Austin Comic-Con 2011

Remember last year’s Austin Comic-Con wrap-up? It was successful enough that Wizard World returned again this year with a bigger, better con.  Nate and I were excited to check it out this year, and we even brought a friend.  And my brave, brave wife.

Overall, I felt like the quality of this year’s convention was higher than last year’s.  There weren’t quite as many big-named (relatively) guests, but the size and selection of booths was impressive.  There was a fun mix of merch, art, steampunk, indie publishers, fan groups, and comic vendors.

This year, I was excited to see the number of fan groups raising money for charity.  The Austin Browncoats raised money for groups including Equality Now, SafePlace, and Kids Need to Read. (If you aren’t familiar with “Browncoats”, it’s  a term associated with fans of the tv show Firefly.)  Another group that stood our for their charitable work was the 501st Garrison/Central TX Squad, which let you take photos with Storm Troopers for a small donation.

Some of the highlights this year included talking to some nerd icons and meeting people who put a lot of time and effort into making their own costumes:

That’s Adam Baldwin.  You might recognize him from Chuck, Firefly, or Full Metal Jacket, or the Halo games.  In addition to being an actor, he’s also a prolific conservative blogger.  I think he’s around 50 years old, which really does a number on my self-esteem.  I need to hit the gym.

That’s me with Nicki Clyne, aka Cally from Battlestar Galactica.  It was great to get to talk with her about the show, what Edward James Olmos is like, her character arc, etc.  For the record, she was easily one of the nicer people I got to meet.

Nate and I also talked with the Million Dollar Man, Ted DeBiase.  He’s a pro-wrestling icon, and one of the great heels of the 1980s.  Now, he’s focused on Christian ministry.  We mainly talked about that.

Next, we toured lots of people from the Buffyverse, including Spike and Charisma Carpenter.  In real life, Spike has dark hair.  He’s also American.  Kind of shocking.  Charisma Carpenter is in her forties, and she provided me with further proof that I need to get in the gym.

We also saw Kevin Sorbo.  Hercules. Ryan Atwood’s dad.  He is a handsome giant.  Samantha and Kayla’s reaction to Kevin Sorbo was very much like George’s reaction to food cooking in the kitchen.  They both trotted around his booth and watched him out of the corners of their eyes. Lots of walking back and forth.  Lots of jittery energy.  For the record, he seemed really cool, and he has also aged very well.  And I need to do some pushups.

As we made our way through the crowd, our friend Kayla decided to get Simpsonized by Phil Ortiz.  The artist has worked on a lot of shows, most notably The Simpsons.  For a very reasonable price, he draws Comic-Con attendees as a Simpsons character.  Since Phil is such a nice guy and spends so much time with each fan, the wait was about two hours.  I think it was worth the wait, though.

While Kayla and Sam waited in line, Nate and I made the rounds to meet and greet costumed con attendees.

Is the best part of this photo Batman's wristband or Nate's inability to pose?

This guy was really cool.  I have no idea how long his costume took, but it looked great in person.  Also, he had a Southern accent, which was very different than Christian Bale’s growl.

Ghost Rider

The best part of this photo might be the animated conversations and stares in the background.

Assassin’s Creed.  Didn’t catch this guy’s name, but he was really friendly and informative.  You can’t really tell in the photo, but the material he used was thick and textured, like it is in the game.

The Defuser

The Defuser won Stan Lee’s “Who Wants to Be a Superhero” tv show in season two.  In real life, Defuser is a cop from Austin.  He’s used his fame  to raise money for local cancer charities.  You can learn more here.

The guys were great.

I’m not positive, but I think these guys were with The Steam Engine Intrepid.  They were pretty funny, and Nicki Clyne loved the guy on stilts.  Some of the steampunk outfits were amazing.

These were the guys I mentioned earlier that let you take photos for charity.

Nate, soakin' it up.

That’s Nate, loving his Jayne hat from Austin browncoats.  A curious Joker and Harley Quinn are right behind him.  What a day.

That’s Austin Comic-Con 2011.  Lots of costumes, nerd heroes, and good causes.  See you next year.

Truth from an Old Fashioned

We’re playing with house money, and it’s all a game, and we’re all ok.  If you love someone, if you really love them, then of course of you tell them, because that’s what we’re here for.  Singing should be done at a high volume and with low self-regard.  Dancing is the same.  Even if it’s never in front of anyone but you and your dog.  If your heart and your soul are telling you something, then you better damn well listen, because that’s why God made you.  Love your God and love the people around you, and do it with your whole heart. Don’t sell yourself short.  This is a beautiful, heartbreaking place, and you owe it to everyone around you to man up and really be there.  Enjoy your work, your play, and most of all, the ones that you love.  That’s your blessing from God.

GI Joe, or, An Unscientific Study of the Rumble in the Jungle

Let me break it down: I love food, and food don’t love me back.

The more I enjoy a food, the more likely it is that food will have me rolling around on the kitchen floor.  Crying, clutching my gurgling stomach, and asking the heavens why my fat pants are now tight.  I don’t even have muffin top anymore, I have mushroom cloud.

You know, me, I’m a guy who likes to get to the bottom of things.  Especially plates of nachos, but more on that later.  In an effort to understand why most of the food I love hurts so good, I’ve kept a running, categorized diary of everything I eat.  Here are the categories:

American Gladiator:  I’m probably a couple of pushups away from being cast in The Avengers.

Good: Satiated, perhaps a little “full”.

Hmm: Did I eat too much? Maybe?  My teeth feel weird, and I’m a little sluggish. If you try to tickle me, you might get a “sound byte”.

Gross: I feel like I need to take a nap and a shower. And my jeans may need to be unbuttoned if I’m sitting. And leave me alone.

Nuclear Apocalypse: Pray!

And now, let’s see what goes where:

American Gladiator: Vegetarian taco salad, boring (Kashi) cereal with almond milk, Veggie Delight sub from Subway, Amy’s burrito, water, Avocado sandwich

Good: Banana, Veggie Delight sub from Thundercloud, jalapeno cheese kolaches

Hmm: Dos Equis beer, Chili cheese garlic fries, Shipley donut, Miss Vicky’s jalapeno chips, crackers, instant oatmeal

Gross:Dark beer, candy, Apple Jacks, cake, Whoppers (I only had three!), Pumpkin bread + a saad, grilled cheese + chips + candy, cake balls, generic Oreos

Nuclear Apocalypse: Chicken strips and french fries from IHOP.

What does it all mean? How do jalapeno cheese kolaches not make me feel gross? Why was I eating fried chicken from IHOP? I welcome any and all advice from you amateur nutritionists out there.

Ecclesiastes is Great, Part 1

As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! – 5:1

In the beginning

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow.  For the initiated folks, that’s short for National Novel Writing Month.  The goal of the event/group/movement is to write a novel of at lest 50,000 words in the month of November.  You aren’t allowed to pre-write anything, although you’re free to outline, work out characters, etc.

I completed NaNoWriMo in 2009 and failed miserably in 2010.  I’m making a concerted effort to finish and finish well this year.  I’m using a schedule that should let me finish without thrashing out the last few thousand words at the 11th hour.

If I remember correctly, the hardest part is the middle ten days.  At the beginning you’re excited, at the end you’re looking forward to finishing.  The middle drags.  You’re wondering what the heck you’re doing, and why you’re doing it for free.  Your initial ideas are already burned off, and you’re stuck in the middle act.  That middle act is about 10 days away from now, so I’m still plenty excited.

If you’re wondering why I’m doing this, here’s my best answer: I want to!  My 2009 product is far from perfect, but two years later I finally figured out what to do with it and I’m looking forward to editing it this winter.  Plus, it feels great to honestly say that I wrote a real-life novel.

If you’ve ever wanted to actually write a novel, maybe now’s the time to do it!  Here are my veteran’s tips on how to make it through the month:

• Write at least fifteen minutes every day.
• Expect it to be hard.  YOU ARE WRITING A NOVEL.
• Have fun.  YOU ARE WRITING A NOVEL!

And now, for a reminder that even when things are hard, life can be pretty great:

Ernest Hemingway Knew What Was Up

In high school, I read The Sun Also Rises.  That book absolutely blew my mind.  Ever since then, I’ve been a Hemingway guy.  I even visited his house in Key West a few years ago.

I’ve been trying to pump myself up for NaNoWriMo this year, and I’ve been trolling through some Hemingway quotes for some clues as to what the hell I’m supposed to do with an empty piece of paper.  Here are some of my favorites:

• Write drunk; edit sober.
• There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
• The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.
• There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.
• A man’s got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.
• Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

My other favorite writer was F. Scott Fitzgerald, mostly for This Side of Paradise.  Here are a few Fitzgerald quotes I like:

• A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.
• First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
• His was a great sin who first invented consciousness. Let us lose it for a few hours.
• I like people and I like them to like me, but I wear my heart where God put it, on the inside.
• Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.
• To write it, it took three months; to conceive it three minutes; to collect the data in it all my life.

I like those guys.

 

The Texas State Fair

Last weekend, we visited some good friends up in the Metroplex.  The main event of the weekend: The Texas State Fair.  While I consider myself to be a diehard Texan, I have to admit that I had previously never been to the fair.  Probably because of this guy:

From Wikipedia.

Wow.  Big Tex.  This guy is creepy.  He is either the non-organic reincarnation of some sleazy old cattleman, or he is a Trojan horse delivered to Texas by Oklahoma.  Either way, I never stood directly in front of him.

I overcame my fear of Big Tex because of one thing: fried food.  For years, I’ve been hearing stories of a glorious treasure trove of weird and amazing fried foods.  Fried pizza? Fried Oreos? Fried beer? I want to go to that.

Last Saturday, my dreams came true.  I got try all of the following fried foods:

Fletcher’s Jalapeno and Cheese Corny Dog (A+):  I didn’t cry when I ate this, but my vision did blur for a little bit.  This freshly made, gooey, spicy hunk of mystery meat was so delicious that I wanted to flip over the picnic table at which I was sitting.  I would’ve, had my bride not been sitting on it.  I cannot recommend this item highly enough.  Unless you have high cholesterol or you are trying to look like shirtless Ryan Gosling.  Because this won’t help.

Fried Oreos (B):  Was it tasty? I guess so.  It was kind of like when you eat brownies that haven’t quite set yet, except that it wasn’t real chocolate, it was Tootsie Roll chocolate.  They kind of made me feel bad about myself.

Fried Ice cream (B+): I don’t even understand how this works, but I ate some of it. Tasty, but kind of like ice cream with a churro base.  I don’t love churros.  I am, however, intrigued by Charro.

Fried Ice cream + Fried Oreos (A): I don’t understand how they combine so well, but it works.

Fried Frito Pie (A+): It’s like a gooey, extra crunchy tater tot.  I wasn’t sure how this would work, because how do you fry something that is already a giant mess?  The answer is to turn the gooey mess into neat, little hush-puppy sized fried balls. These were like a Latin hush puppy.  By themselves, a solid A-.  With sour cream and salsa? A+.  Since the fair, I have had daydreams of shoving fistfulls of these into my mouth.  Then my stomach hurts, even though it was only a daydream.  Or was it?

Fried Beer (F): I shook my head in disgust when I ate this monstrosity, this abomination.  Beer? Great.  Ravioli? Delightful.  Fried food, see the rest of the post. So how do you combine these things to make a horrible, horrible “food”.  The answer is that you don’t.  Let me back up.  I had no idea what to expect when I ordered fried beer.  I was thinking funnel cake coated with beer instead of powdered sugar.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Here’s what happens.  They take a pasta-looking thing similar to ravioli, inject it with skunky beer, fry it, and then pump old nacho cheese sauce on it.  That is wrong.  You bite into and then get a squirt of hot, nasty beer.  It basically taste like vomit (hot, acidic, etc).  I applaud the “audacity of hope” that combining these great loves could create something great.  I weep for the result.

In sum, the Texas State Fair was pretty great.  I saw a robot, some people running around with swords, weird food, and lots and lots of carnies.  I don’t know what else you could look for in a weekend.