On the 1st day of Christmas .....

For each of the next 12 weekdays (ending on Christmas day itself), I'm gonna add a different holiday-themed post with seasonal subject matter. Since I couldn't resist adding one tongue-in-cheek "cheesecake" shot, I'm gonna get that one out of the way first. Here is a holiday "belle" who's hawking a spiffy seasonal lingerie item to spice up your special lady at yuletide.

I can't wait to unwrap the little woman of the house after the kiddies fall asleep, and she dons this treasure.

Eva Mendes has got it going "ON".

Yeah! She's hot.

Hot like Raquel Welch [gotta do a "classic cutie" on her soon] was a couple of decades (or so) ago. She has a great theatrical resume also. Eva has livened up Training Day, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Hitch, 2 Fast 2 Furious, We Own the Night and the recent comic book-to-film adaption of Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider.

I love this picture of her, and couldn't wait to post it. Now all of you get to enjoy drooling over the many possibilities that this lovely image suggests.

She is definitely one of my current favorites. Oh, Eva!

1970's "Western Week Part V" Flashback: Jonah Hex

Jonah Hex made his debut in All-Star Western # 10 (Feb/Mar. 1971) published by DC Comics. He was created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. The right side of his face is horribly & distinctly scarred. Hex was an officer for the Confederacy during the Civil War, fought at Gettysburg and is normally shown wearing a tattered Confederate States Army jacket. He is depicted as being surly and cynical

Many standard western genre conventions have been heavily subverted during his publication history. Jonah Hex has battled alcoholism, and as an adult faced his mother's turn to prostitution. Though he has traveled extensively throughout the American West, he also ended up in South America and China. Hex eventually quit bounty hunting, married and had a son, and took up farming, though it wouldn't last.

Hex's facial injuries can be traced back to being sold into slavery by his own father to the Apache for safe passage. Jonah eventually saves the chief from being killed by a mountain lion and is made an honorary member of the tribe. He is soon betrayed by the chiefs envious son while on a raid. Hex returned years later to challenge him in a sacred tomahawk battle. But the chief's son sabotaged Jonah's tomahawk and Jonah then used his knife in self defense when the tomahawk broke.The tribe saw this as breaking the rules of the sacred battle and sentenced Jonah to wear the mark of the demon by pressing a searing hot tomahawk to his face. They said his honorary relationship to the chief is the only thing that saved him from death.

In 1904, Jonah was shot in cold blood during a card game (but not before he was transported into the future for the 1985 post-Crisis on Infinite Earths-apocalyptic Hex series). His corpse was then stolen, stuffed, mounted, and dressed in a ridiculous singing cowboy costume, and put on display in a traveling circus. The circus owner was eventually murdered and Jonah's body was stolen yet again. It is currently on display in a “Planet Krypton”-themed restaurant owned by Justice League member, Booster Gold.

December 7, 1941 - Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor

66 years ago today, "a date which will live in infamy!"

A heinous action which directly led the United States of America into World War II. The photo shows the rescue of survivors from the burning hulk of the U.S.S. West Virginia.

In honor of all our heroic WWII vets, here is a Sal Buscema drawn illustration of the golden age-inspired Liberty Legion leaping into battle [from Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1; 1976].

(Western Week Part IV) gets stuck on the wall ...

I'm cheating a bit with todays "western week" featurette, by combining a little cheesecake that homages the glamorous side of western gals via three very fun pin-ups. But then again, the whole point is to note the impact of the western genre on pop culture - - - so who's to complain?

Gilette Elvgren (1914-1980) was one of the most important pin-up and glamour artists of the twentieth century. In addition, he was a classical American illustrator. He was a true master of portraying the feminine, but Gil wasn't limited to the calendar pin-up industry. He was strongly influenced by the early "pretty girl" illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. Another influence included the Brandywine School founded by Howard Pyle.

Elvgren enjoyed huge commercial success, with clients ranging from Brown and Bigelow and Coca-Cola to General Electric and the Sealy Mattress Company. Additionally, during the 1940s and 1950s he illustrated stories for a host of magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping.

Although Elvgren is best known for his fabulous pin-ups, his work for Coca-Cola and others depicted typical Americans — ordinary people doing everyday things.

December Art Ephemera

Femme fatales are featured this month [all copyrighted by the respective owners or artists]. Enjoy!

(Western Week Part III) goes Warner Brothers

With the rootinest, tootinest, shootinest character, "north, south, east, aaaaand west of the Pecos", Bugs Bunny's frequent nemesis - - - YOSEMITE SAM!

Introduced by animator Friz Freleng in the 1945 cartoon Hare Trigger, the fiery haired, height-impaired western rapscallion was somewhat of an animated alter-ego for Freleng, but the character is best remembered for the "large" voice of Mel Blanc.

Always extremely violent and belligerent, the hot-tempered cowboy doesn't prove much brighter than Elmer Fudd in his encounters with Bugs. For all his bluff and bluster, Sam stands in direct contrast to Freleng's calmly cocksure rabbit. Sam is significantly tougher and more aggressive than mild-mannered Elmer Fudd when challenging Bugs. He is also quicker to learn from his mistakes, and never falls for the same ploy twice. However it is Sam's own cockiness that always gets the best of him; Bugs learns to deal with Sam upon learning that he is incapable of turning down a challenge. Every time Bugs dares Sam to "step across that line," Sam simply can't help but do so, even if he steps off into empty space or down a mine shaft.

Another chief foil of Sam's humor is the ludicrous lengths he'll go to just to "get even" -- often with disastrous results to himself and his surroundings.

Here is a list of some of Yosemite Sam's classic Looney Tunes appearances: Bugs Bunny Rides Again, 14 Carrot Rabbit, Sahara Hare, Big House Bunny, Buccaneer Bunny, Mutiny on the Bunny, Bunker Hill Bunny and variations on the character also popped up in other Warners shorts.

Of course, the Looney Tunes gang, including Yosemite Sam, have also appeared in comic book form continuously for decades.

(AP) Taylor's death a grim reminder for us all

As a football fan, I'm running this article in it's entirety with much respect for Mr. Whitlock, and his choice to state an opinion that could earn him a backlash within the larger black community:

Jason Whitlock (FOXSports.com)

There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.

Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.

The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.

No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.

Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.

When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.

Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How's that working?

About as well as the attempt to shift attention away from this uniquely African-American crisis by focusing on an "injustice" the white media allegedly perpetrated against Sean Taylor.
Within hours of his death, there was a story circulating that members of the black press were complaining that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor's victimhood by reporting on his troubled past

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you've been murdered.

Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player, made the radio circuit Wednesday, singing the tune that athletes are targets. That was his explanation for the murders of Taylor and Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams and the armed robberies of NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry.

Really?

Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s.

Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.

But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.

Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality.

You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.

Of course there are other catalysts, but until we recapture the minds of black youth, convince them that it's not OK to "super man dat ho" and end any and every dispute by "cocking on your bitch," nothing will change.

Does a Soulja Boy want an education?

HBO did a fascinating documentary on Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas school that required the National Guard so that nine black kids could attend in the 1950s. Fifty years later, the school is one of the nation's best in terms of funding and educational opportunities. It's 60 percent black and located in a poor black community.

Watch the documentary and ask yourself why nine poor kids in the '50s risked their lives to get a good education and a thousand poor black kids today ignore the opportunity that is served to them on a platter.

Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever. There's only one group of people who can change the rotten, anti-education, pro-violence culture our kids have adopted. We have to do it.

According to reports, Sean Taylor had difficulty breaking free from the unsavory characters he associated with during his youth.

The "keepin' it real" mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There's always someone ready to tell you you're selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you're selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream.

The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.

In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.

Megan Gale is a damn fine casting choice for .....

WONDER WOMAN!

..... in the upcoming Justice League of America film. This is old news by now, but I had a few other irons in the fire to post before adding these photos of the absolutely delicious selection for the role of Princess Diana of Themyscira to the blog.

I'm not familiar with Gale's modeling career or previous acting experience, but for me ya' gotta start with the right look for the part - - - and she definitely has the appearance of, again, a DAMN fine Amazon Princess.

Trust me, many cold showers will be necessary when Megan first slides into those skimpy red, blue & gold tights.

A Mighty Marvel (Western Week Part II) Moment

Check out this stunning cover by legendary Spider-Man artist "Jazzy" John Romita from Mighty Marvel Western #30. Romita provides both pencils and inks on this classic gunfight cover which prominently features the Rawhide Kid shooting down a gang of ornery owlhoots who have run afoul of the Kid.

Marvel published the adventures of many cowboy characters during their long history (whether as Timely, Atlas or Marvel), beginning way back in the golden age of comics. A short list of their western stable includes: Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, Apache Kid, Ringo Kid, Matt Slade, the original Ghost Rider, Red Wolf, and, well - you get the picture.

In the year 2000, Marvel released a mini-series featuring some of these characters in a last hurrah-type sendoff. Blaze of Glory (and it's subsequent follow-up, Apache Skies) featured a dark and violent updating of Marvel's classic western heroes, primarily the Two-Gun Kid, the Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt and the Outlaw Kid. In contrast to characters' standard looks until then, Blaze of Glory depicted them as grizzled, weather-beaten cowboys and gunfighters, wearing less stylized, but more historically appropriate outfits than their classic ones. In fact, Blaze of Glory specifically retconned that the naively clean-cut Marvel Western stories of years past were merely dime novel fictions of the characters' actual lives.

Heroes: "POWERLESS"

Deep below Primatech Paper in Odessa, TX, Peter's reunion with Nathan turns violent when the Petrelli brothers, Matt Parkman and Hiro Nakamura all clash thanks to Adam Monroe and his pursuit of the deadly Shanti Virus. After watching his heroic cousin captured by a street gang, Micah turns to the one person who can help him save Monica -- his mom. Meanwhile, Maya tragically learns how much of a monster Sylar really is during his kidnapping of Molly and Dr. Suresh. Meanwhile, Elle Bishop decides to play hero in order to get back into her father's good graces and Noah Bennett (HRG) is forced into making an uncomfortable decision to save his family. Resolutions come in the close of Volume II (also the abbreviated 2nd season finale), but two heroes fall and the Volume 3 teaser reveals an old foe on the rebound.

Western Week (Part I): The Lone Ranger

Welcome to my first western theme week! I certainly do love me some westerns; whether it's presented in movies, comics, pulp novels, or just playing some cowboys and Indians as a kid. Hey, even some of that country & western music ain't all that bad! So join me each day this week as we take a fond look at how the western genre has contributed to pop culture ..... starting off with a hearty "Hi-Yo-Silver!"

The Lone Ranger is a masked, Texas Ranger in the American Old West, who gallops about righting injustices, usually with the aid of a clever and laconic Native American sidekick called Tonto, and his horse Silver. He would famously say "Hi-yo Silver, away!" to get the horse to gallop. On the original radio and TV-series, the opening announcement was:

"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty, "Hi-yo-Silver!" The Lone Ranger"

In later episodes the opening narration ended with the catch phrase "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.... The Lone Ranger Rides Again!" Episodes usually ended with one of the characters lamenting the fact that they never found out the hero's name ("Who was that masked man?"), only to be told, "Why, he's the Lone Ranger!" as he and Tonto ride away. The famed theme music was the "cavalry charge" finale of Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell Overture, now inseparably associated with the series, which also featured many other classical selections as incidental music including Wagner, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky.

The Lone Ranger first premiered in 1933 on the Mutual Broadcasting Network and continued until 1954, but a more well known and influential adaptation of the Lone Ranger was the (1949-1957) television series starring Clayton Moore (pictured; above) and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. A comic book adaptation also ran from 1948 until 1975; through two different publishers. Additional comics versions have appeared sporadically since then.


Trivia: Another popular cult hero, The Green Hornet, spun out of the Ranger's mythos as the modern Hornet (Britt Reid) is the descendant of Lone Ranger, Dan Reid.