Friday, October 08, 2004

I really like this idea, although I have no verification from a legitimate entertainment news source.

Comicbookresources reports:

According to Latino Review, Steve Martin cut out of preparations for his stage play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," playing in Palo Alto, CA. Why is this important? The allegation from a cast member's spouse is that he left to meet with Bryan Singer about taking on the role of editor-in-chief for a certain major metropolitan newspaper ... the Daily Planet's Perry White.

Latino Review has but one fault... usually they're so far ahead of the game, they're reporting meetings, etc... which DO happen, but usually its so early on that whatever they're reporting isn't definite yet, and things change after they report them.

I loved Michael McKean as Perry on Smallville, but I'd like to see Steve Martin in suspenders, too.
In case you missed it, the Scaled Composites group has claimed the X-Prize.

More importantly, civilians have taken the first step toward punching beyond Earth's gravity and taking us to the stars. I'm sorry. I can't believe this isn't the biggest news of the year.


Instead of a booster rocket, SpaceShipOne is carried into the air by this interesting craft before separating and launching from high up in the atmosphere

A crew of a few dozen people with private funding built and successfully tested a spacecraft capable of reaching space twice in a week. That's engineering. That's the kind of achievement we should be throwing parades for and fiestas and whatever the hell else.



While I'm a huge fan of NASA and government led space exploration, the fact that we live in a country and a time in which a small company can put together the technical know-how and ability to safely place a man in space and return him twice in a week? This is Wright Bros territory.


SpaceShipOne prepares to land

And yet the press treats these guys as if all they've done is eaten 50 hot dogs in a minute, or tied the land speed record or something. I mean, why don't we already know the names of these civilian astronauts? Shouldn't they be on the front page or be getting their face on Wheaties boxes or something?


SpaceShipOne returns safely to Earth

Read more about SpaceShipOne here.


Thursday, October 07, 2004

I am literally having a bad hair day today. My hair is sticking up everywhere. My boss actually brought my co-workers into my office to come check out my bad hair.

I told them I didn't need their ridicule at a time liek this. I need their support. I got the ridicule instead.
So... if you've been avoiding watching the WB's "Smallville" because it seemed to hinge too much on being a Dawson's Creek show... The League has got both good and bad news.

The 4th season of Smallville shall henceforth be dubbed "Nakedville".

In the first two episodes, we spent an undue amount of time seeing a naked Clark Kent, and capped the episode with a naked moment from Lana Lang (craftily using a body double. Kristin Kreuk is lovely girl, but if that was her body in those shots, I'm Slim Goodbody).

Now that's either good news or bad news, depending on what you want out of your TV.

This evening's episode didn't feature a naked Clark, but it did have a naked Freak of the Week and wet and half-naked victim-guy. And there were some other various and sundry naughty scenes which are breaking new ground for Nakedville.

But here's the thing about the show which is making me uncomfortable this week, and maybe this happens all the time on the WB. You tell me. This is the only show I watch on the network.

Lana Lang is secretly dating one of the coaches at the high school. The character, 17 year-old Lana Lang, is dating a member of the faculty.

Now, she met Mr. Coach when they were both backpacking in Paris, as complained about LAST week. So, really, I didn't think much about what age the guy was supposed to be. I did think Lana's aunt is moving into criminally negligent territory for 1) leaving her frequently hospitalized niece behind in a town where she spends as much time in the hospital as out 2) letting her accident prone legally-a-minor niece go off to Europe without any supervision 3) abandoning her legally adopted niece because she met some dude who had no problem splitting legal guardian from legal liability.

Okay, so the aunt's not important, but what is creepy is that this ex-star of the Univ. of Metropolis football team is picking up high school girls in Europe and then moving to their po-dunk town and getting a job at their high school. Which makes him at least 22. Maybe 23.

So Mr. Coach is young and stupid, and he gave up Europe for Armpit, Kansas. But I think he'd at least have the common sense to know that a) this is a small town. Sooner or later, people are going to put 2-and-2 together and figure out he's dating Lana. b) this isn't just The League's prudish ways here. Faculty+student+smoochy = going to get him fired and blacklisted. And, depending on Kansas law, it could be construed as statuatory.

Begin tangential rant here: And we're supposed to believe there's a forgotten "drama room" in the school which the drama kids aren't already hiding out in to smoke cigarettes during study hall? Especially with all that cool junk in it? And what kind of budget does Nakedville high have, anyway, where they can have a room ful of props and costumes that isn't being used?
End tangential rant

Okay, League, you're tiredly saying to yourself. It's a TV show. And you're willing to accept that the guy from outer space can shoot fire out of his eyes, and yet you have a problem with the logic behind Mr. Coach?

Right, but it's dumb writing. There were a million ways to get this clown back to Nakedville from Paris. And its not that weird to have, say, a college guy dating a high school girl, or a guy working at the coffee shop, or the guy doing mime on the street or whatever... But a coach and a student... that's lazy. And the guy is going to be rich, anyway. Just watch.

Stalking your girlfriend from Paris doesn't make this guy appear romantic. It makes him the weird guy who's trolling for high school girls. Which, as my brother's criminal record can attest to, can get you in trouble.

To add to the mayhem, this season Lex (the already twice married Lex) now appears to be pining for Lana. Lex has got to be... what? 25? His Lana-love and tendency to hang out with high school kids pretty much makes Lex the billionaire Wooderson of Nakedville High.

I have to give the writers props, though. I am enjoying the Lois and Clark chemistry they're developing, and I still think that Erica-girl is making a great Lois.

Next week's Nakedville preview has hard-nosed reporter Chloe dressing up as a cheerleader and then more than likely getting naked. The League is setting the TiVO now.

I guess Nakedville is going for a lighter, sexier tone, but having a sexy plastic surgeon named "Dr. Fine" just drives the whole show toward a sort of campiness that isn't going to serve them well in the long run. I am enjoying the lighter touch for an episode or two, but after a while... let's say I hope this isn't indicative of the entirety of the rest of the season.

To make matters worse, I think I may be giving up on ABC's "Lost" already.

Given an opportunity to discover a major character's dark, dark secret, the writers used a dumb soap opera dodge so they can drag this out until I utterly don't care anymore.

Spoilers begin

Not a damn person alive would have told a wanted criminal that they didn't need to hear what the wanted criminal did wrong. Not after an FBI agent warned repeatedly about how "dangerous" the wanted criminal was. But our supposedly responsible friend the doctor tells criminal-Kate that "it's all in the past" or whatever horse hockey... That, my friends, is just stupid writing which not even the guys over at Passions would try to pull. I guarantee you, if Kate were a 400 pound dude in a Luchador mask, he would have been asking what happened.

Spoiler end

And that blonde girl is supposed to be annoying, but its working a little too well, if you know what I mean.

I am just getting a bad feeling about the way this showing is spinning into Soap Opera Island. I want to see some monsters, or I want my money back.

next time: The Legion of Super Heroes.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

A special belated Thank You to Randy (who recently described The League as kooky...).

Randy located a DVD of the 1940's era Superman cartoons at Wal-Mart.

These cartoons were created by Fleischer Studios, and are a hallmark of animated achievement. In fact, the 1990's Bruce Timm/ Paul Dini batman series tried very hard to emulate the original quality of the these Fleischer cartoons in the art-deco style, dark atmosphere and Golden-Age America feel.



For my dollar, I'd just as soon catch these one-reel adventures as watch nearly any other motion-picture version of Superman. This is pure, unaltered, Seigle/ Shuster era Superman, when Superman was a sci-fi idea with limitless potential. In these cartoons, the Superman insignia (the familiar yellow and red "S" shield) is still black, yellow and red. Superman CAN'T FLY. He can jump astounding distances, but he's not really, truly airborne (ever wonder why "able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" was part of the Superman intro...?)

For more info on the cartoons, check out this link and this link to the Superman Homepage.

Thanks again, Randy! And I encourage all you folks who might see these DVD's on sale to pick them up. Cool stuff.
Hey, kids...

here's some Halloween fun!

Retrocrush presents The Top 100 Monsters of all Time
I think The Admiral has found my website.

This could be the end!

Ah... Halloween is just around the corner, my creepy little minions of morbid mirth!

And as such, The League must prepare!

Already at League HQ the decorations are in place and costumes are being planned for the annual candy dispersal. Pictures shall be forthcoming of the many chilling tsotchkes Jamie and I have dug up. We've already gotten the annual viewing of Frankenstein out of the way and will be moving through the League Library of horror favorites.


Salma Hayek atop a pumpkin is not just a good reason to celebrate Halloween, its a good reason to go on living.

This year The League has decided to try to slap together a Green Lantern outfit, just to see how many of the kids recognize who The League is. We think kids will recognize us. Jamie will once again go as perennial favorite: a bee.

A Batman-cape has already been slected for Mel. We shall see how this goes.

We haven't yet settled upon a candy to dispense, but those are details.

Because, my ghoulish guests, it's time for a little interactivity!

It's the 2004 Horrifically Hasty Halloween Heckstravaganza!

That's right, Leaguers. It's time for another creepy contest here at League HQ!


It seemed like such a swell idea at the time, just like this contest...

So what is this year's spine-chilling challenge?

It's Halloween storytime!

So dig deep into the spookiest place in your mind, slap on your writer's cap and submit a story in one or all of the following categories:

1) Best/ worst Halloween costume. Don't forget: Who, what, why, when and how.
2) Real life creepy stories, personal experience (must be SPINE TINGLING!!!!)
3) Real life scary stories, happened to someone else (must be TERRIFYING!!!!)

You may submit a story in each catgory. All entries WILL be published at The League, with a few stipulations.

1) Stories should be kept clean for the most part
2) Writers should avoid writing entire stories intended to make The League look like a jerk (this rule applies mostly to Mrs. League and Brother of League)
3) Stories MUST BE TRUE (as far as you know). False stories can be submitted to some other low-rent blog, but NOT this low-rent blog.



The Phantom contemplates what scary story HE might want to send to The League of Melbotis

Here's what's going to happen. This is your chance to get published here at The League with a truly scary story of your own. I'm going to cut and paste your story/ies and then publish. It's up to you to spell things correctly and have excellent grammar.

Try to get submissions in by Friday, October 22nd so we can spread the stories out throughout the week prior to Halloween. On the Friday before Halloween (October 29th) I will publish my favorite entry in each category. The winner will receive a grand prize worth almost $5.00 (or whatever is in the League treasury these days). All other entries will receive, oh... hell, I don't know. But if you send something in and include your snail mail, I'll send you something via USPS.

Does that sound good?


Drac waits for this Leaguer to wake up and begin her entry.

Submit all entries to Melbotis, who has our shared e-mail address over there on the left somewhere.

<------------- the arrow points to your left


This should be a frightfully good time!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

ahem.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Gordon Cooper, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, dead at the age of 77.
The League is always looking to cultivate comics readership. Shamelessly campaigning for comics is one thing, but shamelessly campaigning for Superman is a little easier to slip under the radar.

Associates of The League who recently had themselves a kid may have found The League trying to win friends and influence people with the power of The Man of Steel.

Below is Isaac, seen here chillin' with Kal-El.

I think Jill sent me a picture of Arden w/ Superman, but I can't find it.

Sunday, October 03, 2004

A Grand Day Out



That's one small step for a cat...

Mrs. League here. Jeff the Cat made his way into outer space (the backyard) yesterday for the very first time. What a brave, brave kitty. He didn't even barf or poop (his usual reaction to being removed from the safety of League HQ).



Outer space is tiring.



Mel doesn't know what the big deal is. Stupid cat.