From Friday, February 17 to Sunday the 19, in Orlando, Florida, Mega Con opened its doors once again to Comic, Sci-fi, and Anime fans for one of Florida’s biggest conventions of the year. People flock from all over, to one of the biggest gatherings of fans for the goal of trying to out nerd each other, and with over an estimated 40,000 attendees, this was one of the busiest years for Mega Con.

Despite the crowd, it is easy to get around the convention and check out all the shops that were set up. There were a vast variety of different shops; Comics, anime, collectables, cosplay costumes, and even weapons (blades). But probably the most impressive thing there were the prices.

Naturally you can find collectable comics that range between $100-$600, but they also sell various comics at a high discounted price. You could purchase a $30 comic set for only $5, and if you’re interested in the Essential or Showcase series, which average $17 a volume, can be picked up for around $9. This is usually the reason why many fans and enthusiasts go to the convention, and it is worth it.

If you were to come to Mega Con without friends, you would have made friends fast within the convention. Thousands of people, with similar interests, gathering together, it is real easy to just go up to someone and reference anything in comics or anime, and you’ll fire an instant connection. Here at Mega Con, you really feel like family.

One issue with Mega Con was that they did not prepare for the crowd that showed up. Employees were pointing people one way and others pointing them another. As for the convention floor, at points, it felt like trying to go downstream against migrating salmon. There were so many people that there was no order on where to go or how to get somewhere.

One solution that Mega Con should do for next year is to set up the convention floor like New York City. Setting the floor up in a grid and having certain paths go in one direction would help with the flow of traffic, rather than having everyone going everywhere which just adds more chaos into a very crowded environment.

Despite the few issues with Mega Con’s crowd, the convention itself was a truly amazing site and one of the best experiences of anyone’s life. If you are a fan of comics or just want to experience something unique, you should check out your local conventions.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_ramapge/

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A new Associated Press/ GfK poll found that Congress really really sucks. Not surprising to plenty of us, but still it is nice to see the actual numbers. The survey, conducted Aug. 18-22, found that approval of Congress has dropped to its lowest level in AP-GfK polling – 12 percent. That’s down from 21 percent in June, before the whole debt ceiling fiasco.

The poll brought bad news to all members of Congress, but particularly the Republicans. The poll found that the tea party is losing support. Speaker of the House John Boehner is becoming more unpopular and more respondents are okay with the idea of raising taxes in addition to cutting spending, something the GOP has been fiercely fighting against.

“I guess I long for the day back in the `70s and `80s when we could disagree but we could get a compromise worked out,” said Republican Scott MacGregor, 45, a Windsor, Conn., police detective. “I don’t think there’s any compromise anymore.”

When respondents asked which party they trust more to handle fiscal issues, it was a statistical tie, 40 percent chose Republicans and 43 percent picked the Democrats. Nearly a third of independents said they trust neither party on the issue.

Republican Speaker Boehner’s favorability rating was only 29 percent, the lowest level of his tenure. Forty-seven percent of Republican respondents said they approve of Boehner; only a fifth of independents have a favorable opinion of him.

According to the poll, unfavorable views of the tea party climbed 10 percentage points since November.  Thirty-two percent have a deeply unfavorable view of the movement and just a quarter of respondents say they consider themselves supporters of the tea party – the lowest in AP-GfK polling and a dip of 8 percentage points since June.

More Democrats and Independents are leaning toward an increase in taxes. Half of Democrats polled said raising taxes should be the focus over cutting services, up 10 percentage points from March.

Independents showed a clear preference for cutting services over raising taxes in March, 64 percent to 28 percent. Now, only 42 percent of independents say focus on cutting services while 37 percent say increase taxes, according to the poll.

Overall, 57 percent of respondents believe both that that taxes will rise and government services will be cut in order to balance the federal budget.

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Green Lantern is part of the DC Comic world coming to the big screen.  The movie follows Hal Jordan, a human who is chosen by a ring of infinite power to save Earth, from Parallax, a parasite attacking Earth.  Hal Jordan, a test pilot, is called forth to protect Earth by joining the Green Lantern Corps. —an intergalactic embassy that harnesses green energy through rings to protect the universe.

To those who have read the comics, there have been some changes in the transition from comic to movie.   The movie seems like it will follow the later series, as having Hal Jordan fight off the Parallax.  Hector Hammond is also in the movie and will have run-ins with not only Hal but with the fear monger, Parallax.  It seems like the movie will incorporate different areas and villains of Green Lantern from all different eras of the Comic, but will ultimately focus on the origins of Hal Jordan.

Directing the movie is the well-known action director Martin Campbell who created such titles like: 007 Goldeneye, Casino Royale, and The Mask of Zorro.  Having done these movies, it feels like he will be right at home with the action sequences of Green Lantern.  Nevertheless, it seems like Martin Campbell didn’t know the story of Green Lantern that well before he was put on the project, so the movie might not necessarily follow the story line of the comics religiously.  However, they did have Ozzy Iguanzo, a comic book expert, so they could set the record straight on some details.  Mister Campbell  had stated in The Telegraph that, “It was an extraordinary learning curve, conceptualizing the characters, going to another planet, deciding what the planet looks like and keeping a sort of reality, if you can call it that.”  However, despite the difficulties and differences from the comics, the producer/writer of Green Lantern is none other than Greg Berlanti, whom has worked on Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, an animated movie based around Hal Jordan, Kilowog and other Green Lanterns.

The cast has its fair share of stars like Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern.  Martin had picked Reynolds based upon his physical acting in “Buried”, and has been quoted saying in his production notes that, “he also physically looks the part, is charming, funny, and has a great sense of decency.“  Ryan Reynolds isn’t the only star in the movie.  Blake Lively (The Town) is taking on the role opposite of Reynolds as Carol Ferris, a fellow test pilot and lifelong friend of Hal Jordan.  Lively has this to say in the production notes about Green Lantern, ”… I love that the movie also has a great sense of fun and a hint of romance about it.”  Voices of Geoffrey Rush (King’s Speech) and Micheal Clarke Duncan (Green Mile) are used for Tomar-Re and Kilowog respectively.   Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption) also makes an appearance as Hector Hammond’s pushy father.

One thing that will make or break this movie is the special effects.  Spending about 50,000,000 dollars on them alone they should be pretty impressive.  Why spend so much?  Not only is making Parallax, Tomar-Re, and Kilowog entirely in CGI a task in itself, but trying to make an entire alien planet in less than a year is a daunting task.  Oa, the Green Lantern Corps. planet is all CGI, so creating an entire planet that looks realistic and pleasing to look at will take some serious skill.  What also is all CGI is the famous Green Lantern suit.  To do this, Reynolds is wearing a motion tracking suit.  Kind of like a leotard but soupped-up with motion tracking modules so that the artists can paste Green Lantern’s suit on Ryan Reynolds’s body. For such a daunting task there is good news.  People like Karen Goulekas (Spiderman) and  John DesJardin (Watchmen) are both overseers of the effects teams, and to top it all off Grant Major who worked on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King will be the production designer.  Green Lantern may have a lot of daunting effects in over 1,300 of their shots, but they have chosen the right people in order to get the effects done well.

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