A supreme Halloween 2009: Justice!

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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...

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!