Apparently this is going to be a post about comics
Posting because I can! YES. Oh! And because there is actually stuff on the Headstones' website now! Not much NEW stuff, just some adorable pictures, as well as (old) music and videos, but I guess Hugh mentioned on Facebook that they're working on some new stuff, so OMG OMGOMGGGGG. Plus it is just kind of amazing that there is actually a HEADSTONES WEBSITE. IN 2011. Where I can actually direct people, instead of just being like, "Hey, you should check out my favorite band, they broke up years ago and their albums are really hard to get outside of Canada, but check 'em out!" You know? YAY. Plus they have a TWITTER FEED (@theheadstones). Which I sort of doubt will be regularly updated, but even so, it is an EXCITING PROSPECT. And of course I immediately followed them there, and then realized later that my Twitter userpic is a picture of Sock Puppet Joe Dick at the Wheat Sheaf in Toronto. Uh… oh well? Hee.
It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me; my parents and my 8-year-old-niece were here two weeks ago (YAY, so fun), and then Mr. McK's parents were here this past weekend (um, less fun, but manageable), and work has been insane (and about to get insane-r, as one of my co-workers, who has been on this team FOREVER, is moving to a different team and taking all of his in-depth knowledge of our systems with him, which is kind of terrifying, though also kind of exciting, because he gets to do a lot of fun stuff and I'm hoping I will inherit at least some of it). So this week I have mainly been reveling in having nothing to clean, nothing to cook, nowhere to drive (besides work, of course), nothing to plan, no one to take care of, just DOING WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT TO. Which has mostly involved sitting on my couch reading fic. It's been GREAT. And the next couple of months are looking fairly free, too, plans-wise, which will also be nice-I've been on a cycle of binge-and-hibernate for the past several months, when it comes to social interaction, and I'm hoping I can get to a more balanced place soon. (Famous last words, seriously. But I'm TRYING. )
Mr. McK has been super-busy lately, so we are behind on All the TV (including SYTYCD, which is a little nerve-wracking; I don't even know who's gone home for the past few weeks! WHAT IF THEY'RE PEOPLE I LOVE), but I have been keeping an eye on the news coming out of Comic Con, and argh, SO FRUSTRATING. I knew intellectually that being a comics fan was sort of an inherently dysfunctional relationship, but actually experiencing it has been kind of a shock. It's hard to reconcile the things that I love about comic books with the overall awareness that, as an industry, they could not give less of a shit about me, because I am not a straight white cis male 18-35. And somehow it actually makes it worse that they are paying lip service to diversity, but when someone actually challenges creators on the decreased diversity in the DCnU, she gets laughed out of the room by the Powers That Be. Like, they don't even PRETEND to care. Just. UGH. UGH. (And I know this is nothing new, it's just the first time I've been around for something like this.) I guess they mean that you can read many diverse stories about Bruce Wayne as Batman, in the four fucking titles that he is headlining. (I was ranting about this to Neal Stephenson at CombatCon, actually-which I probably should not have been doing, but whatever, I was nervous, it was a weird situation-and he was like, "Aren't people tired of talking about Batman yet?" And I mean, obviously not-and I don’t get the impression that Neal Stephenson is much of a comics guy, to be fair-but still. FOUR TITLES. COME ON. Just call it the Manpain Omnibus and be DONE with it.) (P.S. Manpain Omnibus is the name of my Eminem tribute band.)
Grant Morrison's comments about his upcoming work were interesting, though; not interesting enough to make me rush right out and buy his Superman run (if I continue to give DC ANY of my money, of course, which is a serious question right now), but I think I will check in for the end of the glorious thing of glee that has been Dick's partnership with Damian. Sigh. (Morrison is promising that we're all going to cry at these last issues. WAY AHEAD OF YOU, MAN.) It seems to be interesting, though, the distance between how a writer feels about the characters and how it sometimes ends up coming across; I read an old interview with Devin Grayson a while back from when she was first starting Nightwing and I LOVED what she had to say about the character, and I just have to wonder how all that great stuff turned into LET US DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT DICK LOVES AND ALSO RAPE HIM ON TOP OF A BUILDING. You know? So I can't help being at least a bit skeptical. But it's cool to hear him talk about it, anyway. As much as I am annoyed at him for his part in the fail that went on at SDCC (which was, from what I hear, less faily than, say, Dan DiDio's fail, but still. Meh). But this is what I'm talking about, kind of-I don't know how to reconcile my distaste for his participation in that kind of thing, or for how he writes certain characters, with the fact that I love how he writes Dick and Damian, and I really sincerely love the aplomb and dedication with which he shoves Gerard Way up against a wall. IT'S VERY CONFUSING. HOW CAN I JUDGE PEOPLE IF THEY WON'T BE EITHER ENTIRELY AWESOME OR ENTIRELY SHITTY. GEEZ. /self-mocking
ANYWAY. On a lighter note, I've been meaning to share this for a while: Mr. McK got me a Nightwing action figure for my birthday, and it's actually a "DC Origins" set that comes with Nightwings from two different eras, and it is AWESOME. For many reasons, but my favorite is that old-school Nightwing is all smiley-"Hugging and pool parties! YAY!"-and newer-school Nightwing is all scowly, probably on account of the destruction of everything he loves. Check it:
HILARIOUS. I love it. Aww, blue Nightwing costume. I will miss you.
Oh! And-LJ permitting-I am determined to actually start leaving some feedback on some of the awesome fic I have been devouring for the past month or two. So if you suddenly start getting feedback on old fic, um… hi?
It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me; my parents and my 8-year-old-niece were here two weeks ago (YAY, so fun), and then Mr. McK's parents were here this past weekend (um, less fun, but manageable), and work has been insane (and about to get insane-r, as one of my co-workers, who has been on this team FOREVER, is moving to a different team and taking all of his in-depth knowledge of our systems with him, which is kind of terrifying, though also kind of exciting, because he gets to do a lot of fun stuff and I'm hoping I will inherit at least some of it). So this week I have mainly been reveling in having nothing to clean, nothing to cook, nowhere to drive (besides work, of course), nothing to plan, no one to take care of, just DOING WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT TO. Which has mostly involved sitting on my couch reading fic. It's been GREAT. And the next couple of months are looking fairly free, too, plans-wise, which will also be nice-I've been on a cycle of binge-and-hibernate for the past several months, when it comes to social interaction, and I'm hoping I can get to a more balanced place soon. (Famous last words, seriously. But I'm TRYING. )
Mr. McK has been super-busy lately, so we are behind on All the TV (including SYTYCD, which is a little nerve-wracking; I don't even know who's gone home for the past few weeks! WHAT IF THEY'RE PEOPLE I LOVE), but I have been keeping an eye on the news coming out of Comic Con, and argh, SO FRUSTRATING. I knew intellectually that being a comics fan was sort of an inherently dysfunctional relationship, but actually experiencing it has been kind of a shock. It's hard to reconcile the things that I love about comic books with the overall awareness that, as an industry, they could not give less of a shit about me, because I am not a straight white cis male 18-35. And somehow it actually makes it worse that they are paying lip service to diversity, but when someone actually challenges creators on the decreased diversity in the DCnU, she gets laughed out of the room by the Powers That Be. Like, they don't even PRETEND to care. Just. UGH. UGH. (And I know this is nothing new, it's just the first time I've been around for something like this.) I guess they mean that you can read many diverse stories about Bruce Wayne as Batman, in the four fucking titles that he is headlining. (I was ranting about this to Neal Stephenson at CombatCon, actually-which I probably should not have been doing, but whatever, I was nervous, it was a weird situation-and he was like, "Aren't people tired of talking about Batman yet?" And I mean, obviously not-and I don’t get the impression that Neal Stephenson is much of a comics guy, to be fair-but still. FOUR TITLES. COME ON. Just call it the Manpain Omnibus and be DONE with it.) (P.S. Manpain Omnibus is the name of my Eminem tribute band.)
Grant Morrison's comments about his upcoming work were interesting, though; not interesting enough to make me rush right out and buy his Superman run (if I continue to give DC ANY of my money, of course, which is a serious question right now), but I think I will check in for the end of the glorious thing of glee that has been Dick's partnership with Damian. Sigh. (Morrison is promising that we're all going to cry at these last issues. WAY AHEAD OF YOU, MAN.) It seems to be interesting, though, the distance between how a writer feels about the characters and how it sometimes ends up coming across; I read an old interview with Devin Grayson a while back from when she was first starting Nightwing and I LOVED what she had to say about the character, and I just have to wonder how all that great stuff turned into LET US DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT DICK LOVES AND ALSO RAPE HIM ON TOP OF A BUILDING. You know? So I can't help being at least a bit skeptical. But it's cool to hear him talk about it, anyway. As much as I am annoyed at him for his part in the fail that went on at SDCC (which was, from what I hear, less faily than, say, Dan DiDio's fail, but still. Meh). But this is what I'm talking about, kind of-I don't know how to reconcile my distaste for his participation in that kind of thing, or for how he writes certain characters, with the fact that I love how he writes Dick and Damian, and I really sincerely love the aplomb and dedication with which he shoves Gerard Way up against a wall. IT'S VERY CONFUSING. HOW CAN I JUDGE PEOPLE IF THEY WON'T BE EITHER ENTIRELY AWESOME OR ENTIRELY SHITTY. GEEZ. /self-mocking
ANYWAY. On a lighter note, I've been meaning to share this for a while: Mr. McK got me a Nightwing action figure for my birthday, and it's actually a "DC Origins" set that comes with Nightwings from two different eras, and it is AWESOME. For many reasons, but my favorite is that old-school Nightwing is all smiley-"Hugging and pool parties! YAY!"-and newer-school Nightwing is all scowly, probably on account of the destruction of everything he loves. Check it:
HILARIOUS. I love it. Aww, blue Nightwing costume. I will miss you.
Oh! And-LJ permitting-I am determined to actually start leaving some feedback on some of the awesome fic I have been devouring for the past month or two. So if you suddenly start getting feedback on old fic, um… hi?