Tune In Tuesday

'Twould appear that MANic Monday was a resounding success, which only goes to show you what can happen when you take the finest ingredients and prepare your blog with exacting detail, care and love. The ingredients being pics of Chris Evans shirtless. Also, it's officially been announced that Chris Evans will be Captain America, so no more speculation there. However, this news comes just as I realized the perfect actor for the role is Mark Valley, who currently stars on the series Human Target:You might also recognize him as, "Oh that guy! Yeah, I've seen him before... I can't remember where, but I've definitely seen him in something before." And though MANic Monday isn't for another six days, here's a nice shirtless shot to tide you over:ZEXI! I like a guy with a few miles on him. You know modern construction is so shoddy!

Ahem, anyway, on to the real topic at hand, my theme for today is Tune In Tuesday, meaning it's all about music! If I were just a hair more tech savvy, I could share actual tracks with you all... like everytime I made a mix cd, everyone could have one. But alas, I am not that tech savvy, so Cathy gets the only one. Also, I'm not really dying to get into music piracy. Sharing my love of great music, yes. Possible jail time, not so much.

Coincidentally (or is it?), two of my favorite bands released new albums today, The Bird & The Bee and She & Him.

The Bird & The Bee

She & Him

Also coincidentally (or is it?), they are both male/female duos, where the girl is decidedly quirky and their sound is retro. Huh... so are two other bands I wanted to highlight, Pomplamoose and Nikki & Rich. Enjoy the co-ed magic!

The Bird & The Bee's new album is called Interpreting the Masters (A Tribute to Darryl Hall & John Oates). As you can probably infer from the parenthetical addendum, this is... a tribute to Darryl Hall & John Oates. WHY did DH&JO switch to that mouthful instead of just good ol' succinct "Hall & Oates?" Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure all the songs on this album are from the "Hall & Oates" period, not the later "Darryl Hall & John Oates" phase.

I love the quirkiness of The Bird & The Bee. And with covers, you either get slavish recreations or quirky reinterpretations, the latter of which, are usually slightly tongue-in-cheek, which is how this album comes across at first, but after three songs, I was kinda like, "A whole album of this? Really?" One "Hall & Oates" cover really would have been enough. But, it isn't as if it isn't enjoyable. The first and last songs on the album are H&O songs I've never heard before, "Heard It On The Radio" and "4th of July." They did not cover my favorite slightly obscure early hit "Did It In A Minute" or my all-time favorite "Out of Touch." Here is a trailer for this album's release, but be warned that despite how it seems, the actual album is a studio album, not a live performance.

Also, The Bird & The Bee did a cover of "Material Girl" that Cathy and I enjoyed while shopping at Bath & Body Works a while ago, but thus far, I have been unable to obtain it, so if anyone can help a brutha out, it would be appreciated!

Speaking of covers, check out Pomplamoose's cover of Lady Gaga's "Telephone":


The video is DELIGHTFULLY low-tech, versus shiteously low-tech like so many Youtube videos. They also cover one of my all-time faves, from when I was like FOUR, "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire! WAIT 'TIL YOU GET TO 1:09!!! YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!:

SO much fun! Is that really a TOY xylophone?! I am definitely PRO toy xylophone... or xylophone period! And toy period! BLISS!

And now, a non-cover album... which I like to refer to as "an album," She & Him's Volume Two. She & Him are singer/songwriter M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel, who you know as "that quirky girl" in movies like Elf, Yes Man and (500) Days of Summer. Or you may also know her as "that girl that looks like Katy Perry." I quite enjoy their music. I love her voice... which if you haven't heard She & Him, you've at least heard her in that commercial where she sings about the wonders of cotton panties. I particularly enjoyed listening to the album, because it was all-original and after the novelty of covers wears off, it's nice to switch gears. This is the ADORABLE video for the first single from the new album, "In The Sun." (The hula hoops at 2:07 are gratuitous cuteness!):

J'Adorable! (Four years of French really pays off sometimes.) Why is it every time I try and break into a dance routine in the halls of a high school, the police show up and I have to answer uncomfortable questions? No fair. Best hallway dance since "Baby, One More Time," wouldn't you say?

And finally, my HANDS DOWN favorite new group, Nikki & Rich! Here is a live performance of their hit "Cat and Mouse":

And here is a "video" (not a music video per se) featuring the lyrics to their second single "Next Best Thing.":

Woah, hold up a second! Rich looks pretty effen HOT! Oh my... another reason to love this band! (Kinda like The Ting Tings... love their music... hot drummer guy doesn't hurt!)

So there ya go! Hope you enjoyed and possibly found some new artists that you might be interested in getting to know better. If so, all this music is available on iTunes so get to downloading!

MANic Monday

Boo! What a gloomy, cold, wet, dismal day! I guess April showers and all that... (PS I actually went to school with a girl named April Showers! Sounds like a Bond Girl, doesn't it? I could never figure out if her parents were cruel or clueless. Also, yes I know it isn't quite April yet, but close enough!) This gives me the perfect opportunity to try out a little something I've been thinking about for a while, which involves assigning days certain themes. a) This would keep me from getting too stream-of-conscious and b) keep me from yammering on and on about the same subjects. And as silly as it may seem, my idea for Monday is MANic Monday, celebrating the less-fair sex. I thought it would provide a nice boost to the beginning on the week, especially on a crappy day like today.

First, at work, we spend pretty much every day shift and the beginnings of each evening shift, constantly running back and forth to the back stockroom to put out new merchandise. To get to the backroom, you have to either go down the luggage aisle or the magazine aisle. Some months, there just happens to be a LOVELY magazine cover that I get the privilege of enjoying each trip back. This month, that cover belongs to GQ: DANG, Shia LeBeoff looks EFFEN KEWT in this pic! His green eyes are mesmerizing! I don't really like him much, overall... something to do with every movie he stars in being godawful, but kewt is kewt and that he serves up quite well in this photo. Negative? The mag SOLD OUT!!! I'm not aware of this EVER happening at Target! The same magazines linger and linger. But sadly, this one has vanished. Maybe it'll turn back up. Otherwise, I'll have to enjoy the site of Paula Deen's magazine. And delicious butter is NOT something you can really enjoy with your eyes!

Okay, this is the LAST time I will blog about this topic, until a final decision is made and announced, but it seems like every day (or at least every other) there is a new "front runner" in the race to portray Captain America in the upcoming movies. First I heard Chris Pine (Yay!), then Channing Tatum (Not so much), now...Chris Evans. Entertainment Weekly actually listed several others including the absolutely Boo-rific Ryan Phillippe (Hate him!!!). Artist Alex Ross expressed that John Hamm was his top choice, which you recall was my top choice to play Batman. While Batman and Captain America share certain similarities, mostly not having super powers, what made John Hamm my pick to play Batman was his dark side, which Cap doesn't really have. I can see Ross' point though. The list EW provided was a veritable who's who of blond, Hollywood prettyboys. Cap is the leader of the Avengers... hell, he's basically the de facto leader of all the super heroes in Marvel Comics, so you need someone with a really commanding presence and some young prettyboy isn't going to posses that... well, except Chris Pine who did posses just that quality in Star Trek!Also, keep in mind that Captain America (the movie) will lead directly into The Avengers, which will feature Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man and maybe Edward Norton as The Hulk (although I heard a rumor that since The Incredible Hulk didn't perform well at the box office, they will likely not include him or will replace him with the She-Hulk). Captain America has to seem like a natural leader of these (slightly) older actors and not look like some punk kid. Why yes, they're completely gratuitous, thus today's theme. Please try and keep up.

Now... Chris Evans. Hmmmm. I dunno, he's a better pick than Channing Tatum, but still misses the mark just a tad. He's got that "class clown" persona. I think he could do earnest, but once again, opposite RDJ as Iron Man, I just don't think I can buy it. He might make for a splendid Hawkeye though, since Hawkeye is the sarcastic "class clown" of The Avengers.He also has a habit of winding up in his underwear or less, making Chris Evans a lovely candidate.But like I said, I'm going to avoid posting anything about this subject until Marvel makes a decision and announces it. I mean, they haven't even started filming Thor yet and that will come before Captain America or The Avengers.
It may be a couple of years before they get around to beginning production on Cap's movie. Maybe that'll give Chris Evans time to ripen. Like I said, I'm not completely opposed to him, he's just a stretch.

So, hope you enjoyed the first installment of MANic Monday! We'll see how this goes, if I decide to make it a permanent feature. Feedback would help! Just sayin'.

The Spring Supplement

This is kind of like on Bravo at the end of each series' season, they do a reunion show hosted by that talentless dick-weasel Andy Cohen, a recap/follow-up blog to some older things I've posted, with some new stuff thrown in. 1. No sooner do "insiders" reveal that John Krazinski basically has the role of Captain America locked up, than word surfaces that Channing Tatum is now in the lead. What exactly happened to this guy? One second he's lean and ripped, the next... it's not even that he gained that much weight, it's more that he kinda now looks like one of those microfiber smooshy pillows that were so popular five years ago. Whatever the cause, I think it happened to Luke Wilson too.
Except Channing Tatum just looks like he cut back on working out and maybe over indulged over the holidays. And maybe some cocaine. Possibly. Luke Wilson looks like he just gave up on life. Remember when Owen was the funny one and Luke was the cute one, then Owen tried to commit suicide (decidedly un-funny) and Luke... did this, whatever "this" is (decidedly un-cute). Someone help the Wilson brothers! Please! It's one thing to see certain trashy celebs fall from grace, but these two are too talented to let slide into that cesspool. Maybe someone could call Dr. Drew.
You know what, though? (Back on-topic) Even when Channing Tatum looked like this (above), he still didn't strike me as Captain America-esque. There's always been something I didn't like about him. He's obviously good-looking, but kinda... thuggy. Like he doesn't just know the lyrics to every Eminem song, he feels them. I'm sticking with Chris Pine as my numero uno selection.

2. Dear Jesse James, Way to turn the biggest event in your wife's entire professional life into complete shit!

In case you haven't heard, recent Academy Award-winner (and hottie-maker-outer-er) Sandra Bullock has moved out after learning that her bridge troll of a husband had an ongoing affair with a tattoo model. (That's a job?!)

Oh, btw Jesse, apparently you were unclear in the whole, she's the one that's out of YOUR league, set up.

Obviously this goon CAN'T do better than Sandra Bullock, but come on, at least TRY! That's like that time that Tiger Woods slept with that Waffle House waitress (or was it Denny's? What's Tiger Woods doing eating at either?). Not to condone cheating, but it's one thing to cheat-up with hot models or model-lookalikes, but regardless of how small a celebrity you are, you shouldn't settle for a Last Call Skank! Ooooh. Funny thought: wouldn't it be fun to live in Beverly Hills, just to see the Walks-of-Shame every morning and see who settled for whom the night before. You could even take bets on which house Lindsay leaves this time!

Also, I'd never noticed this, but there DOES seem to be a Best Actress curse. After winning this award, several actresses have had their marriages end: Kate Winslet, Hillary Swank, Helen Hunt, Reese Witherspoon and Halle Berry. Dang, ladies! Gwyneth Paltrow was listed in the article I read, but I'm pretty sure Chris Martin was her only spouse. Maybe her prior relationship ended, but I could swear she wasn't married.

3. I found a Disco Wanda on eBay! As you can see from the above image, it's a DIFFERENT Disco Wanda than the one I'd seen previously. The face looks to be the same, but this doll is wearing a turquoise Dress Barn close-out with ugly green belt, decidedly LESS spectacular than the delightful pants outfit on the previously discovered doll. And who wears a turban?!

Anyway, if you click on the eBay link, you'll see that this lovely doll is going for the low, low bargain basement price of just $229.95! Wow, that's a whole five cents less than $230! What a steal! And steal is what I'd have to do, if I wanted any chance of owning this little treasure. But one day, my dear, one day...

4. I found the above image of Black Canary which I used in my BC tribute blog, on another comic-themed blog. He had loads of neat pictures of the DC super heroes similar to this one... then I realized that most of the others were the images on various tee shirts, like the ones I found on MyTeeSpot.com, the place that had ALL those amazingly obscure super hero tees I blogged about. But... I didn't see a Black Canary tee on there, because TRUST ME, you'd have heard about that! Not only was there this image of Black Canary, but this image of Zatanna:
(Zatanna, pronounced Zuh-tan-uh, i.e. does not rhyme with Carlos Santana... there is no N before the T in her name, is the resident sorceress of the Justice League. She currently looks like this:
which is why everyone I know refers to her as "Who's that girl in the top hat?" I prefer the 80s version in the first illo with bell sleeves and white cape, but that's just me. I should also point out that Zatanna works as a stage magician... but is in fact REALLY magical, so isn't that cheating? Also, in a world where super heroes and villains actually exist and everyone knows this, why would anyone be interested in a stage magician in the first place?)

So wait a second... if every other image on this other blog were illustrations from tee shirts, shouldn't that mean that these were too? I double checked MyTeeSpot, as well as StylinOnline.com and 80sTees.com (both of which as also super amazing btw) and didn't find anything. Then I tried Amazon... and BINGO! I found both through one of their independent dealers. I ordered them, however, I am a tad concerned because according to the vendor, they were Men's sized shirts. Logically, I'd have assumed these were Juniors. So now I just need to wait for them to arrive. I'm really hoping I don't have to exchange them. But I mean, there's no way I can squeeze into a Juniors' size Small but I didn't want to order an XL and have a Men's XL arrive, because that would have looked like a sack dress on me. We'll see...

5. Thank god THAT madness is over with! Saltare FINALLY got kicked off America's Best DANCE Crew last night. To be honest, I fast forward through each show and just watch the dances (and often re-watch them just so I catch everything), but I did manage to hear a snippet of one of the lame assholes in this Crew saying something like, "We know no one likes us and thinks we shouldn't be on this show..." FUCK YEAH! How is that even in question? Is it too much to think that a group appearing on a DANCE show actually fucking DANCE?! Why is that an unreasonable demand?! They shouldn't have even made it onto the show, much less lasted to this point! And screw JC Chasez and his excuses, "What you do is set to music, it's timed, there's rhythm. That's dancing." Um, except wrong! PLUS, and this is what really galls me... they have one gimmick, jumping rope, and they don't even do THAT well! I've seen ten year-old girls doing double dutch and it kicks Saltre's asses! So they don't even do their ONE gimmick well! They have no grace whatsoever. They flail and thump around, while swinging their stupid ropes. The other Crews' routines are seamless and flow from one move to the next, but at least twice, if not more, in every Saltare routine, there's that second or two where they have to pause to get their ropes in sync or whatever.

H-A-T-E THEM!!!

6. I forgot what instigated this, but I was thinking, "Wow, I'm really lucky that geek chic is en vogue. I'm gonna be royally screwed when it goes out of style." Then I realized that maybe it already has! See... I kinda thought people liked the Jersey Shore and other shows like Tool Academy and... every other VH1 reality show, because they were making fun of the idiots on it. But then, I saw an article in a magazine that had a poll for which of the Jersey Shore neanderdouches women thought was the hottest! Um, the only acceptable answer is NONE!!! (Which doesn't appear to have been an option.) HOT?! Those inarticulate, brain-dead, metrogay slabs of beef?! If you're not a stripper or porn star, you shouldn't be attracted to ANY of them! And that pretty much goes for the ladi... er, females on the show. Dear god, is that where we're headed? Are there people that actually RESPECT these kinds of people? Are there actually people that ASPIRE to be like that? Horrific!

And finally, a funny toy review video! Enjoy!

March Sanity

God I hate basketball. It's like people just HAVE to have some sport going on for their lives to be fulfilled. Football's over. Baseball hasn't started. "What EVER shall we do with ourselves?! We MUST have some excuse to eat chips and drink beer and ignore reality!" With baseball, I don't like it or anything, but overall it doesn't really bother me. It's kinda like those homeless people downtown that sell Street Vibes. You can say no and they still tell you to have a nice day. Baseball is the somewhat employed, genial homeless person of sports. (Metaphor!) Football... has hot guys. That's all I got. With basketball... ugh! I hate it! The only thing I want to see enormous black men doing is dressing like enormous black women.I love how on RuPaul's Drag Race, she says, in the most dire and serious tone ever, "It's time... to lipsynch... FOR YOUR LIFE." Which is a fallacy, since the eliminated drag queen is never actually put down. Though I don't normally risk death, I think it might be worth it to find an actual situation where lipsynching really could save your life. Like I'm so close to a hungry, pissed off grizzly bear that it's breath is fogging up my glasses... and then, "All the single ladies! (All the single ladies!) All the single ladies! (All the single ladies!) Put'cha hands up!" And death averted!
Foolproof. Suck it MacGuyver!

Well, speaking of nothing interesting going on in March, as everyone knows, I am decidedly PRO-teen idol. Even the ones like Zac Efron and Taylor Lautner, who are just kinda popular because they're pretty. (And HOW pretty they are!) In fact, I realized today, after navigating around the huge Twilight kiosk at work all day, that I'm fairly certain Taylor Lautner is screwed. He's famous for being in Twilight and having killer abs. Where do you go from there? No straight guy can ever go to one of his movies without seeming gay. Taylor could probably actually turn a few guys if he wanted. But I digress. Most male actors might be attractive, but they still have SOME guy-appeal, but I'm pretty sure Taylor does not. Poor Button!
Though I might be pro-teen idol in general, I am decidedly anti-Justin Bieber. Sorry, humanity, you lost me. That squeaky, pre-pubescent voice worked well all of thrice, Michael Jackson, Ralph Tresvant from New Edition and Joey MacIntyre. No more! Yuck! I don't get that at all. At least Taylor Hanson sounded vaguely like a guy. Kinda. JB just sounds to be shrieking... except like through his nose. This is coming from me and I listen to some SHITTY singers! (Don-don't be tardy for the party.)

Also, NOT THAT I'M LOOKING, but he's not even cute. Not ugly, but not cute. Cathy used to hate the Jonas Brothers' hair, but Bieber's is worse to me. It's just flat and boring and unkempt.

He kinda creeps me out a tad. Like the way clowns creep some people... er, everybody... out. Don't know what it is. He's like some reptile or something. Not diggin' it, folks!

Give 'Em Hell, Cat!

When it comes to Marvel heroes, my taste runs decidedly obscure. I have ZERO interest in Spider-Man or Iron Man or Wolverine. But, give me someone that no one else has heard of and I'm all over that. Let's examine one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters, Hellcat.My first reaction to Hellcat was, "How is Batgirl in a Marvel book? She's a DC character!" I mean, blue cowl, red hair... forgive my confusion.Patsy Walker starred in an entire line of comics beginning in the 40s. They were teen comedic/romantic (i.e. girl) comics, a la Archie, involving the misadventures of model Patsy Walker, her boyfriend Buzz Baxter and rival Hedy Wolfe.
In the early 70s, Marvel attempted to launch a line of books starring female heroes, including The Cat.Greer Nelson donned the guise of The Cat and embarked on a crime-fighting career, but her series only lasted four quarterly issues and vanished. Eventually, Greer Nelson was revived and transformed into a REAL cat-woman, Tigra.
Patsy Walker was then revealed to exist in the mainstream Marvel Universe and donned the discarded costume of The Cat, becoming Hellcat.
She debuted in The Avengers, Marvel's all-star super team, but was quickly booted down to the D-List, literally, going on to star in Marvel's team of nobodies, The Defenders...
It was in the pages of The Defenders that I first encountered Hellcat and was instantly enamored. Here's what I loved... she enjoyed being a super hero. As a kid, you relate to super heroes on one level... because you think it would be FUN! It would be fun to have super powers and go on adventures! We should all go on adventures! Who doesn't love an adventure?! But reading comics, you never really got that. Super heroes were all very stoic. They were motivated by tragedy or duty. They took things very seriously. But Hellcat had a BLAST righting wrongs and saving the world! She always had a smile on her face and made snappy comments. I loved her because she loved what she was doing! I connected with that.In a funny twist, her boyfriend from those old teen romance books, Buzz Baxter (revealed to be her ex-husband), adopted the villainous guise of Mad-Dog. Strangely, romantic rival Hedy Wolfe did NOT become She-Wolf. Talk about a missed opportunity.

Then, she married the Son of Satan, who drove her insane and she committed suicide, with her spirit going to HELL! Guess they forgot to RAPE her first and then piss on her. BOO!!! The one fun-loving, free-wheeling heroine out there and you completely DESTROY her?! WTF, Marvel?!Sigh. Well, seeing as she is a fictional character, she... got better. She escaped hell and returned to super hero-ing, and is also now an accomplished author. She temporarily served as the only official super hero in Alaska, re-teamed with her former Defenders teammates and most recently, co-starred in Marvel Divas... interestingly alongside Spider-Man's ex, The Black Cat. TWO cat ladies on one team?!
So despite their best efforts to completely ruin her, Hellcat has persevered and overcome everything that misogynist creators have attempted to hurl at her and retains her fun, feisty personality. Go on, girl!

Last I checked, Captain America Wasn't Smug

Sigh. Looks like Chris Pine is out as Captain America. Guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. It was too good to be true.It now looks like John Krasinski has it locked up.
Wigga-whaaaaa--?! I mean, I guess he's... tall. Nope, sorry H'Wood! Poor choice! I mean, I like The Office as much as the next person... although I like it less than The Office (the original, British version... yep, I'm one of those). But the only real character trait he has is smugness, and that doesn't strike me as being Captain America-esque. He's also kinda the most boring part of the entire show. And like the rest of the free world, I have completely ignored his ventures out into other roles. Boo!
Originally, I actually HAAAAAAAATED Jim. The main reason being, he was not the absolutely adorable Tim from The (original) Office. Tim, at least was self-depreciating. Jim is not. He is smug and cocky. I thought I'd gotten over that, until either earlier this season or last season, when things stopped working out for him and he started not getting his way all the time and I LIKED it.

Cathy once got upset that someone (I think it was Deborah) referred to Jim as "so ugly he's cute." I can't disagree with that assessment. He's not ugly, but physically, he's not really all that good-looking. He just has a "way about him" that makes him more attractive.

Kinda like Peyton Manning:
When I went to Indianapolis a few years ago, his face was plastered all over these billboards and they were THE UGLIEST PICS I have ever seen of any person ever! (Okay, that may be an exaggeration... but they were still fug!) But he also has a certain charm and likability, which makes him MUCH more attractive.

John Krasinski is the same way. I mean, look at that huge nose and that horse-y face. But he's witty and charming, so that makes him more appealing.

In fact, I think I'd buy Peyton Manning as Captain America before I would John Krasinski. He just... doesn't fit! Guess we'll have to wait and see, but I'm not digging this choice and I will put that on the record. (Table slap!)

Women's History Month Part 3: A Fire-Star Is Born!

But first, The Mysterious Case of The Human Torch:In the late '70s, a Fantastic Four cartoon series aired for one season on NBC, but in a departure from the comics, founding member Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch, was replaced by an annoying R2-D2-esque robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. Among fans, there are two explanations as to why this was. #1. There were plans underway to produce a separate Human Torch movie, thus the rights weren't available for the show or #2. They were afraid that kids would try to emulate the Human Torch and light themselves on fire. Both stories are pretty rampant and I don't know which is true. Maybe a combination of both? But anyway... in 1980, NBC created a new Saturday morning cartoon based on Marvel Comics...Initially, the plan was to team Spider-Man with two buddies, Ice Man from the X-Men and The Human Torch. However, once more, The Torch was dropped and replaced. Possibly for the same reasons, or possibly because #3. NBC wanted a female character on the show, which makes more sense. And thus we have...

The Fabulous FIRE-STAR!
I effing LOVE Fire-Star!!! I mean, I LOVE FIRE-STAR!!!

(NOT to be confused with Starfire from yesterday's blog.)

Fire-Star was not an existing Marvel character. She was invented for the show. Apparently, they were dead set on the ice/fire powers dichotomy and needed a fire powered character to play off of Ice Man.She went through numerous identities in the planning stages. At one point, she was Firefly and as you can see from this illustration, at one point she was Heatwave. At least her secret identity remained the same, Angelica Jones. Or as the cruel kids who tormented her as a kid called her, "Miss Angelica Jinx!" No explanation has ever been given as to why Angelica looked exactly like Spider-Man's comic book girlfriend Mary-Jane Watson (above). Also, I can't forget to mention Angelica's pet, Ms. Lion, a vaguely anthropomorphic pooch who once saved the day when the Spider-Friends (wonder where they stole that name from) teamed up with a bunch of other heroes to battle The Chameleon. Other than that, apparently, Ms. Lion, like every other "mascot" from an 80s cartoon, seemed to be there so fans had one character on an otherwise awesome show to EFFING HATE!

Fire-Star's transformation ranks right behind Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman twirl... she starts out with that straight, lifeless hairdo, then glows red hot and suddenly, she's wearing the disco-iest outfit this side of Dazzler and her hair is all full and glam... like Farrah Fawcett's but ginger and more heroic!
Check it out at approx. 1:00.


As one character in the recent Marvel Divas series commented, "Oh my God! Fire-Star! Best! Costume! Ever! (Except for Dazzler's.)" Perhaps lending credence to the "not wanting kids to light themselves on fire," Fire-Star's powers rarely looked like fire. They were more like heat rays... in the comics, they explained that she could control microwaves.On the show, like Ice Man, she was a former member of The X-Men, who guest starred on two episodes (secretly as a backdoor pilot for a possible X-Men cartoon series, which failed to materialize). Nice ascot, Professor X!

Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends seemed like a hit (to me) at the time. Yet, they only produced one full season, and a few new episodes each subsequent year to sprinkle in with reruns from Season One. Likewise, there were very few tie-ins. There wasn't even a comic book series, just one issue, adapting the show's first episode.
There were two additional comics produced as promotional give-aways:"Danger In Denver?" Ha. I doubt anything dangerous or exciting has ever happened in that place! In fact, this comic is probably the most exciting thing to ever happen there... that and the rampant homophobia. Denver can suck it. Speaking of homos...I guess the Dallas Ballet wanted to tap into that lucrative comic nerd market. "Let's see, they enjoy comics, role playing and Star Trek reruns. They ought to LOVE The Nutcracker!" It's pure logic, really.
Hardee's had some of the best fast food premiums when I was growing up and this was absolutely one of my FAVORITES! Their kids' meals came in these boxes, designed like movie theaters, which included a comic strip you fed through the back and 3D glasses built into the front, so you could read a 3D comic telling the origin of one of six Marvel heroes, Fire-Star, Spider-Man, Iceman, Captain America, The Hulk and one of my other favorites Spider-Woman, whose origin is so complicated that I'm surprised her comic strip wasn't the size of a roll of toilet paper! Damn, I wish I had these still. Also, considering the nature of the premium, cardboard and paper... that once housed FOOD, I doubt many of them are floating around. It's a miracle that I could even find a picture of one!

Marvel, at the time, seemed to have no interest in developing Fire-Star as a feature character. It wasn't until the 90s that she got a steady gig, as one of the New Warriors.In the recent Marvel Divas series, she learned that her microwave powers had given her cancer.

This cover, while great, is rather cheesecake-y when the actual art inside was more quirky and indie influenced:Now that professionals that grew up loving Fire-Star on Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends are writing comics and developing toys and such, we're seeing more Fire-Star merch than ever existed in the '80s:Sadly, it appears things have been somewhat unfabulous for Fire-Star. She now works at a doctor's office. "May I see your insurance card?"But at least on Friday nights, she can cut loose with the gals from the office at Don Pablo's. "Extra jalapenos, please! Oh and it's Bethany's birthday! Can you bring out a fried ice cream with a candle in it? But don't tell her, I told you!":
And then there was that time she kissed Seth Green:
And every so often, she gets together with Spidey (who, let's face it, has let himself go... perhaps he should be on Celebrity Fit Club) and Iceman and reminisce about the good ol' days. Look, she even brought Ms. Lion!
Of course, they cause a scene where ever they go. "Spider-Friends... Go For It!"