Christian

I might just unburden some of my poetry here (I forget what poems I printed here before....). I write for others to see, and I don't really even bother to try to sell my poetry because a.)I'm not a poet, b.)poetry is a limited genre for publishing, and c.)it pays worth shite, so it's not worth the time and money to print it out and send it, just to get rejected.

Amazingly enough, after all that, the first piece of work I ever had published was a poem.

This is a fun little piece I wrote back in college, it's quite timely right now with the release of the movie:

One Life Furnished in Early Lewis

“Wardrobes, White Witches, London, and Lions; Oh My!

I will never read a better written book till I die.”

What pompous blandishments doth this child cry?

It began about the grade we call one,

To this day, the feeling is still not done.

When to the library us students did run,

Like a field trip barely feet away,

One which I wished I could always stay.

It was the beginning of a great love, to the day.

I saw aliens, and Hobbits, and a white bunny,

Pictures that were farcical, or frightening, or funny

And lo, did it all make a dull life sunny!

WAIT! On an old, dusty shelf near the back,

A light did glow atop a stack.

An object far different than it’s pack.

Venturing close did I find it’s source,

Plucking it gingerly did I feel it’s force.

Thus was changed a small child’s course.

Taking my prize open in each quivering hand,

I first escaped to a new world so grand.

Staying there till I felt Morpheus’ sand,

I expended it as quickly as a bank does lend.

Turning to the final page I felt as if my heart may rend-

Until a wise teacher told me “adventures never need end.”

Now, here I sit with a joyous tear and a ‘sigh’,

“Wardrobes, White Witches, London, and Lions; Oh My!

I will never remember a more magical book till I die.”

He wrote "Batman:Jekyll and Hyde" for DC, and that was less than stellar.

He's one of those writers that I find can actually bring out the best in Marvel U characters and leave Marvel all the better for it, and there aren't many of those guys around!

"And it fits in with the fortune-teller issue, who predicted that JC would end up as the same person he started."

One of the best "Hellblazer" issues, by the way.

This is a list from http://kingkong.ugo.com/features/top11_mov...ers/default.asp

concerning their list of the Top 11 Movie Monsters. Discuss amongst yourselves. You may also want to rank your own. Who belongs on the list? Who doesn't? Who would you replace them with? What number should they be?

I see our very own "Swamp Thing" made their list.....

Personally, I was pissed that Godzilla wasn't #1!

Feature by Joanna Topor, contributing editor

1.King Kong

Who else? The monster that spawned a million cliches - tamed by beauty, misunderstood by the masses - tops our list of feature creatures mostly because our favorite city-stomping monkey manages to be both scary and heartbreaking at the same time (making us unsure if we want to pet him or run away). To pass the time between viewings of Peter Jackson's remake, check out the re-release of the 1933 Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack classic, one of the best collector's edition DVDs ever for a movie monster. Or are WE the monsters?

2. Aliens

Call us naive, but we like to imagine that space is populated by cute little E.T-like creatures, not killer parasites or chameleon murderers (though that's pretty cool, too). We sleep better at night this way. Still for a reality check, or to get our hearts racing, we like to pop in Ridley Scott's Alien or John McTiernan's Predator - and then we like to not leave our apartments for a while.

3. Zombies

We were OK with zombies for a while. After marathon viewings of George Romero's original trilogy, we thought we had them figured out: aim for the head, and if you need to walk amongst them, just walk real slow. Then we watched Danny Boyle's awesome 28 Days Later and Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead and we stopped feeling so sure of our in-case-of-a-zombie-emergency survival plan. Suddenly, the flesh-eating goons are moving at warp speed and are all sporting razor-sharp teeth. Thanks, boys.

4. Werewolves

A different kind of monster, werewolves are only really dangerous a few nights a month, which makes them that much scarier since every other day they look just like anyone else. Although Oz (Seth Green) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer managed to lead a sort-of normal life and Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox) in Teen Wolf improved his basketball game after being bitten, we feel that it was Ginger Snaps, the 2000 movie by John Fawcett about a teenaged Goth girl afflicted with "the curse" that really brings home the day-to-day freakiness of living life as a werewolf. She's young, she's hot, but she's also growing a tail and killing neighborhood puppies. That's hot.

5. Nosferatu

The thing with Dracula is that he is a calculating vampire. He'll lure you in, make you think he's your friend and only then will he drain all your blood. He's had many incarnations throughout the years, but Gary Oldman as the psychedelic yet somehow distinguished garlic-fearing blood fiend in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 rendition of Bram Stoker's Dracula gets our vote as the best.

6. Hicks

Stephen King may have made us rethink ever stopping in a small town for longer than it takes to pick up a tank of gas, but it was Tobe Hooper who made us rethink road trips all together (especially picking up hitchhikers) with his 1974 fright fest The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. You may think you've stumbled upon a pristine little town with scenic fields and beautiful ranch homes only to discover that it's populated with sadistic, cannibalistic farm folk who want to chase you around with a chain saw and laugh while you scream your head off. Just goes to show that some of the scariest monsters can be found in America's heartland.

7. Frankenstein

Who's the monster here? The obsessed Victor Frankenstein, who thinks he can play God by assembling a creature out of stolen body parts? Or the monster Frank created who has to come to terms with his very literal "life after death?" Our vote is the Vic, since, let's face it, spending all that time in a lab must mess with your head. Still, slow walking or not, we wouldn't want to meet the sewn together, mumbling creation in a dark alley, either. Decide for yourself by watching the James Whale 1931 original, or Kenneth Branagh's extremely flawed yet oddly compelling Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

8. Birds

Sure, for the most part, they're little, and most of us walk around thinking that if it ever came to it, we could take on a crow or two. It's when they get together that things start to go awry. No one made a group of crows - ironically enough sometimes called a "murder" of crows - look as scary as Alfred Hitchcock. His 1963 film, The Birds, even made us wary of seagulls.

9. Godzilla

Not as loveable as Kong, this city-squashing dinosaur-like creature gets a few sympathy points for being the product of the nuclear arms race. Though Roland Emmerich tried to give ‘zilla a new face in 1998, nothing has yet to match the 1954 Japanese original Gojira (except maybe Godzilla: Final Wars, now available on DVD).

10. The Fly

A cautionary tale for overambitious scientists, David Cronenberg's 1986 film tells the story of an eccentric genius who develops a method for teleportation - only to turn himself into a fly after the bug becomes trapped with him in the transportation device. Soon he starts growing hair in strange places. It really just goes to show that a geek's desire to impress a girl will always, always, destroy his experiment and most likely turn him into some sort of monster. Word to the wise: finish experiment first, then invite girl over. And no showing off.

11. Swamp Thing

After a lab experiment gone wrong, a scientist must live out his days in a swamp. Ultimately he uses his newfound monster abilities to save a gorgeous lab tech from certain demise. Despite his superhero proclivities, we can't help but think, "Gross, swamps are cesspools for germs and bacteria, not a good place to make your home." Still, this 1982 Wes Craven flick is a must for die-hard monster fans.

GOOD internet dating stories to share? Nope, sorry.

Internet dating nightmares? Sure! Got a few of them.

Is that Kinki's criteria or mine, Abhi? Because, while both of them are ok, they're still quite skinny by "average woman" criteria.

Where's the big, fat, wide ass?! Oh yeah, they wouldn't get movie roles with one of them.

Hey, everybody! I just got a Christmas list from my good buddy, Dick Cheney. Why is he writing me asking for this stuff? Well, let's just say I keep many of the items he's asking for in my....uh, basement....for, uh, special occasions.....

"I need a new rack, a new iron maiden, a few meat hooks, and....oh yeah! Some new bamboo splinters. Gotta have the bamboo splinters. God, I love my job. Mwa-ha-ha! Your pal, Dick Cheney"

The iron maiden is in use....I mean, I'm out of those....but I've got the rest around here....uh, somewhere....

:lol:

Oh boy....and they wonder why the CIA is always taking over their countries?

Oh god, that was soooo BAD!

Inca, come here and spank me, I've been bad!

:lol:

Am I the only one who wasn't impressed by "Hitman"? I thought his "Demon" run was far better (to compare it to the other DC book he was writing at that time).

Busiek?! Yay!

Aquaman and Hawkman have always been the lame ducks of the major DCU characters. Like, "one flies, the other swims, we feel sorry for them, let's let them into the JLA".

I personally like both characters, but good luck finding well written stories about them.

I finally got a damn good "Hawkman" series with the James Robinson/Geoff Johns/Ed Brubaker written issues of the new series.

Hell, even John Ostrander (who I usually love) bored me to tears with "Hawkworld".

Aquaman is the DCU version of Sub-Mariner (who I've always loved), and lo and behold, no one has ever written a good Sub-Mariner series for Marvel either!

Some of these are going to be damn hard to find, others are still in print.

Will Eisner is grand. I highly recommend "A Life Force", "A Contract with God", and "Invisible People". They're short story collections. I rank them as Eisner's best.

Anything published by Pantheon Press, they don't do superheroes, period. They have a web-site that lists all their Graphic Novels with descriptions.

Anything published by Piranha/Paradox Press (they're owned by DC). Especially, "Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children".

Almost anything from Top Shelf or Fantagraphics is gold and non-superhero.

"Essential Howard the Duck", "Man Thing" by Steve Gerber (Marvel)-you need some Gerber in your diet! Best comic work of the 1970s, too bad his "Man Thing" isn't Traded.....

Lou, "Brooklyn Dreams", nice choice! :D

J.M. DeMatteis' "Moonshadow", "Seekers into Mystery", "Blood", "The Last One", and "Mercy" (helpfully all published by Vertigo)

"Seven Miles a Second" (Vertigo)

Daniel Clowes! One of the top 3 writers in comics today.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson

Eddie Campbell's "Bacchus" and "Alec" series.

Neil Gaiman's "Violent Cases", "Signal to Noise", and "Mr. Punch" (the latter two being my favourite comics work ever).

Alan Moore's "From Hell", "A Small Killing" (my favourite Moore)

Grant Morrison's "The Mystery Play", "Kill Your Boyfriend", and "Invisibles" series. (also all Vertigo)

Harvey Pekar's "American Splendour"! (damn good)

"Uncle Sam" mini-series (Vertigo)

"A Tale of One Bad Rat" by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse)

"Tainted" by Jamie Delano (Vertigo) (have to throw in some Delano love)

"True Faith" by Garth Ennis (Vertigo)-pretty funny stuff

"Concrete" (Dark Horse)

DC's "Wasteland" anthology from the 1980s

"The Extremist" by Peter Milligan (Vertigo) (have to throw in some Milligan love)

If you can find it, the 1980s series "Puma Blues" (one of my all-time favourite comics)

"Hellstorm" by Warren Ellis at Marvel-This was much more a horror series

"Sandman Mystery Theatre" (the Matt Wagner issues)-I think this would safely qualify.

"Elektra:Assassin" by Frank Miller-I think this would qualify, as it's more a political thriller

My favourite Howard Chaykin was his "Blackhawk" mini for DC in the 1980s. It's full of Communism!

That should tide you over for now.

I certainly believe this is an accurate assessment of the circumstances, how realiable all the quotes, etc. actually are could be debated, but actions speak loudly.

If this is all completely accurate, I applaud Bush for actually being truthful for the first time in 6 years!

The Constitution should certainly not be revered. It is just a piece of paper.

How ironic that a man who swears his life by a series of pieces of paper that no one is really even sure who wrote them, known as the Bible, said this.

At the same time, the Constitution is a very important aspect of America, and should be treated better than how the govt. in this nation treats it!

Paraphrase:"The death penalty may make people feel safer."

OK, but that's not a good reason for the death penalty, as Pooka said. That's just putting a bandage around the broken bone and telling the person, "you're gonna be fine now, go back to your life!" If you want to make people feel safer, actually address the problems that are leading to so much crime in the first place!

I'm sure it would make me feel a hell of a lot safer to let me go around shooting people that I felt suspicious or uncomfortable around, but that's not a sane reaction!

As I said, I'm for the death penalty in some cases, but "making the public feel safer" certainly isn't a valid reason.

Addressing Josh's article:

COINTELPRO? What's that?!

Probably my favourite movie ever.

"But an unapologetic Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin responded immediately by saying "c'est la vie" -- that's life -- if the United States did not like his remarks, and he would not accept anyone telling him he cannot defend his country"

Wow, Paul Martin usually spreads his cheeks wide for Bushy-boy.

"You know, at the moment, The Rest Of The World vs America would be winnable. Before long, we're screwed."

"That's just what the US wants you to think. They really are going to collapse from within this century. Bush and his cronies have realised this and that's why they are bilking the US people for as much money as they can get their hands on. Corruption rules OK."

Oh yeah, Inca's totally right. The United States economy is a total mess under Bush. The U.S. has trillions of dollars in debt, all China has to do is call in their debt, and America collapses overnight. Of course, this wouldn't be a very wise decision on China's part, due to where the majority of their economic boom is coming from, but it goes to show how fragile America's power is in this "new world order".

America hasn't had the type of world power you're describing since before Vietnam. Sure, they have the military power, but without money, that won't keep the U.S. going forever.

Plus, "rest of the world" vs. America would hardly be plausible considering all the corporate interests in all these other countries who are riding the back of that military/industrial juggernaut known as the U.S.

Yeah, the poor kid's only in his 20s and he already reminds me of Keith Richards, in that he just won't go away!

As people are mentioning, a lot of these changes post-I.C. appear to moving more towards the "Kingdom Come" universe.

I don't care if Buddy Baker dies. What the hell are they doing with him?! They let everything Morrison did on the book get slaughtered after he left, and he's been pretty well sitting in limbo since then. I wouldn't have minded at all had DC killed him off after Morrison's run, as the character was well useless after Morrison's work.

Marv Wolfman said in the intro to "Crisis" that he left a hidden plot-thread by which Barry Allen could be brought back. He said no one would ever find it, and only a few writers know about it, but it's there if a writer wanted to bring him back.

I can't see why anyone would care to see Barry Allen come back now anyway. Flash has been just fine without three of them. Fans should let him go.

I thought he just read "Original Sins" and Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing" and took off from there.

Too bad he read "Swamp Thing", how hilarious would it have been had he completed the "Swamp Thing meets John" story-line left hanging at the end of O.S.? :lol: Yes, yes, I know this is totally implausible.

I did like the nod to the Ghosts of Constantine Past. It gave me that warm, glowing feeling of olden times.

Besides, you could always figure that since the ghosts are a manifestation of John's own guilty (sub?)conscience, that being trapped, alone in jail was really the first time John's had to ruminate on his past enough to bring the ghosts back to his (sub)conciousness. Kinda flimsy, I know.

I try.

Every news story I've seen lately, and it seems to be getting worse and worse, seems to be depressing or upsetting.

There was a new story in the local paper about scientists who have implanted human DNA into the brain of a mouse foetus, which was accepted. I don't know if the story is online, but they claim they are doing it to research illnesses such as Alzheimer's. I believe they are trying to create a human-mouse hybrid to rule over us.

Did you realize that a mouse's DNA is 97% the same as human DNA? So, the mice just need that extra 3% to be as smart as us (would that be an improvement for the mice?!).

"Mel Gibson looked pretty young then. "Borderline suicidal." well, isnt everyone at one point or the other? no? yes? maybe? "

I'll say "yes", but could just be me, non?

The movie was about 20 years ago.

"Btw, Christian, where do you get your photos? I like them."

You must mean my Avatars? Well, I've used....let me see....I think 4 different ones.

The one of the sunrise over the swamplands was from my grandparents back yard. The one with the bridge was from my grandmother's home town in Pennsylvania. The iceberg and mountain were just pretty pictures that came with my computer (there's also one of a desert, but I don't care for that one).

I have one more I haven't used yet from Northern Michigan, near where my grandparents had their cabin. I'll probably use that one eventually.

You know, Gen....I hate to say this now, after all this time, but I just figured out in this thread that you're a female! :lol:

:icon_redface:

If I have to wear my patent-leather dress shoes all day, my feet absolutely kill me at the end of the day! Of course, it doesn't help that these black dress shoes are cheap and rub blisters on my toes.

Doesn't wearing heels or boots hurt your feet at work?

What's wrong with being pro-death penalty for certain crimes and against it for other crimes? That's the only logical choice unless you're going to totally oppose the death penalty. Crimes do have varying degrees of seriousness.

"Plus I find it ironic that someone who is always going on about what a Communist he is would be against the death penalty considering how much of a staple it is in those nations"

I'm assuming you're referring to Red here? As I never said I was against the death penalty, I do have a similar view on this issue as you do, in that so many other people have been put to death when they are innocent.

Although I completely disagree that stating "the world is a brutal place" is any sort of answer for this situation.

I do feel very strongly it was a race issue with Schwarzenegger, in this case.

As far as your quip against Communism, if you are referring to Red, he's made it more than plain in almost all of his quotes that he is against the Dictatorship cum State Capitalism forms of Communist government which have been seen in the world so far.

I'm far more forgiving of many of these governments, personally; although I do see and admit to the major flaws in those systems (especially one that would lead to Stalin in power), and Castro's is the only one I'm not totally ashamed of what it has become.

The funny thing is I read an interview with one of the authors (I believe Halliday), talking about how revelatory this book is because all previous views of Mao held that he was a "strong leader" or something like that....and I'm wondering what books this guy has been reading!

Obviously, books on Mao from within Communist China. :lol:

I guess his biggest gripe was that Mao isn't ranked with Hitler and Stalin enough....

"but it looks well researched."

Have you checked the sources yourself? I know, not an easy task.

A lot of books like this, which reinforce the Western idealogy, are never thoroughly researched by professionals. They just rave about it because it says what they've heard through their college history courses. "Oh, this book is amazing! It shows how Mao killed more people than Stalin and Hitler combined! Truly the book on Communist China we've been waiting for since the fall of the Soviet Union!"

Yeah....OK....but you didn't tell us a damn thing about the book and its sources!

It'll wait until someone like Gore Vidal or William Blum gets around to fact-checking to reveal that many of the sources are completely invalidated or even fictional.

(Of course, you'll have to dig through countless research pages to find Vidal or Blum's review.)

Some of the resources of this book have already been proven to be invalid by all except the staunchest anti-Communist hard-liners.

Lou's gonna kick yo' ass, Red! Only he can use that word!

The outfit isn't anything outlandish. If you want an exact replica, yeah, you're going to have a time and spend some money.

But, you can find the outfit (as far as a shirt, pants, coat in those colours) at any local mall. J.C. Penny's, Sears, etc.

I think everyone knows that Schwarzenegger is a neo-Nazi.

And, that Gerald Ford is a fascist.

I know what this is really about!

"Looking around, it has come to my intention that the boards have been infiltrated by Commies for quite some time. How I missed the obvious signs, as outlined by the U.S. govt. in the 1950s (reading books, using 3-syllable words, talking about crazy things like universal health care), I'm not sure. But lately this came to my attention, there is a Forum member named RED. Coincidence? I think not! Think about this, there is another Forum member whose screen name is Christian, but he's hardly a Christian, he's actually an atheist! So, in light of this, I'm afraid I must go."