52 Pickup

     Weighing in on the new DCnU. DC comics are at it again, rebooting continuity. Something that they started in the mid-eighties with a maxi-series called Crisis on Infinite Earths. This series was supposed to have streamlined their comic lines continuity. We got a new Flash out of it, origins were changed, characters died or ended up never existing, and multiple earths got mashed into one. What followed was a cluster bleep of continuity that even DC could not keep up with and they just ended up saying screw it. I mean Donna Troy or Wonder Girl went through at least 3 origin changes depending on the whim who was writing her. I don’t think she knew whether she was coming or going.

     Following this we had Zero Hour another attempt at fixing the continuity, then came Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis and a ton of other crisis’ to try and fix things. While it did provide a temporary band-aid and boost in sales, it did not last. It just confused the readership and kind of turned them off. Now we have the latest big thing. We have the rebooting of the entire DC line of comics, well almost. The Batman titles will have the same continuity. I guess because they were selling well and don’t fix what aint broke as they say. This adds even more confusion.  So now we have a younger Superman that is not married to Lois Lane and focusing more on the alien aspect of his origin. This makes a pretty un-relatable character even more so. So here we are again. This seems like a money grab to me. I don’t know if it will last after the initial shininess wears off. Hopefully people like Gail Simone, Jim Lee, and Geof Johns will prove me wrong.

Carbon Leaf

My favorite band that you have probably never heard of. Carbon Leaf is from Virginia. The band consists of Barry Privett on vocals, Terry Clark on guitars, Carter Gravatt on guitars, Jon Markel on bass, and Jason Neal on drums. I was introduced to them by a friend that gave me a CD with both them and the band Moxy Fruvous on it. I listened to the Carbon Leaf songs and they just blew me away lyrically and musically. Their older music had a Celtic feel to it. They have since gone away from it on their later CD's but still play the songs live. This is the first band I have heard that can make a mandolin cool. They are so gracious to their fans. After every gig they hang out afterwards and talk to fans. This is after having probably drove for miles in a van to get to the gig, and then playing a two hour show. I have gotten to talk to them three times and have two signed set lists among my prized posessions.
The first video of their I am going to post is a song called "What about everything" They played a show at Virginia Tech after the shootings in 2007. It looked to be an extremely emotional show. It also shows how great they are to their fans.

The song lyrics mean a lot to me. I actually have a T-shirt from one of their shows with the lyrics to the song on it.

The second time I saw them was on my birthday. I could not have asked for a better birthday present. We got to the venue early and heard music coming out of the venue. My wife and friend and I walked in and they were doing sound check. We got to listen to them doing a song 5 feet in front of us and then got to record a video that they posted to Twitter before the show. Amazing night. Here is the video. They did a one mic version of their song "Block of Wood." Amazing. Here is the video. The people Barry is talking about in it are my wife and friend and I.

Then here is the Celtic sound that I opened up with. A song called "The Boxer"

Hope you enjoy the post and videos. They are a band close to my heart. You can follow them on Twitter @carbonleaf , and find them on the web at www.carbonleaf.com

If a joke falls flat in Twitter world will anyone hear it?

I have a love\hate relationship with Twitter right now. I need to keep my mantra of not taking things personally, and trying not to let my awkward self out so much. Sometimes I look at my timeline and think the joke is way over my head and that everyone is friends with each other but me. I guess that is what happens when I decide to follow people that all know each other and work in the same industry. It is a tough nut to crack. For the most part people are really nice about responding to a Tweet. So people are really great. I mean they don't know me. They probably have never heard of this blog. I mean I really don't have a whole lot to offer people. I don't have a million followers so I can't help promote things. I don't work in the industry. The writing that I do is a hobby and not a job. I am not a professional. So if I come off sounding awkward sometimes I apologize. Sometimes my inner geek comes out too much.

     I do want to thank Jessica Mills of Awkward Embraces. You can find her on Twitter at Geekyjessica. She is so gracious to her fans and is also hysterical. Another really gracious person is Blake Northcott. You can find her on Twitter as ComicBookGrrl. She wrote the excellent e-book Vs. Reality, which I have reviewed on here. Another talented person that I have interacted with is Amanda White. I reviewed her Toyshop CD on this site also. You can find her on Twitter at amandawhite. All are great and talented folks who inspire me to do write. So for that I thank you guys, and anything I can do for you guys let me know.  

Doesn't matter if you're black or white....

Or does it? There has been a lot of buzz about Miles Morales taking up the mantle of Spider-Man. The buzz does not seem to be so much about the reason for Miles to don the webs, like Peter Parker getting killed in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man. The biggest backlash is Miles' race. He is a half black\half Hispanic teenager. Spider-Man has been Peter Parker a white male since his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy in 1962. I have grown up with Peter. I have been through the ups and downs of the teenage years with him. I have been through being the nerd who got beat up in school. I also saw him become something more when he was bit by a radioactive spider in a lab and given the proportionate strength and speed of a spider. 

      Peter was a symbol of being able to rise above the problems I had and a sign that things would get better.  He was my hero. Now he has been taken away. I am hoping that the reason is not for a gimmick. Writer Brian Michael Bendis says that this is going to be for the long haul. A lot of the positive feedback for the change is that people that are not white to see someone that they can identify with. One of my problems is writers have had chances to develop original characters that resonate with minorities and I think a lot of them have dropped the ball. They have been unable to come up with anything else so they piggyback on an icon. As with the movie industry the comic industry has run out of original ideas so they have to do the constant reboots.

     In this world of political correctness I can’t help but think that this is what has happened here, a politically correct change for the sake of being politically correct. I am going to give the benefit of the doubt because above all I am about the story. I hope that Peter was not made a martyr for political correctness. He deserves better than that.

      This is a tough path that Bendis has gone down. What happens if Peter comes back? This happens quite often in comics. Marvel thinks the backlash is big now. It is going to be ten times worse if a white Peter comes back to take Miles' place. It will be called racism, and just another case of the white hero taking over the place of a minority, and we will be back to square one. I hope that the stories are good. I hope that minorities get out in record numbers and buy the book and support the change they have been pushing for. I guess time will tell.

Review of Vs. Reality by Blake Northcott

What do the movie Pulp Fiction, super heroes, and MMA have in common? They are all elements in Blake Northcott's first e-book Vs. Reality.
 I have always been a sucker for flawed characters. This book is full of them, from the self mutilating Dia, the drug peddling Brodie, and the down on his luck MMA fighter Donovan, and these are the good guys. The action is well thought out and visualized. You can identify with the idealistic Donovan and the reluctant hero Dia. Their personalities are very likeable, even if you may not agree with some of the things they are doing. One of the things that I don't like about some other urban fantasy books is that I can sometimes not find one character in a series that I really liked. This book does not have that problem. This is a really fun and quick read, that will keep you engaged throughout. I am looking forward to learning more about the Basement, and seeing these characters grow. Good Start Blake.
You can buy the book here and for .99 it is a steal