I think if I were to tell you that at one point in the hsitory of DC Comics, Batman might hop in a commercial airliner, cape, cowl and all and enjoy a Sprite and bag of peanuts, even folks who never picked up a comic might find the idea sort of cockamamie. But there was a weird period in DC lore when such a thing was possible.
Anyway, the original dialog has been replaced, but there's a comic meme that's started featuring The Dark Knight flying commercial, seated with little-known 70's era, post-Bruce Lee Kung-Fu master Richard "Dick" Dragon.
Here's the first post (recall all dialog HAS been replaced).
Here's the second.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
RING THE (DIGITAL) BELL FOR SALVATION ARMY
CALLING ALL LEAGUERS!!!
Do you have a blog, website, etc...? Do you want to participate in a worthwhile cause?
League of Melbotis has started a Kettle Team for the Salvation Army! You can join our team, and/ or give to a worthwhile charity!
Now I'm basically like one of those dudes hanging out in front of the mall raising money for worthwhile Salvation Army charities. All without the actual loitering and bell ringing.
HERE'S THE LINK
Or: http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/melbotis
The 21st Century is truly a grand place for those of us who are lazy, but have an internet connection and wish to make a difference.
This year is going to be tough on a lot of your brothers and sisters in the family of humanity, so if you can spare a little yourself, we'd really appreciate it.
Also, if you want to join the League of Melbotis Kettle Team, please click the appropriate box on the website to sign up. Then publicize the heck out of the kettle! We're trying for only $300, so hopefully we can raise that amount this year.
If you can, please give!
Do you have a blog, website, etc...? Do you want to participate in a worthwhile cause?
League of Melbotis has started a Kettle Team for the Salvation Army! You can join our team, and/ or give to a worthwhile charity!
Now I'm basically like one of those dudes hanging out in front of the mall raising money for worthwhile Salvation Army charities. All without the actual loitering and bell ringing.
HERE'S THE LINK
Or: http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/melbotis
The 21st Century is truly a grand place for those of us who are lazy, but have an internet connection and wish to make a difference.
This year is going to be tough on a lot of your brothers and sisters in the family of humanity, so if you can spare a little yourself, we'd really appreciate it.
Also, if you want to join the League of Melbotis Kettle Team, please click the appropriate box on the website to sign up. Then publicize the heck out of the kettle! We're trying for only $300, so hopefully we can raise that amount this year.
If you can, please give!
We can watch Heroes, just for one day
So my only exposure to the program "Heroes" was watching about twenty minutes of the second or third episode of season 1. When I publicly said "Meh", everyone insisted I'd caught the worst twenty minutes EVER of the program and that I was missing out. But the whole "save the cheerleader, save the world" tagline made me burst into laughter the first time I heard it. I mean, really, out of context (or even with a bit of cultural osmosis context) it's the worst call to action for joining a TV show I can really think of.
So last night Jason and Jamie had both missed Monday's episode, which was waiting on our DVR, and so I figured I could sit through an hour of super-programming. After all, I made Jamie sit through Starship Troopers.
I have to say, that hour of Heroes was about the worst hour of TV I've borne witness to in quite a while, and I can see why producers are being shed from the show left and right.
Luckily for WB and NBC (and you, the lucky Leaguer!), I am happy to provide my analysis as a student of superhuman fiction.
1. Built in mythology - Sure, I'm coming to the show late in the game, but Heroes is one of the shows left-over from the post-Lost success that already had some multi-year mythology mapped out and is slowly, achingly revealing The Big Secrets. These shows/ comics/ what have you are painfully slow as they spend their energy pacing out the reveals like an antibiotic you have to finish.
Note that almost all of the shows depending on a mythology reveal but Lost have gone bye-bye. The format is unique to Lost. Do not attempt at home.
2. Robert Forrester as god-like corporate exec using business powers to manipulate everyone - I don't know if the "Super Old Man Potter" thing is really a creation of John Byrne and Marv Wolfman in their re-imagining of Lex Luthor as corporate mogul instead of super-scientist, but it seems like you see a heck of alot of this character, who threatens others, but nobody will just punch in the face. Even DC realized this was a tired trope and Lex is back to super-scientist, by the way.
Moreover, Robert Forrester just isn't very good. He sounds like he thinks he's playing a street-wise cop with every line. It's bizarre.
But I think the "evil corporation" bit has been so overplayed in so many ways that its tough to do anything new with it or buy into it at some point.
Terminator sort of has this problem, but they've really reigned it in.
3. The X-Men Internal Conflict Syndrome - What does Superman do? Superman saves the day. He interacts with mere mortals in his guise as Clark Kent. He plays at being one of us, so when the big action happens, we get what the threat is. A giant robot is trashing downtown, asteroids are headed towards Earth, and off he goes to save the day.
A while back, X-Men became a book not about mutants trying to co-exist with one humanity, but became this book where the X-Men were simply fighting one mutant group or another who wanted to kill the X-Men. Their agenda was not a threat to the general populace, it was, pretty specifically, the X-Men (which led to all sorts of questions about being more trouble than they were worth, but whatever...)
If a show is called "Heroes", it seems that the show might want to strive for more than "saving your own skin", which is great, but not exactly the heroic ideal. Heroes get out there and DO something for others. They do not skulk around worrying about magic formulas, etc... They use their blinky powers for the betterment of mankind.
Apparently this season, Heroes introduced some villains, which, you would expect would do the opposite. They would want to use their powers for taking advantage of the general populace. Instead, they spend their time skulking around trying to hassle the semi-heroes.
The bottom line, very little of what happens episode-to-episode seems to affect the world at large, and seems to hinge and circle melodramatically around this tiny group. The show should really expand its world-view.
4. What is the deal? - I could have spent three hours stopping and starting the show asking "what is the deal with this guy?" or "so what's their story?" as the show didn't see fit to fill me in with much in the way of exposition.
I don't want to tell NBC how to run their show, but if you're having a problem with viewership, maybe an impenetrable storyline and characters who are caught up in a bajillion plot lines isn't how you bring in new people to bring in viewers to replace those you lost.
X-Files knew that it had to spend a lot of time with episodic stories and building an audience, but that lesson seems lost on the producers of "Heroes".
Anyway, I probably won't be tuning in. Mostly for the same reasons I didn't tune in when the show started. I still find it derivative, the acting as hokey as any Sci-Fi original. It just isn't my bag.
So last night Jason and Jamie had both missed Monday's episode, which was waiting on our DVR, and so I figured I could sit through an hour of super-programming. After all, I made Jamie sit through Starship Troopers.
I have to say, that hour of Heroes was about the worst hour of TV I've borne witness to in quite a while, and I can see why producers are being shed from the show left and right.
Luckily for WB and NBC (and you, the lucky Leaguer!), I am happy to provide my analysis as a student of superhuman fiction.
1. Built in mythology - Sure, I'm coming to the show late in the game, but Heroes is one of the shows left-over from the post-Lost success that already had some multi-year mythology mapped out and is slowly, achingly revealing The Big Secrets. These shows/ comics/ what have you are painfully slow as they spend their energy pacing out the reveals like an antibiotic you have to finish.
Note that almost all of the shows depending on a mythology reveal but Lost have gone bye-bye. The format is unique to Lost. Do not attempt at home.
2. Robert Forrester as god-like corporate exec using business powers to manipulate everyone - I don't know if the "Super Old Man Potter" thing is really a creation of John Byrne and Marv Wolfman in their re-imagining of Lex Luthor as corporate mogul instead of super-scientist, but it seems like you see a heck of alot of this character, who threatens others, but nobody will just punch in the face. Even DC realized this was a tired trope and Lex is back to super-scientist, by the way.
Moreover, Robert Forrester just isn't very good. He sounds like he thinks he's playing a street-wise cop with every line. It's bizarre.
But I think the "evil corporation" bit has been so overplayed in so many ways that its tough to do anything new with it or buy into it at some point.
Terminator sort of has this problem, but they've really reigned it in.
3. The X-Men Internal Conflict Syndrome - What does Superman do? Superman saves the day. He interacts with mere mortals in his guise as Clark Kent. He plays at being one of us, so when the big action happens, we get what the threat is. A giant robot is trashing downtown, asteroids are headed towards Earth, and off he goes to save the day.
A while back, X-Men became a book not about mutants trying to co-exist with one humanity, but became this book where the X-Men were simply fighting one mutant group or another who wanted to kill the X-Men. Their agenda was not a threat to the general populace, it was, pretty specifically, the X-Men (which led to all sorts of questions about being more trouble than they were worth, but whatever...)
If a show is called "Heroes", it seems that the show might want to strive for more than "saving your own skin", which is great, but not exactly the heroic ideal. Heroes get out there and DO something for others. They do not skulk around worrying about magic formulas, etc... They use their blinky powers for the betterment of mankind.
Apparently this season, Heroes introduced some villains, which, you would expect would do the opposite. They would want to use their powers for taking advantage of the general populace. Instead, they spend their time skulking around trying to hassle the semi-heroes.
The bottom line, very little of what happens episode-to-episode seems to affect the world at large, and seems to hinge and circle melodramatically around this tiny group. The show should really expand its world-view.
4. What is the deal? - I could have spent three hours stopping and starting the show asking "what is the deal with this guy?" or "so what's their story?" as the show didn't see fit to fill me in with much in the way of exposition.
I don't want to tell NBC how to run their show, but if you're having a problem with viewership, maybe an impenetrable storyline and characters who are caught up in a bajillion plot lines isn't how you bring in new people to bring in viewers to replace those you lost.
X-Files knew that it had to spend a lot of time with episodic stories and building an audience, but that lesson seems lost on the producers of "Heroes".
Anyway, I probably won't be tuning in. Mostly for the same reasons I didn't tune in when the show started. I still find it derivative, the acting as hokey as any Sci-Fi original. It just isn't my bag.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Jim Parsons interview thing
I'm still getting used to the idea that Jim isn't just appearing on TV, he's actually becoming a bit of a celebrity thanks to hsi role as Sheldon on CBS's "Big Bang Theory". Kind of bizarre, but well deserved, I think.
Here's Jim answering fan mail on the Variety.com website via streaming media. Now here's the weird part:
One of the letters Jim reads from is from Brownie High, who was a drama teacher at our high school my sophomore year. Ms. High actually left at the end of Jim's senior year amidst bad-blood and UIL drama scandal, which seemed like just a super-huge deal at the time. Meredith may recall the incident.
Anyway, I hadn't thought about that in years. And I am sure Jim had not either. But I would love to know what was playing in his mind when he saw she'd written him the letter and he had a camera in his face.
Weird Al and Shatner
I'm watching this thing on Bio that's an hour-long documentary on the life of Weird Al.
yeah. Go ahead and laugh. How many albums has your favorite band put out and how long has their career lasted?
I also have to admit that I've long been oddly fascinated by Judy Tenuta, who keeps showing up in this doc. And I don't know how I feel about having a crush on Judy Tenuta. I guess I just like a woman with an accordion shouting at me and calling me a pig. I guess its an acquired taste.
But to my point, it looks like Shatner is getting a talk show on the Biography network.
SHATNER!!!
The prospect of the minds of our time coming face-to-face with The Shat is, for me, equal parts mind-boggling and gratifying. I was the guy who actually watched Lauren Hutton's short-lived talk show in which I learned each show far more about what a freak Hutton was than anything about her guests (I use freak in the most loving way possible. Let's just say the woman is an enigma). And I hope to get even more of this out of The Shat.
He's named his show "Shatner's Raw Nerve". I am so there.
MUSIC
I FINALLY got around to downloading Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals". Thanks to JAL for the suggestion.
Of late I'm not too sure what I like and don't like in my music. But I do really like Feed the Animals. It may not be your bag, but here's the link to the site.
I'm not sure how they got around paying royalties, or expect to avoid lawsuits. Perhaps the sample used from each song meets some minimum sampling duration, but it doesn't seem like it. I just don't really know.
Comix
May I recommend "Tales Designed to Thrizzle"?
I can't guarantee it will be your cup of tea, but I find it funny.
For free online comix hilarity, try Achewood. And, btw, Chris Onstad will be at Austin Books on December 6th. I think I'm joining the Shoemakers for the signing, if you want to go. (That's "The Great Outdoor Fight" I'll be getting signed)
I checked our hits at Comicblogelite.com, and Comic Fodder did something like twice its normal traffic today following my admittedly negative critique of the state of things at DC Comics these days.
It's not too tough to see trends when you've done this for a while. I meant everything i said, and I certainly wasn't trying to just generate hits (after all, I don't make a dime from blogging). But usually when you go off on a bit of a rant, you seem to see a spike as folks check in to see what the freak is saying.
I'm still getting used to the idea that Jim isn't just appearing on TV, he's actually becoming a bit of a celebrity thanks to hsi role as Sheldon on CBS's "Big Bang Theory". Kind of bizarre, but well deserved, I think.
Here's Jim answering fan mail on the Variety.com website via streaming media. Now here's the weird part:
One of the letters Jim reads from is from Brownie High, who was a drama teacher at our high school my sophomore year. Ms. High actually left at the end of Jim's senior year amidst bad-blood and UIL drama scandal, which seemed like just a super-huge deal at the time. Meredith may recall the incident.
Anyway, I hadn't thought about that in years. And I am sure Jim had not either. But I would love to know what was playing in his mind when he saw she'd written him the letter and he had a camera in his face.
Weird Al and Shatner
I'm watching this thing on Bio that's an hour-long documentary on the life of Weird Al.
yeah. Go ahead and laugh. How many albums has your favorite band put out and how long has their career lasted?
I also have to admit that I've long been oddly fascinated by Judy Tenuta, who keeps showing up in this doc. And I don't know how I feel about having a crush on Judy Tenuta. I guess I just like a woman with an accordion shouting at me and calling me a pig. I guess its an acquired taste.
But to my point, it looks like Shatner is getting a talk show on the Biography network.
SHATNER!!!
The prospect of the minds of our time coming face-to-face with The Shat is, for me, equal parts mind-boggling and gratifying. I was the guy who actually watched Lauren Hutton's short-lived talk show in which I learned each show far more about what a freak Hutton was than anything about her guests (I use freak in the most loving way possible. Let's just say the woman is an enigma). And I hope to get even more of this out of The Shat.
He's named his show "Shatner's Raw Nerve". I am so there.
MUSIC
I FINALLY got around to downloading Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals". Thanks to JAL for the suggestion.
Of late I'm not too sure what I like and don't like in my music. But I do really like Feed the Animals. It may not be your bag, but here's the link to the site.
I'm not sure how they got around paying royalties, or expect to avoid lawsuits. Perhaps the sample used from each song meets some minimum sampling duration, but it doesn't seem like it. I just don't really know.
Comix
May I recommend "Tales Designed to Thrizzle"?
I can't guarantee it will be your cup of tea, but I find it funny.
For free online comix hilarity, try Achewood. And, btw, Chris Onstad will be at Austin Books on December 6th. I think I'm joining the Shoemakers for the signing, if you want to go. (That's "The Great Outdoor Fight" I'll be getting signed)
I checked our hits at Comicblogelite.com, and Comic Fodder did something like twice its normal traffic today following my admittedly negative critique of the state of things at DC Comics these days.
It's not too tough to see trends when you've done this for a while. I meant everything i said, and I certainly wasn't trying to just generate hits (after all, I don't make a dime from blogging). But usually when you go off on a bit of a rant, you seem to see a spike as folks check in to see what the freak is saying.
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.
Not much else to report. I think Jamie has a cold of some sort.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Trek could be awesome
Here's a pirated copy of the new Trek trailer, which I have not yet seen in good quality as I did not see Bond this weekend. Probably next week.
Be prepared for low-quality.
Awesome.
It will be up at the official site by lunchtime.
Be prepared for low-quality.
Awesome.
It will be up at the official site by lunchtime.
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