A Friend is.....

...someone who laughs at the bad jokes and cries with you at the sad moments.

...someone who will tell you if you suck, but will defend you to someone else who thinks that.

...someone who can laugh at themselves when they do something stupid and not get mad when you laugh hysterically.

...someone who laughs hysterically when you do something stupid, but feels your pain and humiliation.

...someone who you can talk to about anything, and not feel like you have to censor yourself.

...someone who can look past your faults and see the real person hiding underneath it all.

...someone who will point out your faults and do it in a way that they're not busting your balls.

...someone who enjoys your company, no matter who stupid you look.

...someone who tells you "you look great" when you couldn't look like a bigger dork.

...maybe not the most important person in your life, but someone who you can't think about without smiling. Or laughing.

...hopefully someone who makes you want to be a better friend and a better person.

Just something that's been rattling around in my head. Hope you like it.

Quick Hits

It's Friday, so I thought I would empty the garbage can that is my brain.



Some SMALLVILLE news. Looks like Black Canary is coming. She is supposed to be hired by Lex to kill Green Arrow, who will be returning shortly. Last night's episode was pretty good. It carried on the tradition of former "Super" people showing up, with Helen Slater (the god-awful Supergirl movie) playing Clark's birth mother, Lara. I'm not sure how the impending writer's strike will affect the show, but it explains why we haven't seen any reruns. Yet.

My master, Joss Whedon (if you read PvP, you know the reference) is returning to both comics and TV. The newest solicit for the Buffy comic has him returning to write. He is also planning to write a series called "Dollhouse" starring Eliza Dushku. You may remember her from Buffy as the slayer Faith. The premise sounds cool, with people gaining powers and having their minds wiped after missions. I know that I am not doing justice to the story, but I'm sure there will be more details to come.

The Ravens return to the field this week on Monday night which, quite frankly, scares the bejeezus out of me. I am a major fan, but I am also a realist. It's the perfect storm of bad things. It's Monday night, which means they are the only game on; National TV (well, ESPN) which they sometimes have bad showings; and an away game in Pittsburgh. Yes, they won there last year and they have had success on the national stage, but I feel this team is at a crossroads. This game sets the tone for the 2nd half of the season. If they win, terrific. Joy to the freaking world. All I ask is that they don't embarass themselves they way they have at times.

On a final note, I have a question. Is there someone in your life you can't do without? I don't mean love per se, but someone who does things that get you through your day? Have you ever tried to think about what your life would be like without them? Sort of deep for a friday, but I told you I was emptying my brain. Have a safe weekend all!

Almost.....

OK, maybe it was me last night. I wasn't in the greatest of moods. But I really look forward to Monday night for HEROES. It's my only serious hour of television by myself that does not involve sports.





Last night was one of the worst episodes I've seen. I can't really put my finger on why it sucked, but it seemed that every twist, even Hiro's, was telegraphed so badly. It doesn't put me off the show, but it did make me pause for a moment. I know that Shawn is probably reading this and thinking, "I told him so, the asshat". After a few hours rest, and some caffeine, I think that I'll go all geek on you for a minute.





In comics, during a big story arc, there are what we sometimes refer to as a "placeholder"story. It doesn't advance the story too much, and provides the artists and writers a chance to focus and gain momentum into the next part of the overall arc.





Considering that the November sweeps begins soon, this episode had that feel. The overall story wasn't advanced that much. And I have to think that after next month, they go into repeats until after the first of the year. So they have a lot to get to in the next few weeks. Oh, and yes, I do tend to think that they are sometimes forcing characters into the story just for the sake of it. They don't want to lose any of the big guns from last year, but also want to keep introducing new ones as well. That can make for some scatter shot storytelling. That is what last night's HEROES felt like. So, it's a bad episode. Won't make me jump the ship, just know that when it re-airs, I can go watch something else. Later, folks.

Since when?.....

I've heard that "30 Days of Night" cleaned up at the box office this past weekend. This is not really news considering the push it got. What is interesting is my involvement in it.

A friend told me last week that she was going to see it. I remarked off hand that it's based on a graphic novel. I can't help that, it's a comic geek thing. She said "Well, I guess you'll be going then, huh?". I replied that no, I wasn't for several reasons. The biggest of which is money, of which I have none. Secondly, horror is not really my thing. There is enough real life horror to go around. But the comment she made caused me to stop and think.

Why is it assumed that if I read comics, that I must automatically go to every comic book based movie out there? Or that I must watch every single sci-fi show that comes out? Yes, I do watch HEROES and SMALLVILLE, but that's about it. Do we pigeonhole everyone this way? Is every sports fan supposed to have a jersey of their favorite team, and must they wear it every single time their team plays? If they don't, are they less of a fan? Do we think that adult fans of the Harry Potter series read every single book on witches and wizards?

When did this happen? Has it always been this way? I realize that the word "fans" is short for "fanatics", but aren't there shades of grey in this? I love the anime Cowboy Bebop, and would recommend it to anyone of reasonable intelligence, but I don't love all anime. Carrying this a step further, it's not a secret that I am a major animation (OK, cartoon) buff. I love the old Warner Bros. stuff with a passion, and I enjoy quite a bit of the new stuff too. But I have heard from time to time; "oh, you must have seen HAPPY FEET or CARS, since they're toons.". WHAT?!?!

I don't feel that I have to waste my time and money going to and viewing every thing. If something catches my eye or attention, then cool. But don't expect me to be a sheep and automatically flush my money away just because it's a comic or a cartoon. I didn't go to the Simpsons movie this past summer because I really didn't feel like plunking 10 bucks down for it. I still love them, and watch every Sunday, so I don't think I'm less of a fan.As for "30 Days", more than likely I'll catch it when it comes on cable or borrow someones DVD. For those who went and enjoyed it, I'm glad for you. Hope it brought you the chills and thrills you were seeking. If it didn't, go read the graphic novel.

M.I.A.

Or maybe I should be labeled Missing In Inaction. Sorry you guys haven't heard from me in a bit, but I've been seriously sidetracked. Last week was Cindy's birthday, we took a day trip, Ravens game (always takes priority on Sunday!), and a lot of other things to distract me from the task at hand. Namely, entertaining you.



Call this weird, but I have entered my self-imposed embargo. From about this time until after the holidays, I don't buy anything for myself that I would ask for at Christmas. I have done this for many years so that those who want to get me something don't have to worry about whether or not I have it yet. It may sound stupid to you, but it beats having to fake excitement at getting something you already have.



This year promises to be both easy and tough. Easy, because I have no money to spend on myself. I have no wiggle room for anything resembling extras. Tough, because there are some really good things out there. The movies, such as the FF, Spider-Man, and Transformers. I am sure that sometime in the next month or so the Harry Potter movie will be released. These fall into the category of; never seen it and want it (FF), seen it and want it to complete the trilogy (SM), and saw it and really liked it (TF and HP). There are other things out there I would like, but I'll keep them to myself. If you really care, feel free to ask. In person.



OK, this was a simple check in to let you know that I am alive and vertical. More to come and I promise to be more on top of posting. Thanks for your patience!

When did it happen?

I have been mulling over this post for a few days. I read a post on my friend Jim's blog by, I believe, his daughter Gwen. In it she asks why we sometimes tend to look for the negative in comics as opposed to highlighting the positive. It was a great post and got me thinking about this in general.

We are a nation, if not a world, of cynics.

This does not apply universally. But on the whole, we tend to look a things with a sceptical eye. When did this happen? Now, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I believe that this trend began in the late '60s and gained traction in the 70's. Of course, we always think that earlier times were sunny viewed through the prism of hindsight. We tend to think that kids have it easier than we did. They have better tools to learn, cooler stuff to play with. That may be true, but the pitfalls of being a kid in this modern age is not as easy as in our day. We could walk to a bus stop on a crisp autumn morning and the most you had to worry about is whether you had forgotten your homework or lunch. Nowadays, parents stay until the bus comes to ward off potential predators or other nefarious types. You could have left your kids home alone and not have to worry about either someone breaking in, or what was happening on the internet. The media certainly must shoulder some, if not most, of the blame in what has happened to our innocence. I mean the fact that some local newscasts take the attitude "if it bleeds, it leads" and playing to our voyeuristic nature is telling. And we are a nation of voyeurs, whether we want to admit it or not.

I got a little off topic there for a sec, so forgive me. Where I was going with this was, when did we lose the innocence in reading comics? For me, there is a certain happiness in going to the comics store on a Wednesday and seeing what awaits. It's like Christmas morning. OK, it's nothing like Christmas. But do you see what I'm getting at? If you don't enjoy something, if all you do is look for the negative right away, then stop doing it. Go find something that makes you happy. In this world there are so many things that can do that. Not all of them legal or good for you. But man, do something that makes you happy. For me? The day that I no longer look forward to going to the comics store to see what Batman and company have cooked up for me, that's when I'm out. I guess it's why I read "Spawn" for so long after it had jumped the shark. That book was my re-entrance to the wonderful world of comics. And for that plus all the years of happiness that comics has brought me, I thank McFarlane. He sucks, yes, but he allowed me to see other terrific things I never would have known if I had not said; "man I can't believe I stopped reading comics".

I hope you stuck it out with this post. Think it's the longest I've done. If you have, post me. What makes you happy? What makes you forget all of your troubles, even if for only a minute?