San Diego art pick-ups

Thought I'd follow up my San Diego Comic-Con movie post with some of my art pick-ups. This year as last, I snagged an Eric Powell Goon page. Eric's changed his style a bit since last year, but he's as popular as ever.

I noticed a lot more Goon t-shirts this year. While standing at his table this year, two guys form Comedy Central's Reno 911 fawned over his stuff. I asked him about a movie version of his property and he said that Dark Horse has been approached from a couple of studios. nothing firm yet, but he's excited by the possibility. Despite the newfound noteriety, Eric's super-grounded and friendly to all who approach.

Not a lot of Spidey art this year, but I did get a couple of Spider-man related sketches. First, this Mary Jane Watson sketch from Cliff Chiang:



Then an MJ sketch from Cameron Stewart:


Not a bad bunch of pieces. Had a good time again this year in San Diego. Next post, I'll try to play a little catch up on the Karl Rove meltdown.

San Diego, Hollywood South

Just returned from this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. Best year yet for celebrity appearances, and that's saying a lot. Past guests include James Cameron, Ang Lee, Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckingsale, Halle Berry, Jude Law, Keanu Reeves, Ben Affleck, Arnold Schwarzennger and more.

I skipped the "V is for Vendetta" panel on Friday with Natalie Portman and Joel Silver.

Saturday morning we lined up a 8am for the 10:30 Superman panel with Bryan Singer. He showed a 3 minute trailer for the film. It rocks. He said he's making a sequel to Superman 1 and ignoring the other films and it certainly looked like he nailed it. When I heard John Williams music (he's keeping it), I got goosebumps. He's also using outtakes of Brando to play Jor-El, another great idea). They showed a very sinister looking Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. I can't wait for this one; it looks amazing.

I ducked out of the big room and skipped the "Aeon Flux" panel with Charlize Theron. Also passed on the Kevin Smith panel, as I'd already seen him two previous times.

I went back in for the "Serenity" panel with Joss Whedon and the cast of the film. I didn't really follow "Firefly", the short-lived show on which the film is based, but I did think the cast came across as entertaining and genuine. I'll probably catch this when it comes out later this year.

Hung around for Sony's panel for "The Fog", "Zathura" and "Ghost Rider". "Zathura" is a quasi-sequel to "Jumanji". Director Jon Favreau was on hand to show an 8-minute clip. It looked like great family fun.

Next, Scott Speedman and Kate Beckinsale for "Underworld: Evolution". Kate was gorgeous as always. That was followed by the Ghost Rider presentation. The guests included producer Avi Arad, director Mark Steven Johnson and star Eva Mendes. Nick Cage was shooting a movie and unable to attend. Johnson debuted a short teaser, but did not have any shots of the flaming skull of Ghost Rider yet.

New Line had their panel. Rob Cohen, director of the upcoming Stealth, showed up with all three of his stars... Josh Lucas (Hulk), Jessica Biel (Blade: Trinity) and last year's Best Actor Jamie Foxx. Foxx was funny and engaging.

Then Paramount did their King Kong presentation with a Peter Jackson video which included three minutes of rough footage of Kong fighting two t-rexes. Then the three stars made a surprise appearance... Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Best Actor Adian Brody!

Then the night wrapped up with a 45-minute set by Tenacious D (Jack Black & Kyle Gass) who rocked the motherfucking house! No pictures were allowed during this set.

Tremendous movie presentations and overall, a good con this year.

For loads of pictures, visit the full-featured version of this blog

Scott McClellan, butt monkey

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on the Plame leak....


White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan, 7/22/03:

That is not the way this President or this White House operates. And there is absolutely no information that has come to my attention or that I have seen that suggests that there is any truth to that suggestion. And, certainly, no one in this White House would have given authority to take such a step.


White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan, 9/29/03:

Q: You said this morning, quote, "The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved." How does he know that?

A: Well, I've made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. ... I've said that it's not true. ... And I have spoken with Karl Rove.

Q: It doesn't take much for the president to ask a senior official working for him, to just lay the question out for a few people and end this controversy today.

A: Do you have specific information to bring to our attention? ... Are we supposed to chase down every anonymous report in the newspaper? We'd spend all our time doing that."

Q: When you talked to Mr. Rove, did you discuss, "Did you ever have this information?"

A: I've made it very clear, he was not involved, that there's no truth to the suggestion that he was.



White House press gaggle with Scott McClellan, 7/11/05:

Question: Do you want to retract your statement that Rove -- Karl Rove was not involved in the Valerie Plame expose? -- involved?

McClellan: This is -- no, I appreciate the question. This is an ongoing investigation at this point. The President directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation, and as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, that means we're not going to be commenting on it while it is ongoing.

Question: But Rove has apparently commented, through his lawyer, that he was definitely involved.

McClellan: You're asking me to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Question: I'm saying, why did you stand there and say he was not involved?

McClellan: Again, while there is an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to be commenting on it, nor is --

McClellanN: -- any remorse?

McClellan: -- nor is the White House, because the President wanted us to cooperate fully with the investigation, and that's what we're doing.

Question: That's not an answer.

Question: It's not an answer. And you were perfectly willing to comment from that podium while the investigation was going on, and try to clear Karl Rove. Why the double standard? Why were you willing to say Karl Rove was not involved when -- and talk at length about it, when the investigation was going on, and now that he's been caught red-handed, all of a sudden you've got a new line?

McClellan: No, I don't think it is the way you characterize it, as new, because I have said for quite some time that this is an ongoing investigation, and we're not going to get into discussing it while it's an ongoing investigation. I've really said all I'm going to say on it.

Question: But you did -- you did discuss it while it was an ongoing investigation. You stood there and told the American people Karl Rove wasn't involved.

McClellan: I've said all I'm going to say on it. Go ahead, April.

[...]

Question: Scott, is the President aware of Karl Rove's role in leaking information about Joe Wilson's wife?

Mr. McClellan: Again, this is a Question relating to an ongoing investigation, and you have my response.

Question: Scott, without commenting on the investigation, you said in September of '03, if anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration. Does that standard still hold?

Mr. McClellan: Again, I appreciate all these questions. They are questions relating to an ongoing investigation, and the President directed us to cooperate fully with that investigation. No one wants to get to the bottom of it more than he does and --

Question: -- the standard then still apply?

Mr. McClellan: The investigation is ongoing, Peter, and we're just not going to -- we're not going to --

Question: Did the President set a timetable --

Question: It's not about the investigation, it's about the White House decision --

Mr. McClellan: We're not going to talk about it further from this podium.

[...]

Q: Scott, can I ask you this: Did Karl Rove commit a crime?

MCCLELLAN: Again, David [Gregory of NBC], this is a question relating to a ongoing investigation, and you have my response related to the investigation. And I don't think you should read anything into it other than: We're going to continue not to comment on it while it's ongoing.

Q: Do you stand by your statement from the fall of 2003, when you were asked specifically about Karl and Elliot Abrams and Scooter Libby, and you said, "I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me they are not involved in this"?

MCCLELLAN: And if you will recall, I said that, as part of helping the investigators move forward on the investigation, we're not going to get into commenting on it. That was something I stated back near that time as well.

Q: Scott, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us, after having commented with that level of detail, and tell people watching this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not?

MCCLELLAN: I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said. And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is when the investigation...

Q: (inaudible) when it's appropriate and when it's inappropriate?

MCCLELLAN: If you'll let me finish.

Q: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything. You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn't he?

MCCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it.




--------------------------------

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney told the Washington Post in Monday's edition that Rove did rat out Wilson's wife in an attempt to discredit him, but not by name. Instead of naming "Valerie Plame", he simply said "Wilson's wife". Here's the rove quote from Time Magazine's notes:

ROVE: "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD issues who authorized the trip"

To quote Josh Marshall: "I'm no lawyer. But I'd hate to go into court with my case resting on that distinction."

--------------------------------

Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney:
"Rove did not mention her name to Cooper. This was not an effort to encourage Time to disclose her identity. What he was doing was discouraging Time from perpetuating some statements that had been made publicly and weren't true."

John Aravosis, AmericaBlog:
"Ah, right. So Rove outed Wilson's wife as a CIA agent to a reporter, without attribution, in order that TIME magazine NOT use the information he was secretly slipping them. Because, as we all know, the best way to get a reporter NOT to use secret information is to ACTUALLY GIVE THE SECRET INFORMATION TO THE REPORTER."

--------------------------------

Well, I'm off to San Diego for this weekend's Comic Con International. I'll update early next week with photos.

I have a dream

Photoshop Illustration courtesy of Daily Kos

During Friday night's taping of the McLaughlin Group, panelist Lawrence O'Donnell spilled the beans that Karl Rove was the leaker in the Valerie Plame case. If true, it's what every left-wing blogger has been hoping for: a big fish.

Rove's attorney Robert Luskin pleaded Rove's innocence Saturday night, but O'Donnell isn't biting.

The right-wing blogosphere is already hatching out Rove defenses. Here's a couple of my favorites:

1. Rove didn't "knowingly" reveal Plame was a covert C.I.A. agent
or
2. It's yet to be determined if that information was even classified

Bullshit (cough) bullshit.

Here's a trio of quotes (easilly Googlable) for the right-wingers:

CNN.com, September 29, 2003:
[Scott] McClellan said that if anyone at the White House leaked Plame's identity, he should be fired, and pursued to the "fullest extent. No one was authorized to do this. That is simply not the way this White House operates and if someone leaked classified information it is a very serious matter," he said.

George W. Bush, October 6, 2003:
"This is a very serious matter, and our administration takes it seriously. As members of the press corps here know, I have, at times, complained about leaks of security information, whether the leaks be in the legislative branch or in the executive branch. And I take those leaks very seriously [...] and this is a serious charge, by the way. We're talking about a criminal action."

MSNBC host Chris Matthews, talking to Plame's husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, August 22, 2003:
"I just got off the phone with Karl Rove, who said your wife was fair game."

Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

It would be hard to believe that Bush knew nothing of the plan if Rove were involved. But it's also too much to hope that a Rove arrest could lead to a domino effect in the administration.