UPDATED with Reid's picture...

Our friend Mark and his little boy, Reid, came over tonight. Reid's a year old and was dressed as a penguin for Halloween.  The adults drank beers, chatting between intermittent runs to the door passing out candy.

Reid frequently joined me, standing to my side as I doled out treats to the ghouls, pirates, and Sith Lords.

"You have a cute little boy," One kid said.

"Thanks!" I instantly grinned.

It was cool, I realized, feeling for a brief moment like somebody's dad.  I smiled down at the boy.  Reid's gaze met my own, knowing something I didn't.  His blues eyes were deep with meaning telling me what he lacked the words to actually say.

This fine boy said to me: "You'd make somebody a GREAT dad."

I looked into the next room where Suzanne and Mark were visiting. Maybe... Maybe Suzanne and I should explore that?

Maybe it's time?

Lord, we hadn't really seriously ever... But maybe?

I took a deep breath.

"Dear God," I nearly choked at the realization.

All too frequently, that which is labeled wisdom is in reality a loaded diaper.

Beware the wisdom of children.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 11:21 PM CDT

Updated: Saturday, 1 November 2008 8:59 AM CDT

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Wow, less than ten days to Wizard World Texas and all kinds of news to share.  For instance, Single Edge Studio's Leigh Kellogg and Jason Janicki, the nice folks who bring you Wayfarer's Moon are expected to discontinue - or at least pause -  their efforts at global extortion/destruction to attend the con.

Top Cow's Phil Hester has drawn up a special variant cover of The Darkness #7.  The comic will be available for sale at WWTX the proceeds of which will benefit The Hero Initiative, a charity that helps comic creators in need.

I really dig Phil Hester.  I'm angling for a Green Arrow sketch.  I loved his work on the Archer's Quest book with Brad Meltzer.

Also in benefit of the Hero Initiative Wizard World will play host to geek themed Match Game styled "Game Show Night."  From the press release:

Ethan Van Sciver, Terry Moore, Sean McKeever, Shane Davis, Phil Hester and others will grab their pen and paper and fill in the blanks during a rousing comic-book-tinted version of the classic game show, "Match Game." These superstar creators have worked on a veritable who's who of huge characters including Spider-Man, Captain America, Superman and Batman. Trying to match the creators will be numerous lucky fans who will have the chance to get onstage if the ticket they purchased is drawn. All proceeds from ticket and admission sales go to benefit the Hero Initiative and the lucky winners will receive original artwork and other memorabilia donated by the contestants and other top name creators. 

Game Show Night is scheduled for Saturday evening, November 8th.

By the way, the entire program guide is now available on the Wizard site.  At first pass, there's evening programming both Friday and Saturday nights.  Way to go, Wizard people!  That truly is excellent news.  There's always lots of grumbling on the part of the fans about the early evening end of the con each night.  Nice to know you guys are listening.

I'm awfully excited to see that DC Sales VP Bob Wayne will be in the hizzy to host the DC Nation Panel.  Bob is always fun and this year, I get to snag his autograph on my Time Masters tpb.  Woot!

Not so excited to note that Marvel Comics - once again - has thumbed its nose at Texas.  No real Marvel presence at all this year.  Boo.  Hiss.

That's okay, though.  

Plenty of other cool comics out there.  So suck it, Marvel!

In the coming days, I'll highlight more cool stuff from the program schedule.  I can barely stop myself from giggling!

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:20 PM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 28 October 2008 9:21 PM CDT

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This is something that I've had on my mind for awhile.  I take a lot of pictures, you see, and I thought it would be nice to provide a weekly digest of the week prior with the images I captured along the way.  This will likely be a Sunday evening post from here on out, but for this first one?  You get it on Monday.

 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:04 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 27 October 2008 9:10 PM CDT

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I think it's great that characters from some of the whitest white shows in American TV history can unite in their support of Barack Obama.

Posted by Aron Head at 10:47 AM CDT

Updated: Saturday, 25 October 2008 10:51 AM CDT

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Lots of Wizard World Texas news to share...

Wizard has provided a sneak peak at the programming guide cover.  One thing I have always disliked about WWTX is that there was no evening programming.  Last year, they had a screening or some such.  This year, Wizard World  boasts of the FearJam Rock Concert in addition to a screening of Futurama: Bender's Game.  

Scheduled panels include:

• The Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane panel complete with original writer Sean McKeever and new creative team Terry Moore, who has agreed to do "a lot of panels," and Craig Rousseau

• A roundtable discussion about creator-owned comics with Moore, Rousseau, Matt Wagner, Frank Cho and Billy Tucci

• Numerous Wizard Schools including daily workshops with Paul Duffield and a lesson on drawing sexy women with Frank Cho.  I attended Michael Golden's last year, which was 50% boring as all hell and 50% brilliant.  I prefer to remember the brilliant part.  Wizard School's fun.  Looking forward to these panels.

• Dr. Scott (not Gene, but that guy from Polite Dissent) will be lecturing in the Wizard University track.

Local artist, Jonathon Kimbrell of Napkin Art Studios, will be on deck at the show and will be representin' with the boys from Boomstick Comics.  Jonathon's an amazaing talent.  I can't wait to see his work up close.

At WWTX, you'll be able to check out the new, cool 3D figure from Kaeru Boy.  Twelve inches, my friends. Twelve inches.

Watch this space.  Lots more Wizard World Texas news to follow.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:27 PM CDT

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Lycos Tripod, the service that hosts the Bastard's Blog, sucks.  My email has been down since yesterday morning.  I filed a help desk ticket early Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, Tripod closed the ticket stating that there was an outage on Tuesday, that all mail was lost, so sorry.

My mail still didn't work.

Twenty minutes after they closed the ticket, I reopened it describing the problem directing them not to close the ticket until... y''know... they've verified that the issue is resolved. 

That was at 9:40 this morning.

No response, yet.

Still no mail.

It's not like this is the first issue I have had with them.  Suzanne's email was hinked up for several weeks and they still have some goofiness going on in her webmail.  On top of that, because of some spam originating from other Tripod users, those of us whose email is hosted here has often been tagged by other servers as spam.

I have hosted my site here for five years.  Never had a problem with them until 2008.  

I have got to move my site, but damn that's a pain in the ass.

Lycos Tripod's customer service sucks.  Their tech support is abyssmal. 

While email is down, you can catch me on Twitter.  You can find me as 'aronhead.'

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 8:00 PM CDT

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I took Pearl to the vet on Saturday for her annual well-dog visit. 

The exam - for each of our animals, really - is a tremendous source of stress for me.  Leading up to the appointment, my stomach churns.  During the check-up, I tense up expecting some horrible discovery.  Every time, I brace myself for the "Sorry, Mr. Head..."

It wigs me out so much that Suzanne usually takes them.  I took Pearl and Cecil this time because the Wife needed to work on Saturday.

Cecil and Pearl are both healthy, reported the doc.

Kitty and Beagle each had to surrender stool samples, a process which involves a swizzle-stick-like device being inserted up the critters' back-side.

Immediately following the collection of her specimen, Pearl retreated the corner under the exam table.  She wouldn't look at me or the doctor, so disturbed she was by what had happened.

"In my pooper," I imagined her agitated complaint, "They went into my pooper, man!"

Poor, pitiful Pearl.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 8:50 PM CDT

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Dang! 

It's already less than a month away from Wizard World landing right here in DFW.  Sweet.

I don't know if I overlooked this earlier on the guest list or if it was just recently posted, but looking it over tonight I see that Matt Wagner is going to be on deck at WWTX.  That's right, the Mage and Grendel creator himself will be in the hizzouse.  I'd dearly love to snag myself a sketch of Kevin Matchstick.  So choice!

According to the Kaeru Boy site, both  Darrin Stephens and Jorge Vega will be at the big show.

I'm jazzed about several of the guests, yet it seems a bit light.  The exhibitor and retailer lists also seem a bit on the slim side.  I've noted the glaring absence of Bedrock City Comics and Austin Books.  Dudes, c'mon?  You know had a big time in 2007!

Last year, guests were announced all the way up to the week prior to the event.  As there are some significant gaps in the representation of the Big 2, I'm hoping for some meaningful announcements in the coming days.

We've got time.

27 days, right?

Plenty of time...

On another note, Fear Fest has updated their website to reflect the con's partnership with WWTX.   Apparently, there will be a horror rock concert that Friday night (for an additional $20).

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:15 PM CDT

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Wow... this site is really becoming a Fear The Boot fan site, ain't it?  I mean, we've been covering the gossip, the speculation, and look here... breaking news straight from he-of-the-long-hair, Mr. Dan Repperger.

In a conversation this evening, FtB host and founder Dan revealed several blogworthy items to yours truly.  It's a long list of items he and the boys have in the hopper:

• "I made the reservation for Fear the Con II (as reported earlier this evening here on the blog) It will be in the same location, but this time we have two days and both floors of the building. The dates are March 6th and 7th. As before, the price of admission will include all events, all games, and free beer/soda as long as supplies last. I don't have a final ticket price yet, but I'm estimating $20. And that's the maximum I will charge."

• "Since moving the site, several major features never got rebuilt. As of today, I've repaired the contact form. I've also re-opened the email accounts for every host on the show. Listeners now have a direct line to people other than me."

• "If my budget works out, I'm going to be in Seattle the week after W3N5. While I'm there, I'm going to do a one-shot episode with Tex and a few area listeners. It'll be a great opportunity to get some fans involved."

• "John has made a commitment to be in town as much as law school will allow, so hopefully he won't be AWOL from the show anymore. His energy and humor are sorely missed, and I look forward to having him back."

• "One of the common criticisms leveled against FtB is that our knowledge of RPGs is either too limited or out of date. The former simply isn't true. The latter is. To some extent, that never bothered me, because much (though not all) of gaming advice is system agnostic. Getting out of a character rut is just as applicable to 1st edition D&D as it is Dogs in the Vineyard. But having said that, being out of touch with the current market is hardly a badge of honor. So I went by my FLGS today and picked up a copy of World of Darkness and Hunter: The Vigil. I'm going to read through them and comment on them during a later show. And once those are under my belt, I'll keep making trips back to pick up other new products from various companies."

• "The GM profile submissions are rolling in. I'm going to announce the cut-off date next episode. After that, we'll be putting out a bonus episode comprised entirely of listener insight into the art of GMing. The only time you'll hear my voice is when I introduce the next clip."

• "While at Gencon, we were approached by an amazing artist who expressed interest in doing a web comic with us. Chris Hussey is now getting in contact with the guy to see if he's still interested. If he is, expect an on-going, dramatic Skies of Glass comic to start appearing on our homepage. Chris is already working on the script, and I'll only be involved to offerinsight on the setting."

• "I just finished configuring WordPress and PodPress. They're 100% ready to go. As soon as my fellow hosts sign off on my work, I'm going to move our audio content from Libsyn to our own server. No more split servers.

• "Related to the above item, I intend to start using that page to give daily blogs on new games I'm reading, current games I'm playing, and random thoughts of the day. I want the entusiasm I have for geekdom to be visible outside of our audio content. We may also have some guest authors of varying fame, but that's not really been fleshed out yet."

• "To make sure we're continuing to pay attention to the most important folks -- our listeners -- I've given the critique thread from our forum to Chris. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't deleted. He's currently condensing that into a list of action items we can use to improve the show."

• "I'm part way into writing a novel, and Keith Curtis has agreed to illustrate the appendix. This project may take a long time to complete. It's no small task to write a book, and there are a lot of other things (like FtC2) in line ahead of it. But work is underway."

"I know that's a long list," Dan said, "And some of it sounds really ambitious. However, we've left this show in neutral for too long, and our progress and enthusiasm ground to a halt."

John's return will no doubt restore balance to The Force.  With the four guys - Dan, Chad, Chris, and John - a mix is provided that will be rather friendly to the ear.  But wait!  There's a fifth host! 

That's right, what about Pat?

Pat's still a bit shy on the show.  With luck, and maybe a bit of love, he can be coaxed out of his shell.

As evidenced by many comments on this blog, a number of Booters have feared that the glory days were over for the show.  It's great to see that the fellas have a plan to put the mother frakkin' FEAR back in THE BOOT.

Start grabbing gears, guys, and rocket that podcast back to the top where we know it belongs.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 10:17 PM CDT

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It's official.

Fear the Boot's second Fear The Con is scheduled for March 6 & 7, 2009 in beautiful, scenic St Louis, Missouri (or actually a suburb thereof).  Last year's event was hands down the best gaming con I have ever been to.  My buddies and I each have got high hopes for the upcoming show.

As mentioned earlier this week, James already has the game he plans to run prepped.  We played in his Savage Spelljammer game Saturday night.  It was big, big fun.  

I am presently working on This Empire Earth which I will play test next month with my homies and will run at FTC2.

And of course, we'll be making a return to the sleepy town of Calhoun to see what happens a year after the start of the zombie apocalypse.

Color me giddy.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:17 PM CDT

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