Fan Expo SF

[Drunk Monk]

Preview night was fun. FXSF has expanded a lot, filling the space better. Two floors of vendors instead of one. Tara & I covered it all and then did it a second time with DirtyHOel & his son. Tara bought a tardis ocarina for an Alex Xmas gift (he’s a musician into Dr. Who). Hoel & Toch bought 2 glow in the dark Godzilla posters and were given an extra one as a bonus. I bought nothing but have my eye on a San Carlo patch.

Mark Hamill was great. He told stories from his lord, did impressions of Alec Guinness to Groucho, brought his dog on stage, did tributes to Carrie & Kevin, gave advice to aspiring artists, and was overall very entertaining. Many stories I had not heard. I few I did. His voice work is so extensive when it’s all put together. He told one story twice about same int up his voice to do Joker, and caught himself in the middle. 

A friend from the martial world, Mason, my BSL nephew, made it in at the last minute. He bought a silver ticket to assure entrance and came decked in full Jedi gear, a remarkable last minute entrance. He credits Hamill with being his inspiration for martial arts.

A great start. Today I gather interview info.

[Drunk Monk]

Saturday we arrived just in time for the katana demo. It was so bad. A painfully weak HEMA group swinging katanas with no skill whatsoever while their leader babbled about how he classified katanas. It’ll be grist for the KFM mill.

Afterwards Tara (who recognized bad sword work when she saw it) suggested I abandon my proposed lightsaber retread and focus on anime katanas instead. Brilliant. I’m doing just that.

I chatted up two artists who Ive written about previously because they have a martial arts vibe in their work. I’ll fit them into the piece in attempt to lure them into tabling at TCEC. One of these years I’ll get them & they will make some money.

Then we grabbed some chipotle at metreon. Food was super crowded everywhere so we went with cheap and efficient. 

The cosplay was great. A lot of anime. Jonny gave me a new gi top ostensibly for iaido, and it shredded immediately. It had been pulled to the side. Hope none of those went out to customers.

I started taking pix of One Piece Zoros for my article. Went to a new anime sword booth and the dealer whips out a $2K ‘Damascus’ steel katana. Made by his uncle, a new smith coming out of China. Now I have the conclusion of my KFM article. I’d been getting lazy and abandoned my old rule ‘always crack open the sheath’. He was selling a lot of bamboo blade cosplay swords with plastic fitting and I assumed they were all so. That piece was a beaut, even if katanas never used that style of pattern welding. He said they make jian & dao but didn’t have any to show.

Tara wanted to check out Vivian Lyra Blair, who played young Leia in Kenobi. She’s like 10 but so precocious. Spoke smarter than a lot of 20 years olds. It was delightful and sweet, especially when a fangirl cosplaying Leia went up to the Q&A. They were about the same age. So cute. This young lady is one to watch grow up. 

We watched the original voice actors for Ashoka, Hera & Ezra autographing. All attention was on Ashoka. One fan was in tears, shaking with joy, so much that her lightsaber was jiggling. Ashley Eckstein was very generous with her attention to each fan, so much so that the back of the line was getting annoyed.

I bought a Santa Carla iron on patch. Not sure which hoody to put it on yet.

We sat for about a half hour just cosplay watching. Bumped into Hoel & Ray from the Fillmore (he was happy to have gotten a pic with the Fonz, plus met Jason Lee & Adrianne Barbeau.

Then we took Tara out to her belated birthday dinner with Bri and a surprise guest Alex. We hit Bella Tratoria on Geary and it was fantastic. We shared the artichoke & olive anti pasta and then I had the smoked salmon propasta which was absolutely delish. 

Now we’re back home at the bungalow. I go back tomorrow for the talks of Maul, Kirk & Obi-wan, plus some associates want me to chime in on their podcast from FXSF. That’ll be absurd.

[Drunk Monk]

Well that was fun. Today was just watching Shatner & Macgregor talk. Both were great. Maybe I’ll write more later. Now I’m trying to comedown with some chamomile tea and ready myself for another sucky Monday returning to the default world.

[Drunk Monk]

I got there just after it opened and had some time to wander by myself. I did Hop Wei cosplay and one person got it as we passed on the escalators. Tara came a bit later in dark Jedi attire, borrowing my lightsaber (that she gifted me). Ray Park cancelled due to illness.

I said I’d appear on a podcast with some lightsaber martial friends, warning them that I’d be at FXSF. That was a bit silly - there were too many people on the panel to get anywhere (I’ll post it tomorrow - it was live). I went in for Shatner but despite getting in early I couldn’t take a seat that much in front because they were playing trailers loudly and I was part of this podcast which I could barely hear.

Shatner was hilarious. He started by saying he was just getting over Covid and had been negative for several days but was suffering a cough and Covid brain. Nevertheless, he was sassy with the Q&A - very funny and his 50+ years of doing cons showed in his wittiness. He looked younger than Hamill. But of the several dozen that lined up, he only answered a few questions because he really dug into the witty repartee. The last person asked him about his space trip and he launched into a 20 min answer that was great, ending on this epiphany he had about how small and fragile the earth was, ending on a desperate and passionate warning about looming environmental catastrophe. It was moving.

Tara had gone off on her own when I was doing the podcast and rejoined me for the end of Shatner. Her gap in nerddom is she doesn’t know Trek and that’s on me. Hoel & Toch joined us too. 

We stayed for Ewan and he was gentlemanly as to be expected, letting his handsome Scot accent flow. He talked about a lot of films I haven’t seen, and I wish he gave more to Trainspotting. There was this opinion quiz that the whole audience took with the app - questions like Jedi or Sith. He took it at the end and his reaction was funny. When asked about Jedi or Sith, he asked for clarification. The interviewer (who was a bit lame) asked which he wanted to be and he replied ‘I *AM* Jedi!’ To which no one could deny.

After his talk, we left. Tara got back to her studies (her finals are in two weeks and FXSF was a welcome break before totally knuckling down). I took the coast home to a spectacular sunset. 

This sophomore FXSF was even better than last year. I can hardly wait for next year.

[Drunk Monk]

I bought a Santa Carla iron on patch. Not sure which hoody to put it on yet.

I still haven't figured out where to place that patch but we just got approved for this year. Unfortunately, Tara's finals are the following week, so her attendance will be limited if at all.

[Drunk Monk]

Ttt42024!

Got passes for me & Tara again but she had to bail because her finals start next week, which is a cruel play for law school because it robs all the students of their holiday weekend. I’m grateful she could be there yesterday for my mom at least.

There was a snafu in the press pass application months ago but it put me in direct contact with a great rep who swapped Tara’s pass for Patrick. She’s also working to get me an interview with Danny Trejo.

I’ll head up in 2 hours. Not sure where I’m crashing tonight yet. We’ll see how it goes. I’m much faster when I travel alone but I have today and tomorrow blocked out for this.

[Greg]

Machete!

[Drunk Monk]

Covered both vendor floors quickly. A few new items. Now back at Danny’s booth awaiting his arrival. There’s 8 fans in line. Not sure how this interview is going to work, but I’m here for it. The rep said sometime between 5:30-6.

He has a signing & pro photo op in the main area at 6:50.

The scene feels a little less this year. Lots of last minute cancellations. Already some fun cosplay. Right now, I’m just hoping for a solid interview with Danny. Then my KFM report will be sorted. Danny has a panel tomorrow morning so I can poach some stuff off that hopefully.

Lots of sword & lightsaber vendors.

---

Danny’s arrival is iminent. There’s about a dozen plus fans here now. I offered the rep to wait until he processes them and she was pleased. 

I wore my El Rey jacket and have been getting a lot of love for it, more than any of my past weak cosplays. It’s so sweet tht a few hardcore fans remember.

[Drunk Monk]

Danny interview unlocked

We talked about boxing mostly

He didn’t remember me, but he remembered our show. He’s done over 135 projects since then according to IMDb.

[Drunk Monk]

In the press line for Danny’s talk which is just standing to the side of the general line which is maybe 100 people deep.

---

Front row baby!

Watching trailers

[Drunk Monk]

Danny gives a great panel. 

Sat next to a lovely Caitlyn cosplayer (Arcane) but she left before I could grab a selfie. Maybe I’ll catch her later.

Now in the front of Gen Taiko waiting for them to start. A youth troupe from Japantown.

Got distracted by the witches of Dathomir. 

Cat suit Darth Vaderette

---

Still enjoying Taiko
I think everyone thinks I’m a parent of one of the kids because there’s a lot of parents around me.

[Drunk Monk]

The floor is packed tight right now. PACKED. I should head out for lunch.

[Drunk Monk]

Home
Done
Picked out a few stocking stuffers.
Met Patrick

Ultimately this year was all about Danny. The taiko was icing.

My mom’s care center called. She had a fall but they deemed it not serious - just letting me know. It was a major buzz kill.

FXSF wasn’t nearly as fun as going with Tara.

[thatguy]

Taiko...taco

there muse be some connection you can make...



--tg

[Drunk Monk]

So much taco talk.

Not going to go there with my coverage but I do have some video about how that all got started from Danny’s panel. I’ll post that on my personal IG this week. Like & share!