Category Archives: Uncategorized

San Diego Comic Con

Well, I made it. Thanks to Janna Knudson (of Moodoo Puppets) and William Stout, my girlfriend and I were able to attend Comic Con for free today. Unfortunately, we arrived later than I’d hoped and missed a lot of the events I was hoping to see: Neil Gaiman’s panel, Comic & Animation business panels, Kevin Smith, etc. Regardless, we still had a nice time and I got to attend my first comic convention and see San Diego in the same day.

The con was huge, but I don’t know if it was as big as E3. They are definitely close. I only spent a little time on the room floor and there was merchandise and artists everywhere. I attended a few panels. We saw a few short independent films including Batman: Dead End. This is a fan production shot for $30K featuring Batman taking on the Joker, alien, and Predator. It was very well put together especially considering the budget. The crowd went wild over this one, so much so they played it twice in succession. The only way to see this movie is at conventions because they can’t sell it due to the fact Warner Brothers owns the characters. Hopefully, it will leak onto the internet eventually. I also attended the Adult Swim panel where clips from the new season were previewed and various creators/VAs answered questions. Hopefully, next year I will spend the entire weekend at Comic Con. There is lots I’d like to see that five hours won’t cover. If all goes well, maybe I’ll have a booth.

As for William Stout, he is a great guy. Click his name and visit his website. Read the biography. He has an amazing history yet still manages to be a nice guy with no hint of ego. Hell, I’ve only met him twice and today he gave Jennifer and I some sandwiches when we stopped by his booth and spoke with us as if we were his friends. The art world needs more people like him.

Neighbaz Nearly Next

I went ahead and released all 3 of the last Mr. Fourchinnigan strips today. This completes the Neighbaz story arc. I’m going to take a break from the strip. I’m going to be using my free time to try to get a comic together to submit to the Tokyopop contest. Then I’ll start new Chinny strips in September. I haven’t decided what the focus of the next arc is going to be. It may have to do with Chinny’s history before he was homeless, but maybe not.

What would you guys like to see in the comic-strip?

Celebratory Sales Sucker

Tonight was the big show at the Derby. If you have never heard of the Derby, it is the club where Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed in the movie Swingers. You know, the club where they get in free by going through the kitchen. Anyway, we performed the Marvelous World of Moodoo puppet show on a bill with Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang as well as the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (whom we performed with at the Silverlake Lounge). The show went fairly well and Bruce McCulloch from Kids in the Hall(the best sketch comedy show ever next to The State) fame was in the audience. A reporter from Entertainment Weekly was in the Green Room interviewing the Trachtenburgs throughout the night. Those guys can draw a crowd. All-in-all it was a good night and it made me feel like the puppet show could be headed in the right direction.

Heated Hairpiece Hamburger

The wonders of the internet. For a good while, my site would get roughly 500 visitors a day give or take 100. Lately, that hasn’t been the case. For the last month, I’ve been getting about 100 visitors a day or 200 tops. I looked at my stats for today and it shot up to nearly 800. The only reason I can see for this would be a link for CCS#3 I found here under 15 July. It’s funny how big a difference one little link in the right place can make.

If you are in Los Angeles:
Go to the Derby tomorrow night (16 July). We are performing the Moodoo puppet show at 8:00pm sharp. Be there or be a bitch.

See the Beatles Leave the Airport

A few nights ago, my phone rang at 1:00am. Being 1:00am, I thought it was safe to assume it would not be a telemarketer, despite the fact they are the only people that call me on a regular basis. I lifted the receiver. A rather heavy british accent emanated from the telephone. His name was Shaun. He lives in the UK and he digs my Flash work. We spoke for a while, he seemed like a genuinely good guy, and that was that. Sure it was a bit awkward, but it was kind of nice to know that regardless how insignificant I feel, there are actually people across the globe who know my name and my work and appreciate it the way I do a new comic on Wednesdays.

The downside of life: my A/C has been out all weekend.

The Prodigal Son Returns!

I have returned. I got back to L.A. last night. I had a good time in Baton Rouge and Pensacola despite the mostly rainy weather and I now have a sister-in-law. My brother’s wedding was short and quick. It was on the beach and when it was over it didn’t feel like I had been to a wedding at all. I guess that is a good thing because some weddings can be a long drawn-out borefest. My niece is getting big. She is a cute happy toddler and pretty smart.

I found a pack of Transformers G1 playing cards at Target tonight for $1.98. Despite my financial situation, I bought them. They are pretty cool, although Optimus Prime is the 5 card. Why in the hell isn’t he the king?

Swollen Swab Swimmer

Well, it’s nice to have a break for a bit. I started working at the bookstore a few days ago. Between that and puppetshow performances, I have been quite busy.

Today (or Yesterday to be precise according to the time), Hillary Clinton was autographing her new book at the bookstore. That was somewhat chaotic, but not nearly as much as it could have easily been. Lots of people seem very interested in that book. The best part is there were probably a few thousand people lined up waiting for her all morning long while four (yes 4) protestors stood across the street. I don’t really know what they were protesting. Last I checked, writing books is neither a crime nor a means for protest. I guess there was nothing interesting on television today.

As for the puppetshow:
We performed Wednesday night at the Silverlake Lounge (as mentioned below), Saturday night at a birthday party, and Sunday afternoon at the Absolut Chalk Fest here in Pasadena. That isn’t counting rehearsals.

Chalk Fest is a cool event, the area around city hall is closed off for the weekend and numerous artists create artwork made entirely from chalk. Some even incorporate the cracks in the concrete in their work. It is amazing what some of these artists can create with chalk on concrete. Some of the pieces look like paintings. Maybe, I’ll do a chalk piece next year.

This is the Pasadena City Hall.

Well, off to Shonen Jump with me.

Magical Musical Mayhem

Last night we performed the Moodoo Puppetshow at the Silverlake Lounge. It went fairly well and the crowd was quite large most likely due to the first L.A. appearance of The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players for whom we opened. If you haven’t heard of them or seen them on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, they are a family that collects slides from estate sales and other venues. They then take these slides and create songs about them. During their performances they project the slides and sing along which is both entertaining, funny, and sometimes peppered with a bit of social commentary. They put on a great show.