Merry Christmas from Arizona!

Closed for Christmas?

Tomorrow morning I board a place for Mesa, Arizona, so I'm not sure how often I'll be updating the blog while I'm away. And if anyone wants to try any funny business at my house you'll have rabid Guard Bear to deal with.

We've actually exchanged all of our Christmas presents already since we didn't want to haul our stuff to Arizona and back, so I'm listening to my "Across the Universe" soundtrack that Sarah got me as I type this (how I wish I could get it on my iPod for the plane ride, but I'd have to drive back to my iMac in Riverton to do it). If you haven't seen the movie it's pretty good, and the highlight for me is that almost the entire movie is done in Beatles songs, redone and sung by the cast; I'm a big Beatles fan, and some of the updated versions of their songs are awesome. I recommend checking it out!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Is it a Good Idea to Microwave Pipecleaners?

I just discovered the "Is it a Good Idea to Microwave This?" series on Youtube while waiting for Sarah's car to be fixed...I definitely want to check out more of these videos. If you ever wondered what would happen if you microwaved pipecleaners, check this out. I am so tempted to try this myself because it was so awesome! (disclaimer: I won't do this Sarah)

Highlights From the Hilton

I made reservations today for a one-night stay at the Hilton while we're in Phoenix, thanks to the complimentary night's stay my brother-and-sister-in-law are unable to use (thanks guys!), and here are the highlights of the conversation.

Hilton: "Will a king size bed be alright?"

Me: "Yes please!"


Hilton: "Your last name, sir?"

Me: "Boaz. B-O-A-Zed."

Hilton: "B-O-A...

Me: "Sorry, Zee."


Hilton: "And Manitoba is the...province?"

Me: "You betcha."

Actually, I was impressed she knew that Canada had provinces instead of states at all.

This time next week I could be teeing off at a golf course...can't wait!

The Power of the Coach

I was talking about coaching with the Rec Director in the Lakeshore area a little while ago, and he had a funny story for me with serious implications.

Dave is a lacrosse coach, and for those who aren't familiar with the sport, it's a rough game. While coaching an Under 12 or Under 14 team (I forget the exact age group), Dave made a comment to his players, "There's no crying in lacrosse." He said it jokingly and didn't mean it; really I could see myself saying something similar.

During the course of a practice, one of his players got hit there by the ball. The player crumpled to the ground and curled up into a ball, which is a totally natural reaction. As Dave made his way over to check on the injured player, he heard one of his teammates say "Remember, there's no crying in lacrosse!" and the player on the ground repeating "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry." When Dave heard this, his response was "No, go ahead and cry!". All of the players were worried the injured player would be punished for crying, so they were trying to help him through it.

It's a funny story, but it really goes to show just how much influence a coach has with their players. This also applies to everyone in positions of leadership; teachers, youth leaders, even older brothers or sisters.

After hearing this story, I really try to watch what I say to the kids I coach. It actually makes me feel bad about an experience I had coaching Midget soccer when I was younger. One of my players was determined to score a goal in a game against Gimli, and somehow we got onto the running gag that if he didn't score he'd be cut (we didn't have cuts at all, by the way). He had a bunch of chances that almost went in but didn't, and occasionally when he missed I'd yell "Justin! You're cut!" It was meant totally in jest, everyone knew that, but I still feel kind of bad about it. Today Justin is actually a member of the U of M track & field team, and a competitive one at that, so I don't think I scarred him thank goodness.

Everyone is a role model to somebody, so I think we need to remember that we need to set a positive example in everything we do and think before we speak, Facebook, or text.

Answers to True or False

I'm assuming Sarah would get all of these right, so I won't wait for her to answer the questions. I will post the false statement and a little blurb about each category.

#1 - I am not a certified basketball official. I have actually refereed basketball once, and I hated every minute of it. The girls team at the school was stuck and begged me to referee; I know enough of the rules of basketball to play a pick-up game, and can follow a game on television, but in no way am I qualified to referee a game. I still remember the other coach screaming at me for a timeout (I thought it had to be called at a stoppage in play).

#2 - I curl on a mixed curling team. No big secret that I curl in a ladies league and a men's league; I curled in a mixed bonspiel last year, but not in a league. With Sarah curling this year we might have to put together a family team of myself, Sarah, her dad, and, well, somebody (my brother curls, or used to, but he lives in Alberta now).

#3 - I have hosted a "The Matrix" marathon - Back when I lived in Winnipeg I hosted a Lord of the Rings (Extended edition) marathon. It took about 11 hours to do, including a break, and was a ton of fun. I had friends living in the same apartment building as me so we hauled their couch up to my apartment for more seating and we had about 10-12 people watching the movie. Everyone brought food, and good food too. And this past fall Sarah and I did a Harry Potter marathon with her brother and his wife; the food was good, we had way more seating room, but just the four of us. :)

#4 - I was once t-boned on a gravel road. I wrote off a car when I was rear ended on #8 highway, and in Winnipeg an on-coming car had encroached too far into my lane while waiting to turn across the intersection and I ran into him. I wasn't at fault in either accident, the other guy caused it both times.

#5 - I had a short story published in an anthology collection. I actually used to be a student reporter for the Interlake Spectator when I was in high school. I didn't get paid, but I got experience in journalism. One time the paper called and asked me to cover an event in town because the regular guy was busy, and they were going to pay me! I called in to work to see if I was scheduled and the guy I talked to said I was. Turned out there was a Jason scheduled to work, not me, so I could have done the story! And I used to maintain my own website with stories I wrote; I'd like to get back into writing (I have some ideas kicking around in my head for either a series of short stories or maybe a short novel) but I'd have to find the time. Good luck with that!

True or False?

We did this as an icebreaker game at Care Group the other night, so I thought for fun I'd do it here. I'm going to post a few series of 3 sentences; 2 sentences will be the truth, 1 will be a lie. See if you can identify the false statement and in a day or two I'll post the answers.

1. I am a certified volleyball official.
2. I am a certified soccer official.
3. I am a certified basketball official.

Which is the false statement?

1. I curl on a ladies' curling team.
2. I curl on a mixed curling team.
3. I curl on a men's curling team.

Which is the false statement?

1. I have hosted a "The Matrix" marathon.
2. I have hosted a "Lord of the Rings" marathon.
3. I have hosted a "Harry Potter" marathon.

Which is the false statement?

1. I was once rear-ended on the highway.
2. I was once t-boned on a gravel road.
3. I once hit someone head-on at a traffic-light controlled intersection.

Which is the false statement?

1. I had a short story published in an anthology collection.
2. I used to be a reporter for the Interlake Spectator.
3. I used to have my own website archiving stories I've written.

Which is the false statement?

I'll leave it at that. I could have gone for much more obscure questions, but I think there are people out there who should be able to get all 5.

The Internet Doesn't Make You Anonymous

The Internet is a great communications tool. It lets you maintain easy contact with friends and family across the world. It also provides a forum for free speech on a global level; from the comfort of your living room you can broadcast your opinion for strangers everywhere to see.

I think a lot of people forget that their neighbors can read what they post too.

While the Internet can allow for anonymous posting (leading to many people expressing opinions in a crass manner they would never do in person), I think that a lot of people don't realize that what they say on the Internet can affect their regular, in-person interactions as well. Why?

Facebook and MySpace.

Before the MySpace/Facebook phenomenon took off, people guarded their identities on the Internet more. If you wanted to post your thoughts, you did so under the guise of a clever screen name. But with social networking sites becoming increasingly popular, people are now posting under their real names with pictures of themselves; there is no denying who the individual is.

However, a lot of people seem to think that same anonymity extends to Facebook even though their real name is visible, and quite frankly, it doesn't. It's no secret that a lot of people might talk differently when their parents aren't or are around. Yet I see people using language on Facebook that they wouldn't use in their parents presence, but their Mom is in their Friends list!

I admit there are times I think of posting something involving people I know that might be sensitive and just change the names to protect their identity (as the topic might be something I'd want to explore without the personal bias), but living in a small community it becomes pretty easy to figure out who is being referred to. Therefore I choose not to post about things; I wouldn't discuss the person's private life like that in person, I'm not going to do so on the Internet either.

The ability to express ourselves in an online forum is a form of power, the power of widespread expression. And as dear old Uncle Ben would say, with great power comes great responsibility. Or, if you wouldn't say it in person, don't broadcast it over the Internet.

Iron Man 2

Just saw the first poster for Iron Man 2; I didn't think a movie poster this simple could get me so pumped, but this one did. For the first Iron Man film Mark and I had an "Iron Man Day", we very well might have to do so again for the sequel!

For those not in the know, the second armored figure in this poster is War Machine, Iron Man's best friend James Rhodes (or "Rhodey", as he is most often called). There was a very brief nod to War Machine in the first film (where Rhodey looked at a suit of prototype armor and said "Next time baby", to the groans of the film audience who were excited to see him in a suit of armour), and it is great to see him in all his gunmetal grey glory here.

Ramona

Last week a friend of mine passed away. She is familiar to many people in my area, and has touched the lives of countless others in places I'm sure I don't even know about. We weren't best friends or particularly close, but I just felt that I needed to talk a little bit about what a spectacular person she was.

Ramona was diagnosed with cancer about 3 years ago. She had only been married for about a year (I forget if it was just before or just after her first wedding anniversary) to a truly amazing guy, Earl Reimer. I'm not sure exactly how old Ramona was when she passed away, but I know she was younger than me, and as such way too young to leave this mortal coil behind.

Ramona was serving as an Assistant Director at Beaver Creek Bible Camp when she got diagnosed with cancer. I was also at BCBC that summer as staff, and it is from this time that my most vivid memory of Ramona is from. Earl and Ramona had gone to Winnipeg for a doctor's appointment, and returned in the evening before we began our evening music/worship time. Ramona was our piano player (and what a gifted musician she was!), so we were glad she was back in time for our music event.

To see Ramona that night, you had no idea she had just gotten diagnosed with cancer. She took her place at the piano, smiled, and performed like everything was fine. I had no idea until later that she had gotten the cancer diagnosis that day.

This situation, to me, sums up Ramona to a tee. Her love for God was absolute, and she had a heart for sharing Him with everyone. Even faced with such terrible news, she put others, and God, ahead of herself when most people probably wouldn't have. This attitude remained constant throughout Ramona's entire battle with cancer; through her blog and travels for various therapies and retreats, Ramona brought an amazing message of faith and love wherever she went.

A year after the diagnosis of cancer, Ramona and Earl returned to BCBC as Assistant Directors once again. While I was not at camp very long that summer, I heard many a tale of how moved the campers were by Ramona's story, and how inspired they were by her example. Many a life was changed that summer just by Ramona's presence at BCBC.

I also need to add a small note here about her husband, Earl. Through all of the adversity Ramona has faced, Earl has been there, being supportive, fighting alongside her; there was no doubt at all that he loves her completely. A lesser man may have thought of leaving when the going got tough, but Earl remained strong and steadfast the entire time. I can only hope that I prove to be as good a husband to my wife as Earl was to Ramona.

While her time on Earth may have been brief, Ramona's light shined brighter and farther than most, and she is a truly great example of how God is able to touch others through great adversity and tragedy. She did her Father's work, and I believe that makes her happy.

You will be missed Ramona. If anyone that knew Ramona wants to attend her funeral, it is Wednesday morning at 11:00 AM at the Morweena Church, and there is also a service being held in Winnipeg, 7:00 at Calvary Temple.

The Magic Hockey Helmet

This kid absolutely nails what is wrong with so many kid's sports out there; while the focus is hockey, this definitely applies to all kid's sports. I absolutely love this video and wish the people that really need to see it would watch it.

Q & A

Let's try something a little different today. I like to consider myself pretty well-versed in the world of comic books, and in the past 10 years or so superheroes have really boomed into the mainstream with movies, television shows, and merchandise.

A lot of non-comic book people tend to watch these movies and shows, but may not always get some of the subtleties or inside jokes. Have you always wondered if there was something of significance in a superhero movie but couldn't figure it out? Want some backstory on a specific character or situation? Just curious on the history of the franchise?

Here's your chance to ask away! While I haven't seen every comic book movie that's come out (I haven't seen the Blade movies, for example, and turned off the Elektra movie partway through because it was just that bad), I've seen the majority.

Back when I lived on Hecla island my housemates and I would sometimes watch the original 60's Spider-Man cartoon, and on commercials I would be asked to give a "history lesson" on the villain of the episode. That was a lot of fun, so I'm hoping to recreate that here.

So go ahead, fire away!

New Layout?

Still trying to find a good layout for the blog. Sarah informed me that the old look was "ugly", so maybe this one will be more pleasing to the eye. What do you think?

Dude Looks Like a Lady

This week I was asked a question; would I be willing to skip a team of beginner's this year in curling? Now, considering I am a certified curling instructor and I love to curl, this might not seem too strange. What makes it strange is I was asked if I'd do so in the Women's League.

This year I have been offering curling lessons at work, and I got a really good response; 13 people signed up for the lessons, which are ridiculously cheap at $20 for 4 weeks of instruction. The goal of the lessons is to "grow" more curlers in Riverton, to help increase our curling club membership. Well, there are some beginners who want to curl in the regular league but cannot get on a team (because they're full) and all of the women who want to skip already are. So I was asked if I'd be willing to do it.

I was hesitant at first, mostly because I was worried that some of the women might get upset by a guy curling on Monday's. I also thought it might feel kind of weird to be the only guy on the ice. But, I have been assured that the other skips were consulted and they don't have a problem with it, so we're going to give this a try.

There definitely are some perks to curling in the ladies league. I get to curl twice a week (three times while lessons are going on; if I don't get good this year I never will!), which is good for getting some more exercise and improving my game. More importantly, Sarah is one of the members of the team, so I get to curl with my wife! She also takes the curling lessons I'm offering so while I have always hoped she'd curl with me at some point I never thought we'd be doing so twice a week!

If this situation was made into a movie, and I had to pick the music for the first time I step onto the ice at ladies' league, I can't decide if the most appropriate theme song would be "Dude Looks Like a Lady" or that "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" song. The Bearded Lady is on the ice!

Blog Design

It kind of hit me yesterday that my blog has kind of a John Deere motif going on...should I change it or leave it be? Ooh, this is like Reality Blogging...

Vote for REMS!

The Riverton Early Middle School has entered into the Aviva Community Fund project, which hands out funds for community projects. REMS is really in need of some new playground equipment (pretty much everything there is the same stuff I played on as a kid, minus all the stuff that's been torn down since for safety reasons). Want to help? All you have to do is go to the following link and vote for REMS; you can vote once a day, so please do so!

http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf3479

Steak Calzones

Jobina asked me for my recipe for Steak Calzones, so I thought rather than message her privately I'd share it here. For those unaware, a calzone is like a pizza pop; I decided one day to modify that into a steak filling instead of a pizza filling.

To start with, you need to make pizza dough. Whatever recipe you normally use should be fine; we have a breadmaker and I use that to make the dough.

While my dough is in the breadmaker, I take out a steak and get that cooked off. I like to barbeque the steak with Red Bull bbq sauce and some Mesquite BBQ seasoning, but feel free to season your steak however you like. Try to cook it between rare and medium rare; it's going to go in the oven inside the dough and will cook further then. If you cook it medium or medium-well the steak is going to get tough and become well done once you put it in the calzone. As to how much steak you need, I find that one large blade steak will give me enough meat for 6-7 calzones.

While I'm doing the steak, I also saute up some veggies on low heat. Really you can put whatever you like inside, but I find that mushrooms, onions, and peppers are the way to go. While sauteing the veggies in the pan I like to add some salad dressing in as well for some extra flavour; a greek salad dressing goes well with the steak. Saute until the salad dressing is gone from your pan.

The sauce can be made at any time, and it's flexible what you put in it. For example, the first time I made my sauce I used equal parts bbq sauce, ranch dressing, and mayo. Tonight, I used bbq sauce, mayo, sour cream, and some lime juice. The key is to think of flavours that will compliment the steak and veggies.

The other thing you need to prep is some shredded cheese. I like using mozzarella, but you could use cheddar as well, or a combination of both.

Now, once you have all of these components together, here is how to assemble your calzone.

1. Separate your dough into equal parts roughly the size of your fist.

2. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is thin and round. The dough needs to be thin otherwise the dough ends up overpowering any other flavours in the calzone, so I really recommend the rolling pin.

3. Spread a soup spoon or so of sauce in the middle of the dough.

4. Put a soup spoon worth of veggies, approximately 4-5 bite-size pieces of steak, and as much cheese as you'd like (don't be too skimpy or you won't taste the cheese later) in the middle of the dough.

5. Bring the sides of the dough together in the middle to completely seal everything inside. Twist or pinch together the ends to fully encase everything.

6. Use a knife to trim the extra dough away from the ends (I tried folding them on top the first time I experimented with these and it made for mouthfuls of nothing but dough).

7. Poke some holes with a fork along the tops of the calzones (you may be able to skip this step, I'm not a baker, but I find that I don't end up with bubbles in my dough this way).

8. Put the calzones on a greased baking sheet (I like to put tin foil down on the sheet for ease of clean-up, especially since the sauce will bubble out the sides), and cook for 15-20 minutes in the oven on 400 degrees

9. Enjoy!

If you can multi-task this doesn't take too long to prepare; a lot of things can be done simultaneously to get ready before you assemble the dish. I had the thought as I made these tonight that I should've taken pictures, but alas I didn't; now that I think about it, I think my camera is at work. I really should bring that home. Anyway...

Feel free to substitute ingredients as you see fit; I didn't have a recipe when I came up with these, I just started experimenting. Unlike baking, you can have a lot of fun cooking just by experimenting with different ingredients.

This Day And Age

*Sorry everyone, I'll have to upload the comics a different way so they show up. I'll get that fixed in the next few days*

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Winnipeg for a conference. While there, I decided to visit some friends of mine in the evening. When I got to their apartment, I saw a "little old lady" unloading her groceries from her car. While I could carry them all myself, it looked like they were too much for her.

Naturally, my first instinct was to offer to help her with the groceries. Then I paused. I'm a large, bearded, scary looking guy. Would she be freaked out if I approached her? You hear of so many awful things happening in the city, could I blame her if she didn't want help from a stranger?

In the end I figured I'd rather offer than just be a jerk and walk by, and she gladly accepted. She chatted away while we walked into her apartment building, telling me about the perogy dinner she was preparing for at her church. When we reached the elevator she asked me to set them in the elevator and she'd be fine from there (which was smart of her, this way the stranger doesn't know what apartment she is in). I then went on to my friends apartment in the neighboring building.

What makes me sad is I actually hesitated before offering her help because in this day and age, you always hear about how you can't be too careful, so I was worried that I'd frighten or upset her if I talked to her (I wasn't really worried about my safety, I could of taken her in a scrap if I had to :)). What is our society coming to that we hesitate to offer other people help? Or is it just me who has this issue?

Sunday Comic

Saturday Comic

Superhero Squad

My regular three readers may have noticed that on the week-end I posted up some comic strips featuring cartoon-ized Marvel Comics characters. These comics are part of Marvel's "Superhero Squad", a kid-oriented interpretation of their characters. While the Superhero Squad started as a toy line, it has become a line of comic strips, a video game, on-line flash games, and a cartoon.

I thought I'd share some of the comic strips on the week-ends. I'm trying to pick ones that don't require you to actually have any knowledge of the characters so they can be enjoyed by everyone.

I quite enjoy the Superhero Squad cartoon (I may blog about the show at a later date), as it's a kid-friendly, and more importantly, fun take on the Marvel Universe featuring pretty much every major character they have (except for Spider-Man, for legal reasons).

I hope you enjoy the comics!

H1N1 Shenanigans

I will admit that I'm not the most informed person in the world on the H1N1 virus...there is so much conflicting information and (from what I can tell) media over-hype going on it's hard to know what is accurate and what is sensationalism.

I've seen multiple articles stating that the H1N1 virus is actually less dangerous than the common flu. Yet there are such extraordinary measures being taken to prevent the spread of it, it makes you wonder if it's more dangerous than the common flu.

Regardless, I think some of the "measures" being taken are ridiculous. My primary example is a volleyball tournament I refereed on Saturday. I was told that the players were not to shake hands with other teams during the tournament. All of the players said it was really awkward to wish the other team a good game without shaking hands. I told them they could wave at each other if they wanted.

But what gets me is this is volleyball; even if hands aren't shaken, everybody is still touching the same disease-infested ball (my term, not one from the health muckity-mucks). Everyone is still diving around on the same dirt-covered floor. And all of the players (within their team) were constantly slapping hands with each other on the court anyway! And don't tell anyone, but when the Gimli coach gave me a break partway through the day, he used my whistle. Sshhh!

I think our society is becoming a bunch of germ-o-phobes, honestly. Our bodies need exercise, and so do our immune systems. If they never have anything to fight off, when something serious comes along we'd have no defense.

Now, this all being said, I'm not commenting on the vaccination. Some people want it, fair enough. Others don't, I think that's fair too. Everyone is entitled to their own choice in the matter. While I choose not to get it, I have no problem with the decision others have made to get it. I do think though that people not in the priority group should probably head to the back of the line though.

Sunday Comic

Saturday Comic

ComicCon Costumes, Conclusion

Now, on its own this is a nice Green Lantern costume (I don't believe she was trying to be a specific Green Lantern, and since they all look a little different anyway it doesn't matter; I just picked a fairly basic female GL costume for comparison), but what really makes these two shine is the Guardian of Oa costume on her kid. The Guardians are often called "smurfs" by some of the Green Lantern Corps because of their size; they would come up to your waist or at best armpit heightwise. Thus the addition of her own little Guardian boosted this costume from good to awesome. I understand why she wouldn't facepaint her kid's face blue though.

At first I wondered how this guy was hunching over to get his head where it is before realized this is a kid in the suit. An absolutely ingenious zombie costume!

Here we have Zatanna, from the Justice League, and Jean Grey, also known as Phoenix of the X-Men.

I'm going to try explain the awesomeness of this photo in as brief a manner as possible, but it's going to be tough. The first cool thing about this picture is I think this was all one family. Represented here we have 5 of the 7 "Corps" that are running around in space in the DC comics universe. Traditionally there have been Green Lanterns (who is the only one the layman might have heard of), and lately a bunch of other color Lanterns have popped up (Black Lanterns, Red Lanterns, etc). To have a family come representing all the different Corps was very cool (and how cute is the Green Lantern kid in the stroller?)

I'll be honest, at first I thought these were kind of lame Stormtrooper costumes. Then I realized they were actually Stormtroopers from Lego Star Wars, and instantly they became awesome (especially because 3 of them were trooping around together). The sharp-eyed amongst you may notice that the guy dressed as a cop they're talking with is actually dressed as a member of the GCPD, aka the Gotham City Police Department, from the Dark Knight film.

Here we have Silk Spectre and Nite Owl from the Watchmen, as well as Link from Zelda. The Nite Owl costume isn't that impressive because it is obviously store bought; if the Silk Spectre costume is store bought at least it was a lot better quality. I didn't bother taking pictures of people in store bought costumes since they never look anywhere near as good as the homemade ones.

And just to finish things off, here is the Ecto-1 (from Ghostbusters) and the original Batmobile. Hope you enjoyed!

ComicCon Costumes, Part 2

This is my friend Justin (who works at Galaxy Comics, my comic shop of choice), who always has great Hallowe'en costumes. This year he went to the Con as Max from Where The Wild Things Are. I saw at least one other Max at the Con as well.

Rolling right along with people I actually know, Mike is a regular at Galaxy Comics, and he was dressed for the Con as Dan, from Street Fighter. You can't see it in the picture, but Mike also has the ponytail going on just like the picture of Dan I've provided.

This guy had a great Dr. Octopus costume (from Spider-Man 2). The arms looked really great, and it was pretty easy to find him in the room!

These Deadpool costumes are awesome on multiple levels not necessarily evident to the non-Comics reader. Disregarding the fact the taller Deadpool is actually a girl, her costume looked absolutely amazing. You might think the pink scarf on her head doesn't make sense, but considering the character of Deadpool is...unique, to say the least, it would actually be perfectly in character for Deadpool to wear something like that on his head. The kid Deadpool is equally impressive in that the jacket he's wearing works so well as a costume, and since Deadpool can often look different, he is just as authentic as the other costume. The other thing that makes this pair awesome is that a "Kid Deadpool" will be appearing in the comics soon!

On the left we have Rogue and Gambit from the X-Men, and on the right we have a female interpretation of Vegeta, from Dragonball Z. Really I didn't think the Gambit costume was that great, it was the Rogue costume I noticed first as being a good job. The Vegeta costume looked good too. And yes, for those of you who noticed Silent Bob behind them, I know he's there, but without a Jay (not me, the character) to compliment him he could just pass as another Con attendee.

And finally for this installment we have Nightcrawler, from the X-Men. Loses points for the shoes, but gains point for how much that all of that body paint and the tail. I think he looked better in person as the blue face paint isn't showing very well in the picture.

I'll have one more post of ComicCon costumes and that will wrap up my ComicCon reporting!

ComicCon Impressions

On Monday I wrote about how my time was spent at ComicCon this past week-end. Today I want to elaborate a bit on some of my impressions on how the Con was run and things I heard or observed while there.

At first I liked how the Con was all within the same huge room and how things were laid out in sections, I realized partway through the first day that it is not necessarily the best set-up. This was apparent while Marv Wolfman was trying to conduct a Q & A session about writing comics. I was one of a handful of people taking the workshop, and we could barely hear anything Marv had to say, and vice versa. We were put in an area directly next to the Main Stage area, where Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) was holding a Q & A session. While I don't begrudge Chewie getting his panel time, the problem was he had a microphone and Marv didn't. Add in the noise from the Arena area (a Norse fighting demo was going on at the time) and I could tell that Marv was very frustrated that we couldn't hear him.

I don't know that it's own room is necessary (though it would be preferable), but when holding a smaller workshop like that I think it would be better to put it in another area of the room. Marv commented that we could probably hear him better if we were at his table in Artists' Alley; I think he was right.

On the topic of Marv Wolfman, I just want to say what a joy it was to listen to him talking about how important it is to put the characters before the plot. He made it very clear that rather than picking a plot and trying to shoe-horn characters into it, pick the characters first and see what plot develops. He is a man who is all about the story before the commercialism, and it really showed in his descriptions of how to write.

I mentioned in my Monday post that I did not attend the Adam West panel. I had planned on it at the beginning of the week-end, but had no desire to by Sunday afternoon. I think the reason was I didn't like how the comic professionals were not getting the attention they deserved. There was a special "Autograph Alley" for special guests at the Con; the top notch comic guys like Marv Wolfman weren't in that area! Some broken-down old WWF wrestlers, the man inside the Chewbacca suit, a guy from the A-Team...these guys outrank the comic talent at a comic convention? There were constant reminders over the PA to go and get the "celebrity" autographs, but no reminders to go see Marv Wolfman, Bob Layton, or Gordon Purcell?

The World of Comics panel had at best 30 people in the audience, and when it started the creators were worried they were going to outnumber the audience. I guess that means that a lot of the people at the Con aren't there for the comics aspect (which would explain why there were more women at the Con then I expected), which I found disappointing.

Audience numbers aside, I really enjoyed listening to the World of Comics panel discussion. I was a little disappointed that when I asked a question I really wanted Marv Wolfman to answer only Gordon Purcell did, but that's okay, he gave a good answer. I really liked Marv's answer to a question about the future of big "event" comics; his answer was big events are good when you have a great story to tell, they aren't so good when they are created strictly to be an "event" to sell comics. Bob Layton came back on that topic with the business end of it, saying the bean-counters don't care if a comic is an event or not, they're just worried about how many units are sold. It was interesting to see the two kind of disagree on the subject.

Something that I really enjoyed about the Con was how friendly and helpful most people were to each other. I spent a few hours digging through boxes at a booth for back issues (they weren't organized AT ALL, but that's why they were so cheap), and the whole time everyone would help each other out while digging. For example, I overheard a kid and his dad talking about looking for Fantastic Four comics. I think three different people, myself included, started tossing Fantastic Four books to them as we dug through whenever we found them. If someone had just been through a box, they might ask what you're looking for and tell you if they saw any of it or not to save you time. There is a community feel at the Con because of the shared love of the hobby that is really nice.

On the whole I enjoyed my experience, and I would like to go back again. Who the special guests are would help determine if I'd go for the whole week-end again or just for a day. And by special guests I mean the comic pros that are present; the celebrities really didn't interest me this year (I was also turned off of Adam West I think because of his $40 charge for his autograph). If you're looking for something fun to take the family too, I'd say check out the Con; there was trick-or-treating throughout the Con on Saturday as a safe alternative to doing so on the street, which was a nice touch.

ComicCon Costumes, Part 1

One fun thing about ComicCon's is the costumes. A lot of work goes into many of the costumes (some not so much!), so it's great for the creators to have a place to show off their work. They are also amongst the most popular people at the Con, as they constantly get requests for pictures. When asked to pose for a picture, these people never complain, as it is a huge compliment. A lot of people even drop into a pose without being asked, which makes their costume look even better.

Here is a selection of costumes from the ComicCon that I photographed. I didn't get pictures of many of the costumes there (and I regret missing out on some now), but here is a nice sampling. I'll provide information for you on who they are dressed up as and any neat notes about the costume. And just for fun, if I can find an image of who they are dressed up as, I'll post it for comparison. I'll do a few of these throughout the week to showcase the fabulous work these people put into their costumes.

To be honest, I originally thought this girl was Princess Toadstool from Mario Bros. However, I realized when I uploaded the picture that she is in fact Kaylee from the television show Firefly, a show that I cannot recommend highly enough. Firefly only lasted one season but developed a cult following when the show hit DVD; you can pick up the whole series for less than $30, I suggest you do so!

Also from Firely, Captain Mal Reynolds. I tried to find a picture that showed that this guy nailed how Mal wears his gunbelt, but couldn't find one that showed off the coat well enough. Oh well, this guy's costume still rocked.

Here we have Master Chief, from the video game series "Halo". This guy did an amazing job; if he wasn't moving you'd swear he was a statue, not a guy in a suit.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out who this guy is supposed to me, and it's bugging me. I'm sure I'll kick myself when I find out. It's hard to see in the pictures, but his eyes were actually lit up blue as well.

Here is my friend Glenn as the Punisher. A Punisher costume can be really easy (black pants, skull t-shirt, black coat) but Glenn went the extra mile by adding various pouches to the costume that make a big difference. I forgot to ask if he brought the toy guns he'd altered the last time he dressed up as the Punisher.

Ghost Rider is another character that can be easy to do; put on a leather jacket, black pants, and a skull mask and you're done. This guy outdid himself by actually riding around the Con on his chopper-style bike with the flames coming out of his head. Those who have seen the Ghost Rider movie will recognize the classic "You..." pose from the movie.

Hope you enjoyed the costumes, I'll put more up later this week!

ComicCon Report

This week-end I attended my first ever comic convention, the Central Canada ComicCon. I had a good time, and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and highlights of the convention.

The Con had a lot of different retailers set up; there were four booths with a very large assortment of comics available, some smaller booths with more older (aka. more valuable) books but less variety, and then booths ranging from board gaming to toy collectibles to clothing, etc. I was kind of surprised to see the Warren golf course had a booth, but I grabbed some coupons for a discount on green fees there, so I may have to try that course some time. Part of the room was dedicated to video games (mostly Rock Band and Street Fighter, though I did get to see the brand-new DJ Hero) and video showings (but really, who goes to a convention to watch tv?). A good chunk of the room was set up for comic book professionals (who were available for autographs and were selling prints, sketches, etc) as well as the special guests (who all charged $20-$40 for an autograph!). There was also the Main Stage area where Q&A's were held throughout the week-end, and an exhibition arena for live demonstrations.

I spent some time walking around, checking out everything that was available. There were some cool collectible toys that I remember from when I was a kid, but I don't recall them being as expensive back then. I ended up getting a good-sized stack of comics on the first day, and got a VIP pass for Sunday that allowed me to buy $1.00 comics at $.50 at a specific booth.

I went with my friend Caleb, and he wanted to see the Julie Newmar Q&A, so I went with him for that. For those not in the know, Julie Newmar was the first Catwoman on the old Batman television show (starring Adam West, also at the Con). She was a...quirky old lady. She wanted to be different so she sat on the panel table instead of in a chair, and then proceeded to talk about her stockings (and while adjusting them so the pattern was on the right part of her legs she was coming way too close to flashing the whole audience, as she was wearing a skirt). If you're a Julie Newmar fan then I guess the Q & A was good, but since I've only seen her on the Batman show I didn't have a ton of interest.

After returning from a battery-run for my camera (in which a man in a leather jacket approached us on the street and said "I don't need gas money, my sister isn't sick, and I'm not dying, I just want $1.80 for a King Can of beer") I snapped this picture, mostly to prove that such a thing actually exists. This is the Illuminari Dance Group. As best I can tell, they are Klingon belly dancers. I swear I'm not making that up.

One of the highlights of the first day was meeting Marv Wolfman. Marv is the comic writer who created the New Teen Titans, Blade the Vampire Hunter, and has been a top notch comic professional for 40 years. He also does work in film, television, and is the writer for the DC Universe On-line computer game coming out in a year or so. Marv signed some of my Teen Titan comics for me, and also signed the original script for Nightwing 131 I bought from him. I then realized later I should get him to sign a copy of the actual Nightwing 131 comic, so I hit a booth to find it and went back to get Marv's signature.

The other comic professional I made a point of seeing was Bob Layton. Bob is known for his work on Iron Man primarily, but I've always loved his work on Hercules. As such I got him to autograph one of the Hercules mini-series' he did in the 1980's. I also brought along an Iron Man comic he did to get autographed for my friend Mark, who is a huge Iron Man and Bob Layton fan.

Later in the day I participated in a Comics Writing workshop that Marv ran, but he was rather unimpressed with the lay-out. Rather than have it in a separate room, we were in a small area right next to the Main Stage, where Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) was having a Q & A. The problem was, Mr. Mayhew had a microphone, and Marv didn't. There was also a Norse fighting group demo going on at the arena, so the handful of us in the workshop (shame more people didn't sit in) crowded around Marv's table and we shouted back and forth trying to be heard. At one point Bob Layton (one of the other big name comics pros at the Con) came over and said "Are you having a panel?". He was shocked to see us doing the session in the middle of the room next to another panel session. Basically Marv and Bob agreed that the set-up for the panels was completely gong show (my word, not theirs), which isn't good. If the Winnipeg Con wants to draw top-notch talent to come, having the guys who come saying we're bush league (again, my term, not theirs) isn't going to help.

Anyway, it was great to hear Marv talking about the importance of writing your characters, not forcing them into a plot that won't work for them. He obviously takes a lot of care in his work and it really came across in the Q & A.

The other highlight of the first day was the costume contest. I didn't see the whole thing, and unfortunately was too far back to be able to take pictures, but there were some really impressive costumes. Of note was a guy who came out dressed as Indiana Jones. What was cool about this guy was he whipped out a bullwhip and started doing whip tricks, getting wickedly loud snaps out of it. He got one of the largest rounds of applause. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of him when he was whipping (and I didn't see him again to get a picture of his costume).

On Sunday I spent most of my time going through back issues bins, and got another stack for a great price ($.50 a book!). I skipped the Q & A with Adam West; I'll detail a little more in my next post about the Con why. I got to chat with one of my old card buddies from Winnipeg, which was nice. The highlight of Sunday though was the World of Comics Q & A session. Bob Layton, Marv Wolfman, Gordon Purcell, and Lovern Kindzierski were all a part of the panel, and it was great hearing about how things work in comics, or why they did things a certain way. I'll detail some of what they discussed in another post.

Quick info for the non-comic people here (basically everyone reading but me and Mark I'd imagine), Bob Layton is best known for his time as artist on Iron Man back in the 80's, but he still does a little comic work here and there today while focusing more on television and film. Gordon Purcell is one of the big names in regards to Star Trek comics (of which I don't read, but he used to do work for Marvel and DC I'm familiar with). I already introduced Marv's resume. Lovern Kindzierski I'd never heard of, but he was the co-founder of Digital Chameleon, a professional colouring company that used to do work for Marvel and DC before folding a few years ago; fun fact I didn't know about Digital Chameleon tough, it was a Manitoba company!

Left to right: Bob Layton, Gordon Purcell, Marv Wolfman, Lovern Kindzierski

This post is getting to be pretty long, so I'll leave this as a summary of what I did at the Con, and I'll go into a little more detail on my impressions and reactions to things I saw and did in another post (and add anything I forgot in this one!). I'll also post up pictures of some of the costumes beings worn around the Con; some are really impressive! I'll leave you this picture as a costume teaser.