Negative Creep

So it has been 20 years since the death of Kurt Cobain. There have been various tributes floating around everywhere, and most of the speculate as to what Kurt Cobain's music would sound like if he were alive today. Most of them focus on Nirvana's unplugged performance, and the idea that Kurt would have most likely gone solo and go in a more mellow and folksy direction with his music. And while that does seem like a very likely theory, I would like to take a moment to celebrate/remember how much Nirvana rocked, with all the noisy punk/metal/alternative weirdness that they managed to combine together into a wonderful mess of rock awesomeness!

My Eulogy for Fred Phelps

I’m not one to wish death upon people, or to celebrate the death of anyone. No matter how much I may not like a person, I consider life to be an amazing thing, and find any loss of life to be tragic. That being said, there are very few people in this world that I detest to the point where I think the world would be a better place without them, and Fred Phelps is one of them. He has spent his life preaching hate and intolerance in the name of supposed religious righteousness. In reality, he is a hateful bigot that has earned his place in Hell, if such a place exists. Most people that know me know that I am not very religious, but I was under the impression that God is loving and forgiving. Everything that Fred Phelps has spewed from his mouth has done nothing but promote hate, bigotry, and violence in the world. He is a horrible, horrible human being, and I will not mourn his death.

Nerve Endings

I do not want to have children. This is not being said by a person who is trying to rebel against some sort of traditional lifestyle pattern (although the idea any sort of traditional family system is outdated at this point, but that is another rant). Nor is it some sort of knee-jerk, juvenile "OH I HATE KIDS" thing, although in my youth I have been guilty of that. The fact is, I do not think I would be capable of being in charge of another human being, I am almost 30 years old (good god that is scary) and as of now I barely have my life together as it is. I spent most of my 20s fucking up at life and dealing my own personal demons, which I am still working out now. And it is expected of me to reproduce because that is what is 'normal?' No. Just no. I need to do what I need to do to get myself to where I want to be in life, and that is scary as fuck.

I do not hate children. I have an almost 1 year old niece, and I fucking love that little girl. I love being an uncle and giving her toys and helping her as she grows into a little human being. But I have also seen all of the things that my sister has to do to take care of her. And how patient she is while my niece is being fussy, crying, screaming, etc. All of the responsibility that goes with it. And then I think about all the things she'll have to deal with as her daughter gets older, all the things that a parent has to do to try and mold their child into a proper kind of person. And I don't think I could do that. I don't think I have the ability to be responsible for raising another human being.

I know I am not alone. I know there are plenty of others out there that have no desire to have children, but alas, it is not considered normal. But this is how I feel. And I am tired of people thing I am weird because of it. I am tired of hearing the same lines recited to me over and over again. The one that irks me the most being "Oh you'll feel different when you actually have a kid." THAT LINE PISSES ME THE FUCK OFF SO BAD. It assumes that I will be stupid and irresponsible enough that I will eventually have an OOPS moment and knock some chick up. Well guess what? I KNOW WHAT FUCKING BIRTH CONTROL IS. This may be a regional thing, because apparently no one in this town knows what a condom or the pill is. People get bored, fuck, reproduce, then go collect their welfare check. They live their mediocre lives, living in poverty, but content with themselves cause they passed on their family line, because apparently that is the most important thing that anyone can do. Well fuck that.

Not everyone wants the same thing out of life, and I'm tired of feeling like I am the weird one because my goals in life may be different from what is considered normal. In this day and age, there is no such thing as normal. I can only do what makes sense for me.

Batfleck

(I wrote this a few days after it was announced that Ben Affleck would be playing Batman. Enjoy my geek rantings!)

Ben Affleck is Batman.

And with these 4 words, the internet, and possibly the world, would never be the same.

It has been a few days since it was announced that Ben Affleck will be the new Batman in the recently announced Superman/Batman movie. Now that the dust has settled a little bit, I feel the need to throw in my own two cents.

I would like to start by saying that I have nothing against Ben Affleck as an actor. He has often been criticized by many, but I personally think that over all he is a decent actor, and like most actors he had made some really good movies, and some really bad movies, and for some reason everyone seems to focus on the bad. I feel that the reason most people are quick to bash him is because of the few years that he was such a major tabloid fixture because of the j-lo thing. And that’s just shitty because an actor’s love life shouldn’t affect how you perceive their acting abilities. In a way, I’ve sort of grown up with Ben Affleck. I am huge fan of Kevin Smith, and Ben has starred in many of his movies (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl). So I know that Ben is capable of good acting. However, there are a few key things that cause me to have concern about him being Batman.

Chris Nolan’s Batman film series has just ended, and arguably it is the best film version of Batman that has been created. This Superman/Batman movie is scheduled to be released in 2015, a mere 3 years after The Dark Knight Rises. With how loved these films are, any new version of Batman that is presented to the audience will immediately be compared to Christian Bale’s version of the character. And that is a tough act for ANY actor to follow, let alone for an actor that has a questionable track record.

Now let’s talk specifically about Ben Affleck as Batman. What give me pause about him in the role is that I just don’t think he’ll be believable as the character. As I said before, he’s a good enough actor, but he isn’t an actor that disappears into his roles. Watching Christian Bale as Batman, I’m like “That’s Batman.” I can only imagine watching Ben Affleck as Batman and being all like “Why is Ben Affleck running around dressed like Batman?” In his best performances, he has always played a normal guy, and thusly when his own Afflecky quirks show thru, it still works because he’s just playing a normal guy. This doesn’t work in a fantasy role such as Batman. He needs to be Batman, not Ben Affleck. Also, I’ve seen the Daredevil movie. He tried to go dark there, and it didn’t work. To be fair, I can see Affleck as Bruce Wayne. I do think he could pull off flamboyant billionaire playboy; but not the dark, tortured, and obsessed character that is Batman.

It should be noted that when Michael Keaton was announced to play Batman in the 1989 film, it too caused a major stir among fans. Keaton had been known for mostly comedic roles up to that point, and he did not have the physicality that is normally associated with the character. There was a very vocal fan outrage over his casting, but as we all know, he turned out to be an excellent Batman, arguably second only to Christian Bale as the best actor to portray the character on screen (his often mocked Batman voice aside). Val Kilmer and George Clooney also took turns in the cowl in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin respectively, with mixed to negative results. Plus Kevin Conroy voiced the character in the much acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, as well as various other animated projects since then. And of course there were the movie serials in the 40s, and then Adam West in the 60s TV show. So it’s not like we haven’t seen this character portrayed by numerous actors already.

Also, we can’t forget about Superman. Man of Steel was a movie that divided both critics and fans alike. I personally enjoyed the film a lot. It was an interesting revision of the character, and after I saw it, I was immediately thinking about that cool stuff they could do in a sequel. Then they announced the Superman/Batman movie as the sequel to Man of Steel. Now, I have nothing against the idea of Superman/Batman team up movie. I think that is a really cool idea, and it has been something that has been bouncing around Warner Bros since before even Batman Begins came out. But now, rather than Superman getting a straight forward sequel, he’s sharing the stage with Batman. I kind of feel like Superman is getting cheated a bit, because now he has to compete with Batman rather than being the star of his own sequel. Personally I feel Superman gets the shaft most of the times. People criticize the character as being a boring, goody goody, boy scout type, who is too all powerful and thus not easy to relate to for the average person. And while there is merit to these arguments, it doesn’t change the fact that Superman is pretty much the first superhero EVER. For that fact alone I feel the character is still relevant and should garner a certain amount of respect from all superhero fans.

So yeah, there we have it. My final thoughts? Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve always tried to be an optimistic geek, and I try not to judge these things until I actually see the finished project. But this is just some of the weirdest superhero casting in some time. NOBODY saw this coming. Ever since it was announced that Batman would be in the Man of Steel follow up, people online were speculating who would play the new Batman, and offering up their ideas and suggestions about who it should be. And then this came completely out of left field. I like Batman, and I like Ben Affleck, but I am still extremely unsure about this. I guess we’ll find out the end results in 2 years.