Stephen Adams

I made it back from Dragon Con! What a wild ride that was. It was probably one of my favorite Dragon Cons that I’ve participated in, I definitely learned a lot of lessons I hope to take with me to the next one.

We got there Thursday afternoon after driving six hours and I thought I would definitely need to valet park when I got there because that’s usually how it works. There are only so many parking places in the self-park and I figured they would all be gone when I got there. By the time I realize there was still room to self-park I’d already committed to letting the dude at the check-in take my car and charge me a $20 premium to park it for me. So began the journey of me spending too much throughout the whole weekend, but we’re going to try not to get into that. The struggle started really when I got the bags out of the car and handed them over to the bellhop. His name was Eddie and he was actually a really nice dude.

We’re on the eve of my annual trek to Atlanta where I gather together with a bunch of other nerds and pretend we’re the coolest people in the world for a weekend. I can’t wait! Some people get hyped for the Super Bowl, but I’m sitting here getting hyped to wander around a bunch of hotels with 80,000 other weirdos. For me, getting to be a part of the Digital Media Track at Dragon Con is a bit of a dream come true. Some of my best friends work that track and I really never was sure it would be a place I belonged.

Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5)

What a fun little movie this was! I really wanted to catch these in theaters with my son but we never got around to it, and I’m kinda bummed we didn’t. It looked like a fun movie but Disney’s marketing machine just had no idea what to do with it and that’s a shame. It’s kind of like a new generation’s Flight of the Navigator where a kid goes off into space and gets into some big adventures, but there is a lot heart to be had here.

The Back Cover

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

Rating: ★★★★ (4.0/5)

This review may contain spoilers.

I love The Bad Guys. It’s one of my favorite animated movies of all time. It’s like Oceans 11 made for kids but with enough adult stuff going on that grown-ups can enjoy it just as much. I wish I could be 10% as cool as Wolf in these movies and I might have a small crush on Diane Foxington, but that’s just a holdover from my Robin Hood days as a kid.

I was infected, but now I’m healed!

It was a long and annoying journey and I feel like I now have a better understanding of what some people go through when they have some kind of illness that they can’t figure out. I was definitely not as bad off as a lot of folks but I thought it would never end.

After finally getting in with a dermatologist, I was able to get a diagnosis of contact dermatitis derived eczema. The dude was absolutely certain that I got into something that set off an allergic reaction and turned into some gnarly eczema and what I needed was steroids. I told him that I’d been through a steroid treatment and he basically told me that the urgent care offices generally don’t know how to fight this the way they should. I told him they put me on steroids for 5 days and he shook his head and told me that was not nearly long enough. The guy was super sure of himself, but I think that might be what I needed anyway. His staff asked me a handful of questions about the history and he came in like a whirlwind and gave me the diagnosis. They see this kind of thing all the time so I shouldn’t be that surprised.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5.0/5)

James Bond brought back to his roots for a reboot of sorts, without truly rebooting anything. This is the first adventure Bond goes on in Ian Fleming’s novels and we get to see him get his 00 status and his license to kill, but we still get the Bond we know and love.

This is how an origin story is done.

We don’t wait two hours to see Bond do something “Bond-ish.” He’s who he is right out of the gate, and instantly recognizable, but we get those winks and nods to some of the staples along the way. We get his suit, his drink, his way of introducing himself, but none of that is done in a way that screams “look at what we’re doing!” It’s subtle and elegant and appropriate.