Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Free Form Comments

Say whatever you want to in the comments to this post -- random, off topic thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, recommendations, criticisms (which can be anonymous), surveys, introductions if you have never commented before, personal news, self-promotion, requests to be added to the blog roll and so on. If a week goes by and I have failed to add you to the blog roll TELL ME TO DO IT AGAIN, and KEEP TELLING ME UNTIL IT GETS DONE. I can be lazy about updating the non-post parts of this site. Remember these comments can be directed at all the readers, not just me.

ALSO. You can use this space to re-ask me questions you asked me before that I failed to answer because I was too busy (but now might not be). That is often the reason I fail to get back to people, and on a blog, after a few days, the comments thread dies and I just kind of forget about it. Let's use this space to fix that, because it does need to be fixed; I look like a jackass sometimes, leaving people hanging. I will TRY to respond to any questions here.

AND you can use this space to comment on posts that are old enough that no one is reading the comments threads anymore. For example, if you thought of a great quote for the great quote commonplace book, but now no one is reading that, you could put it here.You do not have to have a blogger account or gmail account to post a comment -- you can write a comment, write your name at the bottom of your comment like an e mail, and then post using the "anonymous" option.

WRITING FOR THIS BLOG. If you think your free form comment here might be better as its own post, but you do not want it to be public yet, email it to me. My email address is available on my blogger profile page. If I think it will work on this site, your post will be published here with your name in the title of the post. You can propose what you will, I am always looking for reviews of games, tv, movies, music and books.

If you think what you have to say -- new topic or comment on an existing topic -- would be better to hear than to read, use the CALL ME button on the toolbar on the right.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was scrolling the old best of the blog and can't believe I missed out on fictional crushes... here are mine (and all of mine are, in fact, the character and not the actor/acress... although I do also have a crush on the real Natalie Portman as well... but who doesn't really?)

My Top 10 Fictional Crushes

10. Cherry Darling from Planet Terror

9. Death from Sandman (not sure what this says about me)

8. Penny Lane from Almost Famous

7. Faye from That Thing You Do!

6. Sam from Garden State

5. Veronica from Heathers

4. Delirium from Sandman (ok, so I have a thing from antrhopomorphic representations of abstract ideas... sue me!)

3. Jubilee from X-men (comics)

2. Pam from The Office

1. Kitty Pryde (comics)

Anonymous said...

Oh, A couple of other things:

First of all, to all Geoff Johns fans... let me clarify something, I don't think he's the worst writer ever... not even a bad one either... just that he's incredibly overated.

However, I did hear a criticism of his work that pretty much sums up my opinion of him and that it was that he writes 'overated fan fiction.' I tend to agree, Sinestro Corps War was exactly the kind of story a 12-year old me would have come up with... in fact I did have the idea for a "Yellow Lantern Corps" when I was that exact age (maybe I should sue)... also, the whole thing with the mutli-colored rings and various other corps... as much as adult me wonders if that does anything to lessen the uniqueness of the rings... the 12 year old me thinks it's pretty kick ass.

Now, when I back to the 'glorified fan fiction' thing... is this really such a bad thing for a writer of mainstream superhero titles to be? I mean, he's writing things that are EXACTLY what fans want to see. I'll admit for anything he's lacking in actual writing talent, he makes up for in the ability to rub that collective fan boy G-spot in just the right way. You could call it pandering... but with a commercial product... shouldn't you do that? Give fans what they want? They're the ones who are buying the books, after all.... and maybe those of us who want all of our comics to be art should just shut up and read our damn Dave Sim and Daniel Clowes trades.'

Also, I just finished Palahniuk's newest novel. I'd definitely have to say that this was his weakest so far. Not that it's terrible or anything... I found it pretty entertaining. But it was too much gimmick and not enough heart... a story... as especially one like this one... relies on the fact that you care about the characters on some level... I don't think that ever really happenned with Snuff. It's also worth noting that this is the second of his novels in a row to feature only his name... not the title of the novel... along the spine.

James said...

"he makes up for in the ability to rub that collective fan boy G-spot in just the right way"

Unpleasant metaphor of the day! (Year?)

Anonymous said...

Sorry... Have been reading a Palahniuk novel that takes place on the set of a 'World's Largest Gangbang' set.... and trust me... tht novel has much more unpleasant metaphors.

Prof Fury said...

After hearing raves about in on the internet, I gave the first couple chapters of the Sinestro Corps storyline a chance, but I'm afraid it left me as cold as Johns's other work has. My problem with Johns, which I discussed at much greater length in this post way back when, is that he somehow manages to make the DCU seem like thin and impoverished instead of deep and rich. His big crossover stories, especially, always seem to me like they're taking place in an action figure catalog instead of in a multi-faceted shared universe with a long history. This is why his attempts at "giving the fans what they want" always ring so hollow for me -- there's always some crucial but indefinable ingredient missing that keeps the souffle from rising.

That said, I have kind of been enjoying his Booster Gold.

(I see, looking back on that earlier post, that I had high hopes for Civil War after issue 1. Oh, what a fool I was...)

On an unrelated note, I picked up the most recent issue of Batman Confidential yesterday on a whim; I'm a fan of both creators -- Fabian Nicizea and especially Kevin Maguire -- and I've always had a soft spot for the Barbara Gordon Batgirl. It's an issue-long fight/chase scene featuring Batgirl and Catwoman, and it occurred to me -- especially on the last couple of pages -- that if almost any of the main players in DC's current stable of artists (Ed Benes, I'm looking especially hard at you) had drawn this comic, it would have been nothing but unbearable, embarrassing fan service. But Maguire's dexterity with facial expressions and body language (which Scott has noted in his great JLI posts) really save it.

Anonymous said...

Prof Fury,

I need to check out those Confidential issues... I was a big Niceza fan back in the day... looking back on a lot of that work though I find it kind of hokey...
but MaGuire is great. There's more to an artist than just their line work... it's also in how they tell a story. Jim Lee is a great artist not just because his characters look awesome... but also in his ability to tell a story visually.

Speaking of the Confidential series... are those considered 'in continuity' If so, does that mean the recent Joker story is THE origin? (if so, I'm against it, like Alan Moore I prefer my Joker origins to be multiple choice) If not, what's the difference between these and the All-Star Line? Oh, that's right... a regular monthly schedule! :)

Prof Fury said...

My knowledge of the Confidential ethos is nil; this is the first issue of any version Confidential title I've bought. (I had sworn off all such series after finally breaking free of JLA: Classified after years of disappointment, but the Nic/Mag/Batgirl combo drew me back.) Wikipedia's entry on B:C says, "The stories told may or may not be actual canon", which isn't much help.