Monday, August 31, 2009

Marvel and Much Music

So today kind of marks my first real day of unemployment. Yes, technically I've been out of work since July, but today is the first time I'm home alone during the day. Cathy's gone back to work leaving me home alone during the days. Also, my first EI check magically appeared in my bank account.

The other thing is that with the kids starting to go back to school this week, it means a lot of the jobs that were frozen from hiring this summer, either because of summer students or people with hiring authority off on vacation, will start trickling out into the open over the next week or so. That means the job hunt, which has been more informal at this point, will start kicking up a notch.

August was just kind of an extension of the vacation. Today was back to work, even if the work was trying to find a job. Oh, and earning my keep. That meant laundry, dishes and other household chores.

So once that was all done, what caught my eye today? Well, this was the big thing that floored me - Disney buying Marvel comics for approximately $4 billion. It's not exactly a secret in these parts that I'm a comic book collector and certainly a large-ish portion of my collection comes from Marvel. I never thought I would see Marvel bought out by another company. Marvel was practically bankrupt in the late 90s and nobody rushed into snap them up. But I guess now that Marvel is making money, it makes sense to buy them.

I'm actually a touch surprised they got Marvel for only $4 billion. Considering the characters they have available in their stable for development, it's kind of cheap. Disney is not buying Marvel for the 75,000 copies of the Iron Man comic that sell every month. They're a touch more interested in the millions and millions of dollars their characters can make in the movies.

We'll see how it all plays out. I'm skeptical, but Disney/Pixar has worked out all right so far, so we'll see.

The second thing that caught my eye today is that it's apparently the 25th anniversary of Much Music. I agree with Doyle that Much Music is well past its useful date. And yes, I understand that I'm much older that the demographic that's been aimed for. But God, you have to work to find music videos and I can't remember the last time I saw and actual living, breathing VJ. God, how many reruns of the OC, the Hills or some hideous thing featuring Paris Hilton do you need?

Give me some music videos, interviews with bands and political activism. I'm not sure it was ever cool to like Music Music. Even during it's glory times you still kind of dissed the place and mocked Erica Ehm for being a ditz. But hell, you got to see some cool videos, got introduced to some new bands and occasionally even had a little youth politics thrown in.

Maybe I'm missing something and today's Much Music is better than what I'm catching any time I channel surf the station. But I kind of doubt it. It's just a relic these days.

Last Five
1. Hey Jude - The Beatles
2. My three songs - Elvis Costello and the Imposters
3. Piano man - Billy Joel
4. Highroyds - Kaiser Chiefs
5. But, honestly - Foo Fighters

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