Christmas 2010

Here’s what I wrote to friends about last year’s Christmas, with minor tweaking:

* Wandered down Victoria taking pictures, noting the lack of street cleaning apparently due to the holiday; more cars than I expected
* During this time I realized I had forgotten to buy groceries and had breakfast at McDonald's, noting the 6:30 closing time
* Also during this time I bought a couple of DVDs at the new 7-11 at Douglas and Humboldt
* Unwrapped presents and found I had gotten a record number of gift certificates
* Wandered around downtown some more to take more pics and see if certain places were open, including Wellburn's (no)
* Tried finding a couple store hours online and found I had a computer virus
* Walked to Quadra Village to see if Fairway or Rogers were open (no)
* From there walked to the shopping area across from Hillside to get to a quieter area of town and see if that area's McDonald's, Dairy Queen, or Blockbuster were open
* Only Blockbuster was open; they had a buy 2 get 1 free deal but only saw 2 that I wanted so left empty handed [note: they later closed down even before the Canada-wide closures]
* Got a small pizza from the downtown Domino's
* Chatted online with a friend while eating the pizza and watched Bad Santa with the Commentary on
* Found a bedbug on me
* Went back to the McDonald's at 6:03 and found it now closed at 6
* Went to Chinatown and found a place that was open (Don Mee I think) but there was a half hour plus wait to be seated. A few other places were closed
* Found a Korean place that was open and had seating but wasn't that familiar with Korean food and with the day I was having decided not to experiment [I later went there with a friend; it was okay but a bit pricey]
* Finally arrived at 7-11 by my place which was selling hot dogs for 99c each. Good enough; bought 3
* On my way home near the main entrance some guy kept repeating, "I f---ing hate Christmas!" Decided to play it safe and use the other entrance
* Ate dinner and did up plans for a Tuesday Vancouver trip
* Wrote another chapter of my novel
* Fell asleep trying to watch a horror movie

Book Review: Seduction of the Innocent Revisited: Comic Books Exposed

Seduction of the Innocent Revisited: Comic Books Exposed by John Fulce
Lafayette Louisiana 1990: Huntington House
Reviewed 1/31/99  with minor editing 12/24/10

The oddest thing about this book is its title. Oh, the main implications are accurate enough. It's a modern day pro-censorship book about comics. However the central argument of the book seems to be that comics (aside from undergrounds) were pretty wholesome until around the 1980s. In order to make this argument he completely avoids any of the more controversial books of earlier eras, and accordingly does not mention Frederic Wertham or the original Seduction of the Innocent from the 1950s anywhere in the text. [2011 note: so he seems to have it both ways: he wants to have the connotations that the original Seduction of the Innocent provides, but he apparently disagrees with that original work in terms of when comics “went bad”.]

In fact throughout he avoids rather than addresses evidence that might hurt his claims. For example he classifies comics as rate or not, with the titles stating "Suggested for Mature Readers" being the ones he feels are rated for the benefit of younger readers, and everyone else as not rated. However, many of the ones that he labels "not rated" are in fact rated "Approved by the Comics Code Authority," which of course is not a point in favour of his arguments. [Note: at the time the book was written and at the time this review was originally written, the Comics Code was still in effect.]

Essentially, unlike Wertham, who tackled censoring comics from a psychiatrist point of view, Fulce does so from a religious point of view. Fulce was once a comic fan to the point of running a comic store, so part of his attack seems to emanate from disillusionment with his hobby.

In fairness to the book, it does have some good points to it. It is nicely formatted, breaking down his areas of attack into occultism/new age, anti-Christian, sex, negative role models, violence, and profanity. And it cannot be denied that comics do go overboard at times in these areas, so I have nothing against tackling some of those issues when they do arise.

Also, most of the book consists of examples illustrating his points, with things he finds objectionable covered up. One irony that occurs here is that "bastard" is made to look like "batard" which is in of itself a French swear word with the same meaning as the English word.

However he does, again, avoid looking at aspects on the other side (e.g. pro-Christian role models). He also doesn't provide overly strong evidence in favour of his points beyond a minimum of research. He also plays "guilt by association", sometimes stating that comics can lead to pornography, sometimes stating they are pornography, at which point he launches into studies that don't necessarily reflect comics themselves

He is also selective in explaining his reasoning. Sometimes it is clear why he has a problem with something (e.g. his argument against pre-marital sex), other times, as with homosexuality it's less clear (I think he lumped that into his explanation of things like sex with robots and animals but I'm not sure).

As a final point, I think it speaks volumes when he admits that if you follow his suggestions, even other churches (though his own denomination is never clearly stated) might oppose you. While he does present his own rationalization for this, it does point out how extreme his views are.

Toronto General Thoughts

Here are some general thoughts of Toronto that I sent to friends, with minor tweaking:

If you plan to visit Toronto someday, this is the most practical of my Toronto e-mails.  I was originally going to include a few journal points I forgot to mention but have decided instead to focus solely on the general stuff

Very multicultural, with man y areas of Toronto being cultural towns (Korea Town, Greek City, etc.).  The drawback of course is you’re more likely to encounter people who speak neither English nor likely even French.  There are, however, few First Nations people in the area and they don’t get their own “town”.

Turnstiles at subways stations assume you’re carrying a daypack at the most and not a suitcase.  Subways only stay within what is considered to be Toronto proper now, though some stations are in what used to be separate towns (North York, Scarborough, etc). What there are some above ground areas of the subway; these are more infrequent than the Skytrain in Greater Vancouver.  As previously noticed, the “Ossington, Ossington Station; Christie, Christie Station” repetition of the announcements can get tiresome.  Some subway directions are misleading and you might think you’re headed from one subway route to another when you’re actually headed to an exit.

Aggressive drivers can be a problem, often trying to turn while people are crossing on a walk signal.  Pedestrians can be aggressive too.  Taxi drivers’ favourite pastime is honking their horns.  Like Victoria, jaywalking including against lights is not unknown.

While there are sometimes streetcar stations in the middle of the roads, more often you wait for a streetcar to stop and open its doors and then cross the street to the streetcar to get on.

The distinction between what is and is not downtown is even more blurry than Vancouver; you’re rarely far from any shopping.

It’s actually possible to spend a full day walking around Toronto’s shopping areas and not get panhandled.

In the core of downtown, franchise stores and restaurants often do a good job of blending in to their surroundings.

Toronto doesn’t have much of a sense of humour about itself.  Beyond that naked guy with pigeons statue I noticed little by way of any really strange structures.  Major exception: Honest Ed’s has a fun sense of humour about itself (kind of like Marvel Comics: it praises itself to the point of poking fun at itself).

In some ways Toronto seems like a humourless version of Seattle, albeit with a better light rail system: main tourism attraction is a tall thin structure with a dome with restaurant on top, amphibious vehicle tours based on some animal, card being put into place that covers different transit systems, one major transit system for in town and another major transit system for outlying communities.

The water doesn’t taste very good.  Hopefully this isn’t due to its proximity to nuclear power plants.

BMV is a very good franchise store for books; lots of remained book that are still in excellent shape.

I’ve previously mentioned that the street numbers are a bit strange (numbers inconsistent with other streets and even between their own even and odd streets; also blocks are not split by 100s.  To expand on this slightly, for east-west streets this problem is a bit less the closer you get to Yonge, as that’s the dividing point between Streets West and Streets East.

Go trains, while not cheap are better than VIA Rail trains: they’re double-decker, cheaper, and actually benefit from purchasing the day you ride so you can get a daypass (VIA makes you book in advance to get a good rate).  If you get a daypass, you can ride either GO busses or trains as long as they’re within the zones covered by the pass.  GO doesn’t make their zone divisions widely available; there are apparently over 80 zones however.

While Toronto can get cold, it’s a dry cold.  I didn’t need to dress as warmly as I thought I would have to.

People in Toronto tend to be a bit reserved, though I did encounter a few helpful people.  Most won’t go out of their way to help people, but most won’t try to hassle you either unless you try to cross on a walk signal when they wish to turn.

North-south is a mild hill.  Keep going north and you’ll get a better view of the south end of the city, but the uphill walk probably won’t tire you out much due to how gradual the “hill” is.

Like Seattle and Portland but unlike Victoria or Vancouver you can find Vanilla Coke for sale there

Major chains you won’t find here but which were all over the place there (the whole Golden Horseshoe area, not just Toronto): Pizza Pizza (self-explanatory), Metro (supermarket), Beer Store (self-explanatory, Second Cup (coffee/tea).  I was hoping to see the primarily east coast franchise White Castle but never encountered any; might just be American.

In terms of what's worth visiting outside of Toronto:
  Mississauga: didn't have much time to explore.  If you're arriving by plane you'll likely visit Mississauga whether you want to or not; jury's out on the rest of the city though.
  Oakville: Nice quiet downtown; not essential but a decent Sunday excursion
  Hamilton: better than its reputation; worth a visit especially if you wish to shop
  St Catharines: to quote Thor, "I say thee nay!" If you have a choice between visiting St Catharines and experiencing an enema, opt for the enema, which can at least do your body some good
  Niagara Falls ON: A must see, both for the beautiful falls and the amazingly tacky Clifton Hills.
  Niagara Falls NY: unless money's an issue and you can't afford a passport or enhanced ID, absolutely cross the Rainbow Bridge (which is grey BTW) and at the very least visit the free observation area that hangs over the falls.  It may not be as amazing as the ON version, but it's still a must-see if you have the right documents
  Pickering: Not worth the effort
  Ajax: Same
  Whitby: See Oakville and below
  Oshawa: See Oakville; also if you like comics there's three shops close to each other downtown.  I found people in Whitby and Oshawa, except the Go bus drivers, to be among the friendlier people in the Golden Horseshoe area

Ranking the Theatrical Batman Movies Best to Worst

I haven’t seen every straight to DVD release but I have seen all the Batman movies that have hit the big screen to date, so here goes:

1.      Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: Okay, the villain’s identity might be easy to figure out; still, this movie has a lot of heart, and the best use of Bruce Wayne; sadly the only animated Batman movie to get a theatrical release

2.      Batman Begins: Of all the live action movies, this has the best use of Bruce Wayne; almost epic in its origin story, especially during the first half; some bits with Ra’s al Ghul didn’t click with me but overall a fine movie

3.      The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger provides the most disturbing Joker portrayal to date; loses a few points for shoving Batman a little into the background but still a great psychological thriller

4.      Batman: Jack Nicholson also provides a fun Bruce Wayne; the Bruce Wayne/Vicki Vale stuff is a bit dull, but it’s still a fun movie

5.      Batman Returns: Feels more like a general Tim Burton movie than a Batman movie per se, and the Penguin bits don’t quite work; still the Batman/Catwoman stuff is fun

6.      Batman (first serial): Okay bare bones action movie

7.      Batman & Robin (second serial): Another okay serial, only a little more racist

8.      Batman Forever: The bits with Bruce and a psychiatrist are great; unfortunately Robin’s a little dull and the bits with Riddler and Two-Face are painful

9.      Batman: The Movie: I’m not a big fan of the campy movie, though it’s a polished enough effort on that level

10.  Batman and Robin: One of the worst movies ever made, it part because marketing deals kept interfering with the storytelling (e.g. the bat-credit card); lots of gags that don’t work

10 Predictions for 2012

1.      In Canada, Rogers will continue with the wireless end of their business but will cease with the video rental aspect of their operations entirely

2.      At least one more video store in Victoria BC (chain or mom and pop) will announce they are closing down [I meant Greater Victoria, not just Victoria proper; Hollywood Video in Sooke closed down Feb 29]

3.      Blockbuster will announce that they will be closing down in the US                 

4.      Barnes & Noble will declare bankruptcy even if they survive into 2013

5.      The final book in the current Official Marvel Index series will be the Wolverine trade

6.      The Republicans will win the 2012 US Elections

7.      The Avengers movie will do well in the box office, but not quite meet expectations

8.      Marvel Comics will make a big announcement that will be largely perceived as a reaction to DC Comics’ success with the new 52 #1s, regardless of if that’s true or not

9.      Red Dwarf series 10 will be successful enough that Red Dwarf series 11 will be commissioned

10.   In Seattle, RapidRide routes C & D will open within two weeks either direction of when scheduled (okay, so this isn’t a big revelation, but I wanted to allow for some more optimistic news to come true)

A Busier than Expected Day Today

The day started out on a fairly relaxed note. I watched Frost/Nixon on blu-ray. Probably Ron Howard’s best film to date.

Then having been told by a friend the day before that the Rogers on Borden St. was going out of business, I spent 45 minutes walking there.  Making the purchase took longer than expected, in part because most of the DVDs and blu-rays didn’t have prices on them, so the prices had to be checked to give me the best possible deal.

I was way behind schedule as I started heading to the bus stop. I didn’t realize that my fanny pack was open; I either left my debit card at Rogers or it fell out en route to the bus stop; some coins probably dropped out. I saw the bus and almost missed it but due to the lights and people waiting at the next bus, I was able to catch it at the next stop by running so fast that my throat hurt for a while after (still not entirely better).

I took the bus back downtown and dropped off my bag at my apartment. I only had a few minutes before I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch so I quickly grabbed her gift and card, wrapped/taped the gift in record time, and did another run, this time to the Old Spaghetti Factory. We had a nice meet. I gave her my gift and she treated me to lunch and gave me a coupon book.

I told her about the sale and she told me about another video store that was going out of business, the Xanavision on East Saanich.  So after the lunch meet I went home, grabbed my credit card, and took a bus over. Apparently it’s been going under for about a month, but maybe due to its location, there were still lots to pick from even after I got through with it.

There was time before the next bus so I went for a jog and then took the bus back downtown. The good news was that it was a double-decker. The bad news was that one person was not only talking on his cell phone, he had it on speaker so the other passengers could hear a crackling voice from the other side.  Both directions I relaxed by reading the 2012 edition of Eat This, Not That, which I had plenty of time to do as it’s about a 45 minute ride each way.

Then when I got home I realized it was time to start more uploads to Flickr.  So not a boring day.

Ranking the X-Men Movies from Best to Worst

1. X-Men: First Class: okay, so it wasn’t as racially diverse as it could be and the 1960s aspect could have been played up more. Still, the characterization was the strongest and the overall quality of the acting was top notch.  Magneto is the most compelling he’s ever been, which is saying something given Ian McKellen’s previous excellent performance
2. X2: X-Men United: Maybe a bit too much Wolverine and Halle Berry is a weak link throughout the series, but this is the best of the original trilogy, with the best pacing and some nice character bits; Magneto is a strong villain again
3. X-Men: A bit rushed and some weak characters (Storm, Sabretooth, etc) but a solid start to the series
4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: A lot of one-note characters and some logical issues, but the pacing’s decent and the Wolverine-Victor scenes are great
5. X-Men III: The Last Stand: The weakest in the series by far despite a few nice bits. Wolverine overused again, Halle Berry only marginally better than usual as Storm, too rushed, tried to cram two movies into one it felt like, too many characters ciphers