Hanging With The Autograph King

On Monday, I spent an afternoon doing a crawl of some cool retail establishments in Portland with Shamim Dana, aka The Autograph King.

Don't know who Shamim is? Well, you will soon. He's set to be the subject of a documentary called The Autograph King, which profiles his story of having been born with multiple intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism and cerebral palsy, and going on to live a fun and fulfilling life through the joy of pop culture fandom and helping others.

We met at the Autism Society of Oregon's 23rd Annual Walk in April, and since then, we've become good friends as well as partners in crime trying to get the Hold My Beer franchise produced. Through his passion of collecting autographs from celebrities, he's built an extensive network of show business contacts, some of whom just might be able to help us take the SPS-Verse to the next level.

The documentary, which was directed by Scott Zakarin (whose credits include Comic Book: The Movie, Mind Meld, Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters and Marvels, and the cult classic Creating Rem Lezar), is scheduled to come out in late 2025 or early 2026, but you can learn more about it and Shamim in the upcoming Summer 2025 issue of Spectrum Life Magazine, where he will be featured in an interview conducted by yours truly.

As for the places we visited, they include Video Game Wizards, Variety Records, and Movie Madness (pictured below), a very cool video rental shop and museum that even has its own miniplex theater.

If you're a fan of vintage video games, music, or movies, I recommend checking these places out!

Please also consider checking out:

Joel Suzuki - my young adult sci-fi/fantasy novel series about an autistic teenage guitarist who follows his dreams to a faraway land, only to find himself battling an unexpected enemy in a desperate attempt to save not one, but two worlds from total destruction. The first book is available for just $1.99 in Kindle format on Amazon here!

Hold My Beer - my short film about an autistic young adult who, after receiving a tough-love ultimatum from his parents, discovers a passion for craft beer and embarks on a mission to open his own brewpub. Watch it for free on YouTube here!