Thought Bubbles 07.18.17: Wonder Woman, Speedway Squad

by on July 18, 2017 at 12:18 am
Posted In: Blog, Thought Bubbles

thought bubbles hogan

A collection of things on my mind, and/or random thoughts I don’t think would make a long enough blog post on their own.

[dc]I[/dc] returned from a camping trip on Sunday, reeking of campfires, lake water, and bad dietary decisions. My July is shaping up to be pretty good.

Wonder Woman

Stephanie and I finally saw Wonder Woman last night. Very well done, and a far cry from the awful DC films put out so far. I told Stephanie, “Wonder Woman was a better Superman movie than the last five Superman movies.” (By which I mean: Batman v. Superman, Man of Steel, Superman Returns, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and Superman III).

I did get tired of the all of the slow-motion and close-up shots of bullets, and it was a bit long, but I enjoyed the film overall, even though I did see the “twists” at the end coming.

Speedway Squad (in Color)

I read a comic on Instagram the other day referring to the “Speedway Squad” bit in a Simpsons episode, and now it’s all I can think about. Mainly, the final exchange:

“The year is 1965, and you and I are undercover detectives on the hot rod circuit. Now, let’s burn rubber baby!”

speedway squad simpsonsI have an urge to write some Speedway Squad fanfic.

Darkstalkers

A collection of the 2d fighting game series, Darkstalkers, is a free Playstation Plus download this month. I gave it a shot, because I needed a reminder about how terrible I am at 2d fighting games.

I do love the character animations, however, even though the designs for some of the female characters are, uh, rather revealing.  Continue Reading

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Thought Bubbles 07.14.17: Castlevania, Jetpens, The Tick

by on July 14, 2017 at 12:40 am
Posted In: Blog, Thought Bubbles

thought bubbles hoganA collection of things on my mind, and/or random thoughts I don’t think would make a long enough blog post on their own.

[dc]I[/dc] thought of this “hot take” about a local restaurant: Over-priced and under-good.

ANYWAY. Use that, just PayPal me a dollar every time you use it in Yelp! Is that the correct way to type Yelp? With the “!”? Is it like Yahoo! in that regard? Maybe I should re-brand myself using a question mark, as “Daniel J. Hogan?”

Speaking of food, I’ve posted my watercolor drawings of what I ate in Cape Cod to Instagram the past couple of days. I don’t really care for food photos, but photos of drawings of food is TOTALLY FINE AND NOT THE SAME THING.

Castlevania

I watched the new Netflix series, Castlevania, based on the old Nintendo game (specifically, Castlevania III). I liked it, however, I agree with this piece on /Film that it wasn’t really a TV series, just a (poorly) chopped up movie. It’s solid though. I like the animation and the story. I’m excited to see where it goes in the next season.

I’m still waiting for that Boy and His Blob TV series!

JetPens

I fell down the JetPens rabbit hole prior to our Cape Cod trip, and bought some new pens. Worth it, of course. But, it’s easy to blink and see you have $50+ worth of pens and pencils in your basket. I cut that down to under $20, however.

But, then I remembered you can’t draw with food, so MOAR PENZ.

Spider-Man

As of this writing, I still haven’t seen Spider-Man: Homecoming. I want to, of course. Then I remember there was a time I wouldn’t wait so long to see a Spider-Man movie. I used to be very much into Spider-Man, but that changed in the years after the first couple Sam Raimi films.

I never saw either of the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films (Spider-Men films?), and from what I’ve heard, I didn’t miss anything.

The Tick

Also on the subject of insect-based superheroes, The Tick returns to TV in the form of a new Amazon Prime TV show. I’m excited. I enjoyed the pilot last year and I can’t wait to see a full season.

I still believe if Mystery Men came out today, it would be a big hit. The world wasn’t ready for satirical superhero movies in 1999.

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Thought Bubbles 07.11.17: Baby Driver, Cape Cod

by on July 11, 2017 at 12:44 am
Posted In: Blog, Thought Bubbles

thought bubbles hogan

A collection of things on my mind, and/or random thoughts I don’t think would make a long enough blog post on their own.

[dc]F[/dc]irst things first: Go see Baby Driver in the theater while you still can. You (sadly) probably won’t be able to for longer.

Baby Driver

Seriously, you guys, go see Edgar Wright‘s latest, Baby Driver on the big screen, with as loud a sound system as possible. Stephanie and I went to see it last night, and MAN. What an experience. There’s probably not as many jokes when compared to Wright’s other films (Shaun of the Dead, Hot fuzz, etc.) but it’s still funny. Great music, amazing editing and car stunts.

I bought the Baby Driver soundtrack right after we got home.

Cape Cod

Stephanie and I spent the last week in Cape Cod on a (much-needed) vacation. It was my first time there, and my first time spending any time on an East Coast beach. I’m used to the Great Lakes beaches here in Michigan, where we don’t have things like TIDES.

I liked learning about tides and how they change the face of the beach throughout the day (and night). In Michigan, a beach doesn’t just triple (or more) in size after a few hours.

I’ve posted some photos to my Instagram.

I made the effort to make watercolor sketches of most of our fun meals while in Cape Cod. I haven’t decided the best way to share those yet. (I made these using my Pentel water brushes and my Sakura Koi travel watercolor kit). I even did a comic or two about what I heard and saw.

Saga Comics

Before our trip, I checked out the first four volumes of the comic series, Saga, from the library. My thought was I would read them on the trip. That didn’t happen. I finished all four volumes less than 24 hours later. It’s an amazing series. Not for kids though! Very adult.

100 Positive Things

I will finish my 100 Positive Things project soon. I took a break while on vacation, and I just need to get back into the groove of making them. And come up with ideas. It isn’t the drawing part, it’s the coming up with “positive thing” which is the hard task.

To be totally honest: this project has taken a toll on me. It’s the making/posting something everyday aspect. I’ve almost completely quit them a few times.

Part of it is the making all of this content for another website, and not my own. Yes, I could post them here, but that’s even more work. Posting stuff to Instagram is easy, and fun, but I’m still spending hours creating content for someone else to make money from (in this case, Instagram/Facebook).

I suppose I just need to not worry about it, and throw myself into Instagram more. Facebook is losing its appeal.

Facebook Diet Time Again

Speaking of, I’m on another of a Facebook diet of sorts. I’ll still share links to my things, and post things to the Clattertron Facebook page. However, I’m trying to avoid reading the main feed again. I didn’t all of last week while on vacation, and it was great.

Foxes & Boxes Will Return 7/24

I posted the wrong “return” date for Foxes & Boxes last week. I meant to say 7/24 at first, not 7/17. I got my weeks mixed up.

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Listen: My Two-Part Montreal Sauce Podcast Interview

by on June 13, 2017 at 12:52 am
Posted In: Blog, News
montreal sauce podcast logo

Listen to my voice!

[dc]Y[/dc]ou can now listen to both parts of my appearance on the Montreal Sauce Podcast.

Here is Part One and here is Part Two.

Clear your schedule, because it’s a good couple of hours of listening to me chat about making comics and owning a house. Sure, the conversation wanders a bit, but that’s part of the fun, honestly.

I always enjoy the chance to chat with Chris and Paul, the hosts of Montreal Sauce (and their other podcast I appear on, Film Frown). Paul, Chris, and I all went to the same college, Grand Valley State University, and met in the film production program. Chris and I worked together at the School of Communications, and I even appeared in one of Paul’s film projects.

It’s fun to chat with guys I’ve known for over ten years, but don’t get to see too often. Paul lives near Grand Rapids and Chris is up over in Edmonton (Canada, not Michigan). Luckily enough, I did get to see Chris about a year ago when he was visiting family in Michigan.

In these days of social media, I do keep in touch with old friends via comments and gifs, but it is rare I hear their voices, or even see them in person. That’s how it is. Social media is OK, but it’s a hollow experience at times when it comes to talking with friends. A poor substitute for being in the same room, but one does what they can until teleporting is a real thing.

Of course, I could make more of an effort to go see people. Heck, I have friends here in town I haven’t seen in far too long. (Amusingly enough, when I had my weekly podcast, I saw friends a lot more often, because they were usually guests)

Regular readers will remember I’m a heavy listener of podcasts myself. Here’s a list of some of my favorite comedy podcasts.

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