Day in the Life of an Idiot

My weekend actually started on Friday, because Shawn took the day off. We did a lot of retail therapy starting with her haircut at the Hair Police in Edina. Then we went off to lunch out (which we almost never do), the art store, Dick Bick, the scrapbooking store for her, and then, after picking up Mason, back to Barnes & Noble. Mason got the latest DEAR DUMB DIARY (#9). Plus, on Saturday, after a routine visit to the vet, we stopped in at HalfPrice Books, where I picked up a few more Straczynski AMAZING SPIDER-MAN issues.

#540 Back in Black (part 2 of 5)
#541 Back in Black (part 3 of 5)
#543 Back in Black (part 5 of 5) "Incident on the Fourth Floor"
#544 One More Day (part 1 of 4)

And, knowing what I do of the future, this is where I plan to stop. Because if I stop here, the possiblity of it not sucking still exists: Schrodinger's plotline. (I did this with BSG when they reached [the first] Earth, and, frankly, I'm much happpier for it. I also do this on a regular basis whenever I watch "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" once they get to Bolivia.)

At any rate, the story of these issues revolve around Aunt May. She's mortally wounded by a sniper who targets her because, in part, of the aftermath of the Civil War, where Peter Parker reveals his secret identity to the whole world at the urging of Iron Man and osctensibly as part of the superhero registration act. (Though it's implied in these issues that Peter is actually still unsigned, and, thus, a renegade.)

Though all of this is spoiled out there on the Interwebs, I won't tell you what I know, except to say I think Marvel should have taken the higher road for once -- BECAUSE my favorite of these issues was probably #543/"Incident on the Fourth Floor." I thought Straczynski really plumbed the depths of the kind of pathological thinking you'd figure a superhero might have around issues of helplessness. Peter finds himself acting more and more desperately as he discovers that -- for once -- he might not be able to cheat fate, the way, to be fair, he does on almost a daily basis while fighting the bad guys/saving the world. I love that he, in point of fact, keeps a mental tally of all the felonies he commits (10 at the end of part 5) and how self-aware he is that, at this point, little seperates his behavior from that of all the criminals he fights.

I sort of wish that, well, Peter would learn about hubris at the end of this. The ending I would have written would involve the crushing realization that even superheroes can't fight death. It claims all of us. And sh*t happens. People die.

But, from what I understand, Marvel refuses to go there. But, you know, when you live in a world with superheroes, magicians, and the devil... I guess you have more choices.

Still, it's too bad.

Also one more note of nerdiness. To all y'all at the "Big Bang Theory" panel at Marscon this year: I'm right and you're wrong, now you have to sing the song!!

This from Ken Tucker (Entertainment Weekly #1096 / April 2010):

"Let me offer two theories about 'The Big Bang Theory' -- one big, one small. The big one's an explanation of how this sitcom triumphed over this country's ingrained dislike of intellectuals to become a mass-appeal hit. Viewers love Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) not because they can tie string theory into artful bows -- no, they love these hyperarticulate guys BECAUSE THEY'RE INFRIOR TO US IN ONE AREA AMERICANS PRIDE THEMSELVES IN EXCELLING: SOCIALIZING." (emphasis mine, 'natch)

I said, I said, I said that "The Big Bang Theory" wasn't for the mundanes what it us for us. Now I have proof!!

In other words, I have to go. I had some other things I wanted to share, but they'll have to wait. Because I'm a dork, I managed to erase and earlier version I had of this blog, so I wasted a bunch of writing time retyping it. *sigh*

Anyway, look for more soon!