A change in plans

Due to illness and waiting too long to pay, I WILL NOT be having a table at the Bellingham Comic Book Convention come the end of the month :( They only have ONE TABLE left right now and it's an Island Table (no walls, no electricity) which just won't work for me.

SO! On to PLAN B! A table at the Seattle Center show in November!

I think this is good for a few different reasons, not the least of being LEN WIEN!!! The man who created WOLVERINE! The man who brought ALAN MOORE to the States! The man who is a living, breathing part of Comic Book HISTORY! And with the... intimate size of the Seattle Center show? It'll be an awesome opportunity to get to know the man without the crowds like you'd find at ECCC getting in your way. Plus, I *know* The Seattle Center... it'll be an easy convention, and a fitting end to my great big Convention Days (this may very well be the last time I get a table till after Molly is in high school).

http://www.seattlecomicardconvention.com/

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year (other than Christmas)

I had almost forgotten how much I love and look forward to this time of year! The leaves change colors, the air gets crisper, and the local affiliates re-arrange their afternoon schedules of syndicated programming!

When I was younger (so much younger than today) I would sacrifice the purchase cost of a comic book in order to get the New Fall Preview issue of TV Guide and map out my after-school entertainment. Out on the farm we only got 7-and-a-half channels with our great big aerial antenna, so planning was a snap! I knew that if Damon Irons didn't distract me with some adventure or another during the walk home, I could be in the house and in front of the TV as early as 3:30. Half-hour Commercialtoons (He-Man, Jem, Transformers, My Little Pony, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc), which I was addicted to, would take me all the way to 5. At that point, half the channels available would switch over to The News, and I'd have 3 hours of viewing time to split between the remaining channels which were showing the ABSOLUTE BEST offerings of the 60's, 70's and early 80's.

I remember how crushed I was to see my old favorites go away each year (Goodbye, Monkees) but also excited to see what the new shows offered (Hello, Diff'rent Strokes). It's kind of sad but also awesome at just how excited I was over this seasonal change!

Right around... I wanna say 1998? Somewhere in the mid-to-late 90's, it all went to heck. Instead of cartoons and sit-coms, it went to non-stop Talk Shows. Jerry Springer followed by Jenny Jones followed by Rikky Lake followed by Montel Williams followed by prime-time television :(

But now things have changed again! We've still got Tyra and Wendy Williams at 3pm (oh good... just in time for The Kids to get home and brush-up on their sex tips), but then starting at 4 we've got SIT COMS!!! Malcolm In The Middle! Simpsons! King Of The Hill! The Office! Granted, they're no Sanford & Son... but they're so much better than non-stop Reality TV!

Now if we could just get some Toonmercials on in the early afternoon again...