COMIC CON is like CRACK.

Cast of Napoleon Dynamite at Comic Con 2011Comic Con... the world just can't look away. You don't want to love it..but you know you do.  It's waaaaay more than comics.  Comic Con International is the largest celebration of popular culture in this universe...and beyond.  Popular culture might be America's most important and influential export...think Hollywood, TV, and Video Games, Animation...wow no wonder COMIC CON is like the Super Bowl of Pop.

Comic Con had it's roots in Detroit, Michigan in the 60's, founder Shel Dorf's home town. 1970 was the first official Comic Con, held at San Diego's U.S Grant Hotel with 300 guests.  Since then, @SDCC (twitter handle) has topped out at 130,000 people.  This year's 4-Day passes were sold out during last years Con.  The single day passes sold out within the first 8 hours on Feb 6.   We're not sure how they measure the Con, but the HUMONGOUS crowd is the best part of the show. The Cos-play ...or costumes are simply incredible.  Click COMIC CON is CRACK and COMIC CON (part 3) for pix.   It's impossible to see it all.  You'd need super powers to see 100's of panels, thousands of exhibitors, and hundreds of thousands of people.  The list of events is staggering. 

Comic Con 2011The thing that sets #SDCC apart from other events is the "FANDOM".  The passion, fervor and commitment of the Comic Con fan base is second to none.  We interviewed "Super 8", a group of seemingly normal women in their 20's who were first in line for Hall H, the 6,500 seat main auditorium.  These die-hards are so devoted  to Twilight, that they started the line on Sunday afternoon (for a Thurs opening).  The ladies were shoo-ed away by authorities, but allowed to begin camping out on Monday.  3 nights under the stars is a small price to pay for Twilight. Danny Devito at Comic Con

This was AspenSpin's second #SDCC so we're learning the ropes.  Our highlights include;

GAME of THRONEs Panel

NAPOLEON DYNAMITE Press Event

30 MINUTES or LESS ... movie sneak peak

MAXIM Party at Hotel Salomar

DEADLIEST WARRIOR Press Event

PREVIEW NIGHT on the Con Floor

SUSHI GIRL cast party

SHARK NIGHT 3D (crashed the party)

=======================================

SEE OUR PIX:

COMIC CON is CRACK +++ and +++ COMIC CON RULES

and COMIC CON (part 3).

=============================================

Wonder Woman helped promote Hippy Media at Comic Con

Angie Everhart and H.R. PuffenstuffSushi Girl cast partyStan Lee is the main man in the comic world.

Game of Thrones panel at Comic Con AspenSpin.com

Comic Con rules the World

Comic Con is a very difficult scene to describe.  The sheer enormity boggles the mind.  Basically its a conference that celebrates all forms of pop culture, comics, music, TV, movies, swag etc.   It's 4 days of madness in San Diego's Gaslamp District.  125,000 people infuse approximately $165 million into the local economy.  Hollywood brings their humongous publicity machine down the coast to get in front of their fanboys (and girls) and your creepy neighbor who still lives in his Mom's basement is here. 

Much more to come. AspenSpin snapped over 2500 photos in 2 days...here's a few of the best, click em, while we edit the rest.   

Click 4 pix   COMIC CON RULES. 

Del Mar: Where the Surf meets the Turf.

Historic Del Mar RacewayDel Mar  Racetrack is as "cool as ever".  It's where the surf meets the turf.  Opening Day 2011 was nothing short of spectacular as almost 47,000 souls ditched work to spend the day at the races.  Thoroughbred racing has a long and distinguished history in Del Mar, ever since Bing Crosby and his pals opened the track in 1937 and Seabiscuit ran there in 1938.  Known as a playground to the Hollywood luminaries like Ava Gardner, Red Skelton, W.C. Fields, Don Ameche, Dorothy Lamour and others.

Opening Day at Del Mar has become an incredible celebration over the years.  More about the party and the fashion and THE HATS than the actual racing, Del Mar is like the Kentucky Derby for So.Cal.  Check our SURF meets the TURF pix.   Getting to the track on opening day is always a challenge as the crowds of limo's, party buses and regular autos basically funnel into a single lane.  Aspen Spin hoofed it to the track through the back door from about 2 miles away.  Auto traffic was moving at approximately 1 mile per hour as the 2 pm post time approached.

Pre and Post parties in downtown Del Mar were numerous.  Drinking was voluminous and people dressed for success and to impress.  The Hollywood glamour seemed to be limited to the b-list, one of the "real housewives" was there and a couple of NFL QB's; Mark Sanchez and Aaron Rodgers.  We didn't make it to the Turf Club or the Winners Circle, but it was BIG fun in the grandstand.

Check the pix.  SURF meets the TURF.

Unbelievable Hats at Del Mar Opening Day. Click 4 Pix.Magnificent animals at Del Mar. Click for pix.Ladies of Del Mar.

The inexact science of Brand Loyalty

Be sure to LIKE us on FaceBook.On the way out the door...after a massive teeth cleaning, my dental hygienist shouted "don't forget to like us on facebook".  The kid I knew at camp in the 70's, who used to wet his bed  sent a nasty gram asking "why don't you follow me on twitter?"  The local pharmacy keeps sending e-mails urging me to "join the conversation".  Really? The conversation about what?...my prescriptions?, adult diapers?, penny candy?   Everybody wants to connect these days, everybody wants to build an engaged and loyal social network.  AspenSpin is fully ensconced in the world of BRAND LOYALTY.  But what's the end game?  Really?

Press One for English.Brand loyalty is a funny thing.  AspenSpin is super loyal to some brands, and willing to throw others under the bus.  Call me crazy, but we will lend support to the brands we actually use and like.  We use social media to converse with, and even promote some brands who in our opinion have superior products and services and are totally relevant to us.   Have you ever shopped at Nordstrom?  They built their department store brand (since 1901) on superior customer service.  The sales staff is so helpful and attentive that we actually feel guilty leaving the store without making a purchase.  Sports Illustrated is another brand we love, we haven't missed an issue since 1968 and we're happy to "like" them on FB.

At the other end of the spectrum is AT&T.

Blue Horseshoe hates AT&T.We've been using AT&T as our cellular carrier since we scored our first cell phone in 1993.  It was one of those Gordon Gekko type models with the handset the size of Oprah's head.  For 18 years we've stayed loyal to AT&T despite living through oodles of dead zones, their terrible customer service, 3 or 4 regime changes and/or mergers.  We've always paid our bill in full...mostly on time... for 212 months in a row.  In exchange we get nothing.  In fact...new customers get a better deal than us, a teaser rate if you will, to sign up. 

AspenSpin is considering an upgrade of our mobile equipment.  Since we are ski habbing in La Jolla, a brand new AT&T store is only a short traffic jam away.  We threw on Sanucks, Mountain Khakis shorts, a TLFI tee-shirt, our Nike 6.0 trucker hat and Oakley shades , jumped in the Audi and hit the mall.  With so many choices, A-Spin figured it would be a good idea to see and touch the phones before deciding on a new model.  Handling the equipment is important to us.   As an aside, we recently received a text message AND a voice mail AND an e-mail  from AT&T reminding us that our bill was "almost" due.   Thanks for the heads up, bro.

Customer Service still counts. The newly remodeled AT&T corporate store in San Diego appeared to be state-of-the-art.  It was large, open and inviting. No threshold resistance.  The new phone options were voluminous, including i-phones.  We were greeted at the entrance by a smiling, tablet wielding "manager" inviting us to add our name to the  "guest list".  He assured  that the short wait to speak to a sales consultant was "only 15 or 20 minutes".  Looking around, there was one other customer in the store, but two sales consultants were heading into the back room with their well deserved lunch of Rubios Fish Tacos and Coca Cola.   The greeter was very friendly so we asked him, "hey, can I pay my bill in the store?"   He replied "of course" he then went on to explain that there is "only" a $5 charge to do the transaction with a "real person" and that we had to "get on the list" in order to do that.  He pointed out the automated payment kisok and assured me that paying with the kiosk was "free".  He added that AT&T is "trying to train our customers to use our automated system".  Awesome...a training session compliments of AT&T.

A quick recap. we've been an AT&T cellular customer for 18 years and we always pay the bill on time.  We've put up with their organizational inefficiancies, their growing pains, their spotty service and dropped calls.   In exchange for that loyalty, we get to wait "15 or 20 minutes" to talk to a salesman, we get to pay a higher fee than "new customers" and as an added bonus get charged a $5 premium to pay our bill in person.  WOW.

As we walked out the door towards the Verizon store in the same mall, the greeter gave us a friendly reminder;  "be sure to Like us on Facebook". 

Word of Mouth can make or break a brand. BRAND LOYALTY 101.

Motor City Madman slashes Aspen.

My ears will never be the same.

It was 1972 or 73, Ted Nugent was scheduled to play a gig at my high school gym.   Somehow... our teacher Senor Muratsky arranged for a rock and roll show at the school as a fund raiser for the Spanish Club. What??  Tickets were $3.  The Nuge already had a huge hit a few years previously with the Amboy Dukes (Journey to the Center of the Mind) but he had not yet reached R & R stardom.  Hey it was a pay day...in the lilly white suburbs of Detroit.  Click TED NUGENT for the wiki.  The Wango Tango is still going strong as evidenced by his recent show in Aspen.

For those of you who were not yet born in 72 or 73 things were different then. While I was pretty much straight as an arrow--- many of the kids at school were on drugs as evidenced by the almost daily OD's.  My classmates typically would head out to "the field" in front of the school to toke up or do mesc. in between classes.  Everybody had long hair then (even me) and we jammed to the quadraphonic stylings of WWWW (W4) or WABX.  The Viet Nam War was raging, the Detroit riots had forced whitey out to the burbs and Ted was just starting to refine his act into the Motor City Mad Man.  Bob Seger, Grand Funk Railroad and Iggy were other popular local acts.

Since I was not yet driving, my folks dropped my friends and I off at the school.  "Yeah...its for the Spanish Club...we might get extra credit" I explained to my Mom. "Have fun" she said as we piled out of the Buick.  About 300 people showed up, and Nuge did not disappoint.  It was loud as f#*K.  Ted said it "i'm  the only black guy here".  After the show, we walked over to ShortStop, the local "party store" where we hung out, drank pop and watched the other kids doing their drugs.  It was sort of an almost famous moment.  My ears are still ringing from Ted's riffs more than 35 years ago. 

Monday night, Uncle Ted hit the stage in Aspen.  AspenSpin missed the show due to our extended stint in ski-hab, but our correspondent Raifie Bass snapped a few pix for us.  Ted played all his hits...and the crowd went wild. 

We last saw Ted in SF in 2008.  Read the story DOG EAT DOG.

Thanks to RAIFIE BASS for the pix.

Our 5 favorite Ted Nugent Jams of all Time.

1) Cat Scratch Fever 

2) Weekend Warriors

3) Motor City Madhouse

4) Stranglehold

5) Journey to the Center of the Mind