Green

Superhero Sunday: Green Arrow!

Grab your bow and quiver for this month's Superhero Sunday: Green Arrow! Lets flash back to 1941 when Morton Weisinger and George Papp created/designed Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow.

The History

Oliver would appear in "More Fun Comics #73" and would spend the next 25 years gaining notice but wouldn't reach real popularity until writer Denny O'neil started working on him in the 60's. From there the popularity has only grown with the character getting a solo TV series.

The Character

This origin is the most current and collected version, there have been many retools and reboots of this character (like many hero's who are decades old). This origin is a hybrid (including TV elements)

Oliver Queen is a rich, arrogant, ego driven workaholic until everything is taken from him. He is young and has the his fathers company, Queen Consolidated, bother his parents have past under mysterious circumstances. But his life changes when he goes out on to travel on a ship and the boat wrecked onto an island.

Oliver Queen must survive the island and become something stronger than he was, but even after his time on the island when he returns and the world thought him to be dead he loses his fathers company and is left with nothing. The arrogant Oliver must be better and must mature. Oliver learns his bow skills on the island but always had a love for robin hood as a child. The mythos of the island only grow in Jeff Lemire's story (New 52). That is the origin. (if this all sounds familiar thats because the original creators saw Green Arrow as the Batman with a bow for Star City).

But with all the iterations of Green Arrow comes his character and who Oliver Queen is. That hero is a man who had to build up after losing his family his company and survive on an island, Oliver Queen protects a city from corruption and is progressive for the liberal rights of all humans. He is known for being friends with Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and fighting on the Justice League but mostly his own solo work.

Why this hero?

 Honestly, I didn't like Green Arrow at first. I thought he was like Hawkeye with a Van Dyke and didn't seem very interesting. As a kid he was the grumpy one on Justice League cartoon. But I was watching a PBS documentary or some other doc and it went of the history of heroes, Green Arrow teaming up to work for equality for all people was amazing. He became more interesting and I wanted to know more. 

The Green Arrow is DC's Robin Hood and green solutions and civil rights, he was later revamped to be more a vigilante in the more common sense but was given a deeper mythos including guilds and magic. He is truly an interesting character that has carved out a path in the DC universe. The TV show and new books only add to his depth and keep him interesting.

Recommended Reading

Real Life Soylent Green

That's it. I am too busy. I am sick and tired of spending time and energy trying to find food to eat. Lucky for me, someone else already had this thought. That person was Rob Rhinehart and he developed Soylent. A complete meal replacement.

I just received my first shipment of Soylent 2.0, and I just ordered some Soylent 1.5. Once I receive my second order, I will go ahead and drink nothing but Soylent for a week and see how it affects me. I have a strong feeling that it will provide a significant improvement to my life because my current diet is shit.

Stay tuned for a video documenting my Soylent Plunge.

Can't Hardly Wait

Can't Hardly Wait is your typical coming of age story a la American Pie, but this movie came out a year prior. However, this film is more than a coming of age story of just one person. It is a multi-main-character coming of age story. You have your artistic writer, feminist, nerd, jock, pretty girl, and someone desperate to fit in. You have the whole cast of the breakfast club modernized for the late 1990's.

There is not much that I can say about this film, other than the fact that it is very relatable, very honest, and very dated. Just like The Breakfast Club, there are main characters that everyone can relate to. But unfortunately while watching this film it's impossible to not burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter at some of the clothes that people are wearing. Other than the wardrobe, this film definitely holds up 15+ years after it's release. 

I'm not happy with my top level summary thus far, so I'm going to pretentiously find meaning where there is none. Towards the end of the film, the nerd and the jock get drunk, make amends, and then get arrested. In the morning, the jock tells the cops that he beat up the nerd and forced him to drink alcohol in order to save the nerd from repercussions. Later, the nerd attempts to thank the jock in public, and the jock ridicules him. Finally, the film has a text layover saying that the Jock, gets kicked out of school, fired from his job, becomes unhealthy, and becomes an alcoholic. Here's what I propose...

This is not a story about a boy who falls in love, or a group of kids coming to terms with impending adult hood. This is the classic tale of redemption mixed with the classic heroes tale. From the beginning of the film, we are made to think of the jock as a jerk. He consistently confirms this idea throughout the film. Then towards the end of the film, we see him realize the error in his ways, and make a change. He sacrifices himself for the greater good, knowing that the nerd will go on to do great things in this world. He does not acknowledge his good deed in public because real heroes do not do good for the sake of glory. Lastly, he deals with the consequences of his actions, falling into a seemingly sad life, sacrificing himself so the nerd can continue on his current trajectory to improve the world. As I said, this is not a coming of age story, this is a hero's redemption story! 

If the story I propose is in fact the theme, then this film is not a comedy, it is a drama, and it is a huge, huge bummer. I highly recommend it.

Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1XD8wSh

Paper Towns Review

I know, i know, I know. This review is not necessarily the most fitting within the context of the Friday Night Action Movie Book Club. However, full disclosure, I just saw the film, and I forgot to write a FNAMBC earlier...even fuller disclosure. I read the book and liked it, and enjoyed the movie as well. So... that's really why I'm writing about this. I'm sorry I lied. Moving on.

Paper Towns is a movie about a kid named Q who falls in love with his next door neighbor (Margo) when they are 8 or 9. In the years that follow, they drift apart and stop talking. But, as they are about to leave High School, they go on one last crazy revenge adventure, which I think I will call a Reventure.

The next day Margo leaves on her own adventure without telling anyone. This is not hard to hard for anyone to believe because she has run away so much in the past. Very few people seem to care about this except Q and his friends. They go on a hunt for clues to discover where Margo Roth Spiegelman has disappeared to...

I won't say anything more about the plot points, and I won't get analytical and discuss the over arching themes of the film, mainly because I cannot say them as eloquently as John Green. I will try and summarize it though... This film is a mixture of a coming of age film, a mystery book, a love story, and a road trip film. All these different genres, and ideas mix together very well and create a very fun and sweet film that people of any age can enjoy take something away from. I do recommend going to see the film, but only after you've read the book (link below). Don't forget to let me know what you think of the movie in the comments below.

PS: Don't go as a single guy who is almost 30. You will feel weird and get a lot of strange looks. I would know... Actually, screw that. Go and enjoy it anyways! 

PPS: Buy the book here...It's under $6! - http://amzn.to/1CUcHmJ