Corrective or Clarification?

Greetings, gentle readers.

If you read the last post (Asthma: Bad.  Comics:  Good.)  then you know I have a newfound source for all things comics; friend and fellow film student, John.

John has an issue with what I said about the first Green Lantern trailer that was released (see post: To See, or Not to See?).  For those of you who are too lazy to click on the hyperlink, I said the following:

No just….no.

I don’t know what it is about DC versus Marvel in the movies but, to me anyway, it seems like Marvel does a better job adapting their heroes and villains to the times.  I mean, did you see who the Green Lantern’s up against? Couldn’t they have made it less…Sketchy-Mad-Scientist-With-Huge-Foredhead-From-The-1950s?  This is not timeless.  This doesn’t translate well to the screen.

Now, if they had shown it as a comedy (like the end of the trailer, with the suit–by the way: wtf?) I might have considered giving it a shot.  But first, it’s a drama.  Then it’s a–weird thing I don’t even know how to describe.  And then, a couple jokes.

What?

Is anyone else horribly confused by this? Does anyone else plan on paying &7.50 to see this in theaters? I don’t.

I believe his reaction was something along the lines of “watch the new trailer” and then post a retraction.  First of all, a retraction is a formal withdrawal of a statement, usually under some kind of pressure, when you say that you were incorrect and your statement was false.  As the above was a personal opinion expressed in blog form, I can’t really retract it.

I can, however, either correct or clarify.  The question is:  which is this?

A corrective would be, “a publishable story that acknowledges an error in the story and sets the record straight;” a clarification is, “a publishable story used to clarify or expand upon a precious story, which, while factually correct, may be unfair or subject to misinterpretation.” (definitions taken directly from my wonderful, trusty old friend The AP Stylebook, 2009.  Consider that your journalism lesson for the day, gentle readers).

I think I’ll clarify.

When I said I think that Marvel does a better job adapting their heroes and villains to the times I a) completely forgot about The Dark Knight (if anyone gives me crap about that I will hit them) which was bloody brilliant and b) I was confusing the Green Lantern with something else (again, if I get crap about that, I will resort to physical violence).  I don’t remember what I confused it with, but I was thinking of something else entirely.

Damn, I think this just turned into a corrective.

For anyone not familiar with the Green Lantern, his name is Hal Jordan and he was chosen by a dying alien (something Sur?) to be Green Lantern.  The Green Lantern is a part of the Green Lantern Corps (peace and justice for all!) who keep intergalactic order.  Hal’s a test pilot in the Air Force and because of his humaness the Green Lantern Corps (aliens) aren’t really took quick with the acceptance; but they come around considering the fate of the Earth and the Green Lantern Corps rests in his hands.

Cool? Hell yeah.

And the trailer makes more sense now, although I stand by what I originally said about not paying $7.50 to see that in theaters.  If I were basing my opinion solely on that trailer, I wouldn’t see it.  I like the Green Lantern sure, but I wouldn’t see that movie until I could add it to my Netflix queue.  It’s not a reflection of the Green Lantern at all.

And we’re back to clarification.  I’m still not sure what this entire post is though.  Let’s just say it’s both, shall we, gentle readers?

Edit:  Ok, so I jumped over to Comic Vine, it’s Abin Sur (the alien/Green Lantern who gives Hal Jordan the ring).

Also, I don’t know if this is the other trailer that was released, as it’s a teaser trailer from WonderCon 2011 (thanks Youtube!) but if I had seen this before that other one, I would have been totally gung-ho (and beyond incredibly psyched!) to see this movie.

I mean, seriously, this trailer is a thousand times better than the first one.  Then again, that’s usually what happens.  Unless it’s The Green Hornet (maybe that’s what I was thinking of!)

So, I may just spend $7.50 to see it in theaters after all.  We’ll see what happens this summer.

Asthma: Bad. Comic Books: Good.

When a normal person breaths, the air goes through the nose or mouth down to the trachea (windpipe), enters the bronchioles (airways of the lung),  is oxygenated at the alveoli (tiny grape-like sacs in the lungs where oxygen is swapped out for carbon dioxide), and then goes back out.

When an asthmatic (such as myself) breaths, there’s a very high chance that an insane amount of allergen triggers (like smoke, dust, pollen) and even infections (like colds and bronchitis) can cause the airways to constrict, obstructing airflow, and make breathing damned near impossible.

This has been happening to me for the last three weeks.  I’m not entirely sure what’s setting it off this time (construction dust from across the street, pollen from just about everything in bloom, smog because Phoenix air quality is very questionable…take your pick).  All I can say is, it’s getting really old.

What’s worse is, when this happens, I can’t leave my room.  I’m stuck in here using all these different inhalers and breathing treatments to keep my airways open, and I can’t go to class.  I’ve missed two and a half weeks worth of lectures and film school screenings! I think it’s starting to seriously take a toll on my grades.

But, I suppose you could call this a bright side, I have had time to look more into independent writing projects I’ve wanted to tackle for awhile now, starting with the Marvel vs. DC post series I mentioned a few weeks ago.  I still plan on doing this because, let’s face it, it’s too fantastic not to.

The first step in this Endeavor was starting research into the two brands.  I’ll be the first to admit, while I’m a bit of a Fan Girl in some respects, I don’t really know that much about the brands themselves.  My friend, fellow film student, and newfound source for all things comics, John, directed me to the site Comic Vine as a source and, let me just say, this is by far one of the most comprehensive site’s I’ve seen so far.  Owned and operated by San Francisco based Whiskey Media, Comic Vine is ,”the world’s largest comic book encyclopedia” filled with a wealth of comic book news, information, podcasts and video (and that’s just the stuff I’ve had time to look at so far).  It’s all really well organized, easy to navigate and really informative.

So, until I get the first post of this Endeavor up and running, kick around the Comic Vine site for a bit.  Batman fans might be interested in this piece on whether or not more Batmen mean more Bat-villains.

Also, while we’re on the note about comic books, who saw the most recent trailer for Captain America? In case you didn’t, watch it on the Entertainment Weekly website.

Can you say “awesome,” gentle readers?

I know, I said the first time that it looked like a fan made trailer, but this was much, much better.  Not only was it longer, but it actually looked good this time.  I can’t wait for this and Thor!

To See, or Not to See?

Greetings, gentle readers!

The other day, I was thinking about how shocking it was that I actually graduated high school.  It’s not that I’m really stupid and was failing all my classes; I just had a tendency to skip out on all my boring ones (under the guise of going to my locker or the library) and sneak into my friends’ more exciting ones.  If the teachers noticed, they never said anything (actually, a few did, but they liked me so it was all good).  While I wasn’t getting credit for the classes, I liked them.  They were interesting.  I actually learned things.

Today, I did something similar.  Everyone remember FMS 302? Well, there’s a continuation of that class this semester that I was really looking forward to taking; but unfortunately, my Bio 100 Lab is at the same time on Mondays, which means I couldn’t take it (damn scheduling conflicts…).

Wednesdays however, I don’t have a class.  So today, I sat in on the FMS 302 continuation (which I’m pretty sure the Prof was ok with).   It made me realize just how pissed I am that I can’t take this class this semester.

Guess what they were talking about, gentle readers?  Go ahead, guess…

Answer:  Movie trailers aired during the Super Bowl and the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the movies’ posters.

Now, three stuck out in particular (probably because I’m a bit of a fangirl…):

Thor.

The best trailer in my opinion.  It grabs your attention, gives you a bit of a backstory without giving too much of it away, and sells a number of things to get people’s butts in the seats come opening weekend (adventure, supernatural, Marvel, 3D, sex, romance, redemption…)

Captain America.

Know what this reminds me of? A fan made trailer where they take scenes of a movie that don’t really fit together and do a mashup to really loud music. And it was only 33 seconds! I’m still excited to see this one though

The Green Lantern.

No just….no.

I don’t know what it is about DC versus Marvel in the movies but, to me anyway, it seems like Marvel does a better job adapting their heroes and villains to the times.  I mean, did you see who the Green Lantern’s up against? Couldn’t they have made it less…Sketchy-Mad-Scientist-With-Huge-Foredhead-From-The-1950s?  This is not timeless.  This doesn’t translate well to the screen.

Now, if they had shown it as a comedy (like the end of the trailer, with the suit–by the way: wtf?) I might have considered giving it a shot.  But first, it’s a drama.  Then it’s a–weird thing I don’t even know how to describe.  And then, a couple jokes.

What?

Is anyone else horribly confused by this? Does anyone else plan on paying &7.50 to see this in theaters? I don’t.

Bring on Thor and Captain America!

What say you, gentle readers?  Any thoughts?