media relations: recently read - in which la robusta hits a few high notes ... and a few low ones

Media Relations / 2011 August 15 / in which La Robusta hits a few high notes ... and a few low ones

Pardon for the long break in reviews. I'd apologize and say it will never happen again, but we all know it will, so let's just move on, shall we? Let's shall.

This past week, DC began the roll-up of not one, but two comic book universes. Taking out the DCU in favor of DCnU gets all the attention, of course, but less noted is that they're also doing in the end of First Wave, their attempt at an alternate-earth pulp universe. It never got anything remotely resembling a reasonable promotional push, plus, let's face it, a universe with Batman Month One, the Spirit and Doc Savage, as well as unrecognizable versions of Black Canary and other heroes, was always going to be a hard sell. And, well, it didn't. Sell, that is. Pity; Doc Savage was fun and pulpy, as required, and the Spirit had several good issues. (First Wave itself, however -- that universe's version of Justice League -- had problems. Frequently.) Any road, let's look at the big guns first. (NOTE: Superman shut down this week, but since I don't read it any more and "Grounded" was an absolutely deadly storyline to go out with -- a truly ludicrous concept that should have been shot down before it got started -- I pretty much don't care.)

Oh, and I should say right now: SPOILERS, SWEETIES! I'll try not to give away anything too important, but I make no promises. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to spoil most of the final issues relentlessly, in order to talk about them at all. So I say again, FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, HERE BE SPOILERS!

Got that? Good.

Forward into the fray!

Questions? Comments? Cigars, cigarettes, cigarillos, information about Doc Savage?

random: cry! cry, baby! or, connexions, music video style

OK, so first off, I should note that I do, in fact, own "The Lady Killer", and really like it. But I don't link this video because of the song, particularly, although I do like it. Mostly I link it because of the look on that poor woman's face when a music video breaks out all around her in the middle of her getting dumped. I think that qualifies as a very bad and very weird day, wouldn't you? Plus, hey, whoda thunk that Urkel would turn out like that?

The one below I put in just for the hell of it. After all, you don't expect heavy metal to refer to the size and weight of the instruments, now do you? Especially when they're not metal.

The video below ... takes a bit of explanation. Oh, and IT IS NOT WORKSAFE! NOT EVEN A LITTLE! I mean, OK, the video is fine, but the lyrics MOST DEFINITELY ARE NOT!

OK, so here's the thing: for those of us of a certain age, we know the song that's being sent up here.

(There may be a more detailed presentation of the oeuvre and style of Ms. Vine at a later date.)

The confusing thing is that it's also clear that Ms. Vine is sending up a particular video, and whatever it is, it's really really not a Cher video of any era. She was never quite that ... restrained. Turns out that it's a performance of the cover that Nancy Sinatra did that was later used in "Kill Bill"

Who knew it was possible to make that song even MORE depressing?

Oh, and when I say that Cher was never into restraint? Still not.

And, for a more direct comparison of Cher past and present, there's always this:

You'd think, in this more politically-correct age, that if she was performing a more recent version of her greatest hits, she'd perhaps lose some of the more ... controversial trappings, right?

Yeah, not so much, it turns out.

And, for comparison, there's brief clip of the 90s version of the number, which manages to actually be somewhat more demented without Cher in the headdress.