More thoughts from Judge Judy - Legal shortcomings

Yesterday I referred to being able to relate a story without using hearsay, but there is also a lot to be said for just being able to tell a story clearly. It is common that the judge will ask one simple question, and the person seems completely unable to give a simple answer.

There are several reasons for that. Sometimes people do not grasp the specific question. That can be partly nerves, which is understandable, or it can be issues with speaking and thinking clearly, which is sad and will affect them in other circumstances.

Sometimes the story is overly rehearsed. Asking the specific question disrupts the narrative, which is useful for getting to the truth.

(I want to do a series of posts on things everyone should be able to communicate someday.)

Along those lines, people will often feel the need to get certain points across that show that they are good, and were doing the right thing, and that the other person is bad, and was clearly in the wrong, though those issues often have nothing to do with the law. There are people who are being deceitful here, whether it is outright lying or somewhat unconscious serving of the normal bias in their own favor. There is something else I see, though, and it makes me kind of sad so I wanted to address that.

Often, the events that get people into court have been very emotional. There is anger and grief and all of these messy emotions that the people feel a need to express, but the court is there for the law.

The emotions are not law. They want to have their say, but it doesn't really belong in the courtroom, and there is frustration there. Even if their suit is successful, it may not bring closure.

One factor there is that not everything is a legal matter, and that's a good thing. It would be horribly burdensome to have every bit of minutiae in our lives dictated by law. I think it is reasonable that there can be things that are unethical and immoral but nonetheless legal. That ultimately works best. At the same time, if not all grievances can be dealt with by law, then there have to be other remedies for dealing with them.

So, if you adored someone, and you thought they adored you, and in the process they got a lot of money out of you but there was never any promise to repay, you have been burned. The person who burned you may be manipulative, exploiting scum, but that is not illegal. A lawsuit will not help, but other things might.

Some therapy might, not just for rediscovering your worth, but perhaps for identifying bad patterns and changing them. Assertiveness training might help. Taking action to strengthen your financial position might help. The person who hurt you may not be cooperating, but there is a lot that can be done with you, and that's work looking at. A lot of my healing comes from my faith, so don't rule that out.

Law is important, but it's not everything, and it's important to understand the boundaries.

Valuable lessons from Judge Judy

When I was writing about television I forgot to mention another show my family often watches together. We often tune in to Judge Judy.

At first the show turned me off. Not only could the judge herself be really rude, but so many of the people involved in the suits were really vile. I did eventually notice that sometimes she was very patient, and that there was a pattern to her harshness.

I really started to feel differently when I heard something on the radio. I don't remember who was talking, but it related to psychology. The guest was talking about how people are biased in their own favor. Perhaps you have borrowed money and not paid it back, but in your mind you may feel like you paid more than you did, or you gave the equivalent value in some other way, or their was some reason why your failure to repay was justified. I realized that I was seeing that every time I watched.

Maybe at that point I started viewing watching the show as a course in sociology, but I now see it as even more valuable for instruction in law and civics. Many things come up that seem like they should be obvious, but apparently they aren't.

One is the importance of documentation. If you are going to court, and it will be important to show that you received or paid a sum, get proof of that. Canceled checks can be obtained, or bank statements. That is one reason why having a bank account is valuable, though we are going to get back to that in a different post.

If you do not have the option of using checks or electronic transactions that leave a record, get a receipt acknowledging payment. It doesn't have to be paper; text and e-mail messages have been used as proof.

There are other kinds of documentation, like photo records. These can be especially helpful with property rentals. If there are damages, there should be pictures of before and after, and they should be dated. Maybe nothing will go wrong, but if something comes up, you can't go back in time and take the before pictures. Knowing what precautions to take may just make you more aware of things in general, which has many benefits.

If someone is borrowing money from you, and agreeing to pay it back, get it in writing before you give the money. Sometimes a verbal agreement can be demonstrated after the fact, and that's helpful, but it is much better to get it spelled out before. Remember, a lot of people who agreed to pay it back at the beginning later feel that repayment is not necessary. If that can happen, someone doesn't want to sign at the time of the loan is sending up a red flag.

If someone agreed to pay you back, and then the payments never start, don't keep waiting to bring action. That waiting can be taken as a sign that you never expected repayment previously, and that maybe now it is just retaliation. (A lot of these cases involve people who were once a couple but no longer are.) Justice delayed is justice denied.

That doesn't mean that payback on a loan needs to start immediately. There may be reasons why you agree that no payments will happen for six months, or until a new job is started, or some event that relates to the ability of the debtor to repay the loan. Once you are thinking in those terms, it is easy for that to be spelled out in a written agreement, and then both sides get a copy, and it takes away ambiguity. It doesn't eliminate all potential difficulties, but it eliminates some.

Cases can also be used to demonstrate hearsay laws - when hearsay might be acceptable, and how to relate an incident without relying on hearsay, and when you really need a witness to be present.

The show could certainly be valuable for demonstrating proper courtroom decorum, which a lot of people seem to have no idea on anymore.

Yes, the show is for entertainment, but it can have educational value, and being entertaining is a nice trait when trying to educate. I think there is some potential there.

(I am aware that some people question whether the show is real. The show itself admits that it is edited, which would be necessary, and is not surprising at all. I will also say that I know at least one person who has been on it, and my sister has a coworker who knows two people who have been on it, so yeah, it appears to be real.)

Band Review: Nate Maingard

Nate Maingard is a Indie Singer-Songwriter from Cape Town, South Africa, but currently working in London.

He describes himself as a troubadour, which seems appropriate. Most songs consist of Maingard and a guitar, and it is not hard to picture him wandering from town to town, or thriving in different time periods.

There is hippie vibe to the music that goes well with the singer's commitment to environmentally friendly fabrics and packaging and ways of eliminating waste, like putting download codes on heirloom seed packets instead of selling CDs.

You can find a wide selection of songs available at Soundcloud, with some repetition as songs are listed singly and collected together, and blogs through the main site that can give you a better feeling for the person.

http://natemaingard.com/

https://www.facebook.com/natemaingard/

https://soundcloud.com/natemaingard

https://twitter.com/NateMaingard

Band Review: LoveLess

There were two thing that frustrated me with reviewing LoveLess, a Rock and Alternative band from London, England.

One was the use of a vertical bar in the name, like so: Love|Less

I try to accommodate accent marks, but I have not even been able to find this one in special characters, and I got grumpy about it. I have found other places where the name is used without it, so I'm sticking with that.

The other thing that was frustrating was that I could really only find one song.

"Misery" is available via iTunes, and has a music video on the band's Youtube channel, but that is all I could find. There are other video segments with some previews and interviews, and they do set a mood. Released over time for fans who were waiting for updates it would make sense, but there should still be more substance available. The Facebook page indicates that the Hollow Faith EP is available, but I see no links.

Part of the frustration with that is that based on "Misery" the band does have potential, but it would be very easy for any attention they draw to fizzle out based on difficulty navigating. They have Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, but are not using them effectively for promotion. The best songs in the world still need to be found to be appreciated.

So I would like to see the band do well, but I think they need to strategize a bit more. They have some tour dates happening right now (Newcastle today), and if that gives them a chance to build some momentum, I hope they will capitalize on that.

Everything I could find is down below.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWNurfKhCu5Z6zp9EjukeQ

https://www.facebook.com/lovelessbandofficial

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/misery-single/id886782895

https://twitter.com/lovelessband

Lessons from comics: Rat Park

I should preface this by saying that even though I am not technically writing about it, I am having a hard time thinking about anything other than Eric Garner's homicide and the lack of an indictment. I'm not sure I have anything useful to say about it, but maybe this will relate.

I have written about Rat Park before, but I am still thinking about it:

http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/rat-park/#page-1

The last line of the story is this:

"What if the difference between not being addicted and being addicted was the difference between seeing the world as your park and seeing the world as your cage."

I know that it is possible for people in similar situations to have different attitudes and perceptions. There are many variations. People with similarly poor economic situations can be blessed by good social networks, or be emotionally isolated. Genetics and upbringing can make a huge difference in terms of temperament and resilience. Of course I think about that. Those things can be factors.

When I first read Rat Park, I didn't think of it in terms of viewpoint like that anyway. I was thinking about physical environment as determined by economic status, but also by social planning. I was visualizing playgrounds and libraries versus pawn shops and boarded up buildings. That is also a very reasonable thing to think about.

Now I am also thinking about how authority figures treat you. I am looking at all of the different things black people get shot for, and all of the ways that society tries to justify it. Even if you are well-off, and even if you have good family support - well, maybe the world actually looks less like a cage and more like a death trap. It would at least appear as a hostile environment. That may not always result in addiction, but it's a rotten way to set up a world.

I know that there are drug and crime and race problems and they do not perfectly overlap, but I think I can tie this in to Monday and Tuesday's posts, and maybe there will be a point even if it is not the only possible point or even the most needed point.

Although we covered that the new Killjoys were not exactly heroes, there is something about them that is more sympathetic than Better Living Industries, and I think that comes from the power imbalance. They never do that much damage to BLI; how can they? It's too big. Maybe we all relate to forces you can't beat, and understand the desire to take them on. But then as they fight, they turn dark too. Maybe it's because they forgot what they were fighting for, but maybe the fighting methods are corrupting.

I see the misery inequality causes, but I also see that the structure stays in place because some people are happy enough to not be at the very bottom that they accept being near the bottom.

I can't accept it because people matter. Killing people is an awful thing. Hurting people is awful. Exploiting them for your own economic gain is awful, and yet all of those things get accepted.

Corporations find it very easy to decide that individuals don't matter much, because if you let the individuals matter it really cuts into profits. Governments accept certain losses of individuals because it keeps their power consolidated.

Individuals may accept it because it is easier that way, or again, because they aren't on the very bottom. If you are not miserable, and you can convince yourself that there are good reasons for the suffering of all the people who are miserable, then it's easy to feel like the system works. Not only does that perpetuate misery, but it keeps us from even trying to imagine how good things can be.

We need to care about each other, and we especially need to care about the people on the bottom rungs, because if we can get to a place where they are all right then it will follow that everyone else will be all right. I may never find a way of saying that convincingly or eloquently, but I'm not letting go of the hope.

Lessons from comic books: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

With Killjoys, the comic is part of a much bigger package, including songs that sent me on a long journey starting almost three years ago. So if there are things that were not necessarily in the book, but the ideas coalesced for me while reading and thinking about the book, it's not really that surprising. There's a lot here. I'll probably ramble.

I believe it started to focus when reading Shaun Simon's note at the end of the special edition:

"We wanted the new Killjoys to look at the old ones - like kids nowadays who wear Ramones T-shirts without ever hearing a song - never understanding what the original Killjoys stood for and ultimately failing because of it."

There is a story here that I initially wasn't going to tell because I thought it was pointless, and then I realized that it wasn't.

My sister Maria used to want a Ramones T-shirt. She doesn't have anything against them, but she doesn't really listen to them either. I told her she could start listening more to the Ramones, which I will always support, but that it probably just made more sense for her to get a Metallica T-shirt. She listens to them all the time, and it sends a similar message: I do not like or accept what is currently popular, and don't think that I do.

I get that, even if I've never felt a need to put it on a T-shirt. As I have been observing the world around me, it has become clear that there is a strong division between establishment and anti-establishment, and a common need to declare allegiance. On the establishment side it may be a declaration of solidarity, and affirmation of the security it is supposed to bring. On the anti-establishment side, it may be a rebel yell, defying the forces that feel like they will consume you. On both sides it is often an expression of contempt.

There are funny and sad parts to this. For one thing, there are multiple little subdivisions. You think people have your back, and you belong, and it can be really traumatic finding out you're wrong. You can also find so much variety in people on both sides that divisions don't make any sense, but it seems to be a natural instinct.

What works well with Killjoys is that they do not take the easy road. It would be easy to see Better Living Industries as a total villain, and their opposition as heroes, but the new Killjoys are not heroic. Val is downright sadistic (and narcissistic and paranoid). There are moments of sympathy for people on the BLInd side, but not for the monolith itself.

As the most sympathetic characters are killed off, the most you can do is hope for the girl, and her success comes from choosing liberation instead of revenge, with better rewards than she could have possibly imagined.

Let me bring in something from Marco Pirroni:

"I was completely done with punk by the end of '77. It became an excuse to be stupid. It lost style; it lost subversiveness; it got really conformist. I thought the early punk thing was that old Oscar Wilde thing: 'We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' Well, the second generation was basically just 'We're all in the gutter.' They never moved on. A lot of them still haven't."

(from Mad World: An Oral History of the New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s, Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein, p. 20)

Rebellion can be necessary, but you have to know what you're rebelling against. Defining yourself by rebellion, and opposition, gets stupid and ugly.

So I guess one of the things that worked for me Killjoys is that even though some characters really were not looking for the stars, they still found them. That can be true to life, and it is fabulous.

Lessons from comic books: Darkstar & the Winter Guard

It's almost time for International Darkstar Day (Decmeber 18th) again.

Last year I participated by sending in a drawing I did of Darkstar, even though I was frustrated by the fact that it looked like it was drawn by a 14-year old girl. After reading Drawing on the Right Side of The Brain, by Betty Edwards, I now have a better understanding of why it came out that way, though I'm not sure I can do better yet.

My participation was solely due to the enthusiasm of Steve Morris ( @stevewmorris on Twitter), whose enthusiasm for the day and the character inspired me. It also left me with a great dissatisfaction that she was dead.

I did take down notes on recommended reading, but I have only found one of the books, Darkstar & the Winter Guard. It ended up being what I needed.

First of all, it covers more than one Darkstar. My allegiance was very much to the original, Laynia Petrovna, but the first part of the book is Darkstar II, Sasha Roerich, trying to hold on to her identity. Shortly after she dies, and Darkstar III, Reena Stancioff is introduced, and then she dies but Laynia returns in her place.

That sounds kind of horrible, but there were some important things about it. One is that I have to give the writing credit for making each woman someone you can care about. They worry about honoring memories and keeping a sense of self, and I could relate to them.

Also, with each death, and even before that with the death of Vadim (a Crimson Dynamo), it becomes clear that there is sort of a hero assembly line going on:

Make appropriate arrangements for the family. See that they are taken care of. Redeploy.

The individual team members build personal relationships, and they seem to matter, but the loss of one is routine, and the response is rote. Fair or not, it does feel very Soviet.

It does not feel right, but then you find out that there were those who could not accept it, and disappeared. They come back, and you feel the pain and the anger, especially for Laynia's brother Nikolai Krylenko (Vanguard). Nikolai can't accept her replacement, which feels human and real. He still manages to work with Reena, because he must, and he reacts to her death, but then you are also there for his relief when Laynia rises reborn.

It's a roller coaster ride. Also, Ursa Major features prominently, and he is like the best superhero idea ever.

Anyway, it started me thinking about the superhero genre as a whole. Many superheroes have had multiple versions, and just as surely as you have people who only accept Dick Grayson as Robin, and maybe that's part of why they hated Jason Todd so much, there are still people who are glad to see Dick moving on to being Nightwing, and find the changes interesting.

Personally, I hear "Captain Marvel" and I think of Carol Danvers, but I really like Monica Rambeau, and I like that they can do things together, and sometimes will. There are people having a hard time with the changes to Thor, and past changes to Spider-Man, and the more I think about it the more examples I realize there are.

I want to say that if the writing is good it will work out. For people whose objections are based in racism or sexism, good writing may not be enough, but I don't have great sympathy for those issues. However, I have realized another component, and this is continuing to care about the other iterations.

I could accept Laynia's death better when I saw that it mattered. Her comeback seemed worse the way it happened in conjunction with Reena's death, but there was a gain there too. Deaths happen, and we should have fiction that deals with death, but then it can't lose sight of the value of life. If the writers are not invested in the characters there is no reason for the readers to be.  

That may just be another aspect of good writing.

PS: Writing about Robin reminded me of something silly I wrote:

http://www.wattpad.com/74119495-the-breakup-gotham-city-edition-the-end-of-the

Related posts:

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2014/01/comics-for-2014.html

Hallelujah

I just finished reading Alan Light's The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah". It was literally something I read on two days off, so it was a pretty quick read, and there is no reason that anyone else interested could not read it.

Because of that, it wouldn't make sense for me to summarize the book and what I learned. It did put a lot of things that I kind of knew into context, plus telling me a lot of things that I didn't know, so I appreciate that. I had thoughts about many things while reading it, and some of them may come out at some point.

What I thought I wanted to write today though is a little about the "unlikely ascent" part. Leonard Cohen's first studio recording of "Hallelujah" was on an album that the label refused to release. Another label eventually released it, but it stayed pretty obscure. People who were into music knew about it, and eventually things started building from it's inclusion in a movie, Shrek, that did really well after getting released, but the movie had a lot of trouble getting there.

Once the movie was successful, that not only led to greater recognition of existing versions, but many other versions being recorded. Some will say it's overdone, now. If I were more culturally aware, like if I watched various singing competition shows, I would have heard it a lot more, and I might feel differently. Regardless, despite how powerful the song is, and how many people it has resonated with, it was initially not seen as having that potential.

Sometimes when I see that an old blog post has been read again, months or years later, I will go back and read it, and that happened with my post on The Hobbit recently. All of the previews were so bombastic, and there were so many broad jokes, and it felt like no one is willing to make a small, quiet movie anymore, though those are often the best ones.

Putting them together, I freely admit that there needs to be some attention paid to finance and commercial concerns. Artists need to eat, there are production expenses, and that's fine.

If we are only looking for big hits, though, there will be too many misses. Not only do we lose out on small, emotionally poignant pieces, but audiences can get tired of too many big films that all feel the same.

I'm not exactly saying "Art for art's sake", but the money shouldn't be more important than the art, or the art doesn't end up being worth very much.

So I guess one thing that I am grateful for is the many people who do keep creating, and they do it for love and with love. I do wish them financial success, maybe just not so much that they lose their spark. And I wish that for me too.

The Music of 1975

This is not about the band called The 1975. I know they exist, but I am not really familiar with them. I like so many bands from Manchester that I probably should check them out, but not right now.

Having arrived at another holiday weekend, I was concerned that reviews that I posted today and tomorrow might get lost in the shuffle. Christmas is on a Thursday too, so I will have to figure out something for that week as well, but for this week I am replacing the normal band reviews with other writing about music. For today, that centers on an upcoming project.

Currently the songs of the day have been mainly songs by bands I have reviewed. (Though again, to keep anyone from getting ignored, today will not be one of those.) I am almost done with the current list, and I got the idea that next I wanted to do a countdown to my birthday.

From December 5th through January 17th, each day will be a year, and the song of the day will be something associated with that year. Ideally it will be a song from that year that has some emotional or symbolic significance for that year of my life, but sometimes there is a more apt song from a different year. Looking at the charts, for these last two years there will be nothing that charted that I will give any kind of notice (too many auto-tuned abominations).

Covering the earlier years is more difficult, because there are things I don't remember, and also I was not really culturally aware until we got MTV. I was trying to think of the earliest records I could remember. All three candidates came out in 1975.

They are not representative of 1975, except for maybe one of them. I am pretty sure that they did not even come to me in 1975, except maybe for a different one. Let's just get into talking about them.

Toys in the Attic, Aerosmith

This is the first record I remember picking out in the store. I was drawn to it by the cover art. My brother told me I wouldn't like it, and he was right, but it was more that I wouldn't like it yet.

At the time, I remember putting it on, and it was nothing like I thought it might sound. I remember how I thought it should sound, but I could not remember how it actually sounded until I brought the songs up today. I would end up liking some of those songs later.

I could not tell you if it was representative of the musical landscape at the time, but it was more likely than the other two candidates. However, I am pretty sure that I did not get the record in 1975 anyway, because I remember my older sister picking out Book of Dreams by the Steve Miller Band, and that didn't come out until May 1977. I believe she also picked hers out for the artwork - a horse with rainbow wings - but it worked out better for her because I remember her playing it multiple times. I remember "Jungle Love" and "Swingtown" pretty clearly. (We shared a room.)

Based on that release date, at the very earliest our ages would have been 5, 10, and 12, which are somewhat different demographics. That kind of leads me to the next one.

Happy Birthday From Sesame Street, the Sesame Street cast

My first memory of choosing a record was Toys in the Attic, but I had been given records before that, and there was a lot of Disney and Sesame Street in that collection, which I loved unironically and still have fond memories of.

When I first looked this up, I saw 1975 as its release date, but now I see 1977. It is possible that some of the songs appeared on the show prior to the album. I think it was a birthday present, so with a January birthday, I probably got it the year after it was released.

Regardless, I can tell you the one that stuck with me was "Blow Out The Candles" by Bob, and it was awkward because it kind of gave me a crush on him. Frankly, that increases the likelihood that this was from 1977, because that was about the same time that I got a vocal crush on Shaun Cassidy, which is more embarrassing.

At the same time, there are sometimes combinations of music, lyrics, and vocals, where it stirs an emotional response. That's part of what makes music great, embarrassing crushes aside.

At the Hop, various artists

This is the one I might actually have heard in 1975. It was a part of my life as far back as I can remember.

Generally speaking, I thought of music in the early '70s as a vast wasteland. Some things I was not ready to appreciate yet, and some things I was just never exposed to, but I remember hearing a lot of depressing, horrible things. Because of that, I mainly listened to older music.

I thought of it as '50s music. Later I found that a lot of it was from the '60s, but the title track here was from 1957, and one of my other favorite albums from then was Cruisin' 1956, so that may have been my ideal range right there.

One thing I hadn't realized until I started researching is that the song "At the Hop" experienced a kind of resurgence after being used in the 1973 movie American Graffiti. The compilation album I loved so much may have been a result of the movie, but it also makes me think that perhaps I wasn't the only one who found '70s music dismal.

Comic Review: Internet comics, no particular theme

I tried to divide this into a theme where I could pick three again, but the most likely theme did not have an obvious name, and I realized that the ones I haven't read yet are probably ones that I will cover based more on their authors, so this is just throwing several things out there.

It is going up late, but there are really a lot of reading options for your long weekend.

Wondermark: http://wondermark.com/

by David Malki

Old-fashioned pictures are combined with rather current exposition. The jokes often have fairly long setups, where the result is more likely to be a smile of understanding than an loud guffaw, but I find that many of them are applicable, and I end up sharing them with others. The Terrible Sea Lion was exactly right, and the one about daycare being wasted on the young made me jealous.

XKCD: http://xkcd.com/

by Randall Munroe

The jokes are generally centered around math, language, technology, and human relationships. The art itself is usually pretty simple, with stick figures, but then something of amazing and beautiful complexity will appear. The humor is sometimes weird, which works for me, and sometimes it is entirely above my head, however, there is a disclaimer right on the page:

"Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)."

This double liberal arts major (Romance Languages and History) still enjoys it.

Dumbing of Age: http://www.dumbingofage.com/

by David Willis

This one focuses on the lives of the mainly freshmen students living in the dorms. It would be really easy to make some of the characters unsympathetic stereotypes, but there is a nice humanity to the strip. Some aspects of college and dorm life feel very familiar. There is a fair amount of focus on sex, which I don't remember as much from my time in school, but it certainly seems plausible.

The White Snake: http://www.jenwang.net/whitesnake/

by Jen Wang

There is currently only one chapter up, but it is really intriguing. The story switches from a collection of snakes where several snakes are missing and a person is dead, to the therapy session of a seemingly open and rather unworldly girl. I do want to know what happens next.

Kate or Die!: http://kateordiecomics.com/

by Kate Leth

This is often really cute, and then sometimes it kind of dragged for me. I can't write it off though, because it frequently touches on issues of depression and identity that are handled really sensitively, and I know there is a need for that. It is probably best to not expect too strong a theme. Sometimes it functions more like a journal, sometimes there is a story, and you take it as it comes.

Ducks: http://beatonna.tumblr.com/post/81993262830/here-is-a-sketch-comic-i-made-called-ducks-in

by Kate Beaton

This is different in that it is not fully developed yet. The drawings are rough sketches, and at least for when I was trying to read it, the individual issues cut off, where there were parts and connections missing. It is more of an experiment in that way, checking to see if there is something there. And there is. I believe there are important themes there, and that it would pair well with Underground from yesterday - perhaps not quite as action-packed, but with the focus on environment, industry, and human cost.

I thought I was going to cover three more, but of those left, they are all taking long enough to get anywhere that I can't tell where they are going. That's not an automatic reason for dismissal, but it may be a good reason to come back in a few months and see what's happening.

Comic Review: Internet comics, complete stories edition

These are three very diverse stories, all of which I have enjoyed, and which you may enjoy as well.

Hearts: http://hearts.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/

Adapted by Anna Sarhling-Hamm from a 1904 story by M. R. James, "Lost Hearts".

This is the shortest of the stories and it is safe to call it the eeriest. It is also helpful that it is not very long, because you will want to go back once you understand the resolution and see how it played out.

At least that is how it was for me being unfamiliar with the story. If you have already read "Lost Hearts" then there are no surprises, but I imagine that seeing it pictured would be rather satisfying.

While going over internet comics I have been considering things like layout and navigation, and I feel like the page setup here works well with the overall mood. Nicely done.

Nimona: http://gingerhaze.com/nimona/comic/page-1

by Noelle Stevenson

Nimona was put out as an ongoing comic, but it always had a defined arc, and that arc having been completed, will be released in book form next year.

Nimona herself is a shape-shifter who volunteers as a sidekick to villain Lord Ballister Blackheart. Initially I kept reading because it was so fun. If you think a powerful shape-shifter with the attitude and attention span of a teenage girl would be frustrating for a villain with a pretty strict honor code, you would be right. That frustration also has a lot of comic potential, and the shape-shifting has some great artistic potential. There is also fun with science and especially one scientist who is the very definition of nonplussed (and probably nonplussable, if that were a word).

At the same time, there is a lot of heart to the comic, and there are times when it really gets you in the gut.

Underground: http://undergroundthecomic.com/

Written by Jeff Parker, art by Steve Lieber, and colors by Ron Chan

Here there are five books, which can be purchased via Paypal donation.

The story centers around a cave system that the protagonist is trying to protect while various other people are trying to make a profit from it, told over five books.

I appreciate the balance given to the various characters and points of view. I sympathize with preservation, but I sympathize with the need for economic stimulation too. I believe the multiple needs can be met, which the book seems to indicate as well, based on its resolution.

The most amazing thing about it is exploration of the cave system with everything that happens there. I will admit that there were a few places where the action got a little confusing to follow, which would probably happen if you were in the situation yourself. I just also have to say that there were moments when it left me breathless, like Dang! How do you get out of that? It's a lot of adrenaline for reading a comic, and I'm not sure that claustrophobics would be free from panic while reading it, because it gets to you.

It does make the caves look really cool, it just grabs you by the throat a little bit in the process.

Comic Review: Internet comics, superhero edition

When I started looking at internet comics, it seemed that for every one I found and read, I kept finding more, and a list from five quickly grew to twenty-one, even with me stopping myself from noting others. It is probably better to look at it as something where the reading will not end, rather like non-internet comics. So, it is reasonable to review a few now, that I have read.

Agents of the Realm: http://agentsoftherealm.com/

Artwork and content by Mildred Louis

"Shortly after beginning their first year of college at Silvermount University, Five young women discover that they’ve each been chosen to help protect not just our world, but a newly discovered sister dimension as well. As they venture forward through their college years their lives start to take on forms of their own, providing them with new opportunities to learn just how much power they have over them."

I like the artwork quite a bit, but I find the pace of the storytelling frustrating. Sometimes a long time will be taken on setup of a crisis, and then resolution is too quick. This is still fairly early in the run, though, and things may even out.

My So-Called Secret Identity: www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/

Created by Suze Shore, Will Brooker, and Sarah Zaidan

" My So-Called Secret Identity is what happened when internationally-acclaimed Batman scholar and popular culture expert, Dr Will Brooker, decided to stop criticising mainstream comics for their representation of women, and show how it could be done differently; how it could be done better."

The name works on two levels. The similarity to "My So-Called Life" seems apt, as a precocious redhaired heroine deals with frustrations and personal growth, but also, the identity is not that secret. People know who she is, and in general the heroes and villains in Gloria City are pretty well-known. Even with the superhero pair that hires actors to portray their alter egos, there is no big surprise to that. Costumed heroes are so common here that it is easy to be cynical about them and their impact. That's the situation against which the story unfolds.

Reading four issues in succession I was very caught up in it. Issue 4 ended on a very dire note, and one common issue with web comics is that the schedule can be pretty irregular. Cliff hangers can last a while, is what I'm saying.

JL8: A Webcomic: http://jl8comic.tumblr.com/

By Yale Stewart

"JL8" is a side project of "Gifted" creator Yale Stewart. A weekly webcomic, it follows the adventures of popular DC comic characters as children in elementary school. Mostly funny, with a dash of pathos, it should be an enjoyable read for any fans of DC Comics characters as well as people who enjoy the traditional syndicated comic strip."

I adore this one. It is adorable, while also feeling correct in that if you took these various characters and put them together into an elementary school, this is how they would be. Has really made me love Martian Manhunter.

Band Review: Busy Living

Busy Living is a pop punk band based in Central Wisconsin.

Although the pop punk designation feels very appropriate, I did hear other influences. At times the introspective sadness of the lyrics reminded me of some of the emo bands I have been listening to, but the music did not, feeling more determined and energetic. Some of the tunes verge into hardcore, but not consistently. At various times I thought of Touché Amoré and Science.

Their album How an Ending Feels was released on October 28th. While it is not a concept album, there is a strong theme. There is regret for the past relationship, and some self-recrimination for its loss, but part of that failure is also geographical. He could not make the West Coast work for him, and needed to return to his origins. There is a general understanding that this is how it needs to be, despite the pain involved with that.

I don't know how autobiographical it is for any of the band members, but if a return to Wisconsin was needed, and they are all there now, then it is logical that the things that need to happen can happen now. Maybe this is the right launching place and time for the band.

There is an ending, but it is not the ending. At least it shouldn't be.

https://www.facebook.com/BusyLivingWI

http://busylivingband.bandcamp.com/

https://twitter.com/BusyLivingWI

Band Review: Professor Shyguy

Professor Shyguy creates music that you could classify as Chip Pop.

I have reviewed one Chip Tunes composer before (Ben Landis), and was completely unfamiliar with the genre previously, so this is still pretty new to me. There are two things that stood out.

One is that with Professor Shyguy there seem to be more non chip elements introduced - at least it does not sound all 8-bit. Because of the beats and melodic features there is more of a dance/electronica feel. This in no way detracts from the game influence, as various songs reference games like World of Warcraft or Minecraft. (Well, I think they do, but that is also unfamiliar ground for me.)

The other thing I noticed was that in club music there is often a lot of sampling which may not be the reason for the monotony, but I suspect it doesn't help. There is a note in his Facebook bio:  "Composing every note, no sampling, all original."  Perhaps that is why the music sounds fresh.

There is a fair amount of collaboration. If you click on the Facebook music link you will get an album that is not all Professor Shyguy. He is on many of the tracks, but often working with others. It is still a good introduction, so I recommend checking that out and also the video for "Guilded Love - A Song about The Guild and World of Warcraft", available on the main site.

http://professorshyguy.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ProfessorShyguy/

https://www.youtube.com/user/BrandtCooley

https://soundcloud.com/professorshyguy/

https://twitter.com/ProfessorShyguy

And Phil

We love Phil. We love Ty Burrell too, but we love Phil.

Yesterday when I mentioned Jay being unusually nice to Phil at Disneyland, I did not give the context. Phil, "the king of roller coasters" started feeling really ill after the Indiana Jones Ride. Jay told him that this was a result of aging, when the fluids in your ears thicken up, and you can't take the motion anymore. Jay said he needed to take a Dramamine to get on his swivel chair - doubtless an exaggeration, but a good explanation for why the only attraction we saw Jay participate in was Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln.

Phil tried to tough it out for the Matterhorn, but after Big Thunder Mountain Railroad he had to admit he was ailing to Luke, in a touching and funny scene that ended with Phil sending Luke off to Space Mountain, knowing that they could find other things to do together. It could have been bittersweet, but all was well when Claire realized that Phil had a fever. His nausea was the result of a flu bug going around the office, so roller coasters could still be okay in the future, and also, he and his coworkers should get cups instead of just drinking out of cartons.

There are two things that make that plot line resonate. One is that as we were on the hotel shuttle to the park one morning, an older (62?) gentleman was talking to someone else about how he used to like Space Mountain, but a few years ago he felt really sick on it. He went to his doctor and the doctor told him some people get calcium deposits in their ears when they get older, and it can result in vertigo symptoms.

My sisters and I looked at each other: it was true! Technically Jay's issues sounds more like Meniere's Disease, and the man on the bus more like Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/110650-types-inner-ear-disorders/

One of our greyhounds would sometimes have flare-ups with his vestibular apparatus, so I know the drill. But also, apparently it does not happen to everyone. That is good news for us. I love rides.

None of us appear to have age-related vertigo yet, but we have experienced illness in the park. Not flu; colds.

Julie started feeling it coming on toward the end of the trip. I felt it about two days later. We are both getting over it now, and Mom seems to have it, though she was not with us, and though it does make her feel dizzy (but she is older than us). The really weird thing about this is that Maria, as the kindergarten teacher, is usually patient zero whenever anything works its way through the house.

I suppose it raises a second question, of whether we are now too old to ride in airplanes without getting sick, because I got sick on our last trip to Disneyland. I thought it might have come from swimming in the pool. On Wednesday my throat started feeling scratchy, and on Thursday I had no voice.

I was really cranky that morning. Not being able to talk is no fun. I mean, you can write notes if it is really important, but usually for me it's just wanting to make jokes and smart remarks, and there is a pain in not being able to do it, but a lack of significance to them that makes trying too hard to get them out inappropriate.

However, it was not just being sick. We'd had a really late night Wednesday, which led to us oversleeping Thursday, which threw off our whole schedule. We were going to go to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, but we decided to start there for lunch. I didn't really want to go there at all, but my sisters did and it was their birthday.

When we finally got to the park, we went to Cars Land to ride the Radiator Springs Racers, and that was the longest line. (Still is.) So we waited and waited in the hot sun, and it was really annoying. Why couldn't we have gone in the single rider line? But they didn't want to get stuck with strangers.

Finally we got on the ride, and it was great, and then we went on other rides which had much shorter lines, and I felt a lot better. I still couldn't talk, but what I need was motion. The way the morning had gone gave me a pretty long delay before being flung or pulled or going zoom anywhere, but that's what I really needed.

This was a stressful trip for me financially. It was probably irresponsible to go, but a part of me wonders whether we will ever be able to afford another vacation again, in which case it is even more important that we went. (And yes, we are still trying for Italy in March. That is one reason I am writing up such a storm.)

For all the guilt and worry, there was so much joy and pleasure and exhilaration. Leisure is necessary. Work is important too, but without breaks, it's drudgery, and sometimes I forget how easily I turn to being a drudge. Which I suppose means that when my solution to escaping the drudgery is working even harder, that there is some irony there, but at least the writing harder part is something I like.

The networking part has been interesting. Some people have read the screenplay, or at least part of it. There have been a lot of favorites on the tweets, which I hope means they also click on the link, but it's at least supportive, and some very kind things have been said. (It does worry me that none of the five people who bought my book have said anything about liking it.)

I do feel some support, and also, it has still been really great remembering all of the bands and friendships, and the projects I was able to back when things were feeling financially better for me. So maybe I will do a round of asking comic book creators to check it out also. I don't know.

I've essentially decided to focus on the writing for now through March. If at that point nothing has happened, then I need to start looking for a different day job. I hate the thought of it, but I need to occasionally be able to visit a theme park. I need to have things to look forward to. Everyone does.

More Modern Family and Disneyland: Jay

Other than our great affinity for the park and the show, there is another reason I think about that episode a lot.

I generally watch shows that I am the only one at home who watches. We are all joined up on sitcoms now, and we all watch "Jeopardy!" together, but otherwise there is no one to discuss the shows with. Sometimes I would want to, and I would visit the forums at Televisionwithoutpity.com.

The site is closed now, but honestly the forums were often disappointing depending on the show. Sometimes they would be cliquish, and if you weren't either a regular contributor or really apologetic about barging in on their party, they would shun you. Sometimes a forum would be mainly innuendos. Also, sometimes, the forum was mainly comprised of hate watchers, who really just watch so they can post about everything wrong with the show. "Modern Family" had a lot of hate watchers, and they hated the ending of the "Disneyland" episode.

There is a story that Jay is recounting through the episode of a time when he took Claire and Mitchell to Disneyland when they were kids. It was supposed to be a family trip, but he and his wife had a fight because he accidentally taped over an episode of "Dallas" so DeDe didn't go. While at Disneyland he decided to get a divorce, but the last thing they did was "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" and somehow it convinced him to stay. Also throughout the episode, Claire and Mitchell tease him for crying then, which he brushes off as it being the greatest president, and his first robot.

As he wraps up the story, Gloria calls him from off screen to come join her in the Jacuzzi, and Jay smiles and finishes by saying that the universe rewarded him, so the forum posters were disgusted by this dirty old man.

While it is clearly not all there is to their relationship, Jay does enjoy having a hot wife, and he enjoys having the money where they can have a Jacuzzi and things like that. It was still clearly not all that he meant. It was cute to see him once more in "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln", one child on either side, and in-laws and grand kids surrounding. It was even better to see him hold his children closer, and to see them think it was weird but then settle in and enjoy it.

More than that, and I probably wouldn't have even noticed if we hadn't watched the episode multiple times, it is cool to see how content Jay is in the park. You don't see him go on a single ride, but he steps in and grabs Lily when she is running, kissing her on the top of her head, and then he offers his help to Mitchell. He tries to make some points to Claire that she is not hearing, but he also throws in a silly joke, and is listening to her. He is also really nice to Phil, who is often seen to get on his nerves. And he finds a way to take care of Gloria's feet despite her best efforts. Jay loves and enjoys his family.

It is not hard to imagine that in the real world situation a divorce would have led to the kids being with the wife, and growing apart from their father. He might have remarried earlier, and gotten a similar relationship to the one with DeDe and ended up with at least one other ex, and a more fractured family.

He does say that staying might not be right for everyone, but that it was right for him. It is also widely acknowledged that Jay is not a perfect father, but you do see him often rising to the occasion. The family has its rough patches, which is normal, but they also love and enjoy each other. Maybe it would have gone over better if he had said, "and things worked out", or something like that, but ultimately I take it as that staying with DeDe was hard, but he felt he needed to so he did it, and it had been worth it. There was still going to be a happy marriage in his future, and his kids, and good family times.

I like the episode a lot. It's part of a show that I like in a place that I like, so there is good synergy there.  Hate watcher would probably be happier if they focused on something they liked instead.

However, if anyone wishes to talk about shows at any point, I am open to that. Current sitcoms we watch are "Modern Family" and "Big Bang Theory", as well as reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond", along with some "Golden Girls" and "Designing Women". We have a lot of love for "My Name Is Earl" too, but my sisters have only seen Season 1, and I have only seen through Season 2. For older sitcoms, I am on my own in my love for "Scrubs" and "News Radio".

I will not only discuss "Jeopardy!" episodes with you, but answer questions about my own appearance.

For current dramas, I am alone in my love for "Grimm", "Person of Interest", "Once Upon A Time", and "White Collar". We all loved "The A-Team" equally, and I would not mind reminiscing over "The Scarecrow And Mrs. King", "Going To Extremes", "Twin Peaks", or "The Young Riders". I can discuss my past love for "Law & Order: SVU", followed by my growing contempt for it, but then I gave up on it, rather than hate-watching, and I feel that was for the best.

And, as long as I'm putting it out there, in addition to quoting a lot from the three sitcoms we have in common and "The A-Team", we also tend to quote and reference the following movies frequently: Dodgeball, The Birdcage, Outrageous Fortune, Spaceballs, and As Good As It Gets.