SAN DIEGO: A LOOK BACK PART ONE…

I'm leaving San Diego on Tuesday so I thought I'd post some of my thoughts about this year's show. 2007 is my ninth SDCC in a row and it is filled with the usual mix of frustration and excitement. This year I have been doing some reporting for UK magazine Death Ray and so I met up with photographer Mark Berry and his girlfriend Tanya. He's from Bristol but is living in LA at the moment. The day I arrived (Tuesday) was one of mixed fortunes: thanks to my mate Murph, I got upgraded to Business from Gatwick to Detroit, so I got to sit in the lounge waiting for my flight and I got one of those seats that goes all the way back on the flight. But at Detroit I made the mistake of stating I was over for business on one of my forms so there was a brief moment when I thought I would miss my connecting flight. But thankfully I didn't and I got to my hotel to see the Annual for the first time. It was very exciting as it looks great. Working on a project for six months, you don't know how it's going to turn out until you actually see it…
Wednesday was Preview Night and I dragged 100 copies of the Annual to the Convention Center, breaking my bag in the process. So it was exhausting for me as I wandered from one end of the hall to the other, dropping copies off at selected retail booths at the show. Initial response was very good. I then went to see footage of the forthcoming Beowulf film, directed by Robert Zemeckis with a screenplay by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman. It's a CGI 3D movie and to be honest, it looks rather too much like a video game adaptation. But we'll see it when it's finished…
Thursday was a pretty impressive day too: we did our TRIPWIRE Annual panel at 4pm and got about a dozen people to come and watch us, while Frazer Irving, the Punks guys and Andy Grossberg were on the panel with me. I also got to see Iron Man footage, which bodes well for the film. In the evening I went out for Italian with Pat McGreal, his wife Carol, Andy and Susie Grossberg and Mark and Tanya…

Check back for my next post when I talk about Friday to Sunday, including Ridley Scott and Jon Favreau

A WEEK IN PICTURES PART TWO
So as promised, here are some more pics from San Diego: Karen Allen in Indiana Jones 4 video feed, Zachary Qunto who has just been announced as Young Spock in the new Star Trek, Sean Young from Blade Runner, Iron Man Robert Downey Jr and Neil Gaiman at the Beowulf panel

A WEEK IN PICTURES PART ONE…
My plan to post a new entry every day went for a burton because I've been out every night carousing. So here are some photos of Ridley Scott, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow and Len Wein…

More to come…

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON
So this is my last post in the UK for the next ten days as I am off to San Diego tomorrow for the annual madness that is the Comic-Con. Anybody at the show who wants to pick up a copy of the TRIPWIRE Annual can do so from a select few retailers: Stuart Ng Books, booth 5113; IDW Publishing, booth 2229; Top Shelf, booth 1721; Bud Plant Books, booths 1500-1501. I shall also have a few copies with me during our panel which takes place in Room 10 on Thursday 26th July at 4pm. We have artists Frazer Irving and Daniel Goodbrey joining us for that, so feel free to come by…
I intend to try and post something every day from the show from Wednesday onwards, so keep checking this blog…

SOUTHWARK IN THE SUN
In between the biblical floods and storms, I have managed to take some photos on the two days of decent weather we've had in July, so here are some shots taken around Southwark and Waterloo…

FORCE OF HABIT
I spent Saturday and Sunday at the Star Wars Celebration over at Excel in London's Docklands. It was alright as I got to meet a couple of artists whose work I wasn't familiar with and one I was, although we had never met before. I got the chance to catch up with Tommy Lee Edwards and his wife Melissa and went to have a very nice curry with them at Mile End. Gary also came down and I haven't seen him since April so that was a pleasure. Unfortunately I also managed to do something to the exhaust of my car too. The Star Wars stuff I saw was moderately interesting but there was a really good Indiana Jones panel where a couple of the production guys talked about how they staged some of the stunts from the three movies. Here are some photos from the show (pink stormtrooper, white stormtrooper, artist Russell Walks, sculptor Laurence Noble and Jabba The Hutt sculpture)…

EIGHT THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ME
As you know, normally this blog is devoted is me rambling about architecture, pimping whatever work I have coming up or whatever else I'm doing at the time. But my friend Carolyn Bickford, wife of my other friend Peter Bickford out in San Jose, has set me a challenge. She tagged me by email to talk about 8 things people didn't know about me. So here goes:

1) I've been to Scotland and Ireland but I've never been to Wales. Even though it's only a short distance from Bristol, where I've been about nine times, I have never made it there…

2) I learnt Russian when I was on my degree course. It was a modular degree and in the first year you had to take something that bore no relation to your main degree. I did it for six months, I was terrible at it and all I remember now is that Vod means water, Quartier (probably spelt wrongly) means street and spaceba means please…

3) My dad used to run a strip club in London's Soho. He used to get a lot of well-known people come in, including Stella McCartney, sculptor Marc Quinn and George Harrison. It was even mentioned in a Faith No More interview that ran in Spin Magazine in the early nineties…

Struggling now :)

4) Where I live in London, Mill Hill, is where film director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, Memento) was born…

5) I don't like mushrooms, which as a vegetarian makes things a little bit difficult…

6) You probably know this from visiting here but I am more than a little obsessed with London history. I have walked the river from Tower Bridge to Teddington in six different walks…

7) My favourite films are Goodfellas and Godfather Part II (although if you looked at my profile here, you'd find that out too). I have seen both far too many times for my own health…

8) My one guilty pleasure musically is the Manic Street Preachers. I have bought most of their albums, including the two solo albums from James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire, and sometimes feel like I'm the only one buying their stuff. Although this year's release Send Away The Tigers has been getting very good reviews…

TRIPWIRE ANNUAL DESIGNS, PART TWO…
Here are some more page designs to tantalise you…

I'll be getting a proof back of the Annual this week, which'll be exciting…

Track me down at San Diego in three weeks and you'll be able to grab one off me. Alternatively, it is being sold on a select few tables (IDW, Top Shelf Publishing, Bud Plant and Stuart Ng) so you could buy one from there…

I'll keep everyone updated about San Diego as it grows nearer