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Auld Lyn Syne and Superhero Comic Books, TV Shows and Movies..
Here's a lovely rendition of Auld Lyne Syne by the community choir at the Unitarian Universalist Church that I attend. Not religious at all, well not really...so no worries.
Finished marathoning the last six episodes of Arrow today...the series gets more interesting as it goes. Rather like John Barrowman's villain, who surprises you. Or they managed to surprise me in regards to him. Only drawback is the three young female characters - Oliver's sister, the Huntress, and his ex-flame Laurie Lance, all look alike and are hard to tell apart. But generally speaking I'm finding all the characters rather interesting and complex.
Hm. Marvel has Disney/ABC and Joss Whedon. DC comics has CW (CBS)/Warner Brothers and Christopher Nolan. Marvel is lighter in tone and colorful (at least its movies are), and DC has become darker and more noirish in tone (at least its movies). So far...I like DC's tv shows and movies better than Marvel's...but that's mainly because I prefer the noirish overtones and darker landscape. DC seems to question protagonist privilege and the tension between being a pure vigilante and a hero a bit more. Also looks deeper into the question of power. While Marvel seems to have more of a sense of humor about the enterprise and is more about amusement. One feels like eating bittersweet dark chocolate while the other is milk chocolate with toffee.
As an aside? I speaking mainly about the movie and tv franchises - not the comic books. From what I've read - Marvel's comics have gotten quite dark. Spiderman and Doctor Octopus switched bodies in a switch that is somewhat reminiscent of Buffy's Who Are You. Except Doc Oct won, and his old body was dying...now poor Peter Parker is stuck in the beaten down body of his arch-nemesis, while Doc Oct is jumping about in his and is the anti-hero of the comic book. I know, insane. I read this in USA Today last weekend, blew me away. Are the writers nuts? I mean it is fascinating, but also insanely risky. Which is actually what I used to love about superhero comics and what I adore about soap operas/serials - in these art-forms, writers do take crazy risks. Makes sense, would be incredibly boring if you didn't.
This sudden pop culture fascination with superhero comic books makes me wish I was still heavily into the trope. And 12 years ago, I would have been.
Am procrastinating re-reading and revising my novel - Doing Time on Planet Earth. Maybe I should just put it on the shelf for a bit and start on something else? Take the pressure off myself for getting it published or self-published. Various members of my family are self-publishing. It's quite the rage at the moment. So should investigate it....
Finished marathoning the last six episodes of Arrow today...the series gets more interesting as it goes. Rather like John Barrowman's villain, who surprises you. Or they managed to surprise me in regards to him. Only drawback is the three young female characters - Oliver's sister, the Huntress, and his ex-flame Laurie Lance, all look alike and are hard to tell apart. But generally speaking I'm finding all the characters rather interesting and complex.
Hm. Marvel has Disney/ABC and Joss Whedon. DC comics has CW (CBS)/Warner Brothers and Christopher Nolan. Marvel is lighter in tone and colorful (at least its movies are), and DC has become darker and more noirish in tone (at least its movies). So far...I like DC's tv shows and movies better than Marvel's...but that's mainly because I prefer the noirish overtones and darker landscape. DC seems to question protagonist privilege and the tension between being a pure vigilante and a hero a bit more. Also looks deeper into the question of power. While Marvel seems to have more of a sense of humor about the enterprise and is more about amusement. One feels like eating bittersweet dark chocolate while the other is milk chocolate with toffee.
As an aside? I speaking mainly about the movie and tv franchises - not the comic books. From what I've read - Marvel's comics have gotten quite dark. Spiderman and Doctor Octopus switched bodies in a switch that is somewhat reminiscent of Buffy's Who Are You. Except Doc Oct won, and his old body was dying...now poor Peter Parker is stuck in the beaten down body of his arch-nemesis, while Doc Oct is jumping about in his and is the anti-hero of the comic book. I know, insane. I read this in USA Today last weekend, blew me away. Are the writers nuts? I mean it is fascinating, but also insanely risky. Which is actually what I used to love about superhero comics and what I adore about soap operas/serials - in these art-forms, writers do take crazy risks. Makes sense, would be incredibly boring if you didn't.
This sudden pop culture fascination with superhero comic books makes me wish I was still heavily into the trope. And 12 years ago, I would have been.
Am procrastinating re-reading and revising my novel - Doing Time on Planet Earth. Maybe I should just put it on the shelf for a bit and start on something else? Take the pressure off myself for getting it published or self-published. Various members of my family are self-publishing. It's quite the rage at the moment. So should investigate it....
no subject
Slott has actually been talking about Otto Octavius being inside Peter, in the same way that Gary Stu writers do when they turn Xander into a Gary Stu in fanfic. But then again, Slott's a terrible writer in general.
no subject
He sounded like he "over-identified" with the schlubby, older, not good looking flawed but brilliant Doctor Octupus and wanted to write the character's journey of redemption. So yes, I'd say the writer more or less admitted to doing just what you accused him of doing. Ironic that. ;-)
The problem with over-identifying with a character is you often fall into the trap of Gary/Marty/Mary Sue - in which you write about yourself. And when you write about yourself in that manner - you either write yourself as "perfect" or as a complete "loser" and the audience rolls its eyes and goes elsewhere. The other pitfall of over-identification or being too into your character - is woobifying the character, or making one-dimensional or flat.
It can work - but only if the character is relatively minor and/or supporting (ie. Warren, Jonathan, Andrew, Xander and Riley). And even then, it's often hit or miss.
Often doesn't work...and you lose readers. Comic book genre and cult tv serials seem to attract Marty Stue's like flies for some reason.
Fanfic also does.