Stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast burritos and a special treat for certain individuals for later- mwha ha ha.
But yeah, that'll be good.
My tummy disagrees, but that's really a whole other matter.
Relatively interesting day. Talked to this one girl on the subway about her print portfolio- I joked that her carrot man looked like Oscar Wilde, an idea that eventually turned into Charles Dicken's writes the story of Oscar Wilde, who is a carrot man, who in turn writes the Importance of Being Ernest, which is now about a writer named Ernest that creates "To the Lighthouse" but with a suspicious lack of Virginia Woolfe in the mix.
Good joke.
And she had the distaste for wearing i-pods everywhere that I'm very much in favour of. The distast, not the ipods.
Then we went our separate ways, but we were actually going the same way, so we finally did do introductions.
Doubt I've ever met a Faith before. Love the red hair.
And then at work I got to chill out with this cool resident that forgot her keys.
After her boyfriend finally showed up dhe got him to bring me some strawberry vanilla oatmeal as thanks I guess for the entertainment.
Can you believe she's never heard of peaches and cream oatmeal? That's crazy!
And this one dude that digs comics and sometimes comes round the building was around the building, so I got to chat about new releases, the Green Lantern movie, as well as what was GOOD about the Green Lantern movie (what? you mean to say I haven't said any of those good things here?)
When all was said and done... I didn't have the time or energy to finish reading "Save the Cat". I'm really, right on the finish line for that one.
This is a semi decent post, better than I had any right to expect, but now I've got to sleep for the bare amount of time that I'll get to sleep today.
I'm going to live in bed this weekend. Except for when I don't, obviously.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Eerie happenings and Bad Teacher
Switched back from the video 2 screen of watching "Psych" on the Xbox-amajig to the regular channel, where everything onscreen was frozen, and when I changed channel, only darkness.
As the sudden shift from the expected to the weird sank into my mind, I was struck by a lightheadedness, and suddenly I'm hot and woozy.
The two events may or may not be connected.
I need to sleep.
But now is the only time available for a halfway decent posting, before 27 hours (I was just awake for 27 hours yesterday! Coincidence.) into the future I'll have a bare hour to write SOMETHING here before a hop BACK into bed, my monthly quota reached.
30 days hath September, April AND June inDEED.
I know that's not how the jingle goes. Artistic liberties were taken just now.
Very liberties.
I didn't manage to make it out to Midnight in Paris today- in fact I was almost late for Bad Teacher as it was.
So Bad Teacher. Pretty good, had some laughs- there were a couple of points where my two friends and I were about the only ones laughing at certain things, and it feels pretty good that we were on at least a bit of the same wavelength.
However, the film could've gone from fun collection of scenes to something with a much stronger story to it... well, not easily, there'd have to be a lot of stuff rearranged and added, but I'd have appreciated those things.
Jason Segel was great- but really playing against type. A nice surprise. He's usually the more naive character, a little out of step with the rest of the world: Marshall in How I Met Your Mother, the dude from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (are they REALLY spelling Marshall the same for both of those things?), and if the trailers were any indication (I didn't actually get to see it) his role in the Jack Black "Gulliver's Travel's".
On the other hand, his big break came from the show Freaks and Geeks, followed by Undeclared I think was the next shows name, and those two guys are more worldly. Well, as worldly as any of those teenagers could be on Freaks and Geeks, so not very- but his character was perhaps more true to life is what I'm saying.
But yeah, his character in Bad Teacher could easily be the grown up version of his Freaks and Geeks character. You know, ol' whatsisname.
And they should definitely have digitally altered the standardised test that shows up so it read 2011 instead of 2010. I can't imagine that, relatively speaking of course, that would've been too hard.
Apparently it also read 2010 on the yearbook onscreen? I didn't see that one, but still, how hard could it have been?
But it was still a much better film going experience than Bridesmaids. They left things unsaid in Bridesmaids (the father of the bride did NOT have the money for the wedding, how was that brought up once than never dealt with? That's pretty big!) but people are making it out to be this great story telling achievement, whereas Bad Teacher isn't made out to be something it's not, story wise.
I guess that's more of a marketing issue? I don't know, I'm tired.
I'm really glad I've read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest now. The scene about the one guy that starts yelling "I'm TIRED!" is great, I always think about it now, every time I say I'm tired.
True story.
As the sudden shift from the expected to the weird sank into my mind, I was struck by a lightheadedness, and suddenly I'm hot and woozy.
The two events may or may not be connected.
I need to sleep.
But now is the only time available for a halfway decent posting, before 27 hours (I was just awake for 27 hours yesterday! Coincidence.) into the future I'll have a bare hour to write SOMETHING here before a hop BACK into bed, my monthly quota reached.
30 days hath September, April AND June inDEED.
I know that's not how the jingle goes. Artistic liberties were taken just now.
Very liberties.
I didn't manage to make it out to Midnight in Paris today- in fact I was almost late for Bad Teacher as it was.
So Bad Teacher. Pretty good, had some laughs- there were a couple of points where my two friends and I were about the only ones laughing at certain things, and it feels pretty good that we were on at least a bit of the same wavelength.
However, the film could've gone from fun collection of scenes to something with a much stronger story to it... well, not easily, there'd have to be a lot of stuff rearranged and added, but I'd have appreciated those things.
Jason Segel was great- but really playing against type. A nice surprise. He's usually the more naive character, a little out of step with the rest of the world: Marshall in How I Met Your Mother, the dude from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (are they REALLY spelling Marshall the same for both of those things?), and if the trailers were any indication (I didn't actually get to see it) his role in the Jack Black "Gulliver's Travel's".
On the other hand, his big break came from the show Freaks and Geeks, followed by Undeclared I think was the next shows name, and those two guys are more worldly. Well, as worldly as any of those teenagers could be on Freaks and Geeks, so not very- but his character was perhaps more true to life is what I'm saying.
But yeah, his character in Bad Teacher could easily be the grown up version of his Freaks and Geeks character. You know, ol' whatsisname.
And they should definitely have digitally altered the standardised test that shows up so it read 2011 instead of 2010. I can't imagine that, relatively speaking of course, that would've been too hard.
Apparently it also read 2010 on the yearbook onscreen? I didn't see that one, but still, how hard could it have been?
But it was still a much better film going experience than Bridesmaids. They left things unsaid in Bridesmaids (the father of the bride did NOT have the money for the wedding, how was that brought up once than never dealt with? That's pretty big!) but people are making it out to be this great story telling achievement, whereas Bad Teacher isn't made out to be something it's not, story wise.
I guess that's more of a marketing issue? I don't know, I'm tired.
I'm really glad I've read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest now. The scene about the one guy that starts yelling "I'm TIRED!" is great, I always think about it now, every time I say I'm tired.
True story.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
And I finish with my go to Trigun reference
Woke up about an hour ago to find some dinner had been left for me- that's mighty fine.
I went straight from my 12 hour shift to home, to not sleeping, to getting cleaned up, to spending the day hanging out at Ontario Place, visiting the people I worked with last year.
Oh hey it's Isaac.
*I brought you Oreos*
HEY HI ISSAC!!
That didn't really happen. Well, the oreos part happened.
But yeah, things are looking pretty rough over there. How a place can look MORE tired after all the renvations is quite a trick. And they just weren't making enough popcorn- here I'm watching the guy scoop the dregs of a batch into a bag, and I'm just waiting for the inevitable customer rejection that does not come.
So, dodged that bullet, eh fellas? (I'm talking about the bullet of customer complaints, but I guess I personally dodged a bullet in not working there this year.)
But I ended up staying until past 4:30 so I could travel home with one of the staff- which put me at a good 25 hours without sleep.
Now what did I just get- 5, 6 hours under my belt? Not enough, but again, I needed some dinner.
I got to talk about the books on screenplay writing, so that was cool.
Urgh but my back hurts. It needs more rest. I reckon, and this should come as no shock, that the reason back pain is so prevalent in people these days in because of the one two punch that is lack of rest and malnutrition.
Speaking of which, I've got to find time to make my meals for work, instead of having two Hungry-Man meals a shift. They're grossing me out a bit.
I liked when last summer for work I made myself pasta with pumpkin seeds and raisins and people were all "Isaac UR weird" but I thought it was super tasty. Especially when I shelled out for alfredo sauce. But either way.
Will at least see Bad Teacher tomorrow(I mean later today, but after much needed sleep), so expect some words on it. Again, if I get up early enough- Midnight in Paris. But I've gotta be careful- with comics, groceries, and the movie(s) I'm almost out of cash. Payday is Friday.
Well, I'm sure this has been fascinating for you, but I'm bouncingPEACE
and love. Love and peace!
I went straight from my 12 hour shift to home, to not sleeping, to getting cleaned up, to spending the day hanging out at Ontario Place, visiting the people I worked with last year.
Oh hey it's Isaac.
*I brought you Oreos*
HEY HI ISSAC!!
That didn't really happen. Well, the oreos part happened.
But yeah, things are looking pretty rough over there. How a place can look MORE tired after all the renvations is quite a trick. And they just weren't making enough popcorn- here I'm watching the guy scoop the dregs of a batch into a bag, and I'm just waiting for the inevitable customer rejection that does not come.
So, dodged that bullet, eh fellas? (I'm talking about the bullet of customer complaints, but I guess I personally dodged a bullet in not working there this year.)
But I ended up staying until past 4:30 so I could travel home with one of the staff- which put me at a good 25 hours without sleep.
Now what did I just get- 5, 6 hours under my belt? Not enough, but again, I needed some dinner.
I got to talk about the books on screenplay writing, so that was cool.
Urgh but my back hurts. It needs more rest. I reckon, and this should come as no shock, that the reason back pain is so prevalent in people these days in because of the one two punch that is lack of rest and malnutrition.
Speaking of which, I've got to find time to make my meals for work, instead of having two Hungry-Man meals a shift. They're grossing me out a bit.
I liked when last summer for work I made myself pasta with pumpkin seeds and raisins and people were all "Isaac UR weird" but I thought it was super tasty. Especially when I shelled out for alfredo sauce. But either way.
Will at least see Bad Teacher tomorrow(I mean later today, but after much needed sleep), so expect some words on it. Again, if I get up early enough- Midnight in Paris. But I've gotta be careful- with comics, groceries, and the movie(s) I'm almost out of cash. Payday is Friday.
Well, I'm sure this has been fascinating for you, but I'm bouncingPEACE
and love. Love and peace!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Blake Shhnyder is: The Guy that Wrote Save the Cat
Boy am I cutting this month close. Way closer than normal. There's probably going to be a bunch of quick, lame up updates just to get me on track.
This is just such an update.
I read through half of "Save the Cat!- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need". The title pretty much explains everything. It's by Blake Snyder, and so every time I come across that name I think "Rob Schneider- needle scratch".
It's pretty good, especially since it makes no bones about being SPECIFICALLY geared towards mainstream movie success. Thus far Robert McKee's "Story" was the more instructive, not that that was ever in doubt, but this book has been good for familiarizing myself with Hollywood-esque parlance.
Except for the times when it doesn't. Sometimes Mr. Snyder uses his own personal names for things, and I'm always antsy waiting for the part where he actually defines his terms to something I can get. It isn't usually THAT long, but it still gets to me.
It's also recommended a good set of OTHER script writing books that I think I'll check out later too. It seems like "Save the Cat" is one of the big ones, fame wise. I've been waiting a whole buncha months for it to get through it's various holds at the library.
I'm a little worried I may be discounting things out of hand just because his biggest claim to fame is the Disney movie "Blank Check", and he points out that saying a movie is "Die Hard on a Spaceship" or "Unforgiven meets Back to the Future" (I just came up with those examples here, they weren't in the book... though maybe they SHOULD be...) is a bad habit, but he does it a LOT.
Still, it sounds like he's sold a lot of scripts- whether or not they ever get made into movies is besides the point. At least for a guy making his living off of that.
And if anyone asks, as far as I'm aware, there aren't any bigtime books on writing comics, but I'd be happy to read it when I hear about it- but also just because I want to write comics doesn't mean I wouldn't want to write a screen play as well.
Buh!
Hmm, well, I was all set to talk about this book tomorrow when I'd finished reading it, but I probably won't have that much more to say about it.
I typed this out quickly, but it wasn't that bad a post at all.
It just needed a little love.
This is just such an update.
I read through half of "Save the Cat!- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need". The title pretty much explains everything. It's by Blake Snyder, and so every time I come across that name I think "Rob Schneider- needle scratch".
It's pretty good, especially since it makes no bones about being SPECIFICALLY geared towards mainstream movie success. Thus far Robert McKee's "Story" was the more instructive, not that that was ever in doubt, but this book has been good for familiarizing myself with Hollywood-esque parlance.
Except for the times when it doesn't. Sometimes Mr. Snyder uses his own personal names for things, and I'm always antsy waiting for the part where he actually defines his terms to something I can get. It isn't usually THAT long, but it still gets to me.
It's also recommended a good set of OTHER script writing books that I think I'll check out later too. It seems like "Save the Cat" is one of the big ones, fame wise. I've been waiting a whole buncha months for it to get through it's various holds at the library.
I'm a little worried I may be discounting things out of hand just because his biggest claim to fame is the Disney movie "Blank Check", and he points out that saying a movie is "Die Hard on a Spaceship" or "Unforgiven meets Back to the Future" (I just came up with those examples here, they weren't in the book... though maybe they SHOULD be...) is a bad habit, but he does it a LOT.
Still, it sounds like he's sold a lot of scripts- whether or not they ever get made into movies is besides the point. At least for a guy making his living off of that.
And if anyone asks, as far as I'm aware, there aren't any bigtime books on writing comics, but I'd be happy to read it when I hear about it- but also just because I want to write comics doesn't mean I wouldn't want to write a screen play as well.
Buh!
Hmm, well, I was all set to talk about this book tomorrow when I'd finished reading it, but I probably won't have that much more to say about it.
I typed this out quickly, but it wasn't that bad a post at all.
It just needed a little love.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
On that Jeff Lemire character
Even though I'd heard of Essex County, and Sweet Tooth- when I'd met Jeff Lemire at fanexpo last August I'd only read one thing of his- a 6 page back up primer story for his upcoming Superboy series. I'm pretty sure it was bundled with an early Lex Luthor Action Comics issue. Regardless, I did a review of the thing. I said it was cool idea after cool idea (I'm pretty sure my exact wording was "crazy awesome") but that the pace left something to be desired. Or something. I forget my exact complaint.
So stupid me, when I meet the guy, I basically quoted my review at him. The good and the bad. He kind of looked at me like he didn't know whether or not I was gibbering fool- I made a mental note after that: maybe hold off on the un-compliments when you're talking to a total stranger, even if you are balancing it with the good stuff.
Soon after I got to read his back up story in the Legion of Super-Heroes book about The Atom. He hit some good techno-babble, which is pretty essential, and the artist on the book did a great job- but I wasn't too keen on some inconsistancies with previous Atom stuff, and the inclusion of a never before seen uncle mentor for the Atom. I'd eventually learn that that Uncle figure who would support a young Ray Palmer when he was just a kid who wanted to get out of a small town- all of this stuff is straight out of the Jeff Lemire handbook.
The important thing to see was how he'd handle one of my favourites- Superboy- in his new series. It was a strong start, but it's been meandering for a good number of issues. The dialogue explains too much about how the characters feel and what such and such a thing means. But the biggest problem is the Pier Gallo guy on art. I'm not sure the guy can draw glasses. People wear glasses in Superman type books, it comes up!
I'm looking at some Pier Gallo sample artwork on his website, it's actually pretty good. Could be he just needs an urban environment to draw. Also, no glasses.
So I decided to figure out what this Lemire guy was all about- I picked up his "Essex County", "Sweet Tooth" volume 1, and "The Nobody". That just leaves his "Lost Dogs" book for me to eventually check out (not sure if the library has that, I haven't checked yet).
So Essex County is good, make no mistake about it. I am completely in favour of Lemire winning all of those comic awards for it, I get it.
Sweet Tooth is ALSO good, but I know if I didn't get the first volume, if I was reading it in single issue format, it would drive me nuts. Lemire is definitely working under a very modern sensibility, and a big part of that is story decompression. I wouldn't feel I was getting my money's worth if I got this month to month. Even still, it's a cool world he's created.
Still, his main character is named Gus. His sweet little deer boy is named after his son. That's rough buddy. What if this gets made to a movie? Then he gets to be that "Deer Boy" in class.
The Nobody I'm less crazy about, here is the first evidence of that dialogue trouble I've seen so often in my Superboy comics from him. It's set up as a little mystery, but it's a non event. The missing person that everyone thinks "The Nobody" killed, had just gone out of town on a bender. I get that the way everyone over reacts and blames the out of towner is supposed to send a message about a small town small mindedness, but couldn't that story've been told with an actual murder, an actual culprit... with an actual mystery!
Yes, sure, we didn't KNOW the woman was fine, but that's a cheat too. The story was trying to be too mundane when it stars the Invisible Man! I mean come on!!
If it went the mundane route, I'd rather it turned out that beneath the bandages was simply a disturbed individual who thought he was invisible. It it went the high drama sci-fi mystery route- yes, he's invisible. Make Mr. Marvel crazy like all the townspeople say. Make someone guilty of an actual crime!
...
Uh, aside from the one (maybe two) murders that the Invisible Man DID commit. It's just that none of the townspeople caught on to those at all. They may as well as not have happened.
So what have I learned about Jeff Lemire? He's already run through his bag of tricks, and it's all variations on a theme. He loves crows, he loves Hockey (if his upcoming Animal Man comic doesn't have Animal Man coaching his son on a hockey team, then I'll have to buy a hat to eat), he's conflicted about small towns- but they're what he knows, so they're what he writes. I'd say he needs a bit of a break to shore up his writerly experience. Maybe just slow downa bit so his dialogue has a bit more thought to it.
As an artist he's pretty fantastic, he's got a pretty well rounded ability in that regard. I'd be interested in seeing his Superboy as drawn by himself. But of course with the reboot in September, that's not happening.
Maybe I can see the guy at another convention and ask for a Superboy sketch? Assuming I don't criticize the guy again. Which maybe a big assumption.
Oh, also, either his upcoming Frankenstein or his Animal Man- one of those books is going to be set in Detroit. As far as American cities go, that's clearly the one he knows. It'd be cool if he could use Toronto- but a mainstream DC hero operating out of Canada? That ain't happening.
So stupid me, when I meet the guy, I basically quoted my review at him. The good and the bad. He kind of looked at me like he didn't know whether or not I was gibbering fool- I made a mental note after that: maybe hold off on the un-compliments when you're talking to a total stranger, even if you are balancing it with the good stuff.
Soon after I got to read his back up story in the Legion of Super-Heroes book about The Atom. He hit some good techno-babble, which is pretty essential, and the artist on the book did a great job- but I wasn't too keen on some inconsistancies with previous Atom stuff, and the inclusion of a never before seen uncle mentor for the Atom. I'd eventually learn that that Uncle figure who would support a young Ray Palmer when he was just a kid who wanted to get out of a small town- all of this stuff is straight out of the Jeff Lemire handbook.
The important thing to see was how he'd handle one of my favourites- Superboy- in his new series. It was a strong start, but it's been meandering for a good number of issues. The dialogue explains too much about how the characters feel and what such and such a thing means. But the biggest problem is the Pier Gallo guy on art. I'm not sure the guy can draw glasses. People wear glasses in Superman type books, it comes up!
I'm looking at some Pier Gallo sample artwork on his website, it's actually pretty good. Could be he just needs an urban environment to draw. Also, no glasses.
So I decided to figure out what this Lemire guy was all about- I picked up his "Essex County", "Sweet Tooth" volume 1, and "The Nobody". That just leaves his "Lost Dogs" book for me to eventually check out (not sure if the library has that, I haven't checked yet).
So Essex County is good, make no mistake about it. I am completely in favour of Lemire winning all of those comic awards for it, I get it.
Sweet Tooth is ALSO good, but I know if I didn't get the first volume, if I was reading it in single issue format, it would drive me nuts. Lemire is definitely working under a very modern sensibility, and a big part of that is story decompression. I wouldn't feel I was getting my money's worth if I got this month to month. Even still, it's a cool world he's created.
Still, his main character is named Gus. His sweet little deer boy is named after his son. That's rough buddy. What if this gets made to a movie? Then he gets to be that "Deer Boy" in class.
The Nobody I'm less crazy about, here is the first evidence of that dialogue trouble I've seen so often in my Superboy comics from him. It's set up as a little mystery, but it's a non event. The missing person that everyone thinks "The Nobody" killed, had just gone out of town on a bender. I get that the way everyone over reacts and blames the out of towner is supposed to send a message about a small town small mindedness, but couldn't that story've been told with an actual murder, an actual culprit... with an actual mystery!
Yes, sure, we didn't KNOW the woman was fine, but that's a cheat too. The story was trying to be too mundane when it stars the Invisible Man! I mean come on!!
If it went the mundane route, I'd rather it turned out that beneath the bandages was simply a disturbed individual who thought he was invisible. It it went the high drama sci-fi mystery route- yes, he's invisible. Make Mr. Marvel crazy like all the townspeople say. Make someone guilty of an actual crime!
...
Uh, aside from the one (maybe two) murders that the Invisible Man DID commit. It's just that none of the townspeople caught on to those at all. They may as well as not have happened.
So what have I learned about Jeff Lemire? He's already run through his bag of tricks, and it's all variations on a theme. He loves crows, he loves Hockey (if his upcoming Animal Man comic doesn't have Animal Man coaching his son on a hockey team, then I'll have to buy a hat to eat), he's conflicted about small towns- but they're what he knows, so they're what he writes. I'd say he needs a bit of a break to shore up his writerly experience. Maybe just slow downa bit so his dialogue has a bit more thought to it.
As an artist he's pretty fantastic, he's got a pretty well rounded ability in that regard. I'd be interested in seeing his Superboy as drawn by himself. But of course with the reboot in September, that's not happening.
Maybe I can see the guy at another convention and ask for a Superboy sketch? Assuming I don't criticize the guy again. Which maybe a big assumption.
Oh, also, either his upcoming Frankenstein or his Animal Man- one of those books is going to be set in Detroit. As far as American cities go, that's clearly the one he knows. It'd be cool if he could use Toronto- but a mainstream DC hero operating out of Canada? That ain't happening.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea- two great tastes...
Got a work related call at ten this morning- an hour after I had gotten to bed after my 12 hour shift- that left me with a spiky stress ball in the back. So I guess I'm awake again.
I finished Hemingways "For Whom the Bell Tolls" AND "The Old Man and the Sea" which means I've read through all of the stuff I picked up to read from Hemingway. To close out this chapter of my life I plan on going next Tuesday to see that new Woody Allen movie with Owen Wilson about a writer who travels back to 1920's France and meets the expatriate crowd. I don't think there's anybody who's really in the same headspace with me that I could go see it with them.
Finding someone to go see Bad Teacher, on the other hand, will be easy.
For Whom the Bell Tolls ended up as probably my favourite of the Hemingway novels. Unlike "A Farewell to Arms" (I don't THINK I'm mixing up the books, but the titles are pretty unhelpful), his other war-novel, there's some actual war in this one. That seems like a plus to me, you know, truth in advertising and all that. This one also has a love story that sucks you in, like what was promised on the book jacket for "To Have and Have Not" but was a total lie there.
I had a really difficult time getting a handle on the characters- but that quickly became a strength of the book. The characters were nuanced and human. That said, if they'd described Pablo as having "beady, red rimmed eyes" from the start, it wouldn't have taken so long to know that he's sort of the villain of the piece.
Not that it took too long to figure out, but still. When he first showed up I pictured a young brute that wouldn't play much of a role, then it turned out he was relatively old, murderous, and a central figure to the story.
I loved Anselmo, the old man who took so quickly to Robert Jordan (the protagonist). Anselmo was a good, loyal man. There's a scene where he's on a position scouting what enemy troops pass by, and he's been told to stay put until someone comes to relieve him, but there's an unexpected snowstorm and he nearly freezes before Jordan comes for him. Anselmo kept telling himself that'd he'd leave after one more minute, that he couldn't be expected to stay in the snow, and he KEPT saying that until Robert Jordan showed up saying "you would've stayed here till you froze!"
And he definitely would have.
I'm slightly conflicted about the love story between Robert Jordan and Maria. They basically fall in love with each other at first sight, and Maria is the perfectly sweet, immediately subservient girl <- that's the part that's weird when read with a modern sensibility.
Originally I thought "Man, that Hemingway, what a romantic" with this love at first sight business, but with the characterization of Maria, as well as his four wives (I think Hemingway had four... maybe he didn't actually marry the last one or two...) I can't help but feel that this is ultimately reflective of a disregard for women. Though I understand he never really got over losing touch with his first wife. I figure Maria is Hemingway's stand in for the "perfect woman" and so she doesn't get as full a personality as the rest. She has her moments, but they are few and far between.
I recorded that on P. 289 Hemingway has fun with a famous Gertrude Stein-ism when he writes Robert Jordan as saying "an onion is an onion is an onion." This is interesting as I believe the two were feuding at this point- the book was released in 1940.
Because most of the book is written as if it was in spanish, there are certain weird phrases. Mostly just how the swearing comes across. Here's an awesome example from P. 444:
Anselmo shouted(,) "It is a scientific labour."
"I obscenity in the milk of science," Pilar raged to the gypsy.
I obscenity in the milk of science- that's classic, that's hilarious. I just wish there was an exclamation point after science. For science!
Hemingway has quite the preoccupation with death and downer endings- I think the saying is if you take any story far enough along, it becomes a tragedy- but I was nearing the end of the book, and Robert Jordan blew up the bridge, and was alive, and Maria was still alive too! I began to hope- maybe, MAYBE- there'd be a happy ending in this book! Robert and Maria, off to their dream hotel in Madrid!
So, spoilers, ten pages before the end Robert Jordan gets his leg broken, he's bleeding internally, and is resigned to death, sending Maria off with the words that "where she is, so to will I be" or something to that effect.
It feels lame (pardon the pun- or not) that they couldn't drag him to a doctor, or chop off his leg or soemthing, but maybe that's me expecting too much out of 1930's Spanish guerilla war medicine. Plus, the heavy heavy foreshadowing meant SOMETHING tragic had to happen. Plus, Hemingway is writing, so that's foreshadowing enough. I tell you, the man got cynical really young. Which is what happens when your father commits suicide (as did the character Robert Jordan's father- not for nothing are Hemingway's protagonists called author self insertions)
BUT close as they come to it, they don't actually end the book with Robert Jordan dying. He's alone, he's near death, he's been set up with a machine gun type thing to guard the rear as the enemy approaches, and the enemy has just arrived... THE END.
So really, the novel ends on a sort of mexican stand off, so you'll excuse me if I personally add to the story that Robert Jordan passed out before he could kill any of the enemy, he was discovered, recieved medical attention before interrogation, and then was freed or escaped or something to go find Maria and they live happily ever after.
Because- FINALLY. I mean, come on Ernest, give us something good in one of these books!
Actually, I spoke too soon. For all it's doom and gloom of catching great fish only to get it eaten away by sharks on the interminably long trip home, The Old Man and the Sea is pretty positive. Sure, Santiago (the Old Man) didn't succeed in bringing home the fish bacon, but he has the skeleton proof, and that's astonished and won the respect of the townspeople, AND Manolin (the Sea... no, I'm kidding, he's the boy, Santiago's only real friend) has decided to stand up to his parents and go back to fishing with the old man, which is more than Santiago could've hoped for really.
Yeah, the money would've been nice, but really he thought about the kid enough on the trip that it was clear he wanted him back. Mission complete.
Santiago is so endearing, with his hard work ethic and love of the great DiMaggio of the New York Yankees.
I wonder if "The Old Man and the Sea" was another step off into something of a different genre for Hemingway, it reads like children's literature. I say that because the style is substantially different from his other works, it's even more simple- and that's saying something, "short, declarative sentences" are the Hemingway claim to fame. But still, this feels different. And the only other time there was a significant difference in the feel of the style was in "The Torrents of Spring" when Hemingway was mimicing (fairly successfully too) the style of a Henry Fielding comedic novel- a genre shift.
Well, that's just a thought anyways.
Speaking of just a thought, let me wrap this up and maybe finally get some sleep- now my back is hurting from sitting in the chair here, but I'll gladly take that over what I had before.
I finished Hemingways "For Whom the Bell Tolls" AND "The Old Man and the Sea" which means I've read through all of the stuff I picked up to read from Hemingway. To close out this chapter of my life I plan on going next Tuesday to see that new Woody Allen movie with Owen Wilson about a writer who travels back to 1920's France and meets the expatriate crowd. I don't think there's anybody who's really in the same headspace with me that I could go see it with them.
Finding someone to go see Bad Teacher, on the other hand, will be easy.
For Whom the Bell Tolls ended up as probably my favourite of the Hemingway novels. Unlike "A Farewell to Arms" (I don't THINK I'm mixing up the books, but the titles are pretty unhelpful), his other war-novel, there's some actual war in this one. That seems like a plus to me, you know, truth in advertising and all that. This one also has a love story that sucks you in, like what was promised on the book jacket for "To Have and Have Not" but was a total lie there.
I had a really difficult time getting a handle on the characters- but that quickly became a strength of the book. The characters were nuanced and human. That said, if they'd described Pablo as having "beady, red rimmed eyes" from the start, it wouldn't have taken so long to know that he's sort of the villain of the piece.
Not that it took too long to figure out, but still. When he first showed up I pictured a young brute that wouldn't play much of a role, then it turned out he was relatively old, murderous, and a central figure to the story.
I loved Anselmo, the old man who took so quickly to Robert Jordan (the protagonist). Anselmo was a good, loyal man. There's a scene where he's on a position scouting what enemy troops pass by, and he's been told to stay put until someone comes to relieve him, but there's an unexpected snowstorm and he nearly freezes before Jordan comes for him. Anselmo kept telling himself that'd he'd leave after one more minute, that he couldn't be expected to stay in the snow, and he KEPT saying that until Robert Jordan showed up saying "you would've stayed here till you froze!"
And he definitely would have.
I'm slightly conflicted about the love story between Robert Jordan and Maria. They basically fall in love with each other at first sight, and Maria is the perfectly sweet, immediately subservient girl <- that's the part that's weird when read with a modern sensibility.
Originally I thought "Man, that Hemingway, what a romantic" with this love at first sight business, but with the characterization of Maria, as well as his four wives (I think Hemingway had four... maybe he didn't actually marry the last one or two...) I can't help but feel that this is ultimately reflective of a disregard for women. Though I understand he never really got over losing touch with his first wife. I figure Maria is Hemingway's stand in for the "perfect woman" and so she doesn't get as full a personality as the rest. She has her moments, but they are few and far between.
I recorded that on P. 289 Hemingway has fun with a famous Gertrude Stein-ism when he writes Robert Jordan as saying "an onion is an onion is an onion." This is interesting as I believe the two were feuding at this point- the book was released in 1940.
Because most of the book is written as if it was in spanish, there are certain weird phrases. Mostly just how the swearing comes across. Here's an awesome example from P. 444:
Anselmo shouted(,) "It is a scientific labour."
"I obscenity in the milk of science," Pilar raged to the gypsy.
I obscenity in the milk of science- that's classic, that's hilarious. I just wish there was an exclamation point after science. For science!
Hemingway has quite the preoccupation with death and downer endings- I think the saying is if you take any story far enough along, it becomes a tragedy- but I was nearing the end of the book, and Robert Jordan blew up the bridge, and was alive, and Maria was still alive too! I began to hope- maybe, MAYBE- there'd be a happy ending in this book! Robert and Maria, off to their dream hotel in Madrid!
So, spoilers, ten pages before the end Robert Jordan gets his leg broken, he's bleeding internally, and is resigned to death, sending Maria off with the words that "where she is, so to will I be" or something to that effect.
It feels lame (pardon the pun- or not) that they couldn't drag him to a doctor, or chop off his leg or soemthing, but maybe that's me expecting too much out of 1930's Spanish guerilla war medicine. Plus, the heavy heavy foreshadowing meant SOMETHING tragic had to happen. Plus, Hemingway is writing, so that's foreshadowing enough. I tell you, the man got cynical really young. Which is what happens when your father commits suicide (as did the character Robert Jordan's father- not for nothing are Hemingway's protagonists called author self insertions)
BUT close as they come to it, they don't actually end the book with Robert Jordan dying. He's alone, he's near death, he's been set up with a machine gun type thing to guard the rear as the enemy approaches, and the enemy has just arrived... THE END.
So really, the novel ends on a sort of mexican stand off, so you'll excuse me if I personally add to the story that Robert Jordan passed out before he could kill any of the enemy, he was discovered, recieved medical attention before interrogation, and then was freed or escaped or something to go find Maria and they live happily ever after.
Because- FINALLY. I mean, come on Ernest, give us something good in one of these books!
Actually, I spoke too soon. For all it's doom and gloom of catching great fish only to get it eaten away by sharks on the interminably long trip home, The Old Man and the Sea is pretty positive. Sure, Santiago (the Old Man) didn't succeed in bringing home the fish bacon, but he has the skeleton proof, and that's astonished and won the respect of the townspeople, AND Manolin (the Sea... no, I'm kidding, he's the boy, Santiago's only real friend) has decided to stand up to his parents and go back to fishing with the old man, which is more than Santiago could've hoped for really.
Yeah, the money would've been nice, but really he thought about the kid enough on the trip that it was clear he wanted him back. Mission complete.
Santiago is so endearing, with his hard work ethic and love of the great DiMaggio of the New York Yankees.
I wonder if "The Old Man and the Sea" was another step off into something of a different genre for Hemingway, it reads like children's literature. I say that because the style is substantially different from his other works, it's even more simple- and that's saying something, "short, declarative sentences" are the Hemingway claim to fame. But still, this feels different. And the only other time there was a significant difference in the feel of the style was in "The Torrents of Spring" when Hemingway was mimicing (fairly successfully too) the style of a Henry Fielding comedic novel- a genre shift.
Well, that's just a thought anyways.
Speaking of just a thought, let me wrap this up and maybe finally get some sleep- now my back is hurting from sitting in the chair here, but I'll gladly take that over what I had before.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Is it a "Reboot" or a "Relaunch"? Is there a difference? Part 2 ('cause I said there'd be a part 2) PLUS accidental Green Lantern review at the end
That's pretty rough- I've just been reading through ye olde message boards and various reviews about the Green Lantern movie- I should really write my own thoughts here BEFORE I go reading elsewhere. The greater cyber writing populace has pretty much covered all the bases- I liked the one guy that mentions he had a blast watching it with his 7 year old son who loved it. What more can you ask for? Maybe the movie was made for that little boy, so it was all worth it, bravo.
Especially worth it if that boy happens to pay $300 million for his movie ticket.
Sorry, I couldn't resist riffing off the Simpsons episode with Lisa creating a Malibu Stacy/Barbie style doll to inspire kids with good role models. Wait, there's no reason for me to explain that episode- everyone knows that episode, right?
Anyways, let me finish a thought from last time even though it's been better expressed elsewhere fifty times already.
To quote from my part 1:
"So (immediately following Crisis on Infinite Earths) was a reboot/relaunch (of the comic stories/characters), right?
It's treated as such, and it's easiest to describe it as such, but that's not really true. Much of the characters histories remained intact, with consequences still being felt in future comics from the events of countdown AND previous single stories. The NEW Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths was a character ever intertwined with his pre-crisis predecessor. Certain characters even specifically mention the previous universe (the Psycho Pirate- one of the best named characters ever). As much as certain creators and editors wanted a fresh start, all the stories still existed on a continuum.
This editorial assertion is important, because it keeps popping back up."
This editorial assertion is like playing action figures with someone else when you were little.
"BWOOSH AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Nuh-uh! It didn't even hit me! I dodged!"
"NO YOU DIDN'T!"
"Yes I did!"
"NO!"
"Yes!"
Until the two kids, in frustration, just hit each others toys together in a dastardly plot to hurt the other kid in his pride. And fingers.
Oh, right, what I'm saying is (I may have kind of failed at analogy just now. It's fine enough, but I could have skipped the whole thing I guess. Ah, what fun is that?)that by asserting that a certain story "starts everything over" they're trying to force the public to accept that there's a new start that everyone can go buy, and no one need ever be confused by previous stories, so just buy the new stuff. And that's an idea completely at odds with the reality of how word of mouth happens, and how people will introduce these characters to new people. Exactly as people discussed comic stuff after Crisis, explaining the complicated mess of Crisis, people will discuss the complicated mess of "random relaunch" but it's even MORE complicated because we're still explaining "Crisis", and now we'll be explaining this relaunch as well, because it doesn't all go away, it gets filed away. For later explaining.
And then we get the odd looks for taking forever talking about this stuff.
I'm really behind on my blog entries this month. I'll have to do a bunch soon. But that's all right, I've got little things I could talk about. I usually do.
And then sometimes I end up writing way more, for way longer than I expected, and it works out just fine. On account of seeing a higher word count makes me happier.
That's a good point, does this site supply me with a word count somewhere?
And you know I could probably set up a "hit counter" so I could see how often I visit my site! (That'd be lame)
I could ALSO probably do one of those things that tell me whenever a comment has been made, because as it stands I usually just scan down my last few posts after publishing, and that has on occasion revealed a really nice post reply that I would have missed.
Ah well. I wish they weren't making my comic stories into mere trial zones for new movie material... and then getting that material wrong when I would like to see the movie (Green Lantern).
Don't get me wrong, when I say "getting that material wrong" I'm not talking about cosmetic changes or various things they change for the films. I have no problem with collapsing redundant characters or story together for a film, for instance. My problem is when you have a perfectly good comic in front of you, a proven script and storyboard, and you can't make a good story appear onscreen.
Then again, there are plenty of bad comics that you wouldn't want to use as a blue print for your movie... where are the principles of "show don't tell"? Economy of information? The flow of the piece, the CRESCENDO at the end??
-There's so much exposition in Green Lantern it should be a crime.
-The comic book Parallax is a legitimately scary space bug thing, ala Men In Black. Why wasn't a godzilla sized space bug in this movie, crashing through buildings and stuff? Instead it was a generic cloudy thing that oozed around buildings (we don't have the budget to actually CGI destroy buildings...)
-The one villain, Hector Hammond, just screamed ALL the time. Like, five minutes after he was dead, he was still screaming.
-The Senator guy that was supposed to be Hammonds father just gave a bad performance. He sucked.
-Thematically it was all over the place. If they had to have Carol Ferris' father in the movie, then it's hard to get away from all this father talk- which opened the weekend of father's day this year- man, and then there was that review about the father and son seeing it together? Yeah, it'd have been awesome/better if they'd tightened up on the story, focusing on that aspect. Make it a character piece examining the different effects of the fathers of the main cast: Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Hector Hammond. Add in Abin Sur as a sort of surrogate father figure, or in fact any of the alien Green Lanterns that train Hal.
Heh, then they could have used Marlon Brando's Father/Son Superman speech again. They'd sure be getting their money's worth out of Brando.
I've definitely got to stop sucking and do some fiction work of my own, so I can stop complaining about other people doing terrible work. And maybe get a taste of my own critical medicine.
Well, that's good for now anyways.
Especially worth it if that boy happens to pay $300 million for his movie ticket.
Sorry, I couldn't resist riffing off the Simpsons episode with Lisa creating a Malibu Stacy/Barbie style doll to inspire kids with good role models. Wait, there's no reason for me to explain that episode- everyone knows that episode, right?
Anyways, let me finish a thought from last time even though it's been better expressed elsewhere fifty times already.
To quote from my part 1:
"So (immediately following Crisis on Infinite Earths) was a reboot/relaunch (of the comic stories/characters), right?
It's treated as such, and it's easiest to describe it as such, but that's not really true. Much of the characters histories remained intact, with consequences still being felt in future comics from the events of countdown AND previous single stories. The NEW Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths was a character ever intertwined with his pre-crisis predecessor. Certain characters even specifically mention the previous universe (the Psycho Pirate- one of the best named characters ever). As much as certain creators and editors wanted a fresh start, all the stories still existed on a continuum.
This editorial assertion is important, because it keeps popping back up."
This editorial assertion is like playing action figures with someone else when you were little.
"BWOOSH AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Nuh-uh! It didn't even hit me! I dodged!"
"NO YOU DIDN'T!"
"Yes I did!"
"NO!"
"Yes!"
Until the two kids, in frustration, just hit each others toys together in a dastardly plot to hurt the other kid in his pride. And fingers.
Oh, right, what I'm saying is (I may have kind of failed at analogy just now. It's fine enough, but I could have skipped the whole thing I guess. Ah, what fun is that?)that by asserting that a certain story "starts everything over" they're trying to force the public to accept that there's a new start that everyone can go buy, and no one need ever be confused by previous stories, so just buy the new stuff. And that's an idea completely at odds with the reality of how word of mouth happens, and how people will introduce these characters to new people. Exactly as people discussed comic stuff after Crisis, explaining the complicated mess of Crisis, people will discuss the complicated mess of "random relaunch" but it's even MORE complicated because we're still explaining "Crisis", and now we'll be explaining this relaunch as well, because it doesn't all go away, it gets filed away. For later explaining.
And then we get the odd looks for taking forever talking about this stuff.
I'm really behind on my blog entries this month. I'll have to do a bunch soon. But that's all right, I've got little things I could talk about. I usually do.
And then sometimes I end up writing way more, for way longer than I expected, and it works out just fine. On account of seeing a higher word count makes me happier.
That's a good point, does this site supply me with a word count somewhere?
And you know I could probably set up a "hit counter" so I could see how often I visit my site! (That'd be lame)
I could ALSO probably do one of those things that tell me whenever a comment has been made, because as it stands I usually just scan down my last few posts after publishing, and that has on occasion revealed a really nice post reply that I would have missed.
Ah well. I wish they weren't making my comic stories into mere trial zones for new movie material... and then getting that material wrong when I would like to see the movie (Green Lantern).
Don't get me wrong, when I say "getting that material wrong" I'm not talking about cosmetic changes or various things they change for the films. I have no problem with collapsing redundant characters or story together for a film, for instance. My problem is when you have a perfectly good comic in front of you, a proven script and storyboard, and you can't make a good story appear onscreen.
Then again, there are plenty of bad comics that you wouldn't want to use as a blue print for your movie... where are the principles of "show don't tell"? Economy of information? The flow of the piece, the CRESCENDO at the end??
-There's so much exposition in Green Lantern it should be a crime.
-The comic book Parallax is a legitimately scary space bug thing, ala Men In Black. Why wasn't a godzilla sized space bug in this movie, crashing through buildings and stuff? Instead it was a generic cloudy thing that oozed around buildings (we don't have the budget to actually CGI destroy buildings...)
-The one villain, Hector Hammond, just screamed ALL the time. Like, five minutes after he was dead, he was still screaming.
-The Senator guy that was supposed to be Hammonds father just gave a bad performance. He sucked.
-Thematically it was all over the place. If they had to have Carol Ferris' father in the movie, then it's hard to get away from all this father talk- which opened the weekend of father's day this year- man, and then there was that review about the father and son seeing it together? Yeah, it'd have been awesome/better if they'd tightened up on the story, focusing on that aspect. Make it a character piece examining the different effects of the fathers of the main cast: Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Hector Hammond. Add in Abin Sur as a sort of surrogate father figure, or in fact any of the alien Green Lanterns that train Hal.
Heh, then they could have used Marlon Brando's Father/Son Superman speech again. They'd sure be getting their money's worth out of Brando.
I've definitely got to stop sucking and do some fiction work of my own, so I can stop complaining about other people doing terrible work. And maybe get a taste of my own critical medicine.
Well, that's good for now anyways.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
That other time of year
I'm pretty sure I'm behind on posts this month, but I have time to catch up. I still have to do part 2 to my previous post, not that I've sat down and decided what I was going to write, haven't had the time for that, PLUS the subject matter, about the September comic relaunch/renumbering/rebooting over at DC has been so exhaustively discussed (surprisingly well, in fact, over at newsarama.com- MAYBE I should check out those comic/film/pop culture web sites more often... probably not) that I'm almost certainly treading through old ground.
I don't have a lot of time, I'm thankfully working today, so I need to get to bed, but I wanted to take a moment to post something about my mom. It's now three years since she died, though it naturally doesn't feel like that long at all.
You know she loved Die Hard? It was weird, mom's got this thing about action flicks- Die Hard, Bad Boys, and the Lethal Weapons. I haven't even seen the movies from the last two series... anyway, that was always surprising to me. She was wary of the violence in Power Rangers, she wasn't always sure about some of those comics of mine (they were ALL Spidey, and all really tame), but every once in a while I'd hear about how she loved those movies.
It was probably all due to Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson.
Well, sure- I love Bruce Willis! Who doesn't?
And she was nuts about Jane Austen, she tore through all her books several times, but what was cool about that one is that she'd apparently never read any of them before I had my Romantics class and went "hey mom, I think you'd really like Pride and Prejudice, it's great..."
I just like that that was one of those times when I GOT it. When I made that right call- yes, that goes with that person (I've posted before about how deflating it is when you get it wrong).
Anyways, this is pretty sad, so I'm going to go sleep until 3:30, then go to work. The daily grind and all that.
I don't have a lot of time, I'm thankfully working today, so I need to get to bed, but I wanted to take a moment to post something about my mom. It's now three years since she died, though it naturally doesn't feel like that long at all.
You know she loved Die Hard? It was weird, mom's got this thing about action flicks- Die Hard, Bad Boys, and the Lethal Weapons. I haven't even seen the movies from the last two series... anyway, that was always surprising to me. She was wary of the violence in Power Rangers, she wasn't always sure about some of those comics of mine (they were ALL Spidey, and all really tame), but every once in a while I'd hear about how she loved those movies.
It was probably all due to Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson.
Well, sure- I love Bruce Willis! Who doesn't?
And she was nuts about Jane Austen, she tore through all her books several times, but what was cool about that one is that she'd apparently never read any of them before I had my Romantics class and went "hey mom, I think you'd really like Pride and Prejudice, it's great..."
I just like that that was one of those times when I GOT it. When I made that right call- yes, that goes with that person (I've posted before about how deflating it is when you get it wrong).
Anyways, this is pretty sad, so I'm going to go sleep until 3:30, then go to work. The daily grind and all that.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Is it a "Reboot" or a "Relaunch"? Is there a difference? Part 1 (whoah- a multi-parter!!)
Probably made a miscalculation on this one. Have stayed up through the night (though that was a given- by necessity I am a vampire now. Like, a cool one.) so I could go pick up my books right when my comic book store opens, then come home and go to bed. As opposed to sleeping, getting up, then going to pick them up, but get slowed down by sudden torrential rain and hail, then power outage, then major intersection with no working street lights (effected by power outage I guess)--
wait, this was crazy. Drivers were nearly killing themselves at this wild west intersection, and a block away there were two cops (unless it was just one and my eyes played a trick on me) standing at a bit of road construction with already clearly marked pylons and stuff.
Whatbutwhat- GUYS! Right down there! The lights, the danger!!
Anyway, I got to my store, and it looks like they closed up shop early. There goes my ten percent discount for arriving on the Wednesday. Ah well. I bought myself some blueberries.
So instead of reading or going to the gym (I toyed with the idea of going this morning to increase my chances of running into that girl that signed me up for the place) but I'm just way too tired at this time of day, it's not working people.
I spent the night discovering a) Penny Arcade has a forum (I was already AWARE of this fact, but I didn't KNOW it, as I do now) and b) Penny Arcade has a pretty dedicated mainstream comics forum.
So I've been reading opinions on the announced DC comics reboot ("don't call it a reboot!" they say. Hmm, no, I think I'll call a reboot a reboot.) for September. One guy posted this amazing video that I've since thrown onto other peoples facebook page due to hilarity. I wish my speakers worked so I could here it, but I can already imagine what it sounds like: unintelligible german (unintelligble german to ME that is) that kinda sorta synchs up with the subtitles.
You've gotta check it out:
Alright, well, I haven't really gotten my thoughts in order on the subject, but I guess I'm here now, so lets jump in and talk about this.
Ah, wait, I guess I'll speak to the uninformed and start at the beginning, while also being generic. Maybe I'll use 'X' and 'Y' as placeholder variables as I like to do sometimes!
So in the 30's comics started, and stories kinda built on each other, but everything was pretty loose because, hey, comics are junk entertainment for kids.
Then the 50's happened, and this guy Frederic Wertham convinced people that comics were immoral and would make kids immoral. This led to a lot of self imposed restrictions on comics (the Comics Code Authority), and it's generally agreed upon that these restrictions, coupled with the passing of the Nazis as a relevant and easily identifiable punching bag ("Hey, so what should we have on this cover?" "How about X punching out Hitler?" "That's swell, Harv, but he's been dead for like five years now.")... actually, I should say, coupled with the growing complexity of the world- it's not so much that they lost the nazis, but that no other group moved in to visibly take its place, but with that air of dread remaining.
Anyways, the super hero comics market SHRANK. As far as I'm aware only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman made it through this period.
(Huh, I wonder if The Spirit counts as a super hero, and whether he made it. It seems likely that Eisner may have simply moved on by that time, I find it hard to believe that The Spirit wouldn't always be published so long as Eisner wanted to publish it. But then again, that's coming froma guy that is ever amazed by Eisner's story telling ability, even though I've read relatively little of his work.)
I'm afraid I can't think of the spark that started this next bit, but the powers that be wanted to make a new Flash comic, but they didn't want to have the same old guy from the 30's-40's, they made a character that spoke to modern sensibilites.
Was this a "reboot" or "relaunch" of the Flash series? Definitely not- they kept the same numbering, and referenced the original Flash as having been a fictional comic that this new, hip Flash himself read... before something like twenty issues passed and Flash travelled through dimensions to find out those old comic stories WERE true.
Stories happened, building on each other, and a tapestry is woven.
Finally in 1985 "Crisis On Infinite Earths" happened. In story, universes were destroyed, history was re-written, and again characters were re-introduced as hip and with appeal to modern sensibilites. Superman even got renumbered- a brand new #1 issue.
So THIS was a reboot/relaunch, right?
It's treated as such, and it's easiest to describe it as such, but that's not really true. Much of the characters histories remained intact, with consequences still being felt in future comics from the events of countdown AND previous single stories. The NEW Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths was a character ever intertwined with his pre-crisis predecessor. Certain characters even specifically mention the previous universe (the Psycho Pirate- one of the best named characters ever). As much as certain creators and editors wanted a fresh start, all the stories still existed on a continuum.
This editorial assertion is important, because it keeps popping back up.
The methodology behind the changes during Crisis on Infinite Earths, reboot or no, deserves a mention here.
If it bristled readers that Supergirl died and was no longer appearing in the comic stories (at least, as the Maid of Might, Cousin from Krypton) at least they got to see her go out BIG. I don't think any of the characters that "died" during Crisis went out as anything other than inspirational heroes- even throw away, "created-for-the-purpose-of-dying-during-Crisis" Kole got an heroic end, such that I seem to remember reading the writer regretting that she had to leave at all!
That, and given the impending "reboot" (I'll use the term for simplicities sake) Alan Moore was allowed to write a "final" Superman story. As a farewell to all that had happened in comics to that point (of course by now I do mean DC Comics) it allowed an era to end with dignity and perhaps few regrets.
The acclaim of Crisis On Infinite Earths has solidified it as THE principal turning point in how comics are produced today- where stand alone stories had been the norm, the "event" book was now the comic companies rule, not the exception.
Aping the success of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marvel produced "The Secret Wars", and "Secret Wars II", and this past decade I think one was called "Secret War" (I'm being harsh, Marvel's got a bunch that have neither "Secret" nor "War" in their title)
DC had Invasion, Zero Hour, Armageddon 2001 (think that was made in 1991 to talk about the distant future of 2001), Our Worlds At War, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis (plus, yes, others besides).
Everything is geared toward the long form story, raising the stakes of the game: with previous methodology if one issue performed poorly, what of it? Next month we'll do better. But a long form event means a months long commitment.
Hmm I really like that last paragarph, but it doesn't seem to fit in with the point I'm getting at, no matter how I turn things around in my head. It's a fair point, but if this were a professional essay I'd definitely have to erase it. Seeing as this ISN'T a professional essay, please do mentally jump that paragraph (and this paragraph explaining the whole thing) and we'll see if I can get back on track.
Started a sentence here, but I am beginning to get tired, I may have to leave this as a to be continued thing...
wait, this was crazy. Drivers were nearly killing themselves at this wild west intersection, and a block away there were two cops (unless it was just one and my eyes played a trick on me) standing at a bit of road construction with already clearly marked pylons and stuff.
Whatbutwhat- GUYS! Right down there! The lights, the danger!!
Anyway, I got to my store, and it looks like they closed up shop early. There goes my ten percent discount for arriving on the Wednesday. Ah well. I bought myself some blueberries.
So instead of reading or going to the gym (I toyed with the idea of going this morning to increase my chances of running into that girl that signed me up for the place) but I'm just way too tired at this time of day, it's not working people.
I spent the night discovering a) Penny Arcade has a forum (I was already AWARE of this fact, but I didn't KNOW it, as I do now) and b) Penny Arcade has a pretty dedicated mainstream comics forum.
So I've been reading opinions on the announced DC comics reboot ("don't call it a reboot!" they say. Hmm, no, I think I'll call a reboot a reboot.) for September. One guy posted this amazing video that I've since thrown onto other peoples facebook page due to hilarity. I wish my speakers worked so I could here it, but I can already imagine what it sounds like: unintelligible german (unintelligble german to ME that is) that kinda sorta synchs up with the subtitles.
You've gotta check it out:
Alright, well, I haven't really gotten my thoughts in order on the subject, but I guess I'm here now, so lets jump in and talk about this.
Ah, wait, I guess I'll speak to the uninformed and start at the beginning, while also being generic. Maybe I'll use 'X' and 'Y' as placeholder variables as I like to do sometimes!
So in the 30's comics started, and stories kinda built on each other, but everything was pretty loose because, hey, comics are junk entertainment for kids.
Then the 50's happened, and this guy Frederic Wertham convinced people that comics were immoral and would make kids immoral. This led to a lot of self imposed restrictions on comics (the Comics Code Authority), and it's generally agreed upon that these restrictions, coupled with the passing of the Nazis as a relevant and easily identifiable punching bag ("Hey, so what should we have on this cover?" "How about X punching out Hitler?" "That's swell, Harv, but he's been dead for like five years now.")... actually, I should say, coupled with the growing complexity of the world- it's not so much that they lost the nazis, but that no other group moved in to visibly take its place, but with that air of dread remaining.
Anyways, the super hero comics market SHRANK. As far as I'm aware only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman made it through this period.
(Huh, I wonder if The Spirit counts as a super hero, and whether he made it. It seems likely that Eisner may have simply moved on by that time, I find it hard to believe that The Spirit wouldn't always be published so long as Eisner wanted to publish it. But then again, that's coming froma guy that is ever amazed by Eisner's story telling ability, even though I've read relatively little of his work.)
I'm afraid I can't think of the spark that started this next bit, but the powers that be wanted to make a new Flash comic, but they didn't want to have the same old guy from the 30's-40's, they made a character that spoke to modern sensibilites.
Was this a "reboot" or "relaunch" of the Flash series? Definitely not- they kept the same numbering, and referenced the original Flash as having been a fictional comic that this new, hip Flash himself read... before something like twenty issues passed and Flash travelled through dimensions to find out those old comic stories WERE true.
Stories happened, building on each other, and a tapestry is woven.
Finally in 1985 "Crisis On Infinite Earths" happened. In story, universes were destroyed, history was re-written, and again characters were re-introduced as hip and with appeal to modern sensibilites. Superman even got renumbered- a brand new #1 issue.
So THIS was a reboot/relaunch, right?
It's treated as such, and it's easiest to describe it as such, but that's not really true. Much of the characters histories remained intact, with consequences still being felt in future comics from the events of countdown AND previous single stories. The NEW Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths was a character ever intertwined with his pre-crisis predecessor. Certain characters even specifically mention the previous universe (the Psycho Pirate- one of the best named characters ever). As much as certain creators and editors wanted a fresh start, all the stories still existed on a continuum.
This editorial assertion is important, because it keeps popping back up.
The methodology behind the changes during Crisis on Infinite Earths, reboot or no, deserves a mention here.
If it bristled readers that Supergirl died and was no longer appearing in the comic stories (at least, as the Maid of Might, Cousin from Krypton) at least they got to see her go out BIG. I don't think any of the characters that "died" during Crisis went out as anything other than inspirational heroes- even throw away, "created-for-the-purpose-of-dying-during-Crisis" Kole got an heroic end, such that I seem to remember reading the writer regretting that she had to leave at all!
That, and given the impending "reboot" (I'll use the term for simplicities sake) Alan Moore was allowed to write a "final" Superman story. As a farewell to all that had happened in comics to that point (of course by now I do mean DC Comics) it allowed an era to end with dignity and perhaps few regrets.
The acclaim of Crisis On Infinite Earths has solidified it as THE principal turning point in how comics are produced today- where stand alone stories had been the norm, the "event" book was now the comic companies rule, not the exception.
Aping the success of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marvel produced "The Secret Wars", and "Secret Wars II", and this past decade I think one was called "Secret War" (I'm being harsh, Marvel's got a bunch that have neither "Secret" nor "War" in their title)
DC had Invasion, Zero Hour, Armageddon 2001 (think that was made in 1991 to talk about the distant future of 2001), Our Worlds At War, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis (plus, yes, others besides).
Everything is geared toward the long form story, raising the stakes of the game: with previous methodology if one issue performed poorly, what of it? Next month we'll do better. But a long form event means a months long commitment.
Hmm I really like that last paragarph, but it doesn't seem to fit in with the point I'm getting at, no matter how I turn things around in my head. It's a fair point, but if this were a professional essay I'd definitely have to erase it. Seeing as this ISN'T a professional essay, please do mentally jump that paragraph (and this paragraph explaining the whole thing) and we'll see if I can get back on track.
Started a sentence here, but I am beginning to get tired, I may have to leave this as a to be continued thing...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Night and Day
Hrr one of those mornings I guess. Agreed to do a bunch of extra work writing down essentially mini training manuals at work. Which isn't something I want to do.
One of those mornings where you kinda want a smile, a hug, and a "you're the best".
One of those few people I met during my university time was on the chat this morning, I hesitated before saying good morning. Got hit back with a
'hey hey
sorry cant talk just running to class
last week of MAster's program
at queen's
nice of u to drop me a line
write me a brief what is going on with you
very curious what's been going on with your life.'
I guess I forgot how weird it is to talk to this girl of the beautiful people, with her trips to Cuba and Italy, with her perfectly toned friends (guys and girls), and her eyes ever glued to the prize.
Man, I'm just trying to survive each day. My long term plans are on the back burner for the moment.
It's actually funny, whenever I have talked to this girl she's very solution oriented. Taking what I've said, and solving it: "you need to do this and this and this". A very masculine feature, one I'm careful not to fall into with other people who talk to me, though I have slipped up from time to time.
This as a girl I had very little to offer. Except my joking-ness, she did think I was funny.
Yeah, yeah- but looks aren't everything.
Hrm. Will just take a second, make a facebook group for Green Lantern movie watching, then go to bed.
Night.
One of those mornings where you kinda want a smile, a hug, and a "you're the best".
One of those few people I met during my university time was on the chat this morning, I hesitated before saying good morning. Got hit back with a
'hey hey
sorry cant talk just running to class
last week of MAster's program
at queen's
nice of u to drop me a line
write me a brief what is going on with you
very curious what's been going on with your life.'
I guess I forgot how weird it is to talk to this girl of the beautiful people, with her trips to Cuba and Italy, with her perfectly toned friends (guys and girls), and her eyes ever glued to the prize.
Man, I'm just trying to survive each day. My long term plans are on the back burner for the moment.
It's actually funny, whenever I have talked to this girl she's very solution oriented. Taking what I've said, and solving it: "you need to do this and this and this". A very masculine feature, one I'm careful not to fall into with other people who talk to me, though I have slipped up from time to time.
This as a girl I had very little to offer. Except my joking-ness, she did think I was funny.
Yeah, yeah- but looks aren't everything.
Hrm. Will just take a second, make a facebook group for Green Lantern movie watching, then go to bed.
Night.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Kristen Wiig was NOT named Stella
Feeling pretty tired, so I'm planning on turning in early (4am).
But I'm behind on the whole posting thing, well, not too much, but I've gotta get started.
Just got back from a great evening out, it was a lot of fun.
I went to see Bridesmaids last Tuesday (wait, Isaac, you just got home from watching X-Men, and you're going to talk about Bridesmaids? Yes. Yes I am.) and it was pretty bad. My buddy and I were in agreement on the not liking-ness of it, so that's good.
Part of it was the crowd, a huge mass that forced us onto the theatres periphery (by which I mean like the second or third row from the screen), laughing at anything way too long- we both would have preferred some subtitles at points, because the story was moving ahead while the audience was still focusing on whatever slight gag just happened.
One woman was amazing though. Behind us, when Kristen Wiig's character met the guy she was obviously going to go out with, the woman behind us loudly tells her friend (or maybe she was talking to herself, I never looked back to check) "Ooh, she's gonna be with that guy and she don't even know."
I said to my friend "whoah, did you hear that? This woman is amazing- she knows what's going to happen!"
We had a bunch of fun at that mysterious voices expense.
There were too many bridesmaids for a proper focus to justify their presence in the film. Erin from the Office and Reno 911 woman (I apparently don't know names) could easily have been cut from the picture, a few gags would have been lost, but the overall film would have been much tighter.
When the bride is losing it at the end, she says it's due to Helen's taking everything over, running up the expenses beyond what her father could pay for, the natural worries over taking that big marriage step and of course there's the distance that had been created between herself and her life long friend Kristen Wiig's character.
Kristen and the bride make up then, and yes that'll go a long way to solving most of those problems, but the very real issue of the expense of the wedding is ignored for the remainder of the film (not counting the surprise appearance of the brides favourite band and the father deadpans "I'm not paying for that!"). Not only do they ignore the financial problems of the father, but Kristen Wiig's character had also been struggling with money all through the film, but there she is, a bridesmaid once again, wearing the same dress as all the other bridesmaids. Where'd the money for that come from?
Wiig's characters money troubles were a big focus in the film; from cheaping out on the personal trainer (jumping in on someones outdoor class), pointing the other ladies in the direction of the cheaper (i.e. affordable) bridesmaids dress (which is NOT the dress everyone is wearing at the end), constant worries about rent until she has to move back with her mother, and then freaking out about paying for air fare to Vegas- so it strikes me as wrong that this was never addressed.
The very end where Kristen Wiig leaves the wedding after telling Helen that, despite her being a stressful nightmare and the villain of the movie, it was nice to meet her, and she gets picked up by the nice guy who had been mad at her for never returning his calls- just kind of happens.
Nice to meet you Helen. *Hug* Oh, hey, it's the man of my dreams. The End.
It's very disjointed from the rest of the picture, no narrative flow that fits with what has come before, and especially no rhyme nor reason for "hug-to-man".
What would have been better would be a quick line from Helen to Kristen saying "I called that guy for you" then turn and THERE is the man of her dreams. Thanks Helen! maybe you're not so bad after all!
But an even BETTER ending would have been hug Helen, okay, all good, but then Kristen Wiig has to go out and find that man of her dreams herself. She alienated him, she clearly hadn't done anything YET to warrant the guys return, otherwise he'd be back already (and this is also the high point of the movie, the reward for the protagonist at the end). Rather Kristen Wiig should have driven along the highway where her policeman love interest is always stationed, parked in front of him, gotten out of the car, picked up a bat, and smashed out her brake lights.
It was her broken brake lights that first brought these two together, it was the police guy that got those lights fixed free of charge. Those taillights are the tangible evidence of the idea that Wiig was using policeguy for quick companionship, versus a real relationship. Being willing to sacrifice them is a fair price to pay to make up with the guy. And then they could turn on the sappy music- The End.
(But I gotta say, when police guy tried to make Kristen Wiig's character bake, after she'd already told him how she wasn't into it, I thought that was super insensitive of him, and I thought she had every right to be mad and leave the area. Still, she did like the guy, so maybe on his tenth voice message she could have responded and skipped all the hardships later on.- But the movie needs those bits of hardship later anyway, so it's all good on that front.)
Ugh, it's 4:30, this is longer than I was planning on staying up writing. I just got into things and now here I am.
By the way, it looks like the moral of the story is "women aren't happy unless they're in the kitchen where they belong" - Hey, don't look at me, it was the movie that made Kristen Wiig's character a failed baker who thought she could never bake again... until she got her groove back. Maybe Kristen Wiig's character was named Stella.
But I'm behind on the whole posting thing, well, not too much, but I've gotta get started.
Just got back from a great evening out, it was a lot of fun.
I went to see Bridesmaids last Tuesday (wait, Isaac, you just got home from watching X-Men, and you're going to talk about Bridesmaids? Yes. Yes I am.) and it was pretty bad. My buddy and I were in agreement on the not liking-ness of it, so that's good.
Part of it was the crowd, a huge mass that forced us onto the theatres periphery (by which I mean like the second or third row from the screen), laughing at anything way too long- we both would have preferred some subtitles at points, because the story was moving ahead while the audience was still focusing on whatever slight gag just happened.
One woman was amazing though. Behind us, when Kristen Wiig's character met the guy she was obviously going to go out with, the woman behind us loudly tells her friend (or maybe she was talking to herself, I never looked back to check) "Ooh, she's gonna be with that guy and she don't even know."
I said to my friend "whoah, did you hear that? This woman is amazing- she knows what's going to happen!"
We had a bunch of fun at that mysterious voices expense.
There were too many bridesmaids for a proper focus to justify their presence in the film. Erin from the Office and Reno 911 woman (I apparently don't know names) could easily have been cut from the picture, a few gags would have been lost, but the overall film would have been much tighter.
When the bride is losing it at the end, she says it's due to Helen's taking everything over, running up the expenses beyond what her father could pay for, the natural worries over taking that big marriage step and of course there's the distance that had been created between herself and her life long friend Kristen Wiig's character.
Kristen and the bride make up then, and yes that'll go a long way to solving most of those problems, but the very real issue of the expense of the wedding is ignored for the remainder of the film (not counting the surprise appearance of the brides favourite band and the father deadpans "I'm not paying for that!"). Not only do they ignore the financial problems of the father, but Kristen Wiig's character had also been struggling with money all through the film, but there she is, a bridesmaid once again, wearing the same dress as all the other bridesmaids. Where'd the money for that come from?
Wiig's characters money troubles were a big focus in the film; from cheaping out on the personal trainer (jumping in on someones outdoor class), pointing the other ladies in the direction of the cheaper (i.e. affordable) bridesmaids dress (which is NOT the dress everyone is wearing at the end), constant worries about rent until she has to move back with her mother, and then freaking out about paying for air fare to Vegas- so it strikes me as wrong that this was never addressed.
The very end where Kristen Wiig leaves the wedding after telling Helen that, despite her being a stressful nightmare and the villain of the movie, it was nice to meet her, and she gets picked up by the nice guy who had been mad at her for never returning his calls- just kind of happens.
Nice to meet you Helen. *Hug* Oh, hey, it's the man of my dreams. The End.
It's very disjointed from the rest of the picture, no narrative flow that fits with what has come before, and especially no rhyme nor reason for "hug-to-man".
What would have been better would be a quick line from Helen to Kristen saying "I called that guy for you" then turn and THERE is the man of her dreams. Thanks Helen! maybe you're not so bad after all!
But an even BETTER ending would have been hug Helen, okay, all good, but then Kristen Wiig has to go out and find that man of her dreams herself. She alienated him, she clearly hadn't done anything YET to warrant the guys return, otherwise he'd be back already (and this is also the high point of the movie, the reward for the protagonist at the end). Rather Kristen Wiig should have driven along the highway where her policeman love interest is always stationed, parked in front of him, gotten out of the car, picked up a bat, and smashed out her brake lights.
It was her broken brake lights that first brought these two together, it was the police guy that got those lights fixed free of charge. Those taillights are the tangible evidence of the idea that Wiig was using policeguy for quick companionship, versus a real relationship. Being willing to sacrifice them is a fair price to pay to make up with the guy. And then they could turn on the sappy music- The End.
(But I gotta say, when police guy tried to make Kristen Wiig's character bake, after she'd already told him how she wasn't into it, I thought that was super insensitive of him, and I thought she had every right to be mad and leave the area. Still, she did like the guy, so maybe on his tenth voice message she could have responded and skipped all the hardships later on.- But the movie needs those bits of hardship later anyway, so it's all good on that front.)
Ugh, it's 4:30, this is longer than I was planning on staying up writing. I just got into things and now here I am.
By the way, it looks like the moral of the story is "women aren't happy unless they're in the kitchen where they belong" - Hey, don't look at me, it was the movie that made Kristen Wiig's character a failed baker who thought she could never bake again... until she got her groove back. Maybe Kristen Wiig's character was named Stella.
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