'TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2 is about to hit DVD shelves, and Marvel has been filling the shelves with a LOT of Spider-Man material. For a character who has been running for a little over 40 years, there is a lot to choose from.
The two Spider-Man movies have done a great job of capturing the thing that made Spider-Man such a big hit in the 60's, a Hero with Personal Problems. To get a good idea of how the character started, The Essential Spider-Man Volume 1 is the best place to start. It reprints the first Spider-Man story, the first 20 issues, and the first annual. It quickly sets up the formula so well known by anyone who has seen the movies, Peter Parker, school nerd, gets amazing powers, allows a criminal to escape who then kills his uncle, and swears to fight crime out of guilt instead of vengeance. The first 40 issues of the series are an explosion of creativity as Stan Lee throws soap opera plotting in with super-hero plots, and Steve Ditko contributes quirky art that matches the vast array of villains they create in those first few issues. While the stories and art seem dated, they have energy, fast pacing, and a deft sense of both humor and drama that make this $16 book well worth reading.
For a more modern take on the early stories, Spider-Man Blue tells the tale of Peter Parker's first true love, Gwen Stacy. In the mid 60's, Stan Lee spun a lot of soap opera stories with a rivalry between Gwen, the serious shy girl and Mary Jane, the happy party girl, both involved in Peter Parker's life. The story is cleaned up, made a bit smoother, and condensed into 144 pages by Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb. Remembering that the core of the character is tragedy, they tell a moving story that could have worked just as well without Peter Parker ever donning the Spider-Man suit.
Before the first Spider-Man movie came out, Marvel decided to do a new version of the character. Feeling that a character with 40 years of back-story was too much for new readers to jump in and start reading, The Ultimate Spider-Man was started. The first trade paperback, Power and Responsibility retells the origin of spider-man. Where it only took Stan Lee and Steve Ditko 18 pages to tell the origin, writer Brian Bendis and artist Mark Bagley take 192 pages, and never once does it feel as if they are just filling pages. An updated version of the origin that honors the original, and a great story all on its own, if you want a comic to see what all the fuss about Spider-Man is, this is the best to pick up.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website
www.solitairerose.com
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Sick Of This Crap!
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a Euro in the old mans hat. If you don't have a Euro, a Japanese yen will do. If you don't have a yen, then God bless you.
This week's issue includes:
* Europe Emerges, Conservative Americans Seethe
* The Election in Iraq will make our election process look reasonable
* Video gaming the next generation of soldiers
Join us won't you join us? We're just a click away....
Reader Recommendations
from Bruce
Weekly Link
Humor Gazette
Striving to bring together the divided nation, President George W. Bush is
eyeing a universally respected figure for a key Cabinet post. According to
completely fabricated reports, the one and only Santa Claus has engaged in
preliminary discussions about a possible top job in the Bush administration.
Mr. Claus, a beloved mythical figure known primarily for his efficient worldwide
distribution of Christmas cheer, has no prior political experience.
Nevertheless, he is considered a strong choice due to his extraordinarily high
"favorability rating." And though he is famous for hauling around a gigantic
sack, he is believed to be virtually free of political baggage.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Rainy morning, overcast afternoon.
So, I baked cookies & made some chicken soup in anticipation of a visit to Uncle Jimmy's tomorrow when the phone rang.
Horrible news - Uncle Jimmy died. Ruptured artery, died in surgery.
Services are Saturday.
Damn.
Urges Democrats to Embrace Hollywood
Michael Moore
"Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore on Monday rejected the idea that Hollywood had hurt John Kerry's chances of winning the White House, insisting that he and other entertainers helped spare Democrats an even bigger defeat.
"For the last month, we've had to listen to a lot of conservative pundits talk about how Democrats need to run away from Hollywood," Moore said. "It's actually the opposite. Democrats need to embrace Hollywood because this is where they need to come to learn how to tell a story."
In the final analysis, Moore said, Democratic presidential nominee Kerry was "not the best candidate." Resident Bush "had a more compelling story to tell and the Democrats didn't, and that has to change."
"What 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and Bruce Springsteen and MoveOn and all the other people that were working during this election, what we did was we prevented a Bush landslide," Moore said. "We're all going to continue to do this in the near future. No one's giving up."
Michael Moore
Journalism Awards
National Press Foundation
New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh, Boston Globe editor Martin Baron and NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert are winners of this year's National Press Foundation awards.
Hersh, who is credited with uncovering the Abu Ghraib prison scandal last spring, received the W.M. Kiplinger Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism, the group announced Monday. Baron was named editor of the year and Russert was honored for broadcasting excellence.
The awards will be presented on Feb. 17 at a black-tie fund-raising dinner in Washington.
National Press Foundation
Syndicated Show On NBC
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is said to be in final negotiations with NBC to distribute a new syndicated show hosted by the company's imprisoned founder.
Sources said the show would focus on many of the same topics as her previous "Martha Stewart Living" lifestyle/how-to series, but would boast a different production style courtesy of reality TV maven Mark Burnett. The man behind "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" announced plans to collaborate with Stewart on new TV projects in September, shortly before she began a five-month sentence for a suspicious sale of stock.
Martha Stewart
'Titanic' Tops Survey
Cheesy Film Moments
Although "Titanic" soared at the box office in 1997, according to a recent United Kingdom survey, it's most memorable line - "I'm the king of the world!" - sunk.
Baker Warburtons posed the question "What are your top three cheesiest moments in film?" to 2,000 U.K. moviegoers in celebration of the launch of their new cheese flavored crumpets.
Here's the list of big cheese moments:
1. "Titanic": Leonardo DiCaprio's "I'm the king of the world!"
2. "Dirty Dancing": Patrick Swayze's "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."
3. "Four Weddings And A Funeral": Andie McDowell's "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed."
3. "Ghost": Demi Moore's "Ditto." to Patrick Swayze's "I love you."
5. "Top Gun": Val Kilmer to Tom Cruise: "You can be my wingman anytime"
6. "Notting Hill": Julia Roberts' "I'm just a girl... standing in front of a boy... asking him to love her."
7. "Independence Day": Bill Pullman's "Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"
8. "Braveheart": Mel Gibson's "They may take our lives, but they will not take our freedom!"
9. "Jerry Maguire": Renee Zellweger to Tom Cruise: "You had me at hello."
10. "The Postman": A blind woman says to Kevin Costner: "You're a godsend, a savior." He replies: "No, I'm a postman."
Cheesy Film Moments
Plays Santa in W.Va.
Bob Denver
Gilligan turned into Santa's helper when former television star Bob Denver and his wife joined a car dealership's toy campaign.
Denver, star of the 1960s TV show "Gilligan's Island," and his wife, Dreama, donated a pickup truck full of toys and a $1,000 check to the Princeton Quota Club. The couple live in the area.
All the toys will go to the Marine Corps League's Toys for Tots campaign. The organization recently received $1,300 worth of toys from Toys-R-Us in Roanoke, Va., and a bakery donated $2,000 worth of toys.
Bob Denver
Fox to Supply Radio News
Clear Channel
Clear Channel Radio, the largest U.S. radio station chain, has selected Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Radio as the main news supplier for about 100 of its news/talk stations, the companies said on Monday.
The five-year agreement with Clear Channel Radio, part of Clear Channel Communications Inc., marks the first major affiliate group deal for Fox News Radio and will create a direct competitor to ABC Radio and CBS Radio, the companies said in a statement.
If all options are exercised, the Clear Channel Radio deal could bring the Fox News Radio affiliate count to more than 500 by mid-2005, the companies said.
Clear Channel
Cuts Short Nigerian Tour
50 Cent
Bad boy US rapper 50 Cent cut short a Nigerian tour after his entourage got into a scuffle with a local hip-hop star over first-class seating on a chartered jet, a witness told AFP.
Trouble broke on Saturday out when a Nigerian rapper took a seat reserved for 50 Cent on a jet which was due to fly his group G-Unit and local support acts from Lagos to Port Harcourt ahead of their next gig, he said.
Shortly after the incident the US group cancelled the tour and made arrangements to return to the United States, he added. The rapper was still in his car on the airport tarmac during the brawl and was not directly involved.
50 Cent
Made Permanent on NPR
Montagne & Inskeep
Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep have been named the permanent hosts of "Morning Edition," National Public Radio announced Monday. Montagne and Inskeep have been interim hosts since May.
Inskeep covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the 2000 presidential campaign. He will host from Washington.
Montagne will be based in NPR's studios in Culver City, Calif. She has been the network's South Africa reporter and has covered Afghanistan's reconstruction and elections.
Montagne & Inskeep
Funds Animal Rights Law Study
Bob Barker
Game show host Bob Barker, a longtime proponent of animal welfare, has donated $1 million to Duke Law School to endow a program to teach animal rights law, the school announced Monday.
The Bob Barker Endowment Fund for the Study of Animal Rights Law will support education in animal rights law, including opportunities for students to earn course credit on cases involving compliance with state animal cruelty laws and other forms of animal rights advocacy.
It's similar to funds Barker has established in the past few years at law schools including those at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and UCLA.
Bob Barker
When Pigs Can Fly
James Randi
A sworn enemy of superstition, Canadian-born magician James Randi has thrown down the gauntlet to mystics, promising $1 million to anyone who can prove supernatural powers or a phenomenon beyond the reach of science.
An arch-skeptic who demonstrates with his own sleight of hand how easily it is to dupe the gullible into mistaking trickery for the supernatural, the bearded 76-year-old has written nine books and lectured at the White House, NASA and several top U.S. universities.
His pursuit of skepticism was sparked by a visit to a spiritualist church in his native Toronto when he was just 15.
Already an amateur magician, he was upset at seeing "common tricks" pass for divine intervention. But his attempts at enlightening the churchgoers cost him four hours questioning at the police station.
Sixty years on, Randi is still trying to persuade people to give up their belief in mystic forces beyond their control.
"As a magician I know two things -- how to deceive people and how people deceive themselves."
James Randi
Exhibition Opening in Paris
Lady Liberty
It arrived from France in more than 200 crates in 1885, and it's been an enduring symbol of Franco-American friendship through thick and thin ever since. A new photo exhibition that chronicles the construction of the Statue of Liberty opens Tuesday in Paris, even as relations with Washington remain cool over the war in Iraq and other foreign policy squabbles.
"Bartholdi, the Builders of Liberty" at the Musee des Arts et Metiers (Museum of Arts and Professions) honoret Metiers (Museum of Arts and Professions) honors Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the monument's designer, on the centennial of his death in 1904. It retraces the iconic statue's construction in Paris, its trans-Atlantic voyage and its assembly and inauguration in New York.
A gift to the American people to mark the 100th anniversary of American independence in 1876, the statue initially was intended to symbolize the alliance between the two nations during the American Revolution.
Lady Liberty
Carnegie Science Center
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
In bucolic Venango County, deer antlers not only are common, but come in handy for mailing letters.
As unlikely as they may seem, deer antlers are indeed part of a contraption built by four students at Rocky Grove High School for folding a letter, inserting it into an envelope and sealing the envelope.
A boy's boot, a giant Ace bandage and a dustpan were other components in the device, which took first place Friday at the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at the Carnegie Science Center.
Thirty teams from area high schools participated in the annual competition, which challenges students to design a machine much like the silly gizmos imagined by the late cartoonist Rube Goldberg. That means using a ridiculous number of steps to accomplish a simple task.
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
Newly Found Plays Staged in NY
Tennessee Williams
Five newly discovered short plays by Tennessee Williams are shedding light on the troubled life of one of America's greatest playwrights more than 20 years after he died in a hotel room surrounded by wine bottles and pills.
The newly discovered and little known pieces presented in "Five by Tenn," which opened off Broadway in New York in November, tackle such issues head on.
The production results from years of detective work by two scholars -- David Roessel and Nicholas Moschovakis -- who had planned a collection of Williams' poems, but were sidetracked while working through his papers at the University of Texas.
Tennessee Williams
'Mr. Bean' Attacks Religious Hatred Bill
Rowan Atkinson
British comedian Rowan Atkinson -- creator of the hapless "Mr Bean" -- attacked a planned law outlawing incitement of religious hatred on Monday, saying it would curb free speech and humour.
Atkinson believes the measure now passing through parliament will make religion virtually off-limits to satirists.
It might even, he fears, lead to prosecutions, not only for some of his own sketches but for others like Monty Python's "Life of Brian," which was criticized on its release in 1979 for being anti-Christian.
Rowan Atkinson
Reopens in Florida
Cypress Gardens
One of Florida's first theme parks, Cypress Gardens was known for its lush native plants, its water-ski show and young women dressed as Southern belles.
The concept was a hit in the 1950s but officially died in 2003. One of the original Florida tourist draws couldn't compete with the 21st century whiz-bang rides at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Busch Gardens.
After a $45 million investment in four roller coasters, 34 other rides and new restaurants, Cypress Gardens is set to reopen Thursday, hoping to find a profitable niche in central Florida's crowded tourism market. The hoop-skirted belles are back, along with the gardens and water skiers. There is even a new butterfly garden featuring 20 species.
Cypress Gardens
Cave Discovered Near Jerusalem
'John the Baptist'
A British archaeologist has uncovered a cave in the mountains near Jerusalem which he believes conclusively proves that the Biblical figure of John the Baptist existed.
"The first concrete evidence of the existence of John the Baptist has been found on site," 46-year-old Shimon Gibson told AFP.
The cave, which is located on the grounds of Kibbutz Tsuba just outside Jerusalem, is "about an hour's donkey ride from Ein Kerem, the village where Christian tradition says John was born," Gibson says.
'John the Baptist'
Thanks, Marian!
15th Anniversary
Montreal Massacre
A frosty chill reminiscent of conditions 15 years ago greeted Montrealers on Monday as they solemnly gathered to remember 14 women who were gunned down in Canada's worst mass shooting.
One by one, the names of the 14 victims were read aloud at around the same time that Marc Lepine began his hate-fuelled rampage at the University of Montreal's Ecole polytechnique engineering school on Dec. 6, 1989.
"Dec. 6 is a day of commemoration to make men, women and children - the adults of tomorrow - aware of non-violence," actress Jacinthe Lague told people gathered for a candlelight vigil at a square near the school.
Montreal Massacre
Oxford Gets Collection
Radio History
A microphone used in the first live radio music recital and the first trans-Atlantic wireless transmitter are among a collection detailing the history of early radio donated to Oxford University, the university announced Monday.
The collection of artifacts and documents from radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi formerly resided in Chelmsford in southwestern England, but the Marconi Corp. lacked the resources to care for and display the historic artifacts.
The roughly 250 artifacts and numerous documents in the collection provide one of the most complete pictures in the world of the development of the radio.
In addition to records of Marconi's inventions and patents, it includes the microphone used in the world's first live radio recital, by Australian diva Dame Nellie Melba in 1920. The collection also boasts the apparatus used in the first trans-Atlantic wireless transmission, in 1901, and telegrams sent during the Titanic disaster of 1912.
Radio History
In Memory
Joseph Hansen
Joseph Hansen, a mystery novelist known for crisp, lean prose and for creating one of his genre's first gay protagonists in the character of Dave Brandstetter, has died at the age of 81.
Hansen died of heart failure at his home on Nov. 24, his family reported. He had long suffered from respiratory illness. He had already published five novels and a collection of short stories dealing frankly with homosexual subject matter under the name James Colton when Fadeout, the first of 12 Brandstetter mystery novels, was released in 1970.
"My joke was to take the true hard-boiled character in American fiction tradition and make him homosexual," Hansen told the Orange County Register in 1998. "He was going to be a nice man, a good man, and he was doing to do his job well."
In all, Hansen wrote nearly 40 books, including mainstream novels and a series of semi-autobiographical works based on his early years as a struggling writer. He also taught fiction workshops, published poems in The New Yorker and produced a local radio show in the 1960s called Homosexuality Today.
Hansen's wife, Jane Bancroft, died in 1994. He once described their relationship as that of a gay man and woman who happened to love each other.
"Here was this remarkable person who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We were married 51 years. So something was right about it, however bizarre it may seem to the rest of the world," he said.
The couple had a daughter who later underwent gender reassignment. He is Hansen's only survivor.
Joseph Hansen
More Joseph Hansen
