Geek Week // Jack's Blog

Hollywood Nerd

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:09:11 -0800

This is a true, drawn-out tale of a magical Wednesday and a sobering Thursday. Basically, a long story that explains what it’s like to be a huge nerd, and live in the entertainment capitol of the world.

Wednesday is Comic Book Day, and what basically keeps me going every week. I can’t really afford my comics habit, and usually over half the books I buy really let me down, but if I didn’t have that Wednesday trip to the shop, I’d be one seriously emo dude. A friend at work, Jenny, used to go with me to the shop, or at least print out the comics coming out that week and go down the list with me of “must haves” and “might flip throughs”. We’d meet at a desk and use highlighters and look really official, and when people asked what we were doing we’d look really grim, like the fate of our company depended on what we were doing. When in fact I had just highlighted “Great Lakes Initiative and Deadpool Summer Special”. Anyway, she quit two weeks ago, so even my Wednesdays aren’t quite as super-fun as they used to be.
So this Wednesday the 17th I snuck out to the shop closest to my work in Hollywood, Golden Apple Comics. Golden Apple is huge. I almost feel guilty shopping there, as I know the 3 or 4 strip mall comic shops on my way home really need my business, Golden Apple always has whatever you’re looking for, plus 20 other things you can’t afford but must have. So I leave Jenny a message about how she’s a doodoo head for leaving and I’m getting comics without her and she’s stinky. (I miss Jenny. Don’t tell her)
I get to the shop and grab all my books but one is missing, Gargoyles. So I go to the section set aside for kids comics and Manga (mostly Tokoyo Pop stuff, not REAL real manga) and I’m looking and looking. This guy is kind of in my way and I’m trying to dodge around him and we’re doing that weird “I don’t know what I’m looking for but I’m pretty sure you’re standing right in front of it” dance and I actually get a good look at the guy.

It’s Samuel L. Jackson

Okay, so that’s weird. Didn’t see that one coming. Now, I still want to find my comic. But I don’t want it to look like I’m orbiting because he’s…HIM! A girl that works there swings by and says “need anything, Sam?” and he says “Just catchin’ up on my manga.”

Samuel Jackson is catching up on his manga. heh. Wrap your head around that.

Anyway, I get the rest of the stuff I need and humor two or three stupid things I could say to him or see if he’d autograph a copy of Ultimates or something, and I decide that’s just dumb, he just wants his comics, I’m out of there.

As I’m leaving I remember there’s this awesome little art gallery next to the comic shop. I’m not… an art guy. My Mom was an art teacher, I know the classics, but I’m a nerd. I’d rather play Mario Kart. Well, I love this gallery because their last show just so happened to be art about video games.
So I pop in to see what the new subject is. The gallery is small, like the size of a restaurant in a mall food court, let’s say. 3 walls of art, plus a divider in the middle with art on each side. I go straight to the first wall and look at the first piece there and the subject is Donnie Darko. OH YEAH! The show is about Cult Films. The next piece I see is a painting of Jay and Silent Bob, and there are plenty of those as the show’s being supported by Kevin Smith and I have to assume half the artists knew that painting him would sort of give them a leg-up on the display side of things. I’m not a Kevin Smith fan. I was, I’m not. I don’t want to have a big blog thing about it, his films just don’t connect with me after Mallrats. His “Evening with Kevin Smith” stuff is pretty funny and I think he’s a great public speaker, but I’d much rather have lunch with him than sit through one of his movies. ANYWAY, by the third Jay and Silent Bob painting, I’m literally sighing and shaking my head back and forth. And as I’m in mid head-swing I see someone over to my right.

Oh, hi, it’s Kevin Smith.

And for some reason, at that moment, he’s looking at me.
I kinda nod, he kinda nods, goes over to talk to well-wishers.

So, okay, that was a little embarrassing. But then I realize someone should probably tell Kevin Smith that Samuel L Jackson is next door. It’s not going to be me, I was just spotted grimacing at Kevin’s visage. Then Kevin disappears into the back room of the gallery. Oh well, guess it isn’t happening. Door to gallery dings, in walks Samuel L Jackson.

My God. He’s following me. He must know me from Geek-Week. Maybe he wants an autograph. How awkward, I hope he doesn’t ask me “How’s Thor” or something dumb.

Okay okay, so Sam actually just came to see the art, but we seemed to keep crossing paths, it was weird. No, I didn’t really talk to him. We nodded and grunted at some of the same art side by side, that’s about it.

So I left, called Jenny and left another message to make her really jealous. Called my girlfriend and everyone else I could think of. No, it’s not that interesting of a tale because it’s not like I actually INTERACTED with any of them, I was just sort of in the same room.

Thursday:
There’s a MySPace bulletin from Tim Seeley of the comic Hack/Slash (I love this comic. Either you do or you don’t. It’s a simple pleasure and I convert everyone I can to this series) Anyway, I reply to Seeley’s post about art he’s putting on eBay and he replies to me. We go back and forth and it ends with him saying he’s going to ComicCon and since I offered to by him a drink at the Tiki bar next door he’ll draw a picture on a napkin for me or something.
I am ECSTATIC.
I print out the page that shows him saying this so I can have this in writing.
I leave work early so I can go home and show my girlfriend said page, after stopping to brag to my buddy at work who I also got into the series.

When I tell my girlfriend about this she she says “didn’t you see Samuel Jackson and Kevin Smith yesterday?”
Me: Huh? Yeah. Oh yeah, I guess so. But this is Tim SEELEY! Of Hack/Slash!!

We then had a conversation about what a reverse fanboy I am. There’s some better phrase for it, I’m sure. If Robert DeNiro asks me for a light, I’ll find fire somewhere, give him a light, and walk away. If Jim Cummings, the voiceover actor that did Darkwing Duck (and a schmillion others) approached me and asked for directions, I would FREAK OUT on him. Actually I would just be nervous and stupid and probably talk too loud.
I guess it’s all amatter of perspective. There are really really famous people that I have seen/bumped into/actually had conversations with in this town, and I forget the next day. But if master artist Arthur Adams shows up at the next table at California Pizza Kitchen, LOOK OUT!

I got the Touch

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:41:46 -0800

Saw Transformers on Monday at the Arclight in Hollywood. First showing. Some tidbits (no spoilers):

1.) They had the actual vehicles (or one of each of the bajillions they must have used) from the film. They looked awesome. Except the Bumblebee didn’t have the symbol on his steering wheel. I think the folks at Chevy are freaking geniuses for nailing down the rights to all the Autobots for this film. Seriously, geniuses. But they missed one mark in not making Bumblebee a car people could actually afford. If they had made him a… I don’t know cars, but basically whatever Chevy’s version of the Accord or Camry are, those things would sell like crazy.

2.) Patton Oswald was there to see Transformers. That just struck me as funny since his movie, Ratatouille, was playing up the street

3.) One of the Producers, Tom DeSanto was there. He said something that made me very scared at the beginning of the film. “If you’re a fan, you’ll be happy. And if you weren’t a fan coming in, I GUARANTEE you will be when you leave!” Everyone clapped, I got nervous. All I could hear was “This ship is UNSINKABLE!” Luckily the film, in fact, happened to rock.

4.) Sarah, Brian, and I LITERALLY bumped into each other in front of the film. Totally unplanned. I said “guys, did we actually just run into each other, like we did in the episode?” Then we all silently nodded and did the jumping high-five. I kid you not. In front of hundreds of people. We rule.

5.) As I walked up to the theatre I heard they were blasting “You Got the Touch” from the original Transformers film ( I literally burned through 3 copies of this film on VHS in my youth, no joke. The DVD re-release last year was absolutely amazing) Then I see an older guy that looks like he’s aged pretty damned well sitting next to the giant speakers, with a stack of CDs in front of him and I realize it’s Stan Bush. Long story short, I thought I could be cool in front of him and ask for an autograph, I was a total freak and he kept offering his hand in a patronizing shake because he could see how excited and tweaky I got every time he did so, and I got the FREAKING AWESOME signed cd you see above. Note that he wrote “You” instead of “You’ve”, becauuse that would have been WRONG. So awesome.

Roll out.

YOU HAVE A BAD ATTITUDE!

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:23:17 -0800

So the new episode went up. We’ve covered this on the message boards, but this is the first Geek-Week episode under “new management”. Matt Mercer and I have formed the company “Bad Attitude Productions”. The name is pretty simple, in writing meetings and daily life we’re pretty snarky people, and our friends and girlfriends are too, so when someone does something extraordinarily rude, we’ll yell at them “YOU HAVE A BAD ATTITUDE!” It’s one of those trigger phrases from childhood that makes you want to chime in with the rest of the class and go “oooOOOOOOOOOooooh!” until the teacher tells you to quiet down.
Steve Fable of our boards made us our logo. He did it in literally a day, sacrificing sleep and sanity. The guy’s just absurdly talented. We were lucky to find him as a GW fan.

Anyway, these blogs will change a bit. Sarah, Brian, and I will try to update them more, and possibly with more just random stuff off the top of our brains. Sadly some of the blog names you see down there may go away, but new kooky ones will be added.

I’m sure Thor would have a blog too. If we knew… where he was….

Happy Sassy Day of Sass

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:05:46 -0800

When Galvatron decides you’re his Valentine, it’s not really open for debate.

Anyway, I’m sorry my last two blogs have basically been just links, but this is too ingenious to pass up

GEEK VALENTINE’S DAY

It’s worth clicking to the printable pdf just to see all the shadowy figures worshipping at the feet of the one girl that showed up.

Seriously though, free booze at a comic shop? I suddenly wish this holiday came around more often!

The one guy that goes “AAAUUUGH!”

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:28:44 -0800

Short one, just had to share this:

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=787

and accompanying example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbYsoEasio

The Blog of Eternal Stench

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:48:01 -0800

And so it begins. Bill worked with our awesome web-monkey Mike to give us the option to Blog. Admittedly, I already have a Livejournal I pretty much never use, and a MySpace account I never update, so…uh…yeah.

But I’ll try, because nerdy stuff happens to me daily. Actually not just daily, but by the second. So for the most part expect to see lots of chat logs between me and my insane buddy I like to call “Comic Curmudgeon” because he reads every book out there, and hates them all. We disagree on pretty much everything and like to use lots of curse words and talk a lot about Wonder Woman having sex with Aquaman. Hilarity ensues.

I’d love to put up some sort of comic or game endorsement this week, but everything that showed its ugly head last week straight up SUCKED. Thank the Universe for Peter David’s X-Factor kids, because if it hadn’t soothed my murderous mood, I’d have hit that Ultimate Nullifier button after all.