Okay,
there have been way, way longer gaps in this blog than five days but
I feel a real need here to get some things in order before I get back
on the horse. Writers' block is a real bugger for me so here's a
list, not in any order and edited only for spelling, of disjointed
odds and ends that may or may not become full posts in the fullness
of time.
*****
For
a start, I should mention the reason I haven't posted recently is
because every time I go on the internet I get distracted by a Youtube
playlist of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episodes. I don't
think this series was ever shown in the UK so I didn't even know
about it until two weeks ago. Oddly, as funny as the riffing of Josh,
Mike and the bots is I actually found myself enjoying a couple of the
films, especially the absolutely terrible Robot versus the Aztec
Mummy.
When
international copyright law next gets revisited (note “revisisted”
not “repealed”, I do believe in copyright as a principle) can we
just grandfather in something to make the whole of MST3K
legally available? Even if they weren't really, really funny there
are movies here that I'm pretty sure exist nowhere else anymore so it
would be a service to history.
*****
Back
in January I started watching Fairy Tail, a fantasy anime series
about a wizards' guild. Well, 102 episodes later I'm still watching
it and that's about seventy episodes longer than many other big
animes have managed to keep me coming back. The characters are great
and even the filler episodes do interesting things with them. I think
there's even an essay in how the series uses fanservice, which is at
least a lot more self-aware than the usual “Look! Tits!”
approach.
*****
You
know what my one wish for Ben Affleck's Batman is? For him to not use
“the Bat-voice”. Yes, it was a cool innovation with Kevin Conroy
in Batman: The Animated Series
but being perfectly honest Christian Bale spent three films sounding
like a drunk who's put his dentures in upside down.
*****
I have never seen Superman The Movie. I should correct
this omission.
*****
I'm working on Warhammer background for a group of
Empire Battle Wizards who work as spies and investigators. I might
post some of it when its presentable. Why? Because everyone does
Inquisitors in 40k and I'm just contrary.
*****
I picked up a whole bunch of early Red Hood and the
Outlaws issues at the Oxfam shop
and its a much better series than I was lead to believe. It has to
said that I knew little more about this series than the duff sexual
politics of that one scene from the first issue with Starfire and
Arsenal. The thing is though that as the series goes on Starfire's
attitude towards sex and Roy and Jason's attitudes towards her evolve
in interesting ways. That infamous scene, in retrospect, is a more
complex moment than it seems at the time. It isn't a fantastic series
but it is, in all honesty, an entertaining one and one of the few
places the fresh start of the New 52 was genuinely exploited to its
fullest.
*****
On the subject of the
New 52: apparently the Booster Gold: Futures End
issue made it clear the pre-Flashpoint DCU still exists out there
somewhere in the new multiverse and... um... well... I don't think I
want it to come back. I've been banging this drum for months now that
DC is getting better, that the fresh start is finally leading to
fresh ideas and needed updates to old properties. They finally seem
to be getting it right and now
they introduce an escape hatch for themselves?
*****
Twenty years later and
I think we exist in a socio-political moment (within my own liberal
circle anyway) where I can admit this about my childhood: I thought
She-Ra: Princess Of Power
was better than He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
I liked that she was a rebel leading freedom fighters on an already
conquered world instead of a prince fighting from a position of
power.
*****
I really need to watch
Books Two and Three of Legend Of Korra.
I think that like Xena: Warrior Princess
and Frasier it might
be a spin-off that will be better remembered than its originating
series. I have to admit my reluctance to get into Book Two is
probably down to the knowledge that Lin Bei Fong isn't in it much and
Lin taking out two airships on her own in Book One is one of my
favourite bits of animation ever.
*****
Also on the TV front I
haven't watched a single episode of the new Doctor Who
since Capaldi debuted in Deep
Breath. Am I actually, finally,
fatigued on my favourite show of all time?
*****
I actually feel a little bad when I read someone else
bashing or when I myself bash Chris Claremont's writing style. As
badly as that style has dated, as much as I think his more modern
work needs more brutal editing it has to said his X-Men run got me
into comics, got many other people into comics and were actually damn
good for their day. Yes, I favour the writing style Peter David
pretty much invented as a reaction to Claremont's exposition-heavy
style but I'll never be able to separate Claremont from the birth of
my love for this medium.
And that's it: a random selection of the thoughts going
through my head right now just to get them out so I can work on them
in the cold light of day and not just in my head. All or none of this
might be interesting to revisit later.
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