chris | word

Unless you use a different calendar than I do (which is possible, I guess) you know today is Sunday. This day is also known as my favorite day of the week. You know this if you read my earlier post on that very subject.

Seeing as this is my favorite day of the week, what am I going to do with it you may wonder? The short answer, for this week at least, is nothing.

I’m a big fan of doing nothing, at least once in awhile. With all that goes on during the days and weeks and months of work, deadlines and life in general, when you have a chance to just sit, watch mindless TV, read a book or comic or write blog posts, I say take it.

I don’t have all that much to do right at the moment, especially today. I have work that needs to be done and deadlines coming up, but right at this moment, today, they are not urgent. I also don’t have any pressing social engagements, things I have to do for Heather or any children to worry about (at least not yet) so none of that is vying for my time today either.

These times don’t come along all that often, but when they do, it’s wrong to just ignore them. Plus, doing nothing has a lot of benefits.

It helps you recharge and get ready for the days and weeks of work ahead. It also helps you unplug from the computer, social media and all that that entails.

And, it helps you discover and explore new things like books you haven’t gotten to, comics you needed to read, all those neglected episodes of Firefly on Netflix or The Wire on HBO Go or any number of other pursuits that seem to always get relegated to “someday soon” due to life’s relentless pressure to do something else.

So, with that in mind, I choose to seize this opportunity and do nothing. It won’t last long, but it doesn’t have to. The trick is just to enjoy it while you can.

Doing nothing is kinda like life that way.

—

Two notes for those of you who’ve read this far down.

• Believer, my comic book project at Kickstarter, is doing pretty well after only a couple days. Check it out if you have a minute.

• I will not be going to CES this year for many reasons, but mostly because I just don’t really want to. I’m pretty sure if you asked most of the people at CES they would say they don’t want to be there either. Trust me, it’s not as fun as it seems.

Here’s the new SI cover girl Brooklyn Decker looking very good. You’re welcome.

Sadly, the world lost a great guy, a great dancer, a great actor and a great fighter today when Patrick Swayze passed away at 57 from complications due to pancreatic cancer. He will be missed.

I’ve been a fan of the man for years and even had the chance to meet and work with him long ago on a movie probably best forgotten. It wasn’t one of his best films (or mine) and at the time he was a little worse for wear, but still he was always a professional, a friendly, happy man and a pleasure to work with.

That’s the way I’m going to remember him.

Also, I’m going to remember him through his movies. So, in honor of Patrick Wayne Swayze, here’s a few of my favorites.

I’m very lucky to live in a country where I’ve had the opportunity to pursue pretty much whatever dream I saw fit. To those who can no longer follow their dreams, we will not forget you.

Here’s some photos for ‘Photo Tuesday’ from the recent New York Comic Con. These were taken by my pal Tony Mark at the show and feature some people you may know and characters you may recognize. Enjoy.

Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes

Rehka Sharma from Battlestar Galactica

Selma Blair

Some Slave Leias

Colonial Tigh himself, Michael Hogan

Hellboy’s Ron Perlman

You know, maybe I won’t bother to do a brain dump post about the NYCC after all. Sure, I could hit you with all the things I liked about the Con from the not overly-crowded show floor to the weather in NYC to the well-run and often interesting panels.

Or, I could complain about the few things I didn’t like about the Con such as the sometimes lateness of the panels which caused us a bit of trouble, the overpriced food and the extra-super-crappy wireless internet which they should not charge for and give money back to anyone dumb enough to get it. But really, what do I have to complain about?

Life is pretty good. I got to spend several days “working” with some of the most talented, interesting, gracious and fun people around. Yes, I’m talking about the ComicMix team. In short, I had a great time and one that I hope to repeat come San Diego Comic-Con in July. Which, hopefully, I will be attending again under the gracious auspices of ComicMix/Crowd Fusion and its super-talented and benevolent rockstar Brian Alvey.

Who knows, perhaps I will even be able to do a bit of work for some as-yet unrealized movie and TV related sites? Anything is possible and I will not speculate further because I think certain people may read this blog and I don’t want them to get angry at me for giving away too much or saying things I’m not supposed to say. Whew, that was a close one.

Sure, the week in NYC was not without its few glitches. But come on, I got paid to go to a comic book convention and meet writers, artists, film directors, actors and hang out with the best team working in journalism today. I don’t know about you or what you happen to do to make ends meet, but I can tell you, my life is pretty sweet — at least where my “work” is concerned. I also managed to take care of some “personal” business while in NYC as well, which was the other reason I was in New York. Lucky for me, I was able to do both while there.

As for my my personal life? Well, don’t get me started on that as its a long and winding road to be sure. Its been an interesting six months to be sure. By way of explanation, did I happen to mention how much fun I had in New York at the Comic Con? Did I tell you how great it was to be working shoulder to shoulder with people like Mike Gold, Rick Marshall, Glenn Hauman, Michael Davis, Kai Connolly, Mike Raup, Matt Raub!, Martha Thomases, Karl Cramer, Alan Kistler and the rest of the team, friends and support system.

And yes, even if Glenn did forget to bring me my “official” ComicMix business cards, I still think he’s a great, funny and intelligent guy who really knows his way around comics. Glenn, I’m sorry again that everyone gave you such a hard time about forgetting my cards. I didn’t put them up to it, I promise. Still, it was kinda funny, at least to me. And Matt Raub!

See what I did there? A little sleight-o-hand to make you forget to ask me about my personal life. We’re talking about all good things right now so I won’t muck it up with anything not good. Suffice to say that life is good but sometimes you gotta make sure you tell yourself that a lot to help get you through the times when life isn’t like that.

I’m still gathering my thoughts (such as they are) about the New York Comic Con. Rest assured I will eventually do a brain dump of whatever is left in there to dump. I know, without reservation, it will be well worth the wait. Of course, I’ve also been known to drink a bit now and then, so who knows?

Meantime, feel free to take a look at what my learned colleagues at ComicMix have to say on the subject. Here’s Mike Gold’s perspective and here’s Rick Marshall’s. Both of them are smart and have a lot of experience at these types of events so you will find what they have to say very interesting, no doubt about it.

I’ve also managed to post a few photos from my trip over at my Flickr pages. So those can also serve to give you something to look at and help pass the time between now and when my no doubt brilliant insight into the Con will arrive.

Well, now that I’ve way over-sold the whole thing I guess I should probably put my head down and write it. Ok, I will. Check back later.