Fun Stuff

Had a great time this weekend even though I had to work one day. I did get some more writing done, which I was excited about (37,674 is the count so far). Even though I'm in the vomit stage, I had to do some research on this scene to figure out the setup. We'll see how it works ...

Went to the Baltimore ComicCon on Saturday. Insane!!! There was a line about an hour long to buy tickets. So my husband walks up to a guy near the front and offers him $10 to buy our tickets so we don't have to wait. He's pretty smart. :P Unfortunately, that was money I had earmarked for food, so I ended up just eating a $2 pretzel for lunch. Oh, well. At least we didn't have to wait. : )

It was cool to see all the independent artists and comic books. Lots of really talented people trying to break into the biz. I picked up a copy of a trade paperback of the Watchman, which is a must-read comic. People have been praising Alan Moore's story for years. It came out in the mid-80s and stood out at the time against the traditional comics because of its realistic spin on the superhero story. It shows the grittier side of being a superhero—cheating spouses, alcoholism, drug addiction, murder, insanity—amidst a mystery surrounding the death of one of the retired superheroes. I'm only a quarter through it and had to force myself to put it down. Moore was ahead of his time.

Loved the costumes at the convention. Wish I had a camera. There was a guy dressed perfectly as Blade. And another as a lizard alien from V. He had the full uniform, his face peeling off revealing a lizard skin underneath, contacts of lizard eyes, and a fake mouse that he pretended to eat. Unbelievable!

Also, just found a new channel in my cable lineup. The Chiller Channel!!! All horror movies and TV shows, all the time.

Ahhh .. escape.

Ahhh Heroes

So yesterday Heroes FINALLY returned. I was not going to miss it even for the end of the world. Everything was put on hold for a few hours. I was so excited and it didn't disappoint me. Of course, it did raise lots more questions. Spoiler alert if you haven't seen Heroes, yet ...

• Nathan and Peter are brothers to Sylar!! I actually toyed with this idea last season, but they did such a good job with his weird, neurotic relationship with who you thought was his mother that it made sense. Now I want to know, who is the father?
• Future Peter goes back in time to shoot Nathan (his brother) to stop him from spilling the beans about people with abilities. Because this ultimately leads to a horrible future where people with powers are hunted down and experimented on. What's interesting is Future Peter's new power to transport a person into another body, which he does to his present-day self. Confusing, I know, but it works.
• Suresh finds a serum to give him powers. However, didn't Suresh have the ability to heal others with his blood? I'm trying to figure this out. But at the end of the episode, didn't he remind you of Brundle Fly (aka, Jeff Goldblum as The Fly) when he is sticking to the walls and then his flesh is flaking off revealing something un-human beneath. Is this going to be the first hero with a mutated appearance?
• What's up with Nicky/Jessica/ ... Tracy? Does each of Nicky's personalities have different abilities? Tracy can freeze people? And how did she get to be an advisor to the governor? And did anyone notice the actor playing the reporter to whom she gave the icy touch??? He played a great American hero in a TV show many years ago.
• Who is the speed chick working for? How does Ando get his powers and why does he turn evil?
• What is the formula? Is it the formula Suresh figured out?
• Why is Nathan seeing Linderman's ghost?
• Did you notice how Noah told Claire about the powers of each of the baddies in Section 5, but he glossed over the body Present Peter was put in by saying that his power was the worse of all??? Love it!
  
• Claire can't die. She has special blood. Maybe the pure blood which could help save the world if the formula gets out, since Hiro's dad said that only the pure blood can help?
  

I can't wait until next week so I can get even more confused. :P

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Okay, so I usually try to stay out of political crap when I blog, but I'm really starting to drown in all the bullshit being shoveled out into the populous concerning this election. I'm getting e-mails and false information piled on me right and left. No one seems willing to question anything they hear, unless it goes against what they want to believe. If you want to make an informed choice, check out this site:

http://www.factcheck.org/

Do me a favor. Don't believe everything you read in your e-mail or hear from a friend (no matter how good hearted the intention), and even what you see on TV. If a claim seems too good to be true, it probably is. If an accusation seems too absurd to be true, it probably is.

Elections can be won and loss on false information. Don't be mislead. Be informed. Seek the truth.

700 Rejections

Todd McFarlane received 700 rejections before he hit it big. Marvel said that he would never work for them. Others said that he could never be a comic book artist because he wasn't good enough.

700 times he heard this.

Don't know who Todd McFarlane is?

Just one of the most influential and wealthiest comic book artists of the modern age.

His comic Spawn ushered in a new era of comics. I should know. I waited in line for nearly 4 hours at the Philadelphia Comic Con when Spawn first hit. McFarlane also led the surge in comic book toys aimed at adults and made millions on his toys, movies, cartoons, and all those spinoff collectibles.

Moral of the story.

Don't give up.

And even people in the industry can be wrong.

700 times or so

WTF Moment

Had a WTF moment tonight.

There's a new game show called Hole in the Wall or something like that where people have to stand on stage as a wall comes at them with holes cut out in various shapes. Behind the people is a pool. They have to form the shape of the cutout to pass through the wall or they get knocked in the pool.

It was so insane that I had to watch about 20 minutes of it to make sure I fully understood the idiocy of it.

Apparently, it is based on a Japanese game show.

Need I say more????

Mistakes and Writer's Weekend

Ugh

I hate making mistakes. But that's the part of life. That's how you learn. Nothing major. Just a slip up at work and it's sooo frustrating. Sometimes I think about creating a BIG BOOK of MISTAKES. So whenever I screw up, I can read it and see that others have screwed up, too, and know I'm not alone. (And feel better that others have made mistakes far worse than mine.) :P

So I'm doing a writer's weekend with Karmela Johnson. We talked about it during dinner last week and, by gosh, we actually got off our butts and arranged it. We're renting a one-bedroom cabin in the boonies of VA—away from everything. The goal is not to talk except during meals. Alcohol will be brought, though I haven't figured out food, yet. (Priorities, you know.) But I'm hoping to bang out the rest of my latest story. I am excited because I figured out the beginning of my story, since I was slammed for not really explaining enough at the beginning. I tend just to jump right into action. Action first, explain later. Unfortunately, readers can get lost. I know what's going on, but my readers are starting from scratch.

Oh, and I did see Tropic Thunder.

I don't read the script ... the script reads me.

Hilarious!!!!