Aladdin and Boy Disney

As a kid I got to experience a very interesting change over with Disney. Now growing up I was a HUGE Disney fan, in fact to this day at the drop of a hat I can sing "Under the Sea", "Sing Sweet Nightingale", "I Wanna be like You" and "When you wish upon a star". I have also decorated my bathroom in Disney, just because I can.

When I was little though I did notice something very disturbing: Disney was not very boy friendly. Men, and princes in particular, tended to be shallow stock characters with so little personality they sometimes didn't even get a name. Honestly, without looking it up, what's the name of the prince from Snow White? Sleeping Beauty? Cinderella? If they had a personality it usually matched the girl's, just wanting a life different then the one they had. The only time we ever got an interesting male character was when they were animals, like Robin Hood, 101 Dalmatians and The Jungle Book (And don't tell me Mowgli was interesting, he was a whiny naked annoyance that Bagheera should've eaten when his bones were soft). The closest we ever got was arguably Peter Pan, but his masculinity is always undermined by the fact that he's usually played by a woman in a short haircut.

Then in 1991 the change began. Disney released the blockbuster hit Beauty and the Beast, featuring a male character with more depth than a tea spoon. Beast was a tortured soul, cursed with the impossible task of trying to find someone to fall in love with him while being in the body of a monster. This is such a huge jump from nameless prince who for some reason doesn't want to get married that it made people's heads spin. Even Belle is a decent character, being a woman who dares to think and read rather than swoon over the village idiot. I really think the best part of this film is when he first abducts her and there strong personalities clash against each other in some spectacular dialogue. My issue is that for me it all falls apart in the end when Beast ends up becoming the nameless prince from all the rest of the films. I'm sure the king and queen of fictional France didn't name their child Beast. I still love this movie and get's a A for effort but the flick that came out the next year really took it to "A Whole New World"(Ah, you see what I did there?)

In 1992 the world gave us Aladdin, the first Disney movie with a real three-dimensional human male character. When we first see him he has this whole song about how he lives by ducking guards and stealing bread with a monkey while he parkours around a happy version of the Middle East. Directly after that though we get a glimpse at his sorrow for having to live by the skin of his teeth and stepped on by the upper class. His cool lifestyle of lying and trickery even messes him up when his lies become too much for him to handle while he's trying to keep the princess interested and keep his promise to the Genie. His whole story arch is how he realizes that he doesn't have to live vicariously through lies in order to be happy. Cheesy yes, but to this day it's still one of Disney's most compelling story arcs.

After Aladdin the sky was the limit. Male characters kept being interesting, cool, and they always had names. Disney became more comfortable focusing films on the guys, including Hercules, Tarzan and The Incredibles. Even the non-humans stepped it up, in films like Lion King and Wall-E the guys stole the show. It became a golden age to be a boy and a Disney fan. My music repertoire now includes songs like "Be a Man (Donny Osmond, for a nice LDS tie-in)", "One Jump Ahead", and "Go the Distance".

This time didn't exclude the ladies. Like in Beauty and the Beast, the female characters got a boost to personality as well. Characters like Esmeralda, Megara, Mulan, Tiana and Elasti-Girl have given girl power a new meaning and became classics almost overnight.

So who's your favorite Disney guy?

-JOE

Gencon 2012: Something That Made Me SQUEE!

Just a short post from me today.  A few weeks ago, I signed up to go to Gen Con Indy 2012.  On May 1st, they release a list of the events.

Now, before I looked at the list, I was convinced I would spend most of the time at Gen Con wandering around bored with some friends of mine, or reading every last book I had in an attempt to stave off my boredom.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Some (and by some I'm probably only hitting a small portion of possibilities) of the events include:
Magic tournaments
Magic drafts
Dominion games - deck building game that I really enjoy playing.
Red Dragon Inn - an entertaining board game where you try to get the other players drunk...I mean the other characters drunk.  Trust me, nobody has to drink alcohol.
Anime events - like re-dubbing the anime
Miniature games
LARPing (Live Action Roleplaying, not that I'm into that)
Role playing games
Board games
Seminars about writing, LARPing, and more
TDA (True Dungeon Adventures, similar to LARPing but with a created dungeon and animatronics)
Brandon Sanderson!  - He's an author, and has written some pretty awesome books.  He also plays a mean game of Magic.

Don't let those looks fool you, he's a ruthless Magic player!

Needless to say, I'm quite excited about the whole thing!

That reminds me that I need to buy a camera, because this is something that I simply MUST have pictures for.  Don't worry, I'll be blogging about it with all my fan boy excitement!

Intelligence vs Wisdom

(Again, I apologize for not posting my interview with Iron Man. Hopefully next week. It's a lot of pics to go through and a lot of data to get written.)

So my co-worker referred me to this article on Forbes titled Intelligence Is Overrated: What You Really Need to Succeed. He and I had a very interesting discussion on the difference between man's definition of intelligence and God's definition.

So, let's see what man thinks of intelligence. As usual, I go to my favorite word-nerd site: dictionary.com

Intelligence:
1. capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
2. manifestation of a high mental capacity.
3. the faculty of understanding.
4. knowledge of an event, circumstance, etc., received or imparted; news; information.
5. the gathering or distribution of information, especially secret information.

With the 4th and 5th definition, I think something like this:

Wouldn't that be a cool job? A scientifically semi-plausible Spider-Man? Anyway, those definitions are more CIA related.

So now let's look at a couple of scriptures. (HELLO!!! It is MORMON Geeks.)

First, my co-worker brought this scripture to my attention. Found in the Pearl of Great Price, in Abraham Chapter 3, it reads "And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all."

Now, we know that Heavenly Father is omniscient. But there is something about intelligence as it pertains to Him that I find different. I do not believe that he defines it by IQ alone. I suggest he has mental, spiritual, mental, moral, physical (or body), and social intelligence to a point we couldn't BEGIN to understand. This is why he does no wrong, he knows too much to be able to justify doing something contrary to what is right.

Knowledge and intelligence go hand-in-hand in my book. They are fairly interchangeable. However, wisdom trumps them both, in my mind.

Isaiah was a great man, full of...well...let's just say...full of information that he did his best to give us. One tidbit he did give to us, that I find great is this tidbit from Isaiah 55:9. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." This isn't Isaiah writing about himself, but Heavenly Father.

So why are His ways higher? Is it that He's that much better? Yeah, He is that much better. Why? Because He knows way more than all of us combined. Not only that, He knows how to use that knowledge for the best that he can.

I think knowledge is great. I love to learn and to know. But if I don't use that knowledge to benefit my life or the lives of those around me, then I'm stupid. Wisdom is practiced knowledge, in my opinion.

James 2:17 read "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." I believe in a similar saying, substituting knowledge for faith. "Knowledge, if it is not practiced, is useless." How is this evident? Let me give a quick example.

I know how to ride a bike. I know how to get up on the seat. I know how to pedal. But the last time I did it (back in 2004) I couldn't balance, even though I knew how. I hadn't ridden a bike in over 10 years so was out of practice of doing so. No, I never forgot how to ride a bike. My body, on the other hand, did. The information was useless to me because I hadn't practiced using it.

Just some thoughts for this Monday morning. Hopefully it's not too deep or too long for you.

Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled. TJ

Top Ten Hottest Modest Women of Geekdom

So what do the writers of Mormon Geeks talk about, in between hands of Magic the Gathering and arguing over who would win in a fight between Iron Man and Starscream? Girls. We talk about women. So today we want to celebrate women. Not just any women, if you want to see which cartoon heroine had the most cleavage showing there are plenty of websites for that. We're celebrating the top 10 Hottest Modest Women. It's those ladies that are truly ladies, who wouldn't be caught dead in anything skin tight or revealing more skin than a tanning convention. These are women of class and substance that just make our hearts flutter. So for your enjoyment, here's who Stephen, Andrew, T.J., and I thought were the top 10 Hottest Modest Women of Geekdom. 

FYI: This list is in no particular order. 

10: Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises: 

Now there are many incarnations of Catwoman. Not all of them are modest. But I gotta say, Anne Hathaway makes a sleek, hot Catwoman in the promo pics of the The Dark Knight Rises. Personally, Catwoman is probably my favorite Batman antagonist. She definitely can bewitch me. But when I compare Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar, Lee Merriweather, and Michelle Pfeiffer against Anne Hathaway, I really do see Anne pulling off the vixen quite well. She's got the soothing voice to play the victim-turned-villain. She's got the curves to fit that mostly-tight suit she wears. As much as Catwoman has been my favorite, this is my favorite physical version. Now if the acting holds out. -T.J.

9: Arwen from Lord of the Rings

Arwen is a beautiful half-elf from the Lord of the Rings series. Few people can say that over 2700 years of age, they are still looking as good as they were hundreds of years younger. Her story is equally beautiful. After meeting Aragorn, she decides to sacrifice her own immortality because of her love for him. Her skin is fair and clear. Her raven hair is worn long and loose. At one point, she wears a beautiful gossamer gown that's absolutely gorgeous. –Andrew

8: Jane Lane from Daria: 

Sarcastic, witty, and opinionated, Jane made the perfect best friend to Daria. Not as anti-social as her friend, Jane was willing to give school activities a shot, even if it was just so she could have another chance to make fun of her peers. Her artistic spirit constantly had her exploring new mediums of expression, and she found some handy uses for a hot glue gun. Also unlike Daria, Jane was never afraid to date, but always kept her standards and would never drop them for a boy. Snarky and sarcastic, Jane is definitely a girl you want to have your number. -Joe

7:Felicia Day (Actress - The Guild, Dragon Age: Redemption)

            Alright, I cheated.  All of the women on this list are characters.  None of them are the actors themselves.  But for Felicia, I couldn’t find one of her characters I found particularly attractive while being modest.  Codex is mostly modest but not someone I’m terribly attracted to.  Tallis’s costume isn’t particularly modest or immodest but you would only wear it if you were going to a halloween party or killing someone.  Felicia Day, on the other hand, mostly wears modest clothes in her everyday life and for photoshoots.  She may show off her shoulders here and there but is a comparatively modest celebrity.  What makes her so attractive is her compassion and her authenticity.  When you have this much inner and outer beauty, why show off your skin?-Stephen

6: Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (book or movies Parts 1 and 2)

Smart witch with bewitching looks. What else could you want? I mean, she's a strong independent woman that doesn't looks at every situation with a cool head. With all the knowledge gained as the perfect student, she is able to fight with the Dark Lord and his minions. Hermione vs Bellatrix is just awesome. Plus, we're talking about one of the most loyal people to fight against evil. Even though the love of her life was being a douchebag, she stuck up for what was right and helped out her friend. And in the end, she still got the guy she wanted. This proves to me that Hermione has some great worth as a person. Now, as much as Hermione in the books is defined as frumpy and frizzy, Emma Watson does an awesome job at putting life to the character and has her own sense of moral and values that seem to parallel Hermione's quite well. -T.J.

5:  Quistis, from Final Fantasy VIII:

Quistis became an instructor when she was only 17 years old. Later, she is released from her teaching position and starts a friendship with her former students. Smart, calm, and knowledgeable, Questis weilds her chain whip and battle and uses a form of magic that lets her imitate the special abilities of the monsters from her world. Between her teacher's uniform and her battle gear, Quistis dresses modestly and tastefully. She makes glasses look attractive and pulls off wearing leather without turning into some kind of sex symbol. -Andrew

4: Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 

Willow started the series as that girl in high school who you just can't help but love. She was sweet, kinda innocent, a little bit awkward and a lotta bit nerdy. She always tried to see the positive things no matter how dark things got. She also has the most significant story arch throughout the series, going from quiet computer geek with a crush on her best friend to an extremely powerful lesbian witch, all while maintaining a level of class and taste. She never had an inappropriate outfit, even during her wicked witch period. She was sweet, cute, and fun to hang out with.

3: Annie Edison (Community):

            Annie Edison (played by Alison Brie) of the tv series Community, is--in my opinion--the hottest girl on this list.  Annie is more modest than most Provo girls.  Her personality is pretty neurotic but very sweet and loyal.  Her character may not be on a spaceship or be involved in the supernatural.  What makes Annie so geektastic is her compliance to the characters Troy and Abed in the show.  She’s not only 100% willing to join in their geeky shenanigans but understands them.  She also really knows how to step into a D&D character quite well.  Oh, Annie Edison, if you were a real girl and mormon, I’d so marry you!-Stephen

2: Belle from Beauty and the Beast

Yes, I know she's animated. But we're talking about a beautiful book nerd before it was a popular thing. She wasn't the type of person to flaunt her beauty. She was subtle. If Belle was in a modern day high school, she would not be a cheerleader. She probably wouldn't even be in the popular crowd. I'd bet good money that she'd be a flute player in the orchestra, the one that all the other guys are trying to date and she's saying no to because she has values and morals. Come on, that just made her more attractive. Regardless, we're talking about someone who wasn't just beautiful on the outside, she defined beauty on the inside. We're also talking of one of the few princesses that took time to know her prince before falling in love with him. Before Belle, you have Snow White (love at first sight), Sleeping Beauty (love at first sight), Cinderella (love at first sight), and Ariel (love at first sight). Belle really got to know the beast and was able to fall in love with him because she didn't care about appearances. Someone who looks at the inside of a person is more valuable than someone who looks at appearances alone. (Of course, no matter how I look at it, I'm still most easily compared to LeFou.) -T.J.

1: Kaywinnit “Kaylee” Frye (Firefly, Serenity)

            Deep in space on a firefly class ship known as Serenity is a female mechanic named Kaylee.  Kaylee is an optimistic, bubbly, and fun young woman.  Though she is quite a sensual character she never once ever wears revealing clothing.  What makes her so attractive is not only her personality but how she respects herself.  She wears the practical greasy mechanic jumpsuit despite being a girly girl.  Simon, her love interest, says “I just said that you're pretty. Even when you're covered in engine grease, you're--No, especially, especially when you're covered in engine grease.”  Way to go for being modest and for being yourself Kaylee!-Stephen

Some special mention goes out for some ladies who didn't make the list: Katness Everdeen, Harley Quinn, Black Widow, Seven of Nine, Judzia Dax, and Barbra Gordon. Sorry ladies, maybe next time. 

-Us

The Theme of Agency in Joss Whedon's Stories

On Saturday night I went to go see a movie.  There was only one movie that weekend everyone was looking forward to seeing.  No, it wasn't the Hunger Games,  No, it wasn't about claymated Pirates.  The movie everyone was seeing that weekend was The Avengers!  I'm going to review the movie in this sentence:  It will knock your socks off, step away from this computer, go to a movie theater, and see it.  There.  I reviewed the Avengers.  When you've seen the movie please read on, minor spoilers to follow for The Avengers, Serenity, and other Whedon works.

What I really want to talk about is the director of the Avengers, Joss Whedon.  Joss Whedon likes to write witty dialogue with powerful heroines and heroes that are also very human.  He uses a lot of common themes in his stories from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Firefly, to Dollhouse.  A common theme he has used before is the idea of free agency versus having a perfect world.

Loki looking fashionably sinister.

In the Avengers, when we are first revealed Loki's plan, we see that Loki plans to take away everyone's ability to choose to introduce peace into the world.  (Sound familiar?)  A very similar concept was looked at in Joss Whedon's film Serenity.  (A favorite movie of mine!)  In Serenity, the heroes come to a planet called Miranda where a perfect world was attempted to be created.  The residents of Miranda breathed in a chemical meant to weed out aggression and was meant to increase peace.  The problem was that it worked.  The residents stopped fighting but then they stopped everything else--talking, breeding, eating.  They basically stopped choosing anything and let themselves die.

Loki's plan and the plan executed on Miranda really aren't all that different from Satan's plan.  Modern revelation tells us that before we came down to this earth Satan presented the plan of forcing us to do what was right and that all the glory would go to him.  There would have been no need for a savior.  We all would have just been made perfect.  It sounds like a great plan, right?  I mean I would love a free ride back to my Heavenly Father.  Why not give up my agency for that?  Here's why: Because it's impossible.

Towards the climax of the Avengers, an alien race comes through a portal to wreck havoc on the earth so they can hand it over to Loki.  Thor grabs his brother and forces him to see the destruction.  He tries to appeal to his sentimental side.  Thor says that Loki's plan wouldn't bring peace but only more chaos.

The crew of Serenity land on the planet Miranda.

It may sound like a good idea but by forsaking our agency we compromise so much more.  The inhabitants of Miranda and Loki's mind controlled goons lost their souls.  They lost who they were.  The Alliance in Serenity wanted to create a perfect world.  So did Satan.  He wanted to create a world where we would all be perfect at a terrible expense.  Thankfully, we never see what Satan's world would have looked like. In Miranda, we found something much worse then death: Reavers.  A third (I know, the similarities are kinda nuts sometimes) of the population of Miranda had the opposite effect of the chemical.  They turned to horrific madness that comprised of rape, cannibalism, and sewing human flesh into their clothing.  These innocent people became the mindless Reavers.

Thankfully, the war in heaven was won not by Satan but by our Savior.  He supported the plan our Heavenly Father authored.  He volunteered himself as a Sacrifice.  Our Heavenly Father gave us the gift of agency that we could choose freely for ourselves.  Mistakes and weaknesses are inevitable but so is the Atonement if we choose it.  Though perfection wouldn't be found in this life it would be found in the life to come.

I'm so thankful that Satan's plan didn't go through.  Maybe I would have ended up living on a cool planet or had really cool looking blue eyes with his plan.  The gift I have to choose freely for myself is so much cooler then both of those things.  I'm so glad I can choose to follow my Heavenly Father because I want to not because I'm being forced.  I love how the trials and imperfections I have only bring me closer to my eternal destiny.  

-Stephen

Following the Cowl

Batman is an imposing dark figure of the night, designed to inspire fear into the superstitious and cowardly lot, so then why does it seem that the Bat Cave is full of impressionable youth doing everything they can to follow in his footsteps? Let’s take a look at some of these little praised, often criticized or even sometimes disliked sidekicks of the Dark Knight.

Robin

Due to several factors, Robin is the most controversial and probably most disliked of all the sidekicks, no matter the incarnation. The problem is Robin was first created to lighten Batman and make him more approachable to kids. The result was a campy cheesy Batman with pedophilia and homosexual undertones towards his kid sidekick in bright green briefs.

What a lot of people don’t know though is that this lightening was later written into the Batman story. When Tim Drake, the third Robin, noticed news stories showing that Batman was becoming more dark and violent, he decided that Batman needs a Robin to keep him balanced. Drake brought this to the Dark Knight’s attention, as well as the fact that he had singlehandedly figured out his secret identity, and Batman made him his new Robin.

Tim Drake is probably the best Robin in my opinion. Untainted by the “make Batman lighter” campagn, he’s not dark but just cool. With his detective skills he’s probably the closest sidekick to actually being able to succeed Batman permanently one day.  Plus, unlike his previous Robins and the one that followed him, Drake is the most mature, and seems to be the best at his job, since he frequently went on solo missions without Batman looking over his shoulders. Don’t let the histories fool you, just because one Robin was a wuss doesn’t mean they all were.

Batgirl

I think my favorite sidekick Batman has ever had is Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. She’s such a unique character, even among Batman’s flavorful life. Barbara isn’t haunted by some terrible tragedy, she doesn’t have a dark agenda, she saw what fighting the scum of Gotham did to her father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and she just wants to help. She’s a fun, light-hearted character that even Batman couldn’t help but brighten to be around.

What’s really interesting is what happened to her. One morning, the Joker decides he’s going to try and drive the Commissioner to madness, so he shows up at Barbara’s apartment and shoots her in the spine. Batman rounds him up but it leaves Barbara paralyzed from the waist down, thus unable to be Batgirl anymore. Rather than disappear into obscurity, she reinvents herself as the computer savvy Oracle, and helps heroes with intel and computer hacking skills. She even gets a cool little base in Gotham clock tower, where she forms her own girl super hero team to go run missions for her. Barbara has probably the most coherent, as well as realistic, story arch of anybody in DC.

Now I should mention the other Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. She’s from the time when DC wanted everything to get darker, and is evidence that it didn’t really make for good storytelling. Cain was raised by her assassin father to be a ruthless killing machine, but was then taken in by Batman and Oracle for some reason, where she learned how to not kill and put her talents to good use. It was hinted early on that she may have some kind of super power where she could see her opponents next move, but it never was explored very well. They never really did a whole lot with her, she almost never worked with Batman and whenever she would team up with another sidekick or hero it always seemed like she was trying to find a way to kill them. Her costume with the all black and mouth cover was cool, but in the end she was flash without substance.

Nightwing

A grown up version of the first Robin, it’s hard to classify Nightwing as a sidekick, but with as much as he hangs out with Batman some days it’s hard to call him anything else. Once upon a time Dick Grayson got sick of being Robin and wanted a job where he could wear pants and not dress like a human target, so he became Nightwing and at first dressed like a male stripper. Once the artists figured out a decent costume for him, Nightwing became one of the coolest heroes to jump around Gotham.

Nightwing is the conclusion I would’ve loved to see Batgirl reach. I know we have a Batwoman running around, but she’s a whole other thing. I like the idea of the sidekicks eventually growing up and taking on their own legacies, like Nightwing. It’s interesting to note that he seems to be a combination of both Batman and Robin, between the acrobatics and black-and-blue look he’s got going on.

With most other heroes the sidekicks either have to endure the same freak accident they went through or be from the same planet or whatever, with Batman’s though all they have to do is be people who for one reason or another want to improve their world, and were inspired by someone who already took it upon themselves to do just that. As bad as the mistakes were in the past, I still think Batman’s sidekicks have plenty of redeeming qualities, and shoudn’t be discarded as quickly as they have been.

-JOE

Avengers Assemble!

So after 6 movies, some heavy hitting guest appearances and a couple career making roles, The Avengers movie is finally out. Marvel, there new parent company Disney, and every Marvel geek on the planet has been biting their nails wondering if this thing was going to pay off, or be added to the ever growing list of super hero flops. So the real question is: did it make the cut?

Oh my yes...

The people at Marvel made the only move that made sense to make this movie work: they turned it over to Joss Whedon. The legendary creator of Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog took his ingenious character creation, quick dialogue and overall vision to the series and managed to weave the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor films into one freaking awesome movie. No time is wasted with lengthy explanations with who the characters are, back story, or character development and what we get is just pure unadulterated fun.

I want to emphasize the word fun. The story is coherent and flows beautifully, but it's about as deep as a $9.99 kiddie pool. Loki, Thor's brother and long standing champion of silly hat day at the office, is after the mystical energy cube thing Captain America was after. He's using it to pay off a mysterious benefactor who gave him a nifty little spear that makes people be his Facebook friend. The heroes lucky enough to get their own movies, plus the lovely Scarlett Johansson and the guy from The Hurt Locker, have to figure out how to work together before Loki can open up a portal and let a bunch of identical aliens take over the world. This isn't The Dark Knight, but not every meal needs to be filet mignon, but that doesn't mean fried chicken isn't bad either. It's the ultimate popcorn movie, like its predecessors, but even a movie snob like me appreciate it.

I'm going to lay a card out here, I've always been more of a DC fan then Marvel. As a kid I watched Batman the Animated Series and didn't really care for Spider-Man or X-Men cartoons till I was an adult. That being said, the idea of a bunch of Marvel hero movies and an Avengers movie didn't appeal to me at first until I saw Iron Man. Robert Downy Jr and Gweneth Paltrow got me interested enough to keep checking out the next films. I have to say that while I'm not exchanging my Batman slippers for Hulk slippers anytime soon, I definitely have a better appreciation for the characters. If you haven't seen them, it's worth checking the previous videos out either before or after The Avengers.

So if you're not one of the millions of people who saw Avengers opening weekend with my friends and I, get off the computer and go check it out. Until Batman graces us with his presence, it's the best super hero movie out this summer, and even then it's the only one you can bring your kids to. It's a fun filled action packed adventure that was worth every minute of the wait.

-JOE

Superpowers: What If I Had Them?

With The Avengers having come out last weekend, I decided that this post would be appropriate.  Super powers.  What if I had them?  In all the comics, movies, and games that I've seen, a wide variety of different powers have been presented.  Some people can stretch, some shoot fire, and some can fly.  Some get their powers from genetic mutations, some go through magical rituals, and others have the gifts bestowed upon them.  The possibilities are limitless.

When I grew up, I also picked out a superpower for myself.  My superhero name would have been 'Electron'.  I would have the power to absorb and unleash electrical power.  As the powers progressed, I would gain the ability to turn myself and other objects into electricity, the ability to project protective fields of electricity, and so on.  Eventually, I would even be able to fly by manipulating my own personal magnetic field.  I was a little kid, so I imagined that my powers could do nearly anything.

Well, that's beside the point of this post.  I've decided to talk a bit about which power I think would fall into different categories.

Most exciting power:

Flight.  I think nothing would be more incredible than the ability to fly.  I would love to see things from a 'bird's eye' view and feel the rush of the air against my face as I went to work each morning.

Most useful:

Teleportation.  I spend a lot of time getting from point A to point B.  This would save me a ton of money on gas and on a car.  It would also mean I could visit my friends at the drop of a hat, be able to pick things up that I left at home, and be able to fill up my glass with water in even less time!  More efficiency!  Maybe I should have picked this for the coolest power.

Coolest power:

Mind powers!  Pick anything from telepathy to telekinesis.  There's something cool about being able to defeat your opponent with your mind.

Scariest:

Ability to summon small animals.  Most Disney princesses are gifted with this super power.  I find it frightening that they can sing and get small animals to do their bidding.  Who would want to mess with someone with the ability to send swarms of cockroaches and pigeons after you?

Most beneficial to others:

Healing.  This probably could compete with the mind powers category, especially if it could do things like regenerate limbs or cure cancer.

Lamest:

Indestructibility.  Honestly, I find it boring if a person can't be hurt. Part of the excitement of having a super power would be the fact that I would need to be careful not to get myself killed in some way.

On second though, indestructibility might be useful because I probably just angered all the Superman fans out there.

Feel free to comment and share away!

LDStorymakers

So, I'm supposed to have my interview with Iron Man for this post, but I am at my favorite writers conference in the world and do not have any of my pictures with me and blah blah blah....this will be a different post and that will be my post for next week.

Let me geek out....freak out....nerd out....whatever you wanna call it for a moment.

First, LDStorymakers is this awesome writers conference of awesomesauce held annually for the last 9 years. What started with about 40 people has grown to 450 people with a waiting list due to the size limitation of the Provo Mariott. By the way, I love the conference here (unlike some technically challenged presenters.)

But what does Storymakers have to offer? Besides the chance to hobnob with the coolest nerds around?

So, for the comic-loving geeks we have Howard Tayler, awesome author of Shlock Mercenery. For those who like dystopian(-esque) there's Elana Johnson, James Dashner and Robison Wells. For fantasy lovers there are A WHOLE LOT TO CHOOSE FROM. And for the people with homocidal tendencies, Dan Wells and his horror loving ways.

And then for those who just like books...well...there are too many awesome authors to list. 

For those that would like a little more info on what I'm talking about, you can click on the link earlier in this post. Or keep reading.

Basically, we're talking about a 2-day conference with an optional 1/2 day before as a pseudo-critique group. For the conference itself, you get the opportunity to sit through up to 11 different 50-minute classes. I say "up to" because there are some master classes that are 2 hours long. (For the record, I attended 1 master class this year as well as 5 regular classes. But I got some personal lessons with authors while I wasn't in the classes. So I'm gonna own those invaluable moments.)

On the evening between the Friday and Saturday conferences they hold a book signing, a publishers mix-and-mingle, and for those pre-published authors, another socializing effort. By the way, here's an awesome shot with my friend Nichole and I showing off our special Dr. Pepper bottles you can only find in a special location (and also is made with natural sugar.)

 

How did we get main center there? Oh, I put us there since I'm that awesome. Duh!

Anyway, I'm gonna take a long time to recover from all the awesomeness known as LDStorymakers.

Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.

Friday Creature Feature - Batman Villains

I know what your thinking: Batman's villains are just guys in suits. They're not another species, they're just humans with weird obsessions and incredible people skills capable of getting them cronies no matter how many people they've killed. Well I bring this here for two reasons: 
1: The blog that was supposed to go up today isn't ready yet due to my own fault, and 
2: Because Batman's villains are just so unique among other villains I thought I'd take some time and explore why. 

Out of nearly every super hero ever created, Batman has the best villains ever. Each one has these intricate fleshed-out backstories, with personalities and almost believable quirks that make them just beloved. I would say that the only competition for them is really Spider-Man's Villains, but for every Venom and Carnage, there's a Vulture and Walrus Man to make the whole thing seem stupid. Batman has his share of idiotic villains, IE Magpie and Killer Whale, but they're dropped immediately and his good ones are beyond reproach. 

The first big commonality is that nearly all these people start off normal, or close to it. Two-Face was a district attorney, Poison Ivy was a botanist, even the worst of the worst, the Joker, was supposedly a stand-up comedian. These people lived normal lives until something happened to them, weather biological mutation, like Man-Bat or Mr. Freeze, some circumstance from birth like Killer Croc or Penguin, or they just snapped, like Harley Quinn or Puppeteer. Then they adapt a persona around whatever triggered their issue and go from there. 

As stupid as this all sounds, the writers at DC have always been able to add a layer of depth to these characters. In Batman the Animated Series, Mr. Freeze is given one of the most moving episodes, where you actually sympathize with a guy wearing a giant refrigeration suit with a freeze gun.

"Think of it-- to never again walk upon a summer's day with a hot wind in your face and a warm hand to hold. Oh, yes, I'd kill for that." -Mr. Freeze

You just can't help but love the guy. 

Another interesting feature is how much this all shares in common with Batman. Before becoming the Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne was just a rich kid. Then a tragedy struck and he took on a persona just like the villains he would eventually fight. Batman has to spend every night stopping people who are essentially exactly like him only in a different light. This attaches Batman to his villains in a way that almost no other hero can, as well as shows what someone can do when they take a misfortune or tragedy and use it to help people rather than let it destroy themselves or others. It's a perfect example of choosing one's own destiny. 

The last big similarity is that every one of these villains and Batman can all trace their origins directly back to Gotham City. It's mostly for plot convenience that Gotham has a leading research lab for botany, cryogenics and genetics, as well as a fully functional asylum, organized crime, and well priced costume shops, but this similarity also points to something else. With as many people snap and become villains in this town, it's worth wondering if Gotham City itself is somehow a villain as well. As if it's somehow experimenting with the psyches of those it's supposed to protect, pushing them to their edges, then twisting nature to make what should've been deadly accidents transform them into what they just so happen to need to be. Add the fact that Batman also lost his parents to Gotham and you have the makings for the most intense and powerful villain the world has ever known. 

It doesn't really matter why their villains in the end. The only thing that truly matters is that they're part of any geek's psychie. They make Batman who he is by showing what he would be if he had decided to take his crusade in a different direction, and the harm of letting the world hurt you so much that your only option is to retaliate. I would love to show more specific examples from each villain, but the number of them would just take too much time. Plus each of these characters is so rich that giving them anything less than their own spotlight, like Harley Quinn a few weeks ago, wouldn't do them justice. So love them, hate them, just know that they're a class all of their own. 

Who's your favorite?

-JOE