Alec Longstreth's Blog, page 31

MEDIEVAL MADNESS!!!

The third and final adventure is complete. I am safely back at home in Vermont...

WITH MY NEW PINBALL MACHINE!!! (!!!!?!?!?!!!!!!?!?!?!!?!?!)

That's right, not even a year after my initial rediscovery of pinball, I have purchased my first pinball machine. It's a Medieval Madness machine, which was built on September 29th, 1997 by the Williams pinball company in Chicago Illinois. It is, without a doubt, the coolest thing I have owned or will ever own.

I've been keeping this on the...

Heroes Con 2010!

Well, I'm back in Boston (at Liz's place again) after an awesome extend-o weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina where I was a guest at the 2010 Heroes Con.

Heroes Con has got to be one of the best run comics conventions in the country. The staff are extremely helpful and they made the weekend an easy, fun experience from the moment I arrived at the airport until I left four days later. My biggest thank you goes to Dustin Harbin for inviting me to the show. "Dusty" (as I like to call him...

Santa Fe!

I'm in Boston right now, after spending the last four days in Santa Fe, New Mexico with Claire. We walked all over town, and I got to meet both of Claire's parents and a bunch of her old friends. We saw all kinds of art, went on a hike, ate SO MUCH DELICIOUS MEXICAN FOOD and just in general had an amazing, relaxing time.

I took a whole bunch of photos, but you're gonna have to wait to see them, because right now I'm in Boston (staying at Liz Prince's place) and tomorrow I leave for Heroes...

Avatar the Last Airbender

The night before Max headed back for Belgium, we watched the last episode of the third and final season of Avatar the Last Airbender. It was SO GOOD. I've been running around for days, pretending I can airbend, and wishing I had a Sky Bison to travel with.

I know I'm pretty late to this party. The show ran from 2005 - 2008, and even though I had heard nothing but good things about it, I didn't get around to watching it until the last few weeks. James Sturm watched it with his daughters...

Jedi Master!

Well, it has been EIGHT MONTHS since I achieved Jedi Knight status on the Star Wars: Episode I pinball machine. And today I finally, FINALLY achieved Jedi MASTER status!

For a while there, Jon and I thought the pool hall that houses the machine was going to shut down. The proprietor got sick and their hours became wildly inconsistent. They would only be open for an hour or two each day, or some days they wouldn't open at all, and at one point, they were closed for two weeks straight.

Then,...

Phase 7 #012 and #013 are now online!

After three years of being in print, I finally sold (or gave away?) the last copy of Phase 7 #012 at the Stumptown Comics Fest a few weeks ago.

Phase 7 #013 sold out much quicker (within a year of its publication?) and I have been reprinting it ever since. But no longer! Both comics are now available online in their entirety, over in the comics section.

I've been working SUPER hard on Phase 7 #008 this past week (Basewood Chapter 4). I'm aiming to have that issue out by this Fall. Then ...

Food doesn't TOTALLY suck

I have a confession to make. Now, this might come as a big shock to some of you long-time blog readers, but, well...

I have been making SOUP.

LOTS of it. From SCRATCH. Since... like February or so.

Now I know this news is at odds with some of my previous "Food Sucks" posts, but all I can say is that people change, and in this case I think it's probably for the better.

It's been a long road. People have been making fun of my eating habits for years. I've never been crazy about eating...

Summer Break!

Well, as you can see here, CCS graduation was on Saturday. (Photo by Penina!) It was a very moving ceremony for me.

The class of 2010 arrived at this school at the same time I did. I was the Fellow during their first year, and so in a lot of ways I feel like I am PART of this class. I have also worked with them as their teacher, but I've also just become FRIENDS with them. It's really, really sad to think that so many of them will be leaving this community, but if there's anything I've ...

End of Year CCS Projects!

It was a BIG WEEK here at the Center for Cartoon Studies. The seniors turned in their thesis projects on Monday and the first-years all turned in their final projects on Tuesday. Because of my trip, I missed out on most of the crazy, hectic, last minute printing and production work that went on. But everyone managed to get their stuff in on time. Phew!

I read the first-years' projects (and took notes) over the last two nights. It was almost 700 pages of comics from 24 students, which we ...

Stumptown & Seattle SUPER Summary

As I sit down to write this blog entry I am sick (sore throat, runny nose, headache), still a bit jet-lagged, and kind of stressed out from all the catch-up I've been trying to do since I got back to Vermont. So I apologize in advance if this account seems at all grumpy. I had an amazing time in the Pacific Northwest, so don't believe me if I tell you otherwise!

At the very start of the trip, Max and I traveled together from White River Junction down to Boston, where we stayed at Maris and ...