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Thursday 20 November 2008
Catching up on stuff:
Thank goodness it's cooled down a bit....
I've posted reviews of Minority Report and Open Secret in Opinion, and I should have at least one comic and two more book reviews up in the next day or so. How good am I?
Returning to the topic of the comics message boards I occasionally check out, I spotted a thread a little earlier of the "What's your favourite [fill in the blank] ever?" school. In this case it was comic cover. Vaguely wondering what sort of stuff would be favoured, I checked it out, only to find that each page was huge because posters were calling in (often quite large) images of the covers they like, and almost all from other people's sites. Now, I've always had a big problem with this kind of thing, so I posted a fairly innocuous comment to the effect that I didn't want to spoil the party, but isn't what you're doing basically bandwidth theft?
The reply I got was very enlightening: "I'm getting them from Mile High Comics and no. It's not". In other words, "yes I'm taking them from someone else's site but no, somehow this isn't theft." Fortunately, someone else stepped in to point out that therefore this is exactly what it is, quoting a copyright notice on the Mile High site in support. Which led to some contrition from the "I'm not stealing" man.
The reason I find this whole exchange enlightening is that it made me realise that there probably is an entire generation of web users who don't think there's anything wrong with pulling in content from another site, mindless of issues of either intellectual ownership or straightforward resource theft. Rather than growing up (in web user terms) accepting the conventions and standards that have been established, they succumb to the simple convenience of what they can achieve. I've actually mailed the owners of the boards to ask whether they think they ought to be educating their users in the rights and wrongs.
And finally for this evening - JakeTM.org - Ivan Massow's latest venture, launched late last year and boasting 7438 members. I think it's suffering a slight identity crisis, as I'm not sure whether it's a social group, a business networking system or a way for Massow to sell more of their financial products, or indeed a combination of the three. I'm sort of intrigued though. I may sign-up and let you know.
It's raining! Thank whatever entities there are that oversee our general well-being.
I forgot to mention last night's Six Feet Under, which continues to be one of the cleverest, most creative TV dramas I've ever seen. That it's produced in America, where the control and restriction of the network system is notorious, it just shows the difference that the HBO approach makes.
If I have a criticism, it's born purely out of envy and bitterness - how come David gets to bump into a cute potential new lover so easily? Some of us have been single for a year and never once had a cute guy we encounter in our everyday lives so much as say 'hi', never mind offer the prospect of any more....
Great point - love that new lover Kurt asks David if he's top or bottom, and when David replies 'versatile', Kurt says "Bottom then? This'll work out great." Then to wreck the stereotype that Kurt is perpetuating, they're seen in bed later with Kurt saying "Damn, you really are versatile." Let's smash the idea that we all have to conform to one role or another at every possible opportunity.
Unexpectedly, I found myself having a conversation this evening about the situation of people who were adopted and the scary reality of a situation in which one might suddenly find themselves confronted by the fact that their world (their own personal sense of identity) is suddenly completely different than that which they thought it was.
Speaking for myself, I spend a more-than-usual (I suspect) amount of time pondering issues of identity, because of a convoluted personal history I've never shared here but one day will. Questions of what makes us, us, fascinate me. Is it genetics or environment? Is it gender? Is it name? Is it history? Is it future? Is it where we came from, or where we intend (hope) to go?
There's a very significant part of me that insists that I reject nurture because of elements of my own upbringing that I want not to have influenced the kind of person I am. But to the extent that I am a person I want to be; am happy to have become; them I have to accept that I'm part of my own environment, and if I want to be acknowledged as the person I'd like to think I am, I have to admit that I've become it as much because I've influenced myself to be it.
This isn't very coherent, because I wasn't expecting to be addressing it this evening. One of these days I'll get round to putting all this together into a sensible structure.
Four things I've seen today that I just don't get (and one that I get but I'd still be perfectly happy never to see again):
1) Ties that are exactly the same colour as the shirt they're worn with.
2) People who get on the tube with their huge rucksacks still on their backs.
3) Those Samuel L Jackson Barclays ads.
4) People who who have full-on conversations by mobile phone during the film in a cinema .
5) Liza-with-a-Z on Graham Norton.
Been to see Minority Report this evening - review to follow. saw trailers for The Road To Perdition and Eight-Legged Freaks, plus something else that was clearly eminently forgettable.
A few links, as promised:
EasyJet passengers stage sit-in - which makes a change from most EasyJet flights I've been on, when I couldn't wait to get out of the seat and stretch my legs.
Senior Tory MP comes out - well good for him, and it's nice that he's one who has at least not gone down the hypocritical route of voting against gay rights. Cynically, given that he's 45 and his sexuality has apparently been an open secret in Westminster for years, I can't help wondering what specifically has caused him to come out now....
Over on Metafilter, a few people have got their knickers in a twist (pun totally intended) over a 'beauty contest' run by columnist/commentator Dan Savage, Tighty Whities Are Hot. Note for folks on this side of the Atlantic - 'tighty whities'= 'briefs' (as opposed to boxer shorts).
And I noticed this last week but forgot to mention it. Remember I mentioned that all of the cast of The West Wing were up for acting Emmies except Rob Lowe? Well, in what the timing makes look suspiciously like a snit, Lowe is reported to be leaving the show. The official reasons are apparently to do with pay, with the BBC reporting that he didn't get a raise like Martin Sheen and that most of the other main cast members had effectively gone on strike for more pay and got it. They manage to miss the fact that they were going on strike for more pay in order to bring their pay in line with Lowe's. I can understand why he got the bigger salary at the start - he was a 'name', he had lead billing, etc, but by a very early stage, the series was categorically an ensemble, with every member of the team (except the annoyingly whiny, unmissed, Moira Kelly) proving to be an asset of equal value to the success of the whole. In that light, Lowe's position as 'the lead' looked increasingly inappropriate. (Note that I'm not saying he isn't good in the role, just that he's no better than any of the others.)
Great day. Been out to Kent with Chris and Ted for Tim's birthday. Had lunch in Tim's garden, which is really pleasant, then went for a walk in the woods and by the lake near him. If I had a complaint - and it's typically me - it was too fucking hot. Anyway, as a consequence, I haven't been online or done much reading, so no linking at the moment - I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow.
Onwards and upwards(?) to the Big Brother final. Which I'll keep brief(ish).
I was shocked that Jade came fourth - I'd got it in my head that it was going to come down to a Jade/Kate final two. I think she's redeemed herself a lot in the last few weeks, by the way, and her departing performance did her a hell of a lot more credit than a bunch of the others did. I'm amazed that she didn't beat Alex.
Speaking of whom, how much of a non-entity did he turn out to be? He seemed incapable of stringing a sentence together, didn't seem to have gained anything from the experience and was generally a bit pathetic. And surely mine wasn't the only house in which eyebrows were raised over his reaction to the appearance of the friend he was in Hamburg with just before going into the house....?
Jonny was a complete star - from the immediate reaction to the news he'd come second (genuine pleasure for Kate that she'd won) to his interview with Davina and his sheer dumbfounded incredulity that Dustin Hoffman had done an impression of him on Graham Norton the night before, we loved him to bits.
And Kate - I was pleased she won, and I thought her shock and excitement were very natural and human. I'm not sure her winning interview was as strong as it could have been, but I'm not that surprised by that. Love the fact that she was so excited by simply meeting Davina.
Generally, I think the move back to interviewing the winner in the house (like year one) was exactly the right decision. Last year, interviewed in front of the crowd, Brian was constantly being distracted, and it made for a very unimpressive end to the thing. Davina is a truly excellent presenter of the event, she's really good at conveying her own excitement at being there, and puts them all at their ease brilliantly well. Nice to see Tim getting yet more booing - we need more of that. And how nice was Kate's comment to Jonny as he left to make sure he said hello to Alison for her and the huge hug between Kate and Alison right at the end?
Cracking stuff. Lord knows what next year will be like.
I don't know why I let myself get worked up by some of the things that I do. I know I shouldn't; I know it's bad for my blood pressure, temperament and general well-being, but I can't help it sometimes. I was going to post about the Big Brother final last night (and I will in a few minutes), when I was distracted by a particularly unpleasant thread on a comic forum I read. The thread, started off the back of the upcoming addition of a gay character to the X-Men and the apparent 'turning gay' of some others (I never said 'a mature thread') kicked off with a well-reasoned and sensible view that if you're going to have gay X-Men, you might as well have X-Men who like sex with animals or kids in there. It pretty well went downhill from there. You won't want to, but the thread's here for reference.
Anyway, in typical fashion, I brooded, and went back to it and read the new posts, and brooded some more, and eventually decided to forget about it.
Fat chance. After brooding some more, I finally decided I had to post comment, which I've just done. No one will read it. Or if they do, it won't make any difference. The only possible benefit for getting my stuff off my chest is to make myself feel better.
Which I don't by the way.
Mark Millar, former author of The Authority, current writer of The Ultimates, and Ultimate X-Men, has officially launched his new site today. He's included a forum area which, with luck, will take over where the soon-to-be-dead Warren Ellis Forum is leaving off as an intelligent place to discuss comics (and a whole lot more) on the web.
He's also having launch parties this evening all over the world, which is a very nice idea if you're a person with a sufficiently high profile to get the people out for them....
The Mirror continues to solidify its new (or renewed) position as a radical, campaigning tabloid - today's headline; "No Ethics Please, We're British" fronts a story about Prime Minister Blair's studied moral position on arms sales: "If we didn't sell them, someone else would." As noted in the story - that's the same defence traditionally used by slave traders and drug dealers.
I don't think we should immediately dismantle an entire industry - I'm pragmatic enough to know that the world is a dangerous place, and until it isn't, reasonable defence is prudent. But when we can present no better case for the sale of our products, knowing the uses to which they will be put, than this, we certainly have no room to be lecturing anyone else in the world from any supposed posiition of moral superiority.
The Disasters Emergency Committee, a coalition of 13 of Britain's aid agencies, launched a major appeal yesterday to raise forty million pounds, to try and avert what they describe as a 'humanitarian catastrophe' in southern Africa. The situation in the region has received some coverage, but nowhere near enough. An ongoing chain of events, from drought to flood to political unrest to the devastating impact of AIDS has created a situation that even the ordinarily inert Tony Blair has felt compelled to address.
More information on the situation and the campaign, including details of how to make a donation, should you choose to do so, are at the Disasters Emergency Committee site.
So the whole Big Brother 2002 extravaganza ends tomorrow, and I just thought I'd take a moment to mention that despite having been gripped throughout, this last week I've felt no interest in the events of the house at all. Having felt that I'd missed something if I couldn't see the 10pm highlights each evening, this week I've been "Oh, is that on?" I suspect it's down to the fact that we're beyond nominations now, and no element of the interplay inside the house can now have an influence on what happens outside - I doubt that anyone's changing their mind on their winning vote during this last week.
But I'll be watching tomorrow to see the final act unfold, and I'll no doubt be gutted if Jade or Alex win.
I caught up with an old friend this evening - I haven't seen Sue for about five years, despite the fact that we work (and I mean this quite literally) about 300 metres apart. We only had a couple of drinks, but we're planning on meeting in a couple of weeks time, hopefully with her other half Michael, for a proper catch-up. I've known her since the end of 1985, which is actually a pretty long time ago, now I come to think of it.
If you're particularly keen-eyed, you may have noticed a new link over on the left - I've decided to start trying to take more photos of things that catch my eye in an everyday way - I know myself well enough to know that I'll never manage to keep it up daily, which is why it's definitely not 'Photo of the day'. I'll put the date of each new one I post, so keep an eye on it. I hope you like.
Since I came in, I've watched an episode of The West Wing from Season 1 - Take This Sabbath Day is a meditation on capital punishment, and this is the first time I've seen it. I know I've made rave references to TWW before, but even within the context of the series as a whole, this one is something special. The point is made during the programme that 71% of Americans support the death penalty, but a better dramatic exploration of the themes, and of why state-sanctioned killing is wrong, would be hard to find. "Society has a right to protect itself, but it doesn't have a right to be vengeful."
The usual existential uncertainty of tube travel (Will you get where you think you're going? Will it take four, five, or six times longer than the schedule says it should? Will you still remember why you were going there when you arrive?) was exacerbated on my commute this morning by a new strain: Will the doors close properly at this station? Will they close at the next? Will the station staff get sick of banging the doors to get them to close? Will the train get taken out of service here, or at the next station? How many times will they unload all the passengers after telling them the train is being taken off then reload them 'to go at least as far as the next station'?
I got off two stops before my destination in the end and walked, which (apart from the joys of inhaling London traffic fumes for 30 minutes), I'm sure did me a great deal of good....
I've been out this evening with Lara, and introduced her to the joys of tapas - honestly, I do eat other kinds of food, it's just that there's this really great tapas place really close to the office.... We had a great catch-up though, and the good news is that her new US visa has come through, faster and way more hassle-free than she was at all expecting.
Couple of links for your edification:
This one's been linked from a few places, but is worth circulating further:
"Still, the only thing that realy freaks me out is the semen. Well, OK, the lubricant freaks me out too, but I'm pretty sure that's because of the implied presence of semen." True stories from behind the porn rental counter.
And a prime case of someone washing their dirty laundry well and truly in public.
The comic fan thing - part two.
(Part one is here.)
I've been remembering a few other classic series, no longer with us: Zot and Open Season I've mentioned here before, but in the back of an old Mage I was leafing through, I found an ad for The Fish Police - yes, it's *exactly* what it sounds like. I'd forgotten all about it.
Anyway, picking up where I left off, the beginning of the 90s was not exactly a hotbed of creativity in the US industry as far as subject matter was concerned, though a new generation of exceptional artists were making their names known: Todd Macfarlane, Jim Lee, Chris Bachalo came out of nowhere, and various others who had been developing their craft via back-ups and one-shots started coming to prominence too. A number of these artists broke away from Marvel to create Image Studios around 1992/3, and the saga of their output and the politics that came along with them would be (and has been) worthy of a far more-extensive exploration than I can get into here.
From a fan's point of view though, the big event of the early 90s was the glaring exception to the 'not much creativity in subject matter was concerned' standard, and that was DC's new Vertigo imprint. I'd seen DC rediscover its horror roots (literally, in the case of certain characters taken off the shelf, dusted down and given a decesnt showing after decades of disuse) via titles like Swamp Thing and its spinoff Hellblazer, and a series of other titles were added that formed a thematic family a long time before anyone thought to make it official with the Vertigo title; Books Of Magic, Black Orchid, and of course, The Sandman. Vertigo, at that point in time, was *the* place where new and different things happened. I've been looking back at the 'This month from Vertigo' page in some of their early output, and I'm amazed by the number and variety of their stuff. The only one that's still there today is Hellblazer, but along the way, they've had some massive successes, and have remained one of the most experimental imprints around. Vertigo titles I'm reading today include Hunter: The Age of Magic, Codename: Knockout, Fables, The Filth, and the simply magnificent Lucifer.
I had to make a break from comics for a while in the mid 90s. I spent five years freelancing, and simply couldn't afford the expense. On top of which the lack of creativity that was going into the characters I felt the most loyalty to (always Marvel, hardly any DC) actually made me stop caring. As it happens, while I was away, things started to pick up.
Various new imprints were started at various publishers, and creativity started poking its head above the parapet even in the world of the superhero. Stormwatch and The Authority rewrote most of the rules, and suddenly, creativity in concept became important again - a series like Planetary assumes a literate readership, aware of a range of literary genres and conventions, as well as one willing to see 'post-humans' in roles other than the traditional superhero and supervillain. Only a few years earlier, it wouldn't have even got off the drawing board.
I always kept a bit of an eye on what was going on, and eventually came back to the fold - tentatively at first, but finding myself progressively drawn back into a rather different landscape than the one I left. Marvel, though still stuck in a cycle of superhero publishing that they seem unwilling to break, is at least generating content and concepts at a level of creativity I haven't seen from them in a long time, possibly ever. DC's superhero range is generally as inward-looking and caught up in cross-title continuity as ever, but through Vertigo, Wildstorm and Cliffhanger they're putting out quality material, and several of the other major publishers are trying new things. I find myself picking up at least one new title a month - and letting others go, for balance, thanks goodness - and some I don't stay with for long, but it's interesting, that after all these years, there's still enough potentially interesting material being created that I can find something new to try, and find myself enjoying it, so frequently.
In the interests of exploring some new territory, I followed the Blogging Brits webring link from burnt toast, and wandered on for a few stops on the ring, only to be struck by the undeniable realisation that I wasn't even remotely interested in 90% of what I was reading.
This isn't a judgement on the abilities of those who occupy those positions in the ring, so much as an illustration of what I've always considered to be a flaw in webrings of the blogging variety. The basic concept of webrings I think is relatively sound - If I read a Buffy site that I like, or a comics one, or a cat-owners one (is there a cat-owners webring????), then it's at least safe to assume that I'll be pre-disposed to be interested in the content of another. When I get there I might not like the specific execution, which is okay, because look! Here's a link to another, but at least there was a chance I'd stop.
(I should also own up to the fact that I actually never follow webring links even on topics I'm interested in, except in exercises like this, or to find out what kind of sites constitute a ring.)
Blogging webrings seem to me to miss that fundamental point of common interest. There's no reason at all why anyone but me should find the particular mix of stuff that I put on here of interest to them based solely on factors such as my location, or gender, or anything else but the content itself. That's why I'll follow links provided by people who I like reading to people they like reading, and why I'm fairly sure that people following such links here do so assuming that I come 'pre-judged for some element of interest'. It's the same with the London Bloggers Tube Map - I think it's interesting to see the spread of people blogging, but I'm not going to assume that someone else blogging near my tube station is automatically going to post things I'll be interested in (note to self: check if there even is anyone else blogging near my tube station).
Am I wrong here? Being too narrow, maybe? I am, as in all a few things, open to persuasion.
PS - Bloody Hell! I just went to see if there is, indeed, a cat owners webring, and it turns out there are HUNDREDS of the things.
PPS - Nope - I'm still the only blogger in my 'hood.
How often does a mere website get to report an actual *miracle*? I'd guess almost never, but I'm happy to report the nearest thing to one in my world - The Twilight World Of The Insomniac, that is:
Last night, I was asleep before midnight, and I didn't wake up *at all*, until almost 8am - this is something approaching a record like none I've known. Even when I'm not stuck in full-on insomnia, I *never* sleep straight through. This is a totally alien experience for me.
Right; stuff:
I can't believe how much comment this Guardian Best British Blog thing has kicked off. I don't have any particularly strong feelings one way or 'tother about the concept, though I do join in with the occasionally-expressed sentiment that something's off when people have happily accepted one award or another but then carp about this one. Generally, as with all 'best of' awards, I don't feel particularly strongly beyond thinking that it's vaguely tacky.
One thing I do find particularly mad, however, having looked at how The Guardian (The Guardian *online* this is) present the thing themselves, is that to enter, you have to download a hard-copy application form and post it to them. What the hell's that all about?
On the subject of vaguely-tacky awards, I notice that the Emmy nominations were announced while I was laid-up. Every year they crack me up that little bit more; and not just because they continue to look down their noses at anything that doesn't fit their teeny-tiny perspective on what has 'value' (no sensible recognition for Buffy *again*, despite it continuing to deliver better and more entertaining drama than half the stuff they do let in). Still, good showings for some legitimately good stuff (Six Feet Under tops the 'number of nominations' league, 24 shows, and except Rob Lowe, every single leading (and one supporting) actor from The West Wing get nods, which, for all that the standard of Season Three apparently slipped in some regards, does at least recognise that apart from the Buffy team, there is no finer ensemble in television. The full list of nominations is here, but brace yourself, it's pretty hefty. Some of the categories always do my head in: Outstanding Hairstyling For Miniseries, Movie Or A Special is always well-fought, as is Outstanding Main Title Theme Music....
Quite a bit of the coverage also hit on the fact that there's a hefty contingent of Brits up for one gong or another, including, among others, Diana Rigg, who I instinctively feel should receive any award available just for being so fabulous.
Elsewhere, I own four of the One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately, and strangely, will be doing no such thing.
[Via Parallax View]
Finally for now, one thing I did do while I was laid up was find myself watching some of The Open, and I found myself questioning some of my long-held misconceptions about golf and golfers. The former, it transpires, can actually be quite exciting, while the latter, contrary to every expectation, can actually be quite young and attractive.
No entries for a couple of days because you'd soon have got bored with slept....sweated....changed bedding.....slept....sweated....changed bedding. interspersed with occasional unfortunate bathroom incidents.
*Anyway*....feeling better today, though still a little 'off'. And I've not exactly been surfing and finding fascinating things to share with the world, so this isn't exactly by way of being a major catch-up. Once I've had a chance to feel a bit more human I'll write more.
"....the perfect mix of total bollocks and absolute simplicity...." - is apparently what this blog has. That's what Aaron thinks, anyway.
I have two alternatives in my mind for getting to work tomorrow (tube strike, for non-Londoners) both of which involve getting up at about 6am. The first is to try and get up and ready early and catch a bus well before the worst of the crowding starts. The second is to walk - if the weather's fine, doing the walk along the river could be really cool.
Lara came over and joined us for lunch this afternoon - lovely to see her, though I've done so more recently than most of the others when I was in NY last month. Great interlude in the day anyway though.
Still feeling icky - my sore throat is driving me mad because it constantly feels as though I've got something I need to cough up, but there's nothing there.
Interesting to note, watching Big Brother last night, that the way they're covering Jade has definitely shifted.
The end of the edited highlights last night involved the rest of the group having played a joke on her by hiding and making her think they'd all somehow left the house. Then, after she emerged from the diary room, they were all sitting around outside pretending they'd never moved. It probably would have been funny if they'd left it at that, but Alex threw in an entirely non-jokey sounding dig at how she keeps saying things even when it's obvious she's wrong, which caused her to go to bed alone. The last shot was of her in the dark, curled up on the bed, and at one point I thought I heard a bit of crying.
Now for all I know, two minutes later they all went in and apologised, and everything was right as rain, but regardless of what happened, the impression that the show as broadcast left was of Jade as innocent victim being bullied by the increasingly-unpleasant Alex.
Don't get me wrong, I still don't want her to win (I don't really *want* any of them to, though I could handle Kate or Jonny doing so), but I still maintain that the ridiculous hate campaign by the tabloids generally and The Sun especially was disgusting. The Sun even ran a story the other day detailing problems she's had over her council tax and rent - where the hell is the public interest defence for that? I notice though that even they've had to recognise that there's suddenly a very real possibility that she may even win.
This is so weird. I was sitting at home last night, feeling absolutely fine, then I suddenly sneezed once. Since then, I've been sneezing constantly, I'm congested, my throat hurts, my head aches, and my glands are up. And it all started instantaneously - there wasn't so much as a hint that it was coming on.
"I cannot think of a single public circumstance in which I'd find breastfeeding inappropriate; it's a marvellous feat of animal engineering. It's just the breastfeeding lobby that gets on my tits." Zoe Williams on the pros and cons.
Elsewhere in today's Guardian was an interesting article by Claire Dyer on the fall in the conviction rate for rape in the UK. At present, only one in thirteen cases prosectuted (which means, of course, that the Crown Prosecution Service believes that there's a strong (winnable) case to be made) actually ends in conviction, and it's still possible for an accused rapist to make a defence that a woman saying 'no' doesn't really mean it.
More on the history of a comic fan tomorrow, probably, but in the meantime, on a related topic. A piece of preview art for Scott Morse's upcoming Elektra mini-series. Gorgeous, or what?
A couple of people have asked about the 'Just a thought' thing that I added at the top of this page at the weekend. It's clearly not a random quotation generator. I just deceided that when I came across a line I liked, I'd share it with the world. It's as likely to come from a film or a comic as a 'serious' source, and no great profundity is assumed. It might just be something that I thought was funny at the time. By extension, it will change at irregular intervals.
The comic fan thing - part one
I've been talking to various people about comic-related things lately, and I thought I'd share some of the highs and lows of my comic-reading history.
To start with - who remembers Look-In? I used to love all the strip versions of the TV series I watched while I was a kid - brilliantly, Arthur Ranson, who used to illustrate a lot of them, is currently doing the art on Marvel's X-Factor limited series, and doing a wonderful job of it.
I hit superhero comics courtesy of the Marvel UK black and white weekly reprint comics, like Mighty World Of Marvel, but they were always mired in the very early Silver Age stuff, like early Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and X-Men, which just seemed to keep restarting from the beginning every now and then. I gave up on them after a while.
Years later, Marvel Superheroes and Rampage arrived monthly, and suddenly everything was different. The Claremont/Byrne X-Men (including the Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix storyline), the Stern/Byrne Avengers and best of all, Moore and Davis's Captain Britain brought me kicking and screaming back to superheroics, and in some ways I've never left since.
It wasn't long after that that I discovered the joys of specialist comic suppliers, mail order at first, then once I was able to drive, retail shops in Leeds and Manchester. The first time I walked into Odyssey 7 in Manchester I felt like I'd come home. Suddenly having direct access to US comics, I went a bit mad, and I bought stuff that I'd be embarassed to admit these days.
But I also found things that these days are regarded as classics, and that, if circumstances were different and I still had them in my possession I'd still be rereading on a regular basis. I was there when Marvel launched their Epic imprint, growing out of Epic Illustrated. I bought Moonshadow in its original monthly format and marveled at a comic that really was Art. I bought the first X-Men graphic novel, God Loves, Man Kills, read the opening sequence, where two small children are executed in a playground and thought "Fuck!", and I read Ronin, and Moore's run on Swamp Thing, and Miller's first run on Daredevil.
And alongside me, my mate Simon had rediscovered 2000AD, and set about assembling a complete run back very nearly to the beginning. We used to go to comic marts in Leeds and scatter around, he seeking old 200ADs, me seeking new issues of whatever I was into at the time.
During the independent comic explosion in the late 80s, I was living in Manchester, and had a friend who worked at Odyssey, and we used to watch the number of new series that appeared, with a showy issue one, followed only rarely by an issue two and practically never by an issue three. All of those ridiculous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle knock-offs (Teenage Nu-Wave Samurai Cheerleaders, anyone?), and countless black and white fantasy series that all seemed to share the same dishonoured warrior hero and the same dreadful art and production values.
But...oh yes, *but*....there were triumphs along the way - series that, if there was justice or taste in the world would still be published today: The Maze Agency, Elementals, Ms Tree, 'Mazing Man (from DC, but as experimental in its way as any of the others), and a couple that live on in spirit, though somehow not the same one I remember, Mage and Grendel from Matt Wagner. The original Grendel series ran as a back-up in Mage, and was told as blocks of text framed by wonderful art deco-style illustrations - completely unique. And there were plenty of others. The problem was that these series, all high-quality, all created by talented people deserving of even wider acclaim than they were getting, fell victim to the inevitable collapse than followed the boom. Independent publishers crashed and burned by the dozen. Some, it has to be said, deserved it. Others, Comico and Innovation for instance, didn't.
So broadly, for a few years, the market contracted back to pretty much just superheroes. There were some continuing series that made it through, but where once Marvel had been so proud to experiment with the Epic titles, and DC had tried 'oddball', like 'Mazing Man and Captain Carrot, generally, they fell back on superheroes. The mutants were still there, the Avengers kept Assembling, and the Batman kept brooding.
And I kept buying them (well, not Batman, but the others).
Part 2 - soon.
Weekends just *never* seem long enough. Between basic domestic things, plus catching up on sleep (yeah, right) and generally recharging one's batteries, plus trying to make sure to do *something* that isn't just work, there just aren't enough hours between Friday evening and Monday morning.
Still, another week begins, and I'm sure it will be one full of sufficient incident and excitement to keep me going until next weekend....
When I saw Chris the other day he was giving me a hard time about targeting my external links '_blank' - it confuses his Mozilla use, apparently. As with many things, I've tended to write my HTML that way because it reflects my own preferences when browsing, but I'm always more than happy to create work for myself to help others. So I've changed the set-up here so that my external links are not targeted, but on pages where there are a preponderance of them (here, the Links and People sections), the checkbox facility on the left is now available to let people choose their preferred way of working.
Note that I'm not planning on working back through my entire archive to change them all, just those currently on this page.
I'm off up to Oxfordshire and Berkshire today to do a combination of helping rip up and replace an old carpet then going on to a birthday party. I decided on the aromatherapy massage gift in the end, by the way.
Big Brother things:
Bye-bye PJ - not a great loss to anyone's viewing experience, I'd say.
I was thinking the other day that of all the things Endemol have changed over the course of three series, the thing that they've been sensible to leave alone is Paul Oakenfold's theme tune, Element Four - if a piece of music can be iconic, then I'd say that's one that is.
And - No Comment:
It's felt like *such* a long week. The insomnia's been back with a vengeance, which hasn't helped, and while lots of good positive things are still happening at work, outside of it, I've been feeling a bit lost.
I wrote a very long and I cannot deny rather self-indulgent posting at some obscure hour of the night last night that I decided against inflicting on the world. Some stuff about not feeling I had anyone to talk to mixed in with some general insecurity about the contribution I'm making to things, all wrapped up in a bit of what I was surprised to identify as plain old loneliness.
I suspect that the lack of sleep is just making a simple low emotional ebb seem much worse than it really is.
The Gay Thing (Partial Reprise)
There's this thing about reading 'overtly gay' material on public transport. On the one hand, it can lead to some very pleasant encounters, on the other, it can lead to some very unpleasant, not to say straightforwardly violent encounters. I've experienced both at different times, and handled both with a certain degree of equanimity.
But.... the thing that I find most annoying is what I hit this evening on my way home. My current tube reading is a book called Open Secret - Gay Hollywood 1928-2000. It's not even something that is what I'd call 'gay reading' as such - not like reading Gay Times, or anything. But tonight, I got the woman sitting opposite me doing the nudging her friend and pointing, then the pair of them sniggering and tutting routine.
I think I'm more annoyed by this kind of behaviour because you can't engage with them without looking like an overly-defensive type. If you say anything, it just looks like they've got to you. Which of course they have, but you don't want them to see through your facade of total indifference.
I hadn't seen Lisa's blog before but as she took the time to comment on here yesterday I thought I'd check it out - what a cool design.
All along my road there are big bushes of lavatera, and at this time of the year all the flowers are out and even one as curmugeonly as myself can't help but find one's morning brightened by the sight of them all in the sunshine. This morning was a great example, so I just thought I'd share them.
There's a larger copy (just the jpg) here.
The New York Times vs .... The New York Times?
Or; How One Newspaper Managed To Be Both The Mouthpiece Of The 'Liberal Elite' And The Organ Of 'Official Disinformation'.
Well this is interesting - according to the Ann Coulter column I linked yesterday, The NYT is at the heart of the campaign to undermine the US Government's legitimate campaign against terror by objecting to all of those minor 'wartime' infringements of freedom and justice, while at the same time, Gore Vidal (full article here, extracted here) argues that the paper is part of "the imperial press" which keeps the USA citizenry in the dark about what its governments have been up to for the last fifty years.
What's that expression about not being able to please all of the people...?
S'weird, I could have sworn I posted this months ago, but searching back, it seems that I didn't. Hmmm.
Save or Delete is Greenpeace's site dedicated to the preservation of the world's ancient forests. It contains details of what's gone and what's left, and the various species which will be forced into extinction if the destruction of their habitat continues. There's also an opportunity to add your name to an online petition to encourage the banning of illegally-logged timber imports to the UK. Check it out.
The self-referential art of the blog (part some of more):
I don't get blogs that ask people to pay for them.
I've seen a few lately which have PayPal buttons and invite readers to support them by making donations, and I'm just confounded by them.
I sort of get the ones that explain they have costs associated with running the site (hosting, bandwidth, etc, I assume), though there are free places (like Blogspot for instance) where people can host a blog, or many blogs if they want to.
The ones I really don't get are actually the Blogspot ones that ask for cash. I mean - what's that really about? There's zero cost involved in technically keeping the site available on the web, or in a publishing tool to keep it up to date. So is it the cost of going online to do the updating that is being contributed to? If that's the case, then I have to say that I think that's, well, crap, basically. The readership are investing time and money (in terms of their own online costs) in the site already, so....what? You want to rip them off further by getting them to pay for your own surfing time? Cheeky fucker.
Or is the claim that you need to be able to afford the lifestyle that is then blogged about? In which case, shouldn't that be clearly stated?
And what are you going to do, if your time online to find links and post them is X a month, and you get contributions of X plus Y? Are you going to give Y back? Or stop accepting donations when you reach X each month? Somehow I doubt it. I think you're just going to keep taking the money and using it for whatever else you want to spend it on.
There's an argument that you're creating content and that content creators in other media charge people for access to it, which is fair enough, but this isn't a charge, it's an optional contribution. So people who do make a donation are subsidising the people who don't. Is it just me, or is the whole idea either just plain greedy, or just plain bonkers?
I have in my possession a piece of paper - it's a fax that was sent several years ago to the webmaster of a big company's site, and they passed it on to me. I've transcribed it here for your edification, having obscured any company or product-specific content of course.
How determined to get his message across was this guy?
"No matter what defeatist tack liberals take, real Americans are behind our troops 100 percent, behind John Ashcroft 100 percent, behind locking up suspected terrorists 100 percent, behind surveillance of Arabs 100 percent." [My Italics]
Ann Coulter, a past favourite target of this blog for her deranged ramblings, embarks upon yet another assault on the 'liberal' conspiracy she likes to pretend exists.
I notice that a bit of a 24 backlash has started, centred largely on the 'contrivedness' of the 'Teri has amnesia' subplot. I tend to think that criticism of that type rather misses the point, which is that the whole thing is based upon a huge contrivance (or series of contrivances), and the willing acceptance of that fact is the basis on which all one's enjoyment of the series hinges. I know that it's a bit of a weak way to separate the family and string out the suspense, but that's okay, because it's drama, not real life.
To be honest, I'm amazed that the claims of 'weakness' have been aimed that that particular plot point, given that something *way* weaker and more contrived is happenening elsewhere with the Bauer clan: After the car crash two weeks ago, Kim ended up ringing the Counter Terrorism Unit looking for her dad, and when he wasn't there, refused to tell Tony where she was, because she didn't know if she could trust him. By way of a sensible alternative, she then went to visit one of the men who'd kidnapped her about 12 hours earlier (who had subsequently helped her escape, admittedly), as her only potential place of safety (just in time to fall into more danger there, as it happens). So, you're telling me that there was *no one*, not a single relative, friend or neighbour, who you might have called *before* calling the man who put you in mortal danger earlier the same day? I don't think so, somehow. That, to me, is the really weak contrivance they've got going on at the moment.
It's still keeping me pretty gripped, though, for all that.
In a related vein, while I was in the US last month, where spoilers for season one aren't relevant because it's finished there, I was leafing through a magazine and happened upon a *massive* spoiler for something huge that happens in the very last episode. Obviously, being The Anti-Spoiler, I wouldn't dream of repeating it, but I can assure you, it's pretty damn big.
Really quite extraordinary numbers of people are *still* turning up here having searched for a certain type of photo of Jade from Big Brother. And still, I feel that I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to provide one.
Raving and Ranting:
(Not me for a change). There's a relatively-recent arrival in comic-writing called Ron Zimmerman. He's an established TV writer (though one of his credits is that V.I.P. series about the three(?) female bodyguards - I caught one episode of it back when I was living in NY so it may never have made it over here, though it's prime Channel 5 fodder), which in some peoples' eyes means he must also be a good comic writer*. Anyway - Mr Zimmerman feels that as well as writing comics and TV series, he also needs to write on the subjects. His column is titled 'Stupid Opinions About Stuff', and I'm happy to let the title and its content speak for itself.
*Note that this assumption can work - Joss Whedon and J Michael Straczynski are clear proof of that, but it's not by any means automatic - you may gather from Mr Zimmerman's column that his comic work hasn't exactly gone down a storm with many.
Help!
I'm going to a 50th birthday party at the weekend, and I'm completely stumped for a gift - I'm scouring online, but I'm also looking for suggestions. I've exhausted possibilities based on the person in question's interests, etc, so it's going to have to be something more generic. Any suggestions gratefully received. (It's for a woman, by the way, if that helps.).
Peter Tatchell, a man with whom I frequently disagree (twice in quite voluble manner to his face), has a few things to say about the whole concept of 'Pride', and as someone who was there right at the start, his opinion is more to be respected than many. I even agree with quite a bit of what he says.
[Via Blogadoon]
Meant to post this last week and had problems connecting - watching The West Wing is reminding me - there's a line Sorkin wrote for Donna in last week's episode that I absolutely love - it's extremely important and deserves to be used more widely:
"In a free society, you don't need a reason to make something legal; you need a reason to make something illegal."
I've been doing some general tidy-ups on the site today, probably nothing you'll notice - except that the colour-scheme is back to the blue. One of these days I'll have the time to set things up so everyone can choose a scheme that suits their particular perverse tastes.
I've also posted a new review of Grant Morrison's new comic The Filth, and I'm hoping to get one more up before the night's out.
UPDATE - and I did - Fables is in Opinion too.
Marching was fun - I spotted several people I recognised from years gone by (including an ex I thought was living in Australia now), but never managed to get near enough to talk to them. I did have a great conversation with a bunch of dykes about lesbian separatism, which took me back to the days when I used to have that kind of chat all the time (don't laugh - three years of student activism can do that to you). And I met a lovely couple of older guys who insisted on offering me champagne from their coolbox.
It's not the same as it used to be - it's a bit more colourful in some ways, but doesn't have the same feeling of urgency anymore. It's still important though, and that's one thing I can't see changing for a long time yet.
So - Adele then. I half expected it because of all the dodgy stuff that's been reported around the vote - possibly betting scams, this 'glitch' with the text voting and stuff, but there's something off about the whole thing. I find myself sceptical about it somehow.
I also agree with a lot that's said in the 'In Defence Of Jade' column I linked to earlier. I can't deny that I don't like her, and I'd rather not be watching her, but for her to have been promoted into this figure of nationwide hatred is just mad.
The end of the Friday working day must mean that this is the start of Pride Weekend in London. March tomorrow, followed by 'Mardi Gras' (*yuck*) - while I'll be there for the former, the latter leaves me cold. As I noted last year, (and with the exception this year of Suede) the main stage seems to have been programmed with a six-year-old girl in mind - Atomic Kitten? WTF????
Yes, I'm one of those old-fashioned types who prefered it when it was all called Pride, and when the performers were there because they wanted to support equality, not because the pink pound can help their latest single get into the charts. I'm not remotely interested in the dance tents that will be playing the music that I'm not remotely interested in going to clubs to hear, and I resent having to pay £17 for the privilege of being 'out and proud' in a nice out of the way of the straight people venue like Hackney Marsh.
Still, me being a miserable git doesn't stop me hoping that everyone who does go has a fab time, and that one day we can stop needing the event because all the fights have been won.
(Lord, that was a bit scarily optimistic for me.....)
I've linked to, or referenced, quite a few of Hugo Young's Guardian columns lately, because I find myself agreeing with the very large majority of what he's said, especially as regards The War Against Terror, and US isolationism over the International Criminal Court, for instance. Yesterday, he took a moment to reflect on the "22 Guardian columns devoted one way or another to what grew out of that infamous September moment [he's written]."
His observation about the way American attitudes towards criticism of any sort from non-Americans is hardening strikes a chord with me because it reflects my own view of the sentiment that seems to be gaining strength in places like Metafilter. Reasoned debate goes right out of the window in favour of what has become the ultimate denunciation - being 'anti-American'.
It seems to be happening all over the place lately....
Wimbledon Watch: Work yesterday afternoon involved quite a bit of keeping one eye on the IBM scoreboard applet and one ear on 5Live's coverage. Once again, Tabby Tim makes far more work of a match than should have been the case, and we were all hanging on the Hewitt/Schalken match avidly, praying that Hewitt would be beaten. No, not because it would have made things easier for the Tabby, but because we just don't like him. Sadly, his position as King Of The Arrogant Squad was ultimately unchallenged.
Elsewhere at The Championships, this year has turned up the longest final set (by games) in Wimbledon history - Ryan Henry beat third seed Clement Morel in the boy's singles. Final score: 7-5, 6-7, 26-24. Sadly he was then knocked out himself in the third round.
Tangentially - today's Mirror gives Tabby a hard time for that daft 'air punch' thing he does all the time.
Just following links for the first time in ages, I hit the inexplicable Men's News Daily, which I just don't understand. It's badly organised (how the hell are you supposed to find anything specific in that layout?), badly lacking a simple 'About' page to help people understand what, exactly, makes this stuff "men's news", specifically, rather than just news, and seems designed to create a sense that this is only selected news with an angle that suits a particular audience. I don't know if that's actually the case, because nowhere that I can see does it explain itself beyond the extraordinarily nebulous strapline; "MEN'S INTERNATIONAL NEWS AND REVIEW"
Though a hint of what some people might call an agenda starts to appear if you check out the 'Resources' page and start following some of the links. There's an awful lot of stuff about "False Memory Syndrome", and a few "Men Can Do No Wrong and Are Victims Of Pernicious Women" sites, and to be fair, a lot of support and advice sites for men bringing up kids, or dealing with difficult relationships, or who are victims of female violence.
And then there's the site called "Zero Tolerance Sucks", whose existence seems to be posited on the introductory statement (and I kid you not): "Domestic violence laws are designed to kill families. They prevent men from exercising the leadership that most women actually want."
Excuse me - I need to go and throw up.
I considered posting the Pilger article from the Mirror on Metafilter, but to be honest, I decided that it would only provide fuel for the relentless march rightward that seems to have gripped that site since September.
I am amused though, to note that there's been a thread there celebrating the American right to disagree and dissent. I wonder how happy they'd be to celebrate that particular dissenting viewpoint.
Seriously, I'm getting wholly tired of the turn MeFi has taken of late - anyone like to recommend somewhere that a more balanced discussion (and possibly a slightly less Americentric one) can be had by a rational adult wanting to engage in sensible discourse?
Today's Mirror marks American Independence Day by denouncing the US as the world's number one rogue state, in a frankly astonishing front page headlined 'Mourn On The 4th of July'.
The one and only John Pilger has a few things to add.
Charity begins in the tube station.
I do get annoyed with tin-rattlers sometimes. Don't get me wrong - I know it's an invidious task, and I've done my share of tin-rattling over the years for a wide range of causes, so I know how bad it can be, but....
I get annoyed when I choose not to give and I get that disdainful look that suggests I'm a person without a compassionate cell in my body. I get angry when I'm judged by people who don't know the first thing about me.
I am, in fact, where the subject of charities is concerned, extremely thoughtful - in the literal sense. I make regular monthly standing order contributions to charities that I've chosen to support, after considering a range of issues such as my personal feelings about their cause, how well I've been able to establish they use the funds they raise, whether I feel they're under-supported and could use some extra, and a few others. It's not scientific, because they are countless charities I don't even know about which would probably fall into my 'support' criteria, but I do the best I can with what I have. And I buy The Big Issue pretty regularly too.
So generally, I feel that I'm doing my bit - which the tin-rattlers on the streets and in the tube stations know nothing about. And so I hate being judged by them - especially given that every now and then I'm already giving to their very charity on a regular basis.
Completely forgot - I actually posted up the Strangehaven review I promised last week at the weekend - mad. Anyway - it's in Opinion.
Dave pointed me at this piece about Tabby Tim from The Times. I laughed very loudly.
I'll be the first to admit that I can be a bit acerbic, and that I make a lot of use of sarcasm ("the lowest form of wit") in my humour. One of the things that used to cause friction between Chris and I is that a lot of my humour relies on putting people down, and he disapproves of that kind of thing. (Though intellectually I'd argue that almost all humour relies on having a 'victim', even if it's as generic as 'The Irish' or 'The Mother-In-Law').
It now transpires that well over a year ago, someone I know mostly through Chris felt that I was attacking him as a consequence of some comment that I made in this acerbic vein. Instead of saying something to me, he waited until we'd gone, then told his partner that he never wanted to see either of us again.
Said partner, rather than saying anything about it, basically just stopped being in contact with Chris, and I, full of confusion and righteous indignation, felt compeltely aggrieved on Chris's behalf because his old mate had just stopped talking to him for no reason.
I just found this out about a week ago, and it's really been bothering me. I know it's easy to behave thoughtlessly, and goodness knows I can be as guilty of that as the next person, but this is really bad. Notwithstanding that some simple communication would have been the sensible way of dealing with the issue, I'm left having caused a problem between three people that I actually really like, and I'm terribly afraid that by now it's too late to do anything about it.
Wimbledon Watch: Possibly contrary to expectations, I'm not going to vilify Greg Rusedski over being knocked out. It was a well-fought, balanced match against an opponent seeded only a few places below him. It's hardly in the same league as the Safin, Sampras and Agassi knock-outs of this time last week.
So it's Adele, Jade, Jonny and Kate all up for eviction this week - oh dear - decisions, decisions.....
UPDATE - It turns out that Jade received six nominations. That's right - *everyone* voted for her....
Wimbledon Watch: You know, I'm the first to acknowledge that when Tim Henman is playing well, he's a very good player, with a varied game and some impressive strokes. But why does he have to make even matches that should have been straightforward such hard work?
More entertainment at Big Brother Dim's expense: Mr 'Cultured' and 'Sophisticated' has spent a chunk of his £400 grocery budget on - wait for it - five bottles of Black Tower Liebfraumilch
