"Welcome to the Party, Pal!"

MAN, has it been busy since the last time I did one of these things! Starting a new job, lots of Nice Guy stuff, traveling…and we haven’t even entered the holiday season yet. Well, I sort of have. September/October is a bit of a birthday nightmare for me. Loads of birthdays for family and friends during that one month period, so I’m not just busy but BROKE! Just been leaving work, running home, and sitting on the computer doing stuff until midnight, then getting 5 hours of sleep and getting back to work. I need a break! Hoping that’ll happen come November. I’m getting way behind on TV.

So with all the business, I’m afraid I didn’t get a lot of Forte stuff done, which makes me sad. Had all kinds of things I started, and wanted to do, but the time just got away from me. Hope to make it up next time. But there’s a couple of things…and, more importantly, lots of things to look at instead of have to read. Let’s take a peek, shall we?

This Time Around

First off, if you haven’t seen it yet, the Forte 2000 site got a makeover since last time, including a new portal page with an AMAZING full-color team shot by an artist named Eryck Webb. I found this guy on eBay after K.C. suggested I start looking there for gaming art instead of waiting all year for the Con to roll around. Found him and then quickly found that K.C. had already found him first. So K.C. and I were both bidding on this guy’s auctions. He’s probably well sick of both of us by now. Or, maybe he appreciates the fact that between the two of us, we’re likely putting him through college. Anyway, be sure to check out the portal page to see the shot, and then head in and take a look at the new main page format.

And when you get there, check out the Gallery page. Remember last update when we started it and it had six pieces of art on it to check out? I’ve been busy since! There are now over 30 pieces to check out! Not as big as K.C.’s new Americana Gallery by a long shot, but I’m working on it. :) Most of the work is by Eryck (he’s great, and he’s cheap!), but there’s new stuff from Rob Jones, Nikki Simpson, Storn A. Cook, Chris Tyner, Joe Orsak, Jenni Chasteen and Studio Hades. Lots of fun stuff to look at, so do so!

Speaking of Eryck Webb, I got him to do a piece I got as a gift for Kaye, a classic Forte comedy shot. I got it, and ended up using it, and the old (and still gorgeous) Forte shot from Jim McClain, to create a Forte Universe web ad. Check it out and grab a laugh.

And finally, there’s one new piece added to the Forte 2000 “Adventures” page, one called “Birthday Girl”. Just a fun idea I had one night when I was looking at the Forte character birthdate list and saw the Dyna Girl’s birthday was coming up. Stealing the idea from Aaron’s “Intervention” piece, this became an e-mail circle between the characters, and we all got in on writing the responses. Hope you have fun with it.

“Serenity” World Premiere in Hollywood….and I Was There!

Yes yes yes YES!! If you know me at all, then you know what a freak I was for Firefly. And you know that I’ve been counting the days until Serenity, the big-screen continuation of the series, came out. I had already bought a plane ticket to San Diego to see the film opening day with Aaron, Russ and Tony, as promised (as we all discovered the show together and watched it every Friday night together, and promised as soon as we found out about the movie that we’d see THAT together) and was anxiously awaiting that.

But then I got an e-mail from a Nice Guy fan named Suzi that I’ve corresponded with a lot, one who discovered the Nice Guy through our mutual love of Firefly. She’s very well connected with the Browncoat movement, and with the film (she was an extra in it and everything…and is on a first-name basis with the producers and the cast), and she let me know that she had gotten me two tickets to the week-early world premiere of the film in Hollywood…WITH all the stars and the director there…AND tickets to the after-party with them all! Oh, it is SO good to have fans!!

I’m not going to go into all the details of it here, because I just finished doing that at the Nice Guy site for its latest update. But in summary, I did finally make it (after, like an idiot, I turned her down the first time around due to my new job), and got to take my pal Tony with me. And we did the big red carpet walk, and we got to see the film with the whole cast (and thanks to some seating issues, I got to sit WITH the freaking cast!), and got to go to the after-party that Universal went all-out for. And there I got to meet Joss Whedon and most of the cast (and got to meet comic artist John Cassaday without having any idea it was him I was talking to…). Plus, Tony and I got to get interviewed for the upcoming documentary “Done The Impossible” about the Firefly phenomenon and its journey from cancelled show to major motion picture, and how the fans made it happen. It’ll be coming out in November, and I hope our interviews make it in. All in all, one of the most amazing nights of my life…a lifelong dream of mine come true, the big red carpet premiere.

If you want to read all the details and see all the photos, head over to the Nice Guy site and do so.

 

Next Time...On "The 'F' Word"...

Well, we’ll see how well I manage my time between now and then, but I hope to have a couple more issues of Forte 2000 done, Forge #2 at least (and hopefully more), MAYBE a Forte Christmas story I want to write (but it’s a big one, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to squeeze it in), and definitely some more Forte art (I can’t stop myself! I’m an eBay art addict! Help!). Until then, happy Halloween and happy Thanksgiving! See you on the board!

Michael O’Connell
Whatever the Forte version of a "Browncoat" is...