Words and News from Yer Central Mailer for CTO #11
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In the yuletide words of “What’s Happening!!”’s Dwayne Nelson… “Ho HO ho!” Merry Christmas, and welcome to the final CTO issue of 2006.
We made it through another year! Starting to feel a little like
the print version, isn’t it? Just without centerfold fold-outs
of Psiren…
Cover Lovin' Sorry, had to go back to David Enciso one more time, because I just had to use Aaron’s Christmas present as the cover, as it’s our holiday issue and all. Inspired by Aaron’s Dyna Girl story “Mistletoe and Holly”, this work has Dyna decked out for the Holly-days. Hope you enjoy.
The Storck San Diego Reception
K.C., Russ and me at the big party Hey, some of us got to take a trip to San Diego, and there wasn’t even a convention going on! The announced California reception celebrating the marriage of long-‘Timer Aaron Storck to the lovely and talented Jeni went down as planned, and some of us ‘Timer types—me, A.T., and Chicago’s own K.C.—got to fly there and make the scene!
Russ, Aaron, Jeni, A.T. and K.C. at Russ's place after The reception itself took place at Aaron’s parents’ house (and seeing the address always makes me grin, because I used to have to put it on envelopes for ‘Times issues when Aaron first joined up), and they put on quite a spread! Lots of family and friends of the family there, mixed in with a number of Aaron’s geek and non-geek pals. A.T. and I flew together, and both hit the airport right from the office on Friday. I stayed with Tony once more (my perennial host) and A.T. crashed at Russ’s place (as Russ’s bride-to-be wasn’t able to make the trip). K.C.—another Russ weekend roommate—flew in later that evening, and met up with us Russ’s for some hanging and some Battlestar Galactica. We thought it’d be fun—us former San Diego guys, that is—to relive some of our old Firefly Friday night magic and watch it all together. Aaron and Jeni were wrapped up with family stuff, so weren’t able to join us for that.
Aaron, Jeni, me and Jimmy Olsen wannabe A.T. But we got to see them—and Aaron’s family, whom
we all know and love—the next day at the big event. We
all had a fantastic time and ate well, and got to catch up with
each other. And after it was over, it was back to Russ’s
place, where Aaron and Jeni would meet up with us later. See,
it was kind of a good-bye event, too. Russ would be moving to
Idaho soon after, and we’d all spent many an afternoon
and/or evening sitting out on his back patio, smoking cigars
and knocking back a few. A lot of memories there, and this was
going to be the final such gathering. So we made the most of
it and had a blast (and got blasted), and then all went off
to dinner at one of our other favorite local hangouts for a
final time. And Sunday, most of us had to take off…some
of us, like Aaron and Jeni, instead went to Disneyland. Awesome
time had by all, and I thought it was really great of K.C. to
make it all the way out for the big bash. Always good to sneak
in more than one visit a year with him.
Sad Week for Geeks We in the nerd world got a couple of pieces of sad news this past week. First, famed comic artist Dave Cockrum passed. He’s best known for his art on the relaunch of the new X-Men back in the day, but I remember him best from my high school days, during his return to the book, when I first started getting into X-Men. Great guy, great talent, and a man who gave us all a lot of memories and amazing adventures. We also lost composer Shirley Walker, best known to most of us for her work on the Batman animated stuff, but also known to some of us for her scores on the “Space: Above and Beyond” series. Shirley was an amazing talent and a groundbreaker…she became the first woman to score a major motion picture. She had a flair for both the dramatic and the heroic, and I (along with many) really loved her work, and will miss her.
Getcher 'Timer Gossip Heeeere...
Kelli and Tim in Phoenix Hey, this is a magazine, right? We need a gossip column! Seems when I posted that pic of Tim at the Browncoat Ball last
time, I ended choosing the wrong one! That was one of the girls
he met, there, yes…but not the one that stuck. Seems our
founder has gotten serious with Kelli, a Browncoat gal (Browncoat
gals kick ass!) that he met there. Kelli lives in Phoenix, and
Tim has not only made the trip out there, but they’re
meeting up this weekend at Flanvention in L.A. And there are
New Year’s plans on the horizon, and a scheduled trip
for her to fly out here and meet (I can sense him shuddering…)
his friends. Way to go, Mr. Watts, especially on finding a girl
you DON’T have to explain why you’re cursing in
Chinese too. That’s the scoop. Stay tuned to the CTO for
ALL your juicy celeb gossip!
Next Issue Deadline Deadline for the next CTO issue is January 31, 2007, for inclusion in the February 1, 2007 issue. Just put your stuff on a web page (or in a PDF) and e-mail the link (or the file) to me at: We’ll see you in 2007. By the way…has anyone else noticed that we’re coming up on a 20-year anniversary in less than two years? Just thought I’d mention… Michael O’Connell |
