Archive for February, 2005
Daily Musings: Day 119
Got a nasty headache tonight, so this is going to be a short one. Just wanted to share a couple choice local TV items I ran across while flipping through the channels.
1) Apparently there’s some religious programming on channel 19 called Manna-Fest with Perry Stone. How do I know this? Because as I flipped past the channel, I was assaulted with the huge graphic asking the same question Mr. Stone was asking: “Why does Satan hate Israel and the Jews?” And he was asking this while standing in front of a church in Jerusalem. Wearing a blue and white jogging suit. He’s going on and on about the holiest city in the world, and how Satan engineered the holocaust, and he’s wearing a friggin’ jogging suit!!! You can’t make this shit up, folks. It just amazes me that people like him can get their own friggin’ TV show!
2) Our very own NewsCenter is set to follow up their award winning investigative reporting piece on teenage girl boob jobs with – wait for it – an award winning investigative reporting piece on swingers.
No, not the movie. The lifestyle. Central Ohio swingers. There’s a scary thought.
(I wonder if they contacted Dan to ask him about his experiences DJing at some swinger events…)
And so ends tonight’s episode of Bizarro World local TV moments.
Plan B, Plan C, Plan D … Plan U
I’m 2.5 pages into pencilling my Myth story, and it’s going to look very different from what you saw described in the script. The pictures I wrote into the script don’t, um, they don’t work. At least 30 percent of the pictures I’m using I’m making up on the fly. For example, I may have to take out the drag queen scene — I love it, but it might be distracting from the through-line.
If someone else was monkeying with my script like this, I’d be seriously pissed.
New ratings for Marvel comics
In light of Marvel changing their comics rating system, Scott at Polite Dissent offers his own suggestions. Funny stuff.
“NC – Nudity has been Covered up.
JG – Jean Grey dies, again.”
(via neilalien)
Catwoman movie a “piece of s***” according to Berry
“Berry was named worst actress of 2004 by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation for her performance in “Catwoman” and she showed up to accept her “Razzie” carrying the Oscar she won in 2002 for “Monster’s Ball.”“I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of shit,” she said as she dragged her agent on stage and warned him “next time read the script first.”
Well, at least she’s honest about it.
(via boingboing)
Daily Musings: Day 118
Generally, I hate awards shows. Especially the Oscars. But I did catch the opening monologue with newbie Oscar host, Chris Rock. And I liked it. Mainly because he took some well deserved potshots at a whole bunch of actors. Not to mention Bushy Bush.
However, I have to say that the whole “controversy” over his selection as this year’s Oscars host was so much BS. I mean, come on. Did anybody expect him to turn in a raw, explicit performance? Right. Even with Chris Rock, you know the show is still going to be a stuffy, self-congratulatory wank-fest.
The only thing that his presence accomplished was that a whole bunch of people who otherwise wouldn’t watch the awards, did. Hell, he got me to tune in for a while.
Daily Musings: Day 117
Lots of people complain about public schools.
And I’ll be the first to admit that on a purely academic basis, private schools are certainly doing a better job. However, there’s something to be said about diversity that tends to be more pronounced in the public school system. I was thinking about this last night as Wendy and I took Hanna to an International Buffet at her school. It was a fun little event organized by the PTA where the parents brought in various ethnic dishes and setup displays on the culture and foods of different countries. I made a Persian dish to share (Rice with Currants, one of the easier ones). In return I sampled jerk chicken, Rwandan fried potatoes, plantains, crepes, potato pancakes, Belgian waffles, tamales, gnocchi, and a bunch of other dishes.
Anyway, the point I was going to make is that I think it’s a wonderful thing for Hanna to be exposed to such racial and cultural diversity in her school at this early age (she’s in kindergarten). Her class is the proverbial melting pot of American culture. Whereas I think back to my own time in private school where 90% of the kids were WASPS. And not that there was anything wrong with that per se, but still, I’d hate for Hanna to grow up being so sheltered in her contact with people who come from different background and cultures. Because if there’s one thing that’s clear watching kids play, it’s that they are truly colorblind. The way it should be.
I wish I could say the same thing about the adults who run the world they will one day inherit.
Sin City movie
So have you seen the official Sin City movie website yet? I gotta say, I’m pretty jazzed about this flick.
Daily Musings: Day 116
Lately, I’ve seen a few people on various comic book message boards complain that there just aren’t many good comics to read. To which I have to say “which planet are you living on?”
Granted, there are a lot of crappy comics being published by the major publishers. But not everything from Marvel and DC is “bad”. There are gems there, if you know where to look. And a higher percentage still (compared to the overall output) at imprints like Vertigo. Not to mention the many different indy titles out there.
But to me, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, think about the decades and decades worth of back issues available dirt cheap. To all those people who lament the loss of “quality” comics from the 70s or 80s, I say “have you heard of a little website called ebay?” Aside from the thousands of individual back issues available for mere pennies, you can easily pick up entire runs of some great old series and mini-series. Not to mention tons of inexpensive graphic novels, new and old. And of course if graphic novels and TPBs are your thing, just look at the stuff available on half.com.
The way I see it, it’s not that aren’t enough quality comics to read. Rather, it’s the lack of time (and money, unless your library system has a good selection) to read all the great stuff available.
Hunter S. Thompson
Not to be a “stick in the mud” or anything, but I have to admit I’m getting a bit tired of the hero worship syndrome vis a vis Mr. Thompson’s tragic demise. I have nothing against the man or his works, but let’s try and separate praise for his works with praise for the man himself. (And yes, I do understand how ludicrous that sounds when dealing with a cult of personality such as Mr. Thompson, who’s personal life was nearly inseparable from his work.)
Ok, this is what’s bothering me. “The 67-year-old shot himself in the head in the kitchen while his son, daughter-in-law and six-year-old grandson were in the house.”
Six. Year. Old. Grandson.
Not to mention his wife was on the phone with him. Nobody should have to see or hear someone they love die of a gunshot to the head. Least of all a six year old boy.
That’s messed up.
Holy Crap!
Ok, I don’t want to hear about obsessive comic book collectors anymore. Check out this guy’s house. He collects everything from keychains to decanters to butterflies. On the plus side, he has an amazing knack for displaying them all. I love the way he shows off his keychain collection. And check out his living room:
Daily Musings: Day 115
In the comments section of my musing from yesterday, Matt asked a great question: “Why is it important to you that comics are taken more seriously and grow beyond the kind of perceptions that Simpson mentions?”
I guess the main reason is that I absolutely love the comics medium, so on a purely selfish level I want to make sure it survives well into the future so that I’ll always have access to great comics. I’m not going to go into the various reasons why I love comics so much (that’s a musing for another day,) but it’s the only hobby/interest that I feel passionate about. I enjoy music, I like mountain biking, I play volleyball when I can, and I dig a good book. But none of those things give me as much enjoyment and pleasure and fullfilment as reading a great comic.
And unfortunately, I find my hobby in dire straits these days. It makes me sad to think that I may not be able to take my kids to a store where they can pick up a handful of comics. Not that I’d ever force my hobby on them (I hate when parents do that under the self-deluded idea that “no, little Timmy really wants to be a football player”). But I want the medium to be there for them, if they so choose to explore it. And I want it to be there for anyone else with an interest in writing and artwork.
And to ensure that comics don’t die out completely, I feel we need to expand their readership. That’s the only way to survive. Give them the potential audience of books: kids, teens, adults, boys, girl, men, women. In other words, everyone. Offer something for everyone. And “taken more seriously” to me doesn’t mean “make comics for grown ups”. It means make comics so good and so diverse that they are seriously considered as a valid medium for entertainment and/or education. After all, children’s books aren’t “adult”, but they are also not dismissed by adults as “juvenile trash”. They are seen as a very legitimate product, able to teach kids reading skills, provide entertainment, and in some cases even moral lessons. That’s what I want for comics as well. I want adults to assign that same type of value to them, and only judge the individual bad ones as “trash” the way they would judge a specific book as crap. Not the entire medium.
Anyway, I hope that answers Matt’s question. I probably rambled a bit incoherently there, but what can I say. It’s late and I’m typing this out as it comes to me. Bottom line, I love comics and know they are capable of so much. I just want to see the field achieve that potential.
Hey Joey, do you like Superfriends? Do you like Office Space?
Then this mash-up of the two is for you. T.P.S. Go on, watch it with your “O” face.
(via beaucoupkevin)
Hey Joey, do you like pirates? Do you like Jesus?
Courtesy of the website review section of Columbus’ own Alive, may I present the blasphemous webcomic sensation, Pirate Jesus.
(someone is so going to hell for this)
File under “cool” or “too much time on their hands”
To celebrate National Engineers Week, these guys took over 3800 Post-it notes and created a 4 story mural of Super Mario Brothers action. Go check it out.