Word Association
- Pitbull:: Dingoy (my cousin’s dog)
- TD:: Touchdown
- Carter:: Vince
- Japan:: Tokyo
- 50:: Cent
- Streak:: Red
- Rifle:: Gun
- Trap:: Parent
- Easter:: Egg
- Mitt:: Oven
Back in Long Beach!
Back in Long beach. It’s been a busy week for me, and today I’m just going to relax. Maybe drive up to Santa Monica and go to a comic book signing.
I had forgotten to mention that Dave has been in Vegas for Manny’s bachelor party. So when I got home, he wasn’t home yet. But as I walked in, I looked on our coffee table and saw a copy of Maxim. That in itself isn’t surprising, since Dave likes to read the articles in the magazine (yeah, that’s it) and buys one every once in a while. But when I looked at the cover, I was shocked and a bit disturbed to see who was on the cover. It really makes me wonder about the man I married. Who was on the cover?
Marge Simpson.
The headline? “Marge Simpson: The Hair Comes Down!”
If it was Carmen Elektra, I wouldn’t mind. Britney Spears, Denise Richards, Cameron Diaz, some Victoria’s Secret model, it wouldn’t have seemed as bizarre to me.
But Marge Simpson? That’s a little weird! My husband is buying a magazine to check out a scantily clad cartoon character!
I breathed a sigh of relief to find out it was his brother’s mag, who subscribes. His brother came to town before they flew out to Vegas and left it on the coffee table.
*sigh of relief*
I mean, I don’t mind competing with the likes of Paris Hilton, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Halle Berry. But Marge Simpson? It’s no contest! I would lose my hubby to the blue-haired babe!
Comic Convention Adventures
Geez. I don’t even know where to start.
Last weekend I attended the Wizard World Comic Convention in LA. Except it wasn’t in LA. It was in Long Beach. I had to state that fact, because I gotta represent da LBC, yo! Haha. I’m so bad at ghetto talk.
This was the first year that Wizard had a convention in the LA area, and you could kind of tell. DC comics didn’t have a conventional booth, it had a couple tables that formed a box. Crossgen, as well as Marvel, were non-existent. The hall was about half the size of the hall used for the Chicago ‘con.
I had talked to some of the people at the booths, and they told me that a lot of people held back since it was the first year, and they didn’t know how the crowd would be. I guess they were afraid that the ‘con would be a dud. It was to be held on two days with a three hour preview night on Friday.
But when the place was packed on Friday night, they knew that this would be a big ‘con in the future. When we got there, the line to get in was the length of the whole convention center. It was crazy!
The downside, however, was that there were too many people for too little things. There were lines everywhere for this and that, and companies had unusually long lines, since the other publishers weren’t there to take up the slack.
So I had a good time, not a great time, but a good time. There just wasn’t enough for me to be interested in for three days. The panels were OK, but there wasn’t the variety of programming that I’m accustomed to. The lines for everything were crazy, and I didn’t have the patience or interest to wait in them. But it’s the first year, so I’ll cut them some slack.
But there were some highlights to the weekend….some more interesting than others. Me and the girls had a lot of good laughs. Usually at my expense, but I don’t mind being the whipping girl. So here’s the more memorable moments…
Celebrity Encounters
There were a couple celebrities there, and we got to meet a couple of them. I think one of my favorites was meeting Noah Hathaway, who I had the biggest crush on when he played Atreyu in ‘The Neverending Story’. Although the picture isn’t that great (he was talking as the picture was taken) he’s aged pretty well.
We also met:
- David Carradine - who is really really old. Like a carcass sitting on the chair old. But he was nice enough to take a picture with us and gave us a couple grunts of hello. It was pretty surreal.
- Ken Foree - from Dawn of the Dead. He called us the smelly girls during the whole ‘con, because as I passed by him to take a picture with Noah, he caught a whiff of my perfume. Since the actor area was in a high traffic area, we passed by him (and Noah) often.
- James Marsden - OK, I forgive him for being in the X-Men movies. He was just amazingly charming and cute. How can you not like those dimples? We didn’t have much time to chat it up, though, since we were actually in line to meet him, unlike the others.
Seeing Familiar Faces
One thing I love about going to a ‘con is that every year I meet someone new, or make a new friend. This year was no exception.
- Of course, the people at Aspen were as wonderful as can be. Liz was the best and it was great to see her again. I didn’t want to bug them too much because the booth was packed the whole time. There was always a line and the issues were selling really fast. But I got a chance to say ‘Hi’ to Mike during the panel. We passed by Frank as we were walking around, and he stopped by to tell us how the ‘con was going for them. I also got a chance to chat with Talent at the booth on Sunday, he’s a sweetheart! It was nice to re-introduce myself to Mark and Koi, the newest additions to the Aspen family, who I think I had met last year when we went out once. I didn’t get a chance to meet Christina, but I hope she’s in Chicago because I’d love to ask her some questions about coloring. I’m sure that Peter and the rest of the team got a good laugh watching me at the booth across playing the dancing game on the I-Toy. I didn’t know they were watching, and I was forced to play. I felt like a dork afterward! But thanks to everyone at Aspen, who have always made me feel like I was a little more than just a fan.
- Also got to see Mike Wellman of Atomic Basement again. I’d venture to say that he’s one of the first people I got to know at these things, and he was so cool when I came out to LA on business a couple years ago. Nice to see he’s still involved with comics. Buy Gone South!!!
- We talked to the ultra-huggable Tone Rodriguez for a bit, who sadly told me that he might not be doing any more ‘cons. We took one last picture together, but he said he’ll try and make it to Chicago. He’s the best, man!
- I had a couple brief convos with Mark Brooks, who this year, like Talent Caldwell, has become ‘Mr. Popular’. Nice to see his career really taking off. If you’re reading this, I apologize for not coming back to your table like I promised! I had to take the girls to the airport! Mark put a bit of terror into me when we were talking…
Mark: Hey, I checked out your blog the other day. It’s cool!
Me: What? My blog?
Mark: Yeah. I was doing a vanity search. I looked up my name and came up with your site.
Me: Are you serious?
Mark: Yup. Listen, if you put any artists name on your site, they’re gonna find it. We’re always looking up our names on the internet!
Me: For some reason, I find that mildly terrifying! Good thing I didn’t say anything mean!
Mark: Nah, you said good things, and you put up the sketch that I did.
Me: Ohh…ok.
So yeah. If you’re doing a vanity search, ‘Hey Mark!’
- We stopped by Jay Company Comics to get some goods, and Jay (if that is his name) immediately recognized us and said hello. He’s such a great guy, and it’s nice seeing him year after year. Then we stopped by the other table that they had and said hello to Mama Jay. She is the sweetest woman ever. When she saw us, she immediately recognized us and said, ‘Ohh, hey girls!’ and then turned to me and said, ‘So, did you get married yet?’ It’s so amazing that she remembered such a thing! Then she did her ‘I’ve seen you girls grow up! It’s so wonderful!’ After 6 or 7 years of going to comic cons, I guess you could say that she’s seen us grow up!
- Got some great sketches from Ryan Odagawa and Sean ‘Cheeks’ Galloway. Ryan was great, he drew me a great picture of Psylocke, and later drew me Princess from Battle of the Planets. Sean fooled around in his sketch of Psylocke, and it turned out rather….interesting. So then he promised me that he would sketch another pic for me, so he got up early in the morning to sketch a pic of Psylocke riding a hippo. It’s the cutest!
The Triplets of Long Beach
So we were talking to Tone, and he was telling his friend not to disturb him because he was with his triplets. We got a little laugh out of that. As we were about to leave, a fan who was waiting to Tone turned to us and said, ‘Excuse me, can I take a picture of you? I’ve never seen triplets before!’ I looked at him and said, ‘Um, we’re not triplets.’ Which is obvious if you see the three of us. And he was like, ‘Well, can I have a picture anyway?’ Weirdo!
The Incredible Mr. Smith
Though Jason Mewes was there for his alotted signing time, he was supposed to be with Kevin Smith. However, Kevin was stuck in LA traffic, and missed the time. I guess they told people to keep their tickets (that they needed to get an autograph). After Kevin had his panel later that day, they reformed the line. And instead of having the people go through the line and coming up to a table to get a signature, Kevin actually went up to people in line to sign autographs, take pictures, and just talk to people. I was really impressed with this gesture. He really took his time and made sure that he got to talk to everyone.
Fine, fine, fine, Kevin Smith, I’ll go and see Jersey Girl.
Oh, and if you missed it, you can get my “Dirty Sexy” Jason Mewes story here.
The CBDLF SAT Sketch-a-Thon
One of my mini-highlights was watching the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund auction. They had some popular artists like Talent Caldwell, Judd Winick, Amanda Connor, Mark Brooks, Ale Garza, etc draw their least favorite character to draw. Then they all swtiched papers and drew their favorite characters. And the theme was ‘Compromising Positions’. So you had Spiderman on all fours and a fat Batman behind him going, ‘Hmmm’. Or Hulk taking a dump as Namor is in the shower singing Air Supply. Or Spiderman handcuffed to the bed as The Pro is ready for some kinky electric torture.
It was really cute to watch them concentrate so hard on making these sketches, since they wanted to do as many as they could during the allotted time. It was like they were taking the SAT’s. But you could tell they were having a great time just being goofy.
The sketches went from $20 to about $120. My top bid was $30, didn’t get anything. But it was fun to raise my hand a couple times!
Hmm…that’s all the stories that I remember. It seems like it was so long ago!
Pat, you owe me big time for going to the ‘con and not giving me a heads up. Especially since we were at the same panel and I didn’t even know!
Anyway, here’s some of my favorite pictures…
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Click here for my Wizard World LA Gallery
Wizard World Chicago, here we come!!!
Drunk? Call Yano!
Just got the most bizarre phone call at 2am on the East Coast.
Saw the number, and it was my cousin. Got a little worried to get a call from him so late at night.
Then I picked up the phone, and it wasn’t him. Or at least I don’t think it was. Whoever it was was pretty drunk. Yelling drunk. Laughing, giggling drunk. And they just started talking to me like they knew who I was, but I had no idea who I was talking to. Even when I asked, they were slurring so bad I couldn’t understand. Then the phone was passed to someone else who wasn’t my cousin, and they were babbling, too. Then passed to someone else. I got a pretty good laugh out of it, but then again, it was really weird. Here’s some choice quotes:
- “Girl, girl, when you gonna hook up wit us? We’re having a goooood time!” [sorry, can’t. i’m in atlanta] “Atlanta? What da hell you doin’ out dere?”
- “My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, uh huh. uh huh. uh huh huh huh…”
-”We’re so CRAZEEEEEE right now! Woman, come and party with us! Let’s hang! Are we gonna hit it or what? I wanna be wit you!!!” [sorry dude, i’m married] “What? You’re married, but you’re not buried! AH-HAHAHAHAHAH!!!”
-”Where’s your cousin? I dunno! He’s around here somewhere! But he cares about him, baby. Let’s talk you and me.”
-”Sup girl. Mmm…you sound tasty. Yeah, baby, laugh for me again. Mmm…yeah…I like it like that. Oh…so good. Luagh again. Yeah, you know how to do me right. Ohh…oh…oh! Yeah…was it good for you, too?”
-”You don’t know me? I know you. I seen yo’ picture, girl! You got one hell of an ass on you!’ [thanks, assmunch]
And I have NO idea who these people are. Maybe I do. But I can’t figure it out by the slurring and yelling into the phone.
So this whole episode makes me ask myself, ‘Why am I the person people call when they’re drunk?’ So many times I’ve gotten the drunken phone call, people who want me to go out, people who want me to help them sober up as their driving home, people who want to yell at me when they’re in the car with other people, people who want to complain about their relationships, people who meet Leann Rimes, etc. Why me? Do they enter my name on their phone under ‘CALL THIS NUMBER WHEN DRUNK’?
Though I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy listening to all your drunk asses. It’s hilarious. Though the voicemails from strippers I can do without, thank you very much.
Neglect
Dirty Car Windshield: Thousand Oaks, CA - September 2003
Sweeeeeet!
So I left the airport at 6am this morning for Atlanta. Which means I had to wake up at 4am Dallas time. Which is 2am LBC time. Argh.
I got into Atlanta at around 10, and there were no more rental cars left of the type I wanted, so I’ve got this massive SUV. I feel like I’m riding Shamu down the highway.
Finally drove up to my client’s site at around 11:30, but I stopped by my hotel first to change, brush my teeth, etc. Poor things were so stressed out when I came, not only because my flight was messed up, but also one of the key guys I’m supposed to work with picked up the bubonic plague or something. Or maybe just a cold.
You know what I love about going to the south? The thing that makes all of this travel hell worthwhile? SWEET TEA. I have no idea what’s in it, or why it tastes so good, but I love the stuff. I can drink it forever. And I can only find it in the south. But they serve it everywhere, and it’s SO yummy. Today I had sushi, which by the way was some of the best I’ve had, and I had my sweet tea along with it. It kind of destroyed the taste, but I made sure to take a break after eating the sushi before drinking my tea and vice versa.
I might just buy a gallon of it and take it home with me! But then that means I have to share with HIM. Yeah Dave, I mean you.
Just kidding. I’m not going to buy a gallon of sweet tea. And please don’t look in the closet behind all the bags, Dave, I won’t be hiding a gallon of sweet tea back there. Nope.
Spotlight on ME!
I was doing some surfing around and found that one of the webrings I’m a part of spotlighted my site. How cool! So check out f.i.l.i.p.i.n.a.: a webring to see my little quote that they put in there…
Me! Me! Me! It’s all about me!
Dirty Sexy!!!
Since I’m stuck in Texas on dial-up, the comic con pics will just have to wait. As will the ‘con recap. But as I was typing it up on the plane, this one was pretty long, so I decided to break it off from the others…
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OK, with the passing of time, I realize this isn’t the story of stories. But it’s a pretty good story still.
So we were wandering around the comic con looking for people to do sketches. As we’re walking, we start to pass a group of guys. I feel that one of them is staring at me, and I look at him. He looks vaguely familiar. Then I realize it’s Jason Mewes, who played Jay in ‘Dogma’, ‘Mallrats’ and ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’. At first I didn’t recognize him because he’s a lot taller from what I remember, and his hair is cut short and he had a nice tan going on. So he’s looking, and I’m looking, and he says slowly, ‘Hello…’ You know, that creepy ‘Hello’ that guys say sometimes. I’m a little stunned, but I manage to say a cool, ‘Hello…’ back to him. Then we pass. And as we pass, he says, ‘Sexy! Sexxxy!’ I don’t remember hearing this, but Melanie and Fatima heard it clearly. Melanie didn’t realize who he was when we passed. Fatima was looking at something else and just heard someone say, ‘Sexy’ our way. The first thought in her head was, ‘Who the fuck would have the balls to say that outloud here?’ Because, well, comic cons really aren’t a place where guys go to pick up women, nor do you get the type of guys that have enough courage to pick up women. So we’re still walking, and I whisper to them, ‘That’s Jay!’ And the girls are like ‘What?’ ‘That was Jay, from Jay and Silent Bob!’ So then I stop and say, ‘Hey! I should take a picture with him!’ I mean, we already said hello, we’re practically best friends now. Then they tell me that they heard him say, ‘Sexy’ as he passed, and Mel said it was the dirtiest ‘Sexy’ she had ever heard. I didn’t recall hearing it, but I was in such a daze that I didn’t hear much after ‘Hello’. Yes. He had me at ‘Hello’. Just kidding, Dave.
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So I walk back, and he’s at the View Askew Booth hanging out. He’s surrounded by an agent and some security. But I didn’t notice them. As I was approaching, Jason saw me and smiled. ‘Hey, sexy!’ he called. ‘Can I have a picture with you?’ I asked. ‘Sure, anything for you.’ So we stood and posed for a picture, and he was talking the whole time. He acted just like his character Jay, I guess playing the part wasn’t too much of a stretch. But the whole time he was like, ‘Damn, you’re so sexy.’ Then after the 3rd or 4th time he said that (or a variation of it) he said playfully, ‘I’m just kidding with ya.’ Then he went right back to macking. And after taking the picture, we chatted for a little. ‘Damn, so you’re into comics?’ and I said yeah, and he was pretty surprised. ‘Are you going to my thing later?’ he asked (He had an autograph session). ‘No, I don’t know what’s going on with that.’ He looked at his handler and said, ‘Hey, what’s the deal with my thing later?’, to which the handler replied, ‘They handed out tickets this morning and there aren’t any left’. So Jay half whispers to him, ‘So, can we get these three girls in?’ The handler smiled at him and said, ‘Anything you want is fine with me.’ So Jay turns to us and says, ‘When I’m doing my signing thing, just come up to my man here and tell him, ‘Sexy’s here’. He’ll let you in.’ I said thanks, and since a crowd was starting to builld once people realized who he was, I decided it was my time to get out of there. I said bye, and he said, ‘Later, sexy’ and made one of the LL Cool J kissy faces.
I just laughed at the thought of going up to the handler later and saying, ‘Sexy’s here. He’s expecting me.’
So later on, when it was his time slot, we went over to the signing area. There was a huge line there. I felt bad for thinking about cutting in line, so we didn’t even try. That, and the signing started late because Jay was signing with Kevin Smith, who was running late. Everyone was pretty stressed. So me and my girls just hung out at the side of the signing area with the rest of the people who were taking pictures. So I’m clicking away. Then he looks up while he’s signing, and he sees me. I wave hello, and he gives me the nod. I smile. Then he mouths, ‘SE-XY’ to me and does the kissy face again. I laugh and giggle. Then I realize that people in line are looking at me like, ‘Who the fuck is she?!?’ I then proceeded to make myself invisible. But I stayed to get a few more shots since the lighting was kinda whack there. Every once in a while he’d look over and make this really lustful look which would cause all of us to laugh. Me, Mel and Fata were talking about how he’s a lot better looking in real life, especially with the tan and shorter hair. That, and it looks like he’s been working on those arms. After being there for a few minutes, we had to go to watch a panel, so we got his attention and waved goodbye. He looked at us like, ‘Huh? What? Where are you going?’ And Fatima said, ‘We’re going to the Aspen Panel.’ I then said, ‘We’ll see you tomorrow.’ Then he slowly waved bye to us. Once again, I realized that everyone was watching again, so I made sure to get out of there quick.
So yeah. That’s the story. I know you’re all rolling your eyes out there. But seriously, it happened! Unfortunately, I never saw Jay again. It just wasn’t meant to be. I had to leave Sunday to drop the girls off during the time when Jay was scheduled to appear. But I appreciate the moments we had together. 
Really, though, I’m flattered. This also proves my suspicion that he checked me out during the Chicago con of ‘01 when I passed by him. I swear he said ‘Hey’ to me, but I didn’t believe it and just kept on walking.
Yes. My head is blowing up. These strokes of ego are needed every now and then.
Am I a stalker? Yes. But he started it!
It’s that way cool ‘Cute but Psycho’ bunny tee that Marilyn gave me that reeled him in. That shirt is HOT.
Pity Me!!!
So my flight from Long beach was delayed because they didn’t have a pilot. The captain was ‘detained’, whatever that means. So they had to call a backup.
So now, I’m stuck in Dallas because I missed my connecting flight to Atlanta. I don’t have any clothes or toiletries so tomorrow I’m going to be really gross on the plane.
Traveling sucks!!!
Worst of all…I’m on dial-up! Wahhhh!!!
Pity me! Pity me!
Off to Hot-Lanta
I’m off to Atlanta for the rest of the week. Later y’all.
