I wish I could say I’ve experienced that sensation more often. Usually all I get are institutions telling me my past self is too dumb for their present.
Sad thing is, they were half right. But only half.
Well, I saw it on a Friday. I give it a knee-jerk grade of low C. Only average, all in all. The grade was only that high cause I have and affinity for things superpowered and mutant. The action was glorious but the script was lacking in places. Lots of places. To sum up: not enough talky to backup the punches, kicks, and lightning strikes.
More hypercritical geek wordiness and glancing spoilerness after the jump.
I live. I stir. I’ve got much nonsense in my head and it needs to be siphoned off. Or possibly bled out. One way or another, the nonsense should go into the interwub while all the good thoughts continue to keep me warm and focused on making some useful and, god willing, sellable fiction.
Tranferring mind energies means one half of the equation is always unbalanced. I would make a terrible chemist. Don’t even talk to me about math. The thing about my way of balancing, there’s always a shift. The fat kid bores with his side of the see-saw and bullies his flunky to switch seats.
Until that happens, things will be slow here.
There’s a bit in one of the later Jack Ryan books — and you’re damn right I read them all, those things sold in the multimillions and were acting on the heads of a mass audience like no-one since Stephen King — where a general says to Ryan, “we will give them HYPERWAR.” And I said, fuck yeah, show me the HYPERWAR, you funny-looking little man. No fucking sign of it. No discussion, no theory, no evidence aside from a single UAV and some micromunitions. If you promise me HYPERWAR, I want to fucking learn about it. But that might have slowed down the relentless this-happens-then-that-happens-then-this-other-thing-happens.
–Warren Ellis “How Is It Friday Already?” Bad Signal Newsletter
Ellis had words about Tom Clancy’s writing style. Needless to say, he was not amused. Yet he buy’s the suckers each time.
I was amused by the “you funny-looking little man” comment and the thought of “HYPERWAR”. Why that is, I do not know.
Subscribe to the Signal or ran-sack its archive for the complete story on HYPERWARness and the lack thereof.
A scattershot of events.
Friday
My fraternity big brother[1] called out of the clear blue sky. What an awkward thing to write, much less say. We conversed like we only talked three days ago.
It’s been at least three years.
I caught him up on everyone we knew from college. Everyone I still knew about, anyway. Over beers and hard liquor, six years of life(that’s three apiece for those counting) on fast forward was shared.
And like that, he was gone.
Saturday
There was fuck all else to do. Having left my nieces and nephews with their respective parents, my commitments for the night were over. I decided that working on the new music pages[2] would be a good idea. And it was. Logic was created and design angles were sorted. All that’s left is the execution.
From across the country I learned of a party happeing less than 2 miles away. It was to be the last party for my fraternity in it’s current house. Nostalgia demanded that I attend.
This would not be the same debacle as my last visit. This time there was a great many of the older brothers attending. People closer to my own age. You never realize how much you miss something as simple as that until it’s all but gone.
As the night grew older people vented their frustrations on the derilict car provided. The Crazy Drunk Guy that every party seems to collect was confronted and told to leave. He finally left with his Angry Friend. Nice to know that party drama never changes.
The shot of Ice I had earlier was wearing off and the Sam Adams Light I had was a piss poor substitute for a partying drink.[3] But I couldn’t complain… much… since I was snarfing them from another brother. He didn’t need them.
I sat on the stairwell under my old apartment and thought, “That’s where I used to live.” Not the most original thought. At that time it was all I had. It was damn odd to have two brushes with fraternity life within so few hours. C’est la vie.
The party was over. For me. I said my goodbyes and like that I was gone.
[1] He’s not blood related so I hesitate to call him “big brother”. But we hung out a lot back in the college years and I guess I looked up to him more than I realized. So I don’t feel right calling him an acqaintance either. Being literal minded seemed the best way to go.
[2] I know. I know. I’ve been harping over this bit for little over a year now. Possibly even longer. But since I’m not getting any revenue from this here site, I don’t feel guilty about putting things off while I deal with the real world.
[3] If you’re worried about those extra pounds, kids. Just work-out a little bit harder the week after your drinking is done. Drinking light beer at social events works against all that I consider holy.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.
What good ingredients,
Liberty and immigrants.
They brought the country’s customs,
Their language and their ways.
They filled the factories, tilled the soil,
Helped build the U.S.A.
Go on and ask your grandma,
Hear what she has to tell
How great to be American
And something else as well.
–“The Great American Melting Pot” America Rock
I was going through my Schoolhouse Rocks albums and this song was one of the first ones in the shuffle.
Friday
» The Doctor finds the mummy of a young WWII Londoner during the Blitz. Rose wears the Union Jack as a t-shirt. 51st century man Captain Jack Harkness rides a bomb and grows a heart.
Saturday
» In Justice League‘s series finale, what’s left of the Legion of Doom teams with the League to fight a ressurected god of Apokolips Darkseid. If you missed all the previous JL’s shame on you. Watch this one and kick yourself for missing previous seasons of excellence.
» Cousin Stevie gives his wife a second honeymoon in Saint Marten. Oh and his boss and cousin Adam happens to be there shooting another Team Tushy masterpiece. It’s merely another day in the life of a gonzo porn Family Business.
Sunday
It’s Mother’s Day. Call your Moms you bums. Or better yet, go home and give her a hug.
» The West Wing closes its doors on the Bartlet Administration and opens it’s arms to President-elect Santos. It’s a sad day. The Wing got infinitely more interesting when it recieved a pink slip after 11 years of fantasy politics. If only, just this once, life imitated art. Be sure to catch the pilot episode a full hour earlier. There’s sure to be story symmetry going on.
» There’ll be a cut away, a gimmick, and Family Guy will cause laughter to flow through these dead apartment walls.
» Grey’s Anatomy‘s Meredith remains on my shit list for earlier fictional damage; then she makes time to damage another fictional character , the ex-Boy Blunder. In other news, something shocking happens in the hospital. Unless it’s TV fate making things right by causing Meredith to spontaneously combust, I don’t much care. I would be perfectly happy to rename this oddly popular medical drama Izzie’s Anatomy.
This is a retcon.
(via Oh no they didn’t)
The Doctor: Not wrong…there’s just more to learn!
—The Ninth Doctor “The Unquiet Dead“
This conversation occurs just after Dickens experiences the supernatural and begins to doubt everything about himself. I cannot express the sheer brilliance hidden behind The Doctor’s answer.
The 80s have infected my brain. Right now, I’m listening…unashamedly…to every damn 80s song I have in my collection. The Eurythmicsare asking me why I don’t love them anymore. It’s ok, Annie. I still love you. I’m just not in love with you.
Van Halen is jumping about being “Hot for Teacher”.
Level 42, well there’s just something about them.
My 80s music collection would shame many a nerf herder. I could jam in my parachute pants for 19 hours without a repeat. Yet there are so many more songs that I don’t own.
Songs from bands like Full Force and New Edition. Or Laid Back who told me riding white horses was dangerous, while riding white ponies was just fine.(I chose to ride neither.) There are also songs that haven’t made the jump from crummy radio mix-tapes to digital mix-pods. Hell, there are proper albums that still haven’t digi-volved.
I don’t understand why I succumb to these bouts of 80s flu. Those times held nothing truly remarkable for me. My true friends and adventures didn’t come around until college. Yet I still feel nostalgia for that decade of bad hair and excessive me-ness.
I wax nostalgic for the time an actor held the presidency for 8 years and always knew which camera was live. It was his secret power.
The Cold War was fought in the movie theaters. Top Gun, Russkies, and Gotcha! were warning shots fired across its bow.
 
 
Nerds had their revenge.
The Schoolhouse rocked!
I played more than my fair share of Mario Bros. on Nintendo:
Hey, KOOL AID!
It was alright. I was…
Teenage romp movies actually had romping. By romping I mean boobies and “downstairs” were plentiful
All I wanted for Christmas was the Autobot Transformer Jetfire.
And I officially became hooked on comics:
If I’m not careful my brain-fever could become terminal.
(Super Mario re-enactment via Dunc!)
Newsmine