STAR WARS 2011

As the perfect Grand Opening, let me tell you about May 4th.  For those of you who are not nerds, May 4th is unofficial Star Wars Day, for the sole reason that on that day you can look at your hairy Wookie friend and say, “May the 4th be with you.”

Now, it occurred to me that even though I own the trilogy (yes, trilogy; there are only three of them) I cannot remember the last time I watched them.  I know February 2010 I willing jumped into a frozen lake because it sounded like a good idea, and then spent the rest of the day half-conscious on my couch watching the 1977 Star Wars.  Before that, I “watched” the whole trilogy in 2007, but I was using it as background noise while I worked on a college art project.  But the last time I truly sat down and watched the whole trilogy?  It’s been at least five years.

Well, we fixed that.  Unfortunately, May the 4th landed on a Wednesday.  Boo. 

But, May the 14th, was seemed like a good runner-up, landed on a Saturday. Yay!

So we rearranged my living room to make room for more people.  Then we made Star Wars cookies, Wookie cookies, blue milk, the whole works.  I even hunted down some Colt 45 because Billy Dee Williams was the spokesman for it back in the 80s.  Ah, Colt 45.  Works every time…

To introduce each movie I prepped a 10-15 minute video reel of the original trailers, 80s commercials, and fan-made Star Wars videos.  It was epic.

But wait!  It gets better - Spring Con was the following weekend.  Now, I had never been to a comic book convention before.  The place was packed with all types of booths - mostly comic book artists displaying their work; selling their prints and books; and enthusiastically sharing their passion with you.  However, there were also display tables with all sorts of movie props; figurines for sale; and of course people in costume!  Predator, Hellboy, Joker, and and AND...

Maybe next May I’ll be in San Diego at the real Comicon.  Otherwise, May the 4th lands on a Friday.  Woot woot!  Oh, and Star Wars comes out on Blu Ray in September.  Save up now!

Who IS this guy???

We all knew it was only a matter of time before one of these blogs ended up with my name on it.  After having attended a writers’ convention a month or two back it become clear to me that the best way to get my writing out there was to put myself out there as well.

Well, here I am.  Those of you that know me know that the ability to talk incessantly, especially about myself, is not something I struggle with.  For those of you who have no idea who I am - Hi.  I’m Jon.  Let me fill you in:

By age six, I had lost count of how many times I had seen Star Wars or Indiana Jones.  I watched all the behind the scenes footage and everything.  I wanted to know how they did it, how they brought the movie to life.  I’ve always known that I wanted to be a part of that somehow.

My father came to visit once or twice a year, and without fail he brought his camcorder.  My buddies and I always ran off with it - recording things breaking, staged fights, little skits, stop-motion and such.  Eventually we would always decide that we should make a movie.  Guess who got stuck writing the script. 

We never even started filming a movie, but that’s how I started writing.  I tried out acting in high school, as well as set work, but finally settled on just the writing.  I’m now sitting on a B.A. in Creative Writing, two unpublished manuscripts, and a slew of short stories, none of which have succeeded in becoming published.

The thing that sucks about writing is that it is a slow process, and being able to share a completed piece can take years if you’re writing a novel.  However, updating people on my doings (be it writing, or something entirely different. He he he…) is something I can do more regularly; writing short pieces; creating random articles.  You know, creating more interaction with my peeps!

And that is exactly why this blog is here.