BUENOS AIRES
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
This year Harriet and I are taking our annual vacation in Argentina and Chile. The highlights are Easter Island, Patagonia, and Buenos Aires. You can see the map showing our current travel plans once we get into the region.
Here’s the last write-up on this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. The fifth and last day of the Con (including the preview night) is both a relief and a sadness. There aren’t as many pictures from this day, but I was just as active, walking the exhibition hall and sitting in on a couple of panels. Here’s the final exhibition hall opening line photo.
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.
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.
I’m writing this after getting home from the Con. The last couple of days started early and ended late, so I didn’t get a chance to make the posts at the end of those days. It’s time to catch-up, and I’ll stick to a daily summary.
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.
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.
I’m not sure why I like starting each day’s post with a picture of the line to get into the exhibition hall. It’s oddly masochistic about it, but I think it captures something about why I like coming to this event. In the same way music fans will wait for concert tickets,or sports fans will line up for tickets to a game, there’s some sort of commonality that bonds us. There are people of all ages in that line. I’m not the oldest (or baldest). All races and genders are pretty well represented. It’s a geek nation.
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.
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.
