Startling Stories for All Ages
Why so crunchy?
This whole thing about the Carlos V/Dark Knight candy bar is making me nuts.
Why is Nestle using DARK KNIGHT on the box? What’s the connection?
On Tuesday, I emailed them a request for clarification. I’ll post their reply as soon as I get it.
Time to hang this one up . . . Oh, wait.
At JMS Labs, we are very concerned with closure. Usually, it’s body bags and bio-hazard containers, but, hey, closure is closure.
To wit —
The last bit of follow-up to my April 9th post rebutting Varney’s ignore-ist approach to Frederick Wertham:
— Varney’s initial post
— My rebuttal and his comments
— His re-direct
— His inquiry and my comment (#5 and #6, respectively)
Though I’ve drafted a careful reply, I’m letting that last thought (#6) stand as my final word.
— Over at The New Republic, Douglas Wolk replies to David Hajdu’s comments regrading Wertham, comics, etc.
— Little did I know that while wrapping up my comments on the whole Wertham blow-up, comics maestro Eddie Campbell (Fate Of The Artist, The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard) was doing the same, though he’s done a way better job of following and expounding on the whole pointless mess. Read his posts from April 21st, 22nd, 25th, and 28th. Campbell’s informed analysis is well worth your time.
“God save us from some of these half-arsed historians,” indeed.
YOU GO NOW!
Anybody who’s talked to me for more than 45 seconds will tell you that I can be a pretty harsh critic. This is especially true of comic books and movies. Bring up either topic and settle in for some serious un-varnished truthifying about the sorry state of mainstream storytelling in both industries.
For years, these two have been traveling hand-in-hand down the deeply rutted road to Stupidsville, riding first-class atop bales of crisp cash, picked fresh and green from consumer pockets.
The stories these clowns have been feeding the public are tantamount to narrative fast food — a steady diet high in saturated schmaltz and saccharine full of empty promises, wasted time, and perfect for replacing mental muscle with synaptic flab.
[Read more…] about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Sell-Outs
What’s a 16C Spanish Monarch have to do with Batman? Uhhhhh . . . .
Another new candy bar at my grocery store today: Nestle’s CARLOS V. Why every Holy Roman Emperor doesn’t have a candy bar named after him, I don’t know. Maybe they lack the same marketing engines employed by baseball players, NASCAR drivers, and other religious icons.
According to the fine people over at Candy Snob, the CARLOS V seems to be a re-release of an older confection. Why? Something to do with the packaging, perhaps????
and the zoom-shot
What’s the connection? Is there one?
Nothing I’ve read indicates Charles V was known as “El Caballero Oscuro”; his parents didn’t die in a robbery-gone-bad; nor did young Charlie develop a predilection for high-tech gadgetry and vigilante justice; all of which leaves me flummoxed how Nestle might justify tagging this candy with the ‘Dark Knight’ moniker.
Yeah, yeah, whatever. How’s the candy?
Right.
Unlike my encounter with the Big Mo’, I bought this particular ticket and took the ride. The first bite of the CARLOS V is dry and overly sweet, like Eucharist crumbles stirred in a package of Swiss Miss, but not as tasty. The second’s even worse.
At two-for-a-dollar, the CARLOS V is still a rip-off — that is unless you plan to give them to lousy neighbors or hated co-workers in the hope that bad candy will drive them the hell away from you. Then it’s a bargain.
But if you like candy and dig the chocolate/wafer combo, stick to Kit-Kats.
I’ve just finished reading Tales Of H.P. Lovecraft, a collection of the master’s shorter works selected and introduced by Joyce Carol Oates. (With some nice cover art by Mike Mignola, creator of the steampunk-tastic, Amazing Screw-On Head!)
Tales is a nice intro to Lovecraft’s mad and lonely world. The ten stories showcase what I imagine are some of the man’s best (and most accessible?) efforts, but also provide a Whitman’s Sampler of what has become known as The Cthulhu Mythos.
The central tenant of Lovecraft’s ‘pseudomythology’ is that Earth has been repeatedly invaded and populated over the eons by a series of alien races. In fact, “At The Mountains Of Madness,” hints that everything living here — plants, animals, humans — evolved from some ancient Elder Things’ experiments that were left to run wild.
So, if they (the Old Ones/Elder Things, Outer Gods, etc., etc.), are of outer space, and for as far and wide as the Enterprise ranged over the years, you’d think sometime, somewhere, Kirk & Co. would have come across these star-spawn, or at the very least, the degenerate remains of their home worlds.
I went looking for Star Trek/Cthulhu Mythos stories — authorized or fan fic — but my Interwebbular searches availed naught.
Has anyone written or found anything in this vein? If so, I humbly request your links. Please add them to the Comments section.
Many thanks.
( Kirk image courtesy of these nice people, Cthulhu image courtesy of this guy.)
