Xena Con Day 1 - Thursday

Awkward.

That's the word for Thursday.

We got up around 5am to start the journey from Oktaha (My Brother's place) to the Tulsa airport. Our flight was on time & despite my mini panic attack & tears upon the first take off, I managed pretty well. There was quite a bit of turbulence on both the flight to Denver & the flight from Denver to Burbank. I sort of like turbulence though. For the first time ever, I did not throw up after the second fight. THAT was awesome.

Once in sunny Burbank, we walked out of the airport, took a deep breath & T started crying. (To be fair, I cried when the plane landed) Neither of us could believe we finally not only managed to get a vacation, but that we managed to afford one. It didn't even matter what we where doing, or that there was a con at all. We were free. Free from all that mundane routine crap. Just me & T.

We looked around & decided to walk rather than to take the complimentary shuttle bus to the hotel. That's how we roll. We wanted to feel every bit of California sunshine.

As we entered the Hotel, the noise grew loud, and there were obvious Xenites filling the lobby already. Many of them very large robust type Xenites. We checked in, smiled shyly & ran up to our room.

We weren't quite sure what to do. I'm completely lousy at being social & T hasn't done it in years. So we stayed up in our room for a little while. Finally, we decided to go down & explore. Find where & when everything was supposed to be. Once we returned to the lobby, we were overwhelmed by the fact that the Xenite number had doubled & people were screaming joyously & hugging & so excited. No one seemed to notice us. It felt like it would be interrupting to walk up & say hello. So we headed toward the convention part of the hotel.

Soon I saw members of the X2011MC. T tried to make conversation, but was brushed off rather quickly, or so it felt. I smiled with recognition at a couple of them that I have been FBing with for 6 months & they looked right through me. No hello, no nothing.

Awkward.

I had no idea what to do. So we sat in the lobby for a couple hours watching people come & go, hugging, screaming, being excited. Then Hudson Leick walked by. T was whispering to me, "Hudson, Hudson, Hudson! Hudson Leick!" I was all, "What? Oh, Callisto. Yep, that's Hudson. Damn. She looks hot."

So we explored a little more, went back up to our room, came back down, attempted a few more times to initiate conversation & went to get in line for Pre-Registration.

No one seemed interested at all in hanging out with us or including us. As we walked to pre-registration, I looked over & saw Bill Shatner sitting next to the pool with a cameraman & boom mike guy. Ha! Cool.

As we stood in line, Bill's TV crew came down the line & the girls behind us started doing the Xena war cry. The camera stopped & there we were. Us the the girls behind us on camera for Bill Shatner's show Fanatics. LOL. If we end up in the final edit, I'll be pretty stoked about that. 'Cause if anything fits me well, title of fanatic is pretty close. I mean, you guys know this.

We did manage to talk to the people in front & behind us & finally feel like we were no longer invisible. So that was good.

We Pre-registered, got our 8 x 10's t be autographed, a new coffee mug, and a couple of scripts & headed back to the room. We were so exhausted. For the first time in my life I was asleep before 11pm.

Now, it's Friday. We're at Starbucks. Free w-fi. The hotel charges $13.00 a day for internet that works. We've got about a half an hour before the festivities start. So glad we passed on the 8 am Yoga with Hudson. LOL.

And so it begins....

Friday, Saturday & Sunday of this week are going to be a little different here at the blog. I will be blogging from what is being called the FINAL Xena Convention. Of course, it won't be the final one, but it might be the final US Creation sponsored one.

Anyhoo, this space will be filled with all sorts of exclamations of joy and pictures as me & my Amazon Bard trek to Burbank to hook up with the tribe & stand in the presence of our idols. Plus, we get to have our pictures made with them!!!

O.M.G. I have been practicing my "Not Stupid Face" for a month.

We begin travel on Thursday. So far the tribe is undecided on when to meet up. Imagine that?! A bunch of Amazons having trouble deciding where to meet & when. LOL. The Australian & European Amazons are ready to party, as are some of the newbies, but this Warrior is feeling a little too old to go tear up LA the night before the big festival starts. LOL. However, the call to Starbuck's in the wee hours of the morning Friday is looking like a go & I am sure the party gals will need some coffee after their crazy night.



Friday will be the start of the festival with Joxer (Ted Raimi), Callisto (Hudson Leick), La Mao (Jacqueline Kim), Brunnhilda (Brittany Powell), and Xena's daughter herself, Eve (Adrienne Wilkinson. Saturday will be the arrival of the Amazon Queen & Battling Bard of Potedia, Gabrielle, Renee O'Connor & the evil of all evils Alti (Claire Stansfield). Eli (Tim Omundson) will also show up on Saturday, as well as Hercules' best bud Iolus (Michael Hurst). There are so many people showing up on Sat.! The costume contest, which I sadly will not be participating in due to lack of boobs to fill my borrowed breastplate, will also be Staurday.

Then...TheGreat Creation Celebrity Cocktail Party. For GOLD members ONLY. Which we are. I can't believe we are, but um, yeah, we totally went for it & we got golden tickets!!!

Then it's Sunday. Sunday. Sunday!!!!



Sunday is the day the Warrior Princess herself shows up. Callisto (Hudson Leick) runs the charity auction breakfast that morning.



Now, in between all the scheduled stuff & after the scheduled stuff & before the scheduled stuff, we are doing other stuff. We are going to Graumann's Chinese Theatre. We might even catch a show there. We could possibly be going to drunk Karaoke with other Xenites. We are hoping to get to play in the charity softball game which pits Xena's hometown Amphipolis against team Potedia, Gabrielle's hometown. There's pool time with some of the other Amazons & more. Oh, and T pitching her script. Look for the Xena film to be out sometime in late 2012, early 2013. ;)

We are so ready for this.

New Ladyhawke album

Don't Blink

I don't know why, but I want these.


They are electronic googly eyes. They blink. How cool is that?

I simply adore googly eyes. ThinkGeek has them for $29.99 on sale.

Happy 2012

Hey there! Glad to see you back here. I'm going to reflect a little here. 2011 rocked. I mean, it was awesome. So many cool things happened in my life. I also set up so many cool things to happen in 2012.

When I started this blog, action figures were an obsession of mine. I couldn't wait to see what was next to be molded into plastic! Now, I've found other things. I've gravitated back toward my art more. Also, back toward really understanding what I love.

The blog will still have lots of action figure news, but be prepared for more posts on artwork I am working on, things I'm doing, places I'm traveling, and Xena. Well, Xena for a while. I'm sure a few months after the Con, the Xena stuff will wind down. It's just the thing I'm most obsessed about right now.

This year I've been able to write quite a bit. I discovered I really love writing. I'm not nearly as good at it as T or some of my other friends, but I enjoy it. So, if I can stick to my guns, you will have a chance to read something I've written other than a blog post sometime this year.

I also have decided to stop taking the world so seriously. It's ridiculous. No more news. No more NPR. No more headlines. No more papers. I'll do my part when I should & I will make informed decisions, but I am done being upset & angry. I'm not a protester, a marcher, a person that is in any way shape or form made to go out in crowds & change things. Neither is T. We change things in other ways. We create. She writes, I write. I paint and she paints. We write music. We just haven't ever gotten it OUT there before. THAT is what we are going to change. We are putting it out there. All of it. That is how we change things. Through our creations. If anything we create touches one person, then we have met with success. We don't even have to know it has.

There needs to be more beauty & positivity in the world. Like just then, positivity showed up in my spell checker. That's a little crazy, isn't it? It underlines positivity in red because it doesn't think it's a word. However, type negativity & it has no problem recognizing it. That says something about our world right there.

Life is too short. Way too short. Being a person who doesn't necessarily believe in an afterlife where we all retain our conscious selves makes THIS life the only one I've got & way too precious to be worrying over the state of the world. If the world is bad or on the verge of collapse then it makes what I need to do all the more urgent.

I'm blessed with love & laughter & comfort & friends. It's time I make my focus my art. My dreams. In turn, making those things my reality. Hopefully, changing someone else's for the better.

I really feel like 2011 was the first step of a new journey. 2012 is going to be even more fantastic. The path is in front of me. I am taking it. The recent past might have beaten me up, chewed me up, pummeled me & kicked me while I was down, but I am standing back up. I'm brushing myself off. I'm geared up, sword in hand, or paintbrush, and ready to go.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


William Ernest Henley

New Years Party Fun!!!

Sometimes, on New Year's, to get things rolling, it's fun to start off with a party game. This year, you could try this: Star Wars Mad Libs. Mad Libs have always cracked me up. Mad Libs had been the cause of some of the hardest laughing I have ever been a part of. Who doesn't want to end one year & start the new one with laughter. ThinkGeek has them in stock now & for only $3.99!

Swiftwind

Okay Masters of the Universe & She-Ra collectors, listen up! You absolutely have to have this one! It's She-Ra's faithful steed Swiftwind from the Master's of the Universe Classics line!

You can order it from the Big Bad Toystore for $47.99 plus S&H, Brian's Toys has it for $79.99, Amazon has them from $42 - $60, Ebay has them listing from $17.00 on up. Some of the Ebayers have Swiftwind combined with the MOTU Classic She-Ra.

I would also like to point out a cool shirt you might want to snag if you are a big She-Ra fan. ThinkGeek has it & I think it is exclusive through them. It's a two-sided She-Ra Costume Babydoll. It ranges from $20 to $21 depending on what size you need.



If you play your cards right, you could be a Princess of Power this holiday season!

Sick

Hello viewers! Welcome back. Here at Art, Love & Action Figures we have been experiencing the bacterial infection from hell for nearly a month. It has been traded back & forth, subsided & then returned like a screaming Valkyrie from Vahalla. While I feel better than I did last Thursday, Friday & Saturday, I have learned that the nasty little bugger might just be laying another clever trap for me, or it knows it doesn't have to work as hard to destroy me, since the old people faculty do a great job of that themselves here at my j.o.b., and that it will make another victorious return & try to conquer me once & for all. It's been quite the battle. I'm exhausted.

To make matter worse, my sweet puppy is also sick.



She went to the vet today. I am anxiously awaiting results.

So, if you've noticed a lack of Action Figure related posts lately, now you have an explanation. As soon as I can kick this things ass, my puppy is all fixed up, and my house is in order, I promise I'll be right back to posting as much as I can.

Batwoman Comic

I've read quite a few comics in my life. I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but probably somewhere above an amateur comics reader. Not quite a Professional comic reader, but close. I don't know a bunch about certain artists & writers, but I do have a few favorites. Probably the first comics writer I ever paid attention to was Ed Brubaker. I mean REALLY paid attention to. I had read Daredevil for years, but Brubaker made him more than a comic. He made Daredevil a real person. Deep, emotional, with real world problems. Mr. Brubaker was at the last Wizard World Texas Con I went to. I skipped his workshop, something I really regret, to get or see something else. Luckily, T went to the workshop, so I got a pretty good account of his workshop from her. I think it was Mr. Brubaker that really put the writing bug in T's ear.

There are few comics that really grab me. I like great writing & complex characters combined with good to freaking fantastic art. Brubaker's Daredevil had both. They were top notch. I really miss them. Mike Mignola & Eric Powell are the other two who light my comics fire. I have yet to ever pick up a B.P.R.D., Hellboy, or Goon that I haven't loved. I have almost everything Mr. Mignola & his team have ever made. I'm catching up on Mr. Powell's Goon.

So where does Batwoman fit into all of this? I'll tell you what, for me...she is right up there with these guys. DC's new 52 relaunch didn't really change anything for Batwoman, other than her issue number. She was just re-launched Spring of 2006. There was tons of media hype about how DC had made the character a lesbian & blah, blah, blah. I actually avoided picking it up at first because I didn't want anyone thinking I was buying it just because she was a lesbian.

Once I did pick it up, I was awed by the art. It was gorgeous. Stunning. I had to see more. The writing was pretty good to boot. With the new 52 Batwoman, not only is the absolute beauty of this title still intact, but the writing is better. It is co-written by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman, with the art also being composed by Mr. Williams III. I say composed because that's what it feels like as you move across the pages. Mr. Williams had been the artist on the Batwoman graphic novel "Elegy". Personally, I hope he never leaves. This guy is a master.

I realized, after reading Batwoman, that it was really refreshing to see that even though there was tons of media hype about Batwoman's sexuality, it didn't really translate into the comic. It's written much like Brubaker's Daredevil. Real world problems & real world situations. How refreshing. A strong female lesbian character that isn't being forced. I know women just like Kate (Batwoman). Her sexuality doesn't define her, it just happens to be part of who she is. No big deal. Batwoman has a thing for cops & Batman has a thing for cat burglars. It isn't the main thread of the story.

If you haven't picked Batwoman up yet & you enjoy great writing combined with fantastic art, I suggest you go grab the first three issues. I can't wait to see where these guys go with this. I think it's going to be one of the best comics of 2012.

New Xena Fan Video

Dutch Schaefer Sideshow Figure

Now available for $349.99, the Dutch Schaefer premium format figure from Sideshow Collectibles. This figure is available with the flexpay option, which means you can pay it out in installments of $105.00 a month. The piece is 20.5 inches tall & weighs in at 13lbs. The exclusive version comes with a separate head or "additional portrait with cigar for alternate display" as listed on the Sideshow page under the summary tab.

Funko Maleficent

These aren't my bag, but quite a few people are really into the Funko type toys. Here is my favorite Disney Villain of all time available through Entertainment Earth for $9.99. Looks like they have her available in December, but I bet you might be able to get your hands on one before then if you just google around a bit.

Adventure People by Fisher Price

Here we have a cool picture that my Flickr buddy Skip the Frogman put together of the complete line of Adventure Time figures released by Fisher Price from 1975 to 1985. I loved these figures. Skip helped me finally identify a figure I have kept all these years. I always wondered where he came from, but wasn't positive that he was with this line because he was a robot.



He fit right in with my Star Wars collection though. Anyone else out there have any of these awesome figures?

Slideshow

A Bit More Progress on the Xena Painting

Well, I've really started in on the metal work on the painting now. This should be interesting.

Xena Painting...Finally, Two Eyes!

Whew, man, there was some serious anxiety about getting that second eye done. I was sure I was going to screw up the whole painting. Nope, in fact, the second eye looks better than the first! Now, back to work! She's getting there!

Captain America

I just finished watching the latest Marvel movie Captain America. Two thumbs up, five stars, excellent job Mr. Johnston! I was never a huge fan of Cap, but let me tell you, I LOVED this movie! Marvel has perfected their superhero movie. DC really needs to take a cue & learn how to keep a character true while still making the hero accessible to everyone. Red Skull was perfect, as was Cap & the rest of the characters and cast. The pacing was good and the climax was satisfying. I would have liked to see Cap punch Red Skull in the face though. That's my one complaint. It was a beautifully shot film and also had an excellent score. I cannot wait for the Avengers. I expect it to break all previous box office records.

Xena Painting Update: Hello November!

Started in on the shoulder guards & some of the metal. Finished up the background. Not sure I want to keep it. I almost want something more abstract & geometric. We'll see.

Wonder Woman & the New 52 from DC

DC Comics recently decided to revamp their entire comic line. All your beloved favorites get re-hauled, re-tooled, etc. The one I was most looking forward to was Wonder Woman. For years, DC has shied away from who the Amazon Princess really is & where she came from. They've been uncomfortable with what it is to be an Amazon. They have hesitated to play with the mythologies laid out in front of them. Unlike Marvel's Thor, who has always been in touch with his Gods, DC always tries to stick Wonder Woman in our time & strip her of any link to her past & her culture. I was happy to find that Writer Brian Azzarello, so far has NOT decided to follow in those past footsteps.

There is a costume change. Honestly, I like the change. Not too dramatic, pays homage to the old, and doesn't try to apologize by adding pants. Thank you for that.



Now, there are a few problems I have with the New 52 Wonder Woman, but not many. Of course, we are only 2 issues in. Okay, you MUST get your mythology right. Sure, you can play around with it, but make sure you have a damn good reason for changing it & don't just change it to change it. For example, in the picture above, you can bear witness to a female Centaur. *sigh* Alright, alright, there were very scarce references to female centaurs, but generally speaking Centaurs are thought of as an all male species. I'll let that one slide, since, technically there are both males & females. They did get the female one right on, though. She was considered to be a white Centaur. So that one is just nit-picky of me really. Let's not screw too many myths up though, okay?

The next thing though really chaps my ass. Hippolyta has, was & should ever be dark haired, raven tressed, possessing of locks as dark as the night. NOT BLOND. OMG, WTF. Wonder Woman's mom is now blond. Seriously? I'm blond myself, but the Queen of the Amazons is not. First of all, how many blonde Greeks do you know? I don't like it. It cheapens Hippolyta. CHANGE IT BACK.



I also dislike it when characters take control of humans to do their bidding & then without any reason kill them, when it's obvious that they might need them again for the same purpose. I call it Gratuitous Death. We already have this in issue 1. Really? Look, have the god take them prisoner in his giant mansion of a penthouse, or keep a godly spell on them, but to just have him lure them up, use them & kill them without any sort of care in the world, well, honestly that OMG impact you wanted in the story you were writing...yeah, didn't happen. I didn't get to know them enough to give a crap. So really, the whole scene ends up completely pointless emotionally. Yeah, I got the info, but man, was that a completely overdramatic way to deliver it or what?



The writing is not bad. It could be a little tighter. There are a few pages where I had to read twice because the dialogue seemed really choppy. The panels didn't seem to pull off exactly what was being told either. The art is average. Nothing to be awed by, but not just puked out either.

Things I love? Diana's attitude. Diana NOT shying away from WHO she is. The naughty Amazon jokes. The feeling that this time, DC is going to embrace their Amazon Princess & let her be who she should have always been. Push the boundaries a little.
Make her mythology part of her story. Take us into her world rather than plucking her out & putting her in ours and making her forget where she came from.




So, if you have ever wanted to read Wonder Woman & didn't really know where to start, please go grab issue 1 & 2 of the New 52 Wonder Woman at your local comics shop. Go on! It's 15 to 20 minutes of fun each month for $2.99 a comic. I think this could possibly end up being the best Wonder Woman run ever. You wouldn't want to miss it would you?


(All images in this post copyright by DC Comics)

3:30AM-ish and I'm still at it. Xena Painting.

More progress made. Got one of those baby blues done. I have to admit, the eyes on this painting have got to be right on or it isn't going to look like Lucy. Xena/Lucy has very well known eyes. You can't achieve the Xena look without them. So, lots of anxiety trying to get these eyes right.