Disillusioned & Disappointed... But Not Really

This is going to seem stupid to many of you, but here goes anyway. When it comes to spelling and grammar, I have a pretty serious case of O.C.D. I'm not very forgiving of those errors, mostly because spelling and grammar come very naturally to me. I know if a sentence is grammatically correct or if a word is spelled properly just by reading or hearing it. It usually doesn't take very much effort on my part. That's why I was so surprised today when I read Green Lantern #45, written by the illustrious Geoff Johns, and ran across the following grammatical error from the mouth of Hal Jordan's on-again, off-again love interest Carol Ferris:
"Hal and I broke up more times then he's charged his ring."
Maybe some of you don't even see the error, but to me, "then" stands out like a sore thumb. So what's the point of all this? I mentioned it in passing during a conversation with my friend Faith, and the following dialogue came out of it. I thought it was funny, so upon her suggestion, I'm posting it here. (Forgive our grammatical laziness, specifically the lack of capitalization. This was just a private instant message conversation.)

Me: I saw a spelling/grammar error in a comic today
Faith: no way!
Me: yeah. my previously unwavering faith in geoff johns was shaken.
Faith: oh no!
Me: it'll take some time but I think we can patch things up
Faith: so sad
Faith: I know you two will make it work out
Faith: you're made for each other
Me: I hope you're right
Me: things have been so great until now
Me: I don't want it to end so suddenly
Faith: it's the first stutter in your relationship, give it time, things will go back to normal
Me: just because he used "then" when he clearly meant "than"
Faith: oh, that's not as bad as I thought
Faith: it's just one bad issue. It'll go back to normal next time
Me: that shouldn't get past the proofreader!!
Faith: see, that's not him
Faith: that's an external force
Me: but he wrote it in the first place!
Faith: honey, you're arguing semantics in a one time situation
Faith: everyone slips up a bit
Me: this is sounding too much like a real almost-break-up so I'm going to stop before I seriously frighten myself

Confessions of an Uninspired Blogger

I'm sure readers of this blog have noticed that I haven't been posting as frequently as I'd like to recently. That's partly because I've taken on lots of hobbies (possibly too many for my own good), but it's also because whenever I do think about writing, a suitable subject doesn't come to min as readily as it once did.

When I first started this project, I had a few staple features to fall back on whenever I couldn't think of something original. There was the "Podcastin' " series, which I never officially ended and might start up again some time. Then during the 2008 Presidential Election, I wrote opinion pieces and posted news stories here.

So maybe what I really need to do is resurrect the Podcastin' series, come up with some new regular features, and then plug in the gaps with whatever pops into my mind. Part of the writer's block I've been experiencing comes from a feeling of pressure. I'm committed to keeping this blog afloat, and sometimes my desire to keep it going makes it hard to decide what to write about because I want it to be of some quality. So I'm rededicating myself to this blog and updating it at least once a week. I look forward to writing more often!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

If you haven't seen this yet, your life is officially incomplete. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a short web musical film that was written, produced & directed by Joss Whedon & his brothers Zack & Jed, as well as Jed's Fiancé Maurissa Tancharoen. It was a product of the Writers Guild of America strike that nearly brought TV and movie production to a stand-still from late 2007 through early 2008. It is a hilarious and delightful piece of work that everyone needs to see. Please check it out! It's short and free! (TWSS)




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The Dark Knight Meets Superman

"Batman faces his toughest adversary yet: real super powers."

Hehe I love this video. It made me happy to finally see someone pointing out that Batman, currently the most popular "super"hero, is actually quite lame. Superman COULD beat him any day. Let the debate and hate comments begin....




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Biden Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot

Joe Biden has done it again. He has unwittingly worked to convince more and more people to vote for John McCain. In a speech at a Seattle fundraiser Sunday, Biden warned the crowd that within the first six months of an Obama-Biden administration, "Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy." He added "There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'. Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

OK, first of all, by that logic, most of George Bush's policies are sound, because most of them are unpopular. Secondly, it seems painfully clear to me that Biden is admitting that Obama has no practical executive experience whatsoever, and will have no idea what on Earth he's doing. "So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us," he said. In other words, if we screw up, remember that you elected us! If this is what the Obama campaign has to offer, then I'll be casting my ballot for John McCain this November, thank you very much. Why should I vote for Obama if his running mate is promising us more challenges and more complications? John McCain isn't asking anyone to have "faith" in him and "reinforce" him and hope the nasties will go away. He has concrete, straightforward plans to deal with the financial crisis and with the possibility of an energy crisis.

Putting the icing on the cake, fifteen minutes into his speech, Biden commented, "I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here." Nice. When is the press ever not there, Joe? You're running for Vice President, remember? You have to be more careful when warning supporters that their candidate is too weak to serve them as President. Let's be honest here folks. Obama picked Biden to give his campaign an air of credibility. No one will deny Biden's 35 years of Senate experience, but even his staunchest supporters must admit he has never known when or how to hold his tongue. It's a wonder that after several public racial slurs and the frank admission that he is not the most qualified candidate for Vice President, Obama has let him stick around. He's just as much a liability as he is an asset. And that's being generous.

Click here to read a full article about Biden's speech.

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