Happy Birthday Challengers!!!!!

I couldn't let today go by without acknowledging the SIXTH anniversary of Chicago's greatest comic book store-Challengers Comics + Conversation. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS!!
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Ah...........you don't want to read this

It's time that I come clean about something. For the past 6 years, I've suffered from depression and anxiety. Most of the time, it's controlled through medicine and me just being able to control it, but sometimes, if flares up and things get bad. Sometimes, REALLY bad. The thing that's most frustrating about it is that it stops me from doing things. One of the most common questions that I get asked in my life is "Hey, where were you?". This applies mostly to social functions. "Why weren't you at the party last night?" "Why didn't you go to (insert comic store name here) event?". I'll be honest, 90% of the time, I have to make up a bullshit excuse "oh, something came up at the last minute". "I found out too late about the party".....you get the idea. Instead of telling the truth and saying "I was at home, too afraid to leave the house".
-Now, the point of all of this is not to get you to feel sorry for me. It's not for pity, not for attention, not for anything of that sort. I just felt that it was time to explain the reason that I disappear from time to time. There's times where I just CAN'T function in social settings. And believe me, I've tried to "suck it up" and go to these things, but it never really works.
-I hate to say this, because it's SO cliched, but unless you suffer from this, I don't think you can understand it. Sure, we all get sad or "depressed" from time to time, but usually that feeling passes after time or you do something to get your mind off of things for a little while, but when you have chronic depression, even on the BEST days, there's a constant state of  "Hey, today's pretty good, but things still suck."
-You're probably thinking "Well, if your life sucks, then change it", I really wish it were that easy. Some days it takes everything that I can do to get out of bed in the morning. It's much easier to just maintain the status quo, then to even THINK about doing something that might make things worse. Even if the change I'm making is going to make my life BETTER, I'm too afraid that it might backfire and make things worse.
 -What is the point of all of this? Shit, I don't know. But, what I DO know is that I've been having these problems off and on since 2008, and the last year has been REALLY REALLY bad, and I'm really sick and tired of it. REALLY. SICK. AND. TIRED. So, I'm going to do something about it. What, you ask? I have no freaking clue. But, I've got to do something. Whether it's talk to a doctor, a therapist, punch big frozen sides of beef, cry until my eyes fall out, it doesn't matter, I've just got to get my mind and body right so that I can get on with my life.
-So, I'll be going on some self imposed "quiet time" and figure some things out. I'll still be around, I'll ALWAYS be at Challengers every Wednesday, I'll still be reviewing comics for Geeks of Doom, and for Challengers. I just won't be doing as much tweeting and promoting and blogging (not that I do this regularly anyway)until I've gotten things figured out. Until I get back to my old self. If you've stuck around this long and haven't given up on reading this, thank you. You deserve a reward. Here it is. It's one of my all time favorites, and I watch it whenever I can...




PS-You guys, my friends, are seriously all awesome. And I love each and every one of you. For real.

Indiana Jones 5-A New Hope

This news came out about a month ago, and it made my 2013! Here's the scoop, right from Deadline:

"Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures said today that they’ve reached a marketing and distribution deal for the Indiana Jones franchise. Among other things, this agreement removes the last hurdle for Disney in moving forward with future Indiana Jones movies, which the company acquired when it purchased Lucasfilm in a multibillion-dollar deal late last year. The new deal gives Disney marketing and distribution rights to future films as well as retaining Lucasfilm’s ownership rights — which basically means they’ve got the whole shebang now. Paramount, on the other hand, isn’t left in the cold: The studio will continue to have distribution rights to the first four films. While details of the deal are unknown, Paramount also will receive financial rewards on any future Indiana Jones films that are produced and released by Disney. Moving ahead with a new Star Wars movie coming out in December 2015 and with two more in the pipeline, the studio has not confirmed that a fifth Indiana Jones has the green light. However, with today’s news and star Harrison Ford’s previous expressed interest in returning to the role, one would have to say it’s looking likely."

-How awesome is this?!?!?!?!?!?!? Not only do we get another movie(at least), but this is DISNEY!! They know something about huge franchises and how to treat them. Besides the movie, I'm looking forward to toys, bed sheets, rides, games, rides, "Indiana Jones Weekends" at the theme parks, but what I'm most looking forward to is the inevitable Disney XD cartoon:

AND the return of Indiana Jones to Marvel Comics!!!!!

Hopefully a lot of Indy stuff will get announced sometime during the comic year. I'm guessing most of it at the D23 Expo this year

HAPPY NEW YEAR....and 7 days!!!

About halfway through 2013 it turned into the worst year of my life, and it kept that title until the very end. BUT, it's a new year, and I'm gonna get back on here to just have some F.U.N. For me, 2014 will be a year of redemption. No, I didn't commit any crimes and I wasn't a super asshole to anyone, there was just some things that I should've done better, some things that I should've seen through, some things that I never got around to doing, so now I'm going to make up for it by actually DOING all those things. Wish me luck!! And I want to wish EACH and EVERYONE of you a VERY Happy New Year!!!

Hot Girl Wednesday Starring.....CHRISTIE STEVENS!!!!!!!!!!

I can't even begin to know where to start when I'm talking about Christie Stevens. A year ago, I met her at the Exxxotica Expo here in Chicago:

She was a living doll! And SO NICE!!! Now, at the time, honestly, I had NO CLUE who she was. She was wicked hot and didn't have a line, so I picked up some stuff from her and went on my way. I followed her over the course of the next year and she has TAKEN OVER THE INDUSTRY!!!!! She's made a ton of films, done tons of work for websites, and is about to launch her very OWN website!!! Here's what I'm talking about:

You know how much I love Christie Stevens? Enough to make her the BIGGEST Hot Girl Wednesday post EVER!!!! And, this year, I was not disappointed because Christie was at the show again, where I got to catch up with her.

-Yeah, I know you're looking at her, but jeez, I need a new wardrobe!! You can catch up with Christie on her Facebook page here, and follow her on twitter here. And, you can rest assured that as soon as her website launches, I'll let you know.