Blaming the victim – happens in comics too

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Jason Todd was the successor to Dick Grayson as Robin. He was initially a popular character who, through the efforts of writers to give Robin more of an ‘edge’ became less and less so. DC, in a stunt it would never repeat, held a telephone poll on what should be his fate leading to Jason Todd being murdered by The Joker in a scenario that left Batman full of second guessing guilt as to how he could have prevented it. Interestingly enough, over the years, the character’s history has been revised, and revised further to make Todd into a reckless, hate filled monster, whose own impatience led him to his death. In one of the most interesting articles on comics I have ever read, benicio127 at Scans Daily traces the steps in how Jason Todd has become blamed for his own demise.

“Master of Puppets” turns 25

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“Master of Puppets” was the among the first three Metallica cassettes I owned. I bought “…And Justice for All” and “Garage Days” at a music shop in Kensington during 1988 and worked my way back through their releases shortly thereafter. My brother and his friends were Metallica fans and “Master of Puppets”, along with “Ride the Lightning”, with a mix of other terrific bands of that era, were the soundtrack to some heady years.

Metallica, from “..And Justice for All” and back, were extraordinary. Push aside the musical changes they went through after the “Black Album” and what you will notice is the lyrics. Prior to the “Black Album” they tackled heavy subject matter head on. It was thinking-person’s metal. Geek metal. There were other bands; Megadeth, Anthrax and especially Iron Maiden and Queensryche, who could match early Metallica for thought provoking music, but few looked *just like you*. Metallica had no videos. They were not on the radio. Had no singles. They wore t-shirts, jeans, and looked like you and your friends. They had a sneaker-net of fans who traded in stories and bootlegs. And with that they sold millions of albums and sold out stadiums. If you’re in a band today, you would probably want to emulate Metallica’s early rise to fame, swapping the sneaker-net for the Web and social media.

I could go on about the reasons why I’m not much of fan anymore. It isn’t about growing out of anything. The band changed how it looked, how it sounded, and in its overreaction to Napster and its lyrical content (“Don’t Tread on Me” versus “Disposable Heroes” or “One” for example), what it stood for. They seem to, just recently, be coming around to what they lost. We’ll see. They were always authentic. And that has carried them through. Anyways, enough of that, 25 is a milestone. Thank you Metallica.

Invisible Oranges: Cosmo Lee: “Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ turns 25”

Wikipedia: “Master of Puppets”

Adrien Begrand: “Great moments in Rock N’ Roll”

NYTimes: 1988: “HEAVY METAL, WEIGHTY WORDS”

Is – the universe – just bits of information?

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It is a fascinating question that led to some awesome lunchtime conversation the other day at work. Some more food for thought was recently written by Freeman Dyson in The New York Review of Books, who was reviewing James Gleick’s newest, “The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood”, which I’m gonna just have to read. Metafilter, as usual, had an interesting discussion to follow.

Other related links:

Nicholas Carr at The Daily Beast

Wired: Why the Basis of the Universe Isn’t Matter or Energy—It’s Data

Philadelphia Inquirer: Tirdad Derakhshani: Information Please