Author (#10)October 2005 Archives

A few days ago, possibly last week, duivba and I were discussing Firefly and Serenity and he stated that he wished he knew what the characters were saying when they were speaking in Chinese.

I found the Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary so now we can look up what Mal, Wash, and the others are saying when they start to speak in Chinese. It's not just profanity, folks, but it is peculiar and fascinating.

Greg Burgas asserts that it is. I've only read a few issues of this Batman storyline but I dislike the use of the Riddler to suffocate babies and..... the story is bleck gross in my view.

This is only historical stuff, but I actually do recall viewing some of this deleted footage that is being discussed. I'll stand by these anecdotes.

Let's see if I can summarize this concisely, properly, and accurately. Way back in the day Richard Donner directed Superman: the Movie and filmed both that film and Superman II simultaneously, much like what Peter Jackson did for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and what the Watchowski Brothers did with the last two Matrix films. The original first Superman film was released in more than one final version and released in multiple editions on film, television, and distributable home video media. I won't list them. Superman II, as we saw it, was directed by Richard Lester. Donner's film (the actual recorded medium, not the finished movie as it was never assembled) was put into storage and Lester actually re-shot most of Donner's sequences If Donnor did it, Lester re-did it. All of the Luthor appearances in Superman II are either shots taken from the first film or stuff with a body double. Gene Hackman did not knowingly or willingly perform the character for Superman II under Richard Lester's direction.

So there is a Richard Donner Superman II existing in some state, but the film was never finished, and the shots never officially assembled for us the fans and viewing public. I still like Superman II an awful lot and I love the brawl between the Phantom Zone villains and the Man of Steel. In fact, it's likely my favorite movie of the series. The reason that all of this is relevent is that apparently Richard Donner is going to do some work on the Superman II DVD. To what extent I cannot tell you.

Many thanks AGAIN to the Superman Homepage.

UPDATE: Steve Younis made an addition to the announcement on Donner's special edition--a scan of the relevent Dreamwatch magazine "Buzz" column. It's presented below.

I'm still thanking the Superman Homepage.

Pencilled by the master Batman craftsman Jim Aparo and inked by Drew Geraci, what's up for bid is "three sequential pages of a Huntress story" that takes place and was printed during the "No Man's Land" saga.

"All proceeds go towards the Mississippi Animal Rescue League, thanks to the tireless efforts of Laura and Randy Martin, for scanning the art and posting it (with a pic of my rescue pups!)

The crusade is to help pets and animals harmed during and because of Hurrican Katrina and its aftermath. The purchaser will get art drawn by one of the greatest pencillers in the history of the comic book business.

The announcement was on the Dixonverse Message Board. Their archives are finite.

From our own Robert Probst:

If Jean used a flamethrower to cover up her murder of Sue then wouldn't that flamethrower have left traces of liquid in the carpet? All the flamethrowers I've seen in movies always show a liquid (always flaming) dripping from the end when it's not in use. I assume this is what allows the flame to be directed and controlled. And I also assume this is the only way for a flamethrower to work (if I'm wrong would someone please correct me). If that's so then how could the heroes not pick up on that when they did an extensive search of the apartment? I mean, it was said (and shown) that the Atom went thru the carpet strand by strand. The accelerant shouldn't have been burnt up along with the body as real world fire investigators always search for an accelerant when doing an arson investigation.

He's right, of course. Michael Hutchison elaborates.

That whole ending of the story just completely falls apart. The microscopic-inspection of the apartment completely fails to gibe with all of the evidence there was to find:

A phone off the hook.
The number of an incoming call.
The RECORD of an incoming call the minute she died.
The blood from Sue's ear.
The fuel from the flamethrower along with all of the other forensic indicators of a flamethrower.
The imprint of Jean's shoes when she was standing there.

Again, all of these things would be coverable mistakes if you weren't claiming that this evidence was being sorted through by two of the world's greatest detectives AND a CSI crew of experts in numerous scientific fields.

Now one could be generous and assume that this was a DCU weapon like Heat Wave's heat gun and/or that the flame thrower used a napalm fuel source. Actually flame throwers today use propane or compressed natural gas and whether that would leave liquid chemical evidence I cannot say but it's not a handy thing to carry around. Napalm is a seperate wonder entirely but it consists of benzene, polystyrene and gasoline (my homemade napalm solution didn't quite work because I didn't have benzene handy). As for whether or not it was a conventional flamethrower or super-paraphenelia, the panel art depicts a flamethrower, more or less. I'm also not certain where and how Jean Loring could have obtained an armed and primed Heat Gun; she doesn't have access to that kind of equipment.

The original conversation is posted here and it won't exist much longer.

Ron H asked about the napalm and he is definitely wrong about it being used in flamethrowers. On the other hand, I am pretty certain that he is correct about burnt napalm not leaving much if any chemical residue. John D. Long, the Calamari Kid, suspended disbelief enough to reach out and grab the Heat Gun reasoning.

"Just a question that came to mind upon a mental examination of the story."

- R.B.

I'm not certain that the story really can withstand such scrutiny. I'm taking these little notes down as I find them.

General Zod is running for President. It turns out that he is rather a lefty.

Hat tip to Beau Yarbrough, who credits this source.

You watch the show Lost and you read those number and here them over and over.

4 8 15 16 23 42

What do they mean?

EDITORIAL COMMENT ABOUT EDITING BYTHE EDITING EDITOR: OK, maybe he doesn't think they're spoilers, but I do...enough to put them in the extended comment entry. CLICK BELOW TO READ ON.