Toren Atkinson’s Absolute Blog

Today I went to ComiCon, the monthly comic convention in the Heritage Hall on Main Street. I like it, and now that I’m getting closer to actualizing a comic, it’s become more important to me to see what’s going on. Michael T Gilbert, creator of Mr Monster, was very kind in offering advice. He showed me the tools of his trade (even let me try out his pen) and he liked the WWFJ characters that I showed him and his charming wife Janet (she writes for Uncle Scrooge and some manga). On his advice I’m going to draw a three or four page story of the WWFJ.

I always feel bad for the indie comics people. They went to all that trouble to print up their dreams, come to the ComiCon, and lay it all out, and I don’t even have the common decency to throw money at them. Even the ones that aren’t that good I have to admire, because they’ve put so much love and effort and time into it (that’s more than me). But I can’t possibly support them all. I was walking past the Critical Hit Comics table (good name, by the way) and the fellow began to give me the hard sell on their comic Outnumbered. I certainly listened and flipped through the books but I just got laid off and I’m going to be spending a lot of money in the next week or two, but I thought geez, this guy is a good salesman. The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets needs a guy like him. Anyone who reads my blog knows that self-promo is my achilles heel. So I thanked him and moved on. On the way back he called out “You know, you look a lot like Toren” as if I would know who Toren was if I wasn’t Toren, which of course I was and am. So it turns out the guy (Kevin Leeson) is a big Thickets fan and he is excited there’s a new album in the works, and he just handed me all the comics he was trying to sell me. So there you go, if you’re going to become a musician do it for the right reasons - free comics. I am in turn going to be good enough to read them (and plug them on my blog. Oh look! Done).

Oh and Brian Fukushima was there. We talked about kobolds. Ironically I am going to miss the next Vancouver Comics Jam because I’ll be at CampyCon. Wait…that isn’t ironic at all.

Almost lastly, there seems to be a local collective of girl comic artist called The Radar Friends. I like that. Okay that’s more than enough plugs. Soon I’ll do another I’m Drawing A Children’s Book Diary entry. But not right now.

On another (Slackademics) note, whose interested in learning how to read music, for free? Because Stephane will teach.

Last night they played the first four Trek films on Space. I must have seen Star Trek IV twenty times but here are a few new observations:

At the beginning of the movie, the Klingon ambassador is in the council chambers, exasperated by the Federation’s lack of diligence in dealing with Kirk’s “rogue” ways. The ambassador leaves in a huff, declaring that “there can be no peace while Kirk lives” and there is a brouhaha from the crowd. I never noticed it until last night, but it sounds like somebody in the background yells out “YOU POMPOUS ASS!” I thought it was just one of those things that you can’t really tell what it is so you just associate it with some random phrase, but it turns out I’m not the only one. From that point on in the film every chance we got we’d yell out “you pompous ass!” Thanks for the reference on that, Stewie.

They should have made a spinoff sitcom about the people at PlexiCorp. “Not now, Madeline!” is my favourite line from the film. We could see all the office hijinx that Dr Nichols and his employees get up to while designing and manufacturing transparent aluminum. Furthermore, Stewie pointed out that that would be an amazingly subtle Trek geekery to make a PlexiCorp t-shirt and go to Star Trek cons wearing that and an “I quit smoking” button. I think I smell my Hallowe’en costume.

The punk on the bus who gets some hot Vulcan nerve pinchery is played by Kirk Thatcher. Not only was he an actor in the film, but he composed and performed the “I Hate You” song that he was listening to on the bus. If you look at his imdb page you’ll see he’s a bit of an 80’s renaissance man. He was a creature technician on Return of the Jedi, has screenplay credit on Muppet Treasure Island, and other stuff. Here’s an interview with him at IGN where he takes credit for the “hello, computer” joke, and writing and speaking all the questions the Vulcan computer asks Spock at the beginning of the film.

NOW THAT’S INTERESTING!