Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Day 25 of the 31 Day Film Challenge
Day 25 of the 31 Day Film Challenge: The film that made you want to be a filmmaker. I was 10 years old and even then watching this film, I saw the three different styles that Richard Donner went for: the antiseptic, clean Krypton; the Norman Rockwell-esque Smallville; and the busy, fast-paced Metropolis. While Star Wars may have eclipsed all special effect films of the 70's, it was this film that grounded my fantasies in reality and made me realize that anything could be possible in film. My Saturday morning cartoon hero was bigger than life on the movie screen and I truly believed a man could fly: SUPERMAN
Friday, October 28, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Even Superheroes are Patriotic
Whether they fight for the American Way...
Or dress to represent their patriotism, like Captain America
and Wonder Woman,
they celebrate the 4th of July!
Or dress to represent their patriotism, like Captain America
and Wonder Woman,
they celebrate the 4th of July!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
It's a Supermonth!
With Marvel's Captain America making magazine covers and Ryan Reynolds starring as Green Lantern, I've decided to dedicate this month's posts to superheroes. Well not just any superheroes, but heroes of the female gender.
I've always liked the female heroes in comics, but it was rare that I got to see them in action in movies or on TV. At least, that's what I thought. I started thinking about all of the women who have appeared as masked crimefighters, caped crusaders, or spandex starlets and realized that there have been a lot of wonder women that have appeared across my television or movie screens.
Granted, the men always got more exposure like Superman and Batman. Each appeared in early serials:
But they've also graced the small screen,
and the big screen.
Other heroes have had their own TV shows like the Flash,
or appeared with many other heroes in animated form like Hawkman.
Well, ladies, it's time to shine! Each post will feature either one heroine in her many formats, or it may be just one specific show or movie that will be spotlighted. I will tell you that Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Supergirl will each get posts, but other lesser known supergals will also be mentioned like Black Canary, ElectraWoman, and Isis.
Now, while I do like Marvel characters, most will be from the DC Comics roster.
I've always liked the female heroes in comics, but it was rare that I got to see them in action in movies or on TV. At least, that's what I thought. I started thinking about all of the women who have appeared as masked crimefighters, caped crusaders, or spandex starlets and realized that there have been a lot of wonder women that have appeared across my television or movie screens.
Granted, the men always got more exposure like Superman and Batman. Each appeared in early serials:
But they've also graced the small screen,
and the big screen.
Other heroes have had their own TV shows like the Flash,
or appeared with many other heroes in animated form like Hawkman.
Well, ladies, it's time to shine! Each post will feature either one heroine in her many formats, or it may be just one specific show or movie that will be spotlighted. I will tell you that Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Supergirl will each get posts, but other lesser known supergals will also be mentioned like Black Canary, ElectraWoman, and Isis.
Now, while I do like Marvel characters, most will be from the DC Comics roster.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday's Man: The Animated Series
Monday's Man: Cartoon Hunks
There were times while growing up as a young gay boy in the 70's that I found myself attracted to certain cartoon characters. I know, we say animated now, but they're cartoons. Now first of all, animators back in the 70's seemed to have a limited range on what a good looking guy was to look like. It was either Alan M. from Josie and the Pussycats...
or the Super Friends.
Then one day, I happened across Battle of the Planets. The animation was different than I was used to. It wasn't basic like Saturday mornings and it wasn't quite fluid like Disney films. The odd thing was, I realized that the animation changed when they showed this stupid R2-D2-type character called 7-Zark-7.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, more on that reason later.
In the 80's, boys looked to He-Man for reasons other than mine, but his page-boy haircut killed it for me.
Then came She-Ra, Princess of Power. It wasn't She-Ra, but Bow who was the best looking from either series. What I didn't realize was that he is the type of guy I like from the 70's and 80's magazines I started collecting in later life. Did it start with Bow? He looked like a 70's porn star.
Years passed and animation changed. One day, I was looking at Anime DVD's and saw the characters from my childhood show, Battle of the Planets. For some reason it was called Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
What I learned was that this violent and kind of adult show was heavily censored and edited for American television broadcast. They added the character of 7-Zark-7 to fill in the holes of the story that seemed to be cut out. The show is amazing now. I started watching them and buying more and more of the DVDs. There was something about the two lead guys that I still think looks attractive even now.
Maybe it was the hair in their civilian guise or the thigh-high boots in their heroic duds. Of course, the male characters had no nipples, just like men in American cartoons.
The villain that I thought always had wet lips, was actually a shape-shifting alien hermaphrodite. And they edited that out for American audiences? Why?
I guess his wet lips was actually lip gloss.
Well, now I was interested in these anime films. It seems that some were made for adults. I found one called Fake. It was about a couple of police detectives who were partners. Through circumstances, they ended up on vacation together and have a mystery to solve. Simple enough, but one of the partners seduces the other. Homosexual cartoons? What's this?
Well it builds from there. The next one I rented was My Sexual Harassment. It's about a young computer businessman, Mochizuki, who everyone (male and female) thinks is attractive.
His boss, Homna, decides to take him under his wing and seduces him.
Homna then pimps him out to other executives and clients.
Homna still treats Mochizuki with love and tenderness while Mochizuki starts to learn the business through Homna.
Eventually, he gets a new boss, Niimi, who takes their relationship too far.
Homna rescues Mochizuki and then teaches Niimi a lesson.
Let's just say that a Wild Turkey bottle and a corn-on-the-cob will never be looked at the same by me. The image was not graphically shown in detail, but the images you did see and the implications were enough.
I was later to find out that this is yaoi. Yaoi is created for a young female readership and there are female writers who write mangas (comics) for these young girls that include homoeroticism and homoromanticism. Who knew? Now, don't get this confused with "bara" which is gay manga. My opinion is that My Sexual Harassment is more "bara" than "yaoi", but I'm just learning this stuff.
Now here comes the big question...Has there ever been an animated character that you thought was hot? Some people I've talked to liked Butch Cassidy, Fred from the Scooby-Doo series, Mark from Speed Buggy, Rick Springfield from Mission: Magic!, etc...
There were times while growing up as a young gay boy in the 70's that I found myself attracted to certain cartoon characters. I know, we say animated now, but they're cartoons. Now first of all, animators back in the 70's seemed to have a limited range on what a good looking guy was to look like. It was either Alan M. from Josie and the Pussycats...
or the Super Friends.
Then one day, I happened across Battle of the Planets. The animation was different than I was used to. It wasn't basic like Saturday mornings and it wasn't quite fluid like Disney films. The odd thing was, I realized that the animation changed when they showed this stupid R2-D2-type character called 7-Zark-7.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, more on that reason later.
In the 80's, boys looked to He-Man for reasons other than mine, but his page-boy haircut killed it for me.
Then came She-Ra, Princess of Power. It wasn't She-Ra, but Bow who was the best looking from either series. What I didn't realize was that he is the type of guy I like from the 70's and 80's magazines I started collecting in later life. Did it start with Bow? He looked like a 70's porn star.
Years passed and animation changed. One day, I was looking at Anime DVD's and saw the characters from my childhood show, Battle of the Planets. For some reason it was called Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
What I learned was that this violent and kind of adult show was heavily censored and edited for American television broadcast. They added the character of 7-Zark-7 to fill in the holes of the story that seemed to be cut out. The show is amazing now. I started watching them and buying more and more of the DVDs. There was something about the two lead guys that I still think looks attractive even now.
Maybe it was the hair in their civilian guise or the thigh-high boots in their heroic duds. Of course, the male characters had no nipples, just like men in American cartoons.
The villain that I thought always had wet lips, was actually a shape-shifting alien hermaphrodite. And they edited that out for American audiences? Why?
I guess his wet lips was actually lip gloss.
Well, now I was interested in these anime films. It seems that some were made for adults. I found one called Fake. It was about a couple of police detectives who were partners. Through circumstances, they ended up on vacation together and have a mystery to solve. Simple enough, but one of the partners seduces the other. Homosexual cartoons? What's this?
Well it builds from there. The next one I rented was My Sexual Harassment. It's about a young computer businessman, Mochizuki, who everyone (male and female) thinks is attractive.
His boss, Homna, decides to take him under his wing and seduces him.
Homna then pimps him out to other executives and clients.
Homna still treats Mochizuki with love and tenderness while Mochizuki starts to learn the business through Homna.
Eventually, he gets a new boss, Niimi, who takes their relationship too far.
Homna rescues Mochizuki and then teaches Niimi a lesson.
Let's just say that a Wild Turkey bottle and a corn-on-the-cob will never be looked at the same by me. The image was not graphically shown in detail, but the images you did see and the implications were enough.
I was later to find out that this is yaoi. Yaoi is created for a young female readership and there are female writers who write mangas (comics) for these young girls that include homoeroticism and homoromanticism. Who knew? Now, don't get this confused with "bara" which is gay manga. My opinion is that My Sexual Harassment is more "bara" than "yaoi", but I'm just learning this stuff.
Now here comes the big question...Has there ever been an animated character that you thought was hot? Some people I've talked to liked Butch Cassidy, Fred from the Scooby-Doo series, Mark from Speed Buggy, Rick Springfield from Mission: Magic!, etc...
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Sister Streetfighter
Growing up in the 70’s, I have a special fondness for Wonder Woman. I saw all of her first run appearances through the Super Friends years, the Cathy Lee Crosby TV movie, and of course, the fantastic Lynda Carter series.
I did a post earlier about her TV show outfits and I just have to say…this new revamp sucks.
This is not the first time WW wore a jacket.
This isn't the 90's, do they really want to put her in a leather jacket and a choker? She’s not Black Canary, who can pull it off.
Wonder Woman’s costume has changed many times:
The one on the far left and far right were short-lived and she always went back to the original.
I am probably one of the few people I know who liked her de-powered era, but then again, I’m also a fan of Diana Rigg’s Emma Peel who she was modeled after.
I am also a fan of the Cathy Lee Crosby version of Wonder Woman. I know that it is reviled by everyone, but it has a certain charm for me.
I think they should have dressed Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) in an outfit modeled after this one. It would have been more appropriate looking for a girl her age.
In any case, I guess I’ll just have to wait it out. Sooner or later, she will return to her roots. Think about Superman,
Spider-Man,
Black Canary,
Hawkman,
even minor heroes Hawk & Dove,
Etc…etc…etc…
When is Gloria Steinem going to stand up for her again?
But they’re not just revamping the costume…they are revamping her origin. She is no longer going to be the princess who defied her mother to enter the contest to win the right to be Wonder Woman in Man’s World. Urban Fighter? WTF? This is just temporary…this is just temporary…this is just temporary. (Please let it be temporary) This is not the first time DC has done something like this and it always makes me wonder…Why do they go down that road again and again?
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