Hello from Comic-Con in San Diego where, so far, I haven't seen the slightest difference from previous years when actors and writers weren't on strike. Oh, I'm sure there are folks who live each year to put down roots in Hall H and watch Big Stars promote upcoming movies but there's so much going on with the rest of the con that the absence of any one component is hard to notice. All of the aisles I tried to walk down were just as sardine-can-packed as they ever were.
The only slight difference I noticed was this: There seemed to be fewer cosplayers around — many but not the usual stampede you see here even on a Thursday. I don't think cosplaying is losing its appeal. I suspect some of them were just cosplaying as Striking Actors by staying home — a much cheaper, easier challenge.
My day started out, as you saw in the previous post, with a quick Via Zoom appearance on the local Los Angeles news, Actually, I was supposed to be on the morning before and I was all Zoomed-in and ready to be interviewed but there was a police pursuit being covered live. Some guy who's now sitting in a cell somewhere stole a work truck when its owner stopped into a service station for fueling. The purloined vehicle was towing a small cement mixer and that apparently made it impossible to "PIT" the work truck and bring the pursuit to a speedy close.
The folks at the news station thought the chase would reach that speedy conclusion anyway and then I'd be on, a little later than planned but still on. But then the chase ran three hours and — worse — they were three of the most boring hours of police-in-pursuit you ever saw. Just about nothing happened. Cops chased the guy until the guy pulled over and gave up, the end. By that time, there was no time for me so I agreed to come back the next day. (Here's some of that boring chase as captured by another L.A. station.)
I really didn't want to do the telecast. I only did it because I thought TV viewers would enjoy seeing anyone ontheir sets who wasn't Chris Christie.