Obama Wins again...Thank God!

According to Peter David on his blog (@Peterdavid.net), several years ago, Mitch McConnell declared that the GOP's top priority was making President Barack Obama a one term President.
As we saw on Tuesday, November 6th, the GOP failed and with President Elect Obama recieving over 50% of the popular vote and 332 electorial votes, we can safely say that the majority of America knows good leadership when they see it and wanted to Keep The Change moving Forward...



Common's uncommonly good memoir...

Hello all...
After a some time away from this blog (I've been concentrating on my other blog, Facets of Creativity, plz go and check it out...) and welcoming a new baby girl into the world, I'm back and just recently finished Common's memoir, One Day It'll Make Sense, that he wrote with Adam Bradley. I have to say, it was a really good and very enlightening read.
I already knew of Common back when he was called Common Sense and his first album, Can I Borrow a Dollar? came out. It was cool because finally there was a Hip-Hop artist out of Chicago, which was very close to me since I grew up in NWI, so his book filled in a lot of blanks and revealed a lot of the Common, the artist and Rashid Lynn, the man.
He's had many albums out, my fave being 2000's Like Water For Chocolate, and gained major notoriety as a recording artist and an actor. His success wasn't overnight and the book details the beginnings of his life and career and how he got to where he is today.
Each chapter started with a letter written to someone close to him and the story told in the chapter reflected the content of the letter, kind of like a teaser at the beginning of a TV show. He talks about his beef with Ice Cube, how he was forced to shorten his stage name to Common and how he got his first acting gig.
If you enjoy Common's music or his acting, you should definitely pick this book up and learn more about him.



Zoe Saldana is a bad girl...

Finally watched "Colombiana" last night. I originally was kind of hesitant about watching it. Y'know, the whole Bad Girl with Big Gun thing and the best part of it being that Zoe Saldana was in the movie.
I was pleasantly suprised.
First off, it was written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, who also have the very successful films, "Taken", "The Professional" and "The Fifth Element" under their belts. Luc Besson doesn't do one dimensional stories, whether it's a perfect being discovering themselves while saving the world, a father searching for his daughter and tearing Paris apart as he does it or a cleaner passing along his knowledge and learning to live and love for the first time in his life, he has more going on than just the mayhem on screen. That was definitely the case with "Colombiana."
The story openes in Bogata circa 1992 with Cataleya's (Zoe Saldana) parents being killed in front of her by men in the employ of Don Luis. She escapes thanks to her father prepping a way out of Colombia and passage to get to relatives in Chicago. Her uncle Emilio, played by Cliff Curtis, is a career criminal, like her father, and tries to direct Cateleya out of a life of crime, but all she sees is revenge and he reluctantly educates her in the family business and wetworks.
We smash cut 15 years later and discover Cataleya has become a very successful assassin who is able to get to anyone, anywhere. Unfortunately, her preoccupation with revenge threatens to expose her to the FBI, who have been chasing her for years and Don Luis. It all comes to a head when Cataleya's boyfriend (Michael Vartan) takes a photo of her and his friend, wanting to do a background check on his boys' mysterious girlfriend, ends up getting her found, along with her remaining family.
The ending is predictably bloody, but the violence isn't gratuitous or spattered across the screen.
A lot of the critics didn't like the movie, but though it's not exactly high art, it is a good story with a lot of action and a lot of heart.

Obviously, she knows how to handle a gun...lol

Notes on the Passage...

I recently finished "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. It was an awesome book, not to mention long. (800 pages! I didn't know what I was getting into because I got the Kindle version of the book.)
The story starts in the present with a U.S. Army sponsered expedition to a remote part of the Amazon to somehow use the attributes of  the vampire bat (Regeneration and longevity) in soildiers. Something happens where the whole of the expeditionary group is killed except for the lead scientist who makes it back to the States. Additionally,  a little girl named Amy, who has a strange affinity for animals, gets left at a convent in Memphis by her mother. She's taken into a government facility in Colorado to be part of the same vampire bat experiment. Twelve death row inmates are inoculated with a viral substance that was developed by the scientist who escaped from the Amazon.
As expected, the experiment goes wrong and the real fun begins...
Smash forward to 100 years in the future and most of humanity has been wiped out by a vampire-like group called Virals. In a colony of survivor's we meet Peter Jaxon, a survivor who is a member of the Watch, the people who are the equivilent of soldiers. We follow him as he struggles with finding his place among the Watch, since his brother is considered the golden boy and Peter has an intense curiosity about the world before the Virals took over.
Mr. Cronin is a gifted storryteller and whether it's now or the post-apocalyptic world of the Viral ravaged future, all of it feels real and believeable. All the characters are engaging and ultimately very human. The Virals, who remind me of the vamps in "30 Days of Night", are frightening and savage and seem a totally implacable foe until Amy retuns to the story, looking about 13-14 years old, but is actually over 100 years old, and saves Peter during an attack on a scavanging run.
From that point, a lot of questions that Peter has start to get answered and he gets his heroes' quest and grows into the man he longs to be.
I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of sprawling epics like Stephen King's "The Stand" or "The Lord of the Rings". The book is being made into a movie slated to be released in 2013 and a sequel called "The Twelve" is coming out a little later out this year. Yes, I will be getting it and continuing on this journey.

                                                         The U.S. cover

                                                       The U.K. cover

                                                    The Mass Market Paperback cover
                                                       
         

Justice League, the Dark and Dangerous Birds...

I was very doubtful about the whole New 52 thing from DC Comics when I heard about it. Over the past few years, since Dan Dido took over as editor in chief, there were so many different events going on that redefined the DCU and all the continuity, it seemed like DC just was trying too hard to stay relevant.
I think it's safe to say that this particular change, though it retcons everything again, will actually stick and make the DCU better as a whole.
The New 52 is basically taking DC back to a more simplified universe. All the characters are younger and are starting from scratch. All of the convoluted continuity and weight of the past has been jettisoned and the DCU is starting from Year One. They're able to compete with Marvel's regular universe and their Ultimate universe. It's refreshing and cool and we get to meet all the characters again for the first time.Which brings me to The Justice League.
The flagship title of the DCU is back with a vengance. Geoff Johns, who recently wrapped up "Blackest Night" and "Brightest Day" and Jim Lee, who's doing his best work since "Hush" and "All-Star Batman", are currently introducing the heavy hitters of the DCU to a new audience.
Batman and Green Lantern are on the trail of some mysterious creatures that are plauging Gotham and Coast City, respectively. As the story progresses, Superman joins the fray. The series is up to issue 4 and The Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg have all shown up as well as a new iteration of a familiar DCU villan.
I've heard that it's the best-selling title for DC right now. With Mr. Messers Johns and Lee doing great work like this, it's no surprise.
Then there's Justice League Dark. This title focuses on the Supernatural aspects of the DCU with Zatanna, Shade, John Constantine, Deadman, Mindwarp and Madame Xanadu taking on the Enchantress who has been separated from June Moone and has propmptly gone a little mad.  Peter Milligan and Mike Janin are the creative team and they're both doing some top-notch work. The writing is solid and the artwork is dark, atmospheric and easy to follow. I also like the way the characters are being being brought together and the cool little twist is the darkness that they're facing is not only in the personage of the Enchantress, there's plenty of darkness and dysfunction inside of each of the characters for them to overcome.
Finally, we have the Birds of Prey. Just read the first issue, and it's a great read. Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz are doing some great work. Two of the main characters, Black Canary and Starling, are partners in a covert ops team based in Gotham City. They've been operating for some time, when the book first opens and have attracted the attention of an investigative reporter bent on uncovering their identities. This in turn have drawn out strange men in chameleon suits who are after the girls and the reporter. Action and general mayhem ensues. The series is up to number four, so I have a little bit of catching up to do, but I like the looks of it. And the first issue ends with a bang. Literally.

 

A Group Shot of the New Justice League

The cover for Issue 4

Justice League Dark Issue 1

Dangerous, and possibly angry, Birds

If you haven't checked out any of these titles, give 'em a try. You won't be sorry.

It's Been a While...

Hello again. It's been a while since I've blogged about anything, but something significant has happened...
I'm about to be a father.
On August 7th, my wife Kim called me into our room to talk to me about something. (She said the dreaded, "We need to talk." Usually, that's not good...) I'd just gotten off of work earlier that morning and went to church besides, so I was laying down in our bed and she'd left the room. She came back in, looking slightly apprehensive as she laid on the bed and asked me what I was doing in nine months.
I answered, "Having a baby with you."
At that point, she handed me a pregnancy test from Walgreens. There were two lines there.
Yeppity, Sir. We were pregnant.
The experience of watching Kim's stomach grow, seeing the pics from the ultrasound, going to the doctor, telling everyone about the impending birth has been like nothing else in my life. Ever. People have been telling me that when our little Sydney Giselle is born, (and all my facebook friends love her name) I will experience a love like no other. I don't doubt it. Though, I do have truck with the whole wrapping me around her little finger thing...I ain't John Goodman's character in The Princess and the Frog who fusses at his daughter that she can't go having everything she wants, then gives her a puppy...I got more steel than that...maybe.
Anyhew, I talk to her through Kim's stomach, play music for her, (She loves Stevie Wonder) and generally blush when I talk about her to people and how far along Kim is. 24 weeks as of yesterday, by the way.
All I know is that I will be a very happy man when Sydney comes and I'll at least be emotionally ready for all the changes that will come and love her and my older daughter, Mya, the best that I can and train them to be responsible and God fearing people. As Seal said, "Bring it on."

Wonder Woman DOA

Sometimes, It's hard for a Themscyrian...especially if she's the Ambassador to Man's World...
I'm sure by now we've heard about the Wonder Woman pilot not being picked up by NBC, despite all the tweaking done and that David E. Kelley was in charge of the show. (That part could've possibly sealed it's fate, but i digress...)
The initial outfit was cool, I thought, but there was a major outcry, cuz it looked like a bad spandex/leather dominatrix costume or something of the sort. They tried to tweak it and make the leggings look less leather-like, but ultimately, it didn't work.
I would like to see Wonder Woman back on TV or in the Movies. The time is ripe for it, but it does need to be done right. The effort should be made to keep everything beloved about the character but ground it in reality as much as possible (a la Dark Knight and Heroes). As far as suggestions go:

-Reference Greg Rucka or Gail Simone's runs on the comic. Possibly even have one or both write on the show.

-Keep the original costume, but make it look more in keeping with a warrior culture. (See the attached pic.)

-Look for someone who can be beautiful, but strong and warrior-like. Like Angela Bassett in "Strange Days". She was beautiful, but you didn't wonder if she could kick your ass or not.

Well, that's my two cents. Prayerfully, Wonder Woman will be on the air or in a theatre really soon.

How Wonder Woman should look

The Doomed TV look