5 DC Characters Deserving of Their Own Film.

In recent years, Marvel comics have been kicking total ass in the film world. Most of the X-Men and Spider-Man movies have been pretty good, but they've all been under different studios, so the quality of most Marvel properties have been highly variable. The recent creation of Marvel Studios has allowed for less popular characters like Iron Man and Hulk to theaters in a more quality-assured structure, being overseen more directly by the publisher. Since these characters are under one studio, crossover is possible, just like in the comics. We've seen Tony Stark in the Hulk movie, Nick Fury in the Iron Man film, and soon Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hulk will be appearing together in an Avengers movie. It's a great time to be a Marvel fan, so long as you aren't actually reading the comics, which are pretty poor right now.

But what about DC? They've got just as massive a roster of heroes worthy of cinema, plus the ownership of media powerhouse Warner Brothers to help realize a rich intertwining film universe. It seems obvious, yet we've seen nothing but two Batmen and a half-assed Superman film in the last decade, plus a couple of out-of-universe projects like Watchmen.

The future's looking brighter for DC heroes, but not by much. Green Lantern begins filming very shortly, another Superman has been announced, a Flash movie is rumored, Wonder Woman has been on and off for the last 10 years, and another Batman movie is inevitable. Still, there are a lot of smaller names in the family that won't see recognition for a long time. Let's get to the part where I list them, shall we?

The Final Glass Ceiling

Women have made considerable gains in the last fifty years, but there is no question that this is still a male-dominated society. Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin have both been nominated vice president, Hillary Clinton nearly gained the presidential nomination last election, and we currently have a female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Still, politics is almost entirely a man's game in the U.S. As male-dominated as the world of politics is, however, there is one area in America that is even harsher to women. I'm talking of course about cereal mascots.

A hypothetical conversation with Michael Cera

I like Michael Cera. Pretty much any actor who starred or even featured in Arrested Development gets a lifetime pass from me. I don't care if he seemingly plays the same character in every movie he's in, I like the character. Hell, I wouldn't care if he literally played the same character in every movie. George Michael Bluth, wearing the Bluth's Banana Stand uniform in Superbad, Juno and what all else. Tell me that wouldn't be great. He'd be some kind of inter-dimensional traveller, only all of the dimensions would be really similar.

So, today I was thinking, "what if I ran into Mr. Cera some day?" What would I say to him? Would I compliment him on his work? Discuss how great "Scott Pilgrim" is? No and no. I would spend the entire conversation greeting him with a string of long and increasingly ridiculous puns on his name, not letting him get a single word in, then I'd say goodbye. Maybe I'd shake his hand the entire time, not letting go. Maybe not. Anyway, here's what I've come up with so far:

5 Nintendo franchises that deserve more love

I'm not as big into video games as I used to be, but I still like to play them when I can, and I try to keep on top of what's new even if I can't afford it. I was raised on Nintendo, and as such have had a massive bias toward their products and properties. Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and others are consistently some of the finest series. Nothing approaches their longevity.

This was the last one really worth playing and you know it, fanboy.

Still, with so many brilliant franchises, there are plenty of more or less equally brilliant games that have been forgotten in Nintendo's 30-year history. Let's finish this introduction and start naming them.

Ode to Stu Pickles, the greatest dad in television.

Stu Pickles, what a guy. Seriously. You want to know how to be an awesome father? Look no further than Stu.

Let's look at the facts:

• Stu Pickles takes an active role in raising his son. He works from home so he can be there for Tommy, while still making plenty of money.
• Just what is his job? He makes toys in his basement. His kids get to grow up in a toy factory. Sure, it led to one of the more horrifying "Rugrats" episodes where it nearly decapitated Chuckie, but as far as Dadjobs go, Toymaker is pretty darn cool.
• He called himself an "inventor," though. I wanted to be an "inventor" when I was little. Thanks for the inspiration, Stu! It didn't go anywhere. Turns out Ball State doesn't offer a "make an assembly line in your basement" degree, or even a single class.
• Stu never forgot how to be a kid. Even though he's a grown man with an infant son, he still watched the weather report whenever it snowed to see if school was cancelled, and ran through the kitchen cheering whenever it was. Seeing as I'm currently wearing a "Doug" T-shirt, own three Mr. Potato Heads, and am writing about a character from "Rugrats," I think the influence of his "grow up, but don't grow old" attitude is evident.
  

Breaking down the trailer to Toy Story 3

I was going to embed this, but mean old Disney won't let me.

Sheeeee-it, you guys, are you excited? I'm excited. Above is the latest trailer to Toy Story 3. I've watched it about a dozen times since it was released earlier today, and I've noticed a few things I think are worth mentioning. So click that link, pull that sucker up in another window, and follow along as I point out some bits of interest at various times in the trailer.

Pancakes I want to try to make some time or another.

I love pancakes, so very dearly. Breakfast foods in general are the best. They're all nice and fatty, carb-y, sweet, ultra-filling, and go good with coffee.

If things go well I'll have my own kitchen next year and will have the ability to make pancakes as often as I so desire, which will be a lot.

Plain pancakes are amazing, but there are really a lot you can do with them. I've had the basics - blueberry, pecan, banana, chocolate chip, butterscotch and other common toppings, but since the base is such a blank canvas the possibilities are endless. These are a few I want to make some time in the future:

Maple Bacon Pancakes - Take the pancake batter and add chopped bacon, brown sugar, and maple syrup straight into the batter, with more syrup on top.
Maple and bacon go fantastically together, and the combination is showing up all over in modern cuisine. You can get it in a latte in San Francisco and on a donut in Portland, and I want to try it in pancake form.

Pineapple Ham Pancakes - Plain pancake batter with finely-chopped pineapples mixed in. Served with a deli slice of ham between each cake, and topped with either maple syrup or maybe some kind of sweet and sour sauce.
This is another classic bizarre taste combination, a personal favorite for pizza and toasted sandwiches. I want it to work on pancakes. I will make it work on pancakes.

Mango Habanero Pancakes - Maybe it's just pancakes with a mango habanero sauce, or maybe it's pancakes with habanero and mango right in the batter, but it'd be spicy and wonderful

S'More Pancakes - Load the batter with honey and cinnamon or whatever else they make graham crackers from, plus some tiny marshmallows. Place bits of chocolate bar in between cakes while they're still hot. Dammit I'm getting hungry and this sounds amazing right now.

Orange and Cream Pancakes - Mix orange zest in with the batter, top with tons of whipped cream. Straightforward.

This article is falling apart, I know. Really I just started thinking about the delicious unhealthy bacon possibilities and decided to run with it because I couldn't find a suitable picture of Pepper Ann's mom for the article I wanted to write tonight.

Still, while I have your attention, I'd like to share a bit about a small project I have in mind Last week a few webcomic creators were asked to make hourly drawings of what they were up to that day all day. Those can be found here.

This got me thinking, "hey, I think I'm important, I like to draw, and things happen to me sometimes during a day." So I'm going to give this a try. Let's say... Wednesday. I'm awake the longest that day and the most happens. I'm going to get a few index cards, a reliable pencil, and scribble out silly things for a day to show you guys. It'll be fun, for me at least. You'll just have to watch.