Goodbye, 2014.

Hasta la vista.

Well, here we are at the end of yet another year. It's terribly unoriginal, but I'm compelled to bust out the "boy, time really flies" saying. Sometimes it's alarming how cool I am.

Before I dive into my thoughts about 2014 as a whole, you can check out some of my highlights from the likes of toys, gaming, and comics below:

• Castle Geek-Skull's Video Game Highlights of 2014
• 14 of Castle Geek-Skull's Favorite Comic Book Covers of 2014
• 14 Unexpected Surprises From TV, Movies, Games, etc. In 2014
• 14 Toys That Made Me Want To Break The Bank In 2014
• FanArt Frenzy - 14 of My Favorite Pieces of Fan Art From 2014!

My Mother's Love Of Comic Books Helped Inspire My Own

A handful of my mother's funnybooks.

My mother was always a big kid at heart. As far back as I can remember, she collected toys, watched cartoons, and occasionally played video games. Her biggest hobby was a love of reading however, and she often read comic books between whatever novel might have caught her eye. She was a big fan of the DC Universe in particular, especially Superman. I have fond memories of visiting comic stores (and the comic sections of book shops) with her on weekends. Sometimes we even made trips up to the big city in our state just to see what issues we could find. Comics were at the center of a lot of really good times for us.

I'm not sure if my own interest in the medium started separately or not, but I know my mom's enthusiasm for comics clearly had an effect. They were always around, and I loved looking through them even before I knew what most of the words said. Rather than keeping me away from them, this was actively encouraged. I quickly formed interests in tons of characters that I still hold dear today, and I immediately took to drawing them in whatever rudimentary way possible. That ultimately lead to one of the biggest aspects of my creativity and overall identity.

The Best Halloween Costume I Ever Had

Thwip.

Yes, that was me rocking a store-bought Spider-Man Halloween costume at some point in the late 80s or early 90s. Spidey was my favorite comic character at the time, so of course it was a thrill being able to masquerade as him in exchange for Tootsie Rolls and Skittles for a night. Even so, I can confidently say that this was not as good as it would get.

I'm pretty sure I was 9 years old the last time I actually went trick-or-treating, and it was very much a last minute affair. My mother and I were unexpectedly invited to tag along with my aunt and her step-kids early in the evening. With no other plans in place, we were happy to accept.

Writer's Block or Red Light Fever?

Oh floating keyboard, why have you forsaken me?

It's been said that you should write about what you know. Today, I've been firm friends with a bunch of bleh. It's been one of those days where I half want to throw my hands up in the air and give up on everything. I'm not going to by any means, but it's becoming hard to ignore that I've basically been in a funk of sorts for a little while now. I've gotten some things done, but not as much as I'd like. That's never a good feeling.

The overall cruddy vibe can even be extended to my work with Castle Geek-Skull. A while back, I told myself I'd like to publish at least three posts per day, one each for toys, gaming, and comics. That was probably some time in May, and well, it's still not happening. How could this be?

Best Of: Bad Batman Drawings!

At the beginning of last year, I started a new blog project: Bad Batman Drawing! Every day, once a day, I aimed to post crappy drawings of Batman and other related characters. Crappy drawings like this:

What a lovely Bat symbol. What a lovely everything.

There are Just Too Many Games, Comics, and Movies!

First World Problems, am I right?!

I like a little bit of everything and I have enough hobbies to fill several lifetimes. I know all too well that this is nothing unique. I have many friends that love taking in various forms of media just as much as I do. However, a lot of them seem able to manage all of those interests much more effectively. When I see them able to discuss what feels like everything under the sun in a passionate and well-informed manner, I often wonder how in the world they pull it off!

As my backlog of comic books, cartoons, movies, video games, live action television series, anime, and even freakin' music grows, thoughts regarding how much of an absolute bastard time can be continually fill my head. Having a myriad of other highly time-draining interests (guitar, illustration, video editing, bedazzling, you name it!) certainly doesn't help the matter. There just isn't enough time to go around.

How the "Game Grumps" Moved Me To Tears

This should really require no introduction. Game Grumps, initially the collaboration of popular Youtubers Egoraptor and JonTron (now Egoraptor and Danny Sexbang, who also swap co-hosting duties with Rubber Ninja on the channel's Steam Train installment), is easily one of Youtube's most beloved gaming channels. For the two people who may be in the dark, Game Grumps features daily gameplay videos with some of the most ludicrously fun commentary you'll find anywhere. Since its debut in the summer of 2012, its popularity has only grown, with more and more people becoming absolutely hooked on stopping by each day to enjoy the latest ten-minute chunks of gameplay. At the time of this writing, the Game Grumps channel has close to 1,500,000 subscribers.

Life Lessons

Oh, the things you learn.

This is probably inappropriate for a half-baked, mostly deserted blog about toys and other geeky nonsense, but since approximately no one really checks this out, it's probably the safest means I have for expressing myself. 

I'm not much of a sports guy. However, my mom loved baseball and I'd watch games with her quite often. She always took control of the television, so hey, it was there. I generally felt I could tolerate that one more than some of the others. Even so, watching it was not a habit I took on for myself. I became fairly baseball free once I started living on my own. I didn't even give it a thought, but it wouldn't be long before it unexpectedly crept back into my life.

Sometime last year I read comedian/actor/late-night television personality Craig Ferguson's autobiography about becoming an American citizen. Great book. Within those well written and entertaining pages he mentioned that American baseball truly exemplifies what he liked most about the American way of thinking. Guys with a 300 batting average are super stars, MVPs, hall of famers. That's only 3 out of 10, folks. You hit the ball 30 percent of the time and you're gold. Despite all odds, you give it a fucking go, and there's little shame in missing.

That's amazingly inspiring to me. Maybe it's corny, but for some reason, that game has a lot to offer in terms of life analogies. In my own life, I've encountered various situations where I let fear control me. Knowing a negative outcome may lie around the corner has kept me tied down. Let's jump in the game. Instead of going up to the plate and taking a swing, I've kept myself on the bench. That fear of striking out has paralyzed me. It's given me nothing but long term regret. There are so many things I wish I could do over.

From now on, I'm going up there and at least taking a chance. I could still fail, but at the same time, I might get a hit! No matter how brutally life will remind you that it is not biased towards you, you absolutely can't roll over and let every opportunity pass you by. It's monumentally better to try than do nothing. It seems like total common sense, but sadly, I'm only figuring it out now.

If only I'd learned all of this much earlier...ah, what could have been. At least now I know better.

Inspiration and Motivation

I don't have much of either, in any regard. Since this is on the blog, let's apply it specifically to the blog. I've fallen back under the spell of failing to add any content to this thing. There's all sorts of issues deterring me. Excuses, excuses. I could probably make some time for it but it's hard to care. One factor - there's the knowledge that no one would really give a damn if I did. At the same time, if I let that deter me, no one will ever start giving a damn. A cyclical wonder!

There's all of life's little woes and responsibilities distracting me as well. That's to be expected I suppose. This is what really amps up my respect for guys like Vangelus that seem to be so immensely productive. He's probably got his share of life being a massive cuntbitch to him as well...and yet the awesomeness prevails. I wish that could be me.

I wish so many things.

I wish I had more dedication, more inspiration, more motivation, and more of other positive tion's. I know all too well however that there's a distinct difference between wishers and doers. I've been saying shit like this for years and I'm still just kind of going through the motions. I'd like to promise, to myself if no one else specifically, that this will all change, but realistically...I'm just not sure.