Ramblings of a Fangirl: Dumb People in Comics

Y'know, you've just gotta have a certain respect for people in comic books.

No, no, no, I don't mean the main characters; the heroes.

No, I mean the citizens. 

Yeah, them.

The people that can't distinguish between Clark Kent and Superman because of a pair of glasses.

. . . Really, people?

They're the same size.

Have the same hairstyle.

Seem to be nearby a whole lot.

And are never seen in the same room. . .

Granted, not everyone knows Clark that well.

But what about Lois???

She's Clark's reporter buddy and has only been rescued by Superman Lord knows how many times.

You'd think she - the brilliant Daily Planet reporter - would have pieced two and two together.

(On that note, why do we put two and two together? Why not one and one? Anyhoo. . .)

And then there's the people of Gotham.

They have a bit more of an excuse for not recognizing Bruce Wayne as Batman, especially in The Dark Knight, because Bruce you can easily understand. Batman just sounds like, "WGGG RRRR AYYYY?!"

Not exactly conducive to a  fruitful interrogation.

However!

Bruce randomly gets beat up - badly - the same night Batman disappears . . . 

And nobody makes that connection.

And he's a hermit for eight years. Batman is also MIA for eight years.

And nobody makes the connection.

Then Bruce comes out of hiding. Batman also comes out of hiding.

And nobody makes the connection.

. . .

The citizens of Metropolis have zero excuses, but the people of Gotham just might have one. . .

Just how much fear gas did Scarecrow pump into that city sewer?

Subjects of Songs

I just gotta say . . . I feel really sorry for the people other people write songs about.

Like, basically for pretty much every guy Taylor Swift or Adele has ever dated or crushed on.

Take "Teardrops on my Guitar", for example.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love that song. It's part of the reason I respect Taylor: it's not a catty song about her liking a guy and trying to steal him. It's about her liking a guy and wanting him to be treated right and loved, even if it's not her being loved back. If fact, she tries her best not to interfere.

I really respect that.

But I hope she went by the whole "the names have been changed to protect the innocent" thing, because if she really liked some guy named Drew . . . somebody really felt awful when that was released.

Or say, Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts".

I love that song, too. Actually, it seems like I've been living some of the songs from "Lovestrong" lately, but that's slightly irrelevant. 

If you watch the music video, it's heartbreaking, but beautiful in a bitter, sad sort of way.

It's like she hates him for what he did to her . . . but knows he's going to end up hurt in the end, too.

That guy must feel pretty bad too.

I guess I just feel like I'd have to walk on eggshells around my friend if they were a songwriter - I wouldn't want to end up the butt of a song.

Though, in a way, I guess it's sort of a nod: they meant enough to them that they wrote a song about them.

Anyway, it's just interesting.

And sad.

And sweet, sometimes.

Space Travel? Whatevs.

I feel like this generation is sort of jaded.

No, not in terms of morality - though I think that is true - that's not actually what I mean this time.

I think we've lost sight of what real ingenuity and creativity is.

Point en case: in a class yesterday, we were starting technical writing projects on drones. To get us thinking (it was 8 in the morning), our professor played some clips of robots used today. One of them was the landing of the NASA Discovery Mars rover.

And nobody really cared.

Fifty years ago, that would have been breathtaking and incredible. 

Now it's just . . . meh. 

I mean, we put men on the Moon and brought them back with computers less capable than our smartphones. 

Yes, that's terrifying to think about, but that means that the people involved with that had to know what to do. 

They had to do the math in their heads or with scratch paper. 

They had to be willing to put their lives on the line for that goal. (And think about how awful it would be to die in space if it failed. . .)

They were dreamers. 

But more than that, they were thinkers and doers.

Granted, technology has grown and evolved by leaps and bounds, and I'm not faulting that - I love technology. 

I'm not really sure I'm "faulting" anything.

I'm just lamenting the lack of wonder in our generation. 

I'm lamenting the fact that we don't look at the sea with wonder, remembering that we can go miles and miles down and see the creatures God made.

I'm lamenting the fact that most of us can barely see the stars anymore, and when we do, we don't remember that God knows each of them by name, and that we've put people on the Moon, and rovers on Mars.

I'm lamenting the fact that singers and songwriters with real talent aren't recognized for it, and the fame goes instead to somebody who will shock you rather than move you.

We need to recapture the innocence, the wonder, and the appreciation of simple things that we've lost. . .