2012 Year End Review

Above, space shuttle Endeavour is towed through the streets of Inglewood in October.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

2012 is almost over.  For the most part, the year has been a productive one.  The only real item to mar the year was the failure of Mitt Romney to beat Barack Obama in the November election.  Otherwise, the year has been a good one.

Thankfully, I didn't have to attend any funerals for family members or friends.  Hopefully, this trend will continue through next year.  Knock on wood.  Unfortunately, one friend did pass away.  Comic Frank "Captain Rowdy" Lunney passed away in July.  Thankfully, we re-connected a few years ago.

The year started out with a get-together dinner (photo, left) in January in Burbank with Jerry "Karlos Borloff" Moore, his girlfriend Marta and Don Glut.  Following dinner at a local eatery, we migrated to Glut's and hung out there for a while.

Also in January, I bought table space at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention (photo, below right) at the Shrine Exhibition Hall to sell The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.  Despite the rainy weather, which dampened the crowd numbers a bit, we did pretty good as far as sales go.  I was thinking about doing the same this coming January, until I remembered that I now have to work Sundays (the day the show is held).  Oh, well.

In general, sales for the travel guide have been better in 2012 than it was in 2011.  Those sales led me to re-order a new batch from ComiXpress to cover the current holiday sale and next year's Mad Monster Party Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Japan tourism in general has improved over 2011.  As Japan's tourism improved, so has sales of the travel guide.

I started reading my collection of Ian Fleming James Bond books during this period.  I have a couple more to read as I have filled in the gaps in my collection.

My article, "Japan Safe For Monster Fan Tourists" made the rounds around the Internet in March.  It appeared in many websites, travel-related and non-travel-related, including the Anime News Network.

April saw the passing of Dark Shadows great Jonathan Frid, artist Thomas Kinkade, newsman Mike Wallace and American Bandstand's Dick Clark.

I attended this year's Monsterpalooza in Burbank in April.  While there, I had a reunion with friends Barbara & Jerry Weiler, who came in from Las Vegas.  Also at Monsterpalooza, I met actress Caroline Munro, got her autograph and had a photo taken with her (at left).  She still looks great!

In May, The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan received a good review in The Japan Times.




In June, Emi Ito, one of The Peanuts (of Mothra fame) passed away at age 71.  Writer Ray Bradbury died at age 91.

Comic Book writer and columnist Tony Isabella gave a good review of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan in Comics Buyers Guide (photo, right).

In July, I held the first of several yard sales of comic books.  I was pleased to be able to sell quite a number of them.

I donated a copy of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library.  It is now listed and available for researchers.  They were pleased to receive it.

In August, I made available The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan as an ebook at Amazon.com's Kindle Store.  Sales have been good and it is also available at Amazon's foreign sites.  I had been approached by several people about putting it out as an ebook, given the rising popularity of tablet computers.  So I did.  Amazon's ads (example below) for the travel guide are popping up all over the Internet, including in the Drudge Report.

I began my stint as a contributor to a new Japan travel-related website: JapanTourist in August.  My first article appeared in September.

In September, I was invited to join a panel (photo, left) on Japanese robots and monsters at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  Our panel had a standing-room-only crowd and I sold several copies of the travel guide following the panel.

While at Comikaze, I met the great comic book artist Neal Adams.  His Batman work of the 1970s is considered the "definitive" Batman and his influence on the character is still felt today.  I had a photo taken with him (below).

I am one of those who "never wins anything."  Well, my luck changed as I won a gift certificate to a Japanese restaurant in downtown Los Angeles through Japan Up! magazine.

In October, I trekked down to Inglewood to see the space shuttle Endeavour being towed to the California Science Center.  Figuring the crowds would be smaller in the wee hours of the morning (I was right), I went there at three-thirty and got some photos of the ship.  An estimated one million people witnessed the shuttle in the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles.

This year's corn harvest has been great.  We made 40% more this year than the year before.  I paid off a lot of bills and bought a few things that I wanted/needed.

Speaking of food, my "roomie" Jes is taking culinary classes and has been making some great dishes.  I am, at least, eating better and healthier with less reliance on fast-food.

Following the election, November has been relatively quiet.  Thus far, December has been the same, except that I had posted an article on "The Battle At Osaka Castle" at Japan Reference's Portal.

Here's to an even better 2013!