What’s Bugging Me – Comics Edition

Fry complaining (Photo credit: kaibara87)

I know I have ranted about the things that comic companies have been doing before, but it really felt like the right time to revisit the rant.  This is especially so since it seems that when I look at what’s going on in comics now and in the months to come, I just get all riled up once more.

Books That Make You Think (And Not Always In A Good Way)

Fiction Stacks (Photo credit: chelmsfordpubliclibrary)

Some of the best books are the ones that make you think.  These books can be so stimulating, you begin to think, “What would I do in that situation?”  Or, you wonder if what you read could ever happen.  This tends to be the case of a lot of good science fiction.  It can even be as simple as how you would direct the film version and who you would cast.

But then, there are those books who make you think, though not in the way the author had intended.

WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD

Expectations For The New 52 Year 2

August wrapped the first year of DC Comics’ New 52, and after September’s 0 Month, the second year will kick off.  Needless to say, I have certain expectations and anticipations for the next year based on what we’ve seen in the previous year.

WARNING: A LOT OF SPOILERS AHEAD

10 Sequels That Were Better Than The First

Lord of the Rings (Photo credit: golden_toque)

As usual, I applied all my usual standards for the list.

1. X-Men 2 – X-Men was a really good movie, and helped to lay down the ground work for its sequels, which is why X-Men 2 is so great.  With the basics set down, X-Men 2 was able to burst out of the gate at breakneck speed.  With a new enemy in the form of Stryker introduced, allegiances now came a bit more mutable (pardon the pun).
2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – Probably the high point of the Star Wars movies (all of them), Empire advanced the story threads laid down in the first movie, while bringing in new twists.  Was Vader telling Luke the truth, or was he just messing with him?  Every thought went through out minds when we first saw that movie, making all too eager for the next movie.
3. Dark Knight – Batman Begins set a high standard for the Nolan Batman movies.  Thankfully, Nolan paid off big time with the sequel, introducing a version of the Joker that was increasingly difficult to get a read on.  Was he really insane, or probably the biggest criminal genius that anyone, even Batman, had ever seen?  It sure helped that Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker was just phenomenal.
4. Road Warrior – Prior to the release of Road Warrior, I had never heard of Mad Max.  And I bet if I ran a poll and asked who was in Mad Max besides Mel Gibson, most respondents would say Tina Turner, erroneously thinking of the third movie.  When I think of a Mad Max marathon, it usually starts with Road Warrior, with Mad Max being an afterthought.
5. Jurassic Park 3 – This one is a guilty pleasure entry.  I liked the first movie with all its big dinosaurs, but the second movie completely fell flat for me.  Then along came the third movie, which I think I saw either on DVD or on one of the movie networks.  I found myself intrigued by the movie.  Unlike the second movie, which followed the unlikely hero of Ian Malcolm, this one focused on one of the two characters who would feel the direct impact of the return of dinosaurs, Dr. Alan Grant.  Jurassic Park 3 ends up being a fun thrill ride as Grant is pulled back into the world he hoped to leave behind.
6. Return of the King – This one is tough to put on the list, mostly because all the previous movies (Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers) are almost as good.  But Return makes the list because it expertly brings the Lord of the Rings trilogy to an exciting and dramatic end.
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – This, I feel, is the high point of the Harry Potter series.  this is the movie in which you really learn what is at stake on the Potterverse.  We’ve seen hints of it in the first two movies, but it is in Goblet that not only does Harry’s world expand greatly, but we see the true darkness that will dominate the rest of the series.
8. Evil Dead 2 – This movie is one of my personal favorites.  Almost a remake of the first movie more than a sequel, Evil Dead 2 is just a much better film than Evil Dead.
9. Goldfinger – This is a fudge point for me.  Technically, this is a sequel to From Russia With Love, but since there have been so many James Bond films, it is tough to call any one a sequel of the previous… in most cases.  But, taking it as a sequel for the moment, it is the quintessential Sean Connery Bond film.
10. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan – Khan was an excellent Star Trek movie.  The return of a classic Trek villain, the spectacular space battles, just everything.  We are even willing to overlook the fact that Chekov does not even appear in Space Seed, the episode that introduced us to Khan in the first place.  Naturally, all of this would still hold true is Star Trek: The Motion Picture had not really been a television pilot that was pushed to the big screen by the success of Star Wars.

The New 52 – One Year Later

DC Comics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It has been one year since DC Comics radically reinvented their universe with the New 52.  As with any such event (restart, reinitializing and reboot just does not seem to be the best words for it), there have been ups and downs.  That will happen with just about any such occurance.  Naturally, I do feel the need to share some of my thoughts on the New 52, one year old.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Five More Annoying People To Be Stuck Behind In Line

register keys (Photo credit: Joelk75)

My intent had been to stay with the five most annoying people that I posted last night.  Yet, surprisingly, I realized two things.  First, there are a whole bunch of people who are almost just as annoying as the five I listed.  Secondly, there had been a specific incident which got me thinking about this list, but it somehow managed to not even rank in the top 5.  Go figure.

Thus, I present to you five more annoying people to be stuck behind in line.

• “I’m Kind Of In Line, But Not Really, Sort Of” – This actually happened to be at a local Barnes and Noble.  I got behind this guy to prepare to pay for my magazines and books since it seemed like he was in line.  At least, I thought he was in line, it was tough to tell because when the line moved up, he didn’t, lingering to look at the latest Stephen King book.  Then he shifted back, then forth.  And when I was just about to ask if he was in line, he closed the gap… slightly.  The reason why this one sticks in my mind was that once the guy got to the register to pay for his one book, he checked his left pocket, then his right pocket, and realized that he did not bring his wallet in with him.
• Line Cutters – Line cutters are not never really in front of you, never officially.  But line cutters belong on this list because they put themselves in front of you.  This is especially easy in some stores where there is a line of cashiers with one side for the people buying, and one side for the people who just paid.  Line cutters will swoop in through the exit side, bypassing the line of people who are waiting to pay.  If you are lucky, you will actually get a cashier who will direct the line cutter to the back of the line and not ring them up.  I like to applaud those cashiers, the unsung heroes of order.
• “How Much Are Those?” – These individuals, usually kids (they don’t really know any better) will slow down a line because they want to know the prices of everything.  This is especially prevalent in comic and card stores.  These individuals will go through pack after pack, asking for the prices of each one until they settle on what they want.  If you are lucky, you will be witness to the after show, in which the “buyer” makes his pick (let’s say 3 packs at 3 bucks a piece) and is told the total (9 bucks, ignoring tax this time around).  That’s when the buyer will say, “Oh, I only have $1.50.  What can I get for that?”
• Munchers – Common in grocery stores and department stores where food is sold.  Munchers can’t seem to wait until they have paid for their purchases to start digging in.
• Mother And Daughter – This one is another specific example, but it really stuck with me.  It was a mother with her very young child, probably no more than a year or so.  The mother was in line waiting to pay.  I did not remember much of what I said, but she did say one thing that stuck in my head.  ”This is a diamond.  This is what you hold out for in a relationship.”

The Five Most Annoying People To Get Stuck Behind in a Store

Cash Register (Photo credit: tarale)

Every once in a while, we all run into it.  That moment at the cash register when we realize that we can’t pay for what we bought.  It has happened to me, and it has either happened or will happen to all of you.  You just roll with it and deal.

Sadly, there are some people who run into this situation and end up just being annoying about it.

• The Guy With The Unactivated Credit Card - I personally ran into this guy at a Newbury Comics.  It spend the better part of ten minutes trying to decide what Dunnies or Midgies or whatever those stupid plastic dolls were.  Did he want the factory set with the special Heinz doll and the free bag?  Or, did he want an open set, randomly picked by the store?  naturally, the line behind him (starting with me) was growing as he went through his own personal geek version of Sophie’s Choice.  Finally, he made his decision, a process that took far longer than it really should have.  The clerk rang up the plastic pieces of junk and the guy pulled out his credit card.  The clerk really did not need to swipe it since he still had the “remove this sticker after activation” tag on it, but he did, and sure enough, the guy’s credit card had not been activated.  Thankfully, saner minds prevailed as the clerk cancelled out the guy’s purchase and Mister Decider sheepishly asked to use the store phone.
• “I want this, but I really don’t want it” - This wonderful individual goes up to the register with two heaping carriages of stuff, gleamed from all over the store.  Of course, you get stuck behind them because there are no other registers open.  Thus, you become witness to the ultimate in annoying consumerism.  With each item rung up, the thought process begins.  Some items make it through to the next round, some, sadly don’t.  Different or same, each item gets the same amount of thought put into it, which becomes especially annoying when it’s twenty-four cans of cat food, all the same flavor.  As you watch the two carriages dwindle down to two bags, you are left to wonder why such purchasing decisions were not made while she was picking these items out in the first place.
• “Price Check!” - Yes, we’ve all has price check situations before.  You grab the one red Bazinga! T-Shirt on the rack, not even realizing that it did not have a price on it.  It is embarrassing, and you hope that you make it through it without garnering the contempt of the people behind you.  I have even gone so far as to apologize when it happens.  But then, there are some special individuals who seem to be the masters of finding the untagged items.  The first item they have needs a price check, then the next, then the next.  By the fifth or sixth call for a price check, you wonder if they are pulling the tags off on purpose.  Those suspicions are usually confirmed when the cashier rings up the one item with a price and they say, “Oh, can you check that?  I don’t think that was the price.”
• “So I sez to Mable, I sez…” – These poor individuals are lonely and looking for someone to talk to.  Unfortunately for the cashier, and everyone in line behind them, they chose Target as the place to find a friend.  The process of ringing out becomes that much longer as the conversationalist (if we can call it that) spends more time talking about their cat, or how they got off the murder wrap for running over their ex-girlfriend, then they do unloading their carriage.  Worse still, all the cashier can do is nodded and be polite, trying not to let on that she wants to just get this loser out of the store.  In some extreme cases, the conversationalist will actually start talking to you (or whoever is directly behind them in line), pulling you into the same Hell he’s been subjecting the cashier to.
• “Um, well, how about if I…” - This lovely customer has finished their purchases and has been rung out with no trouble, only to discover that they only have fifty dollars on them and the total comes to sixty.  It’s embarrassing, and again, has probably happened to everyone who doesn’t use a credit card for most purchases.  Naturally, the only thing to do it to not buy something to get the bill down to what you can pay.  For most people, it usually means dropping a higher priced item, because, let’s face it, you already saw Iron Man seven times in the theater, you can hold off a week to buy the DVD until your next pay check clears.  But, for this special individual, the whole process becomes some sort of twisted The Price Is Right style game.  They first drop the pack of gum they picked up at the cash register.  When that lowered the bill by a dollar, they drop the Renuzit Fresh Linen Scent Air Freshener.  Then that still doesn’t decrease the bill enough, they decide to hold off on purchasing the three pack of Kleenex.  This drops the bill down enough that they think they can buy the pack of gum, even though they still have a difference of five dollars between their purchases and their spendable cash.  If you’re lucky, they will remember they have a coupon for a dollar off the three pack of Kleenex that they just decided to not buy, thus continuing the game that much longer.

Why I Hate Summer

Summer (Photo credit: aeFusion)

Okay, maybe I don’t hate summer, but it is my least favorite season out of the four.  If you work in all the unofficial seasons – football, basketball, hockey, baseball, monsoon – it is still very low on the list.

 

Book Review – The United States of Strange

The United States of Strange: 1,001 Frightening, Bizarre, Outrageous Facts about the Land of the Free and the Home of the Frog People, the Cockroach by Eric Grzymkowski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This would have been a much better book if it simply just gave us the facts, many of which are quite interesting.

Sadly, the author feels the need to comment on each entry with what he claims is humor. At best, the comments are unfunny, at worst, they are incredibly insensitive, dismissive and demeaning. Given the nature (and style) of the comments, I actually thought that the author had written another book I had read with the same sort of comments. Surprisingly, he had not, which means there are two authors who have the same writing style.

View all my reviews

Worst Sequels

It is rare that a sequel will exceed the original.  Yes, there are a number of notable exceptions, but for the most part, sequels generally tend to be of a lesser quality than the original.

But then, there are some that take this lowered expectation and fail to even meet that.  These sequels are not bad, but really bad, so bad that they echo in the minds of most people as some of the worst films ever.

Like many of my other lists, I have limited my picks for the worst sequels to those that I have seen.  Case in point, Batman and Robin has got to be the worst sequel ever, so bad that it nearly killed the franchise.  But, since I have never been masochistic enough to sit all the way through it, I cannot include it on my list.

I did add a few other restrictions to this list.  Franchise reboots are not counted, nor are remakes, even if they are pseudo-sequel remakes.  I also eliminated most James Bond movies.  While they are a series, there are only a couple that can be considered direct sequels of previous films.  Even then, most of them do manage to stand on their own.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD