Top 5 Songs: Connie Francis

TGIT!!!!!!!

So aren't you glad it's almost the weekend? I know I am.....

Went to my local comic book store yesterday, and got some nice swag.
Here's the damage:

-Adventures of Superman#'s 477-478(This was phase four of the Time and Time Again story arc that ran through all the Superman titles back then. It's basically Superman going through different points in time, ranging from battling Dinosaurs with the villain Chronos, to chilling with the Demon in the time of Merlin, to hanging and banging with the LEGION in the future. The trade's been out for years, and I highly recommend find it or those issues if you have the time and money. Very underrated story arc)

-Power of the Atom#'s 13 and 17( #13 was Bill-Messner-Loebs last issue, while Tom Peyer took over with #14. This 80's series followed immediately after the Sword of the Atom mini's and the death of his jungle queen Laethwyn and her people the Morlaidhansins at the hands of the CIA. Read the series to find out why. Another underrated and under-appreciated series.)

-Justice League Dark#6(Part 3 of the Trinity War. It's not bad, and moves things along because Jeff Lemire is actually one of the few writers currently at DC who can actually do that; write. Such a novel, revolutionary idea I know;)


-The DC Unlimited DKR Batman: I finally pulled the trigger on this one, and bought this version of Batman. maybe I can blame it on a lack of other interesting figures, and thus a slump I now find myself in. Well that's two slumps really; action figures and sex. Go figure right? ha ha


















Anyhoo, I'm glad I got him, as two skits worth of jokes alone came pouring out of my brain as soon as I'm opened the package. Diabetes Batman maybe?

Alright onto today's Top 5 Song list, and yes you read the title right, it's all about Connie f'n Francis!

Who's Connie Francis you may ask, I'll fill you in.
Connie Francis was a very popular singer back in the 50's and 60's.


If you don't believe me, go ask your parents or grandparents, depending on who was around back then:)

Oooh, Mamacita! If only I was around back then. Damn!


Anyways, Connie Francis had a shitload of top 40 hits, and very few peers during that time. And we're talking about peers like Brenda Lee, Rosemary Clooney(George Clooney's aunt) Etta James, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, and the list goes on.

Did I mention she banged and almost married Bobby Darin? You know, the guy who sang "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea"? Yeah, him.


So, in honor of her, here's my list of my Top 5 favorite songs of Connie Francis:


5). "Who's Sorry Now?"

This 1958 classic continued to pave the way to her success as an artist and commercial singer. At this point, you just knew she was something special. Not just to look at of course, but also the talented set of pipes she had on her. 

4). "Where The Boys Are"

This song was inspired off a 1960 hit movie of the same title. Legend has it, Connie loved the movie so much, she wanted a song to be written just off the title alone. A year later, this classic came out, and into the history books it went.

3). "Ava Maria"

Alright no, she doesn't sing this here, but there's no videos of her singing this yet:(

But you get the idea. Kick-ass song, and trust me, her vocals do it justice. Go find it on Beemp3.com or somewhere like that. You'll be glad you did:)

2). "Besame Mucho"

 I've heard two versions of this I love; the Beatles' and Connie Francis'. Guess who of those two I'm talking about right this minute? Yeah, that fact alone should speak volume since I hold the Beatles in super high regard.

1). "Strangers In The Night"

Couldn't find her version on video, so here's Frank's:( Dammit Youtube, get on the ball already! You're making me look bad. As if I need the help:)

Yes, Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra made this song fucking famous, but I love her version better. Her vocals, and how she uses it to paint such a picture of longing, oh god, just gets me every time I hear it.

If you've never heard her stuff before, do yourself a solid and go look her up either on Youtube or the countless free Mp3 websites that are floating around the internet. You'll be glad you did.

Some Thoughts About Superman......

Happy Hump Day kiddies!!!!

And for the ladies, or just Randomnerd:

So I just finished watching the All-Star Superman animated movie that came out back in 2011.
Yeah I know I'm behind, sue me;)

Anyways, I loved it. I really, really loved it!














Everything from the way they used and adapted Frank Quitely's beautiful art and famous panels from the comic series, all the to how well all(well most of them anyways) of the chapters flowed and progressed seamlessly.

I say most, because at least two major chapter and story arcs weren't included in the movie for time's sake.
Those being the famous "Death of Pa Kent" issue and the Bizarro story arc.

I'd have really loved to see how well those two bits were presented here in such animated splendor.
Oh well.....

But we did see a bit of the future Superman from the 853rd Century in a cool bit, as well as the main villain from Morrison's 1 Million mini back in the late 90's, Solaris, the living solar computer.

So very, very cool. And we got to see Superman's pet Sun-Eater, who acted as a stand in for Krypto. Can't beat that one baby. It was just said to see him get

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!





killed off so quick after such build-up.
Just saying......

Here's the part that did make me tear up, and no not the end, or Lois and Superman flying around together, or even his pet Sun-Eater dying(although it was still sad, and now I want one)

This scene at the beginning at the movie

It's just heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.


All in all, the movie and scenes adapted and or extended faithfully, served its purpose to bring the best Superman story around. Yes, I said the best. Morrison's Superman in All-Star, was the Superman we all know and love. The one who's so strong, smart, confident, hopeful, and above all, there to inspire the best in mankind and lead him to the stars with him.

Essentially Superman's like Jesus, but with a colorful costume.

"What!? Jesus? Really?" You might be thinking.

It's simple really when considering Superman's origins and influences.
Basically Superman's an immigrant tale wrapped up in science fiction and superpowers, thus why Superman's like Moses at first.

Then with his powers and amazing feats, and he sheer inspiration he provides, he became a large messianic very Christ-like figure.

Hell, he even rose from the dead, in case you were wondering.

So I can honestly say this film single-handedly made appreciate the big blue boy scout again.
Sometimes I, and a lot of people need something like this to remind us why a certain character or rl life person was so fascinating and mesmerizing to us in the first place.

The documentary "People Are Strange" made me appreciate The Doors more, "Living In The Material World" made me appreciate and love George Harrison more, and this one did it with Superman for me.

I guess I can break it down why I've always felt the way I do with Superman:

See, I'm more of a Batman kind of guy, and always will be. The iconography, the costume, the stories, the villains, just everything about Batman makes him such a compelling figure to me.

Sure, I never watched my parents get straight up murdered in front of me, I'm not a control freak because of said murder, I'm not stinking rich, or have cat-burglars crushing on me(I wish)

The main selling point to me about Batman(besides how fucking smart and prepared for just about any situation he is) is that you could, with years of training and smarts, be like him. Or close to it. And he's just a normal, but very driven guy.

Superman is not ordinary. he has superpowers. So no go there.
But what is relatable to Superman is his whole parentage issue being both an orphan and adopted. And then you through in how inspirational and positive he is. Always looking for and at the the best in a person, whether their shit or just an average person. He single-handedly inspires the best in us, so that we can be more like him.....

.....Even though no one can be perfect like him.
Sound familiar?

See, I told ya, Superman's Jesus:)

Show me your O-Face!

So it appears I'm staring down the barrel of reaching 400 posts, which I'll reach next week, my birthday weekend. Yay! So 400 and 32. I don't know if those are m lucky numbers yet, but we'll see;)

But damn, 400 already? Where does the time go?

Alright onto the funny

The ever-lovin' end!

Extra:

I'll give Randomnerd here some credit to the O-face skit, since I'm pretty sure it's one of things we talked about, just throwing out random ideas and shit.

An O-Face, by the way, is your orgasm face right before you....you know, orgasm.

There, mystery solved.

Oh, and here's the main reason why I even brought this up:

Remember this scene in the movie Office Space?

By the way, gotta' give a huge shout-out to our man about town, Dan.

He finally did it, and came up with his own skit using the Avengers as well. It's funny as shit, and if he keeps it up, just might allow me to retire. Dare to dream;)

"Who's Afraid Of Jamie Foxx?"

Oh shit, it's Monday already huh?
Damn.


Well never let it be said I don't try to make Mondays a bit more tolerable with
my skits. Hey, it's a small, but humble contribution;)

And on that note, here's my stance(kinda) on Jamie Foxx playing Electro in the new Spider-Man movie......
Enjoy;)

The End

 Extras:

Random quick thoughts:

-Here's my stash of comics from last weekend:

-All-Star Superman#6(The Death of Pa Kent)

-The Brave and the Bold#35(Atom and the Joker team-up)

-Savage Wolverine#7(got it for the Joe Maudriera art, might stay)

-Justice League#22, Justice League of America#6(Trinity War parts 1 and 2. yeah I know, don't ask but it sucked me in. Plus the Criminal Syndikate of Amerika's coming back, so yay!)

-Superman/Batman#18(conclusion to the awesome Absolute Power arc)

-Then I grabbed the JMS-penned Superman: Earth One OG(really good, but it was too quick of a read for me though. Not as many jarring changes as the Batman: Earth One OG)

-The next season of Arrow looks even better now that the Bronze Tiger is scheduled to show up. Actor Michael Jai White(Spawn, The Dark Knight) is playing him, so I;m sure Omega's happy. Plus Michael Jai White was one of Omega's picks to play BT, so good casting job there buddy;)

-Guilty pleasure song of the last two weeks: Selena Gomez's "Come and get it"

Yes, yes I would. Sure she's 20 years-old, but she still looks like jail-bait, but in a good way. There's a good way concerning the term jail-bait? Kinda, sorta:)

And if you ignore who it was probably written for at the time, COUGH fuck you Justin Beiber COUGH, COUGH, it's not that bad of a song. Hey, I'm a sucker for an Indian beat/back beat. Just ask George Harrison how addictive those Indian beats/grooves are:)

Alright, that's me for today......

Top 5 Songs: The Battle For Los Angeles

TGIT!!!!!


Today's edition of the Top 5 revolves around a kick-ass album by a little group you may have heard about:
Rage Against The Machine.

Yeah, them.

I first was exposed to this group by a friend of mine, who was singing "Bulls on Parade" from their Evil Empire album. I took a listen, and became an instantly hooked. Blending the best all the musical influences that influenced the group members, from Rap/Hip-Hop, Funk, Punk, Rock, and everything in between, RATM became a new politically-minded group that said what they felt, and meant what they said. Protesting and "raging" against injustices they felt were being perpetrated for no other reason than to benefit those that loved to subjugate and profit of other people's misery and pain.


They formed in 1991, and broke up in 2006. But have since reunited, and have been touring strong ever since.












Today I'm picking my top 5 songs from the Battle For Los Angeles album that rocked back in 1999, and still rocks even now.

5). "Testify"

Great video right?

I did mention how politically

4). "Mic Check"/"Calm Like A Bomb"

                               Mic Check

                                Calm Like A Bomb

Had to include these two in the same column. Why? Well just listen to the songs and try and convince me they don't belong the list. Go on, I dare ya';)

3). "Born of a Broken Man"

I love, LOVE the lyrics to this song, like this one in particular:

"My fears hunt me down
Capturing my memories
The frontier of loss
They try to escape across the street where
Jesus stripped bare
And raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture
In the name of my
In the name of my

Born of a broken man
But not a broken man
Born of a broken man
Never a broken man"

Oh my God, how could you not love that?

The "Born of a broken man, never a broken man" doesn't just have apply to men, but women as well. Hell, anyone that came/comes from a dysfunctional family or whatever type of messed up situation can readily identify with the message here.

So inspiring......

2). "Sleep Now In The Fire"

If you hear this one, and it doesn't make you want to get off your ass and dance or mosh, then you're clearly dead.

1). "Guerrilla Radio"

As  soon as you hear the beginning riff, you know the shit's on!

 "The bullets and bombs
Who stuff the banks
Who staff the party ranks 
More for Gore or the son of a drug lord
None of the above fuck it cut the cord

Lights out 
Guerrilla Radio Turn that shit up!"

"It has to start somewhere It has to start sometime

What better place than here, what better time than now?

All hell can't stop us now

All hell can't stop us now

All hell can't stop us now

All hell can't stop us now

All hell can't stop us now

All hell can't stop us now"

I'm telling you, listen to this track, and hell the whole album while you go to the gym, jog, or just want to get worked enough to tell the boss or that nosy neighbor off, ha ha.

Hell go be like Shlomo, and go protest. Whatever you do, this album will get your ass pumped for something. maybe start a revolution somewhere. Hey, it could happen:)

That's me for this week,

have a good to great weekend my loyal Morbidites;)

Back Issue Spotlight: The Brave and The Bold#28

Happy Hump Day people!

Enjoying today? No? Yes?

Well today's a treat for you guys, in that I'm bringing back the Back Issue Spotlight, and what an issue to spotlight.

Back before the dreaded reboot, DC launched the old Silver Age anthology title, The Brave and The Bold with Mark Waid and George Perez behind the helm.










Well after they left, and some quick in and out fill-in teams, JMS took over the title. Now yes, he's a total divisive person when discussing his work, but he really seemed to thrive in the new B&B setting.


His love of DC characters really showed here, especially in this particular issue that I really, really love.

Now at first glance, you'd wonder, now how in the hell are the Flash(Barry Allen here) and the WW2-era Blackhawks going to meet?

Well that get's easily explained way as Barry's helping a French scientist test this new multi-spectrum laser in order to gain a better understanding of the properties and frequencies of light.

Barry races the laser beam, but gets caught up in the laser beam's field.
And BAM! Barry's now lost in time.

Explanation solved;)


From there, Barry quickly realizes where he's at due to Nazi soldiers shooting at him.
Oh and he can't run, because he also has a broken leg. Good way to handicap an easy fix on Barry's part with his powers right?



That's when Barry stumbles onto the Blackhawks....and right away the traditional hero meets hero fight then settle things out is done right here:


After a quick explanation the Blackhawks barely believe until Barry names a crucial bit of history for them, they all get attacked by an incoming squad of Nazis.

It;s here that JMS and the book's artist Jesus Saiz really shine is showing Barry's internal conflict about using a gun, despite being a cop himself.


Barry, not wanting to use a gun, comes up with the quick and brilliant idea to just toss bricks at the Nazi super-speed style instead. While it doesn't kill them, it still has to hurt like hell to be hit by a fucking brick at super-speed!


But the leader of the Blackhawks isn't amused, and chastises Barry for not killing the Nazi solders since they're at war.

It's then that Barry wonders off and and finds a dead US Soldier's uniform, and puts it on.


That scene right there, is what really convinced me to buy this issue. Barry says "The Flash doesn't kill. The Flash doesn't carry a gun. But Barry Allen, American, can do those things in the uniform of his country, which is at war."

Don't ask me why that line and scene tend to choke me up a bit, but it does.
If only the writers of the new Superman movie had read this and really, really thought about having Superman kill at the end, then maybe that wouldn't be exploited by DC, as they're doing now, in a poor attempt to sell readers on the premise of the "Trinity War" that's going on right now.

Sigh.

But I digress. Trust me if you weren't a fan of Barry Allen before, this issue should take care of that problem after your done reading it. Because I kinda liked Barry(preferring Wally more since he's the Flash I grew up with) but after reading this, I damn sure respect him all the more.

So Barry, sans Flash outfit and use of powers(remember he still has that broken leg) fights with the Blackhawks for an untold number of weeks.

Afterwards, the leader of the Blackhawks(his name's never revealed) asks Barry if they win the war and if it was all worth it.


Barry says yes they win the war, but that there are more wars that follow it, but ultimately yes, it was worth it.

Barry says "There are still men and women out there dying every day. There've been more wars, more fighting, more death. But the country is still the country. It has its flaws, and it isn't always right, but it's still intact. And I guess that's all that matters."

Such a very appropriate assessment of history then, and now.

Barry grabs his Flash uniform and heads back into the laser beam field as soon as it materializes, and goes back home.

The scientist says that Barry was only gone for a few seconds, despite the untold number of weeks that passed by for Barry.

The scientist is excited as hell by what's happened to the Flash, saying "Extraordinary!"
Barry says "No. what I do, what I've done, isn't extraordinary. They were extraordinary."

Couldn't have said any better myself.

Again, I love JMS' run on B&B, and highly, highly, highly recommend reading it.