Monthly Archives: May 2013

A Perplexing Day with Commercial Radio, My Longtime Recurring Nemesis

May 24, 2013 By in Indiana, Misc. Media Tags: , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

107.9, Indianapolis radioYou know something’s afoot when you turn on the shower radio at 6:45 a.m. and hear Anne Murray crooning “O Come, All Ye Faithful”. Or maybe it was Julie Andrews.

I spend a minute or so trying to name the singer, ignoring for a moment that the radio was celebrating Christmas in May. The guessing game ends when the mystery diva is succeeded by Wham!’s “Last Christmas”, for which I have no use even in December. Somewhere in Indianapolis, either a DJ is greatly amusing himself, listener requests have taken a bizarre turn in the hands of joyous off-season mob rule, or Skynet is taking over the airwaves as part of a truly twisted master plan and doing a terrible job of acting naturally.

I’m not a morning person and my brain isn’t a morning organ. The confusion sown by my early-morning background noise inspires my brain to awaken more quickly than usual. Now it has a mystery to solve.

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Free Comic Book Day 2013 Results, Part 2 of 3: Familiar Names and Creatures

May 23, 2013 By in Comics/Lit Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Stjepan Sejic, Aphrodite IX

The painted dragons of Aphrodite IX. Art by Stjepan Sejic.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

As previously recounted, my wife and I had a ball on Free Comic Book Day 2013 two weeks ago. Readers flocked to our local stores and had the opportunity to enjoy samplers from all the major comic companies and many of the indies.

How did the finished works do? Did they present an enjoyable, self-contained experience? Were they welcoming to new readers? Did they adhere to the old adage that every comic is someone’s first?

More of those finished products:

Infinity (Marvel) — Fans already entrenched in current Marvel Universe continuity may enjoy this prologue to the upcoming major summer crossover event, in which an alien race that once rebuilt itself from the ground up after world-shattering decimation now finds itself entertaining a second visit from its conqueror. From a science fiction standpoint, it’s an intriguing short story even though Thanos only speaks a grand total of two words. Any first-time comic-shop visitors who know Marvel only from their movies might be disappointed that their first Marvel experience is filled with complete strangers and has virtually no Marvel heroes in it at all, save a three-panel montage at the end.

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“Star Trek Into Darkness”: Ongoing Reboot Uses Lying as Brilliant Marketing Tool

May 22, 2013 By in Movies/Films/Flicks Tags: , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Benedict Cumberbatch, Khan, Star Trek Into Darkness

Does Benedict Cumberbatch’s new entourage stand a chance against hordes of delighted Sherlock groupies?

If your only exposure to the Star Trek universe so far has been JJ Abrams’ scintillating 2009 revival, then Star Trek Into Darkness will seem like a simple, straightforward extension of that origin story — funnier, louder, more hyperkinetic, and blessed with a far more charismatic villain. You may not notice the parade of lines and moments borrowed and refurbished from previous works, but that might be for the best.

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“Revolution” 5/20/2013 (spoilers): Charlie vs. the Murderous Mole

May 21, 2013 By in TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Jason, Charlie, kissing, JD Pardo, Tracy Spiridakos, Revolution, NBC

Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Jason (JD Pardo) share a moment of true love while a disenchanted Atlanta evacuates in panic.

When last we left the heroes of Revolution, Nora had been captured by the Monroe Militia, spirited away to Philadelphia, and brought face-to-face with President Monroe himself. This week’s new episode, “Clue”, Monroe attempts to lure Nora to his side by giving her a white dress reminiscent of the Master’s maidens in Manos: the Hands of Fate, offering her free romantic dinner, and even wearing some of Miles’ cologne, which I’m sure he stockpiles by the gallon for occasions such as this.

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Free Comic Book Day 2013 Results, Part 1 of 3: Familiar Names and Faces

May 19, 2013 By in Comics/Lit Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Star Wars, Dark Horse Comics

From “The Assasination of Darth Vader” by Brian Wood and Ryan Odagawa.

As previously recounted, my wife and I had a ball on Free Comic Book Day 2013 two weeks ago. Readers flocked to our local stores and had the opportunity to enjoy samplers from all the major comic companies and many of the indies.

How did the finished works do? Did they present an enjoyable, self-contained experience? Were they welcoming to new readers? Did they adhere to the old adage that every comic is someone’s first?

My reading results were as follows:

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Birthday 41: the Underrated Sequel to the Big 4-0

May 18, 2013 By in Mundane Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Google Birthday Banner

There is nothing wrong with your ‘Net device. This search field is not clickable and is provided for illustrative purposes only. For best use, send the link to your friends and guffaw when they try clicking on it.

Fun fact: Google+ registrants whose birthdays are in their profiles are treated to a very special Google banner all day long. I rarely use my Google+ account for anything except tracking my YouTube history, but it was a nice, unexpected touch. At first I thought it was a salute to people that share a May 17th birthday, such as Dennis Hopper, Trent Reznor, Dave Sim, or my mother-in-law. When I realized it was keyed to li’l ol’ me, I was flattered and disturbed at the same time.

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“The Office”: And They All Lived Happily Ever After

May 17, 2013 By in TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Michael Scott, Steve Carell, The Office, NBC

“There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that the point?”
— Pamela Beesly Halpert, May 16, 2013.

Our family spent this evening bidding farewell to the quotidian saga of The Office after seven solidly engaging seasons, one apocryphal season we endured out of customer loyalty, and one mostly improved bonus season to make up for that one. Of all our ongoing TV series, it was the only one we watched unanimously. Whenever the Dunder Mifflin staff spent another work day together, we spent quality time together, like the families of days past that gathered around the old-time radio, the puppet stage, the family plow, or whatever other objects past generations thought were worth gathering around. (Well, at least we did this after my son was old enough to appreciate it and binge-watched the early seasons over one summer vacation.)

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Soundtrack for Tranquility During a Month-Long Trainwreck

May 15, 2013 By in Misc. Media Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

I’d wager the average American considers December the busiest, most stressful month of the year. Holiday shopping, family gatherings, crunch time at work before end-of-year final tallies are taken, mid-season finales, what have you — if we don’t pack the days from dawn to dusk, they’ll pack themselves. For our family May is far harsher when it comes to divvying up the minutes spent outside work or sleep.

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Nick Fury’s Day Off: an “Iron Man 3” Deleted Scene

May 15, 2013 By in Misc. Media, Movies/Films/Flicks Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Samuel L. Jackson, Nick Fury, Iron Man 2(Courtesy spoiler alert: the following segment takes place roughly 100 minutes into Iron Man 3, give or take a repartee exchange. Proceed at your own risk.)

[Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is somewhere far away from espionage — somewhere therapeutic, idyllic, free from strife and warfare and stimulation. Let’s say a random hotel bar in Charleston, West Virginia. Fury is required by company guidelines to take a vacation at least once every ten years. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents may consider most HR guidelines a joke, but HR wins one out of every 1,000 battles. Mandatory decennial vacations was one of them. Saving the world may be a 24/7/365/eternal vocation, but Fury for once has drink in hand and nothing on his mind but sweet, rare solitude.

His eye is fixed on his Product Placement Phone lying on the tabletop. Predator is streaming via Product Placement MovieStreamCloud App thing.]

FURY: Man, I haven’t watched this in ages. The scrawny, four-eyed guy is even stupider than I remember.

[The worst scene in the movie is interrupted by the S.H.I.E.L.D. Priority Alpha Mega Alpha One Supreme Alert shrieking-HD-klaxon app. Fury sighs and taps the SPAMOSA icon. Agent Dodge, a relative nobody of an underling, is on the other line.]

NICK FURY: You just lost two pay grades.

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“Revolution” 5/13/2013 (spoilers): Charlie vs. the Drones of Devastation

May 14, 2013 By in TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Aaron Pittman, Zak Orth, Revolution, NBC

Former Google executive Aaron Pittman (Zak Orth), possibly the only sci-fi character in history that I can convincingly cosplay at conventions.

Thousands of curious Googlers can rest easy now that their burning question has been answered by tonight’s new episode of Revolution, “The Longest Day”: yes, this is the episode where Charlie and Jason finally kiss. NBC has been teasing the moment in every other promo for weeks, but tonight was the payoff at last. Their initial meet-hate and subsequent cat-‘n’-mouse run-ins have been forgotten or forgiven for the sake of beginning a relationship based on intense circumstances, despite the advice of Speed to the contrary.

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