Friday, April 01, 2011
April Fool's Day
I hate April Fool's Day. Reading websites for actual information is virtually impossible today.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Crickets
::chirp:: ::chirp::
That's the sound my blog has been making for a while now. This school year has me working harder than I ever have in my career. We have, let's see, a new principal, assistant principal, counselor, office manager, and head custodian. We've lost teachers left and right to retirement, and now it's almost a whole new school, and it's been turned upside down. New curriculum, new educational focus, new responsibilities, it all adds up. I'm also teaching a homebound student three nights a week to make extra money.
With the public education nightmare continuing, I've been spending a lot more of my free time (all two hours a day) on my geek interests. I haven't even really had time to participate in baseball discussions on the Detroit Tigers message board I used to visit so often. With all the stuff going on in the world I haven't been able to write about Charlie Sheen, the protests in Madison and Indianapolis, the tsunami in Japan, or anything else. I feel like Jon Stewart coming back from vacation, except I don't have the time to really give these items the attention they deserve. I'd love to write about Young Justice, the new animated series from Cartoon Network, as well as Invincible, my favorite comic book, or even my experiences with Manga Studio, a comic book making program that has allowed me to start inking successfully for the first time in my life.
It would be great to talk about my fantastic family, including my adorable and adoring daughter, who now creates her own comic books. My wife recently transferred to the Elkhart Area Career Center, where she is finally teaching in the culinary arts program, where she should have been years ago.
I should write about my friend KC Ryan, who passed away of cancer not long ago. I've lost another friend who was far too young to die.
There are a lot of things I should write about, but I just don't have the time. The few hours I have to myself are being used to work on a dream project that has a real chance (according to everyone who's looked at it) to be successful and popular enough to make some real money. We'll have to see.
That's the sound my blog has been making for a while now. This school year has me working harder than I ever have in my career. We have, let's see, a new principal, assistant principal, counselor, office manager, and head custodian. We've lost teachers left and right to retirement, and now it's almost a whole new school, and it's been turned upside down. New curriculum, new educational focus, new responsibilities, it all adds up. I'm also teaching a homebound student three nights a week to make extra money.
With the public education nightmare continuing, I've been spending a lot more of my free time (all two hours a day) on my geek interests. I haven't even really had time to participate in baseball discussions on the Detroit Tigers message board I used to visit so often. With all the stuff going on in the world I haven't been able to write about Charlie Sheen, the protests in Madison and Indianapolis, the tsunami in Japan, or anything else. I feel like Jon Stewart coming back from vacation, except I don't have the time to really give these items the attention they deserve. I'd love to write about Young Justice, the new animated series from Cartoon Network, as well as Invincible, my favorite comic book, or even my experiences with Manga Studio, a comic book making program that has allowed me to start inking successfully for the first time in my life.
It would be great to talk about my fantastic family, including my adorable and adoring daughter, who now creates her own comic books. My wife recently transferred to the Elkhart Area Career Center, where she is finally teaching in the culinary arts program, where she should have been years ago.
I should write about my friend KC Ryan, who passed away of cancer not long ago. I've lost another friend who was far too young to die.
There are a lot of things I should write about, but I just don't have the time. The few hours I have to myself are being used to work on a dream project that has a real chance (according to everyone who's looked at it) to be successful and popular enough to make some real money. We'll have to see.
Friday, January 14, 2011
So Far, So Good...
Well, it's a new year and nothing catastrophic has happened to us yet.
That sounds a bit on the negative side, but if you had been in our position for the past 18 months, you would be a bit more understanding. It's been nothing but one disaster after another, financially, healthwise, and otherwise. The one saving grace for Magi and me has been our wonderful daughter, Sera.
It's almost been like having a fever for a year and a half, and just before winter recess (Christmas break to us old folks) the fever broke. I finally sold off the inventory of my comic book business, as well as the bulk of my personal comic book collection.
I worked all summer long, like I usually do, and then with 12 days off between summer school and the beginning of the normal school year, I used the time to prepare to sell comics at Wizard World Chicago, the large comic book convention that used to be the Chicago Comicon. I had part of a large booth, and I brought every box of comics that I have had in my garage for the past five years. Unfortunately, for the first time in over 20 years, the convention was going to start after my school year began. I had to take two personal days during the first week of school, something I never wanted to do, but I had no choice. It was either that, or be out all of the money I had put down for the booth space. So, on the day in question, I loaded a rented U-Haul with 60 boxes of comics weighing about 50 pounds each, and drove to Chicago. I unloaded all 60 boxes of comics and then re-stacked them all like a fortress of boxes at the booth. So, basically I moved 9,000 pounds of comics in about three hours.
After I settled in and the show opened, I was selling comics for $1.00 each, but I soon discovered why business wasn't more brisk. Another dealer was selling at 5 for $1.00 on the very first day. It was pretty much the same stuff I had, so I was forced to lower my prices far sooner than I planned to. I hadn't seen so much as a quarter box at that show for about five years, so this came as quite a shock. I planned to economize as much as possible. I had a discount hotel room that I shared with a couple of friends that cost me $120 total for all three nights. It even included a free continental breakfast, which I took advantage of. I brought canned and boxed food and my own bottled water to eat and drink at the convention so that I wouldn't have to pay $7.00 or something for a sandwich and $3.50 for a bottle of water. The only thing I splurged on was $20 on both Friday and Saturday nights for a nice dinner out with new friends that I made at the show.
It was a long four days, as the dealer across the way from me was like a carnival barker. He kept shouting about how they were going out of business after 30 years. It's an old trick, and it was not the truth. He ended up going home with virtually the same number of boxes that he arrived with. He bought stuff left and right from people.
I ended up lowering my prices again and again, until on Sunday, I was literally giving away the unbagged bulk comics that no one wanted. I had rented the U-Haul truck for a one-way trip and Magi and Sera came to pick me up on Sunday. At the end of those four days, I was so happy to see them that I teared up. And the bottom line at the end of the show? I lost $100.
The good news was that on my way out, I met a convention organizer who took an interest in Sera, who was dressed up as Wonder Woman. He was now working to acquire comics for another venture. We struck up a conversation while Magi took her to the restroom, and when I told him I had sold 60 boxes but had at least that much better stuff at home, his eyes lit up. He was interested in buying it all! He told me he'd be there at the end of the week, and I worked nights to get the stuff ready. I went through it in detail, so I'd know what I had and what to ask for. I organized comics all week, and at the end of that week...he didn't show. He had even called and said that he was out of small bills and asked me to go get $40 in twenties for his tolls and he'd bump the check up by $50. Now this guy is well known in the comics world. I'm not a sucker. I knew he was good for it. I stayed up until midnight waiting for him to show up on Friday night, and then he called. His truck was full and he didn't have enough room for it. But he promised he'd be by in a few weeks to get it. Meanwhile, our air conditioner had stopped working and we didn't have the money to fix it. We'd used our mortgage money to get the car fixed and we were in a bind. Medical bills were starting to pile up too and then I had a scare with what doctors thought might be an aneurysm. One $3700 test later, we knew it wasn't, and the doctor suggested that it might be stress related. I said, "Hmm, I think it's possible."
We were getting promises from the guy to come and buy all the comics, but he kept reneging. These promises came and went every week. He said he'd be there, and then he'd have a reason why he couldn't come. A trip to China. A sudden illness. Then the promises were once a month. He'd make an appointment and cancel. I'd return his call because he'd always call when I was in class and couldn't answer. And when I'd return his call, his voice mail would pick up and the mailbox was full. It started getting ugly. So we scrimped and started paying off stuff as fast as we could. Waiting for this guy was looking dimmer and dimmer. Well, he finally showed up in mid-December. He paid far less than what I would have liked for the rest of the comics and tried to pull the "Well, these will sell for only a dollar" stuff on me, but I knew better and said so. I finally got him up to a fair price, almost double what he had intially offered, and breathed a sigh of relief. We were able to at least catch everything up, pay our medical bills, get reimbursed for our flex spending accounts and buy a few Christmas presents for Sera and the rest of our families. I had my first vacation since spring break during the first week of April, and did it feel great! The stress was gone, thank goodness. I still owe Magi's dad and stepmother for the inital outlay for the comic collection, but I can make progress on that during summer school.
Just after we went back to work, Magi got some great news. She got the Culinary Arts instruction job at the career center that she had applied for in October! This is her dream job. I am so happy for her, I can't begin to say. It was a struggle to get the people who interviewed her to see that she was the best candidate that they were likely to see, but after meeting her at the school, they have already learned things that they didn't know about her that show them just how perfect she is for this job.
When I returned to work, I found a fresh perspective on things. I'm not using the nightmare of a textbook that our corporation adopted for math. We are teaching the Indiana standards, like we should have been doing the whole time, and have been released from the cookie cutter recipes of the Connected Math Project. We can use whatever materials we'd like to get the job done, just like we should have been able to do the whole year. Some damage has been done to the kids by forcing that text on them early on, but I'm confident we can target their weaknesses now and vary our instructional strategies beyond fake context that they can't relate to.
I'd really been down on the teacher bashing that's become part of the national conversation for some time. Reviewing some of my blog posts from last year, it was getting ugly. My solution was to stop reading it. I made the mistake today of reading a presentation by state superintendent Tony Bennett, and I slid backward. I only read it because it was embedded in an email. I won't make that mistake again. Instead, I'm working on my comic book project, which will be published shortly. I will at least have an ashcan printed by C2E2 in March, with a full-color, actual comic book done by Wizard World Chicago in August. The next time I go to the convention center in Rosemont, I won't be carrying thousands of pounds of boxes. I will be sitting in a whole different section of the convention floor, carrying the hope for a brighter future for my family and me.
This is going to be fun!
That sounds a bit on the negative side, but if you had been in our position for the past 18 months, you would be a bit more understanding. It's been nothing but one disaster after another, financially, healthwise, and otherwise. The one saving grace for Magi and me has been our wonderful daughter, Sera.
It's almost been like having a fever for a year and a half, and just before winter recess (Christmas break to us old folks) the fever broke. I finally sold off the inventory of my comic book business, as well as the bulk of my personal comic book collection.
I worked all summer long, like I usually do, and then with 12 days off between summer school and the beginning of the normal school year, I used the time to prepare to sell comics at Wizard World Chicago, the large comic book convention that used to be the Chicago Comicon. I had part of a large booth, and I brought every box of comics that I have had in my garage for the past five years. Unfortunately, for the first time in over 20 years, the convention was going to start after my school year began. I had to take two personal days during the first week of school, something I never wanted to do, but I had no choice. It was either that, or be out all of the money I had put down for the booth space. So, on the day in question, I loaded a rented U-Haul with 60 boxes of comics weighing about 50 pounds each, and drove to Chicago. I unloaded all 60 boxes of comics and then re-stacked them all like a fortress of boxes at the booth. So, basically I moved 9,000 pounds of comics in about three hours.
After I settled in and the show opened, I was selling comics for $1.00 each, but I soon discovered why business wasn't more brisk. Another dealer was selling at 5 for $1.00 on the very first day. It was pretty much the same stuff I had, so I was forced to lower my prices far sooner than I planned to. I hadn't seen so much as a quarter box at that show for about five years, so this came as quite a shock. I planned to economize as much as possible. I had a discount hotel room that I shared with a couple of friends that cost me $120 total for all three nights. It even included a free continental breakfast, which I took advantage of. I brought canned and boxed food and my own bottled water to eat and drink at the convention so that I wouldn't have to pay $7.00 or something for a sandwich and $3.50 for a bottle of water. The only thing I splurged on was $20 on both Friday and Saturday nights for a nice dinner out with new friends that I made at the show.
It was a long four days, as the dealer across the way from me was like a carnival barker. He kept shouting about how they were going out of business after 30 years. It's an old trick, and it was not the truth. He ended up going home with virtually the same number of boxes that he arrived with. He bought stuff left and right from people.
I ended up lowering my prices again and again, until on Sunday, I was literally giving away the unbagged bulk comics that no one wanted. I had rented the U-Haul truck for a one-way trip and Magi and Sera came to pick me up on Sunday. At the end of those four days, I was so happy to see them that I teared up. And the bottom line at the end of the show? I lost $100.
The good news was that on my way out, I met a convention organizer who took an interest in Sera, who was dressed up as Wonder Woman. He was now working to acquire comics for another venture. We struck up a conversation while Magi took her to the restroom, and when I told him I had sold 60 boxes but had at least that much better stuff at home, his eyes lit up. He was interested in buying it all! He told me he'd be there at the end of the week, and I worked nights to get the stuff ready. I went through it in detail, so I'd know what I had and what to ask for. I organized comics all week, and at the end of that week...he didn't show. He had even called and said that he was out of small bills and asked me to go get $40 in twenties for his tolls and he'd bump the check up by $50. Now this guy is well known in the comics world. I'm not a sucker. I knew he was good for it. I stayed up until midnight waiting for him to show up on Friday night, and then he called. His truck was full and he didn't have enough room for it. But he promised he'd be by in a few weeks to get it. Meanwhile, our air conditioner had stopped working and we didn't have the money to fix it. We'd used our mortgage money to get the car fixed and we were in a bind. Medical bills were starting to pile up too and then I had a scare with what doctors thought might be an aneurysm. One $3700 test later, we knew it wasn't, and the doctor suggested that it might be stress related. I said, "Hmm, I think it's possible."
We were getting promises from the guy to come and buy all the comics, but he kept reneging. These promises came and went every week. He said he'd be there, and then he'd have a reason why he couldn't come. A trip to China. A sudden illness. Then the promises were once a month. He'd make an appointment and cancel. I'd return his call because he'd always call when I was in class and couldn't answer. And when I'd return his call, his voice mail would pick up and the mailbox was full. It started getting ugly. So we scrimped and started paying off stuff as fast as we could. Waiting for this guy was looking dimmer and dimmer. Well, he finally showed up in mid-December. He paid far less than what I would have liked for the rest of the comics and tried to pull the "Well, these will sell for only a dollar" stuff on me, but I knew better and said so. I finally got him up to a fair price, almost double what he had intially offered, and breathed a sigh of relief. We were able to at least catch everything up, pay our medical bills, get reimbursed for our flex spending accounts and buy a few Christmas presents for Sera and the rest of our families. I had my first vacation since spring break during the first week of April, and did it feel great! The stress was gone, thank goodness. I still owe Magi's dad and stepmother for the inital outlay for the comic collection, but I can make progress on that during summer school.
Just after we went back to work, Magi got some great news. She got the Culinary Arts instruction job at the career center that she had applied for in October! This is her dream job. I am so happy for her, I can't begin to say. It was a struggle to get the people who interviewed her to see that she was the best candidate that they were likely to see, but after meeting her at the school, they have already learned things that they didn't know about her that show them just how perfect she is for this job.
When I returned to work, I found a fresh perspective on things. I'm not using the nightmare of a textbook that our corporation adopted for math. We are teaching the Indiana standards, like we should have been doing the whole time, and have been released from the cookie cutter recipes of the Connected Math Project. We can use whatever materials we'd like to get the job done, just like we should have been able to do the whole year. Some damage has been done to the kids by forcing that text on them early on, but I'm confident we can target their weaknesses now and vary our instructional strategies beyond fake context that they can't relate to.
I'd really been down on the teacher bashing that's become part of the national conversation for some time. Reviewing some of my blog posts from last year, it was getting ugly. My solution was to stop reading it. I made the mistake today of reading a presentation by state superintendent Tony Bennett, and I slid backward. I only read it because it was embedded in an email. I won't make that mistake again. Instead, I'm working on my comic book project, which will be published shortly. I will at least have an ashcan printed by C2E2 in March, with a full-color, actual comic book done by Wizard World Chicago in August. The next time I go to the convention center in Rosemont, I won't be carrying thousands of pounds of boxes. I will be sitting in a whole different section of the convention floor, carrying the hope for a brighter future for my family and me.
This is going to be fun!
Friday, December 03, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Priorities
What does it say about us as a nation when, on Huffington Post, a story about what Sarah Palin said about Michelle Obama garners 5,000 comments in a matter of hours, and the top education story of the week can barely muster 1,000?
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Trick or Treat
Okay, seriously, this country needs to get a grip.
Trick or treat times are published in the newspaper and conclude before dark. Before DARK? Are you frakking kidding me?? When I was a kid, there wasn't any point in going out before dark. I still remember getting clotheslined by a guy-wire on a utility pole at a full run because I didn't see it. You didn't see me crying about it. I spit out the blood I coughed up and went on my merry way.
And putting a coat on over a costume is an insult to the costume. If you're such a sissy that you have to wear a coat while you're out raising heck on Halloween night, then you don't deserve any candy. I heard a parent today actually say, "You need to put a coat on. You'll catch cold." Lady, no kid in the history of the universe EVER caught a cold because it was 45 degrees outside. Colds are caused by viruses, not a slight chill in the air. Besides, if you're doing Halloween right, you're tearing around the neighborhood causing mayhem, not politely walking from house to house, begging for candy.
And today (I can't even legitimately say tonight) my daughter was complimented because she said, "Happy Halloween" instead of "Trick or treat." I should have put her in time out. The whole idea of trick or treat is to extort people into giving you something so that you don't play a prank on them. We're raising a bunch of frakking pansies here.
Man, I miss George Carlin.
Trick or treat times are published in the newspaper and conclude before dark. Before DARK? Are you frakking kidding me?? When I was a kid, there wasn't any point in going out before dark. I still remember getting clotheslined by a guy-wire on a utility pole at a full run because I didn't see it. You didn't see me crying about it. I spit out the blood I coughed up and went on my merry way.
And putting a coat on over a costume is an insult to the costume. If you're such a sissy that you have to wear a coat while you're out raising heck on Halloween night, then you don't deserve any candy. I heard a parent today actually say, "You need to put a coat on. You'll catch cold." Lady, no kid in the history of the universe EVER caught a cold because it was 45 degrees outside. Colds are caused by viruses, not a slight chill in the air. Besides, if you're doing Halloween right, you're tearing around the neighborhood causing mayhem, not politely walking from house to house, begging for candy.
And today (I can't even legitimately say tonight) my daughter was complimented because she said, "Happy Halloween" instead of "Trick or treat." I should have put her in time out. The whole idea of trick or treat is to extort people into giving you something so that you don't play a prank on them. We're raising a bunch of frakking pansies here.
Man, I miss George Carlin.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Well, Now We Know
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tenure
I have always, since the first time I stepped into my own classroom, loved my job. I have always looked forward to going to work. I have loved my time with my students. I have appreciated people's comments about my having answered a noble calling. I have accepted, with gratitude, discounts given to me because I am a teacher. It has truly been a great profession.
Until now.
Teachers are under attack from all sides. The issues are aplenty. Tenure, pay structure, unions, accountability, test scores, the length of the school year, curriculum, virtually every facet of public education is being deconstructed by people who have not the first clue how public education actually works.
Today, I'll talk about tenure.
On Oprah Winfrey's recent show with Davis Guggenheim, director of "Waiting for Superman," the hostess uttered these words: "After two years you have a job for life and you can't be fired! Who does that?"
Uh, no, Oprah. That's not what tenure is. But it's not surprising that you think that. I've read it in dozens of places recently, including from your "Warrior Woman," Michelle Rhee. What tenure does is that it guarantees due process rights to teachers so that they can't be fired without cause. Here's a source you might actually want to read.
Until now.
Teachers are under attack from all sides. The issues are aplenty. Tenure, pay structure, unions, accountability, test scores, the length of the school year, curriculum, virtually every facet of public education is being deconstructed by people who have not the first clue how public education actually works.
Today, I'll talk about tenure.
On Oprah Winfrey's recent show with Davis Guggenheim, director of "Waiting for Superman," the hostess uttered these words: "After two years you have a job for life and you can't be fired! Who does that?"
Uh, no, Oprah. That's not what tenure is. But it's not surprising that you think that. I've read it in dozens of places recently, including from your "Warrior Woman," Michelle Rhee. What tenure does is that it guarantees due process rights to teachers so that they can't be fired without cause. Here's a source you might actually want to read.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Year of Hell
It has been more like the 18 months of hell, but who's counting?
When my dad died on Father's Day in 2009, a long cascade of trouble began and we can't quite seem to find our way through it. It seems like everywhere we turn, some new disaster awaits. We've had tax problems, car problems, health problems, work problems, you name it.
As I looked at my blogger account today, I see that I haven't posted since August 9. I'm not surprised. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I don't want to use my blog to complain about the garbage that keeps happening to us. Blogs are meant for others to read and be entertained, and little about our last 18 months has been entertaining.
We are taking our small pleasures where we can find them, mostly through our daughter Sera, but the rest of life's joys seem few and far between right now.
When my dad died on Father's Day in 2009, a long cascade of trouble began and we can't quite seem to find our way through it. It seems like everywhere we turn, some new disaster awaits. We've had tax problems, car problems, health problems, work problems, you name it.
As I looked at my blogger account today, I see that I haven't posted since August 9. I'm not surprised. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I don't want to use my blog to complain about the garbage that keeps happening to us. Blogs are meant for others to read and be entertained, and little about our last 18 months has been entertaining.
We are taking our small pleasures where we can find them, mostly through our daughter Sera, but the rest of life's joys seem few and far between right now.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Best Back to School Sale EVER!
Yes, that really is a spiral-bound notebook and a two-pocket folder with Neal Adams' cover for Batman #251 on the front. Got them at Wal-Mart and I'm not ashamed to release my inner nerd over this!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Wild Cards Begins Again!
I am a big fan of the Wild Cards books. I have been since the late 80s when they were originally published. So, here's some great news from the author.In November, Tor is releasing the Wild Cards books from the beginning with a new version of Volume I that includes three new short stories!
If you've never read a book from this series, and if you like superheroes in any way, here's a great place to jump on!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Batman: Under the Red Hood (NO SPOILERS)
"Batman: Under the Red Hood" is the latest of DC Comics' direct-to-video animated features and I think it's one of the better ones to date. Note that it is not appropriate for children at all. The level of violence and bloodshed is once again high.I didn't read most of the source material, so I can't claim to be an expert on the character or the comics, but for all of the faults of the retroactive continuity that leads to the appearance of the Red Hood, the writer of this movie, Judd Winick, avoids all of it and makes it work well.
The first thing I noticed about the movie is the different styles used to animate Batman and Nightwing. There is a scene where the former Dynamic Duo are pursuing the Red Hood on foot in a style reminiscent of Casino Royale's opening parkour chase. Where Batman tends to take direct routes, Nightwing often takes the lead, bouncing acrobatically from structure to structure. This is a nice attention to detail, since Nightwing is a former circus acrobat. Then, when the Red Hood actually makes his escape, Batman uses his memory of the chase and research to uncover the Hood's identity. That's right, Batman does detective work!! That alone is something to be happy about, but the fun doesn't stop there.
Through a series of flashbacks we learn the history of the Red Hood and his true identity and how it relates to Batman. Without giving it away, it is touching, well done, and emotional. Emotion in a Batman movie is generally limited to rage, so this is a refreshing touch that humanizes a character who for about the last 20 years has desperately lacked humanity.
There are some slick moments and some nice fight scenes, which I have come to expect from the DC direct-to-video movies, but this one had actual story beats that went beyond the typical large-scale earth-shattering superhero events. The interconnectivity of the characters and the concept of family play large roles and that, to me, makes this movie a winner.
Bruce Greenwood does the voice for Batman in this movie, and he's pretty good, though no Kevin Conroy. To be fair, though, I can't imagine why anyone would ever hire anyone but Kevin Conroy to provide the voice of Batman. John DiMaggio does a pretty good Joker, part Mark Hamill and part Heath Ledger (if you can imagine that) but the guy who stole the show for me was Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. He simply nails the part as the not-so-dark knight.
The special features on this disc include two documentaries, which are so-so, and an animated short featuring Jonah Hex. I'd be willing to bet that this Jonah Hex was 10 times better than the live-action movie. It left out the horse-mounted Gatling guns and the occult and told a straight Western tale that I really enjoyed.
Also included were four episodes of Batman the Animated Series, but they were in standard definition and the picture quality was actually worse that that on the DVDs that I already own.
I recommend this disc!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Neal Adams
Neal Adams now has a blog.I've been a fan of Neal Adams since I was a kid and didn't know who he was. He did the cover to the first comic book I can clearly remember, Batman #203. He did the covers to several comics that are burned into my memory from childhood, and stayed with me even after my stepfather literally burned all of my comic books. Neal drew this iconic image that you see at left, which has been recreated from a full-page splash in Batman #251.
Back then, though, I couldn't tell the difference between Neal Adams and Irv Novick. I just knew that Batman suddenly didn't look like Adam West. He had long ears, an impossibly long cape, and didn't drive a fancy Batmobile anymore. He was visually responsible for what is now my favorite era of Batman.
Adams also drew a treasury book that I absolutley adored in Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. I don't care how stupid the story seems. I have read my copy dog-eared. My brother, sister, and I recorded an audio version of it when I was in junior high. I had a tape recorder and we had assigned parts to read. I wish I still had a copy of that tape! This glorious book is being recolored and about to be re-released in hardcover form. I can hardly wait.
Last week saw the release of Batman: Odyssey, written and drawn by Adams. The writing is a bit muddled, but it is a beautifully drawn book. I'll stick with it just because I would buy drying paint if it were painted by Neal Adams.
I got to meet Adams when my wife arranged a special treat for me in 2005. While we were visiting her sister Jessica and Jessica's husband, Jeremy Cook, in San Francisco, I knew that Jeremy would be going to Comic-Con International in San Diego in the middle of our visit. What I didn't know is that Magi (happy birthday, by the way, Sweetie!) had conspired with them so that I would fly with Jeremy to Los Angeles, where we would rent a car and drive the rest of the way down to San Diego. It was fun for me, because at the time, Jeremy was working at Industrial Light & Magic, and was a big-time digital matte artist. Do you remember the ship encased in ice at the end of "The Day After Tomorrow?" Yeah, Jeremy digitally painted that. But when we walked in, he was impressed because I was on a first-name basis with a lot of comic book artists who actually recognized me, a nobody! But on that trip, I got to meet a number of artists who never frequent the midwest shows that I normally attended. I got to meet Brent Anderson (Astro City), Chris Claremont (X-Men), Steve Rude (Nexus), and my artistic hero, Neal Adams! It was the best surprise I have ever received, and I don't think it can be topped.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Delusions of Grandeur...Not so Much.
C-3PO, in Empire: "Artoo, you don't know how to fix a hyperdrive."
Uh, Threepio? Do you know what R2-D2's primary function is? You know, besides delivering secret plans? He's an astrodroid. He fixes spaceships.
Seriously, did George Lucas even look at the scripts he commissioned?
Uh, Threepio? Do you know what R2-D2's primary function is? You know, besides delivering secret plans? He's an astrodroid. He fixes spaceships.
Seriously, did George Lucas even look at the scripts he commissioned?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Almost There...
Wow, am I tired.
Whenever my will to blog disappears, I know I'm at a point where I need a break. Between teaching summer school, working on my book project, and writing curriculum for next year, I've been too busy to really consider this vacation. I really felt it the past two days. Now, I'm looking ahead. A final exam tomorrow, a quick portfolio review of student work, and off we go.
I'm going to try to pack the car tonight in the hopes of leaving as soon as I can get home on Thursday for Mesick and five days of luxuriating at a nice campsite on the Manistee River. Today, I'm getting my hair cut, picking up some reading material to supplement the Doc Savage books I didn't finish on spring break, and packing up. I have made my list, checked it twice, and I think I have planned pretty well. I already picked up dry foods this past weekend, along with new batteries for the ceiling fan and the air pump. All that's left to do is put it in the minivan. We also have to pay a few bills today, pick up our computers from the repair shop, and book Theresa's plane ticket for her visit in August, but that shouldn't take very long.
If that doesn't all get done tomorrow, that's no big deal. We can make our trip more leisurely on Friday morning. I can stop at G&D Party Store in Cadillac for a sandwich for lunch and set up the tent in broad daylight instead.
All I know is that I want to sit by water and relax.
Whenever my will to blog disappears, I know I'm at a point where I need a break. Between teaching summer school, working on my book project, and writing curriculum for next year, I've been too busy to really consider this vacation. I really felt it the past two days. Now, I'm looking ahead. A final exam tomorrow, a quick portfolio review of student work, and off we go.
I'm going to try to pack the car tonight in the hopes of leaving as soon as I can get home on Thursday for Mesick and five days of luxuriating at a nice campsite on the Manistee River. Today, I'm getting my hair cut, picking up some reading material to supplement the Doc Savage books I didn't finish on spring break, and packing up. I have made my list, checked it twice, and I think I have planned pretty well. I already picked up dry foods this past weekend, along with new batteries for the ceiling fan and the air pump. All that's left to do is put it in the minivan. We also have to pay a few bills today, pick up our computers from the repair shop, and book Theresa's plane ticket for her visit in August, but that shouldn't take very long.
If that doesn't all get done tomorrow, that's no big deal. We can make our trip more leisurely on Friday morning. I can stop at G&D Party Store in Cadillac for a sandwich for lunch and set up the tent in broad daylight instead.
All I know is that I want to sit by water and relax.
Friday, June 04, 2010
To the Batmobile!
Neal Adams is drawing Batman again! I have something in pop culture to live for now that Lost has ended!Thursday, May 27, 2010
Congratulations, Dana
My friend and colleague, Dana Homo, is retiring this year. Here's the speech I gave yesterday to honor him:
"When I came to Pierre Moran in 1997, I was placed into the ultimate middle school teaching situation. Dana Homo, Dave Walker, Laura Bultemeier and I were a team. We were in a block system then, and we were block 8B. It was amazingly successful, and in no small part it was thanks to Dana’s leadership. It was the only time that it was ever appropriate to call Dana a blockhead.
"Dana is by far the smartest person I know. He exemplifies the idea of lifelong learning. His mastery of the language is second to none and the sheer number of books he has read is beyond compare.
"Dana has been an innovator. His ideas led our block to use the middle school concept to its full advantage. We created interdisciplinary units that involved all four core teachers at the same time. Under Dana’s guidance, our students hunted mammoths and wrote about the experience. He spent hours setting up game tables with prehistoric settings and painted figures that the students then used to simulate a hunt. Using a game system that he devised, our students were part of Pickett’s Charge, both on the Union side as well as the Confederate side. He engaged students and inspired generations of them. I don’t mean that figuratively. He was teaching his third generation of some Elkhart families this year.
"I wouldn’t trade those eight years we were teamed for anything. It was the most rewarding experience of my career. I will forever remember them as the good old days and will probably regale younger teachers for a long time of those days just as Dana always regaled us with tales of the Halcyon Days of Brookdale. I think that I know more about those times now than anyone else who never worked there. He knew he was part of something special when he worked there, and I am thankful that he shared that experience…over and over again.
"What most people don’t realize about Dana is how much he did behind the scenes for Pierre Moran. He served on numerous committees and quite often was the most vocal advocate of not only Pierre Moran’s students but also its staff. He saved us many, many times from unreasonable people trying to do unreasonable things. One of the benefits of his long experience was his ability to recognize old concepts dressed up in new clothes. He would often deconstruct new terminology and buzzwords before the author of the latest educational fad had time to explain it to those of us who hadn’t seen it before. He kept presenters honest with tough questions and preserved the integrity of Pierre Moran’s educational programs.
"I know many of you will miss Dana. I won’t. Because I’ll still see him. We’ll still make our trips to Detroit to see ball games and we’ll still eat at great restaurants together and we’ll still meet in his pole barn to play games together. I only wish I could have granted his one request about my speaking about him today. He asked me to keep it short. Sorry, Dana. This is the best I could do and you deserve no less."
"When I came to Pierre Moran in 1997, I was placed into the ultimate middle school teaching situation. Dana Homo, Dave Walker, Laura Bultemeier and I were a team. We were in a block system then, and we were block 8B. It was amazingly successful, and in no small part it was thanks to Dana’s leadership. It was the only time that it was ever appropriate to call Dana a blockhead.
"Dana is by far the smartest person I know. He exemplifies the idea of lifelong learning. His mastery of the language is second to none and the sheer number of books he has read is beyond compare.
"Dana has been an innovator. His ideas led our block to use the middle school concept to its full advantage. We created interdisciplinary units that involved all four core teachers at the same time. Under Dana’s guidance, our students hunted mammoths and wrote about the experience. He spent hours setting up game tables with prehistoric settings and painted figures that the students then used to simulate a hunt. Using a game system that he devised, our students were part of Pickett’s Charge, both on the Union side as well as the Confederate side. He engaged students and inspired generations of them. I don’t mean that figuratively. He was teaching his third generation of some Elkhart families this year.
"I wouldn’t trade those eight years we were teamed for anything. It was the most rewarding experience of my career. I will forever remember them as the good old days and will probably regale younger teachers for a long time of those days just as Dana always regaled us with tales of the Halcyon Days of Brookdale. I think that I know more about those times now than anyone else who never worked there. He knew he was part of something special when he worked there, and I am thankful that he shared that experience…over and over again.
"What most people don’t realize about Dana is how much he did behind the scenes for Pierre Moran. He served on numerous committees and quite often was the most vocal advocate of not only Pierre Moran’s students but also its staff. He saved us many, many times from unreasonable people trying to do unreasonable things. One of the benefits of his long experience was his ability to recognize old concepts dressed up in new clothes. He would often deconstruct new terminology and buzzwords before the author of the latest educational fad had time to explain it to those of us who hadn’t seen it before. He kept presenters honest with tough questions and preserved the integrity of Pierre Moran’s educational programs.
"I know many of you will miss Dana. I won’t. Because I’ll still see him. We’ll still make our trips to Detroit to see ball games and we’ll still eat at great restaurants together and we’ll still meet in his pole barn to play games together. I only wish I could have granted his one request about my speaking about him today. He asked me to keep it short. Sorry, Dana. This is the best I could do and you deserve no less."
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Lessons Learned from "Lost" (SPOILERS THIS TIME)
Spoilers follow.
No matter how many people you murder for hire or revenge, no matter how many people you torture (even if it’s for asthma medicine), no matter what dark forces you serve who are trying to destroy the world, you still get to go to heaven.
If you are a doctor who violates the Hippocratic oath, deliberately killing a patient, cut open a dural sack to blackmail people into saving your friends, even if you become a drug addict after ratting out your father for the same offense, and order the torture of an innocent man, you still get to go to heaven.
If you steal a woman’s child, raising her as your own and then allow her to die to save yourself—even if you bring a woman to an island so that you can claim ownership of her—if you constantly lie, cheat, even murder an entire village of people (not to mention the island’s protector) to advance your own interests, you still get to go to heaven.
You can blow up your stepfather’s house, killing him, get your husband killed while fleeing the police, rob a bank just to get a pair of plastic wings, and you still get to go to heaven.
You can con people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, strangle a bound man, shoot another for revenge, have a child out of wedlock, rob dead bodies to keep their items for barter, and shoot a polar bear, and you still get to go to heaven.
What did you have to do to go to hell on “Lost?”
No matter how many people you murder for hire or revenge, no matter how many people you torture (even if it’s for asthma medicine), no matter what dark forces you serve who are trying to destroy the world, you still get to go to heaven.
If you are a doctor who violates the Hippocratic oath, deliberately killing a patient, cut open a dural sack to blackmail people into saving your friends, even if you become a drug addict after ratting out your father for the same offense, and order the torture of an innocent man, you still get to go to heaven.
If you steal a woman’s child, raising her as your own and then allow her to die to save yourself—even if you bring a woman to an island so that you can claim ownership of her—if you constantly lie, cheat, even murder an entire village of people (not to mention the island’s protector) to advance your own interests, you still get to go to heaven.
You can blow up your stepfather’s house, killing him, get your husband killed while fleeing the police, rob a bank just to get a pair of plastic wings, and you still get to go to heaven.
You can con people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, strangle a bound man, shoot another for revenge, have a child out of wedlock, rob dead bodies to keep their items for barter, and shoot a polar bear, and you still get to go to heaven.
What did you have to do to go to hell on “Lost?”
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
"Lost"
No spoilers! Feel free to read if you've never seen "Lost."
I wasn’t watching “Lost” when it started in 2004. It was still baseball season. And while the Tigers weren’t in the race, I was just getting back into baseball after a long absence and I couldn’t get enough. My wife kept telling me about this great new show, and while it sounded interesting, I couldn’t tear myself away from the Tigers. So, I missed the first few episodes and figured that I’d just have to watch it later. When they started rerunning the show on Saturdays, I was still watching baseball but it started to occur to me that the show must be pretty good. Then, in December, when baseball was long over they started showing the first season over again on Wednesday nights. I was hooked.
I’m not going to try to convert anyone into becoming a fan of this show. Like my reaction to “Watchmen” last year, I loved it and I don’t really care who else does or doesn’t. I don’t care what the ratings were, how many people watched the finale Sunday night, or what anyone else thinks about it. For me, “Lost” was the ultimate TV experience. Like “Twin Peaks” before it, “Lost” kept you guessing. It was non-formulaic. The one thing I hate about TV series is how they repeat the same formula, over and over again. I don’t understand how anyone likes “Law & Order,” “NCIS,” all of the “CSI” shows, or even “House,” although the latter has been surprising lately. I like shows such as “Hill Street Blues” and “The Wire,” which were episodic, yet told a very long story with ongoing subplots, like televised novels.
“Lost” was the ultimate water cooler show. Scenes and events were open to interpretation. Where the show looked initially to be just another version of “Cast Away,” (the producers did use the Tom Hanks movie as inspiration), that notion was quickly dispelled in the first two hours when Sawyer killed a polar bear. But when the pilot of the crashed plane was yanked bodily from the cockpit (which was suspended high in a tree) by some unseen monster and slaughtered, it was abundantly clear that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 were not on a typical tropical island.
People who weren’t familiar with the show have asked me over the years, “Isn’t that the show about the plane crash?” I always responded sarcastically and said something like, “Yeah, and the Star Wars trilogy is about two robots that crash in the desert.” It’s hard to describe the show, though, to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The first season was primarily about survival on the island, but it’s so much more I don’t know where to begin. The show is about survival, yes. But it’s more about faith. It’s about destiny. It’s about redemption. It’s about purpose, greed, leadership, guilt, love, hate, fear, revenge, compassion, perseverance, jealousy, protection. It’s about people.
“Lost” was a great show partially because of storytelling techniques. When we first meet the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 they have already crashed. We see how they act under the worst conditions imaginable. Through flashbacks, though, each character in turn is fleshed out, their motivations examined, their previous interactions with the world and even the other characters revealed. Through the looking glass into the past, the viewer finds that each character has his or her own flaws, and more than a few secrets.
Over time, “Lost” became a show that Magi and I watched together. We found ourselves having conversation after conversation after each show about the mythology surrounding the island and the interactions of the characters. Then, when that wasn’t enough, we started watching it together. We’d have conversations during the commercials. Sometimes the commercials came so abruptly that we were upset by the interruption, but other times we appreciated the chance to reflect together on what had just occurred. I don’t know how many times we both said, when an episode ended, that it was the best show ever. It was dozens of times, at least. We often found performances that we thought should earn Emmy awards. Josh Holloway, who played Sawyer, had a number of scenes last season that should have made him a shoo-in. Sadly, when any kind of science fiction or fantasy element is added to a show, your Emmy chances drop like a hot potato, and “Lost” has its share of those. Actors of the highest quality are often relegated to other science fiction shows of decidedly lesser quality when their shows go off the air. I hope that doesn’t happen with these people. They deserve better.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the music, here. It’s so important to the pure emotion of the story. Michael Giacchino, whom I’ve mentioned before, is one of the real stars of the show. His Academy Award-winning score for “Up” is really a spinoff of his work on “Lost.” The montage that introduced us to Carl Fredrickson is indicative of his previous work on this show. Often, the directors would just shoot a montage of the interactions of the cast of characters with Giacchino’s score over it to close an episode. There was no need for dialogue. And in the series finale Sunday night, his Oscar win was shown to be entirely justified.
If the music wasn’t beautiful enough, the setting of “Lost” certainly was. Filmed almost entirely in Hawaii, we were treated week after week to lush, gorgeous scenery that I had not fully appreciated until I saw it in high definition. I typically watched the first several seasons in standard definition, often on my 20” television in my basement office. With Netflix streaming the show in HD to our newer television, we are gaining a new appreciation for the way this show was meant to be seen. We always noticed that the credits were half on the screen and half off, when we watched those first seasons. “Lost” was working ahead of its time, with the full intention of being seen on higher-quality screens, much like “Firefly” was, three years previously. Sometimes we need to be dragged kicking and screaming into a new, more enjoyable experience. I can hardly wait until the series is released on Blu-Ray in August. I have never purchased “Lost” on DVD, so I won’t feel cheated for having waited.
Another amazing quality of the show was the fan following. Like Star Trek before it, “Lost” has a cult following. Scads of websites exist in support of the show, cross-referencing character appearances, settings, objects, and events. There are blogs aplenty about it. People comment on Doc Jensen’s blog by the thousands. I have to wonder now what Star Trek would have been like in the 60s if the Internet had existed! I bet it would have looked a lot like this.
I do marvel, though, at the way some of the reviews of the finale have been written. I don’t know how many times I have read something to the effect of, “I haven’t watched ‘Lost’ since the first season but the finale stunk.” People who have hated the show since the beginning have decided to pop by different websites to express their sympathy or disgust for those of us who have watched it for six years. I’m not sure of their motivation for doing so, and I never quite understand the loathing that geeks like us seem to attract, but there’s one thing of which I am sure. These snobs could really learn some lessons in humanity from actually watching the show. The messages sent and the lessons taught therein could benefit them far more than they have benefitted those of us who have seen it through. They shouldn’t feel sorry for us. It is we who should feel sorry for them. On those people, the irony is lost.
I wasn’t watching “Lost” when it started in 2004. It was still baseball season. And while the Tigers weren’t in the race, I was just getting back into baseball after a long absence and I couldn’t get enough. My wife kept telling me about this great new show, and while it sounded interesting, I couldn’t tear myself away from the Tigers. So, I missed the first few episodes and figured that I’d just have to watch it later. When they started rerunning the show on Saturdays, I was still watching baseball but it started to occur to me that the show must be pretty good. Then, in December, when baseball was long over they started showing the first season over again on Wednesday nights. I was hooked.
I’m not going to try to convert anyone into becoming a fan of this show. Like my reaction to “Watchmen” last year, I loved it and I don’t really care who else does or doesn’t. I don’t care what the ratings were, how many people watched the finale Sunday night, or what anyone else thinks about it. For me, “Lost” was the ultimate TV experience. Like “Twin Peaks” before it, “Lost” kept you guessing. It was non-formulaic. The one thing I hate about TV series is how they repeat the same formula, over and over again. I don’t understand how anyone likes “Law & Order,” “NCIS,” all of the “CSI” shows, or even “House,” although the latter has been surprising lately. I like shows such as “Hill Street Blues” and “The Wire,” which were episodic, yet told a very long story with ongoing subplots, like televised novels.
“Lost” was the ultimate water cooler show. Scenes and events were open to interpretation. Where the show looked initially to be just another version of “Cast Away,” (the producers did use the Tom Hanks movie as inspiration), that notion was quickly dispelled in the first two hours when Sawyer killed a polar bear. But when the pilot of the crashed plane was yanked bodily from the cockpit (which was suspended high in a tree) by some unseen monster and slaughtered, it was abundantly clear that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 were not on a typical tropical island.
People who weren’t familiar with the show have asked me over the years, “Isn’t that the show about the plane crash?” I always responded sarcastically and said something like, “Yeah, and the Star Wars trilogy is about two robots that crash in the desert.” It’s hard to describe the show, though, to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The first season was primarily about survival on the island, but it’s so much more I don’t know where to begin. The show is about survival, yes. But it’s more about faith. It’s about destiny. It’s about redemption. It’s about purpose, greed, leadership, guilt, love, hate, fear, revenge, compassion, perseverance, jealousy, protection. It’s about people.
“Lost” was a great show partially because of storytelling techniques. When we first meet the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 they have already crashed. We see how they act under the worst conditions imaginable. Through flashbacks, though, each character in turn is fleshed out, their motivations examined, their previous interactions with the world and even the other characters revealed. Through the looking glass into the past, the viewer finds that each character has his or her own flaws, and more than a few secrets.
Over time, “Lost” became a show that Magi and I watched together. We found ourselves having conversation after conversation after each show about the mythology surrounding the island and the interactions of the characters. Then, when that wasn’t enough, we started watching it together. We’d have conversations during the commercials. Sometimes the commercials came so abruptly that we were upset by the interruption, but other times we appreciated the chance to reflect together on what had just occurred. I don’t know how many times we both said, when an episode ended, that it was the best show ever. It was dozens of times, at least. We often found performances that we thought should earn Emmy awards. Josh Holloway, who played Sawyer, had a number of scenes last season that should have made him a shoo-in. Sadly, when any kind of science fiction or fantasy element is added to a show, your Emmy chances drop like a hot potato, and “Lost” has its share of those. Actors of the highest quality are often relegated to other science fiction shows of decidedly lesser quality when their shows go off the air. I hope that doesn’t happen with these people. They deserve better.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the music, here. It’s so important to the pure emotion of the story. Michael Giacchino, whom I’ve mentioned before, is one of the real stars of the show. His Academy Award-winning score for “Up” is really a spinoff of his work on “Lost.” The montage that introduced us to Carl Fredrickson is indicative of his previous work on this show. Often, the directors would just shoot a montage of the interactions of the cast of characters with Giacchino’s score over it to close an episode. There was no need for dialogue. And in the series finale Sunday night, his Oscar win was shown to be entirely justified.
If the music wasn’t beautiful enough, the setting of “Lost” certainly was. Filmed almost entirely in Hawaii, we were treated week after week to lush, gorgeous scenery that I had not fully appreciated until I saw it in high definition. I typically watched the first several seasons in standard definition, often on my 20” television in my basement office. With Netflix streaming the show in HD to our newer television, we are gaining a new appreciation for the way this show was meant to be seen. We always noticed that the credits were half on the screen and half off, when we watched those first seasons. “Lost” was working ahead of its time, with the full intention of being seen on higher-quality screens, much like “Firefly” was, three years previously. Sometimes we need to be dragged kicking and screaming into a new, more enjoyable experience. I can hardly wait until the series is released on Blu-Ray in August. I have never purchased “Lost” on DVD, so I won’t feel cheated for having waited.
Another amazing quality of the show was the fan following. Like Star Trek before it, “Lost” has a cult following. Scads of websites exist in support of the show, cross-referencing character appearances, settings, objects, and events. There are blogs aplenty about it. People comment on Doc Jensen’s blog by the thousands. I have to wonder now what Star Trek would have been like in the 60s if the Internet had existed! I bet it would have looked a lot like this.
I do marvel, though, at the way some of the reviews of the finale have been written. I don’t know how many times I have read something to the effect of, “I haven’t watched ‘Lost’ since the first season but the finale stunk.” People who have hated the show since the beginning have decided to pop by different websites to express their sympathy or disgust for those of us who have watched it for six years. I’m not sure of their motivation for doing so, and I never quite understand the loathing that geeks like us seem to attract, but there’s one thing of which I am sure. These snobs could really learn some lessons in humanity from actually watching the show. The messages sent and the lessons taught therein could benefit them far more than they have benefitted those of us who have seen it through. They shouldn’t feel sorry for us. It is we who should feel sorry for them. On those people, the irony is lost.
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