Iron Man (2008)

Had a marvelous time. They're really, finally learning how to make comic-book movies. I'd put this in the top three or four, up with "Superman II", "Spiderman II", and "Batman Returns" (I would have put Blade, but there's that pesky Sambo factor going on there: no true humanity). The story of Tony Stark, gazillionare genius playboy who becomes enlightend to the way his family's arms business has damaged the world...and builds a syber-suit to undo some of the damage...is closely based on the 1964-ish comic book origin story (swapping Afghanistan for Viet Nam). It is getting truly spooky to see just how fertile the original Marvel Bullpin was. Stan Lee is a god, and Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Don Heck...all the guys who co-created (the Marvel creative technique was clearly quite collaborative, giving the artists much greater leeway than DC. There is controversy about what Stan did or didn't do...but one thing is certain: none of these artists were as creative anywhere else they worked. Stan was either the genuine creator, co-creator, or a stimulus/calalyst par excellence. For a Marvel geek like me, watching all of this happen is just too much fun for words. Final note: DO stick around for the full credits. As rumored, there is indeed a surprise. The actors are great, the effects are great, some of the best movie dialog in a comic book film ever ever ever. What incredible fun. An "A"
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I never insult people on my blog. Hopefully, when I accused Frank of "mischief" he knows that I mean I think he's engaging in a little political gamesmanship, kindly offering advice to those across the aisle. Wink wink. No offense meant. It's a clever tactic.
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I'm in Iowa for Demicon. Looking forward to it: haven't been in Iowa for a couple of decades. Jeeze...I'm beginning to forget which states I've been in! Maybe...thirty.
And the question of the day is: how many states have you visited?
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Oh--the "Obama's black advantage" thing came up again. I want to make it clear: it isn't that I don't think that, in some ways, being black hasn't been an advantage. It's that I believe that unless you understand and factor in the ways it has been a disadvantage you are only looking at one half of the equation. And up until this time, I have understood and anticipated every explanation for the "advantages", while the people who promote the idea of advantage seem to me to have little idea of the disadvantages (from my point of view.) Without enumerating, debating and weighing both advantages and disadvantages, it is difficult to come to a conclusion here. I would love to hear a convincing argument, but remember the "Will Smith can't have sex" thing that I'm obsessed with: I believe it demonstrates the "invisible hand of racism in the marketplace." I may be wrong, but so long as I believe that to be true, I hope you can see why it would be almost impossible for me to buy Obama's ethnicity being, overall, any kind of real advantage. It is also worthwhile to note that I've never met a white person who let themselves see this before I pointed it out to them. And about 90% of black people know it before I say it. My position is that there are lots of other factors, many of them trickier to prove (movie stats are easy to get, which makes this particular factoid a keeper) but just as indicative of a serious issue. While I believe that people believing Obama to have an advantage on the basis of race to be well-intended, experience also suggests to me that they want to believe white people are...well, are considerably nicer than I think human beings actually are, or that history suggests any of us to be. In potential? Sure. In practice? Wellll....