Originally published in Wonka Vision Magazine, June 2006.

Today marks another anniversary for MyLatestDistraction and it’s hard to believe how fast the time flies. What’s even harder to believe is this article, titled “My Latest Distraction: Lights, Cameras, Action Figures,” that we unearthed during our recent move. It’s not all that old, but obviously that title really caught my attention. Apparently, MLD has been a distraction going back to before this site even existed.

The issue of Wonka Vision Magazine featuring this article was dedicated to toys and action figures of all kinds and even had three variant covers. The feature was an interview with Todd McFarlane, who we ran into back at the Baltimore Comic Con.

Throughout January, DC Comics is shipping all of their books with covers connected by a similar style. The design is simple with a white background, a logo and in most cases a single character. I particularly like the way the issue title and number is subtly added to the upper right corner. On their own, you might not think much of them, but seeing them on the shelves together looked really cool. I don’t know if this promotion has a name (when these books were announced it was said to be part of DC putting the focus on its characters), but it’s a fun idea and it drew my attention to a lot of books I never would have looked at otherwise.

Read more of this article »

Last night, after sitting through what seemed like interminable CYO basketball games, the wife and I got to eat at Friendly’s (Kickin’ Buffalo Chicken and a Reese’s Pieces Sundae, thank you) and went to the movies to see Black Swan, the new Darren Aronofsky movie. Let me begin by saying that if you didn’t like Requiem for a Dream and want to dismiss the rest of Aronofsky’s films, go ahead, but you’ll be missing a film that has an almost perfect mix of crazy, funny and creepy with brilliant performances to boot.

Read more of this article »

Snow kept me in this morning until I didn’t think the dog could wait any longer. Once we went out, I was greeted with a deep covering of powdery white. As we walked and the flakes started accumulating on us, I was amazed that they weren’t instantly melting away and that you could see the details of the flakes with the naked eye. This called for some macro lens fun!

Read more of this article »

Marvel’s cosmic heroes have been experiencing a true renaissance since 2006’s Annihilation miniseries. Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, ofter referred as DnA when working together, have been the hands guiding these space adventures that have followed since that series, and The Thanos Imperative is the culmination of much of that work. In issue #1, it’s stated that “the trouble with war out here in the stars, [is] it gets big” and this series is “big” in every way imaginable. After reading nearly every cosmic book that’s shipped in that last few years, I was disappointed when I fell behind on this one, but once I picked it back up it was impossible to put down.

Read more of this article »