summer activity 2

finished: Watchmen (movie and book)  

• movie continues to be a fantastic adaptation, both in cast and script except for that one detail in Rorschach's origin story that I think is rather significant. Also Silk Specter's filmsy character comes across more glaringly in the movie 
• book: I became increasingly aware that Rorschach, who I still think is my favourite character, is a right-wing nut who honestly thinks abortions and gay people are the sign of the apocalypse. I'm not sure if this is carefully planned irony by Moore, but fascinatingly Rorschach believes this doctrine more than the people who publish it; Rorschach is somehow a more distilled form and he gets to the point where he manages to do some good despite being an extremely rigid person and a misogynist. 

Ozymandias, who did not make a huge impression on me the first time I read it, is now my most hated character, it makes me wonder if he's aware of his own arrogance. He really pisses me off
Reading the comic also made me realize how bullshit those "before watchmen" comics were for the most part. Only a few of them are worth anything in showing certain events that are only alluded to in the original material. Still too many women in the fridge in every damn comic for my liking. At least the expansions of Silk Specter's and Silhouette's characters were rather interesting. Thinking back on it, the Comedian's story was the worst, it failed at explaining anything about his youth (which is probably the most interesting story) and only talked about how he fucked Marilyn Monroe and JF Kennedy. I don't care.
Speaking of, the original comic also has a lot of references from the 80's that I think constantly fly over my head. Maybe it's because I was born post-cold war that this hysteria over nuclear apocalypse doesn't resonate with me. Interestingly enough, I'm now reading the origins of totalitarianism and in a introduction to the book written during the cold war, Hannah Arendt actually warns that we could be headed for total nuclear destruction.
I'm also increasingly aware how USA (or at least its own fierce supporters) take credit for both ending the Holocaust and preventing nuclear apocalypse, even though at the time they were shitting their pants just as much as anybody else.
Last thought: the line in the movie that most infuriated me (possibly because it was the most realistic) was when the USA government considered Mexico an expendable loss to nuclear war with the soviet union. Mexicans of course never get any say in it. Of course

• Last days of an Immortal: I was very pleasantly surprised by this science fiction comic. Yes! Finally! Weird aliens! why is this so hard to find? I supper recommend this book to everyone