Do you think it’s possible that Beowulf might not be as incredibly bad as it looks in the trailers? Because, sweet Moses, if I was a stronger man I’d gouge my eyes out.
The horror…the horror….
Meanwhile, No Country for Old Men opens this weekend.
The awesomeness…the awesomeness….
This morning I got up early-ish to bike down to Strategies Games on Main St with the last two pieces of art for the wall-hanging. I wanted to get there as early as possible (aiming for opening at 11am) because I had two more engagements during the day, but I got there at least a half hour later than planned. Still, by the time I got there Darren was just opening the shop which I found curious. while I was there I picked up some pirate miniatures for my Freeport D&D campaign.
It wasn’t far to get down to the Heritage Hall where the Vancouver Comicon was being held. It was supposed to open the same time Strategies opened but when I got there I waited in line and there didn’t seem to be anyone taking money so I left to get some breakfast. By the time I got back I was let in and discussed Secret Comic Project #1 with the gents from Critical Hit Comics, did some drawings, picked up some local comics and some cheap comics, and bumped into a lot of friends, including an old friend who I hadn’t seen for almost a decade, with whom I worked at Duthie Books/Macneill Library Service. She was cleaning out her collection of comics and I aided her as I could with some Tom Strong, New Adventures of The Spirit, and Steve Rude’s X-Men: Children of the Atom. When it comes to inking I think Steve Rude is my #1 go-to guy. I hadn’t planned on staying long but Kevin helped me figure out what was going on with the weirdness of my timing – I didn’t “fall back” with my clocks the night before, so suddenly I had a free hour that I didn’t know what to do with! So I sat down at the Critical Hit Comics table and did some sketches.
Appointment #3 was Drexoll Games and Day Four of the d6 mini-con. I played Burning Wheel with a bunch of fellas but was kind of spacey, tired, and also distracted by the results of my miniatures buying spree. Still lots of fun though.
And here’s a little taste of what I’ve been working on lately:
So ashamed…
tag: Barbie Commercial
Here’s a little culture service announcement courtesy of me, all about my favourite TV channel (always commercial free!) TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES and some interesting things to watch on it this month (guest programmer month):
Today – 5pm Adam’s Rib with Spencer Tracy & Audrey Hepburn
– 11pm Citizen Kane with you-know-who
1:15 am – The Magnificent Amberson’s, a wonderful film.
set your VCRs for 7am tomorrow morning (Nov 4) because it’s the noir classic The Maltese Falcon. A must see.
NOV 10 – Guest programmer Danny Devito has some unlikely choices! Bridge on the River Kwai with Alec Guinness (see it if you haven’t); 1975’s Shampoo with Warren Beatty; The Devil Doll (An escaped Devil’s Island convict uses miniaturized humans to wreak vengeance on those that framed him!!) & The Battle of Algiers
NOVEMBRANCE DAY: Woody Allen’s sci-fi film The Sleeper; then Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlin Brando (pretty good!);
NOV 12: 12 Angry Men (a must see!); Inherit the Wind – a 1960 film about teaching evolution in schools with Spencer Tracy; and then, MORLOCKS! in 1960’s The Time Machine.
NOV 14 – Guest programmer Matt Groening
NOV 16 – 1933 King Kong at 7pm
NOV 18 – some Cary Grant goodies including North by Northwest and The Philadelphia Story PLUS Casablanca.
NOV 20 – It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
NOV 21 – Kermit the Frog guest programmer and picks Singin’ in the Rain
NOV 23 – The wonderful Best Years of Our Lives with my favourite Myrna Loy; plus Stalag 17 the precursor to Hogan’s Heroes but much much better.
NOV 29 – Guest programmer Mark (Devo) Mothersbaugh and Inherit the Wind if you missed it on the 12th.
This pretty much illustrates one of the reasons I disliked 300 so much:
courtesy of Robot Chicken.
Thanks to Mr Beck for pointing me at this:
Its all been strange and mysterious and lovely, and it makes me want to do it all over again. And now, almost 20 years later, I am. Ive decided, in collaboration with the other bold souls who started it all, to do a new project that is strong enough for our diehard audience, and also gentle and easy to swallow for those that are new to movie riffing. Wait for it .wait for it . meet Cinematic Titanic!
…Its going to be powered by the original cast of MST3K! Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein and yours truly, along with some friends who came along later to make the show great: the beloved Frank Conniff and the scathingly brilliant Mary Jo Pehl.
Were very busy writing and doing preproduction right now so the website is tiny, but the big thing right now is to sign up for the newsletter so we can keep you informed about the fine movie riffing weve got planned for you.
I know this guy who went in to record one line of dialogue for a toy commercial. He actually worked for about 20 minutes, and spent another 2 hours waiting for his turn with the other voice actors. Not very professional to say this on a blog but he got paid ~$2100 including a 2 year “buyout”, after paying his agent’s cut. This is about the same that an average illustrator for roleplaying games makes in 2 months. Isn’t that heinously outrageous and outrageously heinous? Of course one could say that the amount paid for the gig balances for the actor’s time going to numerous auditions for which he never got the role, and other expenses like headshots, resumes and so forth; and one could say that it also balances other arts of dubious cultural significance which the actor may have worked hard on for little or no pay. Either way, isn’t it interesting? Nice work if you can get it.
Below I have listed the restaurants that I have found (so far!) that serve Shark Fin Soup in the Lower Mainland. I have a very strong feeling that I have only scratched the surface of this list, but it all starts with demand!
If there is a demand for shark fins, then sharks will continue to be slaughtered!
Take action today by not eating in these restaurants… Maybe even write a letter or two!
Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant
1132 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1S2Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant
Main Floor, Marine Building, 355 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 2G8Fortune House Seafood Restaurant
247 – 4700 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC, V5H 4M1Dun Huang Seafood Restaurant
705 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1J5Chinatown Floata Seafood Restaurant
Chinatown Plaza, 400-180 Keefer Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 4E9Kirin Mandarin Restaurant
1166 Alberni Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 3Z3Kirin Mandarin Restaurant
2nd Floor, City Square, 555 West 12th Avenue (& Cambie Street), Vancouver, BC, V5Z 3X7Kirin Mandarin Restaurant
2nd Floor, Three West Centre, 7900 Westminster Highway (& No. 3 Road), Richmond, BC, V6X 1A5Kirin Mandarin Restaurant
2nd Floor, Henderson Place, 1163 Pinetree Way (& Lincoln Avenue), Coquitlam, BC, V3B 8A9Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant
3888 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, V5V 3R8Yun Mei Restaurant
2436 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6M 2A7Szechuan Chongqing Seafood Restaurant
205 – 1668 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1X6Spicy Court Chinese Restaurant
5638 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 3A5U-Bento Japanese Restaurant
2568 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC, V6J 3Y2Please add to this list if you find more establishments that serve Shark Fin Soup! Or if you know that any of these restaurants are no longer serving, let me know… I am all for celebrating that!!!
Post: 14-Jun-07 01:10 PM by john
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Fisherman’s Terrace Seafood Restaurant
3580 – 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC, V6X 4J7Shota Sushi and Grill
5688 Yew Street, Vancouver, BC, V6M 3Y3Nikkyu Japanese Restaurant
3302 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, V5V 3M7Neptune Seafood Restaurant
100 – 8171 Ackroyd Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 3K1Post: 23-Jul-07 10:07 AM by john
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Not only does T & T Supermarket carry frozen shark fin and other shark derived products, in their seafood section they also have “live” rockfish, lingcod and kelp greenlings in stagnant tanks that look diseased.Here are their store locations:
Central City (Central City Shopping Centre)
3000 Central City, 10153 King George Highway, Surrey, BC, V3T 2W1Chinatown (Keefer & Abbott)
179 Keefer Place, Vancouver, BC, V6B 6C1First Ave (First & Renfrew)
100-2800 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5M 4N8Richmond (President Plaza)
1000-8181 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 1J8Osaka (Yaohan Centre)
1000-3700 No. 3 Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 3X2Coquitlam (Coquitlam Centre)
2740-2929 Barnet Highway, Coquitlam, BC, V3B 5R5Metrotown (Metropolis at Metrotown)
147-4800 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC, V5H 4J2Surrey (100th Avenue & 152nd Street)
101T-15277 100th Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3R 8X2They have stores in Alberta and Ontario as well.
Post: 23-Aug-07 10:00 AM by john
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New name, same tired menu… Formerly named U-Bento, i Sushi Japanese Restaurant continues to serve shark fin nigiri.i Sushi Japanese Restaurant
2568 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC, V6J 3Y2
I took a couple hundred pieces of art to V-Con to sell. I had Joyce frame about ten or so pieces (mostly paintings) and I also brought three binders with clear sleeves in them that were filled with (mostly pencil) drawings, and one RED binder with no sleeves, just maybe a hundred drawings. The red binder says “Each drawing in this binder only $10 each.” Those were drawings I don’t care to ever see again. Not that they are all bad or anything, I just find them to be dull. Everything in the other binders ranged from $35 to $135, and my painting I went up to I think $500 on the big one. I didn’t know how to price any of them but everything I read on the internet was “don’t undersell your paintings.” So, I tried not to do that.
When I went back to V-Con on Sunday to pick them up I had a few people approach me about how much they liked my art. One guy, the auctioneer, said that they were very good but overpriced. I sold about $110 worth of art, and I believe it was from 11 of those $10 drawings. This could mean one of two things: V-Con is not the best place to sell art; or I really did overprice them.
Anyway I’m taking some pieces to Strategies Games on Main and 23rd to have hang in their gaming area in the back. I think I will leave prices off and just leave some cards or something with my contact information.
ps – World Fantasy Con is happening in Calgary next year around this time. This year it was in New York, so obviously Calgary is a little more realistic for me to approach. I think that I will go. Anyone want to come with? NERD ROAD TRIP!!! I may rent a car so I don’t have to worry about packing my paintings into a plane.
I just had a rather bodacious idea. Wouldn’t it be neat to create a play, the setting of which would be an operating theater, and the venue of which would be…an operating theater! There must be one in town somewhere. Maybe at Riverview or one of the older hospitals? I think that would be really cool.
