Month: July 2012

Still Not My Batman

2012-07-11, 4:25 pm
Categories: Comics, Games

Providing another great example of the Not My Batman point I made the other week: a thread at Robot 6 where, discussing Arkham Asylum, I utter the eight words "it's more violent than I like my Batman" (in-between calling it "a phenomenally good game" -- twice) and multiple people feel the need to condescend to me and tell me I'm wrong and that's how Batman is supposed to be.

It's still just such a weird thing to me -- the idea that it's not enough to prefer one version of Batman over others, but to have to declare it the One True Version. It's not enough to say "Well, I for one have been waiting for a more violent Batman game"; it has to be "Obviously you aren't familiar with the source material; people like me have been waiting a long time for someone to make a game that's closer to the source material." Where "the source material" means "The Dark Knight Returns", because every Batman comic printed prior to 1986 doesn't count, obviously.

I will say one thing, though: not one single person argued with the part where I said "I really can't stand the art style."

Boléro di Ravel

2012-07-10, 9:42 pm
Categories: Music

Zappa does classical.

I like stuff like this -- it highlights his skill at arranging and conducting, independent of his own composition.

Revisionist History

2012-07-10, 6:19 pm
Categories: Comics, Movies, Stream of Consciousness

I read something kinda odd yesterday.

It was linked at Robot 6. It's a piece from a British rapper by the name of Akira the Don, explaining on the Huffington Post why he isn't going to go see Amazing Spider-Man. And there's this little bit in there:

It's not being made because a bunch of people really wanted, more than anything else, to tell the best Spider-Man story they could on the sliver screen. It's being made to stop the rights to the character reverting from Sony back to Marvel. Who, as we have seen, make much better superhero movies than Sony.

Now, before I go any further, I'd like to establish two things.

One: I hate the fucking Huffington Post.

Two: While I am boycotting Kirby-based Marvel product (eg the Marvel Studios films), I am not at present boycotting Ditko-based Marvel product (eg the Sony Pictures Spider-Man films). I haven't seen Amazing Spider-Man, but I still might.

I'd go into a bit more detail, but my reasons for those two points could really each make for a complete post, so I think I'll leave them as something to write about later.

Anyway. It's quite clear that Mr. the Don wrote this with his tongue firmly in cheek and is not serious about it. And also, he (rightly) praised Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. So I'm not really trying to argue with him or tear his post down. But that one line is just kinda weirdly fascinating to me and I want to look at it a little further.

Marvel. Who, as we have seen, make much better superhero movies than Sony.

Really? I mean, Avengers has been a huge critical and financial success, but...are people's attention spans so short that that's going to become the conventional wisdom? The latest Marvel Studios movie was better than the latest Sony movie, ergo Marvel makes much better superhero movies than Sony?

I mean, look. I liked Thor okay. Story was pretty middling, but the art direction was fantastic.

But you wanna tell me it was better than the first two Raimi Spider-Man movies? Really?

Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man 2 -- all got pretty mixed critical receptions. And Punisher: War Zone? Let's put it this way: I was ten paragraphs farther down before I even remembered to scroll back up here and mention it.

Really, when you take a look at it, Sony and Marvel are pretty well even -- each has two big successes and a handful of mediocrity. Marvel's got Iron Man and Avengers, and Sony has the first two Spider-Man movies.

And then there's Fox, which I think probably also fits that bill: the first two X-Men movies were pretty successful, but the rest of their output hasn't been. (Maybe X-Men: First Class? I liked that one, anyway.) Fox may lose just based on the sheer volume of crap it's put out: X-Men 3, Wolverine, Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four vs. Annoying Sarcastic Businessman, Fantastic Four vs. Giant Cloud of Gas...

Anyway. What Mr. the Don clearly means is that he wishes there wasn't this pesky matter of the outstanding movie rights at Sony and Fox, and that Marvel could get all its characters in one basket and we could see, say, Spider-Man and Wolverine in Avengers 2. As a fan, I can certainly relate to that desire; I really think the shared-universe aspect is what's made both Marvel Comics and the Marvel Movie Universe special.

But it's foolish to suggest that Marvel makes much better superhero movies than Sony.

Because -- just as in the comics -- it's not about the corporate rightsholder, damn it. It's about the creative team.

Avengers didn't succeed because it's Marvel, no matter how badly Marvel wants to say it did. Avengers succeeded because of Whedon and Downey and Ruffalo and Johansson and Hiddleston and Jackson and Evans and Hemsworth and Evans -- and, yes, the people who wrote and drew the stories it was based on, like Kirby and Lee and Heck and Millar and Hitch.

And the first two Raimi Spider-Man movies didn't succeed because they were Sony. They succeeded because of Raimi and Maguire and Simmons and Robertson and Campbell and Molina and Dafoe (and in spite of Dafoe's costume). And Ditko and Lee and Romita and Conway and Kane.

And don't get me wrong, there is something to be said about huge media conglomerates owning huge stables of characters who can all meet and interact. There is an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that features both an adaptation of an old Mad spoof and a team-up with Scooby-Doo. It is awesomesauce.

Or, hell, the recent Avengers cartoon where Ben and Johnny come over to the mansion for poker night. That was great! And it's too bad that we can't see something like that happen in a movie because of rights entanglements!

But that stuff's not great just because it's DC/Time Warner or just because it's Marvel/Disney. It's great because great people -- writers, artists, actors, directors -- put it together.

Weather

2012-07-09, 4:17 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

I heard on the radio this morning that there's an excessive heat watch in effect from 10 AM today to 5 AM Wednesday.

At first I assumed that was a mistake, but they repeated it 15 minutes later.

So, uh, I have to say that I'm not sure how this works. Why would an excessive heat warning end at 5 AM?

Do they expect it to be less excessively hot by 5:30?

Sore Throat

2012-07-08, 8:50 pm
Categories: Announcements

Still fighting a sore throat.

I think I have had more instant ramen in the past three days than my entire five years of college.

Genius in France

2012-07-07, 8:27 pm
Categories: Music

Yes, the phrase I was hinting at in last night's post was "Genius in France" -- Weird Al's tribute to Zappa, featuring Dweezil on the intro.

Last night I noted that Zappa was often dismissed as a novelty act. Well, Weird Al is a novelty act, and proud of it, but I've heard people take that to mean he's not much of a musician.

But here's the thing: Al and his band are the ultimate chameleons, and that takes some serious talent. They've successfully imitated (deep breath) Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Bob Dylan, Don McLean, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Devo, both Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, Ritchie Valens, the Talking Heads, Bob Marley, Green Day, the Presidents of the United States of America, Coolio, Billy Joel, They Might Be Giants, R Kelly, Lady Gaga, Nirvana, the Doors, Usher, Queen, John Mellencamp, the Kinks, Joan Jett, the Beatles, Stevie Knicks, the New Kids on the Block, the B-52's, the Police, Randy Newman, Huey Lewis and the News, Tiffany, Billy Idol, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul Asylum, Elvis Costello, Nine Inch Nails, the Barenaked ladies, and, yes, Frank Zappa, to name a few -- and on more than one occasion I've seen them do probably half that list in one night.

Imitating one band's style may be easy, but imitating dozens' takes some chops. And being consistently funny while doing it for 35 years is, near as I can tell, unique.

Not Again

2012-07-07, 3:25 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

Welp, another migraine today.

Went to see the doctor a week ago about all the headaches. She said some of them were probably tension headaches from sitting at a desk all day, and recommended I exercise more and do some neck stretches. She refilled my existing prescription and gave me a sample of a new one -- well, sort of new; it's a triptan and so it's a descendant of what I used to take in high school.

I've managed to put in some exercise every day since (though I might give it a miss today). We're into the part of the year where 102 is a cool day, and the air quality is simply awful, so I can't really ride my bike like I'd like to. But we got a stair machine awhile back and I've been using that.

I'm sure that's helping me get in better shape, and I feel better too, but it sure doesn't look like it's helping with the headaches.

Must say the new prescription's working out so far, though.

The one I used to take in high school didn't work this well -- it would give me a reprieve for a couple hours and then bounce back even worse, and if I took a second pill it would give me such a nasty case of the jitters that I was just as useless and nearly as uncomfortable as if I just had a migraine. After awhile I stopped taking it and switched to over-the-counter stuff (which tends to have roughly the same effect).

Well, I tried the new drug when I got up this morning. The immediate effect seemed to be nausea, which kicked in about 15 minutes after I took it. (Or it could have just been part of the migraine. It's hard to tell.)

But I managed to get back in bed and fall asleep for about two and a half hours, and wake up functional.

The headache's not gone, and when I first got up it pounded with every step I took. After I got some food (Cup Noodles, the thing I keep around for when I can't cook anything more complicated -- plus I've got a sore throat in addition to the headache, so it soothes that a bit) and some coffee in me I started to feel better. Still a bit jittery and out-of-it (I think I've stamped out all the typos in this post, but if you find any that's why), but much better.

Guess I'll have to get this script filled.