Showing posts with label comic fodder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic fodder. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Guest Post: The Decade in Comics

I Guest Blogged at Comic Fodder, looking at the changes in the last ten years.

Click here.

Monday, December 07, 2009

DC's Earth One Initiative

I'm guest blogging over at Comic Fodder for Travis while he travels. Wrote my three-page navel-gazing missive on what it means to put out new, original graphic novels hard rebooting Superman and Batman.

Go here.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

FYI: Comic Fodder No More

As an FYI, I am no longer contributing at Comic Fodder.

That's no political statement, I've just not had time to write about comics lately AND actually read them. Each CF post took around 3-4 hours, and finding that time in a week had become increasingly difficult, as well as feeling jazzed enough about some minor point of comic-minutia to get revved up to write on it in the manner needed.

In the end, I was writing more about comics than reading them. And that, Leaguers, is just wrong. I want to enjoy my comics, not look at them as a "to do" list.

So... part of why I returned to Comic Fodder was to side-bar my in-depth comic discussions which usually received no feedback, whatsoever, here at League of Melbotis. I would alert you guys... that's probably coming back in some shape or form. I probably won't be avoiding the topic, and without CF as a platform...

I'd like to thank Tpull (Travis Pullen) and Mac Slocum of the Fodder Network for being a great Publisher and Editor. And, of course, CF contributor Simon for having such great insight.

That is all.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Cardinal Sin

is to blog about blogging.

But I'd feel remiss if it were Monday and there was nothing to greet you in your Reader or when you clicked over to The League and found I'd last updated on last week's news.

For shame.

I did finally blog over at Comic Fodder for, really, the first time since Watchmen was released. I have not said as much, but its been increasingly difficult to blog on comics of late. Some of it is time related, and part of it is the let down of the Watchmen film, mixed with the conclusion of "Final Crisis", which I am remaining silent upon until I read it all, all over again (but which left me drained). Part of it is that I don't like commenting upon ongoing stories, because its a bit like writing a new review of a movie at every fifteen minute point of that movie. And my favorite DC titles are now embroiled in year-long storylines. So... maybe in the fall?

I also am having a hard time finding time to read comics. Work is busy, and life has been busy. I'm stunned when I realize that people with kids and a job find time to not just read comics, but to write about them.

I am not sure I'm ready to give up the ghost on the column at Comic Fodder quite yet, but I'm fairly certain the Signal Watch column sort of put me off the whole thing for a while. It was making me worry too much about other blogs, and I felt like the whole thing just wasn't worth the time.

And, occasionally, I feel badly that League of Melbotis strayed so far from its original, comic-book themed roots so I could devote those columns to Comic Fodder. I always felt that there was something fun in tying the daily journal bit with the comic and movie stuff, and getting everything in once place.

But that's not really how blogs work anymore, if they ever did. They're on a theme, and you stick to that theme, or people aren't going to read. Which is why we're at about 45 readers a day here, and that includes about 40 hits from people looking for pictures of Supergirl Naked.

Actually, we get a lot more people looking for Rachael from Bladerunner and Bonnie from Knight Rider these days.

Not much to report. It was beautiful here today. We cleaned the garage. I went through a box of work stuff from ASU, much of which is actually not winding up in a landfill. Walked Lucy for a while. Watched an episode of "Cheaters" on G4, which is sort of the television equivalent of huffing paint (if "Rock of Love" is, indeed, TV crack).

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Grey Lady calls League "finicky fan type"

Sweet.

My old man screed on Watchmen merchandising posted at Comic Fodder a few weeks back was linked to by a NY Times blogger.

Of course, its now stated in the The Paper of Record that I am a fanboy. Hooray?

Nifty.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Obama Inaugurated

I don't think I can say anything new on this. We had an official policy at UT that said it was okay to take time to watch the inauguration, but I have to make the time up. So I'll be doing that fifteen to twenty minutes a day for the rest of the week.

Excellent speech (but not necessarily one that will go down in history). I've been very pleased with Obama's focus on the challenges rather than riding the wave of celebrity and his and the First Lady's call to service. An interesting and worthwhile challenge to Americans.

We watched the Neighborhood Inauguration Ball on ABC, which was an interesting mix of performers. Sting, Shakira (who I will never complain about), Beyonce, Jay Z, Faith Hill.

This leads to my challenge: You have been elected to the highest office in the land. Who are five bands you'd insist play your inaugural ball?

Keep in mind, you are now leader of the free world and that while we all like 2 Live Crew, they may not be appropriate for the occasion.

Gran Torino

Was fine. It wasn't anywhere near as great as I was told it would be, nor do I get the accolades I've seen in the ads. I don't think it was as good or as nuanced as Unforgiven (which I guess won Best Picture, so...). And I think I just like The Outlaw Josey Wales better.

Plus, aside from Eastwood, I wasn't all that impressed by his supporting cast. Especially the two neighbor kids who were so crucial to the plot (neither of whom had any previous credits on IMDB).

It's not a bad movie. It's fine. It was just exactly what I expected from the trailers, and not a whole lot more.

Cate Blanchett Movies

I also watched "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and "Notes on a Scandal". I actually believed both were true stories until I Googled "Notes on a Scandal".

I wasn't nuts about "Notes" while I was watching it, and then learning it wasn't a true story then made me kind of wonder what the point was, if not "well, this happened, and it was weeeeeird". I guess there are so many oddball stories about teacher/ student scandals that a fictionalized one (even a fictionalized one with Cate Blanchett) seems sort of redundant, SWF aspects aside.

I liked "Elizabeth II: Electric Boogaloo" a bit better, although it wasn't as well constructed a film as the original "Elizabeth".

Blanchett is, I should mention, excellent in both.

Most People are to Kate Winslet as The League is to Cate Blanchett


Signal Watch

A second Signal Watch column is up at Comic Fodder.

Friday Night Lights

I watched FNL's season premier over the weekend. The show seems very much back on track with the first season, which is still one of the best seasons of TV put together. Sadly, the second season was a soap-opera-esque mess that I eventually walked away from. Glad to see they're back on track. Even if this is Tim Riggins' and Lyla Garrity's third senior year.

Anyhow, if you liked the first season, it seems they may be back on track.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

So this is sort of more of a blog post

Moderated comments

We all have things we're touchy about. And when we start thinking of specific areas of our lives, we can probably find something that doesn't work for us. When it comes to maintaining this blog, the thing I find hardest to manage is the Anonymous Comment.

I want to be very, very clear about this: I am not mad at anyone, and that's not what this is about. I just received a spate of anonymous comments over the past few days, and I have no idea who is commenting. Were this some popular site, I'd probably think nothing of it, but as we have often the same visitors here, I prefer that if you comment, you find some way to self-identify.

That doesn't mean you need to use a Google account. You can still just post a comment, but I'd prefer you then sign your comments one way or another.

I know you're going to ask why.

1) Yes, each of you is a unique snowflake. But no matter what you think, I can't really hear "your voice" when you post anonymously, so it certainly is useful to see who is saying what so I can get the tone of what you're saying. The same comment that can seem incredibly rude from an anonymous comment can be understood as a joke or whatever if I know who the source is.

2) I have no way of knowing if you are someone new if you don't self-identify. I might think you're one of the Loyal Leaguers, but for all I know, you're somebody I don't know, and that makes it difficult to frame a response.

3) Sometimes I also want to talk about a comment that's been posted offline. No matter how open I try to be, every once in a while a comment shows up that I know is going to cause an issue, and I think that if we're all friends here, we should be able to talk about it sidebar rather than immediately causing a problem.

4) And I'll be truthful. Every once in a while we'll get one of these drive-by commentors who is literally doing nothing but being obnoxious. That happened today, and I'm just not in the mood. I know this person is having a grand time but... whatever.

So, anyway, I'm sorry about all that. But that's how we're going to roll for a little while. I think as we head towards our sixth year (yeah, seriously. SIX) I've earned enough trust that you know I will publish anything you guys say (within reason). But I also want to try this new policy. Hopefully it won't discourage you guys from commenting.

And, hey, this may all pass in a week or two and we'll be back to SOP.

Airplane in the Hudson

I don't even know what to say about the crew who landed a plane in the Hudson river and everyone involved made it out alive. That's simply amazing.

Read here.

Not only am I having a moment of pause that for once, a story involving a plane wasn't a tragedy, but... all those millions of times a flight attendant went through emergency procedures, this was the only time I heard of the steps for a water landing being actually applicable. It's sort of mind-boggling.

I will actually pay attention next time I'm on a plane.

I'm being plagiarized, sort of

So as you know, I write for a site called Comic Fodder.

I check technorati on a semi-weekly basis or so to see who may have linked to Comic Fodder. I find it to be good practice to see what people are saying about whatever the hell I said.

And I know the internet is full of people who steal your content all the time, but...

Anyway, (edit: I had the site directly linked, and it appears James Michael Wilcox has chosen to block me somehow. The URL is www.teamsuperfriends.com) was completely ripping off Comic Fodder's content.

This dork is the party responsible.

Here is a photostream of his family.

He seems like a real bum.

He's also moved on and is ripping off other content.

Bad form.

Spidey y Obama

I did manage to get a copy of the limited edition issue of Spider-Man meeting Obama.

I don't usually seek this sort of thing out, but I've started collecting comics with political figures (there's a comic coming soon about Caroline Kennedy!)

Anyway, here's a pic of that cover.



Austin Books was very good about how they managed distribution, which I guess I'm saying, because I got a copy.

Bush says "adios"

So Pres. Bush had his farewell speech this evening which I sort of listened to while Jason cooked dinner (I know..! Jason cooked dinner!). It was short, covered the same talking points he's hit in every interview the past few months, and was full of no surprises.

So long, George. I wish I could say we'll miss you, but... well, there's like 22% of the people who will miss you.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

I did blog... just not here

I've started a new column currently titled "Routine InfoCom" at Comic Fodder.

check it out. We discuss women superheroes, what "morals" means in superhero comics and why it makes me itch, the racial make-up of Krypton and more.

Here.

Next week, perhaps we will discuss politics, religion and sex.

Jenny

By the way, today was kind of tough as I finally got in touch with Jenny V. Jenny was Mel's original caretaker, who raised him from puppyhood until he was two. At that time, Jenny moved to Manhattan and Mel came to live with us.

I remember Mel's first appearance at a party when he had just moved in with Jenny. I picked him up with one hand, looked him in the eye and informed him he would be such a big, big boy.

It was heartbreaking in so many ways to have to share with Jenny what had happened. But I am glad she knows, and I'm glad we spoke.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

No Robot Post Again

hey all.

Sorry about the lack of a robot post again this evening. I left work late, and then met Jamie, Jason and Nicole at Havana down on S. Congress.

I'm a little tired and after staying up late last night to work on a post for Comic Fodder, I'm not going to stay up tonight making sure we're all agreed on the topic of Robot Ladies of Interest.

Speaking of the Comic Fodder post... We got a link from Newsarama over the weekend based on a post I did on Batman comics. We saw a massive spike in hits, which was pretty cool. I had an idea for a post (actually, suggested by Randy, which I forgot to mention, so RHPT, I apologize) that I wanted to capitalize on while people might be coming by from that Blog@Newsarama link. Looks like that post is also getting a lot of hits. Anyway, that post was on Superman comics.

I don't know if I'm all that fascinating, if I'm hitting buttons with people, or what... but I've also seen a little bump in comments and e-mail sent directly to me, by-passing the comments section. Including from a gentleman who is pretty high up at Fark.com who somehow stumbled across my Superman post.

Sure, its a cardinal sin of blogging to talk about blogging, but when you're writing stuff all the time, its nice to see when you get even a smidge of buzz going.

Anyway, I also gotta go write a Christmas Card letter, so if anyone out there can remember what the @#$% I've been up to this year that doesn't sound kinda moronic, let me know.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

If you're wondering why there's no post today, I put my energy last night into my Comic Fodder weekly ramblings. You can read my post here.

Not much else to report. I think Jamie has a cold of some sort.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Many items

Football Update

Well, we can mark another win up for UT from this weekend. We're ranked #3, which is odd. Of course, we've only lost to Tech who seems headed for all kinds of glories this season.

Colt still looks great, but its clear someone or something is keeping him from running. And something has rattled him and keeps him from attempting passes further than a few yards at a time.

I am still rooting for my Horns, and I think we're set for a great bowl game this year, provided we can win our next two and do well if we're in the Big 12 Championship (if we so land). But I sincerely hope Mack brown has plans to build up our secondary for next year.

Good BBQ in Giddings

Today we met the A&M contingent of our office halfway between Bryan and Austin in Giddings where we ate meat. Leaguers, if you're on 290, I HIGHLY recommend the City Meat Market. That was some top-notch grub served in true Texas fashion.

And, hell, there were honest to god old school cowboys in there. The kind who could choke the life out of you if the notion so took them. Awesome.

It was one of those places where the smoke is cooked into the walls and you start salivating a bit just walking through the door. And the food totally matched the ambiance and first-smell guesses as to what you would get.

I need to use this winter to begin making BBQ pilgrimages around the state. Meatgrimages, if you will. I want to eat Elgin Sausage in Elgin. I want to eat ribs and beef in Lockhart. Shall I go to New Braunfels for Wurst? Or to Kerrville? What meats did our Czech forebears cook up? What about our Mexican forefathers?

So many meats. So little time.


Unfortunateness

Swedish dance bands from bygone eras.
For some reason I think I linked to an earlier version of this, like, four years ago.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh. Then ask yourself: who had better luck with swinging Swedish women, you or the dudes in "The Schytts"?

That, Leaguers, is the sound of the universe having a good laugh at you.


Beat it!

So I employ Technorati to help me track responses to blog posts. They track, somewhat imperfectly, whether or not someone has linked back to your posts.

A long time ago, I used to get linked around the net. When I don't post on comics, those links tend to dry up. But when I write for Comic Fodder, I notice that I get linked to a lot more often from sources of note (in the comics blogosphere, which is like being a big wheel on the island of misfit toys, I guess). Anyway, it gives me a little thrill to see myself linked elsewhere because (a) it lets me know others are going to come read whatever I wrote, and (b) it lets me know people I care about reading have actually read whatever I wrote. And that, Leaguers, is the blogging circle of life.

One of my fave-rave sites for YEARS has been Heidi MacDonald's "The Beat". So, I was thrilled to see in the links of Technorati that Heidi had linked back to a Comic Fodder article I'd written for last week about the economy and what comic publishers could do to save their skin in these troubled times. But at Technorati, when I clicked on the appropriate link... the article was no longer there.

I was sad. Heidi may have had good reasons for either pulling or never posting the article, but my fifteen minutes of Heidi-powered linked fame was gone, and I was left with nothing but a small reminder of what could have been.

Oh, Heidi... why hast thou removed my linky link?

Okay... yeah, the article was kind of weak.

That said, the guy who wrote the article that spawned my article DID link back (it's the line about "longish think piece"). Which is pretty huge in my world. Unfortunately, Spurge wasn't in the mood to elucidate on what he had in mind. Would have been interesting. Anyway, he's been covering comics and the economy for a few days and its good reading.


New Years Party Update

In case you missed it, here's the official flyer for the Melbotis New Years Hullabalunacy:



To see the invitation, go here.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Comic Fodder Post

New post:

Superheroes should have super friends wherein I make an argument for a strong supporting cast and maybe a little less action.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Comic Fodder Post

wherein I talk a bit about Superman. And why he is uncool.

Read the amazing article here.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Unpolitical Comic Fodder

A new post up about the value of a single vision within the DCU.

The REAL news is that Leaguer Simon has joined up at Comic Fodder. He's reviewing collections and trades, I think, which will fill a HUGE gap in the Comic Fodder galaxy of stars.

Here's his first post on Ellis and Cassaday's "Planetary".

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Comic Fodder Post and More

The Silence of the Low-Selling Title: in which I talk about how DC does nothing to keep their comics alive when they begin to fail. And, heck, how they don't even really try with new series.

Need for a Policy Change at SDCC: in which I discuss the need for a new policy on sexual harassment at Comic Con International

And this isn't mine, but it's going to wind up in League Links, or Comic Links. The Con Anti-Harassment Project

Friday, August 15, 2008

Comic Fodder Post

...in which I discuss the criticism of comic book writers as "fanboys".

Go here.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Comic Fodder

I've got a post up at Comic Fodder.

This week I decide to go the opposite of comics criticism.

Luckily, as is becoming the new norm, Travis responds with his own post, creating a bit of a conversation.

And, we're off to the races.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Comic Fodder

I've got a post up on Comic Fodder. I discuss my inner feelings about ComicCon International.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Comic Fodder

There's a new post up at Comic Fodder, where I wisely describe what DC needs to be doing for their movie projects, and why.

Here.