Chris Braak's Blog, page 27

More Scattered Thoughts on Swordplay

So, I decided that I would add an empty-hand martial art to this sort of ad-hoc, Jian-based fencing that I'm trying to teach myself; a sort of — well, let's call it an intersecting perspective of martial arts that I hope will provide some insight, or at least give me something to do until I'm [...]

Holiday Reflections: Power Rangers' only problem is people (and maybe that dumb-ass Alpha-5)

As soon as I said, "Really, do kids still like Power Rangers?" I thought a little harder, and remembered it is a television show where a bunch of teenage ninjas given powers from an alien pilot animal-shaped vehicles and team up to be a karate-robot who beats up monsters.

Why I Hate River Tam

I realize that this opinion is going to put me in the minority of 1) Joss Whedon fans, 2) Science Fiction fans, 3) People Who Watch TV.  I know that, and I can accept it.  But the fact of the matter is, I can't stand River Tam.  I hate basically everything about her and (as [...]

On Motherfuckers, Hats, and Race

So, Stephen Adly Guirgis wrote a play called The Motherfucker with the Hat (I can write the whole title out, because this is a blog and not a newspaper), and a company in Hartford called TheaterWorks recently did a production, and cast two twenty-something white actors in roles written for two thirty-something Latinos. There was, [...]

Observations from the Liquor Store

I am working at the liquor store.  Often unfairly derided, the Pennsylvania State Liquor store is, arguably, one of the best things that the state does.  It makes billions of dollars in profits for the state (this in addition to the taxes; and so is the only state agency to cost no money to maintain); [...]

Crap, Pirated Digital Comics Got It Right

Hm. Haven't been able to write much. This is for three reasons: 1. Work stuff occupies work time 2. I just got a Playstation 3 and did you guys know that Batman is in a videogame?! 3. I don't really have much to say about the news of the day that hasn't already been covered [...]

Guys, I'm…I'm Not Sure I Really Liked The Muppets

I mean, I liked it.  It was nice, I had a good time, there were some funny jokes and everything.  And it was definitely full of characters that I like to see, and it was nice to see them again, sometimes they said funny things.  Also, there were celebrity cameos, like when Dave Grohl played [...]

Shallow Nostalgia, The XTREEEME 90′s and 15 Goddamn X-Men Books

The slow morphing of the comic book industry back to the early-to-mid-90's became most evident when DC's fresh new directions started featuring a lot of shoulder-pads, Brett Booth and Scott Lobdell. But for my money (or rather, the lack of money I spend on comics these days), there is no greater sign that the Big [...]

Penn State, Omelas, &c.

So, maybe you've heard about this thing that happened at Penn State.  The media has suggested that Penn State is "enduring a sex scandal," but I would argue that a more accurate description might be that Penn State was "complicit in a child-rape scandal."  In any case, apparently a bunch of cats in the football [...]

You Know What's Weird About Once Upon a Time?

I mean, first of all, why isn't the main antagonist Maleficent?  Maleficent put a curse on the whole kingdom because she was pissed that they didn't invite her to a party.  You know?  Dang. But something else just struck me, inspired by Moff's comment on my last post on this subject, where he said: The [...][image error]