MegaCon Bound

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, my buddy, John Beatty and I are going to be in Orlando hanging out with several thousand other like-minded folks.  Yep, it’s time for MegaCon John is going as a guest  of the show and I’m going as his guest.  That means while John is sketching for fans, I’ll either be hanging at his table keeping the fun at it’s maximum level or I’ll be visiting with other artists/friends looking to get a sketch or two for my Stallone Sketch theme collection.

If you’ve never been to MegaCon, you’re missing out.  There’s something for everyone.  There are celebrity guests, comic book creators, dozens of artists sketching for fans, panels, gaming, and more. If you’re in driving distance of the show, come on down.  If not, there’s always next year.  Hope to see you there!

Who Doesn’t Love The Big Bang?

Now THIS is a movie poster.  I love everything about it: the old-time look [dig those creases], the design, the colors, the typeface.  Then you’ve got Antonio Banderas playing some hard case firing off his 45.  And let’s not forget that Delroy Lindo and Sam Elliott [love his look in that small photo] make every movie a little better.

Yeah, this poster rocks.

.

Stephen King May Join The Walking Dead

Here’s a match made in, uh, heaven… Stephen King has confirmed to EW.com that he is in talks to script an episode of AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead.  Man, I would love to see that happen.  King and The Walking Dead’s executive producer, Frank Darabont, have a history of working together to create top notch entertainment [The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist] so odds are this will all work out.  I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

UFC 128 Results

Last night, UFC 128 took place and these are my predictions and the results:

  • Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Brendan Schaub
    Prediction: Schaub wins via TKO.
    Result: Schaub defeated Mirko “Cro Cop” FIlipovic by TKO at 3:24 of round three 3:24
    My record for the night: 1-0
  • Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Miller
    Prediction: Marquardt wins via submission or ref stoppage.
    Result: Nate Marquardt defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision
    My record for the night: 2-0
  • Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus
    Prediction: Miller for the win.
    Result: Jim Miller defeated Kamal Shalorus by TKO at 2:15 of round 3
    My record for the night: 3-0
  • Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland
    Prediction: The California Kid (Faber) via stoppage or submission.
    Result: Urijah Faber defeated Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision
    My record for the night: 4-0
  • Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Jon Jones
    Prediction: Jones wins by decision.
    Result: Jon Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by TKO at 2:37 of round 3
    My record for the night: 5-0

Final thoughts:

  • The Fight of the Night Bonus [$70,000] went to Edson Barboza and Anthony Njokuani who fought on the free undercard televised on SPIKE.
  • Because no fight ended in a tapout [meaning no Submission of the Night], two $70,000 Knockout of the Night bonuses were given: Erik Koch [KO’d Raphael Assuncao] and Brendan Schaub [KO’d Mirko Filipovic] received the awards.
  • Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has probably fought his last fight in the UFC after back-to-back KO losses.
  • Immediately after Jones won the title it was announced that his first opponent would be Rashad Evans.  This will make for an interesting fight since both are used to be friends and teammates.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out leading up to the fight that should see Jones favored to win.

Coffee, Art and Big John Beatty

Hey, if you’re an early-riser, I’ve got a site that you might want to check out.  It’s called Morning Brew Art and it was created by my best bud, John Beatty.   Each weekday morning at 5:30 am EST, Big John goes live on U-Stream to create a piece of art that he wants to draw – no commissions or sketch requests — just something that John has a desire to create.  This frees Big J up to go as loose or as crazy as he wants.  So far the results have been impressive and my guess is that things are only going to get better.

Here’s another cool aspect of Morning Brew Art – the pieces that John creates each morning are available for purchase.  If you decide to buy the piece while John is still drawing it, the price is even lower.   So if you’re up early, why not plan on having your morning brew with a little art?

UFC 128 Predictions

On Saturday night, UFC 128 will air on pay-per-view and the card looks to be a good one from bottom to top.  So, if you’re interested, this is who is fighting and who I’m predicting to win.

  • Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Brendan Schaub
    Prediction: There was a time when Cro Cop was one of the most feared fighters in the octagon… although it’s been a while.  If Schaub pressures Cro Cop, I see it going his way.  Schaub wins via TKO.
  • Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Miller
    Prediction: I’m a big Marquardt fan and am looking for him to win via submission or ref stoppage.
  • Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus
    Prediction: Miller for the win.
  • Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland
    Prediction: The California Kid (Faber) via stoppage or submission.
  • Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Jon Jones
    Prediction: Jones wins by decision.

The Big Z

I was going through the vault and I came across this caricature that my buddy, Jim Ivey, did of me a couple of years ago.  Jim is a political cartoonist, author, publisher, teacher, owner/curator of one of the first galleries featuring cartoon art in the world [The Cartoon Museum], World War II vet and self-professed mellow curmudgeon.  I’ve always loved the simplicity of Jim’s art… even when dealing with a subject as complex as me.

I Kicked the Terminator’s…

Ok, I really didn’t beat The Terminator or even that super-computer that was on Jeopardy.  But I did beat the computer [set to veteran mode] that the New York Times set up to play Rocks-Scissors-Paper.  Not only did I beat the computer I smoked it 6 out of 10 times with it beating me only twice [2 games were ties].  I played it twice in veteran mode and this was the second time and to be completely honest — it did beat me the first time.

It’s interesting to see how the computer quickly decides what to play, but it’s more fun just to play.  You can do both here.