Bumbershoot & Flatstock 14

We had a great time at Bumbershoot and Flatstock in Seattle over Labor Day weekend. It was good - really good. It was the best. It was fantastic.

Flatstock was what we expected it to be - a lot of poster artists hawking their wares. It's funny, because we're used to Comic-Con sized exhibit halls that stretch as far as the eye can see. Flatstock was the size of a basketball court (okay, maybe two basketball courts). But it was more than enough, since by the end of the day we spent pretty much all the cash we had.

In terms of poster artists, I like Frank Kozik, and I like Coop, but neither one was there. However, my fiance does like Patent Pending and the Bird Machine, and they both had tables that we passed by again and again, and a few more times again, just in case we missed something the previous time.

Most of the other artists we didn't really know, but we know what we like, so we figured out right away which ones had the graphic style that fit our tastes. Here's just a sample of some of the posters we got:

Hey, we went outside too. The weather was great for an outdoor festival, and the place was packed. There was a lot of tasty food, and we helped ourselves to the free shots of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Balance Bars. We sure do love free stuff.

There was a lot of live music being played all over the Seattle Center, but we didn't really bother seeing any of the bands. We did hear the Shins playing some of their popular songs. The festival was for three days, so we weren't there on the right day to see Fergie and her humps. Oh well.

We did manage to see one artist that I was somewhat familiar with named St. Vincent for a couple of songs. She's not really well known, so it was easy to get right up to the edge of the stage to take pictures like this:

All in all, we had a lot of fun and spent a lot of money. A most successful weekend.

Off To Seattle!

It's Labor Day weekend, the weather has been unbearably hot, and the Bay Bridge is closed all weekend. What do you do? You go to Seattle!

We're headed north, folks. Off to one of our favorite getaway cities...we're going to see the sights, eat a little crab, but mostly we're going to the Flatstock concert poster show at the Bumbershoot Festival! Wahoo!

Armed with a brand new portfolio, we hope to come back with a whole stack of cool posters. If they're all too expensive, then maybe we'll blow our whole budget on one poster. Who knows?

Simpsonized!

OK, we just couldn't resist it... we had to Simpsonize ourselves:What are you waiting for? Hurry! Simpsonize Me

Dries Twice As Fast

I had just got off a flight from Oakland to Dallas-Fort Worth, and as usual, I made a beeline for the men's room. When I entered the restroom, lo and behold, there it was:

The Dyson Airblade.

It's supposed to be the next big thing in hand dryers from Dyson, the maker of the vacuum cleaner. We have the "animal" model vacuum, and by golly, the thing really does work without losing suction. It's really neat to see all the dust, clumps of hair, and general scurf collected in the clear plastic container.

Anyways, the Dyson Airblade at the airport restroom was mounted on a floor-mounted stand, and it kind of looked like a trouser press. It's got that kind of smooth plastic construction just like the vacuum cleaners. It looks pretty cool, but its seemed a little out of place.

I saw several guys give it a strange look as they walked by. But I knew what this thing was as soon as I saw it. I had read about the Airblade, and was eager to try it. If the vacuums sucked so well, the Airblade had to do a great job of blowing. As I did my business at the urinal, I couldn't wait to wash my hands. That doesn't happen too often.

I washed up and approached the Airblade with my wet hands. You're supposed to put your hands in the openings at the top of the machine, and slowly draw them out. The Airblade is supposed to "squeegee" the water off your skin with a continuous jet of air. I put my hands in, and slowly raised them up. A blast of cold air hit me, which was kind of a surprise. I pulled my hands completely out, and...

...they were still kind of wet. I probably didn't move slowly enough, but I really hoped the thing would work more quickly then it did. I ended up wiping off my hands on my jeans. There was a man in a shirt and tie who was watching me use the Airblade; thinking he shared the same curiosity that I did, I looked at him and kind of shrugged my shoulders. He looked back at me like I was crazy.

Maybe I need to give it a second try, but I didn't see the big leap ahead in hand-drying technology. I guess we'll need to wait a little longer before we can really live like the Jetsons.

SDCC 2007 Report, Part 3

OK, after a brief interruption with the King, here's my big San Diego finale. We've seen stars, we've seen a lot of freaky things, and finally we get to buy stuff. I love the Comic-Con... it's the one of the few times during the year that I actually buy stuff from real flesh & blood people. Otherwise, its all online for all my comic-related needs.

So what did I get? Good question.

The latest volume of Mark Schultz: Various Drawings, signed especially for me!

Tripwire, a British comics magazine that's come back to life in a new annual format...

Matchbox Labels, a neat book I got from Bud Plant depicting matchbox cover art from around the world...

A hardcover edition of The Professor's Daughter, a graphic novel about a romance between a woman and a mummy in Victorian London...

Belle du Jour, a collection of cheesecake drawings by Bill Presing...

Uptight number 1 and 2, both signed with a sketch by Jordan Crane...

The Comics Journal number 284, with a Roger Langridge interview...

Captain America: Winter Soldier TPB - because you can never have too much Captain America...

Fleet Street Scandal: A Collection, with some really cool art by Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham...


Plus much, much more! Too bad Comic-Con comes only once a year.

The King & I

Last week I was in Memphis for work, and by sheer coincidence it was Elvis Week. I'm no Elvis fan, but I felt obligated to go to Graceland since I was in the neighborhood.

First of all, it was hot in Memphis. Hot as in 103 degrees hot and plenty humid. It wasn't pleasant. Elvis would have thought it was really hot and flew his jet to somewhere cooler. If I was feeling truly unmotivated (which isn't a stretch for me), I would have just stayed in my air-conditioned rental car and did a drive-by of the place. However, I miraculously decided to get out of my car and check out the visitor center.

Apparently, a lot of people still love Elvis. The place was packed. There were a lot of Elvis fans waiting in line to take the guided tour of the mansion. There were a lot of fans trying to stay out of the sun. There were a lot of fans just milling about, buying anything with Elvis' picture on it. That was enough to convince me that that I really didn't want to see Graceland. I decided to save $25 and see what I could from the street for free. Here's what I saw:

The wall in front of Graceland where everyone writes, "we love you, Elvis"

The sign in front that told me I had the right house

Look! Past the trees...Graceland!

Mission accomplished!

SDCC 2007 Report, Part 2

Let's have a look around the exhibit hall, shall we? If you concentrate hard enough, you can just smell the enticing odor of the unwashed hordes...

Hey, its Sgt. Slaughter!

Original Tim Sale Heroes artwork

Clever...

DC Booth

Carmen Mirandarth

Hey, its Danny Trejo - badass of the silver screen!

Who's that guy behind Captain America? Get out of the way, fool!

Warner Bros. booth

Lionsgate had a real amputee (no Rose McGowan, though)

Look at that guy in the headband! Ha ha ha!

The original version of the Iron Man armor...sweet!

Once you reach one end of the hall, you turn around and walk back. That's just the way it is.

Get it? Pea standing up! Ha ha ha!

Next time: A cornucopia of riches!
(Or...what I bought)

SDCC 2007 Report, Part 1

Now that over a week has passed since the San Diego Comic-Con ended and no one cares anymore, it's time to tell everyone how the trip was for us. By the way, how do other bloggers blog so quickly? Sure, it's great to get information right after it happens, but where do these people find the time? Don't they have other stuff to do? Don't they watch TV?

But back to San Diego. Whenever someone asks me, "So how was Comic-Con?", I never say, "Well, I saw a guy in a Spider-Man suit. He was a lot shorter than I thought Spider-Man would be, and not nearly as muscular."

No, the thing that impresses people the most is the celebrities. We sat through hours of panels to see the stars, and we weren't disappointed. This year we saw Steve Carrell, The Rock, Ed Burns, Shannyn Sossamon, Kate Beckinsale, Clive Owen, and many others.

I could just list them all out, but this year, I have blurry photos to share:

Edward Norton!

Liv Tyler!

Milla Jovovich!

Josh Hartnett!

Gwyneth Paltrow! Robert Downey Jr.!

Captain America! Wait...Captain America?

Next time: The Wild & the Woolly from the Exhibit Hall...

Off To San Diego!

It's that time of the year, folks. We're headed off to the annual San Diego Comic-Con for another four days of celebrity sightings and crowd surfing. Here are my goals for us this year:

1. Take more pictures

2. Walk around aimlessly until our feet hurt

3. Buy lots of books I probably won't get around to reading for a really long time

3. Get super close to Robert Downey Jr. and scream, "Iron Man rules!"

4. Belittle and mock as many people as possible. OK, maybe only those that deserve it.

Let's get to work!

Crossing the street from the convention center is always a highlight of the convention

Dios Mio

I received a piece of mail from Mexico the other day, and their postage stamps are rather colorful. However, the stamp with the mask kind of gives me the willies.


Whatever it is, the eyes are creeping me out. Yeesh.

Wall Map

From the Skymall catalog, its the 9 foot high by 13 foot long wall map mural!

Little Esmerelda knew much about the southern parts of South America, Africa and Australia. Sadly, she did not know where the US and Europe were located.

"When I grow up, I'm going to be the president of Antarctica!"

Peaceful Warrior

Last week we saw Peaceful Warrior on opening day. Why? Because we had free tickets. We like free. Who doesn't like free?

The movie is about the story of a young, arrogant UC Berkeley gymnast who learns a lot of life-changing lessons from a mysterious old man he calls Socrates. He suffers what should have been a career-ending accident, but with the help of the old man's teachings, he pulls himself out of it and becomes all he can be. It's a semi-true story based on a book of the same name.

Nick Nolte plays the wise old man. That's right, this guy:

There are little bits in the story about being able to jump really high or having super reflexes, but the heart of the movie is about the old man's ideology. Here's what I learned: Live in the moment. Do what you love. It's not the destination, it's the journey. Measure twice, cut once. The movie provides many more of these nuggets, but these are the only ones I remember. For a short while, I was semi-inspired by this new age, spacey movie, but as time has passed, it's ultimately kind of forgettable. Thank goodness it was free.

"Socrates, what is the meaning of life?"

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"

300

Being the comic book geek that I am, I have a built-in love for Frank Miller's 300. So I was really looking forward to the movie adaptation. We finally saw it on an IMAX screen last week.

So how was it? It's awesome. I think they made this movie with me in mind. However, I think it really has something for everyone.

Go Spartans!

For the guys: 300 is a big, bold, loud, violent movie. The story is pretty straightforward, so it's not too taxing on the brain. It's got plenty of cool slow-motion battles with buckets of CGI blood splashing all of the place. The testosterone level is so high in this movie, you'll want to to whoop someone's ass after you leave the theater. Did I mention it was violent?

For the ladies: This movie has a lot of half-naked Spartans, and every single one of them has a six-pack. Let me tell you, Greeks love to do stomach crunches. They also love to stand in heroic poses, all greased up with muscles glistening. It wouldn't surprise me if a Chippendale's-type show opens in Vegas soon called "Spartans".

For the kids: Why would you want to bring your kids to this movie? It's rated "R", for pete's sake. What kind of parents are you? Didn't I just say it was a violent movie? Let your kids sneak in this movie on their own.

If you need a piece of quality blockbuster entertainment, look no further than 300. Don't forget to bring your spear, shield, & codpiece.

"Hey, stop pushing. Aieeeeee!"