Welcome to the House of Fun

This might be a bumpy ride than normal. I just started pondering this and I'm not sure I've got this thought worked out yet.

What is fun? I know, that's much like asking 'what is funny?' and trying to explain it scientifically. It's not possible, its not interesting, and its not funny. Certainly there is a 'fun' reaction to things and, in most people, this reaction seems to fade with age, perhaps due to the responsibilities of life, perhaps due to cumulative experiences, or perhaps due to the fact that 'eliminating' fun is considered part of growing up. Whatever. If I keep the question too open at this stage, I'm writing a book and that's not the goal here. Not at this point anyway.

For the sake of creating a more focused discussion, we will agree that geeks have fun with whatever they are geeky about, remembering how we've defined 'geek' in the past. When exposed to their subject of interest, the geek, no matter the age of the subject, has a chemical reaction occur in their brain that creates a feeling of enjoyment that is considered to be 'fun'. It's not that this segment of the population is the only one that can experience fun from the subject of interest, but, largely, the geek has become a geek for that subject of interest because of the 'fun' reaction within them. For example, not everyone that attends a baseball game is a baseball geek, but baseball geeks are more likely to attend a baseball game or to be drawn to a baseball game. Squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. Or something like that.

Let's focus the discussion further. Movies. There are people that attend movies for the sake of going, people that expect certain things from the movies they see, people that just enjoy the night out, etc. The audience for any given movie is likely to be a mix of people there for many different reasons. Most will have differing reactions to what they see and hear. Based on my general geek friends, I'm going to generalize people into three basic groups, knowing that people can move from one group to another.

Positive: this group is out for the movie to show them a good time. They will focus on what they enjoyed in the film. Plot holes or mistakes caused by editing may concern them but they will often consider 'filling the gap' to be their job. It's not that this group is not critical, that they blindly enjoy everything they see, or that they are easily entertained, they feel that the filmmakers were trying to entertain them and it's their job to be entertained so they try to fill that role.

Neutral: this group tends to flip between positive and negative regularly based on the subject matter of the film so it's not easy to anticipate their reaction to a film. They may react very positively to one film and very negatively to another. They may respect a positive reaction to a movie they didn't enjoy or a negative reaction to a movie they did enjoy. They are more likely to not have an extreme reaction to a film, being able to enjoy it without professing love or hate. Not wanting to demand the return of money and time is considered more acceptable to them. This group tries to enjoy what the filmmakers provide them but know that, sometimes, things don't come together in the right way to make something they'll enjoy but maybe someone else will enjoy it and that's okay.

Negative: this group tends to be more demanding of the entertainment placed in front of them. They are considered 'negative' only because they often have a more negative reaction to movies. It's not that they necessarily WANT to hate the movie in question, but that some part of it was just so bad to them that they can't help but focus on that as opposed to the parts of the movie that were good to them. Perhaps its a plot hole, or many plot holes, perhaps its one of the cast that doesn't quite 'fit', perhaps its a special effect that doesn't go off correctly. Perhaps it's just not unique enough, feeling very generic. They will often have a list of reasons why they feel the way they do about the movie in question. They may expect a movie to have some sort of message, even if hidden. This group can't understand why more movies can't come together and be 'right' in the ways that their favorite movies are 'right'.

There are more extreme versions of all of these categories. There are positives that just love everything blindly. There are neutrals that get dragged to a lot of movies that aren't in their areas of interest. There are negatives that can't explain why a movie sucked but insist that it did. There are certainly some variations in these basic levels, some details left unexpressed, but, looking at many of my friends, this is what I see as those default areas.

The positives feel that the negatives can't have fun at the movies, or don't understand that some movies are just there to be uncomplicated fun, 'popcorn movies'. The negatives feel that the positives are too forgiving, or too blind, to see the problems in the film and why they are problems. Then there's usually some sort of yelling about foreign films and subtitles.

They are, of course, all right. It's just their reaction to the movie and there's nothing necessarily wrong with a reaction. Everyone has an opinion and has a right to it. There's a lot of factors that build into that reaction.

Expectation. What did the trailer make the movie look like? Were all the funny bits in the trailer to make it look like more of a comedy than it was? Did it look like an action film but was a satire? Sometimes you expect one thing and get another. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes not. 'I didn't think it would be as funny as it was!' 'The trailer made it look like it was going to be a big action movie but it got all talky and dark at the end.' 'I expected zombies. There were no zombies. Boo!' Often, the lower the expectation, the easier it is to enjoy the product involved.

Source material. Is there any? This can often feed into expectation. Is it based on a book? TV show? Comic Book? A remake of an earlier movie? How familiar are you with the source material? Not at all? A little? Mostly? A lot? How faithful do you expect the filmmakers to be to the source material? How faithful did the filmmakers say they'd be to the source material? Positives are more likely to go with the flow of the movie version, even if very familiar with the original source material, judging the filmed version on its own merits as it's an adaptation. Negatives are more likely to expect the filmed version to be like the source material as what's the point of adapting something and tossing out most of the elements of the original?

Mood going into the theater. Rough day? Grouchy? Have to get up early tomorrow? It might be harder for the movie to win you over. Chipper? Feeling comfortable after a good meal? You're more likely to enjoy what you see.

A consider myself a neutral and mood is important to me. A bad mood that's dispelled by a movie usually gets a positive reaction from me. It must have been good to get me out of that mood, right? The converse is also true. That movie must have been pretty bad to wreck such a good mood.

If this makes no sense or feels incomplete, well, I warned you. Just remember that the title of the blog only promises rambling. I need to eat lunch now anyway.

Not that anyone will care

I rearranged about half of my DVD collection today. The bulk of the collection is held on two large bookshelves with a number on the majority of a smaller bookshelf, some on two even smaller shelves, and a number tucked away in a cabinet. The primary shelf had become mostly television shows of British origin so I cleared away the movies from the other shelves and made it an all-TV case. Most of the movies went to the shelves where the TV shows were from but a number went into the cabinet. The other primary shelf unit was rearranged a bit, with the few VHS tapes still on it removed. Some movies buried in the medium sized shelving unit were 'promoted' to this unit to make them more accessible, primary amongst these the George A. Romero films. All the shelves involved were re-sorted in order to add in movies that had been obtained since the last big shuffle or had been removed and never properly returned to their place.

The upside to this is that I've got some better access to the stuff I watch the most. In general, I watch more of my TV DVDs than my movies, so having them a bit closer and altogether is handy.

On the downside, my shelves are pretty full. 'Luckily' I haven't been buying many DVDs of late so I'm less likely to completely overflow them anytime soon.

Now I just need to watch a few more of them. I still have a number that are still in the wrapper. Silly me.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

I really enjoyed 'Captain America: Reborn' but lucked out in that I found a number of books I really enjoyed this week. This is rare. I generally enjoy most of what I buy every week but rarely really enjoy more than a book or two.

Fantastic Four #568 is part three of four of the 'Masters of Doom' storyline. Having dealt with Latveria, said Masters come to punish the Fantastic Four. Much of this surrounds putting Reed Richards through some torturous ethical situations. Reed's answer? 'There's always another way, and we're going to teach you.' Reed is awesome. This story is great. I did have some concerns when Millar and Hitch came to take over the book. I was concerned it was going to get all 'Ultimate' freaky but it's been largely awesome.

The Simpsons Super Spectacular #9 completes the three-part 'Radioactive Man Event' storyline. The three issues make up a three-act Simpsons episode of sorts. The first issue set up the basis of the story: a big change is coming to the Radioactive Man comics and the hype gets people interested. Act/Issue two builds the hype and the situation. Act/Issue three delivers the big change. While the story has built up that hype in comics never seems to pay off, the 'non-hype' of this story pays off big. It's funny, it's Simpson-y, and it gets to make a comment about comics in general. It largely becomes a love-hate letter to comics, mocking all the things we love about comics and love to hate about comics while we still read them. Well, those of us who do read them anyway. These were great. If you like watching the Simpsons on television, you should give the Simpsons Comics a try.

Muppet Robin Hood #2 introduces a few more characters to the story while building the Robin Hood/Maid Marian relationship. Fozzie Bear appears as Friar Tuck. Link Hogthrob appears as Prince John's primary knight. And Prince John? Johnny Fiama! And Sal! Woo-hoo! Some of my favorite characters from Muppets Tonight! Uncle Deadly appears as one of Prince John's monsters. Once again, the 'actors' in the book react with the knowledge that they're doing a 'performance'. Wonderful stuff.

As wonderful as Muppet Robin Hood is, the Muppet Show Comic Book is that much more wonderful. Issue #4 featured Miss Piggy's story. It's mostly about her fear of losing Kermit and her anger issues. :) This issue features a panel that made me laugh out loud, lean back and laugh out loud, lean over the comic again, see the panel again and start laughing all over again. That is beautiful. On another note, the Talking Houses sketch returns! More Pigs in Space! Vet's Hospital! Sweet moments, funny moments, laugh out loud moments. I love this book! As they're releasing the Muppet Show series in four issue installments, no doubt to release each as a trade paperback with its own title, there will soon be a collection of four issues to be bought. Getting this is highly recommended by me. For whatever that's worth.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week - Special

Captain America - Reborn #1

This is what I expected to see in Captain America #600. This is clearly the beginning of an epic tale. Characters from all over the Marvel Universe make appearances, important appearances, not just cameos. You can feel the heroes are putting their heads together because they now have enough clues to go on to investigate. It's not a random 'we can't believe our buddy is gone' thing, it's a 'here are our clues' investigation beginning.

While trying to keep true to my normal pattern, I'm going to try and answer an important question without any spoilers. Is Steven Rogers in this book? Yes. How? Ain't telling.

Good story, good art, still a lot of mystery to resolve, and yet room for some action. That sounds like good comics to me!

Not much and late. I know.

Busy day. Lots of running around, followed by some cooling out, and far too much getting bit by mosquitos. Blasted bugs.

Did get some writing and typing done this morning. I feel very good about that. The story is materializing well and quickly so far. Feeling VERY good about that.

Home Movies

Sent the bulk of my family's old home movies in to be converted to DVD. They arrived today.

There were moments I've seen over and over again, mostly footage of myself and my brothers.

There was footage of my father as a child with my grandfather, going on trips and celebrating graduations and such. I'd seen that before, just not as often.

Then there were some surprise moments. Some of the films were from my mother's father, my other grandfather. Unexpectedly, we saw footage of my mother's wedding shower, my parents right after their wedding, and my mother's family at my grandparents house in winter going to snowmobile.

It was fun. And there was Disneyland footage from about 1960 as well!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Sept 28th 2008. A fine day. Food with friends. Packers win. Brewers win. Mets lose or something and the Brewers go to the postseason for the first time since I was in grade school. Fun time. I won a gift certificate to the restaurant we partied at, which made things that extra bit better.

June 30th 2009. While getting my checkbook from my glove box, I unfold a piece of paper and find the gift certificate. It expired about three months ago. Doh!

Besides that, today was fun as well. Went to the zoo. Different type of fun from eating, drinking, and watching sports but fun nonetheless.

A Few (Late) Thoughts on Comics from this week

I'm not sure I can go see the new Transformers movie for I have read All Hail Megatron #12. They've added four more issues as a 'coda' to the story but issue #12 paid off the storyline big time. There were the big action moments, a couple of stunning 'wow' moments, and an another twist and turn for old time's sake. This should be animated. I found this so enjoyable that I fear the recently released movie will be unable to compare.

Part of my reasoning in that regard is due to the free 'Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen' preview book that I also received this week. The art must be the reason it was free. The robots looked okay but the humans... not so good. I didn't recognize characters the art was so scruffy. The story was not bad but it was only a preview so it's not indicative of the movie in general.

I suppose I should have figured out that cliffhanger for Amazing Spider-Man. Issue #598 explains it so quickly that I felt like a dummy for not having it figured out immediately. Now that I'm no longer expecting the Phil Jimenez art, I've been enjoying the art that's here. Story remains greatly evil. I'm digging this right now.

New Avengers #54 starts to line up the continuity of recent books as moments of other books appear to line things up a bit. This all builds to a bit of a 'whoa' moment at the end. The new Sorcerer Supreme has been chosen and some fun stuff is to come.

Secret Warriors #5 feels like it's building to the big payoff from this first storyline. In other words, it's doing exactly what it should be doing. Good art, good story, still wondering where this is leading overall. It feels like Nick Fury is rebuilding SHIELD without actually rebuilding SHIELD.

I've not been reading the big 'War of Kings' storyline but I have been reading Nova which ties into that story. Impressively, the storyline in Nova feels organic in the way it's built to cross into the larger storyline. I plan to get 'War of Kings' in trade but, at the moment, I don't feel like I'm missing out on something I need in order to understand the one book I've been getting month in and month out. This is a good thing.

Uncanny X-Men #512 felt like a combination of Doctor Who episodes 'The Next Doctor' and 'Father's Day'. I say this being a Who fan, I've no idea if they were influences or not. At the same time, the storyline fits the book so, if Fraction did 'reference' Who, it made sense to do so. Good stuff this, mostly because it dealt with the X-Club adventures and not the X-Men themselves.

Vincent Price Presents was a book that started out very rough, with both poor stories and poor art. The last few have been much better and #10 was one of the best. I actually didn't see the twist coming and I should have done. Well done!

Incredible Hercules #130 I liked. I've been enjoyed this book in general. Not much seems to happen but a lot happens in the arguments that occur during the Trial of Zeus. What fascinates me most is that the characters all have different points of view, all feel like the traditional versions of the character and yet they're just that bit updated so that they feel free. I continue to get the feeling I shouldn't be enjoying this book but I do.

Dark Avengers #6 shows some cracks forming in Norman Osborn's plan. There's also a moment that shows some weakness forming. I'm increasing of the opinion that this 'darkness' overwhelming the Marvel Universe exists to be repelled by the return of Steven Rogers.

I had been wondering about the point for continuing with Avengers: The Initiative. Why did the book still exist with it's reason to exist gone? Issue #25 finally establishes the new environment and, bam!, just like that I'm willing to stick around. The Great Lakes Initiative had a cameo! Good stuff that!

Daredevil #119 keeps things rolling. I know the Kingpin is up to something but I can't figure out what.

Finally Thor #602! It felt like forever since the last issue. Love William's reaction to realizing Asgard has been moved to Latveria. Thor has to go through some rough stuff to repair Mjolnir. Finally we get a bit of a happy ending.

Bart Simpsons #48 continues the Radioactive Man Event. We see what hype can do. Still no clue what's being done to Radioactive Man. Loving it.

Magic

Hesitantly, Kevin spoke up. “I know how everything works. I programmed many of the robots. When we ride for maintenance checks, I start out noting things down but I get distracted, I get lost in the story. I know how every works and yet, for a moment, it all feels alive.” Somewhat nervously, painfully aware of William's gaze, he finished by noting “So I guess I believe in the magic.”

Should have more to say...

...but I don't. I'm tired and probably going to bed soon. Wrote 13 pages in longhand in the last three days. That's a lot for me and is an excellent sign that the writer's block I was getting concerned I had is gone. Would have been even more pages today but, again, the tired. Two different projects are involved. Lots of fun.The four pages yesterday flowed like water.

Love it.

Not Quite Time Travel

When you're a kid, it's pretty easy to categorize people by their age. There are other kids, adults, and old people. Other kids are pretty easy to figure out. Old people are people as old as your grandparents or older. Adults are a pretty nebulous group when you're young. Older teenagers can fit into that adult group, despite them not being adults by anyone else's view, because they can babysit you and therefore tell you what to do.

A lot of the 'adults' from when I was young (10ish and younger I guess) are all in that same mix in my head. Some of them may have only been five - seven years older than me (high school when I was in grade school) but they felt like adults at the time, so terribly, terribly grown up compared to me.

Bumped into one of those 'adults' today. Haven't seen her for twenty years or so. Still looks the same, still looks good. Had one of those moments where something clicked in my head and I thought 'Aha, that would explain a lot.' She was one of those 'adults' that I had a bit of a crush on when I was too young to realize that's what it was (like Lynda Carter and Erin Gray). She smiled today, a bright warm friendly smile, and it pleased me to see that wasn't gone.

And Another Thing...

Just finished going through the big Previews catalog I get every month from the Local Comic Book Store. It's chock full of fun stuff that'll be on sale in a couple months, in theory anyway. I got hung up in the book section as they were promoting the release of the sixth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

Yes, sadly, Douglas Adams is still dead. He was working on a sixth book but never finished it. Someone else has done that for him.

I know this sort of thing has happened before and will happen again in the literary world. I'm not sure how I feel about this specific situation. Somehow, it doesn't feel right but I'm not sure why yet.

I'm all confused now.

Guess What Happened to Me Today?

When in a car behind someone going slower than the speed limit, I tend to wonder why they are driving as they are at the moment. When they're going faster than the limit, the reasons are more obvious: generally they're either in a hurry or they are jags that don't think the rules apply to them.

When they're slower, the possibilities open up a bit more. Do they not know what the limit is? No, that can't be it as we just passed by a speed limit sign. Are they looking for an address? Do they have nowhere to go and are just driving around randomly in an effort to get in someone's way? Are they lost? Does their car not go any faster than it's currently traveling? Are they just an idiot?

Then comes the moment of truth. You've been on a one lane road and couldn't pass them. As you prepare to make a turn, you start to hope that they won't be turning as well.

Will you luck out?!? This time, yes. Relax already.

Other cars annoy me.

Another Fiction Flash Forward

While Eric Danger was distracted by the melee outside the ring, El Hombre de Silla slid into the ring. I found it impressive that the crowd immediately started a loud ‘Hom-bre’ chant. I know he’s popular in this city but didn’t expect such a positive reaction when in ‘foreign’ territory.

This chant caught Eric’s attention. Energetically he searched the combatants for El Hombre but did not find him there. Slowly, he turned around to find the man himself waiting. Eric rushed him but El Hombre ducked the clumsy, panicked attempt at a clothesline. When Eric spun to face him again, El Hombre was waiting to meet him with chops to the chest. As Eric was driven back, the crowd roared their approval. Suitably staggered, El Hombre flung Eric into the ropes. When he returned, El Hombre captured his head in his arms and dropped down, dragging Eric down with him, jamming Eric’s chin against his shoulder with the rare running variant of the ‘Ace Crusher’ move. When released, Eric crashed back to the canvas, unconscious.

The crowd grew even louder, to a degree that it raised the roof of the building. Figuratively speaking of course.

El Hombre requested a microphone and received it. He still had to wait for the crowd to calm itself before he could be heard over it. “I consider myself a patient man. I can accept many offenses against myself before I allow myself to react in kind. When you start to attack my employment and my friends?” He paused to look down at Eric. “Then you end up like him! Attacked in public! My patience is gone! Long gone! If he wants a war, if he wants a war, if he wants a war, “ El Hombre stated, pointing at Eric and the other members of the MWA, “then they can have one!” Looking at the ring announcer that he’d gotten the microphone from, he gestured at Eric and concluded “When he wakes up, let him know he found the trouble he was looking for.” After politely returning the microphone, he scaled the turnbuckle nearest the continuing melee and dove into it. The crowd once more roared its approval.

I was one of them.

Another old music video reflection

I popped on the video for the Oasis song 'Don't Look Back in Anger' today, apparently having never seen it before. It's a fun enough video, nothing too exciting to go along with the calm nature of the song. They go to a mansion, play, lounge, and go away again. There's a number of girls that we don't get to see very well that are all dressed in styles from the sixties, all in white for that matter. The band's driver got my immediate attention.

It was Patrick Macnee. John Steed himself! One of the baddest men on the planet. He leans on an umbrella at one point and it made me very happy.

What has all this Geeking lead us to?

I believe the Geek as we currently know them starts to exist in the 1930s. Certainly there must have been Geeks to some degree before that; someone that thought all of Shakespeare's plays after a certain point were 'crapth', someone that was disappointed that for a sequel to Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn didn't have a lot of Tom Sawyer in it, someone that wrote to the Strand magazine about continuity problems in the Sherlock Holmes series and, if this Moriarty figure is supposed to be so important, why haven't we heard about him earlier? As a collective, as an identifiable group, I believe they start in the 1930s.

Now, as we've discussed earlier, a Geek is someone focused on a specific subject in pop culture, someone who has what a 'normal' person (i.e. someone not fascinated with the same subject) would consider an inordinate about of knowledge about the subject. This subject could be comics, music, musical groups, sports, whatever. The subject itself is less important that the obsession in identifying the Geek. With that said, most of the traditional Geek subjects are science-fiction related because this is the subject that brings forth the birth of the Geek as we know it.

In the 1930s, pulp science-fiction was strong. The comic book is being born. Movies have sound now and 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein' are starting the first big wave of 'strange' film. Forry Ackerman and Julie Schwartz are perhaps the best known Geeks from this era and, if not the first Geeks to exist, certainly amongst the first few. They set the basis standard pattern that subsequent Geek eras would follow: excitement about a subject, a desire to share that excitement with like-minded individuals, and eventually finding work regarding their fascination.

The late 1950s into the mid 1960s is the next big era of the Geek. Monster movies have been revived by aliens and radioactivity. Godzilla first appears. Hammer films first appear with their color horrors. The original wave of Universal Horrors now play regularly on television. The Munsters. The Addams Family. While comics get derailed from their full growth by 'The Seduction of the Innocent' book and the backlash surrounding it, superheroes return. Marvel Comics start. The original 'Star Trek' is probably the last big event in this cycle. Julie Schwartz is now a big editor at DC Comics. Forry Ackerman is running the 'Famous Monsters of Filmland' magazine. This is the era called by some as the 'Monster Kids' era. This is also the period of the rise of the 'fanzine', magazines made by fans for fans, attempts to draw Geeks together.

It is possible that this is the period where being a Geek was seen by 'normals' as bad. Why that is isn't completely clear to me yet. Is it the stigma that stained comic books by 'The Seduction of the Innocent'? Is it just that the Geek kids weren't considered 'normal' and therefore misunderstood? Is it because there just weren't enough of them yet? A combination of events? People just being jerks?

This wave of Geeks starts to come of age during the late 60s as overall Geekdom ebbs. Hippies are all about. Cinema starts to get more serious. Godzilla movies get experimental and budgets get lower. Hammer films aren't sure how they fit into this new world and falter with the rest of the British film industry. 'The Exorcist' alters expectations about mainstream horror. Comics become less mainstream again. Watergate and Vietnam make the general public more cynical, less interested in the 'simple' good vs evil found in most Geek interests.

Just like the first wave of Geeks brought about the second wave when they came to power, the third big wave comes at the hands of the second wave. The 'Monster Kids' grow up to create the 'Blockbuster Movie' era. Steven Spielberg with 'Jaws' and George Lucas with 'Star Wars' reinvent what the public will expect from a science-fiction/fantasy film. No longer will a dodgy effect be allowed to pass in an otherwise good story. To be fair, the early generations would have laughed at the dodgy effect if it was bad enough, but now it would be increasingly unacceptable. Science-fiction starts to blend with the more mainstream acceptable action movie genre in examples such as 'Terminator', 'Alien', and 'Predator'. This is when the bulk of the 'Star Trek' movies, at least the ones considered the 'best', are released. 'Doctor Who' sees it's first big wave of attention in America. Cable TV and VCR use rise. Slasher films dominate the horror scene with the 'Halloween', 'Friday the 13th', and 'Nightmare on Elm Street' series, amongst others, all starting during this period.

Not all the 'Monster Kids' grew up to work in traditional Geek areas. Many found themselves working in an area that would still feel like science-fiction to many: computers. They programmed, they built, they created. By the end of the 'Blockbuster Movie' era in the mid-1980, they'd made science-fiction more real with the advent of the Personal Computer.

Due to this, we start to see the advent of the 'Rich Geek'. Some of those computer guys make a lot of money and are willing, eager even, to spend it on the interests of their youth. Where there is demand, there will be supply to meet it. More accurately, if there's money to be made, someone will come around to make the money. Some of those 'Monster Kids' grew up to make the kits and toys they'd liked as kids, making better and better looking products.

The next Geek wave hits much sooner than previous waves primarily due to the rise of the computer in the home and this thing called the Internet. In the early waves of fandom with fanzines and newsletters, a fan had to find a notice of the existence of one of these products and send away for it. There was more work involved on both ends of the product. Now, an electronic newsletter was much easier to find and subscribe to and send. The ad would be in a newsgroup dedicated to the subject, you'd send an email, and you'd get added to a mailing list. No postage, no sending away, no ropey printing. Better all around.

Then with the rise of the World Wide Web, you didn't even need to hunt for anything. All you had to do was to go to a search engine, type in what you're interested in and there you go! Nothing simpler! You no longer had to be a fan on your own. With a few clicks, you could meet up with others that liked what you liked. You were empowered to know that you weren't alone.

Technology continued to advance, making those special effects easier and easier to make look good. Fantasy subjects that had long been seen as impossible to film were now becoming possible. The 'Lord of the Rings' books. 'Spider-Man.' More 'Star Wars' movies. More George A. Romero zombie films. More of all those things that Geeks had been asking for, begging for.

This wave should die off like the rest but the Internet is a powerful tool in bringing people together. Also, right when the wave should have started fading, came DVD. Film restoration was increasingly coming into vogue and DVD took that to new levels. Movies were remastered. TV shows became more cost effective to release to the home market. It's become easier and easier to re-evaluate items from the past and how the original products were meant to be taken. The Geek has never had better access to their items of interest, to collect them, to investigate them, to enjoy them.

As a group, what have we done with all this power?

We've used it to hate.

I don't necessarily mean you specifically dear reader, but us as a whole. The Internet is full of hate. Annoyance at movies not even completed. Fanedits of movies that have been released but had 'stupid' bits. 'Worse movie/TV show/moment ever'.

The worst thing that can happen to a group is to win. The Geeks have won. We have power. We are catered to by companies. People want to please us. And they can't.

Why not? In our defense, some products aren't very good. They're rushed. They're not well thought out, thrown onto the market in a quick attempt to cash in. I'm not trying to say that you should like everything or anything in particular.

Where the problem often lies in within ourselves. We build mental pictures of how, for instance, certain comic book characters look or sound. When a new artist comes on a book with their own style, sometimes we reject them simply for being different. Or a movie gets made based on our favorite book series and we complain about the casting because one actor doesn't fit our mental picture or doesn't sound right. Often, it's got nothing to do with how well the artist draws or how well the actor does in the role, it's wrong because it doesn't match up with what's in our heads.

That obsessive quality is what makes us Geeks. We want the details to be just so. We get annoyed when 'continuity' gets disrupted, forgetting that it's our job to come up with the theories to fit things together when they don't appear to do so. We continue to watch television shows we don't enjoy so that we can be able to complain about them to our friends.

My Geeks, I'm not saying to ignore your critical thinking ability, to blindly enjoy everything put before us. What I am saying is to remember that 'critical' doesn't equal 'finding the bad' in something. Don't hate something because it's easier to hate than enjoy or because it's 'cooler' to be the first person against something. If you don't enjoy something, try to work out why. If it's you, say that it's you rather than saying 'that sucked'. Try to remember what brought you to your Geekdom for something rather than letting it burn out because nothing brings you any joy in it anymore.

Tired Today

I wish they'd bring back the 'Less Filling, Tastes Great' commercials. I liked those.

I have more complex thoughts than that today but I'm too tired to type them out. Pity cause they're good thoughts. Have to remember them for tomorrow.

Really? Really?!?

Monday night my buddy Brian texted me about WWE RAW, noting that Vince McMahon had come out to announce that he'd sold the show to an investor. Being long-time wrestling fans, we knew this was a story and figured the investor would turn out to be Ric Flair since the show was in Charlotte. I spent most of the night flipping back and forth between the wrestling show and the Brewers/Indians baseball game, which was just wild. I haven't watched RAW in ages but was curious enough to check in. The investor turned out to be Donald Trump.

While Trump has worked with Vince before, we couldn't figure out as a group how this 'independent investor' that just owned the show would work in the story. Would he just be responsible for the content of the show, like a 'general manager'? Would he have to provide wrestlers, bringing in new wrestlers, pretending they worked for Trump and not the WWE? It seemed overly complicated and, as a group, Brian and Moppy (who we dragged into the conversation) and I dismissed it.

Today I read that the storyline was promoted via press release on various websites. Nothing new there either. Another press release noted that this was all a storyline. On that 'news' WWE stock dropped 7% as investors apparently believed that Trump had actually bought into the company.

For years I've been reminded by non-wrestling fans that wrestling is 'fake'. I've had many people look at me funny because I look too smart to watch something so stupid. Yet here were people that play the stock market that couldn't tell the difference between a storyline and something real.

And I was the idiot all these years? Suddenly the poor state of the economy makes sense. It's awash with desperate stupid people looking to get rich quick.

I think I get to look at people that play the market with that Look now.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

A number of books I enjoyed this week but no big 'wow!' book or moment really.

Ultimatum: Spider-Man: Requiem #1 gives us what appears to be an older Ultimate Team-Up book that wasn't printed. The bulk of the issue is in flashback but the framework is set the day after the Ultimatum wave hit. Spidey is missing. The book works because it shows people in shock after a major tragedy and just doing what they need to do. There's a creepy honesty, a lack of false hope, to the characters. Still not sure if I want to leap onto the books when they revive as 'Ultimate Comics'. If I don't, this is turning out to be a fine coda to the series I was following.

The Mighty Avengers #26 completes the scuffle with between the team and the Fantastic Four. Whatever Hank Pym has up his sleeve is apparently enough to impress a lot of people. I'm looking forward to seeing what it is! They keep teasing us with it. Hank also gets points for noting that his 'sonic extractor' makes for a 'heck of a screwdriver'.

A year or two ago in 'Avengers: The Initiative' we saw that James Rhodes had become some sort of weird cyborg that can absorb random equipment into a functioning whole. It was a surprise revelation but what happened to him wasn't explained, at least until now in War Machine #7. What happened isn't pretty at all. It does go a long way to explaining why he's been acting the way he's been. It's a good issue.

Punisher #6 spends most of its story identifying the rules for what occurred at the end of the last issue. The upside is that this is interesting and the 'villains' clash well. The downside is that we don't see much of Frank.

Marvel Adventures - Avengers #37 features a 'clash' between the Avengers and the heroes of 1954 (they're referred to as the 'Invaders' but they'd probably be the 'All Winners Squad', which is referenced in the story title as 'Doll Winners Squad'). While there's a plot to resolve and things to do, the more interesting storyline revolves around Captain America's reaction to seeing his old friends. He has grown comfortable in the present but does miss the Invaders. If given the chance to go back, would he?

Transformers Spotlight: Cliffjumper tells a story that's not unfamiliar. The entertainment comes from Cliffjumper, 'small' as he is, being this frighteningly effective assassin. When the Decepticon reenforcements realize who they've been called in to help against and they freak out, it's a great moment.

Simpsons Comics #155 starts a three part 'event'. The story here parodies recent comic book events and how complicated comics have become. Change is coming to Radioactive Man comics but whatever that change is remains a secret for the moment. Funny stuff as usual.

Additional

Penn and Teller are in RUN D.M.C.'s video for 'It's Tricky' as three-card monte scam artists.

Awash in the Past

I've been watching a lot of music videos the past couple days. I go through streaks with this form of entertainment, moreso that most of the forms or styles with which I'm fascinated. Of late videos have been a 'going by Moppy' thing. If I go over by him to watch the game or somesuch, the entertainment generally starts with a few videos. Good way to set the mood.

I've got piles and piles of video tapes in general and a number of them have MTV's 120 Minutes on them. Two hours worth of 'alternative' music videos a week. Good stuff. Every few months I get the bug in my system and I convert a bunch over to DVD. Memories.

This recent explosion was due to finding a bunch of 'older' clips online and realizing I had enough located to make a few data DVDs. It's been a lot of fun. There's been a few moments of interest in particular. For instance, I was watching the video for the Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson duet 'Say, Say, Say'. At one point Macca hustles Harry Dean Stanton at pool. Was Harry a known actor by this point? I can't remember and am apparently too lazy to go check at the moment. I know Matt Dillon was a known actor by the time he appears in the 'Fairytale of New York' video for the Pogues.

Must...have...more...

Stupid addictions.

Indiana Jones 5

Word emerged today regarding the fifth movie in the Indiana Jones series, tentatively titled 'Indiana Jones and the Psychedelic Tablet'. Official announcement was scheduled for next month's San Diego Comic-Con but a brief press conference was arranged once the news leaked.

Much as the fourth movie advanced a decade into the future from the earlier films to reflect the popular movies of the Nineteen Fifties, this fifth film will take place during the late Sixties and reflect the movies of that time. The film will reflect elements of 'exploitation' films of the period and much of the film will be set at Barnett College.

A major new character will be 'Moonglow', a hippie that leads and organizes the local protests. Indiana's son, Mutt, is torn between his growing interest in following in his father's work and the mutual fascination between him and Moonglow.

Harrison Ford has been preparing to play an even older Indiana Jones. "I've been yelling at kids to get off my lawn. I think I can do this."

When confronted with rumors of a twist in the relationship between Mutt and Moonglow (that they are half-brother and sister) as well as the rumor that Mutt would lose a hand during the course of the story, Lucas' jaw dropped. "You know about that already? (Flipping) Internet!"

Indiana Jones 5 is currently scheduled for release on April 1st, 2010.

(In the event it's still not clear, I made this up while playing Lego Indiana Jones and it is in no way true. That said, news today said that there is a real Indy 5 on the way, so this is topical.)

EXTRA - A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Normally when I do these little reviews, my goal is to be as spoiler free as possible. This week, something different happened with the release of books, well, a book, and that demands a bit of a change from me as well.

I'm going to talk about Captain America #600. This was released today instead of Wednesday with the rest of the comics for this week. There will be spoilers ahead. If you're waiting or have to wait until Wednesday to get your copy, you may not want to read ahead.

You'll notice I'm working to fill this space with text rather than blank space. That is intentional.

Last chance!


Most importantly, Steven Rogers does not return in this issue. As a result, I have to label this as something of a disappointment. The issue was hyped as a big deal and, while things happen, we don't get Steve back. The main story primarily acts as a prelude to the Reborn mini-series that is set to launch just before the fourth of July.

Now, what do we get? Mostly clues. It's the anniversary of Steve being gunned down. Sharon Carter has started to remember more about that day and tracks down someone else that had been used by Faustus that day. The problem for the bad guys? They forgot all about him, and he's still got the murder weapon.

The bulk of the rest of the story is catching up with the various other characters involved, seeing what they've been up to, and building to the big vigil in the park for Steve. Here Sharon catches up to the Avengers and reveals her new information, evidence to believe, for the first time, that Steven Rogers may not be dead.

Boom. Done.

Is it exciting? Interesting? Yes, just as much as any previous issue has been. Does it pay off as a 'big deal'? Not so much.

We get a few extras. My favorite of these is the note from Cap's co-creator, Joe Simon, which includes pictures he did in the 40's trying to get through Jack Kirby's thick skull that Cap's shield was now round. Great!

This is a good book. I'm not disappointed I got an 'extra' early copy but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to get it early. It'll keep until your normal visit to the Local Comic Book Store.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

This week's big 'wow!' book was Fantastic Four #567. The Masters of Doom dismiss Doom as if he was nothing. You know Doctor Doom is not going to take this lying down! This storyline is the big wrap-up to Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's run on the book. Halfway in, it feels like a big deal. Seriously bad things have happened and the FF aren't even on the scene yet. This could be impressive.

On the other hand, there's Uncanny X-Men #511. This was the end of a storyline wrapping up some threads. I'm not quite sure what happened. Part of me wants to read the last few again to see if I can figure it out and part of me is just annoyed. It was all something about putting corrupted psyches back into corpses to bring them back to life. Oh, and the character that was doing it has been dead for awhile. No clue when they brought her back. Next issue looks like it's going to focus on the X-Club, kind of a Planetary for the Marvel Universe, and I should enjoy that. It's a group of mostly scientific adventurers led by Hank McCoy. For all the X books there are, they could spin this off so I could get that book and cancel my Uncanny subscription. Those X-Club characters are fun.

Hack/Slash #23 is a double feature book with a cover that looks like an old movie poster. I continue to enjoy this book!

Amazing Spider-Man #597 still doesn't have any Phil Jimenez art. It does have a grand story in it. Spidey's infiltration of the 'Dark' Avengers tower doesn't go well. This is pretty much the exact opposite of well. The cliffhanger is one where I know what we see can't be what happened but I'm curious as to how they'll get out of this one.

I had a story

I had another story from yesterday. Moppy even reminded me of it earlier today and I've forgotten it now. Bother.

From today: now sure why people from Illinois had such a hard time parking in the lot at Miller Park but they did. Wisconsin people too. People that were not cute enough to get away with that level of failure.

Grr.

The streak endth

My streak of observing winning games at Miller Park ended today.

Before the game started, I texted my friend, noting that I was wearing the spring training shirt she'd gotten for me. As her record for the season is less stellar than my own (0-3), I teased that a loss today would be her fault, as my karma would be tainted by her karma on my shirt. She agreed.

Immediately after the loss, she texted me back accepting responsibility for the loss. That's a good fan.

We'll try to start a new streak tomorrow.

Some Notes/Thoughts on the Novel Fragment

- That's not meant to be the beginning of the book. I've got it mapped out into sections and that's the beginning of section two, as the quest is beginning to form in the main character's mind. At this point, he's not really sure what he's meant to do but knows it's out 'there' somewhere.

- Character names are largely up for grabs at this point. As I skimmed the text before posting, I had to fix a character name to make it match the rest. 'Jim' was also 'Matt'.

- I posted about a fifth of what I already have done for the proposed book. The bulk of the existing text currently comes from the first two sections as young 'Jim' receives the gem that provides him with powers and sets off to figure out what to do with it. The fragment I posted is the start of his 'first mission', if you will.

- While not noted in this fragment, 'Jim' is probably 19-21 and still a bit naive at this point. It's also the time period we would identify as the 1980s, but not quite the same as our history. For one, there's this guy running around with a gem that can provide him with abilities. :)

- The story is meant to fit into the overall 'Steveverse', the same universe that El Hombre de Silla and Patrick Thompson, amongst others, inhabit. I've not worked on this in awhile as I've mostly been trying to crank out El Hombre 'short' stories for a collection. As I think I'm a bit burned out on that, I might hop back into this briefly to revive my creative juices or I've got a different short story that seems bound and determined to escape me. Did some planning work on that last night.

- According to the stats, this is my 500th blog post. Woo-hoo!

Fiction Piece: Novel Fragment 2

As the customers and employees of the diner poured out of the building to watch, Jim coughed and struggled to find his feet. The large man gestured for him to rise. “C'mon kid, on your feet. Let's see what you got.”

Jim wasn't sure what made him less comfortable: the sauce still on his face or the marks on his neck. “What is your problem?” he croaked out.

“You,” he said simply. “Whether you defend yourself or not, I'm going to deal with my problem.” The large man stepped forward.

Jim fidgeted with the jewel clipped to his jacket pocket. Quickly he muttered “Time Singer, Time Singer, hear my call, I need a power more than all, You can provide it, that I know, that to me he will appear slow.” The gem glowed briefly. The punch heading towards Jim's face suddenly slowed in momentum, down to a crawl. Jim grinned with his success.

Calmly, he stepped aside from the punch. He repositioned himself so that he could drive both fists into the man's solar plexus. With a gasp of escaping air, speed returned to normal. The big man collapsed to the asphalt.

The friend of the large man ran to his side, waving Jim off. “Sorry about my friend; he's got a bit of a temper and I couldn't stop him. I'll pay for your meal. Meals cause he already ruined one, right?” Jim nodded and wiped sauce from his face. “Apology accepted?”

“Sure. Just keep him away from us if you can.”

“Yeah, yeah no problem.” The man handed the cook a number of bills before assisting the large man to a vehicle and driving them away.

Jim walked back to the diner, working to repress a grin. He desperately wanted to look cool and calm like a movie hero but was finding it hard to repress the joy of success. The small crowd from the diner simultaneously congratulated him. “That was awesome!” “Are you a professional fighter?” “How did you do that?” “You sure straightened that guy out. Boy did he deserve it!”

“I've seen a lot of kung fu films,” he offered as an explanation.

The cook beamed at him as he warmly wrapped an arm around Jim. He chuckled in a friendly manner. “Ya understand why this sit-ya-ation had ta go outside, right?” Jim smiled and chuckled in a friendly manner to respond. “Yeah, I thought so. I'll make you a steak and potatoes. You like corn? I'll make ya some corn as well. You're alright guy.”

Jim returned to his booth, choosing the opposite bench as his original seat was still covered in spaghetti. He sipped at his water and tried to not look at anyone in particular. The diner had a gentle buzz to it and, without being egotistical about it, he felt sure the discussions were about him. He didn't want to start any more than he already had. Now that the adrenaline of the moment was beginning to fade, he was feeling a little uncomfortable with his display. Hitting that jerk didn't make him feel concerned as he didn't plan to be in town long anyway but it was the public quality of the display that bothered him. His abilities were new and he wasn't quite sure what he'd be doing with them as of yet. Would he have a secret identity at some point? Had he blown it before he'd created it?

Lost in these thoughts, he jumped in surprise when Terry slid a plate in front of him. She cleaned the dirtied seat across from him and then took it for herself. “That was great! Thank you.” Her enthusiasm shone from her, enhancing her natural attractiveness. Politely uncomfortable with this energy, he began to beg off a little. She would have none of it. “I don't normally pick my ... friends so well.” The bell rang again. “Eat now. Enjoy. We'll talk more.” She stood up and adjusted her uniform. Before departing, she verbalized a sudden thought. “And no leaving without talking to me further. Okay?”

Jim nodded. “Okay.”

“Good.” She stepped away, returning to her work.

Jim smiled as he cut into his steak. He had a friend!

Fiction Piece: Novel Fragment 1

Dishes clinked together in an unintentional rhythmic pattern. The dishes clinked as they were deposited at the tables, while in use at the tables, while being collected from the tables, and while being washed for reuse. At a distance, the sound mingled with the conversations being held into a refreshing wash of noise. While on her break, Terry had often closed her eyes and listened, relaxing to the music they made. At the moment she was not on break; she was in the center of it all. From here, it was all just noise.

The bell in the kitchen dinged to signal the arrival of the next prepared order. As she hurried to collect it, she brushed a long lock of curly hair from her face. Truth be told, she needed a minute to redo her hair in her scrunchy for comfort and cleanliness purposes but she didn't have the minute so to do. Carol had called in sick at the last moment and they'd woken up Rachel when they'd called her to come in early. Rachel was on her way and would soon arrive to help out but, until then, she was struggling with the lunch shift alone.

She carried the plates to table six, annoyed since her hands were full and that loose lock of hair was threatening to flop back into her face. “Now then, who had the hamburger?” One man paused from his drumming on the table to raise two fingers, signaling himself. “Then you must be the roast beef sandwich,” she checked with the other man. He smiled and nodded to confirm the statement.

Having successfully delivered the food, she smiled again. “Before I go, is there anything else I can get you?”

The Roast Beef man grinned wickedly. His hand darted out to take hold of hers. “Yeah, your phone number.”

Terry flushed. This was not a situation with which she was good at dealing. Thankfully the bell dinged the arrival of another order. “I'm sorry but I have to go now.” She scurried away to collect the spaghetti for table seven. Oh no, she was going right back past that creep! The diner wasn't large enough to provide another path to table seven so she'd have to pass by. How to derail the man at table six?

As Roast Beef sandwich at table six was bent over his plate, she increased her pace to slip past him to get to table seven. The scruffy young man there was staring out the window. “You had the spaghetti, right?” This drew the young man from his thoughts. He turned to her, smiled and nodded. She slid the plate in front of him, glanced back to the empty pick-up window and then she slid into the booth across from him, receiving a raised eyebrow of surprise from him for this action. He looked like a relatively innocent young man and she didn't recognize him, which implied he wasn't local, so she hoped she could trust him more than the creepy guy at table six. She lowered her voice. “Can I ask you a favor?” He nodded. She leaned forward. “One of the men in the booth behind you is hitting on me. At least for the next few minutes, will you pretend to be my boyfriend?”

He glanced behind her at the men in that booth. Then he took a moment to observe Terry properly. “I don't think that will be a problem.” He shook this off. “I take that back; I'd be pleased to do so.”

“Thank you.” She smiled warmly at him. “I'm Terry.”

“Just like the nametag,” he noted. “I'm Jim.”

The bell dinged again. She grinned at Jim and returned her voice to a normal level. “Sorry hun, I am at work. See you at home if nothing else?”

“If not sooner.”

She rose from the table, paused to kiss him on the forehead as she passed, and hurried back to work. Grinning, he tried to wipe the lipstick mark off while collecting his fork. Before he could raise the first forkfull of spaghetti to his mouth, a thick finger started jabbing him in the shoulder. Said finger belonged to the large man behind him. “Hey, you know her?”

“Yes I do,” Jim answered politely. He was curious to see where this would go next.

“How well do you know her?”

“Well enough.”

He gave Jim a 'yeah right' sort of look. “What's her name?”

“Terry.”

This answer received a wicked grin in response. “What about her last name?”

“I don't believe that's any of your business.”

“You dunno what it is, do ya?”

“Its Chesterfield. Are you happy now?” Jim turned back to his meal.

He was jabbed with the finger again. The large man smiled at him. “I don't believe you.”

Jim grunted in exasperation. He was hungry and these interruptions annoyed him. “Well, what is it then?” he snapped.

“I say her name is Kanfield.”

“Good for you. Say whatever you want.” Grumbling, Jim returned to his rapidly cooling dinner. Truthfully he had no idea what was Terry's last name. For all he knew, the large man had known Terry all her life and he'd just blown the whole story. Hopefully the man was a long haul trucker and was guessing in an attempt to see if he'd crack. Jim's bluster should cover the situation.

Before he could take a bite, Jim found his face in the spaghetti, a pressure holding him there. Once he was released, he returned to his upright position. Flinging sauce from his eyes, he was unable to prevent the man from grabbing him by the throat. “I wasn't done talking ta you yet!” he bellowed.

Jim struggled to free himself. He had never really thought of himself as scrawny but the man's hand was doing a really good job of surrounding his neck. A certain amount of panic also gripped him and he began pummeling the man's brawny arm, seeking freedom and an unrestricted airway. This pummeling apparently did nothing to free himself. He began to gasp for breath.

The chef burst from the kitchen, knife in hand, and rapidly approached the conflict. With all eyes in the diner upon the situation, the chef tapped the big man on the shoulder. “Hey! If you gotta beat him up, at least do it outside. If you bust up my diner any, you're paying for it!”

The man grunted. “Yeah, okay.” Grabbing Jim by the scruff of this neck, he dragged Jim from the diner to the blacktop parking lot. Once there, Jim was casually discarded.

Fiction Piece: Prelude

Most young people aren't comfortable in their own skin. They imagine themselves as aliens, elves, or even just adults. They may dream of greatness, fame, fortune. They may focus their efforts on achieving those goals through sports, perhaps acting, or just simple academics to support a super career. Perhaps they will succeed. Perhaps not. Many don't and they soon realize that they may be unique, but they are not all that unique. As the daily grind wears them down, their dreams of greatness fade to a distant memory.

What if you were special? What if your dreams of greatness weren't idle speculation on another place and time, but memories of an earlier point in your existence? What if the ability to return to greatness was not far off?

What might happen then?

Now that I have myself on the Subject

The Muppet movies do confuse people. Due to 'The Muppets take Manhattan' lots of people think that Kermit and Piggy are married. On talk shows, Kermit has been very clear that the marriage was part of a movie and they weren't really married. On the other hand, Piggy argued the opposite view for awhile.

All three of the Henson related movies show different origins for the Muppet group. The original movie purports to show a dramatized version of what 'really' happened to bring the group together. 'The Great Muppet Caper' shows Kermit and Fozzie as brothers. 'The Muppets take Manhattan' shows the gang in school together, as well as footage of the main gang together as Babies.

Which draws extra confusion as the footage of the Babies led to a cartoon of Muppet Babies for seven years. 'A Muppet Family Christmas', a tv special in the late eighties, also shows footage of the Babies, just like 'Manhattan'. As the television footage tends to feel more like 'canon', this throws a wrench in the works.

Nuts, I've confused myself now.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Ultimate Spider-Man #133 and Ultimatum #4 both came out this week. There's a lot going on, a little 'cya' happening, and a ton of extra super crazy violence. It does feel like a down and dirty, last ditch chance at saving the world sort of thing. It's also reminding me more and more of the big shakeup that altered the world of 2099 a decade or so ago. The declared point of all this is to make the Ultimate Universe that much more different from the mainstream Marvel Universe. That they are doing. If everything goes back to normal at the end of this? Then I'm done.

Amazing Spider-Man #596 had a fill-in artist. Not bad but disappointing. Story is still good.

Dark Avengers #5 has a neat twist in it. I'm not sure if it's going somewhere or if it'll lead to a character twist. Eitherway will work just fine.

The Muppet Show #3 tells Gonzo's Story. The insurance on the theatre is being updated and the regular performers need to be listed. The insurance company wants to know what Gonzo is and Scooter tries to find out. "That's easy," I hear you say, "Gonzo's an alien. They said so in 'Muppets from Space'." Is he? Do we know that? The Muppet movies feature the Muppet performers as actors, playing roles. This fact is made clear in the first movie as the bulk of the movie is a movie that the Muppets are watching that they performed in. The post-Henson films made this point even more clear as the Muppets take on roles from books (A Christmas Carol and Treasure Island) so why should we expect that the events of 'Muppets from Space' are suddenly accurate or 'count'? Luckily, while the comic does answer some questions, it doesn't contradict the events of 'Muppets from Space' so, you know, it could count. The book is funny too.

Wax Paper Makes Me Think of Mel Brooks

Thank you, thank you, and thank you!

Once upon a time, two peanuts were walking down the street and one walked into a bar.

(Wait, that can't be right.)

Did you hear about the chicken that crossed the road? You did, huh?

(Oh, no. This is not going well.)

Do you know what's yellow and doesn't breathe? A dead school bus! Aaaaaaah?!?

(Now we're getting some place!)

What's black and white and read nowhere? A newspaper!

Thank you! Wocka-wocka!

Missed a Couple Days, Ramble to Catch Up

Last week was a weird week that seemed to drag more than most. Wednesday I realized it was because I'd gone too long without seeing the bulk of my friends. I was expecting a 'booster shot' my going to the comic book store, only to suddenly recall that new books didn't get released until Thursday due to Memorial Day. Ugh, that ended up being no fun. Thursday had the Edge crew mostly gathered, Friday was baseball with Moppy, Saturday night was on at the Compound as normal, and Sunday was more baseball with Moppy and a cast of others. In that regard, I'm feeling much better now.

Speaking of feeling much better, the Brewers seem to be feeling better as well. Last week they were on a bit of a skid as well. Thursday was their day off. Between that, I noted, and them getting to see me on Friday, they'd so be bad to their winning ways. And what happened? Three game winning streak and a sweep of the Reds. My streak lives as well.

Saturday night we watched 'Fanboys'. I'm not sure which version got released on DVD as there were rumors of three different cuts of the film. The basic premise is that a group of Star Wars fans head to Skywalker Ranch in 1998 in order to get a copy of the upcoming 'Episode One' for their terminally ill friend can see it. They don't dwell much on the illness of that character but it does pop up now and then as a plot point. Even as the non-fan of Star Wars that I am, I found the movie entertainingly funny. While it does mock many things, fandom as a whole is not mocked. Fandom is often about the friendships you make as a part of that fandom and that theme is center to the film. It's worth seeing, even if the idea of Kristen Bell in a black wig wearing a Slave Leia bikini doesn't get your heart a-racing. Woo-hoo!

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

New Avengers #53 apparently reveals the identity of the new Sorcerer Supreme. Doctor Strange was that fellow but failed during World War Hulk and has had a crisis of confidence since. I'm not sure the identity of the new Sorcerer is a surprise; I think I guessed it after they identified their destination last issue. It might be interesting, especially if they do something with the character now as opposed to the character returning to limbo and Doc Strange reclaiming the mantle in a year or two. Fred Hembeck should be happy about this, if nothing else.

Nova #25 doesn't go double-sized or anything for the anniversary issue. A storyline wraps up and another starts. Perhaps it was the change in artist but the revelations that occurred this issue didn't seem as... impactful as some in recent issues. The story was still good but didn't grab me as much as they have of late.

Amazing Spider-Man #595 starts the storyline that will build to the anniversary #600 issue. Phil Jimenez's detailed art is a plus. Wolverine telling Pete to take out Norman Osborn is a plus. A page that harkens back to a classic John Romita image is a plus. The twist at the end having been ruined by solictations for later issues is a slight minus. So far, so good.

Avengers - The Initiative #24 shows a book still in transition. This was a book launched after the big 'Civil War' storyline and fit in that period. It doesn't fit as well post-'Secret Invasion' and it feels very much like a book trying to find a new footing. The writer seems to have a goal in mind and, were it not for that, I couldn't see continuing to read the book. That said, it needs to get to that new footing soon as it feels like it's a few months behind other books being released.

Incredible Hercules #129 starts something interesting. Hercules goes to Hades to find Zeus. Seeing the afterlife presented as a casino? Neat idea, especially for comics as the deceased are gambling for the jackpot of resurrection. This remains a solid book and a good read.

Amazing Spider-Man - The Short Halloween is the book written by Bill Hader and Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live. It's a fun read. Had the double-sized issue been cut in two and presented in the normal Amazing, I wouldn't have been disappointed. It's a clever story and fun. I did expect it to be funnier considering the authors and that's the only disappointment I had with the book. It's funny but not Funny. Very worth reading all the same.

Muppet Robin Hood #1 was finally released this week, delayed from almost a month ago. It feels very Muppety, which is great. Kermit plays Robin Hood, which causes conversations amongst the characters as they're confused. 'Isn't Robin your nephew?' they ask. For Muppets, this sort of 'it's only a story' works in a way that it wouldn't for most characters. The art is interesting. I wasn't sure I was going to like it based on the covers as the characters are drawn in a different style. Certain characters don't lend themselves to artist interpretation as they don't look 'right', characters like Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse for instance. Once you get used to the style, these Muppets look right. This is the first time in 30 years that I can remember Miss Piggy looking cute. It feels weird. It's not that its a bad thing, it's just... different. Anyway, thumbs up. I saw a report that Boom! Studios has gotten the Disney license as well. I'm growing keen to see what they'll do with it based on their Muppet Comics.

Yes, It Can Happen to You

We've probably all seen an article at some point that argues pop culture desensitizes people to suffering and pain. They'll point to some kid that goes around the bend and does something damaging to others. They dig into his interests and trot them out as an explanation; that he listened to this music, watched these movies, played these video games, tuned into these television shows. They can't explain why no one else that had these interests didn't snap like this one kid but that's because the answer is never as simple as all that.

Removing these extreme cases from the equation, I'm of the belief that what becomes damaged is a person's imagination. Whether it be from a lack of variety or an inability to read well or just plain simple-mindedness is unclear to me but what is clear is that people often aren't good at putting themselves in other people's shoes.

For instance, have you ever been watching a movie with your friends or family and a character in the film does something that, to you having extra knowledge of the situation because you're watching the film, is dumb but, from the limited knowledge the character has, isn't dumb? Has one of your group felt the need to comment "Well that was dumb. This movie is so stupid. Why would they do that?"? I'm not talking here of the ludicrous action, the 'I'll go into a darkened basement for no clear reason because the killer is down there and the writer needed a moment of tension here' kind of thing here. I mean more the 'I enter my home like I normally would, not turning on every light in the place because I have no reason to believe there's a killer in my closet' type thing. The sorts of things that normal people who don't know they're in a movie will do.

Or the 'how can they not hear that?' scoff? Are you familiar with that one? When the shadowy figure sneaks up on the unsuspecting worker that's busily involved with a task? Maybe the floor creaks a little and the worker keeps working, only to get attacked for all his hard work?

Then again, maybe people can put themselves in those situations. Maybe they're all too familiar to many people. Maybe it's not a lack of imagination, but plain ego. It's just that we'd like to think that, were we in the same situation, we'd be smarter than that. We'd be more on our toes than that. We'd fight back better than that. The killer could never sneak up on ME.

And, of course, for most of us, the killer could sneak up on us. It's just something we don't want to think about.

Yesterday I was vacuuming while listening to my iPod. I couldn't hear anything else, not anything at a reasonably normal volume anyway. No one was screaming in the room next to me so I didn't fully test the theory. Point is, even with the volume on the iPod relatively low, just loud enough to be able to make out what song was playing over the roar of the vacuum, I couldn't hear anything. Had a shadowy figure or a zombie or what-have-you been sneaking up on me, it probably would have been successful.

So it could happen, if you allow yourself to think about it.

Progress That Doesn't Feel Like Progress is No Fun

I'm at a bit of a loss today. I forgot that new Comic day was delayed until tomorrow this week due to the holiday. All of a sudden mid-day I realized I would have time on my hands that I wasn't sure how to fill. I'm not doing a great job spending it wisely I must say. I've gotten some stuff done but not as much as I feel I should.

I should also have something to talk about here but nothing jumps to mind, nothing that I can turn into a full topic anyway. Haven't watched a movie of late. Brewers haven't played well this past week or so which is disappointing. In my opinion, basketball isn't a sport anymore but, beyond saying that, I haven't much else to add.

Hmm. Just spinning my tires in the mud. Still better than being the guy behind the car getting muddy.

Taking Me Back

I've long wondered if there was something wrong with my nose. Flowers rarely have a smell to me. I mean, occasionally I'd smell something but it never seemed like much. If you had a large enough garden then I could smell them but have three or four in a pot, generally nothing.

Today I went out to my aunt and uncle's greenhouse. They took it over from my grandparents decades ago. When I was a kid, it was a summer playground for me. I was there a lot. In the past fifteen, twenty years, not so much. I walked in today and it was the same.

Well, not exactly completely the same. The building's settling was a bit further along and I had to duck on occasion where I wouldn't have had to do as a kid but, essentially, it was the same. Most importantly was the scent. Earth and flowers; exactly the same as I remember from being a kid. Strong and rich, surrounding me. That's what flowers smell like to me. I must have 'broken' my nose as a kid, gotten too used to this smell being the proper one.

Between all that and getting to see family again, it was a good time.

Now, if we could just figure out a way for my cousin and I to switch hairlines, things would be even better. He's got a full head of hair that he doesn't want and I don't and wouldn't mind more hair. Minor detail.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Yes I know it's later than normal. I didn't feel well for a chunk of this week. Dagnabbit.

Not as much happened in Captain America #50 as I expected. I thought there'd be some big twist in the long term storyline but, if there was one, it was subtle. Maybe they're saving it for next month when they reset the numbering of the book to #600. Please don't ask me to explain setting numbers back; it's this whole 'having your cake and eating it too' concept that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Hulk #12... why I am still reading this? Solicts for July explain that soon we'll have this Hulk book and Incredible Hulk is returning after having been renamed Incredible Hercules (again, numbering, don't ask). I might get Incredible Hulk for awhile if Loeb isn't writing it. What annoys me about this book is that the Red Hulk is as all powerful as Loeb wants him to be in that second without any real explanation of what's going on. It might make sense once the origin of the Red Hulk gets explained and that's the only reason I've been hanging on this long. Well, that and the art. Here, I know how to explain this; this Hulk book is like watching a Michael Bay film: it's got some silly bits, some explosions, some stuff that's meant to be character building but isn't, and is fun if you don't think about it at all. Once you think about it, the story collapses around you, no matter how pretty it, or the girls in it, look.

Doctor Who - The Time Machination was fun. I remember having discussions online about continuity and, if the show was to return, whether it should bother to acknowledge the old stories or just start over. When the show did return, it did both and neither, which was really very clever indeed. This comic shows why keeping continuity can create new stories, not inhibit them as two 'classic' stories are referenced while using current continuity to create a new story for the David Tennant Doctor. Fun book.

Uncanny X-Men #510 features more of Greg Land's pretty looking but soulless feeling art. It is affecting my interest in the story. It just feels very processed. It's like he draws each character in three or four posts, scans them into a computer, and then photoshops the pictures together. Meh.

Fantastic Four #566 has us beholding the Masters of Doom! Doctor Doom that is. The story builds nicely, giving us detail on what's up for the FF and lets us see Doom preparing for his masters. When they arrive and he cowtows to them, it's creepy. They feel like a Big Deal. That said, it feels like Mark Millar is introducing a slightly more sane Judge Death into the Marvel Universe. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Punisher #5 provides a big 'What The!?!' moment. Also a 'how long has this been going on?!?' moment that fades into a 'well, that might explain a lot' moment. It's all the same moment. At the end of the day, the important thing is that Frank Castle will have people to kill.

Tales of the TMNT #58 has a tight, cartoony art style, is the end of a trilogy of stories, has time travel, has space travel, has a scene with alternate dimensions, has a giant space vampire, and the C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa in it. What's not to like? I thought it was much fun.

All Hail Megatron #11 sets Megatron up in grand fashion while delivering much big action and excitement as well. Watching the Transformers cartoon in the 80's, it was easy to think of Megatron as a bit of an idiot. He'd transform into the gun and leap into the hands of Starscream, who was always seeking to take his place. Why should he ever trust him? This issue explains Megatron's motivations and sets him as a master planner, explaining how this plan went so right for a change as well as why he treats Starscream as he does. Neither character is a caricature anymore but plotters that have use for the other at the time. I had earlier wondered about the pacing of this series but it's been very deliberate, or maybe not as two 'coda' issues have now been scheduled! Good stuff this.

More Ad Talk

One thing I like about these new Walmart commercials is the thought behind them. It's the ones where they show the blue Walmart bag and people magically pull stuff in and out of it like it's some multi-dimensional device. They explain something logical to you about your money; if you eat breakfast at home you can save this much over the course of a year or if you eat ice cream at home instead of eating out you can save that much.

The thing I like is that they the ads aren't saying 'don't eat out' but they are saying 'if you eat out this many times less a month you can save money'. Its as if Walmart is trying to promote other businesses as well, trying to keep the general economy alive.

Who ever thought you could say that about Walmart? Of course, they still want you to get the groceries from them so maybe it's not that different.

Comedians

I continue to listen to the Comedy 'radio' channel available as part of the TV package. They play a lot of Bill Cosby. This is not that bad a thing to me as I like Cosby's work in general. The other day I started working why there's no retrospective of his career.

Many of his albums were re-released onto CD within the last decade, but not all of them. George Carlin and Richard Pryor had box sets released that collected the bulk of their work and added previously unreleased audio. Is there no unreleased Bill Cosby audio? Seems unlikely.

Speaking of Carlin and Pryor, I've got a VHS tape somewhere that collects an hour of stand-up routines from sixties TV. Cosby appears as well. Why is there no collection like this on DVD? Did I miss it? I've got a DVD collecting most of the Muppet appearances on the Ed Sullivan show. How about a DVD set of comedians? It seems odd to me that this footage doesn't seem to be out there at all. Is it missing? Is it just on YouTube and I haven't looked yet?

I want some footage please.

Short Notes to Clear Some Topics from My Brain

- Watched the season ending episode of 'SNL' this past weekend. Missed the beginning but caught the bulk of what was an amusing show. Admittedly, part of the amusement was due to the sudden unexpected (by our group at least) cameo appearances of former castmembers and friends of the show. In retrospect, it wasn't unlike a late 1990's episode of Monday Night Raw or Nitro, where the bulk of the entertainment was due to the twists and turns involved in the spectacle, more than the overall quality of the product. Having missed the beginning, I don't know if they did anything special for Don Pardo. He has apparently retired after announcing all but one season of the show. The man's 91. He's allowed. Three cheers for Don Pardo!

- I hate to chance a jinx by mentioning it but, man, are those Milwaukee Brewers playing good baseball of late! Even with Rickie Weeks out for the season, they are currently looking like a team to beat in the National League. Three games into this nine game road trip the team is 3-0. Of course, now that I've said something, they'll end the trip 3-6. It'll be my fault.

- The last couple days have felt weird. I did some shopping. I'd gotten used to not doing that. It was fun. Got more remastered Stooges on DVD (all the Curlys have been released and we're onto Shemp now) as well as some Lucha (hooray Parka!). You know, because I don't have enough of that already.

- Last night in between innings of the baseball game, we flipped over to RAW a couple times to see that Ric Flair was back. Weird as I thought it was working with ROH as an 'ambassador'. During one segment we saw, he talked about wanting to un-retire. Really. The Flair - Favre comparisons continue...

Throwback Beverages

I've now had a couple beers that returned to their classic formulas. They were good, certainly better than the 'updated' versions that existed for years.

I'm guessing this has become a trend now as today I saw sodas doing the same thing.

I'm not a soda junkie like I once was in my youth. Soda became too handy and convenient. I drank too much of it. A few years ago, I started substituting other beverages in sodas place and soda mostly disappeared from my drinking habits. I have it occasionally, like a treat, and it's okay. Seeing the throwback sodas, I decided I was interested in trying one. I had a Mountain Dew.

Yes, a Mountain Dew made with natural sugar. Not a MTN Dew. It's the old style logo as well. I liked it. It tasted like the soda I remember falling in love with as a kid, not the heavy syruped stuff that I last remembered drinking from cans.

The in-store ads said its a limited time deal. Try one before they go!

I Still Miss Someone

Normally I miss this day. It slips past me and I recall it after the fact and I'm okay. This week I was reminded it was approaching so today I'm stuck with the awareness of what happened nineteen years ago today.

Jim Henson died.

Man, even all this time later, just typing the words together makes my eyes water. That happens to me a lot with Jim, sometimes out of happiness, sometimes sadness. As silly as it may sound, pieces of felt and ping-pong ball eyes have a way of stirring my emotions. The Muppets are the first things I remember being a fan of as a kid, growing up at the right time to have both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show on at the same time. I joined the fan club. They've always been around.

When Jim died, they didn't seem to be around as much. I still had magazines I'd collected and my viewmasters, but the show wasn't on as much. They weren't on tape either. Not much anyway. I gathered what little I could and continued to be amused by it.

The past few years have been a happy revivification of the gang. There were the waves of toys; the toys I'd wanted as a youth that I was thrilled to see as an older youth. DVDs of the show have slowly been released. The Muppets have started to appear in new productions, ones that seem closer to the spirit of the older productions. There's a comic book now that's funny. I got to see Muppetvision 4D at Walt Disney World, one of the last projects Jim worked on.

It would still be better if Jim were still here.

"Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It's a good life, enjoy it" - Jim Henson

Cleaning Again

I've had a lot of time to work in the archive during this period where I don't have an assigned task to keep me occupied. I'd put it on hold for awhile for a couple reasons. One reason was that pausing allowed me to step back and reassess the situation, replan, rearrange. The other big reason was that it was easy to work on that and for me to neglect everything else I needed to get done. Like write or look for employment, stuff like that.

I did have something occur to me the other day, something that actually triggered the restart of the cleaning process: I've got fragments of old projects still littering the place. There are some cases and boxes that have been sitting in their current locations for months, sometimes years, that were meant to be there temporarily, until I could wrap up the project. They've sat long enough that they became part of the furniture. I clean around them like they're supposed to be where they are.

On the plus side to all this, the place is starting to get more organized and I'm starting to get some space back. You know what that means as much as I do: I'll end up filling it with something.

Waste is Bad

The other week at the Comic Book Store we were having a conversation about walking out of movies. We all agreed that it was a rare occurrence and everyone recounted a film that was bad enough to leave. Well, almost everyone. I couldn't think of a movie I'd ever walked out on. I'd feel like it was a waste of money to walk out on something I paid for and I'm not so forceful that I'd demand my money back.

I'm not big on waste. I'm uncomfortable wasting food as I believe that, if I asked for it, I should eat it. I don't like pouring our drinks for the same reason. As a pack rat, er, collector, I'm not good at throwing things out that might be of future use. It's probably why I like to recycle; it's throwing things away and not wasting them at the same time.

Of course, eating things I don't like and watching movies I don't like does lead to the one thing I'm good at wasting: time. I keep thinking that I'll get better at scheduling myself but I rarely become that effective. An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. Nothing much is forcing me at the moment.

Maybe I'll figure it out next week.

Star Trek

I didn't get to see any 'Star Trek' until I was in middle school. It was one of those shows I read about as a kid but was only on at two in the morning and I wasn't allowed to stay up that late. In my pre-VCR days, that mean I didn't see it. Sometime in middle school, one of the local channels started running it during more normal hours and I liked it. I was in.

At the time, there was no need to identify the series as anything but 'Star Trek' as there was only the one series. This was 1985-1986. I saw the original series, watched 'The Voyage Home' in the theatre, and started buying books.

The interest faded soon into 'The Next Generation'. Things felt repetitive and plastic. The passion in the show was gone. Even when people were mad at each other and yelling, it felt muted. It might have been a stylistic choice but it didn't work for me. By in large, I stopped watching the different series as they came about, only really enjoying a fan fiction series my buddies wrote.

I think a lot of this displeasure on my part was due to the honcho at the time. Much like the Michael Eisner years turned me away from Disney, Rick Berman helped turn me away from Star Trek. Berman didn't interview well. I was getting Starlog on occasion at the time and an interview with Rick Berman turned me into a hater of his style. There may have been pressures on him that I don't understand but Berman became synonymous with running the franchise into the ground to me.

Today I saw the new 'Star Trek' film. I wanted to enjoy it. Luckily I did.

It felt like a movie, not an extended tv episode.

The characters felt true to themselves, with the new actors reflecting the originals without mocking them. Quinto plays Spock and does the thoughtful eyes like Nimoy used to on the show. Loved it.

The ship's design, inside and out, looks like an updated version of the original. It's retro and not at the same time.

Most importantly, the passion is there. The characters live. They struggle. Space feels new, fresh, dangerous. It doesn't feel like things are handed to them. Survival doesn't feel guaranteed.

There's the annoying shaky cam at use, especially in the fight scenes, but that's really the only thing I can say against the movie. 'Star Trek' feels fresh again. Hopefully it'll stay that way for awhile.

Things I'm enjoying from Saturday's episode of ROH Wrestling

- Earlier shows had a very distinct format, presumably to let new viewers focus on the wrestlers. Each match was about the same length. The interviews were all backstage. Two months into the show, the programme starts with an interview in the ring, there's a squash match, another interview in the ring, a flashback to before the episode, and a possibly 30 minute main event. Way to mix it up!

- Commentary reference to Gordon Solie, the dean of wrestling announcers, not only using his 'game of human chess' line but attributing it to him.

- Ric wooooooo! Flair!

- Commentary reference to 'greco-roman knuckle lock'.

- Number one contenders match with the champ watching from the production booth.

- Bryan Danielson's submission holds. Ouch!

- Dives into the crowd ala old ECW.

- A match ending I haven't seen in ages. Wow! Excellent main event.

- Storylines starting to form.

This isn't perfect but it's good and getting even better.

So what if this is late?

Last night I dreamt I was back on the 'Pirates of the Carribean' ride with my friends. We splashed down in the area with the ship fighting the fortress, except there was a change. Past the ship, face buried in the corner, was a T-Rex.

I laughed. It finally was Captain Dinosaur's Pirate Ripoff, or whatever it had been named in Krustyland. I wondered why it was facing the corner with its tail to us. Things moved on.

All I remember from the dream is that scene with the ship and the dinosaur. The reasons for dreaming about Pirates was easy enough as I'd been listening to a ridethough on my way home from the Compound. The T-Rex, especially its positioning, had me flummoxed for a moment. I flashed back to Wednesday at the Museum and all became clear. I'd been standing behind the T-Rex. What I'd seen Wednesday was how it appeared in the dream.

I mixed the Milwaukee Public Museum and Walt Disney World together in a dream. I suppose that shows where I'm happy or something. It still sounds weird but if I could visit both in one day, well, I'd think that was a fine day.

My Streak

This week there was some talk of streaks in baseball. The Milwaukee Brewers have won their last 17 regular season games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The record for one team defeating another is 23 back in 1969-1970 when the Baltimore Orioles beat upon the Kansas City Royals.

As of last night, I've been to 7 baseball games at Miller Park this year; 6 Brewers games and 1 Timber Rattlers minor league game. All 7 have been victories for the home team. While I don't exactly recall the timing of last season and which games I attended, I do remember that the Brewers won the last game I attended last season, so I've got at least an 8 game winning streak going at Miller Park right now. Baseball fans being what they are I'm sure there's a site somewhere that tracks fan records as well.

I wonder how I'm doing. Is 8 good? Barely average?

I shouldn't be this curious about it. It'll likely lead to far too much websearching. I've got enough to do, like getting ready to attend Wednesday's game.

Picture Time

Spent some time today reading a 'conversation' online about taking photographs at theme parks. Felt like a bit of a jag while reading it. You see, I've only been to Disney and Universal the once and I only had my camera phone to take pictures with so there was no flash. As a result, I had no temptation to take pictures in the darker areas. I had friends that did. The conversation focused on how it was bad and impolite to take pictures in those areas with flashes. Doh.

On the up side, the conversation provided some detail on how to take decent pictures in the darker areas. We can blow off the mistakes we made as being dumb tourists and try to move forward. That said, I dunno how to adjust the camera I borrowed from my folks to do this sort of thing. I bummed it from them in part for the upgrade in quality (2mp to 5mp) but also for the flash quality. It brightens the Museum pictures I've been taking.

That said, I'm not thrilled with all the 'brightened' pictures I've been taking. I was warned about that and it turned out to be true. Many of them display detail but they don't look like what I see. The same was true of many of the pictures they took at Disney. You got pictures but they didn't look like what our eyes saw.

So now I need a camera I can adjust and fiddle with to some degree. I can practice at the Museum and use that later at the parks.

I might be better picture educated that Peter Parker. That would be cool.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Marvel Adventures - The Avengers #35 - The ladies in the Avengers (Giant Girl, Storm, and Tigra) are away so the guy Avengers (Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Captain America, Wolverine, and Hawkeye in this issue) act like bachelors: eating silly, not cleaning up after themselves, and playing football indoors. Hawkeye has an awards ceremony to attend and decides he'll look like a loser without a date. With the gals gone, he signs up for an online dating company, lazily uploading his personal data from his Avengers Communicator. Unfortunately, he uploads the entire contents of his Communicator, including the data on his teammates and their headquarters. Oops. Soon the male Avengers are overrun by women, super-powered and not, looking for dates. They have to personally apply to have their information removed from the site, only to find that it's run by Batroc the Leaper, in a totally legitimate venture, and he loves the attention that having the Avengers on his site is getting. Can they talk him into fixing this?

I like the art in these books. The writing is good-naturedly silly, with some lines being laugh-out-loud funny ('Because I'm Captain America and I know when someone looks guilty.' 'These ideas are lame! We always blame the Hulk!'). There's no continuity to get hung up onto. They're light, fun stories, fun for kids and adults. I've gotten some of the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four issues in this line before and they were similarly enjoyable.

Tired of dark storylines? Tired of 'too many' comics? Been out of comics for awhile and keen to see characters you remember from the last time you read? Start with the Marvel Adventures line. This is good stuff.

Creepy Moment

Was once again at the Milwaukee Public Museum today. I went with my folks for the Titanic exhibit (finally survived!) and we took in some more of the general establishment as well.

Once we got to the Third Planet exhibit, I scouted ahead in order to get some more footage of the T-Rex diorama at the heart of the exhibit. There were other people in there but I was alone in that I wasn't with any of them. I headed for the balcony to get an angle on the scene that I had in my head. On the left side of the diorama (as you face it), there's a landing in the stairwell up to the balcony. As I watched the lighting change, it occurred to me that this landing would be a good angle to shoot from as it would let me see behind the T-Rex better. I headed there.

It creeped me out to do so.

Suddenly upon reaching the area, I felt nervous. Part of it was that I suddenly felt a bit 'inside' the exhibit and that felt wrong. I think the rest was that I was now very close to the T-Rex's tail and that didn't seem right either. As the room cycled, the lightning crash as right by my head. That was a bit odd as well.

I hung in there, overriding my stupid nerves, and I think I got some nice footage. I found some details that I may not have seen in ages, if ever before. It was worth it.

I'm totally expecting to have that 'falling in the exhibit' dream I had after first seeing the exhibit when I was about twelve. I'm not really looking forward to that.

Returning to Speed

Was without Internet for a day. It sucked.

Amongst wrestling fans, the term 'retirement' is generally considered worthless. It means a rest, not an ending. Storylines will revolve around 'retirement' matches and how the 'retired' wrestler will be returned to active duty later on in an acceptable manner. Non wrestling fans mock 'retirement' even more, often noting it as a reason that wrestling is stupid or 'fake'.

Of wrestlers that have 'retired', many fans will point to Terry Funk as the king of 'retiring'. He had matches that were referred to as 'retirement' matches in three different decades, dating back to about 1980. In Terry's defense, in his book he notes that he never claimed those matches were 'retirement' matches, promoters will say things, and he never 'retired', at least not that often. For the sake of the argument, we'll say he's retired three times, once in each of the last three decades.

When did Brett Favre become Terry Funk? I'm crying and retired, I'm unretired but only for a year, and now I might be done again but not. Even stranger, wrestlers tend to retire as good guys, with the crowd saluting their years of hard work, no matter what kind of character they may have playing during most of their career. Brett Favre has slowly been turning 'heel' in the past few years, taking care of number one in the most over-the-top crazy manner.

Really Brett? Really? If you want a flaming branding iron, just say so and we'll get you one. Just stay home dude before you get booed out of everywhere.

Tired

Today was warmer. Got lots of sun. Am red but not as red as some people I was there with today.

I'm 6-0 at Miller Park so far this year. I still think they should give me a job as a 'good luck charm' fan. I dunno what it should pay but watching all that baseball would be interesting.

Good grief

Thursday night was a Brewer game. Last minute decision that paid off well.

Friday I had lunch with a former workmate and then tooled around shops with George.

Today was Free Comic Book Day. Then I went to the zoo with the Gentekis clan. Jason interviewed a bat. Returning to the Compound, I tossed the football around with Niko. I tossed a baseball to Kara. George grilled. We ate a lot. Then we ran down the street for custard. Oof. Right now I'm overtired.

Tomorrow? Another last minute 'attending a baseball game' decision and the last week of the Sunday Bowling League.

It sure feels like summer to me. At least it would if it was a little warmer.

We'll keep this simple today

Go get a free comic. Reading is good for you! Not all comics are about superheroes, just a lot of them.

Not sure where your Local Comic Book Shop is located? This link will help you find it!

http://www.comicshoplocator.com/

What? Like you don't like free. I know you do...

A Few Thoughts on Comics (not) from this week

Before I return to the pattern of regular reviews, there's something I should finish out.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed issue #590 of the Amazing Spider-Man, an issue that co-starred the Fantastic Four. I had some problems with the details in the story, many of which we determined might be my fault for having missed other stories, but I noted I'd wait on the second part of the story before making a final determination on what I thought.

To start of issue #591, the recap page (aka the front page of the DB) proclaims that this issue takes place before New Avengers #51. This is one of the questions I had regarding the last issue. I'm not so bigheaded that I'd think this was a 'hey Steve, happy now?' moment but it may indicate I wasn't the only one who didn't get the news on the Internet.

Speaking of the Internet, I did read an interview with writer Dan Slott regarding the story after I finished reading it. He noted some problems with the dialogue surrounding the time variations between dimensions. We won't worry about that then.

Johnny and Spidey continue to fuss over his secret identity. Reed thinks it unlikely that they knew Spidey's identity and it got covered up. He just doesn't have those kind of resources. They return to the matter at hand but keep discussing the 'mindwipe' as they go.

Eventually Spidey gets annoyed at Johnny's pushing and has to point out that Johnny's identity, along with the rest of the FF, has been common knowledge for ages. His super-powered family lives together in a 'safe' place. Spidey's friends and family are normal. Johnny's super-hero uniform is a set of clothes to him but Spidey's suit is a disguise, designed to protect those he knows from the full impact of his double life.

Once the adventure is over (the adventure is mostly there to 1. cause this conversation with the team-up and 2. get Pete out of town for a couple months to mess his life up further), the conversation returns to the 'mindwipe' that erased Spidey's secret identity from everyone's mind. While talking to Reed, he refers to it as a 'psychic blindspot' that doesn't allow people to properly connect the dots even if they have the evidence to prove he's Spidey. It seems odd at first that he can speak so confidently about this but he's had a year or so (his time) to see this in action and ponder it so it's not that odd.

Question - does Spidey *know* what happened, to any degree, to cause the mindwipe? He doesn't say here and it would be illogical for him to remember the moment that caused 'Brand New Day' because, really, it didn't happen to him. (Head's starting to hurt...) Does he remember that Mephisto was involved? Does he remember Mary Jane being involved? I don't think they've gone to that level of explanation yet. Just pondering.

Spidey's logic to not reveal his identity is solid. He may trust the FF but things happen. People get their mind read, they get possessed, replaced by Skrulls. Things happen. It's best that he keep this to himself.

Reed offers to duplicate the brainwave that creates the 'blindspot'. This is enough for Pete and he goes along with it, removing his mask, finally being pressured into trusting someone.

Now, this is a sweet moment, very nice and heartwarming. But.

As he removes the mask, he notes 'The way this works, once you see me, it'll all come back to you.' How does he know this? As I noted before, it makes sense that he could of observed the 'blindspot' at work and figured out how it's working. The only way he could really know that revealing his face recalls memories in others would be if he'd already done it before.

Is this a clue that the FF weren't the first to have his identity re-revealed to them? If it's not, it comes across as sloppy storytelling because Pete has knowledge of something that he can't really possess. How would he know? Are there rules regarding mindwipes that he read online? Is there a wiki for that?

Also, how does this affect his decision to reveal his identity to the Avengers team he's on? Is Reed going to hook them up with the 'firewall' as well?

Now, the group returns from the other dimension with two months having passed in their normal dimension. No big deal for the FF maybe but a big deal for our Spidey, both in the storyline and overall.

Another question needs raising: how messed up is Pete's timeline now? At the beginning of 'Brand New Day' it's noted that Spider-Man has been gone for about a year. How does he line up with the rest of the Marvel Universe's general timeline now? Yet we saw Spidey involved in the Civil War, the New Avengers, the Secret Invasion, when was he gone? Now he's lost another two months, mostly to advance the subplots?

Feel free to tell me I'm thinking too hard about this. I do that.

Enjoyable moments but, overall, I'm disappointed. It seems like it was a nice idea to do something simple and cute but it doesn't seem to fit into the overall structure like it was meant to do.

Stuff

I need to improve my summarizing skills. It's far too easy to tell which stories from the digest I mentioned yesterday were my favorite as I rabbit on about them at length.

A number of my blog entries are written rather quickly, trying to capture the thoughts as I get them (today's an example and not a good one). Sometimes they are carefully crafted discussions, working through a thought process. It's not that I couldn't go back and edit them but how perfect do I need these to be? If I look at them for too long they'll never be quite right. Maybe that's lazy. I like to think that it's 'off the cuff'.

Okay, I have typing to do and comics to read. More tomorrow.