Just dropped in to say the asteroid missed us.
So we should all have a good weekend.
What I always liked about comic books is that they were audaciously larger than life.
aka I got your mythology right here.
Exaggeration and stark dilemmas are their bread and butter. Adding nuance brings a different, post-Golden Age sensibility, but often, as in The Dark Knight, it brings too much of the real world in, to the detriment of the story.
I loved what Stan Lee did with Spiderman, bringing some serious problems to the comic book world. No longer could Superman put on his glasses and have everyone think he was a nerdy wimp. But there's a lot about comic books which only work because there isn't too much reality in it.
Because a lot of it is simply too horrible without an unreality lens which dictates the shape of things and lets them be handled on the level of fantasy, not reality.
An actual human could not handle the constant mayhem and challenges and soul-shattering trauma without going mad. Trying to pull comic books into our world too much; it just doesn't work for me.
I always liked Batman because he was flawed, knew it, and struggled with it. And we are talking some of the craziest, most compelling villains ever, such as Two-Face, who flipped between dark and light, mutilated and not.
This train of thought was tripped by the comment here:
Raphael @ 35:
Makes me wonder how many criminal gangs started out as self-defense organisations against other criminal gangs.
Perceptually, to them, they all did.
Well played, sir!
It would be a different sort of story if the headline was "Wasilla Burglary Victims Forced to Pay for Evidence Gathering."
Though, I would imagine, still right-wing in nature. They think we should have a "pay as you go" society. I can just imagine them frantically punching in their credit card numbers when they call 911.
When marketing is taken to the Nth degree, we have the example of the Bush Administration, which worked very hard at seeming to care, while expending very little effort at actually doing something.
Likewise, it is much harder to market something crappy. Most of the time (90%, if I remember my Sturgeon) they have to work very hard to sell the crap.
My father had a job administering computer aptitude tests to high school graduates, back in the punch card days.
I was eight. I took it, and passed.
It led to a career, even if it's more like the higher numbers in the dictionary... moving madly along an erratic course.
@29: Great Terry Pratchett story!
Sounds like The Graveyard Book would make a lovely gift; though I'd have to read it first, make sure it was appropriate :)
Caroline @ 53: I hear ya. I have never cursed so much, so long, and so creatively as I have the last two terms. It's the massive frustration and horror, I think.
Over George W. Bush?
I'll never get over George W. Bush!
Awww, W never wanted to be President, he wanted to be Baseball Commissioner!
Would that he'd gotten his wish. Yes, it'd be bad for baseball, but we can clean that up more easily than the whole country.
Gosh, Teresa, we really don't know whether to laugh or cry.
And we wind up doing both.
SO and I sometimes picture ourselves forty years from now, doddering out to our rocking chair to contribute to a Studs Terkel-type oral history, I Lived Through The Bush Disaster, and I always imagine us trying to explain it.
"At first, there was this strong sense of unreality, and then we realized they meant it..."
It takes a tough man to tenderize a country.
John @ 29: Good one!
As I work in the tourist industry, it often amazes me how people will come to a different place, and yet want nothing to be different.
When my family went to Brazil for my brother's wedding, we booked a little place, avoiding the chains.
We were right on the beach and it had a magnificent mahogany bar. Yes, the tub was the size of a breadbox and there was only one outlet, but it was lovely, and we got good service.
When we caught our shuttle back to the airport, there was a breakdown and we were parked in a Holiday Inn lobby. You couldn't tell you were in Brazil.
For people who don't want to feel like they've left home, I suppose that's a feature.
Most email clients these days let you search by keywords or email addresses.
Can you grab chunks you know you can get rid of that way? That might get rid of those repeats from email lists and such.
Also, if you search by a particular email address, you can see all the emails from that address, and it might let you see the flow of the "conversation" and get rid of a bunch with one email.
Well, sure, in any circumstance, having money is better than not having money.
If I'm rich, I wouldn't want to be constantly moving around with my own worrisome security forces, checking the servants for plague buboes, and peering out the window to see if the folks with torches have shown up yet.
But then, that's me.
I don't think the rich are as smart as they would like to think. Climate change, wholesale economic meltdown, plagues caused by little people not affording vaccines; all of this does not care how much gold is stuffed in the mattress.
Marilee @ 53: I think the flushable litters are a great innovation. We live in an old house with equally old plumbing, so I can't try them out myself.
I was surprised at how well my two big boys (over 15 pounds) adapted to the enclosed Litter Robot, but some cats won't, I'm sure.
This is why I had a roundup of automatic litter devices on the site; it's expensive to try one without knowing anything about it.
Sounds like you have a good system going. And Shiva is your Litter Monitor.
David @43: Thanks for coming by!
Serge @48: Thanks.
Once one company does it, and seems to be getting away with it, the other companies have to; or it's a new standard of profit they aren't meeting.
Then jumping to a competitor isn't just a hassle, it's pointless as well.
Thank you, Terry.
Slacktivist had a trauma link, that's how it started. This is quite the varied and delightful place, and thank you for making me welcome.
I'm rather pleased with Obama's moves so far, and look forward to some more 180's from Bush policies, such as his recent divestment of the CDC's Julie Gerberding.
I can't think of public health issues anymore without being irresistibly reminded of Willie Nelson. There was some kind of marijuana bust a few years ago, and he was asked about regretting his actions, or something, and he replied:
"If it were spinach, I'd be dead."
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|---|---|
| 2009 | 22 |
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