Movie Eleven: X-Men Origins - Wolverine

OR: That's a few hours i'm not getting back.

Well, that's a bit harsh actually. I liked it.  It was a bit stupid, and a bit too much of a Rom-Com-ish thing, which, well, might be straight out of the comics, but i am feeling too lazy to look up right now - but it really wasn't as bad as i'd been prepared for.  Yes, trash. No, not the worst trash I have ever seen. 

Actually, now I'm curious to know if Wolverine's back story is actually that stupid.  

Elapse time.

I forget how intricate wikipedia entries about pop culture can be.  In this instance, I was unable to establish if, in the film, the story of how he chose the name 'Wolverine' is the same as the comics.  I don't know why the romantic sub-plots tend to irritate me so much, at the moment, but they do.  Gender, again.  In particular, again, the Needing Men to lead the female characters out. Diamond Woman needed Wolverine? I very much doubt this.  Again, with the females (even mutated ones) needing the saving from the males, by the males, of both sides. Again, with male power, female disempowerment, and the empathy placed with the man, who is strong for her, and fights for her, but oh, is she strong enough...? Kerpow.

 The aesthetics of using Five Mile Island pleased me - i really like the way nuclear reactors (or is it the cooling towers?) look.  The cement, the shape, the curves, the brutalist architectural elements - are an aesthetic i like. Pity about nuclear power though.  


Gambit: how great is he?

I Might mean by this 'how attractive is this guy, wow, i think he is almost as attractive than the not-existing Skinny Steve from Captain America who, by the way, really, seriously looks like Ian-my-internet-crush' OR i might mean that it's a terrible shame that an interesting complex, and fan-loved character had been pushed out of all of the movies.  I like Wolverine, but seriously, i think most of us would have preferred some character development over Shirtless Men.  He's also wearing a nice coat here.   


I'm tired and not very good at life this week, so sorry about the shit write up - at least it's a shit write-up of a shit movie.  


I'm thinking of watching either: Kick-Ass or the 2008 version of The Incredible Hulk. OR something... ELSE.  requests taken.

Ten Already? The Green Lantern

I went to see this in the Dendy Cineplex.  GOSH DARN how i like going to the cineplex.  I ate a mint choc-top, and had a Light beer, because i am being good.

Now, there's nothing left at the cineplex worth watching. WTF cineplex? I hate the fact that the so-called 'arthouse cinema' in canberra is actually just a blockbuster.

Anyhow:

The Movie:

I have major issues with Ryan Reynolds. Nothing personal - I'm sure he's a great guy.   But I have an irrational loathing of him. I think it comes from watching 'Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place' (which from memory turned into 'Two Guys and a Girl' which sounds more like porn than a really limp comedy).  I can't even remember any details of this show, other than that i THINK i watched it only because i had a crush on a guy who also watched it, and it was my way of feeling closer to him. Elizabeth! Being Creepy since 14 years of age.  He also liked Sandra Bullock.  I watched that hideous movie where a man gets hit by a train and she pretends to be his fiancee SO MANY times. oh god.

Anyway.

The movie probably would have been good, if it didn't seem like about 60% of the narrative had been randomly hacked out.  It would move from one scene to another, appearing as though something major had transcribed without providing even an ounce of context for the viewer. 

Also, my dislike of DC, compared to Mavel, grows.  There's a little bit of sacrifice but Hal gets to be super strong, keep all of the things he has in his life, and make magical green things out of his imagination.  Yeah, his father died at a young age: I've realised though that this is a given.  The lack of two parents, with one or both dying in some sort of gory, memorable, life-shifting way, seems to be par for the course.  What is more interesting is when Genuine sacrifice is required - where Genuine suffering is felt, and when the whole film isn't just a vague plastic cover for a Rom-Com. 

I really dislike rom-coms. 

But i think what frustrated me the most was that this actually could have been a good movie, Ryan Reynolds and all, if not for the really terrible editing.   

Spiderman 3 - Shit-tastic

Movie: Spiderman 3

Watched: In Bed

Date: 10 August

Review.

This is the thing i hated most about this movie:

Tobey Maguire's stupid face.  Not that his face is, in and of itself stupid: i find him far more attractive than the beefcake type actors (please don't start me on Ryan Reynolds before The Green Lantern) but he constantly pulls That Face.  Someone's in danger? The Stupid Face.  He's happy? The Stupid Face.  He's sad because his oldest friend is dying? The Stupid Face.   I wished by the end of the film that I had within me say, the superpowers of Storm, so I could electrocute the fuck out of him every time he pulled that Stupid  Goddamn Face.

As well.  Bad Spiderman/Peter is most clearly symbolised with slightly different hair, and black clothing. Good Spiderman/Peter has neater hair, and BLUE AND RED uniform.  This was just me reading too much into it, until the great bit when Spiderman Flies VICTORIOUSLY before the American Flag.    The use as 'ugly' as a marker of evil, or the constant use of 'blackness' as a marker of evil makes me uncomfortable. 

Peter and Mary Jane:  What is With This?  I know, the Hollywood invention of Love is stupid.  But these people have no common ground. Do we even see one conversation which shows any sort of connection between the two of them? I honest to god detest the way relationships are modeled in mass media.  That out there, there is a one true love, which once you have found, you become a new human being.  The idea that the one we love helps us be better people is never the point, nor is the fact that you probably want to connect on some level with this person. Nope.  You will just willingly sacrifice everything for the idea of Love.

This is across all of these movies: sacrifice and LOVE.  The love is occasionally complex and interesting, based on what seems to be relationships shared between people who genuinely have an intimacy, a shared life, growing together and trying to work as two individuals to build a life.  But then, you have The Romantic Lead who's often nothing better than an aesthetically pleasing woman who needs saving, over and over again. 

At least X-Men breaks from that (even if the film shits on the fact that Jane could have blown them all up without another care) but even then, it's a man who saves Jane from herself. Clearly, she's incapable still of her own decisions, abilities, direction and faculties and needs a Big Muscular Aesthetically Pleasing Man to fight for her and make her do the right thing. Heaven forbid a woman make up her own mind!

The storyline was also erratic and irritating, and the characters were extraordinarily thin.

It was probably the first movie I've felt irritated enough during to almost not want to finish it, but I think that's more because I'm sick at the moment. 

Spiderman - 1 & 2

Movies: Spiderman 1 & 2

Watched: 8th and 9th of August

Location: In Bed

Review (of sorts):

Ok. The most notable thing here is the cheesey dialogue.  Really?  Really script writers? Can you not do better than this?

"You've spun your last web, Spider-Man."

"[voiceover] Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-man."

Two, of Far too many examples to name.

Perhaps it was just the substandard acting.

However.  Spiderman is particularly great. The scenes where he swoops around NYC are stunning - the movement, the leaping - it's particularly well done.  The villains were particularly... how do i say... comic-book like.  They were less scary, and more laughable.  The torment of spiderman moves between pathos and then more towards bathos really damn fast - so much sadness, while Peter Parker sits there with a slightly dumb grin the whole time. 

Genderwise? These two movies were a whole new realm of awful.  Mary-Jane had nothing even vaguely resembling autonomy.  What does she do? Get In Trouble! What does Spiderman do? Save Her.

Not to mention the other main stars: Mary-Jane's Wet-shirted Breasts.

Go Mary-Jane. She's an actress. She's a model.  All she can really do is scream often and get endangered and display nipples through wet thin clothing.  Surely she could have been given a bit of spunk- one circumstance in which she had at least an inch of power?  Surely there was more in her life than staring out, out into the audience waiting for Peter to be In Love With Her and go to her play.  You know what, people? Being in LOVE with someone isn't going to solve all your problems, or that there is only one True Love for you, or that being in Love with someone can excuse them being an arsehat to you.  It's not the ultimate aim of human existence worthy of sacrificing all of your dreams and plans. For example,  Peter's decision to choose using his powers over his BIG LOVE for Mary-Jane.   But Mary-Jane has no real character outside of when she realises she love Peter, and then her halfhearted relationship with a guy who, you know, would Do The Job.

Side Note:  i love it how she's his best friend, apparently, yet in neither of the two films is their friendship highlighted. When do they develop this? it seems that he quietly moped about her in high school, then all of a sudden, she is His Best Friend.   I'm guessing this is explained in the comic, but the film did a really bad job of illustrating this. 

Perhaps i'm just bitter and jaded. 

additional BackDrop material

Sleepless night, dear blog readers.  THIS WILL INSPIRE AN OVERSHARE.

My motivation for doing this, is clear by my typographically-error ridden address for the blog.  Every single male I've dated, or wanted hungrily to (ok, with the exception of Jule, but Jule generally doesn't make any sense, bless him - oh and Alex - but Alex actually wins the 'most disliked' boyfriend award because  no matter what nasty gross madness the rest did post break-up, the mean things he did were before that - i bet this is because HE DID NOT LIKE COMIC BOOKS) has been fixated on comics.   God, my email address came from the title of a zero issue comic which I bought while trying to impress my first boyfriend. This blog title came from reading Strangers In Paradise at the recommendation of another.  I am a firm believer of, no matter what the good or bad of the relationship is, or the person, or what happens between you, Take What You Can that has made your life better from the time together.   No matter how good, or bad, or ugly, any of them have been or are, all of them liked comic books.   And i was, in some ways, a shitty partner who didn't take an active interest in this, to try and work out what about superhero comics is exactly so great.  

In the course of a conversation with Ian, a guy i know in Arizona, who is very rad, and whom i have a blaring crush on, (yes, i realise this is stupid because he lives in Arizona. HOW ASTUTE OF YOU, unspoken readers), he states, 'You really don't know much about comics, do you?'  i was defensive at first, glaring down my line of indie comics about Mice with Swords, and a world with only one known man, and kick arse lesbians, and obligatory numbers like Ghost World.  Then i realised i had no idea of the difference between Marvel and DC. in fact, i didn't even know there were two different superhero worlds.  i referred to it as a Pantheon (thus provoking Ian's understandable reaction).  Ignorant. Yes. I. Am.  I like learning things, and i'm pretty bored right now.

This is probably, honestly, the main reason i am actually doing this.

Further to it,  i've been pondering which comic book series to read, in order to get a more... rounded experience.  i can't go overboard - 1. comics are expensive en-mass and more importantly 2.  there is a lot of stuff i need to read in Life, and i am not sure reading every x-men and batman comic out there is just what i need.  So, i essentially picked the one i was told to read, which was Daredevil.  i don't even know if his name is the exceptionally clever pun i think it is yet, or anything other than the  fact he is the man without fear, and the art for it is particularly stunning. i know where to start to read it, and i know which writers and artists to start with.  and as far as characters go, he's also one that i find really engaging.  I'm realising that the overly dramatic morose part of me that loves the Romantics really, really likes Tragic characters. If there's not conflict, and loss, and sacrifice, i don't really care.  Interesting. i am sure this says something about me. 

Dragging. Three Movies. several days. all awesome-times.

Movies: X-Men - The Last Stand, The Dark Knight, Iron Man.

All watched in bed.

The third X-Men movie shat me for all the reasons it's shat everyone else.  Poor narrative, stupid characterisations, constant continuity errors with not even a feeble attempt at ret-con, Magneto flipping between Ultimate Evil and Sympathetic Complex Character, Jane Gray being fairly wimpy, which is idiotic given her near unlimited power.  I liked the bits with explosions, but even those bits became irritating due to the inconsistent and irritating narrative.

The Dark Knight is one of the few movies i'd already seen.  Being frail inspired me to watch it again.  It was as rad as it was the first time. Batman.  He's way more cool than me.  The Joker. He's fucking scary. Harvey Dent.  Shit happens, and when it happens, you get a Bit Nasty. Poor Harvey!  Good and evil are complex things, and morality is struggled with, debated, and constructed and deconstructed within the narrative.  The Batmobile turned into a Batmotorcycle!  Exceptional! Gotham is generally rad! &so forth.

Iron Man was brilliant.  It was, like The Dark Knight, an interesting film, rather than just being escapist superhero stupid-movie.  The morality was fairly simple, but the exciting twist of the Surprisingly Evil was great.  Also, exceptional explosions, breaking through multiple levels of cement, smashing of cars, fireballing things.  Fight scene with robots? Don't Fucking Mind If I Do.

Now, I'm going to recede into the Batcave in my heart, and download the Spiderman movies. 

Movie Three: X2

Film: X2

Date seen: 3 August, 2011

Location: In Bed

Beverages: none 

Companionship: In virtual, Arizonana, g-chat spirit, Ian.

Rating: 8 out of 10.  

The Review.  Of Sorts.

Let me state now that my rating is not based on how good the movie is.  Honestly, I am not an arbitrator of taste, and I have no real way of being able to adequately give a rating based on how good a movie is.  What makes a film good?  It's like saying what makes art good.  Or what makes food good.  Or writing.  Does anyone want a blog on the theory of aesthetics and taste?  I mean, I could do that, but my reading is really out of date.  Maybe I'll do a post about Jean-François Lyotard and superheroes?  Or not.  But I'm rating them in terms of How Much I Liked Them At The Time.  Anything in a cinema is probably going to do better, just because i've seen it in a cinema. I really like the cineplex!


So - this X-Men movie was better than the first one.  It was really tightly done, and it managed to juggle a great deal of 'stuff happening' with interesting and relevant character development.  Wolverine became more complex, and continued to not wear a shirt for most of the movie.  Mystique's slightly uncomfortable level of hotness continued (she's blue! but she's naked, all the time.  interesting...).  


The theme of 'otherness' was still really didactic.  Using children in the movie is an interesting move - we've got the innocence of the child not understanding why it is other, and then, the unsympathetic, but occasionally sympathetic children who are normal.  Just think about the scene with Pyro & co at the museum - or when the small child pokes his forked tongue out - the children/teenagers react with revulsion.  Is this an example of how children are programmed to dislike the other? Or is it implying we are all opposed to otherness by default?  


What I've found most interesting in both 1 & 2 is the almost complete lack of 'humans' sympathetic to the mutants.  It's really narrow, and polarized.  Though the recent prequel was not as good in a lot of ways, at least it showed a slightly broader range of humans reacting to mutants.  Good-Bad binaries tend to shit me.  I like that Magneto is more than just evil, and that X is not pure. This gives their actions space to move.  It makes the films less predictable.  


Personally, the Good-Bad binary is something that I know I'm going to find irritating in this process. In almost all of the movies I list as my favourites, one of the clearest commonalities is a lack of good and bad, or a far blurrier line between them.  Take Wings of Desire.  There's no good or evil, as such.  There's no confrontation or point of culmination of conflict, and that is one of the many things i like about it.  Or, to be looking at this from a really different angle, Deadwood.  There are people who do good things, and bad things. There are complicated human beings, being, well, complicated.*  Also - Al. He's fucking great. But the best example of a character who's extraordinarily complicated, and wonderful. And hot. 


Anyhow. This is not me saying that genre films are shit because of these sorts of binaries, or the fact that there is always an other, a bully, a 'force' that needs to be fought. Obviously this is something that people broadly are identifying as happening in the world.  Sometimes, I imagine myself as some sort of slightly inappropriate librarian superhero.  Like Rex Libris, or that lesbian-overtone manga about hot librarians.  I don't know what I'm avenging.  But were i to be a superhero, I like the idea in the X-Men series that 'you are not alone'.   That's significantly different from both Batman and Captain America - both of whom were overwhelmingly alone.  

So there's the theme of isolation which is curious. 


I like movies that help me suspend my disbelief in the scenario.  This one did.  The complexities were interesting without being too complex. The characters developed realistically.  Gender was... well... interesting, but I think i'll leave any more discussion on that until after the third movie, given i know that the playing field, in regards to 'who is the most super powerful' is about to change.  


Go X-Men.




* I will also be always in Deadwood's debt for it teaching me to be OK with violence on screen. It's violent. Far, far more violent than i am used to watching, because I'm a bit funny about realistic screen violence. But after three series straight, I feel far more immune to seeing people shot, stabbed, beaten to death with a log, pushed off mountains then beaten to death with a rock, and so on.  Oh, and eaten by pigs. So, thanks Deadwood!

Movie Two: X-Men (from 2000. the first one)

Film: X-Men

Date seen: 3 August, 2011

Location: In Bed

Beverages: none 

Companionship: apart from briefly discussing the fact that Patrick Stewart was in it (i did not know, and i got excited) with the guy in Arizona i have a spectacularly gratuitous crush on - none.  Dom was out drinking with her father.  

Rating: 7 out of 10. 


The Review (of sorts)


It's a dour week in the Reform School For Girls (which is the code name for our apartment.)  Both Dom and I have distant parents visiting, which is not ... ideal.  I had to see my psychiatrist, who was customarily useless.  (he asked me if i read, because i mentioned i found canberra boring. then he complimented my glasses. it felt like he was trying to flirt with me, and i felt very uncomfortable).  Generally, I went into this one feeling Very Fucking Shit.


However. Patrick. motherfucking. Stewart.  Seriously. His voice is so soothing.  He knows things, people. I bet Patrick Stewart can read minds.  


I'd seen X-Men: First Class in the cinema, mostly because Lachlan wanted to, and I'm fairly easily led.  So this gave me some idea of context.    I was pleased that the pleasing young Professor Xavier grew up to be Patrick Stewart.  Even if these movies came before.  


I liked that people flew!  I liked that once again, the bully verses the world, self-preservation as the only way violence can be done, because it's Righteous Violence, but oh well, there are baddies who attack us so we can show off our exceptional skills with flying and blowing shit up, and moving metal and magical healing shit.  I also like that they all have different powers. 


Anything with hidden walls in it also thrills me in a really childlike way. i never get sick of seeing how the different movies all have different sorts of hidden walls/doors/corridors.  


Wolverine has long sharp THINGS that fly out of him. That is also pretty rad.  


Gender in X-Men is less fucked up than in Captain America. And i know - Captain America was being true to the time, and contextually, that is how women are portrayed.  One thing that i think is interesting to note in terms of how the bodies are represented is that the male form is as much exploited and lifted on high - firm muscular male bodies.  But it's done for very different reasons.  It's not to be eye-catching, or seductive, but it's more of a fact of life that a successful young man must be physiologically fit.  It's early days, here, kids, but the bare-chested Wolverine introduced an interesting question of the role of the male gaze on the male.  I think that's important - as important as the question of the male gaze on the females.


Now. i feel pretty subnormal tonight, so i'm pondering Being Hardcore and watching the next one.  i also got about 15 rows done on my hat.  

On The Road

After work, i traversed the wild roads of Canberra to get to the best comic book store I've been to.  Seriously. I've been to the one in Chicago with is apparently the best in the US, and it didn't have half as good a range, let alone such fantastic, clear, open organisation. Yeah, dank dark bookstores and comic book shops can be nice. But there is something to be said for just being able to Find Stuff.  I am, of course, talking about ........ 

 

 Their website is HERE.  The only sadness is, of course, the inflated Australian cost for books.  

Now, I've been going here for ages - since I first moved to Canberra three and a half years ago.  It's a fantastic, friendly place.  I have a Browsing Schedule - i look at the Dr Who related toys, i look at the boxed sets behind the counter (oh GOD how i want the SiP boxed set...) and then i look at Vertigo comics, then the books, then the locals, then the Indies.  I have never once spent more than a moment or two looking at the Marvel/DC shelves.  

Today, with the help of the amazing, and stunningly helpful comic-book-woman-with-the-strawberry-blonde-hair  (sorry, didn't get her name) I became informed that there were in fact two major separate comic worlds!  DC and Marvel are, in fact, different. Batman is not in the same world as Captain America!  But Captain America is in the same world as the X-Men.  This is progress, people!

I also did my tax return today, like a real adult.  This is less impressive when I admit it covered two years worth, due to being a bit shit at life, and not doing the previous year's tax. BUT the upside is, my return is going to pay for my spectacular new computer - a Macbook Air.  Oh yes. I know, I've been salivating over Airs ever since i first saw their slender, glistening greatness.  I also have my terabit of storage.   

At this stage, I'm going to start with The X-Men movies.  If anyone has any suggestions, please share them.   

I also bought this: 

I am going with 'this is a work related book'.  In a moment of kindness, i thought I'd provide the link to information on it. And then i remembered the wise words that Katchoo has stated in the background.  Look. It. Up.

 

Movie One: Captain America!

 

Film: Captain America

Date seen: 1 August, 2011

Location: Dendy Canberra (cinema 1, which is obviously the superior cinema)

Beverages: 1x Coopers 

Companionship: Lachlan (albeit somewhat reluctant. he only agreed because he's nice, and misses his girlfriend who's in Melbourne).

Rating: 8 out of 10.   

Female Characters: (Peggy Carter) One token woman, who is more noticeable as a potential love interest than as a strong woman - though she does shoot people at one point.  Her Huge Cans & Red Lips were also noteworthy, and perhaps were actually as integral to the plot as the other functions of her character.  I'm still getting a hand on the representations of women and gender in comic books, and the use of Breasts as a plot device, though titillating to my not-so-inner pervert, strikes me as a bit off.  

Male Lead: (Steve Rogers - ie, CAPTAIN AMERICA!)  I wanted him to dirty dirty things to me, but only before he got turned into SUPERHERO STRONG MAN.  When he was a skinny white boy who took a pile of novels to the training centre after being enlisted, he was pretty much my idea of sex, come to life in an easily digestible, morally upright form.  I was shocked and ashamed to discover the following:

The Sad Truth About The Guy Who Played Steve Rogers 

General Thoughts (I'm reluctant to call this a review):

I loved it. There was no knitting involved, though - I can't knit in the cinema, because knitting in the dark is not advisable when you are doing cables.  One thing that I've noticed just through the movies I've seen so far is the absence of guns. Not in the film - but in use by the Superhero/s. They rarely use guns, and if they do, it's minimal, or because there is No Other Way they would escape the situation. It's all hand-to-hand, or using SUPERPOWERS and not the gun, and it appears that they disarm or knock people out more than they kill them.  Given the role of guns in a lot of action movies, it's an interesting theme - even more so with the American Thing of a right to bear arms.

Also - the theme of the Bully As The True Enemy is interesting.   Of course pre-Captain America Steve was bullied - he was skinny, he stood up for himself, he turned the other cheek, he Took It Like A Man.  Seriously, if you are getting that much head injury, you are going to end up with brain damage. I've got brain damage from being hit in the head with a soccer ball.*  Maybe brain damage explains it. Anyhow.  He's bullied. Bad Guys are not Bad because of their race, or class, or gender - it's about being bullies. That's why they are bad, and that's what Steve/Captain America wants to defeat.  He wants peace.  He is gentle, compassionate, and intelligent.  I bet he likes cat macros.  etc.  

I really like WWII - not in a 'yay war!' way, but intellectually, I find the interwar period, and the lead up to WWII very interesting. I like movies with Bad Nazis and Butt-Kicking.   I like this even more when it's fictionalised, and great exciting things are added, like the episode of Doctor Who where the Daleks become Winston Churchill's Secret Weapon.  So, the whole 'Nazis are evil, we are good and need to destroy Nazis because not only are they evil, but they are BULLIES' is really appealing to me.  It's likely this has been borne of playing too much Wolfenstein 3D at an impressionable age. (Do I even need to add how shit i was at it?  I found tetris, and never looked back).

I know it's obvious and somewhat heavy handed (alright. lead handed) but I find it heartening to see them representing heroes as those who are strong of heart, and not just of body.  Of course, they need to have their body match their heart, which is slightly dubious. i like the idea of Steve being Captain America while remaining twiggish and sexy, rather than becoming a hideous, hulk-like monstrosity of muscle and flesh and jaw.  That's very superficial of me, I know. Sorry.

Also, I'm just not even touching the issue of Historical Accuracy In Regards to America's Involvement in WWII, because I willfully ignored it. Only once did I yelp in the process of the film,

'But, America's war efforts were focused in the Pacific...' 

It's interesting.  Using Nazis as enemies is much easier than using the Japanese.  You don't have the nasty racial overtones when you are fighting other white people.

All In All? Righteously entertained. 

*Seriously, kids, if you get hit in the head a lot as a teenager, you can end up with Epilepsy.  Some people just need to wear a helmet all the time if there are balls around, or get really creative about avoiding soccer.  Failure to do so ends Really Badly.

This is a blog about being a nerd, who's not quite good enough.

this is also a blog about comic books, and superheros.

as a child, i was fed gender appropriate toys and television, and was granted little to no autonomy regarding what i watched, bought or consumed. when i started to pick my own TV shows, i tended towards ABC after school teen shows as a pre-teen, and shows about animals, or ponies.  once i hit an age where i had my own TV, well, i was 13.  cartoons about superheros did not hit me, as a 13 year old girl, as what i wanted, because i had The X-Files and everything else was shitter than it.


i am, by my nature, an obsessive creature.

when i was 11, i became fixated on The X-Files.  to this day, i can still recite some episodes by heart,  just because i saw them so many times. i would tape them off the tv, and watch them, over and over and over again.  all until the last two seasons, because we all know they were shit. i watched them, but out of loyalty, not because i cared.

 prior to that, i would read enid blyton's school stories on rotation, or The Baby Sitters club. i'm almost ashamed to say how many of those bastards i owned.  i hit my early teens, and started on epic fantasy, collecting every last David Eddings book i could, and other stuff of that ilk. by fifteen or sixteen, i discovered the second generation Romantics, and The Smiths. these two, and The X-Files, for nostalgia more than anything else (have you noticed how misogynistic it is?) are still things i'm deeply fond of. i have a Smiths tattoo, and a first edition book of Shelley. the headiness of the obsession has faded to something that's almost normal.

so, all this means that i am not well rounded.  and the biggest most shameful area for me is comics. specifically Marvel, superhero comics. i've never understood them. i find them fascinating as an abstract - the broad mythology, the marketing machine that starts kids out as tiny people buying these relatively cheap treats with stories that keep going from issue to issue, supernatural powerful people who might have been nerds or been weak, or been Just Like You, and then become brave and strong and save people - but despite this interest, i've never really seen many superhero movies, or read any Marvel comics.

I like comics.  i have a shelf of indie comics. i love Strangers in Paradise, and Mouse Guard, and Y, i love Black Hole, and Blankets, and Platinum Grit.  i love Ghost World, and i love collections of beautiful pretty creatures. but i know shit all about superhero comics.

so. i am going to fix this.

i am undergoing a project which this blog will attempt to follow.  i like starting blogs because they give me focus.  i like navel gazing -  after doing a visual arts degree i got into the habit of self-reflection to an almost pathological degree.  also, i like writing.  so, i am going to keep this blog as the story of me working out what the fuck the Marvel Universe is about.  as well, i am getting over being sick, so i want to watch movies in bed, while i lament not being able to binge drink anymore.  this requires a lot of movies. you know what there a lot of movies about? motherfucking SUPERHEROS. so, i'm going to watch them.  all of them. well, a lot of them, anyway.  i will do this while knitting hats. i will also take photos of the hats i am knitting. i hope to also knit socks.

it might be clear from this blog entry alone that i'm a bit of a shut in. i live in a cold place, and sometimes, i'm fairly antisocial. however, i'd like to get laid again one day. and i have a very specific type of guy i tend to like. shut in, nerdy weedy guys (or slightly overweight ones) who grew up on comic books, read too much, are socially a bit... challenged, and probably spend too much time in their bedroom.  so, this additional information, while i'm stuck in my house, will assist me in picking up.  shallow, maybe.  but we all have our faults people. don't judge me.

at the point of starting this project, i have seen in recent times:


In the cinema on release
X-Men: First Class
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight

On my laptop
Batman Begins

clearly, there is a lot of work to be done.