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Tuesday, March 30, 2004
WIZARD WORLD LONG BEACH
you didn't know that I knew Batman, didja?
Ah yes my little chickadees, the Wizard show came to California. I attended one day, on Saturday. I have to admit, I was rather impressed by the turnout of both fans and attendees. There was a pretty respectable roster of heavy hitters in attendance. The golden boy of the show was director/writer Kevin Smith. I am rather indifferent to Mr. Smith. Sure, I have seen Clerks, Mall Rats, Chasing Amy (his best in my humble opinion), and Dogma. I never got around to Bill and Ted's excel...er, I mean Jay and Bob Destroy Detroit or whatever. I am sure it is just as enjoyable. I just feel the thrill is gone for me. So if you hear me talking Kevin, do something to light my fire again.
Enough of the light ranting, back to the con report! Drove out to Long Beach and followed mapquest directions to convention center only to find signs redirecting traffic in very round-about manner. After circumnavigating the center (heh heh you said circumnavigate) (I sure did beavis) we finally parked near the cylindrical LB aquarium.
We, my girlfriend Sally and I, got into the show and almost immediately we saw Jeff Parker at the Illuminatti booth.
do yourself a favor and definitely check out Interman.
Went over to say hello to both him and Chuck Wojtkiewicz. design and production art galore. Followed Parker back to his table on the other side of the show in artists' alley and stuck some art under his nose. Praise from Caeser. He said good things and believe me, he does not like to say good things about my art.
DOWN AND OUT IN ARTISTS ALLEY
very meticulous artist and all around cool buddhist, Buzz
Franchesco...dig it!
Mac Afro. Aw yeah.
things can get a little pimpy around pimpster, Mike "da' pimp" Wellman (I was going to do a sort of "Scarlet PIMP-ernell" gag for this photo but didn't)
ENOUGH NAME DROPPING
Sally and I headed across the street to LB's answer to the Block or Spectrum or whatever trendy open-aired ideal of a cubical mall, the cities desperate for retail revenues are devising nowadays. Apparently it is still under construction because about three fourths of it was empty. There were three restaurant choices available And lucky for us, it was right around lunch time and everybody else was hungry too. So we put our name in at the California Pizza Kitchen and people-watched.
Finally we got in and the food was OK. Not amazing but not bad at all either.
I was glad to see a variety of product at dealers' tables at this show. Lately it seems all anybody ever brings is Manga stuff.
I picked up some back issues for cheap and looked at some reasonably priced silver age stuff, but eventually passed on it.
I don't know what this guy was supposed to be dressed up as and I kind of got the impression he didn't either.
Walked around some more and saw some people I hadn't seen for a while.
About then it was time to go. I said my last goodbyes and we left. All in all a nice little show. Just big enough to over stimulate your brain but not so big as to not be do-able in one day. Unfortunately nothing wacky happened for me to report on. No brawls in the lobby, no Gareb Shamus drunkenly mooning people from the Wizard booth, nothing. Ah next year.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
TEENS!
Want to know the worst part of my job? It's not the small pay. I am used to that. It's not the hours. Pretty reasonable there. It's not the actual work. That's relatively pleasurable. The worst part of my job is getting there. The most direct route to my job takes me right past a high school exactly the time it lets out.
This is Upland High School. Historically, serving one of the more affluent, well-heeled sections of the local area. And it shows.
There is nothing worse than a great crowd of teenagers driving $50,000 cars badly. These are people whose first digit of their age starts with a one. Blaring the latest pop/rap/crap music in the car daddy bought them. Nevermind blinkers! I am merging. Nevermind oncoming traffic! I am pulling out of a parking lot. While on a cel phone. In a Lexus.
Teens are the least responsibled, most privileged portion of society. You would think that they would be appreciative of their freedom. And maybe some are, but not this crowd. Everytime, in that same stretch of street, that particular block, I have to jump on my brakes to avoid hitting a 17 year old barbie in her deluxe SUV.
Now before you start accusing me of stone-throwing, I never had a car in high school. (Hell, I really did have to get up early to walk to school because the school buses didn't run in our neighborhood) My folks didn't ever own a VCR until after I graduated and bought them one. So all I am saying is that the spoiled punks of Upland high school can go to Hell!
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Friday, March 19, 2004
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Well it's March and Easter is coming up if you are a Christian. Or raised a Christian. Why is Easter the most boring Judeo- Christian (I am lumping Passover in here) holiday there is? I mean, no scary costumes, no exchanging of gifts, no fireworks. C'mon man, all I have to look forward to is getting up at dawn and letting some guy preach at me? If I wanted that I would have married a drill sargeant. I think Easter needs to get a little spiced up people. Aw yeah! Just imagine a Messiah dressed in a bright colorful costume coming down off of a flaming crucifix with colored sparks shooting out of the ends of it and handing out presents to boys and girls everywhere. If that doesn't make you scared shitless, excited about receiving a gift and filled with national pride then you my friend just do not have what it takes to be a good religious person.
AMEN!
Monday, March 08, 2004
IN YOUR FACE DEPT.
Cretins! They didn't laugh at me in Prague, they didn't laugh at me in London! I AM funny, my fortune proves it!
timothyX. I am looking at you.
Friday, March 05, 2004
HOLIER THAN THOU DEPT.
Is it me or are 99 cent stores popping up all over the place? OK OK I will admit it I have gone into a few 99 cent stores. But come on, when you need cheap crap that you don't care about the quality of that much, it works out great. Things like, oh I don't know, paper towels or four AA batteries. Plus I am just a cheap bastard.
The worse part of shopping in these places is not the selection or quality of the products that they carry but the selection and quality of the other people shopping there. You wish you had one of those really big stamps that some sort of official uses to approve or reject a document. The kind that has that really satisfying "K-Whump!" when you slam it down. And you want to go around the store just stamping people right on the forehead with the stamp leaving them with the indelible mark of "SUBHUMAN". Some of these people are so disheveled and broken down that they clearly look as if their very lives are dependent on their purchases.
Thursday, March 04, 2004
"After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization,"
-George Bush
I have to tell you that same sex marriages are not high on my fury-o-meter. To tell the truth, I really couldn't care less. And here is why the low ranking comes in. It doesn't affect me. It really doesn't. Just ask yourself, how different would my day to day life be altered if gays were allowed to wed? Probably none to very little. These "moral" family groups attempting to force the California (and other states as of this writing) government into retracting all the same sex marriage licenses it issued in the past weeks are just a bunch of busybodies trying to butt their way into everybody else's business.
A better but still weak argument would be for the employers now having to shell-out extra spousal benefits. But that doesn't hold water either. I seriously doubt that out of all the gays such a great portion of them are :
A Employed by big enough companies to garner spousal benefits. B Already in a relationship serious enough to be called marriage. C Heading into a relationship serious enough to be thinking of marriage. D All of the above.
If you want to start cleaning up the world, start with making people stop doing things that actually impact negatively on others. Like, oh I don't know graffitti, vandalism, noise pollution! I don't care one whit if two gays or lesbians get married as long as they don't force me to marry one of them. But spray paint your name on my house and I am upset. Also I think people should be allowed to listen to whatever kind of music they wish to. Just don't make me listen to it as well.
New Paltz [New York] Mayor Jason West faces 19 criminal counts and could face jail time after performing 25 same-sex ceremonies last Friday. He has pleaded innocent and promised to conduct more marriages this weekend. Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, said West "is taking his oath of office in a very cavalier manner. He calls this day the best day of his mayor[al] career when he solemnized these unions. We're trying to make it his last days."
Now that's gay!
Monday, March 01, 2004
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