I absolutely adored FSM.  Hawaii works as both a metaphor for stagnation, as well as a paradise to reinvent yourself, and achieve forgotten goals.  Everyone is firing on all cylinders and I think a lot Apatow produced films work well because they don't feel over-noted.  It shocks me that Kristen Bell doesn't get more consistent comedy work, because she works so well in a smile-while-apocalypse-rages-inside manner.  Turtle Bay works
Perfectly as a location, and the film sports some solid work by locals.  Especially, I shit you not, Ultimate Fighting Championship 1 veteran, Tuli Telua as the kindly (and admittedly, magical hawaiian) chef. 

And considering that this movie is the reason we got a rebooted Muppetts a few years later, and you've got a small film that made good and still finds its way on my wife and I's DVD rotation.

Dope!  Thanks for this.

As will I.  I'm already looking at Beach Houses for next year, in the Coronado area.  Needless to say I had a blast this year.  Yes, the pornstar is a friend of Seanbaby's and I.  In fact, April (not her real name but I don't advertise that) was my road trip buddy o the way down to the con.  If you're at all familiar with her, she's an obsessive Dr Who nerd, and once we hit the show floor on preview night, she literally bought 200 bucks worth of Who gear in the first half hour.  What's funny is one of the dudes at the BBC America booth recognized her as the giant Dr Who Nerd from the previous year...and NOT for her profession.

The rest of the trip was fun.  I got some business done, found an artist for my comic, and found a guy I'm going to try to sell a show on.  More importantly, I got to drink and hang out with most of the people I love but don't get to see.  My friend Fryda Wolff, my buddy Shawn Smith (founder of Shawnimals) and of course my lovely house mates.  One night I got so fucking plastered that I texted Teague, and I quote, "Teeth aren't on face anymore.  Alert the governor."

Sean got us into the XBox media event.  Got to chat with Cliffy B again, which w nice.  Hadn't talked to him since GPhoria 05.  Got to play test Halo 4 (not impressed) Resident Evil 6 (dug it) and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (AWESOME).   Saturday we participated in our annual Monster Off, which hopefully Shawn Smith will have pictures of up pretty soon.

But the real highlight this year may have been bringing my boy down on Sunday.  Through a lovely sitter snafu, I drove home late Saturday night, and came back down Sunday morning with Grayson for his official first comic con.  HUGE thanks to Cloe for helping me with him.  But between watching his face lit up as I bought him a plush chewbacca, and playing with him at the embercadero park behind the convention center, it made me enjoy con all the much more.

Gah, can't see it unless YouTube.  Computers at the office don't have Internet and I only have my iPad on me.

Can DiF'ers and Reserve DiF'ers like myself post reviews?

Huh....can't say I'm not intrigued by the idea.  I've been trying to develop an MMA podcast for almost a year that is mainly war stories from the dark days of the sport.  I had though of incorporating fighting movie talk, but that's not what that is about.  But this...hmmm...let me think on this for a moment.

Gina fights well in movies because she fights pretty well in life (though she's no where near Cyborg, Kaufman, Tate, or Rousey).  I liked Haywire, but the overdub of her voice was so distracting that it made it hard to enjoy the movie.

Sakai definitely has his distinct art style.  His is one of those books like Love and Rockets or Strangers in Paradise thats just been running forever and as long as the creators are alive, it will have a fanbase.

Yeah that's right.  ESSENTIAL COMIC BOOKS:

Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Maus, American Splendor, Batman: Year One, The Killing Joke, Sin City by everybody.  I list these all together because every essential list starts with these anyway, and they are sort of a given, and I want to get to my real list.

Preacher: Until The End of The World by Garth Ennis.  Preacher is like Pizza, even when bad its good.  But the second trade paperback is stunning its storytelling and both Ennis and Dillon flex their story muscles here.

Chew: Tasters Choice by John Layman.  Want to be cooler than all your friends?  When the hit Showtime series debuts, you can be all like, "I read that comic long before the show, idiot."  This series has about 37 magic beans working at once and it is all brilliant.  In this world, chicken is outlawed because Bird Flu wiped out 1 billion people, and FDA Agent John Chew busts Chicken Speakeasy's.  Oh, and he gets psychic impressions off what he ears.  Oh, and there's an outer space plant that tastes exactly like chicken.  And his girlfriend is a food critic.  Art is brilliant and by this book they really hit their stride.

The Crow by James O'Barr.  This is less a graphic novel than grief made paper.  O'Barr was in a really dark place when he had to write this, and that pain is just as potent on every panel of this book.  Still haunting and relevant.

Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon.  One of my recent favorites, its a lyrical, oddly affecting treatise on life and death.  The artwork is part of a new trend Im seeing coming out of South America these days, and it is wholly original.

Green Lantern: Rebirth Geoff Johns pulled off one of the tougher editorial edicts ever in a book that elevated all the characters, established old and new villains, set the ground work for years of story arcs, and was still emotionally compelling at once.  And the asshole made it look easy.

Astonishing X-Men: Gifted by Joss Whedon.  Read everything after "by," and there you go.  Joss shows here just how much of his writing was influenced by characters, and how his screenwriting influences his comics.  More than that, he has such a grasp on these characters, and what makes them work, that he moves with an efficiency through his pages because of it.

Punisher: Up is Down and Black is White by Garth Ennis.  Ennis second run on Punisher was arguably the best the character ever saw.  I never thought it was possible to make the Punisher more pissed off.  But apparently its easy if you dig up the bones of his wife and children and piss on them on television. 

We3 by Grant Morrison.  I will say nothing of the plot.  One of the more oddly moving household-pets-become-cyborg-assassin books out there.

Global Frequency by Warren Ellis.  I was writing what I literally thought the best thing my brain would ever shit out, until I found out Warren Ellis had already done it, and way better.

Like Trey, I'm primarily a non fiction reader outside of Comics.  With that said, I might mention a novel or two.

The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates.  One of the more lyrical modern memoirs I've ever read.  Coates, a Senior Editor at The Atlantic, tells the story of being raised by his Black Panther/Book Publisher father in a blended household in Baltimore during the height of the Crack Era.  At once compelling and meditative, the book acts as a series of ever expanding lenses focusing on family, then the black experience, then the modern American experience in a way that is relatable to all.

LAbryinth by Randall Sullivan.  One of the most comprehensive, and underrated, true crime books of the last 20 years is this meticulous analysis of the death of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.  Sullivan was one of the first to connect those murders with the LAPD Rampart scandal, and in the process examine the roots of gang violence, West Coast Hip Hop, and the city of LA itself, and where they all intersect.  Recently some of the theories proposed in the book have been disproven (it was 2002 when this was written), but its still a fascinating read that asks more questions then answers.

Hit and Run by Nancy Griffen and Kim Masters.  A must read for anyone wanting to get into this business we call show.  Its the now infamous story of how Jon Peters and Peter Guber nearly bankrupted Sony Pictures.

Disney War by James B. Stewart.  If you loved the Waking Sleeping Beauty doc, this is the much more thorough companion.  It charts the rise and fall of Michael Eisner as head of Disney. 

Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.  Just fucking read it already.

The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson.  Fuck the movie.  The real story is far more compelling.

Perv by Jerry Stahl.  Its a strange ....love?....story by the dude who brought you Permanent Midnight.  I actually prefer it when Stahl isn't writing from personal experience.

Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner.  How does a guy go from bass player for an Akron based Hardcore Punk band, to making Ultraman movies in Japan, to receiving Dharma Transmission from the head of the Soto Sect of Zen Buddhism, and become a layman Monk?  Roshi Brad Warner uses his unique autobiography as a way to explore Soto Zen Buddhism and draws the unlikely parallel between Punk Rock and Zen.

Again, I agree with Zarban.  This isn't a "movies we like," thread, its ESSENTIAL.  It should cover genre, time, performances, tone, and technique.  It should be a variety.  I adore Heat and Casino, but I don't know that I'd call either essential.  I love Brick, but I put up Maltese Falcon and Detour instead.  Choose accordingly.