London Film & Comicon

Well, myself and some friends travelled 400 miles to gets there. We booked our tickets in advance. We waited 20 odd minutes in the Early bird "fast" Que.

And we only spent 2 hours at the show... then went to Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue.

It wasn't a complete waste of time. I managed to pick up a lot of comics - 42 issues (lots of randoms) plus 4 trades. I got a few items i really wanted off my list (Hellboy, The Walking Dead, etc), but there is still a lot i need to look out for.

Even though i picked up a decent haul, i don't think i'll be attending another Collector Mania event any time soon. Not enough comics.

Being pretty new to comics (just over 18 months) i don't have a huge amount, but my collection has grown to 2 boxes full now. I saw an ad at the show for stackable boxes and it made me think about cataloguing my collection.

Doing it now would make searching through them a hell of a lot easier in the future. So, in the next couple of weeks i'm going to sit down and log my whole collection on a google docs spreadsheet (if only they had Google Access) and (maybe) share it with you - if you want to read it that is.

It shouldn't be funny, but it is.

I nearly wet myself the first time i saw this video. It shouldn't be funny, you know, to laugh at other peoples misfortunes, etc. It's just the way the 2nd woman appears on camera running like an old man.

Once you've laugh at it a few times though, actually watch it and think about it. These women could have caused themselves serious harm. And no one actually attempted to help them till they got across the finishing line. i know it shows grit and determination, but it's a bit stupid too.

Anyways, enough moaning about it. If laughter is the best medicine, this is a strong dose!

Droid Comic Viewer

Yesterday Droid Comic Viewer (DCV) was released onto the Android Market. I thought this was a great concept, so was keen to try it out! I downloaded it this morning and at lunch downloaded a couple of titles (i, Robot #1 & #2).

My initial response is that this is a great little app. The UI is nice - gesturing left or right to move between pages, etc. The two comics i've downloaded so far look great. The Artwork comes across well and text is easy to read.

It's quite a lite app too. It takes up just under 200k. Comics themselves are around 2Mb and up, however they can be saved to SD card so no need to worry about clogging up phone memory (once you've saved the comic to SD just go to 'my downloads' and uninstall the comic. Tip: turn the device off then on again after uninstalling the comic as a known bug in Android means memory will still show as if the comic hadn't been uninstalled if you don't).

There are a number of comics to download from the Android Market, particularly from Robot Comics, which are compatible with the DCV so you shouldn't be stuck for anything to read. The software opens CBZ/ZIP, CBR/RAR (beta), ACV, JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF files, so again it should be compatible with digital comics on the android market and, possibly, content downloaded externally (don't quote me on that though).

Since i've just installed this nice little piece of software it wouldn't be fair to fully comment on it yet, so i'll give it a go, download and read a few titles, then update the blog.

If you have an Android powered device, download it yourself. Search the Market for "Droid Comic Viewer"

Buddy Runner Android App

I’m into running. I make no apologies for it. There’s nothing better than going for a long run. What makes it even better though is the amount gadgetry available to use while you’re running. Heart rate monitors, GPS equipment, etc. But for those of us who can’t justify splashing out at least £150 plus on toys, there are always free Smartphone applications.

Last year I used Nokia Sports Tracker on my N95 8GB, which was great. So good, I seriously considered only Nokia’s for my next phone choice. But, I decided to jump the S60 ship and landed with my HTC Dream (AKA Google G1) which uses the Android operating system.

The first thing I did was search the App Market for running apps, and a few came up. I installed a couple apps and tried them out but my favourite was Buddy Runner (BR).

Buddy Runner is a GPS tracking app with a nice, simple UI. In the app itself, three tabs are visible at the top of the Screen; Workout, Map and History (my version doesn't have the settings tab as shown in the screenshot. to access settings i press the menu button).

The workout Tab shows you your Time, Distance and Pace (these can be shown in Km or Miles). In the settings panel you can change how your pace is calculated (from start, last few sec, etc). You can also set audio feedback – a nice lady will tell you your time, pace and distance every 0.5 miles, 1 mile or every 10mins, etc, depending on your preference. Personally, I turned audio feedback off. I keep my phone in a belt when i'm running so don't hear the audio notifications all the time.

The GPS is surprisingly good. With my old Nokia Sports Tracker, it would take around a minute or so before it locked but (at most) 30 seconds and Buddy runner is locked and ready to go. The map is obviously linked to Google Maps – enough said there. Again they keep things simple in the History tab too. It displays your activities to date (showing date, time & distance). You cans select an activity to expand it and show the activity details such as date, time, distance, pace, calories burned and status, which leads me onto to the good stuff.

If it wasn’t enough having a great free GPS tracking app on your phone, once you’ve finished a run, the software will automatically upload the run details and store on your own Dashboard, then email you with a link to the site. If you know your username the dashboard is easy to find as it’s www.buddyrunner.com/USERNAME.

You can see from the screenshot you get some nice graphs. Once you’ve added a few you can compare runs, see your personal bests set when using BR, etc. Another great feature is the ability to post updates on your runs to Facebook, Twitter or Friendfeed.

I’ve been out a few runs now with Buddy Runner and I still think it’s great. In comparison to Nokia Sports Tracker, you can’t get the same depth of analysis of your runs, but the UI, even that on the BR site, is a lot cleaner, simpler and easier to follow. As a cheap and simple alternative to that Garmin GPS gadget you’ve always wanted, it’s a must.

The trail sticker on the BR website banner suggests that the free period may be up soon. How long the free trial will last I’m not sure. What I do know is that if it’s not too expensive (i.e. just a few pounds), I’d buy it.

Go to www.buddyrunner.com and see what you think.

Happy running!

The List

After all the help from fellow tweeps - who suggested titles i should look out for while i'm at Comicon - i pulled together the list of suggestions in a spreadsheet (helps me keep clear on it!). Anyways, there are a few holes in there, pretty much since i'm not sure about titles outside of Marvel.

So, i've posted the list below (minus writer and label). Any comments/additions to the list are welcome and encouraged - as long as they're full of comic goodness.

I'll be happy if i manage to get even just a few titles in trade but the more the better!

Title (Notes, e.g. issues/runs to look out for, etc)
100 Bullets
11th Hour
Atomic Robo (Vol 1 Fighting Scientists of Tesldyne)
Awakening
Batman & Robin Reborn
Bayou
Brit
Buffy S8
Clyde Fans (Book 1)
Criminal
Days Missing
DMZ (1st trade edition)
Essex County: Tales from the Farm (Trade V1)
Fables
Global Frequency
Hell Boy (Wake the Devil. Seeds of Destruction)
House of Mystery
Invincible
Jack Staff
Kick Ass & American Jesus
Madam Xanadu
Mouse Guard 1st trade edition
Mr Stuffins
Northlanders
Planetary
Preacher
Red Mass for Mars
Retake
Sandman
Sin City
Sleeper
Sullen Grey
The Astounding Wolf Man
The Authority Start from the beginning
The Boys: Name of the Game (Trade V1)
The Nightly News
The Phantom
The Spirit (all stand alone issues. start anywhere)
The Surrogates
The Umbrella Academy (Dallas [6 part]. Apocalypse Suite [6 part])
The Walking Dead
Transhuman
Transpoloitan
Wasteland
Y: The Last Man
Any Titles by Warren Ellis & Garth Ennis

tweeps are a helpful bunch

Around 18 months ago I was introduced to the Marvel Universe and since then I haven't looked back. I love reading stories from all eras. The whole history of how the universe and its characters have evolved and interacted never ceases to amaze me.

Up until a week ago i'd only ever read Marvel titles. I started to wonder why I hadn't explored other areas, but it doesn't help when the people who introduced you to comics are Marvel fanboys though.

So, how could I take that first step away? Where do I start?

Twitter.

Most of the people I follow on twitter are comic book writers, artists or likeminded fans. So, hopefull that i'd get at least one response, I sent out a tweet asking for help to broaden my comic horizons and for suggestions of non Marvel comics to buy when I'm at comicon in a few weeks time.

It started slow, but with the help of @ohsuperheroine, who sent a message out to her followers about me, I got a flood of reponses. To say I was pleased was an understatement. It was great that so many people were willing to "share the comic book love" (as one twitterer put it) and suggest their favourite titles.

I know have a long long list of comics to look out for when I'm carefully flicking through issues at London Comicon. Whether I can afford them all is a different matter ;)

So, I've learned that twitter, while full of celebs, affiliate marketing spam and porn spam, also has its fair share of really nice, helpful people.

Sent from my G1

What's wrong with using a virtual keyboard? Something, according to Swype

New blog post on predictivetext.blogspot.com

Have a look.

Thanks!