It's Gonna Be June

 Man, this month was both long as hell and whizzed by so fast.

Just today I saw The Mandalorian and Grogu movie. I have to confess, this was the first new Star Wars thing I've seen since Rise of Skywalker. My verdict? Way better than Rise of Skywalker.

I actually went out of this not sad, or disappointed, or angry at any of the choices made in this movie. The main complaint I've seen for this was that it was a standalone story that would've disappointed fans of the show because there was nothing new plot-wise or any character development. Well, it was more aimed for people like me, and if this movie existed solely to get me interested in watching the rest of the series? Well, mission accomplished. 

I wasn't exactly blind going into this, either. I knew Rotta the Hutt from the Clone Wars pilot movie was back (Jeremy Allen White giving a performance that would make Hayden Christensen proud), Zeb from SW Rebels making that rare jump from tv character to someone in the official canon, and Sigourney Weaver standing around and wondering what life choices she made that led her to be in this movie. And also Martin Scorcese was in this for some reason. You'll know him when you see him, he voices the Italian-sounding alien with big bushy eyebrows.

It was a solid Hawk and Chick-esque adventure with tiny puppet aliens that sounded too much like the Minions. I liked seeing more Babu Frick aliens, but their voices were almost too distracting. But if that was the main complaint I have about a Star Wars movie, it's definitely worth watching.

But the name Grogu still rubs me the wrong way because American Dad introduced a similar looking tiny alien thing named Rogu and he showed up first.

See? Way more worthy of the name. I wish the people running Star Wars came up with literally any other name for Baby Yoda. (Who was of course, adorable and an actual animatronic puppet!)

Other stuff I did? Conventions!

First up, the big Long Island TCG show! Man, this scene really pissed me off this past year or so. Streamers and resellers have ruined this hobby and I've barely bought any cards since more or less the last big show they had here last year.

Seriously. Crazy prices.

And this set of Gem Mint Van Gogh cards were going for $65K. Just insane.

And that's on top of seeing a Black Lotus in the flesh. But it wasn't from the sets people really care about, it wouldn't have been just in a penny sleeve in a big case with the rest of the rare stuff.

I was mostly there to see voice actors.

Was finally able to scratch a few names off my wanted list, like Eric Vale (Sanji from One Piece), Justin Cook (Kirishima from MHA), and Eric Stuart.

He joins Matthew Sussman, the original English voice of Meowth on this print. It's really sad that Rachel Lillis, the original dub voice of Jessie passed away, so I can't complete the set. I just need to wait for Michelle Knotz to come around again to get a Jessie on this.

Oh, and I met Professor Oak.

Yes, the real one. Stuart Zagnit actually cosplays as Professor Oak and he was as delightful as everyone else. It sucks that most voice actors charge extra to add quotes these days, or else I would've gotten him to add "now's not the time for that!" on this pic:

And then later in the month came Cradle Con!

The main event was a few cast and crew of the original GI Joe cartoon were there, and had a panel.

I don't have a lot of nostalgic attachment to that cartoon (I've always been a Transformers guy), but the highlight was hearing Bill Ratner, the voice of Duke, talk about the Barbie Liberation Organization, the people that switched the voice boxes of talking Barbie and Duke dolls. It happened one Christmas in New York City but it was enough to inspire a Simpsons gag:

It was a trip to hear Duke's voice talk like Barbie, and him imitating Barbie yelling "YO JOE!" If it weren't for my social anxiety (and I didn't want to pay the fifty bucks), I would've asked him about that Simpsons gag.

I still managed to pick up these Canari cards. They're from the then-recent Ascended Heroes set and pretty much the only card I wanted out of it. I got the Japanese one at the TCG show, and found the English one at Cradle Con. Thankfully they didn't break the bank too much because everyone wants the fancier (and rarer) SIR cards, but I like this art much better.

My other pickups at that con. Action Comics #454 has a notoriously silly cover:

I bought the original a few years back, but recently DC has been rereleasing various old classic issues, and for some reason they reissued this one, and with a blank cover variant to boot. I'm gonna have some fun with this one.

And while I didn't pick up any new pins at Cradle Con (gasp), I snagged a few at the TCG booth. The Mewtwo one from the official store, and a few from Wild Bill's. Had no idea they sold pins, and two for six bucks was a deal I couldn't pass up.

And finally, various other pics I got at Cradle-Con:

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Eighteen!

 Can you believe it?! The blog is 18 years old now!

I'm at the age where I'm starting to forget when this blog got started. I almost thought it was 19 this year. Nope! Started in 2008. I'm shocked that Blogger is still around, letting me do my thing. One of the few constants the internet still has these days.

But the big thing to happen around here this month?

It snode.

Again. 

This time Snow Miser got offended that we finally started to see grass again and dumped two feet of snow on us this past Sunday night. We were due for our once a decade blizzard, and the big ones lately hit in sixes: 2026, 2016, 2006, 1996.

"The Blizzard of '26" really is best said in an old prospector's voice. And people will STILL think the blizzard of '78 was worse. At least this one came overnight and everyone knew it was coming. THAT one came during rush hour traffic and cars were just buried on the highway. That sounded worse.

For the first time EVER my job closed due to the weather. That's how much it ruined the morning commute. Apparently the managers still had to show up, but I really didn't envy them.

Just getting out of my driveway was a herculean effort. The snow went up to my waist. Behind me is the giant pile we shoveled to the side. The end of my driveway was about two feet to my left of this picture. It had to go SOMEWHERE.

And last time it was dry, powdery snow. This one was more wet and a way bigger pain in the ass to clean up. At least that meant we got to see the road much sooner than last time.

And then two days later came fluffy snow that re-covered everything! And it came down right as I was driving to work! And it all melted by the time I drove home! At least that's the silver lining in all this, it's actually been above freezing and a lot of it is already melting, with rain and warmer temperatures coming in the next week.

And that means March is coming, and with it, my own birthday. I'll check back in here with you guys then.

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It Snode

Forgive me if I'm not too into the National Gorilla Suit Day spirit this year. We just lost Catherine O'Hara.

She was one of those rare people I've never heard a bad word about. Like she was just as lovely offscreen as she was during any of her performances. 

All these tributes will talk about Beetlejuice or Home Alone or SCTV or Nightmare Before Christmas or Schitt's Creek or A Mighty Wind. But I will stand up on a hill and say that acting opposite Fred Willard in Waiting For Guffman was one of her finest works. I embedded the Midnight At The Oasis audition scene and every second is absolute gold. Not just her acting skills. It takes a LOT of work to act and sing crummy AND be hilarious at the same time, and she made it all look easy. Notice how she's mouthing along to all of Fred's lines, too. And something she's always had a knack for? How her outfits tell a story all on their own. The matching track suits, and the bangs! It's really something only she could pull off, and you don't really think about these things.

TCM showed that and Best in Show last month (right before Rob Reiner and his wife were killed), so those performances were still fresh in my mind.

And she, like Eugene Levy with her, are and were incredible singers.

And I dare you to not have a dry eye after watching the A Kiss At The End of The Rainbow scene from A Mighty Wind.

How that lost the Best Original Song Oscar that year baffles me.

To give you a hint to how far and wide she reached people, when I came home from work yesterday, my mom said "did you see the news? Moira died!"

As in, Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek. That's how my mom knew her. And why wouldn't she? That role is just a master class all on its own. The way she says "Alexis" is seared into my brain. Like Fred Willard, she had this uncanny ability to make boring words sound so gut-bustingly funny.

Just a "Hi!" and you're on the floor. Only her.

Every single tribute shared a different scene and they're all iconic and nobody has a wrong answer. It's gonna be tough without her. And she was on The Studio and I heard it JUST started filming season 2. Can't imagine how they're gonna write around this.

And to get to the main topic: It did indeed snow.

We got at least a foot, which is, uh, not normal in recent years.

I actually had to shovel multiple times that day since it snowed for most of it. It became a real pain in the ass when I had to dig out my car.

And since it hasn't gone above freezing since last Sunday, about 90% of it is still around. And it's MOSTLY off the roads. I can't imagine what it's like living in a place that gets like this all the time. Or, like what's happening now in North Carolina, a place that has barely any infrastructure to handle it.

And one last thing to round out the month:

Walter Simonson?! At a small comic show near me?! For some reason, this was on a Tuesday, so I booked it out of work as soon as I could to take advantage of this really rare chance. The last time he was even around here was NYCC back in 2023, and I had no idea he was there until after the con ended. When he announced that he caught covid from it.

When he's usually at cons, he always had a super long line. Because he liked to chat, and, yeah, how rarely he shows up. And this was really no exception. There were about, maybe fifteen people in front of me? And I still waited about an hour. Mostly because two people in front of me wanted sketches and they waited a long time for him to do it. (As luck would have it, he had just gotten back from a dinner break when I got on line).

He was, of course, real nice and funny and it was really cool to see him sketch right in front of you.

He's most known for his work on the Thor comics, and being a co-creator of Beta Ray Bill. So naturally, I got him to sign my copy of The Mighty Thor #337, his first appearance.

It's the biggest original key issue I own. I own a few classics in reprint form, but this one's the real McCoy. I bought this off eBay in I wanna say 2018 because if the MCU was gonna add him to it, I'd better buy it before the price on it skyrockets, lest what happened to the first appearances of the Guardians of The Galaxy. No name characters that appeared in no name comics that now command big name prices because Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper play them in movies. 

Well, he hasn't shown up yet, but it's still a key and it still commands a big price. But not as much as I thought it'd be. For a while, it was the most I paid for a comic.

But I also got Mr. Simonson to sign Beta Ray Bill's next two appearances, in Thor 338 and 339.

Pay no attention to the price tags, I got them for much cheaper at NYCC the year I bought them.

Thor 339, not only was it part of Assistant Editor's Month, but it's notable for being the first appearance of Beta Ray Bill's weapon Storm Breaker, and that WAS famously added to the MCU in Infinity War.

And just for fun I got a couple of the Frog Thor issues signed, too.

When are THOSE stories getting adapted, Feige?! And how can Kermit star in them?!

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It's Hot Out There

 

Ow. Well, the sun was certainly doing its job last week. The highest it read was 107. That's not safe for, well, anyone. I felt like I was gonna burst into flames the moment I walked outside. At least it only lasted two days. And I'm in the Northeastern United States, this ain't common, I can't imagine living somewhere where it's like this all the time.

And stupid me thinking 94 degrees yesterday wasn't as bad, despite still being, you know, hot as hell.

But back when the weather was more sane, I went to look at baby geese.

And saw a Black-crowned Night Heron!

I didn't even notice it until I saw people taking pictures around the pond. I never saw one in person before, let alone one this close! It was super cool.

Phineas & Ferb came back. I know a lot of people (myself included) aren't fans of reboots and revivals of shows that should have never been cancelled in the first place, but this new season really does feel like it never left. That's high praise. Dan & Swampy and crew took what they learned about storytelling over the past nine years and applied them to one of the few hits Disney still has.

I hope we get to see the bread bowl hot tub.

Got to play the Mario Kart World demo! Of course I played as the cow. Someday I'll buy a Switch 2. I just don't have the time or money for a $500 Mario Kart machine right now. I'm holding out for DK Bananza and Pokemon Legends Z-A.

Saw Pixar's latest, Elio! A cute story about a troubled boy wanting purpose and friends. This one was meddled with, AND IT SHOWS, but boy, it turned out pretty good. Definitely a better sci-fi story than Lightyear, that's for sure.

Overall, I didn't do THAT much this month. Nothing much notable, anyway. But I was bequeathed a collection of old school Sailor Moon VHS tapes from the parents of my late friend DJ. They were moving to Florida, and I got to pick through what was left of his DVD and VHS collection.

I didn't take most of the tapes, mostly because I haven't owned a VCR in about twenty years. We were very kindred spirits, we had the same taste in tapes. Lots of Disney. Like "did my tape collection somehow end up with him?" kinda thoughts.

I kept all the Sailor Moon tapes for sentimental reasons. It's mostly S and SuperS, but there were a few of the old school janky covers, like the one above with Sailor Mercury.

Oh, And I went to a food festival.

The Famous Food Festival seems more and more like a scam every time I go. It costs so much to get in, a lot of the vendors I liked stopped coming, and everything's so expensive. This time I mostly window shopped, since my wallet and my stomach aren't as big as they used to be and didn't want to ruin my Sunday dinner.

I did, however, try some omurice.

A fried rice dish with some egg on top. Man, that was good. But I wasn't a fan of the price.

If you have to ask how much something costs, it's too much.

That'll do it for June. Lets hope July is better.

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