Trent Hunsaker at Salt Lake Comic Con: FanX 2017

I am excited to be taking part in Salt Lake Comic Con's FanX 2017! I've been able to help out with the convention since it's inaugural year. This year's FanX is limited on space compared to those previous, but I'm stoked about the little piece that I get to contribute.

---

Inside Suicide Squad Ask Me Anything with El Diablo creator Jai Nitz

Friday March 17, 2017 -- 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Room: 150G
He was on set, at the premiere, and writing the characters the world has come to know and love. Come to this panel and ask anything you want to know about Suicide Squad.

Running the Gauntlet: The Mystery and Might of Marvel's Infinity Stones

Saturday March 18, 2017 -- 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Room: 151G
Since the release of Iron Man in 2008, Marvel's movies have been building to a cosmic conflict between Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the death-worshiping overlord Thanos. At the center of the oncoming conflict are the six Infinity Stones, each with different powers, that have manifested themselves in the various films, and which, when gathered, will form the Infinity Gauntlet, and box-office gold. Our panel will identify and discuss the infinity stones, their names, powers, and appearances in Marvel comics and Marvel's films, and their ongoing significance in determining the fate of Marvel's cinematic universe.

---

See the full FanX schedule here.

See Trent at Salt Lake Comic Con 2016

These are the tentative panels with tentative time slots that I'll be on at Salt Lake Comic Con 2016. I'll be sure to update them if the change. Come say hi!

John Hodgman on Donald Trump

I subscribe to a weekly "lifestyle newsletter" written by John Hodgman. [If you're not familiar with Hodgman, he was the PC to Justin Long's Mac in the Apple commercials, he was the Deranged Millionaire on the Daily Show, and now he is cast in several television shows as well as the host of one of the best podcasts on the internet.] This week, in the opening to his newsletter, Hodgman described his thoughts about the GOP nominee for President of the United States. His assessment of what is inside the dome of Donald Trump is frightfully astute.

It has been another sad and distressing week, with lots of loss and turmoil here and abroad. And then Trump. Whether he is amusing or terrifying, trying to figure out what is happening inside Trump’s brain cavern has at least always been an engaging distraction, even if it robbed me of my livelihood. How can anything I do as the Deranged Millionaire ever compare with the longform improv DT has been laying down for the past year? 

But watching him half announce Mike Pence on Saturday and then psychotically step all over him on 60 minutes last night just exhausted me. That dude sure starts a LOT of sentences that he never finishes, and it puts in my head what I think exists in his own: a perpetually neurotic/paranoid fugue state of half-ideas and petty fears. 

Photo: www.instagram.com/johnhodgman/

The Street Fighter Years Mini Doc

I happened upon this tonight while looking for forgotten Street Fighter games. This brought back quite a bit of nostalgia, which doesn't necessarily mean I miss it all.

If you were growing up in the early 90s, you'll get it.

Never Forget

There will be some people too ashamed to share this post. I am not ashamed of this brave man who fought against the evils from the middle east.

Coverage for SModcast about Smith's Return to the Greyhound of the Skies

Interview: 'Rudy & Des' Director, Jensen Karp

Your Own Dignity: The Voight-Kampff Test for Supporting a Candidate

There are a few podcasts that never build up in my listening queue:  99% Invisible, Judge John Hodgman, Smodcast, the list goes on. During the past winter while I was working graves at a gas station, I started listening to KCRW's Left, Right & Center. Since listening to the first episode while moping the floors on the beer aisle, I haven't missed an episode.

Left, Right & Center is KCRW's weekly show about politics, policy and culture. It's a well balanced discussion (and explanation) about politics and policy that pulls from journalists across the political spectrum.

The program has had a few different hosts. It is the host's job to take a centrist view and keep things on task (though all of the guests are extremely well-behaved, and it never turns into the pissing matches lauded on pundit cable news channels).

Each episode ends with the three participants giving a short "rant" about whatever topic they feel like. Josh Barro, Senior Editor at Business Insider and current host, ranted about Trump and dignity in the May 20^th episode.

Barro's well-articulated thoughts poetically draw attention to the about-faces made by so many politicians and pundits as Trump has now secured the GOP nomination. And while he leaves room for many valid reasons to support Trump, he explains how the 180 for so many to toe-the-line has come at a great loss of dignity.

Here is his Voight-Kampff test he presents for those making the Trump switch:

"You should just think, if I get in bed with Donald Trump today, how am I going to feel about it in the morning? Will I believe that I have preserved my dignity? And if the answer to that is no, you just shouldn't do it."

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) with the Voight-Kampff Machine, Blade Runner

That's not to say that in not supporting Trump, voters are only left with one other option. In the same May 20^th episode, Robert Sheer, columnist for Truthdig and The Nation (also the journalist supporting the left in the episode),  suggests citizens should explore supporting both Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.

We should all support who we feel will do the best job, and perhaps the barometer to use in making that selection is supporting the candidate who leaves our dignity in tact. I mean, even a guy learning about politics while mopping a gas station floor shouldn't trade his dignity for popular alignment.

KEVIN SMITH DEVELOPING BUCKAROO BANZAI SERIES WITH MGM

THE FLASH, SEASON 2 EPISODE 21, TRAILER