Random Bibliography of Media Books and Internet Resources

We have been having terrific weather lately in Toronto. Just in case the colder weather does come and you find yourself indoors more often – there is nothing better than having a good book by your side.

For this weekend only, Lulu.com, the publisher of many of my books and the distributor of all of all of them, will be have a store-wide sale. You will receive 20 per cent off any order, regardless of the number of your orders. All you need to do is to enter the code CABIN when you are checking out. It is that easy.

When using Lulu.com, you do need to register to the site, however this is completely free. My online store is: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged where you can buy a wide variety of books. Whether you would like the hard copy in your hand, or an ebook download that you can have right away to and also avoid shipping costs – there is something among my 34 books, one CD and two audio downloads that will interest and intrigue you.

What Happened to the Afro

The Pull List: January 6^th, 2010.

The first time I’ve had to type 2010. So far, so good. The last few weeks were lighter weeks, so I didn’t feel the need to post something. We pick up as the calendar turns, and Marvel begins their next big event, Siege.

Nation X X-Factor: Written by Peter David, Art by Valentine De Landro. The X-Men have moved from San Francisco into a floating island. Or something, I haven’t kept up on the non X-Factor mutant books. But I like X-Factor, I like Peter David on X-Factor, and it looks like it might be a good read.

Wednesday, December 9^th 2009. The Pull List.

Yeah, so, on the initial Pull List, I pick a light week. Go figure. Anyway, this is a short and sweet posting giving what I’m laying down hard earned cash for.

New Avengers Annual #3: Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils by Mike Mayhew.

I’m generally an Avengers fan, and liked the new direction Bendis took the New version (on the run from Norman Osborne’s new regime and his version of Avengers). This is a story about the women of the Avengers, and if there’s one thing Bendis enjoys writing, it’s Jessica Jones. This is an easy buy, even if it’s only a one shot.

What If? World War Hulk: Written by Mike Raicht and Michael Gallagher. Penciled by Lucio Parrillo & Patrick “SPAZ!” Spaziante.

I didn’t read the WWH story, but have enough of the gist to follow the “What If?” storylines. I generally like these stories, I like to think about the consequences and how things might have turned out differently. The road not traveled, and all that. I’m sure it’s not entirely healthy.

And… that’s it. Yeah, I said it was a light week, I wasn’t kidding. Guess this means I’ll do a little back order shopping. I’m looking at you, Spiderwoman!

Been a while, huh?

Here is a few things that might be worth telling…

I am finally getting back into the ring! For some reason, the rumor was going around that I had quit wrestling. NO! I did not, and people are finally asking for me again. I am so excited to return for one reason, for the next few bookings, we will see the re-alignment of MASS DESTRUCTION. Spoiler 2000 and I have such good chemistry as a tag team, and there is no more of a comforting feeling than to get back in the ring along side a master of the ring like Spoiler.

November 14- Professional Championship Wrestling in Arlington, Texas (Mass Destruction returns!)

November 28- Victory Crown Wrestling in Fort Worth, Texas

December 5&12- Rampage Wrestling in Cleburne, Texas

See, when it rains, it pours…and I’m in a drought!

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On another note… Halloween was really cool. I really got behind on making costumes and getting ready, but it all worked out and my kids’ costumes turned out great. You already got a look at the Undertaker, but I also did a Spider-Woman for my little girl. Enjoy!

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I have also been trying to bust my ass on getting some wrestling gear done. Fortunately, with the launch of Fightights, I have received numerous gear inquiries. This has upped my business quite a bit, and I am working on getting stuff done quicker. Remember, I also go to college and take care of kids all day

Here is a look at some new stuff. Visit Fightights.com often to view all of my gear.

(The Kane mask is a 2nd repaint of the original souviner mask done for an order)

Donna Kakonge Wrote a Collection of Short Stories Called Spiderwoman - Photo Courtesy of Dreamstime.com

This is an excerpt from Donna Kakonge’s book Spiderwoman. It can be bought at: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged.

CHURCH SUNDAY

I held my Granny’s hand as we walked down the street to the church for the last Sunday.  We were on a northbound Toronto street heading uphill to an eastbound avenue. The bakery behind us was masking the smell of garbage as we passed by the stuffed green and black bags balanced on the curb. Sweat spotted my temples. It was hot for an August morning before global warming. Ever since Granny had come from St.Vincent & the Grenadines, It was like she had brought the heat with her. I couldn’t remember a hotter summer. She was panting with every step. She never wanted to admit that the walk to the church was hard for her, so she complained about everything else instead.

“All this hardness does hurt me feet,” she said, pounding a foot on the concrete like I didn’t know that it was hard.

“Do you want to walk on the grass?”

“Da grass kills bugs,” she said pointing to the pesticide sign. “Me nah want me feet pun dat.”

I sighed. “Do you want me to carry you?”

“I too fat. You would die from me weight.”

Granny laughed softly at her comment. We were at the candy store on the top of the hill, where the long-leg man once lived. The man owned a store on the first floor of his house and he had one leg longer than the other. He said it was because he had “one foot in the grave.” My bike gang and I used to hang outside of his store and he would chase us away, telling us we were bad for business. I never really understood that because we were usually the only ones who ever came into the store. We thought for sure he was rich from the profit of selling Popeye cigarettes 20 cents more than anybody else. But, the store was empty now, so I bought my candy from across the street. The building was waiting for a new owner, and I just hoped whoever it was would treat the neighbourhood kids better.

This being Granny’s fourth Sunday in Toronto, it was only the fourth time I saw Granny wearing a dress where the colours were not faded. The lace-trimmed neckline was scooped low enough to see her gold cross pendant. This Sunday, Granny’s dress was in yellow and kept her bosom in place. She wore her shined white shoes which she worked to keep clean by sidestepping a few pothole puddles from last night’s rain. She had a white hand bag to match, and in her other hand was her Holy Bible with its black cover and words in gold.

Buy the book to read more. Go to: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged.

Llega el momento en la vida de todo aficionado que su colección es mas grande que las estanterías de su habitación. Entonces llega el momento de hacer una purga de deshacerse de esos cómics infames y que no vamos a leer nunca mas.

Aquí entra el juego la nostalgia contra la calidad del cómic en cuestión.

Hagamos un repaso a las obras de las que me he deshecho (no hay foto de todo junto con las ganas de deshacerme de ella se me olvido)

Ultimate Spiderman 1 al 44 + especial 2003

Ultimate Spiderman me empezó gustando mucho, narraba el origen de Spiderman pero es que para mi llego un momento en que parecia que solo adaptan sagas clásicas a versión ultimate. Y claro yo eso ya lo he leído y quizá en un cómic no en una historia alargada a 6 números. Luego tuvo un par de historias interesantes que fue que saliera con Kitty Pryde (cosa que al final no duro) y la saga del clon ultimate, que es una saga que me parece muy bien pensada. Pero para mi ultimate spiderman (y todo el universo ultimate) esta muerto.

Ultimate Fantastic Four 1 al 6

Me la compre por inercia pero vi que empezaban las sagas de 6 números y la deje al medio año. Lo bueno de esta coleccion es que nos dio a los marvel zombies.

Special Ultimates & Ultimate X-Men 1 al 3

Otra saga comprada por incercia y que no me gusto nada de nada.

The Ultimates volumen 1 y volumen2

Los Ultimates molan, me gusta la armadura de combate de Iron Man y el Thor hippie. el problema es que estos son demasiado radicales y no son los Vengadores que me gustan. Gracias a esto tenemos a Samuel L. Jackson como Nick Furia en las próximas películas marvel.

Spiderwoman volumen 1

Que le paso a Byrne cuando lo pusieron en Spiderman, saco aquella mierda de Chapter One y luego esta serie. Que no sale ningún villano arácnido y era mala hasta decir basta. Se suponia que Mattie se quedo con todos los poderes de las Spiderwoman, no se como los recupero la original. Luego aparecio en Alias y los perdedores.  Pero es un personaje que nadie echara en falta. se me olvida citar el infame crossover con amazing donde descubre la identidad de Peter. Ya esta lejos de mi.

Biblioteca Marvel Iron Man 1 al 12

Me gusta Iron Man, lo juro. Me gusta la etapa de Busiek y todas sus apariciones en los Vengadores. Pero por dios es que en el 99% de sus historias clásicas todos los villanos son comunistas. Para mi gusto esta demasiado desfasado para leerlo en la actualidad. No digo que sean malos pero se me hicieron muy pesados.

Secret War 1 al 5

Cara y mala. No me gusta na.

Star Wars Union 1 y 2

Me la compre por ver si era verdad y depues de gastarme un ojo de la cara. Me parecio bastante infame, cumple pero yo esperaba mucho mas.

Veneno 1, 2 y 3

Menuda basura de serie, lenta como ella sola y cara. Ya ni me compre el ultimo tomo, pase de ella. No tenia ningun sentido. Creo que hasta en Marvel la han ignorado.

Tesoros Marvel 3 y 4 spiderman los años perdidos 1 y 2

La verdad es que no es que fueran muy buenas historias las de este par de tomos, pero los consegui de oferta. Pero como luego se publicaron dentro de la colección de John Romita ya no hacia falta conservarlos.

Selecciones Marvel 7 ¿Spiderman o Spiderclon?

Este tomo si mola, con toda la saga del clon original. Lo que pasa es que también se publico dentro de la colección de John Romita y no es cosa de que uno tenga material doble comiéndose el espacio.

Obras Maestras 11: Veneno el Origen

Incluia un par de paginas de los números 298 y 299 de Amazing, luego el 300. Y la siguiente aparición de Veneno. Se publico también dentro del segundo coleccionable y tampoco era ninguna maravilla. Bueno en los 90 molaba pero los hay mejores.

Obras Maestras 37:  La Ultima Cacería de Kraven

Esta fue una historia que me encanto pero al igual que otras también se publico en el coleccionable y veia redundante tener dos copias. Esperemos que otro chaval la disfrute.

Heroes Reborn La III Guerra Mundial

Que cosa mas infame, creo que necesitaban un mes mas para sacar Heroes Reborn: The Return y se sacaron de la manga un crossover con Wildcats donde Skrulls y Daemonitas atacan la tierra. Publicado originalmente en 4 números 13 de cada colección de Heroes Reborn, una autentica basura. Ya esta muy lejos esperando a que se lo lleve algún incauto.

Spiderman:  La política Norteamericana y la actualidad en los cómics marvel

Me lo regalaron por un cumpleaños y me pareció una estafa. Cinco paginas de Obama, la historia del 11S (dr. muerte llorando ains) y luego artículos sobre referencias políticas. Teniendo ya la historia del 11S me parece innecesario formar parte de mi colección, ademas si algún día vuelvo a comprar Spiderman esa historia de Obama estará en su correspondiente tomo mensual.

Y que conseguí a cambio: Pues me compre 2 novelas de Lodoss, 4 tomos de Nodame y algunos euros para el bolsillo.

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is a superheroine, a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. The character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977), and 50 issues of an ongoing series titled Spider-Woman followed. After its conclusion she was depowered, and fell into disuse, supplanted by other characters using the name Spider-Woman.

Comics creator Brian Michael Bendis, unabashed in his enthusiasm for the character (Wizard #171; Jan 2006, p. 82), added Spider Woman to the roster of the high profile New Avengers.

Originally, Spider-Woman was a spider evolved to human form by the High Evolutionary. Publisher Stan Lee was disgusted with the interpretation of the character and insisted her origin be changed.[citation needed]

After her debut in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977), Drew was featured in her own self-titled on-going series which lasted 50 issues, from April 1978 to June 1983.

On December 21, 2005, Marvel released the first issue of Spider-Woman: Origin, a five part miniseries co-written by Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man) and Brian Reed (Ms. Marvel, Ultimate Spider-Man: The Video-Game), illustrated by the art team of the Luna Brothers, Jonathan and Joshua Luna.

Spider-Woman’s 1970s adventures were collected in an Essentials trade paperback (released December 21, 2005); she is the first female character to be published in this series.

A new ongoing Spider-Woman book had been solicited for April but has since been pushed back to September, with Brian Michael Bendis writing and Alex Maleev illustrating.

To download issues Mini, Origin 1-5, v1 1-24

Spiderwoman1

To download issues v1 25-50, v2 1-4

Spiderwoman2

To download issues v3 1-18

Spiderwoman3

By Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Stuart Immonen (artist), Wade von Grawbadger (inker), Dave McCaig (colorist)

The Story: Norman Osborn and Doctor Harrow finalize the terms of their deal while both the New and Dark Avengers are still reeling from the effects of the power drainer. The New Avengers successfully escape a no-win situation, but Osborn’s not going to let them get off so easily, which could be especially bad for one Avenger.

The Good: Say what you will about Bendis and his writing, but the guy has been steadily working on this book for some five years now without interruption and it’s hard not to admire that kind of dedication. This is a fun team, and the addition of Ronin and Mockingbird brings a bit of that old school expertise to the group. I honestly did not expect to enjoy having Mockingbird back, but she’s a wonderfully strong character, as evidenced by her double splash page in this issue. I’m also happy to see Immonen’s art again, having been a huge fan of his work on Nextwave. His work is expressive, dynamic, and as equally good at conveying action sequences as it is the quieter moments, like towards the end in the hospital.  I would love to see him stick around on this title for as long as possible because I really believe he does right by it.

The Not So Good: This power drainer has been a weak and ill-defined Macguffin that has utterly pissed on the plot. Since Bendis never really explained what it can and can’t do, it seems capable of doing whatever it needs to when Bendis calls for it. For example, if this thing is supposed to drain powers, then why was Ronin affected? As far as I know Barton doesn’t have any powers and is just a highly trained fighter. And why could Captain America be affected by this when he only has a cybernetic arm, is the power drainer capable of screwing up electronics as well? Finally, why has the power drainer messed with Cage’s heart of all things? I get that it has left the heroes feeling nauseated and shitty, but that’s still a far cry from the stroke-like symptoms Cage is experiencing. Are we to now believe that the power drainer causes severe health problems too? Hell, is there anything this device can’t do? Bendis doesn’t explain it either way and that’s unfortunate because it makes this issue fairly ridiculous on examination. Also, and I never thought I’d be saying this, but McCaig’s colors here are without doubt the biggest eyesore I’ve ever seen in a comic.  Seriously, his contributions to this issue are disgusting and bring down every background and environment he renders. If there was one reason not to buy this comic, it would be for what he’s done to it.

Conclusion: Some reliably solid character moments are unfortunately lost in the mire of a ridiculous plot that Bendis could have easily fixed if he’d wanted to. This issue was good, but not great, and certainly nothing you need to spend $4 on.

Grade:  C-

-Tony Rakittke

I can’t believe how tired I am.  This photo taken on Sunday of a spider’s web sort of illustrates the muffling of energy I am feeling.  Allergies are weighing on my enthusiasm levels leaving me feeling quite unmotivated for most things.  That said, I continue to push through and “DO.”  It is too easy otherwise just to vegetate and get lost in lethargy.

I took the photo above with a different camera, a Sony Cybershot that is my wife’s camera.  Somehow I had forgotten to take my camera along for our walk and she remembered she had hers in her small backpack.  The webs were found all over the cut grass that edged the walking paths we took.  It looked like harvest season for spiders as well as for farmers.

Of course, I had a motive for the photo.  I wanted it for posting here.  Of course, it is mostly about the Native American Spider Woman myth.  But in checking further, the roots of the myth reach into Japan and Ancient Greece.  The web is symbolic of the creation of the world, how all the parts are woven together by the great mother.  The web is also symbolic of good luck.

Strange how time and cultures change the meaning of symbols.  Now, cobwebs are associated with abandonment, of ruin and decay.  It is as though in modern times we have lost the gods and are only left with the husks such as one finds in cobwebs, the husks of those caught and consumed.

Hope you haven’t missed this yet. A new way of enjoying comics from Marvel!

by Hydro033

I know this review is very late to the game but just bear with me because I just got around to playing it. I’m a big fan of co-op games and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for Nintendo Wii is built for co-op. You take four Marvel superheroes and try to stop Dr. Doom from being a dick. Sounds great right? Well, it is and isn’t. The game is great fun when playing with friends, not so much alone, but the constant glitches, confusing menus, and poor presentation really hamper the experience. The game is still a lot of fun to play but the frustration is sometimes overwhelming.

The game has a huge cast of superheroes to choose from. Selecting different heroes and using their unique abilities is by far the best asset of the game. It’s always a pleasure to try out a newly unlocked hero and use that newly unlocked move. The characters are as follows: * Captain America, Colossus, Deadpool, Elektra, Human Torch, Iceman, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Luke Cage. Moon Knight, Mr. Fantastic, Ms.Marvel, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Storm, Thing, Thor, Wolverine, Black Panther, Blade, Daredevil,  Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Nick Fury, and Silver Surfer. It’s a great cast to choose from.

The main mechanic of game, going around and just beating the shit out of stuff, works great. The boss battles on the other hand… suck. They are often confusing puzzles that require quick-time events to defeat the boss. Other times, the bosses are just ridiculously easy or ridiculously difficult. It’s very inconsistent but the puzzles are by far the worst. There is no clue as what to do and my friend and I literally spent a half hour on one boss battle just running around trying to figure out how to damage him. It gave absolutely no hint, clue, or anything.

The glitches are also abound in this game. Sometimes we would just die without even noticing. Other times people would get trapped or fall off a cliff or something stupid. The enemy AI was pretty shabby at times too. They sometimes only chased one character while avoiding the other or didn’t even attack us at all. The controls were pretty much awful also. The Wii motion sensing controls just blew. We all ended up using the control pad to scroll through attacks and use the A button instead of using their gestures. The gestures just didn’t work. The menu also had confusing buttons and you could accidentally sell items without any warning screens. You couldn’t even trade items, you needed characters to drop them and have your teammate then walk over to it and pick it up in order to trade. It was stupid and annoying.

Besides the slow menus, the game was slow in general. The story kept dragging on and just tried to include as many Marvel characters and places as it could. There were no twists as the games story was pretty awful as was the dialogue. It was straight-forward, eye-roll inducing, and in need of much debugging. I guess it was rushed to stores. The graphics were pretty shabby too but that’s just because the Wii version and the PS2 were identical, which sucks because the Wii got held back to last gen graphics when it’s capable of more.

Other than that, the game was fun. Like I said, it’s all about playing with friends. It was a good time playing together and we even laughed at how bad the game was at times. Of course the greed factor played a roll when items were dropped, but shit happens. If it wasn’t a Marvel game it would blow pretty hard, but since I’m biased and Marvel rocks house, It was a decent experience. I just hope the sequel improves the many downfalls of it’s predecessor.

2/5 Chezwicks

This is the Cover Art for the Book Spiderwoman - Photo From Dreamstime.com

Spiderwoman is the third book that I officially published, actually the fourth if you include the short story I did for Headlight Anthology. This book was a long process that started with stories I did in a Carleton University creative writing class with Tom Henighan. You can buy the book at: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged.

Cover Art for the Book Spiderwoman by Donna Kakonge

By Bronwyn Chester

“Church Sunday” is a more resolved story. A young girl in Toronto accompanies her Granny, visiting from St. Vincent, to church and learns what it means to give. The old woman “hated the Methodist church, it made her fall asleep. She said there were too many white people and she couldn’t stand the organ music that was played with more than one mistake.”

Headlight Anthology 1998, Headlight Press, 128 pp. $7.95. Available at Chapters, Paragraphe, The Word and Double Hook in Montreal.

Online it is available at: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged under the book now titled Spiderwoman with other stories by Donna Kakonge.

No sisterhood pictured  in the isolation of each woman from meaningful women-centered bonds with other women — and in the catfight among the SpiderWomen, the winner is — the one most like the SpiderMan

SpiderMan, not SpiderWoman, serves as movie-icon heroic role model to little boys everywhere wearing a SpiderMan T-shirt, carrying a Spider-man lunchbox, dressing up like SpiderMan for Halloween (or harvest festival at the local church or community center).  His sister in princess garb is still being taught to wait for the illusory prince to come.

Man’s longest war:  It’s everywhere.   It changes form to combat every vestige of meaningful feminism among women and pro-feminsim among men tired of the war.

It grabs for the children’s minds first.  It’s big business.  Moms and other well-intentioned women who cannot face that this is a war keep playing along [online sample below].

Once upon a time womankind had her own Spiderwoman (mythic spinner of life, originator of world fire); then 7,000 years of the longest war netted us reversal-mythic movies about Spiderman (man’s reversal of original women’s story in order to favor male heroes).  Now coming to the multi-plex this weekend,   Sam Raimi, the director of moviedom’s Spiderman, is the auteur linked to the horror movie in which a woman is (in an updating of the mythic Judeo-Christian reversal to favor male heroes) sent to hell (imagery of flames scorching like the actual Catholic-sponsored burnings of old by men torturing and murdering women called witches, many of them old women who in fact had wit and were wise) at the hands of — could it be the movie shows men as agents of the horror and torture?

Noooooo, in this movie we won’t see  men depicted as evil agents as actually true for the  historical witch burnings by men against women but we will see a movie’s powerful  fabrication of an old woman as the agent of burning another woman.

This is not just  another (ho hum)  male movie reversal of what really happens during the longest war.  This is being touted as the “greatest” horror movie ever, under the hand of the “great” Sam Raimi.  Imagine the lasting impression of those pictures that say thousands upon thousands of words in the minds of every girl and woman who sees the movie, unaware of its power for mental manipulation in generating woman-fearing and woman-hating by women of women, especially older women.

In the longest war, man does not want young women to have any reason to be comfortable seeking the wisdom and comfort of old women who have seen and know the evil of man for what it is.  It’s not just entertainment, folks.  It’s mental entrainment to woman-hating with a complementary man-adoration no man deserves.

You can vote your money by refusing to buy tickets to movies of misogyny.  In this way you call out woman-hating for what it is.  You’ll feel better, and then nobody gets burned who doesn’t deserve to.

My images on this blog will generally come from CA and TX, with an emphasis on Los Angeles (belly of the beast, beautiful beach, LA the extraordinary).  Check “About” for an example of my images on this blog for parody of war and social criticism of man’s longest war, the war against womankind.

If not an image from the internet being critiqued, parodied,  socially criticized or otherwise publicly commented upon, all  images including the blog banner are my own raw-image, digital-camera work (never Photoshopped).  If you want to link to this blog for free viewing by others, you’re most welcome.

Where’s the Goddess Kali or the Mythic Spiderwoman when we need Her?  We instead see little boys wearing Spiderman suits.  What’s left of Infinite Womankind in popular consciousness resides mainly behind metaphoric bars, devoid of righteous fury about man’s unacknowledged war against womankind.