Sunday, June 28, 2009

The League Talks Comics - Batwoman, GL and Superman

Editor's Note: Leaguers, I'm going to go back to occasionally talking comics around here. Feel free to ignore these posts, friends and family who don't care!

I'm also going to mostly focus on suggestions for stuff I liked. It'll save us all a lot of time.


Detective Comics #854
Written by Greg Rucka; Art by JH Williams and Cully Hamner; Cover by JH Williams : Variant Cover by JG Jones

We're on issue #854 of Detective Comics, where Batman made his first appearance in 1939ish in issue #29. So, this is the first issue in quite sometime given over to someone other than Batman, or people standing around talking about/ thinking about Batman.

Instead, after 3 years of getting our chain yanked by DC with its sporadic appearances of the "all new" Batwoman (That's Batwoman, not Batgirl), DC finally committed to the character and gave her a chance to make it on her own. Apparently DC is also trying to make amends with novelist/ comic scribe Greg Rucka, with whom it seems things got crosswise during the "52" event of 06' - 07', by giving him "Detective" and then, just to be extra nice, assigning artist JH Williams III (of Batman and Promethea fame) to the storyline.


With karate she'll kick your ass, from here, to right over there...

Longtime readers will know I'm a fan of Rucka's work on Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, OMAC, and I spent a lot of time in Costa Rica reading his "Queen & Country" comics. Rucka does fetishize a certain type of female character, as evidenced by his similar treatment of Renee Montoya from Gotham Central/ The Question, Queen and Country and now Batwoman. Highly competent, jaded, and a personal life in shambles. And maybe he needs to shake that off a bit, which he's forced to do when he's handling characters he didn't manage from scratch (and which he handles quite well).

There's nothing wrong with the narrative here, and, in fact, Rucka does an amazing job of setting the stage for who Kathy Kane is and where we're headed. But Detective Comics just jumped page count and increased its price by 25% with a Question back-up feature by Rucka, that will probably remind readers a bit too much of how similar the two characters actually are.

I'm counting on the back-up feature intersecting with the main feature at some point. We'll see. But both characters have been tied up with Rucka's ongoing "Religion of Crime" storylines at different times.

I'd be remiss in discussing the new Batwoman as character if I didn't point out, like everyone else has, that she is part of DC's efforts at representing the world "as is", in that Kathy Kane has been established as a lesbian. It's not an overarching part of the plot, but its not hard to see that DC was trying to spread its wings a bit with the character intended to be part of its mainstream offerings. Which, I just realized, means that Detective Comics #854 features not one, but two gay heroes.

The art: Is phenomenal. I really don't know what else to say about JH Williams, other than that the man is one of the most wickedly talented people working in the comics business. His style is vastly different from, say, Frank Quitely, but I feel he's in the same category, and it'd be nice if he were a bit better recognized/ had greater influence on the comic art community. I suggest going here and then clicking "view preview" to see his stuff.

Green Lantern #42
Written by Geoff Johns: Art and Cover by Philip Tan and Jonathan Glapion; Variant Cover by Rodolfo Migliari

This is more an endorsement of Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi's work on Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, two books I enjoy immensely. Johns and Tomasi have both been using the serial and ongoing nature of the books to lead to an event in "Blackest Night", which is hitting at the end of the summer. (And if you're reading GL but not GLC, you are crazy. Seriously.)

Johns and Tomasi have managed to greatly expand the conceits of the GL books of decades past, and have introduced a spectrum of colors and their varying allegiances, roles, etc... And its been a fascinating read.

The last few issues of GL have focused upon the Guardians' attempts to negotiate with Larfleeze, a being who seized the Orange Lantern (think Gollum, but with the power of a thousand GL's) millions of years ago.



As a single issue, it would be incredibly difficult to walk into GL #42, so The League recommends picking up with the Sinestro Corps stuff in trade paperback.

Every once in a while when you're reading a comic, it just clicks, and it becomes abundantly clear that the comic you're reading is going to be remembered and become essential reading for decades. It may eventually spawn movies, etc... And, most certainly, that's the case right now with Green Lantern, provided the whole ending for Blackest Night doesn't crater.

Superman #689

Written by James Robinson; Art by Renato Guedes and José Wilson Magalhães; Cover by Andrew Robinson

Like Batman disappearing from the pages of Detective, Superman hasn't actually appeared in "Superman" for the past few months as the "World of Krypton" mega-story has taken over the Superman wing of the DCU. Clark Kent/ Kal-El is off planet at the moment (a move I confess to thinking was nuts when I first heard it), and has left Metropolis in the hands of a fellow alien, Mon-El. Meanwhile, Action Comics is now featuring an all-new Flamebird and Nightwing, a Kandorian super-team hunting down Phantom Zone criminals.

Mon-El has appeared in the Superman-related comics since the early 1960's, first in Superboy, and then in the Legion of Super-Heroes. From the planet Daxam (and actually named Lar Gand, but given a Kryptonian name by a young Superboy) Mon-El has similar abilities to a Kryptonian. However, unlike Kryptonians, Daxamites are affected by the simple element of lead the way Superman might be affected by Kryptonite. In today's continuity, he was found by a young Clark Kent who was forced to place him into the Phantom Zone to save his life.

Freed from the Zone and given a temporary cure, he's taken Superman's place in protecting not just Metropolis, but, as this issue explores, Earth. Its a great story, showing how this very human alien relates to the planet and is trying to make the most of his time.



I'm not as enamored by Robinson's writing as some, and some scenes, such as The Guardian's defense of Mon-El to Morgan Edge feel simply rushed. Like Robinson had an item he felt he wanted to check off his list of narrative moments, but didn't quite know how to frame it, and so a fairly simple speech cleared up an entire storyline. It seemed almost quaint in this era of televised punditry. It also felt oddly like a call back to Superman's defense of Krypto circa issue 680.

But the issue is an overall enjoyable read, and a great beat in this ever-expanding storyline of World of Krypton, as it runs through the Superman titles.

Sure, its odd that DC has decided that Clark Kent himself isn't the star of his self-titled comic at the moment, but I'm enjoying the feeling of a broad, epic vision for the Superman comics at this moment. Superman's displacement doesn't feel artificial as it did in "Superman: Exile", and I feel that Robinson's stewardship on the title is sound.

Plus, I like the artwork.


That's it for the moment. I doubt this will be a weekly thing, but doing some comic-related writing felt like a good idea today.

Farrah Fawcett - Now chatting it up with Charlie in a better place

The passing of Farrah Fawcett would have been the big headline had the sudden death of Michael Jackson not occurred within hours.

I didn't follow Fawcett's career, in particular. I was quite young during the Charlie's Angel's era, and when "The Burning Bed" aired, I was at an age where that probably wasn't going to be something I was watching.

When I think of Fawcett, literally every time, this is the image that comes to mind:


I don't know what the current status is, but at one point, this was (by far) the best selling poster, ever.

Even many Central Texans don't know that Fawcett is a Longhorn. She's actually from Corpus Cristi, and attended UT circa 1968. The crazy bit is that, according to Wikipedia, she lived in Jester. Who knew?

She was in a large number of film and television projects, and somehow managed to be married to Lee Majors at one point, which is awesome (and had such an impact, I heard one eulogy incorrectly identify her as Farrah Fawcett-Majors).

Of course Fawcett had most recently been in the public eye with her fight against cancer.

Interestingly, Fawcett's 1970's style had become re-adopted by today's youth, whether they knew the source of the look or not. But a quick Google Image search is kind of interesting.


In this image, Fawcett has just run out her door in time to see the ice cream truck is now too far down the street to catch

So long, Farrah. You'll be missed.

Friday, June 26, 2009

McMahon is now Issuing Sweepstakes Winnings Across the Infinite

editor's notee: Man, this week is messed up. We don't have many weeks where the "celebrity deaths come in threes" thing winds up taking up the bulk of the output. So, yes, I will get to Ms. Fawcett.

So, Ed McMahon died this week.


If you grew up pre-cable or when cable was considered a luxury, then you really only had one TV choice after the evening news, and that choice was "Carson". Sure, it was technically "The Tonight Show", but nobody actually called it that. I have no idea what the numbers were, but the American who didn't think of Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon and Doc as welcome pals in their living room were few and far between.


Hey-yo!

We sort of loved the fact that it wasn't clear what Ed's job actually was. Sure, he intro'd Johnny and chatted with him before the guests came out, but was that a job? Didn't matter. There he was, each and every night, occasionally jumping into the conversation with the guests (who often seemed delighted to meet McMahon, where Johnny made them nervous).

In many ways, if Johnny was the cool guy at the party, McMahon was a mix of Carson's drinking buddy and everyone's favorite uncle.

And, yet, McMahon DID carve out an entirely new role as second banana on TV, and coined phrases that a generation or two can still be heard repeating.

"Hey-yo!"
"You are correct, sir!"
and, of course...
"Heeeeeeere's Johnny!"



classic Carson banter moment

We were happy for him that he landed Star Search, and tuned in to see him try to coach the spokesmodels through their segments without coming off like an idiot. We associated him with the possibility of winning a big sack of money from American Family Publishers. We all opened those ridiculous envelopes (and kind of looked forward to them) because Ed McMahon was such a genial pitchman, even when we knew the odds of winning were roughly equivalent to being hit by a meteor.

There are many things in this universe that are pretty horrendous, ridiculous, and in need of ridicule. In my world, Ed McMahon is not one of them.


more or less how I really remember The Tonight Show

The passing of McMahon, while not entirely unexpected, is one of those things that reminds you that a generation is disappearing, and with it, their culture. Retired since 1992 or so from the Tonight Show, today's college Freshmen (born in 1991ish) will have no concept of who the man was, just as the death of Jack Paar went unnoticed by myself and my generation.

As a face, voice and talent, I'm going to miss Ed McMahon. Even in his final years, when his trophy wife blew all his money (well done on still having a Trophy Wife, Ed!), McMahon seemed to get through his situation with a smile.

I'm seriously going to miss that guy.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Well, this is just F'd Up

As you may know, I keep a Google Ads bar on The League of Melbotis side-bar (RSS readers may not know this). I don't do it to generate revenue. I just like to see what ads are spawned by the most recent posts.

My most recent posts (and the news of the day) is about the early and unexpected death of entertainment and litigation icon Michael Jackson. Apparently, the Google Ads do not miss a @#$%ing beat.


insensitive, yet tacky. click for the full effect,

Jesus H. Christ, Google Ads. I don't care if you're autogenerated or not. Let's see this as a use-case of what-not-to-do, shall we?

Mixed Feelings and the King of Pop

On the phone:

Jamie: ..hello!
Me: The King is Dead!
Jamie: What?
Me: The King of Pop is dead. Long live The King!
Jamie: ...what?
Me: Michael Jackson is dead. Nathan sent me an article. I'm late coming home because I had to verify before going to print.
Jamie: He's dead? (long pause as Jamie is clearly opening laptop and going to CNN) Oh. Oh my god.
Me: Yeah.
Jamie: That's so... weird.
(long pause)
Me: Some mixed feelings, huh?
Jamie: Yeah.


I was 7 or so when Thriller hit the radio. Its got to be hard for anyone born after 1978 or so how absolutely important Michael Jackson was to the pop culture scene between 1982 and 1985. Jackson then disappeared briefly to re-emerge with "Bad",. Soon after, things would turn poorly for the entertainer.

Look, I actually really, really like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and big parts of "Bad". And "Smooth Criminal". And so while we started to hear weird stories almost immediately (trying to buy "The Elephant Man's" bones, the zoo at Neverland Ranch), it wasn't until I was in high school that the first accusations about impropriety with a kid began to creep out. This was all pre-Internet, so the stories came from supermarket tabloid covers and shows like "A Current Affair". But during one lazy summer, MTV showed the video for "Bad" over and over. And I sorta learned the whole thing. I mean, yeah, I needed the video for reference. I'm not exactly Usher. And, yeah, it's been many a year, but there was a time when I was flopping around my living room imitating The Gloved One. Poorly.

I'm not really sure I need to fill anyone in on the details of the scandals. Either of them (younger readers may not remember the first batch, but they were there).

The truth is that I'm not really sure what the hell happened during those cases. Jackson's, frankly, bizarre and secretive lifestyle made it easy to believe just about anything.

So what do you do? Shrug at the death of a guy who somehow escaped justice time and time again? Or mourn/ pity a guy hounded by the media and possibly falsely accused of one of the most grave crimes an individual can perform?

I have no idea.

About two weeks ago I was going to do a post about latter-era Michael Jackson, but got lazy. I was going to talk about videos from "Dangerous" and the video for "Scream" and "Black & White". But... I sorta thought nobody would be interested.

Here's some other stuff.

Bad

Smooth Criminal

The one that's my first memory of Jackson: Billie Jean. Dude seemed so cool.

Latter era Michael Jackson: Scream

Early era (totally rad) Jackson: Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

The Jackson 5 rocks the frikkin' house:



And, man, it wouldn't be complete without Thriller.

Thriller
. This video, btw, got MTV banned in my house for a year when The Admiral spied the zombie make-up, decided it was too scary (ignoring that we'd seen the video 100 times before that), and locked it out on the Scientific Atlanta box.

We almost lost cable again, circa 1987, thanks to George Michael's "Father Figure" video, which The Admiral would mistake for soft-core pornography, until I pointed out that they don't show softcore during the 6:00 hour on basic cable.

Here's more Thriller.

Thrill the World Austin 2008

Phillipines prison

The King of Pop merges with The Infinite

It seems only fitting that I would learn of Michael Jackson's passing from Leaguer Nathan Cone.

Nathan just sent this in from Variety.

The League of Melbotis is, despite all, a fan of the Thriller album and believes "Wanna be Starting Something" is nothing less than pop genius.

Its just the last 20 years or so that complicate things.

RIP, Michael Jackson.

Happy B-Day to my boy, RHPT

May the universe bestow you with all you desire for your birthday. Or at least a meal at the Olive Garden.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Jon & Kate is depressing as @#$%

I was out of town for the Jon & Kate big reveal episode, but DVR is a wonderful tool. Yes, I DVR'd it.

What's stunning is:

this is all taking place on camera. Whatever the show was about with the cute kids and the struggles of raising 8 kids at the same time... that's over with. This stuff would normally play out in the tabloids and result in the show being quietly shelved. Instead, TLC decided to proceed, and Jon & Kate went along with it.

In a way, its pretty savvy. With a show that airs weeks after taping (or even more quickly), the show can manage the situation to an extent and show folks more than they'd really want to see. Speculation becomes a little redundant.

Jamie tells me the episode pulled in 10 million viewers (which is absolutely enormous by basic cable standards). So I'm not entirely certain what will happen. Surely TLC can now offer both parents even larger sacks of money to keep with the show.

Its certainly different from other reality shows in that the narrative has taken a decidedly unexpected turn (will TLC now ask The Little Couple to start having issues to boost their ratings?). The conventions of the "confessional sofa", etc... have taken on a whole different kind of immediacy that a program like "Rock of Love" doesn't really muster.

One last thing: I felt bad for Jon before, and its tempting to say he's doing the wrong thing as one considers the kids. Especially as, seriously, the dude is almost giddy at the prospect of getting this over with. But I don't think his decision is wrong. One day those kids are going to watch those DVD's, and they're going to see exactly why their dad and mom split. Its that, or those kids grow up in a house where they learn that bullying and berating is how a relationship works.

But that doesn't mean I am tuning in any more. This show is now a real downer.

shirt, zombies, bk ad, SC gov, ebert on transformers

Social Media Venn Diagram shirt

I need one. Here.

Thanks to Kevin.

Zombieland

Massacremike had posted this trailer.


this one is for JimD

Burger King takes that extra step toward dragging us as far into the pit as possible.

Here.

Thanks to the unfortunate soul who forwarded this one my way who I am not sure wants to be identified.

I think Quizno's threw down the gauntlet with their "torpedo" ads with Chad and the oven, but... anyway.

Family Values

Well done, elected official.

Goofy enough that Sanford skipped the country. But where were these stories coming from placing you on the Appalachian Trail? Who was awkwardly covering for you? Badly played, sir.


I don't think Ebert likes the new Transformers


From Jamie:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.


here for the whole thing

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Carmen Miranda, Old Comics, Transformers

DITMTLOD: Carmen Miranda



Why don't we have entertainers anymore like Carmen Miranda? She's attractive, can sing and has a wide variety of fascinating hats.



I guess we got too fancy for the likes of Carmen Miranda and her hats, what with our rock'n'roll, internets and whatnot. But how can you not like Ms. Miranda? At one point, she was considered to be quite the bees knees. She was, after all, lampooned by Bugs Bunny and was in a great number of films, representing what was considered to be the fun times to be had with our neighbors to the south (Miranda was actually Brazilian).

You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation

It is too late. I am going to start an indie band just to name my second album after this new book (I keep pitching the band name "The Invincible Monster Men" to Jason, but he isn't biting). You can not use that name for your album (or band).

Anyhow, the first book (both collect the works of forgotten comic artist Fletcher Hanks) was pretty much mind-bending.

One issue that many comic geeks like myself have is that new stuff is but a photocopy of a photocopy, that we're so familiar with convention as fans, and fans as artists and writers, that its easy to argue that the wild creativity that fueled the engine of the creation of the superhero genre has been mostly lost. Imagine being at the start of a genre where there really aren't many rules yet, and you only kind of care, but you have to turn in pages... Anyway, its a wild, unmanaged sort of creativity that's being discovered here in in the 21st Century after being almost completely forgotten for 65 years-ish.



I strongly suspect its what so many of us love about Kirby's-latter-career stuff. The guy was so unselfconscious and was able to spin out a mind-bending story as someone who had helped build the medium, so he might as well continue to define it (and he did).

Sadly, Fletcher Hanks disappeared out of comics relatively quickly, and had a fairly rough life.

I don't know exactly why Hanks' stuff works for me, but it does.

Transformers 2

Was clocking a 26% at Rottentomatoes.com at last check.

Is it possible someone noticed that Bay can not direct actors or action sequences, comedy or drama? And that you can't really tell what's happening in the big-ticket action scenes?

Or is it just the case that in a sequel, once the shine of the original is off, that we sort of need a story this time around?

Best of luck to the GI Joe movie.

Best of Luck to South Carolina

Do you have any idea how much I wish my governor would go missing?

Monday, June 22, 2009

Round-Up for Tuesday

Baseball

Here in the 11th inning, this UT/ LSU baseball matchup is going to give me a heart attack. And so I will die and not see UT actually lose the game.

Houston

I am in a hotel room in Houston watching this game. If I have a heart attack, nobody will notice until 8:00 AM tomorrow when my boss looks for me at breakfast.

This is an okay hotel. The air conditioner was set to "Put Him in Carbonite" when I walked in.

I have an odd affection for Houston. I sort of love it, but know that I would have found life in the many sprawling suburbs of Houston not to my taste. But I doubt I'd have swung a salary befitting living "inside the loop". Also, Austin has plenty of humidity already, thanks. And I'm a sucker for elevation in my landscape (although the gulf plains make it easy to find downtown). However, for getting a bad rap due to existing within the borders of Texas, Houston is a deeply diverse city ethnically, culturally, socio-economically and probably some other category. Its home to considerable museums, theater districts, universities, professional sports, hospitals and more. The money Houston seems to be able to generate has gone back into the place in a way that gives it much to offer.

I am unsure if the air of new-money goofiness has left many parts of Houston, if the rednecks who were a part of my natural habitat in high school still roam free, and if the obvious and crippling poverty is still ignored as folks fly by on I-45. But if sociologists want to study America at its most American, I say not to head to the heartland, but see the 2 dimensional map of Houston as a cross section of the sausage that makes up our great nation.

UT lost

Dammit. Still, I am not entirely surprised.

Hairline

I have become convinced that my hairline is receding apace. Whether this is true or not, I am not yet sure. I blame the last haircut I received for its inhospitable awkwardness which has led to the uncertainty and confusion.

Ah, well. Me and my head had a good run. Now to look like a Klingon with my bumpy cranium.

League Christmas Special

I am giving serious thought to writing and shooting a 5 - 10 minute Christmas special for this year. I will need guest stars, so let me know if you want to be in it. I will need to pen a very special League Christmas tune.

We will probably need to shoot in November to make this work.

Also, I hope to force Jamie into an elf costume for the entire special.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Monday Round-Up

Steanso off to London

Jason and my folks are headed for London for several days this week, leaving me and Jamie (and my aunt and uncle, presumably) as the State-side Steanseses. I am not sure what Jason will do in London, but we've seen "An American Werewolf in London" and suspect that it will end poorly.

The Bros. Steans have not been Europe-side before, so let us hope Jason finds a lot to do. He's also going to Paris for a day or two, so I have my fingers crossed he will wind up in some Da Vinci Code-esque adventure (only they better be asking for analysis of BSG-related clues if they hope to get anywhere).

I'm off to Houston

For about 18 hours. So don't get too excited. And, no, I won't have time to see any Houston-area Leaguers. Sorry.

We're headed to the University of Houston for Tuesday, which should be fun.

Bug

On Friday night we were lucky enough to have Bug and her husband Scott in town. I've known Bug (aka: Erica S.) since high school, where we shared a GPA and class ranking. I came very close to attending college with Erica, but wound up at UT, of course. Jamie was roommates and suite mates during her time in college, and we've all stayed in touch.

A few years ago, Erica married her man-friend, Scott, who I personally think is a cool guy. Together, they put together Isaac, their kid born around the time of Hurricane Ike. Who we had the privilege of meeting before heading out.

Anyhow, it's always fun seeing old friends. So, old friends, where are you guys? Its always a good excuse to go out for dinner for us.

Comic Organization Continues

I've got most of the last year's worth of comics bagged and boarded. Next weekend I'll spend time entering them into comicpriceguide.com.

The past three years, I've quit bagging and boarding everything. Hence, I have a stack of comics which I'm looking to get rid of. In many cases, these aren't even bad comics. They're just comics that I'm not going to keep. Some are duplicates I accidentally picked up (I had that problem upon occasion when I tried my experiment in monthly ordering from an online source). So, if you want free comics, e-mail me.

What this really confirms is that I need to make a conscious effort to move to trades for some of my stuff. Unfortunately, this is just as DC is adding back-up features to many titles (I'm looking at you, Bat-comics). But for some ancillary stuff, I'll probably move to trades. I just don't really know what to do with the floppies, and I'm not sure people actually want them if I don't.

There's probably a message in there somewhere to me and the industry, but there you are.

Father's Day

I spent Saturday evening with my folks, my uncle and cousin, Jamie's folks, and some family friends. Today I had brunch with Jamie's folks here at the house. I really need to learn to sit at the table without playing with Lucy the whole time. Nobody needs that.

My cousin is working her way through an adoption, and by Tuesday I should no longer be the youngest member of my family. That's a little weird, but a welcome change. And I'm very happy for cousin Sue.

More details on that soon.

Happy Father's Day to The Admiral and DocDik. You guys are the tops!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

Happy Father's Day to The Admiral



The Admiral did not find me in a rocket and raise me. Nor did he launch me into space (though I strongly suspect the thought crossed his mind from time to time).

But like Jonathan Kent, The Admiral (with no small assist from the KareBear) did his best to instill in a young League some sort of moral compass. While I think he would have frowned upon my adoption of a cape and sky-blue tights an an outfit of choice, like Pa Kent from the movies and books, The Admiral's role as a father was a bit more involved than occasionally peering over the top of his newspaper or teaching us how to throw a baseball (which he did as well, with mixed results). We were lucky to have parents who saw our challenges as teaching opportunities, and who asked us to reach our own conclusions as we forged ahead.

I don't want to go on too long and get sappy and boring, and some of this is deeply personal. But I consider myself fortunate every day to have had the balance of parents that I could not have been luckier to have had, had I been flung across space to touch down in a field and be picked up by Glen Ford.

The Old Man is a good guy, and I can only hope to do him proud. So on Father's day, I salute thee, Admiral.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Re-Directs/ Sunny/ Jon&Kate

Comic Oddity

So, Funny Papers was a comic shop that was in Dobie Mall, on the South West edge of campus. It had been there since I was in high school, and changed hands at least four times I knew of. Thanks to its approximation to several places I worked, I had been a customer for years, but as it was, bottom line, not as good a shop as Austin Books, I quit shopping at Funny Papers and switched to the less-convenient-from-work-or-home Austin Books.

I noticed about a month ago that the doors had been locked on Funny Papers buy the property management company. Last I checked, the stock for the store was still in there. As Austin has always struggled to have shops that could last (except for Capstone and Austin Books), and at least three other shops had closed since I moved here in '06, I was sad to see it go.

But... I checked the URL for their old website (which was pretty awful) to see if they'd made note of what was going on, or alerting their customers to some sort of gameplan. Instead, the www.funnypapers.com re-directs directly to NSA.gov.

www.funnypapers.com

That's an interesting re-direct.

Shouldn't "Sunny" Be Back on Soon?

Leaguers may know I'm a fan of the FX Network program, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". And it seems like a good, long while since Season 4 ended (with a performance of a musical of "Day Man/ Night Man"). And while I already have a foul-mouthed, skinny blond at home, it is time for another round of Sweet Dee.

I wouldn't Tivo the show for your kids, but its good stuff.

The internet tells me that it'll be coming back in September.

Not for the kiddies:

I know you see three shirtless dudes here, but do not let that fool you.


Jon minus Kate Plus Joint Custody

Shocking nobody, Jon and Kate of reality TV show "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" sound like they're heading for divorce in a much more than speculative way. Here.

While indeed morbidly fascinating to watch, its not fun to write about. But if you've seen the show of late (which has taken to inserting special celebrity guest stars to distract from the fact that Jon and Kate have no interest in communicating), this should be no surprise.

May Jon find his stripper and head for Tahiti, and Kate get... whatever. Mostly, I will be curious to see the follow up in "People" in 2020, updating us on whatever happened to these people.

I think they have contracts with TLC that go for another two seasons. I have no doubt TLC will be holding everyone to those contracts as its sort of untapped territory for television.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Aunt Joann

I did not grow up knowing my aunt Joann terribly well. My paternal grandmother's sister, she lived in Mesa, Arizona, which was pretty far away when I was a kid. However, she came to visit when I was in college, and Jamie and I were thrilled that she was able to join us in Austin when when we got married.

And, of course, when we moved to Arizona, she lived only about 30 minutes away. We spent a few holidays with her, would go visit on weekend, stuff like that.

Unfortunately, Joann developed Alzheimer's while we lived there. I assisted my Uncle Kirk (Joann's son) in getting her squared away in a retirement complex, set up her care, etc... I have to give Joann props. She probably had signs of Alzheimer's for a while, but she was incredibly sharp, and most likely was covering for quite a while to keep folks from realizing she was forgetting things, etc...

My aunt Joann passed this week. I found out today while at the conference. While I was only able to know her for a short while before she began having trouble with her memory, and as much as I enjoyed spending time with her even after she began having problems, I'll miss her.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I'm at a conference/ Tank Girl/ Twitter

I should mention, I was at a conference here in Austin today, will be so tomorrow until quite late, and then again on Thursday. My usual blogging and comment section maintenance is going to be less than perfect.

Also wanted to say: Tank Girl is a deeply flawed movie. I'm trying to watch it on cable, but it's pretty bad. Comic folk and Hollywood could learn some lessons regarding what not to do with Tank Girl. So much potential, and it sort of sputters around like they had no idea what they really wanted out of the movie while they were making it. Add in a layer of early-90's sheen, and TV-style directing, and it feels not entirely unlike one of its contemporaries in the Pauly Shore wacky-movie genre.

I find it odd that I often hear folks defending the movie. It may be that I felt Lori Petty's reading of the titular character mistook blaring every line in the same cadence for sassiness. Plus, the kangaroo dudes just don't work. I don't care what was in the comic.

Oh God, Malcolm McDowell... did you ever have any shame?

On Twitter

A week ago The League posted one word in a post about things that drive you nuts on the internet. I dropped one word: Twitter

Its unlikely I'll do so again. Friends and Leaguers know that I don't use the application for my personal use, preferring Facebook as my personal poison. Also, blogs, e-mail, etc...

I think we basically hit a point at which the folks who are enthusiastic about Twitter and those of us who are less so were just sort of squawking uselessly at one another. We clearly use, used or would use the technology in different ways, and do not share the same perspective on how we engage in the communication cycle. Different technologies are going to expose these things in different ways.

The bottom line is that we are in a world where instant communication is possible on a massive scale, and in the hands of anyone with an e-mail account, a username and password. As NTT would point out, that's an incredibly important thing in events like the Iranian election or a natural or other disaster.

I confess that it is deeply hypocritical to walk away from Twitter for the reasons I did when I maintain a personal weblog. And I honestly feel that, if Facebook Twitterfeeds are any indication, that we've passed through the goofier stages of people figuring out what to do with Twitter and not just informing you of every time they have a meal, hit the head, what-have-you...

For all the good it can provide, Twitter has a ways to go, and people will need to be very careful in how they use it once it becomes part of expected types of communication. We all need phone lines, and they're also good for passing emergency information, etc... but if the phone rings off the hook from telemarketers, we taken them off the hook. Heck, I confess that even if the phone rang all evening from friends and family, I'd keep it off the hook.

And that's where I am with Twitter right now.

I don't expect this will come remotely close to closing the book on Twitter in the comments section or at this blog or elsewhere. But I'm shelving the topic for a while.

We are, of course, all over Facebook. We're in the middle of working on incorporating Twitter into our professional life, and, in fact watched part of a panel of archivists discussing how the Tweets from Iran would be preserved for future generations (using the near complete loss of record of how Tiananmen Square played out.

I think it also raises some questions regarding expectations of one another not just in ownership of devices that can handle and manage these modes of communication from a financial standpoint, but the fact that we're now so attached to our devices that instant messaging at all times from any direction doesn't seem unreasonable to many. That may be overstating it a bit, but I'm not sure its by much, whether you're spending time managing your communication or not (and it is, in my personal and professional experience, a tough thing to explain that most people prefer their tools do this for them. They do not wish to spend their time monkeying with and tweaking their tools).

So that's that.

I gotta go to bed.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Donald Duck, Captain America and Superman gets Syndicated

Captain America

There's been a load of speculation about the 600th issue of Captain America that was released today (two days earlier than the normal comics' delivery day each week). Looks like that speculation can come to an end.

A couple of years back, Cap was shot on the steps of a court house in NYC, and keeled over dead. Since that time, former protege Bucky Barnes, his WWII-era sidekick turned lethal assassin, had put on the cowel, picked up the shield and done his best to fill Cap's boots. What should have been some serious comic-book hackery has, instead, been some of the best storytelling in the Marvel U that I'm aware of (in my humble opinion). Its just been great comics.

Marvel has been happy to try to play up any minor event in their comics in the major news outlets, and did so again today to coincide with the release of today's comic.

I can say no more, but there's a major spoiler after the jump.

Superman Back in the Newspaper Biz

Simon reminded me, so its in the post tonight!, that the upcoming Wednesday Comics from DC is not going to just be appearing in comic shops. DC is taking the format, which I've actually criticized as a throwback, and moving forward to the future for comics. The weekly comic is in an old (very, very old) format of the newspaper broadsheet, with something like a page or two of the story being released each week. Sort of like the old Little Nemo comics or a Flash Gordon comic.

And, yeah, its only a 12-week thing, but I think that's just their test period for both print and online. Oh, and here's some preview art for Wednesday Comics.

BUT... DC is going back to the future. They're also syndicating to USA Today online. What this means is that DC is finally, finally getting online.

Sigh.

I think this is a cool opportunity for DC to dip their toe in the internet waters with their major characters. Sure, I think they should be moving their entire library online, but... babysteps. AND, you guys will, I assume, be able to read at least the Superman comics, and maybe a whole lot more!

Anyhoo, here's the story from USA Today. And here's the DCU Blog article.

Here's some Superman art. Pretty nice!


click for a bigger image. See Supes and Bats in all their glory!


Donald Duck

Apparently last week was Donald Duck's 75th birthday.

Like most kids born after 1935 or so, Donald Duck was an ever present force in my formative years. The pantsless sailor duck was a welcome face on our TV screen and during the occasional 16mm film at school.


Happy 75th, Buddy!

I don't want to take anything away from Donald, but I do remember being maybe a little freaked out by his rage attacks as a kid, and was probably 5 or 6 or so before I found them funny and realized they were intended to be wacky and not vaguely threatening. I think I thought of Donald as an adult, and when adults flipped out when I was very little, I sort of flipped out a little on my own.


needs therapy

It was the Chip'n'Dale/ Donald stuff that I think won me over.

And here's a favorite:


Dude! There's a ton of Disney stuff on YouTube!

Anyway, who doesn't love Donald Duck? I sure do. And just to make matters better, the Duck comics from Disney are something I read from time to time as an adult, so Donald is still with me today, in a slightly less animated form.* Like many, having grown up with Disney characters as such a big part of our entertainment, I may not have a sense of ownership of the characters, but Disney's attempts to make me think of Donald, Mickey and much of the rest of Disney characters as pals has completely worked. When we went to Disneyworld in 2000, I got weirdly excited about having my photo taken with characters, and had a repeat in 2002 or 03 when I attended a conference at Disneyland.

Happy Birthday, Donald! Perhaps this 3/4's of a century, someone at Disney will buy you some pants, pal.




*I think Boom! just landed the Disney contract, so expect more Disney comics soon, if true. At a reasonable price, too!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

No Monday Post

So, in the meantime, ponder the majesty of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl



Saturday, June 13, 2009

The League Sees: The Hangover

In many ways, I am glad that "The Hangover" was not released prior to my own wedding, and therefore, bachelor party. I fell in a sweet spot between the Tom Hanks starring "The Bachelor Party" and 9 years before "The Hangover". My own bachelor party was a small and timid affair, to be honest, but it still was not something I was about to discuss with the in-laws, for example.

"The Hangover" is a genuinely funny movie, and a well conceived, well-directed one, too. Writer/ Director Todd Phillips is also a producer on the movie, and so the movie had an opportunity to be made without the usual watering down of ideas that would result in a fairly by-the-numbers comedy that didn't live up to much more than the trailer.

The movie remembers that the downfall of a good comedy can be when the plot takes precedence over why people showed up for your movie and the third act can easily get bogged down in wrapping up various plot threads instead of comedy. Its an odd thing to defy expectations of the audience by keeping it simple in order to focus on characters when that's where the humor starts. What could have been a riff on "Dude, Where's My Car" (yes, I've seen it), is most likely going to find its way into many a DVD collection and certainly become a staple of bachelor parties for years to come.

There's certainly the fantasy aspect of modern America, regarding both the bachelor party AND the with what seems like the limitless possibilities of an adult playground like Vegas. And, of course, the amping up of the common experience of waking up and attempting to piece an evening back together. And if that's not your cup of tea (finding tigers in bathrooms = funny), then I cannot help you.

Anyhow, I think to linger too long on a successful comedy is to do it a disservice. But I can say that all of the talent in the movie knocked themselves out (and, for once, I wasn't cringing at Heather Graham). We've come to know Ed Helms from The Daily Show and The Office. Bradley Cooper is good as the guy trying to stay cool, but I think the audience will be happy to take notice of comedian Zack Galifiniakis, who some may know from Comedians of Comedy. And, after "Knocked Up" and "Role Models", it was great to see Ken Jeong create another memorable character.

I enjoyed it. Depending on your tolerance for this sort of stuff and whether you think bachelor parties are despicable behavior or not, I give it a salute.

If I say I'm glad it didn't come out prior to my own nuptials, its that in some way, we expect (or maybe have an unspoken hope) that our bachelor parties will be a surreal experience, but, you know, not so surreal that we have to call off the wedding. In taking the bachelor party to absurd extremes, the movie opens the door for the "well, you wouldn't want that, right?" question from their very special lady, that anyone with a bachelor party would dread.

Of course not, baby, we say. I'm just going to have some drinks with the pals. And if we find a tiger in the bathroom, at least we'll have some good stories.

Also, I kept thinking that this whole movie could happen to Randy.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Superman Weekend Post

Superman Celebration in Starting in Metropolis, Illinois. And being reported by WGBS!

For Leaguers not in the know, in the 1970's and early 1980's comics, the Daily Planet was purchased by a media conglomerate owned by shady character Morgan Edge. Edge moved Clark Kent from the offices of the Daily Planet to the WGBS studios as a news anchor and reporter.

Anyhow, that's your background on Lois and Clark reporting for fictional network WGBS.


It's worth it just to see the mayor struggle with this whole Superman thing. That dude is old skool.

I will go to Metropolis as soon as possible, but am now thinking the first celebration I will attend will most likely be for the 75th anniversary in 2013 or so.

Superman: Secret Origin coming in September!

DC has already released the preview copy and images for Superman comics for September. I have to comment upon how much I've been enjoying the Superman line of comics. Really, since the 2006 re-launch, its been a great ride, but if I may, things are as good as they've been since the original Byrne re-launch.

Next week I'll probably put together a list of suggested readings, but we'll save that for later.

Of particular interest in the September previews is the release of issue #1 of Superman: Secret Origin. Written by Geoff Johns and with art by Gary Frank, its a great comic for just checking out Superman and get a snapshot of the character's history. It shouldn't require any special foreknowledge of the character.



Noel Neill Statue

Economic times are tough, and apparently the fair city of Metropolis is having a hard time scrounging the resources necessary to raise their statue of Lois Lane. The statue will be in the image of Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in both the the original theatrical serials and for five seasons on TV's "The Adventures of Superman".

Metropolis has a very special relationship with Ms. Neill, where she is known as "The First Lady", and attends the Superman Celebration every year as the most honored guest (seriously, its like a whole town throws a party of the lady. Its terribly sweet.)

If you guys want to see the statue become a reality (and, yes, even Superman would feel it was maybe not the most necessary thing in these tough economic times) then you should visit the website and buy a brick.

Jamie has forbidden my purchase of a brick to date, but perhaps if you all tell her to buy a brick, we'll be that much closer to making Ms. Neill's statue a reality. And she seems like such a nice lady. She could really use a statue. (Tell Jamie its a good idea)


a mock-up of the statue


Ms. Neill and Mr. Reeves

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Leaguer Interactivity Day: Paths toward madness

We live in a world that's far too complicated for our little monkey brains to handle. I recall reading a story by Ray Bradbury when I was a kid where people's brains essentially started filling up from too much input, and their minds would lock up and sort of start the little Mac Wheel spinning. It became problematic if they were speaking when this happened, as they would keep repeating the last few words they'd said.

I honestly believed this, and everything else Ray Bradbury talked about (and I read Farenheit 451 over and over) were all going to happen.

But thanks to one thing Bradbury totally didn't foresee, the internet, I kind of think its going to not be one thing that drives us all mad. It's going to be a million little pinpricks as we're all able to put ourselves out there and we can't avoid the endless chatter.

So what sort of stuff am I talking about? Let us ponder The Calvin & Hobbes Comment Section.

I make jokes about comment sections on comic websites, mostly because I think they really, really deserve it. But that's just a heavy mix of partisanship in comics and a lot of nerd grandstanding.

But in that vein... Like many, I enjoy the Bill Watterson strip "Calvin and Hobbes". As I enjoy a little diversion in my day, I've also book marked the strip online. Yes, the page design is ridiculous, messy and ad-filled, but that's not the issue.

I cannot NOT read the comment section. Which feels as if its written by the lobotomized and insane.

Every day its like that. Every. Single. Day. There's some weird internet hobo community that seems to live on the comment section of the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, just making nonsense noise at one another. And I cannot look away.

Here is a small, small sample:
Ivy0730Lcsq said, about 20 hours ago

Sussie’s so sick of Clavin’s creepy lunch and stuff…lol

Rakkav said,


Calvin and Hobbes’ club G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) would be countered by Susie’s club G.L.O.B.S. (Get Lost Onery BoyS).

genius!

grazer said, about 20 hours ago


Don’t be such a spoil sport, Susie—a squished toad can’t hurt anybody.


phfear said, about 19 hours ago

every time i read this strip, i always wonder what was in his hands, well that can be the 7th wonder of the world, or the 8th, whichever comes next

jelzap said, about 15 hours ago

no one in their right mind would guess…..but i guess i would…. c’mon susie whyy you ruining Calvins discovery


I have no idea why this drives me mad. It simply does.


Other Examples of That Which Will Surely Drive us Mad Include:

YouTube comment sections

This blog (some guy I never met sent this to me. It is his.)

MySpace pages with elaborate background themes

People who actually blog on MySpace

twitter

poorly thought out articles about how articles about how "universities are doomed in the internet age"*

comic nerds going ballistic over a single, context-free image
from a superhero movie and declaring the movie a failure


So what is going to eventually drive you insane from the internet?




*post topic for this weekend

Noah arrives

So, a very important announcement to Leaguers near and far...

Yesterday, Letty and Juan Garcia welcomed their first child to the world. After Sloane reigned supreme for less than a week, Noah is now our littlest Leaguer.



We at The League salute you, Noah. And Letty and Juan, too. You landed yourself some awesome parents. I look forward to your dad Twittering your every move and your mom trying out all her recipes on you (and hopefully us).

Best of luck, kid.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

There's a Reason we aren't showing up for "Grown-Up" movies, and it isn't the freakin' economy

Entertainment Weekly ran an article recently entitled How Movies for Grown-Ups Became Movies Endangered Species.

Not surprisingly for a standard EW article, the article isn't even really able to articulate the problem except by taking digs at movies that actually are financially successful, such as 2007's Iron Man, and pointing out that people didn't show up to see this Spring's offering of "State of Play".

Utterly shocked, the reporter releases these bombshells:

Even projects that might once have been considered Oscar bait have fallen prey to executives' squeamishness. Paramount turned down director Bill Condon's planned biopic about Richard Pryor, with Eddie Murphy attached to star. Universal axed a drama starring Naomi Watts about a global activist.


Well, actually... good call, Hollywood. I am an adult (no comments from the Peanut Gallery), I actually have a film degree, and I tend to think about this stuff as much as anyone would when their wife has had an Entertainment Weekly subscription since 1993. And I can't really imagine myself paying to see either of those movies.

Naomi Watts? You want to be seen as serious actress, and something that Meryl Streep would have acted the hell out of in 1986 probably sounds like your road to real Hollywood respectability. Your pal Nicole Kidman Cold Mountain respectability, but... surely some eagle eyed accountant pointed out that lately when actors get made up to look all grubby in some 3rd world country, and do something "important", nobody really shows up to see Naomi Watts or whomever pretending to be a global activist.

And, look, I like Richard Pryor's work (I even embrace his Gus Gorman in Superman III), and I understand he led a colorful, messed up life. But... I saw "Man in the Moon" and a dozen other bio-pics of entertainers. I AM an adult, which means that, like other people, I grew up on a steady diet of movies about all kinds of folks, from Johnny Cash to Charlie Chaplin, all of which sort of follow a familiar pattern of rise to fame, trouble, flagging career, some sort of ambiguous redemption as the entertainer's life really turns out not to fit too neatly in a 2 hour, 3-act structure. And our star is portraying someone so familiar, it really only sorta works...

How many of these do I need to see?

The article sites "State of Play" as an amazing adult thriller. I saw State of Play. It's a pretty standard airplane-novel story of intrigue with a standard issue hard-living journalist character with the only memorable scenes coming from a very hammy Jason Bateman. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone as anything other than "it's exactly what you'd think it is."

I see three major problems with what the author champions as "grown-up" movies.

1) As I mentioned, we've seen these movies. Another biopic about someone who led a fairly standard rise-to-fame, imbibed too much and cratered might be the bedtime story you tell little starlets at night in Hollywood to warn them of their potential future, but... I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to get out of the biopic that i didn't get out of 80% of the biopics that Hollywood churns out.

"Milk" is an interesting exception as it was actually about something different, but still about a real person. Sure, it felt all a little too pat as a movie, but I didn't necessarily feel I'd seen it before a dozen times.

So many of these movies, even ones that would have been considered cutting edge have just been done to death. The similarity to other pictures that Hollywood uses to suggest that if X made money, then X+1 should also make money sort of doesn't hold up after the tenth iteration.

2) Television is actually sort of interesting now. And I have 400 channels.

Subsection 2a) reality TV isn't all dumb

If I want a meditation on the effects of alcoholism, I need not wait for Oscar season and an actor trying to get a serious role which will lead to an Oscar. I wait for Intervention to run on cable. Likewise any of the topics, including global and political issues.

Thanks to the power of voyeurism and the bizarre habits of people to want to be on TV, no matter their issue, there's often little I feel I can learn about on a topic from a multimillion dollar production than I feel I can't learn from scrolling through my cable channels.

In some cases, it actually works against the film, even while promoting it. I actually skipped Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie" not just because Tom Cruise is a boob, but because the History Channel ran a documentary on the topic in support of the movie while it was in theaters. After spending two hours watching a doc with historians interviewed, etc... It seemed sort of a waste to go see the movie.

Certainly I appreciate the attempts made by filmmakers to remain authentic, but in comparison to well-crafted documentary, its a tough sell to this viewer to really want to see an actor fake "important" topics. Even something as simple as divorce in a movie is nowhere near as bizarre, painful or compelling to watch as the slow dissolution you can get once a week on "Jon and Kate Plus 8".*

Subsection 2b) Narrative TV has improved

An odd side effect of having a blog that focuses on media and pop culture is that I am often suggested TV shows to check out. Everything from Deadwood to Whale Wars. There actually are some fairly engaging programs on premium cable, basic cable and broadcast TV. Stuff I can enjoy just as well, and with just as well written content. Hell, I may not love the show, but how much did Sex in the City make as a feature, coming from HBO subscriptions and syndicated re-runs?

3) Your definition of "Grown-Up" is useless

Sure, kids show up to see Iron Man, but its sort of useless to suggest that adults should be going to see movies like "State of Play" BEFORE they shell out their bucks to go see a dude in armor like a Camaro with missiles strapped to the hood fly around and give terrorists a hard time.

Sure, Iron Man isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but for the high dollar entry fee of going to see a movie these days, I'd point you to points 1 and 2 above, and what people seem to be willing to pay for, or at least what's compelling enough to convince them that it will be novel or different. Even if the plot of the Marvel origin story movies is always essentially the same (and it is), there's at least the promise of something visually interesting.

I'd also argue, that Hollywood's inner workings are now so well covered and reported, in conjunction with most folks' basic familiarity with how a movie is going to play out, that the insistence of sincerity in the making of a film and marketing of a film and obvious attempt for certain kinds of roles which are so familiar they're dubbed "Oscar Bait" (think of all the actors playing the mentally challenged, deranged, or putting on one long impression of a popular entertainer, etc... that get nominated each year), that we're sort of immune to "grown-up movies". When the process behind them seems canned and silly, and somewhat childish, how seriously can we take the final product?

I don't particularly care for "Tropic Thunder", but it did have the benefit of acknowledging to a wide audience outside of Hollywood what they already suspected about "grown-up" movies. It's a half-assed attempt to be kids playing grown-ups in situations that nobody involved with the production actually has any experience.

And point 2a, and the ready availability of documentary and reality programming may have devalued the currency of the institution of the "grown-up" movie.

So in conclusion...

I don't want to suggest that movies should only be superhero movies, or that we should be dancing on the grave of the American cinema experience in favor of the X-Boxification of the recent wave of hits.

What I would say is that (a) genre does not always equate to "kid's movie", and (b) Hollywood needs to quit playing it safe with their "grown up" films if they want to get people to show up for them. And, of course, realize when the audience is no longer onboard with your commonly held belief (you may want to believe Julia Roberts is box office gold, but that well ran dry for the average movie goer about 10 years ago). Know when you're just making more of the same (stop making celebrity biopics). Know when your mall-theater audience isn't likely to take your mega-star seriously in a role (Tom Cruise in anything. Naomi Watts as the White Savior of the earth). Don't assume Star Power is enough to get me to the box office. I didn't see "Michael Clayton" because I had no idea what it was about thanks to the plotless trailer (George Clooney threatening Tilda Swinton does not equal my $9).

Quit playing it safe and bring something new to the table, and we can talk.



*seriously. That show is just messed up.

Old Home Week and Facebook Fans

Facebook Fans

Hey, Facebook Fans (and RSS fans, and the rare few of you who seem to actually click on the URL these days). At last count, we were up to 38 fans. And that's good stuff!

I was asked today why I'd set up League of Melbotis to feed into Facebook. Well, I sort of senselessly resisted setting up an RSS feed a while back, and now realize that wasn't just an exercise in futility, it just wasn't very forward thinking. And, of course, I know we're living in Twitter and Facebook these days, and I figured I would make it easier on LoM readers who were already checking Facebook (and you have the option to either read or not, and that's the way it should be).

Also, Facebook's very nature makes it a little easier to reach out than the conventional means. The very integrated nature of Facebook, such as those "Ryan is a Fan of League of Melbotis" things you see on the sidebar, mean its a bit easier for folks to stumble upon our doings here at The League.

And while I don't mind writing this for just NTT and Randy's amusement, it'd be nice to have a few more folks chiming in. I am, of course, concerned about managing comments both at the site proper and at Facebook, but we'll see how it goes.

Laura and Robb in Austin

So, this week has had an unusual bit of fun. As I mentioned, League-Pal Robb and his wife Neda drifted into Austin. We wound up having dinner with Robb, Neda, Jeff and Keora last night. This evening we caught up with League-Pals Laura "Cowgirl Funk" M-S and her husband, Eric and their cute-as-a-button kid, Sophie.

Laura I've known since high school. She was a few years behind me at good ol' Klein Oak, but thanks to the power of Klein Oak Drama and me having a driver's license, I got to know her a bit both hanging about backstage during productions and then heading back to our neighborhood. She was a swell dame then, and we caught up online here several years ago. She attended UT as a drama major, and somewhere along the line, met up with Eric, who happened to go to the same high school I went to my Freshman year, before moving to Spring. He's a couple years older, so we didn't happen to know each other.

They've recently returned from New York/ Brooklyn to our fair city. If moving back from Phoenix after 4 years was an adjustment for us, their return to Austin after 10 years (and Austin's seismic changes in that time) must be a massive change. And, of course, they've got 2.2 year old Sophie in tow, who wasn't around when they departed.



The internet has made it so easy to keep up, I sort of hope I don't ever take it for granted. But its great to reconnect and not have horrible, awkward silences, as we've been chatting on and off for much of the duration of League of Melbotis.

So, if you Austin-Area Leaguers start seeing Laura and Eric around, that's who they are. Be nice.

Robb I met when I drifted into the men's room in my dorm late on a Saturday night my Freshman year. He was down visiting Jeff and Patrick, who I'd gotten to know well at that point, but all I knew was that there was a guy I'd never seen before at the next urinal. I formally met him minutes later in Jeff and Pat's room. Mostly what I remember was that he played us the most recent Black Dog album.

The next year Robb transferred to UT, and was a part of the usual herd of folks who circled around one another. He was a musician and drummer, audio engineer, and always seemed to have a few other projects going on. Also, he was the person who sat me down and got me to watch "Stalker" and innumerable other movies in college, so my hats off to the guy.

In 2000, a good chunk of our crew packed their bags and moved up to Seattle for reasons which were never abundantly clear to me. Robb lived there, went to Berlin and other locations in Europe for a while, and then back to the US. While in Serbia, he met Neda, and it seems they were quite fond of one another as they are now hitched.



Anyway, its always a blast when these guys come back to town. I don't ever get up to Seattle (where they're all still at), and they only occasionally come back. So, yeah, its a little sad, too. I miss those guys.

Robb came into town in his usual style, alerting folks he was coming less than 24 hours in advance, and departing by Amtrak. I salute Neda for jumping into Robb's nomadic lifestyle. They're a good fit.

But that's the way it is with Leaguers. You come, you go, you come back again either to visit or to raise a darn cute kid. And, heck, as I write this, Letty is bringing a new Leaguer into the world. And Steven and Lauren are planning to make good their escape from the Capital City. Just know the door is always open here at League HQ.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Golden Hornet Project

When I was 15, Jason talked me into renting Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction opus, "Metropolis". I was, of course, immediately disappointed to learn that Madonna's "Express Yourself" video was not a concept baked entirely new for The Material Girl. Instead, the creative team had told a sort of parallel (and sexier) story to the happenings of "Metropolis", in the same landscape.

Madonna's "Express Yourself"*

At any rate, I doubt I'd ever watched an entire feature silent film prior to that cut, but as I recall, it had some pop songs on it, and, of course, even on VHS the movie was brilliantly stunning and the story moving.

I don't really want to get into a whole conversation here on German Expressionist film of the pre-Nazi era, and how one of the seldom-mentioned casualties of Hitler's regime was the crippling of an entire media and art form. But there you have it. While I do enjoy some American and British silent film (like all good former film students, I appreciate me some good Buster Keaton and Chaplin), I'd argue that anyone watching Metropolis will be awed at how far ahead of Hollywood and London that the German's were in using the medium.


Ladytron

It's also impossible to separate Germany's post-WW1 conditions with the output of their cinema, and not wonder a bit about what Lang saw in his countrymen in the years prior to the rise of Hitler. Or his refusal to allow the film's resolution to make a solid case completely on the side of beleaguered labor (what with the Reds running around Mother Russia).

The dimensions of the movie are huge, even by today's standards. And while sets are necessarily re-used for the story, they're unbelievable in scale and practical effects, number of sets, etc... The models of exteriors are phenomenal, some scenes that I assume are matte prints continue to astonish, and the cast is enormous. It's tough to believe such efforts used to go into moviemaking, but clearly Lang wasn't cutting corners.


Sort of makes "New Detroit" in Robocop seem kind of silly, 1980's Dallas.

The imagery has, of course, become iconic and endlessly emulated in sci-fi films, in comics and elsewhere. Lang's Metropolis would come to define the massive super cities seen in everything from "The Fifth Element" to "Blade Runner", acknowledging that these cities will grow on the backs of a labor class who will most likely always have the short end of the stick. The glories of the towers and the miseries of the folks below would become a perennial theme in science fiction, and, one can see how the first quarter of the 20th Century would be enough to tell you where this was headed. The predictions for technology aren't as important to the film as the homily shared using the backdrop and extremes of the future presented in the film.

The effects are mostly practical and hold up because Lang's grasp didn't overextend his reach. The Man-Machine's metal body looks exactly like what its meant to look like, the flying machines and cars don't take bizarre shapes.


why is evil always more fun and noticeably hotter?

But what's just as striking are the hallucinatory visions experienced by Freder, including the approach of "death". These scenes are a fairly straightforward moment when Lang's involvement with Expressionism crosses over into the Metropolis.

And, curiously, its funny how different the same actress is as Brigitte Helm as "good" Maria and "evil" Maria.** While acting styles have definitely changed for film in teh ensuing 80 years, the actors are still committed and engrossing.

We lost a few things when they added sound to film, but nothing so much as the possibilities for a film to easily cross borders, simply applying new title cards.

My hat is off to the Golden Hornet Project. A friend at dinner asked if they're an offshoot of Austin's "Golden Arm Trio", and I really don't. But the band/ orchestra/ whatever was made up of about 8 musicians, featuring keyboards, two percussionists (phenomenal percussionists), and several strings and guitar players. I am actually very interested in seeing their other work in town this summer.


seriously, when was the last time you got this excited about one of your ideas?

The score was terrific, going above and beyond the call of duty to execute upon their task: helping to tell the story without getting in the way. Its unfair to try to categorize the work, so I won't try too hard here to do so. But what would you be if you didn't try? I kinda/ sorta would compare it in spirit to... oh, David Byrne's score for "The Forest". Only totally different.

Anyway, the movie is a favorite. It was a huge treat not just to see it on the big screen, but with such a huge amount of love put into the music.

I like to point out that for all the snooty, looking down the nose critics like to do with sci-fi, this 80 year old movie had three sold out shows and inspired musicians, who could be doing plenty of other things with their time, to create new works of art just to support it. And not just here. Nathan mentioned a similar effort in San Antonio, and when I described the screening to League-Pal Robb at dinner, he told me about a screening at Seattle's Gasworks Park about a decade back that attracted thousands. THOUSANDS.

Its not the genre that attracted the audiences, but there's something to the mix of story, homily and visuals that sci-fi makes possible. And while few have done it anywhere near as well as Metropolis in those years, I don't see "Wings" (best picture, 1928, and a really good movie in its own right) drawing three sold out nights and a new score.

For the record, there's no known direct connection between this movie and the naming of Superman's adopted hometown. Nor does there seem to be any direct connection between the film, its themes, its portrayal in the comic, etc... and the movie. I think teen-age comic developers, Siegel and Shuster, picked it out of the zeitgeist in the years after the movie appeared in the US. Superman would appear roughly 10 years after Metropolis, by the way. So, yeah, the Germans were ahead of us on this crazy sci-fi thing.




*Dang, yo, Circa 1990 Madonna... you are a bad, bad girl.

**Or "boring" Maria and "hot" Maria, as I declared when we left the theater.

New Lil' Leaguer (Sloane Shaw!)

I would be remiss if I did not mention the birth of Sloane Julianne Shaw. Sloane arrived June 7th at 8:33am to happy parents Reed and Jennifer Shaw.

No pictures yet, so...

here's a puppy with a blanet to tide you over.*



*We understand that Sloane is neither a puppy or blanket, but adding an image always makes for a better post.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

chillaxing y facebook

Sadly, not much to report on. We've had a very low key weekend. Friday we didn't get up to too much. I suspect that my new Ghost Hunters substitute will be "Whale Wars".

Saturday I ran some errands and we attended the annual MeatFest at the Shoemaker's. This year, we had the very special treat of not just the appearance of League pal Robb Kunz (fresh in from Seattle), but he brought his wife. And we didn't even know Robb HAD a wife. Yeah, it'd been a while since we'd talked to Robb.

Today we really didn't do anything, which is how I like my Sundays. Spent a couple of hours at Barton Springs and then grabbed lunch at Shady Grove.

I guess I can tell its summer because they're running the movies I fid myself watching annually. Today was "Trading Places", the 1980's movie with Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Denholm Elliot, Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche. I've seen it more times than I can count, and I'm still not sure I understand the transaction that takes place at the end of the movie that puts our heroes on top and gives the bad-guys their comeuppance.

But I can say with 100% certainty, I am not interested in the Taco Bell "volcano taco" that's been advertised every commercial break.

Lucy got on the couch with me and we both fell asleep for the entire middle of the movie. And to me, that's a good Sunday.

Tonight, I'm off to see that screening of Metropolis.

Facebook Help

I have started a page on Facebook for League of Melbotis. I'm not really sure how or if I can really use it. I'm going to try to push an RSS feed of some sort out through the thing, but Facebook's "Help" section hasn't been anything remotely like helpful. Anyway, if you're on Facebook, look up "League of Melbotis" and become a fan.

Also, if you know of HOW I can do this, let me know.