Holy COW!

I reached a new personal best in terms of visitor traffic yesterday - over 2,500 page views! Thanks for visiting and reading, even when work makes the original content pretty thin.

The Challenges Of Real Media

One of the reasons I've been so blog-quiet is that I'm working on some artwork for a charity auction. All of us story folk at work are donating/creating artwork so we can decorate our new story pod, Joe's Place. The trick is that, since it's being auctioned off, it really needs to be original, non-digital art. Eek!

I can't even tell you how long it's been since I've bought art supplies - I've been drawing digitally for years now, even on my own projects (like the Happy Beaver comics - I know, I know). I stopped by Blick's Art Supplies, and dropped enough cash that it made me wonder if it might not be better to simply give the story team the money! Still, the more I thought about it, the more excited I got.

My original plan was to rough out the drawings digitally (since that's the most malleable step), back-light some watercolor paper, and do the Sharpie 'inking' that way. I wouldn't have to worry about bleeding, since Sharpies are waterproof. If I still had any courage left (it usually evaporates after the line art is done), I'd color the art with Dr. Martin's dyes, just like the old school guys did!

As you can see, the line art is finished for three pieces - the poster design, plus two others. All of the planning has worked out so far - I bought a light box for the back-lighting, and it worked great - so well that I didn't need to use the sheets of treated acetate I bought as a backup. The biggest question mark was using the dyes, since I didn't have any experience with them.

I was going to try to hedge my bets at first and paint the treated cels - I could frame it with the art as an overlay, and if I messed up the color, I could grab another cel and try again. But even though the cels were supposed to be able to take watercolors, washes were just plain invisible on it. I took it to mean that God wanted me to grow a pair and paint on the original, so I did.

I started with the poster design, since I needed to get it finished first. The results were mixed - the parts that I knew what I wanted were labor-intensive (it took me four hours to paint one drawing) but successful. The part that I was the least clear on my approach going in - the auction crowd - was much less so, and I wound up really overworking it:

It turns out that these dyes aren't great for layering - they bleed in really unpredictable ways, and it's best to use them as solid colors. It's ironic, because that's the way I color ninety percent of the time - this particular piece seemed to ask for a little more nuance. I learned a lot about the medium, though, and I still have enough time to redo the line work and try again. If I run out of time, well, at least I've got something for Monday!

Goodbye, Justin

Justin Wright, a story artist who was working with me, passed away last night. It was a crushing blow to all of us on the crew - he was a sweet guy, and a lot of fun. He loved, loved, loved video games, and couldn't wait for the Iron Man movie!

It's upsetting to see someone so young, so happy to be where he was, get taken away from it all so abruptly. I need to remember, though, that he'd wanted to work at Pixar more than anything, and he got to do it, for over a year.

My deepest condolences to his family and friends. Rest in peace, Justin.

PS - If you're interested, you can see some of his artwork on his blog.

A Quick Trip To Wizard World

Since I missed WonderCon, I was still hankering (even after the toy show onslaught) for a good, old-fashioned convention. So I flew down to Los Angeles to hit Wizard World, which makes its way through a variety of cities over the year. It's not as good as WonderCon at its best (which I heard was quite good this year, if you dodged the nasty bug that went around), but it'll do in a pinch. I didn't have a table set up to sell toys - I was just going to feed the nerd-monkey on my back.

I emailed some of my southern California friends to see if anyone wanted to join me. I figured that most of them aren't all that into conventions (so odds were low that any of them had been to one recently), but maybe the combination of Old Home Week and nerd swag would be a good lure. I got a few "yes"-es: Juliana Korsborn, her boyfriend Noah Miller (from my CalArts and Simpsons days, respectively), and my pal Brian Stokes. That was great - I'd have some company for my hunt-and-gathering. I got up horribly early, took a free flight down to Burbank (thanks to some frequent flier miles), and cabbed it over to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Wizard World has a different guest process than WonderCon or San Diego Comic-Con. It's not hard to register as a professional, but you have to pay ten dollars to get a badge, and your guests cost twenty-five bucks each. I'm spoiled by the other conventions (I don't remember paying anything for badges at WC or SDCC), so it was a little disappointing. Still, the badges are good for all three days.

I'm snootier about convention-going these days (though I'm not sure why - it's a comic book convention, for goodness' sake), so I was also disappointed that I was sent to wait in the regular guest line. Unless you pay for VIP passes, that's where you wind up! Fortunately, the aforementioned nerd monkey insisted that I get there at nine-thirty, so the line wasn't very bad yet. All the guests were nice, and the local Star Wars fan clubs had some really good costumers wandering about to keep everyone happy and patient. There were even a few radio-controlled Artoo-Detoos scooting about that were very nicely made!

The convention opened pretty close to ten o'clock, and it only took a short time to get into the dealers' room. It seemed smaller than I remembered. I worked my way through most of the tables - and the miniature version of Artists' Alley - before my friends arrived. We puttered about for a little while, then went out to lunch.

Initially, we were going to go to a local Italian restaurant, but we discovered that it was closed, so we went to a place called The Liberty Grill instead. The food was somewhat pricey (I think my pulled pork sandwich was over ten dollars), but good. Now that our potential blood sugar issues had been dealt with, we returned to shop in earnest.

I bought a fair amount of swag, but not as much as in the past. Here's a tip if you're concerned about over-spending: carry your loot bag around with you all day. Once the handle starts to cut into your fingers a little, you'll get less enthusiastic, I guarantee it!

So what did I get? The new Jack Kirby book, an Iron Man movie figure that debuted a little early, two DVDs (one for me, one for a friend), two T-shirts that look like the Star Trek uniforms (Spock's tunic for a friend, and I got the "expendable ensign" design) courtesy of roddenberry.com, and a Venture Brothers T-shirt. Good stuff!

I also got a chance to chat with Dave Kellett, the creator of Sheldon and one of the co-authors of How To Make Webcomics. He was quite nice, and very supportive of my desire to learn more about web-comicking. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the book now - some of it is common sense, but there's plenty of great things to keep in mind as you begin to build an online comic strip. I'm the most interested in the technical and business sections - the areas where I have the least amount of experience!

None of us were really interested in the events or panels, so we stuck to the dealers' room for most of the afternoon. There were some costumed folk competing for prizes, and this pair dressed as Mario and Luigi won top honors.

There were also some people playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero with/against each other, which was fun but puzzling. I know what it's like to have your hobby called a waste of time (that's too harsh, anyway), but I can't help but feel that video games don't give you much in the end (maybe gamers look at it like watching television, but with more interactivity). At least with cartooning, I have a drawing when I'm done, but gaming doesn't give you much but sore thumbs and an empty wallet. But hey, I'm a toy collector, and that doesn't give you much, either. Maybe I'm just bitter because I've always been awful at playing games! But I digress.

The four of us burned out on shopping, so we caught each other up on our lives (I don't think we'd seen each other since last summer), and all of a sudden it was time to get back to the airport. Juliana and Noah generously drove me back to Burbank, and... like that. It was fun!

The End Is Near...

... because I got a bargain at a toy show. Seriously. This never happens.

Here's how things usually go:

A) I buy something at a premium (before it hits stores) because I'm so excited that it's been released. Later on, I find it remaindered for half as much because it turns out that I was the only one who wanted it.

B) I buy a lot of movie merchandise at a premium because I'm so excited that its film is finally coming out. It premieres six weeks later, and I don't like it at all. The toys immediately becomes a monument to my impatient stupidity, and I give them all to Goodwill because none of my collector friends want them either.

C) I buy a vintage toy at a decent price, but wind up buying it again when I find one in better condition - I rationalize it by promising myself that I'll sell the other one. Of course, the object of a once-hotly-contested auction now sits on eBay like it's infected with the plague.

D) I see something that vaguely interests me, but don't buy it. Six months later, I change my mind completely, and wind up paying ten times retail for it.

But not this time. This time I waited, and it paid off.

I'd always liked the Kotobukiya Star Wars vinyl kits - the sculpts and paint jobs are really nice, and - compared to the quarter-scale Sideshow figures - more affordable and easier to display. But I picked the Sideshow line to pursue, so I decided not to go down two expensive paths at once.

Until I found out that Kotobukiya was going to produce a kit of Ralph McQuarrie's concept painting of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker dueling with lightsabers. It's one of my favorite concept paintings, so I was kind of screwed. It was going to cost two hundred dollars, but I had to have it!

It came out last summer for Comic-Con, but I'd bought a lot of other stuff already, and it was big and expensive to ship, so I held off. I kept checking on it, but it was always the same. Two hundred dollars. Two hundred dollars. Two hundred dollars. Plus shipping. So I kept waiting, firmly believing that I was setting myself up for another category D.

Like many times when great things happen, I wasn't even thinking about it any more. I missed WonderCon, so I was really ready for a toy show, and The San Jose show was right there to fill the bill. I got there as close to the opening of the show as I could, paid my early bird admission price, and started to wander. And there it was, at a booth.

For one hundred and twenty dollars.

I couldn't believe it. I walked on, past the staggering bargain, hanging on to my rule of "make one complete sweep before you buy". I'm not sure, but I do think I finished going over all the the tables before I went back.

The cheapskate Vermonter is chanting too good to be true, too good to be true, too good... in an attempt to be practical, I asked the dealer, "Is it in good shape?"

"It's unopened," he said.

"But that's... a really good price." I said, probing for a loophole. What the hell is the catch here? Will I be drafted into the Army if I buy it?

"I know," he said.

"Okay," I said, no resistance left. "I'll take it."

I lugged it about for a while, which did start some conversations (It's a big box). I bought a McFarlane Yogi Bear figure for ten bucks, a couple of Justice League Unlimited figures for another tenner, and four Dudley Spare toys from Cars that amounted to another sixteen dollars. Neat stuff, but most of it was utterly eclipsed by The Bargain.

I know eventually I'll open and display the Star Wars kit (otherwise, what's the point?), but for the first time, I'm wondering if it can really make any happier anyway. What if it's broken, or warped from sitting in the sun or something? Maybe it's better to leave The Bargain as just that.

Naaah.

*************************************************************************************

PS - I almost bought a category B, but it's for sale online - you can pre-order it for a couple of bucks less than it cost at the show, or wait even longer and get one at Toys 'R' Us for a few bucks less than that.

Under The Knife

Anita had her knee surgery today in Oakland. We knew that operating was a must some time ago, but decided to wait (until last year's puppet season was over) before proceeding.

Happily, everything went very well - actually, better than that! The meniscus fractures healed on their own (rare, but it happens), so our surgeon could focus on replacing her torn ACL. The new-to-her ACL is from a cadaver, so we'll have to wait and see if she inherits exceptional soccer skills, or simply becomes a zombie.

The procedure took about three hours, and being asthmatic, Anita took longer to recover from the anesthesia. Our original start time was at 7:30 AM, which meant getting up at 5:45 so we could get over to the hospital by 6:30. Things didn't really get going until nine, and we left for home around 2:30 or 3:00 PM, so it's been a long day.

Anita's now tucked comfortably in bed, surrounded by an arsenal of spiffy gadgets and happy pills. She's got a fancy leg brace and a high-tech wrap that circulates ice water around her knee continually. Pretty neat! We have to rent the wrap gadget for a week or so, and she'll have nurses coming in to give her shots of painkillers and monitor her progress while I'm at work.

The overall recovery period is about three months (with the most restricted activity in the first couple of weeks), which is why we're doing it now - she wants to be ready for the new puppet season in June. She'll be reading even more books and watching plenty of movies, but feel free to call or drop her a line - that much time laid up in a brace is going to get old fast!

I'm Back!

I was on a train trip over the weekend - a group of us took a private car from Emeryville, CA to Sparks, NV. We've done it (roughly) once a year for twelve years, and this was the last public excursion. It's always a great time to socialize, see old friends and make new ones.

Roger Colton (the event organizer) suggested throwing a Happy Beaver toy in the mix, and I jumped at the opportunity for pictures in a different locale!

Roger shot this one for me as we slowly made our way up into the mountains. It was really beautiful there, so I tried to take a lot of cool shots in the hopes that some would come out decently (I was using Anita's camera, so my technical confidence wasn't very high). More pics to come soon!

PS - I was in LA on a business trip today, compounding the blogging gap. Sorry for the all the radio silence!

PPS - I didn't take the train picture - Ryan Martin (one of Ken and Roger's fellow rail fans) did. I wasn't heavily dressed enough to perch out in the snow like that!

Another Great Week!

Emailing all the toy retailers last week bumped up my readership even more. I came pretty close to getting 2,000 page views on Wednesday! Thanks for visiting, everybody - I hope to have another Happy Beaver comic finished soon. I know it's been a little while!

The Long And Winding Road (To A New Memory Card)

I finally received the new memory card for my camera today! It took a lot longer to get than I'd hoped...

I ordered it from one retailer, and waited quite a while before finally calling them (I had to call information to get their phone number - ominously, it wasn't on their website). As it turned out, they didn't have the card that I needed in stock, and they'd canceled the order. They said that they'd informed me by e-mail, but I never heard from them. I started over.

I found another website that sold the same card, called them, made sure that they had it in stock, and ordered again. I waited and waited. Still nothing. So I called them back. Apparently, there was something wrong with my billing address. I got the necessary email contact, and sent the correct information to them.

Again, supposedly I was notified, but I don't recall seeing anything. If the emails went to work, maybe they got caught in a spam filter or something. I did get an email notifying me that the problem had been corrected, though, and that the order was now processing.

I've popped the new card into my camera, and happily my theory was correct - the camera works fine - it was the card that was faulty. Now that I know that, I might buy another card so I can keep the camera even longer - not to mention having a backup in case my new one fails.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for a joyful, healthy, prosperous New Year!
-- from Jeff, Anita, Figaro & Piccolo

PS: Apologies to Michael Barrier for swiping his image.

Olympus C-3040 - R.I.P.?

My digital camera really started giving my guff this morning - I can't reload the memory card without getting error messages. I was getting infrequent ones before, but now it just won't load properly no matter how hard I try.

I've ordered a new memory card in the hopes that the card is the problem and not the camera. I think the set-up's at least six or seven years old, so maybe its time has come. Hopefully not, because I really like shooting with it - I know its quirks and how to get good pictures out of it.

I shot a few new toy photos yesterday, but until the new card arrives, that'll be it for a while. Stay tuned!

UPDATE (1/3/08): Still no memory card. I called the place in New York where I ordered the replacement (there wasn't a phone number on the website - I had to track it down through information... uh oh), and was informed that they no longer had it in stock. They'd sent me an e-mail, apparently, but I never got it.

So I found another website (memorysuppliers.com), and called before ordering to make sure that they had the card in stock. They didn't, but I was assured that the Samsung card would work just as well. Okay...so I ordered it. I doubt I'll get it before the break ends, but hopefully I'll at least get this one!

So...add Soho Electronics to your list with Toy Tokyo on it - the one of companies that you call before ordering anything, because they don't update their websites very well.

Expectations, Vinyl Toy Network, And Paying Dues

We're back from Pasadena, and my second foray with the Vinyl Toy Network show. It seemed like there were more tables than last year, not to mention the people waiting in the convention hall and in a long line that snaked down the block. Awesome! I knew that these folks weren't waiting for me specifically, but it looked like a lot of potential target-market customers, and Christmas was right around the corner. Except... I forgot about a couple of things. Primarily, this guy:

Apparently, Joe Ledbetter's Ringo Bear had an exclusive, only-one-hundred-made Toxic green version (through 3D Retro) available only at the VTN show. The first hundred guests got goody bags, and half of them got tickets reserving a Ringo for that guest, Willy-Wonka-style. If I remember correctly, it cost eighty dollars (a mid-range designer toy price), but it might not leave much left in terms of a collector's spending budget.

The other thing that I forgot was that the dealers' room - even though it was bigger than last year - is still pretty small. There's no other events like panel discussions or screenings, so once folks are done shopping... they're going to leave. A few designers - Frank Kozik, Joe himself, Bwana Spoons, Dan Goodsell, and Cameron Tiede - were there to sign their work and do sketches, but again, even if you got everyone's autograph, that's not going to keep you there all that long.

So. The room exploded with people at ten o'clock! Most of them came in, sat down, and feverishly dug through their bags. They lined up for the Ringo Bear and they lined up again to get it signed. After that, they browsed for about thirty minutes - an hour, tops.

And then they left. An hour or two into a seven and a half hour show, ninety percent of the crowd was gone.

I drew a lot of free sketches during the surge to keep people at the table, but we only sold five toys all day. I was as sick as a dog - I'd caught a bad cold a day or two before - and I was not a happy camper. I don't blame the show, and I don't blame Joe - he made a cool toy, and people were dying for it. I hope to be in that place myself someday! But I let my expectations run away with me, and it bit me in the butt, big time.

Ironically, the only toy that I bought was one of Joe's - it's my favorite of his work so far, the Kaiju For Grown-Ups' Gamorita from Wonderwall. Super-cool looking, and a bargain at $65.00!

Well, better luck next time...

*************************************************************************************

Photos by doc18 and VinylMadness. A special thanks to Bwana Spoons and Dan "Mr. Toast" Goodsell for their words of encouragement and support during the show!

Sleeping In Stanford, Part IV

I took my second sleep test at the clinic last night. This time, in addition to all the electrodes, sensors, and microphones I had on my last visit, I also wore the CPAP apparatus. It's got a hose that fits into your nose like a snorkel - that's attached to a harness on your head. The CPAP machine inflates your airway slightly so you can breathe better and sleep more efficiently - apnea can lead to other, more serious health problems, so I want to get it under control as soon as I can.

The visit was pretty much identical to the last one, except I arrived thirty minutes earlier (traffic was kind to me this time). I popped over to a nearby supermarket and grabbed a deli sandwich for dinner - not the best meal, I suppose, but it's better than the cup of Cheez-Its that I had last time (driving from 5 - 7PM eats into mealtime pretty thoroughly)! I watched a sizable portion of The Good Shepherd and ate my dinner while waiting for my assistant.

She arrived, and we went through the same procedure of gluing and taping electrodes all over me, and connecting all the wiring I'd need to collect my data. It seemed to go faster this time, but I'm assuming that was because I'd been through it before. Finally, everything was set and tested. I watched more of the film (it's a long one - almost three hours, I think) before going to bed. I was hooked up to the CPAP machine, and lights out!

It was much harder to fall asleep than it was in the first test. Imagine trying to sleep with a snorkel in your nose, and a huge, leaky inner tube whistling about a foot away from your head (if the seal on the hose's nose plugs leaked, it caused a high-pitched whistle that drove me nuts). If I tried to improve the hose's seal, it got a lot less comfortable. You can't open your mouth at all when the CPAP is operating, either - the machine will suck air in through there, too, so you have to be really conscious of it. On top of all that, I move around when I sleep, and the wiring and hose restricted my movements. I made sure I was wearing the mask properly, but it was really hard to relax and get comfortable - it felt like hours and hours before I drifted off.

I was awakened by the assistant, and I filled out my questionnaire as before. By the time I was finished, I was fully awake. It seemed like I'd only slept two or three hours (I 'm sure I'm wrong), but I did 'wake up' more quickly than I usually do, and I felt more refreshed than usual, so that's good. I've got a couple more follow-up appointments, so I'm assuming I'll get the prescription for the CPAP device so I can buy one of my own. Hopefully I'll get more used to sleeping with the equipment, and find a more comfortable mask!

Sleeping In Stanford, Part III

I picked up my sleep test results from the Stanford clinic this morning. While some details of the findings were surprising, the bigger picture they painted wasn't.

My sleep efficiency rating was 90.6%, and the number of apnea (total closure/blockage) events was zero. That sounds good, but there's another type of event called a hypopnea (partial closure/blockage) event - I had 167 of those, or 25.8 per hour, or one every two or three minutes. That's a lot of small interruptions, and it did take a toll. The lowest oxygen saturation level I had that night was eighty-eight percent - and ninety-two or higher is normal.

The upshot of it is - as I suspected - I do have sleep apnea, and it's in the high-moderate range. The CPAP machine still looks like the best option, as it's the least intrusive and the most effective. I'm going to try to lose weight and use the CPAP machine at the same time. A friend of mine lost a lot of weight and his apnea completely disappeared - if that happens, great, but that sounds rare and unlikely. I could stand to lose some weight, regardless of how it affects the apnea. Both goals will help reduce my risk of heart and blood sugar trouble, too!

I'm going to be using a nasal steroid spray to open up my nasal passages for about two weeks, then I'll go in for another overnight sleep exam. This time, we'll be determining what the pressure on my CPAP device should be for maximum effectiveness. I'll get a prescription for the machine, then use it for a while at the approved setting. There'll be a follow-up visit after all that to see how it's all going. More in a couple of weeks...

Sleeping In Stanford, Part II

I took my sleep test last night at the Stanford Clinic. I won't have the results for a while, but it seemed to go smoothly.

I left work at 5:00 PM yesterday, as my appointment was at seven. There was an accident on the 880 freeway, so traffic was pretty spotty for a lot of the trip. I think the original drive took about ninety minutes, but this one took even longer - I figured it would, since I was heading into rush hour. I budgeted two hours, and made it with fifteen minutes to spare!

The clinic experience was much different from a typical doctor visit. I brought a book and two DVDs for time killers, but didn't wind up needing most of it. I'd hardly gotten settled into the waiting room when my test room was ready! Ditto 'waiting' for my assistant to arrive - I barely got my laptop open when she showed up too. I filled out some more paperwork, and shortly thereafter, we got down to business.

If I remember correctly, I was told that I had about thirty electrodes fastened to me (half for my head, half for the rest), but it didn't feel like that many. It took a while, though - I think it took well over an hour to get everything hooked up. Of course, all the contact points had to be cleaned with alcohol and thoroughly scrubbed. The cranial electrodes were literally glued to my head with some sort of foul-smelling gunk - they clearly weren't going anywhere, regardless how much I moved in my sleep.

Everything was connected to a small, junction-box-like device that lead to the monitoring equipment. I had sensors inserted into my nose and a fingertip device to monitor my breathing and oxygen intake (it lit up red in the dark, just like E.T.). Most of this stuff wasn't too bad, just time-consuming. I can deal with a lot, as long as needles aren't involved! Fortunately, there's only three major connections that need to be unhooked in case of an emergency. I was shown how to do it, and where the flashlight, smoke alarm, and exit map were.

I was fitted for a CPAP mask, just in case my oxygen levels weren't high enough during the night. I wouldn't have to start off wearing it, but I would be awakened to apply it if things got bad. I was expecting that that would happen, so I tried to pick carefully. I liked the smaller one that was basically just nose plugs attached to a hose - the larger one wasn't very big either (it just covered my nose like a tiny laughing-gas mask), but I didn't feel comfortable breathing in it.

All of the electrode work was finished at about 9:00 PM. I followed some commands broadcast from the monitoring room so that the signal reception could be tested. Then it was just a waiting game until I was ready to go to bed. I watched Apocalypto until a little after eleven o'clock, then buzzed for the assistant to do the last connections and start the machine. The bed was an adjustable hospital bed, so it was pretty comfy.

I don't often have trouble going to sleep, and even all of the wiring didn't really bother me. I think it took about twenty or thirty minutes to fall asleep, mainly because I was in unfamiliar surroundings. I woke up at least a few times, but quickly dozed off again. A new attendant came in, but not because I needed a mask - it was morning! I filled out an exit questionnaire and headed back to Emeryville. A deadline was looming and I knew I'd get into the office around eight or eight-thirty AM (it was the latter). After I got back, I jumped into my work and managed to finish the assignment. Phew!

More later about the test results...

A Busy, Nerdy Saturday

Relatively speaking, of course. Most of my morning was spent photographing new acquisitions for my toy collection, as well shooting some of the old ones. It take too much time to do it on weekday mornings, so now it's all about Saturday and Sunday. I think I shot about twelve yesterday (and five today), so that was good - I like to shoot enough to make it feel like I added about two toy photos a day (to surpass the photo I'm supposed to use each day for my Toy OTD feature). I got some really nice shots, plus I finally figured out how to shoot my Real Action Heroes Trinity figure. Toys that are mostly black or really darkly colored are hard to shoot with just natural sunlight, but I finally figured it out!

I found out about a Castro theater film festival called Shock It To Me! at the last minute, so I was trying to figure out how to go on Fleet Week weekend. That's when the Blue Angels come into San Francisco, and there was a ton of other activities going on as well. Just thinking about the potential traffic and parking problems made my spine start telescoping into itself!

The reason I wanted to go to the festival was that Joe Dante was appearing to host screenings of some of his films, as well as some that inspired him when he was young. Since the get-together with John Landis had worked out pretty well, I thought I'd meet Mr. Dante at the screening and see if he was interested in visiting the studio and hosting a talk like Mr. Landis had done. I was originally going to try to see Gremlins 2 (my favorite of the films being screened) in the afternoon, but it took longer to wrap up my toy photography that I thought, so that wasn't going to happen.

At first, I was going to bail on the whole enterprise, but I'd wanted to meet Mr. Dante for quite a while, so I called the Castro to see how his appearance was being handled. As it turned out, the longest he was going to be on stage was in between Blood and Roses and The Howling, neither of which had screened yet. How could I go to the talk and go to the Super 7 Monster Mash/art & toy release party which was happening earlier in the evening - especially on such a busy weekend, and with the screening in the Castro district, notorious for its lack of parking (I've missed screenings looking for parking in the Castro)? Some juggling was clearly in order.

Anita and I drove into the city at about 6 PM - we headed for the Castro first, as I wanted to make sure the event didn't sell out. It hadn't, so I picked up a ticket and drove over to Super 7 and parked in the nearby Japantown mall. We got a good spot in line and checked out the party for about forty-five minutes, just long enough to say 'hi' to Brain and Dora, and snag some sweet Nathan Jurevicius Fauna figures. We left at about eight o'clock to begin phase two.

Anita didn't want to see The Howling, so I dropped her off at the nearby AMC 1000, parked there (they'd be open until I got back from my movie), and cabbed it into the Castro. That cost about ten dollars each way, but in my mind it was worth it to avoid the parking aggravation. I got over there at about 9:40 or so - in plenty of time, as it turned out, to catch the mid-double-feature talk. I wasn't very impressed with host John Stanley - he seemed to have a lot of his facts wrong and didn't always ask good questions - but Mr. Dante was funny and shared some good career war stories with everyone. This worked out great, and I have a feeling it was the longest talk of the day. I ducked back into the lobby after the talk was over, and met Mr. Dante.

He was on his way out to dinner, so it was a little rushed, but I managed to invite him for a talk, give him a business card with contact info, and get my Explorers DVD signed. NERD! He was very nice, and made a point of mentioning that he thought Ratatouille was one of the best films of the year. So we'll see if anything comes of that. If not, well... I tried. I ducked back in to check out The Howling again. It was okay - maybe a little better than I remembered it.

Happily, traffic was in my favor all evening! Once the film was over, I cabbed it back to to the AMC 1000 to meet back up with Anita. She'd checked out the Heartbreak Kid remake, and had a blast (which was great, because I had no interest in seeing it). We compared notes over a turkey burger at Mel's, then zoomed home and flopped into bed - phew. Fun, but hectic!

Sleeping In Stanford

I've been trying to become more organized lately, and one of the things I've meaning to do for a quite a while is to get an evaluation to determine once and for all whether or not I have sleep apnea. I'm pretty sure I have it, but I wanted to go and get checked out to be sure - plus, I'd pretty much need to anyway, if I really want to do anything about it. So I set up an appointment yesterday with the Sleep Disorder Clinic in Stanford, on the recommendation of one of my friends.

Traffic on the way there was sluggish, so I was about twenty minutes late. There was a few slowdowns en route, plus Stanford seemed to be one of those towns that has one main drag that you need to take to get anywhere - so being on it approaching nine o'clock in the morning is a bad idea (though the residential part is nice, even if I had no time to savor it). I pulled off once to check and see if I'd missed my turn-off, but I was on the right track. MapQuest was a little muddy on the location of the Psychiatry Building, but otherwise traffic was the main problem. The staff was friendly, and I was given directions to what part of the building housed the clinic (the sign-age was also pretty good). Fortunately, no one at reception seemed to care that I was late, which was a huge relief.

In a unusual burst for foresight, I decided to fill out my paperwork two nights before my office visit (they mailed me the forms after I called to set up the appointment). I was glad I did - the questionnaire had over two hundred questions - yikes! At first, I thought all of the questions dealt with apnea symptoms, and some of them looked really extreme. Daytime hallucinations? Dozing off in the middle of converstations? The hell? As it turned out, a bunch of those questions were there to rule out narcolepsy, which makes sense.

I had a couple of new forms to sign upon arriving, but since I'd filled out everything else already, the doctor could see me right away. The consultation took about ninety minutes, and a lot of it was a re-hash of what I'd filled out on the forms. Still, I was glad to have done the homework, as I was more focused and thorough in my part of the discussion. There were a few brief physical checks - mostly my nose and throat - but a lot of it was chewing over the test data and weighing the options if it was determined that I did have sleep apnea.

There's three basic approaches to treating the condition. Since it's caused by a narrowing of your breathing airway, the first option is a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine that literally inflates it. This works for a lot of people - so many that there's a website that sells nothing but these machines - but some people hate it, so there's other possibilities.

Option Two is surgery - they widen the airway by removing part of the back of your throat. This is a mid-level solution, but I was told that this wouldn't help me at all.

Option Three is more radical surgery - moving most of the lower/front part of the skull forward to widen the airway. It can change your appearance, it's expensive, and it takes months to heal. Needless to say, I really hope the CPAP machine works.

The next step is to basically have a sleepover at the clinic, and take a test to monitor my breathing. That'll conclusively determine if I have sleep apnea, and how severe it is. If it's really severe, my onsite sleep ranger will wake me up and hook me up to a CPAP immediately. Regardless, I'll probably have another visit to help figure out exactly what CPAP pressure my airway needs. My first overnight test will be next week, so I'll keep you posted!

PS - I've also been asked to take part in some research since I'm being tested anyway, but I'm not sure about it. Everyone I've met at the clinic is great, but that could be pretty time-consuming, especially since I live an hour away from the clinic!

So Long, Joe Riley

I got word from Ken Mitchroney today that his friend Joe Riley died on Thursday of a heart attack. The doctors managed to regain a heartbeat for a while, but he never woke back up. He was forty-three, just a year older than I am.

I never got to meet Joe in person, but I'll bet we'd have gotten along great. Joe had a neat blog called men-oo-she-a, which was loaded with all kinds of great pop culture junk. His artwork was really cool, and I was especially envious of how he could build model kits so that they looked better than they did on the box. Way, way better!!

Take care, Joe - I know Kenny'll miss you terribly.

Last Night's Super 7 Party!

Yesterday afternoon, Anita and I packed up the Insight with three boxes of beavers and drove into San Francisco. We we too early to go over to Super 7 right away, so we visited Double Punch in North Beach. I picked up a Mickey Mouse/Oswald the Rabbit vinyl set I'd been waiting for, as well as a Francesca figure from Mad Monster Party, a Sofubi-Monster mini-figure, some Little India stationary, and a couple of early Christmas gifts. After my loot was scooped up, we headed over to Japantown.

As usual, Brian Flynn, Dora Drimalas and the rest of the Super 7 crew were incredibly courteous. Everyone helped me to set up the "Happy Beaver" display, complete with refreshments. It was cool to see the team at work - my toy was available at the Super 7 online store before the party even got underway! Anita and I brought some wine, champagne, an iPod filled with party music, and prints to make the toy sales a little extra special. If anyone was put off by the toy's price, I figured the print would be a nice inexpensive thing for shoppers to buy (happily, no one bought just the print!).

Party time drew nearer, and guests started to arrive. Paul Mica and his wife Maria showed up, fresh off the plane from Vancouver! I hadn't seen either of them in quite a while, so it was a nice surprise. Sanjay "Little India" Patel arrived and clued me in on his new project. He's pulled a Melville and taken a year off to work on it. I can't tell you what it is, but I can't wait to see it finished!

A couple of my 'story buddies' from Toy Story 2 - Ken Mitchroney and Dave Feiten - also popped in to show support and throw their shoulders into livening up the room. It's never hard for those guys! Brian Stokes drove up from LA just to be there, and he talked some recent collector converts into attending. My good friend Jen Howard was in attendance, as well as graphic designer Heather McNabb. Support from all directions!

There was high-wattage toy support to be had from labbit guru Frank Kozik, who brought a big bag of enthusiasm and lots of pointers for my future toy projects. Mr. Flynn had lots of helpful information, too!

I couldn't leave without picking up some stuff - I got a Tetsujin-28 character toy, a Panda-Z toy that I'd been meaning to replace, and a couple of Anpanman figures (I have no idea what their names are). Brian also gave me a copy of Super 7's new book, Tokyo Underground - basically, a extremely detailed toy shopping guide for Tokyo. Yow! Just what I've always wanted, and probably shouldn't have!

It had been sprinkling off and on all day, and while I'm sure the weather forecast scared a lot of people off, it was still a great evening - shoppers drifting in and out, and I had a blast catching up with old friends, signing the odd toy here and there. The sales just keep ticking away, and it's terrific to see so much confidence and support in my work. Thanks so much, everybody!!

As Summer Fades

It's been busy the last week or so, even apart from storyboarding - Anita and Tim wrapped up their last performance of the season, and have moved on to booking Swazzle's holiday show. Anita re-injured her knee on a recent break with her family in Las Vegas, so we need to check with the doctor and see how severe the damage is. Her knee had been steadly improving for a while, so this is a bit of setback.

Last weekend, I went to the toy show in San Jose with my buddies Bob, Bill and Jerome. It was a small show again, but still very good, so everyone had fun. Jerome had never been to a toy show before, and I was worried that it wouldn't be enjoyable enough for non-addicts. Fortunately, that wasn't the case!

I picked up some of the new Cars die-cast releases, mainly because the local stores were pulling all of the cars off the shelves due to the lead-paint scare (that's happily not persisting, but it didn't instill me with a lot of confidence that I'd be able to find the new ones). If you've been keeping an eye on my Flickr site, you already know that I finally found the Abominable Snowplow, Bob Cutlass and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (and an extra for my dad). They weren't cheap, but I've got them now. Of course, they'll show up in stores at Christmastime for $3.00 each, and I'll bang my head against the wall then. Must... have... more... patience...

I also picked up a few Funkovision sets from a guy I'd seen there before - he always has Funko stuff for a little less than retail (plus I don't have to pay shipping), so I snapped 'em up! I found the Dick Dastardly & Muttley set, the Peter Pottamus & So-So set, and the Yosemite Sam & Dragon set for my dad as well(he loves those cartoons). The TV set packages are awesome, but I'm not even sure I'll keep one of them - they're serious space gobblers.

I weakened further and bought an old Yogi Bear plush from the late fifties. I don't think I'll beat that price, so I don't have any buyer's remorse about it.

Yesterday I had my first "Happy Beaver" toy sale at work. There were two competing events, so between those and work, I was limited to about fifty minutes. I sold eleven in that amount of time, so I was very pleased! Scott Morse is going to sell his new sketchbook at work sometime soon, so I'll probably try again at that point, when the event schedule is less crowded.

Last night, Ken Mitchroney, his wife Beth, Anita and I hit the Oakland Coliseum for Anita's first local ballgame. I go to basebally games so rarely that I knew no one would believe the I went (hence Ken's cel phone photo)! The weather was great (I didn't need a jacket all night), the game was a good one for the unconverted - quick innings, some great plays, some awful ones, a couple of home runs, and loads of fireworks - one of the best pyro shows I've ever seen (even compared to Disneyland), with a spectacular view of everything! Thanks, Ken!

PS - When I returned home, I had a package waiting for me! I had sent John Landis one of my figures (I thought he'd like one, since it feels a little like an old M-G-M cartoon character), and in gratitude, he sent me a thank you gift - a Blues Brothers card, a DVD of one of his favorite movies, and both sets of the Killer Panda Monster Theater toys! Cool! So I nerded out big time over that.

New Display Cabinet

This sale couldn't have come at a better time - I was in dire need of more toy display space, and this cabinet comes along. It's got twice the visibility for half the price of my other cabinets (and almost as much volume)! I'll get a shot of it filled up in a day or two.

"They're Heee-rre..."

The "Happy Beaver" toy shipment arrived today - all four hundred of them. My office is filled with boxes! I'll set up the Canadian and UK mail-order buttons as soon as I can. As always, please let me know if you want to buy my beaver toy, and live outside of the five-digit-zip-code US, Canada or the UK.

Comic-Con Diary: Before You Know It, It's Over

Anita had a show on Wednesday, so she was to arrive that evening. I was pretty blissed out - I was finally going to see the toys that I'd worked on for well over a year. I was so excited that I left the suitcase containing some of last year's T-shirts in the trunk of the cab! At first I panicked - I hadn't looked at the name of the cab company... how many yellow vehicles were in San Diego? Just one company, as it turned out!

Fortunately, Scott (Morse) reminded me that I'd asked for a receipt, so I contacted the carrier and waited for the cab to return from his current fare. On top of that, the exhibit hall was going to open an hour earlier than I'd realized! While I was waiting, I met with the Gentle Giant folks at their booth to pick up my toy shipment. But it'd been delayed, and it hadn't arrived yet. I had nothing to sell at all!

Happily, the cab returned well before the hall opened. I scrambled to set up my portion of the Red Window table with some back stock of T-shirts left over from last year. Bill (Presing) and Scott were already set up. Not long after I finished, the hall was opened to the public.

It was not the Wednesday I'd experienced three years earlier, when I was able to stroll the aisles and cherry-pick my favorite items, clearly viewed in early-bird fashion. Nope - this was more like a typical Friday, with crowds scurrying like children trying not to run at a public pool. Anita arrived later on that evening, and we took turns running the booth. Anita took charge and made it clear she wasn't happy that the toy shipment was late - she made quite an intimidating impression on my Gentle Giant contact!

It soon became clear, though, that the toys weren't going to arrive that day. Fortunately, the T-shirts sold quite well, and of course Bill and Scott's work sold briskly. I was too glum to sell much, so I navigated a couple of aisles before preview night ended. Anita's sister Michelle arrived at the hotel from Chicago that evening, and we prepared for the next day.

Thursday's T-shirts continued to move, but the countdown to the beavers' arrival became agonizing. I kept myself occupied by more shopping, and Anita was a good sport and held down the fort. Finally, around 1:30 or so, they arrived! Eagerly, we tore into the boxes - there'd been some shipping damage, and several of the boxes were crumpled. But no matter - they'd arrived! They were there! And I thought they looked great.

The second half of Thursday was a good selling day - the toys and the shorts moved well. Buoyed by the toys' arrival, I stayed at the booth more and signed the outgoing vinyl. Anita and Michelle helped everyone, and I tried to drop off one of the beavers at the Sideshow booth. Frank Kozik loved the finished toy, and stopped by several times - what a great guy! I shopped more, as sales had been good.

Friday, on the other hand, was a different story. The T-shirts continued to sell well, in spite of the dwindling sizes, but toy sales dipped, which surprised me. I'm not sure if most visitors spent their money in the first two days, or if panels were keeping folks from the dealers' room, but I think I sold half of what I'd sold on Thursday.

Fortunately, I continued to run into old friends that I now see once a year or so - people I'd worked with at The Simpsons, Tiny Toons, college friends and ex-Pixarians as well. It was great to see everyone, and of course they were all very excited and supportive about my new toy. A Funko representative was interested in making "Happy Beaver" into a bobblehead, so I gave them my contact information.

I figured that things'd pick up on the weekend, as those are the biggest attendance days of the convention - and Friday, Saturday and Sunday had sold out for the first time in the twenty years that I'd been attending. But it wasn't to be.

T-shirt sales dwindled along with the size availability, and the weekend toy sales narrowed further. I got restless at the booth, and began to wander a bit more. Sunday was especially dry, so I got a bit mopey at con's end.

The oddest encounter was with someone from the TokyoPop booth who wanted to know the story behind the character. I tried to explain that I'd simply made a toy that I liked and wanted to see on a shelf, but she pressed until I admitted that I didn't have a story for the beaver.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You went to the trouble to make this figure. You spent the money to rent out this booth. And you don't have a story?"

I started to feel like the hucksters in that TV commercial who've whipped up a massive, synergistic marketing campaign around some slug characters, but don't have a script for the film project they star in. But I'd always looked at the project as more Hello Kitty than Charlie Brown. Does she expect a dramatic arc from Hello Kitty? That's what I should've said (heh).

Still, I'm very satisfied with what I've done, and I have to remember that I'm still making a name for myself in this arena. Plus, everyone who saw the toy liked it, so that was encouraging, too. There's online sales, work sales, and a distributor in the future, so I'm not worried about being stuck with boxes and boxes of toys. Also, it's good that I got overly optimistic, too - that's not my usual take on things. There's a confidence beneath it that I'm glad to see.

Comic-Con Diary: Arrival

I'm entering this into the Sheraton Suite's free computer - that's the good news. The bad news is that (thanks to Internet Explorer) almost every bit of text on Blogger is showing up as little squares. Nice.

At any rate, I got into San Diego at 9AM, so I've been milling about downtown, waiting for my room to become available. I've picked up a Cy-Gor figure at the local Suncoast for a co-worker, gotten a haircut to make myself more presentable, and found a cool Japanese retro Tony the Tiger T-shirt at the local Urban Outfitters. Pricey but awesome!

I also bought a universal memory card reader, so hopefully I'll be able to illustrate my diary posts with pictures quickly, rather than having to wait until I get back home. I should be able to pick up my first hundred beaver toys later this afternoon. I'll document the occasion Bill-Presing-style as soon as I can! More to come...

The Nerd Can't Help It

Anita and I drove to Mountain View last night to check out the 7-11 there. Eleven of them all over the country have been re-dressed as Kwik-E-Marts (even stocked with boxes of Krusty-O's and cans of Buzz Cola!) to promote The Simpsons Movie.

Sadly, the eBay sharks beat me to it again - there weren't any of the custom Simpsons products to be had, so like good nerds, we gorged on Squishees and took lots of pictures! I'm sure there's plenty of shots like this to be had all over the int