DC: A New Beginning...(Again)

As it stands right now, we have just a bit of information about DC's plan to re-number & start fresh with their line of super-hero comics in September.  But since it's always fun to speculate, then why the Hell shouldn't I get in on the fun?

1. Marvel will have no choice but to also Day-And-Digital:  I just don't see any other option.  There is no doubt in my mind that DC will get a huge bump in their market share strictly by making their comics available to the quite-a-few-million people who just will not go to a comic shop.  Advertising that these comics will also feature some familiar faces, but have none of the previous baggage of continuity will be the main ingredient to this particular audience.  Once that happens, while I don't see Marvel scrambling for a massive reboot (despite opinions, their continuity has never been quite as convoluted as DC's), they will have to turn their backs on the retailers and make their comics available digitally ASAP.  This might see the (sound ominous drum roll...) end of the comic shop as we know it, UNLESS....
2. Comic fans will have to put their money where their internet mouths are:  in this small family of comic fans that we seem to have online right now, there seems to be quite a bit of talk about how "if more titles were available digitally, I'd be more inclined to try them out."  Well, here you fucking go.  Clean backgrounds, yet familiar territories, it's going to be up to the hardcore base that we have right now to put aside all their previous reservations and at the very least, take a look at what is going to be offered.  Oh, and we need to pay for it, too.  #notorrents And if we find something that we like, let's not be afraid to recommend it to friends & family.  There seem to be quite a few people out there who have no problem going to super-hero movies that start on the level playing field, so we should have no problem with a) not sounding like a douche comic know-it-all  to "outsiders" and b) being actively excited about the stories/art/packages that are going to be for sale & more available to purchase.  Lord knows the last time DC gave the fans exactly what they "wanted", the flock didn't quite turn out the way they said they would....
3. The Price Question:  As I Tweeted earlier, I gotta imagine that in the middle of all this "NEWNEWNEW", DC will be letting the 2.99 price point go byebye; or at least, more it over to the digital side, which will make it look like the cheaper/better version (since you can't hold it in your hands and it can be taken from you for whatever lawsuit/reason that pops up, I wouldn't call it the better version myself).  Yes, if they want to capture the valuable market share piece that this is all really about, then they will have to drift away from the highly-published Holding The Line plan.  Also, it's the only way to smooth things over will the retailers who are not going to be too happy with one of the Big 2 (soon to be all) selling these things themselves, sans middle man.
4. Finally getting the Reboot Right:  When the original Crisis ended way back in 1985, the plan was to start all their books (which was a much lower count now that what it currently being published any given month) with new #1s to go along with their new adjusted continuity.  But they got cold feet & it didn't happen.  All their reboots limped along, one character at a time and by the time Peter David was getting around to giving us the penultimate Aquaman, the new car smell on the New DC had an 8 year stink to it.  Then they did Zero Hour, which famously did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to change any problems they may have previously had, although they did use that opportunity to put forth new staus quos, new villains, new story lines, etc.  Their hearts were in the right place, but the execution didn't hit with the expectations that were given at the time, and well, let's just say thank God for Kingdom Come, shall we?  But I gotta say, with Geoff Johns running the show (he & Jeph Loeb are the 2 main conspirators the past 10 years to making sure that just about every heroes back story included all the pre-Crisis history, too), I have hard time believing that this may go through the way it's being presented, at least at this moment.  Why would he go through all the trouble of writing Superman: Secret Origin just so he wipe it away a year later?  And I say that as recognizing him as one of the guys "running the show".

Above all this, I believe the main goal of this is working:  People are talking.  People are excited.  People are scared.

Let's just hope they can take this kinda big, huge knots in comic fan's stomachs and carry it 'till September.....

Eargasam (Or My Lack There Of)

This shit is just crazy....

Oh course, my dude Skyzoo is doing the damn thang, rhyming like he don't have a fan in the world & have nothing to lose, but I really think it's this beat (for the lack of a better word) that's got me playing this non-stop for the past few days.  At the start, it seems as though it's like an Advent guard song, with all the different instruments coming with a few notes and apart from each other, then coming to together to create a symphony, almost mimicking the Superman theme from the movies at the end.  Especially those horns hitting those notes, followed by the few piano taps.  Those sounds are haunting me a bit.

Got no solid source right now on who's behind this production, but I think I read Mr. 9th Wonder-ful Tunes name thrown somewhere.  If so... #tippingmyhat

This is the type of thing that gets me a bit excited about music that's coming out, and I ain't felt that way in quite a while.

The thing is, I don't know if it's me or the music.  I WAITED for quite some years before Saigon was able to drop The Greatest Story Never Told;  thinking to myself the whole time "can this guy really bring out the kind of classic that's been lacking in hip-hop nowadays?"; and when he finally drops it earlier this year, I did what a loyal fan did & bought the album.  But I'll be damned if I know if it was worth it....since I STILL haven't sat down & listened to it yet.

My Twitter buddy Shawn Pryor gave me a heads up for this former Kells fan, telling me Love Letter is the return of R. Kelly.  When he told me that, you would think such a announcement would send me running to iTunes, ready to download this bitch, but you'd be wrong.  Jumping into unheard music is one of the things old school Chuck E was known for (hell, it was my middle name), but now the shit just scares me away.  Never the money aspect;  there isn't an album out there that usually doesn't cost less than what I'm spending on lunch today #scarystatement #perspective; but the idea of having yet another huge body of music art-work (see what I just did there?) laying in my hard drive, never to be listened to by my ears causes me to be sad at no end.  Especially when you think of all the different ways to achieve such a goal nowadays.  I'm not limited to making sure I bring my tape Walkman everywhere with me, is what I'm sayin'....

So what is the enemy?  WHAT IS EVIL FORCE THAT DRIVING SUCH A HUGE & MOTIVATING PLEASURE OUT OF MY LIFE?!?....

...well, a normal person on the outside would point to me and blame my total lack of discipline & need to prioritize.  But I'm not going to take that.  No, I'm going to blame time.

I have a job.  And that job requires me to interact with other actual human beings 100% of the time.  And I no longer have a car stereo in my work truck, just the huge amount of noise that comes from actually running the old piece of shit.  That, in itself, may be music to some one's ears, but I prefer a little more DJ Premier in my mix.

Oh, and I bought the new Musiq album the other day & I still haven't listened to that yet.  Sigh.

So when I saw I'm looking forward to the new Skyzoo, what am I saying?  Can't wait to download and not listen?  Ready to give money out so willingly to own, not enjoy, new music? 

Or should I just stop worrying, drop out, tune in & listen? 

The Beginning?

Sooooooooo.....where do I begin?

I have to start this new blog from the old blog (which I'm not going to link to since I'm probably going to delete it after this) because I got a new phone.  The great thing was that phone was the Droid X, which I have now decided is so awesome that it now completes me in a way that I had no idea I was lacking until it was in my medium sized man hands & downloading the Twitter app.  The worst thing in the fucking world not so good news was Google was going to make me open up a gmail email account just to use this Joy From God.

Now, I'm not one of those people who's big on having all these different things floating around the web full of my info & password;  I try to keep them all in the column of "things I actually use".  Should I decide that I no longer will be using certain account for whatever reason, I make it a point to delete said account.  Simple as that.  So if I'm going to be forced open up a email account that is going to be the one I use on the item that I will be taking with me to bed every night my new phone, then I might as well make sure that's the one I'm going to using in my-oh-so-eventful lifestyle. (Yeah, I know I'm jumping the shark with that, but sue me; I love to do it) #wordtoyaMutha

Well, it turns out that Google is really picky about letting multiple accounts out there for the same individuals (hey, kinda like me!) and long story short, they won't let me use my new email address (which is their email) for my old blog w/ Blogger ( which is their domain).  So I have to start a whole new blog here....which I guess is fine;  I never really took the old one off like I really had intented to, honestly, there's really not much there that I had actually written; and with the new comic related podcast that I intend to start soon with this guy that I think is really cool, maybe starting over is a pretty good idea, clean slate wise.

As a side note: I do like the new title that I've decided (on a whim) to go with here; having a bit of unique meaning to me.  The 1st blog that I had a few years ago on MySpace (which is all now deleted, natch;  I jumped off the Titantic waaaaaaaay before the rest of ya'll did) was pretty heavly used; some great, some not-so-great; but one of my personal favs, and proof to myself that I do have the ability to write something great whenever I sit down, focus, and stop being afraid, was a blog I wrote about an experience I had out in San Diego from Comic-Con '07 & the thoughts that came along with it.  "Table For One" is pretty much a summery of how I've seen life for most of my adult years, for the good & the bad of it.  Hoepefully I bring that to the blog in creative & entertaining ways  that will be much less sadder than it sounds  that will at the very least make me want to read back what was written.  We shall see....

The Huck Finn Thing & Why It's Not The End Of The World

Earlier this week, news broke of a publisher planning to print new copies of Huckleberry Finn without the N-word and all Hell broke loose.



I mainly refer to the opinions expressed by the majority white representatives of the media (to be fair, usually strategically backed by someone professional of African American decent who shares their opinion, but for different reasons) that this is PC at it's worst; that it's completely unnecessary & stupid; that it's a major plot by "others" to destroy our past by replacing it with something that is false and misleading....and then some of these people tell you to go read the Bible. #irony

I have my own personal history and view of the N-word & it's uses and the key word there is personal. Every body's pretty much entitled to their own opinion..except when they're forced to listen to somebody else's afterward that may effect their own view of said subject. You know, the whole purpose of Debating.

The main point I'm lacking in hearing out there is a very basic and fundamental fact: the word nigger is a very uncomfortable word in our society. Period. Yes, I'm very uncomfortable simply just typing that there; but I'm not afraid to admit that. It seems like a majority of people are afraid to admit it's use is controversial and that's the "whitewashing" going around right now that makes me unsettled.

There are plenty of corners of the internet & the real world where the word is thrown around in conversations, observations & personal statements with others with no unpleasantness whatsoever because everybody involved with the exchange is fine & on the same page, so to speak, with what is being discussed. And that is fine. I just find it a bit suspect whenever those same people choose not use that same language in a public setting while trying to defend it's full use in a public setting. If teachers in classrooms were to replace the term with "The N-word", like many of these defenders seem to be doing, when using it in their school work, you can't tell me that would change the very situation of why this book is not being taught in schools right now: because the term and the thoughts associated with it are controversial.

And they know it. That's why they don't use it in their reporting, their terminology & their defense of it. Because they don't want to take the heat; they don't want to have to answer the questions people might ask of them if they used it; they don't want to have to burden the same responsibility that teachers would have to when being presented with these choices.

This new printing is not changing history. There are millions & millions of copies of this book lying around this world that are not going anywhere (I missed the part where the publisher is holding a giant book burning to destroy the evidence of the past) and at the very least, someone is making a Wikipedia entry right now that will forever let future generations know that the book that they read in school was not the original writing. Isn't that true of all books?

P.S. Also: yay for me for finally figuring out how to make links on Blogger! #fuckingupallthegoodwillibuiltforthisblog

Why Spider-Man 3 Was The Best Of The Trilogy

1. I haven't seen SM3 in a few years and I'm not going to watch again just for the sake of writing this, so forgive me if I screw up a detail or two.
2. Spider-Man is my hero. He is the only character I have constantly read for the past 25 years and have followed (somewhat) faithful in other forms of media. To go on and on about my love and admiration for his stories, his supporting cast, his continuity, etc. is not what this blog is about, but I do want anyone who reads this to know that any writing from me on the subject comes from a very personal place and should not be dismissed as critique with no knowledge of the source material.

The movie starts in a strange place for Peter Parker: a time when everything is going right for the guy. He feels more in love with Mary Jane than ever before; enough to want to propose to her; he's found a great balance between work, crime-fighting, and college, and the world is no longer looking at him as a menace who needs to hunted and imprisoned. This self-confidence that Peter feels for the first time makes him attractive to some of his fellow students (Gwen Stacy) and fills himself with a bit of cockiness that any young man in his circumstances would understandably start to exhibit. That's why is so potent when Aunt May gives him the speech, after he lets her know that he's about to propose, that he needs to get a better handle on responsibility and being there for someone who needs you. Peter has a rep for cutting out on the ones who need him the most; yes, secretly he's helping others in trouble; but he hasn't learn that with marriage and a commitment, those priorities change to the point where your other must come first.

We are introduced to Flint Marko, the Sandman, who we learn is not a ruthless killer, but instead a father who took the wrong path and is willing to do anything, even the wrong thing, in order to save his daughter (see how that mirrors Peter's conflict?). After a crazy transformation, he becomes the Sandman and begins committing robberies in order to raise capital for his daughter's operation. After a spectacular fight scene with Peter, we find that Mary Jane has been having problems of her own. Reluctant to share these with Peter, she tries to find an equal footing with him; he's Spider-Man, the guy the city is throwing a parade for and is kissing strange girls, and she's plain ole' Mary Jane who's having problems who this little part she has in a play. Peter, completely enthralled in his own success, ignores signs that he should have already seen in his relationship that Mary Jane needs Peter to treat her and her world AS an equal to his. Not doing this leads to some serious problems between them and leave Peter wondering if he'll get another chance to make things right.

Meanwhile, black suit, great strength, should have had the white spider around it, but eh, whatchgoingtodo?

Then, the most important part of the movie comes to light: it is revealed to Peter and his Aunt that the robber that he never stopped DID NOT kill his Uncle Ben, but instead was Flint. In reading of thousands of Spider-Man stories over many years, THIS was the most game-changing, interesting change you could ever do to the mythos. Peter's guilt over what happened to his Uncle is THE most significant source of motivation over all and anything else; Peter can save the world, and at times, the universe, but none of it EVER, EVER matters because nothing he does will ever let him make for that ONE mistake, nothing will ever give him his Uncle back and no matter what, he will never save enough people to ever forgive himself for what he did.

Taking away that guilt, without it being a check on his powers, causes Peter to handle things in the way that a normal person (me, you) would handle things. 1st, he goes out of his way to extract revenge on the Sandman and lets him "die". This may have led to other problems, but he immediately talks with Aunt May, who surprises Peter with her view to never see anyone else hurt, no matter what they may have done to her and her family. May smartly acknowledges that everyone is somebody to someone else, and to put them through what she has gone through is nothing she would wish on them. Then Peter finds out that the alien black suit is causing him to act in a evil-ish type of way, so he VOLUNTARILY puts away the suit.

There is the Harry Osborn plot, which is just a natural continuation from the previous movies and the status quo of the 80's and 90's comics. Long story short, after Peter gets himself together enough to convince Mary Jane to give it another try, Harry blackmails her to dump and crush Peter. Peter of course figures this out, but it doesn't matter. He VOLUNTARILY puts the black suit back on and lays vengeance upon Harry in a very un-Parker-ish way.

This is also one of the most misunderstood points in the movie. Yes, the black suit is making Peter act and fight crime like an asshole...but HE VOLUNTARILY MADE THAT CHOICE. He knew exactly what would happen if he opened that suit up again, but with his heart broken by the love of his life and completely betrayed by his best friend, Peter did what most of us do when in that situation: we do everything we can to shut ourselves off and away from the rest of the world; anything we can do to no longer "feel" any emotions whatsoever and just go numb. This is what Peter has done by taking on the black suit: he has given up taking any responsibility for his actions and no longer wants to feel any guilt for anything. Since he doesn't have to feel guilt about Uncle Ben's murder, what's to stop him from going down this path?

(I have to do a sidebar on what people call the "emo" Peter thing: really? Is that what people really get out of those scenes just because he's wearing his hair in a certain way? Watch those again and pretend that you're never heard of the term "emo" and that you don't have any personal ideas associated with whatever you may think "emo" is: is it really horrible acting? Is there some dancing? Sure. Why not? It's a movie and there has been and was going to be a lot of seriousness happening all over the place; why not have a little fun there in the middle?)

He gets Eddie Brock fired in a very dickish way (and Eddie is portrayed here not as a misguided man who is trying to do good, but as a fucking asshole who will do anything and step over anyone to achieve success and doesn't need that much of a nudge to go straight evil, which is fine), but Peter doesn't really hit rock bottom until he takes the very beautiful Gwen out to a place where he knows he can make His Ex-Girlfriend Who Turned Down His Proposal a bit jealous (if you can't relate to any part of this whatsoever, I don't know what to tell ya) and accidental hits Mary Jane as a consequence of over-reaction on his part. This is "rock bottom" because Peter is forced to FEEL SOMETHING for the 1st time in a while, something he can't run away, shame that he can't hide, and a betrayal that is almost as bad as the ones that were inflicted upon him. Aunt May's words are coming back to him as he finds no matter, you have a responsibility from the ones you care about, no matter how hard you may not want to accept them.

Eddie become Venom, teams up with Sandman, they kidnap Mary Jane, Peter gets Harry, blah blah you get the idea. Then the fight scene at the building: taken as a whole, a fucking AMAZING line of sequences. I'm not quite sure WHAT people are exactly looking for in action and special effects if they cannot enjoy these scenes with a huge Sandman and Spidey fighting Venom in the building and outside, all while trying to save Mary Jane from falling to her death in a cab. Please, take another look at all of this: seeing all this portrayed on the big screen was a roller coaster for me and the people who were in the theatre with me at the times I saw it; you have a lot of thrill and excitement in all this and to discredit and dismiss these scenes are affront to the creators who obviously worked hard and put their heart and souls into this. If you are a comic book fan and you always wanted the page to translate to the screen, THIS is exactly what it was always meant to look like. Amazingly, the thing that always took my breath away was a very quick, but very cool and smart scene of Peter defeating Venom in a one-camera shot, following him as he circles Venom with steel bars and hitting them to the correct vibration to interrupt his symbiote hold.

And after everyone is defeated and Harry is dying, Flint looks Peter in the eye with the most sincere of regret and says "....I don't expect you to forgive me, but I need you to understand..." and everything comes full circle with Peter responding "I do understand": by forgiving Sandman for killing his Uncle, he is forgiving HIMSELF for the fucked up things that he did; he accepting the mistakes he's made by turning his back on his responsibilities and is forever reminded of what happens whenever he stops caring about his actions. This is the most moving and significant change in the character of Peter Parker, in the movies and comic book (well, it didn't happen in the comic, but ya know what I mean) and gives Peter the courage, in the final scene of the movie, to go back to the bar, to the place of his greatest shame, and dance with Mary Jane (no Tom Petty pun intended); Mary Jane could never have the chance to forgive Peter UNTIL HE FORGAVE HIMSELF first. Whether she does or not is left up to the viewer to decide and the movie ends with the audience not knowing what will happen to the couple or what their future is or is not together....which is kinda of liked, not having all the answers and having to think about some things for myself.

At this point, this team that had done what many had said was impossible for years; to a make a great Spider-Man movie; had done THREE and perhaps it was time to close this chapter of theirs on Spider-Man. Like all iconic characters, he and his world are bigger than any individual creators or particular media and will always be left to be reinterpreted by others. Which is FINE; that's the way it's supposed to be.

I doubt Sam has much else to say; Toby's getting a bit old and if you read any of Kristen's interviews during the time of this movie, where she thought "it would have been a great idea to kill Mary Jane off", then you knew that there was no amount of money that would have got her back to this franchise (would you want to still be doing movies a decade later with an old "mistake" you made a long time ago? Yeah, me neither). As I read article about SM4 and SM5, my eyes rolled at the thought, but hey, it's not like I wouldn't have gone and seen those movies, either. I applaud the decision to re-boot and let someone else take a crack at all this, to find a new angle that hasn't been explored yet. To the disbelievers, all I gotta say is: look at Batman.

What Time Is It?

I have a clock in my room.

Also in my phone. There's one on the pager I have from work. There's one on the dash in my car. I have a great looking watch that I get lots of compliments for whenever I wear it (which is often). There's a clock on the stove and on the microwave.

When I used to have a VCR, I always had to have it set to the correct time. If it was blinking 12:00, it would drive me up a wall. Now that all TV's have internal clocks, I always make sure that they are set, even though it's pretty much a useless application.

Hell, I'm looking at the one in the little right hand corner here on the computer while sit here and type this.

Whenever I go over to a person's place that I've never been before, do you know the first thing I look for? Wherever the first available clock is displayed.

The surprising thing is the thing I've noticed the most out there when it comes to other people and their environments is that they usually don't have a clock with the correct time readily set. It seems like when it comes to this obsession with always knowing what time it, I'm very much in minority. And the thought of that disturbs me to no end.

Why do people not care what time it is? Don't they have things they have to do at certain times? Don't they have schedules; appointments; people and places they need to be at very specific time periods? Well, don't they?

I have the alarm set for work everyday, but the truth is, even without it, I could usually depend on my body to get itself up (not very willingly, mind you) at the appropriate time. Nine time outta ten, if I know what time it is, and I don't look at it for a certain amount of time, I can correctly guess exactly on the dot how much time has passed without looking at a clock; of course, then I make sure to look just to make sure how right I am.

...and after all this, I choose to ask; not what's wrong with ME; but what's wrong with EVERYBODY ELSE?!?

P.O.V.

Let's talk about a scenario...

Let's take an atheist: someone who doesn't believe in a higher power, who believes that everything is completely random, someone who doesn't believe than anything that happens is a "sign" of something other than what we can see with our eyes and comprehend with our intellect. Let's say that person's best friend is suddenly killed in a horrible and cruel way, with absolutely no time for the person to cope with the idea of someone so close to him/her would no longer be in their lives. You could say that would be something that would interrupt the way the person was conducting their life; it would be reasonable to say that that person would have to think twice about the plans they may have been making and maybe their outlook on life in general; perhaps, maybe even the beliefs they had held on to up to that point.....Perhaps...

Now, let's take a Christian: someone who believes what they have read in the Bible as scripture; someone who believes that by following the path that God has chosen for them will lead them to Heaven; someone who believes that good things will happen to those who believe and bad things, like despair, will happen to those who choose not to believe. Let's say that person's best friend is suddenly killed in a horrible and cruel way; one that is absolutely out of left field. You could say that such an event might cause them to rethink things like what they deserve and what others deserve from God...and THAT line of thinking may lead them to rethink everything they may have believed up to that point...perhaps....

Would the exact same situation, presented to two different people, produce two different results? Could the atheist become a Christian? Could the Christian become an atheist? I'm speaking in general terms, of course, but fundermentally, isn't this the base of a lot of things that we seem to come to a wall against in society?

Isn't the belief; that if "you" would just have walked in "my" shoes; if "you" have lived the life "I" have lived; is what keeps us from reaching any type of common ground?

How wrong is it for people to justify their actions, not only to other people, but to themselves, that they are only doing and believing what anyone else would in their positions?