Arch-Ray Vision

With an infinite multiverse I guess it’d be inevitable that somewhere out there (Earth-F, perhaps?) Quentin Tarantino is Superman.

The Case of the Chemicals Indicated

I’d say that a funny thing happened on my way back from a long-overdue visit to
family in California, but it involves the Transportation Security Administration and wasn’t really funny — except insofar as it was Batman’s fault.



At the Bay Area fixture Cost Plus World Market, I picked up a figure like the one
shown here.

Girls, Power

DC and Warner Bros. announced the Fall 2015 launch of DC Super-Hero Girls yesterday — a line of media content and merchandising in partnership with Mattel targeted at girls aged 6 to 12.



Why am I so conflicted about this?

Actually, I know why; I just don’t have time to write enough about it right now. The short(ish) version: My nieces love the established superheroes they’ve been exposed to, male and female alike. DC simply doesn’t have sufficient material for pre-teens with a wide variety of developed* female characters in either publishing or licensed product. [*Not that kind of developed — I do appreciate the athletic body types and modest costuming here.] So the idea of a line aimed specifically at girls is a corrective that points out a root problem, which is what I would rather see addressed. I don’t mean that the main stuff is only for boys, either, because it isn’t quite that pat.


Related: Kids Meet • Activated • Kind of Blue

Pieces, Love, and Understanding

Who has a pair of thumbs that look like they're made out of big pink sausages, like
eagle talons mixed with squid, and finally saw The Lego Movie? This guy!


Promo image from The Lego Movie © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Although not in the greatest head space, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch it with my nephew. Given how great the overall messages were, I am kinda disappointed that it doesn't pass the Bechdel test (unless there’s a stray line I forget between Wyldstyle and Unikitty; even then, Unikitty’s… a Unikitty) or just plain have more girl power, and especially considering how much the film’s portrayal of Batman has blown up it’s quite sad that Wonder Woman’s appearance here is her first in a theatrically released motion picture.

Still, I totally get why everyone raved. The all-ages factor is very high and I agree that it's far cleverer than, not to mention in some ways 180° from, what you'd expect a branded Lego Movie to be.


Related: Amazon Primer • Cold Hands, Warm Hearts • Past of Future Days

Clash of the Toy Lines

I dragged some old stuff out of the basement during my sister’s visit with her kids last summer.



My nephew Ishmael (real name classified) had gotten a Batman figure for his birthday — I believe from the 2008 Dark Knight movie line, although I was happy to find one with a gray-&-black motif rather than the solid black seen in the films. He told me that he “really, really wished” for a Batmobile and he thought that we could find one. Aware that no Batmobile per se was in my stash but having discussed with my sister giving him my Kenner Star Wars figures, I decided to literally dust off a couple of great Mego items for him: the Batcave playset and what was officially titled the Mobile Bat Lab; I liked to call it the Batvan.

Boing!

I’ve joined my grandparents for dinner the past couple of evenings, although that’s the extent of the similarities between this post and last year’s “Bing!”.



On Wednesday, Grandmom and I spoke about Lost. I’m taking a break from that subject for at least one post, however, since the coming weeks will be full of it.

I ♥ Elephants

My sister just gave the OK for me to share this story. I hope it translates.

Her son, whom as before for the purposes of privacy I will refer to as Ishmael, has become enamored of stuffed animals. Some months ago he started asking for an elephant. Our mother was able to get him one — a pink one, though, as gray stuffed toy elephants are apparently hard to find. Now, at 2½ years old, I don’t think that a pink elephant is in any way either an indicator of nor an influence on his destiny; even if it were, I’m all in on loving him no matter what. But I understand why my sister was still looking for a regular gray elephant.

And Uncle Brian found a gray elephant.

Joe / No Joe

The GI Joe movie opened last weekend.



I didn’t care. On my list to see are District 9, In the Loop, 500 Days of Summer, Funny People, and The Hurt Locker. But GI Joe? Meh.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Transformers movie still © 2007 DreamWorks, Paramount, Hasbro.

I was “oh-fer” in my last entries for The Late Show’s online Top Ten Contest. Once I’d recovered from shock over seeing the actual winners, not at all bitter, I went into some kind of fugue state and came up with no fewer than a dozen submissions for the next week’s edition.

My Top Twelve Signs You’ve Encountered a Lame Transformer

12. Only turns into other robots.

11. Is writing a tell-all memoir about its wild night with Jay Leno’s motorcycle collection.

10. Keeps referring to your college bumper sticker as a “tramp stamp”.