Author: James

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She was too young. It was too soon.

As I write this there are tears running down my face. I found out a little while ago that one of my favorite students just passed away.

I know that teachers aren’t supposed to have favorites, but we do, and Yani was one of mine. Yani and I were both Leo’s and anime fans who had a shared love of all the things related to Avatar and the Legend of Korra. She was a wonderful student and a very talented artist. She had a truly beautiful spirit and a mischievous smile that always made me laugh.

I will miss her greatly. She left this world far too soon.

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Magical Court-side seats in Orlando

Jeff Ice and the fam

This year continues to have me reconnecting with old friends and loved ones. I had a great weekend in Orlando celebrating the birthday of my boy Jeff Ice. The only downside of the trip was that my boy Des couldn’t make it. Jeff, Des, and I have been best friends since 7th grade. We all have families and jobs, so we don’t get together as much as in the past. To say that Des was missed is an understatement.

I have to thank his wife Lex for setting everything up and bringing us all together again! She flew us down, put us up at the crib, and even made sure that we had the best seats in the house during the Orlando Magic game. Which I must add was hysterical because after I stopped playing basketball I kinda lost all interest in the game. However, during this sabbatical, I have watched more basketball than I have in years. And court-side seats are making me start to rethink my position. Ice hit the jackpot when he married her! We gotta all get together again before I have to back to work!

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Mini Obie Reunion

The sabbatical year continues to bring me back into contact with many of my friends from years gone by. You see, my boy Fat invited me to come and watch his son Henry play for the Oberlin College Yeomen, and to co-sponsor a pre game reception for the team. For a variety of reasons I rarely have the desire to watch basketball anymore, but it was Fat’s kid, so I schlepped downtown support my boy. Plus I can’t remember Oberlin ever playing in NYC so I was more than a little curious to see how the team looked today. What I didn’t realize was that Fat also invited a grip of our fellow Obies to the game for a somewhat impromptu Oberlin College mini reunion.

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I miss podcasting, so I am gonna start a new one

I was searching through the archives looking for examples of some of the previous work I had done with podcasting and came across the old video opening for New York Cine Radio from 2015. The New York Cine Radio podcast was an audio show based on pop culture and entertainment that I was fortunate enough to co-host for a few years. This was part of my weekly routine for quite a while. And if I am being honest, it is something that I miss doing. As a result, my boy Des (http://www.adesola.com) and I are starting up a new podcast within the next few weeks. More news to follow on the topic and format of this new venture.

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I will not hurl: My First 5k Race

My wife talked me into skipping part of the 3rd day of the NY Comic Con in order to do something together as a couple. So I got up at 5:30am to drive two hours to Woodstock, NY to run in a fuggin’ Wine Festival Half Marathon. A WINE FESTIVAL! I hate wine. She is running the half while I am running the 5k. I haven’t trained or run like this in years. Pray that the spirit of Batman watches over

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Oh Snap! A Marvel Legend Series Infinity Gauntlet Unboxing

I finally got around to doing a proper unboxing of the Marvel Legend Series Infinity Gauntlet. I had been looking for this for a few months since I missed the original release earlier this year. Luckily I found a great site out of the UK called Merchoid that had a few of these left. And at the original price, not the inflated collectable ones found on Ebay.

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Just another day in NYC – Bad Boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?


I was on the way home the other day after a long day of meetings. And as soon as I step off the train I see cops, with their guys drawn, descend on a group of guys sitting in traffic. The street was totally blocked off so of course me and about 30 other people pull out our phones and start recording. I still have no idea what the hell happened. I was just pissed that it slowed me down from getting some stuff from the store.