Is it another six months yet? I’m back for another blog update. Last I wrote, I was going to WonderCon but never did an update here. You can find my vlog for WonderCon 2023 here. You can also read a (somewhat sanitized version) about my WonderCon experience on skkaw.blog here. Then, after that, I took a quick local trip to Lodi city to meet Jackie Dallas at Lodi Comic Con. I’ve been bugging her to get me a signed copy of her appearance in an issue of the Stranger Things comic series – ’cause I’m her wing-man at the Cons (inside joke. I go around asking people,”You know who this is?” when I hung out with her at the Cons. She’s gotten a bit more famous for me to do that nowadays.).
I had driven back down to SoCal, this past last weekend, to check out Monsterpalooza 2023. I find the experience at horror cons more immersive and engaging for me than the regular cons. Prob because I have a big, special place for horror in me. Even the bad and exploitative ones. They do help keeping my mental health in check, facing the “dark” things. It’s why I enjoy running through horror mazes during Halloween – my version of sky-dving.
Speaking of dark stuff, as I drove down back for Monsterpalooza, I was listening to my buddy, Jon Poppe, speak about his love for GWAR and his creation of action figures on the GWARpod #10. He had done the sfx on my first short film,”Hubris,” and we’ve been buddies since. Although, we’re both real-life humans, with real-life human responsibilities, we’ve constantly share our thoughts on the best horror stuff out there – starting with Tokyo Gore Police, since back whenever we met. It’s been over a decade. And, I still stand by my list – 13 Most F*cked Up Movies I’ve Ever Seen. Otherwise, I enjoy doing road drives, listening to the likes of Andrew Huberman and Lex Fridman (talking about AI stuff) gives me a sense of peace… that and the soundtracks to 28 Days Later and Mad Max: Fury Road‘s “Brother in Arms“.
So… Monsterpalooza 2023! It was another fun romp of the weird, creepy, and the beauty that is the sub-culture of horror. I met Amie Donald who plays the dancing killer AI robot, M3gan… bumped into Chris Gore (he’s someone on my list of people to meet!) of Film Threat. It’s one of the few main go-tos, for me, for film commentary, thoughts, and ideas about the state of film and Hollywood culture. My friends, Mark & Karla, and Jasper, swung by to meet at the convention. They’re big horror & scifi fanatics too. It was Karla’s bday, so I bought her an eye ball. We’re a weird bunch, but not as weird as Grimm Life Collective, who I get a kick out watching them doing stuff like meeting Shelly Duvall and visiting the site of the Amityville Horror… The ‘palooza itself was full of wondrous props, fx, and creative creators…
I did take a break, at a point, and had lunch with my buddy, Dorian, who I chilled with at the Farmer’s Market in the Grove. We chit-chatted about writing, keeping our mental health, and acting. I should get back to podcasting. The convos I have with my friends are gold sometimes. At least, in my head, I believe so. *shrug* You can check out Dorian’s latest project – acting in Apple+ High Desert with Patricia Arquette.
Afterwards, I met up with Nicci to check out the Mystic Museum: Y2Kills immersive horror experience. I’ve attended their exhibits before – Evil Dead and their 80s and 90s horror experiences – so, I definitely, had to check this one out, where the displays were of horror movies of the 2000s. I ended up shooting footage and created a short overview of the experience. Nicci will be hired as a final girl in a future horror flick, that I will someday produce. Heheh…
I’ll let my vlog speak about all that happened:
I find myself rambling randomness on this blog, but it’s still here, and I feel I’m writing towards something… or maybe it’s just a way to journal publicly, and I feel a sense that the few of you that actually read here, that it’s an engaging online convo where I’m just spewing random nerdy facts about myself. It’s a fine line of narcissism but, I assure, that I do speak to a lot of you in real-life, with real conversations. These are just my interests that I’m sharing.
I’ve had thoughts about writing here once a week. I’m not famous (I say this to humble at my following) but I do count my blessings with the number of unique friends that I get to share my experiences with. I’m not selling anything, although, I am still aiming to write books and make films again. The vlogs on my YouTube satisfy my creativity cravings. (I think writing on here, also does so.)
Social media and the technology has changed since when I first had access to the Internet. It’s a wild, wild west, and I’m actually grateful to have been a part of this historical “printing press” 2.0 moment… It was wonky when I took advantage of learning some tech skills to build this site. I’ve had various bad designs and navigation… I’ve had listed books I’ve read, movies I’ve watched, archived my various adventures and travels. And, I’ve been guilty of oversharing with all this. But, somehow, a lot of you have connected with me through a lot of my nonsense. I guess what I’m getting at is, prob a thanks to the relationships I’ve built!
Anyways, just moving along… consuming the #TooMuchContent that we’re all intertwined and interconnected with. I’ve canceled my Netflix years ago, recently canceled Disney+ for the second time, and Hulu may go next. I still watch on Shudder and my Criterion streaming more often than the others. I have to triage what is important to me to watch (although, I do listen to recommendations), as it becomes overwhelming consuming and consuming with no substance (like eating too much fast food). I was addicted to the Yellowstone series and its connected Taylor Sheridan universe, and enjoyed Picard s03. But reading books and gaming is more important to me, so I’m focusing on consuming content with those, as the experience and wisdom gained is more fruitful… And, with my Gloomhaven online crew, we’ve defeated Jekserah, finally… this is a board game that’s gonna take 150+ hours to finish collaboratively. Other than that, besides my travels, I been cooking for guests, thanks to my friends in the restaurant industry who taught me a thing or two… this was my latest cobbling of stuff creation…
As I continue to promote my lifestyle as Tech. Traveling. and NerdCulture, I’m figuring out my next move in the tech industry. Definitely, will be AI-related. Been playing around with a lot of MidJourney, Runway, and figuring where to go beyond ChatGPT… I’m also dabbling in Photoshop Generative AI, which is crazy insane what I can fix in my old photos (and more)… talk about scary fun (next to the horror cons!)… but most excited, I’m going to see the Cover Girls in concert! I’m a child of the 80s music of Freestyle and Hip-Hop music. Prob will be what my next post is about. ‘
Thanks again and again, for reading! And until the next post…
…oh, almost forgot to mention: my brother, Stan Hom, was interviewed by Eric Jacobus (God of War, Mafia III, Mortal Kombat 11, and other things)…