Got a project that's going to take my focus for the next few days... so the blog will be on hold until next week... unless I need a break from the project.
Back in a few.
Back in a few.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
Slapshot Monday
I sat down and watched a Dodger game today and then an HBO special on the Boston Red Sox and the curse of the Bambino. I used to be a huge fan of baseball. I would watch or listen to every Dodger game. The sound of Vin Scully’s voice was the sound of pure joy for me. And I even got to watch my team win the World Series twice (1981, 1988). But somewhere in the 1990s the Dodger were sold to Fox and it was no longer the team I knew. Players like Piazza, Karros, Hollingsworth and other were suddenly traded away and I had no idea who these new guys were… and I found I didn’t care anymore.
Well, when I watched today I noticed a few things. Only three of the players were names I was familiar with… but none of them as Dodgers. Kenny Lofton is a Cleveland Indian in my mind. Nomar Garciaparra is a Red Sox and guest starred on Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place… and JD Drew who was the whiney little bastard that wouldn’t sign his contract after being drafted by some team that I can’t remember now. Now at second was Ramon Martinez… the Ramon Martinez I know of was a tall, lanky pitcher and older brother of Pedro Martinez. But this was a rookie second baseman who hit a home run and had 5 RBIs.
I also noticed that the uniforms are different. On the front it says “Los Angeles” instead of “Dodgers” like it said for as long as I can remember. Also, the names on the back of the uniforms are gone. So even if I wanted to get a better feel for the team, I couldn’t. This appeared to me to be a marketing move. Make the team more popular than the players and it won’t matter what you do to the players. Both the Yankees and the Red Sox do this. Corporate baseball.
So after spending the day watching the Dodgers beat the hated Braves (I still think their the hated Braves) 12 to 5… and I still have no idea who the hell the team is. And guess what… I still don’t care. I want to. But I don’t. The team is full of people that are hard to root for and I just don’t feel like investing the time into caring so they can trade away the players again.
For now… I’ll stick with football.
I sat down and watched a Dodger game today and then an HBO special on the Boston Red Sox and the curse of the Bambino. I used to be a huge fan of baseball. I would watch or listen to every Dodger game. The sound of Vin Scully’s voice was the sound of pure joy for me. And I even got to watch my team win the World Series twice (1981, 1988). But somewhere in the 1990s the Dodger were sold to Fox and it was no longer the team I knew. Players like Piazza, Karros, Hollingsworth and other were suddenly traded away and I had no idea who these new guys were… and I found I didn’t care anymore.
Well, when I watched today I noticed a few things. Only three of the players were names I was familiar with… but none of them as Dodgers. Kenny Lofton is a Cleveland Indian in my mind. Nomar Garciaparra is a Red Sox and guest starred on Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place… and JD Drew who was the whiney little bastard that wouldn’t sign his contract after being drafted by some team that I can’t remember now. Now at second was Ramon Martinez… the Ramon Martinez I know of was a tall, lanky pitcher and older brother of Pedro Martinez. But this was a rookie second baseman who hit a home run and had 5 RBIs.
I also noticed that the uniforms are different. On the front it says “Los Angeles” instead of “Dodgers” like it said for as long as I can remember. Also, the names on the back of the uniforms are gone. So even if I wanted to get a better feel for the team, I couldn’t. This appeared to me to be a marketing move. Make the team more popular than the players and it won’t matter what you do to the players. Both the Yankees and the Red Sox do this. Corporate baseball.
So after spending the day watching the Dodgers beat the hated Braves (I still think their the hated Braves) 12 to 5… and I still have no idea who the hell the team is. And guess what… I still don’t care. I want to. But I don’t. The team is full of people that are hard to root for and I just don’t feel like investing the time into caring so they can trade away the players again.
For now… I’ll stick with football.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Rapid Fire Fridays
I ignored the critics and saw The Da Vinci Code this afternoon; and unlike those critics I enjoyed the movie. I had read the book before and still enjoyed the movie.
As a writer you learn so many odd things; in one afternoon this week I was researching grasshoppers, the southern states and passages from the bible. The next day it was microchips and President Eisenhower.
A mudslide is just an adult milkshake… a damn tasty one too.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has put together the most helpful website in existence. Anything that keeps me from having to spend time at the DMV is a miracle in my book, and this allows me to renew tags, order personalized plates, etc.
I wonder if the creator of Hellblazer (Alan Moore I think) chose the name Constantine because of its ties to the origins of Christian religion or was it just a happy coincidence.
Another Da Vinci Code/Geek moment… Magneto double-crossed Doc Ock!
A question to those who are current on the Harry Potter books… is it just me or has he become a whiney little git?
What exactly makes a critic… of any type… qualified to do the job? And why does anyone take them seriously?
Wasn’t Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein really just a zombie story?
Do you find business cards on your desk for people you never remember meeting? I’ve got hundreds of those.
If you’re internet was out, would you go to your parents house to use there computer to keep up on your porn viewing? I saw someone yesterday who did just that.
Do the people who send out SPAM really think I’m going to reply? Ever?
Is anyone else out there still collecting the state quarters or has that fad ended?
There’s a movie on right now about a zebra in a horse race and talking flies… what the hell is Hollywood thinking?
I wrote something earlier this week and actually grossed myself out… my mom would be so proud.
A member of the British Parliament said that it would be morally justified if an assassin targeted Prime Minister Tony Blair… and they call us savages.
The surprising part of the story out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin about a wealthy couple enslaving and illegal immigrant as a maid for 19 years was the fact that there was a wealthy couple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
American Idol is over… and soon will be the winner’s 15 minutes of fame.
Paul McCartney is going to get divorced from Heather Mills… he signed no pre-nuptial agreement… it’s a good thing Michael Jackson already owns all the Beatle’s songs.
It rained here Monday, was hot as hell Wednesday and their calling for rain tonight… I think this is just a test of the new sinus medications on the market… all of which are CRAP! Give me the old stuff… I don’t want to make meth, I just want to stop sniffling.
I ignored the critics and saw The Da Vinci Code this afternoon; and unlike those critics I enjoyed the movie. I had read the book before and still enjoyed the movie.
As a writer you learn so many odd things; in one afternoon this week I was researching grasshoppers, the southern states and passages from the bible. The next day it was microchips and President Eisenhower.
A mudslide is just an adult milkshake… a damn tasty one too.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has put together the most helpful website in existence. Anything that keeps me from having to spend time at the DMV is a miracle in my book, and this allows me to renew tags, order personalized plates, etc.
I wonder if the creator of Hellblazer (Alan Moore I think) chose the name Constantine because of its ties to the origins of Christian religion or was it just a happy coincidence.
Another Da Vinci Code/Geek moment… Magneto double-crossed Doc Ock!
A question to those who are current on the Harry Potter books… is it just me or has he become a whiney little git?
What exactly makes a critic… of any type… qualified to do the job? And why does anyone take them seriously?
Wasn’t Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein really just a zombie story?
Do you find business cards on your desk for people you never remember meeting? I’ve got hundreds of those.
If you’re internet was out, would you go to your parents house to use there computer to keep up on your porn viewing? I saw someone yesterday who did just that.
Do the people who send out SPAM really think I’m going to reply? Ever?
Is anyone else out there still collecting the state quarters or has that fad ended?
There’s a movie on right now about a zebra in a horse race and talking flies… what the hell is Hollywood thinking?
I wrote something earlier this week and actually grossed myself out… my mom would be so proud.
A member of the British Parliament said that it would be morally justified if an assassin targeted Prime Minister Tony Blair… and they call us savages.
The surprising part of the story out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin about a wealthy couple enslaving and illegal immigrant as a maid for 19 years was the fact that there was a wealthy couple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
American Idol is over… and soon will be the winner’s 15 minutes of fame.
Paul McCartney is going to get divorced from Heather Mills… he signed no pre-nuptial agreement… it’s a good thing Michael Jackson already owns all the Beatle’s songs.
It rained here Monday, was hot as hell Wednesday and their calling for rain tonight… I think this is just a test of the new sinus medications on the market… all of which are CRAP! Give me the old stuff… I don’t want to make meth, I just want to stop sniffling.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Four Color Thursday
I’m going to start with my own project that I’m working on. I can’t say too much about it, but since Niles has already said part of it… then you probably know I’m doing the next 30 Days of Night mini-series… but I’m writing it solo this time. Well, there is an added pressure of playing in someone else’s universe and still giving the fans of the series what they want. The first script is in and the artist is working away on it… can’t say who yet but I’m sure an official announcement is forth coming. I started working on the second script today and I’m taking an odd approach… I’m writing it backwards. I wrote the last scene first and the scene prior to it second. So I have the last third of the book already written. I think the last scene of this book is going to make or break this series… people will either say “wow” or “when is Steve coming back”. So I tackled that first so it could end up being however many pages it needed to be. I let the scene flow to its own pace and conclusion. I even cut it a little earlier that I thought I would but when I got to a certain point it was… “End the book here, anything else will just be anti-climatic”. So the rest of that scene will now start book three.
The scene prior to the last scene was not in the original synopsis… it was something that came to me while I was sleeping last night. I just felt that this issue needed a pure horror moment that hopefully will leave people creeped out. Hell, it creeped me out while I was writing it. And it was a good place to add in those curse words that Niles fans expect. (That’s a running joke between Steve and I… I don’t use curse words much at all in my writing.)
Now it’s going to be interesting to see the rest of the issue meld together. I’m thinking I’m going to be a page or two short for what I have planned right now… but then again I don’t have any large panel pages so I can probably gain that page or two just by giving the artist more room to draw. I think he would appreciate that.
Here are some pointers for all you who want to write comics. When you are approaching a story, make sure you know how it begins and ends. Take the time to know not only all the major plot points you want to include but also the number of scenes. The more you work out the structure of a story prior to starting the script, the better your story will come out and stay focused. Outlining and synopsis do not take away from the creative process. Even though I have all five issues laid out and approved by the editor, I still have the creative freedom to add a scene here and there that help move the story along. I know a lot of people that like the idea of just writing a script off the top of their head… that may work well for prose, but when you are working in an industry where you have 22 pages to tell a story and you need to bring the reader in and make them want to come back for more… doing free form writing is just going to drive you nuts.
Now I better get back to the script.
I’m going to start with my own project that I’m working on. I can’t say too much about it, but since Niles has already said part of it… then you probably know I’m doing the next 30 Days of Night mini-series… but I’m writing it solo this time. Well, there is an added pressure of playing in someone else’s universe and still giving the fans of the series what they want. The first script is in and the artist is working away on it… can’t say who yet but I’m sure an official announcement is forth coming. I started working on the second script today and I’m taking an odd approach… I’m writing it backwards. I wrote the last scene first and the scene prior to it second. So I have the last third of the book already written. I think the last scene of this book is going to make or break this series… people will either say “wow” or “when is Steve coming back”. So I tackled that first so it could end up being however many pages it needed to be. I let the scene flow to its own pace and conclusion. I even cut it a little earlier that I thought I would but when I got to a certain point it was… “End the book here, anything else will just be anti-climatic”. So the rest of that scene will now start book three.
The scene prior to the last scene was not in the original synopsis… it was something that came to me while I was sleeping last night. I just felt that this issue needed a pure horror moment that hopefully will leave people creeped out. Hell, it creeped me out while I was writing it. And it was a good place to add in those curse words that Niles fans expect. (That’s a running joke between Steve and I… I don’t use curse words much at all in my writing.)
Now it’s going to be interesting to see the rest of the issue meld together. I’m thinking I’m going to be a page or two short for what I have planned right now… but then again I don’t have any large panel pages so I can probably gain that page or two just by giving the artist more room to draw. I think he would appreciate that.
Here are some pointers for all you who want to write comics. When you are approaching a story, make sure you know how it begins and ends. Take the time to know not only all the major plot points you want to include but also the number of scenes. The more you work out the structure of a story prior to starting the script, the better your story will come out and stay focused. Outlining and synopsis do not take away from the creative process. Even though I have all five issues laid out and approved by the editor, I still have the creative freedom to add a scene here and there that help move the story along. I know a lot of people that like the idea of just writing a script off the top of their head… that may work well for prose, but when you are working in an industry where you have 22 pages to tell a story and you need to bring the reader in and make them want to come back for more… doing free form writing is just going to drive you nuts.
Now I better get back to the script.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Showbiz Wednesday
So the big stuff on TV tonight are the end of American Idol and the season finale of Lost. I’m not watching either of them. I hear great things about Lost, but I just couldn’t get excited about it in the beginning and it just seems like too much effort to figure it out now. Like trying to get back on the ‘24’ bandwagon… just can’t do it. And as for American Idol… I find it unwatchable. I watched Ruben win a few years ago, that was enough for me.
We are now entering the season when television is all re-runs and movies are all blockbusters. The Da Vinci Code did fine over the weekend; 77 million is a very strong opening for a movie that the critics say is horrible. I don’t listen to critics because I’ve found that I disagree with them 99 times out of 100. I don’t know what movie they are watching… but they all seem to think a movie has to be ‘snooty’ to be good. I want to go to a movie, be entertained for 2 hours and then go back to my life already in progress. I don’t need to be emotionally moved by every movie I see.
I can’t give my thoughts on the Da Vinci Code as I have not seen it yet. I’ve had a lot of work this week so Da Vinci waits till this weekend and X-Men 3 till next weekend. As for the earlier summer movie Mission Impossible… well, I might get that on DVD if it’s a good sale.
I saw a trailer for the new Ghost Rider movie and saw some of the reaction to it. The trailer itself looks good to me. It’s not Shakespeare but then again, it’s Ghost Rider not Brokeback Mountain. The effects looked decent to me and Nicolas Cage is a good actor so I’m going to give it a shot. The reaction I’ve seen has been very negative. Things from “looks like Spawn”, to “this is the same guy that brought us that horrible Daredevil movie”. Well, I’m not in the group that hated Daredevil. In truth, I really LIKED the Director’s Cut of Daredevil. When they threw out the love scene and put back in the Coolio sub-plot, it makes it a good movie.
Now I doubt the movie will do that well after X-Men and Superman this summer. Spider-Man and Batman Begins have set such a high bar now that everything is going to pale by comparison. For me, I just enjoy seeing the characters I grew up reading now on the big screen. I’ll even go see Ant-Man if they actually make it.
And note to the producers trying to get Ant-Man done… if you need a writer, I’d like to take a swing at it.
So the big stuff on TV tonight are the end of American Idol and the season finale of Lost. I’m not watching either of them. I hear great things about Lost, but I just couldn’t get excited about it in the beginning and it just seems like too much effort to figure it out now. Like trying to get back on the ‘24’ bandwagon… just can’t do it. And as for American Idol… I find it unwatchable. I watched Ruben win a few years ago, that was enough for me.
We are now entering the season when television is all re-runs and movies are all blockbusters. The Da Vinci Code did fine over the weekend; 77 million is a very strong opening for a movie that the critics say is horrible. I don’t listen to critics because I’ve found that I disagree with them 99 times out of 100. I don’t know what movie they are watching… but they all seem to think a movie has to be ‘snooty’ to be good. I want to go to a movie, be entertained for 2 hours and then go back to my life already in progress. I don’t need to be emotionally moved by every movie I see.
I can’t give my thoughts on the Da Vinci Code as I have not seen it yet. I’ve had a lot of work this week so Da Vinci waits till this weekend and X-Men 3 till next weekend. As for the earlier summer movie Mission Impossible… well, I might get that on DVD if it’s a good sale.
I saw a trailer for the new Ghost Rider movie and saw some of the reaction to it. The trailer itself looks good to me. It’s not Shakespeare but then again, it’s Ghost Rider not Brokeback Mountain. The effects looked decent to me and Nicolas Cage is a good actor so I’m going to give it a shot. The reaction I’ve seen has been very negative. Things from “looks like Spawn”, to “this is the same guy that brought us that horrible Daredevil movie”. Well, I’m not in the group that hated Daredevil. In truth, I really LIKED the Director’s Cut of Daredevil. When they threw out the love scene and put back in the Coolio sub-plot, it makes it a good movie.
Now I doubt the movie will do that well after X-Men and Superman this summer. Spider-Man and Batman Begins have set such a high bar now that everything is going to pale by comparison. For me, I just enjoy seeing the characters I grew up reading now on the big screen. I’ll even go see Ant-Man if they actually make it.
And note to the producers trying to get Ant-Man done… if you need a writer, I’d like to take a swing at it.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Soapbox Tuesday is being held this week as I am completely swamped... but for your reading enjoyment is this story from the associated press:
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its former owner, the culture minister said Tuesday.
The hand-over ceremony will take place Friday noon in the 14th century castle's museum deep within the fortress in Transylvania, said minister Adrian Iorgulescu at a news conference.
The castle, worth an estimated $25 million (19.6 million euros), was owned by the late Queen Marie and bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana in 1938. It was confiscated by communists in 1948 and fell into disrepair.
It was inherited by Dominic van Hapsburg, a New York architect who will be at the ceremony on Friday, said Iorgulescu. The Hapsburgs ruled Romania for a period starting in the late 17th century. Under the agreement, the owner will not be allowed to make any changes to the castle for the next three years, Iorgulescu said.
Restoration work began in the late 1980s and was partially completed in 1993. It is now one of Romania's top tourist destinations.
While known and marketed as "Dracula's Castle," the Bran Castle never belonged to Prince Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula character, but the prince is thought to have visited the medieval fortress.
The Gothic fortress, perched on a rock, has appeared in numerous Dracula movies.
At the gates of Bran Castle, peasants sell Dracula sweaters hand-knitted from the thick wool of local sheep, cheesecloth blouses, and Vampire wine. Bran Castle is the most famous of 15 citadels and fortresses in the area, which were built by peasants to keep out marauding armies of Turks and Tartars and cruel local medieval lords.
Another former royal property, the Peles Castle, built in the late 19th century in the mountain town of Sinaia, will be returned to former King Michael, who owned it before it was confiscated by the communist regime in 1948.
Romania passed legislation earlier this year to return property to its former owners and establish a "property fund" to pay damages for assets that cannot be returned.
The fund includes stock in state-owned companies that are being privatized, such as utility companies, the Romanian postal service, and the Savings Bank.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its former owner, the culture minister said Tuesday.
The hand-over ceremony will take place Friday noon in the 14th century castle's museum deep within the fortress in Transylvania, said minister Adrian Iorgulescu at a news conference.
The castle, worth an estimated $25 million (19.6 million euros), was owned by the late Queen Marie and bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana in 1938. It was confiscated by communists in 1948 and fell into disrepair.
It was inherited by Dominic van Hapsburg, a New York architect who will be at the ceremony on Friday, said Iorgulescu. The Hapsburgs ruled Romania for a period starting in the late 17th century. Under the agreement, the owner will not be allowed to make any changes to the castle for the next three years, Iorgulescu said.
Restoration work began in the late 1980s and was partially completed in 1993. It is now one of Romania's top tourist destinations.
While known and marketed as "Dracula's Castle," the Bran Castle never belonged to Prince Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula character, but the prince is thought to have visited the medieval fortress.
The Gothic fortress, perched on a rock, has appeared in numerous Dracula movies.
At the gates of Bran Castle, peasants sell Dracula sweaters hand-knitted from the thick wool of local sheep, cheesecloth blouses, and Vampire wine. Bran Castle is the most famous of 15 citadels and fortresses in the area, which were built by peasants to keep out marauding armies of Turks and Tartars and cruel local medieval lords.
Another former royal property, the Peles Castle, built in the late 19th century in the mountain town of Sinaia, will be returned to former King Michael, who owned it before it was confiscated by the communist regime in 1948.
Romania passed legislation earlier this year to return property to its former owners and establish a "property fund" to pay damages for assets that cannot be returned.
The fund includes stock in state-owned companies that are being privatized, such as utility companies, the Romanian postal service, and the Savings Bank.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Slapshot Monday
Tonight is the game 7 of two of the NBA finals… yesterday was a third. This is some of the best basketball I’ve seen in years. Detroit finished off LeBron yesterday. I think he is an amazing talent but the Cavaliers will need more around him to go any further in the playoffs. Jordan wasn’t Jordan until there was Pippin, Grant and the others. A few more pieces and the Cavs will be VERY dangerous.
The Dallas – San Antonio game was amazing. I thought for sure Dallas was going to run away with it, but the Spurs wouldn’t give up. It’s a shame that this is over with and the odds of the finals being this good are nil. Dallas should have no problem with whoever comes out of the other game.
The Clippers and Suns are playing right now and the Suns seem to have it well in hand… but I thought about that with the Dallas game too. I don’t think either of these teams have enough to get past the Mavericks in the next round though.
While all this is happening, the Heat have been sitting around twiddling their thumbs. It should be interesting to see if they will come out well rested or rusty. The good thing here is I think Detroit is a better match up with Miami. Cleveland wouldn’t be able to match up with Shaq and would have meant a boring series.
I would expect to see the Mavericks and Heat in the Finals.
I think next year should be very interesting as I expect to see some big trades coming up. With Yao and McGrady in Houston and them not even making the playoffs, I expect one of them will go and rebuilding to begin. Kobe and the Lakers are ahead of where I figured they would be. If they could find one more player to compliment that offense, then I see them being back in the premier level again. I figure the Clippers will self-destruct after this season… they always do after one good season.
My biggest complaint with basketball is that it seems the season never ends. The finals will finish up the middle of June… end of June if we have 7 games in the series… and then Training camp starts in August I think…. One month off is insane. I’d like to see them drop 12 games from the schedule and make the first two rounds the best of five instead of seven. Maybe have fewer days off between games. You could cut the season down by two months very easily.
Well, as I wrap this up the Suns are up by 17 with under 6 minutes to go… I think the refrigerator is closed, the light if off, the butter is getting hard and the jello is jiggling.
Tonight is the game 7 of two of the NBA finals… yesterday was a third. This is some of the best basketball I’ve seen in years. Detroit finished off LeBron yesterday. I think he is an amazing talent but the Cavaliers will need more around him to go any further in the playoffs. Jordan wasn’t Jordan until there was Pippin, Grant and the others. A few more pieces and the Cavs will be VERY dangerous.
The Dallas – San Antonio game was amazing. I thought for sure Dallas was going to run away with it, but the Spurs wouldn’t give up. It’s a shame that this is over with and the odds of the finals being this good are nil. Dallas should have no problem with whoever comes out of the other game.
The Clippers and Suns are playing right now and the Suns seem to have it well in hand… but I thought about that with the Dallas game too. I don’t think either of these teams have enough to get past the Mavericks in the next round though.
While all this is happening, the Heat have been sitting around twiddling their thumbs. It should be interesting to see if they will come out well rested or rusty. The good thing here is I think Detroit is a better match up with Miami. Cleveland wouldn’t be able to match up with Shaq and would have meant a boring series.
I would expect to see the Mavericks and Heat in the Finals.
I think next year should be very interesting as I expect to see some big trades coming up. With Yao and McGrady in Houston and them not even making the playoffs, I expect one of them will go and rebuilding to begin. Kobe and the Lakers are ahead of where I figured they would be. If they could find one more player to compliment that offense, then I see them being back in the premier level again. I figure the Clippers will self-destruct after this season… they always do after one good season.
My biggest complaint with basketball is that it seems the season never ends. The finals will finish up the middle of June… end of June if we have 7 games in the series… and then Training camp starts in August I think…. One month off is insane. I’d like to see them drop 12 games from the schedule and make the first two rounds the best of five instead of seven. Maybe have fewer days off between games. You could cut the season down by two months very easily.
Well, as I wrap this up the Suns are up by 17 with under 6 minutes to go… I think the refrigerator is closed, the light if off, the butter is getting hard and the jello is jiggling.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Rapid Fire Friday
This week I had a chance to shoot with two models that I haven’t shot with in over four or five years… It’s amazing how much a woman can improve with age.
I also got a copy of my new I AM SPARTACUS graphic novel… this is a script I wrote years ago but the story seems to hold up well and the art is amazing.
Jennifer Garner looks better after having given birth. I think she was too skinny before, motherhood works well for her.
I watched the Jeff Dunham comedy DVD and found myself forgetting that his little friends were puppets.
I don’t know about anyone else… but I’m tired of basketball. Let’s just call it off.
My wife drove by the mall early this morning and said the theater’s parking was full. Looks like the Catholic ban on the Da Vinci Code is working well.
The trailer for Aquaman/Mercy Reef was leaked to the web this week… it looked pretty good to me. Wish the studio would pick it up after all.
These Mastercard commercials with Richard Dean Anderson makes me miss the old Macgyver series… not enough to buy the DVDs… but I miss it just the same.
All that Jazz, Blue Thunder, Jaws… Roy Schieder is a terrific actor that most people don’t seem to give the proper amount of respect to.
I’ve decided I don’t like the Family Guy but I would love to watch a collection of the highlights of the show.
Is there any man in the world who would not at least consider trading lives with Hugh Hefner?
It’s my belief that most people own at least a half dozen more coffee cups than they could ever need. Just because it says “World’s greatest…” or “I like mine black… with a spoon in them…” doesn’t mean you need to buy it.
Dude… seriously… the Terminator is the Governor of California… how did that happen?
I bought a back-up battery system for my PC to keep the system running during a power outage… but most likely I won’t get around to hooking it up until just after the next power outage.
Has anyone found a practical use for a black light other than making velvet pictures look ‘groovy’?
Why is it your cell phone always rings just when you’ve left it in the other room?
About 11 years ago someone stole my SPAWN antenna ball off of my car in front of my house… I’m still looking for the thief and I will not rest till I find him!
Letterman asked Dick Chenny’s daughter if she ever went hunting with her father and had to pluck buckshot out of the back of her head? Not funny, but pretty ballsy to ask.
Does anyone else like the smell of a burnt match? I’m not a fire bug or anything… I just like the smell of a just burnt match.
Does anyone feel sorry for me that I now have to spend this weekend sorting through over 800 photos of a naked Swedish model?
This week I had a chance to shoot with two models that I haven’t shot with in over four or five years… It’s amazing how much a woman can improve with age.
I also got a copy of my new I AM SPARTACUS graphic novel… this is a script I wrote years ago but the story seems to hold up well and the art is amazing.
Jennifer Garner looks better after having given birth. I think she was too skinny before, motherhood works well for her.
I watched the Jeff Dunham comedy DVD and found myself forgetting that his little friends were puppets.
I don’t know about anyone else… but I’m tired of basketball. Let’s just call it off.
My wife drove by the mall early this morning and said the theater’s parking was full. Looks like the Catholic ban on the Da Vinci Code is working well.
The trailer for Aquaman/Mercy Reef was leaked to the web this week… it looked pretty good to me. Wish the studio would pick it up after all.
These Mastercard commercials with Richard Dean Anderson makes me miss the old Macgyver series… not enough to buy the DVDs… but I miss it just the same.
All that Jazz, Blue Thunder, Jaws… Roy Schieder is a terrific actor that most people don’t seem to give the proper amount of respect to.
I’ve decided I don’t like the Family Guy but I would love to watch a collection of the highlights of the show.
Is there any man in the world who would not at least consider trading lives with Hugh Hefner?
It’s my belief that most people own at least a half dozen more coffee cups than they could ever need. Just because it says “World’s greatest…” or “I like mine black… with a spoon in them…” doesn’t mean you need to buy it.
Dude… seriously… the Terminator is the Governor of California… how did that happen?
I bought a back-up battery system for my PC to keep the system running during a power outage… but most likely I won’t get around to hooking it up until just after the next power outage.
Has anyone found a practical use for a black light other than making velvet pictures look ‘groovy’?
Why is it your cell phone always rings just when you’ve left it in the other room?
About 11 years ago someone stole my SPAWN antenna ball off of my car in front of my house… I’m still looking for the thief and I will not rest till I find him!
Letterman asked Dick Chenny’s daughter if she ever went hunting with her father and had to pluck buckshot out of the back of her head? Not funny, but pretty ballsy to ask.
Does anyone else like the smell of a burnt match? I’m not a fire bug or anything… I just like the smell of a just burnt match.
Does anyone feel sorry for me that I now have to spend this weekend sorting through over 800 photos of a naked Swedish model?
The nice folks at Ain’t it Cool just reviewed my latest work I AM SPARTACUS:
“What makes this story work is the way Dan Wickline builds the tension between the characters. The mystery of Spartacus and his identity is an intriguing one, and it has a payoff that not only twists like a corkscrew, but works amazingly well. I couldn’t help but laugh at the final page, it’s just beautiful.”
Read the full review: https://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23371#8
“What makes this story work is the way Dan Wickline builds the tension between the characters. The mystery of Spartacus and his identity is an intriguing one, and it has a payoff that not only twists like a corkscrew, but works amazingly well. I couldn’t help but laugh at the final page, it’s just beautiful.”
Read the full review: https://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23371#8
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Four Color Thursday
The big news in the comic world the last two days has been about a love triangle between three creators. There are two major problems here. First is that we have the story of one person involved, there’s an old saying: “There’s three sides to every story – yours, mine and the truth.” I think that’s the case here. We are far from hearing the full story and probably never will. The second problem here is that it went from a simple on-line journal posting to being covered by one of the comic news sites. This isn’t comic news; this is tabloid gossip with no second source verification.
The reason this bothers me is more the second part than the first. Someone got dumped and is asking for sympathy/pity depending on your outlook. It happens every day. This guy just happens to be doing it on the internet… but when the ‘comic media’ picks up the story and treats it like facts, we end up with a mess and people getting hurt. This is the second time in a very short period something like this happened. A story was run about an incident at a comic convention where an unnamed man made unwanted sexual contact with a female. I’m sure most of you who know the industry know who the parties are involved… I’m not going to rename them here because it’s not the point of the piece. But in the midst of all of that, one site put out the story without naming names but with just enough details that someone completely uninvolved became the favorite suspect on-line. The person had nothing to do with the case, wasn’t even at the convention but still a lot of people assumed it was he and it caused him a lot of damage. This story was again taking from the original site and then treated like legit comic news.
There are gossip columns out there. Rich Johnston has been running one for a long time but goes out of his way to check his facts and tells you upfront that it’s gossip. Plus, most of what he covers is actual news – publisher’s financial problems, creator’s new projects, etc. This isn’t a love letter to Rich… he did cover the second issue above, but he did so showing both sides equally. My point is, it is irresponsible to post something on a ‘comics news’ site if you have not verified the validity of the story. The love triangle story… there was only the dumped boyfriends account. There wasn’t even a comment that the other parties involved were contacted in anyway.
A few years back, I was writing for a comic ‘news’ site. An artist accidentally let information slip he wasn’t supposed to. A request was made by the publisher for the news not to be run. The Editor in Chief ran the story anyway. I left the site and started my own. So I’m not speaking from left field here. I’ve done the job the other sites are doing now. But it’s comic news. Not covering the search for WMDs in the Gulf. Just because someone writes it in a blog or a live journal doesn’t make it true and it doesn’t make it news. So blindly copying that tidbit onto a comic news site without any additional verification is irresponsible and bound to hurt people who don’t deserve to be hurt.
The big news in the comic world the last two days has been about a love triangle between three creators. There are two major problems here. First is that we have the story of one person involved, there’s an old saying: “There’s three sides to every story – yours, mine and the truth.” I think that’s the case here. We are far from hearing the full story and probably never will. The second problem here is that it went from a simple on-line journal posting to being covered by one of the comic news sites. This isn’t comic news; this is tabloid gossip with no second source verification.
The reason this bothers me is more the second part than the first. Someone got dumped and is asking for sympathy/pity depending on your outlook. It happens every day. This guy just happens to be doing it on the internet… but when the ‘comic media’ picks up the story and treats it like facts, we end up with a mess and people getting hurt. This is the second time in a very short period something like this happened. A story was run about an incident at a comic convention where an unnamed man made unwanted sexual contact with a female. I’m sure most of you who know the industry know who the parties are involved… I’m not going to rename them here because it’s not the point of the piece. But in the midst of all of that, one site put out the story without naming names but with just enough details that someone completely uninvolved became the favorite suspect on-line. The person had nothing to do with the case, wasn’t even at the convention but still a lot of people assumed it was he and it caused him a lot of damage. This story was again taking from the original site and then treated like legit comic news.
There are gossip columns out there. Rich Johnston has been running one for a long time but goes out of his way to check his facts and tells you upfront that it’s gossip. Plus, most of what he covers is actual news – publisher’s financial problems, creator’s new projects, etc. This isn’t a love letter to Rich… he did cover the second issue above, but he did so showing both sides equally. My point is, it is irresponsible to post something on a ‘comics news’ site if you have not verified the validity of the story. The love triangle story… there was only the dumped boyfriends account. There wasn’t even a comment that the other parties involved were contacted in anyway.
A few years back, I was writing for a comic ‘news’ site. An artist accidentally let information slip he wasn’t supposed to. A request was made by the publisher for the news not to be run. The Editor in Chief ran the story anyway. I left the site and started my own. So I’m not speaking from left field here. I’ve done the job the other sites are doing now. But it’s comic news. Not covering the search for WMDs in the Gulf. Just because someone writes it in a blog or a live journal doesn’t make it true and it doesn’t make it news. So blindly copying that tidbit onto a comic news site without any additional verification is irresponsible and bound to hurt people who don’t deserve to be hurt.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Showbiz Wednesday
I heard today that the Aquaman TV series, called Mercy Reef, was not picked up by the network. I haven’t heard the reasons why, but there was so much talk about it before hand and then the casting to finally get to pilot and not have it picked up has to be a disappointment to not only everyone involved, but to a lot of the comic fans. Aquaman has never gotten the respect that other characters his age have earned. Heck, I even had to look up the name of the characters creator: Paul Norris.
This shows how fickle the TV industry can be. Would the show have made it if the WB and UPN hadn’t merged? I don’t know. There are now less hours of network programming needed with the merger so maybe. But then again, if the pilot wasn’t good enough to make it on its own, would we want it on the air if it was just ‘the best of the worst’? I’m hoping that the pilot will be ‘leaked’ or maybe the series could go to syndication… but with the budget that would be needed for the series I would doubt it.
I follow Warren Ellis’ comments that he mails out every day or so. He’s talking about two different television projects he’s involved in. One seems close to a done deal, the other he’s less optimistic about… but since both are still in the early stages, and after seeing what happened with Global Frequencies, I would think Warren would be pessimistic about everything having to do with television until the show actually aired. I finally sat down and read the Global Frequencies mini-series yesterday… can’t believe that it didn’t work as a TV series.
I have a television concept of my own that we’re about to start pitching around to the studios or whomever we pitch them to. Television is a completely new industry for me so I’m just doing whatever my manager suggests and keeping my fingers crossed. He told me that having a completed pilot script would help us so I sat down and wrote one. That was an interesting experience. It’s a lot different than writing a comic. In a comic you tell the artist what you want to see in each panel and basically direct the shot and the artist comes in and films it. In television, you set up where they are, what time of day and an occasional movement, other than that it’s all dialogue. That really takes some getting used to. Also, there is a very standard format for writing a screenplay in. Luckily programs like Final Draft make the formatting easier.
I think the thing I enjoyed the most about working on a screenplay was casting the characters in my head. Sometimes it’s important to hear how the dialogue would sound and the easiest way to do that is to put someone you know (personally or on the screen) into the character and visualize the scene with them in it. I ended up with a very odd mix of people playing out the show in my head. John Laroquette, D B Sweeny, and ex-girlfriend and my grandmother… like those four people would ever be in a room together in real life.
I heard today that the Aquaman TV series, called Mercy Reef, was not picked up by the network. I haven’t heard the reasons why, but there was so much talk about it before hand and then the casting to finally get to pilot and not have it picked up has to be a disappointment to not only everyone involved, but to a lot of the comic fans. Aquaman has never gotten the respect that other characters his age have earned. Heck, I even had to look up the name of the characters creator: Paul Norris.
This shows how fickle the TV industry can be. Would the show have made it if the WB and UPN hadn’t merged? I don’t know. There are now less hours of network programming needed with the merger so maybe. But then again, if the pilot wasn’t good enough to make it on its own, would we want it on the air if it was just ‘the best of the worst’? I’m hoping that the pilot will be ‘leaked’ or maybe the series could go to syndication… but with the budget that would be needed for the series I would doubt it.
I follow Warren Ellis’ comments that he mails out every day or so. He’s talking about two different television projects he’s involved in. One seems close to a done deal, the other he’s less optimistic about… but since both are still in the early stages, and after seeing what happened with Global Frequencies, I would think Warren would be pessimistic about everything having to do with television until the show actually aired. I finally sat down and read the Global Frequencies mini-series yesterday… can’t believe that it didn’t work as a TV series.
I have a television concept of my own that we’re about to start pitching around to the studios or whomever we pitch them to. Television is a completely new industry for me so I’m just doing whatever my manager suggests and keeping my fingers crossed. He told me that having a completed pilot script would help us so I sat down and wrote one. That was an interesting experience. It’s a lot different than writing a comic. In a comic you tell the artist what you want to see in each panel and basically direct the shot and the artist comes in and films it. In television, you set up where they are, what time of day and an occasional movement, other than that it’s all dialogue. That really takes some getting used to. Also, there is a very standard format for writing a screenplay in. Luckily programs like Final Draft make the formatting easier.
I think the thing I enjoyed the most about working on a screenplay was casting the characters in my head. Sometimes it’s important to hear how the dialogue would sound and the easiest way to do that is to put someone you know (personally or on the screen) into the character and visualize the scene with them in it. I ended up with a very odd mix of people playing out the show in my head. John Laroquette, D B Sweeny, and ex-girlfriend and my grandmother… like those four people would ever be in a room together in real life.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Soapbox Tuesday
I touched on this last night, but since today is the day I look at political issues, I figured I would revisit the immigration issue and Bush’s address to the nation last night. My biggest concern with his speech wasn’t what he was proposing… in a lot of ways I can support some of his concepts he brought forth… but my concern is focus on his ability to get the job done anymore and today’s vote in the senate seemed to back that up. This is going to be an uphill battle for Bush. Even though an amendment that would put legal machinations on hold until border security was dealt with was defeated in the senate, the margin of the defeat should have Bush worried. The bill lost 55 – 40, but 33 of the Senate’s 55 Republicans, including most of the GOP leaders, voted for the amendment despite Bush’s on air pleading to make a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
Bush is not carrying his own party into this battle. The Democrats are saying he needs to do more than just call for a comprehensive reform and the Republicans are telling Bush he needs to speak to his own leadership before moving forward. Bush’s response: "There needs to be a comprehensive bill in order for us to achieve the objective," Bush said. "And the objective is, on the one hand, protect our borders, and, on the other hand, never lose sight of the thing that makes America unique, which is we're a land of immigrants and that we're not going to discriminate against people." Maybe it’s just me, but it sure seems like someone has told Bush what the buzzwords are for this topic but not the meat behind them.
The basis of Bush’s plan is this: 1) Increase the border patrol at first by using 6,000 National Guard troops and over a year replace them with newly hired officers. Use the troops to training and monitor equipment only; no troops will be on guard duty. 2) Create a guest worker program that would allow immigrant workers to take temporary jobs in the United States and be forced to return home once that time has expired. 3) The controversial part of the plan involves allowing some of the 11 million illegals to work towards citizenship by paying fines and back taxes. But they must have been working for a number of years (not specified) and have learned English.
Critics of the plan see the last measure as amnesty for those who have knowingly broken the law and unfair to those who gained their citizenship properly. Another issue is that there are two bills currently in congress. The one in the Senate is a comprehensive plan that takes all matters into account. The one in the House is streamlined to only deal with the border security issues. The two conflicting bills will have to be worked out in a conference between the two divisions of congress. House Republicans are seeing Bush’s support of the Senate version of the bill in a very negative light and is not being well received. "It offers a perverse incentive -- the longer and more flagrantly you have broken immigration laws, the easier it will be to get on the so-called path to citizenship," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, an Arizona Republican, told CNN. "I don't believe the American people will appreciate that. Rep. Tom Price, a Georgia Republican, issued a statement saying, "thinly veiled attempts to promote amnesty cannot be tolerated."
Now I’m all for the increased border patrol efforts and think the National Guard as a short term fill in while new officers are being hired is a good thing. I’m not a fan of the guest worker program because I think that a number of those who come to the country to work that way will not return home but will then become illegals just like we have now. As for the amnesty (though Bush won’t call it that) I can’t quite get behind that. You are basically rewarding someone for being good at breaking the law. If a jewel thief steals a diamond from a very secure location, do we let him have it because of the effort he showed as long as he pays for the damage to the security system and taxes on the diamond? I know it’s a far-fetched metaphor but it has some validity. I think anyone who wants to be a citizen should have to go through the same process as everyone else. In the constitution the line says that among those truth we hold to be self evident is that all men are created equal… shouldn’t that mean everyone has to do the same thing to get the same reward?
I touched on this last night, but since today is the day I look at political issues, I figured I would revisit the immigration issue and Bush’s address to the nation last night. My biggest concern with his speech wasn’t what he was proposing… in a lot of ways I can support some of his concepts he brought forth… but my concern is focus on his ability to get the job done anymore and today’s vote in the senate seemed to back that up. This is going to be an uphill battle for Bush. Even though an amendment that would put legal machinations on hold until border security was dealt with was defeated in the senate, the margin of the defeat should have Bush worried. The bill lost 55 – 40, but 33 of the Senate’s 55 Republicans, including most of the GOP leaders, voted for the amendment despite Bush’s on air pleading to make a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
Bush is not carrying his own party into this battle. The Democrats are saying he needs to do more than just call for a comprehensive reform and the Republicans are telling Bush he needs to speak to his own leadership before moving forward. Bush’s response: "There needs to be a comprehensive bill in order for us to achieve the objective," Bush said. "And the objective is, on the one hand, protect our borders, and, on the other hand, never lose sight of the thing that makes America unique, which is we're a land of immigrants and that we're not going to discriminate against people." Maybe it’s just me, but it sure seems like someone has told Bush what the buzzwords are for this topic but not the meat behind them.
The basis of Bush’s plan is this: 1) Increase the border patrol at first by using 6,000 National Guard troops and over a year replace them with newly hired officers. Use the troops to training and monitor equipment only; no troops will be on guard duty. 2) Create a guest worker program that would allow immigrant workers to take temporary jobs in the United States and be forced to return home once that time has expired. 3) The controversial part of the plan involves allowing some of the 11 million illegals to work towards citizenship by paying fines and back taxes. But they must have been working for a number of years (not specified) and have learned English.
Critics of the plan see the last measure as amnesty for those who have knowingly broken the law and unfair to those who gained their citizenship properly. Another issue is that there are two bills currently in congress. The one in the Senate is a comprehensive plan that takes all matters into account. The one in the House is streamlined to only deal with the border security issues. The two conflicting bills will have to be worked out in a conference between the two divisions of congress. House Republicans are seeing Bush’s support of the Senate version of the bill in a very negative light and is not being well received. "It offers a perverse incentive -- the longer and more flagrantly you have broken immigration laws, the easier it will be to get on the so-called path to citizenship," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, an Arizona Republican, told CNN. "I don't believe the American people will appreciate that. Rep. Tom Price, a Georgia Republican, issued a statement saying, "thinly veiled attempts to promote amnesty cannot be tolerated."
Now I’m all for the increased border patrol efforts and think the National Guard as a short term fill in while new officers are being hired is a good thing. I’m not a fan of the guest worker program because I think that a number of those who come to the country to work that way will not return home but will then become illegals just like we have now. As for the amnesty (though Bush won’t call it that) I can’t quite get behind that. You are basically rewarding someone for being good at breaking the law. If a jewel thief steals a diamond from a very secure location, do we let him have it because of the effort he showed as long as he pays for the damage to the security system and taxes on the diamond? I know it’s a far-fetched metaphor but it has some validity. I think anyone who wants to be a citizen should have to go through the same process as everyone else. In the constitution the line says that among those truth we hold to be self evident is that all men are created equal… shouldn’t that mean everyone has to do the same thing to get the same reward?
Monday, May 15, 2006
Slapshot Monday II
Doug Flutie announced his retirement today. Flutie was told that he was too small to be a quarterback but every NFL team. Standing 5’9” and weighing roughly 180lbs (which I believe was my size in the 5th grade), Flutie lead Boston College to a comeback victory with a ‘Hail-Mary’ pass that is now the gold standard for college plays. Even with that he was still told he was too small. He ended up playing in the USFL for the New Jersey Generals along with Herschel Walker and then went on to star in the Canadian Football League winning 5 straight Grey Cups. When he got into the NFL, he played with heart and a never die attitude twice his size.
Besides his efforts on the field, Flutie has created a foundation in his sons name to help fight autism. He has raised over 7 million dollars to help fight autism all while fighting to prove he belonged in pro-football. At the end of last season, Flutie executed the first drop-kick extra point that the NFL has seen in over 50 years. Just another feather in his cap. After 21 years that started with an amazing ‘Hail-Mary” and ended with a drop-kick, Doug Flutie retires having brought something to football that many pros today have forgotten… he brought fun and heart.
Flutie isn’t the only one retiring. Jimmy Smith of the Jaguars announced his retirement last week. Smith has been a good wide-receiver for many years but never crossed over into the ‘great’ or ‘hall-of-fame’ category. The retirement of Smith surprised a lot of his teammates and surprised me as well… not because I felt he was coming back or I had some inside information that turned out wrong… I’m surprised because Smith is 37 years old. Last month I turned 36 and I’m just really getting my writing career started. There is something odd about a man 1 year older than you announcing his retirement. Makes you feel VERY old. Thank you Jimmy… where’s my rocking chair.
Off topic now… I’m watching the President’s address pertaining to the immigration issue and I’m just shaking my head. Not about what he’s speaking… hell, it’s hard to tell what he’s talking about half the time between his poor speaking abilities and the words he just makes up are scary. But the truth is I just have no faith in him at all anymore and he could be telling us about a brilliant plan and it would still sound like he was telling us to bury our savings in a mayonnaise jar out back. Heck, the temporary worker program sounds like it might have some merit… I just can’t take him seriously anymore. Oh… and I love the fact that he includes ‘learning English’ as part of ‘paying for their crimes’. Okay… moving on. This guy is depressing me.
Doug Flutie announced his retirement today. Flutie was told that he was too small to be a quarterback but every NFL team. Standing 5’9” and weighing roughly 180lbs (which I believe was my size in the 5th grade), Flutie lead Boston College to a comeback victory with a ‘Hail-Mary’ pass that is now the gold standard for college plays. Even with that he was still told he was too small. He ended up playing in the USFL for the New Jersey Generals along with Herschel Walker and then went on to star in the Canadian Football League winning 5 straight Grey Cups. When he got into the NFL, he played with heart and a never die attitude twice his size.
Besides his efforts on the field, Flutie has created a foundation in his sons name to help fight autism. He has raised over 7 million dollars to help fight autism all while fighting to prove he belonged in pro-football. At the end of last season, Flutie executed the first drop-kick extra point that the NFL has seen in over 50 years. Just another feather in his cap. After 21 years that started with an amazing ‘Hail-Mary” and ended with a drop-kick, Doug Flutie retires having brought something to football that many pros today have forgotten… he brought fun and heart.
Flutie isn’t the only one retiring. Jimmy Smith of the Jaguars announced his retirement last week. Smith has been a good wide-receiver for many years but never crossed over into the ‘great’ or ‘hall-of-fame’ category. The retirement of Smith surprised a lot of his teammates and surprised me as well… not because I felt he was coming back or I had some inside information that turned out wrong… I’m surprised because Smith is 37 years old. Last month I turned 36 and I’m just really getting my writing career started. There is something odd about a man 1 year older than you announcing his retirement. Makes you feel VERY old. Thank you Jimmy… where’s my rocking chair.
Off topic now… I’m watching the President’s address pertaining to the immigration issue and I’m just shaking my head. Not about what he’s speaking… hell, it’s hard to tell what he’s talking about half the time between his poor speaking abilities and the words he just makes up are scary. But the truth is I just have no faith in him at all anymore and he could be telling us about a brilliant plan and it would still sound like he was telling us to bury our savings in a mayonnaise jar out back. Heck, the temporary worker program sounds like it might have some merit… I just can’t take him seriously anymore. Oh… and I love the fact that he includes ‘learning English’ as part of ‘paying for their crimes’. Okay… moving on. This guy is depressing me.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Rapid Fire Friday V
What happened to the nice booklets inside of DVDs? I really liked those. They were like the liner notes on a CD.
Is it my imagination or are there now more things to hook your iPod up to than really needed? You can play it in your car, attach it to speakers or even have it be your alarm clock. Soon it won’t be fighting over a station but fighting over who’s iPod gets plugged in.
I watched the season finale of Smallville last night… there must be a mandate that every possible character should be about to die and Clark is powerless to help; that seems to be how they’ve ended every season so far.
I saw an article today about a Polar Bear/Grizzly Bear hybrid that happened naturally in the wild. The hunters discovered it when they shot the bear. They were debating whether to call it a Grolar or a Prizzy… my answer: It doesn’t matter since you’ve already killed it.
Doesn’t it seem that people play the lottery more when they don’t have any money?
This is just an observation, but it seems that every artist who has ever drawn the Hal Jordan Green Lantern has drawn him to look exactly the same as he did in his first appearance. It’s like everyone is afraid to make alterations.
The third man of the CIA had his house searched today. He’s accused of inappropriately granting contracts. Its bad enough that this guy was a high ranking government official… but everyone called him “Dusty”. How the hell does “Dusty” become one of the top spooks? That’s like Chaney hiring a guy named “Scooter”.
What happened to the band Everclear?
I think Myspace needs to allow for classifications in your friends list: People you really call friends, People you call friends but work with, People who do what you want to do and you are trying to be friends to get work, People that you put on your list to be nice but you really don’t like and People you put on the list but the scare the hell out of you and you hope they just go away.
I bought one of those Angel puppets… but it’s not a puppet. It’s a doll of a puppet. But that’s not important… the thing is, he’s on the other side of the room and he’s staring at me. I swear it’s alive. Every time I look up he’s perfectly still but I see him moving in the corner of my eye… he’s making plans to kill me, I know he is.
How do you really know an air purifier is working?
In the last two weeks I have gotten over 100 emails from flower shops reminding me that it’s Mother’s day on Sunday. Yet I have still not gotten my mom anything yet.
It’s a very surrealistic moment when you find yourself having a discussion with your mother on if I had ever thought of buying some corsets for my models to wear in the photos.
I went to I-Hop this morning for breakfast. 10:15 AM on a Friday morning and the place was completely packed. Just how many wannabe writers can there be out there? Shouldn’t someone be at work?
Reggie Bush is petitioning the NFL to let him wear the #5 on his jersey like he did in college, but the NFL rules state a running back has to wear a number between 20 and 39. This is a huge issue and Reggie has even offered to give 25% of his jersey sales to the Katrina relief fund if they let him. I see a simpler answer… put him down as a QB/RB and then he could wear #5 without a problem
A teacher in Florida has people upset because she posed for a lingerie spread that is appearing on-line. Why is this a problem? If parents actually monitored their children’s time on the computer, they wouldn’t see it anyway. And who found it in the first place?
Bush is going to address the country on the issue of immigration. They say there are 12 million illegals in the country. I don’t know about you, but the word “illegal” makes me less than willing to want the government to bend over backwards to make changes. This isn’t a closed country, there are just rules for getting in and these people went outside of the rules. Whatever the reason, they still went outside the rules.
I saw an article that said: “Madonna makes stunning confession” and says she claims she is a crap mother. Raise your hand if you find this confession stunning at all?
Reports are saying the O J Simpson is doing a prank using the white Ford Bronco made famous in the slow speed chase in a new pay-per-view show. Well, they say comedy is tragedy plus time. You think Ford stopped making the Bronco because of the incident?
There is speculation that Pope Benedict XVI will approve the use of condoms for some Catholics. You have to believe the hardline Catholics are walking around calling him “Benedict Arnold II” behind his back.
What happened to the nice booklets inside of DVDs? I really liked those. They were like the liner notes on a CD.
Is it my imagination or are there now more things to hook your iPod up to than really needed? You can play it in your car, attach it to speakers or even have it be your alarm clock. Soon it won’t be fighting over a station but fighting over who’s iPod gets plugged in.
I watched the season finale of Smallville last night… there must be a mandate that every possible character should be about to die and Clark is powerless to help; that seems to be how they’ve ended every season so far.
I saw an article today about a Polar Bear/Grizzly Bear hybrid that happened naturally in the wild. The hunters discovered it when they shot the bear. They were debating whether to call it a Grolar or a Prizzy… my answer: It doesn’t matter since you’ve already killed it.
Doesn’t it seem that people play the lottery more when they don’t have any money?
This is just an observation, but it seems that every artist who has ever drawn the Hal Jordan Green Lantern has drawn him to look exactly the same as he did in his first appearance. It’s like everyone is afraid to make alterations.
The third man of the CIA had his house searched today. He’s accused of inappropriately granting contracts. Its bad enough that this guy was a high ranking government official… but everyone called him “Dusty”. How the hell does “Dusty” become one of the top spooks? That’s like Chaney hiring a guy named “Scooter”.
What happened to the band Everclear?
I think Myspace needs to allow for classifications in your friends list: People you really call friends, People you call friends but work with, People who do what you want to do and you are trying to be friends to get work, People that you put on your list to be nice but you really don’t like and People you put on the list but the scare the hell out of you and you hope they just go away.
I bought one of those Angel puppets… but it’s not a puppet. It’s a doll of a puppet. But that’s not important… the thing is, he’s on the other side of the room and he’s staring at me. I swear it’s alive. Every time I look up he’s perfectly still but I see him moving in the corner of my eye… he’s making plans to kill me, I know he is.
How do you really know an air purifier is working?
In the last two weeks I have gotten over 100 emails from flower shops reminding me that it’s Mother’s day on Sunday. Yet I have still not gotten my mom anything yet.
It’s a very surrealistic moment when you find yourself having a discussion with your mother on if I had ever thought of buying some corsets for my models to wear in the photos.
I went to I-Hop this morning for breakfast. 10:15 AM on a Friday morning and the place was completely packed. Just how many wannabe writers can there be out there? Shouldn’t someone be at work?
Reggie Bush is petitioning the NFL to let him wear the #5 on his jersey like he did in college, but the NFL rules state a running back has to wear a number between 20 and 39. This is a huge issue and Reggie has even offered to give 25% of his jersey sales to the Katrina relief fund if they let him. I see a simpler answer… put him down as a QB/RB and then he could wear #5 without a problem
A teacher in Florida has people upset because she posed for a lingerie spread that is appearing on-line. Why is this a problem? If parents actually monitored their children’s time on the computer, they wouldn’t see it anyway. And who found it in the first place?
Bush is going to address the country on the issue of immigration. They say there are 12 million illegals in the country. I don’t know about you, but the word “illegal” makes me less than willing to want the government to bend over backwards to make changes. This isn’t a closed country, there are just rules for getting in and these people went outside of the rules. Whatever the reason, they still went outside the rules.
I saw an article that said: “Madonna makes stunning confession” and says she claims she is a crap mother. Raise your hand if you find this confession stunning at all?
Reports are saying the O J Simpson is doing a prank using the white Ford Bronco made famous in the slow speed chase in a new pay-per-view show. Well, they say comedy is tragedy plus time. You think Ford stopped making the Bronco because of the incident?
There is speculation that Pope Benedict XVI will approve the use of condoms for some Catholics. You have to believe the hardline Catholics are walking around calling him “Benedict Arnold II” behind his back.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Four-Color Thursday
Okay, there’s a good chance the titles of the days may change. I am open to suggestions. But for now we’ll go with this one.
In the early-90s I had a very simple pull file at my local comic shop; it read: ‘all Marvel’. I read next to no DC books. I tried Dark Horses line of heroes when they came out and I tried all the Image books in the beginning… but the bottom line, I was a part of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. This is how I ended up with books like Darkhawk, Sleepwalker and other such gems. I even sold off all my old DC books for store credit to buy more Marvel books.
Now it’s ten years later and I look at the book I brought home yesterday: 52, Superman, Nightwing, Firestorm, Battle for Bludhaven, Albion and Captain Atom. The only Marvel book I bought was an Ultimate Spider-Man trade but I also got a Hawkman trade to balance that out. I even picked up the Alex Ross JLA figures. So what happened? When did I change from a devoted Marvelite to a DC reader?
Around the mid-90s I went through two lay-offs and really got screwed up money wise and then ended up buying a condo. Needless to say, my comic buying curtailed greatly. There were months I didn’t buy anything. So when I did start shopping regularly again, it was about the time the Joe Quesada took over Marvel Knights. I REALLY liked what Kevin Smith did on Daredevil and the new direction for the Punisher but the rest of Marvel seemed lacking. So when Quesada became Editor-in-Chief, you would think I would be on board completely. But it went the other way.
I found myself buying Batman because of Jim Lee and the Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The quality of DC’s art suddenly started matching the quality of the stories. Where Marvel started going in different directions. As much as I liked Smith and Quesada on Daredevil is how much I didn’t like Bendis and Maleev. Daredevil has always been my favorite character and I just stopped buying the book. Now, I’m not saying that what they did was bad… it just wasn’t the Daredevil I wanted to read. But Smith was now doing Green Arrow and I was happy as could be.
So last year when DC did Identity Crisis and Marvel did House of M, I found myself buying more DC books and less Marvel books. Now DC is doing 52 and ‘One Year Later’ and Marvel is doing Civil War and Annihilation and it’s the same thing. I’m dropping the few Marvel books I was buying (New Avengers, Captain America) because I have no interest in Civil War. Yet I eagerly go to pick up Infinite Crisis and 52. I find for my dollar, I’m enjoying more of what DC is doing. Again, this is not saying that Marvel’s work is bad… it’s just not to my taste.
I think the issue is ‘escapism’. I read comics to see fantastic stories that will take my mind off of my own problems. I watch movies and TV for the same thing. If I want to see civil wars I could turn on the news or the History channel. I want to see heroes fighting villains not each other. I want stories of hope. I want to put down a comic and feel that I was entertained… not shown a four-color version of the real world that just happens to have super-heroes. But I sincerely hope that Marvel is successful with their Civil War just as I hope DC is successful with 52. Not every comic is supposed to be to everyone’s taste and at the moment, my taste runs more toward DC than Marvel.
So for now: Make Mine DC!
Okay, there’s a good chance the titles of the days may change. I am open to suggestions. But for now we’ll go with this one.
In the early-90s I had a very simple pull file at my local comic shop; it read: ‘all Marvel’. I read next to no DC books. I tried Dark Horses line of heroes when they came out and I tried all the Image books in the beginning… but the bottom line, I was a part of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. This is how I ended up with books like Darkhawk, Sleepwalker and other such gems. I even sold off all my old DC books for store credit to buy more Marvel books.
Now it’s ten years later and I look at the book I brought home yesterday: 52, Superman, Nightwing, Firestorm, Battle for Bludhaven, Albion and Captain Atom. The only Marvel book I bought was an Ultimate Spider-Man trade but I also got a Hawkman trade to balance that out. I even picked up the Alex Ross JLA figures. So what happened? When did I change from a devoted Marvelite to a DC reader?
Around the mid-90s I went through two lay-offs and really got screwed up money wise and then ended up buying a condo. Needless to say, my comic buying curtailed greatly. There were months I didn’t buy anything. So when I did start shopping regularly again, it was about the time the Joe Quesada took over Marvel Knights. I REALLY liked what Kevin Smith did on Daredevil and the new direction for the Punisher but the rest of Marvel seemed lacking. So when Quesada became Editor-in-Chief, you would think I would be on board completely. But it went the other way.
I found myself buying Batman because of Jim Lee and the Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The quality of DC’s art suddenly started matching the quality of the stories. Where Marvel started going in different directions. As much as I liked Smith and Quesada on Daredevil is how much I didn’t like Bendis and Maleev. Daredevil has always been my favorite character and I just stopped buying the book. Now, I’m not saying that what they did was bad… it just wasn’t the Daredevil I wanted to read. But Smith was now doing Green Arrow and I was happy as could be.
So last year when DC did Identity Crisis and Marvel did House of M, I found myself buying more DC books and less Marvel books. Now DC is doing 52 and ‘One Year Later’ and Marvel is doing Civil War and Annihilation and it’s the same thing. I’m dropping the few Marvel books I was buying (New Avengers, Captain America) because I have no interest in Civil War. Yet I eagerly go to pick up Infinite Crisis and 52. I find for my dollar, I’m enjoying more of what DC is doing. Again, this is not saying that Marvel’s work is bad… it’s just not to my taste.
I think the issue is ‘escapism’. I read comics to see fantastic stories that will take my mind off of my own problems. I watch movies and TV for the same thing. If I want to see civil wars I could turn on the news or the History channel. I want to see heroes fighting villains not each other. I want stories of hope. I want to put down a comic and feel that I was entertained… not shown a four-color version of the real world that just happens to have super-heroes. But I sincerely hope that Marvel is successful with their Civil War just as I hope DC is successful with 52. Not every comic is supposed to be to everyone’s taste and at the moment, my taste runs more toward DC than Marvel.
So for now: Make Mine DC!
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Showbiz Wednesday
Continuing the new themed days for my blog, today we are going to look at the entertainment industry… or as I like to call it, the escapism industry. The say that Hollywood is the one industry protected from recessions because no matter how bad things get, people still need to escape from reality in two-hour chunks. Movies were still made during the depression, during the war and even during the ‘Red Scare’ and they will continue to be made because people will continue to go. A movie ticket cost around $9.00 a person yet people are still paying to see whatever Hollywood pushes out.
Now the summer blockbuster season is upon us but I’ll be honest, at the moment there are only three movies that I’m really interested in seeing at a theater. The Da Vinci Code looks amazing and I loved the book. X-Men 3 looks good but I’m a touch worried about the change of directors… I didn’t watch Rush Hour and think ‘this guy should direct Wolverine’. Superman Returns looks good but I’m worried about some of the choices Singer made; mostly cosmetic like the look of the costume and having Clark look nerdy, but I will give it a shot.
Other than that, I can’t think of one movie coming out this summer that will get me to a theater. I’m more likely to spend the $18.99 on a DVD with all of its extras than to pay almost the same price for my wife and I to see a movie. The additional thing is that not only do I get to watch the DVD as often as I like, but I then loan it to my parents and then my brother… so by the time a DVD I buy makes the rounds it’s been viewed by 6 to 8 people. The same number of people at a theater would cost over $50.
Now the problem isn’t that I think Hollywood is making bad movies. Well, they are but no more than they have for years. The problem is that I can’t sit through the good movies that make you think anymore. Mysteries are usually obvious to me within the first ten minutes. I usually know the real history of the historical dramas and just about every other movie I go see I end up knowing what’s going to happen. This is because I’m a writer. I’ve had to learn all the tricks to tell a story in a specific amount of time. How you introduce a character trait in the first ten minutes so that later on you can make that a crucial turning point for the movie.
Proof of this… the Usual Suspects. I had heard what an amazing movie this was and was looking forward to seeing it. My girlfriend bought the movie, brought it over and we started watching it. She had seen it in the theater and loved it. A few minutes into the movie I see the ‘Kaiser Sosa’ character go to shoot Gabriel Byrne’s character. At the crucial moment, Sosa moves the gun from his right hand to his left hand. Then we do the flashback and Kevin Spacey comes on screen with a deformed left hand. At that moment I turned to my girlfriend and said… we can stop the movie now.
So at this point in my life, the only kind of movies I can enjoy in a theater are big mindless action movies; hence Superman and X-Men. The Da Vinci Code isn’t mindless, but I already know the story so it’s just a matter of enjoying the acting and not trying to solve the mystery.
Okay, so this entry wasn’t exactly about the entertainment industry… but I’ve spent the last three days buried in a screenplay so reading the latest in Hollywood didn’t make the list today.
Continuing the new themed days for my blog, today we are going to look at the entertainment industry… or as I like to call it, the escapism industry. The say that Hollywood is the one industry protected from recessions because no matter how bad things get, people still need to escape from reality in two-hour chunks. Movies were still made during the depression, during the war and even during the ‘Red Scare’ and they will continue to be made because people will continue to go. A movie ticket cost around $9.00 a person yet people are still paying to see whatever Hollywood pushes out.
Now the summer blockbuster season is upon us but I’ll be honest, at the moment there are only three movies that I’m really interested in seeing at a theater. The Da Vinci Code looks amazing and I loved the book. X-Men 3 looks good but I’m a touch worried about the change of directors… I didn’t watch Rush Hour and think ‘this guy should direct Wolverine’. Superman Returns looks good but I’m worried about some of the choices Singer made; mostly cosmetic like the look of the costume and having Clark look nerdy, but I will give it a shot.
Other than that, I can’t think of one movie coming out this summer that will get me to a theater. I’m more likely to spend the $18.99 on a DVD with all of its extras than to pay almost the same price for my wife and I to see a movie. The additional thing is that not only do I get to watch the DVD as often as I like, but I then loan it to my parents and then my brother… so by the time a DVD I buy makes the rounds it’s been viewed by 6 to 8 people. The same number of people at a theater would cost over $50.
Now the problem isn’t that I think Hollywood is making bad movies. Well, they are but no more than they have for years. The problem is that I can’t sit through the good movies that make you think anymore. Mysteries are usually obvious to me within the first ten minutes. I usually know the real history of the historical dramas and just about every other movie I go see I end up knowing what’s going to happen. This is because I’m a writer. I’ve had to learn all the tricks to tell a story in a specific amount of time. How you introduce a character trait in the first ten minutes so that later on you can make that a crucial turning point for the movie.
Proof of this… the Usual Suspects. I had heard what an amazing movie this was and was looking forward to seeing it. My girlfriend bought the movie, brought it over and we started watching it. She had seen it in the theater and loved it. A few minutes into the movie I see the ‘Kaiser Sosa’ character go to shoot Gabriel Byrne’s character. At the crucial moment, Sosa moves the gun from his right hand to his left hand. Then we do the flashback and Kevin Spacey comes on screen with a deformed left hand. At that moment I turned to my girlfriend and said… we can stop the movie now.
So at this point in my life, the only kind of movies I can enjoy in a theater are big mindless action movies; hence Superman and X-Men. The Da Vinci Code isn’t mindless, but I already know the story so it’s just a matter of enjoying the acting and not trying to solve the mystery.
Okay, so this entry wasn’t exactly about the entertainment industry… but I’ve spent the last three days buried in a screenplay so reading the latest in Hollywood didn’t make the list today.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Soapbox Tuesday
Tuesdays we look at what stupid thing the government is doing. Now you may think that statement shows a bias against the government, but the truth is if there was anything positive to talk about I would be all over it. There hasn’t been a positive government story in a very long time.
So California decided that to get your high school diploma you have to pass a test; a test that shows you have learned everything you should have in high school and are ready to move on to college or the work force. I personally like this idea. Before giving someone a certificate that says they are of a certain quality, you test to see of they’re of that quality. We do that for many things. Clothes are inspected and so are cars, so why not test the abilities of those who are going on in life.
This, at least to me, is a no brainer. How could this one be a problem? How could anyone be against this?
Sure enough, a group of students and their parents have filed lawsuits in hopes of getting a judge to grant an injunction against the tests. Now I understand a parent wanting the best for their child… but isn’t joining in on this lawsuit basically saying that your child can’t pass this test? Are they going to get bumper stickers “My kid couldn’t pass the high school exit exam”?
The side that’s against the exam claim that students in larger cities or minority dominant areas may get inferior teachers and are not prepared to pass the test. That is a reality that cannot be denied. But an independent research firm concluded that students are working harder and learning more because of the exam. Those who are struggling are now asking for and getting the help they need. In other words, the exam is motivating students to succeed.
The solution is not to eliminate this test, but use it as a tool to find out where the school system is failing and correct it. If a single student doesn’t pass a test, then a school will need to look at how to identify students in need and reach them earlier. But if a large portion of a student body doesn’t pass the changes in the school itself are necessary. Data from this test could help improve the public school system.
But of course, parents don’t look at the big picture. None of us would. We look to see how it affects us personally or our family. This is something I can understand and emphasize with. But at some point we have to do something to improve the system. We have to bite the bullet and make changes or we will be in the quagmire forever.
My hope is that the judge does not grant the injunction but I fear he will. Perhaps the state of California needs to not only propose the exam, but what to do with the students who don’t pass. How do you help them? There are still steps that need to be mapped out, but the steps forward still need to be made or we just end up standing still.
Tuesdays we look at what stupid thing the government is doing. Now you may think that statement shows a bias against the government, but the truth is if there was anything positive to talk about I would be all over it. There hasn’t been a positive government story in a very long time.
So California decided that to get your high school diploma you have to pass a test; a test that shows you have learned everything you should have in high school and are ready to move on to college or the work force. I personally like this idea. Before giving someone a certificate that says they are of a certain quality, you test to see of they’re of that quality. We do that for many things. Clothes are inspected and so are cars, so why not test the abilities of those who are going on in life.
This, at least to me, is a no brainer. How could this one be a problem? How could anyone be against this?
Sure enough, a group of students and their parents have filed lawsuits in hopes of getting a judge to grant an injunction against the tests. Now I understand a parent wanting the best for their child… but isn’t joining in on this lawsuit basically saying that your child can’t pass this test? Are they going to get bumper stickers “My kid couldn’t pass the high school exit exam”?
The side that’s against the exam claim that students in larger cities or minority dominant areas may get inferior teachers and are not prepared to pass the test. That is a reality that cannot be denied. But an independent research firm concluded that students are working harder and learning more because of the exam. Those who are struggling are now asking for and getting the help they need. In other words, the exam is motivating students to succeed.
The solution is not to eliminate this test, but use it as a tool to find out where the school system is failing and correct it. If a single student doesn’t pass a test, then a school will need to look at how to identify students in need and reach them earlier. But if a large portion of a student body doesn’t pass the changes in the school itself are necessary. Data from this test could help improve the public school system.
But of course, parents don’t look at the big picture. None of us would. We look to see how it affects us personally or our family. This is something I can understand and emphasize with. But at some point we have to do something to improve the system. We have to bite the bullet and make changes or we will be in the quagmire forever.
My hope is that the judge does not grant the injunction but I fear he will. Perhaps the state of California needs to not only propose the exam, but what to do with the students who don’t pass. How do you help them? There are still steps that need to be mapped out, but the steps forward still need to be made or we just end up standing still.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Slapshot Monday
Do we love out sports stars for what they do or for how they are portrayed? When Tiger Woods was first starting out, everyone loved him and the papers were writing story after story about how great he was. Then suddenly, the stories became about how stand-off he was. How he didn’t have a good relationship with his caddy and how he was no longer the player he was. Now, he’s married, joking with the media and his father passed away… suddenly he’s the best player in golf again. In that time I don’t think his game changed at all. He may not have won as many tournaments or masters but he was still playing good golf. And since fans only know these players from what they see and what they read; the media manufactures their opinions. So somewhere along the lines the press decided it was time for Tiger to be the bad guy and now he’s the good guy again. This is looking more like Wrestling than golf.
It all has to do with the term ‘media darlings’. If you joke with the media, give them good quotes and the occasional juicy gossip then you will be the conquering hero or the hard working soul on a team of losers. But if you shy away from the spotlight or avoid interviews then every detail of your life will be cast in a negative view and displayed for the entire world to see.
Look at Mark Magwire and Barry Bonds. Mark talked with the media, had time for every reporter, met with fans and was beloved by all. When the issue of steroids came up, no one wanted to know because they didn’t want this modern day Lancelot tarnished. He and Sammy Sosa saved baseball, there’s no way he was on the juice. But Barry Bonds doesn’t play well with the press. He sits alone in the corner of the locker room with his big screen TV turned away from everyone else and his recliner until it’s time to knock the rock out of the park. So when the issue of steroids came up, everyone one ‘knew’ he was guilty.
Look at the Olympics. The ratings are horrible and I know why. It’s because NBC spends every broadcast showcasing a bunch of athletes and by the end of the piece you think the person is destined by fate to win the gold… and then they fall down on turn two and don’t even finish. But what we don’t have is any bad guys. There are no Russians or East Germans to root against. The Miracle at Lake Placid wasn’t because the USA won the gold it was because they beat the USSR. It was Rocky knocking out Draco. It was James Bond killing off Goldfinger. It was the guys in the white hats beating the guys in the black hats. But there are no black hats anymore. Hell, there aren’t even any white hats. Everyone is wearing a gray Stetson and no one cares. The media has no one to make into the bad guys. The terrorist nations don’t skate and the Canadians are just too damn polite.
The bottom line is that sports is just entertainment without a pre-ordained script. But the media still works their side of the fence like Vince McMahon pumping up Hulk Hogan then turning him into Hollywood Hogan and back again. But you want proof, ask yourself two questions: 1) Would Kobe Bryant have had so much support behind him during the rape issue if he wasn’t a media darling? 2) And now that all the steroid issues are out about Barry, doesn’t it seem he’s working really hard to be friendly with the media now?
Do we love out sports stars for what they do or for how they are portrayed? When Tiger Woods was first starting out, everyone loved him and the papers were writing story after story about how great he was. Then suddenly, the stories became about how stand-off he was. How he didn’t have a good relationship with his caddy and how he was no longer the player he was. Now, he’s married, joking with the media and his father passed away… suddenly he’s the best player in golf again. In that time I don’t think his game changed at all. He may not have won as many tournaments or masters but he was still playing good golf. And since fans only know these players from what they see and what they read; the media manufactures their opinions. So somewhere along the lines the press decided it was time for Tiger to be the bad guy and now he’s the good guy again. This is looking more like Wrestling than golf.
It all has to do with the term ‘media darlings’. If you joke with the media, give them good quotes and the occasional juicy gossip then you will be the conquering hero or the hard working soul on a team of losers. But if you shy away from the spotlight or avoid interviews then every detail of your life will be cast in a negative view and displayed for the entire world to see.
Look at Mark Magwire and Barry Bonds. Mark talked with the media, had time for every reporter, met with fans and was beloved by all. When the issue of steroids came up, no one wanted to know because they didn’t want this modern day Lancelot tarnished. He and Sammy Sosa saved baseball, there’s no way he was on the juice. But Barry Bonds doesn’t play well with the press. He sits alone in the corner of the locker room with his big screen TV turned away from everyone else and his recliner until it’s time to knock the rock out of the park. So when the issue of steroids came up, everyone one ‘knew’ he was guilty.
Look at the Olympics. The ratings are horrible and I know why. It’s because NBC spends every broadcast showcasing a bunch of athletes and by the end of the piece you think the person is destined by fate to win the gold… and then they fall down on turn two and don’t even finish. But what we don’t have is any bad guys. There are no Russians or East Germans to root against. The Miracle at Lake Placid wasn’t because the USA won the gold it was because they beat the USSR. It was Rocky knocking out Draco. It was James Bond killing off Goldfinger. It was the guys in the white hats beating the guys in the black hats. But there are no black hats anymore. Hell, there aren’t even any white hats. Everyone is wearing a gray Stetson and no one cares. The media has no one to make into the bad guys. The terrorist nations don’t skate and the Canadians are just too damn polite.
The bottom line is that sports is just entertainment without a pre-ordained script. But the media still works their side of the fence like Vince McMahon pumping up Hulk Hogan then turning him into Hollywood Hogan and back again. But you want proof, ask yourself two questions: 1) Would Kobe Bryant have had so much support behind him during the rape issue if he wasn’t a media darling? 2) And now that all the steroid issues are out about Barry, doesn’t it seem he’s working really hard to be friendly with the media now?
Saturday, May 06, 2006
An update and some changes.
Things are picking up on the writing front very quickly. The next 30 Days mini is moving forward and looks like we may have an artist attached. The Book of Bad Ideas is wrapping up but it will probably go through a name change before it’s solicited. “I Am Spartacus” should be out sometime this month as well as one of my “Monkey in a Wagon Versus Lemur on a Big Wheel”.
I’m also doing some writing I can’t speak of except to say I’m working on a screenplay and a television script at the same time. Both something new to me but I’m having fun doing it.
With all the writing I will be doing over the next couple months, I’m going to need to trim back a little on the blog postings so I’m going to go to a specific schedule by topic. I’m open to suggestions but most likely it’s going to be this: Monday – Sports, Tuesday – Politics, Wednesday – Entertainment, Thursday – Comics and Friday will continue the Rapid Fire sessions. As for Saturday and Sunday, there won’t be any planned posts. If something important comes up I will post but overall I will be taking weekends off. My goal is to start treating all of my writing as a regular job, spend X hours a day writing and taking specific time to spend with my wife and to exercise, etc.
Also, if you are reading this post on My Space, do me a favor and click subscribe so I can get an idea of who is reading this regularly. If you are reading this off my website/blogspot then post a reply and say ‘hi’.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Things are picking up on the writing front very quickly. The next 30 Days mini is moving forward and looks like we may have an artist attached. The Book of Bad Ideas is wrapping up but it will probably go through a name change before it’s solicited. “I Am Spartacus” should be out sometime this month as well as one of my “Monkey in a Wagon Versus Lemur on a Big Wheel”.
I’m also doing some writing I can’t speak of except to say I’m working on a screenplay and a television script at the same time. Both something new to me but I’m having fun doing it.
With all the writing I will be doing over the next couple months, I’m going to need to trim back a little on the blog postings so I’m going to go to a specific schedule by topic. I’m open to suggestions but most likely it’s going to be this: Monday – Sports, Tuesday – Politics, Wednesday – Entertainment, Thursday – Comics and Friday will continue the Rapid Fire sessions. As for Saturday and Sunday, there won’t be any planned posts. If something important comes up I will post but overall I will be taking weekends off. My goal is to start treating all of my writing as a regular job, spend X hours a day writing and taking specific time to spend with my wife and to exercise, etc.
Also, if you are reading this post on My Space, do me a favor and click subscribe so I can get an idea of who is reading this regularly. If you are reading this off my website/blogspot then post a reply and say ‘hi’.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Rapid Fire Friday IV
I saw the trailer for Superman… still not sold on the small logo on the chest or the total geek look of Clark Kent… but I’ll be in the audience.
I hear in England they are marketing Mission Impossible 3 based on JJ Abrahms and not Tom Cruise. See, your mom was right; jumping on a couch will just cause trouble.
I’m know this wasn’t there goal, but I found during Monday’s protest that there was no traffic, now waiting in lines and things move relatively smoothly around here.
I got a lesson on how Hollywood works today. There are people whose sole purpose is to find someone who is talented and make someone else aware of that talent. And I’m not talking about agents.
I currently have two-dozen remote controls in my house and I’m fairly sure that a few of them go to things that we have thrown out… but I don’t know which.
I tried to get lunch in downtown LA today. There was a sign that said “Lunch: 11:30 to 2:30”. We stopped, went in to one restaurant and were told that they didn’t server till twelve, but the sign was for the restaurant next door. We went over there and found out that they didn’t server till twelve… they thought the sign was for the first restaurant.
Why do most super-heroes and villains with the color black in their name usually end up being Afro-American… yet none of that applies to the green, red, blue and yellow characters?
I watched The Pyjama Girl Case on DVD and then the documentary in the extras. Amazing that the movie had little to nothing to do with the actual case other than the names and the woman being displayed nude.
I find it funny that in any Superman movie, comic or television series as soon as you mention the name Zod, things get all tense.
With all the cute photos of animals around the world, you have to wonder just how many non-cute photos have to be taken to get one good one.
Has anyone else noticed the similarities between the Roman Empire and the current US government: Regan being Augustus, Clinton being Caligula and Bush being Claudius.
Why don’t men wear pocket watches anymore? We still have pockets and we still need to tell time.
Remember when a 28k modem was replaced with a 56k modem and we all thought it was lightning fast?
Letterman’s ‘Will it Float?’ game is one of the most inane things on TV… and always makes me laugh.
And while talking about Letterman, is it me or is Paul Schaeffer starting to look more and more like Dr. Sivana from the old Shazam comics?
I was in Walmart and almost bought a set of ‘Thing Hands’ and realized I still don’t use my ‘Hulk Hands’ nearly as much as I thought I would.
In a nuclear holocaust and the world ends up filled with Zombies, I would have to believe a good katana would be better than a pistol since you can run out of bullets.
I will leave a restaurant if they don’t have BBQ sauce… but I will stay if they have the sauce even if the have a ‘D’ grade from the board of health.
With gas at $3.50 a gallon, I’m kind of glad we didn’t get our jet packs and flying cars after all.
And the raise of gas price will have one positive effect; people will now drink that cheap beer in the back of the fridge before going out to get more. Some of that stuff has to be older than most of the people reading this post.
I saw the trailer for Superman… still not sold on the small logo on the chest or the total geek look of Clark Kent… but I’ll be in the audience.
I hear in England they are marketing Mission Impossible 3 based on JJ Abrahms and not Tom Cruise. See, your mom was right; jumping on a couch will just cause trouble.
I’m know this wasn’t there goal, but I found during Monday’s protest that there was no traffic, now waiting in lines and things move relatively smoothly around here.
I got a lesson on how Hollywood works today. There are people whose sole purpose is to find someone who is talented and make someone else aware of that talent. And I’m not talking about agents.
I currently have two-dozen remote controls in my house and I’m fairly sure that a few of them go to things that we have thrown out… but I don’t know which.
I tried to get lunch in downtown LA today. There was a sign that said “Lunch: 11:30 to 2:30”. We stopped, went in to one restaurant and were told that they didn’t server till twelve, but the sign was for the restaurant next door. We went over there and found out that they didn’t server till twelve… they thought the sign was for the first restaurant.
Why do most super-heroes and villains with the color black in their name usually end up being Afro-American… yet none of that applies to the green, red, blue and yellow characters?
I watched The Pyjama Girl Case on DVD and then the documentary in the extras. Amazing that the movie had little to nothing to do with the actual case other than the names and the woman being displayed nude.
I find it funny that in any Superman movie, comic or television series as soon as you mention the name Zod, things get all tense.
With all the cute photos of animals around the world, you have to wonder just how many non-cute photos have to be taken to get one good one.
Has anyone else noticed the similarities between the Roman Empire and the current US government: Regan being Augustus, Clinton being Caligula and Bush being Claudius.
Why don’t men wear pocket watches anymore? We still have pockets and we still need to tell time.
Remember when a 28k modem was replaced with a 56k modem and we all thought it was lightning fast?
Letterman’s ‘Will it Float?’ game is one of the most inane things on TV… and always makes me laugh.
And while talking about Letterman, is it me or is Paul Schaeffer starting to look more and more like Dr. Sivana from the old Shazam comics?
I was in Walmart and almost bought a set of ‘Thing Hands’ and realized I still don’t use my ‘Hulk Hands’ nearly as much as I thought I would.
In a nuclear holocaust and the world ends up filled with Zombies, I would have to believe a good katana would be better than a pistol since you can run out of bullets.
I will leave a restaurant if they don’t have BBQ sauce… but I will stay if they have the sauce even if the have a ‘D’ grade from the board of health.
With gas at $3.50 a gallon, I’m kind of glad we didn’t get our jet packs and flying cars after all.
And the raise of gas price will have one positive effect; people will now drink that cheap beer in the back of the fridge before going out to get more. Some of that stuff has to be older than most of the people reading this post.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
The Idea
Things have been crazy today and I have a big meeting tomorrow so I'm re-running another of my old 12-Step program columns.
Where ideas come from can be as diverse as the ideas themselves. THE CORP came to me during a conversation with my Grandfather. He had read through my other work (CREEPERS, BLOODLUST, and FORCE) and asked why all of my stories were so violent. Now, by today's standards, my writing is no more violent then the average comic on the market. Then I realized that he wasn't judging them based on today's standards, he was judging them based on the standards when he was a kid. But the standards when he was younger were not realistic. Could Captain America really fight in a war and never take a life? But the idea of Captain America killing someone is so against the character. What if Captain America did kill during the war, but it was covered up. America needed a hero, not a soldier. Could the Captain America mystique be nothing more than the work of editors and spin doctors? I had an idea, to tell the story of a team of superheroes that the world thought were perfect but in reality were just a group of super-soldiers in a war.
That's when I found my "hook". For those of you who don't know what a "hook" is, think of it as the reason why the story is being told. It's one or two sentences that sum up the gist of the story, but it's only a "hook" if it's strong enough to make the reader want more. The "hook" for the Corp is this: A 1940's superhero team vanishes at the end of World War II only to reappear almost 60 years later unchanged. The team has to adapt to a completely new world that idolizes the propaganda-based versions of the heroes that appeared in the history books.
Now that I had my "hook", I needed to figure out how I was going to tell the story. I wanted it to take place in the modern day world, but I wanted to focus not only on the contrasts between society of the past and modern day, but also the contrast of what the characters were thought to be and what they really are.
I couldn't spend a lot of time on developing the characters of the past, so I decided that the characters would be very "stereotypical" in the propaganda versions. In a sense, I am turning the comics of the seventies into the history books of my story. A man dressed in red, white and blue and fighting German soldiers will immediately be associated with Captain America, if I allow that association in the past, that will create the contrast to the real world version that appears in the present. Normally, having a character compared to another is a negative thing, but in this case it helps my story along greatly.
Since the way I am going to tell this story is through contrasts, I decided to take it a step farther. Instead of having one penciler working on this book, I have two. For those of you who are familiar with my previous work will also be familiar with the two artists. Bobby Breed who worked with me on BLOODLUST will be penciling the modern day scenes. Bobby has a very detailed and realistic style. He's great at getting a gritty look to the world. For the "propaganda" like flashes to the past, we will have Brent Evans. Brent worked with me on FORCE. Brent's style is very heroic and dynamic and will look good for the perfect versions of our heroes.
The next thing I need was my connection point. I needed something or someone to be the voice of the reader, someone for the reader to identify with. A character that reacts to the differences between the history versions of the heroes and the real ones. Someone that has a reason to have idolized them all his life and to be crushed by the reality of the situation. I decided that one of the team didn't make it through to the future. One of them died at the same time the team vanished, leaving the mystery of what happened. The grandson of the dead team member would become my connection point. He will have spent his whole life trying to discover what happened to his grandfather and the rest of the team.
The last thing to do is not something you would normally think of, creating limitations for yourself. You must figure out what you want to do with this idea, and what you don't want to do. If this were a standard superhero story, I would add as many plot threads as I could for future stories. I would know from the beginning that the hero must triumph so I can do the next story. But the nature of this idea and the fact I want to tell it through contrasts makes me lean towards a mini-series. Dropping a character into a new environment creates the conflicts needed to tell the story, but the character would eventually adapt to the environment and the conflicts would subside, after awhile this would ruin the style of storytelling. But, by limiting myself to a mini-series, I remove the idea that the hero must triumph. I am now able to do whatever I want with the characters. That means anyone or everyone could die, this adds a nice little edge to the series if the reader knows that nothing is for certain. Spiderman is fun to read, but you know that he won't be killed off any time soon, right?
Now that you have your idea, write it down. Nothing is worse then a great idea that no one ever sees.
To recap the first step:
1) Get the idea - this one is all up to you.
2) Find your hook.
3) Decide on your story telling style.
4) Find your connection point.Set your limitations.
Things have been crazy today and I have a big meeting tomorrow so I'm re-running another of my old 12-Step program columns.
Where ideas come from can be as diverse as the ideas themselves. THE CORP came to me during a conversation with my Grandfather. He had read through my other work (CREEPERS, BLOODLUST, and FORCE) and asked why all of my stories were so violent. Now, by today's standards, my writing is no more violent then the average comic on the market. Then I realized that he wasn't judging them based on today's standards, he was judging them based on the standards when he was a kid. But the standards when he was younger were not realistic. Could Captain America really fight in a war and never take a life? But the idea of Captain America killing someone is so against the character. What if Captain America did kill during the war, but it was covered up. America needed a hero, not a soldier. Could the Captain America mystique be nothing more than the work of editors and spin doctors? I had an idea, to tell the story of a team of superheroes that the world thought were perfect but in reality were just a group of super-soldiers in a war.
That's when I found my "hook". For those of you who don't know what a "hook" is, think of it as the reason why the story is being told. It's one or two sentences that sum up the gist of the story, but it's only a "hook" if it's strong enough to make the reader want more. The "hook" for the Corp is this: A 1940's superhero team vanishes at the end of World War II only to reappear almost 60 years later unchanged. The team has to adapt to a completely new world that idolizes the propaganda-based versions of the heroes that appeared in the history books.
Now that I had my "hook", I needed to figure out how I was going to tell the story. I wanted it to take place in the modern day world, but I wanted to focus not only on the contrasts between society of the past and modern day, but also the contrast of what the characters were thought to be and what they really are.
I couldn't spend a lot of time on developing the characters of the past, so I decided that the characters would be very "stereotypical" in the propaganda versions. In a sense, I am turning the comics of the seventies into the history books of my story. A man dressed in red, white and blue and fighting German soldiers will immediately be associated with Captain America, if I allow that association in the past, that will create the contrast to the real world version that appears in the present. Normally, having a character compared to another is a negative thing, but in this case it helps my story along greatly.
Since the way I am going to tell this story is through contrasts, I decided to take it a step farther. Instead of having one penciler working on this book, I have two. For those of you who are familiar with my previous work will also be familiar with the two artists. Bobby Breed who worked with me on BLOODLUST will be penciling the modern day scenes. Bobby has a very detailed and realistic style. He's great at getting a gritty look to the world. For the "propaganda" like flashes to the past, we will have Brent Evans. Brent worked with me on FORCE. Brent's style is very heroic and dynamic and will look good for the perfect versions of our heroes.
The next thing I need was my connection point. I needed something or someone to be the voice of the reader, someone for the reader to identify with. A character that reacts to the differences between the history versions of the heroes and the real ones. Someone that has a reason to have idolized them all his life and to be crushed by the reality of the situation. I decided that one of the team didn't make it through to the future. One of them died at the same time the team vanished, leaving the mystery of what happened. The grandson of the dead team member would become my connection point. He will have spent his whole life trying to discover what happened to his grandfather and the rest of the team.
The last thing to do is not something you would normally think of, creating limitations for yourself. You must figure out what you want to do with this idea, and what you don't want to do. If this were a standard superhero story, I would add as many plot threads as I could for future stories. I would know from the beginning that the hero must triumph so I can do the next story. But the nature of this idea and the fact I want to tell it through contrasts makes me lean towards a mini-series. Dropping a character into a new environment creates the conflicts needed to tell the story, but the character would eventually adapt to the environment and the conflicts would subside, after awhile this would ruin the style of storytelling. But, by limiting myself to a mini-series, I remove the idea that the hero must triumph. I am now able to do whatever I want with the characters. That means anyone or everyone could die, this adds a nice little edge to the series if the reader knows that nothing is for certain. Spiderman is fun to read, but you know that he won't be killed off any time soon, right?
Now that you have your idea, write it down. Nothing is worse then a great idea that no one ever sees.
To recap the first step:
1) Get the idea - this one is all up to you.
2) Find your hook.
3) Decide on your story telling style.
4) Find your connection point.Set your limitations.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Football is not rocket science.
I’m thinking of starting to do themes with my posts; one day focus on sports, another comics, another maybe politics, etc. I’ll also be doing the rapid fire Fridays because those are a lot of fun. Once I have it worked out, I will post what the daily themes will be… then again I may just forget the whole thing and just write what comes to mind. We’ll see.
Now on to Football:
I spent the weekend watching the NFL draft and was pretty much surprised by a few things. Football is not rocket science and those who do it well should certainly not be called geniuses. Anyone can put together a winning team if they use this basic strategy. 1) Make an opportunistic defense. 2) A strong running game. 3) a quarterback who is a good field general. This is all you need to win and make the playoffs. It may sound difficult but it really isn’t.
For the defense, you need to draft speed and hands. It doesn’t matter how many sacks your team gets, the key is to stop the drive. A sack does not stop a drive. It may end one if it’s on third down but it doesn’t stop it in its tracks. A turnover on the other hand ends the drive immediately. Look at Cincinnati last year, only 28 sacks but lead the league in turnovers. So for Houston to draft Mario Williams over Reggie Bush was completely ridiculous. Mario will help put pressure on the quarterback, but they could have got that from other players in later rounds. Build your defense by starting with your corners, get guys who aren’t afraid to hit. Get speed at linebacker and then go for power rushers on the ends of the line. You don’t need marquee guys, just guys who like to get after the ball and hurt people when they tackle. You can teach scheme, you can’t teach speed and aggression.
Running game is crucial as well. Your linemen are your linemen, you can improve them slowly but you can’t change the whole thing over night. So choose a scheme that works for what you have. Denver has small linemen but they do cut blocking. Atlanta is now following suit. You get some of the big nasties up front then you can go for more zone blocking. But get durable back who can handle 25 carries a game and then hand off that many times. Don’t get these scat backs that spend as much time running east and west as they do north and south. Carolina drafted Deangelo Williams over Lendale White; doesn’t make sense to me. They say Williams greatest asset is being short the defenders can’t see him until he’s running past. The problem is he can’t see the defenders until he’s cutting into them.
Your quarterback doesn’t need to be the big armed or fleet footed guy. He needs to know when to throw the ball and when to throw it away. Look at the top three QBs in the draft. Young is known for his feet, Cutler for his arm and Lienart for his brain. I can scheme for Young, teams do it against Michael Vick. I can scheme against Cutler, big arms are only good if there is someone out there to throw to. But you can’t scheme against brains. Some of the best quarterback’s in history have been because of their intelligence: Montana, Starr and Tom Brady.
The bottom line, looking at the draft I think the team that helped themselves the most in this draft was Arizona. They got their running back before hand with Edgerin James, picked up Lineart and an offensive lineman. When Warner gets hurt… and he always does… I expect Lineart to step in and not step out again. So Arizona is my big winner of the weekend and the big loser… Houston.
I’m thinking of starting to do themes with my posts; one day focus on sports, another comics, another maybe politics, etc. I’ll also be doing the rapid fire Fridays because those are a lot of fun. Once I have it worked out, I will post what the daily themes will be… then again I may just forget the whole thing and just write what comes to mind. We’ll see.
Now on to Football:
I spent the weekend watching the NFL draft and was pretty much surprised by a few things. Football is not rocket science and those who do it well should certainly not be called geniuses. Anyone can put together a winning team if they use this basic strategy. 1) Make an opportunistic defense. 2) A strong running game. 3) a quarterback who is a good field general. This is all you need to win and make the playoffs. It may sound difficult but it really isn’t.
For the defense, you need to draft speed and hands. It doesn’t matter how many sacks your team gets, the key is to stop the drive. A sack does not stop a drive. It may end one if it’s on third down but it doesn’t stop it in its tracks. A turnover on the other hand ends the drive immediately. Look at Cincinnati last year, only 28 sacks but lead the league in turnovers. So for Houston to draft Mario Williams over Reggie Bush was completely ridiculous. Mario will help put pressure on the quarterback, but they could have got that from other players in later rounds. Build your defense by starting with your corners, get guys who aren’t afraid to hit. Get speed at linebacker and then go for power rushers on the ends of the line. You don’t need marquee guys, just guys who like to get after the ball and hurt people when they tackle. You can teach scheme, you can’t teach speed and aggression.
Running game is crucial as well. Your linemen are your linemen, you can improve them slowly but you can’t change the whole thing over night. So choose a scheme that works for what you have. Denver has small linemen but they do cut blocking. Atlanta is now following suit. You get some of the big nasties up front then you can go for more zone blocking. But get durable back who can handle 25 carries a game and then hand off that many times. Don’t get these scat backs that spend as much time running east and west as they do north and south. Carolina drafted Deangelo Williams over Lendale White; doesn’t make sense to me. They say Williams greatest asset is being short the defenders can’t see him until he’s running past. The problem is he can’t see the defenders until he’s cutting into them.
Your quarterback doesn’t need to be the big armed or fleet footed guy. He needs to know when to throw the ball and when to throw it away. Look at the top three QBs in the draft. Young is known for his feet, Cutler for his arm and Lienart for his brain. I can scheme for Young, teams do it against Michael Vick. I can scheme against Cutler, big arms are only good if there is someone out there to throw to. But you can’t scheme against brains. Some of the best quarterback’s in history have been because of their intelligence: Montana, Starr and Tom Brady.
The bottom line, looking at the draft I think the team that helped themselves the most in this draft was Arizona. They got their running back before hand with Edgerin James, picked up Lineart and an offensive lineman. When Warner gets hurt… and he always does… I expect Lineart to step in and not step out again. So Arizona is my big winner of the weekend and the big loser… Houston.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
I love the Green Hornet.
I listen to the old radio programs. I watch the television series. I read the comics. I got geeked up about Kevin Smith writing and directing the new Green Hornet movie and I got depressed when he dropped out. Look in my photo section on My Space and you’ll find a photo of me wearing the Green Hornet mask… I have the gun but still need to paint it. I have yet to find a car that looks like Black Beauty… but give me time.
The concept of the Green Hornet is great. Here is a hero who poses as a villain to stop criminals. He works the underworld from within to destroy it. He also is so cool he has a personal driver/bodyguard. Could you imaging Batman running around with a chauffer? What about instead of Robin being a kid, Batman hired himself a guy like Bane to run around in the yellow cape and elf boots? It would never work. But here Green Hornet isn’t even the best fighter in the duo. He lets Kato beat up the really tough guys.
And his day job… he runs a newspaper that is committed to bring the Green Hornet to justice. This is like if J. Jonah Jameson was Spider-Man. He has to not only let his reporters write horrible things about him, but he has to pay them to do it. He can’t even afford to have one of the reporters cover the story in a way that puts the Hornet in a slightly good light. Batman just has to play the fop, Superman plays the klutz, but Britt Reed has to hate the Green Hornet. There is a serious therapy bill in his future.
And his weapons rock: a walking stick that kicks out a “sting” and a gas gun. This guy is completely non-lethal yet the underworld fears him… probably the whole Kato kicking their ass thing. And Black Beauty, now that’s a car. No flame flying out the back. No drag chutes. No atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed. This is just a big block American made car that blends in when it needs to but can out speed and muscle anything on the street. Am I drooling?
Even Greenway Productions who made the campy 60s Batman ended up making an incredibly entertaining Green Hornet series. They couldn’t make it camp; it was too cool to be screwed up. Hell, even the theme song was awesome. I didn’t know anyone could play the trumpet that fast. I ‘acquired’ the whole series on a DVD and watched every episode in one weekend.
Now I’m worried about the idea of a Green Hornet movie. My fear is that someone will take the character and try to drop him into the modern world. They tried that in comics once and it was horrible. What makes the Green Hornet great is the classic feel. The lower tech. Green Hornet with a Black Berry would just not work. The long coat, fedora and green mask is key. No one really tries to modernize the western because it would just not work… this is the same thing.
I love the Green Hornet and I would love to write the character. To show a man trying to balance two lives that are directly opposed. A man becoming a monster to hunt the monsters. This is a great character and deserves to be in print today.
I listen to the old radio programs. I watch the television series. I read the comics. I got geeked up about Kevin Smith writing and directing the new Green Hornet movie and I got depressed when he dropped out. Look in my photo section on My Space and you’ll find a photo of me wearing the Green Hornet mask… I have the gun but still need to paint it. I have yet to find a car that looks like Black Beauty… but give me time.
The concept of the Green Hornet is great. Here is a hero who poses as a villain to stop criminals. He works the underworld from within to destroy it. He also is so cool he has a personal driver/bodyguard. Could you imaging Batman running around with a chauffer? What about instead of Robin being a kid, Batman hired himself a guy like Bane to run around in the yellow cape and elf boots? It would never work. But here Green Hornet isn’t even the best fighter in the duo. He lets Kato beat up the really tough guys.
And his day job… he runs a newspaper that is committed to bring the Green Hornet to justice. This is like if J. Jonah Jameson was Spider-Man. He has to not only let his reporters write horrible things about him, but he has to pay them to do it. He can’t even afford to have one of the reporters cover the story in a way that puts the Hornet in a slightly good light. Batman just has to play the fop, Superman plays the klutz, but Britt Reed has to hate the Green Hornet. There is a serious therapy bill in his future.
And his weapons rock: a walking stick that kicks out a “sting” and a gas gun. This guy is completely non-lethal yet the underworld fears him… probably the whole Kato kicking their ass thing. And Black Beauty, now that’s a car. No flame flying out the back. No drag chutes. No atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed. This is just a big block American made car that blends in when it needs to but can out speed and muscle anything on the street. Am I drooling?
Even Greenway Productions who made the campy 60s Batman ended up making an incredibly entertaining Green Hornet series. They couldn’t make it camp; it was too cool to be screwed up. Hell, even the theme song was awesome. I didn’t know anyone could play the trumpet that fast. I ‘acquired’ the whole series on a DVD and watched every episode in one weekend.
Now I’m worried about the idea of a Green Hornet movie. My fear is that someone will take the character and try to drop him into the modern world. They tried that in comics once and it was horrible. What makes the Green Hornet great is the classic feel. The lower tech. Green Hornet with a Black Berry would just not work. The long coat, fedora and green mask is key. No one really tries to modernize the western because it would just not work… this is the same thing.
I love the Green Hornet and I would love to write the character. To show a man trying to balance two lives that are directly opposed. A man becoming a monster to hunt the monsters. This is a great character and deserves to be in print today.
Monday, May 01, 2006
So Saturday night I was invited to dinner for a friend’s birthday. Actually her birthday is today but we celebrated it Saturday night. In an ironic twist my birthday was Saturday… so I spent my birthday going to someone else’s birthday dinner. I had an absolutely great time, met a bunch of new people (most of them models I can shoot with later) and laughed like crazy.
I know most people wouldn’t spend their birthdays that way but then I’ve spent a few birthdays in much worse ways. When I was younger I looked older and never got carded; but then again I have never been a big drinker… needless to say my 21st birthday didn’t mean a lot to me. I actually spent it at a 7-Eleven with my best friend Brian playing a video game. It took us about twenty dollars in quarters but we finished that damn game.
My twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth and twenty-eight birthdays were spent at funerals; a pretty bad streak there I think. The last one was the most ironic as it was for my girlfriends father. We went out to eat after the service and her mother told the waiter it was my birthday… so they brought out a piece of cake and sang. Very odd after a funeral.
My twenty-fourth birthday was supposed to be a surprise party… except I found out about it two weeks before hand and manipulated the guest list so the people I need to be in contact with to launch my publishing company would be there. Also, the girl who was supposed to get me out of the house before the guests arrived ended up flaking so I was standing in my front yard as people arrived.
Overall, I haven’t really had good birthdays but I find myself coming out of the ‘just get the day over with quickly’ phase and now I’m getting into the ‘shouldn’t it mean something’ phase. People are so used to me not wanting to do anything for it that now when I’m starting to want to do something, no one even asks. The irony isn’t lost on me.
I did get flooded with birthday wishes from friends through emails and I greatly appreciated every one of them.
Changing topics but keeping with the irony theme, it was reported tonight that Shaquille O’Neal welcomed his new daughter into the world today. Six minutes later Kobe Bryant welcomed his new daughter into the world. These two players who used to be teammates and then enemies are now tied together in one more way. Hopefully when these two retire they can find their friendship again…
I know most people wouldn’t spend their birthdays that way but then I’ve spent a few birthdays in much worse ways. When I was younger I looked older and never got carded; but then again I have never been a big drinker… needless to say my 21st birthday didn’t mean a lot to me. I actually spent it at a 7-Eleven with my best friend Brian playing a video game. It took us about twenty dollars in quarters but we finished that damn game.
My twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth and twenty-eight birthdays were spent at funerals; a pretty bad streak there I think. The last one was the most ironic as it was for my girlfriends father. We went out to eat after the service and her mother told the waiter it was my birthday… so they brought out a piece of cake and sang. Very odd after a funeral.
My twenty-fourth birthday was supposed to be a surprise party… except I found out about it two weeks before hand and manipulated the guest list so the people I need to be in contact with to launch my publishing company would be there. Also, the girl who was supposed to get me out of the house before the guests arrived ended up flaking so I was standing in my front yard as people arrived.
Overall, I haven’t really had good birthdays but I find myself coming out of the ‘just get the day over with quickly’ phase and now I’m getting into the ‘shouldn’t it mean something’ phase. People are so used to me not wanting to do anything for it that now when I’m starting to want to do something, no one even asks. The irony isn’t lost on me.
I did get flooded with birthday wishes from friends through emails and I greatly appreciated every one of them.
Changing topics but keeping with the irony theme, it was reported tonight that Shaquille O’Neal welcomed his new daughter into the world today. Six minutes later Kobe Bryant welcomed his new daughter into the world. These two players who used to be teammates and then enemies are now tied together in one more way. Hopefully when these two retire they can find their friendship again…
Navigation
Previous Posts
- At the Shop Today Okay…. I’m going to try and get...
- Checking in Well, I've been back from San Diego s...
- Wrath of Con! I’m sure many people have used that...
- What’s in the bag? Going to try something new thi...
- Snow White and the Seven Excuses There’s a reason...
- The Rubber Band With the recent release of DC Sho...
- Raid Fire Friday There is a hidden addiction in t...
- Rapid Fire Friday – ‘Super-hero / Comic Book Movie...
- 52 and Brave New World The other day I asked for ...
- Old friends on old TV I love old TV shows. Not ta...
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