tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53141262024-03-07T15:15:39.357-05:00Heroes & Villainscops, caped crusaders, & other male fantasies.
ADULTS ONLY!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-4504647846709729362015-07-13T23:13:00.002-04:002015-07-14T00:04:32.077-04:00The Dark Knight returns, and Batfan60 is unmasked at last!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBqHDofPIid_1RPr_hVcAIUDin_ZLysQC75DI2PNxiD8IoCOW9BoOHeuxbIePSCpNSjAFxsyJlZcIu4_7hxK6D4YfLKrB49nBoVoOXM8RroXJN6OfgIdcN3tP0nze3UiaIFdA36A/s1600/West+Cowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBqHDofPIid_1RPr_hVcAIUDin_ZLysQC75DI2PNxiD8IoCOW9BoOHeuxbIePSCpNSjAFxsyJlZcIu4_7hxK6D4YfLKrB49nBoVoOXM8RroXJN6OfgIdcN3tP0nze3UiaIFdA36A/s320/West+Cowl.jpg" /></a></div>
I see it has been even longer since I last posted here than I thought, so here's an update: My life as a secret superhero (may as well reveal what you have surely already figured out: <b>I am Batman</b>, in case you forgot) has had its ups and downs over the years. For a while there, when <a href="http://www.recon.com/" target="_blank">Recon</a> had its chat rooms operating, it was a golden age for fetishists, because suddenly men from all over the world who were into superheroes, lycra, cops, or gloves (to name only the top 4 of my personal favorites) to find each other and interact--which could take the form of either the expected cyberplay or just basic conversation about coming out as a fetish or anything else they wanted to talk about. When that closed up its doors, I lost touch with at least 80% of the men I had met there, and since then, pickins have been mighty slim. For various reasons, I largely quit engaging in solo batplay at home in my batsuit or any other uniform (and I have plenty, these days).<br />
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But just today I got inspired to give Twitter a try--set up an account
<b>(<a href="https://twitter.com/batfan60" target="_blank">@Batfan60</a>), </b>
posted a tweet with the hashtags #superherofetish and #copfetish, and immediately started recognizing men from the good old bad old days. If you are one of them, welcome! As noted, I haven't updated this blog in years, much as I loved keeping it, but there are still many years' worth of words and pictures to keep you busy for hours. Go ahead: Get lost in my fantasies, at least the ones you share--and if you do share them, we should talk, either here or on Twitter.<br />
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<b>PS. </b>The <b>"Breaking News"</b> reports on the right side of this page automatically refresh, so please visit again to see what's happening in the Batfan60 multiverse.<br />
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<b>PPS.</b> I also have a <a href="http://bruceanddick.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">long-running Bat-related <b>slash blog</b></a> for you to, uh, enjoy. Haven't updated it in a while (a lonnnnnng while), but I still think about it, because I love where I left our hopeless hero and his helpless helpers.<br />
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<b>PPPS. </b>And then there's my <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/super2/batfan60/" target="_blank">now-ancient <b>main website</b> (on AngelFire--don't make fun)</a>, which also hasn't been updated in years (notice a pattern here?), but is chock-full of <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/super2/batfan60/MY_STORIES.htm" target="_blank">dirty stories</a>, <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/super2/batfan60/BATLINKS.htm" target="_blank">kinky links</a>, and <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/super2/batfan60/COPLINKS.html" target="_blank">other fetishy fun</a>. Again, I dream of completely overhauling it someday, but lately I've either been fighting villains or trapped in their nefarious clutches.<br />
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<b>PPPPS.</b> If YOU, dear reader, are a villain in search of a new masked and gloved opponent to toy with <i>(</i><b>online roleplay</b> <i>only--the Hub is still a major and wonderful part of my life)</i>, find me as <a href="http://www.recon.com/" target="_blank">Batfan60 on Recon</a>. My utility belt is restocked, the batcomputer has had a complete upgrade, and I am ready once more for BATtle. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-29954047249711242142011-05-02T23:58:00.007-04:002011-05-03T00:38:51.750-04:00The Killing JokeI am clearly not the first person to draw the parallel between <a href="http://forums.planetxbox360.com/off-topic-discussions/34315-yee-haw-jokers-dead-i-mean-osamas-dead.html">a certain recently terminated real-world supervillain</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/hoosier96/osama-bin-laden-dead-last-moments_n_856467_86671718.html">a certain archetypal/unkillable comic book supervillain</a>. (Nor did I ever put <a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/harrison030908.html">much thought</a> into the blockbuster movie that <a href="http://gooddoctorzeus.blogspot.com/2008/07/batbush-harvey-obama-osama-bin-joker.html">made much of that parallel</a>.) But hey, here's the first visual that looked blog-worthy in <a href="http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=osama+joker&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">a search that yielded 993,000 results as of tonight</a>:<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4L4CAwbHbn8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />(There was also <a href="http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1517832/+20">this</a>, for instance, and I expect a lot more in the days ahead.)<br /><br />In other semi-breaking news, I gotta say recent events do make <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/superman-renouncing-american-citizenship_n_855281.html">this development in superhero land</a> seem even more provocative. What both of these stories make me think about is a soundbite from Martin Luther King that has been floating around Facebook all day today:<br /><br /><blockquote>"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that."</blockquote><br /><br />But enough seriousness for now. Let's get back to horniness, shall we? You already know I am a bigger Batfan than Superfan, but allow me to linger on this tasty bit of hand-drawn manmeat before I disappear back into the shadows for an unspecified amount of time, as I am wont to do:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ywEJjIDpGXf5_eRf1NZdA1QLUe9Egs7BZKsW4gW8I7ecRa9ancyQT7UR0ID_q0bE08wN92mb9OKEK2AmQ5VX-tnALvtjH5LkyQekomVzY6heRG5_VHE5Vyy32JgF4diDm4-XQQ/s1600/SUPERMAN-RENOUNCE-CITIZENSHIP.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ywEJjIDpGXf5_eRf1NZdA1QLUe9Egs7BZKsW4gW8I7ecRa9ancyQT7UR0ID_q0bE08wN92mb9OKEK2AmQ5VX-tnALvtjH5LkyQekomVzY6heRG5_VHE5Vyy32JgF4diDm4-XQQ/s320/SUPERMAN-RENOUNCE-CITIZENSHIP.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602337122750331314" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-45875510743386911922010-07-23T11:43:00.003-04:002010-07-23T11:47:14.478-04:00It's official: Best. Batfilm. Everrrrrr.Check it out, if you haven't already:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="270"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xdpig1_city-of-scars_shortfilms?additionalInfos=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xdpig1_city-of-scars_shortfilms?additionalInfos=0" width="480" height="270" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdpig1_city-of-scars_shortfilms">CITY OF SCARS</a></b><br /><i>Uploaded by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/Batinthesun">Batinthesun</a>. - <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/us/channel/shortfilms">Classic TV and last night's shows, online.</a></i><br /><br />For me this works as a straightforward narrative, AND this Batman remains as hot as he was in his earlier fanfilm appearance. Woof!<br /><br />PS. Yeah, I know it's been a while since I posted here. I"m sure I've warned you this would happen now and then. For now, here I am again ... Feels good to be back.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-33151289649379355182010-04-13T23:07:00.000-04:002010-04-14T00:15:52.211-04:00I am a sucker for this kind of image.Four months pass, and all I give you is another lazy repost. Thank you, <a href="http://thedailybatman.com/?p=879"><i>Daily Batman</i></a>:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHA91e9RjAVMEtL2OoHX4tbN1aEiTMRQwlDJxKoRdw3vWPVv2Nw68z-i1dqksoJC3MDB0mta5_2oZpaqZpsu3vi5QD2WW_MaUsn6XaaCsP65TnX7YqpxqN60yMy179GC545NzsQ/s1600/batman-murderer-caught.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 156px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHA91e9RjAVMEtL2OoHX4tbN1aEiTMRQwlDJxKoRdw3vWPVv2Nw68z-i1dqksoJC3MDB0mta5_2oZpaqZpsu3vi5QD2WW_MaUsn6XaaCsP65TnX7YqpxqN60yMy179GC545NzsQ/s320/batman-murderer-caught.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459840414114086626" /></a><br /><br />OK, OK, you deserve more from me after such a long silence.<br />So here is yet ANOTHER lazy repost from <a href="http://thedailybatman.com/?p=873">the same place</a>:<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pDc0TwXxPnA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pDc0TwXxPnA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Granted, this makes more sense if you know the game or see other video pieces by the same guerilla performance group, but who needs context? It's still pretty funny, even on its own. And I would quite enjoy seeing a real-life Batman creating an exploding bat-logo outside my local Ben & Jerry's.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-5274804080504121772010-01-04T02:03:00.007-05:002010-01-04T02:55:34.961-05:00It's funny cuz it's hotSurely it was the '66 Bat-series that instilled in me a lifelong love of things that work on at least two levels--ideally the kind that make me laugh and make me hard at the same time, or nearly the same time.<br /><br />Latest examples:<br /><br />•<a href="http://thedailybatman.com/">The Daily Batman</a>, in which the mastermind behind the long-entertaining <a href="http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/blog/">Beaucoup Kevin</a> serves up a fresh dish of out-of-context bat-ephemera every day, including this tasty morsel of bound and unbelted Batman:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDkFZPqjX4JvIgU3NZggtMJuFtd8iv70xwE66rGtlrOPYPdddRl6DiKlY_pzQ9Z53SxEa8mPzBI2lV6PogfKVD2Viu9ton-sqacwwxCaoORiGMnLRrDvwOXhPx-bMlDl0HapmtlA/s1600-h/batman-know.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDkFZPqjX4JvIgU3NZggtMJuFtd8iv70xwE66rGtlrOPYPdddRl6DiKlY_pzQ9Z53SxEa8mPzBI2lV6PogfKVD2Viu9ton-sqacwwxCaoORiGMnLRrDvwOXhPx-bMlDl0HapmtlA/s320/batman-know.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422777975663004274" /></a><br /><br />•From <a href="http://www.cracked.com">Cracked</a> (which I remember as a second-rate <i>Mad</i>, though its online incarnation seems to work blue fairly often), a list of <a href="http://www.cracked.com/article_16870_20-most-ridiculous-batman-comics-ever-released.html">"The 20 Most Ridiculous Batman Comics Ever Released"</a>. It's a nice trip through the Caped Crusader's more embarrassing adventures (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Black-Casebook-Various/dp/1401222641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262590166&sr=1-1">the kind Grant Morrison made such mind-blowing use of</a> in killing off Bruce Wayne). Again, a beltless Bat:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFocnxpCiWzwd2A5WOvnepEvLhYwa1ZKX1kgOjeSHGhs-BRB-mCcYAyS230KOnR5GuI768hP1FhXx51UKhGNgtZX_jgE1FlncwdlXsDJEgThtsZWzr_GU3JVenuKE6D0X_rQ1ufw/s1600-h/bat191.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFocnxpCiWzwd2A5WOvnepEvLhYwa1ZKX1kgOjeSHGhs-BRB-mCcYAyS230KOnR5GuI768hP1FhXx51UKhGNgtZX_jgE1FlncwdlXsDJEgThtsZWzr_GU3JVenuKE6D0X_rQ1ufw/s320/bat191.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422785161837822914" /></a><br /><br />•Finally, a link I've been saving for ages now (and I see it hasn't been updated in years): a YouTube channel devoted to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/liveactionsuperhero#p/a/125/RVfpvdXZnbY">Live Action Comic Book Superheroes</a>. It's a grabbag of trailers and clips from Hollywood movies, fan films, TV commercials, vintage serials, and various odds and ends. There's some Bat-stuff, all of which I think I'd seen before, but what really caught my eye was the only fan film devoted to Hourman I have ever seen. The outfit is a bit cheesy, but there's plenty to recommend it to perverts like me 'n' you:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LsrDtE8WZ0k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LsrDtE8WZ0k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-74147459138115212842009-12-17T20:37:00.002-05:002009-12-17T20:40:42.951-05:00Good questions, one and allI think many of these occurred to me while watching <i>The Dark Knight</i> (a movie I honestly wasn't as crazy about as the rest of the universe), but I am really sharing this with you because I like Batman's somewhat ill-fitting but still sexy outfit here:<br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://music.todaysbigthing.com/betamax/betamax.swf?item_id=2655&fullscreen=1" width="480" height="360"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" quality="best" value="http://music.todaysbigthing.com/betamax/betamax.swf?item_id=2655&fullscreen=1" /> </object><div style='padding:5px 0; text-align:center; width:480px;'>See more <a href='http://www.todaysbigthing.com/'>funny videos</a> and <a href='http://music.todaysbigthing.com/'>Music Videos</a> at <a href='http://www.todaysbigthing.com/'>Today's Big Thing</a>.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-48353286803528209502009-12-15T00:55:00.009-05:002009-12-15T02:04:15.053-05:00Hip to be square<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiijDQD9tuE5MXE57H0KZqXC7nAxdD1PURuBc0MgxOcutvYwPti5IvPus1WvIoac6Gdh8eUmVyA2j7uD9nqF2CfdLZC8-yODj9QGtDS1CX_jkK33Z-OUYeJR7_W2M9xhEVVQ8bPvA/s1600-h/currentissue_cover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 125px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiijDQD9tuE5MXE57H0KZqXC7nAxdD1PURuBc0MgxOcutvYwPti5IvPus1WvIoac6Gdh8eUmVyA2j7uD9nqF2CfdLZC8-yODj9QGtDS1CX_jkK33Z-OUYeJR7_W2M9xhEVVQ8bPvA/s320/currentissue_cover.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415352561190700322" /></a><br />I owe LycraLord (who probably owes <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/">TowleRoad</a>) for hipping me to <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/">Square Hippies</a>, a site devoted to the beauty of the male form by way of "worksafe shirtlessness." The aesthetic at SH is broad, but seems pretty close to my own--which to say, heavy on chest hair, light on twinks, and very easy on the eyes. The subjects are mainly public figures--actors, musicians, and athletes for the most part. The writing, which tends to be brief, is invariably witty. I've spent hours with the handy search feature seeking out pages for people like <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/others/2008/11/a-little-rowe-beef-in-the-morning/">Mike "Dirty Jobs" Rowe</a>, <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/actors/2009/05/alex-oloughlin-in-oyster-farmer"/>Alex O'Loughlin</a> (who was new to me thanks to an <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> photo from his soon-to-be-cancelled tv series), and old fave <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/index.php?s=Kevin+Spacey">Kevin Spacey</a>. When <a href="http://instinctmagazine.com/"><i>Instinct</i></a> put furry Scott Evans (who plays a gay cop on <i>One Life to Live</i>) on its December cover, I headed to SH in search of more images, and promptly found <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/index.php?s=Scott+Evans">plenty</a>, along with some of his better-known brother <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/actors/2007/09/chris-evans-3/">Chris</a> (of <i>Fantastic Four</i> fame, and a fave of the Hub). I was happy to see <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/actors/2009/12/corbin-bernsen-beefy-chest-included/">Corbin Bernsen</a> and of course good ol' <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/actors/2008/01/ryan-reynolds-2/">Ryan Reynolds</a> and <a href="http://www.squarehippies.com/actors/2006/06/josh-lucas/">hunky Josh Lucas</a>--but then the list truly goes on and on. If none of the names I've just mentioned floats your boat, don't give up hope--as I say, the range is broad and well worth sampling. I've added the site to my blogroll of "Late-Breaking Transmissions" over to the right there, so if you're lucky you should be notified when fresh beef is available.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-23518740829533912682009-11-24T01:44:00.002-05:002009-11-24T01:48:29.687-05:00Bad boys, bad boys ...When you watch this video (which I found at <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/23/handcuffed-suspected.html"><i>Boing Boing</i></a> tonight), you're supposed to keep your eye on the suspect, who eats what is believed to be the ransom note for a bank robbery around 19 seconds in. MY eyes were solidly with the cops. Yum!<br /><br /><object width="450" height="370"><param name="movie" value="http://www.liveleak.com/e/fbe_1258867094"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.liveleak.com/e/fbe_1258867094" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="450" height="370"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-47399592769938045912009-10-04T00:40:00.014-04:002009-10-05T00:03:00.556-04:00My life as a bottom, Part 2: Cast of charactersAs I said in <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-life-as-bottom-part-1-basics.html">Part 1 of this post</a>, the basic structure of my defeat at the hands of a villain is always more or less the same, and the specifics--when they are worth talking about at all--are generally pretty different. So who are the men who have broken the Bat? I've already said plenty about <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/search/label/Monk">the one I call "the Monk,"</a> so let's meet a few of those who have arrived in his wake, over the last 4 or 5 years, in roughly ascending order of intensity ... (Some of these aliases are the ones we really use, and others are modified, just to throw you off. My aim here is not to betray any confidences, only to shed light on a larger phenomenon from my own perspective.)<br /><br /><b>a. Catch and Release: </b>This is a handy grab-bag of villains who have managed to ensnare Batman over the years, had their way with me, and then disappeared. Here we find several rogue cops, an amoral ex-superhero, and a semi-literate wrestling fanatic whose mistyped/incoherent instructions, utter disregard for the laws of physics, and vast vocabulary of obscure (to me, at least) wrestling holds are notorious amongst my crimefighting colleagues and me. These tend to be situations that are not ideal for one reason or another, which is often clear from the get-go, but eventually I end up giving in to them anyway, usually when a better match is simply not on the horizon for a long time. While these scenarios don't hold much longterm interest for me (or for the other player, needless to say), there is still something grimly erotic about Batman sinking so low that he is bested by someone he clearly feels superior to.<br /><br /><b>b. Turnabout is fair play:</b> In a couple of cases, I have started out dominating opponents, only to have them turn the tables on me in a fairly decisive way. Also in this category, I suppose, would be two villains who made pretty fast work of me, only to cave in when I managed to escape their clutches, each soon turning into a total submissive himself. This table-turning scenario enables me to enjoy the best of both worlds: the power of being in charge, and the thrill of losing my grip. There's also the fact that men who have subbed (to me, or anyone else, for that matter) often have unique insight into how to play both roles, and they tend to know just how to twist the knife when they seek revenge. On the other hand, having an adversary who enjoys bottoming himself always holds out the hope that Batman will rise again.<br /><br /><b>c. Officer Daddy:</b> Technically a member of category b, <i>this</i> rogue cop (what can I say? Good Guy Gone Bad is a motif that turns me on) currently enjoys a fascinating relationship with me. We sparred for months, I won, and then--in a move that surprised even me--I found myself turning myself over to him, relinquishing the reins. I'm not sure he particularly wanted this exchange of power, but he's certainly risen to the opportunity. A turning point, after I started fighting back again, came when he pointed out that he hadn't overpowered me (the usual scenario) but that I was the one who had surrendered. As a result, our storyline is the most consensual one of all of these--all the more so because he enjoys scenes in which I'm the "active" one (to use that genteel distinction for who bones whom) and he's the "passive" one. He prefers his "bois" to be manly and strong, and that makes for an appealing, fairly unique, setup to me. The perpetual problem I run into, though, is the moment in a scene with him when I want to just completely take charge, which is no longer my allowed role. There's a powerful degree of tenderness in our interactions; he's the best Daddy I know (although, as is often the case, I am at least 5 or 6 years older than him). This one is about balance, I think--within myself, and in my dealings with him.<br /><br /><b>d. Mr. S:</b> Relatively new to me, this handsome guy has a terrific feel for how to satisfy my hunger for humiliation. That's a side of myself I'm not entirely comfortable with, but one that (for that very reason?) excites me a great deal. Consequently, I allow myself to try things with him that wouldn't normally appeal to me, precisely <i>because</i> they don't appeal. I absolutely love having my limits pushed and boundaries tested by a roleplayer I trust--although at the moment I think we are negotiating what I am willing to do and what I'm not, when it comes to following orders for offline activity. (Wearing chastity devices to work for a week as a lesson in obedience = mildly hot. Wearing them on a private weekend with the Hub = not so much.) Another interesting aspect of this case is the fact that Mr. S, who I imagine can be as much a bottom as a top depending on whom he's with, tells me he's learning more about how to assume the dom role through his encounters with me. I am more than happy to be his guinea pig at the moment.<br /><br /><b>e. Machette:</b> That's my own, misspelled pet name for a longtime villain who wears no costume and adopts no rigid persona. We've been playing for at least 3 years now, in a storyline that has taken many zigs and zags. Early on, he was a more traditional comic-book-style nemesis, but he felt disappointed that I never seemed to allow myself (in character) to "enjoy" our scenes (which, I've always maintained, would be totally out of character for a Batman in the clutches of a foe). He wanted to connect with the "real" me, the one who has a regular name, holds a regular job, and does not wear a mask, and it took at least a year before I chose to let down my guard that much around him. (Those kinds of revelations are not generally part of my online life as "Batfan60"--I figure the internet, or at least this part of it, is for fantasy, not reality, and it always seems a little pedestrian to drop the bat-persona; I get to play the "real" me all day long in public, after all.) This led to a fairly long period when the artifice of Batman/villain fell away and we interacted as two ordinary guys saying hello now and then (which normally bores the crap out of me with most online acquaintances, I must say). I even--voluntarily!--lifted the mask once or twice, an unheard-of development and erotic in its own way. With the recent emergence of <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2009/09/strangers-in-night.html">the Recon superhero chatroom</a>, we're (mostly) back to being adversaries again, though the only kind of scene he seems interested in doing with me at this stage is one in which other people are involved, either as his accomplices, my compatriots, or voyeuristic bystanders (innocent or otherwise). That's okay by me, because we're pretty much on the same wavelength in terms of scenarios for Batman's interactions in public. (For a while, he delighted in demonstrating his mastery over me by forcing me to recite the "I'm a little teapot" song to onlookers, which I admit I found an appealing form of ridicule.)<br /><br /><b>f. Lycra Lord:</b> Hmmm, how do I neatly summarize a "coexistence" (as we began calling it early on, when we realized the uncanny number of things we had in common) that has become every bit as charged and complicated as the Monk saga? I have only myself to blame for not writing about each twist and turn here as they happened over the last two years, but I think that was the result of my preferring to simply live through the experience for a change instead of retelling and analyzing it here in real time. Very long story very short, what began as a typical (if particularly hot) hero/villain scenario soon took a number of turns for the surreal as we unmasked each other (verbally and then in more literal ways) and learned we work in more or less the same field, have various non-lycra-related interests in common, live a county away from each other, have longterm relationships that started around the same time, had parents who each had the same medical procedure on the same day, and--the capper--even share the same birthday. I used to think there was a novel in this, but the coincidences are so many and so far-fetched no one would buy them. As you can surely imagine, the coexistence far surpasses my usual level of roleplay interaction; safe to think of it as an actual friendship, complete with a work dimension for both of us--and yet there remains, at its core, an element of top/bottom dynamic, all the richer because I have to admit it's not just "Batman" he's affected but the honest-to-god real me underneath and aside from the role. LL is the person who introduced me to the term "edgeplay," and that concept is the best possible way to explain the dynamic between us (other than simply liking each other and liking to flirt with each other, if you want to get pedestrian about it again). Both in specific fantasy scenes and in the sheer outrageousness of our coexistence, I have gone to the outer limit--the edge--of where I can take online roleplay and remain a (very) happily married man. I have always had a very solid rule against actual physical contact with any of my make-believe friends, and yet there I was, a year and a half ago now, in my car, driving 45 minutes to meet him. There was a work-related (or, more accurately, work-enabled) reason to do so, and no lines were crossed--but still, I was wearing what he had "ordered" me to wear, and I had one of the most intense J/O sessions of my life with him when I got home that night. (I also felt obliged to tell the Hub about it a few days later, and his response confirmed that I have got a very special spouse indeed.) The vast majority of our conversations are PG-13 these days, but there is no getting around the erotic charge of spending time with someone who has such unprecedented access to (and, it's safe to say, understanding of/appreciation for) both my inner fantasies <i>and</i> my outer façade.<br /><br />So that's the lineup. As for what it all means, stay tuned: same bat-time, same bat-channel.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-72395581541473364912009-09-28T23:11:00.008-04:002009-09-29T10:19:37.490-04:00My life as a bottom, Part 1: The basics<i>Not only have I been much less frequent in posting here lately, I've largely abandoned the kinds of <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2003/04/origin-stories-part-one-i-have-this.html">multi-tiered, multi-installment</a><a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2003/06/1-on-masks-and-disguises-just.html"> personal observations</a> that I started this blog in order to share, in favor of <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2009/08/promise-hell-be-in-spandex-and-i-am-so.html">quick and easy posts about how I can't wait to see Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern</a>. (Which I still can't wait to see.) So here's an attempt to make up for lost time.</i><br /><br />It's not <i>just</i> laziness that has kept me from maintaining my old level of self-disclosure here. For a while, I didn't want certain roleplaying buddies to know too much about certain other ones, and I never want to make it <i>too</i> easy for new villains to know too much about my weaknesses without having to work for it. But what the hell: much time has passed since the heavy duty phase of <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/search/label/Monk">the Monk saga</a>, and the 4 or 5 of you who actually read this blog as regularly as I write it might appreciate hearing what has happened in the meantime, possibly to shed let on your own experiences. I've been thinking a lot lately about what turns me on in batplay, and why, and wanting to put those thoughts down in words.<br /><br />In a nutshell, getting unmasked (on various levels) and broken by the Monk several years ago seemed to open up a side of myself I've long been aware of but had not fully explored. While I can readily attest that nothing that has followed has carried exactly the same level of emotional intensity (after all, you never forget your first time), it's also true that I've tried to recapture that feeling many times since then with varying degrees of success. I think I've lost track of the number of men who have managed to get me (as the Batman character) to admit defeat--not just in a single scene, but on a more longterm level. I'm not talking dozens here, but it's possible I can no longer count them on both hands. I am called their "batbitch," their "batbaby," their "boi" (a spelling I hate, so hearing it applied to me only heightens the shame and pisses me off all the more). A smaller number have gotten me to the point where I have removed the mask that hides my true face, putting me in a more vulnerable position in regard to them. And an even smaller number--two, counting the Monk--have earned enough of my trust, and proven themselves skillful enough, to find out quite a bit about my "real" life, blurring the boundaries between my assumed identity and the one I show the rest of the world in a way that excites me as much as it frightens me.<br /><br />Those are the basic stages of what I consider the best kind of bat-roleplay. They always happen in that order, when they happen, and although the details of each case are very different, the overall pattern is virtually identical: I come on strong in my early battles with the villain, winning a few and losing a few more. (The really inept or uninteresting bad guys don't make it past a single scene, unless I'm feeling particularly horny--but I've learned the hard way that it's a waste of my time to try to make it to the next level with an adversary who isn't up to the task.) After a few months (or weeks, or days now, depending again on how badly I want it) of this back-and-forth, the truly talented villain stages some sort of decisive showdown that I ultimately end up losing, but not before putting up the fight of my life. A short time after my defeat, if he chooses, my secret identity is revealed (sometimes this is purely verbal, sometimes it's on camera) and my old career as Batman is essentially over. This stage usually entails some degree of bad feeling, since I don't, as a real person, enjoy failure or defeat as a rule, and even though I'm perfectly aware it's all a game, the hurt is on some small level a real one. I tend to spend at least a day feeling genuinely depressed--but that passes, there is typically one last period of rebellion, and after a certain period of readjustment I come to accept and (in the rarest and best cases) even <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2004/09/knightfall-2-who-rules-knight.html">embrace my new role as a bottom to the villainous Top</a>. <br /><br />The most interesting part of all this for me is the struggle: the deeper I start to fall in the early days, the more I fight it ... and the more I fight it, the deeper I feel myself being pulled in. In essence, I absolutely love resisting as hard as I can until I am finally ready to admit that I can't resist anymore. (Even then, there is usually that one last gasp of resistance after I've theoretically already succumbed, before I accept my fate once and for all--which is the stage when I admit I don't <i>want</i> to resist anymore.) It's pretty much what happens physiologically, too: I work myself up, then hold back, then work myself up some more, and hold back hold back hold back until I just can't anymore, and whoosh--there's the orgasm, and the period of exhaustion that follows, then the whole cycle repeats the next time with a new roleplay partner.<br /><br />I have my theories about what all this means, and why it's so powerful for me, but I will hold off on those till later. For now, I just wanted to convey what a psychologist friend of mine calls the "elegant pattern" of the fantasy. I should also note that I don't mean to suggest I am <i>only</i> a bottom (I intend to wrap this multi-parter up with an entry called "My life as a Top," btw), or that I go through every single phase of the pattern every single time I meet someone new online. (I should also note this all happens entirely online and entirely separate from my very happy real-life relationship--which itself does <i>not</i> fit the pattern at all.) The way I see it, the pattern is my way of reenacting a myth--the rise and fall of a good man, who will eventually rise (and fall) again in a new place and time--that, for whatever reason, is part of the story of my life.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-5493159382721914272009-09-23T14:02:00.000-04:002009-09-24T02:22:13.278-04:00Don't ask, he won't tellRemember, boys and girls: Do NOT ask a cop this question:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK70Sa38TrgBvzGS__Xc3FgWNLLN9paRWXLWVH5Kugzeuku97Wu8LoIt-646Ovh6JxdCcSd1puElBSvxXw6o6HKlSLlWalH6_gBuJLUWwuOlTH3aO0vP40ks6xS2C-i-ZiTKstUQ/s1600-h/dontaskcop.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK70Sa38TrgBvzGS__Xc3FgWNLLN9paRWXLWVH5Kugzeuku97Wu8LoIt-646Ovh6JxdCcSd1puElBSvxXw6o6HKlSLlWalH6_gBuJLUWwuOlTH3aO0vP40ks6xS2C-i-ZiTKstUQ/s320/dontaskcop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384910933076368098" /></a><br /><br />It was Officer Hub who tipped me off to <a href="http://thingsnottoaskacop.tumblr.com/">the site <i>Things Not to Ask a Cop</i></a>. The clip-art gent you see above appears in every installment, much like the characterless characters from the much-loved and much-missed (by me, anyway) <a href="http://www.mnftiu.cc/category/gywo/war81/"><i>Get Your War On</i></a> webcomic.<br /><br />When I first checked out <i>Things Not to Ask</i>, I automatically assumed it was the work of a cop or maybe a cop spouse. But the more I looked over the identical-looking single-panel comics, the more I started to wonder. Let's just say if an actual officer of the law is coming up with <a href="http://thingsnottoaskacop.tumblr.com/post/185491643/http-thingsnottoaskacop-com">stuff</a> <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kpquylTeaI1qa2ctpo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1253859460&Signature=Wtj7RE7j6mxEOcrIB1QH0EpruU4%3D">like </a><a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kpquythS241qa2ctpo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1253859513&Signature=3jXKTszzfXsKC8A3mgUXrVPU3b0%3D">this</a>, he or she (no, definitely He) surely won't keep his job very long.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-11433955164463984492009-09-09T01:47:00.004-04:002009-09-09T13:13:27.447-04:00Strangers in the night<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzN6K1RqX0hAooA8joHH7KmXCSagup27jsAyShgR6XblRGJ9YoE8FR-QrMlqEoiOh4FXQXyzmg99KZutpTKehbvPbO8K_thqHd1HE6TSdTH4IOVpySLi39JxIEG8mn5ZIX6Tw_IA/s1600-h/strangers_custom.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzN6K1RqX0hAooA8joHH7KmXCSagup27jsAyShgR6XblRGJ9YoE8FR-QrMlqEoiOh4FXQXyzmg99KZutpTKehbvPbO8K_thqHd1HE6TSdTH4IOVpySLi39JxIEG8mn5ZIX6Tw_IA/s320/strangers_custom.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379507777213712626" /></a><br />A little more than a week ago a cyberfriend turned me on to the new chatrooms at <a href="http://www.recon.com/">Recon.com</a> (which, like <a href="http://www.gearfetish.com/">GearFetish</a>, is a social-networking site aimed at fetish-minded gay men). I'd been a Recon member for years (like GF, basic membership is free, though if you pay money you get access to more features), but largely neglected the site for weeks or months at a time.<br /><br />Until this past week. Now I find myself hanging out in the "Superhero" room there for stretches of the day and night. (FYI, the main feature that distinguishes Recon's approach to chat from GF's is that public rooms are devoted to particular fetishes and interests, including bears & cubs, daddy/boy, hypnosis, and "scallies," whatever that means. One is called "Chastity," which always throws me off because it's the name of one of my female coworkers. You can also look for like-minded men by geographic location and upcoming leather events.) I haven't partaken in the chat scene anywhere much since the heyday of AOL back in the early-to-mid-90s, and I can't say it's changed much: lots of lurkers, not necessarily lots of interesting exchanges with witty and articulate conversationalists, and a whole bunch of time spent alone in a room waiting for someone else to show up and stick around longer than 5 seconds. For a while it seemed like everyone who dropped in was between 19 and 24, a demographic that didn't even appeal to me when I was in it myself; and the bottoms (generally heroes and sidekicks) outnumber the tops (generally villains) by about 4 to 1. On a <i>good</i> day. Still, Recon's Superhero room is a new way to meet new potential roleplay partners and to reconnect with old friends/fiends, and I recommend it, although I have a feeling I'm burning out on it fast. (It triggers the obsessive side of me a little too much--and I hate the needy feeling of sitting alone in public waiting for someone to talk to me, either online or off.)<br /><br />Thanks to <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112602248">this NPR piece</a> on the new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Consequential-Strangers-People-Matter-Really/dp/0393067033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252502230&sr=8-1"><i>Consequential Strangers</i></a>, I now have a new way to think about the men (and occasional women) I meet through online roleplay. As defined by authors Melinda Blau and Karen L. Fingerman, a "consequential stranger" is someone who occupies that gray area between intimate friend and anonymous passerby; you may interact with him or her once or many times (a barber is a perfect example of the latter), exchanging information about each other to one degree or another, and yet your knowledge of each other is typically limited to a very specific field. Blau and Fingerman cite the kinds of people we exchange holiday cards with, but lots of Facebook friends--the kind I last saw in person in high school 30+ years ago--seem like the best contemporary manifestation to me.<br /><br />Well, and chatroom/roleplay buddies, too. Some of these people I interact with exactly once and it goes nowhere, others develop into something resembling close friends--albeit friends whom I (almost) never meet face to face, who (usually) don't know my "real" name or what I look like when I'm not wearing a mask, and who (generally) know next to nothing about the details of my daily existence. And yet, at the same time, many of them have earned a glimpse into my innermost self; they see a side of me I wouldn't dream of showing to my best friends, let alone family members or coworkers.<br /><br />It's an intriguing theory to me because it sheds light on the current Age of Oversharing. I'm frequently accused by people in (what I insist on calling) the Daylight World of being overly private, hard to read, or just plain standoffish. Even in the chatroom setting, when I don't break character with a newcomer or I refuse to reveal my real name or hometown, I can rub people the wrong way. And yet you, gentle reader, are privvy to all manner of my fantasies--but then this is blog is pretty much directed at consequential strangers, for much the same reason that the book's authors offer in the radio interview for why women tell their hairdressers things they would never reveal to their husbands or siblings. The "consequences" of what I write here are limited if you don't know a thing about me--though if I trust you enough to tell you my name some day, then the game changes, slightly. <br /><br />Blau writes:<br /><blockquote>While those closest to our heart are synonymous with home, consequential strangers anchor us in the world and give us a sense of being plugged into something larger. They also enhance and enrich our lives and offer us opportunities for novel experiences and information that is beyond the purview of our inner circles. </blockquote><br />You can say that again! Sometimes those "novel experiences" are yoga classes, and sometimes they involve one or the other of us on our knees ready to blow the load of a lifetime.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-67008413243121125422009-08-27T02:01:00.006-04:002009-08-27T02:18:21.067-04:00Don't ask, don't tellNormally I am put off by public displays of nationalism/patriotism/warmongering, but passing this larger-than-life-sized sign in the airport has become a high point of every flight:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8-7Llf8jD2N7oXYsC6Axapaw62npowhZjcAhgqERi7gUcl3XWF1v2fEB80OomA7qmeJzhL_pIi3NvalQOPxbZtWyyIAAKHbOtiGLD3vPJUb21KMmhFNogLpWtTU6m88MsyzUVQ/s1600-h/IMG_0654.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8-7Llf8jD2N7oXYsC6Axapaw62npowhZjcAhgqERi7gUcl3XWF1v2fEB80OomA7qmeJzhL_pIi3NvalQOPxbZtWyyIAAKHbOtiGLD3vPJUb21KMmhFNogLpWtTU6m88MsyzUVQ/s320/IMG_0654.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374520119185893122" /></a><br /><br />That high forehead! That slightly pudgy face! Those pursed lips! That cryptic expression, bordering on the Mona Lisa's! Those shades! That trace of stubble! (I'd need to get nice and close to really capture it--something I'll gladly do, mind you, but it's not always a good idea to take too many photos in airports these days.) (And yes, I see the irony in that statement.) (I suppose you could say this guy is fighting for my right to snap and get off on pictures of him.) (And I imagine there's a good chance he'd beat the crap out of me if he knew I was thinking any of this.)<br /><br />Welcome home, hero, indeed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-75281041260379420102009-08-08T07:23:00.006-04:002009-08-08T07:51:07.395-04:00Promise he'll be in spandex and I am SO thereOK, OK, I'm about a month late sharing this information, but then if you take a look at the date of the last post here, you'll realize how rare it is to find <i>anything</i> from me these days. And if anything's gonna pull me out of my latest blogging hiatus, it's gonna be the news that this man:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayzmdI8eYweS_284cNwn03qC4vOBp_Zlliyy11avMeBr5vgHmYFr2A3cxQ7mGJP2TaUehGE4QelbH28svuTUplizKR7lo16uiTKy4QRrCulLrZCWOH12l3aWzIrE04pUaTT1fRw/s1600-h/ryan-reynolds-shirtless-entertaiment-weekly-03.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayzmdI8eYweS_284cNwn03qC4vOBp_Zlliyy11avMeBr5vgHmYFr2A3cxQ7mGJP2TaUehGE4QelbH28svuTUplizKR7lo16uiTKy4QRrCulLrZCWOH12l3aWzIrE04pUaTT1fRw/s320/ryan-reynolds-shirtless-entertaiment-weekly-03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367552722717297074" /></a><br /><br />is about to play this superhero:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaOcG5O4JFxvtud1yOaTL5WAeJoW5Rg3-101mmDLrJ46z0nEzSZGWDci2atCuAM_scJZbP9rDLv3VZHOWCb_pWuAGexmqyoItnJULbTnFiooK8d-pap0pzy3jqGlfR-s89h7ycA/s1600-h/GLDorineposition.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaOcG5O4JFxvtud1yOaTL5WAeJoW5Rg3-101mmDLrJ46z0nEzSZGWDci2atCuAM_scJZbP9rDLv3VZHOWCb_pWuAGexmqyoItnJULbTnFiooK8d-pap0pzy3jqGlfR-s89h7ycA/s320/GLDorineposition.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367552989708337154" /></a><br /><br />Which is enough to make me stain my bat-tights. Not only because Mr. Reynolds has got to be one of the hottest men in movies these days, but because it means <a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=17971">this won't be happening anytime soon</a>, after all. Whew!<br /><br />PS. The image of Hunky Hal in a Compromising Position above comes from <a href="http://green-lantern-butts-forever.blogspot.com/2009/08/all-romance-comics-heroes-look-like.html">my once and future favorite source of Lantern news</a>.<br /><br />PPS. <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1026144&lang=eng_news">Here's a piece of far more recent news</a> about <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2007/10/its-not-easy-being-green-part-1.html">another <i>Green</i>-themed movie</a> (which also, oddly enough, includes another peripheral reference to Jack Black).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-46919864416444063762009-05-15T23:31:00.005-04:002009-05-16T01:23:37.935-04:00Out of the comics & onto the streets<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6RYSmL0B21NuX5jQF0frRvSEwQgFmZDU36Cu_UaW9vD4IfjHdx6HSJC6j6DUg3BFYsaJD7P18tc8PLMK6rlIRAw_qSqqwd2h8PjxgEAbLo3fo9MIyvq9CvFmJlQSyi1xPKuMmw/s1600-h/Master&Ace.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6RYSmL0B21NuX5jQF0frRvSEwQgFmZDU36Cu_UaW9vD4IfjHdx6HSJC6j6DUg3BFYsaJD7P18tc8PLMK6rlIRAw_qSqqwd2h8PjxgEAbLo3fo9MIyvq9CvFmJlQSyi1xPKuMmw/s320/Master&Ace.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336283063369831202" /></a><br />Finally got around to reading "The Legend of Master Legend," <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25020634/the_legend_of_master_legend">Joshua Bearman's "epic tale" of self-created real-life superheroes from the Dec. 25, 2008 issue of <i>Rolling Stone</i></a>. As <a href="http://boingboing.net/2008/12/31/the-legend-of-mater.html">Bearman noted in <i>BoingBoing</i> back when the story first ran </a>, <br /><br /><blockquote>[T]he narrative at <i>Boing Boing</i> (and in the wider world) about real life superheroes has mostly been <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/29/real-life-superheroe.html#previouspost">bemusement at the weirdos in spandex</a>. That was my perception of the world when I started reporting. But this is [a?] most serious look at what it actually means that people are doing this, and having found Master Legend and spent a lot of time with him, I realize that what he's doing is strange, yes, but also strangely sympathetic.</blockquote><br /><br />Sure enough, while there's a tongue-in-cheek quality to the story, you do get the sense that our narrator believes there is more to ML and colleagues like <a href="http://heroesnetwork.net/">these</a> and <a href="http://www.therlsh.net/forum.htm">these</a> than an easy punchline. Here's a bit from the end of the piece:<br /><br /><blockquote>This may be the real reason Master Legend inhabits a never-ending comic book in his mind, assigning everyone a character in the grand narrative. ... [T]he reality of Master Legend, a guy who has no job and lives in a run-down house in a crummy neighborhood in Orlando, is transmuted via secret decoder ring into an everlasting tale of heroic outsiders, overcoming the odds and vanquishing enemies. To the outside world, this makes Master Legend seem like a lunatic. But to the people around him, he is the charismatic center of an inviting universe. ... Being a Real Life Superhero means that Master Legend can get in his Nissan pickup and call it the Battle Truck. He can tape together a potato gun and call it the Master Blaster. He can stand in the porch light of a disintegrating clapboard house, a beer in his hand, and behold a glorious clandestine citadel. And who are we to tell him otherwise?</blockquote><br /><br />Who, indeed? <br /><br />BONUS! Actual comments from and flame wars between some of the heroes in Bearman's tale <a href="http://laweekly.blogs.com/joshuah_bearman/2008/12/the-legend-of-master-legend.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25020634/the_legend_of_master_legend">on page 1 of the online version of the story</a>.<br />EXTRA BONUS! Deleted material from the original story <a href="http://laweekly.blogs.com/joshuah_bearman/2009/01/master-legend-super-bonus-story.html">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-19575283989091922142009-05-10T02:22:00.005-04:002009-05-10T03:56:06.094-04:00Night and dayJust finished reading <a href="http://www.realitysandwich.com/attending_dreams">an essay in/on <i>Reality Sandwich</i> called "Attending to Dreams"</a> by a writer who calls himself <a href="http://dreamflesh.com/about/gyrus/">Gyrus</a>. It's a bit dense (not a diss), and I envision rereading it a time or two, which is one reason I'm writing about it here--as a bookmark for myself. I also bring it up because I sense a connection between it and my theory that online (and offline) roleplay can constitute a kind of dreamworld. Much of the essay concerns the work of psychologist James Hillman and the notion that rather than "use" our dreams (as with lucid dreaming or psychotherapy), we should learn to "attend to" them.<br /><br />Here's Hillman:<br /><br /><blockquote>[T]his dayworld style of thinking [...] must be set aside in order to pursue the dream into its home territory. There thinking moves in images, resemblances, correspondences. To go in this direction, we must sever the link with the dayworld, foregoing all ideas that originate there [...]. We must go over the bridge and let it fall behind us, and if it will not fall, then let it burn.</blockquote> <br />That term "dayworld" reminds me of <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/search?q=dayworld">a similar phrase I like to use</a> (in my case, as an alternative to "real world"). As for "going over the bridge and letting it fall behind us," I think about that moment that sometimes--during a particularly good solo (and very occasionally joint) roleplay session when I find myself taking a leap of faith, past the point of no return, into the abyss. (I realize that's a string of three clichés, but they somehow seem so accurate as to almost be literal.) It's like getting an opportunity commit to the reality of the dream.<br /><br />No profundities here, just a memo to self that I want to find out more about both writers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-14744989391763999062009-05-04T01:03:00.006-04:002009-05-04T12:49:40.971-04:00Holy cornucopia, Batman!Thanks, Monk, for letting me know about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/fanofbats?blend=1&ob=4">the "fanofbats"'YouTube channel, devoted to a complete set of Adam West Bat-episodes</a> and even <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqvKQoRcuT4">the serials from the 1940s</a> (containing what may well be the least erotic batsuit of all time). Now I can have my all-time favorite tv show at my fingertips any time of the day or night. (Technically, I've had that for years now, courtesy of <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2006/03/follow-that-bat-link.html">a bootleg DVD set</a>.) How vividly I remember the long wait between the first broadcast and the reruns in syndication, then waiting around for one basic cale channel or another to air the series.<br /><br />Hmmm... Which sample episode should I post to accompany this news item? Let me seeeeeee ...<br /><br />I <i>was</i> planning to go with the deathtrap many folks seem to agree is the all-time hottest--<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8KwrqmmpyY">the Riddler's spinning wheel (and accompanying "sticky net"</a>--but on my way to tracking it down, I came across a more literally hot trap, brought to us by the Minstrel (RIP, Van Johnson) :<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ByXttp5hOZQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ByXttp5hOZQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Ah, such a treasure trove!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-59315645497431154532009-04-25T01:27:00.003-04:002009-04-25T01:49:12.507-04:00"Better than Prozac"I have thought comic/film critic <a href="http://frankdecaro.com/site/index.htm">Frank DeCaro</a> was hot (and hilarious) from the first time I saw him on <i>The Daily Show</i>, years and years ago. So imagine my delight to learn (<a href="http://tomztoyz.blogspot.com/2009/04/video-frank-decaros-batman-memorabilia.html#links">here</a>) that he is a fellow Batfan:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YvAK1cvSEc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YvAK1cvSEc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Love what DeCaro has to say about B's double life, "the fact that people speculate about his relationship with Robin," the outfit ("he looks great in lycra and leather--what more can you ask for in a character?"), "stalking Toys R Us," and especially the observation that "anyone who collects <i>anything</i> should never point a finger at anybody else, because ... it's all nuts." And perhaps the admonition that "you have to display it properly, because otherwise it's just a lot of crap" will inspire me to pull more of my own crap out of the basement and find a more fitting home for it in Stately Wayne Bruce Manor.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-57740880521959596262009-04-23T00:41:00.004-04:002009-04-23T01:28:18.104-04:00Holy virtual beefcake!My experience with video games is largely limited to Pong, Asteroids, and Centipede, but this new one (that I first heard about from <a href="http://tomztoyz.blogspot.com/search/label/xbox%20360">the <i>Bat-Blog</i></a> a while back) certainly caught my eye:<br /><br /><embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=14273491&downloadURL=http://ps3movies.ign.com/ps3/video/article/973/973118/batman_trl_vignette_bane_041509_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14273491.html'>More Batman: Arkham Asylum News & Previews</a></div><br /><br />You've got to love that cape, for starters, and I would absolutely do the grey-suited hunk wearing it, whether he's virtual or not. Let's take another look at our hero:<br /><br /><embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=14273491&downloadURL=http://ps3movies.ign.com/ps3/video/article/966/966979/batmanarkham_gdc09_trl_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14273491.html'>More Batman: Arkham Asylum News & Previews</a></div><br /><br />Finally, here's one for those of you who like the ladies, featuring a Harley Quinn who's a few light years beyond the original conception of the character. (Thanks, Gray Fox, for bringing this one to my attention.)<br /><br /><embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=14273491&downloadURL=http://xbox360movies.ign.com/xbox360/video/article/974/974387/batman_trl_harley_042009_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14273491.html'>More Batman: Arkham Asylum Info</a></div><br /><br />Looks to me like there's more ass-kicking than death-trapping, but perhaps it's possible to manipulate the character so that he falls into the clutches of the Joker or gets strapped to one of the many restraint devices on view. (I <i>do</i> love the way the videos are all prefaced with Adult Content warnings--always a good sign.)<br /><br />You'll find even more video promos for the game, some of them with audio commentary, <a href="http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/142/14273491/vids_1.html">here</a>. And <a href="http://www.batmanarkhamasylum.com/">here's the official site</a>, sure to grow more useful as more content is added in the days ahead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-78064863296083920102009-04-16T00:50:00.008-04:002009-04-16T01:24:28.302-04:00Hair of the Bat<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BQL01SED5_8hF7eNpURwoTXa5Y1ZpDm4XTFSvTMkizXjD0vZL_QRp6-FgXyVK0_LYTbjWAGRSR9IgE0BaDnFoXpDDhEHvMfKWIsT6lubGHpq0mvpV3AXQP5PkZFmrbqX4Qdd8Q/s1600-h/Batbeard.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BQL01SED5_8hF7eNpURwoTXa5Y1ZpDm4XTFSvTMkizXjD0vZL_QRp6-FgXyVK0_LYTbjWAGRSR9IgE0BaDnFoXpDDhEHvMfKWIsT6lubGHpq0mvpV3AXQP5PkZFmrbqX4Qdd8Q/s320/Batbeard.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325151190491837378" /></a><br /><br />Thank you, Lycra Lord, for alerting me to <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2009/04/holy-facial-hair-batman.html#more">this <i>TowleRoad</i> item on a shirtless, bearded Batman</a> (more images from the same series <a href="http://www.dudetubeonline.com/2009/04/daily_dudetube_558.html">here</a>; more work by the same French photographer <a href="http://but33.deviantart.com/">here</a> and <a href="http://but.20mn.com/">here</a>). <br /><br />As a token of my appreciation, LL, I am finally referring to you by (assumed) name, rather than as simply "a guy I know."<br /><br />PS. Not sure what to say to the <i>TR</i> commenter whose response is<br /><br /><blockquote>What is this, a "Tom of Finland" Batman? I don't need Batman in leather and chaps, taking pisses on other guys in sketchy Gotham backrooms. Um, no. Really. No.</blockquote><br /><br />other than: well, <i>you</i> may not "need" a ToF Bat, but sign me up. Except for the backroom "pisses," which as far as I can tell are a figment of an overactive imagination.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-86054326308694600682009-03-17T23:55:00.008-04:002009-03-18T01:14:40.406-04:00Who watches the Watchmen when they take their clothes off? I do! I do!I admit I was <a href="http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/blog/why-i-will-not-be-seeing-watchmen/2009/02/19/">one of those people with major reservations about the <i>Watchmen</i> movie</a>. In fact, I was one of those people who didn't even want a movie to be made from the book(s). <br /><br />Surprise, surprise: I liked it. A lot. Not without reservations, mind you, but given how low my expectations were going in, I left feeling pretty satisfied. It's been about 20 years or more since I read Alan Moore's original, so I was roughly halfway between a hardcore fan and a total newbie. I was joined by the Hub (who had never heard of the book, let alone read it), a friend of his who'd just finished reading the book 2 hours before the movie, and the friend's wife (who was in the same boat as the Hub)--and every one of them enjoyed it, too. Sure, it's damn violent, but the thing's <i>about</i> (among other subjects) how to deal with a violent world, so that didn't bother me too much. I also thought the movie did a great job at least raising the thorny moral dilemmas explored in much more detail in the book. And I appreciated the presence of a sense of humor that did not involve wisecracking heroes punctuating their gutpunches with punchlines.<br /><br />But let's be honest. My favorite thing about the movie was the chance to see Patrick Wilson naked <i>yet again</i> (see also: <i>Angels in America</i>, <i>Little Children</i>, and <a href="http://batfan60.blogspot.com/2006/05/hiding-my-candy.html">this troubling spectacle</a>). I had my doubts when I heard he would be playing Nite Owl, but I'll be damned if he didn't end up looking almost exactly like the comic book character (who is supposed to be a bit of a schlub, but I found <i>him</i> cute, too). Did I mention he was naked?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3tH9KvYgRY12xK81DialXjCfRgqF6lppOJe3fdPmcHxS0ILEccdEp-XLpnRlOjy_SQxs3D_2dIACqD5KSNkEFkVhqANQsqEJl9liUnnM_jAbrqZMPZo7oFyRgKE_07CRfQYK97A/s1600-h/niteowl.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3tH9KvYgRY12xK81DialXjCfRgqF6lppOJe3fdPmcHxS0ILEccdEp-XLpnRlOjy_SQxs3D_2dIACqD5KSNkEFkVhqANQsqEJl9liUnnM_jAbrqZMPZo7oFyRgKE_07CRfQYK97A/s320/niteowl.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314378173159183474" /></a><br /><br />(Bummer! Just learned from IMDB that his 2003 New Year's Resolution was "To be in a movie or a play which doesn't require me to take off my clothes. Unless, of course, I don't get another job... In which case I'll be half-naked and whole-heartedly depressed for the rest of my career." Hey, that Plan B works for me.)<br /><br />As icing on the (beef)cake, the updated outfit (shall we call it an "owlsuit"?) he wears when he finally suits up is mighty swell, too:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ptaHXi8alqEOMgpb0PC6VQz1c6xgt16hLCq-FV8Oe_h2IvcVvYpR8qn-kL_sf78kuMVDij1uum_6KE6ejpAPoGrBIbJah_6MXE0Yip0wtJYlzBG5eGcdBCh0D_7KiCjy0_ZsDQ/s1600-h/watchmen-niteowl-lg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ptaHXi8alqEOMgpb0PC6VQz1c6xgt16hLCq-FV8Oe_h2IvcVvYpR8qn-kL_sf78kuMVDij1uum_6KE6ejpAPoGrBIbJah_6MXE0Yip0wtJYlzBG5eGcdBCh0D_7KiCjy0_ZsDQ/s320/watchmen-niteowl-lg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314382878814236674" /></a><br /><br />Not sure I bought how quickly the meek retired crimefighter transforms (back) into an asskicking, jailbreaking hero, but that scene struck me as the only one totally untrue to the spirit of the original. Not bad odds, all things considered.<br /><br /><b>Bonus for readers who actually value literary value over hunkitude:</b> Here's a link to <a href="http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/blog/so-my-friend-rebeccas-first-graphic-novel-was-watchmen/2009/03/11/"><i>Beaucoup Kevin</i>'s list of graphic novels he recommends to folks who've been introduced to the medium via Alan Moore's opus</a>.<br /><br /><b>Bonus for readers who are as shallow as me:</b> Oh yes, there is also that gigantic blue penis in the movie.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-16983208946777312452009-03-11T13:33:00.005-04:002009-03-11T14:19:09.290-04:00Meanwhile, back in the real (?) world ...I must admit, I'm disheartened by the recent murder of two policemen by the so-called "Real IRA" (brilliant name, btw, which has now inserted itself sans quotation marks into coverage of the story, thus lending legitimacy to a splinter group that doesn't appear to deserve any). It seemed for so long lately like Northern Ireland was a workable, inspirational example of actual change in a situation that had been deadlocked for decades, if not centuries--a case for diplomacy and compromise as an end to violence. (I thought it was a very smart move, a few years ago, when reps from Ireland tried to lend their experience to participants in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, not that it appears to have done much good.) <a href="http://www.hereandnow.org/shows/2009/03/rundown-311/">This NPR interview with BBC correspondent Audrey Carville</a> struck me, as an outsider, as a very good analysis of the situation--the economic context in which the incident took place, the ironies involved (like the image of a former IRA leader now working <i>with</i> the same British police whose murders he once plotted), and just what is at stake right now. I try very hard to keep an open mind to every side of a story, particularly those that unfold on the other side of the world from me, but this feels to me like a pretty clearcut case of a small minority doing everything it can to undo years of hard work for the sheer hell of it.<br /><br />On a lighter note, we have <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101692659">"Eye-borg," the superhero-ish moniker of filmmaker Rob Spence</a>, a self-described <i>Six Million Dollar Man</i> fan who is outfitting his empty eye socket with a camera. The first interview I heard with him (which I can't find at the moment) explicitly raised the possibility that he could use his new "superpower" for good or for evil. And at <a href="http://www.eyeborgblog.com/">Spence's website</a>, you'll find the following video intro; note the many references to Luke Skywalker, Neo, and other fictional precedents:<br /><br /><object width="400" height="267"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3481857&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3481857&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="267"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/3481857">EYEBORG-- The Two Week Trial</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/eyeborg">eyeborg</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br />Maybe Eye-borg can lend <i>his</i> services to "the Troubles."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-40076633878580649632009-03-11T03:16:00.005-04:002009-03-11T04:06:00.733-04:00Stretching outI've never heard of <a href="http://www.kosmix.com/"><i>Kosmix</i></a> (which is described as "Beta-ish" in its logo at the moment), but they've heard of me, and presumably you, too. That is to say, they've got <a href="http://fashion.kosmix.com/topic/Spandex_fetishism">a page devoted to Spandex Fetishism</a>. Kind of handy, I guess, since it includes Wikipedia entries, Google searches, videos, and lots of other web resources of interest to underwear perverts the world over. Check it out!<br /><br />Here's a sample: a portion of an amateur video that is so completely abstract you may even have trouble figuring out the gender of the star. Now that's what I call a fetish!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sREWXIQA9IY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sREWXIQA9IY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />(Consider the above my gift to the various het and bi males and lesbians I've befriended via this blog and our mutual fondness for stretchy synthetic fibers, no matter who happens to be wearing them.)<br /><br />As a bonus, the video above led me to two more you might enjoy, starting with this homemade montage of ... well, it's pretty clear right away:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AStdJSFfii4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AStdJSFfii4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />And here's an appealing little tease from an <i>Eye of the Cyclone</i> DVD:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f7a7Q6Rk9mw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f7a7Q6Rk9mw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I'm happy to see that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/eyeofthecyclone">"eyeofthecyclone" has a YouTube channel</a>, since <a href="http://www.eyeofthecyclone.com/">the main website</a> is now subscription-based. I'm all for helping a fellow pervert earn an honest buck in these tough times, but it seems like the lion's share of Cyclone stuff is wrestling-related, and while there's nothing wrong with that in my book, it doesn't exactly float my boat, either (if you'll permit me to mix metaphors).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-18060137858000722112009-03-01T22:21:00.004-05:002009-03-01T23:37:59.524-05:00No shit, SherlockLots of recent odds and ends, connections between which I largely leave to you:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.wpr.org/book/050925a.html">An episode of the public radio show <i>To the Best of Our Knowledge</i> devoted to Sherlock Holmes and other fictional detectives</a>. For the record, I admit to a mild Holmes fetish, particularly when he is portrayed by Jeremy Brett or Basil Rathbone, and particularly in the WWII-era Rathbone films like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038259/"><i>SH and the Woman in Green</i></a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038494/"><i>Dressed to Kill</i></a>. The real reason I like that series--films in which Holmes is moved into the present day, surely to the horror of true A. C. Doyle fans--is that they are lower than the "real" stories on detective work and higher on, you guessed it, delightfully kinky deathtraps. In many of them (I think there are at least four made back-to-back in the mid-1940s) Moriarty gets to be a Joker-style archnemesis bent on our hero's demise, more overtly than in the canonical novels and tales.<br /><br />2. Another public radio show, <a href="http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/"><i>RadioLab</i></a>, recently rebroadcast <a href="http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/02/09/morality-rebroadcast/">an episode devoted to the subject of morality</a>. This summary lays out the terrain:<br /><br /><blockquote> we’ll explore where our sense of right and wrong come from. We peer inside the brains of people contemplating moral dilemmas, watch chimps at a primate research center share blackberries, observe a playgroup of 3 year-olds fighting over toys, and tour the country’s first penitentiary, Eastern State Prison. Also: the story of land grabbing, indentured servitude and slum lording in the fourth grade.</blockquote><br /><br />3. And speaking of morality (see, these items <i>are</i> connected after all!), <a href="http://johnnybacardi.blogspot.com/2009/02/apocalypse-nerd-or-alas-poor-scansdaily.html">here's a nice piece on the demise of (and ethics of) the pirated-comic-panels extravaganza <i>Scans Daily</i> from Johnny Bacardi</a>. I admit it--I visited often (though never daily) in search of images that floated my bat-boat. But apparently I didn't check it <i>that</i> often, or I would have known that <i>SD</i> was no more. Easy come, easy go, I guess.<br /><br />4. Finally, a link that has nothing to do with morality, but if I don't post it now I'll forget about it: <a href="http://tomztoyz.blogspot.com/2009/03/batmans-bat-utility-belt-schematic.html"><i>Bat-Blog</i> tipped me off to a Flash animation of Batman's utility belt</a>. Here's <a href="http://edison.seattlecentral.edu/~bobrie06/Flash2/Bat_Belt_FINAL.html">a direct link to the project</a>, which was originally intended for tech geeks and vanilla-flavored comics fanboys, but I say, bring on the belt-fetishists, too!<br /><br />I assure you, the animated version is more fun than this mere frame grab:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxskJh4uMDfRcEaFV_Kw1X2d7o1CpG582BSR3WhQt9e4w-z9HaKm2Hmu4s50PpXrna8id8Oc9IHVaAV1OlFDV5JqP7KdiYydh5ISbjdzbO0y_DNw4tk36u04YkIBto2b9PCnLrQ/s1600-h/Reis+Bat-Belt+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxskJh4uMDfRcEaFV_Kw1X2d7o1CpG582BSR3WhQt9e4w-z9HaKm2Hmu4s50PpXrna8id8Oc9IHVaAV1OlFDV5JqP7KdiYydh5ISbjdzbO0y_DNw4tk36u04YkIBto2b9PCnLrQ/s320/Reis+Bat-Belt+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308436832063591906" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314126.post-83845277291530155412009-02-25T19:10:00.010-05:002009-02-25T20:20:50.018-05:00Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjedikkwTLsM5VcIoQkSUr301If3wyndhr2DMUyMyAeXZg2KCVno-1BEUESdpmWBk_Rc_K5McnUHcWi66TrjVfjGjWHmdAM5K7mIybRglUWPOc4IZFzfY6Ictk6ct1osAJ2h1303Q/s1600-h/ZPBcoversm.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 247px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjedikkwTLsM5VcIoQkSUr301If3wyndhr2DMUyMyAeXZg2KCVno-1BEUESdpmWBk_Rc_K5McnUHcWi66TrjVfjGjWHmdAM5K7mIybRglUWPOc4IZFzfY6Ictk6ct1osAJ2h1303Q/s320/ZPBcoversm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306900014223366306" /></a><br /><a="http://www.skirball.org/index.php?option=com_ccevents&scope=exbt&task=detail&ccmenu=v2hhdcdzie9u&oid=34"><i>ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950</i>, an exhibition of rare artifacts and memorabilia on view through August 9 at the Skirball Cultural Center in LA</a>, sounds pretty remarkable. (I first learned about it through <a href="http://tomztoyz.blogspot.com/2009/02/los-angeles-ca-zap-pow-bam-superhero.html">the Bat-Blog</a>, which also directed me to <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/view/248245/1">this slideshow of 20 images from the show</a> on the <i>LA Weekly</i> site.) The show contains such treasures as the very first sketches of the Joker and Superman, as well as the writing desk where the latter character was born and a photo of the real-life model for Lois Lane. But here's the passage from <a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/style_council/books/jewish-boys-and-comic-books-za/"><i>LA Weekly</i>'s blog</a> that made me envision Joker himself, Catwoman, or any of a legion of other villains from the '66 TV show scheming to break in:<br /><br /><blockquote>The copy of <i>Action Comics</i> #1, the holy grail of comics, which contains the first appearance of Superman [, is one of] less than a hundred copies ... known to exist. The copy at the Skirball is on loan from an anonymous collector and is being shown under a plexiglass cover in the <a href="http://www.skirball.org/index.php?option=com_ccevents&scope=exbt&task=detail&oid=35">"Lights! Camera! Action!" sub-exhibit</a> one room over from the main gallery.</blockquote><br /><br />Heavens to murgatroyd! Have the press and museum curators of the world learned <i>nothing</i> since that rash of burglaries at the Gotham Museum back in the day?! Why, they're exhibiting <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/view/248245/13">a chunk of kryptonite</a>, all but asking for a skirmish between Superman and some archfiend!<br /><br />The Skirball also promises "stations that allow children to dress up as Superheroes or transform themselves via a quick costume change in a telephone booth"--and I ask, yet again, why is it that kids get to have all the fun in this world? But there is a serious intent behind all the interactive bells and whistles, as discussed in the blog post quoted above:<br /><br /><blockquote>We're kind of in need of superheroes lately. That need is one of the major overlaps between the "golden age" of comic books and the present time. Hence, the Skirball's argument goes, the current resurgence of comics. And because it's the Skirball, the other major point is the Jewish connection. Without having to Wikipedia it, did you know that Stan Lee (the genius behind Spider-Man and Marvel comics) was actually Stan Lieber? And that Superman was created by two 17-year-old Jewish boys? In fact, the entire superhero genre was created by young Jewish artists in the midst of the economic turmoil of the 1930s and 40s.</blockquote><br /><br />If you're unlikely to make it to the show in person, you might want to consider ordering <a href="https://www.thebreman.org/shopsite_sc/catalogue.html">the exhibition catalogue</a> (pictured above) from the show's home base, <a href="http://www.thebreman.org/">the William Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum</a> in Atlanta. In addition to photos, it includes essays from Jerry Robinson, Jules Feiffer, and Michael Chabon. I'm not sure of the page count, but at $18.50, it might just be a steal.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0