Frak Jesus!

I found the UNITED FRAKKIN' STATES in MY beer!!


Jesus in pancakes, Jesus in potato chips...but I find the good ol' U.S. of A. in my beer! Score!!! No one can ever say I'm not patriotic now! :-P


The End.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I hope you all have a fantastic holiday! I love Christmas, I love my family & I love my friends and it's nice to have a time once a year where everyone is getting/giving gifts, making cookies (and other goodies) and listening to fun songs that remind us of our youth. I will always love Christmastime above all other times. Right now I'm listening to Dominic the Donkey (for the 100th time) finishing up baking for the family, about to make some string beans for the dinner, then off for the likely traffic-filled drive to my aunt's house.

Anyway, here's a few things for you for Christmas:

My FAVOURITE Christmas elf...



The wonderful Marvel Christmas e-card (that's a picture of what was hanging in the office, click it for the card!):



And lastly, I leave you with this new addition to Mark Walhberg talks to animals. He slips up right off the bat, but I still really like it. :-) Andy Samberg is great. <3

Happy New Year too! Thanks for reading my nonsense all year!


The End.

Also, How 'Bout Them...

GIANTS??!?!!!!



Just had to say something! Last night's game was awesome! Where the hell have THESE Giants been lately?!?!? I hope they stick around! :-)

(And of course it's the first game in WEEKS I watched by myself. My usual crew was all split up. Though I did enjoy a few beers, some of my fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and get my Christmas wrapping done! :-D)


The End.

An Atheist Christmas Gift!

I got an awesome Christmas gift in the mail yesterday! Fellow blogger and atheist Jake Bell sent this shirt to me (found on TShirtHell.com):


Now... when to wear it!? Honestly, I love it, but I'm unsure when/where I should wear this. I have a t-shirt with a Dawkins quote that I bought for myself, and LOVE, but have yet to wear. And I've been trolling Cafe Press, et al., itching to buy more atheist shirts...but...

Well, I know I'm very outspoken about this. Everyone around me knows and I've ALWAYS been one to make my opinions known. But this is different. Even when I still believed in god, I rolled my eyes at people with Jesus fish on their cars, etc. OK, so you love god, why do you have to show it off...

Then again...I suppose it's the same thing as wearing band or comic book (or ANYTHING) t-shirts. You like it, you want to support the thing you like and you wouldn't mind like-minded people noticing that you're like-minded. Hmmmm... (Stream-of-consciousness blogging this is! haha)

Still, though, I hate being accused of trying to force my "beliefs" on other people. (For some reason, people just don't understand how NOT believing in something is NOT a belief in and of itself. I BELIEVE there's no god, the same way you BELIEVE there are no tooth fairies.) Though I suppose wearing the shirt isn't forcing anything...plus in THIS case, it's funny, too. :-)

Huh. OK. Well, in either case, I'm waiting until after Christmas to do that. No need to get people all upset. (Though I don't think those I work/play with would care, but you never know.)

I've been thinking about this a lot today. As you may or may not know, I post a quote daily (Monday-Friday, unless I'm not at work) from The Quotable Atheist on Twitter. Today I found one I liked, but hesitated to post it. In the end, I posted it, but cut out a little bit of it, replacing it with a elipse (...). Here's the quote, I'll put the bit I cut in italics:

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business." -Jesse "The Body" Ventura

I did this because I know I have a few Christian friends that might read that and I didn't want them to think I thought they were weak-minded. While I DO think the only reason they are religious and believe in god is because they were brought up that way, I don't necessarily think it's weak-mindedness that keeps them there. Often it can be the case, but I don't think it's always so. But I did like the rest of the quote because that is what bothers me so much about religion. You only have to look at how gays are treated (or how the Christian right would LIKE them to be treated) to know what I'm talking about.

I was STILL a little uncomfortable as I often think of this when I post these quotes, so I went further and posted this (took 4 tweets! hahaha):

I just want to say that I don't hold that all religious people are idiots or evil. And I'm not trying to FORCE my non-belief on anyone. I just think that religious ideas should be kept OUT of the way the country (& the world) is run & the bad stuff that comes from it shouldn't be tip-toed around. To my religious friends, I'm sorry if I offend you, but I'm not talking about you. If you were one of these people, I wouldn't be friends with you in the first place. End disclaimer. ;-)

Got a couple of positive responses from that. I just hope it gets my point across. I understand that religion might help some people and that if they just keep to it to themselves there's no harm. But there's just too many out there that try to make everyone live they way THEY think is right and they're basing it off old "holy" books with atrocities within their pages and what "holy" men who want power tell them. Aaaaanyway... kind of a tangent...though maybe not entirely. Just wanted to put that out there.


The End.

PS I really kinda like THIS shirt.

PPS I'm going to give you the little blurb for Jesse Ventura that The Quotable Atheist had for him. He seems so frakkin' awesome! :)

Jesse Ventura (born James Janos, 1951- ), a.k.a. "The Body": former governor of Minnesota (1999-2003), professional wrestler, sports commentator, actor, radio talk show host, mayor, Navy SEAL and, briefly, bodyguard for The Rolling Stones. Modeled his wrestling persona on "Superstar" Billy Graham — the wrestler, not the Jesus tag-team partner. As governor (Reform/Independence Party), described himself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal; supported gay rights, abortion rights, medicinal marijuana and church-state sep. Vetoed a bill to promote recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Achieved the highest approval rating of any governor in U.S. history. His supporters' slogan: "My governor can beat up your governor."

How cool is that?!?!

OK, I'm On a Tear Tonight...

Sorry, just catching up on a lot of blogs and stuff. I was reminded of the Brookstone firing incident where a man was fired for telling a lesbian co-worker that what she was doing — marrying another woman — was bad stuff. Of course HE sees her talking about her upcoming wedding as pushing her gay agenda in his face. It should be noted that when he thought he was marrying a man, he was interested in her wedding plans, so the argument that she shouldn't be talking about her personal life in the workplace doesn't fly.

You can read the full story here (a Google search will give you the same story told from gay-friendly as well as many anti-gay perspectives, but the video they're getting it from is always the same).

I recommend reading the comments. There's some nicely worded rebuttals to the religious, anti-gay nutcases.

And speaking of them...this guy took the cake in the comments section and I had to just bring it to the forefront:

Wade

November 16th, 2009 at 2:06 pm

This man is not a bigot and was not judging the woman. Please get your facts straight before posting comments. This woman knew she was offending her Christian coworker by talking about her homosexual relations. This is sexual harrassment and intolerance on her part. This man went and prayed before gently, out of Christian love for all and in a non-judmental way, trying to inform the woman of what she might not know – that homosexuality is a sin against God and no man-made laws can or will ever change that. He did this out of a desire for this woman to have happiness and the abundant life God wants for all people, but that this woman will never have as long as she continues in this sin. We are all sinners, but should be striving to not sin – not embracing the sin. Regardless of any who reads this believes or does not believe, this woman will continue to be punished by God because of the sin of homosexuality until she begins striving to end this sin in her life. And, she will only be alble to achieve this with God’s help. This Christian man was doing his Godly duty to attempt to help this woman even he had to put his job at risk. Satan in the world will always fight back against Christians who stand up for God and he will use those who are weak in God like the supervisor who fired this Christian man. This man is a hero!

This really just...well it's just horrifying. THIS is why I hate religion. I know, I know, religious people are not ALL like this (I know religious people who are not, but they are not literally following their religion to the letter)...but this is what religion breeds. ::sigh:: I think I'm going to bed now. Maybe I'm getting so angry because I'm cranky... Nah, I'd be this angry no matter what time it was! :-P

The End.

If You Don't Believe in Santa, You're Going to HELL!

Crazy, huh? This guy writes a great post about what it feels like to be an atheist, using the analogy of being a non-believer in a world full of people that honestly believe in Santa Claus. It's a great read and can help explain how an athiest feels.

What It Feels Like to be an Atheist

Now, as far as atheists are treated, I'm lucky to not have had many of these experiences MYSELF, but atheists are often treated as such. (Helps I was born and raised in NYC.) But as for how religion affects the world, he's pretty spot on.

(My only gripe with this analogy is the presents-giving portion of the Santa story. Do the people in this Santa-loving world actually GET magical presents under their trees? He never addresses that bit. But there's no such equating quality in god-belief (ie: believers don't actually get magical presents from god once a year either), so I guess it's okay to gloss over that bit.)

Anyhoo, I thought this was cool and wanted to share!

The End.

SNL Still Kicking Ass!

So I watched last week's SNL last night (aaah, love that DVR). It was just another example of how good this show has been in the last few years. Now I know not every sketch is great and some episodes are weaker than others (I was disappointed, for example, that Seth Rogen's episode a while back was kinda crap).


I didn't expect much from this one as I couldn't care less about the host, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but it turned out to be really great. I even enjoyed the opening political bit which I haven't been lately. It was upsetting because I have faith in Obama and it totally made fun of him, but they were spot on and it was amusing. Gordon-Levitt was a bit strange, I must say. He strikes me as being slightly crazy...I can't quite explain it. His opening dance number (yep, a dance number) was pretty impressive all things considered, but was also a bit weird. (His good-bye also freaked me out a bit for some reason... :-P)

Anyway, the fake commercial they typically do after the monologue was PHENOMENAL for this episode. Granted, I'll eat up anything that makes fun of Sarah Palin, but this was superb. They re-cut the trailer for 2012 (in itself a ridiculous thing)...it's too great to explain, watch it here. It's not available for embedding, I'm assuming the linked website got some special permissions. Too fantastic. WATCH IT!

Also awesome throughout the episode was Al Gore's appearances. I don't know why, but I love this guy. His appearance on 30 Rock for Green Week was also great. And he DOES make fun of the fact that NBC calls him up every time there's a Green Week. He even sat through that insane"What Up With That?" sketch. haha Those are ridiculous!

I WAS able to get the Mellow Show clip from Hulu to embed. This was great. Dave Matthews, who was the musical guest, does a pretty great impression of Ozzy. I'm so curious how they came up with that. Like, did they ask him first who he though he could impersonate, or did they just take their chances with Ozzy and he nailed it? If I ever run into Bill Hader (who actually plays Dave Matthews in this same sketch!) again, I'm going to ask him. (Not that unlikely as he's written a comic for us with Seth Meyers. It's collected in Spider-Man: The Short Halloween Premiere Hardcover! Check it out! ;-P)



Last but not least, Andy Samberg didn't disappoint with his digital short. It's absolutely ridiculous, but I love it. Not as great as Dick in a Box or Mother Lover, but it's still pretty entertaining. Enjoy!



You can watch the full episode on Hulu if you feel so inclined. I recommend it!


The End.


PS Spoiler if you didn't watch that Palin video yet... but this was the scariest part in my opinion!! haha

Some REALLY SMART Palin Supporters (That's Sarcasm)

I know this isn't ALL the Palin supporters out there, but it's still pretty funny. How can you be SO supportive of a political person to stand in line for hours waiting to meet her if you know practically NOTHING about her policies. Its so sad how easily people are brainwashed!




The End.


PS Didn't think I'd be using that Palin tag again after the election. Ugh.

In Honour of New Moon

I'm actually looking forward to New Moon despite the fact that the FIRST Twilight movie was a pile of poo. Mostly this is because of Jacob. As I've mentioned before I am in love with Jacob. Not so much the actor (though he's gotten pretty cute), as the character, but either way, they're both in the new movie. I'm also pretty excited for Dakota Fanning being in it. I love that girl. I'm hoping the fact that the first movie (miraculously) made a bunch of money, they'll spend a little more on this one. THe "glitter in the sun" effect in the first one just made Edward look sweaty. Ew.

ANYWAY. So I was watching Saturday Night Live from a few weeks ago, with special guest Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift, as some of you may know, is DATING the actor who plays Jacob. You might also know that HIS name is ALSO Taylor. This I find to be ridiculous. It is probably the reason that the Digital Short for the episode was made, though. And THAT was fantastic. I present it here for you. Enjoy!



Ha! Love it! And Taylor does a great job impersonating the ridiculously over-acted Bella. ;-)


The End.

For the Love of Music

Warning! The following post is very corny! ;-P

So I fucking LOVE music. I know that's a fairly general statement. I mean, LOTS of people love music. But that doesn't take away from how much I love it. And recently I've been loving it even more. I've been having a rough time of it lately, not being at my happiest (love, home and money problems...yes, I am the ONLY ONE with these problems. ;-P).

But it's amazing how much better I can feel when listening to some good music. Sometimes it's the lyrics, some songs have hopeful lyrics or there's something in them I can relate to. But often it's just an emotional response to the music itself. Either way, I'm crushing on music HARD lately. ;-)

For example, yesterday while driving somewhere, I put on a Kaiser Chiefs album and the music just perked me right up. I put it louder and there was like a swelling in my chest that put me in a much better, I-could-kick-the-world's-ass-right-now, mood.

And this past Thursday, I got to enjoy An Evening with Fran Healy & Andy Dunlop (of Travis). It was amazing. Billed as "A Chronological Acoustical Journey Through The Travis Back Catalogue," the pair played all their hits in between telling stories of how the writing of these songs came about — complete with a slide show! Fran did pretty much all of the talking, and he did it well. Charming and funny, I fell in love with him. (Though I kinda already was.) It was definitely in the top three shows I've ever seen.

And the music made me cry. But in a good way. I really think Travis' songs are just beautiful. And Fran even talked about how music was priceless which was great to hear when I was standing there, tears in my eyes, big smile on my face and just a powerful feeling that everything will be ok. (Sadly, the feeling kinda faded as the show moved further into the past...)

See? Told you it would be corny. Sometimes it just has to be done! :-)

Anyway, here are some pics...


Fran with his hot tea. Haha Just think he looks adorable with his guitar and teacup! :-P


I got to meet them after! Stuck around until 1AM to do so! It was really cool of them to do this (I believe they hung around to meet anyone who wanted to after every show on the tour). They were super sweet and Fran took this picture himself! Well done!


Fran joked after seeing this picture that he needed a haircut. I agree actually. He looks so much cuter with short hair. Both of them do actually:


Very loosely related: This weekend I played DJ Hero at a friend's house. And I kicked ass (for a first-timer). I need this game! Too bad it's so frakkin' expensive...

Oh and I just came from a wedding which is why I'm wearing that fancy dress! :-P


The End.

Funny Religion-Related Things Found on Internet

Just a couple funny religion-related images I found on the internet! (Wow! Just as the title suggests! :-P)

Found this on Blag Hag (one of my new favourite blogs by a fellow atheist Jennifer!):


This was twittered by the same Jennifer and found here:


Sent to me by my co-worker (here's the link):


I can't remember where I got this, think I found it on twitter...hilarious!


The End.

Re-livin' the 80s!!

So a local bar where I live (Cargo Cafe) had a fantastic event last weekend... An 80s Prom! I was wary of this at first, but as I started to gather materials for the big dance, I got more and more into it...


The decorated the bar very appropriately, calling it the Cargo High Senior Prom 1984...



Lace gloves & bangles are key, as well as the top-of-the-head ponytail (complete with bow - though I only had one with skulls on it :-P)...


Yes...I'm dancin' to 80s music. You would too. You KNOW you would...


Someone took a picture of feet, I'm in the upper left corner. It's one of the only pics where you see the effort I put in! Pink fishnets, mis-matching socks AND mis-matching Cons!! :-)


Really not much more to say, except this party was FANTASTIC. A live band played 80s covers, there was a space set up for the classic couple prom pictures, complete with pink and blue backdrop, and lots of people looking fantasticly ridiculous! :-)

The best part of this is that I was a mere 0-9 in the 80s, so I never got to fully appreciate it until after the fact. I've no doubt this is what I would have looked like had I been a teen in the 80s! :-P

PS If you're ever on Staten Island, Cargo is a cool bar with great food! Check it out!


The End.

Party Girl

haha Just wanted to post this funny pic of me I found...more of these might be coming as I've been on a reminiscing kick!

I like beer:

The End.

Regretsy Rocks!

OK, so I DO like etsy.com. I DO! I've seen some cool stuff on there. But, REGRETSY.COM, now that shit is FUNNY!

My co-worker sent me the link to this fine product (b/c of my love of Twilight of course), which introduced me to the site and I instantly fell in love:



Please note the comment under the listing: "Oh this is a great idea. Giant vinyl lettering on your wall that tells every new sex partner you'd rather be fucking a dead teenager." HAHAHAHA (Doesn't offend me though, b/c I love the one that turns into a giant dog... ;-P)

So basically, the site just finds the most ridiculous crap being sold on Etsy and brings it to your attention with quite hilarious comments on the subject (they DO link to the products, though, so if you actually like something, you can go buy it!). Here are some more examples:



I cannot believe these things exist!! And this one below, might taste good, sure, but yes, it looks disgusting:


I can already see the hours wasted looking at this stuff... ah, I really am thankful for smart-asses!


The End.

So THIS Happened...

Yep. That's me and my new BFF, Paris Hilton. No, that is NOT a cut-out. ;-) OK, so we're not BFF's, but I did get to meet the hyper-intelligent hotel heiress. :-P

There was some sort of Comicon countdown charity bowling party-thing, free for professionals (like myself) at Bowlmor Lanes in Union Sq. a few weeks ago (so much for my TIMELY postings...) which was why I was there. There was ALSO a party for the grand opening of the new bar on the top floor called Carnival (which looks pretty cool, by the way), which was why PARIS was there. Also, apparently to have her picture taken while "bowling." She was just like posing with the bowling ball before each roll, with camaramen just in the adjoining lanes. VERY important we have pics of Paris bowling!

I just couldn't resist the picture. Although, I was a little shy about asking for it until a fellow co-worker stepped up and asked. To be honest, I was afraid of her many body-guards... haha

Here're a couple other pictures I snapped while waiting, further proof of her non-cut-out-ness:


Oh, the people I meet...


The End.

Sketchbook Series #7

Finally finished Twilight...still have yet to finish Veronica Mars... Eventually, hopefully, I'll actually get back on track to post stuff as they happen (will post soon about a roller derby I attended a couple weeks ago). Meantime...sketchbook series!!!

This sketchbook series post is from... ANDY MACDONALD!! Oooooh! Preeeetttty!!!


This weekend is the Baltimore Comicon and up until today I was going to go. Events occurred however preventing this from happening, so sadly I won't be there. If YOU are attending, please stop by Andy MacDonald's table! He's an amazing artist (as you can CLEARLY see above)! While he's done a few comics for us over here at Marvel (Punisher War Journal, Miss America Comics 70th Anniversary Special), I think his primary work is featured in NYCMech and I believe he contributed to the Tori Amos inspired collection Comic Book Tattoo!

I recommended getting a commission from him as he does a wonderful job. He's also got some pretty cool t-shirts available. (I got one of this robot shark, super cool!) If you DO stop by, say hello for me!


The End.

PS For the ladies/gay lads...he's QUITE a handsome fella, that alone is enough reason to stop by! haha ;-P

AAAAAAH!!!! INFURIATING!!!

Found on The New Atheist:



This makes me so frakkin' angry!!!! Firstly, the kids' songs are harmless. It's not like they're droning on about the light that shines from Obama's face or anything. One of 'em just says "Hooray" for his accomplishments or something and talks about how all "colors" of people are equal. OK, so that guy shouting about Obama saving the world is a bit much... But really?? We're the best country because we respect "God's authority"?! NO other country does this?! What about Israel? I can't imagine a country that prays more to god and follows religious rules, etc. Their country is torn to shit. And anyway, I don't really think we're the best anymore. (Not sure if I ever did, I don't know everything there is to know about all other countries to be able to make that call.) But certainly we're not the greatest place to live right now. And it started BEFORE Obama. (Cuz I'm sure that's what this asshole would say to that.)

Man, I've only seen snippets of the shit that spews from this guy's mouth, mostly just repeated clips of him calling Obama a racist. Yeah. Genius. I think this is the longest I've watched him and I think about the limit of what I can take.

Just frakkin' horrendous.

A VOID! We have a VOID to fill because we don't believe in god!! AAAHHH!! This shit drives me CRAZY! How the hell can someone assume that shit about other people! And the stuff he says we fill it with? Are you says people who believe in god don't want or say those things? Arrrggh!!!

I have to stop now. Blech!


The End.

Neglect

I've been neglecting you, blog. First it was to watch Veronica Mars. I stopped doing that b/c I'm afraid of the ending. I fell in love with this fella:

His name is Logan Echolls. I am nervous as to how the show will end (was cancelled near the end of Season 3), so I have been putting off watching the last 8 or so episodes.

THEN I got into this Twilight nonsense! They're ridiculously girlie, young adult, romance novels, involving vampires that glitter in the sun and werewolves that change whenever they want to and protect people. As if you didn't already know. I've read the first two (each only took two days) and I'm on the third. I'll have read the forth by middle next week, I'm sure. I love them. And now I love THIS fella:

Though I don't actually like this actor or anything (I mean, he's OK...certainly better looking than the creepy-looking kid who play the vampire lead), but he's the physical representation of the character in the book that I've fallen for, Jacob Black. ::sigh::

So these things have kept me occupied. It's getting a bit ridiculous. I expect soon to be living completely in a fantasy world made up of all my favourite books, movies & TV shows. It's sad. Pity me.

Meanwhile I have dreams where Hurly from Lost is a classmate of mine and in some weird gathering to talk about a reunion, he freaks out like in a vampire-esque rage, I'm told he as an iron deficiency in his blood, he tries to attack us, I stab him in the back with this giant steak knife and run, he chases after me (pretty fast, all things considered) until he catches up with me talking to an older woman walking her dog who offers him a poundcake. About then I wake up. Ridiculous.

The End.

PS As I mentioned I haven't finished either Veronica or Twilight...PLEASE...NO SPOILERS!

EDIT: OK, after watching the New Moon trailer, I find the Jacob Black actor much hotter...though, he's only 17 and that makes me uncomfortable! haha

Uuhhhh...so...yeah...

Kirk Cameron Is An Idiot

Mike Seaver, say it ain't so!

Check this shit out (found on this site via twitter follower). Kirk Cameron and that idiot Ray Comfort will be handing out free copies of Origin of the Species, with a "special" introduction by Ray himself, hoping to give college students an opposing viewpoint to evolution. I'm hoping most of these students will read it and laugh. I kinda want one myself. You know, as a novelty item.



There are many problems with this video, but I'll only just mention a few. Firstly, our liberties are not GOD-given, thank you very much. If that were the case, we'd have practically none. ESPECIALLY women (which is amusing since he says some shit about Darwin's hatred for women). Another pile of bullshit is that NO ONE is telling ANY children that they can't read bibles in school (assuming it's not DURING class). If there's private reading time, or maybe during lunch, that a child decides to use reading the bible, that's FINE. They're not allowed to pray?! Get the fuck out of here. The only thing that's not allowed is that the SCHOOL and/or TEACHERS can't MAKE them pray or read bibles. ::sigh:: I'm getting all worked up here.

Either way, my first thought was what would Kirk say if atheists started going to churches and handing out free copies of the bible with all its contradictions and HATRED OF WOMEN and all its bullshit pointed out printed in a special intro at the front. He'd have a fucking shit-fit, saying how DISRESPECTFUL to their religion it was. It's funny b/c he claims that these students at these colleges are BRAIN-WASHED by atheist teachers and not given an opposing point of view. But what do you think the parents of Christian children are doing?! (I know, I know, not ALL of them. But I'm generalising the way Kirk does.) Creationist-believing parents do not offer their children the Bible and Origin of the Species and say, "Use your heads kids, decide which you think sounds more logical."

Ugh. If you watch the second video in the link at the top, you'll see a girl ripping this video apart, she has many of the same ideas as I have. She also brought up a good point that she (and I agree) doesn't think Kirk would be too happy with free Korans being handed out in schools.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, all this crap is summed up with what our government is SUPPOSEDLY based on: SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Man, how HARD is that to understand?!?!

Argh!


The End.

PS Haha This kinda goes against what I said about praying being allowed in schools (and it is, on the students OWN time), but I still like this quote from who knows where:


[EDIT: This guy basically says what I said, only better. He actually references specific laws...haha]

The Long-Awaited SDCC Post

Long-awaited by ME, anyway, I doubt anyone was holding their breath in anticipation... :-)

So here we go! I'm missing a few photos from my destroyed laptop, but I'll add them in if I ever get my stuff back...

Anyway, I had a great trip, lots of partying and not seeing everyone I wanted to see! The best part about cons for me, is getting to hang out with all my friends from all over the country (and actually, the world), so its disappointing when some of my favourites are in the same place as me and I still get to see them for only a few minutes (or sometimes not at all). But that's the problem with the San Diego Comicon...it's just so damned big! I LOVE this con for the same reason, though... haha Good thing there are other cons to catch up with my pals! (Next up: Baltimore Comic Con!!)

This year, I stayed with a rather new, but awesome friend, Robyn (AKA Twyst!) in a hotel with a creepy Shining-esque hallway (thanks to the very-helpful Pat Loika!)...


Speaking of Twyst, she had a fun little project during her trip (her first SDCC!) in which she took pictures of people and places "hanging out" with the Mighty Mugg Spider-Man! Very cute stuff, here's my entry:


Pretty clever if I do say so myself! (And I did say so...a lot. haha) ;-)

Almost as soon as I got to the con, I ran out to have dinner with my good friend & pain-in-the-ass, Sean McKeever. I do not have a picture with him, but he took this while waiting for our DELICIOUS sushi!!! Last year was the first time I had any real sushi (before was California or avocado rolls only) and I'm so glad I did, as now it's one of my favourite foods. This was taken outside Sushi Itto in the Gaslamp area. Highly recommended.


I have only a few pics of the Marvel booth, but here they are! I LOVED these Iron Men suits on display...I think there was actually one more I didn't get in the shot...


This is as much of the big Thor wall as I could get in one picture. My co-worker, Mark Beazley was responsible for commissioning this 6-part cover for the 6 issues of Thor: Tales of Asgard which reprints old Thor comics with modern colouring. (They look great, go pick 'em up if you like the old comics!)


It's been Marvel's 70th this year and we've been showing that off wherever we can (I think the logos look cool!) This is the front of the giveaway table.


The front of the signing table.


I thought this looked really cool, this hung from the ceiling!


Cutest Thor I've ever seen...


Random booth shot from the Marvel pics on Flickr. I'm in it! :-) I don't know what was going on at our booth at this time, but clearly it was popular!!


Maybe it was during THIS! Jon Favreau signing!! I could've gotten something signed and/or a picture with him, but I'd already had a much cooler encounter with him AND RDJ two years ago...hehe


So anyway, the first night I was there, I tried to get into the IDW party but it was HEAVILY guarded (thanks for the invite, Schmidt! haha)! I believe it was at the Hard Rock Hotel and in the hall where we were waiting I took some pictures of some cool baseball memorabilia behind glass in the wall...




So instead of the IDW party, I stopped by the Aspen one which was cool, but left that to go to the Brutal Legend party. Fantastically, my co-worker...let's call him Agent M...had a few VIP passes and was able to get me one. Up in the VIP bleachers I found my pals Gerry Duggan & Phil Noto (with whom I had a lot of fun with the entire weekend). At this party GWAR played! Here's where I'd post a couple of pics of that had my hard drive not died... ::sigh:: They weren't amazing pics or anything, but you can see the cool costumes they were wearing. I'll add them in if I ever get them back...

Anyway, Friday I got a chance to walk around the con a bit. Though after only a couple hours, I was exhausted.

Evan's awesome toys! (I've got 'em, of course!)


These guys have cool costumes on their own, but they look so much cooler all huddled together! Rebel planning meeting!! Woo!


The only reason to watch the Transformers movies... I love Bumblebee!!!!


I believe there was a contest to win this car, too...


Castle Grayskull! Awesome.


I bought this for Evan & Sarah's daugher...still haven't given it to her yet...oops! (It's Cheburashka, by the way!)


Bought this AMAZING Momo hat (Momo's a character on Avatar: The Last Airbender, if you didn't know) off a fangirl who made them! I saw this girl wearing one and ran over to ask where she got it, her friend said "I made it!" I was disappointed until she said "But I'm selling them!" Made my frakkin' day!! SO well made, too! You can't see in the pic, but there's even a tail hanging off the back!


One of the many cool things I bought at the Tokidoki booth (also got a cool tokidoki for Hello Kitty handbag, a Hello Kitty dressed in Mozzeralla cotume doll and some little keychains). This just looks awesome! Figured my laptop was old & dirty enough to cover it up (normally I love the all-white Apple look). Have been told that maybe that sticker caused the crash...but that's just ridiculous! Right?!?!



Passed by this on my way to my hotel. Meant to go back in, but never got a chance. I went there the first time I was in San Diego (2005...I was 25) and was carded when trying to go into the 18 & over section of the store! haha I love lookin' young! ;-)


Friday night was an AWESOME night! My friend Gerry brought me backstage to Brian Posehn & Doug Benson's comedy show! It was awesome! Also performing was Graham Elwood, Chris Hardwick, John Roy & Patton Oswalt. All very funny and very nice guys! Here's Brian, Patton & Doug from backstage taken with shitty iPhone zoom app! haha


I also met Mike Allred & family and Anthrax's Scott Ian that night, also a nice guy and a huge fanboy! A bunch of us went out to eat that night and this creepy thing on the wall was staring at me the whole time. ::shudder::


On the way back to the bar, we passed a playground and had a little fun there. I'm waiting for the VIDEOS FROM GERRY...but I may NEVER see them... sigh... ;-)

Anyway, I think this is the night I ended up stealing Lee Duhig's hat...all right, I borrowed it. I'm not mean!


Spent a LITTLE more time on the con floor the next day. As you might be able to tell Star Wars stuff tends to attract my attention...


The reflective glass made these hard to get pics of, but they're pretty damn cool! I love Legos almost as much as Star Wars!


So after that wiped me out and I was starving, I grabbed my friend Paul Azaceta (my usual breakfast buddy at Wizard World Philly) and got some lunch. Didn't feel like going back into the madness just yet so we took a walk behind the Hyatt along the water. There was all this cool stuff back there!

Like ships...


And parrots!!!!


The guy taking care of them (and trying to raise money to keep doing so) just came over and put this guy on my arm without warning! Was SO COOL!


Did the same to Paul, but on his shoulder...and as you can see, Paul was a little worried! (Mostly afraid it would try to grab his earring...) haha


There was all sorts of shops back there as well as face painters, balloon animal makers & caracture drawers. One such caracature artist tried to call us over to get one done by calling out "Hey pink hair & extremely straight eyebrows!!" haha I'll never let him live that down... ;-)


Found this on the side of a building on the way back to the con. Made me very happy. (Here's why if you don't know.)


Also saw this back there, some type of contest where you can win this if you donate blood, I believe. I shoulda done it... :) I would TOTALLY drive this!



When we came back in, I caught Jaime Hernandez signing at the Fantagraphics booth and commissioned this in my sketchbook (maybe I'll eventually get to it in my sketchbook series of posts...) Jaime was VERY nice, as well. This is Hopey!


Immediately after that I talked to Sean Chen & Leinil Yu at the Marvel booth and showed them my sketchbook. While I was busy talking to someone else, Leinil surprised me with this drawing!! Sean promised one too, and don't think I won't collect!! :-)


That night was yet ANOTHER awesome night! I went to the PopCult party with friends John Cassaday & Jimmy Aquino and made two NEW friends Zane & Brea Grant!!

Found these on the Beat...

Zane, Brea, me & John:


Brea, Jimmy, me & Zane (just realising now how colourful Brea & I looked that night!):


After THAT party we went to the Radical party which was ENORMOUS and had Gene Simmons & playing with his son. A bunch of Marvel peeps were there but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get in. Thankfully Brea can get ANYWHERE at Comicon so not only did she get me in with her & her brother, we got to go to the VIP section! Didn't stay there long though, as we abandoned it to hang with the MUCH cooler Marvel crew!

Took a nice picture with CB there. He had a great Japanese phrase for this situation: "Ryo te ni hana" which means "a flower in both hands." Awww, Ceebs!!


LOVELOVELOVE this next picture, taken by Zane, on our super-fun pedi-cab ride to the Hyatt bar after the Radical party. I was well drunk by this point (open bars will do that) and I believe I gave the guy a $10 tip on top of Brea's tip! hahaha He definitely charged us much less than most of those guys do and he made it fun like a rollercoaster, so I'm fine with that! :)


Of course the night I get the drunkest, I have an early morning panel to be on the next day! I made it by the skin of my teeth, a mere 3 minutes late, but with my voice a-shambles! haha This was the second year in a row for me on the Women of Marvel panel and it was a lot of fun. Took this from the Marvel Flickr page, that's me & Laura Martin. (Other panelists included Christina Strain, Emily Warren, Marjorie Liu & Colleen Coover!)


After the panel I got another visit from one of my FAN CLUB members!! Right?! I don't know how I deserve that but this is the second year in a row I've been given a birthday present from my Unofficial Arizona Fan Club!! Clearly the nicest people in the world! Thanks so much, peeps!!!

Had an even MORE amazing sushi dinner with a friend on Sunday, followed by gelato! Yum! Took this picture because I'd never seen gelato with a chili pepper in it before...


No, I didn't try it. Not that much of a chocolate fan, let alone SPICY chocolate...

Finished up the night at the Hyatt bar again, which is much more calm on Sunday night. Was falling asleep talking to some friends so I walked back to my hotel. Ran into Mark Brooks & his wife Lisa on the way there and had a nerd attack talk about the AMAZING news we found out this year...that Tokidoki & Marvel are teaming up to make some AMAZING products (look out for it next year)!! CAN'T FRAKKIN' WAIT!

Had a lovely breakfast with Twyst in the morning (my first Huevos Rancheros) and flew home around 3PM. An arrival at home at 1AM was a good excuse to come in late the next day! :) (The later flight was $100 cheaper. Totally worth sacrificing sleep!)

All in all, this was as great a San Diego trip as any, maybe even better! Other than the Gwar pics, I can't remember what else I lost, but thanks to my facebook mobile uploads & twitpics, I managed to reacquire most of the important ones! :)

Hopefully this was somewhat interesting and if you haven't made it to the San Diego Comicon, I recommend you do so at least once! And bring friends, much more fun that way! :)


The End.