At long last, the moment you've all been waiting for - details of my super-exciting summer vacation to Idaho!!
...
Okay, so maybe nobody was actually waiting for details. Well nobody, that is, except for Dan, but that's just because he doesn't have anything better to do. Regardless, here they are...
Minnetonka Cave
My parents live in a tiny little town called Bloomington. One of the many, many, many tourist attractions of Bloomington is the Minnetonka Cave.
I could tell you how many steps we had to climb inside the cave, what the names of the various formations inside the cave were, how goofy our cave guide was, or how the cave temperature is constant year round, but I don't remember the details anymore so I won't. Maybe next time.
We went for a drive up Bloomington Canyon (yep, that's right - the town of Bloomington has a canyon by the same name right behind it, as do the nearby towns of Paris and St/ Charles, Idaho). There's a lake at the top that I've never seen that is supposed to be really, really deep and ice cold year round (there are all kinds of stories of people drowning in the lake...spooky!). The drive to the top of the canyon seemed to go on for miles and miles up a twisty, often pretty steep, dirt road, but we did finally reach the end of the road. And that's when we remembered being told that the lake was only accessible by hiking up a steep trail at the end of the road. And I was wearing thongs (flip-flops, to you youngsters). So we didn't see the lake. But the drive to the top was pretty scenic (somebody's gonna kill me if she finds out I put photos of her on the interwebs). We even saw at least one wild animal...and a whole bunch of cows.
And speaking of Paris (what? I kinda mentioned it in the last paragraph), we went to the Fourth of July parade in scenic downtown Paris, Idaho. Parades in small towns are so much more fun for kids than parades in cities. Every float tosses out handfuls of candy. And nobody is worried about needles or razor blades or anthrax being hidden inside. Good times. And...well, if you don't laugh at the small-townness of every float, you've lived in a small town too long.
Soda Springs
I also made it back to the town I spent my formative years growing up in: the bustling metropolis of Soda Springs. I hadn't been back to visit since sometime around 2004 and didn't really expect to see that much had changed, but surprisingly, quite a few things were different. Unfortunately, I don't remember what most of them were since I didn't bother to write about any of this until today.
I did stop by the house I grew up in. It doesn't look much different than it did twenty-five years ago.
No visit to Soda Springs is complete without visiting the town's namesake: Hooper Springs (it's a spring of carbonated water - get it? Soda Springs)). It didn't look a whole lot different either. They might have updated the area right around the spring, but it was pretty much the same old thing I remember.
On the way to the drugstore downtown (to visit the soda fountain I remember so fondly), I swung by the elementary school that I attended from third to sixth grade, Hooper Elementary, and was shocked to see that all the swings, slide, monkeybars, and other playground stuff was long gone. And the school was now called "Hooper Commercial Plaza". They didn't do much more than change the sign - it still looks an awful lot like an elementary school. I found out later from Jessica Jo what happened:
Hooper School was closed about two years ago [which would have been around 2007, I guess] due to money. Of course it's money, we are one of the richest countries and we can't even educate our children. Never mind, I will get off my soapbox now [FYI: Jessica is a teacher]. Half the students were moved to Thirkill [the Kindergarten to second grade school when I was there] and the others went to the Jr. High. My friend worked at Hooper and she still hasn't got over the fact that it is closed. I get sad when I drive by there and think about the slide we earned from soup labels [it was a super-sweet twisty slide]. No teachers were let go, they just moved them to other schools.
Speaking of the Junior High School, I was also surprised to see that it had been pretty thoroughly updated. I didn't make it to the other elementary school on the other side of town, Thirkill, so I don't know how much modernization went on over there.
Right across the street from good ol' Hooper Elementary was a grocery store that my dad owned briefly in the late seventies/early eighties, Stoor's Grocery (the Stoors were an old couple who probably built the place and lived in the apartment above the store when my parents owned it). It's now the location of CHAT-tv, a Non-profit Community Access Television Station. Weird.
After wiping away my tears, we continued on to the drugstore in bustling downtown Soda Springs. I've had many a root beer float in that fine establishment. Sadly, they partly-shuttered the soda-counter by the time we got there and only offered a limited menu. I think I had an Ironport (a weird drink I've only ever seen in Soda Springs). Wikipedia actually lists the drug store in Soda Springs as one of the few places you can still get it.
We also checked out the Geyser (I think it's supposed to be the only man-made geyser in the world) and I noticed that they had added new walkways and viewing areas since the last time I had visited.
The kids played on the battleship gun outside the town's library (which looked exactly the same as it did when I was their ages) and then we went to see Ice Age 2 at the good ol' Idan-ha theater (which we only saw about 30 minutes of due to weak intestinal fortitude after a day spent eating nothing but junk food).
That about sums up the Adventures in Idaho. There are plenty of other exciting summer vacation stories to amaze and enthrall you, but that's all I feel like telling about tonight. I might even blather on about comic books and other stuff if I get around to it. We'll see.
Yeah, yeah...I know I waited just long enough for the San Diego ComicCon to be old news and for anyone who may have cared about my time spent there to lose any and all interest. Regardless, I'm going to press on.
I had only planned to attend the SDCC for a single day this year, Thursday, so I bought my pass way in advance (the show sold out long before the day of the Con). Little did I know that through the beneficence of my good Canadian Buddaroos, Laurie And Kandrix, I would be presented with an all-access Exhibitor's Pass for the whole Con. How cool is that? With the Supreme Powar! of my Exhibitor pass, I was able to attend Wednesday night's Preview Night for the first time.
Holy cow! It was like Saturday afternoon at SDCCs past (although, it may always be like this on Preview Night, I couldn't really say). There were people everywhere - it was massively crowded. Not many of the people were buying anything (myself included), but there sure were a lot of them. I actually hung out at the Art of LaurieB! booth nearly all of Wednesday night and handed out Pure Heroine temporary tattoos and LaurieB! information cards (with the little swimming naked girl from last year's banner). I lurked menacingly around Laurie's booth for a fews hours while I waited for Laurie and Kandrix to wrap things up so I could talk with them about the Art of Laurieb site I'm helping them with.
But enough about the uber-unexciting part of my ComicCon adventures...on to the acquisitions!
My first purchases were all from Laurie's booth:
The Art of LaurieB!
The 2009 Calgary Expo Pure Heroine sketchbook
The 2009 ComicCon Pure Heroine sketchbook
The 2009 ComicCon Art of LaurieB! sketchbook
Witchblade #126 with the cover by Laurie (I also picked up a con-exclusive Witchbalde #128 with a non-Laurie cover)
Laurie also drew me amazing color sketches of Pinocchio and the Blue Fairy (a huge 11" by 14") and Red Sonja.
I also saw and spoke to Mike Kunkel for a few minutes while I was hanging out at Laurie's booth. He didn't have a booth again this year, but was there to walk around and talk to the many, many people he knows. I talked to him about his recent work with DC on Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazaam and the other projects he's working on - one of which is a sequel to The Land of Sockmunster. How cool is that? Random events like this are why - even with the overcrowding by the people who aren't really fans of comics - ComicCon is still worth the time and effort.
And speaking of the changing Comiccon Demographic, here's the back cover from the 2009 ComicCon Souvenir Book. What does that tell you about the direction ComicCon is moving? I wouldn't be surprised if it was re-titled San Diego MediaCon or something equally non-Comic-related in the future. The SDCC seems to have fewer comic/art-related exhibitors show up with each passing year, while more of the booths/panels are focused on movies, tv shows, video games, toys, etc. One of the reasons this is happening is due to the SDCC-powers-that-be raising the rents on exhibitors, thus pricing out the smaller artists/comic shops (I've heard this from a few different inside-sources). It's only a matter of time before comics will no longer be the focal point of SDCC.
Bobby Rubio / Alcatraz High
I also saw Bobby Rubio again this year. I was bummed when I realized that I hadn't taken a photo of him and his booth this year (every time I tried, someone wanted to talk to him, so the timing was just never right). I picked up his new comic, 4 Gun Conclusion, and Bobby did a quick sketch inside. I mistakenly thought this was the finale to Alcatraz High, but it turned out to be a whole new story with brand new characters. I also found out that one of my co-workers went to High school with Bobby (not you, Dan - this is a new co-worker). Small world. Oh, and I forgot to get a copy for you, Dan. You'll have to get one from Bobby.
Chris Sanders
I eventually found Chris Sander's booth all the way on the opposite side of the convention hall from Bobby and Laurie's booths. I've only known about Chris Sanders since last year, but I've quickly become a fan. Unfortunately, he wasn't there when I stopped by, so I didn't have a chance to ask him to sign his sketchbook. There was an unexpected bonus in his booth, though - a free print (it was way too big to scan). It wasn't a Chris Sanders print, but it was beautiful nonetheless. And it was even printed on heavy, quality paper.
Mark Schultz
On my journey across the convention hall to find Chris Sanders, I also found Mark Schultz and bought another of his sketchbooks (volume 3 - I missed him last year, or I would have been up to volume 4). I also hadn't realized that he was the artist for the Prince Valiant Sunday newspaper comic strip until then (it's still not one of my favorites, but I do read it every week now).
Franck Cho
I also found Frank Cho over by Mark and Chris. He was selling the un-edited sketch cover to Jungle Girl #4 (volume 2), so I got one signed (for comparison, I also scanned the color version).
Dean Yeagle
Dean Yeagle had a booth near Laurie's and I picked up another one of his sketchbooks, Scribblings #3. How could I resist? His wide-eyed Mandy character is the primary inspiration for LaurieB's stable of innocent-but-slightly-naughty characters.
Paolo Parente
The company that publishes one of the beautifully illustrated (painted) comics that I discovered at ComicCon a couple of years ago, Paulo Parnete's Dust, had a booth with a bunch of new books. One of the books, 13 Chambers, had a Paolo Parente cover so I didn't hesitate to pick it up. The artist who did the interior work in the book was also there and did a sketch for me. I still need to read the book to see who the skeletal dude is.
Obligatory Eye Candy
And what would ComicCon be without models like Miss November 1998, Tiffany Taylor, selling signed photos? (There were far fewer models this year than there have been in years past. The Committe to Clean up ComicCon must be cracking down.) You'd think she would at least wear a Wonderwoman or Lara Croft costume.
As always, I took loads of random photos around the convention center. I played no favorites: costumed nerd boys, nerd girls, cute girls, random exhibitors - I got them all.
While two Months and a week is certainly no record for inactivity here, it's still a pretty long time between unreadably dull rants. And with no new entries, you're probably thinking that good ol' Bart has done nothing but sit on his big, fat tuckus all summer ignoring his web site out of shame about what a pathetic loser he's become.
Surprisingly, though, that's actually not the case. There have been many excellent adventures this summer and a few were even Kodak moments.
But I've been really, really busy (honest injun - I'm not just making up excuses) most of the summer, so this place has taken the brunt of my inattention. I have started to collect the photos and scans of stuff I wanted to mention, but I just haven't found enough time to actually put it all together. Here's a taste of what might appear here at some point in the indeterminate future: more Tales of Bart's FishTank, Comiccon 2009, Adventures in Idaho, A freaky car wreck I saw, non-reviews of the books I've read over the summer, whining about the cancellation of Primeval, a book signing I went to last week, non-reviews of movies I've seen and DVDs I've picked up, and probably a few other events that are even more uninteresting than these...
Stay tuned, true believers! It's coming any day now. I swear.
