LUCID FORGE

I curled up with a cup of tea to watch The Late Show With David Letterman last night. Not a regular viewer by any means, I was lured by the prospect of seeing a favourite actor give what I figured might be a bizarre interview. Yes, I'd read about Joaquin Phoenix's supposed transition from actor to hip-hopper. And I'd seen the photos of the once-delicately-beautiful actor with the intense gaze now bearded, dirty and unruly, like a modern-day Jim Morrison, determined to wipe that St. Sebastien-esque beauty right out of history and the minds of every person (like me) who could claim pre-Gladiator memories. But I'd questioned the sincerity of the whole thing since a/ he seems like a pretty smart guy, in every interview I'd seen or read, quoting poets, referencing obscure films, and genuinely coming off as smarter (if more scarily insecure) than the average Hollywood star; and b/ he's being followed around and filmed in this transition by Casey Affleck, best friend and brother-in-law.

Ever since inscribing GOOD-BYE! across his knuckles last October to announce his retirement from the film industry, rumours have been flying around about his the truth behind his decision. Is it a genuine desire to explore new creative terrain, or an elaborate, dada-esque performance art joke? While he received huge acclaim for Walk The Line (for which he garnered his second Oscar nomination, the first was for his scary turn as the Emperor Commodus in Gladiator), I was personally non-plussed; sure, he captured music legend Johnny Cash's dark spots, but the voice failed to impress, and the eyes lied. He was always too delicate to be doomed, that sensitive face too expressive to capture Cash's hardness, the voice a Captain Beefheart-esque bellow that bellied a more contemplative (if nasal) tenor. He was playing at being Cash, but looked uncomfortable; now it seems he needs practise at being himself.

 

Well, I am all sweaty and out of breath from fighting the crowd on the main floor. I must have talked to about 20 publicists in 20 minutes. You can't say I'm working hard, anyway?

So that's it for New York. It's been a slice. It seemed like things went by way too fast, and I think it really did. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. This was a bold experiment for me. I've never done live blogging before, but I learned some tough lessons. And I'd like to leave the Javits Centre with a message: get some better Wi-Fi!!! Especially if you're charging. It's good thing I can write this off at year's end.

Stay tuned to the LF for more from NYCC. Hopefully, I'll have my wrap-up tomorrow. And then the next Lucid Comics and Lucid Gaming will round out the ample coverage. I know from the blogs it looks like I didn't do much, but I did lots and I hope you'll come back to see. Maybe I'll throw up some pics later, too.

So I after feeding myself, getting caffeinated and finding a spot in the press room to plug in the old beast of burden (AKA: my laptop), I'm final able to dissect the "Fringe" panel. Featured were executive producer Jeff Pinker, along with the entire cast: Anna Torv (Agent Dunham), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop),Kirk Avecedo (Agent Francis), John Noble (Walter), Lance Reddick (Broyles), Jasika Nicole (Astrid) and Blair Brown (Nina Sharp)

I'm not sure it offered much, mostly because I sensed a bit of a gush fest on the part of the moderator.  But ther were some interesting anecdotes and other information about the series direction that came out of the discussion. Here are the highlights:

• We will meet William Bell by the end of season 1
• Also by the end of season one we will learn why Peter was not supposed to return to Boston
• The Observer is not an alien...
• And, he's not the only one.
• In fact, "Fringe" will never deal with aliens, at least according to Pinker
• The Observer has better connections than Joshua Jackson. The actor was at the Eagles game the big O made an appearance at, sitting way up in the nosebleeds
• Fox tried to get the observe on the platform for the inauguration of President Obama. True story, says Pinker. 

During the Q&A, an individual claiming to be a "neurology student" at a "local univeristy" asked Anna Torv to participate in his telepathy experiment using a device of his own design. Was it a  success? Not sure, I'm tryoing to load the picture, but thir seems to be some disagreement with the software and the connection, so I'll do it later.

So the "Dollhouse" panel just wrapped and now I've been able to move to some better seating for the "Fringe" panel. Now I'm not a huge fan of "Fringe" but I like it enough to say that it's the only new show this year that was able to get enough of my attention to stick around for a multiple episodes. Actually, scratch that. I think it's the only new show I've watched this year.

But first "Dollhouse and colour me impressed. It's going to be unlike anything Joss Whedon's ever done before. It's dark in a very real way, and filled with more moral ambiguity and murky ethics than a season-full of "Law & Orders." Despie the rumoured difficult birth of the show, it seems to really have its stuff together. And the well made 15 minute segment shown made me anxious to see more. But I, like the rest of you, have to wait until this Friday the 13th to see the whole thing.

The panel with Whedon and star Tahmoh Pinkett was funny and insightful. Whedon offered some great advice to aspiring filmmakers and the expression "What would Helo do?" was born in honour of Pinkett's morally balanced fighter pilot character on "Battlestar Galactica."

I think "Fringe" is about to get underway. More in an hour or so....

I'm presently waiting for the "Dollhouse" panel to get under way. Nothing starts a mile long line-up at a Comic Con faster than something Whedonesque. Believe it or not, the line-up started at 10 am this morning; pretty much since the minute the con opened. By the time I walked towards the IGN theatre again at 12:20, the line had filled the foyer, turneddown a hallway, and went out through the food court. It was only through my quick talking ways that I was able to skirt the line and sneak in with the help of a sympathetic red shirt (that is con staff, not the Star Trek variety).

Anyway, it's five minutes till this thing roles so I'll be brief. I was doing some glad-handing this morning; some meeting and greeting. Then I decided to go to the Marvel/Activision show. There wasn't a lot of new footage, except with one difference which I'll get to in as sec. But the discussion was good, a lot of insights into what's going to be in the games "Ultimate Alliance 2" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." UA2, or Ooh-Ah 2 as the designers called it, say that the fact that the game is based on Civil War won't have much of an affect on gameplay. Certain characters will have to be on one side or the other, but no matter what side you choose, most of the playable characters will side with you.

And that new clip shown from "Wolverine." It's from a level called Sentinel Mark One, so three guess what that means. Too bad the game froze. Twice. But that's okay because the Raven guys apparently weren't supposed to be showing us it anyway. If you're in Activision PR, ignore that last sentence...

Well, I can't believe my New York odyssey has almost come to a close. I was just talking to some fellow members of the press about the convention, the space, next year's date change and the hypocrisy of politicians. (It's a rich Athenian debating ground here.)

Sunday's a short dayby comparison. I'll be at the Dollhouse and Fringe panel for sure, but I'm still debating whether or not to go to the Chuck show. I'll probably visit the Scott Pilgrim panel, maybe IDW's G.I. Joe/Transformers presentation and perhaps one of the two "Top Secret" things going down. I'm going to check those out and decide if they'e worth it. 

The final panel was from the folks at Summit Entertainment. The studio that brought us "Twilight" previously, had a few things to offer.

First is the new Nicolas Cage movie "Knowing" which looks pretty good pressuming Cage's acting doesn't bungle it up. The two scenes shown were of two key action sequences. The first is the plane crash from the initial trailer, and the second is the train crash from the latest trailer. Both sequences have brutal, visceral action that's unlike anything director Alex Proyas  has done before.

Following "Knowing" was "The Hurt Locker", a film that's been making the festival circuit, but got its start at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film directed by Kathyrn Bigelow, is about a bomb disposal squad working in Iraq. It stars Jeremy Renner as Sgt. James, a cool as cucumber soldier that calmly disposes of IEDs. Renner was in attendance and said that the film isn't so much about the war as it is about the job that these guys do. Renner added that the film is apparently looking at an August release date.

One of the previews for today, as I mentioned earlier, was a first look at Disney/Pixar's 10th collaboration: "Up!" The story is about Carl Fredrickson, who's about to lose his home, decides to honour his late wife by taking their home on the journey of exploration they never took. The house is tethered to about a billion helium-filled balloons and it floats gentle up above the city until curtain sails steer it towards South America. And that's just the second of five clips.

Along the way, Carl picks up a stow away in Russell, a motor-mouthed Wilderness Explorer out to get his final merrit badge by offer assistance to a senior. When the arrive in South America, they find the house without the buoyancy it  once had, so Carl and Russell have to walk the rest of the way to Paradise Falls, on foot, towing the house behind them. This is where things get interesting: they encounter some kind of weird dodo bird and a group of talking dogs (speaking with technological assistance) pursuing it.

Director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera made note that the film, as presented, was still in an unfinished state,  but boy was it a hit. Some truly funny stuff here, but funny with a touch of poignancy as "Up!" deals with some heavy emotional themes, not to mention timely. Even witout the finished sound and new music by Michael Giacchino, the film makes a powerful, and powerfully funny, impression. I didn't get to see the special presentation of the first 45 minutes, but my whistle is definitely wetted for seeing this latest Pixar triumph later this summer.