Author: Craig Zablo

UFC 73 Summary

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Alright, let’s take a look at the results of last night’s UFC 73: Stacked.

The first fight of the night was Heath Herring Vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. I thought that this would be one of the easiest picks of the night. Although I was correct that Nogueira would win, it wasn’t easy. From the start Nogueira had his way, taking Herrring down and peppering him with blows. Herring managed to get to his feet, but it appeared to be just a matter of time since Nogueira was stalking him and landing punches and knees at will. Suddenly Herring landed a wicked head kick and Nogueira was down and nearly out. Herring was too cautious about going to the mat after Nogueira and this gave Nog additional time to slowly stand up. Time ran out before Herring could close the deal.

Round Two started and Nog was still wobbly. Herring, perhaps fearing that Nog was trying to lure him in, elected to stay back and it wasn’t until Nog regained composure and started pressing the fight that any real exchanges took place. Nog takes Herring down and lands some punches. Herring gets to his feet and Nog starts stalking him again.

Round Three is more of the same. Nog takes down Herring who escapes and then is stalked by Nog. The fight ends and Noguiera wins a decision. Herring did much better than I would have guessed. In fact he could have won the fight in the first round had he not been overly cautious. That will probably haunt him for quite a while. I do think that Herring’s showing was good enough to get him another top fight in the UFC.

Hermes Franca Vs. Sean Sherk was the best fight of the night. It went five full rounds and although Sherk dominated throughout the fight, Franca was never out of it. From the opening it was action with Sherk going in for a takedown and Franca countering with a guillotine choke. Sherk escapes and the fight is on. Each round went pretty much the same way, Sherk would shoot in, Franca would land a huge knee [that would have knocked out most fighters] and Sherk would shake it off and dominate from the top position. Sherk wins a unanimous decision and looks amazing doing it.

Rashad Evans Vs. Tito Ortiz was probably the most anticipated fight of the night. Tito begins with a quick takedown but is unable to do any real damage. Rashad gets up and the two exchange blows without either gaining much. Tito does get cut, but it appears that it’s from a fingernail. Round one ends with the nod to Tito.

Round Two is more of them going at each other without either gaining the upperhand. Near the end of the fight Rashad goes in for a takedown and Tito grabs the fence [for the second time] to avoid going down. Tito is penalized a point as Rashad finally gets Tito to the mat. Tito reverses and gets Rashad in a guillotine choke. Although Rashad is in trouble, time runs out. Since Tito lost a point, I call the round even [and later I learn the judges do as well].

Round Three starts and although Tito begins to press the fight, it appears that he’s gassed! Late in the round it is obvious that Rashad is in much better condition and he begins to take the fight to Tito. Rashad gets a big takedown and begins raining huge elbows on Tito. Luckily for Tito the bell sounds to end the round which goes to Rashad.

According to my scorecard the fight should end in a draw. I’m wondering if the judges feel the same… but they do and the fight ends in a draw. I’m sure that this will lead to a Ortiz vs Evans II.

Nate Marquardt was a huge underdog against Anderson Silva. I felt that if Marquardt could avoid Silva’s knees he would win. I was wrong. Marquardt was able to take Silva down, but couldn’t gain enough of an advantage to do much. After they were stood up, Silva clocks Marquardt who immediately tries for a takedown. Silva cracks him again with a right and Marquardt goes down to the mat and the fight is stopped. Silva wins via technical knockout.

UFC 73 provided us with 4 good fights. I don’t know who is out there that will beat Sherk or Silva. Herring isn’t done in the UFC and Nogueira isn’t the invincible warrior that we were led to believe. Neither Tito nor Rashad convinced me that they’re ready for a title shot.

Next up is UFC 74 which pits Randy Couture against Gabriel Gonzogna and George St. Piere facing Josh Koscheck on August 25th. You just know we’ll be talking about that as the fight date gets closer!


Jim Ivey Honored

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That’s my buddy, Jim Ivey, between me and my oldest son, Mike. The photo was taken at Jim’s 81st birthday celebration. I just learned today that Jim has gone up to Washington, DC where he [along with Hy Rosen and Jim Lange] were honored at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists 50th-anniversary convention. Jim was quoted as saying, “I’m delighted the AAEC is still going.” Jim also noted that the organization could also be called the AAPC [American Association of Political Cartoonists] and that he hopes those initials never mean the “American Association of the Politically Correct.” Yeah, that’s definitely something that Jim would say!
You can  learn even a bit more HERE. Congrats to Jim! – Craig

UFC 73 is Stacked

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Saturday’s pay-per-view, UFC 73, is called Stacked for a good reason. It features four fights that all [well, at least three for sure] that could headline any MMA card. Of the four main fights, three are tough to call, but I’ve given it my best shot. “X” marks my predicted winner.

Heath Herring Vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is the easiest prediction of the night. Herring has lost to Noguerira twice before and I don’t think Saturday will be any different. Nogueira will get the win and maybe by knockout.

Hermes Franca Vs. Sean Sherk should be a very good fight… maybe the best of the night. Franca is on an eight fight winning streak and has wicked jiu-jitsu skills. Sherk’s conditioning is unmatched… maybe his strength too [pound-for-pound]. Will Sherk’s wrestling skills, conditioning and strength be enough to defeat Franca? I think so. I see Sherk retaining his lightweight title by decision win.

Rashad Evans Vs. Tito Ortiz is perhaps the most anticipated fight of the night. It means the world to both fighters. Evans needs a win to keep his undefeated streak alive and to earn him a title shot. Ortiz has to have a victory to show everyone his best days aren’t behind him. This is a tough one to call. Evans is undefeated, has excellent wrestling skills and has knocked out his last two opponents. Ortiz is bigger. He’s been in the spotlight before. He knows what he needs to do to win. If he can take Evans down, Ortiz could win by stoppage. If he can’t Ortiz is in for a long night. I’m going to give the nod [a slight nod] to Ortiz.

Nate Marquardt Vs. Anderson Silva. Another tough one to call. This one’s for the middleweight title. Silva destroyed Rich Franklin to win the title when Franklin elected to stand and trade shots. I don’t think that Marquardt will follow that example. I’m going to pick an upset here and say Marquardt by decision.

I know that many of you follow UFC and MMA... so have I called it right?

Happy 4th!

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Happy 4th of July!

When I was a little kid, the 4th of July was for family and friends to get together for trips to the park [or each others houses] and cookouts. Fireworks were always the capper.

Then when my boys were small we always had family over. My boys would play with their cousins [water fights in the yard, basketball and video games]. We’d grill or BBQ something. And then at night I’d bring out the fireworks. I’d get one of the huge sets from Sam’s Club and the kids from the neighborhood would come down to watch the festivities. Once we’d exploded or launched or sparkled everything we’d head in and catch some episodes of The Twilight Zone marathon running on the SciFi channel.

A few years ago, I could tell my fireworks were no longer the highlight of the evening. My niece, nephew and sons were getting older and while they enjoyed getting together Roman candles and sparklers just weren’t cutting it. Ah, how time moves on.

At least I still have the Twilight Zone Marathon to look forward to! In fact starting at 7:30pm tonight you can catch six excellent episodes in a row [“The Shelter”, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”, “The Fear”, “To Serve Man”, “The Invaders” and “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up”.]

Have a relaxing day, don’t eat to much BBQ and be careful with those fireworks!

Collector’s ComicCon Are You "N"?

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On Sunday, July 22nd from 10am – 5pm, the Collector’s ComicCon is going to be the place to be in Fort Pierce, Florida. Not only will my best bud, John Beatty be a guest, but he’ll be joined by Bill Black [artist, writer, publisher of AC comics, writer, director and producer of “GARGANTARAMA” ] and Brenna Berry star of “GARGANTARAMA”.


It’s a fun little one day show. Click HERE for all the details. Hope to see you there!

Top Cult TV Picks

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TVGuide.com posted a list of the All Time Top Cult Shows. And while I’ve got to admit that there were many on the list that I’ve never watched, there were more than a few that brought back fond memories. So, using just their choices, here’s my list of my top ten favorite “cult” shows:
  1. Star Trek (1966-1969) Although I’m definitely not a Trekker [or a Trekkie], I was a huge fan of the series when it originally aired. So from the time I was 8 – 11, Spock was THE MAN. Kirk was cool, but given the choice, I’d be Spock.
  2. Twilight Zone (1959-1964) It’s amazing how well many of these episodes hold up nearly 50 years later. I have so many great memories of watching the Twilight Zone when I was a kid. Thankfully, due to reruns, I was able to re-experience the classic episodes with my sons when they were young. And twice a year, I still tune in for an episode or two when the SciFi Channel does their Twilight Zone Marathons! [The next one starts tomorrow!]
  3. Dark Shadows (1966-1971) It wasn’t until Barnabus Collins was introduced on Dark Shadows [a daytime soap opera] that I tuned in. But like everyone else I was hooked. Soon enough the show was dealing with not only vampires, but werewolves [Quentin was the Man!], ghosts and time-travel. Unfortunately the movies weren’t very good and like many fads just seemed to fade away.
  4. Jericho (2006-present) I’ve been with Jericho since the first episode and have enjoyed how it has focused on the relationships of trying to survive after a nuclear attack. I’m glad that the show is returning and hope that it doesn’t loose it’s momentum. New Episodes start Friday, July 6th at 9pm on CBS.
  5. Lost (2004-present) Lost is another show that I’ve been with from the start. Although it did seem to lose it’s footing, the last few episodes of last season were definitely back on track. Now that a firm end date has been announced I plan to relax and enjoy the rest of the journey.
  6. Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990) My wife and oldest son never missed an episode. He’d have only been 4 when it went off the air… and I have so many good memories of them snuggling together to watch each show. I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast, but it wasn’t ever “Must See TV” for me [unlike my choices for shows 1-5].
  7. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1989-1999) I enjoyed this when I watched it. But for the real MST3000 experience invite Big Beatty and Chad Hunt over to watch a movie and let them start commenting!
  8. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (1986-1991) This was another show that I didn’t watch much, but I did enjoy the movie spin-offs.
  9. H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1971) This one makes the list not because it was a favorite show, but because it brings a smile to my face thinking of how it drove my youngest sister crazy when we called her “Witcheepoo.” I know, I know, but I was an 11 year old. It was my duty to mess with her.
  10. The X-Files (1993-2002) This usedto be my oldest son’s favorite show. He loved it and I loved watching it with him.I don’t know why the “Wild, Wild West” didn’t make the cut. It would have been in my top three for sure.

Z-View: McClane is Back, Baby!

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I’ve enjoyed the entire “Die Hard” series. Don’t get me wrong, the first was a classic and created a whole new sub-genre of action movies. I also enjoyed both of the sequels. “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” wasn’t as good as the original, but it was still a whole lot of fun. “Die Hard with a Vengeance” again wasn’t as good as the original, but still entertained. I figured that “Live Free or Die Hard” would be about as good as the two sequels.
Boy, was I wrong. It was better! [Spoilers below]
  • The Good: Bruce Willis is John McClane. He’s a little older, but tougher than ever. Maggie Q. as Mai Lihn is pretty lethal. That is, she’s pretty and lethal. She puts a good butt-whooping on Willis. I loved how the movie sets up the characters, the situation and then BAM! it is off and running. The action sequences and stunts were great. Loved the wise-cracks. Really loved how McClane was relentless in telling Thomas Gabriel [Timothy Olyphant] that he was coming for him. I liked how they had a man of color in charge of the agency trying to catch the terrorists and there was never ANY question of his loyalty to our country. Kevin Smith’s scenes didn’t bother me, in fact I enjoyed them. Two scenes [mainly] were a bit over the top, but I accepted them… the jet scene where Willis jumps off the crumbling overpass onto the tail of the hovering fighter plane and then leaps to another section of overpass and slides aways from the explosion and the scene where Willis shoots through his own shoulder to kill the bad guy. Yeah. I know, but I ain’t complaining!
  • The Bad: No complaints from me.
  • The Ugly: The terrorist who fell into the grinder — but since this was PG-13 [which also didn’t bother me],the death wasn’t too ugly!

“Die Hard”   Rating: 5 out of 5

“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” Rating: 4 out of 5

“Die Hard with a Vengeance” Rating: 4 out of 5

“Live Free or Die Hard” Rating: 4 out of 5

Join the 300

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Longtime ZONErs know how much I loved “300.” It’s hard to believe, but I first started talking it up “300” over 3 years ago. Of course I’ve been a Frank Miller fan for nearly 30 years and jumped on the Zack Snyder bandwagon after seeing his take on “Dawn of the Dead.” I was sure that “300” was going to rock and I continued to talk it up more and more as we got closer to it’s big screen release. Click HERE and you’ll see what I mean.The cool thing is that now you can help promote the dvd release of “300” and maybe win a trip to Comic-con or even a set visit to hang with Zack Snyder on the set of “Watchmen”. How great is that?

A New Space

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I never got into MySpace or FaceBook or any of those other sites, so it surprises me that I jumped on board at ComicSpace.com. It’s a site for folks that are interested in comic books, comic book art and just about anything else related to the art form. I’ve only been on it a couple of weeks, but I’m really enjoying it. If you have any interest in comics, you should check it out.

AFI Ain’t Got Nothing on CJZ

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Last week The American Film Institute updated it’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. I tried to avoid weighing in since everything except my top two choices are subject to change, but the temptation was too great not to at least sort out my top 25. Everything after my first and second choices are in alphabetical order. There are other films that would make my top 25, but I limited myself to the AFI’s Top 100, so here it is…
  1. Rocky, 1976.
  2. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
  3. Ben-Hur, 1959
  4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969
  5. Casablanca, 1942
  6. Double Indemnity, 1944
  7. Dr. Strangelove, 1964
  8. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982
  9. Godfather, The 1972
  10. Godfather Part II, The 1974
  11. Jaws, 1975
  12. King Kong, 1933
  13. Maltese Falcon, The 1941
  14. North by Northwest, 1959
  15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975
  16. Pulp Fiction, 1994
  17. Raging Bull, 1980
  18. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
  19. Saving Private Ryan, 1998
  20. Searchers, The 1956
  21. Sixth Sense, The 1999
  22. Spartacus, 1960
  23. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
  24. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The 1948
  25. Unforgiven, 1992Comments are welcome!

Heroes Con 07 Report

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Heroes Con 2007 was a blast. Rather than go into a lengthy con report, I thought I’d post up some pictures and my thoughts. Hope you enjoy them half as much as I did the show…

This is the crew that I hung with for most of the weekend. Starting at the left and working around the table, my oldest son Mike, “The James”, Raf Kayanan, John Beatty, Andrew Robinson, Matt, Lazenby and Hal. Getting together with these guys is always a blast. Raf, Beatty and Andrew were set up at the con next to each other [Bob McLeod, Derec Donovan and John Dell were also within reach] so it was a pretty hopping spot. Originally Dave Johnson was supposed to be set up in the same area, but unfortunately he couldn’t make it this year.

That’s Matt Fraction pictured above. He’s about to autograph my copy of Last of the Independents which I highly recommend! It was my first time meeting Matt who also writes the popular Casanova comic series.

Rick Remender not only autographed my Doll and Creature graphic novel [review coming soon], but did an amazing piece for my Stallone gallery. I’ll post it once it’s scanned. Rick said that The Last Days of American Crime is in the works. I can’t wait. Rick has so many irons in the fire with Fear Agent, Sea of Red, Strange Girl and more that I was starting to think that he’d never get to it.

Another first was meeting Kyle Baker. I’m a huge fan of Kyle’s work. You Are Here is one of my all time favorite graphic novels. Kyle signed mine and told me his an idea for a sequel. I truly hope that someday he’s able to do it. I also picked up Kyle Baker Cartoonist Volume 1 & Volume 2 and Nat Turner Volume 1 & Volume 2. I was also lucky enough to get a Rocky sketch from Kyle [which I’ll post later]. Kyle Baker is an amazing talent and it was a pleasure meeting him.

One of the best parts of each Heroes Convention is watching artists create pieces for the auction. That’s Craig Hamilton working on his “300” piece. Craig’s an amazing artist who puts some much thought into everything he does. One of the cool things about Craig’s painting is that it works both horizontally [as seen above] or vertically! Tony Harris worked on a wicked “Phantom of the Opera” piece, while Phil Noto brought Batman, Batgirl and Catwoman together as Andrew Robinson started “After the Parade” .

That’s Gus Vasquez and his lil cousin Rosario Dawson. [Yeah, Rosario Dawson as in “Sin City”, “Grindhouse”, “Clerks 2”, and a whole lot more!] Rosario and Gus were back as special guests of the show and also the auctioneers! They did a great job and a new record was set when Adam Hughes’ Star Wars painting topped out at $5K!


It was so cool just to spend the weekend among friends, many of whom happen to be talented artists. Andrew Robinson definitely falls into both categories. The drawing above and this one are just two pieces that Andrew had created for his latest sketchbook. I was also lucky to see an advance copy of Andrew’s new art book that will be coming from Alberto Ruiz’s Brandstudio Press. Andrew’s book is going to be a hot seller and I can’t wait to get my copy!

Raf and Alberto spoke and Raf may have an “art of” book coming soon. I can’t believe I didn’t get any pictures of any of the sketches Raf produced. I was just too in awe of his work since it had been so many years since I’d been able to sit and watch him draw. I did get this shot and this one of two Punisher sketches that Beatty worked up for some lucky fans.

I guess I was just too busy actually talking to friends [Gary McKee, Jason Walker, and Eric Layton to name just three] and saying “hi” to artists [Jeff Parker, Brian Stelfreeze, Cully Hamner, Adam & Alison, Casey Jones, Cliff Chang, Tommy Lee Edwards and so many others] that I didn’t take many pictures. I promise I’ll do better next year… but please understand, no one does it as well as Pat Sun.

I was able to get some great additions to for my Stallone sketch collection. That’s Mike Wieringo pictured above. Mike’s blog is regular reading for me, not only because of his great sketches, but because of his thoughts about each sketch. When I contacted him about a Rocky sketch he posted after seeing “Rocky Balboa”, he said I could pick it up at Heroes. Mike was also selling a sketchbook and with each book purchased fans got a free sketch. Talk about a great deal! I picked up a sketchbook and got Mike’s take on Jack Carter as a bonus. [I’ll post it soon.]In addition to the two sketches I got from Mike Wieringo, I also was able to get one each from Rick Remender and Kyle Baker. Andrew Robinson did a cool Rocky for me before arriving at the show. So did Andy Smith. Megan Ruiz [Alberto’s daughter — a true prodigy] came through with Rambo. I also was able to get on Robin Mitchell’s sketch list and come home with The Art of Robin Mitchell, Volume 1 and his take on Cosmo Carboni from Paradise Alley. I’ll post all of these sketches once I get them scanned.

If you’ve made it with me this far, then you know a good time was had by all. Thank you and good night!