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!