Comics, Kevin and (faux) comas
I fully intended to get at least one more film in my series of Kevin Smith flashbacks over the weekend, but well, I’m very, very lazy.
Ok actually I have something resembling an excuse for that. This weekend was Planet Comicon, the only comic convention worth noting in Kansas City.
The convention was ok. To be honest I think last year had more guests that I was interested in meeting, but still there were some nice highlights. I got to see my friend Blythe who is a performer in a comedy troupe called Willie’s Wenches. They take Shakespeare’s plays and horribly mutilate… err I mean pay “homage” to them to comic effect. It’s very silly and over the top but all the girls are cute and genuinely funny at times (though at times seriously strained what might be considered acceptable for an “all-ages” crowd).
There were some awesome costumes this year. I think I saw more costumes there this year than ever before. I tried to get some photos but my iPhone’s rather shaky camera to begin combined with crowds meant that almost all of them came out blurred. I somewhat regret that I didn’t pull out my Mal Reynolds costume since I put so much effort into it last Halloween and there were lots of people in not-strictly comics costumes. There was one guy who looked almost exactly like Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal of the Comedian in the film adaptation of Watchmen.
Guest wise, it wasn’t a coup for me. There are a few guys who I do admire that were there, but most of them are regular attendees to convention each year. Phil Hester and Ande Parks are great artists and Jason Aaron is a good writer (though I confess I’ve read very little from him but he generally gets rave reviews), but all of them were there last year. I did introduce myself to writer B. Clay Moore whom was very cool in panels at the con in the past and showed me some art of an upcoming project he and one of my favorite comic artists, Tony Harris. Really looking forward to that one.
I didn’t get a whole lot in con swag, though I’m trying to save money right now and spent more than I hoped I might. I picked up a trade from B. Clay Moore (that he rather gratefully signed) called Hawaiian Dick, which I have no clue what it’s about but the man was so friendly I really wanted to get something from him. I also picked up the first three volumes of Scott Pilgrim mainly because I watched the trailer to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World being done by Edgar Wright and it looked fantastic. I’m about halfway through the second volume of the comic now and it is a fun read, though I think I might end up preferring Wright’s film version in the end, as the comic while funny, can be somewhat slow and talky at times. This is not a bad thing but the frantic pace of the trailer is a bit more of my cup of tea.
Saturday night me and my friend Sarah went and saw Kevin Smith’s Q&A at the Midland Theater. It was fun, but perhaps a bit long. He came out, in a robe and just talked for nearly three and a half hours. Admittedly I was laughing for nearly all of it. I also got great seats, third row just a bit off center.
He told a great story about Bruce Willis and how Bruce had intimidated him on the set of Cop Out after Smith requested he channel a bit of his character David Addison from the TV series Moonlighting. He did clear up something I had speculated on earlier in my Dogma review as to the problems with Linda Fiorentino on the set of the film, apparently she refused to talk to him for half a day after she confronted him because several actors would leave where they were filming in Pittsburgh on the days they weren’t filming but because Fiorentino was the main character who is in most of the scenes she was not allowed that luxury and apparently took it out on Kevin by refusing to talk to him. He talked comics, he talked tattoos (he got one of the Mad Hatter after drinking during the filming of Clerks because he was constantly late and then realized the next day that he had confused the Hatter with the White Rabbit), just about anything and everything. Far too much for me to even touch on briefly.
It was certainly entertaining and I recommend that fans of his works see him live once, but he mentioned that he was really impressed that he sold out the Midland (which seats about 1,700 people) and said he would come back each year, but I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to see it next time.
On Saturday after the first day of the con and the evening with Kevin Smith I was exhausted. I went to bed around 12:30 or 1:00 AM but I woke up at about 11:30 in the morning. I never sleep in that late. I’ve gone to bed much later than that and still managed to get up before 9:00. I think as a whole it screwed up my sleep schedule, and I haven’t felt like I have gotten a good night’s sleep since. Perhaps my mood on the whole weekend is slightly soured because I wasted half a day in bed for no discernable reason, even though on paper I have no major complaints about the weekend.
Until Next Time!
Ok actually I have something resembling an excuse for that. This weekend was Planet Comicon, the only comic convention worth noting in Kansas City.
The convention was ok. To be honest I think last year had more guests that I was interested in meeting, but still there were some nice highlights. I got to see my friend Blythe who is a performer in a comedy troupe called Willie’s Wenches. They take Shakespeare’s plays and horribly mutilate… err I mean pay “homage” to them to comic effect. It’s very silly and over the top but all the girls are cute and genuinely funny at times (though at times seriously strained what might be considered acceptable for an “all-ages” crowd).
There were some awesome costumes this year. I think I saw more costumes there this year than ever before. I tried to get some photos but my iPhone’s rather shaky camera to begin combined with crowds meant that almost all of them came out blurred. I somewhat regret that I didn’t pull out my Mal Reynolds costume since I put so much effort into it last Halloween and there were lots of people in not-strictly comics costumes. There was one guy who looked almost exactly like Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal of the Comedian in the film adaptation of Watchmen.
Guest wise, it wasn’t a coup for me. There are a few guys who I do admire that were there, but most of them are regular attendees to convention each year. Phil Hester and Ande Parks are great artists and Jason Aaron is a good writer (though I confess I’ve read very little from him but he generally gets rave reviews), but all of them were there last year. I did introduce myself to writer B. Clay Moore whom was very cool in panels at the con in the past and showed me some art of an upcoming project he and one of my favorite comic artists, Tony Harris. Really looking forward to that one.
I didn’t get a whole lot in con swag, though I’m trying to save money right now and spent more than I hoped I might. I picked up a trade from B. Clay Moore (that he rather gratefully signed) called Hawaiian Dick, which I have no clue what it’s about but the man was so friendly I really wanted to get something from him. I also picked up the first three volumes of Scott Pilgrim mainly because I watched the trailer to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World being done by Edgar Wright and it looked fantastic. I’m about halfway through the second volume of the comic now and it is a fun read, though I think I might end up preferring Wright’s film version in the end, as the comic while funny, can be somewhat slow and talky at times. This is not a bad thing but the frantic pace of the trailer is a bit more of my cup of tea.
Saturday night me and my friend Sarah went and saw Kevin Smith’s Q&A at the Midland Theater. It was fun, but perhaps a bit long. He came out, in a robe and just talked for nearly three and a half hours. Admittedly I was laughing for nearly all of it. I also got great seats, third row just a bit off center.
He told a great story about Bruce Willis and how Bruce had intimidated him on the set of Cop Out after Smith requested he channel a bit of his character David Addison from the TV series Moonlighting. He did clear up something I had speculated on earlier in my Dogma review as to the problems with Linda Fiorentino on the set of the film, apparently she refused to talk to him for half a day after she confronted him because several actors would leave where they were filming in Pittsburgh on the days they weren’t filming but because Fiorentino was the main character who is in most of the scenes she was not allowed that luxury and apparently took it out on Kevin by refusing to talk to him. He talked comics, he talked tattoos (he got one of the Mad Hatter after drinking during the filming of Clerks because he was constantly late and then realized the next day that he had confused the Hatter with the White Rabbit), just about anything and everything. Far too much for me to even touch on briefly.
It was certainly entertaining and I recommend that fans of his works see him live once, but he mentioned that he was really impressed that he sold out the Midland (which seats about 1,700 people) and said he would come back each year, but I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to see it next time.
On Saturday after the first day of the con and the evening with Kevin Smith I was exhausted. I went to bed around 12:30 or 1:00 AM but I woke up at about 11:30 in the morning. I never sleep in that late. I’ve gone to bed much later than that and still managed to get up before 9:00. I think as a whole it screwed up my sleep schedule, and I haven’t felt like I have gotten a good night’s sleep since. Perhaps my mood on the whole weekend is slightly soured because I wasted half a day in bed for no discernable reason, even though on paper I have no major complaints about the weekend.
Until Next Time!