Trapped in a world he was not designed to cope with, Dave-El (the true Kryptonian name of alleged Earth creature David Long) writes about comics, Doctor Who, Star Trek, politics, the absurdity of the human condition and whatever other nonsense that befuddles his unbalanced mind. This is.... I'M SO GLAD MY SUFFERING AMUSES YOU!
I'm having an identity crisis,
Who am I?
Sometimes I just lose track and forget who I am.
If there was only someone who would just say my name over and over.
Your Friday Video Link is from Schitts Creek as Alexis Rose says her brother's name (and mine!) a lot!
Yes, that's it! I'm David!
BY THE POWER OF CASTLE GREYSKULL, I... AM... DAVID!!
Ew, David!
No, David!
We're back tomorrow with Movie Time!
Until next time, remember to be good to one another.
Even if their name is David.
While at Acme Comic a few weeks ago, I picked up the new DC/Marvel collaboration that teams up Superman and Spider-Man once again.
With help from Spidey, Superman is able to assert himself over venom through sheer force of will and a display of raw power.
A big honkin' super hand clap disperses the Venom symbiote.
Time to confront Luthor and the Goblin.
Superman: Do us a favor?
Spider-Man: Fight back!
Superman: Please!
But the story is not over.
Clark Kent meets up with Peter Parker at Uncle Ben's grave site. Comparing notes on what they learned about each other in their fight with Luthor and the Goblin, Clark offers a positive alternative to Peter's guilt ridden angst.
The story ends with Peter and his Aunt May joining Clark and his parents for a home cooked mean. Martha Kent makes a mean apple cobbler.
The rest of the stories that fill out the issue are short, no more than 4 or 5 pages a pop but each provides interesting insights into Spider-Man, Superman, their supporting casts and other heroes that make up their respective worlds.
It's back to 1938 with a meet up between the original Superman (leaping tall buildings with a single bound!) and Spider Noir.
Jane Foster's Thor encounters Wonder Woman.
The Miles Morales Spider-Man has his own meet up with Superman.
There's a bittersweet meet up with Lana Lang and Gwen Stacy as they commiserate about Clark Kent and Peter Parker with both imagining they're going to marry these guys one day. (They will not.)
Click here for Alan Stewart's Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books for a detailed look back at that seminal issue.
And on the subject of comic books from 50 years ago, next week we're back with Comic Book Retro 50 as we look at what a young Dave-El was buying in May 1976.
Located outside Madison, Wisconsin is Ridglan Farms, a medical research facility.
Ridglan breeds dogs, specifically beagles, for experimentation.
Because beagles naturally have a friendly, docile temperment, it makes them preferred subjects in the labratory.
Ridglan asserts that their research using these dogs provides valuable information and treatments for rabies, canine parvovirus, heartworm, dog arthritis and distemper.
Ridglan also insists that accusations of animal cruelty are untrue and unfounded.
But even a well tended life in a cage is still a life in a cage. These beagles are born, live their short lives and die without seeing the sky, feeling grass underneath their paws.
And as for that alleged lack of animal cruelty, there is a prosecutor in Dane County, Wis. with a different assessment.
The prosecutor concluded that Ridglan Farms’ treatment of beagles, specifically how they conducted eye surgeries on the beagles without anesthesia or pain management, violated state veterinary standards and constituted animal mistreatment.
Well, that's some kind of messed up shit, if you ask me.
Various animal rights activitists and dog rescue groups have mounted protests and even raids on the facility to retrieve dozens of dogs. Protestors took their greivances with Ridglan to the Wisconsin State Capitol.
Behind the scenes, rescue organizations negotiated a purchase agreement for 1,500 dogs from Ridglan.
What followed was a national groundswell of support for these beautiful beagles, bounding across grass fields and wiggling happily in the arms of humans who want only to love and care for them.
Sadly, Ridglan Farms is still a thing and they still possess approximately 500 beagles for medical research.
So that part of the story is not over.
But for 1,500 beagles, their stories are also not over but will continue free from cages and darkness but finding their forever homes where they will know love and compassion.
Last week Andrea and I caught up to the season 2 finale of Daredevil: Born Again and it was quite the dramatic denouement of two seasons of Wilson Fisk's reign of terror as the mayor of New York City.
The criminal mastermind known as the Kingpin in a legal position of power over a governmental insitution? Well, that was never gonna be good for anybody.
Trump Fisk blames all of NYC's ills on one source, undocumented immigrants masked vigilantes and has unleashed an army, ICE the AVTF or Anti-Vigilante Task Force. The AVRF rampages through the city, jack booted thugs brutally arresting anyone who dares stand against them, if they are not a vigilante or masked.
Fisk speaks to the city and assures them he (and he alone!) has made New York City safe! As the armored AVTF rolls through the city, funny, no one feels safe.
The New York State Attorney General is gearing up to take action against the Mayor but Fisk doesn't care. He's full of his swaggering self confidence that he ALONE has the power to rule his city as he ALONE sees fit.
The governor of New York pointedly tells Wilson Fisk he is on shaky legal ground with what he's doing as Mayor but (ONE MORE TIME!) Fisk....Does...NOT... CARE! Hell, he send an assassin up to Albany to end his problem with the Governor.
Trump Fisk makes the classic misstep that all villains make: he assumes his powers have no limits and pushes those who would oppose them past their breaking points.
And people pushed past their breaking points are dangerous. They have nothing left to lose.
Which brings us to person whose name is in the title of this show: Daredevil, AKA attorney Matt Murdock.
Karen Page has been arrested by the AVTF and put on trial as a terrorist.
Yeah, the deck is kinda stacked against Karen.
Then....enter Matt Murdock for the defense.
Matt's been busy.
With help from Jessica Jones, Matt has tied the Northern Star vessel that was sunk at the start of the season to an illegal gun running operation led by Fisk as well as a bunch of other crimes. All the shit Fisk is accusing Daredevil and Karen Page of doing, Matt has evidence to show it's all on Wilson Fisk.
But he needs to do one thing to seal the deal that will exonerate Karen Page and put Wilson firmly on the hook for those crimes.
In open court, Matt Murdock declares he's Daredevil.
Wilson Fisk has spent nearly 2 seasons having everything go his way as Mayor of NYC.
In short order, it all goes in reverse.
Fisk commandeers a camera and proclaims to the citizens of New York City that all they have heard are lies and he will still fight for them as he ALONE can!
The citizens of New York City respond to this message of fealty and love by assembling to storm the courthouse to force his oversized ass out of power.
Fisk responds by demonstrating his fealty and love to the citizens of New York City by wading into the mob to beat the crap out of them.
Daredevil intervenes to save people from Fisk and keep the good people for murdering Fisk. The Attorney General has offered Fisk as deal that involves renouncing his citizenship and living in exile.
Which is way better than this fucker deserves but it does end the carnage. And if anything is ever really going to actually hurt the erstwhile Kingpin, it's being forced to live with the knowledge that he had power and now he doesn't.
But Matt's victory comes at a cost. Having outed himself as Daredevil, Matt ends the season arrested for Daredevil’s crimes (such as charges of assault and attempted murder) and stuck in the same priosn for the AVTF members he helped put away.
That is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Next week is gonna hit hard, guys!
The series finale of Outlander.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
For today's political themed post, I have a plethora of fuckery by Donald Trump and his snivelling synchophants to pontificate about.
I could keep going as the list of incompetence, cruelty, grift, etc etc etc is quite extensive.
Or maybe all these problems are not problems at all.
Maybe it's just me.
Maybe I have (dramatic pause) Trump derangement syndrome!
Trump derangement syndrome is invoked by Trump and his minions to undermine those who speak out against Li'l Donnie and those things he do.
So if I say that Donald Trump is a lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, small minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit, well, that's my problem for being crazy!
I'm just deranged for refusing to see the obvious power and wisdom that is Donald J. Trump.
ME: Trump has been reckless and incoherent in this war he started with Iran.
DONALD TRUMP: Dave-El has Trump derangement syndrome! The War is going GREAT! The war is WON! We won it on DAY ONE! AND we're going to keep winning it! So much winning!! Dave-El said mean things about TRUMP!! I'm not a fan of Dave-El! NOT A FAN!! "I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You"! He does not know suffering! I have SUFFERED!!! MORE THAN JESUS!! I have survived 100 assassinations! The Russia Hoax! RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIA! I WON 3 ELECTIONS!!! Dave-El is a LOSER!! He doesn't have a ballroom! Only Trump can build the BIGGEST, the BEST, the GOLDEST Ballroom EVER! Dave-El is WEAK ON CRIME and BAD FOR AMERICA!
There's an entire article about this on Wikipedia.
From that article, here are a couple of bills introduced by Republican legislators to codify Trump derangement syndrome as a real and actual thing.
The truth is there is so much going to shit in this country and in this world and the sewer line leads right back to Donald Trump.
The evidence of that is readibly apparent to our eyes and ears.
But we are being told to not accept the reality of what we can see and hear. Our perception of that reality is dismissed as hysteria, deranged crazy talk.
The truly deranged are the ones who cannot or will not accept what reality clearly demonstrates.
Unless it is just me?
But it is Star Trek adjacent.
Today I'm going to post about my current favorite podcast!
This is NOT a Star Trek podcast but yeah, Star Trek stuff comes up.
Hell, their first guest was Levar Burton so yeah, Trek ain't too far away.
The "Dropping Names" in the title is a challenge for Brent, Jonny and their guests to drop as many names of famous people as they can into their conversations.
Sitting on a table next to Frakes is a bell which he rings every time someone drops the name of a notable actor, director, writer, relatively famous person they personally know and/or have worked with.
Frakes thinks the bell is funny as hell.
Spiner is somewhat annoyed by it.
I tend to agree with Spiner because Brent and Jonny know a LOT of famous people. So that's a lot of bell ringing.
But Frake's joyful reaction to Spiner's annoyance is amusing.
I realize Dropping Names may not be for you, that these free wheeling discussions may be too insular, too "inside baseball" to be interesting to everyone.
Brent Spiner was in this play with that actress who was in a movie with some guy who once co-starred with the guest in a TV episode directed by Jonathan Frakes. Stuff like that.
And Brent, Jonny and guests are too gracious and cordial to drop any real tea on anyone. Everyone on this show is still actively working on something somewhere in the entertainment industry and can ill afford to burn any bridges.
When Joel McHale was a guest, they couldn't bring themselve to trash talk Joel's former Community star Chevy Chase. And no one in Hollywood likes Chevy Chase so if there was anyone to talk shit about, it's him.
Other than a reluctance to expose any real dirt or juicy gossip, these discussions are mostly candid and usually a lot of fun. To me, anyway.
So that is that for this side trek from StarTrekking.
Next week, we're up to season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Today is Mother's Day so to my son Dean, remember to say "Hi!" to your mom.
Dean and I communicate via blog.
Yesterday I ventured forth to Target to get my wife Andrea a Mother's Day card.
There are Mother's Day cards from husbands to their wives but these are mostly filled with treacly Hallmark sentimentality that is very much out of character for me.
One time I gave Andrea a card that was kind of sweet and heartfelt. She was worried. "Are you going to die?"
Finally I spied a card with a dog on it. Nailed it!
Andrea likes cards with cute dogs on them.
I was standing next to a young woman who was having some difficulty finding a card for her mother. She was goingthrough the cards with this repeated refrain:
Taylor Tomlinson did some stand up on the problems for adults buying a greeting card for a parent. Too much water under the bridge.
I used to struggle with getting cards for my mom and dad for similar reasons. Thankfully, I don't have to do that anymore because they're both dead.
Wait! "Thankfully"?
Really, my parents are dead and I'm seeing an upside in not giving the folks at Hallmark any of my money to express empty platitudes?
I admittedly had complicated relationships with my parents.
And perhaps I have some reasons to be angry with them for decisions they made when I was young that affected the course of my life.
But they hardly seem to matter now.
Here is a photo I recently found on Facebook of me with my mother and my brother.
This was taken about a year or so before she died.
She was such a strong woman, fierce and passionate about things that were important to her.
She was my strongest advocate even when perhaps I didn't deserve it.
Sometimes I dream she is still alive and then I wake up to chastise myself for not calling her more often, then remembering I can't.
Is the primary function of Mother's Day to instill feelings of guilt?
Now I'm missing the stuggle of finding her a card.
Like me, she wasn't big on sentimentality.
So it would have to be funny. Or have a picture of a cat.
Here's to Mother's Day for all our mothers still with us today and to those who loved so long ago.
I'm having an identity crisis, Who am I? Sometimes I just lose track and forget who I am. If there was only someone who would just say...
