Monday, December 01, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Pressure

Life steps in the way sometimes.
Friendships fade and renew.
Dreams fade and get reinvigorated.
“What’s with the platitudes?” you ask.
Well an annual event between some of my closest dear friends, ne family, almost came to a standstill because of rumor and the rumors of war. I will neither summarize nor identify the parties-[although it’s safe to say I may be a perpetrator; I do, after all believe in appropriate social transparency]. However, the rumors of war are worth investigating as an abstract. Those pernicious sometimes scintillating viral emics that can undo the most carefully laid plan or friendship.
Group dynamics as miniscule as band and as large as “global” have its own distinct network of communicating ideas, some large—multimedia, some traditional – word of mouth, some underground – fanzines. Then there’s the uber traditional uber organic method: the gathering of clansmen [and women] who annually break bread and well… talk shit.
Talking shit is at once humanity’s greatest triumph and defeat. Yeah, I know “hyperbole!” you scream. And well yes it is. I stand accused. But break it down to brass tacks… how many lives have been destroyed by the Mata-Hari-loose-lips-sink-ships? But alas, we are not spies and the weight of the world does not rest on our shoulders. For the most part, we lead normal urban middleclass lives replete with rent, mortgages, education concerns and [for me at least] the reparation of credit debt.] Our actions will not break the world. For fuck’s sake we still read comics. [There’s nothing wrong with that… Neil Gaiman’s Sandman got me through law school.]
At times we believe it’s the force intrusion of the emic that destroys our lives, yet if we look at the core, investigate the context of the rumor; we may realize a greater truth.
“How now, Brown Cow?” again you ask.
The proof’s in the pudding.
During an impromptu, transparent review and discussion into the various rumors that have fueled our present war, and by impromptu, I mean balls-retracting-into ones-stomach-cold-as-fuck-late-Sunday-night-in the street, impromptu, those same friends, ne brothers, and I each came upon a personal realization. Quite simply, we struggle. Every day. Every moment with the image of ourselves and the way we are viewed, especially amongst each other. We gauge our success in relation to each other. We struggle with our “selves” and our circumstances. At times and during review, we may disapprove of how we each respond to our circumstances and we discuss this approval amongst one another… we dish dirt…, we trade gossip…, in short, we talk shit! Yet at the drop of a hat, if anyone of those guys or their families needs any thing, they need not ask… Heaven and Earth will be moved.

Unfortunately, the initial sting of the words, the intersection of that emic, forces us to react in an emotionally cumbersome manner. I’ve been there: recipient and perpetrator. After the dust settled I’ve always meditated on the affect and searched for that kernel of truth, deciphering beyond the smoke and mirrors, pulling back the curtain to study the wizard in his true form. The truth has always been… and will probably always be revealed to be a failing of my character.The precursor to our reactions are pressure, those personally and externally imposed. Pressure creates diamond or maintains coal. It’s all in how you deal with the release of such pressure.

I find those lessons priceless. In the end, all else is nothing but rumors and the rumors of war.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Monday, November 03, 2008

Why I now Like Sylar: An argument in favor of Super-Powered Sociopaths


So, I’ve been following this little known show, Heroes for the past two-and-a-half years and I have to say it’s been pretty fucking good. Every single episode leaves you screaming: ”GODDAMN IT-WHAT-THE-FUCK!?!” The first season was phenomenal, although the first show almost lost me as a viewer. I couldn’t get pass the cultural stereotype of Hiro Nakamura , despite immediately alighting to the nod advanced to Neal Stephenson’s adventurous tongue-in-cheek good guy-Hiro Protagonist.[Pen ultimately, in pop sci-fi, the best name provided to illustrate the character’s literary element… Alfred Bester’s Gully Foyle.] The Star Trek references , though appreciated, served as accoutrement to Hiro’s geekified stereotype of what a real- American [to use the McCain-Palin parlance] views of a young Japanese male: sexless, odd mannered and infatuated with speculative fiction.

By episode two, I was like, “ this show is hot.” I don’t know if it was the vivisectioning of Claire and I’m not sure what that says about me as a person, but I was drawn in. The story threads were linking up as we followed Peter and his ambitious brother Nathan, Parkman, Suresh, Nikki, and our own loveable sociopath, Sylar.

Gabriel Gray cum Sylar is the personification of decadent evil. A bit more than a siphon of human emotion, Sylar is a genetic thief, violently stealing the gifts, powers, of his awakened adversaries; and make no mistake, everyone with a power worth having is an adversary. Even the guy who can melt toasters into liquid goop.

I’m gonna jump right into Season three, Villians. Sure it’s running slow. It’s a lukewarm. It comes off as less inspired as the “Genesis” or “Generations” And yes, it reads like all of the worst of Chris Claremont in the eighties. [I fucking went there! All you X-Men heads represent] Really, Mr. Kring, did you think we wouldn’t notice parallels between the Petrelli boys and the Summers brothers, really? Beneath the depths of its contrived story threads, chief among them the promiscuous wanderings of the Petrelli clan, the emotional vulnerability of Claire’s Tin-Man, if only I had a heart to feel; and the Brundel-fly transformation of Mohinder, lies the exploration of Sylar. While Hiro and his trusty side kick Ando (C3PO) serve as the overarching synecdoctal archetype for Joseph Campbell’s heroic journey.

In this season Sylar has taken on the role of the awakened hero called to action. “Villians” is Sylar’s story, his time to change, shifting from sociopath to a kinder-gentler-I’d-drink-a-beer-with-him-kind-of sociopath. A sociopath worth watching and anticipating, unlike Bush’s executive office.

The resurrection of the Petrelli patriarch as a power leech is an excellent of not easily read political statement on the excess of the rich and it’s detriment on the poor. The consumption of communal resources individually outweighing the needs of the majority poor speaks loudly especially in light of the middleclass bailout of the elite. [And these fuckers aren’t even flinching. They stole our money and are enjoying luxurious vacations as a result.] The Petrelli progeny are no different, they just siphon the resources in their own way… Peter absorbs it without taking much [he’s green that way]; Sylar outright ham fistedly takes it; Nathan aspires to control it. This interpretation holds if you’re some Marxist-Scoialist-Commie-Obama-Palin conservative, (notice the small “c” as in the word as an adjective not a political noun)Government loving redistributionist of wealth with a hard-on for injecting socio-political commentary into a harmless television show depicting men and women flying but not in tights. (I’m just saying.)

The audience needed someone scarier, more despicable and less redeemable than Sylar. And we did we get… Robert Forster, who by the way is phoning in his performance (yes, I agree Jamal). But teleconferenced in or not, half of Robert Forster is well… better than no Robert Forster at all. It’s a shame Eric Roberts is not back, he made a hell of a fucked-up PrimaTech enforcer when not doing bad Akon music videos.

Forster’s big daddy Petrelli vastly overshadows Sylar in the badass-evil department and helps to paint Sylar in sympathetic If not physically vulnerable light; while not forgetting the highly manipulative momma Petrelli tugging at Sylar’s heartstrings. If which I must harkens back to the eighties to pull out this sweet little expression: EAT THE RICH!. The Petrellis are one fucked-up family, with the exception of the emo-I-must-save-the-cheerleader-who’s-undeniably-hot-yet-my-sister-and-I-still-wanna-hit-that-seven-different-ways-to-Sunday-but-can’t-and-because-of-so-I’m-conflicted-Peter Petrelli.

But screw Peter, power-no powers, and my money’s on Sylar who has just begun his heroic Journey to discover himself, Gabriel Gray. Won’t it be interesting if just like Ed Norton’s character in Primal Fear, Gabriel Gray never existed. I just got one thing to say to Sylar…

“GET’EM!!!!”

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Dirty Pool

Here it is, the specter of brilliance overcasting eight years of governmental/social/cultural appropriating, eclipsing four hundred years of oppression, providing a beacon of hope, even in the event of ultimate failure and America still doesn’t get it.

Yes there is a serious chance that the next President of the United States may in fact be African-American [although I’m okay with identifying him as black]. Yes, he ran tough, some may even say painful campaign against an opponent with a strong sense of entitlement, and yes he did it without so much as playing dirty pool.

However, what is left for governance, it seems like the Bush Administration is having a fire sales with American infrastructure. They’ve already dug in and damn near destroyed our superstructure, the societal operating system that helps us forma cohesive shared system of beliefs in our space or spaces as is the case, here in America. The United States are spokes in the wheel that is America, which in turn creates the image of who we are. The American image is on sale and has been for some time now. We haven’t paid attention because…, well… most of us haven’t come to the realization that our beliefs in our country, our people, in ourselves are priceless. So while they’re looting the image…, our understanding of ourselves, no matter how commercial, remained untouched like the free floating Clarke-ian obelisk, Neribu, two galaxies away on a 3,600 Earth-year trajectory. But now… the amorphous “they” have their hands in the public coffers. Arguably, most transparently this began in March, 2003 with the declaration of Bush’s revenge campaign in the Central Asian theatre. We were sold this campaign as a fight for our “freedoms,” “terrorism” and “creation of democratic States”; despite the fact that GW Bush was adamantly anti-nation building. Contradictory and self-serving ideology aside, American blood and money was being spend for somewhat “noble” good. We sucked it up like a bukakke porn-star at a fraternity-hosted barbeque.

Now that the financial market has fell wide open, the stock market is in peril, investment banks are losing their shirts and while they’re at it: your and mine as well. And this all happened because they were loaning out money to people who couldn’t afford it, with interest rates bordering on usary and then selling the interest value—the credit principal of those loans to other financial entities at home and abroad thus creating a shell game, or if you the criminal element metaphor disturbs your delicate sensibilities…, they created a house of cards built on credit yet not paid but will, speculatively, be paid at a later amorphous date. A house with no base is sure to crumble in a storm. Credit is given on the condition that the debtor will either be able to pay in the future or has access to resources t o cover its debt. No resources, no base, the house falls.

Is it appropriate to say…”fuck you and yo’ couch of a shitty business model, you pathetic predatory parasitical fungal excuse of a human being.” You made your bed now lay in it. Funny thing I mention humanity. Financial institutions are corporations in whatever structure they choose to minimize liability and taxes. As such they are treated as individual legal bodies. Do we look at these “people” and demand they show common courtesy, respect [ne’ fiduciary respect] to his/her neighbors? Do we call out their behavior and question their humanity or do we recognize them for what they are… dangerous sociopaths who pose a threat to our civil society. Do we say…, go screw, file chapter 11. You made it hard for ordinary Americans to mitigate personal debt, why should we help you? “Fuck off.” Or in response to your cynical pleas for assistance, in answer we quote P-Diddy,”No bitchassness!”

No. We.. or let’s be candid, the Bush Adminsitration and it’s cronies, bail out these bastard with an $810 billion dollar financial package over a two year period, renewable for 1 year upon consent. We’ve rewarded guile and greed and deceptiveness and waste. We’ve also been robbed. The administration has jammed its hands into our pockets in a most blatant fashion. Not unlike having a shifty guy in a hoodie with one hand hold a gun, digging into your pockets with the other hand all the while menacing, “ Run your shit--bitch, run it!”

This grab is a transparent grab at the American treasure chest. Naomi Wolf, prominent feminist writer turn civil libertarian lays out a 10 step plan potential dictators use to move democratic nations towards fascist Statehood; she posits that the government has just experience a bloodless coup de tat. [For a really nice presentation go here.] Call her a nutjob. Wail at Senator , who claims that Martial Law was threatened if the bail out packaged didn’t pass and we’re left with unmitigated suspicion that the people in charge do not care about us. Or if you think in solsiplistic terms, they do not care about you. They do not care nor support American ideal And quite frankly, would accept you like they would a warm wet fart.

Not to be alarmist, but we’re got some serious shit to contend with. The wolf’s at the door and he’s huffing and puffing. Will you let him blow the house in? Because surely, you won’t let him in the by the hairs of his chinny-chin-chin.

I would suggest approaching the wolf at the door with already having reinforced your house rather than be taken by the whims of a predator. Forewarned is forearmed. Figure out what’s true for you and make preparations for yourself. These may be simply educating yourself and voting and staying economically vigilant. This may be saying, "fuck it," battering up the hatches and digging in for a long superstructural and infrastructural occupancy.

Or…., you can just walk softly and carry a big stick.

… But in this day and age, forthright honesty and soft protective measures based on intelligence is just dirty pool.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Favorite Food Songs

From the creative team behind Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. Drunken singing about beef pickle tacos.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Opinions are like...

Blog entries can be solipsistic. Look at me, I'm sharing, ne' imposing my opinion, casting my voice into the abyss of banality and electronic chatter. Opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one. I know my shit smells as bad as yours, maybe even worse. That's the difference between most of us. There are those that recognize the quality of their own shit and those that refuse, delude or recluse themselves from their shit.

While we're on the subject of feces I'll jump right into the vice presidential debates. No direct disrespect meant. I still have a guarded respect for the political process, what I am not keen on is the cynical discourse being used to package a party that caters to the rich and corporate interest but with the rehearsed Texan accent on the one hand and the wink and nod on the other, we're fed the line that the elephant in the room, a maverick hockey mom, a self confessed pitbull with lipstick, is really running to protect conservative American ideals and not the interests of the oil lobby and nutjob fundie-freaks that believe Adam rode dinosaurs hunting mastodons and Eve tended the rock formation house, reared the furry cubs and tended the garden outside Eden. On the weekends, Adam would roast Brontosaurus burgers and pterodactyls wings for his fellow homo-habs. Adam, while congenial and far from being an uptight eugenicist, didn't socialize with the cro-mags. It's beneath him and his buddies.

Dicta aside, I'm done with the political paradigm we find ourselves stuck in this self referencing school of thought that panders to the lowest common denominator. [You choose which class structural branch that represents.] Anyone with a solid eighth grade education can understand the basics of American society: political and social. As we know one informs the other. While it's good to relate to our leaders one should be aware that there are circumstances when that's not needed. Barack Obama is African-American and I can related to how a son of an immigrant has worked his way through our social structure to graduate college and become and organizer, an attorney and teacher. However, there are differences, Obama was a corporate attorney; I worked for a legal services organization. In the realm of legal elitism, corporate lawyer trumps legal services, although I think that assumption is bullshit. Obama was a national organizer while I was local and vacilitated between organizing and activism. Lastly, Obama was a Constitutional Law Professor. Me, I corral 13-16 year-olds and force feed reading and writing skills at a NYC public school. While our experiences are similar, mine do not share the same professional and social capital as Obama's varied resume announces. I am not running for the highest office in the country. I am simply content to sit in my corner of the world and write my little stories, disabuse my students, pester my close friends and continue my passive-aggressive struggle with dating. Quite frankly that shit's enough. Let alone trying to be the leader of the free world, as we so brazeningly refer to the head office. I have to go with Bill Maher, I want my President to be a lot smarter than me. I don't mind my governmental leaders to be a little elitist, it means they'll get the job done. What's wrong with wanting the best. I mean really... is it important that you like the president as a person because s/he appears that they'll most likely have a beer with you? Really?

Remember Barbara Bush's response to the relocate New Orleans citizens:
What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.
Clearly the apple did not fall far from the tree.... And most of her son's working class base believed he was just like them and most likely to grab a drink unlike the drab sterile guy who married the Ketchup Queen.

Two things I got from the debate: The lipsticked pitbull wants to increase the Vice presidential. Beyond that of Dick Cheney, is that possible? [Her argument that the VP is legislative in design and NOT executive is laughable. Note: review Article I of the Constitution, it lays out the designation and powers. If you're too lazy.... the VP spot is executive in nature and it's powers are subject to Congressional review.] The pink elephant really doesn't know how to answer a question and in so doing... it shows there is much behind the empty rhetoric. Oh, my erstwhile roommate pointed out during the debates that the red ribbon was blinking at least 36 times per minute which suggests she was lying because apparently we blink about 22 times per minute, any activity beyond betrays mental activity, in this case lying. I'm not sure on this, but he can be a deeper geek than I so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

In any event, I am troubled by the elephant base. I think I'll stay bi coastal as an American. And for those of you reading this blog with a feminist lens, note I have not referred to the Republican VP candidate by name but colorful [red] objects because she has yet to present herself as a person. So far all I've seen is a prefabricated image of what the Fundie fringe wants in the executive office. And while I'm on the subject of feminism... it's fuck frustrating to see that she's being hemmed in and controlled by her party. The most recent interview with McCain was disgusting. I was not happy watching her refer to him for constant approval.

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone's got one. Some of us wash them before we get the tossed salad. While others don't. Leaving us to smell their shit.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Monday, June 30, 2008

Christian The Lion - A Pet's Love Is Forever!

okay... so it's cute and basically anathe,a to most of the vile vitriol and whatever other vociferous alliteration I'd use to describe my blog's content.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Stan Winston has left the building...

Stan Winston, the special effects guru, passed away 6/15 last night. He was 62-years-old and leaves behind many sad professionals and fans alike.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Boss Nigger Trailer

Part legend, part devil... all man!

Monday, April 21, 2008

NYCComic Con

The X-Files

The truth is out there. And so is irony.

Chris Carter and Frank Spotnick, the creative team behind the cult shows The X-Files, Millennium, The Lone Gunmen and Harsh Realms, unveiled the official trailer X-Files: I Want To Believe.

Last month the trailer was leaked, albeit a bad shaky, grainy bad telesync version. It was still enough to set the X-philers on the edge of orgasm.

The official, and dear I say clean, trailer features a frantic Fox Mulder in search of… Well, I don’t know. The trailer doesn’t say and nether would Carter nor Spotnick during the Q&A that followed the screening.

A few gems they did let go are (1) the film will be a stand-alone story, a creature-of-the-week episode in X-Files parlance; and (2) the story is promised to be more “intimate” and focus a little more on “Mulder and Skully’s relationship in a way you can do in a film and not on television. [We] can service more of the story.”

X-Files fans tend to be paranoid [trust no one] so when an audience member queried on whether the current neo-conservative political arena would be represented with in the film, Spotnick quickly answered,” X-Files is a not a political film nor is it political in nature.” Carter, however, had a different take: “The X-Files was closed [in the show] for political reasons. The show itself existed during a certain political environment and X-Files: I Want To Believe takes place in the current [time] we live in. I grew up during Watergate. You reap what you get if you believe what you read and see in the news. In the film there are similar things to worry about.”

So basically…, Mulder is taking time off from exposing the alien conspiracy to finding… who knows what while the truth behind the major political events in the past ten years languish. Who cares, it’s Mulder and Skully, all’s well with the world.

Featured Artists
Comic Conventions attract everyone from major comic book publishers to small kitchen sink press companies. The people who attend the convention are all, for the most part, good natured, friendly and excited about commercial sequential art. You gotta love watching four-feet-five green skinned Incredible Hulks, three-hundred-pound spidermen, transsexual Sailor moons and enough Naruto, Deathnote, Bleach anime fiends to make you wince, whistle and shudder all at once.

Some of the most interesting folks you meet are the independent comic creators like Jason Becker, creator of Hero Corps: The Rookie and Killing Pickman. Hero Corps is a take on the theme of following in your father’s footsteps. Following the death of a veteran superhero cop, Max takes the mantel of the Hammer, a powerful instrument that imbues its wielder with powerful strength and the ability to fly. The story takes place in the backdrop of a society over run with super-humans where the conflict of between those with powers and regular people clash. It is illustrated with affect by Greg Moutafis.

Another book to look out for is Killing Pickman, also by Becker. This tells the story of Richard Pickman, a religion obsessed serial killer playing a psychological cat-and-mouse with his arresting officer, Detective Zhu. Sounds cliché, right? Wrong. Becker weaves in a supernatural subplot that makes the reader question the responsibility of the child killing Pickman. Two issues in and I’m hooked. Both of these books are put out by Achaia Studios Press, an ambitious studio publisher that puts out great comics. http://www.aspcomics.com

Anime
Chuck Collins and Esteban Valdez have started their own anime content based website. I had a chance to speak to the two artist entrepreneurs and here’s their pitch: “We’re interesting in creating art’ movies where when you look at it, you connect as viewer; where when you see it five years later, you’re like where was I at that time in my life? The film still holds, that’s what you get with art.” Check out their website at http://enemyoftheindustry.com/.



For you gamers out there…

True Game Headz is a website dedicated to all things videogames. They cover any and all conceivable video game platforms from reviews to technical assistance. The site is all at once informative, entertaining and addictive. I spoke with Gerard Flannory, co-founder and creative director as he was running around taping the Con. “True Game Headz represents all of the gamers and provides a forum for video game media producers, especially urban producers to showcase their work and what’s happening in the gaming community.” Access the website at http://www.truegameheadz.com

The convention was awesome. I got to see alot of people I only get to see at cons and spent my time languishing over impossibly cool people and their t-shirts.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Goldfish

A nice little student film based on Bendis' graphic novel.