Stick People Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #545

Here's a Stick Man look at Amazing Spider-Man #545:

Holy Christmas!

Five posts in one day, and another post the next day! It's almost like I have scores of people actually reading my blog and I have the urge to update for their benefit.

Anyway, I've updated all the entries with label tags for easy access. So if you just want to read my incoherent ramblings on TV, Vacations, Things that have screwed me over, or reasons why I think I'm going to Hell, you can, and with the click of a button. There's even a label marked "Button"!

...

I'm going to bed now. Sorry.

Wikipedia Update

So, I went back on wikipedia this afternoon to check out my status and -- surprise, surprise -- the great and powerful wikipedia screwed me over again. That wretched hag "DragonflySixtyseven" extended by ban, which, by the way, was set up for absolutely frivolous and hilarious reasons (as detailed in earlier posts below). Thankfully due to the intelligently measured actions of "Persian Poet Gal" my account was reinstated as soon as I alerted them to this curious affront.

Y'know, wikipedia kind of sucks, huh. Yeah. Little bit.

And they need to get a sense of humor and stop BLOCKING people who have the gall to laugh at a joke. "Encouraging Vandalism". Feh.

I Beat the System!

".....meh, okay, so I overreacted. It's still not cool, but it's not THAT horribly uncool. Your block has been reduced to twelve hours. DS 04:45, 11 September 2007 (UTC) - DragonflySixtyseven"

Yeah! Take that wikipedia! Shows them what can happen when the little guy with a healthy sense of humor has a forum to get the word out and no one to BLOCK him. Assuming they realized they should reduce the BLOCK by reading this and not independently reaching that conclusion on their own, I suppose.

Yeah! And that goat anecdote showing up right after Jon Stewart and Jeff Garlin mentioned it? Still very funny. Yeah.

What the - - ?

I got blocked on wikipedia! Tonight on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart and guest Jeff Garlin made jokes about the his wikipedia entry, ending with Stewart making a joke about Garlin being nearly killed by mountain goats last year and how it'd end up on his wiki-entry. So I go to Garlin's page and see someone's changed it, and instead go to the discussion page and say how funny it is that it's been changed so quickly.

And then I get BLOCKED. For three days granted, but I'm BLOCKED for three days. For, apparently, encouraging vandalism. Here's the message:

"It is not awesome to vandalize Wikipedia articles just because Jon Stewart said it'd be wacky to do so. Nor is it awesome to tell people that their vandalism is awesome. You are blocked for three days. DS 03:53, 11 September 2007 (UTC) - DragonflySixtyseven"

What'd I do? Come on! Mountain goats nearly killed Jeff Garlin last year? That's very funny.

And, yes, I can still check out the wiki, and, yes, I only go there, like, twice a month or so, but come on! BLOCKED, for chrissakes!

Back from Santa Fe

So, I got back from my trip to Santa Fe. It was lovely down there -- I stayed in the heart of the downtown at the La Fonda and it was gorgeous. Nice food, friendly people. Much more pleasant than the flight down there. I flew on Southwest Airlines, the WORST airline I've ever flown on. The seats are way too small and on a first-come, first-serve basis and even then they board by letters A, B, and C (I had a C getting there). If that weren't enough the flight attendants were snippy and the people in Kansas city -- one of several stops along the way, no direct flights here -- were real jerks. On the way home my table tray was on an angle and my cranberry juice got all over my pants and poured into my open bag all over my books. But Santa Fe was great. I'm never flying Southwest again though, and will always fly direct if I can help it. Again though, Santa Fe was great.

Trinity Con

So, the TV preview was a bust. The main attraction was a pilot the guy from the market testing group claimed was a year or two years ago but was hopelessly cheesy and littered with bad acting, bad dialogue, bad editing, and that, quite frankly, looked at least a decade old. I attended the event with John and Sean, buddies from way back, and they believed the pilot, "Soulmates", to have been a soap opera (which would explain a lot), but I think it was just really, really, really bad primetime TV.

But on an entirely lighter and far more interesting note, I went to the Southfield, Michigan Trinity Con. It's mostly a gaming event for role-players and card game folks and all that, but the real attraction was that Dwayne McDuffie, prolific comic writer and story editor/writer on Justice League Unlimited, was there. I probably spent more time driving there and back than I did at the actual show, but it was worth it. I had a chance to chat with Mr. McDuffie and then attended a panel on JLU and the upcoming batch of episodes. I had an incredible time, and it was a real thrill to be able to talk to one of my favorite writers. He even remembered me from his message board and for the signed card he'd sent off from the San Diego Comic-con (another amazing thing I have to thank him for again).

Here's a couple of the interesting things I learned at the show, with all spoiler bits blotted out for you protection:

JLU's audience is 40 to 45 percent women, surprising because most action series are targeted toward boys while comedy-action series target girls. Shows like JLU are expected to pull in about a quarter female audience, so JLU is looked upon as a fluke.

Static Shock's Gameboy game is continually in flux. One week it's ready to ship, the next, it's being held up indefinitely. Additionally the next Static Shock DVD is unscheduled, despite the fact the first DVD outsold the first Teen Titans DVD volume released at the same time.

JLU producer James Tucker is hard at work prepping ***********. It'll be outside JLU continuity because *********** is on the team.

*********** will be appearing on JLU in a episode structured like the *********** that *********** used to appear in.

Bruce Timm is working on two original series right now.

Mr. McDuffie is working on a potential *********** series. Although other *********** characters will appear it won't be part of *********** continuity, and will have a more anime flavor.

Vague enough for you? Anyway, I had a great time. I found a few Suicide Squad and Hardware comics for sale from the only vendor selling comics at the show. I really, really enjoyed the Hardware issues and will keep an eye out for more in the future.

So, hopefully something equally interesting will happen in the next little while so I can tell all the people that frequent my blog about it. Until then...

So...

"Sweeney Todd" wrapped up and I can't say I'm too broken up. The show was actually very well done -- the cast did a fantastic job and the music, costumes and sets were all well done. I'm not eager to watch another version since I'm afraid the Theatre Aquarius show spoiled me (that and watching with an all youth cast will undoubtedly make a regular performance's cast seem woefully aged). But most of the time I felt like a redundancy around the set and since most of my work was really behind the scenes no one had any idea who I was or what I did (outside of being that creepy guy sitting back stage). I shouldn't have been too surprised, knowing theatrical actors and their elitest tendencies, but I suppose it's my own fault for going along with it.

I hope I don't seem too bitter or anything. Honestly it was a nice change of pace and something to add to the c.v, but most of the time it felt like everyone was in on the joke except me. As I've related, I felt like I was surrounded by people, but still felt totally alone.

And on that wonderfully depressing note...

"Epilogue"

So the season finale of Justice League aired on YTV tonight, and for the second time in as many months, YTV screwed up the airing by instead showing an infomercial and then "Snailympics" for the first five minutes of the show. No word if they'll be reairing it, which would be great since it was a spectacular episode.

Aside from not, not much else to report on. I've been thinking alot about Michael Reaves though, a Batman writer whose episodes I never really liked, they were mostly lower-key, realistic romps and his dialogue occasionally sounds tinny, but the more I think about it, and see his episodes again, I've found they're some of my favorites. "Bullet for Bullock", "Avatar", "Read My Lips", "Sideshow", "Vendetta" -- not the episodes of the classic series (now on DVD) that spring to mind, like say a "Heart of Ice", but all very solid with excellent animation. Definitely underrated as far as DCAU writers go, but right up there with the best of them.