MY UPDATE FROM VERY NEAR COMIC-CON

You don’t need to rely on me to tell you about the exclusive Comic-Con showing of footage from Watchmen and Terminator Salvation, or Joss Whedon’s preview of his new show starring Eliza Dushku.  And it’s a good thing, too, because I couldn’t get in.  I know, I know, I should never have waited until the last minute, and it said right on the Web site that there will be no on-site registration, but you know how the whole Internet-meets-short attention span phenomenon works; all I noticed was that Shia Labeouf and Eagle Eye were the official sponsors of the free Wi-fi at the San Diego Convention Center and I was so caught up in Shia’s generosity that I overlooked some of the more pertinent information—namely that I would be told to go blank myself if I thought I was going to get in without pre-registering.  The guy actually said, “Go blank yourself,” a perfect geeky Comic-Con thing to say, I couldn’t help observing.  And when I told him so he told me to “blank off.”

Anyway, Collider did require me to file a report, so I will just tell you what I observed from my vantage point at nearby Balboa Park.  Did you know that Balboa Park is the nation’s largest urban cultural park, and that it houses a full fifteen major museums, some of the world’s most spectacular gardens, and…wait, I just saw somebody dressed as Wolverine!  Oh, never mind, it was just one of the many exotic animals on display here at the San Diego Zoo, which is also part of Balboa Park.  In fact, there’s so much happening here at Balboa Park that many Comic-Con attendees might suddenly feel that they spent a lot of money on the wrong place!  For example, fans of non-stop action should look no further than the park Carousel, which features a menagerie of animals in addition to the horses, with European craftsmanship dating back to 1910.  The buzz around here is that McG is going to be adapting this carousel into a feature film for a summer 2010 release. 

Also catching the eye of Hollywood filmmakers is the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad, which takes the entire family on a thrilling, .097 miles per hour, 3 minute, one-half mile trip through four acres of the park.  Bryan Singer is said to be in talks now with “Mr. Nifty,” the charming old conductor of the tiny train, to develop the epic journey into a pulse-pounding actioner starring Ben Stiller.  Early word is that it’s going to be like A Night at The Museum, except it’s the train that comes alive at night.

And speaking of museums, I keep hearing that none other than the aforementioned Joss Whedon has been seen lurking around the historic arts and crafts home of noted local civic leader and merchant George W. Marston.  Marston House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is loaded with furniture and decorative arts from the early American period. Whedon has told undisclosed sources that he wants the inside of the next spaceship for whatever new spaceship show he does to be modeled after this architectural masterpiece.

Even more groundbreaking is that Chris Carter is in talks with the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater (a tradition in San Diego since the 1940’s and featuring resident puppeteers with marionettes, hand, rod and shadow puppets) to bring the first ever sci-fi puppet show to North America.  “I Want to Believe” will tell the powerful story of two FBI agents who are on the trail of other-worldly phenomena only to realize that all along they have been manipulated like puppets on a string.

James Napoli’s new book The North Pole Employee Handbook will be released by Cider Mill Press in the fall of 2008.  He is an author and humorist who has also written and directed the award winning dramatic shorts “The Priests” and “Nobody Gets Hurt.” 

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