Monthly Archive

Due to the assumption that I truely agreed with the criticism of Spider-Man 3 from Crazy Right Winger Debbie Schlussel…I think I need to explain a couple things.

I fully intend to see Spider-Man 3.  I’ve enjoyed the series so far.  I am excited to see how Raimi and crew handle the third film. I could care less if he cries.  That’s part of Peter Parker.  He is constantly struggling between his desires and his responsibilities.  That’s his humanity, that’s why people relate.  Maybe some people want their super-heroes to be without fault.  Not me.  I can’t connect to that.

I want heroes to be people who struggle, and mostly overcome, not people who find it easy to always do the right thing.  Doing the right thing is hard.  Denying self is hard.  That’s what makes Spidey agreat character, as much as he struggles with not wanting to give up what he wants?  When it’s required, he makes the choices he has to, not what he wants.

If struggles mean tears?  Than more power to Spidey.  I am there.

Secondly?  I have no respect for any definition of masculinity that suggests tears are somehow bad.  If expressing an emotion, if tears being shed means you are a lesser man?  So be it.  I find it interesting how many church going men seem prone to this.  We have more than one reference to God weeping.  Jesus wept.  And he even asked God to take away the cup of suffering he was set to endure.  Jesus asked God for alternative options to having to be put to death.  Guess that Jesus was a girlie man.

So, to restate it:  I see nothing wrong with men (even super hero men) crying.  I encourage it.  I will in fact see Spider-Man 3.

Oh, and Debbie, you insist on using the phrase “girlie men”… you do realize that when Hanz and Franz were using that phrase on SNL, well, the whole point of the phrase and sketch was a mocker of your hallowed absurdist ideal of what masculinity is?  They were mocking you.

…working at my part time job(a video store), I rent a relax after work movie.  I have a hard time just going straight to bed, even at 1AM.  But I usually choose something that I do not care if I fall asleep during it.  Tonight’s choice was Man of the House.  I chose it mainly because I like Tommy Lee Jones.  That, and I kind of like Monica Keena.  But mainly for Tommy Lee Jones.

I found one detail that struck me as real nice.  The love interest for Tommy Lee Jones was Anne Archer.  Anne is a year younger than Tommy Lee.  I liked seeing a lead guy interested in a woman within his age range.

I am sorry, but “disturbing content” should not be enough to make you a suspect.

Disturbing content was not the main problem with the Virginia Tech killer. It was a history of psychiatric issues and disturbing behaviour (such as stalking girls on campus).

Disturbing writing does not mean anything on it’s own. If it did, most serial killers would be easy to catch. We would just have to arrest Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Wes Craven and Clive Barker.

And um. Wow.

So, Cho went on his rampage because he could not “get any.” Seriously Paglia & Smerconish? You really want to put such an argument forth? So, by the way, should “lack of sexual activity” be included among the list of “signs”?

“Sorry son, we have to suspend you.”

“Why?”

“Well, you wrote a pretty disturbing story about zombies in your creative writing class. Add to that the rumor that you have yet to sleep with any girls from school. We are just concerned about the safety of your fellow students.”

And it probably should not stop there. I suppose, as I virgin, I should report that to my HR reps, right? I mean, they need to know if one of their employees isn’t getting any sex, because he’s clearly a got to be a ticking time bomb, right?

And just remember, all you women out there…if a guy you know flips out and kills people? If you didn’t sleep with him? It’s probably your fault he cracked under the pressure. Boy am I glad we have level headed conservatives like Michael Smerconish to get at the real roots of the problem, instead of the crazy liberal approaches like…you know…gun control.

What kind of super-hero cries?  I mean, crying is for GIRLS!

Some of the most Christian approaches to dealing with problems I see sometimes come from people who are not Christians. It’s especially sad when the problems and bad behaviour are coming FROM Christians.

It might be better to read the second link first.

Cheryl Lynn has an interesting suggestion in regards to Rosie stepping down. She notes the continuing theme of overweight women who have mock minorities. I would note that Star Jones (who, Cheryl Lynn notes, proudly boast about attending resorts that discriminate against gay people) was replace by a lesbian. Maybe they could replace Rosie with an overweight Chinese woman who is anti-semitic?

Also, I love the way Fox is spinning the Rosie story. O’Donnell was fired. Now, mind you, they report that she wasn’t, then go on to say there is no way that the story the gave on the View is true. The real story is that Rosie had to have been fired. Fox can’t accept it any other way.

Another thought on Sun and Jin on Lost. After last nights theory, i am starting to think Jin was a kind and decent man who became corrupted by being forced by Sun’s father to do his dirty work. And like a disease, the work for a crime lord (it’s pretty apparent that Sun’s father is some kind of powerful Godfather type) ate away at his goodness. And the moment between Sun and her father-in-law was sad and wonderful all at once. Frankly, i would watch a show about Jin and Sun’s life before the island. I cannot say the same for Kate or Jack.

I know who has my vote in 2008.

So I was reading the Feministe blog and saw this story.

It’s pretty sad.  The comments are rather interesting.  There are sympathetic people.  Mouthy and judgmental pro-life and pro-choicers (one person chastized the blogger for not aborting sooner).  But the capper?

An anonymous poster.  Now, recall those creepy Purity Balls?  This actually makes those less creepy.  The anon’s stuff will be italicized.  My comments are interspersed.

I’m glad your wife is doing well and I’m sorry for the loss of your baby.
As a father of a 1 yr old baby girl, I value the life of my baby more than anything else on Earth.

Okay, a little hyperbole.  He is trying to sympathize with the guy.  How do I know it’s a he?  Don’t worry, i am not making assumptions: 

She is the most important thing there is, I would have to say equal to my own wife.. my baby is a part of me, she is my own blood, my offspring, she is genetically closer to me than my own wife.

Okay.  This is already a little creepy.  Personally, genetic connection strikes me as a pretty flimsy reason to love anything.  I do not love my parents because we are genetically close.  I love them because they worked hard to raise me and I generally like being around them.  Plus, they really like Lost as well. 

My baby girl will love me more as she is growing up than my own wife ever will.. the love between a daughter and father is, in my opinion, greater than between a husband and wife. Agree with me or not, that is my opinion..

Um…this is rather creepy.  Comparing your love for you child to the love for your wife?  If this does not creep you out?  You need therapy.   Agree with me or not, that is my opnion.  And that is quite an assumption, that his baby loves him.  Let me explain something to all you parents out there.  Your little babies do not love you.  They need you to feed and clean them.  They might be attached to you, but they are not experienced enough in life to know what real love requires.  Two teens on their first date have a better grasp of “love” than a baby has.  Giggling and smiling at you is not a sign of love.

And you know what?  That’s normal.  It would be inappropriate for you to be offended by that.

and my baby girl is only 1 yr old. All she can say is “da da”, but I know she loves me and I love her infinitely so..

Already covered this… 

my wife, I love also infinitely so, but sometimes it’s rocky, sometimes it’s up and down and we aren’t always as close as we’d like to be, but I will always love my baby girl infinitely.

Wow, he takes the creepy up several notches.  If a person thinks that their relationship with their kids won’t be rocky?  They are in for a world of hurt when that brick wall collapses on top of them.  This guy’s “baby girl” will yell “I hate you” at him someday.  And that’s even if he sounded like a competant and good father instead of a creepy potential child molester.  Pretty much every kid does it at least once in their lifetime.

When my wife found out she was pregnant, which was an accident, her instant reaction was that she wanted an abortion. There we were in the bathroom with the home pregnancy test kit in hand reading positive for pregnancy and she gets all histerical, crying and raving on and on about how her life is now ruined and how she can’t go through with being pregnant, etc.. I told her it’s her choice, but if she kills my baby (has an abortion) that I would divorce her in a heartbeat and I would never speak to her again. I thank God that I was able to sway her foolish and immature, emotional and illogical thinking, and she decided not to kill our baby girl.

Wow.  What a paragon of virtue he is.  I like the threat of divorce.  That’s noble.  I want to hear her side of the story…

We are still married to this day and my wife and I both love our baby girl more than anything. In fact, if we did not have our baby (if my wife never got pregnant), I am pretty sure we would not still be married… having the baby has brought my wife and I closer in our marriage and has given us something greater than our love for each other (which is very strong), but now we are a family and we mutually love our daughter. If I had allowed my wife to abort our baby or I had not cared enough to take a firm moral stand based on what I believe is right, then today (1 yr and 9 months later) I would have been robbed of the single greatest joy I have ever known in my entire life.

It’s funny, on it’s own, this would seem less creepy.  Afterall, some marriages did get stronger after the birth of a child.  But combined with the rest of his post?  It seems vaguely like the cover of someone who is abusive.

My baby girl is the most beautiful gift God has ever given me and the one thing I am most thankful for. I would give my life in a heartbeat to save my baby girl and how any mother would hesitate to even think otherwise is beyond me.

Okay.  Many parents have said they would die to to protect/save their children. 

I would not only give my own life to save my baby girl but I would kill or spend the rest of my life in prison if I had to, or pay any price no matter how high, to protect the life and safety of my innocent child.

Uh huh.  So, when she is fourteen and less innocent?  Will he just be willing to get wounded for her, rather than die?

I strongly disagree with your view that the loss of your unborn baby is any different than your already born baby. I don’t see the difference.

I can’t help a small mind, dude. 

 It’s just a matter of a time shift. What if someone had gone back in time and killed your baby girl while she was still in the womb, knowing what you know today? Knowing the joy of your born child?

You know, the Pro-Life side always complains about pro-choice hypethiticals that involve rare or uncommon reasons for getting an abortion(You know, like, the mother could die).  So I am calling this hypethetical onto the floor.  Because it won’t ever happen.  At least the pro-choice side uses examples that are possible.

And I am sorry, losing an unborn child is not in league with losing a child you’ve had in your life for awhile.  It’s just not the same.  Tha is not to say it’s not a heart breaking loss.  It can be and for many it is. It’s still different from losing, say a three year old child.

 Why is it any different for one child than another? You are just trying to make an excuse so you don’t have to suffer as badly emotionally, you are trying to rationalize it.

No, dude.  It is different, and if you can’t see how it is?  You need a better set of glasses.  An unborn child is not on the same level of relationship as a child that has been born.  And frankly, an unborn child ranks lower than the mother.  If you are willing to let your wife die so the baby can be born?  Your priorities are screwed up.

I don’t mean to be rude or harsh, but I think you are bending your thinking in your own favor just to make it easier to get over this loss. The fact is that born or unborn, you still lost a child and I don’t believe that it should be viewed as any less of a loss either way.

Yup.  It should.  Does that mean it is silly to mourn the loss?  Of course not.  But should the mourning last as long as it would for someone who actually lived on earth for awhile and had a relationship to people beyond the womb?  Probably not.  Women miscarry without knowing they were even pregnant all the time.  If they found out they were pregnant, should they break out the black clothing and cry?  Is that the same think as a newborn dying?

Furthermore?  Clearly, when one posts anonymously and is rude or harsh? Saying “I am not trying to be rude or harsh” rings pretty hollow.

Fortunately you still have your wife and one child. It’s probably too risky for you and your wife to ever try having another child naturally, but there are so many children you can adopt, so there is no shortage of that option.

But…but how will they ever love that child?  The child will not be genetically closer to them than their spouse!  So confusing.

I am strongly pro-life (of the baby). I would always choose the life of my child over my own life or anyone else’s life, including my wife. Harsh? Think about it. What’s more precious, an innocent life of a child who has their entire life ahead of them or a grown adult who has had a fair opportunity to live their life and have whatever experiences they have been blessed to have?

The grown adult who has contributed something to my life.  Sorry, but unborn baby or my hypothetical wife?  Wife wins, unborn baby loses every time.  Harsh?  Think about it…the wife is harder to replace than the baby that hasn’t even been born yet.

Do not get me wrong.  Babies are good.  Devoted parents are good.  Creepy parents who say they would let their wife die to have a baby?  Not so good.  Frankly, I worry about the life this poor daughter is going to be subjected to, because this guy uses fetish-type language to describe his child.  He speaks of her like a doll, who will remain unchanged-other than her love for him, which will grow even greater as the years pass.  And that is absolutely, and utterly creepy.

Please note, this is not about abortion, this is about a creepy guy worshipping at the altar of the almighty Innocent Baby.  I didn’t choose this to suggest that Pro-Life folks all think like this.  I can’t think of any I know who would back the guy up.  But I do think this is pretty unhinged from what real parenting is about.

In this interview, Jessica Valenti asks:

This whole “Girls Gone Wild” conversation feeds into a bizarre Paris Hilton idea that a generation of young women dance on tables. And I don’t know them, I don’t meet them. How come we’re not talking about all the women out there doing political work, or regular work?

I suppose it’s because the sales for “Girls Gone Political” were pretty abysmal. 

In the same week they discover Kryptonite, scientists discover a planet that revolves around a red sun!

AND Rosie quites the View!  What will Fox do without her to complain about?!

It’s scary stuff.  Comics have finally stooped to exploitation of sexuality to sell books.  A formerly kid friendly medium has now joined the ranks of porn to sell comics.  Have they no shame?  Do they not consider the other dangers of such imagery?

Why, DC?  You have such a strong track record of not exploiting your characters as sexual objects, why start with Citizen Steel?  Thankfully, we still have Marvel, who understand that comics need a sense of moral decency.  For instance, I hear that Ultron has returned.  You just can’t go wrong with Ultron.

Yesterday I was going on and on about my love for Jin and Sun on Lost?  Then I see this today.  Really?  We get, as our most iconic image of Sun…bikini babe?  Don’t misunderstand me…I find the actress who plays Sun very attractive.  But is this the most representative aspect of the character?  Did Jin fare better?  Not really.  Instead of a pose to portray his strength or something, we get “Jin with arms bound running on beach”.  Come on, McFarlane Toys.  I overlooked the “sunbathing Shannon” figure because at least it was pretty much in line with much of what we saw of the character early on.  But Sun and Jin deserve figures that capture their strength.

Lost has been quite good since returning from it’s hiatus.  This may be due to we are seeing the payoffs to the setup of the first nine or so episodes from back on 2006.  I thought I would reflect on two of my favorite characters on the show.

I was thinking about the evolution of Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim).  First of, I had a bias in favor of Daniel because I was an Angel fan, so I was pleased to see he was a regular on a new show (I don’t watch E.R. or 24, so I missed his appearances there).  And he and Yunjin make a striking couple on the series.  Now, you should know, spoilers are about to fly readily and with reckless abandon.  So, you know, if you do not want to read spoilers from the first two seasons (because, for some crazy reason you do not like Lost) and are thinking you want to start watching the show?  STOP READING NOW.

Anyways, when we first met Sun and Jin, it was immediately clear that Jin was oppressive and demanding.  Early on we see Jin telling Sun to stay with him at all times, and we see him treating her as if she were a mere child.  They apparently only speak Korean, so there is a tremendous language barrier between them and the other survivors*.  While Sun clearly wants to reach out, Jin does not trust anyone but himself.  He’s stern and demanding, and Sun appears to be the stereotype of the submissive wife.

When we get to see the first flashback, we discover that (as is often the case) Jin was not always like that.  In fact, while having a strong sense of honor and respect, he was quite gentle.  It appears that only after going to work for Sun’s father so he can get approval to marry Sun, does he start to change.  This is evident in the moment where Jin storms into the house, hands covered in blood and begins washing his hands.  He won’t explain to Sun what the problem is, and in a moment of extreme frustration she slaps him.  The expression on Jin’s face is, well, one of quiet rage.  He doesn’t strike with a fist, he simply points back to the fact that he is working for her father, which subtly points it back at Sun.  “I’m doing this for us” seems to be the unspoken message.

On the Island, Jin attacks Michael (Harold Perrineau) and brutally beats him, for no apparent reason.  With Jin handcuffed to a section of the crashed plane, Sun gets an opportunity to contemplate their situation.  The big shock is that we viewers (and Michael), discover Sun speaks quite fluent english.  In flashback it is revealed that Sun was actually planning to leave Jin behind and start a new life.  However, at the moment where she has the choice to walk away and disappear, she makes an impulsive decision to not walk away.  Jin does not know his wife speaks english, and she fears him finding out.

In what could have been a terribly cliched story about an abusive husband and the wife to scared to leave is instead more nuanced.  When Jin finally does learn that Sun can speak english, he shuns her, feeling betrayed.  This isolates Jin even more, while Sun becomes a part of the survivor family.  It’s clear this power she has hurts as much as his sense of her betrayal.  But in the course of the first season, we see it is not Sun on the journey of realization.  She is in fact quite enlightened, generous and forgiving of people.  It’s Jin who needs to see with new eyes.  And the experiences on the island are what he needed to see clearly.  In a powerful and tearful moment, we see him confessing his regret of how badly he treated Sun.  And he starts to work towards being the kind of man she deserves.  In fact, Jin has really grown from being an overbearing and frustrating character to being a charismatic and engaging character, as likeable as Sun.  They have reflected both good and bad as to what a relationship can look like.

I like seeing that they have come through this journey stronger and loving each other more.  I like that Sun and Jin are no longer islated, and what’s really impressive is that while Jin has become funny and charsmatic, he still speaks almost no english(and on a show made for American TV, you can bet a fair number of viewers do not speak the Korean language).  I also like seeing Jin realize that his wife trumps some sense of pride about “being the man”.  Now he depends on her skills as much as his own.

It’s been a great character arc for this couple.  Which leads to one important question…where the hell are Rose and Bernard.  I want more Rose and Bernard!

*One of the cool things the Lost crew came up with is that while we get subtitles when Jin and Sun speak to each other away from everyone wlse, when they interact with the other characters, we do not get subtitles, so if you do not know Korean?  You are in the same boat as the english speaking characters on the show.

Is there a modern director out there that rivals, or comes close to Hitchcock for suspense?

Wow…talk about your bad ideas.  I like Bono and the Edge.  But man.

It’s so clear that the Hulk is a much better choice for a musical.

I got a request from Snikt Ninja45 (his message board name) asking to write something for me. He feels it’s an issue that I should have touched on, but have not.

It’s Tough Being a Guy Into Comics

by Snikt Ninja45

Yeah, I see all the girls crying about no good female characters with big boobs that make it so tough. But how do you think it is for us guys? I mean, first off? Those men are all idealized, with super abs and stuff. You think I can live up to that? Sure, I have a pretty good exercise routine going playing tennis on my Wii. But how many guys do you see with Batman’s physique? Heck, they have to fake it with plastic in the movies.

Plus, we have to put up with all you girls (and some nancy boys) whining over stuff like Michael Turner’s awesome cover art. I see girls with racks like that all the time when surfing the web. or example there are the following website to check out: (Edited for being really, really inappropriate)

Plus, the complainers are mean! They put down anyone who likes the stuff they deem sexist. Come on, Supergirl’s costume is totally iconic and it’s hot. And all the complaints about the boob window for Powergirl? Whatever! It’s a powerful statement on her lack of identity! If you read the mini-series a couple years back, you’d know that she keeps that space open for a “logo”! But no you just keep complaining! Nothing is good enough for you. You can’t just suspend belief and enjoy comics. Geez!

You know what I think it really is? The girls who complain are all jealous of the comic girls. They wished they looked like that. So, they don’t want comics (which are made for the larger guy based comic market) to be enjoyable for us guys. I know plenty of girls who don’t care and don’t burden us with stuff like this. Why can’t the rest of you be like that? I mean, isn’t something like the way women are treated in Iran waaaaay more important than how tiny Star Sapphire is?

And lets talk about the male characters some more. All I ever hear about is how women characters get treated so poorly. But look at all the male heroes who had to see their wives or girlfriends get raped or killed. You don’t think finding your girlfriend stuff in the refridgerator is tough? Man, they run those super hero guys through the ringer, but no, you don’t care! You are to worried about Supergirl’s skirt!

Man, if you feminists hate comics so much, stop reading them! I mean, you know what ELSE I think? Let me just quote Don Imus here. He once sa-

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Uh, I think I will end the guest editorial there. He goes on for another 30 pages in Word. Thanks, Snikt Ninja for that…uh…interesting perspective.

Man…my iPod went on the fritz yesterday…primarily malfunctioning in regards to artwork.  I tried a few fixes, finally giving up and resetting the thing.  Of course that erased everything that I had on the iPod.  I took a moment to remind myself that considering this is the worst of my problems at the moment, I should be thankful.

When a reporter asks a stupid question like “How did you feel when you jumped out the window to avoid being shot by the gunman, what was going through your mind?”  I want to see someone slap the reporter and say “How does that feel?”  Just once.

Amazing.  Absolutely amazing.

So, yesterday, we had the worst shooting in American history. Now, we still know very little. We know nothing about the shooter’s motives. Early reports say the shooting deaths two hours earlier of a young woman and man may or may not be related to the whole event. They still do not know.

And yet, we are already getting the rampant speculation. And it’s not just the pain in the ass news channels. I saw yesterday bloggers and blog commentators suddenly were using this to make it all about their politics. Violent video games and movies are already getting brought up. So is gun control (both sides of the issue). Misogyny and general domestic abuse.

These are all debates worth having. But currently, they should not be attached this tragic event. People have barely had time to begin to mourn. Can we not shoehorn our agendas in yet? While there are rumors that the earlier shooting might be connected, and that the woman was his ex-girlfriend, we don’t know that yet. In fact, according to witnesses, he said nothing at all, he just walked in and shot a professor, then started to indiscriminently shoot fellow students. There does not seem to be a pattern to suggest any gender hate at this time. It may turn out to be otherwise, but to speculate on that right now? Useless without something to back it up.

And honestly, even if he killed his girlfriend first, that merely shows hate towards her and the guy in the room with her. It doesn’t mean that the entire insane tragedy was the result of a hatred, dislike or mistrust of women. If he had focused his shooting on women? Then bringing up misogyny makes sense. But so far, it appeared his targets after the first two were not chosen for reasons of gender.

We can speculate (without the facts no less) all we want. It isn’t productive until we have more infomation. Please, let people mourn, let the police do their work, let the dead be laid to rest. Is it so unreasonalbe to ask for people to show sensitivity and restraint until we have the facts?

UPDATE: They are now pretty sure the shootings are related.

Update 2: More info here.

Along with the Rape Sheild Laws (which I happen to think are a good thing), I am wondering if they should not have some sort of “shield law” for the accused.  In other words, something where the press cannot release someone’s name as accused until said person has actually been convicted?

If the media couldn’t name either the accuser or the accused, would that not be a better situation (plus a help for those 2% of reported cases that  are false)?

Discuss…

Edit:  WHOOPS…that was a weird typo in the title.

This is just tragic.

I have nothing else to add. 

Wow.  That’s a lame play on words.  I have paid a lot of attention for some reason to the Imus debacle.  Obviously he is gone, so I am being playfully irrelevant.  I found it ironic that the day after Imus was let go from MSNBC, all they did in his former spot pretty much the rest of the week was talk about Don Imus.

Anyways, we all know the story now.  Well, except one of my co-workers who actually said, “Who?  Said what?”  And he was not making an attempt at humor.  He had missed it all.

Imus said something sexist, bigoted and outright rude.  He offended a whole lot of people.  And the defense of some has been, “Well, he is a shock jock!”  But you know…a good shock jock knows where the lines are, gets close but never crosses it.

Imus skidded over the line and came to an abrupt halt a few miles later.  And the chip in  Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson’s head when off.  What chip?  Why the one that alerts them to potential events where they can exploit minorities and play the race card.  Of course, for once, there is no doubt the race card actually mattered.  It might appear that I don’t respect Al and Jessie.  And I don’t want to be misunderstood here, so let me explain.  Basically, I don’t.  They have their own share of bigoted statements.  They kind of apologize nd are back on track.  So, I don’t really buy their indignant cries against Imus.

Imus on the other hand, I totally have no respect for him.  He was about being mean and unpleasent to people.  I lacked an interest in his show, never found it funny and was annoyed that in the mornings, for news I had the choice of the rather bland CNN, wacky Fox and Friends or Imus.  Yuck.

So imagine how frustrating for me.  I had no problem seeing the anger over Imus’ statements.  I had a problem seeing Al Sharpton play “Leader for Black America Again” (I am fascinated by his ability to not see that a lot of black Americans are not crazy about him-and grow weary of him pretending he speraks for them.  Not unlike Christians getting tired of Pat Robertson opening his mouth). 

I love the fact that conservatives backed Imus.  Imus is a Democrat (at least claims to be, and his views are not exactly neo-con or old school conservative).  I love that Tom Delay used this as an excuse to go after Rosie O’Donnell.

But the question I see still being asked…should Imus have been fired?  My answer was simple…it could go either way.  He was working to apologize and make ammends.  Maybe it was all an act, but the Rutger’s team seems to think otherwise.  So, i can see an argument for giving him another chance.  On the other hand?  This is not a first offense.  This is one of many offenses.

In the end, it was up to his bosses at NBC and CBS.  And yeah, I think his losing big sponsers played a bigger role than Al Sharpton in costing Imus his job…and that’s a valid reason for the networks to can him, even if they tried to sound like it was “outrage over his words”.  But hey, I can’t fault the networks for canning the guy.  On the other hand, I would not fault Disney and the View for canning Rosie(a much better comparison for Imus than comparing him to rappers).  But then, she has better ratings and doesn’t seem to be losing ABC wads of cash.

But I must ask…what the hell is wrong with people?!  Death threats over Imus being fired?  STOP BEING STUPID.  Reserve your death threats for Kevin Smith.

So declares the Post. Columnist John Podhoretz has decided that in the Duke case, it is now officially okay to go after the young woman. I mean, sure, you could harrass the DA who screwed all this up…but that is not nearly as fun, right?

She is the woman who falsely accused three Duke University students of rape. Yesterday, the attorney general of North Carolina came forward and flatly declared the three young men “innocent of these charges.”

That means their accuser is a liar.

No. Jason it does not mean she lied. It means these particular men were not guilty of a crime of rape. There is evidence that suggests she may have been raped. Just not by the three accused young men.

The suggestion here is that she has psychological problems. So do millions upon millions of people in the United States. And they too manage, somehow, not to spin lies about rape into false arrests.

Yeah, John. She just might have psychological problems. And I have a hard time with the idea of treating a person who may be suffering psychological problems like we would a person who is not suffering any psychological order. It’s awfully callous and bloodthirsty to ignore that and institute a hard core punishment anyways.

They somehow manage not to force families of those they falsely accuse to incur legal fees reportedly totaling more than $1 million per family. These families are sometimes described as “affluent,” as though the fact that they live in nice communities in nice houses means they can afford million-dollar fees.

Please, these are not middle class families. These are, by any sense of decency, rich kids. Stop trying to paint them as less than that, John. It’s dishonest. The fact is, these guys have a decent shot at bouncing back. They are, ironically, better off than their accuser.

The fact is, the DA, Nifong, was the problem here. He needs to be dealt with. The parents ofthe wronged students have every rigt to pursue him. Have at it. Leave this young woman out of it. Because you do not know she is lying about being raped. And you make matters worse. And shame on the the Post for publishing her name.

A common refrain from conservative bloggers when complaining about how under-represented their side is “of course you won’t hear about that on (all news networks except Fox)!”  A real common one lately has been Al Gore and an Inconvenient Truth.  Of course, if you go by right wing blogs, Gore is all over the media.  He’s freaking everywhere spouting off his Global Warming spiel!  If you turn on the TV?  There he is!

The irony, of course, is that the only place I ever actually hear about Al Gore these days is on right wing blogs and right wing web pages.  I haven’t seen much of Gore anywhere else.   So of course you won’t see news stories about George Bush’s masion being more eco friendly than Gore’s…cause we don’t get inundated with stories about Gore in the first place.  So why should that be a news story?  Oh yeah, because the right hates Al Gore.  I forgot.  And that’s news.

I am fascinated by claims I have seen on the web that the Buffy season 8 comics are not “canon”.  I am particularly fascinated by this because Joss Whedon states they are.  But then, what would the creator and writer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer know when compared to fan fiction writers on the web?

It should be understood, I am not into fanfiction.  Don’t read it.  Don’t write it.  And maybe this causes an unfair bias for me in which causes me to scoff when people try and declare that the Buffy comics are “just fanfiction”.  Newsflash fanfic writers…the creator of the show is never writing fanfic.  Ever.  Even if they are writing outside of their own canon.  Even if Joss writes a story about Spike and Angel getting it on?  He’s the creator of the characters, it’s not possible for it to be fanfic.

Anyways, you can deny it all you want, folks.  Season 8 is Canon, the creator says so, and he is the only authority on that.

I have notices the word “Teh” being used on blogs and message boards a lot.  It appears to be a variation on “the”.  Those of you who use it…where did this come from?  Not a complaint or criticism….I am just rather curious about it.

I have to get this off my chest. I am continually frustrated by the lack of understanding from people. They continually use a word that is inappropriate and frankly, rather bigoted.

I am a geek. Not a nerd. A GEEK. You think there is no difference? I beg to differ. Sure, they may share hobbies. They may both love Star Trek or Buffy. But they are very different creatures. It’s all in the attitude. For example, a geek will work in a comic shop to fund his comic book habit at the expense of things like food. The nerd will find a way to make his comic book habit pay for his food.

The nerd will will find a job that relates to his skills (say the IT desk), a geek will work at whatever job he can find (say, a call center). Nerds will channel their skill into creating new programs that they can build a company (and a house) off of. Geeks blog about comic books and movies (in a tiny apartment).

Nerds succeed through determination and wise use of their skills. Geeks succeed by dumb luck (also known as “right place, right time”). Nerds use a PC. Geeks use a MAC. Macs are just much simpler to use. Geeks do not have time to waste learning code to enhance their system, they are to busy using iTunes to make wacky CD mixes highlighting the band Ookla the Mok for their non-geek friends.

Also, generally speaking, in the arena of dating, Geeks either don’t date, pining away for Lara Croft (or for hetero geek women, Aragorn) or they date normal, average people. Nerds don’t date until much later in life, but they date models.

Nerds? Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking.

Geeks? Quentin Tarantino and Nick Cage.

Any questions.

The building the company I work for is renovating the elevators.  Well, they call it modernizing.  And apparently, modernizing mean dull an depressing.  The doors open, and while the fancy wood paneling looks nice?  There are about three lightbulbs…the kind you might have in a nightlight.  So, when the doors close behind you, the only true source of light is the dull glow of the buttons.

Anyways, the other day, I noticed this button below the “B” (for “basement”) one lonely looking button marked “H”.  Being the curious sort, I pressed it.  Down the elevator went.  Passing by each floor, the electronic woman’s voice told me I passed the second floor, the lobby, the concourse and then passed the basement level.

It seemed like an eternity in that elevator, and with a gentle thud, the elevator came to a halt.  And the soulless digital woman’s voice said, “Level Hell”.  As the door opened, I knew it was really hell.  I saw people running on treadmills, lifting weights, etc.  But worse, a guy in a red jogging suit suit who had horns walked up and offered me a granola bar.

“Would you like to join us?”  He asked, rather politely.

“Uh” was about all I could muster.

“Let me get Cindy to show you around!  Oooooh Ciiiiiiiin-DEEEE!”

And this girl runs up in a red spandex outfit.  Aside from the horns, she was pretty hot.  She kind of looked like a young Heidi Klum.  Anyways, I’ve been dealt that sell before.  I turned and high tailed it back to the elevator.  That was close.  Hey…look!  An “H” button right above the top floor!  I wonder where that goes?

Man alive people, I am betting O’Reilly beats up a guest before the year is out…

For various holidays I have movies that I always watch…for instance, every Thanksgiving?  I watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  On Halloween, I watch Halloween, Halloween 2 and Halloween H20.  Around Christmas I watch Hellraiser.  Just kidding on that last one.  But I think I have a new tradition for Easter movie watching.

“Ahhhh…the Passion of the Christ” you ask?

Nope.

“Some other Jesus movie?”

Nope.

“Critters 2?”*

 Nope.  Zombie movies.  Like Dawn of the Dead.  Or Day of the Dead.  COME ON!!!  Movies about the dead being resurrected…that’s a hoot!

*Takes place around Easter.

Taking the day off to spend with family.

So, last week I saw the movie Rocky for the first time ever.  Yes.  I had never seen Rocky, the film that made Stallone a star.  In fact, I saw Rocky Balboa first.  Yes, if you continue to read this?  There will be spoilers for the film.

I must say, I really liked Rocky.  It was thoughtful film.  And honestly, I can’t imagine it being made today.  At least not the way the director  John Avildsen and Stallone made it.

For example?  Rocky is a low level leg-breaker for a small time neighborhood thug.  It’s clear that he does not care for the job, but desperate times and desperate measures.  This is our antagonist.  A simple minded boxer.  It’s not that Rocky’s a complete idiot.  Simply, he probably barely graduated high school.  His love interest?  You know, Adrian (Talia Shire)?  She is mousey. And there is no scene where she just takes off her glasses and “damn, she is hot!”  She’s quite plain, yet Rocky is taken with her.  I really liked this.  It made the story feel more real.  My friend Peter said it best, if they made Rocky today?  It would be Kate Bosworth in glasses.

Adrian’s real journey is not how “the beauty within makes her a babe”…it’s much simpler.  She learned to communicate, to have inner strength.  To stand up for herself.  Especially to her brother Paulie(Burt Young).  Her brother is, to be frank, an immense dick.  He’s unkind to Rocky, a drunk andverbally abusive to his sister, and it’s clear in the film that his presence in her life has sorely handi-capped her ability to interact with people.  Seeing Adrian stand up to Paulie is one of those high points.

Paulie is simply angry.  At everything.  He clearly hates how his life turned out, and he blames everyone else for it.  Another thing is that the film has no outright villains (something repeated in Rocky Balboa).  Sure, Rocky has stuff to overcome.  But Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is not evil.  He’s not a villain.  He’s a smart business man and strong fighter who has worked hard to make his way through the world.  He under-estimates Rocky, but he is no scoundrel.  Even the small time thug is given decent moments.  He gives Rocky money for training-not because Rocky will now owe him.  Rather because he wants to see Rocky have a shot.

The presence of Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill is welcome.  Although, certainly, my Friend Peter’s observation that it seemed to kick off a 20 year career as “sassy, crotchity old guy” is pretty true.  But Mickey’s disappointment in Rocky is beautifully captured in two sequences.  One in which Mickey, in front of a room full of boxers, explains why he is so angry with Rocky (he’s chosen a living as a leg breaker-when he could have been a contender).  The second is when he comes to ask Rocky to allow him to be his trainer.  That scene ends nicely without dialog, rather a long shot as Rocky runs after him on the street.  Words are clearly exchanged, but we get none of those words.  And yet, we know what Rocky decided without hearing a word.

The movie takes it’s time to tell it’s story.  In fact, while it opens with a match, and closes with one, there is little boxing in between.  No, this is about Rocky the person.  And the film is given nice little touches, such as Rocky’s pets.  He has two turtles and a fish.  Such small and dainty creatures for this rough and tumble guy. This changes a bit as Adrian give’s Rocky a large dog that it appears they have never been able to sell from the pet store she works at.  There is a lovely scene, right before the fight, when Rocky visits Adrian.  She is in bed, and he lays next to her on the covers, and confesses his fear about this fight.  It’s wonderful, and stunning that the studio wanted to cut the scene.

Wait, I totally understand it…see, the studio wanted to go from the famous training montage directly to the big fight.  I get that.  I also get that the film would be a lesser film without that one scene.  That one scene sums up the point of the movie.  In a few minutes, we get the entirety of Rocky’s life and the fear of the future.

Finally, one of the things I love about the end is Rocky has had a major accomplishment.  He went toe to toe with the heavy weight champion.  And lasted.  He was not the victor….but he lasted, but what’sreally important to him?  Finding his beloved Adrian.  That’s his real success.  In a few days I will reflect on Rocky Balboa.

You have got to be kidding me.  A Judge has proclaimed it is natural for men to fine all females desirable…as young as age one to as old as 100.  Ick, ick, ICK.

Well, kids…welcome to another “how to Installment”. In the past, I have guided you towards how to write effective super-hero books. I decided to broaden the focus. Today, we address writing indie comics.

These can be the fast track to stardom, more than people think. But it requires a different approach.

1.Black and White: Color is bad, as it suggests your are a slick, big company product. If you color your comic, use something low tech. Like crayons. But uit is best to stay tried and true with the black and white. Want proof? Look no farther than Bone. Black and White? Jeff Smith is n indie saviour. Color? Just another Image comic. Indie fans see black and white as a sure sign of quality.

2.Low Tech: Avoid fancy thinks like decent paper. This is especially simple if you go black and white. You can draw it up, run to Kinkos, use cardstock for a black and white cover and…WHAMMO! Instant comic book. Indie fans distrust anything too slick, so it is best to avoid the appearance of being “bigger” thanyou really are.

3. Super Powers: Spandex is the kryptonite of indie comics. You can certainly write stories about people with other worldly powers. You just don’t want to put them in costume. Nothing will cause your indie audience to turn up their nose like spandex clad heroes. The only exception is parody. If you are mocking super heroes? It’s okay.

4.Write What You Know: Write from real life. No matter how trivial or boring it is. Indie Comics thrive on the miserable lives of their creators. And fans thrill to live vicariously through the auto-biographical accounts of abuse, childhood sexual abuse, drug use, divorce, lousy dates, being gay/straight/bisexual or just growing up in a boring small town. Plus, you are guaranteed critical acclaim.

5. Characters: Your characters should be cynical. Or depressed. Or flat out angry. Use all three and you have a tri-fecta of spite. Use them to express your deepest hate. You despise Britney Spears? Give your cynical, angry character a hateful rant about her. Hate Christians? create a character to represent all Christians and portray him as a bafoon or hate monger. Be very smug. Smugness is made of win. Avoid cheerful characters-unless the intent is to mock them. Indie Comic fans take great pride in looking down on people they consider less intelligent than themselves(read: Everyone). This leads us to # 6.

6. End of Issue Rants: Put rants in the back of your comic. The crazier the better. Write long manifestos about your wacky right or left wing beliefs. These help underscore your “rebel” status. This also helps your reader, in case they missed that you hate cake while reading your indie comics “Why I Hate Cake”. If you don’t have any crazy beliefs? Surf the internet and get some. It’s surprisingly easy!

There you have it. A simple guide to Indie Press Stardom.

One of my favorite holiday films is A Christmas Story.   Director Bob Clark and his son were killed in a car accident.

This makes me sad.

So, I recently picked up the first volume of Colleen Doran’s A Distant Soil: the Gathering. I was mostly familiar with Colleen’s work in books such as Sandman as well her blog. At her blog, Colleen has been friendly, funny and far more willing to offer useful advice to the aspiring creator than she ever would have to.

But while I had heard of A Distant Soil (referred to as ADS from here on out), I had not ever actually read it. It turns out the seeds of the series go back to when Colleen was twelve. And to say the least, Colleen was more determine in her teens than I was to succeed at comics. There is a basic rundown of the history of ADS here.

I decided it was time to jump into the pool. So here are my thoughts on ADS: the Gathering. Right away I was intrigued, as we were introduced to a brother and sister, who were clearly in a miserable situation, Jason and Liana. They are clearly being held captive by some mysterious clinic. Whether this is government or not was a bit hazy to me. It’s quickly revealed that the children are not average teens. Rather, they both have unique abilities, which is why they were at this clinic.

They escape, only to be chased by clinic goons as well as some strangely dressed people with guns. It’s here that Jason and Liana get split up, Jason being abducted by the strangely dressed ones. Liana is left to fend for herself. Liana runs into a gang, who initially appear to be planning to steal from her, though Brent (who appears to be the defacto leader) seems sympathetic to Liana. Quickly, a police officer named Minnetti shows up. And not long after that? More mysteriously dress people show. They are friendlier than the last, and finally convince Liana, Brent and Minnettie to hear them out.

It’s here that we discover Liana and Jason are not fully human. Their father came from Ovanan. The two mysterious men are aliens, named Rieken and D’mer. It turns out they are not pleased with the empire of Ovanan and are building a small army to fight back. Hence, The Gathering. I am GREATLY compacting this.

Colleen keeps this all from being too overwhelming. And the alien culture she has devised is quite fascinating, and a bit frightening. The Gathering collects the first thirteen issues. It is a bit complex, keeping up with all the characters. It took me awhile to realize that two seperate characters were actually the same guy. But overall, the story was compelling, and kept me, as a reader, involved.

The art is gorgeous. It is interesting to see Doran experiment with techniques, without the art seeming confused or generally inconsistant. The line work is clean and smooth. The characters can be distinguished from each other with no problem.

I really am enjoying the journy and look forward to diving into vol 2. Collen has done a stellar job with what could have been “just the set up.” And there are two more volumes so far after I finish vol 2. I would recommend the series, if you go to Colleen’s blog, you can click links for any of the volumes of ADS.

I watched Eragon recently.  And wow…I found it an unimpressive film trying to be an epic.  It was clearly just a quick intro movie.  The “real story” is for the sequels.  This was all set up.  And not in the way the Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the Ring is a set up for a bigger story.  The LotR films feel like a flowing story.  And you want to know more.  Eragon?  It’s an awkward shot of John Malkovich.

Characters feel unrealized.  I was lost as to why I should care about these people.  The final battle was just suddenly over.  There was no sense of a moment where the tide turned.  In fact, it looks “hopeless one second-and the next time you get to see the battle, it’s the aftermath and the good guys turn and pat each other on the back.  And then?  After this attempt to look all epic fantasy?  It ends on an Avril Lavigne song.  I mean, seriously?  Avril?  Not “epic fantasy,” people.  Not at all.  You do not end “epic fantasy” films with fricking Avril Lavigne.  Annie Lennox, maybe.  Not Avril Lavigne.  Especially not a standard, by the books Avril pop tune.  Ug.

Like…Chocolate Jesus.  But thankfully, there are Christians out there that love Jesus way more than I do.  They are confident making death threats.  I must applaud such a love for Jesus.  Nothing says “Love of God” like a death threat.

Or is this is what it means to be loving Jesus? I particularly like this part:

In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson’s claim. He said that, while Dobson didn’t believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless “has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith.”

“We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians,” Schneeberger added.  

Or is this what following Jesus is all about?  I guess I am just some sort of crazy anti-marriage/family person…as frankly, marriage (and womanhood) as defined by Phyllis Schlafly and her team strikes me as rather unappealing.  But hey, who knew that it is impossible for a woman to be raped by her husband?  See, apparently, when you ladies say “I Do”, you are really giving blanket approval to sex at any time.  Of course, what do I know…I would guess that Schlafly would accuse me of being an “Intellectual Slob.”  I would actually take issue with that though.  I am hardly “intellectual.”

Huh.  In this exploration of “Abstinance Only Education,” I found this lovely quote:
“One thing that sex education and the media fail to communicate is the power of sex. Spies, who are trained not to give away government secrets, even lose their sensibilities and give in to the power of sex, often because of what a woman is wearing.”

What…we’re pulling James Bond into pro-abstinence arguments now?!

I thought I would start the week off cheerfully.  You know what my favorite show on HBO is?  Entourage.  For one thing, unlike much of HBO’s most popular shows, it not about questionable and dark people doing dark things.  It’s much lighter in tone.

To the uninitiated, Entourage follows the life of rising star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his three buddies (his older brother-a faded television star- Johnny Drama, Turtle and Eric-E for short) in Hollywood.  I was pretty hooked in with the first episode.  I admit to a fascination with the whole Hollywood culture (though not necessarily a respect for it) that makes watching the characters deal with the politics of Hollywood.

Right from the start, they established that older brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) was pretty washed up, after having a hit television show years before called Viking Quest.  Apparently, he is a talented cook, so he is the “preparer of the feast” for the four pals.  The aptly named Turtle (Jerry Farrera) is the driver, but mainly coasts on Vince’s cash flow.  Vince’s friend “E” (Kevin Connolly) is the most ambitious of the three friends.  He eventually works his way into the position as Vince’s manager.  And then there is the infamous Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven).  Chances are good that even if you have not heard of Entourage, you have heard Gold’s catch phrase “Hug it out, bitch.”  Ari is the least likeable character, and yet, Piven somehow makes him seem sympathetic.  Shauna (Debi Mazar) is the tough talking PR person for Vince.  She is as abrasive as Ari.  Which makes an interesting juxtaposition against both E and Vince.  E is loyal to Vince first.  Even when he agrees with Ari and Shauna.  He’s just a nice guy.  Vince isn’t an actor to get rich, even though he enjoys the perks.  He likes acting.  His only interest in doing a franchise film was to work with James Cameron.  Sometimes their devotion to their integrity gets Vince in trouble, and he struggles to follow Hollywood rules.

We get to see the ups and downs, and watch the friends grow.  Turtle goes from being a pretty lazy guy to struggling manager for a rap artist.  Vince goes through being a small time indie film actor to starting in a James Cameron film.  It’s interesting that many writers, directors and actors play themselves on the show.  And not always in shining lights (Seth Green played himself as a bit of a jerk).  And the supporting cast members are fantastic.  Malcolm McDowell is a convincing threat toAri as his former boss Terence.  Perry Reeves play’s Ari’s long suffering (rich) wife.  Beverly D’Angelo is Ari’s rival, and as tough as he is.  Maybe tougher.  Rex Lee is Ari’s even more long suffering assistant Lloyd.  He’s the unsung gold on the show.  Seriously, Lloyd steals every scene he appears in.

My lone criticism is…the roles for women.  There aren’t many outside of Ari’s wife, Shauna and Beverly D’Angelo’s Barbara Miller.  Otherwise women are there as girlfriends for E (who we only see very randomly) or one episode eye candy dates for Vince, Drama or Turtle.  If they could improve that, I really would not have any major complaints.

Oh yeah, Season 3 hits DVD tomorrow.

I had no idea until this article claimed it (Apparently he did vote for Bush).

No doubt.  Bonaduce makes an insane demand.  And I do not know anybody who would agree with him.  I love that the article tries to paint Scarborough as supporting Bonaduce’s statements.  Of course, he doesn’t.  But just like conservatives like to tar all of Hollywood with Rosie and Susan Sarandon, liberals like to take the over the top antics of some conservatives and say they all agree with the nut.  Scarborough doesn’t attack Rosie’s weight or appearance.  Danny did.  Glenn Beck did on his show.  Bonaduce and Beck were being complete assholes.  In fact, Scarborough disagreed with the ranting of Bonaduce.

I gotta stop reading the news.

I do believe, the greatest sit-com ever has to be Small Wonder. Jury Duty (starring Paulie Shore) is an under-rated classic of cinema. Skip Reynolds is a misunderstood genius.