Darker Superheroes?

I was afraid of this.

A few weeks back (I think it was before I went to DisneyWorld), I saw a report that Warner and DC Comics, inspired by the huge success of The Dark Knight, plan to push all their superhero properties to the darkest level their respective characters will allow.

Now I realize I am in the minority, but I didn't care for The Dark Knight at all. (And I got attacked for my opinion, too. If you want a good laugh read some of the comments on that review.) In my mind, the movie was way too dark. There was not even a glimmer of hope at the end of it. While I enjoyed Batman Begins, I will go out of my way to avoid seeing this movie ever again. And I had to go home and clear my mind with the nice theropy of Monsters Inc.

Now, I realize that Batman is a dark character and most of what I have seen isn't true to the character. Fine. I can live with that. I now know to think carefully before I injest any more Batman.

But let's think about some of the other characters this affects. Superman. Wonder Woman. Aquaman. I'd say the list could go on, but I don't know my superheroes all that well. The point is, dark isn't the word that comes to mind when I think of the characters I've just listed.

Furthermore, let's think about superheroes for a minute. They're designed to fit into our fantasies. We're talking wish fullfillment, really. Who wouldn't want to fly or make others tell the truth. This really isn't a dark place. When I think Superhero, I think light escaptist fun.

Yes, Superheroes need villains to fight. Otherwise, their lives would be boring and we wouldn't want to read about them/watch them. I get that.

Maybe I just need to actually read comic books. I must admit I have never done that. Most of my exposure to Superheroes comes from TV and the movies. And I know that this means I am not seeing the characters are the were created to be known. Fine.

But the first thing I think of with Superheroes is escapism. I'm not looking for morals about life. I'm not looking for darkness. I'm looking for your basic good vs. evil story where good triumphs at the end of the day. And the fact that I can predict the outcome isn't a bad thing as long as I care about the characters and enjoy spending time with them. But if I am going to leave the theater depressed, then I certainly won't care about the characters enough to ever come back.

So, please Warner Brothers, rethink your decision. Keep Batman dark. After this last movie, I won't be going back to him anyway. But don't take away Superheroes from me because you think everyone wants them to be dark. Some of us find real life dark enough and go to a movie for something fun and light.

(This post has been my entry in this week's Watercooler Wednesday.)

Mini Review: Relentless

Today is obviously book day around here. I'm going to catch up on my mini reviews. (I've got to finish my current book soon!)

Today's review of is Relentless by Robin Parrish. I bought this book when it came out in 2006, yet waited until now to read it. Yes, I can be an idiot.

One morning while walking to work, Collin Boyd looks up to see...himself walking to work. As he hurries to catch up with himself, he looks in a window and sees a stranger staring back. Then a mysterious woman appears and tells him that his life is now in danger. What in the world is going on?

So, obviously, this book has a strong fantasy element to it. But that didn't bother me in the least. The plot still raced from one event to another. In fact, I had a hard time putting the book down. It's one of those where, just as you get one answer, you get two more questions. It was a little bloody in spots, but basically a great read.

It's the first in a series, and I can't wait to read books two and three and find out what happens next to the characters

Newbery Winner: Bronze Bow

This month in the monthly children's classics discussion, we are focusing on Newbery winners. Now, two of my choices have already been discussed (Witch of Blackbird Pond and My Father's Dragon), so I am going to go with a third, The Bronze Bow.

This book is set in 1st century Galilee. The story centers around Daniel, a young zealot who has a very intense hatred of the Romans. When he is forced to return to Nazareth to care for his invalid sister, he meets Jesus. Will these encounters change his life?

This was the book we did for English when I was in 8th grade. (I was home schooled at the time.) My entire family fell in love with it, and I went out and read the rest of author Elizabeth George Speare's books.

What makes this book so great? The story pulls you in almost from the start. And there is always something going on. It may not be exciting action, but there is plenty of conflict.

Better yet, the characters are real. You truly come to care for them by the time the book is over.

I can remember Mom reading this book aloud to us and the entire family being captivated by the story. This is a "kids" book that they will enjoy but will entertain any adult who reads it. It's certainly worked on me when I've reread it.

Mini Review: Stamped Out

Yes, with Fall into Reading comes my habit of writing mini reviews on my blog. I always include a link to my longer review at Epinions if you are interested in reading more.

Unfortunately, my fall got off to a poor start with Stamped Out by Terri Thayer.

With her marriage dissolving in San Francisco, April takes a job offer from her father and moves back home to Pennsylvania. She only plans to stay for a year or so to get her feet back under her.

But on her first day on the job, a demolition project unearths a skull. Since her father built the building just demolished, the local sheriff zeroes in on him. And since the sheriff is known for his less than fair tactics, April knows she will have to figure out what really happened to clear her father's name. Can she do it?

Basically, I didn't like anything about the book. The story moved forward very slowly, with too much time spent on the sub-plots. Then there are the main characters. I hated over half of them. Even April herself got on my nerves with her whiney "whoa is me" attitude. Granted, if it had been over her recently failed marriage, I would have understood. But she was still upset over her father leaving her mother for a man. And that happened over a decade ago when she was in high school. Frankly, her attitude was childish most of the time.

I won't be moving on with this series, and I highly recommend that you don't even bother with it.

Thursday Threesome for October 9th

Looks like The Back Porch doesn't have a Thursday Threesome listed this week. But since I haven't yet done the one from when I was at DisneyWorld, I'll do that one.

Onesome: "Goodbye,--Norma Jean"? Hmmm.... Best song ever? ...or did he top himself when he adapted it for Princess Diana?
I actually have heard either version of the Elton John song, so I don't have an opinion.

Twosome: Yellow--lights: run 'em or slam on the brakes? ...or do you plan your speed so you never hit them yellow? ...or maybe, "What yellow light, Officer?" !
Usually it's slam on the brakes while grumbling that I have to wait. But if I am close or have sat through the light a cycle or two already, I will push it through.

Threesome: Brick Road--s and flying monkeys? Okay, did those things just creep you out? ...or were you one of those people who really, really, really wanted one for a pet? Just askin'...
Pretty much, they creeped me out in the movie, but I thought they were cool in the book. A walking contradiction. But what about that surprises you. :)

Since Disney

Yes, I've been back for over a week now, and I'm still blogging about my Disney trip. But there has been other stuff going on in my life. Really!

Naturally, things have been busy at work as I try to get back in the swing of things. I think I'm finally there, but we'll see what shows up next.

And I've spent lots of time trying to catch up on TV. I think I am watching too many shows, yet there are none I want to cut out. And I've got three more premiering next week. I know ratings are low at the moment on a couple of my shows. I hope they don't get the ax as a result.

As if I hadn't had enough of amusement parks, I spent Saturday at Magic Mountain. My friend Debbie was back in town, this time with her youth group. So I spent a day trying to make myself sick on all the big coasters. I hadn't been since 2004 or so, so it was lots of fun. I really should get an annual pass again. I was trying to ride X one last time, but it shut down due to mechanical problems. I waited until about 12:40 for them to finally admit it wasn't coming back up. But I got a free pass to be used by the end of the year out of it.

The unfortunate thing is we had sprinkles on and off on Saturday. Yep, first rain in months, and it was that day. It wasn't enough to truly slow us down, however. And we all seemed to have a good time despite the weather.

Sunday I headed to Pasadena for the Ultimate Frisbee pick up game I intend to join regularly. It was great to get out and play. Although between the two I was so sore that night. And my workouts the last couple of days have had more leg stuff then I would have liked.

And I think that's about it. You are now up to date on my thrilling life.

Disney Report 4 - The Final One

Yes, that's right. I am going to get the last two days of my Disney trip done even if it kills me.

But before I move on to Saturday, I do need to make a point about Friday for those who haven't been to Disney World. It isn't like Disneyland where you can walk from Disneyland's main entrance to CA Adventure in two minutes. The parks are miles apart. You have to take shuttles (or monorail) do get from one to the other. And yet I was extremely blessed with that. I walked onto every shuttle or monorail I needed on Friday. I had had to wait up to half an hour earlier in the week. But this time, when I was ready, there was the shuttle.

Okay, so on to Saturday.

Saturday started very early in the morning. We had a group photo at 7:15 AM. That meant I had to get up and get going earlier than I would have liked. But we were all there and ready on time. The photo went quickly, giving us some time before we had to get on a bus and head to EPCOT.

Our next group event of the day was Mouse Quest. We were broken into teams and then given a series of clues or questions we had to find the answer to somewhere in EPCOT. We did one set in Future World and one in the World Showcase. Basically, it was a glorified scavenger hunt. But it was lots of fun. That took all morning, and we ended in the America portion of World Showcase, so I went to see American Adventure again. Yes, I loved it so much I did it two days in a row. From there, I wander through the rest of the countried I hadn't made it to yet and watched the two films - one in France and a Circle Vision one in Canada. That one is hosted by Canadian Martin Short and it is so funny.

At one point, I was going to wander over to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon, but I just didn't have enough time to make it worth while. Instead, I spent time in the Future World part of EPCOT. I rode a Segway in one of the Innoventions pavillions. That was fun yet challenging. And I rode Test Track several times in a row. And I found most of the Christmas ornaments I was planning to buy in Magic Kingdom, so I bought them there.

Even with staying in EPCOT, I was the last one to make our dessert event that night. We had a roped off (and therefore) private patio area to watch the fireworks that night. And we had delicious desserts to enjoy, too. The fireworks were neat, although they did spend too much time focusing on the ball or Earth. It is only cool to watch it rotate so many times.

But no, the day wasn't over yet. About 10 of us headed over the Magic Kingdom after the fireworks. We were hyped up on sugar and adrenialine, so we had a blast making fools of ourselves. We sang Disney songs at the top of our lungs on the monorail. Then we sang along with Pirates and Splash Mountain. We had lost some of our spunk by the time we hit Small World. And we ended the night with Space Mountain. It was around one by the time I got home and to bed. It was totally worth it.

But that didn't mean I could sleep in Sunday morning. I only had a few hours left. I packed, checked out, and headed back to Hollywood Studios. I rode Toy Story a second time (after waiting in an hour long line), Rockin' RollerCoaster, and Tower of Terror before heading to the next park.

And here's where I really blew it on several fronts. Before I left, Mom and Dad had told me to be sure to see the totum poles at Wilderness Lodge. For some reason, I was thinking they were impressed with Fort Wilderness Campground. So I took the shuttle there, planning to take the ferry over to Magic Kingdom. So I ride the shuttle from Hollywood Studios to Wilderness Lodge to the Campground, going right past what I was supposed to see. Then, after getting out, I discover I am at the opposite end of the campground from where I need to catch the ferry. So I set out walking. It was at least a mile away. I must admit I did enjoy the campground. It made me want to stay there. Although I'd be at the parks the entire time and never truly enjoy the campground. I just enjoy camping that much, I guess.

Anyway, I did finally make it on to Magic Kingdom, where I went to PhilharMagic one more time. I wish I had gotten there early enough to do it twice because I had a tall guy sitting in front of me, blocking part of the screen. But I needed to move on. I bought the castle Christmas ornament I couldn't get the day before, then headed back to my motel where I had just enough time to grab lunch before it was time to catch the UnMagical Express (hey, it can't be the Magical Express if they are taking you away from Disney World toward your real life) to the airport.

And I'll give them this on the Magical Express. I checked my bag onto my flight from my hotel before I went to the parks. It was great to not have to worry about that all day.

Angelique and I were on the same flight back to LA. I was flying with Delta this time, and I didn't have nearly the had times I did with the flight out on United the week before. Everything went according to plan. I made it home a little before 11, tired.

As you can tell, it was a great trip. Yes, I'd go back, although I don't know if I would rush back. We already have the majority of the stuff I loved there here in California. And it's much cheaper to do Disneyland for a day. Still, there are enough differences and enough things we don't have here that I would like to go back at some point in the future. We'll just see when that winds up being.

Disney Report 3

Obviously, I didn't get back to continue on about my trip yesterday, so here goes today.

I believe we've made it up to Thursday. (And I must say the interest in these posts has been much greater than I imagined it would be. I thought I was doing this mostly for me.)

Thursday, I went to Typhoon Lagoon. I went with Dana, Roxanne, and her husband Rickie. But we met up with Mary, Marnee, and Marnee's sister and roommate.

They have a real wave pool. And by that I mean a pool that sends out real waves. Yes, it also does the "storm at sea" stuff I had been in before. But those waves were much larger than the ones I usually swim in at the ocean.

In many ways, the rest of the park was your typical water park. Now, since I love water parks, I don't mean that in a bad way. But it had speed slides (although not the highest kind) and tube slides and a lazy river. And we had a blast hanging out together.

The park does have two things that set it apart. First, you can swim with sharks. They've got a small salt water pool with docile sharks in it. It's small, so it's over before you know it. They don't let you dive below the surface, either. But it was still cool.

The other park that really stood out is the water slide roller coaster. These slides actually use powerful jets to shoot you up and down hills. They are fast and lots of fun. We all enjoyed those.

My biggest gripe is that one group of slides had a long path to the top. It wandered around and you go up and down and up again. I'm sure it's for summer crowds, but as I got tired, I just wanted to get to the top. And all the stairs were starting to get to my knees.

Ironically enough, I think this was the coolest and least humid day of the trip. Of maybe that was how it felt because I was wet.

We left mid-afternoon to head over to Hollywood Studios for that night's group dinner. That was my first chance to see some of the people who arrived on Thursday. We ate at the Prime Time Dinner, a restaurant themed around the 50's. The decore looked like a house from that time period. They had black and white shows on TVs, or at least bits of the shows. (Of course, one of the shows was Dick van Dyke, which was a 60's show.)

And the waitresses treat you like they are your mother. For example, I got in trouble for whining. And when I tried to point out that someone else had said what I said first, I was yelled out for being a tattle tale. And yes, I was the first in the group to get in trouble. But plenty of others were told to finish their food, especially their vegetables. No bribing, but plenty of pressure if they didn't.

We finished Thursday by going to Fantasmic. The idea behind the show is the same as here in Disneyland, but they actually have a stadium set up so you can sit down and watch it. You still have to get there early if you want good seats. We did, and we were about 8 rows back in the middle. They have a large portion in the middle inspired by Pocahantus, which I think dates the show. Overall, it was very good.

Thursday was the only night I made it back to the hotel before 11. In fact, it was 10. I hung out on the patio and talked for a while and even jumped in the pool and talked to the people there for a while. I was going to be in bed by 11, but that didn't happen. It was my usual midnight bed time.

Friday, I struck out on my own with one goal in mind, hit all four parks picking up stuff I had missed. And I did hit all four parks, but I didn't hit all the things I had missed. Of course, that's my fault.

I started out at Animal Kingdom because I wanted to do Expedition Everst again. Walked on it three times in a row, once with Tanya, before moving on.

Next up was Hollywood Studios. I wanted to see the Beauty and the Beast show because it is my favorite Disney movie. I should have skipped it. I knew they couldn't do the entire thing in half an hour, but they really hacked up the story. It was okay, but not something I'd rush back and see. I also road the Great Movie Ride again and did the back stage tour. I even took pictures around the park since it had been raining when I was there on Monday.

Next up was Magic Kingdom where I wanted to hit the Steamboat and the Tikki Room. By the time I got off the steamboat, the parade was going, and it was exactly where I needed to go, so I headed to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. I got a little sidetracked in Tomorrowland and repeated a few things. But it was hard to turn down no wait for Space Mountain or the Buzz Lightyear ride. Heck, I even road the Jugle Cruise again, this time not saying a word so I wouldn't get into trouble again.

But I did finally make it over to The Tikki Room. Now I had heard that they changed the show around in Florida. In fact, they call it "Under New Management." I wanted to see what I thought of the changes. Take my word for it. Don't go see it. Basically, they tried to update it by adding Iago from Aladdin and Zazu from Lion King. The premise is these two birds have bought the place and are going to change things up. But change is not always a good thing. Why they messed with a classic, I'll never know. This one wasn't funny in a cheesy way. It was just painful. Now, it might help that I am a huge fan of the original. But I just didn't like it at all.

I did make my major pin purchase of the trip here, too, before moving on.

I had intended to make it to EPCOT early and finish off the world show case, but it was rather late by the time I got there. And I was dangerously tired. I say dangerously because we had to be up early Saturday. But I pressed on. I made it about half way through the world showcase before I got too tired to continue. I stopped with the American Adventure, a movie/animatronic show. I loved it! Although with all the animatronics that pop up, the "stage" area (really a hole between us and the screen" had to be much bigger than it looks to us. Hosted by Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, it recounts America's history in 30 minutes from the Pilgrams to the present day. Yes, some things get compressed, but it does a reasonally good job.

While I wanted to keep pressing on, I knew I needed to leave. But on the way by, I checked on Soarin'. It had a half hour wait, which was the shortest I had seen, so I went a head and did that. Yes, it's exactly the same as the one here in California. But it is so much fun no matter where it is I don't care.

That meant I got in later then I wanted on Friday night. So I went straight to bed. We had to be up early Saturday morning, so I tried to get all the sleep I could.

Thursday Threesome for October 2nd

I'm hoping to get back to the Disney trip tonight, so I thought I'd post this now. Brought to us this week by ...tom... and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Your-- ability to see beyond the horizon is limited only by your imagination. Discuss !
But what if your imagination and what is really over the horizon don't match up?

Twosome: mileage may-- be lower for some drivers due to variables like under-inflated tires or speeding up to get to the next red light. Hmmm... Any tips out there for those trying to stretch their fuel dollars?
While I have become quite the led foot, I do take my foot off the gas if I know the light is red ahead of me. Not only does it save gave, but it saves your breaks, too.

Threesome: Vary-- this, vary that, and pretty soon you've broken up a routine. Here's one: what routine of yours really needs to have a little variation introduced? (I'll exclude changing the flavor of your Friday evening ice cream snack; while a little change may be good, radical events should be planned out!)
My weekends could use more ultimate Frisbee, something I hope to change soon.

Disney Report 2

Now, you'd think that I'd visit all four park before I went back to one, right? Well, you'd be wrong. See, Tuesday, I was back to Magic Kingdom. I spent the majority of the day hanging out with Jenn and Angelique. They started the day with a character breakfast at a nearby hotel. I slept in a little and got to the park about the same time they did. And we managed to hit the majority of the park.

And I've got to say, the lines really helped. The longest line in Magic Kingdom that day was for Peter Pan's Flight. We almost literally walked onto Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain.... You get the idea. And since we fast passed Peter Pan, our longest wait of the day was Jungle Cruise at 20 minutes.

And I did get into trouble on the Jungle Cruise. I gave one of the guides punch lines for him. Honestly, I thought he was going to stop it had been so long since he'd said anything else. And since it is one of my favorite lines, I had to say it. (But that was nothing like the yelling I got on Tuesday.)

It rained for maybe 20 minutes all day. It was cooler, but still humid and overcast. But this was the last of the rain we had done.

And I went to Mickey's PhilharMagic for the second time. This 3-D movie was one of my favorite things there. Donald steals Mickey's sorcerror hat and tries to conduct the orchestra. Things get wildly out of hand and he finds himself chasing the hat through songs from several Disney movies. The 3-D is great, the computer animation georgeous, and the songs fun.

I was the only one of the trio signed up for dinner that night. It was a character dinner at the Liberty Tree Restaurant. Several of the classic characters (Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale) came around while we ate turkey, stuffing, roast beef, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc. family style. Lots of fun, even if Dana did convience Dale I was crazy.

From there, I hung out with Jayne, Susan, and Dana. We thought Animal Kingdom was open late, but we were a day off. Instead, we went to Downtown Disney were I bought some pins and then split off to hit Pleasure Island. I stayed later then I wanted to originally because I went to the comedy club. I laughed lots, but it wasn't at jokes I should have been laughing at. I popped into the Adventurer's Club, but it was too crowded to really do anything. So I stopped in a couple of the music clubs on my way back to the bus to the resort. I think I got in about 1 AM. Yep, another long but good day.

Wednesday, I finally made it to EPCOT. I started off the day by myself, but soon met up with Jenn, Angelique, and Rhonda and her family. We did stuff in the Future World part like Test Track and Mission Space for a while. Then Jenn got us backstage to look at the aquarium stuff, specifically the dolphine enclosure. That was special and something very few people get to do.

Fromt there, Angelique and I split off and started in on the World Showcase. We didn't get very far before we met up with the group who had dinner that night. It was too expensive for my budget, but we met up with them because some of them wanted to hit Disney Quest. This is a virtual theme park Disney has in Downtown Disney. Think virtual reality games. It was fun, especially the Virtual Space Mountain part, where you get to design and then ride your own rollercoaster.

The weather all day was overcast, but it was also cooler and less humid. Translation: the best weather we'd had all week.

(Since I've been telling everyone about my trip all week, I think this qualifies as an entry for Watercooler Wednesday.)