Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 36

Marvel Review: HAWKEYE and video EVIDENCE

Some time ago, a friend and I had been IMing and she'd asked me about where to start with comic books as an Avenger movie fan.  I'd told her about several of the collected volumes I enjoyed, and particularly mentioned that, as a Marvel movie fan she might want to check out the four volumes of Ed Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA: Winter Solider and Strazynski's re-boot of THOR, since clearly elements of those had appeared in the movies.  Being polite and not raised by wolves, I asked, "So, what are you reading?"

She recommended the new HAWKEYE (by Matt Fraction).  So, I checked it out. I read both of the volumes that the library had: HAWKEYE: My Life as a Weapon and HAWKEYE: Little Shots.

I've decided that maybe I'm too old for this title.  The main artist is someone called David Aja and his art is very... what's the word I want?  Kind of "indy"?  I'm not sure.  Here's what it looks like:



I can't say I dislike the art, but it has a flat, slick feeling.  The stories follow Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) in his life in New York City.  This is one of the things I tend to really adore about Marvel, in general, which is that a lot of the story is about what a screwed up life Clint has made for himself and how much it honestly sucks to be nothing more than a sharp-shooting archer in a team full of super-soldiers and gods.  Clint gets banged-up.  A lot.  Actually, you kind of start to wonder if Hawkeye's real superpower is the ability to get fairly seriously wounded and still live, despite not having a mutant healing factor. They also do some fun things with his stupid-a$$ arrow collection (because, seriously?  How dumb is that?).  At one point during the story he decides what he really needs to is organize everything and you know, maybe mark them with tape or something, so he doesn't accidentally reach for the smoke-bomb when he needs the exploding tip.  The trip to the hardware store to get tape becomes it's own adventure, of course, in the way of such things, and he ends up randomly using whatever comes to hand, as it were.  That's just funny.

But Clint really isn't that interesting on his own.  Frankly, he never has been.  When my cousin Laun and I used to play pretend Avengers, I would often be Hawkeye because... well, back in the 70s, it was clear Hawkeye was the hip friend to Captain America.  And he was handsome, clever, and charming.  (I always liked playing the hot guys.  Charisma 18+ FTW).   But, kind of an empty slate, really.  At least from my reading, which admittedly wasn't terribly deep.  Laun was always the bigger Avengers fan.

I'm not sure the reboot does Clint any favors.  He's constantly upstaged by more interesting cameos, including one by his adoptive dog, Arrow (shown above.) HAWKEYE: Little Shot has a series of misadventures with the women in Clint's life, complete with Romance Comics style covers, in between each section.

But, a lot of people called each other 'bro,' and a lot of the action was kind of disjointed in a way that made me feel... tired, and too old for this title.  Also?  Who prints this stuff so small?  I needed my reading glasses!

Yet, I'm glad I read it.  There was a tiny little throw-away scene that kind of fascinated me.  It showed PowerMan (aka Luke Cage) and Spider-Man (Peter Parker, 'natch) sitting around Avengers/Stark Tower playing video games.  Peter was in his Spidey suit, like he often is, hanging upside down with his legs crossed, like he does, and apparently getting his ass kicked by Cage.  It occurred to me that I bet Spider-Man sucks at video games.  I bet he sucks because a big part of his ability is his Spidey Sense.  I bet he spends a lot of time getting blind-sided by stuff that seems, from his perspective, to come out of nowhere.

Also, can we talk, Peter?  You were the only guy in "uniform" at the mansion/tower.  What's that about?  (Truth? I suspect it's because Parker is actually intentionally nondescript.)

Well, so I guess my recommendation:  Go ahead, give a try, with a caveat--it's very... arty, maybe 'modern' even.  I don't even know if that's a bug or a feature.  Milage will vary.

And, in other news, there *is* video from Wednesday night:



It's a lot of reading, but if you want to hear my squee about Anime and random things, skip to the last five minutes or so.

Well... THAT Was Unexpectedly Awesome....

I'll tell you no lies.

I was scared to death that last nights' reading at Dreamhaven was going to be a bust.  Even, so I was determined to make the best of it.  I brought along several copies of King David & the Spiders of Mars and planned to read "God Box," my science fictional Biblical horror retelling of the "golden hemorrhoids" story from Judges. I even took my laptop along in case there was more than me and Eric (the coordinator) and I had extra time to read from my WIPs.  I got all dressed up.  I wore tie.  I left early (early enough to stop for coffee, even.)

Pre-show jitters (with cat):




And I kind of held my breath, expecting... crickets.

But... lo and behold, people came.

Lots of people came.

There was hardly an empty seat in the house and someone brought a very professional video camera (on a tripod and everything), so there may be a YouTube video of the reading at some point.  I gave the guy my card, so when/if it goes up, I asked him to let me know.  I'll be sure to link to it here (and anywhere else you're likely to go looking for me.)  But, of course, he was one of the first people to arrive, when all the seats were still empty, and we joked that he should splice in the ComicCon crowd where everyone is shouting, "Loki, Loki" and try to make it sound like "Lyda, Lyda" and I even raised my hands and said, "SAY MY NAME!"

I doubt he'll really do that, but it was fun to imagine, especially since I was still terrified I'd be filmed reading to an empty room.

But, so the reading went REALLY well.  As you know Bob, I'm a bit of an extrovert, so the more people, the higher my energy level.

Did I mention that I'd also stopped for coffee?

Yeah, it could be... "interesting," this film, but, honestly?  I had a BLAST.  I even read from Tate's WIP, the sequel to Precinct 13 (and mostly didn't blush or mumble over the especially dirty bits), and and let people know that they could read a bit more (and the updates as I post them) on WattPad.

So... yeah... a surprising success.

Plus afterwards there's a tradition at the Speculations readings of going out for pizza after, and I can't even remember the last time I has as much fun as I did last night.  A bunch of us were still there as they were turning off lights around us and we even stood around in the cold wind continuing to talk until almost 11:00 pm.  ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!

I have to thank everyone who showed, because I... I *really* thought this was going to suck so much.  So if you were there last night and reading this: THANK YOU.  Big time.  And, if you missed, well, fingers crossed the video will go up soon, and you can see what I'm liked hopped up on crowd and caffeine.

Cookies and Readings

If you're curious what Mason and I sound like first thing in the morning, you can feel free to listen to our third MangaKast, which is up on the WordPress site now: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/a-cookie-for-kenpachi-or-our-third-podcast/



It's a very rambling, sleepy conversation, but, even if no one listens, we're going to keep doing this because WE AMUSE OURSELVES.  :-)  And, who knows, at some point we might have an actual insight or two.

And, if you just can't get enough of my dulcet tones (and you happen to live local to me), you're cordially welcome to stop by Dreamhaven tonight and listen to me read.  I can even promise cookies, because Eric usually brings some.  The details are:

On Wednesday, March 26 from 6:30 to 7:45 pm, I will be the Speculations readers at Dreamhaven Books and Comics. Dreamhaven is located at 2301 E. 38th Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406. You can get more information about the event by calling 612-823-6161 or visiting: http://dreamhavenbooks.com

I'll probably be reading from one of my two works-in-progress, either the Precinct 13 sequel or the book I'm writing for Rachel, which is a YA about a gender queer person whose dreams invade Real Life (tm).

See you there, perhaps!

An Experiment in that Social Media/New Platform Things You Kids Are Into...

I've decided to start publishing (writing, actually,) the sequel to Precinct 13 on a new platform called WattPad.  I've already uploaded the first bit, which is only about 4,000 words long.  You can read it here: http://www.wattpad.com/43223189-unjust-cause-part-1?d=ud

The reason I decided to use this particular platform is that it feels like an original fiction version of AO3, the fanfic site that I really love, because it seems to be all about fostering a reader/author relationship.  It seems that a lot of the works on it are WIPs.  So, for instance, if you get into my story and you want a Certain Thing to happen, you can e-mail or leave a comment and I MIGHT ACTUALLY DO IT, since I'm not writing ahead much.  I have an extensive, detailed outline of the whole thing, but I'm really going to be writing kind of LIVE.... and by the seat of my pants.

Which could be a total blast.

And, honestly, the thing isn't writing itself.  I've had the outline for the sequel for almost three years and I've picked at starting this story a number of times.  I think jumping in like this might just be the kick in the pants I need.

So follow along, if you're so inclined.  If not, you can always check in periodically to see how it's working out.  I'll be curious if I can generate the kind of community I WANT this way... and just what comes of it all, honestly.

Eagles and Ostara

The other day, Mason and I went on a road trip.  I'm not saying exactly when because maybe we skipped school--or maybe we didn't.  Point is, it was me and my kidlet and the open road.  We decided to head south to see what we might find.  We found...

the World's Largest Boot, size 600-something and a half:



After bombing around Red Wing for awhile, we went further down the road.  We tried to stop in Stockholm, Wisconsin, because I had fond memories of getting cheese-fudge there while doing a gig for the film festival.  Turns out?  Stockholm closes for the season.  There was one place open: the General Store.  So we bought some gummy dinosaurs there and took the advice of the nice guy working behind the counter and head for the Nelson Creamery for lunch.





After hanging out there for awhile, we crossed the river and visited the Wabasha Eagle Center:








So we bought a hat and headed home.  It was a good day, honestly.  A lot of fun to just take off and see what there was to see down the road a pace, as they say.

And, because, despite the snow falling outside my window right now, it's officially spring, we decorated our Ostara eggs.  Mason has clearly figured out the connection between ima (that would be me) and the Ostara bunny, because I was at work on Wednesday night (the night before the Equinox/Ostara) and I got a lot of frantic text messages reminding me to stop off somewhere from Shawn. Mason had also put a note to the Ostara bunny on my computer that read, "Dear Ostara Bunny, please don't forget the basket... Don't FUBAR this again, like you did last year!"  (I don't remember forgetting? But apparently this was a big mistake!)  At any rate, the basket arrived on time--granted there may be a few frozen peeps in the trunk when Ima, the Ostara bunny might have been frantically assembling a basket in the CVS Drugstore parking lot... but, hey, at least the bunny didn't FUBAR it.

Then, this Saturday we colored our Ostara eggs, which were then hidden and discovered on Sunday morning.  Here are some of our more 'artsy' ones:






So there you have it.  All the news that's fit to print...  ;-)

New Podcast

If you're interested in hearing what Mason and I sound like when we're very sleepy and kind of ramble-y, we posted our newest Bleach/Toriko MangaKast.  Check it out here: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/mangakast-the-second/ In it I lay out several of my theories: about Kenpachi's ban-kai and its name, about THE END and Ichigo's part in it, and about how I won't be surprised to find out that Aizen (or someone) has been messing with the timing of this final battle.

Of course, be warned that there are spoilers for Bleach 573 "I am the Edge".

I don't know that I have any additional thoughts.

Because, of course, the Kenpachi fight went exactly as predicted.  If you're strong, he's gonna imagine himself strong.  You can't win against THE Kenpachi, which Kubo-sensei went to great pains to remind us of again.  The only thing I wish I'd been a bit more articulate about is the idea of how the timing of this fight is a bit off.  When I went looking for the Kenpachi Zaraki/Tousen fight, I skimmed over panels as you do, and I noticed that Kubo, when he wants to, is good at cutting to various fights to give the reader a sense of how time is passing.  Meanwhile these last several chapters have felt... odd, too long, too many gaps between threads, too circular, etc.  And, I was thinking, like a lot of the haters, that maybe that was because the story was sucking.  But, I'm beginning to wonder if this kind of makes-me-uncomfortable/edgy storytelling is on purpose and if it will be revealed that time has been messed with...

But, that's about as deep as I can get, alas.


Because Mason and I get up ridiculously early in order to do the podcast before school.  I suspect I'll always have my far more articulate thoughts much, much later.

If you're at all inclined, feel free to check it out.  Mason and I both ramble on a bit longer than we normally do... and I think we're going to try to make sure we're a little more succinct in the future.  Though, admittedly, I rather enjoy our nearly completely unedited dopey commentary for it's rambling uneditedness....

Deep Thoughts

I had a kind of deep thought about Tumblr today.  Tumblr is, for me, like Pinterest, but with all things fannish.  Shawn can lose a day just re-pinning pretty, useful, interesting, curious things she finds on Pinterest.  Me, I can do the same on Tumblr, because it's, like, all the things *I* love.

Yep.  That's it.  That's kind of all I've got.

Brilliant, right?

If you can't tell, it's a bad allergy day for me.  Here's a stinker: somewhere around 40, I developed pretty intense allergies.  Spring seems to be all about my eyes itching and running and my nose dripping.  If it has a season, I'm probably allergic to it.  Snow mold?  *achoo!*  Tree pollen?  *ATCH-hoo!*  etc., etc., etc.

Oh, and it's St. Patrick's Day.  I woke Mason up with the story of Irish history, as told by me.  "Once upon a time, there was an island so green, it was call the Emerald Isle...." and it went from there to the Pale to 1916 to the Partition to how grandpa once met Martin McGuinness and didn't even know it.  So, maybe you can see the slant.  I will say I tried to color in many of the shades of gray as possible, despite my obvious leanings.  And it was a short story, so it's not like he got the complete indoctrination... ;-)

Then, just because I was on a roll, I dug out one of my old cassette tapes (because our car still has a cassette player) and I regaled my poor family with a lot of loud Irish rebel music on the way to work and school.  Afterwards, Mason told me he had vague memories of me singing some of these song to him (which I did) when he was really little.  He asked, "Isn't there one that goes, 'duh-da-something of the I.R.A.!"  And I sang for him, "The broad, black brimmer of the I.R.A."

Probably you think I was brain-washing my infant, but the truth of the matter is [a) I probably was, don't we all?] and b) to be fair, infant-Mason loved the sound of voices, so we sang to him a LOT.  The only songs I knew all the words to happened to be Irish rebel songs. Shawn made me hum the more violent bits of "Sean South," but otherwise there was a lot of 'for our native land!' etc., for Mason.

Which, of course, is also only strange because I have not a drop of Irish blood in me--at least so far as my family knows.  We're German, Czech and Polish for the most part (though our surnames never seem to quite match the countries we're from Wieland from Poland, Klein from Bohemia, Morehouse from Germany, etc.)

Mason's donor, C105, (as we call him, since it was his catalogue number), listed his ethnicity as 100% Irish, so Mason is at least half and a bit more from Shawn's side.

But my interest in Irish politics has always been kind of baffling.  It's one of the few things in my life that I look at and I honestly wonder: past life?  Because I remember, very clearly, some time in the 1980s getting a copy of some political newspaper, it might even have been called "Arise!" and reading articles about South Africa and all sorts of injustice all over the whole world, but the one bit that I read over and over with mounting fury?  A story about Bobby Sands and the Hunger Strikers.  After that, even the tiniest AP articles reprinted in our LaCrosse newspaper about this land I've no connection to nor have ever visited, would get me furious... or hopeful... but whatever the feeling, it was always INTENSE.

At one point in the late 1990s, I had an on-line subscription to An Phoblacht.  I read all of it, cover to cover, but the thing I lingered on?  The notices about death anniversaries.  There'd be this little section in the back with one or two lines, "For my brother Bryce, who died on the streets of Derry...." or whatever.

So, I can't explain it, but I can sing you a rousing chorus of "Come Out, Ye Black and Tans" on a moment's notice!

lyda222 @ 2014-03-16T08:52:00

Yesterday was a busy day for me. It started at 9 am, when we took Mason to his final Level 4 swim class of the season. Actually, his final Level 4 class EVER, because he passed the test! (Whoot!) I was glad that I stayed to see his beaming face when he showed us his certificate.



I'd been considering bailing early, because I am Moon-Moon and accidentally scheduled a day of work at the library that was SUPPOSED to start AT 10 am, which was when Mason's class ended.  But, when I realized my mistake, I was able to throw myself on the mercy of my scheduler at the library and she negotiated a 10:30 am start.  Considering I had to work at White Bear Lake, I still didn't think that would be quite enough time.  We had prepared Shawn with emergency taxi money JUST IN CASE.  But, they actually let out class ten minutes early, so, believe it or not, I managed to zip everyone home (mostly, Shawn and Mason agreed to walk three blocks so I could make a quick turn around and get back on the highway,) and myself ALL THE WAY OUT to White Bear in 40 minutes.

I might have considered the speed limit more of a guideline than a law, but... well, I got there with 5 minutes to spare.

The White Bear Library is nice.  It's small and, like Shoreview, doesn't have an automated check-in, but the atmosphere was relaxed...and GRATEFUL.  I guess they had someone quit rather unexpectedly--I know this because a full-time position opened up there.  I considered applying for it, but the hours were a bit wonky for what I needed.  At any rate, I had a lovely time.  I shelved a lot of books....

...which means I came home with a bunch.

I've decided to chronicle my strange book borrowing habits.  So, from the White Bear Library, I bought home:

GLADIATORS: History's Most Deadly Sport by Fik Meijer.
THE COMFORT WOMEN: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War by George Hicks.
LIFE AMONG THE SAMURAI by Eleanor J. Hall (a YA non-fiction)
HAWKEYE: Little Hits by Matt Faction/David Aja (graphic novel)

I.. yeah, I don't quite know what happens to me in the stacks, but SO MUCH looks interesting.  I started GLADIATORS last night and I haven't learned much that I didn't already know yet, but what the hey?  I may have accidentally picked up the second volume of the new Hawkeye title, but I thought I'd read it anyway.

After racing home, I connected with our friend Andrew from New York who is in town for the weekend.  He came over and regaled us with stories about taking the taxi to our house (which was apparently much harder than you'd expect) and his current life.  I could have happily hung out with him for the rest of the night, but we had a long-standing St. Patrick's Day (observed) party at naomikritzer 's we wanted to get to.  So, I took him back to his hotel, and then we all went over.  This is where Mason could have spent his night. He and Naomi's daughter Molly are huge pokemon fans, so they talked pokemon ALL NIGHT.  Meanwhile, Shawn and I enjoyed the company and ate Naomi's husband's fantastic corned beef and veggies.

I was actually an amazingly wonderful day, but, by the end of it, I felt like I'd driven all day long.

I'm looking forward to today, because I THINK I successfully talked Shawn into a pajama day, and I'd really, really love to spend this Sunday lounging around the house.

....Oh, and in case anyone is on tenterhooks, Susan did not eat any of the minnow.  She does seem to delight in terrorizing them by chasing them around, but we still have all seven after all.  

New Fish and Susan, the Photogenic and Frisky Loach

Since I had to go to the pet store for water de-clorinator anyway, I decided it was time to pick up some new fish:

I got Susan some white mountain minnows as friends, but... I think we're going to have to sit down and have a discussion, Susan and I.  Susan... how do I tell you this, but FISH ARE FRIENDS NOT FOOD.  Fishfood is a thing.  Fishes are not food.  Even if they are VERY FUN TO CHASE.

Oh, Susan.  I have either bought you friends or a buffet.

New (and Very Silly) Podcast Project

Since my other podcast project was kind of a dud, Mason and I have decided that it'd be fun to do a very on-the-fly, slapdash podcast about Bleach on the mornings that the chapters come out.  We've decided to call it MangaKast (with a "k" as a play on the word mangaka, which is what one calls manga artists.)  We recorded it at about 6:30 am, before breakfast, before coffee, and before school.  So, I might not be the usual shining star that you may know me to be.  In the future, I hope to at least get up in enough time to make coffee so I'm not a complete moron.

If you want to take a listen, the first one is up at: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/first-ever-mangakast/

When you get there you'll see just a very little, almost easy to miss arrow and pause symbol.  Press that and music will start.  We start talking shortly afterwards.  We don't even really do a proper introduction, but we decided that it's content over quality... yeah, that's it.

Anyway, enjoy if you will.