Busy Weekend

This weekend seemed non-stop from the end of work on Friday.

I met Jennifer at BART halfway to San Francisco, and locked our bikes up.  Then we rode in and met a friend, got a ride over to Japantown and had dinner.  Then we went to "Batman v. Superman".

What did I think?

The intro pissed me off.  Do we really have to see the Waynes die in every fucking Batman movie?  After I got over that, it took me a bit to get back into the movie.  Once i did, I enoyed the show.  The second half is much more entertaining.  I told a friend I'd give ti a 3.75 out of 5 (7.5 out of 10 might sound better), and I'm viewing it as a bridge.  Yes, Marvel didn't really have a bridge movie, but I'm hopeful.  Affleck did a fine job as Bruce Wayne, I still like Henry Cavill, and Gal Gadot is good as both Diana Prince and Wonder Woman.  I look forward to the Wonder Woman.

Saturday, Jennifer and I rode around for a bit, but then decided to enjoy ridiculous fun, and play catch.  Then with sore shoulders, we went home and watched television with cats in our laps.

Sunday, we decided on a longer ride, and made a big loop.  We went up Alcatraz to Noah's Bagels on College, then down College and Broadway to a Starbucks in downtown Oakland.  Then we ate sitting on a planter on Grand.  After we ate, we walked up Broadway and found a few fun restaurants for future perusal, and a shop called Two Jacks Denim.

TJD is a great denim shop with pants, shirts and jackets.  I've recently become a fan of unwashed selvage denim pants.  I got a pair on Kickstarter, and they have become my favorite pants.  I've had them for almost two years, and they've never been washed.  The wear pattern on them is really looking amazing.  I got two new pairs of pants Sunday: one that is blue on a tinted thread and the second is blue on black.  they're going to look amazing too.

Sunday night, we came back to Drake's Dealership for dinner.  They've got some great beers.  Jennifer had a Farmhouse Ale (a great saison), and I had the amber (a great ESB).  Both were amazing with her poutine and my ribs.  For dessert we had a bourbon-barrel aged Drakonic stout and rye-barrel aged Robustito porter.  After one taste, both left you feeling you were in a distillery with the smell of the whiskey around you.

Great Quotes from the Comics

So, I realize that most people aren't going to appreciate all of these, but maybe you'll get some of them.  I was inspired by watching Daredevil, but some of these others came to mind.

Daredevil on Netflix

DD: ...I want you to walk em through stabilizing him.
Claire: It's not as easy as it looks in the movies, you know.
DD: I don't really go to the movies.

Green Lantern animated movie

Arisa: How come I've never met Mogo?
Hal: Mogo doesn't socialize.

Superman/Batman comic

Crook gets punched by Batman.
Voice in the alley: Are you okay?
Crook: No, I'm not okay.  What planet are you from?
Voice/Superman: Krypton

75 Years of Batman

My first memory of Batman is tied up in both the Super Friends cartoon and what has come to be called the Batman '66 television show.

But my first comic book?  After some web searching, it was Batman #260 (a 100-page special).

I remember a story where the Joker has poisoned Batman who will die laughing.  And things just keep getting worse as the Joker tells horrible punning jokes.  The Joker is freeing inmates from Arkham, and Batman comes up against Two-Face who has a gun stolen from a guard.  This was my first encounter with Two-Face as he wasn't used in the TV show.  Two-Face flips his coin and it comes up heads, so he doesn't shoot Batman (who is on the floor laughing painfully), and allows Batman to lock him back up in his cell.

Looking at the cover, I can vaguely remember the story with the Riddler, but the rest are a blank to me.

With but One Comment

This is from Mauricio Abril.



If you watch through to the disclaimers at the end, I have to wonder... Where does Obama come into this?

And then because this other one is just as good, and I like "Knights of Cydonia":

Well, you know...

The spheroidal hydrogen fusion furnace which we orbit seemed exceptionally productive of visible light photons this morning.

But it was surely nice to spend the night in my own bed.

Recently I've read a few comic hardbacks.  Two were Batman graphic novels and one was a collection of a four-issue mini-series.

Last night I read Batman: Death by Design.  The story was pretty good, but I had trouble placing when exactly ti was taking place.  It seemed like it was the 20s or 30s, but every now and then the technology or the dialogue seemed modern.  The art was incredible, and when I read at the end of the book that it was all done with pencil and graphite with computers only used to add color and glow effects, I was pretty blown away.

Another I have recently read and I thoroughly enjoyed was Batman: Noel.  Again some incredible artwork, but the story was what I enjoyed so much in this one.  First off, let me say that this book was set aside with the pile of comics that I had net been reading, so that's why it's a little out of date.  It was a retelling of A Christmas Carol with Batman as Scrooge.  Now, yes, it does sound kind of corny, but it was creatively done, and very entertaining.  Plus it had both Superman and the Joker in it, so that gave it an additional boost too.

And finally, I recently read the collected Flex Mentallo.  To preface, this is a book written by Grant Morrison; surreal doesn't begin to describe it.  Even the introduction is made up.  Upon hearing the title and seeing the cover, Jennifer asked me if it was about a muscleman with mental powers, and I said, essentially, yes.  When he flexes different muscles, specific powers are activated.  But that's just the glaze on a huge mix of Morrison fruitcake.  Oh, did I mention Flex Mentallo came as a spin-off from Morrison's run on The Doom Patrol?  If that doesn't tell you what to expect, then nothing will.  It is definitely a book that will require multiple readings.  I enjoyed it, but it was a lot to absorb.

Cartoons

Tonight I watched three DC Comics animated features.

The first was "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam." This was okay. It mixed the origin of Captain Marvel with Black Adam chasing after him. Toss in a little Superman versus Black Adam and you have an hour long cartoon that could have been half an hour. There were fun lines, but it lacked a lot. Not much story, and not great voice actors. I mean really, James Garner as the voice of the Wizard Shazam? Ridiculous.

The second was "Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman." This one was fun. Using the classic artwork and voice actors from the old WB animated series. It moved fast with lots of action, and kept me guessing through most of it.

The third was Batman: Under the Red Hood." The final one had lots of good stuff in it. One of the best parts was Neil Patrick Harris as the voice of Nightwing. I do miss Mark Hamill as the voice of the Joker though. He lent a little credibility to the Joker's mania. This one seems a little forced. Otherwise, it brought a good tale to the screen.

Why I Read Comics

Today after doing my allotment of job hunting, I took some time and watched a movie from Netflix: "Superman-Batman: Apocalypse".

It's an animated adaptation of the story arc from the "Superman-Batman" comic book where Supergirl was reintroduced to the DC Universe. It begins with her arrival on Earth, and her discovery by Batman. Then goes into her training with the Amazons on Themyscira, and her capture by Darkseid. Then it continues with her rescue by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda, and ends with Superman and Supergirl alternately fighting Darkseid at the Kent Farm in Smallville.

I've re-read the books many times. The story is fun. It allows the heroes to let loose. And good triumphs.

The conclusion in the movie has Superman presenting Supergirl in her uniform to the Amazons and she makes a speech about how she does not yet feel worthy of the uniform. But she promises that she will.

It's a little sappy, but it made me smile and actually tear up a bit.

***

I've fallen a bit behind on my comics lately. The comic store in Livermore that I go to was closed for a long time for some unknown reason. I haven't been back to see if it has reopened. there was just a note on the door saying it would be closed until further notice. I had to do something to continue and catch up.

When I went to WonderCon last year the LICD/LFG booth had business cards for this webpage called Comic Pull. I was happy with my store at the time, but I began trying them out in December.

All orders are 10% off and large enough orders are free shipping. You can also get bags and boards for a very minimal price.

What I've had to get used to is the arrival in a box. There's a bit of fun in going to the store and picking the books off the shelf. In checking the covers and seeing other books you might want.

I think this is why I'll be so resistant to going digital with comics. It seems pretty stupid.

But I've got about a month and a half of comic books stacked up waiting to be read. I've had books come in from the library that I've had to read, and I've been really into the Discworld books.

After watching this movie though, I'm going to get back into reading more regularly.

Comics and Animation

Recently I've watched several of the new DC Comics animated superhero direct to DVD movies. I have to say that I've been very impressed with them.

Back in college "Batman, the Animated Series" brought Batman back to television, and done in a style reminiscent of the old 40s cartoons. Soon after an animated Superman followed, and I was thrilled. In the past few years some direct to DVD adaptations have been made of Superman stories.

"Death of Superman" was a retelling that did a pretty good job without going into all of the "Reign of the Supermen" after-story. There was also an okay story with Brainiac.

Then around the time of the live action "The Dark Knight" an animated anthology called "Batman: Gotham Knight" came out. Drawn in a more modern, but still realistic style, this collection had an almost anime feel at times in the old "Akira" type style.

One that I truly enjoyed was "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies". this one not only held very close to the original comic, but also was drawn in the style of the artist who did the original books.

Two of the newest adaptations have been Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

The one about Wonder Woman is a blend of the old Wonder Woman with a Steve Trevor romance and the new Wonder Woman emphasizing her youth. It was entertaining and had some good lines in it.

The one about Green Lantern was exceptional, and will give the forthcoming live-action movie something to work with. There's going to be so many animated aliens and effects, that it might as well be a cartoon anyway.

I didn't have Cartoon Network for the animated Justice League, but I plan to catch up on that with Netflix. I did watch the animated Legion of Super-Heroes, but it just made me miss the old comics instead of really enjoying the show itself.

And I thoroughly enjoyed Batman Beyond. DC has even made the animated series canon by creating a more realistically drawn series that refers to events in the TV show. Whether it's a future world or an alternate-future world remains to be seen.

So yes, these keep me happy, and I have several new DVDs to look forward to with the introduction of Supergirl, and a Superman meets Captain Marvel. I'm pretty psyched.

Drilling Deep - Day 4

Today we set the first well after drilling to 85 feet.

Things were going well (I swear, no pun intended) at first, but the water was so silty that the well casing kept floating up and out of the sand pack. It slowed the drillers down, but we did manage to get off site at 5:00.

Sunday afternoon, after my time with Dian, I watched the animated collection Batman: Gotham Knight. Aside from the extreme anime influences, I really enjoyed it. The combination of influences from the new movies added to the basic Batman mythos went together very well.

Good Movie and Bad Wheels

Last night Jennifer and I watched Spider-Man 3, which was nowhere near as bad as the hype had led us to believe. Now of course it was also nowhere near as good as the two recent Batman movies were, but still not really bad. I think that people were just upset that they were being told that inside Peter Parker is really a douche bag stuck in a geeks body.

It's the same reaction I have when anyone (most recently villains in the comics) say that Bruce Wayne is just a whiny spoiled kid who never grew up.

I also discovered Jennifer has never seen The Fugitive, so we've got to add that to her queue or catch it on Starz again.

And then today has turned into a car maintenance day. Jennifer is getting an oil change. I am getting an oil change, alignment, and new tires. Then we're off to an adult sleepover party.

No not that kind of adult sleepover, just a sleepover with adults. With drinking and board games. Trivia board games.

I'm gonna kick ass.