Dragon vs. SAMAS

This and the Juicer Chainsaw (see below) are the two pieces I actually paid for - I love this one! Magic versus technology - very cool.

Ninja 'Borg!

Vince did artwork for a bunch of different RIFTS books - this one is from RIFTS Japan. I had expressed interest in this one previously and Vince threw it in for free!

More Rifts Art!

So Vince tells me he's sending me the art I bought, and that "I threw in a couple other pieces you asked about" - which translated to both of these, a pencil sketch of the Destroyer 'Borg (the rightmost picture) AND the Ninja 'Borg, which I have no scan for. Wow!

Chocolate Vader

Dark Lord of the Spud

Remember the part in ESB, where Han and crew walk into the dining room and there's Vader?


This ain't it.

Before and After

Before, obviously... ... and after.

The Good Ol' Days

Picked this baby up from artist Vince Martin just yesterday (okay, so I haven't gotten the art yet, but it arrives tomorrow). That's the Juicer Chainsaw from the RIFTS: Juicer Sourcebook, in case you were wondering. I have another piece coming as well, but no scan for it.

Man, I loved RIFTS. You could do just about anything with that setting. You want to play a futuristic cyborg who doesn't believe in magic? No problem. Mutant dog? No sweat. Sex addict who is incidentally the daughter of a god and an Atlantean super magic user? Absolutely.

I had a meathead Juicer ("Name's Dodge. Max Dodge.") who used one of the chainsaws shown above. He wasn't that bright, but he was a lot of fun to play (both times I got to use him). He was the inspiration for my Aberrant character Flare, who got a lot more play time.

I should've given Flare a chainsaw.

Serenity NOW (Well... May, Actually)

My cousin-in-law Jeff and I made our way down to Georgetown on May 26. Arriving around an hour before the movie started, we were nevertheless somewhere around 100 feet back in line. People up front had a chessboard out and had apparently been there for some time.

We got some souvenirs - a Serenity/Can'tStoptheSignal keychain and a press sheet looking thing.

Oh you want to hear about the movie? Right.

Serenity or The Big Damn Movie: Loved it. Had a little distance now from when I saw it (since the bastards at Amtrak screwed up what should have been my second pre-screening), and I can say that it's the best movie I've seen this year.

Yes, better than Revenge of the Sith.

The movie was very funny, with audience members laughing out loud several times, but with the humor never detracting from the tone of the story. The story itself was fairly dark, moreso than I was expecting from the series, and gets darker at the end.

The action and flow of the story never stopped moving, unlike other sci-fi stories I've seen lately (cough cough Revenge of the Sith cough cough ).

Things happen - this ain't just another episode of the TV series. At the end of the movie the status quo - for individuals, the crew as a whole, and even the galaxy - has changed. Some of it is for the good, some for the bad, some is just different. It really is a Big Damn Movie.

However, my one big concern is this: Joss Whedon made the movie that Joss Whedon, the artist (in terms of writing/directing) would want to make. He did NOT, in my opinion, make the movie that Joss Whedon the businessman would want to make. Why do I think this is a Bad Thing? The movie was made with the fans in mind. We get resolution to a lot (but not all, by a long shot) of the plots and character threads left dangling due the series' premature cancellation. But while time is given to explaining River and Simon's situation (and done in a really good manner, I might add) the others get kind of short shrift when it comes to background exposition. Inara's background/profession is never explained at all, nor is her connection to the crew. She just shows up, and the fans know who she is and why she's important, but to someone who's never seen Firefly - why does she matter? We love her because we know who she is, what she does, and the complex relationship between her and Mal; all that is alluded to in the movie but I'm worried than non-fans might not be as interested. Likewise for other supporting characters. I thought when I first saw it that they'd resolved so much that any sequels would be difficult - I've seen watched the series again and remembered a lot of dangling plot points that they didn't cover, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Oh yeah, and speaking of Inara... MORENA BACCARIN was THERE!!! Wooo!!!! I got to meet Inara! She's gorgeous in person (and, um, short). And I picked up a signed-by-her Serenity press sheet lookin'-thing for Rich DeDominicis, Bryan Hitch's agent.

Anyway, to summarize - I loved the movie, had a blast, little bit concerned about how it's going to play in theaters to crowds who don't know Firefly. If you liked Firefly I think you're going to like this film.

Anyone interested in spoilers can email me, but I'm not gonna post any here (well, any more than I already have)...