(no subject)
Jul. 10th, 2019 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I'm amused by scans daily, also it lets me check out comics for free. (I love comic books. I used to hide it. I remember in college keeping them under my bed or in a closet. And when I moved into an apartment, hidden in my bedroom. I don't care so much any longer. Although it is easier to hide -- now that you can get them digitally. And actually the only people that know I love them are you guys. Okay not true -- Chidi knows that I love them.)
The Many Murders of Golden Age Batman
In the beginning, Detective Comics was just cheap disposable entertainment. Nobody cared about what was in the stories in it. Then Batman became hugely popular, and, quite suddenly, people did care, and the decree came from on high that Batman needed to stop being so violent and dark and grim and gritty (the irony, there is so much of it). This post focuses on the period before that decree went into effect.
(Below each image appears an excerpt, never before published, from Batman's Very Secret Diary.)
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, If batman is not a serial killer, then surely he must at least be a homicidal maniac. Either way, this dangerous individual needs to be removed from society. Weigh the evidence put before you, and I think you will agree with me that he must be found guilty.
Hee Hee Hee. I had restrain myself from saying that it reminded me a lot of the television series Dexter. Also, vigilante technically means someone who decides to kill criminals to keep the world safe.
I always thought Batman was rather dark. It started out as a noir pulp comic book after all -- and by the way, it went dark again during Frank Miller and Tim Sale's runs on the books in the 1980s. Marvel's take on Batman is possibly either the Punisher or Iron Man, which is saying something.
We're also still debating what the heck the thematic arc is in The Age of X-men books and what the villain aka Nate Grey intended by imprisoning the X-men inside his consciousness. That, and how Dani Moonstar can be in both the Age of X reality and the Un-Canny X-men reality. I'm thinking the two writers both fought to have her, and ended up in a draw? Be interesting to see how they explain, if at all, to the reader. I have a sinking feeling the editors didn't notice.
2. It's back... BBC Warns of Social Media Video Scam : "IS This You - Please Confirm".
Yeah I know the article is dated a year or so ago. But my Auntie M got hacked and ended up sending the link to everyone on messenger. I had clicked on the link, but my mother called, so I stopped and I didn't get any further. I mentioned it to her and she told me to delete it, that it looked suspicious. (Of all people it was my mother who told me this. My 77 year old anti-techy mother. LOL! Age has nothing to do with it - she's not techy.) Sure enough, Auntie M posted on FB that she'd been hacked. (Like I said previously, the problem I have with FB is all the pesky family members.
Also got a scam phone call from Apple - Apple Calling About Suspicious Activity on your ICloud Account
The gist? A recorded message gives you an unintelligible number to call (at least it was unintelligible for me) to get information regarding suspicious activity on your apple icloud account and what to do about it.
Word to the wise?
Apple, Microsoft, the IRS do not call people. Apple would NEVER call anyone about this.
Also, you'd think if you wanted to scam someone, you'd make sure your message was clear? Right?
I've decided these nitwits are most likely anti-virus manufacturers who want to sell anti-virus software. BTW -- iphones don't get viruses nor do MACs easily.
3. Back to reading romance novels...and while I'm enjoying this one, it's interesting to me how historical romances are always set in England, with the aristocracy and usually during the Regency Period. (Although I've no clue when this is set -- the Queen is Charlotte, and I don't remember a Queen Charlotte. Also, there's a Parliament and a Prince Regent. Not that it matters, historical romance novels are rarely historically accurate. I don't read them for the historical accuracy or care. Also it helps that I know very little about the British aristocracy or British history outside of The Elizabethan Period, The Tudors, the Victorian Age, and Post-Victorian Age. Everything else is sort of blurred together. I blame my education for this -- and the fact that our media and most historical novels are weirdly obsessed with the Elizabethan, Victorian, and Tudor Period, also Queen Elizabeth II -- but don't seem to care all that much about the rest. The US is similar -- the historical periods everyone focuses on are The Explorers, The French & Indian War, Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWII, and The Vietnam War...everything else is sort of ignored. )
Anyhow...the one I'm reading, entitled "If the Duke Demands...(Capturing the Carlisle's #1) by someone whose name I have completely spaced at the moment. Hey you're lucky I can remember the title of the book -- is not bad. It's compelling.
Most of the conflict is that the Duke in question is falling for the girl next door.
Which would be okay, except she's the orphaned niece of one of his tenant farmers.
They sort of grew up together -- she'd come over and play. Apparently the parents weren't that snooty as Barons or as Dukes. They got the Duke title when he was older, and his Dad died, so he inherited it. And well, he should be marrying a titled young lady who has been reared to be a Duchess, not a local lass who works at the orphanage. Basic class issue storyline from an American perspective. Americans, most anyhow, do not understand the British class system. We barely understand our own and most of us thumb our noses at it, you can't expect us to understand the Brits.
I notice this whenever I read American historical romance novelists. I keep wondering what a Brit would make of this? Would a Duke sponsor the niece of a tenant farmer? Would he even know her? It seems odd.
Apparently that matters, not the fact that he is 31 years of age, and she's 21 years of age and this is considered her last chance at a season before being on the shelf.
I'm thinking okey-doke. When would her first season have been? 15? And isn't he a bit old? (Although, considering James Marsters was 46 or thereabouts when he married his wife, who was about 22, it's not that big an age difference. He also took her to her prom -- she's German, they did it in Germany.) And back then we had 46 year old men marrying teenagers. So, this is actually rather proper and above board, except for the fact that she's not aristocracy.
Reviewers hated it -- because he considers setting her up as a mistress and marrying someone else - for the reasons stated above. He loves her, but doesn't consider her appropriate for the position because she's his tenants ward. Honestly, what would everyone think? I don't have a problem with this -- that's actually realistic. And it's an interesting discourse on class issues. But, reading it does make one think the British aristocracy really deserves exactly what it got in the end, which was eventual extinction or being rendered sort of pointless.
The third book in the series actually looks much better -- it's about his brother, a business man, who is trying to woo the business savvy daughter of a man he wants to go into business with. With all sorts of double-dealing involved. Less balls, more business shenagians.
4. Apparently Tor is hosting Dragon Week in the Book World
So, if you are into dragons, and really, who isn't? Go over there.
A male friend wondered once what it was with women and riding horses or dragons.
And I thought...seriously, dude, think about it. Of course it does help if you've read Sherri Tepar's Grass first.
5. I want this house...and possibly the friends, although seven seems a bit much
6. New York's Governor decided to sign into law the Equal Pay Law for Women during the Women's Soccer Parade in NYC.
The Many Murders of Golden Age Batman
In the beginning, Detective Comics was just cheap disposable entertainment. Nobody cared about what was in the stories in it. Then Batman became hugely popular, and, quite suddenly, people did care, and the decree came from on high that Batman needed to stop being so violent and dark and grim and gritty (the irony, there is so much of it). This post focuses on the period before that decree went into effect.
(Below each image appears an excerpt, never before published, from Batman's Very Secret Diary.)
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, If batman is not a serial killer, then surely he must at least be a homicidal maniac. Either way, this dangerous individual needs to be removed from society. Weigh the evidence put before you, and I think you will agree with me that he must be found guilty.
Hee Hee Hee. I had restrain myself from saying that it reminded me a lot of the television series Dexter. Also, vigilante technically means someone who decides to kill criminals to keep the world safe.
I always thought Batman was rather dark. It started out as a noir pulp comic book after all -- and by the way, it went dark again during Frank Miller and Tim Sale's runs on the books in the 1980s. Marvel's take on Batman is possibly either the Punisher or Iron Man, which is saying something.
We're also still debating what the heck the thematic arc is in The Age of X-men books and what the villain aka Nate Grey intended by imprisoning the X-men inside his consciousness. That, and how Dani Moonstar can be in both the Age of X reality and the Un-Canny X-men reality. I'm thinking the two writers both fought to have her, and ended up in a draw? Be interesting to see how they explain, if at all, to the reader. I have a sinking feeling the editors didn't notice.
2. It's back... BBC Warns of Social Media Video Scam : "IS This You - Please Confirm".
Yeah I know the article is dated a year or so ago. But my Auntie M got hacked and ended up sending the link to everyone on messenger. I had clicked on the link, but my mother called, so I stopped and I didn't get any further. I mentioned it to her and she told me to delete it, that it looked suspicious. (Of all people it was my mother who told me this. My 77 year old anti-techy mother. LOL! Age has nothing to do with it - she's not techy.) Sure enough, Auntie M posted on FB that she'd been hacked. (Like I said previously, the problem I have with FB is all the pesky family members.
Also got a scam phone call from Apple - Apple Calling About Suspicious Activity on your ICloud Account
The gist? A recorded message gives you an unintelligible number to call (at least it was unintelligible for me) to get information regarding suspicious activity on your apple icloud account and what to do about it.
Word to the wise?
Apple, Microsoft, the IRS do not call people. Apple would NEVER call anyone about this.
Also, you'd think if you wanted to scam someone, you'd make sure your message was clear? Right?
I've decided these nitwits are most likely anti-virus manufacturers who want to sell anti-virus software. BTW -- iphones don't get viruses nor do MACs easily.
3. Back to reading romance novels...and while I'm enjoying this one, it's interesting to me how historical romances are always set in England, with the aristocracy and usually during the Regency Period. (Although I've no clue when this is set -- the Queen is Charlotte, and I don't remember a Queen Charlotte. Also, there's a Parliament and a Prince Regent. Not that it matters, historical romance novels are rarely historically accurate. I don't read them for the historical accuracy or care. Also it helps that I know very little about the British aristocracy or British history outside of The Elizabethan Period, The Tudors, the Victorian Age, and Post-Victorian Age. Everything else is sort of blurred together. I blame my education for this -- and the fact that our media and most historical novels are weirdly obsessed with the Elizabethan, Victorian, and Tudor Period, also Queen Elizabeth II -- but don't seem to care all that much about the rest. The US is similar -- the historical periods everyone focuses on are The Explorers, The French & Indian War, Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWII, and The Vietnam War...everything else is sort of ignored. )
Anyhow...the one I'm reading, entitled "If the Duke Demands...(Capturing the Carlisle's #1) by someone whose name I have completely spaced at the moment. Hey you're lucky I can remember the title of the book -- is not bad. It's compelling.
Most of the conflict is that the Duke in question is falling for the girl next door.
Which would be okay, except she's the orphaned niece of one of his tenant farmers.
They sort of grew up together -- she'd come over and play. Apparently the parents weren't that snooty as Barons or as Dukes. They got the Duke title when he was older, and his Dad died, so he inherited it. And well, he should be marrying a titled young lady who has been reared to be a Duchess, not a local lass who works at the orphanage. Basic class issue storyline from an American perspective. Americans, most anyhow, do not understand the British class system. We barely understand our own and most of us thumb our noses at it, you can't expect us to understand the Brits.
I notice this whenever I read American historical romance novelists. I keep wondering what a Brit would make of this? Would a Duke sponsor the niece of a tenant farmer? Would he even know her? It seems odd.
Apparently that matters, not the fact that he is 31 years of age, and she's 21 years of age and this is considered her last chance at a season before being on the shelf.
I'm thinking okey-doke. When would her first season have been? 15? And isn't he a bit old? (Although, considering James Marsters was 46 or thereabouts when he married his wife, who was about 22, it's not that big an age difference. He also took her to her prom -- she's German, they did it in Germany.) And back then we had 46 year old men marrying teenagers. So, this is actually rather proper and above board, except for the fact that she's not aristocracy.
Reviewers hated it -- because he considers setting her up as a mistress and marrying someone else - for the reasons stated above. He loves her, but doesn't consider her appropriate for the position because she's his tenants ward. Honestly, what would everyone think? I don't have a problem with this -- that's actually realistic. And it's an interesting discourse on class issues. But, reading it does make one think the British aristocracy really deserves exactly what it got in the end, which was eventual extinction or being rendered sort of pointless.
The third book in the series actually looks much better -- it's about his brother, a business man, who is trying to woo the business savvy daughter of a man he wants to go into business with. With all sorts of double-dealing involved. Less balls, more business shenagians.
4. Apparently Tor is hosting Dragon Week in the Book World
So, if you are into dragons, and really, who isn't? Go over there.
A male friend wondered once what it was with women and riding horses or dragons.
And I thought...seriously, dude, think about it. Of course it does help if you've read Sherri Tepar's Grass first.
5. I want this house...and possibly the friends, although seven seems a bit much
6. New York's Governor decided to sign into law the Equal Pay Law for Women during the Women's Soccer Parade in NYC.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 07:13 am (UTC)Queen Charlotte is Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of George III so she's Queen Consort not Qeen Regnant. She had absolutely masses of children, almost all of them awful.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 08:35 am (UTC)And they were all a pretty awful bunch. Though I have some sympathy for the daughter - ?Caroline - who was sent to marry the King of Denmark, and had an affair with his court physician. There was quite a good movie about this a few years back.
I don't know if it still happens if you do the guided tour of Hampton Court Palace, but many years ago when I did so, the guide displayed the bed in which Queen Charlotte had given birth far too many times, quoting the number. She was luckier than her granddaughter, the Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte, who died in childbirth with her first with four eminent medical practitioners wringing their hands around her.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 08:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 12:34 pm (UTC)Okay, so definitely the Regency Period. Because the Prince Regent has taken over now. (I think the American Revolutionary War either drove George mad or it was caused, because he was mad -- sometimes.)
Oh poor, Queen Charlotte -- women's health care back then was atrocious. When I did the ancestery.com genealogy research -- I noticed how many kids some of my relations had. Upwards to 20 in some cases. Often multiple wives over time, with various women dying in child birth, and unsurprisingly, the kids never lived very long. But I was surprised to see there were a few women who lived to the age of 90-100 in England back in the 1700s and 1800s.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 12:25 pm (UTC)Oh, I didn't realize they were that wealthy, I thought for some reason they all were being supported by the state or struggling estates? I've watched too many episodes of Downton Abbey and the Crown, which don't explain it well. Thank you.
I also forgot about George III --which is odd, considering he's the one that the US declared it's freedom from. US history doesn't treat George III very kindly. He's a bit of a joke in the musical Hamilton. This appears to be late in his reign, around the Regency period -- they aren't talking about the Revolutionary War, and there's a lot of discussion of the Prince Regent. So I'm thinking it's a Regency Romance. (Most are Regency Romances -- that short period in there when Britain wasn't at War).
In the US, we have these obscenely wealthy tech guys, like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zukerburg -- all billionaires. And a lot of them own oodles of land. But they are all new wealth -- came from middle class, lower middle class roots. Then there's the old wealth -- who are a bit quieter, but not as rich.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 10:38 am (UTC)That house idea is cool.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-12 12:34 am (UTC)Also, the art in some of them is amazing.
I love Cyclops and the X-men. But I also find Hawkeye from the MCU really cool, along with Cap and Winter Solider, Ant-Man, Tony Stark, and Black Widow.
I came to them later than a lot of people too -- discovered my love of comics in college, freshman year, at the age of 17.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-12 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-12 02:17 am (UTC)I've gotten rid of the paper collection -- because honestly there was no point in keeping it. Buy it all digitally -- much prefer the digital version.
And I'm weirdly eclectic -- I will read a wide range. Brian K. Vaughn has a great series entitled SAGA out.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-12 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-12 12:12 pm (UTC)I have comixcology via Amazon -- which has a borrowing option, you can borrow up to 50 comics at a time. Also everything is marked off by about 10-15% discounts. No space for the paper or book compilations (one bedroom apartment with not a lot of shelf space, half my books are inside my coffee table).