Retro Star Trek Casting

There has been a lot of talk lately about the casting for the proposed J.J. Abrams "Young Kirk" Star Trek movie. I myself have always had a pick for Christopher Pike should the opportunity arise. Let me lay the juice on you. My pick for the Doomed Capitan Pike... Ray Liotta.

I often get blank looks after I say that part so I'll provide a visual aid...



See!

Got interviewed

I've been interviewed for a gaming magazine. The article is about the importance of art (good art) in the realm of table-top gaming. The interviewer is Mur Lafferty. Mur is a freelance writer and podcaster of "I Should Be Writing" and "Geek Fu Action Grip"

Charity Auction

I'd like to draw your attention to another auction that I'm a part of. This one is for a Deadlands Reloaded Limited Edition #1 of 1000 exclusive. Ah hell... here is the press release

Only 1000 of these 256 page, full color leatherette books were printed. The others will be available in games stores, the Pinnacle Entertainment website, and the Studio 2 Publishing website. Each individually numbered book has a gold foil Hanging Judge on the cover and is signed by Deadlands'creator, Shane Hensley. Inside you'll find all the setting information and new rules you need to play in the Weird West, including rules for shootouts at High Noon, new Edges and Hindrances, new powers, a savage change to melee damage, a complete history of the Weird West, and more creepy critters than you can throw a tomahawk at.

The #1 (of 1000) book includes a special message from Shane and a custom sketch determined by YOU from Cheyenne Wright! You can get a picture of Stone, Ronan Lynch, Smilin' Jack, or even your very OWN Deadlands character by Pinnacle's best-known artist!

And if you're still looking for a reason to bid, all the proceeds of the auction will be going to the Fisher House Foundation (EIN#11-3158401), who build and donate Fisher Houses at military/VA medical centers, support existing houses, help military families in need and award Scholarships for Military Children.

...So there you go

...and now a word from our sponser

At the risk of becoming Firefly centric or pissing off Scott Kurtz and all those fine folks at Think Geek -- I give you Mal Shot First

I made this for me -- but I thought you might guys might want one too.

While we are at it. Allow me to draw your attention to This Ebay Item! A copy of my very first Convention Sketchbook. Chock full of game art, sketches, strips, and other goodies. The winner will also get an original sketch of their choice in the inside cover.

New Zombie Anthem

Jonathan Coulton is a songwriter and the Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science Magazine. He also maintains a podcast called "Thing a Week", which is just that. Every week you get a new mp3 or video from deep within his music studio/lair located somewhere near the Earth's mantle under Brooklyn.

This week he sent out "Re: Your Brains" -- featuring a fairly articulate zombie explaining why you should unlock that door and let him eat your brains, and with lines like...

“We’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes”.

How can you object - really

See Also: Skullcrusher Mountain

He's Baaaack!

Howdy all. ...So, um how you been?

good good... glad to hear it - mmm? oh me, I've been good. A little of this a little of that... you know. I'm still coloring for Girl Genius of course, in fact the fourth collection has finally arrived from the printers and should be hitting stores real soon soon.

It was a great relief to finally see the backup story "Fan Fiction" in the flesh - so to speak. I had been really worried about how the colors were going to come out. It looks good and I'm very happy with it.

Which is great because that means we will have them on the table at Emerald City Comic Con. Where I'll also have my very first convention sketchbook "I Think We Lost 'Em" - for sale.

I took a trip to NYC for the New York Comic Con -- which... had some issues *rimshot* But I got to meet a bunch of cool people like Kyle Baker , Jodi Jett and the lovely folks at Sequart .

I also got to meet some really great fans -- FAN'S!! of My comic! How cool is that! (Hi Kim!). It was very unexpected and a great treat.

I figure that if you read this strip you probably read GG as well, but if you don't -- You probably missed that I've put together an old time radio podcast out of the live performances we do at sci-fi cons. You can learn more and subscribe to the feed HERE. We've received a lot of good feedback on the show, some mentions by some of the cooler cats out there like Escape Pod and the Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas -- both of which I recommend listening to...

Podcasting is a hoot and I'm looking forward to doing more of it, as soon as I can find a good gimmick.

So... let's see... New GG trade, Emerald City Con, Sketchbook, Fans are cool, Podcasting is fun... yeah, that about covers it.

...Oh wait -- I'm getting Married. -- TTFN

Zombie BrikWar

BrikWars! is a tactical table top game ala "Warhammer" only it uses Legos - An awesome idea in my book... but how do you make it better?

ZOMBIES!!!

Gadgets for your Secret Underground Lair

I got sent a link to these today...

Which sent me on a web hunt to find more information, where I found this

but the coolest of them all I think is this.

which appears to be a magnetic dry-erase board for your world domination planning. Can anyone read kanji?

Lazy Sunday

"...Mr.Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious"
If you haven't seen This yet, go watch it now.

Death to Uni-taskers

Alton Brown's new re-designed site went live today and my shirt is on it. Look at it's golden glory!

The REALY BIG news

I've made mention from time to time about some big news that I couldn't talk about just yet. Well I finally got the go-ahead.

I like to watch a show on the Food Network called "Good Eats". I'm a big fan of the show and it's host Alton Brown. I switched to kosher salt because of him. -- if you haven't seen it, do go catch a few. It's like cooking with Mr Wizard. His goal is not just to give you a recipe but to teach WHY it works -- the Science of cooking.

So - Last year I did a little cartoon inspired by the show and sent it to a few friends... who sent it to a few friends...etc...



and somewhere in that chain was Alton Brown himself.

Long story short -- I'm designing a new line of shirts for Foodie-Guru Alton Brown. Host of "Good Eats". The first shirts are back from the printers and should be going on sale next week.

The really weird thing about this all is I didn't go looking for the job... he came to me. It's unsettling.

This is not the image on the shirt... for that you will need to wait one more week, but I just couldn't not say anything any more.

Zombie Shooter

Check out this fun yet creepy little shooter - Hints Mouse to Aim, Left Mouse click to Shoot, Shift to toggle to a Shotgun (once you 'found' it)

I've Seen Serenity

HEAVY SPOILERS

S ------------------ S
P ------------------ P
O ------------------ O
I ------------------ I
L ------------------ L
E ------------------ E
R ------------------ R
S ------------------ S


Joss had warned us that the film was going to be much darker. I knew this was code for "Crew Death". I did the 'math' and figured it was going to be either Book or Simon (in a last defence of River)

So when Books death came, I was ready. Some folk think that his 'last words' went on too long... but after several viewings I'm ready to argue that. the first part is really about Mal saying how sorry he is for this happening and Book easing his guilt (in a way).

The second part is where we begin to tune out. But I believe it is here that Joss gives us a very big clue to the mystery of Book himself. Books very last words (as I hear it after 6 veiwings) to Mal are...

"...River... I dont care what you belive... Just belive everything she -- "

which - to me - confirms my idea of Books backstory. He's an Ex-Operative. (The fact that he KNOWS what an Operative even is helps that along).

As to the death of Wash -- Man does that sting. After 6 times it is still painful to watch. but it does hold a purpose. Up untill that point we feel that the Big Damn Heroes(tm) are going to pull it off. They are going to beat the bad guys and escape all manner of Hell -- like they always did before.

And when a Reaver harpoon rips that away from us - the whole film changes. Now our heores don't look so big no more... Just damned.

As an aside - I will say that Joss messes up here. We are never given a chance to mourn for Wash. Zoe's first response is breif, and gets subsumed by the on-going action. We don't really get to see that wailing moment that would be just as cathardic for the crew as for us sad sacks in the auditorium. When the next few jokes come along they feel hollow and... I don't know... wrong.

I felt like yelling "How dare you ask us to laugh at a time like this?!?"

My other reactions include...

Denial icon_eek.gif "No WAY!... maybe they can fix him... maybe the alliance saves him... maybe it's a trick?..."

Anger icon_evil.gif "Joss Whedon sucks! -- I Hate him AAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!"

Bargaining icon_sad.gif "...ok... this was the rough cut... maybe they will change it before it comes out if they get the right feedback ...."

Depression icon_cry.gif "He's still dead.... "

and now Acceptance.

See... what follows Wash's death, only works because of his death. Zoe breaks the line to engage the Reavers in hand to hand combat. Why? It's such a bad, BAD thing to do.

Vengance.

She is out for blood and nothing but an axe to the back will stop her. Because of this Jayne can't get clear shots off -- which is what allows the Reavers to get a foothold on the room. This forces them to fall back --

When Kaylee says that she's starting to loose feeling from those darts in her neck, we really think she might not make it. This makes Simon try to go back to get his bag, which gets him shot down. Which makes River the only one left to save them (as Inara is busy trying to stop the bleeding).

Wash's death starts a chain reaction... we don't know if any of them are going to live. We really just don't know anymore.

and that is good storytelling.

My question -- what should we read into the fact that Whedon killed off the two biggest advocates for non-violence?

Web-Based Zombie Apocalypse

A Massively Multi-Player Web-Based Zombie Apocalypse... need I say more?

Lord Spare me from Trolls

Ok... so I hang out at a forum that I'm not going to name here and a conversation started with this question... [names changed to make me laugh]

Canada Guy wrote:
Is it true that there are some states down there where they just plain don't teach Evolution? I just found that out a few weeks ago and i couldn't quite beleive it.

which was answered...

Brainwashed wrote:
No it's required teaching by the liberal religious machine.

I don't know what I was thinking... I took the bait and posted back...

Cheyenne wrote:
No Science is required teaching - Evolution is just a part of that whole. And no state in the Union has banned the teaching of Evolution -- some backwater counties have just managed to get stickers on books that say

"Evolution is a disputed theory - and has not been proven to be fact"

Which is laughable if you have a half-decent education. and understand the definition of Theory [when used to discribe a branch of science]. Which is...

a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena.

Biblical literalists have tried to put creationism on the same level as Evolution by renaming it the Intelligent Design Theory. But no matter what you call it, creationism has never been able to meet the criteria to be accepted by a true Scienist. Only those that are getting paid by the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

which got this response... emphasis mine.

Brainwashed wrote:
Yes, Science is required, but evilution[sic] is just a theory, unproven.

I see you're going with the new 'liberal religious machine' approved definition. Which says accepted knowledge like a pagan charm. Ask any 'skin head' if the holocaust happened, and their accepted knowledge says no.

Obviously you are a child of the liberal religious machine and view anything you don't agree with as being unproven. Evilution has been proven to be a wack job. It is still only a theory, unproven and continually tested.

Evilution? You are kidding me, right? Talk about yer wack-jobs. Apparently I am also comparable to Nazi Skin-heads because I belive in the sound foundations of Science... and what the hell is the liberal religious machine?

Let me say this once more for 'tards in the back... SCIENCE IS ABOUT REPRODUCEABLE RESULTS. EVOLUTION HAS REPRODUCEABLE RESULTS! Go to a dog show and tell me that there is no such thing as adaptive radiation.

I view anything I don't agree with as being unproven? Mr. Kettle this Mr. Black talk among yourselves and leave me the fuck out of it.

Texas Zombie Massacre

Thursday outside the Frank Erwin Center, a horde of zombies attacked the "American Idol" auditions. No one was hurt.

The zombies, 15 fake-bloodied actors in all, lurched out from under the IH-35 overpass and shuffled toward the Erwin Center, where they encountered the pop-star hopefuls.

Most of the 100 or so young people gathered outside had just been rejected by the "American Idol" review board, and they were talking, singing and waiting for rides home when the zombies arrived. "Braaaaaaains!" the zombies said. Nick Muntean, a UT radio-television-film graduate student who organized and participated in the zombie horde, added, "Television rots your braaaaaaains!"


The pop-star wannabes were largely unimpressed. "I don't get it," said Jacob Gandia, a singer.

Classic :)

More HERE

Firefly Episodes on the Big Screen in WA

From Fireflyfans.net

On September 17, 2005 at 7:00 pm, Kirkland Performance Center will be showing 4 episodes of Firefly: Serenity parts 1 & 2, Out of Gas and Ariel. Tickets will be $6.50 + $1 service fee. There will be concessions, giveaways and a Jaynestown sing-along to liven up the night.

To order tickets, please call 425-893-9900 or got to our website: kpcenter.org. The box office is open Tues-Sat 12-5.

We have authorization from the studio to do this and are paying royalties to be fully legal. All proceeds (if any) from this event will benefit KPC, a non-profit company.

Just in time for my birthday!

Funny...

Bush "will not yield”
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2005

WASHINGTON President George W. Bush expressed solidarity with Florida on Monday, projecting a determination to prevail over terrorist Deities like the one behind Hurricane Dennis. And he insisted that while perfect protection was unattainable, solid progress had been made in protecting the U.S. homeland.

"In this difficult hour," Bush said, "the people of Florida can know the rest of the American people stand with you."

"The city that survived the Cuban missile crisis will not yield to terrorists," Bush said in his first major speech since the Act of God.

Nor, he said, would Americans back down.

"Our nation has no greater mission than stopping God from launching new and more deadly Hurricanes," he said.

Bush implicitly rejected any notion that the global war on God, rather than help quell divine terrorism, might have generated new "god-fearing" recruits.

"We're fighting the enemy, our Lord and God, across the world so we do not have to face him here at home," he said. "The best way to defend America is to stay on the offense."

On Monday, the president spoke plainly of a fight with an end.

"The kind of God that blows up trailer parks and valuable beach-front properties is not the God you can negotiate with or reason with or appease," he said. "In the face of such adversaries, there is only one course of action: We will continue to take the fight to Heaven, and we will fight until this enemy is defeated."

Yet he qualified this, saying that victory would come only by promoting a democratizing transformation of the Promise Land.

"We know that the Heavenly Host will not be defeated by force of arms alone," he said. "we need a strong Will to engage the enemy, but just as important is a strong and secure democracy that will provide an alternative to the totalitarian' ideology of fear and guilt."

He concluded, "The only way the Celestial Choir can win is if we lose our nerve - this isn't going to happen on my watch."

Batman Begins review

Eli - love of my life - scored me a pass to a screening of Batman Begins at the Cinerama last night. I was happy to get the chance to go, but not 'pumped'. I have become more and more disillusioned with the Bat-films.

I remember the summer of Tim Burton's Batman. I was pumped. You could not escape the damned thing. It promised a return to the core of Batman--The Dark Knight. The three amigos (Oloro Davis, Marvin Baptiste and myself) set out from the coastal town of Hale'iwa and made the hour-long drive to the Kam Drive-In in Aiea, Hawaii. Kam was an old rundown place that had just replaced the older window clip-on speakers for new-fangled radio broadcast technology in an attempt to draw kids back from the multi-plex theater in the Pearl City mall which had opened just across the street. We decied to use this to our advantage. Once there, we set up lawn chairs, soda laden ice chest and my super-base boombox. Then, just as the film started, Marvin hit record on the tape deck. Giving us a full audio recording of the entire film.

I listened to that tape all summer.

As much as I loved that film I have come to realization that it was a piece of crap. Go. Watch it again.

See? Crap.

Each film after it was only worse. Not until the Batman Animated series came out did we have a truly noble adaptation of the character. The Animated series is now the signpost by which I judge all subsequent depictions. So... The question looms, "how does Batman Begins stack up?"

It's FREEKIN' AWESOME!!!!11!one!

Director Christopher Nolan has done a masterful job. This is it, fan-boys: THIS IS THE NEW MECCA. That said - you will get no spoilers from me. Go see it your own damn self.

The most annoying thing for me is that I need to wait a week before I can go see it again.

Cry for me, Argentina.

Woooooooooooooot !

For those that do not know - my day job is art assistant for Phil and Kaja Foglio, working on the Mad Science comic book Girl Genius...

Hereafter know as the EISNER NOMINATED Girl Genius !

...Again... Woooooooooooot!