Sean's Media Landscape

By | Monday, March 07, 2011 3 comments
It's been a while, so I thought I'd provide a quick snapshot of the non-comics media I'm consuming these days.
I'm a Browncoat from back when the show first aired on Fox. It did take me about two and half episodes before I really got into it but since then, it's been the only show I've watched repeatedly. Malcolm's ongoing struggle is one that I can relate to in many different ways, and the show does act as a sort of inspiration for me. I'm currently re-watching the DVDs again.
America's Greatest Otaku
I'm watching this exclusively for the manga connection, but it's interesting to see the other aspects of otaku culture in America. It's one of those shows that, despite only airing on Hulu, is still mainstream enough that I suspect some people will wind up using it as their original/main point of reference for all things otaku. So I figure I ought to at least be familiar with it. (I watch "comic book movies" for the same reason.)
Founders of Comic Fandom by Bill Schelly
Part of my ongoing research into comic fandom. Schelly's certainly the most prolific author on comic fandom and has done a lot of raw research that's very useful. I have some trouble reading him, though, so I've been slogging through this off and on for a few months now. Fortunately, it's broken down into small 2/3/4 page chunks that are easy to drop off and pick up with long intervals.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
I'm actually listening to an audiobook version on my travels to/from Chicago. It occurred to me that I'm only really familiar with the character by proxy where he's perpetually charging at windmills. The windmill bit is just his first "adventure" and a very, very, very small part of the story. There's a lot more there, and it's an interesting study in self-delusion. Plus, the unabridged version is around 37 hours long, so it'll keep me company through at least a few road trips.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Artobiography by Kevin Eastman
This is basically an art book from 2002 focusing on the first dozen or so issues of the Eastman/Laird TMNT comic. Not a whole lot of accompanying text, but I was long struck by the art breakdown between the two creators so when I recently won a copy of the book, I was eager that it might shed some light on how that work was delineated. Honestly, I've only skimmed through the book briefly so far, but I'll be digging into it shortly.
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Jeff said...

What's your take on the whole "help Nathan Fillion buy Firefly" stuff that's going on? I doubt it would ever have a chance at working, but...

Matt K said...

Love Don Quixote. So much more in there than has been absorbed into popular idioms and symbols. (Which, as you point out is not surprising; Don Quixote is in fact two fairly long novels, after all.)

@Jeff - Frankly, I think it's a bit silly in that A) Fillion has a pretty good reputation as a fun-loving guy and his initial comment wasn't meant to be taken seriously, B) Fox isn't going to sell their rights, otherwise they would've done so when Universal did the movie, and C) if any one individual was to buy it, wouldn't it make more sense for that person to be Whedon? Not to mention owning the rights and actually doing something with them are two VERY different things.

Don't get me wrong; I love Firefly and have kept up with the various stories and such since the show ended. But when Fox canceled it back in 2002, they essentially canceled it from ever coming back to TV in the form of new stories. I'm okay with that, and am more than happy to read the prose novels and comic books and whatever else comes out.

Besides, I have so many other reasons to hate Fox now.

@Matt - I knew that Quixote was more than the windmills going in, but I've been surprised by how little about windmills is in there, given that it's the ONLY thing that gets mentioned elsewhere. I don't even think I've heard "Knight of the Rueful Countenance" anywhere and that would be an incredibly easy bit to slip into a script.