And a thousand fanboys screamed out in fury...

Where the picture is from.

So, Disney bought Marvel, or, at least, it's in the process of buying Marvel.

And my reaction is... meh. As long as Marvel keeps publishing The Incredible Hercules I'm cool, and if it get's canceled it'll be Marvel's fault, not Disney's.

This is the most reasonable reaction I've read, so far.

For the unreasonable reactions just look around, it won't be hard. Comic fans are really, really good at overreacting. (I know because I do it.)

Nothing's going to change at Marvel Comics. Marvel's main office is going to be in New York. It's bullpen will still largely be a boy's club. Creator ownership of material will be frowned upon and only offered to the big boys via Icon. Daredevil will still be blind. Captain America will still be Aryan-looking. The X-Men will still be overrated. Wolverine will still be overexposed. And "One More Day" will still suck 11-day dead beached whale pussy.

What I think we'll see, eventually:

• Marvel hero themed rides and characters wandering around Disney parks.
• The worst Disney will do to comics will "make" Marvel publish Scrooge McDuck archives and expand the Marvel Adventures line, but that'll be it.
• Future movies based on Marvel heroes that don't have deals with other companies will probably be released through Touchstone, if considered too adult for the Disney name.
• Marvel may publish a new line of Disney based comics. (I'd buy a Spider-Ham/Darkwing Duck crossover.)
• Some really good Marvel based cartoons that aren't centered around Wolverine or Spider-Man.
• Marvel Easter eggs in Disney and Pixar movies and vice versa.

I just can't see how being part of a more stable business structure with massive amounts of money and lots of trick to get more money would be bad for Marvel.

ran

It's not blank pages that scare me. It's putting something, just a little something, on the blank page and then freezing that does. It's starting, but not continuing, so why bother starting?

I made my brother's girlfriend squeal this morning. Good for me.

With the furloughs, Labor Day (US) will be a four day weekend instead of three. Why does the US have it's Labor day in September when so many other nations seem to have it in May? Is it just to be different? Is it just to be assholes?

Like the US and Canada versions of Thanksgiving, their first was held about 40 years earlier than our "traditional" first. (Although ours is much more well known around the world. Thank you, Hollywood!)

Started reading the first Wheel of Time book this week. Gonna get through the series before I pick up the new one in October. (Or November, depending on where you look.) After this one, two left. Part of me is relieved that it'll be over and part of me is pissed off for feeling that way. I just hope the Martin doesn't die before he finishes his Song of Ice and Fire books. That'd really suck, especially since he's already pulling crap that Jordan pulled in his books.

Just Wondering...

Which house, at Hogwarts, would you want to be in?
Which house, if different, do you think you'd end up in?

Over-rated-time

Overtime time is going to be wrapping itself up 30-or-so-minutes. Ten hours this week. That's eight at regular pay because of the forced day off on Friday and two at time-and-a-half. So, that's okay.

I really oughta be working, but if I did then I'd end up only partially through and trying to figure out where to start on Monday morning. Not that it really matters.

What else to tell? Nothing, that I can think of.

Last week went like this:
Monday: woke, ate, showered, worked, ate, watched, slept
Tuesday: woke, ate, showered, worked, ate, watched, slept
Wednesday: woke, ate, showered, worked, bought, ate, shopped, watched, slept
Thursday: woke, ate, showered, worked, ate, watched, slept
Friday: woke, ate, showered, played and listened, watched, ate, slept

Today: woke, ate, showered, worked, so far

I do plan to go to the movies after this. Really want to see District 9 on the big screen. Maybe I'll sneak into Inglourious Basterds after. Maybe not.

Well, everyone else has left. They won't know if I leave early, too, so I'm-a gonna go.

Weekend.

Rarg

Before I saw this, I was already having trouble getting to sleep at night wondering if the world and I were just some giant's dream biding our time until it woke up.

When I first saw this as a kid I both loved it because I knew someone else had the same strange thoughts as me and I was totally freaked out because I never even considered being turned into a flamingo because the giant started dreaming something else.

Oh, and I really wanted a pair of those ear hand things.

Sonuvabitch

I forgot my book at my apartment.

Crap.

A Question

Do you think that there are more cases of autism because we recognize it better or because there isn't as much natural selection of the human race anymore?

Continually Surprised

Logically, I know that there's fan fiction (general, slash, dark, het, 'shipping, whatever) for everything.

I mean, I once read a fan fiction that was a cross-over between Dragon Ball Z and Anne Frank. Yeah, the Jewish girl who hid in an attic with her family as well as others.

Still, never thought I'd find The Dark is Rising slash.

I do find it interesting that the authors tend to make Bran the more... aggressive one (in the way that he's the one who does the pursuing and seduction and such) and not Will. The other way around makes more sense to me, but what do I know? I never before imagined the two of them interested in anyone in a sexual way.

Oy!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is going to be a movie this fall.

Here's a description: "[I]t's about a wacky inventor who helps his financially depressed town get back on its feet by creating a device that spews food from the sky. Suddenly pancakes are flying and people are dodging produce."(Found at Movies without Pity, you'll have to move forward a few pictures.)

Well, that's not like the book I remember. Not at all.

Money Meme

For the purposes of these questions, you must spend this money on yourself -- it is not to be donated to charity or given to needy friends, though if you have a partner or a family, you may use it for things that benefit them as well as yourself, such as a holiday for two.
If you unexpectedly received $10... I'd go to the movies and not worry about it being in the evening.
If you unexpectedly received $100... I'd blow it on DVDs and/or CDs and/or books.
If you unexpectedly received $1,000... I'd buy a good laptop computer and possibly some software.
If you unexpectedly received $10,000... I'd pay off my student loans and use the rest to pay off a chunk of my car.
If you unexpectedly received $100,000... I'd use it as a down payment on a house.
If you unexpectedly received $1,000,000... I'd buy a house, fully, where I want one, or get the land and have a house built. I'd quit this job and start looking for one near my new house. Left overs would be used to furnish the place and build some out buildings I want.

Of course, all of this is assuming that I don't have to pay any taxes on this money, either.

100 More Questions, Comments, or Observations

1. If I had a pet moth the size of a parakeet or larger I'd name it Boheem.
2. Right now, DC comics reminds me of a Sondheim lyric: "Everything's different / Nothing's changed / Only maybe slightly rearranged."
3. So far, all pizza from places with "Papa" in the name are overrated.
4. Seems to me that beards require as much, or more, fuss as just keeping clean shaven.
5. At this moment, I can think of no movies that I want to have a sequel.
6. I am not wearing my shoes right now.
7. These posts are always fun, for me at least.
8. Pledge week on PBS, but they did show Cab Calloway singing "Minnie the Moocher."
9. No Cartoon Network this morning, couldn't watch "Transformers Animated." *sigh*
10. I'd really appreciate it if they'd stop making movies out of TV shows.
11. Even if that means no more Star Trek films.
12. Read that they changed the end to The Time Traveler's Wife for the movie to make it happier. I thought the end of the book was exactly right.
13. Also bet the movie cut the Violent Femmes scene. Dammit.
14. Spent future money on Amazon pre-ordering Farscape. Wonder if that was a good idea.
15. Pizza for breakfast has given me funky burps.
16. Should I head up to Cowtown for Labor Day (USA)?
17. Freaked out, a little, when I got last months pay check because there was no "2" starting it off.
18. So far, no overtime offered to us this month. Doubt there'll be overtime next month.
19. Tried to buy a coffee table last week. Only found one that would let me stretch my legs out under it, but it was $60. I did not buy it.
20. Wonder if I'll be at family Thanksgiving or Christmas this year.
21. After reading this I no longer watch Goof Troop, the TV show or movie, like I used to.
22. Why aren't science fiction shows nominated for Emmy awards for writing and acting?
23. Based on the last time she had a kid, a good post may happen in two-ish weeks.
24. Got a list of plays for next season. $50 to see all five. Not sure if I can afford it, since I am a dumb ass, see 14.
25. Having trouble concentrating.
26. Took a week to get through The Westing Game.
27. Been reading Witches Abroad for three days and just broke the 100 page mark.
28. Lunch is in 8 minutes.
29. Saw Moon a few days ago. Enjoyed it.
30. Probably seeing too many movies for the money that's coming in. *sigh* Makes me feel sucky.
31. Should really empty my shredding.
32. I miss some blogs out there, a lot.
33. Well, technically, the blogs are still there, but the people aren't writing much, or at all, or are just posting links to other places.
34. I miss their originality.
35. Not that link blogs are a bad thing.
36. Although, I shouldn't get too pissy, considering my whole two posts this month.
37. Including this one.
38. Been reading Queen of Wands while not working. Good stuff there.
39. Very tired.
40. Back from lunch.
41. Read downstairs.
42. Was successful, mostly.
43. Why don't they make "good" pastrami on the west coast?
44. I am very excited to visit here in October.
45. Although, I'll have little to no money to spend on that trip.
46. Girl Game.
47. I already have some ideas for Christmas presents for family. Hope I can afford 'em.
48. Still hate my job.
49. The level of hate fluctuates daily, but never rises out of the hate zone.
50. Fairy tales can be dangerous things.
51. Although, I have an idea for a story about the outside of the kingdom place that so many fairy tales happen in.
52. Camera "effects" (like focal points and such) often bother me they show up in comics.
53. I mean, doesn't overlapping take care of what, or who, is closer to the reader?
54. I'm getting temperature updates from the lady across from me.
55. She knows that I don't care, but she keeps telling me.
56. I think she just needs to keep talking or her system'll shut down and she'll die.
57. I promise to keep my opinion of how certain things look to myself.
58. Hopefully, changing the subject will work.
59. Honesty is hard when tact is involved.
60. Want to buy and ice cream cake and eat the whole damn thing because it is tasty. Have been strong, though.
61. Punch An' Pie comes next, but will be read later.
62. The program we use at work is still a pain in the ass.
63. I think we're all more resigned to the fact that there's nothing we can do about it, though.
64. That probably doesn't sound good.
65. It isn't.
66. There are no shortcuts.
67. It takes 8 click and some typing to forward a task to a person, even if it's the only person you ever forward tasks to.
68. No fuckin' shortcuts.
69. Pain-in-the-ass, and addictive, word game.
70. Bought tickets to the Baltimore Comic-Con for me, my brother, and his girlfriend.
71. In Clerks, Caitlin was engaged to an Asian design major. Was she engaged to a guy who was majoring in Asian design, or was she engaged to an Asian guy majoring in design?
72. I've never been sure.
73. 2.25 hours until I get to leave for the week.
74. Three day weekends are not good when you have little money and less that you want to do.
75. Probably the garlic.
76. I'm told that money can't buy happiness, but I still want lots of money.
77. HA!
78. (Found this way.)
79. I've always been fat.
80. Not this fat, but fat for my size.
81. I need new shoes.
82. This weekend I will attempt to make sour dough bread from a home-grown starter.
83. Cross your fingers, please.
84. Gonna try applying to a position in Cowtown, again, next week.
85. It's probably one I've already interviewed for.
86. The tetrahedron is one of my favorite shape.
87. Sometimes I wish I'd studied farther into math.
88. I don't know how far I'd have gone, but I find the stuff fascinating.
89. Movies I'd like to see this weekend: District 9, In The Loop, (500) Days of Summer, and Ponyo
90. Movies I will see this weekend: ?
91. More evidence that the world is fucked up.
92. Shouldn't "standards" be the standard?
93. I suppose it's like common sense not being common.
94. Oh, I also really hate these kinds of things. I know, funny, ha ha, but mostly stupid.
95. I used to like 'em, but now they just annoy me.
96. Best Batman in recent memory.
97. It shouldn't be possible to bored and busy at the same time.
98. The longer I stay at this job the more I want to leave to get away from most of these people.
99. In four weeks I will have finished my fourth year living here. That does not make me happy.
100. If New Coke (guess my misspelling!) had been popular, then, to me, the new Star Trek movie would have been like New Coke. It's sweet and sparkly and is similar to the original, but it doesn't have the richness or complexity of the original. I enjoy the new one, but I don't get the same satisfaction as I do from the original. Maybe it's because I grew up with it, but I'm not so sure.

Another One

An interview conducted by me with me.

JTI: It's been a week since you drove to Oregon, how was it?

JTA: Well, any fleeting fantasies I may have had about being a long-haul trucker are now gone.

JTI: Long drive.

JTA: Very long. More than ten hours long. Minus ten minutes to buy a burger and pee, I never exited my car on the way up. On the way back, I did get gas in Oregon and stop to pee in the woods, once.

JTI: Oh... Kay. So, why were you up there, again?

JTA: My brother got married on the first.

JTI: Nice wedding?

JTA: Yeah. It was at a lighthouse and there was a rock covered in puffins, and their poop. The temperature was nice when the wind wasn't blowing. The preacher/pastor guy did a good job and left religion out of it, which made me happy because shouldn't a marriage be between the people getting married and not the people and God?

The reception, well, it seemed a little muddled to me, though.

JTI: What does that mean?

JTA: My brother and his wife aren't really "traditional" people, but they bought a book (or looked it up online or something) about traditions at weddings and then got into the mode that they had to do certain things.

JTI: Like what?

JTA: First dance. Dance with opposite gendered parents. (Although my brother didn't do his.) Isolated table. Speeches by only certain people. Cake cutting ceremony. Wedding party table set way far away from guests. Nothing that was a big deal, but things that didn't strike me as in character for the two who got married.

Things that were in character was the mimosas at breakfast. The tarts instead of a cake. A tray full of dry salami. The music. (How often do you hear Donovan, James Darren, They Might Be Giants, and The Traveling Wilburys at a wedding?) The time the wedding took place. The speeches given by the bestmen.

JTI: So, how was it?

JTA: People seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

JTI: You?

JTA: I enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed any wedding.

JTI: And that means?

JTA: Look, I'm already not so comfortable in social situations that involve more than 5 people, and in general I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel at a wedding.

I looked around at the ceremony and saw some tears and many smiles. All I wanted to do was crack jokes during the vows. (Which I did.) It's not appropriate, but, to me, knowing my brother and my sister-in-law, the vows were generic and, well, silly. They made those sorts of vows to each other a year ago, are they more special -- or important -- because they said them in front of some guy and their families and friends? I don't think so. Other probably disagree with me, though.

At the reception, I saw my dad get red faced and teary while he talked to my brother, alone, off in a corner. I wondered if I was supposed to feel that bitter-sweet mix of emotions, too. I didn't, though, To me, they've been essentially married for a year, other than getting some really great gifts and wearing rings, what's changed?

JTI: Christ, you must suck at parties.

JTA: I do. I really do.

JTI: ...

JTA: Still, the wedding wasn't about me. It was about the couple and they seemed to have a good time, as did their parents and grandparents and friends and family.

JTI: Anything else interesting happen while you were up there?

JTA: My brother, sort of joking, asked me to move up there and become his partner in a coffee roasting company.

JTI: Really?

JTA: Yeah. He said that his boss is looking to sell and to get the equipment and the stock would probably be $60000 to $80000, plus we'd get the customer base that's already built up.

JTI: Did you consider it?

JTA: For about 30 seconds.

JTI: 30 seconds? Why so short?

JTA: Well, my immediate thought was could I earn a living wage, but with Oregon being so much more cheap than California, that'd be possible. Second thought was HOORAY! Third thought was what would we do? Fourth, brother would roast and talk to people and design labels and blends. Fifth, I'd end up doing a lot of the business stuff. And that's where the thoughts ended.

JTI: You don't think you'd be good at the business stuff?

JTA: I think I'd be fine. I've looked into starting small businesses as a lark, so I know some of the basics. (Even now I'm thinking about the things that I'd have to start doing to get going.) I know how to start creating an internet presence, which is needed. And I can handle any sort of math that'd be thrown at me.

JTI: So...?

JTA: I'm not passionate about coffee. I don't really like the stuff, and if you're going to run a business, it should be a business that involves something you like, right? How long would it take me to be miserable taking care of a thing, after having sunk $30000 to $40000 into it, that I don't even like? Not long at all.

JTI: Oh.

JTA: So, it was never brought up again.

JTI: Anything else?

JTA: I got the feeling that I was more disturbing to people than usual.

JTI: What do you mean?

JTA: I was uncomfortable a lot of the time and I glowered in a sullen/discontented manner. I was called on it a couple of times and my now-married brother felt the need, several times, to reiterate how happy he was that I made it to Oregon, earlier than originally planned, even.

Maybe I didn't disturb them so much as it was more noticed or they were more wanting to talk about it with me, or something. Not that I really let anyone actually talk to me about how I was feeling at any given moment.

JTI: On that note, how's the fluoxetine treatment going?

JTA: Um... well... I'm sort of not taking it anymore.

JTI: What!?

JTA: Yeah, I stopped taking it, with my doctor's knowledge, about three-and-a-half months ago.

JTI: Why?

JTA: Because it evened me out in a not-so-good way.

JTI: Please explain.

JTA: Okay, let's put our days on a scale of 1 to 10:

A 1 is a day where you feel so down that you don't want to get out of bed. You're so miserable that you're willing to wallow in your own piss and shit rather than roll out of bed and walk ten feet to the toilet. A day where the only thoughts in your head are horrible ones.

A 10 is a day where you feel like your in a never ending orgasm. You know you'll succeed at everything. Everything you do feels good and right and wonderful. It just all goes your way.

Got it?

JTI: Yeah.

JTA: Most people live somewhere in between those two extremes.

JTI: Right.

JTA: From the way it looks to me, and I may be wrong, the average person's life fluctuates between 4 and 8, occasionally dropping to a 3 and having a few times at a 9.

JTI: Okay.

JTA: On that scale, I figure that my life floats between 2 and 6. I can't even remember the last day that I'd give a 7 to and I think I spend most of my time below a 5.

JTI: And the meds?

JTA: They evened me out, like they're supposed to, but I was hovering between a 3 and a 4 with dips and spikes going, maybe, a point either way. Just this side of feeling like nothing is good. Sure I spent less time thinking horrible things, but suddenly there were never any good days. Not a single day when I felt a moment of happy. Just days I got through and that made me feel even worse.

JTI: And that's why you quit the pills?

JTA: Yeah.

JTI: Now you think you feel more of a range?

JTA: Yeah.

JTI: Do you still have "horrible" thoughts.

JTA: Everyday.

JTI: Ever afraid you'll act those thoughts out?

JTA: No.

JTI: Why?

JTA: I'm not ready to go into that here.

JTI: Okay... okay, then why didn't you get moved to a different medication? There are tons of different antidepressant medications out there, why not a different one?

JTA: I don't know.

JTI: Did you ask?

JTA: Of course I asked.

JTI: What happened?

JTA: The first time I asked my GP told me to talk to the psychiatrist I was seeing then. When I asked him about it he told me it was between me and my GP. When I asked her about it she weened me off the ones that I was taking.

JTI: And?

JTA: And I went back to feeling like I felt before the pills.

JTI: Did you tell her that?

JTA: Yeah, I e-mailed her asking about other medication and she asked me how I was feeling and I wrote that I felt about the same as before and she said great and told me to talk to the psychiatrist.

JTI: Did you?

JTA: I asked him about meds and he said it was up to my GP, again.

JTI: Then?

JTA: I quit.

JTI: Quit?

JTA: Quit trying. Being pushed around in circles while being confused and depressed and wholly uncomfortable is worse than just... being what I'm feeling.

They tell you that when you're depressed, you don't have to feel the way you feel because it's not normal, and I believe that's true, but when trying to feel better makes you feel worse... well, what the fuck, right?

JTI: *sigh* Sure. Anything else you'd like to say.

JTA: No.

JTI: Okay. Thanks.

JTA: Thank you.