Halloweenie

So, I've yammered enough about how this October has been obscenely hectic. Enough about that, it's Hallow-freakin'-ween babycakes! Woo-Hoo! I've got eight bags of candy, some leftover hockey masks from various Cons, and I'm ready to rock! Bring on the trick or treaters.

Still not sure what movies we're watching tonight. As tradition demands, we will be watching Hellraiser 3 (which I now have on DVD! Woo!) tonight after the trick or treating wraps up. Before that, I'm not sure what we'll watch. We'll either watch the old stand by, Evil Dead 2 (Dead by Dawn! Dead by Dawn!), Tate's mentioned bringing Cemetary Man (which I have seen, by the by, but only once), and Boolah wants to watch that new Feast movie. As long as it's bloody, I'm up for anything.

Anyway, I encourage you all to get out there and have fun tonight! Rock on!

In Over My Head (Again)

What was I thinking?

The Art Show is now FIVE days away. To say I'm underprepared for this shindig would the understatement of this millinium, last millinium, and the next millinium. I don't think I spelled millinium right. I have so much crap to do it's not even funny. On the bright side, Bro whipped up a DVD of all of our video projects (all, like, three of them) and just gave it to me, so that's one less thing I've gotta worry about. Still, I have none of the artwork framed or mounted yet, my house is a disaster area, and there's still a few more pieces I wanna finish before the show. Eeep!

What's worse, is that I've got crap going on for the next few days. Tonight I crawl under Bro's house again (can't escape that, I repeat, the dude just made me a DVD!) to install a beam. Hopefully this will be the last trip under the house. Tuesday is Trick or Treat night, which means I'll spend most of the evening handing out candy and watching horrror films with the crew. Wednesday I gotta get my allergy shot, as well as any last minute supplies. Which pretty much leaves me with Thursday and Friday after work to get everything done.

I'm screwed.

In other news, the ROH show was excellent, as was to be expected. No weak or lame matches, with the sleeper match of the night being Matt Sydell vs. Jay Briscoe. Seriously, I was floored by that match. Fast paced, with so much back and forth action, it was impossible to call a winner until the end.

The only downside to the show was that we had this entire row of annoying kids behind us. What kind of half assed parents drop off six 9 year old children at a wrestling show and leave them unsupervised? Seriously people! Stop being sucky parents!!!

Hopefully my next post will be reviews of the various comics I picked up in Nashville. I just can't move fast enough lately.

Tunnel Rats

I owe my Brother Ryan more than I owe anybody else on the planet. And I don't mean in a monetary sense (in a monetary sense, the only people I owe are my parents and the Bank that's got the loan on my house...). If you've ever seen TORC Press at a Comic Con (and chances are better than average that if you're reading this blog, you probably have), then you've probably met my Bro. He's the big red headed, Viking looking guy who probably was the one who flagged you over to our booth in the first place. Bro has gone with me to every show, helped me set up, and worked his ass off selling TORC Press comics and merch to the Convention going audience. He's never complained or given me crap about any of it, either. Hell, he works so hard selling my books, that alot of people think he's the one who makes the comics. (Actually, Bro's not a bad writer. Unfortunately, the only thing he can draw is funny looking cars that have a bunch of guns on them) And that's not all. Bro's been my best friend throughout my life, through thick and thin, and he also was there throughout the NINE MONTHS it took to renovate my house.

Now, I give you this long winded character assessment of my Brother in order to make you, the reading audience (all two or three of you), fully understand why I, Joseph Morris, the world's most uncoordinated moron, have spent the last two days crawling around under my Brother's house. Cause that's how much I owe Bro, that I would crawl underneath the dude's house and try to aid him in reinforcing the floors in his newly acquired house. I gotta admit, this is easily some of the worst crap I've ever experienced ever. And most of my life has been a prettty miserable experience in its own right, so that covers a lot of ground.

Anyway, long story short, a lot of my plans have been kinda derailed here lately. The house isn't decorated for Halloween. I have no idea what night Trick or Treat night is, and I'm not prepared for it anyway. Production on "SDF: Foul Business" has ground to a halt, which means it may end up being iffy as to whether or not I get this issue done before the end of the year. Hell, I still haven't read any of the comics I got at Nashville, or watched any of the low budget flicks I picked up.

But it's no biggie. Cause I owe Bro. Big time.

We Be Returned

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us at the 2006 Nashville Comic and Horror Festival. We had a blast! If you're new to the site, feel free to look around, and also, you can find regular Production Updates on myspace at www.myspace.com/torcpress. I'd also like to thank my cousin Katie for provided us with shelter for the weekend, and Bro and Fitch for tagging along and helping to move the product. Big thanks all around.

My had a real good time, and made a little scratch (all of which goes directly into the next book). We also met some cool folks, scored a ton of comics (this one stand had a super sale on TPBs, so I scored FIVE Marvel Essential Volumes!!!!!), picked up some great Indy comics (Reviews and Links later in the week), and also picked up a couple of low budget Indy Horror films (again, Reviews and Links later in the week). To say I'm stupid broke now (again, all the money I actually earned this weekend went back into the comic) would be an understatement. But I've got enough comics to last me a week or two.

Other than that, it's back to business as usual. Work at the sawmill by day, work on Bro's house by night. Yee-Haw!

Countdown to Nashville

Alrighty, Nashville is coming up quickly. Bro, Fitch, and myself are leaving the great state of Illinois on Friday after work, and we'll hopefully be arriving at my cousin Katie's place late that evening. For the record, the Con is the Nashville Comic and Horror Festival, located at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, TN. The show itself is on Saturday the 21st from 9:30 till 5:30 and Sunday the 22nd from 10 till 4. Details on the show can be found at www.comiccitytn.com.

I've still got a lotta stuff left to do before the show. I've gotta print up flyers, clean out the car, load up my supplies, load up the car, shave my face and head, pack, and do a couple of other things that have probably slipped my mind. W00-Hoo.

Anyway, wish us luck. I'm always a little nervous going into a new show, but I'm also excited. This is my last show of the year, and I'm hoping it turns out well enough to warrant going nest year.

Whatever Pops into my Brain

I've been taping the Adult Swim stuff on Sunday night, cause I can't stay up till forever. Anyway, I caught the premier (is that spelled like that? Doesn't look right...) of "Frisky Dingo" on tape last night after getting home from working on Bro's house. It's not bad. It's got flashes of genius. It's the story of a psychotic, seemingly either alien or demonic bad guy who wants to send the world screaming into the sun, but for some reason wants everyone to know about it before he does it. Which is where the problem comes in, cause our "hero" (called Killface) doesn't have enough money left after building the giant thrusters that will send the Earth into the Sun to advertise it. That's really the thrust of the opening episode. There's some funny moments (Killface's female aid is so continuously terrified that she can only communicate in a series of screams and whimpers) and some gory moments (always good). The show's problem (and this is a problem with most of the Adult Swim line up) is that there are far too many "screw around" moments. You know. Long, pointless pauses or (almost as bad) long, rambling conversations that aren't interesting or funny in the least. Not a bad show, I'll probably keep setting the VCR to tape it until it gets too screw aroundy.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, what the hell is the deal with "12 oz Mouse"? Anyone?

Screeeeeched... Boom!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had this really long, depressing, moderately poetic Rant about how lonely I felt at that moment. And I published it. Then I went to check it out (and I really don't know why I did) and all that was there was the title.

FUCK GETTING DEPRESSED! FUCK LONELINESS! FUCK SCREWING UP AND FAILING AND NOT KICKING ASS!

MY NAME IS JOSEPH MORRIS! I'M AN ODDBALL WIERDO! I MAKE KICK ASS CRUDE ASS COMICS THAT ARE TOO COOL/CHEAP FOR ANY REAL PUBLISHER TO EVER BOTHER WITH! I WORK HARD, I DRESS SHABBY, AND IF I'VE GOTTA SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE ALONE CAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HIT ON WOMEN, THEN SO BE IT!

HAHAHAHAHHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm eating tacos tonight.

Random Notes for no good reason

To say I'm unprepared for the upcoming Nashville convention would be the understatement of the year. I've got nothing ready for the show so far. I need to make up some sketches and ready some flyers. I am the King of the Procrastinators.

I keep forgetting to mention it, but "The Science of Sleep" is an awesome movie. Strange, funny, bizarre, yet very human. Easily one of the best films I've seen all year (not that it's had a lot of competition mind you...)

The New ECW continues to get better. Sure there were lots of things that sucked about last night's program: Extreme Strip Poker dominated the Wrestling proceedings (I never thought I'd see the day I'd be bitching about a bunch of hot, semi naked chicks sitting around, but apparently today is that day), there are far too many commercials, and the incessant ads for other WWE related crap was all ultra annoying. Still, CM Punk continued to prove why he's the lynchpin of the new ECW, Tommy Dreamer had a great match with some stupid Vampire dude, and the main event was watchable. Hey, I'll take it where I can get it, y'know?

We're working on my Brother's recently acquired house, doing up some renovations. Having previously renovated my own house, I know from experience how time consuming the process is. I still plan on getting "SDF: Foul Business" done before the end of the year, but this is going to slow me down a little.

I still haven't decorated my house for Halloween yet either. Maybe Sunday.

It took a little time, but I really like the "Squidbillies" on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. "Metalopacalypse" or however the hell that show is spelled, is really cool too.

Mother Nature Hates Me

So, if you've been reading this blog for a while now, you know that I've had a bit of a problem with Raccoons. The damn things have invaded various areas of my house, and no matter how many times I try to stop em, they keep coming back. I finally decided to deal with the little bastards in a more permanent manner, and I bought one of those live traps. I baited the trap with cat food (which is apparently a delictable dish if you're a raccoon...), and left it in a place that I know the little varmits roam.

Time passes. I check the trap. The trap has been sprung. Damnit! I bet the raccons got in, stole the food and escaped without getting caught. No. Waitaminute... something's in there. What the hell is that thing? Turns out, I caught a Muskrat. Well, we think it was a muskrat anyway. After much cursing, and more than a little screaming (That thing is pissed! Watch the claws! Eeek!) Bro and I released the Muskrat back into the wild. And we didn't even get attacked or bit or nothing. With the raccoon problem still unsolved, I rebaited the trap, set it out again, and waited.

A couple of days laterI checked the trap. Guess what I caught?

A MOTHERFUCKING SKUNK!!!!!!!

(Pardon my French. I don't normally like cursing on the blog, but I think this was warranted.)

Anyway, that's my current headache. Mother Nature is a Bitch.

7 Years Baby!

In all the hoopla of yesterday's blog, I completely forgot to talk about the fact that October is also the TORC Press 7 Year Anniversary! Woo-Ha some more!

Now, you may be saying to yourself, what's the big deal about a Seven year anniversary. Well, when you're a small press publisher, any year you're still producing comics is a good one, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, we're celebrating in the traditional TORC Press manner, namely by giving away FREE ART! That's right, for the entire month of October, all orders for TORC Press comics, either through online or snail mail, will be accompanied by a free original sketch. Please make sure to name which TORC Press character you want in the sketch, otherwise we'll send you a Cactus Joe the Clown w/Pengy sketch by default.

And hey, if you've already purchased every TORC Press comic to date, just drop me an e-mail or a myspace message telling me which character you want a sketch of, and I'll send you one anyway. Cause that's how we roll here in TORCLand.

Long story short, we partying all month long!!!!

OCTOBER!!!

That's right, cats and kittens, it's the most wonderful time of the year! October! Woo-Hoo! Besides my current workloads, I've now got lots of other stuff to do. Here's some things I've gotta do now that October is in full swing:

1) Decorate the House/Yard. I wussed out on decorations last year, and it sucked. No wussing out this year. I've already scored one of those lame ass Wal-Mart scarecrows, and I'm gonna paint it up all freaky and stuff.

2) Get a new costume. Last year, on trick or treat night, I answered the door in street clothes with a Leatherface mask. Boring! I either need a new Clown outfit (for obvious reasons) or I'm gonna score a Pinhead costume (can you say expensive?).

3) Score copious amounts of Candy for Trick or Treat night.

4) Watch a buttload of Horror movies on Halloween Eve (aka Devil's Night).

5) If I've got some time (hahahaha!) I'd like to do some research on El Dia de Muerte (the Mexican Day of the Dead). I'm thinking about celebrating it this year.

And, that's pretty much my basic set of plans. Other than that, I've got the Nashville Comic and Horror Festival on the 21-22, and a ROH show on the 28th. Should be a month jam packed full of fun.