AKACHRIS

"The New Yorker Caption Contest - 11/16/09"

2009-11-15T19:59:00.001-08:00

Here's my entry for latest The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest...

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Snakes on a Plan"

2009-11-10T12:23:00.001-08:00

I really like Mark Gruenwald's take on the Serpent Society, an union of super-criminals. I wasn't too crazy about some of the designs.

Anaconda: I wasn't too crazy about the gills on Anaconda so I gave her a mask with a respirator look.

Black Racer: Got rid of the green wig and gave her a sleek-looking helmet along with cutting blades on her forearms [like the old Fer-de-Lance]. Otherwise, the costume remains the same.

Bushmaster 2: It made no sense for an assassin to have such an undisguisable feature, so I got rid of the bionic snake-like lower prosthetics, and gave him normal bionic legs.

Coachwhip: Minor changes only. She is covered head-to-toe in a bodysuit.

Copperhead: I totally revamped the costume so it looks more like an armor or battlesuit. I have him more of an energy projector [electricity].

Cottonmouth: Minor cosmetic changes to his cowl. Like the other members of the Serpent Society, he is now covered head-to-toe in his costume.

Death Adder 2: The costume is pared version of the original. No super-long fin or tail. I always found the image of these characters [Bushmaster, Death Adder 2 and Rattler] disguised in public with only a fedora and trenchcoat as ridiculous and straddling the wrong side of the line of suspension of disbelief.

Fer-de-Lance 2: The new character is male who wears a battle armor equipped with mini-rocket launchers [his "lances"]. I wanted to give the Serpent Society some more members with long-range capabilities.

Puff Adder: Like Cottonmouth, only minor cosmetic changes to his cowl.

Rattler: I created a totally new costume/battlesuit. It's a padded costume [as protection to the vibrations his weapons generate] with shock gauntlets [similar to the Shockers].

Rock Python: Again like Cottonmouth and Puff Adder, only minor cosmetic changes to his cowl.

Sidewinder 4: The newest Sidewinder is cunning and ruthless. Besides his battlesuit [only minor changes with the cowl area], he is utilizing two new devices - the Snake Charmer system [each member of the Serpent Society is implanted with a cybernetic implant that render them into a dazed and incapacitated state if activated] and the Snakeskin [each Society member has a version of Sidewinder's teleportation circuitry that is good for one jump to a pre-determined location - usually a teleportation receiving platform hidden in the trailer of a semi-truck].

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"The New Yorker Caption Contest - 11/09/09"

2009-11-08T18:49:00.001-08:00

Here's my entry for this week...

It's not my best work.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Casting Couch"

2009-10-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

The new television season has started and I've fallen victim to it. Thank god for the DVR.

Two new shows that I like this season are FlashForward and White Collar. Both feature FBI agents as some of the main characters. Evidently the writers and casting agents for both shows were on the same wavelength as they both have black male and lesbian agents in supporting [and not leading] roles.

Of course, maybe it's just me because I tend to notice patterns, commonalities and coincidences. For example, I theorized that there was an Entourage curse as many of the guest stars died within months of their appearance on the show for Seasons 2-4 [Chris Penn, Bruno Kirby, and Sydney Pollack]. No known deaths for Seasons 1, 5 or 6.

UPDATE: I just saw the latest episode of White Collar, and evidently they got rid of the lesbian agent played by Marsha Thomason and replaced her with a heterosexual female agent played by Natalie Morales [formerly of the underrated but cancelled sci-fi comedy The Middleman]. While that makes perfect sense to spice up the series by having sexual chemistry between the con man main character and the female FBI agent, it now throws a monkey wrench into my blog entry.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"The New Yorker Caption Contest - 11/02/09"

2009-10-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

For the last several months, I have entered The New Yorker Caption Contest on a regular basis without any luck. While I will gladly admit I'm not the funniest person in the world, I think I have a great sense of humor plus I can be pretty witty and sarcastic on occasion.

So I have decided to post my entries for public viewing. Here's the latest...

Please let me know what you think.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Con Wars - Dazed and Confused"

2009-10-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

The New York City comic book convention war between Wizard and Reed Exhibitions continues.

There are great summaries and synopses at Bleeding Cool, The Beat and Robot 6 [at Comic Book Resources].

While there has been mention of Wizard's excellent mainstream news coverage, I saw something in Time Out New York which was not covered. For those of you who don't live in the Tri-State area, Time Out New York is a pretty popular local magazine, right behind New York and The New Yorker. Check it out below, it's the first blurb in the bottom section - "Best of the fests" with the photo of William Shatner.

So what's so strange or baffling about this blurb, Mark Texeira [who is currently drawing random stuff for Marvel Comics] is mentioned FIRST!!!

BTW, the blue highlight is mine and not the magazine's. The yellow highlight and arrow are the magazine's.

For those of you in the media business, sections like these are often rewritten versions of press releases so I'm guessing that the Big Apple Comic Con promoted Mark Texeira. And if you look at the Big Apple Comic Con guest list here, he's listed as a "Special Guest" in the top section ahead of sports legends Yogi Berra and Joe Frazier, top-selling comic book artist Jim Cheung, and pop culture icons as Linda Hamilton and Adam West.

I love Mark Texeira's work and think he's one of the great underappreciated comic book artist, but there is no way he should get first billing before guests of honors Jim Lee [the most popular comic book today] and Joe Quesada [the E-I-C of Marvel Comics] or William Shatner in the blurb.

So why was he getting such attention??!!? I'm guessing because the spelling of his name is close to ubër-popular Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, and that Big Apple was hoping there would be some confusion among the general reading public.

When I get a chance, I'm going to elaborate further on the whole Con War and how I think it will be good thing for the general convention goer.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Aftermath"

2009-04-26T13:52:00.001-07:00

The older brother is officially married. Congratulations and best wishes to him and his lovely bride.

-Chris

"Cleaning House"

2009-02-05T23:00:00.001-08:00

Hey Boys and Girls, Mr. Chris is cleaning house and about to donate his brand new graphic novels to a charity unless one of his friends wants them.

Here's the list. Check it twice. I don't give a F--K if you're naughty or nice. The first to claim a book by e-mail or text message, it's theirs. Deadline is the day before Valentine's Day because I only have so much love and patience.

DC Comics:

Batman vs. Two-Face TPB (2 copies)
Batman: The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul HC
Black Adam: The Dark Age TPB
Booster Gold, Vol. 1: 52 Pick-Up HC
Checkmate, Vol. 1: A King’s Game TPB
Hawkgirl, Vol. 3: Hath-Set TPB
Infinity Inc, Vol. 1: Luthor’s Monsters TPB (2 copies)
JLA Presents: Aztek, The Ultimate Man TPB
Justice League Elite, Vol. 2 TPB
Justice League of America: Hereby Elects TPB
Justice Society 2 TPB
Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, Vol. 1: Tomorrow’s Heroes TPB
Mystery in Space, Vol. 2 TPB (2 copies)
The Question: The Five Books of Blood HC
The Question, Vol. 2: Poisoned Ground TPB
Robin: The Big Leagues TPB
Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 6 TPB
Teen Titans/The Outsiders: The Insiders TPB
Showcase Presents Robin the Boy Wonder, Vol. 1
Showcase Presents Justice League of America, Vol. 3

Vertigo:

The Exterminators, Vol. 4: Crossfire and Collateral TPB
Incognegro HC
Kid Eternity TPB
Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vol. 6: The Python TPB

Wildstorm:

Gen13, Vol. 1: The Best of a Bad Lot TPB (2 copies)
Gen13, Vol. 2: Road Trip TPB
Grifter & Midnighter TPB (3 copies)
A Man Called Kev TPB (2 copies)
Majestic - Book 2: While You Were Out TPB
Majestic – Book 3: The Final Cut TPB (2 copies)
Maxx, Vol. 6 TPB
The Midnighter, Vol. 1: Killing Machines TPB (2 copies)
A Nightmare on Elm Street, Vol. 1 TPB (2 copies)
Ninja Scroll TPB
Red Menace TPB (2 copies)
Red Sonja/The Claw TPB
StormWatch: Post Human Division, Vol. 1 TPB
Team Zero TPB
Texas Chainsaw Massacre TPB
Tom Strong Book 6 TPB
Welcome to Tranquility, Vol. 1 TPB
Wetworks 1 TPB (2 copies)
Wetworks 2 TPB (2 copies)
Wildcats v3.0 – Brand Building TPB
Wildstorm Armageddon TPB
Wraithborn TPB

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Happy New Year"

2009-01-02T06:38:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone. Best wishes to you and yours.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"M is for Magazines, Money and Monday"

2008-12-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

I'm ashamed of myself for not getting my Christmas/Holiday cards out. I bought them, actually, I bought them last year. I've been lazy but that's not anything new.

So maybe it's karma that I only got bills and solicitations in the mail. That's not true either as I did receive my $20 gift certificate from Rite Aid [for spending $100 in a two-month period]. Normally I shop at Duane Reade for their 5% rebate but I'm a cheapskate and 20% > 5%.

I am currently testing out the personal finance software site - www.mint.com which aggregates all of your bank account, credit card and investment information. It will then consolidate and track your spending [at least what you spend via your bank debit or credit card] - for example, it will tell you how much you spend eating out at restaurants or shopping or for groceries.

There are a lot of kinks in the system [i.e. lots of uncategorized or miscategorized items] and minimal financial advice [for example, it tells me I will earn an extra $88 a year if I switch checking accounts from Chase to HSBC, which honestly is not worth the aggravation of looking for a HSBC branch in New York City. I wish they would tell me something useful like what I would save by refinancing my mortgage, which I am thinking about and currently researching.

I will probably give www.wesabe.com a chance in a month or two.

I also got three magazines in the mail today, which while not unusual because I subscribe to too many darn magazines. Monday usually means The New Yorker [which I usually enjoy and informative] and New York [which is enjoyable, informative and useful]. Occasionally, one of my monthly magazines will show up like Popular Science or Men's Journal. I was kind of shocked to see Time Out New York only because it usually arrives on Wednesday.

I went through The New Yorker issue but the only thing interesting I saw was the Cartoon Caption Contest. I really don't care about Jewish Kosher food inspectors in mainland China or the history of The Village Voice. I have unconscienably-high stacks of unread magazines and my new rule if an article doesn't interest me in the first two paragraphs or with some amazing graphic [usually a photo of pretty girl does it], then I'll skip over it.

My goal is to go through 10 issues a day until the magazines are gone. The issue of New York does better with the cover story - "Adam Platt's Where to Eat '09". Another thing that stands out in the issue is the real estate section item titled "Fame Slept Here" where the magazine editors are kind enough to provide the current NYC address for R&B music sensastion John Legend. Yes, the title makes it sound like John Legend doesn't live there anymore but that's not the impression I get when I read the actual story.

I understand the real estate market is really soft now, especially for $1.25M residence, but is the extra marketing really worth the potential security risk?

I also managed to complete the crossword in the magazine under two hours, working on it on-and-off as I cooked and ate dinner...and in pen...though somewhat messily.

I'm going to leave the Time Out NewYork for tomorrow as there's a book I want to get to.

I have some plans for the New Year, a couple that are somewhat interesting, which I hope to share soon.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Home Alone"

2008-12-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

I'm home on a Friday night...in New York City...by myself. Cue the violin strings.

There were opportunities to go out tonight...to mingle with other people...socialize. But it's cold and I'm tired and potentially sick. Plus I was out last night from 4:30PM onwards past midnight...drinking...exerting myself physically [bowling and volleyball]...in the rain.

Was it me or was yesterday the worst rainy day in a long time in the New York area. No question mark as that was a rhetorical question. It wasn't just that it rained and rained without any sort of break or letup but it was rained hard, and the wind carried the rain under the umbrella so it provided little protection.

After work, I went down to Chinatown to buy some bok choy as they don't really sell good bok choy on the Upper West Side. I also bought some sushi for dinner as a stall in a market. Eleven pieces for only eleven dollars!!! How can you go wrong with that!!! I mean, besides the potential likelihood of food poisoning.

Granted that I don't have the greatest taste buds in the world, but it was definitely good...especially for the price...and I'm still not sick.

Did I mention that I went bowling last night. Again, another rhetorical question. It was with my co-workers at my relatively new job. I always thought I was an okay bowler but I did really well as I had the second highest score in the first game, and was leading in the second game before our time ended. So I guess I'm better than I thought or my co-workers suck at bowling, probably the latter.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Is This Thing On??"

2008-12-11T22:04:00.001-08:00

Testing. Testing. 1...2...3...testing.

-Chris

"History"

2008-11-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you with their heads stuck in the stand, history was made Tuesday night as...[I'm choking up here]...as...as the first Vice-President from Delaware was elected. How monumental is that??!!?

Seriously, I'm so happy that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. But not because he is African-American, but because he is from a big city [Chicago]. I'm tired of the Republican monopoly that "America"and "American values" are somehow exclusive to smalll towns in middle America. Fuck that!!

Last Friday on Halloween, I attended the NYC Halloween parade in the Village. Lots of great costumes, but the strangest thing I saw wasn't someone dressed up but this...

When I first saw it, I thought maybe there some scene being acted out in the back of the truck but there was wasn't. It wasn't hauling a float either.

I'm guessing, the driver accidently made a turn somewhere and got stuck in the human traffic of the parade....or maybe it's actually a U-Haul truck.

-Chris

"Election Day"

2008-11-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

I voted this morning.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

-Chris

"The Number Two"

2008-11-03T22:52:00.000-08:00

I like to take photos of interesting things...stuff that stands out.

Here's the menu board of a sushi restaurant that I ate at up in Mt. Kisco, NY in May 2008.

Something doesn't sound right.

-Chris

"Jonesing"

2008-10-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's been almost three weeks at the new job. So far, so good.

I started without taking a vacation or time off so I've been treating myself to some goodies --- lots of books and CDs.

I also had dinner at Momofuku Ko this past Saturday. A truly amazing experience, probably worth the high price of admission. Sometimes you have to splurge in life...occasionally...once in a while. There's some buyer's remorse now. It feels wasteful, especially with what's happening in the economy now. The food was truly great...the marinated fluke, the various types of pork, the quail egg and caviar, and the Arnold Palmer sorbet [brilliant!!].

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"End of an Era"

2008-09-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

After a little over five years, I will be leaving DC Comics. My last day is Oct. 3rd.

I start my new job the following week. Details to be forthcoming or maybe not.

-Chris

"Modern Superstitions"

2008-08-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Is this still seven years of bad luck if I walk under this??

-Chris

"Williamsburg"

2008-07-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

I spent the better part of Monday evening and night in Williamsburg --- barhopping mostly. Interesting enough.

I'm a little enamored with the string of Asian restaurants on Bedford Ave. off the L-Train Station. It's something I need to revisit.

The hipster vibe is evident, almost palpable. It didn't help that I was dressed up, though I did go sans tie and jacket while in Williamsburg.

Lots of video and photos taken tonight.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"California Dreaming"

2008-07-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

I visited my brother and his fiancee over July 4th weekend in San Francisco. They live an idyllic life which I'm not ashamed that makes me very jealous.

Maybe I need a change of scenery.

My friends Jennifer and Joanne moved to Portland, Oregon. Before they left, they house sat my apartment while I was away on vacation and they were between residences. Somehow they managed to get my bathtub nice and pristine. This is the stained bathtub that the previous owner could not make pretty while she tried to sell the place. I'm going to SO miss them.

Me in Golden Gate Park with my nephews - Rocco and Duke

Me with WALL-E and EVE at Pixar Studios. I'm playing the role of Forrest Gump.

Talk to you later.

-Chris

"Beantown"

2008-05-24T04:29:00.001-07:00

I'm in Boston. Go figure.

-Chris

"Ghosts of Covers Past"

2008-05-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

I was looking through the Marvel Solicitations for their product being released in August 2008 and I came across the cover for Ghost Rider Annual #2.

It looked a little familiar. So after a little research, I found the following in my collection which I scanned for your comparison...

This issue came out in early 2007 and was timed with the release of the Ghost Rider movie. The colors are a little different but it's the same image. From what I know, Maxim commissioned the image from Marvel who hired the artist so Marvel technically owns the image and has every right to reuse it, not to mention the copyright and trademarks to the character Ghost Rider.

If Marvel does use this image as the cover for Ghost Rider Annual #2, it means they will save money on the issue because they don't have to pay for a new cover, which is again their every right. From a financial standpoint, it's a very smart move.

I'm just curious if Marvel is paying the artist some sort of reuse fee as the artwork? Just for the record, I know the artist and do not speak on his behalf. I also wonder if the image is relevant to the story --- does Ghost Rider drive up the side of a building in the issue? I just hope one or the other is true as it would be really greedy and, IMHO, unfair of Marvel to reuse a cover that they themselves were paid for.

Speaking of comic book characters on the covers of mainstream magazines, this week's Sports Illustrated cover which features Bizarro [as drawn by Mark Bagley - the artist on the DC Comics weekly comic book series Trinity].

Does this mean that George Steinbrenner is Lex Luthor??!?

-Chris

"Full Auto"

2008-05-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a most interesting 24 hours. After volunteering and brief snack in Chinatown with the other volunteers, I rushed up to my place on the Upper West Side in a cab. I usually take the subway but I was late and in a rush.

While I got home in a relatively quick time, but not before the African Muslim [he told me he was] cab driver gave me a rant about the evils of the "white man" and the "jew" and their eventual demise on Earth and inevitable trip to hell. Considering that I didn't do anything to encourage him, I thought it was pretty bold and a little presumptuous of him to say what he did. I did try to record him on my cell phone camcorder but the background noise just drowns out his rant.

I think you can hear him say "...I don't want the white man to make it..." or something like that. While I was offended by his statements, I don't care enough to get him fired or fined or whatever. Encountering whackos is part and parcel of living in New York City.

Later on my way upstate, the car that I was riding was rear-ended. We were driving up the Henry Hudson Parkway when got hit from behind twice near the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. Evidently, the recent NYU graduate fell asleep at the wheel and didn't break in time. Luckily, no one was hurt though the bumper of my friend's car definitely need replacement. Because we were literally parked on the third lane of the highway, I was very fearful that something like this might happen.
Besides the automobile drama, it was a pretty nice and quiet weekend.

-Chris

"Currently Out of the Blog"

2008-05-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

As part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, I will be volunteering tomorrow morning when I will be helping spruce up a school in Chinatown. Then I'm off to a friend's birthday party/BBQ in upstate New York. So don't be surpised if I don't blog until Sunday or early next week.

My current kryptonite of choice...the Vanilla Bean Scones at Starbucks which are three (3) for $1.95 or mayb they're $1.75 for three and 195 calories.

My belief is the icing is made from powdered cocaine.

BTW, thanks to TAB for the birthday present -- I drank part of it last night.

-Chris

"The Breaks"

2008-05-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

I didn't blog yesterday due to extreme busy-i-ness at work and my friend's informal engagement party which I somehow got wrangled/tricked into organizing --- thereby ending my streak of consecutively blogging everyday in the month of May.

C'est la vie.

-Chris