#334.
Got a ton of stuff done in the last few days, including "DC40" at Sigild V, a Best Of for my dormant Examiner movie page, and the annual QB50 report at Comics Reader, for which I went to the not-inconsiderable trouble of tracking down links for the five previous editions. I suffer for my art!
Oh! And I've also got thoughts on the thirty-fourth book completed from my Reading List this year at Hub City.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
#333. Survivor
#333.
The second installment of the Comparative (f)Analysis is up, and features one of my favorite TV shows, Survivor, ranking each of its twenty-two winners, including "South Pacific"'s Sophie Clarke. I surprisingly haven't talked a whole lot about Survivor in my blogs, but I've been a fan since 2000, and have sometimes been amused about the reactions others have, their opinions about the best contestants, and even the relative worth of some seasons. My secret dream is to one day compete, and my even bigger secret is that I've sometimes considered the workplace as a Survivor setting. I'd like to believe that I've proven at least in that environment that I could make it far.
The second installment of the Comparative (f)Analysis is up, and features one of my favorite TV shows, Survivor, ranking each of its twenty-two winners, including "South Pacific"'s Sophie Clarke. I surprisingly haven't talked a whole lot about Survivor in my blogs, but I've been a fan since 2000, and have sometimes been amused about the reactions others have, their opinions about the best contestants, and even the relative worth of some seasons. My secret dream is to one day compete, and my even bigger secret is that I've sometimes considered the workplace as a Survivor setting. I'd like to believe that I've proven at least in that environment that I could make it far.
Monday, December 26, 2011
#332. The Christmas Cat Poem
#332.
From my Facebook page, the Christmas Cat poem:
Gather around, those who've sat,
And I shall tell you about the Christmas Cat!
On Christmas Day,
For this holiday,
A creature stirs
Who also purrs.
She wakes from her sleep,
From the warm fuzzy deep,
On a long winter's night
When she has slept tight
To ensure that all have done well
And that she can still spell
All the letters that entail
What she put in the mail
About the report on the order
Of all that goes on in the border
Of her most important domain,
On the great night of gain.
She has inventoried in her rest
The gifts in the nest
Of those she calls friends;
Except, it depends
For one small matter,
Aside from the platter
Of cookies for Santa at night,
Since try as she might
She cannot overlook
Under any book,
The gift of clothing!
Perhaps even bling!
Because if you don't receive a single ounce,
The Christmas Cat will surely pounce!
From my Facebook page, the Christmas Cat poem:
Gather around, those who've sat,
And I shall tell you about the Christmas Cat!
On Christmas Day,
For this holiday,
A creature stirs
Who also purrs.
She wakes from her sleep,
From the warm fuzzy deep,
On a long winter's night
When she has slept tight
To ensure that all have done well
And that she can still spell
All the letters that entail
What she put in the mail
About the report on the order
Of all that goes on in the border
Of her most important domain,
On the great night of gain.
She has inventoried in her rest
The gifts in the nest
Of those she calls friends;
Except, it depends
For one small matter,
Aside from the platter
Of cookies for Santa at night,
Since try as she might
She cannot overlook
Under any book,
The gift of clothing!
Perhaps even bling!
Because if you don't receive a single ounce,
The Christmas Cat will surely pounce!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
#331. New Job, Seven Thunders
#331.
Ought to note that a long personal nightmare has ended: I have finally found a new job!
Perhaps owing to that little bit of good news, I have also made the first official outline for a story I've been working on since 1997. Perhaps soon, then, the world will hear the tale of Seven Thunders...
Ought to note that a long personal nightmare has ended: I have finally found a new job!
Perhaps owing to that little bit of good news, I have also made the first official outline for a story I've been working on since 1997. Perhaps soon, then, the world will hear the tale of Seven Thunders...
Friday, December 16, 2011
#330. Comparative (f)Analysis
#330.
Finally have new material up at Fan Companion! It's the start of the "Comparative (f)Analysis," a series that will look at a number of different interests. The inaugural edition features the annual TV Guide Fall Preview, years 1997-2003. Hopefully proves interesting...
Finally have new material up at Fan Companion! It's the start of the "Comparative (f)Analysis," a series that will look at a number of different interests. The inaugural edition features the annual TV Guide Fall Preview, years 1997-2003. Hopefully proves interesting...
#329. Best of 2011
#329.
Best of 2011...
Music:
Stone Rollin', Raphael Saadig
So Beautiful or So What, Paul Simon
Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
Wounded Rhymes, Lykke Li
Books:
Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson
The Bridge to Never Land, Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
TV:
How I Met Your Mother
Fringe
Community
The Big Bang Theory
Survivor: Redemption Island
Survivor: South Pacific
The Cape
The Event
The Walking Dead
Cougar Town
Raising Hope
Person of Interest
Mad Love
Smallville
The Simpsons
Futurama
Movies:
Warrior
Source Code
The Tree of Life
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Green Lantern
Midnight in Paris
The Adjustment Bureau
Hanna
Super 8
Cowboys and Aliens
Best of 2011...
Music:
Stone Rollin', Raphael Saadig
So Beautiful or So What, Paul Simon
Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
Wounded Rhymes, Lykke Li
Books:
Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson
The Bridge to Never Land, Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
TV:
How I Met Your Mother
Fringe
Community
The Big Bang Theory
Survivor: Redemption Island
Survivor: South Pacific
The Cape
The Event
The Walking Dead
Cougar Town
Raising Hope
Person of Interest
Mad Love
Smallville
The Simpsons
Futurama
Movies:
Warrior
Source Code
The Tree of Life
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Green Lantern
Midnight in Paris
The Adjustment Bureau
Hanna
Super 8
Cowboys and Aliens
Thursday, December 15, 2011
#328. DC Decades Project
#328.
Superheroes will be dominating Sigild V for the foreseeable future. On the heels of the Trial project, I've now begun the DC Decades Project, which seeks to adapt from DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle each decade of actual comics developments as a cohesive story.
I've also got a new Quarter Bin column up at Comics Reader.
Superheroes will be dominating Sigild V for the foreseeable future. On the heels of the Trial project, I've now begun the DC Decades Project, which seeks to adapt from DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle each decade of actual comics developments as a cohesive story.
I've also got a new Quarter Bin column up at Comics Reader.
Monday, December 12, 2011
#327. Comics Reader, Sigild V Cleanup
#327.
Just for the record, the sprucing continues:
I just spent a considerable amount of time labeling key archival posts here at Scouring Monk, but I would have to change the blog's template in order to show a list of them...so that's an idea for the future. I have, however, completed overhauls at Comics Reader and Sigild V to make navigation easier. Yay!
Just for the record, the sprucing continues:
I just spent a considerable amount of time labeling key archival posts here at Scouring Monk, but I would have to change the blog's template in order to show a list of them...so that's an idea for the future. I have, however, completed overhauls at Comics Reader and Sigild V to make navigation easier. Yay!
#326. Hub City Cleanup
#326.
Hub City is the latest blog in my little family to receive a little tweaking. I've just added a new label identifying critical analysis on the book I've just completed from the Reading List. There are now three labels, actually, "Thoughts on..." (the one I've just introduced), "Reading List" (otherwise known as a running catalog of the books I'm reading, and something I previously did here at Scouring Monk), and "Scouring Books," which is a straight listing of books from my personal library. On the surface, "Scouring Books" entries and "Reading List" may look remarkably similar, but "Reading List" will now have the added distinction of a subsequent "Thoughts on..." entry, should I have sufficient reactions to what I've just finished reading. There are 11 "Reading List" entries to date, and only 4 "Thoughts on..." essays, starting from October, and many more "Scouring Books."
...Y'know, just in case you were interested...
Hub City is the latest blog in my little family to receive a little tweaking. I've just added a new label identifying critical analysis on the book I've just completed from the Reading List. There are now three labels, actually, "Thoughts on..." (the one I've just introduced), "Reading List" (otherwise known as a running catalog of the books I'm reading, and something I previously did here at Scouring Monk), and "Scouring Books," which is a straight listing of books from my personal library. On the surface, "Scouring Books" entries and "Reading List" may look remarkably similar, but "Reading List" will now have the added distinction of a subsequent "Thoughts on..." entry, should I have sufficient reactions to what I've just finished reading. There are 11 "Reading List" entries to date, and only 4 "Thoughts on..." essays, starting from October, and many more "Scouring Books."
...Y'know, just in case you were interested...
Friday, December 09, 2011
#326. Caretaker Part 2
#325.
Just posted Star Trek: Voyager - "Caretaker, Part 2," a monologue from Captain Janeway that helps explain her decisions in the series finale "Endgame" from a perspective that points back to the series premiere ("Caretaker," naturally). I was always a bigger fan of the series than Star Trek fans in general tended to be, and so have always sought some way to express the kind of quality I saw in it that others didn't.
I'll probably get to do more of that.
Just posted Star Trek: Voyager - "Caretaker, Part 2," a monologue from Captain Janeway that helps explain her decisions in the series finale "Endgame" from a perspective that points back to the series premiere ("Caretaker," naturally). I was always a bigger fan of the series than Star Trek fans in general tended to be, and so have always sought some way to express the kind of quality I saw in it that others didn't.
I'll probably get to do more of that.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
#324. Fan Companion Cleanup
#324.
Finally cleaned up the Fan Companion blog, making it easier to navigate, especially between focuses (Star Trek, films, and wrestling, to date). All in anticipation of the forthcoming Comparative (f)Analysis!
Finally cleaned up the Fan Companion blog, making it easier to navigate, especially between focuses (Star Trek, films, and wrestling, to date). All in anticipation of the forthcoming Comparative (f)Analysis!
#323. Trial of the Flash Project
#323.
Today I completed the Trial of the Flash project, including the six-part adaptation written for Sigild V, which in part follows the classic 1980s comics story that ran for two years and was recently reprinted in a twenty-four issue Showcase reprint volume, but also represents an alternate version from a modern perspective, including using Wally West as narrator and acknowledging the Crisis on Infinite Earths events that follow. The Barry Allen found here owes a debt to Geoff Johns, too, and not just from the "flashpoint" in the title. The sad part is, though I drastically reduced the length of the story, I now kind of want to expand it...
Today I completed the Trial of the Flash project, including the six-part adaptation written for Sigild V, which in part follows the classic 1980s comics story that ran for two years and was recently reprinted in a twenty-four issue Showcase reprint volume, but also represents an alternate version from a modern perspective, including using Wally West as narrator and acknowledging the Crisis on Infinite Earths events that follow. The Barry Allen found here owes a debt to Geoff Johns, too, and not just from the "flashpoint" in the title. The sad part is, though I drastically reduced the length of the story, I now kind of want to expand it...
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
#322. Trial of the Flash, Comics, John Morrison
#322.
My Trial of the Flash project continues (neatly compiled here), providing Sigild V with storytelling material while I prepare the next project, an ambitious attempt to consolidate DC history by each decade into cohesive narratives.
Comics Reader also continues to feature new material, including more individual issue comments (with RASL, Comic Book Comics, and Justice League joining the excitement), another look at the Green Lantern movie, and regular installments of the blog, such as a Quarter Bin column that has a look at Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's Aztek: The Ultimate Man, plus a note about a collection of adaptations from Edgar Allan Poe short stories.
Hub City continues to showcase selections from my personal library, now featuring more Willie Mays and Bill Clinton!
***
John Morrison was officially released by WWE last week, and has yet to announce his future plans. Much has been made of the belief that Morrison basically brought this upon himself by becoming stagnant, refusing to develop his character, failing to become a presence on the mic, but I believe that WWE found it difficult to promote him after several years of presenting him as one of its best wrestlers and failing to actually do anything meaningful with his career, preferring instead to put the spotlight on wrestlers who could more easily produce storylines. His critics fail to appreciate that John is hardly the first wrestler to fall into this trap, though it's funny that he should be the first one since Chris Benoit's murder/suicide to suffer from this tendency to overlook the best wrestlers in favor of the biggest personalities, because he isn't some mat technician, he's someone with an incredible amount of flare in his repertoire.
What's ironic is that WWE is choosing to promote someone like Zack Ryder as someone who's been "held back," when Ryder has never even approached Morrison's abilities or charisma. Cheap catchphrases and an Internet show can get you attention, but it won't make your career. The very things they love about you now will be the things they ridicule tomorrow (and here I count "they" as WWE management and fans).
John Morrison is bankable talent. WWE's problem is that it took him for granted for too long. Can you say Chris Jericho?
My Trial of the Flash project continues (neatly compiled here), providing Sigild V with storytelling material while I prepare the next project, an ambitious attempt to consolidate DC history by each decade into cohesive narratives.
Comics Reader also continues to feature new material, including more individual issue comments (with RASL, Comic Book Comics, and Justice League joining the excitement), another look at the Green Lantern movie, and regular installments of the blog, such as a Quarter Bin column that has a look at Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's Aztek: The Ultimate Man, plus a note about a collection of adaptations from Edgar Allan Poe short stories.
Hub City continues to showcase selections from my personal library, now featuring more Willie Mays and Bill Clinton!
***
John Morrison was officially released by WWE last week, and has yet to announce his future plans. Much has been made of the belief that Morrison basically brought this upon himself by becoming stagnant, refusing to develop his character, failing to become a presence on the mic, but I believe that WWE found it difficult to promote him after several years of presenting him as one of its best wrestlers and failing to actually do anything meaningful with his career, preferring instead to put the spotlight on wrestlers who could more easily produce storylines. His critics fail to appreciate that John is hardly the first wrestler to fall into this trap, though it's funny that he should be the first one since Chris Benoit's murder/suicide to suffer from this tendency to overlook the best wrestlers in favor of the biggest personalities, because he isn't some mat technician, he's someone with an incredible amount of flare in his repertoire.
What's ironic is that WWE is choosing to promote someone like Zack Ryder as someone who's been "held back," when Ryder has never even approached Morrison's abilities or charisma. Cheap catchphrases and an Internet show can get you attention, but it won't make your career. The very things they love about you now will be the things they ridicule tomorrow (and here I count "they" as WWE management and fans).
John Morrison is bankable talent. WWE's problem is that it took him for granted for too long. Can you say Chris Jericho?
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