stuff about stuff: a Pepper without bite, GL, and trailers
* The newest trailer for Star Trek: Into Darkness looks good. It also looks like it was edited by Freddie Krueger to amp up urgency without giving away plot details (or, why Kirk starts a sentence wearing one shirt and finishes it in another). But it should be fun.
* I am somewhat less fond of the new promo material for Iron Man 3, though. Mostly because of what they're doing to Pepper, although the sheer fugliness of the last one-sheet does not start or stop with her (or I think that's her; she looks like the gal from Big Bang Theory). Pepper is in full Damsel In Distress pose, which comes after the last trailer where she's a Shirtless Damsel in Distress (and there is possibly something to be said about that bra shot being captured and reblogged so many times over at Tumblr by gals who are normally much more sensitive about women and their agency, but it probably shouldn't be said by me), and, well, my question is and remains: why is this Pepper?
In the comics, Virginia Potts is one helluva dame for reasons that have nothing to do with her years of putting up with Tony. She's smart, courageous, clever, and not a little bonkers for everything that involved Rescue. She is kickass in the boardroom and as a hero and as a thoughtful woman capable of regular human interaction. She is not a damsel in distress, nor has she been in a while. In the movies, she's Tony's partner because she's his intellectual and emotional complement and he sees her as someone not only worth his attention, but as someone whose attention he should strive to be worth in turn. At least, that's my take and how I've tried to write her in my half-and-half world. I get that they're trying to give Tony a love triangle between the suit and the girl to create personal tension in the movie, but wouldn't it be a better competition if the girl had more going for her than she looks like a very pretty actress with her top off?
* The new trailer for Despicable Me 2 is unfettered awesome, though.
* Vids are for all fandoms! I don't think you need to be a hockey fan to appreciate the utter brilliance of this fan-made used-car-style commercial for a fire sale of the Buffalo Sabres, a hockey team that is not doing very well (although they managed to clean my team's clock last week).
* I don't think you could do one for my baseball team, though, unless you want to buy them as fixer-uppers. The starting third baseman, second baseman, "ace pitcher," and "closer" are all on the DL to start the season, among others. The Mets won't be Houston Astros bad -- who will be? -- but the real race in the NL East is going to be who finishes last, Miami or New York.
* I watched the first episode of Ripper Street, which is better than the very similar Copper, although it did not set my world afire. I will watch more. I also finally got around to watching the first episode of Hell on Wheels and actually couldn't finish it because it was just Deadwood without the sense of humor, surprising depth, complicated characters, or appreciation of life's absurdity and it was boring as Hell.
* ETA: Bleeding Cool is reporting that Joshua Fialkov left the GL books almost before he started because he didn't want to kill off John Stewart. Apparently a GL is gonna bite it and Editorial wanted it to be John (whether Fialkov wanted it to be Kyle or Guy is probably a good mystery), which... I get, but I also get why there's going to be a backlash. And probably why there should be.
John was an important Lantern when he debuted -- a black superhero -- but by the time the '90's rolled around, DC had no idea what the hell to do with him. He was a Darkstar, he was Kyle's sage buddy, he was given the most trite and ridiculous retconned backstory (repressed memories!) to explain a seemingly irreversible obstacle to heroing being suddenly cleared (the benchmark for that was set stratospherically high soon after with Hal's return), he was eventually given some time in the lead after they started using him in the cartoons... but he has never really had a driving purpose or unique development. He's not the Original Lantern (Alan). He's not the Legendary Lantern (Hal), he's not the Shtick Lantern (Guy), and he's not the Torchbearer Lantern (Kyle), although he could have been. And for that, I understand killing him off.
I don't think any non-white-male character should be safe only because they are not a white male character, but I do think DC (or Marvel) should think long and hard before they pull the trigger because non-white-male characters are still dreadfully underrepresented and because, especially with DC, their timing and tempo are usually odds-defyingly bad and their handling graceless. (See the queering of Alan Scott.) Or, why killing John now will smack a little of "well, hey, we brought in the Arab Muslim Lantern, we can kill the black one now and still be able to check off the minority representation box." Among other very bad messages.
* I am somewhat less fond of the new promo material for Iron Man 3, though. Mostly because of what they're doing to Pepper, although the sheer fugliness of the last one-sheet does not start or stop with her (or I think that's her; she looks like the gal from Big Bang Theory). Pepper is in full Damsel In Distress pose, which comes after the last trailer where she's a Shirtless Damsel in Distress (and there is possibly something to be said about that bra shot being captured and reblogged so many times over at Tumblr by gals who are normally much more sensitive about women and their agency, but it probably shouldn't be said by me), and, well, my question is and remains: why is this Pepper?
In the comics, Virginia Potts is one helluva dame for reasons that have nothing to do with her years of putting up with Tony. She's smart, courageous, clever, and not a little bonkers for everything that involved Rescue. She is kickass in the boardroom and as a hero and as a thoughtful woman capable of regular human interaction. She is not a damsel in distress, nor has she been in a while. In the movies, she's Tony's partner because she's his intellectual and emotional complement and he sees her as someone not only worth his attention, but as someone whose attention he should strive to be worth in turn. At least, that's my take and how I've tried to write her in my half-and-half world. I get that they're trying to give Tony a love triangle between the suit and the girl to create personal tension in the movie, but wouldn't it be a better competition if the girl had more going for her than she looks like a very pretty actress with her top off?
* The new trailer for Despicable Me 2 is unfettered awesome, though.
* Vids are for all fandoms! I don't think you need to be a hockey fan to appreciate the utter brilliance of this fan-made used-car-style commercial for a fire sale of the Buffalo Sabres, a hockey team that is not doing very well (although they managed to clean my team's clock last week).
* I don't think you could do one for my baseball team, though, unless you want to buy them as fixer-uppers. The starting third baseman, second baseman, "ace pitcher," and "closer" are all on the DL to start the season, among others. The Mets won't be Houston Astros bad -- who will be? -- but the real race in the NL East is going to be who finishes last, Miami or New York.
* I watched the first episode of Ripper Street, which is better than the very similar Copper, although it did not set my world afire. I will watch more. I also finally got around to watching the first episode of Hell on Wheels and actually couldn't finish it because it was just Deadwood without the sense of humor, surprising depth, complicated characters, or appreciation of life's absurdity and it was boring as Hell.
* ETA: Bleeding Cool is reporting that Joshua Fialkov left the GL books almost before he started because he didn't want to kill off John Stewart. Apparently a GL is gonna bite it and Editorial wanted it to be John (whether Fialkov wanted it to be Kyle or Guy is probably a good mystery), which... I get, but I also get why there's going to be a backlash. And probably why there should be.
John was an important Lantern when he debuted -- a black superhero -- but by the time the '90's rolled around, DC had no idea what the hell to do with him. He was a Darkstar, he was Kyle's sage buddy, he was given the most trite and ridiculous retconned backstory (repressed memories!) to explain a seemingly irreversible obstacle to heroing being suddenly cleared (the benchmark for that was set stratospherically high soon after with Hal's return), he was eventually given some time in the lead after they started using him in the cartoons... but he has never really had a driving purpose or unique development. He's not the Original Lantern (Alan). He's not the Legendary Lantern (Hal), he's not the Shtick Lantern (Guy), and he's not the Torchbearer Lantern (Kyle), although he could have been. And for that, I understand killing him off.
I don't think any non-white-male character should be safe only because they are not a white male character, but I do think DC (or Marvel) should think long and hard before they pull the trigger because non-white-male characters are still dreadfully underrepresented and because, especially with DC, their timing and tempo are usually odds-defyingly bad and their handling graceless. (See the queering of Alan Scott.) Or, why killing John now will smack a little of "well, hey, we brought in the Arab Muslim Lantern, we can kill the black one now and still be able to check off the minority representation box." Among other very bad messages.