So, I’ve been back for a whole week and am just now getting around to finishing up this blog. *sigh*

So much of Friday was spent trying to see everything, find souvenirs for our friends and spot celebrities. In addition to the entire cast of “The Big Bang Theory”, we saw Michael Clarke Duncan (big dude from “The Green Mile”), Chris Hardwick (G4 and former “Singled Out” host) and I’m pretty sure I saw the guy that plays StarBurns on “Community.” Almost certain of it.

We also nearly died trying to get free “Twilight” crap for our friends and cousins. There is no logical reason to risk one’s life for “Twilight” stuff but in a place like Comic-Con, logic doesn’t enter into a lot of things.

The day ended with our backs sore, arms full of crap, and as Monica headed off to the trolley and back to our condo, I stuck around for the Creator Connection panel, a small event to gather up-and-coming artists and writers in a speed-dating like format where you can network, workshop ideas, and maybe even arrange collaborations on projects. It was very cool. Met some really nice people, many of whom had really great ideas. I went as an artist sitting down with other writers, hearing their ideas, sharing my own, as well as my skill with a pen. All in all, it was a very good reason to stick around after all the spectacle of Con began to wind down.

I think we’re gonna take a year off and go back in 2013. As for next year, well, there’s always the Comic-Con in New York. Big Apple here we come…?

So last week the wife and I packed up and flew to San Diego for fun, sun, and the Pop Culture Cave of Wonders known as Comic-Con. Two whole days of awesome craziness that proved I was far from alone in my geekiness. I’ve been to at least one con a year for the last decade but have never traveled this far before, nor have I ever been to one that rivaled the capacity of six football fields. Seriously, it took an entire day and a half just to walk the floor and I’m still pretty sure we missed a booth or two. Random celebrities, free swag, cosplay, and the biggest Transformer I’d ever seen (picture forthcoming) made for one of the coolest experiences of my young life.

So here’s the rundown
Day One: We get up at 5:30 in the morning, making sure I have my registration info, my wife has her volunteer badge, snacks, cash, and all other incidentals are packed and we head out. By 8 o’clock I am in line with at least a couple thousand other people winding around the building waiting to get in. Once I have my badge, I’m in yet another line now waiting to get to the Exhibition Hall. Shortly after nine, we are let loose upon the floor. It’s fairly quiet for an hour (I have about two hours to kill while my wife volunteers at the “Burn Notice” panel (standing outside the door, hearing the muffled tones of the one and only Bruce Campbell but never allowed to go inside *sob*). I get my first autograph and spend my first thirty bucks on comics before Monica joins me and we walk the floor, breaking only for lunch and sometimes nature calls. At six o’clock we start making our way to the exit and the shuttle home.

Day Two: Getting up at 5am, same routine as before only Monica’s volunteering starts at 7 instead of 8 so we’re out the door an hour earlier, stopping for some Red Bull on the way. We both get to stand in separate lines as we wait for our respective entries to the building. Once I’m inside and I have my badge verified, I’m off to the Hasbro toy line where I stay for about an hour, mere yards away from my wife whose new job is to guard the front of the line for the “Big Bang Theory” panel. I stand in two more lines before I’m finally able to go in, shop a bit before Monica joins and we’re able to finish walking the floor. We break for lunch at the nearby mall, come back and begin shopping for souvenirs as we search desperately for any celebrities we can capture on film. By the end of the day we were tired and sore and we’re pretty sure we’d walked about 20 or so miles between the two of us. But the weekend was not quite over yet…

To be continued…

So those of you who frequent this little corner of the world may have noticed the lack of new content lately.  While I would normally be forthcoming about my laziness or the fact that both my work and home lives have been so busy of late, the real truth of the matter is that my printer is on the fritz.  Not entirely sure yet if it’s the ink or the printer itself but in either case, technology has failed us.  As it is currently the wife’s birthday weekend I am out of town but this coming week I’ll be working on fixing the issue and adding all new material.  If you enjoyed the first “Fandom Menace” comic, there are more to come.  I just need to figure out an effective way to get them from my drawing board to the interwebs!

Also, in the spirit of interactivity, if anyone can come up with a better title than “Fandom Menace” (considering Episode One came out over a decade ago, it feels a bit dated to me) feel free to sound off in the comments and give me some fresh ideas.  I’ll be happy to consider any good ones and ridicule the bad ones.  For now, I’ve got to run, the next comic is not going to just draw itself!

The summer movie season has officially hit (yes Fast Five came out in April, so I’m considering that the “unofficial” start) and much like a giant Norse hammer to the face of an angry Frost Giant, it’s hit hard.  “Thor” is the latest film in Marvel Studio’s series leading up to next summer’s “The Avengers” but it is no mere superhero film.  Thor is a God among Gods, Norse Gods actually who live in the mystical realm of Asgard.  It is one of nine realms, which includes Midgard, aka Earth and Jotunheim, home of the Frost Giants.  After an assault on Asgard by renegade Giants, Thor disobeys his father Odin’s wishes by leading a retaliation attack on Jotunheim.  This act of defiance shatters the already fragile peace between the two realms, and Odin has no choice but to cast out his son on the same day that he was to be made King of Asgard.  Odin strips him of his power and his mighty hammer and sends him to Earth.  Thor awakes on Midgard, powerless and confused when he is discovered by Jane Foster, an astrophysicist and her team.  Continuing the minor plot thread from “Iron Man 2”, the government agency SHIELD discovers Thor’s hammer Mjolnir not far from where Thor himself fell.  As he searches for his hammer and the hope that it will help him regain his powers, Thor strikes up a friendship with the lovely Jane and in doing so learns what it means to be human, and finally comes to care about others more than he does himself.  Unbeknownst to Thor, however, Odin’s adopted son Loki has other plans that prove his own selfish desires.

Thor remains powerless for much of the movie and while it drags at times, it goes from what seems to be an origin/fish out of water tale to a genuine character study with Shakespearean undertones, thanks mostly to the expert direction by Kenneth Branaugh.  He does an excellent job of balancing the epic scope Asgard’s beauty, and perfectly orchestrated battle sequences with the softer character moments that make up most of the film’s second act.  As an actor himself, he knows how to get good performances and Chris Hemsworth delivers an outstanding portrayal of the titular character, big and booming in the beginning of the film, while showing an excellent range of character as Thor is disgraced and humbled before triumphing yet again.  Natalie Portman delivers another quality performance and has excellent chemistry with the rest of the cast, particularly Hemsworth.  Tom Hiddleston is most certainly the breakout star as Thor’s secretly villainous brother Loki who plays the part with a quiet subtlety that gives way to a mischievous, deadly personality, all the while never letting go of the fact that both brothers love one another, even if they don’t like each other.  Loki’s screen time is fairly minimal as this is Thor’s story after all but if the end-credit scene is any indication, they’ll most likely meet again next summer.

All in all a straightforward origin tale that is faithful to the comics, well acted and directed and definitely delivers a great start to the summer movie season.  “Captain America” has a lot to live up to.

Well, this is it.  My first website.  Not much to look at yet but I can promise that will change.  See, I’m an artist and aspiring writer who has spent far too many years scribbling in the shadows and making up worlds of ideas only to store them in the recesses of my mind so that my head is growing increasingly heavy!  Thus, I have created the Internet as a place to store all my belongings!

Okay, so that last part wasn’t true but I did find a way through one of the many tubes (see the Internet is full of them) and managed to find my way to this place here where you are now!

Okay, so my wife did the work but that’s hardly the point!   As I said, there’s not much to see yet but with a little time and effort that will change.  My silly stories and artwork is forthcoming and in the meantime please post any questions, comments, concerns, insane ramblings, and whatever else your mind sends down to your fingertips to explode out on to your keyboard (that’s a nasty visual) and if you feel like, I’m also on Facebook and Twitter, anxious to be Liked and/or Followed.
Happy Trails!