I've been a regular Con attendee since 1999 and at the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon - it ain't what it used to be. For myself and many of the gang that I go with Con was about seeing the cool new projects, hearing the intimate details from creators, and finding out about the stuff that you wouldn't otherwise. This dynamic has changed dramatically in recent years and the attendee population has gone thru the roof (120K+ by some reports).

Hooray for Hollywood? - For better or worse, Hollywood has fully embraced Con as the go-to place to launch and drive buzz for their TV shows and action blockbusters. This has caused an explosion in Movie and TV fans who are quite content to wait in line several hours for the chance to catch a brief glimpse of their favorite celebrity from Heroes or the next Star Trek movie. I'll happily admit that I managed to jump in line ahead of people who'd probably been waiting several hours to see the Bionic Woman premiere and Battlestar Galactica panel. Yeah I felt a little dirty, but part of me felt like screaming "screw you johnny-come-lately's - GTFO of my Con!"

Con & Web 2.0 - The feeling that you're getting the inside track or seeing something exclusive is greatly diminished these days. People knew that the actor who plays Sylar on Heroes is the new Mr. Spock within seconds of it being announced at Con - people were live-blogging and text messaging the whole time. With a little effort you can find badly captured shakey-cam versions of the "exclusive" trailers that were previewed at Con. Even the smaller panels weren't really that "small" and just seemed to lack the intimacy and sense of dialogue that past sessions had.

So what now? Damned if I know. I was pretty down on Con this year. Everything seemed like "hurry up and get in line" everywhere we went. I'll probably still go for work, since it is an excellent venue now for video-games but I'm afraid that the wide-eyed wonder with which I used to approach Con is gone. Growing up sucks. 

Thx Kat for inviting us out to TK07! We had loads of fun. Jokes of the Brown Noise aside, those performances really rocked the house - especially that group from Winnipeg Fubuki (Blizzard) Daiko.

Truly one of the coolest things about the Internet is to recall a random toy or TV show from your childhood, google it - and find that others have already devoted entire web-sites to it.

Growing up in Hong Kong in the 70s, I got exposed to a lot of Japanese anime and tokusatsu (live-action) TV shows. One of my favorites was Kamen Rider V3 (aka Masked Rider). These guys are essentially insect-themed cyborg super-heroes with a thing for motor-cycles. A pre-cursor to the much more kiddified and colorful Power Rangers.

Anyways, it turns out just like in the US, there's a trend for reviving old franchises from the 70s and 80s and turning them into movies. I'm happy to learn that releasing this October is a re-make of Kamen Rider V3 called Kamen Rider - The Next.

Nothing can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own. - Sidney J. Harris

I don't believe I've ever done this... but I've been close. And I definitely saw a lot of this at Microsoft.