DC's latest animated release-Superman/Shazam!

I didn't have high hopes for this animated special. I've seen a lot of the DC animated comic book movies, and they've been decent. A few of them have even been good, but I was extremely impressed with this DVD. Of course, I should add that this DVD will still disappoint you with what it isn't, but we'll get to that in a minute.

So based on previous DVDs put out by DC, I was expecting to see the entire length of this disc devoted to Superman and Captain Marvel fighting with Black Adam, but about half an hour in, I was very disappointed to see that the story was coming to an end. Before I move on to the rest of the disc, let me tell you that the main reason I was disappointed was because the quality of story and art was so high that I didn't want the story to end at that point. Let's talk for a minute about what's happening in the story.

So the basic storyline is that Billy Batson is just a kid trying to survive alone on the streets. He's lost his parents and he ran away from foster care. He's trying to make it the best he can. Somehow he still has a positive attitude about the world and is even willing to stand up for a homeless man who is getting robbed by a group of kids. (Being a foot shorter than the shortest of the trio means he doesn't last very long.) Billy is also meeting with Clark Kent, who is doing a story on the foster care situation in the city. At the same time, Black Adam has made his 5000 year voyage back to earth after being exiled, and want to kill Billy because of what will happen next. (Billy gains super powers based off the ancient gods and is the replacement for Black Adam.) Super powered fisticuffs ensues, but you'll have to see the DVD to see what happens next.

The story ends and you realize two things: first the story was way too short, and second there's still a lot of time left. That's OK, the rest of the disc is going to blow your mind. There is an assortment of short features of a variety of DC heroes. It's a great idea even if the DVD is mislabeled. (It should have been called DC Showcase or something like that.) So what else do you get? The Spectre, The Green Arrow (with Black Canary cameo) and Jonah Hex all get short story treatment. Each special is done with it's own temporal and emotional treatment. The Spectre feels like an old film noir detective story, Jonah Hex has a wild west feel, and Green Arrow is more of a modern adventure.

If you have any interest in comic books and characters, you will want to watch this DVD even if you don't follow DC very much. It will be worth your time.

Top Twelve X-men-Number 11

Old school Beast- right after graduation.

Number 11-The Beast (aka Henry McCoy)

I first became connected with the Beast when X-factor got started. The idea of that comic was to bring together the original X-men in an attempt to keep Professor X's dream alive. They did this because of a variety of odd circumstances. First, the Professor had gone of into space to hang out with his love interest the Empress Lilandra. It had something to do with his clone body needing to stay with the alien technology or something. Next up, there was also the unexpected return of Jean Grey who had supposedly died quite a while back in the comics, but it turns out she'd been replaced by the Pheonix force and left in a recovery cocoon at the bottom of the bay. (Yeah, I'll explain more about all that nonsense later.) Anyway, all these circumstances came together for X-factor where the original X-men pretended to be mutant hunters in order to collect mutants and help them learn to use their powers. (Yeah, it was a stupid idea, but it led to some worthwhile events.)

Wow, so that ended up being more of a detour than I intended. What all of that was supposed to get to is that the Beast has gone through many transformations. (See most of them on the left.) Henry McCoy started off as an almost normal looking boy with larger hands and feet. He was able to use his feet as extra hands when he was a baby. As the storyline of the X-men continued, Hank graduated (partly because he was super smart) and moved on to work with the Avengers. At some point, he was experimenting with something and unlocked a further mutation giving himself blue fur. While he was with X-factor something odd happened and he lost the fur and later lost his intelligence for a period of time. (The more he used his strength the stronger he got, and the dumber he got.) After some plot contrivance, he got better and bluer again. Recently he got another mutation that changed him from a furry human to more of a cat. 

OK, now we can talk about why he's on the list. The Beast is a powerful ally who bring a lot to the team in terms of raw power and scientific knowledge. More importantly to me, he brings humor and wisdom to the mix. He can be pummeling an opponent and quoting Aristotle at the same time. I love the combination of the beast and the brain. Hank has recently left the X-men again. This time because of differences he has with Cyclops about the direction the team is taking. (Including leaving the blue fur ball at the mercy of Norman Osbourne and his Dark Beast from another reality.) It was a good move for the character and hopefully for the book.

Well, that's all for the Beast for now, but be on the lookout for the #10 X-person coming soon. Feel free to comment below.

How to make a Top 5 list (or whatever size list you want)

Well, I've certainly done a lot of lists since I started this blog, and I'm sure to do many more in the future. I thought some of you out there might be interested in how it's done. (Also, I'm applying for eHow and thought this would be a good topic to share with them.) So here are some basic steps to help you make your own listing of your favorite things.

1. Pick a topic. You should start with something you know pretty well. Don't bother with lists about the top ten weird atomic particles unless you actually know anything about atomic particles. Also work with something that speaks to the audience you are trying to reach. Here are a few examples of topics I've used: Doctor Who, MASH, and Weird Al. (Links included so you can check them out.)
2. Decide how big your list is going to be. There's no law that says it has to be top 10 just because that's how David Letterman does it. I got into the habit of doing twelve when I did my Doctor Who list. This allowed me to talk about all the actors in the role. However, when I started a list for the best X-men characters, I stayed with twelve instead of jumping to 50. Regardless, pick a number you can work with without being overwhelmed, but that you think is fair to your topic.
3. Decide how many parts you want to make your list. You may want to drop them all in one list or you may want to dedicate a post to each number. It's really up to you. I try to keep each post from being too long or too short. That's part of why I like to work with a top twelve list. Twelve can be done all at once or broken down into 6s, 4s, 3s, 2s, or single posts. There's lots of options.
4. Do some research. Even if you know your topic you should still find out what you don't know. There is something interesting about your list that your readers will love to know, you just have to find it. 
5. Put your list in order.  I always find this to be the hardest part. You have to decide the criteria and justifications for your ranking. You'll still get some arguments about placing Superman above Batman, but at least you can explain why you did it.
6. Start writing. Sorry, but you can't avoid this part of the process. It won't magically happen on its own. Be sure to check your spelling and grammar. If you don't, you will get lots of messages complaining about it. 
7. Publish it. What's the point of making a list of your top 5 favorite put down lines from NCIS if you don't share it? Put it on a blog or on your Facebook. Just put it out there for people to enjoy even if it's just a poster you hang up somewhere. 

There you go, you've written a top 5 list and you're ready to do some more. Have fun with it and keep writing.

Fake rules for being Irish on St. Patrick's Day

So you want to be Irish this St. Patrick's Day? Well, here are the basic rules for you to follow to meet all of the qualifications:

1. If you are already Irish, stop reading the list. If you aren't Irish, then move on to step 2.
2. Green must become your color of choice for the day. The more green you are wearing, the more Irish you will be. Shirt, pants, underwear, socks and shoes. Bonus Irish points if you have green hair too.
3. Continue with the green trend by eating and drinking green things. That's why corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patty's Day tradition. You can also add Shamrock Shakes, green beer, and all those nasty veggies you usually avoid. Yes, broccoli and Brussels sprouts are just the sort of thing you need.
4. Make sure you are also wearing one of those "Kiss Me I'm Irish" items, pin, button, t-shirt, etc.
5. Get a kiss.
6. Live up the Irish life for up to 8 hours. (disclaimer-all Irishness expires at 8 am or your local time.)

So there you go, your guide to being Irish on this very special day. Make the most of it!

Top Twelve Weird Al Parodies-Number 1

The Original-Ridin' (aka Ridin' Dirty) by Chamillionaire
For our top pick of Weird Al parodies, I have picked two songs of lament. What's a song of lament? Well, it's basically a fancy way to describe a song that is upset about something that is happening in the life of the singer. In the case of Ridin', Chamillionaire sings/raps about racial profiling and police brutality. The song is better know as Ridin' Dirty because the phrase is used so many times in the song. It refers to being in a vehicle with drugs and other contraband in it. The song definitely addresses a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The video attempts to show situations of police brutality with varying success.

The Parody-White and Nerdy
What could Weird Al possibly have to lament about? Well, I think based on his other songs, the answer should be obvious, Weird Al is one big white nerd. That's the brilliant basis of my number one pick of parodies. Look at what happens with this song. Not only does Weird Al get to embrace his total nerdiness and make fun of it, he also gets to lament how his condition separates him from rollin' with the gangsters.

This song pulls out all the stops and the whitest and nerdiest people Weird Al could find. Seth Green makes and appearance as well as Donnie Osmund. I don't know how Yankovic managed to cram so many nerd references in this song. It's just crammed with them including all the stereotypes that go along with the NERD label. The Star Wars Christmas Special, fanny packs, mayonnaise, and the unending debate over which Captain of the Starship Enterprise is better are just a few of the nerd stereotypes that are thrown into this song.

The video makes the most of the visual side of nerdiness. There's a great scene where Yankovic rolls up on his Segway and a couple of 'gangsters' flip him off. Another great shot comes with the line "I wanna bowl with the gangsters." It's shot at a bowling alley. The 'gangsters' definitely look out of place and shoo Yankovic off to bowl with the other nerds. Yankovic also pulls out a second character who does the rapping

This song is Yankovic's most popular song and his first platinum song and album ever. In case you're wondering about Chamillionaire feels about the song, he not only put the song on his MySpace, he also said in an interview that Weird Al was actually a pretty good rapper.

Top Twelve X-men-Number 12

Samuel Gurthey is the X-man known as Cannonball.

There came a point when the X-men were getting really popular that someone thought back nostalgically to the days of the original X-men when their powers were new and exciting, and they also had problems with control and power limits. (Iceman was more of a snowman for a large portion of the early run of the series, and Cyclops would often run out of steam with his optic blasts.) So the mighty minds at Marvel decided they needed to make a junior team, called the New Mutants, to take over that role. (Yes, the name was lame even when the book first came out.)

The team was made up of interesting but very limited powers that had some potential but were included more for uniqueness and variety. They were trying to avoid having the same old powers and they did this but that didn't make the characters all worth creating. Since Sam's the only member of the New Mutants getting on the list (Sorry to ruin the surprise) I should give you some details about who Sam started out teamed up with.

Karma had the power to possess other people's minds. She could only do one mind at a time and she had to struggle with most minds in order to make them do what she wanted.

Mirage had the power to reach inside a person's mind and make a realistic image of either the thing they loved or feared the most.

Wolfsbane is pretty self explanatory-she was a werewolf, but a mutant werewolf.

Sunspot absorbed solar energy to fuel his super strength. (it often gave out when he needed it most.

Cypher was a mutant with the awesome power of understanding any language, perfect for a pitched battle. He died trying to be a hero and eventually came back as the annoying and unending Douglock.

There were others, but I'll cut off there for now. Cannonball was with the team for it's entire run and was part of the group that ran off with Cable to become X-force where Sam had a very weird storyline where he was an immortal, but he got over that. He later became a full-fledged X-man. I guess it's about time to talk about what exactly Cannonball can do. Well, I think the guys that thought him up understood that a balanced team needs to have a flier, but they didn't want to make him too much like Rogue or Superman, so they didn't give him the usual strength/invulnerability. Instead, he gets to be invulnerable thanks to a field that surrounds him when he flies, but if he isn't 'blastin' then he's just a target.

Sam is the kind of hero that is refreshing to see. He's a good ol' country boy who comes out the the big city to see what he can do. He's a hard worker who is willing to put in the effort to overcome his limitations and make the most of his abilities. I know antiheroes are great too, but that doesn't mean they all have to be jerks.

Royal wedding or royal pain?

This is a tricky post for me. I'm not a huge fan of the royal family. I'm not against England's royalty. I think that Queen Elizabeth is a wonderful person, at least from the little that I know. I really don't care for Prince Charles and I not-so-secretly hope he gets passed over for the throne in favor of his son William. Also, Princess Diana was a wonderful woman, but I'm hoping this marriage of William and Kate will take some of the attention off of William's mother.

Side note to talk about why I'm rooting for William over Charles: There are several reasons why I'm hoping that Elizabeth chooses her grandson over her son when the matter of succession comes up. First, I'm a William, and I think it's been way too long since there was a William on the throne. Next off, I may a bit of an elitist and a snob, but I think England would benefit from a younger king who is better connected to his people. Also, Kate will be a more attractive and accessible queen. OK, enough of the side track.

The real reason I'm writing this post is to say that I'm already sick of hearing about all the details of the wedding. I don't think I'd care anyway, but does there really need to be a news story every day about all the small and insignificant details of the wedding? I don't care if President and Mrs. Obama were on the guest list. Actually, I would have  thought less of the royal couple if they had invited the President and First Lady. I expect that the list is filled with people I don't know and many that I've never heard of as well.

I'm not saying that I have no interest in the wedding, but I don't need all the details ahead of time. I like a little suspense and surprise in my life and right now no one is getting that.