Blogging is hard...

I have never been good with structured activity. Major weakness of mine. That said, I have nothing clever to offer in ways of an apology for missing the last blog, so we will just move on. I am actually really excited to see that, although the subscription level has remained unchanged, my little counter proves that people are actually checking this thing out. That is kind of cool. Thanks, ya'll.

So, local news first this time. The edit of Ranchero is nearly done, and just in time, as the end of February has been my goal from the beginning as the time for submissions. I think that with the next couple days off work, I am going to get there. This is a very exciting prospect, because it means that I can move on to trying to write a couple other things in my head. Eventually, I hope to be able to do two, possibly even three things at the same time, but baby steps. I will just feel really good to get something done.

LFM is back in production. Website production is the next major hurdle, both monetarily and learning curve-wise. I need to find the best way to get what I want out of a design, a magic money tree to pay for it, and then learn how to upkeep it well enough that I don't have to ask anyone else's help. Luckily, I have a couple of options here, and am nerdy enough to be able to figure it out. Other than that, it is just arc plotting and script writing. I am hoping to see some new art soon, and am really looking forward to sharing one particular piece with you all.

I will talk briefly here about Watchmen, which I was lucky enough to see a sneak preview of last Wednesday. After hearing multiple interviews with Zack Snyder, a couple of years of anticipation, and countless nerd debates, I feel like I can say this without qualification. They have made the best Watchmen movie possible. The tone is right on. The acting is fucking phenomenal. The effects are brilliant. At no point did I come out of the movie thinking, "Well, that isn't really right." True to the source material and (more importantly) the intention of the story, Watchmen is exactly what the fanboys expect to see. THAT BEING SAID...

I am just not sure how far that goes in a story like Watchmen. The movie is slow, sometimes deadly so, juxtaposed with truly brutal action sequences that seem less necessary than they do desperate attempts to inject some adrenaline into a very philosophical and dialogue-heavy story. I am not going to get into specifics (leave a question in the comments if you want to know something, and I will answer it with a spoiler tag), but I don't think that any of these instances are through the fault of the filmmaker. The fact of the matter is, Watchmen is, as a graphic novel, very slowly paced. You can do that in that medium. At the core of the issue here is that there is no main character in Watchmen. Each "costume" is an aspect of the figure we have come to call the superhero. Rorschach is hard line, unwavering drive; a code of ethics that has no room for shades of grey. Dr. Manhattan is the detachment that comes from realizing he has come so far from humanity, he has nothing left to relate to. The Comedian is the grotesque pleasure/desensitization the hero finds in the sometimes barbaric nature of the work. Nightowl is the impotence of never being able to do enough. Ozymandias is the self-righteous judge of humanity's fate. And so on, and so on. This makes for a brilliant story, full of texture and questions and psychology, culminating in this question; if we give these people, ANY people that kind of power, who is ultimately responsible when it all comes apart? What happens when those who we empower to make the terrible, world altering decisions do just that? Pardon the fanboy reference here, but who watches the watchmen?

So, while I commend Snyder and co. for making such a true representation of the story of Watchmen, again I ask, how far does that go? A movie without a single sympathetic character does not work. It is disjointed and tedious and long. That's just the difference in media between books and movies. In not changing the story, Snyder has set himself up for a lot of criticism. And I am awfully thankful for it, because while we didn't get a blockbuster movie out of it, what we did get is a legitimate attempt at a Watchmen movie that tries to tackle the questions the original story brings up. Not a superhero movie, not a PG-13 X-men meets Fantastic Four meets the Avengers in a post 9-11 terrorist war (the original script. Swear to God.) It's Watchmen. At the end of the day, I don't really care that it doesn't work perfectly. I am just happy that this is the movie we got. I will see it again (in IMAX, no less). I strongly recommend it. Know what you are getting into and go anyway. It's worth it to see.

That was vague, I know, but it's the best I can do for now.

I also want to address this issue briefly. To the nerds of the world:

Stop it. I mean it. Now. On Wednesday, I sat in that theater waiting for the Watchmen movie like a kid getting a sneak peak at Christmas presents in the living room closet. I was happy to be there. I am sure you were too. Here is the problem though. I don't care that you are clever. I don't care that you know more about the obscure origins of pop culture/comic figures than the 38 year old Mtv A.D. trying to keep you entertained while things are being set up. I don't care that you have a snarky little quip to everygoddamnthing that is said. Shut up. It is not clever, it is sad. Sad that you have to garner attention by acting out in public. It is sad that your friends support the behavior by laughing and congratulating you on every stupid interruption you throw out. It is sad that you think being on the fringe of society at large entitles you to voice every opinion that flows through your bespectacled, self-important, high-school-bullied-to-the-point-of-bitterness mind. KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. Please. Look, I am one of you. I read comics. I memorize lines from movies and use them in daily conversation. I know that Gambit first appeared in Uncanny #266. I have been to Comic-Con. I have read everything Neil Gaiman ever wrote. I LOVE Jonathan Coulton. I took a picture of David Tennant into my last hair cut so I could look like Doctor Who. I AM A NERD. The difference here is that I am not deluded into thinking that just because society at large doesn't value the things that I value, I am entitled to some sick sense of superiority. You are not doing anything but perpetuating the impression that all nerds are man-child, anti-social, Comic Book Guy clones. I refuse to be a part of that, and I cannot allow you to continue along that path. So I am blogging about it. CAUSE I AM A NERD. And proud of it. I would like to keep it that way. Thank you.

Lastly, tomorrow is Spring Opening for the MLB. St. Louis is playing the Florida Marlins. I am like a dog hearing the gate open, waiting for someone, anyone to come in and pet me. The need is palpable. Go Cards.