Doctor Who - I Knew It!

This is not to claim that I knew where the story was headed, I didn't even with my spoiler knowledge of what's on the way for the 50th anniversary. What I did know was that they would not reveal the doctor's name.

Of course they won't! 

I've seen so many Whovians freaking out about this and the whole time all I could think was, "Moffat you did it. It worked. You got everyone so worked up everyone is talking about it. Good job."

And, really, it was a genius move to title an episode "The Name of The Doctor." Even just using the title! Even now, I just did a search to confirm the episode title and there are STILL loads of articles being written about it. Really, go look!

I really enjoyed the episode, but I'm bummed that it looks like the bad guys won't be back. I think they had a lot of potential. 

This is just a rant post, no deeper meaning or life lessons learned, with the exception of the lesson that smart marketing that triggers both positive and negative responses has its place and needs to be used appropriately and especially when you have a large event to promote. 

See you next time.

Fun Video Friday - Coffee or Tea?

This may be more appropriate for a Monday when you desperately need your caffeine fix, but I do Fun Video Friday, not Fun Video Monday. Do you prefer coffee or tea? I'd love to know why. Mention it in the comments!

See you next time!

Inspiration - How Does It Hit You?

It's easy to get distracted.

There are lots of things that can get in the way of what you really want to do and, unfortunately, a majority of those things disguise themselves as "life." There's the job, and laundry and grocery shopping and street sweeping day and pets and kids and a whole list of things that, while legitimate, end up taking time away from whatever it is you'd rather be doing.

Even a vacation can be a distraction.

To get specific, my vacation was a distraction. A WONDERFUL distraction and Rene and I hope to leave as soon as possible to rejoin the islands and start lives as kale farmers on a ranch with Frankie and Charlie. Frankie will look good in overalls.

After a week basking in the sun drinking (too many) Mai Tais and then a full week of playing catch-up I'm finally caught up. But being caught up and being inspired are very different things. So I've been struggling to get inspired, to get excited about things. Rene and I have a lot on our plate: movies and shows and live shows and jobs and...

And that's where I hit the wall. We have things, but it's the same stuff that we have been working on for a while. The documentary is in heavy post production where we are waiting on people outside of our production group. Pom Pom Massacre is in negotiation for funding (Yay!). Other projects have hit the back burner mostly due to a perceived lack of time. The only really active things going on are the mystery shows, Shmimprov and this blog. That definitely doesn't seem like very much when you write it down and it definitively isn't where I'd like to be activity wise.

Some may read this and think, "Why is he posting all this? Why would he point out his problems and when the hell is that cheerleader movie getting made?!?"

First, I hear you, nobody wants to listen to a winer. Second of all, the movie is coming!

So what am I getting at? Finding the spark that gets you out of your routine! The motivation to start something new! The thing that got all these other projects started! I'm starting to feel it again and it only took a week off and dinner with my wife and good friend Jeff to get it going. What does that mean? Hopefully lots of new content and one particularly cool idea that is still being sketched out.

But what I really wanted to do was hear about you. I didn't even know I was in a slump until I was out side of things enough to see it. So are you feeling inspired? What gets you inspired? What is inspiration anyway?

I'm looking forward to your thoughts. Maybe we can find a way to keep that feeling going because lord knows I'm definitely jazzed about everything more right now than I was a month ago and that's a much better place to be.

See you next time.

Project: Iron Man Issue 23 or Check out the threads on this guy!

Janice Cord is dead!

Dead, dead - not coming back (but don't hold me to that). And Shellhead goes straight into avenging mode and sinks the ship that brought the Titanium Man into the country.

Straight up sinks it. Sure he says, "The Coast guard will pick them up." But when you see what damage is done to the ship I think you'll agree that not everyone made it out unscathed.

But after he visits Janice's grave this comic makes a hard left into Silver Age storytelling land. I've been wavering on my opinions of this issue. It's one of the issues that I have no memory of ever reading before. When I was originally collecting my Iron Man comics I didn't get them in order so I didn't read them in order - except for the issues that were current at the time. From issue 200 on I was solid on continuity. Even the late hundreds before 200 are squared up pretty good in my head, but these early, early books with very short, sometimes only single issue, story arcs just got lost. Before I'd buy what I could find, read it, and bag & board it. I rarely went back to read the early ones - I didn't want to damage them. To a certain extent that behavior paid off. These books, which are nearly fifty years old(!), look great, aren't brittle and look like they could stick around for another fifty years. It also means that, with a mature, adult brain I'm reading some of these stories for, essentially, the first time.

With all of this in mind let me introduce you to THE MERCENARY!

It's ok, get the laughter out now. That outfit isn't going anywhere.

Early in a superhero's run lots of shots are taken at creating his rouges gallery. Most of the bad guys a superhero faces in modern comics was actually created decades early in the hero's career, with a few notable exceptions who aren't worth mentioning now. But not every villain created in the Silver Age is worth keeping and The Mercenary definitely counts as one of them that can afford to be forgotten.

Outfit aside, he's a hired killer who has a lot of gadgets and training.

A LOT of gadgets.

And check out how well he lounges in a chair:

Gadgets that are just a shade too convenient and applicable to the situation. It's like the creative team read a Batman comic of the day and decided this bad guy should have a utility belt too.

Plot wise, this issue does a lot to close some loopholes.

• Janice Cord is confirmed dead.
• The pirates who brought the Titanium Man to the U.S. are dealt with.
• And the Vincent Sandhurst (brother to Basil "The Controller" Sandhurst and former attorney to Cord Industries) storyline is completed with his death.

All of this made possible by a damsel in distress - the wife of one of the pirates. Really, that's not important, but this splash panel is:

It's the one time The Mercenary looks cool.

When all is said and done the girl is saved, the bad guys are both dead (which doesn't bode well for The Mercenary coming back - but that's probably for the best), 

and Iron Man walks off with her into the sunset.

Next time Iron Man fights a Minotaur.

Seriously. This is what was happening in Silver Age Marvel comics.

See you next time!

Imagination Machine Camp at Studio 105

 

For all my friends and parents who want their kids to try the arts, but aren't sure that Hollywood is quite their thing, here's a great opportunity to try creative writing AND performing! Studio 105 will be hosting the Imagination Machine Writing Camp this summer. Check out the video:



Call Studio 105 for more details: 562-283-3100

See you next time!

Books

In spite of my lack of reading in recent years, I've always loved books. For a long time science fiction and fantasy were my preferred genres, but I'd occasionally dip into non-fiction or, some of my favorites, text books.

With text books I never remember the actual titles, but always enjoyed trying to figure out and learning the different subjects covered. I've always believed that knowing a little bit about everything is a good thing and so I make an effort to keep up.

The internet age has changed my "study habits" quite a bit. With the advent of Google search and Wikipedia it isn't hard to look up whatever may be crossing my mind at any given moment. Between that and constant moving since 2006 I haven't really invested in many physical, solid books. I kind of miss them.

Rene is an avid reader. Much like Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" she always has her nose in a book; well, the modern equivalent, a Kindle. In fact that's probably the best gift I've ever given her. Sure, she likes the wedding ring, but she gets a lot more use out of the Kindle.

Seeing her love of books has helped re-kindle (no pun intended) mine.

Last night as I was doing some catch-up work I glanced at the meager book case I have on my work desk, all blank books that I have used, am using or will use in the future.

Blank books have always been my weakness in book stores. I like that they have to be filled and I like to find things to write just to fill them up. When I was in high school and "16 & angry" my friends and I would spend a lot of time at Bookstar, which was another brand of Barnes & Noble. We'd be there for hours sometimes looking at reference books, the magazine rack, whatever we could find. My favorite, though, was the blank book isle. Being at that age where everything you think and feel seems monumentally important meant that these ideas required a book of equal impressiveness to contain them. I had many: The Burlap book, the gray book, a series of bugs Bunny retro poster journals, the "coffee" book. I still have them all. Many are tucked away in storage because what's written in them, while gospel of the times, can now clearly be seen as the ramblings of a self-important teenager. It's embarrassing to look at. Oh, the bad poetry! But even with that baggage I still like to look at the blank books.

Now I've become quite a Moleskine fanatic. I keep a series of blank pocket sized books, I use their cover for my tablet and I even bought the attachable pen. It's all very pretentious, but I'm O.K. with that.


I still have a weird desire to just fill the books, but now I make an effort to make sure what I actually write down is worth reading again later - even if it's just a reminder for myself. It cuts down on the number of books that I buy, but that's probably a good thing. Besides, it's the browsing at the  books that's always the most fun.

So that's my obscure obsession, what about you? Let me know in the comments!

Also, Rene really does love her Kindle, it's great. I have links at the bottom for the Fire and new Paperwhite if you'd like to check them out.

See you next time!

Fun Video Friday: Bobble Bobble Update!

The Bobble Bobble commercial has been updated!

Check it out!

See you next time!