Not really doing it for me...

Am I the only one creeped out by the sexualization of the Green M&M in the animated M&M ads?

Aside from the obvious (it's an M&M), does the female gender assignment automatically equate to sexiness? And, for the love of mike, wasn't there another way to pitch these fancy-type "premium" M&M's?

And if I'm this creeped out, doesn't it really mean there's someone out there who likes Ms. Green a little too much?

McDuck Family Tree

I really can't recommend the Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck comics enough for fun, all-ages reading. It's a little cost prohibitive coming from Gemstone, but when the stories are coming from Don Rosa or Carl Barks, I always feel I got my money's worth.

I particularly recommend the very reasonably priced "Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" and it's companion volume.

The two collections act as a flashback, going back to the days well before Scrooge obtained his moneybin, which you will remember from the 90's-era cartoon, Duck Tales. Duck Tales was based upon a very, very long running comic series which has an insanely devoted, international audience. These days, a lot of new Duck material comes from Europe, where, I guess, the Ducks still have a strong foothold.


The Duck, the Myth...

To give someone an idea of the scope of the Duck comics, but not to intimidate anyone, because you don't need to know all this to like the comics.... here's a family tree of the characters in the Scrooge McDuck, et al comics.

Here.

The series did begin before modern sensibilities took hold, often regarding a dated typical anglo-saxons view of much of the world. And so you do, occasionally, have to grimace through a less-than-PC take on foreign lands, etc...* The Barks and Rosa** stories are well plotted, usually surprisingly well-researched, and as big on adventure as they are on comedy, which is saying something when Donald Duck is a major player.



*While I obviously don't agree with the outdated portrayals, etc... I also am deeply uncomfortable with dismissing material out of hand. Instead, I feel it's healthier to view it as an historical artifact.

**Rosa's stories are from the modern era and don't tend to reinforce outmoded or negative stereotypes

Coachella?

I don't think I'm going*, but the lineup for Coachella is, once again, really very good.

Here.

I can't help but note that My Bloody Valentine is listed. Part of me refuses to believe they'll keep it together long enough to make the show, but if they're doing Coachella, maybe they'll do ACL Fest?

Also:

Paul McCartney
Morrisey (for JimD)
Leonard Cohen
The Crystal Method (your mileage may vary)
Girl Talk
Calexico
TV on the Radio
Jenny Lewis
Peter Bjorn and John
Public Enemy
The Cure
Throbbing Gristle (A bad I've never heard, but always respected the name. Not quite as awesome as RevCo, but not bad)
X

No matter what, ACL Fest is going to pale in comparison.

*Jamie and I are talking about taking a lengthy vacation this summer, so that'd be where I'll spend my vacation days.

Well, shoot

It seems the Cardinals, whom I chose to cheer for, lost Superbowl 43.

I was really pulling for Warner and the gang. Ah, well.

This should drive Jason nuts...

Everyone in this video has never kissed a girl.

Note how everyone speaks in comic cliches to the point where its clear, they have no idea what they're really saying... It's an odd mish-mash of comic thought captions, Batman quotes, and poorly rehearsed, awkwardly presented, badly penned heroic platitudes. The stuff you gloss over on the page when you know you're reading substandard dialog, etc...

Every once in a while I give Reals (Real Life Superheroes) a mention on this site. Let me be clear: I'm not about to put on a cape and mask and go out to try to confront the dude going through the DT's in front of Walgreen's. I don't find this to be a particularly useful idea, or an effective one, but I do find it fascinating.

Here's a guy who challenged The Real Superheroes.


This guy could be a real menace to The Reals, but first he's going to need to secure permission to borrow his Grammy's car

What's unreal is how many of these guys there seem to be once you search "RLSH" on YouTube. And that the videos are uniformly awful.

I kind of appreciate that these folks seem to basically realize that the best they can do is offer volunteer work, but I'm not sure why the masks and capes... The people at the city food pantry would probably prefer if they had your real name and did not have to refer to you as Dark Vengeance Monger.

And I don't even know what to say about this video:


The video is literally 10 minutes of moment after moment of soul-crushing awfulness.

The video is pretty long, but, seriously, I only WISH I could come up with this stuff. There's a feature film in here somewhere.

So, yeah, these guys are pretty much the numb-nuts you thought they were. FFWD to the 8:00 mark if you need an example.

So what can you do to join (because I know Michael is already wondering)?

I have no idea. But here's a website. I tip my hat their direction, only because the suggestions listed for activities are (a) not likely to get anyone killed, and (b) might actually be beneficial (even if by accident) to somebody, somewhere.

EDIT: For some reason the comments link has disappeared. To see comments, please click on the title of the post and scroll down.

Who was Watching the Watchmen's Licensing Dept?

I wrote about all this coming not but a week ago.

The comics blogosphere is abuzz about these Halloween costumes from Watchmen.

Here. I think Horus and JMD need to team up and goes as Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan this year. Alan Moore must be laughing himself to death. I just hope Gibbons winds up with a gold house and a rocket car out of all this.

Well, the guy in the Nite Owl suit actually looks a bit more like the one in the comic than the fellow in the rubber thing in the movie.


The manufacturer has no idea what this movie is about, do they?

And for those of you wanting to go as either Super Dork or Drunk Nascar SuperFan, are you in luck!

There's something so totally off about the availability of a Comedian costume, it enters into the sublime...

I can't wait for your kids to start demanding their very own Comedian action figures. Sadly, I can't speak to why its kind of messed up without giving away major parts of the plot, but... yeah. You might want to see the movie before getting your kids jazzed about Comedian bedsheets and an Ozymandias role-play set.

Look, Watchmen was one of two comics that sort of made comics unsafe for young children. The general populace got a glimpse of that this last summer with Dark Knight, and just as Batman and Watchmen were responsible for a sea change in how we think of superheroes in 1986 for comic fans, they're poised to do it again for the general audience.

I sort of expect there are going to be the same outraged parents groups insisting that superheroes are for kids, so how could you do this? And that's okay, but... you know, they still have plenty of superhero stuff that's safe for your kids. You just might need to be a bit more vigilant about what they read and watch.

A Few Points on the Previous Post

So, this whole "getting blasted by the past" bit is turning into something of a Rorschach test.

I do feel the need to go on the record about a few items.

Most importantly: I think Lesley has a much better sense of humor about this whole ordeal than I really gave her credit for in the post. I didn't want to dwell too much on our actual conversation in the post, and I confess to being thrown into a bit of a tizzy, so I may have highlighted some of the wrong points. So credit where credit is due.

Also:

1) I did send "Lesley" a written apology. Give me some credit, people.
2) I do not expect a response. Nor would I. Expecting a response assumes she would give a rip about me after all these years, which I would think she would not. I don't usually expect any response when I send off a Facebook request to begin with.
3) I did not intend the post as a "woe is me, someone does not like me" thing.
4) I am just (a) surprised at the turn of events, and (b) a little embarrassed about the whole thing. And I usually feel like the best way to deal with embarrassment is to share.
5) I should mention that the entire conversation described with Jason and Jamie was part of a much larger conversation in which I was bemoaning the fact that I'd "lost my edge". The snippet you read was intended to impart a moment when a recent life lesson was learned which was then applied, whether I liked it or not. Jason was not just sitting around thinking of ways to shatter memories of a happy childhood.
6) I certainly did not mean the post as a way to extend an olive branch in some faint hope that Lesley would discover it. That's giving me a lot of credit for a fairly complicated plan that I don't really have the capacity to plot out.
Also, that's sort of weird, so... no.
7) Sadly, I am not Lesley's "friend" as of this writing. The dream of reconciliation is gone.
8) Before we go off the rails imagining The League pantsing people, rat-tailing skinny kids in the showers, and lurking about taking people's lunch money, I do not believe that was the case. I think I was just really, really annoying. Like being stuck in elevator with Rip Taylor for eight hours. It's amusing for the first two minutes, and then...

Anyway, it's been an interesting exercise. I appreciate the feedback.