The road to El Calafate cuts a long, gray swath through a cold, windy, desolate desert. Once likely a funky little backpacker/climber village, the town itself is quickly becoming more like an Aspen with chi-chi shops, expensive hotels, overpriced chocolate boutiques, and a casino. We, of course, managed to find a very simple and relatively inexpensive hosteleria and then set out to find a comparable meal.

So we head out to dinner, in search of a basic meal at a reasonable price, and stumble upon an all-you-can-eat parrillla (think enormous slabs of beef, and sometimes pork, roasting over hot coals and a burly guy with machete-sized knife and often a saw standing by to hack off a hunk of whatever you want). There’s a long buffet table full of all sorts of salads, many with heavy emphasis on the mayo; cold sliced meats; cheeses; fried calamari; marinated octopus; egg rolls (yes, egg rolls); and desserts. The place is packed with locals (a good sign) and a fair number of Argentine tourists.

We slowly realize that we’re the youngest ones seated and that we’re amidst what feels like the Early Bird dinner stop on a bingo junket to Reno. People are jostling for position in the buffet line before heading over to The Meat. Then they request their favorite cut and the butcher/cook/parrilla dude lops off a gigantic slab o’ beef — a small portion weighing about a kilo.

Again, the average patron is not a professional athlete bulking up–they are a 70-something, out-of-shape tourist–but they are equally as aggressive and as committed to protein loading.

Periodically, we would hear the clatter of a plate hitting the ground. We wouldn’t see much of a commotion until a white-haired head would pop up and a few others would assist the elderly eater to her feet. “No, no, I’m fine,” we would imagine her saying, “just get me a fresh plate and don’t lose my place in the parrilla line.”

Perito Moreno

A bus and boat ride from El Calafate brought us to one of the most spectacular — and certainly the coolest — things we have seen in all our years of travel. While most of the planet’s glaciers are receding at an alarming rate, Perito Moreno continues to advance at the rate of about two meters a day. At 30 kilometers long, 5 kilometers wide, and 60 meters high, it is a truly awesome sight accompanied by the thunderous sound of enormous ice walls calving off into the water.

Next up:IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

Tango is Argentina’s national dance, passion and blatant obsession. It is everywhere in Buenos Aires. There are lavish shows in huge theaters, performances in tiny cafes, impromptu dancing on sidewalks when the music wafts within audible range, and on any given night there are milongas — public dances — throughout the city. Young and old, novice and professional come to tango for the sheer joy of it. At 11:00 p.m on a slow Sunday night, the millonga at Cafe Ideal, one of the oldest cafes in Buenos Aires, was just getting started. Nearly a hundred people were sipping drinks, enjoying the live music and dancing what has been described as the closest thing to having sex with clothes on. These are “real” people who just want/need to tango. Had we remembered to pack our dance shoes, we’d have been out there swishing and swaying with the rest of them.

LA BOCA & RECOLETA

Despite Lonely Planet’s paranoia-inducing warnings, we loved the portside, touristy little barrio of La Boca which is full of colorful cafes; wild murals; rich, gritty history; and, of course, lots of tango.

Although it is only a small fraction of the size of Paris’ famed Pere Lachaise, Recoleta Cemetery boasts some lovely, elaborate funereal architecture… and is populated by a few gentle cats who seem to receive more food than the other permanent residents receive flowers.

There is so much more to explore and enjoy in Buenos Aires but it’s time for us to trade our Tevas for hiking boots, head southward and test our Patagonia threads in the real Patagonia.

Next up: TOTALLY COOL

BA is considered by many to be the “Paris of South America” and it has a decidedly European, rather than South American, feel. It is a large, lively, slightly neurotic and theatrical city — sort of San Francisco-Paris-Madrid on a cheap Malbec hangover.

FERIA SAN TELMO

Our hosts, Genevieve (Mexican-born, lived in South Africa, educated in Switzerland) and Marcelo (Argentine of Italian descent) have both worked in theater all over the world and have an extraordinary home full of objects d’art from their work and travels. With theatre paraphenalia and African sculptures everywhere, eclectic collections of every kind, eight hysterical cats (including Malcolm X, the magnificent king of the pride; Mozart, who has a heavy streak of Golden Retriever in his personality; Moliere, a black beauty; Mustafa and Morticia, cautiously friendly), a mix of international music playing at any given moment, and a fun, funny, fascinating family, we began our vacation on a perfect note in the perfect place.

Their home is in barrio San Telmo. A colorful, slightly funky, quickly gentrifying neighborhood full of antique shops, art galleries and tango schools, it is famous for its Sunday crafts fair which sprawls for no less than 20 blocks. As luck would have it, this particular Sunday was also a once-yearly celebration which we quickly discovered was no ordinary tzchotchkies-for-tourists affair. Oh no nos amigos — this was something else altogether. Alan describes it as “Cabrillo Arts Show Meets ComicCon.” I would only add “and Fellini Directs.”

In addition to the usual bad crafts and robomimes of Feria San Telmo, there were people in elaborate costumes and fully staged booths. Among them: Samuri warrior; very old Rapunzel (complete with old prince drinking a cup of coffee); guys in gorilla suits; Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks; Eco-woman in a trash can; Edith Piaf impersonator; and Alan’s favorites, septegenarian Batman, Robin and the Joker. They weren’t selling anything. They just wanted to dress up and have their pictures taken — for ego, not for money.

I met the Julia Child of Argentina. Evidently, she had the first popular television show and best-selling cookbook — several decades ago. So the aged pair — “Julia” brought along her sister — had a large booth oufitted with a crumbling copy of the now antique book and signature mixer. They stood for hours, with a petrifying crepe to one side, beating together an egg and some farina. It was about 90 degrees outside so “baking” demonstration took on extra meaning for us all.

OFF (and on) THE WALL ART

The city is full of colorful murals at every turn and we took many as we explored the different barrios. We also strolled through MALBA, the modern art museum which we enjoyed more for its design than contents because the best of the collection was closed off. However, just a few blocks away, we were able to view Floralis Generica, a gigantic metal sculpture that opens and closes using some sort of solar control.

Late one afternoon, we stumbled into multiple art show openings at Galeria Borges. The Art of Advertising show was a knock-out. At some point, we were asked by an Italian photographer if we would pose for a photo that might someday appear who-knows-where. (Look for us next time you’re in Italy at a swanky art opening.) Our favorite painting depicts 13 women at a long table, talking among themselves and cooing over a plastic bowl. See if you can guess the title.

We also happened upon The International Photojournalism Exhibition & Awards show. From sports to social justice to AIDS, every piece was striking.

And, of course, there was wine flowing everywhere. It may have been the Argentine version of Two Buck Chuck, but it was damn good.

POLITICS (not) AS USUAL

First a few thoughts on the eve of our departure from the U.S….

Tomorrow, for the first time in eight years, Alan and I will land in a foreign county without feeling the need to adopt Canadian accents or identify ourselves as “Californians-who-hate-Bush.” We won’t have to struggle to explain the idiocy and greed that has ruled this land. (We were in India for the 2000 election/robbery and people asked us why Americans weren’t rioting in the streets. I have to confess, I didn’t have a good answer and wondered why myself.)

No, tonight I am truly proud of being an American. I am overwhelmed by the profundity of what has transpired and what can be. For the first time in many, many years I am truly, gratefully hopeful; and I am truly grateful that together we have been able to share this extraordinary moment in history.

And now from Argentina…

As we had hoped and expected, everyone here is thrilled when we introduce ourselves as “Americans celebrating Obama’s election.” Other travelers, taxi drivers, hostel managers, shop clerks, EVERYONE. At the fabulous French restaurant, after a long talk with the owner, Pasqual, we were teated to champagne. On a more somber note, I (Harriet) talked with one of the “desaparesidos” in Plaza de Mayo who said that because of Obama’s election, she felt hopeful for the entire world

For those of you who may not know or be too young to remember, in 1976 a military coup led by Gen Jorge Videla began the 7-year “Dirty War” when an estimated 30,000 supposed “dissidents” were abducted, raped, tortured, murdered — “disappeared.”

A year after Videla’s brutal reign began, a group of mothers of the desaparesidos marched in Plaza de Mayo to demand information about their missing children. The march has continued weekly for 30 years, but very few madres remain and the demands for retribution and information have given way to a small vigil of sorts. A new faction of the original group also marches each week, but their focus is more political than personal and they seek social justice for current, as well as past issues.

That a mother–who lost her newly married 21-year old son and his wife, both students, 30 years ago–can feel hopeful, is both inspiring and, hopefully, prophetic.

In addition to witnessing the madres (www.madres.org), we stumbled upon a few other colorful, and evidently common, political rallies.

Next up: IT TAKES TWO

On Wednesday, Nov. 5 (hopefully after celebrating a wonderfully successful election) we’ll fly from LA to Buenos Aires via St. Luis and Miami (don’t ask). After a few days there, we’ll fly down to Ushuia, the southernmost city in the world. Then on to El Califate where we’ll explore one of the last advancing glaciers on the planet. Bariloche is next, on the Argentine side of the lakes district, which we understand is gorgeous. We’ll be traveling over land and lakes to Puerto Montt on the Chilean side of the region. After a few days soaking up the local sites, we fly to Santiago and then on the Easter Island. We expect 3 days of being amazed by those big noggins before heading back to Buenos Aires and our return to the US on Tues. Nov 25.

We’ll be updating this blog during the trip (with Harriet, the far better writer, at the keyboard), and sending out group emails notifying folks (hopefully you got an email telling you about this post).

I attended the Live Art Jam; another fund raising event for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Four well known comic artists draw sketches for over an hour and talk a bit about their process. At one end of the table is a station equipped with an overhead camera, and the images are projected onto a big screen. The artists take turns sitting at that station allowing you to see what they are doing while they describe it. I find it fascinating even though I don’t do a lot of drawing. These guys are the best in their field, and it’s mesmerizing to see them working.

This is Jim Lee who is one of the two or three top comic artists working today. He talked about adding various effects to a drawing, and one of them was a technique he had never tried before. He asked for (and received) a tampon from the audience and used it as a brush to add the dark broad strokes in the drawing. In the end, he wasn’t too happy with the technique because the tampon was too absorbent. He couldn’t get the dry-brush effect he wanted. Still, the sketch was frickin’ awesome.

In the end, all the pieces drawn during the event are auctioned off (hence the fund-raising aspect of the event). I believe the Jim Lee Batman piece sold for close to $2000.

Although you can’t tell from this shot, the show starts to run down in the afternoon of the last day. Marketers are trying to unload the last of their give-aways, the vendors are offering big discounts to unload their wares, and the professionals behind the booths are just trying to unload. Folks are tired.

I did a final walk through the exhibition hall, and at one point went upstairs to pack up the items I put in the Art Show (nothing sold, unfortunately). I got this shot looking outside at the Gas Lamp district of San Diego. I left the Con at about 4:00 in the afternoon and headed back to Santa Barbara.

All in all, it was a fantastic show. I don’t recommend it for everyone (okay, I recommend it for a very few, actually) but it fully fed my geeky soul. Or something.

Here are the last few costume photos I took. Enjoy!

This is your traditional picture of the starting gate on day 4. These lines are surprisingly orderly considering the size of the crowd.

There are a surprising number of Lego statues throughout the exhibition hall. Although this particular depiction is rather cartoonish, there are a number of intense statues of the Dark night and other large characters.

Certain booths stand out because of the sheer size of their props. A gigantic, inflated Pickachoo was one of those landmark sites in the exhibition hall.

I’ve pretty much kept to sampling a small number of these booths with pictures. I could put up hundreds of interesting pictures of the various booths and their decorative themes. Comic booths, toy booths, movie and TV booths, gaming booths, book publisher’s booths, and collectible booths all are trying to get your attention with banners, statues, celebrities, and booth babes. It takes something pretty impressive to stand out.

Speaking of impressive, Linda Barry is one of the cartoonists that was a guest of the convention. She has a new book out and I had the chance to get her autograph on my copy. It was also one of the few things I picked up that I knew Harriet would enjoy, so I had her sign it to both of us. Linda Barry is one of the nicest people, and as I left she wanted me to be sure to say “hi” to Harriet for her.

Throughout the Con, this group puts on full combat demonstrations with classic armor from a variety of historic periods. The weapons are not made from steel, but from wood and plastic. They do provide full contact and you can hear the WHACK of the swords striking the armor. Tagging the head is a “killing blow” and the receiving player must drop to the ground and die. The last one standing (or in this case, the last team standing) wins. It’s all very exciting to watch.

Saturday has a lot of the TV and movie panels that are super popular (i.e. CROWDED). I skip those, and spend most of the day on the floor visiting the smaller publishers and artists. However, there is a benefit auction in the early evening, and I really enjoy attending that. Quite a bit of original art and unusual collectibles are available, and the auctioneer is fantastic. It’s worth attending just to watch him.

And later in the evening is the grand event: The Masquerade. Just calling this a costume show is a disservice to the amount of effort that goes into these small performance pieces. Each entry consists of costumes and some sort of song or skit that adds a level of musical theater. This stone-like character (think of the creatures from Galaxy Quest) danced to the Queen tune with the lyrics “We will rock you.”

You can see the number of screens that display what’s happening on the stage. Although that gives you a sense of the size of this room, what you don’t know is that the same images are transmitted to two additional conference spaces and the large open area in the upstairs part of the convention center (the Sails Pavilion). This event is wildly popular, and there’s cheering for favorites, and boos for underwhelming performances. It’s a complete spectacle.

There are 40 something entries, and the event goes on until well after midnight. I didn’t stick around for the final judging, or I’d still be there. It is a lot of fun due to all of the enthusiasm displayed, and some of the pieces are so inside the geekway that no gets all the references. That just makes it even more fun.

I’ll close with a random selection of pictures of costumes from today.

Or maybe I’m just too damn tired. I don’t think I’m going to be as chatty in this post. Although these pictures are from my third day here, I’m actually writing this at dawn on the fourth day and I’m just starting to wear down. I’ve got a bunch of costume pictures which I’ll use to fill up the end of this post.

Today I focused on getting through the most crowded part of the show: the movie and TV booths. There are a lot of them here, from Warner Brothers and Paramount to the Sci Fi Channel and even IFC! They have elaborate booths with lots of props from their shows and promotional swag. I particularly liked the old-school pinball machine with the Dark Knight theme in a show where the most cutting edge video games are being promoted.

There are a variety of TV and movie stars at booths and wandering the crowds. Some are sponsored by promoters for signing events at their booths, others are here for panels discussing their movies or shows. Pictured here is Zachary Quinto who plays Sylar in the Heros TV show, and Spock in the new Star Trek movie coming out next year (oh yeah, baby!). He was wandering through the exhibition hall in the same way Kevin Spacey was yesterday, and Samuel L. Jackson was today (picture and discussion, later). There are hundreds of actors here to the delight of their fans.

The old school genre stuff is also represented. Here’s a Batgirl motorcycle based on the old Batman TV show, and Yvonne Craig (who played Batgirl) was in the Hot Wheels booth. They were promoting the releasing of their hot-wheels version of the bat-cycles (which will be appearing in one IR Software Engineer’s office in a few days).

Besides the TV and movie booth, I did get through the rest of the show today. And to continue my quest of illustrating the breadth of pop culture represented here, this is the Pretty Pony display. This case was filled with ceramic models of the popular “girls” toy, painted with different designs and patterns. It was in the middle of the big toy manufacture’s section: Hasbro, Lego, Mattel, etc.

I really did get through all 52 rows of booths today (not the 56 I mistakenly reported yesterday). At that end are the video game manufacturers. I took this shot just to show the crowds at that end, and they are as well represented as the rest of the show.

I got to several conference talks today, including a discussion of visual story telling, trends in comic collecting, and a discussion of web-comics. Unfortunately I dozed in all of them. No reflection on the quality of the panels, just an expression of my lack of sleep.

The evening events were particularly interesting. I started with the Klingon Lifestyles presentation. Every year, a fan based club puts on a short play focused on the crew of the ISS Stranglehold - a Klingon warship. I won’t say that the quality of the writing or the performance are high, but the enthusiasm of the performers and the crowd make this one of my favorite events at the Con. And it’s popular! There was a huge crowd that actually broke into a Klingon drinking song at one point in the play.

At the end of the day, I attended the Eisner Awards ceremony. This is the big award event of the industry, and as comics are becoming increasingly popular as the spawning ground of movie properties, we are seeing the stature of award presenters getting higher in profile. Yup, that’s Samuel L. Jackson who showed up to give out some awards. Several actors from TV and movies were award presenters, as well as major players from within the industry. This event has a lot of the features you’ll see at the Oscars or other high profile awards ceremonies including tearful thank yous and enthusiastic underdog winners. Also, longer than expected timing since I didn’t get back to my hotel until well after midnight.

So that’s it for the day. I’ll go out on a selection of photos of folks in costume.

Actually, only the front half of the people in this shot are in the line. In the background are people walking through the main open space of the show (this is the second floor of the convention center). However, you are not seeing the overflow of this line, nor are you seeing the second line which enters at the other side of the hall (and equivalent in length to this line). Remember, all 4 days of the show have sold out in advance, there are NO ticket sales at the door. There’s lots-o’-people, and I’m in my position only because I showed up 90 minutes before the doors opened.

I was much more organized about the show today. I focused on the lower numbered rows which tend to be small publishers, comics retailers, and collectible retailers. There are a mix of other folks, but this is the end that doesn’t get the massive crowds of the movie, TV, and main stream publishers. I took this picture from one end of the show, and you can see the row numbers, with 100 and 200 above my head. Just for perspective, you can see how the numbering is by hundreds, and you can see quite a few rows, but it fades off in the distance. The highest numbered row in the show is 5600. It’s at the other end of this cavernous area. There’s a lot-o’-show.

Sideshow is a manufacturer of high end collectible figures and props from major movies, TV, and other franchises. I included this shot to give a feel for the range of vendors here. Plus that’s a cool Iron Man figure (about 1/2 life size), and a bunch of really cool helmets.

I rarely see anyone I know at the shows. Yesterday I mentioned running into Jed and Wayne, and then today I ran into Jed again. I had just finished taking a picture of someone in a costume, so I decided to give Jed the same treatment. My hope was that others in the crowd would assume he was in costume & take pictures of him. No such luck.

During the show, there’s a fair bit of street theater that goes on as promotion for movies or TV shows. This was my favorite one of the day because it took a second for me to realize what was going on.

On my way back to my room to dump off the load-o’-goodies I had bought that morning, I was approached to sign a petition. It was worded in a vague way, and I was trying to understand it when I was approached by a second fellow telling me the petition was “against vampires”. He asked me to sign his petition which was “for vampires.” These guys were going through the crowd getting folks to sign petitions either for or against vampires. It made me laugh, and of course I signed the petition for vampires. I’m all about the diversity.

There’s a whole conference going on outside of the exhibits and vendors. The presentations range from discussions of breaking into comics, improving your drawing, writing, and production, how to cast resin models, the literary and educational aspects of comics, to panels of actors and producers from the current and upcoming movies and TV shows. Today I attended a discussion of independent comics producers and also the one pictured here: the comics podcast panel. I listen to a lot of comics related podcasts, and pictured here are representatives from Comic Geek Speak, Indie Spinner Rack, and Comic News Insider.

Here’s another promotional event for the latest movie in the Mummy franchise. A park area outside of a hotel was filled with these simulated Xian terra cotta warriors. The movie takes place in China, with an ancient Chinese warlord animated as some sort of mummy. It was an impressive exhibit.

Events go late into the night, and on tonights schedule was the 7th Annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards. Every year, the Lucas Films company in conjunction with Atom Films, reviews the large number of fan produced films and gives out a variety of awards. This year there were 8 categories ranging from best special effects to the George Lucas Selects Award. Lucas is a big supporter of independent film producers, and he provides a lot of support to fan films that are based on the Star Wars franchise. This is the big theater hall before the rest of the crowd arrived. I’d say it ended up being half full.

Most of the award presenters are exec’s and directors at Lucas Films, but there are a couple of celebrities. This is Renee O’Connor, who played Gabriel in the Xena TV series (yeah, I put this in for you, Diane). She gave the visual effects award to the film Ryan vs. Dorkman II (which was a really amazing short film about 2 guys having a laser sword fight).

The rest of you will recognize Kevin Spacey, who was there to promote the movie Fan Boys, which he produced. He spoke very kindly of Comic-Con and I must say the movie looks pretty damn funny - especially to fans of Star Wars movies. He’s no Katee Sackhoff, but the crowd treated him warmly (anyone … actress in Battlestar Galactica … plays Starbuck …. <sigh>).

I’ll end the post with photos of folks in costumes. This is a very small fraction of the total number of costumes. People are there as individual characters, as a costumed couple, and in organized groups. This was a particularly fun costumed pair, and the spider-dog was particularly sweet. He’s in a Wolverine costume (for the geek impaired).

I try to explain to folks how this convention (the Con) is more than just comic books. That’s its core, sure, but there is a lot of media represented here. TV and movies have a huge presence, as do traditional print publishers. And so this event has a diverse mix of people, from costumed fans to Hollywood fashionistas to poorly dressed geeks <raising my hand> to New York suits. This year, the Con has completely sold out, so the expected attendance is 125 000 people.

I drove down to the Con today (Wed.) because I have a full event pass. That includes all 4 public days (Thurs. through Sun.) plus a special Preview Night on Wed. evening. After logging into my hotel (and one other task I’ll mention at the end of the post), I got in line for the special 6 pm to 9 pm Preview Night.

Traditional long lines start the evening with a sudden rush when they open the door (or as much of a rush as you can muster when tens of thousands of people are being herded into the exhibition area). There are no other events happening during the preview night, so everyone is here just to see what’s in the exhibition hall (and gather up lots of free stuff!).

I’m not terribly organized on Preview Night - other than having a list of booths I want to hit first because of limited amount of swag. So, I let events pull me in one direction or another. I find that a crowd reaching out to get something tossed out for free is like a flame to my moth. I stick out my hard for whatever free thing comes my way.

Or, I get distracted by some movie or TV prop. There’s an NBC presence with displays for Heroes as well as The Office. I saw the slick new car for the upcoming James Bond movie Quantum of Solace as well as the Nerd Herd car from the TV show Chuck. Movies currently in theaters had a presence (Hellboy II) as well as those still in production (Watchmen). For those in the geeky know, I included pictures of the Owl’s flying craft which was here on display: both the interior and the exterior.

There are plenty of traditional Con events: authors and artists signing their wares and models in costume promoting one thing or another. And there was lots of lots of stuff being given away. I was trying to avoid hauling back as much stuff as in the past, but I still came away with a bag full of free books and knick-knacks, as well as stuff I had to buy since they were “Comic-Con Exclusives”.

Usually, I don’t see anyone I know at these events. But this evening I was accosted by my friends Wayne and Jed. Wayne has a game he plays every year that I’m going to join in on. What’s the best T-Shirt slogan and what’s the most grotesque (or inappropriate) item for sale. There should be plenty of contestants.

At 9:00 pm, I was one tired (but happy) camper. It’s a lovely evening in San Diego, and even though it’s a moderately long walk back to my hotel, carrying a heavy bag-o’-swag, I’m here with “my people” and it’s all good.

I found a Mongolian Barbecue at the Horton Plaza for dinner and I’ll try to catch up on some sleep tonight (well, that didn’t happen. It’s 5:30 am as I work on this post).

So, here’s what’s made this 2008 event different for me from previous Cons, and why I came down to the event a little early. For the first time, I’m publically displaying (and selling) my wood-turnings. There is an amateur Art Show that’s part of the Comic-Con, and tables are available to rent. I’ve been enjoying my Script series of bowls and other turned items, so I decided to really let my geek flag fly and use a variety of genre-related, fictional alphabets to illustrate some of my work. The picture shows my space all set up. For a more detailed view of the individual items, you can check out my website at www.alanirwinart.com. It’s still under development, but the items are there for viewing.

Power has been iffy, so I’m glad to get some time to update the blog. There is a lot of smoke, but the winds haven’t been too bad so far. The biggest problem we are having is getting current information. The latest we’ve heard is that we are now designated as the most important fire in California, and so more resources are coming in to fight the blaze. I imagine this is because so many homes are threatened.

I’m going to keep this brief since the situation is changing so rapidly. Again, Harriet and I are safe, and we are keeping an eye on Diane and Laura’s home in case they are designated as an evacuation area.