10/16/07 - Greatest Interview EVER...Must read!

So today, I decided that I was going interview for Christmas positionsat my little Babbages, and I have to say, one interview went well, and we hired the young lady, and the other interview...well, let's just say, its going to be known as a Tomlinson for as long as I interview anybody ever again...

This gentleman, whom we'll just call by his last name Tomlinson, showed up to be interviewed in a white long t-shirt, a pair of not necessarily clean jeans and a dumbfounded look on his face. I asked him to sit in the food court and I'd be with him in a minute, because I knew this one was for the record books... I just got that feeling.

I grab my counterpart, Jason, from his Gamestop store in the mall because we typically try to do dual interviews so we can go back and forth with how we feel afterwords and determine if someone deserves the job or not. Well, today, it was more for shits and giggles than anything else. I tell him we're interviewing a guy in a t-shirt and jeans, and he says, "At the end of the day, sometimes all we need is a warm body to interview because that's all we really need..." and although true, this was not the body we want to hire...

So we sit down with him and introduce each other, and I ask, "What do you know about Gamestop...?" Answer..."Umm...well..." and then he starts to rub the top of his head, and then rubs his chin...through ALL of these exchanges, this is his general response..."I don't really know about the company."

Jason: "How do you feel one person affects a company?" Answer...shrug, rub head, rub chin..."um..." rub chin, rub head, rub chin..."I don't know what the question means."

Jason: "What's your favorite game of all time...?" Answer..."I dunno. Maybe NBA Live 2007 or maybe it was 08..."

Rob: "Sell it to me." Answer: "Huh? Sell what?"

Rob: "Your favorite game to me. Sell me a copy of NBA Live 08." Answer: "Ummm..." rubs head, chin, head, chin, "I only played it a couple times."

Jason: "Your favorite game, you've only played a couple times?" Answer: "Uh, well, I never really play games."

I look at him at this point and ask, "Are you feeling overwhelmed by the questions we're asking? You don't seem to be giving us much information, or answering any of our questions..." Answer: "Nah...hm. I'm, uh, not hm...overwhelmed."

Rob: "Do you know that you applied for a sales job?" Answer: "Uh" shrug, chin, head, chin, chin, chin..."Hm, uh, I put and application in."

Jason: "Rob, do you have any more questions for him, because I feel like I've got everything I need..."

Rob: "Yeah, just one more...If you were the boss of a business, and this was the interview that you just had to hire someone...would you hire that person?"

This question's response was terrific...chin...chin...chin...head...head...head..."uh, um..."...chin...chin...chin...::breath::...chin, chin...head, head, head..."I'd, uh...well, I'd have to think about it..."

Jason: "You know, you only get one chance to make a first impression..."

Rob: "You know, we're trying to give you a fair chance here...but you haven't answered ANY of our questions, you haven't given us anything to go by, so we'll be doing our call backs in about a week. You've got our number, right?"

Answer: "Um...uh. Well...yeah."

Rob and Jason: "Alright, then, have a good one."

Wow, just writing about it here, it doesn't get the same gusto that a lot of my stories get, because you really have to animate the hair and chin rubbing, because there was A LOT of it...this guy, afterwords, here's the conversation Jason and I had about him...

Rob: "Jason, you said warm bodies...I don't think he qualified even for that classification...I think he was dead."

Jason: "Wow. That was the greatest interview of all time. I mean, I'll look back for months, maybe years, and go, "Well, it still wasn't as bad as Tomlinson..."

And you know what? He's probably right.

10/4/07 - Sace Us 222 and more...

Viral websites seem to be the "big it thing" on the internet now, where the website is full of subliminal-ness and just off the wall code to secretly give you the message...now, the WWE is involved with it. SAVE-US.222 is their new thing. They make no mention of it on their television, though Jim Ross has made mention of it on his blog, stating that "its working." Apparently, if you stop and start the video per frame, there's a hidden message that says, "te/jer_ico_moive" and on the next line says, "save_raw"...

Now this has a lot to do with former superstar, Chris Jericho, who has always been brought in with the use of really cool tactics (ie, his being brought in in late 1999 as Y2J), and who has recently (rumored) signed a new agreement with WWE. Now here's where it gets interesting, is it possible that they move his return up REAL FAST to this Sunday now that John Cena has torn his Pec from his bone? Here's hoping they do.

So today I received my EIGHT Gigabyte memory stick for my PSP game system. I spent $84 on it, and am satisfied, since the cheapest I can find them in the US is $169. I'll be using it for movies and TiVo files, since otherwise, what's the necessity of an 8 gb card? It is pretty awesome tho.

This week, GREAT comics came out. Sinestro Corp Cyborg Superman special was terrific, and I hope to see more Patrick Blaine art. He's the same man that did all the promo art for GOD OF WAR and GOD OF WAR II for the PS2, so seeing him work in comics is great. GREEN LANTERN CORPS #16 came out this week, as well, and its another terrific issue. The new Action Comics issue came out, and gives SOME explanation on how the Bizarro world came from, though I don't think Richard Donner is really writing any of it anymore. ENDANGERED SPECIES #14 (of 17) shipped in Uncanny X-Men this week, as well, and actually the whole issue was darn good, except for the unnecessary entrance of Spiral. Countdown is becoming more and more of a boredom book, however Detective Comics does not disappoint.

The only real disappointment of the day was having to go to my store to set something up that cost me $26 on my day off because I figured someone there would have totally come up with an excuse as to why it was NOT done if I hadn't done it.

Well, that and the fact that the Indians and the Rockies beat my Yanks and Phils...boo that.

10/1/07 - Lying in the Gutters...

So I read and submit to a rumor mill for comics entitled LYING WITH THE GUTTERS by Rich Johnston for cbr.cc (comic book resources) and this past week, I sent Rich an email, and then he posted something on his site...here's the email, and what he posted:

EMAIL: (Titled: New TITANS Comic?)


from

Rob Potchak
Sep 27 (4 days ago)
to

richj@comicbookresources.com

date
Sep 27, 2007 8:08 PM

subject
NEW Titans comic?

mailed-by
gmail.com

"So rumors are now circulating that DC is going to launch a new TITANScomic with the team of Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Flash,Red Arrow and a few others...now I haven't heard any teams named forart, but Judd Winick's name is all over the project.Hopefully they'll at least get Perez on covers."
rob potchak

LYING IN THE GUTTERS SPOT:

TITANIC DAYS (Posted 10/1/07)
"So rumors are now circulating that DC Comics is going to launch a new "Titans" comic with the team of Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Flash, Red Arrow and more. Now I haven't heard any people named for art, but Judd Winick's name is all over the project.
Odds are they'll get George Perez on covers. "

Now, Rich, normally you give people credit for their rumors that sound like they are pretty accurate, but this time, my friend, you seem to have forgotten to credit me, and damn near purgered my statement. Other than my forgetting a space and changing the last sentence, everything else was word for word with better punctuation, which is pretty surprising, because I had to have been drinking to not do spell check.

Anyway, I think I'm going to link Rich to this, because I want to make sure he knows that I know he did this, but he's a swell enough guy, and again, has credited me in the past for my rumors.

In other rumored news, I would assume that Rags Morales or Mike McKone ARE the artist on said series, but that's my speculative mind here, since those two guys haven't been announced for any projects yet, though Matthew Clark is another one I wouldn't be surprised with.

9/27/07: I haven't forgotten about my readers...

So this week was the Halo 3 launch from Microsoft at work, and from the look of their stock, Bill Gates' Third or fourth generation from now has already retired. On day one, I believe the figures were close to 2.5 Million units sold. Crazy. They said it earned a reported 172 Million dollars on day one, actually putting it 22 million in front of Spider-man 3 THE MOVIE, not the game, as the biggest entertainment release of the year.

I finally heard from JK, and he said that he's going through an artist's block at the moment, and said that as soon as he's off the schneid, that he'll be back to making the fans look on in awe with new pages.

On other comics news, Eric Kent has told me that he will be sending me the pages he's drawn from THIEF and from TAGGER, so that I may do with as I please in his own words. What I'll probably do is either electronically ink them, or ink them myself by hand, which I've been wanting to try again for a while. Obviously, after that, people will begin to see them.

Rumor has it that DC Comics is coming up with a new comic series called TITANS, which will be written by (ugh,) Judd Winick and star Nightwing, Donna Troy, Cyborg, and all of the other original Teen Titans...look for this to be DC's answer to people wanting more of what they want, while giving it to them with a writer that knows how to ruin it...HOPEFULLY they'll listen as I saw, PUT GEORGE PEREZ ON COVERS!

I've been going through a very NON-creative time right now, and while certain things tell me that you never know how long you've got, so you have to go do the things you want now, there's another pert of me that's just saying, "you are too tired to write..."

I have two weeks to find another car insurance company if I want to pay less than $5000 a year for two cars.

I'm congested for absolutely no reason tonight.

Saw Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin and Seether last night and thought it was a great live show...especially for $20. They don't really have stage presence yet, but they're all good musicians.

I won a Red and Black Nintendo DS, so hopefully that's something I'll see in the next few weeks.

Well, I'm about pooped, so everyone have a good night...Puzzle Quest for the PSP is freaking awesome!

9/14/07: Rob with Todd, FINALLY, and more.

So my phone camera looks like its been drunk all week, not really sure why, but here is the picture of me with Todd McFarlane, FINALLY. I've decided to include another picture here, as well, that of Heavenly Sword babe, Nariko after she caught me staring at her Heavenly something...no, not the breasts, as this young lady for some reason, would uncross her legs as she would be getting up, and you got to see the goods. She noticed that I noticed, and before you knew it, everyone was noticing, hehe...

It was a fun picture, since I could write ALMOST ANY caption for it.

Oh, for those who thought I was saying something bad about Clive Barker in a previous post, I wasn't. The man looked tired, and I didn't want to stand in line, so I walked up and shook his hand, that's all.

I am attempting to work something out with Vivendi interactive for the release of HALO 3, and all I can say about it is that it has something to do with a game that while not 100% dissimilar to Halo, it does have a chance to be the coolest multiplayer game out there with new ways to go.

In closing, here, thanks for the support in reading this blog, I've probably got a couple more Vegas photos to upload from phone to web, and today I did something that I wasn't sure about, so I flipped a coin.

I traded in a lot of the games I received from the conference, since by company standards, that's okay, but I wasn't sure what to get with it. I wanted the PSP, but I couldn't justify $200 to myself OR my wife, because we've been struggling to keep money in our bank accounts recently, so I didn't want to effect that. I decided that since I wanted the PSP, and since I had enough to cover it, I would go ahead and get the PSP. I bought the new Slimline PSP, the PSP-2000 is what they call it at Sony, and I've enjoyed it so far.

I'll probably go back to doing what I had done with it previously, which is place burned movies on my 2gb memory card.

A couple things I DO like about it include TiVo -To-Go service, so taking programs from my TiVo and placing them on there, as well as being able to remotely control (not remote control, but to control the system from somewhere else) my PS3...meaning...if I have a movie in there, I can pull it up on my PSP similar to sling box...this is awesome, as I've already tried it out, and I've heard it even works with the new PS3 game, LAIR...if more companies take advantage of this, I'll probably start buying more games on PS3.

9/14/07: Yet another guest from the Gamestop Con...

So here's a pic of Slash. Now unfortunately, this day I was not close to the stage, so I didn't specifically MEET Slash, but I snapped up a quick pic of him on onw of our 1000 inch screens. He was cool as shit, coming out to a fog maker and lazer show, playing guitar with cigarette in his mouth. He came out and introduced someone to play AGAINST him on the All new GUITAR HERO III, which I have to say, was pretty cool, but the computer version of Slash, playing a guitar solo written exclusively for the game by the real Slash, was too good for the player to beat.

For some reason, the Todd McFarlane picture will not upload still, so I will have to figure that out.

9/13/07: Yuckin it up with Todd McFarlane!

At the same vendor show at the conference, none other than Todd McFarlane was there. (apparently, blogger is not letting me upload the picture, which I'll now have to do later, heh).

For those who don't know, I met Todd 14 years ago at a Philadelphia Comic Convention that he was at. At my convention here, I brought it up. "Todd, y'know, the last time I saw you was at Philly in 1993...?" And he looked over and smiled. "Y'know, that was the show I debated Peter David." And I agreed and said that I still felt he won the debate, just making light conversation. I then asked him about his current convention status. "This is only your second convention this year, right?" And he replied, "Yeah, y'know, ever since I became a dad, its a lot harder for me to want to leave home, so I like doing these quieter gatherings..." I then got my Convenant HALO 3 Xbox360 controller autographed by him and took the picture (though its again, not in great quality).

Overall, a decent guy. He chat with everyone, and literally stayed until we all got our stuff signed. I shook his hand and made a simple comment about how the comic industry still misses him and mentioned ARDY (on my shirt).

I missed getting to meet Randy Orton (saw him, though, seemed a little standoff-ish, but on good behavior). I had a customer I was going to try to get an autograph from him for, but he only signed for 2 hours, which in no way was long enough.

And the one disappointment in my meetings, was Clive Barker. I just went up, shook his hand, and then let him get back to signing.

I'll try to post that pic of me and Todd tomorrow, as well as a few others that are good.

9/13/07: Back from Vegas...Koji Igarashi

I'm back from Vegas and wow, I'm exhausted. This year was WAY better than last year since it was in Vegas...and Although these pictures are HORRIBLE quality, I must say that I'm super excited about them.

This one for example is ME with KOJI IGARASHI, the famed creator of Castlevania...This is his ONLY US Appearance that I know about this year, so I have to say, getting to meet him is incredible...

The photo was taken with my phone, so that's where the quality issue came into play.

This was at our vendor show, and I got him to autograph the cover art for the upcoming game for PSP: CASTLEVANIA: DRACULA X CHRONICLES.

Its awesome, I know...more to come.

9/5/07: Biggest Update in a while...

Alright, I haven't been on here for a real update in a while and that's because the wife and I have had some issues with things going on around here...no, nothing with US, but just around the house, car, work, stuff...Its really been bogging into a lot of the free time we've had, which sucks, because since my vacation I have not touched my movie treatment for THIEF, which everyone who has read it has said that they would pay to see this movie, which is a plus.

Okay so let's start with what I am allowed to talk about at home. My car insurance company, Nationwide, knows that I have a DWI on my account. They also know when our bill is supposed to be due...however, they don't seem to realize that MY WIFE is not MY DAD'S wife when it comes to paying your bill. My mom pays her insurance monthly, I pay mine quarterly because it allows us time to save enough to pay the hefty fee for having a DWI and a speeding ticket (the former is mine, the latter is the wife's). Well, they told me our account went delinquent, and we hadn't paid, and now it was too late to reinstate that account...the reason? They said we hadn't paid. (Sorry if this jumps around, but you should get the gist.) So anyway, I'm looking through the old bank statements and finding nothing to go against their claim...so I have to start a new policy, get looked at as a HIGH RISK and they tell me our insurance will be about $5000 a year ($1200+ a quarter), and that we owe it to them to restart the policy. They also tell us the DMV will be sending a notice and we'll owe them $50 per vehicle for that, too...so this week, the wife and I shelled out $1300...YIKES...that's what a rainy day savings is for...it was fucking pouring. We get it paid and get it cleared...now here's where the fun happens.

My mom contacts Nationwide and asks why she hasn't received a bill in two months (again, she pays monthly). They tell her its because her account has a $750 credit on the account... Mom taps her forefinger on her cheek and asks, "Do you think this could be the payment that my son and his wife swear got paid but you folks told them it didn't?" They look it up, and guess what? It was a money order from my wife to Nationwide in the sum of $750...what we just so happened to owe on June 26th...Mom, being the sport she is, said she would pay what would have mader her account delinquent and asked that the credit be used to reinstate my old account because we never should have had the lapse in coverage...now, where the confusion came in...

With my wife taking $750 in cash to the bank to get a money order because we didn't have any checks at the time, we never had it show up in our bank account, which means we had NO RECORD of us paying it...so I had Diane, our Nationwide rep copy the money order for me, since they had it on record all along, and we now have record of it. Folks, this is the ONLY reason I can think of to NOT have a namesake...

Okay, so other happenings...

As stated, the movie treatment is where it was a month ago, but I'll probably finish it within the month so that I can get Keenspot's people looking at it. I have a tentative agreement with them to shop it around, since they have taken care of me in the past. I believe in giving back as well as taking in relationships, professional and personal, so with Chris Crosby and myself knowing this property could move well, I have given my word it would most likely stay there.

That's the same reason I'm not currently looking for other employment. I like what I do, they've been pretty good to me, and I would rather deal with the shark pool I know than the shark ocean I don't.

I will be revisiting all the current projects I have on the plate, since I'd really like to get DEAD SONJA off the ground for the sequel, and I NEED to get my ass back on TAGGER and THIEF the comic...however, with the re-write that has become the treatment, I'm not sure where Eric would like to go with it...I don't want to scrap what's possibly the best art of his career, so we may just run that the way it is, and then have the other ready for a movie adaptation :).

Although I haven't talked with JK in a while, I'm hoping everything is okay with him and his wife and their families. I know he started a new job not too long ago, and I hope that isn't killing his creativity, since I want to finish the first TAVA arc to get started on the second one, which YES, I am in the middle of writing. The catch on TAVA was not all on the art end, either folks, let me say that now. TAVA is a project that with two different minds visually seeing the pages, there were constant rewrites to make JK's pages flow with my text. The biggest problem for me is that I couldn't get the lettering to look right in the small size that looked good on the big size. As an artist myself, it was difficult to look at, and I know JK wasn't pleased with it, either.

Next week is my company (GAMESTOP)'s big Manager's Conference, and this year is in a much better locale than last's, which was in Dallas...this year, it's in VEGAS baby! So not only do I get to see about all the new games, systems, merchandise coming out not only in this final quarter of the year, but I also get to check out stuff that is top secret coming in the industry...what is it? Can't tell you, even if I DID know, hehe...Nah, I'll come back with lots of info on upcoming stuff and it makes me excited as shit for Christmas, since this is when most of the stuff I'll get to see and play will get dropped this year. Unfortunately, no cameras or video footage will be allowed out, and I can be fired for taking any...So not only do I get to see that, get to go to Vegas for the first time, see the sights, eat the food and walk the strip, I get to gamble!

Only real downside to my trip is that the company scheduled it on the week of my second wedding anniversary, and I am very upset about that, since there's NO WAY to bring my wife, since they force roommates on us for it.

Hopefully I'll make another update before the trip, and anybody who wants to give me shit for Notre Dame getting destroyed on Saturday, remember...Michigan lost to a Division 1-AA school, and they are the ONLY program in HISTORY with more wins than Notre Dame...so bite me. :)

8/31/07: Halloween comes early...and its good.

Thursday night, around 9:30 pm, I decide I want to see the new Halloween film. Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good cheese ball horror flick. This was NOT one. In fact, the casting seemed perfect, from Tyler Mane playing the crazed psychopathic Michael Myers, to Malcolm McDowell playing the role that NO ONE thought anyone could fill Donald Pleasance's shoes... and he did so nicely.

The cameos were spot on for what you'd expect from such a cherished property, and this movie was just good.

If you want to jump two to ten times, this movie does so in a way that is sure to continue to do so EVEN after you've seen it once.

Zombie sticks to most of the story, changing only the end, but at the same time, he kept the scenery the same (filmed in the same city) and gave a new reason behind the painted Shatner mask...which after 17 years is pretty gruesome.

If you want GOOD horror done right, this compliments the original film VERY nicely, and I'd recommend it highly to anyone wanting to jump.

8/21/07:Still hot as balls...

Yesterday, the house heat topped out OVER 100 degrees. Still no end in sight as to when this will all be corrected, the estimate from ARS, the people that set the standard is now at $3500. Yikes. And no, we don't have that kind of money just lying around, however, they had a 36 month payment plan, and we went with the unit with a 10 year warranty.

Tomorrow, we'll be back to as normal as we get, when we have returned to air conditioned living.

Anyone else think its extremely difficult to think when their house is 100 degrees?

I've come to realize that when building lots of houses, you take the easy way out when building stuff. Meaning, everyone in my neighborhood will probably be replacing their AC units, since the guy told me that the generic type that we owned typically lasts 8 years, and then asked when the house was built...1999...which is, in fact, 8 years.

The good news is that the new unit we are getting has to abide by higher efficiency standards, which means it'll be better on cost and everything too...just don't know if that means $5 or $50 in savings per year.

Sometime next week, I'll update everyone with current projects, and if you haven't played it yet, get Bioshock...rated a PERFECT 10 by 7 different sources.

8/19/07: Hot as Fuck.

That's right, I'm not going to mince words. My house is 90 degrees right now...it wasn't at 1pm this afternoon, but it is now. This is now the second time that our AC has gone out this Summer. The first time it was 89 degrees outside, now, we've been seeing 105. This isn't good.

I have two dogs. My wife and I can suffer through the heat until we get it fixed, but the dogs can't. So I had to go out and purchase a fan. Hell, I was going to purchase an Air Conditioner, since Walmart had a cheap one for $90, but until Christy and I get to the bank, we're on a limited budget. So I went out and bought $40 worth of fans for the house...and as long as you stay near them, you're alright.

I just don't get it. Christy fiddles with the thermostat all the time, which forces me to go back to it and turn it back...I think all this constant fiddling with it has helped cause the breakdowns...she just won't stop with it at 75, and has to turn it to 68, which could FREEZE the AC unit.

I love ya, baby, but we need to leave it alone. They DO freeze up...they DO break, and now we're left with another repair bill, and this time for something that is DIRE to the household.

Anyway, this has frustrated me to no end, because of it being hotter than a ballsack with lit matches under it. Couple that with the thought that I injured my eardrum this morning and everything is all loopy today.

Hope everyone is having a better weekend than me.

8/14/07: Final Ringo Tribute.

This is my tribute to Mike and his work.
I hope everyone likes it as much as I liked
Mike's work.

8/14/07: Wowio Top 10...Dead Sonja!

All I can say here is...If you AIN'T read it...Find out why the Las Vegas Weekly thought it was one of the most original concepts out there!

8/13/07: Wowio Top Downloads...DEAD SONJA?!

Hey all, head on over to Wowio.com where you can read books for free online...and you'll get to see DEAD SONJA is right now, their #7 Top Downloaded title! That's right, head over there, in the search block, search Comics and Graphic Novels and then look at the top ten...OR, if it changes too much, just search under Publisher: BLATANT COMICS and you'll find it.

Other works by me on there are XXXena: Warrior Pornstar (un-credited), XXXena vs. Busty The Vampire Murderer...and coming soon, I believe is THE UNGRAMMATICAL EBONIX-MEN

8/13/07: Remembering Mike Wieringo: 1963-2007

Mike Wieringo was one of the best comic creators I've ever met. As a person, he was a great man. I met him a long time ago at HEROES CON, and in fact, he was one of the few creators that while working for the big guys, would sneak some of us little creator's work into his pages, as you can see from the picture of ARDY on the back of Peter Parker's shirt from Sensational Spider-Man #21.

Mike had a way about him, and a grace on the pages. My words won't do him enough justice, since overall, I only got to see him at one convention a year, but every year, I'd say, "Hey Mike, you drew my character Ardy on Peter Parker's shirt back in the day," and he'd retort, "Yeah, Rob, right? How's Ardy doing these days anyhow?"

He was a pro in comics and from what I knew, a pro in life. His slick linework but known drama will be missed greatly, especially since he was a creator who knew how to make great comics.

It's weird. Just last night, I downloaded three pieces of his art that were penciled pieces (one he colored as well), and I was toying with coloring them. The first one that I played with is this Shazam and Dr. Sivana piece. I went gruesomely dark with it, because I wanted to show a great amount of drama in it, as well as make the mad scientist look bad ass.

It wasn't until I got home from work twenty minutes ago that I found out the horrific news.

Mike was known for drawing a lot of characters from both Marvel and DC, and now, he's probably constructing the Crossover in the sky with the likes of Kirby, Cockrum and all the others taken from us.

Godspeed, Mike, your work and who you were will be missed.

8/4/07: Back from vacation, and time to hit with an update...

There seems to be an interesting story behind these two cell phone photos I took this week, but all I can say is that SHIT seemed to be the theme of the vacation.

I told myself I was going to work on THIEF, TAGGER and TAVA while I was away, and technically, I only worked on one of the three, and here's what I'll explain.

I began working on a movie treatment for THIEF. I got into a discussion with longtime friend and publisher of my work, Chris Crosby, about THIEF and he said that it had blockbuster movie written all over it. Okay, maybe blockbuster was not the word he used, but he did say, "Feature Film." He knows the story, and the concept and is very interested in publishing it if and when its ready to see print, but when he told me that he felt that it could be a movie, something I already believed, it made me feel the concept was MUCH stronger than just your average comic, and with the way comic properties are being gobbled up by movie studios, I think this may be the best route to take the project. In fact, its simple to note that EVERYONE would be interested in publishing the title IF it were already greenlit to become a movie. Hell, I'd probably even get to determine my own pricetag.

So alright, other than that, I did two drawings and no other writing. I was just too tired. However, I like the new spin on THIEF and how I opened it up for a movie, possibly even better than the original issues did, which will upset one person tremendously...sorry Eric. It makes me want to write it in a much different way, and for the first time, I think a decompressed four to eight issue ORIGIN miniseries would be MUCH better than how I did the origin in one issue and then led right into the story with the original scripts. Now let me state this...I don't like decompression, but this story is about grief, and being down on your luck. It actually works out better for characterisation to learn slowly about the main character and his troubles. I also developed his relationship with the hero of the story a tad more, so that he really just thinks the hero is a prick, instead of the superhero everyone else sees him as.

I can't go into further detail right now, and I hope everyone understands. This idea is one of the last original ideas out there, and its building off of the heroic ideals we already see from the big two comic companies, without stealing anything. I'm proud this idea came to me, and I'm amazed no one else has gone with it.

TAGGER UPDATE

Yes, I have the itch to write more about the character from LANDIS and Eric Kent is scheduled to be the artist on it. I've told Eric that I'd love to begin updating the elisalandis.com website with original TAGGER pages by the first of the year, but I have to ensure that A) He has a finished script to work on...B) He has enough time to NOT miss any updates and C) That he has the time to make it his finest work to date.

Eric works twice as many hours as me, it seems, and he's doing the brunt of the work by drawing the story, so I have to allot him enough time to stay on schedule. And honestly, I'm not helping any by not keeping up on the script, though I AM in the third issue of it, and after re-reading it, I am happy with how this story is turning out. It makes me glad to know I've been able to keep a quality to my work.

Owen originally said if I could find another artist for LANDIS he'd want to do covers for it to keep his name attached to the project, but I know his plate is OVERFLOWING with projects, so I don't want to try to get him on covers or pinups unless he knows he can do them.

TAVA UPDATE:

Over at JK's deviant art page, yourbuddybuddy.deviantart.com, he now has TAVA prints available, and a really cool fake LEVIs ad starring Ardy and Torch.

More updates on TAVA when I have them. JK's been using his hiatus time to get ahead on pages, and work on other projects, too, so hopefully we'll get more up to speed with all of this in the near future.

Well, that's the comic book update from POTS AND PANS, so hopefully everyone will be satisfied with what I've stated.

Later!

7/28/07: Vacation here I come...and a Playboy covergirl? (450th blog post!)

Yeah, that's right, I met Ashley Massaro from the WWE today. She was walking around the mall at 9:30 in the morning and looked lost. My computer had just crashed, so I figured I'd go find someone to talk to. I look back, and I see a hot blondie, and I'm thinking, "She looks DAMN familiar." I keep walking but then turn back, and she smiles, but she looks lost.

"What are you looking for?" I ask.

"Heh, is it that obvious? I'm looking for the Apple store."

I just look at her and say, "Okay, follow me." And I proceed to walk her to the Apple store, then making the asshole comment of the day..."Yeah, it's normally the one with the BIG APPLE on it..."

She thanks me, and then I look at her and ask, "Are you?"

Her reply..."Yeah...I am."

Me: "Cool."

Then I walk off...at this point, I geek out a second. Here I am, having helped a Diva in distress, and all I thought to do was leave...and NOW, I think, "Great, she'll think I'm stalking her..." But I went back, and simply asked, "Ashley, I know you get this all the time, but..."

Now here's where the story many years down the road will change, but tonight, it'll remain the truth...

"Can I get a picture with you? Otherwise, the guys won't believe me when I tell them this story..."

She was happy to oblige, and I became the freak fan, and she told me, she's currently dating a wrestler, and it isn't Matt Hardy...the funny thing here is she asked her mom to take the picture (I guess she met mom at the mall, because she wasn't with her originally when Ashley looked lost.) Her mom declined, very much like mine would, and the Apple employee helping her had to take the picture.

No autographs, no lies about how I made out with a Playboy covergirl, just a good old fashioned "I met a hot famous chick and because I never leave home without my phone...I got to prove it," moments.

Now, I've got to get some sleep before my long 8 hour (if I'm lucky) drive tomorrow to the Jersey Shore.

Wish me luck, all, Monday and Tuesday I'll be in my favorite visiting spot, Atlantic City, and yes, I'll be bringing the laptop, because I want to finish writing something.

Who knows, maybe when I get back, JK and I'll have updated the TAVA site.

And here's the pic, guys, since I know EVERYONE wants to see it.

7/23/07: It's actually after midnight already...

So my wife had some serious issues with co-workers based on her blog that she writes. She basically talks about her day to day experiences on her night job, and overall, it seemed like it was all a matter of time where one or more of her co-workers would feel like she was talking crap about them behind their backs and then retaliate.

Well, it happened. And Christy was really upset this morning about it, but now seems alright with most of it.

Now I love an support her, so I'm not going to go into much more, other than hopefully she knows what to do, say and how to act to prevent this type of thing again.

My problem with this situation is simple. My wife explains HER perception of the truth in her blog. She writes about what she sees, what she does, and how it all pertains in the overall scheme. However, the people that read her blog, in most cases are her customers, and not necessarily her coworkers. Because of this, when her coworkers found that she was writing things (funny or not) at their expense, they didn't take kindly to it. So they started making up stories to tell about Christy. She feels she was telling her side of the truth, but they were making things up about her.

Me, I'm 100% honest, 100% of the time, to the point that it can get me in trouble, because there's no reason to lie, because it just digs a larger hole that you need to come clean on later...that's me. A lot of bar patrons that aren't where they want to be in life will make up whatever they can to get the means and results that they want, because of whatever reason they come up with.

I have a guy that works for me that lies so badly, that it seems like he truly believes the lies in which he tells me. He told me he went to Wrestlemania, which was in Detroit, even though he has no money, no car and no wherewithall to actually set up the trip and get back in time to work the following week. Yet he truly believes he was there when he talks to me.

He told me he has a Nintendo Wii...however, when his sister came into my store and she said, "Really? It wasn't at the house when I was there..." His reply? "I hid it, because I didn't want anyone to play it."

And finally, and my personal favorite..."I am working on Assassin's Creed." Its a game being made in MONTREAL...QUEBEC...CANADA. yet he was explaining "how cold" it is up there, and that part of the reasoning behind it's lateness is because he lives in NC and can't make it up there for all the meetings.

I understand why people lie. I'm a writer. Lying is an essential portion of writing fiction. You have to place yourself into the mindset of someone or something else, and yet truly believe it yourself so that you may get others to believe it themselves.

Where am I going with this? Who knows. I love my wife. I'm not mad at her for writing her feelings or blogs, but I explained that if people don't feel they are being talked or written about, they always take it wrong...much like my employee that I wrote about would have every right to be, even though he hasn't been honest about much since he started working for me...and he has a nasty case of the funk.

That's why mostly, I write about me, as vain as that probably is, at least it means the only one that I can make mad is me, right?

Vacation is 5 days away, and it can't come soon enough. I'm hoping to take copies of THIEF and TAGGER so I can try to get inside them again, since I'll actually have some good free time for the first time this year.

Oh, and if anyone has any suggestions for when I go to Vegas, I'd love to hear'm... I've never been there, and want to take in the town when I'm there, because who knows when I'll go back, unless the company makes it a regular gig.

7/22/07: Break the walls down...

So here's the thing I'm pissed off about. What do you do when you walk up to your friend who's been drinking all day, and you ask him his opinion on something and he tells you you're an asshole...?

Well, you can do what you want to do...in living colour.

I'm tired of listening to assholes who want to do things their way. Here's my opinion to people who look at this pretty religiously...IF YOU WANT TO NOT DO ANYTHING just keep going.

Tonight, I walked into a bar that I've been going for years. I asked the owner of said bar, "What happens when people haven't been here, and want to be treated fairy..." And do you want to know what the answer was?


"Don't talk to me like you are above me, rob." And then when I flat out looks at him like I was upset and wanted an answer, instead of expecting a response...his response was, I'll walk to where other people are...

Here's my problem with this...I've been YOUR FRIEND for how long? I've expected you to call me out when I'm wrong, just as like I'd expect you'd hope friends would call you out when you are wrong...

Problem is...someone asks me when they think they ought to sing, and I ask the owner of a bar?
I DO NOT expect an anser after the fact...I expect MY FRIEND of 5 years to tell me that we are or ARE NOT hanging out that weekend...if we aren't...you're GOD DAMN LOSS. TOO GOD DAMN BAD. So glad to hear you'd rather hear if someone wants to hang out rather than live.

Here's the thing. I ask you a question as your equal. Why? Because you KNOW I've earned it. You want to feel as though I ask the question in a a way where I'm not the boss and you are on the wrong planet.

If you think you know something I don't...you are on the wrong planet... if you think you deserve a statement about this...YOU ARE WELCOME.

Get over yourself. I'm tired of everyone accepting your asshole attitude, when all YOUR FRIEND asks is a question. If you have an answer, then answer the goddamn questions... Don't get mad because I ask a normal and standard Q, get mad because I answer something you already know...

Like why my wife got to sing twice before I did on Saturday? Simple...she paid the DEE JAY... meaning?

Simple...it meant, since she paid him to let her sing her second song of the night, WE no longer had to wait until the song was over, and more impotantly, we could ALL get along with what further was to come, WITHOUT a bias interjection, or someone BRIBING to get to sing of anyone else.

I'm so glad we are all so honest, ALL THE TIME...