The Simpsons

Given the literally hundreds of Simpsons episodes there must be in existence at this point, and the fact that we only watch the Simpsons about a handful of times during any given year, it absolutely amazes me that nearly every time I watch the Simpsons it’s an episode I’ve already seen. We nearly broke this record a couple of years back while hanging out at my sister’s because they had gotten TiVo and we sat around watching the Simpsons for a couple of hours. Nonetheless the only new episode I remember watching was the one where the family goes to England. So, it was no surprise to me that when we just happened to turn on the television while eating pizza, and it just happened to be showing the Simpsons, the episode was, of course, the one where they go to England. As if there is some cosmic que out there keeping track of what episodes we’ve watched and preventing us from seeing new ones. I don’t even care all that much, but the statistics of this happening astound me.

Sky High

Well, I planned to do a really well-thought out review. Except that I never did. So... Sky High. I liked this movie a lot. Basically, if you have some fondness for goofy silver age type superheroes, you will too. If not, you'll complain about bad acting and effects, like some of the mainstream reviewers did.

One of my favorites (not mentioned earlier) was people complaining about the super kids not getting drunk at a party scene. Because, you know, the kids of the super hero protectors of the world are all gonna be gettin' drunk and peelin' off their clothes all the time. Sigh.

Anyway, if you like silver age heroes, and if you like Bruce Campbell or the Kids In The Hall (who have good parts-well, two Kids), go fo for it.

Bad news for Comic Books!

Carl Icahn, whose attempts at buying and then shattering Marvel almost destroyed one of the "big two", is attempting to buy Warner Brothers. According to ICV2:

he reportedly wants to sell all or part of its cable TV and publishing operations.

DC Comics is a part of the Time Warner family, so if his bid is successful he may end up destroying the comics legend. Can you imagine a world without Superman?



Icahn certainly can. Having read the book Comic Book Wars (an article about it is here, I hope that someone like ToyBiz is willing to buy DC if divestiture comes. But mostly I hope that Icahn...can't.

Watching another "Big Boy" fall.

A commonly occuring theme on this blog is the ever shrinking comic book market, but while that market is indeed shrinking it seems to have redefined its role as a loss-leader for movies. As a loss-leader, I imagine that comic books will be able to subsist at current levels for some time. The same cannot be said of the Roleplaying/Collectible Card Game market.

Roleplaying Games (RPGs) and Collectible Card Games (CCGs) are both media which can tie themselves to any given intellectual property, but with rare exception RPGs/CCGs are not the "origin" of the intellectual property. For example, the Dungeons and Dragons RPG is the oldest and most successful Roleplaying Game ever made. Yet, when New Line Cinema, and Joel Silver, decided to make a D&D movie it was a huge disappointment. Why? Frankly because D&D is a product made to "simulate" a type of intellectual property that pre-existed the game, chiefly "heroic fantasy" and "epic fantasy." Pick a fantasy story, from Tolkein to Jordan, and I can use that as the basis for a great D&D campaign (or series of games). But to take a "genre simulator" and try to make a film based on it is a daunting task, in fact I would argue it is too general to be successful. A much better idea would have been to base a movie on a narrative created for the D&D game, like Dragonlance or the Assault on the Slavers modules (Slave Pits of the Undercity, Secrets of the Slavers Stockade, Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords), or one could have based the movie on one of an abundance of novels.

In a brief restatement, RPGs and CCGs are dependant on other media for inspiration/market appeal because they are simulations of that media. A great example of this phenomenon are the recent troubles at Decipher. Decipher makes RPGs and CCGs based on a number of intellectual properties. Chiefly their games are (and have been) based on The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Three huge intellectual properties with large fan bases, fan bases with a great deal of crossover appeal into the RPG/CCG world. For some time this lead to great success, but as this article points out that success may be short lived.

In the case of RPGs, as opposed to comic books, the alternate intellectual property is the market lead in. As interest in the Lord of the Rings movies tapers, so tapers interest in products related to it. This is essentially what has happened to Decipher, who went from good sized company to a company on the verge of collapse. The rapid growth/retraction of products based on specific IPs is a danger that Decipher didn't seem to properly take into account, and now they will probably cease to exist.

Dungeons and Dragons, on the other hand, simulates a genre and its fans will keep buying the game and other products from the genre even if the D&D movie was among the worst films ever made. Surprisingly, a sequel to the D&D film awaits. Tragically, like with Deuce Bigelow, some unseen cosmic force will pull me into the theater. Even though I know only doom awaits.

Anniversary of Hiroshima

About a month or so ago, on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, a discussion was brought up as to whether dropping the bomb on Hiroshima was correct. By now we have heard all the arguments as to why it was needed -- namely to prevent an invasion that would cost two-hundred thousand lives. Also now we have heard the revisionist platform that argues that those numbers are inflated, that Japan was ready to surrender, etc. This, by the way, is the prevailing paradigm that is taught at UCLA.

Baby boomer Matthews reminded us though, that his dad who was stationed at the Pacific during the war, that there was a good chance he would never have been born if the Americans invaded. It was that statement that showed, I think, that Truman made the right decision in dropping the bomb. If Americans really think about it, Truman really did not have much of a choice: lose 250 thousand American lives or drop the bomb.

I think it's best summed up by Truman's biographer* David McCullough: "How could a president, or the others charged with responsibility for the decision, answer to the American people if... after the bloodbath of an invasion of Japan, it became known that a weapon sufficient to end the war had been available by midsummer and was not used?"


Now here's a question for this blog: assuming that bombing Hiroshima was neccessary, what about Nagasaki?

*http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4724793.stm

Confessions of a Twenty-something College Student

The purpose of having a blog (or sharing one) is that there will be entries by the contributor(s). Without question, I have not fulfilled my blogging duties by only posting so sparingly. I've decided to change that and consider this the start of many more posts, hopefully.

Next question is what will I be posting about. Now obviously we have a myriad of represented pop-culturists, from Number One's knowledge of comics to Fritz's database of random street pictures. However, I represent a totally different demographic, that of a college student. So I've decided my posts will be about my niche.

Such confessions may include the going-ons of UCLA, heavily concentrated on the throes of student government activities. I am also deeply involved in local city politics, especially ever since my city council voted to build a Wal Mart Supercenter. So expect my posts to gear towards that direction too. Finally, being a son of immigrant parents, I love to discuss that rich and unique experience that many consider to be the foundation of the American dream.

So expect this to be the first of many confessions of a twenty-something college student.

Quick Thought

Hey, something Number One said on Pererro made me think. Something about Pokemon being pro-slavery.

That really bugs me about some talking animals movies... wouldn't it actually be really horrible if animals were sentient and had feelings? How horrifying would poaching be, or just the Circle of Life(Insert Elton John Music)? Anyway, expect a review on Sky High soon... Need some time to work on it.