@Darklighter: yeah, i dunno, Rucka is sorta hit and miss for me. OMAC was definitely one of the cooler Infinite Crisis minis, and White Out was unique and well written, but his Elektra and Daredevil stuff was so very average IMO.
He does have a knack for the detective story though, and 'Strumptown' sounds up his alley.
Also looking forward to more Fables related fables. {^)^} #wonderwoman
Incredible Hercules has been one of my favorite comics for some time now, in part because of the hilarious onomatopoeia. The best of last issue was "SISY-POOF!" #wonderwoman
Ruka also lives in P-Town (along with half the freaking industry) so this makes sense. looks like Cosmic Monkey lies in my future tomorrow #wonderwoman
There was a line in Criminal Minds (shut up, I know) about how scary it is to be afraid of your own mind. It is so true. Anybody who has struggled with mental illness or had a bad trip can attest that it is completely terrifying when you're not sure what's real or you can't remember what has happened or what is going on. Fear of madness is a classic trope. While Alzheimers specifically may be new, playing with an individual's grip on sanity is well-worn, but still very scary.
We're fascinated with themes of isolation - The Shining, 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, The Strangers, and any horror movie where the rule is "never leave on your own and say "I'll be right back"". Losing your ability to trust not only others, but also your own mind, is the ultimate isolation. When you are gone, who is left? #horror
Some of our collective horror of Alzheimer's also comes from the fact that Alzheimer's hit the national radar at the same time in the 80's AIDS hit the national radar. People were dropping dead and nobody knew how either disease was spread or what caused them. There was no treatment or cure for either. They were both horrifying ways to die. And, unlike AIDS, Alzheimer's could strike anyone seemingly randomly unlike AIDS, which was later labeled the 'Gay & Intravenous Drug User Disease'.
The loss of memory from Alzheimer's has a stigma attached to it amnesia and the clichéd bump to the head does not. I worked in the health care field and there is still a huge stigma associated with Alzheimer's. When doctors prescribed Alzheimer's meds some would avoid giving a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. They'd say 'Organic Brain Syndrome' or 'Age Related Dementia' or 'age-related deterioration of cognitive abilities' or 'Senility' rather than just say the patient has Alzheimer's. Even when asked directly if the patient had Alzheimer's, doctors would hedge the question and say something along the lines that there was no way to definitively diagnose Alzheimer's! They would refuse to "out" their patients with Alzheimer's.
My mother died two years ago this Christmas, aged 85, after a long battle against vascular dementia. Over a number of years, she gradually turned from a vital, articulate woman, to someone who couldn't add up coins, spell words, remember names of everyday objects, or even - towards the end - recognise me. It was heartbreaking to witness, and in a way her passing (from heart disease) was a blessing. Cliff Richard summed it up perfectly when talking about his own mother's battle against Alzheimer's and the emotions endured by those who observe its effects on a loved one: 'It's like mourning the living.' #horror
@Elizabeth Weinbloom: Flowers for Algernon was probably the most gut-wrenching story of memory loss ever, particularly because its written as a series of first-person notes.
It's not that he outright forgets large-scale chunks of his life, as that he finally was smart but the effects stopped working, and he was progressively losing everything he had gained. So he was losing all of his skills i.e. there's a point where he realizes that he had learned how to speak German, French, etc. but now he can't remember any of it.
The defining, and worst, part though was that eventually...he sort of falls back into what he did when he was mentally retarded; phonetically spelling things without punctuation...at the time, I don't think he was consciously imitating that so much as he said "it took me an hour to properly spell a simple paragraph, and its getting difficult to communicate"
....and I think there IS one point near the end where he forgets BRIEFLY that he had the operation at all, and just shows up for his adult education class....though in 5 minutes he remembers.
****The worst part is that when we read it in Junior High School, for whatever reason, my teacher told us as FACT that he thought that Charlie was going to die and was getting sicker, and really only YEARS later did I realize "maybe he just went back to the way he was, with a greater appreciation for life' etc. #horror
@Elizabeth Weinbloom: I gave a girlfriend the book to read and she finished it later that day, walked up to me, and punched me in the arm for making her cry. #horror
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12:42 PM
11/03/09
.. and why is evryone talking about Strumptown? Never even heard about it until this week. #wonderwoman
11/03/09
Also, having read and loved both volumes of Whiteout, I feel okay offering a blanket recommendation for Rucka's work. #wonderwoman
11/03/09
He does have a knack for the detective story though, and 'Strumptown' sounds up his alley.
Also looking forward to more Fables related fables. {^)^} #wonderwoman
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
Hmmm. #wonderwoman
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
10/28/09
We're fascinated with themes of isolation - The Shining, 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, The Strangers, and any horror movie where the rule is "never leave on your own and say "I'll be right back"". Losing your ability to trust not only others, but also your own mind, is the ultimate isolation. When you are gone, who is left? #horror
10/28/09
The loss of memory from Alzheimer's has a stigma attached to it amnesia and the clichéd bump to the head does not. I worked in the health care field and there is still a huge stigma associated with Alzheimer's. When doctors prescribed Alzheimer's meds some would avoid giving a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. They'd say 'Organic Brain Syndrome' or 'Age Related Dementia' or 'age-related deterioration of cognitive abilities' or 'Senility' rather than just say the patient has Alzheimer's. Even when asked directly if the patient had Alzheimer's, doctors would hedge the question and say something along the lines that there was no way to definitively diagnose Alzheimer's! They would refuse to "out" their patients with Alzheimer's.
10/28/09
10/28/09
TERRIFYING and genre-defining. #horror
10/28/09
It's not that he outright forgets large-scale chunks of his life, as that he finally was smart but the effects stopped working, and he was progressively losing everything he had gained. So he was losing all of his skills i.e. there's a point where he realizes that he had learned how to speak German, French, etc. but now he can't remember any of it.
The defining, and worst, part though was that eventually...he sort of falls back into what he did when he was mentally retarded; phonetically spelling things without punctuation...at the time, I don't think he was consciously imitating that so much as he said "it took me an hour to properly spell a simple paragraph, and its getting difficult to communicate"
....and I think there IS one point near the end where he forgets BRIEFLY that he had the operation at all, and just shows up for his adult education class....though in 5 minutes he remembers.
****The worst part is that when we read it in Junior High School, for whatever reason, my teacher told us as FACT that he thought that Charlie was going to die and was getting sicker, and really only YEARS later did I realize "maybe he just went back to the way he was, with a greater appreciation for life' etc. #horror
10/28/09
10/29/09
10/28/09