Doors and Windows

Well, I finally heard back from that potential employer I've been hinting at for a while now. They are putting the new proposal I mentioned on hold right now. Apparently, con season is slamming them, understandably, and they are restructuring a bit. So they'll contact me who knows when about the new job, but I gathered it wouldn't be anytime soon.

The company is Tales of Wonder, and they are an online graphic novel and statue retailer. They're one of Marvel's top 10 online sellers, and they offered me a pretty good starting salary with some perks to be their marketing and con guy. There were some issues with the con stuff, an aspect I wasn't particularly crazy about, but more than willing to do, but they decided ultimately that I was a better fit for another position they had in mind.

Unfortunately, I have no idea when I'll actually hear about that new position, and thus I have to move on for now. I will certainly entertain it when it does come across my virtual desk, but for now I have to entertain and seek out other offers and opportunities.

Lately I have been picking up some small freelance writing gigs though. Mostly SEO keyword articles and blog posts and the like. I'm decent at it, and it's fun, and the pay's a nice side income. So that's working well so far.

I also did sell all those comics I listed over a couple of posts recently. Every last one of them and a few more are gone, gone, gone, in the mail today. So that was a welcome surprise!

Wizard World Chicago is looking better as a possibility. There are still just a couple of things I need to work out before I can commit to it, but I'm hoping I'll be able to make a decision by early next week if things pan out. I'd love to go as I know (in the online sense) a LOT of people who will be there, and it will be really cool to meet them all.

I had to go to the dentist twice this week due to some complications, but it's all good now. On a bad note, though, it did set me behind schedule on some things, so tonight and tomorrow, and throughout the weekend is going to be pret-ty busy indeed.

Incredible Hulk comes out tomorrow! TOMORROW! Yeah, I know, the first one was a borefest, but what I hear from people who saw an advanced screening is that this one is SO much better. And Tony Stark from Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) makes an appearance, and it's rumored that Captain America does as well. We saw Cap's shield in Iron Man, so it'll be fun to see where the pop in the Cap appearance. And if I can make it to the theater in any way this weekend I am definitely going to go see this. Have my soda and junior mints waiting for me, usher!

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Movie Blogging

Check out my latest movie blog posts by clicking the title of this post.

It's just a small, three times a week gig I picked up before my first trip, so there are some gaps. It's just my takes on news stories that come out the day of each post more or less.

Enjoy!

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In with the Cold

My brother has been home sick for the past three days, and as of mid-day today, the whole house is sick. Ugh.

My throat and nose are killing me, and I've got a fever and I'm really fatigued. My mom's the same way, while all my brother had was upper respiratory stuff, no sore throat. He's feeling a bit better now and will be going to school today, but I feel like crap. lol

My brother and I watched Cloverfield yesterday. That was an interesting movie. I didn't know it was made like that, like the whole thing scene through a video camera and stuff. It was a brave way to handle the film, and while it was gory, I thought it was pretty neat how they made it feel like something that really happened. I couldn't make out what the guy said at the end of the credits, though I'm guessing it was some kind of name like Cloverfield, possibly signaling a sequel. Anyone else know what he said?

Lost also came back last night and some interesting things happened there as well. For those who haven't seen it, I won't spoil it. Just know that Ben still has things he's keeping secret, and he has a lot more knowledge of everything than we even thought!

Supernatural was back as well, but it was an odd episode. Next week's looks better.

And of course, Smallville, which I missed the first 15 minutes of because I fell asleep. So I don't know if they showed Lex at the Fortress, but the previews for next week look very intriguing with Clark wearing... glasses!

Well, I woke up in a hot sweat with my throat on fire, and now I can't get back to sleep. Don't know what I'm going to do (stay up, go back to bed, work, goof off...), but I'm done here.

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In and Out

Well, after missing like two weeks of posting, the other day I tried to make up for it with three or four posts in one day, but then I disappear for a few more days.

Sorry, I just haven't really felt like being online more than I have to the past several days. This past weekend I didn't feel well, and plus my sleep schedule is all messed up again. I literally go to bed at a drastically different time every day, and I rarely sleep more than three hours at a time. Ugh.

I honestly haven't gotten a lot of lettering done in the past week, but I plan on making up for that the latter part of this week and the weekend. I have one small 5 page job to get done over the next couple of days, then another after that, and then some stuff for Hard Way Studios.

I'm also working on a website design (why, I don't know. lol), which is starting to come along. I did the forums first, now I've got the home page done, but we're considering trying a different look now, so... It's just a basic site as I know no Flash or anything, and it will be largely forum based, but it's still time consuming.

Haven't watched any movies recently surprisingly enough. I have been keeping up with my reality cooking shows though (Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen), as well as Ultimate Fighter and BSG. And of course wrestling. Aside from those, not much TV either, and no video games. I'm reading a little, but not much. Mainly I just work and sleep, and where the rest of the time goes I have no clue. lol

My secret little project I've hinted at for a while is off and running, I think. I may have scared someone involved with too many details, but we'll see.

Finances are rough at the moment, but I'm surviving as always. That said, I won't beg, but if you got jobs needing to be done that I'm capable of doing...

This year is going by so fast. I can't believe it's almost May already! Before I know it, the convention will be here, and then WW Texas if things work out on that front. This will be a cool year if things pan out.

I mentioned the Wannabez site going live a few days ago, and I believe I also mentioned the store. Yeah, I know, CafePress may not be the best avenue, and it can be pricey, but it's a start. That said, we want to add more stuff (specifically more images to go on the stuff), so let me know what you'd like to see. What characters you'd prefer on the products, what products you'd consider buying, and so forth.

With that, methinks it might be nappy time as I've been up since early last evening. Man, I gotta get back in a rhythm!

Popcorn and Candy

So, I watched a few movies the past few days, including Good Luck Chuck, 30 Days of Night, The Game Plan, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I Am Legend. But before I get into those, I want to talk about something else related.

I usually don't let what other people think of films get to me too much. Sure, before I rent a movie I'll look up average ratings if I'm questioning whether I'd like it or not. But I don't typically read full reviews of movies until after I seem them, and if it's a movie I really want to see I avoid as much press as possible generally speaking.

However, there was one time I didn't, and it affected my movie going experience immensely, and that was with Spider-Man 3. I had read conversations and reviews of that film before ever going to see it, and all the fanboys basically trashed it. Somehow, I let that affect my enjoyment of the film, and instead of just going and enjoying it, I found myself analyzing it from start to finish. It completely took me out of the film, and I hated that.

So, I got the movie for Christmas, and I have yet to watch it again because I'm purposely waiting for all that negativity and other peoples' views to get out of my head so I can try and just enjoy it for what it is.

It just frustrates me to know that I got sucked in, because, generally speaking, I think "fanboys" are way too harsh on films and expect them to measure up in every single possible way to the source material, be it a comic, novel, play, etc., ignoring the fact that some things have to be changed to reach a mass audience. I typically go into a movie with no expectations and just try to enjoy it for what it is. The only two franchises that came from novels that I ever read were Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, so obviously there was some expectation there. But I wasn't so enthralled with the source material not to open myself to what the films could be, even if they were slightly different.

All that said, that plays a part in a few of the movies I mentioned above.

First up is Good Luck Chuck, a film I honestly could have lived without seeing. I knew it would be a little raunchy, but I had no idea how raunchy. I unfortunately got a hold of the unrated edition, and I was sorely disappointed. Not just in the trashy theme of the whole film, but with the overall plot and acting. I'm a big Jessica Alba fan, not just because of her looks, but because I think she really is a good actress with range, and she showed that here. Her comedic timing and instinct was flawless in my opinion. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast basically blew. This was a huge disappointment. I don't think I'll ever watch another Dane Cook film. Employee of the Month was... ok, but this was just bad. And the guy's not funny at all, in the film, on the internet, in interviews or anything. I don't get the hype surrounding the guy at all.

30 Days of Night is one of those comic properties that fanboys would go crazy talking about. I stayed away from most conversations, so I'm not sure if it was well received by comicdom or not. I've never read the books, but the premise is very intriguing to me, so I checked it out. And I have to say overall it was a decent and suspensful movie. It went a little fast with not much build up or explanation, and I absolutely HATED the ending, but it was still worth watching.

I'm also a big fan of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, both in wrestling and in the movies. I think he's a solid and talented actor, and I've enjoyed everything he's been in, even Doom... well, a little. Walking Tall, The Rundown and Gridiron Gang were phenomenal in my opinion. And The Game Plan was pretty good too. It was a nice, fun, family film, and The Rock's personality was huge as usual. And his miniature co-star was a great young actress as well. It was nice to enjoy a lighthearted, fun film for a change.

And speaking of fun films, next up is Alvin and the Chipmunks. Now, I'm a huge fan of Alvin, Simon and Theodore from way back. I watched the cartoons, had the toys, and watched The Chipmunk Adventure more times than I can remember. I still love that film and feel it hold's up 21 years later. So I was hopeful, yet fearful, that this CGI/live action film would live up to the classic cartoons. And for me, it completely did, 100%! I thought the film was great. They captured every single character almost flawlessly. I thought Dave's yells for Alvin were a little less dramatic than they should be, and there wasn't enough focus on Alvin, but by and large, this film delivered the same feeling those cartoons did, which was pure fun and enjoyment. I loved the movie personally.

And finally, I Am Legend. There was so much buzz about this film, both in the film world and in the comic world. It's, I think, the third incarnation of the property under a different name. I can't remember the source material, nor have I read the book (which everyone says is better) or seen the other films, so I had absolutely no expectations going in. But this was another one of those that everyone around me was just trashing because "the book was much better", yadda, yadda. Will Smith is another favorite actor of mine, and I think I've seen everything he's been in to date. So I was going to check this out regardless, and I wasn't disappointed. I think it could have been a bit longer (it clocked in around an hour and 40 minutes) and given us just a tad more character, but it was a solid film that got the point across, and gave us a definite beginning, middle and end with closure. I was saddened by the ending, but unlike 30 Days of Night, I wasn't mad about it. The way 30 ended just didn't seem like the only solution - it felt like a cop out almost. No, that's not the right term. It was forced and felt put in for drama instead of serving the plot or bringing the film to a real conclusion. Whereas with this film there was no other solution. Add to that Will Smith's knack for deep emotional roles (see Pursuit of Happyness if you ever doubt this) and this was a 4 out of 5 for me. Not quite the best it could be, but far better than what others have said about it. Maybe my opinion would be different had I read the book. If so, I'm glad I didn't prior, so I could enjoy the film.

And that's my take on those films.I love movies, and I'd watch them every day if I could. I just don't get to as often as I'd like, nor do I get to talk about them much. So thanks for letting me rant on about them today.

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Quickie

It's the weekend, so I thought I'd post a quick little ditty here.

Comic Book Resources (CBR - www.comicbookresources.com) relaunched their site earlier this week with a brand new design, and I have to say it looks pretty spiffy. Good luck getting it to load, though, I've tried since yesterday morning with little success. Supposedly they're on a new server that's making things run smoother... or was making things run smoother...

Comic Related (www.comicrelated.com) has become one of my daily visits as it's just a cool site that is updated every day of the year. For the month of march they had 1.2 million hits, so they are growing steadily and have great content and a thriving forum community.

Battlestar Galactica returned for it's final season last night picking things up right where last season left off. It was a solid and entertaining episode in my opinion. Things seem to really be coming to a head on all fronts, so I'm excited to see where this season goes.

I'm still enjoying the book I'm reading, The Servants of Twilight, by Dean Koontz. I'm 53 chapters in and things are still keeping my interest.

Iron Man is less than a month away!

On the lettering front, everything's going smoothly, progressing nicely. I'm available for jobs if anyone's hiring!

I wish I could figure out how some of my contemporaries are making money online through blogs or whatever, but I just haven't been too successful myself. Some of the methods I have employed have not yet been that fruitful. I'm going to keep trying though...

Nothing on TV tonight, whatever will I do? What's that you say, get a life? What's that? :)

Health wise I'm doing ok. Had a semi-rough day yesterday, and allergies hit me this week, but nothing major and no attacks. I'm still watching what I eat, though I have gotten a bit braver in small increments, testing stuff. I've discovered a few things I can't do (like peas), and I'm still largely staying away from pop and most sweets and snack foods like chips. Gall stones bite!

My picks for American Idol right now are the two Davids (Archuletta and Cook), Carly Smithson, Brooke White and Michael Johns for the top 5. Beyond that it'll be tough.

Digital Webbing's talent search feature took a hit this week as scammers have made a residence there, forcing Ed Dukeshire to reevaluate the system. For now, all talent search links go straight to the Help Wanted forum. It's a shame a couple of idiots have to ruin a great feature for everyone.

And I guess that's about it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful, fun-filled, and/or relaxing weekend!

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Pencilneck Optioned for Film

I just finished lettering Pencilneck #4 and will be lettering the second half of #3 this week. Well today news broke that the property has been optioned for film by Benderspink (click the post title to read the article)!

While I only had a small part in this book, it's still pretty cool to see a title I worked on gain potential success and recognition like this.

The book is about a mild mannered bank manager who gets caught up in a mob war and it could make one really good movie.

Congrats to Victor Carungi and crew for this wonderful accomplishment!

www.paperstreetcomics.com

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The Rain's a Fallin'

Man, it is storming something fierce here today! It's so bad it woke me up, and I typically sleep through stormy weather, even intense weather. But the thunder is booming out there, man, and the rain's coming down fast and hard. So, if you don't hear from me (if you email me or whatever) you know the power or internet has gone out or something.

So far, nothing is even flickering. The internet hasn't stalled or anything, and the power hasn't given in to the storm, but it's still early.

We borrowed Rush Hour 3 from my aunt last night, so I finally got to watch that. I love the Rush Hour movies, and the team of Chan and Tucker are just magic, so I was looking forward to this one. Though, I have to say, some of the jokes were getting old. Still an enjoyable flick, but not as good as the first two, and I hope it's a while before another one is made, or that they at least find a fresh direction for the series. As I said, Tucker and Chan are a great team.

Lost is back on for 8 episodes, and it's off to a great start in my estimation. Smallville and Supernatural are also back on, and both are just ok so far.

I made a dent into lettering this weekend completing two shorts, a logo and half an issue, and some other small stuff, so I felt good about myself. :)

I have the feeling that today is going to be a LONG day. Could be the fact that I only had about 3 hours of sleep, and thanks to the storm waking me up, now I can't get back to sleep. Yep, that could have something to do with it...

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Back on the Saddle

Wow! Nearly THREE WEEKS since my last post, I can't believe it's been that long. I kept telling myself, "tomorrow". Oh well, I'm here now!

I've been keeping myself busy between lettering, editing, typing and logo design lately, and I think I've gotten quite a bit accomplished, but still have a ways to go at present.

I picked up another pretty much permanent lettering gig. I did issue 6 of the series and the guy liked it so much he offered me pretty much all the upcoming issues, so that was really cool. It was a fun book to work on.

I also picked up a couple of small jobs and a couple of logos, so I'm working on all that plus what I have left of the backlog.

I got some exciting news from a client non-lettering related that I can't talk about yet, but it's pretty big, at least I think it is. I'll talk about it when it's official and the press release is out.

Young Explorers, the book I'm assisting in the operation of, is going along smoothly. It won an award and it's not even published yet! It'll be in the April Previews, so I'll keep you posted about that one also.

I've got a phone meeting about an endeavor tomorrow night, and hopefully things will go well with that. It's time, but I can't talk about it yet either.

In the meantime, this weekend I've really gotten into this Facebook thing. I got invited by several friends and finally dove in. It's quite a different experience as compared to MySpace with all the games, quizzes and activities you can participate in. It's pretty fun, I just hope I have enough time to devote to it. :)

I also got into Yuwie a while back. With that one you make a little bit of money for posting, adding pictures, adding friends and so forth. So if you guys check out that link and like what you see be sure to sign up under me!

The weather seems to have calmed down now. Over the past week we've had rain, snow and tornado watches! But it seems pretty mild today.

American Idol started back up last week amidst some controversy about a former contestant saying they had entered a decline. While I still enjoy the show, I have to say so far it's the same old stuff we see year in, year out and it is getting a little old. I sincerely hope they have some really, really good singers this year...

I have now seen all of Battlestar Galactica (the present series) and know all the backstories, so I'm really looking forward to what is probably the last season this March. And I can't forget that Lost comes back at the end of this month! And Smallville and Supernatural are new this week too!

I saw Stardust yesterday, and I pretty much enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but it was pretty entertaining.

And I guess that'll do it for another three weeks, right? Nah, I won't keep you guys hanging for that long. :)

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What the Wind Blew In

It's been a busy day. I kind of stayed away from the computer for the most part of the weekend, but today it's been work, lettering, editing, recipe finding, "window shopping" as it were, and other stuff. So it's been a pretty full day.

I finished up a small lettering job on time, so that worked out well. Though I've got two more I've got to finish corrections on before Thanksgiving, so it will be a full week.

I set up some pretty cool interviews for SBC in the coming weeks, so that should be a real treat.

Made some headway on some edits of a script today, more later tonight. Then I've got two more scripts to edit waiting in the wings, possibly three.

No more lettering bites so far. I had to actually turn down one because it just wasn't enough pay for the work involved unfortunately.

Still waiting to hear back from a few people, so we'll see how things go.

Not much TV watching this weekend surprisingly. I did catch The Honeymooners and The Cleaner (must've been Cedric, the Entertainer day), and both were mildly entertaining and humorous.

I played the first video game I've played in many months yesterday, Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. I've had the game for a loooong time now, but many things have impeded my progress. First, I didn't have the proper controller for it (it required a specific kind), then months later I got that, then got stuck, and so forth and so on. But I finally made some headway last night and forgot how much fun it was to just get lost in games. So that was fun.

Physically, I am feeling much better as far as the infection goes. I barely even notice what's left of the pain. And even though I currently have a head cold and my throat hurts, for some reason through it I feel very relaxed. And oddly enough, I'm not feeling a lot of stress lately. Must be the holiday feeling in the air as I love this time of year.

Let's see, I'm making a pumpkin dip for Thanksgiving that has taco seasoning and peppers in it, and corn chips to dip in it. So that should be interesting. Never made it before, but I like trying new things.

And I will be moving things around as far as all the Amazon stuff sometime this week as I've gotten a lot of good feedback on it. Thanks, everyone!

Well, I guess that's about all that's going today, more later (including cafepress stores!).

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Poseidon and Children of Men

Late last night before I went to bed I finally got around to watching Poseidon. I had been told by several people that it wasn't any good, so I had avoided it, but last night I was bored and couldn't sleep.

Honestly, I kind of liked it. I think it got a bad rap because people probably compared it to Titanic, which was more of a love story/drama, whereas this film was a suspense action movie at best. So I think the critics and general movie goers were a little unfair on this one.

Was it the greatest movie I've ever seen? Of course not. But the action sequences and suspense were decent enough, and the acting was top notch in my opinion. They could have dug a little deeper into the characters and that would have made it much more appealing, but for what it was I can't complain.

I also watched Children of Men as I ate my dinner since there was nothing else on. It was an okay movie with an interesting concept. It was kind of like a non-sci-fi version of Aeon Flux set in a real world setting in a dystopian near future. So it resonated a little more, and was interesting, but got kind of boring at points.

Aside from that and a little bit of ECW wrestling, that's all the TV yesterday, so you can see I am feeling much better. The bad news is, I've gotten a cold from my mother and brother, so now I can't swallow. Ugh, will it never end? :)

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Lazy Day

First, I am feeling much better as I type this, about at 85%, so that's really good comparatively speaking. Especially since for the better part of the day I was in bed afraid to move it hurt so bad. But things seem to have taken a turn for the better this evening.

That said, since I was in bed and couldn't sleep, it became a movie marathon day for me today, and I had a bunch of stuff on hand to watch oddly enough. So today I watched The Marine, Pulse, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Stealth, and Doom.

Did I mention I love movies?

So, I'm tired and about to turn in, but I'll give a brief review of each.

The Marine: 3.5 of 5
Pretty good movie actually. Much better that Condemned if you ask me, but the acting was still not spectacular. And the music nearly killed the film. There were also some strange beats, but overall I enjoyed the flick. Probably wouldn't watch it again though.

Pulse: 3 of 5
A ghostly horror tale that seemed to be a subtle commentary on the evils of technology in a round about way. That concept has been done better in other films, but the overall story was interesting here. I didn't feel a resolution though, and that bothered me.

Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift: 3.5 of 5
I thought this film was pretty good actually. I didn't care so much for the lead actor, but I felt that if they were going to continue the franchise that this was a good way to do it, moving it away from the cop infiltrating storyline of the first two. And the surprise at the end was pretty cool.

Stealth: 4 of 5
I really liked this film for what it was. The flying sequences were cool, and the acting was great. The story had some decent twists. Could have been better, but I'd watch this one again.

Doom: 4 of 5
I was really surprised by how good this movie was. I'm even tempted to give it a 4.5, but not quite. The acting was excellent in my opinion, as was the directing and the story. And I loved how toward the end it went first person shooter like the video game. That made the movie for me, even though I've never played the game. This was just a really good movie and I'd definitely watch it again.

And that's all for tonight.

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TV and Movies

So, while I've been laid up I've gotten to watch a lot of TV, which includes a few movies. So since I'm bored at the moment I figured why not talk about them a little.

It's kind of odd that my friend Cary would post on his blog today about watching Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet recently as I myself just watched Aeon Flux the other day and Ultraviolet is up soon. I basically agree with what he said about the former. It was a decent action flick and the story and acting was pretty decent. I never watched the old MTV cartoon, so I didn't have anything to compare it to except for other movies, but it was good for what it was. It had some cool action sequences and so forth as well.

As for Ultraviolet, I didn't have high hopes for it, and after reading Cary's thoughts I still don't. But I'll watch it anyway just once.

I also finally saw Rent last night. I had never seen the play, and I'm not one much for musicals, but the opening number really appealed to me, so I gave it a shot. Turns out it was much more about equality and tolerance than anything else, but for a musical it was a pretty good one. I think they tried to push certain things on the audience, but all in all it had some good messages intertwined and both the singing and acting were really great. I didn't know Taye Diggs and Rosario Dawson could sing like that either! And I'm not normally a huge fan of Dawson, but she was superb in this role. So kudos to her.

Friday Night Lights is a favorite show of mine at the moment, which is strange because I've never been into football. For some reason I just really like the drama of this series, and here in it's second season the show is still hitting on all cylinders for me.

I caught a little bit of Miami Vice the movie as well, and that was really enough for me. In the first few minutes it looked a lot like a million other movies out there. I may finish it, I may not, but I can see why it didn't do great.

Let's see... oh yeah, I finally saw Silent Hill. That was a strange and violent movie. I've never played the game, but the movie was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. A little more violent than I cared for, and some of the acting and direction was just bad, but I've seen worse.

Smallville is getting dogged by a lot of online fans, but I still like the show. It's winding down, and certain relationships are finally showing signs of coming to a close, and I'm ready for Clark to embrace his legacy personally. But while Lana now irritates even me, I'm glad they stretched out the on again/off again romance with her and Clark. This was the first love of his life, the only woman he imagined ever being with long term, and it should have taken this long for him to get past her. With what they have done with her character, too, it not only has made the fans hate her, but it has also made Clark realize this isn't the woman he fell in love with so many years ago. And while he has yet to abandon this failed love, you can see it coming, and it will be that much more glorious when it does happen. If it had ended in season one or two we would have felt terrible for Lana and wondered why, even though we knew it had to happen. But now it just makes much more sense why he would go for Lois.

There are other shows and movies I'm leaving out, but I gotta have something to talk about next time, right?

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Falling Back and Running Forward

Did anyone forget to set their clocks back? Luckily for me, I have digital cable, so both my cable boxes and my computer set back automatically. Of course it threw my sleep off a bit, but in a good way.

Speaking of cable, some of the channels changed in my area, so now I have to get used to those all over again.

And speaking of sleep, last night was the first night in weeks I slept eight uninterrupted hours. Woo-hoo! I don't know why last night was different, but that was definitely a welcome change.

Today has been a pretty relaxing day, thankfully.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and man can my family cook! And I love food. And my family of course. :)

So yeah, my life at the moment is not all that exciting, which leaves me little to talk about these days.

I won't be going to the Mid-Ohio con after all, as much as I wanted to. Things just haven't worked out, and Wannabez isn't ready anyway. Hopefully next year will be con year for me. I've yet to make it to anything but a local con years ago.

I watched Wicker Man today, and man was that eerie. A little predictable after a while, but still kind of spooky as it's one of those things that could really happen. Those kind of stories always make the most terrifying ones to me, you know?

Speaking of horror, on Halloween an ECW wrestler named Elijah Burke went on location with the Ghost Hunters and there was one point this big wrestler got scared out of his pants. It was so funny. Click the title of this post to find the video of that scene.

I am getting some lettering samples together to send out to some companies, so I'll keep you all posted on that. Speaking of, I may get to letter a book at a top 4 publisher soon, so we'll see how that goes as well.

Not much else to report in the way of lettering. I'm a page away from finishing up a seven page submission, and I've got a 12 pager to do by Wednesday. Other than that most of it's finishing up stuff and waiting on other stuff at this point. So if you got a (paid) lettering job, I'm your guy!

I guess that's it for now. Have a good night, everyone.

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On Another Note

I finished a few pages of Lightning Squirrel, finalized Fracture, sent off Karma Game for approval, and edited one script, working on another as I type this. So it's been a productive weekend so far. I just don't have much to do at present oddly enough.

I also picked up another lettering gig, though it's a backend profits deal. I know I said I was only taking paying, but the art on this book is gorgeous and I've worked with the writer before. So it's promising. More on that in the weeks to come.

I've probably done a little more that I can't recall at this time. The above just doesn't sound like that much, so surely I've done something else...

We had some drama here this weekend - some pretty serious drama - but I think it worked out for the best.

My other situation is not yet resolved of course, and that still frustrates me a bit, even though I do have a bit of calm about it, mostly from prayer, a little from talking it out with the people involved.

I'm also looking into some other things, so more news if those pan out.

I applied for a couple of lettering jobs the past few days and got turned down by one, never responded to by another, and that one I really wanted. Oh well.

It's been a long weekend, and tomorrow is a holiday. I'm drained already.

I watched The Covenant last night. I don't really like the implications and all, but the movie was fun to watch. It was pretty predictable, but the effects were cool.

I guess that's it. I'm halfway through my second, and last, script to edit today, so I'm gonna finish that up.

B-Out

Winding Down

Well, it has been a very stressful and very busy weekend. I had a big problem that I think is now getting resolved. At least I hope it is. Work got held up because of it.

That said, I completed AOH #2 and am waiting on the script for #3. I finished about half of what I have of Lightning Squirrel #3, did two logos, finished some more edits on Fracture, and some other stuff I can't recall.

I hope to be back to regular posting on SBC tomorrow providing everything works out.

Tonight Heroes season two premieres, and I am so ready for it! I'll be watching Prison Break first, and then I'll be watching the second half of wrestling (since I'm not sure if Heroes will replay on Sci-Fi like it did last season or not).

Last night I finally watched Hustle & Flow. That was a good movie, but not exactly what I expected. I have to say, though, that Terrance Howard is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. I can't wait to see him as Rhodes in Iron Man next year.

I'm about 3/4 or so through Dragonlance: Amber & Iron. This trilogy (The Dark Disciple) isn't quite as good as the War of Souls, and it's definitely not as good as Dragonlance Chronicles, but it's still a decent story. There's some mystery building, which should be interesting to discover as it unfolds.

I guess that's about it for now. Sorry I've been out of touch for so long.

Oh, before I bolt, I just want to publicly wish my cousin, Susan, a belated Happy Birthday! It was yesterday, and I sent her an ecard, but I'm not sure if she got it.

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Figure It's Time...

...for another post! I don't really have any updates right now save what you can read over on the Wannabez Blog (see sidebar), but felt I should post anyway.

I had a scare with a lettering project the other day as it seems I lost the entire first two issues and logo, which I moved to disk to make room on the PC. I still haven't located it after frantically going through 40 cds looking for it. It's the ONLY project I've lettered that I'm missing, and I don't have a clue what happened to it. We're trying to see if the printer still has the pages, but in the meantime I had to recreate the logo from scratch. I think I got it pretty close, so we'll leave it at that.

I'm still catching up on some lettering while still waiting on more pages to come in. I've got several small things I have to complete this week or I'm going to fall even further behind. So if I disappear for a while you know where I'm at. Between lettering and work I pretty much have no life as it is. lol.

On an unrelated note, I bought a used copy of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 the other day because I haven't seen it yet. I loved the first one, though I didn't get to see it until it came out on DVD either. I figured with the third one coming out next week I should probably watch the second. And for the price I nabbed this at I couldn't pass it up even used. So I hope to get a chance to watch that this weekend. We'll see.

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I did finally change my rates on my website. I was going to wait until I got some new samples up there, but for a few reasons I went ahead and posted them. Hopefully they don't scare anyone away!

I guess that's it, really. Nothing much new around here. I'll certainly let you know if anything does come up though. Thanks for reading!

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Mother's Day

This year I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do anything for Mom. I got paid late and wasn't feeling well this weekend, but with some last minute planning my brother and I set something small, yet meaningful into motion.

My mother's favorite restaurant around here is a Mexican place called El Camino. Her favorite dish is the chicken fajitas. Long story short, I wanted it to be a surprise, and I had no way of getting there. So I enlisted my brother (who can get a ride just about anywhere) to devise a story about leaving something somewhere (he had spent the night with a friend the night before) and have to leave to get it. My mom didn't suspect a thing.

I had also previously rented a movie that I thought Mom would like, which she is now watching.

But before that, we snuck Zach back into the house, set up the food from El Camino at the table and had mom come downstairs, thus there was her Mother's Day surprise!

You have to understand, we're on a 'fixed' budget and eating out like that (it's about $10 a plate) just isn't feasible for us. She has talked about wanting it for a couple of months now and we just couldn't afford it. Today, though, I said skip it and doled out the cash. She's worth it and more, and I wish I could have done more.

But what matters is the three of us sat down together for a meal (which doesn't happen very often, maybe three times a year! We usually each eat in our own domains) and enjoyed my mom's favorite restaurant. Then she got to relax and watch a fun movie. So all in all, this was a pretty good day, and I'm glad we got to make her smile today.

B-Out

Catching Up!

Wow, I had no idea it had been over a week since I posted. Sheesh! As much as I try to keep up...

The deadline for round 2 of Small Press Idol has passed and all but 10 of those who advanced made it in. There's still about 6 days of voting left, so if you haven't please come vote for Wannabez (and Totem and Advent while you're there). :) If you have, thank you very much!

On the lettering side of things, I got a couple of Approbation projects done. Today I'm tackling the two pages of Epsilon Realm I have (thought I had more than that) and another Approbation story if I have time. One story, Construct, was canceled, so I won't be doing that one. And Red Shift I've got laid out (the first ten pages anyway, which is all that's done, pencils only so far). The FE Comics projects start in a day or two I'm told, and I've got another one coming in soon that I committed to many months ago. And I did finish Pozers, just waiting for notes on anything that needs changing/correcting before sending in the high res.

So that's where things are with all that. I may have left something out.

Back to Small Press Idol, I finally got 7 pages of the script for next round done! I'm hoping to finish it today, though Scott has already given me notes on the pages I've finished.

I also have a surprise for WBZ fans coming up hopefully tomorrow, and hopefully it'll help us gain a few more votes this round and next! I've got plans for a couple of other cool things to tie in with WBZ soon as well, so stay posted here and to the WBZ blog for more!

On reviews, I have a few things that were sent to me that I have yet to review, but am working my way there. Frankly I haven't had time to read everything yet. I have read the Archaia stuff and the mini comics that were sent, but I still have one or two others I haven't read yet. Soon, soon.

On SBC, we are working towards a newsletter and I'm trying to get some help with the myspace and comicspace pages so we can get regular weekly updates out there. Hopefully that'll all work out soon as we've got some cool stuff coming up.

And I think that's it for now...

OH! One more thing. I am FINALLY going to see Spider-Man 3 today in less than 8 hours!!! Can't wait!

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Catwoman

While lettering last night I got to finally watch Catwoman. With all the bad things I heard about the movie I wasn't about to pay to see it at the theatres or by rental, so I'm glad I saw it on cable. It came on AMC (American Movie Classics) of all channels, which was just bizarre. Maybe because it had Halle Berry in it? I don't know.

Anyway, I have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone claimed it to be. It wasn't particularly good either, but it certainly was better than say, oh, Spawn or even the last Batman movie before Batman Begins. That's not really saying much I realize, but it wasn't really that bad. It definitely felt more like a made for TV film rather than a big screen production though. The visual effects reminded me a lot of such TV shows as Mutant X and Night Man and so forth, though a little more advanced. And the fight scenes and cat movements were really good to be honest. Berry really studied Capoeira and really knew how to move.

I will say that for the first time I saw in this film why everyone's so down on her acting. I didn't think she was that bad as Storm in the X-Men films, and I like her acting in general. But man, there were some scenes in this film that were just awful! Especially the scenes where the cat in her speaks out of turn then she jumps back to being Patience. It was just awkward b-acting at its worst!

The plot wasn't all that bad, though I half expected Sharon Stone to turn into Clayface as the similarities of the storyline were present, at least from the Batman Animated Series version.

All in all I'd probably give it a C to C+. I've seen much better, but I've seen much worse. I still think the costume was ridiculous, and the close-ups of the cats in the death scene was just corny, but it wasn't that bad of a film. I still wouldn't pay for it though.

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Reviews - The Summons, The Departed

My brother and I finally finished The Departed last night, and let me tell you that was a great movie. What made it great, though, was the ending.

I'll be honest with you, the movie itself was going a little slow for me. The story itself had the potential to be just like every other undercover cop story out there. With the wrong director or slight alterations in the script it could have even been on par with Lucky Number Slevin, which would not have been good. But the way it played out made it all worthwhile, and the acting was top notch. Filled with an all star cast (DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Sheen, Wahlberg, Baldwin) and some intense and emotional drama, the movie, for me, lived up to the hype. It was gritty, the direction was excellent, the plot gave us several shockers and the ending was just classic.

Here's the spoilers...


Everybody dies! Well, everybody except Baldwin and Wahlberg, who both had relatively small roles in the film compared to the other big players. It's not often in a film that both lead actors bite the big one, but that's exactly what happened here. And if it hadn't happened that way it would have made it into just another movie. That ending, in my opinion, landed it the Oscars it received. Great storytelling.


Now onto the book I've been reading, The Summons by John Grisham. While I was into it towards the middle, overall it was not his greatest work by far. As I mentioned before, I have not read his other books, but I have seen several (Rainmaker, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, Runaway Jury) of the film adaptations. If the books of A Time to Kill and Rainmaker are better than their film versions, which is usually the case, then The Summons far pales in comparison, but it was still enjoyable... until the end.

The story, in short, is about a Law Professor, Ray Atlee, who finds his father, a well-respected Mississippi judge, but a poor father, dead in his home. Shortly after Ray finds $3 million stashed behind the sofa, and thus the real story begins. Someone else knows about the money, and the ensuing journey sees Ray scramble to protect his life and the money while trying to solve the mystery of who's after him and where the money came from, and in the meantime lying to everyone close to him.

As I said, the middle of the story, which made up the bulk of it was interesting. There were people following Ray leaving cryptic clues for him no matter where he went. He drove and flew through and to several states, and they were always there, watching him. Meanwhile he was dealing with his father's estate, a drug addict brother and a number of other problems besides the money issue.

The ending is what made this book drop in quality. First, though, being a smart man as Atlee is, there are some things he should have figured out or thought of, like checking to see how these people knew where he was at all times. You'd think he'd check to see if his car was being tracked. Then he just becomes a total wuss at the end of the book and runs for his life, landing himself in jail for speeding and carrying a weapon.

Without giving anything away, in the last few chapters of the book it became painfully obvious who was behind it all and how it had all played out. Early on I had a hint of this as well, and was thoroughly disappointed that the plot was that thin.

Overall, it was a decent read, but the ending ruined it for me. Oh well.

And that's it for the reviews today.

B-Out