Mattel just announced a new career for Barbie: Computer Engineer. They’ve held an online vote for a couple of months and it is no surprise that the support for Computer Engineer Barbie was overwhelming. I myself voted five times in a row, and some real CEs out there most likely set up scripts to vote. Isn’t that just amazingly geeky?
I was stoked when I read this news from their website (actually I was just heading there to vote a couple more times). So stoked, in fact, that I browsed various news articles on the subject. I was surprised and dismayed by the overwhelming negativity on the subject. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the amount of the hate on the internet, but this struck home. I’m posting this article to address some of the nasty concerns made by mean spirited cynics who can’t seem to let us have any fun.
“I’m a [insert tech job title here] and I’ve never seen a woman engineer that looks anything like Barbie. They are all [insert insult about women who don’t look like Barbie here].”
This is by far the most common comment. While the last part of the statement is optional, it is often very rude. No wonder women feel intimidated entering male dominated careers. Way to show your true colors guys. Maybe there would be more women of all looks coming in if you guys weren’t such pigs. The first part is, well, true. Most women period don’t look like Barbie. Most women News Anchors don’t look like News Anchor Barbie either. That’s not the point. This is Barbie being a Computer Engineer, not some sort of realistic representation of what CEs are or should be.
“This is insulting.”
“Barbie already creates unrealistic expectations of what a girl should be.”
“I thought geek girls didn’t care about the superficiality of Barbie.”
Way to be a feminist killjoy. Do you not let your daughters play with dolls? At least this lets young girls know that it’s okay to be a scientist/engineer/geek. It’s a step in the right direction. Sure this Barbie will undoubtedly spend more time with Ken than writing software but that’s okay. Taking the “high road” and opting out of anything pop culture because its “superficial” just means that less women will grow up thinking its okay to be a geek.
“I would never wear that.”
“That’s unprofessional.”
Umm . . . . her outfit is actually really cute. Not realistic, but cute. I don’t know about Computer Engineers, but a lot of software jobs tend to have casual dress most of the time unless it's time to meet a client. News anchor Barbie’s outfit isn’t exactly what a news anchor would wear either. I could see a less Barbie-tastic version of that outfit being worn by someone. Welcome to the 21ist century. Also, why does it need to be spot on?It is called “make believe” and that is something you do with dolls. The people in The Sims don’t exactly dress like normal people but no one would spend the breath to say “that’s unrealistic."
No little girl actually believes Barbie is a pure expression of reality. She's just a doll you can dress up and make believe things with. And if by some miracle some little girl wants CE Barbie because they like her outfit or that she comes with a labtop well then . . . . that sounds like a good thing to me. Good for geeks, good for those of us who find the gender gap in the computing sciences disturbing, and good for girls who get to grow up and be as smart as and make as much money as the boys.
Yeah, I know. The ipad is old news at this point, but there's been something that I've been thinking about since the gigantic version of the iphone was announced a few weeks back that I can't seem to get out of my head. When I first saw a rather pale and sickly looking Steve Jobs holding one up for the whole world to see, only one thing was running through my mind. No, it wasn't the fact that this thing would make for a great portable device for watching porn, although that did cross my mind later. What I kept thinking about as I saw the original announcement presentation, and then proceeded to check out the shiny new toy's specs at a number of tech blogs, is the fact that this thing would be amazing to read comic books on.
Yes, I know I am speaking sacrilege to those comic book purists out there that believe comics should only be read in a paper based format. These are the same people who decry the existence of the Kindle and the concept of e-books. To those people I say hear me out. Also, You're all a bunch of lying bastards because I bet each and every one of you purists also regularly read at least a few web comics.
To be honest, it's not just the ipad that I'm looking at here. It's more of what the ipad represents to me. It's the next step in the evolution of the e-reader. I've been saying to friends for a while now that while I like the Kindle and all of the other e-readers out there, the reason I have never bought one is because I am waiting for the glorious day when a full color e-reader comes out that is large enough to read standard sized comic book pages on. The ipad is the first step in this direction, and now that it's out there you just know we're bound to see a ton of other tech companies step up with their own version of a full sized color tablet device. With any luck, a full color e-reader can't be far behind.
In this soon-to-be new tech market, the big two comics companies (Marvel and DC) would be completely stupid not to try to cash in and try to expand their readership through these devices. In today's economy, there are a lot of comic book fans out there that just can't afford to keep up with all of their favorite titles. It's just too expensive. The average comic book can run between $2.99 and $3.99 nowadays. Even if you're only reading a few titles regularly, you can easily find yourself spending more on comics per month than you do on your electricity or cable bills. I'm not blaming Marvel or DC for high prices here. I understand that they haves costs and overheads that they have to pay for. They're paying for the writers, the artists, the paper, the ink, the shipping costs, etc. A lot of stuff goes into that $3 to $4 comic price. I get that. But what if we took those costs away?
Imagine if Marvel and DC were to open up their own version of the iTunes store in which they sold digital copies of all of their comics. Let's call it the iHeroes store. By selling digital copies, a lot of those production and shipping costs disappear. This would enable the e-comics to be sold for a bargain price of 99 cents per issue (I'm coining the term e-comics right now, so when you hear it in the future remember where you heard it first). Imagine that. 99 cent comics. Who would have ever thought we'd ever see the day when comics could be affordable again. Such a low price per issue would enable even the cheapest of comics fans (such as myself) to start reading books again on a regular basis, but let's not stop there.
If we're charging 99 cents for individual issues, why not charge $9.99 for graphic novels? Imagine downloading and reading things like The Watchmen or Marvel's Civil War series for half the price it would cost you to buy the books on paper. The costs to Marvel and DC would be negligible to run this sort of thing too. You know they already have digital copies of probably every comic ever made somewhere on their company's hard drives. All they'd have to do is load them up and sell them. That's easy money for them, and it expands readership at the same time, earning the comic companies even more loyal fans who will continue to buy new issues as they come out.
What about this? Instead of signing up for boxes at a comic store or getting a subscription through the mail, what if you could sign up for e-subscriptions to your favorite comics and they were instantly downloaded to your color e-reader the day they came out? No more having to drive to the store. No more having to check your mailbox. Instant reading enjoyment, with no hassle. Even independent comic companies should step in on this action. Why should the big two have all the fun?
I'm sure some of you have already started forming your arguments against this idea, and I do admit there could be some downsides to this new technology. The biggest one I can think of is that a lot of comic book stores will start to lose customers. Foot traffic and sales in stores could conceivably go down and stores could go out of business as a result of everyone getting their books online. Yes, this can happen, but I doubt that every comic book store in the world will die because of this change. I'm not calling for an end to paper based comics here. I know that there will always be a place for collectors who wish to have an actual paper copy of a comic over a digital one. There will always be a market for paper comics, and thus there will always be a need for comic book stores. They may become fewer, but let's be honest here, every form of print media is facing a decline in sales as the world becomes more and more digitally based. If comic books wish to survive in the 21st century, they're going to have to adopt new technology instead of avoiding it.
I mentioned web comics earlier, let's use that as an example. Does anyone you know still read the comics section of the newspaper anymore? Hell, does anyone you know even read a newspaper at all? As newspaper readership continues to decline all over the world, and the comics page has become more painful to read than having to sit through Michael Bay's director commentary of Transformers 2, the internet has exploded with an amazing number of successful and hilarious web comics. Penny Arade, XKCD, Girl Genius, Real Life Comics, oh my god I could go on for hours. The point is that digital distribution and immediate access to a massive audience has helped to create witty and well loved comics that are read by millions of people daily. Even former syndicated print comics have decided to make the jump to a digital format. If you've never read Dork Tower before, I highly suggest you check it out. Dork Tower's writer John Kovalic decided to get out of print comics and become a digital only comic a while back, and he's only increased his fanbase and readership since doing so.
What about all of those aspiring amateurs out there who haven't gotten hired on at one of the big comic companies yet? What about those gifted writers and artists out there who already have a great comic book made, but who can't find the funding to get it printed independently? Digital distribution of comics would enable these people to find their audiences. If they're good enough, they could even make a living off of doing what they love. I guarantee you that Marvel or DC would sit up and take notice if some independent digital comic was outselling one of their establised titles. Those creators would be pretty much guaranteed employment at either company if they wanted it. And the best part? We as the fans would have access to more comics from more companies than ever before, and they'd even be more afforadable.
It's a win/win situation as far as I can see. The comic companies make more money, sell more comics and get new readers. The fans get cheaper books and a ton of potential new titles to read. I can understand the views and the worries of the naysayers out there who will resist the push for digital comics, but I really do think they're being short sighted. In the long run, an iHeroes store would be a boon for the comics industry, not a hindrance. While such a reality may still be a few years off, I really do think it's an inevitable change. If Marvel and DC try to resist, then we'll be flodded with pirated copies of the same books anyways in PDF formats. While I am all for a bit of piracy every now and then, I would personally much rather pay the creators of the comics as a way of thanking them for the great work they're doing. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
In this episode of the podcast, we discuss the interesting choices for the 2010 Oscar nominations for Best Picture. We also talk about the movie Avatar and discuss the massive amount of success the film has experienced. Finally, we take a detailed look at how Comic Books have managed to conquer Hollywood over the last decade.
SHOW NOTES:
You can find a full list of the 2010 Oscar Nominations here.
There is a new Geek-tastic web comic up for your viewing pleasure. This wonderful image comes to us from the very talented artist Candice Shaw-Landsberg, who has ever so kindly offered to do some art for us. We here at Geek-tastic are incredibly happy to welcome her to our family of contributors and are looking forward to seeing what else she has in store for us in the future.
If you'd like to see more of Candice's art (including a totally badass female version of Ash from Evil Dead) be sure to check out her Deviant Art page.
This past weekend I had the luck and the joy of getting to see Paul Reubens perform the Pee Wee Herman Show on Stage at the Club Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Well, I should say I had the joy of getting to see him, there really wasn't a lot of luck involved. In fact, it was a bit of a pain in the ass to make sure I had tickets to see this show. You see, originally the show was set to take place back in November at a smaller theater, but due to the overwhelming demand for tickets to see Pee Wee, as well as the need for a bigger stage that could do more complicated things, the show was moved to a bigger venue. Those of us who had already purchased tickets had to call in and try to get tickets again to one of the shows at the new venue. I'll be honest, that whole experience pretty much sucked, but I was willing to go through it because I wanted to see this show so badly.
I've been a big Pee Wee Herman fan since I was a little kid. While I can't exactly recall my first introduction to the character of Pee Wee, I vividly remember watching new episodes of "The Playhouse" (as I called it back in the day) every saturday morning as I ate at least three or four bowls of Crunch Berries or Lucky Charms and began what was sure to be a day long sugar rush. Yeah, I also watched a good couple of hours of cartoons too, but more often than not those were half ignored as I played with my toys. Pee Wee's Playhouse, on the other hand, was something that I gave my full attention to. While it was on, I didn't give anything else my time. There was just something so hypnotic about it. I don't know if it was the wild colors and amazing art design of the set, the crazy puppets and talking furniture, or the ball of pure (almost psycho) energy that was Pee Wee Herman himself, but something about that show hooked me as a kid. I had almost all of the toys. I had as many as I could get my dirty little hands on at least. I had The Playhouse playset, I had the talking pull-string Pee Wee doll, and I was even getting good at working on my impressions of him.
Just don't ask me about the Conkey The Robot toy. That was the one toy I wanted the most, but never had. Some wounds run too deep to talk about.
As I got older, I'll admit my interest in Pee Wee wained a little. It's not entirely my fault. After his show got taken off the air in 1990, it was hard to stay a Pee Wee fan when his beloved image had been pulled from every possible outlet available to a young kid. His toys disappeared, his show disappeared, it was like he never existed at all. I was forced to move on to other things, but that's not to say that Pee Wee was ever forgotten. Far from it in fact. As I got older, I was able to appreciate some of the earlier gems of Pee Wee's History even more. When I learned in High School that Pee Wee's Big Adventure marked the directorial debut of Tim Burton and was the first film ever scored by Danny Elfman, my mind was officially blown. In college I got to see the HBO special of the original Pee Wee Herman Show stage performance for the first time, and I was finally mature enough to start realizing just how brilliant the character of Pee Wee really is. Somehow, Paul Reubens had created this amazing adult themed parody of a children's show, took it to the stage, became incredibly popular, and then managed to make an actual kids show out of what was originally a very dirty adult show. The only other comparison I can think of that is similar would be when Johnen Vasquez (the guy who created Johnny The Homicidal Maniac) was asked by Nickelodeon to create a children's animated show, and in return we were given Invader Zim.
As an adult, it's been the subversive nature of Pee Wee and his Playhouse that I have really loved. Yes, The Playhouse was very much a kid's show and wasn't really all that dirty, but it was created in such an intelligent way and was written so well that it became one of those rare shows that both kids and adults can love. Those shows are just as relevant and entertaining today as they were then, and even after 20 years with no new Material, I've maintained my steadfast loyalty to Pee Wee and his Playhouse.
You can imagine my shock and delighted suprise then when I first read that Pee Wee was coming back, he was going to be performing a new version of his original stage play, and it was happening within driving distance of my house. I'll be honest here, I may have let slip a shout of joy that my coworkers probably mistook for the sounds of an overexcited six year old girl. I couldn't contain myself. I was determined to see this show, come hell or high water. Yes, the tickets were a pain to get, but it all became worth it last Saturday as I say down in my seat in front of this.
What wonders waited for me behind that curtain? Was it the playhouse that I knew and loved so well? Was it an all new playhouse? Was it more akin to the original stage show's set? I had no idea, but the anticipation was killing me. Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long. The lights dimmed, the filler music that had been playing an excellent mix of 80's new wave faded out to nothingness, and the audience got quiet as we all waited for the show to begin.
Almost demurely, Pee Wee Herman walks onto the stage from the right hand side, the curtains are still down on the stage. It's just him and a spotlight. The audience goes wild, Pee Wee looks immensely excited. Once the crowd dies down, he very politely asks us to join him in reciting the pledge of allegiance. Suddenly, as if I was suddenly back in grade school, I'm on my feet, my right hand is over my heart, I'm looking at an American flag which has been wheeled on stage, and I'm saying the pledge of allegiance for the first time in at least 20 years. I'm actually suprised that I remembered it. I'm also suprised that the rest of the audience rememberd it too. It was a very surreal way to start the show, but it was a brilliant move. Even before the show officially begins, I'm already feeling like a little kid again. After the Pledge, Pee Wee thanks us, tells us he hopes we enjoy the show, and then runs back stage. A few seconds later, the curtains come up up and the stage's lights turn on.
My jaw dropped and I felt myself take in a deep breath of shock as the lights came on. There, not 30 feet away from me, glowing brightly and sparkling in multi-colored radiance is Pee Wee's Playhouse. It's almost a perfect replica of the TV show's set, only it's better because it's real and if I wanted to I could reach out and touch it. Everything is there. The funky shaped red door, Chairy, Clockey, Mr. Window, the flowers, the fish, the tin can telephones, Conky sitting deactivated in the corner, magic screen, Globey, Jombi's box. It's almost too much to take in at once. I'm suddenly flooded with childhood memories. It's so beautiful it almost makes me cry. I'm eight years old again, and I'm watching my favorite show, and it hasn't changed a bit.
Then Pee Wee comes in through the door and he sings the opening song from the original stage show. We're not even five seconds into the show, and I've already gotten my money's worth for the $80 I spent on my ticket. From there the show goes very much as if it was just an episode of The Playhouse from back in the day. Pee Wee starts off by showing us some cool stuff, and then people start showing up to say hi. Mailman Mike stops by, so does Miss Yvonne, The King of Cartoons and my personal favorite . . . Cowboy Curtis. Sadly, Laurence Fishburne didn't reprise his role as Cowboy Curtis, but the amazingly talented Phil LaMarr did an incredible job playing the character. All of the other characters were played by the original actors though, even Jombi. There were also two new characters added to the show. Sergio the handyman, a half naked Fireman and a giant mute Bear who spent most of the show annoying Pee Wee to no end.
A word of note, Bear is awesome.
I know it's a stage play, and chances are there won't be a release of the show on DVD or anything, but I still don't want to ruin the story or the jokes for you, even though the odds are that you won't ever see it. It was just too magical, too amazing and too funny to allow me to ruin it for you even though it's almost impossible that I will. I'm sorry, but I will not speak of the story. Suffice it to say though that Pee Wee hasn't lost a single bit of what made him great back in the day. His humor, style and delivery are still dead on. Paul Reubens may look a little older in the Pee Wee outfit (only very slightly), but he's still Pee Wee through and through. Overall, the show is much more of The Playhouse than it was the original stage show. There were some really good adult jokes here and there, but for the most part the show was very kid friendly. This Pee Wee Herman Show wasn't anywhere near as racy as the original stage play. While I would have liked to have seen a bit more adult humor thrown in, I can't really fault Reubens for not having written more in. Pee Wee has changed a lot since his beginnings on the Groundlings improv Stage back in 1981. To go fully back to his original ways would be to do a disservice to his Playhouse days, which really is the reason all of us are there anyways, right?
After the show was over though, as amazing as it was, something even more amazing happened. Since myself and many other people had to deal with the hassle of getting tickets a second time, and since a lot of out of state people had to reschedule hotels and plane flights, there had been a lot of negative fan reaction to the shows being moved at all. In one of the classiest moves I have ever seen, Paul Reubens announced that he wished to apologize to his fans in person after every performance. Those of us who had gone through the process of getting tickets to both shows were invited to stay in the theater after the performance for a meet and greet with Mr. Reubens so he could apologize to us for what had happened. As far as I can recall, no other actor or performer has ever done such a thing on such a large scale before. He could have simply said, "tough luck, deal with it" and we wouldn't have had much choice, but to make sure his fans had no hard feelings he wanted to give them something extra for having gone through so much to see him.
After a short wait during which most of the audience left the theater, we found ourselves down to about maybe a hundred or so people left in the building. Soon enough, Pee Wee once again takes to the stage with a microphone in hand and says hello. Only it's not Pee Wee, it's Paul Reubens the actor. He's still in his Pee Wee Costume, but this is the man himself coming out to connect one on one with his audience. The very first thing he does is say he's sorry, but before he talks to us adults he wants to meet all of the kids in the audience. He then takes his time, finds each and every kid in the audience and takes a couple of minutes to speak to them. He asks them their names, where they live, what parts of the show they loved the most and generally spends a minute or two getting to know them. Seriously, he did this for every single child in the audience. It was amazing to see someone showing that much dedication to their work and to making kids happy.
Once he had met all of the kids, he then started taking questions from the audience. During all of this he switched back and forth between Pee Wee and Paul Reubens. He would tell a story from his days as a struggling actor and then immediately follow it up with a Pee Wee joke or comment. He talked about his hopes for making another Pee Wee movie, he told us where the original bike from Pee Wee's Big Adventure is, he even told us of his love for all of the cartoons on Adult Swim. It was a rare glimpse into the man who makes Pee Wee who he is, and it really was something special. He didn't need to do this, but he wanted to. That difference is what made this matter. This was easily the single most sincere bit of fan service I have ever seen a performer give.
Paul Reubens is 100% pure class all the way. Let no one ever tell you different.
At the very end of the meet and greet, right as he was about to say his goodbyes so he could get ready for his second show of the night (we were there for the matinee), I finally worked up the courage to take a little bit of video with my phone to document this great occasion. Unfortunately, the quality of the video isn't all that great, but the audio is clear enough. This was Pee Wee's goodbye and thank you to us. A more heartfelt goodbye I have never heard.
Thank you Mr. Reubens for an amazing show. You gave me an evening with amazing memories that I will always treasure.
That's right, a sequel is coming our way, announced by the same team that made the first one. And it only makes me ask, WHO!? As in "who's going to be in this one?" Obviously Joker and Batman, but are they going to play with our hearts with Two-Face? That's always a possibility. I hope not.
And if you finished the first one, you would know there are 3 possible baddies showing back up; Scarecrow, Killer Croc or Bane. (If you didn't know this already, the game came out last August. Play it already).
I'm stoked! Words can't really describe what I think about this, other than: Happy.
The Jersey pictured above is from the 3rd annual "Star Wars" night of the IHL Port Huron Ice Hawks. What makes me even more jealous than the fact that the fans of that great stadium get to buy these jerseys? The part that says this is an ANNUAL event.
Yes, January 26th, 2010 is the 3rd time around they have had a Star Wars night. Honestly, who wouldn't wear a Boba Fett jersey? Last year's jersey featured Darth Maul and their Ice Hawk mascot had a lightsaber in its talon's instead of a hockey stick.
And what is a Star Wars night without the men and women of the 501st? Not a Star Wars night, that's what! Yes, it is presided over by the 501's very own Jon Leopold. I've gone to hockey games where the kids areas have games like hardest slap shot competitions, street hockey rinks and etc. taking place, but how about rolling to a hockey game that has competitions like a Blaster Range and, get this, a Wookiee roar competition!?!
