And why would that be? Well, next Wednesday night is the kick-off of San Diego’s now humongous Comic-Con, an event I’ve been attending off and on, but mostly on, since I was a barely pubescent geekling, and both me and the con have changed a little over the years.

The con has grown into something truly enormous and become less fun, and I’ve definitely grown (a little) bigger. I’ll leave the “fun” judgment to others. Like the con also, I’ve also definitely grown less comics-obsessed and more exclusively film/television focused — partly as a function of cost and partly of time. I’m not sure what the con’s excuse is.

In any case, I find myself unable to focus on any one topic right now and am fretting about things like whether or not there will be free wi-fi again this year, but as the event I call “Cannes for geeks” grows ever closer, we’ll be visiting with our old family friends, the Asterisks.

* Anne Thompson looks at directors arriving at Comic-Con for the first time, including Peter Jackson, who’ll be promoting “Disctrict 9” among other major geek items; Pixar top dog John Lasseter who’ll be appearing with an equally influential animation legend, Hiyao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away” and the upcoming “Ponyu,” among many, many others.) Not appearing, apparently, will be Quentin Tarantino or anyone associated with “Inglourious Basterds,” apparently because Harvey Weinstein needs to keep control of his shekels these days.

(It’s also a sign of how insane things have become that ace reporter Thompson is apparently staying at a hotel many miles away from the con and has to brave the insane parking situation in downtown San Diego — if you’re going there, take the area’s rather good public transportation if it’s in any way possible. Every day of the con is completely sold out this year, by the way, and has been for a couple of months.)

* Entertainment Weekly‘s way early feature on “Iron Man 2” has sparked mass film geek posting of pictures of Scarlett Johansson as the red-haired Black Widow. (H/t Nathaniel R.) That begs the question, shouldn’t her hair either be black or the character be renamed “Red Widow” — which would tie in with the character’s Silver Age Soviet provenance. Too on the nose, I guess.

And there’s also something about Mickey Rourke and a cockatoo. Is this “Iron Man” were talking about or “Baretta“?

* This isn’t particularly geeky, and it’s awfully “meta,” but Anne Thompson, who I’ve cited above and very frequently in these parts, is reportedly taking her blog solo and going entrepreneurial, though with support from the highly esteemed news source Indiewire. We hope she makes mega-dollars. She is very much needed, and I hope she has better luck next year booking hotels for Comic-Con.