Boughts and Thoughts - October 31st, 2007

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Went to the shop, like most Wednesdays, but this time, with Digital Kontent member, Milo. The Halloween festivities were up at Cyber City Comix. Pumpkins carved, decorations all along the stairs that lead to the store. Beautiful weather we're having, so let's enjoy Halloween!

DC Infinite Halloween Special - Wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, but former WCW World Champion, David Arquette, participates with not only a story, but lends his face as one of the characters! That's right, Former WCW World Champion!

Justice Society of America #10 - I hope to see this leading to something big.

Suburban Glamour #1 - Decided to pick this up, after it came out like a week or two ago. Not a bad read. Maybe wait for the trade now.

X-Men: Messiah CompleX #1 - I caved. Another X-Men book for me. It was good, and it's leading to something bigger (at least, that's what I hope). I'll play it by ears with this story.

Another update: Computer

Well, after last night's unsuccessful try at getting my computer fixed, I went on Craigslist, and searched for the motherboard. Glad to say that I was able to find one, but since it was Craigslist, and a random computer part for sale, I was hesitant about it. I sent the email, and was surprised with a somewhat quick response. I sent my reply, and got another somewhat quick response (both, within 30-minutes of when I sent my message). The final reply had an address, where I could head to. There I am, now worried, because I'm thinking it's his house address, because he said, "My address is..."

So, I made the drive this morning/afternoon, to the address. Since I'm looking for a house with the address. It's number 366. I get to 414, then hit two plazas, so I'm thinking it's the set of houses coming up. All of a sudden, I'm in the mid-200s. What the...?

Go back around, trying to search again, pass the 414 again. So I turn around again, and pull into the second plaza to just stop and check around. Turns out, I'm in the right plaza, and the address was for a computer repair shop/parts store.

I'm a little relieved that it's a store, instead of a house. Talk to the guy I sent the email to, and he gets the motherboard, and says he'll test it for me, to show me it's in working condition. I inspect the board, and check out the BIOS, and everything looks good. So I pay the man, and head home.

Install the motherboard, and start it up. IT'S WORKING! My computer is operational again. This whole ordeal is over... for the time being... until this motherboard gets fried, or something else goes wrong. But until then, I'm happy it's over.

Update: Computer

So, today, I decided to try to fix my motherboard. Knowning that part of the problem was some of the capacitors on the board, I searched around for the capacitors (online), so I know somewhat, what I'm looking for.

This led me to the Sayal website, cause I know Sayal has all sorts of electronics parts, because my workplace orders from them. I searched their website, and they had the capacitors I was looking for, and had them in stock, at the location not too far from my house.

Their inventory system is fairly accurate. It said 9 on the website, and there was 9 when I went there. Bought them... well, it's packs of twos, and I needed eight in total, so I bought 5 of the 9 (got the extra pack, because I didn't trust myself).

Another problem that I thought it could've been, was the power supply. So, I went to the Factory Direct, which also isn't too far from me, and bought that. It's a more powerful power supply, which works for me, because of the amount of power I'm probably using.

Later, I went to work, to use the equipment there, to replace the capacitors. Took me about 3+ hours, cause it was a pain in the ass, and I didn't want to scratch up the motherboard, or break any parts. There was a pin, from the capacitor, that just wouldn't come out. I spent about an hour on that one alone.

Anyways, with all the capacitors replaced, I went home to install the motherboard.

Sadly, it doesn't work. Well, it does, except for one major issue, that I noticed before, but am not able to repair. The on-board video chip is fried. Everything else works, but it just doesn't load the video/picture.

So, I tried, but was unsuccessful at getting the computer fully running. The things I worked on, was fixed, which does give me a slight feeling of joy, but still disappointed that the computer isn't running.

Boughts and Thoughts - October 24th, 2007

Action Comics #857 - In a way, a nice ending, but the arc wasn't anything special. Just another story.

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime - DCU takes on Superboy-Prime... uhh... Superman-Prime. This sets up the new Ion vs. Superman-Prime.

The Walking Dead #43 - Shows everything that happens from when we saw the Governor getting diced up, until issue #42, where we saw the return of the Governor. The same ending as issue #42.

X-Men #204 - Loving the Choi/Oback artwork. Just too beautiful. Too bad I haven't been following everything leading to this issue.

Two days of frustration!

This actually started late Sunday night. I was writing up my blog report, when all of a sudden, my computer decides to shut down Windows. There I am, worried that my computer might have been affected by a virus. Never seeing that happen again, and thinking that it might've been a one time thing, I boot the computer back up.

About 5-10 minutes later, it decides to shut down again. So, thinking that someone might've hacked into my computer and got it to shut down, I decide to disconnect the RJ-45 network cable, and reboot. It stayed on for a little while, so I ended up putting in the network cable. Open up Internet Explorer, and the computer shuts down. Now really worried, I tried it again, and the same result.

At that point, I went to bed, so that I could check out the computer the next morning. Sadly, it had the same result, but almost immediately. So I opened up the tower casing, and tried booting it up. All of a sudden, I hear sparks. I immediately unplug the computer, and disconnect all the cords and cables.

This is when I notice a few of the capacitors on the motherboard leaking on top, and drying up. I've come to a conclusion that the board is fried. "It smells like burning." - Ralph Wiggum.

So I take it out to examine everything on the board. I also remove the power supply, and open that up as well. It also "smells like burning."

I end up using my step-dad's computer to search around for motherboards. I couldn't really find any that are the same as mine, aside from eBay. One of the three was local, so I was watching that. It actually ended under two hours ago, for $107+. It's a little too much for me, to spend on a used motherboard that might not work.

I'm currently looking around for a new laptop, to replace my clunky desktop. I'm also looking into getting new capacitors for the motherboard, and try replacing them myself. Maybe even a new power supply. We'll see.

Anyways, that wasn't the only computer problem I had.

While I was using my step-dad's computer, I remember that he's been asking me to install a video card and sound blaster card into his computer. I opened up the tower, to see he already has a video card in it, and that the video card I was about to install was old. I still replaced it. Also, the sound blaster card could not fit into the PCI or AGP slots. It's one of the older cards.

I go to turn on the computer, and the screen is not detecting. I decide to change back the video card, and the screen is not detecting. This ends up pissing me off right then. There I am, trying to get the damn thing one. Hoping that the motherboard is not fried, I end up leaving it, so that I could head to school.

Went to work on that computer this morning. Took everything out of the tower to inspect the motherboard. Nothing was wrong with it. Put everything back in, worried that another computer in the house was out of commission (there's three, and the remaining one is pretty crappy, and crashes alot).

I turned the computer on. Everything is still running, there's no signal to the screen. I leave it running for about five minutes, then I notice more LEDs start coming on. It's actually booting up the hard drive, but no signal. I turned off the computer, and turned it back on. THE SCREEN WORKS!

There I am, all happy that I was able to get one computer running again.

Later on, I install my main hard drive from my tower, into my step-dad's computer, and started to back everything up. Glad to have all my documents, files, backed up, and ready to install in a new computer.

It's been a stressful two days for me, cause I hate fixing computers. I've had bad experiences from the previous computers I've had through my lifetime. One particular computer, I had to format the hard drive on a regular basis, and re-install everything. It would usually take away several hours in my life.

I'm hoping to be able to get my computer fixed. Also, hoping to get a laptop in the near future.

Donations accepted. :)

October 21st, 2007 - Hobbystar Toronto ComiCON Report

I start this report off with an anecdote, so gather 'round and I'll tell ye a tale.

How Digital Kontent ruined the convention for me!
Yea, that's right! I said it! Their total awesomeness took away all the attention from ME! The "King of Toronto congoers" (quoted from Sequential, and not me being egotistical).

Nah, those guys did no such ruining. As a matter of fact, they ROCKED! They blew the roof of that motherf----r! (*EXPLODING HIGH FIVE*)

Free comics! Free candy! Free sketches! Free high-fives! TOP GUN! KHABIBULIN!

Where can you get a 19-hr+ DVD for less than a McDonald's combo? DIGITAL KONTENT! I got my copy, signed the the Digital Kontent crew, Johnboy, Milo, & Iby, and Dropkicks rock! Don't know what the hell I'm talking about? Get the DVD!

Also available and definitely worth checking out, Camel And A Kiosk, written by Milo of Digital Kontent, and two covers by Shane Heron!

Speaking of Shane Heron, I suggest you check out his mini-comic, The Almighty. Also, check out his sketchbook, the next time you see him at a convention.

You'll be treated to some fun and awesome artwork. You may even be able to score a kick-ass sketch from him. Just check out the sketch I was able to obtain.

USAGI YOJIMBO!

That's one bad ass rabbit with a sword!

Another sketch I was able to get, was from Digital Kontent co-host, Iby (Ibrahim Shum)!

Iby was cranking out them sketches throughout the day, right beside Shane Heron.

Also, Iby was selling his sketchbook at the convention. Sadly for me, I lost my copy from the time I picked it up, until the time I got home. I'm uber pissed at myself, because I lost it. I really wanted to check it out.

Like I said, Digital Kontent did no such ruining! So, check out their podcasts at http://www.digitalkontent.com. If you see them at a convention, be sure to check them out in person, to witness their awesomeness!

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(Now back to are regular programming)

So it's the annual fall Toronto ComiCON, put on by Hobbystar Marketing.

Unlike the previous years that I have attended, there were two special guests booked for this convention, instead of the usual one. Also, there was a small artist alley section at the convention. I was happy to hear the changes.

Unfortunately, one of the special guests was unable to make the trip to Toronto. As I mentioned in the post below this, Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow/Black Canary) had cancelled his appearance, because of some unforeseen circumstances.

This left the Matthew Clark (Crime Bible, Outsiders) as the lone special guest, holding down the fort.

After Kevin Boyd and Aman Gupta let us rabid animals into the convention floor, I made my way to see Peter (of All New Comics), who already had awesome commission done by Matthew Clark, and picked up several great pages from him, which he said were pretty cheap.

This prompted me to head over to that line, and to check out some artwork, before everyone bought up all the deals. While in line, Tiz also mentioned how cheap the original art were, and suggested I pick some up.

Peter and Tiz were right. While getting a sketch done, I was browsing through the original art pages, and saw many great inexpensive pages for sale.

I came across the page below, and I was blown away.



Sure, it's a half-splash of space scenery, but I truly like this page, and I am really happy with the purchase. The page also contains Starfire, Supergirl, Firestorm, Animal Man, Shift, and others. I was considering a couple of other pages, but wanted to conserve my money to spend around the convention.

Throughout the day, I put myself down for a sketch and a commission. The sketch to the right is by Richard Zajac (G.I. Joe: America's Elite, Thoughtless).

Richard, along with his wife, Nancy, are Hero Initiative Regional Board Advisory Members, who volunteer a lot of their time at conventions, for the Hero Initiative. Fantastic work from them, for this amazing charity organization that supports comic professionals that are in need of financial assistants.


The commission I had done, was by Agnes Garbowska. It is of the girls of Runaways, created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona.

No disrespect to any of the artists that I got sketches from at the con (you guys rocked!), but this one is my favourite. How can you not like the cute and colourful piece?

That was the last of the sketches/commissions I got. After that, I did some bin diving, and I am quite happy with my purchases.

A Moment of Silence - This is a tribute to the Heroes of 9/11. Features work by Mark Bagley, Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Jemas, Igor Kordey, Scott Morse, Joe Quesada, John Romita Jr., Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, Darwyn Cooke, Gene Ha, and many others! This book also features an intro by Rudolph Giuliani.

Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #35 - This is the issue where Aunt May finds out that her nephew, Peter Parker, is Spider-Man.

Alpha Flight #5 - First appearance of Talisman.

Captain America #25 WWLA Exclusive CGC SS 9.4 - Picked up from Kevin Boyd. I was eyeing his eBay auction of this, but didn't purchase it then. It's signed by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, John Cassaday, and Joe Quesada!

New Avengers #21, 23-25 - These were the issues I originally passed on, in favour of starting to collect the series in hardcover format, but since I continued collecting the later issues in singles, I figured it was time to pick these up.

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 & 1 - First appearance of Stargirl, Courtney Whitmore (Issue #0).

Spider-Man #1 - Received for free, at Digital Kontent!

While I was bin diving, I saw local artist and Super Nice Guy, Marvin Law. He handed me one of his sketchbooks, which contains many great sketches by him. Thanks Marvin!

Be sure to check out my brother's convention report, which should be posted soon.

I had a great time at this convention. Got some great sketches, a commission, books, and an original art page.

Thank you to everyone that helped make my day at this convention. See ya at the next one!

Hobbystar's Toronto ComiCON Guest Cancellation

Not sure how many people this will reach before the con, which is in under eleven hours, but it was announced that Cliff Chiang will be unable to attend the October 21st, 2007 show.

Boughts and Thoughts - October 17th, 2007

How did I miss Justice League of America #14 on the list?

Captain America #31 - I think Bucky is messing with Faustus.

Justice League of America #14 - I enjoyed this issue. How is the League going to get out of this one?

Marvel Zombies 2 #1 - After all those years, Black Panther finally turns... yea, I honestly don't care. Currently debating on whether I'm going to continue with this series, or wait for the hardcover.

The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #2 - That's one dysfunctional team/family.

Hobbystar's Toronto ComiCON This Sunday! and other Convention news

This Sunday, October 21st, 2007, is the Hobbystar Marketing's Fall Toronto ComiCON! I will be there, and I'm sure some readers will be there too.

It starts at 11am, and runs until 5pm.

The Special Guests are: Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow/Black Canary) and Matthew Clark (Crime Bible, Outsiders)!

Other Guests include: Agnes Garbowska, J. Torres, Vatche Mavlian, Shane Heron, Richard Zajac, and others.

Also appearing, are the guys at Digital Kontent!

Check out their latest Podcast, which features Kevin Boyd on the mic! Well, on a mic.

For those that are making the trip, I'll see you there.

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Paradise Toronto Comicon 2008 has now become a two-day show, and has now been moved to July 12th & 13th, 2008, from the original date listed, June 6th-8th, 2008. Also, there is a location change. Instead of the Direct Energy Centre, Paradise Toronto Comicon will be held at the Holiday Inn on King.

Barring any unforseeable circumstances, I will be at that show as well, and I'm looking forward to it.

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Motor City Comic Con 2008 has been added to my sidebar once again, with their announcement of the first set of guests slated to appear. The name that has already sold the con to me, Herb Trimpe! I'll most likely only be there for the Saturday, once again, but I am looking forward to meeting one of the men that created Wolverine!

That's all for now.

Back from the Tour of Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal/Quebec

Last week, my step-brother, Dai, and his wife, Kay, made a trip up to Canada, for their vacation. My brother and I accompanied them around Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec, for them to enjoy their vacation. This report won't contain many pictures. The laziness is kicking in, so just read my brother's reports. Part 1 and Part 2.

They actually arrived in Canada on Saturday October 6th, but since my brother and I had tickets to the Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Montreal Canadiens, they ended up staying in Niagara Falls as their first night of their vacation.

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On Sunday October 7th, they drove up to our house, to unload their luggage. We then made our way to downtown Toronto. Our first stop was the CN Tower. This was actually my first trip up the CN Tower. Too bad it was cloudy and foggy, so the visibility was terrible of the city.

After the CN Tower, we walked throughout the downtown core, from Union Station, to Yonge-Dundas Square, to Eaton Centre, to Silver Snail, and then back to the car, to head out for dinner.

We were looking to go to Montana's, but settled for Milestones. It wasn't really the greatest of meals. Went home after to relax before the trip to Ottawa/Montreal the next day.

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Monday October 8th (Thanksgiving Day), we headed out to Ottawa. The trip was really just for pictures around the city. Most of the city was closed, so the trip there was pretty quick.

Headed to Montreal right after. We checked into our hotel, which was right in the downtown core of Montreal, then went to Casino Montreal. We went straight for the buffet for dinner, since we were all hungry, and then gambled afterwards.

I went for the Roulette tables. First play, won myself $70! After that, I didn't win anything. I think I might've dropped $40 of that, and then decided to leave the table, a winner.

Headed back to the hotel, and called it a night.

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Tuesday October 9th, we went around Montreal and did some sight-seeing there. Some of the places we went to were, St. Joseph's Oratory, Plateau Mont-Royal, both of which had great views of Montreal. We also went to Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Bell Centre, and then walked through the downtown core of Montreal.

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Wednesday October 10th, we made the trip to Quebec City. Most of the day was on the road. The other part was strolling around the area near Chateau Frontenac. My bro went into detail about the trip, so just check out his posting, by clicking Part 2 at the beginning of this post.

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Thursday October 11th, we left Montreal to make our way back to Toronto. We stopped at a few places along the way home. One of the places we stopped was the Wal-Mart just off the highway in Belleville, where I picked up the following items: Be Cool DVD for $5, Classic Super Stars Series 13 Undertaker chase figure, and Megaman Anniversary Edition. Nostalgia got me to buy this game, because I loved playing Megaman when I was a kid.

We stopped by Vaughan Mills before heading home for dinner, which my mom went all out for us. Lobsters, roasted chicken, shark-fin soup, and other stuff for dinner. That was a totally amazing meal.

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Friday October 12th, my step-bro, Dai, and his wife, Kay, headed back to Buffalo, to fly back to LA.

Thanks to them for making the trip up to Canada, to see us, and spend their vacation. I had a lot of fun checking out parts of Canada I haven't been to. I hope the weather, and the construction at all the landmarks we went to, didn't ruin their vacation.

Now, this report is really weak with the lack of pictures, so I will leave you with this one.


My way of showing my love to the Montreal Canadiens! GO LEAFS GO!

Boughts and Thoughts - October 11th, 2007

Sorry this is late, but I just wasn't in a writing mood, after the trip to Montreal/Quebec City/Ottawa last week. I'll get to that trip eventually.

Here are last week's pick-ups:

Green Arrow/Black Canary #1 - So, Oliver Queen isn't dead. Good! I like Oliver Queen as Green Arrow. Don't care much about Conner.

Grimm Fairy Tales 2007 Annual - Impulse buy, which was pretty good. I like the twisted, grown-up telling of children's fairy tales.

New Avengers #35 - Tigra got beat... Deathlok was put to use, then disposed of... and the New Avengers did not appear.

Runaways #28 - The delay between issues is really hurting this book for me.

No Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24. Diamond didn't send the right amount to my shop, so I wasn't able to get my copy. Probably next week. If not then, maybe I'll get it elsewhere. Or not, and wait for the collected.

Leafs Win!

Back from the awesome Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens game, at the Air Canada Centre, on October 6th, 2007. It was a great game, with so much energy. Sure, that energy came from the Habs fans, but it's still energy. My bro and I were surrounded by Montreal fans.

Not really going to report on the game itself, other than Vesa Toskala made HUGE saves during the overtime, to keep the game going, until the eventual Leafs win.

I did pick up a new Leafs jersey. One of the new Rbk home jerseys. Not the Rbk Edge. This one is to replace the old Leafs jersey I have, which for some reason, I bought with Ed Belfour's name on the back. Yep, waste of money that was. I knew I should've bought the Sundin one back then. Oh well, this new one doesn't have a name. I opted not to get any names on it.

Boughts and Thoughts - October 3rd, 2007 / Ranting...

Small week for me.

Action Comics #856 - Not bad, but probably better collected. Kind of a pointless story, IMO. Oh well, one more issue left.

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season Eight #7 - Enjoyed this issue.

Iron and the Maiden #3 - Pretty good issue. I still think it's ending pretty quickly, but still a good series. One more issue to go.

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I understand the zombie fad has caught on, and has been going on for a while. Though I enjoy some aspects of it, I can't, for the life of me, other aspects of it.

What I'm getting at is all of these Zombie Variants that Marvel has been releasing. It's no surprise that Marvel Zombies was a hit series. And with the release of Marvel Zombies 2, I'm sure that's going to be a hit as well.

But what is the purpose of releasing Zombie Variants of random books? This week was Howard The Duck #1, and Ms. Marvel #20. Next week, Amazing Spider-Girl? Punisher War Journal? Runaways?!?!?!? Wolverine?

I'm starting to get tired of zombies, aside from Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead. I will probably pick up issue #1 of Marvel Zombies 2, and skip out on the rest.

Obviously, I don't have to buy into the Zombie Variants, if I don't want to. I don't plan on buying into them.

"Zombies Are So Played Out..."
- Supergirl, Teen Titans #51 (Written by Sean McKeever)