Mutant Enemy

So the other day I was at work and I was listening to music on my iPod. I had just added a few albums that I hadn't heard in awhile and found myself listening to Yes' Close to the Edge album, which is a progressive rock masterpiece of epic proportions. (Whoah, just geeked out a little hard on that...but really it is good stuff if you're into that sort of thing.)

Anyways, I was listening to "And You and I" and caught the phrase "mutant enemy" and thought to myself, "Wait, isn't that the name of Joss Whedon's production company?" You know, the guy responsible for all of those awesome tv shows like Buffy, Angel, and Firefly? Why yes, if fact it is.

So after referring to the ever-trustworthy Wikipedia entry, it turns out that Joss was or is a big Yes fan himself and took the name from that very song. I thought that it was pretty cool that I actually made the connection, that is until I realized how many times I've heard the song and totally missed it.

Here's the verse where it's used:

Said preacher nailed upon the colored door of time
Insane teacher be there reminded of the rhyme
There'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify
Political ends, as sad remains, will die
Reach out as forward tastes begin to enter you

Wow, those are some pretty weird lyrics and I'm not even going to try to figure out what they mean at this time of night, but that's Yes for you.

Well, that's it for today. Grrr. Arrrgh.

Comic-Con Recap #5: Sunday

Sunday was kids day at Comic-Con and everything was scheduled to be wrapped up at 5:00 PM. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the Sunday panels and overall atmosphere. After three days of pure glory, the convention kind of went out with a fizzle. I actually think I would prefer to just eliminate Sunday scheduling and go out with a bang (or maybe next time I would just skip Sunday).

The other part that was weird was that almost all of the panels were geared towards kids, but there weren't really many kids at Comic-Con. And what kid wants to sit through an hour long panel anyways? I give them credit for trying to introduce a kid-friendly atmosphere, but I just didn't think it worked very well.

Comic-Con exclusive LOST figures
(atop a beautiful hotel comforter)

So what ended up happening was that the Exhibit Hall was a zoo, largely because all the adults that had four day passes still showed up and needed something to do. That is exactly what happened to my brother and I. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely cool to finally spend some time in the Exhibit Hall and finally pick up some souvenirs, but I would have liked to sit in on a panel or two.

Now that isn't to say we didn't try to sit through a panel. My brother and I are both huge Harry Potter fans so, naturally, we showed up at the Harry Potter fandom panel. Admittedly, I was nervous about there being an army of 14 year old girls in attendance, but we needed something to do and decided to give it a shot.

To be perfectly honest, about 15 minutes in, I was already thinking that it was the worst panel that I had attended. I guess I thought that the panel of well-known Potter fans would, you know, talk about the upcoming movies and perhaps discuss the footage shown in Hall H on Saturday. Instead, the panel opted for long-winded soliloquies about why the Potter fan community is still so strong.

Comic-Con exclusive Star Wars figures

But just when I thought I might doze off, it got worse. The crowd started singing the words to one of the songs of the Harry Potter musical and shortly afterwards they opened it up for fan questions. I got nervous when a dozen teenage girls sprinted to the microphone in the middle isle, but I didn't actually walk out until the third consecutive "shipper" question was asked. Yikes.

I had been thinking about attending the Buffy musical screening, but after the Potter fiasco, I was scared to go anywhere near Ballroom 20.

Overall, Comic-Con was completely awesome. I definitely want to go again, but I'm not sure if it will be next year. If I lived in southern California, I think I would go every year. A lot of people that had been going for several years complained about the lines and the crowds (which was certainly understandable), but they were manageable if you planned things out and just accepted that you weren't going to see every cool thing at the convention.

Well, I think that is it for the Comic-Con recaps. I'm out. Godspeed.