omgh4x denuded

egads, nothings been posted in a long time and given the craziness of the past few weeks I doubt I'll be posting anything interesting (if it ever was that) or rant like for awhile.

In the mean time, there has been some amazing news! Square Enix (makers of Final Fantasy games for those of you not geek enough to know) have just launched an online store!.

It looks like I might have some fancy new additions for my wishlist coming up soon!

Baltic cruise details coming soon...

AAAHHH! WE WENT TO SUPERCON!!!!

Hrmm... doesn't quite have the same effect as announcing we got engaged, but in case you live underneath a rock and you don't know whats been going on you can see Siu's post below with all the details of what we've been up to and why we've been MIA. Wedding planning is quite zeh busy.

Anyways, we're NEVER too busy to go to a comic book convention! We went to SuperCon last year but it was in Oakland and so we were pretty sure we weren't going to be going again unless there was an artist there that I REALLY wanted to see, but not only was SuperCon's guest list super ultra mega exciting, they moved it to San Jose! Some of the guests included: Buzz, Frank Cho, Mike Choi, Terry Dodson, Ale Garza, Michael Golden, Aaron Lopresti, Philip Tan, and INDUSTRY ICON JIM LEE!!! (tee hee, I still think its funny how they refer to him as an industry icon) but I mean anyone in our generation who follows comics knows Jim Lee. If you grew up reading comic books in our day and age, he was THE man, most famous for his X-men run and the founding of image comics with Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefield, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio.

Jaci was only able to come with me on Saturday, but thats really where we got our bounty! The layout of SuperCon was kind of lame as it was just in this real big hangar-type place (South Hall in San Jose Convention Center) but I image it was nice and cheap for them. Saturday really consisted of a lot of line waiting, saying hey to a couple of artists who we see pretty regularly and meeting some new ones. Sunday was primarily me going back (this was right before my last week of class so I was pretty busy) so I just went back for an hour or so to pick up a couple of things. Without further ado, here are the pictars!

The beginning was pretty hectic cus as soon as we got in there was a line forming for Jim Lee, but he wasn't even there yet! So Siu oh so willingly offered to stand in line for Jim while I looked around and tried to see what else I could get. While she was waiting I found out Terry Dodson had just arrived and he was taking commissions. I was last on the list and unfortunately wasn't able to get anything from him, but it was still great meeting him and talking to him and his wife (his wife inks over his pencils! pretty cool huh?)

Either way, while we were standing line Siu noticed that Frank Cho was giving out sketches. (He wasn't supposed to be, but who are we to say otherwise!) So I jumped into his line and got a sketchbook and asked for a sketch. He looked at me and told me that he wasn't doing female sketches (even though thats what he's best known for) and I thought he was joking... until he started drawing the below sketch!

Probably one of his "famous-er" non female characters -- Ralph, a midget circus bear from his comic Liberty Meadows.

I was actually pretty surprised to find Philip Tan there! Apparently he wasn't listed until a week before the event (by that time I stopped checking) and this was his first bay area appearance! I commissioned a pretty cool SuperGirl piece from hime awhile back, and he turned it into a print! You can check out the commission in my gallery. Philip was such a nice guy and I got a quick sketch from him in my sketchbook.

He's probably most well known for his Spawn. He still does a lot of covers and stuff for them and recently just did work on Godslayer.

I have like a gazzillion Ale Garza pieces, but he keeps making me want more! You can check out the Supergirl piece and Rogue piece we got from him awhile back, but I still had never got anything in my sketchbook from him. So I decided to snag one from him this time!

I've been getting supergirl commissions from him since before he started working on the comic for DC, but he clearly is an EXCELLENT fit for this comic book.

Most of you already know that I help out Aaron Lopresti with his website from time to time, so whenever he comes in the area I try to see him and say whats up.

He did a White Queen drawing before that Siu really liked and he was kind of enough to do one in my sketchbook!

Well, after much waiting in line, we got to meet the man, the legend, superstar ultra mega mecha comic book artist Jim Lee.

Documented proof we got to meet Jim.

After waiting in line, I overheard Eddy (the guy manages pretty much everything in WildStorm) saying that Jim wasn't taking sketches. We figured it couldn't hurt to ask though! So after we saw Jim, Siu asked him about a sketch (I got her to ask because #1 She's a chick (although that probably wouldn't make any difference) and #2 The sketch we were looking for was Rogue, which is Siu's favorite character and one that Jim really redesigned. When we got there Jim said he wasn't doing any sketches yet, but he gave us a number in our sketchbook and that we should come back around 4:45 to see what he was doing.

When we came back, they started a sketching line and we were #7 and were able to snag this beaut!

Everyone probably knows already, but just for the record:

AAAHHH! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!

It's likely that nobody reads this blog anymore since I haven't written in it for like two months, but since I have a little downtime tonight, I thought I'd pop my head in and say "haaayyy"...

Since Demian and I got engaged last month, wedding planning has had its ups and downs. The first down came when I realized that we wouldn't be able to get married at the Pulgas Water Temple in Woodside like I've been dreaming about for YEARS now--pretty much because there is a strict, non-negotiable, completely irrational two-hour time window in which you're allowed to set up, get married, and clean-up at the site--for what's turning out to be a huge production, that's just unfeasible. I was pretty crushed for about a week or so, until we went venue hunting and found a place that I think will be a more-than-adequate substitute: the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. Nothing's finalized yet, as we're still working out the date, but I fell in love with the venue the minute we set foot inside--I just knew that this was the place I wanted to get hitched! Once we settle on a date, hopefully we'll be able to snatch up the place before anyone else does.

Pluses in the planning process have definitely been meeting with my potential vendors, including the wedding coordinator (which I've realized is a must for the day-of) and the photographer (who works with her fiance and is just the sweetest person ever). I've also touched base with a possible florist who can do wonders with Chinese banquet halls and with a letterpress invitations designer who is a real steal for the amazing work she does. Oh, and another highlight of wedding planning was visiting the Testarossa Vineyards in Los Gatos--we had thought of the place as a potential venue, but given the increasing enormity of the guest list, it won't be able to accommodate us. I just loved the event planner there, though, and the wine was really deeee-licious! We might even end up buying our alcohol for the reception from there--or at least a couple of cases to take home...heh...

One thing I'm REALLY looking forward to is dress-shopping, although that won't start happening until the end of the month, just before we leave on the cruise...I'm so excited to find the one dress that makes me look classy and timeless, yet smokin', at the same time teehee.

Man, so much has happened since the last time I wrote--Ashland, Vegas, etc.--there's no way I'm going to be able to write about it all. Maybe I'll eventually post the pictures from our trips (which turned out pretty cute), but don't hold your collective breath!

As wedding planning progresses, we're hoping to set up a cute website, so I'll do all my wedding blogging from there, but until then, HA HA! YOU HAVE TO PUT UP WITH IT! Or...just not read it...

*snif*

Anyway, "What Not to Wear" is calling my name, but hopefully the next time I write will be soon...ish...or maybe I'll force Demian to post, since we're going to SuperCon tomorrow! Toodleoo!

Oh man, there are just too many cute things to buy these days, and too great a need in my life for retail therapy right now.

After I left work on Saturday (yeah, I know...WAH!), I went to Stanford Shopping Center to unwind and see if I could use my $35 worth of gift card at BR--I ended up not using it, but buying some sexy Siu-style stunnah shades at Macy's. I say "Siu-style" because these aren't really the huge glasses that are in these days--those types suprisingly look okay on me, but I'm just not hip enough to pull them off. In any case, the ones I got are just trendy enough to make me not look like an old lady, like my other super-conservative Ralph Lauren sunglasses do. I rationalized the purchase by telling myself that I need these babies for Vegas, baby, Vegas!!! Which is in only two more weeks!!! WOOOHOOOO!

Over the weekend, I also went American Idol crazy and bought myself the Carrie Underwood CD and the new CD from Elliot Yamin, who, after Chris Daughtry got booted off, should totally have won over Taylor Hicks and Katharine (barf) McPhee.

In the end, though, I think my favorite purchases of the weekend were my two little egg pet plants--one chickie "Nyokki" and one lavender "Eggling." Look at how cute these guys are!!!

I can't wait for them to arrive in the mail! The Nyokki come in all different kinda of animals, like piggies and monkies and froggies, and the Egglings also come in a bunch of varieties (different herbs, veggies and fruits, and flowers). See? So cute!!! I think these'll do a great job of brightening up the office, and they'll keep me company during the sucky times that I have to work on the weekends. I had also considered buying a Taterpot (basically the same thing, but in a potato-shaped cup with a cute face) but then decided I should probably make sure I don't kill these two first.

BUT! Don't think that all I did this weekend was work and take my frustration out on my credit card! I also

* Finally watched "Borat," which was about as funny as I thought it would be...not VERY, although it had its moments, and

* Played basketball with Demian...although I use the phrase "played basketball" very loosely, since I totally suck now. Still, it was lots of fun just to work on my form and run around flailing my arms to grab errant balls (if you think I'm exaggerating, ask Demian!!!)...there was lots of exercise and laughing involved, which are pretty much the best things you can do for your body. Except now I'm hungrier than I've been in years (I just can't get full!!!) and I can already feel my muscles tightening...damn, I'm weak. Hopefully we can make this more of a regular thing so that I can get back into shape.

Anyway, Top Model reruns call...have a good week, y'all!

Hey...that rhymes!