Big Weekend

Lotsa fun this weekend. On Friday night, Kathy and I saw Crash. There's no better moviegoing advice I can give you right now than to see it too. It's excellent.

Saturday, we went to the Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival. We caught lots of music, including Bet Williams (who has a new album out), Phil Roy, the phenomenal Mavis Staples, Aimee Mann, Loudon Wainwright III and his son Rufus Wainwright. A great day, under deceptively overcast skies. Later that night, sunburnt stoplight-red, we watched the bizarre Dudley Moore/Peter Cook movie, The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Greg. The movie is downright insane, but the little dog with the big bladder is right where we left him. I can't really comment any more than that -- sunburn fatigue took me out for large patches of the movie.

The next day, I hit Wizardworld East in Philly, a sizeable comic convention. I got to meet Carmine Infantino. He's one of the creators of my favorite superhero, the Barry Allen Flash, and the uncle of Jim Infantino, who fronts the so-cool-it-burns-when-I-listen band Jim's Big Ego. Big thank yous went to Carmine.

I also got a cool little sketch from Walt Simonson, and met Kenny Baker (who played R2D2). Both good guys -- and if you ever get the chance to be taught by Walt Simonson, do it -- I caught the last fifteen minutes of his comics art seminar, and it was riiting -- even to someone who doesn't pick up a pencil unless it's to correct somebody's grammar.

I bought a TON of graphic novels though -- almost all independant, at ridiculous prices. A wonderful shopping experience, to be sure -- but seeing so many remaindered books makes me acutely aware of what a precarious business I want to be in. At any rate, I'll have some short reviews of the books I bought as I read them... starting with Scott Morse's The Barefoot Serpent and an Italian noir tale called The Iguana.

The best part of the day was seeing friends, though - Mike Bencik, his sainted lady Jessica, and Scott Neely, as well as making new ones. Dinner with even an exhausted Raven Gregory (writer and creator of The Gift from Image) was a blast -- and that was some of the best tequila I ever drank, and hands DOWN those were the best friggin' cheese stick ever consumed.

Got home near midnight on Sunday, wiped out but too wired to sleep. But I've caught some zees now and then since.

Rob