Wizard Magazine closed its doors last month.
Here is a tribute to the magazine I co-wrote with my buddy Dave Kushner. He did the art. It says everything we wanted to say (in 3 pages) about our best Wizard memories.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Going Back....(and to the left)
Hit by a rush of nostalgia this morning so excuse me if this post meanders.
I started the day furious at my roommate and his alarm clock's seemingly endless cycles of SNOOZE. I have been getting up early for the past few weeks for work and today I didn't need to be up until about 6:45, so when the alarm starts to go off at 5:30 and continues to go off every ten minutes until 6am I tossed and turned and steamed until I quiet literally exploded out of bed, into the shower and out the door to the office.
Being about an hour and a half early for work I had plenty of time to browse through my Google Reader new feeds and sip coffee. Which is what I was doing when I came across this:
FIRST TRIP TO E.R
If you DIDN'T click on the link it is a picture of a little boy's head with four staples in it. Under the picture is the following:
This, of course, took me back a few years to the time with my ex-girlfriend and her daughter. These were wonderful times overall and although things didn't work out the way I hoped I still have a wealth of happy memories from this time.
One of these memories, happy in retrospect but scary at the time, was of our own trip to the ER.
The kid, Faye, was playing with my sisters on my Mom's couch. Everyone was gathered around the kitchen/living room having conversation. If I remember correctly my Mom was washing dishes with my ex, Ali. The sister were entertaining the little one on the couch and I think I was sitting across from them watching TV.
Like most accidents involving kids no one was prepared for the sudden shift in mood as Faye went from happily bouncing on the couch (which was far to close to the edge of the kitchen counter for an accident NOT to occur). to slamming her head back into the counter, to crying before any of us realized what happened.
Immediately she wailed for her mommy. Ali ran around to the kid and scooped her up. Held her close and motioned with her eyes for me to take a look at the damage.
I moved in to examine even as my own Mom was grabbing towels and ice, while my sisters sat shocked on either end of the couch. The wound looked worse than it actually was, which I've found to be true of most head wounds.
The back of her head had struck the counter splitting the skin open and bleeding like hell, which looked all the worse as it matted Faye's platinum blonde hair. Alison was looking at the wound as well when my Mom came over and put the wadded kitchen towel on it and said to Ali, "Keep pressure until you get to the hospital."
At that point I was already heading for the door. The kid, who only moments ago had been laughing and carefree sniffled the entire ride, sounding not in pain so much as in shock that her fun-time could end so abruptly painful.
This has always been the worst part of seeing a kid get hurt for me. That moment right before it happens when it seems like they feel invincible to the world, not yet mindful of how delicate their own bodies can be.
So we arrived at the ER and fill out forms and wait around for so long that Faye actually cycles through the pain back into happy kid mode and we have to keep her calm and on Ali's lap so as not to aggravate the wound.
Finally a nurse calls us into a room and asks a million questions in that annoying, disaffected, I-have-seen-it-all-voice that I feel is laced with contempt and lacking any empathy, something crucial to good bedside manner. As Ali describes what happened the nurse roughly pulls the kitchen towels away and moves the bloody blonde hairs to get a good look. Faye begins to cry again.
The nurse mumbles somethings about not needing stitches and reaches into a drawer pulling out a staple gun. If you've ever seen one of these things you know there is no exaggeration in that description. It is literally the same size and shape as the office supply. The only difference is that is seems to be made of a white plastic instead of the metal most staple guns are made of.
The nurse tells Alison to hold Faye close and moves in with the gun.
Mother and daughter cling to each other as the impassive nurse puts three staples into the back of the three-year-old's head: CLIP! CLIP! CLIP!
It's over. The nurse gives us a bill and some printed instructions. Says to wash the blood out with water but no soap and then to leave it alone for a few days. She gives Faye a sticker or a lollipop or something and walks out.
I don't think the kid even knew what hit her. Alison was shaken.
I would have been more rocked by the whole event had i not lived through similar situations with my younger sisters. They had both had mishaps at home as little girls and needed to take a trip to the ER for a stitch or twelve.
Not sure why I felt the need to tell this story now but there you go. Still think about both those girls (Ali and Faye) but now only with a misty fondness that can be best compared to that feeling of regret you have when you wake up from a really awesome dream; It was a wonderful, sometimes heartbreaking, time but not something you could ever recreate or get back to no matter how hard you might try.
Anyway, first time parents, the moral of the story is: injuries tend to hurt and scar parents more than the children they've happened to. Don't panic. React but be calm.
Also maybe just keep a staple gun handy and save yourself the ER trip.
KIDDING!
:)
I started the day furious at my roommate and his alarm clock's seemingly endless cycles of SNOOZE. I have been getting up early for the past few weeks for work and today I didn't need to be up until about 6:45, so when the alarm starts to go off at 5:30 and continues to go off every ten minutes until 6am I tossed and turned and steamed until I quiet literally exploded out of bed, into the shower and out the door to the office.
Being about an hour and a half early for work I had plenty of time to browse through my Google Reader new feeds and sip coffee. Which is what I was doing when I came across this:
FIRST TRIP TO E.R
If you DIDN'T click on the link it is a picture of a little boy's head with four staples in it. Under the picture is the following:
First ER trip for the boy. 4 staples in his head. He was a trooper.
This, of course, took me back a few years to the time with my ex-girlfriend and her daughter. These were wonderful times overall and although things didn't work out the way I hoped I still have a wealth of happy memories from this time.
One of these memories, happy in retrospect but scary at the time, was of our own trip to the ER.
The kid, Faye, was playing with my sisters on my Mom's couch. Everyone was gathered around the kitchen/living room having conversation. If I remember correctly my Mom was washing dishes with my ex, Ali. The sister were entertaining the little one on the couch and I think I was sitting across from them watching TV.
Like most accidents involving kids no one was prepared for the sudden shift in mood as Faye went from happily bouncing on the couch (which was far to close to the edge of the kitchen counter for an accident NOT to occur). to slamming her head back into the counter, to crying before any of us realized what happened.
Immediately she wailed for her mommy. Ali ran around to the kid and scooped her up. Held her close and motioned with her eyes for me to take a look at the damage.
I moved in to examine even as my own Mom was grabbing towels and ice, while my sisters sat shocked on either end of the couch. The wound looked worse than it actually was, which I've found to be true of most head wounds.
The back of her head had struck the counter splitting the skin open and bleeding like hell, which looked all the worse as it matted Faye's platinum blonde hair. Alison was looking at the wound as well when my Mom came over and put the wadded kitchen towel on it and said to Ali, "Keep pressure until you get to the hospital."
At that point I was already heading for the door. The kid, who only moments ago had been laughing and carefree sniffled the entire ride, sounding not in pain so much as in shock that her fun-time could end so abruptly painful.
This has always been the worst part of seeing a kid get hurt for me. That moment right before it happens when it seems like they feel invincible to the world, not yet mindful of how delicate their own bodies can be.
So we arrived at the ER and fill out forms and wait around for so long that Faye actually cycles through the pain back into happy kid mode and we have to keep her calm and on Ali's lap so as not to aggravate the wound.
Finally a nurse calls us into a room and asks a million questions in that annoying, disaffected, I-have-seen-it-all-voice that I feel is laced with contempt and lacking any empathy, something crucial to good bedside manner. As Ali describes what happened the nurse roughly pulls the kitchen towels away and moves the bloody blonde hairs to get a good look. Faye begins to cry again.
The nurse mumbles somethings about not needing stitches and reaches into a drawer pulling out a staple gun. If you've ever seen one of these things you know there is no exaggeration in that description. It is literally the same size and shape as the office supply. The only difference is that is seems to be made of a white plastic instead of the metal most staple guns are made of.
The nurse tells Alison to hold Faye close and moves in with the gun.
Mother and daughter cling to each other as the impassive nurse puts three staples into the back of the three-year-old's head: CLIP! CLIP! CLIP!
It's over. The nurse gives us a bill and some printed instructions. Says to wash the blood out with water but no soap and then to leave it alone for a few days. She gives Faye a sticker or a lollipop or something and walks out.
I don't think the kid even knew what hit her. Alison was shaken.
I would have been more rocked by the whole event had i not lived through similar situations with my younger sisters. They had both had mishaps at home as little girls and needed to take a trip to the ER for a stitch or twelve.
Not sure why I felt the need to tell this story now but there you go. Still think about both those girls (Ali and Faye) but now only with a misty fondness that can be best compared to that feeling of regret you have when you wake up from a really awesome dream; It was a wonderful, sometimes heartbreaking, time but not something you could ever recreate or get back to no matter how hard you might try.
Anyway, first time parents, the moral of the story is: injuries tend to hurt and scar parents more than the children they've happened to. Don't panic. React but be calm.
Also maybe just keep a staple gun handy and save yourself the ER trip.
KIDDING!
:)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
SHAWN WRITES….A COMIC BOOK!
Finally I can live up to the title of this blog, I have WRITTEN!
Not only have I written (I actually write a lot) but a thing I wrote is COMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU! Now I will give you a moment to collect yourselves.
Composed? Good because now we need to get into the nitty-gritty, the fun stuff that we have been building to since the day I launched this pathetic excuse for a blog. There is some information I need to impart and a few pleas that I must make but rest assured it will all be accompanied by pretty pictures to look at. Like this:
What you see is some of the very first color pages I’ve gotten in of a book I co-wrote called, “Pixies”, which was announced today as officially available for pre-order from Arcana Comics via Diamond Distribution.
Once again let me repeat that oh so crucial information:
PIXIES – an original graphic novel
Can be ordered using: DIAMOND ORDER # NOV10 0715
.....SHIPS JAN 2011!
I am beyond excited for this book, more so by the fact that the art and coloring look extensively better than I could ever have hoped for.
I know what you’re thinking as you read this, something along the lines of, sure you wrote a comic and the art looks great but is it any good? Does it have a plot and character that I’ll actually give a shit about?
To this I say, “Of course it does! Now stop thinking in italics and dig on this…”
Our story follow two of the fellows depicted in the above page. The guy in his boxers by the sink is our human protagonist, Joe. As you can see Joe has had nothing but bad luck his entire life. Anything that can go wrong always does, but Joe doesn’t let it get him down. He never assumes for a moment it could be anything other than plain old bad luck. What he doesn’t realize is that our pixie protagonist, Sam, has dedicated his life to making sure that black cloud follows Joe forever.
You see Joe did something in his past that caused him the unlucky fate of the Pixie Curse, condemning him to a life of pain humiliation and failure.
However, all of this changes the day Joe catches Sam the Pixie under a glass in his kitchen and demands the curse be lifted. Almost instantly his luck changes for the better.
Now Joe has a chance to win the heart of the girl of his dreams but only if he can do it before Sam escapes his drinking-glass prison and alerts the rest of the pixies.
It’s a whopper of a book, over 90 pages, and that serves as the set up to what myself and the other writers involved (creator and Arcana owner, Sean O’Reilly as well as co-writer Robert Olmedo) hope to be a fun and hilarious book that comic fans can read to their kids.
Hopefully I’ve piqued your interest with this tiny glimpse into the world of Pixies. There is a strong possibility that a much larger company will be helping us get this book into Border and Barnes and Noble but until I have that info and because at heart I’m a huge comic book nerd, I would like to request you find your LOCAL COMIC SHOP (which you can do by clicking on those words) and brave the perhaps intimidating surroundings, muster up to the proprietor and (politely) ask to pre-order a copy of the PIXIES HARDCOVER FROM ARCANA COMICS. At which point he will likely not know what your talking about but that’s okay because you’re capable and always come prepared and you’ve brought along the following information:
PIXIES – an original graphic novel
DIAMOND ORDER # NOV10 0715
.....SHIPS JAN 2011!
After the comic shop guy acknowledges he will order you a copy (which helps not just you but also others because usually he’ll order more than just one and stick the copies you don’t by out onto the shelf for others to stumble into), ask you how to contact you when your copy arrives and send you on your way.
As we get closer to the release of the book I will post a lettered preview of the book either here or somewhere just as easily accessible. Thanks in advance for reading or even being curious. Certainly pass this blog link along to anyone who you think might enjoy these types of things.
From the Compound,
Shawn D.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Please Watch the Linked Video
My roommate is an actor. Here he acts as the Russian kid who invented Chat Roulette. It's funny to me. I think you will agree....please watch and pass it around the webs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8FkENU1bZ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8FkENU1bZ4
Monday, October 11, 2010
Seekrit Projects, Sims and Slacking Off or "How I Wasted A Weekend Playing Video Games and Last Minute Lettering"
It's Monday.
It's Monday?!?
Fuck. My weekend flew by and looking back I'm not sure where it went.
That isn't true. I know exactly where it went....to a town called Sunset Valley.
I've been introduced to the world of the SIMS and I have to say I think I have a problem. For years I've heard about these games (mostly from my two younger sisters, HI GIRLS) but never paid them much mind until this weekend.
SIMS 3 was downloaded on Saturday night and by Sunday night at 9pm I had populated an entire household with computer-generated people whose lives are more involved and exciting than my own. This isn't an admission of my pathetic life (actually my life has been highly entertaining and busy over the last few months) but more an admiring of the programmers ability to create a world that I was totally immersed in after only fifteen minutes of game-play. If you've played this game before then I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir but if you haven't and you have a proclivity to these sorts of time-wasters I HIGHLY recommend giving it a shot.
What I SHOULD have been doing all weekend is lettering/editing comics. In fairness, I had a big project on Friday night/Saturday morning that I put a ton or hours into and finished moments before the 11am deadline Saturday morning. Still, that was one of three books I'm juggling right now and although the deadlines for the other two books aren't as tight, I should have been focused on those become my weekdays/nights have been a wash as far as getting any kind of lettering work accomplished.
None of this even takes my writing into account. Finding the time to write, letter, edit, and work my day job has transformed my life into a series of spinning plates on top of long sticks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I would much prefer to be busy rather than not, but now a new problem of how to juggle all these activities without burning out has appeared.
Priorities become muddled when you're involved with many different passions at once. I'm a writer at heart and in the long run that's where I want to end up, but writing doesn't pay the bills. I love making comics and lettering but that only pays a few bills (READ: NOT MANY). The day job, PAing on a TV show, is what's keeping a roof over my head but isn't exactly where I want my career to stop climbing. On top of all of that there is my love for being lazy, watching too much TV and generally having an aversion to too much structure.
My solution to all of this has been to work really hard on all fronts for a few weeks and then take a two day weekend to complete waste on something inconsequential like playing The Sims 3 all weekend. It is a good life when your biggest problems are to narrow down which fun task you want to accomplish in a week/weekend.
Not sure if all of this makes for a good blog or not, it was just on my mind and need to get out. Sorry if it's not as funny or entertaining as usual (and honestly, how funny or entertaining am I usually?) but sometimes you catch me at an introspective crossroads.
For more silly posts and less ruminations on life and career I would direct you to the new tumblr that my roommate and I have started: http://blazedandneurotic.tumblr.com/
He's the neurotic one, although from just reading this blog post you that might not be clear. I swear I'm not normally this self-reflective.
It's Monday?!?
Fuck. My weekend flew by and looking back I'm not sure where it went.
That isn't true. I know exactly where it went....to a town called Sunset Valley.
I've been introduced to the world of the SIMS and I have to say I think I have a problem. For years I've heard about these games (mostly from my two younger sisters, HI GIRLS) but never paid them much mind until this weekend.
SIMS 3 was downloaded on Saturday night and by Sunday night at 9pm I had populated an entire household with computer-generated people whose lives are more involved and exciting than my own. This isn't an admission of my pathetic life (actually my life has been highly entertaining and busy over the last few months) but more an admiring of the programmers ability to create a world that I was totally immersed in after only fifteen minutes of game-play. If you've played this game before then I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir but if you haven't and you have a proclivity to these sorts of time-wasters I HIGHLY recommend giving it a shot.
What I SHOULD have been doing all weekend is lettering/editing comics. In fairness, I had a big project on Friday night/Saturday morning that I put a ton or hours into and finished moments before the 11am deadline Saturday morning. Still, that was one of three books I'm juggling right now and although the deadlines for the other two books aren't as tight, I should have been focused on those become my weekdays/nights have been a wash as far as getting any kind of lettering work accomplished.
None of this even takes my writing into account. Finding the time to write, letter, edit, and work my day job has transformed my life into a series of spinning plates on top of long sticks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I would much prefer to be busy rather than not, but now a new problem of how to juggle all these activities without burning out has appeared.
Priorities become muddled when you're involved with many different passions at once. I'm a writer at heart and in the long run that's where I want to end up, but writing doesn't pay the bills. I love making comics and lettering but that only pays a few bills (READ: NOT MANY). The day job, PAing on a TV show, is what's keeping a roof over my head but isn't exactly where I want my career to stop climbing. On top of all of that there is my love for being lazy, watching too much TV and generally having an aversion to too much structure.
My solution to all of this has been to work really hard on all fronts for a few weeks and then take a two day weekend to complete waste on something inconsequential like playing The Sims 3 all weekend. It is a good life when your biggest problems are to narrow down which fun task you want to accomplish in a week/weekend.
Not sure if all of this makes for a good blog or not, it was just on my mind and need to get out. Sorry if it's not as funny or entertaining as usual (and honestly, how funny or entertaining am I usually?) but sometimes you catch me at an introspective crossroads.
For more silly posts and less ruminations on life and career I would direct you to the new tumblr that my roommate and I have started: http://blazedandneurotic.tumblr.com/
He's the neurotic one, although from just reading this blog post you that might not be clear. I swear I'm not normally this self-reflective.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Richard Pryor's alphabet on Sesame Street
Richard Pryor's alphabet on Sesame Street: "
Richard Pryor teaches the alphabet on Sesame Street, March 2, 1976, episode 0862. SFW! Seriously! (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)
Thanks to BOING BOING for the link. This SHOULD go on the tumblr site but I can't remember the password from work. So this is it's home instead.
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