I ate'nt dead.

I'm just watching lots of rented horror movies.

I wish I could avoid subtitles.  I don't mind subtitles for a regular show, but for a horror movie it means you have to keep watching the screen even when there's a really gory part or a particularly startling image.  I'm too much of a wuss for one.

Still, some of these Korean and Japanese films don't come dubbed.  And they look really creepy.  (And are no doubt better than the Hollywood remakes).  After napping through four years of High School Spanish, I'm pretty sure I don't have the ability to learn Korean.  So my options are limited.

Plus I spent my damned money, and I'm going to see my movie.

For Future Reference

I like the Parallax retcon.  Not just the results, but I like the idea.  I think that Emerald Twilight was abrupt (though yes, there were some character moments prior to it that screamed "Not normal"), and that mind control explains it perfectly.  I have no problems with the cheesiness of a giant yellow grasshopper (fFROM OUTER SPAAAACE!!!) with the ability to control minds, possess bodies, and instill fear in the hearts of sentient beings.  We're talking about superhero comic books here, after all.

I think the retcon fits seamlessly into continuity.  I don't think it ruins the previous stories.  I even think that there are points where Ron Marz left the option out to explain Hal's behavior as the result of mind control/possession (Emerald Knights) so it fits very well in there.  I think it is awesome to have all the Lanterns active, and the GLC back.

I like that it was the Guardians fault this thing got out.

I don't mind the re-explanation of the yellow weakness.

I don't think that Hal needs to be responsible or punished for his actions during and after Emerald Twilight.  He's a comic book character.

I don't mind that he's angsty over the Parallax thing.  Or that he lost some face.  Or that he gained it back.

I think it was cool that Kyle got possessed, because that was always his big fear.

I like the Fear theme to the Green Lantern franchise.  I find it relevant to today's society.  I find it comforting to escape into a story where a hero literally has to wrestle with willpower and emotions.

I kind of like that the emotions are represented by colors and big psychic energy organisms.

I find it fun and appropriate that, when revealed, that the Personification of Fear is a fucking absurd concept that nevertheless would make you shit your pants were you to meet it.

I'm not saying Geoff Johns is a genius.  I'm not saying that we are wasting our time discussing comic books.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you if you disagree with me.

I'm just saying that I like it, and I would like the commenters who don't like it to avoid pissing in my cheerios when I'm happy over Green Lantern.  There is precious little that I get joyful about, and I would like these feelings of joy to be sustained as long as possible.

Yay!!!

Newsarama has a GL#28 preview up.

Check out the narration box in the upper left corner of the first page, telling you where the first scene is located. (It's kind of spoilery)

I've been waiting for them to bring this one up since Rebirth.

Carnival Notes

I know I've been slacking on the blogging lately. 2008 has been... interesting. And promises to get moreso.

But I am still alive, and I have a responsibility I need to catch up on.

See, while I was so caught up in my runaway February, the 20th Feminist SF/F Carnival was posted on the Podblack Blog. (Sorry Kylie!) And I've been neglecting to link it, or find a host for the 21st.

Well, enjoy the Carnival if you didn't find it on your own, and if you're interested in hosting #21 drop me an email.

And if you need more to read: POC in SF Carnival #8: Intra-Racial Dialogues - What Lies Between Us (Willow needs a host for March, too.)

Horror Heaven

So I got  Justice League: The New Frontier and really enjoyed it.  Particularly the first Flash sequence, that was fun.  Neil Patrick Harris as Barry Allen works.  Also, can't believe I didn't realize before watching that this release is perfectly timed politically..  Because of the Silver Age setting and the McCarthy era backdrop, there's a lot of dialogue that is custom-designed to comfort Americans who are feeling kind of shitty about how their government is behaving and hoping for an inspirational figure to usher in change.

I like my new toy, too.  He has a little lantern to go with him, and he's molded to the base so I can leave him out somewhere.

And while I was at the store I saw one of those cheap collections of old black and white movies.  50 black and white horror movies for 20 bucks.  I picked it up on a whim because it had the original The House on Haunted Hill.  On getting home I discovered it had silent movie classics Nosferatu and Fritz Lang's Metropolis.  One of the first Superman stories I ever read was the Superman: Metropolis elseworlds, which led me to checking out the movie out of curiosity.  It has a special place in my heart and now I own it.

I found a book of classic ghost stories (Not just Poe reprints, but it has Ambrose Bierce and Washington Irving stories).

I also got my hands on a copy of John Keel's Mothman Prophecies book.  I'm only 25 pages in and this book is Urban Legend Paradise.  There's UFOs, metaphysical speculation,  multiple counts of small-town weirdness, a giant fucking bird with hypnotic red eyes, the US government trying to act like they know what the hell is going on and that nothing is going on anyway, military red tape stupidity, historical ties to stories about faeries, The Devil, and encounters with the inhuman kind of Men in Black (not the run-of-the-mill government spooks, these are the MiBs who are like aliens or robots trying to cover their tracks).

I'm starting to come to terms with being a horror fan.  I started out with kid's ghost story anthologies (The Dark Thirty, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Are You Afraid of the Dark?), and I worked my way up to the hard stuff (Lovecraft, Internet and Radio tales of ghost encounters) from there.  and have been utterly hooked on these sorts of things ever since.  I hate the current trend of torture porn, and have no interest in mortal slasher flicks.  But I can't stay away from a good ghost tale (particularly one that purports to be true).  I can't help but research weird and frightening occurrances.  I absolutely adore horror movies made before 1970 (I love the camera tricks that cover for bad special effects).  I like modern supernatural thrillers provided they have a creepy air.  The only romance I read is paranormal horror romance.  I can't resist this stuff.

But there's a problem.  It's the same as the reason my favorite superhero is Green Lantern.  I'm a huge wuss, a neurotic person with a highly active imagination.  I am what is politely referred to as high strung.   Other people are amused by my nervousness.  In my first year in the USAF, the guys in the dorm used to knock on my door when they walked by.  They knew I was in there watching or reading something creepy and I would scream audibly.  I haven't calmed down.  Right now my boss greets me suddenly and boisterously every day because it never fails to make me jump, yelp, and drop whatever I'm carrying.

I never watched horror movies as a teenager because I always figured I'd have nightmares.   (Oddly enough, I rarely have nightmares from this stuff.  The problem is getting to sleep.)   Trailers and commercials for horror movies spook me out.  I have an irrational terror of witch stories (yes, I know just how wrong that is for me).  I don't have mirrors or televisions in my bedroom because reflected light (and my own ghastly snarl-haired pale visage) is too unsettling in the dark.  I stay up late reading ghost stories and then kick myself for it.  But I can''t stop.  I'm drawn to it.

It always seemed like I was being incredibly unwise by exposing myself to this stuff.  My brain clearly hates me, and I'm giving it ammunition.  Then I was completely flipping out at work on Friday over something my physician suggested I might have when I realized just why I adore urban legends, ghost stories, and creepy suspenseful horror.  I'm the kind of person who makes her own life 50 times more stressful than it needs to be.  I panic needlessly and worry endlessly about my lot in life.  No matter how secure my job, my financial health, my physical health, my safety and my future is I will always be convinced everything I love is about to dissolve and slip through my fingers like purple art project scenery sand.  Or worse, crash on the floor and spill out like brains and blood from a crushed skull.  Supernatural tales of terror give me something else to worry about.

Something fun to worry about.

It's time to stop calling myself stupid for this, and embrace it.

I'm off to go replace my worries with the Scariest Thing Ever Written (Dreams in the Witch House by HP Lovecraft -- Witches, ghosts and geometry, oh my!), then I'm going to bury myself in modern North American mythology.  Dig me out when the next issue of Green Lantern comes out.

Heroes don't HAVE to be stupid, do they?

I rented The Mothman Prophecies because I enjoy watching creepy supernatural stuff when there's no one around but my cat. (Mild Spoilers below.)

The main character (the one played by Richard Gere) is pretty dumb.  I mean, I thought he was smarter than the average horror protagonist when he got creeped out by the phone call where Cold knew everything, so he turned off the lights and closed the shutters (where a normal person would not want to sit in a dark hotel room and listen to that creepy voice).

But he thinks the chemical plant is going to blow up, so he accosts the Governor and asks him to close the place down.  He's ranting and raving like a complete madman, and gets escorted away  When if he really wanted to shut the place down he could have just called in a bomb threat (what's really amazing to me is that they assume he's heard a bomb threat, call one in, and he says "I didn't get a bomb threat!" and torpedoes the option they'd take him seriously).  Yes, he'd have gotten in trouble if he got caught phoning in a threat.  It's illegal, he'd have been arrested. But he wouldn't look completely fucking insane, and he'd have accomplished what he wanted.

(I haven't read the book, so I don't know if John Keel actually acted like this, but I know they changed a whole bunch of stuff so I'm going to assume that any character behavior is the fault of the writers.)

And it makes me worry about the heroes in these supernatural thrillers.  They're supposed to seem like rational people, so that we can be drawn into the story.  It's not supposed to be someone we can write off as a nut, but someone like us who is experiencing this stuff.  Makes it more believable.

But damned if every time we get to the point where the hero is trying to get the police or the government on their side to prevent a disaster, they go the route of looking like a complete lunatic and risk getting committed for their trouble.  And they know, going in, that there is no way in hell that the authorities will take them seriously.  But they try anyway, and that's supposed to be the heroic part.  Except they just seem stupid to me, because there are usually sneakier and more effective ways to accomplish that objective in today's society.

And don't give me "we don't want our hero to lie."  If he's really so fucking sure that a whole bunch of people are going to die, he should lie if he has a better chance of being believed and getting the place evacuated.  Even if he's wrong.

Yay!

Blog@Newsarama informs me that the Justice League: The New Frontier DVD (which comes out on February 26th) will come with a toy at Best Buy. And I've been collecting Green Lantern dolls. And there is a brand new Best Buy very close to where I work.



It's not the best Hal figure I've seen. But I still want it.

Preview Perceptions

So the May solicits are up.

First, I'm going to postulate that the "red-eyed invader" in Wonder Woman #16 is actually the Mothman disguised as a human!

Okay, probably not. But Wonder Woman fighting the Mothman in the streets of Washington, DC would be pretty cool. You have to admit that.

Also fun would be Green Lantern showing up at some of the UFO sightings to write out citations. By now I'm convinced that the Guardians and most of the other cosmic powers in the DCU are looking at Earth as a Wildlife Preserve (I mean, what with the Last Kryptonian, the Last Martian, and a few other extremely endangered species making their home there) so it's just a matter of time until they start acting like Park Rangers and charge fines for trashing the place.

And speaking of Green Lantern, check out the cover to May's Green Lantern Corps.



Now, I adore Pat Gleason and you all know this. But that cover seems wrong to me. And not just because Arisia's boobs can't be that big.

Notice there's Isamot, Vath, Arisia, Kyle, and Sodam Yat on that cover. Sodam Yat is a fucking Daxamite, who wears a ring that actively keeps his system from being poisoned by lead and hosts the GLC's godlike mascot, Ion the Willpower Whale!

Why the hell is he the one who is the least physically entangled by Black Mercy plants? I'd have buried him in them if I saw him coming.

I haven't posted in too long.

I'm feeling considerably better lately, but haven't been quite motivated to post on this blog or do a WFA roundup despite the horrendous backlog that's piled up. Oh, i'm still reading and loving my comics, it's just the current discourse is driving me crazy.

I mean, just today I saw one person compare attempts to draw attention to and protest the inappropriate sexualization of women in comic books to supporting segregation and anti-semitism.

And another person throwing a fit about how "you can't reason with these kinds of fans" because a few people poked fun at her in her comments for some continuity mistakes.

And the resurfacing of the most pathetic concern troll I've ever had the pleasure of chasing off my blog, once again talking about how everyone's against him.

And one of my favorite blogs dedicating itself to a week reviewing cheerleader movies (Yes. I mean you, Chris).

And I realized that my own actions have resulted in not one, but two different people deleting their blogs and starting over. Both because I've pointed out inconsistencies in their arguments and linked them. Perhaps I can be a bit harsh at times.

I hate to use the word "over-sensitive" because too often it's applied to someone engaging in legitimate social criticism. I'm a big believer in shades of grey. I'm in favor of examining intersection of race and gender discrimination, but often comparisons merely make your original argument look absurd and end up alienating allies. I'm in favor of continuity nitpicking and joking around to a point, because we're comic book nerds and that's how we do things--and I even think that a badly placed continuity/character mistake can invalidate someone's point if it's important to the argument (for example, complaining a character is out of place when you're mistaking him for another guy) but I don't think they invalidate all points. I also don't think everyone who points out a continuity error and jokes around in comment sections is even trying to invalidate the original post. We read comics, comics are supposed to be fun and continuity nitpicking is a pasttime all it's own. I do believe in the purpose of well-reasoned discourse, but I see a place for ranting and venting all the same.

I find misogyny and racism in things I enjoy sometimes. I don't think pointing that out means we're calling something a piece of trash. I've had moments where it's ruined an otherwise good story, though.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

I remember when I was a kid I read The Dark is Rising sequence. There was a scene in one of the books where someone asked why the agents of the Dark wore black and white. Another character said it was probably because the Dark could only reach people in extremes. That's a thought I've carried with me for a long, long time.

The phrase "Death to Extremists" makes me smile.

I'll try to get back on a regular blogging schedule again soon.

Blogged with Flock

Violence and Youth

I get really annoyed when people get overly nostalgic and talk about how dreadfully brutal and violent my generation is in comparison to "simpler times." So I was delighted when Ken emailed me this article from a couple years ago debunking the connection between violent video games and the "rise" in youth violence. The writer looks at FBI statistics and finds out that Generation Y is the least violent generation in recorded American history.

That first graph is the overall violent crime rate, and we're talking about youth violence here. So I found the data sorted by age, and it turns out that through 2002, youth homicide actually dropped across the board, the only increase being among adults. If I may quote directly from the D.O.J. report, "Recently, the offending rates for 14-17 year-olds reached the lowest levels ever recorded."

The lowest levels ever recorded. In other words, the Playstation era has, in fact, produced the most non-violent kids ever.

I remember when I was in High School they had a big fuss over kids who were supposedly carrying guns to school, and I remember seeing the Principal searching lockers and the dogs coming by periodically. And then when Columbine happened and the High School went on lockdown. And banning backpacks, and then taking back the ban, and then banning them again. I graduated the year before they instituted school uniforms in my public school district. (Which was funny to me, because I remember my class protesting the idea, and I remember my sister getting suspended for protesting the dress code before I ever got there.)

I'd figured back when I was in school the hysteria would fade, but every once in a while something like this idiocy (from last fall) comes up and we hear about how Congress is discussing the fucking video games and someone's crying "Think of the children!"

And we have the most violent mass media we've ever had. And the most accessible font of information ever available to young people. And we're a country that is constantly--constantly on the edge, panicking at the stupidest shit. And... the violent crime rate is dropping. (Check the Preliminary 2007 Stats, see all those minuses under "Total"?) The age trend shown in that 2005 article is that each new group of kids was more peaceful than the last.

And each new group of kids has less freedom than the last. The kids in my old High School right now probably wouldn't dream of the day those doors were left unlocked during class hours, of being able to arrive late and sneak in after the bell, or of no one buzzing past the secretary. I don't think by now any of them would have gone to school when we wore normal clothing. And the dogs and the Principal searching the locker isn't a weird thing. Security guards aren't a weird thing. If the trend continues, security guards asking girls about their menstrual cycles won't be a weird thing.

I know someone will attribute this as cause and effect, except the tightening of security and the loss of civil rights is caused by a false perception that these children are more violent than the generation that's making the rules. In reality, they're less violent and therefore deserve more freedom.

Anyway, do me a favor and pass these stats around. The last couple generations have been getting a pretty bad rap.

John Stewart cast!

According to MTV Movies Blog:

From the first time Clark Kent walked into a phone booth mild mannered and walked out able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, the concept of superheroes having dual identities has been almost as important to the genre as the superpowers themselves. Not so for John Stewart, Earth’s fourth Green Lantern and sometimes member of the “Justice League of America” — one of the more prominent heroes to choose not to wear a mask.

Now the actor who was cast to play him is pulling back his.

Long rumored to be in contention for the role, Common confirmed to MTV News for the first time publically that he was cast in the now dormant film, calling being picked for the role “an honor.”

“It’s a blessing really, to know that I could potentially be this superhero,” he enthused. “Justice League itself is an honor, and Green Lantern is an incredible character to play. It’s a blessing to be associated with it.”

I love how excited all the actors are for this movie. Hopefully with the strike clearing up they can get it back into production.

(Via)

Writer's strike may end.

New York Times:

An end to Hollywood’s long and bitter writers’ strike appeared close on Saturday, as union leaders representing 12,000 movie and television writers said they had reached a tentative deal with production companies.

The strike, which began Nov. 5, remains in effect until the governing boards of the two writers’ guilds gauge the sense of their membership this weekend and decide whether to end the walkout. The boards are expected to meet as early as Sunday, and the strike could be over by Monday morning.

A memorandum sent to some writers guild members summarized a four-hour meeting on Friday in which union leaders briefed a group of 300 strike captains. According to the memorandum, the guild boards and negotiating committee are expected to recommend the tentative deal unanimously, but they are withholding action to end the walkout until after Saturday’s scheduled meetings.

Here's the letter they sent to the WGA members.

(I know blogging's been sparse, but I came down with some sort of infection this week and haven't felt up to writing. Just wanted to share this one.)

Countdown #12

I told you so.

My heart's not in this one.

I should say something to this, since he uses my quote as the jumping-off point but I can only come up with a unenthusiastic response.

I don't really care for Journalista much anymore. The blog itself, while theoretically a useful link-source, is unreadable at work because of his use of images. I've taken it off my feed and gotten to checking it when I remember or when it comes up in my searches. Occasionally, I'll get a post or an article out of it. Most of the stuff he links I see in my normal rounds. More often I just link Dirk himself when he writes about women in comics. His opinions aren't particularly interesting, especially from the standpoint of such bitterness. His value as a journalist is debatable. Take this article for example. No neutrality, but it's an op-ed piece. But he gets the facts very wrong. Since when does Girl-Wonder.org operate from a "Think of the Children" standpoint? And how are Pink Raygun, the Spider-man movie-fans who were upset about the statue, Cheryl Lynn, Val, and me part of "the Girl Wonder" crowd? You can really only shove us all under the same tent if you're not paying attention to what we write. He uses the unreliable 10% statistic, and I've yet to see how it was figured out or how it is relevant. 1) Statistics are incredibly easy to manipulate and 2) Some things are wrong no matter who the audience is.

I mean, I know that this is a logical fallacy but Deppey's long since lost credibility to me. So I can't get interested in arguing his main point. Even about this.

And it's... disappointing. When he started up that blog I remember how excited much of the comics blogosphere was and he seems to be a very respected and widely-read person. Which tells me that's the standard of writing for much of the community.

And that makes me sad.

Well, what do you know...

It worked:

In those two panels, in that one gesture of Batman contemplating the Robins he’s lost in front of the symbol of those losses, that line of suits in cases, the glass ceiling keeping girls out of the red and green and gold costume at Batman’s side finally cracked and fell.

I'm not taking this as DC has gone feminist. But they've noticed that female fans read female characters, and given in to a reasonable request in order to please those fans.

Most importantly, the idea of female fanbase for Batman comics is in their heads, and it's a fanbase they'll market to.

And on the whole, this is pretty damned impressive from a Green Lantern fan's point of view. I mean, it took ten fucking years to get a straight white male lead's mischaracterization retconned into mind control on our side of the fence.

Quick Notes on Green Lantern

1) Once again, John is the only Lantern with any brains.

2) They are seriously foreshadowing that someone is going to come after Jim again.

3) I have some conspiracy theories about Scarface (the female Lantern burned in the fight with the AntiMonitor) but I'm going to let them stew until we get more information in this plot. I will say that I'm increasingly hopeful that this all ends with Ganthet returning to Oa and declaring that he's taking over again because the Council is full of idiots and cowards.

4) Notice that Boodika is the only one of the Lost Lanterns who is still hostile to Hal.

5) I'm annoyed there's no hint as to who the first Blue will be. I'm hoping for a female human.

6) Does anyone else get the feeling that at DC when male characters kill (Black Adam, Wonderman) it sends them to villain territory, but female heroes can kill and stay heroes (Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Manhunter)? Some sexism at work where women are thought to be less frightening and men less rational, maybe?

Ooo!

Marjane Satrapi is on the Colbert Report!

Carnival Notes

Willow's got the 7th PoC SF Carnival posted at Seeking Avalon!

The 52nd Carnival of Feminists is up recently, too.

Scientiae has their submission call posted, due date is January 30th.

Podblack Cat's got a reminder up, with some submission suggestions:Feminist SF Carnival - In Orbit Soon!

I’m looking for those bloggy reflections - whether you’re into space rangers, explorers, fighters, lovers, critiques, oblique-references, hard facts, short temper tantrums, fine analysis, bold statements, bad science, great research, small print, vipers, snipers, con-men, riot-grrrls and just plain representing the spectrum of feminist thought and the intersection with speculative fiction!

That cover gives me the willies.

I wince whenever I see the April Catwoman cover. (No, I'm not reposting it on my blog. Go look at the link.) It's not normal Adam Hughes eyerolling at the exploitation here. It actually unnerves me to the point I can't really make a judgment on whether it's sexist or not. There's something disturbing there I think would bug me if it were two men. That picture is in the middle of the point where she pulls the lip away with her teeth. Gross. And the color scheme. Blues and blacks versus yellows and browns with red in the middle. I immediately focus on the red when I see it. And it looks like she's eating part of Cheetah's face.

It's a horror cover. It has a worse effect than a Zombie cover on me. 'd examine it in depth but I'd have to stare at the damned thing and I don't like looking at it.

I find it so weird that it's the violence that bothers me with this one. I mean, I'm a Geoff Johns fan. People ripped in half? No problem. Impaled heroes? I'll keep reading. Catwoman biting Cheetah's lower lip? I have to avert my eyes and find another website. Maybe it reminds me of cannibalism or something like that.

Either way, this cover getting reposted around the community is not going to be fun for me.

Raise a glass to Heath Ledger

Patrick Verona was based on one of the biggest jerks Shakespeare wrote, but Heath Ledger played him and I liked him. I'm still willing to watch 10 Things I Hate About You (a movie in which nothing supernatural happened) multiple times.



I'm still looking forward to The Dark Knight, but it's going to be sad.