Grok The Vote: Yes We Can, but No I Can't
Oct 31While not quite as cool as getting a call from Optimus Prime or Samuel L Jackson, I am quite excited by this new technology that allows us to see a week forward into the future. Once they fine tune the bit where we can tune in to this reality frequency, instead of ones where I’m not a Canadian, and thus ineligible to vote. If your preferred candidate doesn’t win next week, it’s not my fault.
Grok The Vote: That One Thing
Oct 31When it comes to voting and politics, I think most of us want to be Spock. Logic and reason are our hoped-for guides, our arguments spilling forth in factually-supported constructs of such astonishing correctness that they knock the opposing viewpoint right out of the park…er, starship? Whatever. In reality, of course, emotion — hearts and guts — always worms its way in. We all have that one issue we can’t be cool and measured and rational about. For instance, this morning I spotted a certain bumper sticker supporting a certain California prop on the car in front of me and it made me so blood-boilingly angry that I suddenly had the wild, rageful urge to floor the gas and ram said car repeatedly. Or maybe just steal the assy bumper sticker.
I think the way in which we think about and discuss politics parallels classic Geek Fights in a pretty obvious way. Geeks don’t just like to argue. We like to argue using wordy analyses we have spent an inordinate amount of time constructing, made up of bits of continuity (“X character acted this way in all previous storylines, therefore his/her behavior in this storyline MAKES NO SENSE”), reasoning (“For X character to react this way is possibly consistent with past characterization, but is not in any way, shape, or form a logical way for a human to react and therefore MAKES NO SENSE”), and dental floss (“This is dumb and MAKES NO SENSE”). We might as well be stumping for a presidential candidate.
Grok The Vote: Nerdpolitics
Oct 29My life experience is that nerds, as a general rule, distrust politics almost totally.
As we kick off our special election coverage, I think it’s a phenomenon worth thinking about.
Part of it may be some seething resentment about elections being little more than popularity contests, whether the vote’s being cast for President, American Idol or Sophomore Class Treasurer. Hell, Cloris Leachman JUST NOW got booted from Dancing With the Stars and we all know that her longevity on the show had little to do with her rug-cutting ability.
But beyond that basic unfairness, it’s our (geek) media that has poisoned us against government. Superheroes exist to do the job that the government cannot or will not do. OMAC’s corrupt, futuristic World That’s Coming is intentionally not that far away from the world that’s here, and the idea that the only way to save the world is to have Buddy Blank tear it down – there’s an attractive simplicity to it, much like the Objectivism in Ditko’s Question and Mr. A stories.
The cinema we watch, too, is rife with irresponsible government. No matter whether it’s action, sci-fi or fantasy, the idea that the system doesn’t work is at the very foundation of the genre. Star Wars, our ultimate sacred cow, is a six movie fable about the consequences of bad governance.
This is why geeks love Ron Paul. This is why we don’t bother voting. This is why Transmet fans have pegged every Presidential candidate in the past decade as “The Smiler†– because we know that the institution produces Smilers but that the Spiders that keep them in check don’t exist, can’t exist in an ecosystem of influence peddling and blatant pandering.
Another reason? As a bloc, we frequently find ourselves at odds with The Man, be it over the use of white spaces or videogames’ status as murder simulators (in some capacity beyond Jefferson Stolarship totally killing on back-to-back Bon Jovi tunes in Rock Band. That doesn’t count).
I think for cynic nerds like me that this election has been energizing, what with a longshot candidate who wants to change the way things work in Washington on the cusp of victory. And I could probably be talking about either party there.
So there’s my stodgy diatribe welcoming you all to Grok the Vote – coverage continuing through November 4. Keep reading.
Favreau Talks Marvel @ Ain't It Cool
Oct 29There’s a great interview up at Ain’t It Cool with Quint talking to Jon Favreau and touching on everything from Iron Man 2 to the Avengers movie and even Cameron’s Avatar. Relatively light on spoilers, and full of intriguing, reassuring quotes.
I really like Favreau. I have since Swingers.
I remember seeing Swingers at the show in college, and the answering machine sequence…man, it was amazing. The whole theater was just astonished and laughing, and it made such a huge impact on me, as this perfect little bit of comedy that’s just dripping with pathos. You feel so bad for the guy, but not so bad that you don’t laugh your ass off. As a weird lonely twerp at the time, it hit me where I lived, and where I still vacation from time to time.
On the Marvel stuff, I like that he’s a really talented filmmaker who is sorta coming into his own as a blockbuster director with these films. He gets the genre stuff and he seems to really understand and respect the fans, but not to such a degree that he’s too worshipful of the material or the geek audience.
His attitude is just spot-on, and it’s a breath of fresh air, after Bryan Singer dry humped the film canisters of Donner’s Superman flicks and Brett Ratner tossed together that hugely underwhelming X-Men 3 with bits of decent stories stuck into a blender and poured down a toilet.
I think the right attitude lies right between those two extremes, and that’s where Favreau seems to be. Marvel’s lucky to have him.
