My Week In Comics 12-30-09

It's the last week of 2009, and from what I've read no books at all were supposed to be out this week, but DC Comics was kind enough to whip up some promotion for the comic shops to put out one new release...

Blackest Night 6 (of 8): ...and fortunately, it's one that I wanted. What I like to call the pseudo-zombies are still attacking, and things have gotten worse: not only have dead heroes and villains been turned into Black Lanterns, but heroes who had died and then returned -- including Superman -- have also been converted by black power rings. Two such resurrected heroes, Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, are also being chased by black rings. Barry being The Flash, though, figures out a clever way to outrun them. And a new twist is in play as each of the power rings wielded by the various Lantern Corps gets a duplicate; the new rings then hook up with people to wear them. The choices are most interesting. Although I haven't been so crazy about a lot of the tie-in books, this series continues to be a fun ride.

My Week In Comics 12-23-09

I had the strange idea of writing haiku about each one of this week's books, but it didn't pan out. Filing the idea away for the future...

Superman 695: There's a moment where, during a fight with Mon-El, Parasite gets a taste of Bizarro's powers and can't handle it; I found myself wishing Parasite would've broken out into Bizarro-speak. Later, Mon-El learns just how much General Lane has manipulated things against Kryptonians, but also learns that others are working to bring Lane down -- including someone who was supposed to be dead. Oh, and Mon-El has sex!

World's Finest 3 (of 4): This time the team-up features Supergirl and Batgirl (who track down Toyman and Mr. Freeze and learn just what they're up to); events take a turn for the worse, meaning the final issue will finally feature the big guns of the Superman and Batman "families."

Detective Comics 860: A satisfying conclusion to the story of how Kate Kane became Batwoman; and Kate learns the truth about her twin sister, confirming what I suspected three issues ago.

Green Lantern 49: I wasn't going to pick this up, even with the "Blackest Night" tie-in. Most of it deals with GL John Stewart's first becoming aware of the threat, but the last few pages actually picked up on a thread from the main series, so it seemed essential.

Gotham City Sirens 7:
See how Catwoman,
Ivy and Harley spend time
apart at Christmas.

(Got a haiku in after all! I'm the man!)

Victorian Undead 2 (of 6): Government agents have warned Sherlock Holmes not to investigate the strange events. You know, the zombies. Naturally, Holmes and Watson do not comply. By the way, from what I've heard so far about the movie, it sounds like Holmes fans such as myself will enjoy this miniseries much more. I'm going to try to keep an open mind, though.

Some Rambling Random And Shirtless Stuff

I've got a few things that popped through my head recently that fit into the TLFT (Too Long For Twitter) category, so I figured lumping them together into a single blog post would work...

• When did songs like "Sleigh Ride," "Winter Wonderland" and especially "Baby It's Cold Outside" become Christmas music? There's nothing about Christmas in any of them. I'm not complaining. Would the beautiful voice of Annie Lennox have ever been heard singing "Winter Wonderland" if not for the holiday connection? I just got to wondering how it happened. Who was the first person to link these songs to Christmas? A singer, record producer or radio DJ, perhaps?

• On Christmas morning there was still tons of leftover snow from the storm 6 days earlier. Except for the areas shoveled -- paths along the sidewalk, people's driveways and some parking spots, and the part of the street that was plowed -- snow was piled up all over the place. The next day, virtually all of it was gone. Thanks to a soaking rain that started Christmas evening and temperatures that soared into the 50s the next day, you would never know that we had 23.1 inches of snow (the official total, although in my neighborhood I think it was more like 14 or 15 inches, which is, believe it or not, a lot more manageable) a little over a week ago.

• Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is my favorite non-Flyers player. I love the fact that he's not just a goal-scorer. He doesn't shy away from hard hits or complain to the referees about them (unlike a certain whiny Pittsburgh Penguin); in fact, he revels in the physical aspect of the game. It does concern me that some of those hits lately have trended towards being dirty, and he recently received a two-game suspension for one such hit. I hope he reins himself in enough without completely losing that component of the game. Meanwhile, he was kind enough to pose shirtless for a Russian publication. Should we be concerned that he seems to have a tramp stamp on his lower back?

• I have an ethical dilemma. Would it be wrong for me to wish that my TV would die? I really want to join the HDTV age but I can't justify the expense, especially with my finances in their present state, unless the old TV dies. It's over 10 years old now (I've had it at least as long as I've been in my house, if not longer) and stubbornly refuses to die! Is there any way I could throw a brick through the screen and make it look like an accident?
  

Merry Christmas!

I am about to shut down the computer for the night -- hard to believe, isn't it? -- to eat dinner, followed by what's become my own little annual Christmas Eve tradition: baking chocolate chip cookies for Christmas with the family tomorrow. Sorry, they're not made from scratch, just the store-brand version of Pillsbury's tubes of cookie dough. But they're still good! While baking I'll be listening to Christmas music, either on the radio or my iPod, and I'll squeeze in a few DVD or VHS recordings of holiday specials. I've watched some already the last two nights, and I won't get to everything in my collection, but I'll get the most important ones...

Watched: A Pinky & The Brain Christmas, It's A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special, Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales, Opus & Bill in A Wish For Wings That Work, The Year Without A Santa Claus (because I am a Heat Miser, as evidenced by my earlier Tweet), The Nanny Cartoon Christmas Special: Oy To The World

Plan to watch tonight: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not the Jim Carrey movie!), at least one of the Simpsons' Christmas-themed episodes through the first 12 seasons, the ones out on DVD (including the very first episode of the series, "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire")

Maybe next year: A Christmas Story, Scrooge (the musical starring Albert Finney), Animaniacs: Helloooo, Holidays!, A Muppet Family Christmas

So I leave you for now with this holiday classic. The video is tacky but I love the song:



Seriously, though, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, whichever one you celebrate. And have some chocolate chip cookies. They're really good.

Quick Review: Avatar

Except for his participation in a couple of documentaries, "Avatar" marks writer-director James Cameron's first effort since "Titanic." It's the future, and humans are in the midst of trying to mine a distant planet called Pandora for a substance called unobtainium. (When I heard that word my eyes were rolling. I thought it was something they came up with for this movie, but there's actually a Wikipedia page about the word.) They meet resistance from the natives, the NaVi, who are blue-skinned, maybe ten feet tall and sort of look like a combination of people and cats. Since humans cannot breathe in Pandora's atmosphere, "avatars" -- hybrids created with human and NaVi genes, controlled by people using some sort of mind-link -- are used to explore.

Naturally, the scientific component of the mission (led by Sigourney Weaver) is at odds with the combo corporate-military component (Stephen Lang as the corporal in charge of security and Giovanni Ribisi as the  corporate honcho). Jake Scully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed former Marine whose DNA is compatible with the avatar of his deceased twin brother, is caught between the humans and the NaVi when, while controlling his avatar, he learns the ways of the natives with the help of a female NaVi, and develops feelings for her.

Most of the hype has centered around the advances in computer-generated filming technology that Cameron says finally allowed "Avatar" to be made. It cost a lot of money to create, and the 3D version I saw certainly looks impressive. I'd bet the non-3D version doesn't look bad, either. My problem is, there's this little thing called a script, and it needs work. Some of the hokey dialogue needs to go, the characters need to be a little more nuanced, and the plot needs to be a little less obvious. Also, the closing credits feature a song by Leona Lewis, which is so clearly a second cousin to Celine Dion's "Titanic" hit that it's painful. My grade: C-plus.

Sam Worthington is nice to look at, though, when he's not all blue and dragging a tail.

Quick Review: Up In The Air

Another excellent George Clooney performance sparks "Up In The Air." Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, who is a "corporate downsizer" -- the company he works for lays off workers for bosses who are afraid to do it themselves. In his spare time he's also a motivational speaker, with a pitch about a life free of heavy baggage -- including relationships. Bingham's life is one of constant travel, with little contact with family or friends, and as a result he's piled up a slew of points in frequent-flier miles, hotel rewards cards, etc.

Two things come along that threaten his way of living. He meets a woman (Vera Farmiga) who also does a lot of traveling, and begins seeing her at various stopovers; he becomes intrigued by the idea of making an actual commitment, even to the point of inviting her to his sister's wedding. Meanwhile, his company flirts with the idea of laying off people via videoconference instead of spending so much money sending people around the country. That idea comes from a new hire (Anna Kendrick), and Bingham decides that she should go out on the road with him to see what it's like to fire people in person. (Most of the people fired in the film are not actors, but people who were actually laid off in real life, and are essentially reliving the experience.)

The acting is fine all around, but Clooney is the anchor. He brings humanity to a character who would otherwise come off as unfeeling and unsympathetic. My grade: A.

Flyers TV Broadcast FAIL

I wish I had a way to capture the image -- stupid busted digital camera! Maybe on one of the replays (10 or 10:30 tonight on the Comcast Network or at 1:30 am on Comcast Sportsnet) someone else can do it. During a stoppage in play there was a promo for the Flyers Santa Sacks -- a gift package which includes 2 tickets to a game and other goodies -- and at the bottom of the screen the graphic read: "Order by 12/16 for holiday delivery." Yeah, I'll go back in time to do that.

Betty White As Santa!

From "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" -- too funny not to share! Betty is fabulous!

Flyers: Unfathomably Bad

It's hard to believe a franchise that has always had a tradition of outworking the opponent has come to this: another embarrassing Flyers loss tonight (4-1 at home to Florida) followed by another players-only team meeting and more comments challenging the team's collective manhood -- tonight's quote from Ian Laperriere: "I'm mad, and hopefully my teammates are mad, too."

Since starting the season 12-5-1, the Flyers have a pitiful 3-13-1 record, and are just 2-7-1 since Peter Laviolette took over the coaching duties. They have the second-worst record in the entire league and are 7 points out of 8th place and the final playoff spot. They'd need to leapfrog 6 teams at this point to make the postseason. There are still a lot of games, but with points being doled out for losses in overtime and shootouts, it's that much tougher to pull away from a team, but also that much tougher to catch up.

This is a team that many people expected to seriously challenge for, if not win, the Stanley Cup. This type of effort is inexcusable. It's getting to the point where I can hardly watch any more. When the Panthers took a 3-0 lead 1:30 into the third period, I switched over to Monday Night Football (not that that game was any better).

This being Christmas week, I want to try and watch as many of my favorite holiday DVDs and videotapes as I can. Wednesday night, when the Flyers next take the ice (starting a 6-game road trip that includes what could turn out to be the worst New Year's Day Winter Classic in its three-year history), seems like as good a night as any to watch some of them.

My Week In Comics 12-16-09

Another quiet week last week, with just two books (and not particularly good ones at that). This week I've got 5 (possibly 6) on my list. It looks like the end of each month is when many of the series I'm buying regularly are scheduled.

Simpsons Comics 161: If you saw an episode of the TV show from 2007 called "Marge Gamer," in which Marge starts playing an online role-playing game, you've pretty much read this entire book.

Supergirl 48: Except for a bit regarding Lana Lang's illness, this issue (and the next) gets away from all of the exciting "New Krypton" plotlines entirely, in favor of Supergirl's encounter with Silver Banshee.