This might fit more into Shot's Shack, but thought I'd post here since more of you read this.

Went to Wonder Con yesterday, being held in Anaheim this year. Not sure what it is like in its usual San Francisco home, but it was a nice change from SDCC which can be pretty overwhelming. The Anaheim Comic Con, that was held last year, was barely half this size, but with more one-time movie & TV stars and "B" listers. Stan Lee and others are scheduled to appear today (Saturday), but for me the biggest (pardon the expression) celeb I saw was Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, for those who didn't have 8x10s of her on their walls). She had a small group around her and as I was getting ready to leave I failed to get a snap-shot or autograph.

A couple of the LA TV stations had crews there during the day, but I only caught a report on the NBC affiliate this morning. As usual, the focus is on the folks who appear in costume, giving the impression that 80% of the folks are running around in ill-fitting costumes. The reporter did about ten seconds standing behind a dealer table saying something to the effect that 'this is what the attendees are really here for' and pulling out some random Marvel X-title. Immediately the video went back to showing a Scarlet Witch and a couple of the folks you see above. (Before you ask, it was explained to me by my co-worker David, that these are villains from Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros. animated series.)

David, along with his brother, Jeff, and I had a pretty good time, not taking in any of the panels, but just walking about the convention picking up some freebies and other things. As I said, unlike SDCC, the place is really set up for folks who want to buy collectibles and artists wanting to sell their books and sketches. The movie stars, 'big name' creators and huge publisher/movie company displayes are not in evidence. Wonder Con still has the feel of the San Diego cons I attended thirty years ago and smaller cons you can still find around the country.

In an odd bit of scheduling the Convention center was also hosting the "SCVA Junior National Qualifier Volleyball Tournament". Not sure who was more curious about the other group. Hundreds of teenage girls in shorts & tee shirts and dozens of older teens and adults dressed up in tights and articial armor taking photos of each other. There seemed to be a lot of staring and good natured posing going on in both groups.

I'd do it again, if Wonder Con returns, but I doubt they will. What I do hope is that the folks behind SDCC & Wonder Con realize that there is room for another convention, perhaps scheduled between the two or later in the year.

More changes at the Library, but I guess that's to be expected. Usual rumors and concerns, which does nobody any good. Time to update that resume?

Been strange not having Donna home the past week. I don't know that I am cut out for a bachelor lifestyle anymore. How did I get by when I was living on my own? I do want to give two thumbs up to Marie Callender's for making some really tasty frozen dinners. I recommend their various pasta microwavable entrees. I've paid a lot more in restaurants for fettucini with chicken & broccoli that wasn't as good as this. A perfect size for one meal and great for when I get home at night from work. (This was not a paid endorsement!)

On the other hand, I can't recommend the flavorless Farmer John's Franks. Even homemade chili and mustard couldn't save these. Shouldn't have gone cheap,as Donna told me I was, but I thought I would give them a try. I'll stick to Hebrew National or Nathan's from now on.

Got to see JOHN CARTER last Saturday and recommend it. I'll be posting my YouTube review over on Shot's Shack later today. Also, borrowed a couple of DVDs from the Library (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo {original from Denmark w/ English subtitles} and the Coen Bros.' True Grit). I'll try to give a quick review over on the other site when I get a chance. Although, I must say right here (not having seen the new American version of Girl with...) that the two scenes involving Salendar with her guardian were extremely disturbing.

With that warning I'm going to wrap things up for now. Hope to be a more frequent poster and see you soon.

All the changes being made to Facebook,Twitter and MySpace are making things even more difficult than easier, IMHO. I'm not crazy about the Timeline thing on Facebook and, unless I'm just dense, they have made changing your Profile picture a royal pain. I might start to find it easier to start posting more here and at Shot's Shack.

It's going to be strange being on my own next week with Donna going back East. Guess I have to stock up on frozen TV dinners, Moxie and some beer. Also, might be a good time to catch up on some movies on DVD and spend a day at the movies. I'm curious about the new John Carter movie coming out next Friday and I could sneak in to some other films while I'm there. Haven't done the multiple movie thing since back in New York.

That's it for now!

I really should know better than to get into political stuff in my blogs, since not everyone who reads them are union loving, progressive, agnostics. In fact, not even my own family and good friends agree with me a good part of the time and I've learned to keep quiet about a lot of things. Still it is nice to have a place where I can rant and not bother Donna by yelling at the television.

In my humble opinion, as bad as the past year was in Washington and in the media, the countdown to Election Day (and probably way past then) is going to be even worse. The GOP has made it clear since Obama won in '08 that their one & only job was to ensure the man was a one-term President. It doesn't matter if they block even things they themselves once tried to pass or that the majority of the American public thinks they doing a horrible job. All they can focus on is creating an atmosphere so poisoned that only the most toxic swamp dwellers are voting in their caucuses and primaries. The candidates they are voting for would be a joke in any other election year, yet this is the 'best' the Republican Party can come up with. Mitt Romney (or as he is known in Chez Chaput: The Anti-Christ) is the kind of guy you fear sitting next to on a long flight. Newt Gingrich is a serial-adulterer and was tossed out of the Congress he lead for years. Rick Santorum avows some strange form of Catholicism that I certainly don't recognize from my youth growing up in the church. Ron Paul is...well, Ron Paul!

This is probably not the last time I rant here about all this and frankly I've kept it shorter than I had originally intended. All this stuff makes me angry and after a while I just want to get back to talking about comics & zombies.

Catch you all later!

Needless to say it's been way too long since I last posted and for that I apologize. I've become so accustomed to posting on Twitter & Facebook (and I'm still on MySpace, if anyone cares) that anything over 140 characters seems like beginning a novel. I recall promising sometime in 2011 that I'd post more frequently but that promise fell quickly by the wayside. I'm not going to redo that resolution again, but I will try to remember that I do have these two blogs.

If you've been looking at Shot's Shack, you'll notice that about once a month or so I'll put up one of my infrequent YouTube videos. You should probably only look for those if you are into comics, since that's primarily the topic I cover. They'll sometimes be something about TV or movies and even an occasional prose novel. Of course, since I'm also posting on several comics sites, along with Good Reads & Shelfari I generally get my ranting done before I even remember I have a pop culture blog.

I guess I should start off this New Year by briefly going over the last one.

Donna and I continued to work on our new place. We've gotten some new furniture (okay, second hand but in good condition) to make the place more inviting to any guests we may have. Over the holiday break from work we went back East to visit Donna's family in New York and mine in Connecticut. Seems hard to believe that it had been almost six years since I saw my family. Fortunately, they all seemed to be doing well, and I only wish I could have seen more of them. Trying to cram friends & family into two days wasn't enough. There were too many cousins I would have loved to have seen, if only for a few hours. I think I lost track of how many people I invited out to visit us. We'll have to restock the bar, if nothing else. :-)

My 2002 Saturn gave up the ghost and I'm now driving a 2010 Chevy Impala out and about. Sadly, my driving skills (or lack of concentration) has already left me with a dent on the rear driver's side wheel well. The only good thing is that the guys at the car wash (where it happened) were able to buff it up so that you really don't notice it. Hopefully, this will mean that I'll be accident free and not have to worry for a while. Could also mean that I have to pay closer attention when pulling into gas stations from now on.

For those of you wondering, my new 'job' (position really) at the Library seems to be going smoothly so far. Still learning the regular patrons and routines that go with a smaller branch. Certainly much quieter, most of the time, than working at the Main library, but it can be hectic when you are on the Reference Desk and have to be both Adult & Children's librarian, plus computer tech all in one. Fortunately, I have a very good & experienced staff to keep me from making too much of a mess of everything.

Not sure if it's the job, getting older or my terrible diet, but I discovered a week ago that my blood pressure has reached a point where my doctor has decided that medication is necessary. Considering my weight and lack of exercise I shouldn't be surprised that things have finally caught up to me. As he said, "If it tastes good, don't eat it." *sigh*

I believe that I've kept you from more important things long enough, so I'm going to wrap this up. If you're checking in from New York, I hope that winter will not be around much longer, although from what I hear it really hasn't been all that bad. If you are here on the West coast, you know that things have been cooler than we like but we'll be down at the beach in a couple of months (if not sooner). If you are located in the vast wastelands between the coasts, there's not much I can say to cheer you up I'm afraid.

Take care and stay in touch!

When you hit Sixty you start to think about those things you have wanted to do but have never gotten around to. At least in my case that's true. I've seen hang-gliders and para-sailers for years and always wondered what that might be like. Donna has pictures of her up several hundred feet, from years ago and I'd always envied her being brave enough to do it. Finally, when we were on our latest cruise I decided that this was my chance.

The Carnival Splendor (yeah, the one that caught fire last year!) was in Cabo San Lucas for two days, so I signed up for a two hour shore excursion that would take you out to para-sail. We were picked up at the dock and the ten of us donned our life-jackets for the trip out to the 'launch area'. There were three couples, and a married couple with their son, besides myself. I let the the other four pairs go up before me (the father took photos while the mother & son took flight) and then my turn finally came. Even though I had watched the others go up and down with no problems I was still a bit nervous. At least the others had someone to calm them down if they freaked, in my case I was literally on my own.

You don't realise how slim that line is or how small the knot that attaches you to the boat hundreds of feet below you. At the highest point you are close to six hundred feet above the blue waters and tiny boats. Ten minutes never seemed to last so long or seem so amazing at the same time.

The photos can only begin to show you how it was. It really is something I recommend that you try if you haven't already. As Donna always says, life is too short.

I also have to recommend, for anyone who goes to Cabo, that you check out Cabo Wabo Cantina, Sammy Hager's bar & restaurant in town. Go for the tequila shots, especially the 'doubles' and do it the right way. Woof!

I don't often wish that I was back East, since I really do love it here in California. However, from all I have seen, heard and read I do think that I would like taking part in the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. This is what those folks deceived into buying the Tea Party agenda should be doing. They are being led by the very, folks who are doing their best to bring about the destruction of democracy in the United States.

I find it interesting that I am moving back into the Leftist positions I held when I was in my twenties. The funniest part is that I'm living in one of the most conservative areas in all of California. It's anti-union, racist and homophobic.

So, what have you been up to lately?