Conan smites the WBC on YouTube!

Man the battle stations! Its Sunday, July 25, 2010 and Operation: Cleansweep is off the a good start. My Shock and Awe campaign had yielded excellent results in Zones 1 and 2. The Insurgents will most likely put up a lot of resistance in Zone 3 and I'll Gitmo both their little asses if they try anything.

Hey, speaking of battles...

BATTLEGROUND: COMIC-CON

As I discussed earlier this week or possibly last week if you consider Sunday the beginning of the week and if you do then your life is ruled by a calendar, you sheep, the Westboro Baptist Church decided they were going to go protest in front of the San Diego Comic-Con probably because they they figured they better stop protesting soldiers funerals for fear of eventually getting their asses kicked. My God, that is one long run on sentence. I feel like Henry David Thoreau.

And yes they did protest the nerd prom and, by gum, those nerds protested right back! This is of course the best possible thing to do because the WBC are really just a bunch of little sissies who are hiding behind Freedom of Speech Laws and try to sue whoever they can. They spew forth hate to the point they are idiotic parodies of human beings, and the best weapon to combat them is open mockery.

Now, they tend to go after funerals and the like where emotions run high and there's no chance someone is going to start mocking them due to the nature of the gathering. So what the hell were these morons thinking going to SDCC? They got made into fools instead of being considered the hate group which they are. Good job to the counter protesters.

But this doesn't mean that everything was peacefully at Comic-con. At a movie preview screening one person was stabbed in the eye by a pencil. I know what you're thinking. "Did RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE really look that bad?" But no, it was someone else who stabbed him, apparently after a dispute over a seat. It seems Brody in MALLRATS was correct: just because someone reads comic books they can indeed serve some shit.

This of course caused a delay with convention programming in that hall. Those conventions are tough to co-ordinate. What will celebrities to deal with, various schedules, logistics of all the guests, hate groups out front, and guys stabbing each other in the eye inside I'm now thinking ImagineCon 2000 could have been a hell of a lot worse.

RIDDLE OF STEEL. COLOR OF MONEY

Well, we may never see another Conan movie hitting the big screen, but there's still a lot of love out there for that big, sword swinging, Corm worshiper. In fact a painting of Conan done by the late Frank Frazetta just sold for well over a million dollars. That might just be better than crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me, and/or hearing the lamentation of their women.

I like Conan, but my interest is really only a passing one. I haven't read all the comics of books. I don't own the movies. I do have to resist the urge to yell "CROM" before swinging a sword at anything. I love Frank Frazetta's artwork. I was saddened a bit to hear about his passing away a couple months ago. The Missus was a bit surprised that a painting of Conan would fetch such a high price. I was a little surprised as well, but it is an excellent piece.

Back in college I knew a guy named Alex would refused to tell us his middle name. This deflected all inquiries about my lack of a middle name. We knew it began with an 'S' and he claimed it was for 'Steven' but we didn't believe him. Then he made the mistake of filling out a form while sitting next to me.

'Shin Quan'. Thank God he was Asian.

This was Freshman year and by God until the day he graduated if ever any of us caught sight of that poor bastard we'd yell out "Shin Quan! What is best in life!?"

And a few times, he'd actually answer.

YOUTUBE GETS SPOOKY!!

Came across this and am very interested.



I know there are quite a few webisodic YouTube Channels, but I haven't come across anything really trying to be straight up spooky. The people behind this do quality work so I have a lot of faith in this project. It seems like the majority of original content I find on YouTube is out for laughs or trying to show off something cool. That's great. Everyone can always use a good laugh. I'd love to see some "dare you not to click away" spook-tacular videos.

MUSIC!!

The last of my three favorite songs. Kinda weird that all three are out of the 80s. Ah well.



That's all I've got for this weekend. Thanks to Linda for being my connection to stuff I don't know. I'm going to get back to slowly cooking in the heat wave that's hit the east coast. The one good thing about this heat is its all the reason I need to say indoors. See you Wednesday.

Stan Lee trades Comics for a Pug!

By everything good and sweet in Odin's beard its Friday, July 23, 2010 and today begins Operation: Cleansweep. The Nozz Compound has been divided into eight zones and every day I'm not out sweating my ass off fixing a beach house in Sandbridge I will be cleaning one of those zones. Today's target: the office. But first..

STAN LEE GOES BOOM!!

Big announcement coming out of Comic-Con is Stan Lee lending his creative skills to BOOM Studios, and he's being backed by some serious talent. Here's the line-up:

SOLDIER ZERO, written by DOCTOR WHO and ACTION COMICS scribe Paul Cornell with art by SUPERMAN artist Javier Pina, tells the story of a wheelchair-bound astronomy teacher who finds himself in a freak accident that bonds him with an alien weapon of war.

THE TRAVELER, written by Eisner Award-nominee and BOOM! Studios Chief Creative Officer Mark Waid with art by AMAZING SPIDER-MAN artist Chad Hardin, features a mysterious new superhero with time-traveling powers battling the Split-Second Men, super-powered assassins from the future.

STARBORN, written by iZOMBIE's Chris Roberson with art by THE X-MEN's Khary Randolph, tells the story of a regular guy who discovers he's the heir to an intergalactic empire, putting him the center of a war between five alien races.

I'm highly intrigued. This is the sort of sci-fi goodness I've really been digging lately, and now that SUPERMAN has gone from awesome space adventures to talking down streets I think these are just what I need to scratch that itch. Also, if you want a copy of SOLDIER ZERO signed by Stan Lee make sure to request one at your local comic shop. There will be some shipped. Lee has created some of the most beloved characters in comics, and these concepts look like he still got a sweet creative touch.

COMIX!!!

Hey speaking of comics, let's look at BIRDS OF PREY #3 which i realize may be old news to many of you, but I didn't get a copy until this week. Now, last time I discussed BIRDS OF PREY it was in one of the "Battleground" segments due to Scans Daily moderators being completely ridiculous in their treatment of BOP scribe Gail Simone over the killing of two characters one of them being gay in the middle of gay pride month. Ms. Simone urged them to wait until the storyline had concluded before jumping to conclusions and making snap judgments. Of course they didn't listen gave Simone and "official warning" for hate speech or somesuch and she saw the writing on the wall and left.

And now one month later we see that she was right and the moderators in question were indeed morons. Although now I suppose they'll have to find something else to attack which will likely be the line "Penguin party in my pants" which I would like to see on a t-shirt.

Paul Levitz has made me a convert as his LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is being a really good time. The flashback issues on ADVENTURE COMICS are dull as hell, but his book is juts a lot of fun. Yes, it is crappy that 3boot Legion got shafted for this. Yes, the treatment of Jim Shooter was ridiculously stupid and awful. Yes, those costumes really need to be changed. However, Paul Levitz is writing some really fun book.

Onward to TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT, which I have to say I love the title. This book is a story inside a bigger story wrapped up in a tortilla. For more on the tortilla I will refer you all to the chart that's is being made over in England right now once its finished. As we know from THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, Superman, Green lantern, Booster Gold, and Rip Hunter are traveling through time trying to find Wayne before he makes it back to the present and destroys everything somehow. So, Dan Jurgens is doing a limited series detailing that there's some chicanery afoot during their search. It doesn't seem to have anything huge therein that readers need to follow the main Bat-storyline, but its a fun little book.

WHO SAYS KIDS AIN'T CLEVER?

Value can indeed be a relative thing. One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. Something is worth what another person is willing to pay for it, or trade for it. Steve ortiz put that to the test when he went on Criagslist to see what he could get for an old cell phone. With some patience and a lot of time online, this kid ended up with a Porsche. This process took about two years and he traded quite a few things along the way. It fact the Porsche was actually a set down in monetary value from the thing he traded for it which was a Ford Bronco. So why did he trade it?

How many kids drive to high school in a Porsche?

So really its about what is important to you at that point in time. When I was a kid I had Star Wars figures. Played with them. Loved them. After a while I didn't play with them as much. But the guy up the street took a shine to them. So I traded a few of them for some of his comic books that he didn't want. There was some pretty sweet stuff too. So I was amped, the guy down the street was happy. Everyone was happy, except my parents who said that kid took advantage of me and made us trade everything back. So I got my Star Wars figures back which went into a box never to be played with again because I just didn't care about them anymore.

Ortiz has some of him family members saying he's a swindler. Pretty much the same mindset as my parents way back when. Its not about the monetary value attached to the items. Its about two people having something the other wants and them both coming to an arrangement both are happy with. Call it swapping, call it bartering, call it whatever but its as old as the hills and it still works.

GREATEST PUG EVER!!!

Even money says our good friend Richard over at Teatime Brutality would trade his Doctor Who box sets for that dog. Well, maybe a couple of them.

MUSIC!!

Continuing this week of my favorite songs, here's one I wish that all songs were as awesome as.



That's it for Friday. I'm going to begin the cleaning process. In the sage words of Lando: "Here goes nothing."

Waid made Cap a Derivative of Batman

Hey Nonee Nonee, it's Wednesday, July 21, 2010 and in a startling change of pace I'm actually wearing pants as I post this. In another change of pace, I've discontinued the "Pop Quiz" section as one one person has actually answered any of the questions since I started doing them. See? Even an e-troglodyte can e-evolve.

Today's Side is a bit light on news and heavy on my opining and rambling. I'd have gone through more effort to hunt down more news, but I'm working hard to curb the crime spree of a three-year-old who despite knowing you have to pay for things in stores thought it was a good idea to haul ass out of an FYE in the mall with a SUPER FRIENDS DVD before paying.

OK, that may not technically be a "spree" but that's how these things start!

HOWDY MISTER ROGERS

That's some art that's mostly likely going to be the look Captain America sports in the upcoming movie. They look to be going with WWII era heavily and that's fine by me. Should be fun.

BAT-THEORIES

With Bruce Wayne returning there's a lot going on in the Batman comics. For those new to here and that have not been following Batman, Bruce Wayne was trapped in the past after battling Darkseid. Now something has him bouncing through time and we're told that if he gets back to the present very bad things will happen. Here's some of what we know:

* Bruce Wayne traveling through time seems to be allowing him to reclaim different aspects of himself and his memory seems to be starting to come back.

* Wayne is also creating a situation that will allow for himself to become Batman.

* Bruce Wayne was at the end of time.

* The Black Glove is shown to be Bruce Wayne's father Thomas in an origin that isn't possible.

* The Black Glove cursed Bruce and it seemed to come true as his very next case led him straight to Darkseid.

* The events that led to the story in BATMAN #666 featuring Dick Grayson's death and Damien Wayne becoming Batman seem to be coming true.

But there's still a lot we don't know and the pertinent questions seem to be:

* What is the true identity of The Black Glove?

* Is there a connection between The Black Glove and Darkseid?

* What is within Bruce Wayne that is so dangerous?

* What is the Joker's hand in this?

So, what are the possibilities? Well there's a lot, but I've got a few thoughts:

* This could be Darkseid centric. After the war we did not see in FINAL CRISIS the New Gods and the Gods of Apokalypse got bounced backwards in time. The methods of the Black Glove and Darkseid resemble each other in that they want to twist and corrupt that which is good. The Black Glove could be one of Darkseid's agents and the alternate origin could be what he hopes to replace the history we know with. What Bruce could be carrying inside him is an "imprint" of Darkseid which is growing and hoping to be reborn when the time is right.

* This could be Devil centric. Going with the notion that the Black Glove is an incarnation of the Devil and let's assume that he's factored in Darkseid with his curse on Batman's cape and cowl. Perhaps he's trying to manipulate events so that Bruce's time traveling somehow allows a situation in which the impossible origin become possible. Its like time and reality are a slinky bouncing down the stairs. the same events keep circling around each other, but each time just a little more removed from the original loop.

This is of course the conjecture of one nutter that really should get more sleep.

BY THE NUMBERS

Currently I have 41 follower on this blog. That's about 30-some more than expected. This also does not take into account the ones that follow that are not shown, so the actual number may indeed be 42. The number of blogs I currently follow is in the single digits. Over on Google Buzz I have just over 150 followers and i follow just over 50. Twitter is another story. My account there is less than a week old. I follow a dozen folks and am followed by two.

My online time is limited so there's only so much content I can view and mentally process. That's why the number of things I follow is very limited. Looking at some accounts I see that there are people that follow hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, and they have a few hundred followers themselves. This is the I'll follow you if you'll follow me and really this is pointless for anyone who wants to see content. Its fine if all you want to do is sell sell sell. But consider this if you want people to read and appreciate your content: if they follow hundred of thousands of people, there's not way that they are going to pay any attention to your work. It'll be lost in the shuffle.

Between the blog, Twitter and Buzz two of the three bast higher numbers in followers versus following. It just may be possible that I'm doing something right. Don't faint.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Being that I love comics in a way that may be considered unhealthy, I also love it when people who make good comics get their due. So when Mark Waid was shown the door over at DC I was not happy because he makes great comics. I honestly think some powers that be over there saw him as a bit of a threat because Waid could do his job better and the fans knew it. But that's history and Mister Waid has moved on over to Boom. Boom at the time had been struggling a bit. They had good stuff, but it wasn't quite hitting with readers.

Enter Mark Waid: Editor-in-chief. *Cue dramatic music.*

Now just a couple years later the company has won numerous awards and is doing quite well not only with their existing titles, but they have also bought a great line of kids comics to the forefront, which is something that's been sorely lacking. So now he's gotten a promotion to Chief Creative Officer. He'll be expanding the growth of the company in new and exciting ways. So if you haven't checked out what they're up to already, do so and thank me later.

Stepping into his previous position is Matt Gagnon. This was a no-brainer. Gagnon has an eye for talent and isn't afraid to get hands on to make sure the books get out on time. Congratulations to him as well.

CREATING BY DERIVATIVE

Reading a ton of comics does not make one qualified to write one. Certainly it helps in terms of understanding how the pacing works and how the pages break down. The problem is if all you read is one genre, in the case of comic books its most likely superhero, then you'll wind up regurgitating what you've taken in. Chris and I were talking about it last night. The best writers know to draw upon life experience or the life experience of others for their work. They know to look at classic literature to see what in these works have made them stand the test of time.

Same with art. The majority of manga is crap because the artists are under such a tight schedule to produce work that copying is encouraged. That's one of the main reasons for the generally homogeneous look of most manga art. The plots and pretty close to cookie cutter as well. Sure there's a few stand outs, but its very few and good luck finding them.

In creating you most be original and until you find your own voice and style look to others that are stand outs and originals to see what is working for them. This does not mean copying their work. It means examining the ideas and concepts that they are exploring and try to find something in there that resonates with you. But you have to be careful. Just because you think something is brilliant does not mean everyone else thinks so. If you're going to do a piece heavily inspired by Lady Gaga, you need to make sure your audience actually gives a damn about Lady Gaga. It doesn't matter how popular the media thinks she is.

Finding an original voice inside yourself is not easy and you may not have it in you, but its worth looking for.

MUSIC!!

This week I'm listing three of my all time favorite songs. Enjoy.



And that's a wrap for today. I leave with with an asignment. Its Hump Day. Go hump something. Just keep it legal. See ya Friday.

God Flames Green Lantern with Old Spice!

BAH! Its Sunday, July 18, 2010. I don't care what the time stamp says. I'm hunting about for more info about what projects Stan Lee has cooking up with Boom Studios. I hear there's three of them and it involves Superheroes. When I find out more I'll let y'all know. Pretty sure the big announcement will be at the San Diego Comic-con which i won't be attending due to principle.

This is assuming that having no money can count as a principle.

Oh hey, speaking of the nerd prom...

BATTLEGROUND: COMIC-CON!!

San Diego Comic-Con is fast approaching and while I won't be there the Westboro Baptist Church will be. Guess the biggest villains at the show will be standing outside on the sidewalk holding offensive sign and being prepared to sue anyone who says anything bad about them. I don't think Fred Phelps, the leader of this hate group which pretends to be a church, will be making the trip as he is older than hell and was probably holding signs telling Noah that he is a homosexual and his boat won't save him.

His spawn Shirley Phelps-Roper will probably have something to offer, and she is utterly fascinating. There was this video game a few years ago which I'm pretty sure was named FABLE and in it you play out the life of this character who can be either good or evil depending on your choices and actions. A cool feature is that the character changed in appearance, so if you did bad stuff he looked more evil. Looking at a picture of Shirley Phelps-Roper you can actually see the type of person she is. I know that sounds really superficial, but there's not enough foundation in Kansas to cover the eeeeeeevil.

So, the hateful pricks will be standing outside Comic-con with their signs taking a break from protesting the funerals of soldiers to try to offend more people. They say they're doing it because this convention promotes idolatry. They are, of course, a bunch of morons. I would find it hilarious if some guy dressed as Batman got pissed off and waded into the protesters and started throwing knuckles.

Police: "Can you identify the person who assaulted you?"

WBC douchebag: "He was dressed as Batman!"

Police: "This weekend you'll have to be more specific. Did he have an distinguishing features?"

WBC douchbag: "I don't know! He was wearing a mask!"

Of course, I'm not saying somebody should actually do it. That would be wrong. But if someone did do it, and there happens to be a video on YouTube of it happening, I'd appreciate a link.

FLAMEBAIT!!

As YouTube trainwrecks go this one smells really fishy. So a kid is having a breakdown on her webcam complete with her father in the background yelling over her shoulder mostly at people who apparently said mean things about her in the comments of her videos. This was followed up by another video of the same girl, still in tear, and he father claiming to have "backtraced" the comments and alerted the authorities.

Let's assume for a moment that these videos are legit and the girl isn't just flamebait. The girl in question shouldn't be posting videos on YouTube if she can't handle criticism. Second, her parent shouldn't let her be posting videos once they see that there's adverse crap descending upon their family. This requires half a brain in on of the people in the equation and a bit of backbone in the parents. However considering some of the fabulous things I've seen from teens lately there is a chance that this is legit.

More likely is that this girl is flamebait, meaning she's putting on a show to get a reaction. She's reveling in all the crappy comments and jokes at her expense. She's gleefully viewing the response parody videos. She's very proud that this has gotten the attention of Philip DeFranco and William Ray Johnson. She's quite a little actress and the father's over the top performance just adds to the funny. Its a Glee level car crash, and folks are gleefully buying into it. This is the more likely option especially considering there another video of her chatting online with her friends with all the commentary scrolling in front of her and she's not phased in the slightest.

That or this girl is about five nasty comments away from a bottle of sleeping pills.

This serves as a lesson. This situation could be a real one and there are no shortage of victims of "cyber-bullying". The internet is not the friendliest place and parents need to step in at times to make sure everything is cool and there's no problems, and if there are problems it may indeed be time to step away from the internet.

OLD SPICE OWNS US ALL!!

A couple months ago I saw a link to a video of some show called "The Dish" and I clicked to discover that it was hosted by Danielle Fishel who played Topanga on BOY MEETS WORLD in which she co-starred with Will Friedle who was the voice of Terry McGinnis in BATMAN BEYOND proving let again that life is really all about Batman. In that video I saw for the first time the Old Spice Guy.

That's right. The man who has taken the internet by storm. Rarely has such a display of awesome overtaken so many. It's created quite a buzz online, to which Old Spice Guy was happy to engage his fans. He has shown himself to be of the people, even going so far in his efforts to aid humanity as to propose to a woman for someone. Of course she said yes. There is no refusing Old Spice Guy. Even Alyssa Milano isn't immune to his manly charms, although her response does make me think she's a bit of a gold digger.

This is probably one of the cleverest uses of social media in advertising ever. Kudos Old Spice Guy. I shall now go and create a comic tribute to you in which which you save the world from destruction while wearing only a towel.

I totally need a picture of Isaiah Mustafa telling prince "You're Wrong! The Internet can never die!"

FROM OA WITH LOVE!!

There he is. Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern marking the third comic book character that he's played. There's actually a bit of a stink about the costume. Its computer generated. Reynolds wore a motion capture suit which allowed the CGI whiz-kids to put the suit on him in editing. I've said in the past that I'm not a fan of CGI. Let me clarify: I'm not a fan of CGI in movies when its something that could be done without it like fight scenes, explosions, or Lara Crofts boobs. In this case we have a movie about a guy who can create anything he imagines out of solid green light thanks to his power ring, so this is something that CGI should be used for. So the costume makes for an interesting bit because Green Lantern's in the comics is generated by his ring. So really it makes sense that the same CGI is used to create the costume that creates his rind based constructs. If anything it should make things look more consistent. Credit for using a motion suit so that it is Reynolds actually in action, that scores some points for me.

But will I actually go see it? I'm really on the fence. I like Ryan Reynolds, he's awesome. I like the concept of Green Lantern, but I don't like Hal Jordan as a character. It also may be a bit too much CGI for me to be interested in when I could just rent the animated feature Warner Brothers put out a while back. So, I'm torn.

MUSIC!!

Yet again SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE went above and beyond the call of duty and this time it did so in probably launching a music career. Waitress Christina Perri's song "Jar of hearts" found its way into the hands of choreographer Stacey Tookie, and she used it for one of her pieces for the show. Since then the song has taken off and is doing quite well in the Billboard charts considering she doesn't even have a record label. Here's the piece that launched the song. The dancers are Billy Bell and Kathryn McCormick. Enjoy and don't forget to check out the show on Wednesdays, this show is setting new standards for dance.

billy 9 @ Yahoo! Video

POP QUIZ!!

Can you find the guy who blogs too much in this picture?



Alright gang, that's it for today. Now, off with you!

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.

NEWSFLASH!

WAID SMASH D-BOX!!!

Its Wednesday, July 14, 2010 and I'm going to the dentist at seven in the morning here. He's the only one I know of that has performed oral surgery while armed. This is good because if things get too hairy he can just put me down.

"Good-bye, ol Nozz."

::BLAM!!::

TERRANCE HOWARD'D?!

What could the The Incredible Hulk and Kitty Pryde from the X-Men possibly have in common? Quite possibly having three different people play them on the big screen. And the song and dance continues as to whether or not Edward Norton will play Bruce Banner in the impending AVENGERS movie. The movie rep states that it wanted an actor that plays better with others, and would fit better with an ensemble cast. It was at that point that Norton and his agent said "WTF?"

I didn't see INCREDIBLE HULK, although I might rent it. I didn't see the older HULK movie with Eric Bana either. I didn't hear much good about either movie and passed on both. That said, I like Edward Norton as an actor. I read the statement from the movie company's rep and it just seems fishy. All other indications pointed towards everyone being excited about the project. Everyone involved creatively seemed to be cool with everything. But it looks like this little snafu is really about money. And if this is indeed the case it was a stupid movie on the movie rep's part to spread some BS around about creative problems. I know there's some unspoken rule about how you're not supposed to say it was because you couldn't pay what this guy wants, but don't go saying you want an actor that would work better with an ensemble when the actor you've drawn into question is Edward Norton.

So now its wait and see time. For all I know this is just a bit of drama stirring to make things more surprising and interesting if Norton appears with the other confirmed cast members at the San Diego Comic-Con.

THERE GOES MY POPCORN

I don't like 3D, but some people do. In fact some people just want to be dumped in the middle of the movie. Of that group some of them just really want to get into it to get a brief respite from things, and a small portion of that group are the type of pathetic bastards that got depression because really life wasn't as beautiful as the world in that AVATAR movie. However sometimes 3D just isn't enough. You don't want to just look like you're in the film, you want to feel like it too. Enter: the D-Box.

D-Box the precursor to X-Box twenty time removed and while it can't play Halo it can make your chair move. Soon it might make your chair move while you play Halo. Its technology that can move the chair you sit in while you're watching something like those theme park rides in which you don't actually go anywhere and while nifty make me nauseous if I'm one there too long. I rode the Spider-man ride at Universal Studios Florida and some of the screens malfunctioned. When the ride came to an end a very pretty redhead asked us riders if all the screens had works. "Mary Jane?" I replied, slightly dizzy. But she put us through to the front of the line to ride the ride again since everything had not worked the first time.

I then needed about a half an hour to recover.

Its like this: I spend about two hours a day driving to and from work. I'm often perched in slightly precarious positions at work and spent more time than I would like in places that I would fall off of if I moved the wrong way. In my off time I don't really want to sit in anything that moves. My couch don't move around a lot. Sure, it reclines, but that's when I want it too, and that enhances my movie watching experience just fine.

Save the dumb gimmicks and just give me good movies.

TOP 10!!

Mark Waid announced this week that he was through reading superhero comics. Why would a guy who writes some of the best superhero comics, and was one of the key writers to drag superheroes out of the 90s muck with his FLASH run say such a thing? Hell, I don't know, but this here is the internet and if we don't know something, there's just one thing to do: make shit up.

The Top 10 reasons why Mark Waid is giving up on reading superhero comics!

10: Moved on to manga.

9: Upset that retro-boot Brainiac 5 doesn't have a proper haircut.

8: BOOM Studios weekly editorial kegger got out of hand and Waid said things he really didn't mean.

7: Spent years making Wally West the best Flash ever only to have it struck down by idiotic fanboy meme.

6: Frustrated that Kid Eternity was kidnapped six months ago and the rest of the Teen Titans STILL haven't noticed.

5: Superman's new power seems to be angst.

4: Decided to wait for the movie.

3: New direction on Wonder Woman is so awful that he fears being anywhere near it will destroy his since of whimsy utterly.

2: Really upset that Gail Simone killed Savant and Creote during Gay Pride Month.

and the number one reason why Mark Waid is done reading superhero comics is...

Three words: Reverse Speed Force.

FANBOY DICTIONARY!

Its time once again for another addition to the Fanboy Dictionary. That's right, yet another translation of what seems to be English when passed through the mind of social ignoramus.

*GRAPHIC NOVEL: n: a work of serious literature that, despite looking like a comic book, is for a mature and sophisticated audience

"It does not matter that WATCHMEN was originally released as twelve floppy issues, its really a graphic novel and the greatest one ever!"

MUSIC!!

Read some weird stuff in a UK magazine called PARANORMAL with fun articles about where Atlantis could be and ghosts. One article was a piece by a guy who had summoned some demons. Gotta watch out for those types!

POP QUIZ!!

1: Who would you like to see playing Bruce Banner if Norton doesn't?

2: What are your thoughts on D-Box?

That's it for today. I'm currently making a sane attempt at using Twitter since that seems to be where some interesting things are happening. You can find me here. See ya!

Its really still all about Batman

It Sunday, July 11, 2010, and in typing up all this stuff I kept finding Batman references in every item I discussed. He's speaking to me, I just know it.

BAT-CODE?!

One of my three-year-olds got a hold of my latest issue of BATMAN AND ROBIN and was examining it. I knew if I tried to take it away she'd throw a fit and it was far too early to deal with that. And she had something to offer.

"See? Batman. See?" And she offered me the comic, which I accepted and thanked her, but that wasn't all. "No. Upside down." Now this struck me as odd, but not much odder than much of the stuff that comes out of her and her twin sister's mouths. After all until very recently they referred to zebras as "Douglas". But I looked at the Frank Quitely drawn cover and it was right side up. "No. Upside down" She insisted, and yet again in order to avoid a meltdown before eight in the morning I obliged her and turned the issue upside down. "See?" I wasn't sure what she was on about, but that's not unusual. All I saw was Robin standing over a kneeling Joker ready to bash his head in with a crowbar as Batman was diving to stop him, but of course inverted.

"See what, honey?" I asked.

"F." And suddenly it snapped into focus. When inverted the figures of Robin and Joker form the letter 'F'. So like any rational human being I immediately dove through my comics hunting down every issue of BATMAN AND ROBIN I could lay hands on turning them in multiple ways in order to try to divine the secret message that Quitely has been sending to the readers over the part year. No luck so far.

I may have finally snapped.

RETRO TV!!

The great thing about technology moving forward is that I can get stuff I missed the first time around pretty cheap. And to make matters even better is the good old $5 DVD bin at Wal-Mart. Hot damn, but I love me some Wal-Mart. That bin is a treasure trove of crap, but if you dig deep enough you can find some real gems buried in there.

Now, a while back Kristie, in all her awesomeness, did an online group viewing of the first season of THE X-FILES, which I started off doing really well in keeping up, but eventually fell hopelessly behind the rest of the group in the viewing schedule and frankly did not have a prayer of keeping up. I am truly sad and pathetic like that. Now that show is a classic and it held up in some regards and was horribly dated in other ways. So when I spotted the first season of 21 JUMP STREET for $5 I knew I had to check it out.

This show was THE show when I was a kid. It started this new guy Johnny something, oh yeah, Johnny Depp. I think he had a modest movie career after the show. It was also the launching point for Holly Robinson Peete who recently was a finalist on THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. I watched the two part pilot yesterday. The sound quality was a bit lacking as its a pretty bare bones package. Still the show itself was pretty good. Sure the fashion and the pop culture references were VEEEEERY dated as a kids was pissed off and bitter that his folks won't let him go to a Eurhythmics concert, obviously because they are a horrible influence. It was also a riot to see cops have to use pay phones. Even the rich crooks didn't have cell phones, not even the big brick ones that you could club a man to death with.

Irony and snark aside, it was a fun viewing. Yeah, a lot of it was contrived as hell and kind of dumb, but at the center of it was a solid concept. It was a cool show when it wasn't trying to be a 'kool' show.

ACTION STAR TOURNEY!!

July's Google Buzz tourney is going strong. This month Buzzards are picking their favorite action movie stars.

Chow Yun Fat terminated Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Samuel L Jackson shot down Tom Cruise.

John Wayne took out Liam Neeson.

Bruce Willis barely got by Jackie Chan.

Brad Pitt kicked Sylvester Stallone out of the Fight Club.

Christian Bale beat Charles Bronson in a battle of coolest guy with the initials "CB".

Clint Eastwood dropped Mel Gibson faster than Gibson's management.

Jet Li proved there is someone that can beat Chuck Norris.

PRINCE OF LIES!!

Its all over, folks. I might as well shut down the blog, take down all the short stories, and get rid of all the webcomic pages, the internet is all over according the reliable source formerly known as that little purple dude with a weird symbol instead of a name. Pee on the fie. Call in the dogs. Its time to hang it up. Who am I to argue with the artist that gave us "Batdance".

I like Prince's music, a lot of it anyhow, but ultimately this statement is sore grapes because his website didn't do as well as he thought it would. Its a pretty lame statement and the type I'd expect from someone a lot less mature. Its like a kid doesn't make the football team and declares that "football is stupid anyways".

MUSIC!!

No particular reason. Enjoy some Fratellis, because I do.

POP QUIZ!!

1: What could possibly make the internet 'over'?

2: What's the last older TV show you watched online, on Netflix, or however you watch older TV?

That's it for this time around. Prepare for the work week, and I'll talk to y'all Wednesday.

Rip Hunter, party of one?

Its Friday, July 9, 2010 and with Bruce Wayne bouncing around time a bit I figured on doing the same.

COMIX!!

This week was small but solid, and highlighted by BATMAN AND ROBIN #13 which should come as no surprise by those who have suffered through me gushing like a loon about how damn good Grant Morrison's run on Batman has been. There's been a bit of a gap between #12 and #13 to get the current storyline set up with THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. This is fine because now we have two storylines in two comics both heading to the same station.

Frazer Irving takes on the art chores on this stint of the run and its a joy. His style is so very clean and clear, and it delivers. There's so much going on in this story that it takes this straight forward approach to hit us with it. There's no ambiguity to what we are presented. The history of the Black Glove in what seems like an Elseworlds story, but this character is right in the face of the readers. Then there's the seemingly sane Joker, and this really shone through in Irving's artwork because he made the Joker seem almost normal in a normal setting. There was no exaggeration to him in how he was drawn, but his later mannerisms showed more than all the "dynamic" artwork would properly convey. Even the seeming execution scene at the beginning of the story is presented in a very matter of fact manner.

Note my use of seeming.

The Black Glove seems to be Thomas Wayne. The Joker seems to want to help Batman against the Black Glove. One of the key prophecies of BATMAN #666 seems to come to pass.

But what do we know?

We know there's an eclipse coming and those mark Bruce Wayne's pinballing through time. We know if Bruce Wayne reaches the present then bad things will happen. We know this was set in motion by Darkseid. We also know that the Joker knows something he isn't letting onto quite yet.

Which leads us to our suspicions. We suspect that the Black Glove may be the devil himself, but if this is a the case, and it is the result of the Omega Sanction that has Bruce Wayne bouncing through time, what exactly is the relationship between the two. Everything is wrapped very tightly into a narrative ball, and in the next couple of months we'll see which way it bounces.

HOME ARCHEOLOGY!!

The Missus discovered some books behind a drawer in the kitchen. Many of them contained recipes and quite a few of those were hand written. Beautiful handwriting too. Among the books was IN TIME OF EMERGENCY: A CITIZEN'S HANDBOOK ON ... NUCLEAR ATTACK ... NATURAL DIASTERS which was published by the Department of Defense and the Office of Civil Defense in march of 1968. The following is an excerpt on Improvising an outdoor fallout shelter.

If your home has no basement, no storm cellar and no protected crawl space, here are two ways of improvising fallout protection in you yard:

*Dig an L-shaped trench, about 4 feet deep and 3 feet wide. One side of the L, which will be the shelter area, should be long enough to accommodate all family members. The other side of the L can be shorter, since its purpose is to serve as an entrance-way and to reduce the amount of radiation getting into the shelter area.

Cover the entire shelter with lumber (or with house doors that have been taken off their hinges), except for about 2 feet on the short side of the L, to provide access and ventilation.

On top of the lumber or doors, pile earth 1 to 2 feet high, or cover them with other shielding material.

If necessary, support or "shore up" the wall of the trench, as well ad the lumber or doors, so they will not collapse.

*Dig a shallow ditch, 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide, parallel to and 4 feet from the outside wall of your house.

Remove the heaviest doors from the house. Place the bottoms of the doors in the ditch (so they won't slip), and lean the doors against the wall of the house.

On the doors, pile 12 to 18 inches of earth or sand. Stack or pile other shielding material at the sides of the doors, and also on the other side of the house wall (to protect you against radiation coming from that direction).

If possible, make the shelter area deeper by digging out more earth inside it. Also dig some other shallow ditches, to allow rain water to drain away.

Yeah. Pretty sure I'd be very much dead.

FUTURE TECH!!

And now we move onto the future, where the movies come to life.



I find this interesting from a writer's standpoint. I have no use for it, but I sit and wonder while reading BIRDS OF PREY why is Oracle still using a keyboard? Its like a reverse of when GLOBAL FREQUENCY had that TV pilot that unfortunately did not get picked up and Warren Ellis had described the phones used by GF agents to a Nokia representative and their response was "We've got those." Communication tech is keeping pace with sci-fi, but in terms of how people interact with computers truth seems to outpace a lot of fiction.

But then tech doesn't make people smarter. Take phone solicitors for instance...

Joey: Hello?

Phone solicitor: Hello sir, we're calling to see if you're interested in upgrading your telephone service.

Joey: We don't have a phone.

Phone solicitor: Oh. Alright. Thank you.

Click.

MUSIC!!

And in keeping with our themes of comics and time travel here's the theme song to the movie TIMECOP based off a comic from Dark Horse.

POP QUIZ!!

1: If you could time travel, when and where would you go?

2: What do you think about the true identity of The Black Glove?

3: What's the coolest old thing you've discovered?

That's it for Friday. Leave a comment and if you have G-Mail head over to my Buzz to vote in this month's Tourney to determine the best action movie star.

Justin Bieber dances inappropiately with horrible piercings!

Sweet Mother of Pearl, its Wednesday, July 7, 2010 and I'm not typing like a maniac trying to get this done in time!!

*Swoons.*

The holiday weekend and the activities thereof did make it a bit tricky to get the Sunday edition of the Side posted up. But at least it was educational stuff kept me busy. I learned that my neighbor doesn't care about local fireworks laws. I learned that one of my daughters is still horribly afraid of loud noises. And I also learned that filming things for 3D is very obvious even when watching a movie in a regular formatting. Freakin' 3D. I know the 80s are the popular retro era at the moment, but we really didn't need to bring back that crap.

BATTLEGROUND: BIEBER!!!

4Chan has been busy as of late. For those who don't know what 4Chan is, you're probably better off. They're a nasty stew of internetdom who have no qualms about pretty much anything. But now they seem to have have hit a new low with their creation of pop sensation and lesbian spokesmodel Justin Bieber. YouTube was recently hacked and there was the attempt to send Bieber to North Korea. Rumor has it the plan was originally to send him to Thailand, since in the country that originally spawned 'ladyboys' its no doubt that Bieber would make a fortune.

4Chan is obviously jumping the gun here. Although its not the first time they've turned on one of their own. Bieber is an obvious media troll who has been artificially created to annoy people with any taste in music. He is an artificial lifeform, computer generated, created as the ultimate prank. A pop sensation with no musical talent? Whoever heard of such a thing! 4Chan users creation of the Beiberbot has been very thorough to the point of fooling tween audiences into thinking he really exists. Its too the point that when they thought the joke had run its course and it started to annoy them as well they attempted to kill him off, but the rabid fandom would not allow it. The Bieber-meme had taken on a life of its own. It's too the point that Twitter had to actually change its trending algorithm just to do away with him.

You've annoyed people the world over with your creation. Kudos, 4Chan.

DANCING RIGHT AND WRONG

Some footage is stirring up quite a bit of controversy. In a dance routine little girls performed to the song "Single Ladies". Now before you go clicking on it, let me warn you, its pretty distasteful. I know the tune is getting a lot of airplay and was featured on GLEE and the ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS sequel. Its a popular song and there's nothing wrong with it.

The problem is that someone had the idea of putting little girls in outfits that are way too revealing and had them doing moves that put a sexual context to the routine. The girls range in ages from 7 to 9 years of age, and all of them were very talented from a technical standpoint, but these are still kids. You do not put pre-sexual human beings into sexual contexts. That's just wrong. This broke down on numerous levels. First, the person who decided on the costumes has a screw loose. Second, the choreographer of the routine needed to be reminded that they are dealing with kids, and if they don't see the problem with this routine, probably doesn't need to be working with kids anymore. Third, and most important, the parents of these girls are nuts for letting them do this.

Dance as an art form can take on many contexts, and yes some of them are seductive and sexual. I understand this, and don't have problem with it. HOWEVER that does not mean you put little girls or boys in routines with those contexts. You certainly don't put them in those outfits and have them gyrating their hips. Yes I've seen plenty of revealing and sexy outfits in dance competitions, but each person wearing them was of legal age.

Dance can be interesting and beautiful without excessive skin or sex. I recently sat down to enjoy Olga Kay's Circus which featured a few dance pieces that were fun and interesting to watch. And yes some of the costumes showed a little leg, but they still weren't nearly as revealing as the outfits the kids in the Single Ladies piece wore.



Art is art, but making pedo-bait and calling it dance ain't cool.

FASHION VICTIM!!

Check that guy out. You know why he has that look on his face? It's because he knows he's never going to get a job that involves having to deal with the public in any way shape or form. I did have a could discussion about facial tattoos with Kristie who lives in Hawaii and was quite informative about facial tattoos in Polynesian cultures. The guy in the pictures however ain't from the islands. I bring this up mainly because of the gauges. I've seen a lot of guys with them, albeit not to that degree, and its of course stupid.

As the Big Guy says, "You ain't shit until you can stick a Wild Turkey cork in there."

You know what I see when I look at someone with gauges like that? I see a target. Its not impressive at all. It certainly isn't intimidating. In fact I can say with quite a bit of certainty that if confronted by someone with gauges like that I know exactly where I'll be grabbing while beating on them with my free hand.

Recently a man realized that fashion doesn't mean squat when you need to eat and support your family, so take a look at what it took to fix his ears. Think about that if you're considering body alteration. There's nothing wrong with tattoos or piercings, however you need to consider the consequences. You're changing yourself. Don't expect society to change to accommodate you. Moderation, folks.

MUSIC!!

Has nothing to do with anything other than I really dug this song when it came out, but never really liked any of their other songs.

POP QUIZ!!

1: Got any piercings? Don't send pictures! Just tell me! I don't want some nutter sending a picture of his pierced scrotum!

2: Anyone else a bit upset about little girls dressed inappropiately and doing sexy dances or stage?

3: What would it take to destroy the Bieber-bot?

Alrighty, that's the wrap up for today. See you Friday for some time traveling.

America loves fighting!

Happy Independence Day! It's July 4, 2010 and with everything going on in politics and with the World Cup going on I've heard a lot of trash talk online putting down America. I'd be upset but for that fact that without America there wouldn't be an internet for those losers to try to feel superior on. I love irony. Make a deal with you: I won't trash your country if you don't trash mine.

This deal does not apply to France.

I H8 PRON!!

For the first time in a long time I was able to get over to my cousin's house to watch the UFC. This is of course putting aside the horrible blood feud between the two of us that many had talked about but never actually existed. Managed to get a sitter for the girls. The missus got the night off and made some homemade cheeseburger queso dip. Everything was all set until Scott went to actually order the Pay Per View.

After ordering the fight we were informed that Scott had in fact ordered "Young & Willing Casting Couch Girls". Obviously a technical malfunction, but one we could not remedy. In our desperation to watch the fight we even attempted to order the over priced HD version only to see that to do so would only provide us with "Horny Prison Women: Waiting for Release". This would mark the first time a bunch of heterosexual men were upset by the prospect of having to watch neked women as opposed to sweating men.

All efforts to contact the cable company were fruitless and the evening, aside from the queso, was a bust.

So I missed being horribly disappointed that Lesnar withstood getting the crap beat out of him for a round and then managing to pull out a win. As such I really need you people to send me money because I doubt the loanshark will be any more sympathetic than the bookie.

MUSIC!!

I hate it when I remember when the 'classics' were new. Ah well, let's rock!

POP QUIZ!

1: What did you do for Independence Day?

2: What do you think of the UFC and the recent event?

3: What do you like on your hamburger? (Cause that's what I had for dinner.)

Happy 4th. Enjoy yourselves. Stay safe. God bless America.

See y'all Wednesday.

Wonder Woman dances in HELL!

Alrighty, its Friday, July 2, 2010, and today I'm getting my nerd on.

COMIX!!

OK, let's start with the big one: WONDER WOMAN #600. This of course rounds out the trifecta of centennial issues of the trinity of super-heroes, and unfortunately this one did not make it through without big funny book controversy. I'll get to that in a second, but first I want to focus on everything great about this issue.

First off, it featured some really great pin-ups by some of the hottest talent in comics. This includes work by Adam Hughes, Nicola Scott, Phil Jimenez and many others. The double page pin-up by Jimenez gets a special nod because in it we get to see almost everything related to Wonder Woman in one picture. He really outdid himself. It also has a nice little forward by Lynda Carter, which was pretty cool. The first story by Gail Simone and George Perez featured a ton of guest stars and was a who's who of the ladies of the DCU. And it wrapped around into a very fitting and quite touching little story after all the butt kicking was done. Next up was a little team-up with Power Girl thanks to Amanda Connor which was a lot of fun and a real treat. Then there was a team-up with Superman served up by Louise Simonson.

And then things get ugly.

The next story was seeming really off and weird. It was like it trying to talk about the character of Wonder Woman from the perspective of two people who didn't quite understand her but though that they did. Its supposed to be the prelude for the next Wonder Woman story. And then I see the credits. Geoff Johns: writer.

Oh crap.

And then the J. Michael Stracynski story kicks in and and I'm ready to throw up my hands in frustration. I had heard that Stracynski's THOR run had been good, so I had some consolation when I found out Gail Simone was leaving the book. And we have our new Wonder Woman. And its wrong in just about every way. I don't want to be this guy. I don't want to be the douchebag who gets pissed off when a writer decides to take a character in a different direction and gives them a new costume. But, this whole thing is just a bad idea from top to bottom.

The entire Wonder Woman story has been reimagined. Everything in that beautiful piece of work by Phil Jimenez never happened. The stories preceding this one in that very same issue high lighting everything that is just so great and awesome about the character are washed away. People used to wonder how she fought in the old costume. That's easy, the old costume was not cumbersome. She had complete freedom of movement. I'm wondering how she even gets into the new outfit.

In an interview Stracynski said that the character needed to be toughened up. The top hand-to-hand fighter in DC comics needed to be toughened up. The woman who kicks Batman's ass needed to be toughened up. She also needed to be modernized. So the character that is a link to mythology and the past in the genre needs to be modernized. Oh, and she gets a new and "improved" tragic origin now.

This the way it is set up, it seems like Wonder Woman has been dropped into some weird pocket dimension, so one she finds her way out things will return to normal. Also, hopefully this won't have an effect on Donna Troy or Wonder Girl, because if history has change in this fashion for Wonder Woman then the entire DCU is effected and not in a good way. So here's hoping the foresight has been there to keep this little experiment centered in one book.

So Stracynski is responsible for stories that will make Superman more human and Wonder Woman more modern and tough. He can go back to Marvel, the sooner the better, because he seems to not understand what works for these characters.

This while our heroes are in store for some pretty shabby treatment coming up, ACTION COMICS #890 hit the stands this week featuring none other than Lex Luthor. Its freaking awesome. While i don't care one lick about the Hal Jordan and his techni-color dance party-a-go-go which was "Blackest Night" there has been one very interesting thing come out of it: Lex Luthor has a new hobby. Penned by Paul Cornell, this Luthor is still a completely evil prick, but my God is he an enjoyable one. He's egotistical and just a complete bastard. Its like if Greg House decided, 'You know what? This whole helping people and dealing with my pain has gotten old. Its time to take over the world." Love it. Love it. LOVE IT!!

BREAK IT DOWN!!

This is what happens when reality TV goes above and beyond the call of duty. On SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE ballet dancer Alex Wong was made to do hip hop and partnered with Twitch Boss, the first guy/guy partnering the season. Alex was absolutely beside himself be cause everything he has been trained to do as a dancer had to be cast right out the window and he was partnered with one of the top hip hop dancers you're going to find. A recipe for disaster, but how did it turn out?

MUSIC!!

And now a little dedication. This one goes out to the YouTube used whole randomly sent me nine videos to let me know that Hell exists that I need to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior. I did not watch the videos as I'm pretty sure that they contain BATMAN AND ROBIN with Schwarzenegger as Mister Freeze is its entirety. However it didn't contain this video, so I'm just helping out the misguided do-gooder.

POP QUIZ!!

1: What do you think of the new Wonder Woman costume?

2: Who is your favorite bald dude?

3: What is your favorite style of dance?

That wraps things up for today. Remember to check out UFC 116 this Saturday because the main event should be awesome. Enjoy the weekend. See you Sunday.