2024 Motor City Nightmares Review

This past Saturday my fiancé and I took to the Motor City Nightmares Festival.  For any that doesn't know, Motor City Nightmares is an annual horror themed convention -- much like a comic con, just a different genre of nerdery.  To tell the truth, I like it better than a regular comic-con.  Frankly, I'm into that shit.  I love horror movies.  To be more specific, I love bad horror movies with an oozing soft spot for the horror flicks that came out in the '80s.  It's one of my things.  Seems like I have a lot of "things", but it's definitely a high ranking thing.  

This year, like the last MCN I went to, I was armed with 3 custom cards for two signers.  Those being Felissa Rose and Arye Gross.  If you've read any of my other convention write-ups I've done you'll know I make a big deal out of how fucking awkward I am.  This post will not stray from that tone.

We walked around a bit looking at all the horror vendors.  My fiancé just thought I was wanting to peep all the cool horror shit.  She was only half right.  Little did she know my weird ass was literally mentally preparing myself to meet the two signers.  Most people get exciting about that, not me.  My anxiety goes through the roof.  I just want to get my autograph and go so as not to show a semi-famous person how inept I am at small talk.  

We found Felissa Rose's table first, but she wasn't there.  So, we went in search of Arye Gross' table.  Took a sec. to find because he wasn't in the main area, more out in the hallway area.  When we did spot him he was just getting up to go somewhere.  Bathroom?  Grab a bite to eat?  I don't know.  All I know is he was walking away from his table.  That gave us an opportunity to ogle more cool stuff at the vendor's tables and for me to re-encourage myself that I can get in-person autographs without being a goofy.  

Before long we saw Felissa making her way back to her table.  She was kind of hard to miss.  She was in a bright red gown and was tanner than any one of us Michiganders in attendance.  So we preceded to get into her line.  I'd say there was like 2-3 people ahead of us.  As we neared her table I noticed her signing fee included a picture with her.  Exactly what I wasn't hoping for.  You see, when you take a picture that's more interaction and more opportunity for me to be a goober.  When it was our turn I got a hug before I even said a word, so did my fiancé.  To Felissa's credit, she is super peopley and seemed to genuinely appreciate us being fans.  I laid my card on the table (so to speak) and she seemed to get a kick out of it.  She appreciated that my autograph horror card design has a designated autograph area.  My fiancé Jeni volunteered the fact that I made the card.  This is something I wasn't going to do myself because I'm not a spotlight type of guy and I already felt eyes upon us since she was making a big deal out of us for simply attending the show and getting her signature.  With that being said she did seem to dig the card and even threw in a free auto'd 8x10 for being fans I guess?  VERY gracious of her I thought.  Then it came time for the picture.  I said something like "yay" or "great", I don't recall which.  In my mind I was trying to seem enthusiastic, but I knew when it came out it sounded hella sarcastic as evidence by her handler person saying we didn't have to if e didn't want to.  I felt REALLY embarrassed.  I did say "no, I want to" and didn't belabor the point to not mind me, I'm probably on the spectrum, I just moved in for the pic, motioning Jeni over for emotional support.  I was sure to be a gentleman and do the ol' "hover hand" thing.  She was actually one of the nicest celebs I've met at any of these cons and I hope I didn't offend her or weird her out.  

I really like the was the auto came out.  I don't usually do black, but I think it worked on this one.  Plus, the inscription is cool with one of "Angela's" few lines in Sleepaway Camp.

We then went to check on Arye, still wasn't there.  We got a couple of hot dogs and walked around a bit more.  Eventually Arye was back at his table.  We waited there a few minutes behind these two guys who were just chatting him up.  I think once Arye's handler realized that we were paying customers and they weren't he sort of moved them along.  Something like: Soul Man, crazy right?  You guys getting an autograph, orrr?  This signing was more banal.  No hugs.  No chit-chat really.  I really wanted to get he House II card signed as it makes the fourth card from that movie in my horror design that I've gotten signed.  When I was young I lovvved that movie.  I thought it was pretty cool that Arye's character was named "Jesse" on top of it being an entertaining movie.  That movie is the genesis for my love of the horror/comedy subgenre.  

The Just One Of The Guys card is not officially part of the set I made.  I guess it's a bonus card?  It's another movie I love-love and I've always been proud of that set in particular.  If I'm correct, it's the 3rd card from that movie I've been able to have autographed. 

Overall we had a really fun time at MCN.  I think though they may want to look into a bigger venue maybe.  They use a banquet room in the Novi (about 35 minutes NW of Detroit) Sheraton.  With all the vendors, signers and convention goers it can be a little cramped.  Also, I'd either go on Friday or Sunday next time.  They charge a bit of a premium for Saturday.  I figure I can be just as awkward and pay less next year.  

We also picked up some horror goodies but I'm inclined to keep the post about the cards and over-stating how socially inept I am.  

Revenge of the Nerds 40th Anniversary

I wanted to coordinate posting this card yesterday to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the release of Revenge of the Nerds, but I was traveling and just couldn't.

This card a homage to the 1984 Donruss BMX set.  A bit of an obscure card set, but works great for a RotN Greek Games Tricycle Race card.

2024 Motor City Comic-Con

A little delayed on this one, but here's my Motor City Comic-Con wrap up.  It's been a number of years since I've gone the the MCCC.  I go mainly to get my cards signed and in the past few years there just really haven't been any "must haves" for my collection.  

This year featured a couple of celeb guests that I wanted to add signed cards from for two of the sets I've made that I really like.  Those being my Freaks and Geeks set and my License to Drive set, the signers being Tom Wilson and Heather Graham respectively.  

I got Heather's autograph first.  Like I've said in past about cons and in-person signings, I'm terribly introverted and don't really look to yuk it up with the celebs.  They're there to sell their signature and I'm there to buy it.  I hardly even consider the micro interactions as "meeting" these celebrities.  Some are really outgoing and I've gotten something out of the interaction whether I intended on it or not.  But, if they're not chatty I don't mind nor do I feel they're rude.  Maybe they're not big on small talk like myself?  Anyways, I guess the point is I don't have any great stories from the signings.  Heather Graham merely said my card was "cute".  With her card, if I had to do over again I would have either asked for a different color, or brought a different card.  I thought since the card I brought was a tad on the darker side that a silver Sharpie would have really popped, but it did not.  You've got to hold it at the right angle to see it, really.  She asked if I wanted her to put "Mercedes" on the card and I agreed because that's a cool touch.

Then I got Tom Wilson's auto.  Freaks and Geeks is a GREAT show.  That show and The White Shadow are my all-time favorite tv shows.  Any time there's a chance to get autos from either of those shows on cards I've made I'm all over it.  Everyone in line who wasn't me was there to get some Back to the Future related signed.  I'm about to say something a bit sacrilegious here for an 80's kid ... but ... when it comes to BTTF, I could take it or leave it *gasp*.  Just not big on it.  Sorry.  I noticed when I got closer that all but maybe three of the photos Tom was offering at his table were from the BTTF trilogy.  Two were April Fool's Day (would've been my second choice after F&G) and another from something I didn't recognize.  No Freaks and Geeks though.  I did ask Tom when I got to the table how often he signed F&G stuff.  He said every once in awhile, and it was usually the DVD yearbook.  I like the way his card turned out although I wish it would've brought a green Sharpie.  I just assumed he'd have one but he did not.  Oh well.

Overall it was a fun little Sunday.  The best part wasn't getting my cards signed, it was going with my ten year old son.  He's got some nerdy interests like his dad so he had a good time telling me fun facts about the different things that were there that interested him (he's really into anime) and I in turn waxed poetic about good ol' 80's pop culture and the "back in my day" type of stuff.  

Fast Times Series III

In my never ending quest to give proper custom trading card representation to my favorite movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, I've created a third installment of my Fast Times set.  You can never have too much Fast Times.  

Retrofitting the 1983 Donruss Knight Rider card set into a Fast Times set is another idea I've had for some time now.  Originally I was just replacing K.I.T.T. with the VW stoner van, but then I got to thinking that there were a few other notable cars in the movie, and also being that having a cool set of wheel is such a big part of the high school experience, I incorporated three other cars from the movie into the set.  Those other three being Mike Damone's 1973 Gremlin,  Charles Jefferson's alumni gifted 1979 Camaro Z28 and of course Brad Hamilton's "beautiful 4-door luxury sedan".

From there is it was just selecting 9 cool images I'd want to include in the trilogy set.  I wanted to get Mrs. Vargas (Lana Clarkson) on a card because I hadn't previously.  I also wanted Spicoli wearing the Sex Wax shirt, Jefferson going H.A.M. on Lincoln as well as Brad's self love session.  The others are also cool, card worthy scenes.  The Linda Barret card is more of a candid promo photo (and the only vertical card) with the reverse side showing the completed puzzle.

Oh, yeah -- since the '83 Knight Rider set were puzzle backed cards, that's what I did with my set.  The reverse side is the Australian Fast Times poster art.  It's not one that you see very often so I thought it'd make for a fun puzzle card back.  

I think this set could possibly have legs enough for me to do a fourth series using it.  Since the template is already done it'd just be a matter of getting the itch for yet even more Fast Times cards.  

Heat

Here goes another card idea I've been sitting on for quite some time and finally went ahead and executed. Anyone who has seen the movie knows that Heat goes hard.  That shootout scene downtown towards the end always gives me goosebumps.  So badass!  I thought everyone in the cast was excellent in this movie, De Niro, Val Kilmer, the whole lot.  And of course Al Pacino with his bat-shit crazy line delivery.  

This card was simply inspired due to the fact that De Niro and his antihero cohorts wore hockey goalie masks during the opening armored truck heist scene that sets the whole movie into motion.  I thought it would be fun to frame the four participants in an older hockey card design, I just needed one that featured four players.  That's when I came upon the 1974-75 Topps hockey Team Leaders design.  Once I had my template it was just a matter of filling in the details.  

Deadly Friend

Hi there.  Long time, no see.  I used to have a job that was let's say roughly about 90% downtime and it was just me there.  Now I work in a corporate office and the only time I get to exhale is on my lunch break.  It's not that my zest for making my cards has diminished, it's just that I have next to no time for it.  Well, lately I've put off other things to make time for it.  I've had the itch like a crackhead twitching for his fix.

So, for the first in what seems like decades, is a brand new PCb. card.  It's a one-off from the 1986 horror Deadly Friend starring a  17 year old Kristy Swanson.  I went in for a re-watch and it reminded me of a card I had an idea for long ago.  Deadly Friend is infamous for one scene in particular; the one in which Kristy's character explodes Mama Fratelli's head with a basketball.  If I knew how to make lenticular cards this would be the first one I'd make, but that's not my lane so I gave it the ol' split screen treatment.  

The template of course is the legendary 1986-87 Fleer basketball, famous for having the first mainstream Michael Jordan rookie (along with many other HOFers and legends).  This is a template that I wanted to use for quite some time, but it had to be a basketball related card because the design is so synonymous with basketball.

I had funny repurposing the "Fleer Premier" crown to something more Phantom Cardboard-centric.  I didn't go too crazy with the card back, just some basic cast info.

Hannah Scharf

This isn't a new card per se, but it's one I don't believe I've shown anywhere before.  I needed an excuse to update this site after a nearly 7 month hiatus. 

As for the card, I made this one in a, to date, failed attempt at an autograph.  Hannah Scharf is a Canadian collegiate gymnastics standout for the ASU Sun Devils   I've previously said it before, but the 1991-92 Skybox design is choice for autographs.  I collect autographs from the official basketball set.  The white negative space offers the perfect canvas for an autograph to really pop, and who doesn't love those futuristic -for the time at least- computer graphics?  I love making card using this design, but it does have to be among the most time consuming templates I work with.  This card also gave me a reason to use one of my absolute all-time favorite mascot sports logos; Sparky the Sun Devil.

As for me, lots of changes.  The biggest being a whole new career.  I took a chance on myself switching careers after 22 years in the same field, and thus far the move has paid off in many ways.  My old career offered me loads and loads of downtime while at work which allowed me lots of time to tinker with this custom card hobby of mine.  My new career doesn't offer that same flexibility.  

I've had a lot of fun adventures this summer with the family, so I really wasn't thinking too much about making cards.  But, summer is drawing to a close and the kids are going to school in the coming weeks.  It's got me thinking about trying to mix in a little more card time, because at the end of the day I really do love making my cards.  I'm currently setting up a little work space in my house to give me somewhere dedication to creating cards and I've got a few ideas for new cards I 'd like to make, plus ideas from others that I've gotten via email and DMs.  I don't yet know how much I'll be able to do, I just know it will be nothing in comparison to the volume that I was able to crank out for a number of years.  Like always, it's treated as a hobby, and I'm doing it as a fun creative outlet for myself.  

So there ya have it, I'm alive and doing fine and new cards are *hopefully* on their way.