bam! pow! cliched!

While I was changing after the gym a few days ago..

(first tangent: going to the gym is a fantastic idea. Even if you're training every day at home, lifting weights at the gym gives a nice sense of routine to help stay focused. The extra strength is nice too)

...there were some kids from a summer camp getting ready to go swimming one row of lockers over. Amongst the yelling I heard them talking about superpowers. I remember these imaginary arms races. One of them started out as Spider-Man, then the other claimed the Hulk, then it just went on, then they started

(second tangent: just to make the record clear, the Hulk is unkillable, and if mad enough one of the most powerful beings in the marvel universe. Y'know, if anyone was curious)

...on characters from Watchmen. Nite Owl vs. Ozymandias was the first match, and eventually Dr. Manhattan's ability to make people explode with his mind was brought up. My first thought was that the kid made a good choice. Second was how weird they were talking about it. I mean, Watchmen is hardly for children, though I guess

(third tangent: my love for comics is obvious, and I've stood up for them in the past, so I won't go into that. But Watchmen is an incredible piece of work by any standard. Not that awards mean too much, but Time magazine did name Watchmen one of the top 100 novels--not graphic novels, any sort of novel--of the 20th century).

...the movie adaption has popularized it. Even still the movie, but more so the book, are about a group of washed up, flawed people. They aren't superheroes at the time, some never really were. There is an alcoholic, a sociopath, a disconnected man with the powers of a god.

One character in the book, Ozymandias, goes public with his identity and forges a business empire, with a fundamental piece being merchandising based on his former self. Action figures, cartoons, all that good stuff. The others are uneasy or offended by that move--it feels like a sellout.

But here we are. Watchmen action figures, journals, mugs, t-shirts, even a Nite Owl brand of coffee. All there.

This story, a comment on the myth of the superhero, has stepped into the shoes it criticized. It seems sad to me. Not that crass commercialization and the comic books don't go hand in hand. Many say it's what saved the industry in the 70s and 90s, but I'm still

(fourth tangent: the comic industry, despite having a few million monthly readers, has always been a bit shaky. Seems to be doing fine now, with all the royalties off superhero movies)

...really uneasy. These characters were never meant to be heroes, how can we have missed the point so easily?

for whom the bell tolls (the answer is zombies)

Okay, okay, okay.  I've always loved zombies, so I am very stoked on a book I was given my birthday.  Brace yourself for a brilliant title:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

It's the original Jane Austen text, except parts have been added or modified so that there are zombies wandering all over England, with the Bennet sisters being the most accomplished, ruthless killers of the undead in their parish.  You must read it.  If you think Austen is boring, there is now violent zombie action to hold your interest.  If you love the original book, the zombies actually manage the highlight how funny the original text is.  

Among certain crowds this has caused an uproar, with some people call this sacrilege.  Austen's new...er...co-author has taken on one of the towering giants of western literature.  People love that book, don't you remember the BBC adaption?  Or Kiera Knightly's?  People love her!  

Should we modify a text that's achieved a sort of sanctity nowadays?  Maybe it's because this take suggests that the book is boring.  Having read the original, I can say I respect it and enjoyed parts of it, but wouldn't take it up again.  With zombies, though, it's much more entertaining.  

Right on the heels of this book is JD Salinger suing a man for writer a sequel to A Catcher in the Rye.  But this is a different situation.  For one, copyright laws have expired on Austen.  You can do whatever you want with her works, legally speaking.  Two, this isn't an attack or a joke, it's kind of a remix.  Like I said, having one of the most pulp symbols of our current lives casts the satire and (dare I say it) pop culture crush Jane Austen had into light.   She didn't write about people, but artifacts of her culture.  In a way, the original novel is camp for the 19th century, just done really well.  

So go read it.  

wet bamboo

Discipline isn't about doing what you don't want to do.  Most people think that, I did for a long time.  Going to work (for some people most of the time, for all of us occasionally) isn't so much an act of discipline but an act of needing to pay the bills.

Discipline isn't about obligation, but priorities.  It's choosing to pursue what you see the value in.  I train because I love it and I know it makes me a better person--physically and mentally.  When I'm sitting on the couch with my book, though, it's pretty hard to get moving.  But I know, as I go to bed and reflect on the day I'd rather have practiced.  So I do it.

...nearly all of the time.  

But if I saw my practice as one more thing to get done, it would fall behind other priorities, stuff that seems more important because it demands to get done today.  I need to go the registry, to study, whatever.  I can't even imagine what that list looks like with a kid.  By keeping what training does for me in front, though, I set my priorities properly by what does me the most good. 

In other news, two months.  Terrexited. 

she has a book where she keeps track of all the lists

I had to make a list of everything I was grateful for, as part of this challenge. My initial thoughts were the standard. Friends and family that challenge and support me, kung fu, books, school, etc. But then I thought about good chedder, loud music videos on youtube of people falling off trampolines, parks, getting stuck in traffic so I don't feel bad bringing the mosh while driving. Stupid, awesome things that belong in some weepy, fictional diary. Those are fantastic. So my list goes like this:


life, and all its associated frustrations