Anonymous asks:
Why do you keep blogging after all these years? What keeps you going? Do you like the attention?
Wow, tough questions from the crowd.
At the end of this month, I will mark my ten year anniversary of my first blog post. In internet time, that's an eon.
What started me then is not why I'm doing it now, if I can even recall why I did it then. Truthfully, the original League of Melbotis blog was more or less about having a one-to-many communication tool for myself when I'd moved to a place where I was far from people I knew, and had nobody to talk to (aside from Jamie), and pestering people with email had gone about as far as it could go.
Back then, blogging hadn't really taken the shape it has now of routine columns on single topics. It was closer to journaling, in my opinion, but the public forum-ness of blogging meant a push and pull of having an audience that just writing for and to yourself won't ever have.
But why am I still doing it?
There are a lot of reasons.
I do believe writing continually has improved my ability to think critically.
I think.
Maybe.
Blogging routinely does mean I apply some thought to media and how that media is produced when I act as a consumer. If reading that pondering is useful for others (ie: you), well... I'm happy for you guys! But I did figure out years and years ago that this works best if I do this for myself first, and if its of benefit to other people, that's a very nice thing, but it can't be my primary concern.
I write with myself as my primary audience, assuming there are other The League's out there.
And, it turns out, there are other people out there who have found a reason to return, even if their own voices are very different. I do feel some responsibility to the great folks I've met or not met, who show up online and stick with me. That's an honor.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Your Questions Answered: Which Super Power?
CanadianSimon asks:
I know you've spent a lot of time thinking about this, all comic fans have, if you could have one super power what would it be? How would it be useful in the real world and what would the detriments be. Finally, do you think this absolute power would corrupt you?
For a long, long time I thought the power I'd want, and which I'd still want in a way, is: invulnerability
It sort of started with the idea, when I was living in a 14 story dorm, of getting tired of waiting for the elevator and thinking "man, if I could just pitch myself out the window and get up and walk away, I could save myself a lot of time." Yes, it would be alarming to everyone on the ground, but those elevators took forever.
Then I began extrapolating all the other stuff I could do even without other standard super powers, like flight or super strength.
Flight would be very cool, but its got limited application. It's basically a way of getting around that avoids traffic. Strength is great, but without invulnerability, it seems like you'd be in constant danger putting that strength into practice. What if you drop the bus on yourself?
But I think with invulnerability, you could actually be fairly useful. If human frailty were removed, the opportunities seem limitless for ways in which it could be applied, from deep sea explorer to space walker to fireman. And, if you don't need to worry about getting dinged up, you can also get a rocket pack or whatever, and flight can be an option.
The trick, of course, is that you'd lose empathy for other people who did bleed, and who had to worry about the basics of an existence where harm would end you. I don't know what it might mean for longevity if your physical shell was impervious to damage, so the problems of remaining healthy and whole while time marches on for everyone else could really take a mental toll. And, of course, using the power for means that served a benefit to the most people and not just as a party trick to get on TV, nor to be asked to use it for harm. And, I wouldn't want to wind up assigned permanently to standing next to the President on the off-hand someone starts lobbing bullets at him.
I know you've spent a lot of time thinking about this, all comic fans have, if you could have one super power what would it be? How would it be useful in the real world and what would the detriments be. Finally, do you think this absolute power would corrupt you?
For a long, long time I thought the power I'd want, and which I'd still want in a way, is: invulnerability
It sort of started with the idea, when I was living in a 14 story dorm, of getting tired of waiting for the elevator and thinking "man, if I could just pitch myself out the window and get up and walk away, I could save myself a lot of time." Yes, it would be alarming to everyone on the ground, but those elevators took forever.
Then I began extrapolating all the other stuff I could do even without other standard super powers, like flight or super strength.
Flight would be very cool, but its got limited application. It's basically a way of getting around that avoids traffic. Strength is great, but without invulnerability, it seems like you'd be in constant danger putting that strength into practice. What if you drop the bus on yourself?
But I think with invulnerability, you could actually be fairly useful. If human frailty were removed, the opportunities seem limitless for ways in which it could be applied, from deep sea explorer to space walker to fireman. And, if you don't need to worry about getting dinged up, you can also get a rocket pack or whatever, and flight can be an option.
The trick, of course, is that you'd lose empathy for other people who did bleed, and who had to worry about the basics of an existence where harm would end you. I don't know what it might mean for longevity if your physical shell was impervious to damage, so the problems of remaining healthy and whole while time marches on for everyone else could really take a mental toll. And, of course, using the power for means that served a benefit to the most people and not just as a party trick to get on TV, nor to be asked to use it for harm. And, I wouldn't want to wind up assigned permanently to standing next to the President on the off-hand someone starts lobbing bullets at him.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
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Texas Independence Day!
On March 2nd, 1836 Texas declared it's independence from Mexico, but we were already begun in the Texas War for Independence.
Basically, Texas was largely unsettled by Anglos and the entire swath of Tejas y Cohauila was sort of Mexican no-man's land with a few remote outposts like San Antonio. Circa 1821, a bunch of rowdies and reprobates made a deal with Mexico to settle in what's sort of Central Texas, but they had to become Mexican citizens and Catholic.
By 1835, the Mexican Government had changed and become more centrist. The local militias were now frowned upon and those shifty Anglos in North Mexico weren't playing ball with Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana's desire to disarm regional militias lest they decide they wanted to rabble rouse. If the past informs the present, you'd have to imagine if Obama suddenly said folks couldn't have guns, and people started acting kookie about how the government might take away their arms.
Wait a minute...
There were other issues, such as the forced Catholicism of the Mexican Government, that Texans really, really wanted to own slaves, and Mexico city just sort of sucked at paying attention to what was going on in Texas aside from the occasional decree that made no sense in context of living on a frontier.
President and General of Mexico, Santa Ana, had absolutely had it with the Texians (we used to have an "i" in our name) and marched an army up to, of all places, Gonzalez, where the Texians insisted on hanging onto a cannon.
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| one of the original Texas battle flags |
Yes, there was such a thing as a War for Texas Independence, non-Texans. That's what you're talking about when you discuss "The Alamo".
Basically, Texas was largely unsettled by Anglos and the entire swath of Tejas y Cohauila was sort of Mexican no-man's land with a few remote outposts like San Antonio. Circa 1821, a bunch of rowdies and reprobates made a deal with Mexico to settle in what's sort of Central Texas, but they had to become Mexican citizens and Catholic.
By 1835, the Mexican Government had changed and become more centrist. The local militias were now frowned upon and those shifty Anglos in North Mexico weren't playing ball with Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana's desire to disarm regional militias lest they decide they wanted to rabble rouse. If the past informs the present, you'd have to imagine if Obama suddenly said folks couldn't have guns, and people started acting kookie about how the government might take away their arms.
Wait a minute...
There were other issues, such as the forced Catholicism of the Mexican Government, that Texans really, really wanted to own slaves, and Mexico city just sort of sucked at paying attention to what was going on in Texas aside from the occasional decree that made no sense in context of living on a frontier.
President and General of Mexico, Santa Ana, had absolutely had it with the Texians (we used to have an "i" in our name) and marched an army up to, of all places, Gonzalez, where the Texians insisted on hanging onto a cannon.
Your Questions Answered: A Nice Piece of Meat
We're answering questions here at The Signal Watch.
Our own Fantomenos asked:
You're a Texan so:
What's the best cut of meat for casual grilling?
Again, these are advanced level questions with no simple answer.
What's throwing me here is the use of the word "casual". "Casual" can mean "I'm coming home from work, do you want me to grab some chicken on my way?" It can mean having over 20 people, but we're all in shorts. It can mean dinner with a few friends, or it can mean the assembly line at a summer camp.
So, let's ponder this a bit.
I'd break it down to:
While barbecue is sometimes served at weddings, political events, etc... and you can definitely find upscale barbecue in town (I recommend Lamberts), the barbecue that's considered most desirable is usually slow cooked and smoked to perfection. That, obviously, is not a "casual" task, even if it's one's hobby and you're doing it at home. Seriously, it's an all day affair.
Our own Fantomenos asked:
You're a Texan so:
What's the best cut of meat for casual grilling?
Again, these are advanced level questions with no simple answer.
What's throwing me here is the use of the word "casual". "Casual" can mean "I'm coming home from work, do you want me to grab some chicken on my way?" It can mean having over 20 people, but we're all in shorts. It can mean dinner with a few friends, or it can mean the assembly line at a summer camp.
So, let's ponder this a bit.
I'd break it down to:
- steaks and chicken
- BBQ
- hotdogs and hamburgers on the Weber on the back porch
While barbecue is sometimes served at weddings, political events, etc... and you can definitely find upscale barbecue in town (I recommend Lamberts), the barbecue that's considered most desirable is usually slow cooked and smoked to perfection. That, obviously, is not a "casual" task, even if it's one's hobby and you're doing it at home. Seriously, it's an all day affair.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Your Questions Answered: Original Comic Art Page
On February 27th, we challenged readers to send in any question they liked and promised to respond to all queries. We're giving it a go.
Stuart asked via Twitter, so before we lose the tweet...
Stuart asks: If you could get any one original comic art page signed, which would it be and why?
Wow. That's a really, really tough question.
There's so much to consider. What characters? Which artists were involved? The design of the page itself. What's the context of the page, and who wrote it? Was the story memorable?
For perfection on ALL of these counts, I guess I'd say: Any single page from any issue of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. But that's a shortcut of an answer.
So what would I want?
I think I'd want superhero art, for the most part. I'd make an exception for Carl Barks or Don Rosa work, and would love to have stuff by either of them. Nothing in particular comes to mind as per specific pages, though. The same with Curt Swan, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, George Perez, and many more. They're all amazing artists, but this is a singular page we're talking here, a single page from a comic that so stuck with us...
There's a few ways to answer this.
Stuart asked via Twitter, so before we lose the tweet...
Stuart asks: If you could get any one original comic art page signed, which would it be and why?
Wow. That's a really, really tough question.
There's so much to consider. What characters? Which artists were involved? The design of the page itself. What's the context of the page, and who wrote it? Was the story memorable?
For perfection on ALL of these counts, I guess I'd say: Any single page from any issue of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. But that's a shortcut of an answer.
So what would I want?
I think I'd want superhero art, for the most part. I'd make an exception for Carl Barks or Don Rosa work, and would love to have stuff by either of them. Nothing in particular comes to mind as per specific pages, though. The same with Curt Swan, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, George Perez, and many more. They're all amazing artists, but this is a singular page we're talking here, a single page from a comic that so stuck with us...
There's a few ways to answer this.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
King Kong Released March 2, 1933
I don't remember a time in my life where I didn't generally like the concept of King Kong. One of the books I remember best from about the age of 4 or 5 was a story book of King Kong, based on the 1933 film with nice illustrations, that my folks read to me. In the way things are when you're a kid, I just knew who King Kong was, already. I knew he'd climbed buildings and wreaked havoc, but not much else.
I saw the 1970's Jessica Lange/ Jeff Bridges/ Charles Grodin version on TV around 1st grade, right up until Kong was walking through New York and stepped on some people and, I still recall, me freaking out a little.
By the mid-80's, my folks dropped me and Jason and someone else (I think our own Matt A.) off at Showplace 6 to go see King Kong Lives. If you've not see it, and I haven't since a brief cable run shortly after it was in the theater, it was amazing. Oddly, it never really took off as a fan favorite. It does star a young Linda Hamilton.
One evening when I was in high school AMC finally ran the original, and I taped it in glorious VHS and then watched it, like, three times. If I liked King Kong as an idea before, I adored the original movie.
If you've never seen it, it's an amazing technical masterpiece for the time. The stop-motion animation and miniatures are terrifically seamless with the practical sets and actors, the puppetry for Kong manages to create a true character, and the entire Empire State Building Sequence is just truly a remarkable feat.
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| if Kong can make it over there, he can make it anywhere...! |
I saw the 1970's Jessica Lange/ Jeff Bridges/ Charles Grodin version on TV around 1st grade, right up until Kong was walking through New York and stepped on some people and, I still recall, me freaking out a little.
By the mid-80's, my folks dropped me and Jason and someone else (I think our own Matt A.) off at Showplace 6 to go see King Kong Lives. If you've not see it, and I haven't since a brief cable run shortly after it was in the theater, it was amazing. Oddly, it never really took off as a fan favorite. It does star a young Linda Hamilton.
One evening when I was in high school AMC finally ran the original, and I taped it in glorious VHS and then watched it, like, three times. If I liked King Kong as an idea before, I adored the original movie.
If you've never seen it, it's an amazing technical masterpiece for the time. The stop-motion animation and miniatures are terrifically seamless with the practical sets and actors, the puppetry for Kong manages to create a true character, and the entire Empire State Building Sequence is just truly a remarkable feat.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Ask Me Anything!
While I'm out, I welcome you all to help me generate content.
In the comment section of this post, ask any question you like. I'll dedicate a post to each question, so make it good.
If you feel comfortable asking a question, knowing darn full well that my mother reads this site, I'll answer as best I can.
All topics, within reason, are open.
Hit me with your best shot.
In the comment section of this post, ask any question you like. I'll dedicate a post to each question, so make it good.
 |
| all questions will receive serious consideration |
If you feel comfortable asking a question, knowing darn full well that my mother reads this site, I'll answer as best I can.
All topics, within reason, are open.
Hit me with your best shot.
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