The is a great trailer, and it sets up the movie perfectly! The Hulk vs. Iron Man looks like it will be a lot of fun, and it will be good to get a couple new Avengers in to the mix. It is odd that they are showing so much of the movie so soon, and since everyone is going to go see it anyway, but this is still the first truly must watch trailer of the year.
Re-Reading The Trawn Trilogy Proves The Expanded Universe Isn’t Dead!
I decided that my life needed a little more Star Wars, so I decided to re-read the Thrawn Trilogy. These books are really old and if you haven’t read them you totally should, but since they have been out there so long I am not going to review them, I am just using them to make a point. Just because Disney has decided to kill the old expanded universe it doesn’t mean that those works are dead.
Sure this adventure with the original Star Wars cast isn’t canon anymore, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are engaging and fun to read. The same is true with the Knights of the Old Republic video game. Sure it may not be in the official Star Wars universe anymore, but the game isn’t worse for it.
Thrawn is still one of the best Star Wars villains of all time regardless of whether he is official or not. I am happy that I spent time with him again. If you are still in the dumps about Disney “throwing out” your favorite Star Wars character or piece of fiction, don’t be. Just reread it or replay it, and I am sure you will have just as much fun as the first time.
TV Should Be DC’s Earth 2!
A lot of people were sad to find out that DC was not going use The Flash and Arrow from the TV shows for their Justice League movies, but I think I have a solution that would make everyone happy. They should just make the TV shows Earth 2. For those of you that don’t read comic books, Earth 2 is the Earth in an alternate dimension. It has most of that same superheroes but slightly different, and every once and awhile they need to travel interdimensionally to help each other out.
This would allow the movie guys and the TV guys to do whatever they want, but still team up at some point in the future. Like say The Justice League Movie Part 2 where they fight the dimensional traveler Darkseid. This would also free them up to do my second idea, and that is to rename The Flash and Arrow TV shows to the Justice Society of America (Earth 2’s Justice League).
I know what you are thinking, “But I like The Flash and Arrow!”, and you are right too, but they would still be in the show, leads in it even. Just now they could highlight all the new heroes and villains they keep adding to the show every week, and better yet they could air it twice a week, or once a week all year long. As a bonus if CBS lets Supergirl play in the same universe it could air three times a week, but once on a major local TV station. It would be a lot of fun.
I am sure DC will not do either of these ideas because for some reason they like to ignore good fan ideas, but maybe we will get our TV Justice League …err Society, and our beloved TV characters on the big screen.
Thank Netflix For Serialized TV!
I have been finishing off season two of Arrow on Netflix, and it occurred to me that a show like Arrow wouldn’t have been possible without the DVD/Streaming service. Sure there were shows like 24 and morning soap operas before Netflix, but not a lot of them. The reason was that if you missed an episode there was no good way to catch up, and TV stations did want to take a chance that you would stop watching if you missed a show, or worse never start watching because you missed the first season.
TiVo was a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t wide spread enough, and it obviously didn’t have any seasons you missed. Now pretty much everyone has a Netflix subscription. It allows people to binge watch a TV show, and once they catch up they have no choice but to start watching the show live. If they miss a show they can catch up with Netflix competitors Amazon, Hulu, On Demand, or the Station’s website. The producers of Breaking Bad and The Killing have both expressed how Netflix is the reason their shows stayed on the air because people could catch up.
TV stations are taking the next logical step. Neflix was good for business and serialized TV, so now it is time be their “own” Netflix. CBS and HBO are dropping the cable requirement and launching their own Netflix competitors with their own content, and I am sure a lot of that content will be serialized. You know like Supergirl coming next fall to CBS.
Shmee Visits The Ocean At The End Of The Lane!
I have been meaning to read Neil Gaiman’s latest book The Ocean at the End of the Lane since it came out, but it kept slipping my mind until he Tweeted that it was the perfect book for October, and you know what? He was right (though I think it is the perfect book for any time of year). That is not to say it is overly scary, but it does put the reader in a spooky mood. It is a great book.
The story is about a young boy and his neighbors that claim their duck pond is an ocean. That is all I am going to tell you since half of the fun with Gaiman’s books is finding out where his imagination will take you, and the pond sized ocean is a very small piece of it.
Now this is a small book, and not just in length, but its stakes and scope are small too. Which is a nice change of pace for fantasy readers like myself who are always facing down the end of the world. It is fun just to read a wonderus adventure of a small boy. Plus Gaiman is able to fill his books with such seemingly effortless whimsy. He writes like I wish I could. As you can tell by my poor attempt at a book it must not be effortless.
Gaiman has said that this book fits in the universe he created with Stardust and The Graveyard Book, but I see it fitting in very well with Anansi Boys and American Gods. Though now that I think about it all his books work well together and they create a universe I love to visit.
This is a wonderful book, and I would say that it is a great adventure for all readers above the age of thirteen. Kids younger than that may like it too, but a parent should probably check it out first. If you are older than thirteen you should go get a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane now.