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 didn't like it. Seriously. I don't like that they dumbed down Barry Allen. They already did the "my love interest is the daughter of a police officer" bit on Arrow. Oh and Geoff Johns is involved so, of course, there has to be a dead parent. And putting a Thawne on the police as a foreshadowing of a potential bad guy HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH!!!
Come on! They were doing that back on the first season of SMALLVILLE. They going to try to make us like this guy and all us good little nerdlings are going to wonder when he's going to go bad. All us hardcore nerdlings are going to speculate if he's Barry's twin brother or from the future. Some of us will speculate if Iris is from the future. And damn it all anyways, I love you Tom Cavanagh. I do. I loved you on ED. I loved you on SCRUBS. I thought to myself, "he's a scientist, I can get behind this". Nope! Just miserable. The cheery guy was annoying as hell. The mopey girl was a complete downer. I'm sorry her fiancé got killed in an accident nine months ago, but YOU STILL DON'T SMILE AT ALL?! Thank God AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. was on after that, so I could wrap my TV viewing up on a better note.
OK, the local TV station has been advertising that its going to be showing episodes of THE WALKING DEAD. I was a bit surprised because I though the rule of thumb for a show to go into syndication was that it needed to have about a hundred episodes under its belt. I remember it was a big deal when BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER hit 100 episodes because they could go into syndication. It does seem like the rules have changed a bit. It has been a good ten years since I last took note of the subject. So, THE WALKING DEAD is coming to WTVZ channel 33. I read and love the comic. I've watched the first season of the AMC TV show on Netflix. I did not really like it. I'm not saying it was a bad show or anything like that. Its very well done. I just have a very strong attachment to comic books as a medium and I just really prefer the comics. I'm not planning on watching the show, but its nice that another comic book related program will be on. I opened up the newspaper, because I try to keep up with Luann in the funny pages, and there's the TV listings. Its debuting tonight at 8, and they're showing two episodes. Apparently this is going to be the norm on Wednesdays. This is taking over from showing double episodes of HOUSE. OK, I know HOUSE can be pretty graphic at times and I certainly wouldn't let the kids watch it, but isn't THE WALKING DEAD a bit rough to be showing at 8 on network TV? Did I get old or something? I'm not saying they should just show re-runs of family friendly sit-coms in that time slot. I did like watching AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. and SUPERNATURAL when it was on at that time slot. Still, the first season I saw of THE WALKING DEAD was really hard viewing at times. I figure they'll edit some of the really graphic parts. Maybe I'm just a bit surprised, and making more of this than it really is. Just seems a bit early in the evening for hardcore horror.
AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered this week and its getting good reviews and people are liking what they see so far. Marvel is firing on all cylinders to the point that in an interview Chris Hemsworth was asked about the rivalry between marvel and DC and he pretty much replied "What rivalry?" Such is the extent of whupping Marvel is putting upon DC on both the large and small screen. Right now, I'm firmly in the Marvel camp. They're giving us these really fun movies and on the DC side we and given a whole lot of dark and grittiness. The creative directors over at DC are pushing the dark crap to the point that they don't want their heroes to have pleasant personal lives. They're current big event is all the villains taking over their books. Meanwhile, Marvel is serving up insane space adventures with its heroes rising up against threats that I can't begin to fathom how they're going to beat, but the good guys have Captain America so we know the good guys have got this. Right now, Marvel's got a better paradigm about its creative direction, but what I'm looking at is its paradigm in its direction into other media. They have major movies in different franchises linking together in a shared universe, and now a network TV show linking to that. Disney is loving this. They don't have to look far to get their stuff out. They have a successful movie business already and they own ABC. They're being smart. DC Comics is owned by Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers has a TV station, the CW and they make movies. So why can't they put two and two together and start making things exciting for fans? The season premier of ARROW will be hitting soon. Think they'll mention the huge alien invasion in another city? Even in passing? Of course not. They refuse to let the chocolate mix with the peanut butter. So instead of dropping a line or two and linking the show to the new Superman franchise MAN OF STEEL launched, their big news is a TV show about Commissioner Gordon before Batman came on the scene. Everyone, including Warner Brothers, wants a Justice League movie to happen. The new Superman movie will have Batman in is played by Ben Affleck. Some of you are upset by this casting choice. I'm upset that they aren't firing Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder and letting Affleck write and direct it as well as play Batman. There was the GREEN LANTERN movie that did not do too well, but it did indeed happen and has established the character. There's talk of a Flash TV show spinning off from ARROW. A big hang up for a lot of people is that Wonder Woman hasn't made it to the big screen yet. We can work around that a bit. My suggestion: link the TV and movie properties. This gives you Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Flash, and possibly Black Canary to play with. The Justice League movie can introduce Wonder Woman. Give people something to really get excited over.
There's been a whole lot of hype around this show, but in case you've been living under a rock, here's the breakdown. Marvel has been releasing movies that all tied together and culminated in 2012's THE AVENGERS. Marvel is continueing to release movies, and has now released a TV show on ABC tha exists in the same shared universe as the films. This TV show is being helmed by Joss Whedon who is also overseeing the Marvel movie projects. This is not a knock off show with a couple of characters that you may recognize the names of from a successful movie. This is a continuation of what we saw in theaters. This is what happened after the credits rolled. This delivered on all the hype. Gregg Clark returns as Agent Coulson who we all saw die in THE AVENGERS. The details of how he's still breathing are gone over and its fairly satisfying for five seconds until we get a major hint dropped that all isn't what it seems. Coulson assembles a team that is going to be specializing in containing the emerging superhumans that are appearing. If you're going into the first episode expecting huge action and stuff blowing up left and right, you're going to be disappointed. What you will be getting is a very thoughtful, very careful pilot episode that does exactly what its supposed to do. If you never saw any of the Marvel movies you can get through this with no problem. Sure, you may miss a reference or two but the story does not hinge around the viewer's knowledge of the Marvel flicks. Brilliant move. This is about expending the audience, not just catering to the established fanbase. Yes, THE AVENGERS happened, and is referenced. IRONMAN 3 is referenced as well, and pretty heavily, but again, you don't have to have seen that movie (and if you didn't, you can Redbox that thing soon, but no rush) you're still good to go to keep up. The cast was great. The writing was sharp. The action scenes were very nicely done. There was a lot of heart to this. Some of the scenes really grabbed me, and yes, I did gasp out loud at one point. I had a lot of expectations going into this, and I can honestly say they were exceeded.
Egad. Its Sunday, March 25, 2012, I should got back to bed, and this is The Side. I have a real problem with being stupid about sleep. I don't get a lot of time to myself with the Missus and the Kids, so when they're all in bed that the time I get to watch whatever I want to on TV. This leads me to doing stupid things like not getting to bed until midnight and then still getting up at six in the morning because I have to work or, in the case of today, I want a bit more time to myself in the morning before anyone else gets up.
That said, I really shouldn't have stayed up to watch BATTLE ROYALE last night. Definitely ready for some coffee. An IV of it would be nice.
CHARACTER ASSASSINATION!!!
THE WALKING DEAD wrapped up its second season on AMC last weekend. There's quite a few people who are upset a bit about one thing in particular on the show: Carl Grimes still lives. The "KillCarl" hashtag on Twitter has gained a lot of steam and it seems that there's quite a few folks who don't like the character and are just waiting for him to die.
Its plainly apparent that these people have never read the comic. That's not really bothersome because I've learned long ago that just because an intellectual property that originates from comic books hits big on TV or at the movies people still won't go and pick up the comics unless they already read comics. I know that sounds horribly pessimistic but that's just how it is. The trades are easily available at decent comic shops and bookstores, but still fans of the TV show will sit patiently for months waiting for the next season. I only get seriously irked when I get the "kill Carl already" crap from someone who I know hasn't read the comics but will get all snotty about THE HUNGER GAMES or HARRY POTTER and say "The books are so much better".
For those of you who are in that category, let me break this down for you. Carl Grimes is the toughest kid ever. You want to see some incredible character development? Carry your sorry asses down to a comic shop, grab some TWD trades and read. What sucks is I could give example, after example, after example as to why Carl is a really awesome character and crucial to TWD, but I'd be giving away too many spoilers.
As it stands on the AMC show, the group has left the farm, albeit in much different conditions than in the book. I know that The Governor has been cast for season 3. I can easily speculate as to where season three will end off, which will be crunching a lot of the comics into one season. Now, the serious event in the comics that I think will end season 3 of the series was in the comics the start of the serious character development of Carl. this kinda stinks because we'll be in for another whole season of fan-dumb bitching and moaning about how the show needs to kill Carl off.
Fine, let's look at where the show in right now. Rick, the main character, has one main focus: keeping everyone alive thus protecting his family. Its completely nuts that so many people who profess their love for the show and for Rick Grimes want to remove one of his main motivations as a character. At this point Rick's big job is protect Carl. People keep griping about how Carl keeps getting told to "stay in the house", but that's parents trying to protect their child. It blows my mind that there's so many people who love a character, but want desperately to see him totally fail at his main objective. It seems remarkably stupid.
I think there's a disconnect with some people as to what they think TWD is, and what it actually is. Some folks are thinking this is a typical zombie thing in which there's tons of zombies, they gets killed horribly by the dwindling survivors, and one or two people make it out to escape to somewhere. The thing is TWD takes place after that. The people have escaped their own little horror movies. They got out of the cities. TWD is about the people who got through the horror movie only to discover that the movie doesn't end. Its not about killing zombies, its about doing what it takes to survive in a harsh world where you're not on top of the food chain. They have to work to find food and water. Safe shelter is something to fight for. Trust is something earned and cherished. This whole thing is about people doing their best just to live.
Carl Grimes is a character with a unique perspective, and a valuable one. He's the last kid standing in all this, and he knows what's up. Like any kid, he's struggling with growing up. He's knows there's danger, and as much as his parents try to protect him he wants to help and be a man whether he's ready to be or not. Losing this character before he really gets a chance to bloom would be a complete shame. My big regret is with the loss of Sophia there won't be any of those really amazing moments between the two characters that readers of the comics have been treated to.
So for everyone hoping Carl gets bumped off: go read the comics.
MUSIC!!!
Of course when posting about THE WALKING DEAD we have to have a song from The Kingston Trio.
That's it for today, I'm going to make some coffee. For those who read Friday's post, continued prayers and well wishes are much appreciated for my mother-in-law who is having a significant health scare right now. Thanks again, and we'll see y'all Wednesday.
Ho ho ho. Its Wednesday, December 14, 2011, I have no idea what's going on with blogger, and this is The Side. Something's up with the interface, so the next few postings may be a bit odd as I figure everything out. Most likely, its due to me using the old interface which I like and I don't think its going to be around much longer. Looks like I'm back on the learning curve.
Last year, I did two weeks of posts about Halloween, which was a lot of fun. Starting off today, I'll be doing the same for Christmas. Starting things off with what usually gets me into the holiday spirit: TV specials!
TELEVISION!
MERRY CHRISTMAS CHARLIE BROWN. Got to start off with this classic. Sure, I've seen it nearly every year, but its cute story and message about the meaning and spirit of Christmas is timeless and fun. I'm a bit bummed out that they've already showed this on TV and I wasn't home, so I'm hoping they'll show it again.
RUDOLF THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. I'm a big fan of Yukon Cornelius. He's the person who taught me that Bumbles bounce. The abominable snowman used to scare the heck out of me when I was a kid, especially the part when he looked over the mountain range. There was actually a news story that this special promoted bullying. Seems some folks haven't seen this special in a while.
GARFIELD CHRISTMAS. I can't remember the last time this was on TV, but its great. Garfield, Jon, and Odie go see Jon's family on the farm. The writing is sharp and clever. It was a great fun. There were a bunch of really great Garfield specials back when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure they'd hold up just fine. Now, if only they'd get shown on TV.
T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. "Ker-plunk?" "Ker-plooey." I absolutely loved this one. A town builds a clock that plays music in hopes of getting Santa to come, and a little mouse breaks it because he wanted to see how it works. There's a big effort to fix the clock in time. I'm pretty sure this was one of the Rankin/Bass specials, and those were always great.
THE GRINCH THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS. Can't forget this one. Songs everyone remembers. That dog with the big antler tied to his head still amuses me. Never really watched the Jim carrey movie of this because the cartoon captures everything so well in a short, well done, and nowhere near as obnoxious package.
MUSIC!
Starting us off with one of my favorites from when I was a kid.
Time to head out to the kids' Christmas show at show. See y'all Friday.
Is it Monday yet? Its Sunday, December 4, 2011, weekends are out to kill me, and this is The Side. I remember when Saturday was all about sitting around all morning watching cartoons, and maybe having to mow the lawn in the afternoon. Now its work all day (which I'm glad to have the work) and maybe some TV.
It sucks when both conspire against me.
WORK!
Saturday didn't start off well. I go out to find that I had a flat tire. That sucks. So i was a little late getting to work because I got to spend some quality time kneeling in the dirt changing my tire. That was possibly fate telling me I should have stayed home. I'm still waiting for fate to tell me I should be very wealthy and provide my with good lottery numbers. i was hoping getting my tie fixed wouldn't be too expensive.
It was supposed to be an easy day, it really was. We were knocking jobs off the laundry list of stuff to do. We were actually looking to finish early, which is nice on Saturday. We split up to tackle the last few jobs. My first one was supposed to be simple. Check out a leak in a rental property. The tenant was supposed to have checked out already. There was no car in the driveway. I rang the doorbell and knocked, and there was no answer. I used the key I had gotten from the rental company to get in and announced myself, "Hey, its the IRS! I'm here to take all your shit!" No answer, but I wasn't expecting one and I checked my work ticket to try to help me find the leak.
I went upstairs and was heading towards the bedrooms where they said the leak was. I heard a noise coming from one of the bedrooms, and that's exactly what you don't want to hear. Best case scenario is that there's cleaners in the house, and they didn't hear me because they were listening to their iPod or something. Worst case, I figured, is that the tenants were still there and taking a nap or something and didn't hear me. Not good. I figured it would be best for me to announce myself.
Didn't get the chance.
The door swung open and there was some crazy looking sum'bitch wearing overalls, a work apron, work gloves, and goggles. I have no clue what the hell he was holding, but it looked like a freaking cannon and there was smoke and sparks coming off of it and it sounded like a lawnmower that had been beaten half to hell. I imagine I looked pretty surprised. He didn't, because he leveled that whatever the hell it was at me and screamed, "SCIENCE WILL HAVE YOUR ASS!"
I dove to the side, and that thing went the hell off. The wall that had been behind me had been transformed into a more rubbly state. I looked to where the crazy bastard had been standing and he was gone. The kickback from the shot had launched him back into the room. He came back out quick enough with the cannon, still screaming, "YOU CAN'T HAVE MY SHIT! MY SHIT WILL HAVE YOU!"
I let loose a few profanities as I dove through the hole he blasted in the wall. He let loose another shot. I made for the window, and really regretted saying I was with the IRS. I don't know if he built that thing but he was crazier than a toad-licking squirrel.
I opened the window and scrambled out onto the porch roof. A second later the window was gone, because that nut blasted it out. Glass rained all over the side yard. I ran across the porch roof and got cut short of the edge by the house wall getting blasted out in front of wee send debris flying past my face. I looked into the house through the large hole to see the goggled kook stumbling around inside the house. "DAMNED LEE HARVEY GACY BASTARDS ALWAYS TRYING TO STEAL MY SHIT!! THERE YOU ARE!!"
I can count on one hand the number of times I've jumped off of a roof. This was, by far, the best reason. I hit the lawn and rolled. Getting my feet under me I sprinted around the house towards my car. I saw my car, and had the keys in my hands when it exploded. At that point getting the tire fixed didn't seem like that big a deal.
"MY CAR!!"
The lunatic was hanging out a second story window still aiming his cannon at the smoldering wreckage that had previously been a 2006 Ford Focus. I glared at him with a burning, seething hatred. I had a Coke, a bag of Cheetos and a copy of CHECKMATE: PAWN BREAKS in my car. I was now determined to kick that crazy prick's ass. He looked a little taken aback. "Uh oh."
"UH OH?" I raced to the front steps as he pointed the cannon at me. He fired and missed and the kick knocked him back, making him disappear from the window into the cloud of nasty looking smoke the thing was spewing out.. I heard him cursing as I went back in the front door. I grabbed a piece of decorative pottery from a little table in the downstairs living room. I turned the corner towards the staircase and chucked it up the stairs as hard as I could without looking. I knew full well he'd be waiting at the top of the stairs with that thing waiting for me.
I heard the pottery hit something as the blaster went off. I stormed up the stairs as bits of drywall rained down on me. When I got to the top the stairs, he was sitting on the floor holding his face with both hands. I could see a little blood.
"I think you broke my nose."
When I managed to get a hold of my buddy to pick me up we went immediately to the rental agency. I felt the burning need to inquire about their policy as to renting beach houses to mad scientists.
TELEVISION!
The Missus is having a battle of wills with the TV. Since the move to digital television, which does suck, TV has been trying to curry favor by spontaneously growing new channels at random. The most recent addition is "Bounce" which has been described by the Missus as "wanna-be BET".
They're showing Soul Train. Not the old school awesome Soul Train. Its the new skankarific Soul Train.
What's really sinister is that if you're scrolling through the channels and hit Bounce, you can't scroll any further. You are stuck there until you input a different station in your remote. This may be the beginning of a TV ghetto black hole in which the next step is that once you get to bounce you're stuck there. It may possibly result in the TV coming on of its own accord and showing skanky Soul Train 24/7.
The Missus has tried repeatedly to delete the station. It keeps coming back. We can't delete it. If any of you know how to decapitate a TV station, please let me know in the comments.
MUSIC!
All the insanity this weekend and then I get asked why there's a story on the news about a PETA operative who was beaten about the face and head with a flank steak. May I give my response in the form of a song, officer?
I'm out of here. I'm going to go hide under a blanket until its Monday. See y'all later. I hope.
Its Sunday, November 27, 2011, the end is drawing near, for my beard anyways, and this is The Side. Yes indeed, I did the whole "No Shave November" bit, and while I've gotten quite a few compliments about my chin whiskers I'm ready for it to go. Indeed, I am looking manlier than ever, but it feels like I'm wearing a mask, and while masks are great, its nice to take them off too.
That and the amount of grey in there is making me look and feel a bit old.
ENDINGS!
There are somethings that we wish would go on forever. Four of these I kind of wish could. One of them could go away and never ever come back and I'd be a happy camper. Still, its tough giving some things a proper send off. So, for any of those producers out there who might need a little ghost writing done, I've got your back!
In the finale of THE BIG BANG THEORY it is discovered that Penny is really a Russian spy and the entirety of the time she'd been involved in Leonard and Sheldon's lives she had been reporting back to her superiors and subverting the scientists' efforts. Sheldon puts the pieces into place noting that Penny has always had an amazingly sharp memory. Paranoia sets in as Sheldon tries desperately to reveal Penny's real motives without tipping his hand. Its spy versus nerd until Sheldon finally confronts Penny, only to discover that the entire thing was ruse to lure Sheldon to his surprise birthday party. Leonard finally proposes to Penny. The episode ends with Penny reporting to the Russians that everything is going according to plan.
THE WALKING DEAD concludes with Rick waking up from his coma only to discover that the entire zombie apocalypse had been a dream. This is immediately followed by every fan around the world simultaneously wailing and gnashing their teeth.
SUPERNATURAL comes to an end in their final season when the Winchester boys find themselves up against C'Thulu. Its pretty much a descent into madness, which isn't anything new to the show, but the in an unexpected twist, Sam and Dean actually get along for the entire season. This is completely groundbreaking for the show. The series ends with Dean reciting a spell from the Necronomicon, but he messes the words up and sends himself and Sam to another dimension where both of them have chainsaws for hands.
In the new final installment of the TWILIGHT series, it vampire guy (played by that weird looking dude in the movie) and the werewolf guy (played by the former Shark Boy in the movie) reveal that they were sitting around watching IN THE COMPANY OF MEN and thought Aaron Eckhart was a complete boss in that film. They went to find a really stupid girl to do the same thing to, and everything just got really, really out of hand from there. Both guys get the heck out of dodge. The stupid girl then spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out what she's going to do with her half vampire kid and thinking community college would have been a much better idea than trying to live out her gothic fantasy.
And finally, CASTLE wraps up when Castle and Beckett begin to penetrate the whole conspiracy behind who tried to take out Beckett with the sniper rifle. The person responsible hired the serial strangler that got away from Castle and Ryan to lead Castle through a series of challenges testing his deductive powers to save people. Meanwhile, this is all a ruse while the figurative noose tightens around Beckett. She's in the cross-hairs and knows it, but the team can't stop those behind that and keep up with supporting Castle against the killer. Castle breaks ranks and ditches the others for a lone confrontation with the killer, freeing Ryan and Espesito up to aid Beckett in taking down the people who tried to kill her. Castle has a whole Holmes/Moriarty battle thing and if he survives finally get together with Beckett. He also gets made an honorary police captain, because its Nathan Fillion and he'll always be a captain to us.
MUSIC!
Let's keep it simple today.
That's all from me for today. I'll see y'all Wednesday.
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.
BAZINGA! Its Friday, September 30, 2011, I'm in a hot dense state, and this is The Side. I'm currently still attempting to get my bathroom in proper working order. It seems properly sweating a fitting that's attached to a horizontal pipe is impossible if you're me. For a guy who fixes stuff all the time at work, one would think I could fix stuff in my own house.
It would seem that one would be wrong.
NERDS!!
OK, I'm getting my rant on, so hang on to your socks. See that image there? That is from a webcomic that I'm a big fan of called OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS. The premise is simple. The guy who does the comic works in a comic shop and he does little comics of some of the customers and the stuff that spews from their faces. Now, this particular cartoon is just amazing in that someone actually said that. Someone actually uttered that insane statement. What's even more crazy was the comments that were agreeing with the loon that said it!
For those who don't know, "black face" was when white performers were made up to "look black" for shows, and pretty much played up a bunch of stereotypes. We are talking as racist as the day is long here. So black face is racist, and with the allegation in this cartoon, from the guy saying it and those agreeing him, is it possible doing something against a nerd is somehow racist?
Its really enough to make your head explode sometimes.
OF COURSE IT ISN'T RACIST!! Nerds aren't a race! They aren't even a culture. Our definition of a nerd has changed over the years. Its borderline subjective. I'm a nerd. I've read comic books since I was three. Given a chance I'll play video games and watch cartoons all the live long day. I can interject Batman into damn near any conversation I have. I didn't get that way by birth, unless there's nerd DNA that we haven't discovered yet. It has nothing to do with where I was born. Its my hobbies. That's it. Somehow, society has decreed that my hobbies have branded me a nerd. Actually, its not so much society, as it is my peers when I was a kid. A person who is a nerd made a choice somewhere in their life to pursue a particular interest that his or her peers deemed nerdy. They can also stop pursuing that interest. A person can not just take up an ethnicity no matter how much some people try.
And these people are ticked at THE BIG BANG THEORY? Really? Have they never watched television ever or am I just that freaking old? They think that show is "nerd racism"? How about HEAD OF THE CLASS? That's right, I'm going back about 25 years for this one. Let's look at the king nerd on that show: Arvid. Rocks a pocket protector and big ol' thick framed glasses. Skinny dude who was good at math and science. Couldn't get a hooker if he was waving hundred dollar bills. This guy had zero social skills, but he was smart. Sure he was made fun of in nearly every episode, but that was wrong and we all had to learn to accept each other for what makes us special. Thank God Howard Hesseman and Billy Connolly were there or that show would have been damn near unwatchable.
And let's not stop there, how about some SAVED BY THE BELL. Remember Screech? Y'know, before the sex tape. He was everyone's pal all the while they made fun of him every time he opened his mouth. The girl he liked treated him like dirt. His best friend treated him like a flunky. There was the near endless name calling by the cooler kids. Still, there he was. Lovable old Screech, there for people to step on until they needed him or it was an episode in which the moral of the story involved being nice to nerds.
Now let's contrast those characters against the king nerd of THE BIG BANG THEORY: Sheldon Cooper. He holds two doctorates, and is likely the smartest person in any room he walks into. He's eccentric, not caring much for the social hoops we all jump through. His confidence and manner has attracted numerous women to him, and had he an interest in it, he'd be laying pipe like a master plumber. He's uncompromising in his beliefs and will argue you into the ground if you have the slightest intellectual chink in your armor. He's also lived in the Arctic for three months performing an experiment, which is actually pretty bad ass. Yes, he enjoys his comics and sci-fi. If he's the new face of a what a nerd is, then we've come a long way.
And there was a comment that the cast of the show was at Comic-con and got boos from the crowd when they didn't know what a Tardis was. Let's just assume that's true, because I don't feel like hunting down proof. People are upset that actors are acting? "They're playing nerds on TV! How can they not be nerds in real life?!" That's completely stupid. That's like being pissed off because Chris Hemsworth doesn't really have a magic hammer that can call down lightning.Its pretty good acting too since Jim Parson's has received two Emmies for playing Sheldon Cooper.
So for those who are ticked that THE BIG BANG THEORY isn't showing nerds in a more favorable light, shove it. That show depicts nerds completely awesome in comparison with damn near every other sit-com ever. And for those who are even attempting to equate treatment of nerds with racism, I want to hit you in the face with brick. It may or may not knock any sense into you, but I'll feel a hell of a lot better. Grow up and get some perspective, you idiots.
End rant. And I'm going to watch that show as soon as I get home from work today.
MUSIC!!
Kickin' it L 7 style.
That's it for me today. Doing a Karate Demo at the Church's annual Bazaar, in which I've bribed people with buying them homemade ice cream. The show should last about 20 minutes. See, if it was store bought it would only last 5. You can get a lot more from people with homemade.
That's right, we're not done with her yet. Its Sunday, September 18, 2011, and because you expect it, this is The Side. It rained nearly all day yesterday, which was kind of nice. It brought the current battle to a bit of a halt. Seems a hive of yellowjackets or hornets or something has got themselves a bit of nest next to the front porch and underground. I hit them with multiple cans of horrible chemicals but time is going to tell me with worked. One of the little bastards already stung the Missus. That affront shall not stand.
EXPECTATIONS
Its hard to go into anything without expectations. When you're telling stories you have to decide whether its going to be better to meet the expectations of an audience or surprise them. There's benefits to both options, but if you do nothing but meet expectations things are going to get boring and stale. You run the risk of losing the audience. I'm not talking about quality. If you have a reputation of doing quality work, that's an expectation that you're going to want to try to achieve every time. I'm talking about the type of work that you do. You can't just plug stuff into the same formula over and over and over. You don't grow that way.
Since its been a Sarah Michelle Gellar week, she's going to be our example. When we think of her there's one role that she played that springs to mind: Buffy Summers. Its easy to equate the two. She wasn't the first actress to play the role, but she played it for seven seasons on television. The show was the premier show of a network and spawned a spin off. It had legions of fans. She won awards for the role, and received a ton of nominations for other awards. We equate the actress with the role and vice versa. When you envision Buffy Summers she looks like Gellar. When you think of Gellar in a role, you expect someone tough, funny, and heroic. Not too shabby for an actor.
She then proceeded to deliver the goods to the fans of her show, but she player smart and branched out a bit. She got noticed for many different reasons for the movie CRUEL INTENTIONS. Most notably she had a steam on screen kiss with another actress, Selma Blair. I don't make the claim that that's the most notable thing about that role because I'm a big old perv who likes watching hot girls kiss. That kiss won an MTV movie award. It surprised people a bit, and folks took notice. She won best female performance at the same awards show and was nominated for "best villain". Gellar played against type here. The role called for her to be manipulative and overtly sexual. These are two traits you don't think of when you think about Buffy Summers. She pulled the role off masterfully. If you went into that movie expecting to see the same role from her as she played on TV, then you were in for a surprise and, probably, a bit of a shock.
What she was doing there was showing range. It was a different role, with different challenges to it. By meeting those challenges, she helped herself avoid being typecast.
The fact that she drastically changed genres worked for her advantage. Nobody expected her to kick an undead creature in CRUEL INTENTIONS. However, other movies she made were in the horror genre, and she was rather forgettable in them. In the movie I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER she was second fiddle to Jennifer Love Hewitt playing "hot girl in the movie who will eventually die horribly". Even worst was SCREAM 2 in which she played "random sorority person who dies horribly". I watched both these movies, and was sitting in the theater expecting her character to kick a bit of butt. I was placing the expectations I had of Buffy onto these characters. That's not to say that all of the horror movies she started in were suddenly equated to Buffy expectations. After the TV show had wrapped, her next role was in THE GRUDGE which was a horror/suspense piece but the tone and performance was so very different that she managed to put away the expectations we had of her and move on.
She's also been smart enough to do a couple of movies aimed at much younger audiences with the SCOOBY-DOO movies. I'm not going to sit here and rave about these as I skipped them entirely. I'm not a huge Scooby-Doo fan aside from the shows first season. But again, she branched out a little bit playing to a different audience. This audience wouldn't know her as Buffy, although their parents probably would. Again, she played a character in a supernatural adventure piece, and she played it to the fans not only of the old cartoon show, but from the previews the character had a few martial arts moves as a nod to her role as Buffy Summers. This is using the audience's expections to give them a wink. It acknowledges the expectations even if its not playing totally to them.
Its been a Sarah Michelle Gellar week, not because of the weird dream I had a few nights ago in which I was married to her, but because of her new TV show, RINGER, which debuted this week, and I previously reviewed. The actress is returning to television after the birth of her daughter to a show on the network that made her a huge star. Expectations were already in place from the first advertisements. The thing is that we couldn't be exactly sure what to expect because with the nature of the show and the events of the premier episode the network, wisely, didn't want to give too much away. I did go in with expectations, however my expectations didn't include her shoving pieces of wood through the bumpy-faced undead and delivering kung-fu kicks. I expected her to turn in a good performance and be watchable in the role. She did that times two with her portraying very different twin sisters.
I approach expectations as a writer. I'm no actor. I'm a ham with a lot of cheese, but no actor. But the type of expectation that an audience has of me as a writer and cartoonist are the same as type of expectations that they have of an actor. We're both there to try to deliver a, hopefully, good and memorably story/performance. Both walk a fine line of trying to give people what they want, and try to give them something they wouldn't expect from us, but will still like.
I'm struggling with it, but it looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar's got it all figured out.
MUSIC!!
What would you do for a girl like SMG... aside blog about her for a week?
That's it for me today. I've actually had the weekend off and have been enjoying a bit of recuperation time. I'm going to be getting back to that and I'll see y'all Wednesday.
Ouch. Its Wednesday, September 14, 2011, I'm finally figuring out what day it is, and this is The Side. Not been a good week so far. I've been off my game, but I'm pretty sure I'm on the road to getting it back. That road included a demolition job. I haven't been this sore in quite a while. Pulling up a subfloor that has urine-rusted nails in it isn't terribly good for one's temperament.
Still, just happy to be working at this point.
TELEVISION: RINGER
The CW network has been pushing RINGER for a while now. Its Sarah Michelle Gellar's big return to TV, and she was the CW's big "IT" girl back when the network was the WB and she was Buffy. The ads looked interesting enough, and there's not much on nowadays to catch my interest. I tuned in and hoped it would at least be passable.
It started off well enough. We meet Bridget and she's pretty interesting. She in AA and also the witness protection program. She witnessed a murder, and the guy that did it has no qualms about offing her too. She runs to go see her twin sister, Siobhan. Gellar plays both roles and does a pretty good job of it. She's making me forget about Buffy and showing some pretty decent acting chops.
Then we get to the boat scene. I nearly changed the channel.
This was some really shoddy production work. It was obvious as a boulder in the driveway that it was shot against a green screen. The wind and splashing water looked like the effects on the Universal Studios tour I went on years ago. It was pretty lame stuff.
Then the bottom dropped out. This show shifted gears like a gangbuster. Double blinds, missing people, FBI agents, affairs, holy crap!! The next thing I know I've going about a dozen questions as to what the hell is really going on and I'm riveted to the show. Everybody's got an angle and you've got no clue which way they're coming from. The only one that we can get a solid fix on is Bridget. As least we've got a solid idea about here. She's on the run from a killer and the only place she's found where she can hide may be even more dangerous than where she was in the first place. I wasn't ready for this at all.
I don't know how long they are going to be able to keep this level of suspense up, but they've got a regular viewer here who is fully on-board for this ride.
BOOBS!!
I like boobs. I like legs, butts, eyes, the whole nine yards. However, today I'm going to talk about boobs, because of something stupid: "Booberday". There's an internet meme called "Caturday" in which on Saturday people will post funny and/or cute pictures of cats. Well, now someone is trying to make "Booberday" a thing in which on Saturday people post pictures of boobs and cleavage. Now, you're probably thinking, "Hey, this is the internet. If that's what you're supposed to do on 'Booberday', then isn't everyday 'Booberday'?" Technically, yes, but the difference between Booberday and every other day on the internet, you're supposed to post pictures of boobs and cleavage to help fight breast cancer.
If any of you heard that and was wondering what that sound was, that was the sound of my head bouncing off my desk at the stupidity of having to type that last sentence.
Yep. Kinda a dull thud.
By know most of us are aware of the "Save the Ta-Tas" campaign with the slogan on pink t-shirts and wrist bands and such. Purchasing these items sends a direct donation to a reputable breast cancer research fund. Yes, its a bit irreverent, but we know what the cause is and we know where the money is going. So we have a cheeky slogan as opposed to some guy saying we should post cleavage and boob pictures every Saturday. I seriously doubt to the Booberday stunt is going to raise any money that could be considered significant. But then a bunch of people who like boobs and cleavage will get to see pictures of boobs and cleavage.
Yes, there is something to be said for using a spectacle to draw attention to something important. However, if everyone is paying attention to the spectacle without giving a damn about that something important then you've pretty much failed in you mission.
MUSIC!!
I love everything about this video. The seamless transition from studio to live tracks is awesome.
That's it for me. Time to make the do-nuts. I mean that figuratively of course. If I made actual do-nuts for a living my quest to get back in fighting shape would be doomed. See y'all Friday.
Hang on, I'm comin'. Its Sunday, May 15, 2011, I'm limpin' like a pimp with polio, and this is The Side. Blogger was down for most of Thursday and Friday, so I'm making up for that today. As for the limp, I'm pretty sure I aggravated an old injury. I came off a roof years ago and broke my heel. Taking the down time necessary to let it heal right wasn't an option, so I kept going on with things, and typically its fine. However, work this week involved jumping over some railing repeatedly, and eventually I landed wrong.
Guess its time to put my feet up and talk some comics.
FALL OF THE AMAZON
Well, I said the Wonder Woman TV show was looking and sounding pretty bad, and it seems that upon seeing the pilot episode NBC agreed with me. I've followed this story and read a bunch of articles about it and I've looked at comments attached to the articles. No one had much of anything nice to say about it.
Look, the girl was pretty, and she might be a pretty good actress, but she looked either freaked out or constipated whenever she was photographed doing any stunts. The costume was redesigned three times based off the latest Jim lee design which no one really cares for. It doesn't look like Wonder Woman, plain and simple. Word is the script was atrocious. I heard there was a seen with Wonder Woman crying over her ice cream with Etta Candy over the stress of being Wonder Woman and running a business, which wouldn't surprise me one bit since David Kelley was behind this.
This thing didn't have a prayer.
Fans keep bitching and moaning about the lack of a live action Wonder Woman project. I still say be happy with the awesome animated feature from a few years ago. But, if you want to do this right you put Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, and Eric Kripke in a room together, and you let them have it out. Rucka and Simone understand what is great about the character of Wonder Woman and Kripke knows how to make epic TV and still ground it. You let them get the ball rolling. You then find an actress who is athletic, and preferably with a strong background in dance. Dancers perform incredible physical feats while making it look graceful and easy. Wonder Woman is as tough as they come, but she's incredibly graceful. This is important, just as much as having the acting chops to pull off a character who is elegant and caring and very compelling.
This can be done right.
COMIX!!
This week FLASHPOINT #1 came out in which DC let's us all know that Barry Allen is the greatest hero ever and without him the DC Universe would be doomed, but not in a way that made sense like "Chain Lightning". The effects of this story will be felt through out comics everywhere. In fact, Marvel's "Fear Itself" storyline concludes with Barry Allen telling everyone that 'everything will be alright' and then resurrecting Johnny Storm with the power of his awesomeness.
Let's light this candle with BATMAN INCORPORATED #6 in which we discover quite a few things, but foremost is Chris Burnham is one hell of an artist. Love his work here, right down to him drawing Bruce Wayne's eyebrows to suggest little bat wings. These previous issues have been a lot of build up. We've got an idea of what's going on. If you haven't been following but were thinking about maybe trying to jump on this train, this is the issue to do it. I've talked a lot about how Bruce Wayne is structuring this thing and here it all is laid out pretty for us. We also get a good taste of how this organization is going to operate. There's a couple of new members including a mysterious new Wingman who will be Bruce's ace-in-the-hole in the upcoming fight with Leviathan (Its Barry Allen, because Barry Allen is the awesome-est hero ever). This new foe has been creeping me out. He weaponizes children and its revealed that the youngest one is 18 months old. That pushes all the buttons I need to make me want Bruce Wayne to take this guy out. This book is flat out cool.
Moving it on over to R.E.B.E.L.S. #28. This is the book's final issue. They've had a great run. This was definitely a sleeper book which I don't think had a huge following, but everyone who got onboard really dug it. Word is this book got axed to make room for all the FLASHPOINT stuff, because Barry Allen is so awesome that there's just not enough room for all of the existing DC titles and the amount of awesomeness Barry Allen possesses. We get the conclusion of the battle with Starro. There wasn't a ton of loose ends to get wrapped up, so this book is nice and tight. Thank you Tony Bedard, Claude St. Rubin, and the rest of the creative team for a really fun ride.
In RED ROBIN #23, Time is up against assassins who are in competition to kill important people and he's got to stop them before they get to Barry Allen thus depriving the world of his awesomeness. Tim's running a nasty risk trying to get the inside track to take this group on, and its one that Commissioner Gordon and Batman don't quite approve of. Marcus To is back on pencils, and thank goodness for that. The story is pretty good. Tim's walking a fine line, and I'm hoping to see this pay off.
Things are getting thick in BATGIRL #21 as the Reapers send their latest agent, Harmony, on missiony types things which our gal Steph has to stop, which she does with a "huzzah", thus validating me for bringing back "huzzah". She also has to deal with her stalker, The Grey Ghost, who turns from annoying to creepy to jerk. I've enjoyed the dynamic in this book with Steph and Wendy, but its looking like that's coming to an end as Wendy is leaving to go to Nanda Parbat to try heal herself and start a church devoted to the Awesomeness of Barry Allen. This book continues to be consistently entertaining.
BIRDS OF PREY #12 has Jesus Saiz joining Gail Simone in this new storyline, and I'm one happy little nerd. I totally dig Saiz. I loved his stuff on the old CHECKMATE series and hes true to form here. The Birds latest case connects with one of The Questions, so we get a Question/Huntress team-up which is always a blast. We have the Birds working an infiltration, which makes it so fitting that Saiz is onboard with a superhero/espionage angle. I'm going to be honest, this felt like a Greg Rucka book. This is what I think it would be like if Rucka took a turn writing BoP. I mean this as a complete compliment to Gail Simone, as Rucka is in my eyes one of the top espionage story writers working today. I loved this. I loved this so much that I can't even slip a Barry Allen awesomeness line in here.
In HELLBOY: BEING HUMAN, HB and Roger the Homunculus head to South Carolina to investigate a weird grave robbing that takes a nasty twist. Its a nasty case with some bad voodoo involved. Roger is forced into action which he's not very comfortable with. He's not the violent sort. Fortunately, Barry Allen shows up to tell him that everything is alright. This is a fun little one-shot. If you haven't gotten a good, creepy Hellboy fix in a while, then this should be just what you need.
This has been the word of Barry Allen for the people of Barry Allen. Praise be to Barry. Allen.
NOZZ'S FAVORITE SUPERHERO MOVIES: TOP 10!!
Mike Federali wanted to know, so here we go. These are my favorites, and not based of critical reviews or how much money they made. These are also strictly live action movies, because if I start factoring in animated movies this list changes entirely.
10: The Phantom The first hero to wear tights, and purple ones at that! Billy Zane hit the weights like a champ because he refused to wear a padded costume. Same writer as INDIANA JONES AND LAST CRUSADE. Its a family friendly adventure and a great popcorn flick.
9: The Crow This movie pretty much hit cult status upon release. This was going to be Brandon Lee's star maker, but ended up his swan song. Great film with an awesome soundtrack.
8: Spider-man Tobey Maguire and Willam Defoe really brought their a games. While I'm not a big fan of Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane I'm willing to look past that for the many great scenes in this film.
7: Sin City They filmed a comic and did it well. Brilliant cast. Robert Rodriguez brought Frank miller's comic to the big screen in a way no one was really ready for. This was the big comeback for Mickey Rourke and he played Marv to the hilt.
6: Ironman 2 Speaking of Rourke, notice how the first Ironman flick ain't here? Its because Mickey Rourke drove this film like a champ. Robert Downey Jr. did his thing, but the rest of the cast were just as stellar.
5: Hellboy If you want to talk about great casting, Ron Perlman as Hellboy is spot on. This movie is a blast. Del Toro brought us right into the Hellboy world and mythos without a cop out or apology.
4: Batman Begins This is the best Batman film to date. Christian Bale is a great Bruce Wayne. And just when things got too heavy you have Michael Caine with every bit of charm you'd expect from Alfred Pennyworth. That's exactly what was missing from THE DARK KNIGHT: charm.
3: 300 No prisoners! No Mercy! This movie kicks ass on a primal level. They expanded on the comic quite a bit, but it was done so very well. This movie is one to watch when you need to get fired up to do what you've got to do.
2: Spider-man 2 Alfred Molina was remarkable here. Tobey Maguire again played an excellent Peter Parker. The train fight was remarkable. We really felt horrible for poor old Spidey making cheering him on as he saves the day that much more satisfying.
1: Thor That's right, I'm going there. Like I said when I reviewed it, this movie was a blast. Just a whole lot of fun. Good action. Funny as hell in parts. And it had a very solid plot and story. Top notch work and wasn't afraid to pull us straight into a fantasy world which it showed off gloriously.
MUSIC!!
Been a bit stressed this week. Missing Friday's post due to technical problems didn't help. Still, when you feel down, and Barry Allen is busy saving the world, there's only one thing to do.
That's my load for today. No numbers jump after the Pocoyopocalypse, but I'm keeping an eye on it. I'll see y'all Wednesday. My Barry Allen bless you and keep you.
Gadzooks! Its Wednesday, April 6, 2011, cable sucks, and this is The Side. Clicked on the TV is the house i was working in yesterday to check the weather report and MTV was on. What the hell happened there? I know they don't show music videos or even care about music anymore, but cripes! Its like Wild Kingdom. Jersey Shore is bad enough. That damn show is like visiting the monkey cage with a slightly less chance of getting poo flung at you.
The ad for The Real World looked horrendous. Some drunken idiot nearly punching some girl right in the face. Is that what its become? Will that moron get tossed out? They put up with a lot less back when I actually cared about the show.
And what was actually on MTV at the time? A reality TV show about kids at a Fat Camp showing that being overweight can't stop you from being asshat teenager.
Geebus. What happened to Liquid Television? Remote Control? Idiot Savant? I mean, if they aren't going to show music videos, would it kill them to actually put entertaining stuff on there like they used to? Beavis and Butthead have more intellectual candlepower than the crap on there now.
POP POLITICS!!!
The big "news this week is Barack Obama has announced his re-election campaign. This is news? It would be news if he announced he was not going to run for re-election as he's done enough to screw things up. Ah well, if the spirit of fairness, here's his video.
OK, that was about as objective as a Michael Moore "documentary", but there's some points in there that really do need to be out there. That's the great thing about America: When you get a bad President, you can vote him out in four years.
BEATIN'S!!!
One of my students said it was like a field trip. His knuckle was swollen about four times its normal size when he said that with a smile on his face. My right hand is swollen a bit as well, and I've got a nasty bruise on my left elbow. It was a good class.
Right now, I'm just under 190 pounds. I thought my high school reunion was this year, but the people organizing it decided to have it next year instead. My goal was to be back at full steam fighting shape by then. Gives me more time, so no excuses. Last time i saw those folks I was looking pretty good. I was hitting the gym regularly. I was working hard. I was about 175 then, and it was pretty lean. Now, I'm not going to hit that weight again, and really the number isn't that important. Me at a good fight weight is between 180 and 185. Not much to lose on paper, but just cutting weight isn't the goal. The goal is to get to a good, fit weight.
Hence the field trip. We all went out back behind the church, hung a heavy bag out of a three, and then took turns doing one minute rounds. Round one was freestyle against the bag. The bag had a "strong arm" attached to it, and when that thing whacks you, you know it. Round two consisted of five seconds one the bag freestyle, switch to kicking target pads for five seconds, then one to punching the focus mits of five seconds. Rotate through three times. Round three is "dirty boxing" the heavybag for five seconds, knee strikes to kicking shields for five, and finally elbows to the focus mits. Three times though. And yes, I did indeed do it too.
So I'm sore. But its a good sore, an honest one. And one I'll be getting used to. No prisoners. No mercy.
MUSIC!!!
I've bought this album three times. Not only good enough to buy, but good enough to replace twice.
All right, that's the round up for today. See y'all Friday. Behave yourselves.
Rats! Its Sunday, March 20, 2011, I'm mildly disappointed with myself, and this is The Side. The karate tournament went well yesterday. All of my students competing placed in their divisions. First place trophies eluded us, but that's not a big deal because I'm proud of all my students because they did well. For many of them it was their first open competition and they did well again tough competitors as well as being out in front of a large audience for the first time.
I'm slightly disappointed with myself for flubbing my forms a bit. Sure I placed in both my divisions, but my rust was showing. I haven't competed in two years and that was evident. So I'll be working that much harder for the next tournament.
It was also a little disheartening to see the turn out for the event. I remember how packed this tournament used to be when I was a kid. Not as many competitors this time. I know a part of it is money. This tournament costs $40 to enter, which is very reasonable for a tournament of this size and quality. Some people just can't afford to pay that and pay for gas to drive to this event. Still, it was a good event, and hopefully will grow again in the future.
BEATIN'S!!!
So what do you do to warm up before the biggest fight of your MMA career and you very first title shot? You stop a thief. Its great for your cardio.
Jon "Bones" Jones is the type of fighter that perfect for the sport. He's recognizable, personable, respectful, entertaining, and most importantly he fights like a beast. Boasting the longest reach in the UFC at 84.5 inches he's incredibly lanky compared to many of the other fighters in the light-heavyweight division. This weight class is the UFC's thickest stacked with many of the sport's biggest names all vying for the title. Jones is 23 and has only been training in MMA for three years since transitioning into the sport from wrestling. So when he was offered a title shot when his training buddy, Rashad Evans, got injured there were doubts that he'd be up to the task.
Taking a fight against Shogun Rua is always a risky proposition. Shogun is one of the most feared strikers in the world with a long and impressive resumé. As much as I like Jones, I had a lot of doubts. Sure the kid hasn't been beaten, but if anyone was going to put an end to that streak it would be Shogun.
Shows what I know.
It was a very one sided affair with Jones using his incredible reach with his arms and legs to keep the very dangerous Rua at bay and when Rua did get too close Jones used his grappling to take him down and punish him is elbows. Jones sealed the deal in round three using strikes to the liver to crumpled Rua. Rua was tapping out as the referee was stopping the bout.
Bones Jones. Crime fighter by day and by night the youngest ever UFC champion. Kudos to this great young fighter.
WHO'S THAT LADY?
Its a pretty tough time to be a Wonder Woman fan. Straczynski's revamp of the character still hasn't gone away even though he sodded off to go do other things. This has left an unpleasant hole in my DC reading. But then I figured I could get my fix with NBC making a Wonder Woman pilot for a possible TV show. Cool, since I loved the old TV show. Everybody did, except for cummunists.
But then more and more details came out about the project. The guy who created ALLY MCBEAL was in charge. Networks were passing on the project. Still its getting pushed. Now we have a picture of the costume, which is based on the Jim Lee redesign, but with thankfully less black. No, that's not an image of someone cos-playing from a conventions, that's what Wonder Woman is supposed to look like now. Now don't get me wrong, the actress is a very attractive woman, and would probably be a great Wonder Woman, if she was actually allowed to play Wonder Woman.
The fact that a lot of networks said no thanks to this actually give me some hope. Even TV network executives have a notion of what Wonder Woman is, and they aren't seeing it. Hopefully this'll mean getting away from the JMS reboot soon and getting back to having Wonder Woman the way she should be. Honestly, from the details I've been hearing about the script this sounds worse than the 1974 TV attempt.
What does that failed effort and this current future failed effort have in common? The '74 TV version was based off the "I Ching" version of Wonder Woman in which she had no, powers, no real costume, and feminists quite upset. This current version is based on the JMS reboot in which we have a HaRdCoRe Wonder Woman who isn't really anything like he real character.
Yes, things do need to be altered a bit in adaptations, but basing entire projects on unpopular derivations or iconic characters is just flat out doomed. Ah well, I've still got my WONDER WOMAN animated feature DVD. I'm all set.
MUSIC!!!
I'm directing my feetza to Daddy Green's Pizza.
That'll do it for me this time around. I'm going to go make some coffee, and be thankful that Dana White will be starting the UFCs an hour earlier from now on.
