Diva's Geektastic Highlights of 2010

Everyone seems to be doing "lists" when time is relentlessly hurtling towards a New Year.

Since she is part of the blogosphere at large, Red Dot Diva feels that it is also her civic duty to do a list. Namely - "Red Dot Diva's Geektastic Highlights of 2010".

The "geek" part did not include any gadgets acquired in 2010, however. :(

Red Dot Diva wishes she was able to include an iPhone 4, a snazzy iPad, fancy SLR camera, 3D TV or ultra-portable teleporter in her list. However, since she sold half her blood and part of her liver in order to attend SDCC this year, she was not able to afford these "I ALSO WANTZ!" digital babies. (Any manwich-y generous sponsors out there?? Applications are open.)

One should also note that Red Dot Diva is not a gamer (why not?? ask her when you meet her) and hence, has not X-boxed, Wii-ed and Playstation-ed in any way.

So.. what the frell did Red Dot Diva geek-out over in 2010??

Cosplayers at STGCC.. Meow.

Stormtroopers, Pic by Lim Gillian

Lolitas. Kitty cats. Streetfighters. Masks, lace, feathers... Aaaahh!

Mesh them altogether and one is probably in the midst of a flock of cosplayers.

Cosplay has gained a booming popularity in Red Dot Island in recent years. There has also been a growing number of cosplay competitions held in various local conventions and fairs. Previously, it was rare to see anyone unconscious enough to parade themselves in costumes, in very public places.

Red Dot Diva noted that cosplaying in this region is still the domain of those who are into anime and manga, or games. There is a smattering of comic/ scific cosplayers these days, but it is still the anime/ Lolita crowd that makes up the majority.

In her many years attending conventions overseas, Red Dot Diva has mostly seen cosplaying of other types of genres - from the mostly vampire-themed Buffy conventions to the fantasy-realm of the Lord of the Rings to the frenzied SDCC cosplayers - where almost anything from comic or pop-culture goes. There was even an Elvis Stormtrooper - so go figure!

Matt Fraction + STGCC = Prime

Let it be known that Red Dot Diva trumps at mathematics and, naturally with it - fractions. She is very good with the proper fractions, and *especially* fabulous with the improper ones.

However, on the 2nd day of STGCC, she was feeling a little intimidated with a particular problem - Eisner Award-winning comic book writer, Matt Fraction.

While slinking around the STGCC exhibit hall, Red Dot Diva noted the long line of of fans whenever Matt was scheduled for autograph signings. As she passed by the throng of excited fans, she would hear them utter his name in hushed tones of wonderment. Once, she was even stopped by an anonymous fan who, probably noting her media pass, excitedly shoved his hardcover copy of "Invincible Ironman" in her face and asked, "Have you read *this*?!? It's really GOOD!"

From The Simpsons To Pachuko Boy!

There are not many people who have not heard of "The Simpsons".

And for those who do watch the award-winning and longest-running American animated series, almost everyone has an opinion who their favourite Simpsons character is. At the least, one would have uttered "D'oh!" at one point or other.

But has anyone heard of "Pachuko Boy"??
Nope?

Ahh... here's where the nosy Red Dot Diva gives you the scoop about "Pachuko Boy", gleaned from an interview with Emmy Award-winning, comic creator veteran Phil Ortiz during STGCC.

Testing, Testing!

After the two failed ticketing registrations with Epic, SDCC decided to have a so-called "test-run" on December 15th, 8 AM PST.

1,000 4-Day Comic Con tickets were offered up for sale online that day.

It seemed that Ticketleap - a social ticketing platform company - has also been pulled into the registration procedures together with Epic. And when you buy the SDCC tickets, funds will be paid to both companies for different types of charges. For the test-run, each registrant can only order for two tickets!

Ingrid's Linkin Park Experience in Brisbane

Words… they fail me. Well, almost.

So where to start?

My memories and thoughts are jumbled so it is hard to figure out where everything really started and ended.

The first thing I remember was arriving at the venue, The Brisbane Entertainment Center on 3rd December, and checking into the cloak room. I was organizing everything I needed, including the Christmas presents (Australian Animal shot glasses for the band) and cards I had picked out earlier that day for the band. I also had a beautiful and masculine Sagittarius Necklace for Linkin Park member, Brad’s birthday.

Jess (one of my best friends - you will hear about her in this account) and I packed away and clocked in our things, passed security proceeding to bolt up the stairs to the volunteering area where we met up with Lyndon. Lyndon, who is not much older than me, is head volunteer for the Music For Relief (MFR) booth. He did a head count, only about 9 of us - Jess and I being the only girls.

Gail Simone, A Starfish and Lots of Laughs

Without a doubt, one should consider an afternoon quite normal Absolutely Bizarre when one finds herself conducting an interview while sitting next to a purple supervillain starfish.

A mind-boggling scene that can hardly happen anywhere else on the Red Dot Island other than at the STGCC.

DC comics creator Gail Simone, who happened to be the interview subject, was a riot of colours that day with her cheery demeanor, colourful blouse and trademark red hair. It was fortunate that she had not been brain-sucked by that pesky starfish (whose name is Starro, BTW). For while Gail sat on the couch fielding questions, Starro's nasty eye stared at her hungrily the entire time.

Meanwhile, Red Dot Diva had her invisible but very powerful Echinodermic-Deflector Shield up. So she was quite, quite safe during the interview. In any case, no way will an alien starfish be allowed to disrupt a crucial interview with Red Dot Diva's SQUEE #1.

Gail began by sharing how her website "Women in Refrigerators", and later, a fun parody column called "You'll All Be Sorry", were both started out as amusement. These proved popular with readers and were then circulated around the internet. And that was how she got noticed and asked to write for comics companies, including Bongo Comics, Marvel and DC.

Cammo - Diva's First (Interview) At STGCC

Italian? Check
Handsome? Check
Smells good? Check
Geeky glasses? Check. CHECK.

Do ignore first four sentences if one is not interested in Red Dot Diva's auto-mental checklist when she met comic artist Giuseppe Camuncoli for the very first time.

- whiff of his flowery male fragrance -
(For a moment, Red Dot Diva feared that this was going to get terribly distracting. Focus!)

Beneath those dark, enigmatic John Lennon-istic good looks, is a talented rather soft-spoken artist who was very ready to share about his experiences in the comic industry.

STGCC Squee (Rating) Board

This is Red Dot Diva's current STGCC Squee Board.

One may consider this absolutely inane but as a pop-culture fangirl, Squees are of Utmost Importance.

One simply cannot be a fangirl without knowing the Art of Squeeing. Some do not even realize that one can squee in a rather classy fashion -- not unlike what Red Dot Diva is doing right now.

Pop-Culture Kick-off at STGCC!

No, it's not as frantic nor glamourous as San Diego Comic Convention.

Nor is it a fantasy-scifi-centric fangasm like Dracon*Con.

But the Singapore Toy Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) showed its unique style of pop-culture kickoff when it opened doors yesterday on our Red Dot Island.

True to the mixpot "rojak"-style-culture of our island, STGCC was a heady mix of girlish J-pop, macho superheroes and weird, quirky toys.

They Came, They Saw, They Ate ;)

Signage at Suntec (pic taken on 8th Dec)

*waves Singapore flag*

Red Dot Diva chirps (well actually not quite, she has a pretty low voice.. lol): "WELCOME TO OUR STGCC GUESTS!"

It's only a few hours more, peeps. LESS THAN A DAY to STGCC this weekend! W0000t!

Excited yet???!

The anticipated guests arrived on our Red Dot Island in mini groups since yesterday. It was raining cats and dogs earlier that afternoon but it sure didn't mar the general cheerful spirit of things.

Get Your Lightsabres and Suits READY!

This.Must.Be.A.Rebellion.Takedown.

Red Dot Diva reckons that the Singapore Toy Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) organizers are trying to maim the pop-culture fans with major geek-overload.

'Coz get those lightsabres ready! The list of already interesting STGCC panels now include two hosted by Lucasfilm! 

One of the panels - "The Clone Wars: Pushing the Envelope for TV" will discuss about the challenges Lucasfilm faced with delivering quality episodes of the animated series, "The Clone Wars" and meeting the expectations of hard-core Star Wars fans. Rob Ladermeier (lead animator) and Josh Robinson (lead asset artist) are panelists for this event.

Not only does one have to get ready to duel with lightsabres, one has better be able to strut it as good as suave tycoon, Tony Stark!

The second Lucasfilm panel is by the folks from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). ILM is reknown for providing astounding special effects for countless films - including the recent "Iron Man 2". The digital craft from ILM would be seen in over 530 visual effects shots for the movie, including the brassy Stark Expo opener and the thrilling battle scenes. Red Dot Diva is proud to know that 190 of those shots were done in the Singapore studio.

So, don't miss the chance to catch ILM's Digital Artists, Phil Pham and Abishek Nair, who will both share about their experience working for the "Iron Man 2" movie. Phil and Abishek will show how the shots shown in the theatres were created and put together.

On a side note, Red Dot Diva wonders if any folks dare cosplay themselves as Tony Stark and the Ironettes during STGCC? Red Dot Diva saw a pretty impressive bevy at this year's SDCC, despite "Tony" being just a *little* hefty. Heh.

That's not all!! It seems that Lucasfilm will also be recruiting at STGCC from 1-5 pm on 10th December (Friday) and 10 am – 2 pm on 11th December (Saturday) at booth J24. For more details, do follow STGCC's Facebook acccount!

The Lucasfilm panels are held at Level 4, Halls 401 and 402:
10th December, Friday, 2.30pm - "The Clone Wars: Pushing the Envelope for TV"
11th December, Saturday, 11 am - "Iron Man 2: An Insider's Treat on the Movie's Visual Effects"

Dark side or not, Red Dot Diva thinks that these two Lucasfilms panels are far too epic to be missed!

Cinderel-LAH! She's Not Just A Sengkang Maid

The theatre scene has been heating up on our Red Dot Island the last few years. Before that, affordable and entertaining plays worth attending were few and the target audience tended to be very high-brow.

Local theatre companies have bloomed once they realized that they could be arty and yet reach the hearts of the masses. By crafting a theatre schedule that consisted of a good mix of localized, easy-to-digest themes coupled with less generic and darker ones, they managed to find their footing with a growingly more sophisticated Red Dot Island audience.

One of these companies, W!ld Rice, has pulled in some successes recently with "Animal Farm" and "Boeing Boeing". For the year-end festive season, W!ld Rice has decided to go all colourful and cheery with their 10th anniversary celebratory pantomime, "Cinderel-LAH!"

The classic rags-to-princess fairy tale has been updated and given a very local Red Dot Islandic twist.

More Concept Art Talk With Robbie!

Isn't previz work cool?

It is not merely an artistic field, Red Dot Diva appreciates that it's also rather brainy work. The ability to conceptualize and create from an almost blank slate is something she is in awe of.

If one is still unfamiliar with what previz is, click here for the part 1 interview with one of the top concept artist in Hollywood, Robbie Consing.

Warm, humourous Robbie has more to share about his many years of experience working in several blockbuster films. Read on for what he has to say!

Linkin Park Resonates With Ingrid

“Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.” – Anonymous

It has always been said that music has the incredible ability to change lives. It has the ability to give strength, hope, courage, wisdom, inspiration and the will to persevere. It can soothe and heal the wounds that would be otherwise left untreated, wounds of the heart and wounds of the soul.

Music is the one language that everyone in this world can understand, for there is no translation and no comparison. Music is universal and the positive feelings one can get from it coupled with its ability to heal, can be enough to not just save lives, but change them for the better. Music gives life new meaning and purpose that would otherwise go undiscovered.

Music helped me with all these things in a very personal way.

But not just any music…
The music of Linkin Park.

Get To Know A Pre-viz Whiz

A pre-wha--t? O_O

Red Dot Diva assures that she isn't creating a new word here.

Pre-viz or short for Previsualization, which includes storyboarding that could be drawn by hand or digital technology, allows a director to have an idea how sequences will look like on film before production is carried out.

And it takes someone with solid artistic and imaginative visualization skills to be able to do the job fantastically well.

One such top artists in this field is Robbie Consing. Red Dot Diva says a pop-culture fan should get familiar with this name, as one would then be able to connect his previsualizations to a lot of popular blockbuster movies!

Robbie has provided his previz whiz on movies like "Armageddon", "Pearl Harbour", "Minority Report", "X2" and "Terminator 3"! One can check out the list of his illustrious work from his IMDb profile!

Red Dot Diva is very glad to have gotten connected with this genuinely nice and articulate guy and naturally, she couldn't help but ask him for an interview.

The interview will be posted in two parts. This is the first instalment where Robbie acquaints us more about his field of work.

Local Theatre News

New local theatre production company Pangdemonium! Productions kicked off to a successful start with "The Full Monty" this year.

As a follow-up, Pangdemonium will be offering more nudity with the dark psycho-drama play by Patrick Marber called "Closer". (Red Dot Diva knows that some may already be familiar with the movie version starring Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.) The play is directed by Tracie Pang is about love, lust, obsession, betrayal... All those melodramatic stuff. It stars Adrian Pang, Emma Yong, Keagan Kang and Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie as the four main protagonists.

"Closer" will go on stage at the DBS Arts Centre from 17 February to 6 March 2011. Tickets go on sale on December 1st on SISTIC. Remember to check out the early bird discount!

Angry Nerds??

It was Angry Nerds Day on November 22nd, 2010.

More registration frustrations abound when eager fans, geeks and nerds tried to buy their tickets for San Diego's Comic Con 2011.

After a previous failed attempt, SDCC re-scheduled registration for November 22nd at a super-early hour of 6 am PST. Red Dot Diva was aware that many fans disrupted their usual schedule to take a shot at getting the highly sought-after tickets. Especially since those 4-day + Preview ones were already sold out during this year's SDCC.

To their utter frustration, that second try at online registration was just as unsuccessful as the first one! No one was able to get onto the site due to "glitches" with the dreaded "The web system has encountered an error while attempting to service your registration process." error message appearing on their screens.

The company running the registration process is EPIC. More like EPIC Fail.

2.5 hours later, SDCC tweeted: “We are well aware that many people have taken time from work, school or other activities and others woke up very early. There really is no way to convey our level (of) regret for this turn of events. We are currently researching our registration options.”

SDCC had two weeks to work out this issue. Red Dot Diva strongly felt that if the system was simply not ready for the mega-volume of registrations, then they should have announced a postponement much earlier.

Too many EPIC egos at work?

A Vampire in the Bayou

One of the things Red Dot Diva hates er.. loves ... about her friend @eserei27 is that Red Dot Diva is able to live vicariously through her. See, @eserei27 the mega fan-girl gets around. ;)

Two weekends ago, @eserei27 made her way to sultry Louisiana for some vampire hunting. No, she didn't get any bottles of True Blood or get chomped on by lesbian Vampire Queen. Instead she bit herself into some diary entries by attending a charity event called "The Unleashed Bash on the Bayou".

The event was hosted by the current sexiest "vampire" of them all (Red Dot Diva snubs the glittery kind, if one must know). He who is none other than the stunningly gorgeous Louisiana homeboy and constant do-gooder, Ian Somerhalder. If one is still unfortunately unaware, Ian stars as vamp bad-boy Damon Salvatore in CW's hit show "The Vampire Diaries".

Being the geeky fangirl, Red Dot Diva confesses that Ian has been one of her top manwich lists ever since she noticed him in "Smallville" as the fated Adam Knight. Remember him?

Panels, Divadom and More At STGCC

If one has been counting down at all -- it's just 3 more weeks to the Red Dot island's main geeky pop-culture event - the Singapore Toy Games Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010!

The schedule for the panels have already been announced. Click here for the dates and times! All panels will be held in the Panel Room in Hall 401. Red Dot Diva would most probably target the comic-related ones. Which ones will you be targetting for?

It has also been announced that Marvel’s Senior VP, Creator and Content Development, C.B. Cebulski will be shortlisting and meeting possible talents during the event. So, if one is interested, you can submit your names either by email to Reed Exhibitions, or at STGCC itself!

Speedy Encounters at Austin CC

It was late last Sunday that Red Dot Diva saw a tweet from my Texan SDCC-roomie @RealFastTlkr. She had suddenly decided to head to the Austin Comic Convention the next day! And she said she was going to try to catch one of Red Dot Diva's favourite stunt guys (and ex-"Heroes" Season 4 actors) - Ray Park.

For those who are more familiar with Ray Park when he's not without make up, he's the person behind "Star Wars"' facially-tattooed villain, Darth Maul and "X-Men's" Toad, amongst many other movie characters (usually nasty, bad guys).

Red Dot Diva's other good friend @eserei27 had met Ray before at an Ohio convention and she mentioned that he was very personable and friendly to his fans. She got Red Dot Diva a Ray-autograph pic during that convention - on which, he had written her a very sweet personalized message. So Red Dot Diva heart-hearts Ray Park. ;)

Here is @RealFastTlkr's account of her Ray Park meet-up at the Austin CC!

Holy Vesuvius!

Many years ago, when Red Dot Diva was just a mere speck, the Singapore National Museum was a dark dusty place that looked and felt more like a forgotten storeroom of artefacts.

The museum was housed in a majestic but rather mysterious colonial building. And Red Dot Diva could still remember the infamous spiral staircase that was the cauldron of some ghostly tales concerning resident spooks. The entrance to the staircase was ominously chained up and constantly watched by a grumpy museum security guard.

The same historical building - now grandly restored with a new annexe - is much brighter and looks swankier to suit the times. However till today, that spooky Victorian-style staircase still remains closed to public access. (You can view a pic of that staircase here!)

Anyway, this blog post is not going to be about ghost-hunting. Red Dot Diva was just reminiscing about the good ol' days ;)

With the classy revamp of the National Museum's facilities and exhibits, she has enjoyed visiting the place at least once a year recently. When previously, she hardly visited it at all!

For one thing, the museum has definitely upped the ante on the quality of their special exhibitions. Last year's Egyptian Mummies exhibit was a hit with the locals, and this year's "Pompeii - Life In A Roman Town 79CE" exhibit seems to be getting rather popular too.

Toys, Exclusives and More at STGCC!

And the news just keep rollin' in!

Singapore, Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) has just released some teasers and information concerning the various exclusives available at the event itself.

A gamut of toys and graphic novels are available for grabs in limited numbers and copies during the convention. Check out the entire list here!

Red Dot Diva thinks the Dooodolls Costume Party Special Edition toys are too cute! So are the 3” Care Bears Trexi (Pearl Glitter Edition)!

What's really tempting to Red Dot Diva though, is the limited hardcover Absolute "V for Vendetta" edition available through local comic bookstore, GnB Comics. Click their blog for the full information on the special packaging and print autograph from their special and invited guest to STGCC, the graphic novel's co-creator David Lloyd!

The hardcovers can be pre-ordered through GnB's website at S$150. Closing date for pre-orders is 25th November 2010!

Marvel-lous News Indeed!

.. Just in from Singapore, Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC)!!

A press release was released yesterday announcing that widely-popular publishing company Marvel Comics will make their first appearance in Asia at this year's STGCC!

Red Dot Diva couldn't help squee-ing with excitement when she heard the news.

Early Bird Gets The Worm?

So, does SDCC really think that opening online ticketing at 6am, Pacific time on November 22, 2010 will ease their technical issues??

Red Dot Diva thinks not.

The new timing causes a bunch of practical difficulties for those living in the East Coast. It is the time where they have to commute to their workplace or clock-in for their jobs. And West Coasters have to wake up extra early to get online for their tickets.

Hard core fans are still going to scramble for tickets regardless, perhaps even booking their passes through their friends.

For the sake of her friends who are eager to get to SDCC 2011, Red Dot Diva wishes them all the best though.

Convention Ticketing Woes

Red Dot Diva noted that ticketing woes had plagued two comic conventions lately. Ironically, one was a large and iconic convention in the States; and the other, a smaller newcomer in the Asian scene.

It was a disappointing ticket booking FAIL on November 1st with franticly-popular San Diego's Comic Con (SDCC) 2011. More mainstream pop-culture fans must have gotten wind of the gamut of A-list guests who appeared at this year's SDCC and were now making a play for next year's tickets.

One has to note that it has already been announced that the Preview Night tickets which were offered during SDCC 2010 itself were already sold out by the end of the convention!

The Devil - It's Free!

"Be careful!" Red Dot Diva warns.

The Devil's on Earth and in our dimension. Is he intending to do more Evil?

Surprisingly, probably not! In fact, the Devil aka Jack Springheel seems bent on trying to find some form of redemption. Red Dot Diva wonders... will he succeed?? Can the Big Bad actually *be* good?

This interesting storyline with the Devil as "the leading man" is the main premise in a FREE web-comic called "Devil Inside". The web-comic series is created by a very charming, almost-bromantic partnership consisting of actor Todd Stashwick and well-known and award-winning comic artist Dennis Calero.

A Dee-lightful Detective Popcorn Fare

Spontaneous human combustion and a talking deer in a Chinese movie? Red Dot Diva nods: You read it right.

This brand of quirky-fun mix of supernatural-fantasy-and-martial arts (wuxia 武侠) entertainment can only be successfully pulled off by famed HK director Tsui Hark 徐克). And more so with updated CGI effects, in his latest movie "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame". Sounds like an Oriental Harry Potter book title, no? ;)

"Detective Dee" or Di Renjie is a well-known character and magistrate in Chinese history and is also featured in a set of fictional novels by - strangely enough - a Dutch diplomat named Robert van Gulik. In addition, Dee has been fictionalized in a couple of Chinese TV drama series. Dee is usually portrayed as a much older man. However, Red Dot Diva suspects that to make the new movie more "current-sexy", Tsui Hark has decided to hire dashing Andy Lau (刘德华) to take the lead role. The movie was shown in the recent Venice Film Festival 2010 and was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion Award.

As Dark As A Blackbird

A tragic tale. A taboo topic. A forbidden love.

This is the premise of the award-winning play by Scottish playright, David Harrower entitled "Blackbird".

After an earlier run for the play was postponed till September this year, Red Dot Diva and her friends have been eagerly waiting to catch the performance at our local theatre. This finally happened at the DBS Art Centre last Thursday.

Staged by the Singapore Repertory Theatre and directed by Tracie Pang, the play was helmed by well-known, local-based theatre actors - Emma Yong and Daniel Jenkins.

Zachary Levi - A Fun Follow!

It's the 29th of September and a certain special birthday boy turns 30 today!!

He is none other than Zachary Levi, star of the popular TV series "Chuck" and one of Red Dot Diva's most favourite male celebrities.

Red Dot Diva absolutely loves reading Zac's feed on Twitter and Facebook because his infectious joie de vivre and spot-on sense of humour makes him such a fun "follow". Having a naturally upbeat personality, Zac openly shares lots of interesting stuff on this Twitter. These range from sneak peaks into his life when he attended concerts or made formal appearances for events, to posting "Chuck" on-set photos. Whenever he can, Zac also does live Twitcasting and captures cute videos like the one of co-star Yvonne Strahovski dancing to Justin Bieber.

Being "The Catalyst"

Linkin Park has been Red Dot Diva's number one favourite band ever since she first caught their song featured in the late 1990's TV series "Roswell". The discordant but refreshing Linkin Park track featured in an episode entitled "Meeting The Dupes" was called "With You".

That was the beginning of an almost 9-year love affair with Linkin Park for Red Dot Diva. She still remembered how she almost wore out the CD for "Hybrid Theory" as Chester's alternatively raw screams and other times, hushed vocals milked out the tunes. Their angst-filled "Papercut" in tune to her emotions simmering under a calm surface.

Red Dot Diva was working as a marketing / product person at an indie record label that time. She found that the band's successful methods of building an army of fans from the street level to their immense mainstream success was an interesting case study on the power of online marketing.

Get Lucid For A Combat Mage!

Combat mage? What's a Combat Mage??

Well Red Dot Diva says that to find out, you'd have to try to get hold of the fantasy/spy/scifi comic "Lucid" which was released in the USA on 9th September. This might not be an easy task if you are a local.

Quite a few comic stores find it difficult to really make it financially viable on our island. Kinokuniya has a large range of comics but these are mainly manga (well they are a Japanese chain of book stores after all!) and anime-related products. Comic Mart at Serene Centre, a popular hangout for many comic fans, was closed down suddenly earlier this year.

On the other hand, Comics World at Parklane - one of the oldest comic stores in Singapore - is still going strong with a pretty good range of familiar super-heroes related American titles, like Captain America, X-Men and the like. It doesn't really stock the more indie comic titles like those by Archaia Comics. Perhaps Red Dot Diva might email to the "uncle" who owns the shop and ask him about this.

After much online surfing, Red Dot Diva has found another comic store called G & B Comics that seems to stock some indie titles. And "Lucid" #1 seems to be listed in its 11th September shipment lot! So you can head to their store at Rochor Centre #02-500 to check it out!

One other alternative is to check out the TFAW website and order a copy online. Another is to get a friend in the USA to ship you a copy!

Start Planning Early For Comic Con 2011

Red Dot Diva says No Kidding.

Comic Con was selling tickets for 2011 during this year's convention and before the event ended, the 4-day passes with Preview Night were already sold out. Red Dot Diva knew they were selling tickets that time but wanted to focus doing other stuff than standing in line for more hours.

The organizers have now officially announced that tickets for Comic Con 2011 will go on sale on their website on 1 November.

Comic Con 2011 will be held at San Diego on July 21 - 24. If you intend to go but still not 100% sure, Red Dot Diva strongly advises you to get the passes ANYWAY!! The tickets do sell out fast and early. You will still be able to get a refund about a month before the convention.

Comic Con Not Enough?

Well... Red Dot Diva says there's always DragonCon this weekend - the world's largest fantasy/SF convention - held in Atlanta, Georgia!!

Some of Red Dot Diva's friends will be there and rockin' the panels and photo sessions. With several guests like Adrian Pasdar ("Heroes"), Edward James Olmos ("Battlestar Galactica"), Morena Baccarin ("V", "Firefly"), Kristin Bauer ("True Blood"), Ben Browder, Brandon Routh, Lou Ferrigno, Stan Lee and many more, there should be some more blog reports to come in soon!

There is also the New York Comic Con (NYCC) coming up in October 8 to 10, 2010!

Meanwhile, things are ramping up for our very own fledging local geeky event - the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC).

Psych-Out! .. Live at Comic Con

The first day of Comic Con 2010 was USA Network day for Red Dot Diva. Together with Evil Twin @_mriel, they turned up at the line outside the convention centre at 5.30 am for Ballroom 20. Just so that they could be up front for the panels. Even though Ballroom 20 was not as cavernous as Hall H, it was still a very large venue that could hold about 4,000 people.

The panels didn't start early either. Red Dot Diva and @_mriel doggedly stayed in line and waited for about 7 hours before we could enter Ballroom 20. "Burn Notice" was slated to be the first at 1 pm, followed by "White Collar" at 2.15pm and finally "Psych" at 3.30pm.

Out of the three, Red Dot Diva thought that the "Psych" panel was by far the most light-hearted and entertaining.

Playing With Germs

... becomes less dangerous and more cuddly with GIANTMicrobes.

All of us get sick once in awhile. Some unfortunately, get seriously sick with a killer virus or a debilitating disease.

In any case, Red Dot Diva asks: Do you know what those nasty microbes really look like?

Diva-Smooches To Mabes and SArmy!

... for this lovely glittery spankin' new header that suits the tone of the blog really well!!

Just look at that shiny image above!

Thanks to the sweet classy @Mabetini for helping the Red Dot Diva out.

BTW, @Mabetini helped created Sylars_Army (or SArmy.. maybe soon renamed to ZArmy) -- a sanctioned Zachary Quinto fan group that raises money for charities - like The Epilepsy Foundation and more recently, the drive to help Haiti. There will be charity drives, contests, and auctions from time to time.

Red Dot Diva gives a strong stamp of Red Dot approval for SArmy. Join the SArmy, or buy some of their merchandise and help make a difference!

Some Supernatural Spoilers From Comic Con

After the “Smallville” panel, the crowd moved about trying to find new seats.

A woman from the backstage crew came out holding the name cards for the “Supernatural” panel. Now up until the point, the only people who were confirmed as panel members were executive producers Sara Gamble and Ben Edlund.

Knowing everyone was watching her, she placed the cards for the producers, and then stood at the empty spots waiting to place the cards for the cast. All eyes were on her, as she slooooowly placed the card for Jensen Ackles. Followed by Jared Padalecki, Jim Beaver and lastly Misha Collins!

A Darker Nikita - Preview Screening at Comic Con

It has always been a tradition for the last few years that there will be a special screening on Comic Con's Preview Night. This year, WB decided to promote CW's "Nikita" - their remake of that popular TV show "La Femme Nikita" from many years back.

After many hours of waiting in line and making our cursory preview round of the exhibit hall, Red Dot Diva and her pal, @eserei27 decided to rest their tired feet and bums at the cavernous Ballroom 20 where the "Nikita" preview screening was held.

After watching the "Nikita" pilot, it felt that Red Dot Diva found that it wasn't so much a remake, but more a sequel to the original series.

Meeting Mark Sheppard at Comic Con

Mark with talkative fan

I met Mark Sheppard!!!

I don’t know who you are, but if you own a television set you would have seen Mark Sheppard. He was Romo Lampkin (Baltar’s attorney) on "Battlestar Galactica", the Ring Director in "Chuck", Ivan Erwich on "24", and Crowley on "Supernatural". He also made appearances in "Warehouse 13", "Firefly", "Medium" and more. Of interest to me, he plays Sterling – the team’s recurring nemesis – on "Leverage", which had me wishing for a surprise appearance at the panel but no dice.

No worries, though, because I went to see him on Friday. I thought he was going to be signing from 2 p.m. to whatever time, but he was actually around from 10 a.m. to 2:30. When I got to his booth, he was cleaning up the space (I thought he was setting up) and his 11-12 year old son was waiting around for him. There was this older guy standing there chatting him up. There was still a line for him, even though he was trying to get away, and I stood at the end of the line patiently awaiting my turn.

A Surprise Guest at the Smallville Comic Con Panel

The San Diego Convention Center's Ballroom 20 was filled to maximum capacity on Sunday, 25 July, in excited anticipation for the caliber of panels scheduled that day.

First to begin was "Smallville". I was lucky enough to manage 4th row center.

To start the panel the moderator, Geoff Johns, came out on stage to announce they that were going to show a recap of the past 9 seasons and a glimpse into Season 10 – The final season. This was expected of course, however the snippets shown for season 10 made it look be an AWESOME year!

(Note: There may be some Season 10 spoilers!)

Gaining Leverage at Comic Con

No clue what Wil Wheaton is doing here but it's cute!

One of the Comic Con panels that I was most looking forward to was "Leverage". I’ve seen every episode and I’m completely in love with Christian Kane, who plays Eliot on the show.

This was one of the few panels that I can honestly say – even sitting in line was fun. The Community panel was going to be in the same room much later in the day, and while we sat in line, Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Chevy Chase each walked past us.

When we finally got into the room, my friend, Maxii, and I made it for the second row at the front of the room. I think it’s Comic Con’s cruel joke on its attendees that the entry doors to every room are ALWAYS in the far back of the room so that everyone has to run and jostle for position once the doors open.

Comic Con Virgin No More

It used to be a niche convention for all things nerdy and geeky. A place where only hardcore comic fans from all over the world gathered in troves once a year.

In recent years, Hollywood and electronic games companies entered the scene, and the San Diego Comic Convention has now exploded into mega proportions.

Hardcore geeks may moan about the loss of their previously sacred hunting ground but folks like Red Dot Diva, who is not from the USA and loves all things pop-culture and media (and yes! that includes comics!) has now found a really good excuse to take a geeky holiday in San Diego.

Big Monkey Love

Geez.. get those kinky thoughts of your head!! Some people. tsk tsk.. ;)

Red Dot Diva was in hot, sunny Los Angeles recently and visited Universal Studios for the third time. The last visit was many years back in 2000.

Some rides no longer exist, e.g. the Back to the Future, E.T. and Backdraft; while some were rather recent installments - like the Revenge of the Mummy ride (and what a ride that was!) and Shrek 4-D.

Red Dot Diva was rather surprised that the Waterworld stunt show was still going on. In fact, it was one of the more enjoyable performances in the park. Especially in the hot summer, where it was an utter relief to sit in the very wet Soak Zone! ;)

But what Red Dot Diva was *really* looking forward to was the brand new King Kong 360 3-D, which officially debuted on 1 July 2010.

The Red Dot

Follow the intrepid Red Dot Diva as she takes you to various pop-culture and geeky news with that pinch of spicy local flavour.

Why the Red Dot, you ask?

You see, it was not too long ago that our tiny, busy, cosmopolitan island was hardly mentioned in business and pop culture references. We were not even known to be a country, with folks heartedly assuming that we were part of China, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan.. even the USA.

In previous political bickerings with our neighbours, we were also gloriously mocked as being "just a Red Dot".

When asked "Where is Singapore?", us hapless citizens could only sheepishly point at this tiny Red Dot on the world map, which was situated at tip of the Malaysian peninsular.

How times have changed! In recent years, our island has somehow seemed to gain a kind of "cool factor". We are still not as well-known as Japan or South Korea, but Singapore is now quite often referenced in movies and TV. C'mon, you can't say you did not know that Asian pirate captain Sao Feng from "Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End" resided and ruled his nefarious pirate kingdom in Singapore, did ya? (Pause for epic Red Dot moment here)

It also goes to show that being small doesn't mean you are powerless.

In her travels along the reality and interwebs dimensions, the Red Dot Diva will "Red Dot" some of her information, observations or discoveries. When something is "Red Dot"-ed, you know that the Red Dot Diva approves it ;)

So if you start seeing spots real soon, just remember to follow the Red ones!