Hungover?

Clyde had a rough night earlier this week. He got sick around 3AM, threw up six times and kept us up all night. Mutsumi thinks he's been partying a little too hard recently. He was fine the next day, but exhausted, so he ended up sleeping for about ten hours straight. It was the perfect time for taking pictures! I love the last one: "Oh, what the hell did I do last night?"

To Die For!

My mother makes these special Swedish cookies that are just to die for. Really. They're these amazing butter-filled, chocolate-covered confectionary masterpieces. Problem is they're a pain-in-the-ass to prepare so she only ends up making them like once every five years! So guess what Roman got as a 30th birthday present! Yup... cookies!!!

Rumor has it though that mom will also be making them for our big Swedish crayfish party next weekend!

Heaven twice in one week!!

CT Cat Pics

While Lotto and Clyde relaxed at home in the AC in NYC, Mutsumi and I got to spend time with the Connecticut cats at my parents place. First up we have Monty, the cat that eats like a horse but weighs next to nothing. Then there's Willie, who's a changed man after some good country living; he's never been friendlier and more playful. Then lastly, our spy cams caught Shaker sneaking a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat! Who knew cats liked microbrews?!

Rain Date

We went home to see my family this weekend. It was the first time we'd all been together for a few months due to our various travels so it was nice to catch up with everyone. We also finally got to celebrate Roman's 30th birthday. Granted, we were a week late, but better late than never. The weather wasn't the best unfortunately, but as you can see, even thunder and lightning can't stop a Chesterfest BBQ!

DRAIN - And away we go...

I'm pleased as punch to report that things are moving along on DRAIN, my centuries-spanning vampire epic! We now have a publisher and Sana Takeda is painting pages as we speak. The eight-page preview is done, and I'm happy to debut two of those pages here for your viewing pleasure! It's another world premiere right here at Chesterfest! I could not be happier with the way things are turning out on this project!

A Public Service Announcement

As some of the people who read this blog may already know, I'm slowly making my way back into the comics business. (More on that in a later post.) So a friend of mine who knows about my plans asked if this would affect the blog. I'm happy to report that it won't.

Yes, posting was a bit sporadic at times over the past few months, but our travels are over for thr time being, con season is drawing to a close, and I'm settling back in here at Casa de Cebulski.

What I plan on doing is making the blog a little more topical, a little more informative. I have a lot going on, and I want to tell you about some of it. I'd like to keep you up to date on my current projects and passions. Post more art from things I have going and more news about comics and entertainment. I'm even toying with the idea of writing and posting a few short fiction and non-fiction pieces here, but I still have to put some more thought into that as I don't want to embarrass myself too badly. So there's change in the air...

I'll still be posting dumb pics and stupid observations, but hopefully I'll be a little better about keeping up the blog and keeping you up to date on all things Chester.

Thanks for reading.

Netflix Best Customer...

...is me!

The way I see it, Netflix wants people who rent their movies and then don't return them because then they don't have to send you a new one. You still pay the same monthly fee, but you don't get any new DVDs and they make more money off you this way. I just returned Cold Mountain (I know, I know) which I had sitting here for 353 days!! I had it for almost a whole damn year, and you know what... I never watched it! What a waste.

Cat Fight!

Here's Clyde teaching Lotto a lesson about playing with his toys!

Because You Demanded it!

The fans have spoken and your voices have been heard! The one thing Chesterfest readers want more of... CLYDE!! Yes, my big gray ball of fur is the hot ticket in America right now, folks, so the pics will be coming fast and furious.

Here's one where Clyde learned a valuable lesson in science... 18 pounds of cat cannot comfortably fit in a 6" x 8" box.

The End of An Era?

Mutsumi just came home from the grocery store with a can of Folgers coffee. Do you know coffee doesn't come in metal cans anymore?! It was packed in some thin plastic container in the shape of a coffee can! Where are people supposed to keep change and nuts and bolts and screws now? Is nothing sacred?

SHIKI - In Color!!

We're beginning to think about the colors for SHIKI now that we have a publisher and João wants to start trying out a few people to see if they can achieve the more subtle, watercolor pallette he's hoping for. His friend Venâncio colored this up quick and I love it so I thought I'd share this image of Saya in sandland.

Happy Birthday, Roman Cebulski!!

My little brother turns the Big 3-0 today!!

Sorry I couldn't be there for the BBQ, Ro. We'll celebrate next weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

White Castle

Went to an actual White Castle that was a white castle yesterday. I love those. The burgers were so good going down. Regretting it this morning though!!

I Smell Like Shit!

Wherever we travel to we try and stay in Hyatts. We're memebers of their point club and have earned a lot of free nights travelling around the world, mostly thanks to cons. The only problem is I always forget to bring my own shampoo as the Hyatt brand smells like SHIT!! I don't know how I'm going to put up with myself. This shit reeks. Seriously!

Best shampoo: The coconut/orange blend at The Standard in L.A.

Happy Birthday, David Macho!

David flew in from Spain last night to celebrate his 31st birthday. He brought six bottles of Spanish absinthe with him that he expects us to drink all weekend. We started making a dent in it last night. What am I doing up?! And where the hell did Frankie D. wind up?

Knuckles, Here I Come

I'm sitting here waiting for a car to the airport. Today I'm off to Wizard World Chicago, my next-to-last summer convention. (Toronto wraps the season for me.) For anyone going, you can most likely find me hanging out at the Marvel booth or in Artist's Alley scoping new talent. After show hours, I will of course be at Knuckles Sports Bar in the Hyatt.

I'll also be making trips to Portillo's for chili cheese dogs, Ricobene's for breaded steak sandwiches and Giordano's for deep dish pizza. Anyone's free to join me. The more, the merrier. Ah, I love Chicago eats!

Change of Tune

I've always hated Starbucks. Their coffee sucks and it's way overpriced. I live in New York; why would I pay four bucks for a large coffee (oh, excuse me... I meant "venti"), when I can go to the corner bodega and get a cup for 75 cents?! And for those three quarters, they'll even put my milk and sugar in it for me! None of this do-it-yourself bullshit where you have to take the lid off and open sugar packets and stirrers. So you'd never catch me in Starbucks... until now. Until I discovered their Green Tea Lemonade!

Down in Key West, the house we were staying at didn't have high-speed internet, but the Starbucks right down the street had a wireless connection. So I had to suck it up and head down there to check my e-mail and surf the net. But I felt guilty just sitting there without ordering something, and that guilt forced me to spend some money to use the evill empire's bandwith. No way in hell I was drinking their coffee though, so I looked for something else on the menu. And there it was... a nice, refreshing, ice-cold lemonade with green tea mixed in. The perfect summer beverage! And now I'm addicted!

Damn you, Starbucks! You couldn't get me with your coffee, but you still found a way to take my money!

Fishin'

Mutsumi loves fishing so we chartered a boat and headed out bright and early Friday morning to try and land us some sushi. We caught a few smaller Yellowtails to start which were then used as bait to reel in a few bigger barracudas! Here's our intrepid fisherwoman showing of the catch of the day!

The Conch Flyer

As most of our vacations revolve around food, Mutsumi and I made it a point to hit The Conch Flyer at Key West Airport for their world famous conch fritters. (As seen on Food Network!) They were definitely worth the hype! We ate conch fritters every day, trying them at all the different restuarants we went to, but the Conch Flyer definitely served the best ones!

The other notable restuarant we ate at was the Alonzo Oyster Bar, that had the most amazing White Clam Chili and fantastic fresh Indian River clams! And their Bloody Mary's had jumbo shrimp in them!

One other piece of advice, if you're ever driving to Key West, stay away from Ziggie's Crab Shack in Islamorada. The food was all burnt or bland and should be avoided. Wait five minutes until you hit Papa Joe's right down the road instead, which has a beautiful patio right on the water.

Celebrity Sighting of the Day

Julia Stiles!

Mutsumi, TS3 and I were in Sunrise Japanese Market on St. Mark's when she walked. I had to do a double-take as my brain didn't recognize her at first but I knew she was famous. Kirsten Dunst, Reese Witherspoon... ah, the chick from Save The Last Dance!! Not really a big fan of hers, but she looked great in person, I have to say.

Chesterfest in Key West

I apologize for the lack of posts this past week, but the Chesterfest World Tour continues. I was in Key West and not able to get on the internet as regularly as I would have liked to. Pics and posts are coming starting today. Thanks for waiting!

How To Break Into Comics?

For all you comic geeks, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the informative and entertaining three part Bendis interview up on newsarama.com. He answers every question the fans wrote in and asked him. I particularly liked this gem:

Fan quesiton: I'm hoping to get into the comics industry (at either Marvel or DC) as an editor. What could you recommend that I do to help me get a job at Marvel after I graduate college?

Bendis answer: Drinking heavily seems to work.

Pffffttttt!

I've been using my free time wisely on "pet" projects, like trying to teach Cylde to stick out his tongue on command. As you can see here, I've been pretty successful...

The Perils of Public Bathrooms

The mens room in Grand Central Station is notoriously filthy, but I really had to take a leak. As I'm walking down the short hallway to get there, there's a guy in front of me dressed in mismatched clothes who's muttering to himself. He definitely wasn't playing with a full deck. So I pass him by and enter the bathroom. I choose the closest, cleanest urinal and set about doing what I came there to do. But wouldn't you know it, who saddles up at the urinal next to me, Mr. Crazy Guy. Although I'm trying my best to ignore him and finish up, he's babbling all kinds of incoherent shit rather loudly as he's pissing. But then suddenly he just shuts up. I zip up and go leave, and as I turn to go wash my hands, I see why he's not talking. He's taken his hands from his dick and shoved both his pinkies up each of his nostrils! So here's this nut in GCS letting it all hang out in public with his pinkies planted firmly in his nose while he's still pissing! Just when you think you've seen it all...

You Never Know

You know, I never know what's appropriate. I never know what's cool. I have plenty of stories to tell about what happened to me tonight, or about any other night I've lived through over the last 20 years of my life, but most of the shit that goes on around me is of no consequences to anyone else. But it makes for good times... and good stories.

I wish I had some quote or some piece of advice I could offer tonight, but I don't think all but three people who read this would understand what '"Remember Halzacks" means.

The Cincinatti Bowtie?

The absolutely hilarious new MATURE trailer for Steve Carrell's "The 40 Year Old Virgin" can be seen here: http://www.uravirgin.co.uk/

Get ready to laugh!

The Opposite Ends of Leia

So right.



So wrong.



(And thanks again to CBR for the pics.)

Patriotism

She's helping us fly our flags...

...for our country, of course!

(Thanks to CBR for the photo!)

McG

This made me laugh outloud.

Caption This Pic!

Just what was Nick Lowe thinking?!

Comic Con - Day One

I take back my previously positive comments about JetBlue. We got stuck there for three and a half hours due to mechanical trouble, gate changes and weather. Then when we were on the plane and in the air, the always ominous "Is there a doctor on onboard?" question came over the intercom. Seems some guy got sick in the bathroom and couldn't get up or get out. So they closed the bathrooms in the back of the plane for the rest of the flight! We couldn't get off the plane when we landed either as paramedics had to get on to help this guy out. Oh, well... at least we made it safely.

Check in was smooth, which was good. Yasuhiro Nightow, creator of Trigun, was checking in at the same time so I got to catch up with him, which was cool. Trigun slowly crawls to its end in Japan still. The room is nice, TS3 and I have a nice view of the pool. We walked over to the show to get our badges which was a mess. We got in the Professional Badge Pick-Up line, which was long and slow as hell. But right next door, the On-Site Pro Registration was quick and speedy. So basically, those of us who took the time and pre-regged were getting screwed with a huge wait. After waiting an hour, I switched lines and got my badge in less than 5 minutes. The con really has to do something to fix that.

The show itself is bigger than ever. One thing I did notice though is the Hollywood presence seems to be toned down this year, and there appears to be a larger focus on comics again, as it should be. Boatloads of creators here already. Lots of hand shaking and catching up with people. As everyone wants to know "What are you doing these days now that you left Marvel?", I think I'll just print up an explanation to save time. I think I must gave been asked that question at least 100 times yesterday.

Oops, look at the time. Lots more to talk about but I gotta run...

JetBlue

Gotta love JetBlue! I'm sitting here in their terminal in JFK and they provide free wireless internet connections. Now that's customer service! TS3 and I are just waiting to board so I figured "what the hell?", let me post quickly.

San Diego Comic Con should be huge again this year. We'll see if the movie studios and video game companies' presence eclipse the comic publishers this time around. Some of Hollywood's SDCC promotions last year didn't pay off with the big dollars at the box office they'd hope, so who knows what this year's show will hold. There do seem to be fewer stars turning up than in the past.

My schedule is packed solid with meetings, so hopefully I'll have some news coming out of the show. Finger crossed...

I'll try and post as regularly as I can from the con with pics and news!

What's The Point?

"Per the Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures developing three sequels--Hollow Man 2, Road House 2: Last Call, and I Know What You Did Last Summer 3."

You know, I can almost understand the decision to make Last Summer 3 with a new teen-of-the-week cast, but don't Kevin Bacon and Patrick Swayze have better things to do?

Well... maybe not.

No Reverse?

Did you ever notice that cats can't walk backwards?

Want This, I Do

I want Mac OS 10.4 just so I can get the new widget to talk like Yoda!

And as links seem to be acting up, here's the address:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/yodawidget.html

Balloon Me

In order to help get more people to post comments here on Chesterfest, and to help make my blog less boring, it's time for Chesterfest Game Time! The rules are really easy: come up with dialogue for the picture posted above. Use your imagination and put words into the mouths of the people you see there. Pretend you're a writer and come up with the script for this image. Got it?

Just what is Mike Marts directing X-Assitant Nick Lowe to do to the unsuspecting Frank Tieri? And will I be part of the hijinx? You tell me!

Let the games begin!

Bocci Boys

This past weekend, Joe Quesada held his annual JQ BBQ, so a number of editors, creators and friends all packed up and drove out to his place in New Jersey for an amazing day. After an early afternoon thundershower, the sun came out and things got hopping. Between all the burgers and beers, we found time to bust out the bocci balls for some intense athletic competition. Here you can see us gearing up for the start of the tournament. From left to right, the featured bocci ballers are: Mike Marts (in fetching yellow), Doreen Mulryan (she of http://doodlebuggy.blogspot.com/), Sean Ryan (no relation to Doreen), me (busting out the special brown Hawaiian shirt), Frank Tieri (drinking wussy ass cider), and Nick Lowe (who was just dying to take his shirt off). The beer in the picture is my MGD, because the Boy Scouts taught me to be prepared, and it's always handy to have an extra beer around so you don't have to run back to the cooler!

And special thanks to Chris Eliopoulos for being the only one smart enough to remember his camera.

Bad Boys?

You know, even though we have over 200 channels these days, if there's nothing else on TV, there's always COPS.

But has anyone else ever noticed that the images they splice together for the opening credits always end up being twice as exciting as the actual episode? And have they even filmed an epsiode of COPS since the late 90s?!

I know, I know...

I suck.

Yes, I've been told that many times this week as I've not been posting much here. I've also been informed the blog has become boring. Ouch! But don't worry, things will be back in action soon. A little work has rolled in that has sidetracked me, and I've been gearing up for San Diego Comic Con as well, trying to get my shit together for all kinds of meetings. I'll be back in full blogging action soon though.

More pictures, more reviews, more rants, and plenty of news... all coming soon!

Spanish Spray

fishbowl, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Before I left for Barcelona, the lovely and talented Doreen Mulryan shot me an e-mail telling me I had to search out graffiti while I was there as the Spanish have taken tagging to the next artistic level. So I took her advice and looked around... and found out firsthand what she meant. There's a park we found call Jardins de Walter Benjamin that was a graffiti paradise, and these kids were REALLY good! I took all kinds of pics I can share for anyone who wants to see it, but it really did transcend your typical expectations of street art. This pic here was my favorite. I'd say it was about 6 to 8 feet wide and 3 or 4 feet high. It really was breathtaking! Thanks for the head's up, Doreen.

Doreen will have her new website, www.doreenmulryan.com up soon. Be sure to keep checking back for it as she's such an amazing artist who's not getting nearly enough exposure for her work.

The West Indian X-Men

trinix-men, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Someone from my trip just hooked me up with this pic and I had to share. See, I told you they loved their comics down in and Trinidad and Tobago!

White Nights

whitenights, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Yes, I know this picture is blurry, but it's not really important that you can't clearly see me and my cousin Yoan drinking Belgian beers and eating chips. I just want you to notice the light. This picture was taken at midnight! Yup, white nights in Sweden. I loved it but it was so weird as it totally throws off your internal clock.

Kick Out The Jams

lotto, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Long overdue cat picture...

Rhode Island Dressing?

dressing, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

This just cracked me up. I would have loved to be in the marketing meeting where they were trying to come up with the name for this new flavor. What'd they use, a map?

Staten Island?
Long Island?
Block Island?
Rhode Island?

Rhode Island?! Perfect!!

Way Up North

lacko, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

I'm not really sure where to start with the Sweden pics. I want to try and post something that really captures the essence of this beautiful country. But as I don't have any pictures of all the hot blondes we saw, I guess the next logical thing to show you would be a Swedish castle and flags. So here you go... Lacko Castle! And yes, mom, I know it's spelled with two dots over the A and O, but I can't do that on my crappy American keyboard.

Classy!

classy, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

While it's true I didn't have a bad meal the entire time we were in Italy, a few things the restauarants there did surprised me. Take this, for example.

It was our first night in Amalfi and we went to what was supposed to be one of the nicest restaurants in the town. And it was... the atmosphere and food were fantastic! However, imagine my surprise when my main course, a wonderful Veal Franchese (sp?), comes out and the plate is decorated with the classiest of garnishes... Pringles?!?

Ride The Wind Redux

It was around 1998-99 when, much to the amusement of my co-workers, I coined the phrase "Never drink and eBay". I used to get hammered and go onto the then-fledgling auction site and bid on shit like Charlie's Angels lunchboxes and A-Team remote contolled vans. I usually lost. But when I won and finally had to pay for the "B.J. and the Bear Tool Kit", I vowed to stop bidding. (I still have it as a reminder.) I should have bought their stock instead.

Now, before the internet, we used to use the term "D&D". (No, not Dungeons and Dragons, you geeks.) In this case, D&D stood for Drunk & Dial, where you would get hammered and then call your friends, and usually, even worse, your ex-girlfriends/boyfriends. And your bastard drunken friends would usually egg you on and encourage it so they could give you shit the next day. Then, eventually, with the advent of cell phones (still hate the fucking things!), D&D got worse. You could now call anyone from anywhere no matter how drunk you were no matter what time it was.

But this was all only the prelude to something much worse... D&E: Drunk and E-Mail.

As e-mail became more popular, I started hearing (and using) the phrase "Never D&E" more and more. No one wanted to go home and type out a drunken note for fear of regret. A phone call could be easily forgotten over time. An e-mail would be saved, remembered and preserved for eternity.

I was (and still am) a notorious D&D guy. However, as a computer illiterate, when it came to D&E, I was usually cool. Except for one time...

I got utterly bombed one night last year, came home and put on an old 1988 rock mix. In my drunken stupor I wanted to share my old high school memories with my fellow Marvel editors. So I wrote a three page letter to everyone I worked with that explained how my past exploits, influences, adventures and experiences all directly related to my current job in comics with them. Fortunately, if that's even the correct word to use in a situation like this, I was "sober" enough to realize they'd think I was crazy if I sent them the whole note. So I edited it down.

The following is the text I sent to my co-workers and bosses at Marvel that night. It was titled "Ride The Wind".

They still thought I was crazy. And to this day they have never let me live it down.

Ride the wind,
C.B.


-----Original Message-----
From: Cebulski, C.B.
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 3:41 AM
To: Buckley, Dan; Macchio, Ralph; Cadenhead, MacKenzie; Lowe, Nick;
Barber, John; Bogart, David; Quesada, Joe
Cc: Marts, Michael
Subject: Ride The Wind

I would love to.... but I'm riding the John...

I will try to make it in on Wednesday but may not be able to...


Watch out for baseball bats.

I'mmmmmmn sooooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy.....

This wasn't supposed to happen... eyes wide open... i've been hit....

87 seconds, two for the road...

Let's get haircuts and lose weight... or lose the wait... or lose the
hare...

I'm a neomaxiezoomdweebie.

Be cool about it, my comdrades-in-arms.

C.B.

Piazza Navona

piazzanavolo, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

I have a backlog of stories and pictures to post from the "European leg of the tour", so I thought I'd start with one of the best memories; our time in Rome with Andrea DiVito and Laura Villari. Our Roman experience started a little shaky, but with their help, it turned into one of the most memorable. Here, in Piazza Navona, they explained the meaning the pose of the Bernini figure behind us. (Buy me a beer at the next con and I'll tell you the secret!) And it always helps to have native Romans with you when getting around town and ordering at restaurants. :) Long live true Parma proscuitto!

I wanted to take the time here to thank Laura and Andrea for taking a break from Young Avengers (Thanks, Jimmy. Sorry, Tom.) to spend the day with us. We truly appreciate it. And don't worry, the wine and olive oil made it back to the States safely and are being greatly enjoyed!

Underrated Album of the Day

The Outfield - Play Deep

Yes, everyone knows "Your Love" and it's one of my all-time favorite songs, but this entire album kicks ass! Listen to it. Really...

This was one of those albums that benefitted from radio back in the day, where you heard the one popular single and then thought every other song on the record would be equally as good, so you bought it. In this case, the whole album was, at least in my opinion, outstanding. I still listen to it today... like now.

However, my opinions may be slightly jaded by the unforgettable experiences I shared with Scottie in Easton Maryland as we listened to the album under the weeping willow tree at her parents' estate...

Cardboy!

So my London Drink-Up was a bust with almost every artist and writer citing "too much work" and a "beat down from Ralph Macchio" as the reasons for their no-shows. However, my bud Adi Gravov and his wonderful wife Tamsin made the trip down from Leeds to see Mutsumi and me and we had a fantastic time walking around and chatting and finding a great Indian place near Piccadilly Circus that we all loved! Adi and Tam also turned us on to the coolest of new toys, Cardboy!! as we are affectionately calling him/them!

Yes, We're In Italy

mewithpizza, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Whenever I've asked for restaurant recommendations here, everyone is quick to point out that you can't get a bad meal in Italy. And while I would have argued this point after my last trip here, this time around we have been blessed with nothing but fantastic food! The pizza you see here posing with me was amazing and the pasta has been nothing short of phenomenal!

At least I'm walking like 10 miles a day to help burn off all the calories...

Not Melons

lemons, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

At first I was a little confused by the Italian phrase "She's got nice lemons!" I thought they had confused their fruits... until I saw the size of the lemons here in Amalfi.

No Luck Monday

noluck,jpg, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Even with convention commitments, Mutsumi and I managed to see most of Barcelona between last Thursday and Sunday. But we decided to also take an extra day on Monday and catch up on anything we may have missed. Not the best move ever...

We quickly discovered all the museums in the city are closed on Mondays. So no Picasso and no Miro. We then went to Gaudi's Guell Palace, and that was also closed for renovations. (See pic.)

We looked around for one other landmark Mutsumi wanted to see, I forget the name, and couldn't find it. Oh, well...

Barcelona is such a beautiful city though, it didn't feel like a wasted day at all. We wandered the streets, checked out the architecture, stopped at cafes, shopped, and even found the graffiti park. We also had the best meal of the entire trip yesterday so that more than made up for missing a few paintings.

I could not recommend this city highly enough to anyone thinking of planning a European vacation.

Next stop... Rome!

And just so you don't think...

mmclara, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

...I'm drinking alone, here's proof!!

It's been over a week...

clara, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

...since I've been gone, so I thought I'd post a pic of me in a pose many of you will find familiar. Just imagine I'm right there by your side!

Short Guy in the Middle

esadandleo, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Esad Ribic, me and Leandro Fernandez after a night on the town...

La Perdrera

laperdrera, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Another of Antoni Gaudi's architectural masterpieces... Casa Mila.

My Two Wives

mutsuandmac, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Mutsumi, my home wife, and MacKenzie, my office wife, at the Olympic Stadium here in Barcelona.

Paella!

paella, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Yum!!

Just the dos of us...

us, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

...enjoying a few cervezas on our first day in Spain!

Hola!

sagrada, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

It's official.... I love Spain! What an amazing country! From the people to the food to the architecture to the beer to the overall atmosphere, we are having a wonderful time!

The picture here is of the The Temple of the Sagrada Familia, probably Barcelona's most famous site. Designed by Antonio Gaudi, construction began on this church in 1882, and now, 123 years later, they are still not even close to being done with it. Gaudi himself predicted it would take 200 years to build, and this was before he's even heard of cranes, trucks and elevators. It is simply breathtaking to behold! Words really can't describe it...

Mutsumi needs to use the computer now, so I'm signing off. A longer report soon... Ciao!

Layover

Greetings from merry ole England! We're sitting here at Gatwick Airport waiting for our flight to Barcelona. Just finished off an English breakfast of beans on toast and a pint. Yum!

Flight was uneventful enough. Snoop Dogg's How The West Was One tour is winging over to Europe so we were on the flight with his band, dancers and crew. Seemed like a fun bunch. Why do I get the feeling they were headed to Amsterdam first?

More soon...

Comics and Cheeesteaks

littlered, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

I've been swamped since I got back from Philly and haven't had the time to file a full con report yet here on the blog. Needless to say, it was a good show, the first where I didn't have to work a booth, do portfolio reviews or speak on panels. This newfound freedom was nice, but I must admit that I did get a little bored after a while. I actually found myself spending a lot of time at the Marvel booth as that's where most of my friends and creators were hanging anyway. It was great to see guys like Dave Finch, Skottie Young, Tom Raney, Paul Jenkins, Mike Oeming, Dave Mack, Tony Bedard, JMS and Claremont. But you have no idea how many times I heard "Didn't you leave comics?!" Oh, well...

Our second annual Geno's Cheesesteak Outing took place Saturday night. Compared to last years 4 people, this year's 20 attendees made it a real event! Even creators like JMS, Claremont and Jenks came along. I polished two with onions and wiz and an order of cheese fries. Nick Lowe and Claremont crossed the street and ordered Pat's steaks after they had finished at Geno's so they could compare the taste. Both report that Geno's made a better cheesesteak.

I did bring a digital camera and was all set to take and post all kinds of pics here, but that didn't happen. I actually ended up taking only one shot, and here it is... me and Little Red Riding Hood. I was just walking by the booth and she was standing there so she's the lucky girl who gets to be immortalized with me here on Chestefest!

Well, hopefully I'll have more stories and more photos from Barcelona. I just hope I have better internet access in Europe that I did in Trinidad.

Off to the airport...

X3 Gets Ratner

Well, looks like my X3 gossip was wrong. The person I was told would be dirtect the movie is not. Instead, they have announced Rush Hour director Brett Ratner will take over the film. From Newsarama:

With last week's announced departure of X3 director Matthew Vaughn, a mutant-tinged vacuum was created. Today, Variety confirmed that the director's seat for the third X-Men film installment will be filled by Brett Ratner. According to the trade, the director of Rush Hour among other films, is eyeing an August production start, with no change in the film's planned Memorial Day 2006 opening. Variety also stated that Ratner was on the short list of directors for the first X-Men film, which went to Bryan Singer.

The report also confirms that Lost star Maggie Grace will play Kitty Pryde in the film.

Impostor!!

fakeclyde, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

No, that's not Clyde. That's a picture I took of a poster in Bryant Park promoting a new book that's coming out, CATS 24/7. This is one of the cats featured in the book. I walked by and did a double-take as this cat is the spitting image of my Clyde. At first I thought he was doing some modeling on the side and cutting me out of my royalties, but then I saw the white eyebrows, which Clyde doesn't have. Must be his long lost brother. Too weird...

We Drank What?!

mamajuana, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

As you may have heard, last week was the lovely Jenny Lee's last day at Marvel Comics. And as is tradition, we threw her a nice shindig to celebrate all her hardwork for the company and to send her off in style. As we ate and drank and partied away, I guess no one bothered to read the menu. It wasn't until we were paying the tab that evening that I happened to notice that they offered turtle penis! Sure, it was cured in rum, but it's still a dick in a drink!

Anyway, we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I slapped down eigtheen of my unemployed dollars for a glass, which we all then shared and tasted. Sure there were plenty of jokes and comments made about size and taste and technique as the glass was passed around, but most are unsuitable for print. So instead, I'll simply pass on a word of advice...

If you ever get offered turtle penis, tell him to put it back in his shell.

Meeeoooww!

lottogrowl, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

Certain Chesterfest readers have been complaining that this blog seems biased towards our cat Clyde and neglects Lotto. So in order to avoid any future controversy, here's a cute look at our white spotted ball of fuzz.

A Chesterfest Classic

nickwithmanjuggs, originally uploaded by C.B. Cebulski.

This much-rumored "lost" Chesterfest photo of Nick Lowe has finally been unearthed!

Dear Mr. Vernon...

This news made my day:

The cast of classic '80s movie, The Breakfast Club, planning to reunite at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, airing on June 9. Former Brat Packer Emilio Estevez is the sole cast member yet to confirm.

E2 better gets his ass on stage for this!