Nerd mecca is Comic-Con
BY PETER MITCHELL
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Once a year nerds converge from all corners of the Earth.
They take off their bow ties and Coke Bottle glasses and cover their string bean or chubby bodies with Spider-Man, Batman, Princess Leia or other bizarre costumes from the worlds of sci-fi, computer games, graphic novels, anime and comic books.
Tennis fans have Wimbledon to look forward to once a year.
Football fans have the grand final.
Cricket lovers have the Ashes (unless the Poms are winning).
What do nerds have?
Comic-Con International.
Comic-Con is the Mecca for geeks.
Staged in San Diego, each year 125,000 nerds file into the the southern California city's cavernous convention centre to observe the latest anime, buy rare comic books and come-face-to-face with A-List hotties like Megan Fox and Cameron Diaz.
The nerds, for a cash fee, can also pose for photographs with washed up celebs or actors who played a Vulcan in a long-forgotten episode of Star Trek.
Lou Ferrigno, the muscle man best known as green beast The Hulk in the 1970s TV series and whose latest claim to fame was training Michael Jackson before he departed, was rolling in nerd cash.
I found Lou sitting at a booth with a long line of nervous geeks patiently waiting for a 30-second chat, autograph and photo with him.
Lou was charging US$25 for a photo, two for the special price of US$40.
Not a bad day at the office.
The first Comic-Con was held in 1970 at a hotel in San Diego and attracted just 300 fans, but today the four-day convention is a huge enterprise.
A little over a decade ago the Hollywood movie studios sniffed out the potential of Comic-Con to create buzz for their sci-fi and action movies.
Each year, the studios parade their stars and show the excited nerds clips of upcoming films, some that do not hit cinemas for another 12 months.
Comic-Con, in the Twitter age, can be a make or break stop.
If the nerds aren't impressed by a studio's new US$200 million sci-fi film, it will be beaten up by blogs so badly during Comic-Con that when it eventually lands in theatres it is dead on arrival.
"It is the Cannes Film Festival for fans," Hollywood super producer Joel Silver, who along with Robert Downey Jr and Rachel McAdams, showed clips and held a panel discussion for their new film, Sherlock Holmes, in front of 6,000 Comic-Con fans on Friday, told me.
"It is a place to go for genre and commercial fare.
"You sit in that hall with 6,000 people and you know if your movie is going to work."
This year the hot ticket at Comic-Con was a preview of the new Twilight film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Hundreds of fans camped out overnight to ensure a spot inside the 6,000 seat convention hall to watch clips of the vampire movie, due for release in November. The stars, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner were also available for a quick question and answer session.
The Q&As for films at Comic-Con are pure theatre.
Geeks, some shaking with nerves, others confident and hopeful of coming up with a witty question to illicit laughs from nerd comrades, take turns at the microphone.
Comic-Con security do not mess around.
Fox, the super hot star of the Transformers films, was at Comic-Con to promote her new supernatural western Jonah Hex. (For the record Fox plays a prostitute).
During the Q&A, nerds fired off questions.
One nerd strolled up to the microphone with a video camera on his shoulder.
"My question is for Megan," Mr Nerd said.
"I have a Sony HVR (video camera). It's not a true HD, but it gives a pretty good image. Anyway, my question is: I just graduated film school and I'm trying to help my career. I was wondering if you'd be interested in some kind of, like, celebrity sex tape?"
With that, a couple of security guards grabbed the fella and took him to an undisclosed location.
"Dude, I can't wait to see what you look like in 30 minutes," Fox's co-star, Josh Brolin, told Mr Nerd as he was dragged away.
But, nerds don't despair.
Mega-Fox, as she's known around Comic-Con, was not upset about the X-Rated offer.
I managed to catch up with Mega-Fox an hour later and ask her about the indecent proposal.
"It's not something I could really describe to you," Fox explained, my knees knocking together just like the nerds over at Lou Ferrigno's autograph booth.
"It is what it is.
"It is wonderful to have fans and flattering and great. I don't experience any negative feelings about it at all."
So, note to brazen Mr Nerd.
Mega-Fox didn't exactly issue a "no" to your offer.
You may get that big break after all and I am willing to work for free on set as cinematographer, best boy, key grip or caterer. . .
- AAP
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WHAT A CRAP ARTICLE, honestly, I truly believe the author is one that stereotype people for what they like, the kind that class people who likes rugby, out in town drinkiing etc is the 'cool' thing to do and the ONLY socially acceptable behaviour, and people who goto conventions like these are the 'geeks' & 'nerds', that these people don't get 'hotties' like megan fox. Grow up son, chances are, the instruments you're using to write this article are made by these 'geeks/nerds'. From what I've read, this article is just a collection of sentences, there are no proper paragraphs. The moral of the story is, don't judge on people for what they like!!!!
This writer should not be allowed to write about anything. This article was terrible and completely ignorant. A lot of excellent directors hold Q&As at Comic Con, and not everyone dresses up, but it's part of the fun.
Al the references to "geeks" and "nerds" instead of "people" and "fans" makes the writer look like an overcompensating jerk. It really isn't worth publishing. Peter Mitchell, did you notice that Peter Jackson and Johnny Depp were there? Or were you too busy laughing at the attendees and forgot to take notes.
truly pathetic. Next year, get an article from someone that actually has a clue about modern popular culture. Comic Con is a hugely relevant part of the entertainment industry, and is incredibly interesting (and not just to "geeks"), provided it's reported on with an ounce of competence - something Peter Mitchell clearly lacks.
has anyone seen role models the war at the end now that is a geek day i woudl totaly be into that would it work in nz?
Oh gosh. Even by the standards of Stuff, this really is abysmal. I understand that your own resources are so low quality that you have to buy in other agencies' articles, but can you honestly not find anything more intelligent? The world is a faintly stupider place for the existence of this "article."
are you a geek if you are obsessed with one actor or are you just an obsessive fan?
here is journalism at its worst. the writer of this "article" needs to get his/her facts straight. sdcc is one of the biggest events of the year.why else do you think big name stars attend ? the viewpoint of the "nerds" can sink their film beofre its even released.the guys dressed as superheros are cooler than the uncool slant of this article. geeks rule,.......jocks cleanup afterwards.
this event is huge and the people that go to it love the content of the event. they dress up. so. people dress up for the sevens.
perhaps the author could re-right this piece as it seems he has failed.
and yes megan is hot and all but shouldn't have been such a big point of this article.
"CRITICAL FAIL"
I am at comic con now. Its hot there are people everywhere with some of the best cos play in the world. The panels are with the most interesting. The convention floor is something to behold. If you have never been book your stay for next year now. You will have the best time. tomorrow we are off to the Dr Who and torchwood panels and then a little more on the floors. May the force be with you
Nerdfighters unite woo! DFTBA!
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In addition to the errors in terminology, I was rather appalled that writing this poor is actually being published by international news sites. The complete disregard for structure and flow with in the article made me wonder why I'm bothering to try to teach proper paragraph and essay writing to my university students. What is next? News written entirely in txt?