Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

More Notes from California

The redwoods in Muir Woods were gorgeous yesterday morning (though several of the outlying walking trails were closed due to mud -- or at least, I assume that's the reason). Then we had an hour to kill in Sausalito, so the three of us just strolled and sat along the waterfront there, while keswindhover got a few more bird photos and missmurchison and I kibbitzed. The afternoon was given over to the second part of our tour, going down to San Jose to spend two hours going through the Winchester Mystery House.

After supper at a modest little Vietnamese restaurant near our hotel, the three of us spent the evening drinking up the rest of our red wine from those vineyard tasting trips (we'd polished off three bottles Friday night, so we didn't have that much left last night!), while watching and periodically mocking "Men in Tights", which Keswindhover had never seen before.

This morning was a trip to Fishermen's Wharf via the F streetcar, where I got to see the sea lions off Pier 39 and a liberty ship from WWII (the sea lions weren't from WWII, of course -- just the ship, in case I was unclear!).

But then the best part of the day, with all due respect to the sea lions, was unquestionably the afternoon, where jwaneeta got MissMurchison and me complimentary professional passes to WonderCon, so that we could see her panel at 12:30 (Keswindhover elected to stay on the waterfront to do more bird-watching). The panel on female spies and private detectives in comics of the 1940s-1980s was very much to my taste, of course, and the dealers' hall was massive and varied (and yes, I finally spent all my souvenir money there, after refusing to spend anything at every other opportunity).

And then I saw that there was a "V" panel scheduled for 2:30 PM, including hints about where the show will go in season 3, if they get picked up for another season. I'd just finished watching all my saved "V" episodes from season 2 about a week ago and been wowed by the season ender with Marc Singer (Mike Donovan from the old 1980s mini-series and television series "V") showing up at the last. I was assuming the show had been canceled already and mourning the fact that it was starting to get very good in season 2, so I was eager to find out what season 3 might be or might have been.

Imagine my delight when I found that in addition to Elizabeth Mitchell, the female hero on the show, Marc Singer was the only other cast member on the panel. (If you're in any doubt about my feelings on Marc Singer, please see my earlier posts on his shirtless Petruchio in the 1970s and my beloved beefcake poster of him as The Beastmaster in the 1980s). He was funny and charming and actually pretty articulate, so I can now die a happy fan.

(Oh, and Jackie Earl Haley and Mark Valley were good on the "Human Target" panel just before this one -- but the highlight for me was still "V" and Marc Singer!)

Jwaneeta, Keswindhover, and MissMurchison are exploring the Castro district right now, since none of them had wanted to spend the afternoon at the Con, and I'm enjoying some 'decompress' time in the hotel room (my introversion was being pushed to the limits by the huge crowds at the Wharf and the Con earlier today), with Keswindhover's netbook again providing the chance to update.