Talking about comic books, TV shows, movies, sports, and the numerous other pastimes that make us Gentlemen of Leisure.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Last Week in TV #26

Bob's Burgers: Synchronized Swimming


Bob's Burgers leaves behind the film parodies for what might possible be called the show's first Linda-centric episode, though a lot of the laughs still came from the kids themselves (so far this season, the kids have pretty much always been on screen together, and while I don't think that would work forever, their interactions have yielded some pretty good gags). This was pretty much just the show being its weird self, with no homage or parody to anchor it, and it worked pretty well, with Louise elegantly but shortsightedly working the system before the entire family is nearly brought down by authoritative bureaucracy (represented in this episode by the kids' guidance counselor ). The pregnant yoga gag from the beginning even paid off at the end, and Louise's various schemes to shut down the pool were great.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

X-amining Avengers Annual #10

"By Friends -- Betrayed!"
1981

In a Nutshell 
The first appearance of Rogue.

Writer/Co-Editor: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Michael Golden
Inker: Armando Gil
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: M. Golden
Co-Editor: David Anthony Kraft
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Plot
In San Fransisco, Spider-Woman rescues an unconscious woman falling from the Golden Gate bridge. Taking her to the hospital, she is identified as Carol Danvers, the former Avenger known as Ms. Marvel, but her mind has been wiped clean, essentially functioning at the level of a newborn. The doctors are mystified, but Spider-Woman puts in a call to Professor X. Arriving in San Fransisco, he confirms that Carol's mind was completely and forcibly erased, though he manages to pull a name and image of her assailant from her subconscious: a woman named Rogue.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

X-aminations in April

April 4th: Uncanny X-Men #150
April 11th: Uncanny X-Men Annual #5
April 18th: Marvel Fanfare #1-4
April 25th: Uncanny X-Men #151

Friday, March 23, 2012

Last Week in TV #25

Just a quick note on the Walking Dead episodes: I made a point to watch them separately and write about the first before watching the second, so my reactions wouldn't be colored by the finale.

The Simpsons: Them, Robot


An episode featuring killer robots voiced by Mr. Data doesn't have to work very hard to win me over, so not surprisingly, this episode was a lot of fun.They was some satire about the current state of the economy built into it as well, but it was largely toothless. As the episode seemed to focus mainly on the robots, so too will I, and the result was decent and entertaining episode.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

X-amining Uncanny X-Men #149

"And the Dead Shall Bury the Living!"
September 1981

In a Nutshell 
The X-Men investigate Magneto's old base. 

Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Dave Cockrum
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Louise Jones
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Plot
Professor X is studying his files on Magneto, worried that the villain's relative silence of late means he's planning something big. Kitty interrupts him to show off her new costume, inadvertently phasing through his computers and damaging his research. He angrily sends her away, then calls the X-Men, who are still repairing the Danger Room, to a briefing. The X-Men are sent to investigate Magneto's antarctic volcano base, his last known location. En route, the X-Men discover a stowed away Kitty. She is scolded, but in the interest of time, the team doesn't turn back. Arriving at the base, they find it seemingly deserted but in better shape than they left it.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Last Week in TV #24

So because I am apparently incapable of watching The Walking Dead without hiccups, it appears that the recording I had set for Sunday night never actually recorded, something I didn't notice until Mrs. Teebore and I sat down to finally watch the episode last night. Thankfully, like most cable networks, AMC is not dumb and re-airs episodes a lot, so we'll be able to watch it tonight, but that unfortunately means we'll have to wait until next week to discuss it alongside the finale (and while I haven't been spoiled on it yet, I do know that apparently there is much to discuss, adding to my disappointment over missing it).

Anyways, here's thoughts on the stuff I managed to NOT screw up the recording of. 

The Simpsons: How I Wet Your Mother


I think it says something about my expectations for The Simpsons at this point that when it became clear this episode was an extended Inception parody, my first thought was a sarcastic "once again, we're hitting these things at the height of their popularity". Yet later in the night American Dad riffed on The Hurt Locker, and no such sarcasm bubbled forth. Maybe I hold The Simpsons to a higher standard (which would be odd, since American Dad, at least these days, is consistently more funny) or maybe in this day and age of internet bitterness towards latter day Simpsons, I'm more inclined to find the negatives in the show (even though I don't necessarily agree with all that bitterness).

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

X-amining Uncanny X-Men #148

"Cry, Mutant!
August 1981

In a Nutshell 
The ladies go out for a night on the town and meet Caliban.

Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Dave Cockrum
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Letterer: Janice Chang
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Louise Jones
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Plot
In the Bermuda Triangle, Cyclops and Lee Forrester explore the island city which sprang up overnight, which appears to be a remnant of an ancient civilization, and to have been underwater for a long time. Meanwhile, on the grounds of the mansion, Wolverine and Nightcrawler spar with one another while Angel argues with Professor X and Storm over Wolverine's involvement with the team, believing him to be a dangerous psycho. Unwilling to be on the same team as him, Angel quits and flies off. In the hanger, Banshee and Colossus are working on the Blackbird before Banshee is called back to the mansion, where he meets his daughter Theresa for the first time. That night, Storm and Kitty, joined by Stevie Hunter and the visiting Spider-Woman, attend a Dazzler show at a nightclub downtown.

Friday, March 9, 2012

The Teenage Heartthrob Blogfest (Dr. Bitz)

Teebore inspired me to create my own list. (You can read more about the specifics here.) I tried my best not to sound like a creepy horndog pervert. You'll be happy to know I failed on all counts. 

Christine Taylor
As seen in Hey Dude and many Ben Stiller movies post Dr. Bitz's teen years.


Well, it's a little wild and a little strange but I'd like to my home out on her range. Yeah, I watched a lot of Nickelodeon growing up but there wasn't a whole lot there to appeal to my baser instincts. (Rightfully so, I guess?) My point is, I would have held Hey Dude's sweet Melody's hand anytime. Apparently Ben Stiller agreed with young Dr. Bitz since he later ended up marrying her. I'm unsure if that helps or hurts my argument? But I am sure that you can't get a ride...if you can't hold on. Yippee kai yai yay!

Last Week in TV #23

I'm running way behind on this post, so things will be a bit more bullet point-y than usual. 

The Simpsons: Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart


I get that this was a parody of Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop, and maybe if I was more familiar with that film I'd appreciate this episode more, but the whole thing seemed odd and kind of toothless. There were some good moments sprinkled throughout (most of the Marge birthday stuff at the beginning, the Swapper Joe's bits ("grass fed lettuce"), Drederick Tatum lining his pigeon cage with Kindles, the sincere hats/ironic hats lines) but for the most part, I'm not quite sure what this episode was trying to do.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

X-amining Uncanny X-Men #147

"Rogue Storm!
July 1981

In a Nutshell 
The X-Men escape from Dr. Doom

Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Dave Cockrum
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Louise Jones
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Plot
Two miles above Doom's castle, Nightcrawler suddenly appears, having teleported straight up as far as he could in the hopes of avoiding any obstacles. Using updrafts from the raging storm to slow down his velocity, he crashes into a lake. Back at the castle, Doom order his men to retrieve Nightcrawler while NORAD monitors the ever-growing storm. Nightcrawler arrives back at the castle and takes out two guards, sneaking inside. Colossus, Angel and Wolverine all manage to escape their respective prisons, and Wolverine tracks Storm to Doom. Sensing she's a fake, he quickly dispatches the Storm robot and engages Doom. Just then, Nightcrawler teleports into the room and the two overpower Doom, forcing him to restore Storm.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Housekeeping

Just a quick post about Blogger's annoying new approach to comments.

As anyone who has commented on any Blogspot blogs in the last week has likely noticed, Blogger, in all their infinite wisdom, recently rolled out an unannounced change to the comments page of all its blogs, in which the page now has an odd layout and is ugly. More frustratingly, they have removed the ability for readers to subscribe to comments by email, unless the blog uses embedded comments.

Not surprisingly, this makes the back and forth dialogue generated on many blogs, including this one, much more difficult. Anyone wanting to follow/participate in a discussion must now go out of their way to keep track of comments on a particular post, rather than having new comments handily emailed to them. As a blogger, I understand our readers are already giving us their time to read these posts, and even more time to comment on them. Now, Blogger is forcing those readers to spend even more of their time to continue following any discussions sparked by our posts. It is, to put it mildly, horseshit.

For what it's worth, I have expressed my displeasure about this situation to Blogger, and I know several fellow bloggers who have done the same thing. I'm not naive enough to think that will make a difference, but it's all we can do. For now, I'm reluctant to switch to embedded comments on this blog. I'm not a huge fan of that layout either, and I know they cause problems for some people's browsers. In time, though, that may be the way we have to go (and even if we switched to embedded comments here, it wouldn't make it any easier to keep up with comments on any of the other blogs that don't).

Needless to say, if we had the time and money, we'd move off Blogger entirely, something I'd like to see us do at some point in the future. But for now, we're sticking around here, for better or worse.

Sorry for the hassle, and know that it's nothing we have any control over.

Monday, March 5, 2012

The Teenage Heartthrob Blogfest

You can read more about the specifics here, but in essence, the purpose of this blogfest is to list seven of the characters/celebrities you crushed on back when you were a teenager. So without further ado, here's my list, and be sure to check out the other participants posts, handily listed at the bottom of this one. 

Scarlett
As seen in GI Joe: A Real American Hero 


Scarlett is the the chicken/egg scenario of my infatuation with redheads. I have no idea if I was drawn to Scarlett in the early goings of my attraction to the opposite sex because she was a redhead, or if my ongoing infatuation with redheads is born of my initial attraction to Scarlett. At any rate, Scarlett represents the first time Lil'Teebore thought "hey, that girl is hot!"

Friday, March 2, 2012

Last Week in TV #22

February sweeps ended this week, and I'm not gonna lie: I'm looking forward to most shows taking a month off, just to get caught back up on stuff (Glee is taking about six weeks off, so I'll use that time to catch up on it next week, and I still haven't watched this week's Top Chef finale). Anyways, here's what I've got this week.

The Walking Dead: Triggerfinger


I actually did watch this two week's ago, but as we learned from last week's post, I just plum forgot about it. Which is odd, because it was a very solid episode, and it was good to have an episode that improved on the premiere instead of being a step back. Thankfully, the bar siege began and ended within the episode and didn't drag on too long, and the closing scene, in which Lori finally lays it all on the table for Rick regarding Shane, was fantastic, especially as it's been about about six episodes coming (though if Lori really wanted to rile Rick up, she should have mentioned the attempted rape; I'm not quite sure why she didn't). Speaking of Shane, for once I didn't disagree with one of his dickish moves, as lying to get Lori back to the farm was the smart play, since she had no business being out there in the first place. All in all, the energy level barely dipped from the previous episode, and that's a good sign for the rest of the season.