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Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.
Sun 08/11/2002
That�s a mighty lot of Links you got there, a geek boy entry continued
I don't have quite enough energy to force this all into a cohesive narrative, so instead, here are some odd rambly bits to finish off the San Diego Comic-Con weekend, mainly comments about some of the overwhelmingly large load of junk I ended up hauling back home:
-If you buy an oil painting reproduction of old pulp detective novel cover art, are you paying a few hundred dollars for the presumably no longer copyrighted image? Or are you paying for the artists skill? I've always had a fondness for old pulp cover art, but something about this was bothering me a little. Not sure exactly what though.
-Am I a total girlie boy for buying a little figurine of a fem, lesbian witch flying through the clouds on her broom because I like the character and it was really, really cute? Or is the answer self evident?
-Despite my not being a fan of horror films, I have been known to read the occasional horror/suspense comic now and then, which explains my reading things like Lucifer and my checking out Garlands of Moonlight by Jai Sen and Rizky Wasisto Edi. It was a relatively short, but interesting story.
When I bought the book, Mr. Sen kindly offered to sign it for me. Surprisingly, he had a hanku (a personal seal used in place of a signature, as one my books explain). Then again, I now see that according to his bio, he lives part time in Tokyo, so maybe not that surprising.
-Not that anyone really cares, but I thought Armitage III was a fairly dumb movie. Supposedly the direct to video series was better than the movie, but I doubt I�ll ever bother to confirm. I'll spare you the details of the movie�s nonsensical story and a diatribe about plot holes so large you could drive a tank through them, but I will mention that it was more than a bit creepy the way Armitage (lead female character) looked progressively younger and shorter throughout the movie, so that by the end it looked like the male lead was hugging a prepubescent 12 year old, instead of the tough, twenty something, strong willed, super cop chick she had been at the beginning of the flick.
-I decided to try out Cavalcade of Boys by Tim Fisher and Jay Laird. A comic about gay guys looking for love, looking for sex, and leaving me vaguely depressed when I read it. That was probably just me though. Maybe I should have gotten the comic with the gay superheros in love on the front cover instead?
-During lunch at the spaghetti factory in the gaslamp district, a father of three teenage kids at the table next to us glared at me for most of the meal. Whenever I looked over to that side of the room, he was frowning at me. I'm not sure what his problem was, but it was nearly enough to make me not enjoy my spumoni. When we left, I gave him a big ol' smile.
-Despite being on record as only sort of wanting the Beaker figure, I somehow now own the four "regular" Muppet first series figures (Kermit, Miss Piggy, Mr. Teeth, and Dr. Bunsenburner), as well as the "invisible" Fozzy variant. Yet I still don't own Beaker. Not quite sure how that happened.
Well OK, I do know how, mainly that I didn't feel like forking out 25 bucks for a play set I didn't want solely to get a little action figure that I did want. Although, that still doesn�t explain the impulse purchase of the other figures.
I�m a bit curious as to the reasoning in creating a �thin� Miss. Piggy doll. She doesn�t look much like I remember. Then again, maybe I don�t want to know. I have a suspicion that the answer would annoy the heck out of me.
My only other comment about the muppet stuff is that I may have unintentionally created a monster. I caught John looking at a web site advertising the second muppet series and now I�m worried...
-A rule of thumb for attending these kinds of things is to only purchase items you can't find at home. A rule I didn't seem to bother with. The most glaring example of which was my buying the latest "special" issue of the Comics Journal. I got it primarily for the Jim Woodring interview. His work is very disturbing looking and if stared at for too long, could possibly give you nightmares, but for whatever reason, I'm a fan of his stuff.
-At one point I was in a totally frivolous mood and bought the tin wind up bender toy. I also bought some futurama Christmases ornaments because I find the idea of futurama Christmas ornaments seriously silly.
If it's not obvious by now, I'm one of those folks who were saddened when the show got the ax. As an aside, every time I mention the program, this site gets buried in google searches for "futurama porn", and no, I've never looked.
-I did not buy the buffy Christmas ornaments, which consisted of busts of the cast with looped string coming off the tops of their heads for hanging. I'm not that much of a buffy nerd. However, I am enough of one that I bought the limited edition short hair Cordillia variant action figure. ;-)
I feel the need to share that I am the kind of person who takes these action figures and collectables and such out of their packaging, before sticking them on bookshelves and desktops, thus destroying whatever collector value they might have had.
Which would be enough to make a �real� collector faint. ;-)
-The other movie we watched that weekend was Otaku No Video. A combination of cartoon and "mock-umentary." It was funny, but weird as well.
Funny due to all the geeky references to things such as Macross, Lum, and the accidental detonation of nuclear arms on the far side of the moon on that fateful day back in September of 1999. (Well, at least funny to a geeky guy like myself.)
Weird because of the documentary bits. Maybe a little disturbing as well, since one of the fake interviews was with a man who was obsessively into DateSim games. Which was more creepy than funny because there really are folks out there who rather interact with a video game girl instead of a real woman.
-A few booths were selling pcv figures of "women" from various SimDate games. Not so subtle suggestive posses, minimal clothing, and breasts larger than the figures heads.
-When I walked by the Gay league booth, Jane Braddock looked up and said "Hey, Nico! Hi!!!." She remembered me despite only having met me very briefly the day before when I bought her book Jane�s World. So go visit her site and buy things from her because she's nice. If that�s not enough of a reason, go visit her site and buy things from her because she's cute.
-Not surprisingly, I left the Con with more Nightmare before Christmas memorabilia. Nightmare fans are an obsessive bunch, and we all seem to realize that the Japanese crap was much better than the official American merchandise, which means that this stuff is getting way overpriced.
Even the nonJapanese stuff. If someone can get $150.00 for the full Tiny Kingdom "Nightmare" set, then things are bit out of whack. I think I got off cheap only paying $15 for the Santa, lock, and zero Tiny Kingdom figures.
-One of my more fun purchases was a little Max and Lilly collection by Kris Dresen which made me smile and chuckle. I have a fondness for those two characters. In a weird, sarcastic way, they remind me a bit of the dynamics in my friendship with Kristen.
-I did manage to get some noncomic book/graphic novel type books, including a couple of books on "futuristic art" and cheap metal toy robots. I also bought a sale book about grumpy Goddesses, a funky looking learn Kanji thing and Reference guide to TinTin. OK, maybe that last example was comic related, but it does have an awful lot of big words init' an' not that many pictures at all!
Er, since it's nonfiction, I'm counting it as a "real book."
more later,
nico
Music:
One of John�s Forbidden Broadway CD�s.
Want:
To take a trip up to San Francisco for a few days. (Not likely to happen any time soon.)
Elsewhere:
blogs and journals of a couple of the folks mentioned above:
Jai Sen
kris Dresen
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