Disney and Marvel

I wish I had something intelligent to add to the whole Disney buying Marvel discussion, but all I can think is:

PLEASE, PLEASE don't mess with the Avengers-related movies. Iron Man and Incredible Hulk were so GOOD.

At least wait until us Cap fans finally have ONE good movie before you fuck it all up.

Thank you.

Rec Request?

So, anyway, I'm back at school and mostly happy about it. :-) I'm also near an awesome video store that has pretty much everything and no idea what to rent.

I do know I'd like it to have lots of violence and explosions and the less plot the better. Awesomely bad is good too.

So, um, recommend me something?

Zombie Planets Are Awesome

Okay, you know how I wanted a zombie moon/planet that collided with Earth to make the moon?

Zombie-Xanshi is just as good!

Thank you! <3

A thought

After reading Dark Avengers, I had the thought that once SHIELD's back, and Nick Fury inevitably dies/fakes his death/goes underground again, they should totally replace him with Scott Summers.

He's clearly devious enough, and well, he's used to thankless leadership roles and having to step aside at a moments' notice when the prodigal father figure comes back from where-ever the hell he traipsed off to this time. (At least Nick's girlfriends don't keep losing their fucking Empires, LILANDRA.)

Of course, mutancy and nationality issues aside, he'd never get put in the position because the higher ups in the Marvel Universe can't ever pick a replacement for Nick who is simultaneously competent, reasonably moral (if comfortable with cloak and dagger stuff) and not going to take it too personally at the inevitable demotion. It'd be a waste of another opportunity for things to go to hell in a handbasket.

It's possible that I really just want to see what Cyclops would do with an army of LMDs and a helicarrier. Oh well.

Meme Answers

Thanks for your questions! Here are my answers!

Meme answers!

What circumstances would allow "They needed killin'" to hold up as a valid defense? What if I'm in Reno and I just want to watch someone die?

If they're Nightwing, you're okay. Otherwise, you're S.O.L. Sorry.

If you could have a pet monkey, what would you name it and what kind of monkey would it be?

A spider monkey named Spot.

What do you think of the way lawyers are portrayed on shows like Law & Order?

Let me put it this way, if I ever meet Dick Wolf, I'm kicking his old, multi-millionaire ass.

Who should Sookie (True Blood) end up with Sam or Bill?

Neither, she should start dating Bella from Twilight.

Why can I never remember what I went upstairs for?
(For extra credit: What DID I go upstairs for??)

You keep getting distracted by the stain on the carpet.

(Your socks.)

Who shot the bird in the afternoon gameshow?

I have no idea what that is a reference to, but I'm going to assume it was Batman.

Who put the bomp in the bomp, bomp, bomp?

Bonus: Who put the ram in the rama-lama-ding dong?

Godzilla. He was slumming it.

Exactly what are on those photos that Snapper Carr has in his safe deposit box, and what IS his fascination with Hal's feet?

The answer to both of these question is the same. Oh, Hal, I hope to never know where your feet have been.

Does Kyle ever get freaked out about going into the kitchen?

Not as such, but he always flinches before opening the microwave.

What are some of your favourite novels? Perhaps you could mention different genres (fantasy, science-fiction, historical, etc.)...

Hmm. I tend toward junk fantasy as a rule. I think my favorite is C.J. Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time (and sequels.) My favorite science fiction novel is Memory, in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.

I'm not sure I have a favorite historical novel. If historical fiction counts, possibly the Count of Monte Cristo, though I liked the Richard Chamberlain movie better. (Come to think about it, that probably doesn't count as "historical" at all. Oops.)

name your favourite superpower and then explain how you would use it to do the mundane everyday things.

Telekinesis. I would NEVER MOVE AGAIN. Also I would do crappy parlor tricks and annoy people.

Would you like some cake?

Yes, I would! Thank you!

Queen and Country movie?

I always like to give two days for any memes that involve questions, so, if you have any last minute additions, drop them by!

In the meantime, I'm squeeing a bit over this!

A Queen and Country movie? I hadn't heard about that! I'm so there!

Of course, I'm hoping that "female version of the Bourne Identity" is just a genre indicator and not meant literally. Because...that's pretty off base otherwise.

Not really sure how I feel about the Naomi Watts suggestion either.

Still, if it ends up good, it could be awesome, so I'll let myself be a bit excited for now!

Another Day, Another Meme

Okay, well. This one's pretty easy. :-) Ask me a question, any question, about anything, and I will answer it truthfully or sarcastically as the case may be. If I don't know the answer, I will totally make shit up.

So...ask me something, please!

Ooo.

I'm not a huge fan of the DC Animated Universe in general but I do think Terry McGinnis is just adorable (I kind of have to, he's basically Kyle Rayner in a batsuit) so this is good news.

It's so hard to believe Batman Beyond started ten years ago, though! I suddenly feel really old.

And as much as I could take and leave most of the animated stuff, I have to admit, old and crochety but still badass Bruce Wayne has always been my favorite incarnation.

So yeah, I'll probably buy this thing. :-)

A Confession

I have a confession to make. One that I fear may take away any shred of respect some of you have for me...

I think the Lord of the Rings (books OR movies) are really, really boring.

I mean, I respect them for being groundbreaking and all that. Tolkien was a genius. They're the forerunners of all modern fantasy.

But still...boring.

It did become funnier in my head, when I imagined all the hobbits as cannibals.

(If for no other reason, Dark Sun will forever be my favorite campaign setting for the psychotic cannibal halflings.)

the Goods

I've been really bothered by the trailer that I've been seeing on television for that Jeremy Piven move "the Goods" and Willow puts into words exactly why.

She says it better and more succinctly than me, so go read it.

I actually thought the concept of the movie sounded really funny, but by WHAT standard is racist hate crime being used as a joke remotely appropriate?

I should be grateful though. Before I saw the trailer, I thought it sounded interesting and might have actually gone to see that movie. But now? I'd rather get a needle in the eye than pay one red cent toward that movie. And that's not actually hyperbole.

Batgirl!

Now we know who Batgirl is! I can't say I'm disappointed. I'm glad it wasn't Barbara (no offense intended toward Babs-as-Batgirl fans, but I'm still of the opinion that anything with "-girl" in the title would be a step down at this point) and well, of all the candidates I'd seen suggested here and there, Steph does make the most sense and is probably the most well known and likely to be able to keep an audience reading.

She's got emotional ties to Cass too, which might help win over some of the more change-resistant Cassandra Cain fans.

And it continues the whole (a?)Robin-Batgirl thing that Dick and Babs had kind of. :-)

I'm STILL not a big Steph Brown fan, and probably won't ever be, but I know a lot of people who'll be thrilled to see her in a starring role. Cool! :-)

Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, Recap 41: Invasion

Okay, so it's been a couple of weeks since my last recap. So let's see if I still remember the swing of these things.

Today's episode is called "Invasion." Seems promising.

Cowborgs, Caricature-Bots and Kids, Oh my!

Ah, I love you, 80s theme song. Modern cartoons need better themesongs. I mean, how else can you gloriously date them many years later.

Aside from animation techniques and art style, of course.

So we start with a nifty orbitting facility which is, according to a lady's voice (which sounds remarkably like one of Maria Bamford's stuffier voices) is the "Albert Einstein School for Gifted Youngsters."

Crap. It'll be a kid episode, won't it. Jeeze, take a few weeks off, and you get punished with kid episodes. Damn. Anyway, there's an annual science fair, which in a science fiction setting always promises something interesting. Or possibly apocalyptic. Either way.

The show area looks pretty swanky too. Lots of space and chairs. My science fairs never looked that nice. Fuck you, Albert Einstein School.

Anyway, cute little Jessica Foxx is sitting with some girl whose hair is a very unfortunate offspring of mullet and pompadour. I'm sorry, little girl. Anyway, mullet-girl asks (valley girl accent and all) where Jessica's parents are.

Ouch. I mock, but that's got to be rough on a kid. Anyway, Jessica's face falls but she recovers quickly and heliums enthusiastically that her dad couldn't come because he's on a mission. Mullet-girl doesn't take the hint-by-omission and asks about Jessica's mom. Jessica just says she couldn't come either.

I'm surprised that the first victim of an intergalactic slaver/kidnapper wouldn't have made the news. But then maybe they kept her name out of it. It is pretty sad, but probably fairly realistic, that Jessica never told any of her friends. Poor kid.

Anyway, stupid mullet-girl's parents show up and she darts over them after cheerfully having made her best friend feel like shit. But then someone calls her name and her face lights up. It's little Zach! Aw!!!

They hug, and Zach 2.0 hands her a rectangular "holo-card" featuring a tiny holographic Jerry Orbach apologizing for being late but promising he'll be there as soon as he can. Aww.

Mullet-girl comes racing over, and Jessica introduces her as "Erma". Erma for her part is very surprised to meet "LITTLE?!" Zach. When you are twelve, Zachary Foxx 2.0 clearly embodies his name, I guess. Heh. Wait 'til you hit highschool, Jessie.

Anyway, Zach 2.0 wants to see the project so they run off.

Now we cut away to a long control room type area, where some alien fellows sit and make odd noises. Why do aliens seem to work a lot of the menial jobs in this universe?

Anyway, the alien guy we focus on apparently does routine maintenance while not playing computer games with a sulky AI. I can't disapprove. I'd be doing that too. Suddenly he perks up though and asks if anyone hears anything. The guy next to him did not. But he does hear the crash subsequent. Maintenance guy goes to check it out and sees something very small sticking out of a machine. He's then attacked by tiny robots dressed like native americans out of a western. Awesome.

Anyway, the maintenance guys flee the tiny arrows. Wimps.

Back with the kids, Erma's clearly trying the whole "get with the hot older brother by complimenting his sister" technique and tells him Jessica's project is super.

It does seem interesting at least. It's a giant antenna thing that has been tuned to pick up "pulsar waves." I wish I paid more attention in physics class. Damn you, cartoon kids for making me feel dumb. Zach asks how it works, and she explains. Something to do with signals bounced of stars. Blah-blah, technobabble. It seems swanky though. Zach 2.0 thinks that even Waldo would be impressed.

Suddenly the machine picks up tiny metallic voices. Zach thinks it's a space navy war game and wonders where the target is. He finds out when the wall behind them blows up. Tiny robot cowboy types with very real looking firearms and pink shirts storm the room. Their hats are glowing.

Goddamnit show. I'm SORRY. I'll recap more often. Just stop doing this to me!

Anyway, they circle the kids babbling something about "injuns" and shoot pink lasers at them which apparently tickle. Gotcha.

Erma and Zach 2.0 think it's part of Jessica's project which makes me puzzled about what scientific principle it's supposed to illustrate: that tiny racist robot cowboys are cool?

A stuffly looking lady teacher in big square glasses enters and commands they stop at once and screams "You children are ruining the science fair!"

Um. How inappropriate is it for a teacher to yell that at a twelve year old? I'd sue, personally. The cowboys introduce themselves as Cowborg series F-E or something like that. They shoot at her and she's all "Well, I never!" and says she'll call their parents. Well, Erma's are HERE. And Zach and Eliza are kind of unreachable, so good luck.

Also, shouldn't you at least try to find proof?

Crappy school. No wonder they have so many field trips, they'd never learn anything otherwise.

Anyway, the teacher flees with the cowborgs chasing after. Jessica, who unlike me actually LISTENED to the little buggers, realizes that they want her dish. Zach 2.0 realizes sensibly that they need to get help. After many kids shows where they inexplicably think they have to take on bad guys alone, I'm pleased.

Meanwhile the indian-caricature robots are still in control of the control room. They are breaking shit and talking about preventing "Blue Team" from advancing.

There's disaster in the rest of the science fair, as the cowborgs wreak havoc. They're doing something to a maze of rats. That can't be good. I bet they'll ride them. And indeed they do. Hee.

Okay, apparently the room that the indian-caricature robots took over was actually the "machine" room, as we find out as a brown haired woman (human of course) is told of the problem. She grouses that she told two guys to fix that stuff. Her name is apparently Captain Paz. She demands a report, and is answered with a quick "We're busy. Everything's fine down here!"

The Captain may be shouty, but she's not stupid, and she demands video. She takes one look at the conquered room and yells "Invaders!"

The station seems to be glowing with multicolored laser blasts. Can't be good.

OMG! Is that?! It IS! It's Ranger One! And all four are aboard! Shane's leaning against a wall for no apparent reason. But they're all there. Shane Gooseman vs. tiny robots. This episode is looking up!

Anyway, Doc promises to get Zach there by lunch time, and Zach is looking forward to relaxing with the kids. Aw. He's a good dad. Suddenly Walsh pops up telling them about a code five emergency (alien invasion) at the
"space colony". Shane is skeptical as there's no sign of a fleet. Doc notes that their powers are nearly depleted. No rest for the wicked though. Especially since the colony's life support is in danger. Zach finally does the math and remembers his daughter and son are there. So yeah.

Back at the school/colony, the kids are fleeing, but Jessica slips and drops the card from Zach. Fortunately, they're smart enough to keep running.

Of course, they're then cut off by more tiny robots and are forced to duck into another room. You know, we've yet to see these critters actually use lethal force. It's perfectly understandable that the kids flee, but the grown-ups are wimps.

Of course, once the cowborgs and indian-caricatures meet, they start fighting over who got there first. They fight. When one on each side gets blasted and keels over, Zach 2.0 realizes they're robots. Because the blue metal skin was not indicative enough.

Somewhere else, in what looks like an auditorium, some poor janitor is mopping, all unaware of the chaos. He appears to be human though, so maybe I'm too hasty with my aliens-doing-menial-jobs complaint. He is suddenly illuminated by a spotlight, which he blames on kids fooling around. It doesn't stop him from "greeting" the empty audience. Aw. He has dreams of stardom too. He starts singing badly and then bows. The tiny robots seem to like it though. Then they shoot at him. Poor guy. Simon Cowell's become a total bitch lately.

Back up with Captain Shouty, her robot sidekick announces they've lost radio contact. She makes him (Arnold is his name, which is hilarious) give her an update. There are lots of problems. Then the console blows up. The Captain is all "Speak to me!" and cradles him. I'm getting uncomfortable.

Meanwhile. The indian caricature bots are still having fun. They're even giving off warcries. Oh, 1980s non-PC dom. How I wince.

Anyway, in their hiding place, the mechanics debate coming out to stop them. But their musing is interrupted by Zach popping up on screen. The indian-caricature-bots are intrigued by Jerry Orbach's eyebrows as I am. They poke at the screen, mutter something about tv party. And one says "Hello America" into a microphone.

Meanwhile, the mechanics recognize a galaxy ranger when they see one, and one of them has a plan. He can't tell him though, he has to show him. Drama Queen. I had a date try pulling that once. It wasn't impressive, let's put it that way. :-)

Anyway, the mechanic does show him, by throwing him out of the closet. Dick. Anyway, he tries to convince himself that they're puny toys, but soon runs for it. As the caricature-bots chase him, the other mechanic saunters out smoothly. Well played. Dick. He's not so cool when he actually makes contact though as he babbles hysterically into the monitor. Shane points out that he's glad to see no one's panicking yet. I love you.

Back at the ranch, the cowborgs have the school teacher tied up. She's still blaming the kids. Bitch. The cowborgs want to know where the dish is. The caricature-bots are watching from a hiding place as the cowborgs "banter" back and forth. Then of course there's another cowborg/caricature fight. A good bit is when one caricature-bot pulls a cowborg's hat over his eyes and bonks him. The caricature bots win, swarm the teacher and carry her off like ants. They bitch about her weight.

The cowborgs banter amusingly more, and one with an arrow through his head pulls it off to reveal it's a Steve Martin esque headband. Heh.

Anyway, Ranger One approaches. The station blasts them. Oops. They blast their way into the airlock and careen inside. Well done!

Meanwhile, the kids walk farther, and comment that it's freezing. But then she hears Jerry Orbach call her name! But it turns out to be the caricature bots using her card. They aim their arrows at her, but the cavalry (and theme music) arrives just in time! All posing amusingly too. (Stop leaning like that, Goose. It's distracting.) Jessica runs for a hug and then is shoved behind a wall while Zach steps forward and stares down at the circling caricature-bots. He just shoots down. It's cold and awesome. Doc and Shane join in as they realize they're robots. Shane seems to be enjoying it a bit much actually.

Zach, Erma and Jessica fill them in on what they know. Zach gives marching orders. Niko is to get people to the launch bay. Doc is to dissect the robots. And Goose is to reclaim the machine room. He smirks. And so do I. This will be satisfying. One of the bots perks up and shoots Doc in the butt. Poor Doc. Niko laughs.

Now that everyone's in the launchbay, Zach gives them the "remain here" speech. While elsewhere, we see a montage of chases. Heh.

Shane enters the machine room, notes the caricature bots, and rescues the devious mechanic from what looks like an overhead compartment. Shane asks if there's a way to fix the machine center. The mechanic suggests a brand new one. Shane is not amused. Also, the mechanic wants a day off.

Elsewhere, the cowborgs sit by tiny covered wagons. They note a galaxy ranger, and Zach looms over them. They fire, and he is unconcerned. He shoots them and mutters "stupid little droids." Caricature-bots also try attacking from behind. That goes equally as well for them as Zach thunderbolts them. Overkill much?

One cowborg escapes the slaughter and runs ahead. He stops, takes duel stance and yells "draw". I kind of love him. Zach complies and they walk toward each other. Then Zach steps on him. I love you, Zach.

Anyway, Doc calls with the progress report. The robots are "something else" and very sophisticated. But mass-produced. Also, one has a price tag. Hee!

The hapless other mechanic is chased into the auditorium area, where luckily, Niko is waiting. She taps her badge, shields the poor mechanic, and saves his ass. Yay!

In the machine room, Shane's doing some laser dismantling. He asks Stanley (the devious mechanic) where the weapon system is. Stanley points, and Shane shoots it. And that's why I love him too. The next step is a stable orbit. Unfortunately, those were in the same panel.

This is why we shouldn't give 19 year olds guns. No matter how badass they are. :-P

Niko and the other mechanic arrive, while Zach finds Captain Mc-shouts-a-lot. She's glad to see him and accompanies him to the machine room.

In another room, the teacher is still tied up, but she has an unlikely savior in the janitor! He creeps in and tosses a bucket of water on the bots. Well done! He lets her out and is rewarded by a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Aw.

Now everyone of significance is in the machine room. The plan is simple: Niko gets an image of how the orbital controls are designed, while Doc reconstructs it. Doc complains, but he is very good, with one glimpse from Niko, he's got an idea of how to fix it!

Zach makes a good spot-welder and can Thunderbolt very small, it seems. Neat! They stabilize the orbit! And a cheering Erma, Zach 2.0 and Jessica come running. Zach is amused, if exasperated. But he's interrupted by an unidentified ship approaching, and smoke suddenly appears revealing...a kid in an indian-caricature headdress, warpaint, but a cowboy type uniform. The caricature-bots greet him with cheers, as he says something about tabulating scores. The Cowborgs come bearing Jessica's dish, claiming they won.

The kid explains that they're his toys. He got the idea for them from "[their] tv." Another robot appears, much to the kid's chagrin. It's his guardian robot apparently. The robot addresses them as "humans" apologizes for the kid's behavior, and promises punishment. Shane volunteers, and I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of supertrooper child rearing.

The guardian tells him to collect the toys. He's a bit puzzled by how few there were, but seems to take the knowledge that some were "broke" pretty well. He asks if he can keep the dish, and Jessica scolds him that he could have just asked for it. She does give it to him though, and he does seem all cutely sheepish about it. Zach, always good at seizing an opportunity, says that he can have the dish if he promises to introduce his parents to the League of Planets. The kid is enthusiastic, and the robot says he'll make sure they get the message. Then they vanish.

So. This universe has Q. Good to know!

--

As episodes go, I think this one was on the fun end of mediocre. The kids would definitely have liked it, and the property destruction was satisfying.

There wasn't really any real sense of threat from the toys, but that was balanced by the fact that the story centered around the kids for a while. And while the adults had no problem, the kids were justified in being frightened.

And there were nice moments of unexpected heroism here and there, which I like.

I also thought that the interaction between Zach 2.0, Jessica and Erma seemed pretty natural for kids that age. Kids keep secrets even from their friends. Kids can be inadvertantly thoughtless/hurtful. But they're not bad kids in the end. And there's a clear parallel between Zach 2.0 and Jessica and the alien kid. What with the conspicuous absence of parents, and overbearing guardian.

I kind of hope to see that kid again. :-)

Finally, it was nice to see just a hint of how hard the entire situation would be on the two kids. They seem to be dealing well, and Zach does his best, but it's nice that it's not completely ignored.

Again, no post

Unfortunately, I have no post today, and I have an evening meeting so...sorry.

I do intend to (and this is a tentative promise) start recapping Galaxy Rangers again, for tomorrow.

So yeah, sorry!

Urgent Question

So, okay, I haven't had time to do much of anything like seeing movies, but I've been DYING to know.

Is the GI Joe movie any good?

Or is it really bad to the point of being entertaining?

Because I kind of want to see it. (I like explosions, cartoonish violence, and I think Channing Tatum is hot, even if I'm never sure I've got his name in the right order because his parents apparently gave him a freaking surname for a first name.) I may finally have time to go.

I hate seeing movies blind though. So? Is it worth watching?

Why I Shouldn't Read 90s Comics And Wikipedia

Blackest Night got me thinking of that GL Annual from some years back with a bunch of zombies of Green Lanterns including Kilowog and Mogo (!!!) and got me thinking.

You know what Black Lantern *I* want to see?

Theia.

As in the planet that apparently crashed into us and caused the moon to form.

Doing the resurrection mojo over the fucking MOON and getting a seriously pissed off planet!

Zombie planets will NEVER not be awesome.

Well, I think it would be cool. :-)

<3

I...have arrived. I am settled in. Everything works (except my jamming door lock) and I'm eating my favorite kind of sushi as I type.

Life is GOOD.

No Post On Account of Impending Road Trip

So I'm off in the morning, on my lovely ten-hour-or-so voyage back to school.

I'm way too old to have end-of-summer-vacation blues.

It'll be weird to be back in glacier-fucked Michigan. To be able to stand outside and not feel a damned incline.

Oh well, on the plus side, I seem to be a lot less likely to get killed by my own inept driving there. So there's that.

See ya later!

Perils of my Week Off

I accidently watched Maury Povich today. It was one of those paternity test themed episodes. (It was incredibly depressing. Especially when the guy's like "Well, I'll stay if it's mine, but if it's not, I'm gone." Because really, even if it DOES turn out to be his baby, that's not going to fix the underlying problems. But I digress.)

I would like to see a Marvel/DC version though.

Especially when you pull in parallel universes, mutant powers, and clones.

Though I imagine the wreckage wouldn't stop with a thrown chair.

(Tomorrow I get to take my road trip back to school. Go me!)

A Question:

So, um. Is it just me, or is Ultimatum TERRIBLE?

I mean, granted, I've never been a huge fan of the Ultimate universe period (except for a brief fondness for parts of Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men) but...isn't going all scorched earth a bit much?

I might just be annoyed at the whole Magneto thing. Or the Cyclops thing. Or...

Then again, I'm still holding a grudge over that Blob and Wasp thing. "Tastes like chicken" indeed.

So yeah. I'm not a fan.

Yay for me, no post for you

I don't have a post today. I do however have my very first ipod. I am happy. :-)

Hm

So...this story kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm by no means a fan of Liefeld, and I was pretty horrified at Heroes Reborn when I read it, but it crosses the line to me to try to demand (even jokingly) an apology from a comic creator. It smacks of fan entitlement. If, IF, an apology is owed to anyone, it'd be the owner of the property. Or possibly the original creators, though I think that's a stretch too.

Criticism is fine, and justified, but entitlement really isn't. Comic creators don't owe us anything, and if we don't like what they make, we have means of expressing that.

It's a shame, because I do think buying the "How to draw comics" book and giving it to Liefeld is a pretty clever way of expressing criticism of his work. It's hilarious, and if that were the be-all and end-all of the story, I'd laugh and approve.

But coming as it did AFTER the initial demand for an apology just smacks of harassment to me. I'm sure he got the message the first time.

Stop making me feel bad for Rob fucking Liefeld, guys.

(Found via blog@newsarama)

Something I'd Like To See

You know what I'd like to see? An educational comic starring all the shrinking people (be they Atom-like or Pym Particle using) and having microscopic adventures into people or things.

You know, kind of like the Magic School Bus episode where they shrunk and went inside the geeky kid. (I may be the only one who knows what I'm talking about there.)

I just think it'd be fun. Educational microscopic adventures!

My thoughts on the Cry for Justice thing.

It's kind of weird that I didn't end up blogging about this sooner, but since it ended up being the topic of my column, I figured I'd chime in with my own thoughts here.

The whole Hal/Zinda/Helena threesome innuendo amused the heck out of me.

Granted, I don't know if Ollie was serious, but if he was, well...

We ARE talking about Hal Jordan here. And Zinda always struck me as a female version of Hal. This is why I've totally wanted them to knock boots before.

While I have the utmost respect for Gail Simone, I don't really share her concerns about Huntress in all this. Helena's shown her own propensity for making unwise decisions with unsuitable men (how's that for a euphemism?) in comics before. And Hal's, well, the epitome of the "unsuitable man." He's the guy you see across the room and go "DAMN. Bad idea. Totally bad idea. But, DAMN." Sometimes people backslide. And Zinda doesn't seem to be the sort of character that would let something like this effect a friendship, so I can buy that Helena wouldn't be as concerned about that aspect with her as she might with Barbara or Dinah.

Intellectually I can see the concerns about sexism or wish-fulfillment. But well. I can't get too up in arms about what three consenting adult characters do, even if it probably was an exceedingly bad idea. (Since we're talking about heroes here, I think it's safe to assume that the alcohol consumed was not enough to take away consent.)

Oh, and finally, I totally buy Ollie having learned it through Dinah instead of Hal. To indulge in generalizations for a moment: Women TALK. We talk a lot. There is very little a guy does that we do not talk about with our girlfriends. If you get in a fight with your girlfriend and the next day all of her friends seem to be glaring at you...it's because they KNOW. I'm just sayin'. Just because Hal, for some reason, decided not to share it with Ollie doesn't mean that Zinda or Helena wouldn't tell Dinah.

The one thing I don't buy though, is that apparently this story's gone around the superhero community and Hal didn't know. Because that means that Guy Gardner never mocked him about it. And that's just not right, man.

A Miscellaneous Thought, Again

God, I hate weekends. :-)

I was thinking of those old comics where inexplicably, for no real reason, they'd just have the team randomly playing baseball or some other sports game. This would inevitably involve entertaining use of powers and other things, of course. And people getting carried away with the spirit of competition and all those other things.

It almost always seems to be baseball actually, and I always wished I'd see them playing other things. Like water polo. Or Badminton.

Wolverine trying to play badminton seems like a very entertaining mental image to me.

Possibly I haven't been getting enough sleep lately...

Something I'm Going to Miss About New York:

Hearing commercials for Green Lantern: First Flight on the local oldies radio station.

And they played that commercial a lot, which is really peculiar since I never expected there to be much cross-section of fans there. It's such a weird thing to advertise between old Motown or Disco hits.

Sometimes things happen to make you realize your tastes are not as strange a combination as you think.

Rambling

What's not awesome: I haven't been able to get to the comic book shop in a while and won't likely until the weekend at the earliest. This has made me all antsy as certain comics are coming out and I want to seeee.

What IS awesome though: When Fangirls Attack. It's been great for quite a while, of course, but I don't think I've gotten around to saying that. The girls that took over when Ragnell, Anna and I bowed out have been doing a fantastic job. The blog is awesome and they are awesome too. :-)

Also So You Think You Can Dance's finale was on and it was cool too. Tomorrow we'll know who wins! (For the record, my favorite is Brandon, because he is awesome. But I would also be happy with Jeanine, since I like the idea that between this and American Idol, this'll be the year for people who never seemed to get all of the recognition and credit they deserved to take the win in the end. And that would be neat. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, congratulations, you have not succumbed to mindless reality show entertainment. :-P)

And well, soon, I'll be back to a schedule that'll let me actually post content more often. I'm (mostly) looking forward to it. :-)

Request for Recs.

I don't know what it says about my current state of mind that I'm really, really in the mood for something post-apocalyptic. Unfortunately, since I tend to avoid things in the genre of "depresses the fuck out of me" I have no idea what's good.

Any recs? Movies/books/comics are all ok.

Mildly Horrific...

Am I the only one who finds this ThunderCats concept art to be mildly horrific?

I mean, granted, the cartoon designs aren't much better, but cartoons can get away with that. It's really kind of hard to do a non-animated cat person any kind of justice.*

*Excepting MAYBE that old Beauty and the Beast show, and even then, that was helped by the sweeping tone of the series. Not very applicable to this case.

I can't quite figure out why they don't just do a cartoon. The nostalgia folks'll go regardless, and maybe they can attract actual KIDS to the product.

(Art also visible here. I like the background stuff and ships, honestly, but the character design still makes me wince.)

Futurama News, Only Mildly Belated!

Sorry, no recap today. I'm beat, and my last week of work starts tomorrow. :-)

I am however thrilled by this.

More Futurama! And the whole cast signed on! That makes me so happy!

Though my inner 12 year old shippy fangirl really hopes they manage to not break up Fry and Leela again. Surely it can be funny and have them dating too, right?

Oh, who am I kidding? I'll like it either way. :-)

Babbling about Prequels

Okay, can someone tell me what's up with this whole prequel fervor?

I'm thinking about it because of this and also because last night, I saw an ad for a Scooby Doo prequel movie of all things.

Sometimes prequels are fun. But usually they're more fun in book form, where you don't have to deal with a replacement cast that doesn't look anything or act anything like the original.

But a lot of prequels just spoil it. I mean, granted Ewan MacGregor is awesome, but honestly, the Star Wars prequels pretty much RUINED Darth Vader as a villain. (And I say that as someone who genuinely liked Phantom Menace.)

Sometimes it can work for mysterious characters. I thought the Wolverine prequel comics tend to do a good job in providing glimpses of backstory. The Wolverine movie somehow didn't work for me. Maybe it's just that I imagined things more traumatic than how they turned out, but the fact that he voluntarily entered into it because of the dead girlfriend, even KNOWING the kind of people who he was dealing with, well, it didn't really work for me. And the rest of his backstory might have been compelling in explaining why he is as he is, but honestly, I've watched Highlander the Series religiously as a kid. And Duncan MacLeod managed to have about as equally traumatic life without becoming a total asshole (most of the time.).

The difference for me might be in whether a prequel is meant to provide glimpses into a character's life before we meet them, or whether it's designed to "explain everything" or show exactly how they got to the point they are today. In the first, we see tantalizing snippets, which don't need to completely mesh with the current interpretation but still manage to be recognizable. In the latter, well, it tends to fall flat. Because of their serial nature, I think comics are best at the first, because they can always provide more glimpses and snippets as time goes on. Movies though, have such a finite time to work, that I suspect that the creators feel they need to shove every possible thing in there.

The best prequels take into account that we don't need to see EVERY point between A and Z to be interested, or that we don't need to focus directly on the guys we've seen already. I actually kind of thought the Star Wars prequels would have worked better if it were focused on characters other than Obi-Wan, or Anakin. Seeing that rise to power from a completely outside perspective of a doomed character would have been so much more interesting. We knew what would happen with Obi-Wan or Anakin, after all. What if the story had been entirely focused on one of the cannon fodder Jedi we saw massacred in Revenge of the Sith? Or maybe some Republic officers? Or if it must be people that we recognize, why not pick characters that didn't get a lot of development in the later series to focus on? Like Owen Lars. Or Bail Organa. Granted, we know what'll happen to them too, but it would have been less obvious how they got there. And Darth Vader would still get to keep some damn mystery.

And really, some things just don't need prequels at all. Like Dumb and Dumber, for example. Do we really need to know how two idiots met? And for Scooby Doo, I always just figure that they had a talking puppy and instead of milking the fame like normal people, they decided to solve bad mysteries instead.

I don't know if Aliens would benefit from one or not. I mean, isn't the franchise best when they're killing people in shocking manner, and Sigourney Weaver is taking names? There obviously wouldn't be a Ripley here, which is strike one, but also things are always a little less scary when you know more about them.

Of course, I could be wrong. Sometimes prequels can be awesome, after all. And the first time that the aliens go apeshit on humans could be a lot of fun. We'll see.

(I have to admit, I really like the idea in the comments of the post, about setting it up so that the HUMANS are the scary monstrous invaders and making the aliens sympathetic. But that could backfire pretty easily, too, so it would need to be done CAREFULLY.)

Almost forgot to blog today...

:-)

Mostly I've been spending today working on re-packing crap for school. You never appreciate how much crap you have before you start packing.

I've got a week or so left of my awesome job, which makes me sad. I'm looking forward to school (well, to FINISHING school) but I really like my job! It's not faaaiiir.

On year left!