Re-evaluating my priorities, and what that means for my posts on here

I've been unhappy for a few months now.  Super unhappy, having a really hard time getting excited about much of anything, feeling like I was worthless.  So I've been searching for an answer, and I happened to stumble upon this episode of the Cracked podcast last night, and it got me thinking super hard about the way I've been spending my time.  If you've had any doubts of your own, I recommend listening to it.

A Return to the Dreaming

I've said before and I'll say again that I hate editing podcasts.  I love doing them though.  Guesting on other podcasts has always been the best because it means I get to show up to discuss and then do nothing afterward.  For my own, I definitely don't want to present the idea that I hated doing Strangers from the Internet or A Return to the Dreaming.  I love talking to Bethany and JD (as well as our guests on SftI) and I think we had some really great discussions on both shows.  As I listen again to edit, I enjoy our discussions again.  There's nothing cooler than when you're sitting there listening to a show you recorded a while ago, and a topic comes up and you're thinking about the topic while you edit and then a little while later, boom, that thing you were thinking is right there because we're awesome people so of course it occurred to us then.  It's getting down in the weeds, having to clear up every single stutter and verbal tick, listening to a sentence three, four, five times in a row as you slowly clean up those things and make sure it still sounds like a normal proper sentence.  Deciding if it's better to leave in that goof up because taking it out may make the rest sound stilted or odd without the context.  I know from listening to other podcasts that too many verbal ticks can drive a listener crazy and I want to provide a quality product, but the tedium of editing means I can't do it for more than small bits at a time.  So far I have kept A Return to the Dreaming to a once a month schedule but every time it feels like I'm going to end up taking longer.  And knowing I've still got five episodes to get through after the one I'm on isn't helping things, it feels like there's no end in sight.

My point being that I am committed to getting the episodes out, but I don't know what kind of schedule it will be at going forward.  If past history is an indicator, it may stay on schedule.  This may just be a mental thing I need to get over, is my point.  Stop imposing a deadline on myself for no good reason.

Bill Murray Project

Here's an honest confession.  I care a lot about what other people think.  Way, way too much.  I frequently set expectations from myself based on how I think others are going to react.  An image that I feel like I need to uphold.  "If I don't post frequently, people will forget about my blog entirely."  Ha!  As if there's ever been a large number of people paying attention anyway.  "If I abandon a project, people will think I am irresponsible/somehow worth less."  Because all those people I know who start projects and abandon them are totally hated by the people who follow them, right?  Yes, it's true that when those people announce a new project, internally I'm thinking "we'll see how long this lasts" but so what?  It's their time and they can do as they please with it.  Ditto with my own.

I came up with this project because there are a few Murray films I want to revisit.  I added in all Murray films as a way to "post more often."  I switched them to videos in an effort to make videos again even though I didn't have the time to edit.  Also because I quickly found out there's only so much to be said about most comedy films.  I look at the remainder of Bill Murray's work, and I still see some of the movies I want to revisit, but I also see some I feel no need to revisit because I know I don't like them (I'm looking at you, Coffee & Cigarettes) or because I know perfectly well that they're enjoyable, and most of them are popular enough that you don't need me telling you that Ed Wood is good and you should see it.

So going forward I plan to revisit the films I want, check out some of the others I haven't seen before that look interesting to me, and I will post about them if I feel like there's something I want to say about them.

I also plan to find a way to use the "5 minutes about..." videos in another fashion, because I really do enjoy talking to the camera.  The time limit has already proved helpful for Pop Culture Revolver, where Jak, JD and I all felt like knowing that we were limited on time kept us all on point and focused for the discussion.

Beatlemiscellania

Unlike the Bill Murray films, I'm interested in all of these because I'm a big Beatles fan.  Even the ones I've already seen I want to revisit, and even if hardly anyone is listening, I just like explaining Beatle references and talking about them.  These have obviously already been on a "whenever I feel like it" schedule and will probably continue as just that.

Monthly Midnight Movie Exchange

Once a month I sit down to watch a film and then talk to Jak and Noel about it the next day.  Some of the choices haven't been particularly enjoyable for me, but I still like the idea of the project, I enjoy talking to them both, and I see no reason to change anything about it. I would say the main possibility is if I feel like I run out of movies to share.

Castle Rock Companion

Noel and I already worked together on the Golden Years posts and I enjoyed them.  I listened to The Gunslinger audiobook because I want to revisit the series, and conferring with Noel he agreed I should cover it for CRC regardless of whether or not an adaptation ever appears.  Basically, the name of the project is vague enough that it can encompass any and all King related works we wish to cover.  Like the Beatles, I really enjoy King and I will continue to talk about his work in one form or another.  The most likely change that could happen would be not posting so regularly.

No Game New Year

A large part of what started this post is that I started drafting a post for the end of the year, a "what I have learned" kind of thing.  And the ridiculousness of waiting until December 31st for things I already know now began to seem super-duper ridiculous to me.  So I asked myself why, and once again it's all related to these promises I made to myself and not letting myself down, which in my reality means not letting other people down or the imagined "other" down.  So yeah, that post will probably go up pretty soon and I will lift this foolish embargo.  Because giving up on new year's resolutions before the year is up is normal and human, and I'm not going to win the love and adoration of millions just because I make it all the way to December 31st.  Especially if there's a game out there that I have the time and money to play.  And I haven't had the time lately because I've been forcing myself to do these other projects.

Wolverine and the X-men posts

The X-men are up there with the Beatles and King for me.  I love them, and will always want to talk about them and share my love with others in some fashion.  I'm going to keep re-watching this series because I think it's great.  Will I keep writing about it?  I'm not sure.  I've noticed that my last couple of posts were really just me recapping the show, pointing out some cameos.  Some of which I have to confirm through Wikipedia because I missed a good decade of X-men comics.  I think I just took that from a "not sure" to a definite "no," unless I find something I really want to say about them.

Pop Culture Revolver

I think what you can kind of tell over all is that a lot of the above is about slimming things down or slowing them up.  A good portion of them could even be incorporated into Pop Culture Revolver instead - for instance once I get to the end of Wolverine and the X-men, I could invite on anyone else who has watched the series to talk about it.  I don't feel like I need to force myself to watch The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or Moonrise Kingdom again because I know I like them, but that doesn't mean I couldn't do an episode about Wes Anderson films in general.  There are many Sandman related comics not directly written by Gaiman that JD and I didn't do an episode for, but could totally be covered here without giving me yet another episode to edit.  My general idea is to do this podcast every other week, but we'll see how realistically that can be upheld.

Things that have nothing to do with posting on the internet, gasp!

I have multiple Excel spreadsheets that I use to organize my time.  There is "Week Schedule" where I have columns for Monday through Sunday and rows for hours that I'm awake.  I block out the time when I'm at work and use the rest to plan my meals and activities the rest of the time.  There's "Creative Projects and Ideas" where the first tab is a calendar where I fill out what posts on what day and the remaining tabs are separated by project and I organize what needs to be done for them.  There are abandoned projects, current projects, and possible future projects.  And one thing I noticed is that recently I've been adding tabs that are not necessarily related to something I could post on here.

• I'm tracking which of those gifted comics I've read regardless of whether or not I'll review them.
• I've got my Netflix disc queue prioritized so I can see when I can realistically discontinue that part of the service.
• I recently put my amazon wishlist in there, seeing what I can change from physical media to digital, to see what I can experience through a streaming service instead, and whether there's stuff there I truly want/need.
• I've got a list of movies I only have via VHS to determine whether I should get better versions or just copy them over via a VCR/video camera hook up.
• I've got a list of books sitting around my house that I've never actually read
• The No Game New Year tab is really just a list of games I haven't played yet
• I've got some helpful links on how to make a t shirt quilt out of some old shirts that no longer fit me but I'm too attached to part with.

The point is, my house is currently full to the point that I can't get to things easily.  And I've realized I'm just not that attached to things as a I used to be.  I'm not going to know what is worth keeping and what's not unless I have the chance to go through these things, and going through them often gets deferred because "I must edit" or "Gotta watch this so I can make progress on this project" while I allow myself to be continually miserable because I feel cramped in my packed house.

It's stupid behavior.  I have to stop making myself guilty if  I want to be a consumer rather than a producer.  I have to stop telling myself that cleaning up the house isn't an accomplishment because it's not a creative endeavor.

I'm not going to be rich and famous.  I'm not even going to be internet famous.  Honestly, the idea that that is somehow a good thing to be is ludicrous when you see how those people get harassed and criticized on a regular basis.  Obviously it means enough to them to continue, but I'm so tired of putting things out there and being disappointed because people didn't get excited about it the way I hoped they would.

I've been really stupid.  I started doing videos because no one reads but people like to watch videos, so maybe if I make them they'll love me like they love those other people!  I sit around like an asshole and think "Oh well, Igor and Noel will like this, but no one else will notice" totally under appreciating the fact that I do in fact have two awesome friends who enjoy what I do.  And they're not the only ones, they may be the ones who comment the most but sitting around expecting comments is just sitting there going "Love me!  Validate me!  Need me!  Convince me I'm special!"

There's a line from a Liz Phair song.  She's talking about something else, but she says "If you do it and you're still unhappy, then you know that the problem is you."

So this is the point where I say no more.  No more putting something out there in the hopes that others will notice.  I will write when I want to write and I will work on videos when I want to do them and I will discuss things with my friends and record them when I want to.  And if I want to sit at home and play a game or watch a show or read a book I will without stopping to think about whether or not such thing is something I can review.  And the world will not end!  Imagine that.

Wolverine and the X-men(TV) episode 10 - "Greetings from Genosha"

It's time to check back in with Nightcrawler and see how's he's doing.  The freighter he and the other misfit mutants are on has finally reached the shores of Genosha.  He's a little concerned about Magneto and whether he's truly running the place fairly, so Magneto tasks his daughter Wanda, aka the Scarlet Witch, to take him on a tour.  The two of them clearly have an attraction to one another.  This is once again the writers of this show throwing a nod to the comics - Nocturne is a character from an alternate timeline who has these two for parents.  I'm kind of surprised she doesn't end up showing up in the future with Xavier.  Or maybe she does and I'm forgetting.  But for now, the two of them keep it friendly as Wanda shows Kurt the near utopia Genosha has become, with mutants living together in harmony and not being afraid to show off their powers.

As you would expect, there are cameos galore here once again.  Many of them are logically from Magneto's followers the Acolytes, but we also see Dazzler performing a concert and Mercury, a young mutant from more recent years also plays a part.  She's the type of character I feel like was lifted out of my subconscious, as she's dressed in an outfit that reminds me a lot of Harley Quinn's color scheme and frequently shifts her body into weapons to attack people.  She's awesome.

Of course, no utopias are as they seem, and sure enough Fever Pitch goes on a rampage through the town.  He's subdued and Wanda shows Kurt the clean prison cells they keep the bad mutants in "until they can be rehabilitated" and reintroduced to the society.  But as he's going to bed for the night in the giant suite Magneto has given him, Dust appears in his room and tells him things are not as they seem.  He follows her as she allows herself to get caught and brought to the real prisons, which are much more dungeon like.  Honestly, beyond a grimier look, there's no real proof that these prisons are that much worse than the ones above.  In fact, these have larger cells while the ones he saw before were pretty cramped and meant the mutants couldn't do much more than sit in place the whole time.  But this is a cartoon and we must be expedient.

Magneto is severely disappointed that Nightcrawler had to see this, and he tries to stop him from leaving Genosha to get back to the X-men and tell them about it.  Kurt is a little too fast for his henchman though, and proceeds to line of sight teleport floating just above the sea all the way back to Westchester, NY.

At the same time as Nightcrawler's tour of Genosha, Angel has shown up at the mansion asking to see the Professor.  Kitty and Iceman are all set to take him there when Logan gets one whiff of Angel and starts attacking him.  There's some needless amount of confusion where the X-men don't understand before Logan states the obvious - it's a shapeshifter.  As an audience, we all know immediately that means Mystique, but apparently this version of the X-men have not run into her before now.  There's some good action scenes as she changes into various X-men while fighting Logan, until she turns into the Professor which seems to really piss him off.  She teases that she knows him, but apparently that is part of his erased memories.  She manages to mess with the X-men and confuse them into fighting each other, but a sudden call has her abandon looking for Xavier and leaving.

A completely exhausted Nightcrawler shows up outside the mansion and is greeted by Logan, who he proceeds to tell about Genosha.  But this is actually Mystique on her way out, and she sends a message to Magneto that she's got Nightcrawler and will bring him back with her to Genosha.

While the reveal of Magneto not being as benevolent as he seems isn't entirely pulled off well, I think we all expect it so much that it doesn't hurt this episode too badly.  There's a lot of great fight scenes both at the mansion and on Genosha, and Nightcrawler being Nightcrawler which is always a great thing.  Overall just a really solid episode.

Wolverine and the X-men(TV) - episode 9 - "Future X"

As predicted, the majority of this episode spends time with Professor X, showing us what the post apocalyptic future he's living in is like.  Before that though, we get both a "previously on" intro and then what seems to be a flashback of "Thieves Gambit" but turns out to actually be the Professor and Logan walking through his memory of the event together.  It's a pretty clever way to both reuse some footage and show the essential information for anyone who may have missed that episode.  They see a project called Master Mold on Bolivar Trask's computer and know it must be important.  Wolverine is going to bring the X-men back to the compound to investigate, and the professor will see what he can find out in the future too.

This is where we find out that up to this point, the professor has literally just been hanging out in the deserted mansion all alone in between the time that he's been contacting Logan.  I'm afraid to know what he's been eating.  He turns to a few books nearby to try to start researching when sentinels swoop in and capture him and Cerebro and bring them to a mutant prison camp.

The inhibitor collars we saw in "Thieves Gambit" are being used here in the future, but the professor does a quick telepathic mind trick on the captain of the guard and so he only thinks he turns the professor's collar on.  He calls him Captain Moss, and if that's a reference to a comics character, I'm unaware of it.  He does strongly resemble Ahab, but that's not his real name.  The professor is recognized by Bishop, who tells him that Wolverine gathered together the current generation of X-men and told him all about the professor.  Bishop is currently leading a group as Wolverine has disappeared, and they got themselves intentionally caught so they could help break other mutants out of the camp.  Among his group are Domino, sporting a different haircut, and Marrow, who is playing the plucky, rebellious young mutant for this team.

What's kind of silly about Marrow is that she's got the inhibitor collar on, but yet she's still got bones sticking out of her all over the place.  I say it's silly because there have been story lines in the comics where she got better control of her powers and was able to control her bone growths, so you would think that once her powers were gone, the bones would stop growing.  But I also know the point is to have a character design that will be consistent even after they break free here, so I guess they just decided those bones are there for now and she just can't grow more with the collar on.

As you might expect with the prison camp angle, there's a lot of cameos here.  There's Firestar going around with a great flaming hair design, Hellion who is referred to only by his real name Julian Keller,  Berzerker, the Vanisher, and Kamal, a minor Acolyte that I have to admit I had to look up because I didn't recognize him.  There was also a mutant who looked a lot like an alien, and I'm not sure if he was supposed to be someone or just that they wanted to draw a particularly odd looking mutant.

The Professor enlists Bishop's help to reclaim Cerebro, which the sentinels have put inside a tower that they also bring mutants into from time to time.  They find Julian inside, and realize that the sentinels are running tests on the mutants to learn how to adapt to their various powers.  The professor rescues Julian while Bishop takes on the sentinels, who are already adapting because they learn how to deflect his energy beams.  Deep in the compound, a machine that looks an awful lot like the robot version of Cerebro, but I'm pretty sure is supposed to be Master Mold, discovers that the professor is a telepath and wants him captured.  Apparently, there are no more telepaths left at this point in the timeline.  Unfortunately for Master Mold, the Professor, Bishop, Julian, and all the rest of the X-men are able to escape the compound with Cerebro.

The Wolverine subplot appears a couple times in the episode, but it's really just comic relief, as Scott continually teases Logan's methods of doing things, and Forge is super excited to see combat for the first time - to the point of covering himself in camouflage paint.  It's just a nice bit of humor to help break up the darkness of the future. Of the future crew, there's an interesting dynamic between Marrow and the Professor that reminds me highly of what they often did with Jubilee and him in the 90s, a conflict that you know will end up turning into respect in time.  I also like that even in the middle of all the danger in the tower, the professor is guiding and encouraging Julian to use his powers effectively.

Wolverine and the X-men(TV) - episode 8 - "Time Bomb"

As the episode begins we see Toad locked in a cell by the MRD, claiming that it will only be a matter of time before he's out of there.  The guards are apparently so used to his running his mouth that they ignore him.  They're also quickly distracted by the fact that there is another mutant literally knocking at their door, but unlike most others, he's begging to be locked up.  In fact he's not happy with being put in a cell near other mutants, he wants total isolation.

This is Nitro, a mutant whose abilities make him literally explode.  In the comics, Nitro is not a mutant and is also a supervillain, but I think taking his powers and putting him in this context does make for a great story device.

Toad witnesses Nitro's first explosion at the compound and sees the MRD bring him to an isolation tank, so when Quicksilver shows up in front of his cell he's eager to spread the news.  This is actually a really funny scene, as Toad is all excited that Quicksilver is coming to break him out, but no, he's not, he's here to tell him that the Brotherhood has decided he's useless and they're just going to leave him here.  And he also snaps a picture, because Blob wanted to see the look on Toad's face when Quicksilver told him.  This is exactly the kind of thing I could see someone with Quicksilver's powers doing.  When Toad tells him about Nitro, he let's Toad out after all, and they grab Nitro to use him as a tool in one of their schemes.

The MRD has a database of mutant names and locations, and the Brotherhood wants to blow it up.  They tried once before but couldn't get through the defenses, but now with Nitro they can literally blast through them.  Rogue isn't on board with this idea at all, because she recognizes immediately that this is not what Nitro wants and she understands how it feels to have powers you can't control.  The two of them have a nice conversation to this effect, and while the Brotherhood does use him to blow up the database, Rogue demands that they get him some help on controlling his powers.

Their solution, it turns out, is to call in the help of Psylocke.  She's in her Asian body with her original British accent, something I'm not sure is ever acknowledged in the comics but I like it.  I also like that she's not truly evil here, it's just that Quicksilver once helped her bust out of the MRD and so she's paying him back for that.

Meanwhile, the Professor has sent Logan another message from the future, letting him know what's going on and what they have to do - something he says is contrary to what he always taught them.  They have to return Nitro to the MRD where he can be contained yet again.  You know, you would think maybe Beast could come up with some kind of containment suit for Nitro and that way the man wouldn't have to be imprisoned, but of course this guy is just supposed to be here for this one episode so let's put him back in jail.

The Brotherhood are trying to bring Nitro to Genosha, because Quicksilver thinks for sure that destroying the MRD's records and handing over a living weapon will make Daddy love him again.  I'm teasing but it's actually a really nice angle, and a good way to explain their relationship without piling on too much exposition.  On their way the X-men pull up in the blackbird and a decent fight occurs where the X-men take Nitro away from the Brotherhood.  Probably my favorite part is where Kitty phases through the Brotherhood's plane to grab him, and casually calls "Hi Rogue!" on her way through.

Psylocke's attempts to help Nitro control his powers were unsuccessful, and he does end up exploding again, but since they are in the middle of the sea on an ice float Iceman created, no one is hurt.  Logan explains to Quicksilver than if they hadn't come to intercept them, Nitro would have killed half the mutants on Genosha.  Didn't really think that one through too well, Pietro.  The X-men return Nitro to the MRD and everything is back to relative normal for now.

Wolverine and the X-men(TV) - episode 7 - Wolverine vs The Hulk

Before Wolverine became an X-man, he was actually introduced in an Incredible Hulk comic book.  His costume was also a little different, particularly in regards to the mask.  This episode pays homage to that original appearance, though it does so in an interesting way.

After a brief intro where we see soldiers getting attacked in the Canadian wilderness, we cut to Wolverine being chased by the MRD.  They catch up to him and are ready to take him in when a helicopter carrying Nick Fury drops down.  This version of Fury is African American like the film version, but also has hair very similar to the original comics version.  It's an interesting mix that let's you know visually that he's supposed to be taken on his own.

Simply put, this Nick Fury is an absolute jerk.  The MRD flee at his command, because he wants Logan for his own purposes.  He tells him that he needs him to go to Canada to take down the Hulk, and when Logan is reluctant, he just quietly starts naming off the real names of all the X-men.  He says he will report every single one of them and their location to the MRD if Logan doesn't cooperate.  It's awesome in an incredibly evil way.

With no real choice given him, Logan heads to Canada to track down the Hulk who Fury has claimed was destroying multiple villages.  That seems odd to Logan, as he knows from experience that the Hulk would much rather just be left alone than he is into mayhem.  The two of them run into each other and we see a quick flashback to their first battle, featuring Logan in that early costume.  After a tussle between the two of them, the Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner and Logan begins to find out what is really going on.

It's not the Hulk who has caused all the damage, it's the Wendigo.  In the original comic, the Hulk was fighting the Wendigo when Wolverine appeared to take them both out.  Here their previous fight was apparently for some other reason, because the idea of the Wendigo is completely new to Logan.  It's an interesting thing, to have that flashback but also essentially adapt the comic in the present day, albeit with a bit of a twist.

So Bruce explains that he is here because Fury asks him to develop a cure for the Wendigo, who he was told was cursed into his condition, and while Bruce assumed that meant shooting the antidote into the Wendigo from afar, for Fury it meant dropping Banner out of the copter so he could turn into the Hulk and become bait.  The soldiers were incapable of handling both monsters and crashed at the site.  Since then the original Wendigo has bitten all the soldiers and now they're less developed versions of the monster.  It's a good thing Banner made a ton of antidote and brought it along with them.

The two of them make their way back to the copter, but are delayed by a Wendigo attack.  Logan holds them off while Banner continues to the copter.  But of course he does eventually hulk out yet again, and Logan has to both hold off the Hulk who is mad at him for their last fight, and also give the antidote to all the various wendigos.  It's all very nicely choreographed and the Hulk constantly calling Wolverine "little man" adds a bit of humor in to it as well.

When Logan finally takes out the big Wendigo, he transforms back into human with clothes and all, so Logan notices that he was wearing a SHIELD uniform.  A calmed down Banner is also horrified to learn that they were creating these monsters on purpose for use as soldiers, so Logan gives him a nice little shove to help him transform back into the Hulk, leaving him for Fury to deal with.  He also tells Fury that if he comes after the X-men, he'll make him pay for it.

There's all kinds of nice subtle details in this episode that I really like.  When Logan first arrives in Canada, we see how stealthy he is when he walks right up to a deer and pets it, and the smile on his face shows us how much he's enjoying being back home again.  He also struggles to open a case, and finally extends his middle claw only in frustration in order to open it.  They're blink and you miss it details, but they really add a lot to the story.  This episode does nothing to move the season's storyline forward, but it's definitely worth the pit stop.

Wolverine and the X-men (TV) - episode 6 - X-Calibre

It would be logical to look at the title of this episode and think "Wait, they're going to adapt an Age of Apocalypse series somehow in the middle of this?  How does that make sense?"  But amazingly, it actually does and works really well.  While in that comic series Nightcrawler was escorting humans out of an Apocalypse ruled America to the fabled land of Avalon, here he is helping out fellow mutants who are escaping the MRD in America and heading to Genosha.  And the ship where most of the action takes place is called Avalon.  That's actually pretty clever.

So a group of mutants are aboard this cargo ship and are being treated pretty poorly by the crew who only agreed to take them for money.  But Nightcrawler uses his teleportation powers to get the mutants food and convince the crew to play nice.  Things get a bit more dangerous when pirates attack the ship.  These pirates are led by Spiral, who is actually looking for mutants to recruit for her master Mojo.  Her fellow pirates are the Reavers, and their ship is being piloted by a mutant she calls Ricochet, though the female character presented here has nothing in common with the male one from the comics. (It occurs to me now this may be a reference to the fact that Spiral was once known as Richochet Rita before Mojo changed her.)

Nightcrawler defeats Spiral by teleporting off her cybernetic extra arms, and he teaches the mutants on the boat that they are all gifted rather than cursed and they work together to help fix the damage that has been done to the ship.  We also get a flashback moment in the episode where we see Professor Xavier rescue Nightcrawler from the mob that was attacking him.  The X-men show up after the conflict is all over and ask Kurt to rejoin, but he tells them he wants to help these mutants get to safety first.  Logan understands and lets him go.

While the plot is fairly simple, I really like this episode.  It shows off Nightcrawler's strengths and what makes him such a fun and appealing character.  Mojo's presence also teases at a possible later conflict with him, and whenever you get Mojo involved it's usually a good time.  The hardest part about doing these reviews so far is that once an episode finishes I really want to move on to the next one!

Wolverine and the X-men(TV) - episode 5 - Thieves Gambit

Does that title get you as excited as it did me?  Any chance to talk about the Cajun does that.  And this episode is a really good one for Gambit fans!

We start off seeing a young girl running from the MRD, and the more upset she becomes the more she heats up.  Devoted X-men fans already know this girl is Magma, a mutant with lava based powers.  She eventually becomes lava herself, and Wolverine swoops in, putting a power inhibiting collar around her neck to keep her from completely losing control.

We pull back to see this is all being watched on a monitor, where Dr. Zane is showing the footage to the Thieves Guild to ask them to retrieve the collar for her.  Most of them think stealing from the X-men is far too risky, but Gambit is willing to do it as long as she can afford his price.  He's so cool and cocky that I just love him to pieces here.

Wolverine sends Magma (referred to here by her real name Amara) back home to Brazil.  She begs him to let her keep the collar, but he tells her it is dangerous with long term use.  He brings it back to the mansion, and we see all the X-men settling in for bed while Gambit sneaks in to steal it.  He is successful, but Wolverine uses his senses to track him down and retrieve it.

Gambit is able to make the exchange to Zane before Logan catches up to him, and she brings it back to her lab where she and Bolivar Trask will try to learn how Forge built it so they can copy it.  Logan is pretty pissed at Gambit when he finds him, and he burns the cash Zane paid him, promising him double if he helps him get the collar back.  Which begs the question where Logan would get that much cash.  Do the X-men have a company fund based on Xavier's riches?  Does Logan have a savings account that dates back to the 1800s and has therefore grown considerably in size?  Or is he just bluffing?

Logan and Remy butt heads on how to go about breaking into the lab, and this is by far the strength of the episode, watching the two of them bicker and mock each other.  Gambit is all about stealth and finesse, and Logan is all about tearing things apart and taking whatever he wants.  Both have their value at different times.  They are able to make it into the lab, but Trask sets a sentinel prowler after them while he and Zane escape.  Gambit tries to double cross Wolverine, leaving him to deal with the prowler alone while stealing the collar, but Logan outsmarts him and manages to keep it while also tearing the prowler apart.

We see him return home, his costume in rags, and he tosses the collar in front of Forge at the kitchen table before saying "We need new locks."

Yet another fantastic episode, with a great blend of humor and action.  I feel like if anyone ever asked you "what's the big deal about Wolverine and Gambit?  Why are they so popular?  Why did you name your cats after them?" you can show them this episode and they'll probably understand.

Wolverine and the X-men (TV) - episode 4 - Overflow

Now that Charles Xavier has the ability to communicate with the X-men from the future, we're going to see a pattern in future episodes: Charles warns them about something awful that happens soon and asks them to prevent it. In this case, it's that all of Africa has been destroyed. Storm was blamed for the destruction, so the X-men have to go and stop her.

Before they leave, Logan really wants Emma gone, because he can't trust her, but once again they need her to use Cerebro. Africa is pretty huge, after all, and they don't know exactly where Storm is. You'd think she might leave a forwarding address or some way for the X-men to reach her, but she didn't. Emma is able to find her and once again the X-men load up into the blackbird to go after her. There's this really nice moment where Cyclops begrudgingly shows up at the last minute - Kitty had knocked on his door to let him know they were leaving, but he didn't answer. After a nice humorous moment where Forge begs Wolverine not to ruin the blackbird as he just fixed it and Logan puts a scratch in the side saying "The first scratch is always the worst," Scott just quietly walks up and gets on the plane. Logan doesn't say anything snarky to him, he just steps aside and lets him on. While these two can bicker like there's no tomorrow, I like when we get to see they also have a quiet respect for each other.

In Africa, Storm has returned to the village where she was once worshiped as a goddess. The people are making offerings to her and want to throw celebrations in her honor, and Ororo is very humbled and slightly embarrassed about it all. Unfortunately, the Shadow King has also made his way to this village, passing from person to person by touch in order to ultimately get inside Ororo's head. We get a flashback to the days when she was a young thief working for him, and how it was Charles Xavier that helped her escape that life. But now after all this time, the Shadow King wants her back. He fools her into thinking that her village is on fire, and so she brings down heavy rain that turns into a flood and begins to destroy the village. The X-men arrive to try and stop her.

In a moment that must be making a nod to the original X-men film, Emma insists that Cyclops blast Storm with his beams and take her down, but Logan says no, blast him instead. He climbs a large outcropping to reach Storm where she hovers in the sky, and once Logan has her Scott blasts him and they both come crashing down. It's clever and a nice bit of teamwork. Emma goes inside Storm's head and realizes the Shadow King is there, and the two of them fight. Emma is able to push him out, but she also has to abandon her own body in the process. We see the two of them fighting on the astral plane, and it's really creative, the way they keep building weapons for themselves. Ultimately, the Shadow King is weakened by not having a host body to return to, and Emma is able to slice him apart.

Storm is able to fix the damage she caused, and Logan now trusts Emma a little more. Ororo decides to return the X-men and help them prevent the dark future in any way she can.

What's interesting to me about this episode is that it borrows heavily from an episode from the first X-men animated series where the Shadow King also tried to get at Storm by attacking her village in Africa, but it does it so much better. And that's even with the absence of Rogue and Jean in this version. It's worth noting that a similar thing did happen in the comics as well, but that issue was written after the animated series episode, so I'm giving it the credit for this original story idea. Though of course the history between the Shadow King, Storm, and Xavier is from comics far earlier than that.

Overall it's a fairly simple episode, but has strong writing and great action.

Wolverine and the X-men (TV) - episodes 1 - 3: Hindsight

I recently decided to go through this animated show again, and when I went back to the blog I was shocked to see I had only given it a couple paragraphs before, and most of them bitching about how Wolverine isn't a leader.  Overexposure or not, the fact is that he really is a leader of the X-men now.  There's an ongoing comic series with the same title, though that one is a very different situation.  This series actually does address the fact that Logan is far more loner than leader, and how having him lead the X-men is quite a challenge.  It's also fantastic and really needs to be talked about.

As the show starts we get a nice little intro to who the X-men are, and there's no silly narration or new character arriving that they can info dump on.  We just see Kitty, Colossus, and Nightcrawler in the danger room, before Logan ups the difficulty on them as a prank as he says goodbye.  It's not really clear why he intends to leave, but it does largely mirror what happens at the end of the first X-men film as Rogue is upset about his leaving.  We also see Beast, Storm, the Professor, Jean and Cyclops until suddenly the two psychics fall prey to some kind of attack and everything goes white as an explosion occurs.  We jump ahead to months later from here, and I really like this intro, setting up a mystery that will not be solved until close to the end of the season (which is sadly also the end of the show).

As usual for the X-men in any continuity, anti-mutant hysteria is ramping up and the government has put the Mutant Response Division into place.  They are responsible for rounding up mutants that are seen as a threat to humanity, which of course pretty much means every mutant.  And when Logan helps save a little girl who gets buried under rubble, they also round up her and her parents for helping him escape. It's some pretty disturbing stuff for a kids cartoon - they hook the father up to a sensory overload machine (kind of like the A Clockwork Orange torture device but the things go over your eyes rather than propping them open) trying to torture Logan's location out of him.  Once Logan learns of this, he wants to go in and save the family, but he can't do it alone.

So he returns to the mansion (which is still largely a mess) but finds no one home but Beast.  The professor and Jean are  missing, so Cyclops has gone off to pout in an apartment, Storm went back to Africa, and the younger mutants have all been sent home since the school is closed.  But Logan convinces Beast to help him out, and we get some really great moments where Hank says he's a pacifist and doesn't want to fight the MRD guards but is left no choice.  They rescue the family along with young mutants Rusty, Boom Boom, and Dust.

That is essentially the end of part 1 of the episode, along with Logan and Hank deciding to reunite the X-men but acknowledging that it won't be easy.  I really appreciate that there's no hand holding here, or long drawn out bits of exposition.  The characters are introduced in a way that shows you their powers and personalities and allows you to figure out what's going on relatively quickly.  The MRD are bad, the X-men are good, and that's all you need to know.  As we get into part 2, we're introduced to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, showing us that there are at least some mutants out there that have helped to start the hysteria brewing among the humans.

This Brotherhood is primarily Mystique's version, though she herself is absent at this point.  We've got Toad, Blob, Avalanche, Quicksilver, and Domino.  We also quickly see that Rogue has been drawn to them now, upset over Logan abandoning her.  I also like that while this Brotherhood does take things too far, you can also see their position - they're trying to stop the government from putting sentinels in place.  When Domino pleads their case to Rogue, you can see why she's tempted to help them.

We also get scenes of Logan going about trying to bring the X-men back, primarily Iceman (who had moved back home and whose parents aren't too crazy about him leaving again) and Kitty, who was on her way to Genosha but quickly abandons the idea when Logan comes calling.  In this series we skip the part of history where Genosha is enslaving mutants and instead go straight to the part where Magneto rules the area as a haven for mutants.  But we won't see Genosha proper until a bit later in the series.

The X-men try to thwart the Brotherhood's attack on Senator Kelly, but it turns out that there never was a planned attack - they simply had Rogue tell Logan that was the plan so the X-men could show up and disrupt the presentation, making them look like the bad guys.  Which is a little counterproductive to the Brotherhood's purpose if you think about it - making any mutants look bad seems like a bad idea for them - but I guess the idea is that Kelly's presentation of sentinels got interrupted regardless.

Angel also makes an appearance in the episode, and while most of the other mutants have been about the same relative age as they appeared in the movies, he's an adult and not a teenager.  But his father is still anti-mutant and Warren is trying to change things from within.  He refuses to rejoin the X-men at this point but we'll definitely see him again.

The second part of the episode helps bring back some of the core team that we'll be seeing for most of this series, as well as to establish Rogue's defection.  It's a lot more action oriented than the first episode, emphasizing the tussles with the Brotherhood and MRDs rather than story.  But it does help get the ball rolling for a lot of the main conflicts in the first part of the series.

In part 3, the X-men start rebuilding the mansion with help from a young Forge and Emma Frost shows up on the doorstep, saying she wants to be an X-man and they're going to let her join because she's the only one they have now who can operate cerebro.  Once again, this is a great way to introduce a character and show us exactly who they are.  Logan begrudgingly lets her in and sure enough she located Xavier - he's on Genosha.

They take the blackbird over and this is where the show does get a little inconsistent - in the prior one Kitty was ready to head to Genosha on her own, now that they're going to confront Magneto she's suddenly afraid to do so.  It's a little odd.  The blackbird's stealth equipment isn't working and so Magneto is ready for them, and we're shown just how much of a powerhouse he is as he disables them all one by one.  While Logan is being his typical hothead self, Magneto assures them that he wasn't responsible for the attack and that Xavier, in a coma, simply washed up on the island and he's taking care of him.  The X-men request to bring him back home and he agrees.

They set the professor up in the mansion and here's the part where things get a little odd - the professor is somehow able to use Cerebro to send messages from 20 years into the future back to Logan.  Basically, this is their way of doing Days of Future Past and just sort of hand waving away the actual time travel bit.  And the professor doesn't come to stay in his current body, he just sends Logan messages and then goes back to his own time.  He tells them that the future is in ruins ruled by sentinels and they have to reunite and put a stop to it.

He literally tells Logan that he has to be the one to lead them right in front of Cyclops, who quickly starts to turn and walk away.  The professor tells him to stay because they need him, but doesn't really provide any kind of explanation to his former leader on why he can't be the one to lead.  And since the professor apparently only recently woke up in the future, he has no good solid reason either.  The answer is that the show's title demands it, or that it makes for a more interesting series, you take your pick on what you'd like.  It's just a shame they couldn't have handled it a little better.  Regardless, the show now has a clear goal - preventing the nightmare future - and we'll hit the ground running from there.

What I like most about this series is that it pulls a lot from the comics and the films, but it still manages to feel very much like its own thing.  It does a great job of showing that there are universally appealing elements to the X-men legacy, and you can easily adapt them to this medium.  While I felt like X-men Evolution went a little too far off the rails with the high school problems, this cartoon feels much more spot on.  Similar to the original X-men cartoon, but actually doing a better job in terms of the writing and maturity of the stories while still being appropriate for all ages.

The story takes a lot more twists and turns from here, so strap in, it's going be quite an adventure.

Robert Downey Jr. Weekend

I didn't plan it this way but I spent both Sunday and Monday watching movies starring RDJ. I had been waiting for Sherlock Holmes to arrive via Netflix for weeks now, and it just so happened to finally ship the day after I went to see Iron Man 2.

Iron Man 2

I tried to avoid any reviews going into this one as it is pretty much a given that I'm going to go see a superhero movie, and I didn't want anyone else's opinions clouding my judgement. I had heard from others that the reviews weren't so great, but I tried not to let that influence me at all. The first Iron Man really surprised me. I had never really cared for the Iron Man of the comics, and the 1990s cartoon could literally put me to sleep. "What do I care about a man in a robot suit? I want superheroes!" were the kind of thoughts Iron Man would normally inspire in me. The first movie really changed the game for me, showing me that the man behind the suit was actually a really interesting character worth caring about. Jeff Bridges didn't make the most interesting villain in that movie, and the second movie seemed to suffer from the same problem. Am I really supposed to care about Mickey Rourke at all? He muttered a lot of bad Russian and made a few sourpuss faces. With his performances in this and Sin City, I'm not really sure I want to see The Wrestler. Sam Rockwell did a much better job of making Justin Hammer a more interesting character.. but the nature of that character was to ramble and pretty much every scene he was in made the movie drag a bit. I can't help but think about the upcoming Avengers movie, and wonder if it will suffer in a similar fashion. While it was great seeing War Machine come to life, to have the appearances by Nick Fury and Black Widow and how they interacted with Iron Man.. a lack of a compelling villain can make a superhero movie suffer.

War Machine is almost entirely what this movie did right. I'm very lukewarm about Don Cheadle in the roll. I wouldn't call him a huge upgrade like I saw some people calling him. I thought he did well while in the suit, but as just plain old Rhodey he seemed to lack some of the humor and just all around emotion we saw from the character in the first film. He played it all a little too understated. He seems to be more comfortable in an action sequence than outside it, which is really not what I expected from him. The first truly exciting part of the movie for me was when he donned the silver suit and the two of them went at it. I am always surprised by this - I remember playing with Voltron far more than I remember watching the cartoon, and I never cared all that much for Transformers, Power Rangers, or Gundam like others of my generation. If you would asked me in general if I cared about watching two robots fight each other I would tell you no. Yet when the two of them faced off I got very excited! And when War Machine popped out of the bottom of that stage with his big guns on, I got all giddy. Though that may be more the comic book nerd in me just being excited about seeing something I had only seen in drawings before suddenly on the movie screen. I can't really say "come to life" since most of it was probably CGI.

I've been a fan of Scarlett Johansson since Ghost World, and I thought she did a good job with what she was given here. They didn't really give her a whole lot but hopefully she'll have a bigger role when the Avengers come around. She definitely showed herself as a capable hero, and I was fully in love with the one scene where she got to really kick some ass.

Overall if you're looking for a good fun summer movie, I think you'll enjoy this. I don't think it touches on some of the themes as well as the first film did, but it's still a pretty strong follow up.

Sherlock Holmes

Here comes my best effort to not completely gush all over this review and collapse into ridiculous hyperbole.

I loved this movie. I loved it from the very first scene, as we see him analyze exactly how to take down his opponent in the proper sequence, what damage it will do to him, and how long it will incapacitate him. I had a lot of reservations when I first heard about this movie. Sherlock Holmes as action hero star just didn't seem to add up to me. Sometimes our first instincts are wrong. Very wrong. I think we all automatically picture SH as an older gentleman with his pipe, hat and coat, maybe the violin, and so we don't think of him as being able to fight. But why can't he be a little younger and more fit? It doesn't take away any from what he is: a man of supreme intelligence and logic who can solve just about any mystery put before him.

Beyond a required summer reading of The Hound of the Baskervilles, my written Sherlock Holmes knowledge is limited and restricted to what makes it into common pop culture. I'm willing to admit I probably learned more of it from Data on Star Trek TNG than anywhere else. So I can't testify to how accurate most of the character portrayals are, I can only say I loved watching them. I thought Jude Law made Watson a much more capable and stronger character than the one I've normally seen (he's usually a little bungling, isn't he?) and I loved Irene Adler immensely. I also really loved the way the movie kept you really uncertain as to whether the magic being used was real. I also should have known the character in the shadows was Moriarty.. who else would he be? Convenient to keep him shadowed that they can choose whoever they want for casting reasons later!

I also haven't seen a movie so slash-tastic since the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

My one complaint: being 4'10" does not make someone a midget! I have very close personal reasons for being adamant about this!

This one is definitely an absolute recommend for pretty much anyone.

In an unrelated matter I also re-watched X-men Origins: Wolverine. It definitely rates below X1 & 2, but above 3 for me. I think it's main flaw is that it's too obvious from the get go that Victor is still working with Striker, and so Logan just looks like an idiot who is too slow to catch up with the rest of us. Gambit is underused, Deadpool is squandered, and I get the feeling that if you were to watch this and then immediately follow it with X2, the pieces just wouldn't add up right. But it still rates as a fun summer movie flick and Hugh Jackman was still born to play Logan so I'm willing to forgive it a lot more than I do X3.