Comikaze Expo 2015...

Happy Halloween, Everyone! Earlier today, I drove down to the Los Angeles Convention Center to attend the annual comic book expo that's created and hosted by none other than Stan Lee himself. Like my last visit two years ago (when I met and got an autograph by Alyssa Milano), I went to this year's Comikaze specifically to meet two lovely actresses from various sci-fi and comic book TV shows over the years: Danielle Panabaker and Summer Glau. I last saw Ms. Glau at an event back in 2008, when she was promoting the now-defunct FOX TV show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Since then, she's appeared on such TV programs as the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory and the CW Network's Arrow. Danielle Panabaker herself is one of the main stars on CW Network's The Flash.



After I attended the photo ops for Ms. Panabaker and Ms. Glau, I went to Stan Lee's museum exhibit inside the West Hall of the convention center (all of the celebrity photo ops took place inside the South Hall)...mostly to see if it had the suit worn by Paul Rudd in last July's Ant-Man (my favorite Marvel flick this year— Sorry Avengers: Age of Ultron). It didn't...but it did have the cool life-size statue of the new shrinkable member of the Avengers shown directly below. In regards to Age of Ultron, I definitely needed to take a pic with the Hulkbuster statue shown in the last image at the bottom of this entry. Of course, this statue isn't full-scale; otherwise, the Hulkbuster suit would've probably been too tall to fit under the ceiling of the West Hall. That is all.

The Year of New Horizons and Star Wars Has Arrived!

NASA

Happy New Year, Everyone! 2015 promises to be a mega-year in terms of movies and space exploration...with our first close-up glimpse of two dwarf planets about to take place in a few months, and the follow-up to The Avengers and the long-awaited first installment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy set to come out in theaters by this Christmas. In terms of the dwarf planets, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will arrive at asteroid Ceres this March—while the New Horizons spacecraft will make its historic flyby of Pluto this July (the probe will begin Pluto encounter operations on January 15). On the manned side of spaceflight, a NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut will launch to the International Space Station this March to begin a year-long mission aboard the outpost that should provide intriguing data about how humans will someday fare during a years-long journey to and from Mars.



On the movie aspect of 2015, Avengers: Age of Ultron will continue Marvel's winning streak at the theaters on May 1, while Disney (which owns Marvel) will enhance its overall winning streak when Kylo Ren (shown above) unleashes the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens on December 18. Other potential blockbusters will storm the cinemas as well...like Furious 7 (April 3), Mad Max: Fury Road (May 15), Jurassic World (June 12), Terminator: Genisys (July 1), the James Bond film Spectre (November 6), Part 2 of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (November 20) and Mission: Impossible 5 (Christmas Day). In terms of M:I-5, I hope it's as good as 2011's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol...but I sure as heck hope that it doesn't eat too much into The Force Awakens' box office take during the holidays! We'll see if Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt proves a match for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) when they hit the big screen once more.



On a personal note, two close high school friends of mine are planning to get married (to other folks, that is) by the end of this year. Good for them! For financial reasons, I'm just hoping that their weddings will both be in-state (California, FYI). One of them already is. Cross my fingers that the other one will, too! Heh.



January 2015
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Jan 6)
-Taken 3 (Jan 9)
-72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 11)
-College Football Playoff National Championship in Arlington, Texas (Jan 12)
-NASA's New Horizons spacecraft begins Pluto encounter operations (Jan 15)
-Blackhat (Jan 16)
-NASA's SMAP satellite is launched to low-Earth orbit (Jan 29)



February 2015
-Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona (Feb 1)
-Jupiter Ascending (Feb 6)
-57th Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 8)
-Kingsman: The Secret Service (Feb 13)
-Fifty Shades of Grey (Feb 13)
-2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York, New York (Feb 15)
-Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (Feb 20)
-57th annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 22)
-87th Academy Awards (Feb 22)
-Focus (Feb 27)



March 2015
-NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrives at dwarf planet Ceres (Mar 6)
-Chappie (Mar 6)
-The Coup (Mar 6)
-The first qualification motor test-firing is conducted on the 5-segment solid rocket booster for NASA's Space Launch System, in Utah (Mar 11)
-Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (Mar 13)
-2015 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 17)
-The Divergent Series: Insurgent (Mar 20)
-A total solar eclipse will be visible over Europe (Mar 20)
-Get Hard (Mar 20)
-NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko launch on a one-year mission to the International Space Station (Mar 27)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2015 Final Four games in Indianapolis (Mar 29)



April 2015
-Furious 7 (Apr 3)
-2015 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana (Apr 4)
-A total lunar eclipse will be visible over western North America, the Pacific, east Asia, Australia and New Zealand (Apr 4)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Indianapolis, Indiana (Apr 6)
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Apr 8)
-NFL Draft begins (Apr 30)



May 2015
-Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1)
-NFL Draft concludes (May 2)
-Mad Max: Fury Road (May 15)
-Pitch Perfect 2 (May 15)
-Spy (May 15)
-Tomorrowland (May 22)
-Start of the 2015 French Open tennis tournament (May 24)
-99th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 24)
-San Andreas (May 29)



June 2015
-Entourage (Jun 5)
-Conclusion of the 2015 French Open (Jun 7)
-Jurassic World (Jun 12)
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo, including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, to the International Space Station (Jun 13)
-Inside Out (Jun 19)
-Ted 2 (Jun 26)



July 2015
-Terminator Genisys (Jul 1)
-Start of the 2015 Tour de France (Jul 4)
-Minions (Jul 10)
-NASA's New Horizons spacecraft makes its closest approach to the dwarf planet Pluto (Jul 14)
-2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Cincinnati, Ohio (Jul 14)
-Ant-Man (Jul 17)
-Trainwreck (Jul 17)
-Pan (Jul 24)
-Poltergeist (Jul 24)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 26)
-Point Break (Jul 31)



August 2015
-The Fantastic Four (Aug 7)
-Masterminds (Aug 14)
-Straight Outta Compton (Aug 14)
-Launch of Japan's fifth H-2 Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station (Aug 17)
-Sinister 2 (Aug 21)
-Hitman: Agent 47 (Aug 28)
-Start of the 2015 World Rowing Championships in France (Aug 30)



September 2015
-SpaceX's Dragon ship launches cargo to the International Space Station (Sep 2)
-Jane Got a Gun (Sep 4)
-Kitchen Sink (Sep 4)
-Conclusion of the World Rowing Championships (Sep 6)
-Triple Nine (Sep 11)
-A partial solar eclipse will occur (Sep 13)
-Black Mass (Sep 18)
-Everest (Sep 18)
-The Intern (Sep 25)



October 2015
-Victor Frankenstein (Oct 2)
-London Has Fallen (Oct 2)
-The Jungle Book (Oct 9)
-Vacation (Oct 9)
-St. James Place (Oct 16)
-Jem and the Holograms (Oct 23)
-The Last Witch Hunter (Oct 23)



November 2015
-Start of the Asian Archery Championships in Bangkok, Thailand (Nov 1)
-Spectre (Nov 6)
-The Peanuts Movie (Nov 6)
-Conclusion of the Asian Archery Championships (Nov 8)
-The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (Nov 20)
-The Good Dinosaur (Nov 25)
-The Martian (Nov 25)



December 2015
-Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (December 18)
-Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 (Dec 23)
-Mission: Impossible 5 (Dec 25)
-The Revenant (Dec 25)
-The U.S. Marine Corps' F-35B Lightning II fighter jet officially becomes operational and ready for combat (TBD)
-China launches the Barcelona Moon Team's lander and rover to the lunar surface (TBD)
-Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus freighter launches cargo to the International Space Station (TBD)

Sleepy Hollow...

Earlier today, I went to a sci-fi and comic book convention at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium to attend an autograph signing by Katia Winter...who plays Katrina Crane on the hit FOX TV show Sleepy Hollow. The last time I went to this convention was a little over six years ago—when Summer Glau and her fellow cast members showed up to promote FOX's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which opened to huge ratings but would only live on to see a total of two seasons on television). The cast of the latest Power Rangers series (not the one that I blogged about last December) was also on-hand to meet fans at Shrine this afternoon, but I only cared about meeting Ms. Winter. Lookin' forward to seeing Sleepy Hollow return this fall! In the meantime, I'll just have to make do with those other awesome FOX shows The Following, Almost Human and—holy cow, I CAN'T WAIT—this May's triumphant return of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day. Carry on.

Blue Star Line

Titanic II... That's the name of the new ocean liner that Australian billionaire Clive Palmer is planning to launch in 2016. Built in China instead of Belfast, Ireland (which is where the original Titanic was built), Titanic II would mimic the appearance of her doomed predecessor (plus her trans-Atlantic route) as much as possible...with the exception being that the new vessel will have modernized lifeboats and life rafts capable of carrying a total of 3,500 people (Titanic II will have 2,435 passengers plus 900 crew members aboard), plus a modern hospital, a helicopter landing pad, full air-conditioning and access to high-speed Internet. This is in contrast to the original cruise ship...which carried 2,224 passengers and crew on it, but had just 16 wooden lifeboats capable of accommodating 1,178 people (a third of Titanic's total capacity; you know what happened to the rest). But just like the first Titanic, her successor will have passengers split into three different sections—with third-class passengers residing below the deck just like poor immigrants did on the first vessel back in 1912. On the plus side though, third class will probably be the place to go a-rockin'...if the 1997 Best Picture-winning film is anything to go by.


Blue Star Line

Speaking of that flick, it looks like James Cameron might get to do a sequel to Titanic if T2 (pun intended) doesn't avoid the so-called 'sink jinx.' God forbid that that happens. But I assume a potential story for this would-be film would have a descendant of Rose, Kate Winslet's character, as an unwitting passenger aboard the new ocean liner when crap hits the fan? Nevermind. I'm delving into Seth MacFarlane-type territory with these anecdotes. Do you think Celine Dion will compose a song for the new mov— Darn it, stop!


Blue Star Line

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES... I finally saw the alien-invasion film today, and needless to say, it was the sci-fi version of Black Hawk Down. Which means...I thought it was pretty cool! Non-stop action was waged throughout B:LA, much like in Ridley Scott’s 2002 war flick about the 1993 conflict in Somalia. Aaron Eckhart was awesome as Staff Sergeant Nantz; while compared to her gung-ho attitude in Avatar, Machete and the Fast and the Furious films, Michelle Rodriguez was somewhat tame as Tech Sgt. Elena Santos in B:LA. As Santos, Rodriguez didn't have the usual sarcastic quips that she had playing previous movie characters. Not that that's a bad thing. Nothing exceptionally noteworthy about the civilians played by Bridget Moynahan and Michael Peña, but I’ll give them props since my review about this flick is supposed to be a positive one. I just found out through IMDb.com that 2nd Lt. William Martinez, who was in charge of the Marine platoon before handing command over to Eckhart's Nantz and then sacrificing himself later in the film, was played by Ramon Rodriguez. In case you’re wondering who this is, Rodriguez played the wacky college roommate of Shia LaBeouf in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But back to B:LA.



Battle: Los Angeles didn’t exactly have a deep message like 2009’s District 9 (which B:LA also borrowed elements from...namely weapons that cause explosions surrounded by bolts of lightning) did, but it was still a lot better than last year’s Skyline. B:LA didn’t have a "WTF??" moment at the very end of the movie like Skyline did...though as I said at the beginning of this journal entry, B:LA was obviously inspired by Black Hawk Down in that Eckhart and Co. go back into the battlefield at the film's conclusion to take care of unfinished business. Also, the battle in Los Angeles lasted for one day...while the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia lasted a day as well. Nothing wrong with that. My personal gripe about B:LA is that, like the Bourne movies (as in The Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum), it overdid it with the shaky cam. By now using this camera technique in war films has become a cliché, and unfortunately B:LA suffers from this tired method. It was cool in Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down...but try spending more time setting the camera up on a tripod or at least a Steadicam, folks—if there’s a sequel (Battle: San Diego, anyone?). Thanks. Another gripe is that the trippy song used in B:LA's theatrical trailers, "The Sun’s Gone Dim and the Sky Turned Black" by Icelandic musician Johann Johannsson, wasn't featured in the movie. Oh well.



Special effects-wise, the aliens in B:LA looked interesting...though were they using projectile weapons (RE: bullets) just like the humans were? I guess having the invaders shoot laser beams at the Marines would’ve ruined the gritty, realistic tone of the film. After all, this ain’t Star Wars. Or Star Trek. Or Independence Day. Or Transformers. Or Terminator. The same people who did the visual FX on Skyline also did the FX work on B:LA. The FX work was what saved Skyline since its CW Network-quality cast of actors wasn’t exactly the saving grace of that movie. That is all.

THIS MEME is getting old, I know. But just thought I’d share one more pic...since the quip below is actually true. Otherwise, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles would be starting its 3rd season on FOX pretty soon, and Summer Glau would still be looking hot kicking people’s asses as the T-800 named Cameron. Or is she a T-600? Or neither? I dunno, I forgot.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... I've been reading nothing but negative reviews for this fourth installment in the evil-cyborgs-amongst-us franchise, but whatever. I'll still watch it this weekend...

UPDATE (May 23): I saw the film after work last night, and um...

The robots were pretty cool. Especially the hunter-killers and T-600s.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... The newest trailer for the upcoming film was released yesterday, and I must say, I’m quite impressed. Of course, the Nine Inch Nails song playing in the background might be one of the major reasons why I think this preview kicks ass. I’ve never seen any of the Charlie’s Angels films or We Are Marshall [but I do watch the popular TV show (Supernatural) that’s executively produced by him on the CW network], so I don’t know just how well a job McG did in directing this fourth installment in the classic war-against-Skynet movie franchise. Here you go...



Unfortunately, the new trailer has not been released on Quicktime yet (at least in non-High Def formats... I don't have an HD monitor), so the screenshots below aren’t as sharp as what I’ve posted for The Dark Knight or even G.I. Joe. Oh well. Terminator Salvation comes out in theaters on May 21. If you live in the United States.




All images courtesy of Warner Bros.

IT ISN’T very often that I’d type something that you would mostly find on TMZ.com (haha, just kidding), but just thought I’d point out that as of yesterday, Megan Fox is single! Not that I myself would have a chance with her...unless I moved to the Hollywood area, grew a couple of inches taller, bulked up, actually got my career going in the entertainment industry, and/or liquored her up with 10 shots of vodka and tequila. Oh, and convinced Ms. Fox to smoke 5 joints afterwards. Wow... I sure am implying that I have low self-esteem here, haha. I take all these back. Well...except maybe for the 5 joints thing. Kidding. Note to Brian Austin Green: There’s always your role as John Connor's uncle in the FOX TV show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Until the end of this season, that is. That is all.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... Just thought I’d share some cool (leaked) artwork from this May’s fourth installment in the cyborgs-from-the-future movie franchise. These images were actually revealed two months ago, but oh well. These different types of Skynet weaponry look awesome...despite the fact some of them do look like they belong in a Transformers sequel. It’s all good. Giant F*ckin’ Robots... The primary reason why I’m looking forward to both films (the secondary reason for seeing Transformers 2 being Megan— You can finish this sentence).

FAREWELL, PRISON BREAK... After four seasons filled with tons of gripping suspense and intriguing (but farfetched, I know) storylines, the FOX TV serial drama is finally coming to an end. On April 17, Prison Break will return for four more episodes (and possibly a few more), and then given the curtain. It will take over the Friday 8 PM slot after Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles wraps up its second (and final?) season a week before.

Well, at least Prison Break is ending on a high note. As stated in a previous entry, this season is probably the most interesting and creative one since the first season. It was good knowing ya, Mike and Linc. Do you think Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell will finally get his comeuppance in the series finale? We'll see.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! It’s time for that annual journal entry where I post a series of events that are happening this year...and half of them interest me and only some of them interest you. Just kidding. Seriously though, you’ll notice a consistency of events from January to July that I’ve listed in the previous years...such as the USC Trojans playing football in the Rose Bowl every New Year’s Day to the Tour de France taking place in July (July 4 thru 26). And of course, just like the past recent years, there aren’t that many significant events (um, American-wise) taking place from August through December...which is why I list international stuff like elections taking place in Uruguay, Honduras and Chile (October 25, November 29 and December 11, respectively).



Personally, I’m looking forward to the re-release of The Dark Knight in theaters later this month, Christian Bale kicking cyborg ass as John Connor (May 22), the return of the Autobots and Decepticons to the big screen (June 26), the test flight of a prototype of America’s next generation launch vehicle (July 11) and a federal election in Germany (September 27). Just kidding about that last one. But I am looking forward to the return of the hit TV show 24 (January 11) as well as the launches of Kepler, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Glory spacecraft within the next 6 months (March 5, April 24 and June 15, respectively). Why am I looking forward to their launches? I’ll tell you later. That is all.



January 2009
-Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State (Jan 1)
-BCS National Championship Game in Miami, Florida: Oklahoma vs. Florida (Jan 8)
-66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 11)
-Season 7 premiere of 24 (Jan 11, 12)
-Season 8 premiere of American Idol (Jan 13, 14)
-Popular TV show Supernatural returns from hiatus on Season 4 (Jan 15)
-U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama (Jan 20)
-Season 5 premiere of Lost (Jan 21)
-The Dark Knight re-release (Jan 23)
-2009 National Hockey League All-Star Game in Montreal, Quebec (Jan 25)



February 2009
-Super Bowl XLIII in Florida (Feb 1)
-51st Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 8)
-Mission STS-119... Space shuttle Discovery (Feb 12)
-51st annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 15)
-2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona (Feb 15)
-NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, en route to asteroid Vesta, flies by Mars for a gravitational assist (Feb 17)
-81st Academy Awards (Feb 22)
-Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27)



March 2009
-Launch of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft into solar orbit (Mar 5)
-World Baseball Classic (Mar 5)
-Start of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, hosted by Dubai (Mar 5)
-Watchmen (Mar 6)
-Conclusion of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens (Mar 5)
-2009 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 17)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2009 Final Four games in Michigan (Mar 29)



April 2009
-2009 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Detroit, Michigan (Apr 5)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Detroit, Michigan (Apr 6)
-Dragonball: Evolution (Apr 8)
-The New York Mets open their new Citi Field stadium against the San Diego Padres (Apr 13)
-The New York Yankees open their new Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians (Apr 16)
-Launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Moon (Apr 24)
-NFL Draft (Apr 25, 26)



May 2009
-X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1)
-Star Trek (May 8)
-Mission STS-125... Space shuttle Atlantis (May 12 – tentative)
-Angels & Demons (May 15)
-Mission STS-127... Space shuttle Endeavour (May 15 – tentative)
-Terminator Salvation (May 22)
-Start of the 2009 French Open tennis tournament (May 24)
-93rd Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 24)



June 2009
-Conclusion of the 2009 French Open (Jun 7)
-Start of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa (Jun 14)
-Launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft into Earth orbit (Jun 15)
-Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Jun 26)
-Conclusion of the FIFA Confederations Cup (Jun 28)



July 2009
-Start of the 2009 Tour de France (Jul 4)
-2012 (Jul 10)
-Test flight of NASA’s Ares I-X rocket (Jul 11)
-2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri (Jul 14)
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Jul 17)
-2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Italy (Jul 19)
-Total solar eclipse (Jul 22)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 26)



August 2009
-Conclusion of the 2009 World Aquatics Championships (Aug 2)
-Mission STS-128... Space shuttle Atlantis (Aug 6)
-G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Aug 7)
-Start of the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poland (Aug 23)
-Conclusion of the World Rowing Championships (Aug 30)



September 2009
-Parliamentary election in Norway (Sep 14)
-Jennifer’s Body (Sep 18)
-Federal election in Germany (Sep 27)
-NASA’s Messenger spacecraft makes a third flyby of Mercury (Sep 29)



October 2009
-Toy Story 3-D (Oct 2)
-Announcement of the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics (Oct 2)
-Presidential elections in Uruguay (Oct 25)



November 2009
-Mission STS-129... Space shuttle Discovery (Nov 12)
-Sherlock Holmes (Nov 20)
-Presidential elections in Honduras (Nov 29)



December 2009
-Mission STS-130... Space shuttle Endeavour (Dec 10)
-Presidential election in Chile (Dec 11)
-Maiden voyage of the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship (Dec 12)
-Avatar (Dec 18)
-Deadline for implementing the United States’ REAL ID Act (Dec 31)