Jesus Christ it's been a month, and even that was just a picture of David Milliband being scared by confetti. At least this time I've actually got things to report.
Sweden
Sweden
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
I got off my arse and went away for once. Spurred on by the prospect of seeing NHL hockey without having to travel all the way to America I went to Stockholm to see San Jose play Columbus in 2 games over 2 nights.
This was the view from our seats. Honestly it was fucking awesome, and strangely enough I met the Sharks manager Doug Wilson on a train earlier on in the day. He was ridiculously nice to me and we just chatted for like 15 minutes, most of it being driven by him. He had no reason to put effort into the conversation beyond courtesy but he was REALLY nice
Also went to the Moderna Museet where they had, amongst other things, a wall of communist propaganda art. Fucking awesome
Stumbled across an exhibit of the chinese Terracota warriors
Went in a big glass ball up onto the world's largest spherical building
Wished I liked beer just so I could drink this out of respect, even if it was about 9 a pint
Went to the National History Museum where they attempted to fill my head with lies about dinosaurs and other theories that conflict with my long-held creationist views. "Evidence" indeed
Went to a bar made of ice where I made a fool of myself struggling with that fur-lined poncho thing you can see me wearing. The woman could see I was struggling with my bag for a few seconds, so why the fuck would you just fling the thing over my head? After a few seconds I realised that I was having problems because my hand was sticking through a hole in the front rather than down and through the sleeve. It doesnt seem that cold at first, but fucking hell it hits you after about 15 minutes
Went to the Vasa Museum which is basically a 17th century ship that they dredged up, restored and conserved back in the 70s. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us swing onto it like pirates
In the Tekiska Museet, Watch_It_Burn tries to find out how the fuck magnets work
Otherwise I just tried to relax and enjoy the scenery. It's well worth going to Sweden, even if everything does cost a fucking fortune. It's like 8 for an extra value meal in McDonalds. No wonder they founded The Pirate Bay.
This was the view from our seats. Honestly it was fucking awesome, and strangely enough I met the Sharks manager Doug Wilson on a train earlier on in the day. He was ridiculously nice to me and we just chatted for like 15 minutes, most of it being driven by him. He had no reason to put effort into the conversation beyond courtesy but he was REALLY nice
Also went to the Moderna Museet where they had, amongst other things, a wall of communist propaganda art. Fucking awesome
Stumbled across an exhibit of the chinese Terracota warriors
Went in a big glass ball up onto the world's largest spherical building
Wished I liked beer just so I could drink this out of respect, even if it was about 9 a pint
Went to the National History Museum where they attempted to fill my head with lies about dinosaurs and other theories that conflict with my long-held creationist views. "Evidence" indeed
Went to a bar made of ice where I made a fool of myself struggling with that fur-lined poncho thing you can see me wearing. The woman could see I was struggling with my bag for a few seconds, so why the fuck would you just fling the thing over my head? After a few seconds I realised that I was having problems because my hand was sticking through a hole in the front rather than down and through the sleeve. It doesnt seem that cold at first, but fucking hell it hits you after about 15 minutes
Went to the Vasa Museum which is basically a 17th century ship that they dredged up, restored and conserved back in the 70s. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us swing onto it like pirates
In the Tekiska Museet, Watch_It_Burn tries to find out how the fuck magnets work
Otherwise I just tried to relax and enjoy the scenery. It's well worth going to Sweden, even if everything does cost a fucking fortune. It's like 8 for an extra value meal in McDonalds. No wonder they founded The Pirate Bay.
Stockholm Aftermath and BICS 2010
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
I woke up on the day I was to leave Sweden feeling like complete shit. One of those damn vikings had given me the lurgy. I struggled through the flight home, including the 3hr wait for a connection at Heathrow, basically feeling like I wanted to die. I then spent the next 2 days boiling hot but shivering like mad. Like a commited nerd though I powered through and on the Friday left to geek out at Birmingham with Sticks , ikaruga and his fine countrymen.
I arrived into Birmingham on the Friday evening feeling less fragile but still not brilliant. Found my hostel and went out to meet the Scots. I choked down some mediocre lasagne in the pub and had about 2 drinks all night, still feeling like my guts had some kind of vendetta against me. I returned fairly early to my hostel where it was boiling fucking hot and I woke up about 5 times through the night because of it.
Following morning I go out to buy about 4 bottles of orange juice and head to the convention. After much queueing to get in, the queues to actually get shit seem much shorter. First acquisition was from Mahmud Asrar who in lieu of a War Machine (too complicated and time consuming) did me this awesome Spider-Man
Next was Staz Johnson who had nobody waiting. I'm always happy to give him my money
After that I went to queue for Dave Gibbons who decided he wasnt sketching because his line was too long. He assured me I could catch him again in the weekend and he would oblige, but for now I went off to get something else.
Yanick Paquette had basically demanded a table rather than just spend an hour signing as was originally planned, so while it took a wait of about 2 hours I got this awesome Colossus from him.
Sticks had turned up at this point, so we milled around slightly waiting for Duncan Fegredo to finish ikaruga's awesome Godzilla. Then we went for drinks and food, where again I struggled to really put anything away. Back to the hostel fairly early, where again I struggled to sleep. Day 2!
Got to the convention hall fairly early and decided to grab something from Charlie Adlard. He's a VERY popular man and you can spend a long time waiting for him, so if you do decide to grab something then get there early and you free up a lot of the remainder of the day.
Back to Gibbons again, who this time was more than happy to sketch. Amid the constant requests for Rorschach or The Comedian I think i brightened his day somewhat by asking for Kyle Rayner. He couldnt remember how to draw him and I had no reference so we settled on a Tomar Re instead. He sat back smiling, replaced his marker with a pencil and said "I'll have to actually draw this one properly" I told him his run on GLC was awesome. He seemed surprised.
Phil Winslade was next, who I'm always surprised to find never has a queue. He poured his heart and soul into doing this "headshot" of Dark Phoenix and then actually apologised for not inking it
Next up was Peter Gross who did a lovely Tom Taylor for me. He used heavier pencils than he normally would because he was being interviewed by someone at the time, and suggested that I might want to leave it as is rather than have him ink it. I was inclined to agree
ikaruga had been badgering constantly about how I should go see Tim Keable and Andrew Cheverton, buy a copy of West and get a sketch while I was at it. In fact he's been saying this at least since Bristol and had now reached the point of threatening physical violence if I didnt. Like trying to get a friend into rehab, it was for my own good. Tim was a lovely guy.
Con was wrapping up but I had just enough time to grab Nicola Scott (not like that) before everyone departed. I'm told I showed great restraint in not smacking the mouth-breather who cut the line in front of me, but I took it in stride and got a lovely albeit quick sketch from Nicola. It's a shame I didnt catch her earlier because her paid-for stuff was stunning.
"Can I have either an Oracle or Nightwing, please? Your choice"
"I'M DOING NIGHTWING! I've been doing chicks all weekend!"
I arrived into Birmingham on the Friday evening feeling less fragile but still not brilliant. Found my hostel and went out to meet the Scots. I choked down some mediocre lasagne in the pub and had about 2 drinks all night, still feeling like my guts had some kind of vendetta against me. I returned fairly early to my hostel where it was boiling fucking hot and I woke up about 5 times through the night because of it.
Following morning I go out to buy about 4 bottles of orange juice and head to the convention. After much queueing to get in, the queues to actually get shit seem much shorter. First acquisition was from Mahmud Asrar who in lieu of a War Machine (too complicated and time consuming) did me this awesome Spider-Man
Next was Staz Johnson who had nobody waiting. I'm always happy to give him my money
After that I went to queue for Dave Gibbons who decided he wasnt sketching because his line was too long. He assured me I could catch him again in the weekend and he would oblige, but for now I went off to get something else.
Yanick Paquette had basically demanded a table rather than just spend an hour signing as was originally planned, so while it took a wait of about 2 hours I got this awesome Colossus from him.
Sticks had turned up at this point, so we milled around slightly waiting for Duncan Fegredo to finish ikaruga's awesome Godzilla. Then we went for drinks and food, where again I struggled to really put anything away. Back to the hostel fairly early, where again I struggled to sleep. Day 2!
Got to the convention hall fairly early and decided to grab something from Charlie Adlard. He's a VERY popular man and you can spend a long time waiting for him, so if you do decide to grab something then get there early and you free up a lot of the remainder of the day.
Back to Gibbons again, who this time was more than happy to sketch. Amid the constant requests for Rorschach or The Comedian I think i brightened his day somewhat by asking for Kyle Rayner. He couldnt remember how to draw him and I had no reference so we settled on a Tomar Re instead. He sat back smiling, replaced his marker with a pencil and said "I'll have to actually draw this one properly" I told him his run on GLC was awesome. He seemed surprised.
Phil Winslade was next, who I'm always surprised to find never has a queue. He poured his heart and soul into doing this "headshot" of Dark Phoenix and then actually apologised for not inking it
Next up was Peter Gross who did a lovely Tom Taylor for me. He used heavier pencils than he normally would because he was being interviewed by someone at the time, and suggested that I might want to leave it as is rather than have him ink it. I was inclined to agree
ikaruga had been badgering constantly about how I should go see Tim Keable and Andrew Cheverton, buy a copy of West and get a sketch while I was at it. In fact he's been saying this at least since Bristol and had now reached the point of threatening physical violence if I didnt. Like trying to get a friend into rehab, it was for my own good. Tim was a lovely guy.
Con was wrapping up but I had just enough time to grab Nicola Scott (not like that) before everyone departed. I'm told I showed great restraint in not smacking the mouth-breather who cut the line in front of me, but I took it in stride and got a lovely albeit quick sketch from Nicola. It's a shame I didnt catch her earlier because her paid-for stuff was stunning.
"Can I have either an Oracle or Nightwing, please? Your choice"
"I'M DOING NIGHTWING! I've been doing chicks all weekend!"
Thats all for now, and everything halfway interesting that's happened recently. Less than 2 weeks till Thought Bubble where I can geek out and annoy my fellow nerds by stressing over timing and getting specific sketches. Bye for now!
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
ikaruga:
good to see you again, man!
sticks:
Merry Xmas!