Fear Fest: Death!
OCTOBER 13th, Death
“Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order.”
-David Gerrold
You are going to die. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it’s inevitable.
You. Will. Die.
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OCTOBERFEAST – Watchmen
[OCTOBERFEAST is the greatest celebration of the year, a revelry dedicated to pop-culture’s most nutritious Halloween detritus. Plastic screams and artificial sweeteners have never been more bountiful. In the old country, villagers refer to the extended party as Satan’s Snacktime]
Watchmen is a lot of things. A deconstruction of the superhero archetype. An exploration of Cold War tensions. An actualization of the comics medium’s potential. One of the most meticulously-plotted, visually layered, and rewarding narrative experiences ever stuffed into paneled pages.
There’s no denyin’ that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created something special.
However, noticeably absent from discussions about Watchmen are any considerations as to why the creators placed the story within its given time-frame. Sure, everyone is quick to point out that this alternate history’s dark vision of 1985 conjures up all sorts of anxieties about mutually assured destruction and the necessity to avert nuclear holocaust. But the overlooked time-frame is the season in which the tale of middle-aged superheroics unfolds.
Again, it’s easy to remember that Watchmen is a lot of things – deconstruction/exploration/actualization/masterpiece – but let’s not forget that it is a metaphor for autumn itself.
Fear Fest: Hippos!
OCTOBER 12th, Hippos
“Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus, or just a really cool Opotamus?”
-Mitch Hedberg
As we all are hurled through space on this little blue marble, its tough to realize how different we are from some of the other indigenous creatures. On would wonder what a visitor from another world would think if they touched down and took a look around. I can easily say that if they encountered a Hippo, they would climb their intergalactic asses back into their flying machine and haul ass out of dodge. Today’s fear deals with one of the most aggressive animals on the planet … MAN … no actually, its Hippos.
Variant Covers: #OccupyGotham, Bruce Wayne Is A Corpo-Fascist.
Bruce Wayne is a corporate fascist. Imposing his will outside of the jurisdiction of the law, causing Socrates and good willed citizens of the world alike to shake their head. How many schools could Bruce Wayne build with the amount of money he’s spending to build his fascist rodent state?
Occupy Gotham.
Occupy Metropolis.
Occupy Emerald City.
(This is Variant Covers, your weekly guide to the comics I’m checking out this week. Your pull-list is encouraged to be shared.)
Don Johnson Joins ‘Django Unchained’, Super Neon Time!
Now that Kevin Costner has up and left Django Unchained for assuredly suckier shores, Johnson has swooped in and claimed the role Waterworld was previously holding down.
edit: Johnny Hall correctly points out to my dumb ass that Johnson isn’t taking Costner’s role. -1 to close reading for me.
Rafael Grampa Does ‘Batman’, As Gorgeous As Expected.
This is a finding that’s bound to give Rendar a purple-headed priapism for at least a day. Rafael Grampa did himself a take on Mr. Wayne-Bat, and it’s goddamn glorious.
Hit the jump to check it out.
OCTOBERFEAST – Bark at the Moon
[OCTOBERFEAST is the greatest celebration of the year, a revelry dedicated to pop-culture’s most nutritious Halloween detritus. Plastic screams and artificial sweeteners have never been more bountiful. In the old country, villagers refer to the extended party as Satan’s Snacktime]
If the OCTOBERFEAST teaches us nothing else, it’s that every individual must act as both prey and predator of the heart’s darkened recesses. While evading their burdensome remembrances in daily living, one can use this annual masquerade-macabre to unearth the roots of personal anguish. Show them to the world. Chop them to pieces with a fuggin’ axe. Light them on fire.
For as horrifying as it might be to approach our own repressions, it is infinitely more exhilarating to air them out. So no one amongst us, from the most fragile bonfire-stoker to the strongest cask-hurling juggernaut, will escape the revelry without revealing a lost truth, a fact that may begin to be slipping into fiction. Go ahead – turn your head to the sky and just scream what it is that you don’t want to face but can’t bear to forget! There’s no need to be shy!
For even the most evil of our OCTOBERFEAST guests have some black-boned skeletons dancing in their closets.
Tonight, Lord Ozzy is going to get things going for us. Look there he is! And he’s about to Bark at the Moon!
Neal Stephenson Plays ‘Halo’ On An Elliptical To Stay Thin. Dude Is Outstanding.
Someday, in a distant land, when the semester is over, I’ll get to finish Stephenson’s Reamde. Till then I’ll have to tide myself over with tales of his rockitude. Like this one.
‘Mass Effect 3’ Has 4 Player Co-Op Missions. What Say You?!
Mass Effect 3, which is scientifically proven to be my favorite game ever upon arrival (until either BioShock Infinite or further down the road Fallout 4 is released) is going to offer multiplayer awesomeness for friends to save the galaxy. Together.
Fear Fest: Germs! Wash Your Hands, Slob.
OCTOBER 11th, Germs
“To perceive things in the germ is intelligence”
-Lao Tzu
Welcome back folks. Yesterday we took a gander at the largest fear in the world, today, in a wonderful, albeit waifishly thin, example of juxtaposition we cover the smallest.
Germs are everywhere. They are on your hands, on your keyboard, on your mouse, everywhere. You’re sitting in a big pile of germs right now. That soda you’re drinking or that bag of chips you’re munching from? You guessed it, germ infested. So what is it about these little microbes that send people into such a frenzy?
