Mr. Charles Yoakum

One of my creative partners in crime, artist extraordinaire Charles Yoakum just called me on the way to the San Diego airport.

I've been his "convention wife" the past seven years (his real wife, wonderful Alaina has long since tired of it).

He said I didn't miss anything. Yea!

Charles has an interesting perspective up on what he's now dubbed Media Con. I think that's perfect. Lets make that name stick.

Well, he loved THE DARK KNIGHT. Thought it was spectacular and epic. Didn't mind the length. Became enthralled when the Joker blew up the jail, which is exactly when I became disenchanted.

I wish I'd had his experience. Again, as a director who just spent June trimming ANOTHER damn five minutes from my film, I'm always going to be of the less is more, kill your babies, say it as fast as you can or you're a self-indulgent schmuck filmmaking model.

Interestingly, since we're simpatico on so much (and obviously PISTOLERAS), Charles did not like UNBREAKABLE and wishes he'd had my experience loving it. It's in my top 20, and I can weep when I describe it to people. He, on the other hand, guessed every comic mythos nuance from the beginning while I viewed it like an awed child.

Guess that's the way I felt about DARK KNIGHT too. Having studied Batman so much for my thesis, the philosophies blowing everyone else away didn't break any new ground for me. They were self-evident.

Yes. We switched viewing experiences because of our varied expertise. Too much knowledge can ruin storytelling. That's the danger of becoming a filmmaker.

Every movie has an audience. We can't all love the same things.

And at least we both hated THE HAPPENING. Hahahaha...