My Friday plans are pretty simple. I'm going to get up pretty early, pack up my bags since we're switching hotels that day, take the shuttle to the convention center, check my bags, and camp out in the Hall H line. I'll then spend the rest of my day there.

I've done the Hall H campout once before, back in 2005, and I did it solo. It was no easy task. Thankfully the latest Harry Potter book had just come out so that kept me entertained. This time around I've got a bunch of books, my iPod, my EEE, and my DS. I think I'll be covered. I also have some companions along for the ride. The first panel of the day in Hall H is the Watchmen panel and later in the day Kevin has his two panels. The first one is him with Frank Miller, Zach Snyder, and Judd Apatow while the second is his solo panel about Zack and Miri with "special guests." In recent years the rule of thumb for Hall H is that once you leave, the odds are good that you aren't making it back in. So since Watchmen is the first panel and Kevin's is the last, I'm going to be there all day. Good times.

If anyone wants to hang out or play some DS or something, hit me up here (I'll have the laptop), via e-mail (I'll have my blackberry) or via Twitter, which is also where I'll be posting live updates throughout the Con. I'm coming in to work in the morning tomorrow but I'm off at lunch to catch the train down. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and I'll make it with plenty of time to check in to the hotel before Preview Night starts. Hope you guys all have a fun week here. Don't be afraid to post in my absence.

We saw Hellboy II last weekend. I wanted to see it, but had my doubts about it because the trailer seemed to show that the movie was more about visuals than it was about substance. In a way, I think my assessment was right, although the movie was better than I thought it would be.

This story isn't directly connected with that of the first Hellboy movie, which told the origins of its main character. Here, Hellboy and his team secretly fight evil creatures, but the big red guy wants to be able to go public with his personality. When he does, the public isn't so fond of him. Then, a prince from the other world decides to attack the people world (I'm using official terms, of course) because people have not kept their bargain from a treaty made long ago between humans and other creatures.

For the most part, I enjoyed this movie. It has a lot of great colors, great looking creatures, and some really awesome action sequences. My favorite scenes involve fighting the Golden Army and fighting the giant forest god (which was a scene that had more significance than any other to me).

I don't have anything against Doug Jones, but I do think that David Hyde Pierce's voice is very distinct, and was one of the things I loved the most in the first Hellboy movie. I did miss the presence of his voice, although it was nice to see Doug Jones take more ownership of Abe Sapien's character.

There are a few odd visual and musical choices in the movie. The opening scenes, with a flashback to Hellboy as a child, were good for the storytelling aspect, but Hellboy as a child was incredibly annoying, especially the fact that his mouth couldn't sync with what he was saying. As for musical choices, there were a few pieces used that didn't really fit in with the editing of the film very well. My sister and I love Travis, so when we heard the first notes of "All I Wanna Do is Rock" we got excited, only to find that the song was cut off before there was ever a chance for the music to make a connection with the story being told.

I also wish that this movie had done a little bit more with the character of Hellboy than it did. There were a few attempts to pose ethical conflicts, but when compared with the rest of the comic movies I've seen this summer, they didn't seem very significant. The baby angle seemed a little contrived to me, but I don't know if that's going to be a significant plot point in the next Hellboy installation, so I guess I can't complain too much yet.

Basically, the wonders of Del Toro's mind are beautiful to look at, and Hellboy II was a feast for the eyes, but not so much for the soul. It was a fun action movie, and I'm sure I'll watch it again one day, but it certainly isn't as good as the other big name movies coming out this summer.

So, I feel like I've been up to everything and nothing over the past few days!

On my short Friday, I picked up some cash and food and met up with my sister, and we drove out to the Westpark 8 again, to see Mongol. That's right. Everybody's going crazy over Batman, and I wanna go see a movie about Genghis Khan's origins. Review to come.

That evening, Ric and I got a chance to hang out with Kristen for the first time in over two years. We had dinner at Islands and drinks at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It was a great time of catching up with each other.

Saturday, I slept in, and puttered around the house a lot, either cleaning, working out, or keeping up with blogs and emails. In the evening, I met up with Ric and Todd, and we drove out to Brea to get in line for The Dark Knight. We ate Flame Broiler while we waited, and then Jenny joined us for the movie. Review to come for that as well.

Sunday, we went to church with the Andersons and chatted for a while, then to Del Taco for lunch, Game Stop for Ric to buy an XBox, and then spent several hours at home, relaxing. I got a good portion of Atlas Shrugged done, and now I'm almost at the halfway point. I'm not sure I've ever read anything like this, and I am really enjoying it. In the evening, we ran errands at Target, my parents' house, and Ric's parents' house. I'm pretty sure we watched a couple episodes of Sledgehammer, too.

Monday was a crazy day. Although it was Ruth's birthday, the day took a bad turn for Ric pretty early on, when he was rear-ended at a stoplight by a Dodge Ram traveling at 40-45 miles an hour. I spent half the day picking him up from the dealer, taking him to the doctor, and helping him get a rental car. He is doing remarkably well, I think, and is mostly just sore. I'm very thankful that he's doing well, and that it's a company car that we don't have to pay for. In the evening, Ric and I started watching Goonies together, until Ric fell asleep. I watched a Ginger Rogers movie called Tight Spot, which I will review soon, although I'm not going to recommend that you watch it.

Today I've got a dinner at Roman Cucina to celebrate Ruth's birthday! I'm looking forward to it. Dan and Jenine will be in town this weekend, which I am soooo excited about!