Reporting Live From Not-San Diego!

   Hey, all! Gladdstone here reporting to you live from the hustle and bustle of the desk in my bedroom. The energy in the room is practically tangible, and the costumes are absolutely incredible. I'm currently cosplaying as Exhausted Blogger With a Hint of BO and Maybe He Should Take a Shower Tonight Man.
   Bitter jokes aside, I'm not in San Diego, and am in fact on the opposite side of the country in a god forsaken town in upstate New York. Lots of corn, some drugs, and plenty of rain. Don't get me wrong, living in upstate New York isn't all bad-it makes you appreciate going on vacation all the more.
   Joking aside, some really cool stuff has come out of the San Diego Comic Con this year, nothing earth shattering, but some interesting stuff nonetheless. My personal favorite, of course being the release of the trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

   Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to change my pants and clean up the blood because that trailer made me shit bricks.
   Something has always really struck a chord with me throughout every Lord of the Rings movei, and that's the soundtrack. And the music in the new Hobbit trailer is no exception. Absolutely fantastic as always. Martin Freeman is, of course, brilliant in the few lines he delivers in the teaser.
   My only complaint about the trailer is the same complaint I've been giving for the past two Hobbit movies and that is there is way too much CGI and I absolutely can't stand it. The original trilogy did so well balancing real effects with CGI, but with the hobbit, it's almost like they just decided to film the whole thing in a warehouse with 15 actors. All the orcs look essentially the same, and all but featureless, and the "cool stunts" just look stupid. The barrel scene in the last movie had me shaking with rage for a solid 20 minutes.
   Despite all this, I still manage to love the movies with every fiber of my being. Maybe it's just because I grew up on Tolkien, and nothing could keep me from loving what he does. Then there's the fact that Martin Freeman and Sir Ian McKellan are two of my all-time favorite actors.
   One of the most fascinating stories to come out of San Diego this year, however was the cease and desist letter sent by Comic-Con International to the Salt Lake City Comic Con over the usage of the phrase "Comic Con." Now, I'm no lawyer, but that seems to be a giant load of crap to me.
   Now, several people have speculated (and I agree) that this was sent mainly due to the fact that SLCC is quickly threatening to overtake San Diego as the largest comic book convention, right in their own backyard. Although it is still the third largest convention (New York Comic Con is the second largest, and guess who's going this year?), the San Diego convention is limited to 150,000 people due to size constraints. The convention has, in fact threatened to move if this isn't changed, but we'll have to wait and see. Part of me doubts they'll move, as they seem to be a pretty permanent fixture to me.
   The last story I want to briefly touch on is Comixology now offering many comics DRM-free from their site. As always since Amazon purchased it, there are still no in-app purchases rendering the whole thing a pain in the ass, but this is certainly a good thing. Notably, neither Marvel or DC have gotten in on this deal as of yet, although if we see some bigger names such as Dark Horse hopping on the band wagon, they may be forced to follow suit.
   To be honest, however, I haven't even opened the app since they got rid of in-app purchases. I tried the website and the whole thing was just a pain in the ass. Not only did you pretty much have to know exactly what you want, but this prevents you from stumbling on those little indie companies that the app was really for to begin with.
   As it stands, I still won't be using the app until they bring back the in-app purchases, and frankly, I don't see it happening anytime soon, if ever. So, screw you, Amazon.

Tacos,
Gladdstone