Winter always feels like you have to lock yourself away. Which means that its a great time to find things to do. There is nothing more appropriate in winter time that catching a film or two. I’m down for some big dumb action flicks. However, it’s nice to catch the quirky and off beat films when I can as well. The best way to do it? The New Zealand International Film Festival of course. Auckland gets the bulk of the festival, but a lot of the films do tour to other parts of the country too. If you’re interested in catching an awesome foreign (or local) film or an art house flick go check out what is screening at the website and if that film will be in your city (NZ).

There have been two films I’ve been wanting to see this year. One is the film on David Choe, because that dude is fascinating, and the other one is “Exit through the Gift Shop“. The film by / about / around the street artist Banksy. From what I have seen on this film it looks like a real laugh. I’m happy the festival was able to secure one of these films. The David Choe one isn’t with a major distributor as far as I’m aware, but the Banksy film is coming. That’s rad. I’m quite excited about it.

I’ve also bookmarked a film by Tamra Davis on Jean-Michel Basquiat. That one could really potentially be an interesting study into an artist. Kinda curious to see what that is all about. The problem with film festivals like this is, it’s like a music festival. So much to see, and you aren’t quite sure what you will get. You just have to take a chance and see what you get. It’s all part of the charm.

If you’ve seen an independent movie that rocked your world lately, pass that info along. I’m always keen to check cool shit out.

On Friday last week I had a parcel hit the door. It was faster than expected, but the courier guy was delivering some new stickers I had printed. These bad boys have been made for give outs at appearances and with merch orders. If you email me before the end of the month specially requesting them though, I will post you some stickers for free. Sounds like a good deal to me! Get to it! – marc [at] actionmanadam [dot] com

This weekend I will be in Christchurch. I am doing my best to get an update on time, but I’m not sure if I will hit the target since most of my drawing is done on the weekends. If I do miss it, it’s likely the page will be up later in the week. To make up for it, the page will be a little more than my regular page size.

Thanks for reading

Marc

June. It’s great news if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. The summer has officially begun and springtime will fade into the long summer days. That is exciting. It also means a good deal of comic conventions start up as well. In fact a few good ones have been already, but the grand daddy of them all – San Diego will kick in mid-late July generally. I haven’t been to San Diego since 2005, but I love that show. There is just a great atmosphere and the vibe that is in the city, it’s a great place to be! I won’t be attending this year unfortunately. If you have the opportunity though, I encourage you to go for at least one of the days and take in some of the craziness that descends upon San Diego. I truly miss hanging out with all the good friends I made when I used to attend. I hope some day I can catch up with them all again soon.

Here in New Zealand June means winter. We just had the last public holiday that we’ll see for some time. There is this long drought of public holidays now, and there won’t be another one until the winter is over. Winter in Auckland usually means a lot of rain. This year I did the smart thing and bought some leather shoes for rainproofing. The good thing about the winter season is, that I am more inclined to stay inside. This means that despite the cold, I should be more productive. More time inside = less commitments elsewhere. Less time elsewhere = more time drawing. You’ve got to take the positives that you can out of a situation – getting more drawing done because its wet outside. That is a real positive.

Since we’re now getting started into the second half of the year I guess we’d all best evaluate what we’d like to achieve before the year is out. I have a few things coming up. I have been confirmed for the Auckland Zinefest in August. You can check out more information about that here. If you are in the Auckland area, please do come out and say “hello”. I like meeting people and will be nice to you. Promise. Should be a great opportunity to sell some more comics. What else? I’ll be briefly in Christchurch at the end of this month. That should be fun. In September the wife and I are going to head to Melbourne for a quick look around. I have never been there before so i am really looking forward to that. Might also pop in at Armageddon Auckland in October. I’m not too sure about that one, but it is a “probable” at this stage.

Above is a sketch I did for a twitter pal in Wellington. Hi, Fi!

What about yourself? What plans do you have for the second half of the year?

Thanks for reading!
Marc