Rest in Pies

RIP Soupy Sales.
Me with Soupy, picture taken at Dragon*Con 2004.

A Post for SallyP

A picture from Dragon*Con, just because I thought Sally would enjoy it...

(click to Booster-size)

A Busy Week Ahead

Well, the Labor Day weekend is almost upon us, and with it a plethora of special events. Of course, the big one for me is Dragon*Con, but there's also this...



...and as if Dragon*Con and an international improv tournament weren't enough, there's also the Drive-InVasion at Starlight Six Drive-In, and most mind-blowing of all, an in-person appearance/performance/screening by Crispin Glover at the Plaza Theatre! My geek-cup runneth over...

And Now, the Sketches

I've finished scanning in the sketches I got at Dragon*Con, and I hope you enjoy them!


First, I got two for my Golden Age sketchbook...Christopher Jones' rendition of the Red Tornado.

And the Red Bee by Jason Yungbluth:

In the musical sketchbook, I got two contributions from Peter Bagge: First, letting him make his own song selection, he did this illustration of Mudhoney's "Here Comes Sickness."

Then, from the sadly defunct and much-missed Weekly World News, here's Bat Boy singing the opening verse from Bat Boy: The Musical.

And finally, I got this beautiful Adam Hughes drawing of Power Girl listening to "I'm Wearing an Orange Tank Top" by Anna NicoleMiner's Daughter:

(Incidentally, ANMD will be playing at the 10 High this Friday night...I'm looking forward to the show!)

Dragon*Con Report

Well, I had a great time at Dragon*Con, as I'd hoped and expected...here's a quick rundown of the highlights:

Ran into some Dad's Garage friends (Z, Tiff, and Tara) in the Dealer's Room/Artist Alley, while I was standing at Christopher Jones' table and browsing through his stuff. (Thank God it wasn't at one of the "naughtier" artists' tables!) I also met a couple of former co-workers and chatted briefly...Will in the dealer's room and Leah while getting in line for the "Meet the Stars of Harry Potter" panel. (I would've liked to talk to Leah more, but I had to move on and take my place in line.)

The Harry Potter panel in question, with James & Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) was highly entertaining...and the next panel I attended, a Babylon 5 Q&A with Claudia Christian and Julie Caitlin Brown, was even more so. Claudia Christian is always frickin' hilarious...it's worth checking out the DVD of Final Voyage for her participation in the audio commentary (which is infinitely more entertaining than the actual movie). I should have asked her if she'd done any other DVD commentaries...

Saturday morning, Tippi Hedren had a panel discussing her efforts with the Shambala animal preserve...very admirable work!

The highlight of Saturday night, for me, was the screening (and subsequent Q&A) of The Signal, a very suspenseful, disturbing, and yes, even funny thriller with a great cast of Atlanta actors. When this movie gets to your area, I highly recommend it.

Sunday's Adult Swim panel/screening was outstanding...a lot of crazy, hilarious stuff there. (My favorite parts were "The Cat's in Pajamas" music video, and Unknown Hinson's unknown hinson-ness throughout the panel.) Shout-out to MaryK!

Didn't see the Masquerade...I just didn't want to deal with the lines and crowds (which were bad enough at the other events). Instead, I saw "The Monty Python Experience," a unique combination of Python material and improvisation by the "Mr. Frisket" troupe. (For example, they took the traditional improv game of "Story, Story, Die," but had the improvisors tell the tale in the personas of assorted Python characters--Mr. Nudge-Nudge, a Gumby, a Pepperpot, Graham Chapman's Colonel Muriel ("Stop That, It's Silly") Volestrangler, etc.) And there was much rejoicing.

As for the Dealer's Room & Artist Alley, I did manage to pick up a few cool comics (including some old Green Lanterns which would undoubtedly interest SallyP), and got some sketches...including an Adam Hughes piece, which I'd previously given up hope for. Luckily, I just managed to sign up early enough to fit one in. I'll share the sketches as soon as I have a chance to scan them in...but for now, I'm going to call it a night.

This Weekend: An Embarrassment of Riches

Well, the Labor Day weekend is approaching, and with it, more stuff to do than can possibly be crammed into a few days. Of course, the big thing this weekend is Dragon*Con. I'm looking forward to that immensely, and hoping to get a few sketches from the various guests. I'm particularly hoping to get a V sketch from David Lloyd in my musical sketchbook, captioned with the "Remember, remember the 5th of November" verse. (It may not be an actual song, but I'm not going to split hairs over a thing like that if it gets in the way of a drawing of V.) I also really want to get a sketch from Peter Bagge, of whatever he feels like drawing. (I've pretty much given up on ever getting an Adam Hughes sketch again, as his list fills up immediately even when he IS doing sketches, but just in case, there are a few ideas I'm keeping in mind for him...)





And on top of Dragon*Con, Dad's Garage is having their annual World Domination TheatreSports Improv Tournament, bringing in improv troupes from all around the world (or, this year, from North America). This year's teams include the ever-awesome Iron Cobra from Toronto (and elsewhere), Edmondton's Rapid Fire Theatre, General Fools (from Regina, Saskatchewan), Portland's Brody Theater, and Team Los Angeles (including Dad's Garage alumni Joseph Limbaugh and Tara Ochs). And on top of all that improv goodness, this year's tournament has quite possibly the most disturbing promo image ever:

And yet there's even more going on this weekend! There's also the Drive-InVasion at the Starlight Six Drive-In, featuring a great assortment of bands and a marathon of fun B-movies. Sadly, I think I'm going to have to skip the Drive-InVasion this year...I've tried going back and forth between the three events in past years, and I just spread myself too thin. Besides, while past Drive-InVasion shows have included guests from the featured movies (Jack Hill, Sid Haig, Mary Woronov, Repo Man's Susan Barnes, and coolest of all, the Faster, Pussycat! trio of Tura Satana, Lori Williams, and Haji), there don't appear to be any movie guests listed this year. So, that makes my decision a little bit easier (much as I still hate to pass up a chance to see The Woggles perform...)