Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Goodbye Wendy...
Wendy Wasserstein, prizewinning playwright, has passed away.
Click here for the full story.
This hits close to home for me because Wendy's play "Uncommon Women and Others" was my first college play and it remains one of my fondest memories of my teenage years.
I was a theatre major and we had to try out for EVERY play and musical no matter what or else we'd fail. I was a wee freshman and was scared to death at the prospect of trying out for a play with all of these more skilled thespians, but for some reason I got cast.
It was probably the best time I had while in college. I'll never forget it, and I think it made me a better person to have been in that particular play. It was an all female cast. I still have my playbook and the tokens that my fellow castmates and director gave me.
Goodbye Wendy, you will be missed...
Click here for the full story.
This hits close to home for me because Wendy's play "Uncommon Women and Others" was my first college play and it remains one of my fondest memories of my teenage years.
I was a theatre major and we had to try out for EVERY play and musical no matter what or else we'd fail. I was a wee freshman and was scared to death at the prospect of trying out for a play with all of these more skilled thespians, but for some reason I got cast.
It was probably the best time I had while in college. I'll never forget it, and I think it made me a better person to have been in that particular play. It was an all female cast. I still have my playbook and the tokens that my fellow castmates and director gave me.
Goodbye Wendy, you will be missed...
New Pieces in the Portfolio
I've posted some new pieces in my portfolio. These are four pages from the upcoming Viper Comics series Villains. I am coloring the back story with, again, the amazing Charlie Clark!
Also available for your viewing pleasure is the back cover for Villains issue #1 colored by yours truly with awesome art by NYC Mech's Andy MacDonald.
Clicky
Also available for your viewing pleasure is the back cover for Villains issue #1 colored by yours truly with awesome art by NYC Mech's Andy MacDonald.
Clicky
Monday, January 30, 2006
Some GNO pics...
Ok, here are the other pics from the evening.
The first two pics are the failed attempts at Lori pretending to take my and Laura's picture to capture the elusive Crazy Lady.
Success! Note the babushka.
This is the picture I was attempting to take when our friend jumped in.
Well I promised SOME wackiness right?
There you have it. We've collectively decided that Lori is going to make Margaritas and I'm going to make Fondue and Laura is going to show up for the next Girl's Night. This time its going to be Girl's Night In because nothing nutty can happen when we all just crash at my house...
Or can it??
The first two pics are the failed attempts at Lori pretending to take my and Laura's picture to capture the elusive Crazy Lady.
Success! Note the babushka.
This is the picture I was attempting to take when our friend jumped in.
Well I promised SOME wackiness right?
There you have it. We've collectively decided that Lori is going to make Margaritas and I'm going to make Fondue and Laura is going to show up for the next Girl's Night. This time its going to be Girl's Night In because nothing nutty can happen when we all just crash at my house...
Or can it??
GNO part two...
So we head over to the Sunshine Bar to see some of Laura's roller derby friends and there is ZERO standing room. This bar is about as big as a high school classroom and there was enough people in the bar to fill up a high school gymnasium.
I tend to get claustrophobic when in a room with so many people, so I was ready to just run for the door, but I toughed it out so that Laura could say hi to her friends. We saw one girl, Desi (?) and then we kind of just hung out to the tunes of a local band. I didn't catch the name...
Laura immediately gets hit on by this buttery shirt wearing guy who invited us to a party. He only gave us cross streets of where the party was to be held, because we should magically know where this happenin' place was by the rockin-ness that would be heard for miles, right?
We saw some choice artwork on the walls. E.T. on velvet. Yes, I'm talking THAT E.T. The lovable Reese's Pieces loving, mechaneck looking alien that captured all of our hearts as kids. There was also a sweet pair of Sol Beer sunglasses stuck to the wall...
I decided to take a picture of Lori and Laura since we have yet to have a Double L combo pic from previous GNO's, and that's when Lori's man for the evening decided to stick his neck out and pose with them for the picture as well...And the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words has never been more true than with this:
I'm not sure what's funnier...the fact that this guy is totally oblivious of what he's walked into, Lori's look of absolute HORROR at this guy's intrusion, or Laura's look of a kiss that's been missed.
Either way I about lost my shit and almost broke Lori's camera as I was overcome with fits of hysteria.
This guy was nice enough to take a picture of the three of us however, and it wasn't blurry like the drunk that we got to take a picture of the three of us LAST GNO...
It was shortly after this that we decided to call it a night.
All the wackiness ensued because Lori decided to wear her fancy shoes and trouble follows her wherever she goes...
I tend to get claustrophobic when in a room with so many people, so I was ready to just run for the door, but I toughed it out so that Laura could say hi to her friends. We saw one girl, Desi (?) and then we kind of just hung out to the tunes of a local band. I didn't catch the name...
Laura immediately gets hit on by this buttery shirt wearing guy who invited us to a party. He only gave us cross streets of where the party was to be held, because we should magically know where this happenin' place was by the rockin-ness that would be heard for miles, right?We saw some choice artwork on the walls. E.T. on velvet. Yes, I'm talking THAT E.T. The lovable Reese's Pieces loving, mechaneck looking alien that captured all of our hearts as kids. There was also a sweet pair of Sol Beer sunglasses stuck to the wall...
I decided to take a picture of Lori and Laura since we have yet to have a Double L combo pic from previous GNO's, and that's when Lori's man for the evening decided to stick his neck out and pose with them for the picture as well...And the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words has never been more true than with this:I'm not sure what's funnier...the fact that this guy is totally oblivious of what he's walked into, Lori's look of absolute HORROR at this guy's intrusion, or Laura's look of a kiss that's been missed.
Either way I about lost my shit and almost broke Lori's camera as I was overcome with fits of hysteria.
This guy was nice enough to take a picture of the three of us however, and it wasn't blurry like the drunk that we got to take a picture of the three of us LAST GNO...
It was shortly after this that we decided to call it a night.
All the wackiness ensued because Lori decided to wear her fancy shoes and trouble follows her wherever she goes...
I've got a case of the Mondays...
Ok, now that you are all done laughing at my HILARIOUS Office Space joke, time to get down to business.
Girl's Night Out. To be referred to as GNO from here on out.
There are pictures to come (as soon as Lori gets off her lazy duff and sends them to me) but here's a small recap to leave you wanting more.
Simply Fondue, greatest fondue place I've ever been to (and only fondue restaurant I've ever been to), is usually dead empty when Ben and I go there. Except this past Saturday, as it was packed to the gills and you need a reservation, which the hostess was quick to snottily point out to us underdressed comic grrls.
Strike one. So we decide to try to go to a place that Laura usually doesn't get to go to because her hubby is a picky eater and doesn't like a lot of places. I empathize with Josh because I'm also a picky eater, and there are places I won't set foot in for that reason. So we choose a Mexican restaurant that the meat was deemed as "funny" the last time we ate there.
No Dice. PACKED to the gills. It seemed that every single person in Arlington decided to go out to eat this night, and also decided to invite every person they knew, so no little party of three girls was going to get a coveted table that could be used for a party of 50.
We ended up going to a steak place that we all enjoy and got the creepiest waiter. EVER.
I think he was new and just trying really hard, but he had the personality of a dead goldfish. Or he was nervous being a lonely lamb thrown into a lioness pit of us "mean grrls". We were nice to him, and only made fun of him when he walked away. The only thing that irked my comrades was his double questioning of how they ordered their steaks. Medium-Rare. Like NO girl in their right mind would order that. Then I guess he figured we must be a coven of witches and needed to eat our meat this way in order to fulfill some dark prophecy, because he questioned my Medium-Well choice. He then tried to get me to downgrade to Medium. I think he may have been trying to help me and keep me from getting kicked out of the coven for making the most foul of faux pas and order my meat more cooked than not.
Dinner went off without too much of a hitch, but I think we got our picture taken by a table of lesbians sitting next to us. I don't know if they were like us and like taking pictures of random people they saw, or if they were liking all of our fabulous hairstyles and wanted some ideas (because sadly, they ALL had hideous hair) or maybe they heard us making fun of their hair and took our picture for reference later, when they hunt us down and kill us. And by US I mean Lori and Laura, because I'm not mean. At least, I'm not that mean within earshot.
We then headed to Caves, a local bar, for some drinks. And that's where we met the crazy-bag-lady-bar-fly from HELL.
A funny side note, when we were being carded to gain entry to the bar the girl that checks IDs looked at my wallet and said "I really like your..." (she looked then at my wallet, t-shirt, shoes, jacket and purse) "everything! I'd wear every single thing you have on, even the purse and wallet!" I took that as a compliment because I feel that I usually dress like a total cheeseball idiot. So it made me happy to know that I'm not the only one without any fashion sense (not that this girl didn't or doesn't have fashion sense, but I don't know anyone else that would WANT to dress the way I do).
We then try to find a place to sit and walk by a group of guys who were having a really good time and they put their hands up for high-fives as we all walked by. We high-fived them as we went by and the crazy-bag-lady-bar-fly was trying to get one too but we were too far away...I guess she REALLY needed that high-five so she came over to us and asked us our names, and told Lori that HER cousin was named Lori and she was 11 months older than she (bag lady) was. She then asked us if we were fluent in both.
...
???
We were struck dumb and she then enlightened us by asking if we only spoke English. Because we all three look SO much alike that we must be related, and Mexican. I'm Mexican and even I don't look it. I get mistaken for Italian more than I do Mexican. We told her we only spoke English and that must have pleased her because she walked back to her group of homeboys after that.
We decided at that point that we all needed a drink and Lori got us some beers, post haste.
Our entertainment for the rest of the time at Caves was the bag lady doing various dances with anyone else in the bar that started to dance, or just by herself if she couldn't find an adequate partner. Her bar attire consisted of a black leotard, a white puffy, lacy pirate shirt and a black lace babushka. We tried, in vain, to get a good picture of her, to show the boys because they wouldn't believe us, but she was very cat-like in her movements and we couldn't get a good shot of her. In our attempts at pretending Lori was taking my and Laura's picture we ended up with some pretty funny shots that will be posted later.
We decided to leave Caves after this couple came up and figuring, I can only assume, that since there were no other free tables in the place, it was OK to share the other side of our table with us and then proceed to chain smoke right in our faces...
Our next stop was the Sunshine bar which is in the same parking lot as Caves where Laura wanted to meet up with some of her friends from a local girls roller derby team...
This is when the fun REALLY starts...
Stay Tuned, Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel...
Girl's Night Out. To be referred to as GNO from here on out.
There are pictures to come (as soon as Lori gets off her lazy duff and sends them to me) but here's a small recap to leave you wanting more.
Simply Fondue, greatest fondue place I've ever been to (and only fondue restaurant I've ever been to), is usually dead empty when Ben and I go there. Except this past Saturday, as it was packed to the gills and you need a reservation, which the hostess was quick to snottily point out to us underdressed comic grrls.
Strike one. So we decide to try to go to a place that Laura usually doesn't get to go to because her hubby is a picky eater and doesn't like a lot of places. I empathize with Josh because I'm also a picky eater, and there are places I won't set foot in for that reason. So we choose a Mexican restaurant that the meat was deemed as "funny" the last time we ate there.
No Dice. PACKED to the gills. It seemed that every single person in Arlington decided to go out to eat this night, and also decided to invite every person they knew, so no little party of three girls was going to get a coveted table that could be used for a party of 50.
We ended up going to a steak place that we all enjoy and got the creepiest waiter. EVER.
I think he was new and just trying really hard, but he had the personality of a dead goldfish. Or he was nervous being a lonely lamb thrown into a lioness pit of us "mean grrls". We were nice to him, and only made fun of him when he walked away. The only thing that irked my comrades was his double questioning of how they ordered their steaks. Medium-Rare. Like NO girl in their right mind would order that. Then I guess he figured we must be a coven of witches and needed to eat our meat this way in order to fulfill some dark prophecy, because he questioned my Medium-Well choice. He then tried to get me to downgrade to Medium. I think he may have been trying to help me and keep me from getting kicked out of the coven for making the most foul of faux pas and order my meat more cooked than not.
Dinner went off without too much of a hitch, but I think we got our picture taken by a table of lesbians sitting next to us. I don't know if they were like us and like taking pictures of random people they saw, or if they were liking all of our fabulous hairstyles and wanted some ideas (because sadly, they ALL had hideous hair) or maybe they heard us making fun of their hair and took our picture for reference later, when they hunt us down and kill us. And by US I mean Lori and Laura, because I'm not mean. At least, I'm not that mean within earshot.
We then headed to Caves, a local bar, for some drinks. And that's where we met the crazy-bag-lady-bar-fly from HELL.
A funny side note, when we were being carded to gain entry to the bar the girl that checks IDs looked at my wallet and said "I really like your..." (she looked then at my wallet, t-shirt, shoes, jacket and purse) "everything! I'd wear every single thing you have on, even the purse and wallet!" I took that as a compliment because I feel that I usually dress like a total cheeseball idiot. So it made me happy to know that I'm not the only one without any fashion sense (not that this girl didn't or doesn't have fashion sense, but I don't know anyone else that would WANT to dress the way I do).
We then try to find a place to sit and walk by a group of guys who were having a really good time and they put their hands up for high-fives as we all walked by. We high-fived them as we went by and the crazy-bag-lady-bar-fly was trying to get one too but we were too far away...I guess she REALLY needed that high-five so she came over to us and asked us our names, and told Lori that HER cousin was named Lori and she was 11 months older than she (bag lady) was. She then asked us if we were fluent in both.
...
???
We were struck dumb and she then enlightened us by asking if we only spoke English. Because we all three look SO much alike that we must be related, and Mexican. I'm Mexican and even I don't look it. I get mistaken for Italian more than I do Mexican. We told her we only spoke English and that must have pleased her because she walked back to her group of homeboys after that.
We decided at that point that we all needed a drink and Lori got us some beers, post haste.
Our entertainment for the rest of the time at Caves was the bag lady doing various dances with anyone else in the bar that started to dance, or just by herself if she couldn't find an adequate partner. Her bar attire consisted of a black leotard, a white puffy, lacy pirate shirt and a black lace babushka. We tried, in vain, to get a good picture of her, to show the boys because they wouldn't believe us, but she was very cat-like in her movements and we couldn't get a good shot of her. In our attempts at pretending Lori was taking my and Laura's picture we ended up with some pretty funny shots that will be posted later.
We decided to leave Caves after this couple came up and figuring, I can only assume, that since there were no other free tables in the place, it was OK to share the other side of our table with us and then proceed to chain smoke right in our faces...
Our next stop was the Sunshine bar which is in the same parking lot as Caves where Laura wanted to meet up with some of her friends from a local girls roller derby team...
This is when the fun REALLY starts...
Stay Tuned, Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel...
Friday, January 27, 2006
Wonky?
Ok, so some of you know of my epic battle with Blogger yesterday, where I admitted defeat and just got it to publish, sort of...
So I thought a bit of clarity was due so that I don't get bombarded with emails that my archives are missing...Well the December archive at least. The January one seems to be recovering nicely with just a bit of a limp that's barely noticeable.
December? Well, we're not sure she's going to make it.
But, and there's always a but, who cares?? Is what I said a month ago really that relevant? Hardly. It was just random Christmas nonsense and a recap of all my swag...there now you are up to speed with Mar's life.
So I apologize, if I can ever get the Blogger help squad to respond to me I'll try to get her to pull through, but I promise to try to have something exciting happen to me this weekend since its the return of GIRL'S NIGHT OUT with Double L. We're having Fondue, Beer and hopefully Nerd Wrangling for Lori, so there's much mayhem to be had, potentially.
In other news, I just finished coloring pages (at midnight last night, aye!) for the first back up story for Villains (click for the microsite!) and I'll also be coloring Andy MacDonald's flip cover for issue #1 this weekend. (click for the forum thread on the Viper website to see the cover in its B&W awesomeness). Once the pages are given the thumbs up I'll post them in my portfolio so you can treat your eyeballs to them.
So I thought a bit of clarity was due so that I don't get bombarded with emails that my archives are missing...Well the December archive at least. The January one seems to be recovering nicely with just a bit of a limp that's barely noticeable.
December? Well, we're not sure she's going to make it.
But, and there's always a but, who cares?? Is what I said a month ago really that relevant? Hardly. It was just random Christmas nonsense and a recap of all my swag...there now you are up to speed with Mar's life.
So I apologize, if I can ever get the Blogger help squad to respond to me I'll try to get her to pull through, but I promise to try to have something exciting happen to me this weekend since its the return of GIRL'S NIGHT OUT with Double L. We're having Fondue, Beer and hopefully Nerd Wrangling for Lori, so there's much mayhem to be had, potentially.
In other news, I just finished coloring pages (at midnight last night, aye!) for the first back up story for Villains (click for the microsite!) and I'll also be coloring Andy MacDonald's flip cover for issue #1 this weekend. (click for the forum thread on the Viper website to see the cover in its B&W awesomeness). Once the pages are given the thumbs up I'll post them in my portfolio so you can treat your eyeballs to them.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Its Coming Up...
This is on its way:
I have the mini in pink and soon I will have the video in black.
Its going to be a very merry unbirthday to me.
It is that which I have coveted for quite some time.
I have the mini in pink and soon I will have the video in black.
Its going to be a very merry unbirthday to me.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
The Night of a Thousand Cats
So my neighborhood plays host to a lot of things. We've got jackass kids that steal pumpkins, request more candy at Halloween than they are entitled to, kids that egg people's cars on New Year's, two crazy ladies (who I hope to one day join forces with for the ultimate team-up), one homicidal dog owner (or would it be dogicidal since he's trying to kill his dog?) and thousands of cats.
Yes, cats.
They are everywhere. Every morning and evening we run the gauntlet trying to get out of our neighborhood without flattening these feral felines as they try to play chicken with our moving car.
Sometimes we see them congregating at certain areas of the neighborhood like they are planning something...its very strange...almost like a Gary Larson cartoon. I keep expecting to see them all standing on their hind legs and then fall to all fours as we pass. We even had one that was perched on our roof one morning as we left for work. It seemed like we had come very close to a kamikaze cat attack, and were spared for some unknown reason.
The last few days every time we've come home from work we've found several cats on our doorstep, in our driveway and perched on our backyard fence. It seems they have found out that their leader and Lord of Darkness, Chewbacca, is living within feet of them but is confined to a mortar and brick prison called "OUR HOUSE".
Even stranger, these cats don't run from us, most cats will run if they don't know you, but even if we try to shoo them away, they stoically look at us and go back to looking at our windows.
They are plotting a jailbreak and I fear that once the awesome power of The Chewie is released, it will truly be our darkest hour. I think Fizzgig also senses it because her fur licking has taken on a new furor. I fear that she will be the first sacrifice for the new world.
Or I've just got WAY too active an imagination, we just have really nosy cats on our block and since Chewie can't keep his damn feet out of the blinds, they just know that he's in there and are curious.
Either way...I'm keeping my eyes open.
Yes, cats.
They are everywhere. Every morning and evening we run the gauntlet trying to get out of our neighborhood without flattening these feral felines as they try to play chicken with our moving car.
Sometimes we see them congregating at certain areas of the neighborhood like they are planning something...its very strange...almost like a Gary Larson cartoon. I keep expecting to see them all standing on their hind legs and then fall to all fours as we pass. We even had one that was perched on our roof one morning as we left for work. It seemed like we had come very close to a kamikaze cat attack, and were spared for some unknown reason.
The last few days every time we've come home from work we've found several cats on our doorstep, in our driveway and perched on our backyard fence. It seems they have found out that their leader and Lord of Darkness, Chewbacca, is living within feet of them but is confined to a mortar and brick prison called "OUR HOUSE".
Even stranger, these cats don't run from us, most cats will run if they don't know you, but even if we try to shoo them away, they stoically look at us and go back to looking at our windows.
They are plotting a jailbreak and I fear that once the awesome power of The Chewie is released, it will truly be our darkest hour. I think Fizzgig also senses it because her fur licking has taken on a new furor. I fear that she will be the first sacrifice for the new world.
Or I've just got WAY too active an imagination, we just have really nosy cats on our block and since Chewie can't keep his damn feet out of the blinds, they just know that he's in there and are curious.
Either way...I'm keeping my eyes open.
Monday, January 23, 2006
The Gringo, The Senorita and The Mexican
Well, I'm back at work after a whirlwind weekend entertaining my Dad.
It was A LOT of fun, I must say. He threw me a curveball upon arrival at the airport, though. Rather than asking about my widening hips and tattoos he asked me what I did to my hair and why was it so short...
I cut all my hair off about 2 years ago because I was tired of the physicality of caring for such an enormous amount of hair, the strangers coming up to me and touching it without any indication that it was OK with me to do so, the "Oh my god you have SO much HAIR!" comments at the hair salon (thankfully I don't get that anymore from Laura) and the tons of dollars spent in hair products just to keep my unruly mane in check. So I had Laura cut it all off and have been VERY happy with my new found freedom. It was cut short in 2004 when Ben and I went to Vegas for Christmas and my Dad saw it then, but it seemed to have slipped his mind because he acted surprised that I had cut it off and I thought he was going to have a heart attack.
I told him it was cut last Christmas and he feigned memory of it, but I don't know if he just pretended he remembered or not.
So we leave the airport and get him checked into his hotel room (he didn't give me a chance to ask him to stay with us before he booked himself a room, I think it was probably better because all we have is a couch and he likes cable, which we don't have) and then we take him to our house. He liked it a lot and told us he was very proud of us, but wouldn't our kids get scared and have nightmares from all the Nightmare Before Christmas, Hellboy and Dia de los Muertos statues and whatnot we have everywhere? No Dad, not OUR kids. They'll LOVE this stuff, we'll condition them, we promise.
He immediately asks us where the nearest golf store is, because a trip for my Dad isn't complete without at least ONE trip to a golf store. So we found a nice big one and he bought two Titleist baseball hats (one just ISN'T enough) and a couple of Texas themed items which included some club covers and a towel.
We then went out to dinner with Ben's parents to Pappasitos which is an awesomely yummy Mexican restaurant (because we had to introduce my Dad to Tex-Mex) and then we took him to see Ben's parent's house. This helped my Dad to see that you really COULD make a lot of money being an artist, because he was very impressed with their house and with their talent, and later on in the weekend he was really excited about the fact that Ben can draw and all of the things that he could do with his art, submitting to Playboy magazine being one of them. It was pretty funny hearing that from my Dad.
On Saturday we took him to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas which is the old Texas schoolbook depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy from the sixth floor in 1963. My Dad was really interested in this since he is a retired police officer and he liked being able to look out into the street and see, in his words, "what a good shot that was" from the window. We took him down to the grassy knoll and showed him the conspiracy theorists that are there every weekend giving tours and spouting their gospel. We then took him to Chuy's which is another good Mexican place in Dallas and then to the Apple store.
My Dad is by no means a techno wizard. He has barely managed to keep his iPod from blowing up, and when he bought the iPod photo he thought it was a camera too and was thoroughly pissed that it didn't take as well as store pictures. I've gotten many a call or email from my sister on her way to my Dad's house to fix whatever computer related malady he has gotten himself into. My sister and I are both pretty competent with technology so we can do things for him, like set his VCR and teach him how to use an iTunes gift card.
So we go into the Apple store because he was complaining about the earbuds that his iPod came with and I just wanted to show him the coolness that is the Apple store. (They have one in Vegas but its in a mall on the strip and this is a nice free standing store and VERY pretentious. HA!) So we go in and we show him some of the newest technology to which he looks thoroughly unimpressed by, until he sees the pricetag. This makes him utter a resounding "AYE!" and he proceeds to walk away shaking his head. We then happen upon a pair of earbuds that are to his liking. They are a pair of Bang & Olufsen A8 Headphones, and I must say, they were very swank. He asked Ben and I if we needed new headphones and if we wanted a pair of these ones. He said he'd buy them for us, we declined (I like my earbuds just fine and so does Ben) but told him that he should get them. Well, they weren't out on the racks and so we had to go to the check out line and ask for them.
The lady rings them up and says your total is $172 and change. WHAT!?!? My Dad laughed like, "No really, what's the price?" She didn't laugh and looked at US like we had lobsters crawling out of our ears. Our collective jaws dropped and my Dad said nevermind and we walked out. He told us that he wanted to ask her if she meant American money or Pesos but decided against it. I know headphones are awesome but $172? For headphones?!?! Get real! So we left and went to the Galleria where my Dad bought a pair of almost identical headphones, apparently only missing the $150 name of Bang & Olufsen, at Brookstone for $30. WOOT.
We also went to La Mariposa and Casa Mexicana, two very cool Mexican folk art stores to show my Dad some of the places we bought a lot of our wedding items from. At Casa Mexicana he bought us an awesomely rad Dia de los Muertos Devil statue by artist Concepcion Aguilar as a housewarming gift... Its looks almost exactly like this one, but the snake, horns and wings are a slightly different color (more flamelike with oranges and reds, but you get the drift).
He then asked us if our kids would be scared by it. Har dee har har.
After that we went to Fort Worth and Sundance Square where we walked around for a bit and had dinner at Razzoo's and then got some ice cream from Marble Slab.
On Sunday we were going to go to the Fort Worth Zoo but it rained ALL DAY (it hasn't rained since Halloween and the one weekend my Dad comes to town it rains 2 inches, go figure) so we had breakfast at IHOP and then watched the two playoff football games at our house and had dinner with Chris and Lori at Saltgrass.
This morning got up at the CRACK of dawn, actually earlier than that, to take him to the airport, I tried not to cry as we walked away from him. We then drove home post haste to get a few more hours of sleep before having to get up and come into work.
It was a really fun weekend, I just wish it could have lasted longer, and that my whole family would just move to Texas already.
It was A LOT of fun, I must say. He threw me a curveball upon arrival at the airport, though. Rather than asking about my widening hips and tattoos he asked me what I did to my hair and why was it so short...
I cut all my hair off about 2 years ago because I was tired of the physicality of caring for such an enormous amount of hair, the strangers coming up to me and touching it without any indication that it was OK with me to do so, the "Oh my god you have SO much HAIR!" comments at the hair salon (thankfully I don't get that anymore from Laura) and the tons of dollars spent in hair products just to keep my unruly mane in check. So I had Laura cut it all off and have been VERY happy with my new found freedom. It was cut short in 2004 when Ben and I went to Vegas for Christmas and my Dad saw it then, but it seemed to have slipped his mind because he acted surprised that I had cut it off and I thought he was going to have a heart attack.
I told him it was cut last Christmas and he feigned memory of it, but I don't know if he just pretended he remembered or not.
So we leave the airport and get him checked into his hotel room (he didn't give me a chance to ask him to stay with us before he booked himself a room, I think it was probably better because all we have is a couch and he likes cable, which we don't have) and then we take him to our house. He liked it a lot and told us he was very proud of us, but wouldn't our kids get scared and have nightmares from all the Nightmare Before Christmas, Hellboy and Dia de los Muertos statues and whatnot we have everywhere? No Dad, not OUR kids. They'll LOVE this stuff, we'll condition them, we promise.
He immediately asks us where the nearest golf store is, because a trip for my Dad isn't complete without at least ONE trip to a golf store. So we found a nice big one and he bought two Titleist baseball hats (one just ISN'T enough) and a couple of Texas themed items which included some club covers and a towel.
We then went out to dinner with Ben's parents to Pappasitos which is an awesomely yummy Mexican restaurant (because we had to introduce my Dad to Tex-Mex) and then we took him to see Ben's parent's house. This helped my Dad to see that you really COULD make a lot of money being an artist, because he was very impressed with their house and with their talent, and later on in the weekend he was really excited about the fact that Ben can draw and all of the things that he could do with his art, submitting to Playboy magazine being one of them. It was pretty funny hearing that from my Dad.
On Saturday we took him to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas which is the old Texas schoolbook depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy from the sixth floor in 1963. My Dad was really interested in this since he is a retired police officer and he liked being able to look out into the street and see, in his words, "what a good shot that was" from the window. We took him down to the grassy knoll and showed him the conspiracy theorists that are there every weekend giving tours and spouting their gospel. We then took him to Chuy's which is another good Mexican place in Dallas and then to the Apple store.
My Dad is by no means a techno wizard. He has barely managed to keep his iPod from blowing up, and when he bought the iPod photo he thought it was a camera too and was thoroughly pissed that it didn't take as well as store pictures. I've gotten many a call or email from my sister on her way to my Dad's house to fix whatever computer related malady he has gotten himself into. My sister and I are both pretty competent with technology so we can do things for him, like set his VCR and teach him how to use an iTunes gift card.
So we go into the Apple store because he was complaining about the earbuds that his iPod came with and I just wanted to show him the coolness that is the Apple store. (They have one in Vegas but its in a mall on the strip and this is a nice free standing store and VERY pretentious. HA!) So we go in and we show him some of the newest technology to which he looks thoroughly unimpressed by, until he sees the pricetag. This makes him utter a resounding "AYE!" and he proceeds to walk away shaking his head. We then happen upon a pair of earbuds that are to his liking. They are a pair of Bang & Olufsen A8 Headphones, and I must say, they were very swank. He asked Ben and I if we needed new headphones and if we wanted a pair of these ones. He said he'd buy them for us, we declined (I like my earbuds just fine and so does Ben) but told him that he should get them. Well, they weren't out on the racks and so we had to go to the check out line and ask for them.
The lady rings them up and says your total is $172 and change. WHAT!?!? My Dad laughed like, "No really, what's the price?" She didn't laugh and looked at US like we had lobsters crawling out of our ears. Our collective jaws dropped and my Dad said nevermind and we walked out. He told us that he wanted to ask her if she meant American money or Pesos but decided against it. I know headphones are awesome but $172? For headphones?!?! Get real! So we left and went to the Galleria where my Dad bought a pair of almost identical headphones, apparently only missing the $150 name of Bang & Olufsen, at Brookstone for $30. WOOT.
We also went to La Mariposa and Casa Mexicana, two very cool Mexican folk art stores to show my Dad some of the places we bought a lot of our wedding items from. At Casa Mexicana he bought us an awesomely rad Dia de los Muertos Devil statue by artist Concepcion Aguilar as a housewarming gift... Its looks almost exactly like this one, but the snake, horns and wings are a slightly different color (more flamelike with oranges and reds, but you get the drift).
He then asked us if our kids would be scared by it. Har dee har har.
After that we went to Fort Worth and Sundance Square where we walked around for a bit and had dinner at Razzoo's and then got some ice cream from Marble Slab.
On Sunday we were going to go to the Fort Worth Zoo but it rained ALL DAY (it hasn't rained since Halloween and the one weekend my Dad comes to town it rains 2 inches, go figure) so we had breakfast at IHOP and then watched the two playoff football games at our house and had dinner with Chris and Lori at Saltgrass.
This morning got up at the CRACK of dawn, actually earlier than that, to take him to the airport, I tried not to cry as we walked away from him. We then drove home post haste to get a few more hours of sleep before having to get up and come into work.
It was a really fun weekend, I just wish it could have lasted longer, and that my whole family would just move to Texas already.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The Eagle Has Landed...
So in less than 24 hours I will be picking my Dad up from the airport for his first EVER trip to Texas solely to see me. I've seen him in the state of Texas while I've been living here before, but it was always just for a few minutes during a layover he had while going someplace else.
I'm excited about it because I don't get to see my family very much because, let's face it, Texas is VERY far from Las Vegas and even though you can physically make the trip in 24 hours by car, its not safe, I wouldn't advise it.
My sister has visited me a couple of times on her way cross country for various trips and its always been fun, and unfortunately my mom has yet to take the trip. She doesn't fly and its hard for her to make long car trips, but she promises me that one day she'll come...if not for a trip, when we have kids she's promised me she's moving out here.
My Dad is a former police officer and US Marshal (yes, just like Tommy Lee Jones in the Fugitive, and no he's never chased anyone into a tunnel) and very "by the book". The first time Ben met my Dad after we left he said to me, "You know, you always hear of families that are like 'My Dad was a plumber, I'm a plumber and you'll also be a plumber', but I've never actually met anyone from one of those families. Your Dad is like that." Ben was talking about my Dad, on not having seen me in almost a year after I moved to Texas, asking me when I was going to go to law school and become a judge. I'm a woman and a minority and so I should be putting that to good use by going into law enforcement like him. Now, my father is the only person in my whole family that has entered law enforcement, but he thinks that my sister and I should both be judges, because of the aforementioned qualities.
It didn't matter to my Dad that my sister was an exceptional musician, has had awards created just for her, and that I wanted to be an actress and fell into this comic and website gig and have possibly found my calling. We were supposed to be judges. My Dad cannot comprehend that people actually make money out of creating art and being artistic.
My mom, on the other hand always encouraged our creative sides, even to the point where she was talking through her teeth and trying not to scream at us for some outlandish thing we had done, oh, like drawing all over the walls and our record player and sawing into our pool table just to see what would happen...
But I'm getting off subject.
My Dad is like the Mexican Bill Cosby. He's so serious one minute, and then he's laughing so loud that you think an A-Bomb has just been dropped and every baby within a 100 foot radius has just burst into tears. He's like an amusement park attraction, everyone wants to get a glimpse because no one believes my recounting of actual life events that have taken place because of my Dad. All my friends here are going out to dinner with us just to see what my Dad is like, because I can't REALLY be that accurate when I do an impression of his trademark "AYE!!" or one of his "Don't tell your mother" stories.
He's semi-retired now and loving every minute of it from what he and my sister tell me. This is the first time in his life since he was 13 (I think) that he hasn't had at least one job. (He had 3 when I was growing up. My Mom worked, my Gramma worked, and my Dad worked. My sister and I had it pretty good, though I feel bad for some of the things my parents missed out on because they worked so hard to give us kids a really good life.) My Mom was usually really good about making it to all of our plays, concerts and awards ceremonies, but my Dad didn't make it to a lot of them for...various reasons...
So what does he do with his free time? He sends me email jokes...and more email jokes...and MORE email jokes. He also sends me tips for not being a rape victim, identity theft victim, kidnapping victim and any other victim you can think of because he still gets a lot of email from his FBI and police buddies.
My Dad hates my tattoos. He only found out about two of them on my wedding day since I knew he wouldn't say anything to me about them on that day because he wouldn't want to spoil anything. You could see one of them through the sleeve of my wedding dress and the one on my back I tried to cover up with cut up flesh colored sticker bras but my Mom told him about the tattoo seconds before he walked me down the aisle. All he said was, "You've got MORE tattoos??" I said "yes" and that was the end of it. After Ben and I got back from our honeymoon he said "You're not getting any more are you?" I told him "no" but I'm planning on getting just one more and then I'm done. He may or may not ever see this one. I'm pretty good about keeping them to myself anyway. (I'm almost 27 years old and I still hide my tattoos from my Dad, how lame is that?) So what is his response to my tattoos? Rather than yelling at me or getting mad, he just sends me this Saturday Night Live sketch in my email where the soccer moms have lower back tattoos and its a commercial for a deodorant stick that removes them. (For the record I do NOT have a lower back tattoo, it's more of a 2/3 back tattoo. There's a picture of it in my MySpace profile pics, if you're so inclined to view it.)
He's sent me this skit no less than 6 times. He probably doesn't even realize that he keeps sending it to me, because he acts like its the funniest thing he's ever seen. EVERY time he sends it he just says HAHAHAHA! in the body of the email and NO MORE TATTOOS! (My Dad doesn't know there's a Caps Lock button on his keyboard. Even when he writes in pen and ink it looks like he's yelling) LOVE DAD.
Every time we would come home from ANYWHERE when we were kids, my Dad would ALWAYS say "The Eagle Has Landed!" while pulling up into the driveway. Its just one of the many mannerisms of my Dad that I just came to expect. If you don't know what that means, go google that phrase, I'm not an encyclopedia.
So it should be a fun experience hanging out with my Dad this weekend. I'm sure the first things out of his mouth are going to either be "Do you have any more tattoos?" or "You've gained weight." But then I'll just laugh him off and he'll laugh and Ben will stop looking uncomfortable and all will be right in the world.
Updates to come.
I'm excited about it because I don't get to see my family very much because, let's face it, Texas is VERY far from Las Vegas and even though you can physically make the trip in 24 hours by car, its not safe, I wouldn't advise it.
My sister has visited me a couple of times on her way cross country for various trips and its always been fun, and unfortunately my mom has yet to take the trip. She doesn't fly and its hard for her to make long car trips, but she promises me that one day she'll come...if not for a trip, when we have kids she's promised me she's moving out here.
My Dad is a former police officer and US Marshal (yes, just like Tommy Lee Jones in the Fugitive, and no he's never chased anyone into a tunnel) and very "by the book". The first time Ben met my Dad after we left he said to me, "You know, you always hear of families that are like 'My Dad was a plumber, I'm a plumber and you'll also be a plumber', but I've never actually met anyone from one of those families. Your Dad is like that." Ben was talking about my Dad, on not having seen me in almost a year after I moved to Texas, asking me when I was going to go to law school and become a judge. I'm a woman and a minority and so I should be putting that to good use by going into law enforcement like him. Now, my father is the only person in my whole family that has entered law enforcement, but he thinks that my sister and I should both be judges, because of the aforementioned qualities.
It didn't matter to my Dad that my sister was an exceptional musician, has had awards created just for her, and that I wanted to be an actress and fell into this comic and website gig and have possibly found my calling. We were supposed to be judges. My Dad cannot comprehend that people actually make money out of creating art and being artistic.
My mom, on the other hand always encouraged our creative sides, even to the point where she was talking through her teeth and trying not to scream at us for some outlandish thing we had done, oh, like drawing all over the walls and our record player and sawing into our pool table just to see what would happen...
But I'm getting off subject.
My Dad is like the Mexican Bill Cosby. He's so serious one minute, and then he's laughing so loud that you think an A-Bomb has just been dropped and every baby within a 100 foot radius has just burst into tears. He's like an amusement park attraction, everyone wants to get a glimpse because no one believes my recounting of actual life events that have taken place because of my Dad. All my friends here are going out to dinner with us just to see what my Dad is like, because I can't REALLY be that accurate when I do an impression of his trademark "AYE!!" or one of his "Don't tell your mother" stories.
He's semi-retired now and loving every minute of it from what he and my sister tell me. This is the first time in his life since he was 13 (I think) that he hasn't had at least one job. (He had 3 when I was growing up. My Mom worked, my Gramma worked, and my Dad worked. My sister and I had it pretty good, though I feel bad for some of the things my parents missed out on because they worked so hard to give us kids a really good life.) My Mom was usually really good about making it to all of our plays, concerts and awards ceremonies, but my Dad didn't make it to a lot of them for...various reasons...
So what does he do with his free time? He sends me email jokes...and more email jokes...and MORE email jokes. He also sends me tips for not being a rape victim, identity theft victim, kidnapping victim and any other victim you can think of because he still gets a lot of email from his FBI and police buddies.
My Dad hates my tattoos. He only found out about two of them on my wedding day since I knew he wouldn't say anything to me about them on that day because he wouldn't want to spoil anything. You could see one of them through the sleeve of my wedding dress and the one on my back I tried to cover up with cut up flesh colored sticker bras but my Mom told him about the tattoo seconds before he walked me down the aisle. All he said was, "You've got MORE tattoos??" I said "yes" and that was the end of it. After Ben and I got back from our honeymoon he said "You're not getting any more are you?" I told him "no" but I'm planning on getting just one more and then I'm done. He may or may not ever see this one. I'm pretty good about keeping them to myself anyway. (I'm almost 27 years old and I still hide my tattoos from my Dad, how lame is that?) So what is his response to my tattoos? Rather than yelling at me or getting mad, he just sends me this Saturday Night Live sketch in my email where the soccer moms have lower back tattoos and its a commercial for a deodorant stick that removes them. (For the record I do NOT have a lower back tattoo, it's more of a 2/3 back tattoo. There's a picture of it in my MySpace profile pics, if you're so inclined to view it.)
He's sent me this skit no less than 6 times. He probably doesn't even realize that he keeps sending it to me, because he acts like its the funniest thing he's ever seen. EVERY time he sends it he just says HAHAHAHA! in the body of the email and NO MORE TATTOOS! (My Dad doesn't know there's a Caps Lock button on his keyboard. Even when he writes in pen and ink it looks like he's yelling) LOVE DAD.
Every time we would come home from ANYWHERE when we were kids, my Dad would ALWAYS say "The Eagle Has Landed!" while pulling up into the driveway. Its just one of the many mannerisms of my Dad that I just came to expect. If you don't know what that means, go google that phrase, I'm not an encyclopedia.
So it should be a fun experience hanging out with my Dad this weekend. I'm sure the first things out of his mouth are going to either be "Do you have any more tattoos?" or "You've gained weight." But then I'll just laugh him off and he'll laugh and Ben will stop looking uncomfortable and all will be right in the world.
Updates to come.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Shameless Self-Promotion
Pre-order Villains, published by Viper Comics from your local comic retailer and support small press and independent comics.
Click on the image for a downloadable PDF COLOR version of the flyer.
Friday, January 13, 2006
mmmm....Banana....
Another one of my many vices is this little place called the Body Shop.
I had the pleasure of working for one of these stores when I was in high school and early college to make some extra cash, and they got their hooks into me. All of their products are awesome, and they support community trade which exchanges goods for money in many countries so that we can all experience naturally phenomenal products and help women in these countries put food on their plates, among other things.
You all know my obsession with Cranberry at Christmastime (I stocked up this year so I won't be moaning about running out of body butter in mid-August like normal), but now, I have developed another obsession.
BANANA (not the annoying Gwen Stefani song that I had the misfortune of hearing full blast one night in a lesbian bar's bathroom while entertaining my sister when she was in town, but the ripe fruit that smells SO good and tastes even better) They used to have banana shampoo and conditioner that was awesome, but alas, like so many things I like, they stopped making it.
Oh yes...its heavenly...
Its also a LIMITED EDITION so I'm going to be moaning about this one too, hopefully if everyone goes out and buys some they'll make it a full time item...
HINT HINT.
And also Happy Friday the 13th! Go kiss a black cat and walk under a ladder!
I had the pleasure of working for one of these stores when I was in high school and early college to make some extra cash, and they got their hooks into me. All of their products are awesome, and they support community trade which exchanges goods for money in many countries so that we can all experience naturally phenomenal products and help women in these countries put food on their plates, among other things.
You all know my obsession with Cranberry at Christmastime (I stocked up this year so I won't be moaning about running out of body butter in mid-August like normal), but now, I have developed another obsession.
BANANA (not the annoying Gwen Stefani song that I had the misfortune of hearing full blast one night in a lesbian bar's bathroom while entertaining my sister when she was in town, but the ripe fruit that smells SO good and tastes even better) They used to have banana shampoo and conditioner that was awesome, but alas, like so many things I like, they stopped making it.
Oh yes...its heavenly...
Its also a LIMITED EDITION so I'm going to be moaning about this one too, hopefully if everyone goes out and buys some they'll make it a full time item...
HINT HINT.
And also Happy Friday the 13th! Go kiss a black cat and walk under a ladder!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
more nerdery...
Thanks to Lori, who, on her recent journey to Japan, scored me a pack of awesome iPod click wheel stickers.
I wouldn't normally put stickers on my iPod to "bling it out", as the kids are calling it these days (not to mention that I can't align things when placing decals on anything to SAVE MY LIFE), but my obscene obsession sometimes makes me do cheeseball things.
Can anyone guess what song was on while I took this picture?!?!
Since, you know, I couldn't be bothered to stop listening to it for 2 seconds when I snapped the pic...
I wouldn't normally put stickers on my iPod to "bling it out", as the kids are calling it these days (not to mention that I can't align things when placing decals on anything to SAVE MY LIFE), but my obscene obsession sometimes makes me do cheeseball things.
Can anyone guess what song was on while I took this picture?!?!
Since, you know, I couldn't be bothered to stop listening to it for 2 seconds when I snapped the pic...
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street...
Saw this on MSN:
Casting News: Burton and Depp Together Again
Although not officially announced, rumors are flying that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are teaming up again for the movie version of "Sweeney Todd." Sources close to the Hitlist confirm the story. The musical about a demon barber who slits the throats of his customers recently returned to Broadway in a critically acclaimed production. The original 1979 production won Tony Awards for Best Musical and individual awards for composer Stephen Sondheim and stars Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury (yep, that one). The biggest question is whether Johnny Depp can handle the singing chores. "Todd" verges on opera so the musical requirements are more difficult than your typical big-screen adaptation. The picture would be the sixth collaboration between Burton and Depp, but when it will actually occur is unknown. A screenplay has been completed by Oscar-winner John Logan ("Gladiator"), but Burton's next film was expected to be "Believe It or Not!" which star Jim Carrey told the Hitlist was to begin shooting by the end of this year. Needless to say, the collaboration of the two on such a dark and sinister project as "Todd" will make it a highly anticipated project."
I first saw Sweeney Todd when I was in high school and it is still one of my favorite musicals. I am hoping that this project comes to fruition, because, as I'm sure you can all gather, I'm a HUGE Tim Burton fan and Johnny Depp is the cat's pajamas. If you've never heard of Sweeney Todd, I would recommend renting the 1982 version with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury. Its pretty disturbing, but I love it just the same.
Casting News: Burton and Depp Together Again
Although not officially announced, rumors are flying that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are teaming up again for the movie version of "Sweeney Todd." Sources close to the Hitlist confirm the story. The musical about a demon barber who slits the throats of his customers recently returned to Broadway in a critically acclaimed production. The original 1979 production won Tony Awards for Best Musical and individual awards for composer Stephen Sondheim and stars Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury (yep, that one). The biggest question is whether Johnny Depp can handle the singing chores. "Todd" verges on opera so the musical requirements are more difficult than your typical big-screen adaptation. The picture would be the sixth collaboration between Burton and Depp, but when it will actually occur is unknown. A screenplay has been completed by Oscar-winner John Logan ("Gladiator"), but Burton's next film was expected to be "Believe It or Not!" which star Jim Carrey told the Hitlist was to begin shooting by the end of this year. Needless to say, the collaboration of the two on such a dark and sinister project as "Todd" will make it a highly anticipated project."
I first saw Sweeney Todd when I was in high school and it is still one of my favorite musicals. I am hoping that this project comes to fruition, because, as I'm sure you can all gather, I'm a HUGE Tim Burton fan and Johnny Depp is the cat's pajamas. If you've never heard of Sweeney Todd, I would recommend renting the 1982 version with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury. Its pretty disturbing, but I love it just the same.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
I am such a nerd...
I bought this with some Christmas money from the Hot Topic website:
I now have about 20 Nightmare Before Christmas handbags (I refuse to say purse) and counting...do you think I have a problem?
I now have about 20 Nightmare Before Christmas handbags (I refuse to say purse) and counting...do you think I have a problem?
Monday, January 09, 2006
No, I'm not dead.
I am still recovering, however, from a NASTY bout of the flu...I'm running at about 85% right now, which is down from my 90% of yesterday...
After missing 3 days of work and being back at work today (not out of dedication to my job, but out of liking having my own house and not being harassed by creditors because I have no money to pay my bills) I've come to a couple of conclusions...
The human body is VERY resilient, but the mind (at least mine), not so much. I feel like a big baby, feebly asking Ben to make me tea and toast for the past week like I'm terminally ill or something. I did not want to come into work today, because I still feel like crap, I've got an earache now to add to the rest of it, but I do actually feel better than I did on Monday of last week.
Mucinex is a wonder drug, but they sure as HELL mean it when they say to drink LOTS of water when you take it. Because if you don't you will find your eyes will gum up at night and they will seal themselves shut and you will feel like you've been out in the desert for many months and your throat will feel worse than when you started due to dehydration. Mucinex can be taken with NyQuil and produce very good results, because NyQuil by itself apparently was not enough...
The only benefit of staying home from work on a weekday is daytime TV. I'm a sucker for the People's Court and the Maury Povich show. I love Judge Marilyn Milian because she's funny and I love Maury Povich because watching paternity test results revealed makes me feel better about myself in that I will know who my baby's daddy is when my time comes. Also these two shows come on back to back for 4 solid hours of good TV and brain shutdown time while I'm hopped up on cold and flu medication.
The only downside to watching these programs is that the commercials are obviously geared towards people who do not have jobs and are just lazing about wasting their lives in front of the TV hoping their check will come in. Commercials for Remington College, DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute and countless others are hammered into your brain to the point where I was actually contemplating making that phone call because I really DID want to know the starting salaries of some of those jobs. The other commercials were for the elderly or sick because Delta Burke and Wilford Brimley really want you to call Liberty Medical for your diabetes medications, and Fred and Ethel want you to know you can get better healthcare. The last target audience was for people who had just been in a car accident and needed help from the sharks at their insurance company, so call the Texas Hammer immediately.
This got old after the first halfhour of the People's Court on Wednesday morning...I had 2 more days and 3 more hours of this...
But alas, I could mentally check out for a couple hours and weave in and out of sleep for most of it in between breaks to make myself oatmeal, toast and tea to try to will the demons that had inhabited my body OUT.
My other news is that I'm currently coloring the back-up story for a new comic called Villains to be published by Viper Comics later this year.
"Villains is created by Adam Cogan & Ryan Cody, Written by Adam Cogan, Artwork by Ryan Cody (Covers and main story), Color Art by Russ Lowery (Covers and main story), Back-Up Story Artwork by Charles Clark, Back-Up Story Color Artwork by Marlena Hall, 4 Issue Miniseries, First Issue drops April 2006."
The art is by Charles Clark, who is amazing...and its only five pages an issue, which is pretty nice, so that I'm not stressing out at doing a full comic again so soon after wrapping up the Protectorate. So be on the lookout for this comic, boys and girls...
So that's where I've been for the past week...and its now back to the madness that is me...
After missing 3 days of work and being back at work today (not out of dedication to my job, but out of liking having my own house and not being harassed by creditors because I have no money to pay my bills) I've come to a couple of conclusions...
The human body is VERY resilient, but the mind (at least mine), not so much. I feel like a big baby, feebly asking Ben to make me tea and toast for the past week like I'm terminally ill or something. I did not want to come into work today, because I still feel like crap, I've got an earache now to add to the rest of it, but I do actually feel better than I did on Monday of last week.
Mucinex is a wonder drug, but they sure as HELL mean it when they say to drink LOTS of water when you take it. Because if you don't you will find your eyes will gum up at night and they will seal themselves shut and you will feel like you've been out in the desert for many months and your throat will feel worse than when you started due to dehydration. Mucinex can be taken with NyQuil and produce very good results, because NyQuil by itself apparently was not enough...
The only benefit of staying home from work on a weekday is daytime TV. I'm a sucker for the People's Court and the Maury Povich show. I love Judge Marilyn Milian because she's funny and I love Maury Povich because watching paternity test results revealed makes me feel better about myself in that I will know who my baby's daddy is when my time comes. Also these two shows come on back to back for 4 solid hours of good TV and brain shutdown time while I'm hopped up on cold and flu medication.
The only downside to watching these programs is that the commercials are obviously geared towards people who do not have jobs and are just lazing about wasting their lives in front of the TV hoping their check will come in. Commercials for Remington College, DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute and countless others are hammered into your brain to the point where I was actually contemplating making that phone call because I really DID want to know the starting salaries of some of those jobs. The other commercials were for the elderly or sick because Delta Burke and Wilford Brimley really want you to call Liberty Medical for your diabetes medications, and Fred and Ethel want you to know you can get better healthcare. The last target audience was for people who had just been in a car accident and needed help from the sharks at their insurance company, so call the Texas Hammer immediately.
This got old after the first halfhour of the People's Court on Wednesday morning...I had 2 more days and 3 more hours of this...
But alas, I could mentally check out for a couple hours and weave in and out of sleep for most of it in between breaks to make myself oatmeal, toast and tea to try to will the demons that had inhabited my body OUT.
My other news is that I'm currently coloring the back-up story for a new comic called Villains to be published by Viper Comics later this year.
"Villains is created by Adam Cogan & Ryan Cody, Written by Adam Cogan, Artwork by Ryan Cody (Covers and main story), Color Art by Russ Lowery (Covers and main story), Back-Up Story Artwork by Charles Clark, Back-Up Story Color Artwork by Marlena Hall, 4 Issue Miniseries, First Issue drops April 2006."
The art is by Charles Clark, who is amazing...and its only five pages an issue, which is pretty nice, so that I'm not stressing out at doing a full comic again so soon after wrapping up the Protectorate. So be on the lookout for this comic, boys and girls...
So that's where I've been for the past week...and its now back to the madness that is me...
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
The Ballad of Joey Greco...
During my daily exploits of website building for my dayjob, I sometimes have the need to use stock photography. My employer has a library of stock photos that he purchased from various stock photo sites and we keep them on our network for use by everyone.
Recently, I came across a most unexpected discovery while browsing through the photos...
Look closely at the man in these pictures:
Notice anything?? Its JOEY GRECO, the host of the TV show Cheaters! Look again!
I guess before his lucrative career hosting Cheaters, Joey made a few bucks by being a model for stock photos.
I SO want to use one of these pictures in a website or ad or SOMETHING....
The sad thing was when I first saw these and I went running to the other girl in the office that's the same age as I am and squealed "LOOK! Its Joey Greco from Cheaters in our stock photos!" To which I was rewarded with a blank stare and a follow-up question of "What's Cheaters?"
"You live in Dallas and you don't know what Cheaters is?" I cried! I'm from Vegas and I've seen this show, its mostly filmed here in the DFW area!! I even went to the Cheaters website that has a picture of him on its frontpage and she still didn't think it was him. Again I got the shaken head and look of pity that I so often get from my co-workers whenever I do anything that is out of the ordinary.
"She does comic books, so excuse her outlandish behavior..." and the usual stare as if I've developed a mental illness that makes me get excited about finding stuff like this hidden away like some kind of holy grail...
Recently, I came across a most unexpected discovery while browsing through the photos...
Look closely at the man in these pictures:
Notice anything?? Its JOEY GRECO, the host of the TV show Cheaters! Look again!
I guess before his lucrative career hosting Cheaters, Joey made a few bucks by being a model for stock photos.I SO want to use one of these pictures in a website or ad or SOMETHING....
The sad thing was when I first saw these and I went running to the other girl in the office that's the same age as I am and squealed "LOOK! Its Joey Greco from Cheaters in our stock photos!" To which I was rewarded with a blank stare and a follow-up question of "What's Cheaters?"
"You live in Dallas and you don't know what Cheaters is?" I cried! I'm from Vegas and I've seen this show, its mostly filmed here in the DFW area!! I even went to the Cheaters website that has a picture of him on its frontpage and she still didn't think it was him. Again I got the shaken head and look of pity that I so often get from my co-workers whenever I do anything that is out of the ordinary.
"She does comic books, so excuse her outlandish behavior..." and the usual stare as if I've developed a mental illness that makes me get excited about finding stuff like this hidden away like some kind of holy grail...
Brad Pitt is annoying...
So I have THE FLU. Not the bird flu, just good old fashioned crap in my throat, fatigue, chills, snotty nose, coughing, all-around-gunk FLU.
I'm sure I caught it from someone this weekend, but not sure who, because there were a couple of "getting over being sick's" and some "I think he's coming down with something's" so I'm not sure where this came from, but its blows goats.
It came on really fast and suddenly at work yesterday at about 4 o'clock and lasted WELL into the night. I came home and dumped myself on the couch after changing into a comfy red hooded sweatshirt (insert Adam Sandler song here) my NBX Sally pajama pants, some frog socks...and watched the movie Troy.
I didn't have any desire to see this movie in the theatre, but figured it would be good enough to rent from Blockbuster. Boy was I wrong.
It was sad because I like Orlando Bloom, I LOVE Brian Cox, Eric Bana I can take or leave, Brendan Gleeson is awesome and Brad Pitt is OK. So the cast seemed pretty solid, I always enjoyed Greek mythology in school and it seemed like something interesting to watch, plus I wasn't going anywhere last night. So Ben made me some tea and we sat down to watch this soul sucking movie that stole 3 hours of my life that I'm never getting back.
Ok, that's a bit harsh, but the whole movie was SO redundant and just kept repeating itself over and over to the point that I was almost in tears. How many funeral pyres do we REALLY need to see? Yes, YES we GET it, Achilles wants his name to go down in the history books, as the biggest jerk of his time, and horribly annoying!!
That being said, if you haven't had the displeasure of seeing Troy, do yourself a favor and rent something else. Even if it comes on TV don't waste your time, take up skeet shooting, baking, knitting ANYTHING to keep your eyeballs from having to witness the lameness that is the movie Troy.
*this was brought to you by the cold and cough suppressant filled mind of marlena, nothing was harmed for this entry except maybe some actor's pride (as if they would really care about what she wrote about their movie anyway)
I'm sure I caught it from someone this weekend, but not sure who, because there were a couple of "getting over being sick's" and some "I think he's coming down with something's" so I'm not sure where this came from, but its blows goats.
It came on really fast and suddenly at work yesterday at about 4 o'clock and lasted WELL into the night. I came home and dumped myself on the couch after changing into a comfy red hooded sweatshirt (insert Adam Sandler song here) my NBX Sally pajama pants, some frog socks...and watched the movie Troy.
I didn't have any desire to see this movie in the theatre, but figured it would be good enough to rent from Blockbuster. Boy was I wrong.
It was sad because I like Orlando Bloom, I LOVE Brian Cox, Eric Bana I can take or leave, Brendan Gleeson is awesome and Brad Pitt is OK. So the cast seemed pretty solid, I always enjoyed Greek mythology in school and it seemed like something interesting to watch, plus I wasn't going anywhere last night. So Ben made me some tea and we sat down to watch this soul sucking movie that stole 3 hours of my life that I'm never getting back.
Ok, that's a bit harsh, but the whole movie was SO redundant and just kept repeating itself over and over to the point that I was almost in tears. How many funeral pyres do we REALLY need to see? Yes, YES we GET it, Achilles wants his name to go down in the history books, as the biggest jerk of his time, and horribly annoying!!
That being said, if you haven't had the displeasure of seeing Troy, do yourself a favor and rent something else. Even if it comes on TV don't waste your time, take up skeet shooting, baking, knitting ANYTHING to keep your eyeballs from having to witness the lameness that is the movie Troy.
*this was brought to you by the cold and cough suppressant filled mind of marlena, nothing was harmed for this entry except maybe some actor's pride (as if they would really care about what she wrote about their movie anyway)
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Hello 2006
Its a new year and a time for reflection on things past and what to do with the future.
I hung out with some friends and the hubby last night and had some good fondue (with a small amount of "OH SHIT!" when I was heating up cream in a saucepan in Laura's kitchen and it decided to overflow), some good drinks (many tequila shots after watching Cheaters Uncensored, I have since taken this OFF of my amazon wishlist because I can't get some of the images I saw there out of my brain) and lots of laughs. Also a sad note while trying to catch the ball dropping in Times Square they had Dick Clark on and it was about the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life.
We also had some entertainment program going in the background after midnight and they were doing the top 25 stories ever and ALL of them had to do with some celebrity dying...how morbid is that? Are there no good Hollywood stories where someone DOESN'T die??!?!
On a lighter note, I hope everyone had a great one and that the new year brings health, wealth, love and monkeys.
(and I hope that the jackass kids that egged Ben's car while we were away get picked to be sent on a rocket into space never to be heard of again. I HATE our neighborhood)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I hung out with some friends and the hubby last night and had some good fondue (with a small amount of "OH SHIT!" when I was heating up cream in a saucepan in Laura's kitchen and it decided to overflow), some good drinks (many tequila shots after watching Cheaters Uncensored, I have since taken this OFF of my amazon wishlist because I can't get some of the images I saw there out of my brain) and lots of laughs. Also a sad note while trying to catch the ball dropping in Times Square they had Dick Clark on and it was about the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life.
We also had some entertainment program going in the background after midnight and they were doing the top 25 stories ever and ALL of them had to do with some celebrity dying...how morbid is that? Are there no good Hollywood stories where someone DOESN'T die??!?!
On a lighter note, I hope everyone had a great one and that the new year brings health, wealth, love and monkeys.
(and I hope that the jackass kids that egged Ben's car while we were away get picked to be sent on a rocket into space never to be heard of again. I HATE our neighborhood)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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