Toren Atkinson’s Absolute Blog

I wasn’t helping Deanna pack, move or clean for almost 5 hours this weekend. During those 5 hours I was as Word Under the Street at the Cloudscape Collective table showing off my art. Right across from my table was Steve Rolston’s. Steve has done work for TMNT, Queen & Country, The Escapists, and a host of other stuff. He taught me everything I know about comics (that I didn’t already read in books) in his Introduction to Comic Book Production course at VanArts. I recommend it!

Steve was kind enough to contribute to my Rhinosferatu sketchbook. Click to make big:

You can visit steverolston.com and read his livejournal where he often posts sketches and whatnots at http://steverolston.livejournal.com/

For those who like seafood on their pizza (I don’t) and are concerned about our favourite planet, it might interest you to know that:

Panago is Ocean Wise

Consumers can now make sustainable seafood choices when ordering pizza. Panago is the first takeout and delivery chain to partner with the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise seafood conservation program. Panago has transitioned all seafood menu items, at over 160 locations, to ensure they are Ocean Wise. “As well as offering our customers high quality ingredients, we are pleased about being able to offer our customers a more environmentally responsible choice when seafood is ordered,” says Panago’s CEO Sean De Gregorio. “The partnership is a small step toward minimizing environmental impact on our oceans,” he adds.

“Overfishing is THE number one problem facing the world’s oceans,” says Dr. John Nightingale, President of the Vancouver Aquarium. “With over 90% of ocean animals longer than 6 feet now gone, and with most ocean fisheries on the brink of collapse within the next 25 years, it is a major problem that we must respond to. Panago has done just that by committing to provide sustainable seafood alternatives in partnership with the Ocean Wise program. As one of the largest pizza providers in Western Canada, and expansion eastward, they are proving that change is possible and they are most certainly a leader among quick service restaurants.”

For more information, please visit:

http://www.vanaqua.org/oceanwise

http://www.panago.com

My friend Kolja thinks that the moon landing is a hoax. A while back we were discussing it through email and he posed me a question. I sent that question to the folks at the Skepticality podcast and when they had Phil Plait from badastronomy.com they had him answer it. Here it is:

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You can hear the entire episode (#83) [here].

Perfect timing since last night they had a special moon landing Mythbusters episode on Discovery Channel followed by the 2 hour special In the Shadow of the Moon “Historical details surrounding the nine Apollo flights.”

Also new guitar smash sketch forthcoming
Re: the second one below – too Christmassy? Or not Christmassy enough? Looks like the event will be happening in December after all.

This important piece of pop culture escaped my notice until earlier this week. Now I’m making sure you don’t miss out any longer.

I think I’m about to do my very first “trackback.” I hope I do it right, I’m not 100% sure what it is.

It’s for: http://diceofdoom.com/blog/2008/09/cthulhu-to-rock-too/

Comments?

This time I woke up in the hotel room, again about a half hour before the alarm went off. I enjoyed my first shower of the convention! Deanna and I went to the convention center and picked up some food from the green room. I reorganized the merch booth and business was steady, some may say brisk. Deanna and I took the time to wander around a bit. On the way out I tried to cut through Wil Wheaton’s line of fans (much quicker than going around) but Deanna pulled me back as it seemed a photo was about to be taken. Wil saw us and said that he was so glad he met me in a casual atmosphere – it made him appreciate the show last night even more. I failed my Good Boyfriend Check and quickly said “thanks a lot, I won’t hold up your fans” when I should have said “thanks a lot, this is Deanna she’s a big fan.” Oops.

We visited the annex building where all the tabletop games were going on and I was catapulted back in time to organizing gaming conventions here in town. Even at the grandest conventions you cannot escape the musky, tightly packed rooms of young and not-so-young men rolling dice, slapping cards and trying to speak over one another. Good times!

While we were gone Wil came to the booth and refused to take free pins and stickers, but overpaid for our latest CD instead.

When we got back I organized a time for the band to perform Rock Band at the Harmonix booth. Allen and Stewie came with their media recorders and there was a lot of reassuring bandmates that it was set on ‘no fail’ mode. We watched a few musical numbers go by with other players to get the gist of things (Warren and I were the only ones who had played the game before). We entered the stage from the opposite side of the “regular” people waiting in line, which caused some confusion. One little kid (maybe 10 years old) didn’t get the memo and he grabbed the guitar before Warren. Even when he was clearly on stage with strangers and not whatever group he was supposed to be with, he was still gung ho to play and had to be escorted off stage by the staff. Too bad, I was all keen to get some new blood in the band. We played “Shhh….” as seen here:

The rest of the day went by mostly at the booth. Throughout Sunday business was steady since by that point people finally knew who we were. Adam and Deanna left early but Stewie stuck around till the end. We packed up our stuff and as I was leaving I threw a “Worship Me Like A God” shirt at Wil Wheaton. I hope he wears it in the spirit it was intended. Stewie, Warren, Mario and I had a sort of band meeting at a sushi place attached to the Max Hotel and discussed what to do about following up on the Rock Band coup. I retrieved the rental car from the valet and, being Canadian and not a car owner, I completely forgot to tip him.

Jordan and Merrick had already left in the van with our gear and merch so we met up to cross the border at the same time. There were absolutely no hassles getting everything back in the country and after I dropped Warren off in Abbotsford and Mario in North Van I finally got home, a huge almost year-long weight lifted off my shoulders!

We want to do it again next year – and this time: band manager!

Which one do you prefer?
Which one makes a better poster?
Which one would you buy on a shirt?