Tag / Wizard World

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Autograpghed Books – Critical Space

criticalspaceIt’s week 13, and our final look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years.  Once again, we return to Greg Rucka, who was responsible for over half of the signed books in my collection.  Today’s entry is Critical Space, the fifth entry in the Atticus Kodiak series that was both published and read in 2001.

I’m going to guess that the autograph was acquired at Wizard World Chicago, as I would not return to the San Diego Comic Con until 2003.  And with that, we draw this series to a close.  I certainly hope to add new books to the collection as time goes on, so we may revisit the topic at some point in the future.

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Autographed Books – A Fistful Of Rain

fistfulrain

It’s week 9 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and his first original novel outside of the Atticus Kodiak series, A Fistful of Rain.  Published in 2003, this is the fifth Rucka novel that I’ve covered in this series to date.

Since this book came out in late July of 2003, I can narrow down the source of the autograph to Wizard World Chicago, probably from the following month.

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Autographed Books – A Gentleman’s Game

gentlemansgameIt’s week 7 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the first novel based on his Queen & Country comic book series, A Gentleman’s Game.  Published in 2005, this is the fourth Rucka novel that I’ve covered in this series to date.

Thanks to the publishing date, I can narrow down the source of the autograph to Wizard World Chicago, perhaps one of my last ones.  Queen & Country was a favorite at the time and the move from comic to novel was one I enjoyed.

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Autographed Books – Keeper

keeperIt’s week 5 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the first novel in the Atticus Kodiak series. This was the first Rucka novel I read way back in 1999 and the third I have covered in this series to date.

Similar to the previous two, I can narrow down the autograph to either the San Diego Comic Con or the Chicago Comic Con, which eventually became Wizard World Chicago. I attended San Diego in 2000 and 2003 and all of the local cons between the books release until the late 2000s. Rucka was a regular attendee at these cons, as he was moving back and forth between Marvel and DC at the time.

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Autographed Books – Smoker

smokerFor the next 12 weeks, we will take a look at the 12 hardcover books that I’ve managed to get autographed by the author over the years.  We start off today with Smoker, the third entry in Greg Rucka’s Atticus Kodiak series.  Released in 1999, I read the book in 2000, one of 3 Rucka novels I consumed that year.

I can narrow down the source of the autograph to one of two locations: San Diego Comic Con or Wizard World Chicago (nee the Chicago Comic Con).  I attended San Diego in 2000 and 2003 and all of the local cons between the books release until the late 2000s.  Rucka was a regular attendee at these cons, as he was moving back and forth between Marvel and DC at the time.

by jim

iTunes Top 100 Artists: #1-10

itunes_image

My latest desktop computer arrived in late 2007, at which point I transitioned all of my music off of my laptop. 2 iPods, 2 iPhones, and an iPad later, that computer is still my main repository of music, with iTunes updating its stats every time I listen to something.

Having already gone through cassette tapes and CDs, and digital music, it’s time to roll everything up with the Top 100 artists that I’ve listened to as of 8/21/2013, according to iTunes. Today we finally get to the top 10 and the end of this journey.

#1: The Beatles

iTunes stats: 665 plays

The boys from Liverpool used 95 different songs to make up this total.  The most impressive thing is that the total should be higher, as all of the counts got reset back to zero when the remastered albums came out in 2009 and I deleted all of the old versions and ripped the remastered versions.

#2: Garbage

iTunes stats: 614 plays

I have seen this band live 4 times over the past 11 years, and look forward to doing so again in the future.  There are 112 songs, many of which are live versions, that made up the total.

#3: Foo Fighters

iTunes stats: 425 plays

Only 39 songs put the Foo Fighters in third place with nobody on their tail.  I saw the Foo Fighters with Weezer back in 2005 and would love to do so again.

#4: The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer

iTunes stats: 307 plays

Back in 2001, during the sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the show produced a musical episode as Buffy and the Scooby Gang battled the musical demon Sweet.  The following year, the soundtrack was released, and those 21 songs make up this total.  One of the standouts was Amber Benson, who autographed my copy of the CD at a Wizard World appearance back in 2004.

#5: Tegan and Sara

iTunes stats: 274 plays

An even 50 songs combined to make up this total for the Canadian sisters.  I saw them live back in 2005, less than a week after the Foo Fighters/Weezer show and the same day the White Sox won the ALDS against the Red Sox.  It was a busy week.

Continue reading →

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Book 15 (of 52) – White Jazz

White Jazz – James Ellroy

It was early August of 2006 and I was at the Rosemont Convention Center, attending the Wizard World Chicago comics convention.  Kristen Bell was going to be signing autographs and taking photos with fans, and I was waiting in line.  Needing to pass some time waiting for her to arrive, I started reading White Jazz, the final entry of James Ellroy’s LA Quartet.  I got about 70 pages in before Kristen arrived, and put the book in my backpack.  Fast forward 5 years, and I finally picked the book back up.  Those 70-odd pages were victims of the intervening years, so I had to start over.

Ellroy certianly has a feel for the corrupt LAPD of the post-WWII decade.  Here, he tells the story of Dave Klein, a vice lieutenant assigned to a case that brings together dirty cops, an Albanian crime family, Howard Hughes, and the feds.  While an engaging tale, it does suffer from not being as good as its predecessors, The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential.  Ellroy also employed a slightly different style, eliminating verbs, articles, and adjectives, which sometimes make it difficult to follow the action.  Anyway, if you’ve enjoyed any of his work previously, you will recognize many of the characters here and will enjoy taking another trip back to the 50s LA.
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30 Day Picture Challenge Day 01 – A Picture Of Yourself + 10 Facts

10 Facts About Me:

  1. I am single
  2. I am an uncle
  3. I have been to 6 countries, and the picture above is from Switzerland
  4. I am listening to the Kevin Pollak Chat Show podcast with Lauren Graham as I am writing this
  5. I had a Wizard World Chicago panel report published on a comic news website and in an issue of Powers
  6. I just paid off my car a year and a half early
  7. I own PS3 games, but not a PS3
  8. I used to read comics
  9. I am a season ticket holder for both the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs
  10. I’ve had basically the same job for almost 14 years