Lonely Island Medley Emmy's 2011

I know I'm a little behind the times by posting a performance that took place in 2011. But I also know that some of my good friends have not seen this video yet. Amy is obsessed with the men dressed as waves who dance with Michael Bolton.

Oh Long Johnson

If you're up to date on South Park then you've already seen this video. But if you're slow at these things like Amy and myself then you're in for something amazing. I can see your dinner party vocabulary growing. It could be that you're just happy to see me...

Five Guys Review

This is the video that the autotuned "Oh My Dayum" song was originally based on. In some ways this review of Five Guys Burgers and Fries is actually better than the song based on it. But then again, "Oh My Dayum" is forever. Check this one out. If you don't have an entirely new vocabulary after watching these two videos, I'll be surprised, YouTube!

The State of Black Comic Book Characters: Astonishing X-Men, Fury of Firestorm, Legion Lost

After the publication of the first installation of the "State of Black Comic Book Characters" series, Rodney and I received a tweet from a blogger named BWilliams who just happens to be a black writer and independently publishes a comic with a strong black lead called Lucius Hammer. He pointed us to a blog post of his in which he criticized DC's history with black superheroes. While we have some differing opinions of the treatment of certain superheroes by both DC and Marvel over the years - and this is an issue I'd like to address in future posts - we agree that DC should hire more black writers and artists.

Flash forward a couple of weeks (it has been a while since I've had time to write) and the world of comic books is completely eclipsed by the Twittersplosion of veteran comic book writer and artist Rob Liefeld. If you don't know Rob Liefeld, then you're probably not reading up on DC's New 52. If the new set of monthly comic produced by DC were a deck of cards, Rob Liefeld is the guy who is in charge of the diamonds. Not really, but he is writing a lot of books. Or at least he has been: Liefeld announced that he is quitting all of his titles and will be leaving DC comics shortly. He cited problems with his editors including "massive indecision," "last minute changes that alter everything" and "editor pissing contests" as the reason for his departure. Other industry rockstars like Gail Simone (formerly of Fury of Firestorm), Paul Cornell (formerly of Stormwatch) and John Rozum (formerly of Static Shock), have spoken of similar problems, and one can only wonder if the recent announcements of Grant Morrison, Ed Brubaker, and Judd Winnick leaving the big two come from similar problems with the industry.

My point is that many of these big shots are working on multiple comics for DC or Marvel, which means that there is going to be a giant talent vacuum. Already, Scott Snyder has shown that he's ready to put in the work. Although Liefeld had some choice words to say about the Batman scribe, it is hard to argue against the brilliance of this young talent. Maybe this is also a chance for DC and Marvel to pick up some new black writers and artists. They may have to work for publishers in dire need of a change in methodology and they may get pigeonholed doing comics with already established and poorly handled black superheroes, but they may also have the resilience to weather this and give black characters some better representation. Here's to hoping.

On that note, I'd like to begin our discussion of black characters the Astonishing X-Men, Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men, and Legion Lost.

Oh My Dayum

Just in case you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this video yet.