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Emerald City ComiCon

December 13, 2019February 5, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

“I’m not funny — I’m freakishly obsessed!” I burst out laughing when I heard this (thoroughly embarrassing the girl who’d said it, I think), but it seemed as oddly appropriate as it was amusing while I wandered around the Emerald City ComiCon this morning.

I’d heard about the con just a couple of days ago, and decided to go more or less on a whim this morning when I had nothing else planned for the day. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, as I’ve never been a major comic collector, and my only prior experience of any sort with comic conventions was watching Chasing Amy. As it turns out, though, that wasn’t bad mental image to have going in: lots of people wandering around in everything from street clothing to full Stormtrooper regalia The inevitable Star Wars costumes, Emerald City ComiCon, Seattle, WA , lots of booths with various merchandise and wares for sale, and lots of authors and artists available to meet.

Since I didn’t have any particular agenda or people I wanted to see — to be honest, I only recognized a select few of the names I saw on the placards on each booth — I just spent a couple hours wandering around the show floor, seeing what there was to see, and doing a lot of peoplewatching.

A few random highlights:

Michael Gagné’s Insanely Twisted Rabbits: Hilarious drawings of rabbits viewed through either a seriously twisted imagination or a lot of illegal pharmaceuticals. Or both. When it comes to rabbits with big, sharp, nasty, pointy teeth, I’m afraid that Monty Python has nothing on these bunnies.
Catalyst Studios’ masks and book bindings: Some absolutely incredible work in these. Books that had been re-bound with skulls and faces emerging from their covers (some of which were actual books with new covers, others were blank notebooks suitable for journaling or sketching), masks that strongly reminded me of the ballroom scene in Labyrinth, and lots of smaller sculpture work. Beautiful stuff.
While I was wandering around Bumbershoot last year, I ran into a girl who got a good laugh out of my “I’m just here to get laid” messenger bag. She ran into me again today and recognized me, and we ended up chatting for a few minutes. I gave her my e-mail and website address so that she could track down the right page and order a book or shirt for herself. I knew there had to be a few more people out there that thought it was funny!
As I was walking along at one point, I noticed a girl talking with her friends shooting a look in my direction. Suddenly, all three of her friends suddenly swiveled around to look in my direction, and I cracked up. As I figured, they’d noticed and were admiring my Utilikilt. We chatted for a few minutes, then they took a picture of me and I took one of them. So, somewhere out there on some guy’s digital camera is a shot of me from today — if by any random chance he happens to see this, I’d love a copy of the shot!
From what I could see, the biggest draw to this year’s ComiCon was the chance to get an autograph from Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Invader Zim. I didn’t bother taking the time to stand in line, but I did get to get a quick shot of him between a few fans as he was signing merchandise. Turns out he looked more or less exactly as you’d expect he would from his work — which in an odd way, was a minor bummer. I was kind of hoping he’d be some pudgy, poorly shaven, badly dressed forty-something white guy that looked more like a redneck or a trucker. Just because in my world, that would be really funny.

All in all, not a bad way to spend the morning. As usual, there’s a few more shots from the day in a Flickr photoset.

“Edge of Wisdom, The (2002)” by Beborn Beton from the album Tales From Another World (1993, 4:21).

Naked robbery warning!

December 13, 2019February 5, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

WARNING:

A scam is being pulled, mainly on older men.

What happens is that when you stop for a red light, a young nude woman comes up and pretends to be washing your windshield. While she is doing this, another person opens your back door and steals anything in the car.

They are very good at this: They got me 7 times Friday and 5 times Saturday.

I wasn’t able to find them on Sunday.

(via the Urban Legends Reference Pages, because apparently some people can’t figure out that this is a joke)

Three hours on one post

December 13, 2019February 3, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

I just spent three hours on a single post — and I wasn’t even writing a new post, but just reading and responding to comments prompted by my rambling grumbles about the State of the Union.

It’s cool and all, and most of the discussion has been fairly civil, but now I’ve got a headache and bed is sounding like a really good idea.

Y’all have fun.

I’m going to be so behind in NetNewsWire tomorrow…

“Good to be Alive” by DJ Rap from the album Go (1999, 4:15).

Jumping the gun?

December 13, 2019February 2, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

It feels so much like spring these days.

We’ve got bright and beautiful sunshine that’s actually warm when you step out of the shadows — warm enough that it’s tempting to ditch my winter coat and go back to my spring/fall jacket.

Green buds are showing on the tips of tree branches.

All this, and it’s just barely into February. That just doesn’t seem right. Okay, so I’m not in Alaska anymore, where February tends to be the coldest and most bitter weeks of winter, but isn’t it just a bit early for weather like this, even here in Seattle?

Whatever’s going on, though, I’m enjoying it.

Stating the obvious

December 13, 2019February 1, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

I brought up the Flickr page for photos tagged with ‘alaska‘ tonight to show it to Prairie — lots of gorgeous shots of my home state — and had to laugh at the “related” tags that Flickr automatically generates.

‘glacier‘, ‘snow‘, and ‘ice‘.

Seems to me like they’ve got Alaska pegged pretty well!

“All I Want” by Cure, The from the album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987, 5:22).

New camera!

December 12, 2019January 30, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

The day finally came when I had enough funds available to replace the camera I lost nearly a year ago.

My new toy: a Canon PowerShot A95. I’ve only had it for about a day now — Prairie and I picked it up yesterday — so I’ve still got a lot of leaning to go, but so far, I’m very happy with my new lil’ toy. Small enough to fit in a pocket, so I’ll be able to carry it around with me all the time and have it handy at a moments notice, solidly built, lots of options and buttons to learn, a handy little flip-screen display, and 5 megapixel resolution.

Plus, this lil’ guy can even take short video clips! This was something I had to play with, so I made a short little one-minute movie taking a look at a silly little M&M dispenser that Prairie got me. iMovie was able to compress it down to about 1.5Mb, so it shouldn’t take too terribly long to download. There’s not much to it — mostly just me being silly — but it was certainly worth a few minutes of playing around.

Hooray for new toys!

Oh, and Rick — you can come pick up your camera now. Many, many thanks for letting me borrow it for nearly a year!

“Central Reservation (Ibadan Spiritual Life Radio Edit)” by Orton, Beth from the album Plastic Compilation Vol. III (1999, 4:00).

You just can’t sing in the supermarket…

December 12, 2019January 30, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

A couple of days ago, I got this somewhat cryptic e-mail…

Hello…

Something is happening in the produce section of your local Supermarket this weekend:

Jan 29 – 12:30 pm – Ballard Safeway – 8340 15th Ave NW
Jan 29 – 7 pm – University Safeway – 4732 Brooklyn Ave NE
Jan 30 – 12:30 pm – Capital Hill QFC – 523 Broadway E
Jan 30 – 7 pm – Everett QFC – 2615 Broadway

Still,
-jason webley

So, today Prairie and I wandered our way up to the Capital Hill QFC to see what would happen.

As 12:30pm rolled around, there were quite a few people wandering around the produce section. Some made a pretense at shopping, some greeted friends, some just stood off to the side, and some continued on with their normal Sunday shopping. Occasionally a QFC employee would wander through to see if anyone needed any help, but we were all quite content to keep puttering around and investigating the fruits and vegetables.

Eventually, in strolled Jason, guitar case in hand, looking much younger now that he’s clean-shaven and still growing his hair out after his last deathday concert. A few nods, hugs, and friendly hellos passed between Jason and some of the gathered friends and fans, and then he joined us in our purported produce procurement. A few minutes later, Jason raised whatever vegetable he was holding up above his head, as if to get a better look at it in the light from the window. The person next to him raised their veggie in the air. Another went up, then another, then another.

One girl who’d been strolling around listening to a portable CD player started humming to herself, then swaying back and forth, and then singing. First softly, then more and more loudly, she sang along to The Clash‘s ‘Lost in the Supermarket‘: “I’m all lost in the supermarket! I can no longer shop happily!”

Moments later, a guy in white shirt, tie, and a tag reading “MANAGER” strolled over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Miss? Miss? Excuse me, miss, but could you take your headphones off, please? Look, I’m very glad you enjoy shopping here, but you just can’t sing in the grocery store. I’m sure everyone else here would much rather shop in peace. You just can’t sing in the supermarket!”

And then he turned to the people standing around, drew a deep breath — and sang out, “You just can’t sing in the supermarket!”

A girl in a white shirt and white kerchief tied over her hair joined in — “Anyone will tell you so!”

Jason started playing his guitar. Another guy pulled a clarinet out of his jacket. Three girls nearby joined the song, complete with chorus-line high kicks. Eventually, about half the people that had been hanging around in the produce section were involved in the lineup, waving their hands in the air for the grand finale: “Because if you sing in the supermarket, you will have to go!”

And with the clash of a small pair of hand cymbals, it was over. Jason’s guitar went back in its case, the clarinet disappeared back into the jacket, and, accompanied by much laugher and scattered applause from other shoppers, everyone quickly made their way back outside to the sidewalk.

“Off to the next one!” Jason cried, and up we all went to the QFC on 15th Avenue.

All told, we hit five grocery stores before Prairie and I had to break off from the group in order to get her back on the road to Ellensburg before it got too late in the day. When we left, the group was heading up to a Trader Joe’s, and we’d heard mention of the QFC at Pike and Broadway — we’re assuming they made it there as we saw them a bit later walking by Dick’s on Broadway as we were heading back from a detour by Twice Sold Tales on our way down the hill to the apartment.

What a blast. This world needs more random silliness in it from time to time, and we had a lot of fun being part of this particular bit of randomness. Much giggling and many smiles from everyone in the group and from whatever customers happened to be around in each store — just the thing for a grey winter day in Seattle.

More pictures of the event are, as usual, in a Flickr photoset.

Update: M. Whybark witnessed Saturday’s revelries.

Update: Accompanying M. Whybark were the not-entirely-mythical Danelope and Jim, who contributes this photo set (which, as he points out, is smaller but more focused than mine — hey, it was my first day with a new camera…[grin]).

Update: Steve Konscek, the “manager” of the troupe (more commonly known as Brandon) has posted his account of the weekend’s fun.

“Quite Contrary” by Webley, Jason from the album Counterpoint (2002, 3:08).

Goodbye, Grandma

December 12, 2019January 28, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

Earlier this week, I got word from dad that mom’s mother had suffered a massive heart attack and was in her nursing home’s hospital, likely with only a few days left to live. Mom flew down to Florida immediately, and was able to visit with her mom and cousins (who had also flown in) while Grandma was awake.

A second, more mild heart attack followed soon afterwards, and today at just a little after 4pm Seattle time, Grandma died.

It’s been almost exactly a month since Grandpa died, so any prayers, kind wishes, or whatever fits into your life for my mom would be appreciated. Dad’s flying down to Florida tonight to help mom out with all the final details, and the memorial service will be on Monday.

As I mentioned when Grandpa died, the distances between Alaska and Florida kept me from knowing mom’s parents as well as I might have otherwise, though we did travel to visit them as often as possible, and they came up to Alaska quite a few times before the trip became too much of a bother. Grandpa loved to travel, so they’d often drive their Winnebago up the Al-Can highway rather than fly up, and their summer visits to Alaska often included a fair amount of family sightseeing around Alaska, all of us piled into the camper and driving around. Invariably, at least once on every trip, someone would leave a loaf of bread on one of the bench seats, or it would fall off the table, and Grandma would end up sitting on it. No trip was complete until Grandma had sat on the bread.

Grandma’s sight started failing many years ago. She functioned as well as she could for a long time, but eventually got to the point where far more magnification than glasses or a magnifying glass was able to produce. She ended up getting a machine similar to an overhead projector that projected whatever she put onto the workspace onto a screen, allowing her to read and write letters. Since she couldn’t read the menus of the restaurants that she and Grandpa liked to go to, she would often borrow a menu, take it home, and use her reader to peruse the menu at her leisure so that she’d know what she wanted next time they went out to eat. We soon found out on her trips that her studies were hardly limited to what she was interested in, though, as once we were all gathered around the table at a restaurant, she’d stand at her spot and recite nearly the entire menu to us from memory.

She was a wonderful, strong-willed woman, and will definitely be missed.

Bye, Grandma.

Michael Hanscom for Governor of Washington

December 12, 2019January 27, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

This has long since stopped being entertaining in the least, and is now just ridiculous and exasperating: Washington state Republicans are still desperately trying to force a re-vote in our Gubernatorial race.

The state Republican Party said in court papers filed yesterday that it has found 300 illegal votes and more than 400 that can’t be verified in the governor’s election.

With Christine Gregoire winning the governor’s race by 129 votes, Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance says he now has found far more than enough evidence to persuade a judge to nullify the election and call for a rematch between Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi.

Lawyers and Republican staffers are continuing to look county by county for votes cast by felons, in the name of dead people or by people who voted more than once, casting second votes either in other counties or other states.

Therefore, I make this declaration here and now:

If these idiots actually force us into a re-vote, I’ll mount a write-in candidacy drive.

Michael Hanscom for Governor of Washington. Sounds good to me.

I figure I’ve got no chance of winning (I’ve never been involved in politics, nobody knows who I am [well, outside of that little thing about a picture and a computer company], and I’ve got an advertising budget of…well, nothing). But hey — if I do win (snicker) it could be pretty entertaining and a definite learning experience (not to mention a raise), and if I don’t win, I WON’T CARE.

Hell, just running on a platform of “no re-votes if I lose” should get me a sizeable chunk of the vote.

Maybe Jacqueline could help me run my campaign?

“Love and Devotion” by M and M from the album DJ Mix 99 (1998, 5:40).

I hate it when I’m stupid

December 12, 2019January 26, 2005 by Michael Hanscom

A few months back, after having been a happy user of Six Apart‘s TypePad service for about a year and a half, I decided that I wanted to go back to having the finer level of control and options that Movable Type would offer, and moved my weblog back onto my own server. I made sure to make the move a couple months before my TypePad subscription ended, so that I would have time to move all my files over and off of their servers before I got locked out of my account.

Today I got a comment notification from my TypePad site. This was a bit surprising, as my account should have died in December. When I bounced over to the TypePad site, though, I was able to log in without a problem. Starting to wonder if I’d been stupid, I checked the Account status page.

Oh, dammit.

Sure enough, I’d made sure to save my credit card information and turn on auto-renewal at some point, and TypePad had very obligingly signed me up for another year of service in December. Me being my usual brilliant self with finances had never noticed this (in itself actually not a bad thing, though — I’m still far below where I’d like to be, but if I can take a $120 hit to my bank account without it causing major issues, things are definitely improving). I checked the TypePad FAQ, and sure enough, no refunds if you’ve paid in advance. Ah, well, that was what I expected anyway.

So now I’ve got a TypePad account that I’m not using that’s all paid up and useable until next December. What in the world do I do with that? I’ve discovered over time that I don’t do well trying to keep up with posting on multiple weblogs, so starting a second weblog just doesn’t seem like a realistic option. I don’t want to move back to TypePad — not only would that be a fairly major pain, but I don’t want to lose some of the extras I have with Movable Type that TypePad doesn’t offer. I use [Flickr][5] for my photos now, so a photoblog isn’t really necessary.

[5]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwudi/ Flickr: Photos from djwudi”

Prairie suggested I try selling it on Ebay, but there’s hassles with that. While I could probably delete most of my personal information, the URL for the site is djwudi.typepad.com, and I don’t want to hand the ‘djwudi’ name off to someone else — until I actually started using my full name regularly, ‘djwudi’ was my normal online ID, and I still use it in [quite a few places][7].

[7]: http://www.google.com/search?q=djwudi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 Google for ‘djwudi'”

I guess I’ll just keep it around in case something really strikes my fancy and seems like a realistic project. No point in canceling it, as long as it’s paid up through the year, at least.