So, What Have I Been Up To? Television

Since I started blogging in 2003, the TV landscape has changed on an almost yearly basis, whether you want to talk the variety of content or types of access one can have to serialized storytelling in a motion picture form.  Because, in a lot of ways, the definition of what we called "television", back when it was 3-6 channels coming over an aerial antenna that required you be there when the station antenna sent out the signal - is deader than Herbert Hoover.

Still makes more sense than watching TV on your damn iPhone

My cable spectrum is technically infinite, on-demand has become a possibility through a huge number of channels (through my cable or via various internet services), the TV "season" still exists at the networks, but only kinda...  the start of Fall is no longer when new shows air.  Now that's literally every week of the year.  And Netflix proved you could dump whole seasons on people at once and let the audience and God sort it out.  You can now jump into a show in season 3, and just find the prior seasons on Hulu or Netflix... 

The one, great trick I have decided upon is to wait and see if my trusted pals will watch a whole series and tell me if they felt the ending was satisfactory.  Series now have endings and finales.  They no longer limp along, becoming a pale version of their former selves, getting by on the faithful habits of watchers who are just seeking familiarity.  Look, I got burned by both X-Files and Lost, and I'm not doing it again.  

Fortunately for all of us, a year and half isn't all that long in TV terms, so it's not like my TV habits have changed greatly since I went to go get milk and cigarettes in 2013 and never came back.  

I am still watching:

Space is the Place - New images of the Eagle Nebula

From PBS.org

From NASA

In Her Satin Tights, Fighting For Your Rights - "Wonder Woman '77" coming to comics

Over here at The Signal Watch, we don't "binge-watch" much TV.  When I hear someone watched an entire season of a TV show over a weekend, I think maybe that person has a butler who runs their errands, walks their dogs and amuses their friends and family in the hours when they aren't at work.  For me, "binge-watching" is watching an episode or two of a show a night, maybe 3-4 days a week.  I've done it with maybe 4-5 TV series, and haven't even finished most of those (sorry, Breaking Bad).

pew!  pew! pew! ping! ping! ping!

At the end of the summer and through the fall, we watched all 3 seasons of Wonder Woman.   We did so out of order and it took a while to do it, but we did finish.  And now?  I kind of miss it.  But I know it would be weird to watch the whole show over again so immediately.*

Je suis Charlie

There's nothing much to add to the discussion.  Freedom of expression is a hard earned right, and on the long curve of human history - a new one from a species that tends to silence the ones asking questions.

I am sorry for the tragedy, and heartened by the collective response of the free world to such a cowardly, uncivilized affront to our principles.

Anybody Else Watch "Marvel's Agent Carter"?

Sure, if I was willing to bore you with my movie and TV habits of the past 18 months, I guess I'll do a post at some point regarding what television I've been watching.  This isn't that post.

I have tried Marvel's Agents of SHIELD on three... no.  Four separate occasions and have been unable to finish an episode, including the pilot.  Nothing about that show does anything for me, so it's been with - at best - a cautiously optimistic eye that I've been watching the development of Agent Carter.  Every once in a while in making a movie you capture lightning in a bottle, and certainly Haley Atwell's performance as Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger seemed to be one of those occasions.   The part was well written, and Atwell did enough that not only is she one of the most memorable supporting characters in Marvel's expanded cinematic universe full of intergalactic gods and futuristic technology, Marvel Studios decided they could build a whole show around just Agent Carter.  So, Haley Atwell should feel pretty good about herself at the moment.

Spider-Sam, doing the things a Spider-Sam zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

face down in the Spidey blanket

This is Sam.  He is Jamie's dad's cat, and he's staying with us for a few days.

Sam got a little sleepy today.

And, yes, I sleep under a Spider-Man blanket when it is cold out.

And the Spider-Man song is The Dug's joke, not mine.

Signal Watch Watches: Thief (1981)

James Caan.  Michael Mann.  Tangerine Dream.  Crime-Noir.  Willie Nelson?

Heck, yes.

So, What Have I Been Up To? Me and Comics Since June 2013

I really don't know how to write this post, because, if you've been following me for any length of time - and, in particular, if you've been here because of comics, this is where I disappoint you.

I am no longer a "read 20 comics per week" kind of guy.  I'm more of a "I'll knock through a trade once a week or so" kind of guy.  My comics reading and collecting was changing before this site was frozen in carbonite, and it's continued to mutate.

y'all buckle in, because it's about to get pedantic and ornery up in here

I kind of quit trying to keep up with Marvel as a universe around Secret Invasion, which was several years ago now.  I've tried to keep up here and there with Captain America and a few other titles, but Marvel's insistence on the cross-over stunt has made that exceptionally difficult.  Pair that with the fact I read Marvel in trade collections rather than floppies or digital comics, and their "all new #1's all the time" marketing strategy, and I literally gave up trying to understand what was happening at Marvel as a Universe.  But I will be picking up some of the Star Wars books for a few months and see how I like a Marvelized Star Wars U.

DC and the New 52 kind of sent me screaming.   The quality of DC hasn't really improved much over the past two years, and it was in the basement with the launch of the New 52.  I recently read that by Spring, DC will have canceled 60 titles since the launch of the New 52, which is an indication that I'm not crazy to think they have some problems and maybe they aren't serving their audience very well.

In the past year, it's safe to say my habit of reading comics has greatly reduced.  At least the reading of new comics.  When I do buy floppies, I collect them for a couple months and read a few at a time, unless it's something that's self-contained.  And I'll talk about what I'm buying as floppies, which isn't much.

The other day I mentioned that I've recently also sold off a huge portion of my collection.  Well over half my stuff has been dispensed with since August, something like 15-20 boxes (short and long), something like 4-5000 comics.  I've also sold a huge number of my action figures, graphic novels and other items.

And - you know - I don't miss them.  I have more than a room full of great stuff that I like and feel like showing off from time to time, and it's a lot more focused than it once was.

So What Happened?

Blog Stats - Some Stuff of Interest (to me)

Ostensibly, this is a blog that covers pop culture, especially movies, comics and Superman.  But the posts that get the most traffic aren't always on these topics.  Frankly, I never know what's going to suddenly get a spike, especially if I just post on whatever moves me that day.

Here are the top 5 posts, by traffic, from the two blogs I've kept.  And my speculation as to who is still clicking on that link all these years later.


Top 5 Blog Posts (by traffic) of All Time:  Signal Watch (as of 12:30 AM, 1/4/2015)

1. 8765 - The Giant Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg:  High school kids with a paper to write
2. 5168 - Today is the 60th Birthday of Christopher Reeve:  People who think they might miss Christopher Reeve's 60th birthday
3. 4411 - I'm Headed for Waco, also (Some) Lawyers are Pigs:  Baptists with legal problems
4. 4296 - Nuvigil Radio Ad: Pitching a world in which nobody ever heard of coffee: Insomniacs with radios
5. 4255 - DC's Take on Supergirl with DCNu/ Relaunch/ New 52:  Nobody at DC

I Just Sold My Last Box of Comics (for a while), Which Was My First Box of Comics

It's fair to say the comic book in particular that set me on my course of really getting into comics was Uncanny X-Men #210, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Romita Jr.

The issue took place in a period between a big fight with Mutant hunting robot from the future, Nimrod, and issue 211, which would begin the Mutant Massacre saga in the X-books and a few unaffiliated books (Thor and Power Pack, for reasons I do not understand).

Can't tell you how much I miss an era where superheroes smoked

I'll talk a lot more about this in the near future (because, ha ha...  this is The Signal Watch and verbosity is not a problem here), but I released about 2/3rds of my single-issue comics back into the wild in the second half of 2014.

I was not hanging onto this box out of romance or nostalgia.  I planned to sell it on eBay.  Or, rather, Jamie's been selling some of my stuff on eBay, and I was going to sell these issues off in lots of ten, but it just never happened, so...  The good folks at Austin Books and Comics were able to take this off for my hands for in store credit.*