(no subject)

1.LJ continue to bewilder me - I've had two lj messages, one in English and one in Russian, informing me that another innocuous post and more personal than usual, had made the top 25. I'm considering flocking it.

2. Received another rather positive review on Amazon regarding my book. And figured out who the negative review was from -- a disgruntled fellow self-published writer. (Honestly you'd think self-published writers would be supportive of fellow self-published writers? We're basically on the same side of the fence.) He's an investigative journalist, specializing in environmental activism and writes contemporary romance novels about environmental activists. He also got a negative review from story cartel. I feel weirdly validated.

3. Have watched 8 episodes of the Netflix series Daredevil which is impressive. Also, I adore streaming. No commercials. And little wasted time on previews or credits. It's fast, effective, etc. Only issue to date is internet slow downs and disruptions. Also, I think it may be cheaper than cable.
So somewhere down the line...once I decide I no longer require NY1, I may cancel the cable. My streaming device is basically a flash-drive that plugs into the tv and the wall. I can take it anywhere and plug it into any HD TV, with my shows intact. Just need internet access and a password.
Nifty.

Daredevil

This series actually develops all the characters. My favorite is the black journalist, whose name I can't remember. I think it's Wesley? Also adore Foggy Nelson, Matt Murdock, the female characters whose names I can't remember, and weirdly Fisk.

Stick (portrayed by Scott Glenn) states a line that describes the noir landscape in a nutshell:

There are no heroes or villains, just people with different and competing agendas.

He's not wrong. Fisk and Matt are in some respects different sides of the same coin. They both want to fix Hell's Kitchen, they just have different ways of going about it. The writing is topical to what is happening in NYC, with various rich developers over-developing Hell's Kitchen and pricing the "middle class" clean out of it. One Bedroom Apartments over there and in Chelsea go for over $3600-$4500 for rental. Studios - for $1800-2600 or more. And to buy? A Million. And up. It's a problem in NYC - city-wide. The millionaire/billionaire class is pricing the working and middle class out of the city. The influx of rich or upper middle class European techies isn't helping. The French have caused pricing in areas of Brooklyn to sky-rocket.

Crime as a result has increased in some of these areas. And there's an undercurrent of rage.

All of this is well shown in Daredevil, with a biting wit.

The writers...appear to be all from the Angel and Buffy series - Stephen DeKnight, Drew Goddard, Doug Petrie, and a few seasoned Marvel comics vets. And it does remind me a great deal of Frank Miller's take on the Daredevil comic back in the 1970s and 80s. Daredevil is basically Marvel's take on Batman or maybe Green Arrow, except more noir and more of a poor man's take on the trope.

DC Superman - Marvel Captain America
DC Batman - Marvel Daredevil
DC Green Arrow - Marvel Iron Man
DC Flash - Marvel Spiderman
DC Wonderwoman - Marvel - Captain Marvel
DC Justice League - Marvel The Avengers

Daredevil is more truly noir than Batman - in that the hero isn't wealthy, and he's from the streets.
It's also a bit darker, with more complex villains.

But I'm admittedly more of a Marvel than a DC fan. I read and collected Marvel comics consistently for years, DC...I did periodically.