DC Talk (My Adventures with Superman & Crisis On Infinite Earths Pt. 3 Review)

   Man, remember when Superman liked being Superman? Crazy. There’s a lot going on with DC movies and shows recently even if it seems like a quiet year. I just finished season two and I loved it. I also finished Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 3 from the Tomorrowverse and, controversially, I liked it. But it did have me thinking about the future DC and the James Gunn of it all. So let’s get into it.

  Let me start by gushing about My Adventures with Superman. (Actually before I start, hi it’s me. Future Editing Jason. Just wanted to say I’m gonna be popping in throughout the video to add stuff I either forgot to say or, since these videos take me awhile to edit due to a poor work life balance, stuff I think is relevant that has happened since filming. It’s like a bad version of Pop Up Video. Fuck I’m old.) If you haven’t even it, MAWS is a anime inspired take on Superman currently on Max. Season one shows the sweet origin of Clark Kent becoming Superman and falling for fellow rookie reporter Louis Lane. If you’re familiar with Superman at all, it’s nothing completely new. And yet, the hopeful vibes and bright visuals were just what I needed in dark times. That plus some small twists to the lore were enough to really make me fall in love with this show over the course of the first season and season two only leaned into those things more. 

  Writing a review for something like this is always hard because there’s not much else to say except that it’s really good. (The same goes for Batman The Caped Crusader, which I have watched since filming this. Maybe I should make a whole video on it but the gist of my review would be that it’s great. The shows creators really display just how well they understand the Batman characters by bending and changing them just enough while still keeping the core of the character intact. I should just make that video, fuck) It sometimes gets a little too corny and sacrhine for me but that’s less a dig at the show and more because I’m a bitter old man. This kind of Superman story is exactly the kind I want to see. One where he saves the day not just with his fist, although the fight scenes are fantastic, but by just being a good dude. He solves problems heart first. His tragedy in this show is while he wants to be human, he knows he’s not and is scared not just of what he might have come from but not being accepted by those he loves, which is as human as it gets. 

  In this second season specifically, while I didn’t love the characterization of Brianiac, I did love the idea of him being a rogue AI built to wage war and when his creators started to not desire to wage war anymore, he destroyed them. It’s a good thing we aren’t arming AI powered robots. That’d be dumb. (Deep sigh) Tha choice also leads to having a brainwashed Supergirl be a villain, a twist I thought worked really well. Can’t wait to see more of her in the future, if there are more coming, which we will get into in a second. 

  Overall it just feel nice to have a light hearted time watching Superman be a light to humanity, chill with his friends, and navigate normal human stuff just with superhuman shenanigans thrown in to muck up the works. On the other end of that spectrum, I finished the third and final part of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the big finale of the animated continuity known as the Tomorrowverse. Let me tell you, folks on the internet absolutely hate the Tomorrowverse and I don’t get it. Is it perfect or as good as the animated universe that came before it? No. But that is a bit of an unfair comparison. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start by talking about this three parter first.

  Of the three parts of Crisis, this part comes a close second to the first, if that makes sense. Its flaws are flaws that I have with the whole of the Tomorrowverse so I’ll instead talk about the ending which I liked a lot. I don’t normally go for the big cosmic stuff in comics or comic movies. At a certain point it gets just too far out there to make sense to me usually losses the plot a bit. One second everyone is teaming up to save the multiverse and the next thing you know, Superman is blowing into a cosmic bugle or some shit. It’s just not for me. But this flick, eventually, made it pretty clear what happened. Constantine broke the one universe into a million by essentially killing baby space Hitler and the only way to fix it was to condense it back into one universe. After trying literally everything else (can you imagine being a normal person on one of these Earths? Just teleporting in and out of space and time every few months. And it seemed they were still going to work which is wild to me. I’m really never gonna get to retire if that’s how this place works.). I thought it was a really neat and tidy creative way to end a continuity. 

  But let’s talk about those flaws. Where this movie and the whole of the Tomorrowverse in general fell short for me wasn’t in the animation style, which grew on me after a movie or two. I think the main fatal flaw was a lack of focus on one character at a time. Starting in Man of Tomorrow, in which a Superman story is suddenly spread into a shared story with Martian Manhunter, all the way to Crisis which at times feels aimless as it floats between the perspective of Supergirl, Psycho Pirate and Constantine. (I get why they did this for this particular trilogy and overall liked the execution but I just wish it handed it off between movies a bit smoother) Every movie in the Tomorrowverse save one, The Long Halloween, is about multiple characters. Green Lantern has Adam Strange, Supergirl has The Legion in the future, Warworld is basically three short films. It never really goes deep enough. The reason I love the DCAU was because hey spent seven years telling stories that built up a deep love of each character. In the end, this rush to the end of the multiverse may not even be the filmmakers fault. 

  There are ten movies spread over just four years for the Tomorrowverse. That breakneck pace I can’t help but feel comes from the incoming change in leadership. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see what James Gunn does with DC and all signs point to me loving his Superman for all the reasons I loved MAWS. But it definitely feels like the Tomorrowverse had a tight wrap up to make room for the all new, completely connected DC universe and it suffered for it. (I am excited for Creature Commandos though. I just wish it was an animated movie instead of a show.) Now, if I could talk to James Gunn, I’d only hope to remind him (or tell him if he doesn’t already know) that the animated teams behind these movies have been churning out good to great animated movies for 20+ years all while the live action movies, let’s call it like it is, sucked ass. In fact, they were sometimes so good that it made it even more frustrating that their live action counterparts were so bad. It seemed to me so obvious that you should be able to just tell the stories in the way the animated universe was doing it just with real people. It’s right there! So I hope Mr. Gunn is talking to these creatives and is keeping them around to make more movies. Hell, give them a promotion and let them write a live action movie. (Same goes for comic book writers. Seems a no brainer to bring in the people who write for these characters for years to do a movie. Which I think James Gunn is doing with Tom King but, well, Tom King is a whole other can of worms.) They deserve it for carrying DC stories through some dark times. 

  But I’m just some nerd who loves these characters (probably a little too much since I cried at the end of MAWS) and just desperately for the world to see them in all their glory. But what did you think? Am I wrong about the Tomorrowverse? Are you excited for what’s next from DC? Let me know about it below and I’ll see you next time. And as always, death to the algorithm.

Deadpool & Wolverine & Doom

   Hey Bub. Have you seen Deadpool and Wolverine yet? Well, it made almost a quarter billion dollars in four days, so if not, you’re the only one. Yes, Ryan Reynolds is back with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine to pull off a magic trick and “save the MCU” just in time for Kevin Feige to announce RDJ is coming back but as Doctor Doom? Directed by the Russo brothers? Wait. What’s happening? Let’s talk about it.

  Let’s start with the good stuff. The third installment of anything is hard to pull off, especially in comedy. By the third time seeing a magic trick, you’re usually over it and asking, what else you got? (Not to contradict myself but there is literally something called the Rule of Threes in comedy. So maybe this point will be more salient when the enviable Deadpool 4 comes out) Yet, D&W mostly pulls it off. By all logic, Deadpool should be a character too shallow to maintain a franchise but Ryan Reynolds has found a way to elevate the crass, dick and balls humor do the turn of the century teen boy comedy into genuinely funny rapid satire. Reynolds has somehow evolved from Van Wilder to the Puck of the MCU.

  I think there are two aspects to D&W and the Deadpool movies as a whole that keep the magic alive and they may seem contradictory at first glance. Basically, the folks that made this movie do two things right, they don’t take things too seriously and the that Deadpool very seriously. 

  For the Merc with the Mouth, everyone and everything are a target for ridicule. The MCU and franchise film making in general need you to believe that each movie, show and connected installment is just as important as the last so you won’t skip a single one. But for Deadpool, nothing is sacred. So his movie has no problem pointing at the slumping box office numbers elephant in the room. At the same time, while it treats IP films as comedic foder, it serves as a send off of previous iterations of Marvel movies and realizes that while these films aren’t sacred, they are special to people. The pre-MCU movies worked their way through shitty movie execs, bad sets, early CGI and host of other problems to lay the foundation that the MCU would build its empire on. Hell, Kevin Fiege got his start working on some of those movies. 

  When it comes to what I didn’t like about the flick, there’s really not much. Some of the jokes are a little inside baseball but hey, I play this baseball. So it worked for me. (Another thing I didn’t like that has come up in the aftermath of this movie, and this relates to the rest of the video, is that after all the cameos went over so well, there are rumors galore of bringing actors back to play these characters again. I just wish execs could let things die and move on. Wesley Snipes was already Blade and the whole fucking joke was that Channing Tatum didn’t get to make that Gambit movie. Move on! I fell like I’m talking to an ex.) For a brief shining moment, it seemed like the MCU was back to taking chances and having fun. I’m sure you’ve seen the memes. But that new found faith was shaken once Hall H came around. 

  I want to preface this by saying, I love RDJ. I think he’s a great actor and could absolutely crush playing Dr. Doom. That is, he could if he hadn’t already played Iron Man for 10+ years. I know what some of you are saying, “In the comics Iron Man becomes Doom.” But that is a subversion of an already established Doom. A twist on a familiar character. Doom has yet to have that solid foundation in the MCU so it feels less like a twist and more like a step back. A retreat in perceived safety. D&W works because, while it’s a warm familiar vibe for Deadpool, it’s a fresh exciting feeling for the MCU as a whole. Whereas bringing back RDJ and the Russos feels less like an exciting story opportunity and more the decision of a scared executive hoping to get more milk from that cash cow. 

  I’m sure whatever meddling exec that backed up that money truck to bring back the dream team isn’t thrilled with the lukewarm response but in the end, all that matters to them is the boxffice. From my perspective, I wish Marvel would take the Tom Holland route more seriously often. No offense to Mr. Holland but, I had never heard of him before Spider-Man and now he is Spider-Man. Find young unknowns sign them for a decade of movies and nurture their talent (and bank accounts) to serve the character. Make the MCU into an incubator for gifted youths *Xmen theme* so they can hone their craft on a large stage, like SNL or The Daily Show. (I spent way too long learning that riff on guitar just for that bit) But that takes investment and long term thinking. Not exactly what movie execs are known for. (Just see the recent rumors about the final Spiderverse film. Fucking suits.)

  But I guess only time will tell. I hope it works out because I like these dumb movies and want them to be good. But at the very least, if it is bad maybe Deadpool can make fun of it in ten years. Until next time, death to the algorithm.

Pitch Please: Jazz

  Hello and welcome to Pitch Please! It’s a show where I give you a guided tour of a rabbit hole you might not have fallen down…yet. Today we are talking about Americas original art form, Jazz.
  So I know what you’re thinking,
  "Jazz? Isn’t that just for old men? I mean I knew you were old but not that old. I thought you were a punk."
  You’re right. I am old. Thanks for bringing that up. And I am a punk, but I, like anyone interesting, like and listen to a WIDE variety of music. There’s 1500 records here. If they were all punk records, it’d get dull pretty fast.
  I got into jazz in the 6th grade when, after a story too dark for the internet, I first discovered music as more than just something to have on in the background. It was really the first time I consciously decided to really get into something. And I figured, if I was gonna be a music obsessive, I should start at the beginning and the beginning of modern music for me was jazz.
  Now obviously there was music being made in America before jazz. There was ragtime, classical, blues, folk, etc. But jazz came about just as the technology to record music was invented and the LP, which is a format we still have today, was popularized which meant it spread far and fast for the time. That plus the touring vaudeville shows and being born in the port city of New Orleans meant it became Americas first cultural export. By taking European classical music that these early jazz pioneers had been trained in and mixing it with musical traditions born of the slave trade, (of course it goes back to slavery. This is an AMERICAN art form after all) these black musicians (love to burst any of the racist bubbles out there but yes, jazz was created by black folks. So was rock n roll and hip hop and techno and really almost everything else worth talking about in American culture. They made it and folks that look like me stole it, which seems to be our legacy. But I digress) created a new form of music that could not be created anywhere but here. Best of all, it was party music.
  When I worked midnights at 7-11 (something I’m sure I’ll bring up too much on this channel) I used to play music all night trough a shitty set of speakers in the corner. I’d plug in my iPod and try to drown out the infinitely idiotic general public as they shambled in throughout the night. In the morning was when the crowd switched from drunks and junkies to folks coming in for their morning coffee. One morning, one of my regulars (a woman who got an extra large French vanilla coffee, two packs of Pall Mall red shorts, a paper and had a son with a heroin problem) came in and heard me listening to jazz. She made the mistake of saying that all jazz sounded the same. (This seems to be a common sentiment seeing as I also was in a band briefly with a drummer who said all jazz used the same drum beat. He didn’t last long. In the band or in life if I recall after taking one too many percosets and driving off a bridge) Seeing this as an educational opportunity, for the next few weeks, I played a different type of jazz every morning at work. It made for some interesting mornings.
  The fact that there are so many ways to play jazz is why it caught fire across the globe. It was a truly NEW music. Completely new things RARELY happen. Imagine turning on the radio and the DJ plays a song that sounds like absolutely nothing that came before. It’s a whole new approach to arranged sound. And most importantly, it gets you fucking moving. You’d flip out too. The last time that might of happened was when people started making music with computers. This variety is one of the things that attracts me to jazz. You can always go deeper and find something new to love. There is a subgenre of jazz for every occasion. Rainy night, feeling lonely? Cool jazz. Looking to freak out? Free jazz. Wanna dance? Dixieland or swing. Cocktail party or anime about a space bounty hunter? Bebop. There’s always something new around the corner.
  That playability that allows jazz to be shaped and morphed into new and exciting things make it, along with the blues, the root of all the music I love that comes after it. The improvisational nature of the guitar solo or jam band wouldn’t exist without jazz. You can draw a direct line from Louie Armstrong to The Stooges and from there, all of punk rock (Louie Armstrong to Miles Davis to Coltrane to The Stooges for those of you who want me to show my work).
  A few years after I became a music nerd, I also started down a path to become a musician. This is also around the time YouTube came into existence. (Again, yes, I know, I’m old) Let me tell you, I would spend hours watching jazz drummers like Buddy Rich and Max Roach and just thinking to myself, I am never gonna be this good. Jazz musicians have an UNREAL amount of talent. The complex timings, the inventive song structures, and the improv skills! They’re unmatched in any other music genre. Honestly, if you’re just starting out making music like I was, it might be best to brace yourself or risk being discouraged. It’s probably almost as discouraging as seeing a child prodigy that’s leagues better than you when you’ve been playing for multiple decades.
  So if I’ve convinced you to give jazz a shot, great. I’m gonna give you some record recommendations in a second but first I’m gonna give you some advice on HOW to listen to jazz. Because that variety, while amazing, can also make jazz seem daunting and impenetrable. People will hear something labeled jazz and assume, like my former customer and former bandmate, that it all sounds like that so they must not like it. What’s important to do, not just with jazz by the way but any art you trying to get into, is to find what you like about what you’re listening to and, just as importantly, what you don’t like. With all that in mind, let’s go through some tentpole albums and artist and from there you’ll be able to drill down into the subgenres you like.
  At the forefront of almost all movements in jazz you’ll find one artist that is out there pushing the boundary. We are talking about, of course, Miles Davis. Miles Davis started off in the 40’s in a group led by the great Charlie Parker (someone else you should listen to), he quickly struck out on his own and started pioneering new evolutions in jazz. I’m gonna recommend two very different albums here to highlight the breath of his output. The first being his first outing as a bandleader, and probably my favorite jazz album?, The Birth of Cool. It helped spawn cool jazz (go figure) and just kinda has everything you want from jazz. It’s got fast numbers and drum solos, slow songs to be romantic to, and just a great warm production that falls just perfectly between early rough recordings that are tin-y and harsh and more modern production that can be too surgical and sterile. The last song, Darn That Dream, is one of my personal favorites and was on many a mix CD I made for high school crushes.

  On the other side of the Miles Davis spectrum, we have the 1970 album Bitches Brew which is a landmark piece in jazz fusion. A four sided, 93 minute sprawling freakout, Bitches Brew is music that makes me wish I did drugs. I mean, the dude puts his trumpet through a wah pedal. It’s a journey but a fun and freaky one so hit the lights and just go with it.

  Next up, we have a member of Miles Davis’ band, John Coltrane who pioneered his own evolutions in jazz which I’m sure Miles was perfectly fine to share the spotlight for. (Only one of them was worshiped as a god though, sooo…) Coltrane was one of the greatest in hard bop and this is really exemplified on Giant Steps. Almost all of the pieces on this album have become jazz standards. You know it’s good when people have to learn it in school, right? Polyphonic has a video explaining why the title track alone is so revolutionary and he explains it much better than I could. What I will say is it’s a great record for a summer backyard hang. From Giant Steps we have the evolution of Coltrane himself into a post bop era with A Love Supreme. If Giant Steps is a backyard summer hang, this is a midnight deep conversation hang. It’s cool and confident and just feels like a record from a man trying to shine his light for all to see.

 

 

  Coltrane for me though is at his coolest when he’s pioneering free jazz. Which is why I’m gonna recommend the record Interstellar Space. Another chaotic album full of long tracks made to be put on as a soundtrack to your own inward exploration. This record opens you up to a tempo-less soundscape made by artist pushing their instruments to do things they were not deigned to do. Plus it’s the only time I’ve ever like sleigh bells.

 

  There are countless jazz musicians I could recommend further like Louis Armstrong, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday (who is one of a handful of artist that if you don’t enjoy I think there might be something medically wrong with you), and on and on. Honestly all of them worthy of having their own dedicated video. Luckily, with jazz, all these artist were constantly playing with each other. So if you find someone you like, you can follow them around and you most likely bump into the rest. But I’d like to leave you with someone very special to me, Thelonious Monk.
  Thelonious Sphere Monk was a composer and pianist unlike any other. His improvisations were confounding, his compositions eclectic. You never knew where on the keys he was going and that is thrilling. And yet, the result is soothing and inviting. So much so that a lot of his original works have become jazz standards. It’s music that as you hear it, makes you want to know the mind that could think like this. A mind that could compose like this and take two seemingly disjointed ideas and fit them together so beautifully. All this makes Monk one of my favorite musicians of all time. Plus, he’s got such a cool name. Thelonious Sphere Monk? Come on!
  There are two records I’d recommend if you’re looking to get into Monk. First is Solo Monk. I’m a sucker for simplicity. Just an artist, their instrument and their song. No fancy production tricks, no band to hide behind. Just them and their composition, straight down the barrel of a microphone. That is exactly what you get with this record. And also with this record by Art Tatum. Recorded secretly at a party. No frills. Just a great artist doing what he does best. Perfect for a rainy day or late night.

  On the other end of the Monk spectrum is this record, Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (Remember him? I told you they all bump into each other). What’s great about Monk playing in a group is his ability to play in the spaces where the other members aren’t. He plays almost against the others, filling in the gaps in a way that teeters on discordant in a way that makes his playing stand out but never tipping into complete noise. He’s still playing with the band but doing it while playing where they’re not. It’s something I try to keep in mind whenever I’m playing with anyone (Even though I play a very different type of music). How can I play something unique while elevating the song and everyone else playing? It’s a very hard thing to do but always does it with style and here’s he’s doing it with another giant of the jazz world. What a treat.

  And with that I think we’ve come to the end of the first episode of Pitch Please. I hope this is just your first step on a journey of loving jazz. If you’re already a jazz freak, let me know some of your favorite records down in the comments. Do all the normal YouTube, social media things of course. If you are interested in reading this rant instead of having to stare at my ugly mug, I’m gonna post this script as a blog with embedded songs so you can hear what I’m talking about without me getting a copyright strike. I’ll link it in the notes below. Stay tuned for more as I record them, and as always, death to the algorithm.