Occasional Links: The "Ultimate" Edition

The first images of Heroes' Zachary Quinto as Spock have been released! The dude looks pretty much like a dead ringer for Leonard Nimoy. Can a revival of In Search Of be too far away in his future?


Speaking of JJ Abrams's new Star Trek movie...somebody finally got around to informing Harlan Ellison that the plot might be strikingly similar to his own work on the original television series. As you can imagine, Ellison takes it really really well...


Newsarama's Super-Articulate theorizes that you can figure out all the latest Marvel spoilers by analyzing which characters are being included in their upcoming Marvel Legends action figure waves. A conspiracy theory, you say? Hogwash and craziness? Or...utterly frocking brilliant?!


Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder says he won't do newspaper strips again, calling the venue too "sanitized." In other news, "Pearls Before Swine" now new "relevant" comic strip.


Sarah Michelle Gellar explains to Maxim why she's finally posing for their magazine:
"Lots of things. I’m 30, and I’m promoting a bunch of different kinds of movies. I like to shake things up every once in a while. It’s good to leave people wanting more, but I don’t want to leave them waiting too long or they’ll lose interest. Besides, how could I not do a Maxim shoot when I have a movie coming out in which I play a porn star?"
Darren Aronofsky called; he would like to do a movie based on that interview excerpt.


"The best way for me to avoid spending money on comic books is to not enter the comic book shop," and other advice for shopoholics. "Picking up a few comics on my way home from work? What harm was there in that?" Next thing you know, you're in Requiem for A Dream with your arm amputated and in possession of one of the best damn collections of Bronze Age Marvels on the block.


There is apparently an epidemic of people scattering cremation ashes at Disneyland. "You're dead...what are you going to do now?" "I'm going to Disneyland...whoooooooooo!!!"


Video: Here is a compilation of the best of pro wrestler Ultimate Warrior's incomprehensible speeches. Bear in mind that in the early 90s, this all made sense to me and he was awesome. (Also check out the Warrior's 1996 comic book)

Familiarity Breeds Excuses: Misogyny & Pop Culture

I'm going to talk about something that I have no fast-and-easy answers for. It's just something I've noticed in regards to how I have been thinking about the recent Chris Benoit murder/suicide.

I'll start by saying that I've loved pro wrestling, like comics, since I was a wee lass. I grew up watching the antics of these performers. I know who "Hillbilly Jim," "Big Bad Boss Man," "King Kong Bundy," are. I'm a fan.

But also, I tend it get up-in-arms about stories concerning the abuse of women and children. I mean, it's pretty much a knee-jerk reaction with me.

Reading more and more about the Benoit case, the old depressing pattern of domestic abuse and restraining orders emerge. Wife is scared of husband, files order, later drops it, dies at hands (literally) of said husband.

Chris Benoit's wife was found bound hand-and-foot with blood under her head. The most likely scenario, according to the cops, is that Benoit hit her on the head, tied her up, strangled her to death.

Pretty henious, right?

And yet, because I am so familiar with Benoit's work, because I enjoyed his matches on WCW in the 1990s, because I respected him so much as a performer, I find myself more likely to make excuses for him.

Here is my reaction to a recent news story regarding a man who killed his pregnant girlfriend: "monster!"

Here is my reaction to Chris Benoit:
"he was a poor sick man bowled over by the pressures of his profession."

And yet they are/were *both* monsters.

And they are/were *both* sick men.

And their acts? Yes, both born, to an extent, out of misogyny -- misogyny in its most primal, wordless, vicious form.

Not to mention child-murder.

But I still find myself making excuses for Chris Benoit.

I make excuses because Benoit is familiar to me, a beloved entertainer.

And I make excuses because, to an extent, to condemn Benoit is to condemn the culture of pro wresting -- a culture which, in terms of its treatment and presentation of women, I have not nor want to examine. Because to examine it -- to really examine it -- might destroy some of the love I have for this "sport."

This is just an observation.

The Chris Benoit Action Figure"Ruthless Aggression," indeed.
The more I read about this the more it sounds like
a combo of 'roid rage and domestic violence.

WWE Wrestler Chris Benoit Found Dead --
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon
Suddenly Found "Alive"

Oh crap, WWE (and WCW) pro wrestler Chris Benoit was found dead today -- as well as his wife & kids.

I had a post a few weeks back about WWE chairman Vince McMahon's "death stunt." Well apparently, in the interest of good taste, the ruse is over and all references to the stunt have been taken off the WWE site.

You would have to be a professional wrestling fan to appreciate what a shock Benoit's death is. His wife was also a pro-wrestling personality, who performed under the stage name "Woman."

How The Sopranos Should Have Ended

"WWE Chairman Vince McMahon Presumed Dead "

"A night originally designated Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night turned deadly when the WWE Chairman’s limousine burst into a fiery explosion just moments after Mr. McMahon stepped into it. Permanently uprooting the world of sports-entertainment, the Chairman has been presumed dead in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

"Local authorities stated it was still too early to declare anything as fact, including exactly what caused the explosion, but described the blast as an apparent “car bombing.” They also revealed that as of 11:30 p.m. ET, no body had been recovered from the incinerated wreckage."

I used to follow this professional wrestling stuff since I was eight. It's as about as real as $15 Prada bag. But this takes the cake.

"As the physical body of Mr. McMahon remains to be uncovered, perhaps the most perplexing piece to this puzzle is the Chairman’s uncanny, almost clairvoyant premonition of tonight’s grim events. Over the last few weeks on WWE programming, the swaggering, well-off billionaire seemed to unravel right before the eyes of millions. Speaking of a threatening presence that lurked in his foreseeable future, Mr. McMahon even cited the looming of a “black cloud” last week – a cloud very similar to the post-combustive smoke that billowed above his limousine tonight."

I mean, can you imagine if the world of comics had the sort of over-the-top drama as professional wrestling?

"Sources say that given the nature of the apparent car bombing, under law federal authorities will be called in for a more thorough investigation that would supersede local Pennsylvania authorities."

You would have Quesada & Didio challenging each other to grudge matches at the San Diego Comic Con. Then the roof of the convention center would open up and Didio would escape using a pair of robotic batwings...or a small helicopter with the words "buy Countdown!" emblazoned on the sides.

Bendis versus Slott in the steel cage match! Face front true believers!

Here is "actual footage" of the explosion, by the way.