Like this. A philsophy class with some materials on-line. Exploring questions of identity and consciousness, through the, um, Spiderman Clone Saga.

A lot of excerpts from it (just the most important parts, without all the bullshit), going all the way back to the famous death of Gwen Stacy. Starting here.

Sorry if that was a spoiler. But, you know, it's like 30 years old by now.

Odd.

I didn't read this stuff at the time, but my best friend, who'd I'd gotten hooked on Spiderman during the Hobgoblin years, did, and told me the basics. I thought it all sounded pretty dumb, so I stayed away.

But, if you care, there it is.

The other night I was reading a recap of this controversial chapter in Marvel history. Controversial and largely hated, it seems.

I don't know what they were thinking. To compete with big "event" stories that were all the rage in the mid-nineties (and coming much more frequently than necessary to offset the huge decline in the comics market), Marvel decided they'd make their big Spiderman event the revelation that Peter Parker was a clone of the actual Peter Parker. And they actually intended to end the storyline by replacing the clone Peter Parker (the one whose stories readers had been following for 20+ years) with the real Peter Parker (whom they'd never heard of before, and who was calling himself not Peter Parker but "Ben Reilly").

And they saw this is as a smart way to get him out of his marriage to Mary Jane (another "event"), which they now found was really putting a crimp in his dating life.

Genius.

Well, anyway, you won't be surprised to learn they eventually waved a magic wand and reversed all this silliness, but they really were, apparently, intending to retire the Peter Parker everyone knew in favor of his clone-brother "Ben Reilly." Because Ben Reilly was single, could still date, and thus seemed younger to readers.

It's amazing to me I'm not running the media yet.

Posted by: Ace at 05:39 PM | Comments (21)
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Israel apparently got a motivational speech from the Alec Baldwin character in Glengarry Glen Ross.

You know what it takes to fight terrorism? It takes brass balls to fight terrorism.

ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.

The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.

It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza.

Hamas's Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding.

But last night's direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.

Waaaah... but if we do things like this, we lose to the terrorists!

No, if we lose to the terrorists we lose to the terrorists. If we kill the terrorists, we win.

Duh.

Another Israeli Soldier Captured, Militants Claim: Kill three or four members of the terrorist cabinet, then.

Posted by: Ace at 04:30 PM | Comments (98)
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I haven't watched these amateur political documetaries/horor films yet, but with a title like that, they get a link sight unseen.

Update: Skip directly to Episode 2.

Posted by: Ace at 03:50 PM | Comments (9)
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The Hollywood Reporter.

Apologism from the Al Qaeda Intelligence Service.

What Would Tyler Durden Do had this a couple of days ago, as did the Influence Peddler.

I didn't link any of this because, to me, it was like Berkeley voting to impeach Bush. Sort of a dog bites man. What did you expect? It's a bunch of very anti-American Hollywood art-fags* who are uncomfortable with patriotism. And who, in fact, despise anyone who is remotely patriotic.

But a lot of people want to discuss it, so here.

Thanks to Roy for the AQIS tip. Thanks to whole bunches of people for mentioning the basic story.

* Yeah, Bryan Singer is gay, but that's not really what I mean by "art-fag."

Thumb In The Eye: It occurs to me that this was a deliberate provocation, or at least a deliberate attempt to make Superman repudiate America.

I know, big deduction: the writers say as much.

But I guess my point is that there was no need to have this line in the film at all. I don't remember it from the various Superman movies; it's a hard bit of dialogue to work in, isn't it? It began as a narrator's exposition about Superman; it's hard to actually work in Superman declaring he fights for truth, justice, and the American way, isn't it? Even if one agrees with the sentiment, and conceives as Superman fighting for those goals, it's a bit... well, bombastic. Usually heroes aren't so immodest. Even the godlike ones.

So, if the writers didn't like the line, there was an obvious way to avoid it: Just don't include it. No one would have missed it.

But they spoofed the line in a not terribly funny break-the-fourth-wall sort of joke, and then compounded that by announcing the politics behind their decision.

Why? Why not just not feature the line at all?

Because, as usual, they feel that being high-paid entertainers in a glamorous industry just isn't enough. They have to send messages, too.

Why can't they just make movies, instead of contriving manifestos?

Posted by: Ace at 09:26 AM | Comments (165)
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Raaarrrrr!!!

Photo used without permission. Uploaded here not to steal it, but so as not to seal WESSA's bandwidth.

Posted by: Ace at 09:06 AM | Comments (14)
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Bonus: Pam Anderson takes it off for PETA. But this isn't exactly terra incognita at this point. Thanks to Craig for the video.

Britney's nude in Vanity Fair, which means, of course, she's covering her boobies with her hands and is pregnant to boot. Not sure how it became a rule, but apparently skin-pics become tasteful and classy if you're pregnant and covering your boobies with your hands.

Some are posted in this Fark thread.

Some good parody photoshops, too, like one of a nude manatee saying: "Look at me! I'm an attention whore!"

There seems to be an argument about whether or not she's attractive. Come one, pregnant or not, she's cute. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but not ugly.

One guy responds to the silly "Britney is soooooo ugly I just can't take it" brigades with this: more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:55 AM | Comments (36)
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Finally.

He reports the MSM parroting more absurd charges from Islamists -- like five US soliders gang-raping an Iraqi girl and then murdering her.

Islamists seem to get a lot of their propaganda against the West from our media. Here, it seems someone just watched Casualties of War with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn. I'm pretty sure they just got their new charges from that movie, because I really doubt the quote attributed to one of the US soldiers accused in the rape: "Fini boonies, most ricki-tick, gang-rape number-one GI!"

Posted by: Ace at 08:52 AM | Comments (13)
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Better Late Than Never

Selected favorites from Cool Facts About John Bolton's Moustache:

John Bolton's Moustache has had numerous "host beings" throughout history, including Doc Holliday, Jack the Ripper, and Rosie Perez.
-Ace

The real reason John Bolton's Moustache had a hard time getting appointed to being the Ambassador to the UN was because of his prolific but little known career in adult movies under the name Bolt Johnson's Moustache.
-Sortelli

Feng Shui or fengshui is the ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with JBM.
-Steve in hb

Spurwing Plover was a tenured professor of astrophysics at CalTech until he saw John Bolton's Moustache in his Mercedes' rearview mirror.
-Sue Dohnim

Indigenous Amazonian warriors rub their arrow tips on John Bolton's moustache before going hunting.
-skinbad

John Bolton's Mustache started off gray. It turned white after defeating the Balrog.
-BumperStickerist

There are actually Nine Moustaches of Power, but John Bolton's is The One Moustache That Binds Them.
-Ace

Homeland Security wants air marshalls to carry guns because giving them a piece of John Bolton's mustache is too crazy and dangerous.
-Sortelli

John Bolton's moustache took the long jump gold medal in 1968 in Mexico City.
-Dave in Texas

According to noted journalist Larry Flynt, John Bolton forced his wife to perform embarrasing menages a trois with his moustache.
-Caspera

In Mexico, John Bolton's moustache is called "Pelo del Diablo" and a festival is held in its honor each year to keep its wrath from destroying villages and taking lives.
-Slublog

ITS A FACT:
In June of 1939, Dick Cheneys Cock gave John Boltons moustache a Filthy Adolph-- nine months later, Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked his way out of Boltons face.
-Amish Moustache ride

"Paradise Lost" isn't really about the fall of Satan from heaven. It's about the time John Bolton shaved his moustache.
-Slublog

As always, there will be no prizes.

Posted by: LauraW. at 06:47 AM | Comments (49)
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This will probably annoy you.

Thanks to JackStraw.

Posted by: Ace at 08:53 PM | Comments (50)
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Quietly (the media wouldn't want to alert the terrorists!) Iraq has hit a post-Saddam peak for oil production and exports.

For more than two years the attacks came like clockwork. As soon as the military secured and workers repaired the pipelines from Iraq's northern oil fields, just when the valves were about to open, insurgents would strike. But roughly three weeks ago they suddenly stopped, letting crude oil flow freely from Iraq's vast reserves near Kirkuk.

Perhaps insurgents feared reprisals in Salahuddin province, where pipelines from Kirkuk flow to the country's largest refinery in Beiji. Maybe terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death disrupted a chain of command that ordered the attacks, military officials said.

Whatever the cause, the U.S. forces welcome the change, even if history since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has shown the free flow of oil in Iraq is only temporary at best.

"I just hope that it lasts long enough where people start realizing 'Damn, we're making money. We could be rich like Kuwaitis," said Army Lt. Col. Craig Collier, deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. "But what is really going on? We don't know."

In the past three weeks, Iraq has exported 6.2 million barrels of crude to Turkey from its northern fields. Total exports from Iraq in that period, including the oil fields in the south, have increased to 2.5 million barrels per day, the highest level since the invasion, the Oil Ministry reported.

Posted by: Ace at 12:44 PM | Comments (30)
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