Mighty Marvel Mouse ears - Marvel Acquired By Disney For $4 Bil

It was announced that Marvel Entertainment will be acquired by The Walt Disney Company this morning in a deal that's estimated at $4 Billion, according to TechCrunch who reported the news.

Let me say that again, The Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Thor and every color-shade of the Hulk is now property of Disney. Apparently both company's respective boards signed off on it so this is a done deal folks.

"All is well in the Marvel U," said Mavel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada via Twitter just moments after the news broke. "Everybody take a deep breath, all your favorite comics remain unchanged and Tom Brevoort remains grouchy."

I'm quite tickled that the company that brought forth such bastions of sexual repression like the Jonas Brothers, will at least for a time be funding the efforts of one Warren Ellis.

The natural emotion for something this epic in scope is typically to list off all the reasons why this will ruin said subject (in this case Marvel) because things are changing and changing makes people angry. But I honestly don't see this as a bad decision. Disney is known for preserving timeless characters in their own special kind of continuity and that's exactly why they bought a company that does the same.

In all likelihood having Disney as a parent company will probably enhance the comic experience ten fold. Why? well first off, no one in editorial has to be burdened by marketing X-Men under-roos, Spider-Man sippy cups and other useless (yet demanded) fare just to stay afloat while taking plenty of chances in their editorial department (read, the department that actually produces the comic books).

Someone else will now tend to the money making aspects of exploiting the characters we've come to love. Someone who is good at it. Marvel is good at making comics so I expect more of the same from them. If you need an example, look to Warner Brothers who doesn't dictate the creativity inside DC Comics editorial.

I just hope and pray that this news doesn't force a Jonas Brothers comic into existence (although, probably it will).

Creating A Commitment Flowchart

Below is a flowchart I made for determining if it'd be wise to forge a committed relationship with a girl I -- hypothetically -- am dating for some extended amount of time. This entry essentially gives nothing back in terms of pushing humanity forward. In fact, it probably takes a giant leap backwards and will likely come back to haunt me in future relationships. Despite that, I'm going to share it anyways.

Enjoy...


Girlfriend Test #1 -

The Wasted Space Design Overhaul

Ask me why I've decided to implement a design overhaul of this site after a six-month-and-twenty-day absence and you'll likely get a long-ish response that's not really worth the air that was expended on it. The short explanation is that I've been wanting to rework some of the things on this blog for at least a year but have either been too lazy or consumed with more interesting things to do (this explanation not being one of them).

There has been a noticeable gap in my writing lately that didn't quite fit on either my main personal site or through my reporting/commentary for Geeks of Doom. The stuff that doesn't fit isn't going to win me any awards or instill a sense of journalistic integrity into my career (eek I fucking called it a career) but those are the most fun to do. The posts about mixing political WoWing & PedoGnomes and the extremely random beratement of a cultural happening... those are the ones I'm the most proud of.

Below are screen shots of both the old and new designs. I'm not exactly happy with the sidebar but it's 2:30 a.m. and the only thing I have to show for writing-wise is this boring ass post and no desire to tweak them anymore. But this is the basic gist... ew6yr3xb9q

Old & New...

CONTENT FAIL: 2009 Big Movies Feature From EW

I've stayed away from doing regular content features on this blog because too often I see them run dry of good ideas and more or less just end up sucking. So the sheer irony that the first feature I'm implementing is all about Web content that just plain fails.

Below, we have a feature done by Entertainment Weekly in which they offer a slide show of pictures from what they regard as "BIG" movies. The criteria for doing so, I suppose, was left to the person putting it together.

I was intrigued by the two shots of "Where The Wild Things Are" and a very picturesque shot of the new Terminator flick. But overall, the person in charge of the list should be ashamed because "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" appears with a ridiculous picture of the boys, um, making music. (But its 3D music so that's apparently significant).



[Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20249045_12,00.html]

The New York Times Is Lazy

I'm essentially over the idea that giant media organizations, like the New York Times, will ever truly get their digital audiences. This is because they treat the services they provide like chores rather than rich additions to their news.

See the example below: (Click for larger image)

And the *best* part about that screen shot is that NYT has had nearly two months to update their “sign up for political e-mails” message and no one has even bothered.

For shame.