2D Boneyard

HAPPY EASTER!! Its Sunday, April 24, 2011, its a day for new beginnings, and this is The Side. Funny how things work out. The guys I'm talking about have risen from the radio graveyard to start something new. They didn't conquer death like a certain fella that I'm a big fan of did a couple thousand years ago, but in their own way they're showing that The End doesn't always have to be the end. The End can be the beginning of something really great.

TAG 'EM AND BAG 'EM!!!

I wrote last week about my buddy Bob getting the raw end of the stick due to Arbitron handing out flawed data. Here's the thing that makes Bob Fresh one cool dude. Yes, he's a comic book writin' sum'bitch. Yes, he was part of one of this areas most popular radio talk shows. But the real reason is when that got swept out from under him, he didn't cry, he didn't rally his fans (and there's a lot of them) into a boycott, he didn't just go away. He dusted himself off, and went on to do something new. And that something is Bob's Boneyard.

And yes this does present us with a certain amount of weirdness, as Manny Fresh has come back from the dead. Yes, this is the same Manny Fresh that was the target of internet harassment and hunted down his would-be tormentor. The same one who was the target of a conspiracy to destroy him complete with his own personal Jezebel Jett. And yes it did seem is if he was killed off, at least to the point where it had to be explained to some fans that he wasn't really dead. He was obviously lost in the time stream, but now he has returned. The bones are in the yard, and Manny will soon be traveling around the world recruiting more Manny Freshes for Manny Fresh Incorporated. For those out their thinking this would be just the thing for you to be your area's Manny fresh, be warned, the recruitment process involves nipple clips and a car battery.

Jokes aside, I'm really proud to know Bob. In the past year he's become a father and a comic book writer. Now he's repackaging himself and what he does towards new media. This is gutsy. He's got a loyal audience, and he's got talent, but what a person does in one medium that brings success doesn't always translate into success in other mediums. TV stars don't always make great radio people, for example. So he's on a learning curve, but fortunately he's got good, talented people around him. So I'm happy to support by checking out the show whenever I can.

I was ticked that he got the bad end of things for a really stupid reason, but I'd love nothing more than to see him turn it around into a huge success. I don't doubt that he will.

STUFF!!

No secret to anyone you reads this regularly that I hate 3D movies. I already wear glasses, I don't want to wear glasses on top on my glasses just for the sake of a cheesey special effect. The last 3D movie I saw was SUPERMAN RETURNS in 3D IMAX, and I would have walked out of the theater if not for the fact that my mother had bought the tickets as a birthday gift and was with the group on us that went. Terrible movie made even more terrible by being in 3D IMAX. And some of you may be wanting to leave a comment telling me about how far the technology has come since then and how really great the effect is now and how I should give it a chance what with that sweet looking new THOR movie coming out. Save your typing. You've got a better chance of convincing our Pop Star-in-Chief that spending more money than you're bringing in is a bad idea.

There's also a percentage of the population that experience physical discomfort at watching a 3D movie. I'm not in this category as I just find it stupid. Fortunately for us all, there is Hank Green.



That's right. Hollywood is spending millions of dollars in 3D technology and people have found a way around it. That's kind of telling. I'm honestly thinking of buying a pair of these glasses based solely on principle. Fortunately the movies I've seen that are out in 3D always have showings that are not in 3D which is fortunate.

There is one thing that I am curious about as far as 3D goes and that's the Nintendo 3DS which boasts a 3D effect without the use of special glasses. Reviews of the effect have been pretty mixed, but it does have me curious. I do doubt I'll be getting one any time soon though. Little too rich for my blood. Actually, a prime rib steak is too rich for my blood at this point.

MUSIC!!!

I tried to get a hold of Bob to ask what song he'd like in this post. Didn't happen, but I think he'd approve.



That'll do it for me. Time to get ready for church and some quality family time, including Hootie Nozz feeding the lot of us. SCORE!!! Happy Easter, y'all, and we'll see ya back here Wednesday.

Fitch Beats up a Cheesehead for Comics!!

Shame! Or possibly sham. Its Sunday, February 27, 2011, I've returned to you, and this is The Side. "Where was Friday's post?" you may ask. More computer trouble, but its been resolved. I thought about posting up some stuff on Saturday, but it would have been more rushed and half-assed than usual, so I figured I'd wait.

Alright, time for a shameless plug. I like video games, but I'm not super up on all the news and details. Lately, I'm playing more older games since they're cheaper to get a hold of and i don't have the latest systems. So if you're looking for some video game news and articles, go check out my buddy Joe. You'll be glad you did.

BEATIN'S!!

The UFC last night proved three things to me: you don't ever want to get punched my Mark Hunt, Michael Bisping is an asshole, and Jon Fitch can't catch a break.

The main event last night was disappointing and not because of the fight. After seeing Michael Bisping blatantly throw a completely illegal technique and then go on to win I was a bit soured. However, then out comes Jon Fitch to some sweet Johnny Cash music. Much has been made of him coming into this fight, mainly due to him adopting a new diet which is pretty much a vegetarian one. He's been a dominant fighter in the welterweight division. And now standing between him and title shot is the former champion BJ Penn.

Fitch might look like he should be in a van with a Great Dane and some other kids out solving mysteries, but he's the real deal. He battled a very tough Penn in a grappling war the first two rounds, and then beat the crap out of him in the third taking the fight to the a decision. The Judges chose poorly and the fight was declared a "majority draw" meaning two of the judge called the fight even on points while the third said Fitch won. Even Penn said that him getting a draw in that fight was an act of the gods and he thought he lost. Fitch was very disappointed but his attitude about it was outstanding.

His stance is that its not his job to decide who gets a title shot. He's there to do his job and that job is to fight. He's said that if he hasn't convinced Dana White, the UFC and fans that he should be the number one contender to the title then he hasn't been doing his job right.

No excuses. No whining. Hard work and dedication. That's what I like to see. Does Fitch deserve a title shot? Absolutely. Will he get one? Probably, since he's not going anywhere, looks better than ever in the ring, and is patient enough to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal.

DIRTY LOW-DOWN SHAME!!

With me being knocked offline for a couple days I spent my mornings before work watching the morning news shows. I got to see some true stupidity. The big news was that blogger who got an interview with the Wisconsin Governor by posing as someone else. Pretty lame stuff considering the Governor said the exact same stuff in a press release a couple hours later. But this was apparently some kind of brilliant ploy against the Governor. What was the monumentally dumb part was they played a portion of the phone interview and the Governor said that since certain state senators are literally in hiding to avoid doing their jobs then he was going to stop the direct deposit of their pay and take the checks and lock them into the desks of the senators, so if those clowns want to get paid they better show up for work.

At this point the dim anchor woman said how horrible it was to even suggest that those state senators be locked to their desks. Not surprised she got confused as she does tend to get confused easily. Fortunately there a guy on the same show who is actually quite brilliant and pointed out her mistake. Unfortunately as he attempted to explain why the Governor is correct and the protesting unions are not the show conveniently ran out of time for that segment. Nice.

But yes, the bill is working its way through limiting the collective bargaining abilities of public unions in Wisconsin. Democrats were chanting "Shame" as it passed. Of course they're pissed. This directly affects them. See, this is about public unions. These unions are made up of people whose wages are paid by money from taxes. The heads of these unions donate money to politicians from union dues. Doesn't really matter what the rank and file union workers want, they don't have much say in the matter. Unions is Wisconsin donate a disproportional amount to Democrats over Republicans. The Democrats are pretty much in the Union's pocket as they know which side their bread is buttered on. So yeah, the Democrats are pissed because they couldn't stop this bill which would decrease the power of public unions. The whole reason this is going through is in an attempt to balance the state's budget. It doesn't cut anyone's pay or take away their pensions. All it does is put a check on the power of unions. The unions don't want it. The Democrats they gave money too couldn't stop it. So they're worried they won't be getting their hefty union donations come election season.

Yeah. That's a damn shame.

Its been such a crazy week with everything in politics. Protests are going on in a bunch of countries against their governments. Libya is completely nuts right now. I have to wonder if our Pop-Star-in-Chief isn't trying to get himself impeached with his declaring law "unconstitutional" and refusing to defend them. He was supposed to be the one with all this understanding of the world, and the world is going apeshit on his watch. Not his fault, mind you. There's nothing he can really do about it. But between that and his old lady giving him grief about her crusade as First Lady to fight obesity, I wouldn't be surprised if he's considering saying "Fuck this! I'm out of here, and going to go get myself a cheeseburger." So, he's doing a bunch of dumb stuff that Presidents can't do and hoping to get tossed.

Its just nuts. Fortunately, good old Virginia is trudging on fairly steadily. The only political uproar here is if our Governor will be on the Republican ticket as Vice President if he gets asked. Amazing how our budget is manageable and this being a right to work state. One hell of a coincidence.

Politics. It really is like a contact sport.

THE LATE MANNY FRESH

Manny Fresh is dead. That's the reports coming in via The Mike and Bob Show. Manny went out doing what he loved but also proved that masturbation and gun play are never a good combination.

But is there more to this story? Manny Fresh had his share of foes. They struck at him through Twitter, but Manny masterfully shut that down. Then came "Cupcake" who also approached Manny via the internet and attempted to lure him to his doom with the promise of weird sex while simultaneously trying to drive a wedge between Manny and the Dudes. Yet, still Manny persevered! But now it seems he has fallen, and while it appears to be accidental, I wouldn't rule out foul play. This could have been staged and Manny's body could have been left in the state that it was to try to shame his memory. However, it was Manny, so there's not much that could be done to shame that memory.

Could this secret cabal that was attempting to destroy Manny Fresh have finally succeeded? Is Peter Criss Mask somewhere out there oddly laughing at Manny's demise? Has Manny really been sent back through time and is being hunted by a metaphorical curse machine? Will be one day return to form Manny Fresh Inc and train Manny Freshes around the world?

Only time will tell.

COMIX!!!

I'm going to start this off on a serious note. This week we lost a really great talent. Dwayne McDuffie passed away due to complications from a surgery. You're probably familiar with is work. He's been a writer in comics for many years. He's done a lot of work with the DC animated properties. I even scripted the Justice League Heroes video game for PS2. McDuffie was a writer that you could trust to deliver. He didn't get the recognition that some of the writing "superstars" get, but when he's mentioned you're not going to hear much of anything bad about his work. And this is good. This is a fellow who will live on through the amazing body of work that he produced in his life. The day that he passed the animated feature ALL-STAR SUPERMAN that he wrote was released. I wasn't planning of purchasing it, but I am now. Not so much as a tribute, but as a fan who now has a greater appreciation to a talent that was taken from us to soon.

On to some actual reviews, and this week's book were really great. Starting the ball rolling with DETECTIVE COMICS #874. Earlier in the Snyder run the book was split with half of it following Dick Grayson and the other half following Jim Gordon. That format got dropped to complete the Grayson story, and now that its wrapped we pick up right where we left off with Jim Gordon and his son. When I was picking up my comic the guys were discussing Luke Cage and how that fella eats a lot. It seems that there's a lot of appearances with Luke Cage eating. So its funny that the first issue I read this week opens with a diner scene. Its brilliant. Its so tense that it palatable. Brilliantly written and the artwork by Francesco Francavilla is incredible. Grayson is indeed here and dealing with the after effects of his battle with The Dealer. Fortunately he has Red Robin to back him up. I always liked reading these two teamed up. It does seem weird that in the field Tim is referred to as "Red Robin". It just doesn't sound right, but that's just how it is now. Great issue front to back.

Moving on to another Red Robin appearance over in TEEN TITANS #92. Georges Jeanty pencils this issue, and i like his work, but I was really amped to get my Nicola Scott fix. After a few deep cleansing breaths I dove in. With everything going on with Calculator the story was mainly about the team preferring to have Tim with them than Damien. I understand it since a lot of the team has a long history with Tim. These are his best friends. It makes sense that he's with them now that his quest to find Bruce has been completed. However, I prefer the team with Damien on it. J.T. Krul really made that dynamic work and I was eager to see how this was going to play out in the long term. Looks like we'll never know. Something that was bugging me was the deal with Kid Eternity. He got snatched like a year ago and it seemed like nobody noticed. Well, they certainly noticed now.

Over in ACTION COMICS #898 Hairless Lex Luthor takes on his old Orange Lantern ally Larfleeze. Paul Cornell and Pete Woods are nearing the end of this story which has just been completely stellar. Just when you start to really pull for Lex Cornell reminds us of what a complete bastard that he is. The end of this issue has a huge reveal about Robo-Lois which had me smacking my forehead and wondering how I couldn't have seen that one coming. We knew she had an agenda separate from Lex's and that she was working for someone else. Now we know who and this has me itching to see the next issue.

ATOMICA #5 turned things from a light-hearted romp to a nasty chain of events. After talking with a counselor about her Amnesia, Rose discovers that Professor Colluns is missing! The hunt for the good Professor leads out plucky heroine straight to one Dr. Astray. Ted Astray is still a nasty opponent and fairly creepy, but the creepiness gets upped with his parting warning "Beware the Metavore!" I don't know what a Metavore is, but I'm damn sure bewaring it. I have to wonder if this has a connection with Atomica's past and if this is the "big bad" that Astray is working for. Hopefully we'll get more answers next issue.

MUSIC!!

I'm a general fan of there domestic policies concerning boggy marshes.



That's the whole nine yards for today. I'm ready to go back to bed or start a coffee IV. Money's on the latter. See y'all Wednesday.

Drag Queen Stones Manny Fresh!!

Sweet car-honkin cripes! Its Wednesday, December 15, 2010, parts of me are currently frozen, and this is The Side. It is frakkin' cold out there. This of course doesn't surprise me since in recent months the caterpillars have been exceptionally fuzzy and certain spiders have been quite large. The future is easy to predict when you know what to look for.

We're in for another winter that'll have us all yelling, "where's all mah Global warming at?!"

BOOZE TIME!!

Tis the season for good times, like Christmas parties. Many of those parties will indeed involve booze. So if you're going to drink, be responsible about it. Mike and Bob had a couple of officers in the studio to get local legend and internet avenger Manny Fresh hammered so we can see the effects of boozin' it up and see what kinds of tests they administer. This was in between Manny attempting to drunk call and drunk text girls at about eight in the morning requesting weird sex. Good ol Manny, always keepin' it classy.



To be honest, it was some of the funniest radio I've heard in a long time, but it also managed to be pretty educational as well.

So, from a former bar doorman and lush, drive safe and drink smart. I want to guys around next year.

THE NAME GAME

Looking at the word itself Celebrities are supposed to be people who are celebrities. However, in the age of information in which privacy is as valuable a commodity as any, celebrities are often looked at with a microscope by the masses waiting for them to do something scandal worthy. It makes me wonder how much clout do these people actually have away their fields. Obviously a big name musician has some pull with record companies. Big name actors get better treatment in Hollywood. However, its the public that makes these people big names. Now, some of them are prepackaged garbage like Justin Bieber and folks just fall for it. Others have some talent so people pay attention.

Currently, there's a list of celebrities who are trying to keep a woman from getting stoned in Iran. For those of you reading this who are outraged that these celebrities have come out against marijuana, I would like to congratulate you on being temporarily coherent enough to navigate the internet. And no this has nothing to do with marijuana, it has to do with a court deciding that a widow should have rocks thrown at her until she is dead. Obviously, this is a bad thing, however I don't think this list will carry much weight. Call me crazy, but I doubt the court system in Iran care too much about what Robert Redford thinks.

Still, its good that these celebrities have seen something that they feel is wrong and have decided to come out against it. In the world of celebrities, what you say and do has consequences. Say the wrong thing, and you risk ticking off your fan base, and next thing you know you used to be a celebrity.

Names have weight. Attaching your name to something has meaning. Even if you're just a guy with a blog. Celebrities often have their pet charity that they like to contribute to and draw attention to. Me? I shaved my head for charity and raised about $300 to help fight pediatric cancer. Its a modest sum, but I was happy to do it. That was before I got on Twitter and Google Buzz and also at a time when this blog had about five followers. I'm wondering if I do it again will the result be different now that my name out there more.

I'm not a celebrity by any stretch of the imagination. Not much to be celebrated here. But names have weight, and I'm wondering how much mine weights and what good I could with it.

CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE

Recently, my cousin related to me the instance that he first saw an openly gay person in real life. It was at a party, and outside one complete with a bonfire. Everything is hunky-dory and them a guy shows up completely in drag. This was a first for my cousin on multiple levels. The obligatory hushed comments were made, but everybody was having a good time except it seems for one guy who really liked to hate on some gays. He insulted the guy dressed as a chick very loudly and very openly culminating in him calling the guy a "fucking faggot".

Now of course such things are considered hate speech and this guy should have had the masses decry his outburst. We are a civilized society after all should be celebrating diversity and all that other hippy crap. So that drag queen did what any other drag queen should do in a situation such as this. He took off his heels told somebody to "hold my shoes" went over to that guy and bap bap bap BAP. Then he thanked the person for holding his shoes and the party continued.

Unfortunately, this took place before such things as camera phones and YouTube, but it doesn't matter because there's no way to spin getting your ass beat down by a drag queen. That kind of event is spread by word of mouth, much like the epic tales were told before the advent of written language.

I stood there listening to my cousin relate this event and thought to myself, "Well I'll be damned. It really does get better."

MUSIC!!

Harmonica and cow bell? Hold on to your hats, folks!



Alrighty, pee on the fire and call in the dogs, I'm hangin' it up for today. I'm going to go put on about twenty pounds of clothes. Stay warm, people!

Manny Fresh has no ordinary glowing balls, my goodness!

Look out, now! It's Wednesday, September 29, 2010, and its a swamp out there. The dry weather had stayed a bit too long. I wasn't walking through my lawn, I was walking on top of it. It was nice for our annual Beach Workout, but I'm glad to see the rain. I just hope it stops in time for our karate demo at the church on Saturday.

The beach workout was good. Got sandy, got wet, got tired. All of these in a good way. The waves were a bit choppy and there was a pretty strong rip current. Perfect for training. There are pictures. Too many of them feature me with my shirt off. You won't be seeing them. You're welcome.

HE LIVES!! For now...

Manny Fresh has survived the weekend. The alleged e-girl did not show up. "Cupcake" though has still struck a blow against Manny, in that she seems to be trying to drive a wedge between Manny and the rest of the Mike and Bob Show. It got to the point to their producer, Chaps, getting angry with Manny. She claims she did not appreciate the jokes that were made about the entire situation. Either she's never heard the show before or this is a strike to try to facilitate the destruction of Manny Fresh.

I was listening to this on my way to work and called the show to voice my concerns. I'm not a regular caller. I've called a few times. I'm spoken to Bob fresh more at the comic shop than I have on the air. I explained my theory and how I thought this woman was a plant in part of a conspiracy to destroy Manny.

Mike Powers has thought the exact same thing for about a month.

All of this girl's Facebook friends are Manny's friends. A bit odd for someone living in an entirely different state. She's told him everything he wants to hear, but now that he's on the hook, she's trying to turn him against the show.

These are dangerous times for Manny Fresh.

TV: NO ORDINARY FAMILY

ABC rolled out the one new show that I've been waiting for last night: NO ORDINARY FAMILY. The show stars Michael Chiklis (THE SHIELD, FANTASTIC FOUR) and Julie Benz (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL) as parents of a family that's coming apart, but an accident brings them together by way of giving them super powers.

This show was absolutely amazing.

Chiklis plays Jim, a police sketch artist who is passionate about two things, helping people and his family. Unfortunately his family has grown apart. His wife Stephanie is a successful scientist who does important research which keeps her very busy. The son and daughter are teenagers, so their interest in doing stuff with their folks is minimum. The daughter is more interesting in texting. The son is a bit of a slacker who prefers playing video games. It is revealed though that it son, JJ, has a learning disability and his frustration with it has led to his slacking in school. Interesting twist.

The show wastes no time getting to the accident in the Amazon jungle that gives them their powers, and still manages to give us a definite feel for for what's going on with these people. It was very well done. Chiklis and Benz gain super strength and super speed respectively. Later their daughter, who seems obsessive about texting gains telepathy, which is fitting. While her parents really dig their powers, Daphne is less than thrilled about hers.

Jim tells his his best friend and they experiment with his new abilities as well as plan for Jim to use his powers to fight crime. This was an absolute joy to watch. They looked like they were having an absolute blast and that enthusiasm was contagious.

There was a bit of action too as Jim tries to stop a thief who had no problem putting a bullet into anyone who tried to stop them. Jim's final confrontation with him led to a revelation that I never saw coming and led to one of the most awesome fights I've seen on television. I was completely slacked jawed and pinging off the walls watching it.

So I'm all in for this one. Great show. Great cast. Well written. Awesome special effects. This show is a big winner.

NOM NOM NOM!!!

There are superhero snack cakes coming to the shelves at convenience stores near you. Superheroes and Hostess have a long relationship as it was the one page mini comics featuring superheroes foiling crimes by use of snack cakes which led to me long battled addiction to Twinkies. For some reason admitting you have an addiction to Twinkies doesn't get you a lot of credit in AA meatings. I'm still convinces that the creamy filling is infused with cocaine.

Small problems though.

The Flash cakes have red dye in the frosting. That's bad for kids. Sooooooo, you shouldn't be letting your kids eat them. Not that these things are healthy in any way shape or form.

And then there's the Green Lantern "Glo-Balls." I wouldn't eat them anyways because I hate coconut. However, Missus Nozz put it best, "I didn't need to know Green Lantern's balls glow, and I certainly wouldn't want to eat one."

Cue Issac Hayes here.

RIP HUNTER, PARTY OF ONE?

Yes my mind goes off to weird places. If you're surprised by that then you obviously haven't been reading this blog very long. I watched this video:



Which was relevant to me because I had just seen my former boss who was doing some stuff for the annual Church Bazaar. And of course he was doing thing "chronologically". This is his favorite made up word in that he says it when he means "systematically". To do something not "chronologically" would involve a time machine. And even then the things he did do would still be in chronological order to him, if not for the rest of us.

You ever try to explain subjective chronological order to a bunch of roofers at 7:30 in the morning? Its a load of fun, let me tell you.

When you try to us big words to make yourself look smart without knowing what they mean: you loose.

And when you try to make a point on the internet and spell "loose" instead of "lose" then English had better not be your first language because then you have no reason for being unable to use mono-syllabic words aside from being a moron.

MUSIC!!

They were on Austin City Limits last weekend, so you're getting a big dose of the Avett Brothers this week. You're welcome.



That's the ball game for today. See Y'all Friday. I'm going to go enjoy the rain.

The Black Glove closes on Manny Fresh!

Hoo boy. It's Friday, September 24, 2010, and in a startling change of pace I'm not ready for the weekend. Got the annual Beach Workout tomorrow and I'm still putting together what I plan on teaching.

However, someone else has much bigger problems.

MANNY FRESH R.I.P.

Previously I covered a plot against local radio personality Manny Fresh. I fear things may have progressed. I'm not sure he's going to survive the weekend.

At this time he prepared to meet someone who he knows on the internet that claims to be an old acquaintance that has reconnected with Manny via Facebook. That should raise a few alarms in and of itself, but more disturbing is that Manny has not executed his normal cyber jujitsu to properly vet this person. Combine this with recent events and I fear there may very well be a conspiracy to destroy Manny Fresh.

This Facebook person is allegedly a woman who is promising the one thing that is known to have power over Manny: weird sex. Manny has accepted the bait hook, line, and sinker. But could this alleged woman be the Jezebel Jett to Manny's Bruce Wayne? Could this be part of a larger ploy to utterly destroy our BatManny? His defenses have been dropped making him quite vulnerable. In fact he heading into this weekend's activities against the very vocal admonishments of the rest of The Mike and Bob Show.

There has already been a few cyber assaults on Manny which he has fended off in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, I fear his Achilles heel. That early assault on the part of the Manny Fresh Sucks Guy could have been some early sparring to determine the extent of Manny's abilities. The moving of the radio show to the morning might be a Machiavellian ploy to deprive Manny of sleep thus impairing his judgment. And now over the last few weeks Manny has been lured into the cunning web of this e-black widow. And there's the ever present threat of Peter Criss Mask, who it the utter wild card in this equation.

This has to be one giant conspiracy. A trap that is so intricate that Manny is already caught. He just doesn't know it yet.

Will Manny Fresh survive the weekend? Will he have to call upon the assistance of his associated Hat-Club and The Silver Fox to aid him? Will he have to become the Manny Fresh of Zur En Arrg to survive? We'll have to wait until Monday to see if Manny is still on the show.

The suspense is killing me.

COMIX!!

Leading off with SUPERGIRL #56 which had our hero doing exactly what I like to see those wearing the red "S" doing: having big space adventures. Kara's off to try to save Bizarro World, which means some sweet Bizarro fun. Sterling Gates knocks it right out of the park in delivering out of the world adventure, but keeping our heroine emotionally real and grounded.

This storyline is a real treat. We have Supergirl working her way through some heavy emotional stuff. We have some really hysterical Bizarro stuff. And we have big nasty sci-fi world threatening stuff. I am typing 'stuff' a lot because my high English teacher Ms. Warren hates that word for inexplicable reasons known only to herself, and frankly none of us liked her.

This book did pull a bit of a stunt in its big reveal in that the art on the double-splash page is sideways. Well done stuff. It forces me to pay attention. That and the image is absolutely stunning.

On to LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #5 in which we have Paul Levitz working really hard to redeem the Geoff Johns creation Earth-man who I think most of us wouldn't mind seeing get his ass kicked every other issue. This title is still winning me over. Its got a lot of overcome. I don't like the circumstances in which it came into being. I don't like that some good folks got screwed over in the deal. I definitely don't like the majority of the costume designs. Still, Levitz makes it a pretty enjoyable read.

THE SKYROCKET #3 hit the stores the week wrapping up Mike Federali and Os Petroli's freshman effort. We get some more world building. The working relationship between Sam and Agent Evans is firmly established. Oh and there's a mad scientist with tentacles coming out of his back who is trying to kidnap Sam and make her wear a sailor outfit. OK, I made that last bit up. Wanted to make sure you people were still paying attention. The story is pretty solid stuff as well as the art. It could use a bit more rendering, but I think Petroli is definitely on the right track. This series has done a good job of world building and there's tons of possibilities for it so I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.

I found ATOMICA #1 sitting on the shelf today and it seemed like a good reason to give something new a shot. My pull list has been hemorrhaging titles lately. This book has stopped the bleed. It’s light fun with the emphasis on science adventure. The origin story seems almost Silver Age with a scientist, Doctor Colluns, doing some experiment. There’s an accident and an explosion and when the smoke clears we have a girl with amnesia in the middle of it with an amulet that gives her super powers. The storytelling is almost hokey, but it’s saved from that by being so earnest. Our heroine mixes it up with would-be kidnappers and seems surprised by every new power she manifests. What is very refreshing is that Rose isn’t angsty over her plight. She doesn’t spend panel after panel and page after page going on and on about her lost memories or where she could have come from. Instead she shows the kind of guts and pluck that reminds me a lot of early issues of Erik Larson’s THE SAVAGE DRAGON. Sure, she has problems and questions about herself, which I’m sure will be dealt with in later issues, but for now Rose a.k.a. Atomica is on the scene and ready to help.

MUSIC!!

With all the excited of Manny Fresh's impending demise I need a little Pink Floyd to calm my nerves.



OK, that's it for today. Have a great weekend, and good luck to Manny. Hope you're alive and still have all your vital organs on Monday.

The internet has gone mad!!!

Good morning class, it is Wednesday, June 30, 2010 and in the S M T W T F S daily abbreviations you will notice that we are entering yet again the WTF portion of the week.

BATTLEGROUND: SCANS DAILY

BIRDS OF PREY #2 came out a little while back and I didn't pick it up. The shop was out so i didn't see it and I'm a little on the fence about the book. I love Gail Simone's writing. I absolutely adore it. However, I really don't like Ed Benes artwork. However, Linda tipped me off as to the big controversy around the issue. Two of the supporting cast died. Well, there's a big problem here, because one of them was gay and in grief for the murder of the man he loved and swore to protect, took his own life. This sparked much outrage on one site especially since the issue came out in the middle of Gay Pride Month.

Wait, it gets better.

Madam Simone was a member of that site. Note my use of the word 'was'. So when people started getting pissed off, she responded saying how she understood that people were upset at the deaths of two liked characters. However, she didn't like people trying to pin her with the reputation of killing off gay characters. Now, many people on there continued to be very civil to her. They didn't like what happened to the characters, but bad things happen to characters. Being gay or any other type of minority in comic book does not automatically give that character a magically fabulous force field that prevent bad stuff from happening to them. But of course some people on the site were claiming that the deaths played into a bunch of different tropes. 'Tropes' is a word that people use to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are. Most of them don't know what it really means, so I want you all to know it means 'ferret'.

The kicker is that Simone got a warning from the site administrators about the content and her discussing it. And she left the site. I don't blame her. This is flat out stupid. I have the book. I've read it. That part of the story was not about hating gay people. I've seen Gail Simone's twitter. She seems to really like gays. Especially gay men. In pirate costumes. Kissing. So, the site administrators with the righteous indignation spurred by social justice gave her an official warning, thus proving that they suck, because we can't have Gail Simone killing off gay characters in the middle of Gay Pride Month even though she created those characters to begin with. She obviously created them years and years ago in an insidious plot to make people like them and once liked, she would wait until Gay Pride Month to kill them horribly and really stick it to those pesky gays.

Yeah. Scans Daily. You fail. You had one of the best writers in comics on your boards chatting with your members, and she left because of your moderators. Ponder that for a while.

YOU CAN'T HIDE IN THE INTERNET

The Saga of Manny Fresh continued over the weekend as yet another Twitter account joined the e-battle royal. "Manny sucks sucks" was pretty much the anti-anti-Manny. We all wondered where the insanity would end, but end it did because Manny Fresh's detractor made some mistakes. The first of which was a text message that appeared on Manny's personal phone.

It was on like a Filipino Donkey Kong.

This was a step too far, and the quarry had grossly underestimated Manny Fresh. The internet may provide people with some anonymity, but that can't stop Manny Fresh. The noose was tightening and Manny had a lead on his e-nemesis when Manny Fresh Sucks made a tragic mistake on twitter by posting this:

KELLYS ON KEMPSVILLE HAS NO AC. ITS HOTTER THAN @VAMANNYFRESH 's BUKKAKE SCENE IN HIS PORNO DEBUT. 9:45 PM Jun 27th via Twitter for iPhone

Whoops. Not too long after, Manny had a tweet of his own confirming that the AC was indeed broken. Yeah, bad move letting the internet know where you are and good old Twitter let Manny know that his target had an iPhone. So, when Manny spotted a guy with an iPhone looking around the bar rather frantically he had his prey. Of course the guy said he was just kidding with all his trash talk, and the tone of his Twitter account has changed quite a bit.

Two lessons to learn: talking trash online isn't worth squat, and the internet cannot protect you from Manny Fresh.

So that's the end of that drama but there could be more in store as Optimous Prime is being held hostage next to some ammunition and a stripper's used panties. There's to be a clandestine exchange for a particular Peter Criss mask atop the Dominion Towers parking garage.

I smell... double cross.

POP POLITICS

President Obama has a lot on his plate. He's got to deal with people at war with the country, the economy is in pretty rough shape, that oil is still leaking, and Lady Gaga might get a million followers on twitter before him. And now there's folks who would like him to get his twitter on.

Look, anyone who thinks the President is actually personally providing any content to that Facebook page is fooling themselves. And frankly, with all the security problems Facebook has I'm amazed he has any presence there at all. I know social media was a big factor in him getting to the White House, but now he's got an actual job to do, and he spends too much time whoring out to the media anyhow.

Although if Lady Gaga beats Obama in this she's going on my dead pool list. No way will Obama let there be a bigger pop star than him. Remember what happened to the King of Pop? Just sayin'.

THE JERK IN THE MIRROR

And speaking of Michael Jackson, I wonder if Chris Brown's crying fit on stage during the Michael Jackson tribute was due to the wave of irony crashing down upon him that he was singing in tribute to a man who grew up in an abusive household. Actually it was a very fitting tribute in that after his death everybody seems to have forgotten that Michael Jackson, while a great artist, was a creepy bastard who quite likely enjoyed the company of children in ways no one should, and after the tribute and crying fit everyone seems to have forgotten that Brown beat the hell out of his girlfriend. Seems he's popular again.

Folks seem to be suffering from memory loss.

MUSIC!!

And speaking of dirtbags:


When this video came out the kids were like "OH MY GOD!! Those people from AMERICAN PIE are in a video!!". We now say the same words, but for an entirely different reason.

POP QUIZ!!

1: Do you read Gail Simone's comics, and if so, what are you reading?

2: Is there anyone on the internet that you ever hunted down and confronted? If not, who would you want to?

3: Who is your favorite teenage dirtbag?

Alright troops, that is it until Friday. Leave comments, discuss, make fun, etc. Big thanks to Linda for turning me onto the Gail Simone story, and big thanks to the Mike and Bob Show for putting some links up to the blog. See you Friday.

Manny Fresh is OK to go for Nuclear Fusion

It's Friday, June 25th despite what the time stamp on the blog might be telling you. The internet is full of lies! Here's something to read while you're at the office pretending to work and hoping to grow psychic powers that'll make time move faster so you can start the weekend.

BATTLEGROUND: TWITTER!!

Here in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia we have one afternoon radio show that dominates all others, and that is The Mike and Bob Show. They've been around over ten years now and there's been many changes over those ten years and different voices have joined Mike Powers and Bob Fresh in entertaining people. The most recent addition in the broadcast booth is a long time listener of the show and an old friend of Mike and Bob: Manny Fresh. He's nowhere near as polished as Mike, Bob or their engineer Little Nick Chappell on the microphone, but he does bring many things to the table. He has the ability to find a lot of things really fast on the internet, so if the guys need some info in mid topic, Manny can usually bring it up in a matter of minutes. Also Manny is a proponent and perpetrator of weird sex, which now that the rest of the guys are all married somebody has to have despicably entertaining stories to inflict upon the listening audience.

But not all are fans of Manny Fresh. And as Manny is pretty savvy with social media, that is how his chief detractor has struck. Oh yes, "Manny Fresh Sucks" on Twitter has began his assault upon the portly Filippino and has gotten a few followers mostly, I assume, in form of the husbands of many of the women Manny has bedded. This quickly got Manny and the show's attention, and has sparked a counter assault. Manny Fresh Great at the time of this writing has more followers than Manny Fresh Sucks proving that either the Manny Fresh Sucks guy is either completely off base in his viewpoint or isn't trying hard enough.

And like the Twilight fandom conflict in which fans have divides into factions of Team Edward and Team... um... whoever that other weird looking dude is, a middle ground has sprung up. Unlike the Team Buffy faction of the twilight nerdom which wants to just off both the weirdos, this little group doesn't have any really strong feelings towards Manny and just thinks he's alright. It should be noted that the shows hosts follow this third faction. You have to keep your bets hedged in these internet wars. And for those who desire a bit more street cred in your not really caring one way or the other, there's this group. There is also a Twitter account supposedly for Manny's Mom, but I steered clear of that, because I've just listed five different Twitter accounts and that's my limit of mentioning twitter accounts that don't have anything to do with me.

So here's the question: how many of these accounts is Manny Fresh actually behind? We know one is because that's his personal account. Manny is Alright was started by another show regular, The Hulkster. He said he didn't create Manny Fresh Great. But the kicker is this: what if he started Manny Fresh Sucks? Or possibly he could have an accomplice. The Manny Fresh Sucks guy hasn't bad mouthed the show and claims to be a fan. He just doesn't like Manny, supposedly. Could this be a cunning rouse, a plot if you will, to create a false controversy? It wouldn't be the first time someone has used the internet to play a cunning shadow game. If Manny did do this, he'll see real quick who his friends are and who aren't. Manny could theoretically do it. Like I said, he very computer savvy.

Or it could just be one nut with an axe to grind.

Time will tell...

SCIENCE!!

Not quite of the mad variety, but when a dude gets up in the morning and says to himself, "Ya know what? After I grab some bagels I'm going to build me a fusion reactor." and then he does it, it really puts a damper on things when I want to bad mouth the school system. This is of course quite a step up from the Boy Scout years ago who built a reactor in his parents shed, and I still think the mad little bastard should have gotten a glow in the dark merit badge. I'd love to be the reporter there in Brooklyn hanging out on the sidewalk asking people what they thought about the dude building and operating a reactor over by the deli. It was New York of course, so most of them were cool with it. Its Baseball season so they've got other things to worry about.

Cue the Beastie Boys! No Sleep 'til Fusion!

COMIX!!!

I'm a big fan of Garth Ennis's BATTLEFIELDS series, and he started his newest story arc "Motherland" this week. "Motherland" is a follow up to his previous story "The Sky Witches". Its about female Russian pilot in World War II. Excellent read and it sparked up a few questions in the Nozz compound. Were there really women fighter pilots in World War II? Ennis knows his stuff when writing about World War II, but just to make sure I did a little hunting and found this article. If you find the comic and aren't already reading it, give it a go. And if you don't give a damn about comics, but are a history buff, check it out. This was my non-spandex reading of the week and it was damn good.

Also this week SUPERMAN #700 hit the stands. Yes, just one week after BATMAN #700, Superman had himself a centennial issue. It was quite different from the Batman issue in that it had multiple stories from different creative teams. Some of them I really liked. One of them I thought was flat out terrible. Like Batman, Superman is having a lot of really big storyline stuff going on in his comics, and this issue does deal with them. Its a transition piece to be sure. One story serves as a wrap up to the previous story. Another gives us a glimpse at the direction the book may be taking. It has a few guest stars. All and all, it didn't really thrill me. I want a bit more from my big number comics.

Also this week, Bruce Wayne continues his magic temporal carpet ride in THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. This time he's facing Blackbeard the Pirate who is on a treasure hunt and is certain the treasure is in a certain cave. The story continues to be really cool. However, there is one gripe. This series is featuring a different artist in every issue. Well, last issue Hal Jordan was trapped at the end of time with rest of the time jockey bat search party. This issue he was sitting in the JLA headquarters, in a meeting. I'd love to say that it was Kyle Rayner and the lighting was hitting his hair in a particular way, but no, it was an editorial slip. They happen, and this one is a little more understandable than some of the previous ones, but in a book where there's so many visual clues as to what's going on its a bit jarring. I'm scouring the issue for clues and spot something that definitely isn't right, but its not intentionally not right. That or one of the Hal Jordans is an imposture, and hopefully both will die horribly just to make sure we got rid of the correct one.

NERD ROCK!!

Its time for some OK Go!

Great musicians and also their drummer it pretty formidable in staring contests.

That's it for Friday. Until Sunday I'm going to be trying to figure out how it is if someone hands in their resignation, and the boss accepts that resignation, people still say the dude got fired. And since I'm pondering things, you should ponder stuff too...

POP QUIZ!

Do you think Manny Fresh is behind the Twitter War?

If your neighbor was building a fusion reactor in the garage, what would you do?

Do you think Dan was totally robbed in the staring contest?

See y'all Sunday.