Braaaaaaaaaaain surgeons
May 22I love a good science debate and I love a good zombie discussion. Now, I can have both, with a side helping of Philosophy thrown in. Yay!
I can’t tell who’s serious, who’s being snarky, and who’s just having yuks. All I know is that there’s no need for a zombie test if you’re willing to shoot at anything that shambles.
Like, Bittorrent, eh?
May 18
So, like, this Sunday the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will be showing Strange Brew, ok? And, uh, Bob and Doug McKenzie will be on after, with a one-hour special. Beauty.
Those of you in the not-Great White North, you might wanna check out Bittorrent or something. Not that we promote crime, eh? I’m just sayin’.
Tabula Rasa
May 18I had one of those thoughts in the shower this morning. The deep kind. Not the other kind. But before I share, I need to give you a little background.
A few months back we had a gathering, something my extended circle of friends calls Slackademics. The idea is pretty simple – if Bob knows how to play ukelele and the rest don’t, Bob can teach us the basics. If someone knows how to draw or make web pages, they share their basics with the group. And at this particular gathering it was the history of comics. Very cool stuff, as the author and comics historian of the group covered the history of comics and what they were reflecting of society.
By the end, there was a main conclusion – this love of comics and sense of historical perspective wasn’t something easily transmittable. Those with kids were passing it along to their kids, maybe a few of their friends. But what about all the kids that don’t have that kind of nerd-mentorship?
Which is where my brain picked up this morning (as I was also pondering my post from the previous day and wondering if it would be a big shit storm or a little shit storm.)
They say we are not born racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or so on. We are not born with any preconceived ideas at all. They are not with us at the start, we learn them. And if you’ve ever watched a newborn brain power up, you’ll understand how scary it is to see how much they absorb through observation, let alone direct tutoring. So, generation after generation, we chip away at discrimination – it seems to be working, though it’s not like we’re ready to remove the word from the dictionary.
We’re even chipping away at sexism. But something is broke in comics. And I think that it’s related to a lack of comic mentorship. We are – right this very second as it happens – arguing with one another. One side sees the a problem and wants change. The other side are old dogs, who do not want to learn a new trick, and in fact don’t see a problem with the old trick. How is this going to help? It will help in the few younger minds that may happen to read and catch a thought. But will it be a good thought, or a bad thought? Kinda random.
So, here’s my question – why fight a 35 year-old with a disposable income who likes to collect statues? Shouldn’t the target be the brains that are still sorting things out?
If a living room full of people agree that maybe we should all try harder to educate kids that “I’m the God damned Batman!” is a stupid line, not in keeping with the spirit of the character, aren’t we agreed that those same opportunities, if we can produce them, are the logical place to ween an industry off of pointless booty, by prepping some new brains.
“This is a great Wonder Woman story. This one is stupid.”
“That’s a cute Supergirl statue. Oh, God, it’s that awful Superman/Batman Supergirl.”
So, how do we do this?
Brainstorm time!
1) Arrange with your local library to have regular comic-reading gatherings. Be prepared to bring the good shit, and that it may go missing or get damaged. You have five bucks to replace it, that kid doesn’t.
…
Actually, that’s all I’ve got. But I like it. I’m going to ponder it. What else can be done? Matt has something, but I will not comment – hopefully it something that can be talked about in the near future.
Ow! My eyes!
May 17Really? Really, really? Fanboys like boobs is news and suddenly appalling? Did we cure cancer and I missed it? Is that why we have all this free time? I think I strained a muscle rolling my eyes at both sides (Seriously dude. Any rebuttal that includes “You obviously don’t or haven’t read Spider-Man in the past 20 years or you’d know this.” isn’t helping. Or winning, for that matter.)
Really, if and when Hughes ever designs the 70’s, Club 54, party-girl comiquette (why is nobody complaining about that word? Is it just me?) of Miss Watson, will there be enough spare outrage to rail against injustice? Perhaps it should be saved for a better shot than this.
But here we are. Fanboys – own up. You’re buying statue boobies and everybody knows it, you Maxim-wanking lunks, you. Offended fangirls, give ‘er, but I think in a world where Jae Lee art gets into the hands of tens of thousands of young men, a limited edition run of Spidercheesecake isn’t the best shot (but it’s generated a lot of discussion, so what do I know?) – I think of it like this; Spider-man has a day job and a night job, whereas Mary-Jane just has the day job, and it’s acting, so I think it’s very nice that she offered to do his laundry. This once…
…or maybe NOT! Maybe she’s going, “Tiger, this sweaty body suit stinks – and it’s dark, so please don’t throw it in with my lights.”
We just don’t know.
So, someone fill me in – how’d we conquer cancer?
[UPDATE]
Despite grumpily swearing I wasn’t going to fight this one, I kind of kept thinking about it. I still think this is a stupid battle for a good war. I’m now attempting alternatives.
I hope Matt’s post makes it onto When Fangirls Attack soon, but until then dear readers, go here.
Ahhhahahahahahahaha! Awesome. It’s like the office discussion rendered into reality.
"Are you here to rescue or kill me?"
May 11
I was very excited to be connected in some way to the latest issue of Geek magazine – you might however imagine my chagrin when I found out my pal Toren had trumped me by being quoted AND having his picture published. I’ve complained to the editor, but I don’t think he cares.
The magazine missed out however on the next chapter in the rock nerdity that is The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. They wisely chose The Thickets as a high watermark in geek rock (they’re the only HP Lovecraft inspired band I know that make madness something to danceable), but were too early to cover the new album, due any minute now – The Shadow Out of Tim. Imagine a whole album that retells Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time. It goes to eleven as well as being educational.
If anyone wants a taste, they’ve posted the first track, Marine Biologist (technically second, but it’s the first “chapter” of the story), on their MySpace page – there’s a link for the mp3, somewhere, for those of you that want to rock out in a portable fashion.
I knew the album was solid – I’ve heard it and it’s gooood. But I knew it was going to be a hit when they made Marine Biology seem badass.
