This and that: quick notes at the end of a long week.

MoCCA was a blast.  There’s just no describing a weekend of awesome nerds, awesome comics, awesome food, awesome liquor, and awesome karaoke.

 So, in other words, I’m not even going to try.

 I didn’t buy half of the things I had planned on buying, as is the case–after I made my purchases at First Second’s table, I realised that many of the books on my list could be purchased at local comics shops or bookstores, so I changed my buying plans and stuck mainly to purchasing minicomics and the like.  Here’s my haul, minus a couple of superhero comics purchased at Rocketship the night before (The P.L.A.I.N. Janes and The Re-Gifters were purchased at Rocketship, however):

I am now seriously considering a trip to TCAF in August and SPX in October to hold me over until the next MoCCA.  As of yet, I haven’t read anything–this has been kind of a hellish post-MoCCA hangover week–but I’m dying to dive into those piles and swim around.  I know I’ll be reviewing at least one thing in that stack, so maybe I’m not as far out of comics-blogging mind as I had thought I was.

• Via the lovely John Jakala, I found the P.O.W.E.R. in Comics organization.  Readers of my old blog may remember my inherent distaste for comics activist organizations–by which, I mean people hell-bent on making a significant impact in the industry via the least amount of effort–but I think this group may be a little different.  Unlike other groups–the kinds that generally draw my ire–this one doesn’t appear to have “let’s get more people to buy comics so we can make more money and be really successful yay!” as a goal.  Further, this group doesn’t appear to be the type to seek out the easy, half-cocked solutions that come from the same part of the lizard brain that daydreams Powerball lottery fantasies (“If I had millions of dollars, I could totally MAKE PEOPLE LOVE COMICS LIKE I LOVE COMICS! It would be AWESOME!”).  And that’s a great thing–people motivated by passion rather than fame or their own egos tend to be the type to stick with their plans over the long haul, rather than giving up when they’re not making in-roads fast enough (you’ll notice that the group that prompted the discussion on my old blog hasn’t updated since April of 2006–hell, even I update more often than that).

 So far, P.O.W.E.R. in Comics seems like a diverse group of comics fans, bloggers, creators, and retailers commited to increase the role of women and minorities in comics any way they can.  It’s a big goal, but P.O.W.E.R. in Comics creator Lisa Lopacinski appears to have the right idea about doing things:

This community is a positive one, where people can share ideas on how to increase the activity of women and minorities in the comic book industry rather than just complain about how it hasn’t happened yet.

This community is one of sharing, where creators can help those looking to become creators attain their goals and where artists and writers can find each other and team up; also where creators can come to promote their works. Here blogers can post links to their blogs dealing with issues important to POWER members. Here artists and writers can post samples and get opinions. Here podcasters and video makers can post segments to get reviews, opinions, and support.

This is a community of networking, where creators can find publishers, where publishers can find retailers, where readers can find stores and items they might enjoy.

This is a grass-roots community, where people can share their ideas and experiences about getting comics into new communities and share letters, press releases, and blogs about not just what’s wrong with the comic book community, but how to fix it.

In the P.O.W.E.R. in Comics community we don’t just complain, we try to find solutions by Promoting Ownership, Writing & drawing, Editing and Reading by more women and minorities in the comic book industry.

I think the community basis could work well, and using a social networking type of format facilitates that.  Good luck, Lisa and crew–I’ve joined up, for whatever that’s worth.  Anyone that knows me knows that white heteronormativity is one of my pet issues, both academically and personally, so I think this group will be a good fit for me.

 • I didn’t have the time or energy to do a TCM preview for this week.  Sorry.  You probably missed a bunch of good shit because I was lazy.  I’ll bring it back next week.

• For all it’s faults, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps managed to make ADD sing Gwen Stefani tunes.  Indeed, dear friends–the shit is bananas.

Like Alan, though, I did kind of enjoy World War: Hulk. Alex at Rocketship made me buy it and, for a superhero comic I had no interest in buying until his enthusiasm for it broke my spirit, I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Remember that the next time someone whines about “those fucking elitist douchebags in Brooklyn,” or whatever people say.  I’ll even give the book a photographic endorsement:

• Also, I may bring back that annoying “Ask me things and I answer them” game, because I’m that egotistical and, er, bored with my life.

This week on Turner Classic Movies

If your cable system doesn’t carry TCM, I’m sorry.  It sucks to be you.  Mine didn’t carry it until a few years ago, so I feel your pain.  And mock it.  Here are a couple of films worth checking out this week:

• Adam’s Rib (Thursday, June 21st, 12:00PM):  Tracy and Hepburn.  Enough said, right?  They had phenomenal chemistry together, which is possibly heightened by George Cukor’s directing–he directed Hepburn previously in The Philadelphia Story, and this film feels not unlike a more grown-up version of that movie, in terms of the issues explored and the banter.

• Harold and Maude (Friday, June 22nd, 4:00AM):  Worth getting up early for?  Definitely, if you haven’t seen it or don’t own a DVR.  There’s a reason the film is considered a cult classic, and it isn’t the bitchin’ Cat Stevens soundtrack.  Really, at this point? You’ve probably already seen it.  Tape it and catch up with it.  There should be more love stories like it–not in the May-December sense, but in the oh-my-but-there-is-more-here-than-meeting-cute sense.

• On the Waterfront (Saturday, June 23rd, 2:00PM):  Interesting nerd trivia: in this movie, Superman’s biological father in Superman meets his adoptive mother in Superman Returns.  I’m awfully fond of Eva Marie Saint–I may be nursing a slight crush on her from North by Northwest still.  And Marlon Brando?  People always forget how good-looking Brando was in his youth.