danifesto

Zombie-class situations

John — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:37:52 -0800

Zombies are more than the walking dead. They’re a useful paradigm for a range of common scenarios in many genres.

Whenever your hero is facing off against a system or mob rather than an individual, that’s potentially a zombie-class situation. Any given opponent isn’t necessarily that formidable; it’s the sheer numbers that make it so difficult for the hero.

War movies are frequently zombie-class, as are comedies about plucky outsiders. Science-fiction and horror revel in zombie-class situations, from the Borg to the Visitors to those troublesome tribbles.

If you find yourself writing a zombie-class situation, here are some helpful class features to keep in mind:

You can’t fight the ocean. In a zombie-class situation, heroes ultimately won’t get far trying to defeat their opponents, who have the advantage of both numbers and replaceability. Rather, your hero must set an achievable goal such as escape, survival, or retrieval of a key asset.
Ants vs. Elephants. It’s great to be big, but it’s better to be numerous. Just as heroes will often rally a crowd, opponents can do the same — popular opinion is a hard thing to fight. And look for ways to use your hero’s size (or reputation) against him.
Zombie processes. In programming, zombies are bits of code that unintentionally keep running in the background, sucking cycles and threatening a crash. That’s a useful framework for many stories: noble intentions run amok. Just as every villain is a hero, every zombie was somebody’s baby.
One of us. In the Romero tradition, zombies eat brains. But this can be generalized to assimilation: your hero has something the opponents need. Can your hero figure out what they’re after — what makes the hero special — before it’s too late?

A zombie-class situation is a key difference between Alien and Aliens.

In the former, Ripley and company mostly battle a single creature. Survival means killing it, so that’s pretty much the only goal.

In the sequel, the aliens are so numerous that there is no hope of defeating them. Rather, Ripley’s goal is simply escape. Once Newt is captured, Ripley must face off against the Queen, but defeating her in no way impacts the hordes of aliens left behind.

That’s how zombie-class situations often end: the hero’s victory leaves the world just as dangerous as before.

Broadway Brings Back Carrie's Bloody Prom And The Addams Family [Carrie]

(author unknown) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:55:53 -0800

Shared by daniel154
I've always found Morticia incredibly sexy. Ditto Lilith Crane. So... yeah.

Check out the first picture of the Chicago cast of The Addams Family — including Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. Plus it's hard to believe, but Carrie: The Musical is back!

This picture, which was released in Vanity Fair, shows the brand new musical cast for The Addams Family, which is opening in Chicago. And if all goes well, it will head to New York city's Broadway. The musical's site actually has a lot of brilliant little videos detailing this family's journey from The New Yorker to television and eventually to the stage.

In other musical news Stephen King's Carrie is amping up for its big Broadway debut and has cast Molly Ranson as Carrie, Sutton Foster as gym teacher Ms. Gardner, Marin Mazzie as Margaret White, and Jennifer Damiano as Sue. But that's not all: American Idol contestant Diana DeGarmo is in the cast somewhere as well.

Carrie: The Musical was one of Broadway's most legendary disasters several years ago, crashing and burning despite being a co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company. It's become a legendary symbol of excess — here's a TV spot for the original production. But this new take will supposedly be very different. But you should definitely skim Youtube for old videos from the classic 1988 production — the opening scene "IN" is especially horrifying.

OMG YES! (via)

(author unknown) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:42:04 -0800

Warner Bros. Offers Discount Blu-ray Upgrade Program [Blu-Ray]

Phil Villarreal — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:25:37 -0800

Meet the Beetles, Barons, and Blazers

mattalt — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:52:05 -0800

I've said it before and I'll say it again. They don't make 'em like they used to. And I'm not even talking about toys -- I'm talking about the BOXES! Here's a selection of the finest vintage toy package art, unearthed during a recent excavation & housecleaning of the Alt Vault.

A vintage illustration of the co-star of the demented 1975 TV series Rockbat, painted by the legendary Tohl Narita, designer of "Ultraman" and many, many other kaiju creations.

Next up: a pair of vintage 1976 illustrations of vehicles from "Time Bokan," a wacky Tatsunoko animated series that spawned a decade of sequels (one of which, Yatterman, was made into a live-action flick last year.)

Here's the ever-popular Mach Baron. The instructions suggest consuming large quantities of Hoppy and a quick viewing of the theme song before assembly. Just kidding. That's what *I* suggest.

And last but not least, here's a vintage Bandai kit of the Godbird from Raideen. Classic hallmark of Seventies toy packaging: the character absolutely MUST be portrayed in triumphant flight over some bombed-out military facility or vehicle. Those men had FAMILIES, damn it...!

Financial Retcons?

Mark — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:44:00 -0800

The world of comics is awash with shady details that are constantly in flux. When did Wonder Woman leave Paradise Island? 1940? 1986? 1991? 2000? Nobody really knows. Is Jason Todd dead or alive? Is Bucky a frozen corpse or a brainwashed super-spy working for the Russians? How does Batman stay in his early 30s while Dick Grayson ages 10 years before our eyes?

Comic book history is full of details that have been changed, rewritten or ignored. This is the essence of the RETCON! When writers need to make comics history new or fresh, they simply change it. For example, Superman is the last Kryptonian. No he's not. He has Supergirl, Krypto, General Zod, Ursa, Non, Streaky the Super-Cat... Oh wait no... yeah he's the last Kryptonian again. Thanks Crisis on Infinite Earths. But wait... you brought all those people back again? And now there's an entire city of Kryptonians alive because they were captured by Braniac (the REAL Braniac this time, because all other versions of him were fake). Alright then.

The world of comicdom is constantly in flux. But right now, so is the world of finance. The world economy is in its own Zero Hour, Crisis in Finance (though time is probably applicable to a certain degree).

In light of the recent bankruptcy of CIT, it occurred to me that financial bailouts are essentially the retcon of the financial world. We know that the mismanagements of the past occurred and somewhere in the back of our minds, we know those events still count. AIG did need monetary assistance because of bad investments. However, we're also presented with a reset version of the world where AIG is no longer a company unable to meet its financial obligations. These changes happen suddenly, with little or no justification or respect for history.

One second Ford and GM are in severe financial trouble because of their policies. The next minute it's bonuses for everyone in financial solvency land.

We have witnessed a Deus Ex Machina restructuring the financial landscape. We can call these changes... Greenspan Punches.

Update: Technically, it's supposed to be a "Bernake Punch," but how cool is that Greenspan photo?

The 15 Dumbest Superhero Retcons Of All Time [Triviagasm]

Tim Barribeau — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -0800

Station Ident: Hail Kitty

Warren Ellis — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:12:11 -0800

Behold the dress that bespoke pervert-enablers Ego Assassin made on request by/for the Hello Kitty 35th Anniversary Fashion Show on 14 Nov 09. Ego Assassin make many things. We like people who make things.

Good morning/afternoon. This is Warren Ellis dot com.

In an Alternate Universe, Inglouirous Basterds is Already a Comic [Inglourious Basterds]

Lauren Davis — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0800

Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: Is This The End of Everything?

Widge — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:15 -0800

Each Monday we like to start off your week with a bit of insanity--consider it a vaccination against the true madness that is your work week. Trust us: we wear white lab coats. Some of us even wear stuff under them, too.

Today we ask the question: What happens when Germany's only super hero fights not only an evil Nazi scientist and Dracula, but Hitler's brain in a whacked out robotic body? We're not sure, but it's called Captain Berlin vs. Hitler. It's apparently a play that was then filmed and is available on DVD from Amazon.de. Here's the trailer:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

It looks like six shades of genius. Perhaps we can get an actual review...hmmm. Found via William Gibson.

Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: Is This The End of Everything?

James Jean and Tara McPherson at ComICA by Paul Tierney

(author unknown) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:27:09 -0800

Shared by daniel154
That X-Men piece is beautiful...

Paul Tierney attended the ComICA talk on behalf of Bleeding Cool with James Jean and Tara McPherson last Friday.

Like many of the talks at ComICA in the ICA, Fabulous: James Jean & Tara McPherson was originally scheduled to take place in the 90-capacity Nash Room. However demand for tickets was so great that the talk was moved to the venue’s main cinema. I arrived to find a queue for the sold-out event stretching out of the building.

Tara McPherson was first on to the stage, and she’s probably best known to a comics audience for her stylish covers and comics pages for the Vertigo books The Witching and Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, but her work also extends to album covers, gig posters, advertising and editorial illustration, sculpture and toys.

She began her talk with some of the images she produced during high school through to college, musing on how the past shapes the future as many of her signature motifs were present in her earliest work.

Leaving high school early McPherson went on to community college, but finding all the art classes full she took an astronomy class, a field that she “completely fell in love with”, and swapped her major to astrophysics for 18 months. Thinking hard about a career in astronomy she decided she didn’t relish spending long nights alone logging data in an observatory, so she switched her major back to art. She now finds herself spending long nights alone in her studio instead.

Her first comics job was for Vertigo, a cover for Lucifer, which led to working on covers for Thessaly and The Witching. This in turn led illustrating a 14 page story for Fables that she found challenging, giving her a renewed sense of respect for the workload tackled by comics artists.

McPherson went on to lead us through an engaging slide-show illustrating the wide variety of work she produces and the processes she uses to make it. She feels strongly that artists should retain the rights to their work, it’s “super important, never do work for hire”, she asserts. Regardless of what a work was originally produced for it is always possible that it can be exhibited or re-purposed in new work.

James Jean started his talk with a quick bit of family history; born in Taiwan, the family moved to New Jersey after his father was sent there by the chemical company he worked for. He studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City with ambitions to become a narrative painter. After graduating he briefly visited Europe before returning to look for work in a post-9/11 New York. The market for illustration was at a low point but it was at this time that Vertigo commissioned seven Fables covers from him.

Speaking of the excitement comics like Wolverine brought into his peaceful suburban upbringing he showed us an early adolescent drawing of the X-Men influenced by the style of Jim Lee. Followed up with an image produced ten years later from his professional career which drew gasps from the crowd.

Jean showed slides of some of his early influences, George Grosz, Kathe Kollwitz, R.B. Kitaj and moved on to his student work and images from his early, highly worked, sketchbooks. Continuing, he provided the audience with an entertaining overview of his artwork, technique and career path up until the present. Touching upon his many illustration commissions, comics related work, books, his poster of Silk Sceptre in the Watchmen film, and most recently his mural and animation designs for Prada in New York and Milan.

He finished up with some images from the sketchbooks he kept while hanging around the set of the upcoming film Peacock – portraits of it’s stars including Ellen Page, Susan Sarandon and Cillian Murphy. Also he showed some of the life-drawing and painting he’s produced with Sasha Grey modelling for him.

Once the talk and Q&A were over all that was left to do was to quickly get out of the cinema to make way for a 20:30 screening, and to go and join the long queue for signings, and perhaps to try and get some of that limited edition James Jean crockery (yes, that too).

by Paul Tierney. ComICA continues in London through the rest of November.

Do not look behind the curtain, the great and powerful Oz commands it

(author unknown) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:48:42 -0800

Shared by daniel154
Some more backstory on that Beatles story I shared a few days ago...

The call-for-requests post generated about seven emails all along the same line:

I’d really like to know how you wrote that Beatles story.

Okeydoke.

The story actually started out as something entirely different because I usually hate “what if John Lennon had lived” AU stories, for one simple reason: most of them are beatifically terrible. By which I mean that the common thread of these stories is that if only John Lennon hadn’t died, absolutely everything would have gone right forever. So the original story was a farce, originally intended to be the second in a series after “Scenes In An Alternate Universe Where Saved By The Bell, Rather Than Law and Order, Becamse The Dominant Television Franchise For A Generation.” The story at various points had Paul and John discovering the cure for AIDS, George singlehandedly bringing the Kosovo conflict to a peaceful end, and finished with Ringo being elected Pope.

There was a problem with the story, though: I didn’t like it. Usually after I write something for forty minutes or so, I know if I want to keep writing it. (This does not necessarily mean that it is good, but if I don’t want to keep writing it, it’s never going to be good.) And so I sat back and thought about Beatles AUs and why I hate a lot of them, and thought “what if John Lennon survived and it turned out that everything sucked anyway?” And I wrote that for about twenty minutes, but although it felt a little closer in message, it was even less fun to write. (Some people like writing that kind of story, and can make it really good to read. I am pretty sure I am not one of them.)

At this point I was about ready to give up on it, but then the magical little man who lives inside any writer’s head whispered in my ear.

“What if Ringo made a wish and it went all monkey’s paw on him?”

And that interested me. So I combined elements from the first two drafts blender-style and rewrote it. This time around it got closer to the feel of what I wanted: an alternate universe where John lived (at least for a while) but it wasn’t magical hunky-dory. Roy Orbison living and Michael Jackson and Jeff Lynne dying – they originate in this draft (the idea being that Ringo wishes for people to live and the wish, being a wish, turns right around and fucks other people over). In this draft, Ringo got what he wished for, but not what he wanted.

But it still didn’t feel right. Firstly, given the style I was using it was nearly impossible to explain the wish subtly without taking the reader out of the story. (I had to explain it to a couple of test readers, and both said that once they knew about the wish, it became obvious in retrospect. But I had to tell them. Problem.) And more importantly, there wasn’t really an ending to it: it just petered out. But I was tired at this point and was at the “aw, fuck it” stage, and scheduled it as a post and went to bed.

And then at about 4 AM I woke up and thought “what if it was time travel instead of a wish?” And I got up and rewrote for about half an hour and was finally satisfied with the damn thing. For those wondering, I was using the Marvel comics paradigm of time travel, wherein traveling back in time and altering the past creates a new timeline in which you are now trapped. So Ringo-Prime time travels, alerts Ringo-B, Ringo-B takes steps, alters timeline, but not enough to fix everything, and so goes back to warn Ringo-C… Not that it really matters, because you can use your time travel ruleset of preference. (I kept it vague for a number of reasons.)

The reason I like the story at this point might seem a bit strange given the reactions I’ve gotten to it, but I like the story because I think it’s ultimately a tragic one. Ringo/Ringos is/are attempting to fix the impossible. I mean, the point of the “new” deaths and Orbison living is the old “Sound of Thunder” problem – you can’t predict with any accuracy what changing the past will do to alter the future. People describing the alternate universe as “better” are just weird to me: I mean, yeah, I love the Beatles and The Muppet Show too, but come on – Michael Jackson? (I hold the minority opinion that Bad is actually a better album than Thriller.)

Here’s the sum total of what one gets in the alternate universe: four and a half more Beatles albums and seven seasons of The Muppet Show. George still dies. Linda still dies. John still gets shot. From a hardcount perspective, Ringo hasn’t really achieved much at all, which is proper because he shouldn’t be able to achieve much at all. If he goes back and tries to fix his fixes, he’ll just be throwing another stone in the pond and creating more ripples.

But the other thing I like about it is that I’m pretty sure he knows all this and he does it anyway. I’m a big fan of human defiance in the face of entropy and oblivion, of shouting “fuck you” to the void. Every once in a very long while, it makes a difference. And that’s why I think the story works.

That isn’t to say it’s perfect. There are things I might change in another revision. Initially I explicitly wrote that John’s assassin had an extremely low IQ, sub-Forrest Gump levels. I took it out because I thought it was overselling it and the result was people thinking I was tossing in a cheap shot at conservatism when in fact I was trying to avoid that. (Mind you, the cheap shot at Sean Hannity was entirely intentional. My explanation for this is as follows: fuck that guy.) Someone also pointed out that I forgot to mention Billy Preston and they were right: he deserves mention in here somewhere. And I think Roy Orbison would still die, but John would take his place in the Wilburys. But for the most part I’m happy with it.

Apple Files Patent On Evil

Warren Ellis — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:23:02 -0800

Apple has filed for patent on a technology they call an "enforcement routine," that’ll display ads on pretty much any device with a screen and demand that you view them — or else you don’t get your device back:

Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.

Michael Moorcock Answers Fans About Writing Doctor Who Novel

Rich Johnston — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:00:43 -0800

This feels like one of those headlines you make up by pressing three random buttons. But, no, on the eve of the new Doctor Who episode, legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock is becoming part of the extended franchise.

The author of the Elric, Eternal Champion and Jerry Cornelius novels, and an inspiration to many creators such as Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Wiliam Gibson and Ian Sinclair, posted on his forum that;

Looks like it’s official. I’ll be doing a new Dr Who novel (not a tie-in) for appearance, I understand, by next Christmas. Still have to have talks etc. with producers and publishers but we should be signing shortly. Should be fun.

Cue one exploding forum of fandom. In response to questions, on both his forum and on Doctor Who sites, Moorcock replied;

1) I’ve been watching Dr Who since it began. Haven’t liked all the doctors and after Peter Davison stopped watching regularly until the new BBC Wales series.

2) Since the Tom Baker series, a lot of my ideas crept into the stories and so in many ways I’ll be writing a story which already echoes my own work.

3)I do have to submit it to editors so they can make sure it fits into the canon and this, of course, is understandable. By saying it wasn’t a tie-in I did, of course, mean that it would be an original novel, not one which was linked to previous stories.

I share an enthusiasm for the current Dr Who broadcasts with quite a few friends who are ‘literary’ novelists and I sense in some of the Gallifrey remarks a suspicion of the ‘outsider’ which you used to get when someone with a reputation as a non-sf writer would decide to write an sf novel. All I can answer to this is ‘wait and see’. I’m certainly not a non-watcher! Neither am I someone who ascribes a kind of religiosity to an enthusiasm. This phenomenon crops up a lot, these days associated with sf/fantasy, LOTR, H.Potter, Twilight and so on. I hate these presumptions of exclusivity either in my own corner of the literary world or elsewhere. Mike Kustow, once director of the Royal Shakespeare Co, described this as ‘the anxious ownership syndrome’, when faced with his first confrontation with sf fandom in Brighton 1968. He’d found the same sort of expression with Shakespeare fans when someone from ‘outside’ showed an interest.

I’ve been asked to write Dr Who scripts or stories almost since the series began, because I was known to enjoy Dr Who. Only recently did the time feel right to me to do one. I’m going to enjoy that, too.

Remarkable. Quite remarkable. Makes the whole Neil Gaiman-writing-Doctor-Who-Season-Five-episode much more likely in comparison, no?

BATMAN

Chris Sims — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:00:21 -0800

…took a very solemn vow to never use firearms but seriously you have to try this it’s awesome.

–Batman #15, 1943

Happy Little Drop-and-Give-Me-50

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:54:57 -0800

What did Bob "Happy Little Trees" Ross do before becoming PBS's resident mellow hippie artist on The Joy of Painting? Would you believe, Air Force master sergeant? Turns out, the Ross we know is really a reaction against 20 years spent being "the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work."

Having Never Heard Of Auto-Tune Until The Carl Sagan Song Guy Showed Up On The Internet(s), I'm Grateful To Have This Explainer From Weird Al Yankovic

BGF — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

It's simple. Rarely listen to mainstream pop = never heard of Auto-Tune before. Until this, that kind of thing was not on my radar. But now there's a great introductory explainer about this tool and its surrounding controversy, and best of all, it's kinda funny! (However, I wouldn't classify the SoS works as parody.)

Supplemental info at the video's homeport.

A Dirty Little Funny War

callot — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:00:21 -0800

The battle over the manatee rages on!

South Park and Family Guy don’t get along. In 2006, the two-part South Park episode “Cartoon Wars” characterized the writers of Family Guy as an a tank full of manatees randomly manipulating beach balls to generate the show’s scripts. Cartman (who is often depicted as a comedy writer) voices his (and according to the commentary track, the show’s) complaint thus:

“I am nothing like Family Guy! When I make jokes they are inherent to a story! Deep situational and emotional jokes based on what is relevant and has a point, not just one random interchangable joke after another!” —Eric Cartman, “Cartoon Wars I,” South Park

Family Guy made no immediate response, but this season produced the episode “Spies Reminiscent of Us,” which featured a dig at South Park’s argument.

Peter gets the only laughs (big, loud, suspiciously artificial laughs) of the improv show when he injects out-of-context, pre-written gags. Even though the audience loves Peter, Quagmire sees the show as a failure. During their group’s rehearsal, Quagmire repeats many of the mantras of traditional improv comedy, including “don’t think” and “keep it going.” Quagmire seems to be a stand-in for a particular philosophy toward comedy outlined by Del Close and Charna Halpern in their improvisational comedy work. The philosophy promotes exactly the kind of organic, narrative, character-based comedy described by Cartman in the top quote. In Family Guy, Quagmire’s adherence to this philosophy at the expense of entertainment put him at odds with Peter (and, therefore, Seth MacFarlane) and, because Peter got laughs and Quagmire did not, in the wrong.

If the conflict between the two shows is a conflict between two comic ideologies, we at least understand the theatre-geek mentality that produces South Park. What, then, is the theory inside Family Guy, and why does it clash with what Cartman describes as “emotional” comedy?

South Park’s major problem with Family Guy is the insert gag. In “Cartoon Wars,” the fictional episode of Family Guy seems to be a string of (uncharitably flat) cutaway jokes that do not relate to the narrative action. For South Park, these gags are not funny because they are “random,” not because the joke isn’t funny. The “randomness” interrupts the diegetic reality of the central emotional narrative of the episode by diverting the plot (momentarily) into a parallel universe without a causal or physical relationship with the narrative universe. Since the jokes can never change the circumstances of the central narrative, they are without emotional weight. The audience is not permitted to relate to these gags as anything other than cleverness. It is the narrative equivalent of a stand-up monologue, rather than improv theatre.

Aristotle’s Poetics lists the tools used to create emotional connections with the action of a narrative: unity of time, unity of action and unity of place. By firmly establishing a boundary around the story (it occurs over this time period, contains these events and happens here), the narrative gives a window into a universe in which the audience’s reality does not exist. In this way, the audience can temporarily abandon their identities in favor of the unity of the story. This allows for an emotional purging (catharsis) at the end of the action. When these unities are disrupted by anything that undermines the “rules” of the story’s universe, the catharsis is diluted.

Bugs Bunny demonstrated his ability to warp the laws of space and time by producing this mallet.

Family Guy employs certain tricks from Aristotle’s bag, including the three-act structure, a plot that arises from character flaws, etc. Where Family Guy diverges is in its relationship to hammerspace. Hammerspace, in cartoon comedy, is the unrepresentable, infinite space that a character might reach into to retrieve a hammer (or anything else). Family Guy uses time the way Bugs Bunny or Harpo Marx use hammerspace, reaching into the hammer-timespace continuum to pull out a gag. The gag that occurs in hammertime is as separate from the temporal causality of the show’s narrative universe as the hypothetical hammer is from Bugs Bunny’s spatial universe, which is to say, both separate and not separate. Gilles Deleuze describes this world without boundaries, without dialectics, as a “plane of immanence.” All of the unities that Aristotle declared essential to creating a subject-object relationship between the audience and the events of the story are suddenly mutable and non-unified.

“Immanence is not related to Some Thing as a unity superior to all things or to a Subject as an act that brings about a synthesis of things: it is only when immanence is no longer immanece to anything other than itself that we can speak of a plane of immanence.” —Gilles Deleuze, Pure Immanence

Stewie's having a hard time coming up with a Gilles Deleuze joke.

When Peter or another Family Guy character says, “This is worse than the time…” and brings us into hammertime and hammerspace for a gag, we are not traveling into the plane of immanence. Rather, the plane of immanence is all of Family Guy, and all of the comedy universe that is connected to the hammer-timespace continuum. Our consciousness cannot experience the universe causally, as there is no causality (though there is also enough causality for plot). Our senses are useless, because the universe has no concrete set of rules that generates the sensations we would use to experience it (though we can see and hear the universe as it is presented to us). At any moment, any rule at all may be broken, including the rules that tell us who we are specifically supposed to be. As Deleuze puts it, “the life” becomes “a life,” loose in a boundless existence.

Pictured, foreground: Legit. Pictured, background: 2 Legit.

The post-structuralism of Family Guy is offensive to the structuralist, modernist, constantly-proselytizing children of South Park. While Family Guy is perfectly capable of including South Park in its world view, South Park, a show that comes from a specific theatrical tradition tied strongly to Aristotle, rejects the anti-dialectic of the immanent world. This one-sided argument is why Family Guy couldn’t retaliate with their own criticism of South Park, apart from a broad swipe at Quagmire’s theatrical demagogy. Family Guy can’t really have a point of view, since it undermines subjecthood, so it can’t really attack another point of view. The best it can do is defend itself by arguing that, if it’s funny, it’s probably all right. Seth MacFarlane said as much at Harvard University in June, 2006:

“…cutaways and flashbacks have nothing to do with the story. They’re just there to be ‘funny’. That is a shallow indulgence that South Park is quite above, and, for that, I salute them.” —Seth MacFarlane

A Dirty Little Funny War originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

Blast From The Past: Dave Gibbons Draws Superhero’s Day Off

Rich Johnston — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:00:01 -0800

Lew Stringer is a British comics stalwart working on Brickman, Combat Colin and lots of work for Viz Comics, currently in its thirtieth year.

He also contributed to Oink!, a comic book that was very much a junior Viz Comic – and with contributions from Charlie Brooker.

And, it seems, Dave Gibbons in issue #49…

Trailed on the front cover with this little stab…

Isn’t that sweet? Thanks to Luna June of the BC boards for this one.

Burn it down

John — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:26:04 -0800

You wouldn’t splash gasoline on the walls of your home, then toss a few matches while strolling out the door. In real life, this kind of willful destruction is criminal.

In fiction, it’s crucial.

As the writer, you need to burn down houses. You need to push characters out of their safe places into the big scary world — and make sure they can never get back. Sure, their stated quest might be to get home, but your job is to make sure that wherever they end up is a new and different place.

Writers tend towards benevolence. We love our characters, and want to see them thrive. So it can be hard to accept that what our hero actually needs is to have everything taken away, be it by fire, flood, divorce or zombie uprising. No matter the story, no matter the genre, we need to find ways to strip characters of their insulating bubbles of normalcy.

The Fire (or other catastrophe) often occurs as an inciting incident, setting the wheels of plot in motion. In The House Bunny, Anna Faris’s character is kicked out of the Playboy Mansion by page 10. In Gladiator, Russell Crowe’s family is killed.

Just as often, The Fire signals the end of the first act. In Star Wars, Luke returns home to find his aunt and uncle dead. In 9 to 5, the trio of secretaries has inadvertently kidnapped their boss. There’s no going back to the way things were.

But The Fire can work just as well later in the story, effectively burning bridges characters have just crossed. Three of my upcoming projects feature second-act or third-act Fires that not only keep the momentum going, but also remind the audience of the scale and stakes. ¹ Late fires ward off complacency in everything from The Dark Knight to Revenge of the Nerds.

It’s easy to think of dozens of great movies that never really burn the house down. But the better exercise is to look at your own scripts and ask, (a) what could burn, and (b) why haven’t I lit it on fire?

There’s something uniquely cinematic about destroying a giant set. A TV show, no matter its ambitions, generally has to protect its standing sets until at least the end of a season.

Beast in action

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:52:21 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Maybe more Spidey than Beast but whatever. The cat remains unimpressed...

Keeping my Kirby Hand Strong!

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:51:18 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Old School Beast costume

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:49:58 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Before he was a cat, before he was furry, he was just a stocky, eloquent guy with big hands and feet. I can relate.

Mega City One Judges

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:55 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Found at the 2000 AD Booth

MiddleMan and Wendy

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:51 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Found at the Middleman Cast Reunion panel

Master Chiefs & Cortana

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:47 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Sally & Sailor Mars

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:41 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

The Honky Tonk Man

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:38 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Me: "Can I get a quick picture?"
HTM: "It's your camera..."

Another Zatanna

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:32 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Robin

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:29 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Blackest Night Mural

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:24 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Found Outside The DC Booth

Awesome T-Shirt

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:17 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Yes, I am a real woman.
Yes, I am at Comic-Con.
No, I do not like Twilight.

The Scarlet Witch

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:14 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Nick Fury & Black Widow

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:10 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Mary Marvel

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:05 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Emma Frost

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:29:02 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Blue Spy from Team Fortress 2

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:28:59 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

And not in fact a luchador...

Princess Mononoke

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:28:53 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Poison Ivy

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:28:48 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

The first of a few Zatannas

nobody@flickr.com (danifesto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:28:45 -0700

danifesto posted a photo:

Bucket List Meme

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:09:49 -0800

(appropriated from tfbretz)

Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not.

Things you have done during your lifetime:

(X) Gone on a blind date

(X) Skipped school

( ) Watched someone die

( ) Been to Canada

(X) Been to Mexico

( ) Been to Florida

( ) Been to Hawaii

(X) Been on a plane

( ) Been on a helicopter

(X) Been lost

(X) Gone to Washington, DC

(X) Swam in the ocean

(X) Cried yourself to sleep

(X) Played cops and robbers

(X) Recently colored with crayons

(X) Sang Karaoke

(X) Paid for a meal with coins only

( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch

(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.

(X) Made prank phone calls

( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans

(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose & elsewhere

(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

(X) Danced in the rain-naked

(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus

(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe

(X) Watched the sunrise with someone

(X) Blown bubbles

(X) Gone ice-skating

(X) Gone to the movies

( ) Been deep sea fishing

(X) Driven across the United States

( ) Been in a hot air balloon

( ) Been sky diving

( ) Gone snowmobiling

( ) Lived in more than one country

(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets

(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish

( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser

( ) Seen the Statue of Liberty

(X) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle

( ) Been on a cruise

(X) Traveled by train

( ) Traveled by motorcycle

(X) Been horse back riding

(X) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR

( ) Been to Disneyland --- and Disney World (Only Disneyland)

( ) Truly believe in the power of prayer

( ) Been in a rain forest

( ) Seen whales in the ocean

( ) Been to Niagara Falls

( ) Ridden on an elephant

( ) Swam with dolphins

( ) Been to the Olympics

( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China

( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf

( ) Been spinnaker flying

( ) been water-skiing

( ) Been snow-skiing

( ) Been to Westminster Abbey

( ) Been to the Louvre

( ) Swam in the Mediterranean

(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game

(X) Been to a National Football League game

(X) Been on television

(X) Stayed in a hotel by yourself

(X) Had your name in the newspaper

(X) Have gone to a restaurant and eaten by yourself

(X) Have gone to the movies by yourself

( ) Kissed someone IN another country

( ) Know another language, besides English, fluently

( ) Have had cosmetic surgery

danifesto @ 2009-02-12T08:23:00

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:24:09 -0800

Food Meme

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:50:18 -0800

Stolen without a hint of remorse from krysaia:

What's the last thing you ate?
Barbecued Pork & Beans

What's your favorite cheese?
On sandwiches, Provolone. In all other applications, monterey jack.

What's your favorite fish?
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.

What's your favorite fruit?
Oranges, strawberries, raspberries.

When, if ever, did you start liking olives?
I've always liked black olives. Not crazy about green.

When, if ever, did you start liking beer?
I still can't say I love beer. I didn't really start drinking it until college.

When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish?
Not a fan. Crab is okay, and I can eat shrimp on occasion.

What was the best thing your parent/s used to make?
I do miss my grandmother;s bacon and eggs

What's the native specialty of your home town?
Where I'm from? Hot Dogs and Pizza. Where I am now, Mexican Food (they're particularly proud of the fish taco).

What's your comfort food?
Pizza.

What's your favorite type of chocolate?
Milk chocolate, preferably baked into a cookie.

How do you like your steak?
Medium Rare.

How do you like your burger?
Medium.

How do you like your eggs?
Over medium (runny yolks, solid whites)

How do you like your potatoes?
Fried.

How do you take your coffee?
I don't take coffee anywhere.

How do you take your tea?
Minty, and with enough honey for the spoon to stand in the mug.

What's your favorite mug?
I have a mug with a pic of the beatles (the mop-top

What's your cookie of choice?
Peanut butter.

What's your ideal breakfast?
Bacon Breakfast burritos.

What's your ideal sandwich?
Hot Pastrami on rye with just mustard and provolone.

What's your ideal pizza (topping and base)?
Thin crust with pepperoni and/or sausage. Or deep dish.

What's your ideal pie (sweet or savory)?
Not counting pizza: peach pie.

What's your ideal salad?
A bowl of baby spinach, or really, really green lettuce. Maybe a light vinagrette.

What food do you always like to have in the fridge?
Cheese. Tortillas.

What food do you always like to have in the freezer?
I don't do much with frozen foods. I guess some sort of ground meat, like beef or turkey.

What food do you always like to have in the cupboard?
Pasta.

What spices can you not live without?
Oregano, garlic, black pepper.

What sauces can you not live without?
Marinara, Tapatio, Frank's Red Hot.

Where do you buy most of your food?
Henry's usually.

How often do you go food shopping?
Once or twice a week.

What's the most you've spent on a single food item?
The

What's the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own?
Not sure. It's pretty much all hand me downs and gifts.

What's the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen?
Crock pot.

What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without?
Right now, the crock pot.

How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients?
Once or twice a week.

What's the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients?
The aforementioned pork & beans.

What's your favorite thing to make for yourself?
Cheeseburgers.

What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig, chicken and turkey?
Duck, Lamb, Venison, Buffalo, Alligator, Ostrich.

What's the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor?
Can't recall.

What's the last time you ate something you'd picked in the wild?
Never.

Place the following cuisines in order of preference (greatest to least):
- Italian
- French
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Thai
- Indian

Place the following flavors in order of preference (greatest to least):
- Lime
- Garlic
- Basil
- Ginger
- Aniseed

Place the following fruits in order of preference (greatest to least):
- Pineapple
- Orange
- Apple
- Cherry
- Banana
- Melon (oh, allergies, I hate you so much)

Bread and spread:
Bagel & Cream Cheese.

What's your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order?
Jack in the Box. Breakfast jack.

Favorite cookbook/s?
Right now? Art of the Slow Cooker.

Got any favorite food blogs?
The Leftover Queen

Perfunctory Seasonal Acknowledgements...

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:31:26 -0800

Here's wishing you and yours the happiest possible holiday, whichever one you choose to celebrate.

Tweets for Today

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:53:17 -0800

Daniel got his tweet on today like so:

20:58 bears win in a squeaker! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Writer's Block: Doh!

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:21:49 -0800

It's the twentieth anniversary of the first Simpsons episode today. Who is your favorite Simpsons character—Ralph? Sideshow Bob? Ned Flanders? An actual Simpson?

View 500 Answers

Homer is far and away my favorite Simpson. My favorite character on the show is probably Mr. Burns, though.

Writer's Block: To the Mat

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:33:21 -0800

If you were a superstar of professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be? And what finishing move would you use to get to Wrestlemania?

Submitted By bige20

View 481 Answers

I would be the famed luchador El Borracho (The Drunk). I don;t know what exactly my finisher would be, but whatever it was, I would call it either "The 86" or "The Last Call"...

Oh, so THAT'S what he meant by "Change"...

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:19:01 -0800

"Get Your War On" breaks it down...

Win some, lose some

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:25:14 -0800

The Obama win is good.
The fact that Prop 8 is winning, not so much...

EDIT: We've still got a shot. When 3% of the precincts reported in, the yes votes were ahead 55 to 45. When 8% called in, it was 54 to 46, now with 25% of the precincts, we're at 53 to 47. CNN says it will ultimately be defeated 52 to 48. Can't lose hope yet...

Stan Lee reads "The Raven"

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:23:44 -0700

Stan "The Man" brings his penchant for nuanced understatement to Poe's life-affirming romp...

Biden our time...

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:05:51 -0700

(shamelessly pilfered from reverend_kate)

Joe Biden cheerfully dismantles a local news anchor's leading (and misleading) questions:

http://www.wftv.com/video/17790025/

Yes, we can... be funny.

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:47:39 -0700

Pilfered from bottlroktt, here are McCain and Obama roasting each other at the Alfred E. Smith dinner.

Comics Collection Meme

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:35:29 -0700

Based on this article from the Comics Reporter, this is a list of the 50 things that every great comics collection needs to have.

Leave Plain = Things I don't have
Make Bold = Things I do have
Italics = I have some but probably not enough (optional)
Underline = I don't agree I need this (optional)

1. Something From The ACME Novelty Library
2. A Complete Run Of Arcade
3. Any Number Of Mini-Comics
4. At Least One Pogo Book From The 1950s
5. A Barnaby Collection
6. Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary
7. As Many Issues of RAW as You Can Place Your Hands On
8. A Little Stack of Archie Comics
9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels
10. Several Tintin Albums
11. A Smattering Of Treasury Editions Or Similarly Oversized Books
12. Several Significant Runs of Alternative Comic Book Series
13. A Few Early Comic Strip Collections To Your Taste
14. Several "Indy Comics" From Their Heyday
15. At Least One Comic Book From When You First Started Reading Comic Books
16. At Least One Comic That Failed to Finish The Way It Planned To
17. Some Osamu Tezuka
18. The Entire Run Of At Least One Manga Series
19. One Or Two 1970s Doonesbury Collections
20. At Least One Saul Steinberg Hardcover
21. One Run of A Comic Strip That You Yourself Have Clipped
22. A Selection of Comics That Interest You That You Can't Explain To Anyone Else
23. At Least One Woodcut Novel
24. As Much Peanuts As You Can Stand
25. Maus
26. A Significant Sample of R. Crumb's Sketchbooks
27. The original edition of Sick, Sick, Sick.
28. The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics
29. Several copies of MAD
30. A stack of Jack Kirby 1970s Comic Books
31. More than a few Stan Lee/Jack Kirby 1960s Marvel Comic Books
32. A You're-Too-High-To-Tell Amount of Underground Comix
33. Some Calvin and Hobbes
34. Some Love and Rockets
35. The Marvel Benefit Issue Of Coober Skeber
36. A Few Comics Not In Your Native Tongue
37. A Nice Stack of Jack Chick Comics
38. A Stack of Comics You Can Hand To Anybody's Kid
39. At Least A Few Alan Moore Comics
40. A Comic You Made Yourself
41. A Few Comics About Comics
42. A Run Of Yummy Fur
43. Some Frank Miller Comics
44. Several Lee/Ditko/Romita Amazing Spider-Man Comic Books
45. A Few Great Comics Short Stories
46. A Tijuana Bible
47. Some Weirdo
48. An Array Of Comics In Various Non-Superhero Genres
49. An Editorial Cartoonist's Collection or Two
50. A Few Collections From New Yorker Cartoonists

For bonus points, e-mail a link to your post to Tom Spurgeon.

The Memorial Service

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:51:59 -0700

(Taken from tinkerbell_mk's LJ)

Brendan's memorial service will be at 5pm, on Sunday October 5th at the Japanese Tea Gardens in Balboa Park.

This will be both a celebration of his life and a mourning of his death, wearing black is neither obligated nor forbidden, but I hope that everyone will dress in clothes that make them feel fabulous. If Bren was anything, he was fabulous.

Please feel free to pass this on to everyone an and anyone who would want to come.

What Passes For An Update

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:51:34 -0700

Here's a brief recap:
First off, I've been sort of working. I have a temp assignment doing data entry at a biotech company. It was only supposed to be a week, but it looks like it will be at least 3 weeks. It gets me out of the house, and I seem to be doing well at it, so that's good.

Also, football season started last week, and that has claimed my Sundays. Today was a heartbreaker as both the Bears and the Chargers lost (well the BEARS lost; the Chargers were the victims of an apparent conspiracy).

In more serious concerns, think good thoughts for tfbretz, b3zsgirl, and krysaia, as they all could use some good vibes right now.

Off to bed with me. Good night.

Posted using TxtLJ

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:41:21 -0700

the chargers were robbed.

Posted using TxtLJ

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:33:56 -0700

How 'bout da Bears?!?

Political LOL

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:01:26 -0700

Swiped with love from stealthymonkey

Shovels at Dawn

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:08:41 -0700

I admire Olberman's complete lack of patience for Scarborough parroting the Party line, and I also admire Scarborough's professionalism in dealing with the slight.

Apparently, I'm not a real man...

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:41:11 -0700

...and judging by this essay, most of you aren't either.
I love the inference that only Obama supporters look at porn, and that women... actually, no, you gotta read that one for yourself.

#1 Meme

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:33:39 -0700

(stolen from Armagideon Time)
An annotated list of the songs that were #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts on my birthday (April 22), starting from the year of my birth onward:

1975: "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", BJ Thomas. This isn't getting off to a good start.
1976: "Disco Lady", Johnnie Taylor. Meh.
1977: "Don't Leave Me This Way", Thelma Houston. Kinda like this song.
1978: "Night Fever", Bee Gees. Not my favorite Bee Gees song, but still kinda great.
1979: "Heart of Glass", Blondie. I love this song. I mean, LOVE this song.
1980: "Call Me", Blondie. Deborah Harry was one of my first crushes, ever since I saw her on the Muppet Show.
1981: "Kiss on My List", Daryl Hall and John Oates. As ashamed as I am to admit it, I can't front. I love me some Hall & Oates, and I know at least one of you (*cough*tone_milazzo*cough*) shares that love.
1982: "I Love Rock 'N Roll", Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Who doesn't like this song?
1983: "Come on Eileen", Dexy's Midnight Runners. Yecch! And we were doing so well, too...
1984: "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", Phil Collins. Next.
1985: "We Are the World", USA for Africa. Eh, I liked it at the time. Mind you, I was 10.
1986: "Kiss", Prince and the Revolution. I will fight anyone who hates this song. I'm serious.
1987: "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)", Aretha Franklin and George Michael. This is a great pop song. Listen to it again. The video did not age well, but the song holds up.
1988: "Where Do Broken Hearts Go", Whitney Houston. Never liked her music, but she was at least cute back then.
1989: "Like a Prayer", Madonna. Randy Jackson played bass on this song. Possibly the only justification for his continued existence.
1990: "Nothing Compares 2 U", Sinead O'Connor. I have nothing bad to say about this song.
1991: "Baby Baby", Amy Grant. If my relationship with God had an "our song", this would probably be it. But that's a story for another blog post.
1992: "Jump", Kris Kross. Wonderfully cheesy, but I'm pretty sure that is the moment where hip-hop jumped the shark.
1993: "Informer", Snow. No, wait, maybe THIS is the moment. I have nothing good to say about the next few songs...
1994: "Bump n' Grind", R. Kelly.
1995: "This Is How We Do It", Montell Jordan.
1996: "Because You Loved Me", Céline Dion.
1997: "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down", Puff Daddy featuring Mase.
1998: "Too Close", Next. I don't think I've ever even HEARD this song.
1999: "No Scrubs", TLC. I have never liked TLC, and this song made me like them even less.
2000: "Maria Maria", Santana featuring The Product G&B.
2001: "All for You", Janet.
2002: "Foolish", Ashanti.
2003: "In Da Club", 50 Cent. I'm done hatin' for now. This song was the motherfuckin' jam back in the day.
2004: "Yeah!", Usher featuring Lil' Jon and Ludacris. Ditto.
2005: "Candy Shop", 50 Cent featuring Olivia. I won't defend it as vigorously as the other two, but I don't hate this song either.
2006: "Bad Day", Daniel Powter. It was a bad day, FOR MUSIC! ZING!!!
2007: "Give It to Me", Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. Gotta love Timbaland.
2008: "Bleeding Love", Leona Lewis. And we're back to meh.

Honestly, when I read bitterandrew's blog post, I was thinking these songs would be more fun to mock, based on the bile contained in his blog post. Turns out, I actually like a lot of these songs. Does that mean my birthday is a particularly good day for music, or that I have more plebian musical tastes than I'd like to admit?

Your recommended daily allowance of cute...

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:58:02 -0700

kingofbreakfast (aka Paul Dini, the world's foremost authority on Batman) received this video for his birthday today. It's adorable. Take a look.

50 Things I Love About Comics

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:11:29 -0700

(thanks to tfbretz & gmskarka)

1. The Flash. All of them.
2. Carlos Pacheco.
3. Never-Ending Battles For Truth, Justice and the American Way.
4. "How can you possibly claim to be The Flash, Barry Allen-- when I-- Jay Garrick-- am The Flash-- and have been so for more than 20 years?!"(sic)
5. Clobberin' Time.
6. Thwip. Snikt. Bamf. Zee zee zee.
7. Crisis on Infinite Earths.
8. Uncanny X-Men #175.
9. Avengers Forever #8, and the idea that any bad idea can be explained away with a time-traveling villain and his army of shapeshifters.
10. Alan Moore.
11. Michael Allred.
12. The fact that Jack Kirby only needed a handful of issues of Jimmy Olsen to change the DC Universe forever.
13. Trick Arrows.
14. Rings (flight rings, power rings, or just a place to store your costume).
15. Iron Man's original armor (see the icon).
16. "Burn."
17. "Kick. 'Splode."
18. Batman singlehandedly defeating a group of Martians with a match & a can of gasoline (JLA [vol.3] #1-4).
19. Batman getting owned by Swamp Thing and watching his beloved Gotham get turned into a new Garden of Eden.
20. Utility belts.
21. Stan Lee as our medium's goodwill ambassador.
22. Nite Owl's inability to perform sexually without his costume.
23. "Only one of us is going to walk out of here..."
24. Grant Morrison declaring himself God in the pages of Animal Man.
25. The Dark Phoenix Saga.
26. Steve Ditko: the J.D. Salinger of Comics.
27. Spider-Man.
28. Astro Boy fighting an army of canine brains placed in robotic bodies.
29. Len Wein.
30. The tragedy and triumph of Flycatcher, the Frog Prince, in the pages of Fables.
31. JLA/JSA team-ups.
32. Flash/Green Lantern team-ups.
33. Superman vs. Captain Marvel.
34. Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale.
35. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
36. Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely.
37. Alex Ross covers.
38. Brian Bolland covers.
39. Second stringers who made it onto the big team (Red Tornado, The Vision, The Elongated Man, etc.)
40. Kyle Baker's Plastic Man.
41. America's Best Comics.
42. Ultimate Captain America's response to being asked to surrender..
43. Elsa Bloodstone's response to being called a victim.
44. The first 5 years of The New Teen Titans.
45. 2000 A.D.
46. Rogues Galleries.
47. Official Handbooks and Secret Files.
48. John Romita (Sr. & Jr.)
49. Multiverses.
50. They provide a reason to love Wednesdays.

tone_milazzo, darthgaul, & einherjar13, consider yourselves tagged.

...And yet it happened.

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:54:11 -0700

dan on panel 5, originally uploaded by tone_milazzo.

I forgot to talk about the most surreal part of Comic-Con.
Sunday morning, a sleep-deprived and hung-over danifesto attended a DC Nation panel. Dan Didio, the company's publisher, asked people in the audience to recap all the news from the previous DC panels. When he asked us what was going on in the pages of The Flash, I was the only one to raise my hand. From there, he asked me to join the panel. I didn't have much to say, but it was a weird feeling, and pretty cool...

We endure

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:36:54 -0700

The work hunt continues. Currently waiting to be scheduled for an interview with another biotech company soon.
This was a great Comic-Con. One of the best in years. Full of parties, booze, good panels, and tons of graphic novels. Pics are up. I'm rethinking my decision to skip Con next year in favor of PAX.
Earthquake was fun. I don't usually feel tremors, so that was novel.
Finally, take this quiz and help me win an iPod Nano.

EDIT: Let's see if this works better...

danifesto

Zombie-class situations

Broadway Brings Back Carrie's Bloody Prom And The Addams Family [Carrie]

OMG YES! (via)

Warner Bros. Offers Discount Blu-ray Upgrade Program [Blu-Ray]

Meet the Beetles, Barons, and Blazers

Financial Retcons?

The 15 Dumbest Superhero Retcons Of All Time [Triviagasm]

Station Ident: Hail Kitty

In an Alternate Universe, Inglouirous Basterds is Already a Comic [Inglourious Basterds]

Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: Is This The End of Everything?

James Jean and Tara McPherson at ComICA by Paul Tierney

Do not look behind the curtain, the great and powerful Oz commands it

Apple Files Patent On Evil

Michael Moorcock Answers Fans About Writing Doctor Who Novel

BATMAN

Happy Little Drop-and-Give-Me-50

Having Never Heard Of Auto-Tune Until The Carl Sagan Song Guy Showed Up On The Internet(s), I'm Grateful To Have This Explainer From Weird Al Yankovic

A Dirty Little Funny War

Related Posts

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Beast in action

Keeping my Kirby Hand Strong!

Old School Beast costume

Mega City One Judges

MiddleMan and Wendy

Master Chiefs & Cortana

Sally & Sailor Mars

The Honky Tonk Man

Another Zatanna

Robin

Blackest Night Mural

Awesome T-Shirt

The Scarlet Witch

Nick Fury & Black Widow

Mary Marvel

Emma Frost

Blue Spy from Team Fortress 2

Princess Mononoke

Poison Ivy

The first of a few Zatannas

Bucket List Meme

danifesto @ 2009-02-12T08:23:00

Food Meme

Perfunctory Seasonal Acknowledgements...

Tweets for Today

Writer's Block: Doh!

Writer's Block: To the Mat

Oh, so THAT'S what he meant by "Change"...

Win some, lose some

Stan Lee reads "The Raven"

Biden our time...

Yes, we can... be funny.

Comics Collection Meme

The Memorial Service

What Passes For An Update

Posted using TxtLJ

Posted using TxtLJ

Political LOL

Shovels at Dawn

Apparently, I'm not a real man...

#1 Meme

Your recommended daily allowance of cute...

50 Things I Love About Comics

...And yet it happened.

We endure