Arune.Com Gets Some Love From “Superman Homepage”

If you’re a fan of Superman, you’ve heard of the website titled “The Superman Homepage.” It’s a well-known page and reviewer Neal Bailey made mention of Arune.Com in a recent review. Neal’s a friend and he doesn’t often promote other sites, so it was great to see him promote Arune.Com to his considerable audience.

You guys have gotta check out www.arune.com. Arune writes for CBR and is a really awesome guy. I generally hate blogs, there are like four I enjoy, Felix’s, Arune’s, Americablog, and my own, Chronicling the Fall. Arune has a great structure, a strong format, and does a ton of waxing on Superman. Get on over there. GO!

Thanks Neal! The support means a lot to me. And if you check out that link, you’ll see that Neal writes very lengthy reviews, that can seem a bit too long to some, but there’s a kind of honesty and passion in his work that I just don’t find in most reviews. He’s one of the few people who’s online work I’m constantly excited to read.

You can check out Neal’s political commentary at Chronicling The Fall, which is also listed at the side of the page.

Wants. Needs. And Life.

There’s a point to all this. I promise.

Just keep reading.

We’re going to try things a little differently this time.

Continue reading Wants. Needs. And Life….

Random + News

Well folks, we’ve got a Superman centric edition of Random News today, simply because that’s what’s on my mind. After an excellent episode of Smallville and re-watching episodes of the classic Justice League Unlimited series, I’m in Superman mode. Also, remember to watch Battlestar Galactica tonight. It’s good for what ails ya.

• The sequel to Superman Returns will really happen, which is great news for fans such as myself who loved the first film. Here’s hoping we see some more super battles along with Singer’s trademark insights into the human condition.
• Might Justin Hartley’s Oliver Queen character get his own show? Chances are good, according to the WB.
• Did Superman just crash on Earth? Art imitating life. Or is it the other way around?
• Pay attention to General Zod, because the villain has his own hilarious website. It’s sort of fun to randomly yell, “Son of Jor-El, kneel before ZOD!” You can also vote for Zod in 2008. At least he’s honest about what he wants.
• Battlestar Galactica is not an allegory to Iraq, as the New York Times points out. It is, however, one of the best shows on television, if not the best (up there with The Shield).
• Galactica’s producer Ronald D Moore talked about the show and it’s a great read for fans. There’s a funny opening question about Baltar that just made me laugh. Moore handles those kinds of comments great and doesn’t have the thin skin of so many writers.

Arune.Com’s Weekly YouTube Fix

We’re back with another unique selection of videos. First we’ve got a recent scene from an episode of Smallville entitled “Arrow.” This scene is just a little bit of fun at the expense of two main characters from guest star Justin Hartley, playing “Oliver Queen.”

Now we have a cute ad for Triaminic medicine, in which a baby wolf tries to solve his sleep problems in a unique way. Just a great commerical and excellently produced.

Finally, we’ll end with the music video to “Used To Love U,” from John Legend’s debut CD. This one is a couple of years old, and is still a unique song. It’s not quite hip-hop, but has a bit more of a beat than you might expect from Legend.

Boba Fett Syndrome & How It Got Me

Back in the now classic Empire Strikes Back, fans of the Star Wars universe were briefly introduced to Boba Fett, a galactic bounty hunter who was looking to cash in by capturing Han Solo. I’m not sure the guy said more than a few words, but he gets Han and flies off. He then re-appeared in Return Of The Jedi, once again doing very little, and dying in a really lame manner, befitting someone who really hadn’t done much. But along the way, a strange thing happened: Boba Fett became insanely popular. I don’t know all the details, but in the real of geeks/nerds/fanboys/etc, it’s always interesting to see these seemingly background characters explode in popularity. This is particularly common with the X-Men comic book franchise, which even at reduced numbers boasts almost 200 mutants, all with strong fanbases. And no, I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with that, but I find it interesting and call it “Boba Fett Syndrome”: minor characters becoming popular for no apparent reason. So why does it happen? And what about my brushes with “BFS”?

Continue reading Boba Fett Syndrome & How It Got Me…

The New Definition of Masculinity?

Over at AskMen.Com, there’s a real interesting list: A Top 49 Men Of 2006 list, voted on by over 15,000 people. I’ve talked about the ever changing definition of manliness before, since it seems like that definition is in such flux these days. From books such as The Adonis Complex to the growing “LadLit” market, we’re constantly being inundated with different views of manliness. Is manliness epitomized by Brad Pitt? Or is a wrestler such as The Rock the epitome of manliness? Pehraps it is the almost psychotic behavior of Jack Bauer? Maybe it’s the steely confidence of Bill Adama? How much does the exterior play in defining the man? How sensitive is a “real” man? Hey, stop looking at me– I don’t have any answers. I’ve always associated manliness with Batman for some reason: that drive to be the best you can and blazing your own trail while doing it. Add in the moral compass of Superman, plus the will power of Green Lantern, and you can see that superheroes informed my perception of manliness. It’s interesting to just see how Christian Bale (who played Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins) never had his manliness questioned, but Brandon Routh (Clark Kent in Superman Returns) was continually verbally assaulted for not being manly enough. It may just be that Batman is more manly in that classic Clint Eastwood way, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Ok, back to the list.

Continue reading The New Definition of Masculinity?…

C’est La Vie

I remember a discussion in philosophy class about what you can really know, and as notable philosophers (far smarter than I) have theorized, you can only know two things: that you are and that you think. The common sentence used to sum up this theory is “I think, therefore I am,” though I’ve been told that there’s not supposed to be a causal relation between the two, but I’m sure different profs have different opinions.

To get on topic here, the thing I like about discussing philosophy, and the ensuing discussion (disagreements can be fun!) is how much it challenges your own point of view. Not in a way that undermines your point of view, or somehow posits a “right” and a “wrong” on most topics, but in a way that keeps your mind open to other points of view. And it’s a good reminder to me that I don’t have all the answers, and frankly, I never will.

Continue reading C’est La Vie…

Get Ready For Day 6 Of 24

UPDATE: The trailer is now online and viewable.

If you happen to be in Times Square tomorrow, be prepared for an onslaught of CTU agents to be handing out free stuff and directing you to the premiere of the Season Six trailer for 24. For everyone else, check out this site later today to see the first scenes from the new season.

With the 24 movie scheduled to arrive in the next couple of years and the growing popularity of the show, you gotta wonder how long it’ll take for 24 to hit those CSI numbers it so richly deserves. Sure, 24 often ignores the laws of reality, but it’s easily the most fun show on television. You can also get a lot of 24 merchandise, from Jack’s “JackSack” to his watch, at the 24 Fan Club Site, which also features links to auctions of real props from the show.

Don’t forget to check out my interview with the writers of 24: Nightfall, the new prequel comic book that explores the secret mission in which Bauer and the Drazens first faced off.

Random + News + Monday

Yeah folks, we’re back with Random News. I’m probably going to make this a weekly feature at best, because I’m just not able to do updates like I did in months previous, but I’ll try to keep an eye out for interesting news. Today’s picture of Simba from The Lion Ling is being used because…it’s a good movie? Sounds like a good reason.

• Weird Al finally has made it big, cracking the Top Ten rankings in music sales and creating a bonafide hit with “White & Dirty.” Of course, Al has been a successful musician all his life, but this is a big milestone for him and is well earned. His new disc is top notch.
• Star Trek props sell for a lot of money and it makes me wonder just where people find the money for this kind of purchasing. Look, I know we all value things differently, and some of my spending will seem ridiculous, but once you pay over half a million dollars for a television prop, I gotta wonder if you can do something better with the money. Then again, perhaps these people also donate a lot and just wanted to splurge for once, so it’d be wrong of me to get on their case without more information.
• Sci-Fi.Com has put together a funny Battlestar Galactica music video, which compares the two versions of the series. Very funny for fans of both the new and old show.
• I interviewed legendary Transformers writer Simon Furman over at CBR, and it’s a short piece, but very revealing. He took a franchise that was created to sell toys and then wrote some very poignant, resonant tales.
• This is my perfect Halloween costume. Anyone want to buy it for me? Please? All jokes aside, when I was in New York with Nate and Mike, we were trying to find a Superman costume like this so I could walk around Times Square dressed as Superman. Why? Because it’d be funny.

Face-To-Face

It’s not always easy to deal with your feelings when you feel hurt by someone. It’s not easy to sit idly by when it seems like someone is breaking the rules. It’s not fun to feel insulted by those around you, even if you feel like maybe they didn’t mean anything, or you can intellectually appreciate you weren’t insulted, but can’t supress the shot to your heart. That’s all reasonable. It’s part of being human. But I don’t understand why it seems like an increasing number of people are reticent to confront the problems, and offenders, head-on. That’s perhaps an unfair blanket statement, but having spent time in modern corporate culture, and also observed the explosion of exploitive lawsuits, I wonder what happened to good old days of a nice bar brawl.

Continue reading Face-To-Face…