It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted my last blog. The reason I didn’t have one last week was due to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. This week my weekend was exceedingly busy, and I did not get a chance to work on it.

I barely had a chance to write the latest entries in my New Mutant Monday series two!

Some may know of this, some may not. Due to circumstances, I have found it very difficult to do any work on the various projects I have on the go. First my mom is dying of cancer. She’s got 6 months to a year left. Then there is the fact that I’m currently unemployed so a lot of my time is spent dropping of resumes and applying for jobs online.

And finally my diabetes is getting worse. My body simply has grown used to the medication and I’ll probably be taking insulin in the next few months. The downside is once I start, I’m on it for good… unless of course some of these cures that have been making their rounds online come true. The upside is I’ll probably feel a hell of a lot better than I typically do.

So I have a lot weighing me down and it’s rather difficult to be creative when so much is happening!

I digress.

This year’s Calgary Expo was far better for me than last year’s, hands down. The sad thing is I really don’t have any good memories to take away from it the way I have in the past. That’s what I really go for, are the memories. Sure getting swag and photos with celebrities is cool, but it’s the little things, the events that make it special.

I’m really hoping my time at Comicpalooza in Houston next month will make up for it. I really hope so.

Speaking of the expo, I found two of four items I had been hunting for. The Predator Bust bank, and the Weyland Yutani Xenomorph egg pack. I was hoping to get the Alien Queen bust and the Xenomorph egg bank, but no joy there. Maybe next month when I head to Houston.

Oh and even though in my humble opinion Dark Horse comics really had far more misses than hits, I did pick up the 30^th Anniversary of the original Aliens comic. This is a beautiful book, and has the complete original series – before the stories went to shit, and yes, the VAST MAJORITY of the mini-series they had after this sucked so bad I would have been embarrassed to have my name attached to them!

If you’re a fan, even if you already own the original comics (as I do), pick it up!

One thing I would like to talk about are reviews on Amazon and other places. There will always be idiots who have agendas and will give terrible reviews in regards to a particular item – book, movie, what have you. Fine enough to see these types of reviews, especially those which explain why they did not like the product in question.

People may not like it, but at least they’re explaining why.

The reviews that piss me off are the ones which state ‘it sucks’, ‘you are a terrible person’ or like some I’ve seen clearly have not read / viewed / used the product and are just being vindictive. Oh you have no idea how many times I’ve seen so-called reviews where the reviewer (and I use that term loosely) get facts wrong about the item in question, proving they are just being assholes.

And then you have the reviews which give a one star to something because of totally inane and idiotic reasons. I’ll give you the most common example. ‘I’ve not gotten my item so I’m going to give it a 1 star review’, or ‘it was not released on the date it was supposed to be screw you.’ OR ‘What, it’s not available here in my country? I’m giving you a terrible review!’.

People who do this are fucking idiots! There is no polite way to say it, because it’s true!

Anyhow…

As you have come to expect, I have been posting my New Mutant Monday Series Two entries each week, although last week they were a day late. Here are my latest creations: Intoxicator, Fukusu Atama Weasel, Bullion and the Ravenous Stilts. One, the Bullion was inspired by an image sent to me from one of my readers, Mark Margraf. He’s provided a lot of suggestions and images for me to use and as such he needs to be mentioned!

I have about fifteen different images to use, of which about half of these are the chimera’s that have been making their rounds online. I’m going to try and avoid using those except as a last resort, as I wrote far too many of them for the first volume!

Speaking of creations I still have quite a ways to go before I’m finished with the conversion book. I was down to 11 entries to write, and discovered three of the entries I already wrote were in the series one book.

So I’m back up to fourteen entries to write. I’m going to do what I can to get them written up before the end of the month, but between the job search and other things I’m dealing with, it’s not looking too likely.

This week I got three up. The Zombie King, Gobape, and the Temants. I could have called them exactly what they are, but it’s the whole copyright infringement thing I’m worried about.

Oh and there will be more conversions coming from Fallout 4! I’ve watched the trailer for Far Harbor and I saw at least two new monsters depicted in it, so I will save a few spots just for those.

It should not come as a surprise to anyone I watched Captain America: Civil War on Friday. Being unemployed gives me the opportunity to go see these movies on opening weekend, and I had to take the opportunity to do so.

Absolutely no spoilers here. I really loved the movie. Once again Captain America was portrayed in the exact way that makes him my favorite superhero. Loyalty first and foremost and powerful morals and ethics. There are plenty who might disagree with me about the loyalty factor, but even though the Avengers fought against one another, no bonds could not easily be broken.

Good background as well on some of the characters.

I also watched Huntsman: Winter’s War. This was not as good as Captain America, but I still enjoyed it. The movie is a direct sequel although in some aspects it’s a prequel to the Huntsman which came out a few years back.

Plot holes abound, but I found it charming and entertaining. Far better than a lot of crap I’ve seen in the theater. And it even spawned a conversion I posted earlier this week.

Shocking enough I did not have much time to watch any DVD’s or the like. My wife and I finished season 2 of Z-Nation and are eager for season 3. As I have stated before it is no Walking Dead but the show really has grown on us.

We’re about halfway through season 5 of Game of Thrones at the moment, and once we’re done with that I’ll be watching one of the following: Expanse season 1, Chronicles of Shannara Season 1, or Dark Matter season 1. And soon enough we’ll be able to watch the 100 season 3.

And later this month Wayward Pines returns!

These past two weeks were good weeks for books. I finished Book of the Dead by Greig Beck, as well as Kill Switch by Jonathan Maberry.

I never have been much of a Cthulhu fan, having only read a handful of stories by H.P. Lovecraft, but I really enjoyed Book of the Dead, which is a pure Cthulhu novel, set in Mr. Beck’s Arcadian series, although the main character from those novels does not make an appearance. If you are a fan of Lovecraft, then read this book.

Much to my surprise, Kill Switch also delved deeply into the Lovecraft mythos, and it explained why Joe Ledger has shown up in his other works, such as V-Wars and Rot and Ruin. Of course I loved the book!

And that covers this week.

Until next time, stay happy, safe and healthy.