WWTNT (What would the neighbors think?)

Don't drive angry. Its Wednesday, February 2, 2011, I'm trapped in a time loop reliving this day over and over, and this is The Side. I've made this same post over a hundred times now. I don't think I'll be able to get out of this loop until I manage to post it without typos. I may be stuck here a while.

Yes, it is Groundhog Day. I don't think the groundhog will be seeing the shadow as most of us are going to have a hard time even seeing the sun today. Oddly enough, we're supposed to figure out today how long winter will be lasting this year and its going to be the warmest day we've had in weeks.

OLD MAN NOZZ

The other day I was painting a fence and the rain caught me. It was already cold enough, so this was sign for me to go grab a late lunch and warm up. Being in Norfolk, I just had to head over to Dog-n-Burger. The place was pretty slow as i had missed the lunch rush. The guy in line behind me looked like a kindred fellow. As I waited for my food to be ready I noticed him reading through the same free magazine I was. Its a little magazine they carry there which covers art, food, and the local music scene. He was a fellow that appreciated such things but still made his living with sweat on his brow and dirty on his hands.

Food was ready. We ate and read in silence, listening to the hustle and bustle behind the counter and radio playing. Sure enough our peaceful lunch was disrupted by a distinctive "raw raw raw raw raw". Lady fucking Gaga. Our eyes rolled simultaneously. The conversation was engaged as we both just wanted nothing more than to enjoy our food without having to here her. We discussed our appreciation for talk radio as the music that is played on the FM stations is either horribly tired or just plain horrible.

I know Lady Gaga is a virtuoso level pianist. I also know that Justin Bieber can bang the living hell out of a drum kit. I wish they'd both just cut the shit and make music. Real music. Joey Fatone of nSync was asked once if he liked the music he sang. He said "no". When asked why he sang it, he merely looked at the person asking him and replied "Do you know how much money they pay me to sing this garbage?"

I heard once that the music that's out there when you're 23 is your music. This may be true for when I get knocked down, I get up again. Ain't never gonna keep me down. I don't know. One of my favorite songs is from that year, but I don't know if that year defines my musical taste.

I pondered that as I finished my lunch. I then went a block over to Local Heroes. This marks the first time in a half dozen visits to that store that SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD was not playing on the flat screen. I marveled at this for a moment, and commented as much the to manager. He asked my thoughts on Scott Pilgrim, and I told him I wasn't a fan of the comic. He asked about my thoughts on the movie. I told him I didn't feel like seeing a movie based on a comic I didn't like. He shrugged.

"Maybe you're just too old, man."

He didn't say it in a mean way. He just stated the fact that this entire thing was geared towards people who are younger than me. This was sobering. My time as a young Generation X bastard-at-large is over. I should probably accept that my notion of cool and quality stuff is not shared by these young up-and-comers. Its probably what my father had to deal with when listening to "my" music.

The problem with that is "my" music is awesome. My dad dug a lot of the tunes I liked. This crap coming out now is just that. We're lucky as hear if he hear anything decent on the radio.

Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber don't make music. They sell music. Maybe when they make enough cash they can buy their artistic integrity back. And Scott Pilgrim is the story of a moron who would be much more interesting if he spent the entire comic series gagged, tied to a chair, and hit in the face with bricks.

Yes, I am too old.

Too old to put up with this shabby shit that's barely passable entertainment that the drones want to call "art".

FUNNY BOOK FLICKS!!

Henry Cavill has been cast as Superman in the next Superman film. I don't know anything about guy. I can't think of anything that I've seen that he's been in. Christopher Nolan is still attached to this, so I'm not looking forward to this. Zack Snyder will be directing it, and I liked 300, and haven't cared to see anything else he's done.

The response to this news has been predictable to a degree. There's a bunch of people ticked off that Tom Welling isn't playing the role. SMALLVILLE has been around for quite a while and still has a very loyal fanbase. With the show in its last season many of them were hoping that movie would be a transition of sorts with Welling finally playing a fully realized Superman. Hope now of them were holding their breath. Best they can hope for is a made for TV flick. And really, why do these people want a big theater release. They'll probably all download off the internet anyways. That's why that SCOTT PILGRIM movie flopped so badly. The fanbase loved it, but they aren't going to shell out the cash to actually go see it.

Then there's the group that's upset that Superman isn't being played by an American actor. I'm wondering where this mob has been fermenting. I can imagine them sitting in their basements pondering:

"OK, Batman isn't being played by an American. Well, that's alright because Christian Bale is a good actor. Oh, Spider-man isn't being played by an American now. Well, that last movie was complete shit, and anything would be better than that. Wait. Superman isn't being played by an American? THIS TIME THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR!!!! TO THE INTERNETZ!!!

I have heard the point made that is would be like James Bond being played by an American. Who cares at this point? If Cavill can effect a good American accent, then have at it.

The one I thought was really funny was one comment I saw: "Why was a BLACK man cast as Superman. There's no reason why Superman couldn't be BLACK." Silly man. Of course Superman can't be black. Its a Christopher Nolan movie. We all know the only black guy allowed to play a prominent role in a Christopher Nolan movie is Morgan Freeman. Do you want Morgan Freeman to play Superman? Well, do ya?

Snark aside, yes the iconic superheroes are mainly white guys on parade. There absolutely needs to be more diversity in the genre, and there's been a lot of strides in that direction. Honestly, I really do want to a black guy to be cast as Superman. The meltdown on this on the internet would be absolutely epic.

Ah well. In the glut of superhero movies I can afford to be choosey. I wish this guy the best since this is his big break and all. Still, its a Nolan flick. So most likely, I'm out.

MUSIC!!

That's it for this time around today. Stoopid time loop. Where's Rip Hunter when you need him? See y'all Wednesday over and over and over and over again.

Scott Pilgrim versus Marty Nozz

Hey, what the hell happened here? I've lost top billing in my own blog? Bastard!

Comic book movies aren't letting up with IRONMAN 2 and THE LOSERS heading our way this year, but there's another one that I predict will be doing why well at the box office.



That's right kids, SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD will be hitting a theater near you. I suspect the buzz shall be hitting a fevered pitch this summer. In fact I've already seen the effects of the trailer hitting the web. The local Barnes and Nobles had a distinct Scott Pilgrim shaped hole on its graphic novels shelf. Volumes one through five of the book sat in their colorful covered glory quite peacefully before the trailer was released. Now they a tell tale gap. This I approve of. If the movie trailer can get people to actually pick up the comic and read it, then I'm quite happy. The thought was with comic book movies that they would boost the sale of the comics which the source material draws from. Unfortunately typical folks won't go buying the books when they can way for the DVD. There tends to be a nominal rise in sales, but that often goes back down to where the sales were at before usually after a month.

This comic has a fiercely loyal following, and I'm not among them. I had seen the books often, but would look past them repeatedly. This seemed to be a good time to look in on this. So, I got done with work a little early and read the first three volumes. There are five volumes currently available and the six and final one will be released this summer before the movie.

The title character is a slacker, bass player in a garage band who falls in love with a girl and must battle her seven eeeeeeevil exes if they are going to stay in a relationship. There's a lot of video game references, and weird battle scenes are sprinkled in here and there.

I found myself really not liking this book. Maybe I'm not cool enough. Perhaps, I'm not ADD enough. Maybe I just got off on the wrong foot with the main character. Y'see we're given his vital stats upon being introduced to him:

Name: Scott Pilgrim
Age: 23
Rating: Awesome

I'm still waiting to see qualification and justification for such a rating. The guy came off as kind of a douche to me. I had no interest in his pursuing a relationship, nor had anything invested emotionally as to the outcome of the story. That's just me though. There's a pretty fiercely loyal fanbase for this book, and they're probably think I'm a moron for not liking this.

I like the book is weird for the sake of being weird. I get that this is a piece about entering into a adult romantic relationship and with that you have to deal with the past of the person you let into your life. I also understand that each of the seven eeeeeeeeevil exes represents a different level of dealing with your new relationship and dealing with the baggage that comes with it. Its a thoughtful and often amusing book.

It also bored me half to death. I bailed after reading halfway through the story. That's three volumes of this, which exceeds my three issue rule, so I've done my due diligence. If you like the book, bully for you. I'm sure you're very excited about the movie and hope it doesn't disappoint.

I'm skipping this one.