The latest installment on my love for San Francisco is being put on hold for the moment, because I just got back from Comic-Con and needed to share its awesomeness with you. This was truly the best year yet. I got to listen to Peter Mayhew (aka thee Chewbacca) sing to Bill Prady (co-creator of The Big Bang Theory), “Soft wookie, warm wookie, little ball of fur…”. Wil Wheaton and I had quite a long conversation about craft beer making, I talked to Levar Burton and Brent Spiner at the same time, shook hands with Sean Astin, and rubbed elbows with some of the sci-fi world’s finest. To say many childhood dreams came true was an understatement. The costumes, as always, surprised and inspired me. And oddly, this year the crowds weren’t as large and smelly as usual. And the best part about the Con, you never know what to expect. Check out my photo journal below to see some of the fun and unexpected wonders of Comic-Con 2012. Now Boldly Go! If you liked this post, please do us the further boon of Liking the Fierce and Nerdy page on FaceBook. Also, we’re giving great stream on Twitter, so do give us...

Well dear readers, it’s Sam the Sham again. Let’s not waste much time with me delving into an esoteric reason as to why I am disgruntled with stuff. Just know it involves summer camp, mononucleosis, Transformers 3, giant spiders, not going to Comic Con, and a can of black olives. There. Now that we got that out of the way… FIERCELY ANTICIPATING Within ten minutes of knowing me, you’ll find out that my birthday is (and has always been) on September 11th. I tell you this not for the pity party, but rather because it explains why I find humor in the absolute bleakest of moments, and it also comes with a good story. The short and sweet version is that a girl in college, on Sept. 11, 2002, asked me if my birthday had always been on 9/11. I said “Yes, since I was born,” which, remarkably, saddened her. When faced with tragedy, rather than weep and moan, I try and find a way to get those around me to laugh. Distract us from the obvious plight. I am the anti-Fox News. So what am I fiercely anticipating, you might ask? (I brought it back. Relax.) The rough road ahead! Some people turn to the bottle in time of trouble. I turn to comedians. With a new season of Louie, I am reminded about the struggle of the day to day minutiae, and how it can be soul-crushing… and yet hysterical from an outsider’s perspective. Patton Oswalt is coming out with a new album to take a few pop shots at the establishment. And a new season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which I have, thankfully, finally come around to watching) is going to remind us all that we are inherently good...

Comic-Con is over. George R. R. Martin finally released A Dance with Dragons. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part2: Welcome to the Real World” opened and reminded us all that everything you love will eventually end. Alan Rickman’s next film project is with – god forbid – Cameron Diaz. It feels as if nerds everywhere have collapsed into a sweaty, sticky, spent heap, like a child after the Disneyland parade, or an adult film star after the AVN Awards. Luckily, there’s always something titillating around the corner. In this case, some quasi-intellectual-pseudo-porn to keep you warm in your seat until Dark Knight Rises. FIERCELY ANTICIPATING A Dangerous Method Let’s be honest. The trailer to A Dangerous Method is, in a word, superhot. I always prefer my mind-fuck in a three-piece suit, don’t you? To anyone who’s ever fallen for his or her therapist (everyone who’s ever been in therapy) this is the ultimate in wish fulfillment. Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen are both as talented as they are sexified. Vincent Cassel retains that “No Means Yes” quality even when dressed like Van Gogh (for no apparent reason). Kiera Knightly is miraculously not bothering me, and might actually be great in it. The dialect work sounds pretty above board all around. Plus: parasols! Bodice-ripping! Leather straps! Strudel! Had I known all I had to do to have some fun in the sack was go “Yellow Wallpaper” on everyone, I would have lost it a long time ago. Side note, I looked up director David Cronenberg on IMDB to verify a few things, and his helpful bio tells me that he is known as “The King of Venereal Horror”. I was going to be Sexy Hagrid for Halloween, but I think I have a new...

Captain Kirk and I have a date tonight. We’re meeting at a cemetery in Hollywood a little after sunset. Picard, Janeway, Sisko and Archer will be joining us, along with Kirk-2.0 (Chris Pine) under the Milky Way and on top of dimmed stars, to raise our Romunlan Ale and celebrate The Captains, an Original Documentary produced and directed by William Shatner. Sure, Kirk will be about 30 feet tall, and our conversation will mostly be him monologuing, but for me, it will be a dream come true. Thanks to infinite reruns, Kirk was my first nerd crush. Long before Dr. Who or Prince, Captain Kirk strutted across my 20” TV screen and into my pre-teen heart. During my dateless teens, the cocky space traveler was my Midnight date on quiet Saturdays. Since my parent’s bedroom was only 20 feet from the TV, the volume would be almost inaudible. Kirk’s swagger shouted over the whispering crew, loudly powerful and not so subtly sexual. Before I even knew what ‘sexy’ meant, I knew that Kirk embodied it. I would pretend to be the green painted alien or Yeoman Rand, bewildered at the power the Captain held over me. Resistance was futile, long before the Borg came into the picture. Each Captain who came after Kirk had their own, whole different kind of sexy. But none quite equaled Bill Shatner. I’ll admit to having a nerdy-fit before I saw J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the Star Trek legend. He was re-writing how Kirk and Spock met, he was using this pretty Hollywood actor who said he was happy to be in “Star Wars” during an interview. Clearly J.J. didn’t understand the love of the geeks! Of course I took all that back when I actually saw the movie. I...