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??

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.

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!

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.

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.