A Little Bit About Everything

Alright, so it’s been awhile.  I’m sure the pair of you reading this mighty blog must be a touch upset.  Well, the fact is that I’m still in shock at how badly the Titans’ season has gone since they picked up Randy Moss.  I mean, I don’t know that I thought that they’d be GREAT with Moss, but I certainly thought they’d be better than they’ve been.  Five game losing streak, anyone?  Seriously, it’s been hard to be a Titans fan this season.  Really hard.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about Wikileaks.  And look, there’re really only two things to say here.  First, I can’t for the life of me understand why the government is freaking out so badly about the cables being released.  I’ve been following the story pretty closely, mostly via The Guardian’s news coverage, and although I’ll admit to finding a lot of the cables fascinating, the fact is that there’s very little there that’s actually news.  In fact, I’d say that at least 95% of that stuff has already appeared elsewhere in the press, and the remaining 5% is innocuous.  And Hell, most of it promises to be actively HELPFUL for the US’s diplomacy efforts.  For example, it was news to me that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin are apparently close personal friends.  I don’t say that I find it surprising because there’s a sleazy sort of “me first” attitude wafting off of both men, and with that in mind, it makes sense that they might see something familiar in each other, but with that said, I didn’t actually know that they were friendly until I read it in The Guardian’s Wikileaks extracts. 

Also: I’d no idea that the Saudis have been pushing for air strikes on Iran.  I mean, it’s not surprising considering that Saudi Arabia and Iran share neither language nor culture nor history nor ethnicity, and they have only the most bare-bones facets of their religions in common, but still… I mean, you get a lot of pan-Islamic bullshit out of both places, no?  A lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

But really, is it surprising that the Saudis want the US to strike Iran?  No.  Not at all.  With Sadaam out of the way, there’s really nobody left in the region to check Iranian dreams of hegemony, save the US, and the US isn’t as easy to influence as was Sadaam.  Come to think of it, the Saudis have to be sort of pissed at how things have worked out, and they’re probably just as pissed that the US Air Force hasn’t struck yet.  Not that they’d ever admit it.  Which is why this leak is actually good.  Now, the Saudis’ actual position is out in the open, and we can start to get past the aforementioned pan-Islamist bullshit that provides so much cover for so many of the bad guys of the world.

Which brings me to the second thing that surprises me about the leaks: that the government thinks that they can somehow throw Wikileaks’ founder in jail!  What’s he done, exactly?  I read that some dumb-ass senator wanted to bring Julian Assange up on charges of Treason, but you know, Assange isn’t an American.  You can’t charge a foreigner with Treason.  So maybe they can somehow charge him with violating the Espionage Act, but again, that strikes me as a little disingenuous.  I mean, they could probably charge him with Possession of Marijuana while they’re at it, but I’ve never heard of a warrant being served for something like that on a guy living in Europe.  It’s a little like having the Chinese government attempt to enforce a ban of falungong in Central Park.  I mean, I suppose they can try, but it’d be weird if it actually stuck in court.  When we get to the point where we can throw foreigners in jail for mouthing off to the government, it’ll be really scary, you know what I mean?  Because bottom line, if those guys in government wanted to keep their secrets, then they probably should’ve kept their secrets, you know, secret.  Not that there’ve been any actual secrets released—because there haven’t been—but apparently it’s the principle of the thing.  And with that in mind, it seems to me that the over-riding principle in play is the right to Freedom of Speech, the most sacrosanct right that Americans possess.  Failing that, I’ve no idea what we’re fighting for.  Freedom becomes a nebulous concept when you can’t sort of say and do the things that you want to—freely. 

But, you know, maybe I’m just getting old.  I can’t much understand what makes people mad anymore.  It all seems mighty strange to me.  Interesting.  But really, really weird.

***

I got the Greg Rucka Batwoman harcover (“Elegy”) from the Fairfield library on Saturday, and boy, was it ever better than I thought it was gonna be!  I really enjoyed it.

First off, I gotta admit that I HATED the concept of Batwoman.  I don’t know if you’re familiar with the character concept, but maybe 24 months ago, DC Comics made a big, splashy announcement that they were introducing a new character, Batwoman, and she was gonna be gay.  Fanboys rejoice!  Seriously, it seemed like all the worst things about comics rolled up into one shiny package.  Ridiculous, unrealistic play for a new minority readership?  Check.  Equally ridiculous hyper-sexuality geared to the prurience of 30-something male troglodytes too afraid to buy Hustler Magazine like normal adults?  Check again.  Gratuitous use of the Batman in order to sell even more of the same crap to the dumbest 10% of the hard core fanbase?  Yes, yes, yes!  Package it all in an over-priced hardcover?  Heh.  Why the Hell not?

So anyway, I really like Greg Rucka’s writing.  He created and wrote one of my favorite titles of all time, Oni Press’s now defunct espionage thriller Queen and Country.  I gather that he’s also a successful crime fiction novelist, but I confess that I’ve never read any of his prose work.  Regardless, Batwoman works for much the same reason that Queen and Country worked.  In both titles, Rucka creates a strong female character, one who’s driven by understandable internal conflict amongst a fantastic but fun external storyline.  His woman are tough without coming across as men-with-boobs—like characters such as Wonder Woman and Red Sonja so often do—and I think that pulling that off is pretty impressive, especially in a character who’s an out-and-out dyke, like Batwoman is. 

And she is a dyke.  Hell, that’s why the story works.

Thrown out of West Point shortly after Ring Weekend for refusing to pretend to be straight, Kate Kane is an angry young woman whose life is meaningless.  There’s a lot of other stuff working there, but bottom line, Kate is a woman who wants her life to be something more than unfocused rage, but she can’t find an outlet… until the day that Batman almost saves her from a mugging.  I say “almost” because, being a kick-ass girl hero, Kate hardly needs saving.  But Batman’s there, and he offers her a hand up when she falls to the ground.  After that, one thing leads to another, and well… I won’t spoil it for you.  There’s some sex and some violence, and thankfully, Kate wears pants and short hair in every scene.  She comes across tough, and that worked for me.  I really dug it.

My one criticism is in the art.  The artist, J.H. Williams, draws a heavily photo-referenced style in the main story, and it comes across stiff in places.  I mean, it’s beautiful and realistic, but there’s not much action or motion there, and that’s a problem because the script is action-heavy.  Williams covers it with some really creative two-page spread layouts, but while that’s fine for the art aficionados, those of us who’re regular action junkies like to see the occasional skull crack.  Personally, I much prefer the more cartoonish throwback style that Williams uses in the flashback sequences in the book’s later half—they’re highly reminiscent of the style used in Frank Miller’s classic Batman: Year One mini-series—but I suppose that wouldn’t have sold as many hardcover copies.  The majority execution looks glossy and expensive, almost like an issue of Vanity Fair, and I’m quite sure that that was better for the book’s bottom line.

Even with that one quibble with the art, I still strongly recommend the book to comic fans.  The West Point sequences are spot-on, and the rest of it is well executed, too.  Really, it’s a great read, and there’s not much else to say.  Ask your library to order it.  That’s my recommendation.

***

I get letters from parents every once in a while.  I put up an article on a triathlon website with some swimming training theory about 18 months ago along with a few sample workouts, and now I get parents emailing me maybe once every three months to ask if their kids shouldn’t be doing something similar to MY workouts instead of what their kids’ own coaches have them doing.  But although I always try to take time to respond at some length—because, bottom line, I don’t want to duck the question but I also don’t think that anyone could answer it without knowing both the kids and the coaches in question—I don’t think I’m telling these parents what they want to hear. 

Which is to say that I never hear back from these people.  What’s up with that? 

First, why in Hell would anyone email a total stranger for workouts for their kids, and second, if someone does email a stranger for workouts, and they actually get a response that involves real thought, isn’t that worth a reply?  Even if the reply is simply, “Thanks, but that was more information than I wanted?”

I know I said this before, but I really do not understand people.  Emailing some guy on the Internet is NOT going to make your kid a faster swimmer.  But if it could, I mean, the reply email couldn’t possibly be a short one.  You see that, right?  That actually makes sense?  Swimming is, like, a whole sport.  They have swimming in the Olympics and everything.

*sigh*

***

While we’re talking about sports, I gotta confess that outside of my commute, I’ve not been on my bike or done anything athletic at all since about mid-October.  Ugh, I know.  At first, it was just a knee ache, but then I got lazy.  And then it got cold.  And then I fell.  And actually, now my doctor thinks I might have a torn meniscus in my right knee.  Eh.  I’m still riding back and forth to work as much as I can—about 10 miles total on the days when it’s not raining—but I still haven’t run, and I haven’t been out on my bike in what feels like FOREVER.

It doesn’t help that Sally’s got plantar fasciitis.  She’s not running either.  We’re just sitting around like a pair of fat humps.  Yuck.

Anyway, the doc says that if I’m not running again by mid-January, I have to go see a knee doc and probably get my knee scoped.  Man, I do NOT want that.  But… I also don’t want to miss a bunch of time for another stupid injury, either.  Stupid injuries.  Seriously, getting older sucks a high hard one.

None of which is keeping me off my bike or out of the pool.  Or off my yoga mat.  For that, I have nothing to blame but sheer, stupid laziness.  Ugh.