Sir Tom Jones

I love Tom Jones. Love. Love. Love.

In fact, I am not ashamed to say I have a total man-crush for him.

There I said it.

So when I heard he was playing at the Paramount Theater last night, I got tickets for Hotness and I to go see him.

The show was to start at 7:30 p.m., but we needed to meet at the house (which is in the TOTALLY opposite direction) after work so that we could take my car into the big city for the evening.

We made it home and back out of the house in pretty good time, but thanks to the wonderful 520 Friday traffic, we missed about 40 minutes of the show by the time we got there.

It's a drag to be sure, but I had my "Best of" CD playing while we creeped along so it wasn't like I wasn't getting my fix in the meantime.

We got through all that, got into downtown and then tried to find a place to park.

On a side note: tonight was also the opening for the "Sex and the City" movie.

As we searched for a spot to park, we saw SEVERAL women who were dressed... er... well, respectable is not the word that comes to mind.

I couldn't tell if they were coming to see Tom Jones or going to the movie (as it was only about two blocks away).

As it turns out, they were going to see Tom and THEN go to the movie.

Woo-hoo! A banner evening for feminism!

We got parked and walked briskly to the Paramount.

As we entered, we could hear the band playing and watched on TV screens what was happening as we went upstairs to find our seats.

We sat in the second level balcony and we were practically the LAST row of people, so we didn't have to walk in front of anybody to get to our seats. We also didn't have to worry about being in the way of anybody behind us when we stood up.

Here's our view:

Okay, so the show. How was it?

Fan-freaking-tastic!!!

I know you don't believe me, 'cause you probably aren't a fan of his, but it was really good.

There were A LOT of women (and a few guys), but mostly women. And they were rowdy.

Yes, panties were being thrown up on stage, and I saw more then a couple come flying towards him from up in the balconies. (I wondered who they landed on before they got to the stage)

I don't know what songs he covered before we got there, but after we got our seats he finished up a pretty rocking tune that included a brass section. Then he did a great blues tune.

After that... it was like his greatest hits LIVE.

He played (in no particular order):

Sexbomb

Green, Green Grass of Home

She's A Lady (Oh man! The women freaked out when he did this)

It's Not Unusual (the guys even got up for this one)

I Like The Way (a sweet cover of the Bodyrocker's hit)

Kiss (a cover of the Prince song from the late 80's)

What's New Pussycat?

You Can Leave Your Hat On (a cover of the Joe Cocker tune that is on the Full Monty soundtrack, and again.. the women went wild)

... and a few of others that escape my memory at the moment.

Hotness got up and swayed her tailfeather to the music and I was right there with her. I even sang along (although, luckily nobody could hear me).

He totally plays to the crowd and the crowd just eats it up.

He shimmied around on the stage. Thrust his pelvis. Growled into the microphone in that sexy, bedroom way. And everytime he did, screams burst forth out of the audience and more panties flew onto the stage.

If I'm HALF as cool as he is when I'm his age (He'll be 68 next week), I'll be happy.

I definitely want to see him again. Except I'd like to see the whole show next time.

Before we left the venue, I got a T-shirt for Hotness and a photo book from the merchandise booth.

Then we walked to get something to eat.

Most everyplace was packed, but we did manage to get in at the Daily Grill.

Hotness had a chicken quesadilla and I had one of the biggest damn bugrers I've ever seen.

I made a substantial dent in it, but I just couldn't finish it.

.... and that was about it. We came back home and went to bed and now today is a brand new day.

We have the ballet tonight, so we'll be back in Seattle again.

I'll let you know if anything changed there since we left last night.

Cold Death

That's assuming, of course, that I could hold my breath for that long.

Sex Bomb

Tonight, Hotness and I are off to see the Welsh Napolean of Love after work.
That's right... Tom Jones.

He's playing at the Paramount in Seattle. I missed him the last couple of times he was here, so I made sure to get tickets for tonight. I can't wait, I'm really excited.

I'd love to load up this post with videos of songs by him, but I'll just leave you with this one:



Oh believe me... a review will be forthcoming!
Also coming up: the ballet on Saturday night. Stay tuned!

Motivation

I had a little rant to get things out of my system. (They're not completely gone, but I do feel a little better)
Now it's time for a motivational speech from one of my favorite movies.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you.... Stanley Spadowski:

Available At Your Local Drug Store

A couple of things I'd just like to point out in the picture below:

"Add to Target Baby"?

Really? Did NO ONE think about that link and the product they were selling?

Unless the feds are monitoring whoever would actually do such a thing, that's just ducking fumb.

And under 'Features';

"Ideal for relieving tension"

I'll bet it does. 'nuff said.

Make It Stop

So everybody's talking about the high cost of living nowadays.
I'm not going to go on a big rant, but I just wanted to get it off my chest.

We've seen the prices climbing at the pump, the grocery store, and pretty much anywhere you buy anything.
Now to add insult to injury, Dow Chemical is increasing prices on all their products up to 20% by next week. Thanks for the warning, fellas.
I hope everyone has enough diapers, detergents, and pretty much everything that we use on a daily basis 'cause this is going to hurt a little.

(Note to self: Better pick up some lube before THAT goes up in price next week!)
But the cost of living isn't going up as much as we seem to think, isn't that what the government is telling us?

And we can't blame the oil executives. After all, they're doing everything they can to rape us blind... er, help us in this time of economic crisis.

It makes this scene from "Network" all that much more appropriate:

Well... I stop complaining now.

Regular posting of funny stuff to follow soon.

Sweet New Ride

I always have to play 'catch-up' when the weekend gets busy and I can't blog and be up-to-date with what's been happening.

So to recap:

Friday: Slow day at work as usual for a day before a long weekend. It's nice 'cause you have a chance to catch up on stuff that's been lingering on your desk, but it's always a pain when we get back and all the new orders start pouring in again. *sigh*

After work, I hightailed it home to meet Hotness and then drive back out to Everett to meet some of the other volunteers from ECCC and watch "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

How was it, you ask? Well if you haven't yet seen it, wait and see it during a matinee.

Hotness thought it was w-a-y too over the top. I thought the same, although it was enjoyable.

I think it was a bit too heavy regarding the history of the skull and all that, and there were plot holes all over the place. Still, it was nice to get together with friends and see it. Just wish it had been everything we'd hoped for.

Saturday: We got up to go run some errands and not far from our house was a pre-yard sale.

I love yard sales and Hotness loves meeting the neighbors, so we stopped to check what they had. (It was a "pre-yard sale" because they hadn't actually priced anything yet. They were pulling everything out and if anybody wanted to buy anything they'd sell it for a good deal. The actual sale is next weekend.)

I picked up a bunch of random stuff, Hotness shared neighborly info and then we were off again on our way. Home Depot, grocery store, etc... that kind of stuff.

We got back home in the afternoon and did some yardwork. (Which didn't amount to much since it was later in the day). She mowed and I weed-whacked until we decided to go inside and call it a day. We had to get up early the next day, so it we didn't want to overdo it.

Sunday: Got up EARLY (like 5:30-6:00 a.m.). Got ready and left to go to Montesano, WA to check out (and potentially buy) a used riding lawn mower. One of Hotness's co-workers had told her about his parents getting a new mower and was selling his old one for dirt cheap. We've been looking to get a riding mower for about 5 years now, so this was a great opportunity to snag one for almost nothing.

A hell of a long way to drive (like 2-1/2 hours one-way) but we now have a riding mower to tackle our yard with and hopefully keep it under control. (pictures coming up later in this post!)

It was late afternoon when we got back and we had been invited to a bonfire and BBQ at a neighbor's house.
We had a little bit a time to kill so Hotness went to the barn while I replaced the outdoor lights next to the front and back doors. They stopped going 'off' in the morning and were on all the time.

Plus they were dual-intensity lights (meaning they were dim until something moved in front of it, then they would get brighter. Couldn't use flourescent lights in these, so they were adding to the electric bill alot)

I replaced them with standard 'dusk-to-dawn' lights and put in flourescent bulbs. Now they only come on at night and go off in the morning and the light output is much brighter but I'm only using 1/3 the electricity. Hopefully this'll make a difference on our bill soon.

Then... off we went again and hung out talking and eating until after 10:00 p.m.

We had a great time and met some new friends.

Monday (today): Slept in a little and then Hotness went to the barn to tend to her horse, while I got around to visit my buddy Dug and his family.
I hung out with them, had breakfast (mmm... Apple Jacks!) and then played with my niece for a while , as he set up his big scanner so we could get more of my art copied and online.

We played with Polly Pocket and put a puzzle together.

After his scanner was up and running we got these pieces scanned in:

My buddy Technogreek has picked up a few Terry Moore prints for me at the other conventions he's gone to. Here's the latest ones I've gotten;

This was a limited print that Whilce Portacio gave me after volunteering at the ECCC this year;

This was a print a got last year at ECCC. It's Joe Linsner's "Dawn" as Kali:

I hung around for a little bit longer and then headed back home.

It was supposed to turn to crap weather today but it actually warmed up and was really nice.

Nice enough to work in the yard all afternoon... using our 'new' riding lawn mower!

Yeah baby, check it... this is what makes all the ladies swoon for:

And Hotness trying not to fall off:

We worked and mowed and weed-whacked and sweat in the sun all afternoon.

The grass is so tall that even with a couple of nice days of warm weather, it's still too wet to cut it properly. I had to go over it with the weed-whacker just to get it ankle-high. Now if it'll just stay nice for a few more days I can go over it with the mower and should be able to keep it manageable.

Finally we both ran out of energy and went into town to get ice cream and call it a weekend.

And that's brings us to now.

Hotness is in bed asleep and I am bloggin' it up to keep you all informed of the latest news.

Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you had a great long holiday weekend.
Hotness and I got a bunch of stuff done, since the weather was nicer than to be expected.
But first, before this day is over, take a moment to reflect on the men and women in the armed forces who have given up their life to protect ours. After all, aside from the BBQ's and the sales at the dept stores... THAT's what this day is set aside for.

While I may not agree or be in favor of the current administration and the war they have set their minds to have people die in, I do respect the people that serve our country and risk their lives for it.
I hope that those that are currently serving can come back home to their families safe and sound.

Let this scene be a reminder of how much they risk so that we can have our backyard BBQ's on this day:

The Burning Chest Hair Dudes

I regret not being able to make it to the costume contest at this year's Emerald City Comic Con.
I managed to see quite a few good costumes while I was walking around the floor, but there were quite a few I missed that were actually in the contest.

Including these two guys(?):



That is glitter the guy blows out onto the audience and look really close (around 1:20) to see the one guy light his chest hair on fire.

Umm... WTF?
Does this really qualify for a comic book convention COSTUME contest?
Does anybody that WAS there care to elaborate?

Wicked

I like this song, but I haven't been able to find it on an actual CD single. Only as a download.
I'd like to have the song on an actual, physical disk... but I'm just old skool that way.
I'll probably break down and buy songs by the download eventually.

Well, let me know if you liked it. Enjoy!

More Art

One thing I did recently (and should have mentioned before now) was get more of my recent convention sketches and artwork scanned.

About 2 times a year, I get with my friend Dug and borrow his B-I-G ass scanner to copy some of the larger pieces I've gotten (and can't scan on the one I have at home).
I uploaded most of it over on my ComicArtFans page, but here are some of them to look at.

Here's Firestar from pin-up artist, Amano Jyaku.


This is a print that Eric Powell did for the Nashville Rollergirls.


And here is the awesome Red Sonja sketch I got from Stjepan Sedjic, the current artist on Witchblade.

He and his wife were really terrific people and I look forward to seeing them again soon!

A big thanks to Dug for helping me get these pieces scanned!
More to come soon.....

Still Here

The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, I'm happy to say.

Things have been happening, just nothing I considered "blog-worthy" so I didn't want to post boring stuff... like how I had oatmeal for breakfast the other day and it was yummy.
But I figured I'd better put SOMETHING up on here, lest you all forget about me.


Here are some random pictures I've taken on my phone.
By the way... have a I mentioned how much I like my phone, lately? I really do!
I even use it to make phone calls every now and then.


My buddy Dug and Red posing for a pic at Red Robin before he & I went to see Iron Man.


Remember that freak snowfall we had in mid-April?
Well, here's what it looked like at my house that morning. That's my car underneath all that white stuff!



Look!
On the rack! At your local Target!
It's Gay Retard Superman!

(Batman was much cooler-looking though)


Hotness and I went to an Alpaca farm not far from our house (which is kind of misleading if you've actually ever been out to our house!)



The mighty G-rod, pimpin' it up!




And some nifty-looking "artsy" type pictures I thought were nice:
A collection of Jones Soda bottles in a cooler at one of the restaraunts in Sea-Tac airport.


A mosaic made up of different colored reflectors that was on display at Sea-Tac.


A wooden-rail stairwell at one of the shops in Banff, Canada.

Domestic Disturbance

Aaaaannnd now back to the funny!

A couple was recently charged with hitting each other with frying pans.
Well, the saying goes, "You only hurt the ones you love".

Kind of reminds me of this:

Dead Server = Time For Blogging

Our internal server for our customer accounts, pricing, etc... was dead this morning when we got in.
Right this very minute there is tech guy working on installing a new motherboard and tracing down if there is any other problem.

But that leaves me with LOT'S of time to surf the web and post stuff on the blog.
Like this gem from the mid-80's:

Almost Forgot....

In case you haven't seen them already, here are some links to reviews of the convention and some pictures....

Periscope Studios did Haikus of the the show instead of an actual 'report'.
They're pretty clever!

Jeff Parker put in his two-cents worth.

And here are a bunch of pictures of random things and people from the show.


Excelsior!

A Few More Pictures

I have a few more pictures from Emerald City Comic Con.

On Saturday I was stopped by an attendee who asked if I knew where he could get a band-aid.

(Heh heh heh! If you're one of the people who was at the show, you already know he asked the right guy.)

I smiled and said, "You bet! If you'll just follow me to the registration booth, I have a whole bag of supplies... including band-aids."

They were trying to cover up a little piece of this kid's mask that was scratching his face.

After they fixed it, I took this picture of...

Iron Boy

Here is me with Whilce Portacio and most of his family. His wife took the picture, so she wasn't in it.

(Sorry it's a bit blurry)

I didn't mention too much about Hotness during the show, but she had a blast working with Jamie Bamber as his attendant for the weekend.

I got a picture of her and Dr. Zoltar's wife on Sunday after the show was over:

And here is the picture Hotness took with Jamie in the photo op room.

Hmmm... she never jumps into my arms like that. I guess it's 'cause I don't pilot a spacefighter.

That's about the extent of the pictures I took.

If you're reading about the convention but have not come out to Seattle to experience yet, you really ought to plan on coming next year. It's going to be big!

ECCC Sunday

Sunday started out with a phone call shortly after we woke up.

*BRIIIING!*
(Look at my phone. Notice that it's Technogreek)
"Good morning, what's up?", says I.
"Yeah.... listen. Burnham has come down with a fever and isn't going to able to help you guys take care of the guests today. That leaves just you and Dr. Zoltar, " he replies.
The day before we could barely take care of everyone and now we were down a man. Oh boy.

Actually it all turned out okay. We were able to wrangle three other volunteers to help us and since it was also the slower of the two days, it all turned out well and everybody was happy.
I wish I could remember the names of the folks who helped us, 'cause if they're reading this I want to let them know how much we appreciated thier help.

So Sunday was Mother's Day and despite being a holiday, was still fairly bustling although not nearly the with the amount of people we had the previous day.
I was able to talk with the guests more, get a few sketches, interview some people and buy stuff.

I mentioned earlier that I was a little apprehensive about the Suicide Girls coming out and having a booth at the show. They are known for not wearing much (if anything at all) on their website, and this is a family-oriented show.
But it turns out they were very nice, and a couple of them were especially cute (I'll let you decide who).
I even got a short interview with them:

I need to improve my interview skills, or at least have some prepared questions. I thought of more questions after the camera was off but didn't want to seem too much of a stalker by asking for another interview.

I saw a couple of people walking around the show floor, one of whom was wearing a Shogun Warrior action figure. It was Raydeen, which is one I had when I was a kid. I apporoached them to tell him how cool it was that he had that figure with him and they asked me if I would mind being interviewed later.
"Sure, why not?" I replied, and then took off to get some water for a guest.

Closer to 11:30, I needed to leave and get lunch again for Jamie & Julie.
On my way out of the convention center I ran into my mom and her husband who were coming for the day. (I got them tickets for this year after they had such a good time last year)
I told them I'd meet up with them later and then left them to toodle around at the convention.

When I got back, the lunches were already being passed around to the other guests. It was pretty much well-in-hand, so I let them finish and went out on the show floor to look around a little.

I caught up with my mom and took them over to introduce them to Daniel Logan.
He is such a nice guy he gave both of them autographed pictures at no charge.
Then I introduced them to a few others; Filip Sablik of Top Cow, Erik Thompson, Kandrix & Laurie, Gus F. Martin... just to name a few.
Everyone was very sweet and mom just loved meeting them all.

Mom's husband is a good friend of Mike Grell, so I took them over to him and then had to leave to run a few errands.

There were a few people who still hadn't gotten lunch, so I ran back and forth from the 'green room' to the convention floor delivering those last few sub sandwiches for them.

I met up again with the folks who wanted to interview me. Turned out.... they were Kelly O. and 'The Don Leonardo' from The Stranger.

They did a brief interview session with me and then gave me a Shogun Warrior comic book for being such a good sport.
My interview got edited into this video. See if you can find me.
(When you do find me... keep watching. I eventually get to explain what it was I said)



The crowd wasn't a big as the day before and it was now after 2:00 p.m. I started making the rounds of anybody that might need anything and buying the things I'd been eyeing since the show started.

I picked up:
Both volumes of Colleen Coover's "Small Favors"
Two copies of "Little Vampires" (for some friends) and the "Project: ElOhIm" trade from Rebecca Hicks.
A trade paperback of "Scruffy Puppies" by Brent Trembath (I was his 22nd customer!)
A signed copy of the Suicide Girls book and DVDs.

I also went around and got a few signatures and added to my sketchbook.
Hilights to this year's round of additions include Tim Sale, Eric Powell, and Phil Noto. All three have been to ECCC before but I've never been able to get a sketch 'cause they've been so darn busy. I also got a very cool self-portrait sketch by Whilce Portacio, and Colleen Coover added hers when I picked up the books from her.

My mom and her husband had to leave, so we stopped by Gus F. Martin's booth one last time.

He and a couple of other guys were playing some live jazz in their booth, and mom wanted to say goodbye... in her own special way.

Andy Kuhn was back again this year and I picked up another CD by his band "The Fuglees".
Remember how I mentioned a while back that I'd love to see a Hellboy story written by Bob Burden and drawn by Andy? Well, I also got a nice head sketch from him of Hellboy.

Sweet!

The show was getting closer to ending and I made a mad dash to say goodbye to some of the guests and exhibitors who were leaving that evening.

After we scooted all the attendees out, we (the volunteers) helped to pack up the ECCC booth, take down banners, clean up the 'green room' and whatever else needed to be done before we left.

We then all headed down to the Ipanema Brazillian Grill for dinner with some of the guests.
By the time Hotness and I got there, the tables were pretty well filled. I was going to sit at the end of a table but it was right in the way of people moving in and out, so I excused myself from there and went to sit with Phil Jiminez, Stephen Sadowski and his partner, Qtilla, and Girl Friday.
THAT was a fun table to be at! The conversation ran the gamut of comic books, art, editorial decisions, etc... on into "evil twins" and Phil's love of watching "All My Children" since he was 14 years old.
What really warmed the cockles of my heart and made my evening was when I was talking to Phil and telling him about how I really enjoyed his run on Wonder Woman a few years back, and he said he remembered me from the last time he was in Seattle... which was like 8 years ago.
It really was cool that he remembered me gushing like the geek I am from that long ago.

We ate and talked for a long time, but it was getting late and Hotness and I needed to get home.
After saying our goodbyes, we got to our car and got home sometime after 12:00 a.m.
We slept like the dead and continued to sleep long after the sun came up and the birds started chirping.

It was a super-fun weekend and I can't wait for it to happen again!
Thanks to EVERYONE involved in making this show one of the best!

Interlude

As Dr. Zoltar mentioned in the comments from the last post, I forgot to mention our encounter with.... (Bum Bum Bum!) The Crackwhore!

When we all left the Rock Bottom, we walked back to our hotels. The four of us in the Roosevelt and most everyone else in the Hyatt across the street.

On our way, from out of one of the alleys came a woman(?) who looked very nearly like one of the undead characters in Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead" comic.
She came out towards our group wearing hospital scrubs (was she recently from there? Had she escapded?), started talking some nonsense (or maybe I just couldn't hear her) and seemed fixated on Technogreek (but then... who isn't?).
She began lifting up the sleeve of her shirt to show off some kind of shoulder wound or infection... whatever it was, it was gross.

We managed to get by her without much incident or getting man-handled by her and she shuffled off back into the alley still yelling out to us (whatever it was she was saying).

We all made it back to our respective hotel rooms, having survived our mini-zombie apocalypse.

It was freaky for sure.
I feel bad 'cause in that situation what should you do?
Give her money? She'll just go buy drugs.
Just ignore her? She is a human being despite the state she was in and probably lonely.
Try to talk to her? Then she might start hanging all over you and not let you go which could pose it's own problems.

ECCC Saturday

After a evening of martini-induced sleep, we all awoke to Day One of the convention.

I had arranged to pick up coffee at Starbucks on my way in for the guests and volunteers, so I popped over across the street to pick it up and meet everyone at the convention center.

On the way up the escalator I took this picture of the banner welcoming everyone to the show:

People had already started lining up when I got there (about 7:00 a.m.) waiting to be the first in line to get in/get a sketch/buy stuff/etc...

It was nice to see people there that early. The show's reputation is starting to get around as one of THE shows to attend.

Some of the volunteer staff were already stuffing badges into the plastic holders, so I went into the main convention center room to square away any last minute things that needed to be done.

I and a few other volunteers got bottles of water, soda, etc.. on ice for when the guests would need it later. Then we all kind of walked around making sure everything was in order for the last minute.

Then 10:00 came, the doors opened, and the crowd POURED into the convention like a dam had burst!

After that, everything became a blur.

The ECCC booth soon was overwhelmed with people looking to buy the limited Tim Sale "Hulk" print.

I went by there and all I could see were bodies. I couldn't see the booth.

Then, after getting the print (if they were lucky before it sold out), they all rushed to Tim's line to get it signed.

His line immediately became a scene of chaos. We had to put up ropes to mark his line and organize the crowd into an orderly fashion... just within the first 15 minutes of the show!

After taking care of that, the same thing had to be done to Darick Robertson's line, as his also became quite a mess in a short amount of time.

It all worked out okay ond once those initial 'fires' were dealt with everything started to roll like normal.

Dr. Zoltar, Burnham and myself ran around on the show floor getting water, soda, etc.... as guests needed it.

That was pretty much our whole day.

I did have to leave the convention once to run and get lunch for Julie Benz and Jamie Bamber, but other than that I was on the floor the whole day.

As I ran around around, I checked with guests, exhibitors and a few random attendees to see how the show was going for them. Everyone I spoke with LOVED the new venue and was having a good time.

In fact, the only negative thing I heard was some guy who complained that there weren't enough of the "Hulk" prints and that we should've made more. (FYI dude, that's why it's called "LIMITED". Dork!)

After the show ended at 6:00, everyone (volunteers and promoters, anyway) headed out to get something to eat and chillax for the night.

Most of us ended up at the Rock Bottom and had a great time.

Hotness, Dr. Zoltar & his wife, and myself walked back to our hotel room and then collapsed into our beds for the night.

Pre-Convention Friday

Elwood has a great report about how the show opened over on his blog, so I won't bore you with repetative details.
I'll just re-cap what I was involved in and how it all went down.

On Friday, Hotness and I took the day off from work. She had a hair appointment early in the day so we did that before heading to Seattle and checking into our hotel room we shared with Dr. Zoltar and his wife for the weekend.
I did some shopping at Bellevue Square Mall while I waited.
Pretty soon she was ready to go, so we left and went straight into Seattle with my car all loaded with luggage and crap to get signed at the show.

Upon arriving at the hotel and going inside, I noticed a cart with several boxes that appeared to be for the convention. They were marked CS MOORE Studios. I stopped and asked if they were part of the convention and found out that it was Clayburn Moore and his wife.

Later, as the four of chose which bed we'd take, Dr. Zoltar was looking outside and saw what appeared to be a drug deal taking place in the intersection across from our window. A car stopped at a GREEN light, blocking traffic. Another guy walked from the sidewalk and got into the stopped car. A few seconds later he exited and went back to the sidewalk and the car drove off.
I love the big city.

The better part of the day was spent stuffing badges into the plastic holders that attendees would be wearing at the show. Nothing real exciting, but hey... it's gotta be done.
I also wandered around the floor briefly to familiarize myself with the layout. I'd be running around and I needed to know who was going to be where so I didn't get lost.

Along the way, I got reaquainted with some of the vendors I've seen before and introduced myself to some new ones.

That evening, the four of us (Dr. Zoltar, his wife, Hotness and myself) had dinner at the restaraunt next to the hotel. It was dee-lish-ous! And after two martinis each, we headed back to our room to sleep before the big day coming up.

I had to make a quick run back to the desk to get more pillows (we were going to build a fort... NOT!) and when I stepped out of the elevator I ran into (quite literally) Dan DiDio from DC Comics.

That was pretty much all that happened Friday.

... and I'm out of time for lunch, so I'll get back to the show report soon!

ECCC Aftermath

Whew! Two comic conventions is less than a month.

I don't know how Technogreek does it all the time.

Anyway, I have lots of cool stories to tell you about and even some new artwork to showoff.

I'm still recuperating from running around the floor all weekend so I'll just list a few hilights and some pictures, but later I promise to give more in depth info from the show.

This was was a banner year for adding to my 'self-portrait sketch' collection. I was able to add pieces from Phil Noto, Eric Powell and Tim Sale. I've been trying to get these the last few times they came out to the show but never was able to. Well, this year I scored mightily.

I also got a few others which I'm equally proud of, but more on that later.

Well...okay. Here's Colleen Coover with her sketch for me:

I like to try and support new and independent artists, so this year I picked up a couple of new books. I'm planning to post a review with links as soon as I finish them, so stay tuned.

One of the very cool things that happened was I met several of the Suicide Girls at the show. I have a bit of a soft spot (well, maybe 'soft' isn't quite right...) for Goth hotties, but I'll admit to being a bit apprehensive about having them at the convention. (It is a family-oriented show, afterall!)

Anway, it turned out that they were all very sweet and I even managed to get a brief interview with them. I also picked up their first book which they all signed for me and then posed with:

Daniel Logan was there and just as much of a flirt with all the women as he was in Calgary, and also just as friendly with everyone who stopped by to say hi to him.

One regret (not a bad one, though) is that I never got a chance to meet Wil Wheaton. I did get him water and delivered a couple of messages for him but I was hoping to actually get to have a conversation with him. Oh well. He was a superb media guest and I'm sure we'll have him back again.

I got a cute picture of Eric Powell and his girlfriend while they were at the show.

They were very nice.

And I managed to pick up another Fuglees CD from Andy Kuhn at the show. It is every bit as awesome as the last one I got. Andy said they've been working on their third album, so I'll be getting it when it comes out.

If you enjoy independent muscians with original, quirky songs (i.e. Presidents of the United States, etc...) then do yourself a favor and buy their CDs.

That's all for now.

I'll post more about the show later after I've gotten a little more rested up from all of it.

If you attended and have a good story, please leave a comment.

Also, be sure to take the survey so we can get your opinion on how to make it better (or keep it just as awesome) for next year.

Cosplay

That title ought to give me a bunch more hits to this blog, heh heh!

Actually, here are the costumes I was able to take pictures of up in Calgary.

There were MANY more people in costume but I just didn't have time to get them all.

You'll probably recognize most of the characters, so I'll dispense with names for each.

In no particular order, here they are. Enjoy!