OVERDOSE: "The Sky Unwrapped, the World My Toy"
Okay, there’s plenty going on in the Kingdom today (largely because I neglected to post yesterday) but these things happen. First off, thanks to all of those who posted on the poll, it’s nice to get a good discussion going. If you’ve not thrown in your own two cents, scroll on down and join the fray!
Speaking of discussions, boy oh BOY do I have something fun on tap for this afternoon. It’s our first ever FEMALE guest star, Nic’s friend Lauren. She’s a 1L down in New Orleans somewhere (Tulane? I can never remember) and a faithful Kingdom-Comer. She’s supplied me with her & her friends RULES for guys to follow. Some are good, some are, in my opinion, poppycock, but they’re interesting and insightful nonetheless. Come back later and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Moving along to all kinds of random matters I want to discuss, let’s start with the DC baseball team. For those of you not in the know, the Montreal Expos were all set to be moved by MLB to DC for next season, and become the terribly-named (and even more pathetically logo-ed “Washington Nationals”). However, DC council changed their tune the other day, and demanded that half of the $600 million proposed stadium fund be privately covered (the audacity!). So what has baseball done in reply? Basically, they’ve said, “you’ve got until Dec 31 to fix this, or we’re out.” Which means baseball could quite possibly be headed to Las Vegas. Now, I know there’s all kinds of interesting subplots about baseball with egg on its face, again, and that the MLB can’t seem to do ANYTHING right (which is all true), but I want to discuss something else.
Just last week, my former roommate, the Kupper himself, had his Federal security clearance go through, meaning his inevitable move to DC had just become…ummm..evitable? Anyway, he’s moving down there soon, and the first thing he said was, “I’ll get to see the Bucs down there, at least.” In the time we lived together here in the ‘Burgh, we’ve had precious little to cheer about sports-wise (with the exception of the Team I Will Not Discuss Until the Season is Over). This entire time, I’ve been the one blamed as “cursed” or “jinxed” and the reason why all our teams invariably blow. So I submit this to yous: MAYBE HE’S THE ONE WHO’S JINXED, NOT ME. Seriously, two days after he talks about going to Nationals games, the whole plan collapses? There’s got to be SOME kind of causal link there. I will not rest until I exonerate myself of my jinxability, so that I can talk about..you know, those guys with the black helmets.
Speaking of those guys, I saw a play over the weekend called “The Chief.” It was a one man act that took place in the office of Art Rooney (deceased founder/longtime owner of the Stillers). Basically, the amazing actor portraying Rooney sat down with his cigar and told us stories about where he and the team and it’s longtime family traditions came from. It was truly a fantastic play, and I think that each and every Stillers fan really should check it out. I was reminded, the entire time, of sitting on my now-passed Granpap’s patio, hearing stories about every random diner in PA, all kinds-of trucking follies, and his time serving in what was apparently McHale’s Navy during WWII. Overall, the play was just an overwhelmingly touching and interesting experience. I give my highest possible recommendation to Stillers fans, and a regular recommendation to those who just like some good stories.
Finally, as I wrap up the Dose, I’ll set up my final little thought with today’s Link of the Day. It’s to an article in the Washington Post that requires a registration, so I’ll sum it up for you all. Basically, a school district in Maryland has been experimenting with comics to get young disinterested students to improve their reading skills. Although some of the choices were kind of lamesville (Donald Duck? They still MAKE that?), I think it’s a brilliant strategy that could certainly get some people interested in reading that otherwise wouldn’t be. There’s also a short sidebar about the use of one of my favourite stories, “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” (probably regarded as the 3d best comic story ever written) in some high school and college classes that study mythology.
The fact that the general public is slowly but surely starting to realize that a well done comic can not only be exceptional literature, but also an entirely unique reading/imagination/entertainment experience, is incredibly encouraging to me, and I hope that more people realize that when done well, they’re true works of art. I realize that “Donald Duck” comics, or even your average issue of X-Men is just pure brainless entertainment, but so are Romance Novels and Soap Operas. My point is that there’s some really GREAT stuff out there, like “Watchmen,” which I recently read. I’ll be doing a review of what many think is the watershed moment of the superhero genre later this week, and hopefully I can convince some of you to give it a shot. It’ll be looking at a BIG test sometime soon as AliMac, an English Literature Major/ English teacher’s, interest has been peaked enough by my rantings to want to check it out. So there you go.
And if you’re keeping score at home, Identity Crisis #7 came out yesterday, killer revealed. I’ll be writing about this soon, too, as the biggest comic event of the year went out with a less than pleasing whimper, and left more questions than it answered. The more I think about it, the more it sort of pisses me off. If anyone out there wants to read THIS superhero murder-mystery, let me know, I’ll give you the first 6 exceptional issues to read, and we can pretend #7 never happened.
Two quick questions: anyone want to help me retrieve (I need a truck) and decorate my Christmas tree on Saturday? And Anyone want to go Ice Skating at PPG Place next week? I want to go while the tree’s still up.
And finally, your song of the day is “One Prairie Outpost” by Carbon Leaf, whom I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE (along with TONS of my best friends) on NYE in DC. In fact, I’m SO excited about this, that I feel like Christmas is just sort of in the way at this point.
That’s it for now, tune in around 2 PM for the RULES from a female perspective.
In the meantime, good luck with finals/work!
-apk
Speaking of discussions, boy oh BOY do I have something fun on tap for this afternoon. It’s our first ever FEMALE guest star, Nic’s friend Lauren. She’s a 1L down in New Orleans somewhere (Tulane? I can never remember) and a faithful Kingdom-Comer. She’s supplied me with her & her friends RULES for guys to follow. Some are good, some are, in my opinion, poppycock, but they’re interesting and insightful nonetheless. Come back later and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Moving along to all kinds of random matters I want to discuss, let’s start with the DC baseball team. For those of you not in the know, the Montreal Expos were all set to be moved by MLB to DC for next season, and become the terribly-named (and even more pathetically logo-ed “Washington Nationals”). However, DC council changed their tune the other day, and demanded that half of the $600 million proposed stadium fund be privately covered (the audacity!). So what has baseball done in reply? Basically, they’ve said, “you’ve got until Dec 31 to fix this, or we’re out.” Which means baseball could quite possibly be headed to Las Vegas. Now, I know there’s all kinds of interesting subplots about baseball with egg on its face, again, and that the MLB can’t seem to do ANYTHING right (which is all true), but I want to discuss something else.
Just last week, my former roommate, the Kupper himself, had his Federal security clearance go through, meaning his inevitable move to DC had just become…ummm..evitable? Anyway, he’s moving down there soon, and the first thing he said was, “I’ll get to see the Bucs down there, at least.” In the time we lived together here in the ‘Burgh, we’ve had precious little to cheer about sports-wise (with the exception of the Team I Will Not Discuss Until the Season is Over). This entire time, I’ve been the one blamed as “cursed” or “jinxed” and the reason why all our teams invariably blow. So I submit this to yous: MAYBE HE’S THE ONE WHO’S JINXED, NOT ME. Seriously, two days after he talks about going to Nationals games, the whole plan collapses? There’s got to be SOME kind of causal link there. I will not rest until I exonerate myself of my jinxability, so that I can talk about..you know, those guys with the black helmets.
Speaking of those guys, I saw a play over the weekend called “The Chief.” It was a one man act that took place in the office of Art Rooney (deceased founder/longtime owner of the Stillers). Basically, the amazing actor portraying Rooney sat down with his cigar and told us stories about where he and the team and it’s longtime family traditions came from. It was truly a fantastic play, and I think that each and every Stillers fan really should check it out. I was reminded, the entire time, of sitting on my now-passed Granpap’s patio, hearing stories about every random diner in PA, all kinds-of trucking follies, and his time serving in what was apparently McHale’s Navy during WWII. Overall, the play was just an overwhelmingly touching and interesting experience. I give my highest possible recommendation to Stillers fans, and a regular recommendation to those who just like some good stories.
Finally, as I wrap up the Dose, I’ll set up my final little thought with today’s Link of the Day. It’s to an article in the Washington Post that requires a registration, so I’ll sum it up for you all. Basically, a school district in Maryland has been experimenting with comics to get young disinterested students to improve their reading skills. Although some of the choices were kind of lamesville (Donald Duck? They still MAKE that?), I think it’s a brilliant strategy that could certainly get some people interested in reading that otherwise wouldn’t be. There’s also a short sidebar about the use of one of my favourite stories, “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” (probably regarded as the 3d best comic story ever written) in some high school and college classes that study mythology.
The fact that the general public is slowly but surely starting to realize that a well done comic can not only be exceptional literature, but also an entirely unique reading/imagination/entertainment experience, is incredibly encouraging to me, and I hope that more people realize that when done well, they’re true works of art. I realize that “Donald Duck” comics, or even your average issue of X-Men is just pure brainless entertainment, but so are Romance Novels and Soap Operas. My point is that there’s some really GREAT stuff out there, like “Watchmen,” which I recently read. I’ll be doing a review of what many think is the watershed moment of the superhero genre later this week, and hopefully I can convince some of you to give it a shot. It’ll be looking at a BIG test sometime soon as AliMac, an English Literature Major/ English teacher’s, interest has been peaked enough by my rantings to want to check it out. So there you go.
And if you’re keeping score at home, Identity Crisis #7 came out yesterday, killer revealed. I’ll be writing about this soon, too, as the biggest comic event of the year went out with a less than pleasing whimper, and left more questions than it answered. The more I think about it, the more it sort of pisses me off. If anyone out there wants to read THIS superhero murder-mystery, let me know, I’ll give you the first 6 exceptional issues to read, and we can pretend #7 never happened.
Two quick questions: anyone want to help me retrieve (I need a truck) and decorate my Christmas tree on Saturday? And Anyone want to go Ice Skating at PPG Place next week? I want to go while the tree’s still up.
And finally, your song of the day is “One Prairie Outpost” by Carbon Leaf, whom I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE (along with TONS of my best friends) on NYE in DC. In fact, I’m SO excited about this, that I feel like Christmas is just sort of in the way at this point.
That’s it for now, tune in around 2 PM for the RULES from a female perspective.
In the meantime, good luck with finals/work!
-apk
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