"Hindus, Bootleggers & Yard Work"

It appears that super-heroes aren't just updated to appeal to the on-coming differences in age gaps these days, but done so as well to appeal to different cultures. There's now going to be an East Indian Spider-man, whose powers will be based on magic, rather than science, and also a new version of The Green Goblin who is closely connected to Hindu Mythology.

As a long-time fan of the Spider-man character, I don't find this objectionable. Poor ol' "Peter Parker" and his crew has changed so vastly since the original concepts first appearing in Marvel Comics since 1962 that they are hardly recognizable today anyway. And personally, still the only issues that make a hill of beans to me will always remain those initial 38 issues and the first two Annuals, all of which were drawn and co-plotted by Steve Ditko. I look at this as simply just another interpretation, like the many interpretations of other personal favorite characters as Superman or Batman. As fans and collectors, we all have that particular favorite version of our heroes we'll never forget, with everything else being just "so much clutter". Much like the myriad versions we've seen of super-hero characters in animated shows, movies, newspaper strips, etc., someone--somewhere is going going to change these characters around to fit their specific standards. It doesn't matter. You can tell everyone that's Mary Magaline next to Jesus in the painting "The Last Supper", rather than "Thomas", but anyway you look at it, it's still a Da Vinci.


And, on the way to work this morning, I noticed in the near-by town where they're having an election soon to determine whether or not to serve alcoholic beverages in an restaurant there that seats at least 100 people (see my post of 10/13/05), that in a field someone has erected at least 50 white 12" crosses neatly in rows. With these crosses is a sign against the voting "for" alcohol stating that each cross represents someone locally who has lost their life due to drinking/driving.

I'm sure this has been done by some well-intentioned citizen, but, you know, with all this talk against having alcohol in that town, there's not been a single good Christian who has stood up and made an arguement that the local bootleggers should be closed down and arrested. Let's see...an adult can't purchase a drink with their meals, however, the local bootleggers sell to anyone with the money in their hands whether they're of legal age or not? Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. Of course, I'm no longer a citizen of that particular town and what they decide makes little difference to me, personally. However...it's been a proven case that whenever any community allows the serving of alcohol, the crime rate in that area does indeed always rise. Personally, I'd rather not see it pass, but it's whatever those townpeople will it to be. It's still America and the majority still rules.

Yet another beautiful day here. Won't be very many of them left this year. Hope we have nice weather next week so I can finally get around to cleaning leaves out of the gutter and raking the yard.