[Script] The Trial of Captain America - Page 1

This is based on the Trademarked Character Captain America, which is owned by Marvel Comics, who also owns the Copyright due to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act until 2056.  This script is an act of social satire and not for profit.  All characters from Mr Hamburger are owned by Red Anvil Creative LLC.

Cast of Characters

Captain America: A fictional character created as an AI who can realize that he is a fictional character but still recall his entire existence as if he were a real person.  Not a Nazi.

Nick Spencer: Artist of questionable taste who somehow got the job as writer for Captain America.  Nazi Status...Unknown.

Sosori: A crappy defense attorney who also represented Mr Hamburger in the podcast piece, Mr Hamburger. Not a Nazi.

Angry Cow: A very good prosecuting attorny who wants to prove Captain America is a Nazi.  Also appears in Mr Hamburger. Not a Nazi.

Hitler: Author of Mein Kampf, Convicted Murderer of millions.  Talk Show Host.  Definitely a Nazi.

Judge: An AI of infinite and intelligence or wisdom.  Not a Nazi.

Should Artists who defend Nick Spencer Lose Credibility? Yes. Absolutely.

If you are an artist that defends the destruction of the intent of another artist's work, the creative community should take you less seriously.  Does that mean turning the work of ages past on its head is not allowed? Absolutely not.

The thing is, because real art is about the exploration of the soul, being contrarian or against the grain is the place where you will find great art.  Pushing the envelope is as natural to them as breathing, but that also means that there is a certain predictability in counter culture which is that which mainstream culture is NOT.

Thus, if mainstream culture starts to find interest and value in the patriotism of an American Icon, it is the natural temptation of artistic culture to challenge that and find new ways of looking at things.  This experiment often pays off; Wicked spawned a whole sub genre of films and stories about the antagonist as protagonist.  In an age of white washing and culture wars, this makes sense.  And Marvel has done an excellent job of turning many of these characters on their head, changing gender or race or even sexual orientation.

Marvel replaced Steve Rogers with someone who was Black (Falcon) and had a strong story run.

But Nick Spencer wanted to go further.  Nick Spencer, failed politician, and self proclaimed feminist because he had a story whose primary characters were women, suddenly feels that he has the chops to mess around with one of the seven or eight great icons of comics.  Sometimes this pays off; sometimes this is great story.

And the artists rushing to Nick's defense are shouting at the need to give him breathing room to do so.  But have you looked at Nick's bibliography? Nick is no Grant Morrison...Nick isn't Alan Moore.  Nick has done a lot of minor works and had short stints at some major ones.  No one at Marvel challenged him on this, but then; shouldn't we ask why?

In interviews with Nick, Nick himself has says that he is surprised that he didn't get more push back on this change but Marvel just let him do it.  Why doesn't that bother people? This isn't a story of Nick wanting to tell a powerful story and overcoming the odds to do it; its a publicity stunt and a way to kick against the foundation of an iconic image as 'a way to protest trump.'  So...why didn't he do a comic about Teddy Roosevelt and George Washington secretly being Nazis too?

People say that this is a gimmick; and that this too shall pass.  Will it? Given the inordinant amount of artists defending Nick, one must ask how much thought THEY have put into this? It seems a knee jerk response against the rabid #gamergate fanboys with no thought about what this looks like being announced the day after #SteveNeedsaboyfriend or the fact that he was originally created by jewish creators.

Make no mistake about it.  Nick knew exactly what he was doing.  Mealy mouthed excuses about "Hydra being more about Spectre than Nazis" means you don't understand Hydra OR Spectre.  So when an artist goes defending Nick's decision to do this, I must lose respect for them.  It's their choice and their creative currency, but when one artist disrespects the work of another SO MUCH without ANY visible thought to the material, I must simply shake my head and walk away.

Vienna Boys Mormon Tabernacle Sausage Quior

It is what it is.

Check out this episode!

What's in a Word?

So this thing I am think of? What is it? I've hinted at it, but I think the closest clearest equivalent is Ecological Engineering of Society at a Memetic level.

I dont consider it Applied Mythology, which is a very specific methodology of immersion in the power of stories to find meaning in our lives at an individual and then a community level. I DO think that applied mythology is a valuable tool to make that happen.

I definitely don't think it is sociology, any more than chemistry is what the guys at dupont use to make their products.  What? You might say, of course they use chemistry.  There is a difference between the science of chemistry and chemical engineering; which involves applying that chemistry to an actual solution as well as designing the solution.  Sociology is definitely a component of this and I need to learn a lot more about it.

There is the popular term that occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan called "Nation Building" and I think in practical terms, that might be a good working title for people who don't understand or wont understand the fancy words I will be throwing around; but there are two problems with this.  The first one, is that the word now carries baggage; we tried it and failed.  But the second is because the PRIMARY method of 'nation building' in this case was because it was a government trying to build another government.  Progressives do not rely on government to always be the solution but a government definitely will.  Everything is a nail that their hammer can solve; though rarely and to sometimes good effect with training an agency can see the value of trying a different solution.  But then corruption just comes in and makes it worthless.

No, what I want to do is more than governments.  Nation building works, but even then, some institutions should be global.  Community Building has a nice ring to it, but that sounds a lot more like Community Organizing, and we're not just talking politics here but a holistic practical application of multiple institutions working together, how those institutions come together and how they interact.

I need to end for now, but I think Community Building is as good a word as I've found until I find something better.

[Writer Stuff] Ideas

Ideas are the easiest part and the hardest part of being a writer.  Everyone has ideas and is willing to give them for free or for a piece of the action.  The money for an idea is how it is refined, what is done with it.

There are some ideas that have been done a million times, but if done in a skillful enough window can make things truly interesting.  The story is the things that matters, not the idea behind the story.  Still, the thing is, sometimes an idea can be good, but it is never enough to sell it by itself.   No one ever fell in love with an idea in a book or a movie or a game, not even utopia, and what idea could be better than that?

But new and interesting ideas can make the difference between a good author and a great one.  So knowing how to generate them is a good thing.  Knowing how to make good ideas happen is an art; not a science, but there are several things you can do to increase your base creativity.  Do things in new and different ways; collaborate with creative people, or take two totally different ideas and try to make them work together.  There are a million books and a million lists, but the most important one of all is this.

You have to be willing to fail.  Take bold new leaps.  Try new things because if you are not you will never get anywhere.

[Script] Peter Pan vs Frankenstein vs Superman - Page 13

Scene: Frankenstein goes through buildings and heads to a finish line full of people.  Dr Frankestein claps as well as everyone else.  Denny looks annoyed and makes a call on her phone.

Just as Frankenstein is about to cross, Peter flies across on his bike and the crowd is shocked.

Dr Frankenstein: You cheater!  Get him Frankenstein!

Frankstein grunts and advances on Peter who laughs.  Twinkerbell hovers over Frankenstein to deliver some dust, but Frankstein leaps up and claps his hands, flattening Twinkerbell like a mosquito who floats off into the wind.

Peter looks horrified and swoops down to grab Denny.

Denny: Hey!

A blur in the distance flies in.  Peter turns around and is punched in the face.

Supergirl: Leave my girlfriend alone creep!

Peter looks shocked.

Peter: Wha-WHAT?

Supergirl: You heard what I said.

Denny and Supergirl kiss.

Peter is shocked.  Both of them punch Peter in the face who falls to the water.

They smile and fly off into the sunset holding hands.

[Heliotrope] It's Always Midnight Somewhere

Savannah is well known for Mint Julips, SCAD restored buildings, lovely long willows, and a really old kick ass pirate bar.  But did you know it is also home of the 2nd biggest St. Patrick's day celebration in America?

That's because there are an awful lot of Fae in Savannah.  It's a summer solstice must for anyone who still has access to Terra from Outer or Middle Fae.  (Inner Fae celebrates Summer Solstice in a much different fashion....)  So there are naturally a lot of Southerners in this area that have Fae blood.  Some of them are noble Sidhe.  Some of them are from various royal bloodlines, though inbreeding tends to lead to various conditions such as mental retardation or a pronounced ego.   Not all of them are like this, but the less 'in the know' of who they are, the more likely they are to have a tainted bloodline.  No one wants people with a literal Stick Up Their Ass to show up at the solstice celebrations.

The city has a lovely architecture and view, and the otherworldly influence can keenly be felt.  Most any knicknack picked up in the city, and especially the ancient river front is likely to have a small bit of enchantment to it.  The exception to this is the obvious store for Psychics, which do have enchantments but only the astral equivalent of "Kick Me" signs for anyone who can see such things.  A significant chunk of Fae do love their pranks.

This area of the south does have their well known Trolls of course.  They have claims of some level of artistic ability, which is oddly strange compared to the large number of humans around them that actually do.  In recent years, Petunia and Grandfather Fiddleback had increased vigilance here of renegades to Outer Fae (they don't dare mess around with Middle Fae of course), so a large number of these trolls have scampered to Atlanta.