A BIRTHDAY DINNER

My Birthday is coming up and for the last thousand years, my wife, Miche, has taken me out to dinner just the two of us (or 3 depending on how old the kids were).

My restaurant of choice is “The Keg”. Who doesn’t love steak?

But there is a catch, for some strange mysterious reason, every single time I go into a Keg, something happens to screw up our meal.

Last night was no exception.

Miche ordered: A Teriyaki Steak, cooked Medium, baked potato and a Caesar salad, no croutons.

I ordered: A Filet Mignon, (at which point I was asked if I would like to KEG SIZE it, which I agreed), baked potato and a Caesar salad.

What we got was: A Teriyaki Steak NUKED to Death, and a New York Sirloin Keg sized.

So both were sent back and within seconds I got my right steak (Un keg sized becasue Filet’s don’t have a Keg size), and then the manager comes over to tell Miche that they ran out of her steak.

But to make it up to her they gave her her choice of anything on the menu on them. So she had the BLUE CHEESE FILET MIGNON.

She said it was good, I won’t touch anything Blue cheese.

SO again we went to a Keg and were given a free entrée.

It’s not like I am trying to get free meals.

Oh and just to clarify this happens at ANY KEG we have visited.

FANEXPO 2006 REPORT: PART 3 – ETHAN VAN SCIVER

I met Ethan Van Sciver (again). He is always a great guy to hang with. Of course I put my foot in my mouth as I gave him all my Green Lantern Comics to sign and gave him stuff he didn’t do to sign. (Whoops).

Since I love his Art sooooo much I was willing to pay $25 bucks for a sketch. While I was waiting at his table, I started talking to a little girl and her mother. The daughter was really started getting into comics, just like her dad. The mother was telling me how her husband had sold ALL of his comics to buy her an engagement ring. Now that’s love! So while we are waiting the person in front of the three of us finished getting her sketch of Superman, and then payed her $25. The mother had no idea that the artist’s charge for sketches, so when it is her turn she satarts to say. I had no idea you were charging for a sketch and Ethan said,

“Kids don’t pay for sketches!”

Ethan is a great guy, and he did a killer Plastic man sketch for this kid. I got a very cool Guy Gardner sketch.

(Scans to come later.)

The show overall was Ok. If it wasn’t for the artists and writers I wanted to meet. I probably would not have gone.

So let’s see if they can make me come back next year.

FANEXPO 2006 REPORT: PART 2 - COSTUMES

Sadly, I forgot to bring a camera. I wish I had, because there were some FANTASTIC (think “thousdand dollas for life” fantastic) costumes. There were so many that I am putting up my top 5.

5) 1960’s Amazing Spiderman: all bodysuit complete with Armpit webs.
4) Duck Dogers: Daffy Duck in a Space suit, Nuff said.
3) Deathstroke: Some guy I saw dressed as I was helping out at the Cyber City Booth.
2) Captain America: This guy patched the same materials together to give the illusion that he has muscles. On top of that he carried a paper machete shield, and I quote.
“ I made the shield based on the original specifications and to scale.”


But the #1 Costume was

1) Aquaman: This guy was completey shameless. Bright ORANGE & GREEN tights, that left nothing to the imagination.

I will look on the internet to see if I can find any of these pictures.

FANEXPO 2006 REPORT: PART 1 – GEOFF JOHNS

Well it is that time of year again, that’s right, The biggest Comic Convention in Canada.

The FANEXPO at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

It was by far the BEST & WORST Convention I have been to.

Now don’t get me wrong I love going to these things, but when I have to HOOF it 20 minutes from the front door up and down hundreds of flights of stairs, by the time I get their, I’m pooped.

The show itself was pretty standard all the usual tables were their, Cyber City Comics, Big B Comics, The Silver Snail wing of the show, etc. The only reason I went their, this time was for ONE BIG THING.

GEOFF JOHNS.


He is the current writer for the Green Lantern series and he wrote “Green Lantern Rebirth”, the story which gave me back all my favourites.

Now I waited over an hour to meet him, and while my crew and I were waiting for him, (Thanks again Partfoop), who walks up behind me, Geoff firkin johns himself, he talked with us in line for 15 minutes while they were getting his table ready. The guy is solid, now I felt bad going up to him with over 50 books for him to sign, (HEY! I toned it down from 100, and Partfoop took a bunch for me), but he did it with a smile and we talked about his past projects when he asked me if I had that book which we were just talking about it. I said yes, and he told me to bring it out for him to sign. AT the end he gave my friends and I some Halloween M&M’s and he signed my saying, “EAT ME!!!”

That’s one hell of a nice guy.

JULY / AUGUST 2006

Now July and August were very plain months, the only thing I have to say is that I was finally able to pick up the new Doctor Who figures that were released exclusively to the UK.

Now for the rest of you, these of course means nothing to you. For me

WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!

Now all I need is the TARDIS Playset and some DALEKS to go along with the figures and I am good to groove.

Just look at the intricate details on the figures. A lot of time went into these me boyos.



(note: I'm not showing all the figures I got, because you won't know 90% of them)

Getting these figure was a pain in the ass, and you have to be careful with Ebay, I got burned but was able to recap most of my money.

I ended up going through a couple of different people and stores to get them.

Live and learn.

JUNE 2006

Well June started off as being slow, but at the end of the month, it was real fun.

I would like to introduce (if some of you didn’t know) to the latest addition to the clan TYE.



Tye was born on June 21, 2006 at 3:17 pm. Again Thanks to “The Hoogan” for the ride to the Hospital. (hey he saved me Big bucks in parking.)

So nothing was bigger than my new son being born, but when he was too be circumcised, NOW that was an adventure. Now “Superman Returns” was released on June 28, 2006, having a newborn son and a 2 year would usually make it difficult to go out and see a movie. Not when you are “THE KING OF ALL GEEKS”!!! You find a way and as everyone knows, I love to make plans and calculate the amount of time a plan needs. This was no different.

The circumcision ceremony (Bris) took place at 6:15 on June 29, 2006. I joked with my friends & family that I was going to see the movie after the Bris. To everyone’s surprise, I actually pulled it off. I planed on the Bris to end at 8:00, get the “Z” to bed for around 9:00 and be at the theatre for 9:30-9:45 for the 10:00 showing of “Superman Returns”. I got to say hearing the John Williams score and watching Superman on the big screen for the first time in 20 years brought tears to my eyes.

Now the movie was good, not as good as the original 2, but a very enjoyable movie none the less. The movie was realesed alsom in IMAX, so you know there will be a second screening.

So as I finish off my June Entry I leave you with this tidbit.

“Z”’s favorite song is “Doctorin the TARDIS”, his favorite shirts are his Superman, Batman and ELMO shirt, and my car is “DADDY”S TARDIS”.

One is converted to geekdom , now I need to work on Tye.

UP, UP, AND AWAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!

May 2006

Well May was pretty Tame,

There was a Toy Show at the International centre, but I hate to say it, The show was lame and I got really nothing. Some stuff i kind of wanted, but nothing of great importance.

Also it was free Comic book day this month, and I took my boy "Z" to get some free comics down at the local comic shop.

CYBER CITY COMIX
1025A Steeles Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
M2R 2S9

You can 99% find me here on a Wednsday, either noonish or nineish.

But look at how much fun "Z" is having reading his book.

For all you Comic & Manga needs...

CYBER CITY COMIX!!!

APRIL 2006 Week 3 & 4

I went to a free Fan appreciation comic convention. The show itself sucked Big time, but the reason I went was to meet...

Ethan Van Sciver

I waited 3 hours to meet him and he is a super nice guy. I payed $25 bucks for a kickass sketch of Kilowog. (to be posted soon).

At a last minute decison, Partfoop and I went to the Toronto Comicon at the CNE, and that actually was a lot of fun. (more than I expected) One of our friends couldn't make due to a family commitment, but we went and got pictures of the people she wanted to see. She would have wanted to meet the kids from Degrassi the next Generation. Since I had the Camera I sent Partfoop to go and get autographs, while I snapped the pics.

Believe me I thought it was creepy for us to be there, but there was an older creepier guy their who was more excited about meeting the kids than meeting Geroge Perez, (if you don't know who George is, don't bother).

We also met the legendary KING KONG BUNDY and believe me when I say this, every sentence started with "BROTHER!," . He seems like a nice guy. He even told us that Partfoop could even take him these days. WOW!!!




Now that would be a match. He was even nice and let us pose with shots.




The only thing bad about the convention, was the date. FOr the first time in 5 years, I missed the TRANSFORMERSCON!!!!

No biggie, next year!

BROTHER!!!!

Now if you haven't realized that I am a DIE HARD DOCTOR WHO FAN (where have you guys been). The new season which started a couple of weeks ago, have brought back 2 of the original charactes from the original sereis.


Miss Sarah Jane Smith & K9




Now if you were a kid and watched Doctor Who you would probably recognize these 2 characters. To see them the two of them back on the screen after 20 years is Amazing. The whole episode gave me goosebumps. I felt so nostalgic that after I watched this episode I actually watched some old episodes from the original sereis.

SO far the Second season of the new series has been incredible, keeping the original magic from the first in check.

Wooooo only 10 episodes left for the year.

Doctor WhoooooOooh....Hey!!!... Doctor Who.
Doctor WhoooooOooh....Hey!!!... The Tardis.

APRIL 2006 Week 1 & 2

April is always a busy month. This year it was crazy busy on the weekends.

First off, Wrestlemania XII happened and a whole slew of geeks eneded up at my brother's place with his crew. I had created pool to see who get the most points.

I came in DEAD LAST!!!

I'm Sooooo ashamed. But it was a last to see some of the old school wrestlesrs.

For that all I have to say is...

YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!

The new season of Doctor Who kicked off on April 15 with "New Earth"

As a british show, a season only lasts about 13 episodes a year. Due to the fact that it only broadcast in th UK, I had to find other means of watching the show.

The Show is fantastic!!!.

Everyone needs to watch this show.

I would post pictures, but the BBC is too powerful for me to start posting their stuff. I highly recomend you go there for lots of Doctor Who Goodies.

www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho

MARCH 2006

Not much happened in Mach it was pretty ordinary, Except for the fact that Green Lantern #9 came out with a fantastic Variant cover (that I had to get from a competitor, cause my boy D didn't get any in). I had to pay $20 for it (still worth every cent) Just look at these fantastic covers.



Now the story itself was great. It was self contained and dealt with the relationship between Hal and Batman and introduced a new Tatooed Man. I am not going to runin it for you but the variant cover actually happens and when I saw that my Jaw dropped. So on the the Ring scale.

I gave it a 9.5 out of 10 Rings.

I know it has been a really long time...

OK...

SO even though I said I would at least update this more often this year, 6 months went by with no updates.

I'm sorry.

So I will give you one Super massive update, that is compressed for each of the last six months.

Valentines Dinner at the KEG.

So since I really do not believe in Valentines Day, but my wife does, I told her that we will celebrate by going out for dinner just the 2 of us. At a nice restaurant that we like. Since neither of us is really into the hoidy toidy richie type food, the place for us is "The KEG".

We Dropped Z off at Grandpa's and we were going to try the New Keg across from the Vaughan Mills mall. It was a new branch that just opened on Feb. 13. So we new there would be some bugs to work out. All I know is that I seem to have a magnetic pull for the realllllllly new servers and or bad servers, (honestly I do not go looking for trouble).

The server started off really well coming by our table every 3-5 minutes while we were having our salad. As soon as we finished our salad, our server informed us that our steaks wouldn't be ready for another 1o minutes or so. We were fine with that, but when we got our steaks, my wife's steaks was "SUPER WELL DONE".

Now you might think that the steak being overcooked was the problem, but no when we told our server, she said,

"Well you asked for it well done."

No dear we ALWAYS, ask for our steaks medium rare - medium. She had to look at her notebook where she took our order to see that she told the cook to make it well done.

Now you think that would be the big thing, but its not. We had a fresh steak in our booth within 4 minutes. Now that's quick.

But having a kid, and bing on a specific schedule my wife is not always hungry. But we take advantage of our ALONE TIME as often as possible. SO she wasn't that hungry and only ate about 1/3 of everything. So when we were finished (as always I licked my plate clean), we asked for hers to go. She gave her meal to a busboy and forgot to tell him that the plate was to go. So we had wait over 10 minutes for them to make a new meal.

The owner came to talk to us and we explained the situation and was apologetic for the situation.

So overall I paid for my wife's steak once, and got three steaks in total.

I seem to have the knack for getting deals, when I don't even try.

Doctor Whoooo OOH eh! Doctor Who. Doctor Whoooo OOH eh! The DVDS

Well getting these DVD’s was harder than expected. From now on I will only shop at the Future Shop, located at Yonge & 16th Avenue.

The Doctor Who series on DVD was suppose to come out on February 14, 2006, sadly that was not the case. None of the Future Shops that I had contacted received the DVDs. I figured it was just delayed, no biggie, I waited 5 months for them what’s another couple of days.

So everyday after the 14th, I called and asked if the DVDs had come in yet. My answer was no. That Friday, the 17th I was told that Future Shop was only getting 17 copies for all of Canada.

WHAT!!!!!!!

Well I had a gift card since mid December, (I could not get my money back so they gave me a gift card, which was fine because I knew I would use the card on the DVD set), and it is only good at Future Shop, I felt royally cheesed.

Future Shop’s slogan is “Get it Here FIRST!”

Well, my original inquiries from early December into waiting for the Doctor Who DVDs are as Follows:

(ME) Are you going to get the Doctor Who first series on DVD?

(FS) Yes we are.

(ME) Are you going to have a lot of copies?

(FS) Yes we will have a lot of copies, we normally do.

(ME) Will it come out on time?

(FS) Yes. We always get DVDs when they are released.
So I waited till now to use the gift card. But alas…

-No in getting the DVDs
-No in getting in a lot of copies
-No in getting the DVDs when they were released.
I certainly didn’t get it there first.

I was told to contact the Future Shop Customer service over the phone and explained my frustration. The woman on the phone said that was not their problem. So I casually explained to her the idea of “False Advertising”, you know “Get it Here FIRST!”, when “I DIDN’T GET IT AT ALL” & “I WON’T GET IT FROM THERE DUE TO EXTREMELY LIMITED QUANTITIES”.

So after a brief discussion with the Manager of Yonge & 16th Avenue store and the Future Shop Customer service people on the phone, we came to a compromise.

They would not refund me my money into cash, because it is against company policy, but I got them to put the money back onto my credit card.

I’m not sure what the difference is, but hey I could care less. I got my money back and I went to MUSIC WORLD and got the DVDs for $6 less than Future Shop.

I will still shop at Future Shop, but only if it is a necessity.

As for the DVDs, I have 13 episodes, at 44 minutes a piece. That’s what I’m doing on Sunday. A full day of DOCTOR WHO!!!! Over 10 hours of shows and DVD Extras.

Or an all nighter of DOCTOR WHO!!!!

Either way….

FANTASTIC!!!

Kickin Butt for my PS2

So this is going to be a bit of a longer post due to the nature of the content.

It all started on Valentines Day 2005, when my wife & son gave me a used PS2 with a couple of game. They were great and even though I only played with it a few hours every couple of weeks, it was a lot of fun.

Early October, one night at a friend’s house, we were playing MORTAL KOMBAT II, on his Nintendo Game Cube. I had so much fun with it that I had to have it on my PS2 (and at $20 how could I go wrong). So I buy the game, get home, load it into the system and then...

"DISC READ ERROR"

So I try again be resetting it.

"DISC READ ERROR"

Ok I figured I got a bum disc, Hey it happens. I took the game back to Toys R Us and exchanged the game no problem.

I rush home, load the game into the system, and....

"DISC READ ERROR"

I went to the EB Games at the Promenade Mall, and talked to one of the employees and said that the "DISC READ ERROR" is a common bug, and I should contact SONY and they should be able to fix or replace my system.

BOY WAS THAT GUY WRONG!!!

Sony wanted $100 Just to look at my system.

I called EB Games at Yorkdale and got a huge runaround from them and even was told that I should just come in and buy a new system from them. (Yeah right like I would step into that hellhole and give them my money). I then went back to the EB Games at Promenade and could not get a single answer that matched at any other employee or store. At that point I went home to regroup and figure out my next plan of attack.

Now it is the middle of December and I decide to take the family to Hillcrest Mall to walk around and grab a bite to eat. While I was there, I remembered that the mall has an EB Games. I go in, and since it is close to Christmas it’s a little busy, I wait in line I get to the front and ask politely,

"Can I get the telephone number for the EB Games head office?"

The person working behind the counter was leaving to go get it, when the other employee stops him and says to me.

"You can't have the number; it is against company policy for me to give you that number. The only number I can give you is the customer service 1-200 number".

Getting a little frustrated, but still keeping my cool I explained I find that hard to believe and asked to speak with the manager. To my surprise this little PUTZ was the assistant manager. At this point another customer who was waiting to pay for the item asked me if I am so unhappy here why shop here. My response to her was,

"Could you please mind your own business?"

I asked her politely, at which point the assistant manager forceful stated to me.

"Do not talk to my customers, or I will call Security and have you escorted out of the mall.”

What the hell, all I wanted was a Frackin phone number. I asked for his name and that of the employee (who was trying to help me and being friendly), and was told that he can’t give out names because it is against company policy. I took the 1-800 number and left.

I spent the next 5 days trying to get a hold of customer service person, but ended up spending 30-45 minutes a day on hold. At which point I decided to give up and probably go out and buy a new system.

I told a few people how this was the first time I had ever given up on a challenge/crusade, and was told by friends that I should not give up.

So I let it go for a couple of months.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Vaughan Mills mall to walk around. We stopped for lunch at the food court, and while we were eating, I noticed an EB Games. Hmming and hawwing, I decided to go in and ask simply for the number. If I got any type of grief, I would just walk out.

I walked in and was greeted by a Hey how’re you doing today and can I help you. I politely asked for the head office number, and was told,

“Sure. No problem. Hold on a sec, while I go grab it.”

While waiting, another gentleman asked me why I needed the number. So I told him that I was having problems with EB and wanted to talk with someone with Authority. He asked to know what the problem was. So I explained the WHOLE situation as I have just written it here, and his response was (and I kid you not!)

“Bring in your system here, and we will swap it. No charge.”

My jaw hit the floor.

The guy said even if I could get through to Head office and/or the Customer Service number. The info would have taken a long time to get to him. This guy was a district manager and made me feel great.

So as I get ready to swap my system a few bad things happened (not worth mentioning, but everything is AOK), so I decided to write this guy a letter and tell him about my experience at Hillcrest which he is responsible for. While writing I decided to call up the Hillcrest posing as an Investigator. My luck certainly did change because I was lucky enough to get the SAME assistant manager on the phone who I dealt with originally.

I have never ripped into anyone as badly as I ripped into him, all under my lawyer persona and keeping my cool. I am totally convinced that when I hung up with him, he was going to go in the back and start crying.

Now I am not a vindictive person, but as I now have exchanged my PS2 and have gotten some extra free stuff from the EB Games,

Don’t FRACK with me!!!

I will fight for my rights and the rights of my friends

(Or anyone who asks me).

CHEERS!!!

PS For an abbreviated version of the Phone conversation please send me an email for a copy of it.

Or just ask me when you see me.

CHEERS!!!

Green Lantern V4 Issue 8

Well the last issue of Green Lantern (Issue 7, which I never reviewed cause I had no time) was ok, this series seems to be starting off very slowly.

REGULAR COVER


VARIANT COVER


Out of 8 issues, I really have only enjoyed 1 maybe 2 issues, which were 4&5.

This latest issue was ok with some ok artwork.

The only thing I really liked about this issue is the Variant Cover.

The story was ok, the art average, Green Lantern is a Cosmic Hero.

Don't keep him stuck on a Planet.

So I have come up with a rating system.

Based on Emerald Twighlight, (Where Hal goes insane taking down all the other Green lanterns), I have come up with a rating system of GLRIngs

So this book gets 6.5 rings out of 10






And It got bonus rings for having a NEAL ADAMS Variant Cover.

I need to pay more attention

My friend the Foop! (As I refer to him, to protect his identity) noticed that I misspelled my last postting's title.

So You win my No Prize!

What is that.

I have no idea I just remeber them from the old letters page of my old comics.

But Congratulations anyways.