Ich habe gerade auf Graphische Novellen die Review des Batwoman Arcs “Elegy” (Detective Comics #854-856) gelesen, welche mich zu ein paar Gedanken bezüglich homosexueller Comic-Helden/Heldinnen angeregt hat.

Nachdem die Autorin – nennt sich „irgendeine-Userin“ aber ich glaube es handelt sich hier eh um die ComicLeserin – Greg Ruckas Arbeit schon vor dem Lesen Rosen gestreut hat, überrascht mich weniger, dass sie den Arc positiv beurteilt hat, sondern viel mehr die Argumentation weshalb ihr dieser Arc so gefallen hat.

(Zur Erinnerung: In diesem Arg ging es um Batwomans Comeback und ihre Fehde mit Alice. Während das Artwork von J.H. Williams III abgefeiert wurde, bekam Ruckas Story verhaltene Reaktionen. Auch hier von mir…)

Im Gegensatz zur allgemeinen Meinung meint irgendeine-Userin nun:

Batwoman ist erstens eine Frau.
Zweitens ist sie eine Lesbe!

Im Mainstream der Superheldengeschichten sticht allein dies schon hervor.
Und die Hefte führen ihren Namen im Titel: Batwoman in Detective Comics.

Ich bin ja sonst keine Marktschreierin, aber wenn das nicht außergewöhnlich ist, dann weiß ich nicht…

Ich gebe der ComicLeserin nur bedingt Recht. Vielleicht würde dieses Argument bei jedem anderen Autor zu Recht zutreffen, aber gerade Greg Rucka ist berühmt/berüchtigt für seine starken Frauen die nicht selten auch lesbisch sind.

Auch da sich auch andere Autoren wie Bendis, Dini, Simone etc. schon seit längerem ernsthaft mit weiblichen Charakteren auseinandersetzen und sie nicht nur als Dekoration oder ewiges Opfer einbauen, spricht gegen das Argument, dass eine Heroine alleine schon etwas Besonderes wär. (Auch wenn ich diese Gruppierungen von Heldinnen wie bei „Gotham Sirens“ oder „Marvel Divas“ nicht unbedingt klasse finde…)

Was ihre Homosexualität betrifft: Klar begrüße ich jeden neuen homosexuellen Charakter, besonders wenn es eine prominente Figur wie Batwoman ist, aber ich finde nicht, dass ein lesbischer Haupt-Charakter alleine schon ausreicht um eine Story automatisch gut zu finden. Sollte es auch nicht, denn sonst passiert genau das, was bei Elegy passiert ist. Wir bekommen weibliche/lesbische Charaktere die nur zum Selbstzweck zu existieren scheinen und bei denen es daher ausreicht sie in eine maue Story zu verpacken.

Um dies weiter zu spinnen, wage ich zu prophezeien, dass diese Hefte auf Dauer – vorausgesetzt es läuft wo weiter – niemand kaufen würde und der Verlag die Figur/Serie aus dem Programm verschwinden lässt. Vermutlich noch mit der Vermutung dass die Zeit für eine (lesbische) Superheldin noch nicht reif sei…

Stichwort Ms. Marvel. Carol Danvers hätte so viel Potential und sollte ja eigentlich das feministische Aushängeschild von Marvel sein. Stattdessen wurde sie vergewaltigt (um anschließend mit dem Vergewaltiger zusammen zu leben), wurde eine Alkoholikern, mehrmals entmachtet oder sogar ermordet und für ihre Figur (!!!) beschimpft! Ms. Marvel! Für ihre Figur! Also das man bei den 90-60-90 wirklich noch Lookism einbauen kann topt wirklich alles… (Noch erschüttender ist aber das es Bendis war der Doom so entgleisen lies, der sie in Folge auch als “Whore” bezeichnete)

Besonders die letzten Monate unter Brian Reed hatte ich als Fan gelitten und bin nur dran geblieben weil ich mir eben dachte, dass irgendwer den Scheiß ja kaufen muss damit er im Programm bestehen bleibt.

So gesehen wäre es das Beste wenn Ms. Marvel demnächst eingestellt wird (worüber es ohnehin immer schon Gerüchte gab und gibt), denn vielleicht hat Marvel in ein paar Jahren endlich mal eine starke Autorin in den Reihen die der Superheldin zu einem ordentlichen Relaunch verhilft.

Aber wieder zurück zu den Graphischen Novellen der Review:

Irgendeine-Userin freut sich am Ende dann doch über die durchschnittlichen Reviews die Batwoman erhalten hat:

Aber ist ja schön, dass lesbische Superheldinnen nun zum Standard in den Comics geworden sind, so dass nur noch der Story Arc zu betrachten ist…

Sie hat zwar Recht, doch ist diese Betrachtungsweise schrecklich einseitig. Ja, lesbische Heldinnen sind schon so gut wie im Mainstream angekommen, bzw. werden sie von der männlich dominierten Leserschaft der Comics nicht als störend, sondern als mehr als „sexy“ wahrgenommen. Doch wie sieht es aber mit den schwulen Helden aus?

Auch wenn es im DC Universum mit Achilles unlängst erst ein Outing gegeben hat, ist dieser nur eine Nebenfigur die in keinster Weise Aufregung verursacht hat, ja nicht mal wirklich wahrgenommen wurde. Die queeren Hauptcharaktere schiebt man dann doch lieber aus Vorsicht auf die Wildstorm und Vertigo Imprints ab.

"Of Course not. I would never..."

Dass sie für diesen mutigen Schritt vielleicht zu Recht zu feig sind, zeigte sich unlängst erst mit Shatterstar bei Marvel. Aber auch hier muss ich sagen, dass Peter David sicherlich zurückgepfiffen worden wäre, wenn nicht X-Factor schon seit Ewigkeiten nur von einer kleinen, treuen Stammkundschaft gekauft wird, die sich von Homosexualität nicht abschrecken lassen, ja sie im Gegenteil sogar begrüßt.

Während lesbische Superheldinnen also sicherlich bereits im Mainstream angekommen sind, haben es schwule Helden noch immer schwer um Akzeptanz zu kämpfen.

Fairerweise muss ich dazu sagen dass ich nicht schwul bin und auch keine schwulen Kumpels habe die Comics lesen, während sich Graphische Novellen mehr oder weniger als „lesbischer Comic Blog“ sieht. Es ist nur logisch das queere Leser, sich mit queeren Helden/Heldinnen besser identifizieren können und daher den Batwoman-Arc allgemein positiver reviewen werden als z.b. ich es gemacht habe. Nehme ich zumindest mal an. Wie gesagt, ich habe ich niemanden den/die ich dazu befragen kann.

Zum Abschluss will ich noch etwas Anderes zu dem Thema queere Helden anmerken, was aber nichts mehr mit der Review, aber dennoch mit dem Graphischen Novellen Blog zu tun hat. Die Comic-Leserin merkt nämlich auch an:

… weil nicht immer Lesbe drauf stehen muss, wo Lesbe drin ist.

Dem kann ich nur 100 prozentig zustimmen! Das Schrecklichste was ich mir vorstellen könnte ist, dass ein Mainstream-Superhelden-Comic mit „Queer Comic“ gebrandet wird, so wie es bei den Mangas z.b. ein eigenes Genre von Shonen Ai gibt. (Witzigerweise wird das aber meines Wissens von Frauen für Frauen gemacht…)

Einen Comic den man explizit als „schwul/lesbisch“ bewirbt, halte ich für äußerst kontraproduktiv und würde auch nie die Hetero-Zielgruppe erreichen. Auch wenn Comics schon lange nicht mehr nur von Kids gelesen werden, würden diese niemals ein Comic kaufen von dem jeder weiß dass es einen schwulen Helden hat. Schon alleine aus Angst dass sie von ihren Kollegen gemobbt werden…

Um dem entgegenzuwirken muss ein(e) coole(r) homosexueller Held/Heldin entweder erst langsam in das Universum eingebracht werden (fabelhaft gemacht mit Midnighter bei Stormwatch der ja später auch ne eigene Serie bekam) oder es muss sich eine wirklich wichtiger Charakter outen.

Midnighter im Krieg...

...und in der Liebe

Auf Letzteres können wir aber wahrscheinlich ewig warten, denn seien wir ehrlich, würde Bendis seinen Luke Cage nicht so sehr pushen, hätten wir nicht mal eine schwarze Hauptfigur mit einer zentralen Rolle. (und nicht mal Cage hat einen eigenen Titel sondern mischt nur bei den New Avengers kräftig mit)

Ich glaube auch nicht, dass Batwoman eine große Rolle im DC Universum zu kommen wird und zumindest vorerst mal abgegrenzt vom Rest der Welt laufen wird. Und um hier auf Dauer zu überleben, und danach den Sprung zu einem richtigen Main-Character zu schaffen, braucht das Heft eben auch ne tolle Story die der Heldin erlaubt sich zu entwickeln und den Leser dranbleiben lässt.

Batwoman hat gut begonnen, sackte dann aber enorm ab und es gibt nicht wenige die der (meiner Meinung nach sogar noch schwächere) Question (ebenfalls eine Lesbe) Back-Story den Vorzug gaben.

So gesehen glaube ich also nicht, dass Batwoman der queeren Comic-Community nur irgendwie weiterhilft und sehe die Serie im besten Fall neben dem normalen DC Universum dahintrotten. Und das kann’s ja auch nicht sein…

PS: Sorry, wenn ein paar Formulierungen etwas verschachtelt klingen. Bin gerade krank und lese die Artikel generell nie Korrektur bevor ich sie online stelle…

Today’s run (actually scheduled for yesterday) was 13 Miles LSD (Long Slow Distance.) I try to run on trails for my weekend runs since my December run will be on the trails.

As I drove toward the trailhead, the weather began to get pretty foggy. I wasn’t expecting a sunny day but I wasn’t  expecting quite so much white stuff, either.

I packed my hydration pack with some Gu and Accel energy gels as well as my camera, phone and kleenex. I grabbed a trail map and was off.

The trail was a little bit damp but very runnable. Unfortunately I didn’t really feel like running. Another “blah” day. I found myself looking forward to the uphills so that I could walk. I was determined to stick to the schedule 13 miles, though.

I liked the fog and stopped several times to take pictures. At one point, the fog was so heavy that it looked like a very light rain coming down. I had to pause or slow down several times during my run to wipe the beads of water off of my glasses.

I have run on this trail before and I passed some signs that I hadn’t seen before: “Chestnuts gathered off the trail are not free for the taking.” The notice further advised the offender to continue up the trail to pay for any gathered chestnuts. I don’t even know what a chestnut looks like, but my usual habit when in nature is to take a picture rather than to take a memento. So, I took a picture of the sign.

Warning Notice to Chestnut Gatherers on the Trail!

Soon afterwards, I passed the trailer from where the chestnuts were being sold. Honey was also available. I saw that business was — while not actually booming — occurring. I later found out that people could be supplied with gloves and a bucket if they wanted to pick their own chestnuts.

Today I took a slightly different route when I arrived at the junction of Peters Creek and Long Ridge Trails. Normally, I avoid Long Ridge because it is an immediate climb from the junction. Today, because I felt like walking, I chose that route. Plus, it was fun to see a different trail. It was a pretty intense climb for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile, though. Coming back would be more fun though I had to take care because the trail was slippery from the wet weather.

No View at Vista Point

I came across a stone bench overlooking what was probably a beautiful view under clearer circumstances.

I continued for 6.53 miles and then turned around. I felt like I should make better time on the return because I would have more downhills on the return. Plus, I was highly motivated. I wanted a vanilla latte.

The run back was pretty uneventful. I ran into bicyclists who were struggling a little bit on the muddy, uphill trails.

I returned to the start and saw that my watch said 12.94 miles. I was .06 miles short. I turned around and ran back down the trail for about .03 miles and then turned back again. Yes, I’m one of those runners. If I’m supposed to run 13 miles, it will be 13 miles. Or more. But not less.

I did have a little bit of discomfort during this run. My Achilles were  tight from about the halfway point until the end of the run. I stretched them a little when I finished the run but I should be stretching them regularly. The arch on my left foot was also hurting a little bit. This would be a problem that Ibuprofen would be solving later.

After the run, I drove to the chestnut stand to buy some chestnuts. I don’t even know how — or if you even have to — cook chestnuts. I thought that at the least I could roast them, right? Isn’t that what the song says? I picked up 1-1/2 pounds thinking that I could figure out the rest later. It turned out that I was lucky to stop by today; it was the last day for the chestnut stand.

An hour later, I was warm at home, Googling chestnut recipes.

Woche 3? Ok, nennen wir es mal Woche 3.

Aus den anvisierten 21km sind nichts geworden, da die Migräne dazwischenkam.

Aber immerhin gab es heute gegen Mittag ein Läufchen bei trockenem, sonnigen Wetter (10°C) – 10km immerhin geht das schon wieder, wenn auch die AS zwischendurch mal arg ziepte. Da muss ich wohl noch vorsichtig sein.

Es sind also 2 Läufe mit ingesamt rund 15km geworden.

In der nächsten Woche werde ich mal 3 á ~7km probieren (Di, Fr, So).

Donnerstag ist dann noch Blutspende, da werd ich wohl recht früh hingehen, um möglichst viel Zeit bis zum Lauf zu haben. Und abends dann ein blutiges Steak

Heute war ja wohl ein Superlaufwetter: Sonnig, 14°, also kurze Hose und langarmiges Shirt – einfach Klasse. Und morgen soll’s ja höchstens mal am Nachmittag keinen Regen geben.

Einziges Problem dabei: Da ich vorgestern mal (schon) wieder Migräne hatte, war ich heute auch platt und bin nicht gelaufen *grr*

Also morgen bei Regenwetter – soll ja gesund sein!

Der AS geht’s aber gut, wenn ich nicht draufdrücke, spürt man nichts.

Praktisch eigentlich, dass ich zz. nur kurze Strecken laufe, da kann man schon mal gleich, wenn man heim kommt, wieder aus dem Haus stürzen und ist eine 1/2 Stunden später wieder da – die Familie merkt es kaum.

Der erste km heute war viel zu schnell (5:11), beim zweiten dann zu stark gebremst (5:55) und dann hab ich mich auf 5:34 als Schnitt eingependelt – 5,5 km, das reicht erstmal.

Dann später schön dehnen, Querfriktionsmassage – nur das Kühlpad hab ich irgendwie vergessen.

Donnerstag geht’s hoffentlich weiter.

Das unangenehme an diesem Lauf war mal wieder ein “netter” Autofahrer. Ich lief auf einer kleinen Straße (ohne Fußweg, aber durch die Bauernschaften – also wenig los) und an der Ausfahrt vom Gelände einer Hundeschule, wo

1. Straßenbeleuchtung ist

2. Ich eine Stirnlampe habe

3. Ich eine Leuchtweste anhabe

4. Ich auf der der Ausfahrt entgegengesetzten Straßenseite laufe

mich trotzdem dieser V*l*i*i*t mit seinem Kombi fast umgefahren hätte und nachdem ich mit einem Sprung in die Pampa und anschließenden Weiterlaufen, dann auch noch neben mir herfährt und fragt, ob ICH mich nicht entschuldigen möchte. Ihn träfe keine Schuld, er hätte mich nicht gesehen.

Geht’s noch?

The Ft. Hood Shooter.

United States Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the troubled military psychiatrist who killed a dozen fellow soldiers and one civilian at Ft. Hood, Texas on November 5, continues to spark heated discussion in the media and the blogosphere. Hasan is a Muslim and a US-born child of Palestinian parents, and in his professional capacity he “counselled soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder”. So why, exactly, did Hasan choose to turn Ft. Hood into a shooting gallery? Was he striking a jihadist blow at one of the military nerve centres of the Great Satan, or did he somehow snap under the stresses of his profession?

Since Hasan is alive and capable of talking, although reportedly paralysed, there’s always the possibility that he’ll decide to explain himself. In the meantime, however, pundits have been having a field day. Particularly in the immediate wake of the massacre, it was easy to find articles that fastidiously breezed over any possible Islamic motivations but went on at great length about the horrors of battlefield trauma. A particularly fine specimen in the New York Times even flirted with the idea that Achilles “displayed a form of traumatic stress” outside the walls of Troy. Presumably it was a good thing for the Greeks that there was no psychiatrist on hand to treat Achilles, or he (the psychiatrist, not Achilles himself) would have gone berserk and probably bumped off half the army as they slept.

However, reports quickly emerged that Hasan had yelled “Allahu Akbar” at the beginning of the massacre, and that he had been known to espouse a concept of Islam with a hard, political edge that led him to sympathise with America’s enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. This lent ammunition to pieces that criticised the initial batch of trauma-mongering articles for being naïve and ignoring the dangers of militant Islam in a misguided spirit of multicultural sensitivity. Charles Krauthammer described Hasan lecturing doctors and students about the punishments that would be visited on infidels in the afterlife, and then went on to write:

Nor was this the only incident. “The psychiatrist,” reported Zwerdling, “said that he was the kind of guy who the staff actually stood around in the hallway saying: Do you think he’s a terrorist, or is he just weird?”

Was anything done about this potential danger? Of course not. Who wants to be accused of Islamophobia and prejudice against a colleague’s religion?

Of course the “potential danger” is not Islam per se, but rather specific interpretations of Islam that have violent, anti-Western overtones (see this chilling, hilarious piece in the Independent for abundant insights into this mindset). Some of the trauma-mongers would probably argue that, even if this is a fair description of Hasan’s religious views, he might not have put them into murderous operation if he hadn’t been under psychological stress. Fair enough, but the other side of the coin is that he might have responded to the stresses very differently if he had been an atheist, a calmer variety of Muslim, or even a militant Christian with equally intense but differently directed religious obsessions.

Freakish incidents like the one at Ft. Hood don’t really change anything by themselves, but they can certainly concentrate minds. It’s not a bad time to ask whether something similar might happen in Canada – or, to put it more bluntly, whether we should be worried that there are fanatical Muslims lurking on our military bases, possibly capable of being driven to jihad-flavoured violence by the stresses that soldiers routinely experience.

As a starting point, it’s worth remembering that only a small percentage of our armed forces is Muslim, as someone called Cmdr. Denise LaViolette told the CBC in 2006:

She said there are only 648 people in the regular Canadian Forces from predominantly Muslim countries, out of a total roster of 62,500. Using those figures, the Muslim ratio is only about one per cent.

Obviously, not everyone from a predominantly Muslim country will be a Muslim; equally, some Muslims in our armed forces will come from non-Muslim countries, including Canada itself. Perhaps, on balance, “about one per cent” is about right. So what percentage of that one per cent are likely to be violent fanatics? And is it worth subjecting Muslim personnel, and new Muslim recruits, to special scrutiny in order to weed them out? I would suggest that the answers are “vanishingly small” and “probably not”, respectively, but I would also argue that it should be possible to discuss the issue in exactly these terms without being muzzled by the vengeful forces of political correctness. What do you think?

So, die Mini-Woche ist beendet: satte 11 km… naja, immerhin hat die AS gehalten und das ist die Hautpsache.

Der heutige Lauf (~6km) war immer hin auch schon wieder aus dem Schneckentempobereich raus – 5:31 Schnitt hat der liebe Garmin ausgerechnet. Es lief wirklich gut, muss ich sagen; fast schon zu gut.

Nächste Woche hoffe ich auf 3 Läufe mit zusammen so 20 km – wenn die AS will *toitoitoi*

I don’t know what was going through this person’s mind when they did this. I’m guessing it got ripped out pretty quickly.

Heute ist das Wetter ja wohl endgültig hinüber, was sich aber gut trifft, da sich schon gegen 5:00 meine Migräne mal wieder gemeldet hat.

D.h. heute nur etwas AS-Gymnastik und morgen dann ein kleiner Lauf.

Sedang jadi Blogger Interest emang mengasikkan, tambah asik lagi kalau saat ini sedang sibuk mensupport ; Kerja Keras Adalah Energi Kita,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang.
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Sedang jadi Blogger Interest emang mengasikkan, tambah asik lagi kalau saat ini sedang sibuk mensupport ; Kerja Keras Adalah Energi Kita,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang,Kenali dan Kunjungi Obyek Wisata di Pandeglang.
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Charlie Brooker has Achilles-level anger, and it often makes his writing impressive and entertaining.  The first sentence of his review of a new techno-game wins best line of the day.  Savor it.  Here it is: “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the Citizen Kane of repeatedly shooting people in the face.”

Manny Pacquiao is hugging the headlines ones again..this time in the cover of the prestigious Time Magazine Asia Edition in a full article entitled, “The Meaning of Manny Pacquiao”. As an athlete, Manny has really gone a long way. From the very skinny lad doing rounds in local boxing in his hometown and many other places thereafter claiming title after title and raking money beyond what his coffers can handle. Indeed, Manny is an icon in the boxing world and is up to even more with his attempt to claim a 7th world title in the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas this November 14 (November 15th in Manila) against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto.

Of course his road to success is not easy..he has gone through a lot. Physically for that matter. He has fought many weight classes and has to endure big punches from equally capable opponents. At the end, he is victorious and has been the pride of the Filipino people ever since. He tried his luck in politics as well but to no avail. For many of his fans, he is better of as a boxer than as a politics. For sure he wants to help many but helping them can be in another form and not necessarily having to test his feet in the dirty waters of politics.  Being an inspiration to many by excelling into spots and avoiding drugs or other vices is good enough contribution.

He is the 2nd Filipino to be in the cover of Time Magazine, the first being the late President Corazon Aquino then feted as “Woman of the Year”. Time said he is a demigod in the Philippines with his myth of origin similar to a Greek or Roman hero. This may be true. Only he can literally stop not only the traffic in the Philippines but the crimes as well during his fights. It is always reported that whenever Manny fights in the ring, the crime rate is almost zero in most parts of the Philippines.  He may be the Achilles of modern times. Only thing is that we hope his opponents will not discover his Achilles’ heels.

Manny truly deserve this accolade and we pray for his success in his forthcoming fight as well as the hope that success will not change his humble ways. For us, that’s the true meaning of Manny.

Update: I have been visiting several bookstores and news stands here in Bangkok trying to get a copy of the Time Magazine Asia Edition with Manny on the cover. However, I can only see the one with Hillary Clinton on it although the full article of Manny is still inside the pages of the mag..Could have added it to my personal magazine collection. Not that I am disappointed to see Hillary on the cover cos she is such a powerful and respected figure but I was expecting to at least see  a copy of the mag with Manny on the cover..of course as a Filipino it is my pride to see him on the cover of the prestigious mag..

Viernes 6 de noviembre.A las 21 horas llego a la calle del Siroco, la gente en la calle esperando. La gente ya esperaba en la puerta. Mientras estaba en la espera de repente oigo un “waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaau” grito rockero dónde los haya, Vikxie en el principio de la calle del Siroco, saludando y totalmente emocionado. De repente desaparece y el Siroco cerrado. El personal del Siroco entraba y salía, preparaba… y la gente se impacientaba. Sobre las 21:40 abren las puertas. La gente empieza a entrar. El Siroco completo y empieza el concierto.
Perro Flaco rompe el hielo. Sólo con su acústica y armónica ante el escenario. Todo un campeón. Aunque breve fue bastante intenso. Sonó delicado y rompió nuestros corazoncitos.Aquí os dejamos un momento de este peazo concierto:

Posteriormente se suben al escenario los invitados de Brighton: Achilles. Mi primera experiencia con ellos, pero hay que reconocer que son unos crack, sonaron muy bien, música totalmente potencial. Empezaron a calentar los motores y a meter un rock and roll eléctrico, ya que Perro Flaco actuó en acústico. Como las palabras sobran os dejamos un video que demuestra su calidad.

El tercero es VIKXIE EN ACTUAR. Tras varios conciertos en acústicos Vikxie viene en eléctrico a darlo todo. Cada vez que lo escucho, quedo mucho más enamorada de su música. Aunque, destacar que este chico es todo un showman, elegancia, glamour, rock and roll en estado puro. Vikxie no podía decir que se sentía solo. El Siroco lleno y en el escenario teníamos a su banda que presenta en la canción el hombre traje. Vikxie solventó todos los problemas acústicos que la Sala Siroco presenta, que a pesar de su buena imagen, desde mi inexperto parecer no goza de una gran acústica, pero aún así, Vikxie derrumbó el siroco para convertirlo en puro Rock. A continuación vamos a detallar el concierto! y poner los documentos gráficos que podemos conseguir. Estamos ante una grabación casera así que la calidad no es muy buena, a eso hay que sumarle que ya está en el youtube. Pero os podéis hacer una idea de la calidad de este artista que nos ha dejado hipnotizados.

El concierto empieza dando duro. Disparando directamente a nuestros corazones con REVOLVER

Tras dejarnos con el cuerpo lleno de energía, en este concierto no contó con la colaboración de Alex Ferreira, pero vino igual de fuerta por eso nos dice que nos quedemos con  VETE.

Para seguir dando caña en el Siroco la tercera canción es un tema que no está en el disco, pero que nunca le había escuchado en directo, aunque sí en varios videos del youtube. una canción de un ritmo marcado, unos teclados sorprendentes que de vez en cuando se dejan destacar a modo de arpegio, el bajo discretamente va poniendo los matices. Unas guitarras más calmadas en los momentos en que la voz se desata para contar una larga historia. Una canción que tiene un rollo especial, pero con esencia de Vikxie. Así que os dejamos con LOCA DE ATAR

Tras dejarme Loca de atar, decide contarnos la historia de Susana, una actriz afortunada, porque tiene una canción llena de ROSAS y CHAMPAGNE

Después de una amarga historia, seguimos haciendo tributo a las chicas VIKXIE, y toca a aquella chica de malasaña, dónde las calles suben y bajan, pero tal vez a ciertas horas es mucho mejor dejarte llevar y bajarlas cuesta menos. Canción que tarareó la gente, arropó a Vikxie desgarrando sus voces. Estábamos atrapados en la mejor música.
CALLE ABAJO

En el meridiano del concierto no podía faltar su SINGLE. Canción dedicada a su amigo Hugo. Creó que este es el momento en el que dices. No me equivocaba “es un genio”. Con este tema, el siroco se derrumbó para besarles los pies a este vagabundo, tal vez no tenga cama dónde amar, pero sí que tiene rock and roll para bailar y bares dónde tocar.

Continuamos el concierto con una de sus canciones más Porno, sexy, y… Aunque nos mandara a ver porno a nuestra casa, fue él primero quién amenazó con quitarse la chupa de cuero, y de que si empezaba no parara. Pero aplaudo su decisión de no hacerlo a pesar de los gritos del público diciendo que lo hiciera, porque esa chupa de cuero le daba una imagen todavía más rockera de lo que su propia imagen es. Este video es uno de lo más recomendable por la IMPRESIONANTE VERSIÓN INTRO.
ASÍ COMO TE GUSTA

Se va  acercando el final, pero aún así VIKXIE sigue teniendo la misma energía que la del principio. Le toca el turno a una canción que en el disco cuenta con unas colaboraciones, que en directo no se echan de menos. Canción que dedicó a Diego, cantante de Achilles.
Os dejamos con CORAJE

Tras ese coraje, llega el momento de calarnos los huesos, dejarnos tiernos y dulces, para ello elige la mejor arma, su balada.
CERO

Y después de este tierno momento. Rompe esa dulzura con un temazo, que en acústico no hemos escuchado, pero en eléctrico sobrepasa las fronteras del sonido. Tengo que reconocer que me quedé flipando la fuerza que el tema ganó en directo. Descubrí cosas que en este tema no había visto, quedé re-conquistada con el hombre traje

Antes de terminar. Nos dice que quedan dos temitas, y que no va a hacer más BISES o lo que es lo mismo más VIKXIES.Así que os dejamos con lo que será su segundo tema o así lo ha dicho él en la entrevista que le hicieron en el programa estación sonora.
SI TE MARCHAS

Finalmente, se despide con mi favorita, canción de la cuál no tengo palabras. ELLA ME ODIA

Un concierto que hizo que mi semana fuera mucho mejor, y es que no hay nada como el rock, para romper los malos momentos.

Muchas gracias a todos por haber llegado hasta el final.Espero que os haya gustado y lo hayáis disfrutado. Sentimos la calidad, ý la forma de grabar pero es lo que tiene ser una inútil con la cámara en mano, lo intenté. La calidad sonora… estamos ante una cámara, las tecnologías son buenas y se aproximan pero nunca lo plasman igual.

NOS VEMOS EN EL PrÓXIMO.

A few weeks ago, my Literature group gathered together in BSD (Jakarta), Randy’s house, at around 10 a.m., to make a video on Homer’s The Iliad, Chapter 22, “The Death of Hector.” Well, we want to get some additional poitns, as our first and ultimate purpose of this whole thingy, but the whole progress was a blast that it was not such a heavy burden for us. Great time we – Michelle Audrey (the leader,) Hasianti Deamita, Agung Anugerah, Ariel Senna, Randy Hendrika, and me – all had. Anyway, “The Death of Hector” is about the great and well-known Achilles killing Hector the Trojan prince.

Oh, well, this was not my first movie-making project. With my school friends in Surabaya, I have ever been into the project of making a 10-minute Easter movie entitled “‘Twas a Night Before Easter” as our Humanities project. We pursued excellence and perfection. There were barely jokes in the movie. The whole thing was a total serious, since I was the one who wrote the script and was the director. But this one, it was 99% fun. Ain’t stressing out at all. We took a lot of random pictures with Randy’s and Hasianti’s camera, and from the photos themselves you could all see how fun we all had. I love your samurai, by the way, Randy!

THE CASTS

Michelle Audrey – Achilles

Ariel Senna – Hector

Astrid Desmonda - Athena (Deiphobus)

Randy Hendrika – Priam

Hasianti Deamita – Hecuba

Agung Anugerah – Andromache

THE PLOT

from Sparknotes

Hector now stands as the only Trojan left outside Troy. Priam, overlooking the battlefield from the Trojan ramparts, begs him to come inside, but Hector, having given the overconfident order for the Trojans to camp outside their gates the night before, now feels too ashamed to join them in their retreat. When Achilles finally returns from chasing Apollo (disguised as Agenor), Hector confronts him. At first, the mighty Trojan considers trying to negotiate with Achilles, but he soon realizes the hopelessness of his cause and flees. He runs around the city three times, with Achilles at his heels. Zeus considers saving Hector, but Athena persuades him that the mortal’s time has come. Zeus places Hector’s and Achilles’ respective fates on a golden scale, and, indeed, Hector’s sinks to the ground.

During Hector’s fourth circle around the city walls, Athena appears before him, disguised as his ally Deiphobus, and convinces him that together they can take Achilles. Hector stops running and turns to face his opponent. He and Achilles exchange spear throws, but neither scores a hit. Hector turns to Deiphobus to ask him for a lance; when he finds his friend gone, he realizes that the gods have betrayed him. In a desperate bid for glory, he charges Achilles. However, he still wears Achilles’ old armor—stolen from Patroclus’s dead body—and Achilles knows the armor’s weak points intimately. With a perfectly timed thrust he puts his spear through Hector’s throat. Near death, Hector pleads with Achilles to return his body to the Trojans for burial, but Achilles resolves to let the dogs and scavenger birds maul the Trojan hero.

The other Achaeans gather round and exultantly stab Hector’s corpse. Achilles ties Hector’s body to the back of his chariot and drags it through the dirt. Meanwhile, up above on the city’s walls, King Priam and Queen Hecuba witness the devastation of their son’s body and wail with grief. Andromache hears them from her chamber and runs outside. When she sees her husband’s corpse being dragged through the dirt, she too collapses and weeps.

Acropolis of Athens

Once, on the Acropolis of Athens ancient Greeks used to play board games. They used to roll the dices and play in the Parthenon, the great temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, protector of the city.

Ancient Greeks played Board games very similar to our checkers or chess, with game boards engraved on the floor.

The archaeologist Eleni Karakitsou reveals that during the work of restoration of the Parthenon were found about 50 boards carved on the stairways and the floor, but they used to be certainly more.

The famous image of Achilles and Ajax playing dices under the walls of Troy, painted on many Greek vases, prove that dices games were ancient Greeks favourite pastime .

Achilles and Ajax playing dices

Ancient Greeks dices were called Astragals and were made of little animal bones with four sides.

It’s not a coincidence that ancient Greeks attributed the invention of dices and game to the Homeric hero Palamedes, who used to spent in this way the idle days in Troy.
According to Sophocles, Palamedes invented the Tavli game, a board game similar to our backgammon which is still played in Greece today.

But we know that backgammon game boards are even older: there are finds from the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia and other even more older in Iran.

Another popular game in ancient Greece was the “Pentagram”, derived from the five pointed star famous symbol (misrepresented in history and movies for years), improperly called “Pentacle” in the bestseller “Davinci Code”. In ancient Geece the Pentagram, found engraved on the Parthenon floor, was a board game very similar to modern chess.

Many researchers doubt that the game boards on the Parthenon floor belong classic age, because was forbidden to play in the temples. Probably the game boards were engraved when the Parthenon was no longer a temple.

Unfortunately it is difficult if not impossible, to date the engravings. However the historian Plutarch says that in his time, (the first century AD) the floor of the Parthenon was still clean. But surely ancient Greeks were playing just outside the temple, on the hills, just like in the other ancient Hellenic city-states. Archaeologists have found several game boards engraved on the stone in various places of Greece, but unfortunately we know too little, because there is not a study or systematic collection and probably many other games have been lost with the time.

But the certain thing is that even in the past, ancients Greeks loved to spent their free time rolling the dices and playing board games.

Scale model of the Acropolis

Acropolis of Athens

Once, on the Acropolis of Athens ancient Greek used to play dices games. They used to play in the Parthenon, the great temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, protector of the city.

Ancient Greeks played Board games very similar to our checkers or chess, with game boards engraved on the floor.

The archaeologist Eleni Karakitsou reveals that during the work of restoration of the Parthenon  were found about 50 boards carved on the stairways and the floor, but they used to be certainly more.

The famous image of Achilles and Ajax playing dices under the walls of Troy, painted on many Greek vases, prove that dices games were ancient Greeks favourite pastime .

Achilles and Ajax playing dices

Ancient Greeks dices were called Astragals and were made of little animal bones with four sides.

It’s not a coincidence that ancient Greeks attributed the invention of dices and game to the Homeric hero Palamedes, who used to spent  in this way the idle days in Troy.
According to Sophocles, Palamedes invented the Tavli game, a board game similar to our backgammon which is still played in Greece today.

But we know that backgammon game boards are even older: there are finds from the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia and other even more older in Iran.

Another popular game in ancient Greece was the “Pentagram”,  derived from the five pointed star famous symbol (misrepresented in history and movies for years), improperly called “Pentacle” in the bestseller “Davinci Code”.  In ancient  Geece the Pentagram, found engraved on the Parthenon floor,  was a board game very similar to modern chess.

Many researchers doubt that the game boards on the Parthenon floor belong classic age, because was forbidden to play in the temples. Probably the game boards were engraved when the Parthenon was no longer a temple.

Unfortunately it is difficult if not impossible, to date the engravings. However the historian Plutarch says that in his time, (the first century AD) the floor of the Parthenon was still clean. But surely ancient Greeks were playing just outside the temple, on the hills, just like in the other ancient Hellenic  city-states. Archaeologists have found several game boards engraved on the stone in various places of Greece,  but unfortunately we know too little, because there is not a study or systematic collection and  probably many other games have been lost with the time.

But the certain thing is that even in the past,  ancients Greeks loved to spent their free time rolling the dices and playing board games.

Scale model of the Acropolis

Censorship is a scientist breeding roses without thorns.
Censorship is a teenager pressing the snooze button.
Censorship is Achilles without his heel.

Back again to my old standby for another “Easy 7 Miles.” I’m actually off my schedule by a day since I took two days off to recover from the 50k.

The weather was very nice: crisp and sunny day. I’m enjoying the fall weather for running. My iPod was out of juice so I ran with only my thoughts to keep me company. I thought I would miss David Sedaris, but no. (And, frankly, I’m not convinced that David didn’t slow me down last Tuesday.) I was pleased with my pace today. I ran very comfortably with only 30 second walk breaks.

The only issues I had today were some tightening of both Achilles at about the five mile mark, and some tightening of the inner side of my left foot. That foot is kind of my Achilles heel. It has given me problems off an on for about four or five years now.

I stretched for about ten minutes tonight. Usually I worry about my hamstrings and back but today I made sure to include my calves and Achilles.

I’m trying to convince my sister to join me for a half marathon in early February. “Stick with me!” I told her. “You know I do the walking breaks so you’ll be fine!”

I recently read part of a guy’s blog about going from a fat boy to an ultra runner in 90 days (www.Fat2Ultra.com.) I was interested in it because he ran the Helen Klein Classic 50k last year. It rained last year. Yuck! I know that sounds wimpy but I’m not sure I’m up to more than maybe a 5k in the rain! (Though I did run the Bay to Breakers in the rain one year.)

The guy completed the 50k but apparently has move on to become a gym rat. I myself often have problems with balancing weight lifting and running. I haven’t done any weights in a few weeks. Each day that I’m not running, I think that I will lift. I get home and …. well, you know how that goes.

I am afraid to go to the gym because I don’t want to catch the flu! Yes, that probably sounds wimpy, too, but it’s true. Plus, I have a decent home gym — complete with an inversion table for my back. Today, was a running day. We’ll see if I can get motivated tomorrow.

More later. Really.

Thirteen things I hate… Today…

13. BMW drivers – Think they own the world because they drive a BMW.  I was always told that Mercedes drivers represent old money and BMW driver’s new money.  So I am coming to the conclusion that new money means having to show people you have money and that equates to buying / leasing a beemer and driving like you don’t give a shit about anyone else on the road.  I must honk 2 of them a day for not signaling or cutting people off.  Assholes.

12. My office keyboard.  Stupid thing got wet (something to do with me spilling water on it) and now when I type capital letters the Ucking thing drops the first letter and capitalizes the next one… 

11. Swine flu / H1N1 / influenza panic… Good g-d, people are going to make themselves sick worrying about the damn vaccination.

10. The NY Yankees.  They won the world series last night and, well, see my post on them on my sports blog; www.daddyknowssports.wordpress.com.

9. Our former nanny.  Left us a couple weeks ago and has been texting me asking for more money – extra money that she thinks she is entitled to, but confusing with vacation pay which she received way more than she was entitled to.  She thinks she was given extra pay our of the kindness of our hearts, I told her it was but there aint no more.  Now she’s bitching about calling the labour department.  I called first and we’re good.  She’s a noob. 

8.  My Achilles.  I finally stretched a lot and went for a run to test it out.  Ran for 10 minutes and there was no pain, but it felt really weak, like any sudden movement would cause it to hurt.  I hate that.  I need to run to stay healthy.

7.  My weight.  I blame it on Halloween that I am forced to eat those fucking little chocolate bars like they are going out of style.  Because they are small does not allow me to eat 10 of them at once, right?  OR does it…

6.  Fair-weather friends.  Either you’re my friend and you want to hang out, or we’re not and that’s fine, but don’t string me along by being phony and they never come out.  I can’t waste time on this whole being social thing… After planning a few outings, if it’s not reciprocated, I’m done with you.

5.  Jedi vs. Sith on Facebook.  I’m fucking addicted!  Grrrr.  As of last night I was 78th in the world.  14 million players have this application.  I have 4100 points (3 points for a win, lose 1 for a loss) and the leader has 40,000.

4.  Hulk Hogan signing with TNA wrestling.  It’s a shitty promotion that might have potential if they cut the gimmicks and produced a decent show.  Crappy writing and even crappier plots make me wonder why this show exists.  Besides the fact that I hate the name “TNA” since it is too close to “Tits ‘n’ Ass” but Total Non-stop Action is not the name for a successful wrestling organization.  And Hogan… 56 years old.  Seriously.

3.   My choice of area for trick-or-treating this year.  Sucks ass.  I expected the $2 million dollar home owners to kick out some kick-ass treats for the kids.  But one candy-bar per houses?!?  Cheapskates!  How disappointing.  Not making that mistake again!

2.  Guns and Roses.  I’m still pissed at them for their simply horrible release this year.  I kind of wish they had released a bunch of stuff throughout the past decade so the shit they put on this album might have come out in other releases.   There is no good hard rock nowadays and as I listen to a few of their songs on my iPod It makes me even more pissed off.  They used to be great.  Same for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver.  Where is the new Saliva, Disturbed and Rob Zombie?

1.  Iran.  Saw this news story and it pisses me off, considering Iran claims to be doing nothing wrong. Ever.

The seizure of a massive shipment of Iranian arms bound for terrorist organization Hizbollah, proves the arms flow to Syria and south Lebanon from Iran.  The attempt to smuggle arms to Syria and Hizbullah was an Iranian violation of a UN Security Council resolution.  Typically, Iran continues to smuggle arms to terrorists under the guise of legitimate international commerce, turning the Mediterranean Sea into a platform for illegal action. 

The weapons seizure “unequivocally and without a doubt” proves the Iran-Syria-south Lebanon weapons-trafficking route.

The ship was released overnight Wednesday after 36 weapons-filled containers were unloaded, and the 12 crew members boarded the vessel and made their way back on their planned route.

Hundreds of tons of weaponry, the largest arms seizure in Israel’s history, were intercepted in the daring raid by Israeli naval commandos aboard the cargo ship sailing 100 nautical miles west of Israel.

The arms shipment was 10 times the size of the cache found on the Palestinian arms ship Karine A in 2002, defense officials said.

The different types of arms offloaded from the ship were familiar to Israel as those Hizbullah already possesses in its arsenal, Israel Radio quoted defense officials as saying.

Military sources assessed Teheran would be forced to change its smuggling routes following the Israel Navy’s successful operation.

The cache was hidden inside shipping containers belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) which departed from the Bandar Abbas Port in Iran some 10 days ago, were unloaded in the Egyptian port of Damietta and then loaded onto the Francop, a German vessel flying an Antiguan flag.

On Wednesday, Israeli PM, Netanyahu addressed the international community concerning Iran’s material support for terrorist organizations by saying, “Iran is sending these weapons to terror organizations to harm Israeli cities and kill its citizens.  The time has come for the international community to exert real pressure on Iran to stop this criminal activity and to support Israel when it defends itself against these terrorists and their patrons.”

This is going to be a tough task considering the axis of evil lined up to denounce Israel left, right and centre every time something happens in the middle east.

My schedule called for an easy seven miles on Monday, but I thought that was too soon after my 50k run. But Tuesday, though, would be fine I thought.

And I was right. Tuesday was fine. I returned once again to my favorite lake, turned on David Sedaris (the end of “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and the beginning of “When You are Engulfed in Flames”) and ran nice and easy (i.e. slow!) for seven miles.

Both Achilles were a little tight. That was true through much of the last half of the 50k on Saturday, also.

I need to start some kind of “real” stretching regimen. I keep buying books (and now DVDs) to help me stretch, but I’m not reading them. I just do a little work on my hamstrings in the evenings and call it a day.

I have not mentioned — because it worries me a little — that my left foot has been achy in the mornings when I get up. There is a bone below the inner ankle bone. The achiness is near there. But, I am going to essentially ignore it and hope it goes away.

I do need to do more foot strengthening exercises, though. I have neglected my barefoot running because my short runs are too long to run barefoot right now.

More later. Really.

With part two of “Warkiller”, Simone continues to move her pieces in place.  The Olypmian rules a Themyscira undergoing rapid, inexplicable change – women are spontaneously impregnating on an island now rocked by storms, while Hippolyta is prisoner to her former, mad guard Alkyone, now wife of Achilles and Queen of Themyscira.  And while Ares’ physical form might have been destroyed by Diana, truly killing a god proves vastly more difficult than that, resulting in an uncomfortable visitation from the God of War.

“Warkiller” doesn’t have the snappy pacing of “Birds of Paradise”, nor the epic action of “Rise of the Olympian”, but it has nonetheless been been fairly satisfying.  Simone continues to lay groundwork for a massive overarching story throughout her run here with the massive changes to Paradise Isle, and at times, that’s part of the problem: both this issue and the last have, by and large, felt like set-up.  Simone has a deft hand for character-based drama and comedy while Bernard Chang continues to gain skill and confidence, so it was certainly entertaining set-up, but the pacing definitely feels off.

Grade: B

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT

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