Blarg Sketchbook - "Invasion"

My friend Justin Shady has a website called THE BLARG. Justin has decided to start a feature called "Sketchbook". Justin sends out a key word or phrase to contributers, who use it as inspiration to show off their artistic talent. This month's phrase was "Invasion".

My entry was a French Mime hiding from the Blitz in an invisible box. CHECK OUT my piece titled “Personal Space: Occupied” and let me know what you think!

Shitty DVD Cover of the Week - Oh! My Zombie Mermaid

Comic Con '09 - Thursday

Another great day at the Convention. After doing my best to get my hands on some toys for work, me and Richard finally got our hands on armfuls of Hasbro stuff. Of course he left me to purchase the one My Little Pony exclusive this year. So that is the second year in a row that i purchased a My Little Pony at Comic Con. Of course it wasn't with my own money, but still, i had to go up and ask for one.

After work was done for the day, i headed down to Artist Alley and met up with Beth and Jorge. Beth was looking for artists for her new book. I think i give that project a go, if i am good enough. We headed over to the Image booth to check out some things and Mike Allred was hanging out at the booth with his son Han. Mike's eyes lit up when he saw Jorge so i introduced them. It was a pretty magical nerd experience, to say the least. Mike quickly handed Jorge a copy of Red Rocket 7, Madman Atomic Comics vol. 1 as well as Madman Gargantua. Quite a haul!!

After some wandering around, i headed over to the Oni Press booth and got my copy of You Have Killed Me signed by Jamie and Joëlle. They are the coolest folks! Jamie signed my book with an anti-Blackest Night message on it. I laughed when i got back to the hotel and read it. I will have to thank him!

For dinner i went to this place called the Broken Yolk. They serve breakfast all day long and i had a killer Monti Cristo as well as two large ice teas! It was at dinner when i realized that i fucked up big time. I was so busy and having so much fun that i forgot to go to the Digital Bits panel. In all of my years coming to Comic Con, i have NEVER missed that panel and i am pissed that i did.

After dinner we headed down to the convention center and in to Ballroom 20 for a screening of Green Lantern: First Flight!! Kirk and Laurie met up with us and i talked their ears off about Food Network for about an hour. Bruce Timm came out to introduce the movie, but before it started he made all 2,600 people in Ballroom 20 stand up and recite the Green Lantern Oath!! He followed up with, "we are officially the nerdiest place in the convention", which made everyone cheer! WE DID IT!! Since i had my camera with me i decided to record the giant Oath Reciting Event on my camera, unfortunately my camera did not record the audio, which pretty much makes the footage completely useless. Oh well, maybe i will post it anyway.

At the end of the night i hung out front of the hotel for a bit, while Jeremy and Lenny went on a scavenger hunt for Flynn Lives and ended up at Flynn's Arcade, which apparently has playable Space Paranoids as well and a full size lit up Lightcycle rotating on a turntable. I did not go to Flynn's Arcade because my poor legs were super tired. Maybe it will still be open tonight.

Ran into Brian Posehn again, that makes 5 years straight!

Talk to you folks tomorrow, i can't believe it is only Thursday!

Comic Con '09 - Preview Night

Well, the time has finally come, i am at San Diego Comic Con! So far it has been pretty eventful. The first people i came across was Jay and Jack from The Lost Podcast as well as Ryan and Jenn from the Transmission as well as a slew of old friends from the LOST podcasting community. I ran into Geoff Johns, the gang from Geekscape.net and Michael Cerna of all people.

I got to check out some cool booths, including James Cameron's Avatar. I got to see a full sized Batpod from The Dark Knight at the Lego Booth and a ton of awesome comic creators at the Image Booth. Ryan Ottley is my hero!

I spent money during Preview Night on the few things that i came to Comic Con for. I snatched up limited prints from Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham from FleetStreetScandal.com ! They are awesome!! Pictures to come soon.

I also picked up a numbered copy of Jamie S Rich and Joëlle Jone's book You Have Killed Me. I have not had a chance to read it, but it is a beautiful hardcover crime book that looks absolutely amazing. Can't wait to meet them tomorrow and have the book signed. I picked up the limited Comic Con edtion number 13 of 50. Seemed like a cool number to have.

After being foiled by the exclusives i was supposed to pick up for work, i got the chance to roam the Exhibit Hall and see a bunch of awesome sites! Check out my Facebook page and see all of the incredible nerd things that i was lucky enough to take pictures of!!

One of the coolest things i got to see was the Larry "Buster" Crabbe Flash Gordon figure from GoHero.com , that i had pre-ordered last November! The figure was behind glass so all my pictures turned out blurry. I will try to get some better shots tomorrow.

After i had left Preview Night, i hung out in front of the Hard Rock Hotel (which is where i am staying) and saw a whole bunch of famous people. I had a discussion about Steve Weibe with Adam Sessler from G4 TV's X-PLAY, which was really great! He loves Weibe and is definitely rooting for him to dethrone Billy Mitchell!

While i was sitting out front, i also saw Harry Knowles, The entire gang from TheDigitalBits.Com, Richard Hatch (BSG, not Survivor), Jim Lee, stupid Rob Leifeld, Stryker from KROQ, Tyrese Gibson and Andy Samberg all within the span of 45 minutes! It was pretty amazing.

I have only been in San Diego for 10 hours and it is already shaping up to be a great Comic Con.

Be back with more stories tomorrow!!

COMIC CON '09 - Awesomecon!

Ok, for the past couple years i have promised myself that i would go to Tim and Eric's AWESOMECON! But something always gets in the way! I really hope that i have a chance to meet Tim and Eric!!

THIS YEAR I PROMISE THAT I WILL GO!!!
(unless Jay and Jack's panel gets in the way)
____________________________________________________

OMG, I'M SO EXCITED - AWESOMECON ITINERARY!!
Have you been doing your stretches? Hope so, because Awesomecon is BACK and we wanna see you at your tip-top physical peak! Below is a break down of how the day will go:

12:00 p.m.
WELCOME!!!! Come rub elbows with some of your favorite cast members, sing your favorite Awesome Show tunes and sign up for the trivia contest! Special performances by Sire, James Quall, David Liebe Hart plus a Richard Dunn kissing booth!

1:15 p.m.
WHEEL BARROW RACE!!!
It's between to you and your Chipster who will be the wheel barrow. Better do some practice runs!
Prizes = HATS!

1:30 p.m.
EGG TOSS!!!
Bring your soft hands and come catch some baby eggs!
Prizes = HOODIES!

2:00 p.m.
TIM & ERIC SIGNING
Your chance to meet the creators of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Have them sign your friend!

2:15 p.m.
COSTUME CONTEST!!!
Wear your costume and come sing/dance as your favorite Awesome Show character
Prizes= WINNERS ARE AUTOMATICALLY ENTERED IN THE TRIVIA CONTEST + SPECIAL PRIZE!

2:30 p.m.
LIGHTING TRIVIA QUIZ ROUND!!!
Come sign up for a chance to enter the trivia contest were fans go head-to-head to see who really knows their Awesome Show... DUNN DUNN DUNNNNNNN
3rd Place Prize = T-SHIRT!
2nd Place Prize = YOUR VERY OWN ANSWERING MESSAGE FROM TIM OR ERIC, YOU CHOOSE!
1st Place Prize = SUPER SWEET WAVE RUNNER RIDE W/TIM & ERIC!!!!!!!!!!

+..+..+..+..+..+..+..+..+..+..+..+..PLUS!!!!!!!!!!!

WHERE'S MY CHIPPY TREASURE HUNT!!!! (Prizes!)

AWESOMECON '09
WHEN: Saturday July 25th, 12 - 3 p.m.
WHERE: San Diego, Embarcadero Marina Park North (next to Seaport Village, behind the Marriott Hotel)

GREAT JOB, EVERYONE!

Shitty DVD Cover of the Week - Super Capers

Ryan "Highball" Reynolds!

I mentioned on Facebook about how excited i was for Ryan Reynolds to play Hal Jordan in the upcoming Martin Campbell film, The Green Lantern! I thought that i would post something over here, seeing how much of this blog is dedicated to one of my favorite comic characters ever.

I cannot wait for this movie to come out and i was really nervous about who they would get to play the Emerald Crusader. Although Ryan Reynolds was probably not the first person on my list, i have to tell you i am really excited (and at ease) about Warner Bros' decision to cast him.

I mean, think of how bad it could have been. Ryan is a good actor who has great comic timing. I could not ask for anything more in an actor for Green Lantern. And you have to admit, Ryan Reynolds definitely looks the part!

6/17/11 can't come soon enough!!

Only 700 days left!

BLACKEST NIGHT #1 - Review

Well, the summer just officially kicked off for me. All of the disappointing hollywood blockbusters have pretty much all passed and now it is time for the real fireworks, BLACKEST NIGHT!

As you can all tell from this blog, i am a big Green Lantern fan. The first line in the Green Lantern's Oath is, "In brightest day, in blackest night". Blackest Night, though it takes it's name from the Green Lantern mythos, Blackest Night is not a straight forward Green Lantern title. The events in Blackest Night affect the entire DC Universe. You see, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps will continue to be published as Blackest Night goes on. Geoff Johns, the writer of both Green Lantern and Blackest Night, has some sort of weird knowledge of the entire history of the DC Universe, almost to the point where it gets a little tiring and cumbersome. Because this is a big event that stretches across the whole DC Universe, it has left Green Lantern out of the title, which i am sure is to appeal to a wider audience.

Because i am merely a green lantern fan, a lot of the first half of issue one is lost on me. There is a HEAVY amount of exposition that centers around all the people who have died in the past, from a bunch of books i have never read. Because i am a Green Lantern fan, i could care less about Hawkman or the hundreds of other DC characters that Geoff Johns insisted on putting in the book. It is almost to the point where it feels like Geoff Johns is saying, hey remember these guys? You don't? Well maybe i am a little better than you. After reading the first half of Blackest Night, i felt like i was sitting here reading off a checklist of characters.

Luckily Blackest Night issue one is a double sized comic and the second half moves away from the graves of the dead and moves on to OA, where Scar (a rogue guardian and leader of the Black Lanterns) unleashes all kinds of hell and sends millions of Black Lantern rings and begins to raise the dead! After a lengthy setup Blackest Night begins to unleash all kinds of hell!!

Imagine a universe full of Flesh craving undead super human zombies with power rings with a thirst for destroying and converting super heroes everywhere. The last half of Blackest Night is the greatest Sci-Fi, Horror, Superhero, Space Opera EVER! I hope that all of the people who died on Xanshi come back to haunt John Stewart.

After a slow setup, i am glad it is out of the way, so that Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis can unleash hell on the DC Universe!

★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Shitty DVD Cover of the Week - The Color of Magic

This is not Me

http://casinoskunk.blogpsot.com/
http://casinoskunk.blogspot.com/

There is a big difference!

NASA's Shitty Photo of the Day

It has been pretty nice having the NASA Photo of the Day widget up on my blog lately. There has been some cool images of galaxies and shit. But today's is super stupid!!

Bolden and Garver Testify Before Congress
Charles Bolden, nominee for administrator of NASA, left, and Lori Garver, nominee for deputy administrator of NASA, testify at their confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

BOR-ING!!!! i want to see that horse head nebula!

Shitty DVD Cover of the Week - Shaolin Grandma

COMIC CON '09 - Green Lantern: First Flight

Press Release

Green Lantern: First Flight, the highly-anticipated fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies, will have its world premiere at Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday, July 23, 2009.

More than 4,000 fans will have the opportunity to see Green Lantern: First Flight on the big screen five days before the latest DC Universe film is distributed on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def. The film will premiere in the San Diego Convention Center’s Ballroom 20 at 8:00 p.m.

A panel comprised of filmmakers and voice cast will be presented on the following day, Friday, July 24. Details on that panel and its participants will be announced next week.

Acclaimed actor Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) fills the lead voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. Meloni is joined by fellow Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic) as the villainous Sinestro, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as the voice of Boodikka, and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) as Kilowog. The cast also includes Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), John Larroquette (Night Court), Kurtwood Smith (That ‘70s Show), and David Lander (Laverne & Shirley).

Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, Green Lantern: First Flight is helmed by heralded director Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Superman Doomsday) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman).

Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.