Saturday, April 14, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/14/12.

wardrobe malfunction [wawr-drohb-mal-fuhngk-shuhn]
noun
1. An embarrassing situation caused by the clothing someone is wearing.

EX. Super hero costumes just don't mix and match between heroes. Wardrobe malfunction is always a distinct issue in the superhero's line of work. But, while usually regulated to be an issue of growing heroes and women, Batman is often his worst fashion nightmare.


Batman's excuse for these ridiculous costumes, which, by the way, he either had lying around or had Alfred make up, were meant to distract the crooks from noticing Robin had an injured arm just like Dick Grayson. I think he just wanted an excuse to look fabulously kitschy.

Yet, it could be worse...he could be....The Phantom. He wears a purple leotard, in the jungle, and is known for his stealth. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Friday, April 13, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/13/12.

macho [mah-choh]
adjective
1. Having or characterized by qualities considered manly, especially when manifested in an assertive, self-conscious or dominant way.
2. Having a strong or aggressive sense of power or the right to dominate.
noun
3. An assertively virile, dominating, or domineering male.

EX. The macho mameshiba are always the most upsetting to find in one's dish.

WTF WEDNESDAY! MAMESHIBA: THE DOG-FACED BEANS OF KNOWLEDGE

MANLY GUYS DOING MANLY THINGS WEB COMIC

Thursday, April 12, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/12/12.

futurology [fyoo-chuh-rol-uh-jee]
noun
1. the study or forecasting of trends or developments of science, technology, politics, the social structure, etc.

EX.As a believer in futurology, and the experts who work in the field, I am excited about the prospect of wearing shoes that are molded to the already impressive human bipedal feet and an AR monocle, as soon as they make one styled like a Dragon Ball Z scouter.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

WTF WEDNESDAY! JAPAN + LORD OF THE RINGS = ?

WTF WEDNESDAY PRESENTS
"ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY START A BOY BAND"


And may Gandolf forgive me...


WORD OF THE DAY! 4/11/12.

product placement [prod-uhkt-pleys-muhnt]
noun
1. A form of advertising, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, and the story lines of tv shows.

EX. Hostess Snack Cakes spent a lot of money advertising in comic books over the years, sometimes in the most bizarre ways imaginable, with product placement in short stories involving some of our favorite Marvel and DC super heroes and super villains.

 Seriously, google 'hostess comic book ads' and you will be provided with some nostalgic amusement.

For a brief history of product placement in an amusing stroll down the history of film, click the link below.



 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 4/2-4/8. BATMAN WEEK!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS
FOR THE LOVE OF BATMAN WEEK!
7. WORD OF THE DAY! 4/4/12. Gumshoe.

It is unnatural that I want to see a Batman musical complete with an Officer Krupke parody about good ol' Commissioner Gordon?

WEST SIDE STORY- OFFICER KRUPKE

Or that he makes me think of Brian Blessed declaring, "GORDON'S ALIVE!"

Well, regardless, Commissioner Gordon is everyone's favorite ginger cop.

"Punk is nothing but DEATH...and CRIME....and the RAGE OF THE BEAST!"

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 4/6/12. Immortality Syndrome.

This was a challenging article, to be sure. Not only did I sum up the Death of Superman, I dove into the poorly conceived "Death of Batman" that was one of the fifty two climaxes in the clusterf*** of Final Crisis (which tried to tie up about fifty two loose ends and failed).


Perhaps someday I'll review 52, Countdown to Final Crisis, and Final Crisis. I can list out 52 things I love about 52, 52 things I hate about Countdown, and 52 things that confused everyone in Final Crisis.
4. WTF WEDNESDAY! WESTERN SHOW ON SUPER MARIO WORLD?!
Sandwiched in between 8 Batman articles from last week, one article barely keeps Batman Week from being a sweep. To be honest, I'd get bored if I did NOTHING but Batman articles for a whole week. Last week's WTF article focuses on the internet classic from Nico Nico Douga's 2ch. A must see for Mario fans and lovers of WTFery.

Batman doesn't use guns. Alfred shot the Predator with a goddamn blunderbuss. If that doesn't sell you on clicking this article and reading, I don't know how to help you.

2. THE DASTARDLY DOZEN: BATMAN TOP 12 VILLAINS!
Which Batman villain is your favorite? I ranked these villains by least likely to most likely to kill Batman, but my favorite villain? I'm going have to go with the Joker, because I absolutely love a creepy laugh in my villains.

1. WORD OF THE DAY! 4/8/12. Sidekick. THE ROBINS!
My favorite Robin is a lot easier for me to pick out; Tim Drake.

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/10/12

air guitar [air-gi-tahr]
noun
1. A form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. It usually consists of exaggerated strumming, pick motions, and loud singing/lip-synching. It is generally used to stimulate loud electric guitar music.

EX. I always do an air guitar solo for the big rise in Bohemian Rhapsody and, occasionally, the original pokemon theme song. What song do you feel compelled to thrash around like a child to?



Make sure to click the link below. The animation is awesome and the pay-off is hilarious. I would love to see a fan pokemon show in this style and format. Just saying.

Monday, April 9, 2012

MUSICAL MONDAY! MARIO KART's RAINBOW ROAD!

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS

MARIO KART'S RAINBOW ROAD


It's called a road, it's called a Rainbow Road
It is a road that you go
It's called a road, it's called a Rainbow Road
And you will know when you get there
It's called a road, it's called a Rainbow Road
It is a road that you go
It's a road that you go when you die

It's a road called Rainbow Road

It's a road we're all gonna go
It's a road called Rainbow Road
It's got Princess Peach, Mario, and the Toad
It's a road called Rainbow Road
It's a road we're all gonna go
We'll go

It's Rainbow Road

It's where you go
When you die
It's Rainbow Road
I miss you again uncle
It's Rainbow Road
It's where you go
When you die
It's Rainbow Road
I'll miss you again
On Rainbow Road 

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/9/12.


sibling rivalry [sib-ling-rahy-buhl-ree]
noun
1. A type of competition or animosity between children, whether related by blood or not. Such competition is particularly intense between brothers and brothers, sisters and sisters, children of the same or near the same age, and between children with talents. It is an expression of the frustrations between children to compete for attention and to define themselves as being apart from their rival.

EX.  In the 2008 film Step Brothers, two middle-aged men compete for control of the household like children when their parents get married. Their sibling rivalry, a rivalry built on man-child stupidity, is the amusing crux of the film and the two principle actors, Will Ferrel and John C. Reily, pull off the ridiculous film with their physical comedy, crafted delivery, and legendary chemistry.

An even more interesting pair of sibling rivals are Marvel's Thor and Loki, who compete for their father's respect, the people's attention, and control of Asgard. While Thor would happily compete against his brother in a friendly rivalry, Loki takes their rivalry too far and makes himself a villain to win their struggle. The rivalry is complicated by Loki's desires to be the ruler of Asgard AND, despite his methods, earn the respect of his fellow Asgardians, especially his father and brother. It is this sibling rivalry that not only propels the 2011 film Thor, but also has propelled Loki into becoming the main villain in the upcoming Avengers film.

Speaking of sibling rivalry...

Apparently, Damian has a beef with Tim Drake.

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/8/12. THE ROBINS.

"Shield me from bullets, Boy Wonder!"
sidekick [sahyd-kik]
noun
1. A close friend or follower who accompanies another.

EX.

THE ROBINS

Robin The Boy-Wonder, the sidekick of the Caped Crusader, Batman, and second member of the Dynmaic Duo is so unanimous with Batman that "Batman & Robin" just kind of rolls off the tongue with familiarity of a popular catch phrase. He is Batman's young ward and ally in a never ending war against crime. The character has been around for over 70 years and yet, some people don't think Batman needs a Robin. I guess the question to be solved here is why Robin was created in the first place and what purpose he serves in the Dark Knight's life.

Batman has only been around for a year when, in 1940, when Bob Kane and Bill Finger created the Boy-Wonder. They thought that Batman needed someone to talk to and share his experiences with, a Watson to his Sherlock Holmes, and thus Robin was born. The character's named for Robin Hood and the artists incorporated the red of the American Robin into his costume. The resurgences of Robin, time and time again, also served as a way to attract younger readers by giving them a character they could relate to.

The first Robin, Dick Grayson, was a member of a famous family of acrobats, The Flying Graysons, when his parents were killed by gangsters in the middle of a show. Bruce Wayne has been at the show and witnessing the event, Grayson having no one else to help him and having witnessed the face of his parent's killer, offers him sanctuary. It doesn't take long for Bruce to give Dick the chance to become his aide and, after extensive training, gives him his own costume that incorporates the designs of parents costumes and creates the alter ego of Robin.

For forty years, Dick Grayson aged slowly, super heroes don't age very quickly, and went from Boy-Wonder to Teen-Wonder until finally in 1984, after finding his true calling as a leader by leading the Teen Titans, he retired his identity as the Robin and became Night Wing.

Dick Grayson is arguably the goody two-shoes of the Robins and the prodigal son of his adopted father, Bruce Wayne AKA Batman. His abilities are those of an exceptional athlete, he has decent detective skills, but where exceeds Batman are in his abilities as a leader. Unfortunately, although Dick might seem the most logical heir to the cowl, should Batman die or go missing, again, I don't think he is the best best choice for this role. He is not quite up the task of the World's Greatest Detective, in my opinion.

It didn't take long for Dick to get replaced by a new Robin, Jason Todd. Jason was a homeless young man trying to steal Batman's ties when Batman discovered him and, for some unfathomable reason, he chose this little jerk to be his successor. I'm not gonna sugar-coat it folks. I HATE Jason Todd. And apparently I wasn't the only one who hated him because in 1988, DC put Jason in a life-threatening scenario and left up to the fans to vote on his fate. By a narrow margin (5,343 to 5,271), Jason Todd was put to death by the fans.


Jason Todd's death changed Batman forever. Well, except, like any other character, his death was greatly exaggerated by the tabloids. This is another universe hiccup that was part of the stupidity of Super Boy Prime punching the multi-verse so hard that it changed reality. In 2004, Todd came back under the guise of the Red Hood, and has cemented himself as a wannabe anti-villain turned obnoxious, unlikeable, d-bag villain that deserves to be punched in the face by Diana Troy every five seconds.

Todd's successor, in 1989, was Tim Drake. Unlike his predecessors, he didn't start out with some over the top melodramatic sob story. He still had a father. His story starts out with his witnessing the death of The Graysons. From that moment, he had a small obsession with Robin and Batman. A whiz with computers and a brilliant detective, though not as physically talented, Tim Drake used his skills to track down Dick Grayson and then won Bruce's respect by discovering his identity. Tim wanted to be Robin because he knew that Batman needed a Robin. Without a Robin, Batman would lose it. He needs Robin to keep him sane.


Tim would continue his role as Robin until the DC writing staff decided to ruin his life by killing his Dad, the temporary death of his girlfriend (Stephanie Brown, Rumor, temporary Robin, and current Batgirl), and disappearance of Bruce. The latter of which was something that Drake never accepted and he sought to find Bruce rather than go after the cowl. Instead, he became Red Robin (I know the name is stupid) and has since become a formidable crime fighter in his own right by taking down international crime syndicates.

Some people think Tim is snubbed by DC, especially when Dick took the cowl in Bruce's leave. But the truth is that, unlike Dick, Tim doesn't necessarily want to be Batman. His only long term goal is to become the Greatest Detective in the World and even Batman thinks he can pull that off.

The last Robin I want to talk about is Damian Wayne. Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and, technically, Ra's al Ghul's daughter, Talia. For the first ten years of his life, Damian was raised by assassins. Talia springs Damian on Bruce to try and distract him but, because of Damian's many social issues, ex. he believes he needs to kill Tim to become the new Robin, he is sorta rejected. It isn't until Bruce's apparent death. He is taken under the wing of Dick Grayson and the two become the new Batman and Robin. This partnership is surprisingly effective as Dick, Tim, and Alfred become Damian's family and help him adjust his sociopath tendencies. Luckily, Gotham is worse than ever when he arrives, so his more direct approach and his tough attitude is almost definitely necessary for him to survive.

And now that Bruce is back at Batman, Dick is Nightwing again, Tim is Red Robin, Damien is Robin, and Alfred is Alfred, they can all be one big happy family. Except for Todd. He can go die in a ditch.