I'm an idiot

You know, one of the most appealing things about studying law is never having to take a math class again.

So guess who, having had a fit of apparent madness last winter, now has a final in "Accounting for Lawyers" coming up.

Yep, I'm an idiot. Sheesh.

Earth Final Conflict Review: 1x02 Truth

(Edited because apparently I'm too incompetent to make a proper cut-tag! :-))

Well, the co-reviewing thing didn't quite work out. But I'm never one to ditch a fun idea until I get distracted, so I think I'm gonna keep going with this. It's fun!

Besides, I like sharing my love of occasionally bad (yet awesome) sci fi shows with my blog readers. It does mean I'm changing styles some. I've never been fond of bias-free synopses (if you want one of those, just watch the show!) and thus I'm going to do what I do with my recaps. Fill them with my opinion and hopefully make you chuckle.



The 90s had funny ideas about the future.

"Implants don't have vendettas."

Synopsis:



So this episode starts with a meeting between Da'an and other Taelons (kinda neat since we see what they look like without the human-ish facades!). The Taelons are concerned about Da'an what with the whole assassination attempt last episode. Da'an fills them in on his recruitment of William Boone, who has "potential beyond question." Da'an doesn't explain this further though because it's time for an audience with the masses.

We get a hint about Taelon social power here because as Da'an (now in his usual bald fleshiness) speaks to the masses, we quickly glimpse his image on many television sets, including one at the Flat Planet Cafe. The female bartender is less than pleased by this and tries to change the channel, but Da'an is on all of them. (There's also a fairly interesting looking young black main in strange glasses reclining on the couch. He might be important later.)

When Da'an introduces Boone, we see that he's not a very good public speaker. He mumbles something suitable, but visibly flinches when a reporter asks if he knew the assassin of Jonathan Doors (well, actually his CVI is providing memories very fast, but the effect is the same). Boone affirms and mentions that they were friends and platoonmates during the "01 war." When asked if Eddy was working alone, Boone is about to respond that they're investigating that, when Da'an steps in, seizing the opportunity to mention "evil groups" of humans that are against cooperation with the Taelons.

Later, Sandoval gives Boone an introduction to Taelon virtual glass (which is more like a forcefield: needs no cleaning, and doesn't break easily). He also gives Boone a primer on CVI use by asking him what he had for lunch in 1987. Boone, by the way, was in Junior High back then. Much to his own surprise, Boone can answer. Sandoval seems to be enjoying his stint as sinister mentor.



Boone meets with Lili, who is amazed by the CVI's capabilities, but warns Boone away from investigating Kate's death. She's worried because the investigation effects all of them. Boone has an awesome moment though, when he shows her how a transducer was used to blow up his wife's car...by blowing up a car. He also suggests that he doesn't know for sure that the Taelons killed Kate to recruit him. Someone else really wanted to recruit him too.



So Boone ends up taking Lili to meet an informant in a warehouse. This informant is Augur, the young black guy from the previous scene. He is awesome. And paranoid. But he takes a liking to Lili after a bit. She seems more bemused than anything. Boone also questions Bob, his one named ex-partner, who gives him the witness statements which mention a specific car, which Boone remembers seeing as his wife left.

Via Augur's mad database hacking skillz, he gets a name (and we get more CVI-awesomeness, because he flips through the pictures so fast we can barely see them!) Damn that thing is awesome! We get a name, though, Judson Corr. Which is an awesome sci-fi kind of name. Unfortunately, the search warns Corr, so when Boone goes to meet him, he meets an explosion instead.

Boone is summoned from his office to Washington, where Da'an is annoyed. He wants to know how this search benefits the Taelons. Because brainwashees aren't supposed to have their own interests. Da'an's kind of a bitch here. Boone is clever though and points out that if Da'an didn't have his wife killed, then the attempt might have been directed toward him and through him, the Taelons. Da'an accepts this self-directed explanation, and tells him point blank that he didn't order Kate's death.

Personally, I think that leaves a lot open, Boone seems to believe him.

At the Flat Planet, Doors makes another of his awesome entrances. He and Boone have a tense standoff, and Boone reveals that he believes Da'an. Which makes Doors the most likely suspect. When he leaves, Doors asks Lili if she thinks he's still with him. She affirms and Doors orders her to kill him if that changes. Eek. But kind of understandable.

Boone has Augur hack Corr's file again but this time revealing his location. (Augur also calls Lili with a warning about charging them for any broken inventory.) There's a fairly awesome warehouse fight scene. Boone's a big guy and good at this sort of thing. It ends with Boone dangling Corr over a railing and then pulling him up in exchange for answers. Where he's shot by a suddenly appearing Sandoval.

Sandoval (who's going to bring Corr to the Taelons) reveals that HE's the one who had Kate Boone killed, and claims that he did it to spare Boone his own turmoil. Apparently, when he was implanted, his interests and goals shifted to the point where his own wife started protesting, asking a lot of questions, and filing for divorce. Ultimately, she was an impediment to his service to the Taelons, so he put her in an FBI sanitarium. Ouch. He actually blinks away tears at the end of his spiel.

Later, in the sanitarium, a wary and scared looking Dee Dee Sandoval gets a gift of orchids. While William Boone stands at his wife's plants and thinks. While Da'an resumes his meeting with the other Taelons, musing about the usefulness of human brutality.

--

New Characters/New Developments:

Augur - A fellow with a colorful outfit, a French-African or Island accent that I can't pinpoint (sorry, I'm not good with accents), paranoia, mad hacking skills and fingers in every pot. He can apparently influence the rise and fall of currency. He's pretty awesome.

Judson Corr - the Assassin from last episode, he's now earned a picture. Mostly because he's hot.

"01 War" - This is the first time we hear about war prior to Taelons' arrival. This may be a plot point later.

Boone - Used to be military, and was in a platoon during the war with Eddy Jordan

Sandoval - had been married, institutionalized his wife under the influence of the CVI

--

Review:

This episode was a strong follow up to the first episode, and we got to see a bit more about the dark side of Doors. Granted, he didn't have Boone's wife killed, but he was more than willing to order poor Lili to take Boone out if it looked like Boone would turn on him. On one sense, it's kind of understandable. If the Taelons are the people he thinks they are, Boone's defection could mean all of their deaths.

Speaking of the Taelons, this episode definitely makes them more sinister. For all that Boone believes Da'an's assertion about not ordering Kate's death, there are more than enough clues that Sandoval wasn't acting of his own initiative. The biggest being, why bother shooting Corr, if Corr was just going to corroberate Sandoval's story? That doesn't even address how horrifying the CVI is. Da'an genuinely expected Boone to just let go of the murder of his wife once implanted! That alone implies a scary loss of self even without Sandoval's tragic example.

Sandoval got some good fleshing out in this episode, getting to be much more than just "sinister lackey". First we got to see him seeming to enjoy a slightly sinister mentor role, then we got the reveal at the end. I admit, I'm not really fond of that kind of monologue reveal, but Flores sells it pretty well, and his dispassionate retelling is terrifying. As is the shot of poor, shell-shocked Dee Dee at the end. Boone's thinking of her at least (the orchids seem to be from his wife's plants) but will that be enough?

I don't know if I think this episode really helped Boone as a character. It showcased some of his more awesome moments: blowing up the car, confronting Doors, and the fight scene. It also allowed him to be less inscrutable, actually showing anger and even sorrow toward the end. But without the inscrutability, Boone's got this sort of monotonic stillness that comes across kind of brick-like. Perhaps he'll get to show more charisma later, but right now, he's not really working for me.

It was neat to see all the good and bad points of the CVI. Boone's flashbacks look really unnerving, but it clearly has uses: especially when it comes to speed-reading, photo identifying, and mystery solving. The downside of course being the institutionalizing-your-wife thing.

And finally, Augur's just awesome. A little amoral, a tad sleazy, but always awesome. He also adds a nice "young" vibe to this cast. His interaction with Boone and Lili is pretty entertaining. He's a good counter to Lili's business like demeanor, and it's interesting that he's introduced to the group through Boone rather than through Doors. Though to be fair, it's not like Augur and Doors would move in the same circles.

--

I'm ditching the statistics because they're funnier in my head than on paper. :-)

Finals Period Commencing

So anyway, now marks the beginning of the span of time where I alternate between boredom and mindless panic. Which means I might not blog for a while, or I might blog a lot out of the hope and desperation that I won't have to actually think about my exams.

If all goes well, after these next few weeks, I will NEVER have to think about them again. :-)

Wish me luck!

Earth: Final Conflict Review: 1x01 Decision

The opening theme! For your enjoyment!

This contains spoilers, but dude, the show's from 1997. Deal.

"I only want to touch your species"

Episode Synopsis:

Episode 1x01, the Decision, starts with a big presentation in downtown...somewhere, where a Taelon named Da'an is giving a speech. The speech establishes some important things about the "Companions": namely that they fixed world hunger, eliminated some diseases and are really interested in helping humanity. (Really). While this is going on, a cop named Boone is kvetching because the security arrangements don't meet his approval. As it turns out, he's right, since a sniper attack almost hits Da'an. Instead, the businessman presenting with Da'an, Jonathan Doors, takes the bullet instead and dies. When Boone chases the assassin, he sees that it's an old friend of his named Eddy.

After the chaos, Boone is offered a job with the Companions (or Taelons, as they're properly called). Boone is suspicious of the Taelons' intentions and turns them down. He wants to focus on the wife and starting a family. His wife actually is displeased by this. She's pro-Taelon and figures they can start the family anywhere. On her ride home, she's intentionally run off the road. Then just in case we weren't sure of the other driver's intentions, he explodes her car. Subtle!



The newly widowed Boone is approached by the mayor of...somewhere. She tells him that the Taelons have gotten the President to contact the governer, and get her to convince him to take the job. And they've sent a pilot, so he can be taken to speak to Da'an right then and there. The Taelons believe in playing hard ball. And don't believe in time for grief, apparently.



After the meeting with Da'an, the pilot, Lili, takes him to a place called the Flat Planet Cafe, where he meets with Eddy and discovers that Jonathan Doors is actually alive. He's suspicious of the Taelons and has faked his death to further his goals of learning the truth. He tells Boone some scary truths: the Taelons killed his wife, and the Cyber Viral Implant thing that he'll get if he accepts the job not only increases mental capabilities like they say, but will brainwash him into loving the Taelons. However, they can get him one that lacks that tricky little bug. Boone agrees, with the caveat that he gets to investigate his wife's murder himself. Doors agrees.





So Boone goes in, gets implanted with a big brain needle. Also gets a nifty thing on his arm to shoot things. Then he finds out something unfortunate: Eddy's dead. But a talk with Lili and a visit to his wife's grave steel his resolve.

--

New Characters or Developments:

William Boone: a cop with a knack for security. He's impressively competent and pretty hot, though he has the occasional tendancy to resemble a block of wood be inscrutable. Now he's been made into the one non-brainwashed Companion Protector, and is a spy.

Bob the Detective: Boone's partner on the police force. His job seems to be exposition-guy. He apparently has no last name. Like Cher or Madonna. Though he doesn't share their dress sense.

Kaitlin Bennett Boone: Boone's pro-Taelon wife. Fridged.

The Taelons/Companions: Benevolent race of aliens who've come to Earth and ended world hunger. They don't however appear to like taking "no" for an answer.

Da'an: The only Taelon we've met so far. Da'an seems to be calm, patient, wise, and apparently curious about humanity. He's also however prone to musing a bit smugly about how ironic it is that Boone's wife's death opened his mind to the Taelons. He technically has no gender, but is called "he" out of convenience and probable symbolism.

Ronald Sandoval: Companion Protector, FBI Agent. Shows every sign of being Capital-E Evil. (These signs include plasticky hair and heavy eyeliner. And being inexplicably hot wearing them.) He does not like to be corrected by people, and has the tendancy to twist the knife in conversation. And possibly otherwise.

Skrills: Awesome arm weapons of doom. They're symbiotic with the host, apparently, and like digging in deep.

Lili Marquette: She's a pilot who works for the Taelons, and helped design the interface that allows humans to fly shuttles in the form of interpretive dance. She's blunt and straight forward. Now she's Boone's second in command in service to the Taelons, as well as his contact with Jonathan Doors.

Jonathan Doors: A comic bookly rich business man whose life was apparently too public for him to get his shit done. He's faked his death (heroically even) to do this. He knows how to make an entrance.

Dr. Julianne Belman: Played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry! She's a doctor who pronounces Doors dead and is in charge of implanting the CVI + Brainwashy device into Boone. She's not incompetent, though. She's a spy. Hence Doors is alive, and Boone is unbrainwashed.

Unworthy of images-

Eddy Jordan: The best man at Boone's wedding and attempted Taelon assassin. Now he's in a body bag. Oops.

The Assassin: He has no name, but drove Kate Boone off the road and then exploded her car. He has style but no subtlety.

Mayor Luiz: Boone's original boss, caves in under political pressure.

Mentioned: The President is named "Thompson" and the Taelons have a governing group called the Synod.

--

Kalinara's review: It's a very strong premiere, really. A good set-up, an assassination that isn't, an accident that is, and a suitably sinister alien race. Da'an talks a good game, but it's clear that he probably has something to do with the death of Mrs. Boone and sees nothing wrong with exploiting Boone's grief over it. And Sandoval alone is an indicator that something is fishy. You judge a man/Taelon by the company he keeps, and Sandoval's openly pretty sinister.

There's a nice contrasting set-up between the Taelons and their pretty words, but extortionist tactics (While it's not confirmed they killed Kate, they put a great deal of pressure from the President on down to get this one cop to hire on with them), and Doors's group, namely Lili. When Lili wants to take him to Doors, all she says is "Come with me if you want to, it's your choice." Later, when Boone suggests that he doesn't know if he can trust Doors, or her, Lili tells him that she'll prove herself with her actions and that eventually he'll know her well enough to never question her loyalty again.

Neither Lili nor Doors will ever make good diplomats, but so far, they've been straight-forward, honest, and leaving the choice up to Boone.

There's an interesting visual effect with the Taelons and the humans, too. The Taelon we see so far is delicate, pale, bald and ephemeral, identified with male pronouns, but played by women. The humans all have dramatic makeup/coloring and are fairly aggressively masculine/feminine. Boone, Bob and Doors are sturdily built, broad shouldered men, with strong, masculine features. Sandoval is smaller and slighter, but still very masculine in face, dress and stance, and the eyeliner enhances his eyes/skin tone rather than effeminizes him. Lili, Dr. Belman, and Kate wear clothes that while not inappropriate certainly enhance their feminine charms. And I think it's neat that they don't just leave it with "Humans have hair, but Taelons don't", instead, all of the humans have very bright vibrant hair. Red, bright blond, black, deep chestnut. Nothing bland. It all adds up to a really interesting visual effect that will pay-off next season.

The Taelon designs are already awesome. The embassy and the shuttle are stunning. Da'an looks a bit too grey like for my taste, but that's something that will smooth out over the course of this season and distinctly improve in the next.

As characters go, I think everyone is particularly strong and establishes a good baseline for their character. I found Lili and Sandoval most appealing so far. Doors and Da'an are pretty awesome. Even Bob has kind of a wry charm. Really, the only character I'm mixed on is Boone. I don't think it's the actor's fault really, but sometimes "inscrutability" comes off as "block of wood." And while it's good for a spy to be inscrutable, it makes it hard to connect to a main character that doesn't really give any hint to what he's feeling. I mean, it's clear SOMETHING is there, but I can't really tell what.

--
Mario's Review: This is a good opening episode. It efficient establishes the world, the central players and core conflict. You get that Boone is a tough and capable hero. He’s somewhat inscrutable but it’s a quality that serves him well since he can’t trust anyone. He’s a pawn in a chess game that has been going on long before he was pulled into it. He’s a blue collar man in an increasing fantastic world. He’s a PKD hero in a Roddenberry world.

There are some serious budget limitations here (and it’s a show that’s dated all to hell) but there’s a ton of cool concepts. The show does present some interesting ideas about what the effect of an interventionist alien race would have on humanity. There are some clichéd bits (The Taelons have ended worldwide hunger and have gifted humanity with some advanced technology) and some not (we see that the Taelons inspire worship from the masses and also exert considerable political power). It’s interesting to note that this is very ground level sci-fi. We’re with the regular folk from the start and aren’t given much insight into what the true intentions of the Taelons are. All of this is serves to set the show apart for other 90’s sci-fi shows; it’s sort of the missing link between The X-Files and Star Trek (though Babylon 5 is probably a better analogue, as we’ll see as the series goes on).

The Taelons are a pretty cool race with a unique aesthetic. Their design leans heavily toward the “forehead alien” trope but the odd shimmering skin effect offsets that somewhat. Their technology and architectural sensibility tend towards the organic, with a rounded fractal patterning, which is a nice break from the established hard edged, steel and glass look that was de rigueur for the post TNG era the series debuted in. Another clever bit is that the Taelons don’t have genders but choose to be identified as male. No way that’s unintentional.

One of my favorite things about this show is its opening credits. It contains a lot of your basic sizzle reel stuff like explosions and cool alien ships whizzing around but also most oblique stuff like the butterfly emerging out of a man’s mouth and an idealized portrait of a Taelon surrounded by candles. These are compelling images that won’t be give context until much later in the season (The Wire also used this technique). They give the audience a reason to keep watching the show in a way that is more nuanced than your typical syndicated Sci-fi TV show.

--

And the statistics game, for 1x01:

Times that the 90s were funny: 4 (the clothes, the monitors, the SFX, and Lili's unfortunate hair.)

Instances of Magic Future Tech: 6 (The Shuttle, the Embassy, the Skrills, the CVI, Weird future guns, device used to kill Boone's wife)

Instances of EVIL Future Tech: 2 (The brainwashing CVI, the painful Skrill)

Times with thinly veiled sexual overtones: 3 (Lili with Boone in the shuttle, the Assassin as he kills Boone's wife. Da'an as he describes how he wants to touch humanity.)

Ways the Taelons are eeevil: 4 (brainwashy tech, super weapons, Boone's wife's death-probably, employing Sandoval)

Times we were frightened by Lili's spectacular rack: 2 (the time with Boone in the graveyard. Waiting for Boone at the police station)

Deaths: 2 (Kate, Eddy)

Too awesome to die: 1 (Jonathan Doors)

Amusingly silly sci-fi effects: 1 (Piloting a shuttle is apparently interpretive dance)

Highly improbable time frame instances: 1 (Really, Boone managed to have his wife buried, the ground perfectly green above it, with a fully inscribed gravestone in a couple of days?)

Instances where there is a hilarious lack of subtlety: 2 (The assassin exploding Boone's wife, Sandoval in general)

Times the humans are dicks: 1 (faking your death is a dick move, Jonathan)

And a teaser image from a later episode, because we can:

A New Blogging Experiment

Since I've been lackluster on blogging lately AND watching too much bad sci-fi, I decided to try something new!

Basically, Mario and I will be (thanks to the wonder of pause buttons and AIM) watching Earth: Final Conflict from episode one, and reviewing it in a hopefully entertaining way on our blogs.

This won't be the same as the Galaxy Ranger Recaps (which I do tend to get back to! It's just that writing recaps takes a surprisingly long time and my schedule this past year has been kicking my ass.) And hopefully, doing this as a team will mean it'll be less likely that I wander off.

Brace yourself to enjoy vicariously the following:
- Bad science! (Naturally)
- Questionable takes on Evolution (of course!)
- Even worse takes on cultural history!
- The Law does not work that way! (My favorite!)
- Politics too!
- Also the runes!
- Awesome Aliens!
- Deus-ex-Machina powers!
- Blasphemy that would make the pope cry!
- Parents that make Magneto and Professor X look competent!
- The ever-rotating cast of characters!
- Howard Chaykin!
- Magic alien technology!
- Incredibly unsubtle suicidal tendencies!
- The fact that this series is pretty much one giant dead baby joke!

It's a beautiful, wonderful, craptastic yet oddly brilliant series, and we are going to share it with you!

Whether you like it or not!

EEE!

Eeee! The Howling Commandos will be in the Captain America movie!

That makes me so so happy. And honestly, I really hope they keep Samuel L. Jackson in the role. I might prefer the 616 version to the Ultimate version, but I like consistency more, and it'll be really interesting to see the Marvel Universe projection of WWII. It's GOING to be different from the real one in many ways, anyway, so let's play with it more.

...I really hope Pinky Pinkerton's in it. He's my favorite. He's so unexpectedly badass!

Babbling about 90s TV

Wow. I've been slacking on the blogging lately, haven't I? Which makes me think I need inspiration.

Especially since finals are coming up. I've also been watching a lot of Earth Final Conflict with Ragnell and Mario.

It's my favorite 90's Canadian Sci-Fi show (um, 5th season didn't happen) ever. And really, you gotta love anything that's first season ends with an alien+human three-way in a Catholic Church and just goes on from there.

Also Howard Chaykin writes some episodes and you can totally tell. (Lots of women in underwear shooting things. :-P) But he's actually a pretty good fit.

Moreover, the advantage to having a hyperaged infant main character, besides all the bad taste jokes about the baby's alcoholism, anorexia, and the frequency of occasions of psychic pedophilia, is that he's pretty much unavailable for all but the most innocent of romantic subplots, so by the third and fourth season the main female character pulls double weight there. Yay for thinly veiled bisexuality!

And of course, the aliens are just awesome. (Though people who deny that the Taelons are villains confuse the hell out of me. They're COOL villains, sure. Interesting and even sympathetic. But...pretty much villains from episode one. The premise of the show is basically "Take First Contact, but this time the Vulcans are lying.")

And season 2 is finally coming out on DVD in Canada! That makes me very happy! <3

Looks like fun!

I have to admit, I'd like X-Men vs. Vampires if only for the tantrum the ad provoked in Mark Millar. (I'd be more sympathetic, but I hate his work. :-P And since it seems to have turned out okay, I don't have to feel guilty about poking fun.)

It seems like cheesy fun though. X-Men. Vampires. I'm sure there'll be stabbing, blasting, and bad puns galore.

I can dig it!

Ooo, nifty!

You know as much I do want Steve back in the Captain America uniform eventually, and think Bucky has more potential as a (good) Winter Soldier, I have to say I'm really excited about the Super-Soldier mini that's going to be out in July.

It looks really really interesting, and "James Bond for the Marvel Universe" kind of fits what I was figuring they'd be doing with the character. It'll be interesting to see Steve explore his covert side. And honestly, the new costume is starting to grow on me. I have a thing for blonds in atrocious outfits.

Eventually, I'd like things to go back to the proper arrangement, but I'm pretty patient. And both this and Bucky's trip as Captain America are interesting enough to distract me. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind and think this is how things ought to stay. :-)

Okay, I feel cheated!

Ryan Reynolds won't be wearing spandex?!

Now that's patently unfair. The whole reason for casting a hot superhero is to stick them in spandex for my gratification!

I don't ask for much, damnit.

The CGI better be equally revealing. Or I'm going to...throw a blog tantrum in a comedically overreacting way!

Okay, so it's not a particularly scary threat. But it's one I can deliver on! Hah!

No blog post

I would blog something today, but I've been too busy getting Ragnell hooked on bad 90s Canadian Sci-Fi.

I feel accomplished! :-)

And...

Okay, dumb question, but why would anyone care if an actor portraying a comic book character has read the comic in question?

I mean, scriptwriters, yeah. You would hope the scriptwriters have read the damn comic. Directors too. But actors? Their job is to act according to the script/direction. I'm not saying it doesn't take skill, but it seems to me that if the part's well defined enough, the actor can manage.

And there's nothing stopping the director/writer from handing the guy/gal a damn trade paperback.

Sometimes we geeks are SO WEIRD.

My One Quibble with Blackest Night (Spoilers!)

It's been long enough since that I don't feel guilty about blogging this. I absolutely loved the finale of Blackest Night. Except for one thing, which bothers me more and more as I think about it.

I'm really kind of upset that we got Shiera back instead of Kendra.

I wasn't a huge fan of Kendra. Heck, I distinctly recall posting a few times disparaging her tendency of hitting my favorite character when she wasn't putting the moves on him, as well as how her backstory turned me off. (I'm WAY touchy about suicide in backstory, and most times it does NOT work for me for many complicated reasons that have little to do with the quality of the comic and more to do with my own issues.)

But this seems to be a big slap in the face to the character.

I mean, the one thing that made Kendra interesting was how she shook up the whole reincarnated destiny thing. Yes, she's Shiera reincarnated. The Egyptian Princess reborn yet again to be Carter's wife. But for once, it didn't quite work. She doesn't have those pre-existing memories to work from. She was someone knew, and Carter's presumption nearly drove her away for good.

This was interesting because it made Carter, a character very set in his ways, have to adapt. To change his approach. He'd have to court her all over again and he couldn't just expect victory. He had to be sensitive to her needs and particular situation.

And also, well, I sympathized with her greater struggle. She's expected to be Shiera, but she was her own person, and she was trying to deal with that. I always thought it was significant that when freaked out about Carter, she went after Sand.

I mean, okay, Sand was the closest to her own age. But I always thought it was a little deeper than that. She certainly had the opportunity to meet other young men her age (and eventually did mack on Roy for a bit, as I recall). But Sand had two things going for him at the time: 1) he was the exact opposite of Carter, and 2) which I think may ultimately be more significant, he KNEW Shiera. In the same way that it was completely inappropriate for Carter to act like a rival/bully to this kid who was once the Robin to his original JSA team, it would be equally as inappropriate for Shiera to mack on him. She was an adult woman when he was a young boy. She was a vaguely familiar aunt-figure as the team tends to be characterized.

So Kendra wasn't just defying her destiny by pursuing someone who isn't Carter (as in the case of Roy), she was rejecting it completely with an act that would be really fucking creepy for SHIERA to ever consider.

I didn't always like Kendra, but I can appreciate the sentiment. I didn't read much Hawkgirl, I admit, but her story in JSA worked for me. She proved that she mattered as more than just Shiera mark II. And while I never wanted her to stay with Sand (at least not unless she stopped hitting him whenever she got mad), and I wanted Carter to eventually win her over, I wanted Carter to WIN HER OVER. To figure out that he had to treat Kendra like SHE mattered. That appealed to me.

This negates the whole thing. Kendra didn't matter. She WAS ultimately Shiera in the end. And all Carter really had to do was wait Shiera's little amnesiac temper tantrum out (and mack on Power Girl) and he immediately gets handed the version of his girlfriend that he always wanted.

Ick.

Okay, on the list of things that look cool but cost way to much to ever be a valid purchase choice for me is this Wolverine motorcycle suit.

Though, I admit, I'm not one for wearing that much leather. But wouldn't you sweat like the dickens in an outfit like that? I could only imagine the chafing.

And I'd imagine that it's not very flattering on anyone who doesn't have a Hollywood actor's access to personal trainers.

Still, the advertisement does look cool.

Hee

Okay, I officially can't wait for the Larfleeze Christmas Special. That looks adorable.

Will we get a Star Sapphire Valentine's Day one next?

A Thought!

You know what would be awesome?

A miniseries with Stephen Strange, Donald Blake and Hank McCoy dealing with bizarre Marvel Universe medical mysteries. Every issue, part of the mystery will be figuring out if the ailment is magic, divine, or based on comic book genetic anomalies.

It'd be like House, only with maaagic.

I'd read it!

Casting Gossip Makes My Day

Ooh, the casting news is coming in. This one ought to make Ragnell happy. He's young and cute. Ought to look downright adorable in a cybernetic arm.

I can dig it. :)