I am the Faceless Blogger Woooooo

I thought, since I’ve written a bit of political stuff, I’d explain why I blog from behind the very attractive but ultimately faceless façade of the Pie Man.

What it boils down to is my job, now I’m not going to tell you what that is beyond its in civil engineering; those who know me know what I do. The problem is twofold.

First, I do worry about my employers monitoring the net. Other companies have done it, and while I can’t update my blog from work it is out there for all to see. Even if I didn’t say what I did I doubt they’d be happy if their monitoring flagged up a critical article by their employees. I like blogging, more than my job, but until people will pay me equivalent salary for this random emptying of my mind anonymous will have to do. There are links between my real identity and my blog, but you’d have to find them (It’s not actually that hard but I’ll hardly tell you). There have been existing cases of employees sacked over the content of their blogs, so I’ll at least make linking me with my blog that much harder.

Second, Lazy Journalists. So, I write a piece critical of my company, or indeed my union near an upcoming strike. When one or the other comes under scrutiny journalist have often searched for key words and phrases in the hope of finding some internal bitching. This sort of thing got some MPs in trouble after their twitter feeds were followed last election. Now this may seem like me seeming overly self important, but I don’t want to read an article stating “Worker in company X blasts management/unions” and a reveal of my name may well lead to a discovery of my employer. This one is more pernicious. While my company not liking what I’ve written I can defend by pointing out my relative anonymity and how I do not say it is the opinions of an employee, something hitting the presses on the other hand is harder, as in public my name and status as an employee would be front and centre. To this end I do self censor a lot, both in blogs and forums, a shame because a couple of times saying I work where I work, or even quoting standards could have easily won arguments. This I think is wrong. I shouldn’t have to fear reprisals from what I post online, I would ask if ranting in the pub would receive the same scrutiny, but the only difference is I’m less likely to be near someone who can report it nationally while ranting in my local while on a blog it is there, and there for a good while.

I would like to see my right to express opinions about my work, employers and related gubbins protected, so that my boss can’t sack me for expressing opinion (Hell, I even have a comments section, that’s right to reply there you know) and I’d also like my blog posts to be protected by some form of copyright, namely that if anyone wants to use them they have to ask permission. Its new legal ground and I’ll be interested to see how many sackings we get before something is done.

Iron Man 2

Well, I posted a bit showing my excitement for this film, and I have actually seen it, should I perhaps post a review. I will warn at the moment, I won’t shy away from spoilers.

First, a plot summary, picking up where Iron man left off, Tony Stark has gone public about being Iron Man, and has been using the armour for some time, both in a “Fighting Evil” role and for publicity stunts like we see in the opening. Only problem is that the Arc Reactor in his chest is slowly killing him and as he sees death coming Stark begins to act more and more recklessly. A situation not helped by senate hearings demanding Stark hand over Iron man to the military and a new threat in the form of Disgruntled Russian Vanko.

This film has taken a fair amount of criticism, mainly for being more of the same. For my money I think more of Iron Man is no bad thing, there were some nice echoes to Tony’s remarkably flaky character, and particularly the Demon in a bottle Story as Stark goes off the rails in quite a bad way. While Vanko is more grunts and gestures as a villain perhaps the real for is Justin Hammer, a rival arms manufacturer who works really well as a potential rival to carry through future films. It also sets up a bigger supporting cast, we saw Nick Fury at the end of Iron man and we’re also introduced to The Black Widow as well as more screen time for Faverau himself as Happy Hogan and Don Cheadle taking the role of Jim Rhodes/War Machine and making it his own.

On the Cheadle/Howard front. I had no objections to Cheadle, and actually think he captured the comic’s version of Jim Rhodes and particularly War Machine that may not have suited Howard’s depiction in the first film.

Criticisms, well, introducing such a big cast means some people get less screen time, Vanko isn’t particularly fleshed out as the main Villain, and we don’t see that much of Black Widow. If you’re wanting a non-stop action fest then you’ll probably be disappointed too as there is still more Tony than Iron Man.

Thing is, to me Iron Man has always been more about Tony than Iron Man. He’s often compared to Batman (Both rich orphans who dress up and fight crime) however, while with Batman there is a real ambiguity over whether Bruce Wayne dresses up as batman, or batman dresses up as Bruce Wayne, there was never such ambiguity with Iron Man. People criticise Tony’s wisecracking and the films humour, but this is part of his character. Indeed while I’m never sure about Tony/pepper pairings the chemistry between the characters and the witty rapport would be sorely missed if it was excised from the film, more so if it was excised for brooding.

I suppose you’ll like or dislike this film based on how much you like the central premise of Iron Man. I’ve heard people complain that it lacked Darkness or grit, yes it does, and to add that to Iron man would make it more generic and less unique. If you accept that this is a film about a guy who, to an extent masks his insecurities with a bombastic public persona, and a big metal suit you’ll definitely have more fun.

For Fans, the film has some really good references. Obviously we all love the Avengers stuff and the Thor cameo post credits, but there were other gems. During the race scene one car is sponsored by Roxxon, a fictional Marvel company, Cap’s Shield makes an appearance again and my personal favourite is the War Machine suit being called the Variable Threat Response suit, a nod to the comic’s designation. In fact, a nice touch is the lack of people calling themselves names. Rhodes never calls himself War Machine (Although Tony calls him this once) and similarly Vanko doesn’t turn up saying “Cower Iron Man, now you face the might of Whiplash” its good, fans and toy manufacturers know who these people are, but to add their names to dialogue would seem clunky. Not that it may not happen in the future, particularly if Titanium Man or Crimson Dynamo makes an appearance. (You could argue that Crimson Dynamo already has although he wasn’t crimson)

So, I really enjoyed this, and it has 100% more War Machine tan any other film released in 2010, in fact than any film released to date, so that must count in its favour.

Neeeeerds!

I recently had the good fortune to attend a meet of some of the Scottish members of SFX Magazine’s forum in Glasgow. It was good fun, yes it was only an afternoon and there were only 8 of us, but as a geek, being in the company of other geeks is fun. In fact, this is true in general and regardless of the focus of your geeky tendencies.

In a recent Top gear the challenge was to buy a classic car and race it in a classics time trial event. At the car auction at the start Clarkson and Hammond were being slightly disparaging of the enthusiasts, the John major voice came out along with the classic phrase “I think you’ll find” which is now pretty much used inside most fandoms to represent the joy in geeky pedantry. However by the end they were ruminating on how nice it was not to have to hide the excesses of their hobby (In this case, cars) and this is what I get when I meet up with reilly2040 and other nerds, you can use references as humour, in jokes and talk about the subject of your geekery without fear that the other parties will be bored or about to mock you. In short this is presumably what fans of football and trendy music, plus probably eastenders and “in” TV shows get every day.

You see, just about all of us have something that enthuses us; I have a good few, must be a personality trait that I take laser like interest in various things. None of them particularly useful (My wife wished I’d do the same but with Plumbing, or gas fitting, or car mechanics) If you have a hobby or an interest, you are probably a geek. Yes its usually bundled on for Sci-Fi fans, but geeks take many forms, and indeed, within their specific geek/nerddom there are subdivisions going to a fractal level, You like Cars, well are you interested in mechanics, motor sport or cars themselves, Cars? Supercars, performance, classic, vintage or Modding? With subjects like cars, most music and gaming, plus the obvious SF and Fantasy, we know we’re nerds; the difference is in the ones who have massive fan bases, making interest near universal, Football, Sports in general and fashionable music. You meet people who have a great interest in these subjects, but would never call themselves a nerd. Sir Terry Pratchett has pointed this out on many occasions. There is sometimes a sneering “I’m not like you” from the football fan, or the guy on his way to a trendy indy gig. In truth the only difference is the football fans biggest fear is being the lone supporter in a workplace, while SF fans have to feel out others like us.

It’s why all the smaller fandoms meet, be it in Metal Bars or at the end of station platforms. We all know the score in those locations and we can bring down the screens that we put up to interact with everyone else, all of whom are similarly hiding their own secret Nerd tendencies, we’ll play up our interest in football, (Or indeed talk about that as it may be as big a love as our love of Motorways) but somewhere you want to talk about something else to a like minded person.

So, attend meets, talk on forums and engage with your fellow geeks. You won’t regret it.