Looks Like We Finally Have Banthas here On Earth

It seemed as if Disney was keeping all the Bantha milk limited to only being on sale at their theme parks. Now my guess is they have imported enough Banthas to Earth so they can produce enough Blue Milk that it can be found in the corner grocery store.

It is amazing to me that it took over forty years for someone to see the value in marketing Blue Milk. As with anything seen in Star Wars, there is money to be made off us fans with putting that kind of stuff on store shelves. We got a half-gallon here and it we all like it. 

A few years ago, during a trip to Disney World we got to try both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions, and my guess is you can find a few other mixed drink ideas using Blue Milk as the base on-line.

There is an appeal to me for fun, novelty foods and I know I'm not the only one.

So now Disney needs to keep it going and get enough thala-sirens here on Earth so we can also get the Green Milk in the stores as well.

Delusions of Godhood

The following is the introduction to the first collection of fiction I self-published, 'My Delusions of Godhood'. This is a collection of my older fiction, if you are interested in seeing my style from about 20 years ago, the collection is still available here: Amazon.com: My Delusions of Godhood

 Introduction,

The title of this collection (My Delusions of Godhood) is based off my general belief that all writers suffer from of a basic need to play god. We create worlds and universes, give them our own rules of physics and logic, then we create life in those worlds and manipulate that life as we see fit for entertainment purposes. Our creations laugh and cry or live and die by our whims.  We play god with every story we write. I am also fairly sure we enjoy it, otherwise we wouldn’t keep doing it.

I openly embrace my god complex.

After creating the title for this collection, as I gathered up the pieces of fiction I wanted to include, I noticed about half of the stories I had picked dealt with various ideas of gods. We have a story set in Norse Mythology, one that is my take on the one God concept, a story about prophecies and a set of stories based in my own fantasy world with my own concepts of gods. It is a common theme for many other writers as well. There is clearly an attraction for writers to explore the various god concepts. With that we see those with god complexes controlling gods, even creating their own. Us mere mortals manipulating the lives, actions and even the fate of gods.

Is there really any doubt that writers have god complexes?

I figure some psychiatrist out there could make a whole new area of psychology by exploring this condition and seeing if there is some link between being creative and having a god complex.

In the following pages are my stories and poems and a blog post that is actually the compilation of three separate blogs I wrote on the idea of the importance of fiction in our society. The stories for the most part are in no particular order, outside of those that have been previously published are in order of when they were sold and the Akoon section being in chronological order.

I hope anyone picking up this collection will find something entertaining in it. Having come from my mind, I figure there must be some glimpse into the workings of my brain in the following pages.  Admittedly that might scare some people and leaves those who know me with a better understanding of the insanity that drives me.

So enjoy.

Everyone Deserves a Super-Hero They Can Relate To

I have been a huge Spider-Man fan ever since watching 'Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends' Saturday mornings in my youth. There was something there that drew me in more than any of the other super-heroes out there. I wanted to watch anything connected to Spidey, so it was no surprise that when I started to get into super-hero comics books, Spider-Man was the first one I started collecting and the only one I kept collecting when times were tough, and I had to budget things. When I have money, buying Spidey back issues in my main indulgence.

As I look back it is easy for me to see why Spidey became my hero and why he is one of the most popular super-heroes ever, right from his first appearance. Spider-Man truly is the greatest every-man super-hero, created as a character you can relates to. From the get-go he was a person first and foremost, with human problems, human doubts and feelings. He was not the perfect clean cut super-hero with all the answers. He openly delt with insecurities that we all suffer from at one time or another.

The older I have gotten and now doing therapy, I can see so very clearly just why I have always related to Peter Parker even if I didn't realize it in my youth. I see much of myself in the character on so many levels. The key to the character's popularity is undeniably the relatability that has been there from the start.

Now Peter Parker/Spider-Man was created at a time when all such heroes were white heterosexual males. That character has strongly crossed over to appeal to people of all ethnicities and orientations which fuels my claim that Spider-Man is the most significant super-hero out there with Marvel doing so much to keep that true.

When the Spider-Man from Ultimate Universe (An off branch from the mainstream Marvel Comic universe where they had more freedom with the characters) died he was replaced by Miles Morales, a half black, half Puerto Rican kid. This was such a brilliant move, as it showed that the spirit of Spider-Man was universal.

Some years later we got The Spider-Verse and that idea was brought to a whole new level.

The Spider-People from the Spider-Verse have been the most inclusive set of characters out there, coming from every race, ethnicity, lifestyle, social standings and sexuality. There is no limit to who can be Spider-Man/Woman, even to the point of one Spider-Woman confined to a wheelchair because her super flexible bone structure is not able to support her weight, but she is still a superhero and is able to fight the villains with use of her special crutches.

As white straight male who has never had to look far to find heroes and strong characters that resemble myself, I think this has to be one of the greatest possible concepts to open that door and make it so that people of all varieties are able to find a Spider-Person who matches up with them. Despite what some may claim, there is great power in diversity and the popularity of the Spider-Verse concept shows that the majority of our society embraces the idea.

It is inspiring that our entertainment is reflecting those values. Everyone should be able to have heroic characters that they can feel connected to and inspired by. The more inclusion that is out there, the healthier our society will be.

The concept of the strength of diversity ended up being the central theme to my book 'A Day at Georgie and Armand's Place' and is a key element to that universe. I will continue to explore that concept in my creative endeavors as those are truly worthy ideas that we need to see more of.

Going forward society can only benefit by continuing with such ideas. There is room for everyone to be represented in entertainment.