Where I'm Not....*sigh*

It's getting near the end of July. My daughter in particular (because she is almost as big a geek as her dad...lol) was looking forward to going. Sadly while the family was planning to head down to San Diego, events (my beautiful wife's new job, and my son couldn't get the time off)have transpired that have prevented it. Sad but true. At least I might be able to cheer my daughter up, as there is a big Anime convention here at the beginning of August.

Oh well, maybe next year we will make it down. Here's to Comic Con 2011!

Marvel...You Sure About That?

I'm not sure what is going on at Marvel Studio's lately. I really would like to know. I'm not kidding....really, because it seems like they are making some really strange and uninformed decisions of late. Some of these decisions seem to imply that someone in the "upper management" part of the company doesn't have a clue about how to make a good superhero movie, and yet feels the need to tell people that know what they are doing, what to do.

After just two Fantastic Four movies, they have made the decision to "re-boot" it. Really...already...just because the second move (which was not too bad) didn't make enough money for you? The film grossed $289 million worldwide. So what is your issue with it? Then there is their Spider-man franchise. So, not everyone was a fan of the last one. It could have done with a few less villains, to be sure, but all together the three movies have grossed nearly $2.5 billion worldwide. So again... why the re-boot?

Now, it seems that the role of Bruce Banner will not be portrayed by the very talented Mr. Edward Norton. It seems that Dr. Banner will be played by Mark Ruffalo. Nothing against Mr. Ruffalo, not that I have seen much of his work but, I personally liked Mr. Norton's take on Banner.

All of this just stinks of someone in a position of power being greedy and making these decisions based on how much money can we make NOW! Screw the long term! As with anything in life, when a creative endeavor is placed under the control of un-creative people who don't understand or care about it, the quality of that creative work will suffer. God help us.

Too Much?

How far is too far when it comes to being politically correct. This morning, as I watched the news, they had a story about a midway ride that broke and injured some riders. Now, I am a firm believer that anyone, no matter race or sex should have a chance at a job so long as they have the skills needed to do that job.

You would think that being able to speak English clearly would be an essential job skill for a TV reporter. But apparently not, because the woman reporting from the location of the incident, while she could speak English it was not what I would call her first language. It was a struggle to understand what she was saying, as she would stop mid sentence and re-phrase, then continue along.

So my issue is... when did it become OK to place someone in a position at a national TV network that cannot speak clearly. How many other fully competent people where overlooked for this position? Political correctness gone to far? Were exceptions made because they were a female minority? I really don't care who reports the news to me...but I would like to know what they said.

New Duds

The more things change the more they stay the same. I guess this applies to the powers that be in the comic book industry. Yet again all of us comic book fans around the world must suffer through yet another "hip, new, modern take" of a classic superhero.



I really don't understand why a lot of these writers and artists feel it necessary to "put their stamp" on iconic characters. If there is one thing that is been proven time and time again, these modernization of classic hero's uniforms never really work out well. This time around the block it's Wonder Woman who is getting the new duds courtesy of Jim Lee and J. Michael Straczynski.
And to be truth full, I don't have a problem with the new look for the most part (all though...what is up with the "spurs" on her boots?). That and her new origin story is just a little bit to similar to one of the other of the big 3 at DC, (aka Superman). In the end all this is, is a little smoke and mirrors to sell a few comic books, and to help promote interest in a particular character.


It's not like we all haven't had to suffer through this kind of thing before. Many times over the years some new artist, editor or writer comes along and thinks, "Hey! You know what would be great. We should update (insert generic hero's) looks and uniform with something modern and cool! The kids will love that stuff!"

Those of my generation will remember Spiderman's black uniform, and even as cool at that looked it only lasted a short time. and who could forget Aquaman's "Ocean-camo" look! Then there was Storm of the X-men and her punk mohawk look and even Wonder Woman herself has had many makeovers (feminist jump-suit, anyone). And Superman's super-mullet! Last, but by no means least, lest we ever forget the horribly misguided Superman Red & Blue.

When you start looking at it, it is truly amazing how many of our favorite super hero's have had their costumes messed with over the years. All the way from Batman to almost all of the X-men. It doesn't matter who the character is, from the biggest to the most obscure (well, not too obscure).


At least we can rest easy as this to shall pass. Long live princess Diana of the Amazons.

Two Thumbs Down...For The Critics

As far as I am concerned, movie critics have totally lost touch with the movie going public. Case in point. "The Last Airbender". I've seen the cartoon it is based on (not all, but enough to have the general idea of the story). Watched a lot of them with my kids (they have seen them all). So of course we went and saw the movie when it came out.


And you know what...we loved it. I thought it was a cool movie. Moved along at a good pace and had a strong story that was easy to follow, even if I hadn't seen the entire cartoon series. And my kids loved it as well. They thought that it stayed relatively true to the source material and liked all the actors. Even my lovely wife enjoyed the movie, and she had no idea what it was about going in.

So why are all the critics giving this movie bad reviews? The biggest complaint that I have heard is that it doesn't have any Asians in this Asian based movie. But it does, and it isn't. A large part of the cast (all the people of the fire nation) are of Indian descent. And India was in Asia last time I looked. And to the few critics complaining that Hollywood is ripping off a anime and "westernizing" it. Do your homework...it's an American animated television series. and it was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelodeon. So cheers to M. Night Shyamalan. I really hope that the next two movies in this trilogy get made. With the current box office success, the chances of that get a lot better. Hey, even Alvin and the Chipmunks got a sequel (not sure why though).

The best part is "The Last Airbender" broke the 100 million mark the other day. Not bad. I guess some of these movie critics don't know a good movie when they see one.