Geek this Week: The Dan Band and the Long Con

Course of the Force ends; San Diego Comic-Con International begins.

Hot Dan! – It’s the most wonderful week of the year! But before the convention that all of us look forward to for the other 51 weeks of the year, the Course of the Force wraps up tomorrow in San Diego’s Balboa Theatre, bringing the fittest fans into town to party with those profane performers known as the Dan Band. Here’s hoping you didn’t exhaust yourselves too much, runners, because you’re going to want to save that last ounce of energy to rock out.


The Times, They Are A-Partyin’ – San Diego throws a ton of parties convention week, and many of them are closed off to the public. This year, however, The L.A. Times Hero Complex blog and Wikia want to let you be part of their big shindig Thursday night, the highlight of which will be a trivia contest for twenty-five lucky partygoers to win swag aplenty, including a grand prize of an annual pass to your local Imax theater! Anyone who has attended one of HC head writer Geoff Boucher’s events around L.A. knows the giveaways are always golden. We wouldn’t be surprised if he had a few famous friends onhand as well.

Collect and Connect – One of the big lures for many collectors to San Diego Comic-Con International is the exclusive toys and collectibles up for grabs, from a gigantic wallet-busting Avengers vehicle to sexy siren statues from the worlds of Marvel and Tekken. There are many precious things here to grab up like Gollum before some nasty Hobbitses get the last ones (one particular Hobbit named Bilbo happens to be an exclusive himself, with the first new movie figure, cast in clear plastic). We’ve compiled a list of our favorites – which one item will rule it all for you?

Spurlock, Homes – If you missed out on Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, now’s your chance to win a DVD and watch in the comfort of your living room, office or wherever media players are. If you’re at Comic-Con this week, you can also pick up the Toy’R’Us Exclusive version. His previous documentary may have been The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, but this could be the greatest movie you’ll get for free. Head over to our Comic-Con Episode IV contest, then super-size your chances with bonus entries at our Facebook, Twitter, and Google + pages. And whether you’re in San Diego, or enjoying from afar via Spurlock’s doc and/or the magic of the Internet…Happy Con-going!

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