Today I sat in a conference room on the Universal lot for six hours.

Edgar took me through every page of all four Scott Pilgrims and asked me if every visual thing was a reference or homage, or if I made it up myself. Basically, I had some 'splainin' to do.

See, in the movie business, they have to get clearance rights for all these little teeny things that nobody's too worried about me doing in the comic books.

I guess there's a difference between a crappy black and white drawing of a brand name and a giant cinema-screen-sized moving photograph of a brand name.

Afterwards, I cured my ills by lolling around my hotel bed for a while, then going to the mall and buying some manga and quasi-healthy fast food.

The mall didn't have Tezuka's DORORO (vol 1 of which was just released). So sad. They did have copies of all four Scott Pilgrims, though, which was unusual.

I wish I had stopped by Meltdown on my way back from Universal. Maybe tomorrow.

If I can survive until midnight, I am going to see IRON MAN with some of the fellows. If I can survive to the end of IRON MAN, I will come back to my hotel room and sleep. Beautiful sleep.