Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I’ve sung the praises of YouTube many times before, but I’ll sing ’em again tonight. I decided that I wanted to check out the cool fight between Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee from “Return of the Dragon.” Sure enough it was 
The picture above was taken about 30 years ago when I was in high school. I’d never seen it until just a few minutes ago.
Last weekend when I was at OrlandoCon a guy who was getting a sketch from John Beatty said that his wife had gone to high school with Big John. I told him that I went to the same high school. Come to find out I knew his wife as well.
When she came by the con, we had a chance to talk a bit. We hadn’t seen each other since high school. She said that she had a picture of us taken at a pep rally and that she’d send it my way. Strange seeing it for the first time 30 years after the fact. Where do the years go?
Man, but it does take me back…
I can’t wait to see “The Kingdom” on the big screen. I hope my image grab for today doesn’t make you think “The Kingdom” is a movie about 9-11.
If you’re bored [hard to imagine since you’re here, but if you are], you might want to take on Payton Manning in a NFL trivia game by clicking HERE.
You know I loved the book. You know I can’t wait for the movie. You even know about
Yesterday I wrote about the amazingly talented artist, Joe Bluhm, and his book Rejects. Here’s what I said:
Friday night I drove down to Orlando to hang with my best bud, John Beatty who was going to be a guest at OrlandoCon. John had driven down ahead since I had to work late. I pulled into the parking lot to find Beatty, John Higashi, Mike Gowcharan and Kwan walking back from the convention hall. They had gone over to get the lay of the land. We decided to get some dinner and ended up at a Chinese Buffet. It was a little hole in the wall joint, the grub was okay but the company was better. We talked about everything from what our con expectations were to Mike Wieringo’s untimely passing, to poker strategies, to Big Beatty’s upcoming trip to the Philippines.
We went back to the hotel and ended up looking at some of Higashi’s latest art pickups. Mike brought out his poker chips, we all threw a ten spot into the pot and played a winner take all no limit Texas Hold’em Tournament. Despite a great start, the best I could manage was second place [Mike came in first] and as Beatty reminded me, second paid the same as last place. Harumph!
The next morning Higashi and I got up early to meet Mike and Kwan [and his girlfriend] for some breakfast. Beatty decided he needed more sleep and didn’t join us. He was up and ready to roll when we got back to the room so we all headed over to show. The convention hall was really much bigger than I had expected.
As I was walking around I was surprised to find Joe Bluhm set up. Joe is a fantastic artist and I regularly visit his site. I hadn’t known Joe was going to be at the show and immediately talked to him about doing a Stallone sketch for me. Joe agreed and I knew that if I wasn’t able to get any other pieces, his would make the show worthwhile.
I knew that Ron Salas was going to be at the convention. I really am impressed with his work and also visit his site regularly. Once Ron was set up Higashi and I went over to meet him. Ron was as nice as he is talented. He agreed to do a Stallone sketch for me. Higashi proceeded to set up a Star Wars sketch for himself and a World’s Finest piece for Hawaiin Dave.
It was time for the Leinil Yu raffle drawing so we headed over. They were only drawing two winners and you had to be present to win. The first number was pulled and the crowd waited to see who would step forward… going once… going twice… new number! The next number was pulled and immediately a guy yelled, “That’s me!” Time for the last winner. The ticket was pulled and the numbers called out… “Six…” – I had a six! “Eight…” – I had an eight! – “Zero…” I had a zero! I quickly looked again, 680! Yep! It was me. I raised my hand and yelled, “I’ve got it!” I could hear Kwan and others laughing, Zablo won!
I went over and turned in my ticket. I walked over to talk to Leinil about my request. He was in to it and said that he was going to do me a nice drawing. Did he ever! As he was drawing it, other fans continued to come over and tell me how cool it looked and how nicely it was coming along. Beatty and Kwan didn’t want me to see it until it was completed. That didn’t stop them from going over to look at and film Leinil’s progress. Word came back that he was doing it bigger than normal and putting way more details than usual. I couldn’t wait to get my mits on it… but I didn’t want to rush Leinil so I stayed far away. LOL!
I headed back over to see how Joe was doing with my Stallone piece. It was finished. Joe had decided to whip up Sly as Rocky Balboa. It was an amazing piece. Joe absolutely nailed it. I thanked him and headed back to show the guys. Beatty is very seldom impressed. His response was, “Wow! That’s really nice! Let me see that!” He then positively commented on everything from the drawing itself to the color choices. If Beatty’s impressed, it’s a rare thing, indeed. Beatty was working on his second Punisher commission [above] so I decided to walk around a bit more.
Alex Saviuk was set up. I had swung by earlier to say, “hi.” I was walking by his table when he called me over and said, “I saw you have your Stallone reference here. Bring it by and I’ll give you that sketch I owe you!” [Alex had been doing sketches for charity a while back and I purchased one with the understanding that he’d do it when he got the chance.] Alex drew Sly as Superman! What a great guy and great sketch!
Leinil finished my Rambo sketch. It was amazing. Several fans came over to say how nice it was. I couldn’t believe my luck in winning and then that Leinil would come through in such a spectacular way. I’ll post up a better scan to it [and all of my pieces] soon.
I was showing my sketches to a friend who came by the table. He wasn’t familiar with Joe Bluhm’s work. I was telling him about Joe and his book Rejects. Joe is a caricaturist and occasionally he does a drawing that the customer doesn’t want. Surprisingly these are often some of the best drawings of the day! Joe has put together a great book called Rejects. It features rejected caricatures and his comments about them. When Joe told Beatty about the book, Beatty said it was a great idea and that he’d pay to have me drawn in “reject mode.” We all laughed. Higashi heard this and decided it was a great idea. The next thing I knew Higashi had his camera out and aimed in my direction…
It was almost time for me to head out… I wasn’t staying for both days of the show. I swung by Joe’s table to thank him again for the great drawing. I saw that he had an opening and asked if he’d do another Stallone piece for me. He agreed.
I walked down to say goodbye to Ron Salas. I told him that Higashi or Beatty would pick up my piece on Sunday and that it was a pleasure meeting him. I swung by to say good bye to a few other folks. I then picked up my second Joe Bluhm piece [was my luck running good or what], said so long to Beatty and Higashi and then was headed for home!
I’ve never read anything by Jeff Somers. I rarely read scifi. Especially futuristic scifi. Yet, I think that I might really enjoy The Electric Church by Jeff Somers. It’s described in THIS REVIEW as “BLADE RUNNER meets THE DIRTY DOZEN, with a dash of Sergio Leone” — so I ask, who wouldn’t like that mix?
I decided to READ THE FIRST CHAPTER FOR FREE. The I decided to read JEFF SOMERS’ BLOG. I’m still interested in reading The Electric Church so my next Amazon order will probably include it… even though I’m not much on futuristic scifi.
Anyone catch the season premiere of “Prison Break”? Now in it’s third season, “Prison Break” continues to entertain and offer some of the best commercial break cliffhangers on tv. It’s pretty amazing how well the writers are able to weave the storylines of the various characters so that they continue to interact despite being on the run and separated over the course of two seasons. The show is well cast and well acted. The writing and pace are such that I’m willing to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the world in which the Scofield brothers exist.
And special mention has to be given to Robert Knepper as Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell. Is there a more hated character on television now? He’s so bad, he’s good.
My old buddy, Andy Smith wrote the book on Drawing Dynamic Comics.
Charles Bronson was my favorite actor for a time. He didn’t just play tough guys in movies — he was one. I thought I’d seen all of Bronson’s major starring roles… until I saw THIS.
Next weekend I’ll join my best bud, John Beatty, at OrlandoCon. John will be a there all weekend signing autographs and sketching. I’ll be there to hang with Big J, see some old friends and hopefully relax a bit. Who knows I may even try to get an addition to my Stallone sketch collection.
If you’re in the area, swing by and say, “Hi.”
Three new posters are out now for “30 Days of Night”. You can see them by clicking HERE.
The new TV Season is almost upon us. Let’s see what’s worth watching.
SUNDAY
This looks to be one of the weakest nights of all. At 8pm I’ll tune into NBC’s Sunday Night Football while my wife will head into the bedroom to watch ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition followed by Desperate Housewives. No new show looks to be worth the effort on Sunday.
MONDAY
From famine to feast, Monday is loaded with good programing. My guess is, from 8-9pm, we’ll watch Prison Break [FOX] and record Dancing with the Stars [my wife will watch it later while I’m otherwise engaged, thank God]. At 9 we’ll leave it on FOX to catch the new series K-Ville, which has the potential to be very, very good. At 10pm we’ll switch over to the premiere of Journeyman on NBC.
TUESDAY
I doubt that it can be as good as the commercials, but at 8pm I’ll give ABC’s new series Cavemen while recording Bones [FOX] for my wife. I’m hearing good things about CW’s [CW??] Reaper so we’ll watch that and record ABC’s Dancing with the Stars Results show. Then at 10 it’s Boston Legal on ABC. [Denny Crane! Denny Crane!]
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday starts at 8:30 with FOX’s ‘Til Death. At 9 we stay in place for Kitchen Nightmares [more Gordon Ramsey! LOL!]. At 10pm I’ll swing over to ABC to check out Dirty, Sexy Money.
THURSDAY
For years Thursday was the best night of the week for tv, now the only thing I’m checking out is Survivor on CBS.
FRIDAY
Unless something interesting is featured on ABC’s 20/20 at 8pm I won’t turn on the tube until 9pm when I check out Moonlight on CBS about a vampire private eye.
I’ll just be glad when 24 and The Shield return…
