(no subject)

[trinityvixen]

I'm feeling near to 50% better than yesterday, and that's on no drugs today other than advil for a headache. Hallelujah. If I had to be sickly as long as feiran or the guy who gave me the drugs yesterday were, I'd have called in sick today. I had an elevated temperature last night, not severe enough to worry about, but enough to give me chills. I slept really well, all things considered, which is no doubt why I am so refreshed today.

And I'm back to being able to concentrate on what I read, which is why this comment from Pandagon nearly made me hack up my lung when laughter turned into spasmodic coughing:

As Scripture says, “To whom much is given, much is required.”

"What scripture is that? The Gospel According to Spiderman? Maybe I’m looking in the wrong translations, but I can’t find that in the online Bibles at the BibleGateway."

Heeh. Gospel according to Spidey. Probably a lot friendlier than the actual gospel. Thou shalt make snarky comments when delivering final blows to thy opponents. Thou shalt deal with thy angst in as public a setting as possible. Thou shalt give J. Jonah Jameson a coronary when thou revealest thy secret identity to the world.

Heee!

Tonight is Superman Returns, which I'm quite looking forward to. It helps to have been saturated with the Big Guy of late. I watched the episode "Knight Time" of the Superman Animated Series last night, and that will never get old. If you haven't seen it, let me know, I'll get the DVD into your hands. It's the episode that proves why a Batman v Superman real-person movie just wouldn't ever work: they don't belong in each other's cities, and no neutral third city would have the emotional appeal. That's not to say that World's Finest wasn't fun (Cheeky Monkey Batman! SO MUCH LOVE!), just that I think the darker tone of cinema Batman and the more artsy/campy/cutesy Superman just wouldn't ever mesh.

And "Knight Time"....gah. Superman having to deal with Batman's rogue gallery of villains? Priceless. Makes the last-act appearance by a Superman villain completely ridiculous. Batman has better villains. You know why? Because Batman is better than Superman.

There! I said it! Again!

Comments

Just a quickie to say...

[teneda.livejournal.com]

BATMAN RULES!!!!

*ahem*

OK, I'm good now.

One more thing...

[teneda.livejournal.com]

http://www.applegeeks.com/index.php?comic=42

Can't argue that...

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Harumph. J'onn is cooler than both of them.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Look, popular culture just isn't ready for the Martian Manhunter, okay? No matter how cool he is, he's sorta too powerful for the mainstream to embrace. Didn't you know? We're all about "flawed" heroes these days...

huh?

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

Ok last time I checked Martian Manhunter had more character flaws, and was weaker in power, than superman. Yet the mainstream embraces Superman, so why not Martian Manhunter?

*looks confused*


Now you know who beats them all...... Lobo. No one beats the Main Man. You got to love a character who gains immortality by beating up near every god in heaven, and near every demon in hell.

Re: huh?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

See, the thing about some punctuation? I use it "ironically." I.E. Dayle is being a sarcastic bugger and commenting on the fact that movies that are good are usally written about as having characters that are charmingly flawed, as opposed to some forgotten heroes who never had any problems.

Well, PS, mainstream America, superheroes have had problems since the Silver Age, so get with the program. Seriously, much as I love Spidey, he's no more or less conflicted than Supes. They're just complicated in different ways, is all. Spider-Man can't deflect a meteor or survive being buried under a building worth of rubble, but then he doesn't have to worry about rocks popping up that can kill him just for being around him. It's weighted evenly, I would say. There are some who seem to have every advantage--Bats, definitely--who still manage to have their hangups (and anyone who says Batman doesn't have those needs their own head examined). If they didn't, they wouldn't still be around because they'd either be a) boring, or b) too powerful to write stories around (which is why the Phoenix is never allowed to stay in the comics because she just trumps everyone).

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

What? No.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

He's not human nor has he been raised as human (a la Supes), right? That makes him a weeeeee bit hard to sympathize with.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

"Now throw him over the table."

"What?"

"Just do it."

To paraphrase -- I haven't seen that one in a while. Just...heee.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ahem, it's actually:

Robin: Kick over the desk.
Superman: What?
Robin: Just do it!

He does, then grabs the Penguin by the collar.

Superman: I won't ask twice!
Robin: Now he's getting it.

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

*huggles*

take care of yourself :)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Cheers. Are you back on normal time yet or still trying to figure out where in Europe you might be?

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

hahaha yeah am suffering a bit from night time insomnia (not helped by my tendency to stay up until 2am..... >_< ...) but hopefully will correct itself soon....

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

You can always do the recommended things to work insomnia down to manageable levels. Don't do much in your bedroom aside from sleep, thus setting yourself up psychologically for "going into bedroom = sleep." I think that's mostly horseshit, and not everyone can accomodate it, but I haven't been doing much in my room (mostly because it's a mess and I have the option of using the living room and the internet isn't installed yet anyway) of late. I will let you know if that works.

Another thing is to set up other bedtime habits--reading, a glass of water/ milk etc--so your body associates those with "time to sleep." But yeah, what can you do if your biorhythms don't cooperate? It's not like you can force yourself to sleep in anyway that will leave you able to function the next day (or to get healthy sleep).

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen "Knight Time". I want to see "Knight Time".

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Thus spaketh the apostle of the Church of Batman, "Thou shalt see Batman in all his glory. Especially when his mighty awesomeness prevails despite Superman's attempts to co-opt it."

i.e., next time I see you, I will pass off the DVD Eugene burned for me that has all the Batman/Superman crossover episodes from the animated series.

"And thou shalt love the episode 'Knight Time.' And all shall be well in thy world."

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Heee! Seriously, when do I next see you? Maybe on the 4th? Or Jen's party if not?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

If you come to our party, then the 4th. Or Jen's party.

Or if we have writing group this week. I'm working on something, but I'm not sure if it will be done or not in time.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

And I don't know if we're having writing group yet because I haven't asked. Let me remedy that.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Because Batman is better than Superman.

Bah! Batman is just the Green Hornet in tights, and a guy who pals around with teenage boys to boot. Superman is an original, the archtype of all who followed.

There! I said it! Bwahhahhah! :)

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

Green Hornet is so awesome that pale shadows of him are better than almost anything else.

[hslayer.livejournal.com]

It's true, Batman is just some crazy asshole. He belongs in Arkham more than half the people he puts there, and Commissioner Gordon is just a senile old fart who lets a vigilante run around unchecked.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Batman is a crazy old dude. But crazier than the Arkham-ites? Hardly.

And how dare you speak against Gordon like that! That man is awesome. He's definitely one of the stronger characters in that world, for all that he does let Batman do half his work.

[hslayer.livejournal.com]

I just think it would've been better for everyone if they'd put little Brucie into therapy instead of martial arts training when his parents were killed. Seriously, bat flies through a dude's window so he dresses up like a bat? WooWooWooWooWooWooWooCRAZY.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Hey, that happened after he'd done all the martial arts stuff. The bat is just an outlet for the force behind the mask. Which is still a batshit insane (see, it works nicely!) dude who could kill you so crazy dead liek whoa but chooses instead to scare the bejezus out of you. That's mercy, that is...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I guess I should investigate Green Hornet then. Doesn't make Superman any better, mind, even if Bats is a knock-off. Which I doubt is entirely true.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

The Wikipedia entry is about as good as it gets on the Web, unfortunately. The most important difference is the revenge angle in the Batman mythology. Batman is avenging his slain parents; previous masked avengers fought crime out of boredom or public-spiritedness.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think it is about revenge with Batman. The most important aspect of the origin story is that the murderer was never caught, isn't it? I mean, they've revised this several times, but last I heard, that was the official line. With no criminal to blame and bear the brunt of revenge, Bruce's need for it is dissipated into a general hatred of the criminal element. At the same time, he understands there is a fine line between policing that element and joining it, and I think he's stayed (for the most part) on the right side of that line. Some of the darkest adaptations of the Batman have even kept him from crossing over and making it personal to an unforgiveable degree.

Is he motivated by the deaths? Yes. Is it solely about revenge? I would argue not. Is it even mostly about revenge or 50/50? Mmm, still not convinced. One thing I thought that many of the Batman animated series got right (as did Batman Begins) is the fact that, well entitled as he is, Bruce is essentially spoiled in the classic sense such that he believes he is the right disinterested party to elevate, educate, and police the inferiors. Bruce is very arrogant in his assumption that only he--or those trained by him (look at his intolerance for the Huntress)--are able to effect the changes needed to keep Gotham safe and running. And he manages to overlook the fact that a lot of the good he does is undone by the characters that are so fixated on him, they cause other people to suffer just to duel with the Batman (hence the sizeable rogues' gallery).

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends on the version of Batman to some extent. In the very first origin story (Detective Comics, 1940), the young Bruce Wayne prays to God: "And I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals." (Of course no 10-year old would ever talk like this...) Now today, when characterization is much more sophisticated (or, less charitably, when superheroes like to mope around a lot) I suspect Batman's motivations are much more complex.