I had a blast at the last San Diego Comic-Con and the next one is less than 6 months away. With it’s popularity, more and more people attend each year and finding a place to stay is always a little tricky. In general it’s a good idea to be prepared with things in life and going to the San Diego Comic-Con is no different. So with all that in mind, don’t you think it’s about time to plan your hotel reservations?

Comic-Con 2008: July 24-27 in San Diego! The hotel reservations open Wednesday, February 6, 2008, at 9:00 AM PST (Noon EST)! Last year all the reserved rooms sold out within hours, so be prepared and have backup plans.

The nice folks that run the Comic-Con just launched a new resource blog about staying in San Diego. With so many attendees and not enough hotel rooms, it can be difficult and frustrating finding a hotel in the area. Their new site is there to help you with some of the questions and concerns you might have. They’ll be monitoring it regularly to help provide you with information and answers about staying in San Diego. Be prepared and start planning your trip.

* And if you can’t make it, just tune in here later for all the fun!

If you enjoyed Dan Goodsell’s artwork from the Stan Lee tribute, earlier this month, you’re going to go gaga for the art that he has for sale at his Etsy store! This Spidey-Toast piece is a framed watercolor and ink drawing of Mr Toast as the Marvel superhero Spider-Man. It’s framed and ready for hanging! He’s also got Mr Toast as the Human Torch and the Silver Surfer! And as a bonus: Joe the Egg as Super Joe!

The Goof Gallery is a collection of mistakes made by early observers when trying to describe or illustrate organisms based on second-hand information. It’s the historical misinformation which makes it all very amusing nowadays. Since we didn’t have cameras or cell phones in those days, unicorns and mermaids scurried about more. At this rate I think it’s safe to say that Sasquatch will be extinct with the release of the next version of iPod. Sorry Harry.

Sweet and tasty, gaming goodness by Flickr user and ‘cupcake ninja’, Naomi. She baked batches of video-game themed cupcakes for your enjoyment. Here are the Pac-Man cupcakes and the Super Mario cupcakes. She’s got quite a collection of creative cupcakes, I wonder if she’d ship us some from Australia? Mmm cupcakes.

Wow, a second Gabe Swarr post in a row! It’s a Gabe-tastic world we live in!

Did you get a chance to see The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters movie last year? Well now you can watch it on DVD. Our friends Gabe Swarr, Jon Gibson and Tony Mora, from the successful I Am 8-Bit show, created a short animation about the history of Donkey Kong for the King of Kong DVD. It’s pretty entertaining seeing Shigeru Miyamoto dance around with Mario and Donkey Kong on the top of the Empire State Building. Go watch the short, all the way through, and consider buying the DVD release of this excellent documentary. (Inevitably it’ll become a cult classic.)

What the Shell?! - is a entertaining short animation by the gifted Gabe Swarr. The beautiful backgrounds were done by Tony Mora and the catchy music is by the rockin band 8 Bit Weapon. I can’t get enough of Gabe’s take on Mario. That’s some great work Gabe! I wonder what we’ll see next from this upstanding young man?

If you like fun strategy games, check out the Campaign Game. Play armchair presidential candidate and use your dirty tricks to attack the opposition in order to win the country. I suggest reading up on the instructions to get a leg-up on your competition. Play it once and you’ll be hooked. (Don’t forget to get out and vote!)

There’s a lively debate going on about eating cloned animals. People are worried about if it is safe or right and it seems they’d rather not eat cloned meat. I’ve read that some people believe cloned animals do not have souls. So with that I’d surmise that people like to gobble up animals that once had a soul - even if it was born via a giant turkey baster. Either way, I bet the damned meat will cost you a hoof and a leg, and I doubt you can taste a difference.

Of course you could just eat a vegan, like Pamela Anderson.

Attention! Even though Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is considerably darker than the previous games in the series it does not frighten me. I will buy it when it is released in the U.S. (this Monday) and I will enjoy this turn-based tactics game for my Onyx flavored Nintendo DS. I will defeat the baddies and I expect I’ll have a good time doing so. Purchase your copy and we’ll reconvene here at 0400 hours and comment about how cool it is. Over.

He’ll nibble your finger! This crafty, creative felt piranha plant with a round head and a mouthful of teeth, popped out of a warp pipe! Koalajoe created this cute, needle felted piranha plant, inspired by the ever popular Super Mario games. Get your very own and be prepared for the return of that pipe pillaging plumber.

If you’re a Stephen Chow fan like me, you’ll be glad to know that the man responsible for Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle has a new movie coming out in 2008 - CJ7. It’s released in Hong Kong January 31 and comes to the US (hopefully) March 7. If you didn’t catch the previous trailer - here you go. If you want the latest trailer that’s causing an Internet buzz - here you go!

A fantasy tale featuring state of the art visual effects, CJ7 is a comedy about a poor laborer father played by Stephen Chow and his son. When a fascinating and strange new pet enters their lives, they learn a poignant lesson about the true nature of family and the things money can’t buy.

Chow is a busy man. I know he’s creating a sequel to Kung Fu Hustle and he’s also producing the Dragon Ball movie. This upcoming year is not only the Year of the Rat, but it’s also the year for Stephen Chow!

I saw Juno over the Xmas holidays and really enjoyed it. I would even go as far as saying that it was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time - one that I would recommend. The movie was just very real, clever and pretty humorous. I think it’s funny how the parents in the movie dealt with their pregnant teenage daughter and how it would have been way different 20 years ago. Times change.

I also really enjoyed the opening titles by Shadowplay Studio. The sketchy animation was just plain cool. You can watch a clip of the titles here.

One of the lines I enjoyed was when Juno announces her water breaking with “Thundercats are go! The wife and I will remember that one.

It’s called Betrayal and it made me laugh. It’s those soulful eyes of his!

Continuing the Stan Lee theme, here’s a classic Marvel comic book ad from the 60’s.

If the magnificent Marvel t-shirts don’t get your attention, then the macho Marvel sweatshirts will. These classic heroes t-shirts sold for under two bucks and you could choose from the Hulk, the Thing, Fantastic Four, Thor, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Avengers or Captain Marvel. Or you could grab a sweatshirt with the Hulk or the Thing on it, if you wanted to emerge eloquent. (I wonder why the shirt collars appear accentuated. Perhaps that’s how they wore them back then.)

There’s also an option at the bottom of the ad to join the Merry Marvel Marching Society for a dollar. You’d get some super stickers, rocking recordings, a nutty new notepad, a magniloquent mini-book, a mind-snapping Marvel pencil, a majestic MMMs certificate and your very own munificent membership card too. (Stan Lee’s mastery of vocabulary and alliteration is super-human.)

Feast you baby blues on the marvelously, monstrous version of this classic ad.

“Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee” is probably one of the biggest art shows at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. The gallery was abuzz with excitement as we surveyed the gallery. The gallery had a glow of grandeur and you could just tell this was going to be big, even before the doors opened for everyone at 7 pm. The line out front was growing and so was the anticipation. When would we see Stan Lee?

Stan Lee arrived at 6:30 pm to get a glimpse of all the artwork and meet many of the artists. (If you ever meet him, you’d notice that he’s really down to earth.) When making his way around the gallery he’d look at each piece with a big smile and give a big thanks to the artist, if they were there. We’d never been in that close of proximity to him before, as we were last night. He’s a really good guy and very appreciative to all his fans. He really enjoyed chatting and discussing the artwork so much that he had a hard time making it through the whole gallery before the doors were to open.

After checking out all the artwork in the gallery he headed next door to Golden Apple Comics. Once he exited through the front doors of the gallery, the huge line of adoring fans outside found it hard to contain their excitement as they almost spilled out into the busy Melrose street. Some fans dressed up as their favorite Marvel characters and a group of guys had pimped out their vehicles with a complete Marvel theme. Stan Lee took it all in stride and happily stood for several pictures with fans as he made his way next door. He’s a happy guy and he makes others happy too.

The artwork for the show was really amazing and you could tell that all the people there were in awe. The pieces in the gallery are a great tribute to such a great guy. We chatted with many of the artists and got pictures of them with their artwork including Daniel Danger, Plasticgod, Brandon Bird, Jen Lobo, Misha, Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins, Patrick Ballesteros, and Jimbot (a.k.a James A. Demski Jr.)!

Even if we hadn’t already met with some of them before, the artists are really approachable and fun to talk with too. It’s great discussing their artwork and learning more about them. A lot of time is spent creating these works of art and it really shows with the amazing quality and creativity. The abundance of talent is noticeable throughout the pieces and it’s quite inspiring. I think the masses were really impressed with all of the art, including the guest of honor. I know I was!

Want to see more photos from the show including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil and Doctor Strange? Please visit my Flickr collection or click on the pictures. (There was so much to cover at the show, that I couldn’t fit it all in here.)

Many thanks to all the artists, Stan Lee, Jensen and the crew at Gallery 1988. This was one amazing art show! I’m getting pleasantly spoiled by all these great art shows! (I’d also like to extend a special thank you to my loving and supporting wife!)