B is for Batman Begins (#367)

Batman Begins was released in 2005, and now stands as a testament to Christopher Nolan's expanding creative abilities.  At the time of its release, Nolan was known for the superb Memento, though he'd also made Insomnia and Following, the movie that launched his career.  I would have seen it simply for being a Batman fan, and as a huge fan of Nolan's even at that point.  I didn't expect it to be the kind of movie it actually was.  Although heavily steeped in character, his vision of the Dark Knight (years before the untouchable Dark Knight) was not what I'd expected from Nolan, seeming a little too polished in the typical Hollywood veneer, a little too traditional, a little safe.  I struggled with this impression for years, actually.  I think I'm coming around.  In many ways, its resemblance to the comic book The Long Halloween had dulled the Nolan mystique (Insomnia was adapted from someone else's material, too, but I hadn't seen the original movie, so there was no reference, only creepy Robin Williams and very sleepy Al Pacino), or so I believed.  But then he made The Prestige, and The Dark Knight, and Inception.  Taking myself out of my own way, I think my opinion of Batman Begins will only grow in estimation.  It strength is the thing that was always obvious, that Nolan focused first on Bruce Wayne and then built everything else around him.  That's what a Batman story should be about, until Batman truly emerges.  In Batman Begins, we're simply not there yet.  In any Christopher Nolan movie, expect to discover the main character through the unique circumstances of their life.  That's what he does here.

Star Trek bonus!

B is for Bashir, Julian
(from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
The good doctor of the space station located at the "edge of the final frontier" was the heart and soul of the development that took Deep Space Nine from its early rough edges to the grandiosity that it attained over seven seasons.  He grew up more literally than Sisko's kid, and never is that more apparent than in the metamorphosis of his relationships with Miles O'Brien and Garak, the "plain, simple" Cardassian tailor.  Portrayed by Alexander Siddig, who has gone off to a well-deserved career in the movies, Bashir is one of the great characters of Star Trek.

A-to-Z Challenge!

A is for Alexander (#366)

Alexander is my favorite movie.  It's from director Oliver Stone and stars Colin Farrell, who is my favorite actor.  Released in 2004, it was generally panned by critics and received a lukewarm reception from audiences (except on the international scene).  Some of Farrell's brilliant co-stars include Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Rosario Dawson.  One of the reasons I love the movie so much is that its cast in impeccable.  I also love it for its grand sweep, its deep understanding of character and motivation, and the score by Vangelis.  I love everything about it.  Another cut was released in 2005, to try and make it easier to follow, and then a third in 2007, which is probably the most comprehensive and best one available.  Despite its general reputation, I have maintained Alexander as my favorite film since my first viewing.  I don't expect this to change, even though I've seen many great films since.

Star Trek bonus!

A is for Archer, Jonathan
(from Star Trek: Enterprise)
Jonathan Archer was the captain of the Enterprise, and was portrayed by Scott Bakula, who was sometimes accused of overacting (but that's a tradition that began with Shatner, so don't sweat it).  His father helped further develop the warp engine created by Zephram Cochrane, but Jonathan was the one to see the dream become reality.  He often struggled with Vulcans, but it was his diplomatic abilities despite his worst tendencies that helped form the foundation of the United Federation of Planets.

A-to-Z Challenge!

#365. Survivor: One World thoughts

It's perhaps not a well-documented fact here at Scouring Monk, but I've been watching Survivor since Rich Hatch and me both agreed in the first episode that he was going to win.

My sister shares my obsession, and we've been watching previous seasons in our typical marathon sessions.  That's helped me get my groove back in trying to figure out who has the best odds to win.  That being said, Survivor: One World is now officially Troyzan and Kim's season to lose.  If they don't win, then we'll probably learn in the next few episodes who will be able to dethrone them (next week's preview suggests some of that will be attempted soon).

But I really don't think it'll work.  Again, this season of Survivor will be won by either Troyzan or Kim.  Only so often do the people who find hidden immunity idols bungle their good fortune.  These two won't pull a James.  The fact that they both have one only serves to testify the strength of their game.  Some people stumble into these things.  These two know exactly what they're doing.

#364. Blog Updates, Bluewater, Yoshimi

#364.

I've got a new poem up at Epistles from the New Fade as well as a bonus "Quarter Bin" column at Comics Reader, focusing on Robin, which I took the measure of sharing on Facebook, hoping for a little extra readership, y'know, to justify writing this kind of stuff on the Interweb when there doesn't otherwise seem much purpose without, y'know, significant readership.

But sanity is not defined by the perception of others.

I should also note that I've delivered a second comic book script to Bluewater Studios, publisher of the Wrath of the Titans comics that helped inspire the second Clash of the Titans film.  Bluewater is a company I've tried getting published with in the past, with a short story accepted in an in-limbo Legend of Isis anthology.  Thanks to financial concerns in the modern economy, a lot of things changed from the time it was accepted to the present.  Bluewater started focusing its attention on pop biographies, for one thing, to help stand out from the pack.  That's what I've been submitting to them, one on Neil Gaiman and the new one on Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.  If these get published, they might be the foot in the door I've been looking for.

Examiner.com keeps asking me to contribute more material, but there's so little readership, or interest in what I write for them, that there's very little point to "gaining experience" with them unless I truly feel motivated.  Last year I was in a somewhat better position to go see movies and write reviews for them, but I can't justify the same thing in 2012.  So if you wanted an explanation for my lack of activity, Examiner, that's it.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Hall Bros. Entertainment on the Yoshimi manuscript.  I have to admit that I'm a little concerned that A.C. Hall has once again done a soft revolution on me, and decided against continuing commitments to his extrapersonal literary endeavors, just like what happened with Dead Letter Quarterly nearly five years ago.  When I keep reading Facebook updates about how busy and fulfilled he feels at work, and what he's doing with his own projects (and it's scary enough that 75% of all the things HBE has published is either by A.C or his brother), rather than how he's finally getting through all the Untold Tales of the Past submissions that the brothers were deluged with last fall, I can't help but wonder.  The catch this time is that he's got a contract with me that states if we don't play, he still has to pay.  I don't know if I'm just being paranoid, but this is my literary future, and I'm justified in being a little paranoid.  A lot of things have fallen apart on me.  I would really like this to not be one of them.

Yeah, we'll see.

#363. Poems, Star Trek, Comics

#363.

Once again, I've got my weekly activity across the blogs...

Epistles from the New Fade continues to feature new poems daily, all attempting to elucidate my perspective of the modern world.

Fan Companion continues its look at the fourth season of Star Trek: Voyager, with looks at five more episodes, including "The Killing Game" and "Vis a Vis."

Comics Reader has a new "Quarter Bin" column up, looking at more work from Jeph Loeb, Grant Morrison, and Geoff Johns, as well as a review of Green Lantern #7, also from Johns.

Finally, Sigild has another "Star Trek '12" entry, this time looking at Klingons and Kahless the Unforgettable, as well as the conclusion to "Warship."

Hope something therein is worth reading!

#362. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

#362.

I'm doing the A-Z Challenge in April with movies (which may not surprise those who've visited Fan Companion).  Just thought you'd like to know, picked the line-up from my personal DVD collection, repeating the first four letters at the end of the month.

I picked up David Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo today, one of the movies from the end of 2011 that I didn't get a chance to see in theaters, and the one I most regretted missing.  I think Stieg Larrson's Millennium Trilogy is one of the more important cultural touchstones of, well, the new millennium, whose impact is only beginning.  You can take your Hunger Games.  I'll take my Lisbeth Salander.

#361. Poetry

#361.

Poets hate each other.

I don't know how else to say that.  (Please continue reading my regular entries at Epistles from the New Fade.)  The truth is, that's the only conclusion I can reach.

When I attended the University of Maine, I didn't start out as someone who was all that interested in poetry.  I had attended one year at Mercyhurst College, and started a poetry project after a field trip to Boston (which was ironic, because heading up to Eric, PA was the first time I'd left the New England area, and here I took a trip to...New England), but hadn't really considered any further association with the literary form.  Yet one thing led to another, and this English major (eventual hugely beneficial holder of a degree) and I took one poetry class, and then another, and I sort of became a member of the poetry scene on campus.  (Emphasis on "sort of.")

The New Writing Series launched on campus around this point (you can do the research on that if you'd like), and very curiously, seemed receptive to just about everyone the director of the program could reach except the two major, active poets who were actually members of the faculty.  I didn't really consider how weird that was at the time, possibly because one of them was good friends and collaborator with the director.

In hindsight, after he sorted of skirted any real effort in helping me get a foot in the door of the wider scene upon my graduation, I guess it was kind of appropriate.  When I say I was a part of the scene, and when I say "sort of," I mean that the "scene" disintegrated at the first stiff breeze.  I didn't expect that.  I thought that it was going to last longer than a season.  But it didn't.

And so that helps me reach my conclusion.  Poets don't like each other, not in the modern age, anyway.  I've been doing this blog for a long time, and have now launched five poetry blogs.  Most people don't read other people's blogs anyway, not unless they think they can somehow benefit from it.  But it's a little weird to keep running into that.  I just assumed after many years of writing poems there would be a smidgen of interest, and yet, there isn't.  And so, I conclude, with mock sincerity, that poets don't like each other.  They hate each other, in fact.

How else to put it?  There is no poetry scene because no modern poet is remotely interested in actually saying anything, or acknowledging that anyone might actually have something to say.  There has been such an extreme reaction, like rock music, to the expected and trying to do anything but (while many, many poets do exactly that) that everyone suffers when no one wants to try and reach out...

Am I being a little drastic here?  Probably.  But drastic is good.  Drastic is passion.  Poetry ought to have passion.  If it doesn't, what can possibly be the point?  Just to detail every little expected part of human experience?  Poetry ought to be about the unexpected, everything everyone knows but can't put into words.  Not just the exact way the sunlight hits the windowsill...

Okay, I'm done.  Please read my poems.  Or not.  Probably not.  But it'll still be there.

#360. Free Looks at Comics

#360.

Since I started writing about comic books starting in 2006 at Paperback Reader (now definitively departed), I've had the occasional opportunity to read material I have not needed to buy.  (Among the early ones were Drew Melbourne's ArchEnemies and Night Trippers, which remains the only physical work that has been sent to me.)

Happily, I discovered that my Comics Reader blog has allowed me to continue this, which is a fair bit beyond what I expected from this venture.  Last year I was able to review Dear Creature, which I later saw stocked at Barnes & Noble, and now I've had a look at Sensory Distortion thanks to my adventures on Facebook.  Anyone who has visited Comics Reader knows that I typically read superhero comics, but I can appreciate good storytelling no matter how it's told (cheap plug for Hub City, here), and Sensory Distortion is good visual storytelling.

Did I mention how cool it is to get free looks at stuff?

#359. Poems, Star Trek, Reading List, Comics

#359.

More new content!

New poem at Epistles from the New Fade, for those interested.  Small little nugget of a thought, in as close to what most people think of when they think of poetry as I usually get.

Thoughts on five more episodes from Star Trek: Voyager's fourth season at Fan Companion, with notables including "Mortal Coil" and "Message in a Bottle."

New "Star Trek '12" entry up at Sigild, with a look at elements from the Original Series episode "Arena" (the one with the Gorn), which featured another of those god-like species that seemed to appear in every other episode.  This story features my interpretation of the Metrons.

I've also got updates on my Reading List at Hub City, including thoughts on the book I just finished and the one I just started.

Be sure also to check out the latest "Quarter Bin" at Comics Reader, where I talk about Superman/Batman, the Challengers of the Unknown, Cerebus, and some obscure property known as Star Trek.

#358. Epistles from the New Fade

#358.

I just launched my fifth poem blog cycle, Epistles from the New Fade, continuing the web idylls I've been working on since 2007.  The concept is simple enough: to write a new poem as close to one a day as possible until I reach a hundred.  This will be the first time that I attempt each one to fit a single theme, which is the New Fade.

The New Fade, you ask?  It's a concept I've worked on for almost a decade (I've helpfully tagged in each of the previous four blogs, Terror of Knowing, We'll See, Fall In Their Place, and Modern Woe, poems that have "New Fade" in the title, though it's referenced in others as well, and obviously ones that are not publicly available, including the first one).

The idea is that we live in times that are in a constant state of flux, but the results are more a quagmire than a revelation, so that to understand it at all, and very few people do, you need to examine it in ways that might not seem obvious (but then, the critical eye is what I believe poetry is for).

Poetry itself is in a curious state.  It used to be huge.  It isn't anymore.  In many ways, poetry itself is a fascinating subject for the New Fade, since like almost everything else it's fallen victim to the strange mix of perfect socialism we enjoy that is nonetheless subject to some of the most insidious totalitarianism that history has ever known.  If you can understand that statement, you might understand the New Fade already.

But for everyone else, that's what I'll be trying to write about.

#357. Comics, Fan Companion, Star Trek '12

#357.

I've got an onslaught of material over at Comics Reader, so here's your guide:

First, a new Quarter Bin column, my regular look at older comics, this time dealing with Martian Manhunter and work from creators Jim Krueger and Mark Waid, only one of whom should wish that I was talking about comics they did with Alex Ross.

Then I've got a ton of reviews for new comics: RASL, Aquaman, Demon Knights, Quatermain, Justice League, The Twelve, Nightwing, Shinku, and The Stand, plus a look at a few preview books I got my hands on from Heroes and Dragons, but that one's on top, so if you just visit Comics Reader, already, you'll see that one just fine.

I've also got five more episodes analyses for the fourth season of Star Trek: Voyager up at Fan Companion, so definitely check that out.

Finally, I've got more Star Trek at Sigild.  With the latest entry in the "Star Trek '12" project, I try to put a little perspective on one of the most sensational elements of Voyager, the Vidiians, who famously suffered the horendous Phage and attacked the crew on multiple occasions.  Perspective is what "Star Trek '12" is all about.  Hopefully that's coming across.

#356. John Carter

#356.

I've got a review of John Carter up at Examiner.  It's one of those movies I was compelled to go see even though I had no particular interest in it, and found out there was good reason: not only is it a good movie, but an incredibly intellectually relevant one, too.

The last time that happened was Source Code.  I'm sensing a pattern.

I don't mention in the review, but another good reason to see John Carter is the fact that it seems like a direct extension of the Star Wars prequels, like the next logical step in the movie-going experience, especially if you're one of those older Star Wars fans who couldn't bring yourself to like them.  There are knowing nods to Avatar and Dune, but clearly it's Star Wars, and especially the prequels, that is the most relevant experience, beyond Source Code, The Adjustment Bureau, and the Matrix trilogy.  You'll notice that with the latter films, it becomes a lot harder to find an appreciative audience the more thought is put into the story.

It's one of those movies that kind of changes everything, makes you a fan of something that has long existed but you weren't really aware of, had no idea why you should appreciate it.  I guess I'm not surprised that it's underperforming at the box office, but as I suggest in the review, I hope it finds the audience it deserves, eventually.

I also want to mention how it also brings up an interesting parallel with Superman, with the Fortress of Solitude, an element of the Man of Steel's mythology that has had an inordinate presence in the movies as compared to its overall significance in the comics.  When will a writer figure out how to make it as important to Superman and Krypton's legacy as what can be seen in John Carter?

#355. Honesty

#355.

Honesty begins in the classroom.

Unfortunately, I believe that honesty is the last thing you learn in the classroom.  I'm talking here about intellectual honesty, the stuff that's not measured by how well you do on a test, or how well you can remember specific points in a book that you are then directed to write about.  Intellectual honesty leads to critical thinking ability.  And I'm not sure how much of that we've got going on.

You can read any random movie review, and from an objective standout notice almost immediately that the thing the movie critic is reacting against is almost never the movie itself, but whatever the critic had been thinking about, irregardless of the experience they actually had watching the movie.  It's because they're reacting to elements that don't necessarily combine to the movie experience.  They harp on general observations, but cannot for the life of them tell you what a movie is actually worth.  Critical consensus has no business being so different from the typical audience reaction.

The same goes for how people read, how people write, and the disparity of good literature and good writers being shunned in favor of the easy fix, like reading is a drug.  I'm not sure that critical thinking is taken into account in this equation.  If it makes you think, then it had better have a lot of whiz bang elements, too, but it can't make you think too much!  I don't know.  That's just some of what I've been thinking...

#354. Sigild, Publishers

#354.

I just posted a new story at Sigild, my latest effort to try and do a Star Wars (the way I write Star Trek) as I think is actually worthwhile, writing from the perspective of what we know, rather than dumping irrelevant trivial adventures that don't mean anything to the powerful story we already know (because anything else, what does it matter to Star Wars that couldn't have been done in someone else's creation?).

And I've been thinking at how ridiculous an age we live in.  Reading is at such a curious phase right now.  Bookstores are struggling to remain relevant, partly because there are people who are absolutely convinced that everything digital is not only the future, but our present.  This means not only that there are people reading existing literature digitally, but that a lot of aspiring writers are writing to that market, convinced that this is their best way at exposure and success.

Except it seems to me that many of those writers are only reading other writers like them who are getting their things published (the new Internet boom, I suppose) in this manner, so that they're only reading what should at best be considered highly questionable literary material, and I don't say this to demean these writers, but at my basic experience that 99% of writers are not good writers, who write because they like writing and not because they should actually be writing.

Traditional publishers know this.  They know this so well that they've actually taken to sabotaging themselves, because they have no idea how to handle the volume of submissions they receive in a reasonable manner.  There are a great many more books published each year than there are films released.  (And that's just one reason why the average film is better than the average book, because film is the dominant medium of the storyteller in the 21st century.)  This would be fine if publishers knew how to market their products, but they don't, and critics who believe their opinions actually matter apparently don't realize that the majority of existing readers prefer the easiest possibles reads, mostly because they're the easiest possible selections.  They don't have to dig into the mass tangle of reviews that only sometimes crescendo on a single book, and even then mass audiences only really come together when someone other than a critic recommends one.

So this means that all those writers writing for the digital forum who read each other, believing that they're supporting the medium and boasting about their success are only hurting themselves and the medium they're trying to support.  The more they read mediocre work the more they write mediocre work, because they cannot differentiate between their unreasonable expectations and the best possible uses of literature.  Again, I do not advocate censuring popular literature so much as support the idea that the best of all possible worlds celebrate real merit over ambition and easy sales.

But what do I know?

#353. Tim Sale & Jeph Loeb, Star Trek '12, Seven Thunders

#353.

Some new material up at both Comics Reader and Sigild.

The former has a new "Quarter Bin" column, exploring some thoughts on the dynamic duo of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale via some of their Marvel work together, specifically Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray, and Spider-Man: Blue.  I've written about them at the comics blog before, mostly obsessing over their forgotten first masterpiece, The Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!, so yeah, they're another recurring feature, along with my continuing thoughts on Grant Morrison, among other favorites.  I've got another five weeks of "Quarter Bin," and then I'll be spending some time on Oni's excellent Wasteland, covering each of its trade paperback collections, and also IDW's Cobra, another buried treasure of the modern comics landscape.

The latter includes a new "Star Trek '12" entry as well as the first installment of a new project, "new" in the sense that I've rarely made public material I've been working on for two decades (since middle school!), that happens to tie in with Seven Thunders, the next book I'll be writing and the one I've worked on since 1998.  You can understand that it means a great deal to me.  This particular, initial installment references "an ancient institution whose origins were shrouded in legend," among other things, which is actually a cryptic reference to the only other public material for this sci-fi epic, which I published on a previous web presence.  (If you scour the archives of Scouring Monk, you could find it!)

#352. Star Trek Fan Companion Returns

#352.

I'm now reclaiming Fan Companion as an active member of my blog family, digging back into Star Trek.

More specifically, I'm writing some individual commentaries for episodes of seasons that readers previously indicated were more provocative from the early summaries of my franchise thoughts back in 2010 (as indicated by level of actual readership).  My whole purpose for the Fan Companion in the first place was to try and suggest that it's not as hard as some fans like to suggest to like Star Trek in all of its forms.  Some fans, for instance, suggest that Voyager, for instance, or Enterprise, or even the critically-beloved Deep Space Nine, is by definition inferior to the original series or Next Generation.  Their main ammunition was the diminishing returns in viewership from the peak of the franchise (circa 1994), which they took to prove that later shows and films just weren't as good as earlier ones.

Of course, in 2012 you could make the argument that no Star Trek was really popular until the 2009 film.  That's beside the point!

I'm simply trying to make the whole process less ambiguous.  With the new episode commentaries, I'm trying to discuss the success rate by four categories:

1) Franchise, or if you need to be a fan of Star Trek in general to enjoy it;

2) Series, or if you need to be a fan of that particular series;

3) Essential, or if you can enjoy it above and beyond specific loyalties;

4) Character, or if the episode centers on someone who helps it succeed just on that level.

An episode can win distinction with any one category, or several, or best of all, all four.  My humble opinion is that any episode that accomplishes that is worth watching whether or not you're skeptical about my opinions.

#351. Honest Feedback

#351.

I was going to write this from the perspective of employment, but I think it's a good rule of thumb for anyone.  Always, always, always welcome feedback.  Honest feedback is the first sign of an open dialogue, and I believe that open dialogue is the first rule of civil society.

I want to stress this, because I believe that feedback is the last thing that most people in authority are interested in.  They believe in their authority, and believe that authority itself is enough of a reason that they do not need to consider the role of feedback, open dialogue, in the order of things.  They believe in the concept of Darwinism, which has been bastardized as the most simple interpretation of "survival of the fittest," in that those who have the tools to influence others are the most worthy of reaping the rewards of society.

In the wild, yes, animals capable of and willing to kill other animals definitely fit that concept, "survival of the fittest."  Yet the human animal is unique, otherwise you wouldn't have the chance to read this perspective.  We have the ability to think critically, and to react to our environment in ways that do not directly reflect our basic survival.  The fact is that the true 1% is the segment of the population that produces the basic ingredients of what we eat.  The 99% is the population that needs to find other ways to make a living, because we've determined that everyone must appear to be productive.

I say, "must appear to be," because clearly most of that 99% is not needed to do anything remotely productive to eating and sleeping, the only things a living being really needs to accomplish.  Everything else is dictated by the rules of society, and most of those rules have to do with the dispensing of resources, or to be more accurate, the control of dispensation.  Those who are able to put themselves in a position of control believe that they are in the best position and should therefore be compensated accordingly.

That may be, but the fact is that they could not control if there were no one to control, and the idea of control is that there are many other people actually doing the thing than those who are standing over them expecting them to do it.

Now, is it really a smart thing to give total control to those in such a position?  My theory is that those under control should have the right to dictate the means of control.  I suppose this is where unions come from.  But what I mean is that no condition that favors those in the position of control over those who are controlled should be tolerated.  This is the basic idea of feedback.  This is, like I said, the first rule of civilized society.

If we are to consider ourselves enlightened, should we not demand equality?  Someone in the position to direct the flow of things should not, in fact, be in control.  That's not what they should be doing.  This is not to advocate chaos, but to ensure that there is a balance.

I do not blame those who benefit from inequality.  That is the structure we have all supported for millennia, whether actively or passively, even today, partly because traditionally those who are in control have had the power to dictate terms, and we still live in times where old systems live on, even if it's very difficult to admit.

It's not about a significant contribution to society.  It's about admitting that a spade is a spade.  We're all human.  When an accident happens, you don't get to survive just because you have a lot of money.  This is not, "You can't take it with you."  It's about, from an objective view, can you be respected for your decisions?

Maybe it's because it's not encouraged to consider things objectively.  Or to consider things critically.  I believe independent thought should be encouraged, celebrated.

Not told you're worthless and should just do as you're told.  If you need to resort to any definition of a threat, maybe you should consider whether you're benefiting everyone, or just your own selfish interests.

These are some of the thoughts available in honest feedback.

#350. Comics Reader, Star Trek '12 (Again)

#350.

Got some new reading material at both Comics Reader and Sigild.  Worth your time?

Depends.  At Comics Reader, it's another Quarter Bin column, looking at another random assortment of comics that all end up reflecting the theme of things not always living up to expectations, which isn't terribly radical, but maybe in the comics I look at and what I say about them, it might be worth checking out.

With Sigild, I'm continuing the "Star Trek '12" series, visiting another century with another pretty short entry, which may or may not be the last pretty short entry for a while.  We'll see.  This time the perspective is a little different, looking from the future rather than directly at the past.  Versatility!

The point may be with that one, though, that brevity can sometimes be the soul of wit, which is a philosophy I'm not sure is widely held in literature today.  I know that lots of writers are writing what's called flash fiction these days, but the dominant interest in publishing remains the kind of writing that prizes excessively detailed narration on every action and detail of a story, rather than inner monologues and commentaries that to my mind are more interesting.  But who am I against the tide?

#349. Hub City TLC

#349.

I've giving Hub City some TLC, catching up with the work I've done across my other blogs, gathering archives for the three main facets of my book blog: "Scouring Books," where I write about the contents of my personal library; "Reading List," which is an extension of what I started doing here a few years back and was the main reason I started this particular spin-off in the first place, detailing the books I'm currently reading; and "Thoughts On," which is itself a spin-off of the Reading List, where I started writing, well, my thoughts on the books I just finished reading.

So not only did I do that, but I just posted new "Thoughts On" and "Reading List" entries (go have a look a look at Hub City!).  I felt like having a blog like that would be a good example, should anyone stumble onto it, for my belief that there's a lot more interesting stuff to read than I typically experience people exhibiting.  Most of the time, readers tend to stick to one particular genre, or steer toward safe picks like bestsellers, and otherwise avoid trying to find what I find to be a vast assortment of fascinating material, because school left them so scarred about reading that for most people, it's enough to repeat the platitude that reading is important (and that attitude that reading is intellectually better than watching), but mostly avoid actually doing it.

Everyday I kind of kid myself into believing that any day now hundreds if not thousands of readers will spontaneously discover my blogs, any one of them, and it won't seem to ridiculously indulgent and nonsensical to be so much of it.  Hub City is the blog I've had the hardest time finding even tens of people to stumble upon, but I'm still proud of the work I've done and will continue to do for it.  Oftentimes people associate "work" with what you're paid or otherwise have to do, when work can and should be what you want to do.  Those same people give lip service to the idea of the American Dream that suggests anyone can achieve that with enough, ahem, hard work, but the fact is, those same people are busy securing their own success at the direct expense of anyone else trying to do the same.  That's not capitalism, that's not reactionalism, that's the American Reality.  I'm currently working a job Stanley Milgrim would have recognized (and that's all I'm going to say about that), and that's the American Reality, that it's incredibly convenient for the expectation for most Americans to be that they either obey or find themselves jobless, and woe be their own shortcomings.

Anyway, enough ranting...

#348. WrestleMania XXVIII

#348.

And now to talk about the infinitely popular (and recurring Scouring Monk subject) of professional wrestling!

Specifically, how this year's WrestleMania is shaping up.  Technically, this is a process that's been ongoing since last year.  Everyone who cares knows the main event is John Cena vs. The Rock.

Quite frankly, this one's probably going to be the best ever.  Based on the announced and easily-speculated matches, the problem is going to be how exactly they're going to work in just what we know already without skirting audience fatigue, assuming a reasonable amount of time for each one.

Triple H vs. Undertaker will be a showstopper, and it looks like they're really trying to make this one special, relevant to both icons' careers (if not the final one for one of them) in a huge way, building on the momentum Shawn Michaels kicked off with Ric Flair in 2008 (which led to his matches with Undertaker, which led to last year's gamechanger).

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho is the bid for as pure a wrestling contest as you can expect, from two guys who should really be able to deliver.  This one's especially awesome, since Punk deserves a breakout match at WrestleMania, not the least for having a terrific 2011.

Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus is the match that was supposed to happen last year, and so that's just awesome and weird and awesome that they're getting a second chance, this time over the world title.  Clearly Sheamus cannot be the main event guy that Royal Rumble winners usually are, but there are just so many big matches already on the card, does it really matter?  This one's practically one giant main event, which is what WrestleMania ought to be, but rarely actually is.  This one, like I said, looks like it will come the closest.

Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes is probable, and a good thing for Rhodes, who has been the most consistent member of the midcard for the past year, even though he'll probably lose to Show here.

I'll decline to speculate on other possibilities at this point, but five strong matches is already pretty good.

#347. 2012 Oscars, Fringe

#347.

I've written another article for Examiner, this time on tomorrow's Oscars, which was something that didn't occur to me to do until a few days ago.  I started writing for the site at the start of the summer movie season last year, and had a good time of it, but a combination of policies and the fact that I ran into unemployment curtailed my activities for months, and so I stopped posting there for what seemed almost like a permanent basis.  Then, of course, I finally started up again, and so it occurred to me that giving my thoughts on the Academy Awards really made sense.

***

Anyway, I'm wondering if Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were watching Fringe last night and wondered what the Temporal Cold War and Daniels were suddenly doing on the show.  I know, I know, the enigmatic Observer and his pals have been appearing on Fringe since the start of the series, but last night we finally found out exactly who they actually are, and it's a little difficult now to avoid comparisons with what Star Trek: Enterprise was doing for four years with one of its own subplots, periodically revisiting the time-traveling Daniels, who couldn't seem to avoid telling Captain Archer that it was a huge honor to meet, essentially, the founder of the Federation.  Like our friend last night, Daniels died prematurely in the final season, which is another reason I'm hoping Berman and Braga don't get upset, because at the very least it's a huge honor for a critically acclaimed show to be doing anything like what the least popular Star Trek had previously done, and Fringe is a truly exceptional show struggling, just like Enterprise, to reach a fifth season.

I just thought it was worth noting the coincidence.

#346. A-to-Z Challenge Signup

#346.

Okay, so I'm not exactly sure what I've just gotten myself into, but in some of my continuing efforts to get this blog to its best possible shape I've been subscribing to a lot more blogs (which are listed somewhere along the right side of the page), and have signed up for something called a blog hop, which will be relevant come April 1 when I guess I'll be participating in the A-Z Challenge, which I'm still not sure I entirely understand, but hopefully I will by then.

It's kind of funny, because Scouring Monk itself doesn't have a lot of fascinating activity these days, because of all these spin-off blogs I've been developing (listed as Scouring Blogs on the right, for your convenience), so I'm wondering how much people would be interested in a hub that simply redirects attention elsewhere.  Oh yeah.  This is the Internet.  That's what it's all about.

Anyway, I'm hoping the blog hop will be fun...

#345. Comics, Star Trek '12, This Means War

#345.

Got a new Quarter Bin column up at Comics Reader, as well as reviews for Justice League, Action Comics, and Green Lantern.

Plus, the Star Trek '12 project continues at Sigild V.  I think I'm really going to have fun writing this one, and there's a lot more coming.

(And hey, I might even return to the DC Decades project at some point, too!)

You'll also be pleased, no doubt, to know that I did, in fact, see This Means War, and as the link suggests, write a review for it at Examiner.

#344. Archiving

#344.

I've done some work improving the archiving at Comics Reader, Sigild V, and Fan Companion, which I will very soon be rededicating exclusively to Star Trek.  Hopefully it'll help make everything that much easier to navigate and read...

#343. Percy Jackson

#343.

I've got a new "Thoughts on..." post at Hub City about the Percy Jackson books, which my sister motivated me to read.  I explain my conclusions about the series, which ends up sounding a little tortured, but on the whole, they're not that bad.  Now, hopefully I'll be able to jump back into that Reading List of mine, which got a really strong push last fall, but has slowed quite a bit in the early months of this year.

Yay!

#342. Movies Featuring Tom Hardy, Chris Pine

#342.

Finally starting to write some new content for my Examiner page, starting with some profiles for Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, who costar with Reese Witherspoon in McG's latest movie, This Means War, which if all goes to plan I'll be seeing and actually reviewing next week.

Cross your fingers!

#341. Comics, Star Trek '12 Project

#341.

Some quick blog family updates:

I've got a new Quarter Bin column up at Comics Reader, covering climactic issues for Nightwing, Impulse, and Martian Manhunter, some of my favorite superheroes.

At Sigild, I've begun Star Trek '12, my latest fiction project from the franchise.  I always seem to draw a little more readership when I'm writing Star Trek, whether at Sigild or Fan Companion.  Maybe there are some curious people out there looking to see what modern fans are thinking?  Because I know that in my old Lower Decks community (which you can probably blame for all my blogs), interest died out years ago, people grew tired of what everyone else thought, or what they might write.  The "Star Trek '12" project will mark the fourteenth year in which I've written Star Trek fiction, and so that's pretty interesting.  I'm constantly working on how to approach these stories, and it's fair to say that I've learned the most about what kind of writer I am during this period of my life, and so I'm constantly pushing myself in new directions with them, and this one will be no different.

Speaking of Fan Companion, I also have a new "Comparative (f)Analysis" column, revisiting, appropriately enough, Star Trek.

#340. Workplace Depression

#340.

I've finally gone ahead and given Scouring Monk its latest revamp (and it looks peachy!), making everything hopefully that much more navigable (and when I say everything, I mean just about everything).

Last night my sister was flipping to The Voice, and I happened to catch Adam Levine tell a contestant none of the coaches chose for their teams (thus eliminating them from the competition immediately) that they shouldn't consider this rejection to be a repudiation of their dream, or in so many words, that it was merely a setback.  Okay, so I love Adam Levine and all (Maroon 5 is more or less yet another unacknowledged modern pop giant, if you follow the critics, anyway), but the comment helped ruin my night, which might not have been so hard, given that I had a miserable end to another workday spent in purgatory.

Let me explain that a little.  After Borders went out of business last September, I spent four months looking for work, and I was finally hired the week of Christmas, and started the second week of the new year.  It's not that I'm not grateful to have a job now, but that I have once again been plunged into the reality of the workplace, and "reality" means, for most people, that it is in some form abject misery.  It doesn't help matters that I've been trying to be paid for writing since graduating from college at the end of 2003, and have had one opportunity remove itself from me after another, which has led me into the sludge of the everyday workplace, and because I have a degree in English and no other reasonable skills but a willingness to work, I've been stuck working with the public.  I don't know if you know this, but the public sucks.

Anyway, so when Levine told this girl that the show's rejection was not, in essence, personal, it just felt like a slap in the face to anyone who has to undergo this kind of treatment countless times in the continuing hope that one day it'll actually work out.  Someone like Levine, who has had various forms of success fall in his lap (to generalize), may simply not be able to appreciate the emotional toll failure can actually take (even if failure in this instance involved TV time, but then, just about anyone can be on TV these days).  The American Dream is supposed to represent the idea that hard work and dedication can prevail over any obstacle, but statistically it's impossible for everyone to achieve their dreams, especially when there are those who have who don't stop to appreciate the helping hands they got along the way.  Maybe Levine thought the girl got her helping hand just by being seen on the show, I don't know, but the point is, he was pretty heartless in that comment, whether he realized it or not.  (The girl at least paid lip service to her own belief that he was right, but then, what else was she going to say?)

All of this is to say, what Levine really achieved was making me reflect back on all my failures, and the concern that failure is all I will ever actually experience.

That being said, failure is not always the end of the story.  Failure isn't even necessarily the outcome of the story.  I happen to believe that there's something to gained from every situation, no matter how it makes you feel.  Anyone incapable of that doesn't deserve my pity.  I have not succeeded in becoming a published writer, but the journey I've taken since 2003 has produced a multitude of blessings.  Sometimes, you learn something new and fruitful entirely by accident.  Just to give you an example, last week I wrote my latest Quarter Bin column for Comics Reader, and made a reference to writer Elizabeth Hand, who at the time I knew virtually nothing about.  I've been writing on the Internet for years, and have occasionally received responses from public figures who happened to stumble on what I wrote.  Hand was probably one of the quickest responses.  If she hadn't, I probably would never even have considered reading her more than I had already (a handful of comics, which isn't very representative of her career), yet now I'm working a few of her books into my reading future, and am seriously considering her to be one of my most important literary discoveries.

And just for the record, I started writing about comics because I tried breaking into comics (a process that continues to this day), so that's just another small example of what I'm talking about.

Yesterday, I ended the day on a miserable note.  Today I woke up with the ability to pick myself back up again.  I won't try and make any promises about tomorrow.

#339. Sigild V

#339.

Having promised it in the masthead since the blog's debut a year ago, I thought it was about time I started posting in earnest flash fiction at Sigild.

I should note that my family of blogs (listed on the right, along with Sigild, as Comics Reader, Hub City, and Fan Companion) are now being updated in the middle of the week once again, for those keeping score.

#338. Updates, Maine

#338.

For the record, I've got updated content throughout the core of four blogs that I've spun out from Scouring Monk, so have some fun looking around if you like (not providing links this time, because they're all there on the right side, lazy reader!).

This time next week I'll be visiting home in Maine!

#337. Blogging Updates, Yoshimi, Bluewater

#337.

Since I went back to work a few weeks ago, my blogging activity has slowed and will continue to be slowed down from what it was like the last few months of 2011.  I'm making an effort to maintain my posting at Comics Reader, plus reading updates at Hub City (which does feature that streamlined Austen Paradise store at the bottom!).  The Fan Companion seems to have lost all the momentum it struggled to maintain after the Star Trek posts of 2010 and the early film talk of last year; apparently my wrestling thoughts couldn't rouse much interest, at least in that forum.  I'm taking something of a break from that, and maybe a little time off from Sigild as well, even though I've done "relatively popular" work there with some of the stories I've written for it (again, Star Trek seems to find an audience).

I'm waiting to hear back from the Brothers Hall about Yoshimi (as well as my last submission to its latest anthology), and some work I've done for Bluewater Comics.  Fingers getting sprained from being crossed!

#336. 2011 Wrestling Review

#336.

Last year was an interesting one for professional wrestling, almost like a starting point across the board, in terms of North American promotions.  WWE's biggest move was announcing this year's main event at WrestleMania, upon Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's first real appearances with the company since 2004, but it was blessed with the unexpected ascendance of CM Punk as well, even though everyone expected Alberto Del Rio to occupy John Cena's time until the biggest match of his career.  TNA spent a great deal of time trying to figure out the best way to repackage itself, finally anointing a pair of homegrown stars as its future.  ROH gained national TV exposure.  Maybe this was not exactly the start of another wrestling boom, but all of it combined for a healthy boost in the right direction.

All in all, I think it was a pretty good year.  The Miz was WWE champion when 2011 dawned, and continued his effective work as a transitional heel presence, doing everything necessary even though anyone could easily tell by that point that he had no legitimate claim to being the company's top dog.  He made it to the main event of WrestleMania, but the machine for the next one had already begun, and The Miz was clearly not a factor in that equation.  Del Rio won the Royal Rumble, just so everyone knew just how important he would become in WWE's game plan for the year, though he was quickly buried in favor of Edge's final moments of in-ring glory.  To everyone's surprise, Christian was finally tapped as an important figure in the company, serving as one of Smackdown's main attractions and feuding over the world title with Randy Orton, who continued his uninspired performances, at least as a character, which has been a problem for a few years now.  (It's disappointing when one of WWE's featured talents so often coasts.  You can't just hide behind a lack of personality and say you're playing the face.)

Things became interesting on a day-to-day basis once Cena lost the title (which he quickly captured from Miz after one of those patented the-good-guy-was-screwed! WrestleMania finishes) to Punk in the best PPV match of the year at Money in the Bank.  Everyone took notice of Punk for the first time, after he finally took the time to look beyond himself in his promos (by ironically declaring that he had no intention of doing anything but wait for his contract to expire, and be champion when it happened).  I secretly hoped that this would somehow turn him into the next Steve Austin, but as it turns out, John Laurinaitis ("executive vice president of talent relations and interim general manager of Raw") is not Vince McMahon.  He's just the straight man.  Punk ended up solidifying his place in the top tier, but not as an audience magnet.

When Punk momentarily stepped away, Cena became champion again, and then Rey Mysterio did, too.  For reasons that fate did not allow to play out better, Mysterio couldn't stick around, and so Cena and Punk clashed again, and then Del Rio entered back into the scene, and that was the title picture for the rest of the year, until Cena just plain stopped being relevant to any PPV story that involved him in an actual match.  (He instead became distracted by a series of returning stars, including Mick Foley and Kane.)

Meanwhile on Smackdown, Mark Henry was finally given exactly the kind of push he could have been given, and was almost given, many times and many years ago.  For some reason, some fans actually got behind him for the first time.  I was interested in this in 2003, 2006, but surprisingly, not in 2011, at least not when he was battling Randy Orton or the Big Show.  It wasn't compelling.  Daniel Bryan, yes, but not what he actually did as champion, at PPVs.  (His best match was against Bryan, at the live Smackdown, in a steel cage.)

Mistico debuted as Sin Cara and nobody cared.  Okay, I did.  But everyone else didn't care.  Hey, I'm also a fan of John Morrison.

The tag team scene meant nothing but developing and/or using talent the company didn't otherwise particularly care about, but not in compelling ways or compelling combinations.  Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler redeemed the concept of the midcard, and were probably the unsung heroes of the company throughout the year.  Wade Barrett and Sheamus and Jack Swagger all languished at levels that were beneath them (which makes it all the more baffling that Mark Henry apparently didn't have opponents that would actually make him interesting).  Zack Ryder inexplicably received a giant push with the same tired material that got him nowhere two years earlier, with the same limited potential and no signs of growth, except the ability to modestly perform in high pressure scenarios.  R-Truth continued to overachieve with the same basic qualities he's consistently displayed throughout his career.  "Overachieve" because he's consistently deserved better than the relatively modest programs he receives, even when billed as NWA champion.  Morrison, meanwhile, got raw deal after raw deal (on Raw!), sometimes from the suits behind the cameras, sometimes from his own body.

I may be missing an important note here or there.

In TNA, the company started the year with Jeff Hardy in the Miz position, with an incredible amount of faith to carry a program that ultimately proved to be self-destructive.  Hardy was given one too many pushes as champion, for reasons that proved irresponsible and reckless on any number of levels.  He wisely entered a program with Mr. Anderson, who finally became a world champion, but somehow ended up the winner of that feud, which pushed him into a program with Sting, who for practical reasons came out on top, and the hot potato went back to Anderson, and then back to Sting (I think) and then eventually to Kurt Angle.  Angle hadn't been champion since 2009, mind you.  Anyway, the company held this massive tournament to determine the number one contender at Bound for Glory (TNA's WrestleMania, without the hype), and for some reason Bully Ray spent most of the tournament looking like he would win, but it actually came down to Beer Money teammates James Storm and Bobby Roode, with Roode prevailing and challenging Angle at BfG.  For some reason, everyone was extremely angry when Angle won that match (Roode had never in his career been presented as a wrestler anywhere near the caliber of Kurt Angle, mind you, and had spent barely any time as a singles wrestler, at least in TNA).  Anyway, Storm actually did beat Angle, on Impact, and then Roode beat Storm, and suddenly the company actually has both these guys as viable main event players, completely altering the paradigm (they had also been members of Fortune along with other TNA talent, AJ Styles and Kazarian), actually putting things back to where they'd been in 2010, with champions known for their reliability (well, at least Styles and RVD), but with real programs waiting for them.

Oh, and Hardy actually made a comeback after an apparently devastating setback mere months earlier, got his life under control, and agreed to lose his very next championship opportunity.  That's a whole company growing up right there, folks.

ROH actually had probably one of its weaker years, all considered, talent that maybe wrestles the traditional ways but not to a level people particularly cared about.  But with national exposure alumni like Nigel McGuinness might actually help turn that around.  Who knows?  Hell, Daniel Bryan actually closed out the year as a WWE world champion!  Anything can happen!

#335. Austen Paradise, DC Decades Project, Chris Jericho

#335.

I've revamped my Amazon store, Austen Paradise (which can be found on its own or at the bottom of Hub City), just a bit of housekeeping to make it easier to use.

There's also DC50, covering DC in the 1950s, at Sigild.  Hopefully more goodies coming this week!

***

I hope I'm alone in kind of wishing it hadn't been Chris Jericho marking the big return last night.  Unless a really kickass WrestleMania program results from it...I wish CM Punk could concentrate on Dolph Ziggler for a while...But I guess we'll just have to wait and see about how things develop.

#334. DC Decades Project, Best of 2011 Movies, QB50, Reading List

#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.

#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.

#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!

#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...

#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...

#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

#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.

#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!

#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...

#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.

#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!

#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...

#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?

#321. Comics Reader

#321.

Buncha new stuff to read at Comics Reader to round out November, including individual thoughts on some new comics I've read, plus a feature on some freebies I've gotten lately.

#320. Trial of the Flash, Jabroni Companion, Your Face Tomorrow

#320.

One of my current blog projects actually ties two of the branches together, a reimagining of the 1980s Trial of the Flash I'm writing at Sigild V that I wrote about at Comics Reader thanks to a recent Showcase reprint volume.  (This update confirms what I wrote last time, for the record.  Everything proceeded to plan.)

I'm officially quitting the Jabroni Companion at Fan Companion in favor of a new "Comparative fAnalysis" that'll take closer looks at several different topics.  Should launch fairly soon.

Hub City continues to feature the Reading List, which will finally advance past Javier Marias' masterful Your Face Tomorrow, which I've included commentary on in a series of essays, if you were interested in that.

Last week was Thanksgiving/Black "Friday," as you know, so I had a little more family time with my sister than usual, and I went on three interviews earlier in the week.  That accounts for the lack of activity in the Scouring family, in case you were wondering.

#319. Yoshimi, Trial of the Flash

#319.

The big news is that I did finish the first draft of Yoshimi this week and have now sent it off to the fine editors at HBE.

Earlier today I posted a new Quarter Bin column at Comics Reader, and hope to have another feature up tomorrow on the classic "Trial of the Flash" storyline from the '80s, which I'm also planning to adapt for Sigild V.

#318. Cornell Womack

#318.

Just want to note actor Cornell Womack, who appeared in this week's Criminal Minds episode "No Place Like Home" as the medical examiner Cranston.  It was a relatively small role and he was mostly out of focus in the background, but clearly this guy has presence (he's been in The Happening and State of Play, has appeared in several versions of Law & Order and has a recurring role in Rescue Me).  He sounds a ton like Orson Welles, and spent most of his time in the Criminal Minds episode eating a sandwich.  It just seems like this is at the very least a character actor just begging to be discovered and given greater exposure, and that's exactly what he was thinking during the scene.

Anyway, so here noted...Cornell Womack, an actor just waiting to be noticed.

#317. Yoshimi, Comic Books, Your Face Tomorrow, Jabroni Companion

#317.

I've slowed a little, recently, working around my Mouldwarp family of blogs, but I'm always the scouring kind.  I've been working at the conclusion of Yoshimi (hopefully to be first-draft-finished by the end of next week), so I'll use that as my excuse.

Sigild V did recently see my "Occupy Wall Street" story completed in five acts, and there has been a little bit of interest from readers, probably more or on par with my most popular writing to date in that forum.

Comics Reader has easily seen the most activity in recent weeks, with some feverish manipulation of my regular schedule, so that it has sometimes been possible to read the regular Reader column and the Quarter Bin column in the same week, plus some specials like another look at Green Lantern, and shout-out to Karl Kesel's web activities, and an earlier review of the graphic novel Dear Creature.  Most recently I've talked about Grant Morrison's inspirations from the Black Casebook trade collection, and will very soon be talking about the 1980s trial of Barry Allen.

Hub City hasn't really caught on with readers, but I'm continuing to plug away at it, listing books from my personal library, the Reading List, and thoughts on Your Face Tomorrow, the latest of some modern literary classics I wish everyone were aware of.

Fan Companion continues, still discussing professional wrestling.  Readership on this blog has slowed considerably.  I'm not sure if it's because of the wrestling talk or what, but I did have for an extended period some lightly feverish reading of my Star Trek fan thoughts, which launched the blog last year, while the Film Fan was a fairly successful follow-up.  I guess I'll wait and see about this one.

I'm not sure if it's because I made a Google profile recently or not, but I've had some huge spikes of interest here at Scouring Monk, the most of all the blogs, which hasn't exactly translated to business throughout the whole family.  I guess that's another thing I'll just have to accept.

#316. Occupy Wall Street

#316.

I've concluded my "Occupy Wall Street" story at Sigild V, rounding out a look at four representative figures of the movement from a literary standpoint, plus an investigator's impressions following the central assassination event.

I myself have not attended any OWS-type rallies or gatherings, but being unemployed since the end of Borders and enjoying unemployment so thoroughly, I can certainly sympathize with those frustrated to an apparent breaking point with the economic situation in America (and elsewhere), who feel they've been overlooked, ignored, and marginalized by those in power, both in government and the general job market.  No, Americans are not generally considered among the most impoverished and disadvantaged peoples, and perhaps it's for that very reason that those who represent us should insist on the highest quality of fair play among the citizens, so that everyone has an equal chance to succeed without fear of unreasonable restrictions and artificial limitations that harass development and potential, so that even those immediately qualified to succeed at a basic level are denied their ability to make a living in a manner of their choosing.

#315. Flawless Kitty Logic Returns

#315.

Flawless Kitty Logic

When considering possible solutions to a problem,

probable outcomes are not a necessary factor.  So,

stealing a toy blaster to battle invading ants

does not require any thought to said blaster's

effectiveness, nor the ultimate fate of blaster.

It's the thought that counts!

#314. Halloween

#314.

Happy Halloween!  I am seriously writing this in a Starfleet (circa TNG) costume I originally wore in grade school.  It still (mostly) fits.  But it's not the most comfortable thing in the world.  I hope the chitlens appreciate it later.

(For the record, I did grow considerably since grade school.  I suspect it may have been fairly large originally.  Or it stretches a lot.)

#313. Tie

#313.

So, a week of some setbacks did produce one glowing victory:

I tied my first tie.

In the words of the late Harvey Pekar, "Today I am a man!"

#312. Cardinals 2011 World Series Champions

#312.

The Flawless Kitty says, thank you very much.  Congratulations, Cardinals!

#311. Hub City, Occupy Wall Street, Jabroni Companion, Flashpoint, Message Boards, Good Reads

#311.

Just some quick updates about current activity around my family of blogs...

Hub City continues to host the Reading List, recently featuring Dave Barry, Roberto Bolano, and Javier Marias's Your Face Tomorrow. 

Sigild has begun a special Occupy Wall Street series, a literary look at some of the influences that have brought that group/movement together.

Fan Companion continues to talk professional wrestling, with recent topics revisiting the Nexus and JBL (a "Wrestling God").

Comics Reader just looked at a completely different Flashpoint mini-series.

I've also recently begun posting at the WrestleView message boards, and continue to visit the Comic Book Resources forums, to the possible regret of some members. 

Also, got a Good Reads profile, maybe establish my writerly credentials a little.

Also, debuted Flawless Kitty Logic here at Scouring Monk a few days ago, which will probably reappear.  Because cats possess flawless kitty logic!

#310. Lost Hangover

#310.

This has been a pretty interesting year for the creators of Lost.  Damon Lindelof was involved in Cowboys & Aliens, which in some ways might be considered his own interpretation of what that series might have been.  J.J. Abrams delivered Super 8, which again shared similar themes.

Now we have ABC's Once Upon a Time from Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, and it happens to feature a girl who had to give her special child up for adoption.  Hey, I'm just sayin'...If you think this one's just about fairy tales, definitely pay attention to the Kitsis/Horowitz/Lost connection.  It's more relevant than you might think.  The pilot episode is a little slow to start off, but it definitely builds, which is interesting.  I have to imagine, given this pattern, that the show will probably be pretty good overall.  We'll see.

#309. Flawless Kitty Logic

#309.

Flawless Kitty Logic:

With a convincing performance in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series, Albert Pujols guarantees victory for the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he'll be happy to resign. And Mark McGwire will no longer be a black sheep in baseball. Also, something about rally squirrels distracting pesky dogs permanently.

#308. Bobby Roode

#308.

Just wanted to comment on the new TNA champion.

Since Sunday I've heard bitching and moaning over the fact that Bobby Roode didn't beat Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory. It was absurd, because 1) there was really no reason for it and 2) Roode probably wasn't the guy to win that match.

So tonight on Impact Wrestling the right man won, and that would be James Storm.

Let me just acknowledge, too, that Angle probably should have won, one way or another, at BFG, simply for his appearance in this year's best movie, Warrior, the story of two brothers who compete in a massive MMA tournament, which Angle's character is favored to win, being the fearsome Russian Koba (Kurt has no real lines in the movie, for the record).

In using a tag team like Beer Money during a time when audiences and fans should be remembering Angle in Warrior (I say should because very few people have seen it, and even critics have been douchebags about it), TNA was far more ingenious than anyone is ready to admit.

Throughout the tournament the company held for the championship opportunity at BFG, TNA seemed to be going any number of ways with the winner, before settling on Roode and Storm in the finals. This ostensibly set Roode up to be the man, the homegrown hero TNA fans could cheer. When he lost on Sunday, some fans felt cheated (TNA "fans" and wrestling fans in general who like to feel cheated).

So to pull the trigger less than a week later on his partner, who frankly has more charisma, is a pretty awesome irony.

As for how long and how far Storm can go, only the future knows.

(For the record, my sister, who is a casual viewer and didn't really know any of this, she thought Storm's win was unimpressive, and considers him a Stone Cold knockoff.)

Storm's superkick-out-of-nowhere, by the way, is very appropriate for anything with a Warrior shine on it.

(Seriously, watch Warrior!)

#307. Spider-Man, Dear Creature, John Morrison

#307.

Just some quick notes:

Completing my Sigild Spider-Man saga, Just Imagine Tony Creating...The Amazing Spider-Man is what I might have done with a fourth Raimi-verse film (and has no judgment intended concerning the upcoming reboot).

At Comics Reader, I reviewed Dear Creature, at the prompting of creator Jonathan Case. I haven't done one of these prompted write-ups since the the Paperback Reader days. It felt good, especially for the Comics Reader blog.

In wrestling thoughts, I wonder if John Morrison is just getting the brush-off from his contract expiring soon, or if he's in the midst of a major new push. On Monday, he looked like a modern Bret Hart. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

#306. Hub City, Yoshimi, TV, Wrestling, New 52

#306.

Hub City is humming along nicely (new addition to the Reading List up today, for those keeping score). Maybe it's insane to try and maintain a billion separate blogs, but so far it seems to be working. Probably doesn't hurt that I'm also looking for a job at the moment.

I'm also spending some of that time working on Yoshimi, including three days of 10,000 words each, which is pretty remarkable, considering I could sometimes struggle to fill my old pace of 1,667 (NaNoWriMo), and scramble like mad when needing to catch up for several days. Well, I guess the more experience I get writing, the more I can write in a single day. Yay for progress!

The new TV season has been a little interesting on my end. I've been staying with my sister since Borders bit the silver bullet, so some of my habits have changed. I haven't watched many of the new shows (Person of Interest being the one I was always most keenly interested in, conveniently enough). I also haven't really had an opportunity to watch Raising Hope or Community, either, the latter because it plays at the same time as The Big Bang Theory, which is something of a family obsession. That also means I haven't seen The New Girl yet, even though that's another new one I'm keen to see.

I watch How I Met Your Mother on Mondays, plus WWE Raw, The Biggest Loser, NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles on Tuesdays, Survivor (down with Hanz family! up with Mustache Rick!) and Criminal Minds on Wednesdays, TBBT and as much TNA Impact as I can on Thursdays, WWE Smackdown and Fringe on Fridays, and then The Amazing Race on Sundays.

I haven't seen Terra Nova yet, for any number of reasons. I still think I'd enjoy it, but part of me looks at previews for the newer episodes and sees Earth 2 kind of written all over it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.

Haven't seen a movie since the terrific Warrior. Examiner.com wonders when I'll see something else. I wonder when Examiner.com will pay more than a few cents into my account.

The whole walkout thing on Raw this past Monday is certainly interesting. It's a direct extension of what CM Punk made possible a couple of months ago (quite frankly), but his presence is a little on the backburner at the moment. Maybe that'll change soon.

Jeff Hardy's return to TNA will certainly prove interesting. Will people actually give him a chance? Wisely, TNA is making his return all about that. I expect Bobby Roode to beat Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory, but I wish the company had a different homegrown star they could be elevating for the first time. The whole card looks pretty spectacular, even the "fight" between Sting and Hogan. TNA has done a pretty good job in recent months making things that work for them actually work for them. Hopefully they will get over that hump and be accepted as a legitimate rival to WWE by the wider wrestling community.

ROH, meanwhile, also looks like it's doing the right things with its new TV deal, even if it's making wrestling observers question them by pushing Haas & Benjamin as one of their most visible components. You'd think those fans would be happy, because the World's Greatest Tag Team is finally getting the respect they deserve, from a company that can really appreciate them. But we are talking wrestling fans here...

My enjoyment of DC's New 52 has been handicapped by not technically making money, so I haven't been able to keep up with all the comics I'd like to. That and Heroes & Dragons apparently doesn't see the wisdom in stocking the hot new relaunch they themselves are promoting in their store. If I were at the other end of Colorado Springs right now, the situation would be different, at least halfway. Escape Velocity is doing its best to keep up. Well, I'm going to try on Wednesday at Heroes to catch James Robinson's The Shade #1. Wish me luck...

#305. Hub City

#305.

Okay, so I've begun another spin-off blog, Hub City, all about my love of books, which will now house my Reading List, which has been a feature of Scouring Monk for the past few years. Like Comics Reader, it also features a strong link to Amazon.com, including my new Austen Paradise bookstore, which is located at the bottom of the page. The origin of Austen Paradise is a long and complicated one, just something that started to dawn on me the longer I worked at Borders. I read Pride & Prejudice in college, and then just a few months earlier Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, so I knew of Jane Austen's rich skills as a writer, and her enduring appeal in the world of literature. But I began noticing just how many books Borders had that had been directly inspired by her writing, spin-off that imagined what happened next, or delved deeper into characters like Mr. Darcy (on whose legacy the career of Colin Firth continues to rest, Oscar or no). I dreamed of opening a physical bookstore where I could sell these books directly, which gave birth to a wider idea of a store that catered to literary tastes, the idea behind the name "Hub City" itself (comics readers will known The Question called that place home). The blog and the online storefront, then, are my first steps toward making that dream a reality. Hopefully there are readers out there who find merit in all of this...

#304. Comics Reader, Fan Companion, Sigild V

#304.

Last Friday I revamped the functionality of my three spin-off blogs, Comics Reader, Fan Companion, and Sigild V. I made it slightly easier to navigate each of them, including lists of the most-read posts (which was especially relevant to Fan Companion. Comics Reader, additionally, now sports some direct Amazon.com links, showcasing some of my favorite graphic novels, ones I've talked directly about on the blog, in the hopes of driving sales and establishing it as a destination for serious fans.

I haven't exactly lit the Interweb on fire with the traffic my blogs have attracted, but without any considerable advertising, they have still managed to attract a steady stream of readers, which is certainly something I'm proud about, and extremely thankful to those who've taken the time to check out what I've written. The Fan Companion is the oldest spin-off, now a year old, while I've been maintaining each of them throughout 2011 on a regular basis.