FANGASM: WEEK TWO

Today I start catching up with the Syfy Channel’s Fangasm, the show
wherein seven fans are given internships with Stan Lee’s Comikaze
and are competing for an ongoing job with the company.  I watched
episodes two through four of the show, but, before I get into them,
I want to make some preliminary comments.

I don’t know any of these interns.  To the best of my knowledge, I
have never interacted with any of them online prior to the show’s
debut.  Since then, I’ve been the recipient of one unhappy Twitter
message from Molly McIsaac who was sorry I didn’t love that first
episode.  Me, too, Molly.  Me, too.

All I know of these interns is what I see on Fangasm.  I do realize
shows like these - “reality” shows - are easily manipulated by the
producers to convey whatever behaviors or conflicts the producers
believe will be the most entertaining for their audience.  Since I
don’t know the interns, my comments are based only on what I see on
the show.  Whatever comments I make, I’m commenting on characters
as put forward by the producers.

These interns are quite a bit younger than me.  I’m old enough to
be their father and maybe even their grandfather.  My reactions to
things are probably much different than theirs.  I might be missing
some context to what these young people say and do because we have
had different experiences. They would face the same difficulties if
they were writing about the upcoming Syfy series, Grumpy Old Fan,
which will air early on Tuesday evenings on account of I can’t stay
up as late as I used to.

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“A Date with a Supermodel” aired October 1.  This “date” consisted
of Paul and Sal going to a tequila bar with Adrienne Curry, former
“America’s Top Model” and a renowned cosplayer.  Curry was there to
give the boys advice on meeting women.  Sal seemed to think he had
“scored a date with a supermodel.” I remember how it was to be so
young and delusional.  But I digress.

The very cool Regina Carpinelli is the CEO and Co-Founder of Stan
Lee’s Comikaze.  This week, she asked the interns to create short
YouTube videos to promote the convention.  The standout intern on
the assignment was Paul.  He took the assignment very seriously and
was willing to work hard to do it right.  After this assignment, I
picked him as the frontrunner in the quest for a permanent position
with the organization.

One thing I’m not seeing in these episodes is what the interns are
doing when they aren’t working on special projects.  I’m sure that
isn’t as interesting as the special jobs, but it would give a more
rounded picture of the internships.

Miserable failures of the week were Andrew and Sal.  I like these
guys, but they blew off the video assignment.  At one point, they
cut out for the comic book store and then hid from their fellow
interns so they could read their new comics.  Were it my call, I’d
have voted them off the island.

Dani conducted herself in a professional manner, as did Kristin in
a more low-key fashion.  As for Mike and Molly, they are becoming
tedious.  Mike’s self-image as a “player” has already worn thin and
Molly is prone to anger and drama.  Neither would be a good fit for
a serious creative office environment.  But these are just second
episode impressions.  There are four more weeks of the series to go
before Regina and Stan have to decide which of the interns gets to
stay with the company.

Other scenes showed the interns hitting a club and the only thing
that keeps it from being the most awkward scene in the episode is
Andrew asking Curry to comment on his intern hook-up predictions.
Coming in third in the awkward competition is Sal crushing on Dani
and drawing a picture for her.  He sneaks it into her room and then
claims Andrew drew it.  Andrew calls it “middle school” and I think
he was being kind.

This episode is my least favorite of the series, but things really
picked up with the following episodes.  I’ll be writing about the
third episode tomorrow.

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Also on my mind...

I find myself strangely excited about Marvel Comics reprinting the
Miracleman comics of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman and continuing with
new stories by the latter and Mark Buckingham.  It’s rare for news
from the Big Two to excite me, though I still read and enjoy many
Marvel titles.

This past summer, prior to putting them up for sale, I reread the
entire Miracleman series to date as published by Eclipse Comics in
the 1980s.  I found them not quite as terrific as I had remembered,
but still pretty darn terrific and among the very best comic books
of that decade.  I suspect my “not quite as terrific” is the result
of seeing so many concepts from Miracleman turn up in comic books
that aren’t terrific. 

But, as I said, I’m excited about Miracleman and, as a side matter,
whatever Marvel is planning to do with Marvelman - the character’s
original name - in their Marvel Universe titles.  I’m interested in
seeing how Marvel packages the reprints and could probably get into
another reading of the Moore/Gaiman stories while I’m waiting for
the new stories.

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From The Ormes Society blog...

The Ormes Society, named after the legendary pioneering cartoonist
of color Jackie Ormes, is an organization dedicated to supporting
black female comic creators and promoting the inclusion of black
women in the comics industry as creators, characters and consumers.

I love this informative and entertaining blog.  I visit it daily on
account of there always seems to be something new there.  If you’re
at all knowledgeable about my comics career, you know I have a keen
interest in characters of color.  Even if your interest is somewhat
less keen than mine, I think you’d enjoy this blog.  I recommend
it highly.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

MY BLOGGY’S BACK AND THERE’S GONNA BE TROUBLE

I’m back and I’m in a weird place.  I’m feeling pretty darn spiffy
about finishing a bunch of paying gigs on or ahead of schedule, but
I’m also overwhelmed by how many things I have to do over the rest
of the year.  I’m angry as I’ve ever been at the sheer insanity of
the Republican Tea Party, even as I search (mostly, but not always
in vain) for some modicum of decency and reason in that benighted
mob.  I’m happy that I seem to be over the worst of my recent gout
attack, but concerned about the side effects of the medications I
am taking to prevent future outbreaks.  In other words, just like
the rest of my countrymen, I’m a hot mess.  If there’s any reason
for me to be as optimistic as I am, it’s that at least I know I am
a hot mess.

I’m in a reflective mood of late, wondering, for example, why I am
so endlessly amused by the jerks of our world.  A case in point is
the steaming piece of crap from San Antonio who, about a year ago,
went all whiny and angry on my Facebook page, culminating in vile
insults directed at my wife.  He was even more so after I ejected
him from my Facebook friends.  He sent me a private message filled
with more insults and threats.  I ignored his next and, I thought,
final message.  Who needs to waste time on such a jerk?

Still, I have to admit that this pathetic punk from Texas gave me
one of my best laughs of the month when, a year after I’d long and
easily forgotten him, he sent me another private message.  Just one
word.

Shithead.

This amused me.  Is he compulsively reading the Facebook page and
blog of someone he claimed to despise?  Is this some sort of “Same
Time Next Year” man-crush he has on me? Can I look forward to two
words of endearment in October of 2014? Does he have the slightest
clue I derive entertainment from his hatred?

Then there’s this tale from my world beyond the Internets.  If you
read my Facebook page, you’ve already enjoyed it.  But I wouldn’t
want to deprive those of my bloggy thing readers who aren’t among
my legion of Facebook friends.  It goes like this...

It's last Thursday morning. I am in agony from gout medication side
effects too gross for me to describe. But I have these errands that
have to be run. The last one is a trip to my local library.

It's early enough that I should be able to get a parking spot close
to the library entrance. The way I'm feeling, every second between
me and home and bed counts.

I pull in and there's an asshole who has parked his car in two
spaces. No accidental bad parking here. His car - which wasn't all
that great - was parked in the middle of two prime parking spots.
He's getting ready to leave, but there's not enough space for me to
wait for one of these two spots without blocking his departure and
the driveway.

I shoot him a dirty look and then move on. Fortunately, there's a
space near the end of this parking area. I park there and exit my
van.

The asshole pulls up to me, rolls down his window, and growls, "You
got a problem?" I respond, "Yeah, taking up two parking spaces is
a scummy thing to do."

He starts swearing at me. I take a step towards his precious car
and he gets all terrified. He guns the engine and speeds off.

I notice he goes only as far as the restaurant parking lot that's
accessible from the library lot. That strikes me as suspicious.

I go to the library entrance, but I don't go in. Instead, I stand
behind a pillar where I can see him, but he can't see me.

Sure enough, he exits his car and he starts walking back toward the
library. He's holding something in his hand. It could be a tool, it
could be a hunk of wood. It's definitely something. He's focused on
my van.

I wait until he gets maybe four feet from my van and then I press
the panic button on my keys. My van erupts in loud honking and
flashing lights and the asshole looks like he's just dropped a load
in his pants.

He takes off like a shot, races to his car, jumps in, guns it and
takes off through the restaurant parking lot exit.

This made me feel good. I hope the telling of the tale amuses you.
I don’t know why jerks do and say the things that they do and say.
My best guess is their brains are just wired wrong.  On occasion,
when I hear the nonsense spouted by the likes of Ted Cruz and other
creatures of the dumb, I wonder if humanity is sharing this planet
with a hidden race of evil clowns. 

I can laugh off jerks like my worshipful crusher from San Antonio
and even the poopy-pants coward from the library parking lot.  I
have less success laughing off jerks who actually have the power to
hurt my country and its people.  But I try.  Laughter is a pretty
good medicine.  Maybe not as good as a single-payer health system
would be or the flawed but vital Affordable Care Act is, but good
medicine nonetheless.

Stay well, my friends. 

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #28

Today in "Tony's Tips" at Tales of Wonder...I continue counting down the scary in celebration of Halloween:

SOMETHING BLOGGY THIS WAY COMES

UPDATE! I finished the big job I've been working on and am riding out the side effects of my gout medication.  Blogging should return by mid-week.

TONY'S TIPS #27

This week in "Tony's Tips" at Tales of Wonder, I'm counting down to Halloween with Forbidden Worlds and the Heap.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE BLOGGY THING?

I'm working on a project that has to be wrapped up this week.  After that, I'll be back to nigh-daily blogging.  Thanks for your patience.

TONY'S TIPS #26

Today in "Tony's Tips" at Tales of Wonder...Halloween Month kicks off with a look at early issues of Adventures into the Unknown!