Comics You Should Be Reading: Captain America

America, @#$% YEAH!!!

So, you may have heard several months ago: They killed Captain America.

What they did not tell you is that the 24 issues leading up to the Death of Captain America and the subsequent issues following have been absolutely engaging reading.

I thought I'd post on this, thanks to this story which ran today on CNN.com.

Writer Ed Brubaker took over the reigns on the flagship title for the Sentinel of Liberty, relaunching the series with a new #1. I was familiar with Brubaker from his work, mostly, on Gotham Central (perhaps DC's most underrated title of the past six years), and had read a few other comics he'd penned, and had planned to follow him to Marvel. I did pick up issue #1 of Brubaker's run, enjoyed it, and planned to pick up the collections of the series... But somehow I never got around to doing so.

And then I heard they were bringing back Bucky.

Bucky was Captain America's youthful sidekick in the original comics sold during WWII, but he'd never been part of Captain America since Atlas/ Timely became Marvel. It had been explained that Bucky was killed during the final mission in which Cap, himself, fell into the sea to be frozen until found and thawed by the Avengers. Wacky stuff, but, you know... you grow up with an idea and it doesn't sound totally weird.

Anyhow, Bucky's death was canon, and for whatever reason I took exception to the idea that they'd bring back Bucky Barnes. His death was as fundamental to the mythos as the death of Jason Todd had become to the Bat-comics. Well, of course, we know what happened with Jason Todd, and so perhaps having Bucky around didn't seem that crazy.

Brubaker's take on Cap isn't so much superhero as super-soldier. Or, more specifically, super-anti-terrorist operative. World weary, but with a certain optimism and faith in what he's doing, it makes for a good, three dimensional character behind the shield.

The plot is not convoluted in the way so many comics can become, but rather feels novelistic. There's a lot going on that doesn't require punches to the head (although those happen, too), and there's a good story. Good enough that, in the telling, the return of Bucky feels less like a stunt to draw in readers, and more like one of the unfortunate side effects of the world Cap's been a part of since WWII.


The New Cap

I have to thank Nathan Cone for pointing me back towards the series. Part of why I picked up the Omnibus was that Nathan told me he was reading the series and was still very enthusiastic about it.

You may be aware that Cap was killed some time back, but that story is just as fascinating to watch unfold. Unlike the impenetrable and winding plots of the Death of Superman and World without a Superman stories, the post-Steve Rogers world feels organic, and as if the characters are acting from a real sense of loss and grieving (which, in superhero comics, rarely means sitting around crying).


Anyhow, pick up Brubaker's Captain America.

2 bizzeee 2 post

Here's something I swiped from Randy in order to share with the new parents in the League's readership. Denise, pay special attention to "Drying Baby".

Mel Report

Hey Leaguers. I know less about today than Jamie, but it sounds like Mel's surgery went well.

Jamie dropped him off at 7:00, and heard back from the vet about 2:45. It sounds like the surgery went as planned. As of 2:45, Mel was awake and resting.

Jamie called again at 5:30, and he'd already been up, gone wee, and was hopped up on goofballs.

She's going to pick him up tomorrow afternoon (we're not really sure when). She has to get some serious pick up instructions.

Jason has Lucy tonight, and maybe tomorrow night, so Mel can rest when he gets home. Jeff the Cat will simply get punted if he interferes.

I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and prayers (thanks, Ma!). Mel seems to be on the road to recovery.


UPDATE

It seems we were misinformed. We can't pick up Mel today. Which means Lucy has been destroying Jason's house today for no good reason.

I'll leave it to Jamie and the commenst section to fill in more details.

Everyone Wish Mel Well

Mel is going off to have his surgery tomorrow morning. Jamie, being the good person she is, is getting in the car and driving him up to Round Rock at 6:45 in the morning.

I am convinced Mel will come through with flying colors. He has had a few surgeries before before, and he has always done well. There's also an 85% chance this will get rid of the problem altogether. So, you know, I think he's going to be fine.

The poor guy is going to have to wear one of this big, plastic cones for a while. I think he wore one for a short time quite a few years back, but I am anticipating he's going to be really, really unhappy for the duration. On the plus side, he will get to eat soft food for a few weeks, which he's not been able to do before. Hopefully he'll think he's getting a treat every meal for a while.

The worst thing for both Mel and Lucy will be that, because Mel's surgery is in his mouth, we're going to have to hide all the toys for a while. Mel and Lucy both love their toys, and associate them with playing and being good dogs. In fact, whenever you come back from even a run to Taco Cabana, Mel runs around with a toy in his mouth and cries. At night he walks around with a nylon bone in his mouth like a cigar, or one of his vaguely people-shaped toys that he moves from place to place around the downstairs.

Anyway, no toys for the dogs for a few weeks. And while some small aprt of me is looking forward to not having the clutter, I know that the dogs are going to be deeply unhappy without anything to play with.

So everyone wish Mel well. We'll give a report again tomorrow night.

The League ain't afraid of no ghost

You know which show I can't quit watching, but which is some oddly irresponsible television? A&E's new program Paranormal State features a team of college undergraduates who are true believers in the paranormal. Not UFO's, mind you, but they fancy themselves to be ghost hunters, but without any pesky skepticism.

Their goal is, ostensibly, "investigations" into the paranormal, but that's not really what seems to happen. Somehow the show has teamed up the undergrads with several other charlatans of the supernatural, and these folks are brought in to (a) assist in the investigations and (b) enjoy something of the limelight which they seem to be seeking.

The "director" of the Penn State Paranormal club is probably just a shade or two away from the sort of conviction in utter nonsense you really only find in con-men and people building compounds who don't let their flock speak to their families any more (for their own good). He leads the team with the charmless charisma that will one day make for low-level cult leader status as he rambles on about the presence of ghosts and demonic spirits, and plays the expert in mystical matters to not just his band of followers, but the people whose houses he invariably exorcises by the end of each episode. As an undergrad, I'm not sure exactly what his credentials are supposed to be (I've ruled out critical thinking as one of his strong suits), but his followers seem oddly devoted and willing to defer to him in all of the decisions for the group. No doubt, this guy is going to be asking them to sign over their worldly possessions in five years and buy matching purple jumpsuits.

What's really sort of out of whack is that the folks who the group comes to "help", are in fact, in need of real help. Generally these folks seem distraught by whatever it is they believe is living with them in their house. I admit that, in some twisted way, this means that the group of undergrads is helping the people in question. I just am not sure a seance and having some 20-year old kid semi-politely asking the "spirit" to leave is what these folks actually need. But, according to the show, whatever magic they work gets rid of what's ailing the subjects of each episode. Or, you know, the people just really don't want the nerds coming back.

Now, let me qualify this somewhat: I watch Ghost Hunters on Sci-Fi all the time. It's the only one of the basic-cable paranormal shows that I think applies basic logic to... uh... ghosts. At least there's some half-assed investigation put into it and not just "psychics" wandering about sensing angry feelings. And I give the show kudos for trying first and foremost to try to explain away the bumps and creaks in the night, and for understanding that sometimes people leap to bizarre conclusions. And sometimes people have really bad pipes and wiring in their homes.

In short, unlike most of these shows, I don't think Jay and Grant, of Ghost Hunters are crazy. Well, I do think spending your evenings running around some stranger's house with a video camera is a bit... odd. But their first inclination is not to believe every hiss in a tape is an attempt by the dead to communicate. But I also don't think they're outright fibbing in order to get exposure and money.

Sadly, I don't really believe in ghosts. But, I would like to make a buck off of other people's paranoid fears. Jason and I have often spoken of what we might charge for capturing and containing one of the departed in true Ghostbusters fashion.

"We're ready to believe you!"

Ryan Goes America

For reasons I cannot explain and upon which I do not wish to elaborate, I can empathize with Charlie in this clip.



Really, Jason and Jamie are, at all times, about ten seconds from hearing me burst out into similar song.

Zero Effect Tenth Anniversary

Join Chronological Snobbery for a 10 Year anniversary investigation of the 90's-era detective movie "The Zero Effect".

Read here.

Zero Effect - 10 Years Later

The League has been asked by the powers that be at Chronological Snobbery to participate in a bit of a movie review round-robin for "The Zero Effect". It seems that the movie, Zero Effect came out ten years ago. I saw it on DVD within a year or so of its release on home video.

Rather than try to remember a movie I hadn't seen in about 9 years, I picked it up from Netflix.

I admit that I wasn't a huge fan of "Zero Effect" when I saw the movie the first time. I definitely got that the movie was a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, with Bill Pullman in the role of Daryl Zero/ Holmes and Ben Stiller in the role of Steve Arlo/ Watson. While working, Daryl Zero has superhuman abilities of deduction and intuition. Off the case, he's a drug-addled lunatic who plays the guitar. Badly. Just as Holmes was supposed to play the violin and partake in a bit of, if memory serves, cocaine, the analog is pretty straightforward. And just as Watson was supposed to declare "by jove! How the deuce did you deduce that, Holmes?", so is Stiller put the position of being both impressed by his employer's abilities, as well as assisting him and representing him to the public.

And while I certainly wouldn't want a "modern day Holmes" movie, I wasn't sure what, exactly, Kasdan was trying to create. Was this Holmes through the eyes of the modern day detective movie? Or was it Holmes through the eyes of the son of a successful Hollywood producer?

The plot/ mystery of the movie is an excuse for the audience to meet Daryl Zero and Steve Arlo, and to challenge the status quo we're to understand they share when the movie begins. Should Steve Arlo give up his working relationship with Zero for the way it interferes with his personal life? Can Zero find love?

What starts off as an amusing premise never really works. The movie isn't funny, and I don't think it's intended to be so. So I'm not really sure what Kasdan was intending. Too much time is spent concerned with the quirky relationship of Zero and Arlo, and the mystery plot isn't necessarily engaging enough on its own to work as a feature film. Perhaps this would be a great pilot leading into a television series. Long story short, its tough to ever know what is supposed to be the A-plot of the movie, and what is intended to the B-Plot. Are we watching a movie about Zero and Arlo or the blackmail case they're supposed to be uncovering? Is this a standard case for them, or is this one particularly unusual?

Part of the problem is that Pullman is only occasionally convincing as an unhinged eccentric genius. Too much of the time, perhaps, he's on the case, and so seems together. Other shows, such as Monk or Psyche feature quirky detectives (Monk, most specifically comes to mind as an example of a detective program which is completely dedicated to the protagonist's psychoses). Prior to that, Columbo and others had been pretty wacky detectives working through convoluted plots. There's nothing here in "Zero Effect" to defy expectations. Instead, not a whole lot seems to happen. Character bits that are revealed skew towards the depressing, but with so little time to get to know Arlo and Zero, its tough to get invested. Pullman has never struck me as an actor of great range, and Zero Effect does nothing to erase that notion.

TV and movies are full of such characters, and drug-addled mood swings may look good on paper, but in a movie where we're given little room to feel sympathy for our leading man to begin with, profanity-laced binges don't really draw you in. Honestly, the idea seems like something lifted out of a completely different movie, as does the intentionally awkward "Zero plays the guitar" scene.

Ben Stiller's portrayal of Steve Arlo is hampered by stilted dialog he delivers mostly through clenched teeth. This would have been a post-"Ben Stiller Show" Stiller, but pre-Super Stardom from "There's Something About Mary" and the schticky groove Stiller would carve out with films like "Meet the Fockers". Honestly, I'd forgotten he was the Watson-archetype in this film, and raised an eyebrow in the first frames when he appeared. He more or less disappears going into the third reel, with one scene which resolves his character arc and a tacked on wedding scene to give our character an out at the end of the film.

Readers may recall that the Sherlock Holmes stories were told from the perspective of Watson in order to give the reader the same surprise the audience might feel upon hearing Holmes spout out an amazing deduction. However, director/ writer Kasdan switched the POV from Arlo to Zero somewhat abruptly early on in the film, taking away the exasperated amazement that Arlo might feel working side by side with an unknowable genius. In many ways, this gives the feeling that the screenplay was cobbled together from various parts of various drafts and that there's never any solid, single point of view to the movie. No doubt this was done to accommodate the scenes with GLoria Sullivan, which, by necessity to the plot, could not include Arlo. Unfortunately, this makes Arlo semi-redundant within the structure of the story.

For someone with so much screentime and who is supposed to win over Daryl Zero, Kim Dickens' Gloria Sullivan is a surprisingly dull character and never feels like the foil she's described to be in the film's final moments (I literally paused and thought to myself... "oh, yeah... I guess she did do all of that..." as Zero re-capped why he admired her so.). Ryan O'Neal is really the only other player, and so in a mystery such as this, there just really isn't much mystery to go around. But he pretty much plays Ryan O'Neal, if you're wondering.

Director/ Writer/ etc... Jake Kasdan would have been about 23 at the time of the film's creation, and that may account for a lot of the problems with the film. Too young, perhaps, to really realize he was recycling material. Mistaking drudging, monotone dialog for moodiness, and Dennis Hopper-channeling mania for Zero as "quirkiness", whatever humor he finds in the inconsistent pill-popping of Zero simply doesn't work.

Perhaps these characters had lived in Kasdan's head too long as a writer, and as a director, he was unable to get the performances out of his seasoned cast. Fresh out of school and with a father like Lawrence Kasdan to call in favors, movies can get made. Perhaps had Kasdan waited a bit before bringing this movie to the screen, the movie would have found its footing.

I'm not familiar with the box office on Zero Effect, but I do not recall the movie doing well at the time of release, and only rented it originally at the suggestion of someone else.

Kasdan's follow up efforts haven't been as serious in tone. He directed the dispiriting, laughless "Orange County" (a movie which seemed as if it was written by the most entitled priviliged kid for other entitled privileged kids.). It is telling, I think, that I left the theater before "Orange County" was over. We had technical problems with the film in the final reel, and rather than wait for the theater to fix them, we demanded a refund and left.

Kasdan also directed this winter's musical/ comedy "Walk Hard", which was funny when relying on the improv talents of the players and otherwise awkward and clunky, and certainly stretched on about twenty minutes too long.

Perhaps Kasdan had originally intended to write a comedy with Zero Effect. Perhaps he even believed that's what he was shooting until he got back his footage. Who knows? The movie begins on a an absurd note, suggesting some dark comedy... and abandons any humorous aspects about twenty minutes in before giving up and plodding to a finish.

My guess is that I am missing something here that has kept the film alive with a certain group of fans. But on a second viewing, there's still not much to pull me in. For a movie that seems to think it has some great characters, they seem derivative. For a movie that ostensibly is about deduction and detecting a mystery, the plot just isn't really engaging enough to really feel like the greatest challenge of the career of Daryl Zero, which it must be, lest why would the movie exist?

As someone participating in a round-robin of "Zero Effect" reviews, I'll be curious to see what others say.

I was going to close the post with something dickish about how the movie had "zero effect" on me. And that's probably still true. But, mostly, I feel the movie is forgettable, and has been largely forgotten. It's never a good sign when you realize upon watching a movie again for the second time that you have no recollection of the plot or characters from the first viewing. It's a worse sign when you are dead-certain mid-viewing that your brain may be erasing the movie from your memory before you've even finished watching it, and that's not going to help when it comes time for the big reveal.

Ways I could spend my government money

Unky George sees that we're falling on hard times. To help us through the hard times and the foreclosure on our homes, he and Aunt Nancy opened their purse and are sending us a check.

You and I could be getting $600 from the government.

How can I spend it?

Can I get a gun?

Three Petsafe Cat Verandas?

Six majestic eagle scuptlures?

An Adventurometer?

20 robots?

here's a list of items for $600

How should the League spend his $600? Assuming he doesn't just pay some bills...

You Should Be Reading: BLUE BEETLE

I was as bummed as the next guy when DC killed off Ted Kord in the event comic "Countdown to Infinite Crisis". And I think, in some ways, DC knew they'd kind of made a mistake. They'd finally put the spotlight on a character who was almost universally loved, but who had a hard time making it as anything but a supporting character. But certainly, the fanbase liked the character and wanted the possibility of having Ted in more stories.

Ted Kord as Blue Beetle was just fun. He was Batman with none of the trauma, cool gadgets and a fun pal in Booster Gold. What wasn't to like?

I'm happy to report that, in spite of the end of a great character in Ted Kord, DC's replacement wasn't just some half-baked replacement so they could put out a new #1 and temporarily lift sales. DC introduced a whole new concept with the creation of Jaime Reyes, a 16 year old living in El Paso who has merged with the Blue Beetle Scarab once owned by the first Beetle, Dan Garrett, and the second, Ted Kord.

I was originally skeptical. Both Marvel and DC had been trying to catch lightning in a bottle again since Spider-Man hit the scene with a constant stream of teen-agers with varying degrees of tragic backgrounds and mopeyness. The formula had never really managed to coalesce again, but that didn't mean teen-book after teen-book hadn't hit the shelves.


Jaime doesn't always handle all of the threats he faces with the calm, cool nerve of an action hero.

Blue Beetle tried something a little different. Jaime wasn't an edgy kid, he was a good kid who lived with his parents and had a fairly standard relationship with his folks. He even told them about his Beetle-powers right off the bat. Further, he had supportive friends, also in on the secret identity, and stayed in El Paso, rather than immediately getting shipped off to some other town that the writers might know better.

Perhaps because Jaime isn't moody or depressing, its a bit easier to believe he's tossed himself headlong into the superhero business with his family's support and a bit of fun rather than because he's suffering from crushing guilt.

Moreover, John Rogers has managed to tell a fairly expansive story without undue decompression, and after providing several pieces along the way, the story of Blue Beetle is finally coming to a head.


Beetle keeps good company. This issue featured Beetle and Superman visiting Austin, for which the artist had no references.

Honestly, if DC is looking for a property they could easily bring to other media, the latest version of Blue Beetle is it. The generational aspect of the character might be fun to explore, but I think audiences would also really respond to not-just-eager-but-uncertain hero Jaime Reyes. Throw in one of the best supporting casts in comics since Clark Kent met Lois Lane, and there's a lot there.

I don't know if DC and writer Keith Giffen knew exactly what they wanted to do for the first few issues, but when the comic was handed over to John Rogers and the armor changed from so weird it was thought to be magic to a sci-fi angle with global consequences, it's been one of the comics I pick up first from my stack every time it comes out.

I should also add that there have been occasional guest-written issues, and those have been fun as well. I think that already the character and his environment are well-enough defined that guest writers can step in and keep up the spirit that Giffen and Rogers have worked to define.

Check it out. Blue Beetle is a good read.

Plus, really, the armor is totally cool.

FLILF?

With first Fred Thompson, and now Dennis Kucinich dropping out of the race for the White House, I am reminded of this Daily Show story.

The Ability to Talk to Animals

I haven't been reading the news

I don't know when this happened, but I kind of quit keeping up with the news the way I used to. Certainly being unemployed and having basic cable, as was my lifestyle last winter, lends itself not just to reading the news a lot more, but you sort of think the news has more to do with you than it really does. Conversely, I think as busy as I usually feel these days, I see a headline and digest it in the time it takes me to read the headline, and never commit to actually reading the article.

Today I was checking the personal e-mail from G-Mail, and on my MyGoogle Page, I have a news ticker or three, and most of the headlines were about Obama and Clinton, or Heath Ledger, and then one said "5 Million Dead as Congo agrees peace deal". 5 million. I mean, I knew that... anyway. Upsetting, but that's not so much the point.

Add in the chaos in Gaza, and the twin stories of the economy slowing and Bush's steps to stimulate the economy, and there's a hell of a lot going on, and I don't really feel looped in. I hear about stuff like Heath Ledger, which is morbidly interesting, but I'm not taking enough advantage of the internets right now to keep up on the stuff that isn't showing up in my news tickers. I know that the tickers sort of funnel celebrity stuff to the top for click-throughs, anyway, but I'm not doing any real news browsing the way I used to, or I should. Most online news sources are free. I've got no excuse.

I'm not saying the dust up between the dem presidential candidates isn't news. It is. But it's also just the narrative of the week for the race for the White House. 5 million people. Mass exodus from Gaza. Just because its not effecting me and my drive to work doesn't mean I should retreat into funnybooks, my iPod and the latest episode of Ghost Hunters.

That's all. Need to read more. Read my subscriptions to Newsweek and Time.

Also, I need to go practice the bass.

Ya'll have a good one.

First Look at Cloverfield Monster

hey, if you're like me and saw Cloverfield, you probably wanted a better look at the Monster. This is, I think, official, and not a fan rendering. Anyway, no big surprises, but it's cool to see it in detail instead of through shaky-cam.

Nothing to post

Well, Heath Ledger died. That's something to post, but I'll be honest. I never saw the knight movie, or the cowboy movie, so... I'm honestly not sure I've ever seen anything the guy ever did. Mostly I keep wondering how much the media is going to ghoulishly dwell on his death during the release of The Dark Knight.

Fred Thompson dropped out of the presidential race. I had no plans to vote for Thompson, really. I wasn't against the guy, but he wasn't even really very high on my list of candidates to research. I recall his time in the Senate during the late-90s, as he was in the paper a lot, but I don't even remember why.

They made announcements of Oscar noms for last year. But I don't care. I do want to see "There Will be Blood". No idea if they'll have the Oscars on, and since I don't watch, anyway, doesn't really bug me. Makes room for more American Gladiators.

Watched the second two episodes of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles last night. I am still hopeful, and I think the show is going to make it into my rotation. But... I am deeply afraid the show will become the adventures of a killer robot as she navigates the hallways of public high school. What's amazing is that I just typed that sentence and didn't get totally excited by the idea. That can't be good.

Apparently Clinton and Obama are dusting it up in the debates. Bleh.

Oh, and the economy is going to hell. Awesome. I am guessing we'll get a little closer to the Thunderdome lifestyle I've often aspired to.

I dunno. I got nothing tonight.

Cloverfield: Man in Suit

On Saturday Jamie, Jason, Julia and me (breaking the chain of alliteration) went to the Alamo-ized Village Cinema to catch "Cloverfield".

SPOILER LADEN REVIEW

Cloverfield is pretty much exactly (EXACTLY) what you think it is from the previews. It takes the concept of the big-budget monster movie and tells it from the pitiable angle of the person on the street, rather than from the angle of the sexy scientists and military folk who usually fill Godzilla movies. In some ways, its very similar to a zombie movie in that we're getting the perspective of the folks simply trying to not get killed, not the folks trying to bring the crisis to an end, which, really, brings us all the way back to the original novel of "War of the Worlds".

But the buzz hasn't been so much about the shake up in narrative, its been about the first-person perspective of the movie. As you probably already know, the movie is supposed to be found footage of a handi-cam which captures the desperate set of circumstances of the seven or eight hours around the attack of the monster, which I just call "Cloverfield" as, very intentionally, the movie never names, nor does it try to explain the monster. From the perspective of the characters, this makes complete sense, and, really, that's the point of the movie. This is a film about "what if you or I were minding our own business and found ourselves the screaming pedestrian in the rampaging monster film?" What I did not want to see was the scene in which our everyman heroes stumble upon a scientist who explains the entire situation. In so many ways, the movie relies upon the confusion of the characters to tell the story.

And, no, I have no idea why the movie was called Cloverfield. The movie never actually says why that was supposed to be the name at any time I saw (even in the opening minute of the movie). I probably missed something, so fill me in if you know.

In a world in which we've all seen endless footage of the WTC falling and modern military strikes on cable, the cinematographer of Cloverfield is the real hero. The scenes are captured well enough for the viewer to see what is going on without being lost in the herky-jerky camera movements, and only occasionally did I stop to think "gee, he was lucky to frame that exactly that way while running away in terror". We now know what it looks like when a huge building collapses, we understand what it looks like when missiles are flying from an armored military vehicle. All of this is brought to the screen in a manner that suggests You Are There.

A lot of folks are going to not necessarily dig the camera work, and that's a matter of both taste and whether or not you got vertigo when you saw Blair Witch.

This, in the end, is what the movie brings that "20 Million Miles to Earth", "King Kong", or any other rampaging monster-in-a-populated-area movie didn't bring. There will be the inevitable comparisons to The Blair Witch Project, and that's okay. But I don't think its fair to assume that a single movie should get the monopoly on first person genre films, especially in an era of YouTube, video cameras on phones and the everyman as creator of media. To say "Blair Witch already did this" is, to me, oversimplifying things a bit.

Some Leaguers are beholden to the whims and needs of the babies they've made and will not be able to go out to the local cinema to take in the spectacle. And I'd say that watching this on your TV will probably still get you into the experience. After all, subconsciously video shooters are thinking TV, not 40' movie screens. While the movie certainly doesn't always stick to the rule, seeing the conventions of the home video play out on your TV rather than at the movies may make for a satisfying experience.

What viewers will probably believe less than a twenty-story monster rampaging through Manhattan is the premise of the plot of the film. This is not, I say again, a movie about folks actually defeating the beastie. I think I, at age 32 or at age 15 would have a hard time buying the premise which to our film's subjects wandering through the firefight. Or that someone would feel safe walking around with a camera in their face through a disaster of cataclysmic proportions.

The leads are fairly typical young Hollywood, what producers assume I want to see when I go to the cinema (but is really intended to appeal to males, 13-25). The movie begins more or less with the beginning of the "found" tape. The first footage occurs before the disaster, capturing two young folks who are trying to decide if they're in love. A camcordery-cut later, Flash forward to the awkwardly scripted good-bye party where one of the leads is off to Japan for work, and a very high-school-like lovers' quarrel. The technique works in the narrative in a way that would have seemed ridiculous as flashbacks in any other movie, and uses the device (both plot and actual handi-cam device with its known technical quirks) to show what would otherwise have to make up for some really inappropriately timed exposition.

In all honesty, I wasn't sure I was supposed to feel deep empathy for the characters, or if that was a product of the usual poor characterization when style takes place over substance. I really didn't care about the B-plot of the movie, and I certainly didn't buy that the characters would have been knuckle-headed enough to walk back towards the danger as they did. Like a lot of zombie movies, I suppose, I was expecting our protagonists to get picked off, and was simply much more invested in the unfolding of action than what was happening to who, and who loved who. I mean... really. There's a 50-ton monster eating people. Who cares about yuppies in love?

I might also mention that the movie has no score or musical cues. You won't miss them, but if you hang around through the credits, you'll find the music over the credits sort of jarring when it does pop up.

Like Blair Witch, its unclear if its a good movie or a novelty, but I'm leaning toward a novelty that will inform future, perhaps better, efforts. It's a good popcorn flick, and it shows promise that perhaps the rampaging monster in an urban setting isn't totally gone from the world of genre movies.

But, as the Alamo pre-show reminded me, I was pretty happy with a classic Man in Suit movie. I'm not sure I really need a $150 million thrown at me to have a good time.

Star Trek Trailer

I have to say I'm quite pleased to hear about the re-launch of the Star Trek franchise with a cast of new players in the roles of the original TV series (now 40 years old).

While nobody will capture my imagination the way Nichelle Nichols in a mini-skirt did when I was but a lad, I think its time to sweep away a lot of the clutter of the multitude of Trek shows and get back to the classic formula of Kirk in his Space Trans-Am, cruising the galaxy with his pals, kicking Klingon ass and picking up alien chicks. Also, exploring. But mostly shooting phasers. And that time Spock's brain was removed? Totally awesome. Plus the salt monster. And the Gorn. And the hippie aliens? And the white Gorilla. And remember when that flying blob of light was in love with Zephram Cochrane? That was weird. Also, I like Tribbles. When are we going to get a movie with Tribbles?

Check out this pic. This is totally the look my dad used to give me when I was a kid and I did something spastic.

Anyhow... its time to get back to brass tacks with Kirk and Co., and Paramount has unleashed JJ Abrams on the franchise, kicking Berman to the curb.

I have high hopes. Here's the first teaser for what shall be my film of choice for next Christmas.

Dog Park

Sunday we loaded up the team and went to the dog park. Lucy, by the way, now knows the dog park when we pull up and starts freaking out.

I also want to apologize for the wardrobe and hair. I, uhmmm... it was cold out, and I confess to neither taking a shower nor combing my hair on Sunday. Plus it was windy. And I'm chubby, so... there you have it.

Here's the pics by Jason

Terminator on TV

So Friday night I watched the pilot of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. (Beware any college-kids reading this.... eventually you, too, will not feel like going out on a cold and rainy Friday, staying in for a meal of tuna melts and apples).

Folks who've known The League for a while will know The League is a big, big fan of the first two Terminator movies (but not so much the third in the series). It falls squarely in with the high-budget sci-fi action flicks that were a huge part of The League's youth.

And, honestly, I kinda liked Terminator 2 more than Terminator. Tracking further back, when I was in middle school and high school I was a pretty-darn big fan of anything Arnie put out. There was a time when the only Arnie movie I hadn't seen was "Kindergarten Cop" (I'd watched a good chunk of "Hercules in New York" on basic cable). T2 had a bigger budget, more explosions, and the kick-ass performance of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. Add in what were, at the time, unbelievable new CGI effects.

I was deeply skeptical of anyone taking the place of Linda Hamilton. In Terminator, Cameron had given us the glimpses of the female action hero that was not part of the usual American film scene. We'd get an occasional Princess Leia, but by and large, it was still up to the male lead to save the day. In T1, Hamilton still played the damsel in distress to Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese. In "Aliens", Cameron gave us Sigourney Weaver as the full-blown action heroine who might get some side-kicky type help from Michael Biehn, but who is fine on her own. This all paved the way for T2, in which we got a shotgun-toting, face-punching Linda Hamilton who only grudgingly accepts the help of the new Connor-friendly Terminator. This was all awesome, and I have graphs and charts to prove it.

Less awesome was T3, despite the inclusion of Claire Danes. The only thing to like in T3, really, was the obvious conclusion that SkyNet was not a single system, but a software system which had gone all self-aware and virus-y haywire.

The TV show's pilot (I've not yet watched the second episode) seemed to pick up after T2, rather than acknowledging T3 in any way. And that's okay. SPOILER ALET: Sarah Connor was supposed to be dead of leukemia before the start of T3. Something I never bought, although it provided a reasonable explanation of why they wouldn't bring Hamilton back while propelling John Connor forward as the protagonist in the franchise.

But,as the producers are aware, it's not John Connor who is the star of the Terminator franchise, its Sarah Connor. Terminator is not about the war of the future, its about trying to stop the war from ever happening.

Lena Headey takes the role of Sarah Connor, and, judging from the pilot, she will be able to fill the boots Linda cobbled herself back when I was in high school. Headey's toughness in teh role may not come as a surprise to those wh saw her in 300 as Queen Gorgo, but her role here is a bit more direct.

ChronSnob calls into question the age of Headey, but the show does state, flat out, that Connor is 33, the same age as Headey. However, with a 15 year-old son, I'm not sure how that manages the continuity of the first two movies. Certainly Hamilton was never supposed to be a teenager in T1?

Thomas Dekker's young John Connor never feels like the mouthy, semi-precocious brat that Edward Furlong seemed to portray in T2. Nor does he come off with the Andy Rooney-with-an-edge that Nick Stahl brought to T3. He seems like an overwhlemed kid, understanding of his situation but still trying to avoid his destiny.

The buzz will probably be around Summer Glau, who sci-fi dorks will remember as Rain from Firely and Serenity. Poised as a Lady Robot of Interest for both the fanbase and John Connor, Glau plays Cameron (yeah, they went there), a Terminator sent from the future with a bit more of a plan than "Save John Connor".

Pity Glau, for she is about to become the subject of many-a-nerds' rich make-believe love life.

What will surely drive sci-fi fans and lovers of logic insane is that the show seems precepted on the idea that the future is fluid. I am sure the time travel elements of the show will be handled with varying degress of logic and competence. But its hard to see how the future timeline of a war with robots can be erased unless someone with knowledge of that war is sent back to stop it. Which, of course, means that the eprson from the future would have no knowledge of the war and would have no need to travel back in time.

So you see where I'm going with this.

The actual feel of the pilot was very, very close to the first two movies (I actually kind of thought the third movie felt a bit like a made-for-TV movie), right down to the vividness of Sarah Connor's dream echoing portions of T2. The soundtrack uses elements of the T2 music to good effect, and that certainly helps to draw you back into the Terminator universe as well as a through-line regarding reconnecting with Dyson's family in what appeared to be the same house from T2.

Jamie's concern, and one I share, is that few series are able to come off of a good pilot and sustain the quality. A quick glance at IMDB, as well as some of Glau's dialog suggests that this will not be the Connor's + robot moving from town to town to solve crimes, a la The A-Team, but rather them digging in their heels for a fight. Which seems kind of... like not a good idea when an endless line of killer robots diguised as people is coming for you.

Only future episodes and time will tell.

I am a bit down knowing that Arnie will, most likely, never appear on the show. One would assume he's a bit busy, what with being Governor of California and all. But I think the Sarah Connor character is strong enough to hold her own, especially if given a decent supporting cast. But, still... that's 100% less Arnie than I usually like.

Check out both Jason's review and ChronSnob's mention of Jason's review.

Mel V. Cancer

The day after Christmas, Jamie noticed Mel had a pretty substantial growth in his mouth. As Mel's gotten older, he's grown these weird little lumps under his skin. We got the first few removed over two surgeries (three?). Essentially the growth in his mouth was a similar lump, only in his gums.

They had scraped a similar lump in April and had it sent off for testing. It came back benign, and we didn't really think too much about it any more.

On Friday, the results from Mel's December surgery came back. Our vet called me on my cell about 3:00. After a lot of explanation of words that really didn't mean a whole lot to me, the bottom line was that they'd found cancer cells in the growth. Mel, my pal, has cancer.

As hard as it was to hear, I also knew it was now my responsibility to share the information with Jamie. And so I asked about our options. Mel is not yet 10, and he's still as frisky as he's really ever been, so letting him just be an old dog and try to just keep comfortable until it gets bad isn't an option.

Apparently there's now dog radiation and dog chemo. For people, who understand what's going on, that's the path you go. For dogs who only know you're taking them to get sick over and over every time they get in the car. There's also a dog oncologist in Round Rock (of course), and so we had options, anyway.

I did my bit of steeling myself on the way home. We were headed out to dinner with Steven and Lauren, and while I wanted Jamie to know, I also didn't want to tell her over the phone. So while Jamie was getting dressed and made-up to go out, I had to drop the bomb.

Jamie is, despite outward appearances, the toughest person I know. She's never given up on anyone or anything, and certainly knows that before you shed too many tears about bad medical news, you grit your teeth and start figuring out your options.

What made it easier to share, of course, was seeing Mel when I walked in the door. As usual, he was sitting on the couch, ears pitched forward, tail spinning wildly and happy as a clam.

"You aren't sick."
"Nope."
"Look at you."
"Yup."
"We've got a long way to go before we write you off, pal."
"Thanks!"

And so on the way to dinner we discussed our options, and talked about the fact that Mel was okay right now. So what we have to do, we decided, is just make sure he's a happy boy.

Saturday we took Mel and Lucy to the dog park, where Mel ran around just as happy as ever, playing king of the dog park while keeping that nice safety zone close by, with Lucy playing the little tag-along sister.

He is not sick. He is fine. He can play and chase the ball and goof with other dogs, and when he comes back to check in with you, his eyes are still that same bright brown, his tongue still pink, his ears still perked and eager.

On Monday Jamie went to see the vet and got the name of the Oncologist and Surgeon team. Yesterday Mel went to the oncologist for a CAT scan and to get checked out.

They think they can get it with surgery. He's going in next week for a consultation. He has no idea what's going on, but he's still Mel.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"None."
"They say you're sick. You've got the cancer, pal."
"The heck you say."
"Yeah. On your gum."
"Oh. Yeah. That figures."
"It's not supposed to metastasize. They think they can get it with some surgery."
"Oh."
"So it's gonna get cleared up. But it's going to take some tough days ahead."
"Okay. Jamie will take care of me?"
"You know she will."
"Okay, then."
"We're gonna have you around for a long while yet."
"And then where will I go?"
"A place full of couches and tennis balls, other dogs to play with and an endless sea of Milk Bones."
"Will you be there?"
"I'll catch up sooner or later."

More Real Life Superheroes

Here's an article about the tiny (but growing) subculture of Real Life Superheroes (or Reals, as they seem to call themselves).

I certainly think its a terrible idea to dress up in a costume and try to patrol your city. The article does mention the potential for violence, and certainly The League is a lover, not a fighter. And as good-natured as I think it is to dress up and head down to the homeless shelter to help out, do you need a superhero outfit to do that?

Well, honestly, it sounds like it worked out for the guy in the article when he uses his time to read to kids. But, let's be realistic... you don't need a super suit to help people.

Let me be perfectly clear: I think its a good idea to wear clothes if you want to go out and help the public. Otherwise, you're looking at some jail time. Ask Randy.

I don't honestly know what to make of the Reals. Part of me thinks its really cool, but I'm also aware of the potential for this get really bad, really fast. So in what capacity, if any, is there room for Real costumed do-gooders?

I know how Superman feels...

From Chris's Invincible Superblog

Chron Snob can't just "let it be"

Chronological Snobbery has an interesting post on the album "Let it be... Naked", a stripped down version of the Beatles' efforts formerly produced by Phil Spector.

I'm a fan of Spector's work with the Ronettes and others. I'm also in a cultural blindspot when it comes to the Beatles. You should check out the article.

Bug Comes to World of Blog

League pal Erica (aka: Bug) has come to the world of blogging.

She's a teacher in the Houston area, and so I look forward to seeing her tales of Zen-like-Calm in the face of chaos as she manages a herd of kids.

You can read Bug's blog here.

Welcome new blog: The Polka Dot Bug

Whip It! coming to a multiplex near YOU

Hey, Leaguers...

League-Pal Shauna is a screenwriter in Hollywood. Looks like her latest project is headed for a green light.

Read up on Whip It!

And they got Ellen Page from Juno. Kind of wild.

There's a chance they'll shoot in Austin, so I'm hoping I can catch up with Shauna (whom I have not seen since 2000) if she comes to town.

It Ain't Grey's Anatomy

Apparently Glenn Beck has never been to the ER.

I'm not dismissing the man's health issues, his misery or his concerns. And as much as I don't really think his show is... good... I will be curious to see what happens based upon his recent escapades at the hospital.

You can read Beck's account here.

You can read the story here.

But, from the description I see here, his visit is either par for the course for the average trip to the ER, or maybe marginally worse.

I'm not sure if Beck's surprise comes from his expectations of a clean and happy ER based upon years of TV shows filled with caring doctors who weep whenever someone has a boo-boo. Or, not to be a jerk, but it could also be that Beck has been living in a celebrity cloud long enough that he is shocked to find out about the sort of service the average person expects, even when in dire pain. In either case, the only thing in the story that surprised me was that they found dirty bandages in the shower. Which might just mean that they didn't get to clean the room between patients because they were running patients through so quickly.

The League doles out advice: By the way... if you start to think you need to go to the ER because you're in pain, go... Waiting at home just adds to wait time you're going to get when you get to the ER. We've done 8+ hours of just sitting in a waiting room before seeing so much as a nurse. There were reports of hospitals in Mesa with 16-24 hour waits in the ER.

Sitting for hours in the cheapest chairs the hospital could buy while you wait to get a room and talk to someone about your pain is not where you want to be when your eyes are bleeding out or whatever.

There's really nothing like the ER to remind you that you are not a special snowflake in need of special attention. No matter what you came in with, if you didn't come passed out in an ambulance or with a piece of metal in your head, 50% of the people sitting around you are as bad off as you are (or worse), and they've been waiting longer than you.

Here's what I want to stress, and where I think Glenn Beck is off-base: The people who work in hospitals have the hardest job in the world. I'm including them with combat soldiers.

No matter what these people are making, its not enough.

When you or I go off to work, we sit at a desk in front of a computer, or put on a tie and depose people all day. These people put on clothes specifically designed to be cheap and washable because they will be covered in blood, vomit, and other bodily fluids before they finish their 12-hour shift.

When I screw up at work, a project slips a day. When these people get a new client, which is every few minutes, their client could potentially die on them. And I've spent enough time in hospitals and ERs to tell you, most people walk out of the ER after they've been seen. But sometimes people, despite herculean effort, do not walk back out again. If things are taking a little while for you to get your shot of morphine, Mr. Beck, it could be because the guy on the other side of the curtain was in cardiac arrest and heading into the light.

I've seen kids with lite-brights shoved up their noses, people who had bugs stuck in their ears, people so constipated a doctor was going to have to go in manually, people who were in kidney failure and didn't know it carrying gallons of extra fluid around, knees completely shattered from a bad touch-football play, people with broken limbs, folks with mysterious stomach ailments that have lasted weeks and only now become unmanageable... And I do not work in the ER. I am an observer.

And these people do this every single working day. Every day.

On the regular hospital floor, its a bit different, but there it's often even more life or death. People check into the cardiac floor because their lives are at stake, not because they need some vacation time. These are people with dignity being asked to wear a flimsy robe and sit still for days while they're poked and prodded. Some of them have other ailments. Some are in pain.

Here's the other thing.... if you're not feeling well, and they keep asking you if you need more pain meds, and you keep saying "sure", they will give them to you right up to the point where you might slip into a coma. After all, they have no idea how much pain you're really in except by what you tell them.

If the employees seem a bit callous, you have to understand the wall they set up between themselves and their patients. I think that's more than understandable for people who live around misery every day of their professional lives. Ask a cop, soldier or even a person involved in criminal law if it doesn't all get sort of detached after a while... Glenn Beck can walk into a hospital and walk out again, in relative certainty he need not visit again for years. Doctors, nurses, techs, administrators, janitors... the people who keep the hospital working are the same folks who see thousands of Glenn Becks in a year, and will see just as many next year.

I can't say how much asking questions, and not expecting nurses to treat you like a customer, helps. They aren't working on tips or commission. You are not always right. Be nice. Say "please" and "thank you". If you think something is wrong, ask. But ask politely. These people are dealing with people in eight other rooms, each as sick or sicker than you. And before you start buzzing the nurse for a cup of juice for the tenth time, think about how you'd want other patients to be if you were in need of immediate help and/ or croaking.

I think this is also worth calling out: as scary as it is, medicine is not an exact science. No two people are alike, nor are the ways in which their particular ailment will be managed.

Glenn Beck may be an individual snowflake regarding body chemistry, and it may be true that his system did not know how to manage the meds he was given in order to help him. When you enter the hospital, they are making the best decisions they can based upon the best info available as it relates to the most people. Any time you take a pill, it can have unknown side-effects or known side-effects.

I don't think I'm telling anyone anything that you don't already know.

What I find ridiculous is that it took Beck having a bad few days of health to take notice that people can't be cured with a pill or that their problem won't be resolved in an hour, as if they were dropping clothes off at the dry-cleaner. Further, he's asking each and every hospital worker to care as much about his woes as he does, and, Leaguers... that isn't going to happen. Hospital staff do care or they wouldn't be there. The pay isn't good enough to put up with the day-to-day insanity of healthcare work if they didn't care (and I've personally talked to one young nurse who confessed he couldn't take it any more and was quitting after years of schooling).

I find it a bit unrealistic that Beck identifies the necessary emotional detachment required to work in stressful conditions day-after-day as a sign of a failing healthcare system. There's probably some grain of truth in that insofar as there are not enough hospitals and too many people going into ERs who could just as easily head to the local minor emergency center. And, yeah, the ER nurse didn't do everything exactly to Mr. Beck's satisfaction. The ER's are overcrowded, but it doesn't sound like Beck was seen any faster or slower than when you see other folks fast-tracked. The delays he experienced weren't done out of spite, they were part of procedure so each person is seen and given full attention. Further, "doctor's orders" isn't just a term from the movies. It's what nurses and techs must wait in before doing anything. It's procedural, and not always lightning fast. 40 minutes is fast.


The League doles out more advice: If you're as jacked up as Beck claims he was (and I believe he was that bad), call an ambulance. Beck has a lot of money and no doubt decent insurance. If you can get into an ER under your own power, the ER staff are going to make their own decisions. They aren't always the right ones.

But what Beck experienced was "Fast Tracking". That's the coveted position of the ER visitor. They saw he was messed up. They got him back second. He doesn't know how long the person who was seen before him was there, he doesn't know which nurse or doctor that person was going to see. Most often you do NOT go from triage into the back. That's what they do with you when they actually care ow you're doing.

If his wife had to hoist him, its because neither of them asked for a wheel-chair or help. Which is... not a great choice and doesn't tell anyone you're in the level of pain Beck was in.

They have these charts at the hospital with a pain scale of 0-10. They even have little descriptions and/ or faces for you to match your level of pain. I'm not sure "I'd lost all hope and wanted to die" is exactly how they put a 10 on the chart, but it also doesn't sound like they avoided trying to help beck outright. It sounds like he got the same treatment I see everyone else getting.

For an interesting response to Beck's rant, check out this nursing forum.

Of course a lot of what the nurses have to say about orders, side-effects of meds, etc... is going to get ignored by Beck, lest he admit he just had a bad experience as a side-effect of surgery and medication and not get a new cause to rant about.

American Gladiators

Last week Jamie and I watched an alarming amount of American Gladiators. For this reason alone, I may be willing to kick in some extra dough for the writers so they'll end their strike.

While the current crop of Gladiators is every bit as ridiculous as the Gladiators of yesteryear, and the games are the same, I'm not sure I'm as into the show as I planned to be. It's one thing to wrap up your Saturday evening as a high-schooler watching American Gladiators because it's that or QVC (AG aired late at night in Houston when I was in high school). It's quite something else to realize you're 32 and spent your time from 7-8pm watching American Gladiators with your erstwhile Honey Bunny.

But as the Gladiators themselves are rarely given time to talk (the show is about clubbing weaker opponents, not chit-chat), how do we get to know the Gladiators? The Hater is here to help out.

My favorite Gladiators? All female. Why? Need you ask?

But I have a particular fondness for Hellga.

I've also decided that, if I were doomed to die and I got to choose HOW I was going to die, exactly how would I decide to go out...?
The Gauntlet, staffed by the ladies of the American Gladiators.

If you gotta go, you might as well make it interesting.

And, WB Execs... when casting for Wonder Woman for a movie...

Less of this and more of this.

Hey Leaguers, long time no post.

It's been a fairly busy weekend here at League HQ.

Friday night we met up with team Harms-Roth at Eddie V's down on 5th. It's definitely a sight nicer than the usual run to Casa Garcia's we might have on Friday, and the swordfish I got was fantastic. I'm a big fan of fish, but living in land-locked Austin, I'm frequently skeptical of most seafood at restaurants. You're always one bad clam away from a really tough 24 hours. Eddie V's delivered on food, drink and dessert.

More important than the food was the company, and as always it was great to catch up with Lauren and Steven. We're all fairly busy folks, and it was the first time we'd seen each other since the Holidays. I neglected to ask Steven about his experiments with Ruby on Rails, so that gives us an excuse to catch up for drinks in the near future. Lauren's been learning to sew. Like, really sew. She made a dress for herself. Then re-made the dress for herself. I Look forward to seeing what she cooks up. Also, I think she should start making all of Steven's clothes. And only use houndstooth and tweeds.

Saturday we ran an errand or two and took Mel and Lucy to the dog park at Riverside and I-35. Mel's getting up there, and he's not as healthy as we'd like, but... man. Set him loose at the dog park and he's as energetic and tough as any of the puppies out there. And not to brag, but Lucy is faster and more accurate than any other dog at the park when it comes to fetch. I know not everyone is a dog person, but there's a genuine pleasure in taking your dog down to the park and seeing them run with other dogs, but still wanting to keep near you, keeping the pack intact. I'm not ready yet for summer heat and swimming holes, so the dog park is a good substitute.

Saturday night we met up with Matt and Nicole at Maudie's on Lamar where Matt and I had the Rockin' Ruthann's and a few margaritas. Luckily, Jamie drove.

I should also mention Jason and I squeezed in not one but TWO practices this weekend. Our two-man band is on its way. We're trying to get a drummer, and so far two people have volunteered, my pal Julia from work (who didn't flinch when I said "well, you'll have to grow an afro..."), and Lauren, who I visualized in an afro, and I'm not sure it will work. Perhaps those novelty antenna deely-bobbers?

At any rate, Jason is incredibly patient with me, and I'm having a huge amount of fun. I must learn something called "12 bar blues". I'm also practicing from a book Cousin Sue gave me for Christmas. I think both Jason and Jamie are disappointed that I've named my bass "Lois", but... c'mon. Who couldn't see that coming a mile away?

Jason's been in a few bands, but since its him and me, and I have no idea what I'm doing, and so by default, he's sort of singer and guitarist. I think we're going to recruit Jamie to sing, at least harmonies. She's skeptical, but if we play Radiohead's "Karma Police", I think we can get her onboard. Now, she may need to hide in a box or something if we ever play out somewhere, but maybe not. She's got some stage-fright issues.

Today I went down to Reed's to get a look at his recently unearthed comic collection. It had been in a closet in his house for a while, and he was curious as to the value of the collection. Really, he's got a lot of key-80's era stuff and if he ever decided to sell, he could do pretty well. Stuff like "first appearance of Spider-Man black suit", "first Black Cat", and some Batman stuff that's worth something.

I really don't know what comic collections mean to folks to who don't hit the Ye Olde Comick Booke Shoppe anymore. I know what I'm doing to augment my Superman collection. If I quit buying comics, what would I keep? What would I sell? It's something to ponder.

This evening we met up with Stuart and Hilary at their place, roughly half-way between Jason's house and our place. Carla and David were supposed to make it, but unfortunately Carla wasn't feeling well, so they had to scrub plans to join us. While we missed them, we had a good time, ate some great food (I hear an exchange of recipes is imminent) and more promises were made that our living room will be painted at some point.

All in all, its been a busy, busy weekend.

Now Jamie's retired for the night, I've got our gas fire going, the dogs are asleep (Lucy sleeps inverted), and its back to work for a new week. Egads.

Hope your weekend was good.

Here's our guy Ron Paul...

In case you missed it, there's an early 90's era newsletter making the rounds from Ron Paul (most likely written by one of his subordinates) that doesn't make Ron-o look too good.

Here

This sounds about right for the casually bigoted remarks I recall from living in the greater Houston area about that time.

Paul's defense?

"Libertarians are incapable of being a racist, because racism is a collectivist idea."

Wow.

Lately, it's been a lot of this...

thanks to Randy for the comic

Political Apathy

I don't care about the Presidential Primaries, nor, really, about the Presidential election.

I suppose that makes me a bad American. Whatever.

Maybe its the news cycle and the same coverage of the same candidates you see over and over. (The first headline I've seen about candidate Bill Richardson was today when he dropped out of the race. Just sayin'.) The coverage of the elections on CNN and other outlets is full of breathless anticipation, but they don't ever seem to actually care as much about the candidates' records. They do care about how Candidate Y isn't doing as well as expected and what tricky maneuver they can pull or what volume of money they can drop on TV advertising in order to change opinions.

And here's the thing: the tricky maneuvers and the TV advertising seem to work well enough to sway those undecided voters.

I particularly don't care about the Primaries as I have a hard time believing that the Primaries in Iowa or New Hampshire are indicative of much but what people who bother to vote in Primaries, who happen to live in Iowa and New Hampshire, think.

Mostly, I'm just not sure that the best candidates ever get enough attention from the press to give them a fighting chance once the press decides which candidates make the best stories.

I guess I'm now old enough that years go by faster, and it just doesn't seem that long ago that we were enjoying stories about Swift Boats and falsified reports of the President's military service. I know its going to get a lot uglier before it gets better, and that there are a lot of people out there who are part of political campaigns (or who are not but who can afford airtime) who want to win so badly, minor issues like the truth aren't really something to worry about if they get in the way of winning.

I know democratic politics have never been clean. I'm not going to dwell under an illusion of some halcyon days of the American political process, believing the best man won, or, that, heck... the best person would even be willing to run for the job.

I think these days I'm much more interested in local politics and/ or state politics. I live in Texas, and I'm pretty darn sure that I know who is getting my electoral vote, and I'm fairly certain there will be an (R) next to their name on the ballot. It's not a secret I've not been a huge fan of the current administration, nor of the President when he was merely the Governor of Texas. So perhaps the fact that I've voted against Bush multiple times and never seen him lose sort of begins to make one wonder what the point is...

Locally, there's a lot less that seems like an inevitability. Bonds can be passed or turned down. Measures and ideas can be brought to ballot that I can feel effect me.

Unlike national politics, in local politics there's no pondering of things like "Why does the fact that the citizens in Sugarland keep electing Tom Delay mean that he has influence over the rest of the state, let alone the country?" Certainly that's a side-effect of the system, but it still seems kind of silly to me.

I'm not saying I don't want to live in an elected representative government. It beats an authoritarian dictatorship any day. But I'm not comfortable with the smirk people like to throw on when you grumble a bit about these things and say "What, you mean you don't like politicians and politics getting poltical?"

I guess my answer is: No. I really don't. The trust I'm being asked to place in the yahoos I'm sending to office is undermined by the fact that I don't believe half of what they're saying, and I have to be suspicious of the other half because I have to wonder if they're making claims just to get elected. If I suspected that someone I was interviewing for a job was lying to me just to get the job, I wouldn't hire them. And I certainly wouldn't want to trust them with my money, so why on earth would I think that's a good way to choose someone to be responsible for a nuclear arsenal capable of atomizing the planet?

The fact that there are folks who are willing to jump on a candidate's campaign is odd to me, too. I guess maybe I've just never been enthralled enough with the political process enough to want to wear a funny hat and cheer for some yahoo. I guess if someone came along who I didn't find at least a little sketchy, I might think about joining up. But I sorta think that by definition, anyone who thinks they know enough to make decisions for that many people, you kind of have to wonder. There are many ways to serve the public, so what's the drive that gets people to decide to hold office?

I know I'm being cynical and cranky. But if you see a lack of political coverage here, I thought I'd let you know why.

Here's the thing: I do believe in democracy, and I certainly believe in every citizen getting a say with their vote, and an opportunity to run for office if they meet minimum qualifications (and I don't find being 35 and born in the US to be too tough a standard for the guy who keeps their finger on the button). I just think we could probably expect a bit more out of our candidates, and, more importantly, our press. It's not a gameshow, but since that's how Wolf Blitzer seems to want to treat it, the candidates have all figured out their strategy for not getting voted off the island.

Anyhow, I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

From: The Beat

How Much is that Robosaurus in the Window?

Oh.
My.
God.

Robosaurus is on the auction block.

For the first time, I know exactly what I want to do with my life.

Read here.

Thanks to Randy for sending the link.


The object of my affection...

2007 Wrap-Up Part Three: Sports

And we're back.

Sports

UT Football

Well... It's tough to say it was a building year for the Texas Longhorns. This was Year 2 without Vince, and Year 2 when I cringed my way through the multiple personalities of Colt McCoy at QB. Add in an offensive line which didn't always look that interested in protecting Colt and a secondary that seemed to slow, too small and often perplexed by every offense which they faced.

And, of course, UT lost to an A&M team for the second year in a row. An A&M team which, on paper, they should have manhandled. The bottom line is that A&M wants it more when UT faces them down.

The Holiday Bowl brought me some small feelings of good cheer as UT walked all over ASU in the first half and kept it up pretty well in the 2nd. Once again, and this is just my feeling, but I sorta still believe the Big 12 is just a lot tougher conference than the Pac-10. This year I would put virtually any Big 12 school up against ASU and I'd expect pretty much the same result.


Dallas Cowboys

Oh, the season held such promise. And then Romo started "dating" Jessica Simpson.

My Superbowl dreams of Cowboys v. Pats now seem in a great deal of jeopardy.

My God, TO was getting along with the team... it was going to be great...


Spurs

The Spurs won. Again.


Suns

Did not win. Again.


Baseball and Steroids

For some reason, I'm completely in denial about Roger Clemens taking steroids. Bonds? Sure. But Clemens? No reason it couldn't be true, but I thought he was just a guy who liked to eat a lot of red meat and pasta or something.

Alas.

As much as everyone wants to freak out about the list of names, what they should really be looking at is why Selig and MLB have ignored the rumored use of steroids and not asked the players to do so much as pee in a cup for their million dollar salaries. After all, high school athletes have to do the same, as do employees at Subway.

DITMTLOD: Sean Young as Rachael in Blade Runner

I dig Blade Runner. Depending on my mood, its easily one of my favorite movies. Sure, it's clunky in parts, and there are multiple cuts with different meanings, but this isn't a post about the arcane magic of Blade Runner. This is a post about a 13 year-old League raising an eyebrow in honor of Sean Young as a robotic noir love interest.

It's not accurate to refer to the Rachael character in Blade Runner as a Femme Fatale. In fact, for a noirish crime drama, there is no woman trying to take Deckard out unless you count both Pris and Zhora, neither of whom use seduction in the "kill Deckard" technique and so aren't really femme fatales in the sense I understand the term.

I saw Sean Young as Rachael before I was aware that Ms. Young had an odd reputation in Hollywood circles. And I am positive I had seen the movie before the Catwoman debacle. In all likelihood, I didn't know who Sean Young was when I saw Blade Runner the first time.


Rachael the replicant is smokin'.

Not to belabor a point, but I might add this movie also had Daryl Hannah in punk-aesthetic and Joanna Cassidy running around in nothing but glitter. But I guess, you know, the whole "trying to kill you" thing was a bit of a turn-off when I was 13.

The character of Rachael was (spoiler alert) of course a "replicant", ie: a synthetic human. More human than human, if you will. And, of course, that lent a certain odd, doomed mystique to the character as she progresses down her character arc and adds her to the distinguished line of Lady Robots of Interest (we can begin with the robot Maria from Metropolis and follow through Ghost in the Shell).

Mostly, though, Rachael personified the elitist ice-queen of the detective flicks, sometimes the wife or daughter of a shady millionaire in Chandler novels. Like other good ice-queens, Rachael was tough on the outside, but once past the frosty exterior, she falls for the bedraggled detective.

And, of course, what guy doesn't want to see himself as a tough guy detective (no, it doesn't matter how young or old)?


Rachael examines a note from Rick. She will check "Yes, I like you".

Or, more to the point, what wanna-be hard-boiled detective doesn't also want to think that if he finds the right angle, the lovely but generally unpleasant girl will fall madly for him and will no longer be so unpleasant? (My suspicion is that this generally does not really work out.)

Aside from a shot or two of Sean Young's thigh when Deckard and Rachael get their groove on, Rachael is always dressed in throwback outfits, lifted from the Lauren Bacall gowns and dresses, particularly the big-shoulders-era. I think we were to understand the wardrobe suggested what the script did not explicitly mention, that the suggested social role Rachael had been placed into was of the elite, living above the squalor of the streets. After her introduction, Rachael's huge fut coat seems oddly out of place on the streets of LA versus how it might look among the heights of the Tyrell pyramids.

Whether Young developed Rachael's mannered speech and movements, I really have no idea. Certainly the casting away of those behaviors becomes part of the movie and character as she finds out the truth about herself.

But, there's that toughness to Rachael that's necessary to a film like Blade Runner or, in fact, a believable love-interest for a hard-boiled detective film of any stripe. Rachael does, after all, pick up Deckard's gun and save the day when Deckard faces off with Leon. She does decide to take her life into her own hands once she realizes that her memories were nothing but implants.

Depending upon your preference for which cut you want to watch, Rachael may or may not have much time. Let alone Deckard (late breaking spoiler. Sorry).


Raccoon eyes for Rachel

So, a salute to Sean Young's portrayal of Rachael. That's a Replicant in the Media the League Once Dug.

Marvel Officially Much Better at Interwebs than DC

I while back The League took a look at the Marvel online comic experience with their Digital Comics Unlimited effort.

Today I saw their new marvelkids.com website, and its really, really cool. They have some major nav issues to work out, and having Cap prominently displayed at this point is a bit... well. But there's potential here.

DC's efforts for kids are not so good. Category before characters? What are they selling, anyway? And, really, you can't actually BUY anthing off the site, so the whole point of the site is sort of up in the air.

I'm probably just really jazzed by the Iron-Man CG feature, but I think Marvel is taking a step in the right direction.

If only I could get this excited about the actual Spidey and Iron-Man comics...

Comics 2008

In trying to create a new Ryan for 2008, I dropped a few titles when I went to the store this week. I dropped:

• JLA: Classified
• Amazing Spider-Man (I'll pick it up again when they eventually ret-con One More Day out of existence)
• Some Countdown tie-ins that I totally don't care about (Mystery, Adventure)
• Wildstorm titles
• Black Panther
• Birds of Prey
• Teen Titans
• ...and a few more

This is after I'd already dropped:

• Batman: Classified
• Welcome to Tranquility
• Godland
• ...and a few more

1) I was simply getting overwhelmed. I wasn't finishing my stack each week.
2) I kept getting vaguely depressed about money I'd spent on comics I didn't like. For every two or three bad comics, that was a Jimmy Olsen, Superman, Adventure, Action or Lois Lane back issue I could be picking up.
3) I wasn't picking up and trying anything new. Why did I spend money on Arena and not try the hipsterish "Umbrella Academy" they interwebs are liking? Or trying stuff I'd never heard of.
4) As much as I like the characters, there's no joy in seeing them go through the paces in mediocre stories.

I certainly haven't lost love of super-hero comics. There are still lots of titles on the list of what I will pick up. I just don't want to buy comics any more that aren't consistent or well done, hoping they get better. Comics are too expensive any more to justify following a series because you keep forgetting to purge it from your pull list.

There are a few substandard series I'm sticking with until they wrap, just because I'm curious. "Countdown" and "Death of the New Gods" (seriously... this series has been two issues two long already, and Starlin's "everyman" dialog for the New Gods is awkward and misplaced. He's a fine artist, but he needs an editor like nobody's business.) are on that list.

I'm hoping as the events of 2008 unfold, I'll find new titles to stick with. We'll see. In the meantime, I'd also like to do some exploring of comics I haven't given a chance.

Oh, and by the way, Jim Shooter's issue of Legion of Super-Heroes was the single best issue of Legion I've ever read. Just saying. That guy still has it.

Hey, fever!

Everyone is sick. Not just Jamie and me and Nicole. EVERYONE. People from my office were either at home or going home to be sick. I feel funky, and not in the James Brown approved manner. Jamie feels bad. Nicole wasn't doing great. Jason is usually so full of allergies, he didn't really notice anything different.

Jamie is in full-blown denial regarding her allergies and is insisting she's got a cold, which is possible, but it seems odd that she has exactly the same reaction to the spores in the air as the rest of us, but hers are coming from another source.

My eyes have honestly felt sort of weird for three days, and yesterday I took something called Alavert. Which made me feel better, but which made me have the attention span of a hamster on crack. It was impossible for me to focus for more then five minutes at a time yesterday.

It would be great if we'd get some rain and wash some of the stuff in the air away, but forecasts aren't really calling for any of that.

Three Movies I saw

During my days off, I saw some movies...

Juno: Occasionally you wander into a movie and realize that the movies aimed at the hip, the young, the with-it, the tastemakers... are no longer aimed at you. And that movie has unintentionally informed you that you are either too old, too unhip or too cynical to enjoy the movie in the way it was meant to be watched.

People love this movie. I thought it was okay, but I don't really get why people are falling over each other to praise the flick. At best, it seems like a good starter vehicle for star Ellen Page.

I found the dialog oddly stilted and stylized for a fairly concrete sort of movie, and I was sort of having trouble buying the hipper-than-thou'ness of the lead character and references that seemed to place the movie about ten to fifteen years ago. Toss in a nigh-lack of consequence for the lead characters, and a somewhat insidious cry for conformity, and the movie just didn't work for me.

Walk Hard: Is Exactly what you think it is. Only a little less funny. I do wonder if it would be funnier on a second viewing as the movie is terribly quotable. Unfortunately, in spoofing a film like "Walk the Line", the characters need to follow the same path as the late, great, screwed up Johnny Cash, you have to pretty much follow the many beats of the source material. This makes the movie seem a bit bogged down, and occasionally those familiar with Walk the Line or Cash's bio may not find much humor in scenes as they're played.

A renter for a boring Friday night, I'd say.

And, I know I am alone in this, but I think Tim Meadows is one of the most under-appreciated comedians on TV or film. That guy cracks me up. And, yes, I have both seen and ENJOYED The Ladies Man.

I am Legend: If Juno was not aimed at me, I am Legend is pretty squarely targeting me directly. Part action movie, part character piece, part Zombie flick, and featuring explosions and the affable Will Smith, they might as well have written "with The League in mind" right on the poster.

That said, the movie left too many gaps that I filled in from viewings of The Omega Man, but successfully changed the "mutants" into something far more frightening than the albino goobers of Omega Man.

Still, one feels that the movie seemed like it could have been larger in scope somehow, and that the movie seems too often like its trying to get you to jump and too seldom like there's much past the spookiness in the shadows.

Probably worth seeing in a dark theater at matinee. Or go rent Omega Man for an ending that has a really grim downer before the credits, the kind that you just don't get any more thanks to the suits wanting to offer the audience either hope or a chance of a sequel.

Melbotis Reading Club: All the Pretty Horses

Hey, Leaguers...

I've had a question regarding what I'm actually reading. I picked up a three book Cormac McCarthy collection of the Border Trilogy.

It's just over $20 for three books in hard cover, and that ain't bad.

Here.

There was also some talk of some sort of reading circle. Well, I'm reading All the Pretty Horses, and I'm on about page 95 right now if you want to catch up.

Before I read my next book, I'll be listing the book and version of it I'll be reading before I crack the cover. And if you want to play along at home, feel free to do so.

The League's New Year's Resolutions

1) Play the bass guitar. It is shiny. It is blue.

2) I'm going to read more books this year and watch less TV. This year my book intake was probably the lowest of my entire life, and I'm deeply embarassed of that fact. So, hope to do better in 2008.

3) Consider getting rid of a portion of my comics collection. And maybe some toys. Rather than try to just sell them en masse, I may enlist Jamie to work with me to get set up with eBay. I am not going to read large portions of my collection ever again, and many series and issues hold no sentimental value. I think it may be more work, but I am sure a better price for much of my collection could be got by not trying to foist my collection upon the few remaining comic shops in Austin.

I will not be getting rid of any Superman, Batman, JLA, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc... In fact, I have no idea where this leaves me.

4) Quit eating so much sugar and salt.

5) Drink more water.

6) Play two shows this year with Jason and anyone else who wants to join the band. (Hurry up if you want to join. We'll need to get fitted for our matching suits.) Even if these two shows are in my living room, it's a goal.


I think that's a pretty good list.

Toys That Should Not Be: Welcome to 2008

I'm not even sure what to say about this one.

It's Cathy the Cowgirl... a topless, bovine, humanoid... I'm wearing myself out thinking about this.

I warn you, this is just weird and wrong. Here's Cathy the Cowgirl.

It says one thing about tis English fellow who designed Cathy the Cowgirl. It says something completely different about you if you feel you need Cathy the Cowgirl added to your home decor.

Somehow I am just waiting to hear Mr. Harms' opinion on this one.

HAPPY 2008, LEAGUERS!!!

Hey, Leaguers!

Not much to report about my New Year's Day Eve. Below you can read the fruits of my labor regarding a comic end of year commentary. Most of you don't read comics, and thusly will not care.

In the afternoon Lucy and I met Jason and Cassidy at the dog park off Riverside. We thought about maybe going to Austin's First Night festival, but decided that it would be easier, and maybe it would just be better to wrap up 2007 in the same mellow spirit I tried to deal with the year. Just playing with dogs seemed like a good idea.

Jamie and I met Matt and Nicole for dinner at Thai Tara, a place we'd been before. The food was still good, but clearly they weren't ready to deal with a New Year's Eve crowd. The service was unforgivably awful.

We then went to Jason's to ring in the New Year. And I got a smooch from Jamie.

And, if I may, a $4 bottle of spumante is exactly as bad as you think it might be. Not even funny bad. It's just... bad. Jason called it when he said "I'm not starting off 2008 with the cheapest champagne money can buy." He is wise, he is.

I want to wish all Leaguers a Happy New Year. Health, happiness and all the best to you and yours in 2008.