Sunday

So far I've watched Mr. Deeds and most of Bridesmaids today.  I managed to squeeze in a couple of sentences of writing, and I think I'm going to put my headphones on and block the family.  Everybody's got something to say today, and I need some quiet to write.  I haven't been writing much this week because I worked about 60 hours this week. For some reason the dexterity in my hands bothers me if I'm not writing, so I'm kind of edgy in some wierd way in my hands.  Its not exactly arthritis but it bothers me.  The three day weekend is nice.  I slept about 12 hours yesterday, and 8 today.  And its nice to sleep more than 5 hours a night for a change.  I'm trying to cram in some writing before the weekend is over, and we all have to go back to work.  I'm having to look back on my notes for some of the more technical sci-fi stuff, but for the most part the writing is connecting nicely, even with most of the week off.  I'm starting to consider putting a few images into a couple of projects too.  I'm not sure if I can draw something, or if I'm going to have to find somebody to make something up for me yet.  One of these things is in a textbook type format, so pictures would help me a bit, and help the reader visualize better too.  Who knows this writing thing might pay off after all.

Anniversary

Me and the little woman are celebrating our anniversary Wednesday but we have no money this week to get each other gifts, so we're going to celebrate next month, or stretch out the celebrating for two months.  Don't feel bad for us.  We're the ones who got three needy daughters from early 20s down to 7 years old who require our money.  I bought myself some comics books, superhero mugs, and an Incredible Hulk t-shirt.  This was sort of an anniversary gift to myself.  I'm allowed to do that right?  Having college age girls as daughters is a nightmare.  Don't have them.  Its a bad idea.  You want some peace and quiet and a quick makeout session with the Mrs. and in comes a daughter with another apocalyptic scenario.  Just kidding.  Kids are great.  (eyeroll)  This is my second marriage.  This wife is way hotter, way nicer, and did I mention way hotter?  We've have 12 years seperating us, but she's so hot, she still gets confused for someone in her 20s.  She's also a former model, so how's that at winning life?  You get all depressy after divorce, then you start realizing you got a shot at scoring someone who's way better.  Guess God was nice to me, huh?

Why Marvel Comics Will Do Better Than DC Comics At The Movies

Both Marvel and DC Comics have a long great history of excellent characters and excellent talent writing and drawing them.  The transition to the small screen and the movies is something else.  Though not the first superhero, certainly the biggest at the time, Batman starring Michael Keaton in the late 80's was everything a comics nut would love.  There was a realism to it.  Even non-superhero movies need realism, and what made it so cool was that realism.  It wasn't so much the acting, though that helped, it was the setting.  Actually trying to provide some semblance of a city, made it believeable.  The franchise later tanked horribly, when they started putting nipples on costumes that were supposed to be body armor, and resorted to crappy puns, but the stage had already been set, the right actors, the right direction, and the superhero movie could shine

Of course now its 2015, and the excellent Dark Knight Trilogy is behind opening the doors for an expanded DC Comics movie universe, as well Marvel pumping out movies that aren't just well written, or based on some of their more interesting stories, but they're putting tremendous effort into putting out a high standard product for the fans.  Movie budgets are obviously way higher, and special effects are far superior to even movies made 10 years ago.  But things are different between the DC movie franchise and the Marvel one than just production and characters.  Marvel has the upper hand in characters that have better name recognition than DC, though DC has more history, at least comic book history.

It seems to be that Marvel hasn't made a single bad casting move yet.  Which is just crazy to me.  Even with the Marvel Cinematic Universe breaking into TV with shows like Daredevil and Agents of SHIELD, the effort even in making TV shows is evident.  Yes, you can't produce the same effects in TV as with a movie, but even the storytelling comes off extremely well.  The thing is, its about effort, and its shows in the Marvel movies and shows.  Casting Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is horrible, casting Ben Affleck is also horrible.  Affleck already had a shot in a Daredevil movie, which tanked, and Eisenberg was in that dopey Facebook movie.  First thought that comes to my mind is, "Why is Mark Zuckerberg trying to kill Superman?"  Both DC and Marvel have has some stinkers, but DC just seems to making casting blunders, when they've got the money, the time, and the opportunity to do something great.  They really couldn't just offer Christian Bale more money to keep playing Batman?  He was great in The Dark Knight Trilogy, and look at what Marvel has done with Robert Downey Jr.  He's got 3 Iron Man movies, 2 Avengers movies, and plenty more to follow.  DC should be milking the cow as long as they have it around, but now Bale is gone, and I guess Batman will be Ben Affleck's comeback or improvement project or something.

I want to see comic movies because I love the characters, and love the concepts, I don't want to go and be sort of held hostage by watching because this is the only Batman, or whatever, that's here at the moment, so that's what we have to go with.  You want to go and be able to enjoy the movie, and if the actor is good enough you won't even "see" them, so to speak, but you'll see that beloved character right in front of you.  That's all.  No amount of special effects, or story, will hide bad acting, or likely alter pre-movies bias.  Comic moviegoers don't like crappy casting, storytellers and writers, don't like it, and neither will the general public.

At Least I'm Busy Now

I managed to come up with the beginnings of ideas for 2 more book projects, and a couple of comic scripts.  I still need to cut down on my video game time so I can write more, but I've been getting a lot of writing done this year.  Its nice to be doing something, and have some sense that I'm accomplishing something.  My new worry is figuring out where to come up with money for editing and publishing, and the things related to that.  If I crank out enough this year, I might be able to get several things done this year and the next.  I'm hoping to have all my initial work for maybe 3 or 4 of those projects done this year, and early 2016.  Smaller projects mean you get more done, a lot quicker.  And getting things done gives a sense of accomplishment even if its something small, its a good stepping stone to finishing other things.