their love), & being a genuinely kind & present human. I wouldn’t trade any of that just so my kid could get his moment. And I think he also realized it would have been wrong to want it any other way.

Adam Savage

It was an overall great experience: to feel that communion with other fans & the joy of sharing what you collectively love, but missing Adam Savage, even just barely, made us appreciate what he was doing, & after a long weekend of bristling against the more commercialized & marketed aspects of fandom I appreciated him all the more for it.

~ Matt

Arkham Asylum

I’m drinking the kool-aid on the new Batman: Arkham Asylum game. Not only is it just plain fun to run, jump, and swoop around as Batman, knocking the beJeebus out of (literally) clown-faced thugs…but it also reminded me (in a good way) of the graphic novel poem that made me a Batman fanboy in the first place: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean (pictured).

The Beatles : Rock Band (duh)

Thanks to some awesome amazon-birthday-gift-card presents from my parents, I’ve already got 2 other games pre-ordered and on deck: Beatles: Rock Band(you might have heard of that one) … and the sequel to Assassin’s Creed, the aptly named Assassin’s Creed II.

There’s been quite a lot of griping about the flaws in the first AC [repetitive missions, pointless flag-collecting, unskippable (and long) cut-scenes, etc.], however I really enjoyed the way the developers had created these massive, detailed cities, over which you could run and jump along, climbing towers and nearly everything in sight. It was probably the first game I’ve ever played in which I felt in tune with the control scheme and therefore connected to the character’s movements onscreen. Anyway…I’m looking forward to the sequel.

Here’s a recent video walkthrough of some AC2 action: