A Fearless Journey

A supreme Halloween 2009: Justice!

2009-11-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hands down, one of the best Halloween celebrations I've ever had. The entire night was absolutely amazing. When we first got to the Shrine, CLASSIX was already about half way through their set, and one of the first tracks we heard from them was a remix to Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Heads Will Roll, which pretty much got my friends and I up and going as far as dancing, and we kept dancing all night long, like you would not believe. When it drew time for Steve Aoki's set, I was ready to hear some Bloody Beetroots. Even though, we came to Hard only for Saturday, and not see the Beetroots on Friday, we still got our fix with Aoki's set, and it was simply fucking awesome.

Up until this point, I was dancing for sure. But hearing Aoki do a remix to Kid Cudi's Pursuit of Happiness sent me into overdrive like you cannot imagine, and I mean maximum. Without question, it's the my favorite track off Cudi's album, and I danced/ spit the lyrics out like there was no tomorrow. Eventually, Aoki busted out the Warps: 7.7, then later on with 1.9 to finish things off like a house on fire.

When Warp 7.7 started, I admitted to Dang that I preferred it over 1.9, and as much as I might really believe that, my legs and body went ballistic a couple songs later when 1.9 finished things up for Aoki, and I just jumped in the air like the people in the song's music video. Having the space to do so because we made our way closer to the back, with more crowd space, so thank goodness we started heading to the back when we did.

At any large musical gathering, there is always going to be conflict schedules, and tough decisions will have to be made. On this night, it was between Justice and Crookers.

Crookers inside on the Expo Stage, and Justice outside on the Hard Stage. As much as I love Crookers, it was gonna be Justice all the way. Justice did not disappoint. Gaspard and Xavier came out dressed a couple of pilots straight out of Top Gun, and of course along with them their large, glowing cross, and proceeded to blow us the fuck away.

I've only seen Justice live once before, at last year's Treasure Island Fest, but I've some friends who have seen them multiple times, and as great as seeing Justice live, they had yet to see a switch or change up to how their set goes...

A tweaked remix to Genesis started things off, and we all knew Justice was definitely gonna do things differently this time around. Things were so crazy I didn't even get to meet up with a friend I was hoping to, but I did get to text this: "dunno when you'll get this, but 10mins into Justice, and I'm sure you would agree that they are
fucking killing it!"

Screaming the lyrics to DVNO was a highlight for me considering the damn song has been stuck in my head for the last couple weeks now. But now... I really, really don't think it's gonna be leaving my brain's memory banks anytime soon. As the set went on, we inched ourselves closer to the stage, hearing the guys spin, scratch, and distort all of the beats and lyrics to their songs that my friends and I have come to love, all in totally new ways we haven't heard before. Amazing. My shoulders are sore from raising my arms in the air all damn night long. Yeah, amazing is the right word.

The night, let alone Justice's set, was a big giant blur. Which most of the time, is a great indication of how much fun the whole thing was. 2MANYDJS/SOULWAX, who also performed on Friday night took the Hard Stage following Justice. They had a great set, which included their remix to MGMT's Kids, but I was still reeling from Justice's supreme set. There were definitely some other highlights, including the fact that there were so many other Where's Waldo costumes out there on Saturday... I knew there was a good chance I wasn't going to be the only one, but surprised that there were so many. Again, pretty awesome. I don't think I've ever had a Halloween quite this fun before, and next year will definitely be difficult to top.

October Update

2009-10-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

Goodness gracious, I haven't updated or done anything at all with this blog in over three months? Damn, well, alrighty then.

Well, at the very least, I can say that I've had quite the wild ride since my last post, and I think things are only going to get even more wild for me. Recently, I got me a new writing gig at TheFlickcast, and done some interviews with friends and comic industry professionals, so yeah, like I said, wild.

There is also my Examiner gig, as well, and I will continue on with that as much as I possibly can.

There's a bunch of other stuff I'm working on, including quite a huge project. This one is a little more long-term, but it's too damn good for it to not work out... just so long as I keep hustling at it. But then again, that's pretty much life.

Life is pretty good right now, and shaping up for better things, just gotta keep things going. I'm looking to finish out 2009 nice and strong, and start 2010 with a bang.

This weekend is Halloween. I will be going as Where's Waldo, and will be down in Southern California with friends to see Crookers and Justice headline Hard Haunted Mansion. It'll be interesting if I stick out like a sore thumb, because then it'd be kind of ironic. But in any event, we will do what we do best: we will dance. Of course, it shall be a grand time. Then following week is Boys Noize at the Mighty in San Francisco. I'm going for my friend Alex's birthday, and it too shall be a night of grandness, as much as it will be of dancing.

Have fun this weekend, people. Be safe, too.

I think I'm turning 25. I really think so.

2009-08-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

I am now 25 years old. It's really quite weird. I'm a quarter century years of age now. So much I've learned, yet so much yet to be experienced.

I'm getting up there in age, but I'm not that "old" quite yet.

I suppose that is where the "quarter life crisis" is supposed to hit, yeah?

I mean, you know that you're on the verge of something, but you're not quite sure what it is. Whether it's good or bad, or happy or sad. You're gaining momentum. You're just not sure in which direction.

I find that there's always something fun about living by the seat of your pants. I've been living by the seat of my pants for all my 25 years now, and I've had a great time. Sure there's been life's many ups and downs, but you take them as they come. I'm in a good place right now: I've got a great family, and great friends, and as much as I know them to be a great show of care and support, I enjoy the unknown that still awaits me. The one without safety nets or back-up plans.

It's part of the thrill. It's part of life. It's what makes everything that we care about so damn worth it.

It feels pretty good to be 25.

SDCC 09

2009-07-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

So my last entry in this bad boy was May 1st? Damn. Well, alright.

Last week, as most of you know, was Comic-Con. It went by pretty damn quick, and I don't know whether that's a good thing, or bad thing. Either way, it was absolute blast. The majority of my time was spent with my fellow Caballeros/Castaways, and there were a few other friends I had at the con that I didn't even get to hang out with.

I'm crunched for time, so I'm just gonna write down some things and hope it all just happens to make sense. Deal?... ok

Thursday, I had to wake up at 5am, get ready, and make my 7:50am flight. Thankfully, I didn't have any delays, and got into San Diego by about 9:15. Got to the hotel, the Hilton-Bayfront, which is right across the street from the convention center, at about 10, and started my day.

That fuckin' line for Hall H (re Twilight) was so fuckin ridiculously long that it snaked around the convention center, and even behind it.

LongBox Digital Comics panel.

Quiet lunch by myself at Petco Park's Park in the Park.

Tron 2 scavenger hunt. It was awesome! Really, all you need to know. That, and Daft Punk. Sweet.

Really fuckin good Thai-dinner.

Friday. Darwyn Cooke panel. Batman panel. Dinner at Hooters.

Saturday. Roamed exhibit hall. DC panel.

Pop Candy meet-up. I talked to Whitney incessantly about Justice, Crookers, and The Bloody Beetroots. Especially JUSTICE. If you've never read Whitney's blog, then that's just a shame, really... kidding. Well sorta. Anyway, she was gracious enough to put this picture here as part of her recap of the party. You can find that here.

Later Saturday night, I went to the PopculTour party for the CBLDF at Onyx/Thin. I missed Paul Pope's DJ set, and was to drunk to realize Murs was performing down stairs, and not up on the main stage. Oh well. Me, Nick, and Mike still had a good time dancing upstairs on the main floor. Me also trying to get the attention of one of the girls dancing in a circle as well as the one really hot girl off to the side. The only thing there is I couldn't if the girl was talking to a guy whom I wasn't sure if she had come there with. Again, oh well. Still had a grand time. Even got to talk with Paul, and Murs. Took a picture with Murs, too.

Sorry if these pictures appear too big, but these are lifted from my facebook, and I still haven't uploaded them to my flickr.

Sunday was spent mostly roaming the exhibit hall, and saying goodbye to friends as I went along. Even saw Whitney again, and yes, I plugged Justice, again. What else is new, right?

Some cool comics I got: To The Power Against #4 (Carrie and Stephanie's comic series), Phonogram fanzine, CoolJerk mini-comic... I tried to keep my wallet in my pocket as much as I could this time around, as you can tell.

Other swag: I got Jamie McKelvie to add another sketch to my noir sketchbook: this time in the form of Phonogram's David Kohl. Haven't scanned it yet, sorry. "Flynn's Arcade" token from Thursday night, as well as a "Flynn's Arcade" t-shirt, and a "Flynn Lives" poster.

A fun time with Caballeros/Castaways, in no particular order: Mike, Nick, Carrie, Stephanie, Randy, David, Jen, and Janine... okay so the last two aren't technically Caballeros, but they are definitely cool people. David and Jen went to the con on Thursday dressed as Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers. There are some really cool pictures that Bryan Lee O'Malley took with them. If you know David and Jen, you know which one they are.

I hitched a ride with Mike and Nick up to Irvine so I could hang out with my ol roommie, Niks for a day and a half. Saw The Ugly Truth on Sunday night, then had lunch on Monday at Pink's Hot Dogs, then 500 Days of Summer on Monday at the ArcLight.

There are so many pictures taken, and so much more word I can use to describe how awesomely wonderful last weekend was, but I am super pressed for time. Maybe I'll get to it, maybe not. But here are some links to a couple write-ups I didon my Examiner page. Check it out!

DCU Editorial panel from Saturday.

Batman- New Dynamic panel from Friday.

My write-up of Darwyn Cooke's spotlight panel from Friday/ review of his adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker novel, The Hunter.

Later ya'll! I'm off to Tahoe!

Phonogram 2.2

2009-05-01T01:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a 5 page preview to PG2.2 that was just released this week.

I have a confession to make: I haven't been a very good comic reader of late. I just haven't been reading a lot of comics lately. I get a small amount of books from my LCS each week, but I've been having trouble just keeping up. But right now, one comic that I'm particularly fond of is Phonogram. So if you're one of my friends who reads comics, but not this one, or just doesn't read comics, or a stranger who found this blog completely of a whim, I urge you to pick this issue up, even if you hadn't read the first series, or the first issue of this current series. In fact, I dare say it's probably the best issue for someone like me to peddle to someone who's new to Phonogram to get that person hooked.

And yes, fellow CSS fans, the words on the cover to PG2.2 is in reference to "Let's Make Love and Listen To Death From Above." There's actually more CSS goodies in the back of the issue as part of the annotations and etc., but I'm gonna make you go and read it for yourself. So if you like comics, you'll dig it. If you like music (particularly indie-rock), you'll dig it. (I kind of used a similar enough line in an earlier post concerning PG2.1 back in December, but hey, it still applies, so whatever.) And if you don't like either, then what the hell is wrong with you?... kidding, of course. But I gotta believe there's something awesome for any and everyone to latch onto with this book even if you *think* it isn't your cup of tea. So find a comic shop that has a copy, and pick it up.

coacHELLA 2009

2009-04-22T10:08:00.001-07:00

So by the end of the weekend, I realized that I did not twitter all that much throughout the festival, and on the way home I tried to figure out a cool way to recap the my first Coachella. Eventually, I settled on the idea of just recapping the memorable something(s) by throwing out short, succinct sentences the same way I would have done had I actually, you know, twittered in the first place.

Make sense? Yeah, me neither. I'll try to go in chronological order, but there are some things that ran pretty much the whole weekend. So here it goes:

Three key words of the weekend: Zip-Ties (technically two), HELLA, and Iowa.

Some key things that any one of us COULD NOT go any considerable length of time without: frozen lemonade slushies, our Coachella waterbottles, dancing, shade, sandwiches, and candy.

We got to the Polo fields at about 7am after spending an hour at the local grocery store.

Of the sixteen, three of them I hadn't met nor partied with before: Drew, Rob, and Amy.

Because there was so much of us, we had hella room to set up our tents, which meant we had HELLA shade. In fact, if our campsite were a house, you could say that our tents were our bedrooms, and we had enough space that one E-Z-up was our living room that everybody hangs out at, and the other covering was the family room you go to chill.

We brought PVC pipes to hang our NORCAL flag.

It took HELLA long for Mikey and Dang to plant that NORCAL flag. But worth it.

We got HELLA compliments on the Norcal t-shirts that Alex, Anderson, and Christina made for us.

There were hella people crowding, and rushing at Crystal Castles set. Alice Glass is cool and all, but, all she was doing was meowing during the beginning of the set, and we bounced.

Some people were on the fence about Sir Paul's performance on Friday night, but I thought it was amazing, and the sore legs, back, and shoulders were absolutely worth the 2 and a half hours, and 2 encores.

Because there was so much shade, to go around, that Mikey, Thao, and I slept outside the first night. Eventually, most of the others would do the same for Saturday and Sunday.

Since most of the group spent the majority of the first day separated, we actually had planned meet-up spots on Saturday and then on Sunday too. Both days of which were made infinitely more awesome.

Personally, I had the most fun on Saturday.

The showers were the most ridiculously longest on Saturday, too. And I mean Stupid long, and felt completely justified in taking a shower the night before after getting back from McCartney's ass set. Just felt refreshed as walking back to the campsite from the shower trailer.

Our Iowa neighbors showed us how to play "flippy-cup." We kicked their arses.

I think most of us have resolved to just refer to each of them as "Iowa."

To close out their set in the Sahara Tent on Saturday night, MSTRKRFT's brought out John Legend to perform a live to their remixes to "Green Light" and then "Heartbreaker."

I wanted to use our NORCAL bandana do something clever with them in a photo, 'say no evil, see no evil, hear no evil.' Only thing this I'm the one who isn't all the way visible... ha! plus some random yahoo made it into our picture, too. oh well.

Once I started telling Rob about Phonogram, and he showed an interest in it, I pretty much talked his ear off about it the rest of the time. (This is what happens when I find out someone new I meet shows even a remote interest in comics, btw. My nerdery knows no bounds.)

I felt a kind of "the apprentice has become the master" kinda moment when Mimi took my phone and plugged it in an outlet behind the computer desks of the internet cafe tent. Very reminiscent of what her older brother, Dang, would do.

Thao recalling to us her reasoning as to why she first introduced Alex and Dang: "I just think you guys should meet."

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were pretty cool. Karen O was very rock and roll by taking swigs of of her Heineken mini-keg in between songs. But it took her a moment or two to jog her memory on the first few lyrics to Maps. Being the big YYY fan, I can over look it for the most part.

During the YYY's set, I saw Robert Smith walking and wondering around the crowd with someone. Rob was less than sure. That is until we realized he was wearing the same thing he was on stage as he was wandering through the crowd. thus, concluding the fact that Rob and I did indeed see Robert Smith walking through a crowd of people. We even shook hands on it.

I'm not much for The Cure, but their set was pretty solid. Too bad, Coachella's organizers did them dirty by cutting off the power for playing past midnight.

Anderson and Christina, the masters of fun facilitators, never cease to amaze. In addition to the shirts, they had bandanas made up, and passed out confetti to us to throw into the air at the end of the Cure's set. (before the unplugging occurred, of course)

We broke out into chorus of Happy Birthday at different point of the weekend, singing it both to Rob and Anderson.

Dang got Rob a woman's tank-top at the merch booth.

After we got back to the campsite on Sunday night, nobody really wanted to go to sleep. So the first one to fall asleep would get drawn upon. Brian was the first, but Rob only got to P-E-N- (you can guess what was the goal)

Addendum: I joked with Alex that in a lot of ways, Coachella is a lot like San Diego Comic-Con: long lines everywhere, multiple things you'd like to see but they're scheduled at conflicting times, lots of partying. The only real difference is that there's more females at Coachella.

Also, we followed the coachella parade of crazy people around. Too much fun was had, and I just can't fit everything else in here. I didn't use flash photography for fear of safety.

A couple weeks back, a co-worker of mine asked me why I was so excited about Coachella this year. What with the lineup being so-so, at best. Well, with the right people to party with, a good time is always to be had.

I hope I've answered his question.

Watchmen

2009-03-05T01:18:00.000-08:00

In about 24 hours from right now, I'll be sitting in a movie theater. But for now, I'm gonna admit something I'm quite frankly, very embarrassed about admitting in public: I barely finished reading Watchmen just last month.

I've been reading and collecting comics for almost six and a half - going on seven years now. The nerd in me feels like I should have read this book long ago. It's like I'm losing my "street cred," my "nerd membership," or something. It just feels wrong that I discovered comics and really got into the medium, but had never read the one story that many of today's creators and the works they've spawned have been influenced by.

Just last year, or maybe even the year before, I inadvertently found out which character it is who in fact 'watches the Watchmen.' Or, if you'd like the simpler, less verbose sentence, a piece of the ending was spoiled for me. At first, I was pissed, but then realized that it was my own fault. Spoilers have a statute of limitations, and I should have had already read it. However, just this past weekend during WonderCon, some things were put into perspective for me even more so.

Waiting anxiously in line to get into the con's exhibition hall on Friday, I struck up a conversation with the guy in front of mr in line. He seemed like a nice enough guy, I invited him to come out to the Isotope's Tiki Tour. I had already invited some friends to come out anyway, so I figured, why not?

These friends, with the exception of one, don't read very many comics, but practically all of them have read Watchmen by now.

Anyhow, during the Tiki Tour, as you would expect, talk of Watchmen the book, and the movie turned up in conversation a couple times. It got hard to believe when I found out that this guy wasn't a particular fan of Moore and Gibbons' book. If that wasn't enough, he'd rag on it every chance he'd get. There was also a point when he mentioned that when he saw the movie's first trailer he was excited until he realized what it was. True, he was drunk for most of the night (it was a pub crawl after all, and I had a nice buzz most of the night), but there is only so much disagreement you can take. He mentioned how much he hated the stuff about the Black Freighter, and I responded "but that's one of the best parts." That the other different tangents Watchmen goes into are some of people's favorite parts, as well.

I internalized how my friends who don't read comics, but have read Watchmen recently, absolutely love the book. It really left me at a lost, and since this guy was really buzzing, and we were out there for a good time, going into an even deeper discussion just wasn't worth the bother.

Later that night, my friend, Jamie (the one friend in the group who reads comics more regularly than the others), pointed out that maybe the guy just didn't get "it" about the book, and instead of saying "I don't get it," and coming off as a fool and/or dumb, and without even knowing (or maybe he is conscious of it), just sticks with the opinion that the book isn't that great.

Looking back now, I think I might be grateful I didn't read Watchmen til just recently. Maybe I wouldn't have comprehended certain portions or just wouldn't get "it" in general.

People are of course, entitled to their own opinions, but even now, I'm wondering what does he read on a regular basis? What is on his pull-list at his LCS? What, if any, comic book that gave him pause, that broke through, that made him think. What comic book out there has reached out to him?

For some people, it's Watchmen. For others, Watchmen might not be the one, but I'd bet they'd rank it pretty high. Then there's those that have no care for Watchmen at all, like this guy. There are also those who might not "get" Watchmen, but I reckon they at least recognize the comic's importance.

I'm pretty sure this guy doesn't even recognize its importance, and that's the weird thing. All that said, my anticipation for this movie couldn't be higher, and midnight Thursday night can't get here fast enough.

The word of the weekend.

2009-03-01T22:31:00.001-08:00

I haven't updated this bad boy on a frequent basis in quite some time, let alone any posts in the first two months of this year.

But enough of that dilly-dallying. This weekend was one of those long weekends (ie. a comic convention weekend). I wasn't really sure what I wanted out of this year's WonderCon. I didn't really feel like going after sketches from artist, or do too much searching for cheap trades or individual floppies to fill out any runs in my collection. (Although, I did pick up some trades.)

But I did notice one thing that made me pause and reflect on something I've been working for: being paid to write. More specifically, paid to write comics. In college, I studied to be a screenwriter, and in the time since I made that decision, I've realized that I'd also like to write comics, novels, and other forms of fiction besides movies or television.

Since the start of this year, I've been interning as writer/editor for an online media company, and it's kinda weird actually being paid to write, and be (modestly) paid for it. With a little more work, I'll actually get a position with them once this internship is over. (I've gotten some great feedback so far.) I've been working at this thing pretty hard so far, but it's also left some of my own writing projects kinda twisting in the wind.

Talking and hanging out with some friends, and what they're doing to get their foot in the door, as well as going to panels and hearing from some creators, and what they have to say about creating comics and how they've been able to succeed.

Originally, I was gonna go with "rededication" (is it even a word?), but in writing all this out, I think what the word of the weekend should really be is CHUTZPAH. It's something I remember that my screenwriting professor mentioned a time or two, and that being a writing means having to have a certain amount of Chutzpah.

Well, I have been working on it, but I guess what this whole entry has been about is that I've gotta throw myself into a higher gear, and work a little harder to maintain and succeed in this internship, get back into and continue on with my own writing projects, as well as shoehorning the "day job."

This shit is about to get heavy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

2008-12-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

The holidays are always a time that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside... or at least, that's what the feelings they're meant to evoke. It's been a long year for me, personally, and I'm feeling particularly festive/jolly/that warm fuzzy feeling. I'll get to that in a year end recap entry a little later. Til then, I'm "off the grid" for a few days (not that that matters that much, I'm sure. When I'm "on the grid" it's not like I've made that many posts the last few months), so have a Merry Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa or whatever brings about your holiday spirit.

Milk

2008-12-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

No one should be surprised at the influx of good movies that should be seen this winter season, because that's usually how it always is. It's prime restate for Oscar contenders. Why do you think Warner Bros. is re-releasing The Dark Knight in January?

As mentioned in my previous entry, I saw Milk on Saturday, yesterday. I lived in San Francisco for two years, and you don't live in the city and can't get choked up by this film if you know this city, regardless of sexual orientation.

Harvey Milk, and what he helped to accomplish is a huge part of San Francisco history, and the Bay Area at large. With what is going on socially in our country right now, this film is especially poignant.

The whole thing about past being prologue couldn't be any truer now than it ever has. California's Prop. 8 in 2008 is an evolution of what California faced when Milk led the charge against Prop. 6 in 1978.

With the issues that the country is going through, as far as socially, economically, and abroad, it is, personally, a little weird, unnerving, and yet an exciting time that we are living in right now. There's always talk about doing something, about changing things, and about hope. And then there comes the time when it's actually happening in front of you, and you are seeing it with your own two eyes.

Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn are at the top of their game here. Van Sant blends some actual newsreel/stock footage from the 70s' into the narrative. It's not a technique that no one hasn't seen before, but when executed well, the result is nothing but gravy. The last time I saw it done was well was George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck a few years back.

As usual, you can always count on Josh Brolin to be good in roles as the antagonist and/or very-layered arc types, and he does it well here again playing Milk's and Mayor George Moscone's eventual killer, San Francisco Supervisor Dan White.

Penn's performance is very warm, and with a lot of heart, and is unmistakably Harvey Milk, and although Prop. 8 may have passed in November, it really is nothing more than a speed bump. Just look at who was elected President in the same election. As Milk stressed constantly, "you gotta give 'em hope." This bio-pic does what other good bio-pics do, it inspires.

What needs to be seen: A few choice reviews.

2008-12-19T14:31:00.000-08:00

I was able to catch preview screenings of Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The protagonist in both films undergo very fascinating experiences through different means, but the themes in both films are similar in ways as well. I won't tell you what they are, because that'd be telling.

Clint Eastwood's Walt Kowalski and Brad Pitt's Benjamin Button reach certain viewpoints of the world, with the main crux of each film is particularly focused on unlocking the untold and mysterious aspects of both protagonists.

Walt Kowalski is such an engaging character. That despite being as old and old-fashioned as he is, his mind and heart are as strong as ever.

Benjamin Button is the kind of character who lives such an extraordinary life that you have to wonder if a person like this actually exists.

Both films are well written, produced, and directed, but it's leads in Eastwood and Pitt that bring an energy and magnetism to their roles that really pushes their respective films over the top. To that end, both films must be seen.

Tomorrow, I plan on seeing Gus Van Sant's Milk. Which is another film with a primary focus on a very magnetic protagonist, except for the fact that it's based on a real-life person. I've been wanting to see this for the longest time, in anticipation, and I don't think it'll disappoint. I'm sure I'll post a write-up on this in the next couple days.

Also, another recommendation to pass along: Phonogram 2: The Singles Club #1. This bad boy came out last week, but haven't had a chance to plug this. If you love music, dig magic, and think comics are cool, then you really need to read this comic book. By all means, you should pick up the first Phonogram series, but you don't necessarily need it to enjoy what's going on in this second series.

I'm Not Voting on November 4th...

2008-10-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

Preface: Yes, I realize what's written below is a little cliche or maybe over the top with the gushy, but so what if it is. I felt the need to point it out.

I'm not voting on November 4th because I already have. I had to do my ballot by mail this election because I guess there wasn't enough people registered in my immediate area, or something or other. I forgot what the letter said exactly, and I don't have it with me at the moment. I was a bit disappointed with that aspect. I was actually looking forward to standing in line the morning of election day, but oh well. At least I got to vote, right?

In the primaries when California participated in Super Tuesday, I was able to walk to the polling place, and vote Obama, and for the general election, I of course went with Barack Obama again. Kind of a no-brainer for me; my mind has been made up since January of this year on who I planned on voting for.

One of the things that I like to think that I'm good at is being a good observer, and the way I see things progressing in this country is that we're inching closer to the center of that political spectrum as it is another generation's turn to step up to the plate. It's our individual experiences that shape our view of the world, and we are not always going to agree, but electing Obama as President would be that shift that this country needs right now.

As Colin Powell said in his appearance on Meet The Press, Obama is a "transformational figure" for us. There are so many things that an Obama presidency will represent for us, and I am hopeful that he is elected. I think it important that we elect him, because in the same way that a main character in a story has to make a decision at the end of the second act/beginning of the third act in order to demonstrate how far he or she has come in their journey, we as a country are faced with something similar. Put it this way, we have to change our environment, before the environment forces us to change.

I'm not saying John McCain isn't an electable candidate, because had I been of age in 2000, I would have voted for him. But somewhere in the time between then and now, I just don't see what I thought appealing about McCain. True, I was only 16 years old by the time the 2000 general election rolled around, but maybe that's all the more reason I'm troubled with what I've seen out of the McCain campaign in the run-up to this election.

I realize that there are a lot of things to be unhappy about these days, but like Ferris Bueller said, "Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

So take a moment to think about this election, and I really hope you'll reach the same conclusion about who should win this election, and why Obama needs to be elected. Also, in that same vein, for you Californians, please vote No on Prop. 8.

Be care what you wish for: you might just get it!

2008-10-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

So it is indeed going to be the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadephia Phillies in the 2008 World Series.

I swear, Game 2 of the ALCS was absolutely awesome to watch, and so was Game 7. Seeing the Phillies win the NL Pennant was awesome to watch, too. With the World Series starting up tomorrow night, I'm excited to see two completely fresh teams having a chance to win it all.

It's always fun to upend the system, and seeing the Rays and Phillies in this Series tickles me to no end.

But when it comes to taking a side between these two, I'm gonna go with Rays in this one. Like I said before, this Tampa team just reminds me so much of the Oakland Athletics of the early 2000s, except for the tiny fact that the Rays have won at least one playoff series, let alone two. Moreover, reaching the World Series.

As for this year's World Series, I do believe this is at least going to six games, although seven is very likely as well. And in the end, this series is going to Tampa. So we shall see by the end of the month. Go Rays!

October Baseball

2008-10-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

I meant to post something a few days before both the NLCS and ALCS opened up. But better late than never.

It would have been nice to have seen the Chicago Cubs at the very least get to the NLCS, but oh well I suppose. The two teams that I really wanted to win in their divisional series match-ups were the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays. If nothing else because I like the make-up of both teams. Particularly, because both the Phillies and the Rays are two teams I haven't seen play for an extended time in the post-season. Although, with this being the first time the Rays have ever made the playoffs, everyone can say that about the Rays. During the Rays' divisional series with the Chicago White Sox, I tweeted that this Rays club reminds me of the Oakland A's of the early 2000s, except for the fact that the Rays won their divisional series... on their first try. It took two two seasons away from the playoffs, and major roster changes for the A's to finally make it to the ALCS for the first time since 1992. There is just a free spirit about the Rays that I identify with.

Now, if the Los Angeles Dodgers end up beating the the Phillies, I can handle that. I like them for the most part. At the very least, compared to the Boston Red Sox, I think I wouldn't mind seeing any of the three remaining ball clubs winning the World Series.

In the Red Sox and Anaheim Angels (they play in Anaheim, that's what they should be called) series, I was kind of torn at first who to root for: Do I root for the my Oakland's chief division rival? Or the Boston Red Sox? (note: I give my computer screen the "evil eye" as I write "Boston Red Sox.") I eventualy went with the lesser of the two evils: the Angels. Right now, the Red Sox as well as some of their fans just need to be taken down a peg or two. I won't say all Red Sox fans because I do have a few friends that are die-hards. They get a pass, but that's about all I can handle.

So in the end, I'm pulling for the Phillies and the Rays to make it to the World Series. And as far as the chances of seeing that match-up actually taking shape?

It's a possibility. The Phillies already beat the Dodgers in Game 1 last night, and the Rays won the American League East, and won their season series with Boston, 10-8. But then again in the post-season, you're only as good as the game you're about to play. Just as the White Sox, the Milwaukee Brewers, and particularly the Angels and Cubs. The latter two who had the most wins in the American and National League in the regular season. In any event, it's October, and despite the A's not in the postseason, I'm excited to be watching.

Treasure Island Music Fest 2008

2008-09-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to go to Coachella this year, but being what my financial situation was, it was either Coachella or New York and San Diego. It’s pretty obvious by now that I opted for the latter two destinations. However, I was not about to miss out on a music festival just up the highway in San Francisco at Treasure Island. Especially with Justice and CSS playing the bill, and as the schedule was made clear, the two bands that closed out Saturday’s end of things. As much I’m sure Sunday would have been, Justice is who all of us wanted to catch.

Thanks in large part to Dang and Alisha, I’ve gotten into Justice this summer, while I owe my thanks to another friend for getting me into CSS late last year. The name of that person: well, it might be best to just let that be for now.

Basically, all that needs to be said is that it was an entire day of awesome motherfuckin fun! Everyone will say they have the best friends in the world, so who am I to not miss a chance to harp on that same sentiment with my friends? Because in addition to the likelihood that I’ll be going to Coachella next year, I am also currently contemplating going to Glastonbury! Anyone else down to party?

Taste

2008-09-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I started thinking about a few things in regard to the kinds of taste that we as comic book readers and moviegoers have, and after writing it up, I sent it to a friend, and... well, more after the quote box. Here's what I had initially written followed by some after thought type stuff:

I work a few days of the week at my local comic book shop. A few weeks back I overheard a couple customers and the owner of the shop, talk about the Barman R.I.P. storyline. I wasn’t particularly paying attention until one of those customers made an off-handed comment about Superman: “That’s why Superman sucks.”

A little while before I had also overheard another customer with his little brother or cousin, the elder one probably mid to late twenties, and the little bit of their conversation that I overheard ended with that Superman “is just too invulnerable to relate to.”

As far as some readers out there not “getting” Superman, I in turn don’t really understand: what isn’t there to get? But that’s the thing about personal preference, isn’t it? We all have different taste, and not every single one of us is going to agree on things. Superman is a God-like figure. His personal story, and how he came to earth is such an epic origin. Superman’s biological parents sent their only son into the galaxy’s vast unknown, and onto a world where he would possess powers beyond ordinary men. Batman’s origin is rooted in a deep-seeded yearning to avenge his parents’ death. Wonder Woman’s mother sculpted her from clay. There have been numerous men to hold the Flash mantle; so much so, there’s a museum dedicated to the hero. There is an innumerable amount of Green Lanterns in the universe, yet through the years there have been a handful of Lanterns to occupy sector 2814. The strength of the DCU is that their characters and their stories are inherently epic.

On the other side of the street is the Marvel Universe. Most of Marvel’s characters don’t seem as epic, and are as normal as can be, but somehow find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Peter Parker was a kid part of a middle class family, who like anyone else has their ups-and-downs. He’s given these wonderful abilities, and yet experiences heartache and tragedy over and over again. The Fantastic Four are a family of science, and instead of dying out in space in an explosion; they come back to earth with abilities given because of that explosion. Steve Rogers was a soldier enlisting in a war that he believed our country had to absolutely win. Their stories just seem to resonate on a more personal level.

I’ve only been reading and collecting comic books since 2002, and still think I’m only just scratching the surface of what comics can offer. For that first year or so, I got into comics mostly reading DC books, and some Marvel books, too. But I didn’t start expanding my reading material beyond the big two universes until I picked up on Y: The Last Man. I found it unique in not only that it didn’t have any capes, but also in it’s execution.

Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director. I saw Psycho for the first time in 9th grade. In fact, some of my friends and I had recreated the film for a short stage play for our drama class, with one of them suggesting we do Psycho. And as it was my job to translate the script to fit our play, I had to dissect the characters, story, and plot, and then help perform the play itself. I made the realization of not only discovering how awesome film really can be, but it was what inspired me enough to think I can aspire to be a screenwriter / filmmaker. I had that same wide-eyed look of wonder when I first started reading Y as I had when first watching Psycho.

Being the film nerd that I am, I can really dig old black and white films, but I have friends –who aren’t into classic cinema/studio era films– that just can’t sit through black and white films. Adversely, I once had a film professor that believes that the films of today are nowhere near as creative as they once were in the studio era. Another film professor –last time I heard– had seen Citizen Kane eighty-four or eighty-five times. It’s likely that number is up closer to ninety by now. When discussing film noir with a friend of mine recently, he mentioned that although he realizes and appreciates all of what Citizen Kane brought to cinema, the film itself just wasn’t his cup of tea. It’s totally understandable. I’ve seen the film four times, but I ended up somehow taking a power nap during the second act in each of the last two viewings. Yet I do geek out at specific scenes just like anyone else who comes across their favorite scenes in their favorite stories. Citizen Kane is a favorite film of mine, but it’s not as high on my list as it would be on my old professor’s. I understand why it’s so great, but I also understand how tedious it might seem to most.

I started out reading primarily DCU books, but gradually, my taste widened. I still gravitate mostly toward DCU books, but there are a little more Marvel and creator-owned/ independent books thrown in here and there. Everyone has their own preferences in a myriad of things, not the least of which are comics. Sometimes as I try to figure out how a character in a story ticks, it somehow bleeds into how I might analyze a work in general.

People are the most fascinating creatures on the planet, and I can’t seem to ever be surprised by that. You can get two totally different reviews of a comic from two different friends, and each argument raises valid points. So what makes one person’s opinion more valid than the other? Well, if you have to choose one, then you’re likely to choose the opinion from the person you trust most. But what you must also consider is which person best realizes the appeal of the story and/or the character(s). But in the end, each one of us will read or watch what we read or watch because it’s what we like; or whatever the reason may be. It’s just fun trying to figure out why someone’s taste is different from your own. It helps you understand your taste, and help gauge whether or not your taste changes from time to time.

When sharing my thoughts on this with a friend of mine a couple weeks back, he pointed out that my argument just seemed, well, obvious. And of course, he’s absolutely right, but I just wonder if readers out there that are willing to try to understand characters and stories that aren’t necessarily to their taste. I’d like to think that I would, and have tried to give my best college effort to understanding material that others have no taste for. I also like to think of myself as a good observer of things, as someone who can read a particular situation well. Maybe I’m just a big softie, but there is underlying merit to the stories that we read, watch, and hear about, and the characters that inhabit them. Sometimes, I just wish that people’s tastes were broader than they are, and those characters and stories that are not to a particular person’s exact taste not be immediately dismissed.

Happy 24th, Justin!

2008-08-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

For Reference

Today is what would’ve been Justin’s 24th Birthday. I’m sure that today, and this next week is gonna be just as weird/difficult/reflective as it has been the last four years since Justin’s passing (September 4th).

Not since 2004, have I had such an extraordinarily challenging year to waver through. This year I lost my maternal grandmother, which was excruciatingly hard. Also, my paternal grandmother’s health isn’t doing all too well. Also, I’m not exactly happy with where I am in my life right now. But in spite of that line, I am trying to use it as fuel to get myself out of the rut I feel I’m in; or at least do so as best as I can.

Don’t get me wrong; there have been a lot of good times this year to balance all the difficulties. Within the last nine months both my sister and brother have made new additions to their respective families, bringing the niece/nephew count to eight. That’s not counting to the nieces and nephews I already have from all of cousins. One of which just had another baby matter of fact.

What’s more, I actually got to travel to New York for the first time and San Diego for Comic-Con this summer, too.

Yet, at the same time, I’m just ready to clear the slate and move forward. But today has me thinking about Justin, and the good times I know my friends and I have had without him physically there with us, and knowing how much he would’ve enjoyed getting to do the things he wasn’t able to while sick, and the good times I wish he could’ve had since his 2004.

Justin had a way of not letting the bad things in his life effect his bright outlook on life; he didn’t sweat the small stuff. It’s one of the things that I try to adhere everyday. But every now and then, especially every year this week, it’s just a wee bit more bittersweet.

Happy Birthday, Justin!

50 Things I Love About Comics

2008-08-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

So after reading a few posts off of 4th Letter (which in turn David had found from blake-reitz.livejournal.com), I decided, what the hey, I'll jump on the meme.

So here are my 50 Things I Love About Comics. The list is comprised of single issues of particular titles, titles themselves or GN's, comic properties in other media, creators themselves, and a quote that I don't think I'll really ever get tired of. Some of the items may actually cross-over with one another, but whatever. Here's the list:

1. Y: The Last Man #60
2. Gotham Central #37
3. Seven Soldiers #1
4. Gotham Central #12
5. Infinite Crisis #4
6. The Spirit #6 (Darwyn's run)
7. Tiny Titans #1
8. Captain America #25 (vol. 5)
9. Ex Machina #1
10. Solo #10 (Damian Scott issue)
11. Detective #787
12. Captain America #10 (vol. 5)
13. Y: The Last Man #58
14. Batman #603
15. Amazing Spider Man #36 (vol. 2)

16. New Gods/4th World
17. Runaways
18. Teen Titans Judas Contract
19. Pride of Baghdad
20. Black Hole
21. The Pro
22. Scott Pilgrim
23. DC: The New Frontier
24. Transmetropolitan
25. Phonogram
26. Suburban Glamour
27. Astonishing X-Men (Whedon & Cassaday)
28. XXXombies
29. Crisis on Infinite Earths
30. 52

31. “I’m the Goddamn Batman!”

32. Batman: The Animated Series
33. The Dark Knight
34. Spider-Man 2
35. Iron Man
36. American Splendor
37. Superman: The Movie

38. Brian K. Vaughan
39. Geoff Johns
40. Grant Morrison
41. Adrian Tomine
42. Pia Guerra
43. Tony Harris
44. Ed Brubaker
45. Tim Sale
46. Terry Dodson
47. Darwyn Cooke
48. JH Williams III
49. Jack Kirby

50. Twitter (what better way to keep tabs on most comic creators these days)

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: New York

2008-08-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

Before going to San Diego last month, I had taken a visit to New York with my friends Joseph and Alisha. Joe and I had originally planned to go to New York sometime last summer as a graduation gift to ourselves. But due to poor planning, and just plain too much to do and take care of the first half of last year, we had to scrap plans for the big trip. So by the time 2008 rolled around, we made it imperative to start planning things to make this trip happen. Which for me that included having to sacrifice going to Coachella back in April with Alisha, Dang, and a bunch of other friends. I actually bought tickets to the event, but luckily, Keoki, who hadn’t yet bought his tickets to the festival took them off my hands.

Then after a while, and Joe and I began eyeing dates in which to go, Alisha told us she was thinking how much she’d like to see New York. Which led to Dang also to contemplate a trip out east. But in the end, Dang just wasn’t gonna be able to make it out with us. So it was Joe, Alisha, and myself.

Being the big, gigantic Oakland Athletics fans –let alone baseball fans– that Joe and I, we just had to make sure that we had to see a baseball game in Yankee Stadium. This 2008 season of course being the last season the Yanks would play before moving next door into the new Yankee Stadium. It just so happened that the A’s were playing a weekend series in New York in July. What worked out so picture fucking perfect and then some, was that the weekend after the trip to New York, was Comic-Con weekend.

To maximize our time in New York, we figured getting on a red-eye that left SFO on Wednesday night, and our connecting flight from Las Vegas to JFK would get us into New York at a little past 8am Thursday morning. In the cab ride into the city, I chuckled to myself as Alisha and Joe were either still kind of sleepy or had their attention elsewhere as we passed by an exit to Queens Boulevard. I mouthed the phrase: “I AM QUEENS BOULEVARD.” Joseph being a fan of Entourage as well, I thought he’d get a kick out of it as well, and I tried to show him the exit sign before it was too late. Hell, I got so much a kick out of it that I tweeted: “I am Queens Blvd.”

Anyhow, after checking our bags into the hotel (located in Times Square), we headed straight for the Statue of Liberty, which I gotta preface by saying that it pays to not only buy your tickets for these sightseeing stuff ahead of time, and online, but also to get the express passes. It really is so freakin damn worth it considering all the time you save, especially considering we were running from place to place at break-neck like speed –might be over-exaggerating with that, but still– we had to if we wanted to see and do everything that we wanted to see and do.

After the Statue, we had to conserve a little energy to get to Rockafeller Center for the tours we had planned for there, so we didn’t bother getting off the ferry again to see Ellis Island. Following the Statue of Liberty, the three of us headed to Rockafeller Center to take a pair of tours: the NBC Studio Tour and the Top of the Rock Tour.

The studio tour took us to the set where Brian Williams does the network’s Nightly News broadcast, which is actually only one room away from where MSNBC does their programming. We also got to see Studio 8H, which is where Saturday Night Live is taped. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go tour through Conan O’Brien’s set. My guess was that since it was so close to the hour in which they tape the show that they were probably rehearsing. Oh well. Also, they didn’t allow for pictures to be taken on the tour. Again, oh well.

After the studio tour, we took the Top of the Rock tour, which was basically a tour of the Rockafeller Center, and concluded with being shown to the top of the Rockafeller building.

Throughout the trip, I took photos with not only with my digital camera, but with my manual camera, too. I think I took something like four rolls at 24 exposures each. Haven’t gotten them developed yet, but I will, and like the others I’ll end up uploading it onto my flickr.

We went to Papaya King afterward for a quick –and I mean quick– bite to eat, which is also to say, some pretty good hot dogs. We had just enough time to get something to eat before having to get ourselves ready to catch the Avenue Q musical just down the street from the hotel.

When Alisha picked out the musical, I scratched my head sine the title sounded so familiar. They did a run of the production at a theater in San Francisco not too long ago. Thought it was enjoyable, especially considering most of the characters’ arc fit our the themes in which the three of us could relate to.

To cap the night off, we headed down to a movie theater on 34th Ave, where we met up with this fucking guy. Dave and his friend were already in line, as they were waiting for us to catch a midnight screening of The Dark Knight. I’ll share and repeat Dave’s description of the line that night: it was retarded! That line worked its way around the freakin damn corner; it was so long.
Since the theater sold tickets to the movie in four different auditoriums, Dave and his friend had tickets to watch the movie in a different auditorium than the three of us.

But when we met up with Dave after the movie, there was no denying the fact that we were all just in so much fuckin awe of that movie. The way in which Alisha kept describing my reaction to the movie –as the credit rolled– to people: “It was as if Joey had just seen Jesus.” More on The Dark Knight soon, I promise. I’ve been meaning to write something up on the film, and a couple other issues as well.

Anyway, after the film, as Dave was escorting/walking us back to our hotel, he laid this little bit of information on us: last call at bars and clubs in New York is as late as four or five in the AM. Of course, in California, bars and clubs have a last call at around one-thirty or so. Although the three of us were dead damn tired after just the first fuckin day, we took full advantage of this information the next couple nights.

And like the San Diego recap, there’s just too much to fit into in just one single post, so I’ll leave off here, and pick things up in the next couple days.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: SDCC '08 Pt. 2

2008-07-31T23:25:00.000-07:00

Check out my Flickr for photos from SDCC.

Attending San Diego Comic-Con requires an awful lot of energy, and especially more so if you go out after each day’s events inside the convention. By Friday morning of the con, my level of energy was pretty low. In fact, a little lower than I would have liked considering I had just come from spending a few days in New York. But, hey, it’s Comic-Con; you gotta suck it up for Comic-Con, right?

Although there wasn’t really any official Caballero meet-ups with the members of the former Brian K. Vaughan forum (now part of the current Tony Harris forum), I did get to hang out with a number of them here and there throughout the course of the weekend.

On preview night, I had dinner with Carrie and Stephanie and their friends, where Carrie her Ghost Whisperer-comic writing partner, Becky, and I geeked out on Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

Thursday night, I hung out with some friends from San Francisco that I hadn’t seen in quite a while, including my friend David Brothers, who was part of the comics-blogging panel at the end of the day, as well as the Japan-bound Mindy Owens. David may have complained about the lasagna having a little too much meat for him, but I think I was hungry enough, that there was probably too little for me. Anyway, twas a good meal.

Also got to hang out with Mike (Lagomorph), and Nick from the board on Friday night for dinner, before parting ways: they went to the Oni Press party, whereas I went back to the convention center for the tail end of the Eisners, before calling it quits for the night.

On Thursday I had a quick lunch with Capntightpants (David, I swear, I don’t know what it is, I just happened to know a swell of Davids) and his girlfriend. And then I also met up with them for the Joss Whedon panel on Friday. It was a packed panel, one in which I barely made it into, and right on time. Joss actually brought out his family that he worked with to create Dr. Horrible, as well as the cast of Dr. Horrible. The panel was awesome to say the least.

In fact, had I made it into the Watchmen panel, I definitely would not have made it into Whedon’s panel. To which, I was so fuckin close to getting into the Watchmen panel before being turned away because Hall H had reached capacity. And despite not making it into the panel, I had found a fellow complainer in Whitney Matheson when she told me that she didn’t get into the Watchmen panel either while we waited for the Entertainment Weekly: Filmmakers panel later in the day. Although we shared that in common, the fact that she still got to meet Zack Snyder, and I didn’t… well, one of the perks of being a member of the press.

To start things on Saturday morning, I went to the Black Panel, and there I found out about Method Man’s graphic novel, which I still gotta check out. Someone was dressed as Captain America at the panel, and I wish had gotten a photo of him, too. But I did take a picture of this person as bumblebee. Absolutely awesome! I missed out on getting into the writers of The Office panel, but I did make it into the Grant Morrison and Gerard Way panel, which was… well, do you need to know anything else other than Grant fuckin Morrison? And my favorite quote from the panel came from Gerard: "I don’t know what a Grammy means anymore, but I know what a Eisner means." Gerard and Gabriel Ba, of course having just won the Eisner for Best Limited Series the night before.

I ditched the last few hours of the con on Saturday to go to the Whitney Matheson / PopCandy meet-up at the Marriot’s roof-top Altitude bar, and for those PopCandy readers that rsvp’d for the meet-up were given Whitney’s Twitter-mini-comic. Online version found here!

I don’t leave any comments, and mostly ghost through the comments on Whitney’s blog, and didn’t rsvp for the meet-up, but being the kind and super-cool person she is, Whitney handed me the Twitter-mini-comic to me anyway.

After the meet-up, I grabbed a quick dinner by myself before crashing in my bed in my hotel. That is until I woke up around 11:30, and on the verge of stir crazy. Luckily, Lagomorph (who was still recovering from the previous night) was also getting a little stir crazy, and we met-up at Lime, and hung out for a few hours.

Sunday morning, I went to the Jack Kirby panel, and the last DC Comics panel of the weekend. It was actually the first DC panel I had gone to all weekend. It was a good one to go to since at the end of the panel, DC announced that Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert are gonna be doing a little Batman story early next year. After that panel, I spent the final day of the con roaming around the exhibit hall. Where I got a cute little sketch of Nightwing from Art Balthazar. I still have to scan it, though.

At the airport, a few San Francisco friends had their flight delayed, including my friend Aaron Farmer. I showed him my Noir Sketchbook, and since his flight delayed, he did me this sketch of a noir Starscream. Epic.

There’s a bunch of other things I did while in San Diego that I’m sure I didn’t even get to in these recaps that I’m just remembering now, like the Ed Brubaker panel, or Geoff Johns panel, the Boom Studios Drink Up / Gay Pride Party. Like that Starscream sketch, the whole con was just absolutely epic!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: SDCC '08

2008-07-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, this month has been a blur. I went and visited New York for the first time a few weeks ago (which I’ll elaborate more on in a later post), and had just gotten back from San Diego for Comic-Con. In general, the San Diego convention really does seem to get bigger with each and every passing year. Says the guy who has now attended SDCC a grand total of two times.

Preview night seemed to have gotten bigger from what I remember. I wish I had gotten to swanky booth# 2207; otherwise known as Darwyn Cooke, Cameron Stewart, and David Bullock’s booth, as they had a few giveaways, including some postcards and such to promote Darwyn’s new work at IDW, and David was giving away limited prints of the first issue cover of the Sentry mini series that he’ll be doing covers for at Marvel. In fact, I didn’t even get a chance to say hey to David all weekend until the last hour or so of the convention on Sunday, the whole weekend was just that crazy. However, I was able to get to write in one of the three notebooks that were available to everyone to write their thoughts and feelings to and about Michael Turner. As most of you that are reading this may or may not already know, one of my best friends, Justin, had suffered from Osteosarcoma, and I actually shared this bit of information with someone from the Aspen booth when he approached me while me and some other folks were writing in the notebooks. It wasn’t til near the end of our little conversation that I realized that I was talking to Vince Hernandez, Aspen’s editor in chief. I thought putting those notebooks out for everyone to write in was a lovely idea, and as the rest of the con played out the rest of the weekend, I smiled each time I passed by the Aspen booth and saw more people writing in the notebooks.

Also, I got to bug and pester Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie for the better part of the weekend at their section of the Image booth. To which, I got Phonogram and Suburban Glamour t-shirts they had for sale, a postcard each promoting Kieron’s Busted Wonder web-comic, and the upcoming second series of Phonogram, as well as getting Jamie to add to the noir sketchbook on Saturday.

But before Jamie did his Astrid sketch, I got a noir sketch from Amanda Connor of The Pro. Although getting a sketch from her took a longer considering the amount of people she had to get through before even getting to mine. But it came out great. Then after Jamie’s sketch, I handed the sketchbook to fellow Caballero, Stephanie, also of Conjoined Comics. She sketched me Emogician, a creation of her and other Caballero, Carrie’s mini-comic creation.

Then on the con’s last day, I got a quick sketch of Ampersand by Pia Guerra while at the DC booth. Of course, I just had to congratulate her on the pair of Eisners she won two days earlier. One for winning Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller and Inker team with Jose Marzan Jr., as well as for Y: The Last Man winning Best Continuing Series. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the beginning of the Eisners, and didn’t see those two categories announced, but Pia did tell me she had a good time celebrating the win after the ceremony, and that although she and Brian (or BKV to some of you) hadn’t yet actually talked to each other about the win, they played phone tag with each other’s voicemail.

Well, I think that’s where I’ll leave things for now, because as I said earlier, this convention was just too big to try to worm my recap of it only into a single post. Come back tomorrow, and I’ll have more good times to share, which of course, will include photos, too.

Currently (w/May and June's Pictures of the Month)

2008-07-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I don’t think I will ever be ceased to be amazed by is the concept of time, especially with how fast time passes once you’re an adult. However, there are instances when life slows down to a snail’s pace.

And if you follow me on twitter, then you’d probably know that for the last week or two, I have been a wreck. My maternal grandmother passed away on June 20th, and this has been really hard on my family and I. However, the cloak of auto pilot status is slowly but surely wearing off.

One of my aunts set up this online obituary and guest book at legacy dot com. I just wrote my guest book entry today, and posted it there. So please, give it a look–see. It usually takes a while for their moderators to, well, moderate the content. So if you go there now, and see that it's not quite posted there yet, give it an hour or so. In about a month or so, I'll probably archive it here on the 'ol blog.

The general rule for my pictures of the month thing is that the pictures chosen for each month’s distinction have to be taken within that given month. But since I’ve been horrible with keeping on schedule with this whole thing, I’ll bend the rules that much more for May and June’s pictures of the month.

May's picture. I forgot what age and what year. I'll look it up soon to see for sure, but I'm pretty sure this was during Christmas one year.

June's picture. February of last year. Nanai with my brother's (current) youngest, Ava. Pat and Bella are expecting another on August 13th. Which just happens to be my birthday, too.

Also, another thing I don’t think I’ll never be ceased to be amazed by are people themselves. To reiterate this post, people are the most fascinating creatures on the planet.

The love and support I’ve gotten from family and friends the last couple weeks have all been appreciated to no end. I’ve expressed that all before, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to do so again.

Today’s the first day of July, which means my trips to New York and San Diego are just around the corner, and I can’t wait.

Life is Crazy

2008-06-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Can’t believe how infrequently I’ve updated this thing this year. Well, actually that’s because I’m just not on the grid as much as I’d like to, but go figure.

The year is practically halfway done. It’s crazy how fast time moves when you’re an adult. Maybe it’s just something that I think about a little too much, but I just don’t think I’ll stop being surprised by the quickness of time. Oh well.

In another news, I just can’t wait for these New York and San Diego trips next month. I still gotta plan what exactly me, Joseph, and Alisha, and hopefully Dang (provided he’s able to make the trip) are gonna be doing during our trip to New York. I mean there are some people that I wanna meet-up with, but our days are yet to get actually detailed.

So far, Joe, Alisha, and I are going to see Ave. Q, on the 17th, and Joe and I are gonna meet up with Dave and head over to the Bronx to see the A’s and the Yankees play on the 18th. But that’s about it so far. Other than of course the fact that I’ve vowed to be inebriated for at least no less than 50% of our trip. And no, I’m not even sure if I’m joking whenever I've express that.

Then after New York, it’s a pit-stop back to San Jose before getting back on a plane to San Diego for Comic-Con. I’ve only gone to SDCC once back in ’05, and spread myself too thin during the day, that there was little to no energy for the evening. I had gone to conventions before then, but yet had no idea how much bigger a scale SDCC operates. The conventions that I’ve attended since (and by the by, the only other cons I’ve been to have been WonderCon and Super-Con), I’ve learned to pace myself better, and maximize the fun at the particular panel, presentation, or time on the exhibitor floor that I choose to spend my time at. At cons, there’s always one or two somethings that you’re gonna miss out on. It sucks, but we can’t all vibrate through walls and can’t get from Point A to Point B as quickly as The Flash.

Also, I just found out this afternoon that Tim Russert had passed away earlier today. Tim's passing reminds me of when Peter Jennings passed away three years ago, and like Peter, Tim was a great journalist. And it is indeed a sad day for journalism. Rest peacefully, Tim.

March and April Pictures of the Month

2008-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm late with posting these two up. Really late.

I got the Hal Jordan mini action figure from the dvd package from Besy Buy and the flyer there is from the Justice League: New Frontier afterparty hosted by Isotope and iFanboy.

This is from an Oakland A's-Kansas City Royals game at McAfee Coliseum from April 18th. The team had a promo of half off the price for the Luxury Suites for the month of April. If you can't tell, my chucks are pretty wrecked by now, and I'm in need of a new pair.

This weekend I spent most of my time at Super-Con. I'll be sure to do a wrap-up in a day or two. It's just that right now, I'm pretty damn tired. But just know that I got two great sketches: one from Darrick Robertson of Spider Jerusalem and another from David Bullock of Raven. The Noir Sketchbook is a growin!

Barack Obama in 30 Seconds

2008-04-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

In this world, any and everything is possible. So is it so wrong to hope? Is it so wrong to aspire, and want something more out of ourselves? There is always the possibility of failure, but without hope, how can anyone expect to succeed?

Change can only become a reality if one recognizes it as a necessity. To implement change, it requires support. The more support given, the better the chance for change.

There’re much more smarter people in this world than I to discuss to politics with. But be that as it may, I like to keep positive in all the things that I say, do, and all the things that I am as a person. Is it so wrong to believe in Barack Obama and how much good that his presidency could mean for America?

There are a number of reasons why I wanted to submit an entry into this Obama in 30 Seconds contest. I collaborated on this project with my friend Jason, and for me, some rewards have already born fruit.

Also, Jason and I will be the first to admit that the quality of the video is a little, um, not great. With so many problems we had with scheduling the shoot, editing, and so on, I’m grateful we actually finished. Hopefully, you guys like it.

Voting just started today, and when you go to watch the videos, you’re given random batches of videos, so no ballot stuffing through those means. Another way to get into the second round is have your video have one of the top five most “unique views” (the contest organizers’ words, not mine). So the more you spread the video around, the better the chance mine and Jason’s video can make it in the contest.

Until today, I’ve been off the grid for a couple days, and I’ve already seen a few videos, some of which pretty good.

Watch mine and Jason's video, here:

Vote for it here:
http://obamain30seconds.org/vote/?v=view-2124-YmBHsz

And take a look at the rest of the field here:
http://www.obamain30seconds.org/

Youth is 100% Baseball

2008-04-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday I went to an Oakland Athletics' home opener for the fifth straight year. The A's lost, but they've lost 4 of the 5 times I've gone to these five straight home openers. So no real biggie.

Although, I must admit the A's already had their home opener back in Japan last week. But I won't tell anyone if you won't. Going to opening day is a bit of a tradition for me. To make things short, I've gone to opening day to sort of honor a couple friends that passed away in 2004. Here's a little more background on that. They were friends that loved and enjoyed baseball so much.

I know that at best, the A's have an outside shot of winning the AL West, but I have a feeling they will have surprised people by the end of the season. I also realize the season just started, and everyone has a good feeling about the new season, but I -honest to goodness- really do have a good feeling about the A's 2008 campaign. Maybe not win the AL West, but I believe they can and will turn some heads. After all, this is the Green and Gold we're talking about.

This is what transpired right as the A's DH Jack Cust came up to the plate from the on-deck circle in the second inning:

My friend Mark jokingly shouts: "Cust, you're forgiven for takin roids." (referring to the Mitchell Report)

Me: "As long as you hit a home run."

Cust hit a home run on the first pitch. We laughed our asses off as soon as that happened. And then I noticed on the big screen along side the replay, that everyone in our section, #224, gets a free personal pan pizza because of the home run. But when the vouchers were handed to our rows a couple innings later, we only got two vouchers (there were four of us). But like I said earlier about the A's not winning the game, this was also a no biggie.

Clutter

2008-03-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

And boy, do I have plenty of it. My room is an absolute mess right now. I'm in the process of making my room about the most awesome room ever. But like I said, it's pretty damn messy to begin with. Add to it this Obama in 30 Seconds thing that my friend Jason and I are currently trying to work on. Finding a way to cram my idea into something less than half a minute long, worrying about audio, scheduling, actors, and having a camera we can work with has been pretty stressful. I first heard about this a little over a week ago, and although an idea came pretty quick, the timing for producing and executing this idea has been a bit difficult. Deadline for submissions is April 1st.

Even if this project is destined to go down in flames, I'm hoping at least it'll have a couple seconds of life before the smoke starts.

February's Picture of the Month

2008-03-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

It's well after half past March, and I find it quite ridiculous that I haven't made this particular blog post until now. Moreover, the fact that until now, I've only had one entry in this blog this whole month. Anyway, I don't think I made it all that clear in January's post that I wanted to take photos specifically meant to be chosen as POTMs, and not necessarily choose photos taken randomly at parties, or elsewhere.

Well, anyway here's February's Picture of the Month:

As I first started thinking about doing these pictures of the month, I thought I'd be snapping pictures a plenty this year, and I would have a wealth of photos to choose from. But that just hasn't really happened. I mean, I didn't reallying take that many photos in February. I only took eighteen (decently shot) photos in the three and a half days at WonderCon. Getting back to the photo, it's another one that's also set in my own room. Hopefully, for March's photo I'll have enough self-awareness to take a photo outside my room. At the very least, I should get my camera out into the hallway.

It is also pretty crazy how many comics and books I've amassed in the five and a half years I've been reading and collecting comic books. I still have books on the floor and comics all over the place. But that part is mostly because I'm a messy, unorganized schmo.

EDIT: Also just wanted to point out that today is my brother, Patrick's birthday! So Happy Birthday, Pat!

Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life

2008-03-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Almost three years ago was when Peter Jennings died, and ABC aired Peter Jennings: Reporter just a few days following Jennings’ death. I wasn’t able to see it as it aired, so I recorded it on my TiVo. When I had the time to try to watch the program sometime afterwards I had to turn the television off because I was crying so much, I couldn’t watch any further. So up until late last fall–early winter, that program stayed on my TiVo’s “Now Playing List.” That is until I goofed and the program was erased to record something else. I don’t even remember exactly what other program it was being recorded. The Peter Jennings special that had remained in my TiVo box was no more, and I hadn’t ever actually watched it.

It was also around that time that I kept seeing a book on Jennings, Peter Jennings: A Reporter’s Life, in bookstores. It seemed like something I was interested in getting, and told some family members, and even made the book a part of my Christmas List.

Sure enough, my sister and her husband got the book for me for Christmas. It took a while to finally find the time to start reading it, but I finally finished it almost three weeks ago.

I thought if I couldn’t get through watching the television program, maybe I could at least get through reading the book. I was kind of right. I had tears rolling down my face as I read through some parts of the end of the book.

In the book, his family, friends, and colleagues recount Jennings’ life and career as a reporter. The reflections made were either taken from transcripts from the ABC special or from Jennings’ memorial service.

What I have always like about Jennings was that his voice commanded your attention. But it was also one in which you didn’t feel threatened by or obligated to do anything, except listen. Of the three: Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather, I’d say that my father probably watched Jennings the most. And by de facto, me as well, However, that is all I can remember from my younger days. I can’t think of a more lasting memory of ever watching a broadcast by Jennings. I mean I vaguely can recall watching Jennings’ millennium broadcast, but all I can remember about that broadcast was him “throwing it out” to a Neil Diamond performance somewhere in Colorado. I know the man spent and ungodly amount of time in front of the camera at the anchor desk not only for the millennium broadcast, but also for 9/11 too. But after coming home from school that afternoon on 9/11, I vaguely remember watching anything on the television. Yet, that’s mostly because I honestly could not keep watching the same damn thing over and over again on the news.

While reading this book, I kind of re-realized why I have such an affinity for journalism, and why I had such a respect for Jennings himself. Among other things, that manner of respect he commanded and gave, the curiosity, the doggedness to pursue the truth about a subject, to talk to people from across the world, and giving them their chance to tell their stories.

I have an ambition to be a writer of fiction, in numerous mediums, but I think if the ball had bounced in a number of different ways, I could just as easily decided to become a journalist. I say that as I’ve reached senior citizen status. Hell, I’m only 23, and yes, I realize I can just as easily switch gears, and still do the journalism thing. But I’ll stick with writing stuff of fiction.

Peter Jennings: A Reporter’s Life is a book about a newsman that was unlike any other. The book delves into Jennings’ home in Canada, his first go-round as anchor for ABC at age 26, his seasoning as a foreign correspondent for ABC, World News Tonight, everything in between, and so on.

Here’s an excerpt from Bill Blakemore, who was teaching in Beirut before Jennings recruited him as his soundman:

He always made the point: “Don’t stand like you’re in front of a stage set. Touch the surroundings where you are. Bring it alive so that this two-dimensional medium we work in is one in which people can imagine being there and touching it.” So he did one on-camera from the back of an elephant. Another one about overpopulation – he just gathered some Indian street kids around him. He told the cameraman, “Start rolling.” The kids were snapping their fingers. Peter turned to the camera and said, while snapping his fingers, “This is a game, but it’s telling us something: every time you click your fingers, another child is born in India.”

WonderCon 2008

2008-02-25T23:40:00.000-08:00

So WonderCon has come and gone once again, and once again, I got to hang out and talk with a few Caballeros/Castaways. Last year, it was Triggerman that I hung out with most. Unfortunately, he's back home on the other side of the Atlantic. The same with Nick I.. And of course, Old Man Harris. But not all was lost. This year I got to hang out with fellow Castaway, Kedd. Also another change was the fact that I don't live in San Fran anymore, so my buddy James and his roommates put me up for the weekend.

Anyway, now for some of my Personal Highlights

-Meeting Darwyn Cooke on Thursday night at the Isotope and finding out -among other things- that Cooke and I are both Clash fans, and that his New Frontier character design of Captain Cold is based off Grant Morrison.

-Getting Darwyn Cooke to John Hancock my Absolute New Frontier, as well add a sweet image of the Spirit to the noir sketch book.

-Having a blast at the Get Smart panel.

-Visited Carrie and Stephanie's table, and picked up some of their awesome work.

-"My father doesn't love me."

-Finding out the main reason why Kedd's is able to maintain such a high post count.

-Being present at the DC panel that Kedd made Didio momentarily speechless as well as the moment Bagley called Kedd a trouble maker.

-Watching DC's New Frontier

-The Iron Man movie panel.

-Getting a helluva lot of new reading material throughout the weekend.

-Conversing with Mikie from the 'ol BKV Board. (He has yet to register onto Harris' new board.) Talked some really good stuff with him at both shin digs first at the Isotope on Friday, and then especially good stuff on Saturday.

-On Saturday, I went to Trad'r Sam for the first time since May of last year. This time with James (guy w/darkened Raiders cap) and crew. For Arvin (far left), it was his first time ever at Trad'r Sam, and he didn't listen to our warnings of just how strong Trad'r Sam drinks are. Yeah, he got messed up. But I on the other hand, am happy to report that I actually did a good job of getting a real good buzz, and yet, not getting defeated by the dreaded Scorpion Bowl.

-Getting a couple Tiny Titans posters from the DC Booth. Some of them are for my nieces and nephews, I swear.

-Here's a quote from James Sime's Twitter that best describes the mass of people from Saturday night.

-Seeing so many Castaways (unfortunately except for Capntightpants and Christopher)

-And getting Mark Bagley to add an utterly bad ass noir Batman to the sketchbook.

Good times. Good times. Good times. I usually take a lot of pictures when out on the town, but for some reason, not all that much in the span of four days... Probably because I "feel" more photogenic, and camera trigger happy when I have more than just a good buzz. Oh well.

Here be the rest of the weekend's photos.

EDIT on Weds. Feb 27: Forgot to add the highlight of chit-chatting it up with Brian Wood, and getting him to sign my first two issues of DEMO, and vol. 1 of DMZ. Awesome guy.

The Castaways formerly known as Caballeros

2008-02-14T01:32:00.001-08:00

So last week, when Brian Vaughan hinted that we Caballeros should get our Cabal related affairs order, I wanted to post an entry say just how deflated I felt about it. Moreover, that the reason I felt so heart struck was because the people that inhabited the board are just damn good people; some of which I have had the pleasure to meet and hang out in real life. And in the years that Brian has had the board up, our little community of Caballeros have become extremely tight-knit.

Case in point: Most of us Caballeros registered on Tony Harris' original Jolly Roger message board via ezboard, as well as on the Caballeroslove freeforum that NothingFace and Michael Heide (high fives go out to them).

I had a film professor that described that what made Jean Renoir and his films so great was that in each and everyone of his films included practically every aspect in life: love, family, war, death, youth, everything. And not only am I inclined to agree completely with that, but also I believe that to be one of the reasons why the Cabal was such a fun destination to hit each day I got on the internet. We had threads on comics (obviously), movies, politics, sex, and the birth of nnnnn, and a helluva lot more of course.

Last year at WonderCon, Brian signed my copy of Pride of Baghdad:

Joey JP-
Long live the Caballeros.
Brian K. Vaughan

While we are to still be Caballeros at heart, alas, we are now Castaways (at least I think that's the name that has been settled on). I guess it's kinda like when Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, and Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk joined up with Chris Cornell and formed Audioslave.

Awesome new digs, right? (It's been said many times, but it's worth saying again: Mucho props to Tony Harris, Michael Heide, and NothingFace)

Peope are Fascinating

2008-02-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

By far and away, what fascinates me most in this world are people. We are all different in our personalities, our wants, our dislikes, our geography, education, religious affiliations, ethnicity, history, everything. The people that I've met in my life so far are inspiration for what I'm trying to do with my life, which is write.

Last month, there was a week in which I encountered three situations that interested me to no end. I can't exactly remember in what order these instances happened, but the first instance to mention was when I was waiting outside the restroom in the food court in a mall here in San Jose. The janitor was already in the process of cleaning up the men's room, and a couple other guys came by after me looking to use the bathroom as well. One of them some teenager. First thing I noticed was his uniform; he worked at the mall's theater above the food court. Then he asks me if "this the line?"

I look at his face, and his left eye is absolutely red. As if he popped a blood vessel within the last day or so. I was taken aback, but I quickly answered that it was, or is, in that instant. Then he walked back into the hallway meant only for mall employees, and came back a minute or two later. As he walked by me, he whispered, "Have fun waiting in line."

I wanted to slap that kid upside the fuckin head.

Then I wondered if he was acting dickish because that's who he is, or if it was because he noticed my surprise when first I saw his eye. Either way, I hope his eye specialist/doctor overcharged him for treatment.

Another instant was when I was an a comic shop, and overheard a couple looking for two issues of a particular Star Wars comic series for their son or nephew.

"Two-ninety-nine?" He said to the girl. "That's cheap!"

I smiled, and tried so hard to keep from rolling on the ground, and laughing out loud.

Then that leaves a time when I was an another comic shop, also in San Jose, and the employee at the shop was talking to a friend of his, and not a minute after I walk in, the friend blurts out the fate of a character in There Will Be Blood. And I assumed the character they were talking about was "character x." I hadn't seen the film yet, and I wanted to wring out both of their necks. Fast forward to today. I finally got to see the film.

I walked into the theater anticipating the fate of "character x." Low and behold, "character x" was not who the employee and the friend were talking about, but another character. Even though everything turned out okay, there's still a little part of me that feels the same way that I felt that day in the comic shop: there are people in this world that just don't have any common courtesy or sense of urgency. The two people in the shop that day likely have more courtesy than most, but damn if I didn't wanna call the two of them a pair of asses when I left.

All in all, people are fascinating.

January's Picture of the Month

2008-02-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

I've decided to do something similar to what some have done, including Alisha, which is to taking a photo a day, or week, or whatever. But the hell if I'm gonna remember to take a photo a day for 366 days this year (it's a leap year this year remember). Well if any of you out there know me, you know that I take a lot of photos. Case in point, my previous entry. And I doubt I'm actually ever gonna get to all of the Hella Photos I originally wanted to post here, so like I kind of mentioned in that entry, you may as well check out my Flickr.

Anyway, in all the photos that I take throughout the given month, I'll end up picking the one photo that stands out to me, and declare it the photo of the month. That said, here's January's photo of the month, Paulie Bleeker:

If you've seen Juno then you should instantly get the title's meaning. Late last month, as I was getting ready for bed, I took off my Livestrong and Don't Sweat The Small Stuff wrist bands onto my desk, and it landed on near the little basketball. And me being me, I didn't wanna go to bed right away, and started fiddling with it, and eventually got what you see above. Ridiculousness, I realize. But in the background you'll see my Frank Sinatra box set, Grant Morrision beer glass from the Isotope, The Office day calender, the box of my Dan Johnson- Sacramento RiverCats bobble head doll (the actual bobble-head doll behind the Morrision glass, and behind the box is my 10-inch Ray Palmer-The Atom... all of these "toys" reaffirming the fact that I am one huge dork.

Y: The Last Man

2008-01-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

Alas, the end has come.

I went to my LCS today, and picked up Y#60. I just finished reading it, and I'm still digesting the series' last issue. I have a full slate of things to do today, and I read it so quick, I'm gonna have to reread it to really grasp it's finality. But a box tissues may be needed for a few choice scenes, if not the entire issue.

To Brian, Pia, and so many of the other people who contributed to creating such a beautifully executed story from beginning to end, thank you. I thank you for taking us all on such an amazing ride, and congratulate you for an exquisite job well done.

It is bittersweet that even though there is a definite ending to the story, that's just it, but it ends. However, the thing with kick ass roller coasters, is the ability to ride it once again. I'll be sure to do just that.

Hella Photos part 1

2008-01-24T18:22:00.001-08:00

So for various reasons I just don't upload photos in a timely manner. Yet, at the very least, I get to make entries such as this: a photo parade. So alas, let's get things started.

These photos are from all the way back in July of last year when I saw Incubus play the Greek Theater in Berkeley. (See. See what I mean about uploading photos in a not so timely manner) With the photo on the right, I guess I tried getting a shot of the crowd behind me. Kind of like "diamonds strewn across a blue blanket," you might say. Okay, maybe not, but you get my point when I say "Wish You Were Here."

My pillow, err.. my niece Lexy while at dinner for my mom's birthday last October.

My mom is the one holding the flowers, while my niece T.T. is doing her funky walk. Not that she has a funky walk. It's just that in this photo she's walking a bit funky. She's not much for taking photos -embarrassed she is- but then again she's almost 14, so go figure.

My other niece Ava (Yeah, I got a lot of nieces and nephews) doing some shopping down there. And then we have my mortal enemy. Or at least the enemy that I had made that night. I wasted at least five bucks trying to get a bite from 'ol claw machine, and ended up coming away empty handed. I just thought this last one is pretty cool. That I and think I need new chucks, or well, new shoes in general. The UGGs on the right belong to Tris. As the title on this entry suggests, I gots plenty of photos left to share, and I'll get to all that soon. Of course, if you can't wait that long, then by all means do the cheat sheet thing, and check out my Flickr page.

Too Early.

2008-01-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Heath Ledger is dead. My jaw dropped the moment I heard the news on the radio this afternoon on my way to pick up my niece and nephew from school. It's just sad. Plain and simple. Sobering news indeed. But what hits home most of all is the fact that the man was only 28 years old. As with anyone who passes away young, those that are left in mourning beg the question: What could have been?

And it sucks to find ourselves asking that question regarding Heath because the answer is quite simple: The future was bright. Very bright.

May you find peace, Heath.

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

There is so much to say about what was 2007, and about what 2008 is capable of being. But what it boils down to is that 2007 was big, and 2008 is expected to be bigger. I just don't have any kind of best of list other than there were plenty of things that I enjoyed, and had plenty of family, friends, and acquaintances to enjoy all the good times with. I have a New Year's ("Substance") Potluck Party to get to, so let's leave things at that. And hope all of you reading this had a good 2007, and an even better 2008. And be safe in all your New Year's Celebrations.

I have a lot, and I mean a helluva lot of photos that I gotta upload to myspace and flickr that date as far back as October. So hopefully, I'll get to post a Photo Parade blog entry by next week at the latest. Also, I wanna write a bit about a sorely missed television favorite: Arrested Development. All in due time, of course. Until then, and once again, Happy 2008 err-body!

Viral Marketing article

2007-12-28T15:49:00.000-08:00

Don't have a lot of time to devote to this entry, but this bad boy deals with how the marketing for The Dark Knight and Cloverfield has gone down this year, and plus marketing a film in general. Dig it!

http://boxoffice.com/distribution/2007/12/viral-marketing-promotion.php

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

2007-12-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah, folksies, have a good and Merry Dec. 25th. This day otherwise known as Christmas. Be safe and be well, eat some grub, and make sure you remember to not forget to bring your gift receipts when you go back to the mall tomorrow.

Life is Happening

2007-12-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

So yeah, I've running around both San Francisco, San Jose, and in between. Last Tuesday, I found out my friend Q.A. and her roommates were having a potluck party in Daly City, and because, I hadn't seen her, James, and a couple of other friends in that circle of SF/Daly City friends. Although I had to get someone to cover my Friday night closing shift. Lucky enough, I found someone who had a morning shift that same day to switch with. But that also meant that I had to open the store Friday morning after helping close the store on Thursday night.

Ho-Boy.

But it's not like I hadn't done something like that before, and it was a necessary evil. So I drove up to DC, and hung out with James, Q.A., and the gang. James' roommate, Bill, questioned my man-hood each time I didn't down whatever drink I had in my hand... I got a damn good drunkedness Friday night. I kept going on and on about my 100 & 150 Font roommates, and how much I missed my Wednesdays. My drunkedness even spread onto Twitter, where I texted in that not only do I miss my roommates, but also my potlucks and general hanger-outing with my fellow City Kids. Yeah, lately I've been lamenting just how much I miss living in San Francisco.

Anyway, I crashed at James' place that night, and Saturday morning we had breakfast at IHOP. It really hit the spot, and then went to the Metreon and watched The Dark Knight prologue and I Am Legend on IMAX. AS expected, the TDK prologue was so very the awesome, and I Am Legend was better than I had been expecting.

When I had gotten back to San Jose later Saturday night, it was for Frances' two younger kids birthday party: Julian (9yrs) and Alexis'(4yrs).

My pregnant sister, Frances, told those of us still at the house at the later stages of the party, that she felt she'd be giving birth any day now... she gave birth less than 24 hours later. I'll post photos of the newest member of the Fernandez brood soon. My sister and brother in-law have four kids: three of them with birthdays in December, and within four days of each other. Tristan is the only one not in December. Shit, she's gonna be 14 next year. Damn, I'm feeling old.

Anyway, I went back to SF on Sunday to join in on the WGA's protest in Union Square. I was there from about noon to three. As I was getting more fliers from the Strike Captain's car on Post St., I coulda sworn I saw Mindy walk by down the cross street, Powell. I shouted to try to get her attention, but I guess she was out of ear-shot. Met and chatted with some a few writers, got about a handful of cars to honk their horns, and froze my tookiss off, and by the end my feet were ice cold. But I felt good about what I did Sunday. And I swear, the short cat-nap I took on BART on the way back to Daly City from downtown after the protest, was the best cat-nap the earth has ever known.

Yesterday, I helped open up the bookstore, and today I'm goin back to SF with my brother, Patrick as he's taking an insurance license exam. I'm goin because I don't have anything better to do. Oh, shopping, and maybe watch Juno while I'm up there.

Hopefully, I'll have something very cool to plug in the next week or so.

Writer's Strike & the Strike-Fro

2007-12-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

From the Cabal.
Many of the members in the WGA have grown out Strike-beards, and I will, in a show solidarity, do the same. Except, that I'm gonna grow out the hair on the top of my head. I can't grow a mustache and/or beard very well, or barely at all, but even still, I won't be shaving or cutting my hair until this writer's strike is done. I'm prepared for the unkempt-ness of having a fro again, and the horrible similarities to a bad high school teenager growing out facial hair for the first time.

Anyway, here's a work that I had written something like two or three weeks back, and I wasn't initially intending to publish it. Or at least not here. I'm sure that it's okay that I'm posting it here. Hopefully, I'll have some news on some writing projects I've got cookin. Which is a fact that tis very cool in of itself. But yeah, what's below sums up what I feel about the strike.

Writing and weaving a story is art. It is also a job. Writing is a job the same way an accountant maintains the books, or an auto mechanic fixes cars. The main objective for a writer – of any medium – is to tell as a good a story as possible. But where writing differs from all other professions is in the same way in which not two people share the same fingerprint. For a writer, or group of writers, to be able to tell a story and capture the imagination of an audience requires enough discipline to sit down and somehow conform their ideas into an understandable structure. It can be a very difficult process. But in the end, I’m sure that most all writers relish the challenge of tackling something so difficult. Successful writers wouldn’t be as good as they are if they don’t look forward to that challenge. But what the writers of the Writers Guild of America haven’t looked forward to is this strike. Yet, it is something very necessary.

Producing a television show or film is a very collaborative process, and the role of the writer is a very important one as he or she helps to jump–start that collaborative process. However, despite holding that extremely pivotal position in a production, writers feel they are not fairly compensated for the residuals for their work distributed via the Internet. This work stoppage affects writers, directors, producers, actors, grips, best boys, craft services, make-up, casting, and so many more. In fact, it feels as if everyone is affected. Fortunately, most crew members above and below the line are supporting the WGA and the strike. But what is unfortunate is that most crew members below the line, that live from paycheck to pay check, are out of work. The situation is what it is, and nobody in the industry is immune. It is also a situation in which there really isn’t anyone at fault. To square blame on a particular group of people will accomplish nothing in this strike.

Studios and networks are currently not paying nearly enough residuals to the creative types responsible for producing the works that they, the studios and networks, distribute via the Internet. Soon negotiations for the other guilds will come up, and undoubtedly, one of the major sticking points will also be about the Internet. At that time, those guilds will do what they feel they must do. But now, it is the WGA’s time to act upon what they feel is necessary for the betterment of their guild. That is their job right now. That is their objective right now, and like so many others that have voiced their support for the strike, the WGA also has mine.

A Fearless Journey is JERICHO!!!!!

2007-11-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I watched Monday Night Raw last night expressly just to witness the "2nd coming." I grew up watching wrestling and until 6th grade, thought it was real. I stopped really paying attention when I reached 12th grade when the "Attitude Era" had passed. I was a "Hulkamaniac," and after that Bret Hart became my favorite.

If I'm bored, and WWE has something on the TV, I'll give it a browse, but I'm not the avid fan I once was. But I have heard talk that one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, Chris Jericho, was returning this fall to the company.

Here's a clip from when he made his debut (which involved The Rock) back in 1999.

There's no video from last night on youtube, yet, but soon I'm sure. I watched the segment from last night probably about 3 or 4 times before the memory on my TiVo erased it.

There is an electricity about wrestling that can make it so fucking great, and that's why I liked wrestling for as long as I did. Unfortunately, wrestling these days, or at least the WWE, just lacks that electricity. But you could feel the electricity watching Chris Jericho make his WWE return at the end of Raw. I dunno that this'll keep me watching beyond the next couple of weeks, which includes Raw's 15th Anniversary show at the beginning of December, but damn if it wasn't fun KNOWING just how much I "marked-out" last night. Jeez, I hadn't "marked-out" like that in so fucking long.

I already got page 152 from The Homeless Channel, and I've made plans to go to NSSN, so that's at least two items from the Christmas List post. And after watching Raw last night (and as if there was any doubt, previously), Jericho definitely sold me on getting his book.

My Christmas List

2007-11-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

So last night, my mom told me that one of my nephews has already written his Christmas wish list. And we both kinda thought that it was a bit early, and since then I've thought about a few things that I'm thinking about getting. So I guess as right now,a list of things I have my eye on at the moment:

An original page from Matt Silady's Homeless Channel

A Nintendo DS Lite (While a friend watched the Hotel Chevalier on my iPod, I played Brain Age last night in a movie theater waiting for American Gangster to start. Which is ridiculously good!!) But yeah, I want a DS Lite and Brain Age, and now I think I might be addicted to Sodoku. I want a DS Lite, and I want it now!!:P

Guitar Hero III for the Wii.

This Peter Jennings book.

This Entourage book.

This Chris Jericho book.

This Joe Strummer book.

This Spirit Archives book.

Working in a bookstore again, it was only a matter of time before I'd come across these "wallet thinners." The last five on that list, at least. I might as well make it a reading list, too, now that I think about it. Anyway, I'm off to get my hands on Y: The Last Man #59. I'm hoping my heart doesn't get broken like it was when I got to the end of #58. Fucking Vaughan! :P

EDIT:
Okay. Just got back from the LCS, and totally forgot to list tickets to Live 105's Not So Silent Night. And I just finished Y#59. And wow, now that is how you take a person down a peg or two.

I am so tired.

2007-11-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

First, Halloween, wasn't bad, I guess, but walking aimlessly around downtown San Jose wasn't all that fun either. I'll post pictures soon. I've said that a lot lately, but I will get to it.

Today I checked my email for the first time since last Friday afternoon. I spent Thursday and Friday night at my day job at the ol bookstore. Hung out at the casa de Dang-alang, MAnthony, and T'Money's place after work on Friday. Then spent Saturday and Sunday revising the ol screenplay. When I say the entire weekend, I mean I left the house only twice. Once on Saturday, and once on Sunday. I kept myself in the house for probably what would amount to 30 minutes, but that's mostly because the drive-thru line as Taco Bell and In-N-Out Burger was so damn long.

Anyway, I'm goin to San Francisco for the day tomorrow to talk to a former professor, and hopefully see some friends. Plus I've spent the last couple hours catching up on what I've missed... I've missed a quite a number of things. And I've been uploading some pictures from within the last month that I haven't been able to get to yet. Plus, the WGA is officially now on strike, and they have my full support. I'll share more of my thoughts soon, but right now, FUCK, I'm hungry.

The "I don't know what to title this blog entry" Entry

2007-10-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I went out with, Gino, Gen, and Alisha to ViVid (night club). I went out as Peter Parker. Took some photos, and post them soon. I know I've somewhere around 125-plus photos to post that which I've taken within the last two weeks or so, and this only adds to it, but I will post them soon. Gino, Alisha, Gen, and Diane: I WILL GET TO IT SOON. Please stop your snickering. nahaha

Anyway. Lotsa girls dressed very scantily walking and dancing at ViVid and downtown San Jose in general. Twas fun, saw Wilson from Home Improvement. The guy brought a piece of paper in the shape of a picket fence, and held it up to his face most of the night. A couple dressed (I use the term, "dressed," loosely) as Adam and Eve. I even took a picture with Quail-Man. Austin Powers was behind the turntables, and Dr. Evil doin a lil dancing near the turntables.

Gino only brought a mask out to the club, and Gen dressed as Snow White, and Alisha slapped on some tanning lotion to darken her skin, and wore a afro-wig to pull off a 70s basketball player. She brought a basketball intending to take it into the club, but we told her it was a bad idea, and she ended up leaving it in the car. She said she created some dance-moves with said basketball. And by the end of the night when we wanted to see it, she said she was just joking... Me and Gino didn't buy it.

At the end of the night, we hung out in Gino's garage talking about two tv shows that we love so fuckin much: The Office (the U.S. version. not that the U.K. one isn't funny. which it is, by the by), and Arrested Development. Good times. And hopefully on Wednesday night, Halloween Night, when we are back to full force (re: the rest of the guys are back in town), more fun times will ensue.

Now to some fucked up stuff: Namely, my cell phone. My VX9800. My texter friendly phone. Hrmm, both screens are plain white now, and it couldn't have decided to gone and done so at a worser time. As I said, it is a very texter friendly phone, and texting a particular person would probably solve a particular situation that I'd like to pursue. Them's the breaks I guess. I mean, I haven't been the most careful handler of this particular phone. But still, this sucks.

Okay, let's end this on a less sucky note. Over on BKV's Cabal,
Nick I. named me the "Best caballero you easily could get a beer...maybe two...with: Joey JP (who also wins for coolest sketchbook theme)" Very cool thing of him to say, and here's my response: "Thanks Nick, and if you're planning to come back for WonderCon again next year, we're increasing that number..."

Hrmm, that response sounds like I'm an alcoholic. Haha. Which no, I am not. I gave an award to NothingFace and DavePress for almost always having good comic recommendations (other than Brian himself) on the Cabal. A tightly knit bunch of Caballeros that we are. I have a handle on boards like Newsarama, and I think on Interpol's site too, and yeah, I think that's it. But yeah, the Cabal is a very cool board if just for the positivity.

P.S. I've just nominated myself for being the Caballero that best knows the way to San Jose. Ridiculousness, I know. :P

Whirlwind Weekend

2007-10-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Well yeah, I haven't abused my liver like this weekend since my birthday back in August. Pretty crazy. Pretty fun.

Here's a quick run down: lots of drinking... yeah that sums it up nicely. I'll post some pictures via Flickr and Myspace soon enough. But yeah, all that really needs to be said is how fortunate I am to have the enormous amount of friends that I have, and how much fun they are to hang out with, have fun with, and yeah, get pissed drunk with. And no, I am not currently buzzed, drunk, or otherwise inebriated. I am completely sober as I write this. And yes, that probably make this all the more a mushy blog entry. But yeah. Twas a fun weekend... yet now I am also thinking that I didn't get much writing done this weekend... FUCK!!

Oh well, just more inspiration for further ideas, nahaha :P

So. Damn. Close.

2007-10-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah. I've already told a few friends that I'm closing in on the finish line on the ol script. I just need to find some time. I wish I could post a photo on the new desk that I've had my eye on ever since I went to Ikea last weekend. But let's just say that I didn't want to leave the model desk that was on the show floor when I was in Palo Alto. Not only because of how much I love the desk, but also because my ass hand never felt so comfortable in a "computer" chair.

Anyway, I've made the recent observation that in my writings, whether screenplay, prose, letters to friends, or IMs, that I have an incessant need to funny it up a bit. I dunno, maybe I'm making too much of it. My neurosis gets the best of me sometimes, but I think I just get worried that sometimes something just sounds too serious if I don't bring some sort of funny to the writing. Then ten minutes after the fact, I come to the assumption that I probably should've let well enough alone, and I wanna lightly slap the top of my forehead and ask myself "Why did I feel I had to write that?"

Like I said: I probably do over think it, but I'll try not to anymore.

The Week's Agenda

2007-10-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

On deck for this week:

Monday- Went running/walking this morning. Wrote about five pages today. I was supposed to go inquire about a job after picking up my niece and nephew, but had to take care of some other things online. So that means...

Tuesday- Do a little lifting in the morning. Write another five pages.

Wednesday- Another round of running/walking, and another five pages. Plus, it's new comics day. So there ya go.

Thursday- Lifting, and five more pages.

Friday- The hell if I'm gonna do either running/walking or lifting. But five more pages fasho.

I wanted to finish the screenplay by today, Monday October 1st, but, well that obviously didn't happen. I also need to get my arse in shape. So yeah, this is me going out and doing just that. This week I plan on easing my way into the running and lifting stuff. Mostly just walking this morning. I didn't really run all too much. But just enough to get the ol heart rate goin. And let me just say that if I had sex today instead of running, I think I would've died. I really do. Because my legs and feet just felt so damn heavy. Picture Homer Simpson trying to catch up with an ice cream truck, and you'd get an exaggeration of what was my morning, but it gives you a rough idea. Here's to a good week.

Reading is Sexy

2007-09-26T17:17:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah. Definitely.

I caught a rerun of Gilmore Girls yesterday that was already half-way through. The scene I first saw was set in the Yale cafeteria. Rory and Paris were discussing the men in their lives, and I notice something I didn't ever notice before: the graphic on the shirt Alexis Bledel was wearing.

Reading is Sexy

I would so rock that shirt if it came in a size medium for males.

Off the Grid

2007-09-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally back online for the first time since last the Thursday night. It feels refreshing to go away after a while. For the most part, I've used my hibernation as a means to focus of getting some writing done. Two Fridays ago, I made a deal with Dang to turn in pages into him every so often to keep my focus on finishing the ol screenplay.

I'm aiming on getting my first draft of said screenplay done by next Monday, and then spend October on tightening everything up. On Friday, the first volume of the Jack Kirby Fourth World Omnibus finally came in. It's my birthday gift from my buddy Ray. It's about a month after the fact, but he finally ordered it couple weeks back. So on Friday, after the mail came in, that Omnibus hardcover was just staring at me, baiting me to unwrap the plastic around it, flip through all the Jack Kirby goodness. But I persevered, and I mustered the will power to finish my page count goal for the week. I'm increasing this week's goal twofold from last week. Fun times lie ahead on the horizon!

What I am.

2007-09-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who has told me in the past that real life isn't like it is in the movies. I've always thought about that, but I think it's the contrary. Where do storytellers get their ideas? Where do they think up this shit?

Everyone has drama in their personal lives every so often. There are those in the world who think that their family is the most fucked up family in the world. We don't always get along with our friends, our spouses, our significant others, or otherwise. We all have strangely fucked up dreams every now and then. There are news reports of murderers, serial killers, rapists, burglaries, extortion, embezzlement, hit and runs, charity work, late night heroics in a sporting event, explosions, whatever. In real life, we find these and other happenings so interesting is because there is a varying degree of emotional depth that we latch onto. We latch on because there's something very true about those things. And therein lies what storytellers do: find some sort of truth about their the story, and cultivate it.

I mean, how else would we, the audience, be so captivated by films? We love certain films because there are certain characters that we can identify with and sympathize and empathize with. They have flaws, as do we all. To be able to give that to an audience is a very special thing.

To be able to tap into people's emotion, into relationships, and so on, and bring something real like all of that into something like narrative or fiction, is what excites me. I get a kick each time I see others do it successfully.

As the days are currently passing, I find myself inching closer to finishing my first feature screenplay. Still a ways to go, but I'm committed to making this happen. It is a very special piece of work.

Until then here's a quote from Elaine Stritch from the Emmy Awards last night when she presented an award with Stanley Tucci.

Elaine Stritch:
“I’m not faking this. I really don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

In a nutshell, that's how I think of my life thus far. :P

Gilmore Girls

2007-09-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

So this past Tuesday night saw the repeat of the last episode of Gilmore Girls on The CW. I was able to watch the half of it. I remember watching it originally back in May. It was sad then as it is now. I think my favorite period of the show was the third and fourth seasons. I got into the show because of Smallville. Together, Gilmore Girls and Smallville represented The WB's Tuesday night schedule.

It was during the summer that followed Smallvile's first season that I began watching repeats of season two episodes of Gilmore Girls.

When the new season kicked off in the fall, I made it a point to watch Gilmore Girls as well as Smallville. I've been a fan of Gilmore Girls ever since. In fact, I must say that Gilmore Girls has eclipsed Smallville as my favorite of the two. If someone were to tell me that back then, I would tell you to go paint my house. Don't get me wrong here: I still park my arse in front of the television to watch a new episode of Smallville, and I'm still making it a point to follow the series when the show's seventh season kicks off at the end of this month but Gilmore Girls just has that unique charm to it.

Gilmore Girls had a wealth of likeable characters that evolved through the course of the series. It was great to know that these characters really cared about each other. There are some people out there who have issues with the dialogue in the show, but I loved it. I thought it was absolutely masterful how Amy Sherman-Palladino and company did a one-eighty on the Dean and Jess characters. Dean was the good-clean cut kid, and Jess was the bad-boy, and by the time both characters were written out of the show, you realized Dean just didn't know what he really wanted, and was the way he was because he didn't know what else to do. He was indecisive. Whereas Jess shed all his unnecessary baggage, and grew up. I think the execution on that worked so well, some people don't even realize how seamless that transition came about.

Even though I can see Rory and Jess hooking back up together again in their futures, I just think it would be awkward and weird considering Lorelai and Luke got back together in the last episode. Kind of incestuous considering Lorelai and Rory are mother-daughter, and Luke and Jess are uncle-nephew.

Plus Alexis Bledel is really pretty. Shallow of me to say, but the hell if she ain't.

A helluva start

2007-09-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Wow. That was a helluva Monday night. Go NINERS!!!!

It wasn't pretty. But more like "UGHH"... And then it was "Woooooooo!!" by the end of it.

Well, you don't know what you have until you face a little adversity. 85-yard drive with 3:06 in the forth when the offense only managed 30 yards the entire second half before that last drive... That's how you start off a season. It may have been just the Cardinals, but it was a division game, and we lost 4 in a row against the Cards, so hot damn if that wasn't a helluva Monday night!

20-17 Niners over Cards!

...hrrmm, woulda been a good idea to record the game.

Scream

2007-09-04T18:36:00.001-07:00

So late Sunday night, and into Monday morning at about 1:30 in the am, I was about to go to bed, but needed something to fall asleep to. I turned on the tv, and rediscovered a nice little movie that was just starting on one of the movie channels: Scream.

I ended up staying up until 3:30 watching the entire film. It would've been nice to have just TiVo'd it, but I TiVo'd a whole mess of Buster Keaton films from last week, and hadn't watched all of them yet, so I stayed up... Besides, I haven't watched a horror movie during the middle of the night since I watched the first two Evil Dead films on consecutive nights a couple years back. Anyway, this time I watched Scream with a new pair of eyes. I mean I feel that I now can appreciate films on a whole nother level post-film school. [Insert warm and fuzzy feeling]

Scream is smart and satirical of the horror genre. And in so doing, it plays right in line with the rules of horror films. But it also sees fit to break some of them: The killer(s) are motivated by the disintegration of the family, and a need to -in some way- rectify it all. And adversely: despite not being a virgin anymore, the heroine lives through the ordeal.... *sigh* Phew, here I was thinking that three months after graduating, it would've all went out the other ear by now...

Kevin Williamson's structure is awesome, the execution by Wes Craven is great, and this is why I love horror movies. It has the ability to tell a good story with the ability to scare the shit outta you, and also doesn't take itself too seriously. But more than anything: it's quite intelligible. Scream is part of the genre that is the teen-slasher movie, but beyond that, its intelligence is what makes it just as good now as it was when it was originally released. My money is that it will still hold up well in the years to come.

Fantasy Football

2007-09-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

No I don't participate in any leagues, but my brother, Pat, does. Multiple leagues actually. And today I helped him in one of those League Fantasy Drafts. As opposed to a draft held online, this one was held at one of Pat's friends' house. It was pretty fun, and I think I finally realize just how much fun my brother has with it. And to a greater extent, how much fun it it for everyone else who participates in Fantasy Football, and other fantasy sports leagues.

In the past, I figured that I wouldn't want to devote so much of my time in all of it. I still am, though. Maybe next year I'll give it a shot.

I Remember...

2007-08-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today is Justin's birthday. In preparation for this blog this week, I've been thinking about him, and about those last two weeks of August, and how life has gone on in these three years since Justin passed. It's so many things: trippy, surreal, and everything else.

I thought about those two weeks in August of 2004 the other night when the Lunar Eclipse was happening. Almost all of it came back to me.

I remember the night Justin asked me to come by his house. He said he had some people coming over. I remember arriving a little late, and actually a little surprised that there were quite a lot of people in the house. Turns out that was the night Justin let us all know he was gonna stop fighting.

I do believe that it was not long after Justin's announcement that I got a call from Susan and Kristin. They called me from Justin's house, and Susan told me that I should come by because there's a good chance Justin could go. I rushed over as soon as humanly possible. Besides Justin's family, it was still only Susan and Kristin that were at the house. The rest of the night saw a a steady stream of people walk up the driveway and through the front door. It was like that every night til the end of August and into September.

Justin was baptized in his room at his house on either Sept. 2 or 3rd. I can't be completely for certain. But I was there in his room that morning. I also remember receiving a call at around half past six in the am of Sept. 4th. It was Kris. He told me that Justin had passed in the in the middle of the night.

Frances didn't think I should be driving, so my sister dropped me off at Justin's house. I remember it was Steven that I first hugged, and then I think any memory of who I embraced therafter, and what order just gets blurry.

The summer of 2004 was by far the most difficult stretch of time for me personally. I had an anxiety attack in April. Went to the hospital twice in three nights. The specifics of what got me to that point aren't embarrassing or stupid, but definitely something I just shouldn't have let get to me. I was 19, and I let my worries and doubts kick me when I was down, and couldn't pull myself up. But in the weeks that followed I began to get over myself, and my fears. That is until Derek died.

Derek died in a freak bicycle accident as he was biking in Almaden Valley in San Jose. I remember looking into Patrick's eyes the moment he told me. My brother's eyes were watery and red. He had just gotten off the phone with one of Derek's cousins, Christel. The last time I saw Derek was a month earlier when he invited Patrick, Bella, and I to the A's 2004 home opener. Derek worked for Ross, which was a sponsor of the A's. I don't know that they still are, but being a sponsor, Derek's company gave him four tickets to the A's opening night gala. Food was everywhere. I remember dipping some of the deserts into the chocolate fountains. I haven't missed an A's home opener since. I love, and I miss you Derek.

I remember telling a few people of my anxiety attacks. I remember telling Justin of my anxiety attacks. He told me how he experienced them. We talked about things. We talked about Mark's father recently passing away. I remember when I let Justin borrow my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vol. 1 dvd. It has the first few episodes of the original 80s-90s cartoon.

I remember back in 2003 when X2-X-Men United came out. Justin, Jory, and I saw it the day after it came out, on Saturday. It was at Mercado 20 in Santa Clara. The original plan was to watch it at around seven or eight o'clock. When I got to Justin's place to pick him and Jory up. Then Jory suggested we should wait til nine or maybe ten. He figured Mercado would be festered with teeny boppers. So we hung out at Justin's for a while. When we got to Mercado later that night, I realized Jory figured right.

The closing shot of of X2 is a crane/helicopter shot above Alkali Lake. There's a voice over of Patrick Stewart as Professor X, talking about rebirth or something other, as well as a faint image of a Phoenix. The whole closing moments of the film, Justin was whispering and repeating aloud and to me: "The Phoenix. The Phoenix."

To my knowledge, Justin wasn't that much into comics. But he did tell me earlier that he went to see the movie the previous night with some other friends. Oh well.

I also remember Justin and I going to see a screening of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at Mercado as well. It was a late screening. Something around eleven in the pm. He fell asleep somewhere in the middle of it. But it wasn't like he missed anything good. I stayed awake, and I don't know how I didn't fall asleep either.

I remember an episode of the Simpsons, where Jacques, Marge's bowling tutor is trying to seduce her. He's getting ready in his bathroom, waiting to see her. Among other things, he talks to himself about the anticipation being better than the moment itself. Obviously, he's alluding to sex, but what he's saying is certainly true for most everything else. Justin's passing was so numbing. We all knew it was coming, and that impending sense of doom was the scariest. The anticipation. Every night in those last couple weeks, we left Justin's house saying our goodbyes to Justin like they would be our last words with him.

I don't remember my exact last words with Justin because I had so many. I do remember sitting around Justin's bed in the afternoon once. I'm fairly certain it may have been the same day as his baptism actually. I'm also fairly certain that it was Kristin, Susan, myself, and... I think I'm forgetting who else was there in the room at the time, but we decided to have story time. So as it turned out, I was the one who did the reading. I want to say it was the Cow over the Moon story. But I can't commit to that. I do remember reading it to everyone the way that a Kindergarten teacher would read to his/her students: read a page out loud, then show each side of the room the illustrations on the page I just read.

There's a lot of other things that I remember about Justin, and about that summer and fall of 2004. Derek was a family friend, and although his death was tough to take, and I wish he was still here, but my brother was closer to him than I ever was. It was a very difficult time in my life. Personally, Justin's death was like the climax in the third act of a story.

In these three years since Justin passed, there's hardly a day that goes by that I don't think about what could have been. I say that because it's hard to not think about the guy since I wear a yellow Livestrong wristband as well as an orange wrist band that bears Justin's name. The orange band also has the words: "Don't sweat the small stuff." Wish he could've told me that before I had my anxiety attacks. Oh well. =p

I could talk to Justin about any and everything: music, movies, comics, books, sports, news, whatever. He loved The Doors and Jim Morrison, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, we shared a mutual affinity for movies, The Clash, and he introduced me to Texas Hold 'em, and Da Ali G show.

More often than not, after each time I've visited him at the cemetery in Los Gatos, I would start my car and either Nirvana or the Foo Fighters (the Kurt Cobain connection with Dave Grohl) would be on the radio, and I'd smile.

I woke up this morning to find my mom watching The Today Show. Matt Lauer was interviewing Ellen Degeneres in promotion for the new season of her talk show. Then I remembered Justin was an avid watcher of the Ellen Degeneres Show. I smiled.

I love you Justin, and I miss you. Happy Birthday my friend!

Lunar Eclipse

2007-08-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Anthony texted me this early morning at around three in the am. He said there was an eclipse right outside. I went outside, and sure enough, it was there. Very cool sight. I shit you not when I say that I took a picture of the eclipse on my Canon... needless to say, it didn't come out... Anyway, this week is what would have been Justin's 23rd birthday.

I've been planning on posting something on his actual birthday, Thursday the 30th. So I've been thinking a lot about him, and about what to write. Like I said, I'll wait for Thursday to get all this down.

But yeah, as far as those in North America, only those on the west side of the Rockies would be able to see all phases of the eclipse... pretty cool.

No Foakleys for me!

2007-08-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Simply put... I picked up my new glasses yesterday...

The lenses are new, but a while back, my brother gave me his old Oakley frames he didn't need anymore. Recently, I figured I may as well use these frames... especially since the right side of my old red frames broke.

My red frames broke a few days before my birthday weekend, so I had to wear my back-up frames that weekend, which was two weekends ago. When I got home from the bars, I fell asleep on my living room floor for about a half hour. When I awoke, I got ready for bed, but not before stepping on my (back-up) glasses. The damage wasn't that bad, really. The lenses weren't cracked, scratched, or otherwise broken, but...

Things were kinda, well, crooked for about the next week or so. The left plastic-nose-guard thingy kinda broke off, and it occasionally falls back off, but I've made it fit back in. Actually, that night I stepped on them, I also ended up spending what felt like an inordinate amount of time looking for that plastic nose-guard thingy while in the dark.

Also, before leaving the optometrist with my new glasses, I had a dilation exam. And I'm happy to report that my eyes are nice and healthy. Or at least as healthy as they can be. I mean, I do wear glasses. C'mon now...

But yeah, I got my vision kinda blurred because of the dilation droplets. I don't own any prescription sunglasses, much less did I have any kind of sunglasses on my person when I was at the optometrist yesterday. So it all meant driving home in a most humorous fashion...

I was given -what I have come to dub- "paper shades" to help my eyes combat the sun and the blurriness. And I figured it'd be easier to drive home with my old frames since my eyes were blurry enough that I didn't want my eyes adjusting to the new lenses, all at the same time, too.

But I did decide to do the driving and errand running an hour or two later with the "paper shades" and Oakleys...

Stylish, eh?

Sunday

2007-08-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

I had an exremely long Sunday. Longer than I care to remember, and not really wanting to get too into it. But yeah: A's game (we won, so that fact wan't bad), warm day, engine trouble, sun burned, other stuff, and non-stop frustration.

Happy 23rd.

2007-08-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Birthdays means to celebrate one's life.

Today, the 13th of August is my Birthday. And this weekend, including today the 13th, I along with my family and friends celebrated my birthday. As is customary, I have been wished a "Happy Birthday" by many a family member and friends. It's a lovely feeling when someone tells you "Happy Birthday." It demonstrates an act of love and care. For that, I am grateful for the last few days, and I think that it may have started when a fellow Caballero wished me a "Happy Birthday" on the Cabal early last week.... and then came the rest of the "Happy Birthday" well-wishes through the course of the weekend, and of course, today, the 13th. So again, thank you VF, and to the rest of my family and friends, thank you....

Because on Saturday night, the 11th.... well... you know how the morning after you go out drinking, you ask yourself "Did I really do that last night?".... and then you ponder that for a good long while, and then say.... "I did do that. Didn't I?"... and then you go... "Shit!"... And then you wanna find a a blanket or something or whatever, and cover yourself and hide.... yeahhhh... that was my Saturday night. Good times. Good times. Good times.

Here's my cousin Michelle, me, and the Mind Eraser I'm about to devour...

Sunday was Mommy's (aka my paternal Grandmother) Birthday. Her family is her life, and it was good to see most of my cousins come together again on Sunday afternoon. Happy Birthday, Mommy.

That brings us back to today, Monday, my actual birthday... as I mentioned how birthdays are meant to celebrate one's life... well we are also meant to celebrate one's life when one passes away.

This morning, I found out via the Cabal that Mike Wieringo passed away on Sunday. I think the best way I can summarize my feelings is to plainly repeat what I wrote on the Cabal:

I've only started collecting comics here in the 2000s, and although I've read quite a bunch of comics, I don't think I've quite scratched the surface of it all...

Unfortunately, most, if not all of Wieringo's work is one of those somethings I've yet to experience. I've admired his artistic style each time I've glanced through his work. As has been mentioned here, and on other places: his pieces have wonderful hints of hope.

And again... 44?? It boggles my mind at just how unfair life is. Jay, you mentioned examining your own mortality... that type of pondering will always come up in the wake of such a tragedy. I think to an extent, we all are right now. I mean, fuckin 44??

I celebrated a birthday this past weekend, and then this morning learn of Ringo's passing?? This world works in some screwy screwy ways. I hate to state the obvious guys, but always tell your family and friends you love them. At this moment, I'm sitting on a couch in a room full of people I'm close to, and damn... I cannot begin to express just how really surreal this all is.

I'll get caught up on my "must read" list as soon as I'm able to, which in a way, I hope only grows and grows... and while I am, please Rest in Peace Mike.

I just also wanna add that I hope that everyone remembers to live life, and enjoy it. It's a beautiful thing, and share it everyone you know and love. You just don't have to drink yourself into the oblivion that I did over the weekend, teeheehee, yeah... As my dear friend Justin once said: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.

Where was I when Barry Bond's hit #756?

2007-08-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

So I had that Goldilocks shoot yesterday. For those that don't know, it's a Filipino restaurant. Oye, was it long. But a nice and fun experience none the less.

The commercial is about a husband and his pregnant wife ordering and then enjoying some "luscious lumpia," "pork barbecue that looks super tasty," and "Wow. Sotanghon."

Actually, in addition to just being a PA on the shoot, I got a spot as an extra. Not to take away from the cute couple, but I snagged the very important role of playing the person in front of them in line. You see my face for what will probably and eventually be for less than two seconds -maybe even less- but you do get to see my backside for probably four seconds. Maybe five. Oh well.

It was a fun little job to add to my resume, and met some new people as well. This particular Goldilocks we shot at is in Newark, CA. By far and away, this is the biggest Goldilocks locations that I have ever seen with my own two eyes. In fact, it was the second time that this particular store was used to shoot a Goldilocks commercial in.

As the day wore on, I got to know more of the crew and cast, which again, is very cool. I got to meet the couple who played... the couple, and I must say that they did a mighty fine job. And then there's the rest of the cast that I got to meet... the food... I ate a lot of food on set while I wasn't doing anything, and well.... but I think I'm gonna lay off Goldilocks for a while before I get to the point that I just don't wanna ever eat their food again.

For those that have read this blog, and especially for those that know me personally, you already know that first and foremost, I bleed Oakland Athletics colors. But I'm just as much a fan of baseball, and didn't get to see Barry Bonds' 756th homer live like most of you because I was at work. That's history and I wish I could have witnessed it right as it happened. But as luck would have it, it was during our dinner break that Chris, the 1st AD on the shoot, blurted aloud his wanting to check the Giants... and immediately I remembered that I had forgotten to set my TiVo to record the Giants game for that night, and I immediately called my brother, Pat, to check the game. At the time that I called my brother, it was the Top of the 5th inning and Bonds still hadn't hit number 756... and it just so happened Pat and his family had just arrived to my place to visit my mom and dad and I asked him to record the rest of the game for me, which he did. Now skip ahead to no less than 10 minutes later, and one of the managers at Goldilocks pronounces aloud that Bonds just hit a homer.... THE Homer.... It sucked that I couldn't see it live -especially since I begrudgingly sat through Monday night's game and channel surfing to the A's game as well.

I mean, usually I feel pretty damn dirty when watching a Giants game -when they're not playing the A's- but I felt ESPECIALLY dirty watching a Giants game. Just about as dirty as I felt last week after actually going to AT&T Park to watch a game... but anyhow.... I got to watch the recording of the game that my brother started.... which was cool.

I think the whole dirty thing is best attributed to the fact that I've just been wanting Bonds to reach the record so we can move one, and get it over with... not because I love or loathe Bonds.

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams came to speak to the journalism class that I took this past spring, and well... what they had to say in their reports, and in their book, and what they mentioned in class... is pretty damming stuff, but I'm not gonna put down Bonds until something truly definitive about Bonds knowingly taking steroids comes out. So until that happens, I won't do it. It's something not meant for me to judge. So I won't. But Bonds completing his 756th home-run trot is a seminal moment in sports history, that is for sure.

I watched the recording of the game after I got home, which was something of about 1 in the am. It was a nice end to my long day.

Comic-Con 08 or BUST!!

2007-08-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

I was planning to blog about turning in my keys, and finally moving out of 11E in the city, and back to San Jose. But fuck all that emo shit! I wanna go to Comic-Con!

After reading just a few tidbits of my fellow Caballeros' SD Comic-Con stories that transpired last weekened, I'm makin the proclamation right now: I AM GOING TO COMIC-CON IN SAN DIEGO IN 2008. No "ifs, ands, or buts about it!" I am going!

Feelin' Good!

2007-07-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

I'm Giddy. Seriously.

I haven't been this giddy in a while. Not since Alisha picked me up to go to the private Incubus show at Bimbo's last fall. I was so excited to look out my window, and see her pull up to the curb knowing I was about to see Incubus live for the first time in about two and a half years. What's more, I was completely unaware how fuckin bad ass that show would turn out. Which of course, is just what happened. I have now been to five Incubus shows, and that private show has become my favorite Incubus concert.

Which leads me to the here and the last few days. The A's just took two games outta three from the Angels in Anaheim. The A's pitched well, and they hit well, too. Despite coming up short in the third game where they had a chance at sweeping the Angels, the A's played well. It gives me hope for the rest of the season. Coming into this morning (July 26th, 2007), the A's are still in third place behind the Angels and Mariners, and 10.5 games behind first place. But in order to win the AL WEST, the guys just gotta start playing well before getting back into the race. It's the whole walk before you run idea, I guess. But if the A's can just play well, then that's all we can all hope for at this point.

Speaking of baseball; I went to a San Francisco Giants game against the Braves. *shudder*sigh*gag*

It was me, Pat, Bella, Kayla, and Mike that went. Pat bought tickets to the game last week after Bonds hit those two home runs in Chicago in the hopes that we would be witnesses to history. Well, history my arse. Bonds didn't even play last night (the third game of a four game series). Boo! And when I say "Boo," I mean "Boo!"

Not "Boo-urns!"

I can't believe it cost $30 to park in the lot over there, and needless to say, we didn't park in the lot. And where we were sitting in the third deck in that loft in left field, we couldn't even see the left fielder, the jumbo-tron, the giant glove, or the giant Coke bottle!! The two best things that I experienced last night was eating that hot dog I ate, and wearing my A's gear to the game. Obviously, if you're a fan of one team, and going into your rival team's home park will make feel a bit lost, what with being in foreign territory and all, but I must say that I felt very full of pride walking around that park dressed in A's colors. A friend of mine who is a Giants fan took a girl out on a date to an A's game last year, and they wore A's gear to the game. I realized then how much I really do bleed green and gold, but what's more is that I was puzzled as to why he or anyone else would do such a thing. There is but one exception why I would wear Giants colors, and that would be to wear Justin's #7 jersey, and that's about it. There was one heckler who tried to get a rise out of us as we were leaving (after the 7th inning ended), but his heckling was pretty weak. Too weak to mention here.

Another thing that has me as excited as I am is the fact that I'm ready to really focus on writing again. I've taken a bit longer than I thought I would. In fact, I thought that after graduating in May, it would be best that I just keep up the momentum, and finish the CAoC script. Yet, as the last two months have shown, I've only added about 10-15 pages, and that was in the first two weeks after graduation. But I've been writing a few other things within the last couple of weeks that have gotten me back into the swing of things, and I feel like I'm ready to tackle CAoC all over again. I'd say I have another twenty to thrity more pages for CAoC before it's done, and being as rejuvenated as I am now coupled with a being able to stay focused, I can totally hit this script outta the park.

Comic-Con is finally back again, but alas, I'm not in San Diego for good ol' NerdProm '07. Oh well, I'll still get to Nerd Out at the midnight screening of the Simpsons Movie that I'm attending tonight! I was originally going to go to Livermore to watch it with Jamie and some other friends after Jamie does his prsentation over there. But it would cost me too much cash to go there seeing as I'd have to go to SF from San Jose via Caltrain and BART. It sucks for sure, but I figure we'll watch the Simpsons Movie together at another time since we're all huge Simpsons fans. My bad, James. I'll nerd out in future screenings just as I'll nerd out this weekened. Especially, if I get to see The Dark Knight teaser trailer that's supposedly attatched to be seen before the Simpsons Movie. WooooHoooo!!

And before I go, I said in an earlier post that Batgirl/Barbara Gordon would soon be MINE, and now, she is!! [insert badly dubbed maniacal laugh]

The difference between a reason and an excuse.

2007-07-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

I just read a pair of reviews of Transformers from Aint it Cool.

Harry's review

Vern's review

Here's the thing folks. The movies that have been released so far this summer (beginning with the week Spider-Man 3 came out), have done fairly alright. Knocked Up in sofar is my favorite of the summer. And what I mean by favorite, I mean to say the best all-around film (and that begins with I believe to be the singular most important aspect in film: the story)

Other's will say Transformers, others may tell you Live Free or Die Hard, Ratatouille, and so on, and so forth.

Walking out of the theater with my friends after watching Transformers, the general consensus was that it was a pretty good film. Except for one friend, Kimo, who thought that there was "a little too much humor." I wasn't exactly ready to embrace the film, or tear it shreds that night, but I have since thought about it.

Bumblee. Isn't he supossed to be an actual Volkswagen Bumblebee? Isn't that part of who he is? The reasoning that I have heard as to why Bumblebee is a Camaro is that VW Bumblebee's surely aren't as fast as Camaros are (ie chase sequences). Well no shit! But that's where being creative actually comes in, and if you're Michael Bay (director), or any one of the writers or producers (that includes you, Steven Spielberg), you get creative, and don't put up a front about the fact that Camaros are faster than VW Bumblebees. Not all car chases have to reach 90 mph.

Jean Luc Godard said that all you need in order to make a movie is a gun and a girl. Well, we got a girl in Megan Fox, but what about a gun? What about the fact that Megatron turns into a jet, and not a gun. That's bunk that they turn him into a jet. So the fuck what if it's silly to have the leader of the Decepticons turns into a stupid giant gun. Wouldn't you say a walking talking robot Camaro pissing on an NSA agent is silly? Because it is. And most certainly if Megatron were to transform into a gun, that would warrant the inclusion on Soundwave.

I have no real qualms about the plot considering most of the times, because if I remember right, the cartoon centered on the search of the cube(s) anyway, but still things with the military and the hackers were... well, they tried to fit so much. Just focus on the one human-robot relationship that should actually mean anything: a boy and his new car which just so happens to actually be a robot from another world. Focus on that, and cultivate it, and see where other human interaction fits in. Until then keep the story on the robots. And also, why do we see Optimus Prime's lips? He's supossed to have his mouth shield covering his mouth at all times. If it's to show his humanity, then that's just stupid, because he just looks out and out ridiculous with those tiny ass lips.

So here's the bottom line: I thought it was decent, but like Harry said in his review, I believe this movie could have been so much more.

People look at most studio films, and especially at the action films released during the summer months, like Transformers and look at them as being "blockbusters movies," or "popcorn movies," and say they're supossed to be corny with stupid jokes, and big explosions, and a bunch of "Ooooo-ing" and "Awe-ing."

My reply to that is so what? Is that a reason? Or is that an excuse?

At the end of Traffic, Catherine Zeta Jone's husband in the film tells Dennis Quaid's character that he doesn't see any difference from an excuse and a reason. And I must say that in either case, it's time to stop putting up with this shit, and just make a good action movie. Screw the excuses/reasons. Summer action movies don't and shouldn't have to use corny moments, and stupid jokes to qualify it as a successes. That's just being lazy, and uncreative.

Is it so wrong to have higher standards out of the modern summer blockbuster action movie?

LOL

2007-07-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hey, I was just chatting with a friend online, and there came a time that I wanted to type in "LOL." I genuinely thought something was particularly funny, and typed in "LOL," then I thought about other times when I felt like I had to actually laugh out loud so if to justify the acronym... Has anyone else ever laughed out loud (even just a snark) to justify an "LOL?"... Or is this just me not having anything to eat in the last 5 hours? =P

Catch-Up

2007-07-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. So much to talk about. So much to touch on...

***Went to the Kwik-E-Mart in Mountain View this past Friday, and again just today (err, Sunday).

Me and my buddy Ralph.

I took this one when I went on Friday with my friends, Mark, and when I went back there with my friends Jory and Melissa, they took pictures with Comic Book Guy that, well, if I owned the copyright to the pose, I could very possible sue them for violating said copyright. teeheheee

Aahh, Jasper. This one was a nice surprise to catch... just too bad the glare kinda makes it that you can barely see him...

***Played Texas Hold-'em with the guys on July 4th. It came down to me, Anthony, and Kimo. After Kimo got knocked out, I lost the tourney to Anthony. At least I got my five bucks back. The few hours we played, and hanging out with the guys just kinda reminded me of when I first learned to play at Justin's house. I rememeber Justin telling me that he enjoyed having people over and just hanging out more than anything else. Of course, he was pretty good at poker... Hrrmm, now that I think about it, I think he'd enjoy a Squishee. Maybe I'll visit him this week with a Buzz cola flavored Squishee.

***I didn't finish the CAoC screenplay like I had hoped I would. Or at least not by my end of June deadline. I swear I will get it done. I've resolved to spend this afternoon holed up in the library and get back on track with writing in general. This week, I wanna hammer out the 2nd Caballero Writing Workshop assignment before I turn my sights back on CAoC.

***Saw Ratatouille, Live Free or Die Hard, and Transformers in the last few weeks, and each one kicks arse in their own way. Ratatouille was simply great. It was fun, told a great story, and a lot of heart. Die Hard 4 was bad-effin-f*ckin-ass. John McLane is one of the greatest, strongest, and most relatable character in the history of modern cinema. And I dare say cinema's entire history. While Transformers was, well, it was all that I could hope it could've been. I had fun watching it. That is undeniable, but there are few things that I just can't get over. But to generalize all of my criticism is to simply say that the Autobots were well, weak... The Decepticons are inheritently stronger because they just don't give a fuck. Thus, they are some ruthless and evil sons of biotches. But to cut down on my rambling, I just think that the Autobots were handicapped to such a degree that they were made to appear that much more weaker than they really are.

***The trip to New York that Joseph and I were planning have pretty much fallen through. Which is sad really, because the planning stages fell through before we even had the chance to start with it. But I do want to do some sort of summer trip, somewhere.

***I gotta be out of the apartment by the end of the month. *sigh* It's gonna be pretty sad as the next couple weeks pass by.

***The last two A's games I've went to I got to the game early enough to catch the opponents' batting practice. And at batting practice before the A's-Reds game, I got a ball, but could have gotten two more easily. Oye...better one than none, I suppose. The recent game I went to was against the Mariners... I actually didn't realize I had tickets to the A's-Mariners game until about four hours before first-pitch... talk about absent-minded, eh?

***The Incubus show at the Greek in Berkelely is next Saturday, the 14th. I seriously cannot wait for this one. But I just gotta make sure whether or not I wanna do a P.A. work in the morning and afternoon before the show. Which is kinda more complicated than it should have been seeing as how I already agreed to the P.A. gig.... EEEEEEKK!!... Oh well, I'll work it out.

***I believe that is about it for now. Well, other than the fact that I need to stop being as lazy as I have been, and go find a job, and get caught up on all of my comics... cuz DAYYYYYYYUMMMMM, I need me some money pretty soon, and I don't wanna fall any further behind on what's goin on. A lot of good stuff is being released right now.

****SIGH* I just realized that this little baby was just released last week. I toally forgot about it, and it suddenly crept up on me... I must have this statue. I will have this statue, and it will be mine!!... Oh, it will be mine. [insert maniacal laugh here]

Perplexed

2007-06-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

With the details of the deaths of the Benoit family steadily coming to light, my stomach churns, and I shutter what to think and make of the situation. It hurts to see and hear all of that, and that leaves me with so many mixed feelings. It's to the point that I really don't want to think about it any longer because I want to remember Chris Benoit as the great man that I knew of him to be. But it's hard. So very hard.

But what has transpired is more than just a blemish. I don't think I even want to continue to think of a more fitting term.

I am perplexed. I am sad. I am feeling so many things that I just don't know how to describe it all. Maybe I'm just numb.

!!!

2007-06-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

Chris Benoit is dead.

He and his wife Nancy, and their seven year-old son, Daniel are dead as well. What the hell?

It is the morning after I have found out. The details have slowly come in, and it's becoming an even bigger nightmare than what it already was. As a wrestling fan growing up, as someone who tries to keep tabs on the current product every now and then, and as a Chris Benoit fan, this is at the end of the day, very tragic. So far, it appears that a double murder-suicide is what apprently took place.

My head is spinning as I try to get a grasp on the situation. To the point that I'm beginning to tire myself out.

But before I end this, I just way to express how much I loved to see Chris wrestle, and everything that he was. The consumate professional who possessed unequaled intensity and respect for not just wrestling, but life as well. Despite the preliminary details of the case, Chris Benoit was a great man who was part on a wonderful family, and I will try to remember him for all the good things that he was. My condolances to the Benoit extended family, and to all that knew him, and all the other fans out there as well.

This is truly a sad day ysterday was, and so will the next few days and weeks. This is all just so tragic. It's times like this that one should always remember to enjoy and live life for the beautiful gift that it is.

I didn't wanna go to bed all sad and depressed, so I watched a few episodes of the Simpsons on DVD to brighten me up a bit before I went to bed... hrrm, I few asleep with the light on. *sigh* Well I suppose that's all for now.

Just rememer folks: "Don't sweat the small stuff."

Lazy

2007-06-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

I am trying to juggle so many things right now, that a part of me is just plain lazy to do any of them or anything else. Hrrmm, I wonder if that even makes any sense.

But what I do know is that I need to get back to the ol screenplay. I haven't worked on it for a couple weeks now. There's been some pretty crazy and not so crazy things that have popped up that have taken up my time, but I really need to get back to it. I'm a little over 80 pages done, and I want to be completely done by the time the clock strikes midnight on the night of June 30th. That is the goal, and I intend on sticking to it. I got a bunch of other things I need to get done by the end of the summer, and I don't want this screenplay being dragged out through all that.

As I said that I want this thing completed by June 30, I wanna get 15 pages done by the end of this week. And when I say this week, I mean by midnight Friday night.

Party Like A Rockstar

2007-06-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

So Bella's party was pretty crazy. Mostly because I was drunk, and re-reading my post after that night... wel, I was drunk, there too. I mean, remember that line from Prince's 1999??

"I was dreaming when I wrote this."

Well, for me, and the previous post was... "I was drunk when I wrote this."

Turns out I took around 90-something photos on Saturday night. Well, I didn't take all 90 photos, but well, you get the idea. Anyway, thank goodness for 2GB memory cards.

So yeah. I went to Day 2 of Super-Con. Met and chatted things up with Terry and Rachel Dodson. I wish I knew image codes, or else I would post an image of their work. But yeah, the Dodson are good people, and Terry added to my sketchbook. Next time when I get the chance I will definitely try to get a commissioned piece from them.

I also saw Knocked Up last night, too. Funny as fuck!

*sigh* I have a jury summons this week.

It was a Good Day.

2007-06-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

I went to the Isotope launch party for Matt Silady on Friday night. It was fun. See someone's publishd work come to fruition is an amazing sight.

Matt, congratulations. Well deserved.

I went to Super-Con this afternoon. Bill Morrision added a great piece to my film noir sketchbook. It is absolutely beautiful. And I got a thing or five signed by Mark Waid, too. I just wush I could've gotten Jim Lee to add ato my film noir sketchbook. Boo!

Even still, I've learned why he is so good at what he does.

He takes painstaking care of his craft. It was so very evident waiting in line for him to do a sketch for me. For in the end, I didn't get a sketch.

That does indeed suck, but I am appreciative of thecare that he takes in his sketches. For that I am very thankful despite not comin way from Super-Con with a sketch by Jim Lee. Again, it sucks. But for those that had said that they would be happy with just a simple head-shot / two-minute sketch.... i call Bougie..... because, you like, I know you want something more. Especially if someone the likes of Jim "effin fucken" Lee is willing to take the time to do, then just let him take the time to do the sketch.

I want a a film noir illustration from the man, If he's goin to take the time to do the sketch that the others in front of me want of him, then I want the sketch that he's willing to do for me.

Jim: Thank you for staying as long as you did for us on Saturday 2, 2007 at Super-Con. One day, I will get a sketch from you that falls under the film noir column. Until then, well, it was a good day. For us adults, we celebrated Bella's B-Day at Farenheit. Twas a good time that we had. Happy Birthday Belle! It's three in the a.m on early Sunday morning.... and shit! I gotta be up in six hours in order to make it to Day 2 of Super-Con 2007! Oh well, just got grt it through as per usual. I know I can stll get a chance at her.

It will come.... and how we stumble upon a bachelorette party, and well, how cool was that? hrrm, nvm.

Online

2007-05-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

Damn. Having no internet connection is a double edged sword.

On the good, I can just relax, go out and do whatever and just unplug myself from what's goin on. Yet on the other hand, I'm unplugged from what's goin on. I posted a bulletin on myspace about the photos I posted from last Friday night at Trad'r Sam. It's sort of like Bud Geracie's Wake of the Week... Only, you know, about a night out at a bar...

The bulletin consisted of two lists. One about what is self-evident in the photos, and the other about stuff that only people who were there would know about. I figure I'd go a step further, and rip off Geracie's column once again for the purposes of this post.

-I got a page or two of dialogue on the ol screenplay done. Altogether total is now 75 pages.

-Goin to the Isotope on Friday for the launch party of Matt Silady's The Homeless Channel.

-Today, Wednesday May 30th, is Bella's Birthday. Happy Birthday Bella!

-I took my financial aid exit counseling, and found out the government thinks I'm not scheduled to graduate until May 27, 2008. Interesting?!?

-Super-Con is comin' up this weekend, June 2 & 3.

-I'm gonna have to cut my pull-list down. And it is gonna have to be a very considerable cut. I wonder how Greg is gonna react to that.

-I'm thinking the plan for the next screenplay isn't gonna be what I've been telling people. I think I wanna go in another direction. Comparing the script I'm working now, and the original second project just seems a little too similar in terms of tonality. I've been thinking that I should change it up, if only to prove to myself and to others my range of capability. A lot of back and forth right now. Nothing definite until I finish what I'm working on now.

-On Tuesday, I exchanged the Chucks I got on Monday, and got some Puma's instead.

-I wanna go to the driving range. Anyone down to come with?

-I really wanna pick up the Bloc Party cd's. I feel like an ass for not already owning them.

-Gotta start thinkin about how to break down the short film I wanna make this summer.

-Went to the A's-Rangers game on Monday after stopping by Tim & Cindy's place. It was there "going away party," and well, I wanted to make sure I went so as to say "goodbye." Well, not "goodbye," but you know, wish them well.

-"Fine Young Asians." Cindy: believe me when I tell you that I will make FYA come to life.

-I'm gonna visit Justin today.

Challenges

2007-05-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

So I didn't let out a river of tears that I was expecting. It was just accomplishment, and an exhilarating feeling. I still gotta figure out my living situation after July, and what my plans are for the future in general. I know that writing is quite literally one of the most uncertain endeavours that a person can set out to do, but then again, that's why Iove doing it as I do.

I like meeting and exceeding challenges. I've overcome a lot of them within just the last two years or so, and accomplished a lot of things. Yet, there are so many more challenges that await me in the years to come. And that is how it should be. The challenge right now is where i want to live after this July.

Sleepy Time

2007-05-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

But not really. I just wrote some emotionally charged stuff on a bulletin on MySpace. I've written nothing quite like it before, and I gotta say that it was something I had to get off my chest. There were two major happenings that made for a shitty few hours before goin out to Trad'r Sam tonight, and the trifecta was completed by the end of the night. But despite this third happenstance, I had a good time.

I knew I was gonna have a good time tonight, no matter what, I just didn't think that the trifecta would have come the way as it did. But hey, shit happens, so you deal with it. i'm sure in the next few days, that will happen.

But for now, it's my FUCKIN GRADUATION DAY!!

Congrats to all graduates everywhere.

Countdown

2007-05-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Not the DC weekly comic, but to well... the weekend's festivities. This is a big weekend for me. Probably more than I realize right now. Ever since walking out of class on Wednesday afternoon, I've been in a daze. I've been just trying to take notice of every last detail out of every last thing that I've come across, as well as trying to enjoy everything too.

I'll say it right now, just so I can prove documentation, but also so that I can just relieve myself of it, but, well... I'm gonna be a wreck tomorrow. Not just because I'm goin out bar hoppin' tonight (in a few hours), but it's my graduation day. A big day. And I'm gonna lose it at some point, and in typical fashion, I will try to hold it in. But hard as it I may try, no dam or levy will contain the river that will hit me.

My family and friends in attendance will likely get teary eyed, too. This is a big weekend that also includes a production assistant job on Sunday for the Mission Street Carnival, and I get paid for it too. And I owe a huge bit of THANKS to my firend James for helping me get this gig.

This is a huge weekend. I'm aware of that. I'm just trying to compartmentalize it all. Right now is just the calm before the storm. And with that, let the countdown begin!

The Last Final

2007-05-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well I hope so, anyway. My film noir final was supposed to be on Friday, but got an email on Monday night from my professor telling us she was changing it to Wednesday. As in today, Wednesday. Hrrmmm, did that ever add stress on my shoulders. Bougie. Bougie I say! Anyhow, I took the final, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I just also hope I get credit for the three one-unit classes I took as well. There's no real reason why shouldn't though. I wrote those papers well enough. Maybe I'm just thinkin about everything too much.

I'm just trying to wrap myself around the fact that I'm essentially done with school. I won't flat out say "it" "officially" until I receive my diploma in the mail. But yeah, I'm done. I. AM. DONE. Let me say write that one more time: I AM DONE. There are only so many points in one's life where you feel the curents in your life change. This is definitely one of those times. I'm just trying to soak it all in, and enjoy it somehow.

No more waking up in the morning to go to school. So what now?

I get up in the morning to make that money. With a little help and support from my family and friends, and maybe some strangers, too... I just might be able to make that money by being a writer. I know I have it in me to do it. I feel it. I know I'm not meant to be on this earth for any other reason.

It's scary, it's crazy, it's a helluva challenge. So fuck it: It's time to make it happen.

The Power

2007-05-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

As uttered by Tobey Maguire in Spidey 3: "It feels good."

I turned in my 72 pages of my screenplay to McBride today. After printing it, I put the red cardstock covers on, and then the brads... and after all that, I just sat there with a real sense of accomplishment. I know I'm only 72 pages into the script, but it feels good. It really, really does. Just gotta finish her off now. I'm setting up a due date for around mid-June... this summer is gonna be fun.

Days 3 and 4 of 4

2007-05-20T16:08:00.001-07:00

So the frat party wasn't all bad, but still not all that great either. But it was interesting, that fasho. Relay for Life was fun, but missed the Illuminaria though. The fact that I missed it really sucks. Then went to Isotope for the Ed Brubaker party. It was fun. When I next have some free / down time, I'll post some photos that I've accumulated over the last couple of days. There's a lot more to write of, but maybe I'll save it for when I post the photos. Besides, I gotta get to reading and studying. I still got finals to think about.

I'm so close to that finish line that is graduation. This week, I just gotta focus on the work at hand. Gotta remind myself to beathe this week.

Days 1 and 2 of 4

2007-05-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Man, last night was some shit in the Filmore. I can't believe I'm prepared to have go out again tonight. Frankly, I should be studying right now, but I figure I can spend ten minutes blogging. Anyway, I'm up to the magic number of page 70 on my screenplay. Although I need to review it all and revise it before I turn it in on Monday to McBride, but it feels good how it is right now. If I didn't have my other two finals to worry about, I'd plow through the rest of this screenplay. But I guess that's what the month of June is gonna used up for.

Anyway, this weekend through next week and and next weekend is gonna be some kind of blur.

Another Wednesday

2007-05-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

And yet again, I am up after a night of partying. I want to get back to my screenplay, but I just can't concentrate on it. Maybe this'll help.

I have something to say, something to write. But hell if I just can't harness it! Maybe I'm just too tired to make sense of all the emotion I have right now, but fuck, it is half past 2 in the morning...

I did not drink tonight. That was the goal for tonight, and it was something I was able to manage, and I was able to have a pretty decent time. What a fuckin night. I just wanna get through this last week and a half of school, and graduation, and maybe this load of stuff will lighten up. I hope.

Who Knows...

2007-05-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

Tristan's 13th birthday was today. The fam and I went out to have dinner at Buca located at Oakridge. That niece of mine is a teenager now? Gah damn! Not to mention the fact that she's getting taller by the day. Hell, she's getting near my height. Happy Birthday TeeTee.

I'm not as upset about the Warriors losing to the Jazz as I had been about the postseason meltdowns that the A's have had. Likely because, and I've said this before, I bleed green and gold. But the Warriors did have a helluva run, and energized every person around the Bay, and in the words Philip Marlowe: "It's okay with me."

Also if the Warriors losing tonight wasn't bad enough, I didn't get to see the last episode of Gilmore Girls. The TiVo got the channels all fucked with... as in The CW is channel 12, and when the TiVo changed the channel, it changed it to 0-2, instead of 0-1-2... BooBoo! BooBoo I say! Ahh well, the network is repeating the episode this coming Sunday night, so I'll definitely be in front of the Telly that night.

Other than that, I need to get to writing.

The Virgin Post

2007-05-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Get your heads out of the gutter. This is my first blog post here on blogger.

I have been working on completing my first feature length (spec) screenplay. I've been working on it since the beginning of last fall, dating back to my screenwriting class. I've since continued working on the script while in my current screenwriting class.

I don't like that the best way to describe this story as by saying: "It's a personal story that..." Yet, the hell with it. This story is what it is. It's a semi-autobiographical story. I mean, I've yet to learn much of anything. Or at least, that's how I see things, and so, what do I know??

I know enough about my life, my neurosis, and everybody that's in it, so that's what I've done. I'm relatively done with all the stuff a writer is supossed to do before he even begins writing "FADE IN," and am about 50 some odd pages into the first draft. It's got a structure to it that I'm really quite proud of, and I think I've wasted enough time this morning trying to set up this account and making this first post.

But basically, most of the time I'll post stuff about the script, or about how the writing of it is going, and whatever else comes or goes in my life. Like for instance, Diane IM's me about how to set up her iPod to her computer, and coversely, how to set up her iTunes, or that I woke up at 6:30 this am, and went to rented my Cap and Gown for Graduation... surreal stuff goin on in my life right now. Just though I'd write it down.