The comments, reviews and rantings are for entertainment only. If you are offended then someone else is getting entertained. Welcome to the internet. Have at it. This is where I sound off on what I read in comics this week, and occasionally ramble about other things.
I am weak! Its Sunday, October 30, 2011, I just can't stay up like I used to, and this is The Side. Doctor Madblood was showing THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE last night and I konked out halfway through it.
I used to have a lot more staying power.
COMIX!!
THE WALKING DEAD #90 starts us out this week. Fans of the AMC TV series are a bit divided on the new season, and there's been a lot of rumblings about this latest story arc. Carl is still recovering and doing well considering he was shot in the head in the battle with the walker herd. A lot of people were really up in arms about Carl getting shot (again) but the criticism shifted to how "slow" this story arc has been. Personally, I enjoyed this arc quite a bit. We just had something huge happen and this arc was all about dealing with the fallout. We open up with Rick confronting Nicholas about his rebellion. It was hard to tell how this was going to play out. Were we going to see diplomatic Rick or take-no-prisoners Rick? A lot happens here that sew what could be the seeds for some intense stuff coming up with our major characters. There are set up issues in comics. This was a set-up arc, and sometimes you need that when you're doing good long form storytelling in a comic like this.
ANGEL & FAITH #3 is really good. Angel is continuing his quest to resurrect Giles. Faith is long with him, but still thinks this is a bad idea. Plenty of action to be had here. What really stands out here is the character development of Faith. Many of characters in the "Buffyverse" have gone through a lot of character development, but I've always found faith's to be particularly interesting. She's gone from being 'the bad girl with a good heart' to 'evil slayer' to working on that whole redemption ting slayer' and now she's at 'mature slayer'. I don't mean mature to be old. She's been through a lot and she owns it. She's accepted that she's made serious mistakes, but she doesn't spent all her time moping about it. Its made her a very strong character, and one that's really cool to read. Angel was pretty cool here too. Just not as cool as Faith. Too be fair, its really hard to be as cool as Faith. This comic is good stuff.
THE RED WING #4 wraps up the series and I'm pretty sure that I need to gather all four issues together in one place, grab a white board and create a great big chart to explain everything. This chart would be an epic thing. Something that even Teatime Brutality could appreciate (which is easy since the brilliant Brit has a soft spot for charts). I fully understand the concept of time travel and parallel dimensions as explained here, but if you don't, I don't blame you. Hickman is using a heavy science fiction concept as an allegory for sons looking at their fathers. This also makes for one nutty family tree. The stylized Oroboros symbol takes on a whole new meaning now. I said when reviewing earlier issues that this was a concept driven story, but this issue almost attempts to be a character driven one. Ultimately, we're having characters surfing an insane conceptual wave, telling a story about how men view their fathers. I remember my dad when he was my age. I don't think I can imagine him when he was twenty. I do know that he's making photo albums with some old pictures for me and my brother to give us a better since of some family history. This comic takes such a unique twist of looking back at our fathers and seeing them for what they are, what we wish they were, and what they aren't. The last page changes the context of the entire story, and snaps a lot of things into place. I can't recommend this comic to everyone because wrapping my head around this was quite chore, but it was a good comic.
MUSIC!!
Usually when you take their heads off they stop coming after you, BUT NOT ROLAND!
Alrighty, you guys have a fun and safe Halloween. We'll see y'all Wednesday.
Rats! Its Friday, October 28, 2011, I missed the great Pumpkin last night, and this is The Side. And i heard this was the one with the alternate ending where the great Pumpkin actually shows us and take Linus as his disciple and they go around the neighborhood to punish all the children that didn't believe.
Lucy didn't meet a pretty end.
COMIX!!
Boy howdy, there's some stuff going down with the big two right now, and its not very good for either of them.
DC Comics are disappearing from the shelves at Barnes and Nobles and not because people are buying them. The deal with Amazon that left B&N out in the digital cold has them taking the books off the shelves. I stopped in briefly at one of the local stores. They still had some trades. One thing that was pretty noticeable is that the monthly floppies were mostly stuff from before the reboot. I saw one copy of a reboot book and that was it. Yikes. Not good for a company looking to really push their new material.
Don't expect there to be a DC shaped hole on the shelves though. B&N have struck a deal was 2000AD, so we'll be seeing some interesting stuff on the shelves fairly soon. This is also good news for local comic shops as the new car smell of the DC relaunch is still giving many stores a sales bump and they no longer have to worry about competition from the country's top bookstore chain.
DC isn't the only company facing a bit of ire. There's another Marvel Boycott but this time its about the recent company layoffs. It seems that some people don't remember back when Marvel declaring bankruptcy was pretty much an annual event. Them getting bought out by Disney means they have more financial stability, but that doesn't mean they have access to Scrooge McDuck's money bin and can do whatever they want. They are still a company and still have to turn a profit. The economy is currently in rough shape. Marvel is still based in New York which taxes folks and companies pretty heavily. They're having to do what they have to to maintain their company and sometimes that means laying people off. Its a shame, but that's reality.
What's really stupid is people boycotting because of it thinking that this will make them turn around and hire everyone back. Now, if you are truly uncomfortable buying their books then you shouldn't buy them. The thing is, Marvel is doing what they have to because they have a cost to deal with. So if they are denied revenue due to an extended boycott that's just going to lead to more layoffs. This is the second proposed boycott of marvel this year. I guess the whole "Fear Itself" event was inspired by people scared fans will make them lose their jobs.
MUSIC!!
Time for a little bump and grind music.
That's it for me guys. Have a good weekend, and we'll see y'all Sunday.
Heads up! Its Wednesday, October 26, 2011, I spend every day hoping this will be the one in which they show The Great Pumpkin, and this is The Side. They really don't show a lot of Halloween specials on TV anymore so i treasure the ones they do show. I still miss the GARFIELD HALLOWEEN special with a passion.
Speaking of TV...
TELEVISION!!
I originally wanted to review the new ABC show ONCE UPON A TIME. I've seen a bunch of ads for it. It looked like a lot of fun. I'm a fan of FABLES and this show was going to have the same type of thing going on with fairy tale folks living in the real world, but without all the song and dance numbers that we'd expect from anything associated with Disney. There's just one problem in that I missed most of the show. This was the combo platter of mom's birthday and getting the kids to bed, so I can't go shaking my fists at the sky or anything like that. It was a good day.
I did catch about half of the show and I really liked what I saw. It looked great. It was fun. One thing really jumped out and grabbed my attention, and that was the theme to this episode: adoption.
For those of you out there that are new to following me, I'm adopted. I was adopted when I was 15 days old. I grew up with the knowledge and accepted it years and years ago. I wasn't treated differently, and its not some source of trauma for me. A couple of years ago though you would think that placing your kid up for adoption is the worst thing you could possibly do. There were shows like FIND MY FAMILY or the horrible LIFE UNEXPECTED. For watching those shows, one would think that every person who was adopted felt this void in their life which only their biological family could fill. How could anyone place their child up for adoption.
ONCE UPON A TIME answered that. The entire episode centered around adoption as two characters that are adopted deal with it. Why would a person give their child up? "To give them a chance at a better life." Now, in one of the instances it was for very dramatic reasons with a curse taking over the lady and an eeeeeeevil queen doing eeeeeeevily queeny things. Still, it does ring true. Placing a child up for adoption isn't always some act of abandonment showing that the people doing it are some horrible monsters. It is an act of love. If the people didn't care they would have just gone in and had an abortion, now wouldn't they?
So ONCE UPON A TIME has a fan here, because, for once, TV got it right.
MUSIC!!
And how do them there young folks sometimes end up with a young'in they didn't plan on? Rollin' in the hay!
Thanks to the lovely and talented Kat Hogan for turning me on to that tune. Time for me to fly. See ya'll Friday.
Who's your daddy? Its Sunday, October 23, 2011, nurture seems to be curb stomping nature, and this is The Side. I made that little comment because no one has discovered a nerd gene and my kids have some interesting behavior.
When your daughter says that the theme to THE BIG BANG THEORY is her favorite song, that's probably a sign.
This is the same daughter who argues against wearing pajamas. I told her how its colder at night now and she needs to wear PJs because I don't want her to freeze her little butt. See countered this with "If I freeze, I'll break that ice like Iceman!" Yes, my daughter's new favorite superhero is Iceman. This is due to Netflix instant streaming letting us watch SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS.
This is not to be confused with the other daughter who refuses to wear anything cute. If its not 'awesome', she won't wear it. 'Awesome' is the new criteria of choice for four year old clothing choices.
That daughter is the same one with her Spider-man rain boots. She wears those when it rains because sometimes its too wet for her Spider-man sneakers. That doesn't really make up for it being too wet to put on her Spider-man helmet and ride her Spider-man bike around the court. We do keep her well-rounded though, as she carries an Ironman backpack to pre-school. Yes, she picked out all of these things herself.
I guess I'm pretty lucky. My kids have glommed onto my interests and seem to genuinely like them. I know this is most likely temporary. Little girls grow up. They'll likely develop a taste for music I can't stand. With my luck, they'll become fascinated with TWILIGHT. But for now, I can enjoy coming home and hearing my girls ask if they can watch X-MEN EVOLUTION or HEATHCLIFF or any of the other shows I really like.
COMIX!!
It was one of those weeks at the shop in which there was absolutely nothing in my pull box. Happens about one a month since the great purge from my pull list. That doesn't mean I haven't been able to check out anything cool. EDUCATION OF A SUPERHERO by Adam Dechanel is launching next month. This one's going to be online and there's still some production stuff going on so I've been asked not to toss out a link quite yet. I did however get a preview of what's to come and I'm definitely digging it. The writing is solid and enjoyable. The art is really sharp. The main character, Julie Meyers, seems interesting. I only got a ten page preview but it sunk a decent hook and made me want to check out more. Dechanel might sound familiar to you. He's written quite a few things including some fun 'choose your own adventure' type stuff on the Superman Homepage. This'll be his first project out on his own, and its one that bears watching and deserves some support. I'll be back to drop the link when launch time hits.
MUSIC!!
Here's one for the ladies, and by ladies I mean my daughter for likes to dance around to her favorite song.
That's all from me for now. I'm going to go hunt down some nice, warm socks and brew some coffee. Catch y'all Wednesday.
Free at last! Its Friday, October 21, 2011, Happy Birthday, Mom, and this is The Side! I get a break from the demolition job today. Its not a bad job, but for some reason the area smells like burnt pumpkins. I don't really mind the smell, but I have no clue where its coming from and that's bugging me.
DOOM!!
We've got another apocalypse due today. The crazy old guy who predicted the end of stuff a few months ago revised his prediction and its supposed to go down today. If you're reading this, it hasn't happened yet.
Still hasn't happened.
Nothing yet.
....
Hm.
....
Still nothing.
Y'know. I think the crazy old guy might be wrong. Guess I better get that birthday card to my Mom.
Yeah, still nothing. Sorry, to anyone who was really hoping for the end of stuff. I know it would have made a lot of people happy. Them a lot of those whiny smellies down at Occupy Wall Street would get their wish and wouldn't have to pay back their student loans. Then again, the crazy old guy was predicting the Rapture, and with Christianity being so passé nowadays, those poor, put-upon, iPhone toting saps would probably be ticked off if they did get Raptured up.
Wouldn't that just suck. Imagine being some nice little old lady. You pass on, hopefully from something quick, easy, and completely uninteresting. You get up to Heaven and there's a bunch of hippies occupying the Pearly Gates claiming God is part of the 1%. They claim they're going to stay out there until there's a mass redistribution of halos and harps. St. Peter just sits there looking annoyed with his hand on the level to the trap door, pondering if he could just dump the whole lot of them, and wondering how Karl Marx could have inspired such things as he's pretty much sat around and done nothing his entire afterlife.
There's still plenty of folks thinking we're living in the end times. Some are hoping to see the big J.C. upon his return. Some might just want to see how it all ends. Plenty are hoping it involves zombies.
Truth is, plenty of people have thought and believed the same thing throughout history. Well, maybe not the zombie part. We're not going to figure out when the end times hit through math. It'll happen when it happens.
And it happening still hasn't happened yet as you're still reading this.
And we're off! Its Wednesday, October 19, 2011, demolition man be demolishing, and this is The Side. Been working in the same building trying to tear it down to the point where we cam fix it back up. Been over a week now. I'm starting to think we should have just used dynamite and started over.
FANDOM!!
After the terrible accident at the race this past weekend that claimed the life of a drive, we got to talking about being fans. Now, the fella who unfortunately passed away is not someone I had ever heard of before this happened. I don't follow racing. This guy was a former champion, and according to those who knew him and competed against him, was a pretty stand up guy. Lot of people liked him, and for those who did, I'm sorry for your loss.
In talking about him yesterday another racing death got brought up. That of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now, speaking as I guy from Virginia, who grew up in Blackwater, among more than his fair share of country-type folk, I don't give a damn about that guy. He had a reputation of racing like jerk and playing hardball out on the track and that caught up with him. He wasn't a big champion, and there are plenty of drivers who won a lot more races than him. And yet, he's this major figure in the sport and near hillbilly sainthood. The story was the lead story on the front page of the local newspaper for three days, and one idiot on the radio claimed his spirit made the flowers in her garden bloom.
Now, in discussing Earnhardt I got to hear some real doozies of fandom. One person told my friend, "Yeah, I stopped watching NASCAR after my driver died." which he was referring to Earnhardt. This got the response, "Yeah, I stopped watching basketball after Magic Johnson retired." And I also heard about some joker who said he saw Earnhardt come around a corner and new that the guy was something special. Bullshit. he came around the corner of that track just like every other driver who came around the corner of that track. It wasn't like Michael Jordan jumping across the court for a dunk, or Randy Couture putting brakes on Vitor Belfort. Those were stand out performances. The guy who made the comment was just trying to pull the old 'I liked him before anyone else' card.
There are people who are fans of a sport, and there are those who are fans of people in a sport. It is kind of weird when you have someone who is a fan of an athlete but doesn't care about the sport at all. Its kinda like saying "I stopped reading comics after jack Kirby died". I do understand being sad when your favorite guy out there retires or unfortunately gets hurt. I just don't get giving up on something entirely just because one person is no longer there. Did that one person make the sport so much more entertaining that its just not the same without them there? And in the case I'm mainly talking about, and this is going to sound mean, but I'm a freaking redneck so I can say it, did that one guy drive fast and turn left in such a dramatic fashion that the others paled in comparison and the sport isn't the same without him?
I do respect those drivers. I certainly couldn't do what they do. Still, when you here some of those comments, its really easy to understand why people make fun of NASCAR fans. Its not all the fans of course, but like anything else its easy to go from fandom to fandumb.
MUSIC!!
Yep. Had to do it. Primus sucks.
That's it for me. Time to go demolish some more. See y'all Friday.
Yawn! Its Sunday, October 16, 2011, one of these days I'm going to feel rested after sleeping, and this is The Side. Its completely due to the amount of sleep. It seems I'm not capable of functioning as well on six hours of shut as I used to. Used to be I'd get maybe four hours of sleep and then its off and running, but I don't think I'll be able to pull that one off anymore.
Its kind of a drag because its not until the kids finally hit the sack that we can watch whatever we want on TV, or put in whatever movie we'd like to watch. Its also less often when the Missus is hanging out with neighbors making it so I can play whatever video games I like and have full carté blanch over the viewing choices.
It used to just be a choice of what I wanted to watch or do. Now, I've got to choose between that and sleep. Right now, it feels like I chose poorly.
COMIX!!
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #2 starts us off this go around. Last issue we got a dose of where Buffy Summers is with her life, and its pretty normal stuff. She's working as a waitress. She's got an apartment with a couple of fun roommates. She's got to worry about paying her student loans. She just got relate-able again. That's good, but the bad is on the horizon. Bodies are popping up all over town and the police are thinking our favorite blonde Slayer has something to do with it. Andrew Chambliss steps in as writer after a strong series start from Joss Whedon, and he doesn't miss a beat. He's right on top of the distinct dialogue that the Buffy-verse is known for. We got to see where these characters are with issue one, and issue two let's us know that there's stuff going on. We do get an answer as to where all the John and Jane Doe corpses are coming from and that answer leads us to a lot more questions. We don't get a ton of over-the-top slam-bang action, but we do get good solid storytelling that's fun and engaging. Highly recommended.
PILOT SEASON: CITY OF REFUGE #1 makes me feel like I've dropped into a story halfway through. Its very possible since this is the first time I spotted this book and its an issue 1, but it seems I may have missed a previous series. Still, its not hard to fill in the blanks. Something really bad has happened, and people have come to a secured city for safety. The people in the city all receive implants which eliminate the capacity for violence. How it does this isn't spelled out all that well, but it works on the brain and that's all we really need to know. This city has not had a violent crime in eleven years. Security forces receive injects that temporarily counteract the implants. The implants are believed to be causing health problems. People don't like having their minds messed with. This story reminds me a lot of the film EQUILIBRIUM with some of the themes. Unfortunately, the comparison ends there. While the film was stylish and featured a ton of suspense and amazing action scenes, this comic is pretty slow. Its tough because there's so much going on that it requires a lot of exposition, unfortunately it doesn't have much going on to balance that. Yes, there is a hostage scene, and an element of danger, but the way it plays out doesn't really 'pop'. Its not a bad book, but you'll have to be a patient reader to really get through it.
MUSIC!!
Jumping in the wayback machine to visit a Van Halen tune. I used to really love this song. I didn't know the Blue Angels used it in a video, so that was a pretty pleasant discovery.
That's all for me for today. Time for about half a pot of coffee. See y'all Wednesday.
Gotta go! Its Friday, October 14, 2011, I meant to have typed most of this up last night but i discovered MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE is now streamable on Netflix, and, well, you know, and this is The Side. I'm not even sure that "streamable" is a real word but spellcheck thinks it is, which is good enough for me even though it doesn't think "spellcheck" is a real word.
...
Great, now I'm confused.
COMIX!!
There's been a bit of a hitch with DC and their electronic distribution plans. This is referring to people being able to download and read comics on e-readers. I'm not into it because I guess I'm a bit old fashioned and prefer to hold an actual book in my hand. That's me though. There's plenty of people who love their readers and its been pretty helpful to college students. I'm not against them, but they just aren't for me.
Anyhow, it seems there's choices to be made as to which e-reader you get, and which one you distribute through. DC seems to have gone exclusive with Amazon, leaving Barnes and Nobles out in the cold. B&N aren't too happy about this.
Part of me is reminded of when Marvel went exclusive with Diamond, but this is really different. When Marvel did what they did, Comic Shops had to get in line with this. If you're a comic book shop, you better have Marvel Comics or you're not going to stay in business very long. Barnes and Nobles doesn't need DC Comics. They can pull all the DC books off their shelves and not take a significant financial hit. I understand that there was probably a good looking deal with Amazon on the table, and it looked like a good idea at the time. But, when you have major booksellers felling slighted at you and you're in the business of publishing, then you've got a problem on your hands.
The local Barnes and Nobles have a decent selection of graphic novels and trades. They've also begun carrying a decent selection of floppies as well. This was new since when I worked there years ago they had a policy against carrying the monthly floppies. You had this major bookstore expanding their policies about carrying comics, but now they aren't going to carry a major publisher. DC has handed Marvel an early Christmas present.
This is baffling to me. We were told that the entire point to their relaunch of everything was to gain new readers. They were going digital to gain new readers. It seems like every other week they do something that shuts a door on potential new readers. Fortunately for them, the sales are pretty strong on their relaunch still. This is also pretty good news for comic shops as they'll have less competition in a certain area for the time being.
MUSIC!!
This video is directed by Calvin Muusse, and isn't the official video for this song, but it absolutely should be. Beautiful work. Take something from it.
Alright, I'm out the door. Got some reviews lined up for Sunday. See y'all then.
WAK! Its Wednesday, October 12, 2011, time to talk some movies, and this is The Side. I hadn't planned on discussing this, but it just seemed like everything was steering me towards this topic. Happens a lot actually. Good thing about the world: there's no shortage of stuff to talk about.
MOVIES!!
I was talking with my buddy the other day about Batman movies. His son his the same age as my daughters. We've known each other since we were in diapers, and he knows that when it comes to superhero stuff, I'm a pretty good guy to direct questions to.
The issue was BATMAN RETURNS. It was on TV and his son perked up because it was Batman. He loves batman. He's already got his batman costume for Halloween this year. He got excited that there was a Batman movie on TV. I shot him an "uh-oh" look.
"Dude, that thing was gory." Yeah, the Tim Burton flicks aren't made for kids. My friend had to cut the viewing short when things got a little rough. He asked me about other Batman movies. We were teenagers when Warner Brother kicked off their franchise, and he's not as much of a movie buff as I am. I own the old 1989 BATMAN movie. He asked if they might be OK for his son, and I had to tell him "no". "I don't let the girls watch it."
None of the Batman live action movies are kid friendly, except the old Adam West flick. Many of the animated features aren't very appropriate either. I enjoy a lot of them. I do like the Tim Burton Batman movies, but I'm not going to let my kids watch them. It sucks. My girls see a Batman DVD. They recognize Batman. They like Batman, but they don't understand why they can't watch it. They've watched Batman on the SUPERFRIENDS cartoon. They like BATMAN:THE ANIMATED SERIES. They've seen an episode of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED which they saw batman fighting robots and being awesome. They love watching the Missus play LEGO BATMAN on the Wii. But the movies are taboo.
There's of course the flip side to this that there's all this stuff for the kids, and there's a definite market for Batman stuff for adults. Fine. I've got no qualms about keeping the Nolan films as far away from my kids as possible. It does irk me a little seeing merchandising for those movies, like toys, being aimed at kids. "Here's the toys for the movie you're not allowed to watch."
Not a fun position to be in when I'm asked what batman movies are appropriate for a little kid and my answer has to be "pretty much none of them".
Fortunately, my kids are happy enough little campers seeing cool stuff like THE AVENGERS trailer.
MUSIC!!
Music can inspire. Sometimes you just need the right song to put everything in place for you and get you out into the world ready to be awesome. This song's done that for me a few times.
Alrighty! Time for some more demolition and clean up. Been quite a week so far. See y'all Friday.
BRAINS! Its Sunday, October 9, 2011, I seem to be lacking them, and this is The Side. Been a busy week. Worked six day. Got the dojo back on track now that the Karate demo is over. Drew and inked a bunch of stuff. Found time to get my journalist on. I'm feeling a bit out of steam.
Fortunately, I don't run on steam. I run of caffeine, and possibly grease.
ONWARD!
COMIX!!
Only had one book waiting for me this week, but luckily for me it was THE WALKING DEAD #89. Last issue we left off with Nicholas, Spencer, and Olivia conspiring to remove Rick from leadership of the community. Nicholas it seems is off his nut because he doesn't just want Rick out of the leadership position, he wants Rick dead. Meanwhile, Rick is out with a scouting party checking out the surrounding area. So just when it looked like things were on a path to stability and safety, we find the most pressing problem isn't the dead. One thing has always set this book apart from other zombie comics in that those books were pretty much formulaic in that that they introduce the cast and then bump them off as the story progresses. Its about the zombies and how they get you. THE WALKING DEAD has always been about the people trying to survive in this world. As with the time the survivors were staying in the prison tension among the people boils over. What's actually pretty scary is how Rick handles things once everything's out in the open. We've been seeing Rick in his leadership position trying to do right by people and struggling with everything that's happened to his son. We get a glimpse here of the hard ass Rick Grimes who is the last person you want to mess with. The question is, will this quell the uprising, or just prove Nicholas's point?
The results for the BOOM! Studios Comic Book Straw poll were released. Sort of. For those who haven't heard about this, people voted by placing a pre-order of the comic for the person they chose. For the comic to actually be printed the pre-orders had to actually pass the 1500 mark and the top four actually did that with the others not making it, so they won't be printed.
Here's the results.
1. Barack Obama 2. Sarah Palin 3. Ron Paul 4. Michele Bachmann 5. Mitt Romney 6. Herman Cain 7. Newt Gingrich 8. Jon Huntsman 9. Rick Santorum 10. Rick Perry
I say the results were only sort of released, because they BOOM! hasn't released the actual numbers. I predicted Obama would win, and I was right. It was too early in the election process to do this. The Republicans Party has not chosen its candidate. So Obama may have only gotten 25 - 30% of the pre-orders and still won because the rest of the orders were split among nine other people.
I was surprise a bit that Sarah Palin came out on top of the Republican field, especially since she's not running. Still, she's popular, and there's an off chance some guys wanted that book hoping for a page of two from her pageant days. I'm not surprised that Rick Perry is at the bottom since this poll was announced before he entered the race. People may have made their decisions before he entered and got that big push a few weeks ago.
Ron Paul coming out on top of the Republican field for candidates actually running did surprise me a little, but shouldn't have. He's remained a consistent favorite for a lot of people. Bachmann doing well didn't surprise me either due to timing. She was doing very well at the time this was announced, but has since seriously declined. There's also the possible hotness factor that may have given Palin a bump. Keep in mind, I'm not saying they're in the positions they're in because of their looks. I'm saying some people will want a commemorative comic book of them because of it.
MUSIC!!
Its been a Zombie type of weekend. Lord knows, I've been shambling around the house like one.
Alrighty, its time for this guy to go brew him up a pot of coffee and take it easy a bit. The batteries need a recharge. See y'all Wednesday.
Yep, its Saturday, October 7, 2011, and I'm posting. I said yesterday that there'd be no Occupy Chesapeake, well I was a bit off as I got word of an Occupy Norfolk springing up. My journalistic gonads churned besieging me with a need to get my pasty ass down there. I heard they were congregating at the ball park, so as soon as I knocked off work I headed straight there.
Got to see the new light rail. Pretty spiffy.
I drove up to the parking lot scanning the area and muttering "here hippy hippy hippy", and I found them! Both of them! I was thinking this had to be the most anti-climatic thing ever, but they were there with their signs, so I figured I best go talk to them.
Turns out they were sitting there telling people where the actual protests were going on. They were using the parking lot at the ball park as kind of a home base. I happened across Chris, one of the event organizers. They were going to use the nearby park, but there was a problem with the permits, so the police told them they could use the parking lot. The headquarters consisted of a couple of ladies sitting in lawn chairs with signs.
Really? No "Hell no, we won't go?"
I talked with Chris, the two sign holding ladies and a two other people that were there. One of them was a young lady would attends the local community college She was there "for her generation", because she's not seeing much of a future for them the way things are going. I asked her what she wanted to see accomplished by this demonstration and what would be a sort of a 'mission accomplished' for her. She didn't really have an answer for me. I got the feeling from her that she didn't really know what to do about things, but felt a real need to do something.
I got more answers from Chris. This protest, unlike the mob up in new York, is working in careful coordination with the Norfolk Police Department. They are hoping to be an example of how this should be done properly. I swear, it seemed like he had read my post from yesterday and built his game plan on it. They are being very careful to do thing legally. He was also very clear as to what their message is, which I'll get to in a minute.
The two ladies were interesting. One was very concerned with trade inequities, as well as fairness with the taxes concerning that pesky 1% of the population that makes the most money. She said it would probably be fair if they paid 39% of their money in taxes. I'm sure they would greatly appreciate the tax cut. The other lady was a bit more fired up. She was upset at the thought of a CEO paying less in taxes than a bus driver. I guess she didn't do the research showing that's bullshit, or she had seen the reports and just didn't believe them. She voted for Obama last time around and was set on voting for him again.
Let it be known right now that I, as a proper and professional wanna-be journalist, was completely in control of myself and didn't laugh in her face and ask what flavor the Kool-Aid was.
Now, let's get into the four main points that they wanted to push with this dealio.
Getting the money out of politics. Really, there's no way to do this. Politicians need money to run their campaigns, and they get hefty amounts from companies. The real problem is the lobbyists. Those are the people whose jobs it is to look after company's interests, and that involves shmoozing the politicians and promising hefty donations. I'm all for this. Its one of the reasons I'm all for the Fair Tax. It would eliminate Lobbyists.
The government needs to be responsible for its spending. I think that's something everyone outside the beltway would like to see. Kinda shocked that the Obama fan would want to be involved with this.
Raising voter awareness. Like I said in my previous post, the real change is going to come from people going to the ballot box.
Getting back the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Such a good Conservative message surprised me. I have to wonder if this message is being echoed up in New York. It started to sound like a Tea Party Rally as far as the message, except for the class warfare bits that kept popping up.
They were all pretty upset about the state of things. I thinks they're focused completely on the wrong target, but there's one thing that did give me some hope. Aside from the Obama fangirl, the rest of the people there weren't in his camp. One guy was a Ron Paul supporter. The others were pretty much in a wait and see who's actually running in the election mode, which is completely understandable as its early in the process.
This is likely going to go better than the New York thing mainly because they aren't being idiots about this. They actually have a clear message and are looking to work inside the system to get that message out and make a change. Good for them. Now if they take some economics classes and get the facts as to what people actually pay in taxes, and quit listening to the idiotic talking points our Pop-Star-in-Chief keeps spewing they may get something really good going. They have completely legitimate reasons for being upset, they're just blaming the the wrong people for who's responsible for it. However, even with a sensible message and intentions, something like this does attract a kook element. There may also be unforeseen efforts by certain groups to try subvert the protest and turn it into something it isn't. The PETA national HQ is in Norfolk and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they tried to send out some of their minions to muddy the waters. Groups like PETA don't give a damn about your message just as long as they get theirs out there.
Ah well, as they go marching wherever they're going to go marching, this guy right here is heading out to work. No Saturday morning cartoons for me. See y'all tomorrow.
Hey guys. Its Friday, October, 7, 2011, I'm running behind, and this is The Side. Got to head out to work so let's jump right to it.
HIPPIES!!
I'm annoyed greatly at the occupy people. To be honest, I'm amazed that its lasted this long. I shouldn't be surprised because they seem like a dim bunch and it hasn't gotten through their heads that what they are doing isn't going to make much of a difference in anything.
At first I wasn't really bothered by it, it was just amusing. One thing set me off though. It was those dopes saying that they represent the 99% of people who aren't the top income earners. I'm not part of that 1% of top income earners, and those shmucks out there do not represent me. First off, unlike them, I tend to bathe regularly. Second, I understand the fact that the top 1% of income earners pay 40% of the total revenue taken in by the income tax, so the moronic statement that they aren't paying their "fair share" irks me in its ignorance.
Some of them are there for reasons that I can get behind. Some are not happy about the government bail outs of certain companies. Others think that there should be an investigation/audit of the Federal Reserve. However, a lot of this gets lost due to lack of cohesion. Basically, you have a bunch of people who are ticked off and they said we're all going to show up somewhere are everyone can join us. Well, then a bunch of people who were ticked off for other reasons. So then you have a bunch of ticked off people with no clear message. That makes it pretty easy for clowns like the Moveon.org people or the Labor Union goons to come in and try to subvert whatever they're doing and make it all about their message.
I really got ticked off over the Brooklyn Bridge stunt when a bunch of them decided they were going to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. About 700 of them got arrested. Good. Throw the book at them. You can't just block off a public bridge because you want to. Emergency personnel may need to cross and seconds may mean a life. When that story broke I completely washed my hands of this.
There's been a lot of comparisons with things like the Arab Spring and tea party movement. Both are bullshit. The uprisings and protests in the Middle East were people dealing with Governments in which they didn't have much of a say. They were left with no other option than to take to the streets. That's also unlike the Tea Party Movement in which people took to the streets for legal and planned rallies. Their message of lower taxes and smaller government was clear. They worked within the system and used the ballot box to effect a change. That's why America is a great country. Despite what some of those occupy people will tell you, your vote does matter. This is still a Representative Republic and you can contact those that are elected to represent you.
Its easy to get ticked off at rich people. Jealousy is a power emotion. It doesn't help at all that our current President includes class warfare crap just about every time he opens his mouth in front of a microphone nowadays. The Pop-Star-in-Chief doesn't understand economics, which has shown greatly over his Presidency, and now he's in campaign mode and looking to fire up people to vote for him again. Folks should be occupying the beltway. So, while there's some of the Occupy people that have a good reason to be upset, the majority are suckers that have been played.
All of them are doing it wrong anyways. Their shenanigans will do nothing but provide some revenue for the cities they're in once the fines get handed down from the courts. If they were smart, they'd go home. Get organized. Get a cohesive message that is actually intelligent and not just "we hates rich peoples", and then use the tools they have been using to gather people in one place to be useless and smelly, to use the system that is in place to effect a meaningful and lasting change.
But I doubt they will. That's fine. Doesn't affect me anyways, since no one's going to "occupy" Chesapeake. I just want them to stop lumping me in with them just because I'm not one of the top money makers in the country. I'm not them.
MUSIC!!
Might as well have some complaint rock.
That's it for me today. Comic book type stuff coming up Sunday. see y'all then.
Howdy! Its Wednesday, October 5, 2011, I really wish I didn't have to sleep, and this is The Side. I've got about two dozen things I'd love to be writing and drawing right now. I can't skip work, obviously. Can't do too much when the kids are awake. It would be nice if I could spend the hours that everyone's asleep to work on all the creative projects I want to. I'd try it, but I fear the amount of caffeine it would require for me to function would kill me.
And I can't go dying! There's too much to do!
COMIX!!
With the big stink around some of the stuff DC put out in the reboot, DC had to respond, and respond they did. This brings us to ratings systems and responsible parenting. I'm a big fan of ratings systems because the alternative is nasty things like censorship, and nobody wants that. The comics industry has been very good about posting their ratings right on the covers. If something is meant for mature readers there's no question about that because we're told so up front.
Back when I was a kid we had the Comics Code Authority which had some pretty strict guidelines and, for the most part, the major publishers complied to it with most of their books. There are many who think the code was some terrible thing and it hindered artistic expression, but when a parent saw a kid reading a comic with the code stamp on it they had a bit of reassurance that there wouldn't be anything like say Catwoman giving Batman the full cowgirl on a rooftop. My folks never looked through the comic they got me. When I got an issue of DETECTIVE COMICS in the mail I could sit down and read it without my mom or dad looking through it first.
The first time my father looked through anything I purchased was a comic magazine which I believe was called "Comic Things" which talked about comic book stuff. It was like WIZARD but, y'know, fun and good. He picked it up when I brought it home and gave it a quick flip through. Nothing objectionable was in there, so no problem. This is what's known as good parenting. Your kid brings home something new that you're not familiar with, then you need to get familiar with it.
So why didn't they look through my comics? Pretty simple. DC and Marvel were names they trusted to publish material that they were comfortable with me being exposed to. Now, its decades later, and I'm the parent. I'm the guy at Comic Kings trying to recommend a book to my friend's wife for their kid to read because he likes superheroes. Looking through the main rack away from the kids area I only spotted one title that I felt comfortable recommending to the kid, who was about the same age I was when I started reading comics. Not very comfortable.
DC has a point. If you have a problem with their books then you shouldn't let your kid read them. But something that is pretty sad is that they have lost the trust of responsible parents whose kids love DC's characters and want to read their books. They seem to have no problem with this. The Starfire controversy isn't just about portraying a particular character as an alien sex-being. Its about portraying that character as such when very recently she was portrayed as an adorable wholesome character. Its creepy.
DC's not going to change what they're doing. All their eggs are in one basket now and they're fully committed to what they're doing. I'm very sad that I can't let my kids read the comics that feature characters they like, but its been that way for a while now. I do greatly enjoy some comics out there that are directed at mature readers, but the balance has shifted in the audience. We've gone from the majority of comic being things that people of all ages could enjoy, to the majority of comics being things not suitable for little kids to read.
There's still some really great kids comics out there, and they're worth finding, especially if you have a little reader in the house. However, as for the DC's new "52", the message is clear, kids aren't the target audience and you should keep the books out of their hands.
MUSIC!!
Nice little tune. I always thought what they did with the video was really, really clever.
I am weak! Its Sunday, October 30, 2011, I just can't stay up like I used to, and this is The Side. Doctor Madblood was showing THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE last night and I konked out halfway through it.
THE WALKING DEAD #90 starts us out this week. Fans of the AMC TV series are a bit divided on the new season, and there's been a lot of rumblings about this latest story arc. Carl is still recovering and doing well considering he was shot in the head in the battle with the walker herd. A lot of people were really up in arms about Carl getting shot (again) but the criticism shifted to how "slow" this story arc has been. Personally, I enjoyed this arc quite a bit. We just had something huge happen and this arc was all about dealing with the fallout. We open up with Rick confronting Nicholas about his rebellion. It was hard to tell how this was going to play out. Were we going to see diplomatic Rick or take-no-prisoners Rick? A lot happens here that sew what could be the seeds for some intense stuff coming up with our major characters. There are set up issues in comics. This was a set-up arc, and sometimes you need that when you're doing good long form storytelling in a comic like this.
