Pete Likes Pie

New Years, New Movies

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:08:17 GMT

I'll get my "update" out of the way before moving on to more important things (meaning movies). New Year's Eve was, uh, interesting. Without going into too much detail, I ended up taking care of both my brother and Katie after a level of debauchery that Brendon and I were envious of (in theory). Still, I had fun, ate a lot of tasty food, and got to hang out with some awesometastic people. However, my bottle of absinthe remains unopened (and will probably remain so for some time, as neither my brother nor Katie are eager to touch alcohol anytime soon).

So yay for 2010! It seems many people had problems with 2009, and I'm on that list as well. 2010 will yield much more positivity, I'm sure of it.

Now, onto the important stuff. After a streak of not seeing many movies in the theater, I recently saw The Boondock Saints II, which I've mentioned, but more importantly I've just recently seen Sherlock Holmes and Avatar, which, after the disappointment of Saints, rekindled my excitement of movies.

Sherlock Holmes had me from the get-go. When I found out that Guy Ritchie was directing, I raised an eyebrow, but was simultaneously ecstatic. I love Ritchie's films and I love the energy in them. Then, as I heard Robert Downey Jr. was cast in the lead with Jude Law as Watson, my nerd-o-meter's needle snapped off. If you've talked to me about movies, you know that I love Downey Jr. My obsession with him started around a year ago when I watched A Scanner Darkly and Zodiac, and was further pushed to the limits when Iron Man came out. And Jude Law is an actor that, while I'm not obsessed with, I do enjoy seeing on the screen.

The movie itself was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. The acting was spot-on, the dialogue was quick and witty, the story was intriguing, the costumes were amazing, and the score totally caught me off guard. I'm a big fan of Hans Zimmer, but for some reason the fact that he composed the score for this movie flew completely past my radar. As I watched the movie I thought, "I really like this score! I wonder who did this..." and was blown away when I saw Zimmer's name in the credits. Usually I can pick up on a composers signature within the music, but this time I didn't. So kudos to you, Mr. Zimmer, for creating my favorite movie score in a long, long time!

If you haven't see the movie yet, do yourself a favor and catch it before it leaves the theater. It's totally worth the money, and I will be grabbing it as soon as it comes out on DVD.

Avatar was another movie I was excited about, and one that I've been following for years. Cameron's script had been circulating for a decade, and every now and again it's name would pop up on a list of long gestating projects. When I found out it was finally going to get made, I was happy. I love Cameron's sci-fi work, and the fact that he was having new technology made specifically for this movie made it even cooler. And then, after a long wait, I saw the trailer and knew that this was a movie I needed to see on the big screen.

What annoys me is the bandwagon mentality of the majority of people who went to see this movie. They heard reviews talking about the formulaic story and dialogue, and they went into the movie with preconceived notions. I'm not denying the movie is formulaic, but what I am saying is, frankly, who gives a damn? In the overall scheme that is the movie, the story is only mundane if you strip away everything else. But when you're there in the moment watching it, it shouldn't matter. I'm a guy that picks apart movies on a regular basis, and my problems with the story were very minor (so minor, in fact, that I won't even bother to mention them).

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a sci-fi/fantasy geek, and this movie caters to that. Cameron created a world like we've never seen, with lush colors and believable - yes, believable - computer generated images. This movie has set the bar for future sci-fi/fantasy films very high, in terms of the overall visual look.

The acting was nothing spectacular; it got the job done and it didn't pull me out of the moment. The score was well done (thanks to James Horner), but was overshadowed by my memories of Zimmer's Sherlock Holmes score.

Basically, it was the feel of the movie that hooked me into it, not the specifics. People are far too eager lock down onto the specific parts of a movie nowadays, and that is destroying the experience of watching a movie. "Movie magic" doesn't exist anymore to most people, and it's akin to a loss of innocence.

My theories aside, I may be seeing this movie again, this time in 3D. I very rarely, if ever, see a movie twice, but I would sit through all two-plus hours of this again just to see it in 3D. It blew my mind in 2D, so I can only giddily imagine what a 3D viewing holds. Regardless of either way you see it, it's worth the price of the ticket. Just, please, leave your cynical and jaded self at home. It will make the experience more pleasant, I promise.

Belated Christmas Artwork

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:51:19 GMT

This one took longer to do than I expected, and with the craziness of the holidays I couldn't get it done in time.

Candy Kane the Christmas Fairy by ~roofpig on deviantART

Retrojunk Article

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:28:41 GMT

New Retrojunk Article - Cartoon Crushes of my Youth. Enjoy!

The Wrap-up

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:21:53 GMT

Thought I might try to get a quick post in before the New Year's hooplah.

Christmas was hectic, but nice. The big plus was not having to travel 8 hours by plane (plus x number of hours being stuck in the airport or on the tarmac). We did Christmas Eve at Katie's mom's place and had their traditional Christmas Eve dinner (stuffed calamari, fried shrimp, pasta and homemade sauce). Christmas day we had our first dinner at Katie's dad's place, and then a second dinner back in Rochester at my parents'. The day after Christmas we did breakfast at the Compertore's (our neighbors from growing up) since all the "kids" were home, took my mom out to get a pedicure/manicure for her birthday and went out to dinner, and then hit up a sort-of reunion party with some old high school friends of mine. The day after that we traveled back to Syracuse to spend some time with Katie's brother and sister-in-law, and their completely adorable kids. After all that, it was right back to work.

Can you imagine why I might be a bit tired?

Katie got a couple of really nice gifts. I got a Nene Thomas fairy statuette (you can see it here) and a really cool pocket watch, which is something I've wanted for a long time. I got a lot of other great swag, including Star Trek on DVD, some new clothes, a LOT of candy, and some toys (yes, I still get toys for Christmas; is there something wrong with that?).

Tomorrow night will be our co-hosted New Year's party. Katie and I will be spending time tonight shopping and preparing food (mostly dips) for the epic shenanigans. After that I THINK we can take some time to rest. I'm not going to assume anything though.

So if I don't speak to you before then, have a great New Year's and I'll see you on the other side!

Prelude of Images

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:48:47 GMT

More on the holidays later, but first I'll melt your brain with cuteness. I'm referring to the kids, not me.

Pre-Holiday Bustle

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:14:24 GMT

I thought that by actually being home in New York the craziness level would be somewhat diminished. I can categorically say that it is not. This past weekend was a blur of arting and shopping, and yesterday was more last minute shopping and then cleaning up the leftover mess from baking cookies on Sunday (Katie made several kinds and I made peanut butter cookies... nummies). In all the hubbub I was barely able to finish inking Monday's comic, but still have yet to color it. And tonight I have to get Thursday's strip done because we're heading to Syracuse tomorrow night. Then the family craziness sets in. It's a whirlwind of being with the mother-in-law's side of the family, the father-in-law's side of the family, then back home to be with my family, with a possible visit with the extended family, then my mom's birthday on the 26th. Somewhere in there is a holiday party with old friends, but it's on the same day as my mom's birthday, so that's going to be difficult. Then it's back to Syracuse on the 28th to visit with nephew and nieces.

Oh, and then after all of that we're co-hosing a New Year's party. Guess who, after all of this craziness, will probably end up not remembering much of the party due to a need for "relaxation"?

On the plus side, I'm happy with the gifts I got for Katie. Unfortunately, since she reads this journal (I see you there!) I can't tell you what I got her, but I'm sure she'll share after she gets 'em.

So if you don't hear from me in the next couple of days, have a safe and happy Christmas (and by Christmas I mean whatever the heck you celebrate) and a happy New Year (and by New Year I mean I just mean New Year).

Internet Craziness

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:29:29 GMT

New article up on Retrojunk all about my favorite Christmas movie.

Also, this. Because I'm a sick, sick person.

Movie Review and Weekend, Too

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:16:06 GMT

So I'm sure this will draw the ire of the usual haters, but I don't really care. I finally saw Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day this weekend. It was fun; not great, but fun. I love the first film, and I rewatch it all the time. The sequel will end up in my collection, but the rewatch factor isn't going to be the same. Sure, it was a movie purely for us fans. Just about everyone, down to the minor characters, from the first movie are in the sequel (minus William Dafoe who was replaced with Julie Benz). There were in-jokes, referring to events from the first movie, and lots of allusions to the first. But it didn't work.

Why didn't it work as well? For starters, it was too stylized. Troy Duffy tried to build upon the things he did (and that worked) in the original, but some things shouldn't be overdone. Fight scenes went for way too long, and the FBI-agent-inserted-into-the-murder-scene-recreation sequences were unnecessary. Another reason is that some of the humor seemed too forced. In the original, the humor felt natural, and I felt as if I was listening to a conversation between people I knew. The sequel tried too hard for laughs.

But the main reason it didn't work was that it was missing the crucial theme that made the original a good movie. In the original, the boys are called to the life of vigilantism; it's a holy crusade of sorts. It justified their actions. The sequel was missing that. It just became a revenge flick, with action for the sake of action. The heart of the story was missing.

But like I said, it was a fun movie, and I'm glad I got to see it. And man, the ending was awesome! If you've seen it, don't spoil it (don't even give MINOR details about it), because the revelation is totally worth the wait.

Movie reviews aside, here was the rest of the weekend. Friday night Chris and I got loopy and had brother-to-brother talk until about 4:30 in the morning. Saturday was "chore day", although we didn't quite get everything done because we were wrestling with the Christmas tree (long story...). And Sunday was a typical art day. Nothing overly exciting, but we were productive.

Tonight we'll be having beef stew (which is slow cooking in the crock pot at the moment) and then decorating the tree and the house finally. And maybe we'll top it all off with some Bailey's. Sounds good to me.

Retrojunk #2

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:18:17 GMT

My second article is up at Retrojunk.com.

Memorable Christmas Gifts

My Goals

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:34:10 GMT

Huh... So I thought that I had listed what I wanted to accomplish in 2009 back at the beginning of the year, but I can't seem to find the list in my LJ archives. Maybe I'm thinking about the previous year's. Oh well, either way, I'm putting a list of my goals (not resolutions, because those never get achieved) down here to check back on in a year.

Improve my artwork. It's a basic one, but I need to keep plugging away so I can look back on my work in a year and see a difference.

Finish my current untitled work in progress. This thing needs to be done. I don't care if I finish it and it's not great; that's what rewrites are for, and finishing it is 70% of the battle. Oh, it'd be nice to finally come up with a name for it, too.

Get my untitled short story published. Speaking of untitled works... yes, I need to shop this around and get it published somewhere. There's no reason for it not to be. I have that much confidence in it.

Do a couple more paintings. The itch has been strong, and I need to scratch it with some brushes and paints. I've been holding off on a wonderful fairy design because I want to do it in paint, and the wait is killing me.

Get Bardsworth back up to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday update schedule. This is super-important to me. I hate doing two-day-a-week updates, but I'm still not prepared to make the jump to three. But I need to work double-time on preparing so I can make that jump and land comfortably.

Up my Bardsworth readership to 5,000 per day. It's a long shot, but I think if I can get back to a three-day-a-week update schedule, update consistently, and do some targeted advertising, I can do this.

The obligatory lose weight goal. Not just lose weight, but be healthier. I've made small steps, but I need take longer strides - less junk food, more healthy foods, smaller portions, getting back into yoga, and - if I have my druthers - getting back into weight-lifting.

Pay off my credit card debt. The REAL long shot. Katie and I are pretty confident we can do this, though. And I want the satisfaction of making that final payment, calling to cancel the card, and chopping the hell out of it. That will make 2010 a wonderful year.

Winter is Here, and So Am I

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:52:17 GMT

They said after a while I wouldn't miss it. "They" being people in California, and "it" being the snow. They were wrong, as I told them at the time they were.

The snow has been with us for a couple of days, but I didn't officially acknowledge it until about 10 minutes ago. I was walking back to work from the Winter Garden and took a look around me. The wind was in full force and snow flakes were descending, riding the currents. It felt like being in the middle of a snow globe that had just been shaken up. And in that moment I realized how beautiful winter is and how much I missed it.

Say what you want about it. Bitch and moan about shoveling and being cold and slippery roads. Winter is beautiful, it's pure, and I'm happy to be able to experience it again.

I'm home.

A Whole New World (now its in your head, mwa ha ha)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:00:04 GMT

I am currently sitting in my new area at work. I can't remember if I mentioned, but my position was recently transferred from IT to marketing, so I'm at a completely different desk on a completely different floor which houses a completely different department. They're lucky I adapt easily. It should turn out to be good, though, considering my background and skills.

Oh, and I have a window now! Granted, it's behind me and it faces a busy street and I can hear the traffic clearly (well, not at the moment; death metal drowns anything out), but it's still a window.

I'm in that post-con mood right now (if you missed it, my con report is over at Bardic Musings). It's hard to come back from an environment like that, even when it was a financially bad weekend, and have to slide back into the role of "normal job". I would give anything to be able to travel around and make money off of my artwork. Yeah, that would be a hassle in itself, but I would much rather be doing it than sitting at a desk for 8 hours.

Someday, Pete... someday...

Crap, I just realized there's no bathroom on this floor... I'm gonna have to run upstairs every time I have to go! Blarg.

Con Report: Steel City Con

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:03:25 GMT

Posted at Bardic Musings.

Retrojunk

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:32:45 GMT

Decided to start posting stuff on Retrojunk.com. You can check out my first article here. And check out the rest of the site! It's got a lot of cool stuff.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:09:09 GMT

With only tonight and tomorrow left to prepare for Steel City Con, I am oddly not stressed. I like it. I like it a lot.

Katie and I have dashed our plans to go to Phoenix, AZ for New Years Eve after receiving an invitation to a wedding in Oregon in July. As much as I will sorely miss the New Years Eve bash, I've always wanted to visit Oregon, and with July being further out than January, we'll have more time to save up for plane tickets (which were ASTRONOMICAL for the holidays). So now we are in the midst of planning our own crazy bash.

Last week, after spending almost a month away from it, I finally went through and edited my short story (which, I just realized now, I still don't have a title for; I'll have to do something about that). There was a good amount of language polishing and a few minor changes here and there, but all in all... this is probably the best thing I have ever written. I am so happy with it, much more so than any manuscripts I've ever had the pleasure of finishing. Once I get the first round of edits finished up, I'll give it one more look-over, and then I'm going to shop it around. It might be hard to do since it's a genre mash-up (pulp noir/detective/mystery/fantasy), but I think the work will speak for itself.

And now, a lovely gem my brother sent me:

I lied...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:45:13 GMT

I couldn't resist making this.

"Aaaaah, Mr. Sparkle!!!"

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:02:10 GMT

This was the first Thanksgiving in 4 years that I got to spend with my family, and I couldn't be happier. Thanksgiving Day itself was spent with Katie's family (dinner at her aunt and uncle's, and dessert at her dad's), and my family did their thing on Saturday at my aunt's. Food, food, and more food. Can't go wrong, eh? Now it's the countdown to Christmas.

We also got our Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon. My parents, for the last handful of years, have been going to a nearby farm (Stokoe Farms) to cut down their Christmas tree. I think this was my first year going with them (I have memories of doing it before, but I don't think it was that particular farm). Currently, our tree is sitting in the basement because we don't have a stand yet (d'oh!), but we'll be getting one soon. We really need to clean the house in a hurry, too, because we have much decorating to do!

Steel City Con is this weekend, and Katie and I excited and confident about this one. I'm trying a few different things with our display (instead of a binder with my art prints I have them all in protective poly bags and in a holder so people can rifle through them; and we have some matted artwork to show off), and Katie will have a few new items to sell. In addition, we have a whole slew of newly made cookie plushies for the comic. It's gonna be good, I know it is.

Speaking of the comic, the going-digital venture is working out pretty well. I've had to tailor my style a bit, but it's something I was planning on anyway. It certainly makes things a lot more convenient for me.

Also - excitement! The Boondock Saints 2 is FINALLY playing in Rochester! Now I just have to figure out a night to go.

Daybreakers

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:50:54 GMT

YES. Fucking YES! Finally, a GOOD vampire movie!!

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809912192/video/16827332

Question for Readers/Writers

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:31:20 GMT

Can anyone think of a book where the first several chapters followed the antagonist of the story rather than the protagonist? I'm playing with the idea of doing this in my current work-in-progress, but I was hoping to see if I could get some examples of how it was handled. It seems to me that it may be violating some unwritten rule of storytelling, but I've never taken much stock in rules.

Labels Are Only Good for Beer Bottles

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:08:32 GMT

I'd be interested to know just how many people truly - and I mean 100% without a doubt - believe in the ideals of the political party that they adhere to. Do they ever think for themselves, or, more importantly, do ever they think about others? I'm making the jaded assumption that, no, they don't.

Maybe I can see it more clearly because over the years I've gone from being a pretty deeply involved Christian to a humanist, but politics, like religion, seems to cloud the important issues. Things are overlooked or ignored in favor of keeping the status quo of a political party's ideals. Because if that political party doesn't stay the same, it loses supporters, just like if Catholicism changes anything, it loses people. They go off and form their own groups that not only uphold the original ideals that they were comfortable with, but do it with a much more militant attitude (Tea Baggers anyone?).

It's ridiculous that those of us who think for ourselves and believe in common sense have to live through this. Personally, I want what's best for the people around me, not "the country", because in using the term "the country" you're dehumanizing the population in favor of a political ideal. But somehow that makes me "unpatriotic" and "socialist". It's sad that I would be labeled with such scornfully used words when all I want is for everyone to be happy and healthy.

The bottom line is that I'm sick and tired of any political party or label - Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, socialist or Tea Bagger. In my mind, all those things mean the same thing: someone who needs the crutch of a set of political beliefs in order to think. Unfortunately, we're not taught to how to think anymore, just how to work the system.

But that's another rant for another time.

Adventures with Chicken

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:50:38 GMT

This past weekend I attempted to cook beer can chicken, or, as it affectionately referred to as, "beer-butt chicken". If you are unfamiliar with what that is, it's basically cooking a chicken with a half-full can of beer jammed up its pooper. What happens is that as it cooks, the heat causes the beer to steam up into the cavity, keeping the meat moist and imparting a bit of flavor. It was an adventure.

First, lighting the charcoal took forever. The only stuff I could find was lump charcoal, and I hate lump charcoal, specifically because it takes forever to start. Also - and I forgot this until it was too late - because it diminishes to about half-quantity once it hits the point that you can actually start cooking on it. Oh well, I thought, I'll deal with it.

The next obstacle was the fact that I had to cover it. The chicken was too tall (you have to cook it standing straight up), and the lid to my grill isn't deep enough. So I ran and grabbed a roll of aluminum foil and tore off long strips of it, enough to cover the grill. But it was slightly breezy out, so the foil wouldn't stay. Trying to act quickly, I grabbed a damp kitchen towel and placed that over the top. Boom, problem solved.

Until the next one. The chicken needed to cook for over an hour, and I was supposed to add new charcoal to the grill. Usually one would do this with a good chimney starter, but I didn't have one, so I tried to make one. Actually, I made two; you can make one out of a large coffee tin, but I only had two small ones, so I used a can opener to puncture holes in the sides. Unfortunately, I could only do it on the top and the bottom; the opener wouldn't puncture the middle (as there was no lip for it to grab onto and gain leverage). So I grabbed my power drill and drilled holes into the side, which was harder than it sounds.

Once that was done, I put newspaper in the bottom (to act as "kindling") and then put the charcoal on top of it and lit it. They worked! Sort of. When I came back to dump the ready coals, again they had burned down to almost nothing, which would provide almost no heat.

Oh, let me interject and also add that this chicken was supposed to be cooked indirectly, which means the coals were supposed to be gathered up to sides with no direct heat coming up from below the chicken. I didn't do this well enough, so I had blackened chicken skin at the bottom. D'oh!

Finally, in frustration, I removed the chicken from the grill and put it in a roasting pan into the oven to finish the cooking. As I was doing this, I realized that I had multiple cuts on my hand from the makeshift chimney starters. Yay.

When it came time to carve the chicken up, I grabbed our carving set and began making cuts. I didn't get far; the meat literally fell off of the bones, which I took as a wonderful sign. I plated the meat for myself, Katie, and Chris, and we dug in. Katie said she thought it was the best chicken I had ever cooked. I'm still on the fence about that, since I did half-chickens last year that were out-of-this-world. But for all the craziness I went through, I was quite happy with the end product.

Only next time I hope I have something better to work with than Blue Light (my brother drank all the Blue).

The Very Last I Will Say on the Subject

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:50:21 GMT

Hear that? That's the sound of the last shreds of my faith in humanity being flushed down a dirty toilet.

Reason #884

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:15:36 GMT

Another reason to hate the Twilight series: They gave Chris Weitz the chance to direct New Moon, but they will never give him the chance to direct the sequel to The Golden Compass, a far better series and (I'm assuming, having never seen Twilight) a much better movie.

Actually, that's another good reason to hate Hollywood, too, but I'm already overfilled with hate for them.

It Continues

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:00:47 GMT

Suck it, vampires. Wait... no, dont.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:29:13 GMT

Okay, seriously, I'm gonna go on and on with the Twilight bashing until I don't have to hear about New Fucking Moon anymore.

That being said, this is damn funny.