TOT#21 – Books, Comics, Cons and More with Renee and Melissa!

ToT – renee and melissa

[00:00:00] Melissa: Come back to spoiler country. I’m Melissa . And today on the show, I would like to welcome back my very, very bestest friend, Renee.

Renee: Hello,

Melissa: thanks for having us back. Thanks for coming back. I had so much fun doing the last one that I thought, you know, we should keep doing

Renee: this. Hey, I am all about it. I think it’s been so much fun listening to the podcast and now getting to be on it.

I’m like,

Melissa: well, so we are hanging out. We’re having a couple drinks, right? What are you, what are you drinking?

Renee: I am today’s podcast sponsored by white cloth. Officially. We’ll take their money correctly. As per usual. I am drinking my white class. And living my best [00:01:00] basic life. So

Melissa: mango flavor again.

Okay. Nice.

Renee: Superior of all the flavors,

Melissa: Melissa. Right? We did, we did get together. Not that long ago. Well, maybe a month ago and we did record something, but we decided we were too. I think

Renee: I had had too many mango white clubs, too many mangoes. And I think like you and I, right, we can just get going. And I think that’s, what’s great about our friendship is there’s nothing.

We can’t talk about nothing. We’re going, can just go on and on and on. And sometimes that’s good, but it

Melissa: doesn’t always work out. Right? Yeah. We, we definitely don’t need microphones or audio equipment to, to be on the phone for three hours.

Renee: That is true.

Melissa: Yeah. So what’s going on with the, you what’s what’s up?

What’s the, what’s the new interest. Wow. I mean

Renee: everything right. [00:02:00] Like, I think, yeah, I was like, Hmm. Everything. I think it was I wanted to talk to you because I thought of a great idea for a business and I wanted to run it by you because I feel like you have a good business sense.

Melissa: Okay.

Renee: We’ve talked about before those like subscription boxes that I got you.

Melissa: Yes. Which I love, love,

Renee: love, love. So I was thinking and you needed one that was like like in. Like a cosplay one. Cause I feel like that doesn’t

Melissa: exist.

Renee: Right. And like, I feel like, you know, you could get like cool cause play merge or like, cause you know, like your favorite anime show, like cosplay E or right.

Like where it’s like, you know, like, oh, here’s like, you know, I dunno a headband from Naruto or, you know, here it’s like a sailor moon thing. I don’t know, you know, something where it’s like, you get this little box that like has [00:03:00] all these accessories that is, you know, like helps you with your cause play for that show.

Yeah. Well sometimes I have good ideas.

Melissa: Yeah.

Renee: You know, thinking about it because like, I don’t know. I think a lot of people. Like have the interest in cosplay, but maybe it seems like inaccessible and, you know, or like out of reach. And so having like a subscription box where you could like, you know, get like a little

Melissa: play kit and it could even be like a DIY one too, you know, instead of it being like centered around, you know, a specific franchise, it could be a theme as far as like steampunk or, you know, fairies or, you know, pop culture comic, you know, what’s that word I’m looking for kind of like the pop art type of a thing.

[00:04:00] And it could be like the materials with like instructions on how to make, make your costume right.

Renee: Yeah, for sure. And I think like, again, Ray, you want to make it like as easy as possible because I think, cause play just seems

Melissa: so negative. Make it hard.

Renee: You better. So that

Melissa: shit. Yeah. Cause the, you know, the ones that do will be like, oh, that’s the, that’s one of those. They got it in a box one.

Renee: Yeah. But you know, like, you know, me, I’m all about like inclusion and trying to make things more accessible to people. And so I was thinking about how Cosby could be more accessible because I love dressing up and you know, me, I dress up for Comicons and I mostly picked characters.

That like dress in real clothes like that wearing like flannel. Right. I like,

Melissa: I could be on five different shows right now. You don’t even know

[00:05:00] Renee: exactly. Or like, I dress up as like random fan for that one show. Right. Like, because again, like I love cosplay, but it, it does seem like, you know, there’s this barrier of like, oh, I couldn’t do that.

Right. Like, I don’t know how to sew or I don’t know how to hot glue things. And there’s always the workshops at the Comicons, but. I think making it even easier for people would just be like a fun, you know, gifts that like kind of,

Melissa: yeah. I like that idea. No, it’s so true. It’s, it’s so hard to do, you know, even just like for Halloween, for example, and I did this whole steam punk costume one year and, you know, I just bought it, bought parts of it, you know, off of like Amazon and like this one costume, you know, website.

And like I thought I looked good, you know, it was, it was cool, but whatever. So then I got all these, like trick-or-treaters at my house and I opened the door and there’s this young girl. She had it been like 11 and [00:06:00] she was in steam punk. And she had literally designed her costume. She had this like device where it was a, like a backpack with a hose type of a thing where she could just put her candy down the hose and the hose goes into her backpack.

It was very steampunk, like authentic. And I looked at the mom and she was like, she made that herself. And I’m like, oh, I, I feel really bad about the fact that I just bought this on Amazon.

Renee: I just got showed up. Bye. That’s great. What am I doing

Melissa: with my life? Yeah. But no, I do think this is a good

Renee: idea. Yeah.

And then like, okay. I’m going to take it to the next level, because, you know, I love to do that too, but like, then you could also like partner with awe or right. And do like a curated, like here’s the book and here’s some cosplay to dress up like a character from.

Melissa: Yeah. I thought you might

Renee: appreciate that.

You know, [00:07:00] given that, you know something about being an author yourself

Melissa: just a little bit. Yeah. It’s a cool idea because I think books are sometimes the hardest to cost play, you know, because they’re not often. They’re they’re. I mean, they’re, even though they’re bestselling books, for example, you don’t tend to see the franchise, like in a store, like as far as to buy it as a costume, you know, as, as much as you see like video games and television shows.

But I think the book idea is great because then you could get stuff yeah. Curated by the author little mementos or knickknacks things that you could use yeah. For your costume to be a character. And let’s say like, you know, shadow and bone or what’s the other one that we love cinder.

Renee: Oh yeah.

Well, especially if they haven’t made it. I mean, cause once you make a movie about a book, right. Then there’s this like image or like preconceived image of what it looks like. Right. But like it’s true for the, for the books that aren’t, that haven’t been made. Right? Like the [00:08:00] ones you mentioned, but you know, it’s sort

Melissa: of, this actually just came out as a Netflix series,

Renee: which I haven’t seen yet, but maybe you could talk to me a bit about, oh my God.

It’s like, speaking of what’s trending, right. It’s shadowing on bone is all over.

Melissa: I mean, I’ll pretty much watch anything with Ben Barnes, but he basically, so I read, I haven’t read shadow and bone, the book I’ve read her spinoff series six of crows. But the characters as I think you and I were talking about this the other night, they’re, they’re the same, you know, inter it’s the same world.

And it’s just I guess it’s the first story in her agree, shit, you know, theories. And so for me, it was easy to jump into the world because she just does a really good job of, you know, painting that picture and, and making the series. I think you can just read them as standalones. But even though they’re, you know, in are interwoven shadow and bone was really well done and [00:09:00] I’m, you know, I’m pretty picky when I have a book series that I like, and then I see it, you know, on the screen.

I think that a lot of people are, you know, we’re just kind of judgmental because the visions that we have in our head, but I was so impressed with like the casting. I felt like every character was just like perfectly brought to life. You know, especially like Jasper and a nudge and And Kaz. I like literally was just jumping up and down when I saw Kaz enter the, you know, the, the scene for the first time.

And I just, it was so well done. And and you know, you’ve read, I know you’ve read shadow, right? Yeah.

I

Renee: have, I agree with you. The world is so good. Like, you know, I just love the whole universe, but I am nervous because I did love the book so much, you know, I’m like, oh my, am I going to light? You know what I mean?

That’s always the internal debate, right? Like TV slash movie, like

Melissa: live up to the book. Exactly. And I don’t so far, like I’ve heard the reviews have been more positive [00:10:00] than anything and the fans are pretty happy. Overall is the feedback I’ve been hearing. But yeah, I just thought it was really well done.

And because it’s, you know, it’s a very big budget show, so the stats are gorgeous, the costumes are gorgeous. Like everything looks really authentic and realistic. Just some of the, the city, you know, scenes and the taverns and things like that were just all the detail that was put into it really, really like transports the, you know, to that world, which is so cool.

It’s like one of my favorite things, obviously being a writer is I love like the visual world building and just seeing like the little lamp, the, you know, the fantasy land come to life, essentially.

Renee: Yeah. I think that’s like so crucial and you know, it kinda reminds me of star wars a little bit where in the, in the most newest trilogy, right.

They, they were really. They made sure to like, not have everything be CGI. Right. And [00:11:00] like, they had like actual, like puppets for like the creatures and, you know, in the movie. And they had, you know, they were on location a lot. And I think that like, you know, just there’s something about that that really brings a show to life.

Melissa: Right.

Renee: And like having that authenticity and having that like. I’m not on a studio stage with like a green screen behind me. I’m actually in the place with these creatures and, you know,

Melissa: it makes a difference. Oh, it totally does. I mean that I was talking to when I was chatting with John heater about his new movie tremors shaker island.

And that was one of the things we talked about. He, it was a lot of, it was CGI because they couldn’t afford the animatronics and, you know, it does look really good still. I mean, they did a great job with the, the budget, you know, the size of the budget they had. But but yeah, he even said like, as an actor, it was really hard to like talk to something that’s not there, you know, to [00:12:00] kind of like, imagine it being there without, you know, the actual physical Props, you know, so to speak.

So, you know, it’s interesting, I’m sure from, yeah, from the actor’s standpoint too, it’s probably, you know, it’s much more fun when they get to actually physically interact with the environment. Yeah.

Renee: As an actress myself, I can say that. That is true. I agree with that. But yeah. How was it talking to him?

It wasn’t like, we talked about it a little bit. Yeah. Like you were just saying how funny he was and he seems really funny, but you never know how people are going to be in like. You know, quote unquote, real life.

Melissa: Exactly. I always got like, not nervous the sense of like, oh my God, I’m nervous. But just sort of like, okay, who’s how is this person going to be?

Because yeah, a lot of times when it’s someone like really well known or, you know, as played, you know, an iconic character, so it’s just, you know, Napoleon dynamite, you just never know if they’re going to be nice or not. Or if they’re going to be like, all right, let’s get this over with kind of thing. But he couldn’t have been nicer.

[00:13:00] He was literally hilarious. He had me laughing literally from the moment he spoke and we just had a good rapport and a good banter. It’s it’s a good it’s a good episode. So anyone listening to this one, go listen to that one too, because you know, he’s this guy he’s really funny. We talked about blades of glory a little bit and school for scoundrels and and of course, tremors.

And that whole franchise, which, you know, he is now a part of, so yeah. I highly recommend listening to that episode just because it’s freaking hilarious. He’s just, yeah, he’s good at what he does. He’s a genuine, too. It felt genuine. Like that’s just kind of how he is all the time in real life. Yeah.

Renee: Yeah.

It’s funny. Cause like he’s so iconic for deploying a dynamite brain, but like he has been in a lot of other stuff, you know, that like, oh yeah, you just kind of forget, like, I don’t know. Yeah. But it it’s sort of a thing where it’s like, People are so known for their roles, right. That you sometimes like, forget [00:14:00] like, oh yeah, you’ve also done this.

Like, you know, or this or whatever it is. And I was reminded of that. Oh my gosh. So remember what happened? Okay. The whole thing. Yeah. Let me tell you you’re pissed whole thing on the internet. That’s going on right now about how it was like, essentially like Tom cruise has played the mission impossible role for like 25 years or something.

And it was like, oh, name someone else who’s played a role longer. Right. And it was this like, debate about like, oh, actors who have played a certain role for a long time and a franchise. Right?

Melissa: Yeah.

Renee: Right. There’s a time. And so, you know, obviously this was like on Twitter where people like instantly were like, you’re wrong.

You’re wrong. You’re wrong. Of course. Yeah. But it was one that came [00:15:00] up with Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones. I am legit like, cause he’s so just star wars Consolo you know, like, like I totally spaced on the fact that he was like, yeah, he’s been playing Indiana Jones for forever. I like was so embarrassed when I was like, of course I’m interested in my house.

No, one’s calling me out on this, but I was just like, so it was like, oh, another person who I forgot has done all these amazing. You’ve even brought like these franchises to life.

Melissa: So couple, you know, he’s done a few iconic roles, which is rare, you know, usually, like you said, you have like one actor who’s known for like one thing specific, right?

John heater, Napoleon dynamite. Tom cruise also is known for a couple other things too, but but those are mostly, I’ll just kind of action flicks. And I think a lot of them kind of blur together after a while ago, but, but no, Harrison Ford. Yeah, he’s done the, you know, we’ll star wars, of [00:16:00] course in Indiana Jones.

And then the what was the other one? The, the Jack not Jack, what was it? Jack. Ryan. You’re

Renee: asking the wrong person because I forgot

Melissa: Chris says it was Jack Ryan.

Renee: I was like, you’re asking the wrong person. Of course. I knew that I knew that, right. Like, yeah, obviously that was not something I didn’t know.

But in that like one moment. Right. Like slightly spaced

Melissa: on it. And I think it like, Hey, about, cause I think most of it is because you’re a huge star wars fan, you know, you’ve always been, and I’m a huge star wars fan too, but I was also insanely obsessed with Indiana Jones and the temple of doom when I was growing up.

And that was one of my favorite movies. Oh yeah. We would go outside and play, pretend like we were looking for treasure, you know, Raiders of the lost Ark or whatever. And yeah, I was, oh, when that ride came out at Disneyland. Oh my God. I rode that thing so many times and I was like, I’m in the

[00:17:00] Renee: movie. I love it.

I love that. I didn’t know that about you. And now I need to know more about your Indiana Jones. Love play. Was it because you just saw the movie and fell

Melissa: in love or yeah. W we saw my theater and. I just, I loved the adventure aspect of it. You know, I loved the, the kid, the young kid that’s, you know, that’s with them and I loved just the underground, the tunnels.

And they’re in those, you know, coal mining carts, like racing through and yeah, I don’t know. It was just like a magical film and I just, I love adventure movies, like, like tomb, Raider, and that kind of a vibe, you know, whether there are, I mean, clearly I guess I write that way too now because you know, I do paranormal romance, but I also like have these like adventure stories as well, like throughout, because I just like, those are my influences, I think.

Renee: Yeah. I mean, definitely like your. [00:18:00] At least the books that I’ve read. And I haven’t read all your books, but they are adventure paths, right. Like, right. It’s like one adventure next. Like, oh, what scrape are they going to get into? You know? And, and I love that because it keeps it exciting and it keeps it like, oh,

Melissa: what’s going to happen.

So, yeah, it’s fun. Right. You know, it’s fun to read. It’s fun to watch. So I’m like, yeah, I want to like entertain people the way that, you know, I was entertained and you know, of course I’m never going to write the next Indiana Jones,

right. The first female, Indiana Jones. But so don’t be embarrassed that you like couldn’t remember that because, I mean, first of all, our brains are packed with so much pop culture right now, especially because, you know, being at home still. And like, I mean, I know parts of the world are starting to go back to normal, but there’s still quite a bit of us that are at home.

And so we’re just [00:19:00] being overloaded, I think with content, you know, all the time. So I definitely wouldn’t be hard on yourself for forgetting something like that. I,

Renee: you know, yeah. I mean, it was a temporary slip. I want everyone to know. I do know that Harrison Jones thanks very much. But I, you know, I think it does bring up this idea and it’s something I feel like you and I have talked about, you know, as well as this idea of like, what does it mean to be a fan, right.

And like this idea of recall being really. Somewhat of a, like a, like a badge of honor that you can like recall every single actor, every single comic or every single writer, you know, like at a drop of a hat from that being sort of this, like, that’s how you can tell someone as a fan. And I think that a, I don’t, I don’t buy into that obviously, [00:20:00] you know, be it like, I think that it can make it hard because then other people don’t consider themselves fans.

Right. And for me, like if you love something and I, you know, I always go back to star wars. Cause I feel like there’s a lot of like this narrative and star wars. Right. But this idea that like, if I can’t remember every single, you know, like. You know, like our wars, right? Yeah, exactly. Like that. I am. Right.

Like it, it makes me so sad because then how many people are we excluding from calling themselves fans of something love, right. Like for me, I would think we would want more people to be fans and to call

Melissa: themselves fans. Right. And I absolutely,

Renee: I was, I was talking to someone about fandoms and they were like, well, I don’t really have any fandoms.

And then like throughout the conversation, I found out [00:21:00] that they read Harry Potter every single night before bed. And you don’t call yourself a fan. Like you don’t think you’re in the Harry Potter fandom. I don’t know. I’m not like hardcore or

Melissa: anything. You read it every night, so, okay. By the time store,

Renee: I was like, no, you are definitely a fan.

And so I guess it’s like, I want to redefine

Melissa: that, you know,

Kind of like, yeah, whatever you interpret it, you know, whatever you want to do. And I, like you were saying, you know, there’s a lot of things I forgot to movies that I absolutely love. I mean, as soon as I watched the movie again, I’ll be like, oh yeah, I remember now. But but part of it, two is like, Hey, let’s face it.

We’re we get old and memory, sometimes isn’t as great as it was, you know, when you’re younger. And and like I said, we have so much content that we don’t have a lot of different fandoms you know, that I, that I love that I consider myself a part of. And I go through phases where I’m like really into one for a [00:22:00] while, and then, you know, switch to the other one for awhile, as far as like what I’m watching, you know, constantly, you know, like I love the Terminator movies.

I am, it was particularly Terminator one. The first one, I think that one’s the best. Yeah. Now I am obsessed. I’m a T2 fan myself T T is good too. I didn’t care for. The third one very much. I actually don’t really care for a lot of them after I loved the fifth one was my favorite. Just because it was, you know, the introduction and the way, I mean, if you think about the time that it was made the level of, you know, special effects that they had and the acting and everything, it was just, you know, during its time, it was like, incredible.

But even now when you watch it, it still holds up, you know, like there’s, it was just really, really well done. So, you know, that’s another diver tell

Renee: you I met Arnold

Melissa: freely. No, when

Renee: I [00:23:00] did, it was it was while he was doing his political stint as it were. And it was like some, you know, like fundraiser thing that I was at.

I don’t know if I was like, There is a guest or catering. Cause that part of my life blends together, what I was doing, but I remember meeting him and like being so like overwhelmed by his presence. Right? Like, cause he is cute. Well he’s physically large, but then he has like a charisma thing going on as well.

And I remember being like, oh right. Like this is probably why people wanted to put you on screen. Right. Like, you know, and we talk about that and now I’m just going off on another tangent. I like, we talk about that with Jason Mamoa right. Who we both met as well. Right. Who is also larger than life. Right.

Greenly, charismatic, extremely good [00:24:00] looking. And it’s sort of a thing where I’m like, I sometimes to meet these people and you’re like, oh, I get why. People wanted to put you in front of a

Melissa: camera, right? Like you have to have a presence about them. Yeah,

Renee: exactly.

Melissa: And yeah, no, I definitely agree with that as well.

Yeah. I mean, there’s just, yeah. And it’s always exciting when you do get to meet, you know, someone like that in person, because, you know, you just feel like their energy is going to like rub off on you or something, you know, like bottle that and sell it.

Renee: Right. Well, and it, you know, for me, it’s sort of fun because I’m like, oh, like, you know, here’s like, I’m, I’m getting a piece of understanding of like who you are and what you’re all about a little bit, even if it’s just for this brief moment.

So that could also just be my inner fan girl, just being like

Melissa: freaking out, like we did that day, [00:25:00] so I can’t speak or breathe. And the funny part about that whole thing was I’m sure you remember, maybe don’t there were, you were in line with me and. The lady, you know, when you, cause when you go to take a photo op for those listening, when you go to take a photo op you know, you wait in this line and you have like a little ticket and then you get up and you literally have like 10 seconds to, you know, you put your purse or wallet or whatever into a bin that they like goes on this little thing that you can get at the, on the way out.

You know, when you’re done, you can take a very quick, you know, they have hundreds of people that thousands of people that are, you know, Well, depending on the celebrity, you’re depending on quite a few of them. So I remember we were like, we got up there and the lady that was taking the ticket, like didn’t realize that we were together because you know what, the photo ops, you can take a friend with you for free, like, well, they’ll allow you to have two people in the photo.

And I remember like, so I just thought you were behind me. So I give her my ticket and I go up there and [00:26:00] I, I see them. And I he’s like very stoic and you know, it wasn’t super chatty, you know, and it was, it was very Cal Drago of him. And I remember I was like, hi. And he like, immediately just like puts his arm out for me to like, you know, get on, like get into his side grip or whatever.

Cause you’re gonna get on the other side. Right. And so I’m like standing there and all of a sudden I’m realizing like, It seems, it was probably only like three to four seconds, but it felt like an eternity because the lady you were like explaining to the lady that you didn’t have a ticket that you were with me and you were going to be in my photo, and then I could hear you guys like kind of laughing and then you run over and you’re like, oh, I’m sorry, my bad I’m here.

And it was hilarious because I felt like at one point that we were taking before you came into the picture, I thought we were like posing for a prom photo, just cause we were posting stuff and like, didn’t know what was going on. And I think he was nervous and I was nervous. And then you come in and you’re like, I’m here.

And, oh, it’s so funny. And I, we did get a chuckle out of him though. Cause [00:27:00] afterwards we were like, thanks. And you know, he kind of cracked, cracked up about it, but I just remember standing there like feeling so awkward for like three seconds and it felt like an hour.

Renee: But it was, and now I’m curious about this because like you and I have gone to comic cons, right.

We’ve met quite a few actors, voice actors, you know, like people that we admire in terms of you know, like, you know, celebrities in shows or comics or whatever. Right. And now you’re sort of on the other side of that interviewing a lot, you know, some of these people, and I’m curious, like, is there a big difference between, like, now that you’re, you know, now that you’re sort of on the other side of the coin, like, do you feel like it’s like you still have that same nervous energy or

Melissa: like, that’s a good question.

No, I don’t think, I think it is different because when you’re at a comic con and. Or [00:28:00] especially like the way that I was before, you know, as just going as a fan, I wasn’t an industry professional or anything. I mean, I was, you know, trying, cause the first time we went to comic con I hadn’t even published yet.

I think I had just signed my contract. My book hadn’t come out yet. And then the second time we went, I think I did have a couple of books out at that point, but you know, I still didn’t really consider myself, you know, an industry professional, especially not at a comic con. So it was, yeah, it was more of like, I was just a fan and I would get really excited when I would see certain people, you know, certain authors or writers or actors.

And now it is a little different. Not that I don’t get excited cause I do, I get super excited when I find out who I get to interview and talk to. But I think that nervousness isn’t like the same, you know, like I still get, I mean, certain people, I still got nerves right before probably, you know, just if it’s someone I really, really admire or.

Someone I’m like, oh my God, that says this person, that’s like a huge, you [00:29:00] know, whatever star. You do get like a little bit, but then as soon as, as soon as I’m on those go away, like as soon as we’re talking and I do my intro and everything the nerves are gone because they’re just people, you know, and you just have conversations and I enjoy it more because, you know, as you know, at Comicon, yes, you had to see them face to face, but it’s such a quick brief thing.

And there’s just so many people that want, you know, their turn. So it’s just, you, you don’t really get to talk that much. You know, it’s like a hi, you know, I love you. I love your work. Let’s take a selfie. But you know, being you know, doing the podcast, I actually get to sit down for, you know, a good hour with some of these amazing creators and really pick their brains and, you know, get to know them, which is really cool.

Renee: Yeah. It, it, you know, it’s sort of always that thing of like, What is it again, going back to like, what is a fan and what does that mean? And like, some of these creators are fans themselves. How, you know, like how that all [00:30:00] interplays, when you’re in the. In an industry where you’re both a fan and a creator, right?

Like, yeah. It’s fun to think about it. Yeah,

Melissa: no, exactly. I mean, yeah. I’ve talked to creators who will like fan girl or fan boy over one of their heroes, you know, that will come up in the conversation and they’ll be like, oh yeah, I, you know, I love them. And you know, you just have to remember, you know, we’re just all people.

I mean, obviously, like we get excited when we talk to someone who inspires us or who’s like our hero or who we admire, but, you know, they just they’re that they’re normal. They’re going through the pandemic, just like we are. And they put their pants on one leg at a time, or however the saying goes. So, yeah.

And it’s actually cool because it does normalize people more and it takes like when you talk to them for an hour about, you know, whatever their work and stuff, you get to just sort of. Like get the more authentic person because you know, at a comic [00:31:00] con, those are exhausting. I can’t even imagine, you know, having to sit and greet thousands of people all day long and just the smile plastered on your face.

And, you know, you can only give some so much. And I think when you actually get to sit down with someone, one-on-one, you know, they’re more relaxed, they’re in their own home, you know, they’re in a comfortable, safe space. And so I feel like you can sometimes have some really. Like gem moments with people, you know what I mean?

Like I’ve had, I’ve had creators tell me things, like, I’ve never told anyone that before, and that’s just like, great. You know, when you feel like you can get, you can make someone feel that comfortable to where they are. You know, easy going and, and you know, and you’re easy to talk to and you have a good back and forth and that’s always the best.

That’s what I was like a feat moment. Is,

Renee: is there like a specific example that you’re thinking of when you ask that?

Melissa: I’m trying to think. I can’t think off the top of my head, I’ve had people tell me stuff off the record, but I’ve also [00:32:00] had people tell me stuff. Yeah. Like during the interview, like while we’re recording that they were like, yeah, we can talk about this or whatever.

And I like Lisa erupt. She’s an actress on, she was on a Netflix movie, which isn’t like a lot of hallmark stuff. She announced she was pregnant to me. Yeah. It was really cool. Yeah. I was like, oh my God, it was so special. But yeah. Stuff like that happens sometimes. You’re like, oh, it’s really neat. But but yeah.

So I wanted to ask you about comic con you know, cause we’re, we’re talking about going, right. Like in December, summer and

Renee: December for Emerald city Comicon. Yeah. Remember I know you all you out there,

Melissa: I’m excited. How do you think the show is it was going to be diff like, do you think it’s going to be you know, because of COVID and protocols and things like that, what do you, and you, you know, you live in Seattle, so I know you you’ve.

You’re a little bit more privy to certain things as far as like, cause you’re near the convention center and like what kinds of things do you think [00:33:00] are going to be different this year?

Renee: Yeah, well, it’s, you know, it’s interesting. Cause like I, you know, I’ve talked to my sister, who’s in Canada where everything is still shut down and you know, depending on where you go in Seattle, you might almost forget that there’s a pandemic going on.

Like you go out on a Friday night. Oh wow. Seattlites of not, you know, we’re like, oh, we’re going out. Which is great. Like I, you know, I think one of the things about Seattle is that because it was the first place where the pandemic kind of showed up.

Melissa: Right.

Renee: We had a lot more, I mean ironically like a lot more time to deal with it and.

You know, kind of do research on it. And the university of Washington is a really big medical research institution. So they were doing testing all the time and have been really great about like getting the vaccines out. And so everyone I know now is vaccinated actually

[00:34:00] Melissa: like

Renee: just about everyone I know has already gotten a vaccine.

And so I think, you know, I obviously. You never know what’s going to happen because hello, we’re in a global pandemic, right? Like, it’s just like, it’s still kind of crazy to me. Like everyone realizes we’re still in this global pandemic. Right? Like it’s, we’re literally living through history. Like I know this is going to be in the history books and it’s going to be like, during the global pandemic of 20, 20 and 2021, you know?

Yeah,

Melissa: yeah, yeah, for sure. But I’m, I’m wondering if they’re going to have like limited ticket sales, you know, like, are they going to. Con condense, you know, what they would normally. Cause I think by the time you and I went the last time together that the con has grown so much, you know, it’s such a great card.

And I remember like just in the two or three years, [00:35:00] like from the first time I went with you, it was like, I want to say 70,000 people. And then like two years later when I went again with you or the next year, I can’t remember. I think it was like this, they said there was like 120,000 people there or something.

And it felt like it, you know, you felt it when you were walking older with people. So I’m just wondering in order to help with that, like social distancing and stuff. And you know, I’m just wondering if they’re gonna like, not allow as many tickets sales. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I

Renee: think a lot of it will be up to the governor.

Great. Because a lot of times these things are not up to the organizers

Melissa: of the event. Right? So,

Renee: If the governor says you can’t have more than X amount of people inside, right? Like then they, you know, they won’t be able to do anything. So unfortunately, or fortunately it’s not, it’s not really in their hands.

I think for a lot of these [00:36:00] things. And, and I will say though, because so many people are getting back to native in Washington and because, you know, we’ve, we’ve managed to flatten the curve as they say right here. Right. Like I do think the odds are good. That there’ll be able to like have a bigger oven, but again, that depends on the state of Washington and you know

Melissa: what, the it’s not just Washington.

I mean, people go go to comic con from all over, you know, that country, you could have people coming in from certain states that, you know, aren’t really big on mass glaring and vaccinations and stuff like that. And I mean,

Renee: you know, yeah. I definitely could see them. Yeah. I could, I definitely could see them saying like, there’ll be a mass regulation, rain, or enforcing social distancing and all that.

But in terms of how many people, you know, or how the event looks it’s yeah, it’s so hard [00:37:00] to say, but I think

Melissa: people.

Renee: This is my hot take spoiler alert is that I think people will be so grateful to go to the con in any

Melissa: format that it takes that

Renee: I think, I, I think it will be like, maybe even this is bold of me to say, but I’m going to make a, you know, a statement here.

I think it’s going to be one of the better cons because we will all be so just grateful to be there. Right? Like after. This long absence.

Melissa: So yeah. I agree. Mingo. Yeah, exactly. So I think,

Renee: yeah, I think, I think it’ll be good and whatever shape it

Melissa: takes, it’s unfortunate that you have the climate that you have there because like, it would be great if they could do something outside, you know, or have some [00:38:00] things outside, like tented or I don’t know, like, but it’s just, you know, it’s so rainy and

Renee: yeah, I was like, they definitely picked the, you know, rainy season, which is like good though.

Cause maybe it’ll keep some people away, you know, like who wouldn’t, who would have normally come. But even when it’s been March, March is pretty gray, you know, like

Melissa: it’s not. Yeah, it’s pretty, it’s pretty cool. I went to a Walker dad con that was in San Francisco and it was like partially outside. Like they were doing the panels outside and it was just because of space.

They had this little small warehouse at the, at the fisherman’s Wharf and the inside area was like the vendors and some of the autograph signings, but everything else was outside. And it was of course pouring with rain freezing. There was like a furnace set. Yeah. We didn’t have umbrellas because we just didn’t think, and we should’ve thought cause it’s San Francisco, [00:39:00] but yeah.

And I remember we were just like, it was, it was a fun experience, but it was kind of miserable at the same time because everyone was freezing and wet.

Renee: Yeah. You know, I am curious though, like how this will change cons moving forward. Right. Because there are so many like interactions that were like. I’m going to hug this person or like, I’m going to touch those words.

Right. Like, right. And so now, like a lot of that will have to be changed or like regulated, obviously we’re all much more self-conscious about, you know,

Melissa: close proximity with other people.

Renee: And so I, yeah, I am really curious to see what it will be, but

Melissa: I mean, it’d be like, so will be spaced out photo ops.

Renee: It’ll be like,

Hey, we’ll splice it together. We’re [00:40:00] actually just going to take a picture you over here at

Melissa: Photoshop, he’s actually not even here. Like, do you want me,

Renee: he’s going to zoom in. Yeah,

Melissa: yeah. Yeah.

Renee: I think so. Like. You know, the fundamentals of what a call on is, is like raid. There’s going to be vendors. There’s going to be panels, right.

There will be people in cosplay to bring it back. Right. You know, those things. Right. I always love to make it come full circle. I’m like,

Melissa: I know,

Renee: but I think those things will always be there. Right. And so, you know, I, again, I think the essence will remain intact regardless of the logistics.

Melissa: So yeah. I’m excited.

I’m excited. I can’t

Renee: wait. So are you going to go?

Melissa: I am about [00:41:00] 80% sure. Which is the good. Yeah, no, I’m pretty sure you heard it

Renee: here first.

Melissa: Yeah. I mean, I definitely, I mean, just, you know, it’s December. A ways away and and we’re making such great progress, I think, as a country. So, and I’m vaccinated and I will wear a mask anyways.

Even if there isn’t a mandate, because I’m just like that. And I plan to wear a mask a long time, just because that’s what I feel comfortable with. And, you know, and there’s other crud things that you can know the comic con crud that beside from COVID. I mean, I’ve gotten every time I’ve gone to comic con I’ve gotten like a cold.

Yeah. You know, gotten stuck on the plane afterwards. So I definitely think it’s, you know, regardless of the vaccination, it’s definitely good to, to wear a mask and sanitize and stuff, but yeah, I mean, I’m leaning towards going for sure. Because, you know, in this said, I haven’t been in awhile. I mean, obviously I missed the last one because of COVID and the one before that I missed for work reasons.

And so it’s been, you know, almost [00:42:00] two and a half years, I guess, since I’ve been to the economy, I’ve been to Seattle sense, but yeah, I’m excited. I really want to go, but I’m curious to see like yeah, like what the protocols are going to be, and I’m assuming they’re going to release something to give us more detail right around the time that the tickets go on sale.

Renee: Yeah. Well, I look forward to having you and I’m sure like. You know, they’re, the guys will honestly love to meet you and you know what I mean? Just

Melissa: like, yeah, I know. It’ll be fun to kind of

Renee: think about experiencing that with you now.

Melissa: I know I’m excited to yeah. To me, countering John and also to you know, depending on the lineup and everything, but, you know, I’m sure that a lot of people that are going to be featured will be probably people that I’ve interviewed, you know, so it’ll be nice to maybe walk up and meet them in person too, which would be really exciting.

Renee: Yeah, I, they did a [00:43:00] repop did like a survey of like, who would you like to see it? Like Emerald city Comicon. And I just, like, I filled out the form like three times and put Lumberjanes

Melissa: leveraging. There’ll be there. I’m

Renee: my I’ll just put a plug in for my own personal favorite comic. Thank you

Melissa: very much. Oh yeah.

Yeah. I love those surveys. That’s where I get to just like dream and yeah.

Renee: If you could put, if you could pick someone like a comic person or an actor, you know, someone from one of your standards to be there,

Melissa: who would you want to see it come up? Gosh, I have so, so, so many I would love to, I would love to see like shadow and bone people of course.

Cause that was just amazing. That was

Renee: a good one.

Melissa: I would love to see that. Yeah. I’m trying to think what else? Comic book wise, I mean, there’s so many like [00:44:00] Dan waters you know, Yonic Paquette’s who does wonder woman? There’s so many good ones. I can’t even. Like pretty much just go onto my interview list and everyone that I’ve interviewed that that’s why I wanted to be there.

Cause they’re all awesome people. And they put out really great comics and Jimmy , I’d love to see him in his life. Cause they’re awesome. But yeah, I mean, there’s this TV show wise. Gosh, I’ve been watching so much TV that I’m like. What have I watched because I’ve watched everything lately. I’ve just been soaking up stuff.

I’m really obviously, you know, I’m into the Mayans and that’s, and I don’t know if that’s the type of show that necessarily goes to comic con. I know they go to like the San Diego one, but as far as the other cons, I don’t think those are like their target audience. A lot of shows like that tend to have their own cons, you know, like walking down as their con I think sons of anarchy had a con too at one point vampire diaries.

They had their own con, which I went to. And so yeah, I [00:45:00] definitely, I would love to see the Mayans, but I just don’t think that that would be the type of show that would, that they would get, you know, Emerald study. Yeah.

Renee: I would, I think I’m really excited about is now that. I’m into anime more because I wasn’t really into anime when we were going before.

And so now, like I’ve gotten more into anime and manga and like now, you know, I’m excited to see like, You know, I know animates often have their own cons as well, but I I’m excited to maybe like meet some more voice over actors and like, oh yeah. You know, I just, I just started demon Slayer and like, you know, there’s a big buzz around that.

So I’m like, Ooh, that’d be kind of the demon Slayer people were there.

Melissa: You know, like that would be, yeah.

Renee: I’m excited. Yeah. Cause it’s, again, I’ve gotten in, like you said, a lot of us have gotten into so many new fandoms now because of COVID right. Like what are we doing? [00:46:00] Drinking white clothes and

Melissa: watching TV,

Renee: you know, like, wow. I have all these new fandoms that I want to like me and, and hopefully we’ll be there. So,

Melissa: yeah. And I’m excited for the panels too, because I just, I love, I love panels. I, I love the writing ones. I love the, the fandom ones, you know, with the whole cast. I just, I love. Just listening to people talk about the industry.

It’s just really fun to sit back and, you know, smuggle in from alcohol and that’s always fun.

Renee: Do you know which panel I’m looking forward to seeing the Melissa. It’s a

Melissa: search of panel. Yeah. Someday.

Renee: I’m going to see you at Comic-Con at the writer’s panel vampires,

Melissa: and it’s going to be great. Would be amazing. I would love to talk about vampires on a panel for an hour or [00:47:00] anything. Book-related really, I mean, that would be, you know, I was supposed to be on a panel just locally at the library. They were doing a book con and this was, you know, summer of 2020.

And that was going to be my first panel where I was going to speak on two different ones. And I’m so excited, but it’ll happen again. I think the library, once everything opens up, they’re going to try to do the book thing again, the books there because, or whatever they were calling it. But so hopefully when that happens, I’ll be invited back because I was very much looking forward to that.

And I’ve done some virtual panels, which have been fun too, but there’s nothing better than like having people in the room, you know, right there like lines.

Renee: It’s different for sure. Different.

Melissa: Yeah. I taught a writing class right before we went into lockdown, like literally like three weeks before. And it was so fun.

It was just really invigorating. I had 15 people show up, which was cool. It was like, wow. Yeah, no, that’s [00:48:00] awesome. Yeah. And it was just typically at a club, like a general class of like how to get into the industry, how to get published. You know, like just tips and techniques and, and they, you know, just ask me questions and it was a lot of fun.

I had like a slide show and it was like very professional and I really enjoyed it. So I’m hoping to do more of those too.

Renee: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I would listen to any of your panels and that’s not, that’s not the way it caught talking, not the

Melissa: best friend talk. That’s the best friend talk. I know. Well, I just finished a little bit of rosacea and now, but I’m now switching to, so Rosa is like my daytime wine and of course I have a daytime wine at a nighttime wine.

And so now I’m switching to a Grenache from Portugal.

Renee: Are you still fancy?

Melissa: Yeah. And bringing it back to the subscription boxes. I [00:49:00] do have to say that the last box I’ve got was my favorite so far. Oh, we’re so excited. So just to back it up a little bit, just for reference the, the box before was from Germany.

Okay. And so we open it up and I’m looking through everything and there was not a single thing in there that was gluten free. And so everything, I was just like getting angrier and angrier as I’m handing it to Chris, because, you know, he can eat gluten and he was so excited cause he basically got like the whole box and I was so bad.

I was like, I was like, I’m never going to Germany. They don’t have any gluten free food. Obviously that’s not true. But you know, in the moment I was like, I was like, damn them in their wheat. And then

Renee: the German box was the one that

Melissa: I was like, oh, they like [00:50:00] wheat over there. Don’t they? Yeah, I was really like, I was, you know, Like, I didn’t need to be that upset over it, but I just love. And so when I got the second box, so the next box, the next month, it was from Spain. And I was like, every single thing in the box was gluten free.

Love it every, and I was like, oh, okay. I was like, all right, yum, yum, box, whatever you’re called. I was like, you’ve made up, you made up for it. And I was like, I’m going to Spain. I love Spain. It was,

Renee: Oh, it was done at the box. So

Melissa: yeah, it was a really cool, so had like some high end, like high crafted, like chocolates and caramels and some really fun like chips.

They had like a fried egg chip tastes like a runny egg. Yeah. And it was bizarre because you, you eat it and it’s. It’s like a weird thing. It’s like, if the texture is a chip, but it does, it tastes like a runny egg. It was very strange. [00:51:00] But but yeah, everything that was like so good. I was happy. Cause I’m like, yay.

This whole box is mine.

Renee: I was like, are this episode also brought to you by universal yum yum, yum box delivery service

Melissa: that I know I’m going to have to like send them an email and be like, okay, this is the second time I’ve brought up your company, the podcast. And so I think you need to start, you know, giving us some ads.

Renee: Yeah. Well, and again, what’s so funny is that like I bought that bar because I was craving travel Ray because of COVID and I was just like, I like miss other countries and I miss, you know, like I miss this like aspect of what we used to do, which was be able to like. Move around more Sealy and like I internationally.

And so then I was like, well, this is as close since I can get.

Melissa: It’s such a great, and I loved it. One of the best gifts, you know, that you could give me because it [00:52:00] was just, you know, so like, like you said, I felt, oh, I’m discovering something, you know, about another country and they give you the booklet with a little bit of information on what’s inside of the box and a couple of links to, you know, trivia and tidbits about the country itself.

And yeah, I, I liked the boxes. And you know, like the Ukraine box is a really cool one too. And I never, I didn’t know anything about the Ukraine really. I mean, as far as their cuisine or anything, and they had some really delicious products and I’m like, oh, I’m like, I did not know this, you know? So it’s fun to discover that stuff that you can’t just go to CVS and buy.

Renee: Well, maybe I could pitch them my cosplay box idea. What I

Melissa: did there. I can turn it into like international cosplay. It’s so awesome. You know, what’s funny is I have three subscription boxes now that I [00:53:00] do because, oh my gosh, it depends on make, has turned me into a shopaholic. Yeah, no, I have a problem.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. I have a problem cause I was never like, okay. You’ve always been a shopaholic ever since my sister, my sister’s always been a shopaholic. I only ever hand I’m one of those. People that’s like I go in and I get what I need and I get out and I’ve always been that way. I absolutely like, I hate shopping sometimes with people where they’re just, they want to try everything on and it’s like hours and I’m just, I’m outside pacing.

You know, I just, I don’t know. I have like, I’m like, I know what I want. I like to just, and especially like on online too, like I would just go buy stuff online that I needed, like, oh, I’m out of cleanser or I’m out of foundation. So I’ll just go to Sephora and on, you know, on their website and buy it. Oh no, the pandemic has made me a shopaholic.

And I thought yeah, yeah, I have I have the Al crate subscription box, which is where you get the book of the month, a book every month. And it’s, it’s usually a Y [00:54:00] a author. And, but you get like special curated things in the box that have to do with different fandoms that they’ve done in the past or they’re going to do in the future.

So I’ve gotten some stuff from a darker shade of magic and The the gilded ones and it’s just really cool box. And like the books are usually signed with their first decisions, like a special foil printing on the cover. And there’s like really cool off. So been doing that one, I’ve got

Renee: food. They would be interested in my cosplay box.

Melissa: Yeah. Well, exactly. That’s what I was thinking. Or the, your author one that you were talking about. Well, yeah, that might be a cool idea for Al crate. But yeah, so then I, then I’ve got like three wine clubs that I joined. Oh, that’s fun.

Renee: I would expect nothing less.

Melissa: Right. I become a Weinstein. Yep. Now trader Joe’s needs to up their game.

Oh. And then family, like Portuguese wine. I [00:55:00] only, only Grenache from Portugal fine is my sister and I are both overly obsessed with this, like runs our lives. So it started out innocent enough. Okay. As a, a box that you would get quarterly, you spend like 50 bucks and you would get like $300 worth of really high end beauty products.

And they would let you customize a few of them, you know, where you could just pick what choice you wanted for, or half of the box. And I’m talking like full size bottles, like stuff that you would literally spend $300. It’s a fora on, and you can get them for 50 bucks four times a year. So we really got into it.

So then they started doing this thing and I know they’re just capitalizing on it. Cause we’re all at home. Where they. They do these add on sales, right? So you get your box, but then every, I sorta got, it’s like every two weeks almost now you get like an email. They’re like, oh, we’re having an add on sale.

And it’s like products that are 70, 80% off that are like, high-end [00:56:00] upscale products. Like, you know, I, I need them. And yeah, so now it’s become this obsessive thing and my sister and I just thought each other attacks and I’m like, did you get the email? And she’s like, yup. And we’re like, oh God, another damn sale.

And it’s literally turned into the hunger games, like, oh my God, they have these sales things really quickly, but you can still like add them to your favorites. And then if you just keep refreshing your screen, like eventually somebody will like let it out of their cart and you have to like jump on it instantly to grab it.

No, it’s literally the hunger games. I

Renee: believe that I feel like I can relate with my Cape. Pop fan them. I’m not going to get into it, but I think I can relate to the idea of like, oh, you know, they just released this box, then I got to get it.

Melissa: Yeah, my,

Renee: yeah, it’s funny because I actually haven’t been shopping as much, but what I did suddenly up my, like that like increased [00:57:00] tenfold over the pandemic was my subscription service.

Like, like purchases. Right? So it’s like, I want it from just having like Netflix and Hulu. Ooh, you know, an Amazon prime or your

Melissa: streaming subscriptions,

Renee: you know, Showtime like yeah, my streaming subscriptions. And now, because I got into anime, I have like Funimation and crunchy roll. Like I’m watching these K-pop dramas.

So that’s like for like K dramas. So then I have this like, like five other Asian, you know, streaming service subscriptions. And then I, you know, it’s

Melissa: like, then there’s like Disney plus, like,

Renee: and peacock and HBO VAT.

Melissa: Yeah. And it’s just like, oh my gosh. Yeah. I had to cancel a couple things because. Like, I was only watching like one thing on there and then I had finished it and there was really nothing else I wanted to watch.

So I just canceled it. Cause I’m like, you know, you think, oh, it’s only seven 99 a month. But when you’re [00:58:00] doing like a uniform that’s money, so you have to really pick and choose like, which I think Netflix will always be number one. I’ll never get rid of Netflix. But I know Hulu, I go back and forth with, because I usually only watch Hulu when love island is on or the Handmaid’s tale, which is like, see, I can’t believe I just said, love island.

And the handmaids,

Renee: like

Melissa: big spread one is like completely completing women. And the other one is trying to stop the exploitation of women. But anyways but yeah, so Hulu is, is something I do go back and forth on. Yeah.

Renee: And you know, like I wasn’t on HBO max, and now I am because I’m like, oh, there’s like so much good stuff there now.

And you know, like it just

Melissa: like, yeah, I get HBO max for free because they give it free to at and T subscribers for some reason, it’s like our plan. So, but yeah, that’s another one that even if it wasn’t for free, I would say I

Renee: would get it. Yeah. And, and again, re like, it’s like. [00:59:00] You know, again, going back to what we said, it’s like, there’s so much good content out there and in the pandemic, like, what else do we have to do?

But like consume media and I’m here for it, honestly. Cause I’m like, it’s the golden age of television, right? Like so much good stories being told. And then like when you discover it like a whole nother genre, like I did with this antimony, right? Like, I’m like, oh my gosh, here’s this whole other world.

Open up to me and I have all this other great content to watch and like, you know, it just, it like expands. It’s like almost this like exponential, like, and then this, and then this, and then this. So I dunno, it’s like, it’s a lot, but I’m also like, I am living for it. And I am like, just leaning into all of these fandoms and all of this content.

And I’m like,

Melissa: yes, like, no, I love it me more. I’ll

Renee: take

Melissa: it. I’ll yeah, I’ve been [01:00:00] doing for the first time, you know, getting more into, especially, I guess, cause of the podcast is I’ve been getting into Kickstarter campaigns and I’ve done like I’ve backed like five so far, and those are really fun because well I’ve only backed people I know so far, so that’s been great just to be able to like show support, but It’s just cool because you get, you know, you got the comic and you get to be a part of them creating it and getting it to print.

And then you get the little, you know, extras that they throw in, you know, their stretch goals and stuff like that. So that’s been really fun cause I knew nothing about Kickstarter a year ago, year and a half ago. So learning more about that world and how it really is so beneficial to a lot of creators, you know, to get their comic books made because you know, if you’re not one of the big guys, like, you know, Marvel or DC or aftershock or, you know, dark horse or whatever, if you’re an indie comic book writer, it’s, it’s going to be daunting.

I mean, I’m a self published author, so I know [01:01:00] how hard it is. But comic books, I think costs a lot more to produce than just like a one, you know, novel. So I just, I love the whole concept of Kickstarter. I think it’s just such a cool. Thing that people have that option now to, you know, to go into a campaign and get their comic book made or, or their toy or their game, because I’m not just comic books.

There’s other things on there too. But but yeah, it’s just really fun. So that’s been fun doing that and learning more about it and like backing people’s comics and being like, yeah. You know, like I was a part of that. It’s really fun.

Renee: Is there one that you like was the best one that you got, or do you not want to play favorites?

Melissa: Yeah. No, I’m not going to be play favorites. I actually really like them all because I only back, you know, the best of course. Oh, of course the ones I know, because I don’t know anyone else. I’m like,

Renee: oh, that’s another thing

Melissa: though. Kickstarter, like, I’m learning how to like search it. Cause they have a totally different like search engine and so trying to find, [01:02:00] you know, so a lot of times I’ll actually look on other people’s like Twitter feeds, like, cause they’ll say who they’re backing.

Or once you start backing people and following them, then you’ll get an email when they’ve backed to someone which is really cool. Cause then you’re like, oh, let me check this out. Cause see what they are backing. So that, part’s fine. It’s there’s a lot on there. So yeah, I’m still trying to. Navigate my way around it, but you know, I’ve gotten some amazing, I got Ron Randal’s checker comic just came out and it’s, it’s such a gorgeous comic.

I just got that one. Jimmy Palmy ATI’s pop kill. I did issues. I think it was issues five and four and five. Yeah, but yeah, no, it’s just it’s fun. Cause it’s like you back it and then you don’t get it for a while, you know, and we like a few months or so before it finally gets. The project completes and then they have to print it and pack them and send them out.

So sometimes you kind of forget, and then all of a sudden you just get like book mail, you know what I mean? And you’re like, oh, well I forgot now I have like new [01:03:00] comics. So that’s kind of exciting.

Renee: Yeah. It reminds me of when I get really drunk. And I think

Melissa: I forgot about that

Renee: now, now I have five stuff that I didn’t know I needed.

Melissa: It reminds me of God, it was years ago. I was like in my twenties when they had like infomercials. Oh, yeah, that was like the online shopping back then. It was, I remember being, yeah, kind of drunk, like two in the morning, like watching TV and then the TV was over and it was just all infomercials. And there was this like workout thing.

It was like turbo something on the cruelest, energetic and really into it. And I was like, this looks amazing. And so I literally picked up my phone and ordered like the whole set. And a week later, it was always, that was the back of the day to where you had to wait two weeks to get something I showed up in the, in the mail, on my doorstep.

And I was like, what the [01:04:00] hell is this shit in order this that’s right.

Renee: There’s probably so many stoners, right. That did that with the George Foreman grill. Right. To be real like, hi. And they were like, oh, I’m so hungry. Oh man. I could make. Burger with that thing, I’ll get it. And all of a sudden they have a George Foreman grill, but yeah, I remember

Melissa: those were really I think I have have a box somewhere.

I’ve just like stuff that I’ve bought, you know, from as seen on TV. And then they have that as seen on TV stores now, too. Yeah. Which is like, go in and get everything. Yeah.

Renee: Which I feel like that’s what sharper image was. Let’s be honest.

Melissa: Oh yeah. Yeah. I forgot about sharper image.

Renee: Like it gadgets. Yeah. [01:05:00] Like, I didn’t know.

I needed this chair, like with the massage

Melissa: function. Right, right. But do you remember your call sharper, but the server image, like you almost felt you were walking into a nightclub. It was very chic and like dark and everything looked super gray and monotone. And, you know, as seen on TV was like red and cheesy.

And I remember sharper image was like, Ooh, like you walk in and you’re like, am I allowed to even be in here?

Renee: Right. Right. But it also kind of felt like everyone who worked there drank FEMA. Right. Like it was like, yeah, we all drink Zima. And like were like bad

Melissa: clothes. Right. Like that was exactly,

Renee: it was like chic, but not right.

Yeah, like a whole nother episode about like, you know, as seen on TV, [01:06:00] I’m like old toddler.

Melissa: It could just be your shopping guides. I will tell you, I could just sit here for a good review and plan subscription

Renee: service.

Well, as I say, I love talking with you. It’s just so much fun. And I love like that, you know? We just, you know, we can like get each other in terms of all the, all the random things we talk about.

Melissa: It’s always so much fun. Exactly. And I hope people enjoy listening to us, if not, sorry.

Renee: Oh, wow.

Melissa: But if you’ve made it this far, thank you for this thing to us ramble to you get a little peek inside our heads, I guess the way we, we talk. But yeah, no, this has been fun. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Well, I’ll do this again. [01:07:00] Of course. We’ll make it, we’re making it an ongoing, ongoing thing is as long as we don’t start getting like hate mail or something.

Renee: Okay. Don’t talk, talk about subscription boxes. Like we’re tired of it.

No more, no more. We’ll be well. Yeah. And we will have so many other tangents to talk

Melissa: about. I’m sure. That’s right. Have you heard it here first on spoiler. Thanks Renee. Thanks Melissa. Talk to you soon.