Batman is nicer than Hugo Chavez!

So much stuff! So little time! It's Friday, July 16, 2010 and I'm in charge of feeding virtual fish on Facebook for my wife and kids. It feels like I'm in a George Romero movie and Mark Zuckerberg has bitten my family and I'm waiting for them to turn.

COMIX!!

While it seems like everybody but me were able to get BIRDS OF PREY #3 and I'll have to wait until next week like a shmoe, I'll just have to make due.

BATMAN #701 and SUPERMAN #701 both hit this week, and I found myself pondering something I had not considered before: Is Batman a nicer guy than Superman now? The Batman issue is the story of what happened to Bruce Wayne between R.I.P. and FINAL CRISIS. The Superman issue is the official start of Straczynski's run. The Batman issue clicked big time with me because I'm reading all these thoughts that I had reading the arcs themselves coming from Bruce Wayne. There's an intense weight to the story despite the lack of big action. We know what's going to happen and I'm still pouring over the issue for clues as to possible connections between The Black Glove and Darkseid. The Superman issue is the start of a brand new story arc and unfortunately its horribly dull. It feels like a filler issue, a good one, but still filler. Frankly, if this is what's going to be going on for a year, then I'm out.

But back to my thoughts on who is a nicer guy. Superman gets back to Earth, and is now going to walk around and i guess talk with people or whatever. He just got back from being in space for months. He's got to be a crappiest husband ever. That or Lois Lane is just the most patient and forgiving woman ever to be put on the planet. He's pretty sanctimonious to his detractors. The little things he does like letting a fella know about a heart problem is nice, but over all can't save the story.

Batman on the other hand just survived a serious attempt to take him out, and crawls out on a helicopter crash, and swims to a dock, and after all that he still makes time to have a kind word of the ex-prostitute that he arranged a legitimate job for. He makes sure to thank Alfred, Dick, and Tim before getting a well earned and hard fought for rest. And even though he's still working to unravel and set right the events of R.I.P. he sets that aside when Superman needs his help. Bruce Wayne: stand up dude.

Moving over to BATGIRL we got a really disturbing look at the origin of the Calculator. I thought this was supposed to be the 'fun' Bat-title. I guess fun came with an extra helping of creepy. What's really a kicker is that the calculator turns right around to give the Atom some grief in this week's back-up in ADVENTURE COMICS. Busy guy.

I also enjoyed some R.E.B.E.L.S. this week. Sure didn't take long for Starfire to get nekkid in this title. The unreal amount of hair she suddenly had to hide her orange naughty bits was downright laughable. But I'm still loving this book because for some reason I'm totally into space drama at the moment, and this book delivers it.

BATTLEGROUND: TWITTER!!

Its a hell of a thing when online battleground starts taking real life prisoners, but that's what happened in Venezuela. Seem that big ball of fun and kittens that is Hugo Chavez had a couple of people tossed in jail for making tweets criticizing Venezuelan banking practices. They have a law against being critical about such things. So, surprise Hugo Chavez is actually a scumbag. I hope you all can handle the shock.

So, there's a bit of a tweet counter insurgency going on. Philip DeFranco struck back on his YouTube show and encouraged his viewers to #HugoChavezSucks on Twitter. Makes me wonder if you'd get thrown in jail in Venezuela for doing that.

What we have to remember is that Venezuela does not have a lot of the freedoms other countries like the United States enjoy. DeFranco also noted in his show that some countries have banned Twitter altogether. This brings us to the idiocy that was the massive fail Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. Now, the anti Hugo Chavez e-campaign is in every way superior to EDMD. Its specifically targeted. The biggest flaw with EDMD was the collateral damage. It offended people who had done nothing wrong. It also forced some governments to remove tools of free speech which was pretty much the opposite of what EDMD claimed to be trying to accomplish. The Chavez thing is simple. If you think he sucks, hashtag it on Twitter.

But what if Chavez blocks twitter in Venezuela? Well, then it won't be there for him to use to throw people in jail. Also, there's so way for him to justify that action without looking like a butthurt little e-girl.

DANCE HARD!!

For the second week in a row a contestant on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE has had to pull out of the competition due to injury. For those who have not seen the program the performances are incredibly athletic displays of dance. Its very demanding and it seems like every season the competitors and choreographers push themselves to try to top the previous seasons. Its insane what these people do with their bodies, and frankly everyone who gives a damn about performing arts should be watching this show. I got asked today "What the difference between it and Dancing with the Stars?" and the answer is simple: it is far and away superior in terms of the level of technique and performance that is displayed.

Here's hoping the rest of the competitors stay healthy and I wish Alex and Ashley speedy recoveries.

TEAM BUFFY STRIKES!!

MUSIC!!

Was listening to the album on the way home from Karate. Love the album, love the song.

POP QUIZ!!

1: How much does Hugo Chavez suck?

2: Who would you rather have dinner with: Superman or Batman?

That's it for today. I know there's some big announcements coming up in comics so I'm going to keep my ear to the ground and see if I can find out some things. Might have some cool stuff for Sunday. See y'all then.

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.

Driving is so last millennium

I'm hearing more and more about teenagers being urged by their parents to go get their drivers license. No this is not going to turn into yet another of Uncle Nozz's "when I was there age blah blah blah". I got my license when I was 17. Little late, but my father wasn't the most enjoyable driving teacher to have so I waited until he was out of the country with his reserve unit and handled it. The reasoning behind teenagers now not wanting to go get their driver's license is that they aren't seeing the need for it.

And really they do have a bit of a point. Gas prices are more then triple what they were when I was teenager. $8 would have me set for a week. So, it is a lot more expensive. But lets look at why a teenager would want their drivers license: independence, getting a job, and going to hang out with their friends.

The independence issue pretty much a mainstay. Either you get your license, depend of others to get you where you need to go, or hope your area has an excellent mass transit system. This used to baffle me about some people in big cities like new York who never learned to drive. Once I considered how traffic can be in those cities and you can get nearly everything you need in walking distance or by taking mass transit you don't really need it. Besides which, after driving in Montreal I don't even want to think about learning to drive there. That's just scary. I wouldn't want my kids driving there. You want to know why Georges St. Pierre has such fast kicks? From dodging traffic, that's how.

As for the kids working and needing to be able to drive to get to work. Well, again if you're in a big city its not much of an issue. If you're not you're probably going to need that license to get a job, because you can only sponge off the folks for so long.

The hanging with the friends thing is interesting to me. I've noticed a marked decrease in mallrats nowadays. If teenagers are there its to buy what they need. I did notice that teenagers in malls are troublesome where my dad lives in West Virginia. Mall security has problems with kids hanging out there and causing trouble, kinda like I'd hear about kids doing here when I was a teenager. Why that area of West Virginia? Hard to say, but I do know that my Dad can't get decent internet up there.

Teenagers don't need their licenses to see their friends because there's their picture right there on Facebook or Twitter. Texting has replaced long phone calls and it seems the internet has replaced actually hanging out. Why set up a place to meet and spend the money on gas when you can just log in? It really is a lot more practical.

Practical sometimes doesn't equal healthy. I'm not going to knock a kid for not wanting to spend money on gas when they can use tech to contact people and chat with them. Still, driving is a good skill to have. That and getting out from in front of the computer, after you read my blog of course because its important that you read everything I type, and getting some face time with people is a good thing.

So it seems driving isn't as much of a necessity to teenagers now. Probably a good thing because the roads are a little safer.

Yes I had to get a jab at teen drivers in there somewhere.

Not wanting to go there.

I'm concerned right now. As I've made clear, I'm doing a project on Twitter. I'd been talking with a friend of mine about him doing a review of the project for a prominent website that reviews such things. He specializes in comics.

The concerning part comes from him getting flack about covering things in the new media. Webcomics and online projects such as mine are not what the readers or editors want to see. They want "what sells". Now, if the readers have spoken and it's clear that there is not interest on that site in new media work, then that's fine. Shortsighted, but fine.

There's a problem. The medium is going online whether fans like it or not. Sure DC, Marvel and the other companies will all be around, but the new Indy scene is indeed online. The next crop of talent that will be working for the big guns will be pulled from online. It costs much less to publish online than it does to print books. As much as I love the printed page, this is just the facts of the matter. Welcome to the future.

And of course there's going to be opposition. There's always opposition to change of any sort. But the answer isn't to just ignore what is out there, because it's coming for you whether you like it or not. Sinfest just got picked by Dark Horse this year. It's already begun. We are in a time where people can throw their work to the masses with a click of a mouse. This is something to be celebrated, not to be snubbed.

Time to wake up, fanboys. The future knocking at the door.

Learning fast

Kinda of had to the last few days. With my Twitter plan getting ready to launch, the last thing on the to do list was to get a phone that would let me update from wherever I am. Cue me at the T-Mobile store getting Blackberry Curve 8320. Having this thing is definitely me living beyond my raising. I'm pretty much two steps up from caveman status when it comes to technology.

I love getting my cell phone upgraded. It's such a rare event that the people at T-Mobile just look at my old phone in awe, amazed that it's still working. "Wow. This thing is old." is the invariable response I get.

So with two days to go I set about learning how to update twitter with the phone. It was a fairly painless process. There's tons of other things I'm sure I could do with this phone, and maybe one day I'll attempt to figure them out, but for now, I can make phone calls, update Twitter and play 'Block smasher' or whatever the game on there is called.

Onward and the game is afoot. Due to good support from friends and talking about the project I already a few people following the Twitter account before I began the story. The numbers have gone up fairly steadily. They're not skyrocketing, but I didn't expect that to happen. Hopefully word will spread and hopefully this'll get some notice for Kat who has been great through the entire process.

I've also learned on Twitter that "Yay! New Follower!" is trumped by "Yay! New Follower and they're a real person!" Pesky bots.

Lost to Chaos: the F.A.Q.

What is this?

This is a NIGHT LIFE story that will be told on Twitter. It will mainly prose driven with supplemental artwork by Kat Hogan. It will begin July 18, 2009 and conclude August 9th, the weekend of the Chicago Comic-Com. The story will take place in pseudo-real time. It will be a mystery story with some horror elements.

What is "pseudo-real time"?

The story will follow NIGHT LIFE cast member Phil Escobar and the Twitter is set up to be his account. Readers will be getting updates as to what Phil is doing as he investigates the mystery. When Phil finds clues, he will post them. I will not be making updates between midnight and seven AM EST. I know some people have Twitter set up so that new 'tweets' appear as text messages on their phones. No one likes a text message at three in the morning.

I don't have Twitter. How do I read this?

Twitter is completely free and pretty painless to set up. You can create an account and set it up to follow the story at "twitter.com/nightlifephil". Once it's over it's a simple matter of deactivating the account. You don't even have to post anything on the account. Once you log in any updates made will appear.

How would this story be rated?

I'd say PG-13. I'm not planning on using a lot of profanity, but it is a police mystery and some of the imagery won't be for children. Basically, if you're OK watching shows like CSI, you're fine.

Why should I follow this?

This is summer reading for people who don't really like summer reading. The updates will be short and to the point, making it easy for readers to keep up with the story.

Do I have to read the webcomic or any of the short stories?

Absolutely not, but it would be nice if you did. Phil Escobar is currently appearing in the webcomic so you can see him a bit before the event. This story is completely self contained, but it's also in the NIGHT LIFE continuity.

The story is wrapping up the weekend of the Chicago Comic-con. Coincidence?

I think not! Chris Johnson and I will be in the Artist's Alley at the convention. If you find us and have the correct solution to the mystery I'll have some prizes while they last.

Why on Earth are you doing this?

Because it just might turn out really freakin' cool. That's plenty of reason.

Oh damn it all anyways.

I list quite near the top of my feeling crappy top ten that people who have Iphones just because they're 'cool' piss me off. Sure enough in the the little ad space on this blog there's an ad for downloading comics directly to your Iphone. Google Adsense is making fun of me, I just know it.

This is not the future I bloody well ordered. MY future was supposed to have robots and flying cars and people colonizing Mars. Instead I got slapped by the information age where it seems all the innovative stuff is happening to people's cell phones. Those things have more processing power than the computers that got man to the moon.

Look, I get it. There are people out there that run their lives and businesses on the move. They need gadgets like the Iphone to make themselves productive and competitive in their fields. They don't need it to makes noises like a lightsabre or the tons of other useless crap those things do.

It's all about information now. Hell, now we've got Twitter which you can let people know what you are doing at any time. Well, if I'm updating my Twitter account then I must be at my computer, so that would make for a bunch of really boring posts. And yes, I'm aware that with some of the Fancy-Dan doo-hickeys I was just talking about you can update your Twitter from anywhere. Here's my problem with Twitter and it's nothing against anyone who actually has it, and in this world of networking I'll probably end up getting it myself just to attempt to keep up: if I'm doing something, I probably don't have time to stop and let the intarwub know about it. Trust me, if it's interesting I'll let the intarwub know all about later, in detail.

I am sorely tempted to start a twitter account and have it be entirely fictitious. In fact: expect that to happen in June.

I know now what I must do. I must conquer the future. Than we shall colonize Mars.

Find me an 'app' for Mars colonization, I freakin' dare ya!