a99kitten's Musings

Issues:
X-Men: Curse of the Mutants #1
X-Women (Marvel One Shot)
X-Men: The Heroic Age #526
Wonder Woman #601 (first official issue after her costume/history change. FYI – this situation was NOT popular at Comic Con which seems, to me anyway, to be a good sampling of the CORE fan base)
Batgirl #12

Graphic Novels:
Teen Titans/Outsiders (LOVED both of these titles back when…)
Titans: Old Friends
Angel!!!!!! The story picked up RIGHT after the series ended…whee!

Oh yeah – “Kick Ass” arrived from Amazon…

Yikes – I better get reading…I have so, so much to digest – books, comics, graphic novels, Fantasy Football info, Vanity Fair and Vogue issues, old TV shows, new TV shows, movies….I work and exercise too much… oh, and hang out with the buds! (NO SUCH THING as hanging out with them too much!! I say give up work!)

I just listened to Diana Dors “Roller Coaster Blues” on the rat pack music channel on DirecTv. LOVE it! I need this album (and the brunette one of course) for sure.

It’s almost as good as one my most favorite 60s camp movies….

Genius

With that album playing I just need Dino to walk in with a martini :) But I totally need to put on my white go-go boots (of course I have some….not original but they made a tiny comeback in the late 90s. LOVE!)

My birthday weekend is coming to a close. I think I did OK on my birthday gluttony as far as eating, drinking and general merriment went. Was still busy and stressed with work so I pretty much kept it to a minimum. I’ve mostly been tired so wanting to just hang out with huskies and read in the sun – pretty much the best activities anyway :)

I had my pre-Eclipse dinner with girlfriends that my birthday snuck into last Tuesday, Eclipse (squeal!) and then a comic book store excursion and a nice dinner with friends on Friday, hung out with huskies a lot, finished my book AND one of my new Wonder Woman graphic novels (and the new WW), had dinner with more friends at the house on Sunday night and went to the lake today, hung out, watched (other) doggies play in the water and had a Wet Woody (yummy drink…mind out of the gutter!)

And I did end the day and the weekend with 2 glasses of Gloria Ferrar Blanc de Noir (courtesy of @missmelon leftover from last night) and some homemade Hawaiian poke. One of my all-time favorite combos/meals. Sushi grade tuna and bubbly – perfect combo in flavors.

Back to work tomorrow. I take a week off for my birthday/July 4th every year. With 2 weekends and 5 weekdays = 9 awesome days in Tahoe. This year it got changed due to work. So instead of the annual week off at this time, I will shoot for this past 3-day weekend and a 4-day weekend starting Thursday! We’ll see. Fingers crossed…

p.s. it’s Harrison Ford’s birthday on the 13th so July really is an excellent month :)

Found this on YouTube and grinned the whole way through. I don’t give a crippity-crap about meeting celebrities. But I would love to meet this man.

So the big news yesterday (well, on the internet anyway..ok, twitter, tumblr and Facebook at least!) was that Wonder Woman was “re-vamped”. New costume and new back story. Huh?

Apparently the new issue in comic book stores this past Tuesday features the new Wonder Woman. I have not seen it. I actually haven’t read Wonder Woman for years but she is still, and always will be, my favorite super heroine. I still look every year to see if someone makes a good WW costume for Halloween. I have never found one that is great. So now what? No more chances? :(

She was my first “hero” comic. I read Archie (I preferred Veronica over Betty and didn’t understand what either saw in Archie), Richie Rich and Scrooge McDuck (of course I did) when I was young but then graduated to Wonder Woman and then Justice League, Justice Society, New Teen Titans, The Outsiders, etc and then onto the darker (IMO) Marvel titles.

I gave up my subscriptions years back as I simply have no more room to store my comics. I saved all of my old ones – bagged and boarded in acid free boxes, blah blah. But with all of my Star Wars collectibles – just ran out of storage space. Plus I found I just stored most of them and didn’t read them all as I ran out of time with starting our own company and working all the time. Stupid grown up stuff…

But I do like the new Justice League cartoon. And I would love for DC to also offer a digital reader. I read yesterday (I think) that they are but didn’t read the story as my guess it’s for the iPad and I am not buying that thing yet. Need 2nd or 3rd gen for sure. I want to be able to subscribe to my favorite titles and have them there on my digital reader just like I used to have them in my inbox at the comic book store. :)

But I digress…WW was my first hero(ine). Thanks to Wonder Woman, I got into reading a LOT of Greek and Roman mythology. So…are they messing with that history? What they were messing with wasn’t exactly clear in the articles I read, and I might have to go buy the issue (or stand in the comic book store and read it) to see. Wonder Woman kicked ass. And she didn’t need any help to do it. I like that. I can’t imagine they will change that part (after all she is a super hero) but what will be changed? I’m sure I’ll rant about it here if I don’t like it :)

But why change her story? Why write all this history and create this iconic character and then go “oh – let’s muck with it.” Will she pull a Bobby and walk out of the shower and everything will have been a dream? (random 80s reference.) Or are we just going to not even mention all these decades of history and stories and basically just press re-start on her character? See…I will probably have to see. But I don’t really want to pay for the comic and support this endeavor when I am 100% completely against it.

And changing her outfit? I’m sure all of the fanBOYS will be against it as she is definitely one of, if not THE sexiest characters in comics. But this girl is against it too. I saw a picture of her new outfit. Yuck. Triple Yuck. They basically took Black Canary’s outfit, tweaked it and gave it to Diana. WTF? Giant FAIL. And don’t even get me started on the fact that they took away the American Flag theme about her costume. She fought the Nazis in that costume for crying out loud. LEAVE IT ALONE!

Of course this is only 1 fan’s opinion. But every time they try and make big changes to their main characters, DC mucks it up. I still have my “Superman is Dead” issue in the sealed plastic bag with the black armband. I guess time will tell if people like it. If sales go up (I assume this is why it was done) and maybe they can finally cast her movie.

Maybe the point of this is not about re-inventing her story and making “powerful stories for a strong woman character who didn’t need to flaunt her body” (yeah, I read that in 1 of the articles yesterday and wanted to vomit.)

Maybe it’s as simple as the Powers That Be at DC realized there was no way anyone could ever fill the costume left vacant since the 70s after Lynda Carter made it her own so if they want to cash in on another hero franchise they needed to make a change to accommodate a wider array of actresses. And if they happen to ever cast Megan Fox or Kim Kardashian (I’ve read both rumors but likely started by their agents) as WW I will ban all DC Comics from my life forever.

Who knows. But this fan currently says Jim Lee and DC can suck it….

Why the hell would you change this?

Maybe I’ll try and sneak off to Lee’s to see the new issue. It’s my birthday on Friday…so breaking out of work for a quick trip to the comic book store might be in order :) And then maybe I’ll pull down my comic boxes and re-read some old classics…

“Update” Wonder Woman. As if…pfft…oh and meh.

I read the Vanity Fair article about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton today. Wow. I always knew they had this grand, and yet scandalous, love affair in the 60s and got married and divorced twice and it was all very dramatic and yet romantic at the same time. Very real life Catherine and Healthcliff. It also made me want to rent their old movies! And buy the new book coming out about them. Funnily, I got Cleopatra from Netflix last week right before this magazine arrived, It’s like I cosmically knew ;)

But this article had some of the love letters from Richard to Elizabeth. Very passionate. Very “I cannot live without you”. They definitely seemed very much in love with other. Even when they could no longer be together, those feelings didn’t stop. Their affair started so full of passion and yet also full of scandal. Full of romance and extravagance but also turbulence. They did stay married for 10 years and then got remarried for a short time. So it wasn’t like they flamed out quickly and it was all about lust. It sure seems they stayed in love with one another forever. Kind of hard to follow that if you were one of their other lovers/spouses.

Of course, it seems so romantic to those on the outside reading about it because we didn’t have to live with the alcoholism, fighting, jealousy, etc. We get to read about the good without really feeling the bad.

Richard Burton always came across to me (in the few movie roles I have seen him in which is the only way I know anything about him besides the “Liz and Dick” stories”) as the tough as nails, hard-ass, carousing Welsh guy. And I think he was exactly this. I liked him immediately when I found out he played King Arthur on stage and I listed to the soundtrack over and over. Wonderful voice for that role. But his soft spot was definitely for her. And reading a few of the letters he wrote her, the love he felt for her was amazing.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/liz-and-dick-the-ultimate-celebrity-couple.html

This link isn’t the article. If you have access to Vanity Fair and like old Hollywood stories (or tortured romance), I say read it :)

My one peeve, is the cover of Vanity Fair compares (in a way) them to “Brangelina”. Yuck. Frankly, IMO, that’s insulting to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I like Brad Pitt, and they are both OK actors and I enjoy at least most of the films I have seen with them but they are so no way on the same level. Not in talent or pure coolness. But again, my opinion. And I really could care less about their love affair. And I simply can *not* imagine Brad writing…

“Prometheus was punished by the gods forever and is still suffering in all of us for inventing fire and stealing it from the gods. I am forever punished by the gods for being given the fire and trying to put it out. The fire, of course, is you.”

Yeah…that is swoon-worthy. And he had a lot of them. Plus he had exquisite taste in sparklies :)

I really liked the Lost finale last night. And not just because I hosted a fun party for it :) Made some yummy junk food, someone brought a Dharma cake, cocktails were made. The most fun was that then whenever a long-lost character showed up or a plot line took a wacky turn, we all OOOOHHHed, AAAHHHed, DOHed! at the same time. Was a very fun viewing :)

And I feel they wrapped up enough to make the story seem complete. Did they fully explain a myriad of smaller plotlines and devices? No. Why there was a rampaging polar bear? What was real and what was “purgatory”? Did anyone actually survive that crash? Or was it all purgatory? I could think of a 100 questions without even really thinking hard! And then 100 more just from last night’s episode!

In the first season I called the “island as purgatory” scenario. I was obviously not the only one. The writers were asked this exact question at the Comic Con panel years ago where they flatly denied it was. Now, does that mean they lied to people? Or does it mean they chickened out on an original storyline they had planned and chose this path as the easy one in the last season? Who knows. But it wrapped up nicely. And really – why would they answer that question honestly if it would then give up so many future plot line surprises. Who cares if they lied about it? I’ve read more than one person moaning about this online and it annoyed me. Why should they give up their storyline to a reporter or fan at a panel just because you asked? They weren’t on trial or testifying at a Congressional Hearing. Besides, if they were alive on that island, then it wasn’t purgatory. If you don’t watch the show, you are scratching your head right about now…heck, if you do watch the show you probably are too :)

I like that the show was always a fight between the belief in faith or science (like X-Files was at the beginning.) And how the people who fought those battles changed. I like that they chose to end the show on a more upbeat note even while not shying away from subject of the death and the demise of popular characters. I like that the show made me tear up or just flat out cry and NOT in a Lifetime movie way :) But in an ohmygodicantbelievetheyjustdidthat! way.

I loved the characters. Even the ones I hated! Jack’s constant stress of being a leader. Locke’s constant challenging of Jack’s disbelief in believing. Locke’s plain ol’ kick assness. Sawyer’s wise-ass remarks and name calling (and yes, ok..his chest.) Hurley’s Star Wars references (and Sawyer’s. And Miles’) Sun and Jin. Ben (Henry Gale!) Desmond…being Penny’s Constant. Sayid’s bad-ass-ness. Every character on this show was great – even ones that were pretty obvious redshirts. And ones that were very much bad guys. It’s probably one of the only TV shows (or books or movies) where I didn’t have an obvious front-running favorite character. They were all so good and fun to watch. It was a character-driven show and, in The End, that was more important than the mythology of the show. The writers wrapped up characters, not necessarily plot lines. I am OK with that.

Do I have a million unanswered questions? Yes I do. Am I sad I will no longer get answers to any of them? Yes I am. Am I sad I no longer have watching Lost to look forward to? Very much so. I think any story – TV, movie, book comic book, etc that can wake me up in the middle of the night pondering what happened and asking questions and having endless debate with friends about characters and plots is evidence of a good story with good writing and characters. And I will miss it. Television is filled with a bazillion channels of a gazillion hours of vomit-worthy “entertainment” so it’s sad when something that is actually good and captivating goes away, only to be replaced by some mind-numbing reality show.

I woke up at 4am this morning thinking about Jack’s end. And the last minutes of the show. And stressing about it. Sad about Jack dying there alone. Was Jack ever alive on the island at all though? Did they all just crash land and die and then were in purgatory/the way station/whatever you want to call it? And most importantly, if they did die – who the hell was going to take care of Vincent?! Which started me stressing about my doggies. Which is likely where the initial stress came from since I was taking Storm to the vet this morning. My mind just doesn’t like to shut off…:)

But besides giving fans some closure on where these characters ended up, they really made me happy that they brought Vincent the dog back. Every single review of the finale and blog about it today mentioned this as a triple bonus-points move. And he was there at The End along with my tears…

Jack and Vincent

…to house my collectibles. I think it’s dumb to have some really cool stuff boxed up in a closets. Not that I want my house to look like the 40-Year Old Virgin’s house. I just need a dedicated collectibles room with proper shelving, wall space and lighting :) My office and home office are no longer cutting it. Need to remove all of the “office” elements to make them work! :)

Just received a pre-order email today from Gentle Giant. This is pretty cool….Tusken Raider on a Bantha. Gentle Giant makes some really fun stuff.

Bantha

I seriously need more room/shelves before I buy anymore collectibles though. Indy and Mola Ram just arrived from Sideshow yesterday and I have NOWHERE to put him.

And I have a couple…few…several?…more items arriving from Gentle Giant and Sideshow as the months go on. Pre-orders get me every time!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100319/en_afp/entertainmentuscrimepeoplesmith

Ummm…Penniless? Did she not work for a living? And make her own money?

And heirs? Surely they are just talking about her one daughter and not that scumbag lawyer Howard Stern (who is the only person from her will alive)?

She (Anna) didn’t deserve any of that money and I’m glad the judge ruled this way. That a lawsuit can stay alive in court for so long on such a baseless claim is ridiculous. The old guy’s will said what he wanted. If he told you something different to get you to marry him (eww) then you should have got it in writing first. I believe she got a house and jewelry out of the deal so she should have been happy with that. Especially if she loved him as she claimed. Although my guess is most of this was Howard Stern’s plotting.

There should be no will challenging allowed unless the person is truly not in their right mind and a change is made then (or under duress obviously.)  Actually, had he changed it to give her a huge chunk of his fortune right before he dies, his son/family would have had more of a right to question it and sue in court.

People don’t “deserve” anything. My money – if I want to leave it to my dogs, I should be allowed. If I want it all in cash and thrown out of an airplane – my right. My money. If you have minor children, then that is your only true responsibility to ensure are taken care of until they grow up. And any outstanding debt you have.  Beyond that – do what you want with it.

Pissed me off that some judge thought he had the right to change Leona Helmsley’s will when she left it to her dog. And have the nerve to dole some of it to the grand kids she specifically disinherited. Who the hell are you to question what I do with my money and my family? And then decide what charities/organizations to give it to. Who are you to make these choices with MY money? Grrrr.

The End.

I think this might be my favorite song of all time. Makes me swoon every time I hear it…

I wish I had a time machine to go back and see these guys live. Back when our entertainment figures entertained us with singing, dancing and acting and not flashing us their panties or beating their wives. Some of them likely did all that but we didn’t have 24/7 media coverage and paparazzi staking them out, waiting for them to fall, so the public just got to be entertained by the arts…I think I might belong in a different decade…