Another long wait between posts. I apologize but I have good reasons, really. Good raisins, too.

I was at WWDC all last week (see photos here), which ran the gamut of emotional and physical responses: excitement, frustration, confusion and exhaustion. It was a good conference as far as I could tell (I attended quite a few sessions but much of my day was spent in meetings), but the best times were outside of the conference, spent with all of the many great friends I have back in my hometown.

I will be posting an article about WWDC over in the Norton blogsite and you probably either already know what happened there or just don't care. Suffice to say that the iPhone is rapidly becoming a legitimate technology platform and I think it's appropriate to say that the transition that this iPhone is a part of (if not helping define) is a big one. It will be very interesting to see what features we assume from technology in the next five years.

- I am a guest host on this week's iFanboy podcast. It was a lot of fun, and one of those items I was very happy to check off in my "life's to do list". I had started listening to the podcast several years ago and always thought it would be fun to be on the show, and now I can say, it was an absolute blast to do it. It was a real pleasure and the feedback has been very positive so far. It's a lot of prep work, getting ready for the show, I had to get a headset to use with Skype (for sound quality) and set up my desk so I could easily access the books we were discussing, my notes, water, coffee, chat windows...it was like doing a radio show, which, of course, makes sense. The thing about the show is that it's usually pretty entertaining even if you don't know anything about comics, since there are aspects to the conversation that everyone can relate to (characters, stories, art, etc). This was another "live" event that I really couldn't truly prep for (not unlike the stuff I had to do in Vegas), so I am relieved it went well.

It also underscores my belief that you truly achieve any goal you have if you make a consistent effort to achieve said goal. Now, sure, I didn't write out "Be on iFanboy" one day, but I did want to get more involved, to the point that getting on the show would definitely become an option. And, now, it's happened. Of course, now I am writing a weekly article for them, which I did not plan at all--but it got me a chance to be on the show. And, again, while I could control some aspects toward this goal (enthusiastic participation, making sure to keep in touch, etc, etc), the TIMING was not in my control at all. If I had any expectation of "being on the podcast by xx years," none of this would have happened. I know, I sound like a broken record, but life is all about living the moment and not trying to fulfill expectations (yours or others).

- Speaking of real time activities, I gotta admit that writing regularly is quite a challenge. I had a crazy time last week when I had both an article for iFanboy, a new story summary, the first 10 pages of my screenplay and my inciting incident due on Tuesday. Now, of course, I am to fault completely--I procrastinated like crazy, but that's how I am used to dealing with writing deadlines: I get the topics/scenes/sections figured out in my head, and then I sit down and write it out. That's how I got through college--all of my papers were first drafts, technically--and it worked out fine. And life is not all that different now, come to think of it. When I was in college I had homework and papers due all the time, but was in rehearsals until 11 almost every night of the week, so doing it my head was my only recourse, really.

Maybe it is more difficult because I don't have that crazy structure that made me so nuts back then. Whatever--I did all the work that I needed to do, and so far, so good. What is...stressful? interesting? just...different? about writing NOW is that there is nothing for me to refer to--everything I am writing is from my own head. I am being asked to take a topic, aim my brain at it, and then transform that chaos into text and pictures. Which is a challenge, let me tell you! It's a great challenge, but I can see why "real" writers make a schedule--if I had any kind of discipline, I would be getting up at 6am each morning and just get it done before I went to work. I might have to do just that, actually--the screenplay is going to be at least 100 more pages, right? It took me over an hour to get the first 10 done...that's at least 10 more hours...yikes...scary.

But it's all new--all of this is new, and I haven't been challenged like this in awhile. I am definitely growing creatively, which feels really good.

- I made quite a few Father's Day calls yesterday. It was nice. It's really quite an experience to watch my oldest friends become parents. Trips me out like crazy.

- We won't talk about acting right now. Nothing to talk about.

- Saw some great old cars at The Grove a few weeks ago. Check the photos here.

Have a good week!

Tags: wwdc, san francisco, comics, ifanboy

Hey there!

Just wanted to let you know that my first article for iFanboy.com is up. I gotta say, I was really nervous about the whole thing. I mean, I was really, really flattered to be asked but honestly, I had no idea what I was going to talk about, week after week. (I still don't, really.) But it's a great opportunity and I'll just continue to write as long as they'll have me.

Of course, now I just have to get my Norton blog updated...I think I will probably do a series of entries during WWDC up in San Francisco, which should be a fun time. I will be twittering any fun stuff during the Keynote, so swing by a few times next week to see if I have any cool news from the show.

Other than that, things are fine. I had a really good on camera class on Monday; it was nice to get a chance to rehearse a few times and do a few takes for the scene, rather than just the one take that we tend to do in my "normal" class (though that is tremendously useful, arguably more useful to be better at that single take, when it comes to getting an actual job). I had to book out for next week which is always a bit frustrating, but honestly, there is just not a lot of work out there right now, at least for me, I guess.

On the political side, I am super stoked on Obama's speech last night. I was listening to his speech last night on the way home and it was truly inspiring to hear the crowd go absolutely bonkers. I haven't heard applause and cheering like that for a politician like that in a very long time...if ever, to be honest. It's gonna be fun to watch.

All right--I gotta run.

(ps - I’m using Rapidweaver 4.0 for the site now, and it’s a really great improvement. There’s a lot of delay when I type, which is annoying but that’ll get fixed.)

Tags: ifanboy, comics

Bay Arcade in Balboa’s “Fun Zone”. I grew up going here in the summer.

Yikes, Monday already. Monday in June. 2008.

Everyone I know is kind of freaking out about the whole “June” thing. I can’t believe it at all, to be honest. But whatever, it’s here and we might as well get used to it.

Had a good weekend and now I am tired out. I went down to San Diego to speak at a conference--sounds cooler than it was, but it was cool--so Whit and I had a good time driving down and hanging out in downtown San Diego.

This is Whit doing a very good impression of her sister. Check out the new sweatshirt. It’s lined and is mighty nice.

It was nice to get out of the city, even if only for a night. We stayed at this very odd resort/convention center named Town and Country and got a good taste of what life must have been like in the 50s. The place was just...old, you know? Just stuck in time. It was interesting to be rushing all around irritated that the year was approaching half over rather quickly then ending up here, which seemed like a movie set..it was just crazy, check out the link for some pics.

Then I had to go to work a table at the gift lobby for the MTV 2008 Movie awards. This was a really strange experience and really, I mean, really, it was a glimpse into the part of the entertainment industry that made me feel just...odd, I guess. Basically, we were one of many tables set up on the roof of this very swank hotel in the middle of West Hollywood. We would hang out to talk about our products (I was inbetween a very cool headset and a neat smart pen) to anyone that would come by. Kinda like a trade show, but if the person coming up to you was wearing a certain necklace, then they were apparently a celebrity and could just take whatever they wanted--as long as we got a picture of the celebrity holding the product. Once the picture was taken, it could be use to market said product.

It's one thing to know about this kind of thing, it's another thing to actually see it in action. Now, let's be clear--I had a fine time, and the people that I did meet were actually very cool about it. I mean, of course they were, right? They were getting all this free stuff for nothing! But still, you could tell the cooler celebs knew just how silly this was, which is why I think they were so nice. Our table was probably the most interesting at the event--we had cool gadgets and stuff that was way more useful than yet another energy drink--so we had some fun conversations and everything, but still...

It's business, right? This is how companies get their products out on the market. They get photos of people using the products in magazines, then the masses will go and get said product. It's just seeing it done so overtly that gave me pause.

Still, it was a good experience--I learned quite a bit just by watching people. The wheels of commerce spinning, right?

The other night, while Whit was with her girlfriends for a Sex and the City party (I love that they had party for a movie and then not go to said movie), I finally got around to watching The Graduate. No, I had never seen it before. Yes, I have been reading all about it in Pictures at a Revolution. And yes, I was totally, completely blown away by it. If you haven't seen it recently, add it to your queue and check it out. From the sound design to the cinematography to Anne Bancroft's insanely great performance (her laughter during their initial flirtation just blew me away, I must have watched that scene five times)...it's just awesome.

I am going to an on camera class tonight, which should be fun. It's good to keep going to different teachers, to work with different people. It's still really slow and I fear that things won't even begin to recover until late this summer. I hope.

My article for ifanboy.com goes up on Wednesday. I'm just writing about comics and life..we'll see how people respond...

talk to you soon.

Tags: san diego, balboa island

The flier promised a party...


and the party delivered...


me and Conor from iFanboy.

More pics from the party here. Write up here.


I think it's pretty safe to say that whenever there's a comic book event, like Wondercon or Comic-Con, I have a fantastic time. Fantastic in the truest sense of the word. I was on the Bart train on Sunday morning heading to the airport and I literally could not help grinning. What a time!

This weekend was Wonder-Con up in San Francisco, and I ended up flying up for Friday and Saturday. It was super, super fun. My flights were crazy delayed but I was able to eek into the Darwyn Cooke (wiki, art) discussion and a DC Nation panel and get into the main hall for a bit. I won't go into it too much, but you should know that Darwyn Cooke is an incredibly amazing artist and writer--I am a huge fan. Like, massive fan, he's in my top 3 or 5 favorite comic book writers/artists list.

ohhh...man, it's way later. It's like four days later and I am actually sicker than I have been in years. I don't usually get sick, but already I was sick when I got home for the holidays and now I have some kind of flu, which I think I got from Tom.

So, I am all derailed from whatever I was talking about...regardless, Wondercon was fun, but hanging out with new friend Sonia and old friends James, Josh, Conor, Gordon and Ron was much more fun.

Other than that? I've been sick. Whit's still in Ohio, so I have been battling this flu by myself (which is good, I don't want her to get this thing), but it's driving me crazy. I haven't been able to work out and I fear I might have missed my favorite yoga teacher's last class for awhile. I must admit, if I don't work out for a few days in a row, I get nervous that I will just fall off the wagon altogether. I'll get back into it, I just hate feeling this way, I can't even fake feeling better. Craptastic.

I enrolled in an online screenwriting class that is going to start at the end of April. It's in concert with the All-Story magazine and I am both excited and nervous about it. Already I am thinking about possible story ideas and tossing them asunder, but I am hoping that the class will help me think about story ideas in a different, less binary way. I figure I spend a lot of time watching movies and I definitely have opinions, so I might as well do it for myself, you know? It's so easy to judge how bad a story is from the comfort of my couch.

We'll see how that goes.

Had a nice call from Jim in my acting class. I guess he's filming a "spec pilot" (basically filming a script that would then be shopped around as an original series) this weekend. I read the script (super random but fun) and gave him my stuff, but I didn't hear anything back. Considering they are filming right now (it is now Saturday March 1), I bet I didn't get the part, but that's totally fine--I was just flattered and happy that Jim figured I could do the job. Besides, I look and feel like death, and it's not a show about zombies.

Such a weird week. I have been in and out of life, in a way, auditions and work in the beginning of the week, work and pillows the rest of the week. I have an audition for some kind of radio play (or something, I don't know) where I have to bring in a few character voices...I think I've got them, but kind of nervewracking...like, gimme something to at least read so I can prep some characters that would be relevant, you know?

I am just looking forward to feeling better so I can think clearly again. I have been trying to read and write in this journal but I just kind of fade out after awhile.

time to upload. be well.

Tags: comics, wondercon, san francisco

Ron from iFanboy and James from Isotope Friday evening...

I just wanted to write a little bit about my fantastic weekend in San Francisco. I went up to see Oliver before goes and retrieves his family from China and though I expected a good time, I really did have a fantastically good time! Other than finally getting to hang out with Oliver and literally do nothing for most of the day on Saturday (a skill we spent many years honing in high school and college)--something we haven't been able to do in a very long time--we ended up having a typically random evening with James, Kirsten, Ash, Allie and special guest star and friend Ron Richards from the iFanboy comic podcast, who was in town for a variety of very cool reasons. Saturday night was dinner at Tom's then hanging out at Paul's party. Very fun, meeting up with new friends and old (got to see Giamma, Al and Allison, etc...!).

Ollie at his Mac station doing important stuff:

Oliver, Mike Gibson and I joined this motley crew for dinner, then we met up with Tom and his friend Chris at this really fun burlesque show at the DNALounge that James knew about. See? I told you--random. James actually knows of all the very cool places to go, and actually has a rapidly becoming world famous San Francisco Tiki Bar Tour that I actually have yet to embark on.

(later)
Funny, I just returned to this after typing from the other day, and I was apparently in the middle of a sentence that reads, "So, it was cool, I was able to check out..."--and I have no idea what I was referring to. Sigh. Maybe I will remember.

LA doesn't have these.

As is often the case, my return home to San Francisco was both calming and energizing at the same time (oh, I think I remember! dope, I will write about it in a few sentences). The weather was really nice, and it was just nice to roam the streets a bit and hang out without having too much of an agenda. I was bummed to see that they have completely demolished The Coronet movie theatre, which was one of the best houses on the West Coast. So bummed.

The Coronet would play all the BIG movies. It's now just an empty lot.

I did end up (and this is what I was talking about before) checking out a yoga class at Yoga Tree near Castro. The studio looked like it was an old dance school or something--massive room that was kept really warm (again, what is with that?). Great teacher, though, and really fun class. We did this crazy "OM tapestry" where everyone had to say "Om" 12 times so it was just this crazy long "ohhhmmm" that went on for a minute or two. It was totally cool, I had never done something like that--and yes, if you had told me a year ago I would talking about chanting Om a bunch of times with a bunch of folks after a 90 minute yoga session, I would say, "Really? That sounds really trippy but I guess I can see it." Funny how life changes (and doesn't, of course). Still, it's nice to go to a city and find a new class, it's just fun to jump into a class and have an idea of what to do while still learning new poses, etc.

Cafe Abir has been totally redone--it's much nicer than when I lived nearby. The best part...

$4 Hoegaarden's!



Flash mobbers at the Muni bus shelter on lower Haight on Friday night...

A good visit, all in all; I found it difficult to want to get back into my car and drive back, which I guess explains the hour and a half I spent at Starbucks with my parents just talking about everything that's going on, etc. I would have to say that one of the good things about growing older is watching my relationship with my parents change. I relate to them now much more as good friends, and have a much better idea of how they must have been like when they first met, in a way. It is a great gift to have a good relationship with my folks, and I am much happier now that we are on the same coast.

And now it's Wednesday and, whew! I am tired, yo! I blame myself. I was up until 1am playing Halo 3 with Nick. Yes, I caved in like everyone else, and I am happy to report that it was worth it...great game, a lot of fun. I felt like I was in high school again. Or college. Or even just a few years ago when Halo 2 came out. Or perhaps earlier this year when I played Gears with Tom until late at night.

Acting wise, it has been busy with some auditions and a callback, but nothing to write home about yet. I've been dutifully recording the pilots of a few shows in case I get a chance to audition for 'em but haven't seen anything yet. Whit's gone for the Dawn launch (tomorrow morning); I guess she got to see the Space Shuttle and traverse around the catwalks in the hangar...so cool. It's not good to be jealous of your spouse, but I think it is warranted in this case.

All right, time to post this. I have a funny little widget that shows who is looking at the site from where, but I doubt more than one person is looking at this at any given time. Who knows? More soon...

Tags: san francisco, comics, isotope

(Iron Man statue from the Marvel booth at Comic-Con)

Sigh. I have been having several issues with the video on the site as well as some RapidWeaver crashes, which are kind of driving me nuts. I hate having to retype stuff!!! ARGH!

Anyway, I'm back in LA after what was a great time in San Diego for this year's Comic-Con. Though we were there for longer than last year, this year's show seemed to go by much more quickly. It was a strange show, in a way; there were not "super announcements" that drove the show forward (though there were plenty of announcements and news). It was kind of an odd show and I can't really put my finger on what made it different. I never really felt relaxed, that's for sure, and even when I was in panels I was enjoying, I couldn't help but feel I was missing out on something else. Still, it was a blast. Comic-Con is by far one of my favorite events of the year and I am already looking foward to next year's. Kinda.

I won't attempt to give a broad overview of the news that came out of the con (for that sort of thing go here, here and here). This was the first show that I caught one of the bigger panels; usually I show I up for them and they are completely sold out, but this time I was able to drag myself out of bed and get to the Con early enough to spend most of the day in Ballroom 20, where the highly anticipated Heroes and Battlestar Galactica talks were. Both were fairly cool; I mean, it's cool and all to see the creators of the shows and to see the actors, but I must admit that I always get a little squirmy when I go to these things. As an actor who is working very hard to get on shows like these, part of me is resistant to hanging out in a room full of adoring fans to hear what people who technically my colleagues have to say about what is admittedly a fantastic gig. But then again, I am a fan and I enjoy hearing their stories and I appreciate the time they take to sit down and take questions from their fans and all that. It's just odd. I go back and forth, though--I really love both of these shows and I also happen to think that the casts of these shows are absolutely fantastic. Indeed, both shows have some of the best acting on TV, period, so it's a good thing for me to hear what they think about the jobs, what the challenges are and what their hopes are for the future of the shows (and their careers). In the end, I guess, I just wanna be up there, too! Which is good--you should know what you want from life, right? Once you define it, you can obtain it. So, next year, I'll have a photo the opposite of this one:

Where I am looking at the audience from the table (one of the Heroes guys actually took a picture like that, I think it was Greg Grunberg.)

So I spent most of Saturday near Ballroom 20, which was fun, but I hate waiting in line, which I did all morning, so it sucked a bit, too. Long story short, I basically got there at 9 and waited over 2.5 hours to get into the hall, which holds almost 2000 people). At one point the line actually lapped itself, so there was another line that started right near us (were were very close to the door, thankfully) that wrapped all the way around the hall. The organizers basically told them the line was closed a short time later. Insane. They have a hall there that can hold 6,000 people--they should have used that hall for these two presentations.

Backing up a bit, Whit and I had a really good time on Friday. Very soon after Whit and I arrived, we ended up watching a taping of the iFanboy podcast, where I actually ended up participating in during the Q&A session. Sadly, the audio didn't work out, but it was fun nonetheless. Later, after attending one of the DC panels, we ended up at the iFanboy/Totally Rad Show party that night, which was a lot of fun, followed by a staggering walk down to the Hyatt with a few friends, including Jonathan London (from the very good Geekscape podcast), who is a total crack up. Really fun night, but whew, Saturday was ro-ugh.

Back to Saturday...we actually ended up going home for a disco nap before arriving at the PopCandy party that night, which was super fun (if way too small and way too hot with way too little air).

Whitney and Whitney!

Why so fun? Well, we were finally able to hang out a bit with the always-fantastic friend James Sime, whom I have known for many, many years as the owner of the greatest comics store on the planet, Isotope. I've known James since he bought the old Comics and Da'Kiine, which was one of my old shops when I was a kid in San Francisco. James was actually one of the Eisner Award judges this year, which was super, super cool. James is really one of the most inspirationally cool cats you can hang out with; he is one of those guys that just contributes so much to the whole comic book scene. I will go on and on about him sometime later, suffice to say, I am a big fan of his and feel very lucky to watch him work so hard and be so successful. So cool.

Of course, I spent much of my time with the iFanboy guys, which was a lot of fun, as always, as well as Ash (Asche??), talking about the show and comics. I actually don't get a chance to talk about comics with that many people, so I really, really love that aspect of the show. I also had a great time chatting with Alex Albrecht from Revision3's Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show. I'm a big fan of Diggnation from waaay back (I watched the first 4 or 5 episodes back to back armed with a 6 pack of beer while I put up a ceiling fan in our bedroom. Whit came in at one point to see who I was talking to and why I was laughing so loud--and yes, the fan works fine), and it was fun to finally meet Alex, who is also an actor in LA with a background in technology and all things somewhat geeky. It was great to talk to him about his show and what he is up to. In a very real way, I was more stoked to talk with Alex about all this stuff than I was to see the cast of Heroes, I must admit.

This entry's getting a little long so I will end it here, but I will scrap up some more stories tomorrow. I've posted a few of our photos here and will discuss some of the comic and movie news over the next few days! See ya!

Oh, and finally, I am trying out the Twitter thing for awhile. It was really, really useful during the Con but we shall see if it matters the rest of the time...

Tags: comics,comiccon,san diego

(photo ©2007 Oliver Siodmak)

Hey there...really quickly...I am at Comic-Con in San Diego and so far, it's been awesome. We're just getting up from a disco nap before we head down for the Saturday night throwdowns. Spent most of the day either in line or in some pretty crazy panels (2,000 people in a room for both Battlestar Galactica and Heroes talks). The show is just getting bigger and bigger. It's fun, though; we hung out with the iFanboys last night and are looking to meet up with them later tonight.

Still, I can't help but think I blew it by not coming in earlier. There were tons of talks that I wanted to check out on Thursday, but I was so busy I never actually looked at the schedule before getting it when I arrived yesterday. Now I just wanna run back to the show, check out the floor, and meet up with folks. We've been very bad about taking pictures but we'll talk a bunch tomorrow. I am already sad it's close to over, which is ridiculous.

Okay, time to wake Whitney up. Latro!

Tags: comics,comiccon,san diego