Comic-Con is finally here!
Last night began the Comic-Con awesomeness with Preview Night. I headed down to the Con with some of my closest buddies Caveperson*, Dougie does Dallas*, and my hubs Stinky*. We found parking downtown around 6:45, and walked on down to the convention center.
Dougie does Dallas, leading the pride.
Preview Night is usually especially awesome because there really aren’t too many people. This year seemed different–there were quite a few lining up for the Comic-Con exclusives. There aren’t any panels on Wednesday night (except for previews of upcoming TV shows), so this is a great time to scope out the floor.
This year started off awesome: Caveperson and I were really hoping to get a Supernatural Comic-Con bag, but unfortunately were handed a Big Bang Theory one instead. Not a fan. But, then, surprise surprise, while waiting for Stinky to finish his first of nine or so bathroom breaks, two conventioners saw our bags and wanted badly to trade. And what kinds of bags did they have? Supernatural, of course! “Uh yeah!” So, obviously, this will be the best Comic-Con ever.
Best Comic-Con Ever!
Once we got on the floor, I made Stinky wingman me on over to the Image comics booth. I really wanted to get The Walking Dead 100 commemorative comics, my first line of business before all of the crowds arrived. Stinky navigated me on over (he’s really a pro at the floor) and then muttered “oh, shit it’s Kirkman”. Sure enough, there was Robert Kirkman, in all of his good guy glory, signing autographs at the Image booth.
Having read the just-released 100th issue of The Walking Dead, a very horrifying and heartbreaking edition in the series, I immediately felt my heartstrings tugged. Here was the man who broke my heart today. I was surprised that I didn’t hear anyone harassing him about it–fanboys and girls can be ruthless to their beloved gods.
On a side note, Kirkman really is a good guy–you should’ve seen the STACKS of materials he was signing for fans. Each fan seemed to bring to him at least 10 items, and he signed them without any sort of reluctance. Typically, you can only get up to 3 or 4 items signed. Kirkman is awesome (and cutthroat).
I was surprised to find that Image Comics wasn’t selling ANY Walking Dead 100 issues. I was directed to any of the comic sellers on the floor, who would surely be selling them. Lame!
I’d get to that later. Next, Stinky and I met up with the rest of the gang at the Antarctic…huh? booth. As I mentioned in my last post, Antarctic…huh? is the awesome show created by (and in their backyard and apartment) my good friends Matt Hoyt and Jason Sherry.
Some awesome artwork for Antarctic…huh? by Jason Sherry and Andy Ward. Click the Kickstarter link to the Antarctic…huh? Kickstarter campaign!
This summer is HUGE for them because of
A. the Comic-Con booth
C. their promotional show at The Casbah, which will also feature Tim Heidecker and JP Incorporated
It was truly surreal to be standing at our own booth at Comic-Con (I say “our” liberally, of course. The most I’ve contributed to the show has been moral support, and a one-time clacker job. “Take two!” But, nearly all of my best buds are in, or contribute to the show.)
Our booth!
This is where I beg my readers for support. Please click on the Kickstarter link above or here, check out the trailer for the show, and contribute to the cause. If you’re at all a fan of comedy, independent ventures, awesome artwork, and the odd and different, you’ll appreciate this show. Thanks for checking it out!
After a lot of goofing off with my Comic-Con crew, I took my faithful Stinky (or he took me) to Mile-High Comics, where I purchased a few copies of The Walking Dead 100. One of em’s for you, SJ! Super-stoked!
One for me…one for you!
The short Preview Night was pretty much over at this point, so we all walked down to a local restaurant where we imbibed good beer and ate some really good burgers. That was it for Wednesday!
So, today is all about The Walking Dead (comic) panel, checking out more of the floor, supporting Felicia Day at the Geek and Sundry spot (I need to get going–it’s at 10!), and tonight’s big Antarctic…huh? show at the Casbah!
Again, if you’re at all interested in my Comic-Con adventures, follow my tweets on Twitter!
*These are official Comic-Con monikers.
Free air conditioning--all year long!
It’s another cold, wet, blustery day here in San Diego! One of the perks of being in San Diego is that there really isn’t any reason to have a high energy bill. The weather typically is moderate, so no need for AC in the summer and no need for heat in the winter. However, on days and nights like this, with a house full of wide door jambs and such, it’s not too different from camping. You can feel the wind blowing in right through the cracks of the walls! That makes for a chilly house (but great on a hot, windy summer day)! So, I’m all bundled up in the house in my robe, scarf, long johns, wool socks and sweater. We San Diegans can be wusses about temperature changes, I know! But, it would be ridiculous to try to heat up this old, drafty house with no insulation whatsoever. So, we bundle up!
So, the fanfare may commence…I finished The Wise Man’s Fear relatively early (9:00 p.m.) last night! It was so good! If you missed them, I wrote readathon posts on Friday and Saturday, each with reading updates and reflection (and silly videos). Today, I will write my review (to post tomorrow) and begin reading The Waste Lands in continuance of The Dark Tower Reading Challenge (and The Stephen King project). I also need to read a classic for March still, and while I was planning on reading The Forsyte Saga for this month, it’s a hefty book and March is almost over! So, I’m going to push that off until I have a lot of free reading time (Spring Break in April or summer vacation in August). Instead, I think my classic will be A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. My sister has urged me to read it, and the little bits I’ve skimmed while flipping through have shown it to be a very interesting book. So, I’m excited to start that up this week! I hope it counts for some of my challenges…
What else has been going on? Well, I’ve been having an internal debate on whether or not I should accept books for review. I’ve been getting approaches by authors about reading and reviewing their books, and I am skeptical to say the least. I don’t like being given something to read. It’s like someone throwing themself at you. I’m all about the chase. I want to find the perfect book for right now, and read it on my own time. Plus, I’m a horrible snob when it comes to what I read. It sounds pretentious, but I don’t read bad books. I just don’t. Or, if I do, I’m doing it on purpose. I can be in the mood for fluffy crap, but, even then, I seek it out. I seek my crap carefully. Plus, there’s the whole problem with my dislike of contemporary fiction. It’s a struggle for me to even read the Pulitzer winners for the Insatiable Booksluts’ Award-Winning Challenge, and those are award-winners!
So, after careful consideration, and the seeking out of advice from two book bloggers I greatly admire, and finally, after reading this article from the Los Angeles Review of Books, I have decided that I am not accepting books for review at this time. I will place this in my Contact page to avoid further consideration. I’ve just got too many good books of my own choosing to read, and I read enough sucky writing from my students–I don’t need to read potentially sucky books in my free time! So, if you’re looking for reviews of the newest upcoming novels, Adventures in Borkdom isn’t the place! Sorry!
Some really good news…Dewey’s Readathon is returning in April! I participated in my first Dewey back in October, and I had a blast! I read for the full 24 hours, ripped through 4.5 books, and participated in the challenges! If you’re looking for a good time, I urge you to sign up when the official linky becomes available (I’ll let you know when it does)! It could be a like a big fun sleepover, where we are all reading together and blogging and tweeting and rooting each other on! It could be so fun!!! It’ll take place April 21st, the third Saturday in April. Please, friends, set aside the date and sign up! IT COULD BE SO MUCH FUN!!!
Finally, I’ll be tuning in to tonight’s season finale of The Walking Dead! I was very happy when Shane died in the last episode (though, I wish it had been Carl who shot him. He could’ve done that when he was creeping around and saw Shane pointing a gun at his Dad. That would’ve been a huge turning point for Carl’s character! Of course, I’m assuming Carl was there to see the scene between Shane and Rick.), and I’m hoping to see some of Hershel’s red-shirt kids bite the big one tonight. And, if they’re not going to give T-Dog any sort of purpose, he could die too. If we played a drinking game where we drank everytime T-Dog appeared in an episode, we would be negative-drunk. He needs a purpose if he’s going to take up a valuable space on our survivor squad–there are too many stronger characters who could take his place! I’m crossing my fingers that one of those awesome characters will appear in tonight’s finale and set up an awesome new season in the Fall!
A rare sighting of T-Dog...
So, that’s what I’m up to. How ’bout you?
Things are still a little off with me. I’m no longer in a funk, I’ve returned to the gym, and my house is finally clean, but I’m still not all there. Now, it seems, I have a bit of blogger’s block. I sit down at my computer to write a post, and nothing comes to me. What I do write feels like crap. Yesterday morning, I struggled with writing my review for Locke and Key. It’s still unfinished, and I’m not quite sure how I want to write it, as the review covers three books. I think I need to outline.
So, to deal with my writing constipation, I’ve returned to my most comfortable and favorite writing medium–good ol’ pen and paper. It does seem to help, as I’m not struggling with writing right now. I guess that I’ll keep at it until I feel like my old self again.
At least, through all of this offness, I have been reading. Maybe too many books. Perhaps my divided attention is affecting my blogging focus. But, I am reading. Here’s what I’ve finished reading, am still reading, and just started reading.
• Mrs. Warren’s Profession– I finished this play by George Bernard Shaw last night, finally! I really enjoyed it, but, for some reason, was struggling with the drama format. Maybe, I’m out of practice. The themes were very interesting as the story dealt with prostitution in the Victorian era and gender inequalities. The play also featured one of my new favorite female characters–a young intellectual woman with a penchant for mathematics, working hard, and being independent. My kind of gal!
• I Want My MTV– This one is taking a while because I’m always stopping my reading to watch the videos on YouTube. It’s a lot of fun, and while the commentary on various videos, musicians, VJs, and events from the ’80s is interesting, a lot of the context of this book is old news for me. I was a huge MTV fan growing up, so this is more like a walk down memory lane. I tend to skim the chapters on the MTV corporate execs though. I’m not interested in how much coke those guys snorted.
• The Portable Dorothy Parker- This one I will be working through slowly. It is a collection of Parker’s short stories, poetry, and essays. Mainly, I read this one before bed, averaging a short story per day. I am loving her short stories! Actually, I am just loving Parker period–she just seems to be my literary soul mate. I really connect with her writing. She even provided the perfect quote for my title today, which sums up my issue with writing right now, as well as my issues with just about anything that I want to do, but can’t seem to do (I hate the gym, but I love having gone to the gym. I hate work, but I love having worked. I hate cleaning, but I love having cleaned the house. You get my drift…).
So far, I’ve read the following stories:
“The Lovely Leave”- Gah! I so related to this sad story of a woman who eagerly prepares for her husband, an officer away at war, to return home on leave. She has such high hopes for the 24 hours they get together, you just know that it won’t turn out well. Parker’s depiction of the woman’s insecurities and reactions to her husband’s life away from her are so relatable, I could easily put myself in her shoes, and I cringed often. This one really resonated with me.
Illustration by Seth
“Arrangement in Black and White”- Ugh. A very short piece following a ditzy moron of a woman at a party who is eager to meet an African American musician who is the guest of honor. She falls all over herself for being so forward-thinking by calling him “Mister” and enjoys the novelty of the moment. This story reminded me of people I knew in college- rich kids who would “slum it” in San Diego for the novelty.
Illustration by Seth
“The Sexes”- A cute, short dialogue between a young woman punishing a young man suitor for paying attention to another woman at a party. Their conversation felt so true, and I know I’ve had this conversation before. Oh ladies–why are we so neurotic at times?
• The History of English Literature by Perry Keenlyside and read by Derek Jacobi: I needed something to listen to in the car, so I went to the library and found this. It’s not too bad, kind of like having Derek Jacobi as your lecturer during a six-hour English Lit class. Snippets of literature are read, juxtaposed with the history behind it. I really liked listening to Chaucer read aloud- perhaps that’s how I’ll do The Canterbury Tales this year.
Also, today is Sunday, so tonight is television night! Why are all of my favorite shows on Sunday? I don’t know, but it’s good stuff.
• Season Finale of Downton Abbey: What’s going to happen to Bates? Will Mary and Mathew get together? Wasn’t I asking these same questions before the finale of season 1?
Yes, and I’m so glad that the same high drama is still happening. I can’t wait to tune in, and this is why.
• The Walking Dead: Finally, it seems that the living will be the bad guys on the show. Let’s face it- humans and human nature are way scarier than zombies.
I wonder when and if Shane is going to bite the bullet. As long as he’s alive, it seems that Rick won’t get his somewhat anti-heroic status that he maintains in the graphic novels. I love the actor who plays Shane, but I want to see Rick screw up more and be more tormented by his conscience. One of the major and most important themes of the story is what this apocalyptic world forces good people to do, and Rick is at the center of this theme, and I just don’t see it happening so fully with Shane being alive. It seems that the show has split the graphic novel character of Rick in half, with his good side going to TV show Rick and his tough decision-making side going to Shane. I want Rick to shoot some humans, so that he can start really dealing with morality issues. I also want the survivor crew to move on and away from the farm. There’s a lot more going on in the outside world than simply zombies…they need to start interacting with it!
So, that’s what’s going on with me right now. This is a pretty long post, and it wasn’t too hard to write on paper. I think this long-hand drafting might work out. Now, back to the Locke and Key review…
I don’t know where my head is lately.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and I really should have written this post yesterday, but I didn’t. Instead, I was fuming after getting abandoned by my ride home from work yesterday (I called my husband to pick me up after work when I found my coworker had left me behind). Then, I waited for the car dealership to call me to let me know that my car was ready for pick up. At 5:15, my husband drove me to pick it up–of course we were stuck in traffic for a while. Once we got there, I realized that I had left a pot of water boiling at home (I was in the middle of making pasta when we got the call for the car). So, Jesse had to rush home to save our old wooden house from certain conflagration. Once I got home, I was done.
So, while my mood is improved, I am definitely still insane.
But, yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and after receiving a cute text message e-card, I got into the spirit and sent a few of my own last night.
At this point, you’re maybe wondering why my husband and I didn’t do anything for Valentine’s Day. Well, even though we have significant others, a part of our singleton mentality has survived, and we have never celebrated Valentine’s Day (except for the first year we dated, except that doesn’t really count as we we simply went out on Valentine’s Day to get drunk at a local gay bar as he was upset about his car being stolen earlier in the day. He blamed the car theft on watching The Notebook. He thought he was being punished for watching The Notebook). No, Jesse and I celebrate our anniversary on Feb. 1, although we forgot this year (again, where is my head these days?).
But, anyways, the point of this post was to share the awesome TV show-related e-cards I texted out last night. So, here they are!
So, I received, from my good friend Leigh, this card:
Leigh, is my number one Lost buddy, so this was awesome. She is also my number one Game of Thrones buddy, so I sent her this one in reply:
After this, I got into the spirit, and sent my family some e-cards:
For my Mad Men-loving sister:
And my Breaking Bad-loving Dad:
And my Walking Dead-loving husband:
And for myself, I sent (not really sent, but saved) this, for my Downton Abbey-loving self:
So, Valentine’s Day is just one day that the world says is designated for love. That’s lame. If you care about someone, you should tell them any and every day! Why not send them one of these lovely e-cards?
Adventures in Borkdom 