End of tired week odds and fenders
Some dude’s blog I found linked somewhere has an interview up with a guy who writes about the financial side of the comic industry for a living. I found it interesting.
Just in case you still believe(d) that those Diebold voting machines that have been causing so much drama lately were really “secure”: Go-go-gadget mini-bar key!
Another classic (in fact it’s 3 years old!) Penny Arcade strip, poking at something near and dear to my literary heart – the Dune books. Or rather, the fact that Frank Herbert’s son is riding on his father’s coat-tails and selling his (and some other random sci-fi guy whose generic tales of woe in space or fantasy land I have never read) works as continuations of (and prequels to) the immortal Dune saga. I actually tried to read the first one of the “new” Dune books and…you know, it wasn’t bad, but it was rather trite and nothing special at all. It was just generic sci-fi. The original Dune books were anything but generic and trite. They were/are mythical and inspiring in a sense so much larger than the surface “plot”. These new books look to me just like plain plot, no magic. Not that that’s a bad thing for sci-fi in general, but don’t try to pass that junk off as Dune!!
Maybe he really does have bunches of his father’s notes he found in a strongbox or something, but I feel Dune-fandom (and Frank’s memory) would have been better server by just publishing the raw notes. I know I would have enjoyed seeing his plot outlines and excerpts and whatnot much more than the generic sci-fi tofu that the authors have cobbled it into.
This one is just kind of wierd. Big tobacco has been coming up with fronts and fake citizens groups to deny global warming? MMM kkk…..
PlanetXbox360 has an interesting, if short, opinion article up about the continuing crap about violence in video games. It made for a few minutes of good reading.
And lastly, another fun piece from The Loom about the continuing amalgamation of science & philosophy that is the ID/creationism vs. evolution “debate”.
Well, lastly as far as linkage go. I must have something else to say….hmmm. I just found a copy of a tiny preview for the new Mighty Avengers series..it looks like it was a Wizard insert or something. Long story short? New team: Iron Man, Wasp, (a non-flying) Wonder Man (whom I thought could still switch to ionic form & fly but maaaybe not), Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Black Widow and…drum roll….Ares! The scoop was that he’d wind up on a team next year, and now we know what it is. I’m really curious to see how that all comes together. The preview had them fighting giant monsters, where it seems Widow & Wasp (especially Widow – just some acrobat chick with a gun…) would be rather useless.
Marvel also seems to have stepped up the “power level” of its heroes quite a bit in the last few years, they have almost as many “earth movers” as DC now: Thor (he’ll be back, don’t worry), Beta Rey Bill, The Sentry & now Thor Clone-bob & Ares. Although Thor Clone-Bob will probably wind up a villain…since Marvel is running short on good new villains these days as well. Hmmm, pumped up heroes powers vs. less villains equals…..ooo I know, I know! Heroes fight heroes! Let’s give it a spiffy name, maybe name it after that Oregon college football rivalry thing…yeah – let’s call it The Civil War!
But seriously, the Civil War series is turning out to be Mark Millar’s best work to date. Which doesn’t say much to me. I thought his Authority was rather derivative and shocking for shock sake, Wanted was pretty much just shock, and Ultimates was Marvel-flavored Authority. Not to say I think he sucks, I’ve just never really liked his style or the bleak/bitter (and for me to call something bitter it must reallllllly be bitter!) world view that comes across in his titles.
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