Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Things that annoy me today

In no particular order:
1. Iggy Pop advertising car insurance
2. Cannabis being put back into the Class B catagory (don't smoke anymore but the 20 year old me is outraged)
3. Finding out what my Vice Chancellor gets paid per year & then getting an email from him stressing the importance of 'living within our means'. Smug git.
4. Dealing with an events organiser who is RUBBISH at her job
5. It's not Friday
6. Not being able to take my husband to NYC with me next week :( :( :(

Friday, 23 January 2009

www.cymrucon.co.uk

That's whats keeping me busy and active and excitable right now :) My 'real' job sucks balls in hell (I'm an events manager but i currently do events/student projects 40/60 which sucks) but being given the opportunity to help organise something like this is pretty bloody awesome.

So far me and the guy in charge have got a very cool guest list - and we are really chuffed at the amount of people who have already said 'YES' to an unknown Con, and it's really cool getting feedback off friends about a new con...it's probably not the best idea in the current economic climate but as long as the money is in place and the creators & exhibitors turn up it should turn out to be a bloody good show...

So we've got James Barclay, Barry Kitson, Rufus Dayglo, Jock, Emma Vieceli, Rob Williams, John McCrea, Mike Ploog, Mike Collins, Dylan Teague, Kev Sutherland, Liam Sharp, Tony Lee, Mike Carey, Barry Kitson and Ian Churchill.

And that's just so far :)

I know you either love or hate him but this Whubble strip made me wee a little :D

http://www.bohdate.com/whubble/index.php?start_from=4&ucat=&archive=&subaction=&id=&

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Wot I am reading innit

I'm a bit shit at reviewing stuff when i'm on Comic racks so I figured I'd start writing shit down (which only dawned on me as I was scribbling stuff on the SFX forum wall - which is brill...the forum,not my scribbling).
So here's the last three I read - last night in bed at 9.30 pm on a Friday night - yes, I was very hungover :)

Short Stack #3
written by Shawn Gabborin (Angry Gnome Comics)

Like the first 2 collections, this is 13 horror/creepy stories, 1 writer and different artists for each (un-connected 2 page stories). I'd recommend it for people who really like very short stories, but some may get a little frustrated (in a good way) at not seeing the stories progress further.
I got it through IndyPlanet.com

The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo Vol 2
Dwight L MacPherson (writer), Avery Butterworth (artist)
I picked this up after reading Vol 1 and loving the storyline and awesome art by Thomas Boatwright - he's not doing the 2nd volume which I was initially disappointed to hear but Butterworth does a bang up job and the colour work lends itself to the surreal, spooky, dreamy themes of the story.

Dock Walloper #5
I think i got really hooked on this when it first came out because I'm a 30's gangster film nut, and that's exactly what this is - i picked it up by chance and heard that it had originally been touted as a film script by Ed Burns but no-one wanted it. I know Virgin comics got a lot of slack for picking up comic book storylines this way, but i'm flipin pleased they did cuz I've really enjoyed it - i think this is the first Jimmy Palmiotti stuff I've picked up (yeah I'm quite a noob) so I'm off to find some more.....

Oooooooooooooo bugger I keep forgetting about this blog !!

So it's the Noo Year, everyone is full of good (or slightly improved) intentions, including me... have the usual - lose a bit of weight, eat better, stop killing my liver.....like I said, the usual stuff :) But I also want this year to be a bloody good one in terms of personal acheivement - I've got a lush husband who treats me like a princess, a half decent job which pays ok - and although I hate half of it and want another one, it aint going to happen in this current economic climate blah blah, so basically I need to be more grateful for my home life with the boy, my job and my friends.

I had practically the worst christmas ever with my parents (last years was the worst when I took the boy, so this year I couldn;t bear to put him through it again), but again, i need to appreciate shit more cuz it doesn't last for ever and you have to make the best out of whatever situation you are presented with - not site on your arse and whinge about it.

...the Cymru Con 2009 is approaching in August and I was really fortunate to know a bloke who knew the bloke kick-starting it so word got back that I'm an events organiser and bob's your uncle....The con will be awesome even if it's tiny-wee..the feedback we've had so far is that people in S Wales are looking forward to it, and the creators and Pro's we have approached have all been supportive and happy to attend..so far so good. It's a little frustrating not being in total control but that's only cuz i'm used to *having* total control, so it's a little out of my safety zone....but I'm working really hard on it and looking on it as both a nerd-gasm and good work experience too :)

so um, yeah, bit of a long one this - but that's another Noo Year reso-whatsit, to keep this more up to date - no-one reads it but it's a good venting place innit?

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Brumbrumbrum Con 08

Even though I managed to catch the infamous Con plague this year (1 out of 4 cons aint bad) this Brum con was bloody brilliant :D :D


We met up with a load of our UK buddies from thecomicforums.com - a few of which we'd not seen in 'real-life' before - which was bloody awesome....It's always really really fun to hang out with these guys :)


We had a table as the UK Comics Podcast Group which was a giggle as we got to hang out in the main hall without actually blocking the aisles (something a lot of comic fans seemed blissfully unaware of - growl), and we got to have loads of good chats with our podcasting buddies in person for once - woot!!! I think i gave out one whole flyer the entire time I was there cuz i was way too scared to actually make contact with anyone looking at the table (although to be fair most people walking past found the floor way more interesting - standard con behaviour i think).


We all hung out in the evenings and im very proud that on the Friday night I only came second for drunkest person (Lenny came first in spectacular fashion), Saturday night I took the crown but that was mainly cuz I didn;t eat a thing all night - twat. Anyhoo we went to the Briar Rose first and hung out a bit with Tony Lee who is a thoroughly nice chap, and then went to Bennetts where I allegedly spoke to Paul Cornell for about 20 minutes (wish I remembered that - sigh) and apparently he introduced my podcasty partner to the SFX editor who is thinking of doing an article on podcasts (and Paul had said we'd done a cool interview with him) to which my partner said 'oo your forums are shit'. Nice one - guess we won't be in SFX anytime soon now *fume*.


So onto Sunday, a very nice chap walked up to me as I was (literally) running off for the Tank Girl panel and said 'are you Iz?'.........'uh...yeah?' says I..'oh i listen to your podcast - I've got a comic for you' says he and hands me a very glossy looking copy of High Pilot....now i'm so hungover and in a panic about missing TG I kinda stood there and said 'oh thank you' a lot like an idiot and then ran away. So I am very very sorry Dom Regan and next time I will be more polite :D


So on to the highlight of my Con - the Tank Girl panel.....Squuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Bloody awesome stuff - I'd seen Rufus Dayglo around the day before and kept bottling going up to him to get a sketch and signature on my shiny Megazine I'd brought along. Seriously I am pathetic when it comes to meeting artists or writers (actually musicians too - there's a particularly cringe-worthy encounter with Clint Mansell from PWEI c.1995 I try to forget) which is why I've only ever approached Charlie Adlard for a sketch before (for the record: one of the nicest men in comics ever). ANYWAY, went to the panel, sadly Alan Martin couldn't be there, but Rufus did a bloody great solo job - loads of great anecdotes about the creation and continuation of Tank Girl....I think Damon Albarn will be forever known as Demon Arseburn to me now :D


After the panel Mr Dayglo did a signing session and I got in the queue after having a tantrum that I'd forgotten to buy the elusive KitKat for him - which I had been banging on about all weekend - so my lovely husband ran off to get me one while I queued :) I heart him.

When it was my turn I had planned to say (all suave-like) 'Hi, I read on your blog that you draw TG in a dark room with copious cups of tea and an endless supply of KitKats, so i thought you might be missing them, here you are' but what came out was 'I.read.on.your.blog.you.like KitKats.....so.here.is.a.KitKat'. twat. Luckily Mr Dayglo was extremely happy with the KitKat, did me a bloody awesome close-up of TG's face, and after I commented on how awesome it was to be able to look through his sketch books/portfolios in the panel, he dived into one of them, pulled out a sketch of what will be the cover of the next Megazine and signed it 'Thank you for the Kit Kat'. He is my new favourite person ever. (Not in a creepy wear-his-skin-for-a-hat way, just a he-is-brilliant way) :D :D :D

So after that we trundled back to the con floor, i was given two very lovely sketches I'd asked for earlier in the day - Tank Girl of course - one from Simon Wyatt (Orang Utan Comics), and one from Stu.Art (Monkeys with Machineguns)....I sat on the table for a bit until our lift got restless, we said our goodbyes and wandered off, all misty-eyed like until Bristol Con 09. *sob*

Now all I gots to do is win the Lottery so I can go to Leeds and Dublin next month :(