Compartmentalizing

So, I've been feeling extremely scattershot lately in respect to what I'm working on and what my goals are. I'm all over the place. It's been like that scene in The Great Dictator where Hynkel is going from room to room, posing for paintings, playing piano, approving military inventions, romancing the secretary, running the government, etc.



I'm supposed to be in three different places tonight.

So I've been trying to break everything up, and attack things in chunks. I haven't been entirely successful, but I've been making a little progress. I've got two new scripts underway, I've got some ads out for artists, and a whole pile of ideas that I need to get rid of. Right now it's just an ongoing process of elimination: goal-oriented stuff stays, everything else goes. I'm seriously considering a significant alteration of my web presence.

I'll get it figured out eventually.

Yay!

FINALLY, the future is shaping up to be something I want to be a part of:

'Spider-man' suit secret revealed

Back from East Coast.

Status: Not Dead.

Takehome from Warren Ellis Panel:

Three words:

Fatal Robot Cosplay

List

Here's my list of people I got to see/meet/hear at Comicon 2007, roughly in order:

The DC writing crew, notably Dan Jurgens, Paul Dini, Dan Didio
Syd Mead - Blade Runner
Ray Bradbury
Ray Harryhausen - Superpanel, watched 20 Million Miles From Earth
George Romero - Diary of the Dead - FANTASTIC Panel, great
Max Brooks - Zombie Survival Handbook - One of us.
J. Michael Straczynski
Peter David - Writing panel, valuable event, great H. Ellison anecdote
Orson Scott Card - Writing panel
Maggie Thompson - Comic Buyers Guide
David Petersen - Mouse Guard
Warren Ellis - Nuts, but hilarious. I got the last question at the panel!
Maddie Greene - The Engine, very kind.
Ben Templesmith - Fell, 30 Days of Night - Very Australian
Jonathan Hickman - Nightly News
Brian Wood - DMZ
Dan Curtis Johnson - Chase - Had a great lunch and conversation
J. H. Williams III - Desolation Jones, insane art Skillz
Lauren McCubben - Like everyone's crazy aunt, very sweet
Grant Morrison - Off-planet
Geof Darrow - Busy drawing
Art Adams - Busy drawing
Mike Mignola - Busy drawing
Matt Wagner - Busy drawing
Sergio Aragones - Saw him walking around
Jeff Smith - Nearly crashed into him on the exhibition floor
Jim Lee - Image Panel
Todd McFarlane - Image Panel
Erik Larsen - Image Panel
Jim Valentino - Image Panel
Mark Silvestri - Image Panel
Rob Liefeld - Image Panel
Whilce Portacio - Image Panel
Robert Kirkman - Walking Dead
Charlie Adlard - Walking Dead
Ryan Ottley - Image Booth
Frazer Irving - Gutsville - SUPER friendly guy filled with awesome
Rob Schrab - Scud
Mike Oeming - Image Panel
Matt Fraction - Casanova
Kelly Sue DeConnick - 30 Days of Night, too nice for words
Tycho and Gabe - PA - CAN'T DESCRIBE HOW AWESOME THIS WAS
Mark Evanier - The Eisners
Gene Simmons - Wandering the floor
Jennifer Love Hewitt - Wandering the floor(?)
Josh Hartnett - 30 Days of Night - SCARIEST PREVIEW EVER.
Sam Raimi - 30 Days of Night - He's hilarious in real life too.
Joss Whedon - Women love him.
Brian Posehn - Image panel
Gerry Duggan - Image panel
9000 Teenage Girls with "FREE HUGS" signs - EVERYWHERE.

Too many great experiences, anecdotes, advice, and stories. Information Overload.

Photos.

Heya, here's my San Diego Comic-Con 2007 Flickr set.

Enjoy. I'm not a photographer.

This is probably my favorite shot.

I'm realizing now that I shot a lot of Star Wars shots, which wasn't wholly intentional. I think it's because most of the Star Wars costumes belonged to a select group of cosplayers that realized that they needed to cover their shame.

Seriously. The fishnet stocking market must have gone through the roof last week.

Crisis on Infinite Cons

So, I'm burning through the first wave of con reporting, and it looks like I went to a different con than everyone else.

First off, we had a blast. Face-hurty hilarious fun. Great trip.

I got some pictures, which are awful. I'll get them on Flickr tonight.

I will try to rip through as many panels and things I got into as I can before I get tired of it. The whole weekend was nuts. Also, I lost six pounds.

I'm really tired, but glad to be back within hugging range of the wife and kids. Hugs 'r gud.

More later, fear not.

Oh, right.

San Diego Comic-Con is this week.

Wait. You mean it's tomorrow?

Uhhh. Maybe I should get ready.

And then Captain America opens a Gelato stand...

This is pretty nuts. I consciously avoid superhero comics, but I have been digging the heck out of (Marvel Comics executive editor) Tom Brevoort's blog.

This was fascinating:

The original pitch for Marvel's Civil War.

Also recommended are his series of "Comics I Screwed Up" posts.

DING DING!

GO RYAN!

Ryan Hamilton's Last Comic Standing Audition

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Oh my brain.

SDCC has released their programming schedule:

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci07prog_peek.shtml

I'm frantically beginning the process of cloning myself. There's no way I'm going to get to everything I want to see.

I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

Of Note:

In another lifetime, I was in a comedy troupe at Ricks College. We were called the Whigs. I performed for a semester, I think. Then I met a girl and my comedy career promptly ended.

Ryan Hamilton was in that troupe with me, I think he joined at the same time I did. We auditioned together. Impressions: very nice guy, super fun to improv with, and extremely funny. I probably haven't spoken to him in 13 years.

Here's Ryan now:



He'll be on Last Comic Standing on NBC, Wednesday July 11.

http://www.ryanham.com/

Break a leg.

I can't complain.

I won't deny things are difficult. But things slowly improve.

For example: my son has grown a full set of eight magnificent teeth. If you could only see the sheer unadulterated joy on his face when he bites someone, you'd plainly see life is packed with brilliance and beauty.

When you've got teeth that you can use to bite people, what do you have to complain about, really?

Life is fantastic. Go bite somebody.

Present and accounted for.

You should probably take a look at this:

Into the Pixel art exhibition

So yeah, what's been going on?

Good things. Family is fine.

Comics: Reading some fine comics. Gutsville is insane. DMZ is still noteworthy. Criminal is so filled with amazing comics that it makes my teeth hurt. Madman is suitably weird. Looking forward to Black Summer, more Fell, more Walking Dead.

Film: Finally saw Casino Royale. My review: pretty good, much less slutty. Also, watched Donner's Superman and the Secret of NIMH again. Excellence and nostalgia, great stuff.

Games: We (as in, the family) finally got around to beating Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker on our dusty, mostly-unused Gamecube. It was very positive. The children would rather watch Dad play Zelda than watch TV, which is interesting. Wife wants more Zelda. I'm taking a more serious look at family-oriented gaming than I have in the past. It's much more rewarding when you can share the fun.

Music: I don't know why, but I can't stop listening to Freezepop these days.

So that's the summary of my consumerism for the past month. Consuming instead of producing. Yes, I do feel badly about it. I promise, I'm repenting.

Coming up:
Will be in San Diego for the Comic-con from July 25-29. Let me know if you need me to pick up anything, sketches, swag, Warren Ellis DNA samples. I have it on good authority that everyone in the known universe will be there. Everyone.

Will be in Virginia August 6-14.

That's everything. Have a good Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Curse You Bendis!

So, Wife-Lady picked up one of the Ultimate Spiderman issues I grabbed for the kids from the quarter bin.

She's hooked. She wants to start picking up the trades. That and she's wanting to pick up the Madman Gargantua hardcover, because she's been dying to read the whole run.

And she's saying she's wanting to hit the cons with me.

She's read some of my comics in the past, but it hasn't been sticky. She liked Peter David's Incredible Hulk. She was mad that I only picked up the first issue of Whedon's Serenity.

Now I have no idea what our home will be like. Never in my wildest dreams.

I have a comic wife, and I don't know what to do about it.

Morally Obligated.

I should post this. My brother Troy and some friends created a pitch for a TV show for a class project. He came to me for story ideas, and I threw him this one:

(Warning: the acting will hurt you, but the premise is there. In Youtube terms, this stuff is Shakespeare.)



It's very unsettling to talk about an idea one week, and see a video of it the next. I think I'm going to outsource all of my story ideas to college students from here on out. Never underestimate the power of a class project deadline.

Sorry, blog.

Been busy. Been sick. Been playing with kids. Been working. Been watching movies. Been reading. Been commuting.

Been is an odd word. Look at that spelling, it's a mess. Been. It's like the name of a Hanna Barbara superhero's sidekick. Gleep. Been.

Forgive me, blog. Why must we drift apart? Maybe something interesting will happen, and we'll have more to talk about.

Until then, I'll see you when I see you.

Now I know something's wrong.

I'm so sick/sleep-deprived today that both of my eyes are twitching nonstop. Either permanent nerve damage, or... permanent nerve damage.

That kind of weekend.

Sweet.

Friendly Reminder.

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day.

Go get yourself some goodies.

I may as well just quit now.

Best Story Idea Ever.