4-19-07: Weekend fast approaching...

This week has been a bear. I had to work on Sunday even though it was technically my day off. Then, I promised myself and my wife I'd start those Alcohol classes. I did that, too, and though I feel like its obvious that sometimes that will feel like a total bust, the first class went over well, and I know that I'm going to be the one people either like or hate, since I'll probably be the most vocal person in the room...

Wednesday, I had inventory at my store. I told everyone there that we'd be done by midnight, and guess what? All the counting in my store was DONE by midnight, and we were out of there by 12:30...not bad when you don't get started until 10:00pm and there's over 7600 pieces counted... since the last store we did had 6600 pieces and took until 1:30. We were properly organized and only needed to find sku numbers for 5 items all night...damn I'm good. Now, hopefully, we weren't missing A LOT, because this way I can get my team rolling the way we need to for the summer.

Tomorrow, my district Loss Prevention managers are going to be in the area, which means Derek and Kyle have got to be on their p's and q's...

Friday, well, Friday is a fun one, since originally I thought my Regional Manager, Cindy, was going to be there...now I know she isn't going to be there, but three DMs will be, including my personal DM, Kevin, but I'm not really worried about that visit, since they want to be conducting manager interviews.

Saturday should be fun. I work the morning shift, and then the big thing I'm kinda excited about is going to THEE DOLLHOUSE, a gentlemen's club, to see Jenna Haze. I didn't go to the Tera Patrick one the last time one of these went on, but Jenna...wow...going to see her do her thing is like going to the Superbowl...you just don't expect to be in the right place at the right time to be able to see that more than a couple times in your lifetime. Christy is okay with going, but I told her she didn't have to go if she didn't want to. Truthfully, I hope someone drives, because I'd like to consume a little bit more than the atmosphere that night.

Finally, the weekend cramps right back up because after working and then going out to see Haze, we get to launch the new Pokemon game for all the kids in the world that can't EVER seem to get enough of those damn little critters in their damn little balls. I'm being forced to work this day by the company, and won't have a day off until a couple shifts after that, which is horseshit in and of itself, but you do what you gotta.

So this weekend will have some bright spots if it pans out, but you take it however you can, and at least I can figure on Fubar going to the stripclub with me.

4-17-07: Comments on blogs and such.

My wife and I both write blogs. On hers, if she doesn't receive a reply from it, she feels disconnected from the world, however, when she gets folks responses, not only does she know that people are reading her blog (which you can see from the hits counter), but it gives her a sense of accomplishment...or something.

With me, I write because I want a running journal of day to day experiences, but a real writer doesn't write to see what other people have to say, they write for themselves. And I'm NOT knocking on my wife, as I know that she writes her blog for her...she just writes it for her, and hopes that everyone in this world gets an understanding of how she feels...and lets her know about it.

After posting the simple 1000 hits on myspace blog that I did yesterday, 27 people hit the page. That sent me over the 1000 hits spot and today's will probably bring in that many more hits, yet the only person who generally responds is my wife. Am I not leaving the posts with questions requesting answers, or are people just satisfied with reading and knowing that I'm okay?

Heh, to me it doesn't matter, unless I specifically ask for responses, which I haven't really done since LANDIS was still in regular updates, and I guess I may start to do it a little more frequently to see about getting some responses and seeing how people feel about the things I've written.

I really find it interesting here on blogspot, as well, because the people that respond here seem more interesting that the people on myspace. Not trying to knock all you hobos that are hooked to myspace like a crackwhore looking for a rock, but generally speaking, the people that have posted responses here have been real people...a mother of 4, readers of my comic that I'd love to bring it back for, a young woman who used to be in the second oldest profession...They come here to write, and when they see that someone has written something they can relate to, that's when they post a response.

Sure, my wife is a bartender, and most of our friends spend about 30% of their week in one, so they relate a lot more frequently than I guess people reading about my comic, but alas.

I guess this post is just going to end up being a big rant...tonight I actually start my alcohol intervention classes. They have asked that I remain sober for the six weeks of the program, and I'll comply for the most part. I think that anyone a year after their "incident" has already either made the attempts to correct their behaviors, as I have, or have decided to go back down the wrong path, with drinking and driving an inevitability, as I have not.

They give you workbooks and homework for these classes and make you relive what I would assume to most people was the worst experience of their lives (as is the case with me), where you feel like reliving it is just going to dredge up bad feelings and be against any true help.

I guess since I know I made a mistake, and I told myself I'll NOT drink and drive again, that I have fixed the glitch. Since I don't sugar coat, and all I do is tell what I consider to be the truth, I hold myself to a very high standard.

Do I really feel these six classes should be necessary for me to get on with my life? No...but I thought about it a little more today, and if that accident hadn't occurred, my wife may never have realized how important the US was to her...thus, a blessing in disguise? Yeah... for the car insurance people...fucking rates.

Ultimately, with myself, I don't think its necessary for these classes to make me realize my mistakes...just having to go to court, spend over $4000 and all of that stuff was enough to make me go, "Rob, don't be so fucking stupid...you could have killed yourself, your friend and left this world and people that care about you...or worse, you could have hurt or killed someone else and spent the rest of your life in jail..."

To that, I'm lucky, and thankful...I just wish I didn't have to go somewhere that they will want to hear the why's all over again...we're passed that...can't we just stay past it? (IF you couldn't tell, I wasn't sure which spelling of passed/past I should have used, so I used both...)

4-16-07: 1000 hits on the myspace blog!

So literally 3 posts after I hit my 400th blog post, the MySpace blog that I began writing this to is now about to hit 1000 hits. This is a sign of accomplishment, as both my wife and myself take pride in our writing, almost as much so as in our art (in her case...in mine, I take more pride in my written word, hehe).

In an update of sorts on The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures, both JK and I have fallen behind in our duties, as was BOUND to happen since we're both slackers, however, I've found the perfect thing to take the place of some of it until we can catch back up.

Today, JK re-sent me the rough sketches for the first 19 pages of the story, and since my life is all about comics, dvds and videogames, I've gone ahead and placed behind the scenes materials in the place of the comic for the next two weeks. Not only have I gone ahead and placed these rough pages up there, but I've written in some commentary and thoughts that have been ongoing since we started this ordeal and the contract that we abide to.

I've also decided that if he haven't caught up with a decent amount of material before that's over, that I'll actually start placing some sketches from both myself and JK on the site to show people more behind the scenes stuff and what goes on between our moments of genius.

I'll probably write more tonight on this thing, but 24 just came on, so I'm gonna bolt...yes, like with the SHIELD, I'm addicted.

4-13-07: LANDIS: The Movie (that hasn't happened)

Did you all know that I wrote a movie one time? Alright, not a FULL blown movie, and it was never made, but I wrote a movie treatment.

I'll probably get asked to take this down from Chris Crosby, my publisher, since it's still in early stages, and sometimes, apparently it can take years to get anywhere, but here's the deal.

I honestly don't feel as though LANDIS ever reached "the height of its popularity," but at the same time, it was getting what seems to be a million hits a month. Not necessarily all by new people, but sometimes by people re-going to the site...but alas.

It was about January of 2005, and Landis was nearing its end in about four months, and I was discussing writing a sequel with Crosby, but wanted to know when I should begin writing it, see if we could get Owen (Gieni, the original artist) to draw it, and keep the whole team together, and Chris said he had a better idea.

Keenspot had just helped a comic strip called YOU DAMN KID get optioned by FOX, so they figured now was the time to jump into other projects, get something written and try to go from there. Well, Crosby realized that LANDIS was a great project from the get go, (to which I'm extremely grateful, and he I hope knows that) and wanted to see if I could write a little something that was similar to the "first season" of Landis (the first 5 issues of the comic that were seen online) and see if we could make it into a treatment. He told me that a two hour "movie" is typically broken down into chapters, much like a comic book, and to go from there. If anybody optioned it as a TV show, you'd want that two hour block to be broken down to where every chapter has a cliffhanger, but otherwise, you just want to make sure that the story flows, you leave room for a sequel and you try to characterize what will happen, and set the pacing.

You obviously don't want to pace a story where a lot happens at the beginning and next to nothing happens at the end, or vice versa (achem, DEATH PROOF), but you try to balance it.

Trying to keep a small budget-minded story at the forefront (most movies from studios like LionsGate don't go over $4 million), I entered into writing thinking okay, you can do Vampire, you can do Everlasting (the term for the immortals in LANDIS), but you can't do super crazy CGI.

I wrote a treatment of LANDIS that was very in tune with the original miniseries, but also different enough to where it could truly be used as a second miniseries if I wanted to write it out for itself, and give the fans what they'd want and have asked for.

There was the chemical dump, there was a silhouetted Ardy (so we could try to keep CGI out of it with a low budget), and Landis and Tagger were actually helped by another Everlasting that was total Bad-ass, yet always got taken advantage of.

I won't ruin the story, but I sent it to Crosby. Unlike a lot of writers, I typically try to get it right the first time. You can ask him, rarely, if ever, does my work require a re-write, and if it does, its only because it goes away from the original image, which is not where I intended to go. I've had this with two stories (THIEF and ATOMIC TEEN) but otherwise, my written word is RARELY something different.

Crosby originally repsonded with a simple, "We need to talk about the Treatment..." and left it at that. I was upset, because I didn't know what was bad, but hell, I'd never written an eight chapter (in two paragraphs or less each) treatment, so any and all feedback, I'd take and try to do the re-write thing and make it better.

When I finally got in touch with Crosby he told me the long and short of it was, "It was good. I actually liked it" and then went on to say something like it was a good treatment and (thought not quoting him) he made it sound like he enjoyed it enough to want to push it forward.

Keenspot has an agency / agent that they use to push material. They thought it would be good for SCI-FI channel, and to my knowledge have sent it that far. Personally, I think Lion's Gate would be more interested in it, but I'm okay with shopping it to SCI-FI, which is owned by NBC.
I personally am not sure if the project was shopped past Crosby handing it to his agent, and that may be my fault. I'm very protective of my work, and don't like it being played with unless I know its work for hire. With LANDIS being creator-owned, I take Chris at his word, he's always been as honest with me as he can, but with him not having an interest in the project higher than possibly "Editor In Chief," he has less interest in seeing this get greenlighted than his own Superosity or any of the other projects him, Owen, his brother Bobby or anything he owns a part of getting that all important jump.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm dogging him. I'm not. Quite the opposite. He's given me oppurtunity not many others have...and its either he sees talent there, or he sees cheap and decent, and either way, I'm okay with it.

I always look to the stars, but honestly, he's helped me exceed a lot of the goals I had at once created for myself...Getting a comic printed...check...getting a color comic printed...check. getting my character Ardy and Landis seen by over 20,000 people, check....these are things that not many small press guys can say, and to this, I'm very thankful for Chris' ambition...

I still whine to him that I want LANDIS to see print, because it may help TV execs into making a faster decision on to give LANDIS a greenlight...not to mention THAT particular labor of love NEEDS to be in book format.

While I'm giving kudos, make sure to check out superosity.com for craziness from Crosby, and check out sorethumbsonline.com to see the same type of hilarity from Crosby and Owen.

4-10-07: This blog may contain one or more missing reels...our apologies - Management.

BEFORE I BEGIN, THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

I was just thinking of the movie GRINDHOUSE, or should I say movies? This film is a stroke of genius, and yet I've heard rumors that it is doing poorly with reviews and at the box office. Sure, not too many people want to use up 3.5 hours on what I considered, "The best movie I ever saw again, for the first time." Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror," had to have been the most clever zombie flick I'd seen in almost forever, and Tarantino's "DeathProof" was a stroke of madness on wheels. If I could change anything here, I would have put the zombie film last, because it was obvious that Rodriguez paced and played his movie in such a better way than Tarantino. Quentin was very slow-paced until the last ten minutes when it was pure rage running wild, while Rodriguez had his movie going non-stop balls to the wall (or the ground) from about the three minute point throughout.

It got me thinking, though...how many NEWBIE directors are going to take advantage of all the exploited flaws of this movie? Is a Grindhouse feature something that we'll see so much of now that it'll get over-exposed like a 9th-grader's photography assignment? Or will this be a joy to happen once every few years from Dimension just because something is so good that they double-feature it, cut a few reels out and then dub in some extra bs just to finish the deal?

Not only that, but what OTHER genres/fields will incorporate the now infamous "cut ten minutes of the film because it allows you to skip the nude scene, then miss the entire plot element where one of the "heroes" gets shot by his own man and jump right to the final act? I mean, I guess comics did it when they released like the 25th issues of certain comics about a year before they were due, and then somehow had to get the story in that issue to make sense...what'd they call that, "Future Image?" Anyway...

I don't think it'd work if anyone else had done it. In fact, portions of Tarantino's cut felt forced, too rush, and just annoying...Rodriguez on the other hand seemed to get it right, pace it perfectly, and just find that right amount of genius and madness to make a truly good movie, whether by itself or as part of the double feature...the sad thing was that it wasn't the finale, and yes folks...people in the theatre DID leave before Tarantino's portion even went on the screen.

The "fake" previews were superb, and everyone I know WANTS TO SEE MACHETE...and why wouldn't you? Anytime you take all the working elements of Desperado, El Mariacho and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and couple them with Cheech playing a priest and Danny playing the role of a gardner asked to kill a man...how can it not be like the greatest thing since sliced bread?

Oh, and did ANYONE else want to see HALLOWEEN directed by Rob Zombie after seeing this film as much as I did? If he incorporated the "grindhouse" effect to the film, that may be the next and only other time this year that it would be deemed appropriate...if only to add a nostalgia feel to it, since it is a remake of the #2 horror film of all time (behind the Exorcist).

Alright, I've taken up enough of everyone's time...but I'll finish with this...Grindhouse IS a Testosterone movie. You do not take a date to it, and you have to probably see it at midnight just to feel like you didn't waste a night on it...it reminds me of the time I stayed up to watch "Billy the Kid vs. Dracula." You just don't get more assinine than that...and yet, it still holds a dear part of my heart.

This movie WAS an instant classic, but only if you LIKE cheesy, dressed up films that NO ONE else could pull off...and that is where the genius lies.

4-7-07: Three contests won since October

So yeah, today, I receive something in the mail telling me that I've won first prize in Sony's KILLZONE LIBERATION contest. So I've now won second place in the Tony Montana Scarface contest, first prize in the Nintendo Yoshi's Island contest, and now, the weirdest of the bunch, the Killzone contest.

The prize? Well, its a copy of the game...and something else.

A Killzone Gun. A lifesize gun that I guess Sony stores had on display or something...retail value of the gun, $179.99...sheesh, huh?

So I've won $250 from Scarface, a statue from Nintendo and now I've won a gun from Sony... heh. What a weird world we live in...but its still cool.

4-6-07: My 400th blog post!

so its been one of those weeks. I got my review from my boss about the job I've been doing and it included random phrases like, "You can be a dick sometimes," "We really don't need to work as hard" and "I'm not as good as a district manager as I was as a store manager..." Overall, I was a three, which means I do my job correctly, and there are some things I need to improve, and other things that I EXCEL in, so that's good. He knows I'm try ing and he either respects me, or he's truly scared of me...either way, he gave me a fair review with the two areas of improvement being places I agree 100% with.

JK is on vacation this week, and we've conversed only once on an update of where he is with TAVA. I'm assuming he's laying out the next portion of the story so we can try to get a month ahead again, since at the moment, we're about 2 weeks ahead in story. For anyone who hasn't checked it out, its at www.ardyvanstarr.com and it would be really helpful for everyone to check it out and tell their friends, since this is our life's work and we're damn proud of it.

Oh well, with everything else going on, I guess we just need to make sure we keep up with everything. My brother-in-law and father-in-law came and visited me at work and started the conversation with "we'd like to complain to the manager" which actually DID make the other three customers in the store actually turn to look, as if in a "Why, these guys are awesome" manner. That was funny and cool.

Next week, FINALLY, I start my alcohol classes, and it will take me 6 weeks to get through it all, and it has to be 6 weeks straight. This is pretty buggy, and I really don't want to do it, but I have to, and it will take up my entire tuesday nights off for a while. Oh well, just get it over with and not deal with any of it.

The TV is doing really well, though it changes the aspect ratio back to 16:9 after about 20 minutes, so I've just decided I'm going to leave it alone. Still have to call to get the other tv serviced.

Well, this wasn't really an eventful 400th post, but I can't believe that I've been writing this thing for two plus years and I'm up to a huge post number. I'm almost thinking I should start filing these to make a book out of them someday...The Potchak Files.... well, it has a ring to it.

Not as cool as my wife having to deal with a co-worker with a John Deere tractor tattoo, or carnies stumbling in...all we ever get at my job are Mexicans that ask "No spreaka Spanish?" and I just look at them and go, "No...Speaka English?" and they just stare at me like I'm supposed to be bilingual. Trust me, if I were, I'd be making more money working somewhere else, or hell, making more where I'm at, but overall, I speak English...I work in an environment where ALL my signage is in English, and that's how it is...don't look at me like I'm stupid because you didn't feel you should attempt to learn what everyone else is speaking due to where you are? I'll get looked at as an asshole here, but it's THEIR ignorance that we are adhering to, and it is completely unnecessary for ME to adhere to it. I learned what I was taught when I was BORN HERE...if they don't feel they have to, they should stay in a spanish community and speak spanish there...where it is expected.

I know, I'll ruffle a few feathers there...but its true. Don't make me feel stupid for not knowing your language when you come into MY STORE. That's YOUR ignorance and stupidity, not mine. Don't think you can make gestures in other languages, either, because we all understand them well enough to know that you are NOT being nice.

I swear, ignorance is spreading like killer bees...and people are accepting it because they are not strong enough to do anything about it.

Ugh...

4/1/07: Yes, two blogs...this one about Wrestling.

Below are the matches for Wrestlemania, and all the predictions for each. While this is normally the best event of the year from the WWE, The show looks a little...no, maybe a lot of WEAK this year. Anyways, I'll go from the card, and yes, get over the fact that the Main Events are first. links FROM WWE.com have been included...HOPEFULLY they won't get all tiffy with me.



World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs. Undertaker

The streak vs. the title, and the Animal vs. the Deadman. This one is a tough one to call, I one I really can't give a good impression on, but if recent memory serves, I believe Batista has been getting the better of the Undertaker on pretty much a weekly basis...so with that said, I think the one thing that is constant at the past FIFTEEN Wrestlemanias stays true to form, and the Undertaker walks out the winner...the question, however, is does he walk out with the World Championship, and for some reason, I don't see Vince giving the old Deadman the belt over his prized project from Smackdown...if this match IS NOT "NO DQ," expect something underhanded to occur, allowing Batista to retain the title.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels

Anyone who knows me KNOWS for a FACT that I called that this match would be the headliner at Wrestlemania RIGHT AFTER Triple H blew out his quad. My boy Tino asked, "What do you think they are going to do?" To which my reply was, "HBK for the world title at WM and Orton and Edge fighting each other due to jealousy and blah blah bad guy ego tagteam shit..." And I was right. So now the question is, do we give HBK one last hoorah with the belt? John Cena is your "Golden Boy" and HBK is your go to guy for a good match when Triple H is out, so I would normally say, "No." I believe ONE of the world championships changes hands, so I have got to say this is the one that does. But I think he drops the belt right back to John Cena like within two months.

Battle of the Billionaires

I gotta say, the Rock said it best here...http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/tvshows/raw/200703/4323564/031207rock
and the "Great One" normally knows what he's talking about. However, I like being unpredictable and "Swervy" in this spot. Yes, McMahon gets his head shaved, and I'm TOTALLY COOL with him just losing the match, but WHAT IF Umaga wins the match over Bobby Lashley, but Stone Cold gives Vince McMahon the stunner and lets Donald Trump shave his head anyway? That would add more to the unpredictability to help promote Austin's new movie, and be a pretty fun way for Vince to finally take the rug off his head.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Well, here, the fans win. Great competitors going for the Money in the Bank. This is almost as good as winning the KING OF THE RING Tournament. Well, I say this...Kennedy is the strongest candidate to win the world title, RIGHT NOW, that WWE has, and I think Vince knows it. His star is shining brighter than the others, and lets be honest, the reason that Edge vs. Orton isn't happening elsewhere on the card is because Edge is hurt, so he's good for a few big spots, but not necessarily for a full match. Not to mention, I don't think Vince is dumb enough to give him a second MITB, nor give it to Orton or Booker, who are already established heels.

MRRRRRRR. KENNNNNNEDYYYYYY.........................KENNEDY

ECW Originals vs. New Breed

Sad day for Tommy Dreamer and RVD...They are going to win, or lose, in the worst match of the night...okay, third worst match of the night. The rumor has the originals LOSING this match, meaning I gotta go with that. I also think its because Vince isn't really sure what to make of those guys, and their one year deals are about up...so expect RVD, Dreamer, Sandman and Sabu to fade away slowly...starting tonight.

Women's Champion Melina vs. Ashley

Second worst match of the night candidate...You've got a backstage whiner fighting a playboy bunny...man I want Stacy Keibler back on WWE tv....she looked so hot in that show I saw her in on ABC not too long ago. Does Ashley win because she's in Playboy? Probably...in a HORRIBLE match.

Kane vs. The Great Khali

STINKER OF THE NIGHT! Battle of the Big Men ought to be called, "Godzilla vs. Giant chest man with oversized chins..." This match is going to suck so bad that I truly believe my prediction is...I'm going to get up to go to the bathroom for this one.

United States Champion Chris Benoit vs. MVP

This match may end up being the best match of the night, and its only on here for Filler. With rumor that Chris Benoit will be making his way over to RAW after Wrestlemania, I believe they have him lose his title here, and I think he loses clean. Hopefully the bad taste it leaves doesn't stick after WM, though, because if he goes to RAW, it better be to help push a World Champion.



Weeeeelllll, those are the predictions, and like I said, this is going to be the worst Wrestlemania in about 15 years...but it may go down as the worst, even though it has all the hype in the world with regular media.

4/1/07 - The April Fools joke of the day?

So Yesterday, I'm at work, and a kid that works for me, Jimmy (real name, and no this isn't made up, is Jiten Girish Kumar Patel) makes a joke about something that he adds the line, "With your mom's left hand...Ohhhh son!" Don't know why he said the Oh son to the end, but I guess it was for effect.

I take the statement, and with a bold stare back, I say, "My mom doesn't have a left hand. She lost her arm a couple years ago." He's like, "I'm calling bullshit."

The other guy working for me, is like laughing about it to, and then goes, "Wait a second, are you for real?" To which I was like, "Dude, my mom lost her arm a couple years ago...that's why it was so amazing she still serves tables at the Angus Barn, and just passed ten years.:

At this point, Derek, who absolutely knows I'm bullshitting chimes in, "Dude, when I made fun of Rob's mom when he was drunk, he damn near killed me...its a sensative subject. Especially since she lost her arm."

I'm still holding a straight face, and John (I call him Manconi) is buying it now. Jimmy still says, "Rob, there's no way. I know what kind of jokes you play, this isn't funny."

I just look at him and say, "Apologize, Jimmy. It isn't funny." And he just looks at me. Derek looks at him and is like, "Dude, Jimmy, it isn't funny, man."

And then I leave...I didn't tell him it was a joke, I just left it there...its pretty damn cruel, but I think its pretty damn funny at the same time.

3-24-07: TV IS MINE.

That's right, I went with the Samsung HL-S5086W DLP with dual HDMI, 2 component inputs, and a slew of other things...

I'm impressed with it, and happy that I spent less than $1000 on it, as well. The only thing that could've gone better is if I was able to get the HL-S5087W, the 1080p model with picture in picture (since I don't think this one offers it, either)...but honestly?

Everything currently in production (besides Blu-ray movies) show 100% support to 720p, not 1080p, so even though I know it'll make its way to the forefront at some point, that point is not today, and by the time I go to buy another tv (10 years), I'll be needing to upgrade the picture quality, again.

So anyway, yeah, this is what my poker winnings go to this time, and I think it is a great investment...and 50in is just fine...there IS something known as TOO BIG when it comes to tvs, and this is NOT it :).

3-24-07: Haha! TV, you are almost mine!

Just when I thought it would be months before I finally got the tv I want, tonight, luck happened upon me. Let's just say I found a place where I could play some really cool games and win prizes (wink wink) and I happened to play a game called "LET'EM RIDE" and while playing the progressive portion on it, I hit for 4 jacks. Now, I bet $1, and $1 on the progressive... The payout for the BET on a $1 bet is 50:1 odds, so that's $50...so that's cool and all, but for only $1 more, it paid out another $500 for the progressive!

So before today I was at roughly $400 towards the tv, and now I have another $600 to add to that when the check comes in 7 business days. Not to mention, when I finally get something cleared up from one of the other sites, I'll have another $150 and I still am waiting on the P&L for Dead Sonja to determine what I made from that.

Literally, this means, that I could very well be getting my tv in the next three weeks or so, rather than months down the line like I initially assumed!

Go me!

3-23-07: Rough times in life are only a fraction of the time we're here to live...

I am sick and tired of certain things in life and I just don't CARE anymore about them. One thing that GAMESTOP has in their mission statement is a simple phrase of "NO VICTIMS." What this means is simple...you sleep in the bed you've made. What does this mean, class?

"You get what's coming to you because you've brought it on yourself..."

Exactly. Very good. I think you deserve a cookie.

Everyone has felt they are the victim before. In some cases, they really are. In other cases, its just because you didn't do everything yourself to dictate a different outcome...prime example.

Kyle works for me. He's a good kid, but he's annoying as shit. However, when he doesn't fill out our nightly paperwork properly, he doesn't get written up because he grates on my nerves, he gets written up because he's been doing paperwork for four months now and he still can not consistently get it right. Who's fault is it that he has been told on multiple occasions how to do it and now he's STILL not getting it? It isn't mine. I'm not a babysitter, and I'm not a hand-holder. I'll teach you...you watch, you put your hands on, you learn, you do it yourself. Its a great lesson in teaching people to be better overall.

I guarantee on the paperwork people get when they lose their job does not say, "I hereby terminate Harry Fnord because I don't like him..." If it happened that way to me, I'd have 6 words to say to that employer, "You can speak to my lawyer."

I had to make adjustments in my life when I took a salary position instead of an hourly one. I almost wished I hadn't, but overall, I can't stay as the low man on the totem poll forever, I need to be able to move up, and make a difference not only in my personal performance, but also in the performance of those around me. One of the adjustments I made when I took my salaried job was simple...realize you are not going to be home as much and realize that your time there is more valuable now than it was before. Good. Why? Because I'm now there about 10 hours less per week than when I made $10,000 a year more as an hourly sales person with commission.

I hate when people play the victim. Hell, I've done it, and I couldn't deal with it. I had to kick myself in the ass, get myself off the floor and make something happen to make me comfortable with who I was, again...and y'know what? I did it.

I made a conscious decision 4 years ago to finally do something with my god given talent of writing. I was published for the first time when I was 13 years old by a publisher, not something silly like a school newspaper. It then took me almost five more years before anything else happened with me and my art...and then my focus of writing.

I stopped writing altogether about 6 years ago because it was going nowhere and I didn't like my output. I wasn't creative and there was a lull...then one day I told myself that I was going to get my comic published, and I did, in May of 2003, during the second Free Comic Book day. In fact, that day, I had 23000 copies of my comic across the country. How many people can say that?

I have been fortunate to have people like Chris Crosby realize that when it comes to writing, I'm decent AND I'm dependable. Any time he gets the itch for a bad parody comic, he knows who to turn to. If he ever needed someone to write something serious, he'd probably still come to me, because he knows I can do that too.

Anyway, I'm rambling about my comic life, which I guess is what this blog is mainly about, but overall people need to accept THEIR RESPONSIBILITY for THEIR ACTIONS. If you want to be a success in life at something, you have to focus all your energy on that until you accomplish it...only then can you take a breath and start another project. Get over thinking everyone is out to get you and its their fault you are in the situation you are...

I know I'm tired of hearing about it over and over from all the people that pick up the wrong type of people, to the ones who drink too much and get stood up because the other person doesn't want to deal with that kind of bullshit, to people who think their boss is out to get them, because you know what? It's a bosses job to get things done...so if you aren't cutting it, you're wasting their time and money...

And when it comes to a place of business like mine...if you are wasting time and money, you need to find somewhere else to be...

3-22-07: When you act like an ass, you'll be treated as such.

Why is it so hard for people to realize this simple fact of life? Someone in my life has a drug problem and at certain points in their lives, they've made bad decisions. REALLY bad decisions. So for this I give the simple advice of: Go out, get help, get it fixed before you cause anymore damage, or possibly lose touch with anyone close to you before its too late. You do not go into a bar that people you know and care about work at and then start yelling obscenities at their co-workers, make bad comments to those that don't need to be talked to, and NOT start fights just because you are in a pissy mood and roided up on some kind of perscription medication because you "always have an ailment."

Take it from me, I'm in constant pain. The doctors tell me that my knee is probably pretty close to unfixable, and in bad shape. you know what I do? I wake up, throw down an aleve, and then go to work, come home and go to bed. Every so often, I like to enjoy a round of sex with the missus, play video games, or enjoy the daily meals and television programs... I do NOT go back to the doctors and try to get medication. I do not (anymore) talk to friends and try to chomp down on some pills, and yeah, sometimes I go get drunk...and I'd made my mistake of getting a DWI so I have made it a lesson learned NOT to drink and drive.

I have a temper. I get mad. Sometimes I get angry. But I've only lashed out and fought when I either had a moral or value that I didn't think should be broken that someone stepped over, or flat out when I knew I could win the fight. The second was a rarity, but it happened on a few occasions in younger and stupider years.

When you have a family, and are struggling, embrace them, not the vices in life. My two vices in life are simple...I like to drink sometimes...and I like toys. Most of the toys I like, I can't afford, so be it.

Don't be stupid, don't get kicked out of bars that you know people at, and don't call people trying to help you "a bitch" because if you do, you'll get your friends to kick the shit out of you... however, I guess overall, THIS IS BETTER than a complete stranger who could pull a gun and shoot you. You know who you are...GO GET HELP NOW, before I kick your ass.

On a good note...expect me to upload some pencil drawings to my deviant page within the next couple days. I did a funny Guy Gardner piece because someone mentioned to JK that he should, and I drew a black costume Spider-man...its okay, but I coulda done better. I'll probably whip up a couple of 15 minute sketches to throw up there, too, and JK will be scanning the first of a series of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES promo art pieces which I'll try my hand at coloring when I get the file...but trust me, it's a good piece.

3-20-07: Blogs come in spurts...

As I wait for my poker game to start online (anyone wanting to come on, let me know, I'll invite you so we both get free cash), I have realized that its been four days since my last blog. While this is still much more frequent than a lot of people, my blogs happen as they do because I feel I have something to share. This evening, I'm angered by something, but understanding...

I want a new tv. I would prefer for it to be 1080p, since that's the height of the spectrum, but I'd be willing to settle for a 720p, as long as it meets the requirements set forth by my mind and my research...

I found two this week. On Sunday, Bestbuy had a model the KDS50a2000 50" Rear Projection with 1080p resolution for 1399.99...regular price on this is 2399.99...lowest competitor, Circuit City had it for 1799.99. Waiting on wife approval, we find out that Best Buy changed the price back to 1899.99 and now are not honoring their own sale price.

So today, one of my two days off, I decide to check the competition to see if they have that tv still, since Bestbuy is making way for the new model. Well, when I get to Circuit City, a buddy of mine, Jovon, is working and we are talking for like 30 minutes about the tvs... I tell him that I feel that 50 inches is too big, but if you find it at that price, you take it. He agreed. Well, I settle on the HLS5086W from Samsung. Another very well reviewed set, and their price is 1199.99 (regular price is 1600) since its an "Out of Program" tv, meaning, its a clearance item. He offers me the display model for 999.99, to which I'm thinking the wife will okay, since I've now dropped the original 1399.99 down to 999.99...

She says okay...I start looking for someone to help me pick it up, since a DLP can not be laid down or you may ruin the bulb...she calls back and tells me she thinks we ought to wait. She gives valid reasons, to which I retort perfectly valid responses, but we are totally at an impasse.

I give in this time, much like she had a few hours earlier, but I feel cheated. I know what she is saying, and I know what she means when she says others would be fortunate to have what we do, but when someone wants something, and I do research to find the best at the best price, it isn't about everyone else, its about my being thrifty to find what I want at the price I'm willing to spend.

Anyway, this isn't a big enough deal to get mad at the wife or anything, but it irritates me. She wants me to not spend at all, when I want to be able to spend as long as it makes sense...ah well, like I said, I understand what she's saying...and it isn't like I'm not being smart with the money... but to her its not an investment, its just a waste of money...

3-16-07: Ringo's Cap Work in Progress -3

Dark? Yes. I could say something poignant like I feel this is my way of saying g'bye to Cap, and the darkness has a lot to do with the fact that the hero before you is no longer there...I think I captured the light source on the figure pretty well, those that dark portion is a little off.

As my first full attempt to color the way comic colorists do it, I think I did okay...I just hope Mike is okay when I send him this...since it's his drawing. Its funny, I was going for Deco, and now I feel like I captured more of an oil pastel feel for this. But I like it. I think it came out well, and if Mike likes it, I'll probably play with some of his other pieces, since he had a killer Superman / Cap piece that I want to tackle, but maybe only after I've had some more practice.

No, I don't think I'll ever be on caliber with some great colorists, but I'm also not trying to be...I'm not trying to take their jobs, or want it.

Sure, I'll color TAVA covers if JK wants me to, but will it be necessary? Probably not, but if it is, then I think I'll do an alright job with it...and hell, there are a lot of people out there that color worse than I do...it's just this field doesn't have many bad colorists getting work, which is a good thing :). I just hope people take note that the skin tone IS SKIN colored AND NOT PINK! I HATE when colorists use shades of pink to be the flesh color...BLECH, its repulsive...

3-16-07: Work in Progress - 2 - Cap by Ringo

Here's the next place I went with Mike's piece of Captain America. I'm really trying to do things I haven't done before. I don't know if that's evident, but I'm working on it...who knows, if I get the hang of this, maybe I'll try to tackle some other things... As you can tell, I've darkened the whole piece, filled in more areas with their flat colors and am now starting to add lighting to it. Its a really difficult process and I would venture to say comic colorist may be the hardest working people on the books, considering the good ones are doing 3-5 books a month. meaning 3-5 pages A DAY...YUK!

3-16-07: Work in Progress...Cap by Wieringo.

Ringo captures the Star Spangled Avenger better than most, so I took his drawing and am trying something different while attempting to color it. This is totally a work in progress, and has not been sanctioned by Mike Wieringo, I just hope he's okay with an amateur attempting to color his work.

I LOVE his line work...man that guy is good... I wonder what his next project is?

3-15-07: Suikoden 2 listed on ebay...

Rob's Suikoden 2 on EBAY for Sale!

Am I an ass? Yeah, probably. I understand that this game typically goes for $130 online, and I am selling my copy. I wanted it to be a great listing, so the damn thing ended up costing me $12 to list it on ebay to make sure it would be seen.

The other ones will go up subsequently...I just don't want to put them ALL on the sight on the same day, because the price to list them all would be a car payment, hehe.

Anyway...if you are a gamer, and you are looking for SUIKODEN II for PS1, here it is...Thanks!

3-15-07: Rob colors JK's THE MAXX drawing.

JK drew this last year, and while I was a little bored, I decided to play around with it in Photoshop. Now unlike some other pieces, this was in black and white, so I got to color it fully instead of using JK's color grids that I normally use. I like how it came out quite a bit, and hope that JK is, too, because I kinda did it for him (without asking...y'know, a gift).

I know he puts in a lot of hours drawing (slaving) away at our webcomic, so I wanted to do something nice for him, so I played around with this...I especially like how Julie and the Isz came out. Not sure what I think of my take on MAXX in the drawing, but again, I really like the other two parts...

comments?

3-14-07: Video Game Bliss...MANY THINGS INSIDE!

Alright, this story starts yesterday. As everyone knows, I'm a store manager of a GAMESTOP in Raleigh, NC...so I like video games. Its a hobby, and a pastime. My wife doesn't understand why I like them, just like I don't understand why she likes romance novels about things that would never and will never happen to any one of our friends, relatives, or US for that matter...okay, so no rants here, this isn't about a fight that the wife and I had, this is about pure goodness...VIDEO GAMES THAT ARE GOOD...in fact, some that are DAMN good...in fact, some of these are SOME OF THE BEST GAMES IF YOU CAN FIND THEM.

So last night, about 6pm, I walk into my sister store across the hall (an EB Games at the same mall...don't ask). The manager, Jason, is talking to a guy who is trying to get rid of some Playstation 1 games. Now, our company DOES NOT take these items back, but remember, we ARE gamers...we LOVE games, and we (as wrestling writers say) MARK OUT for GREAT CLASSICS. Well, this guy wants to just dump them off, and Jason tells him that if he were to put them on EBay or somewhere that he'll make a boatload on them. So I look at them and he tells me he wants $15 for ALL of them...13 games in all, and now for the titles...followed in parenthesis with GAMESTOP's SELL price (what we'd sell it for).

Final Fantasy VII black label edition, meaning the first print, NOT Greatest Hits (29.99)
Final Fantasy Tactics Greatest Hits (12.99)
Final Fantasy IX Black Label (17.99)
Lunar: Silver Star Story (29.99)
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue LIMITED EDITION (34.99)
Legend of Mana Black Label (19.99)
Grandia Black Label (19.99)
Suikoden (29.99)
Suikoden II (59.99)

There were a couple others, like Legend of Dragoon, but I sold that one the same night I bought them for $18, meaning, I spent $2 on all these, since I eventually bought them from the guy for $20. Now even though those prices represent what GAMESTOP would be selling them for, it does NOT represent the current prices on these titles, with Suikoden II going for upwards of $150 on Ebay, and Black Label editions of the others taking in 2-3 times those values. It was a good day indeed, since the company could NOT take them and help the guy, I gladly did (so as such, not breaking any rules).

ANYONE wanting to make an OFFER on ANY of these titles contact me through my email address, rpotchak@gmail.com or my myspace page that you read this at.

Okay, so that was the surreal "Let's Make a Deal" of the century area for me (because if I sell these now, I will probably have a decent amount of cabbage come in for them)...but today, GOD OF WAR II came out on Playstation 2, and it seems WALMART may be pulling the game based on the fact that Kratos, the main character, has sex with hot partially nude women, and the violence, vulgarity and everything else has everyone thinking this game is TOO over the top. I for one applaud Walmart for dropping the title, but only because it means it'll be harder for ass-clowns to find it from places that WON'T be carding underagers...

Finally, TIGER WOODS 2007 came out for the WII today, and I think its great. The controls are a bit wonky, but for the most part, it plays just like I would want it to. I flub shots like I do in real life, so I mean, hell, it probably is the most realistic golf game out there...no bones about it. After playing a round, you actually feel a bit worn, with all the swinging, especially if you are like me and really attempting to use your golf swing. I give it four clubs.

Alright, so again, anyone looking for any of those games, contact me about them with an offer, and let's make a deal!

3-11-07: DAMN TIME WARNER CABLE TO HELL!

So Sunday night was the TNA PPV: Destination X, which included some really cool match ideas as well as just some good matches, like Samoa Joe going after the world title against Christian Cage... well, that's all fine and dandy, except for the fact that Time Warner Cable screwed the pooch, because they couldn't get the program to load. My buddy, Tino, and I are here, ready for the pay per view, only to not have it come on in NC from TWC because they couldn't figure out how to get Daylight Savings time to work correctly.

I've already decided that I'm going to DirecTV when they add their new HD capacity, but this is freaking ridiculous. I mean, I have given TWC every chance in the world to make things right, and here's why they piss me off.

1) They don't offer ESPN 2 HD...why not?
2) They don't offer WWE 24-7, the one PAY channel I want.
3) This is the second time they've screwed up getting wrestling PPVs.
4) From what I've read, they are more expensive

So that's the reason I've decided I'll go to satellite when DirecTV is offering more HD channels, which they keep saying will be soon... and if its at the same price I'm paying right now, I won't give a shit about it.

Thanks for hearing the rant tonight.

3-7-07: Watch out, the kid's getting crazy...two posts on one day?!

So yeah, I got a little bored and decided to write more...what, you got a problem with that? Heh, kidding. So here's a weird bit...ARDY's comic, over at ardyvanstarr.com is still being beaten in hits by LANDIS's comic, which doesn't update anymore over at elisalandis.com. I really appreciate what everyone is trying to see hoping that Landis is updating, but unfortunately, that's still some time off...

So today I went to my deviantart.com site...http://rpotchak.deviantart.com to upload some new art, since I keep getting asked to by a few people, though none of them I don't think have ever looked at the site...now the art that's on there is BRAND NEW, not seen anywhere else yet, so hopefully people will actually enjoy some of it...here's a taste of it...this piece is a head sketch of Wolverine in a different type of sketching style than I typically use.

Enjoy!

3-7-07: The American Dream Dies...or does it? Comic Spoilers inside...

If you have not read CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 from Marvel Comics yet, I urge you to do so, however, if you are not willing to spend $3.99 for the issue, then I'll kill you with a spoiler right now.

In Captain America #25, as is being reported on all major news outlets...Steve Rogers is shot... and speculatively killed. Not only that, but the actual murder was NOT done by the initial sniper known as Crossbones, but by Cap's female companion and lover, Sharon Carter. Now here's where it gets interesting.

In MIGHTY AVENGERS #1, Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel, tells Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman that Cap isn't dead, and that he's being kept under wraps, being a Super Soldier means he isn't prone to the same types of injuries or physically debilitating wounds that other may be, however this still doesn't "compute." Cap was on the table, and though the vitals were NOT shown, he most assuredly was "dead." So here's the most common fix to this problem...

Knowing that there would be snipers and possible assassins out to kill Captain America, Tony Stark pulls his final trick...an attempt to let Rogers figure out the American ideal, and creates a clone / cyborg version of Steve Rogers very similar to the clone / cyborg of Thor. This way he would appear to be dead, and Cap, now a registered superhuman would begin his quest to find out what the REAL american ideal is about today. A great year long story could begin out of this idea, and the man known as Steve Rogers could finally once again see what it takes to be Captain America.

Of course, I don't think the man is dead, but if he is, thanks to Ed Brubaker for writing this poignant piece of comic history. Hell, even if he stays dead for a year and comes back from cloned DNA or whatever, Brubaker did it diligently, and left us asking questions, the way a great writer does. Steve Epting once again allowed all the great art to flow from his pen and ink and create a truly remarkable issue. I just hope Marvel doesn't screw it up...

Leave it where it is for the moment, let it settle in...and only bring him back when the right writer can do it...and Ed has proven he can do that.

3-6-07: Work Related Dilemma and more...

So the people checking out THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES today have given us decent numbers...not the greatest or anything, but better than a non-advertised day, so I'm not unhappy, I'm just not super ecstatic like the day we advertised Elisa Landis (of www.elisalandis.com) in a bath towel, when she got over 14000 unique hits that day...shows you what a guy with a giant yellow nose, versus a hot redhead in a bathtowel is capable of doing. So, again, decent numbers for a title that is barely a month old without a female lead, but I guess with the female characters upcoming, we may see better numbers in the future.

Okay, now to what the subject line says...does anyone know how bad a non-signed credit card slip is? First of all, it breaks the simplest policy we have...get all documents signed. Duh. Now couple that with the fact that the transaction was almost $800...now what do I do? Well, after contacting my boss to find out what I had to do in that situation, I now have to contact the person in charge of sales audits to find out if the charge has been disputed...If the charge is not disputed, and is legitimate, the employee in question has to be given a First and Final warning. This means any future slip ups for the rest of their employment, they can be terminated for with proper HR approval...that's if its a legitimate charge...if it turns out fraudulent, I have to contact my boss, who in turn has to contact HR and together we have to fire him...or even better is in my bosses terms, "Someone gets fired for an $800 loss..."

What would everyone out there do? How do we spin a positive label on the employee here? This is just stupid bullshit that more than anything should HAVE NEVER HAPPENED...this is the biggest issue I currently have with my job, the fact that I have an employee that makes it so easy to fire them, when in actuality, you'd think they would WANT to do their job better. I'm tired of telling them that they need to shape up, but I'm not in the mood to attempt to hire anyone at the moment. Its bad enough I have personal things to take care of, let alone now possibly having to find a new employee for not following the simplest of company tasks...

Not only this, but since both this employee and the assistant Manager did not contact me, I may have to take further action with the ASM...Christ, this is becoming a natural disaster here.

Oh well, at least in the night time I can talk about comics I've written and where I intend to go from here...

3-6-07: Friends in MySpaces....

Well, another one of my "friends" has joined the ranks of MySpace, and this is one that I have to tell everyone about. His name is Eric Kent, and he's an artist...in fact, he's currently working on two different projects with me when he has the time, the first of which is entitled THIEF and the other is the sequel to LANDIS called TAGGER. He just recently showed up on MySpace, so everyone should check out his penciled covers for THIEF as well as his concept art for the lead character.

http://www.myspace.com/kurserod

Today also marks the first advertisement for The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures on KEENSPOT. That's right, anyone who checks out ANY keen comic today will have the oppurtunity to join the revolution and read a truly unique comic, brought to your by Pots and Pans Ink and Junior Bruce Productions...or for those less informed...Rob Potchak and the artist known to the world as JK. I'll post a bulletin about this, because its the first big deal for comics stuff I've done since the publishing of DEAD SONJA and the launching of TAVA.

JK says he's finishing up the last three pages he's got for the "first issue" of TAVA and we'll be chugging away at the rest of the first story arc to get ahead on the project. After that, I'll be writing the second arc to the tune of introducing the new badguy of the world, THE SILVERFISH, which you can check out character designs on http://yourbuddybuddy.deviantart.com.

You may also see some quick changes to the TAVA website (ardyvanstarr.com or vanstarr.com) in the coming days, as I think Chris is going to be kind enough to add a tracker and a logo to the site. I think its necessary to get it up there, since we want to look all big and bad with our first ad shot.

Well, that's all for now, hopefully enough people will check this stuff out, I don't usually spend full blogs on plugs for friends and such, so come on, hook a brother up...heh.

3-4-07: Wondering what to do?

So last night I let everyone in on the idea of doing a sketchbook, and today I'm going to elaborate on it a tad more.

I'm thinking do we just want to make it a sketchbook of the characters from The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures, or do we want to just sketch whatever the hell we want?

Every artist that wants to promote themselves at some point does a sketchbook and sells it trying to cover the costs not only of the sketchbook, but also of their studio rent and what have you. I want to do one because I want people to see what I'm drawing, what comes to mind and where its going to go. Because of this, I figure I'll devote certain pages of the sketchbook specifically to TAVA, but then the other pages I think I should be allowed to draw whatever I'd like...or whatever others suggest.

I'd like to know what or whom people would like me to draw, which comic characters, which superheros, whatever. I'd like to know because i'd like to test my own personal artistic boundaries a little more, much like JK does on his Deviant page (which I haven't been taking very good care of mine and I apologize to anyone that's checked it out).

Anyway, Send your suggestions, but be serious when doing so, and I'll blog about which ones I've decided to take on.

And on that note, I'll leave you with a quote from Jim Rome..."So what if Billy Joel drove a car through a house...it could happen to anyone......named Billy Joel."

3-3-07: Say it sexy like Ricardo Mantoban...

Love those new Taco Bell commercials, but only because the one lion can't roll his Rs like the other.

I have two things to talk about right now, and the second one is going to give people headaches just trying to understand...the first however, is a comic update...

JK and I are still having issues getting the website how we'd like which is disappointing for TAVA, since I'd love to have it looking spiffy by now, but hey, we made it through the first month without any issues coming up and we've got through the middle of April done...hopefully we'll be far enough ahead that when I start the next story, we'll be done the first one and be able to breathe a big sigh of relief...I just wish I knew how to add the tracker to it, since I'd like to see how many people are actually checking out the site...I mean, even the blogs have picked up more people reading since I started trying to make them more frequent...

Oh...the other thing. I offered a suggestion to JK the other day and he likes it...its for a Sketchbook for THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES that we'd print up through a Print on Demand run...I am thinking 48 pages of sketches, with 32 or so of his and 16 of mine...but who knows...since he's the art guy he may want more...we'd try to keep it inexpensive so that we could get some people to buy it, but at the same time, try to get a little income rolling in so we could spend more time on the comic. I know both him and myself would love to do this as a job, rather than our jobs, but that would require some serious income, and that isn't seeming likely.


Now, something a little different... I'm going to go over my third key, Kyle here, because he makes me laugh in a "Why do I still have him working here" way...Since he's been hired, he's mis-counted the register an unknown amount of times, locked his keys in the backroom TWICE, and asked more questions than a 5 year old just learning that Santa doesn't exist...

The weird thing is, I find myself wanting him to "Get it," and not wanting to find someone else, even though I think that'd be the easier thing to do. He continues to just ask the same things over, and over, and over...he continues to NOT be able to get out of the store at a decent time, and he's struggling with WHY he gets written up rather than realizing that they are to make him a better employee.

He feels there's no way for him to impress me, and he wants to learn "everything," so he says, but yet he has yet to try to learn everything because he CAN'T understand the stuff that I've told him to understand and keep in his head already. How can you be a college graduate and have problems giving people the right change on a day to day basis? How can you not only lock your keys in the back once, but twice? How can you forget the combination to the safe when you go into it almost daily?

3-2-07: Crazy People and shit....

So my wife has this friend, named Becky, and everytime you turn around she's got some crazy stalker ex-boyfriend...now this may be the norm for some people, but WHY IN THE HELL do you continue to go for these guys that try to follow you, show up unexpected, and attempting to cause bodily damage? This type of shit just doesn't compute for the logical ones in the room, since if someone seems like they are a freak, you normally just leave them to their shit...

I dunno...respond if you have a better understanding of this stuff, because, well, while I know it can happen to anyone...you have to be ASKING for it to have it happen with EVERYONE.

2-28-07: Myspace blogging a good idea?

Y'know, I've been doing this blogging thing ever since I saw Jim Lee and his group of hooligans at gelatometti2.blogspot.com doing there's and yeah, what can I say, I was a follower then.

This blog (robpotchak.blogspot.com) gets around 300 genuine hits a month, and now has gotten a total of 340 on my myspace page (myspace.com/potsandpansink). Not exactly a great number, but the hell with it, the more info I get out there about what I'm writing, drawing and what have you, the better.

Tonight, I told my wife I wanted to write a movie...she said, "I know whatever you want to write, it'll be good..."

I then told her I wanted what I write to be a horror film, but only if I could get John C McGinley (Dr. Cox from Scrubs) to be the bad guy. I don't think he'd do "cheesy horror" tho... She said, "I really don't like that kind of movie, but I'm sure you'd write a good one, since you can write..." and it got me thinking.

Did Robert DeNiro think HIDE AND SEEK was going to be a good horror film? Did Johnny Depp think SECRET WINDOW was going to be a good film? I know they liked the scripts, I know they acted their asses off...but those movies weren't just stinkers, they were SEE NO EVILS (the really bad film with KANE from the WWE in it).

Then I began to watch SE7EN tonight and it hit me...the reason that film was good was David Fincher totally fucking with your mind. Giving you the bad guy early on and then finally nailing you with it later...not exactly HORROR, more action/suspense/thriller, but gory. Not to mention, they didn't put Kevin Spacey in the beginning credits, to kind of leave him in as a surprise.

Oh well, to come up with an idea like that...man that'd be money in the bank.

So I re-read CIVIL WAR #7 from Marvel and wanted to give my opinion on this GIANT EVENT from Marvel. First of all, Kudos for giving us a winner...in fact, as Mark Millar himself said, they gave us two...Cap won the fight, Iron Man won the war...before it ever started. There was no chance for Cap to win. He just didn't want to give up for the heroes...until...the regular man stepped in and got to him. They made him realize that his decisions did not help their fates as people that could not protect themselves, but rather, were for his own ideas that how he wanted everything to shape...in essence, Millar said, "Fuck you to all you twits that thought Iron Man was the bad guy of this this story...I fooled the piss out of you, didn't I?" And y'know...in the end, he kinda did.

There's a spot over at Rich Johnston's LYING IN THE GUTTERS (cbr.cc under the columns) where someone replaced the final two pages of lettering from Civil War with Mark Millar's other great mini-series, WANTED...if you read them with THAT set of dialogue, it really makes you wonder what the fuck is going on with everyone, but it makes you laugh none the less.

Well, more people come across a blog that it written more frequently, so I'm attempting to do so, and I hope those who come across don't just swing by, but offer up their opinions as well. There's a lore coming around the corner from me, and while my regular day-time life still has some things needing to be finished before I'm technically a free man again (fully), I do intend to continue writing here and getting back to the writing table to start some new stuff...I think it'll be fun to get to something new...

or maybe revisitng something older.

2-27-07: Back from AC...not as poor as I thought I'd be...

So yeah, got back around 9:30pm Sunday night, which was a bear of a drive with snow coming down...took 7.5 actual drive hours to get up there and took like 9.5 to get home, not exactly fun driving...start and stop throughout Delaware, Maryland and Virginia...soon as we got to NC, though, we were able to get through the rest in like two hours...

The two pictures you see are actually two winners I had...my days went like this...I got to the Trop at about 10am, and went right to the 3 card poker table. I slapped $120 down and said that this is all I'm going to play at the tables. Well, I got two pair, but in the end, and after about 10 hands, I ended with $0 of that...so we went to penny and nickel slots. I began to feel like I would never win anything, and was down about $400 after day one...which if you remember, left me with about $100 to my playing for the full next day.

I did win one game on day one...Fubar and I drank until we couldn't drink anymore, and from about 10am - 2am, we got smashed...I mean we got to the point where after 20-something drinks, our livers hurt...but heck, I felt good.

On Saturday, I decided I'd take the $40 in my pocket and play it on TRIPLE HOT 7's machines. Max play was 1.80, so I thought this wouldn't last long. Fu had been telling me he plays minimum bet on all lines (.09 per play) until he'd lost two in a row and then he'd bet five times bet, and he was only down $30 after the first day, so this seemed like a decent strategy, but I had to think up my own...so I decided to go 4 losses in a row and then bet max (thinking same logic, I guess...) Well, I hit...the first picture shows that...$145 on the max bet. I missed the progressive bet THREE TIMES on this machine (it paid out $22000 if you hit it by getting TRIPLE on top, middle, top). The rule we play by is if you hit something, you let the machine keep going til it stops...if you stop it, its bad juju, so we don't typically do that...so I started playing the machine right next to that one...I hit while the other was still paying for about $50... so that's $200 in winnings...

I continued to walk around these ten machines and win...so I decided to start playing other stuff...and drink at the same time (didn't matter how nauseous I was, I started winning and getting thirsty). I began to play things like more 3 card poker, and won about $100. As soon as I was up $100 on that, I left it. We were now at about 2pm, and I didn't want to stop playing, so we kept going...

I ended up for the day with $160 in my pocket...from $40...finally, the final day (drive back Sunday as I like to call it)...we checked out and I wanted to see if the TRIPLE DIAMOND machines would pay the same way the TRIPLE HOT SEVEN'S did...and it did...but I didn't go far on it, I got up another $75, and said "We're OUT!"

So overall, I think I was down about two hundred, but you can't discredit the fun. And the Trop finally started giving back again...so we'll go back up in August, and hopefully I won't lose everything there, because I have Vegas in September for work.

Hope everyone else had fun while I was gone...apparently the NYCC (New York Comicon) happened while I was up there, and I would've went had I know I was going to be up there already...oh well...

2-22-07: Atlantic City Here I come!

Or howsabout "Here I go again...here I go againnnnnnn...." Damn right, having the white snake blaring, waiting for Margaritaville and Roxanne to come on...In the age of Ipod (or Zune in my case) I have come to forget how EVERY time I went on a trip, I'd always here those two songs... Margaritaville and Roxanne...don't ask me why or how, but those two songs would always play at least once...and now, due to burning CDs and mp3 players taking up all the playtime, I had to place these two songs on here to make sure, that purely and randomly, that they MAY play, or they MAY NOT, but at least I'm giving myself the chance to hear both in this digitally created playpen.

So today is also my dog, LANDIS's birthday...She was born on 2-22-02, so I took that as a kind of sign or something...she's staying with grandma til the weekend so I can go about my three day vacation.

Speaking of which, Atlantic City tomorrow...whoooo! My wife is gracious enough to let me spend my winnings of Bodog and my winning of the SCARFACE contest at work (roughly $500 in winnings) this weekend as Fubar and I go for our semi-annual Atlantic City Excursion. We say we do it to NOT LOSE OUR COMP (rooms and money), but we do it to get away for three days, blow some cash and relax doing something we love...gamble...oh, and drink...heavily.

I think I've also decided that we are doing this NEXT for Dominic's Bachelor Party...though we may not go to Atlantic City, I'd like to...I'll run the idea by him, but if we can't get that, maybe the Cherokee casino in NC...(only two less hours of driving for that one).

Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know that if you don't hear from me until next week, now you know why. Both Fubar and I will be bringing laptops with us to AC, but if I have to pay for internet then I'll just say screw it and only use it for directions and movie watching. Otherwise you may get updates on the weekend from us...who knows...

Now don't you all go yelling "good luck" to me...

2-19-07: My favorite upcoming page from THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES.

Hopefully JK is okay with me posting this image here on both blogs, because its just that classic silly cartoon moment, but it totally shows what type of story we're trying to tell for this story...

2-19-07: New art coming soon.

Today was the first day in a while I had been to my DEVIANTART.COM page, and well, I was not only surprised by the amount of people that had added pieces of my art to their favorites, but even a comment or two about some of the pieces. This kinda inspired me.

In the past 24 hours, I've done some sketches...one of Superman, and then one of a ninja turtle and one of Kratos from GOD OF WAR. I'm trying to incorporate some different feels to the art now, lots of sketching before putting in the finishing touch on the pieces.

I have always thought of myself as good with heads and faces, and my biggest struggles are with bodies and action sequences...hence why you don't see ME as the artist of a comic. I wish I had the talent of a Dave Lapham, or could even hack at the art side like Erik Larsen, but heck, one of these days I'll draw MY comic...that one that every artist has to set out to do...that end piece in their puzzle, so to speak.

I just figured I'd let everyone know that with that deviant art stuff, even though its old pieces on there currently, you can check it out at rpotchak.deviantart.com or one of these days I may even get around to adding a link...heh.

three days, three blogs, you guys should either be happy, or ready to tell me to shut up by this point.

2-18-07: New art from JK colored by RP

This is the original piece to the left, and below is the one I recolored. JK said he was having a rough time coming up with some drawings recently, so I wanted to let him know that I was working on some of his stuff to maybe make him happier :).

Because of that, I give you his Superman...followed by His and MY Superman. Yes, I went a little nuts.

2-18-07: ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES UPDATE and more.

Welcome to the second dual post blog from me, as I take you down the elevator that is www.ardyvanstarr.com and the comic it represents, The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures.

Last night, while on the computer, I realized that I had been slacking off while lettering and posting the pages because I can't keep my attention span on stuff I've "already written once." Re-typing something that I've already typed is kind of a pain in the ass, but a necessary pain in the ass.

JK had sent me the first 18 pages of TAVA, which look great. The first 6 or so can actually be seen over at the aforementioned site, "ardyvanstarr.com." It all revolves around a character that I created in 3rd grade named Ardy Vanstarr (this was 1986). We flash forward to about 1993, and Ardy gets his first real comic adventure, entitled City Of Illusion from Illusion Studios and 5th Panel Comics. Now though he had been seen in SCC Entertainment's Hit SCORN series in backup stories, he didn't get his first real role in a comic until 2003's LANDIS, where he played the Paranorm PI that he is today. Anyway, JK had sent over all 18 pages, and even added some scenes where there hadn't been any before, ala "the Marvel method" of plotting, then writing. I took this as a good challenge to get me to write more, and started looking at the script, and while going for a Noir'y feel, decided it was time to liven it up, move some stuff around and get to the meat of it.

One thing I've always been beat down for as a writer is being "Claremonty" which means putting way too many words into the work and not letting it do itself justice. Because of this, I decided to let some of it speak for itself where I'd normally add in a panel of writing, and have just kind of tried to give readers a feel for this guy...that he's not from here, so he finds some things funny we don't, he likes Back To The Future, and he gets his jobs done, no matter the risks.

Well, I've now gone ahead and re-written the first 18 pages, and they flow better, now. They've got a sci-fi, humor, noir feel, and that's how I like it. JK and I will be discussing a two-parter for the annual FREE Keenspot Primer, and try to introduce some characters there that will be showing up in TAVA later...that ought to be fun.

Also, I'm still talking with Blatant about the Dead Sonja sequel and will probably start penning it in the next two weeks or so...after that, I gotta start the alcohol self-assessment classes before July 1st, so...yikes.

2-17-07: Now posting the blog here and on MYSPACE...why? who knows?

Not really sure what made me decide I'm going to post the blog in two different places, but I figured what the hell, some people that read one won't read the other and vice versa. The more places you have something posted, the more likely it'll get read, I guess.

Tonight, I'm going to discuss something that is bothering the shit out of me...

Who has an ex? Now which of you has an ex that no matter how many times you've moved, changed your phone number, or even told them to get out of your life, they keep finding their way back in? Even if it means by stalking measures like looking your address up online, phone number, etc?

Well, lucky for me, it isn't MY ex I'm concerned with here. It's my wife's. A lot of people in Durham may remember good ol' Corey Sadler from the days that he lied about his education in order to get a job on the radio. That's right, I realize I put his real name here, but anyone that knows that my wife is my first "friend" on my Myspace page realizes that I'm an open book and my life can be found. It doesn't necessarily mean that I want everything coming out, but anyway.

So Christy tells me the other night that she received a birthday gift from Corey. Well, WHY was the first question. "Oh, we're still in touch through email and what have you, but he's married so you don't have to worry about him..." The next question was "HOW did he send you a birthday gift? He doesn't know where we live..."

"I didn't tell him." Okay, here's the problem. If my wife didn't tell her EX how to get to her house by NOT TELLING HIM the address, that means he's using extracirricular (sp) ways to find out information he should not be privy to.

The other problem I have with this asshole is the lie he leads with his wife. He constantly is sending my wife messages on myspace (her comments, I don't look at anything else on her site, I respect her privacy, even with all the BS of last year). Not just your normal "Hey, glad we know each other" messages, but the kind that make you wonder why he's with who he is..."You are the greatest, most special person I've ever met, and I feel honored to have ever been in your heart." or "You are the reason I am the me I am today..." kinda bullshit.

Now, I think its great that he thinks he found someone he can say that about...I'm just a little ticked off that it ISN'T HIS WIFE that he says that about...or does he tell every girl he's ever TRIED to get with the same thing?

Corey, I hope you read this...GO AWAY...LIVE YOUR LIFE and LEAVE US TO OURS...I am tired of you trying to be with my wife because you still miss something else that I realized and held onto.

I'm sorry your relationship with your wife can't be what mine is with mine...but I'm not sorry enough to let you get away with all this double talk to two women, and only one of which is YOUR wife...

Keep it up, we'll see where it gets everyone. Stop stalking my wife, and start applying your time to your relationship...if she married you, she deserves that effort you put in, trying to get Christy, and since Christy doesn't want that, start giving it to someone that obviously does.

Its no wonder we live in a society that constantly needs medication.

Next time, I promise something about comics.

2-14-07: Wrestlemania and my thoughts.

Y'know what's funny when it comes to Wrestlemania? When HHH went down with an injury, a buddy of mine, Tino, called me, and asked what I thought they should do, since the DX angle was pretty much toast...this was my response...

"Shawn Michaels should go after John Cena and the World Title..."
"Randy Orton and Edge should have the standard 'top heel' feud by one being jealous of the other and constantly trying to one up each other."
"Shawn Michaels should win the Royal Rumble, or get the RAW World Title Match"

Scary thing is...right on ALL Accounts.

I don't want everyone to think I'm making this up, this is what I said 24 hours after I heard of Triple H (HHH, Hunter Hearst Helmsley etc) injury to his quad that was going to keep him out of action for months...

EVERY piece of that is true...

Then, I get asked "who's going to win the superbowl?" Kno wwhat my response is? How about this...

"Here's a better one...First play from scrimage is a pass to Dallas Clark. Second play is a run from Addai...third is a dropped pass to Marvin Harrison...three plays later (at most) they are in the endzone to Reggie Wayne...and the first commercial will be BUD LIGHT."

Now in one instance...Ask Tino. I'll give you his number. In the second instance, ask my co-worker Drew, who asked me the night before. I also said I'd take the Colts by NINE...not the 7 they were favored by, but I said they wouldn't be at the 48.5 over/under.

Weird, huh? This is NOT made up, and this is 100% the truth.

Why am I saying this? Because everyone goes through hot spots. My buddy Fubar just hit on a $5 scratcher ticket for $700. Crazy thing is, next week we are going to AC (Atlantic City) for two days of gambling. Why? we enjoy it.

Anyway, this isn't a news filled spot or anything, but I thought it'd be fun to let everyone know of my most recent psychic moments...isn't it weird?

2/12/07: TAVA site update and my thoughts...

JK has placed the original files back on the site, so it is now showing the comic again, but not the counter. Its cool, though, we'll get it all sorted out, which is cool.

TAVA's first advertisement will show up on March 2nd, as well. I wanted the March 1st, but since its only TAVA's 1 month anniversary, compared to SUPEROSITY's 8th YEAR Anniversary, I thought that it'd be best to "not cross the boss" and make sure Chris gets to celebrate Superosity on it's birthday :).

Now the scary news. I've let JK know that I've fallen a little behind on lettering the pages for ARDY, and as scary as it sounds, as soon as I get the energy back to finish up to the first 18 full pages, I'll get it done so that we'll be far enough ahead for a bit.

We have until March 1st to get a two pager done for the KEENSPOT PRIMER for Free Comic Book Day again this year, so I've got to come up with one soon, so JK and I can get it in for the book. I don't want to cop out and just reprint last year's, either...soooo....

Also, some other news to note. I'm still pondering on Freddie Blatant's offer for me to write the Dead Sonja sequel, and I see no reason why I'd say no, besides the fact that I'm almost afraid I'll make less writing the sequel than I did on the first one (still waiting on the info from the payday, on that, too...but I'm not sweating it, as you no doubt could tell by all this now).

I also was given the file to be able to letter in the same style that was used for LANDIS...why?
Because if I can find 600 dpi black and white files for LANDIS, Chris Crosby and I have decided I'll finish lettering the story and we'll print what looks like it will be a 120 page version of the book. He wants to try to find a colorist, and if he can for the last part, then I will letter it and we'll do a full color book for like $19.95 for 120 pages...if however we can't find a colorist...(and can recover fhe non-colored files)...we'll go for a less expensive route on it. We both have agreed that LANDIS was a labor of love that deserves its original format...an actual book.

So with this, if ANYONE knows people that want to get their start in comic book coloring, let me know, I am sure some sort of payment can be made for it, as well as their name in the credits, obviously. The only down side is that we are looking for uniformity for the story's coloring, although I would totally let Owen have the pages back to see what else he'd like to add to them, if he wanted to.

So there you have it...all the projects I am currently working on...TAVA comes first, then DEAD SONJA and then finishing what started it all...LANDIS. Not to mention that although it is slow coming, Eric IS chugging away at TAGGER, the long awaited sequel of LANDIS, but with him working upwards of 85 hours a week, its not coming nearly as fast as either him nor myself would prefer. MAybe at some point he'll get a break, and we'll be able to work on some comics again :).

So again, if you know a colorist, one that hasn't worked in the field but would be willing to try, let me know.

Thanks.

2-10-07: Technical Difficulties.

JK and I can't figure out how to get the page running correctly, and unfortunately, I haven't had enough time on the computer recently to attempt to string together enough time to check it out.

Also, Freddie Blatant and myself are attempting to work out figures for the DEAD SONJA sequel, that he wants to call: DEAD SONJA VS. THE ARMY OF DARKNUTS and XXXENA... Darknuts instead of Darktwits...hmm...not sure, but again, we're trying to work out the figures to make it beneficial for everyone involved...though I'm sure something will come of it. But he has assured me he wants to give me a guaranteed payday on this one :).

Alright, I'll write more later, but for now, I gotta run.

2-7-07: Dissection of a comic page...

What've we got here? Well, we have page 9 of The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures...the first pic, we have the final page that YOU WILL SEE...on March 1st, 2007, what you see in the second pic was the original art for page 9...why the change?

I can't exactly say where an artist suddenly realizes that he doesn't like something he drew... Every artist goes through this...me more than others. I have also noticed that every artist has a tendency to never be 100% happy with ALL pages...so anyway, JK decided he didn't like the page and I told him I thought it looked good...

However, having now seen (and lettered, obviously) the NEW page 9 of the comic, I have to say that I am MUCH happier with the new page, much like JK himself. Originally thinking the newer cartoony look for Ardy wasn't necessarily the best move, I do see the reasoning behind it, and I am ecstatic to see how smoothly the character takes over the page when he's visible.

Even though we figured that any and every one of our readers would be intelligent enough to distinguish that the "planet" was Earth, we made the conscious decision to give you the real Earth to just make certain that passersby would realize it as well.

Also at first notice of this scene, Ardy in the top panel looked a little off...now, in the new one, he looks much better and tighter...JK even added more detail to his chest area, to show off the build.

Gotta say, the new page looks much better than the original...even without ANY changes to the layout.

2-4-07: Optimus Prime...the picture.

So Yahoo movies posted this pic on their Transformers movie information page, and well, its got to be Optimus Prime. Gotta say, he's a beast. I'm happy to see that they kept the faceplate recognizable even though the character otherwise is totally different, but what are you going to do? Structurally, its conceivable that the way the transformers looked and were as toys was NOT something that would translate well into a live action film...

Now with the information that the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron will be played by the original voice actors, this fanboy can do nothing but give the film the attention it deserves.

I hope it plays out well, but then again, Bay hasn't dissappointed me...not even with the Island, I thought that film was terrific.

2-3-07: Post 365...TAVA BEGINS!

Alrighty, why's it sound like I'm just re-writing the same thing over? I guess I am, and I'm not. Recently, I've noticed that the blog gets more hits when I write more, but that's not why I'm posting this...

JK and I have set up the very basic www.ardyvanstarr.com site to go ahead and start, and don't worry, even though it looks like its not being updated, it is...the next update will be on 2-6-07, Tuesday, to keep with the Tuesday / Thursday update schedule.

In fact, by the end of tomorrow, I should have ALL of February's pages fully uploaded to the web for it, and some of March's. We've got the first 11 pages fully drawn, and I've uploaded the first six, so this is a really great piece of news...this means I know we won't miss an update in February UNLESS something happens to me, so please don't wish it so...

To celebrate the occassion, however, I'm going to make an offer to anyone that wants a piece of TAVA beginning's history...

I will print out on cardstock, autograph and head sketch Ardy on the original day's strip if anyone wants it. I will be offering them for $5 a piece if anyone wants one, to help pay for JK and Junior Bruce Productions art expenses and shipping.

JK and I HAVE started a new blog for TAVA, as well, which will be added to the comic page for commentary on daily pages and such, as well as allowing for comments to be added to everything...

Hopefully, by March 1st, Crosby and Keenspot will get us an ad to help push The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures to the masses. I know Chris reads this blog, so I'll say, "HEY CHRIS! How about March 1st's ad space? hehe..."

Thanks for reading!