Here I am, I am blogging, blog blog blog, tra-la-la
Quickly, quickly, I’m still alive and have neglected this blog for far too long, and thus I will vow to blog more often. I will then blog pretty regularly for roughly a week and then I will stop and it will be months until I blog again, and I will make yet another blog entry saying more things like this and the cycle will start anew.
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This is pretty much an exact visual representation of how I am currently feeling today:
More to follow, I promise.
Dear Mister Poe
This made me laugh so hard and for such an extended period of time, that I just had to blog it. That’s the sort of sad individual I am.
Click on the image to take you to the artist’s post and a much larger version of the image.
There’s literally nothing about this I don’t love. I want this tattooed backwards on my forehead so I can see this every time I look in the mirror for the rest of my life.
The last two panels are the greatest panels ever. EVER. I want a hot air balloon attached to a boat that says “BROS” that I can fly around in with my BFF.
Doomed To Forever Shop At Wal-Mart. Also, The Whole Blood Thing.
These are the kinds of conversations Danielle and I have.
We were debating yesterday which supernatural creature we’d prefer to be turned into. Mind you, these are creatures that a human can be turned into, not creatures that are born that way.
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Zombie: Zombies are right the fuck out, because there’s no intelligence involved. You’re just a walking corpse, searching for human flesh. You wouldn’t even be cognizant of yourself or the world around you, so that’s one you would definitely avoid at all costs.
No pros, only cons.
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Mummy: Same basic principal as a zombie, right? I mean, you’re still a walking corpse, only you’re thousands of years old and instead of seeking out human flesh, you’re seeking revenge against those who have desecrated your tomb. Granted, you have strength and can’t be killed (already dead), but you’re just a machine really.
Pros: Far better preserved than a zombie.
Cons: Essentially an older zombie wrapped in bounty paper towels.
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Vampire: Now it gets interesting. Vampires live forever, they never get sick, they have awesome powers. They’re like undead superheroes. It’s awesome. But being a vamp has its downsides, as well. Immortality is a dual-edged sword, I’m sure.
Pros: Let’s go down the list here.
Immortality. You live FOREVER. That means you get to sit back and watch the world grow and change around you. You get to experience things most people would kill (or die) to experience. With that much time would come a whole lot of wisdom. You can amass a huge fortune over time, too. Imagine how much your comic books will be worth a thousand years from now (so long as they’re graded, of course), for example.
Plus, you’d never get sick again. Ever. No more aging, no more colds, or flus, or food poisoning. Fit as a fiddle for eternity.
Powers. You have them. Flight, mind control (or a form of it, anyway), enhanced strength, enhanced speed, heightened senses, shapeshifting (not in all mythologies, but still. Wolf/Bat/Mist/etc.), the list goes on. You’re like a bloodsucking Superman.
Another pro would be that once you get turned into vampire, that’s pretty much it. The most painful bit is over and you just are what you are. A werewolf doesn’t have that luxury and changing into one is a very painful monthly event.
Cons:
Immortality. Yeah, it’s a pro and a con. Sure, you get to live forever and see the world grow and change around you, but guess what? The people you love grow and change (read: die) too. And unless you want to curse them to be just like you, there’s no stopping that.
Blood. You kinda need to kill people/things to survive. I may have found away around this one, sort of. Let’s say the blood of a horse or a cow will sustain a vampire just as well as the blood of human. Easy, you become a vampire farmer! Siphon off blood from your animal pals and do all your chores at night. There are flaws to this plan, granted, but if it means you don’t have to go around killing people just to live, I’d say it draws about even.
No sunlight. That means a lot of stores and shops you frequent now would be closed by the time you even crawled out of your coffin after you get vamped. “Thank god for Wal-Mart”, Danielle said at this revelation. 24-hour stores are the vampire’s best friend. Though that’s just one setback to the no-sun-or-go-boom rule. At some point, people are going to notice that they never see you during the day. Suspicions will be raised and before you know it, boom! Anthony Hopkins comes knocking at your coffin door with a wooden stake and a bad German accent.
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Werewolf: Big. Hairy. Hungry. A perfect representation for rebellion against holding back. We all have an animal inside of us, but we’ve all learned to keep the beast on a leash. We don’t tell people what we really think of them, we don’t get out of our car and punch the guy in front of us for talking on his cell phone, and we don’t ravage every member of the opposite sex we find sexually alluring. Being a werewolf pretty much changes all of that.
Pros:
Immortality. Just like our bloodsucking friend above, werewolves can’t age or get sick. And it’s every bit as cool for the same reasons. Though some myths would have us believe that they’re a lot easier to kill than vampires. Shove something through the heart or brain and boom, dead.
Powers. Not quite as many as a vampire, but still pretty impressive. Heightened senses, strength and speed, plus a shiny coat of fur and great teeth.
Anonymity: The great thing about being a werewolf is that twenty-eight/twenty-nine days out of the month, you’re just a normal joe. No one looks at a werewolf in human form and says “HOLY SHIT THAT GUY’S A MONSTER”. This is a setback for the vampire.
Food. A werewolf doesn’t need blood to sustain him. Granted, one often finds themselves craving raw meat, but you could live as a vegetarian for ninety-nine percent of the month, if you had the self control.
Cons:
Immortality. Same bit as the vampire thing. Not aging while those around you do must be not all that fun.
Transformation. They hurt, man. Bones crack, skin stretches, and you scream. A lot.
Oh yeah, there’s also that whole TURNING INTO A RAVENOUS BEAST EVERY FULL MOON THING. Now, you could tie yourself up/lock yourself in a cellar/put yourself in a coma once a month to get around attacking and killing anyone, but honestly now, in what werewolf movie have we seen this scenario actually work?
Being Turned. Being turned into a werewolf is a nasty bit of business. First of all, in order to become a werewolf (outside of gypsy curses), you have to be attacked by a werewolf and live. When a werewolf bites or scratches you, there’s a good chance it’s not going to be a warning. It’s probably going to be step one in it’s two step plan entitled “Eating A Human In Two Easy Steps” (step one is biting or scratching you, step two is the eating part). Denying a werewolf his meal is no easy feat.
At least when you get turned into a vampire, it’s kind of a sexual thing.
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So in the end, Danielle decided she’d much rather be a vampire than anything else. I started the debate by preferring the path of the werewolf, but by the end of the whole thing, I just wasn’t sure. She made being a vampire sound pretty god damn cool.
I guess the vampire being harder to kill is the biggest deciding factor. I mean, the thing that sways me toward the werewolf is the whole “not turning into a ravenous bloodthirsty animal when the moon isn’t full” thing.
Yes, we talk about these things. Yes, we’re dorks.
SIDE QUESTION:
Let’s say you get bit by a werewolf. We’ll call him Werewolf A. So Werewolf A bites you, turning you into Werewolf B. You inevitably bite someone else, thus creating Werewolf C.
Now, knowing full and well that the only way to lift the curse is to kill the werewolf what bit you, you track down Werewolf A and give him the ol’ silver shiv to the heart. Thus, your curse is lifted.
What about Werewolf C? You’re not a werewolf anymore, sure, but you certainly were when you bit him/her, so does Werewolf C retain his/her curse until he/she kills you?
And let’s say Werewolf C tracks you down, attacks you, but you manage to get away before they kill you. Are you then Werewolf D? And if so, and you kill Werewolf C, will your newfound curse be lifted or have you just found yourself in a never ending cycle (ha) of lycanthropy?
These are the things I ask myself when I’m alone, you guys. This is what goes through my head.
Misney? Darvel? Spider-Mouse? Mickey-Man?
So, Disney is buying Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion.
Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.
Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.
“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”
“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.
“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.
The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.
The wave of intensely worried comic book fans hit the internet with their ramblings of fear and confusion this morning in response.
I have to admit that I, too, am a bit worried. Not about the comic book side of things, as Disney would have to be idiots to buy one of the most successful comic book companies in the world and then try to tell them how to make comic books. I’m far more concerned about the film ventures from here on out.
Granted, the prospect of a Pixar/Marvel cross over is staggeringly awesome. But I can’t help but look at DC/Time Warner and their track record of films being tied up for years in legal/studio mumbo jumbo, only to be shelved and forgotten.
Marvel has had a rocky history with films based on their properties up until recently. The X-Men franchise did well, the Spider-Man films are considered blockbusters. But overall, many fans felt the films left much to be desired. Iron Man was the first Marvel film in a very long time that pleased seemingly everyone. Incredible Hulk followed and, while I feel it was greatly under appreciated, it still served as a piece to a much larger puzzle (read: The Avengers).
Luckily, if we’re to believe the news we’re hearing about the Disney/Marvel merger (or “crossover”, if you will), it seems that all the film properties currently in development will remain on their current tracks. This means that Kenneth Branagh can continue to direct Thor unfettered, whoever ends up helming the subsequent Captain America and Avengers films (respectively) will be free to do so with minimal studio interference. Likewise, Spider-Man and X-Men properties will remain under the control of Sony (Spidey) and Fox (All Things X).
But what of future productions? What of anything that may come around after these films are finished? I’d really hate to see Marvel’s films suffer the same fate as DC, which is to say having their characters lost in pre-production limbo.
Overall, this is a wonderful enterprise for both companies involved. Disney is bound to make a shitload of money and Marvel now has connections to one of the single most powerful business entities in the world. I just hope Disney is smart enough (and certainly they are, right?) to play a silent big brother role in all of this.
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Now for something completely different.
This movie trailer has it all: George Clooney telling Ewan McGregor that he’s a Jedi Warrior, Jeff Bridges playing some sort of military hippy, and goats.
I’m contemplating picking up the book, as the synopsis (and this trailer) makes it sound hilarious. Anyone read it?
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Apparently this has been making the rounds for years now, but it’s only now reaching me. Like some sort of signal travelling through space.
I fucking love this:
You’re absolutely fine, your lips are taste of wine, I like to think you’re mine.
God bless the Swedish.
Q&A For August: The Answers
Let’s get right down to it, yeah?
Jen asks:
where’s my video dammit?!
A: Actually, I have an explanation for this! Our computer has been acting extremely slow lately and hasn’t been cooperating in the “allowing me to edit video” department, so I just haven’t been able to upload anything. I promise, though. Once we get it figured out, there will be many more video blogs, including one JUST FOR YOU. Well, and John. You and John. Because you’re awesome.
oh and whats for dinner?
A: Generic pasta.
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Lizzie wrote:
Why?
A: That is fucking deep (that’s what she said). My answer to that is BECAUSE.
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Dustin “Hurricane of Love” Brown asks:
How can i meet girls who aren’t lying whore faces?
A: I promise you that they’re not all lying whore faces. There are plenty of lying whore faces out there, though. On both sides of the gender wars, if we’re being honest. I’ve seen my fair share of lying whore faces in the past and I can say it sometimes takes some wading through the pools of bullshit before you find the green pastures of love.
My advice is this: Hang in there, remember that the ones that break your heart don’t deserve to remain there anyway, and don’t give up on love (corny, I know), because it’s out there and you’ll find it. Even a jaded prick like you will one day find your perfect mate. :|
If i drove to your house, could i stay on your couch? By stay, I mean stain.
A: If I had a couch that wouldn’t kill you, then yes. Man, I’m telling you, when we can save up enough money to either fix up this place or get a new one, I want to have people visit all the time. But as this place (barely)stands right now, it’s just not feasible. The house may implode and kill us all if one more person were to show up here, really. It’s that dangerous.
So short answer: Once we have a couch worthy of your loveable ass, yes. You may stay on it (stain on it).
When you go to sleep at night, what is most commonly on your mind?
A: It depends on the kind of day I’ve had prior to going to sleep. If I’m feeling happy, it’s happy thoughts (love, life, pie). If it’s the opposite, it’s opposite thoughts (hatred, death, lack of pie).
Most nights, my mind is all over the place. I think of family, I think of friends, I think of where I’ll be in five years, in ten years. I think of where I’ve been, where I’m going. I think of the regrets I have and wonder if they’re worth holding on to. I think of what I’ll be doing the next day. All over the place.
If you could be a dinosaur, which would you be and why?
A: I’d be a stegosaurus, because I’ve always thought that, of all the dinosaurs, the stego would be the most fun to hang out with. The stegosaurus seems like the kind of dinosaur that you could catch a movie with, maybe grab a few beers and just kick back and listen to Rush. Stegosaurus seems like a Rush fan. And Kiss. I bet the stegosaurus loves Kiss.
If I died in your arms tonight and it must have been something you said, what would those words have most likely been?
A: “You look like you’ve had a long day. I’ve taken the liberty of filling your bathtub with JELLO and setting the CD player to play ‘I’ll Make Love To You’ by Boyz-II-Men on repeat. Let’s make magic, baby.”
Are you well hung?
A: It’s proportionate (for a dwarf).
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Tracy wrote:
Actually, Tracy, a friend/former coworker of mine, had recently read some of my short fiction and, being impressed by it, asked what I was doing out here in Minnesota instead of somewhere with a higher chance of being “noticed”.
First off, let me say that I’m flattered by how impressed she seemed by my work. I never really expect such a positive reaction when people read anything I’ve written, so it’s a nice surprise when it happens.
Secondly, in response to “What are you doing [here]? You need to be where you can get noticed. We love having you here…but do you think you will get where you want to be by being [here]?” I have to say, the wonderful thing about writing is that you can do it just about anywhere. Granted, if I were to be living someplace like Los Angeles (for example), I might be in a better position to have face time with the people I would be submitting things to. But the internet has really changed things. I’m able to get in touch with people who may be able to further my writing career with a mere e-mail.
In moving from California to Minnesota, I was never once concerned with not being able to continue with my writing. Everyone else seemed concerned about it. My parents were concerned, even Danielle was concerned, but I’ve never been.
I do not write as much as I used to, this is true. I won’t deny that. But life will always get in the way, no matter where you happen to call home. I’d much rather write a bit less, but be blissfully happy in other areas of life, than be in a position to write all day long while drinking away a miserable life. Many of the writers I’ve looked up to for years have led such lives, and I do not intend to follow in their footsteps in that regard.
I will finish my novel someday. I will collect my short stories into a book. I will finish and eventually direct a screenplay. Someday all of these things will happen, I’m not worried about when.
This was a very interesting question and one that really got me thinking, so I thank you for that, Tracy. I’ve never once regretted moving out here, for any reason. I’ve been happier living here with Danielle than I have been in a very, very long time. I have met some truly wonderful people and living here has been an experience I would never trade for anything in the world.
In regard to my writing, I try to set aside time to write. “Sunday will be writing day”, I say. “Writing, all day, no excuses.” But when you’re a family man, other things pop up and always will.
My family is the single most important thing in my life and always will be. I’m a writer, plain and simple. It’s who I am and what I do. But it will always be a secondary title to husband/father.
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That wraps up this months Q&A. Thanks to those who have sent in questions!
New Look, Same Blog
The blog may look cleaner and a little more organized, but I can assure you the man writing it is, in fact, not.
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I will eventually be upgrading to an actual website, someday. At which point I’ll have far more options available to me, by way of customization, but for now I’ll settle for the few little bits of minor customization WordPress throws at me.
“Blogger want a treat?” they’ll say, in a tone and pitch slightly higher than their normal voices. And I will run about their feet, panting and yipping, until they throw the morsel at my open and eagerly awaiting jaws. At which point, I will tear into it, relishing every bit of its juicy flesh as I render it limb from limb.
Once they offer a two-to-three collumn template that has full color customization and a custom header, I will be the happiest dog in the pet store window. Of course, I’ll probably be the only dog in the pet store window, as all the other dogs will have died from being so poorly treated since arriving at the pet shop from the illegal puppy mill.
My point is, don’t buy dogs from a pet store. Adopt them.
This is where that rainbow shooting star appears over my head and the words “THE MORE YOU KNOW” over my face, while I grin and walk away.
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Because I’d feel terrible to leave you all with a blog entry, least of all did not feature the answers to your questions, but also was merely a blog entry ABOUT the fucking blog (my head has nearly exploded by now), I give you this:
Q&A For August: The Questions
YOU GOT QUESTIONS? I GOT ANSWERS!
Come on down to Rob K’s House of Answers for all of your question answering needs!
Wanna know what makes me tick? ASK ME!
Don’t know what movie to watch tonight? ASK ME!
Need advice about the purchase of a rare and endangered ferret/cat/hamster hybrid on eBay? ASK ME!
Confused about which direction your life is currently taking? ME TOO! I mean, ASK ME!
That’s right, here at Rob K’s House of Answers, if you got the questions, I’ve got the answers!*
(I do this every once in awhile. Ask a question, about anything, and I’ll do my best to answer it. Make it funny, make it emotional, make it an honest question about myself or the world, and I promise to answer it in whatever way I can.)
If you have a question, just leave it in the comments below! I’ll update in awhile with my answers.
*DISCLAIMER: Rob K may not, in fact, have the answers.
Services To Be Held in Shermer, IL
I am admitedly late in doing this, but I couldn’t allow the passing of filmmaker John Hughes go by silently.
There are plenty of writer-directors out there. Many of them are either underworked or underappreciated, which is sad, as writing a thing and then directing it has got to be a more difficult job than people give credit to.
You create a thing, you put words to paper that shape a story and characters, you tweak with dialogue to get it just right. You spend hours out of every day toiling in front of a computer screen, your fingers practically attached to a keyboard, while you try to convey the story that currently resides nowhere but in your heart and your mind into words that others will not only understand, but also feel. That’s the tricky thing about writing that few people seem to understand; Everyone has a story or two in their head, but who among us can say that they have the ability to tell that story in a way that befits how it makes us feel inside?
So that alone is a difficult task, the writing bit. But to then say “Yeah, I’ll go ahead and direct this too” is accepting the responsibility to make an attempt in not only convincing others to feel what you feel about the words on the paper, but to actually act them out properly. You’re literally trying to create life, in a weird way. That takes a rare kind of talent that, even though there are many directors in the world, very few can honestly claim to have.
To direct a script someone else wrote is a huge responsibility as well, don’t get me wrong, but it’s even more heart wrenching of a process when it’s your words being poked and prodded with the stick of cinematic life.
John Hughes was a guy who got it, man. He understood what that took. He wrote and directed some of the most well-known and well-loved movies that have ever been assimilated into pop culture.
The Breakfast Club – 1985
I don’t think any of the people that are nearest and dearest to me weren’t personally touched by this movie in some way. Just about everyone can relate to it and at least one of its characters. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you take a second look at people you might not necessarily think you have anything in common with.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – 1986
Who didn’t want to be Ferris? I know I did. I was always more of a Cameron, though. In this movie, Hughes again captures what it’s like to be a kid finding his place in the big world, but in a slightly different way.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles – 1987
One of the more underrated Hughes films, in my opinion. The chemistry between Steve Martin and John Candy is fucking brilliant in this and the banter between their characters is pitch perfect. Candy plays the role of the obnoxious guy really well in this one, but as he did in all of his roles, he brought a lot of heart to it as well. And to see Steve Martin on his slow decline in sanity throughout the events in the movie, all the horrible things that happen to him as a result of Candy’s lovable-though-bumbling nature, to the point where he snaps and they have the heartbreaking fight later in the film. It’s just a touching, funny movie.
Which is what Hughes always did best.
That’s not even mentioning Weird Science, Sixteen Candles or many others.
And let’s not forget the multitude of movies that John Hughes wrote but didn’t direct:
National Lampoon’s Vacation/Christmas Vacation
Pretty In Pink
Some Kind of Wonderful
The Great Outdoors (this time John Candy teamed up with Dan Akyroyd. Classic.)
Home Alone (Home Alone 2, 3)
Career Oppertunites
Dutch
That’s just to name a few. Look at that list, I guarantee there’s at least one that makes you cry, one that makes you laugh and one that you feel is greatly underappreciated. Hell, you might be saying all those things about a single movie from that list.
The thing that seems to go unnoticed most often about the John Hughes films is their aesthetics; The way they look, the visual feel of them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as much a fan of the Hughes dialogue as anyone else, but the look of those films is visual proof of a guy who really understood what it took to make a film look great. It shows he knew how to tell a story within the frames of film along with the dialogue.
John Hughes was one of those directors that, upon seeing his films, made you want to be a director yourself. He wrote stories and created characters that made other writers think “Man, I wish I had done that.”
I’ve never met Hughes, but he was always one of the writer-directors whom I admired. Always wanted to shake his hand and just say “Thanks for helping to define who I was as a teenager, man.”
Now I’ll never get that chance, which is sad. But we’ll always have his movies to make us feel better, won’t we?
Excuse me, I’m going to go pop in Ferris Bueller on DVD. That always cheers me up.
Updates From Afar
The rain has been coming sporadically, the sunny days perfection momentarily marred by five or so minutes of torrential downpour. The world goes from warm and crisp, to wet and steamy, and back again in so little time that the animals outside must be so very confused.
It continued to rain in bursts throughout the day yesterday, all of it finally culminating in a large thunderstorm that rocked our little town in what would normally be a very quiet evening. Unfortunately, much like the blasts of phantom rain previously experienced, the storm was far too brief. Although its presence was made known, it didn’t last. I was sad.
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Money is, as always, cheif amongst our daily concerns. We’ve bought an X-Box 360 from a co-worker and friend of mine, to be paid in installments. Overall, it allows us to save money, as we’re not always renting movies or driving long distances in search of fun, only to sacrifice gas money.
The funny thing is, whenever we feel as though we are finally on top of everything, whenever we feel as though the bills are getting caught up and all will soon be well, that is when something happens to confirm otherwise. Much like a villainous money sucking specter, slinking through our window in the middle of the night, something always rears its ugly head and saps away any feeling of gaining speed in this financial race. A financial race to what finish line? A finish line of freedom, set apart from debt and only paying what must be paid at time of service, rather than owing and sinking and falling into a black void comprised of other peoples’ hands reaching out for our hard earned money.
Medical problems have a tendency to appear from the ether at terrible moments in time. I’m thankful to say our current medical emergency is nothing fatal or serious, but rather a dental issue that requires immediate attention (a numb lip is never a sign of anything good), and so as of Monday, we will find ourselves slowly slipping back down the impossibly large mountain we’d only just claimed a few more inches of.
The most important things are health and happiness. All other things are moot in comparison.
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Now some links and things of slight interest:
Neil Gaiman did this wonderful interview about vampires and why we may be nearing an end of this current vampire craze.
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“Will Amazon’s Kindle replace books? Pundits say yes.“
Of course, most pundits are also morons.
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Walking down a street in Dublin and feel like dropping into a ramp?
One Dollar
Less than two weeks from now, Comic-Con International will kick off it’s 2009 whirlwind of comics, science fiction, fantasy, horror and who knows what else in beautiful San Diego, California. I know quite a few people who will be there (some as attendees, some as guests), and I wish I could join them, but alas, I am but a simple man with very little money.
However, one thing that I urge anyone going to CCI on this or any year to do is to please donate to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. It doesn’t have to be much, they’ll accept anything really. They do offer some pretty cool shit for your money, though. They sell comic books and limited edition art, some of which are signed by some of your favorite creators (Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Jeff Smith, the list goes on and on), shirts, statues, tons of amazing stuff.
Why should I donate anything to the CBLDF?
Well, not to answer a question with a question, but do you love comic books? Do you believe in them as a legitimate art form that deserves to be protected from people who still think they’ll “rot your brain”? Do you believe in the first amendment?
Oh, I answered your question with three questions.
Anyway, if you answered yes to any or, as I suspect, all of those questions, then you’ve just answered your own in the process. Taking a quote directly from the CBLDF website:
The CBLDF’s guiding principle is that comics should be accorded the same constitutional rights as literature, film, or any other form of expression.
If you doubt that censorship of comic books and graphic novels has been happening for a very long time, click on over to this page and browse around a bit. Some of these cases are heartbreaking, especially to a life-long comic reader/supporter.
There were over a hundred and twenty-six thousand (thousand) people in attendance of Comic-Con last year. Think if each and every one of those people passed the CBLDF booth and handed them one dollar. Just a dollar, nothing major. A small piece of your overall weekend budget, I’m sure. But if enough people did it, it would make all the difference.
So If you’re attending Comic-Con July 23rd – 26th (with a preview night on the 22nd, remember), drop by the CBLDF booth (they’ll be in slot 1920 this year) and give. Give anything. Buy a t-shirt, buy some signed Neil Gaiman books, if there are any left by the time you get there. Or just hand them a dollar.
EDITED TO ADD:
Another truly worthwhile charity you should look into is The Hero Initiative. Click over to their website and read up on them, they’re wonderful folks.
(they’ll be in slot 907 at Comic-Con this year)
