Might be slim pickings this week...

Hello, my little nerdlings!

Just a quick note that my real life plate is pretty full this week, so it might be slim pickings this week in regards to posting on my blog. I'll try to post something on Wednesday, but don't be surprised if I don't post again until Friday (and there is a possibility I might not post then!)

I will also still be posting on Facebook, so if you've already friended me, then you can at least keep up with me there. Next week for sure I'll get back to snuff. Until then, take care!

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow!

Just a reminder from your friendly neighborhood busty superhero chick!

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, so go nerdly to your local comic shop and get your free comics!

My review of the Kick-Ass graphic novel

As you know previously from my Facebook page, I bought the graphic novel, “Kick-Ass” (KA) so that I can check out the story and decide whether to go see the movie while it was in the theater. Today is my review of the book. It is my guess that KA was meant to be to today’s comic nerd generation what The Watchmen (WM) was to their comic nerd generation; that is, a high-minded intellectual work that challenged various ideas and de facto dogmas on what superhero stories should contain.

But before I continue, let me lay out the usual spoiler alert: If you have not read the graphic novel or seen the movie Kick-Ass and don’t want what’s in it spoiled for you, then…

*******STOP READING NOW!******

You have been warned!

First, I think the graphic novel Kick-Ass is misnamed. It should have been “Hit Girl”, because pretty much the focus of the story is of the vicious and violent little girl who dealt bloody death by slashing away at the bad guys ninja-style. I think the fact that a little girl doing all this bloody death-dealing was meant to be the main draw of KA rather than the idea of a comic nerd so desperate to become a superhero that he’ll do anything to become one, no matter how stupid it is.

Hit Girl was vicious and violent and knew several ways to kill someone, and yet, she was this sweet and innocent little girl wondering when her daddy was going to be done getting revenge so that they could live a normal life together. And then later, after the climax of the story when her father is killed, she is somehow able to blend right into being a normal little girl when she went back to her mother. This just does not seem logical or credible. In order to build up a girl that age (I am guessing 8 or 9 years old) into the violent killer that Hit Girl was, her father would have had to put her through what would have qualified as child abuse in most of the U.S. In fact, there is one flashback scene in which her father is trying to “get her used to being shot” by shooting her while she is wearing Kevlar.

And yet, despite the grossly abnormal childhood Hit Girl would have had in order to become the violent killer that she is, she still becomes a normal little girl at the end of the story like nothing ever happened. No therapy, no anti-social tendencies or other violent behavior when her mother doesn’t give her what she wants – nothing. She also seemed to reason like someone twice her age; this despite nothing in the story that implied or indicated that she was a prodigy.

This “child doing adult things” idea was meant to be the main draw for the story, and it’s what makes me wonder if this is going to be the next “new thing” in comics and in movies; that is, having children doing these adult things. If so, then let say here right now that I don’t like it; I don’t like the idea of making child abuse into entertainment. Hit Girl could have easily - and more credibly - been a young teenager doing these things, but apparently even being a young teen isn’t enough of a draw; no, in order for the drawing power to work, Hit Girl had to be much younger. I just hope that no one else tries to “run with the idea” of making entertainment out of child abuse.

Having said all that, as for the rest of the story, I think KA relied too much on overkill of the violence and bad language, which is basically the comic book equivalent of a movie relying too much on special effects. I get that the violence and bad language was meant to make the story “realistic”, but I think if more attention had been paid to the story itself and not so much on trying to sell the “realism” (despite the fact that a ninja-level assassin of a little girl is very incredulous), then this could have been a much better story.

The storyline of a comics nerd trying so hard to be a real life superhero is very appealing to me, because I am also a comics nerd. Because of that, I really wanted to enjoy this story, but the unbelievable little girl assassin along with the gratuitous blood-spilling were needless distractions that got in the way of what should have been a very enjoyable and entertaining story.

If you take the same basic story, but made Hit Girl into a young teen, and tried less to insert gratuitous blood and bad language, then this story could have been so much better. On a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give KA a 6, and I’m being generous because I really wanted to like the story.

So with that, I can’t see myself justifying the expense of going to see it in the theater, which seems to be a moot point anyway, because it seems to be dropping in gate receipts and probably won’t last much longer anyway. There was an implication on the final page of KA that a sequel is coming. If so, then I hope that it’s better than this work.

Crack fashion!

No, I'm not talking about the latest in fashion for those hooked on crack! I'm talking patches to wear over your butt cleavage for those whose pants hang too low! Check it out! LOL

Or better yet, pull up your damn pants! No one wants to see your bare ass! Especially if it looks like a half-opened can of biscuits!

Boobquake! LOL

Each time that I think that I've talked enough about boobs, something in the news brings them back in their full, busty glory!

I present to you Boobquake! (Note: It's a Facebook group, so you might have to log in to see it).

BTW, I won't be participating "officially", because I dress like that every day, so I wouldn't really count, would I?

I am still amazed that a woman's mammary glands can cause so much trouble! It just proves to me all over again that you guys can be too horny for your own good. :-P

Busty superhero chick on Facebooks' ad sidebar

The more observant of you probably have noticed the above image of the busty superhero chick in Facebook's ad sidebar. What the guys probably didn't notice is that it was advertising for a program that helps you catalog your comic book collection.

So...

What is that woman's power, do you think?

Is it perhaps looking hot while busty?

Well...




...THAT'S **MY** POWER, SISTER!





So stop trying to steal my gig! :-D

Q&A: Why don't I go see movies when they are still in the theater?

One of my GFs felt that I should address the question of why I generally don't go see movies in the theater. She said that I should bring it up as a Q&A topic. I told her that someone needs to ask me that first before I can address it as a Q&A topic! Knowing how I am about such things, she asked,

Q: "Why don't you go see movies when they are still in the theater?"

Okay, now that the more formal part of "Q&A" is taken care of, here we go!

Well GF, it's easy. I absolutely HATE spending all that money to get a ticket and buying a drink, popcorn, and snacks only to discover that the movie was crappy and a waste of the money that I just spent. You all know how movies are over-promoted, and the more hyped they are, the more suspicious I get. Think "Avatar". Yes, most of you don't like wasting your money on a bad movie, but I genuinely hate it! I hate thinking that I wasted not just the money, but that much of my life on a movie that was a piece of crap.

It's a different matter when you can spend a lot less renting a DVD of the movie later, because you already have the drinks and snacks at hand, and if it's a good movie, then I'll buy the DVD of it (so that I won't have to keep renting it, naturally! LOL). Don't get me wrong - I love the movies, but I hate the fact that my money was spent on a waste-of-time just because some Hollywood exec cut corners to make it into a formulaic piece of crap that he had to overpromote in order for others to go see it.

How mad are we talking here? I mean I go to bed mad!

It's because of my hatred of wasting my money on a bad movie that my GFs or my dates will offer to buy my ticket just in case. That's nice, but I hate the fact that they wasted their money, so it doesn't make me feel a whole lot better. I feel Hollywood owes us good movies for the money we spend going to the theaters, and if we keep paying to see crappy movies just because that's all that Hollywood will put out, then making crappy movies is all that they will make, especially if they're cheaper to make. If we want Hollywood to make better movies, then we have to hit them where it hurts: their pocketbook. If it's a crappy movie, then we shouldn't patronize it and spread the word so that our friends and family won't go see it. Then the movie will bomb and Hollywood will take the financial hit, and hopefully get the message.

One of the few movies that I *intended* to go see in the theaters was Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I will admit that part of the reason was in protest of my Marxist parents' protest of it, and also because a lot of the left wing nut jobs were going nuts over it, so I figured that there must be something worthwhile to go see. To say that I "enjoyed" it is to suggest that it was entertainment. Let's just say that seeing the movie and getting a taste of what Christ did for us helped to finalize for me that I was a God-believing Christian. And yes, it was money worth spending - by far.

And then that stupid goofball Gibson goes loopy and fools around with a woman who is not his wife. His stock in my eyes dropped considerably after that. Despite this, I still feel that going to see the movie was money well spent.

So anyway, now you folks know why I generally don't go see movies while they are in the theater. :-D

Nerd rage!

Last week I presented an angry looking emoticon and said that I would explain it next week. Now it's next week! :-D

As you can see below, it's a Nerd Rage emoticon! Soooo..... what's it for, you ask? It's my attempt at creating something that I hope will go viral.

For those of you who might not know what "nerd rage" is, then a little explanation is in order. Yes, you can figure out the "raging nerd" part, but it's not just that. "Nerd Rage" is actually defining an unofficial yet recognized psychological phenomenon peculiar to the group of folks known as "nerds".

Now here I must make a clarification of the term "nerd", because it's used in a more expansive way today than it had been in the past. "Nerd" now can mean someone who has a great interest in a field or subject that is normally considered a field or subject that only the classical nerd would be interested in. For example, I refer to myself as a "comics nerd". A variation of that also exists for the term "geek"; for example, "technogeek" for someone with a great interest in computers or technology.

However, the term "Nerd Rage" refers to the classical nerd, that is, the very intelligent and yet socially-challenged individual (most usually males, but not just them, of course) that may also be lacking in certain other things, like basic fashion sense, healthy nutritional sustenances, and personal hygiene.

Because of their socially-challenged lifestyle, they are often the targets of mocking and bullying by their peers. In some nerds, this is the origins and basis of their anger towards those that mock and bully them, and this anger finds avenues of expression usually in "safe" environments (that is, safe from retaliation) such as Internet forums or blogs. However, the most famous example of "Nerd Rage" can be found on certain online games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft. During such ventures such as 5, 10, or 25 man dungeon raids, when one party member makes a silly or even stupid mistake, we often see probably the more pure examples of nerd rage out there.

Just as in life, no one in a MMORPG is perfect. No one goes into a MMORPG knowing everything that needs to be known, knowing what needs to be done and when to do it during battles in certain dungeons and against certain "bosses". Most of us understand this, and we will be patient with someone who is still trying to learn their roles during a dungeon run. We may even get a bit testy if they don't seem to be trying hard enough, but even then we will just kick them out of the group rather than let our anger level rise above "miffed". Not so the nerd rager! Oh, not so!

For the classical nerd, MMORPG environments are their heaven. There they reign supreme, because there they can demonstrate their intellectual and technological mastery to the fullest. No one criticizes their lack of fashion sense, bad eating habits, or poor hygiene; instead, others marvel as they take down the difficult monsters with graceful ease and are able to figure out puzzling quests that the rest of us have been banging our heads trying to figure out.

Unfortunately, some also use MMORPGs as their opportunity for revenge against those that make their life miserable by making the online lives of others miserable. In the virtual world, they can be the bullies, and bully they do! Those of you who have partaken MMORPGs have seen the jerk - okay, he's actually an asshole - that will hurl a long string of "f-bombs" towards someone who makes a mistake during a dungeon raid. They will also question their parental relations and their sexual orientation and make other statements about them that they wouldn't repeat in real life, because they know that their asses would be handed to them if they did.

And that, friends, is the difference between naturally getting frustrated with someone who isn't trying hard enough, and flying into "nerd rage" and throwing "f-bombs" at them: The former is a natural reaction and the latter is an overreaction. That overreaction is nerd rage. It's an overkill response to an action that doesn't deserve the verbal tirade that the nerd rager will fly into.

I had mentioned nerd rage to the boss a couple of weeks ago, and he whipped up the emoticon below. He seemed to like the phrase "nerd rage", especially those two words being used together. He found that amusing, like saying "belligerent Chihuahua" (those are his words).

While he made that emoticon just for the fun of it, it got me thinking that perhaps I can use it and my blog to help understand the origins and causes of nerd rage, and what can be done about it. No doubt the nerd rager has more serious issues than the usual normal frustration that comes with being ridiculed for being socially awkward.

Life is too short to let things that are said or happen in virtual environments (Internet forums, blogs, MMORPGs, etc) get to you, so rather than fly off the handle, maybe my providing a source for knowing and understanding nerd rage will help serve a beneficial role in our cyber society. So with that, I will be creating a Nerd Rage Facebook group for just that reason. I am still planning how I will use the group to serve the cause that I hope to serve. Perhaps in the creation and development of the group, an idea of how to carry out my idea will come to me. Well, it's a start, anyway!

So take heart, my little nerdlings! Help is on the way!

By the way, don't you think that the emoticon will make a cool t-shirt? :-D