Livin' Like A Refugee

It seems my decision to leave to evacuate the Big Easy ahead of a formal evacuation order was the right one as the order was given today. I'm very pleased with how the government, state, local, and federal, have been handling the preparations for Gustav. I wasn't down there for Katrina, but they seem to have the situation well in hand this time around. We'll see in the next few days if my confidence in the preparations will prove well founded. Fingers crossed that the loss of life will be nil and the damage negligible wherever Gustav comes ashore.

In the meantime I find myself in Atlanta on an unintended vacation in Atlanta, visiting my family here. It certainly beats the hell out of having to evacuate to a shelter, but I'm still eager to return home and get back to my life.

Meanwhile, Michael Moore continues to make it difficult to like him with the following comment (as reported by Fox News, which I'm sure took no small amount of joy in reporting a story that makes Moore look bad):

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said. “To just have it planned at the same time, that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for Day One of the Republican convention, up in the Twin Cities, at the top of the Mississippi River.”

This is the perfect example of what happens when someone becomes to invested in the us vs. them school of partisan politics. Every little thing becomes part of the game and the big picture is forgotten. Naturally, there are those on the right expressing outrage at the statement. I only hope they were equally as vocal when some in the religious right made statements about Katrina being a punishment from God.

McCain's Veep

So, apparently John McCain has picked this Palin person as his running mate. Personally, I think it's pretty ballsy of him to pick a former member of Monty Python as a Vice Presidential candidate, but I'm a little concerned. Doesn't the Vice President, much like the President, have to be a natural born citizen? How does McCain plan to get around . . .

What? What do you mean, "not Michael Palin"?

Alaska governor, Sarah Palin?

Oh.

Never mind.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 5

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

"Hey," Carla said, don't get snippy with me just because you've crafted a shoddy narrative."

Jim sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said, "let's just put the how and why of it aside for a moment. We've got this guy who finds himself in the past. What should he do?"

"Well, does he remember any good lottery numbers or stocks? Is there anything in his past that he wants to change?"

"Could he change anything? The past is the past, isn't it?"

"That's really up to you, boss," Carla replied with a smile. "It's your universe, isn't it?"

"Um, sure," Jim said. "But I want to, um, ground my story in reality."

"Reality. A story about time travel. Uh-huh."

"C'mon," Jim pleaded. "Do you think you can help me without picking at every little thing?"

"Oh, I suppose," Carla sighed. "Well, what would you do if you woke up in the past?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you," Jim replied.

"It's your story." Carla was getting frustrated. "I can't write it for you."

They stared at each other silently for a moment.

"Oh fine," Carla relented. "How about thinking big."

Election '08 - The Musical II: Electric Boogaloo

I'm again watching coverage of the Democratic Convention as they lead up to Senator Obama's appearance tonight. I can hear them playing Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA over the loudspeakers. Some would say it's a no-brainer choice for a political rally, it certainly gets adopted by politicians often enough. All this tells me is that these people don't listen to any of the lyrics beyond the chorus. Let's take a look at them:

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

Pretty bleak, right? Not exactly the patriotic anthem the chorus:

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

would lead you to believe.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Oh, but wait, even better, it's about Vietnam. So far we've got urban decay, hopelessness, and an unmitigated foreign policy disaster. How uplifting.

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

On the other hand, this is a message that the Obama campaign probably wants to stress, what with the right trying to insinuate that he's vaguely foreign and a secret Muslim.

Come back home to the refinery

Oh, hey, oil policy. I guess that's sort of topical.

Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"

Bad economic conditions, okay that's pretty current as well.

Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don't you understand"

And inadequate Veteran's benefits. Okay, the song's still depressing as hell, but I think I'm starting to see a secret strategy behind using it.

I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

Pointlessness of war. The punches keep coming. It's like a laundry list of sins of the previous administration and reasons to vote for Obama. I can't wait to see what's next.

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Yeah, okay. You lost me again.

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

And we're back to unrepentantly bleak and hopeless. We were on a roll there for a while, but I'm afraid we've lost the momentum.

Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.

I'm not sure what "I'm a long gone Daddy" means, but it can't be a particularly good message for a political candidate to embrace.

Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.

Here at the end, however, I think we've found the new campaign slogan: "Barak Obama, I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A."

Moral Quandry

So, I'm tensely watching the news and checking the web to get the latest tracking info on Gustav, trying to figure out if it's going to be coming our way or not. Naturally, I'm hoping it misses us here in New Orleans, though the city and state seem well prepared for it if it does come. However, I got to thinking; I'm sitting here wishing for Gustav to miss New Orleans, but if it misses New Orleans, it's bound to hit somewhere else. So, indirectly I'm wishing ill on other people for my own well being. I suppose I could dismiss it with a "better them than me" attitude, but it just doesn't seem morally appropriate to wish for someone else's misfortune.

Still hoping it misses us, though.

Does that make me a bad person?

The Sad State Of American Education

I was watching some of the coverage of the Democratic Convention earlier (by the way, who's idea was it to put the MSNBC folks outside at the mercy of the weather and the crowds), and an Obama campaign spokesperson was on talking to some anchor who's name I don't know. They had the following exchange:

Anchor: As one Republican said to me today, "What is he, Perseus trying to save the world?" I mean, what is with the set,the Greek columns?

Spokesperson: I don't know who Perseus is, but I hope he's somebody who's trying to bring fundamental change to Washington.

You don't know who Perseus is? Come on, didn't you have to study Greek mythology at some point in school? Or at least seen Clash of the Titans? More importantly, as an educated person, shouldn't you at least be able to figure out the broad strokes of who he might be based on the context of the question (i.e. mythic Greek hero)?

Maybe I'm making too much of it, but it just seems to me that a passing familiarity with Perseus, Odysseus, Achilles and the like falls under the category of common knowledge. Sure, if you never go on Jeopardy, it's not information you're going to use much, but shouldn't you at least be able to recognize the names?

Or maybe this is an example of calculated ignorance. The Obama people not wanting to appear too smart (or elitist), and thereby alienate the regular folks. Devious.

Eh, I suppose it's not a big deal, it just irked me a bit for some reason.

Random Video featuring "Healing Clinton Supporters"

The Director Who Films Your Life Test

I'm usually not one for online personality tests (or offline ones, for that matter), but this one was mentioned over on Occasional Superheroine and decided to check it out. Disturbingly accurate.

Your result for The Director Who Films Your Life Test...

Kevin Smith

Kevin will take your slacker life and turn it into the cult classic it deserves to be --- like Mallrats (just kidding). If you can handle the menacing presence of Jay and Silent Bob all throughout your film, then Kevin is willing to oblige. Basically, he can take the lives of people who don't have much of a life and make it entertaining, so you're in good hands. Go watch your copy of Clerks, now.

Take The Director Who Films Your Life Test at HelloQuizzy

Election '08 - The Musical

I was watching Obama's VP announcement yesterday and couldn't help but notice the music they played as Obama was making his way to the stage: "City of Blinding Lights" by U2. Now, I'm a big U2 fan, so the Obama campaign earns some serious hipness points with me for the use of their songs, but this particular song is an interesting choice lyrically. Let's take a look at some of them:

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go

Is this some subliminal response to complaints that Obama lacks experience?

I knew much more then than I do now

Perhaps not the best thing for a political candidate to declare: "I used to be much smarter."

Neon heart dayglo eyes

Um . . . okay.

A city lit by fireflies

Here's where the lyrics start to get dangerous. Certainly someone in the McCain campaign will latch on to this and claim it's Obama's new energy plan.

They’re advertising in the skies
For people like us

Well, there are certainly a lot of advertisements flying over the airwaves (through the skies). "People like us," is a nice phrase, Obama can be claiming kinship with the electorate.

And I miss you when you’re not around

Okay, now it's starting to sound a bit like a love song. Appropriate, I suppose since a political campaign can be likened to a courtship. One that is to be consummated in the voting booth.

Figuratively, you sick bastards.

I’m getting ready to leave the ground….

Flying to the next campaign stop, perhaps?

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh

Code of some sort?

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

Ah, a little more romancing of the electorate.

Don’t look before you laugh
Look ugly in a photograph

Um, good advice? Maybe? Well, it's advice, anyway.

Flash bulbs purple irises
The camera can’t see

A reference to McCain's celebrity dig?

I’ve seen you walk unafraid
I’ve seen you in the clothes you made

Ah, it's like he knows us.

Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me

Oh, showing a little insecurity here. Is that a mistake, or could it be seen as endearing?

Time… time
Won’t leave me as I am
But time won’t take the boy out of this man

Here's a strong set of lyrics. He's a man capable of personal growth over time, but remains in touch with his inner child.

The more you know the less you feel

Hmm. Not sure I like this one. This seems to hew more closely to the Bush "trust your gut, not your head" philosophy. Not sure it works well for Obama.

Some pray for others steal
Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel… luckily

Support for separation of church and state, maybe?

So, overall not a bad song for Obama to choose, despite some shaky bits.

At Once Encouraging And Worrisome

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran an article in which they talked to Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov. Robinov discussed the future of the studio, and, of particular interest to me, the role that the DC Comics stable of characters will play in that future.

I found a lot of what he had to say really encouraging. For one thing, Robinov seems to have learned at least one important lesson from the success Marvel Studios is having by trying to create an interconnected movie universe. I view this as a positive largely because of Iron Man. For me, the summer movie season was bookended by two movies: Iron Man and The Dark Knight. They also happen to be the two best movies of the season. While I think that The Dark Knight is the better individual film, of the two, Iron Man is the film that has me most excited for the future, and it accomplished that with one word: Avengers (a Sam Jackson cameo as Nick Fury didn’t hurt). Now, I don’t only have an Iron Man sequel to look forward to, but Captain America, Thor, and Ant Man (which I’m especially excited about based on the involvement of Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)), all leading up to an Avengers movie. I’m still not sure I understand the financial justifications of an Avengers movie; you figure the price of the cast alone will be pretty high, but hopefully it’ll be figured out and the movie will happen. So, linking a company’s superhero movies together can help build excitement across the board.

On the other hand, some of Robinov’s comment make me think that he doesn’t quite get some of the characters:

Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

Superman is not a dark character. As a character, he’s the embodiment of light and hope. He gets his power from the sun, for god’s sake. And Metropolis is not the corrupt urban nightmare that Gotham is; it’s the bright, shining city of tomorrow. On a more general level, it’s not darkness that makes superheroes work. To return to Iron Man again, it was one of the most successful comic adaptations yet, but it wasn’t an especially dark movie. It had it’s dark moments, I suppose, but it also wasn’t afraid to be lighthearted and fun. The reason it worked, was because it took its characters and the world they lived in seriously. No winking at the audience, no Bif! Bam! Pow! dismissiveness, just straightforward storytelling. You can take superheroes seriously without being deadly serious all the time. Hopefully the creative folks at Warner Bros. realize that, because I so don’t want to sit through a dismally depressing Superman.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

"Time Travel?" Carla asked. "That's a weird thing to ask. Is this for Professor Eisenstein's class?"

"Uh, yeah," Jim answered uncertainly. "I figure you're the biggest nerd I know," he added, smiling mischeviously, "so I figured you'd be the person to ask."

"Charming," she deadpanned. "What precisely do you want to know? What's your story about?"

"Uh, time travel?"

"Right. I got that," Carla said. "You know, Eisenstein hates sci-fi."

"Yeah, yeah." Jim waved his hand dismissively.

"For that matter," she continued, "I thought you did, too. You always end up with some more of that moody, pretensious bullshit you're always writing." Then, she added sheepishly, "Um, no offense."

Jim had to stifle a laugh. He had been a moody, pretensious bastard in college and he knew it. Far from being offended, he was reminded of what he'd always liked most about Carla, that she never held back.

"Anyway," Jim said, "what if this guy woke up and it's ten years ago? What . . ."

Carla interrupted, "Wait. He just wakes up in the past? Why? What happened?"

"I don't know. Look . . ."

"You don't know? Shouldn't you? If you don't know, who does?"

"Look," Jim replied, impatiently. "Would you let me finish?"

Why The Obsession With Arugula?

I was reading this story on The Washington Post's site. At the end of the story a McCain spokesperson is quoted as saying:

"In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story."

This isn't the first time I've seen eating arugula equated with elitism. What's up with that? I admit, I don't think I've ever eaten arugula (in fact, I had to look it up on Wikipedia), so I want to know why there's all this hate for it. Is it like spinach for Popeye, except instead of inducing super-strength it induces moral relativism and an inflated sense of self-worth?



It doesn't look all that threatening. With all the anti-arugula sentiment coming from the right I expected it to look more like this:



So, let's lay off the poor arugula, huh? It's clearly not hurting anyone.

Technical Notes

I've been playing around with different blogging tools to see if any one of them have features that would make them worth using over bloggers native editor. One interesting feature is the ability to post to more than one blog. I'm not sure that my thoughts are really interesting enough to be posted in multiple places, but I do have that LiveJournal account sitting all empty and lonely, so I'll at least test out the cross-posting ability. At any rate, this is the last of the programs I'm going to play with (this one's called w.bloggar), the others were far to frustrating for me to want to use. Okay, posting now, let's see how it goes.

Oh, and it probably goes without saying, but this was a test . . . this was only a test . . . were this an actual blog post it would have contained marginally interesting content. I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Drinking Age

A group of about 100 college presidents has proposed lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. Interestingly, they come to this position as a way to lower binge drinking on college campuses. Their argument is that the clandestine drinking that underage students indulge in is more likely to lead to binge drinking than legal drinking. Naturally, there are others who oppose this idea. Among them, Mother's Against Drunk Driving arguing that alcohol related accidents would increase if the drinking age were lowered. It's certainly a logical enough argument, more people drinking would seem to lead to more drunk drivers; and I'm sure they have statistics to back it up. For me though, it's not enough.

I'm not a drinker. At all. I'm also well over 21 and don't have any kids, so I don't have a real strong emotional connection to this debate. My interest comes from my interest in good public policy. I tend to agree with the college presidents for a couple of reasons, though not the reason they offer. First, I'm very sympathetic to the argument that we, as a society, say that an 18 year-old is mature enough to vote or choose to serve in the military, but not mature enough to handle a beer. That makes absolutely no sense to me. Second, I find the way the current drinking age was implemented to be objectionable. The federal government bullied the states into setting the drinking age to 21 by threatening to withhold highway funds. This was just a sneaky way for the federal government to get around the limits on its power imposed by the Constitution, and I don't like that one bit. If a 21 year-old drinking age is such good policy, then the states should adopt it on their own and on its merits, not because it will cost them huge amounts of federal funds.

So, the question is, do the college presidents have any chance at all of succeeding? Probably not, it's far too easy to demonize their position, but I wish them luck.

A Sad Day For Cryptozoology

Can you believe it? The Bigfoot in the refrigerator was a fake.



Sigh. What's next? Are we going to find out that the Montauk Monster's a fake, too?



Seriously, though, is anyone at all surprised by this? Well, I suppose the folks that actually gave the scammers money are, but they seem to have been an especially credulous bunch. If there were actual Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) out there, wouldn't we be finding corpses on a pretty regular basis?

Superhero Endorsements

The Moment Blog at NYTimes.com reveals that comic book character Savage Dragon is endorsing Barak Obama for President. This got me thinking, who are other superheroes endorsing. So, I've put on my thinking cap and here are my best guesses:

Superman - I know he's a reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, and therefore, if right wing talk radio is to be believed, he's automatically a liberal, but I don't know. I always kind of thought that good old Kansas farm boy Clark Kent would actually be a closet Republican. He and Reagan certainly were on pretty friendly terms in the '80's.

I guarantee you that Lois is voting Obama, though.

Batman - Bruce Wayne has to be an Obama man. Look at "The Dark Knight", he's throwing his support behind Harvey Dent. Why? Because Harvey Dent is offering hope to Gotham. Well, Obama has all but copyrighted the word hope, so naturally Bruce is going for him. Or he would if he could be bothered to vote. That's the thing about obsessed vigilantes, they can't be counted on to make the time to get to the voting booth.

Captain America - Cap's dead right now, and while that wouldn't necessarily preclude him from voting in Chicago or Louisiana, I think he'll be sitting this election out.

Green Lantern - There are actually four GLs from Earth, though two of them currently live on Oa. Can you get an absentee ballot at the center of the universe? Hal Jordan probably likes Obama fine, but I think he'll ultimately lean toward McCain. They're both pilots, they're both military, and McCain probably reminds him a bit of his dad. John Stewart will vote Obama, and not just because he's African American! The views he's expressed over the years have always indicated that John leans more to the left than the right. Guy Gardner's about as Republican you could get outside of an anthropomorphic elephant. He's going McCain. I'm willing to bet Kyle Rayner hasn't voted in a single presidential election in his life. He just doesn't strike me as the most politically plugged in guy in the world. I doubt this will change this year.

Green Arrow - Do you even have to ask. I mean, I'm sure Ollie's first impulse will be to vote for Nader, but ultimately he'll go Democrat. He just hates those "fat-cat, fascist pigs" so much.

Wolverine - Logan's Canadian, eh. He can't vote here.

Wonder Woman - Pretty sure she's not a citizen, being the princess of a hidden island populated entirely by warrior women.

Multiple Man - Madrox's ballot will be invalidated when one of his duplicates tries to vote for McCain while another tries to vote for Obama. The warring dupes will each try to create armies of voting duplicates to try and run up the vote totals for their respective candidates.

Thank you for allowing me to indulge myself here. Who did I forget?

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

The library was pretty dead at 8 AM. That made it perfect for Jim's purposes. He was headed for a table in the back when he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Thing One, what are you doing here so early?" The voice belonged to an old friend and classmate, Carla, who Jim hadn't thought about in years. They'd met freshmen year when the two of them and another student named Jim had been assigned to the same study group. Carla had immediately taken to calling the two Jims "Thing One" and "Thing Two."

"Um, hi. I just had some stuff to work on," said Jim. "Why are you here so early?"

Carla tapped the plastic name tag pinned to her shirt. "Work," she said. "What're you working on?"

"Oh, just some project," Jim answered uncomfortably. "I'd really better get to it."

"Oh, okay," she said, disappointment in her voice. "See you around then."

Jim hadn't meant to be so brusque with her, but he was nervous about trying to talk to people in the past. He was about to leave when he had an inspiration.

"Wait," he said. "What do you know about time travel?"

Secret Invasion of the Internet

So, the Skrulls have apparently taken to the Web in support of "Secret Invasion." There's even a Twitter feed. Interestingly, the Skrulls seem to be following John Edwards' Twitter feed for some reason. Wonder what that's about.

I love viral marketing.

The Links

I usually don't do the link collection thing, but I'm a little bored. So, without further ado: Things of interest I've stumbled upon around the net.

-A Matter of Opinion, by John Ostrander: I already loved John Ostrander for his comics work (Suicide Squad most of all), but I love him even more now that he's managed to relate the Doctor Who season finale to political punditry.

-Harry Knowles' review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Okay, guess I definitely will be skipping it then.

-NBC's Latest Olympic-themed Office Promo: Murder checkers indeed.

-National Geographic's Map of the day for last Tuesday? The Land of OZ

Where's The Excitement

Star Wars: The Clone Wars opens tomorrow, and strangely, I don't seem to care all that much. What's happened? There was a time when anything with the words "Star Wars" in the title appearing in theaters would send me into a flurry of excitement.

Is it that I'm over Star Wars? That can't be true, because I'm really enjoying Dark Horse's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic right now.

Is it just animated Star Wars that I've got a problem with? Can't be, I really liked Cartoon Network's Clone Wars minisodes from a few years ago. Side note: The character designs for the new movie seem to be based on that series, but without series mastermind Genndy Tartakovsky.

Is it "Prequel Fatigue", brought on by the diminished quality of the prequel movies? Unlikely; I actually enjoyed the prequel films, warts and all.

So, why am I so ambivalent toward this movie? How is it that I haven't even decided for sure if I'll actually go see it in a theater? I want to be excited, but I'm just not.

It makes me a little sad really.

Headlines

Massachusetts: MIT students deserve "no First Amendment protection"

It's actually a pretty interesting story (follow the link to read), but taken out of context, that headline just makes me laugh. It reads like a global statement about MIT students in general.

On the merits of the story, I think the state is flat out wrong. The three students absolutely have a right to disclose the vulnerabilities they found in the subway card system. The state's resources would be better used trying to close said vulnerabilities than trying to fight the First Amendment.

Blast From the Past: Video Game Edition

I got a little bored late last night so I pulled out an old copy of Sim City 3000 and loaded it up on my computer. It's been years since I've played any version of Sim City, but it's still a pretty fun game. I still suck at it though. My cities always seem to run massive budget deficits. Guess I'm not much of a city planner.

Olympic Irony

Well, Georgia beat Russia in Women's Beach Volleyball today. It probably doesn't make up for having your country invaded, but it's something, eh?

By the way, Women's Beach Volleyball=Best Sport Ever.

How about we just use Women's Beach Volleyball to solve all international conflicts. Everybody wins. :)

Faith

I was out taking a constitutional and for whatever reason my mind wandered onto the topic of religion and faith. It seems that faith is a natural tendancy of all humans, and so I began thinking about how mine manifests. I'm not particularly religious, so I don't place my faith in concepts of gods, goddesses, or mysticism. I've no quarrel with those that do, religion can be a great source of comfort and guidance for people, it's just not for me. Similarly, I wouldn't call myself an athiest. It's an old truism that you can't prove a negative, so belief in the non-existance of God is as much an article of faith as belief in God. I niether believe nor disbelieve, so what does that leave?

It turns out that it leaves people. I choose to place my faith in people. I suppose my article of faith can best be expressed with a quote from Anne Frank:

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

I tend to believe that the natural tendancy is toward the good. Sure, sometimes, in some people, the good gets buried and they do bad, even evil, things, but that's the exception. If it weren't, wouldn't we have destroyed ourselves long ago?

This outlook probably explains a bit of my fondness for superheroes. The idea that someone given great power will choose to use that power to help others is a tribute to the inherent goodness of humanity. The cynic would assume that a world with superpowers would be a world of super-villains with no heroes to fight them.

So, no, I'm not a cynic. I'll pretend to cynicism for comedic effect at times, but that's because cynicism is just funnier than optimism. Nope, I'm afraid I am in fact a hippy-dippy optimist.

Coraline

Wow, I'm excited about this now. Rotten Tomatoes will be putting up preview videos all week for the upcoming Coraline movie. I hadn't really paid much attention to this project until now, but upon stumbling on the previews the project has my full attention. Not only is it based on a Neil Gaiman story (one that I haven't read, but I'm generally a fan of the guy's work, so that pedigree is definitely a plus), I now discover that it's being directed by Henry Selick of The Nightmare Before Christmas fame. Awesome! Plus Ian McShane (Al Swearengen on Deadwood) is apparently in the voice cast. Bonus! Looks very promising.

Daily Affirmation

I thought a friend could use this:

Disillusioned

I was so impressed with the Opening Ceremonies, and now I find out that some of it was faked. How disappointing. Yesterday, I heard that those fireworks "footprints" that I had thought were so cool were actually digital creations and were not for real. So, I'm less impressed with the fireworks, but my esteem for the ceremonies really isn't diminished that much.

Now, today, I read that the little girl who sang as the Chinese flag was brought in was actually lip-syncing. This wouldn't be so bad, except they used another little girl's voice. Apparently the powers-that-be thought that the voice of the little girl we saw wasn't good enough and the little girl who sang wasn't cute enough. How horrible. I feel kind of bad for these little girls, having been told by their government that one can't sing and the other is unattractive. I think, in their quest for perfection, the officials involved lost sight of the fact that, whether they went with the face or the voice they'd have an adorable little girl singing and either way it would have been a moving moment.

Still, it was a cool ceremony, and for these two missteps there was plenty that was done right. And the games so far have certainly been great.

Stupid People

I came across this article a few minutes ago. Apparently some white supremacists think they'll see a surge in support for their cause if Obama is elected. It's depressing that the notion of "white supremacy" isn't just a relic of the past, but is still alive in 2008. I do take consolation from the fact that racists seem to be really, really stupid. Case in point, Richard Barrett, who's a lawyer by profession (apparently stupidity is merely an avocation). He's quoted as saying:

"Instead of this so-called civil rights bill, for example, that says you have to give preferences to minorities, I think the American people are going — once they see the 'Obamanation' — they're going to demand a tweaking of that and say, 'You have to put the majority into office,'" Barrett said.

What I want to know, is where Barrett got his law degree, and in what state he passed the bar, because his understanding of the Civil Rights Act is breathtaking. That's right, Civil Rights Act, it's not a bill anymore, it was passed in 1964. Here's a little something to help you out with the difference:

Coolest...Payphone...Ever!

Calvin and Jobs

See it here.

Can't tell where this originally comes from, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Random Thoughts On The Olympics So Far

1. Fireworks - I'm generally not a person who's impressed by fireworks, but leave it to the Chinese to provide the exception. Lots of very cool pyrotechnics during the Opening Ceremonies last night. I particularly liked the "footprint" effect in the sky leading up to the coliseum.

2. Putin - Why was he there? Isn't it usually the head of state that attends these things (I mean, we sent Bush, after all). Shouldn't the new guy, Medvedev, have been there? I suppose Russia was busy bombing the hell out of Georgia yesterday, so maybe he just had his hands full.

3. Yao Ming and the Kid - How amazing was the story of the kid that was marching with Yao Ming during the Opening Ceremonies? A nine year-old boy, who survived the collapse of his school during a recent earthquake and then, on his own initiative, went back into the rubble to try and help his classmates.

4. Lighting the Torch - That whole flying/air-walking thing? Very cool.

5. USA! USA! - If you'll permit a bit of national pride: The USA not only won gold in Women's Sabre Fencing, we won silver and bronze as well. Nice job, ladies.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 2

Part 1

Jim, now with a bit of a headache, reached again for his glasses. He didn't think it felt like a dream anymore.

"Dude," the voice was a familiar one, "don't you have a class at 9:00?" It was Jim's old roomate, Will.

"Uh, yeah," Jim replied uncertainly. He really had no idea. It had been a long time, and Jim had had a hard enough time keeping up with his schedule back then. "I guess I do. Say," he said, annoyance obviouse in his tone, "what's with the dictionary?"

Will threw up his hands defensively as if to ward off blame. "Hey, man," he said, "you're the one who told me to make sure you got up."

"I did? Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't ask to have a book thrown at me."

Will rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Look, if you want a shower you'd better hurry, Zee'll be up in five minutes."

--

After a quick shower, Jim headed out. Not to class, he didn't even know what day it was, let alone what class to go to. Jim just wanted someplace quiet where he could sit and think. Jim stepped out of his building, not sure where to go.

Who's Next?

With the success of The Dark Knight, there's speculation all over the internet about who might be the villain in the next Batman film (and with the mountains of money Time-Warner has been raking in, I think we can guarantee that there will be a next one). Even some comics pros have gotten into the act making suggestions, the strangest of which being Calandar Man. So, I was playing the fun little guessing game for myself when I had a brainstorm.

What about Cluemaster?



Who's Cluemaster, you ask? He's a criminal mastermind with a psychological compulsion to leave clues for the police. Think a less iconic version of the Riddler with a crappier costume (no offense to his creators, but an orange leotard, really?). So, why not just use the Riddler? Well, the interesting thing about Cluemaster is that he has a teenage daughter. Being a crappy dad (as, I would imagine, are most supervillains) his daughter has a lot of anger directed toward him and so puts on a costume of her own and, calling herself the Spoiler, makes it her mission to ruin his criminal enterprises. It adds an extra complication to dealing with the villain if Batman has to worry about this young girl who keeps putting herself into the middle of the fight.

Okay, maybe not Cluemaster, he is pretty lame. But how about giving the Riddler a daughter?

Get In On The Ground Floor

It's Wednesday, which means New Comics Day, and I noticed a couple of #1's on the shipping list that I thought I'd mention.

First, there's FRANKLIN RICHARDS: SUMMER SMACKDOWN! # 1. For those not familiar with the Franklin Richards, Son of A Genius one-shots that Marvel's been putting out (of which this is yet another entry), think Calvin & Hobbes if Calvin were the son of the world's smartest man and Hobbes were his long-suffering robot nanny. These things are always a lot of fun and I look forward to them whenever they come out. Given the regularity with which Marvel puts out these Franklin Richards specials I have to assume they sell pretty well. I'm glad that's the case, because they're lots of fun and will hopefully continue for a long time to come.

Next is the relaunch of Spider-Man loves Mary Jane with new series writer Terry Moore. I'm sure I put my tenuous claim to masculinity at risk by admitting my fondness for what can best be described as a relationship comic, but I don't care. I loved the original incarnation of this series by original writer Sean McKeever and who better to continue the story than Terry Moore of Strangers In Paradise fame.

While it's always dangerous to recommend something sight unseen, I feel pretty confident in these two books being good. So, if you find yourself around the comic store today I'd suggest giving them a look.

You Can't Please Everybody

In Rich Johnston's always interesting Lying In The Gutters column this week, he includes a bit of commentary from Brendon Connelly explaining why he didn't like "The Dark Knight." (Scroll to the section with the heading "THE DARK KNIGHT REGURGITATES")

Wow. He really didn't like the movie, did he? I'd love to refute his arguments on why he thinks it's a bad movie, but I've got too much of an emotional attachment to the material to be able to objectively address his problems. I sort of wish I didn't have that attachment so that I could better evaluate how reasonable or unreasonable his complaints are. I tend to think he's wrong pretty much across the board, but I recognize my own bias here. That said, the fact that he seems to think that the 60's Batman movie was superior tells me that we're unlikely to agree on anything film-wise.

Still, I kind of know where he's coming from. Sometimes when you dislike something that the rest of the world is praising loudly, the dislike can be amplified a bit. I know I'm guilty of amplified and overblown dislike when it comes to certain movies. "Pulp Fiction" comes to mind. I didn't particularly like it, and under ordinary circumstances that might have been the end of it, but I seem to be the only one in the world not to like it. What's more, everyone else seems to regard the film as some kind of masterpiece, which I find irksome, and which amplifies my "just not my cup of tea"-level of dislike to "if it were a person I'd reach into its chest and pull out its still beating heart"-level of hatred. Not sure why that's the case, it just is.

So, while I disagree with Connelly on every level, I have to say I sympathize with him as well.

Random Video featuring Eater's Digest

Call For Recommendations

I love my iPod, I love it to the extent that I don't really listen to the radio anymore (aside for the 2 minutes or so it takes for my clock radio to wake me up in the morning). The upside of that is that I don't have to waste my time with the crap music and annoying DJs that seem to permeate commercial radio. The downside is that I feel like I've closed off the primary channel for discovering stuff I haven't heard before, that I'm just listening to the same old stuff that I already know I like over and over again. So, to anyone who happens upon this post, if there's any artist or song or album that you particularly love and think I should listen to, then let me know in the comments. Don't worry about genre, I'm pretty open minded musically; I've just got an itch to discover some new stuff.

Scent of Kindergarten

This got a mention on a segment on The Colbert Report tonight and I just refused to believe it was for real. One Google search later, however, and I find that it is.

Play-doh cologne?

I'm honestly not sure if I think that this is the most ridiculous product ever or the most awesome. I suppose the smell of Play-doh does have pleasant associations for most people. I'm not sure what occasion the Play-doh cologne would be appropriate for, though.

Brightest Day or Blackest Night

How am I only hearing about this now? From Blog@Newsarama:

The current edition of Production Weekly lists Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern movie as in active development (that’s not exactly news), and provides a broad description that seems to stay true to the character’s origin: “Each sector of space is protected by a Green Lantern, possessing a power ring that uses a powerful green energy to do anything within the limits of the user’s imagination and will power. When the Green Lantern assigned to this sector of space finds himself dying on planet Earth, he tells the ring to find a suitable successor. The chosen replacement, hot-shot test pilot Hal Jordan, finds himself with a new job he never expected.

I'm at once excited and nervous about the prospect of a Green Lantern movie. Anyone who's let me go on about superhero comics for more than ten minutes knows that Green Lantern was the first superhero I discovered as a kid and he remains my favorite character (especially now that his comic has such a great creative team on it), so I'd love to see a great movie with the character. I see two problems, however. First, he's a character with a very complicated mythology and I don't know that you can strip much of it out without damaging what is so cool about the character. I'd be a little disappointed if I went to see a Green Lantern movie and didn't at least get a passing reference to the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. Second, there's the name. Now, I don't have a problem with the name Green Lantern, but then I've been reading about the character for a couple of decades now and am steeped in comic lore made up of characters with similarly absurd names, but when I look at it from a regular guy point of view I can see how it would be difficult to take a character seriously that's named after an inanimate object. If you're not used to the name, it just sounds kind of goofy.

The good news is the writers that are currently involved, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim. I'm quite fond of their TV work (particularly last season's Eli Stone), and Guggenheim has done some good comic book work as well, so I'm optimistic about the script. I certainly feel better about the prospects for this version than the proposed Jack Black comedy version that was in development a couple of years ago. >shudder<

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 1

Jim was a little disoriented when he woke up that morning. It wasn't totally unprecedented for him to wake up in unfamiliar surroundings, but he usually had at least some shadow of a memory of how he got there.

"Where am I?" he groaned quietly, to himself. Instinctively, he reached out and his hand found his glasses on a desk by the bed.

His vision now clear, Jim took a good look around the room. It was a familiar room. He realized, suddenly, that he had lived in this room ten years ago. It made no sense; how could he be in his college dorm room? The building had been demolished in 2004. Stranger still, how did his stuff get back here?

"Must be dreaming," he thought. Jim hated these flashback dreams. They always ended in some inane twist like showing up for class naked or having to take an exam in a class he'd never attended. He wasn't in the mood for any of it, so he took his glasses off and settled back into bed.

THWAP! A battered paperback copy of Webster's New World Dictionary impacted with his head.

"Ow," he said, rubbing his head. "What the hell?"