And the last horse crosses the finish line.
The Wednesday before last I went to see Senna at the "Bloor Hot Docs Theatre", which I had to be told is what they're calling the Bloor Cinema now after its renovation. I guess they're only showing documentaries now? It's all good, you have to see documentaries somewhere, and the place looks really nice.
I told my buddy Jimmy that I was going to see Senna and he was surprised that I'd be into a racing movie. The next day I saw him at the Comedy Bar and was able to explain better: "It's a documentary about a real life Speed Racer!"
"Ah- that's all you had to say."
It was a very foreign world I was getting a glimpse into. Not only was it the 80's, which I remember mostly from the cartoons I watched, less so the real world conditions, but also it's the F1 racing business, the movers and shakers of that world at the time. It's a great story they were able to piece together, but that's the advantage of twenty years, getting to see how things play out, getting time to piece together that story.
And you need that time to do that. Everyone is trying to define their story in the right now- and, sure, they'll never be particularly objective about their own story- but how many of us are trying to make romances out of impending tragedies, be heroes when we're villains, etc. etc. whatever.
I should say more about my conversation with Jimmy that day, but I've spent most of today working on getting my arbitrary number up. So let's just finish it here and pretend like I've done something with my day.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Gone Baby Gone- I didn't talk about this already, did I?
I've just woken up from this weird and terrible dream that I keep thinking I'm waking up from. I'm being chased by this backwards militant "church of the brotherhood" that have this one washed up but still physically threatening bounty hunter type guy who's chasing after me, all the while it's being broadcast as a sort of reality show that portrays events like I'm some criminal mastermind and my pursuer is an angel of justice. The theme song is some kind of Team America constant yelling, that's just catchy enough that I can remember it. They were trying to vapourize me with the sun at the end just now.
Man that was freaky.
Uh, well, let's see, what else- did I tell you about "Gone Baby Gone"? It's Ben Affleck's directorial debut starring his brother Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan (sp?) as two private investigators/lovers that get hired to find a kidnapped girl, a job they initially refuse to take because they know the odds of success in these cases are slim, and they don't want that kind of failure haunting them.
I went into the film knowing absolutely nothing about the picture, so it took some time before I realized "...it's a DETECTIVE STORY!" albeit with a very fresh faced protagonist.
That realization became a big deal when at the end Casey's character has a choice: to do the lawful thing, or to do the murkier, maybe more right thing. His girlfriend threatens to leave him if he does the lawful thing. What's he going to do? If it was me, I'd probably go with the latter option, but again, DETECTIVE STORY, where the world weary heroes never choose the option their heart is screaming at them to go with. They solve cases with their guts, then sort through the pieces with their heads, and he does the exact same thing here.
Interestingly, the movie is based on a book series written by the uh, Mystic Water guy? In that series' last book they team up with (uh SPOILERS) the little girl that got rescued here and returned to her negligent mother, and she's clearly the worse for the heroes choice, the mother even saying that it was the wrong decision.
So I picked up the first book of the series at the old library, I'll have to give it a read.
Man that was freaky.
Uh, well, let's see, what else- did I tell you about "Gone Baby Gone"? It's Ben Affleck's directorial debut starring his brother Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan (sp?) as two private investigators/lovers that get hired to find a kidnapped girl, a job they initially refuse to take because they know the odds of success in these cases are slim, and they don't want that kind of failure haunting them.
I went into the film knowing absolutely nothing about the picture, so it took some time before I realized "...it's a DETECTIVE STORY!" albeit with a very fresh faced protagonist.
That realization became a big deal when at the end Casey's character has a choice: to do the lawful thing, or to do the murkier, maybe more right thing. His girlfriend threatens to leave him if he does the lawful thing. What's he going to do? If it was me, I'd probably go with the latter option, but again, DETECTIVE STORY, where the world weary heroes never choose the option their heart is screaming at them to go with. They solve cases with their guts, then sort through the pieces with their heads, and he does the exact same thing here.
Interestingly, the movie is based on a book series written by the uh, Mystic Water guy? In that series' last book they team up with (uh SPOILERS) the little girl that got rescued here and returned to her negligent mother, and she's clearly the worse for the heroes choice, the mother even saying that it was the wrong decision.
So I picked up the first book of the series at the old library, I'll have to give it a read.
Kieron Gillen says:
With 10 hours and 45 minutes to go until July starts up, I've still got some work to do, entry wise. I'm pleased with what I've got so far, I expected to cheat far more than I have, with much shorter, lamer posts, but instead they've been overall decent.
Time to change that so I can sleep for a bit before coming back to finish things off.
The following is a nearly totally out of context comment for you, it's Kieron Gillen talking about his work writing comic issues that tie in with bigger crossovers. This is important given that his tie ins have been universally considered "good" where most tie ins are... horribad.
The acronyms used: JIM refers to the book Journey into Mystery, which I really should be buying, and FI is Fear Itself, a crossover even that sounded terrible, and I'm told was terrible.
Here's the link I was directed to to read this bit: http://mindlessones.com/2012/06/12/silence-17/#comments
and here's, well, I guess I'll restrict myself to the last, main comment by Gillen:
"Kieron Gillen Says:
June 14th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Man, this is going to end up wanky. JIM covers its wankiness with gags most the time, and this is unsheathed. UNSHEATHED WANKY WORDS.
James Moore: You make your themes dovetail with the themes of the crossovers, basically. It’s probably most visible with Uncanny. I knew before I started we’d be heading to AvX, so with that as a major climax, I planned appropriately. The story is about the X-men’s increasing militancy, estrangement with governments, etc, because telling any other story is going to lead to that story being derailed.
(Which is fine, because that’s a theme I’m interested in. I’ve said that the Student riots were a major influence on the Uncanny run before, etc.)
With JIM, I had the issue-to-issue breakdown of FI before I started, and dovetailed all my plotting to act as counterpoint to the main themes (often by explicitly undermining them to render extra complexity). As its own entity, that JIM is a political book driven by a bunch of ironies means that it’s a suitable structure to work with to intro what I want to talk about.
The cost is that since I made FI so key – those 10 issues would be about a third of the whole run – FI remains important right to the final panel. So JIM is easy to ignore because they think it should be shrugging off the shroud of FI (or so they say, because they didn’t like it). That’s the problem with the novelistic intent is the holistic structure of it.
I try to serve both masters. I want people to be able to pick up my crossover books knowing they can read them without the core book, because I know many readers aren’t into crossovers. But I also want to add meaningfully to the experience of the people who *do* come for the crossover.
Pragmaticism. You’re never going to get 26 issues to do your Animal Man by your lonesome in 2012.
In short: Crossovers are a known. You make them work for you, as much as you can. And really? If you actually take any crossover seriously, they make fantastic backdrops for stories.
amypoodle: I certainly respect the opinion – and you pick up on the more awkward parts of the book – but it’s one enough reviewers have disagreed with to make me feel my intent at least worked for some. The comment “Reading JIM improves FI considerably, but works entirely without it” was something that turned up in almost all the early positive press. Thor’s release is the main awkward jump, but it kinda works as an intro to JIM’s odd caption-prose compress/decompress mode of storytelling. If you squint.
The usual metaphor I use is that JIM is the equivalent of a film about the Enigma Code and Fear Itself is WW2. You don’t need to know about Hitler’s rise to power to watch a film about Enigma. For JIM, “power threatening Asgard” is enough to be getting on with.
It’s Pop Sandman in the MU. That does mean it has to be in the MU, and such, we have to explain its setting (As much as you’d have to explain a bit of the French Legal System for a book about French Lawyers). C’est la vie, etc.
I’m not sure why I’m ending any statement with “etc”."
***
I like this guy. I wasn't nuts about his Phonogram book, but that's because I wasn't the audience. It was for fans of 90's British pop music and lovers of magic/wizard business, so I'm neither. Fair enough.
Time to change that so I can sleep for a bit before coming back to finish things off.
The following is a nearly totally out of context comment for you, it's Kieron Gillen talking about his work writing comic issues that tie in with bigger crossovers. This is important given that his tie ins have been universally considered "good" where most tie ins are... horribad.
The acronyms used: JIM refers to the book Journey into Mystery, which I really should be buying, and FI is Fear Itself, a crossover even that sounded terrible, and I'm told was terrible.
Here's the link I was directed to to read this bit: http://mindlessones.com/2012/06/12/silence-17/#comments
and here's, well, I guess I'll restrict myself to the last, main comment by Gillen:
"Kieron Gillen Says:
June 14th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Man, this is going to end up wanky. JIM covers its wankiness with gags most the time, and this is unsheathed. UNSHEATHED WANKY WORDS.
James Moore: You make your themes dovetail with the themes of the crossovers, basically. It’s probably most visible with Uncanny. I knew before I started we’d be heading to AvX, so with that as a major climax, I planned appropriately. The story is about the X-men’s increasing militancy, estrangement with governments, etc, because telling any other story is going to lead to that story being derailed.
(Which is fine, because that’s a theme I’m interested in. I’ve said that the Student riots were a major influence on the Uncanny run before, etc.)
With JIM, I had the issue-to-issue breakdown of FI before I started, and dovetailed all my plotting to act as counterpoint to the main themes (often by explicitly undermining them to render extra complexity). As its own entity, that JIM is a political book driven by a bunch of ironies means that it’s a suitable structure to work with to intro what I want to talk about.
The cost is that since I made FI so key – those 10 issues would be about a third of the whole run – FI remains important right to the final panel. So JIM is easy to ignore because they think it should be shrugging off the shroud of FI (or so they say, because they didn’t like it). That’s the problem with the novelistic intent is the holistic structure of it.
I try to serve both masters. I want people to be able to pick up my crossover books knowing they can read them without the core book, because I know many readers aren’t into crossovers. But I also want to add meaningfully to the experience of the people who *do* come for the crossover.
Pragmaticism. You’re never going to get 26 issues to do your Animal Man by your lonesome in 2012.
In short: Crossovers are a known. You make them work for you, as much as you can. And really? If you actually take any crossover seriously, they make fantastic backdrops for stories.
amypoodle: I certainly respect the opinion – and you pick up on the more awkward parts of the book – but it’s one enough reviewers have disagreed with to make me feel my intent at least worked for some. The comment “Reading JIM improves FI considerably, but works entirely without it” was something that turned up in almost all the early positive press. Thor’s release is the main awkward jump, but it kinda works as an intro to JIM’s odd caption-prose compress/decompress mode of storytelling. If you squint.
The usual metaphor I use is that JIM is the equivalent of a film about the Enigma Code and Fear Itself is WW2. You don’t need to know about Hitler’s rise to power to watch a film about Enigma. For JIM, “power threatening Asgard” is enough to be getting on with.
It’s Pop Sandman in the MU. That does mean it has to be in the MU, and such, we have to explain its setting (As much as you’d have to explain a bit of the French Legal System for a book about French Lawyers). C’est la vie, etc.
I’m not sure why I’m ending any statement with “etc”."
***
I like this guy. I wasn't nuts about his Phonogram book, but that's because I wasn't the audience. It was for fans of 90's British pop music and lovers of magic/wizard business, so I'm neither. Fair enough.
Robinson Crusoe
Yet another entry in my collection of classic fiction: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
It's one of those stories that everyone thinks they already know, guy gets shipwrecked, survives on an island, gets a buddy he names Friday, and presumably there are monkey butlers.
While all that certainly does happen (excepting the monkey butlers), and it is the lions share of the narrative, there's actually a whole other adventure beforehand. Crusoe, on an earlier voyage, gets kidnapped and made a slave for three years before he manages to escape on his masters fishing barge (it's a super nice boat that was exceptionally well provisioned even before Crusoe snuck on extra stuff before escaping, so I call it 'barge', regardless of whether that's the right term or not.) and all the while he's escaping in that boat, any change in the weather had me asking "is this it? Is he about to be hopelessly shipwrecked on an island with only these provisions to sustain him?" and then he makes it safely back to civilization.
What?
Then he goes on to own a semi successful plantation in, wait, Brasil? I think it's Brasil, specifically NOT "Brazil", I guess this is in Spain? I forget.
Later he's convinced to go on another voyage, and here is where he gets shipwrecked- finally!
We get to follow the steps undertaken for Crusoe to survive, detailing the what he needed and made for himself, but losing out on exactly how he does it. Not to suggest some flight of fancy on Defoe's part, more like the steps to making X are so natural that it would have seemed silly to write them out for the modern audience of 1719. That's my guess anyways.
You know the guy was stuck on the island for about 30 years (assuming, again, that I'm remembering the number from the book right)? You sure didn't expect that from the Swiss Family Robinson- which I barely registered anything of when I was little, but they were probably the ones with monkey butlers.
The ending had a pretty clever bit of pirate out-smarting, well, they were mutineers more than pirates, but it's all the same to me. Defoe isn't likely to argue with me. But then after this end of action the story goes on to follow what Crusoe does back in civilization, ending with a mention that he went on ANOTHER exciting voyage, and that he'll tell us about it sometime, maybe. That's right, Robinson Crusoe ends with a sequel hook! It's the Back to the Future of classic literary endings.
It's one of those stories that everyone thinks they already know, guy gets shipwrecked, survives on an island, gets a buddy he names Friday, and presumably there are monkey butlers.
While all that certainly does happen (excepting the monkey butlers), and it is the lions share of the narrative, there's actually a whole other adventure beforehand. Crusoe, on an earlier voyage, gets kidnapped and made a slave for three years before he manages to escape on his masters fishing barge (it's a super nice boat that was exceptionally well provisioned even before Crusoe snuck on extra stuff before escaping, so I call it 'barge', regardless of whether that's the right term or not.) and all the while he's escaping in that boat, any change in the weather had me asking "is this it? Is he about to be hopelessly shipwrecked on an island with only these provisions to sustain him?" and then he makes it safely back to civilization.
What?
Then he goes on to own a semi successful plantation in, wait, Brasil? I think it's Brasil, specifically NOT "Brazil", I guess this is in Spain? I forget.
Later he's convinced to go on another voyage, and here is where he gets shipwrecked- finally!
We get to follow the steps undertaken for Crusoe to survive, detailing the what he needed and made for himself, but losing out on exactly how he does it. Not to suggest some flight of fancy on Defoe's part, more like the steps to making X are so natural that it would have seemed silly to write them out for the modern audience of 1719. That's my guess anyways.
You know the guy was stuck on the island for about 30 years (assuming, again, that I'm remembering the number from the book right)? You sure didn't expect that from the Swiss Family Robinson- which I barely registered anything of when I was little, but they were probably the ones with monkey butlers.
The ending had a pretty clever bit of pirate out-smarting, well, they were mutineers more than pirates, but it's all the same to me. Defoe isn't likely to argue with me. But then after this end of action the story goes on to follow what Crusoe does back in civilization, ending with a mention that he went on ANOTHER exciting voyage, and that he'll tell us about it sometime, maybe. That's right, Robinson Crusoe ends with a sequel hook! It's the Back to the Future of classic literary endings.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Did you go see this outlandish gem? Well, it's pretty awesome. They do a good job of keeping the action going all throughout, and whenever there isn't any action you naturally get carried through whatever is currently on screen by the fact that it's Abraham Lincoln on screen. That guy has taken on huge levels of memetic awesomeness, making it a joy to see him in whatever.
Thanks Bill and Ted, by the way.
I was a little let down by how hard it looked for the guy to fight even a single vampire, especially in the beginning. I know for the sake of conflict and menace each fight needs that element of danger, but I think they took it a little too far. Take that with a grain of salt though, as you're listening to a guy who wasn't going to be a 100% satisfied until he saw a scene that was Lincoln, alone on the field at Gettysburg, surrounded by thousands of vampires, and he'd be killing hundreds at a time with the shockwave of his mighty swing alone.
I really expected that. Like I said, Lincolns awesomeness levels have been raised to the extreme, so my expectations go just that much higher.
Word of warning some more: the director is, apparently, the same guy that did Wanted- so clearly the slow-mo bullet time stuff is a trademark of his (uh, I think, I didn't actually see Wanted). Yeah, if you hate slow motion bits, prepare to hate this movie. There's a ton of it.
And there's one fight scene that takes place in the middle of a stampede of horses. An infinite number of horses. It's crazy how long that fight lasted, but crazier still how the see of horses never let up. Someone needed to tell the CGI guy to lay off on that one. Less is more.
("Less is more? How can less be more than infinity??"- The CGI guy)
My brother and I agree that the one dramatic bit, where Mrs. Lincoln (I'm not sure if I'm remembering her maiden name, or the name of her actress, so Mrs. L it is) is hitting Abe, crying over the loss of her son to the vampire menace, went on too long. Again, less is more. Plus having it go on so long really messed with the tone of the film, it so obviously didn't fit in the awesome President Kills Vampires movie.
Oh, also? An entire movie about vampire hunting, not ONE wooden stake through a vampires heart! I know!! And the final fight takes place in the midst of a collapsing train bridge, there're wooden planks everywhere, and Lincoln has had his silver axe broken in front of him. I admit his use of the silver pocket watch to punch into the head vampire was boss, and hey, if it works it works, but seriously, there was so much stake material there!
It was fun, but there are plenty of other movies to check out.
Thanks Bill and Ted, by the way.
I was a little let down by how hard it looked for the guy to fight even a single vampire, especially in the beginning. I know for the sake of conflict and menace each fight needs that element of danger, but I think they took it a little too far. Take that with a grain of salt though, as you're listening to a guy who wasn't going to be a 100% satisfied until he saw a scene that was Lincoln, alone on the field at Gettysburg, surrounded by thousands of vampires, and he'd be killing hundreds at a time with the shockwave of his mighty swing alone.
I really expected that. Like I said, Lincolns awesomeness levels have been raised to the extreme, so my expectations go just that much higher.
Word of warning some more: the director is, apparently, the same guy that did Wanted- so clearly the slow-mo bullet time stuff is a trademark of his (uh, I think, I didn't actually see Wanted). Yeah, if you hate slow motion bits, prepare to hate this movie. There's a ton of it.
And there's one fight scene that takes place in the middle of a stampede of horses. An infinite number of horses. It's crazy how long that fight lasted, but crazier still how the see of horses never let up. Someone needed to tell the CGI guy to lay off on that one. Less is more.
("Less is more? How can less be more than infinity??"- The CGI guy)
My brother and I agree that the one dramatic bit, where Mrs. Lincoln (I'm not sure if I'm remembering her maiden name, or the name of her actress, so Mrs. L it is) is hitting Abe, crying over the loss of her son to the vampire menace, went on too long. Again, less is more. Plus having it go on so long really messed with the tone of the film, it so obviously didn't fit in the awesome President Kills Vampires movie.
Oh, also? An entire movie about vampire hunting, not ONE wooden stake through a vampires heart! I know!! And the final fight takes place in the midst of a collapsing train bridge, there're wooden planks everywhere, and Lincoln has had his silver axe broken in front of him. I admit his use of the silver pocket watch to punch into the head vampire was boss, and hey, if it works it works, but seriously, there was so much stake material there!
It was fun, but there are plenty of other movies to check out.
Ted
Been a while since I've gotten to type, in my bed, with a handy internet connection, and without needing to pay attention to any doors or alarms or whatever.
I went to see Ted today, though I probably shouldn't have, just because by the time I got up to go out the door I would have been too late, so I took a cab down there. So that's $40 for cab + movie, $7 for the cheese burger at "Burger Priest", and $15 for the sprite, pineapple dessert thing, and my share of nachos at this place by Dupont and Dufferin "Kitsch". Aye aye aye, $62 for an evening out... and half of that, again, was the cab.
It's hard to wake up!
Ah, it was good to see my pal Josh at the movie, it's fine.
Ted was good. I'm not that big on Family Guy; the characters generally aren't sympathetic and the jump cuts to random events that kill time until the story needs to be gotten to are generally useless.
Yes, I see that I've used generally twice in that last sentence. I should change that.-editor, me
But neither of those things mean I don't think Seth MacFarlane is talented, because the guy sure is. He's absorbed plenty of the stylistic tropes necessary to tell any kind of story, or, if he wants to, to meta-narratively comment on those same tropes. As far as story telling goes, that's his biggest strength. Besides that, he's obviously a walking time capsule for the 80's, so that's hugely appealing for nostalgia purposes.
As far as vocal talents go, I think they speak for themself (see what I did? vocal talents "speak" for themself? Ah, whatever).
And then there's his talent for networking. The cameo factor for this guy is unbelievable. The big one in Ted? Flash Gordon from, I guess, an 80's Flash Gordon show, complete with the rocking theme song.
I thought they could have made the tension between Kunis' character and Ted more apparent at the beginning, when it did appear it sort of came out of nowhere, and as a result I figured Kunis would turn out to be the antagonist. Nope! She saves the day! So, that could have been handled a bit better.
On the other hand, kudos for the portrayal of the man-child that was Mark Wahlberg's character. At the very beginning of the movie when he's late for work he says "it's not my fault" and is asked why, and Wahlberg responds with "I didn't think there'd be a follow up question."
Good for a one off joke, right? Well, yes, but that was actually the earliest example of the core flaw of the protagonist- his inability to take responsibility for his own actions. The examples of this flaw get more glaring as the movie goes on, only by virtue of how often they come up, not through some huge cartoonish bumbling that he has to try and get out of. It's a ramping up of the action, until the character must either acknowledge his flaw and overcome it, or fail. It's a surprisingly real problem, I think realistically portrayed.
I'm just glad that it wasn't the guys sense of humour that was getting torn down by his girlfriend. He's allowed to like the things he likes, but he needs to be responsible and own up to his mistakes. I like it.
All that said, there were a bunch of fart jokes where I was like "oh, sorry, going by the row behind me I guess I'm supposed to be laughing now. My bad."
Whatever, I recommend it.
I went to see Ted today, though I probably shouldn't have, just because by the time I got up to go out the door I would have been too late, so I took a cab down there. So that's $40 for cab + movie, $7 for the cheese burger at "Burger Priest", and $15 for the sprite, pineapple dessert thing, and my share of nachos at this place by Dupont and Dufferin "Kitsch". Aye aye aye, $62 for an evening out... and half of that, again, was the cab.
It's hard to wake up!
Ah, it was good to see my pal Josh at the movie, it's fine.
Ted was good. I'm not that big on Family Guy; the characters generally aren't sympathetic and the jump cuts to random events that kill time until the story needs to be gotten to are generally useless.
Yes, I see that I've used generally twice in that last sentence. I should change that.-editor, me
But neither of those things mean I don't think Seth MacFarlane is talented, because the guy sure is. He's absorbed plenty of the stylistic tropes necessary to tell any kind of story, or, if he wants to, to meta-narratively comment on those same tropes. As far as story telling goes, that's his biggest strength. Besides that, he's obviously a walking time capsule for the 80's, so that's hugely appealing for nostalgia purposes.
As far as vocal talents go, I think they speak for themself (see what I did? vocal talents "speak" for themself? Ah, whatever).
And then there's his talent for networking. The cameo factor for this guy is unbelievable. The big one in Ted? Flash Gordon from, I guess, an 80's Flash Gordon show, complete with the rocking theme song.
I thought they could have made the tension between Kunis' character and Ted more apparent at the beginning, when it did appear it sort of came out of nowhere, and as a result I figured Kunis would turn out to be the antagonist. Nope! She saves the day! So, that could have been handled a bit better.
On the other hand, kudos for the portrayal of the man-child that was Mark Wahlberg's character. At the very beginning of the movie when he's late for work he says "it's not my fault" and is asked why, and Wahlberg responds with "I didn't think there'd be a follow up question."
Good for a one off joke, right? Well, yes, but that was actually the earliest example of the core flaw of the protagonist- his inability to take responsibility for his own actions. The examples of this flaw get more glaring as the movie goes on, only by virtue of how often they come up, not through some huge cartoonish bumbling that he has to try and get out of. It's a ramping up of the action, until the character must either acknowledge his flaw and overcome it, or fail. It's a surprisingly real problem, I think realistically portrayed.
I'm just glad that it wasn't the guys sense of humour that was getting torn down by his girlfriend. He's allowed to like the things he likes, but he needs to be responsible and own up to his mistakes. I like it.
All that said, there were a bunch of fart jokes where I was like "oh, sorry, going by the row behind me I guess I'm supposed to be laughing now. My bad."
Whatever, I recommend it.
Friday, June 29, 2012
The Friday Before Last
Ah, I needed that. Air conditioning and Psych.
I was getting really on edge today. My plans for tomorrow (now today) have maybe fallen through, and I got reminded of something I was supposed to do a long time ago, so that makes me feel crummy (it's the kind of thing where you just WANT to avoid responsibility for, but know that you'd like yourself even less for doing so. Consequences for my actions are forthcoming I'm sure.). Before I get to really complaining about work stuff, let's switch it up a bit.
Two weeks ago, on a Friday very much like this one, I went to the Comedy Bar at a friends invitation to go support his comedy troop. True, true, it's less "Hey, Isaac, let's hang!" and more "We need people who will unconditionally vote for us!" But whatever. In case you haven't learned, if I'm invited out, I really do my best to make it out. Because beggars can't be choosers.
I should interject at this point that I'd read in the A.V. Club paper that a friend of mine was performing that evening, and so before I got the mass text inviting me to the Comedy Bar, and before I'd decided to just be at home and chill out, I was considering going to that concert. Okay, that's almost all the info you need.
I got there slightly late, but had only missed some of the first sketch groups performance (they ended with a send up of Moby Dick which I really dug). I was forced to stand at the very back, where there was still a bit of competition for prime wall space. So, since I got decent wall space, I... won?
The second team was my friends troop maybe (like it matters if I'm remembering it right- this is why there's no such thing as non-fiction!) and who should I see in it, but the guy that I fully expected to be out preparing for a concert somewhere else, again, as advertised in the A.V. Club paper.
I asked about it afterwards, and the answer to the mystery is that this guy has just that many hats. He disappeared after their performance to go join up with his band. Man, that guy is talented and super cool and funny. Pretty hipstery though so I don't know... I guess it balances out.
Afterwards I got to ditch out with the guy that textvited me, inadvertently ditching a later show that had my pals in the troop "Jape" perform. I sure felt bad about that when I left them in want of friend votes!
So my buddy, his two friends from work go to this terrible place, the name of which I currently forget, but the service was the worst. We had a ball. I mostly chatted with the lone gal of the group, who's into roller-dirby, which is pretty cool I think.
Once again, I've come up on numbers of posts completed that I said I'd complete in a night. Both times I've mostly just typed them out on the bus ride home. It's apparently way easier to type on the bus ride home. And here's my bus stop.
I was getting really on edge today. My plans for tomorrow (now today) have maybe fallen through, and I got reminded of something I was supposed to do a long time ago, so that makes me feel crummy (it's the kind of thing where you just WANT to avoid responsibility for, but know that you'd like yourself even less for doing so. Consequences for my actions are forthcoming I'm sure.). Before I get to really complaining about work stuff, let's switch it up a bit.
Two weeks ago, on a Friday very much like this one, I went to the Comedy Bar at a friends invitation to go support his comedy troop. True, true, it's less "Hey, Isaac, let's hang!" and more "We need people who will unconditionally vote for us!" But whatever. In case you haven't learned, if I'm invited out, I really do my best to make it out. Because beggars can't be choosers.
I should interject at this point that I'd read in the A.V. Club paper that a friend of mine was performing that evening, and so before I got the mass text inviting me to the Comedy Bar, and before I'd decided to just be at home and chill out, I was considering going to that concert. Okay, that's almost all the info you need.
I got there slightly late, but had only missed some of the first sketch groups performance (they ended with a send up of Moby Dick which I really dug). I was forced to stand at the very back, where there was still a bit of competition for prime wall space. So, since I got decent wall space, I... won?
The second team was my friends troop maybe (like it matters if I'm remembering it right- this is why there's no such thing as non-fiction!) and who should I see in it, but the guy that I fully expected to be out preparing for a concert somewhere else, again, as advertised in the A.V. Club paper.
I asked about it afterwards, and the answer to the mystery is that this guy has just that many hats. He disappeared after their performance to go join up with his band. Man, that guy is talented and super cool and funny. Pretty hipstery though so I don't know... I guess it balances out.
Afterwards I got to ditch out with the guy that textvited me, inadvertently ditching a later show that had my pals in the troop "Jape" perform. I sure felt bad about that when I left them in want of friend votes!
So my buddy, his two friends from work go to this terrible place, the name of which I currently forget, but the service was the worst. We had a ball. I mostly chatted with the lone gal of the group, who's into roller-dirby, which is pretty cool I think.
Once again, I've come up on numbers of posts completed that I said I'd complete in a night. Both times I've mostly just typed them out on the bus ride home. It's apparently way easier to type on the bus ride home. And here's my bus stop.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Moral Quandary
One of the problems with writing here is the lack of internet access, meaning no dictionary.com, which is how I check my spelling and usage of stuff (words). I'm inconvenienced by the lack of spellcheck on my laptop, but again, I'd rather the dictionary.com. That's way better than always having a computer question whether or not I'm spelling "Spider-Man" right.
(Yes, I'm vaguely aware that I could add words to the acceptable usage database or whatever.)
Anyway, to get to the subject.
When I was working last weekend (likely Saturday), this guy knocks at the window beside me, wanting to get in. It's three in the morning, he's drunk- but at least I have seen him before, I know that he lives in the building, though this rap-rap-rapping is the first we've ever communicated.
I let him in, and all he wants to do is leave his music equipment here in the lobby as he hops back in the cab to go back to wherever he was just now. He lost his keys, his bag, his phone.
Did you want to call your phone?
Don't have the number.
Honest mistake.
So he leaves and I'm in charge of his stuff in the lobby for a good 40+ minutes. I really considered doing my patrol the second he left, just a quick run through, but with music stuff being as expensive as it is, I didn't want to take the chance. But I also had to go pee, and that was starting to build up.
Happily, my buddy from the townholmes, possibly drunk, definitely exhausted, stood watch while I did my patrol and take care of business.
(I was slowing down/getting sleepy, but I put on the second episode of Psych and am now happy as a clam. But my writing efficiency has taken a huge hit. Pretty sure I misspelled "efficiency" just now...)
(Man, I love this show. How is it that NO ONE has heard of it but me? This is what happens when you air on uh, well, some American channel we don't get up here. Which, really, is quite a trick for us Canucks.)
Okay, a couple of hours later and I'm back. Just on the, what, 34 York Mills bus? Had to run for it, but I'm almost back on schedule for getting home. Not so much for my writing. You know I was SUPPOSED to do three entries tonight. One good one will have to do, and I'll catch up later some more.
So anyways, the guy finally comes back, sans keys. Couldn't find them. So he asks if I have the key to let him into his apartment. No, I don't. The superintendant does, but there are two problems with that. The first is that it's 4am and he'll be asleep. The second is that even if it's 8pm the guy would give me a hard tme about getting him for this type of job.
It never fails, if I call him about this sort of thing "but man, what would you do if I wasn't there?"
"That's academic, you are here now."
"But what if I WASN'T?"
Basically the guy would rather we call the locksmith in these situations. It doesn't matter that it would take two minutes and the people that this happens to are already having a rough night, no, let's slap on that $100 for the locksmith (wish I was kidding about that price).
Needless to say, I find this reluctance to help a brother out annoying.
So, when prompted, I admit that the super can open the door, but I CERTAINLY don't helpfully suggest I wake the guy up with a call. Instead I suggest the locksmith. There's no answer at the 24hr locksmith, so I set the guy up in the library with his stuff and tell him I'll keep trying. He THANKS me.
I finally reach the locksmith, learn about the $100 (I had an inkling about the amount, but I as hoping I was crazy), but find out the guy was scheduled to come to the building at 10pm already, and it's be an hour and a half anyways if we did make the call for him to come now.
So $100 to wait an hour and a half, or wait 5 hours and get the job free (not counting getting the super if you're lucky two hours earlier maybe). It wasn't my call, but if it was, no question I'd wait.
Well, it was close, but he decided to wait too. I said I'd give a shout when I left at 6am, and I gave a weak one, but I didn't really want to wake the guy, he was so out of it, he needed the rest.
When I saw him the next day, again he thanked me for the help. My "help" of not getting the super, or whatever.
I did, technically, help the super by letting him sleep, and I did, technically, help the guy find a place to chill and hook him up with the locksmith (eventually) but was I more worried about getting a lecture from the super and maybe getting this guy into his own bed?
So yeah. The moral of the story is I hate it when people lose their keys, drunkenly or otherwise.
(Yes, I'm vaguely aware that I could add words to the acceptable usage database or whatever.)
Anyway, to get to the subject.
When I was working last weekend (likely Saturday), this guy knocks at the window beside me, wanting to get in. It's three in the morning, he's drunk- but at least I have seen him before, I know that he lives in the building, though this rap-rap-rapping is the first we've ever communicated.
I let him in, and all he wants to do is leave his music equipment here in the lobby as he hops back in the cab to go back to wherever he was just now. He lost his keys, his bag, his phone.
Did you want to call your phone?
Don't have the number.
Honest mistake.
So he leaves and I'm in charge of his stuff in the lobby for a good 40+ minutes. I really considered doing my patrol the second he left, just a quick run through, but with music stuff being as expensive as it is, I didn't want to take the chance. But I also had to go pee, and that was starting to build up.
Happily, my buddy from the townholmes, possibly drunk, definitely exhausted, stood watch while I did my patrol and take care of business.
(I was slowing down/getting sleepy, but I put on the second episode of Psych and am now happy as a clam. But my writing efficiency has taken a huge hit. Pretty sure I misspelled "efficiency" just now...)
(Man, I love this show. How is it that NO ONE has heard of it but me? This is what happens when you air on uh, well, some American channel we don't get up here. Which, really, is quite a trick for us Canucks.)
Okay, a couple of hours later and I'm back. Just on the, what, 34 York Mills bus? Had to run for it, but I'm almost back on schedule for getting home. Not so much for my writing. You know I was SUPPOSED to do three entries tonight. One good one will have to do, and I'll catch up later some more.
So anyways, the guy finally comes back, sans keys. Couldn't find them. So he asks if I have the key to let him into his apartment. No, I don't. The superintendant does, but there are two problems with that. The first is that it's 4am and he'll be asleep. The second is that even if it's 8pm the guy would give me a hard tme about getting him for this type of job.
It never fails, if I call him about this sort of thing "but man, what would you do if I wasn't there?"
"That's academic, you are here now."
"But what if I WASN'T?"
Basically the guy would rather we call the locksmith in these situations. It doesn't matter that it would take two minutes and the people that this happens to are already having a rough night, no, let's slap on that $100 for the locksmith (wish I was kidding about that price).
Needless to say, I find this reluctance to help a brother out annoying.
So, when prompted, I admit that the super can open the door, but I CERTAINLY don't helpfully suggest I wake the guy up with a call. Instead I suggest the locksmith. There's no answer at the 24hr locksmith, so I set the guy up in the library with his stuff and tell him I'll keep trying. He THANKS me.
I finally reach the locksmith, learn about the $100 (I had an inkling about the amount, but I as hoping I was crazy), but find out the guy was scheduled to come to the building at 10pm already, and it's be an hour and a half anyways if we did make the call for him to come now.
So $100 to wait an hour and a half, or wait 5 hours and get the job free (not counting getting the super if you're lucky two hours earlier maybe). It wasn't my call, but if it was, no question I'd wait.
Well, it was close, but he decided to wait too. I said I'd give a shout when I left at 6am, and I gave a weak one, but I didn't really want to wake the guy, he was so out of it, he needed the rest.
When I saw him the next day, again he thanked me for the help. My "help" of not getting the super, or whatever.
I did, technically, help the super by letting him sleep, and I did, technically, help the guy find a place to chill and hook him up with the locksmith (eventually) but was I more worried about getting a lecture from the super and maybe getting this guy into his own bed?
So yeah. The moral of the story is I hate it when people lose their keys, drunkenly or otherwise.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Lowered Standards for posting (same as always)
I am horrendously behind on my blogging. This is obvious. I'm going to have to really cheap out on my posts to reach my arbitrary-yet-OCD-required number of posts.
Shouldn't be a huge problem though. If you lower your standards, kids, ANYTHING is possible!
(Case in point: Wanna see me fly? *Jumps* Wanna see it again?)
And this is all the more shameful because there's bunches of stuff I'd like to bring up, movies I've seen, book I've read (I'm sorry! I'm uncultured!), socializings I've socialized (I said recently that I'd been up to a lot of socializing lately, and my buddy responded "if you still call it socializing, then no you haven't" which I thought was both hilarious and probably true.)
Uh, that may be all the categories.
In the meantime though, since I don't want to get stuck here forever, and should get breakfast or something and maybe DO SOMETHING with my day (I mean before my plans at 6 to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!!) then I should leave off now.
But before I do, I can post a comment I made to, once again, http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.ca/ , this time regarding the article on the composition of the first page to the Detective Comics story "The Laughing Fish" (one of the all time greats), but mostly my comment was about Batman: Year One THE MOVIE.
...
Except I control copied the web address to http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.ca/ OVER the comment I had control copied, so it's now lost to the ages until it gets approved to be visible over there. Whoops. So yeah, I guess I'm done here.
Shouldn't be a huge problem though. If you lower your standards, kids, ANYTHING is possible!
(Case in point: Wanna see me fly? *Jumps* Wanna see it again?)
And this is all the more shameful because there's bunches of stuff I'd like to bring up, movies I've seen, book I've read (I'm sorry! I'm uncultured!), socializings I've socialized (I said recently that I'd been up to a lot of socializing lately, and my buddy responded "if you still call it socializing, then no you haven't" which I thought was both hilarious and probably true.)
Uh, that may be all the categories.
In the meantime though, since I don't want to get stuck here forever, and should get breakfast or something and maybe DO SOMETHING with my day (I mean before my plans at 6 to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!!) then I should leave off now.
But before I do, I can post a comment I made to, once again, http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.ca/ , this time regarding the article on the composition of the first page to the Detective Comics story "The Laughing Fish" (one of the all time greats), but mostly my comment was about Batman: Year One THE MOVIE.
...
Except I control copied the web address to http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.ca/ OVER the comment I had control copied, so it's now lost to the ages until it gets approved to be visible over there. Whoops. So yeah, I guess I'm done here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
What I'm trying to say is, Signs sucks
I'm in the process of watching the movie "Signs"- you know the Mel Gibson/Shamalamala movie? (There's no way I'm taking the time to look up the spelling of that guys name... okay, fine, if the credits are going to shove it in my face that way: "Shyamalan"). It's kinda sucky, hopefully I'd still think that even if my mind hadn't been poisoned by the Nostalgia Critics scathing review. It's not like I was in any great shakes to see this thing, it just so happens to be one of the movies I got loaned. There is a hugely redeeming factor to this movie though: little baby Abigail Breslin is so cute! Ridiculously cute.
This movie should have been 40 minutes tops. And I'd be embarassed if I'd written this dialogue.
I could totally write something this completely lacking in conflict, but I don't think even I could write this dialogue.
Actually, cut a bit differently I bet this'd be a good comedy.
We've just past the anniversary of mom's dying. I didn't head over to the cemetary with the others, I didn't want to wallow in this date. I'd rather not have an official time every year that's just designated "sad". Besides, not a day goes by that I don't think of her, so I'm hardly heartless. I was hoping I'd be working during this period, avoid things that way. But I was free. I filled my time with new friends, a comedy show, a birthday party, a trivia night, it was a full weekend, I had a good time. I did need to mention something here though, if not here, then where?
This movie should have been 40 minutes tops. And I'd be embarassed if I'd written this dialogue.
I could totally write something this completely lacking in conflict, but I don't think even I could write this dialogue.
Actually, cut a bit differently I bet this'd be a good comedy.
We've just past the anniversary of mom's dying. I didn't head over to the cemetary with the others, I didn't want to wallow in this date. I'd rather not have an official time every year that's just designated "sad". Besides, not a day goes by that I don't think of her, so I'm hardly heartless. I was hoping I'd be working during this period, avoid things that way. But I was free. I filled my time with new friends, a comedy show, a birthday party, a trivia night, it was a full weekend, I had a good time. I did need to mention something here though, if not here, then where?
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Spider-Man a Torturer?: Desensitized, or buried under fantasy?
I wrote a comment to this blog (http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.ca/2012/05/why-i-loathe-and-despise-spider-man.html) that ended up pretty long, and seeing as I'm on blogger anyway, I may as well post it here for the sake of an entry.
Hopefully I haven't said anything too offensive, but time will tell.
My comment:
Whew, that's a lot of comments!
Colin, I was all set to (semi)disagree with you, until this particular comment of yours cleared things up for me:
"My problem isn't even with the particular changes shown happening to Peter here. My problem is that Parker is shown behaving in a way that I believe to be evil, and yet that behaviour is depicted as being quite the opposite."
See, I couldn't help but equate the actions of Spider-Man in this story with all the run of the mill uses of terror and violence that the ol' Web-Head has resorted to in the past to coerce some plot forwarding piece of information out of someone (classic example: going on a joyride, swinging madcap several stories through the air, with some thug in tow. The thug expresses his great distress, Spidey quips he should get over it, and we laugh about the whole thing.), and for that reason I couldn't see what was so problematic about THIS depiction that warranted such a strong response.
But you're quite right, as portrayed here, torture is indeed being glorified to ridiculous extremes. Notice the degree to which Silver is all over Spidey in this book? Does that mean I can get a gorgeous super-spy/mercenary to fall in love with me if I torture someone for the good of my country? Where do I sign up???
In my example of gravity defying thug abuse, consequences are entirely ignored, but it can be argued that the circumstances of ignoring the consequences are justified because of the accent on the fantastic portrayed here. No one in the real world could interrogate like that, it's not immitatable, and is, therefore, just comics silliness. It takes that extra effort to see any real world parallels, and for that I'm glad, because if I had to stop looking up to Spidey every time he webbed up anyone with a crippling fear of heights, I'd be in trouble.
With this comic issue, as has already been pointed out time and again, the imagery is entirely too close to the real world. It doesn't take spider powers to pour that acid on a helpless captive. I could just as easily use that vial myself- and by the way, acid works on more than just Sandmen!!
I don't particularly condemn Spider-Man for the actions he takes in this comic as you do, Colin. Within the framework of the story, that of Doc Ock threatening the entire world with destruction, I don't know when Spider-Man has ever had the stakes quite so high- I can certainly forgive him for buckling under such intense pressure and acting as he does towards Sandman. However, as I think you'd agree, it's much harder to forgive the story itself for glorifying the action.
Ah, but anyways, I had signed off on this story being any good from the get go. The moment that a dying Doctor Octopus announces that he's going to solve global warming, and it's SPIDER-MAN that immediately assumes the opposite and goes to war with the guy, with no one on the Avengers even suggesting (again, this comment should have come from Spider-Man) "the guy is dying... this could be on the level, guys." Well, I've been enjoying the story for its laugh-out-loud absurdity. Of particular note was the scene where Sandman defeats Captain America in a fight with... wait for it (is it sand?)... some cryo-freezing mabob.
Because of course, Captain America's weakness is freezing, and not an arm of sand shoved down his lungs. (That wasn't just a random example I made up, one of my earliest Sandman comic encounters had him threaten the Thing with just such an attack... that's another reason why I'm less appalled at torturing the character: while the fantastical, otherworld-ness of a super hero coercing info has been dialed down to record low levels, thankfully Sandman retains all of his own impossibly cartoonish, irredeemable SUPER-VILLAIN(!) status... maybe just in my own mind.)
What's really unfortunate is, and this has been discussed already, that creators feel the need to torture porn it up to either communicate a story, or to sell to an audience ever willing to gobble that stuff up. A more amicable Sandman, say, more in line with his good guy years, drawing upon his history with Sable, could just as easily have given whatever information there was to give up. A little white out (er, presses of the backspace button) and the script forwards the story without this brand of torturing ugliness. It's all up to the writer.
Heaven forbid there be some kind of "clue" to be found, leading to the next plot relevent scene.
Anyways, there's my two cents. As is often the case, I agree with you, Colin, but I also don't feel nearly as strong about it as you do- I'm just glad that this time it's for (hopefully) a legitimate reason, rather than pure desensitization on my part.
Now to read your follow up piece.
Hopefully I haven't said anything too offensive, but time will tell.
My comment:
Whew, that's a lot of comments!
Colin, I was all set to (semi)disagree with you, until this particular comment of yours cleared things up for me:
"My problem isn't even with the particular changes shown happening to Peter here. My problem is that Parker is shown behaving in a way that I believe to be evil, and yet that behaviour is depicted as being quite the opposite."
See, I couldn't help but equate the actions of Spider-Man in this story with all the run of the mill uses of terror and violence that the ol' Web-Head has resorted to in the past to coerce some plot forwarding piece of information out of someone (classic example: going on a joyride, swinging madcap several stories through the air, with some thug in tow. The thug expresses his great distress, Spidey quips he should get over it, and we laugh about the whole thing.), and for that reason I couldn't see what was so problematic about THIS depiction that warranted such a strong response.
But you're quite right, as portrayed here, torture is indeed being glorified to ridiculous extremes. Notice the degree to which Silver is all over Spidey in this book? Does that mean I can get a gorgeous super-spy/mercenary to fall in love with me if I torture someone for the good of my country? Where do I sign up???
In my example of gravity defying thug abuse, consequences are entirely ignored, but it can be argued that the circumstances of ignoring the consequences are justified because of the accent on the fantastic portrayed here. No one in the real world could interrogate like that, it's not immitatable, and is, therefore, just comics silliness. It takes that extra effort to see any real world parallels, and for that I'm glad, because if I had to stop looking up to Spidey every time he webbed up anyone with a crippling fear of heights, I'd be in trouble.
With this comic issue, as has already been pointed out time and again, the imagery is entirely too close to the real world. It doesn't take spider powers to pour that acid on a helpless captive. I could just as easily use that vial myself- and by the way, acid works on more than just Sandmen!!
I don't particularly condemn Spider-Man for the actions he takes in this comic as you do, Colin. Within the framework of the story, that of Doc Ock threatening the entire world with destruction, I don't know when Spider-Man has ever had the stakes quite so high- I can certainly forgive him for buckling under such intense pressure and acting as he does towards Sandman. However, as I think you'd agree, it's much harder to forgive the story itself for glorifying the action.
Ah, but anyways, I had signed off on this story being any good from the get go. The moment that a dying Doctor Octopus announces that he's going to solve global warming, and it's SPIDER-MAN that immediately assumes the opposite and goes to war with the guy, with no one on the Avengers even suggesting (again, this comment should have come from Spider-Man) "the guy is dying... this could be on the level, guys." Well, I've been enjoying the story for its laugh-out-loud absurdity. Of particular note was the scene where Sandman defeats Captain America in a fight with... wait for it (is it sand?)... some cryo-freezing mabob.
Because of course, Captain America's weakness is freezing, and not an arm of sand shoved down his lungs. (That wasn't just a random example I made up, one of my earliest Sandman comic encounters had him threaten the Thing with just such an attack... that's another reason why I'm less appalled at torturing the character: while the fantastical, otherworld-ness of a super hero coercing info has been dialed down to record low levels, thankfully Sandman retains all of his own impossibly cartoonish, irredeemable SUPER-VILLAIN(!) status... maybe just in my own mind.)
What's really unfortunate is, and this has been discussed already, that creators feel the need to torture porn it up to either communicate a story, or to sell to an audience ever willing to gobble that stuff up. A more amicable Sandman, say, more in line with his good guy years, drawing upon his history with Sable, could just as easily have given whatever information there was to give up. A little white out (er, presses of the backspace button) and the script forwards the story without this brand of torturing ugliness. It's all up to the writer.
Heaven forbid there be some kind of "clue" to be found, leading to the next plot relevent scene.
Anyways, there's my two cents. As is often the case, I agree with you, Colin, but I also don't feel nearly as strong about it as you do- I'm just glad that this time it's for (hopefully) a legitimate reason, rather than pure desensitization on my part.
Now to read your follow up piece.
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