What the Heck?!

Okay so first off, this is kind of my response or feelings towards this article, so please click here and give it a read. But the long story short, an 11-year kid in Winnipeg goes to a Jets versus Islanders game to see his favourite team, the New York Islanders, rocking his favourite player jersey, John Tavares. Basically he gets heckled out of the freaking building. A kid. A kid who just wanted to enjoy the game for all it's worth and for all the magic. But no, instead he gets heckled by some extremely rude individuals and probably doesn't have a great night. However, reading about this story from home (due to a knee injury), John Tavares decided to send over some things over to this young fan, including an autographed jersey as well. Amazing, that is a beauty of a player. And it helps this young fan still retain faith in the game.

So what do I feel about all this? I feel like this is something that takes place way too often! And quite frankly I am sick and tired of hearing about it. Can we not allow others to just enjoy the game? Seriously though, we need to cut all this heckling crap out of the arenas and out of the game. Sure we can have rivals and opponents and discuss points on one and others team, but all with respect for one and other. Look, I take shit almost on a daily basis for being a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. A team that has not won the Stanley Cup in over 40 years, a team that has been mismanaged for years and a team that just recently got out of some dark rebuilding years. So why am I Maple Leafs fan? I don't know, cause blue and white looks good on me. Or maybe because I like maple syrup on my pancakes. Or maybe because I was born in Toronto and I have strong memories of growing up here and watching the team fly and heroes like Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin and Curtis Joseph take the city on a wonderful hockey ride. This is my team. That being said, don't shit on me for it. I know this teams faults and I know what we have done and what we haven't done. I hear it so often, a groan and possible eye rolls at the sight of the blue or white leaf on any piece of clothing that I have. I have no hate for any team in the league, nothing but respect to be honest. When the Maple Leafs play, of course I am counting to cheer for my team to win, but I am not going to be a spiteful and hateful person to others just because our teams are playing. Being a dick isn't going to make your team any better. And let me make one thing clear here, I have seen Maple Leafs hecklers and that pisses me off as well. Because here is the thing, I respect the hell out of the Montreal Canadiens. I really do. This teams has so many legendary players and teams, and let's face it, probably the greatest team ever assemble on ice. The Ottawa Senators, a great rival as well. Some of the best Maple Leafs memories have been against the Sens, a team that gives us more hockey in Canada and Ontario, and an organization that has had it really hard being stuck in between the Habs and the Leafs but that have remained strong and created their own identity. The Boston Bruins, the guys who dropped the Leafs off the playoffs after being down in the third period. Another legendary team that has been consistently strong, the Bruins are the team that everyone wants to look like. I don't think I am a unicorn, I am just a guy who loves to watch the game of hockey and I appreciate all the history and aspects of the game, including all the many teams and fan bases. And I think we can do that too, cheer for our teams and enjoy a beer next to a guy in the opposite team jersey. 

So that's my take on this little topic, with just a handful of games left in the regular season it's almost time for the playoffs, and that means games get more and more intense. But regardless who takes the cup this year, let's all sit back and enjoy the show. Less hate, more mates. This has been the ChileanStorm on hockey, keep your head up and your stick down and always chase the storm.

And Here We Go...

The weekend comes and the weekend goes. Welcome everyone, back from the first big show of the season at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and feeling great and ready for a new year of excitement and adventure and all that good stuff in between. First and foremost a big thank you to everyone who came to the Artist Alley and stopped by at the Spent Pencils table, I appreciate every moment and everyone who stopped by and showed their support, it means the world to me. And a big thank you to all the artist as well who spent the weekend working away as well, a lot and I mean a lot of amazing and creative talents on display this weekend. From new art groups like Breaking Lead, Legion of Beards and From a Hat, this is the power of the GTA art community, glad to have you guys at the shows! And of course a thank you to all my crew and to my friends in the Artist Alley, I can't wait to keep evolving and growing with all of you.

I sold a lot of different prints this weekend and a few sketch covers, so I should let you guys know I sold both the Thunderbolts and the X-Men sketch covers. But I will be doing an X-Men/Adventure Time cross up prints, have those ready for the next shows as well. That being said, let me know what kind of prints you would like to see from me and I can have that done for you. Also got some more blank covers, so give me ideas on those as well. Aside from that I was giving out a few free sketches and some postcards as well, which I will be making more in the near future. And I was lucky enough to get a lot of cool swag this weekend as well, from Apocalypse 4 tee and print, original books and some prints as well. I will be reading a lot of these in the near future and I will let you know what I think, but I highly recommend that you all get Black Hole Hunters Club, Teuton, Omega Zone and Two Mistakes Two Many. Look these books up, these are all original books and you need to give these guys plenty of love and support. 

So I've got to get going now, plenty to clean up and I've got to work later on tonight. But again, thank you all for all the support and keep it coming, follow me on Twitter and Instagram under @ChileanStorm and be sure to follow this blog for all the updates and news and reviews that I can give you. Until then, keep chasing the storm. 

Also, check this blog and video out, a certain lil storm makes an appearance. 

The Storm is Coming...

It's almost here, the first weekend con of the year for me and my team in Spent Pencils. The time is this weekend and the place is the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the Toronto Comic Con! To say I am not excited would be an understatement, I am really happy to get back to the tables and the shows, this is what I love to do. To be able to draw beside some of the greatest people in my life, to see fellow artist friends in the community, get to meet new fans and reconnect with the first ones, all of it, I can't wait. It's time for me to take what I've learned in the last months since Ottawa and put it to good use, to take my game to the next level. So with that said, if you are going this weekend, come down to Artist Alley and come see all of us in Spent Pencils! We got a big long table, so you can't miss it, we are going to be at A31.

As you can see by the nice bright yellow label, that will be Spent Pencils section! We have a lot of talent at this table this weekend and even guys who will have there own tables as well in the Artist Alley section, so be sure to check them out as well. I am going to try and post on my recommendations on who and what to see at the con this weekend, but if I don't get to post it in time, go see every artist who loves what they do and give them the praise that they all deserve. 

As for me, well I will have plenty of my crazy cartoons and characters available to you. I've got a big selection of original sketch covers with plenty of Adventure Time mash ups and even original pieces as well on blank copies of Swamp Thing and Batman. And I will have more copies of my prints available as well, in case you missed the chance last year to pick some up. Plenty more Loki Lemongrab and Pokemon as well. Also I will be doing quick sketches for free and taking on commissions as well if you are looking for something unique and just for you. As well as with the purchase of any sketch cover (which range from 20-60) I will throw in a free ChileanStorm print of your choice, for this weekend! So deals and steals for you, come on by and get yourself a piece of the storm. 

Thank you again guys for reading this, please tweet this or link it or any kind of way of getting the word out to everyone going to show this weekend. Looking forward to this and I am ready to show you what I am all about. Also guys, new content on YouTube coming out on the Maddsketch channel and on Toby's channel as well, so check it out. I will see you this weekend, keep chasing the storm. 

Good Golden Morning...

And Leo doesn't get an Oscar. Well at least we can look forward to another great year of movies from this guy. The way I see it, once he does get an Oscar, he is going to go all Eddie Murphy on us and make terrible terrible pay check movies. No, not really. I think that's one thing about Leonardo Dicaprio that we love most, pretty sure all his movies are great films. He picks his films and roles wisely, and that is something you got to love and which is why we really want to see him win all the time. It will be a cold and sad day when Dicaprio chooses to do a write off family movie. Although, I think almost every actor has done one or two. Scary thoughts indeed.

So the Oscars happened last night, and me being a bit of a movie geek, I was curious to see who won and who got the snub...

86th Academy Awards winners

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature: Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
Best Documentary Short: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score: Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song: Let It Go - Frozen
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film: Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film: Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing: Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects: Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay: Her (Spike Jonze)

And that's the Oscars for you folks.

I will be the first to admit that I was just interested in seeing Frozen win as many awards as possible. I really loved that movie, and hell I will be the first to say as well I felt like Wolf of Wall Street needed to be recognized as well. But Frozen was an absolute joy to watch, it brought back those memories of watching Disney movies as a kid and falling in love with all the characters and the songs you would sing for days on end. I haven't felt so much love for an animated flick since The Little Mermaid and A Nightmare Before Christmas. So I am really happy to see Frozen get two well deserved Oscars for best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for Let It Go. As for the other picks, these are all really good and well deserved, I am happy to see Jared Leto take an Oscar as well. Was always a big 30 Seconds to Mars fan and I really liked Mr.Nobody, as strange as it was. I still need to watch a lot of these winners though, like Gravity and 12 Years a Slave, so it looks like I got to make some trips to the movies. And I still haven't seen the Lego Movie! 

So this was my Oscar recap, going to do my best to stay updated with you guys on a daily basis. So please come back and check back often, tell a friend and follow me on Twitter, Instagram and any other means of social media with the ChileanStorm. I am off for now, so keep chasing the storm. 

Beast is Always Hungry...

Mother nature, make up your mind sweetheart. I really don't mind clear skies or snow or even rain. Just next time, pick one for the day. Okay. Thanks.

That said, another event down and for the books. Today we were out in Brampton, drawing for fans of the Brampton Beast. Apparently this is the farm team of the farm team of the Tampa Bay Lighting. So you are 10 degrees separated from playing on the top line with Stamkos or St.Louis. That's pretty cool, when you think about it. But come hell or high snowy winds, we drove out to the Powerade Centre and set up for the night. I would like to thank Maddsketch, Vince and Nich for being good sports and getting into the hockey mood by rocking some of my hockey jerseys. I let Maddsketch rock my Alternative black Chicago Blackhawks jersey (one of my favourite designs of all time), Vince represent in the vintage San Jose Sharks jersey and Nich looked great in the old Buffalo Sabres jersey. Me, I had to rock the old blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs. Although that does remind me, I need to get the Winter Classics jersey soon. I mean we won the game, so we got some good memories with that one. I got to sit right next to the awesome duo behind one of the best independent books currently out there, Ricky Lima and Shane Heron, the talents that create the Black Hole Hunters Club. I can't stress this enough, get this book. Seriously. It's an excellent and incredible look piece of work, a lot of fun to read and with a big cast of crazy characters. I am going to write up a more in depth review later, but when you get a chance, get these books. And tell them, ChileanStorm sent you. But it was a good time for sure, a big thanks to Stadium Comics for having us and to the Brampton Beast. Spent Pencils, we will draw anywhere and any time. It's what we do.

Afterwards we decided to pay a visit to my little brother, Toby. Poor dude had to work today and he was really under the weather, so what better cure then blueberry tea, chips and some Blue Mountain State. This is a football based comedy about jocks from Spike, and let me be the first to say, it is awesome! It's on Netflix right now and you probably turned your nose at it in passing. But I can honestly say it's a lot of fun to watch, it's got the raunchy college comedy thing down. It accomplishes what so many movies and TV shows have tried to do in the past, but have fumbled on. Yes, it's portrayal of both men and women is really sexist and over the top, but you need to watch this with a light heart and mind. It's got some great series running gags, an awesome casts and one of the best openings I've seen in a while. Just makes you want to grab a cold beer and chug. But seriously, check this show out.

Well that was my day, it's been a long day. Be on the look out for the latest episode of Time Well Spent and the Twin Cast. Also we did a photo shoot last night, so I will share those with you guys on my page here and other social media pages like Tumblr and Instagram. Going to be taking part in the day long Comic Book Jam challenge, it's going to be a good test to see if I can get something done in that time frame. I can't wait. Also, I have been tested with the challenge of realism and portraits. So will see how that goes, but I got to give it a try after all. Thank you again guys, be sure to comment and subscribe to the page and be sure to let you friends know all about me and the entire Spent Pencils crew. Keep chasing the storm.

Links:
Maddsketch YouTube channel
Tea Em YouTube channel
Spent Pencils
Spent Pencils Facebook Page
Stadium Comics

Not Down with the Sickness...

Hey Storm Clouds, ChileanStorm here (or Papa Storm, I guess) with a quick update. Long story short though, this past week has had me trained out completely. I am pretty sure I caught some sort of sickness, everyone at work has been ill and a few of my fellow Pencilnecks as well, needless to say I have been out of it for a while now. But nothing a few extra hours of sleep, honey and plenty of Refresh mint tea can't fix. I am actually feeling a lot better today, which is good cause I got to go shoot the latest episode of Time Well Spent. Again guys, three new episodes are already up, so please give them a view or two and spread the word. I am going to be recording another episode of Twin Cast with Toby tonight, episode 4 is just waiting to be uploaded but it should be soon. So you will have plenty of Storm n Tea to watch and hear this weekend. And also be sure to subscribe to both channels as well, plenty of cool content to be seen. 

Also I am doing a late post on a blog I wrote up last week on our trip out in Brampton, for the Brampton Beast night, I have the link here, so give it a read as well. Plenty of good times with the crew and with friends from Stadium Comics. As well this past weekend I took part in the twelve hour comic book challenge! It was a great chance to stretch my creative muscles and see what I can do within that time frame. I worked on a little idea I had, one that came up during a night out with friends from my old work place. It's a pretty dark take on the day to day routine of a part time worker, I don't want to give away much more, but know that I will be posting it up here on Storm Watch and as well on the upcoming SP web comic page that is set to release soon. With short stories by Maddsketch and Toby as well, be sure to keep an eye out for those as well. 

And we are just about a week away from the first big convention of the season, the March Comic Con at Metro Toronto Convention Centre. I am getting hyped up and ready for this show, going to have more prints of the Avengers Time and Loki Lemongrab as well as original sketch covers. I am also going to be having free sketch deals and sketch card give aways, so be sure to come by and spread the word. Also I am always available for commissions, so if you are looking for something cool and unique, drop me an email or a comment below here. Ready to unleash the storm and let the world know what I am all about.

Again thank you for your time guys, please be sure to comment below and spread the word out on ChileanStorm. I will be back later, until then keep chasing the storm.

Also Canada gets gold! Sweet!