Patrick's Blog

Richie Rich #3 In Stores Now

2011-07-27T20:51:00.002-05:00

Now the third issue of "Richie Rich" published by Ape Entertainment is out nationwide. Again, this issue has another chapter of "Professor Keenbean's Corner" written by me and drawn by James Silvani.

If you didn't get your copy early in San Diego at Comic-Con last weekend (and get it signed by Sid Jacobson, creator of Richie Rich) like I did, then carry your behind down to a comic shop and pick it up! Or if you think comic shops are scary, order it online from Midtown.

Richie Rich #2 Out Today

2011-06-29T18:38:00.004-05:00

Today the second issue of the re-vamped "Richie Rich" comic book that is being published by Ape Entertainment hit comic shops everywhere. Included in this issue is another chapter of "Professor Keenbean's Corner" written by me and drawn by James Silvani.

If you are in Baton Rouge, I went into Louisiana's Double Play on Sherwood today and they have copies. Otherwise, you can order it online from Midtown Comics in New York.

Like That on the iPad

2011-05-23T19:36:00.014-05:00

My graphic novel, "Like That" is now available to read on the iPad. This digital version includes a all-new special features (including videos) and is also priced at only 99 cents!

If you have an iPad, you should download it from the App Store. I mean, c'mon, it's cheaper than a Jumbo Jack!

Richie Rich #1 is out now!

2011-05-23T19:08:00.017-05:00

I'm a little late in posting this, but this month saw the release of the re-imagined "Richie Rich" comic book that is being published by Ape Entertainment. The best part about the new series (to me anyway) is that I had a hand in writing it. I wrote a one page segment called "Professor Keenbean's Corner" that is included in the first issue (drawn by the masterful James Silvani).

This is a significant milestone for a couple of reasons. First, it's the first time I've written a comic script that was drawn by someone that I've never spoken to or met (though I hear James is a real stand-up guy as well as a heck of an artist). Secondly, this marks the first time that a freelance comic piece I've written was actually published (and I didn't pay for it!).

Anyway, this actually is the first of four installments of "Professor Keenbean's Corner" that I have written for Ape, and each will be included in the first four issues of "Richie Rich." Richie Rich #1 is available at comic stores everywhere now or you can order it online. Also, check out this great review of it by Chris Barat.

2 the Movies is Back!

2011-04-19T19:39:00.004-05:00

We're back, baby! And like all great television shows, we've moved to the web and cut content. All joking aside, I think the new shorter web format will be better at attracting our core film-going audience and allow us more freedom in the reviews, such saying things like "bad ass." Enjoy! (click the image below for the link to the video).

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/video/2theMovies-review-Hanna.html

2 the Movies - Rounding out 2010

2011-01-15T09:44:00.010-06:00

The middle of the first month of 2011 is a perfect time to post all the episodes of "2 the Movies" from the end of 2010. We've got reviews of films that are still playing now like "Tron: Legacy" and some movies that are coming out on DVD now such as "The Social Network." So check them out and drop me a line if you like them.

December 23

Movies Reviewed: "Yogi Bear," "The Tourist," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Legend of the Dawn Treader," "Tron: Legacy" and the Top 5 movies of the year.
Watch Episode

December 10

Movies Reviewed: "Love and Other Drugs," "Fair Game," "Faster," "Burlesque" and "The Warrior's Way."
Watch Episode

November 18

Movies Reviewed: "Skyline," "Unstoppable," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," and "Tangled"
Watch Episode

October 21

Movies Reviewed: "Catfish," "My Soul To Take," "Secretariat," "Red"
Watch Episode

October 7

Movies Reviewed: "Let Me In," "Case 39," and "The Social Network"
Watch Episode

2 the Movies

2010-10-03T19:02:00.004-05:00

2 the Movies for September

2010-10-02T18:52:00.004-05:00

I know we've been pretty inconsistent with posting the videos online, but we have the last two episodes from September up. Let me know what you think. And remember you can see new episodes every Thursday night at 7:30 PM on WBTR (Cox or AT&T Channel 19/Antenna Channel 42).

September 23

Movies Reviewed: “Devil,” “Easy A,” “Resident Evil: Afterlife,” and “The Town”
Watch Episode

September 30

Movies Reviewed: “Legend of the Guardians,” “You Again,” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”
Watch Episode

Catching up with 2 the Movies

2010-07-31T16:00:00.010-05:00

It's been a while since I've updated my site with online episodes of "2 the Movies" so here's all the ones that are available since my last update. I'm try to start updating every week from now on. You can always catch it live every Thursday night at 7:30 PM on WBTR (Cox or AT&T Channel 19/Antenna Channel 42).

Episode 8

Movies Reviewed: “Please Give,” “Jonah Hex,” and “Toy Story 3”
Watch Episode 8

Episode 10

Movies Reviewed: “ Despicable Me,” “The Last Airbender,” and “Twilight: Eclipse”
Watch Episode 10

Episode 11

Movies Reviewed: “Predators,” and “Inception”
Watch Episode 11

Episode 12

Movies Reviewed: “Cyrus,” and “The Sorcerer's Apprentice”
Watch Episode 12

Episode 13

Movies Reviewed: “Ramona and Beezus,” and “Salt”
Watch Episode 13

Pre-Order Like That from PREVIEWS

2010-06-24T18:50:00.015-05:00

Attention comic book retailers and comic shop loiterers, you can pre-order my graphic novel, "Like That" from the PREVIEWS catalog in July available from Diamond Comics, the premiere comic book distributor. "Like That" is listed on page 325 under Think Tank Productions. Below is a picture of the cover of the July Previews.

The item code in Previews for "Like That" is JUL10 1121.

You can view the first seven pages of the graphic novel at http://www.likethatcomic.com

More Episodes of 2 the Movies

2010-06-23T12:14:00.030-05:00

The 2theAdvocate.com website has been updated will all of the episodes of "2 the Movies" hosted by me and Kevin McQuarn. Click on the links below to watch them. Remember, you can watch new episodes every Thursday night at 7:30 PM on WBTR (Cox or AT&T Channel 19/Antenna Channel 42).

Episode 4

Movies Reviewed: “Letters to Juliet,” “Just Wright,” and “Robin Hood”
Watch Episode 4

Episode 5

Movies Reviewed: “Shrek Forever After,” “MacGruber,” and “Prince of Persia”
Watch Episode 5

Episode 6

Movies Reviewed: “Marmaduke,” “Killers,” “Get Him to the Greek,” and “Splice”
Watch Episode 6

Episode 7

Movies Reviewed: “Sex and the City 2,” “Karate Kid,” and “A-Team”
Watch Episode 7

2 the Movies Episodes

2010-06-13T14:05:00.023-05:00

2 the Movies is still going strong as our sixth episode just aired on Thursday. Kevin and I are busy this weekend producing our seventh episode. If you need to catch up, our first three episodes have been posted for viewing online. I'll post updates as more episodes are added.

	Episode 1 "The Back-Up Plan," "Kick-Ass," and "The Losers" Watch Episode 1
	Episode 2 "Furry Vengeance," "City Island," and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" Watch Episode 2
	Episode 3 "Babies," "Oceans," and "Iron Man 2" Watch Episode 3

2 the Movies

2010-04-27T19:11:00.007-05:00

"2 the Movies" is an all new television show dedicated to movie reviews and commentary that is hosted by Kevin McQuarn and Patrick Rills. We promise the show will give you a brutally honest and light-hearted look at recent films hitting the theaters.

The first episode of "2 the Movies" will air this Thursday (April 29th) at 7:30 PM on WBTR (Channel 19 on Cox Cable and over the antenna). Set your DVRs because its going to be awesome!

Alternative Media Expo

2010-04-15T19:43:00.003-05:00

This Saturday, April 17th, the Alternative Media Expo presented by New Orleans Music Magazine, Antigravity, will be happening in New Orleans at the Contemporary Arts Center (in the Warehouse District). Dave Wandell and I (alon

g with our lovely wives), will have a table selling prints of Dave's art as well as copies of "Guns McMenamin: A Day in the Life," "Like That," and "M.O.P.S: Volume 1."

There's going to be a ton of other stuff too like magazines, fashion, crafts, music, film, and design. Check out the website for a list of exhibitors:

http://www.myspace.com/alternativemediaexpo

Oscar Time

2010-02-20T14:32:00.006-06:00

In honor of the Oscars which are just a couple of weeks away, I am posting links to two of my recent movie reviews that are for nominated movies:

	A Serious Man Joel and Ethan Cohen Nominations: Best Picture, Writing (Original Screenplay) My Review: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/70286617.html
	A Single Man Tom Ford Nominations: Actor in a Leading Role (Colin Firth) My Review: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/84507192.html

Grinder - January 9th

2009-12-22T18:39:00.008-06:00

2010 will kick off with a bang. On Saturday, January 9th, I will have a table at Grinder, the creative art expo in Lafayette. I will be selling comics and more comics. I have brand new editions of "Guns McMenamin: Just Another Thursday" printed (and bound correctly!!) that will be for sale as well as plenty of copies of "Like That."

If you have never been to Grinder in Lafayette, then what the heck is wrong with you? There's vendors selling everything from original art to comics to jewelry and did I mention COMICS? There will be live art by Kody Chamberlain (who draws a bad ass comic about Trace Adkins) and Rob Guillory (artist of Chew, one of the hottest books out right now). No excuses people! It's only 45 minutes from Baton Rouge, it is during the day (for you maw maw's that don't drive after dark), and it is a non-smoking facility. Also, it is being held in conjunction with the city's ArtWalk that happens every second saturday of the month. Art will be all up in your grill! Just check out the poster!

View all Downtown events at Eventful

Louisiana Book Festival - New Release!

2009-10-09T13:22:00.008-05:00

Next Saturday, October 17th, the Louisiana Book Festival will be going down outside the State Capital. It's been a couple of years since I've been an exhibitor, but we are back with a new book, "Guns McMenamin: A Day in the Life" (cover pictured below). It will be your first chance to purchase the new comic. We will be sharing a table with Sentient Studios, who will be selling their collection of poetry. To find us, we'll be at an outdoor table on the walkway from Fourth Street to the Capital building (the hedges).

If you are unfamiliar with the Louisiana Book Festival, it won't be just hacks like me, there will be real exhibitors and authors too. Check out The Advocate's extensive preview: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/magazine/63323327.html.

Recent Reviews

2009-10-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, but here's a couple of reviews I did for 2theadvocate.com. I review The Final Destination and I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell last month. Enjoy and I hope you haven't seen either of these films. Here are the links:

Final Destination: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/56733517.html

The Beer One: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/62929267.html

Comic-Con Wrap-Up

2009-08-11T20:50:00.003-05:00

My report on Comic-Con 2009 is now posted on 2theadvocate.com. Check it out; the link is below.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/featured/52972982.html

Guns McMenamin - Coming Soon

2009-07-18T14:54:00.003-05:00

Coming soon - "Guns McMenamin"

A 24-page comic book preview.

http://www.gunsmcmenamin.com

The rebirth of Batman and Captain America

2009-07-18T14:29:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late in posting this, but here's my article from 2theadvocate.com on Marvel and DC doing "Reborn Events" for major characters at the same time. Some good reading to get you in the mood for Comic-Con.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/49718787.html

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-05-01T17:21:00.002-05:00

My review of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has been posted on 2theadvocate.com. The link is here: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/44189572.html

Animation Festival Blog

2009-04-23T08:44:00.005-05:00

I will be blogging from the Red Stick Animation Festival again this year on 2theadvocate.com. My first two posts are already online. It will be updated everyday through Saturday.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/blogs/redstickblog

Top 10 Films of 2008 (so far)

2009-02-22T10:06:00.001-06:00

The Academy Awards are night and the speculation is that this years’ show is the most boring and anticlimactic of all time. I’d have to say I agree. Most of the major categories for all intents and purposes have already been decided (Ledger won best supporting actor in May when he ate sleeping pills like they were trick-or-treat candy). And this year’s releases have for the most part been uninspired. Despite it all, there were a couple of movies released in 2009 that are worth a viewing. Here are my top 10 (this list is only based on movies I’ve seen so far as of posting this):

1. The Wrestler (Aronofsky): I’ve always loved Aronsofsky is if he takes too many risks. But with “The Wrestler,” Aronsofsky returns to the basic of great filmmaking with a stunning character piece on an aging wrestler. No fancy special effects. No moral message. It’s just a great story that basks in its simplicity. It also happens to feature one of the top 5 film performances of all time (Rouke).

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher): Of all of the Best Picture nominees, this one is the only film that deserves to win. Fincher weaves a touching and complicated tale of mortality into an equally heart wrenching love story. It is a modern fairy tale so beautifully and painstakingly shot by Fincher, you’ll never notice its three hour running time. Even if the story is a little reminiscent of Forrest Gump (it was the same writer after all), it is a far superior film technically.

3. Paranoid Park (Van Sant): Even though “Milk” was nominated for Best Picture, it wasn’t the best film made by Gus Van Sant to be released this year. Improving on “Elephant,” Van Sant takes another trip down the road of teen angst and uncertainty.

4. The Wackness (Levine): Like “Paranoid Park,” this film is a look into the world of teen slacker-dom, but from a humorous angle. It’s the best comedy of 2009.  

5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Mungiu): Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you can’t deny the emotion and heartache behind one’s decision to terminate a pregnancy, and this film uses a no-holds-barred approach in bringing that to you.

6. In Bruges (McDonagh): Who said action films can’t be smart? McDonagh makes the film Guy Ritchie has spent his whole life trying to make. It should run away with the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. You can read my review of “In Bruges” from earlier this year: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/15957387.html

7. Redbelt (Mamet): Only David Mamet could merge his Hollywood angst with mixed martial arts and create one of the best “fight” movies of the last 20 years.

8. WALL*E (Stanton): Though suffering from a weak, villian-less, and hypocritical (especially coming from Disney), Wall*E is one of the most beautifully animated movies of all time. And even if it isn’t Pixar’s best movie, it still is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else the other animation studios are releasing.

9. The Dark Knight (Nolan): Nolan finally makes the Batman movie a fan (like me) would make. A serious portrait of a conflicted vigilante strikes a chord with our terrorist filled times. 

10. Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle): I’ve always loved the way Danny Boyle brings a setting to life, and making Indian slums look beautiful is no easy task.

Honorable Mention: Choke (Gregg), Milk (Van Sant)

Films that might make the list when I actually get to see them: Hunger (McQueen), Ballast (Hammer), Gomorrah (Garrone), Waltz with Bashir (Folman), Happy-Go-Lucky (Leigh), Wendy and Lucy (Reichardt), Che (Soderbergh), The Class (Cantet)

Films that are getting a lot of Oscar buzz, but I have no desire to see them: Frost/Nixon (Howard), The Reader (Daldry), Revolutionary Road (Mendes)

Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival 2009

2009-01-23T22:31:00.002-06:00

My review of the first two days of the 2009 Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival has been posted on 2theadvocate.com. There are still two days left of the festival, so if you like the article then get on down to the Manship Saturday or Sunday.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/featured/38246699.html

Movie Review: Yes Man

2008-12-24T14:10:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I've written a review, but last weekend I reviewed "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey. Check it out on 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/36668029.html

Movie Review: The Duchess

2008-10-16T19:36:00.002-05:00

My review of "The Duchess" has been posted at 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/31122814.html

Two New Movie Reviews

2008-10-09T10:27:00.006-05:00

I've had two movie review posted recently at 2theadvocate.com. The first is "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" which came out on Oct 3rd. The other is "Blindness" which opened last Friday.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/30524179.html

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/30573274.html

Movie Review: Igor

2008-09-22T22:13:00.002-05:00

My review of the new animated movie "Igor" has been posted on 2theadvocate.com. It is the second worst animated movie ever made (only better than this one).

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/29368339.html

Comic Review: The Roberts

2008-09-19T20:42:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, but I've got another comic book review posted on 2theadvocate.com. I review "The Roberts" #1 released by Image Comics last week.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/28589139.html

Movie Review: Pineapple Express

2008-08-08T12:42:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've done a movie review, but I'm back with a review of the newest Judd Apatow produced comedy, Pineapple Express. It's been posted at 2theadvocate.com:

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/26407429.html

The Comic Book Oscars

2008-08-01T23:26:00.002-05:00

My review of two Eisner Award winning comics has been posted an 2theadvocate.com. Check out what kind of stuff wins the "Comic Book Oscar."

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/26187459.html

Midtown Comics NYC Carries Like That

2008-07-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

ICON Studios' first graphic novel, Like That, written by Patrick Rills can now be purchased in one of the most recognizable comic book stores in the US, Midtown Comics in Times Square. If you are in New York please support indie comics and Midtown by picking up a copy.

Comic Review: My Top 3 Batman Stories

2008-07-18T19:48:00.002-05:00

Because of the release of The Dark Knight today, my comic article this week is of course about Batman. Batman is one of my favorite fictional characters ever so this one wasn't difficult to write. I selected my 3 favorite Batman stories of all time and discussed why. Check it out here:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/25635789.html

Comic Review: B.P.R.D. 1946

2008-07-15T19:25:00.003-05:00

My second comic review article was posted on 2theadvocate.com tonight. In honor of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which came out last Friday, I picked the recently ended "B.P.R.D. 1946" miniseries by Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart. The link is below:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/25486084.html

My next comic article will be Batman-themed and come out Friday in time for The Dark Knight.

The Scene at Art Lounge

2008-07-15T19:22:00.002-05:00

Last week, "The Scene," a series of weekly videos produced by 2theadvocate.com covering the scene around Baton Rouge (pun intended), reported from ICON Studios' Art Lounge. The links to the episode and the interview of Dave are below:

Episode: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/video/24499814.html

Interview: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/video/24539959.html

Art Lounge Featured on 2theadvocate.com

2008-07-07T21:24:00.001-05:00

2theAdvocate.com has posted a great article about Art Lounge on the entertainment section of their website. Be sure to read it and send it to as many people as possible. Spread the word about Baton Rouge's best kept art secret in town. Also, be sure to come out tomorrow night to Boudreaux & Thibodeaux's to see the art of Adrian Fulton.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/arts/24040454.html

Art Lounge: http://www.iconstudios.org/artshow.html

Comic Reviews now on The Advocate

2008-07-03T11:43:00.007-05:00

My editor at the entertainment section of The Advocate wants to start posting comic book reviews on the website. So, for the next several weeks, we will be experimenting with different topics involving comics books and graphic novels. I wrote the first article that was posted today. It is a review of the graphic novel "Wanted" published by Top Cow and is the source material for the movie of the same name staring Angelina Jolie. Please send this link to everyone you know that has any interest whatsoever in comics. I would love to keep writing about comics for The Advocate, but that will only happen if people read them.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/22854714.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 8 and Anniversary

2008-06-06T19:29:00.003-05:00

Today, June 6th, is the 12th anniversary of ICON Studios. It was twelve years ago today that we decided to start making comics since we were on summer break and already bored of our Nintendo 64 games not to mention it was just too hot to do any outdoor activities. To commemorate this special occasion, we have released M.O.P.S. episode 8. Actually, we would have released it anyway since it is the first Friday of the month, but it's always nice to feel special. So after a one month hiatus (well, we don't get paid for this) we are back with a brand new spectacular episode! Check it out and tell your friends and relatives and, heck, tell you enemies too! That's something at wefightdirty.net for everyone!

Link: http://www.iconstudios.org/mops/index.html?gotostrip=8

Seattle

2008-05-17T23:06:00.007-05:00

Last week the wife and I took a trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit the city of Seattle. Seattle is a city I’ve always wanted to visit because of its tech-centric and progressive reputation. What we found was a city fueled on coffee and desperate for sunshine that lived up to expectations.

Seattle is a lot like San Francisco (which we visited last year) but without the irritating attitude of superiority. Sure, there’s Obama-ites running rampant but it there isn’t a constant being looked down upon. Despite its fast paced industrial backbone, the city is surprising laid back and our visit was quite relaxing.

Our first night there, we walked around downtown to get a feel for downtown and learn where everything was. We watched the Hornets get a red ass beatdown from the Spurs at the Fox Sports Grill on 6th Ave. It’s a sports bar with an uppity, hipster look. It was nice, but you should never feel underdressed at a sports bar.

The next day we saw some genuine Seattle landmarks. First, we walked to the Space Needle although we didn’t go up because it was a little overpriced. Next, we went to the Pike Place Market to buy some fresh doughnuts, sit on a giant brass pig, and watch them throw the fish around. Later, we met a friend of a friend in Redmond so she could so us around her office at Microsoft. After all, as a programmer it is my Graceland. That night, we went see the Mariners lose to the White Sox at SafeCo field. SafeCo is an impressive stadium with some nice features (like being able to text your order and have someone bring it to you).

The weekend was mostly spent hawking our wares at the Emerald City Comic Con in the convention center. You can read my report on the M.O.P.S. blog. However, on Saturday night, some of our local friends brought us to the Six Arms bar for some Hammerhead Ale. It was one of the coolest bars I’ve ever been in. The atmosphere and décor were truly unique and quintessentially Seattle.

The next part of the trip is what I dubbed the “Stuff Paul Allen Bought” tour. It started with tours of the Science Fiction Museum (a.k.a. Paul Allen’s nerdy science fiction collection) and the Experience Music Project (a.k.a. Paul Allen’s nerdy guitar collection). Both museum were unique and interesting (Frank Gehry designed) but they were small too. We saw both exhibits in about an hour. We capped the night by seeing Iron Man at the Paul Allen’s movie theater, the Cinerama. The Cinerama is a giant state of the art theater that only plays one movie on an almost IMAX-sized screen. It was great throwback to the era of the “moving picture.”

Some of the other places and restaurants we visited: The Athenian Inn, Seattle Museum of Art, McCormick and Schmick’s, Bauhaus, Metropolitan Grill, and Dragonfish Café.

Movie Review: Harold and Kumar 2

2008-04-28T18:53:00.002-05:00

My review of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is now posted on 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/18346394.html

Animation Festival Blog

2008-04-17T18:17:00.007-05:00

2theadvocate.com is posting my daily report from this year's Red Stick Animation Festival. The link below will be updated with my report from each day.

Updated (4/22 2:30 PM): My entire report is now online.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/fun/17864334.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 7

2008-04-12T17:08:00.000-05:00

M.O.P.S. Episode 7 has been released on WeFightDirty.net. Episode 7 introduces a new character to the M.O.P.S. family. Check it out and tell your friends.

Movie Review: Street Kings

2008-04-11T21:44:00.002-05:00

My review of "Street Kings" has been posted online at 2theadvocate.com. Check it out.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/17564564.html

Movie Review: Shine a Light

2008-04-07T19:28:00.002-05:00

My review of Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert film, "Shine a Light" has been posted at 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/17354784.html

Movie Review: Run, Fatboy, Run

2008-04-04T18:14:00.002-05:00

Check out my review of Simon Pegg's newest film, Run, Fatboy, Run. It was posted on 2theAdvocate.com last week.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/17277364.html

At Last! Death to Peanuts!

2008-03-24T17:10:00.005-05:00

The local Baton Rouge newspaper (and my part-time employer), The Advocate, stated today that it is considering ceasing to print the comic strip "Peanuts." The strip has been a painful regurgitation of unfunny bile since its creator Charles Schultz died. Not only that but "Ziggy" and "Family Circus" may also get an overdue axing. Hooray! Better late than never, The Advocate editors. This is by far the best editorial decision ever made.

As you may recall, a long time ago I wrote an article on this site expressing my displeasure with the Peanuts strip.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/16941061.html

Top 10 Movies of 2007

2008-03-17T22:01:00.019-05:00

I wanted to put this list out before the Oscars, but oh well. It must be noted that this list only contains movies I actually saw. So if you are wondering where "There Will be Blood," "Juno" or "the Diving Bell and the Butterfly" are, I have not yet had the opportunity to see them yet (and there's no way "Juno" is funnier than "Superbad.")

2007 was definitely the year of suspense thriller, low-brow comedy, and low budget indie inspiration. This year I at least agree with the Academy on "No Country for Old Men." That film is the most complete film I've seen in a long time. It's screenplay is sharply well-written, it's acted perfectly, and it was shot beautifully with brilliant composition making great use of scale, silhouette, and scenery.

I disagree with the Academy whole-heartedly with completely snubbing Fincher's suspense masterpiece, Zodiac (and nominating the yawn-fest, "Michael Clayton" instead). This is by far Fincher's crowning achievement in what has already been a brilliant career. Zodiac surely suffered from it's March release date. It fell off of the radar having been released in film's no man's land. The Academy also goofed big time but not giving The King of Kong a best documentary nomination. This is without a doubt the best documentary I have ever seen. It is engaging and universal. It's a shame that just because it doesn't some left wing agenda, it can't be nominated for best documentary.

1.
No Country for Old Men
J. Cohen/E. Cohen

2.
Zodiac
D. Fincher

3.
The King of Kong
S. Gordon

4.
Once
J. Carney

5.
Away From Her
S. Polley

6.
Sunshine
D. Boyle

7.
Superbad
G. Mottola

8.
Rescue Dawn
W. Herzog

9.
Eastern Promises
D. Cronenberg
Read my review

10.
Gone Baby Gone
B. Affleck

Movie Review: Funny Games

2008-03-17T21:00:00.003-05:00

My review of the German horror remake, "Funny Games" is posted on the entertainment section of 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/16750901.html

Movie Review: The Bank Job

2008-03-13T11:15:00.003-05:00

My review of the bank heist triller, The Bank Job, is now available on 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/16535231.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 6 and Grinder

2008-03-07T20:13:00.002-06:00

The latest installment of M.O.P.S. has been posted online. Check out Episode 6 at wefightdirty.net.

Also tomorrow night ICON Studios will be in Lafayette for the Grinder Creative Arts Expo. Grinder: Creative Arts Expo is a gathering of creative individuals in an effort to inform, educate and inspire the creative spirit. Grinder is held every four months at Grant Street Dancehall in Downtown Lafayette on the second Saturday (Art Walk). Doors open at 8pm.

http://lafayettegrinder.blogspot.com/

Movie Review: Penelope

2008-03-07T20:07:00.003-06:00

My review of the romantic comedy "Penelope" was posted on 2theadvocate.com earlier this week. I've just been too busy to link to it.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/16185817.html

The Internet is Officially Stupid

2008-02-27T00:14:00.003-06:00

This week I reached a “virtual” milestone. One of my videos on my YouTube account has recorded over 10,000 views. That’s a lot of views seeing as how all of my other videos combined don’t have that many views, and the most views any of my other videos has is a couple hundred. Like I said, it’s a lot. I bet you’ve never even counted to 10,000 before!

So, what is this video? Is it something I meticulously planned? Is it something I carefully wrote, edited and put many hours or even days of work into? Of course not! That wouldn’t be the Internet we know and secretly browse when we should be working. No, the only video the Internet would deem worthy watching over 10,000 times is of course silly, unnecessary, and a little embarrassing.

It all began when my wife bought me a replica lightsaber for my birthday in 2006. You may have seen this particular lightsaber if you came to our wedding. It was displayed next to my Darth Vader groom’s cake. Well, Christin thought I didn’t like my present since she never saw me play with it. So one night while she was teaching dance I decided to make a video of me playing with the lightsaber. We have this workout video game called Kinetic that works with the Playstation 2 Eye Toy (which is a camera you attach to the Playstation). In the game, you exercise by moving around like a nut and hitting objects on screen. This reminded me of the training Obi Wan subjected Luke Skywalker to in Star Wars when they were on the Millennium Falcon and Luke had to block the laser bolt from the floating remote. So I set up the camera on a tripod and played the game with my lightsaber. The idea seemed a lot less nerdy at the time probably just like it did to Star Wars Kid. I added some background music and uploaded it to YouTube because I wanted some other friends to see it. Now, a little over a year later, 10,000 random people have laughed at my expense (with over 20 leaving comments). It’s even linked on various foreign message boards.

So, I present to you the video that received over 10,000 unintentional views in 447 days (that’s 44 views per day as of this posting):

Movie Review: In Bruges

2008-02-25T21:43:00.002-06:00

My review of the indie action/comedy, "In Bruges" has been posted in 2theadvocate.com. It was quite good even though it stars Collin Farrell. I highly recommend it.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/15957387.html

Moview Review: Definitely, Maybe

2008-02-15T17:24:00.002-06:00

My review of "Definitely, Maybe" has been posted on the entertainment section of 2theadvocate.com.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/15677792.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 5

2008-02-01T00:07:00.001-06:00

After a one month break, M.O.P.S. is back with a brand new episode written and lettered by me! A lot of detail went into the artwork for this strip. Certainly worth checking out.

Direct Link:
http://www.iconstudios.org/mops/index.html?gotostrip=5

Baton Rouge Jewish film Festival

2008-01-22T23:02:00.000-06:00

My review of the Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival has been posted on 2theAdvocate.com. I saw five films in total from Thursday to Sunday. The article reviews each film in detail.

Here's the link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/featured/13977987.html

Mobile M.O.P.S. Launched

2008-01-20T09:03:00.000-06:00

January Update: As you have probably already figured out, there will not be a new M.O.P.S. episode this month. Because of the holidays and one of our main creators being in the middle of a cross-country move, we couldn't put it out in a timely manner and still be at the standard of quality we have established for this strip. Rest assured that a new episode will appear on Feb 1st, and from what I have seen so far, it is bad to the bone.

Mobile site launched: Just because there is no strip in January doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Today we have launched the mobile, non-flash version of the M.O.P.S. website. So you hipsters out there with your iPhones, smart phones, and PDA's can now read M.O.P.S. on the go without having Flash player installed. The best part is there is no separate address to remember. Just browse to http://www.wefightdirty.net on your non-flash enabled device and you will be automatically redirected to our text-only, mobile-friendly version of the site. Please let us know if you have any issues.

Movie Review: First Sunday

2008-01-16T15:34:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I reviewed Ice Cube's "First Sunday" for the 2theAdvocate.com. The link is: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/13841032.html

My Top 10 YTMND’s

2007-12-30T21:07:00.000-06:00

For those of you without office jobs and consequently without hours in a day where you can freely roam the productivity hindering wasteland that is the Internet, you may have never come across a little gem of a web page called YTMND (http://www.ytmnd.com). The premise of the page is simple. Users put images or animations to music to make a statement, a parody, social commentary or just to be weird. About 80 percent of the website is incomprehensible garbage, but some of it is hilarious and in rare occasions artistic. To give you a little history, YTMND stands for “you’re the man now, dog” which comes from the first YTMND ever created. The first YTMND was actually a clip from the trailer of Finding Forrester where Sean Connery utters that phrase. That one clip spawned an underground society of YTMNDers who update the site constantly with new content. To help you wade through the mediocrity, I’ve compiled a list of my all time top 10 favorite YTMND’s. Enjoy!

10. Even Martians Know NBC - http://tocatchamartian.ytmnd.com/ - Even innocent looking puppets are lurking about the Internet to steal your children’s innocence. Good thing there is one journalist welling to fight for perverted justice.

9. Lex Luthor > Lil Jon - http://lexluthorliljon.ytmnd.com/ - Kevin Spacey’s over-the-top portrayal of Lex Luthor was YTMND fodder for quite a while.

8. New Talent on 60 Minutes - http://sixtymins.ytmnd.com/ - The intro to 60 Minutes featuring some new, unlikely anchors.

7. Vader on Wheel of Fortune - http://vaderfortune.ytmnd.com/ - The Dark Lord of the Sith tries his luck at every grandmother’s favorite game show.

6. Luke Skywalker belts out a face melter - http://nowwhoooaaaoooaaoooaaahh.ytmnd.com/ - Who knew Luke Skywalker could rock?

5. Cosby Bebop - http://cosbybebop.ytmnd.com/ - If you’ve never seen the intro to the anime, Cowboy Bebop, you might not think this is funny. Bill Cosby is the butt of many YTMND jokes.

4. Jon Arbuckle does Thriller - http://arbucklethriller.ytmnd.com/ - Remember the video to Michael Jackson’s Triller? Jon Arbuckle does!

3. Batman: ualuealuealeuale - http://ualuealuealeuale.ytmnd.com/ - You always knew Adam West was a little off.

2. Holy shi* it's a Dinosaur! WTF? - http://jurassicparkwtf.ytmnsfw.com/ - Putting words to any John Williams song is funny I don’t care who you are.

1. PowerPoint: Death Star Attack - http://lay-uh.ytmnd.com/ - The presentation of how to destroy the Death Star had the rebels had the superior technology that is Microsoft Office.

Movie Review: AVP-R

2007-12-29T10:23:00.000-06:00

My review of the completely necessary sequel to Aliens vs. Predator has been posted at 2theadvocate.com. This was a painful one to watch.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/12903716.html

Movie Review: Charlie Wilson's War

2007-12-22T12:04:00.000-06:00

My review of Charlie Wilson's War has been posted on 2TheAdvocate.com. It was one of the best movies I've seen all year. It's right up there with American Gangster. Highly recommended.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/12755012.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 4

2007-12-10T13:05:00.000-06:00

The fourth M.O.P.S. episode had been posted. Check it out at www.wefightdirty.net. This one is my favorite ones I've written so far. I don't know if you guys have noticed yet, but last month I added a feature that let's you view a much larger version of the strip. Just click on the small version and a biggie-sized version will appear. It makes it easier to read the text and you can see a lot more detail. The direct link is:

http://www.iconstudios.org/mops/index.html?gotostrip=4

I'm in 225 Magazine

2007-12-06T12:27:00.000-06:00

I appear in the December issue of 225 Magazine that is out right now. I'm one of the people surveyed for the "What's Up: Your Flavor" section where they ask four random people four random questions. Pick up a copy and check out it.

There's no link to it on their website to it so here's the questions I answered:

Guilty pleasure TV show: "Grey's Anatomy"
Pet Peeve: People who wear socks with sandals
Favorite alcoholic beverage: Red Bull and Vodka
First Job: Spillway Sportsman

Movie Review: This Christmas

2007-12-06T10:11:00.000-06:00

I know it only seems like I update my website when I have a new movie review posted. I promise I'll talk about something else besides movies soon. In the meantime, my review of "This Christmas" has been posted on the The Advocate's site.

Direct link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/11974311.html

Movie Review: Fred Claus

2007-11-12T13:06:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I reviewed Vince Vaughn's newest phoned-in performance entitled "Fred Claus." You can read the review on The Advocate's website:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/11196166.html

Movie Review: American Gangster

2007-11-04T10:48:00.000-06:00

This week I got to pick which movie I wanted to review. So instead of chick flicks and animated Bible stories, I reviewed "American Gangster," a movie a lot of people will actually see. Check out the review on The Advocate's entertainment site:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/10987771.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 3 & Book Fest

2007-11-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

I've uploaded the third exciting episode of M.O.P.S. You and your friends should all go look at it and admire it's comicy goodness. Also if you're not busy tomorrow, you should come visit us at the Louisiana Book Festival in Downtown Baton Rouge. We'll be selling books and passing out free stuff at a table in the hedge maze walkway between the state library and the captial.

http://www.iconstudios.org/mops/index.html?gotostrip=3

Movie Review: The Ten Commandments

2007-10-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't review the old Heston version. This is a review of an animated version that came out on October 19th. Who needs Charlton Heston when you have Christian Slater? Read my review on The Advocate's website:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/10714856.html

SPX 2007 Report

2007-10-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Christin and I represented ICON Studios at the Small Press Expo (SPX) last week in Maryland. We were there selling copies of Like That as well as promoting our new webcomic, M.O.P.S. The show was smaller than I expected but still the largest comic centric show we’ve exhibited at yet. It was a little larger than Staple! in terms of number of exhibitors and floor space, but there many wasn’t that many more attendees which was a bit disappointing. We didn’t sell that many more copies of Like That than we did at Staple! this past March. There were enough people that we handed out all of our M.O.P.S. cards and stickers. We received a lot of great feedback on the project which we hope will translate into more site traffic. We probably won’t do SPX next year because for the price, we can do an even bigger show like WonderCon or ComicCon. Our next shows will be on consecutive November weekends: Nov 3rd at the Louisiana Book Festival and Nov 10th at the New Orleans Book Fair.

Small Press Expo

2007-10-07T21:12:00.000-05:00

I will be representing ICON Studios this week at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland. The show is Friday and Saturday (Oct 12th and 13th) at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center. So if you or someone you know lives in the Washington, D.C. area be sure to tell them to come by and visit us. We'll be selling t-shirts and copies of Like That as well as promoting the M.O.P.S. web comic.

The Jane Austen Book Club

2007-10-07T12:01:00.000-05:00

My review of The Jane Austen Book Club is online on The Advocate's website. This chick flick wasn't really my cup of tea.

Link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/10276282.html

M.O.P.S. Episode 2

2007-10-07T11:43:00.001-05:00

The second episode of ICON Studios' web comic, M.O.P.S. is available on the official website www.wefightdirty.net. This episode was written and lettered by me. Be sure to tell everybody to go check it out or I won't be your friends anymore. Direct link: http://www.iconstudios.org/mops/index.html?gotostrip=2

Movie Review: Eastern Promises

2007-09-22T23:02:00.000-05:00

My review from this weekend has been posted on The Advocate's website. It's a review of David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises that was released nationwide on Friday.

Here's the link: http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/9938901.html

My New Gig

2007-09-22T05:22:00.000-05:00

I've recently taken on a second job doing some freelance writing for the entertainment section of The Advocate website. I am writing movie reviews for them, the first of which was posted on their site yesterday. It is a review of a film called Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. I think I will be starting off doing around one movie review per week, but it's really on an as needed basis. The more movies that come out on one weekend, the more likely I am to write one. I've written one another review besides the one that has been posted already. I'll post the link to that review once it goes live. The link for the review of Death Sentence is http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/9906412.html

ICON Studios launches new web comic - M.O.P.S.

2007-09-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

ICON Studios is proud to present M.O.P.S., a new web comic launching today at http://www.wefightdirty.net. The Martial Organization Protecting Sanitation (M.O.P.S.) is a brigade of little monsters that live in your shoes, under your bed, and behind your fridge. They loathe all things dirty, filthy, and downright disgusting. These neat freaks are perpetually cleaning up the mess left behind by not only us humans, but also by those masterminds of filth, the Dust Bunneez. Their adventures will continue with a new episode every month at www.wefightdirty.net. So please bookmark us or subscribe to the M.O.P.S. RSS feed.

Busy Week

2007-09-05T18:41:00.000-05:00

There's quite a bit going on this week. First, the new issue of Tiger Weekly came out today and it features an article by Jason Andreasen on Art Lounge and ICON Studios. For those of you that don't know, Art Lounge is a weekly fusion of local art and music, upstairs at the Roux House every Tuesday night. Music by DJ OTTO (plus more live music on the patio @ 10pm). Not to mention $2 Corona, $3 margaritas, and $5 tequila shots.

Read the article here:
http://tigerweekly.com/article/09-05-2007/6344

Not only that, but Saturday (Sept 8th) me, Christin and several other ICON members will be in Lafayette for Grinder 2.0. Grinder: Creative Arts Expo is a gathering of creative individuals in an effort to inform, educate and inspire the creative spirit. We will be one of the featured exhibitors, and we'll be selling copies of Like That, t-shirts, & prints. We will also be premiering our newest venture, M.O.P.S., a monthly web comic strip launching in September. We will be giving away free M.O.P.S. promotional items as well as unveiling the M.O.P.S. website (http://www.wefightdirty.net) to the public for the first time. If you get sick of tailgating, you must come out and be one of the first humans ever to see our newest, most ambitious project to date.

Just a reminder: Art Lounge, Every Tuesday night, The Roux House

New Stand-Up Video

2007-08-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

I've finally been able to convert an old video of one of my better stand up sets from back in the day. This weekend I've added two new videos to my YouTube account that are of a 15 minute set I did in October 2004 as part of the Red Stick Comedy Block filmed by local TV station, WAFB. This set never aired because Swamp Mama's closed down (to become The Roux House) shortly after filming this episode. WAFB wanted the episodes to be filmed in a location that would be open when the episodes aired, so we later re-filmed the episodes at SoGo Live, which ironically enough is closed now also. The episode filmed at SoGo aired in November 2005. That was the infamous set where after I had finished my 15 minutes, the cameraman informed me that the camera malfunctioned and none of it was taped. So I had to get back on stage and tell the same exact jokes to an audience that had just heard them 5 minutes prior. Awkward. Anyway, my performance in the below set at Swamp Mama's was a bit unpolished as I constantly check my cheatsheet on the stool, but the material is great. The 15 minute set is broken up into two videos on YouTube because they have a 10 minute limit on uploaded videos. Enjoy!

Watch the second part.

The Bourne Ultimatum

2007-08-05T18:09:00.001-05:00

Jason Bourne is back for another round of heart pounding, edge of your seat, “no way that could happen” action orgasms. He continues to defy death time and time again for at least another hour and 51 minutes. The end cap of this exciting trilogy deserves every percentage point of the 94% it is getting on Rotten Tomatoes. Attention retards behind the making of Transformers, please report to your local theater to see how an action movie is supposed to be made and don’t forget to take notes. The Bourne Ultimatum is intelligent through and through and does not slow down along to the way to make sure the lowest common denominator is following along. This film is proof positive that great acting and action flicks can indeed get along. Everyone from Joan Allen to even Julia Stiles turned in great performances that showed that these actors were completely on board with director Paul Greengrass in making a quality, thought provoking action film. Although it is still a little awkward to accept Matt Damon’s transformation from Will “It’s not your fault” Hunting to a ninja-like Jack Bauer, you can’t say he isn’t good in this role. This chapter of the Bourne trilogy is more emotional than the others. Numerous uncomfortably tight close ups of the characters faces shows the turmoil and transformations as they question loyalties, accept hard truths and lose faith in ideals. Greengrass has a knack for making you feel like you’re there. The tension leaps from the screen and enters the theater creating a feeling reminiscent of his previous achievement, United 93. As the characters toil with corruption and question institutions so do we. How much liberty are we willing to give up in order to feel safe? How far should the government be allowed to go in the name of security? Are there factions of our government that are better left top secret? These are the questions real politicians, soldiers, and citizens are wrestling with today. I guess it’s comforting to know that Jason Bourne doesn’t have any better answers than we do.

I've been Simpsonized

2007-07-30T08:06:00.000-05:00

This is what SimpsonizeMe.com thinks I would look like as a character on The Simpsons. I don't see the resemblance. It makes me look like I'm in my 40's. Maybe that's just me.

Short and sweet review of The Simpsons Movie: Very funny. Even better than the past few seasons of the Simpsons. It lives up to the hype. It didn't feel like I was just watching a really long episode. The one liners are one after another. I hope we don't have to wait another 17 years for another movie.

San Francisco

2007-07-22T15:52:00.000-05:00

For our honeymoon, we decided on San Francisco mainly because of the MLB All Star Game but also because we both had never been there. My first impression of San Francisco was not great. On the ride from the airport, the cab driver had to drive us through a seedy part of downtown that I had never seen on Full House. Scum-soaked, hourly-rate hotels and pornography stores created a mishmash of uneasiness and regret as we cruised through the streets. The scenery greatly improved as we got closer to the hotel. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt which is located in Union Square by Market Street. The area was a high class shopping district that put my stomach at ease. There were Louis Vinton, Apple Stores, and Neiman Marcus as far as the eye could see. After dropping off our bag (I use the singular “bag” because American Airlines misplaced two of our bags for a while), we hit the streets and immersed ourselves in the flamboyant arrogance that can only be found in the heart of wealthy California. To our surprise (insert tongue in cheek) there were a myriad of homeless men and women draped across the sidewalks. One has to wonder why there are so many homeless in the wealthy, liberal Mecca that is San Francisco, but I digress. That’s another blog for another day. If you can tolerate being asked for change every seven and a half seconds, a stroll in downtown San Francisco can be quite nice. The weather is really great. It hardly gets above 80 degrees in the middle of the day in July, which is pretty remarkable. At night, it gets fairly cold; sometimes in the low 60’s depending on the wind. San Francisco is quite accessible by foot. There were only a few attractions we had to ride the bus for. Unlike New York, every pedestrian obeys traffic signals. Nobody cross the street when the don’t walk sign is lit and nobody crosses outside of the crosswalk. Maybe it’s the pacifist nature of a liberal city; maybe it’s the fact that you would most certainly be flattened by cars running red lights. Who knows?
The food in San Francisco was surprising not terrible. There is a much wider variety of restaurants than I expected. Just about every restaurant is a “fusion” of different ethnic cuisines showing off the city as a vast melting pot. We ate at a number of restaurants: most of them good, others merely adequate. They all share a commonality in the level of service. Every single restaurant in San Francisco has horrible service. It doesn’t matter if you go to a greasy spoon or an upscale bistro, the servers could care less if you enjoyed yourself or not. The servers are unfriendly, slow, and rarely come by to check up on you. Maybe they are trying to be more like Europe or maybe they didn’t like us, either way bad service can ruin a dining experience no matter how great the food is. The best place we ate was a French restaurant called Le Charm. This cozy bistro featured interesting entrees and the best French onion soup I’ve ever had. It wasn’t too pricey either. A close runner up was Citizen Cake. Their specialty is pastries, but these bakers wiped up a pretty tasty roasted eggplant sandwich for lunch. After lunch, we had their famous “personal-sized” cakes which are whole cakes about the size of a Ding-Dong that feed one person. Having the largest Chinatown in America, we figured the Chinese food must be great. We ate at two restaurants there: Young Café and The Four Seas. Young Café was a small, rambunctious joint that seemed to specialize in quick lunches. The Four Seas is Chinatown’s oldest restaurant which featured dim sum and family style portions. I was a little shocked that the food in Chinatown wasn’t that much different than the Chinese food in Baton Rouge. I guess we went to the touristy places. Oh well. Some of the other places we ate were the overly trendy Cortez and Colibri restaurants as well as the charmingly strange Irish bar/cafeteria Lefty O’Doul’s. San Francisco doesn’t have as many attractions as other cities that size. We walked on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was pretty much a huge bridge. We got exactly what we expected. Fisherman’s Wharf is also a popular spot for out-of-towners. It is a touristy, fisherman-themed money trap on the bay that is lined with overpriced restaurants and stores that sell stuff that makes the products in Spencer’s Gifts look luxurious. It reminded me a lot of Navy Pier in Chicago. We didn’t stay there long because if you aren’t in the mood to eat or waste money there really is nothing there for you. We also ventured off to City Lights Bookstore as was suggested to us by more than one person as a place we should check out. It seemed cool enough. They had a huge inventory for such a small, independent bookstore, but the three different Socialist magazines (sitting right next to the latest copies of The Nation and The Progressive) available told me everything I needed to know about that place. Needless to say, they did not have the latest copy of National Review I was looking for. Open minded, Schmopen minded. We also went to the MLB All Star game and took a tour of wine country, but I will blog about those experiences separately. San Francisco was everything I thought it would be, but I am a little disappointed that I was only asked one time to join the ACLU. However, there are always union protests to remind you that the heart of San Francisco bleeds, but not for the homeless of course.

Country + Nolan Ryan = WTF

2007-07-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

I'm probably one of the biggest Nolan Ryan fans out there (especially under the age of 40). I have over 300 Nolan Ryan baseball cards including his rookie card, I own a $300 retro Nolan Ryan Angels jersey and I've waited in line 6 hours at an Arlington baseball card convention to get his autograph, but this is too much:

Transformers

2007-07-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

Man, that was stupid. Michael Bay has done it again. He’s managed to make yet another two and a half hour car commercial and make us pay to see it. That was probably the worst Chevrolet commercial I have ever seen, including the ones that are shown in Louisiana with country singers. One hundred fifty million dollar budgets and extraordinary special effects cannot legitimize the juvenile core of Transformers. They will always be robots that turn into cars, and it will never be interesting to any thinking person over the age of ten. It’s obvious who this movie was aimed for with scenes where robots speak Ebonics, robots urinate on humans, and cheesy lines are dispensed by the dozens. This movie caters more to fans of Bad Boys 2 (another Michael Bay bore) than that of The Matrix. The movie proves that Michael Bay still has learned nothing about story telling. He breaks all the rules without even knowing there were rules to begin with. His dizzying camera angles continue a trend amongst action directors who fill the need to spend fifty grand on the special effects for one shot and then show you NONE of it. Did we really need to see a character from the perspective of a bike chain? The constant switching of camera angles during intense scenes creates a disorienting array of rapid movement that makes the action indiscernible. Why spend all that money on CGI, and not let the audience see these spectacular fights. The rare instances where they pulled the camera back and stuck with one angle for more than ten seconds created unbelievable visuals including the best shot of the movie where Optimus Prime and Megatron tumble from several freeway levels. Had they done that more throughout the movie, it might have held my interest for more than ten minutes of the two and a half hours (did I mention that this movie was two an a half hours!?). The writers did try to keep the smarter crowd interested by tying the Transformers into American history with them being responsible for the Hoover Dam and such. The notion of a secret organization (Sector 7) reverse engineering all our inventions from aliens would have been interesting had I never seen a movie called Men in Black. I’ve just read that they Bay has mentioned plans for a sequel. Thank goodness because I didn’t get to vomit at this one.

The Zephyr Experience

2007-06-23T16:15:00.000-05:00

It’s strange seeing how much I like baseball that I’ve never been to a New Orleans Zephyrs game before. Ten years later, free tickets fell into my lap, and I find myself in the middle of over-commercialized, nonchalant AAA baseball. The atmosphere at Zephyr Field is unlike any other sporting event I’ve attended. I’ve never been to a game where over 95 percent of the audience could care less about what was happening on the field. I don’t think it would be a stretch to suggest that majority of the “fans” couldn’t tell you how baseball is played. Of course when it’s “one dollar beer night” in Metairie, it’s hard to care about anything. I too found myself lost in the humid buzz that only Louisiana weather mixed with lukewarm Bud Light can create. Good thing there was a scoreboard or no one would have known when to leave. Our seats were great; only four rows from the Zephyrs’ dugout. I’ve never actually been that close to the field since I’ve watched a high school game. Sitting that close to the action opened new experiences to game for me such as hearing the coach scream at the umpire and actually being able to understand what he’s saying. It was a relief to know someone at the ballpark cared who won. I also discovered what a buzz-kill a foul ball flying at your face can be. It was great to see that Minor League baseball still has the charm and aura that Bull Durham revealed to us. There’s nothing in a AAA ballpark that isn’t for sale to the highest bidding sponsor. It would be sad to see baseball whored out this way if it weren’t so amusing. Who can’t smile at the “Hamburger Helper Skillet Challenge” and the like in between innings? I can’t blame them; if the audience isn’t interested in the game, you’ve got to come up with something. Nothing compliments dollar beer night better than “Jewish Heritage Night” complete with Jewish baseball trivia (of course Shawn Green was an answer) and kosher food in the Coors Light pavilion. It’s wasn’t the Wailing Wall, but I’m sure it was the next best thing. And that’s the unpredictable gimmicky nature of Minor League baseball that keeps Americans and me coming back for more.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

2007-06-16T11:52:00.001-05:00

Huge improvement. Rise of the Silver Surfer continues Marvel’s streak of making sequels that surpass the original. Unfortunately, it also continues another streak: putting silly dance numbers in Marvel superhero movies. That streak now stands at an obnoxious two in a row (see my review of Spiderman 3). When comparing this film to the first, there is hardly a comparison. The humor is funnier, the writing more coherent, and the subplots more relevant and integral. However, when comparing this movie to any other movie, I can see why many critics will pan it. The movie’s themes are cliché and progress in a formulaic fashion that leaves their conclusions predictable and boring. Rise of the Silver Surfer is slow to start which is detrimental to a movie that is only an hour and a half to begin with. I’m pretty sure the average Fantastic Four audience is not interested in how difficult it is for Reed and Susan to plan a wedding. The exposition kick-starts the age old theme can also be found in every other comic book movie ever made: “Can we ever live a normal life?” And the character development does not get any more ground breaking than that. Fantastic Four shows its audience nothing new or innovative in the way of plot or special effects. The movie’s bright spot is its humor. Director Tim Story’s experience with comedy films (Barbershop, Taxi) shines through in his approach to Fantastic Four. At least Fantastic Four never takes itself seriously, and it doesn’t expect you to either. At every point in the plot where the action or drama seems too tense, a wise crack shows up just in time to bring the mood back to where it should be. However, sometimes the humor can seem to be forced and out of place. Fantastic Four never pretends to be anything other than a mindless special effects display so keep that in mind when buying your tickets. By the way, I have to say that casting Laurence Fishburne as the voice of the Silver Surfer was a brilliant move.

Now where will we see cool movies?

2007-05-21T18:36:00.000-05:00

The Advocate is reporting that Siegen Village is closing. I remember in high school when that theater was the best one in town. However, once Tinseltown was built, it lost its popularity. But in recent years, it was had redefined itself the closest venue Baton Rouge had to an "art house" theater. Now, there's no where here to go see indy movies that are only playing in "select" theaters. I'll be the first to admit that Seigen Village was in no way a "select" theater or even a great place to see a movie. The sound was like a phonograph that was turned up way too loud, and the whole building had a distinct "we never really clean the bathrooms all the way" musk about it. But at least their was an alternative to seeing something other than "Mindless Sequel 7." Oh well, now we'll either have to wait until DVD or drive down to Canal Place to see cool movies. I think the last movie I saw there was the local film, At Last, but I could be wrong.

Wedding Website

2007-05-11T13:12:00.000-05:00

I've finally launched the website for our wedding. People who are unfamiliar with where Christ the King or the Faculty club is can go to the site for maps and other information. There's also some neato pictures up there. Click the banner or the link below to see it.

http://www.christinandpatrick.com

Spider-Man 3

2007-05-04T02:50:00.000-05:00

Third time is hardly a charm. I guess what goes up much eventually come down. The Spider-Man franchise was experiencing a rarity that few previous movie franchises had faced before: the sequel was better than the original. This most notably was the case with the Terminator movies, and most recently with another comic book movie, X-Men. But just like those two other franchises, Spider-Man couldn't "pull a Seinfeld" and quit while he was ahead. Spider-Man joins the ranks of those trilogies by adding a third movie to the series that does not deliver.

Spider-Man had been following the "one movie, one villain" template in the previous two episodes. Those two movies were great. So I guess Sam Raimi fell into the same trap that bachelors fall into when they first learn to cook on their own. Most men in the early throws of bachelorhood will read the directions on the back of the Hamburger Helper box that say "cook for 20 minutes on medium heat." In lies the trap: they then think that if they cook it for 10 minutes on high heat, it will cook faster while maintaining some "cooking time ratio" they think exists (this is also the first time a bachelor learns how to disable a smoke alarm). Raimi falls for the movie equivalent of this trap by suggesting that if one villain in a movie is good, then surely three villains in a movie is triple good, right!? Wrong, sir! See exhibit A: every Batman movie after the first one. In fact Spider-Man 3 most parallels the third Batman movie, Batman Forever. Like Batman Forever, Spider-Man 3 is hokey edging on ridiculousness. Some scenes were outright cheesy with villains making agreements to kill Spider-Man like they were trading baseball cards and there is even a dance number! At least the dance number in Batman was relegated to Prince's music video and not made a major plot point like in Spider-Man 3. In the comics, the black costume made Peter Parker selfish, vengeful, cold-hearted, and overly aggressive. In the movie, the black (or really gray) suit turns Parker into the same type of person but not to the degree it should have. One thing the suit does in the movie that it didn't do in the comics was transform Peter Parker into some kind of silly, emo, dancing machine (complete with emo hair-do). I don't why they went in that direction. Something tells me Hollywood is trying too hard to appeal to tween-aged girls.

All in all, the script was not well thought out. It contains too many sub-plots and characters going off in so many directions that not even the best writer could wrangle them all in. On top of that, the villains are Sandman, who was never that interesting in the comics, and Venom, whose concept of being the evil version of the hero never results in quality writing, and New Goblin who isn't that strong due to the campy acting of James Franco. The movie is formulaic. Just like the first two, it begins with the main villain being created through a scientific accident. And again just like the first two, it ends with a kidnapped Mary Jane hanging on to something while Spider-man battles the villains. Just a thought but why doesn't some investigative reporter in New York put it together that Mary Jane is the one always getting kidnapped. Hey journalists! You think she might mean something to Spider-Man!? 'Nuff Said!

Thanks for a Successful Art Show

2007-04-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

This past Friday night was a great night for ICON Studios. Our art show, Instrvmentvm, at Rasputin was a success. Thanks to everyone who showed up and drank vodka with us. It was the most people I have seen at an art show in a long time. We hope to have many more of these and because of the great showing, I'm sure Rasputin will let us. Heath, Dave, and Keith had some great artwork on display, but I haven't heard any feedback from anyone about what they thought (so leave some comments and let me know).

Now, it's time for us to get back to work bringing art, culture, and liveliness to Baton Rouge. But first, here are some pictures from the event (with special thanks to Christin for taking them):

First Reorder

2007-04-18T21:15:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I received my first reorder for Like That. So I want to thank Jim Hanely's Universe in Manhattan for selling a lot of my books. If you are in New York, go down to West 33rd Street and buy a copy of Like That so they can put in an unprecedented third order! Speaking of New York, there is also another comic shop in Manhattan that started carrying the book: Forbidden Planet on Broadway.

My Life Through Music - Part 1

2007-04-08T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is the first installment in what will hopefully become a series of articles. These articles will outline year-by-year the music that influenced me throughout my life. I will pick one album for each year with one basic rule: the album must have been released that year or within one year from which I first heard it. This will not only give you some insight on my state of mind during that year but also the state of where music was in general at that time. So I can't say that Journey changed my life in 1998 because not only is that not true, but Journey is also not really representative of the Clinton-sex-scandal-laden and monster-steroid-home run era of 1998. This first part will take you from high school to the first semester of college (1995-1999).

1995: 311 - 311
I know what you are going to say. Only inbred, intellectually deficient frat boys listen to 311. I can't say that in the first half of ninth grade I was hovering much above that level of mental stature. 311 may be a lot of things: annoying and untalented just to name a few. But one thing they aren’t is country. In the young and musically ignorant state I was in, they were exactly what I needed to wane me off of country music and put me on a different path. The guitars were heavier, but the songs were still upbeat with reggae flair. Believe it or not, it was a good medium between country and metal.

1996: Hackers - Original Soundtrack
Computers enter the forefront of not only our lives but in popular music as well. This compilation was my first real exposure to techno music. I latched on to techno music quickly because it was simplistic. It was like listening to rap music without the outlandish lyrics. Most techno songs are spare with meaning and substance so it was easy to listen to while I was studying. I also think the computer geek quasi-hacker in me also tremendously appreciated any art created with computers. This album led me to more bands that I still listen to today like Prodigy, Orbital, and Paul Oakenfold.

1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
I think everyone has that one album that changed their life. For me, OK Computer is close to being it. It was with this album that I began to see the complexity behind music. Radiohead taught me that music didn’t have to be loud and fast. OK Computer was the first album where I recognized the true concept of an album where songs have a particular order and all share commonality while still standing up on their own as individual works. To this day Radiohead remains one of my favorite bands, and each of their subsequent releases since OK Computer has been as stellar.

1998: Korn - Follow the Leader
By the beginning of my junior year, my friends and I were almost exclusively listening to metal and industrial music. Korn’s Follow the Leader happened to not only be their best album, but one of the best metal albums of the late 90’s. And the fact that comic book legend, Todd McFarlane illustrated the album’s cover and directed the “Freak on a Leash” video were icing on the cake. Korn also holds a significant place in my music history. The first concert I ever went to was to see Korn at the Lafayette stop of the first Family Values tour that featured newcomers Orgy and Limp Bizkit as well as underground favorites Ice Cube (“F*ck Dyin’!”) and Rammstein. This opened me up to all sorts of interesting experiences including mosh pits and lead singers that set themselves on fire. You can’t get an education like that in school.

1999: Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
I anxiously anticipated the release of this album more than any other. Other than the single “The Perfect Drug” on the Lost Highway soundtrack, Nine Inch Nails had not released any original music since the Downward Spiral in 1994. It would be safe to say I was elated upon hearing that they were releasing a double album in late 1999. It was a lot of hype to measure up to, but it delivered. The Fragile is my favorite album of all time. It is filled with such a wide range of emotion from serenity to anger. It also arrived at just the right time in my life when I was undergoing vast transitions. I still listen to this album over and over today. My favorite songs on the album now are not the same favorites I had back then, but those old feelings I had listening to this album over and over as I walked from class to class still resonate. The amazing thing is that even now, at a different time and place, this album seems to grow with me.

Lovedrug - Shortest Concert Ever

2007-04-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

I just got back from the shortest concert ever. We had tickets to see Lovedrug open for Plain White T's at the House of Blues in New Orleans. The show started at six which is pretty darn early. I guess that's what we get for going to an all ages show. We didn't leave Baton Rouge until 5:30 which put us at the venue at 6:45 which is exactly when Lovedrug's set was supposed to start (they were second of four). We enter when they are in the middle of the first song. Almost perfect timing. They sound great live. I don't know much about music, but I think when a band sounds great live it is a good indication that their album is not over-produced. I really like how live music sounds. I guess it's just loud, but it seems like it's more than that. That's why I can't wait to get out of an apartment and turn up my sound system as loud as I want. Anyway, Lovedrug played four more songs; only one from their first album. They announced that they were going to play one more song and then abruptly said "nevermind" and walked off the stage. I can only guess that someone off stage told them there wasn't time. I've never been in a band, but that's got to be the moment when a band learns where they are on the totem pole. Five songs is enough! Get back on the bus!
We left after Lovedrug was done. The band playing next was one that I had never heard of and I wasn't interested in seeing Plain White T's. So we ended up driving all the way to New Orleans for 5 songs in 30 minutes. For those of you keeping score at home at $25 per ticket that's $5 per song. But it was worth it.

TMNT

2007-03-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Style over substance. The latest installment of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saga is a beautifully computer animated movie that fails to have a cohesive plot. It seems as though the animators spent all their time making the animation smooth and believable that they ran out of time and had to slap a plot together. A lot of people will tolerate the disjointed story and simply enjoy the eye candy that is fast paced mutant martial arts. But as an aspiring writer, I can't help but be focused on the writing (even if it is just a kid's movie). The movie is fairly short, which is part of the problem. The first act seems to go on forever, and even using voice over narration didn't seem to speed it up. We had to get history on the villain as well as catch up on what each turtle was up to since the defeat of their arch nemesis, Shredder, years ago. By the time they are done setting up the movie, there isn't much movie left. The rest of the story conveniently falls into place. The problems in the movie don't stay problems for very long as a nice packaged solution for each one presents itself just in the nick of time. This, for me, sucked all of the potential suspense right out of the story. It wasn't all bad though. The story had a really strong theme of family and leadership that was somewhat lacking in the previous adaptations of this franchise. What it lacked in plot was made up for in emotion. Tense moments between the turtle brothers translated well on screen due mostly to great technique by talented CG animators. Another weak point of the movie was the voice acting Mako as Splinter (who you may remember as the villain on Samurai Jack). His slurring voice was not a good fit for the wise, composed tutor.

I hope it doesn't sound like I hated this movie, because I didn't. The look of the movie was perfect and the fight scenes were exhilarating. The ending hinted at a sequel, and I hope they follow through and get it made. This franchise reboot has a lot of potential.

STAPLE! - Report

2007-03-17T00:58:00.000-05:00

The Staple! Independent Media Expo was March 3rd in Austin, Texas. It is a small convention for independent comic creators, and we were one of the exhibitors this year pushing copies of Like That upon comic-loving Austinites. This was one of the more interesting events we've done in terms of wide variety of consumers. It is also the first time Christin and I have gone outside the state of Louisiana to sell the book. Austin is seven hours from Baton Rouge so we had a pretty good little road trip. We left Baton Rouge on Thursday night after work and arrived in Austin around 1:30 AM Friday morning. Staple was only a one day show on Saturday so we had all day Friday to check out why the Austin 6 think this city is so much better than Baton Rouge. It didn't take us long to see a major difference. Austin is way ahead of Baton Rouge in many areas including a much livelier downtown, but that's a rant for a different day.

The expo started at ten in the morning, which was probably too early for the type of crowd that would be interested in independent comics. However, this gave the exhibitors a chance to see what other fellow exhibitors had to offer. I received an overwhelming positive response from the other comic creators who found not only our process intriguing but also were impressed by the overall production quality of our graphic novel. I ended up selling a good number of books to other exhibitors.
The crowd really got going in the afternoon, and it was an interesting one indeed. Austin is a huge college town, and we got exactly the type of crowd I was expecting. If you are familiar with Baton Rouge and LSU, you would refer to them as the "State Street" crowd: artsy, hippy, vegetarian types. There's nothing wrong with that crowd. They are certainly fun to talk to. It's just that most of them didn't bring a lot of money. So although we did well with sales, we didn't do as well as I thought we would. There was another type of expo-browser that was rather inspiring: the aspiring comic creator. They, like the other exhibitors, were the most fascinated by the process used to to create Like That. I like to think that it gives them hope that even if they can't draw, there's no reason why they can't make comics.
The overall experience was great. The road trip was fun. Austin was a great place to hang out. We got to go to one of the biggest and best comic book stores I've ever been to. And Staple! was a good show for us. We got to meet a lot of cool people. It reinvigorated my creativity and made me want to find even more shows to do. I think the next show we'll do is SPX in Maryland in October, but I'm going to try to find more shows to do in between.

Grinder Media Expo - Report

2007-03-14T19:34:00.000-05:00

The first annual Grinder Media Expo was held on February 28th at Club 307 in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. Grinder is the brainchild of local comic book artist, Kody Chamberlain. The show was set up in the same spirit as other independent media shows such as the AntiGravity Media Expo we did last October. I'm always looking for little shows like this around Louisiana, so I jumped at the chance to get a table and be a part of it. The show itself was a lot fun. Club 307 has undergone a lot of renovations since I did stand-up there three years ago. It looks a lot better, but it is still cramped for space. The exhibitors all got to know each other a little better since we were in such tight quarters. The show started at 8:00 PM but the crowd didn't really get going until around 10. It was a young, college crowd, and they all seemed to be interested in what the exhibitors had to show. Overall, we didn't sell that much, but I'd still like doing these small shows because of all the people we get to meet (including the exhibitors). The funniest part of the whole night is that our table was next to Brad from Icon Visuals. So the whole night we had to explain to people that although we are both "Icon" from Baton Rouge, we are not the same group.

Site Overhaul - Finally!

2007-03-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I've finally updated my website. I've given the site a much need atheistic update. I've tried to get rid of the over use of patterns and tried to open up the site from the "boxy-ness" it had before. Other than that, perhaps the biggest update is what you are reading right now, the blog. My blog is now being fed directly from my new Google blog. That means my web site will no longer be a pain in the butt to update. All I have to do now is update my Google blog, and my personal website will automatically update. Isn't technology grand!? Since it will be so easy to update now, I will do it more often. You can also now leave comments on my posts. So, please do because I like hearing from everyone. In addition to commenting on my blog posts, I've also moved all of my video content to YouTube so you can comment on those too. So, what to you think?