San Diego Comic-Con

[Drunk Monk]

Kate was great. She has that marvelous baritone voice and she’s smart - knows how to work a comic-con crowd. She was witty and charming and it was a delight to share the room.

After that I hit the floor, picked up a House of the Dragon egg and a Friends frame for Tara (it was two for one being Sunday and the frame was the only thing that went totally cheesy in her fandom). 

Connected with my last few friends. Gave out some KFM banners. Walker the floor with Patrick once more. The hall closed and we said goodby to SDCC 2024.

Patrick went out with an old local friend. I’m back at Chop Hall, heading towards a nap & a shower. I can’t find where Patrick hid the damn tv clicker.

---

Crunchyroll artists profile:
About LiSA
LiSA, who made her solo debut in the spring of 2011 with the mini-album “Letter to U,” has gained both domestic and international prominence through a string of hit anime theme songs. Fan-favorite themes hail from such series as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (“homura” from Mugen Train and “Gurenge” from the anime series); My Hero Academia (“Datte Atashino Hero”), Sword Art Online (“Crossing Field”), and The Irregular at Magic High School (“Rising Hope”). 

On Spotify, LiSA was ranked as the #1 “Most Played Japanese Overseas for 2020,” and her single “Gurenge” from Demon Slayer: Kitmetsu no Yaiba was ranked as the #1 “Most Played Japanese Songs Overseas for 2020”

LiSA’s upcoming concert film, LiVE is SMiLE ALWAYS -LANDER- comes to theaters in the United States and Canada on August 17, 2024 for a special-three-day event. The film, to be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment, will bring LiSA’s final show at the Tokyo Garden Theater to fans in North America. 

The trailer for the upcoming concert film can be found HERE.

LiSA’s past music and performance videos are available to stream on Crunchyroll. 

About Alice Longyu Gao:
Born in East Asia, Alice Longyu Gao (they) is a multilingual, experimental artist and musician credited with pioneering “hyperpop.” They have a cult following and viral moments with features in Billboard, Fader, Rolling Stone, and nods from Lady Gaga. Their track “Rich Bitch Juice” was featured in Gaga's “Women of Choice” Apple Music playlist. Collaborations with Dylan Brady and Laura Les of 100 Gecs, Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon, Mura Masa, among others, have marked ALG’s rise.

Alice is also recognized in the DJ space, performing at venues like the Parrish Art Museum, MOMA, and soundtracking fashion events for Acne Studios and Juicy Couture.

 After starting in East Village, New York, ALG moved to Los Angeles in 2023, releasing the acclaimed EP “Let’s Hope Heteros Fail, Learn, and Retire” and going on a 34-date world tour with sold-out dates in NYC, LA, and London. Alice’s set featuring their signature live harp performance, accentuating the vibrance of their already energetic live show.

ALG’s influence extends to video games, TV, movies, anime, and AI. They were a featured artist for The Sims 4, and created original songs for Hulu’s “Love, Victor 2”. Upcoming collaborations will see features on the likes of a new Netflix original animated series (TBA).

ALG also created “Alice The Club,” a touring performance series with DJ sets from ALG, Skrillex, Dylan Brady of 100 Gecs, which established a significant international following and supports the LGBTQ+ community it attracts

[Drunk Monk]

Jennifer Garner gets stuck inside elevator for over an hour at Comic-Con

Sunday, July 28, 2024 8:43AM










Jennifer Garner was stuck in an elevator for more than an hour at Comic-Con. The actress documented the ordeal on social media.

SAN DIEGO (KABC) -- Jennifer Garner was stuck in an elevator for more than an hour at Comic-Con.
The actress documented the ordeal on social media.
"Hey guys, we're stuck on this elevator. I need, um, I could use a Wolverine, I could use a Deadpool. I could use someone. We are 11 minutes into our elevator sit," said Garner. "It's toasty... I think I heard on an episode of The Office or Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or something, that you're supposed to sit, so we're sitting... We're about an hour, we're beeping now."
About 45 minutes in, she was singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall."
Finally, after an hour and 12 minutes, firefighters arrived to crack open the doors prompting cheers from Garner and her team.
She did make it to the "Deadpool and Wolverine" screening, where she makes a special cameo appearance

[Drunk Monk]

Mileage
T=5.3
F=11.1
S=8.4
S=7.6

[Drunk Monk]

At SAN at gate 36 which is a much nicer terminal than Southwest (always a clusterfug). Watching the fandom disperse as we all fold back into the default world. The poster tubes are a dead giveaway. I just realized that I crushed my two posters by stuffing my pack so tight. I got a freebee for Alien & Crow, plus I rolled in a pic of a facehugger springing on me (got the digi version tho) - should’ve done those flat. 

As long as my lightsaber survives, I’m good.

High points - Den’s lightsaber activation, Crunchyroll’s Alice Gao concert, FMA panel with Diana & Star Trek’s Hall H.

[Drunk Monk]

My lightsaber survived as did my posters (I rolled them tightly). 

Alas, the default world. Laundry done - just needs folding. Some will be repacked for this weekend…

[thatguy]

My lightsaber survived as did my posters (I rolled them tightly). 

Experience!

—tg

[Drunk Monk]

I got my lightsaber to work once since I got home. I think the switch is broken. :-(

[Drunk Monk]

My lightsaber survived as did my posters (I rolled them tightly). 

Experience!

—tg

Haaaaa. DM is the worst roller of mi krew. Friends can roll a perfect fatty in the middle of a bumpin dancehall.

Nevertheless, I pride myself on being able to pack tightly.

[Drunk Monk]

Patrick caught the rona. He has been isolated for the entire pandemic - this was his first major event.

I tested negative on Monday and again neg today. Since I just had it, my resistance is high.

[Drunk Monk]

Many wonder if Comic-Con has a future in San Diego as event comes to a close
135,000 people attended the four-day convention, which is the venue's maximum capacity.



Author: Isabella Roberts
Published: 10:15 PM PDT July 28, 2024
Updated: 10:42 AM PDT July 29, 2024

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Comic-Con International will come to a close Sunday, capping off several days of comics, shows, movies, games, activities and everything else pop culture.
Comic-Con 2024 was expected to attract more than 135,000 attendees over its four-day run, generating a regional impact of more than $160 million, which includes both direct and indirect spending by visitors.
In 2022, Comic-Con welcomed more than 135,000 attendees and generated $3 million in hotel and sales tax revenue for San Diego, according to city documents.
Comic-Con spokesperson David Glazner said this year more people without badges attended activities outside of the convention. 
"There was so much activity this year, we saw a lot more people in the Gaslamp area, it seemed like people came out in force this year,” said Glazner.  
For a lot of people attending there was one big question: Where will Comic-Con's home be in 2027? 
“We’d love to stay in San Diego, but it’s really important that this event is as affordable to the guests as we can possibly make it,” said Glazner.
Comic-Con actually works with hotels in the area to secure affordable room blocks for attendees. 
“The issue we come up with is that there are some mid-range or smaller hotels that either don’t want to take part in the room block program anymore or reduce their room block and charge more for rooms and our attendees can’t afford that,” said Glazner. 
There's a fear that if people can't afford to come, they'll just go to another convention. 
“We don’t have the rooms that we need for 25 and 26, but we signed in good faith that we’ll get those so we’re working on 27 and beyond,” said Glazner. 
Even if they can get the bare minimum of room blocks the convention could sign for another three years with San Diego. 
"They are our fans, they have been our most loyal people over these 55 years.” said Glazner
With attendees' best interest at heart, they are hoping surrounding hotels work with them to make this weekend as affordable as possible. 
“We do want to stay in San Diego. We were born here,” said Glazner. 

Housing is a beyotch. It occured to me that I could conceivably just crash in rooms showing anime. Those go all night. I imagine the bathrooms are fairly empty at that hour so I have a crude wash every night. I'd have to pack extremely light. I don't think there are luggage storage lockers, but I might be able to do that in a nearby hotel. 

That'd be rugged. I could've done it easily in my youth, but that was decades ago. 

...decades...

[Greg]

All the decades....

[Drunk Monk]

ALG killed this track live. She had the bass at 11 and the whole venue shook. That doesn't play over this YT vid.

[Drunk Monk]

Attorney General Rob Bonta, San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force Target Human Traffickers at Comic Convention in San Diego

Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

SAN DIEGO – As part of a joint investigation through the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force (SDHTTF), California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the results of a human trafficking sting, aimed at recovering victims of sex trafficking and targeting sex buyers using the San Diego Comic-Con Convention to seek out potential victims. From July 25 to 27, 2024, the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force (SDHTTF) conducted an anti-human trafficking operation coinciding with the Comic-Con Convention that resulted in 14 arrests and 10 victims recovered and offered services. Comic-Con International is a comic book and pop culture event drawing over 100,000 fans to San Diego each year.
“Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “These arrests send a clear message to potential offenders that their criminal behavior will not be tolerated. We are grateful to all our dedicated partners involved in the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, whose collaboration has been invaluable. We take great pride in our office's commitment to uplifting vulnerable Californians by offering them assistance and guidance when they need it most.”
“There is no more insidious crime than human trafficking,” said San Diego Sheriff Kelly Martinez. “The coercion and violence which enslaves people for profit and places them into forced labor or sex is criminal. As the Sheriff I support the efforts of all our justice partners in holding perpetrators accountable. I appreciate the focus that was placed on the recent convention to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking.”
 “The San Diego Police Department is a proud member of the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force,” said San Diego Police Chief Wahl. “Working together, teams identified and arrested more than a dozen individuals participating in these illegal acts in our City over the weekend. This successful operation recovered 10 victims of human trafficking, including a girl of just 16 years old. These results show our collective dedication to combatting human trafficking and holding criminals accountable are working.” 
“San Diego proudly hosts special events like Comic-Con – highly attended events like these allow us to showcase our growing and beautiful city," said Christopher Davis, acting special agent in charge for HSI San Diego. "However, when people use these events as an opportunity to prey upon minors, HSI and our law enforcement partners will find you and bring you before a court of law to face criminal charges. There is no place for alleged predators to operate in our city and HSI is committed to helping the victims of these crimes.”
“Human trafficking is a grave violation of human rights and a crime that requires a concerted and unified response,” said Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Carter, NCIS Southwest Field Office. “Our participation in this joint task force underscores NCIS’s unwavering commitment to our service members, their families and the broader community from exploitation and abuse.”
The anti-human trafficking operation targeted sex buyers, and focused on recovering potential victims of sex trafficking, and arresting traffickers. Law enforcement personnel worked undercover as sex buyers to identify and contact potential victims of trafficking and arrest their traffickers. As part of the operation, undercover law enforcement personnel also posted undercover advertisements soliciting sex to arrest sex buyers. As a result of the three-day operation, 14 sex buyers were arrested, nine adult potential victims of sex trafficking were recovered and offered services, and one 16-year-old juvenile was recovered. Child Welfare Services and adult and juvenile support service advocates were on scene to provide support as needed.
The SDHTTF is a cooperative effort involving the DOJ, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, California Highway Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, National City Police Department, San Diego City Attorney’s Office, San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, San Diego County Probation Department, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, San Diego Police Department, Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service also assisted in the operation.

Oh my lawd.

[Drunk Monk]

How Star Wars walked away from the world’s first self-retracting lightsaber toy
It would have been a Star Wars product — but Hasbro whiffed.
By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

Aug 31, 2024, 5:00 AM PDT



Goliath’s Power Saber, in red and green.
 Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Hasbro turned down the holy grail of lightsaber toys, and it won’t say why. 
The Star Wars toymaker spent two years secretly working on a kids lightsaber that can automatically extend and retract its blade — the very first of its kind. Hasbro acquired all rights to the idea from a previously unknown Israeli inventor and patented it around the world. 
But instead of finishing the product, Hasbro walked away without explanation. It let the inventor claw back the rights. Today, with the help of a different manufacturer, you can finally buy it [23990480][][][][][][][][][https://www.google.com/]]at Target and [23990480][][][][][][][][][https://www.google.com/]]Walmart — as the Goliath Power Saber.
The $60 toy doesn’t have official Star Wars sounds or authentic Jedi or Sith hilts. The blade isn’t as long as the movie sabers, and it doesn’t have the build quality or sophistication of pricier props.
But a simple yet ingenious mechanism means we finally have a lightsaber toy that can actually retract its own blade. Slide the golden switch, and a noisy motor sends each of its glowing blade segments smoothly in and out of the handle. Poke someone with the saber, and its blade will safely collapse without damage. You can even safely point it at your own face — see that in my video below.
Three years after Disney jazzed the world with a self-retracting lightsaber prop that you’ll never get to touch, one that was exclusively used by a paid actor in its shuttered $6,000-per-stay Star Wars hotel, you can now buy a toy that captures some of the same magic. 
And its Israeli inventor claims that the Power Saber is just the start. 
Yair Shilo tells The Verge it took five years just to figure out the right formula for a safely collapsing automatic blade, starting with prototypes made of paper and tin foil. He says he sold newspapers, trimmed lawns, and cleaned swimming pools while he worked on his Star Wars childhood dream, eventually rallying a cousin and an investment group behind a provisional patent in 2019.
Fundamentally, the new Power Saber isn’t that complicated inside. Just like the kiddie saber I proudly carried to the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I in 1999, the blade consists of telescoping tubes that stick together when fully extended. With those kiddie sabers, you flick your arm to propel the whole set of tubes; with the Power Saber, each segment is pushed upward and pulled downward by a long screw. 

The screw raises each segment in turn. The actual product functions almost identically to these patent images — I opened one up to check.
 Image: USPTO
But that’s not the clever part. The simple genius of Shilo’s patent is that each blade segment isn’t married to that screw, so you can safely collapse them without sticking a screw into your hand. As the saber extends, each segment lifts up off the screw, carried into the air by the segment behind it. Once the tip of the saber extends far enough, it pulls the next blade segment up into the air, and the next, and the next, until they’re all fully extended, held together by friction alone.
And, each blade segment has flexible tabs where they meet the smooth screw, letting them slip down their track when you apply pressure. Even if you roughly shove the whole blade back into its casing — which I’ve done plenty of times in tests — it doesn’t hurt or damage the internal mechanism, claims Shilo. 

The screw is clearly visible through the transparent lightsaber shell — if you look down.
 Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
That’s something its inventor says other designs never cracked. “99 percent of them, something needs to push the smallest segment from inside,” he says. “With this mechanism, nothing pushes it.” Hasbro tried for years, says Nextoy founder Robert Fuhrer, and it did create spring-loaded auto-extending blades, but there were always potential safety issues when auto-retracting a toy lightsaber’s blade. Shilo ran into some of them himself with an earlier model that relied on traditional gears.
The “biggest toy ever”? 
But Shilo didn’t just want to build an auto-retractable blade; he wanted to build an official Star Wars lightsaber with Hasbro, the company with Disney’s exclusive blessing to mass-produce genuine Star Wars toys. “He was asking around the toy industry if anybody was tied up with Hasbro and knew them well,” recalls Fuhrer, who successfully connected him to the company and remains his agent today. 
In 2020, Shilo shipped Hasbro a wooden wine box containing a white plastic prototype with a red motorized blade. He says Hasbro was more than happy — they told him he’d finally cracked the code. They told him it’d be the “biggest toy ever.” 
Two years later, it fell apart. 
“They say to us, hey bye bye, we’re not going to do it, we have a problem inside, we have a lot of things going on, you need to go,” says Shilo.
No one’s willing to tell The Verge what actually happened. Shilo, Fuhrer, even Power Saber manufacturer Goliath all suggest they want to maintain a positive relationship with Hasbro instead of speaking out of turn.
Hasbro won’t say, either. “We greatly value our partnerships with inventors who bring us their ideas for toys and games. For a variety of reasons, we were unable to move forward with this particular concept,” reads a statement from Hasbro senior publicity manager Whitney Spencer to The Verge. 
The “Magic Hilt”
Yair Shilo teases that the Power Saber is “just the beginning” for his patented design, which he’s colloquially calling the “Magic Hilt.” 
What else does he want it to do? He says he’s currently working on how to shrink down the mechanism further, partly so he can get the saber down to movie-accurate proportions, and partly so it could fit in other kinds of sabers too. Double sabers, crossguard sabers, darksabers, even build-your-own-lightsaber kits — he’d like to add automatic mechanisms to all of them. 
Fuhrer strongly suggested I speak to Angus Walker, Hasbro’s head of inventor relations, but the company declined to make him available for an interview. 
It makes me wonder: could there still be some fundamental issue with the design? (I did note that sometimes the saber’s tip falls in after a handful of whacks.) But Fuhrer says no, Hasbro didn’t cite any specific concerns. “There was no hard reason,” he says. “There was nothing like ‘there’s a safety issue’ or a cost issue or anything like that.” 
He also downplays the possibility that Hasbro might sue over the patent. “I don’t think there’s any feeling of animosity,” says Fuhrer. 
He speculates that Hasbro was just under a lot of pressure at the time. Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner had just died; it was the early pandemic; some projects fell by the wayside. Cost might have been a factor, too: he says Target and Walmart were pressuring toy companies to keep the price under $50. And, he says, an early prototype did fail one of Hasbro’s very early safety tests.
But he points to Goliath’s successfully shipping $60 saber at Target and Walmart as proof that neither cost nor safety were sticking points — and says Hasbro is going to regret missing out because the Power Saber will cannibalize their toy sales.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
We were able to figure out why Hasbro would give the idea back to Shilo and his investors: Hasbro was contractually obligated to return the rights if it didn’t move forward, Fuhrer confirms. So they found a new partner in Goliath instead, a company previously mostly known for its board games, and the “Power Saber” was born. 
I would’ve been blown away by this toy as a kid, but I wouldn’t have been completely satisfied by its knockoff feeling — and I gather Shilo might feel the same way. Earlier in our conversation, he’d spoken about the Star Wars lightsaber almost religiously, about how it’s “the only weapon that brings light to the world,” how he always wanted to be a Jedi, and how building a lightsaber was a childhood dream. How important is that official Star Wars part to him now, I ask? 
He says that like the Force, he believes his lightsaber will eventually find his way to Star Wars. He says it’s meant to be. 

$60? Damn. I got mine for free plus snacks and cocktails. 

And it's already broken. :-(

[Greg]

Maybe don't use it to hit people and it might last longer....