The Machete movie cast and director Robert Rodriguez will be offering free tacos at the parking lot at 5th and J in San Diego today from 5 to 8PM. Party to follow with DJs and dancers and more free tacos plus free tequila and cerveza. A limited amount of t-shirts and posters are to be given away plus exclusive footage from Machete will be shown on a giant outdoor movie screen!

A group of Southern California train enthusiasts announce the San Diego Steam Special-II, powered by former Santa Fe 3751 a 430-ton locomotive with an unusual wheel configuration known as a 4-8-4. The train runs by harnessing steam created by burning fuel at temperatures reaching 2,400 degrees in the firebox at a rate of 12 gallons per mile. ‘Cadillac of steam’ to ride the rails again

Phil Villarreal, writer for The Consumerist and the Arizona Daily Star, uses his sarcastic wit, and sharp tongue to pen one of the most entertaining frugality books ever.

Some of the ‘secrets’ you’ll find in the book include:
* How to “dine like a cheap SOB”
* Ways to dodge costly relationship milestones
* Instructions on getting freebies in every situation
* What it means to really pay yourself first
* Doing all of the above while looking like the hero

Get ‘Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel’ Now!

The legendary Three Wolf Moon Shirt has been parodied on YouTube as a music video: “Colors of The Wind” from Disney’s ‘Pocahontas’ and then there’s an appearance as Dwight’s Three Wolf Moon Shirt from ‘The Office’. Now JibJab, the ‘digital entertainment studio’, includes a reference to the Three Wolf Moon T-shirt in its 2009 end of the year animated spoof.

Of course, I have a Three Wolf Moon Shirt, that was given to me as a gift. It definitely works much better than any scented body spray fragrance that you can buy!

NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show” premiered on Monday and attracted 17.7 million viewers, including myself. It’s a late-night type talk show airing in prime-time. Jerry Seinfeld was the first guest and rude dude Kanye West was there as well. For me, the show felt somewhat awkward. Comparing Jay and Conan has me thinking that “The Tonight Show” got a bit of an upgrade. Conan is funnier, smoother and a better interviewer. Don’t get me wrong, I like some of Jay’s stuff and maybe the show will get some tweaking and improve enough to continue on in its time slot. Alternatively, there’s much worse television out there in Minow’s vast wasteland.

Towards the end of June, San Diego Chargers All-Pro linebacker Shawne Merriman was the guest celebrity for a tweetup that took place at a trendy nightclub in downtown San Diego. ESPN had a film crew there to capture part of the action. This past Friday the ESPN show Outside the Lines aired a segment, Twitter & Athletes (embedded above) which includes some of the footage from that tweetup with Merriman and interviewer Jennifer Van Grove. I was in the VIP section courtesy of the fabulous Jenn, so when the cameras were on the audience, I was right up front when I appear in the clip at around the 1:50 minute mark. Nice!

Actor Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Alias, Felicity) appeared at Rubio’s Fashion Valley mall location in San Diego last Thursday. He was in town to promote his new Yowza application – a mobile coupon app that searches out local deals based on your current location. Greg and Rubio’s spread the word about the event via Twitter and Facebook. A good sized crowd turned out including a few news people, hanging around Rubio’s for chance to talk with Greg and snap some pictures.

Here are a few of my favorite sources of info for Comic-Con:

Need Last Minute Tickets?
Official eBay address of San Diego Comic-Con International.

Comic-con Real-Time Search Results
Tweetgrid allows you to follow several Comic-Con hashtags with automatic updates.

Twitter
The Official Twitter for Comic-Con.

Guide for Families
Comic-Con 2009 Guide for Families by Alexandra Hart

We wanted to know, among other things, does a family that goes to Comic-Con actually stick together? Is everyone in the family interested in animation, comic books, video games, and science fiction? This question and more were posed to a family in San Diego that was willing to share their animated interests and navigation strategies with us and with you.

Comic-Con Hot Spots
Google Map of restaurants, nightlife and after parties to take in during the Comic-Con weekend.

After Parties
Signonsandiego’s Entertainment Guide

SDUT’s Comic-Con Guide
San Diego events, photos, video, maps, parties.

Vicarious Comic-Con
Web Series Guide to Comic-Con

We’ll be sending down a small army into the belly of beast to report the gushy details and leaks from everything web series at Con. To help prepare, we’ve whipped up a list for all web series junkies to tag along or live vicariously.

YouTube Videos
YouTube Comic-Con channel

Comic-Con Videos
San Diego Source Media Archives

Official Comic-Con Site
The official site is here and you get can get the latest news via the rss feed here.

This photo was taken at the El Cortez Hotel in the seventies and I have no idea what happened to the other photos that were taken on that day. I am on the left. Check out that ‘fro! I was on assignment to cover Comic-Con for a local San Diego newspaper.

The Comic-Con International is now held at the San Diego Convention Center. There is little resemblance between me in this historical photo and me many years later.

The pose with the unidentified attendee was staged to reflect her portrayal of a Vulcan. The hands are in the live long and prosper position with the fingers split apart. At the top of the photo note the funky dot matrix printed banner (held up with masking tape) that reads: REGISTRAR.

Photos and highlights from Comic-Con, 1970 to today. Lots of current photos can be viewewd at the Flickr group pool.