Category Archives: The Geek Life

This Week in Geek: Civil War

Civil-War-670-665x385

 

It’s old news by now that Captain America 3 will be loosely based on the Civil War Story line from Marvel Comics. It has become one of the more highly anticipated non-Avengers movie in the MCU lineup. It is a story line that should see Captain America and his supporters facing off against Iron Man and his supporters. For those that are unfamiliar with the comics story line let me summarize it for you. It starts out with a young superhero group known as The New Warriors. They are superheroes and reality TV stars. On one particular adventure near Stamford, Connecticut, one of the bad guys-Nitro- goes off causing an explosion that destroys miles of the area they are in, killing a bunch of people. Included in that area was a school and 60 kids die. This leads to congress passing the Super Human Registration act, requiring all super humans to register so the government can more closely monitor/control their actions. This also means that their secret identities would become public. At this time, Tony Stark is running SHIELD, and he ends up supporting the act. He believes that someone should be regulating all the super beings and their powers and what they do with them. He is obviously not concerned with his own secret identity (secret identities, with a few exceptions, are not as big a deal in Marvel as they are in DC). Cap opposes the act. He feels like it is taking away the rights of the super powered beings, and even though he has no secret identity, he understands how that is a protection to some of the other heroes. Cap and Iron Man become the de facto leaders of each side and the whole Marvel Universe is split on the issue of super human registration.

Those familiar with this story line in the comics had some idea of how the Civil War movie was going to play out. Obviously, the film was not going to follow the story line exactly, but the broader story could work out. This last week Marvel announced that Captain America: Civil War was beginning principal photography in preparation for its May 2016 release. Along with its announcement that the shooting was beginning, Marvel also announced who was going to be in the film and how the basic story line would play out. You can find all those details here.

If you look at the list, at first glance, it looks like the whole MCU will be in this movie, but there are a few notable names left off the list. Nick Fury, Maria Hill, The Hulk, and Thor are all missing from the list of cast members. Some have called this film “Avengers 2.5,” but it will be a very different Avengers team if these characters will in fact be missing from the film. It looks like Daredevil will also not be making his debut on the big screen with Civil War. Also missing is Spider-Man. The final decision on who will be the MCU’s Spider-Man has not been made, so just because he is not listed here does not mean he won’t be in the film. They are probably waiting to make that announcement separately.

There were also some interesting names on the list. Most intriguing is General Ross. We haven’t seen him since he was hunting after Edward Norton as the Hulk. It’s been a while. What makes his inclusion even more interesting is that Hulk is not on the list. So why is ol’ Thunderbolt going to show up? Maybe we will be seeing a Hulk in the film, he just won’t be green. Martin Freeman is also listed, but not who he is playing. I honestly have no idea who he will be playing in the film. I don’t even know where to begin to guess, but I do wonder if it will be similar to Robert Redford’s character- someone we have never heard of before. Black Panther and Ant-Man are both listed in the film, so it will be interesting to see where they fit in. The other really interesting character is the Winter Soldier. What will his role be in the movie? In any case, it is a very impressive list of characters.

We also get an idea of how the actual story will play out. Instead of the New Warriors being involved in the incident that leads to the Super Human Registration act, it will be the new Avengers team. This makes sense, since we have never seen the New Warriors in the MCU. Plus, from a lot of the rumors we are hearing, the new Avengers will be the primary team in the Infinity War Part 1, so it makes sense to have them working together before that, and this movie is a perfect opportunity to play that out. It will also be interesting to see which of the characters will end up on which side.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out leading into Phase 3, how it will set the phase up and what the after effects will be.

What do you think of the cast and story announced for Civil War? Are you excited to see how it all comes together, or are you afraid it may be too many characters to cram into one movie? Let me know in the comments.

Sunday Night Flicks: The Princess Bride

Some of my fondest memories growing up revolve around our old tube TV and VCR and sitting down with my family to enjoy a great movie. In fact, almost all of my favorite memories growing revolve around good movies and good company. There was something special about going on a Friday night to the local Video store to pick out a movie or two and then coming home and watching it. Staying up late, bringing out all the blankets from your bedroom and making a big pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, lying on your stomach, head perched on your hands, kicking your feet back and forth and watching those opening credits. It was almost always magical. In some ways, kids today will never experience that kind of magic. Their idea of movie night is sitting down with the iPad and selecting a show to watch on Netflix, and their movie night happens every night, and is rarely together. Although when they have setups including TV’s and soundbars like the ones you can view here, I’m must admit, I get a little jealous of the quality. But in all seriousness, they will never know the joys of going to the video store, spending an hour at least trying to find the perfect film. I remember browsing for so long thinking about trying something new, but often times, I would settle for an old favorite. My favorite movies were like good friends. I know that sounds sad, but I don’t think I minded.

Sunday Night Flicks is my attempt to get some of that magic back. I think part of the magic was more than just the experience. Part of the magic were the great films we watched. I want my kids to experience those films. I want my kids to be the kids who look down on other kids who don’t know classic films. I want my kids to appreciate a good film for being a good film, and not just the latest and greatest. In short, I want my kids to be geeks like me. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

The Princess Bride was one of those old favorites for me. If I couldn’t find something new at the video store, I would pick this film. Eventually, we owned it on VHS (ahhh, the glory of VHS), and the case quickly became battered and well worn as we watched it over and over again. I could recite almost the whole film from start to finish. I would run through the house with anything I could find that resembled a sword and yell, “Hello, you killed my father, prepare to die!” It was just such a big part of my childhood, that I felt it was an appropriate place to start with my kids. And, we had just bought it on iTunes and watched it for Valentine’s. Let’s be honest, there is nothing wrong with watching The Princess Bride two days in a row.

The key was finding a way to entice the kids to watch it. My kids rarely agree on anything when it comes to watching a movie. Plus, they rarely want to watch something not animated. We can talk about all the ways I have obviously failed as a parent later. I’m working on it. I started with my oldest daughter, Eliza. She was going to be the easiest sell. I asked her if she wanted to watch a princess movie. Before I could say anything else, she was on board. No problem. She loves all things princess, and I like to show her princess stuff that isn’t Disney. Like Star Wars (wait…well it didn’t start out as Disney).

Next, I had to convince my oldest child, Johnny. I wasn’t sure how to do it. I knew he would love the movie, but he had to get past all the kissing and stupid stuff like that. Then I remembered the way the Grandpa in the film convinced the Grandson to listen to the book. I asked Johnny if he wanted watch a movie with sword fighting, and giants, and a fire swamp, and pirates. He just kept getting more and more excited as I added more things to what was in the film. He was sold. The other kids would fall in line as long as the oldest 2 were on board.

Then we started the film. At first, I think Johnny agreed with the Grandson. He thought I had tricked him. Eliza loved the whole “As you wish” thing and started repeating it over and over. Except when I asked her to do something for me. Then she only remembered how to say no. Apparently she doesn’t love me. Johnny was about to be bored and ready to walk away, about the time that Buttercup runs into the 3 kidnappers. Now, i am going to assume that most of you have seen this film, so I am going to be pretty free with any spoilers. Anyway, as they kidnapped the princess, Johnny was suddenly interested again. When she jumped overboard and the eels started circling her, both Johnny and Eliza were on the edge of their seats.

Johnny thought the Man-in-Black was pretty much the coolest guy ever as he beat Inigo in their awesome sword fight, and then when he beat Fezzik. Johnny thought he was pretty much a superhero at that point. Eliza was thrilled when he turned out to be Westley, because she thought he had died. I thought that was funny, because I always thought that it was pretty obvious that he was Wesley from the beginning. I guess not when you’re a kid and this is the first time you have seen the show. They enjoyed every minute of the film, and something fun happened as we watched it. We all started out in different spots on our sectional, but by the end, we were all cuddled up together.

As I sat there with my kids all around me and my wife and I only separated by a two-year old, I thought about how good movies always did this when I was I kid. They brought us closer together. They gave us inside jokes to enjoy together, they gave us laugh and tear together and all-around gave us a common experience that brought our family together. That was what was happening now with my young family. It gave me a thrill to see that they were enjoying this movie as much as I did as a kid. After the movie, I asked they liked it. Eliza said yes right away. Johnny kind of shrugged his shoulders, like he didn’t care or he was too cool for it, but the smile on his face gave it away. The best indicator was that they wanted to watch it again tonight.

I can’t wait to show them more great movies. Each week will be anew experience and hopefully it will bring us closer together as a family. Hopefully, it will help my kids to appreciate really good movies with really good stories. Hopefully, it will make them want to tell really good stories. Who knows. Mostly, I hope it will be fun, and someday, maybe they will have blogs of their own where they write about stupid little stuff like this that always seems to mean so much more than the big stuff.

Sunday Night Flicks: Back to the Future

In a continuing effort to expose my children to more than just the stuff that’s on today, we are choosing a different movie each week that we think they might kind of enjoy. Maybe I can see if any ATT Bundles have good film channels we can all watch together. This week was Back to the Future. I would like to take full credit for selecting this movie and making my kids sit down and watch. This was an absolute favorite when I was a kid. It was just so cool. I wanted to be Marty McFly when I grew up. Who wouldn’t want to be him? He was just so cool. In fact, I distinctly remember a period of my life where I was slightly angry with my parents because they did not name me something cool like Marty. Or maybe Jason, but that’s not related to this at all, so I probably shunt have mentioned it. Not only was the premise to the film cool- Kid gets accidentally sent back to the past, where he runs into his parents and has to find a way to get the two of them together and find a way to get back to the future- but the way he went back in time was awesome. He was trying to get away from Libyan terrorists in a DeLorean that is also a time machine. I was convinced that the DeLorean was the coolest car ever when I was a kid. When Doc mentions something about if you’re going back in time, you might as well go back in style, he wasn’t lying. I loved all three BTTF movies. They really were such a big part of my growing up. For all of those reasons, I wish I had thought of this movie being our second attempt at Sunday Night Flicks, but it was my wife’s idea. And of course it was, because, well, my wife is cooler than yours. When she suggested it, I was totally on board with the idea.

My kids loved last week’s Sunday Night Flick, so when I suggested doing it again, they were totally stoked. This time, they didn’t care what the movie was. I told them anyway. Johnny thought it sounded awesome, while Eliza just asked if it was funny. I told her it was, and then hoped at least some of the jokes wouldn’t be over her head. Fortunately for me, anytime someone falls over while trying to put pants on, and they have purple underwear, she thinks it’s hilarious (it happens more often than you’d think). Overall, the kids liked the movie, although it took them a little bit to get the concept of time travel, which was surprising since they have watched so much Doctor Who with me. Maybe I should have explained that the car was like Marty’s TARDIS. Maybe that would have caught them on to it more quickly.

I wish I could say that this week went as smoothly as last week, but unfortunately, it didn’t. Jak was not interested at all in the movie, which is fine. He usually isn’t, and we don’t try to force him. That wasn’t why it didn’t go as smoothly. No, the problem this time was equipment. I think our Blu ray player is getting older and had been well used. I mean it is going on 5 years, which for cheap tech nowadays, is more than a life time. It had a hard time reading the disc. We would get a little bit into the film, and then it would just freeze. We tried cleaning the disc and starting it from where we left off, and then it would just freeze again. Now, if you have ever been in a similar situation as this, with 5 children, then you’ll know how well kids remain patient. I mean my kids just sat there quietly while we tried to get it to work and politely asked to help. And then monkeys began flying out of my posterior (Garth). What really happened is that the kids were so excited about the whole thing, that when the movie stopped working, they had not choice but begin running around the family room and jump on our sectional and start our very own version of the latest WWE pay per view. That’s what kids do when they are expecting to be entertained, and all of a sudden the entertainment stops working. The good news is that I actually find all of that chaos very therapeutic and calming so it really helped me work through trying to get the Blu ray player to work without getting frustrated at all. After messing with it for 20 minutes, and just before the kids’ main event, which was going to have Johnny facing off against Jak for the Dietz Family Heavyweight Championship, I decided to just download the movie from iTunes. Which worked like a charm.

This is how good Back to the Future is: I started the movie off where we had left off, the kids immediately sat down and were quiet and glued again to the TV. That is being written, by the way, with no sarcasm. That is honestly what happened. That is the mark of an exceptional film, at least by our standards. It’s like this: I would give that movie 2 out of 5 kids- in other words it got 2 of my 5 kids to sit down and watch it. Forget stars, that’s how I rank movies. How many of my children will the movie hold captivated for the length of the movie? If it’s less than 3, it’s not worth my time. This movie got 4 out of 5 kids sitting and watching it. We have only come across a few 5 kid movies: My Neighbor Totoro, Frozen, and Hal’s Moving Castle. Those are truly magical films because they keep the other kids sitting and watching, and Jak is even interested. 4 out of 5 isn’t bad, though. Even my little 2 year-old was just sitting on my lap for the whole movie and was glued to it. So, despite the 20 minute forced intermission, it worked out well.

Now how’s this for a truly geeky moment: As I was watching the movie, we had just had Stake Conference and one of the speakers had spoken about Family History. So, as I was watching BTTF, I kept thinking, this a really good endorsement for the importance of Family History. Marty had a whole new respect for his parents as he got to know them. It made me want to go out and do my own Family History. A little search online took me to Genealogy Bank, where you can research your roots. It may be a little time-consuming, but interesting nonetheless. There is a quicker way… I just have to remember where I parked my time machine…

LEGO Americana Tour-Geek on the Street

CapitolBuilding

This is the US Capitol Building. Not the real one, obviously, but a replica built to scale, entirely out of LEGOs. Which is just incredible. This is part of a tour currently going on of famous American structures built entirely out of LEGOs. It’s the LEGO Americana Tour, and for a good portion of March (7-22) it is here in Salt Lake City, at Fashion Place Mall. Well, when someone says historical buildings made out of LEGOs, well, I come running. I love history, and I love LEGOs, so something like this is just awesome. Plus, it was a great free activity to take the kids to, which is always a bonus.

There were 10 structures in all made entirely of LEGOs. They had the Liberty Bell, The Capitol Building, The Washington Memorial, The Old North Church, Independence Hall, The Statue of Liberty, The Jefferson Memorial, The White House, The Supreme Court, and The Lincoln Memorial. Each structure was pretty amazing, and a reminder that with enough LEGOs, one really can build anything. I didn’t get pictures of each one, partially because I am lazy, and partially because any time we take all 5 kids out, at some point it becomes this weird sport that is a perfect mix of wrestling and a foot race. In any case, we did get some highlights, and those are going to be the bulk of this post, plus at the end, I present a mystery about one of the structures.

CapitolwithKids

 

The first structure we really noticed when we walked into the Mall was the US Capitol Building. It was massive. The first one we actually passed was the Washington Memorial, which somehow kind of just blended in like it was a column or something, but once we noticed what it was, it was pretty cool too. The Capitol, though was just really large, and the attention to detail was pretty cool. All the columns, and each window and the mural carved into the front of the building, it was all there. In this picture you can get an idea of how large the LEGO structure was compared to two of my children. They had a drawing right next to it where you could guess how many individual LEGO pieces were used to make the structure. My son, Johnny, told me he guessed 1,000,000. He is convinced he is going to win with that guess. We’ll see.

Independence 1

 

This was Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed back in 1776. I mean, this is a replica, obviously, and not the actual Independence Hall. This one was my wife’s favorite of all the models they had there, and I love how simple it looks compared to a lot of the structures. This was America’s humble beginnings, and I like that. My daughter is showing here how much respect she has for history as she makes a face for the camera. How sweet. We’ll have to work on that.

TheLibertyBell

 

This is the Liberty Bell, complete with the crack in it, which was the first thing Johnny looked for when he saw it. At least he knew what it was and why it was significant. All the models at the show were scale models. The scale for this one, however, was 1:1. That’s right, this particular structure is the same size as the actual Liberty Bell. That’s pretty cool. Now I feel like I don’t really need to go to Philadelphia and see the real one. This was pretty detailed as well. It even had the old, and now incorrect, spelling or Pennsylvania with only one “n”, Pensylvania. That was a more common spelling of the name at the time.

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Jak’s favorite, as you can tell from his facial expression, was the Statue of Liberty. In fact, when he saw this one from a distance, he went ahead and ran aways from us and straight for it (this was the beginning or our wrestling/foot race sport). This was probably my least favorite because the others all looked so real, but this one didn’t, because of the face. The game was very cartoony. I understand how amazing it is to have the whole thing made out of LEGO bricks, but it was just out-of-place.

LincolnMemorial

LincolnMemorialCloseUpLast up, was Johnny’s personal favorite, the Lincoln Memorial. Last month, around Presidents’ Day, Johnny was telling me that Lincoln was his favorite President, which is awesome, because i love Lincoln. I asked him what Lincoln was famous for, and his response was a little surprising. He said, “He made Gallaudet, the first deaf college.” I looked at him and said,”What else?” Then he smiled and did a face palm, and said, “He freed the slaves.” Don’t be too hard on Johnny, he is deaf, and his dream is to someday attend school at Gallaudet University, so remembering that Lincoln had that tie first, for him, makes sense. Lincoln, of course, did not found the University, but he did sign their first charter back on April 8, 1864, which, coincidentally is the same day that the 13th Amendment was passed in the Senate (it would sit in the House until passed on January 31, 1865). This charter made Gallaudet the first institute of higher education for deaf individuals. It remains the only one to this day. There are plenty of schools that have great programs for the deaf and hard of hearing, but Gallaudet is the only whole college for deaf people.

This brings me to my little mystery, or conspiracy theory. If you take a close look at President Lincoln’s hands at the Lincoln Memorial, you’ll notice that one hand is clenched in a fist, while the other hand is more relaxed and open. According to the National Park Service website, the clenched hand represents Lincoln’s strength and determination to see the war through to the end, while the relaxed hand is more open representing his compassionate, warm nature. Many members of the Deaf Community have a different theory. They say the clenched hand is in the shape of the letter “A” in the manual alphabet, while the open hand is in the shape of the letter “L.” The NPS website dismiss this theory as false, and claim the meaning of his hands is only the meaning they provide. However, Daniel Chester French, the sculptor of the Abraham Lincoln statue, has another famous work in Washington, DC. On the campus of Gallaudet University is the statue of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the first teacher of the deaf in the United States, and his first student, Alice. This Gallaudet is the namesake for the University. This statue was also sculpted by Daniel Chester French. It is possible that he was exposed to a little ASL as he sculpted this for the school, and that he was exposed to the fact that Abraham Lincoln was the president who signed their charter, allowing them to bestow degrees upon their students. It seems like a solid enough connection to make this theory at least plausible.

In any case, the LEGO Americana tour is here until March 22, and is well worth your time if you are into LEGOs or into history or into both. If you’ve gone already, what was your favorite LEGO structure there? Let us know in the comments.

This Week in Geek: Leonard Nimoy Passes at Age 83

leonard-nimoy-spock-star-trek-2Leonard Nimoy was an icon. I can’t think of any other way to describe him. There are a few faces that are instantly recognizable as the characters they play in a movie or a TV series. Leonard Nimoy was Spock, and Spock was a character that meant so much yo so many. I was saddened to hear that he had passed away on Friday, but I was also grateful for everything he left behind. His body of work, particularly in the Star Trek universe, will remain a source of inspiration for countless geek generations to come.

I have been thinking of the last day or so about what made Spock so important, what made him stand out. I think one thing that made him stand out was that Star Trek was the first really successful Science Fiction television series. There was no such thing as a “fandom” before Star Trek. It was a series that changed the whole landscape of Science Fiction and it laid a foundation for every franchise that followed. It has endured through all this time. The original series wasn’t appreciated enough as it originally aired, being cancelled after only 3 seasons, but with time it caught on and the fan base, which was extremely loyal, grew. Spock was a big part of that.

Was he a bigger part of the success than Kirk? For me, the answer is yes. Spock was the original outsider looking in. Each Star Trek series has had this type of character. For TNG it was Data, for DS9 it was Odo, and for Voyager it was the Doctor. These were characters who showed us what it meant to be human from the outside looking in, and helped us understand our selves better. More than that, as geeks we all felt like outsiders at some point in our lives. These characters gave us hope that we could belong. Spock was basically the high school nerd or geek, and somehow he was hanging out with the captain of the football team.

Spock was so different from the rest of the crew, relying on his logic, instead of his emotions, which helped us understand our own emotions. Spock, of course, would not have been Spock if not for the masterful way that Nimoy played the character. I don’t think it is easy to appreciate how hard it is to play a character like Spock, who doesn’t feel or emote, and to keep it up as well as Nimoy did. He embodied Spock and I don’t think anyone could play the character as well as he did over 49 years in the role. He became one of those actors that people had a hard time separating from his role. For many fans, there was no difference in their minds between Leonard Nimoy and Spock. Rarely, does an actor embody a role like that.

One of the great things about Nimoy was that he embraced that aspect of playing Spock. He embraced the fans and was always appreciative of their support. Star Trek fans are known to be a bit obsessive, and it would be easy, especially as he got older, to pull away and not want to speak with the fans. Nimoy didn’t do this. As he got older, his health began to get worse, but he still found ways to connect to the fans. In September of 2014, health prevented Mr. Nimoy from physically visiting fans in Salt Lake City, Utah who were attending Salt Lake Comic Con. That didn’t stop him, however, as he visited with those fans via Skype:

Leonard Nimoy’s passing on February 27, 2015 brought a great amount of sadness to the geek world. It also brought a great amount of gratitude and appreciation. All of a sudden dress colors didn’t matter anymore on the internet. Remembering a treasured performer became more important. I think most geeks out there have some connection to  Leonard Nimoy. He was one of the greats, and we will be able to look at the huge amount of work he did, both on the screen and off, and appreciate this man for years and years to come. The magnitude of his career will never be fully appreciated or understood. I can say, without question, I would not be here today writing this post or keeping this blog. I know my blog is really small and insignificant, but I think there are a lot of geeks and geeky franchises that can make the same claim. Leonard Nimoy influenced so much in the world of geek, that it would be hard to find any facet that wasn’t touched or affected by this man. He was an icon.

To close out this post, I can think of only one way. I wanted to share the funeral scene for Spock from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. That and to say, Live Long and Prosper.

This Week in Geek: Could a Black Spider-Man Work?

35537Since the big announcement came down a few weeks ago, the internet has been swirling with excitement and speculation. One thing that has been on everyone’s minds has been who will be playing Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We know so far that Andrew Garfield is out, and that’s about it. One question that keeps coming up is whether Marvel should cast an African-American for the role of Spider-Man. The way I figure it, there are two things really pushing this. One is that Donald Glover joked about being the first black Spider-man back in 2011. Of course, at that time, Andrew Garfield was cast for the role. Now that he’s out, this has all come up again, many fans of Glover’s would like to see it happen. The other big thing pushing all of this is the cult following that Miles Morales has in the comics as Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe. I have nothing against Miles Morales being Spider-Man in the Ultimate Comics, or if they wanted to put him in a movie. But they won’t. It will be Peter Parker, because that is what everyone knows, that’s what everyone expects. Miles is not as well-known as Spider- Man, so I think it would be a big gamble to go with him. It doesn’t mean that Miles Morales movie wouldn’t be as good, or even better than a new round of Peter Parker movies, it just wouldn’t be as profitable. Hollywood doesn’t make movies just to tell good stories. They make movies to make money. Peter Parker sells, Miles is unproven and untested. That’s what it comes down to.

That being said, why can’t Peter Parker be African-American? What about Peter Parker is tied to his race? I understand, in the comics, he has always been white, but what about him would be dramatically altered if he were African-American or Asian or Hispanic? What would change about the character? That is a gamble I think I wouldn’t mind Marvel taking. They have already said that their Spider-Man would be Peter Parker, but could Pete be black? Fox is taking that chance with the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four film, and I think it will work fine. Let’s talk a look at what makes Peter Parker/Spider-Man who he is.

High School Student

Granted, Pete’s not in High School anymore in the comics, but this is the direction Disney/Marvel wants to go, and it is an area where Spidey works well- balancing his school work and his home life and his love life with saving the world. Peter Parker in High School works well, and having him be a young kid in the movies will be fun to see as he interacts with fully grown superheroes like Cap and Iron Man. Here’s an interesting fact, African-American kids, like white kids, go to high school. This particular part of the character would work whether he is black or white. In fact, it is working in the ultimate Comics version.

Science Nerd

Peter Parker was always kind of a brainiac. That’s always been a part of who he is. He enjoys science and all of that stuff. I mean, he was the one who developed his webbing and how to shoot the webbing from his wrists. There is a long history of him even being able to hold his own with Tony Stark and Reed Richards. This is another aspect of his character that is definitely not tied to race. Anyone can be smart, anyone can be into science. You don’t have to be any kind of race or gender or anything like that. He would be just as believable as a young African-American kid who is into science as he would be as a white kid.

Strong Family Ties

Peter is always concerned about his Aunt Mae. He wants her to safe, he wants to protect her. He wants to help her by doing stuff around the house or whatever. He recognizes how much work she does to take care of him. He also has always had a strong tie to his deceased uncle, Ben Parker. We know that what happens to Ben is what really propels him into being Spider-Man. None of that would have to change if they cast a Black Peter Parker. These kinds of ties to family and emotions and what not are not exclusive to any one race.

Sarcastic Sense of Humor

One of my favorite attributes of Spider-Man is that he is always cracking wise as he is fighting the super villains. He is witty and funny and it just makes for a more entertaining read. This was something I thought Andrew Garfield portrayed better than anyone. His Spider-Man was almost irreverent with some of his humor, but it worked, and I liked it. Again, this is something that works regardless of race or skin color. Your sense of humor is not tied to your race. It’s just not. I have seen funny people of all races, and I have seen really not at all funny people of all races. Race simply does not matter here.

Big Heart

Spidey has one of the biggest hearts of any superhero out there. He really is just out there to help out the little guy. He goes out, day after day and puts his life on the line to protect people and to help people. I mean every superhero does that in the comics, but with Spidey, somehow it’s something more.  He really does simply because he wants to help and he feels like with his powers he can help. How does this make him white or Black or anything? It doesn’t. Big hearted, generous people come from all races and all walks of life. Race is not a factor here either.

From New York

You want to know something that defines Spider-Man? He is from New York. If you were to write a movie and have him come from Chicago or Boston or L.A., that would be ridiculous. Who cares what race he is, as long as he still comes from New York. The city is as much a character in the Spider-Man mythos as the Lizard, or Green Goblin, or Mary Jane. New York is absolutely central to the character. The good news here is that New York is also one of the most diverse places in the world, so anyone could come from New York.

The real reason Peter Parker is white in all the movies is simply because he always has been white. The only reason he always has been is because he was created in 1963, when all the major characters in mainstream media were white. That’s not the case anymore. It doesn’t represent who we are anymore. If Peter Parker/Spider-Man were to be created from scratch today, who’s to say he wouldn’t be a nerdy, African-American kid instead to a nerdy white kid? Chances are, he could be, and would that really change much about his story? The fact that the idea of Spidey being black in the next movie is even a big deal at all tells us that we need to have it happen. I don’t care who they cast as long as he can act well. That should be the only real requirement. This isn’t changing his race just to do it. We are talking about a fictional character who is not tied to any one race. Changing the race of a character just to change it would be making Thor Black. Thor is from Asgard, he is supposed to look Scandinavian. That’s Blue eyes, blonde hair. It would be wrong to change that for him. Spidey, though, is from New York. There is no cookie cutter New Yorker. This is saying, race is simply not a factor here, let’s find our best Spider-Man and put him on the screen. Race doesn’t matter here, so I am fine with whatever.

JAK-isms: Just Be Yourself

I love my kids.  Little kids just have a different way of looking at life than we do as adults.  It’s refreshing to every once in a while take a look at the world through their eyes.  Our little boy Jak (short for Jakob, pronounced Jack) seems to see the world in an even more different light.  He has his quirks and we love him for them, most of the time.  Sometimes, he says things that really make me think, enough that I want to write them down from time to time and share them with the world.  He doesn’t know it, but Jak is about to enlighten the Internet.  His stuff is typically pretty inspirational, so I would recommend sharing this post with everyone you know, because someone you know might need it.

The other day, Jak and I were talking.  Jak doesn’t always do well with pretending.  He doesn’t like to pretend that he is someone or something else.  he is always just Jak.  He might be Jak in a Captain America costume or Jak in a Wolverine costume or a Ninja Turtle costume, but always still Jak.  So we were talking and I told him that he was pretty great, and that we were like Batman and Robin.  I could be like Batman and he would be like Robin.  He didn’t like that one, so I said I could be Superman and he could be Superboy.  Still no good.  So I asked him, “Jak, which heroes do you want to be, then?”  He looked at me and gave the first JAK-ism that I really wanted to write down. He said:

“Daddy, you don’t have to be a super hero to do good stuff.  You just have to be yourself  to do good stuff.”

Wow.  I couldn’t help but smile when he said that.  I gave him a big hug and told him, “You’re right, buddy, what was I thinking.”

It’s a true statement.  Within each of us is the capacity to do good.  We don’t need to wear tights (thankfully), or a cape to help others and do good stuff.  I didn’t press, but I wonder what Jak thinks of as good stuff that I do or that he does, but chances are it’s probably everyday kind of stuff like playing with him or helping with dinner or taking him out for ice cream.  It made me really stop and think.  To our kids, we are already super heroes.  And if we’re not parents yet, we can still do good stuff.  We don’t have to wait to get some cosmic power ring or get struck by lightning while standing in some chemicals or anything like that.  We can start today.  How?  That was Jak’s real wisdom.  Just being ourselves.  Nothing “extraordinary,” except I think on some level, we could say that each of us extraordinary and special and have something to add to our communities, our families, our workplace, our school or wherever we are.  Jak realized that each of us is special and that being ourselves is enough to do good stuff.