The sun is shining in San Diego, the waves are crashing against the shore, seagulls are calling (do they call?), people are bustling about ... and an inordinate amount of them are wearing Star Wars t-shirts. Yes folks, Comic-Con is getting ready to step into full swing, and I'm here.

I would make a lot of geek and nerd jokes here, but I just realized after taking a picture of all of the gear I'll be lugging around every day that I have seen the geek, and the geek is me. For the rest of my week I'll be doing my best to dork out and get the skinny on all the Comic-Con news that comes out, and I'll be chasing down those 12 unanswered questions that we want the answers to.

Plus if I can catch some behind the scenes tidbits, I'll share 'em here. If Robert Downey Jr. wants to tell me how the crotch really rides up on that Iron Man costume, then you'll hear it here first. We'll also be touring the show floor, bringing you photos, videos, and interviews with a woman dressed up like Lara Croft, god willing.

I just came from getting my press badge at the San Diego Convention Center (or SDCC for people without a lot of extra time on their hands to pronounce the whole thing) and it is already mobbed. It's only preview night, where you can't see too much, and the line is stretching around the place. Stay tuned, true believers! Tonight we're attending a screening of 3D footage from Beowulf, so look for that and a whole lot more tomorrow, once things really get rolling.

Though we've suffered through countless stories in which the geek attempts to woo the hot cheerleader, I'm always hoping someone will emerge to take this tired concept in a new direction. Variety tells us that Fox Atomic has snagged the film rights to Larry Doyle's debut novel I Love You, Beth Cooper, with plans to turn it into one of those films where you can't help but ask: Hasn't this been done, like, a thousand times? Seeing as Doyle is an accomplished writer (he's penned seven episodes of The Simpsons, as well as the not-so-good Ben Stiller flick Duplex), I'm optimistic that he's churned out something a tad different here. And since I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories, I intend to pick up the book this summer to find out for myself.

In addition to the acquisition, Fox Atomic has set up the project with Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan to produce through their 1492 Pictures. While Columbus has not signed on to helm the pic, the subject seems like a good fit for the family-friendly director and, if the script is good enough, I'd expect him to take the reigns. Story centers on a geeky valedictorian who, during his graduation speech, decides he has nothing to loose and so he professes his love to the school's most popular (and most beautiful) cheerleader. Will our geek get the girl? Or will her tough-as-nails boyfriend (yup, there's one of those too) squash our hero before he even has time to achieve his goal? Apparently, I Love You, Beth Cooper hit bookstores earlier this month, so if anyone out there has read it, feel free to let us know what you think.

Welcome back to The Geek Beat, readers. Last week we did the "what if Marvel fielded a baseball team" game, and this week we were scheduled to do part two of that column -- the All-Star Villains. A few readers made some very astute guesses, but you'll have to wait one more week to learn my starting nine, because this week's column is dedicated to a full-on, all-out wrap-up of the crazy week that was Comic-Con 2006. Geek movie news aplenty was pouring out of San Diego these past few days, and we're going to sum it all up in case you missed out on any of the action. If you read this and know of some fantastic bit of movie-related news which I overlooked, click on the comments and let us know. We'll make it a team effort. Ready? Here it goes:

Day 1

• Lots of interesting news from a comic book perspective, including some great panels with DC and Marvel, but precious little movie news hit from the big two. Mostly, everyone was just gearing up. Marvel does, however, completely destroy DC in a softball game.
• The agent for Doug Jones, the guy who played Abe Sapien in fan favorite Hellboy, said to expect a major casting announcement from Doug. Popular rumor expected this to be a deal to play the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2. Which, by the way, still has no official title despite what you've been hearing.
• Rosario Dawson is very excited for Sin City 2, and is planning to bring her own comic series, Occult Crimes Taskforce to the big screen.