After the CNN Behind the Scenes tour I grabbed some lunch (which turned out to be the worst sweet and sour chicken (?) I have ever eaten) from a Chinese place in the food court, bought some souvenirs from shops in the atrium and then hustled out to catch the train to my next stop, the High Museum of Art.

The High (as Atlantans call it) had two specific exhibits I wanted to see; Louvre Atlanta: Kings as Collectors, comprised of more than 30 works assembled during the reigns of Kings Louis XIV and Louis XVI of France and Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990 - 2005, an exhibit of 175 photographs Leibovitz created on assignment as a professional photographer, as well as personal photographs of her family and close friends.

Ironically (but not surprisingly), there is no photography allowed in the museum.

I arrived in time to take the one hour guided tour at 1pm so I could get an overview of where everything was in the museum and then spent another hour and a half just strolling through and enjoying the exhibits I came to see and other art on display. I was a little disappointed that they only had one Monet painting on exhibit, “Autumn on the Seine”, but since I was fortunate enough to have been at his home and garden just 2 months ago I shouldn’t grouse too much. The Louvre exhibit was beautiful and reminded me of my several visits to the Musée du Louvre in May.

The Annie Leibovitz exhibit was spectacular and easily the most crowded part of the museum’s exhibits. The exhibit was composed of both fully processed works and, perhaps even more interesting, proof shots. Ms. Leibovitz is truly an artist with a camera, carefully posing her subjects with their individual personalities in mind in what she is striving to capture. This famous photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono attempts to show the nature of this famous couple’s love and relationship. Tragically, this photo was taken the morning of December 8, 1980; at approximately 11pm that night Lennon was shot and killed outside his home.

After Atlanta, the exhibit moves to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from October 13, 2007 through January 13, 2008 and then on to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco from February 9 through May 11, 2008. If you’re in either of those places during those times, I highly recommend this exhibit.

Leaving the High I got back on the train and made my way to Underground Atlanta. I wish now I hadn’t wasted my time.

Underground Atlanta used to be the street level for this section of town, back in the days when the train ran through it. In the 1900’s with new-fangled automobiles and an ever-increasing pedestrian population causing the streets to be dangerously crowded, the city decided to build viaducts, not to rise above bodies of water but to rise above the crowded railway street.

These days, Underground Atlanta is (this is my opinion) a horrible mutation that resembles a shopping mall with heavy flea market influences. There are shops on each side of the street and the street itself is filled with cheap kiosks that appear to have reproduced as prodigiously as rabbits. But I’m probably the one out of sync on this because the place was incredibly crowded and it was only 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I kept a hand on my wallet because pickpocketing would be so very easy in this atmosphere. I’m told by residents and friends that it is a very enjoyable place at night when the clubs open up and music acts are performing, but I’m not sure I’d enjoy it with even more people crammed in the area. Plus, the place smelled bad. I don’t even know how to describe the odor that was constant during my walk through, but it wasn’t pleasant by any means.

Here I am (somewhere, just not sure where) on the street level above Underground Atlanta where you will find several of those white archways letting you know that beneath your feet is the world famous Underground Atlanta. Like I said, I wish I hadn’t wasted my time.

Anyway, this Sunday I’m looking forward to my first Major League baseball game when I go to see the Atlanta braves play the Pittsburgh Pirates at 1:05pm. I already have my ticket and, if you want to watch for me, I’m in the field seats that are just beyond first base, 18 rows up. Of course I won’t have my mask on, so you won’t recognize me anyway. Still and video cameras are allowed so I’m hoping to get some good photos and a little bit of video, besides enjoying the game.

And finally, before I go I’ve been meaning to mention that not only is former WFTV reporter Ross Cavitt here at the Atlanta ABC local affiliate, but so is Jodie Fleischer.

MegaCon 2007 opened yesterday at the Orange County Convention Center and runs through Sunday at 5pm. You can get my take on the first day here, and ZenGrrl’s here over on Orlando MetroBlog.

As expected, today is a madhouse! Saturday is always like this. Friday is light because it’s a workday, Sunday because things are winding down. Saturday is most people’s favorite day to come. It began with the line to get into the parking lot stretching out to International Drive (when are they EVER going to build a parking garage for the West, or “old” concourse?), the long walk from the satellite parking lot that we had to be directed to because the regular one was filled and they no longer offer a timely shuttle service from that location, and then the shoulder to shoulder crowding within the “C” Hall as thousands of fans, many of them adorned in costumes of their favorite character from comic books, movies, novels and video games.

We finally made our way to the room for the first panel we wanted to attend, “Not My Character” which featured Brian Pulido, Mike Carey and my favorite, Barbara Kesel (I thoroughly enjoyed her panel at last year’s Orlando Comic-Con) speaking and answering questions about how they, as writers, take on a character that was created by someone else and move the character forward. They offered some very interesting insights into the process and their thinking on what works and what doesn’t.

After that was the “Marvelous Men” panel in the same room (no fighting the crowds) that included Steve McNiven, Mike Perkins, Tim Townsend, David Finch and, sitting in the for the absent Jimmy Cheung, Brandon Peterson, talking about what is happening within their own titles and across Marvel Comics as a whole. I stayed for almost all of this one, then ducked out early to attend the “What’s New In The DCU” panel right next door (again, no fighting the crowds) that was run by DC Comics Senior Editor Mike Marts, writer Jimmy Palmiotti, and artists J.G. Jones and Ethan Van Scriver as they discussed the possible ramifications of the “52″ storyline and it’s follow-up, “World War III”, the All-Star line and some of the non-superhero genre books (specifically Palmiotti’s Jonah Hex western).

After that I fought the crowds to go downstairs to the main dealer’s hall and there had to be 10 times more people there than the previous day. It took short, shuffling footsteps and was so crowded that I thought some people should have at least asked me out to dinner first. After scoping out the celebrity area I shuffled my way back out to the front hall and took several pictures of fans in costume. I was hungry but the food court area was completely filled (so much so that people were sitting on the floor in the front hall trying to eat) and I really did not want to eat at a place that serves worse quality food than the theme parks at even higher prices.

It’s 2:30pm now and I’m sitting in a chair in the front hall that I grabbed as soon as someone moved their ass out of it so I could write this and not have to sit on the floor. I’m watching a man inventory a pile of comic books he just bought, checking them off of a list he brought with him that he undoubtedly printed at home. I know, I’ve been there and done that. (Hey, I’m wearing my “Say No To Kryptonite” tee shirt! I know I’m geeky.) The crowd is mostly younger adults in the 18-35 year old range, but there are also younger teenagers and senior citizens in attendance. People in costume continue to stream through the entrance doors and make their way to the dealer’s room area. From my vantage point I can see the attendees of the Orlando Trucker’s Convention lined up at the hall entrance next door, staring at the parade of what I am sure they regard as weirdness (and let’s face it. it is) walk past them. Of course the sight of so many shapely young women in various stages of undress who are not asking them for a lap dance might be appealing to the majority of them.

Time has passed for me, but not for you unless you got up and stopped reading after the previous paragraph.

I went back to the first room we had been for a “Special Panel TBA” which turned out to be a tribute to MegaCon Guest of Honor Dick Giordano. Mr. Giordano has been in the comic book industry since 1951, working as an artist and inker, then serving as Editor in Chief of Charlton Comics and later as the Executive Editorial Director of DC Comics. In recent years, he and his creative partners formed Future Entertainment, a multi-media company. Comic book luminaries and legends such as George Perez, Adam Kubert and Brian Pulido, among others, took to the dais to honor Mr. Giordano. As a crowning touch, a proclamation from Orange County Mayor Crotty was read, designating February 17, 2007 as “Dick Giordano Day”.

The surprise tribute was over just in time for me to then head over to the “2007 Web Cartoonist Choice Awards” presented by CCA. A list of the nominees and winners can be found at their website. An interesting situation has occurred. I grabbed a chair and table at the back of the room after the Web Cartoonist Choice Awards ceremony was over to do some writing. The next event had been cancelled because the guest who was scheduled to appear was stuck up north due to the blizzard. In the course of 45 minutes 20 people or so have approached me while I’m banging away on my laptop, apparently under the impression I am in charge of something. Fortunately, I know what is going on and what the schedule is so I can direct them to the correct room or give the information they need, but it kind of troubles me that I LOOK like such a huge geek, LOL.

Time has passed, I hope you’re still here.

At 5pm, I joined Michelle for the “Meet The Stars” panel featuring a question and answer session with Battlestar Galactica stars Mary McDonnell and Jamie Barber. I don’t watch the show (I know, sacrilege. I’ll catch up by watching the DVD’s one day) but my friend Kirk is a huge fan so I was wishing he had been there to enjoy the interaction between the show’s stars and fans. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these performers and watching them and listening to how passionate they are about their show makes me want to watch it even more than before.

See you there tomorrow?

Although I have missed Blog Girl while she has been away, I have also enjoyed the solitude of the Blog Cave the past few days. I’ve been able to get quite a bit of reading done and spent several hours working on designing and coding my new writing website. I was even able to relax a bit by sleeping in until 6:45 this morning. That will become even more important in the coming days.

I found out a few days ago that I’ll now be spending even more time away from home each workday. The big government agency that I work for finally found a new building for us. The biggest problem with it is that is now an hour’s drive each way from the Blog Cave to the new drone dump, so 90 minutes a day that I used to have during the work week to do things in the Blog Cave will now be spent driving on Central Florida’s wonderful toll roads. It’s not really as big an issue for me as I make it sound; after all I was able to spend 2 years driving just 12 miles a day round trip from the Blog Cave to work and back. But I got spoiled and will miss the time to work on projects or just relax in the Blog Cave and I certainly won’t enjoy the tolls I’ll be paying.

Speaking of which I went Thursday night after work and bought an E-Pass transponder from my neighborhood Publix, then came back to the Blog Cave and signed up online to fund the E-Pass so on Monday I won’t have to fumble for change at each toll booth. I don’t really like the idea of the E-Pass because to me it’s just another way for Big Brother to keep tabs on me, but like a lot of things we do these days, the convenience is what ultimately draws us. The toll roads are set up in such a way now that if you don’t use an E-Pass, you’ll end up sitting in a mile long line of other drivers waiting to throw quarters into the bin and so you still waste the time you hoped to save by taking the toll road in the first place.

While I’m griping; about the only TV that I watch in “real time” is the local news and sometimes the national news or news talk shows. Everything else is DVR’d and I get to skip through the commercials. But I have to tell you that the increasing preponderance of campaign and candidate commercials are about to make me swear off even the news programs until after next Tuesday night. It seems like EVERY commercial is related to the upcoming election. I guess it’s doubly aggravating to me because I have already voted, so there’s nothing I’m going to hear that is going to change my vote. Thank goodness we got rid of the land line house phone and I don’t have to listen to a dozen recorded calls from candidates and causes every day when I get home.

Blog Girl will return home Sunday afternoon and even though I have enjoyed my time alone, it will be nice to have her back in the Blog Cave.