Beyond My Geeky Life

So here we are at the end of 2014. We had a very geeky Christmas in my household. Some good new pieces added to my Star Wars and Dr. Who collections. A lot to look forwards to in 2015. New Avengers movie and Ant-Man (Which I think will be better than a lot of doubters are predicting) from Marvel. The cinematic universe will also expand with more Agents of SHIELD and the Agent Carter limited series as well as the NetFlix series of Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and The Defenders. At Denver Comic-Con this year we are getting another former Doctor, as well as two cast members from Firefly, so already there is a lot to look forwards to. Marvel Comics is doing a new Secret Wars that will expand to just about every reality we have ever seen in the Marvel universe. Of course the year will finish up with the new Star Wars movie, which has the potential to reignite the franchise. I am sure there will be some surprises waiting for us as the year goes on, just as I k...

I can actually say a few positive things about this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special 'Last Christmas'. First off it was not as bad as it could have been. In fact it was better than many of this past season's regular episodes. Regretfully that is not saying much. Last Christmas fits in well with the lowered story quality we have been seeing recently. It was more concept than story in the end. The bigger problem is it was a concept we've seen before, dealing with levels of dreams, getting trapped in one's dreams and where reality begins and dreams end. Now we did get some fun lines. My personal favorite was:"There's a horror movie called Alien? No wonder you keep getting invaded." I am starting to think they might be stabilizing Capaldi's Doctor finally. It took a whole season, but he did feel more like the story knew just who this Doctor was for once. We can only hope that this impression stays with the next season. I liked the dream ...

Over the years I have had friends who are big Batman fans and have tried to get me into Batman, yet I have yet to find any Batman comics that have interested me. The character itself actually turns me off for some reason. He has always felt like a character that they never fully figured out. I remember one issue where he goes off on how big of a loner he was... Yet he has his own little band of heroes all based around his persona as well as being a member of the Justice League. It came off more of Bruce Wayne whining than anything else. So today we received our December Loot Crate and in it we got a recent issue of Batman with a exclusive cover. I went a head and read the comic. Wow was it ever annoying. I have no idea what the big appeal about Batman is. This issue featured the Joker as the villain and I was way unimpressed. The Joker was more a bad horror movie cliche than anything close to an interesting character. There was nothing at all appealing to me in this comic. I'...

Still have the song 'We'll Meet Again' stick in my head. For those of you who have not seen the final episode of The Colbert Report, go and watch it. It was a really impressive send off as Stephen ended his nine years of hosting. As he started singing, former guests just kept appearing on the stage to join in the singing. It really was something to see. During the show Stephen killed death, and therefore became immortal. The show ended with him standing on top of the studio, Sting (sword from Hobbit/Lord of the Rings) in one hand and Captain America's shield in the other, when Santa pulls up next to him with Abraham Lincoln (Who we learn is really a unicorn) and Alec Trebek. Stephen rides away to wherever with this motley little group as he gives thanks to everyone. It really felt like a true end of an era. It will be interesting to see what he does with hosting The Late Show. I am fairly sure that the character of Colbert is retired for now. What will the real Step...

If you have not seen the teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, then go and watch it before you read the rest of this post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOVFvcNfvE So what can you tell from that minute and a half of footage? Next to nothing really. What we can tell is that there is new look for the stormtrooper armor. We get a new take on the astromech droid. There are updated x-wing fighters. There is some big bulky speeder bike that a female character rides. The sith has a funky new style ligthsaber that looks to me like it would take the fighter's own hand off if he slipped up even a little. And of course what we already knew, the Millennium Falcon is back. With all of that I can tell you 100% nothing about the story or the actual quality of the movie. We are not given enough there to be able to make any level of reliable speculation about the movie, yet I have seen people say it is going to be horrible and are fully upset now about how bad they ...

Right now Marvel comics is in the midst of what is the biggest Spider-man event ever, Spider-Verse. They have already said that they will included every version of Spider-Man/Spider-Women/Spider-Girl/Spider-Monkey/Spider-Ham and so on, that we have ever seen through out the years. And it really appears that they are going to live up tot hat promise 100%. The basic premise of Spider-Verse is a family known as the Inheritors are roaming around all the realities hunting 'Spider Totems' and feasting on their essence. They are based in universe 001 (The main Marvel universe is 616) and they use the Master Weaver to open portals to the various reality to do their hunting. So the central Spider-Man we have been following all these years has encountered one of the Inheritors before and defeated the guy twice, making him the only Spider Totem to do such a thing on his own. Because of that, when he get drafted to team up with other Spider Totems he is asked to be the leader. During...

A few weeks ago at Mile Hi Con 46 I got to be part of a Doctor Who panel that was recorded for episode 267 of the SF Signal Podcast. We had a lot of fun with the panel, which was only scheduled for an hour, but with no one using the room after us we ended up going for two hours. So here is the first half of the panel: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/11/the-sf-signal-podcast-episode-267-live-from-milehicon-46-the-doctor-who-panel-part-1-with-jason-batt-karen-bjorn-eytan-kollin-and-ian-brazee-cannon/ Enjoy

Last night me and my boys once more got out to the SIE Filmcenter for a special Doctor Who event sponsored by Denver Comic Con . We got to watch the season finale 'A Death in Heaven' on the big screen. The event was supposed to mirror the one they held for the season opener with a costume contest and trivia. For whatever reasons they did not get anything close to the same crowd. A big part of it was they just were not able to get word out about the event this time around. My youngest was the only one to show up in costume, so he was given his pick of the prizes. I went into this with the basic idea that this episode could either redeem what to me has been a weak season, or confirm my belief that it is time for a new show runner. I now have no doubt that Steven Moffat needs to step down and let someone new take over. 'A Death in Heaven' left me more frustrated than anything else. There were gaps everywhere you turned. Story gaps, logic gaps and continuity gaps. ...

Marvel comics this year decided to go ahead and officially kill off one of their biggest characters. They made a huge build up to the event, never hiding their plans or playing games. The on going Wolverine comic did a countdown to the event. Then they went and did a four issue series titled 'Death of Wolverine'. The best things I can say about 'Death of Wolverine' is that they had some of the best cover art I have ever seen. The covers were awesome. The story however... Well it really didn't flow or make much sense. It just kind of was there. There is no meaningful journey through his past adventures or getting caught up in some extraordinary saga or even being given a respectful end where he ties up loose end, creating some sense of closure. Yes, he does end up confronting several of his bigger past foes. None of it was meaningful in the least. Then we get to the end. I won't go into details just in case there are fans who have not read it yet. I am fair...

Just recently discovered Lootcrate ( http://www.lootcrate.com ). As a geek who is into just about everything geek related, this is an awesome looking service. Regretfully I am not able to justify such an expense every month, but I was able to treat myself this month for my birthday. Kind of wish I had done it a month earlier though, because I really like what was in the September Lootcrate. What I have seen for this month's lootcrate is still cool. The theme is 'fear' and what you get is zombie/ horror related. In the September on they had a Alien retro figure, a Captain Mal from Firefly figurine, a tribble just for a start. It seems like every month at least one piece is a Lootcrate exclusive, and exclusive geek collectables are always cool to get a hold of. I do like the idea of getting a box of geeky goodies every month in the mail. I have never understood how the mail away offer idea has fallen away from use. As a child I loved getting stuff in the mail, especially ...

For those of you who do not know who Deadpool is, he is a Marvel comic's character ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadpool ) that was introduced in the 90s. He has grown in popularity over the last 20 years and is now going to get his own movie. I went back and looked at his first few appearances, which were as unmemorable as it gets. Somehow he is on the covers, yet he is not even close to being needed in either of his first two appearances. He is an uninteresting character who does next to nothing. He is made out to be some kind of super mercenary, yet he is defeated both times simply because he encounted an unexpected adversary. Basically if someone he is not ready to fight shows up, he is going to lose. That is what I took away from rereading his first two appearances. Somehow over the decades they have expanded the character, although I still do not find him interesting. I have checked out some of his recent issues, as he now has his own on-going series, and found I still ...

This morning I got to go to a special screening of the first two episodes of the new Star Wars cartoon show, Star Wars: Rebels. The show itself doesn't premier for a few weeks, so this was a cool little sneak peek for Star Wars fans. I will start off by saying this was a far better beginning than what we got with the last SW cartoon, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.We've been given a much more interesting group of main characters fighting the good fight. It seems to me that one of the reasons Rebels works so much better than Clone Wars is because with Rebels we have all new characters, on new planets, using aged equipment and actually being a small band of average people (With the one Jedi exception) fighting for what they believe is right. So much of it feels like classic trilogy style. It gives us hope that the new series will actually stay true to what made the original movies so good. I won't go into the plot here, as some might feel there are spoilers to be found there...

Yesterday my oldest boy asked me if I knew that there were people banning books. I of course told him it has been happening for a long time and is nothing new. Then we had a good conversation about banned books and censorship. I was proud that he knew banning books was wrong without me needing to have the talk. I explained to him about people who wish to limit the availability of information and knowledge. Now to help promote Banned Book Week, here are a few links to articles about it. Banned Books Week and the 'Dangers' of the Comic Book -This is a good one to learn about the history of the Comic Code and the misguided attitudes some idiots had concerning comic books. 33 Must-Read Books To Celebrate Banned Books Week -I've not read as many of these as I should have, but it is a list worth trying to complete. Texas school district suspends seven books from high-school curriculum -Here Texas shows us that the need to promote and encourage ignorance is still alive ...

I always find it amusing when comics are used by various companies to promote their brand. I still have the old Kool-Aid Man comics that Marvel did way back when. Some times it can be fun and others it can be too corny and idiotic. Still, it must be deemed worth doing, as companies still spend piles of cash to get their own super-hero. Today I found out about Captain Citrus, http://www.floridacitrus.org/captain-citrus , the new hero created to promote the benefits of Florida orange juice. In his first digital comic book he teams up with the Avengers. There will be free print comics given away to schools (Yes, I am hoping my boys' school get them). Here is the press release on it, http://www.floridacitrus.org/news/florida-citrus-unveils-americas-newest-hero/ . After reading the first digital comic, this looks to be one of the better thought out promotional character. He doesn't come off as being silly or too over the top connected to the product. I am guessing his origin sto...

This last week we had the season five premiere of the Sy-Fy channel original show Haven. I have really enjoyed the show. Unlike so many other similar shows, there has been real progress in the storyline, especially at the end of last season. For those unfamiliar with the show, it is based off a Stephen King novella titled 'The Colorado Kid'. The show takes place in a small new England town on the coast of Maine called Haven that under goes a unique and scary 27 year cycle. Every 27 years, corresponding with a meteor shower, things get a little crazy in Haven. At that time people who are 'troubled' start to display dangerous, and often uncontrollable, supernatural abilities. Also at this time a young lady comes to town. She always has the same face, but a different name and personality. She is uniquely immune to the 'troubles' and always ends up working with those who are 'troubled' to keep the chaos as diminished as possible. For the present cycle th...

We are two weeks into the new season of Doctor Who and I figured I should chime in with my thoughts on it all. I saw the premiere on the big screen at a special event hosted by Denver Comic Con at the Sie FilmCenter. I ended up winning first place in both the costume contest and the trivia contest they held that night. It was a fun way to begin the new season. This season introduces Peter Capaldi as the latest regeneration of the Doctor. I am going to come out and say I have not fully formed my opinion on his Doctor yet. They are very much still forming the character and may be doing so through out the season. In his second adventure I get the impression that he has still not pulled himself together. He is a darker Doctor than the last few have been. He is also the oldest Doctor since William Hartnell took on the role as the first Doctor over fifty years ago. So far he has come off as a bit of a jerk, quick to give insult and highly condescending. In some ways he is much like th...

So this year I was involved in an entry for the 48 Film Project here in the Denver area. ( http://www.48hourfilm.com/en/denver/ ) Your team has 48 hours to put together a short film, no longer than 7 minutes (Before credits). I've been part of a team before and was very proud of our final product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZwdsemjRg. This year I am not sure what I can say about our final product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_cUALa42rA Somehow all the needed dialogue to make the story clear got cut. I was not involved in the editing process, so I am unsure why that happened, when the film could have been two minutes longer, and included all that NEEDED dialogue. We filmed those scenes and they would have added so much to the film. As it is I do not think anyone who has not read the script will understand all of what is going on. I have other isseus beyond that, but it is the feeling the the script itself got ignored for the most part that bugs me the most. I am ...

Yesterday the family got out to the movies. Do I need to tell you what movie we saw? Read the post title. As the internet is flooded with reviews for this movie already, I will do what I can to offer some new insight into it all. Let's start with what are the greatest CGI characters we have seen to date. Make no mistake, I love what they did with Golem in the Lord of the Rings, but Rocket and Groot are so well done you really do not think of them as being CGI. Remember, we are talking about a sentient tree and a talking Raccoon as being believable character. While they have the comedic moments, they are not comic relief, but real, significant characters. Even with Groot only being able to say 'I am Groot' we are still able to see a fully realized character in that. Rocket and Groot kick Golem's pale little ass, as well as stomp Jar-jar and Dobby into insignificance. Then you have the rest of the team. Starlord, Gamora and Drax. They work and are enjoyable. That re...

I am watching Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars and am going to try and write up my reactions as I watch it. The opening scroll ended with 'And None of This is Canon, so Just Relax', which was perfect. Perry gets to be the one to snag the Death Star Plans, which were conveniently all on one CD. They are doing a good job of making references to everything Tatoonie related in the opening song. I think Vader is abusing his power by having Storm Trooper get his socks for him. Apparently the Death Star was based off a handheld nut cracker. So this story is happening as the movie plays out around it, not a retelling of the story. 'Mos Eisley Spaceport, now 14% more scum & villainy.' Yep, a 'Who shot first' joke got in there. It was Han, and we all know it. For some reason the value of a time share on Alderaan suddenly dropped to nothing. 'May the Force be with you, and all that stuff.' 'Darth Vader can kiss my Bantha.' So we have ...

Just saw a commercial for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that said "You've never seen heroes like this". Considering that this is like the millionth reboot of the TMNT, I really think they might not fully understand that term. I will be overly surprised and impressed if they really pull off giving us something that we really have not seen before, that also gives something of value to the TMNT legacy. This is one of the most unneeded movies we've been given. The current TMNT cartoon is doing just fine and has been introducing us to some really interesting and unique concepts for the TMNT legacy. The latest cartoon has taken all the best aspects of the past TMNT and worked them together in an on going narrative that draws you in. It is a new storyline that does a great job of effectively paying tribute to where it came from. And it works. So far for the new movie I have seen nothing that makes me think they are going to do the same. We have the turtles...

There is a movie coming out simply titled Lucy. It stars Scarlett Johansson as a woman who ends up exposed to some chemical that amplifies her mind and ends up giving her all manner of abilities. The first trailer I saw for the movie started off looking intriguing. It had action and suspense and of course watching Scarlett Johansson is always enjoyable. Then they ruin it by putting in what is happening to her mind. They use the outdated, overly proven inaccurate idea that people only use 10% of their brain. The trailers keep telling us how much of her brain she is using at different times to gain the various abilities and how we have no idea what will happen once she reaches 100%. They have Morgan Freeman be the one to give us the lines about using the various percents of her brain. His voice does make anything he says sound more official and authoritative, but that doesn't mean it is not junk. This is a simple unscientific concept that has been shown time and time again to b...

The movie has been out for a while, but I just got to see it about a week ago. Due to being a huge fan of Spider-Man, he rates as my favorite super hero, I had to see it and I am not going to hold back on my opinions of it. To start with I never saw the point of rebooting the franchise. I always felt after the screw up that was Spider-Man 3, they should have followed through with new casting, but kept the storyline itself going. I have no doubt at all this would have been a better choice for the studio. There was little in the first Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) that actually would not have worked as being a forth part to the story. In fact without having to retell the origin, they might have been able to work more with the plot. With ASM 2, we very much see that this would have been the better way to go. One thing that both the ASM movies have done is not understood that Peter Parker is a different person when he puts that mask on. Peter on his own is not really cocky or smart mouthed....

So I am going to talk about music this time around. The House of the Rising Sun is a really old song that no one is sure of the actual origins of. It has been recorded many times by many different artists over the years. Originally it was from the point of view of a woman ( http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+dylan/house+of+the+rising+sun_20021207.html ), but with what is most likely the most famous version of the song by The Animals, they switched it to a male POV ( http://www.metrolyrics.com/house-of-the-rising-sun-lyrics-the-animals.html ). This last year the band Five Finger Death Punch released their version of it. The song is updated and the music is noticeably heavier. The song is very catchy and is getting a lot of play on the radio station I listen to. It has been stuck in my head for several days now. Now to get geeky. The most noticeable change in the Five Finger Death Punch version is the change of location from 'New Orleans' to 'Sin City' ( http://www....

As many of you know I am a writer. This year I was invited to contribute to a new shared world anthology titled Taurin Tales. http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/taurin.htm I am looking forwards to seeing just what we ended up creating, as I have only read my pieces (I will have two stories in this anthology).  I have seen some hints as to what some of the other writers came up with. It was an interesting experience to flush out the workings of these people. I think it will come together to make an enjoyable set of stories. J, the editor, is hoping this goes over well as he is already thinking of doing a second anthology that will have open submissions. However Nomadic Delirium Press is an independent small press and could use a little help to get Taurin Tales funded. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1521750492/taurin-tales

Now I shall start to reminisce about childhood memories in an attempt to show that I am one of those parents. I have started to go through my old comic books. I have a good sized collection. I’ve been collecting most of my life. I started in the mid-80s and had to cut down a few years ago, picking up a few here and there since then. I been enjoying the Mile High Comics dollar bin to pick up some old issues to fill in the gaps. Reading them has been a highly reminiscent experience. Odd thing is I mainly remember the ads. Now this is where I will start to sound like an old man. Comic ads today just are not as interesting and unique as what they were when I was growing up. It is hard to explain the personality of comic book ads to those unfamiliar with them. The most famous of those ads is most likely the old Hostess snack ads where known heroes from both Marvel and DC would use tasty Hostess snacks to distract the villains and save the day. They really were classic ads that stand out...

Just learned today of a this interesting, practically unknown, piece of Star Wars history. http://www.mcgreene.org/?p=296 http://www.nickstember.com/chinese-star-wars-comic-part-1-6/ This is a unlicensed mini-comic done in a style called ' lianhuanhua ' which is real popular in China. It is very much worth checking out. I love the art, even if most of it looks nothing like anything we see in the actual movie. A lot of odd use of characters (Oddly enough most of them from The Empire Strikes Back) in the wrong places, like the medical droid 2-1B as an imperial captain. Always interesting to see one of these odd pieces that are out there.

Now this is a perfect song for someone to parade with a Doctor Who theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WBqHdI5Bdw I really an impressed with how well done this video is. The make the song fit the storyline of the show with minimal alteration, which is just brilliant. So watch the video and enjoy and if you don't get it, then go and watch some Doctor Who. The basic set up of the video comes from the David Tennant years. Even if you not into Doctor Who, it is still a fun video.

I am really looking forwards to X-Men: Days of Future Past. Everything seems to point to this be a really incredible X-Men movie. If all goes well the family will get to see it Monday. All the trailers and clips I have seen have helped to reinforce the my confidence in this movie. So here I am looking forwards to an X-Men movie, feeling that a second is getting on track with doing a Marvel license right, even though they have been going up and down with their movies. If DoFP is as good as I it at seems, that will make 5 of the 7 X-Men movies as being good. It makes me think they are getting back on track and there is hope for the future movies. Then I had to learn about the casting for Gambit in the next one... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/video-channing-tatum-gambit-role-706443 Channing Tatum? Really? My personal opinion is that he is one of the most over rated actors out there today. He has no range at all. He is the exact same character in every movie he ma...

I made the mistake of showing the video to promote this to my boys. My say we have to enter. Does anyone have $50000 to give me so I can enter at the Jedi Grand Master of the Order level? http://www.omaze.com/experiences/starwars-episode-vii We get to see a set for Episode 7 and a new alien, so the video itself is pretty cool. Not sure why Abrams felt the need to return to Tatooine. Makes me a little worried about the chance of that there may be a lack of new worlds and ideas in Episode 7. I really hope I am proven wrong. There better be a good reason to be back there that works for the bigger story.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I love Free Comic Book Day. How could anyone complain about getting free comic books? While the quality may vary, you can still get some real great comics. Hellboy, Spider-man, Serenity, the Walking Dead, Simpsons, The Tick, The Avengers and so on are just a few of the past free comics I have picked up. I would have no idea who Axe Cop was if it wasn't for getting a free issue of it. This year Marvel did its normal routine by promoting the Marvel Studio projects. They put out both Guardians of the Galaxy and Rocket Raccoon. The GotG was good and clearly connected to the main title's storyline. Rocket raccoon was cute, but didn't draw me in. There were a lot of indy comics that caught my attention. The First Daughter was a real interesting idea about the First Family of the US and a conflict that will need the forgotten children of our past presidents to deal with. There was a steampunked Star Wars titled Steam Wars. So many others that get a little mixed up in my he...

My youngest boy and I went to Starfest this last weekend. This was the first Starfest I had made it to in about a decade. There were lots of great costumes as expected. I also got to see my ‘con’ friends, a group that continues to grow with each convention I make it to. There were a few highlights to the convention, like getting to meet Billy Dee Williams. For me the most enjoyable part and the main reason we ended up going, was participating in the Dr. Horrible Sing-along blog Shadowcast. That was a lot of fun for me and Hayden. I was an extra doing any role that was needed of me, mostly just background characters. Hayden however got to play the role of Capt. Hammer, which he nailed. It was a fun group to work with and most likely we will be involved in future Shadowcasts with them. If you want to see just what a Dr. Horrible Shadowcast is you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu2t9g0xnY0&list=PLbjqbbd1QIa8FqDXFc3d6FJplbMtLG9_c Although it is somethin...

Filming for Star Wars Episode 7 has actually already started with the 2nd unit crew in Abu Dhabi filming scenes set on Tatooine. All we know about that is there is a large set piece that got rolled out. many seem to think it is a foot for an AT-AT. There has been no casting announcements made as of yet, but principle filming is to begin soon at Pinewood Studios outside of London. Three individuals connected with the original Star Wars trilogy (Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill) all seem to be converging on London right now. My guess is we will be getting various updates over the next few weeks. Here in Denver we are going to have the Starfest convention next weekend. One guest will be Billy Dee Williams. I would bet anything that he will be asked over and over again if he is going to get to be in the new trilogy or some alteration of that. After the total disappointment the prequels were, I think we are seeing a huge build up in excitement due to the hope that they ge...

The Mile High Comics warehouse store on Jason street is just awesome.  If you have never been there and live in the Denver metro area, check it out. You will be impressed. About a year a go we started attending various events there regularly. While I have not been collecting comics at the level I used to, my boys and I were enjoying the deals we got in their regular auctions and other promotions Chuck puts on. My boys got some nice older comics for their budding collections at reasonable prices. Recently I made the mistake of scanning through the dollar comics bins. So many comics for a dollar each, with a good deal from the late 70s early 80s. I  started to fill in the gaps from my collection. And I am really enjoying reading these old comics. Having actively been collecting over several decades I saw the change in style as comic books kept up with the times, but it having been a while since I read the older stuff I never really though much about it. Now I look at the c...

I have been getting more and more impressed with Marvel studios over the last few years and they show no signs of getting it wrong. I have so far enjoyed every movie that has officially been part of the Marvel Studios. We had the incredibly well done build up to the Avenger. It was next to perfect.  We got the introductions and origins out of the way so it could all come together in a bigger story and it worked. In phase two the movies have been enjoyable and have connected back to the Avengers, keeping the greater storyline going strong. Now in phase two they added the TV show Agents of Shield to the universe and despite a slow start, the show has done a good job of connecting the universe farther. Not only does the show make references to the Avengers, but it dealt with the aftermath of Thor: Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Solider, making more of those movies. We have gotten a good batch of characters from the comics introduced through the show with Gravatron, Dea...

I was supposed to put this up on March 31, but things have been a little busy so I am a week and a half late on this one. I do apologize to those who are following the blog tour. I was drafted into the blog tour by by my good friend J. Alan Erwine ( http://jalanerwine.blogspot.com/ ). He is a writer and editor and currently runs Nomadic Delirium Press. Now onto the four questions that are the essence of this blog tour. 1) What am I working on?  Doing mostly rewrites right now. I got involved with a new writers group and let them critique some of my past stories. Now I am looking at their comments and seeing what I can do to polish up my stories. It really does help to have a group that knows how to critique and not go easy on you. 2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?  I like to think I take Sci-fi standards and go in atypical directions with them. I have a story about the evolution of man where human's become feral beast where the males end thei...

I do love thrift stores. If you hit them just right you can find some great deals. And it is really just luck that you are there at the right time to find the better deals. In High School I found a complete Optimus Prime in the box for four dollars. The box was beat up and the Styrofoam was in backwards so all you could make out was his trailer. I took the chance and everything was there except roller, which was not hard to get a hold of. The stickers had not even been put on yet. He is still in my collection, although right now he is not on display. Even now days I from time to time find actual vintage Star Wars items. Last year one store had a early figures case from the late 70s for only a coupe bucks. While it is not a highly sought after piece, it was still cool and the price was good. I rarely pick up something that I plan to sell though. Most of the time I buy stuff to add to my collection. When I do pick up something that I plan to resale, it is never wroth that much. I l...

My youngest son just had his 11th birthday. I don't think he got a single gift that I would not mind having. He got a Doctor Who TARDIS blanket, which he is now wrapped up in on the couch, from his grandparent (It goes perfectly with the TARDIS pillowcase they got him for Christmas). We got him a really impressive looking book that goes behind the scenes of the making of the Hobbit movies. It has lots of great picture of the props and costume designs, as well as story broad and sets and so on. And a small light up TARDIS. His friends got him mostly Magic cards.  After twenty years Magic the gathering is still going strong. I love that my boys and their friends play it. I showed off a bit to his friends by showing them my old school magic cards. He also got a Nerf gun, which we have all played with. And he got money, lots of money.  With his moeny his picked up a new 11th Doctor's sonic screwdriver, a Character Building set of the TARDIS and the LEGO Back to the Futur...

As if I needed more to look forwards to at DCC this year, they just announced that they will have actual participants from Face Off (For those of you who do not keep up with this blog, that is the greatest reality program on the air right now) doing panels and demonstrations. Since my oldest son is interesting in costuming as a career, this will be perfect for him. I am looking forwards to seeing what other surprises DCC has in store for us. They have been good at building up the excitement for the convention this year.

The Science channel is once more doing a Firefly marathon today. They seem to do one about once a month or so. It is always nice to have something like that playing in the background at times. No matter how many times I see any episdoe of Firefly, it never gets old. Most programs have some episodes that are not too good and are not worth watching again, or even once in some cases. Most of the time you get one or two such episodes a season. Somehow every episode of Firefly is so well done that they are easy to watch over and over again and enjoy them fully. With thirteen episodes and one movie, the Firefly saga is undeniably one of the greatest Sci-fi shows ever. I personally rank it as one of the top five. Watching the episodes it is obvious as to why they have such a following after all this time. There are just too many moments of brilliance found in ever episode. You start with the opening song that is filled with emotion and perfectly fits the show's theme. I rank as the ...