getting back into it...

okay...

so, the play went wonderfully and i had an amazing time getting to know the actors, working with them, and designing what turned out to be a pretty nice production, if i do say so myself. of course, after working with them so intently over the past two months, i'm gonna miss them like crazy, but sharon and jake are really ready for me to be home nights again and a part of the household. kayla too. sorta.

i'd share some pictures from the play, but i'm locked out of my iphoto library/program, so maybe later.

at some point last week, my computer went wacky and i have been disconnected from my external hard drive. we're working on fixing that now, but it's like waking up and finding out that you're not gonna be able to use your left arm for a few days. all my files are in there and all my work. so i'm running a little blind right now and a little wild--
can't wait to have that back...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my friend sent me an email full of these the other day. apparently, there is or are a couple of websites dedicated to posting photos and stories of failure. while i don't consider these failures as much as some one there with a camera at just the wrong time, some of them are funny in an america's funniest home videos kinda way (the kind where you laugh and try not to wonder how much it hurt or if there was an emergency room visit right after...)
i put a couple of these in the sub-category of just poor timing.











and here are your
answers to the
"three for thursday"

1. what shakespeare play is considered by actors to be bad luck if mentioned onstage or backstage and so has been given the non de dramatis "the m-word"?

macbeth

2. what, actually, does "break a leg" mean?

in the early days of the globe theater, in being summoned to perform a production for royalty, if the king really liked it, he would allow the actors an audience before him, which generally amounted to a chance to appear before the throne and bow until the king dismissed you. the fancy bow was with one leg out straight in front of you, the other bent (broken) behind you for support. "break a leg" means that you hope the actor's performance is so good that he is fortunate enough to be called before the king.

3. stage right and stage left are fairly well-known terms in the real word, but do they refer to perspective of the actor or the audience?

stage right and stage left are designated from the actor's point of view while standing on the stage looking out at the audience.

4. is "upstage" toward the front of the stage or the back?

in the old days, stages were actually built on a slight tilt so that the audience could view more of the setting; higher in the back, lower in the front.

5. what is the name of the single bare light bulb that is left burning center stage day and night when no performance is taking place?

the ghost light. superstition says that a single light should always be lit on a stage to fend off the ghosts of past performers and performances.


gotta go!
smell ya later!
todd

the play's the thing

okay...

hi, perhapa-gang~!

well, since all i can really think of right now is whether the puppet spot is gonna move slow/smooth enough for amy's monologue or whether alyshia will be able to relax enough to realize that she KNOWS her lines, or that i set the music cues right or that we need a real champagne bottle...

i'm gonna hit you up with two creepy stories that i read late last night over on your true tales at about.com


YOUR TRUE TALES


Skinless Yellow-Eyed Creature
BY STYLES M.
By Stephen Wagner, About.com

This occurrence took place in Phoenix, Arizona in the mid-1990s. The story was told to me by one of my best friends. He was out at a party on the south side of Phoenix. If you lived there, you know that once the sunset it really got dark. While at the party, he could hear a police siren in the distance. Being from Phoenix, this was a common back then due to gang activity. So paying it no mind, the night dragged on.

But he felt surprise that now he could hear more and more sirens in the distance. Not only cop cars but fire engines. He thought it could be a car chase or something like that happening. Not having a good time and tired, he left the party.

This is where it gets crazy! Not being a drinker nor a story teller, he stated, "I was heading north on 7th St. about 2 a.m. As I approached Basline Rd., I could see to my left a line of cop cars racing at high speeds going south on Central Ave. On Basline Rd., there were no cars around that late at night. Then I saw what look like a child cross the road into the median into the bushes. I slowed to a stop and rolled down my window. What I saw scared the hell out of me!

"It looked like a small kid around three feet tall. But its glowing eyes where big and yellow. Its skin color I couldn't tell due to the darkness. It had no hair and its mouth was very small. It looked at me like it was frightened. Scared out of my mind, I took off looking back. I saw it run from the bushes across the street. I could also see what look like swarm of cops coming up from Central Ave to where I was just at."

Like I mentioned, this friend of mine is no storyteller. He's often quiet and keeps to himself.




Cornfield Creature
BY FRANK SEMKO
By Stephen Wagner, About.com

I used to work at a cheese factory on the edge of a cornfield in southwestern Minnesota. There were a series of days in the summer of '04 or '05 where it was so hot that the milk being delivered to us in trucks would evaporate before we got it. It made work easy; the dearth of milk denied us any actual labor, but management wouldn't let us not come to work, so we would show up and mess around all shift.

I was working nights at the time. It was 2 or 3 a.m., and I was out on the loading dock watching bats fly around the floodlights, because I liked being out in the cool night air. The corn was about as high as my shoulder, so about 5'10.

As I was watching the bats, I looked down at the edge of the cornfield. Something was moving there. It was the size of a small child and very, very skinny. Pale, with something that looked like a head of straight, black hair. It moved in a sort of jerky gait, like someone dancing the robot badly. It moved in chunks: legs, then hips, then torso, shoulders, neck and finally head. It was looking back into the cornfield, or at least I felt like it was.

I felt prickly all over. I didn't know what it was. I thought it was a heron or something at first, but it looked too much like a person. It didn't move like a person, though. Gradually, step by step, it moved toward me. Letting my curiosity better my fear, I moved toward the edge of the dock, which was raised a few feet off the ground to connect with semis. When I got within a few feet of the edge, the thing looked at me. I was paralyzed. I could have run, but I was stuck somewhere between terrified and intrigued.

It moved, its "face" still pointed at me. It ratcheted its body in that disconcerting, jerky movement toward the cornfield and went into it. I tried to watch where the field moved as it passed, but the corn remained perfectly still. I noticed that all the crickets were silent. After a few minutes, nothing happened. I stood out there for an hour, but it never came back. I never saw it again.



there are some people who can do that "pop and lock" so very precise that it can be unsettling. i've seen it on tv and in a few commercials and now they're starting to use it more in horror films. it's just so creepy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i'm in the creepy mood 'cause, aside from going over and over the script for the play, the only other thing i've been reading this week has been the new showcase house of mystery vol.3! i love 'em, i love 'em, i LOVE 'EM! i just cannot get enough of those old 70's horror tales! this volume features a lot of the filipino artists who arrived on joe orlando's doorstep in the late 60's early 70's to make his job so much easier; nestor redondo, alex nino, er cruz. some truly haunting work on some eerily chilling tales! go get some!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


and here are your
"three for thursday"

1. what shakespeare play is considered by actors to be bad luck if mentioned onstage or backstage and so has been given the non de dramatis "the m-word"?

2. what, actually, does "break a leg" mean?

3. stage right and stage left are fairly well-kn own terms in the real word, but do they refer to perspective of the actor or the audience?

4. is "upstage" toward the front of the stage or the back?

5. what is the name of the single bare light bulb that is left burning center stage day and night when no performance is taking place?

gotta fly!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

ready for the show

okay...

so the past week or so, i've been jamming on rehearsals for this play and focusing all my attention on making sure that all the bases are covered (re; sets, lights, props, costumes, publicity...) i'm not doing ALL the work, but i do have to approve all the work (and make sure that it gets done in the first place). anyway, of course, this is the week my computer decides to try out a few new moves and somehow block me from some of my most important programs.
is mercury in retrograde?
and if so, when will it be out...?

in truth, i'm thrilled with how this play has turned out and amazed at some of the work that these young actors have put into it. i really wasn't sure that i had anything to offer when they asked me to do this, but...huh, i guess i do/did.
anyway, it goes up this thursday, friday, and saturday at 8 pm--sunday matinee at 2--in the james and betty hall theater at dutchess community college in the beautiful poughkeepsie, new york. if you're in the area, come. if you come because you saw it here, come and see me after the show, 'cause that'd be freaky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i haven't been able to watch much tv during these past two months, but have been listening to a lot of coast to coast a.m. on the long drives to and from rehearsals. for those that might not remember, i'm a devoted fan of this long-running, late night talk show that covers all manner of odd phenomena, myths and legends, and conspiracy theories. originally created by radio personality, art bell, the show is now hosted by george noory--with george knapp and ian punnett on weekends--and supplies enough food-for-thought in just one evening's offerings to keep you pondering for days. guests from all walks of life are featured and topics range from ufo wars being fought on the edges of our galaxy to ghosts on catalina island to a chupacabra in wisconsin to the current financial crisis (although i must say that with the economy the way it is, there have been a few too many illuminati agenda/doomsday-spouting shows for my tastes. they're even making me paranoid...)

i subscribe to the shows via www.coasttocoastam.com through their streamlink. i can download an entire show, load it onto my ipod and listen to it in the car. and you can listen to past shows as a subscriber as well. if you're looking for some great radio--and some great discussions on the paranormal and the unexplained--check it out! i love it!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and now the
answers to the
"three for thursday"
classic film!

1. what slope-nosed actor/comedian's theme song was called "thanks for the memories"?

bob hope

2. in rocky, rocky takes adrian back to his apartment and introduces him to his turtles. what were their names?

cuff and link

3. in the 1945 billy wilder film, "the lost weekend" starring ray milland, why was the weekend lost?

it was a study of a chronic alcoholic. the weekend is lost in a drunken haze.

4. who was originally cast as the tim man in the "wizard of oz" but had to drop out due to a skin allergy to the silver make-up?

buddy ebsen, star of barnaby jones and the beverly hillbillies.

5.
all of us, at some time or another, incorporate lines and phrases from favorite movies and tv into our own personal lexicons, making them such a part of our everyday conversations that sometimes we even forget where they came from. i've been doing this for all of my life. see if you can match the following to the movies they came from...

a. "mother pus bucket!"

bill murray/ghostbusters

b. "left turn, clyde."

clint eastwood/every which way but loose

c. "inconceivable!"

wallace shawn/the princess bride

d. "say 'what' one more time!"

samuel l. jackson/pulp fiction

e. "it's hot. like africa hot."

matthew broderick/biloxi blues

gotta run!
smell ya later!
todd

writer in the family

okay...

i think i might have mentioned a short while back that i'm directing a play.
i think i might have also mentioned that my mom passed a way a few years ago.
totally unrelated, you might think...

so it was kind of a surprise to me when one of the girls in the cast revealed to me that, in order to maybe better understand this goofy, smiling idiot who was playing at instructing them in their roles, she googled me and found that, not only was she impressed with my considerable comics credits, but that she'd also read the story my mother wrote.

wakka-wakka-WHAT?!

...story my mother wrote...?!

so i googled "dezago" and there it was.
the story my mother wrote.
apparently, some four or five years ago, our regional newspaper, the poughkeepsie journal, made a request of it's readers that they were searching for long-time residents to share stories of life in the hudson valley, where rhinebeck, the town that i and my mom and her mom grew up in.

my mom submitted this story about her mother.
they ran the small picture of my mom with it.

Perilous trip for a date
My mother lived in Rhinecliff - on the cliff. As a young woman, probably in 1924-25, she had a job in Kingston and in the summer went across the river by ferry boat. In the winter it was horse and sleigh.


My mother had a date in the winter in Kingston on a certain day. She hurried down to the dock to catch the horse and sleigh, but, as was the custom if the ice began to "break up," the sleigh was canceled. She was very anxious to get across to her date (it may have been my father), and with no transportation, she began to walk across in the dark as the river was "booming and cracking." As she walked, she could easily see the lights of Rhinecliff. She also saw a small light coming toward her. It was her very stern, reserved father walking to meet her. He knew she would walk across and so lit his lamp and walked out to guide her! I'm pretty sure she got there in time for her date.
Sandra Dezago, Rhinebeck



i had heard the story before, of course, both from mom and from grandma herself, describing how very scary it was and how foolish it was and how she imagined how the obituary would read the whole time. she said that all she could see was the white snow-covered ice of the river and blackness everywhere else, a few pinpricks of light over on the far shore. though not in response to her tiny, little weight, the ice was cracking and settling all around her; sharp, extenuating breaks that seemingly originated under her very feet and traveling out and away in all directions, lost out in the night, and loud, short, thunder-claps of breakage always just just beyond her limited vision.

i'd been missing mom a lot lately. it was so nice to have her surprise me like this on the internet, to see her face and hear the story again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




"yo!--dude, please."

( i believe that mom is always still here with me and that when i see her again she's gonna give me $#!& about including her story in the same post as a naked guy on the ledge of a building. : )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"three for thursday"
classic film!

1. what slope-nosed actor/comedian's theme song was called "thanks for the memories"?

2. in rocky, rocky takes adrian back to his apartment and introduces him to his turtles. what were their names?

3. in the 1945 billy wilder film, "the lost weekend" starring ray milland, why was the weekend lost?

4. who was originally cast as the tim man in the "wizard of oz" but had to drop out due to a skin allergy to the silver make-up?

5.
all of us, at some time or another, incorporate lines and phrases from favorite movies and tv into our own personal lexicons, making them such a part of our everyday conversations that sometimes we even forget where they came from. i've been doing this for all of my life. see if you can match the following to the movies they came from...

a. "mother pus bucket!"

b. "left turn, clyde."

c. "inconceivable!"

d. "say 'what' one more time!"

e. "it's hot. like africa hot."

gotta fly!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

bob and oscar and bret and jemaine

okay...

well, between working on the play and getting real work done during the day, i have had little time for adventures and so, not a lot to report...

it's been pretty bitter cold up in these parts the past few days. snow on saturday night and all day sunday was followed by high winds that whistle through you and make you even colder. poor jake is so small that, if not for the leash, he would be blown away. at the moment, walking him now is more like flying a kite. (of course, we usually don't use a leash anymore. his days of bolting off after something and not listening when i call are way behind us. we take leisurely walks now, like old men, talking about the weather and friends and the stories that i'm working on.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i used to watch the oscars with eager curiosity and anticipation. an actor myself, it's an important night, to see which performances were being acknowledged, which actors were being celebrated for their fine work. i would consider all of those people in the auditorium as "my people," and take into consideration who raised the bar a little higher and what that meant for all of us.
okay, also, all that glitz. all that glamour. i would imagine myself a star. an actor of some note. a potential nominee. no, a nominee.
...and then, of course, a winner.

i would watch and imagine my name called. i would have a speech prepared and would thank God and my parents, my theater teachers and mentors, my family, my friends. i would be clever, witty, sincere. i'd try not to cry.

i would do this for every category.

what an emotional night.
not just in my imagination, but there in my living room, just watching. it was just exhausting.

that's back when i had friends who were also into theater. or film. or semi- into it. now, i don't really have anyone close by who follows the oscar nominated films like we used to, no one to share that excitement and passion for movies and storytelling and the achievement of an actor or screenwriter or director. sharon's not really into any of that and so i dvr'd the show. i've only had a chance to watch the first 20 minutes or so and saw hugh jackman's musical number and the presentation for best supporting actress. that was very nice. and although i didn't get a chance to see vicki christina barcelona, i'm sure that penelope cruz did a fantastic job. she always does. and her acceptance speech was very nice.

mine was better.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i've been loving the new season of flight of the conchords. i won't say anything about them 'cause craig hasn't had a chance to see them yet, but the new season is wonderful! and, especially, the new songs. i cannot stop humming "carol brown" which was featured on last week's show. funny, funny song.










i've also been stuck in a sentimental time warp on itunes, downloading many of the old bob hope radio programs to listen to in my car on the way down to play rehearsal. though dated--and, for me, that's part of the fun--these shows were pretty funny and, as i listen to bob throughout the years, it is so easy to see why he was, for so long, america's favorite entertainer. his smooth delivery and self-effacing humor just made him so easy to listen to, so comfortable to "hang with," and his dedication to entertaining and supporting our fighting men and women both overseas and right here at home goes far beyond generous.



also, bob hosted the oscars 18 times!



and here are the
answers to the
"three for thursday"
products!

what product is known as/by:

1. "the quicker picker upper"

bounty paper towels

2. "curiously strong mints"

altoids

3. "have it your way"

burger king

4. "are you in good hands?"

allstate insurance

5. "finger lickin' good"

kentucky fried chicken

6. "the world's greatest comic magazine!"

fantastic four

7. "when you care enough to send the very best"

hallmark cards

8. "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't"

peter paul almond joy and mounds

9. "driver's wanted."

volkswagon

10. "good to the last drop"

maxwell house

got rehearsal!
smell ya later!
todd

liam's review

okay...

a few years ago, i 'met'--you know, internet met--my friend, andrew, who was interested in hearing some of the real story behind what was affectionately known as the clone debacle in the spider-man books in the mid-nineties. (i say was because it now appears that what was once considered a rather dark time in the history of everyone's favorite web-slinger is now looked on with a certain amount of nostalgic joy by many a young comics fan. weird.) i was, at the time, working on those spider-books, and am a survivor of those tremulous times.

anyway, andrew's a nice guy and we've had some nice e-mail back and forths.

the other day, however, andrew made my day by sending me over a link to his 7 year old son, liam's, comic-loving review blog. (having just come in from a very late night of play rehearsal, this was just what i needed to give me that last boost of energy, before going back to work...!)

this is how i remember comics, with that excitement and enthusiasm for the action and the match-ups, for the drama and the smack-downs, for the wonder of what would I do...!!

this review makes it all worth while!

liam and andrew have been kind enough to let me share it with you here.
enjoy!

Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #48
Written by Todd Dezago and illustrated by Jonboy Meyers
Published by Marvel Comics

This book is about Spider-Man having to fight Scorpion and Electro at the same time.
Scorpion tried to rob a truck full of money and Spider-Man stopped him. I thought it was funny that when they did the pictures of how Scorpion got his powers one of guys who helped with his powers looked like Albert Einstein. It’s weird how they made that happen. Scorpion nails Spider-Man in the face with his tail and Spider-Man crashes into a pole. Then Spider-Man rips a sign down from the street and nails him in the gut. The driver of the truck is drowning because his truck is filled with all this water from the street hydrant and Spider-Man has to save him so the Scorpion gets away.

Later Spider-Man is swinging around on patrol and sees that Electro is in a museum trying to steal some expensive jewels. Spider-Man breaks in to stop Electro and they fight in the museum. Electro zaps Spider-Man a few times with his powers and gets away.

The next day Peter Parker is very mad because he got both pictures of Electro and Scorpion on the front page and thought he was going to get double the money but his boss was really cheap and said it only counts as one picture. That wasn’t fair but Peter doesn’t do anything but get upset and leaves.

Then every time Spider-Man is swinging around on patrol Electro and Scorpion keep attacking him. He’s not catching a break and he starts getting afraid to go out because he knows he’s going to get attacked by all the bad guys. Spider-Man sees that a building is on fire and swings up to rescue a kid. The little boy asks Spider-Man which bad guy is stronger and tells Spider-Man that when his older brothers pound on him he gets them to fight each other by getting them to see who is stronger. Spider-Man thinks it’s a great idea and makes Scorpion and Electro come into a trap. He gets them to battle each other over who can beat Spider-Man better and the bad guys just fight each other until they’re tired and take each other out and Spider-Man wins.

I really like how Scorpion and Electro ended up fighting each other because you don’t always get to see bad guys fighting each other. I like how Spider-Man got that kid’s idea and used it to beat both bad guys. I also really liked when Spider-Man ripped the sign off the street and nailed Scorpion in the gut. It was cool to see him using his strength powers in a street fight.

It was weird that the cover looked nothing like the art that was in the book. The cover was a more real Spider-Man and the stuff inside was more like a cartoon. The art in the book was good, too. I liked the picture of the building that was on fire and how they showed the tower falling into the building and tearing the windows and sides of the building down. I like the details on those pictures. It was a good book with Spider-Man getting to fight some bad guys that are really popular but that he doesn’t get to battle a lot in other comics.

My Rating: 9 out of 10
Posted by Liam at 4:33 PM 0 comments







thanks so much, liam.


check out more of liam's great reviews at

http://kidscomicbooks.blogspot.com/



and here are a couple
"three for thursday"
products!

what product is known as/by:

1. "the quicker picker upper"

2. "curiously strong mints"

3. "have it your way"

4. "are you in good hands?"

5. "finger lickin' good"

6. "the world's greatest comic magazine!"

7. "when you care enough to send the very best"

8. "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't"

9. "driver's wanted."

10. "good to the last drop"

and one last thing--you DID pick up your AMBER ATOMS at the shop yesterday, didn't you?




gotta go to play practice.
you all better've learned those lines!
smell ya later!
todd

catching up!

okay...

hope you all had a nice long weekend and a romantic valentine's day...

at the new york comic con last weekend, there was this awesome booth where this both beautiful and creepy lady was selling those designer contact lenses that make your eyes look just absolutely freaky...and i was ready to get some! i don't know where i'd wear them except for, y'know, halloween, but there were some awesome styles there and they were reasonably priced...
unfortunately, after thinking about it overnight--i have to convince myself when it comes to something frivolous--once i'd made up my mind, of course, she had sold out of the style i wanted. she gave me a card with her website listed, but the prices were much higher online. so, i'm out...
maybe next year.
anyway, while browsing, i came upon these and thought that they were just freakin' awesome! not the ones i was thinking about, but pretty horrific just the same...




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as i've mentioned at other times here on the blog, i'm always on the prowl for stories of the weird and paranormal, and there's one place i always find a few good strange and creepy stories each month over on YOUR TRUE TALES at paranormal@about.com.
check this one out and then head on over and check out some of the others...


The Wailing Spirit
BY CHIBI
By Stephen Wagner, About.com

I live in Eastwood, Sydney, Australia and my home on the north side is where all these events have occurred starting in October of 2007 up to current day. We have lived here for two years, and during that time have experienced multiple strange occurrences and contact with what we believe to be spirits or entities.

It began a few months after we moved in when my husband was returning from work one night. It was dark and he was driving slowly down the dead-end road to where our home is situated at the end. We live in a valley and there is only one road in and out of our neighbourhood. His headlights caught a woman standing in the middle of the road, and he slowed to a crawl to allow her to cross. She stood still and stared straight at my husband, who noticed she was wearing very little clothing considering it was the dead of winter. After a moment she moved off again to the other side of the road, where she disappeared into nowhere.

He pulled into our drive and, slightly disorientated and concerned, called out to see if she was nearby. When no one answered, it occurred to him that she was crossing from the side of the road that was bordered directly by a fence shielding it from a steep embankment. Feeling now very disturbed, he went into the house and told me what he had seen.

I had a similar experience, except with a male figure, several months after that. I was in our garage with the roller door up, sorting through some boxes when the hairs suddenly pricked up on my neck. I looked down onto the street where a man was walking along, staring straight at me through the darkess. I immediately felt threatened for no valid reason, but could not stop staring. I averted my eyes while he turned into the street that stretches down the valley opposite our house. When I looked up again he was still staring, except with his head turned backward the wrong way yet still walking down the street. He was grinning as he zigzagged along the road, staring at me. I was in so much horror and shock I closed the roller door and called my husband, who was in the house to come down and get me.

Only a few weeks ago we both experienced something at once. We were asleep one night when at about 2:30 a.m. I was woken by strange wailing noise. I turned to my husband, who had also been woken up, and asked if he heard it. When he replied yes we both got up and moved about the house looking for the source of the noise. As I went into the front room, I realised it was coming from the field across from our house. A woman wearing little clothing was wandering in circles in the field, wailing. I called my husband, who went white with shock, saying it was the same woman he had seen crossing the road that day. When we flicked our porch light on, she was gone in an instant and the noise stopped.

We still hear the wailing, but we never get up now as we feel we should let her be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mass Migration of Stingrays
Looking like giant leaves floating in the sea, thousands of Golden Rays are seen here gathering off the coast of Mexico . The spectacular scene was captured as the magnificent creatures made one of their biannual mass migrations to more agreeable waters.
Gliding silently beneath the waves, they turned vast areas of blue water to gold off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula . Sandra Critelli, an amateur photographer, stumbled across the phenomenon while looking for whale sharks.
She said: 'It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.'

'It's hard to say exactly how many there were, but in the range of a few thousand'

'We were surrounded by them without seeing the edge of the school and we could see many under the water surface too. I feel very fortunate I was there in the right place at the right time to experience nature at its best'
Measuring up to 7ft (2.1 meters) from wing-tip to wing-tip, Golden rays are also more prosaically known as Cow-Nose Rays.

They have long, pointed pectoral fins that separate into two lobes in front of their high-domed heads and give them a cow-like appearance. Despite having poisonous stingers, they are known to be shy and non-threatening when in large schools.
The population in the Gulf of Mexico migrates, in schools of as many as 10,000, clockwise from western Florida to the Yucatan .


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

over on craig's blog he makes a point now and then of noting what he's watching, what he's listening to, etc. and though i've been putting some serious time into this play, here are a few that i've been up to...

listening to:
~ stephen king's duma key (audio--it's about 45 minutes to and from play rehearsal)
~ streamlink episodes of coast to coast a.m.--great webcasts of excellent shows about the paranormal and the unexplained. check it out!
~ the ipod with all my music on shuffle, with strong leanings to the ting tings, the flight of the conchords, and the grey's anatomy sndtrk, season one...

watching:
all thursday night comedies--earl, the office, 30 rock--grey's and er, and, of course, lost!!
and, as i've mentioned, sharon's got me hooked on the freakin' bachelor...!

reading:
~loved craig's captain america
~hellboy and bprd
~jonah hex
~and did you guys pick up and read jeff parker's more-fun-than-anything-i've-read-in-a-long-time, sentry miniseries? i dig alla jeff's stuff, but this is yet another reminder of how much fun comics can be! go get a few copies and give yourself a treat!

gotta run!
smell ya later!
todd

the thirteenth

okay...

just a quick stop in on friday the 13th to post the answers to yesterday's "three for thursday" so that you're not kept waiting in suspense over the long weekend...

answers to the
"three for thursday"
chain reaction

1.

a. book
b. club
c. sandwich
d. meat
e. ball

2.

a. dream
b. girl
c. talk
d. radio
e. free

3.

a. pine
b. tree
c. house
d. guest
e. towel

have a happy--and lucky--friday!
smell ya later!
todd

friday and saturday

okay...

i'm sure that there are some people out there who dread this saturday's holiday as much as others dread tomorrow's...

what a combo though, right?
if it weren't for play rehearsal, i'd be zooming to my local cineplex tomorrow to see the new friday the 13th launch. not that i'm expecting it to be anything crazy, new and fresh. i know the story, i'v seen it a dozen times...
but what a great way to celebrate a dark, creepy, superstitious day, just hiding away in a theater where bad luck can't find you.

happy friday the thirteenth, everybody!

(maybe we'd better move onto valentine's...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

so let's say that, like me, you are a total procrastinator, and that, also like me, you never know what to get for that special someone in your life on valentine's day--you didn't even pick up a card yet...!!!
well, i can't help you on the gift. you're on your own with that one, sunshine.
as for the card, if you have a nice printer handy, feel free to print out this valentine's day card i did for a very sweet girl named dacia way back in '95. i found this while i was uploading all my christmas cards a couple months ago and thought i'd save it for the day. i'm sure dacia won't mind...



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

here are a couple pictures of another supergirl from the show this past weekend--also very cute.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

also--and i'm not positively sure about this, but--someone told me that marvel adventures spider-man #48 comes out today.
and, uh...i wrote that.



it's a fun, flippy tale featuring electro and the scorpion and has some killer art by our good pal, jonboy meyers!
if for nothing else, get it for the art!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and since we missed "twofer tuesday"--i was still tired from the show--how about a

"three for thursday?"
chain reaction

1.

a. book
b. c
c. s
d. m
e. ball

2.

a. dream
b. g
c. t
d. r
e. free

3.

a. pine
b. t
c. h
d. g
e. towel


okay, i gotta go.
have a safe friday and a romantic saturday!
smell ya later!
todd

my biggest regret...

okay...

starting off this blog on a more personal note in saying that my biggest regret at this con--well, most cons--is that i'm always so busy chatting or telling people about the perhapanauts--or maybe cornering one of my favorite artists or writers and gushing both unabashedly and unprofessionally--that i don't pick the camera up enough.
below are a bunch of pics from the new york comic con, some taken, some stolen, for your fun and fancy.
but it's the pictures i don't have that i'm really regretting...


~~i don't have a good picture of our incredibly personable and incredibly effective best booth boy ever, brian mulcahy, hawking the haps out in front of the table, making sure that everybody gets a choopie butt card and takes a look at the book!
(brian, i'm sure, was much more responsible than craig or i in making sure that we sold out of the hundred or so comics we brought to sell. thanks, brian--you help out SO much!)

~~i don't have a picture of our pal, bill nolan, sitting at the table, offering his own support of the book, but more just supervising brian as he went about his speil. every man of action needs a good supervisor.

~~i don't have a picture of the four of us, along with our other pal, ernie (ernie, i don't think i know your last name. craig, what's ernie's last name...?) trundling along the streets of nyc with all our luggage on the way to penn station late sunday afternoon to catch our trains.

~~i don't have a picture of us with our pal, chris jones.

~~i don't have a picture of gino, jose, and chris working the AFTER SCHOOL AGENT booth for scott.

~~i don't have a picture of wendy and her son who surprised me when they seemingly magically appeared in front of the table sunday morning, a huge smile on her face! love ya, wendy--thanks for coming by!

~~and i didn't have my brand new, made for just such a moment, video camera when a certain guy told a certain story after dinner on saturday night. but more about that later...


it was a great show--craig and i had a great time just hangin' out--and there were lots of laughs this weekend. it was great to see all our friends and this certainly kicked off what is sure to be an awesome convention season!

my personal highlights of the show were;

~~dinner with craig at our favorite bar-b-que place, virgil's, on thursday night. then gettin' back to the hotel in time to wind down and catch the office and 30 rock. funny.

~~catching up with comic related reporter and super-perhapa-fan, russ burlingame, and teasing him about stuff that will absolutely NOT happen in upcoming issue of the perhapanauts. (although some of it will...)

~~dinner with jim starlin before the marvel party on friday.

~~catching up with craig and former dc editor jason hernandez-rosenblatt and helping jason hook up with the cute waitress.

~~drinking that fourth pitcher.

~~craig and i deciding that it would be good to stop in at mcdonald's at quarter-to-one as we wobbled back to the hotel and talking and laughing way too loud for the benefit of everyone else there.

~~dinner at the irish pub with craig, our pals, kelly yates (go buy AMBER ATOMS, now out from image!), rod and leanne hannah (leanne's story first perhapanauts story will be featured in perhapanauts no.6!), and rich woodall (rich's first 'haps tale will be featured in perhapanauts no.9!)

~~rich's after dinner story!

~~rich's after dinner story!!

~~rich's after dinner story!!!

~~the story rich told after dinner!

(i can not and would not tell you what it was about--it's rich's story and it is wonderful--but he had us howling with laughter with each and every line there at the pub, everyone holding their stomachs from laughing so hard and i know that rod and i both were wiping tears from our eyes. rich's timing was flawless. rich--you are a gem and a master storyteller. cheers, my friend!)
(wish i'd had my video camera...)

~~dropping by 30 rock where scott (we love you, scott!!!) was able to hook us up with saturday night live tickets...

~~well, he hooked craig, kelly, leanne, and rod up...i ended up having to watch it from the floor...

~~did you hear that?!?!? I WAS BACKSTAGE AT SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!!!!!

while scott zoomed around, making sure that weekend update was ready to fly, i got to sit upstairs and watch the show and have a few beers with the writer's. then was down on the floor with scott as seth rolled out their hilarious week's work on weekend update! and it was funny! one of my all-time favorite shows! what a thrill!
what an incredible experience! scott...well, you know...thanks so much!

so here are some pictures from the show.
as i said, some are mine, a couple are borrowed...
thanks...

a moment with my pal and editor, jordan d. white. he is working to bring back the handlebar mustache and he makes it look good!



me and russ burlingame as i tell him i hate having my picture taken. russ is telling me to shut up and stop being a grouchy old man. that's why, in this picture, i look like one...



and then russ talks me into doing an impromptu guest interview with my pal, scott kurtz of PVP fame--which i totally screw up. sorry, scott. that'll teach you, russ.




this is a pic from leanne's camera. she sent it over saying that she thought it was too dark, but it just makes me laugh every time i see it ''cause it looks like even the woman on tv is stopping to smile for the pic! i love it!


leanne hannah, kelly yates, craig, me, rich woodall, rod hannah.
i don't know the woman on the tv's name.


here's scott with rod and leanne and me. because of work scott only had sunday to be at the show promoting the hot-off-the-presses AFTER SCHOOL AGENT no.2!!! (check out www.afterschoolagent.com to get your very own copy!)



a lot of supergirls flying around this year. this very cute one stopped by on saturday...



...and then she and her husband came back on sunday with these awesome mulder and scully costumes.






a stylin' black canary
(always one of my favorites...)






more on thursday!
smell ya later!
todd

rockin' around in NYC!!

okay...

"so round and round and round we go,
through seventeen lights in a row,
take a hold of my hand and come with me,
we'll be rockin' around in NYC!"
--marshall crenshaw


well, we're off!
hope to see each and every one of you who are in the area and planning to stop by the NEW YORK COMIC CON!!
i'm super excited--haven't actually hung with craig in a few months now--and am eager to see so many other friends as well! it promises to be a thrilling weekend!

haven't totally packed yet, so i'm gonna hafta cut this short...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

got home from play rehearsal a little early last night and sharon and i were able to catch lost (letting the dvr get a little a head of us so that we could skip the commercials). man, i'm in love with this show--and it's characters--all over again!

i am trying to sketch and paint more and had made a deal with myself that i would do so while sharon was watching her the bachelor, a show i have absolutely no interest in. plus i hate reality shows. so she watches, all absorbed, while i draw and she puts up with my sarcastic comments and groans at the manufactured tears and emotional manipulation. but last night i was too tired to paint and...
...i really think it's gonna be molly. i mean, you can just see it when they kiss. i know a lot of people think it's jillian, but i think she's just a friend. and melissa's way cute, but i just don't feel that chemistry, y'know? and did you see the previews of next week...?!?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

some cold, cold weather here--this isn't a picture i took, but one from offa yahoo--but we're getting a lot of this bitter below freezing temps at night and, as you've seen in previous blogs, this could be here...!



i just thought it was a neat picture.



and here the
answers to the
"twofer tuesday!"

1. what asian country was previously known as siam?

thailand

2. what is the name for the small (mythical?) leprechaun-like inhabitants of the hawaiian islands?

menehune
(pronounced meh-neh-HOO-neh)

3. who sang backing vocals on dire straits' "money for nothing?"

sting of the police

4. who sang backing vocals on rockwell's "somebody's watching me?"

michael jackson

5. who sang backing vocals on r.e.m.'s "shiny happy people?

kate pearson of the b-52s


while i'm away, jake will be watching you...




and we're off!
have a great weekend
and hope to see ya at
the NEW YORK COMIC CON!!!'
smell ya later!
todd

NEW YORK CITY COMIC CON!!

okay...

i don't know that i really have to say this, but just in case you don't know...
craig and i will be attending the new york comic con this weekend, friday, february 6th-sunday, february 8th!!
we'll have all kinds of cool perhapanauts shwag as well as all the issues so that, if you don't have them all, you can fill out your crazy collection here!
also on hand you can meet our own brian mulcahy, bill nolan, scott weinstein, leanne hannah, rich woodall, and many, many more!
(hey, rico~! you're gonna be there too, right?)
so come on down and hang with us for a while! we'd love to see ya!!






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hey!
here's something i should tell you...!

i talk here from time to time about how craig and i are so very fortunate to be getting some steady work from marvel these days and how craig recently tore it up on the terry moore written "spider-man loves mary jane" and is now working on some awesome captain america stories for a title called "marvel adventures superheroes"!! i've seen craig's kick-ass cap stuff and i really can't wait for you to see it too! that boy's goooood!!
the marvel adventures superheroes book is a rotating title, meaning that each month it features one of four rotating marvel superheroes--captain america is one, and i think thor and doctor strange are two more...
the forth in the mix is the under appreciated (and, thankfully, classic) ANT-MAN!!
i put him in capital letters 'cause i'll be writing that one!
i say 'thankfully classic' 'cause it's the original ant-man--hank pym!

in actuality, i didn't write the first issue. that one was written by the very talented fred van lente and is on sale NOW and looks like this...



...so if you wanna get in on the ground floor and collect 'em all, go pick up this first thrilling chapter!
(i'll be writing the rest...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

so, just before christmas i got this cool pad of watercolor paper cut to postcard size. just the right size to just play around on.
here are a couple of the 'haps that i've messed around with so far...







and here's the
"twofer tuesday!"

1. what asian country was previously known as siam?

2. what is the name for the small (mythical?) leprechaun-like inhabitants of the hawaiian islands?

3. who sang backing vocals on dire straits' "money for nothing?"

4. who sang backing vocals on rockwell's "somebody's watching me?"

5. who sang backing vocals on r.e.m.'s "shiny happy people?"

that's all for me!
off to play rehearsal!
smell ya later!
todd