Chicago Comic-Con... here we come

As of a few hours ago, Derek (my college roommate) and I have booked a room and purchased tickets for the Chicago Comic-Con. wewt!

The hard part's over... now it's just the drive and the lines and geeking out about getting to meet Lando Calrissian and Boba Fett.

Just gotta figure out my comic list, what to bring, if I can take my dad's car and if I have any money to buy stuff at the Con... damn...

Looks like there's going to be a lot of stuff going on here. We're going to have a blast. And if we're lucky, Dan Peso and my buddy Chad Behnke will join us for the last day or two. If you want an autograph or something let me know.

Here is a list of all the stars.

Early Itinerary:

Leave Thursday morning 8/6/09.

Pick up Derek in Milwaukee 5 hours later.

Arrive at hotel 2 hours later.

Check in at 3pm.

Rush to Convention Center by 4pm.

Back and forth between hotel and convention until 8/9/09.

Then stop off at Dan's Parents house for a few.

Back to Derek's for a decent night's sleep.

And back to the home front on 8/10/09.

more to come.

Mail Win!

Just got this bad boy in the mail... a little something I swiped from ebay...

This is the Boba Fett figure from the Gentle Giant's Star Wars Animated Limited Edition Maquette. This one is numbered 5935/7000... not TOO bad, especially for the price I paid for it. The style is amazing, I can't get enough of it. It PAINS me to say this but really don't think this will be the last one of these that I get.

Ebay, I luvz you.

5 second project (Summer in Space)

Didn't get as much done as I would have liked to on this one... but still... It's Star Wars so not all bad.

I wanted to play with some fire and smoke effects but maybe next time.

Summer with Vader from Jared Johnston on Vimeo.

Equipment WIN

Today I went for the first decent sized bicycle ride of the season with my Uncle Mitch. We Biked around Weaver Lake Park I believe. Great ride, lots of small hills and nothing TOO insane.

Before we went to Weaver Lake Park, we stopped at a little place called Trailhead, a bike shop. Before we EVEN left, Mitch was saying that I should wear one of the helmets he had. I declined and insisted that I would rather get one of my own so I can get used to that instead of someone else's. My aunt Lori mentioned that there's a place on the way and we decide to stop there and check it out...

Found a helmet that wasn't too expensive. A decent GIRO helmet if I must say so myself.

But that's not all I found.

I also ended up getting this cycling cap.... For those days when it's cold... or I just wanna look like a pro... on my old beater bike... :(

That was for fun...

Pics from Fishing in New London

more like "Pic"

Moon

Run don't walk to see this movie. I loved it. Sam Rockwell f*cking rockwelled my world with this one. Wasn't a HUGE fan of his, till now. Without Giving too much away, this movie is based on a man who is alone on a moon base for 3 years to keep the machines harvesting energy from the moon... Sounds farfetched but really makes for an entertaining event. Definitely a MUST SEE for the avid movie goer.

Here is the Trailer

It's only showing at 2 theaters in MN right now, Landmark Edina 4 (where Jessica and I saw it) and Carmike Oakdale Stadium 20 (which was a little too far out of the way for us).

Seriously, get on it if you enjoy indie films... Sam was amazing.

Camping FTW!

Just got back and showered up... next thing on my list, BLOG!

Went caping with Gretchen, her parents, and her niece Samantha. Had such an awesome time that we stayed another night... I kinda changed my mind RIGHT as we were leaving yesterday... but we stayed.

We were located at the Sibley State Park in New London. Did quite a bit of fishing. Really only caught some HUGE sunnies on Diamond Lake with Gretchen's uncle Bruce. Fished a bit on the lake we caped on and were not successful at all.

Did some water skiing, some Kayaking, some swimming in the middle of the lake, pretty much all the good stuff. We also ate LOADS of amazing meals, not sure what was my favorite but probably the breakfast burritos I had a couple of mornings.

Did a fair amount of sketching for the next 5 second project: Summer in Space. And also did some reading in one of my newer animation books.

Alas, I had no camera, aside from my iPhone, so I was unable to take decent pictures.

Now off to catch up on the 30+ emails and 60+ blog posts I've missed.... NOT to mention the tweets.... well... off I go...

Out for a bit

Surprise Attack Camping Trip!!!

Camping trip with the girlfriend and her family. I'll be out of town starting Thursday July 16th thru Saturday the 18th or Sunday the 19th.

I'll have my cell with me but it may not be attached at the hip the entire time. Hit me up, see what I'm doing...

Harry Potter

A-Fucking-MAZING!

Sorry, I try not to swear on my blog too much...

And anyone who tries to tell me Harry Potter Movies/Books aren't badass hasn't taken the time to watch/read one.

5 second Project

The project was for this site, GreyScaleGorilla.com

The category of the 5 second projects was "Old Video Games".

So I chose Dig Dug....

5 second project - Dig n' Dug from Jared Johnston on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

Brüno

eh... if you liked Borat, you SHOULD like this... I'm glad I saw it but, like Borat, I'll probably never watch it again.

Although I must say, Sacha Baron Cohen, you are a great actor and a very funny man.

yet another day of fishing

Gretchen, Jessica and I went fishing today and had quite a bit of success... although we didn't keep any. I find it always hardest to keep that first one... after that first one is on the stringer, there's no problem putting more on there. I just always think, "what if I only catch this one and no more that are worth keeping?" Then I have to put that one back or something and it's already been DRAMA-FYED by me putting it on a stringer.... UGH... today I wouldn't have had that problem.

First CRAPPIE of the day... I believe the first fish was a Sunny... maybe this was the first... I forget.

Gretchen's Biggest, and I believe first, Crappie of the day.

My biggest Crappie of the day.

A BIG perch... so I'm told (by Jessica).

A bigger Perch.

Sorry for no Jessica pics. She refused to pose for her first Crappie and wasn't using minnows for the majority of the day.... so she wasn't catching as much...

Chevis

Chevis is the name of my amazing cousin. She's the coolest and has the most unique name. She's the wife of an amazing guy named Dan and the mother of an amazing boy named Daniel.

She's the one on the far right if you haven't guessed.

This post is dedicated to Chevis because she is a self proclaimed 'Closet Reader or Jared's Blog'.

Chevis, Have a Great Day!

Fishing

What I've been up to lately is FISHING. Dan and I have been making frequent trips to random places for "Night Fishing". We usually head out between 8 and 10pm to see if we can't stir up some fish when they can't see. So far we've had only small bites... except for the one that got away... Dan know what I'm talking about.

Here's dan's SMALLEST catch of the night on our most recent trip. She's a beauty...

Recently my dad went out and had a trailer hitch added to his car for pulling the boat around. When that was done, Jessica and I brought the boat to Lake Sarah for a test run of the trailer and to check out the lake.

YESTERDAY Joe and I went fishing... I finally got him to come out on the boat with me. Probably one of the best 4th of July's during the day that I've had in a long time, even though we both left the lake with Sunburn.

We ended up going to Lake Sarah because that's the only lake my dad has been talking about and insisting that we check out. He caught the first crappie of the season... at least for US.

Here's the first one... I was beginning to thing that crappies were a myth.

But then I started catching them too. We had loads of fun.

I even caught a small, Large Mouth Bass.