Update Meme

1. What are you reading?

Lots of X-men comics. Adventures in Bad Taste (AIBT) has some interesting bits as well. Honestly, taste is in the eye of the beholder.

Finished Uncanny X-men (2018-11) by Matthew Rosenberg and Salvador Larroca.
The problem with the X-men -- is they have a tendency to just use the same title and renumber. So we have Uncanny X-men 11 - 2015, and Uncanny X-men #11 - 1990s...so it's really hard to find the issue in Good Reads.

Anyhow here's the somewhat spoilery review:

( spoilers )

Still reading a romance by Laura Kinsale, The Shadow and the Star, which would either make you roll your eyes or you'd enjoy. I fall somewhere in between. ( Read more... )

Also reading Age of X-men -- which is sort of the flip-side of Age of Apocalypse, where the X-men live in an isolated Utopia, with no humans. A nice commentary on utopian views and how they are great in theory but not in practice.
And being a long running serial -- there's some nice character touches along the way.

Finished both Age of X-men - Alpha and Marvelous X-men -- which is the lead title. There's about five or six titles, five issues each, and an Alpha and Omega -- patterned after the Age of Apocalypse. And it is a critique of a certain set of current political idealogies that are cropping up. Ayn Rand's Individualism aka Objectivism and the whole concept of letting go of negative emotions, connections, and isolating oneself in a peaceful existence of contemplation -- no tribal connections of any sort. One big unifying family, with children created via a hatchery. Oh, Brave New World...indeed. (Reminds me a little of Adolus Huxley.)

It's well done. The art has a sort of calm look to it -- peaceful pallet, simple lines, reminds me a lot of post-modern literary comics. And the X-men are the Avengers. They live in their own nice homes, solitary, and meet as a team to fight the world's ills. There's no romantic love or love, so no strife. Everyone is friendly. No family ties, just loose friends. No biological connections. Individualism reigns supreme. And we're given the philosophy -- it's a utopia of sorts. Yet, there's a quote after each segment..."At the heart of every so-called utopia is tyranny" and in Age of X-men, "revolution is in who we are, not just what we do...the desire to fight for freedom" -- from Ursula Le Quinn's The Dispossessed.

These new writers, artists and editorial staff have something to say. It's odd, but most ideological and socio-political critique is found cult art or pulp. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, comic books, soap operas, then really in the more literary or mainstream fair. It's no accident that Buffy was the first broadcast television show to depict a lesbian relationship, or that All My Children was the first to do so, and pre-dated Buffy by about five years with not one but two relationships, along with a gay storyline. Daytime Soaps often tackled serious social issues that prime time series steered away from. Why? Because they fell under the wire of the censors and the advertisers during that period were a bit more open-minded. Comics are the same way -- often going right for the juglar regarding complex socio-political issues. It wasn't surprising to me that both Captain America-Civil War and Black Panther tackled serious socio-political issues that most films steer clear of. Or that we see them tackled in horror films. Perhaps being able to use metaphor helps? It provides enough distance from the reader/viewer and the topic for it to be discussed?

I don't know. But it is to a degree why I've always been drawn more to genre, and in particular comics and soaps. Well that, and the fact that you can't find better character arcs and analysis anywhere else. Nobody explores characters better than a long-running serial. That may explain, why I don't think characters in sitcoms are well-developed and seem a tad shallow. Mainly because we don't get to look at them from every angle imaginable.

2. What are you watching?

Finished Russian Doll -- earlier in the week. See posts for reviews. It's good, but the Groundhog Day/Time Travel gimmick still annoys me and does not work from a plot perspective. (shrugs)


A Million Little Things -- it's okay, irritating in places, but compelling in its' own way. I'm interested in the mystery but find the individual emotional character subplots -- annoying and poorly written also very cliche ridden in places. ( spoilers )

And I gave up on it -- and wandered off to do laundry. Shows how well it was holding my attention, doesn't it? Then came back and finished.

( spoilers )

*Grey's Anatomy -- which was a whole lot better and once again made me cry.
Sigh. I do like how these writers handle love triangles -- which is to sort kick them to one side. That said, why they feel the need to push people to have romantic relationships...( Read more... )

* Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Well they are doing a great job of wrapping up all the character arcs. Also in explaining mental illness and Rebecca's journey through it. While at the same time, critiquing romantic shipping and how our society pushes romance, careers, etc to equal happiness. Rebecca is now pursuing her dream of being a musical theater star.

3. Doing?

Did Laundry. Four loads. Huzzah. The laundry gods were with me.