Ken's Alternate Universe!

February Can’t Get Here Fast Enough!

Lake Charles, LA

I am soooooo ready to start hitting conventions this year. Since I started going to conventions a few years ago, this has been the longest stretch between conventions for me (excepting the year-long wait I had between the now defunct ConDuLac I and ConDuLac II). By this time, I’ve been to Wizard World NOLA, but that didn’t happen this year, so I’m really stoked for Louisiana Comic Con in Bossier City next month.

The Discount Dark Knight has also been very busy rounding up a sweet prize for his first-ever “live” contest that he will be executing at Louisiana Comic Con. The winner will receive a Funko Pop Heroes Earth 2 Batman figure just by following three simple steps. For those of you that aren’t in the know, here they are:

Attend Louisiana Comic Con. I should state here that the convention, Funko, Facebook, nor WordPress have anything to do with this contest. The Discount Dark Knight purchased the prize with his own money and will happily give it to a fan that follows all three contest rules.
Find DDK at the convention. That’s pretty easy, right?
This is the most important step, as the first person to complete it properly will win the figure. Whoever says this line, “The Discount Dark Knight is my favorite superhero,” first and loud enough for those congregating around DDK to hear will win the prize. After winning, DDK will get a photo with the person.

Now, if anybody else performs all three steps above after the prize has already been given away, DDK will say “Thank you” to them and then give them a handshake, fist bump, hug, high five, or even a peck on the cheek if they ask nicely!

So if any of my readers plan on being at Louisiana Comic Con next month, be sure to hunt down the Discount Dark Knight. He’ll be roaming the convention all day and will be more than happy to hang out with everybody there.

See you soon!

It Has Begun!!!

Lake Charles, LA

It’s convention season again, and my alter ego, the Discount Dark Knight, will be in attendance at a few conventions this year. He has a little contest going on over on his Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/discountdarkknight, so feel free to check it out if you’d like.

The first event that DDK will hit is Louisiana Comic Con. It will take place at the Bossier Civic Center in Bossier City, LA. Louisiana Comic Con looks to be a pretty cool event, especially for a first year event. Guests include author Greg Burnham, illustrator Marcus Williams, comic artist Rob Guillory, anime voice actress Trina Nishimura, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake of old school WWF fame, and the lovely Mary Kate Smith, best known as a contestant on TBS’ King of the Nerds Season Two. Of course, there are tons of other artists, celebs, and cosplayers attending, so be sure to check out the convention’s website at http://www.louisianacomiccon.com.

The second convention on my hit list is CoastCon in Biloxi, MS. Although it’s one of my favorite conventions, it has been a couple of years since I last visited this wonderful event. CoastCon will take place March 20-22 and I’m positive that it will be a great event. This year guests will include Battlestar Galactica alum Aaron Douglas, Tony Amendola who has portrayed a multitude of characters in film and on television, author James S.A. Corey (Daniel James Abraham and Ty Franck), anime voice artist Tiffany Grant, cosplayers Destine Magique Cosplay, and other artists, authors, and gaming gurus. Hopefully I will be able to attend this year. To find out more about CoastCon, visit http://www.coastcon.org.

One event that I will be sure to attend after Louisiana Comic Con is CyPhaCon in Lake Charles, LA on April 17-19. It’s the best convention in the Lake area and one of the fastest growing conventions in the Gulf South. It’s a little convention with big aspirations, and they always go above and beyond for their guests and attendees. This year is their fifth anniversary and to celebrate, they’re bringing in Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel from Game of Thrones), anime voice over artist and actor Chuck Huber, Larry Nemecek, who knows just about everything there is to know about Star Trek, and cosplay guest Marie Doll. Also in attendance will be the Suzaku 7, an epic anime band that has played the convention before. They do not disappoint! CyPhaCon is still adding to their lineup, and it looks to be a big year for this convention, so check them out at http://www.cyphacon.org!

Late last year I blogged about my reasons for skipping over Wizard World New Orleans, so my only major event this year might be Comicpalooza in Houston, TX. I won’t nail down any plans just yet, but you can definitely check out this event http://www.comicpalooza.com.

Whether or not I make it over to Houston for Comicpalooza, I definitely plan to attend Bayoucon in Sulphur, LA June 19-21. This event has bounced around venues over the years (all of them were in Lake Charles at various locations) but this time it will take place at the West Cal Arena & Event Center in Sulphur. Guests for this event will include anime voice artist Todd Haberkorn, Michael Koske, a featured Walker from The Walking Dead, and stuntman/actor/cosplayer John Mangus. Hopefully Orion’s Envy will also be returning. As of right now, Bayoucon has not had a lot of updates or additions to their website, http://www.bayoucon.net, but hopefully my favorite green ladies will be added to the mix soon enough!

Last year I attended the Houston Con in Houston, TX in August. The website for that particular convention has been very quiet (their Facebook page, too), but the bunch over at http://www.thehoustoncon.com were very quiet last year as well until right before the convention. When they did speak up, they did so loudly and proudly. The Houston Con was one of my favorite conventions last year and I hope they return.

I’m also going to attempt to attend a few other conventions this year that I’ve never attended before. MechaCon and Louisianime are on my “to do” list and hopefully I’ll get to them this year.

I’ll be sure to post reviews of all of the conventions I attend this year and will definitely post photos. If you’re attending any of these events this year, let me know and maybe we can meet up and chat for a bit!

Thanks for reading. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, but now that the new year is a few weeks old, I’m ready to blog my brains out! See you all very soon!

A Balloony Surprise!

San Fransokyo

Last weekend I took one of my children to see the film Big Hero 6. In all honesty, I had no clue as to exactly what this film was about. I wasn’t familiar with it at all. Basically I went in blind.

I also went in with very low expectations and prayed that I could make it through the length of the film.

I was wrong!

I LOVED this film!

It had action sequences on the same level as The Incredibles and an excellent story that was funny, heartwarming, and family friendly. I laughed throughout the film and loved watching the action sequences. It was a perfect blend of ‘splosions and laughs.

My child loved it as well. He laughed just as much as I did and was just as wowed by the action.

The film centered around kid genius Hiro, whose older brother is trying to convince to attend the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Once he’s convinced, Hiro attends a science fair at the institute where new students will be chosen. His experiment wows the crowd, but a terrible accident leaves him without a brother and intent on finding the person responsible for his brother’s death.

The story could have gone into full “good guy with vengeance in mind” mode but instead took a higher road through Baymax, Hiro’s brother’s creation. Baymax is a health diagnosis android that Hiro turns into a fighting machine in order to find the film’s villain. As the duo work together, they begin to learn from each other. Baymax becomes a fighter, and Hiro grows as a person.

Tagging along for the ride are a few friends of Hiro and his brother. They take on their own superhero roles and help Hiro find the man responsible for his brother’s death.

The film moves at a very quick pace and was very, very enjoyable. After watching the film, I did a little research about it on the webz. Suprisingly, the film is based on a comic series of the same name. There are some major differences in the characters including their abilities as heroes (especially Baymax), twists in the “origin” of Hiro and Big Hiro 6, and a few more changes as well. This didn’t bother me in the least (as I stated, I wasn’t even aware that the film was based on a comic).

I highly recommend Big Hero 6. It’s a great family film that’s fun for everyone.

Highly recommended!

Wizard Wipeout????

In Dark Corners Of The ‘Verse

For over thirty-eight years now I have been a geek, a nerd, the odd man out, and that shy kid that never drew much attention to himself. While many kids were playing baseball or jumping rope, I was watching 3-2-1 Contact, Doctor Who, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Super Friends, and anything else that the four local channels (sometimes five if the weather was right) had to offer. I read books about the Universal Monsters and the making of films like Star Wars. I also loved to draw superheroes, write my own stories involving said superheroes (and at one point a lengthy set of Indiana Jones adventures) and use my imagination a lot when playing with my toys.

Over the years I acquired a very small group of friends. Some of those friends are gone now. Many of them moved away with their families or their futures. One good friend died in a car accident. Others simply lost interest in me or I lost interest in them and we faded out of each others lives. Throughout all of those friendships, though, the one thing that bonded us together, nerdiness, has remained.

I started hearing about San Diego Comic Con earlier in this century. I became very interested in this seemingly wonderful event. A home for all things nerdy from comics to science fiction novels to films and beyond. It sounded wonderful. I wanted to go to this event or something similar to it, but never did I expect that any type of comic or pop culture convention would make its way to southwest Louisiana.

That very thing happened in 2009 when a local Star Trek fan group put on ConDuLac. It was a very small event, but it was the first of its kind (as far as I can tell) in the Lake Charles area. The media guest was Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica fame, and other regional conventions came in to assist with the event. It was pretty cool, especially for it being so new to the area.

Fast forward to 2011.

With only one other event under my belt (ConDuLac 2010), I attended my first major event, Wizard World New Orleans. There were tons of vendors, comic artists, and cosplayers in attendance. There were also plenty of media guests including the likes of Ray Park, Billy Dee Williams, Adam West, and Burt Ward. A few castmembers of the a little show that had just started up on AMC, The Walking Dead, were there too.

It was a really cool event. It was loud, crowded, and I met a lot of people (many of which I consider friends now). It was Mecca as far as I was concerned and I was in love.

Wizard World New Orleans gave me the convention bug, and soon enough I was attending events like CoastCon, CyPhaCon, Space City Con, and Comicpalooza. I even ventured into the world of convention running in 2011 when I became the vice president of BayouCon, created when a member of the crew that started the now defunct ConDuLac started his own event. My marriage with that event was short, however, and I left a much wiser man.

Jump to the present.

The fourth edition of Wizard World New Orleans is just a little over a month away. Sadly I will not be attending this event. It will feature a few media guests that I want to meet and some comic artists that I’d like to buy from, but at $75 (pre-ordered online, $85 at the door) for a three-day general admission pass and anywhere from $30 to over $100 for autographs and goodness knows how much for photo-ops, I just cannot afford to go to this event. While I understand that Wizard World sets prices to maintain some sort of control over the size of the crowd, it makes me wonder just how greedy they are when there are smaller events with similar guests and attractions that are offering weekend passes for fifty dollars and autographs that are ten to thirty dollars cheaper than the same autograph at Wizard World.

On top of this, Wizard World is now demanding fan groups to shell out around $650 to have a table at the event despite the fact that most, if not all, of them are non-profit and sell nothing at the convention to recover any costs.

Greed is an ugly thing, people, and Wizard World looks mighty greedy to me.

I plan to attend more smaller conventions in 2015, and will most likely return to Comicpalooza for the first time in a couple of years. They will get the dollars I would have spent at Wizard World, but I just cannot justify shelling out so much money to an event that seems to care more about the bottom line than the fans that made it the massive creature it is today.

While I won’t tell my readers that they should boycott Wizard World or any other event, I will suggest that they take a look at what these events stand for before deciding to attend one of them.

Thanks for reading!

Mid-Season Mayhem!

Atlanta, GA

Last week I made a bold prediction as to which character would bite the dust for the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead. I gave reasons as to why I believed that Carol, Beth, Rosita, or Tara would be saying their farewell to the show.

After seeing last night’s episode, the inevitable happened. I wasn’t surprised at all when the person that did meet their end was offed. Heck, I wasn’t even as shocked as a lot of other people apparently seemed to be. Just peruse any social media site and you’ll see that the death in the episode was shocking, touching, and very sad for anybody that witnessed it.

BEWARE: SPOILERS FOLLOW!!! STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE MID-SEASON FINALE!!!

Okay, now that the warning is out of the way, I’ll say that the way that poor sweet Beth met her end was very heroic. She knew that Dawn was fighting a losing battle for control of the hospital, and when the “swap” was made and Dawn then demanded the return of her “ward,” Noah, I knew that Beth was about to make her move.

It was a very sad moment for many people, but I guess that I had just prepared myself for the end of Beth and I felt almost nothing when Dawn shot her (and I do believe that it was a reactionary shot that Dawn took but she still deserved to die). I had friends in Southern Geek go ballistic about the death and others pointing fingers at Beth for her own demise.

What was really emotional for me, though, was the Talking Dead episode that followed. When Emily Kinney broke down multiple times throughout the episode, I could tell that she genuinely loved not only the character of Beth, but the series and her fellow actors as well. I hope that I get to meet her one day, as Beth slowly grew to be one of my favorite characters. I’d love to personally thank her for bringing Beth to life.

Even though Beth was my second choice to die in the show (I figured Carol would go out first), I think I did a pretty good job of predicting that she would die

So, with the major death out of the way, what’s next? It looks like a lot of zombie killing awaits Rick and company after the mid-season break. I believe another major character is going to die as well, and maybe Morgan will finally catch up with Rick.

Until next time, thanks for reading. Comment below if you are so inclined!

“Dead” On Predictions

Atlanta, GA

I watched last night’s episode of The Walking Dead expecting two things: 1) A perfect set-up for an explosive mid-season finale and 2) Clues about who might not make it out alive. After seeing the episode, I’ve come up with some predictions that may or may not be stone cold locks. If they prove to be true, they’ll make me seem really smart or psychic. If I screw up these predictions royally then I’ll just look like a goofus. I’m betting (and sorta hoping) that I look like a goofus.

NOTE: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD. READ WITH CAUTION IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED MOST OF SEASON FIVE!!!

After the whole Terminus debacle at the beginning of this season, The Walkind Dead has featured episodes that have focused on Rick’s group at the church, Beth on her own, Abraham’s group on the road, and Daryl and Carol going after Beth. What I’ve noticed throughout these episodes is that they have all built up key characters that I believe have the potential for not making it to the second half of season five. Seeing this happen and then utilizing what has occurrred over the previous seasons, I’ve devised a hit list of who I think is going to bite it. So, here goes:

There almost has to be at least one major death from the core cast of original survivors. Of the ones that started it all, only Rick, Carl, Glenn, Daryl, and Carol remain. You could toss Morgan in their as well, but he’s been more of a peripheral character since his introduction. I do believe that he’ll be a factor in the mid-season finale, but I don’t see him dying just yet. There was a hint of what’s to come for Glenn early on if you read the comics, but I don’t see him leaving yet. So who will it be? Sadly, I think Carol is going to die this time around.

Why will Carol die? Just look at the growth of her character since last season. She started the series as one of the group’s weakest links, and has slowly become an almost unstoppable force in the zombie apocalypse. She is the strongest female character on the show and has become a fan favorite, possibly more popular than Rick. She’s Daryl’s best friend on the show (with Rick a close second) and potentially his love interest. In fact, her association with Daryl is what makes her a likely candidate for death since he is almost too popular to kill off. I honestly believe that the producers and writers want to knock off a major character, and Carol’s growth, especially with the whole Terminus “Terminator” version of Carol we saw at the beginning of the season makes her the perfect candidate. By killing her, other female cast members like Maggie and (possibly) Rosita can move into the alpha female role and fans lose a beloved character that isn’t Daryl. I’d really hate to see Carol go, but I think her time is up.

Next on my list is one of the second season core members, Beth. Beth has spent most of her time on the show as a background character whose only claim to fame up until she teamed up with Daryl was a failed suicide attempt. When she did team up with Daryl, she became a bolder, bluntly honest woman who proved she could hold her own. At the hospital she has proven herself to be an excellent trickster and quite the rebel, even standing up to Dawn and the rest of the po-po at the hospital.

So why is Beth a likely candidate for death? Her character has experienced a surge in importance. Since bonding with Daryl, fans have wanted to see either her or Carol form a romantic relationship with him. While Carol has definitely risen above her “Daryl’s girl” status, Beth has not. She hasn’t set herself apart quite enough yet, so I’m betting that she’ll do something very heroic and go out in a blaze of glory in order to save Daryl or possibly Noah. Again, I’d hate to see Beth leave the show, but she has transformed too much to be kept alive much like Merle when he stood up to the Governor.

The next two candidates on my list are Rosita and Tara. Of the two, I believe that Rosita has the best chance of surviving, but I still don’t know if she’ll make past the mid-season mark.

Why? For starters, Rosita came into her own over the last couple of episodes. Instead of being a background character, Rosita has proven that she knows how to take care of herself with our without Abraham and isn’t afraid to stand up to him. She has shown that she can adapt to just about any situation (especially making fishnets out of utility worker jackets on last night’s episode) and seems to be forming some type of relationship with Glenn. Now, as long as Maggie is in the picture, I don’t see Rosita moving in to take her place. However, she could provide a potential plot device for Glenn and Maggie to fight over and then have Glenn die a dramatic death at the hands of someone while Maggie wishes she hadn’t had a fight with him in the first place. So, that may or may not save Rosita’s skin, but the fact that she has been built up more and more over the last few episodes (much like poor Bob’s build up and then his relationship push just before dying) makes me think that her days are numbered.

My last potential death is Tara. Poor, poor Tara. She fell in with the Governor and then fell in with Rick’s group. As this season has played out, we’ve seen her have brief moments with Rick, Glenn, and even Eugene. Most of her moments have been lightly humorous (and very welcome), but I don’t see her as a necessary member of the group. I mean, let’s be honest here, if I said, “Oh, no! Tara died!” I’m betting that a few fans of the show wouldn’t even know who she is!

Also, on last night’s episode, Tara had more visibility than she’s had on the entire show. She made up a “team name” and cracked a joke about getting it tattooed on her knuckles. She joked to the utility pole zombies about D.C. She found a yo-yo and got excited about it. All of this light and steady build up to me says that the writers are saying, “Hey, gang. Remember Tara? You know, the background girl who caught Eugene watching Abe and Rosita???? We’ve established her enough as a character that’s perfect for killing off.”

Now, here’s my breakdown of who will die out of this bunch: 1) Tara. She’s a goner. 2) Carol. She’s too important now to NOT kill off. She’s a female Daryl, but I believe fans will take her death a bit easier than the death of Daryl if and when that ever occurs. 3) Beth. If she goes, she’ll go in a big way. 4) Rosita. The most likely of this group to live, only to die a major death later this season or at the beginning of season six.

Some of you might be wondering why I have only selected female characters as potential mid-season deaths. Well, it’s not because I’m a male chauvinist. It’s because three of the four women I’ve listed are the strongest female characters on the show. As far as men go, Daryl is almost a golden child for the show. If they kill him, I believe it will be in the show’s final season. Rick is the leader (most of the time), and I only see him getting killed whenever Carl rises to the task of leading the group. Tyreese has a ton of development left to do in my opinion. He’ll probably go berserk on the cops at the hospital, and probably because of what happened to Sasha last night. I think Sasha is safe for now, by the way. Noah is a scrappy kid, much like Glenn, but he still needs to “man up” before I consider him worthy of killing off. I believe that Glenn is safe until a certain baseball bat shows up. Abraham and Eugene are sort of loose cannons right now. I think Abraham will survive for a bit longer, and Eugene will be dead before the end of the season, but only after doing something heroic to help the others.

Oh, and don’t think that I’ve forgotten Michonne. Despite not an original group survivor, I believe that she’ll be around for a long, long time. I see her and Rick forming a deeper relationship, and I believe that she’s become the closest thing to a mother for Carl.

As far as the hospital people are concerned, a part of me believes that Dawn will join up with Rick’s group and pretty much all of the other cops are toast. The cop I fear for the most is the guy who knocked out Sasha. Tyreese will unleash the beast on him!

So, we’ll find out next week if I’m right or wrong. Hopefully all four of these characters will make it, but I believe at least two of them are done for the show.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know if you think I’m right, wrong, or a blithering idiot in the comments section!

Catching Up With My “X’s”

Lake Charles, LA

Okay, okay. Now before you read this blog, know that I am well aware that X-Men: Days of Future Past has been out on DVD/Blu-ray/digital download for some time now AND that I’m probably not adding much to the whole X discussion that hasn’t already been mentioned, but please realize that I have a life outside of those brilliant fantasy worlds that I love so much and it just took me a long time to get to this film.

Also, there will probably be spoilers in this post, but as stated above, this film has been available for awhile now.

Let’s begin.

I watched X:DOFP over the weekend with my friends from the USS Lafitte. I was one of just a small portion of the crowd that had not watched the film, but no one spoiled anything for me.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the film. I knew that Brett Ratner had no hand in the direction of the film (a blessing in my opinion) and that Bryan Singer had returned (although I had no problems with Matthew Vaughn). That’s a good start in my opinion, but I also knew that Wolverine would once again be the front and center character despite having two solo flicks and a primary role in almost every other single X flick (heck, he even had a cameo in the one film he was a central character in, First Class). I have no real grudge against the character (he used to be a favorite of mine as a child), but I’m just very, very tired of seeing him save the day every single time. I thought these guys were a TEAM and not Wolverine and a bunch of freaky folks.

Anyway, this tale finds us fifty-plus years into the future of the events that took place in First Class and the world has turned on all of the mutants and any mutant sympathizers. It’s gotten so bad that there are just a few powerful mutants left and Magneto has joined up with Professor X to make a last ditch attempt to stop their current future from happening.

In order to change the future, someone has to stop a singular event from occurring in the past. That event, the murder of Bolivar Trask (creator of the Sentinels), comes at the hands of Mystique, who has basically gone rogue (haha) and doesn’t listen to anybody but herself. She’s on a one woman mission to wipeout the Sentinels, robotic beings that can defeat the mutants (and evolve and adapt to their attacks).

To get to the past, Professor X has drawn up a plan to be pushed telepathically into his younger self via the transfer powers of Kitty Pryde. He determines that he is too old and weak to survive the process (as is just about everybody else), but Wolverine, banking on his healing abilities, volunteers for the task.

This sets into motion a chain of events where Wolverine has to convince young Charles Xavier that he has to help him stop Mystique.

Along the way, we learn that Trask has murdered many mutants in the name of science (including all of the surviving cast of First Class, saving Beast, Mystique, and Havok), and that he is having trouble selling his Sentinel plans to the US government. Also, Magneto is in prison for murdering JFK.

Once he convinces Charles and Hank McCoy (Beast) to assist him, Wolverine sets out to free Magneto. This is done with the help of Quicksilver. There was a lot of talk about Quicksilver before and after this film was released. He looked like a silvered-up club kid in the promo photos and, frankly, I thought he looked silly. Thankfully the promo photo was the worst part of the character, as he was played to perfection by Evan Peters. Peters used his brief screen time to become one of the biggest standouts of the film. He had what many consider to be the biggest and best scene in the film and, in all honesty, it was pretty cool to watch. If you haven’t seen the film, you’ll know what scene I’m talking about as soon as it plays out before your eyes.

After securing Magneto from prison, Wolvie, Beast, Prof X, and Mags attempt to stop Mystique. Of course, being still rather young and angry, Magneto screws things up himself and in the end, he becomes the baddie that needs to be stopped. The film has an epic Magneto moment much like First Class did, and comes to a very suspenseful head whenever the past X-men clash with the Sentinels and Magneto and the future X-men do the same (although Magneto’s on their side in the future).

The film moved at an excellent pace, wasting no time explaining how Kitty Pryde acquired the ability to transport Wolverine to the past. Maybe it’s discussed in the comics, but it wasn’t necessary to know “why” she could do this. The story was as believable as a tale about time-hopping mutants could expect to be, and there were a ton of old and new faces that popped up on the screen.

I was ecstatic to see a few of the older faces that arrived on the screen, but I won’t ruin the surprise for anyone.

I really liked the inclusion of Blink (Fan Bingbing). Not only were her powers cool, but she was lovely as well.

The story ended with a wide opening for the next film and, most importantly, erased all of the terribleness that was X3.

The entire cast did an excellent job. Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellan, Ellen Page, Hugh Jackman and all of the rest of the returning cast did great jobs. It was also cool to see Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) glide on ice! Newcomers like the aforementioned Binbing, Omar Sy (Bishop) and Booboo Stewart (Warpath) did fine jobs as well, despite having limited roles. Peter Dinklage was very convincing as Trask, and I hope he returns in another film soon.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this flick. It was extremely entertaining and worthy of multiple views. Hopefully Singer will stay on board for the next go round.

Highly recommended.

A Trip Back In Time

Todd Mission, TX

If you personally know me, you are well aware of the fact that I am a huge fan of the Texas Renaissance Festival. It has been a part of my life for six years now, and I see no chance of it ever leaving my life at any time in the future. Few places make me feel at home as well as TRF. Outside of science fiction and comic conventions, it’s one of the few places where I can be myself and have a really good time.

This year my wife and daughter tagged along for the ride to Todd Mission, TX, which is nearby Plantersville and Conroe, TX. It’s also not that far of a drive north of Houston. One of my favorite parts of TRF is getting there by taking HWY 105. Sure, I can hop on Interstate 10 and then head north on Interstate 49 to get there a bit quicker, but if I did that I would miss out on the wonderful views of the east Texas countryside. There are many beautiful homes, farms, and forests on the drive to TRF, and with autumn in full swing, the changing leaves are gorgeous.

My trip almost always includes a stop in Orange, TX, just across the state line from Louisiana, or in Conroe. This year, my wife, daughter and myself stopped in Conroe at Einstein Brothers Bagels. It was our first time to check this place out and we loved it. The coffee and bagels were delicious, and gave us just enough pep to make it to the festival. We had been up since 4:30 AM, so this stop was welcomed and much needed.

Once we arrived at the festival, my wife and daughter hit the shops and I hit the Clan Tynker Family Show. I’ve seen Clan Tynker at least once each year that I’ve attended the festival and they have never let me down. Their show is funny, exciting, and family friendly. Santiago, Sam, Rebekah, Serendipity, and Elijah combine music, dancing, juggling, fire, and all sorts of other wonderful things to deliver an excellent program. When I talk to first-timers or friends interested in going to TRF, I always tell them to enter the gates, stay to the right, and head to the Globe Theater to watch the Clan Tynker show. It’s my favorite show to watch when I first enter the kingdom.

After watching the Clan Tynker, I caught up to my wife and daughter and we headed to Sherwood Forest so that my daughter could try her hand at archery, using a crossbow, the King’s Confusion maze, multiple rides, and the Magic Garden. In the Magic Garden, we ran into some rambunctious fairies, a couple of sweet ladies that happily posed for photos with us (unfortunately I can’t post them here, as they include my daughter and for safety’s sake, I don’t post photos of my children on this blog), and St. Felix (or at least a replica of him). I also stopped to take a photo with a statue in the garden that I’ve taken a photograph with every single time I’ve been to the festival. Below are a few pictures from the garden, including my photo with the “topless Texas chick” that I love so much.

After a visit to the Magic Garden, my family made its way to watch Adam “Crack” Winrich’s excellent Fire Whip show. I’ve watched Crack’s show on many occasions, but this was the first time my wife and daughter watched him. I believe that my daughter is in love with him!

From there we attended a few more shows, ate some wonderful food, and then headed over to watch Circa Paleo, one of my favorite festival bands, do their thing. I was only turned on to this band last year, and wish that I had checked them out sooner. They are awesome! They played some great tunes and I highly recommend you look them up on the web or see them live if they are at a festival or venue near you.

I grabbed one of their CDs and listened to it all the way home. They really are an excellent band.

After listening to Circa Paleo, I naturally gravitated toward the Greek Agorah, where there were some lovely dancing ladies on the stage. Again, if you know me, you know I’m a sucker for belly dancers. Here’s a photo for your viewing pleasure:

We spent the rest of the day walking, shopping, laughing at playtrons and just generally having a fun time. I stopped at the Brigadoon Brewery to have a pint of Hadrian’s Wall Red and finished the day off with another stroll around the festival. We didn’t get to stay for the fireworks, as we had to get back home to take care of something else, but this year’s trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival was awesome as always.

See ya next year, TRF!

Be sure to check out these websites: http://www.texrenfest.com, http://www.circapaleo.com, http://www.clantynker.com.

Thanks for reading!

Gotham Gets Better

Gotham City

*****SPOILERS AHEAD***** If you haven’t watched the last couple of episodes of Gotham, stop reading……NOW!

I’ve watched every episode of Gotham this year and I must admit that is has quickly become one of my favorite programs. Alongside The Flash, Gotham is a rare program that I actually look forward to each week. The lighthearted humor and overall style of The Flash is, well, flashy, and it fits that character perfectly. It’s also very refreshing to see a comic book adaptation that isn’t too gritty or realistic (although the introduction of Captain Cold might inject a little grit into The Flash soon enough). With that said, Gotham plays up its dark setting and grim outlook perfectly, allowing just enough silly psychosis to bleed through in characters like Penguin and Victor Zsasz.

Last week’s episode, which revealed to GCPD that Oswald Cobblepot truly was still alive and kicking and making his way in the criminal underground, ended with a bang, and last night’s episode picked up where that one left off. The story offered up even more twists and turns than last week’s episode, and key characters, namely Harvey Bullock and the Penguin, showed their true colors. Bullock came off looking sort of like the hero he was before he was corrupted by GCPD. The Penguin on the other hand, showed that he had even more twists to his character than was already expected.

It was nice to not have Jada Pinkett-Smith stink up the screen last week, and thankfully we didnt have to suffer through too much Fish Mooney this week either. Her screen time was brief, and her interaction with Marconi and the Penguin was one of the funniest parts of the program. I cannot wait to see what the Penguin has in store for her in the future!

The whole cast (yep, even Smith) did very solid jobs for the most part. The standouts were Robin Lord Taylor as the Penguin, Sean Pertwee as Alfred (who’s getting more and more development as this show goes along), Donal Logue (Bullock) and Anthony Carrigan as Victor Zsasz. I hope Zsasz gets more screen time in the future, and hopefully he’ll still be around if and when Bruce Wayne finally dons the cape and cowl.

The only problems that I’ve run into with the series so far are the overacting of Smith, the high rate of introductions of some of Batman’s greatest enemies, and the sometimes weak and wonky writing. The writing is getting better, though, and while many of Batman’s best enemies have been introduced and/or hinted at, only Penguin is getting fleshed out at a decent clip. Plus, considering the fact that the Penguin is a crime boss in the comic world of Batman, I can see his character being around for a very, very long time. It’s characters like Zsasz, though, that have me worried.

Jim Gordon will most likely end up putting a bullet or two or three into Zsasz at some point. I just hope that he goes to Arkham and not to the grave.

Smith doesn’t have much longer on the show in my opinion, as I firmly believe that Penguin will finish her off soon.

The bottom line about the show in my opinion is this: Gotham gets better with each episode. It’s finding its legs and starting to move along at an excellent pace. Let’s hope that the writers don’t ink themselves into a corner where there are too many villains and not enough cops to keep them in check until the Dark Knight Detective arrives.

Halloween Comic Fest And USS Lafitte Halloween Party

Southwest Louisiana

Saturday, October 25th was a rather busy day for myself and, to a lesser degree, my youngest child. The day started off awkwardly, with me failing to set my alarm the night before and therefore missing out on bringing my wife to work and my kids out for a quiet breakfast. Nope, my wife instead woke me up and told me that she would be leaving in ten minutes for work and wanted to know if I was taking her in to her job. Flustered, half-awake, and still trying to determine why my alarm didn’t go off (it wasn’t until later that I realized what I’d done), I told her to head on in to work and that if I had to do anything later that day, I’d use my old truck to get around.

I knew that our local comic book store, Paper Heroes, was taking part in the Halloween Comic Fest and that their would be free comics for the taking and who knows what else the store’s owner, Kevin, would have up his sleeve for visitors. All that I was worried about was making it to the shop too late to get the comics that I wanted the most (two titles involving Batman, a Grimm Fairy Tales comic, and a couple of Marvel reissues, particularly Sercret Wars #1). I wasn’t able to go to Free Comic Book Day this year, and last year I got there too late to get the titles I wanted. I had no plans to do that this year, so I fed the kids, piled my son into my little truck with me, and made a mad dash to the shop to get there when the doors opened.

Sadly there weren’t a lot of people in the shop when I got there. I managed to get all of the books I wanted and my son grabbed the ones he wanted as well. Kevin had placed out some Halloween candy and noted that there was going to be a costume contest later that day (including a visit from Heroes4Hire, a local costuming group). I killed about an hour hanging out with Kevin and talking about upcoming comic films, new TV shows like The Flash and Gotham, and longingly looked at a few graphic novels and comics that I wanted but didn’t have the proper funds to buy them on hand.

After leaving the shop, my son and I had to make a grocery store run and then headed back home. The rest of the day was spent washing clothes, cleaning dishes, and other standard “I’m off of work today but still have X, Y, and Z to do” tasks. I also squeezed in a little bit of college football and then started to get ready for a Halloween party hosted by the local Starfleet International club, the USS Lafitte. I joined up with this group a little over a year ago and have officially been a Starfleet International member since April or May of this year. The Lafitte itself started as a local Star Trek fan club called C.A.T.S. (Calcasieu Area Trekker Society) and then grew into an official Starfleet International crew.

Each year the club hosts monthly meetings and attends charitable events. They also attend events for fun like the Texas Renaissance Festival. The Halloween party was held a member’s home and our hosts made a wonderful meal that included barbecue ribs, smoked boudin, corn, hot dogs, a red velvet cake provided by another member, and snacks brought by everyone else. An episode of Enterprise kicked off the viewing for the evening and a bonfire was set up outside. I had a lot of fun hanging out with friends old and new, mostly by the bonfire, but by the end of the evening everyone went inside to watch Mel Brooks’ classic Young Frankenstein.

Some members attended in costume. I dressed up as the Discount Dark Knight, and there were two Riddlers, an Iron Bishop (think Iron Man meets Assassin’s Creed), a well dressed Deadpool, a Ghostbuster, and disappointed Saints fans.

This party and each and every event that I attend that is put on by the USS Lafitte keeps me sane. My “normal” life is full of things that do not include science fiction, comics, fantasy, horror, or animation. I NEED events like this where I can nerd out without fear of being judged or attacked. This time of year in southern Louisiana is a dead time for conventions. There are a couple of small ones in the NOLA/Mississippi area in September and October but other than that there is nothing going on locally.

I start to miss my nerd friends a lot at this time of the year and can’t wait for January to roll around and bring back conventions like New Orleans Wizard World, CoastCon in March, CyPhaCon in April, and Bayoucon in June. I want to hang out and visit with my friends in groups like Southern Geek and The Doctor Whooligans. I am SOOOOO ready for the new year to get here so I can see friends like Mike and Jenni M. and enjoy the company of those lovely ladies of Orion’s Envy.

As much fun as there is going on in October, November, and December, I miss my nerd family big time. Thankfully the Lafitte crew is there to fill the void until I can see the rest of my friends.

So, do any of you have friends that you only get to see at conventions and can’t wait to hang out with them? Did any of you attend a Halloween Comic Fest event over the weekend? Any cool parties? Let me know in the comments section.

As always, thanks for reading!!!

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