Spring Break? NOPE!

Dear Wal,

After a brief lapse of faith in this blog, I have returned, with the belated news that spring break has officially began. Supposedly. But instead of frollicking in the woods with Buzzy (when I say frollicking, I really mean fleeing in terror, because that's the only thing that Buzzy knows how to do) or petting my cat with evil plans to take over (Save. I mean save.) the world on my mind, or about a dozen things I would much rather be doing, I have to write four papers. No wait. Five.
Blarg.
Also, I'm going skating with Watson and company on Thursday. I'm really bad at skating. Then comes Adam's birthday party on Saturday, where we will eat lots of junk food and chase each other around with foam swords. It will be awesome. But mostly this spring break, I'll be looking forward to lots of sleep and a little peace and quiet. School can be maddening sometimes, so it's nice to have a break every once and awhile, and a weekend never seems to be long enough to detox.
I had a train of thought a minute ago, then Dad came and interrupted it. Ah, well. This pen is cool. I've never seen one like it before. It's doesn't work very well, though. Isn't that just heartbreaking? When you have the coolest looking pen, and it's all out of ink, or it just doesn't work because the universe said so.
This is the most random post I think I've ever written.

/endrant

My Comicon Loot - The Spectre #2-6

Dear Wal,

One of the many comics I bought at comicon included the Spectre-post-Crisis, circa 1987. Yes, I mean directly after the original Crisis. I picked it up because I thought it looked interesting, and I've always had a soft spot for characters who aren't as well known outside of the comics. (I would say B-list, but I wouldn't consider the physical incarnation of the wrath of God a B-list character.) Like I said, the Spectre is essentially the wrath of God incarnate. We're talking Old Testimate, vengeful and fearsome. In this particular retelling, the Spectre has been bound to a mortal because of his failure to stop the Crisis. The mortal in question is one Jim Corrigan, P.I. The two are locked in a symbiotic relationship-neither spirit nor mortal man can survive separated from the other for more than 24 hours. After that, they both steadily weaken until they die. In as much as the wrath of God can die.
As you can imagine, being bound to a spirit who basically spends his days hunting down and killing the guilty isn't fun for Corrigan. He spends most of the time arguing with the Spectre and trying to get him to give his victims a little mercy.
I wasn't really sure what I was getting into-but it turned out to be fantastic. This particular run of Spectre is fantastic. This book is creepy, disturbing and fascinating. I'm totally addicted.
That's why I was extremely disappointing to find out that this run apparently wasn't popular enough to deserve a trade. As you may or may not know, I don't live near very many comic book shops, and so the only way I can get them is through Amazon as trades or through Comixology. Sorry, but I'm not paying six bucks to have an individual issue shipped to me. And Amazon and DC apparently had a falling out, so now I can't get digital DC comics on my Kindle.
I was able to find a reprinting of pre-Crisis Spectre, which sounds like fun. Anyone have any ideas where I could find more solo Spectre stories? I haven't seen him in the new 52 except for being in and out of Phantom Stranger, which I'm currently reading, and the trades are limited. I'm probably going to end up digging through lots of bins, which is sort of awesome but also slightly frustrating. It's like a treasure hunt.

/endrant

Charlotte Comicon

Dear Wal,

I went. You might have seen me. I was the Fourth Doctor, with the fantasy warrior and the dude in the Guy Fawkes mask following me around. It was freaking awesome. I met all sorts of wonderful people, and bought a ton of wonderful comics. This post isn't going to go in any kind of logical order, because right now I'm too excited to focus.

I met Roland! And Jake! And Oy! Oh my gosh! He even told me: "Long days and pleasant nights" when I said goodbye. They were both awesome, and their costumes were fantastic. Jake's coat even said: "Nothing but strikes at Mid-World Lanes" on the back. They were both in character the whole time. I kept seeing this guy dressed up like a cowboy around, but I couldn't figure out who he was, then my mother finally told me he was the gunslinger. She recognized him instantly. I'm profoundly disgusted with myself, that I didn't know who he was instantly. After all, I sat through all of those books and Mom only read one. 

It just occurred to me I should have asked him if he had the revolvers. Ah well.

Austin was completely delighted to meet some Star Wars people. He saw Vader from across the parking lot and nearly had a stroke from excitement. He's a total Star Wars geek, he's read the books and everything.

All of us with the gunslinger again. Can you tell his was my favorite costume?

Me with the Eleventh Doctor and another Fourth Doctor.

Me and Austin with Batman. This guy's costume has to be the best homemade Batman costume I've ever seen. Plus, it was the New 52 design, which I'm a huge fan of.

Me with Bug. Totally delighted to see someone dressed up like him. He was in character the whole time as well.

All of us together with Mom. 

All the stuff I got. I got a variety of books, mostly from characters I'm curious about but know nothing or very little about. Particularly happy to have found some Midnighter comics. Watson bought a bunch of X-Men comics. We're both going to be very busy reading for a long time.

We stopped at a gas station for a pit stop on the way there, and when I went to pay for my Yoohoo and Doritos the cashier handed me this. There are no coincidences. 

/endrant

P.S. Ugh, I still have a paper to write. I don't know how I'm going to be able to concentrate enough to finish.

Arrow Review: Episode 19, Unfinished Business Indeed

Dear Wal,

I have to say, right off the bat this episode was dissapointing. Here we are, back with Vertigo again. I realize this show is basically just recycled plots with different faces. We have the supervillian takedown, the rescue of whatever imperiled party, and then the resolution/continuation of the personal drama between the main characters: Oliver, Diggle, and Tommy; and Laurel and her father. In the past two episodes, (I fell behind; I had to watch those episodes recently on Hulu to catch up-shout out to Adam, for letting me use his Hulu plus) Tommy has been dealing with his discovery that Oliver is the vigilante known as the Hood. Now, I understand that this realization has to be a big change in Tommy's life, but the drama between Oliver and Tommy was getting tedious. I wanted to step into the show, slap Tommy and go: "He kills people, I know. Get over it."
In this episode, Tommy finally does. He tells Oliver exactly what he thinks and leaves. I won't reveal where he went after that, because that would be spoiling. All I'll say is that it's a game changer, and brings a very different drama back into the show.

Other than Tommy's decision, this episode seemed to wander almost pointlessly. The plot was loose, and Oliver's behavior was as usual erratic. The one thing this episode had going for it was the internal conflict within Oliver. Is it really alright to kill? Who is it alright to kill? Apparently, not the Count, who has officially lost his mind. Personally, I would like to see more of the Count. Seth Gabel is wonderful in that role.

/endrant

P.S. I defeated this thing the other night:

It was one of the most epic battles of my life.

All Writers Have One of These

Dear Wal,

I have this one character you may have heard of, if you've been reading since this blog began a year or so ago (wow, has it been a year?). His name has Tom Burdock, and he can't make up his mind about what story of his he wants me to write. First it was his beginning, his origin. But origins are a pain and pretty boring, so of course I screwed that up. Then he decided to go galavanting through every story I've ever written.
The Black Dog? Check.
Batman fanfic? Check.
Random western that failed? Check.
Torchwood fanfic? Check.
Original superhero story? Check.
All of which he was absolutely brilliant in, of course. Most of the time he was the best part of the story. So, naturally I tried to write him into his own story. My logic was this: well, this dude is freaking awesome, I bet he would rock as the main character in a quest to save the universe. Simple, right? Nope. The story of Tom's life, with him ducking randomly in and out of story out of story, looked like this before I tried to give him his own story:

And I stupidly tried to add in something even more exciting: Tom in his very own story!

Then my artfully created timeline became a horrifying monstrosity that looks like it was written by (gasp!) middle school me:

Now I don't know what the heck to do with him. His story is entering it's teenage years. Anything could happen, and I don't have any control over any of it. Not that I ever did in the first place. Writing his story is like riding a runaway train filled with screaming, homicidal circus animals. I'm doing my best just to stay alive.
I think every writer has one of these characters. Even if you're a planner, and you outline every tiny detail of your story and you have every plothole neatly filled before you start writing (sometimes...I wish I was one of these people) there's always this one character who just won't cooperate. They turn everything they touch to the equivalent of writing gold, while somehow managing to screw up your plotline and destroy what's left of your story. Your first thought is that they want attention, but they don't. In fact, they refuse to be in the spotlight of anything. The moment you even hint at bringing them forward from something other than a minor existence in the background, or even from second to lead character, they pitch a fit and stomp out of the room shouting obscene things. Leaving you wondering which story of yours they'll pop up in next, and secretly longing for them to be in everything you've ever written, because they are quite possibly the greatest character you have ever had the honor to write.

/endrant

P.S. Mat Smith on a motorcycle.

This Could Be The End

Dear Wal,

I can hear them outside. The windows are double-paned and boarded over but I can still hear them. I don't know how long the defenses will hold. I haven't dared move, in case they get in. In case they hear me. I'm writing this now because people need to know. People need to know that there's a secret invasion, a threat that came through time and space just to bully little old Earth. Whatever you do;
Don't blink.

/endrant

P.S. April fools. If you hadn't guessed already.

Wolverine: Coming Soon

Dear Wal,

I'm excited. I'm much more excited about this movie than I am about Man of Steel, although I'm going to see both when they come out. Naturally. This is a chance for redemption after the disaster that was Origins. I will never forgive that movie's existence, and what it did to Deadpool. I mean, come on, such a waste of a great character. Deadpool's dark humor coupled with his tendency to break down the fourth wall could be such a great movie. The guy is hilarious. He's at the top of my list of X-Men that need their own movie.
And that brings me to what I know will be most critic's problem with Wolverine: another Wolverine movie, really? But, the fact is, Wolverine is pretty freaking awesome. I don't think I've met anyone who doesn't like Wolverine. Plus, Hugh Jackman is amazing.
Wolverine also has a rich mythos to draw from, and this movie I think is doing exactly that. Although I've never read any Wolverine comics (he's on a very long list, and keeping up with the New 52 is eating all my spending money) I know he spent some time in Japan honing his fighting skills, and some of the most important events in his life occurred there, including meeting the love of his life (besides Jean *cough*). Wolverine is based off a miniseries by Chris Claremont of the same name. It revolves around a love story, and the personal conflict that exists within Wolverine. Claremont paints Wolverine as a man not driven by animosity and memory loss, but one who is driven by a strong sense of honor. Claremont's interpretation of Wolverine basically defined the Wolverine of the 80's and 90's, making him a much more complex, dynamic character. Or so Wikipedia and a helpful reviewer on Amazon tell me. This sounds like an amazing book, and possibly a good jumping on point for someone who wants to start reading Wolverine comics (me).

Excited? Not excited? Afraid it's going to suck? (Let's face it, we all are.) Comment below.

/endrant

Horse Movies

Dear Wal,

If you hadn't guessed it already, I love horses. So it's perfectly plausible that I also love horse movies. They were my childhood. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Black Stallion, Black Beauty, Dreamer, Man From Snowy River...the list goes on. I love these movies not only because they are full of fantastic horses, gorgeous horses, but also because they are uplifting. While they may be sad, there is always an uplifting moral to the story. In Spirit, it was freedom. In the Black Stallion, it was the triumph of the mythic, the ancient, over the modern. In Black Beauty, it was a happy ending. Likewise for Man From Snowy River. In Dreamer, it was triumph over an impossible
I always cry during these movies. It doesn't matter how happy some parts may be, there is always a part where the horse and the rider get really close to giving up. Then they pull themselves out of the depths of despair and rise to the occasion. That's the way it always happens. It doesn't matter that I know this, it doesn't change anything at all about my reaction. I still sit through the whole movie, bawling my eyes out. I went to see Secretariat when it came out, because I consider that horse to be one of the greatest horses of all time, and I cried all through that movie. Every scene. Didn't matter what it was about. I was also alone in the theater with a bunch of older people, who had probably actually seen the horse race in his prime. I swear, I was the only young person in there. Things don't look good for modern horse racing, although personally that's an institution I wouldn't mind seeing go down in flames. What they do to those horses borders on abuse. In fact, by any other definition it would abuse. Tangent. I'll rant about the injustices of horse racing some other time.

Do you cry during horse movies? If not, what movies make you cry? Comment below.

/endrant

P.S. We watched Flika this evening. I've seen the movie about a thousand times, and I still cried.

First World Yarn Problem

Dear Yarn manufacturers,

Why can't you name the colors of your yarns something intuitive? For example, instead of calling something Mermaid, just call it Teal for Pete's sake. Mermaid, however, isn't that hard to figure out. Because, where do mermaids live? In the sea. And what color is the sea? Teal. (You've been lied to if you think it's just blue.) Summer Sky is also an intuitive alternate name for blue, because the sky is blue.
However, there are some names that just make no sense at all. For instance, Glamour. Lots of colors are glamorous. Even brown can be glamorous. How the heck am I supposed to know what color Glamour is supposed to be? So, because you name your yarns stupid things I have to go digging through the WHOLE line and ALL the colors to find one by the color number instead. And of course, I'll forget the color number along the way and then have to look it up again, or lose the sticky note it belongs and start the whole freaking process over again. Eventually, I figure out that Glamour is supposed to be pink.
I understand there are a lot of pink yarns in your line. So suck it up and use a thesaurus. Here's what Wikipedia has to say on the matter of pink. Obviously there are lots of different names for pink that still include pink in the title.

/endrant

P.S. I've been sticking labels on yarn for six hours straight. My back is killing me. Humor me, please.

Top 5 Best Superhero Costumes

Dear Wal,

These are just my personal favorites...it was a hard list to choose from. There are just as many really cool costumes as their are terrible ones.

1. Invincible

2. Modern Nightwing (Red or Blue :D)

Props for having the best and worst
costumes.

3. Whatever Version of Wolverine this is:

4. Catwoman (ZIPPED UP D<)

5. Neal Adams Batman

I know the blue is a little...blue, but I like it.

Am I right? Am I wrong? Any better ideas? Comment below.

/endrant

Prezi Adventures

Dear Wal,

I had an assignment recently where I could do a prezi about anything. Anything. So, guess what I did?

Batman.

This is proof that I could write pages and pages about Batman. Maybe I'll get to do a thesis about him someday.

/endrant

Top Five Worst Superhero Costumes Ever

Dear Wal,

As a reader of superhero comics, I've gotten used to a lot of strange things showing up in my comics. However, there are some things that I just fail to understand, such as these costumes:

1. Retro Nightwing

For some reason, Dick Grayson thought this was a good idea.

I really just...don't understand

2. Mysterio

Otherwise known as Fishbowl Man

3. Vibe

What is it with male superheros and V-necks? No, just...no.

I don't either, buddy.

The reboot is just as bad

3.The Phantom

I have one question. What's up with the stripes?

I mean...just...what?!

4. Dick Grayson Robin

It's a wonder he didn't get shot. That yellow cape...

Dick has no fashion sense

5. Wonder Woman

I can forgive that she's an Amazon warrior, wearing a bathing suite as "armor." But what's up with the stars?

How is this Greek?

/endrant

Windows 8: Compatibility Issues

Dear Wal,

Gotta love the sad face

I've been having some problems with Windows 8. Namely, compatibility issues. If there is an incompatible program on my computer, it causes the computer to bluescreen, restart, and repeat the whole process over again until I figure out which program is causing the problem. When I first updated my laptop to Windows 8, the program causing the problem was Skype. Fortunately, that was easily fixed as there was an app in the Windows Store for Skype. However, in order to get it I had to go through this huge fenangled process of making a Windows account. It felt a little like selling my soul.
I don't appreciate this, Microsoft. I like having the freedom to download whatever program I want off the internet. I know you like to make money, but this is frankly ridiculous. I spent two hours, I repeat-two hours-trying to sign up to your stupid service, and all I wanted was Skype, a program I could have downloaded in about two minutes on Windows 7.

But this is more like what my face looks like when my
computer bluescreens

The next problem I had was the printer. Granted, this printer has always sucked. We've had problems with it on every computer, no matter the operating system, since we bought the printer. The printer that preceded it sucked too. My personal opinion, all printers were spawned from hell. But Windows 8 feels the need to freak out every time my laptop tries to connect to the printer. I made the mistake of trying to print something yesterday, and lost about a half an hour's worth of work on a story I've been working on. Jason's story, in fact. So you can imagine how panicked/ticked off I was. Thankfully, today I finally managed to disconnect the laptop from the printer.
But besides the compatibility problems and my being paranoid about sharing my personal information (even though basically the entirety of the internet probably has it by now) Windows 8 is fantastic. I don't even miss the start button. The start screen with the tiles is so much easier and so much more elegant. I don't have to dig through a list of names to find the program I'm looking for, I can just find the logo on the right tile. Everything about this setup is just so much easier to use. It took a little getting used to and a lot of help from Google in the beginning, but now I know my way around the system very well. The main reason I upgraded in the first place was in the hope that a new operating system would speed up my laptop, because it was a complete slug on Windows 7 for some odd reason, and it did speed up considerably. I don't have to wait more than thirty seconds for my computer to boot, or for any programs to load. As far as I'm concerned, the benefits far outway the drawbacks.

/endrant

P.S. It's 11:09. I really need to get better with this whole schedule thing.

WHY, DAMIEN, WHY?!

Dear Wal,

I found out about something horrible today, and it's completely wrecked my week. If you read DC's New 52, then you know what I'm talking about.

Damien Wayne is dead, and probably not for long. This is old news by a week, but I'm still going to complain.

For anyone who doesn't know, Damien Wayne is Bruce Wayne's and Talia al Ghul's son. She took his DNA and genetically engineered the perfect child, Damien. Then she trained Damien to be an evil ninja assassin. Yeah, it's a long, strange story.
Damien hasn't even been around that long-only since 2006, when he was introduced in Batman and Son by Grant Morrison. Grant Morrison has always been one of my favorite comic book writers. I mean, the man's a bona fide genius. But my trust has been violated. I was already a little iffy about the speedy death and return of Batman himself, but now Robin as well, another Robin?
Granted, I've never been a fan of Robin. I didn't like Dick Grayson as Robin. Jason wasn't cool until he was dead. I liked Tim Drake. I never even knew Stephanie Brown was Robin until recently (and apparently she died too. What is it with people and killing off the Robins?) I've always preferred Batman on his own, because Robin just never seemed to fit very well into a Batman story unless it was written extremely well. Case in point, The Long Halloween. But that book just got everything right.
However, Damien was a different story. He was Bruce's actual son, and neither Bruce or Damien were very happy about it. In addition to that, the rest of the Batfam was mostly hostile towards Damien as well. Things in the Batfam haven't been this tense since Dick left the nest and became Nightwing. For a while, Damien and Tim couldn't be in the same room without getting into a fist fight. But eventually, everyone finally got used to Damien and accepted him. Sure, he still had a long way to go before he got along with everyone, but he and everyone else in the Batfam had grown as people because of him. For me, at least, the character was cut short just as he was starting to really bloom. 

And you know what the worst part of all of this crap is? They're going to bring Damien back. We all know it's going to happen. He's the son of Talia al Ghul for crying out loud. Why is this such a problem, you might wonder, since I seem to like this character so much? 

Allow me to explain. 

In superhero comics, no one ever stays dead. There is always a lazarus pit, or a magic Kryptonian stasis, or just a simple misunderstanding. The resilience of these characters completely negates any attempt to kill them. Plus, superheroes are icons. Some might say they're our modern Greek gods. So, naturally, they can't stay dead. This trend is one of the few things I hate (abhor, loath, shall I go on?) about superhero comics. If you're going to kill a character, then leave them that way. If the only reason you're killing the character, is to bring them back to life a few story arcs later and return the story to the status quo of before, then why did you kill them in the first place? The purpose of death in fiction is to shake up the story, and often to bring it back to reality. Death doesn't just affect the character who passes on, but also all the characters around them. Family and friends grieve, and the whole fictional world has to find a way to go on with a part of itself missing. If you magically revive the character who has passed on, he or she doesn't fit into that hole anymore.  Just look at Harry Potter, and the pivotal importance that death played in those books. Would J.K. Rowling have brought Dumbledore, Sirius or Fred back to life? Nope. 

Although, I have to say the way Jason Todd's death and Resurrection were handled was excellent. 

/endrant

P.S. Arrow was a repeat tonight. ): I was hoping it would cheer me up, but no. 

The Gunslinger and Giant Demon Birds

Dear Wal,


I'm actually remembering my dreams for once, so here goes with another strange one. I was on a quest again, except this time I know who I was with. I was with Gandalf, Eddie and Roland. Weird combination, right? Not really, when you consider that The Dark Tower is basically Lord of the Rings crossed with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Anyway, we were on the moor from The Hound of The Baskervilles, or one like it, and we came across this house on the side of a hill. It was really strange because the house was round, and made out of a bunch of random sticks that were all jumbled together in a ring. Inside of it, there was a gigantic abandoned hornets  nest. It didn't have a roof, and it was perched on the side a hill that was so steep it was almost vertical. We couldn't figure out what it was, until all of a sudden it dawned on me:
It was a nest.
We all started running. Because, I mean, this was a big nest. Whatever lived in it had to be gigantic, and would probably return hungry. We crossed the moor and reached a forest. A glassy river wound its way through it, perfectly tranquil. In it, a herd of wild horses were wading. They just looked at us, they weren't afraid of us. I guess they had never seen people before. Eddie decided he was going to catch one of them and tame it so he could ride it. He did manage to catch one, a gorgeous bay, but he started man-handling it and scaring the crap out of it. So I took it from him and I was like, uh-uh, nope. You go ruin a different horse. This one is too gorgeous to waste. I walked for part of the trip after that, so I could work with the horse before I rode it. Then I woke up.
Even in my dreams, I'm not-so-secretly trying to start a natural horsemanship revolution.

/endrant

P.S. I've started a dream journal, finally.

The God Chair and Squeezey Bottles

Dear Wal,

I've been dreaming again. This time, I was fighting a god of some kind. I don't know who he was-he might have been one of the New gods, or one of the Greek gods-but I have a feeling that he was probably Q. Anyway, I was with a bunch of other people, and we were on some sort of quest. I guess Q was the menace of the universe or something like that, and we had to defeat him. We finally tracked him down in the Iceberg lounge from Arkham City. Q was like final boss in a fantasy video game, except we were in Arkham City. Because even my subconscious thinks in terms of superheroes. But the problem was, we didn't know how to defeat Q. There was no special weakness to hit, or certain sequence of moves to use. He was practically invincible. He was sitting in this big green chair, like GL's castle from Kingdom Come and just laughing at us as we threw everything we could at him. Finally, Q decided he was tired of watching us struggle, and made another chair like his. He told us that if one of us sat in it we would have as much power as he did. I didn't want to do that, because I didn't want to be a god, so instead I started grabbing stuff that was sitting on the arm of the chair.
One thing I grabbed was some kind of weird flair that you could light and use as a weapon. I tried to hit him with it and that didn't do anything, so instead I grabbed these squeezey bottles filled with green poison-one in each hand-and started squirting the poison on Q as if I were putting ketchup on a hot dog. I'm not sure why the first delivery system for the poison my subconscious thought of was a squeezey bottle...who knows. When you think about it, it's a pretty impractical way to poison someone. Unless the poison was absorbed through the skin.
Anyway, my last train of thought inside the dream was that Q was a water elemental, because water smothers fire and water is cleansing. It makes sense, right? My alarm clock rang at that most inconvenient moment, so I never got to find out whether or not Q was a water elemental. We would have probably all died in the end, anyway. My dreams usually end like that.

/endrant

Deadshot Returns

Dear Wal,

I had forgotten about Floyd Lawton. I almost didn't recognize him when he showed up again in this episode of Arrow. Of course, I was foolish enough to believe he was dead. Stupid me. No one ever dies in superhero stories. Nope, instead they just get sent back in time or suspended in a super fancy Kryptonian stasis. I'm getting distracted.
Anyway, instead of being dead it turns out that arrow didn't actually pierce Floyd's skull. It just blinded him in one eye. And thanks to an artificial red prosthetic from courtesy of the Triad, Lawton is back. Still, however, Lawton can't seem to actually shoot and kill someone. If he's a good enough assassin that the Triad is calling him in to take out Merlyn, then he should be able to kill someone instantly, right? Nope. Instead, he's relying on a poison that obviously has an antidote now, thanks to Oliver. But that glowing red eye is cool, right? Much better, I think, than the weird lens he used before.

Why it's raining bullets, I don't know.

In a twist of fate, the Hood ends up saving Merlyn: the man who nearly killed him just a few episodes ago. And in the process, a new member has been added to the People-Who-Know-Who-Hood-Is-Club (PWKWH....IC!). It's not who you think. I promise. The fact that the Triad and Merlyn's people were going at it, with Hood, Tommy and the police caught in the middle, made this episode completely action packed. I had to stop and remember to breath, occasionally.
I was starting to worry a little about the main story arc, so it's reassuring to get back to Merlyn and his super secret gang of super secret people. Everything was floundering for a while there, I was worried they might pull a Smallville on us and wait until the beginning of next season for the climax for the current season. That could still happen, in fact I think it's probably more likely than the season getting a tight ending. After all, they have to keep us coming back for more. Something I will most definitely do, however the season ends.

One of the better parts of this episodes is seeing the dynamic between Malcolm and his son Tommy develop. Sure, we know Tommy hates Malcolm's guts, and we know Malcolm is the bad guy. But is he really? This episodes brings that into question in a big way, showing that maybe Malcolm's motives might be in the right place, even if his methods aren't exactly honorable. Then again, the Hood's methods aren't exactly honorable either. He's hunting down people and killing them, treading even closer to the fated line of good and evil than Batman usually does. (Since we all know Hood is basically just a Batman replacement. Why don't they just make a Batman show already?)

/endrant

P.S. As a Doc Who fan, I don't know about you but I'm having a hard time not seeing Jack Harkness in Malcolm Merlyn. I know, I know. Different characters, even if they are played by the same actor. 

Final Thoughts on the Dark Tower

Dear Wal,

A week-ish ago I told you I had barely scraped the surface of  Stephan King's final installment of his series The Dark Tower. Well, I come to you today to tell you that I've finally finished it. It's over. This is the end. Roland finally reached his tower and climbed to the top.
And guess what he found there.
Spoilers lay here. Beware.
I mean, seriously, if you don't want the entire series ruined for you, don't read on.

Roland's life played out on every level of the tower as he ascended: each event signified by smells, sounds, faces, voices, mementos. And at the top? At first, I thought it might be Stephan King himself, there to tell Roland some terrible, disheartening truth. However, earlier in the book that idea was squashed. Then I thought it might be Gan, or God, but Roland described the Tower as Gan himself. And I thought that it might be Roland's death. Frankly, I had no idea. For once in the course of this very long series, I had no idea what was going to happen. I stuck to the idea of death because, naturally, the top should symbolize the end, right? Not so, for ka is a wheel. No, instead, Roland opens the door to the room at the top of the tower only to find that there is no room at all, but an expanse of desert. The very desert that The Gunslinger opens on, with those fateful words: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Yes, the story repeats. Only, its slightly different. This time, Roland remembered to grab Cuthbert's horn at the battle of Jericho Hill. The last battle for Gilead. Of course, Roland doesn't remember anything from the previous journey he just made.
How poetic, that Roland, the wanderer, the seeker, doesn't get an end. He just goes on wandering, goes on seeking, and repeats the classic quest narrative again and again. And what a horrible fate. Roland goes on. Roland always goes on, and in the end he's always alone.
But...I have to say this is something of a creative cop-out, if a brilliant one. What Roland found at the top of the tower was just a tad bit disappointing  It makes everything he has gone through seem pointless. It makes the whole series seem pointless. But when you really start to think about it, to really try to wrap your head around it, you can't. Throughout the series, King has asserted that Roland's world is as close to real as you can get on the page. He has intertwined it every step of the way with a close second to what we like to call the real world. Does what Roland found at the top of the tower mean that everything he did, his entire world, wasn't-at least in the context of the fictional universe King creates-real? Were Suze, Jake and Eddie really a part of Roland's life or just a mirage? Does he meet new people, or does he meet the same people every time? Speaking of time, does Roland simply go back in time? Is he just saving the same world over and over again? Or better yet, is he saving another parallel universe? I think he is. I think he's doomed to walk every universe, every slightly altered earth, until he's saved every Beam in every universe and reached the top of every tower. Problem is, the multiverse is infinite.
Crazy, right?
Unlike everything else in this series, this ending just refuses to click. It's probably going to be teasing my brain for weeks.

/endrant

P.S. HEY GUYS!! THERE COULD BE MOVIES SOON!! And there are also comic books. HA, you thought I was going to read them? Nope.

Yesterday, Silver Fell From the Sky

Dear Wal,

This winter has been unusually warm for us in North Carolina. I'm sure there are many people who share my foreboding when I say that this worries me. Simply because, nature has a way of coming back to bite. This winter may be mild, but that could just mean that the cold is late this year, or that Lady Nature has decided to save the cold for next winter. In any case, yesterday morning brought on the first winter storm of the year. There was a two hour delay for school (rejoice, children! two more hours of sleep!) and when I finally did get up, it was to this:

The woods in front of the house, taken by my wonderful mother

Sadly, this is the only picture we have of the ice on the trees. I was too busy getting ready for school. The ice was still on the trees when I got home yesterday evening, but I was too busy being sleepy. Excuses, excuses, I know. Me taking pictures would involve me actually keeping my camera charged. Last night the full moon was out. And if your a member of the population who are regularly up after midnight, then you know how bewitching a full moon on a quiet winter night can be. The moonlight soaks up the color in everything, making it look like a black-and-white photograph. And you can see, especially when there are no leaves on the trees, you can see almost as if it's daylight. The moonlight plays games with your mind, because you know its the middle of the night, but you can see through the shadows. Last night, the shadows were filled with silver.

I just wish there was a way to capture moonlight with a camera. 

/endrant

"I'm not Robin Hood."

Dear Wal,

Last Wednesday's episode of arrow seemed at first to be another bland, "Oh, let's pick a random obscure villain  make him realistic, and throw him at the Hood!" day, and then this happened:

Yes, those red lights mean it's going to explode

Once again, the concept of Dodger (our intrepidly adapted villain for last week's episode) is really very cool. After the Royal flush gang and the Count, I have to say that I've come to expect a little wit in the reimagining of the Arrow cannon. Dodger didn't disappoint in this regard. He gets his name because he straps bombs around people's necks (as you can see, Felicity had one on at one point) and tells them what he wants them to steel for him. If they don't comply, BOOM. The reason he's called Dodger is because he "dodges" the blame. He never gets caught, whoever he's collared does. Clever, yes? And the character Dodger gives a little tip of the hat to Green Arrow's origin, when he tries to compare himself to the Hood, saying that they both steel from the rich. The Hood says curtly: "I'm not Robin Hood." I love it. I just love it. This show is great.

Felicity is finally becoming more involved with the team behind Arrow. She is becoming Oliver's Oracle, or if you think of it in terms of Smallville, his Chloe. But let's be frank, it isn't Felicity we're interested in, it's another of Green Arrows partners in crime fighting. Speedy. And I'm not talking about Thea. Beware, spoilers lay beyond here.

Yes, ladies and gents, I'm talking about Roy Harper. We've all been waiting for this. Maybe with great anticipation, more likely with dread. As we all should know by now, sidekicks in liveaction rarely work out like they should. In my opinion, sidekicks in comics don't always work out like they should. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of sidekicks. Young Justice began to change my mind before it dove into the meandering waters of Invasion, and Damien Wayne has changed my mind a little bit more, but I'm still not convinced.
However, this looks like it could be interesting. First of all, this is a much older Roy than in the comics, at least in this stage of Green Arrow cannon. The Roy on Arrow is closer to Red Arrow's age. Hopefully, that's the character we'll see on the show, and not Speedy. Judging by the red hoodie Roy is always wearing, I think that's pretty much a certainty.
There was another exciting development in this episode: Ollie's mom has finally decided to stand up for herself. However, I'm afraid that she'll just screw things up more than they already are. I won't mention what she did. You'll see if you watch on Wednesday, or if you watched last Wednesday.

/endrant

P.S. I have to pronounce Wednesday as "wed-nes-day" in my head in order to spell it right.

Wait a Minute..What Happened?

Dear Wal,

Today I cam home to this:

Thankfully, Dad didn't hit anything when the truck started sliding. Dad came and got me at school, which is odd, because as you know I ride the bus to the library. So I ask him what's going on, and he tells me that the truck is stuck, because it slid off the hill. I didn't realize he meant this hill. 

I mean, how did he manage to do this? I have no idea. I don't think he does either.
Now we get to wait until the ground either dries out, or freezes. Oh joy.

/endrant