So given my penchant for irregualar posting, I feel some catching up is in order. Last time I came to you dear readers was with my Dallas Comic-Con experience. Well San Diego Comic-Con was last weekend, and no I didn't go, but I did hear about some cool stuff, Image Comics/Skybound/Robert Kirkman is doing a Zombie obstacle course, and when you complete it you get an exclusive Walking Dead #100, only available at the con. If you know me, you know my love of TWD, its such an amazing story, the comics are incredible and really pull you in like no other book out there currently. The TV show is also amazing, albeit the seasons are too short, but who thought we'd have a zombie TV show on in prime time?
Other than all that, just been trying to find a job, who knew how hard this was going to be, at this point i'd take my chances as a fry cook, in-between all that I've been sucked back into the world of Magic: The Gathering, a fun, yet addictive card game that I played way back in college (wish I hadn't sold all my cards). The nice part about the game is it is social and I've made a lot of new acquaintances playing.
Got back to the Rock last weekend, it was nice, didn't do a whole lot, mostly time with family, did get to eat lunch with my 3 friends in Searcy, mmmm Mi Pueblito....and I got to see The Dark Knight Rises, oh my god, what a great movie. To steal a quote from a friend, this is on par with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, they are not 3 separate movies, but one long epic, meant to be seen back to back.
The tech rumor mill is all abuzz regarding the new iphone, we all know its coming, and we all know we're going to buy it, but the question is, is this the new iphone? I kinda hope so, I'm ready for something different, the 4 was a nice departure, but it still feels the same.
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Reflections on Comic-Con
So, I went to my first official Comic Con, Dallas Comic Con was last weekend, and it was a surreal experience. First let me forewarn you readers, this post will be dripping with fan boy rantings, and full of name drops. That being said, the first rule of Conventions, wear comfy shoes. A good friend of mine from back home came down for the weekend, not being a comic book fan, but a Star Wars nerd, I was confused as to why he would want to go to a comic book convention. I realized it was more for the experience and of course to hang out with me (I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with me!).
The big draw for the con was of course Stan "The Man" Lee, who had to cut short his trip and was only available on Saturday, so they set him up special on Friday night, which I did not attend, although Stan has been an invaluable soldier in comic book creation, my goals were on a few other things. Firstly, my two favorite people in the comic industry, who also happen to be Harding University graduates and from Little Rock, Mitch and Elizabeth Breitweiser were going to be there and they had a limited edition print that Mitch drew and Bettie colored. Even cooler I found that it was limited to only 60 copies. Those who don't know, the smaller the batch run, the more valuable these things are, but I don't care about that, I mean its original, and its limited, auto-buy. Secondly, I had my three volumes of Batman by Neal Adams hardbacks that I wanted to get signed, which I did, and had them personalized to me, which I was informed made them less valuable, again, those are for me, no one else, so value be damned! Oh wait, back to Mitch and Bettie, I had Mitch's first official series he did for Marvel, "Drax the Destroyer" 4 issues mini series, which I had him sign, along with Defenders #5 (the best so far, art wise), this was also a collaboration with Bettie, so I got her to sign as well.
Now let me go back a step here, so we got to the Irving Convention Center at 10 am, the show was supposed to open at 11, describing the line is hard, so lets just say it snaked its way from the door, up the stairs, down the stars, along the side of the building and then back to the street and then up the center of the stairs. I really didn't pay a lot of attention to the time, but it was 1145 before we were inside. another 75 minutes waiting for Neal Adams. Then to learn that as I was heading to Kevin Conroy's line (he was the voice of Batman in the animated series in the '90's) only to learn it went all the way around the convention center and was capped, ok over to George Perez's line, oh wait its capped too. Well lets check out the wares. Tons of toys, books, comics, a booth selling knives and swords, no thats not dangerous...a booth selling custom leather work, including bracers, superhero masks, etc. Costumes, yes, nerds do it right, from 7 year olds as Captain america, to a 60+ creepy Riddler (I swear he had free candy!). We decided to grab some lunch and that took over an hour, then went to the panel room to get ready for Patrick Stewart, we got there an hour before and sat in on Neal Adams, who of course talked about how he was turned down by DC at first and wound up at Archie Comics, and was told all along that the industry would be dead in a year...Tons of stupid questions bounced off him and his son, but the best he answered with and get this he told us it was a lie. "Who is your favorite character to draw?" the truth is all of them, its just that much fun. The lie, Batman, because he has a cape, and thats like drawing two people. Honestly, I liked the lie!
Patrick Stewarts Panel, was packed, although not all the VIP seats were filled, so he made a comment about it and all of the sudden they were like you guys move on up... He told stories about his childhood growing up in England, and how he got started, and how he loved playing bad guys on stage. About midway through, a question was pitched from the other side of the room, "Who was your favorite villain?" Holy shit its John Delancie (Q from TNG). He approaches the stage, and they have one of those moments, you know two old friends, give each other the handshake hug, and then start to reminisce. So very cool! Not one question about X-men, all about Star Trek and his Shakespearean works. Fast forward, I leave a bit before its over to try one last time to get Perez, I have been lugging around the first six issues of the New 52 Superman for him and the lines not horrible, I am however at the very end. told I will not make the cut today. Fortunately one of my friends who works at the local shop is there and like 15th in line, tells me to give him my books and he'll get it for me. That was awesome, thanks again Brad, you totally rock!
Sunday, my friend says we need to get there earlier, but today won't be as crowded as Saturday, as they never are. So we get up and have a great breakfast at the Old West Cafe, 2 eggs, 2 bacon, hash browns, and some toast, they do it up right! We roll out, 45 minutes later we're at the convention center, maybe 100th in line. 90 minutes till doors open. Got a few shots of some great costumes, a great Batgirl, a mini Batgirl (she had to be 5 or 6), Maverick, Goose, and Iceman, a little girl as Indiana Jones (it was too cute!), Master Chief from Halo, Bane from the new Batman movie, a family of Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern and the daughter was also Supergirl. My one goal for Sunday was to get Kevin Conroy to sign my Batman the Animated Series Boxed Set. I went immediately to the line to queue. So, the ruling here is first is VIP then Priority, then General Admission. We are told that the first hour will be only VIP and Priority, my thought is 11-12 right...well 1230 rolls and then we are told the line is capped and he has a hard stop at 330 to catch a flight. the 3 people in front of me start raising all kinds of hell, and genuinely so, we could have been up there waiting, but they held us all back. They claim if they get though all that that then they will let us through. The Red-shirted nerd with a little power leaves and the orange shirt guy was like you 4 go on, no promises, but I'll let you through. fast forward 2 hours and we are through, I'm standing in front of the man who no one will recognize in a photo, but the minute you hear his voice its like, holy shit your batman! He signs my stuff, even stops for a photo, and I'm done. Wow, that was incredible, and to the soldier in front of me, good luck on your deployment, and thank you for being such a hard ass to the line nazi and getting us through! I also found out that Mitch's print of 60 sold out mid day saturday, which is awesome!
So that was my experience for Stan Lee presents Dallas Comic Con, lots of line standing, great people watching, and overall a fun weekend! Next time, I'm going VIP, 30 minutes early and line cuts sound good to me!
Live long and prosper.
The big draw for the con was of course Stan "The Man" Lee, who had to cut short his trip and was only available on Saturday, so they set him up special on Friday night, which I did not attend, although Stan has been an invaluable soldier in comic book creation, my goals were on a few other things. Firstly, my two favorite people in the comic industry, who also happen to be Harding University graduates and from Little Rock, Mitch and Elizabeth Breitweiser were going to be there and they had a limited edition print that Mitch drew and Bettie colored. Even cooler I found that it was limited to only 60 copies. Those who don't know, the smaller the batch run, the more valuable these things are, but I don't care about that, I mean its original, and its limited, auto-buy. Secondly, I had my three volumes of Batman by Neal Adams hardbacks that I wanted to get signed, which I did, and had them personalized to me, which I was informed made them less valuable, again, those are for me, no one else, so value be damned! Oh wait, back to Mitch and Bettie, I had Mitch's first official series he did for Marvel, "Drax the Destroyer" 4 issues mini series, which I had him sign, along with Defenders #5 (the best so far, art wise), this was also a collaboration with Bettie, so I got her to sign as well.
Now let me go back a step here, so we got to the Irving Convention Center at 10 am, the show was supposed to open at 11, describing the line is hard, so lets just say it snaked its way from the door, up the stairs, down the stars, along the side of the building and then back to the street and then up the center of the stairs. I really didn't pay a lot of attention to the time, but it was 1145 before we were inside. another 75 minutes waiting for Neal Adams. Then to learn that as I was heading to Kevin Conroy's line (he was the voice of Batman in the animated series in the '90's) only to learn it went all the way around the convention center and was capped, ok over to George Perez's line, oh wait its capped too. Well lets check out the wares. Tons of toys, books, comics, a booth selling knives and swords, no thats not dangerous...a booth selling custom leather work, including bracers, superhero masks, etc. Costumes, yes, nerds do it right, from 7 year olds as Captain america, to a 60+ creepy Riddler (I swear he had free candy!). We decided to grab some lunch and that took over an hour, then went to the panel room to get ready for Patrick Stewart, we got there an hour before and sat in on Neal Adams, who of course talked about how he was turned down by DC at first and wound up at Archie Comics, and was told all along that the industry would be dead in a year...Tons of stupid questions bounced off him and his son, but the best he answered with and get this he told us it was a lie. "Who is your favorite character to draw?" the truth is all of them, its just that much fun. The lie, Batman, because he has a cape, and thats like drawing two people. Honestly, I liked the lie!
Patrick Stewarts Panel, was packed, although not all the VIP seats were filled, so he made a comment about it and all of the sudden they were like you guys move on up... He told stories about his childhood growing up in England, and how he got started, and how he loved playing bad guys on stage. About midway through, a question was pitched from the other side of the room, "Who was your favorite villain?" Holy shit its John Delancie (Q from TNG). He approaches the stage, and they have one of those moments, you know two old friends, give each other the handshake hug, and then start to reminisce. So very cool! Not one question about X-men, all about Star Trek and his Shakespearean works. Fast forward, I leave a bit before its over to try one last time to get Perez, I have been lugging around the first six issues of the New 52 Superman for him and the lines not horrible, I am however at the very end. told I will not make the cut today. Fortunately one of my friends who works at the local shop is there and like 15th in line, tells me to give him my books and he'll get it for me. That was awesome, thanks again Brad, you totally rock!
Sunday, my friend says we need to get there earlier, but today won't be as crowded as Saturday, as they never are. So we get up and have a great breakfast at the Old West Cafe, 2 eggs, 2 bacon, hash browns, and some toast, they do it up right! We roll out, 45 minutes later we're at the convention center, maybe 100th in line. 90 minutes till doors open. Got a few shots of some great costumes, a great Batgirl, a mini Batgirl (she had to be 5 or 6), Maverick, Goose, and Iceman, a little girl as Indiana Jones (it was too cute!), Master Chief from Halo, Bane from the new Batman movie, a family of Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern and the daughter was also Supergirl. My one goal for Sunday was to get Kevin Conroy to sign my Batman the Animated Series Boxed Set. I went immediately to the line to queue. So, the ruling here is first is VIP then Priority, then General Admission. We are told that the first hour will be only VIP and Priority, my thought is 11-12 right...well 1230 rolls and then we are told the line is capped and he has a hard stop at 330 to catch a flight. the 3 people in front of me start raising all kinds of hell, and genuinely so, we could have been up there waiting, but they held us all back. They claim if they get though all that that then they will let us through. The Red-shirted nerd with a little power leaves and the orange shirt guy was like you 4 go on, no promises, but I'll let you through. fast forward 2 hours and we are through, I'm standing in front of the man who no one will recognize in a photo, but the minute you hear his voice its like, holy shit your batman! He signs my stuff, even stops for a photo, and I'm done. Wow, that was incredible, and to the soldier in front of me, good luck on your deployment, and thank you for being such a hard ass to the line nazi and getting us through! I also found out that Mitch's print of 60 sold out mid day saturday, which is awesome!
So that was my experience for Stan Lee presents Dallas Comic Con, lots of line standing, great people watching, and overall a fun weekend! Next time, I'm going VIP, 30 minutes early and line cuts sound good to me!
Live long and prosper.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
An Unexpected Journey
So The Hobbit trailer is up today, and all I can say is wow! It's already blown my mind twice, and I know like the other trailers I will watch it religiously until the movie hits next December. I remember when I saw Fellowship of the Ring, I was so moved by how everything I had seen in the book/animated movie had been brought to life, and now I cannot wait to see these first two chapters. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is in all its HD glory...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)