HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

So work sucks balls, the con is taking up all my spare time, and i'm more than a little frazzled - but life's a bowl of cherries right now cuz I just read that FAITH NO MORE are reforming and playing Europe this year - and by 'Europe' they probably mean 'London' but I am so there :D

God I loved this band so much - must have seen them about 14 times.

I'm spreading my interweb wings

Well, kinda.

My forum buddy The Boneman asked me if I fancied contributing to his website - The Sidekickcast site which plays host to his podcast, blog and a load of other top articles etc. So even tho I don't keep up with this one as much as I'd like, I'm going to give it a go :) I might try doing stuff aimed at girls for a while..unless Bones tells me to pack it in...dunno I'll wait and see.

The podcast is well worth a listen to by the way, whether you're an old hand at the comic-book thing or just getting started. The Boneman and assorted co-hosts get really enthused about their comic books, and cover a whole range of stuff from the old classics, to spotlights on one of the 1,000,000 X Men titles, or explanations/reviews of recent big events (I almost understood Final Crisis after listening to #11)

Go check em out :)

Check me out reading a real book with no pictures!!

If you know any bird that isn't a geek but is thinking of joining us in the whole geek/nerd sandpit..or is dating a geek/nerd and doesn't know what the hell their other half is talking about half the time - then I Love Geeks by Carrie Tucker is the book you should tell them about.

My buddy Stace makes a valid point in that it's not a book for those already firmly wedged into the scene cuz the book covers a lot of ground that is basic Geek/Nerd 101....but it's still a bloody cool read even if you do know your Watchmen's from your Y the Last Man's...and is laid out really nicely - easy to follow/easy to skip sections with sound bites peppered throughout the book.

Talking of which, me and Stace were very kindly asked to contribute our 'how we got into being a geek' stories via our buddy Jimmy Aquino, to Carrie..so for being absolutley no help whatsoever (me anyway), Carrie (a self-confessed geek herself) was lovely and gives us an acknowledgement in the book, and young Stace even has her own little case study quoted (*quietly seethes with jealousy*)...

So the book is out now, well worth a look, and can be ordered from all the usual outlets - the ISBN # is 1605500232. Pass it on - if I'd had this book handy when I was dipping my toe into the comic-book world I'd have done it all a bit quicker :)

Another thing, Carrie's website is updated regularly so if you want to see what else she's up to - go clicky the linky.

New York Comic Con 2009 - Sunday

last day - booooooo :(

I decided to get in line early for the Sunday Conversation with Dan DiDio..and he walked along the queue with about 10 minutes to go saying 'you know you're not going to get free stuff don't you?' and laughing....a few fanboys muttered their annoyance but i said something terribly polite and British as he walked past and he kinda stopped as the guy in front of me caught his eye, and there he was chatting to a bunch of us (i have no idea who anyone else was) for like 15 minutes.... I did my very best 'stay calm mate it's only Dan Di frickin Dio stood next to you'....I was quietly chuffed with myself cuz I'd decided to wear my Comic racks t-shirt that day, and Mr DiDio glanced at the logo like once for about 2 seconds - which technically makes me and Stace famous :D

Before i could ask him to sign gail Simone to a life time contract at DC, or at the very least make her Queen of the USA, he was gone but the panel was great, I know a lot of people hate on him but he seems to really give a shit about what people think...and he is extremely funny, and i want him to be my dad :)

More later x
Oh i got the best non-Rufus Tank Girl sketch EVER from Mike Norton (see above)

New York Comic Con 2009 - Saturday

Ok running out of time to finish these before I record tonight so highlights (to be filled in later, if I remember)

I met so many more people on the Saturday from the forums , and went to a Wildstorm panel which Neil Googe was on God i loved that man's work on Welcome to Tranquility - and whopped inappropriately when it was mentioned. Twice.

I also met Amanda Connor early in the morning and had a brief chat with her - she is proper lush. I tried really hard to get her to do a Harley sketch for my boy but she had stopped taking commissions already :( She is still proper lush tho :)

I met up with Luke from the forums who was my con buddy for most of the day - very glad he was with me when I saw Garth Ennis with his coat on about to f*ck off 2 hours early from his signing gig at the Avatar press booth....I practically elbowed people out of the way to dribble and mumble incoherently in his general direction and he was dead nice, said it sounded like I'd come a long way and looked slightly nervous when i grabbed his hand and pumped it a bit too enthusiastically :/

....Um, saw the chap that played C3PO from a distance, Paul Cornell blanked me for the third time and I caught up with more buddies back at the podcast arena.

I'm sure more happened but I'm rushing this a bit now......onto the evening:

The 'Podcast dinner' was not really just for podcasters but organised by Joe, with around 50 people showing up to a private room in a really nice restaurant - they brewed their own lager - which i was a fan of...then we went drinking at an Irish bar for an hour or so - then i got dragged home :( ..which was probably for the best..

New York Comic Con 2009 - Friday

So I was up with the lark on Friday morning and got in Joe's way until we were ready to catch a cab to the convention centre. Joe picked up some Dunkin Donuts as we left, and I'd already decided which one I was going to steal before we got there - screw the Con I was hungry...

The Convention Centre is HUGE, and not only was the NYCC going on (with a reported 60,000 tickets sold for Saturday) but the Travel Show was also in the same venue, and that was equally as massive...to put it mildly this was my dream venue - I would KILL for a job in a place like this. Ho Hum..

So we trekked to Podcast Arena, the part of the Con that Joe was in charge of as I found out, and got in Joe's way until he sent me off for coffee :D
Meeting the other podcasters was pretty surreal, some i'd listened to before, some i hadn't - but i certainly will be now - they were all thoroughly lovely chaps (and one chap-ess) and were very friendly and approachable: Comic Geek Speak, Dafixer's Hideout, Indy Spinner Rack - all of who/whom (?) I've heard but never met....CGS are like the royalty of the podcasters, after all it's their forum we sit under, but they were dead nice, especially Bryan and Murd....the other podcasters were very cool too - I've never listened to Raging Bullets but I will be now..and the other guys were (of course) Comic News Insider, Geeks Unite, and Comic Timing - all guys I've met before and continue to be lovely.
I was reprimanded for not bringing any Comic Racks flyers to promote us but that was a conscious decision, cuz I just wanted to buzz around the con and pimp CNI when i was asked to :)
My first wig-out was when Lou Ferrigno walked past Podcast Arena ...I made an OOOOO face and he sped up when he saw me :D I ran around to tell some of the guys and got a few 'oh dude he is like here EVERY year'...sob :(
Anyhoo one of the best bits of the day ever was meeting Geektress!!! These girls are bloody awesome and lovely and friendly and they swear as much as me!!..and it was really wierd meeting them cuz I've been playing their podcast for weeks now :D After introductions, we split up for a bit and then met up for lunch, and on the way to lunch I ran into the awesome CONN who it is always a total pleasure to see - if you haven't come across Unemployed Skeletor where have you been??
I also ran into Erica Hesse who was looking as peachy as ever (the swine) and was only there for the Friday so i didn;t get to hang with her much :(
I'm getting confused as to what panels were on which day, but i'm pretty sure that today I went to the Vertigo panel with the fabulously awesome Chris, and got to gape at Peter Milligan who is a Brit who has previously worked with Jamie Hewlett years and years ago so is therefore just bloody brilliant by default :D I can’t really remember who else was there (a woman with a weird cape thing was sat there but I have no clue who she was) Brian Azzerrello (?) however was the donkeys conkers – I’d heard of him but never seen him before – he dealt with hecklers very well indeed. (for hecklers read – whiny fan boys) J

I know I did more on the Friday but I’ve forgotten half of it – ooo I did make Jimmy escort me to Mike Norton at the Cadence Art booth where I nearly hyper-ventilated but managed to cling on to a few strands of self control and got Mr Norton to sign the original page from Gravity that my fantastic husband bought me :D :D

The last big thing that happened that day was the Wonder Woman premiere!!! Nathan Fillion and some other famous but not so cute people did the voices, and it was written by Lady Simone (so we know it’s going to be brilliant already!) a big whoop went up when we saw her name on the screen – man I wish she’d been there :(

The film was bloody brilliant and funny, I thought so anyway..i think a few of the hardcore nuts thought it was too different to WW’s usual pace but ppfftt to them :)

I was determined to stay for the Bruce Timm panel but I was literally dead on my feet so I watched him come on, cheered and fled the auditorium :)

Had dinner with Joe and the lovely lovely Mike and crashed again – no parties for me :D

New York Comic Con 2009 Thursday

I should have written this when I got back cuz I'm bound to forget stuff, but I was sick (damn plane germs) and also lazy.

So I've been back almost a week and I kinda can't wait to drag my boy off to next years :D He didn't come with me this year which sucked huge amounts of arse and I missed him every day :( I must have entered about 50 contests for a trip FOR TWO to NYC and the one I win? ONE flight to NYC...for which I still pay nearly £200 for the taxes etc, £42 for the coach trip to Heathrow, and £50ish for the insurance...but yes, still tons cheaper than going as a pair and getting a hotel for a few days.

I stayed with my gorgeous friend Joe who looked after me really really well, and was a great host. He was also responsible and sensible, so had me home by 10 or 11 each night - which for NYC is early!! Bloody glad he did though cuz I was knackered all the time :D

So, my trip started with a coach at 2330 from Cardiff, which got my to Heathrow around 3am...i was supposed to sleep on the coach but as I dozed off somewhere outside Newport, the coach slid slightly, I looked onto the road and HELLO I was awake - the roads were thick with snow, so for the next 2 and a half hours I was wide awake convinced we were going to crash and i would never get on my plane.

Surprise, I over-reacted :D Got to the airport only about 20 minutes late and waited for THREE hours until my Terminal woke up and I could check in - then I hung around for another two hours wildly debating buying a box of matches so I could prise my eyes open...well Heathrow is a slightly scary place at night with people randomly asleep in the middle of corridors and shop fronts.

Plane ride was cool, still couldn;t sleep though, and I was sat next to a scary reverend dude from one of them new-fangles churches who was trying incredibly hard to convert the woman sat on the other side of him...I think he sensed my 'F*ck Off' vibes when he sat down next to me, so didn;t bother me all flight - hurrah!! Even when i jabbed him in the ribs he ignored me - sweet :)

The lovely Raph (Wraithmaker) met me at the airport and took me back on the bus to Midtown - after Paul Cornell blanked me for the first of four occassions over the weekend. I rock. We did a little sightseeing in Times Square then met my host Joe who took us on a mini shopping expedition then onto Jimmy's for a very swish dinner then home for zonking out. Maaan I have never wanted sleep more :D