C O M I C O N

S A N   D I E G O,   2 0 1 2

  Remember my post about my friend's film, titled Swine?  Here is their official booth for Comicon 2012.  There's Koren to the right!   I'm representing alt comix with my Freak Scene tote!  And no, that's not just some boring gun, it's a laser. 

My favorite costume from the film. Very steampunk. 

I finally found her!

 

  This is my beautiful friend, Michele.  She is a grant writer and producer for Machine Project, and she's super RAD.  I was jealous of her hat.  Look close......it's from the future.

Shot this on the way back to the shuttle.  I love the look of trains and railways.

 

Shirley temple to cap off a long day.  Refreshing. 

 your friend,

  ava

The Freaks Come Out At Night

  Last night I had the pleasure of attending Freak Scene at Synchronicity Space.   If you love underground comix, I suggest checking it out.  It will be up until August 4th. 

  Down below are some post cards I collected at the show.  Drippy Bone Books is amazing.  They had merchandise up the wazoo.  Tote bags (I bought one), t-shirts, beer jackets (yep), and a zine produced specifically for the show (got that, too).  The tote bags and the Freak Zine post card is designed by Benjamin Marra.  You can get a better look at his print on the Sync Space website.  He also painted this huge image on the back wall, and you can see it as you walk into the gallery.  Johnny Ryan is also featured in the show, but not in the zine (bummer).  Jeaux had shown me some of his work, and I'm not sure the exact time I was introduced to Ryan's crude drawings.  It might have been in San Francisco, around 2007.  I remember hanging out with Rio, he had just bought this comic, and we sat down to read it in this tiny cafe, across from the Castro theater.   All the pages were about some dog having sex with this guy and squirting cum all over the guys face, with references to the KKK as Ku Klux Kummers, and it was the most fowl thing, which made it hysterical, and I couldn't stop laughing (that kind of laughter where it's side splitting).  The barista asked us what we were reading because our laughter was INSANE.  I think she wanted to be a part of it, but Rio was too embarrassed (or ashamed) to show her how perverse we were.  I mean, how sick, right?  This might be THE ONE after a google search for ku klux kum.  I almost ran into real Ku Klux Klan sites by searching this way!  YUCK.

   

   I also got to meet Tom Neely, who I'm not too familiar with yet, but I picked up the graphic novel created with his gang, Igloo Tornado, "Henry & Glenn Forever", which was begging me to purchase it.  I mean, how perfect.......Danzig and Rollins in a passionate romance?!!   Neely mentioned that it was like peanut butter and chocolate.  Pretty much sums it up.  I feel like I have seen his work before, and I probably have, but cannot remember when or where.  It's vague. 

  Signed above with a hybrid Danzig/Black Flag skull. YES.  Tom also likes my Nara tattoo.  He's pretty rad.

 

  This photo needs no explanation.  It's just excellent. 

  If you head out to Sync Space tonight, there will be live readings starting at 8pm!  Live readings, music, and the contributors will be signing their comix afterwards!  Wish I could go, but I work late tonight. Pour one out for me.


your friend,

ava

I wonder about WONDERCON

L A C M A 

This was last Thursday, after the screening of Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.  Bakshi is one of Jeaux's biggest influences, and this was to celebrate the film's 35th anniversary release (and Jeaux's birthday).  There were so many people gathered around the now, 73 year old. Until dating a cartoonist, I had no idea the magnitude of Bakshi's influence.  Jeaux introduced me to Fritz the Cat not too long ago.  When Jeaux was a little boy, his mom rented Fritz not knowing that it was x-rated.  He thought that the animals were just tickling each other. 

We took these images in this crazy rubber/rope installation.  It kind of looks like we are in some sort of golden space forest, or at a rave. Tried to find the artist's name on the lacma website, but no luck. 

W O N D E R C O N

This was Jeaux's real birthday (St. Patrick's Day).  We were in Anaheim, and so close to Disneyland.  Such a tease to drive away from the happiest place on earth, but comic book conventions are fun, too.  In the photo below, I was pretty cranky.  It wasn't raining anymore, but we had been walking around a great deal and the crowds were starting to get to me. It was good to get some fresh air.

Trying not to look annoyed.  Hey, look at the cosplayers behind us! 

This is Jeaux and Peter Mayhew, aka Chewbacca!  Such a gentle giant.  I really wish I would have captured his hands in the photo.  They are gigantic!  It was a sobering experience for me, meeting icons from my childhood. I almost cried when seeing Mr. Mayhew, an old man now. I remembered how much I loved Star Wars growing up.  Also, he is sporting my favorite Star Wars film on his sweatshirt.  We think alike, Peter and I. 

the brothers janovsky 

Seeing Wizards for a second time was well worth it for me.  I appreciated it much, much more.  Maybe because I got to see the original pen and ink backgrounds. They were so striking, with a lot of detail.  There was so much texture and depth, and it was lovely seeing them restored.  The scenes looked so crisp and brand new.  


The C O L O R S were insane!  After the screening, Bakshi spoke and Jeaux did an illustration.  

LOOK! Signed by the amazing Ralph Bakshi!

After the q & a, I knew Jeaux would be nervous to meet the man.  I decided to head over, without hesitation.  Jeaux followed and to my surprise, Wondercon was quite the mellow experience compared to Lacma.  Most of the fans had left and it was just us along with Bakshi's son's and grandkids.  Bakshi is such a New Yorker in the best way.  Really punchy and to the point.  He is also fearless, which is a great quality. It was wonderful to see Jeaux so happy, like he had just met Santa Claus!  A while back, Jeaux was interviewed about his idol here.  He's done some lovely tribute drawings of Ralph that you can see here. 

As for my experience talking to Ralph, I can say that we both really like polaroid film.  I caught myself geeking out with Mr. Bakshi about my fuji instax, and we talked about how much we miss the square polaroids of yesteryear.   


Ava: "The colors were amazing."


Ralph: "Yeah! They had that muted effect"


Ava: "Yeah, super saturated."


In my head the whole time: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Afterwards, glancing over at Jeaux, Bakshi shook my hand and said, "Take care of him." 


And we were off, so high from that awesome experience. 

The man, himself!  Pure H A P P I N E S S

We ended the night with Bob's Big Boy.  I had a chocolate malt.  They make the best chocolate malts. xoxoxxx




your friend,


ava

Premiere Night!

Me and my gorgeous friend, Bethany, at the grand reception!  We've known each other for about 14 years and recently had our 10 year high school reunion (that we never went to).  Lovely photo courtesy of Emylie! 

I'm so glad to finally be writing about my friends and the exciting night they had two Saturdays ago.  The day after this night, my cold ended up resurfacing, and I'm just now starting to come out of my funk.  So here it is....Premiere Night!  


My good friend Daniel is the director of a little three part feature titled Swine.  Swine has action, Sci-fi battles with lazer guns, hot babes, great locations with vast desert landscapes, ghost towns, abandoned country sides...the best thing of all, a lot of close friends got to work on this and make cameos!  I didn't make a cameo, but I got to work a bit on props, painting some guns! 

some detail work on this huge machine gun/cannon...I think this was 2009

a perfectly good photo...bomb

Amber and I had great coats that day.  Her coat, red and mine, pink!  That's Emylie right above us looking sassy.  There's Daniel!  This was truly his night.  Our friend Koren was the executive producer and he managed to get the Premiere shown at the wonderful Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.  It is truly one of my most favorite theaters ever and there is always something interesting playing there.  If you are ever in need of a good indie film and inexpensive prices, the Laemmle is the place to go. I mean, bargain prices are 8 bucks and that's how much it would have cost to go to the movies in the 90s!  Sigh...the good ole days.  It was a midnight showing and the cast, crew, friends and family all had the theater to ourselves. We all met up beforehand for free pizza at Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana.

See, free pizza! 

I don't know about those yelpers, but I have to be honest.  I'm very picky when it comes to pizza..very.  I mean my mom's a New Yorker for cryin out loud!  I've had pizza in New York, Chicago, and Italy.  I have to say,  New York takes the cake. Those immigrants sure new what they were doing.  I'm sad, because I can't eat pizza all the time, but this night was special.   Though the pizza at Settebello, not very good.  The dough was soggy and flimsy, and it was just mediocre.  But it was free, so I ended up having three slices.  I know, beggars can't be choosers.  I do have to say, the staff was great for having us there and they kept the pizzas coming, and fast!  Major props guys!

Jeaux snapped this one right before we left. It was a chilly night, which made me happy because I finally got to wear my coat!

The serious director, Mr. Levitch.

Here's Beth and I being groupies in the parking lot.  This was around 2am and we had to get to our cars fast, or else the Pasadena Parking Police would have given us major tickets.  Oh, Pasadena and your crazy meters.  We are holding our very own copies of the film.  My boyfriend designed the illustrations that are on the cover!  Check them out!  I know he worked very hard on them, and is very proud of his contribution.


My friends want to turn this small trilogy into a feature length film one day.  If you can, please take the time to donate here.  I know times are tough in our country right now, so if you can't afford to donate, please help spread the word to the masses!  Here's their official facebook page. 




your friend,


ava

Boris

Things that make sense in your dreams, don't seem to make any sense in reality.

 

Copyright Ava Alamshah 2011

your friend,

ava