I find it amusing that Twilight fans have somehow become the bottom feeders amongst nerd culture fan groups. There's a big, big backlash at Twilight out there, almost all of it, I suspect, stemming from this summer's San Diego Comic-Con. There thousands of Twilight fans essentially took over the first day of the con, camping out for days- if not weeks- outside the San Diego Convention Center to get into the Twilight panel. That's right, a panel: a little hourlong chat that would be widely available as a podcast. The vast majority of those people in line, by the way, never even made it into the hall for their oh-so important Twilight lovefest.
But their effect was felt. The talk for days after Comic-Con was that Twilight "ruined" Comic-Con, which is fairly preposterous. After all, it's Hollywood that ruined Comic-Con; once all these non-comics TV shows began using the con as a platform to reach fans, it was inevitable that one would come with a large fan base that could give a whit about Spider-Man's marriage.
Of course, the real objection is not to Twilight itself but to the assumed demographic of the fans: teenage girls. It must have been quite a blow to all those former and current high-school outcasts to see the object of both their desire and derision finally at Comic-Con... but for some stupid vampire romance thing. To be fair, I don't know if teenage girls do in fact make up the majority of the Twilight fan base; the one that I know reasonably well rolls her eyes at it, although sources indicate that she was into it not all that long ago. Teenagers, they be a fickle beast.
(As an aside, if the majority of Twilight fans at Comic-Con were in fact teenage girls, and this meant that their parents shelled out for con tickets, made travel arrangements, booked transportation and lodging, and either allowed their daughters sit for days outside of the San Diego Convention Center alone or held a place for them, all so that they could squeal at some actors for an hour, that's some !@#$ed-up parenting there. I can say that, no, when my daughter comes of age, we won't be doing anything like that. It reminds me of those stories of parents pulling their daughters out of school to go see that Hannah Montana movie that played for a week a few years ago. I understand not wanting to disappoint little Kaley, but you've got to draw the line somewhere.)
Really, what's extraordinary here is that Twilight has become big enough that it's fans can be lumped together as a unique nerd-culture group. This is not as easy to do as one might think. For example, I don't really think there are Transformers Nerds are GI Joe Nerds; most likely, they would be general Toy Nerds, and would cross between the two. Oh, I'm sure some would argue otherwise. But I don't think there's enough people that are exclusively or primarily fans of one of those properties to identify themselves as such to the exclusion of anything else.
Likewise, I doubt that there are many Battlestar Galactica Nerds, as any fan of the show is almost sure to be a Sci-Fi Nerd in general. But there are, no doubt, Star Wars and Star Trek Nerds that are devoted only to their particular property. They would, of course, make up two of the largest and most vocal nerd communities, though there are many others. There's Toy (or Action Figure) Nerds, and Comic Book Nerds, and the aforementioned Sci-Fi Nerds, and Gaming Nerds, and Video Game Nerds (and no, those are not the same thing). And Furries, I suppose, but that's really more of a fetish thing, and besides: we don't want the Furries lumped with us.
I myself am a Comic Book Nerd. I would not classify myself as an Action Figure Nerd, despite my home being literally littered with action figures, because I basically only buy comic book related figures. So this collection is really more of an extension of my Comic Book Nerdom (or Nerdhood). My friend Kevin would be both a Comic Book and Action Figure Nerd (among other things), because he collects comic books and action figures like GI Joe. See the difference?
I doubt that Twilight will have the staying power to become a permanent Nerd demographic, but one never knows. It's already made a name for itself in Nerd culture circles; after all, I don't recall anyone ever accusing Harry Potter of ruining Comic-Con.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Goodbye Curb
If last night was, in fact, the last episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm-and, considering that Larry David has been something of a bald, Jewish Brett Farve in the past when it comes to ending the series, I'm still not 100% convinced that it is- I would certainly say it's time. It's not that the show isn't funny anymore, but it's always funny in the same way, episode after episode, season after season. Larry runs afoul of someone; sometimes he's in the right, sometimes he's in the wrong. Never really matters. There will be some kind of minor thread weaved throughout the episode, which seems unimportant but will somehow tie in to the resolution, in which Larry will most likely end up with egg on his face. Over and over and over.
Considering that this same basic formula was also applied to most every episode of Seinfeld, it's pretty remarkable that David has been able to do so much with such a narrow view of what it funny. Plot was never very important to Larry David-- which may be why his only movie effort, Sour Grapes, is almost unwatchable. Observation is, and by and large those observations are spot on. David is also the one comic that's been able to make jokes about the bathroom without resorting to toilet humor, for which I applaud.
I also appreciate that David tackled the elephant in the room since Curb began, the Seinfeld reunion, in the same fashion he did other season-long arcs like his ill-fated restaurant and Broadway appearance in the Producers. That is to say, it remained the backdrop, but never dominated the season. Unfortunately, that meant we didn't get to see much of the Seinfeld cast; a shame, because all were excellent in the famed Curb improv format. Jerry Seinfeld, in particular, seemed to be having a ball. I would have greatly preferred to see more Jerry then, oh, Mocha Joe. Let's just hope that the DVD set has a longer look behind the scenes.
I don't have too much to say about the finale. Like most of the season, it had its' moments without being particularly memorable. Seeing Larry attempt to fill Jason Alexander's shoes as George Costanza was one of the highlights of the series, but the episode's sub-plots (Larry's feud with Mocha Joe, and his attempt to find out who put a stain on Julia Louise-Dreyfuss' coffee table) were tedious. Did anyone else notice that, at the same time that Mocha Joe was threatening to have Jason Alexander's beloved dogs destroyed for attacking him, Jason Alexander continued to buy coffee from Mocha Joe? Yeah. It's time to end it.
Considering that this same basic formula was also applied to most every episode of Seinfeld, it's pretty remarkable that David has been able to do so much with such a narrow view of what it funny. Plot was never very important to Larry David-- which may be why his only movie effort, Sour Grapes, is almost unwatchable. Observation is, and by and large those observations are spot on. David is also the one comic that's been able to make jokes about the bathroom without resorting to toilet humor, for which I applaud.
I also appreciate that David tackled the elephant in the room since Curb began, the Seinfeld reunion, in the same fashion he did other season-long arcs like his ill-fated restaurant and Broadway appearance in the Producers. That is to say, it remained the backdrop, but never dominated the season. Unfortunately, that meant we didn't get to see much of the Seinfeld cast; a shame, because all were excellent in the famed Curb improv format. Jerry Seinfeld, in particular, seemed to be having a ball. I would have greatly preferred to see more Jerry then, oh, Mocha Joe. Let's just hope that the DVD set has a longer look behind the scenes.
I don't have too much to say about the finale. Like most of the season, it had its' moments without being particularly memorable. Seeing Larry attempt to fill Jason Alexander's shoes as George Costanza was one of the highlights of the series, but the episode's sub-plots (Larry's feud with Mocha Joe, and his attempt to find out who put a stain on Julia Louise-Dreyfuss' coffee table) were tedious. Did anyone else notice that, at the same time that Mocha Joe was threatening to have Jason Alexander's beloved dogs destroyed for attacking him, Jason Alexander continued to buy coffee from Mocha Joe? Yeah. It's time to end it.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
I am a Bad Blogger
No, no, it's true. I think that, having not posted since July, it's fair to say that I have not kept up with this endeavor. Thing is, I want to have a little place online to express my thoughts, dreams, and what not, but the mechanics of actually doing it are... sucky. But I'm going to recommit to doing this thing, and God knows when I commit to something... it doesn't mean a whole lot. So we'll see.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Today the Baby and I...
... listened to the Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs". She seemed to dig it, as I thought she would, because it's full of really interesting, offbeat sounds. They should really think about going the They Might Be Giants route and recording a children's album. It's just goofy enough to work.
I swear, if this kid grows up with lousy taste in music, it won't be my fault. She's getting quite the exposure to indie rock, britpop, post-punk, and lots of other good stuff. And some classical and jazz thrown in as well. But I do think it's important for kids to find their own likes, and to not just regurgitate the music their parents like. I think it's very sad to meet people my age or younger whose favorite band is the Beetles or some other group that broke up years before they were born. Like that stupid Juno, spouting off about the '70's punk scene, which ended roughly 20 years before she was born (at least Jason Bateman called her out for that).
One of the things that has changed about growing up was rebelling against your parents by finding your own music. And, of course, it's the Baby Boomers' fault. Not that the music from the '60's and '70's wasn't good, but you need to find your own thing. There was a really funny Bloom County strip about this, back when they were doing the Billy and the Boingers stuff: We see a kid talking about why he's a slobbering B&TB fan; he says, first off, they dress totally cool; then, in the background, we see his parents getting ready to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert; he then says "that's the second reason".
So I guess my point is that it's important to support the music of your era, even if it's lame. My generation (Gen X) was lucky that we had grunge, even if that went to hell rather quickly.
We also played a game (tentatively) called "hold Daddy's finger and run around in a circle" for the better part of an hour. You wouldn't think that running around in a circle could amuse someone for so long, but there you go. You also wouldn't think the momentary pausing of said game to regain one's equilibrium would be the cause for much trauma, but you'd be wrong about that as well. I swear, if we could get that kid on a treadmill, she could power the house.
I swear, if this kid grows up with lousy taste in music, it won't be my fault. She's getting quite the exposure to indie rock, britpop, post-punk, and lots of other good stuff. And some classical and jazz thrown in as well. But I do think it's important for kids to find their own likes, and to not just regurgitate the music their parents like. I think it's very sad to meet people my age or younger whose favorite band is the Beetles or some other group that broke up years before they were born. Like that stupid Juno, spouting off about the '70's punk scene, which ended roughly 20 years before she was born (at least Jason Bateman called her out for that).
One of the things that has changed about growing up was rebelling against your parents by finding your own music. And, of course, it's the Baby Boomers' fault. Not that the music from the '60's and '70's wasn't good, but you need to find your own thing. There was a really funny Bloom County strip about this, back when they were doing the Billy and the Boingers stuff: We see a kid talking about why he's a slobbering B&TB fan; he says, first off, they dress totally cool; then, in the background, we see his parents getting ready to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert; he then says "that's the second reason".
So I guess my point is that it's important to support the music of your era, even if it's lame. My generation (Gen X) was lucky that we had grunge, even if that went to hell rather quickly.
We also played a game (tentatively) called "hold Daddy's finger and run around in a circle" for the better part of an hour. You wouldn't think that running around in a circle could amuse someone for so long, but there you go. You also wouldn't think the momentary pausing of said game to regain one's equilibrium would be the cause for much trauma, but you'd be wrong about that as well. I swear, if we could get that kid on a treadmill, she could power the house.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Dan DiDio Makes My Point
Dan DiDio, DC Comics' Executive Editor, made an interesting point at a recent DC Nation panel in Bristol, England. Quoted from Comic Book Resources:
"DiDio emphasized the fact that DC’s business was periodicals, not trade paperback graphic novel collections, because those comics readers who rely on trade collections make him nervous. “We have to make it feel like you can’t wait for the trade. I hate the expression ‘wait for the trade.’ It’s the thing that upsets me the most, because it means in my opinion that what we’re creating isn’t worth reading now. ‘I can pick it up a year from now.’”
Well, you forgot to add "it's not worth paying $3-4 for", but yeah, you're essentially correct. Most comics are not worth reading now. They are, in fact, designed to make collections the optimal reading format. What is so hard for you guys to accept about this? You created this beast, with your decompressed storytelling methods that take roughly 10 minutes to read. And do you really, honestly believe that anything you're publishing is of such amazing quality that it absolutely must be read immediately, even if it's in an inferior format for an inflated price?
Listen, trade paperbacks are better. They just are. They read better, they keep better, and new readers prefer them. Just stop fighting it.
"DiDio emphasized the fact that DC’s business was periodicals, not trade paperback graphic novel collections, because those comics readers who rely on trade collections make him nervous. “We have to make it feel like you can’t wait for the trade. I hate the expression ‘wait for the trade.’ It’s the thing that upsets me the most, because it means in my opinion that what we’re creating isn’t worth reading now. ‘I can pick it up a year from now.’”
Well, you forgot to add "it's not worth paying $3-4 for", but yeah, you're essentially correct. Most comics are not worth reading now. They are, in fact, designed to make collections the optimal reading format. What is so hard for you guys to accept about this? You created this beast, with your decompressed storytelling methods that take roughly 10 minutes to read. And do you really, honestly believe that anything you're publishing is of such amazing quality that it absolutely must be read immediately, even if it's in an inferior format for an inflated price?
Listen, trade paperbacks are better. They just are. They read better, they keep better, and new readers prefer them. Just stop fighting it.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Banes of My Existence: NBC.com
So we don't have tv anymore; well, we have a tv, but it's not hooked up to anything outside of the DVD player that allows us to watch anything. This is not a big deal. It was an easy choice to make, in fact, because there's really nothing on tv anymore that you can't watch online or via DVD. So we've got to wait until Thursday night to watch Lost-- so what? It's a perfect plan... except for NBC.com.
NBC.com sucks. It's one of the worst sites of any kind that I've ever suffered through. Navigation is more difficult than it should be; to watch an episode it often takes several clicks just to get to the player. But that's nothing compared to how !@#$ long it takes to watch an episode. Let's say you're watching The Office; the show will play for roughly five seconds, then buffer for five seconds, then play then buffer. So you pause the show, to allow it to buffer. First off, the shows often don't stay paused, starting up again without warning. Secondly, no matter how long you pause, it doesn't seem to make a difference. Last week I started an episode while my wife took a shower, and paused it. After she was done, we resumed the episode, and it didn't make it to the credits. Ridiculous!
NBC, look at the sites for Fox and ABC ( I suppose you could look at CBS, but I haven't watched a CBS show in years. Do they have a web site?). Shows play continuously without interruption. There's no reason to have such poor streaming video. And you're only hurting yourself; we haven't sampled Parks and Recreation, for example, because it's too much of a pain in the ass. Thank God none of your hour long shows are worth watching.
Stop sucking, NBC.com!
NBC.com sucks. It's one of the worst sites of any kind that I've ever suffered through. Navigation is more difficult than it should be; to watch an episode it often takes several clicks just to get to the player. But that's nothing compared to how !@#$ long it takes to watch an episode. Let's say you're watching The Office; the show will play for roughly five seconds, then buffer for five seconds, then play then buffer. So you pause the show, to allow it to buffer. First off, the shows often don't stay paused, starting up again without warning. Secondly, no matter how long you pause, it doesn't seem to make a difference. Last week I started an episode while my wife took a shower, and paused it. After she was done, we resumed the episode, and it didn't make it to the credits. Ridiculous!
NBC, look at the sites for Fox and ABC ( I suppose you could look at CBS, but I haven't watched a CBS show in years. Do they have a web site?). Shows play continuously without interruption. There's no reason to have such poor streaming video. And you're only hurting yourself; we haven't sampled Parks and Recreation, for example, because it's too much of a pain in the ass. Thank God none of your hour long shows are worth watching.
Stop sucking, NBC.com!
The Moment of Truth....
Launched my electronic portfolio today. Definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done.
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