Play: Macbeth, BAM Harvey/Chichester Theatre, February 16, 2008

Macbeth ticket

This weekend we had a couple of friends up this week, and we saw Patrick Stewart in Macbeth. Being that three of the four of us are Stewart fans from Star Trek, and I am an extra fan of his from his work in the X-Men movies, we had a little more than a geek interest in the play.

I also like Shakespeare, and I believe this was the first Shakespeare play I saw.

We met up with two other friends, both of who were actors, one who performed as Macbeth back in Pennsylvania. We were six in all, and each of us there for a different reason.

So, how was it? Great, but your opinion might vary.

This was an updating of Macbeth, and even though they kept the references to Scotland and England, it appears to have been set in WWII era Soviet Union.

 

Stewart as Macbeth

This is not what you might think of a Macbeth performance. Army Fatigues and guns replace tights and swords. It is a definite hi-tech adaptation. of the play, with rear projections, unique staging, and actors coming out into the audience.

Since the production is more modern than many would expect, some in the audience were torn in how the play was portrayed. Some thought some things director Rupert Goold did were a mistake. I thought they were artistic and daring. Sure, at times it was a lot of style over substance, but it worked more often than not.

Stewart, because of his genre work, doesn't get a fair shake. But I believe any of his doubters out there should see him do this show. He usually plays the gentile good guy. Here, he plays a rough hewn warrior who slowly slips into madness. It is a different character that I have ever seen him play. He was scary and funny, noble and weak, usually at the same time. He truly is a great actor.

He is supported by a great cast as well, most I believe were British. They say the best way to understand Shakespeare is to see it performed. This cast more than proved that point.

The most effective staging was with the witches. They were creepy and spoke almost in rap. It was very powerful, dark and nefarious. I was really impressed by this.

The rest of the run at BAM is sold out, but there is a rumor that the show will be moving to Broadway for a 3 week run. If this happens, try to see it. Especially, if you like risky and daring adaptations of classic works.  

DC's Family Dynamic: "there are a lot of unimaginative people out there..."

So, for some reason I have been following this thread over at Newsarama announcing the new series from J. Torres, The Family Dynamic. I was especially struck by the description of the title, which features a family of heroes:

Sloan, a.k.a. Pyralis the fire elemental, is the dad and leader of the team. He's an army recruiter by day and tries to run the team almost like his own little unit. Gina, a.k.a. Sirocco the air elemental, is the mom and she's a homemaker, the peacekeeper, and the one who keeps the family from becoming too dysfunctional. The kids are Luca (mid-teens), a.k.a. Troylus the water elemental, and Gio (early teens), a.k.a. Terran the earth elemental. The older one is a music lover who takes after his Aunt Maeve (who owns a record company) more than anyone else, while the baby of the family tries to take after his dad and has a love of corn dogs.

Knee jerk, immediate reaction, is that this is very much like a hybrid of the Fantastic Four, Elementals, Noble Causes and the Incredibles. In other words, kinda deriverative.

I was not alone in thinking this, and, this being Newsarama, the post listing the comparisons flew on for about three pages (with, to be fair, a lot of posts of people saying how cool the concept was, and that they looked forward to reading it.)

After the most recent (as of this writing) post was of someone asking if they were the only ones who thought it was just like The Incredibles. Mr. Torres, who was answering the fans all along, posted this:

Probably not, but I suppose some people comment without reading the articles...

Sounds kind of snippy, right?

On one hand, I can see his point. About half of the posts were people (myself included) pointing out the similarities. I can see getting a little sick and tired of the repetition of that. And he did mention this in the article in response to how much FD resembles other works:

While we play with certain archetypes, and not just the Marvel ones, much like Astro City we also try and expand on certain themes and add elements (no pun intended) like the extended family, connections to the previous generation, the "dynamics" between siblings and half-siblings and cousins all within a superhero context. For example, while we have our quartet, there's also a female dynamic duo called Blackbird and Little Wing that's "part of the family." The Dynamics' powers are also tied into myth and magic, and we have some fun those elements.

On the other hand, if Mr. Torres was sick and tired of The Family Dynamic being compared to the FF, Incredibles, et al, then he should not have made it so much like the FF, Incredibles, et al. That kind of similarity cannot be come upon accidentally. Sure, he will probably go in a different direction than Marvel or Pixar did, but he is coming from the same place.

His concept is, flat out, derivirative. I mean, most comics are these days. He is not alone in this. But to get upset at his people pointing out how unoriginal his unoriginal project is show a lack of awareness of what he is doing. He'd be better saying "Listen, yes, it is a family with superpowers, like the FF. But I think I can bring stuff to that concept that no one has done before." Instead we get snippiness.

However, in the immortal words of the rap group ONYX,' B-b-b-b-ut wait it gets worse".

I signed up for e-mail reminders from this thread, So I know if anybody replied. The e-mail actually contains the body of the post in the e-mail, so you don't even have to click back to the website.

When I read Mr. Torres post on Newsarama, something seemed off. I pulled the notification e-mail out of my junk e-mail folder, and found out what was wrong. This is the content of the original e-mail:

Dear GATES71,

J. Torres has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - J. TORRES: INTRODUCING THE FAMILY DYNAMIC - in the FEATURES forum of NEWSARAMA.

This thread is located at:
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=146338&goto=newpost

Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************
Probably not, but there are a lot of unimaginative people out there...
***************

There may be other replies also, but you will not receive any more notifications until you visit the forum again.

All the best,
NEWSARAMA

There appears to have been editing going on (and not by me either, this is pasted here as I got it). As you can see from the e-mail, what Mr. Torres wrote was some what different.

I wonder why Mr. Torres edited his statement? Was it because it was too harsh? Or was it because he was calling some one unimaginative when he himself was being unimaginative in the work being promoted? Was it because he was respectful of the previous poster's feelings? Or because he didn't want to get called on the carpet for his hypocracy.

Mr. Torres, if you read the thread, has been schilling The Family Dynamic non-stop, even with the cries that it's like other projects. It is creator-owned, so that might mean that Torres gets a higher percentage of money if it does well. But I was hesitant to pick it up even before this latest faux pas. Now, I am definitely not going to pick it up. This comment from Torres sealed that. I guess I have to accept ramant lack of originality in comics these days. That has been a fact of life for over thirty years. But I'd like a little less arrogance out of the people doing the deriverative work. It would make me believe them when they said they were sincerely trying to bring something new to the hackneyed old idea.

This outburst by Torres could have just been an abberation, an out of character moment brought on by frustration. But, being the savvy self-promoter he showed he was earlier in the thread, he should have known what he was trying to sell, it's assets and drawbacks, and not get all pouty when someone points out how derivirative it is.  

Valentine's Day: Everyone else is doing, why can't I?

Following quickly in the footsteps of Chris and my pal, Jeff, I have decided to take advantage of the time before my class to make up my own (quasi) funny valentines. If you click the links, you will see I basically did variations on a theme.

 

Ama_sm545 valentine copy

 

SKRULL VALENTINE

 

Countdown valentine

I was going to do an All-Star Batman one, but I'm afraid the amount of "Goddamn"'s I would use would scare the kiddies.

Sad News: R.I.P. Steve Gerber

Sg4newblog

Steve Gerber, creator of Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown and many other characters, succumbed to his battle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60.

I would say more, but I can't top what Mark Evanier said, so I will just direct you to him.

How geeky am I?

Avclub_logo

Over at the Onion A.V. Club, they have a listing of the "20 pop culture obsessions geekier than Monty Python". And they should know geeky because what is geekier than being the serious offshoot of an organization that devotes its time to writing fake news articles because it's funny. It's named the A.V. Club for a reason.

Anyway, I decided to take this as a test to see how geeky I am. I will give myself five points for any of the 20 that I am a fan of, have attended, or have participated in. I don't dress up so I am not the rabid fan I believe they are talking about, so take that into consideration if you are scoring at home. Here we go:

1. Star Trek:

Yeah, I'm a fan. Mostly of the first series. I did a little happy dance when I got volume one and three of the original series at a store's going out of business sale. I'm even down loading the Gold Key comics off of WOWIO.  So, this is one strike against me.

Verdict: Guilty.

2. Renaissance Faires:

I have attended more than one. I could make the argument that I only went because someone I knew was in the cast, but that wouldn't be fair, since I enjoy them. 

Verdict: Guilty.

3. Fantasy Sports Leagues:

Yeah, I'm in these big time. Multiple sports and for every sport I am in multiple leagues. The A.V. makes a point of how bad it is that you have to root for a player to do well against your favorite team, like it's a sin. The point is, I always root for the player to do good, but for my team to do better. That's the secret.

Verdict: Guilty

4.  Michael Jackson:

I own a greatest hits album of his and also of the Jackson 5. Outside of that, I couldn't be bothered.

Verdict: Not Guilty.

5. Wikipedia:

I'll cop to this one. I am not a habitual updater of the site, but I use it a lot in my writing (with everything I take from there taken with a grain of salt). So I'll cop to this one.

Verdict: Guilty.

6. Battlestar Galactica:

I own the first season but have yet to watch it. Will I become obsessed with it? Probably. But as of yet I am not.

Verdict: Not Guilty.

7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show:

I have seen one, ONE, midnight showing of the movie in my life. I did not dress up in character, but I had a good time. I will probably never dress up (because I look awful in fishnets) but I may go again. So, I'll cop to this one too.

Verdict: Guilty

8. Joss Whedon:

Yes, yes, yes. Love Firefly. I have the full run of Buffy on DVD waiting to be watched, and Astonishing X-Men, Buffy  and Runaways in my comic pull list. So, yes.

Verdict: Guilty

9. Media-specific role-playing:

I have role-played about a grand total of twice in my entire 36 years. Not that I have anything against it, but the crowd I hung with in hish school, geeky though it was, wasn't big into it. If I played, I would probably be obsessed with it, but I'm not.

And that goes for media specific too.

Verdict: Not Guilty

10. Magic: The Gathering:

I never got into card-based role playing either. A little after my time (although my wife, who is the same age, used to collect Magic card, so that argument doesn't hold water)

Verdict: Not Guilty

11. World of Warcraft:

It's a streak of role-playing games I never got into. The reason I never got into WoW is because my internet connection speed was dial-up for most of the game's existence, which precluded me from joining in.

Verdict: Not Guilty

12. The Simpsons:

We are back in the Guilty column. Love the Simpsons. I quote the lines, sing the songs, and imitate the voices. At the aforementioned going out of business sale, I completed my set oif DVD set of the series. I did another happy dance.

Verdict: Guilty

13. Doctor Who:

Yes. I love Doctor Who, and I love the mythology. I watch the show whenever I can.

Verdict: Guilty.

14. Frank Zappa:

No, unfortunately. I have heard a song or two, but I am not a humongous fan.

Verdict: Not Guilty

15. Game Show Tape Trading:

No. I didn't even know this existed. It sounds somewhat intriguing, but no.

Verdict: Not Guilty 

16. Anime:

No. I like Anime better than Manga, but neither really cut it for me.

Verdict: Not Guilty.

17. Coplay:

Again, this involves dressing up. And I will never dress up. Because I am too fat and there aren't a lot of fat characters in pop culture for us fatties to dress up as.

Verdict: Not Guilty

18. Live-Action Role Playing:

See above, about role-playing and dressing up. Although I do find this interesting is a "so-crazy-it-might-be-fun" sort of way.

Verdict: Not Guilty

19. Second Life/MySpace/Facebook:

I am not obsessed with these in a "getting as many friends" sort of way, but more in the functionality of it. I love the games in Facebook and getting in touch with bands on MySpace. I am not on Second Life, but I am in Friendster and ComicSpace. Look me up.

Verdict Guilty

20. Fanfic:

I have nothing against fan fiction, I just don't participate. I feel my efforts would be better spent to try and get a job writing the characters for real than writing them for free.

Verdict: Not Guilty

Let's see. That's 9 out of 20, so I am 45% geeky, according to the A.V. club.

I am thankful they didn't include Comics, Action Figure collecting, Sci-Fi novels, video games, music or anything else I am obsessed about. If they did, that score would be much higher,

The Gates Ombudsman, Wednesday, February 6th, 2008: The catching up edition.

 

Ombudsman,-header

Back at my old Friendster blog, I used to do a semi-regular news review on a quasi-daily basis called The Gates Ombudsman. Since it has been a while since I've blogged, I decided to bring back the format to catch up on things I've missed. But now, we have a snazzy, yet amateurish header for it. Yay!

• Where have I been?: College is a drag on my time. Between classes, homework and reading assignments, I barely have time to write what I am supposed to write, let alone blog.
• Pop Candy starts "A Crash Course in Comics":  Whitney Matheson is a writer for USA Today and a pop culture maven. Think a female version of me, only cuter. And more alternative. Anyway, she has decided to treat her readers the a crash comics course. This first of the four part weekly course hit today, and she gives us 25 essential graphic novels. Can't really argue with the list, although it favors the shoe-gazing, indie books a bit much, but a lot of the agreed essential books are their.
• Another of my Guiding Line colums have been published: Usually, I post this in a separate post, but tonight I am trying to be economical. This week, I cover Scud, the Disposable Assassin #21, Uncanny X-Men #495, Halloween: Nightdance #1, Abe Sapien: The Drowning #1, ClanDestine #1, Midnighter #16 and Marvel Illustrated: Moby Dick #1. Check it out.
• Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose: He died of a fatal cocktail of a bunch of prescription meds. I wonder if People Magazine is going to a cover story apologizing for the cover story in their February 4th edition in which they make a point to include quotes from "friends" of Heath Ledger saying that he was a rampant partier and depressed over his breakup with Michele Williams. Because that article implied that Ledger was either A) A reckless druggie or B) Suicidal. Now that both those are ruled out, People Magazine should do the right thing and set the record straight. They won't but they should.
• Super Tuesday does not settle the election: I don't know if this is because we have so many good candidates or because all the candidates are kinda, eh? For the record, I voted for Hillary. Heath care is very important to me, and I believe she is stronger on that issue. I do appreciate that parking was on a preimium at the polling place. I am also glad to be living in New York instead of Pennsylvania. Because, usually by the time the primaries reached PA, the race was over.
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck has a "baby blog": The term "gag me with a spoon" is so outdated, but it really sums up what I'm feeling about this perfectly.
• Shaquille O'Neal is traded to the Phoenix Suns: In related news, Shaquille O'Neal is still playing basketball, apparently.
• My second favorite team wins the Super Bowl: I have two favorite NFL football teams. This causes me to be teased mercilessly by my friends. But I came into loving the Pittsburgh Steelers on my own, and love the New York Giants because they were my father's favorite team. It was a bonding experience for us both. I rooted for the Giants with him, and he would root for the Steelers with me. Now that he's passed away, 10 years gone now, I still root for the Giants. Don't get me wrong, there is a hierarchy, Steelers are first, Giants are second. But I am happy that my two favorite teams have won the SuperBowl within three years. And Giants had to beat the Perfect Patriots and the hated Cowboys to do so.
• However, the Super Bowl commercials were lackluster: Yeah, the ads, which some years are the best part of the game, were kind of blah. Especially disappointing were the Bud Light ads. Usually they are solid comedy. Instead they were kind of lame. My favorite had to be the soda commercials. The "Wkae Up" ad was made with Chris Kattan's appearance at the end, who doesn't love to see Justin Timberlake's crotch rammed into a post, and I love that Charlie Brown wins the Coke bottle in the end.
• The Writer's Strike might be over: Yee haw! I just hope the writers didn't give up too much.
• The early release of the 3rd season of SNL depresses me:  You know, when one and two came out in December, I got them immediately after for Christmas. Now number 3 will be released in April? I'm sure another one will be coming in December. Getting one $60 box set for X-Mas was hard enough. Getting two is impossible.

I love what Mike Huckabee just said right now on NBC.

What he said, in reaction to winning Georgia, was:

"I'm lovin me some peaches right about now!"

That's funny on its own. Add to that that peaches can refer to a certain part of the female anatomy and that Huckabee is a former preacher, it becomes comedy gold.