I picked up a pretty massive stack of trade paperbacks at Chicago Comic Con 2009 – those $5 bins (and cheaper, late Sunday) provide a nice way to fill holes in your collection or try out books you might have passed by at full price. Marvel books are particularly plentiful (because of their overprint policies, I presume). I also snagged some indie books from creators in artist alley. So here it is 6 months later and I’m still wading through my to-read queue. Here’s a couple I’ve read in the …

One of my favorite work projects in awhile is the “Save Our City” promotion for 105.7 the Point and Shapiro Metal Supply. I’d been looking for a creative project for our video team that would break away a bit from the usual documentary style of our productions.
Shapiro didn’t lend itself easily to typical promo ideas outside of your basic radio spots. What can you do to make a metal supply yard exciting for a male 18-34 demographic?
Being a lifelong fan of sci-fi and cartoons, the first thing that came to …

Though I’m very much a film appreciator, 2009 wasn’t a great movie year for me. I just didn’t make it out to the theater more than a handful of times, and several of those were disappointments on one level or another  – Terminator: Salvation and Nine (the animated one), for instance, and the exceptionally boring Extract. Yet, it’s funny that two of the primary cast members* of Extract are supporting actors in the film I saw, and enjoyed immensely, today.
I started my 2010 movie year right, with a big screen …

2010: Doesn’t it sound like the future?
Welcome to TEN. What are we going to call 2010? Is there an official version, and who decides? Is this what that Pearl Jam record was about?
We partied in the New Year with an impromptu gathering at casa de Wendronimo, also celebrating my wife’s birthday. Double whammy of awesome. With only a few hours of notice for our low-key shindig, we had a full house of merry makers and a full evening of laughs, hugs and good times. We kept it alive, if laid …

This article was originally published a few years ago as a guest column in the Edwardsville Intelligencer’s “Edge” weekend insert.
While out shopping with a female friend, we stop to examine a kiosk selling trendy purses and belts made entirely of big, dangly sequins in bold, fluorescent colors. I fear someone has accosted a figure skater and stolen their outfit for raw materials.
“I should get one of those,” my friend says, her face a canvas for disco-ball refractions cast by sparkling handbags. I raise an eyebrow. This young woman, characterized by …

This is the first real post for the new website. Excited about getting this up and live finally. Just migrated a few years worth of (sporadic) posts from Blogger and MySpace, now to get this thing up to speed with some current content!
I’m going to keep things brief for now (has Twitter affected me that much?), so here’s some general stuff:
I’m addicted to Glee. Seriously, love this show, love the music. The show is a little rough around the edges, but it all really makes me happy. I listen to …

Originally Posted to Blogger – Monday, December 17, 2007
It’s been some time since I’ve written here. As you may or may not know, I lost my mother at the end of October. It was very unexpected, and the single most difficult and damaging experience of my life. You expect a trauma like that to affect you, but I think ‘how’ is always the big surprise. My family and I are healing, and I appreciate all the help we received during this trying time – particularly from The Armada who, as …

Originally Posted to Blogger – Sunday, March 04, 2007
I used to hate Hugh Grant in every movie he appeared in. Then he was a part of the fabulous ensemble cast of ‘Love Actually’ and his suckage rating went way down. Today we saw him with Drew Barrymore in ‘Music and Lyrics’, which was a helluva lot of fun. Drew is as cute as I’ve ever seen her (and that’s pretty darn cute) and Grant’s character is likable, funny and altogether someone you’d be pleased to know. It’s a light movie …

Originally Posted to Blogger – Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Wendy and I have returned from our adventure to New York City for a stay with the lovely Gene and Mary. I had intended to blog extensively this evening about the trip, but I’m still exhausted from all the travel. For now, I share this photo from the New York Comic Con:
Tonight, Wen and I watched “The Prestige”, a flick starring a handful of my favorite actors (Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Cane) by a favorite director (Christopher Nolan). …

Originally Posted to Blogger – Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Monday afternoon, Big T and I sat through a matinee of “Ghost Rider”, starring Nicholas Cage’s hair piece, Eva Mendes’ cleavage, Sam Elliot’s cowboy getup, Peter Fonda’s pomade and Wes Bentley’s over synthesized voice. Co-starring Bentley’s sideburns, and a handful of actors that had been out of work since “Highlander 3″.
I love comic books. I support comic book movies when I can. Make no mistake, I know that many of them aren’t good – and Ghost Rider certainly falls in that category. …