Superman, meet Nietzsche

My lack of recent posts can be accounted for by the simple response of "it's that point in the semester".  I know, I know, that's no excuse, for who else will write about amazingly important things such as how the Thing can totally beat up the Hulk (he can, you know)?  Spring break is on the horizon, though, and I'm looking forward to being able to catch up on a number of things, comic related and otherwise.

In the meantime, and in a not-necessarily-unrelated moment, I took this picture a couple weeks ago (before I got a new phone, to boot) of a bookshelf outside of my fourth floor English classroom at a college that is currently, and thankfully, employing me.  The bookshelf contained a number of items, from a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica to some pottery to a stapler chained to the wall, but it was obviously the cheaply made Superman action figure that caught my attention.  I then saw what it was placed next to, and I got a chuckle out of it.  I'm sure you, anonymous reader, will as well.

Superdogs, The Dark Knight Rises filming schedule, John Watkins and more!

- One post of mine that gets frequent attention is "Who Owns Superman Ice Cream?", which questions the legality of Kroger's name for their red, yellow and blue ice cream.  Unless there's been an upswing in desire for a dessert treat based on the philosophy or Friedrich Nietzsche ("God is Dead Cookies and Cream", perhaps), it's probably something that Warner Bros. and DC Comics know about but decide to look the other way.

I was shopping for, well, meat the other day, and I came across the above package of hot dogs - "Superdogs" with Superman's "S" shield logo stamped right on the package.  It's not even a variation of the logo, it's the exact comic book S that we see on the Man of Steel.  Interesting stuff.

- The "Captain Mal" art by Sammy Gomez that I won at a screening of "Serenity" made it on to i09's website a few days ago, under the heading "The Coolest Firefly Art in the 'Verse".  It was not only awesome to see the art I own online with a link back to this blog, but there were lots of other great pieces of art on display as well.  And it all made me miss Firefly/Serenity even more.  Sigh.

- "Smart Alex" McKinley wrote a nice blog about the Mr. Massive/X-Plosive Comics Kickstarter project that my friend Artboy_X is heading up.  I've never met Alex before and I have no idea who he is, but he had this to say about, well, me:

Mr. Massive, by Michael Oeur and Jeff McLelland, chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a boy who uses his superpowers as any typical boy would- particularly if he never had an Uncle Ben Parker telling him, "With great power comes great responsibility." Given Jeff McLelland's previous work on a variety of comics including Teddy and the Yeti, the zaniness of his "stupid" Youtube show Franks and Beans, and the premise of Mr. Massive, I think it's safe to say we'll see hilarity ensue.

To hear someone I don't know talk about Franks and Beans makes my head spin a little bit.  I don't even mind that he spelled my name wrong (it happens, I understand).

- Great day in the morning, "The Dark Knight Rises" is almost upon us.  As you can see from the above Post-Gazette photo, the bat-logo shone upon downtown Pittsburgh recently in anticipation of the start of filming, which begins...any day now!

The website onlocationvacactions.com printed a comprehensive list of just where the movie will be filming - apparently, the studio sent letters to homeowners in the area to keep them aware of what would be happening (so they won't, you know, call the police if things start blowing up a half a mile down the road), and someone decided to put it online, much to the appreciation of you and me.

Here's part of it - go here for the complete list: http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2011/07/16/the-dark-knight-rises-filming-locations-in-pittsburgh-august-10th-20th/comment-page-1/

In the coming weeks we will be visiting all of the businesses and entity in the area effected but our proposed activity in order to ascertain the best way of minimizing are impact. We are also working with building managers in the area to facilitate tenant access to properties. Our goal is to make this a positive experience for everyone involved and we would like to address your individual concerns, no matter how small. Please do not hesitate to call us with any questions at our cell phone numbers listed below. 

Throughout our preparation, filming and restoration periods, Security guards, Pittsburgh Police Officers and production assistants will be visible during our film shoot to insure public safety as well as address any immediate concerns you may have about the filming.

If what is on the website is an exact transcription of the letter that actually went out, I think I'll gouge my eyes out in response to the grammar.  "Minimizing ARE impact"?!?  Perhaps they meant that recently released Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El would be rampaging the streets of downtown Pittsburgh.  Perhaps.

- Paul Tucker recently finished our short story, "John Watkins: Phantom for Hire", and it is fan-friggin-tastic!  We're currently making a few small adjustments before we try to get it in front of some faces.  Paul has a really great blog where he's broken down much of his process for this story, and you owe it to yourself to check it out at http://tuckercomics.blogspot.com/.

- And now, a few non-comic related items.  First, as you can see in the screenshot above, I made it into the trailer for a movie.  Not just any movie, mind you, but a movie with an embarrassing title; one that I have to preface with "it's not a porno" every time I tell people about it.  It's actually a Saturday Night Live movie - or at least it has a number of actors from SNL in it.  It's called...sigh..."A Good Old Fashioned Orgy" and it's going to be released in September.  I was an extra on the set in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2008.  Here's the trailer!

- Lastly, congratulations to friend of the blog (that's not entirely true) Sidney Rice on his signing of a $41 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks, losers of Super Bowl 40 to Jerome Bettis and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Seahawks come to Heinz Field the second week of the season - September 18th - and I wish him the best of luck.  But I hope his team loses...badly.  I do.

Who owns Superman ice cream?

The answer to the above question is, of course, "the people".  The people own Superman ice cream, and we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking otherwise.  But let's consider, just for a moment, that a concept as grand as Superman could actually be owned (and trademarked and copyrighted) by a person or corporation.  Would said corporation be willing to let other companies make an ice cream based off of its intellectual property?

The answer is apparently "yes", because Superman ice cream does, in fact, exist.  It may be glorified vanilla, but it carries the name and color scheme of the DC Comics icon.  There are a number of ice cream manufacturers (can you manufacture ice cream?) with their own version of Superman ice cream, and as far as I can tell, no company has made any kind of licensing agreement with either DC or Warner Bros., its parent company.  In a world where companies hold on to their money making properties as if they were made out of...well, money, how is this possible?

If Superman ice cream were made by one single, local company, I could chalk this disparity up to the company slipping under the proverbial radar - the same could be said if "Superman" were just a flavor at an ice cream parlor.  But that's not the case.  While maybe it's not absolutely ubiquitous, it's not all that hard to find this kind of ice cream, regardless of where you live in North America (who knows if Luxembourg has it in stock).  The color scheme is red, blue and yellow, so it's not like any claim can be made that this is the Friedrich Nietzsche superman.

Don't get me wrong - I like Superman ice cream and I'm glad that I can run down to the local Kroger and pick up their "party pail" (it already feels like a party with it in my freezer!).  I just don't know how DC allows this to happen.