@nweathington are you getting excited about the Caps?
I'm taking it one game at a time. We can't get ahead of ourselves. We need to stay in the moment. We've done a good job of that all year, and we need to keep that focus. The last game is always the hardest one to win, so we need to pay attention to the details, keep it simple, and stick to the game plan.
I would like to add, "Win the battles in the corners", "not grip the stick to tight" and something something something "organization" something something.
Really, we just need to play our game. If we play within the system and do all the little things we need to do, the rest will take care of itself.
Seriously, though, it does look like Vegas is running out of gas. They’ve beaten teams through hard work and playing simple, hard-nosed hockey. But now they’ve come up against a team that is working just as hard as them and with a higher level of skill. Last night Vegas was looking just like how the Caps looked three or four years ago—frustrated, a little panicky at times, letting no-calls get under their skin, etc. Vegas can win the next game if they score early and get some of their confidence back, but I think the Caps will more than likely close it out on Thursday.
That being said, while I get pretty pumped up during the games, I’m honestly not thinking too much about the Cup yet.
I hope so. It's probably just me, but I've grown tired of the group of outcast narrative.
Btw, I haven't paid attention to the NBA for some time. How the hell did the Celtics lose the Eastern Conference Finals?
LeBron crushed Boston's hopes and dreams. He is going to lose the championship in 4 or 5, but LeBron has had one of the greatest playoffs in the history of the NBA. I forgot to mention that Jeff Greene had the two best games of his life in 6&7. He has since regressed back into regular Jeff Greene
While recording audio for the Moon Knight review I inadvertently ended a clip with "and the Ben Grimm reluctantly #@!%s Moon Knight'"....It's been a hard week (Sigh!)
Tony Schiavone on the Rock-'n'-roll Express Sizzlin' Summer Tour and taking parental chaperones for the girls on the bus "Look you couldn't put 17 year old girls alone on bus with Ricky and Robert. Well you could, but you shouldn't." I love Tony and his stories.
DVRd the first week of High Noon with Pablo Torre & Bomani Jones.
Jones spent many years on the radio here in the Raleigh/Durham area. He still comes on the big local afternoon show once a week, every week. He’s good. He has no time for the BS hot take mentality. I hope the show does well for him.
I've been called in three times so far, but never selected. If you're lucky, you'll be home by lunch.
I've been called twice before & neither case went to trial. The only thing that makes me nervous is that if I do have to serve, it will delay a few projects (JW: Fallen Kingdom premiers on the same day & I'll have another trade review to set up).
Greeblies/greebles/nurnies are just the little mechanical details added to the Star Wars props to make them look more interesting/functional/realistic, so it's probably that sight adjustment dial thingy on top of the scope?
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
DCC keeps floating the date. It's annoying. I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed DINK much more then I have DCC. That being said, my daughter has a mad crush on David Tennant so we'll be going on Sunday.
Btw, Heroes Con is on my short list of cons to attend. That sounds like a great show.
Greeblies/greebles/nurnies are just the little mechanical details added to the Star Wars props to make them look more interesting/functional/realistic, so it's probably that sight adjustment dial thingy on top of the scope?
The greeblies I have with the kit are two joystick/Q tip looking things. I've looked through a ton of images and can't find a placement for them. I did find one photo that shows them sitting off to the side. So, I'm thinking I can get away with not attaching them.
You should definitely make it out sometime, @aquatroy. Half the floor, and it's a pretty big floor, is Artist Alley.
I did DCC the second year of the show. Not a bad show at the time, and I know it's gotten bigger since then. But not a ton of artists were there. I did make friends with Farel Dalrymple and Simon Roy at that show though, so that boosted my opinion of it.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
DCC keeps floating the date. It's annoying. I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed DINK much more then I have DCC. That being said, my daughter has a mad crush on David Tennant so we'll be going on Sunday.
Btw, Heroes Con is on my short list of cons to attend. That sounds like a great show.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
I think it's mostly been in June on Father's Day weekend, except for one year that it was on Memorial Day weekend and stretched to four days. That extra con day pushed us to over 100k in attendance and we were the third largest comic con in the nation that year. But I could be mistaken on those days since next year's con has tentatively been set for 5/31-6/2 according to the program.
I just looked at the guest list this year and the available panels and nothing is exciting me like it has in years past. I wanted to make it to Dink, but I think I was busy adulting that weekend and couldn't make it. It seems like something I'd be more interested in.
I remember this movie coming out on home video/DVD (Soul Survivors)at the time I worked at a video store & I was really big into Buffy. So obviously an unrated movie starring Eliza Dushku in a very tight tank top piqued my interest....
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
DCC keeps floating the date. It's annoying. I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed DINK much more then I have DCC. That being said, my daughter has a mad crush on David Tennant so we'll be going on Sunday.
Btw, Heroes Con is on my short list of cons to attend. That sounds like a great show.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
I think it's mostly been in June on Father's Day weekend, except for one year that it was on Memorial Day weekend and stretched to four days. That extra con day pushed us to over 100k in attendance and we were the third largest comic con in the nation that year. But I could be mistaken on those days since next year's con has tentatively been set for 5/31-6/2 according to the program.
I just looked at the guest list this year and the available panels and nothing is exciting me like it has in years past. I wanted to make it to Dink, but I think I was busy adulting that weekend and couldn't make it. It seems like something I'd be more interested in.
Next year, Fred. You and me at DINK. We'll give Charlito a swirly.
Seriously though, DINK was eye opening for me. At DCC you get a lot of folks that have seen the Marvel Movies and want a chance to dress as Cap without being laughed at. DINK was full of people that used the medium for personal and communal expression. Even though I've been a part of geek culture for most of my life. The experience I had at DINK was revelatory.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
DCC keeps floating the date. It's annoying. I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed DINK much more then I have DCC. That being said, my daughter has a mad crush on David Tennant so we'll be going on Sunday.
Btw, Heroes Con is on my short list of cons to attend. That sounds like a great show.
I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, Booth C-402 and C-501. Any forumites who'll be there should stop by and say hi. I promise I won't make you buy anything.
I'd love to be there if I lived any closer and this wasn't the same weekend for Denver Comic Con. DCC feels to be getting a little tried.
Didn't DCC used to be in the spring, like May? Seems awfully late for it.
I think it's mostly been in June on Father's Day weekend, except for one year that it was on Memorial Day weekend and stretched to four days. That extra con day pushed us to over 100k in attendance and we were the third largest comic con in the nation that year. But I could be mistaken on those days since next year's con has tentatively been set for 5/31-6/2 according to the program.
I just looked at the guest list this year and the available panels and nothing is exciting me like it has in years past. I wanted to make it to Dink, but I think I was busy adulting that weekend and couldn't make it. It seems like something I'd be more interested in.
Next year, Fred. You and me at DINK. We'll give Charlito a swirly.
Seriously though, DINK was eye opening for me. At DCC you get a lot of folks that have seen the Marvel Movies and want a chance to dress as Cap without being laughed at. DINK was full of people that used the medium for personal and communal expression. Even though I've been a part of geek culture for most of my life. The experience I had at DINK was revelatory.
I'm about to see how gloomis customer service is. In one of the most boneheaded mistakes I've made in a while, I snapped about three inches of rod tip off in a door. Gloomis has no fault, no questions asked replacement program that will replace your rod for about $75.00 or $100.00. A pretty good deal if you did something stupid like me.
A sneak preview of sorts to my upcoming review of Superior Spider-Man. Some of the paragraphs here were directly extracted from the first draft, so you'll probably see them again in the final review. Since Slott's departure from Spider-Man is finally here, I would like to take a moment to examine a little bit of his writing.
I recall that Slott was compared to Michael Bay, and while I could see the resemblance in their use of spectacle, I feel like a better analogy would be Zack Snyder. There's an intriguing video I came upon earlier regarding the fundamental flaw of Batman v. Superman, and that's its focus on the moments of awe. They are the kind of memorable moments that make you fist-pump and cheer, such as Peter finally entering the career of science he's dreamed about as a child (Horizon Labs), or how the Avengers finally followed his lead (Big Time), or when he and Doc Ock had a battle of wits outsmarting each other (Ends of the Earth). They are brilliant moments on their own if you simply ignore the overarching story of Spider-Man. In fact, much like Snyder, almost everything Slott has written was intended to trigger a visceral reaction from the audience, often at the sacrifice of telling a coherent story. But when you look at the big picture, what does Slott's legacy really say about Spider-Man's character? In fact, that hollow nature is evident in ASM #801 as many readers have come to experience over the past month.
Here's the thing though: comics are not movies. Comics are a problematic medium that can be very difficult to plan ahead on a "big picture" scale. You have many retcons and reboots. You have new characters that are totally irrelevant to the Spider-Man theme for either one issue or an entirety of 10 years. Add to that deadlines and the editorial mandate, and you could understand why people find it impressive when a writer manages to tie up all the plot-threads he set up long ago. That being said, you can look at something smaller: story arcs. And more often than not, Slott's story arcs began with an awe-inspiring spectacle, but ended with nothing substantial regarding its theme or commentary. Stories are more often than not defined by their endings, and Slott has a very poor grasp on writing good endings.
For the sake of comparison, let's look back at a self-contained story bearing a closer resemblance to your traditional literature with a three-act structure, Dan Slott's "best work," Superior Spider-Man. Why did I say bearing resemblance to traditional literature? Because unlike ASM, this one wasn't supposed to be a continuous title with no ending in sight, so Slott should already have in mind a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. We all knew Peter would be back to coincide with TASM2 movie release, so Slott should have realized that too and not have any excuse for a rushed ending. Yet he did. Look at the "big picture" of this title and ask yourself: what does it say about power and responsibility? Do the themes introduced at the beginning have a proper denouement (i.e.: mass-shootings, police brutality, mass surveillance, being a more efficient hero)? No, they do not. In fact, one simply needs to look at only one of these themes, at what Slott has done with SpOck's brutality itself to see the contradiction in the theme he had introduced. A lot of people defended SSM by saying that Slott did show that SpOck was supposed to be the bad guy - except he never did. He told us through exposition that he was a bad guy; he never showed it.
The fine line between gratuitous violence and a meaningful one lies in its message and intent. The consequences of SpOck's brutality were addressed, but they were done so in a very roundabout fashion that failed to give the violence a powerful meaning. Instead of acknowledging the reckless endangerment Spidey has dealt onto ordinary people like you and me who have strayed from the righteous path, Slott instead had their injuries conveniently mended by Smythe through his technology (before turning them against the webslinger) like a bad comic book plot. In addition, Slott also showed that the people who resented SpOck and his cruel ways were enlisted into a secret underground goblin army led by a new nemesis named The Goblin King. Both of these were meant to act as the consequences of SpOck's unethical methods, but Slott never really showed what was so unethical about such methods, merely telling us through dialogue that people (like The Avengers) found his actions to be unacceptable. To put it in another way, if any criminal SpOck mangles is either going to be mended or unscathed enough that they could enlist in an army, then where's the impact of his violence? Why should we care if his methods are brutal or not when he's proven to be far more efficient than the old Spidey ever was? By trivializing the lasting impact of SpOck's violence, Slott has inadvertently made any prior implications of SpOck's immorality hollow and untrue. Furthermore, when his victims are reduced to a bunch of irredeemable thugs seeking vengeance, it creates a sense of apathy among readers towards the notion of violence, and SpOck's prior brutality seems justified against these bad people who prove themselves deserving of such punishment.
Here's another theme: mass surveillance. Since he began using those, SpOck has proven himself to be far more proficient at being a hero. Yet we all know why this is ethically wrong, why people over the world has a problem against the NSA tapping into our phones and private data, but instead of showing why mass surveillance is considered a problem, Slott yet again trivialized the matter by only showing the benefits of such surveillance (i.e.: spying on criminals to expose them of their crime). Never at any time did SpOck violate an innocent's privacy or even misuse it for his own gain. Later on, when the Goblin King hacked into his surveillance bots such that they would ignore any criminal wearing a goblin mask, it was the perfect opportunity to show what would happen should such power over the people fall into the wrong hands. Alas, the Goblin never bothered to seize this technology to spy on anyone either, not even the webslinging hero he's trying to undermine. So when the citizens of New York do call out on SpOck's "Big Brother" act, their accusation is, once again, hollow and empty, because we were never shown any of the violation of privacy they spoke of. Compare this to George Orwell's novel, "1984," where the people's every action are controlled by the totalitarian government, their very lives manipulated to the whims of a higher power. George's argument that mass surveillance is a horrifying notion has a greater impact because we were shown, not told through exposition, the consequence of such a power. By failing to include such a context, Slott was hand-waving the entire notion of mass surveillance with a very unsatisfying denouement, and the whole implication that SpOck was somehow in the wrong falls flat. This wasn't the first time Slott has hand-waved an important social issue with sloppy writing either (see ASM #665). It's the reason why most of his attempts to tackle such heavy subjects are as pretentious as Marvel's other attempts at social relevancy (Civil War [2006] and Secret War [2004]). (cont'd on next post)
Comments
It's probably just me, but I've grown tired of the group of outcast narrative.
Btw, I haven't paid attention to the NBA for some time. How the hell did the Celtics lose the Eastern Conference Finals?
And also, Kyrie Irving got hurt.
I forgot to mention that Jeff Greene had the two best games of his life in 6&7. He has since regressed back into regular Jeff Greene
I love Tony and his stories.
Watched Thor Ragnarok for the first time.
Watched the first four episodes of American Gods
Got my mother in law out of my house
Went to my first tax seminar on the new tax bill.
Went fishing and caught a delicious four lb bass, but released him because I didn't want to kill the little guy.
Went to my daughter’s end-of-year band banquet.
Went to my daughter’s 8th Grade Celebration ceremony.
Went to my daughter’s end-of-semester Academic Awards ceremony.
Worked every night on a magazine layout, except for the nights I...
Watched the Capitals win the Stanley freaking Cup.
Like how I set you up.
Stayed up two consecutive nights because I couldn't sleep.
Wrote the script for the Essential Moon Knight review.
Shot video & recorded audio for said review.
Taking in Ocean's 8 today (Recap & Review later).
Fished a mouse out of my window well in the aftermath of a thunderstorm.
DVRd the first week of High Noon with Pablo Torre & Bomani Jones.
Downloaded network promos to use as transitional edits for my film reviews.
Got a notice for Jury duty in two weeks.
What is a Scope Greeblie and where do these things attach?
I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed DINK much more then I have DCC. That being said, my daughter has a mad crush on David Tennant so we'll be going on Sunday.
Btw, Heroes Con is on my short list of cons to attend. That sounds like a great show.
You should definitely make it out sometime, @aquatroy. Half the floor, and it's a pretty big floor, is Artist Alley.
I did DCC the second year of the show. Not a bad show at the time, and I know it's gotten bigger since then. But not a ton of artists were there. I did make friends with Farel Dalrymple and Simon Roy at that show though, so that boosted my opinion of it.
I just looked at the guest list this year and the available panels and nothing is exciting me like it has in years past. I wanted to make it to Dink, but I think I was busy adulting that weekend and couldn't make it. It seems like something I'd be more interested in.
I am but a man.
Seriously though, DINK was eye opening for me. At DCC you get a lot of folks that have seen the Marvel Movies and want a chance to dress as Cap without being laughed at. DINK was full of people that used the medium for personal and communal expression. Even though I've been a part of geek culture for most of my life. The experience I had at DINK was revelatory.
Big Mad Love for Charlie and crew!
I'll let you know how it goes.
I recall that Slott was compared to Michael Bay, and while I could see the resemblance in their use of spectacle, I feel like a better analogy would be Zack Snyder. There's an intriguing video I came upon earlier regarding the fundamental flaw of Batman v. Superman, and that's its focus on the moments of awe. They are the kind of memorable moments that make you fist-pump and cheer, such as Peter finally entering the career of science he's dreamed about as a child (Horizon Labs), or how the Avengers finally followed his lead (Big Time), or when he and Doc Ock had a battle of wits outsmarting each other (Ends of the Earth). They are brilliant moments on their own if you simply ignore the overarching story of Spider-Man. In fact, much like Snyder, almost everything Slott has written was intended to trigger a visceral reaction from the audience, often at the sacrifice of telling a coherent story. But when you look at the big picture, what does Slott's legacy really say about Spider-Man's character? In fact, that hollow nature is evident in ASM #801 as many readers have come to experience over the past month.
Here's the thing though: comics are not movies. Comics are a problematic medium that can be very difficult to plan ahead on a "big picture" scale. You have many retcons and reboots. You have new characters that are totally irrelevant to the Spider-Man theme for either one issue or an entirety of 10 years. Add to that deadlines and the editorial mandate, and you could understand why people find it impressive when a writer manages to tie up all the plot-threads he set up long ago. That being said, you can look at something smaller: story arcs. And more often than not, Slott's story arcs began with an awe-inspiring spectacle, but ended with nothing substantial regarding its theme or commentary. Stories are more often than not defined by their endings, and Slott has a very poor grasp on writing good endings.
For the sake of comparison, let's look back at a self-contained story bearing a closer resemblance to your traditional literature with a three-act structure, Dan Slott's "best work," Superior Spider-Man. Why did I say bearing resemblance to traditional literature? Because unlike ASM, this one wasn't supposed to be a continuous title with no ending in sight, so Slott should already have in mind a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. We all knew Peter would be back to coincide with TASM2 movie release, so Slott should have realized that too and not have any excuse for a rushed ending. Yet he did. Look at the "big picture" of this title and ask yourself: what does it say about power and responsibility? Do the themes introduced at the beginning have a proper denouement (i.e.: mass-shootings, police brutality, mass surveillance, being a more efficient hero)? No, they do not. In fact, one simply needs to look at only one of these themes, at what Slott has done with SpOck's brutality itself to see the contradiction in the theme he had introduced. A lot of people defended SSM by saying that Slott did show that SpOck was supposed to be the bad guy - except he never did. He told us through exposition that he was a bad guy; he never showed it.
The fine line between gratuitous violence and a meaningful one lies in its message and intent. The consequences of SpOck's brutality were addressed, but they were done so in a very roundabout fashion that failed to give the violence a powerful meaning. Instead of acknowledging the reckless endangerment Spidey has dealt onto ordinary people like you and me who have strayed from the righteous path, Slott instead had their injuries conveniently mended by Smythe through his technology (before turning them against the webslinger) like a bad comic book plot. In addition, Slott also showed that the people who resented SpOck and his cruel ways were enlisted into a secret underground goblin army led by a new nemesis named The Goblin King. Both of these were meant to act as the consequences of SpOck's unethical methods, but Slott never really showed what was so unethical about such methods, merely telling us through dialogue that people (like The Avengers) found his actions to be unacceptable. To put it in another way, if any criminal SpOck mangles is either going to be mended or unscathed enough that they could enlist in an army, then where's the impact of his violence? Why should we care if his methods are brutal or not when he's proven to be far more efficient than the old Spidey ever was? By trivializing the lasting impact of SpOck's violence, Slott has inadvertently made any prior implications of SpOck's immorality hollow and untrue. Furthermore, when his victims are reduced to a bunch of irredeemable thugs seeking vengeance, it creates a sense of apathy among readers towards the notion of violence, and SpOck's prior brutality seems justified against these bad people who prove themselves deserving of such punishment.
Here's another theme: mass surveillance. Since he began using those, SpOck has proven himself to be far more proficient at being a hero. Yet we all know why this is ethically wrong, why people over the world has a problem against the NSA tapping into our phones and private data, but instead of showing why mass surveillance is considered a problem, Slott yet again trivialized the matter by only showing the benefits of such surveillance (i.e.: spying on criminals to expose them of their crime). Never at any time did SpOck violate an innocent's privacy or even misuse it for his own gain. Later on, when the Goblin King hacked into his surveillance bots such that they would ignore any criminal wearing a goblin mask, it was the perfect opportunity to show what would happen should such power over the people fall into the wrong hands. Alas, the Goblin never bothered to seize this technology to spy on anyone either, not even the webslinging hero he's trying to undermine. So when the citizens of New York do call out on SpOck's "Big Brother" act, their accusation is, once again, hollow and empty, because we were never shown any of the violation of privacy they spoke of. Compare this to George Orwell's novel, "1984," where the people's every action are controlled by the totalitarian government, their very lives manipulated to the whims of a higher power. George's argument that mass surveillance is a horrifying notion has a greater impact because we were shown, not told through exposition, the consequence of such a power. By failing to include such a context, Slott was hand-waving the entire notion of mass surveillance with a very unsatisfying denouement, and the whole implication that SpOck was somehow in the wrong falls flat. This wasn't the first time Slott has hand-waved an important social issue with sloppy writing either (see ASM #665). It's the reason why most of his attempts to tackle such heavy subjects are as pretentious as Marvel's other attempts at social relevancy (Civil War [2006] and Secret War [2004]). (cont'd on next post)