backlog

I've done it again, left it ages between blogs and forgotten how to write. Also, thinking back over the last 6 weeks or so since my last post it seems as though nothing has happened. Well, a few things have happened.

I had a chest infection for a while. That was pretty lame. Everything ached, I had a raging temperature and my nights were filled with fevered nightmares. Han said it was like sleeping next to a giant, boiling hot eel as I spent all night sweating and thrashing around. Good times.

Axl asked me to do a guest blog for the Potato Farm so I drew him a little comic which turned out pretty nice. You can see it here.

I've been watching lots of tv shows on the internet too, American shows that we don't get over here. My favourite of the lot is called Pushing Daisies. It's about a pie maker who can bring the dead back to life just by touching them. However, if he touches them again they die again forever. But if he lets them stay alive for more than a minute then something else has to die instead. He makes the most of this ability by touching murder victims, asking who killed them, touching them again and claiming the reward. Its a black comedy with a strong Tim Burton influence and well worth a watch.

Finally, I've been doing a bit of Christmas shopping. I've left it all late again like I do every year, I never learn. I even went into town at the start of the month and saw a load of things I wanted to buy for presents, but then I thought to myself that I'd buy them another time and came home empty handed. I don't know why I do that. Mental problems or something I expect. Anyway, that's it. Merry Christmas and that.

I AM IRONMAN!

Just saw the trailer for the new Ironman movie on the apple trailers site. It actually looks pretty good. Robert Downey Jr plays alcoholic, billionaire, weapons manufacturing, genius, playboy Tony Stark in the film which is coming out next May. The gist of it is that Stark is off visiting troops and doing a bit of sales patter when he is kidnapped by terrorists and forced to build them a missile. Probably some fancy missile I guess, as the regular kind are apparently not that difficult to come by. Anyhow, in the classic A-team/McGuyver style of baddies not fully appreciating their captives superior skills, he is locked away in a room full of goodies and told to get to work. Which of course he does, but not in the way he was supposed to. Instead he builds himself a badass suit of mechanical armour and proceeds to make everyone very sorry that they messed with him. Oh, and half way through 'Ironman' by Black Sabbath kicks in and takes things up a notch. All in all, a good start. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

While we're on the subject there's a trailer for the next Batman movie out as well. But this one doesn't have any action, just voiceovers. So instead of watching that you should go and check out Batman: Dead End. This is a short movie made by a fan a few years ago on next to no budget. Luckily, though, he was working in the special effects/props department of a movie studio at the time and was able to 'borrow' a few items on the sly when everyone went home for the night. That's how he was able to write a few special guest stars into his story. It's very faithful to the Batman that comic readers love and manages to put the Schumacher films to shame in only 8 minutes. Go watch it!

Fingers Crossed

I heard a rumour the other day, a very exciting rumour. I heard that Videosyncratic on Cowley Road were thinking about branching out into comics. As you may know it's been about 7 months since Comic Showcase shut down on St Clements and my supply dried up. I've bought a few off the internet, but it's just not the same as browsing the shelves and flicking through the pages to see what looks good.

Anyway, a rumour is just a rumour, I needed hard fact. So when a couple of guys from the store came into the pub yesterday I seized my chance and asked them. They seemed surprised that I'd heard about it but were pleased that I was so excited. It's not a definite yet, but they're giving it some serious consideration. Score! Though this does of course mean I'll be waving bye bye to any spare cash I might have. Perhaps I can persuade other people to start buying comics, then I can read them. Yeah. We'll form some sort of nerd club, only we won't talk about about it, that'll be the first rule. I know plenty of semi nerds, they 'll only need a little gentle coaxing, then I can welcome them to the dork side. (Rubs hands together in a sinister manner.)

Seriously though, if they go ahead with selling comics I hope they get plenty of support from the locals and all the people who used to shop at Comic Showcase. This is just the sort of business venture that keeps Cowley Road interesting. Videosyncratic, I salute you! And I urge everyone to go spend some money there.

Keeping Busy

Good natured slacker has been extremely slack with regards to blogging lately. But in my defense I have been slightly less slack in other areas of my life. Mostly I have been working harder, doing more shifts at the pub and a bit more gardening. I should point out at this time that gardening is one of my jobs, not a hobby. People often seem surprised when I say I've been gardening all day. I guess the confusion lies in me being so specific. Anyone else would just say they'd been at work. They wouldn't say that they'd spent the day phoning strangers and trying to part them from their money, or that for the last nine hours they'd sat at a desk moving figures from one column to another. "I've been at work", that pretty much covers it.

Anyway, having a little more money is nice and it makes the approach of rent day a little easier to bare. It's also nice to be a bit more productive with my time. Getting up at three every day and sitting around watching crappy daytime tv in my pants until it's time for work can become strangely unsatisfying after a while. Hard to believe I know, but it's true. You start off trying to find decent programming to watch, but the channels available on freeview don't make it an easy job. A bit of Judge Judy, maybe a couple of episodes of Quincy, you start off thinking it won't be too bad. But soon, with all the repeats, finding shows you actually want to watch becomes more and more difficult. You just can't stand to watch another episode from season one of Scrubs, and the thought of Jeremy Kyle's smug face makes you want to go back to bed and try again tomorrow. So, inevitably, your standards begin to slip. Shows you had previously rejected, deeming unwatchable, start to seem more appealing. Until, one day, you find yourself sitting slack jawed before a back to back Hope and Faith marathon, trying to remember what you used to do with your time.

Well, things have changed for me, and so far it's working out quite nicely. A guy I know called Moz recently told me he was trying to write a comic book, and our mutual friend Marc had told him I was into comics and that I liked to draw. So he asked if I would be interested in having a go at illustrating it for him and I said yes. It's all very exciting, but I'll go into more detail at another time.

On Thursday afternoon Channel 4 filmed part of an interview with The Young Knives at the pub. It was about their favorite places to go in Oxford, so of course The Star was first on the list. I got to be in it briefly, playing the role of barman. It was the part I was born to play. Whether they will use any of the parts with me in on the actual show I couldn't say, I just hope I don't look like too much of an idiot. It's going to be on tv on Friday night on 4. Transmission, I think it's called. They filmed the rest of the show at the old bingo hall at the end of my road, Queen's of the Stone Age and Foals both played so it should be really good.

I have to get ready to go to work now, but there's just time to say that I went to see Spiderman 3 last night and it was freakin' awesome. Sandman, good. Venom, good. Spidey, goooood! Can't wait 'til it comes out on DVD and I can make Han watch all 3 of them with me in one sitting. Are you reading this Han? Go nerds! GO NERDS!!!

still here

Seems I've fallen victim to that all too common dry spell that new bloggers often suffer from. The problem is that I have lots of ideas about what to post, but then I start thinking that they're all really lame. Well no more. Here's what's going on.

First of all, I no longer keep my phone in a sock. Han got me a case for Christmas, but people have been calling it a phone bra.

Second. Lex has been on at me for ages to post my recipe for "super fast excitement rice". I had big plans for this, there was going to be a great long list of ingredients, step by step instructions and maybe even some photos. But of course that's not going to happen, that would involve some forward planning. Anyway, here's the basics of the recipe as I'm currently making it.

Stir fry loads of veg, add a spoonful of curry paste (I like goldfish brand chinese curry sauce concentrate), a little water to make it a bit saucy and throw in loads of meat. Any meat, I've made it with chicken, turkey, roast ham, sausage and various combinations.(I normally use meat that I've already cooked to save time.) Or you can use fish and prawns. Then mix in a load of cooked rice, it should go all golden from the curry sauce. That's pretty much it. You can make it as simply or as complicatedly as you like. I like to make a lot of it in one go, at least three meals worth. That way I can have some for my tea and take some to the pub with me to parade around in front of everyone when they're all drunk after work. Jealous.

Third. Inspired partly by a page I saw that had been torn out of Viz and the "why not try writing a sit-com?" page from Lee and Herring's 1995 Fist of Fun annual, I have been trying to invent potential comic strip characters. So far I have come up with:

"Pierre Pressure" a French kid who either pressures other kids into doing stupid stuff or is easily pressured himself, I'm not sure which one yet.

"Harm's Way" Tommy Harm shows you how to do things his way. His way is normally very dangerous, hilarious yet painful results ensue.

That's all I can think of for now, smell you later.

In News: Nerd Sanctuary To Close.

Fellow nerds, dark days are upon us. At first I refused to believe the rumours, "it can't possibly be true" I kept telling myself, "they've got it all wrong". But true it was. Comic Showcase is to close and we sickly fanboys shall have to fend for ourselves.

I've been a fan of comics ever since I was a kid. Through good times and bad, through clone sagas, costume changes and variant chromium covers. Getting the bus into town every Saturday morning and heading for the tiny 'Demon Comics' shop in Hereford with my cousin Tony. Then lying on his living room floor all afternoon trying to draw our own comics. None of them ever got past about two pages though, because we could never be bothered to finish them.

Even if we had finished any they never would have sold, being mostly obvious rip-offs of other characters. The one that looked like Batman but with Wolverine style claws springs to mind as one that probably would have attracted a few law suits.

Anyway, time's a wastin'. I've got to start gathering up those last few kernels of comic book goodness. There's going to be a long, harsh winter ahead.