Thursday, April 30, 2009

Fellowship of Breaking


I am attempting to go crazy over the next week. The signs started showing today.

For the past few days, I have actually felt pretty good. It was almost euphoric. Nothing could drop my spirits, which is saying a lot considering I am mostly a pessimist. I shrugged off nearly every negative thing hurled at me. Most problems were dealt with an, "Oh well", and a smile. That changed around 3PM this afternoon.

Work just really got to me today. I felt the strongest urge to destroy the castle we have been building at the store. Mainly I have been feeling that "I" am building... no "we" involved. As soon as I was leveled with about 16 things to do for the night with about 2 seconds notice, I just welled-up with rage. At one point, trying to screw in crenelation to the wall, my positioning was obstructed by a tower. The tower was graciously placed there by my boss in an effort to add detail, never mind that I had to do work before it should have gone in, now I had to work around it. A screwdriver was thrown. No one was hurt. I just feel all this work is wasted effort. My name won't appear for any credit.

I am trying not to hate Lord of the Rings. I should re-watch the movies. I have all the extended editions, and haven't even watched the 3rd one, Return of the King, in it's extended form yet. Apparently, it is the best one with additional material, like the Mouth of Sauron.

I decided to play to my loves. I thought it would be in my best, sane interest to contribute with something that I like to the store. So, I found a bunch of Lord of the Rings soundtracks to bring in to listen to while working. At the momnet, there is only the Fellowship of the Ring CD at the store, and I am sick of it. I figure showing up with about 6 more CDs worth of Balrog-slaying music could change the atmosphere.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Free Comic Book Day 2009


For the 4 of you that read this, and the one of you that may pay attention:

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday.

For the past few years, the first Saturday in May promotes literacy. As the doors fling open and the gates go up, hundreds, if not thousands of comics will readily be available to the public for FREE! Show up at a participating store or location, and grab yourself some cool reading.

Common misconceptions:
  1. Not every comic book in the store is free.
  2. You do not just get to pick anything and take it for free.
  3. Don't be a jerk and take more than one of any title. I don't care if it may go up in value.
  4. Just because we didn't get enough copies of your independent free comic, don't whine.
  5. The comic book stores do actually have to pay for these things. It's at a reduced rate, but the comic book store owners agree to hand them out for free.
I don't think I have ever really been there for a Free Comic Book Day. I at least never had to work it. I think I showed up last year just to see how it was going.

Here is a list of some of the free comics (Marvel and DC Comics tend to do 2 freebies each):
  • Archie Comics: Archie Presents: The Mighty Archie Art Players
  • BOOM! Studios: Disney/Pixar’s Cars
  • Bongo Comics: 2009 Free For All
  • Dark Horse Comics: Star Wars: Clone Wars
  • DC Comics: Blackest Night #0 and DC Kids Mega Sampler
  • IDW Publishing: Transformers Animated/G.I. Joe
  • Image Comics: Savage Dragon #148
  • Oni Press: Resurrection #0
  • Marvel Comics: The Avengers and Wolverine: Origin of an X-Man
  • Viz Media: Shonen Jump Presents: Ultimo
Most of the books are reprints of some kind. Once and a while, the freebie is new material, like DC's Blackest Night #0, which sets up the summer event for the company. In some cases the new material eventually gets handed out everywhere, but demand is still high, so they release a purchasable version of the book. Marvel did it with a Spider-Man and an X-men free comics from the last 2 years.

There really is stuff in there for everyone. That is not even a complete list of comic available. I particularly like the attention to the younger reader comics because they tend to be better stories. Many of today's most prolific writers got their start writing the "kids' books". DC Comics tends to win out in that vein. Other comics are media tie ins' that showcase the company with a license of other media, like Disney's Cars, and the GI Joe/Transformer stuff. Dark Horse is even coming out with a new Aliens comic for it. Oh, and if you didn't know, Bongo Comics is almost solely Simpsons related.

So, please, if you can, make it out to your local, supporting comic books shop for some free stuff. Once and a while they even have events to coincide with the "holiday."

My store won't have any real events because we aren't a real comic book store in my opinion. We will have a ton of free books for people though.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

distracted


I am easily distracted at the moment. It's like many things suddenly turned into shiny objects that my raccoon brain must pay attention to at the moment.

It happens a lot at work. It may seem like multitasking, and part of it is, but I really just keep switching focus. From placing an order, to doing inventory, to building a huge castle out of foam, I was doing it all. I even found time to price and shelve an order. Isn't my day exciting?

I have been meaning to write something for a while. The ideas just aren't germinating. This is an excuse after all. I attempted to start reading more dense literature, which means those books without pictures. The bulk of my silent knowledge comes from comic books and magazines. Now, if only those magazines were news sources for global events and not upcoming video games. The bulk of my creative output comes during work.

Being in a comic book store means people who come in there like to read comics. Many times, conversations grow about different things. Sometimes it's "can this character beat that character" or whatever the new comic movie comic out will be like. I almost have to play devil's advocate at times as to why certain things occur the way they do. Some times it is fun, and other times I just want to strangle the fanboy who won't listen.

I think I wasted enough time. My mind is shutting off as my television calls to me. There is only so much late night tv I can take before I have to hurt something.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Videowrestling


Someone said I don't post here often. I would have to agree.

I need some time away from moving pictures at the moment. So, for the moment, I am listening to a gaming podcast while attempting to write something. I was playing Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360. It's a lot of fun. Probably the best $30 I spent recently. I finished up a game called Beyond Oasis, which I started just to grab an achievement. It's sort of like Zelda in that it is an action adventure game with a fantasy theme. Parts of it were frustrating in that they didn't really show you where to go. I did a lot of backtracking and roaming around. It was fun, but easy at the end.

I have been in a wrestling mood lately. It started a couple weeks ago leading up the Wrestlemania. My friend, Ken, came down from NYC to go to a wrestling show here in Philly. Granted, Ken is originally from Philly, but a live show with a respectable price at the old ECW Arena is rather enticing. Ken and I were joined by a third, John. Ring of Honor snagged a recent television deal, and we just happened to be on the second night of a two part TV taping. Lot of action and a lot of fun. No slow points.

Other than that, I really want to pick up Samckdown vs. Raw 2009, to link both the videogame stuff with the wrestling stuff. They just released more downloadable content for it too. Before the extra content was a couple current "superstars". The current addition is more retro. When the list of new wrestlers includes Doink the Clown, it's almost a must buy.

I really didn't do much this Saturday. I played some games, watched friday's Samckdown because I missed it do to "Out Drinking", and generally just sat around. I didn't really have anywhere to go that wouldn't suck the money from my wallet. I had enough sucked out today due to car insurance.