So I bought his McFarlane figure. Watched him lose in the 2012 Finals. Same year that Mark Jackson began coaching the Warriors.
It made sense for me to root for OKC, their colors are blue and orange, like the Mets and Broncos.
Then I started really following the local basketball team, a team with some guy named Steph Curry, and Draymond Green. Jackson said that we all should come down and watch the Warriors play, we’ll have some fun. I meant to take him up on that.
And then Steve Kerr became the head coach, and they won a Championship. The following year, they lost in the Finals.
And then my favorite non-Warriors player decided to play for the Warriors.
My only time I saw him in person:
He threw out the first pitch on Star Trek Night at AT&T Park, September 16, 2016.
Every time I saw him at the end of a Warriors victory this season, I *still* couldn’t believe that he was playing for them.
And then he won the Finals MVP.
I teared up when he and his mom embraced on the court.
If anything I’m more happy for Kevin Durant winning a championship and the MVP than anything else.
I like going to this convention because it reminds me of the one we used to go to when I was in high school. It feels more intimate than a San Diego Comic-Con or even WonderCon.
I stopped by the recently opened Dunkin’ Donuts beforehand and grabbed a donut and coffee. They have really good coffee.
About 10 minutes before 10 I walked over to the line, of which there were two, so I walked to the front of the line to ask if this line was for presale ticket holders or for ticket purchase. It was the presale line.
Amusingly enough, the purchase line went quicker than the presale line, because they had 4 people at registers for ticket purchases, while the presale line had ONE person checking tickets and crossing names off a list. Not a big problem, except for the mouth breathers behind me griping about the other line moving quicker.
All told, I was in line for about 5 minutes.
As I waited in line, I peered over the registers and saw Dirk Benedict at his autograph table.
Love the character name…
In 1978, he was THE MAN, at least to me. Battlestar Galactica was on TV, I would watch every episode, in the days prior to VCRs, and I liked Lt. Starbuck more than Captain Apollo.
So did my sister, Jen.
Flash forward to 1999, when I first met Richard Hatch at some convention in San Francisco. I later saw Hatch at a couple-few WonderCons, and San Diego Comic Cons, either on a panel or at a table signing stuff.
Flash forward again to today, and I finally got to meet THE MAN.
I stood in line and listened as Dirk Benedict was talking very casually with the guy in the picture. Dirk’s a very chatty guy. The next guy, in front of me, also got to talk to Dirk for a minute or two, and the guy asked me if I could take a picture of the two of them with his iPhone, which I did.
Then came my turn. I said hello and shook his hand, and then Dirk said that he liked my glasses, because they were like his, and he quickly whipped them out and posed for me with them on.
I then mentioned my meeting Richard Hatch back in 1999, and he remarked that Richard did many more shows than he ever did. He only does maybe 3 or so a year. He then said that he missed Hatch, saying that he was a great guy, and he was sad that they wouldn’t be doing panels together anymore.
He signed the picture shown above, and then I asked his assistant if she would take our picture, and she did.
This is actually the second photo taken, because Dirk wasn’t happy with the first one, which actually looked much like this one.
I said thanks, as did he, and I moved on to the dealers room.
Marty McFly cosplayer
I really didn’t see much in terms of cosplayers.
Cops and MandaloriansFamily of cosplayers!Robin caught a bad guy!
Seriously, this was it, though I did see a guy dressed as the Green Power Ranger as I got ready to leave. I didn’t get his picture.
I wasn’t really looking to pick up anything, but I couldn’t pass this up:
King Tut, my all time favorite Batman ’66 villain!
I made it around the dealers room in less than 20 minutes. I saw a few cool things, like this:
This vendor was asking me and a couple other vendors where he should get Dirk Benedict to sign his Colonial Warrior helmetHe was also selling a very nice display piece of the Galactica herself
I was out of there by 11:00 am, about the same amount of time I spent last year. I had another event to attend, Games Day with friends.
We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.
With the passing of each of my childhood idols, so too does a bit of that childhood dies.
The main reason that I decided to attend Silicon Valley Comic Con 2017 was beause they announced Adam West and Burt Ward as guests. I couldn’t pass up the chance to meet these two in person. the 1966 Batman movie is, to me, the best of the Batman films, even the newer ones by Nolan and Snyder, and the ones from the 1980s-90s.
Because they were more in line with what comic book movie heroes should be, IMHO.
The actual meeting was very impersonal. I said that I was honored to meet them, but they hardly looked at me, just posing for the camera as they took direction from the con staff, as they did with all the fans before and after me. It was a tad disappointing. But at least I got a photo taken with them.
Years ago, however, Glenn and I attended a Creation Con (I think) in San Francisco (I think) and attended a panel with Adam West. It was just him, telling tales of his life and times as the Caped Crusader. The one story I remember was of him and Van Williams (The Green Hornet) going hunting, which they did a lot) and the look on peoples faces when they saw Batman and the Green Hornet (or Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid) emerge from the woods with rifles.
Rest in Peace, Mr. West. Thank you for all you did for your fans.
IRW Scimitar, Scimitar-classIKS Negh’Var, Negh’Var class
Ooops, 26 ships…
USS Enterprise, NX-class I’ve always been fond of this ship, even though I didn’t watch the series past season 1…USS Venture, Galaxy-class Part of the fleet that fought in the Dominion War
After a few days I can already tell that I made a bad call and should have gone with one pair or progressives instead of two pairs, one distance, one reading.
After a brief email exchange, my optometrist said that I can re-lens one pair into progressives and return the other one for credit.
I’ll need to go back in for some measurements.
I’m guessing that I’ll have to keep the larger of the two pairs since progressive lenses apparently need to be in a larger frame.
I just finished watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan for the umpteenth time.
This time it was for the 35th anniversary of it’s theatrical release.
I wish I had know that it was going to be part of one of Cinemark’s Movie Classics program last Fall. I haven’t seen this in the theatre in… 35 years.
Looking back on that day in 1982, when my classmates and I took MUNI down to the Regency I theatre on Van Ness Boulevard, I can’t recall everyone who was there.
Stupid aging.
And to this day, like every time before, I still cry when Spock dies.
It’s gotten worse since Leonard Nimoy passed away.
