500 Pageviews! Thanks, everyone!

So I just passed the big 5-0-0! I just want to take a moment and say how much I appreciate folks dropping by and checking out my little corner of the web. Thanks a million, everyone! =)

250 pageviews!

Hey all. Just noticed that I passed a whopping 250 pageviews as of today! Thanks a million for reading. =D

Finally got some Copics!

I discovered the joy that is Dick Blick's Art supplies on Capitol Hill in Seattle today. Racheal and I were coming back from the SIFF Secret Festival (which I totally can't talk about), when I saw the brick & mortar Valhalla. I've been checking out the website for years now, but I had no clue that they had a physical location in town! Anyway, I finally picked up a handful of grey tone Copic Sketch markers that I've been dying to get my hands on for ages now. I fully expect that I'll be posting up some experiments relatively shortly.

Sadly, their entire inventory of Copic Multiliner SP's were stolen...:/

Thor is a Hammer Throwing Good Time!

I just got back from my midnight showing of Thor, and wanted to get my initial reactions down before they are lost in a sleepy haze. Just as a heads up, this review is pretty much spoiler-free. Saw it in digital IMAX 3D (not by choice), which I honestly feel takes away from the movie quite a bit as it wasn't used to any great effect & made many of the action and tracking shots blurry. The DLP projected picture came out visibly pixelated, which was only exacerbated by the mediocre 3D effects. If you really want to see this movie in its full glory, go check it out in 2D.


Let me preface this with the following: Thor is no Iron Man, but it comes pretty close. 


I thought Thor was very solid film and a great deal of fun to watch, although it was, in my opinion, the least approachable of the Marvel movies thus far. Most of the earlier Marvel films do a really nice job of holding your hand and explaining every little facet of what's going on so that the casual movie-goer can come in, plunk down their ten bucks, and leave with summer blockbuster jitters. Thor takes a different tack. 


Thor is very thick with references and easter eggs, but fairly thin on explanation. I feel that they made this film with the expectation that the people watching are already familiar with the universe and the players involved, so do not waste much time on introduction. With Thor being a bit less mainstream of a character for your average fan though, Branagh could have spent a bit more time on helping the viewer understand the world and the cast of supporting characters better. He did a wonderful job, however, in making this movie and the subject matter truly feel epic. The set pieces are appropriately out of this world. Whosoever designed Asgard is worthy of wielding Mjolnir, indeed!


The action is great & it has some great comedic moments as well, without making the movie feel campy or goofy. Chris Hemsworth made a great Thor, with a fantastic mix of equal parts confusion, arrogance, bravado and dashing bluster. He also does hell of a job filling out the armor. Anthony Hopkins was awesome as Odin, but that nearly goes without saying, as this role is right up his alley. I truly enjoyed the hell out of the subtlety of Tom Hiddleston's performance as Loki, and am greatly looking forward to his role as the big, bad villain in The Avengers. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster had some of the best lines and reactions in the movie though. Definitely a good step in the right direction for making up for the Star Wars prequels. LOL


I don't want to ruin/spoil anything but let me just say right now that the fight with the Destroyer was AWESOME! You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.


Personally, I think Thor is a great watch and definitely recommend checking it out in the theater, but I'm looking forward to seeing if there's a director's cut release when it comes out on Blu-ray with some more footage.

Woohoo! 100 pageviews!

Hey, I know it's not THAT big of a deal, but I had to celebrate. =)

Carmine drops May 1st!

Well, my work on Carmine is finally at an end. I approved the cover proofs as of last week, and the book has gone to press! Now that it's come to fruition, I can finally post the cover designs that I've been busting my butt on!

I designed the logo, cover layouts and bordering. I also penciled the figure of the dude on the front cover (for some reason, Tai has the hardest time drawing guys that don't either look like a girl or gay LOL). My studio partner Tai penciled the slayer chick, clothing & weapons & painted the figures.  The background was a composite of the "ancient document" designs that I had done for the interior of the book. 

The back cover was all me. I designed the layout and painted the background. 

Here she is in all her glory! I had to make a full bleed version for final print, but that didn't change significantly from what was here. Last minute addition to the back cover - the price, which everyone had overlooked! Gotta love those last minute, semi-frantic calls. Hehehehe.

Take a look behind the scenes on the set of The Hobbit!

Peter Jackson has decided to keep a vlog of the production of the Hobbit, which is bloody awesome for fans of the franchise. Check out the video for some really cool stuff from the first couple days of production. It'll be the best eleven minutes of your day. =D

CHEW set to take a bite out of Showtime - tastes like victory.

Read this. NOW.

Big news today - CHEW, one of the most awesome current comics out on the shelves has been picked up for a series on Showtime, hopefully insuring that it won't be dumbed down by its move to a different medium.

The pilot script was penned by Eureka scribes Terri Hughes Burton and Ron Milbauer, and set to be directed by  Stephen Hopkins (Californication). 


For those not in the know, CHEW is the story of FDA agent and cibopath Tony Chu, who has the ability to psychically read any object that he eats and immediately know its complete history. In this parallel USA, the FDA is the highest law enforcement authority in the country after a mass pandemic of poultry flu wiped out a huge chunk of the population. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say more other than this is one of the most original, brilliantly written and funny books on the shelves right now, and you owe it to yourself to check it out.

More FRINGE on the horizon!

Oh yay! I think I just made a Walternate in my pants...

Good news for any of you Fringe-a-holics out there like me - the show has been renewed for a fourth season! Things were a little dicey even earlier this week when reports of poor ratings from the network moving the show to Friday nights, commonly thought of as the death knell for anything remotely cool, caused the nerd-o-verse to rumble with rumors of Fringe's impending cancellation.

Perhaps Friday nights are just shitty for Joss Whedon. LOL

HOLY CRAP! Give up what you're doing now & watch this Arkham City goodness!

New trailer for Arkham City featuring gameplay, Catwoman, & the evil, evil Hugo Strange!

No, I'm Howlin' for YOU!

This is seriously the coolest music video I've ever seen. The level of style and badassery just blows my brain-tube! Goddamnit, I wish they would make this...

Ah well, at least I got the joy that is Machete last year, and I still have Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch coming up. =D Can't wait!