We Honor You, Star Wars Girl Katie Goldman

Today my blog honors Katie Goldman, aka Star Wars Girl.

As I told my gay friends and followers on the day we all wore purple to honor them, the bullying that occurs over our differences needs to STOP. NOW. Like Katie, my wife is also adopted. My wife is a geek. I’ve felt the wrath of being different as a kid – I was the painfully shy military brat moving all of the time…always the nerdy new kid in school, drawing comics silently in the back of the classroom, hoping no one would call attention to me. You might say we both identify with Katie’s plight. Denise was the one who brought it to my attention through a Facebook posting from ACME DESIGN.

We need to start celebrating our differences instead of clamoring to be the same. The Me, Too-ism Movement is clearly alive and well. Why else would women be financially challenging themselves just to wear the same overpriced designer brand purses, shoes, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. Why are men driven to buy luxury brand cars when the mechanical performance is often sub-standard? We’re all caught up in this endless cycle of sameness and trying to come off as too cool for school. I just don’t find it terribly interesting…or relevant.

I find individualism interesting. I find Katie’s bravery interesting.

Most of those “cool” celebs that everyone wants to be like? I’ve met more than my share. I’m usually disappointed. Leonardo DiCaprio sneered at me and wouldn’t stop smoking in a NYC elevator when I asked him. John Leguizamo talked shit about me–right in front of me–at the Telluride Film Festival. It turns out, he has some weird prejudice against sitting next to portly gents like myself. Dennis Miller is one of the few celebs who actually exceeded my expectations. He’s a class act. And he’s also a geek like me. Like us.

Today CNN.com picked up Katie’s story, but those of us in the know within the geek/nerd culture and Star Wars community have been following it online for at least 10 days or more. I think it’s very cool that  Star Wars: Clone Wars Padme Amidala voice actress Catherine Taber and  Her Universe.com founder and Ahsohka Tano character Ashley Eckstein took up the cause and very publicly showed Katie (and her parents) that Katie’s not alone.  Catherine’s online participation was the Tipping Point in giving Katie the credibility and social media support to thumb her nose at those know-nothing naysayers.

Apparently Katie’s classmates haven’t realized yet what every major movie studio knows, as they show previews at San Diego Comic-Con:  Geeks are the world’s taste makers. Geeks RULE.

So… all of those haters out there had better be nice to us or else their TV, videogame, book and movie options are going to suck. As for me and my house, we’ll be wearing Star Wars gear on December 10th to honor Star Wars Girl Katie Goldman. If you wear some, shoot me your photo and I’ll post it here on my blog.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

 

Some Dave Dorman Horror Artwork: Too Scary for Busch Gardens!

Dear Friends,

This story is in my new book ROLLING THUNDER THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN, but I wanted to share this art with you in honor of October, my birthday month and everyone’s favorite month for horror.

A few years back, my business partner Stephen D. Smith, formerly the Editor-in-Chief of the well respected MonsterScene magazine and an authority on haunted and theme park attractions, was asked to come up with a cool haunt idea for Florida’s Busch Gardens. We talked it over and knowing they had an asylum aspect to their haunt, we came up with this really fun character named DEMENTIA. Unfortunately Busch Gardens’ focus groups deemed our character– and her back story of being physically and emotionally destroyed by an uprising in the asylum– way too scary. So without further adieu, I introduce you to our beloved DEMENTIA. If there are any producers out there reading this, we have a wonderful story and we would love to see this in film one day from someone like Ghost House Pictures, whom we know does horror right.

 

Dave Dorman's Dementia Pencil Illustration

 

And here she is below, fully rendered. I was so passionate about this piece, I completed it in just 24 hours. There’s nothing I love doing more than creature, character and costume design. The backwards 13 in her forehead is the result of DEMENTIA getting her head smashed into the door of inmate room #13.

 

Dave Dorman's Dementia Painting

 

In other pop culture news, I picked up American Vampire yesterday at the comic book store in Schaumburg, IL. Denise and I are fighting over who reads it first. Only one of the two stories is actually Stephen King writing, which I think is confusing to many who think they are buying a solely Stephen King graphic novel. Still, it looks to be a lot of fun. Speaking of fun, I saw Resident Evil Afterlife in 3D the other day – have you all seen it? If so, share with me here what you thought of it.

If you get a chance, please check out my passion project, Project 52 – http://www.indiegogo.com/Project-52. I’m working towards my goal of $52,000 to make this happen for USACares.org. If you can give even $5, that guarantees you or the person you designate is mentioned in my new book. I would love to see you in there. My thanks to all who have already generous contributed and gotten us to the $2710 mark in just a few days!

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

Happy Birthday, Ray Harryhausen

Dear Friends,

Here’s the Ray Harryhausen tribute cover I did for MonsterScene Magazine back in the ’90s. This was a lot of fun for me, since I’m such a huge Harryhausen fan. Jeff Preston, Steve Smith and I ended up at a show with Ray, who was kind enough to autograph the matte of the framed original I gifted to Steve Smith, my best friend & Editor-in-Chief of MonsterScene. Good times…

Dave Dorman's Ray Harryhausen Tribute Painting: MonsterScene Issue 7

Thanks for reading,

Dave.