The State of Comics: DC

Hope someone is taking his key.

This post pains me to write more than any other. I have always been a defender of Detective Comics. (I know that means that when you say DC Comics we are really saying Detective Comics Comics, but I don't care. Go to your ATM machines and deposit that.) Everyone has always criticized DC, saying that Marvel was much more down to earth, much more believable, because for some getting bit by a radioactive spider is way more believable than an alien sent to Earth as a baby. Now I always got what they meant, Superman was too perfect and Spider-Man was more like everyone else, he had problems like any normal kid, but to me DC and Marvel have always been like apples and oranges, two fruits but with different tastes.

Marvel is grittier and writes comics about ordinary men who gain super powers. DC on the other hand has always been loftier and looked at the world of superheroes like mythology. DC heroes are like a modern pantheon of gods, so far above the mortal man that I can understand how they might turn some people off, but for me it has always been the biggest check mark in the DC box. If I want to see an anti-hero who smokes and curses I'll read a Wolverine comic, but if I want a story about heroes (someone to look up and aspire to,) I will read a Superman comic, and that was always the point. We sympathize with Marvel, but we aspire to be DC. Unfortunately, I sometimes think I am the only one who gets this, and it's starting to seem more and more like even the people at DC don't quite get this. Long story short, Marvel is leaving them in the dust.

For some reason DC just can't get their act together. They are all over the map, frightfully clinging to old formulas that are almost ten years out of date. There are rumors every year of Flash movies, Wonder Woman movies, Sandman movies, Green Lantern reboots, even a Justice League Dark movie, but it all seems so disorganized. It's like DC runs its company by polling one-hundred random people they find on the street. They seem unwilling or incapable of finding a clear vision and sticking to it. I'm not saying Marvel is not run by public opinion to some degree, but it feels much more coherent. I mean they trust their path enough to gamble on a blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man movie. Hell, even an Iron Man movie was a bit of a gamble ten years ago, but that didn't stop them.

There is one thing Marvel hasn't done
yet, made a movie about a strong female
superhero. This could have been DC's
jumping off point. This could have put
them apart, but that requires a little faith
in your own characters, something DC
has historically been reluctant to show.

DC on the other hand is like a six year old unsure of what he wants his mother to buy him in the toy store. So he spends most of his time running up and down one aisle after the other, agonizing over decisions. He always inevitably returns to the most popular toy, the one you knew he would get all along. Yet even when he finally makes his decision it seems half-hearted and disappointing. DC will be going ahead with Batman vs. Superman (or whatever they will be calling it) for 2016 and a 2018 Justice League movie as they rush to accomplish in two movies what Marvel did in six well crafted ones. The effort feels forced and lackluster somehow. Maybe I am just already expecting disappointment. I mean it happens so much nowadays with the DC title, but it wasn't always like this. Ten years ago I would have said that DC was firmly in the lead. Batman: The Animated Series was an award winning cartoon that spawned the DC Animated Universe which in itself was a universe of award winning cartoons that all tied together to make a rich world of heroes and villains. The Arkham series of video games never fails to disappoint, Batman Begins made superheroes cool again in 2005 (three full years before Robert Downey Jr. ever strapped on a Iron Man suit,) and then Nolan smashed it out of the park with The Dark Knight in 2008. The comics were ramping up with storylines like Blackest Night and Flashpoint. Even Smallville, (which really was nothing more than a ten year long tease,) was on the air keeping Superman alive in the public conscience. Then it all fell apart.

It was like DC got scared of itself and just started doing the same things over and over again. Smallville was kind of popular, so let's make Arrow. Batman Begins was dark a gritty so let's make Man of Steel the same way. People like Ryan Reynolds and CGI so let's make Green Lantern. People liked Arkham Asylum so let's just make more of those, because Batman. I swear to Jor'el that the agenda at the DC office must just say: Batman Batman Batman Batman Batman, two dozen times over. They have developed a formula for success that reads, "Everything must be like Batman" (except that one Green Lantern movie which we will never speak of again.) I won't even get started on the New 52, one of the most sinful things the company could have done. (Because let's strip away almost sixty years of history and try to become more like Marvel.)

I understand that DC can't make movies the way Marvel does. Anything they do now will just look like they are playing catch-up with their competition. So if they want to go back to their roots to look for inspiration I think they don't have to go further back than their old Justice League cartoons. Start with the team movie and then break everyone out into individual ones from there. Take the Marvel formula and work backwards, and you can drop the origin stories. We know the origins of most of these characters. Heck we've heard them half a dozen times and for the newbies in the audience you can touch on them briefly, but we don't need to rehash them every single time. Man of Steel seems to be the DC's cinematic jumping off point, which also gives me mixed emotions. In some way's I enjoyed the movie, in others I think it butchered the Superman mythos just so it could be "dark." I wrote a full blog on my thoughts about that so I won't go into it here, but sufficed to say it didn't leave me with a sense of hope for the future of DC movies, because ultimately DC's universe has and always will revolve around Superman. Let me explain...

Think about the differences between Marvel and DC. The big one is the existence of Superman. The man of steel is practically a god, which makes him an almost omnipresent shadow cast over the entire universe. However, he is also the most moral and upstanding person you will ever meet. That means Supes becomes the very ideal of what it means to be a superhero in the DC universe. The rest of the heroes have to live up to him. That doesn't mean that gritty characters can't exist in DC, the Teen Titans and Justice League Dark are examples that it can be done, but what separates the two comic companies is the fact that Marvel heroes don't have that specter of blue and red hanging over them. Captain America is great but he doesn't have the power or presence of Superman. Supes sets the tone for everything. So if Man of Steel is meant to set the tone for the DC Cinematic Universe, I have more than few concerns.

There is no denying that Marvel is winning the comic race. They have the vision, the means, and the will to carry out a full cinematic universe, where as (if it's not Batman) DC seems to have no idea what to do with anything. Joss Whedon (the current guru of the Marvel's Cinematic Universe) went to DC years ago with a Wonder Woman script. They basically laughed his ass out of the office. Marvel is now gambling on a movie starring a talking Raccoon and DC somehow couldn't find a will to make a movie about the strongest woman in comic history? Had that meeting gone differently, I have to wonder if this current blog post might be reversed with DC now existing in a expanded immense movie universe and Marvel left floundering in their wake. I guess, unless there is some kind of real life Infinite Crisis and we get to see a glimpse of a world where that happened, we will never know. The state of DC is less than optimistic.

This about sums up my feelings.

The State of Comics: Marvel

So I finally saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier over this past weekend (I know I can't believe it took me this long either,) and all I can say is that there is a reason it is the biggest April movie of all time and has been on the top of the movie charts for three weeks running now. Whether you're a comic book fan, a movie fan, or just a human with a pulse, I promise you there is something worth seeing in this movie, and in my opinion a good microcosm of everything that Marvel is doing right. On a personal note it is really great to see Cap get to spread his legs in a movie set in modern America where he is isn't distracted by invading aliens and Robert Downey Jr. Yet, more to the point it is great to see Cap acting like Cap, not as a mindless violent icon draped in red, white, and blue, but as a moral beacon who fights for the principals of freedom and liberty, even if that conflicts with those in power above him.

And for me, this is a lot of where Marvel's success is coming from. Though they do take their liberties, they still stay true to the comic, if not in letter, in spirit. Thus, we will not see Captain America wander the country a breaded hobo as he struggles to be grittier than he really is. In fact, in the times of uncertain morality, that is when our super soldier really shines, and this movie goes to great lengths to illustrate that. Cap is my favorite superhero, (a non-bearded, red-brief-wearing, Superman is a very very close second,) and not because he just happens to be a hero dressed like a one-man Fourth of July celebration, but because he represents something greater. He doesn't fight for the policies and laws of America, instead he fights for the spirit of America. Those two things are more or less aligned during the black and white days of World War II but in the modern post 9/11 era those lines become blurry, a point which Captain America: The Winter Soldier does an excellent job of showing.

Steve Rogers struggles with his new life and new role in this modern world, but he never forgets the morality that made him who he was. He never feels the need to sink to some sort of moral ambiguity because of overwhelming internal conflicts (blah blah blah.) Sure he has troubles and worries and fears, but he never stops being that good man that Dr. Erskine found for his super soldier serum. Captain America is strong and fast, but his power as a hero has always been inspiration. He makes people want to be better. He's not a leader because he is the most powerful of the Avengers, but because of his sense of fairness and his willingness to stand up for what's right. He has the uncanny ability to see how the world can be better and understand what needs to be done to make it so, not just for America but for everyone, (because not everyone has to be the Dark Knight, but I guess no one told DC that.)

[SPOILRES AHEAD] 

Of all the movies, this one has had one of the largest impacts on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. SHIELD is destroyed. Though it is not entirely the organization's fault that Hydra infiltrated it, Captain America makes it clear that when you have an organization (any organization) who rules through fear and secrets there is too much potential for abuse of trust (a very appropriate message for the world today.) The implications of this are huge, especially when seen in the light of Whedon's Agents of SHIELD TV show. Whedon has basically spent most of the season pushing the fact that (aside form all the superspy/covert stuff) SHIELD neutralizes abnormal and superhuman threats. Though I am certain that the organization under Fury will continue in one form or another, they will not be the all powerful omnipotent presence they once were. There is going to be a large opening now for a lot of new superhumans to arise, both good and bad. As Baron Von Strucker so succinctly puts it at the end of the movie, "We have entered an age of miracles." However, this also has good implications for the Avengers as a team.

In Avengers 2 I have no doubt that we will see the Avengers become more of a centralized team. In their first outing together the alliance seemed temporary, a construct put together by SHIELD to face a momentary threat and then just as quickly disbanded. However with SHIELD fractured this leaves an opening for the Avengers to become a team in their own right, no longer under the thumb of Nick Fury. (I also think they already know a guy who would be willing to finance it.) I would not be surprised if after Avengers 2 we see them as a team on a more permanent basis.

Needs a bit more red in the costume.

Other highlights of the movie for me included Sam Wilson. I love the Falcon as a hero and a character. Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are a great duo and I am very happy to see that they didn't just make the cinematic version of Sam some SHIELD agent. He's a soldier, a veteran, and a community leader, much like in the comics. His wings get clipped at the end of the movie, but I think Steve may know a guy who is decent in robotics and could probably replace them. I do like that Crossbones was a SHIELD/Hydra agent, and there seems definite potential that this huge threat could (and will) be coming back. We finally get to meet Sharon Carter, and there is more than enough foreshadowing to confirm that Bucky will be the next Captain America. All the times he held the damn shield up were enough to illustrate that point, (but also Sebastian Stan signed a Marvel contract for nine movies and Chris Evans only signed for a six movie contract, you do the math.) Lastly, almost as a throwaway line Stephen Strange's name is dropped into the mix.

Iron Man 3 was a decent movie as was Thor: the Dark World, though if truth be told there was nothing really there to excite me. I had been harboring a secret fear that the Cinematic Universe peaked with Avengers and now Marvel and Disney were just going to sit back and milk the cow for all it was worth, but this movie has reinvigorated me, similar to Agents' of SHIELD. In the beginning the show seemed to be more gimmicky than anything else, spending more time on bland plot lines and dropping shameless comic book references (which I do personally love) than developing any real story momentum, but with their tie-in with Captain America I now see where the season had been heading all along. I am reinvigorated and I cannot wait for their next episode or even for Guardians of the Galaxy coming out at the end of summer. (It's going to be a weird movie, but I have a lot of faith, now.)

So for anyone who thought that the Marvel fad was over, stay tuned, because Captain America: The Winter Soldier just proved that we have only begun to scratch the surface of a much deeper world. People were immensely impressed that Marvel was able to build this Cinematic Universe in the first place, but I have a feeling we have yet to see the full extent and glory of their ambition. The state of Marvel is strong. I wish I could say the same for DC.

Blood Moon Over New Jersey

So, I'm feeling a little tired this morning, as last night I did something I haven't done in a long time. I went to sleep early, but that's not the point. I set my alarm clock for 2 AM and despite the intermittent cloud cover I still lugged my tired ass out of bed and found a comfortable spot outdoors to watch the lunar show. Armed with nothing but a warm hoody and my iPod (and pants. I was wearing pants, damnit,) I laid out under the night sky to contemplate the heavens above and my place among them.

There is something strange about watching the shadow of the Earth slowly (yet perceptibly) move across the surface of the moon, like some negative image cast by our world. If we could magnify the edges of that shadow, would we see moving clouds and atmosphere, or miniscule satellites and space stations orbiting the dark reflection. (we wouldn't, but I am being poetic here.) Our brains are not normally programmed to think beyond the small box of our typical lives. How often do you stop to contemplate the world upon which you stand and its movements through the solar system? Yet, laying under a cloudy/starry sky there is no denying the power of the cosmos and the insignificance of yourself by comparison. (By the way, I know I have been harping on the subject of the cosmos lately, but I mean c'mon, it's amazing.)

So often we see the sky as a flat surface, a background to our lives, unimportant and unmoving. In actuality, we pay more attention to the weather than the stars or the moon, a fact I was also reminded of last night as the time approached 3 AM and the cloud cover finally obscured the lunar event. (Thus, I, unfortunately, did not get to see the moon turn red.) Yet even the movements of the clouds was enough to make me feel the turning of the Earth below me, because the sky above is more than some painted backdrop (like an old Hollywood movie set.) If anything our lives constitute the background for the great cosmic show of the universe. Earth is one planet among eight (or nine,) circling one star among countless stars in a galaxy among countless galaxies. Everyone you have ever known, loved, admired, hated, every emperor, king, president, celebrity, sports star, every beautiful person, every ugly person, every war, every empire, every work of art, every love and heartbreak you have ever suffered, every defeat, and every victory you have ever known or heard of has taken place on this small blue orb, where time (in the cosmic sense) passes as quick as the flutter of a butterfly wing, at least every victory save for one.

On July 20, 1969, human beings set foot on the surface of the moon, the very object I found myself staring up at last night. It was the first truly non-Earthbound victory of mankind, and that event did not escape me as I looked up at the slowly disappearing circle in the sky. I had to keep reminding myself that the moon was a physical place where people could walk, and did. I thought of the things we left behind, the (now sun-bleached) flag, the lower part of the landing modules, the moon buggies, and the other artifacts of human exploration. They were up on that pale white and gray surface somewhere, Earth-made objects left marooned on an alien landscape. We had once crossed the river of space that separates us from our own natural satellite. Yet, it made me sad, because as I looked up at the moon there was no one there to look back at me. In July it will be forty-five years since we first put a foot on the moon's surface. Why did we ever stop?

Located mere inches (by my view) to the right of the bright orb of the moon was the single red dot of Mars, and as spectacular as the moon was, I could not keep my eyes from wandering to that small speck of light either, a drop of blood floating beside a crisp white disc. I thought of the Curiosity rover currently making its robotic journey across the sands of that alien world, so distant that the light reflecting off it was several minutes old by the time it reached my eye. I imagined what it might be like to stand on Mars and see its great canyons, mountains, and river basins. What would the landscape look like from atop Olympus Mons, and how come there is no human alive yet that can describe that for me? Again, I had to keep reminding myself that this point in the sky was also a physical and actual place. It existed, surely as the ground upon which I lay, out there, waiting to be trodden by human feet.

All this made me feel insignificant, not because of the sheer size of the cosmos before me, but because of our lack of ambition to go there. The human race will only stop being small after we have made the effort to grow out from our home. Earth is beautiful and I love it more than anything, but we cannot remain here solely. It is comfortable and warm, like my old bed in our parent's house or that comfortable blanket I once held onto for far longer than I should have, but these are childish things. We need to put aside our comforts and our fears because if we do not expand, I promise you, we will regret it. All this and more passed through my head as I listened to my music and gazed up at a small section of a sky that together held so much promise for humanity... I was also debated getting a Wawa sandwich. I was hungry.

The next blood moon will appear in our skies on October 8 of this year, then again in April and September of 2015, but if you don't catch any of those, you won't have another chance till sometime in 2032.

Five Best Friends on TV

Television is filled with memorable characters, some good, some bad, and some are people who you wouldn't mind being friends with in real life. They are the crazy, the cool, the funny, and sometimes the downright weird. So in celebration of the recent loss of two of my favorite TV friends (see No. 4) I want to present a list of what I consider to be the top five ultimate best friendships on TV, past or present.

Honorable Mentions: Corey Matthews and Shawn Hunter (Boy Meets World); Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza (Seinfeld); Chuck Bartowski and Morgan Grimes (Chuck); Will Smith and Carlton Banks (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air); Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy (30 Rock); Bert and Ernie (Sesame Street); Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani (Friends); Dean Winchester and Castiel (Supernatural); James T. Kirk and Spock (Star Trek); Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh (South Park).

5. Tyrion Lannister and Bronn of the Blackwater Game of Thrones

Though their relationship started as one of sellsword and "person who has a lot of money and needs protection" it has progressed into something more. Bronn is not your average mercenary, as his quick wit and obvious common sense smarts means he can keep up with Tyrion's own intellect, or at the very least offer a one-liner that cuts to the heart of whatever was just said in a conversation. Yet, its more than just their banter that makes them a good pairing. Bronn helps keep Tyrion grounded and Tyrion offers Bronn a better life than he could have ever hoped to have as a common thug for hire. They both like to pretend that they stay together because of the money Tyrion is paying Bronn (and though that's a perk) you can tell that they genuinely like each other.

BRONN: Don't get killed.

TYRION: Nor you, my friend.

BRONN: Oh... are we friends now?

TYRION: Of course we are. Just because I pay you for your services, doesn't diminish our friendship.

BRONN: It enhances it, really.

TYRION: Oh, "enhances". Fancy word for a sellsword.

BRONN: I've been spending time with fancy folks.

4. Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster Psych 

The longest friendship of this list, Shawn and Gus have been friends since childhood. The pair just celebrated their last adventure together in a very fitting and heartfelt series finale, but even though the series is over, the friendship of these two lives on. Shawn is a brilliant but lazy and jobless man-child. Gus is straight-laced and hardworking, but can be a mess in his personal life. Together the men have forged a friendship unlike any other. They have spent so much time together they practically have their own language based on snide mouth clicks, one word sentences, and on the spot lies and aliases, (mostly instigated by Shawn.) Much like the show itself, the pair never takes themselves too seriously, even when Gus has a manic breakdown (which he is prone to.) Shawn is that friend who you often find yourself enduring a lot of BS with, but for some reason can never stay mad at. He often acts aloof at the expense of Gus, but the truth is that he cares deeply for him and vice-versa, one hardly seems able to exist without the other.

SHAWN: Here's the thing: I think Scott was murdered, robbed. The killer thinks the coast is clear. He's finally selling off his belongings. [Knocks on door]

GUS: So all we have to do is find the seller.

SHAWN: We just did!

GUS: What?

SHAWN: Ooh.

GUS: You just knocked on the door of a murderer and all you can say is, "Ooh?"

SHAWN: I should have thought about it in my head before I said it out loud, but I wanted a fun reveal. For you!

GUS: Shawn!

3. Abed Nadir and Troy Barnes Community

Have you ever had a friend who you get completely lost in? Well Troy knows exactly what that is like, as more than four years of his life has become consumed by his friendship with Abed, this kid who he met at a local community college. In all fairness though, it's kind of hard not to get swept up in the world of Abed, even the best of the Greendale Community finds it hard to resist. Troy, however, is not just a sidekick to Abed, a Constable Reggie to his Inspector Spacetime, as it is revealed that Troy helps keep Abed grounded. Perhaps for the former high school jock, Abed is the kind of person he always needed in his life, someone to let him know that building pillow forts and loving LeVar Burton so much that it restricts your ability to speak, is okay. For Abed, Troy is the one person who not only doesn't get tired of his constant antics, but even goes so far as to protect him from the outside world. Troy worries and cares about his friend, deeply, knowing that Abed always tends to be one magical claymation adventure away from a mental breakdown. Regardless, how can you fault either of them for a friendship that includes a fake morning talk show?

ABED: I hate when they finish each other’s…

TROY: … pies.

2. John Dorian and Christopher Turk Scrubs

Speaking of two people who have been friends since college and have an unspeakable bond that transcends both race and embarrassment, JD and Turk are among the two best friends you will ever meet. Their love is so deep that they actually sleep very comfortably next to one another in the same bed. Turk is more the jock and JD more the clumsy emotional one, but they both equally enjoy playing pranks and generally being weird. Their strengths and weaknesses sort of blend together, making them seem more like two parts of one biracial love-doctor, than two separate people. When Turk needs to figure out his emotions JD is there to help. When JD knocks himself unconscious in an attempt at playing sports, Turk is there to make him feel better. With pet names such as "chocolate bear," and being overwhelmingly comfortable with each other physically, its not hard to see why their relationship practically coined the term, "bromance," or an entire song about "Man Love." It is also pretty well understood that neither of them will ever love their significant others in quite the same way as they love each other.

TURK: We agreed that's how we'd raise our kids.

JD: Our kids? Turk, we're not married.

TURK: Dude, we're a little married.

JD: I know. I love it.

1. Lucille Ricardo and Ethel Mertz I Love Lucy

A friendship can start in many ways, college, childhood, hiring one person to be your mercenary killer, etc... but for Lucy and Ethel it all started when Lucy and her husband Ricky moved into the apartment building of Fred and Ethel Mertz. In that moment one of the first ever TV friendships was formed. Lucy is a schemer and even though Ethel is more level-headed she often finds herself wrapped up in the machinations of her crazy friend. A lot of the plots of the show center around Lucy and Ethel trying to pull something off while avoiding the attention of their husbands and in these moments you see two women who truly care about one another. The term "thick as thieves" is not an inappropriate analogy for the two. In a way their relationship was the forerunner for a lot of the others on this list: one's a dreamer the other is grounded; one's kind of dumb the other is smart; one's always got a plan and the other wants nothing to do with it. They even have their own friendship song, (much like JD and Turk.) Yet their relationship is still completely unique and has withstood the test of time, even after more than fifty years of television history.

LUCY: Oh, gee, Ethel, thanks. It's times like these when you know what friends are for.

ETHEL: If I'd known this was what friends were for, I'd have signed up as an enemy!

How Neil deGrasse Tyson Made Me Cry

For anyone not watching the new Cosmos on Fox, you are missing out, and I say that sentence with none of my usual ironic bite or snarky superiority. I literally mean to say, you are missing out. I have nothing but praise for this series. I can't think of one thing wrong with it. I should probably just end my review here and leave it at that, but when have I ever been brief in my writing? (That was a rhetorical question by the way.) Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey just premiered its fourth episode last Sunday on Fox, and it has yet to fail to disappoint. It is spectacular in all aspects: the visual effects, the mind-blowing facts, the animated historical portions, the magnificent musical score, and all brought into crystal clear focus by the sonorous baritone voice of Neil deGrasse Tyson. It is like forty-four minutes of heaven, (with numerous commercial breaks,) an ironic comparison since Creationists would call it anything but.

Cosmos has been in development for years. Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's widow, who helped bring the world the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, along with astrophysicist, Steven Soter, and Neil "Need's No Introduction" deGrasse Tyson, have been pushing the idea of rebooting and updating Sagan's dream for a while now. The goal was to inspire a new generation with the mysteries of the natural world in the way that so many people were inspired by Sagan's vision. Unfortunately the project floundered for some years until helped along by the only person that has more power at the Fox network than Rupert Murdoch, Seth MacFarlane. To some he may seem an unlikely hero in this story, after all Family Guy isn't exactly quality educational programing, but the truth is that MacFarlane has always had an affinity for the science and space exploration. Anyone who was ever fans of Star Trek: Enterprise knows that much. (So myself and Scott Bakula.) MacFarlane was one of those small boys inspired by the first Cosmos series and he is a life-long Trekkie. Maybe then it was no coincidence that Brannon Braga of Star Trek: Next Generation fame signed on to direct, and Sir Patrick Stewart became available to lend his voice. After all Star Trek and Sagan have always existed as two sides of the same coin.

You know what is amazing about this image of
the Pismis 24 star cluster? It's not CGI. It's real.
It actually friggin exists. Space is amazing.

Personally, I have been an enthusiast of quantum physics, astronomy, and astrophysics for years now. I even wrote a primer on the subject. So even though none of the evidence and revelations presented by Cosmos is nothing new to me, such fore knowledge has not served to dampen my reverence for the show and its science. For me it is almost a religious experience, seeing the wonder, the possibility, and the majesty of our world laid out in beautiful CGI HD brilliance, but there is a heart-break there as well. There is so much out there for the human race to know and explore. We belong among the stars, we deserve to be out there, and yet we are held back by the skeletons in our closets and the demons of our past. Reading the tweets of blind faith Creationists makes my head hurt. Creationism still gets taught in some science classrooms. We spend more money making rockets that kill people than rockets that put people on the moon. It makes me want to leave this planet behind and find a better one, out among the stars, and then I get sad all over again because I don't have a spaceship that operates outside the laws of Einstein's Laws, (or one that is little more than a soda bottle filled with Pepsi and Mentos.) In a lot of ways it feels like we have lost our old spirit, that boundless wonder that drove us farther and deeper into the path of the unknown. Now, when I look around at the human race all I see are people clinging to old dogmas and past glories, faded as gray as the hair of our elected officials.

Yet, I don't want to dwell on that. Cosmos is too good for me to cloud it with the pessimism of my fears. I anxiously anticipate the return of Game of Thrones and the opening of Captain America: Winter Soldier, but more than even, that I find myself looking forward to the next episode of the Cosmos, because as cool as everything else is in my nerdtastic life is, they will never compare to the awe I feel (every time) I look up up at the stars. Imagine what else must be out there, worlds full of possibilities. Many Christians take it as a slight that we humans developed from animals, or that we are nothing more than small specks floating on a slightly larger speck, but I think it is wondrous. It makes us no less special than anything else out there. In my opinion, it means we are even more special than we previously thought. We are not the center of the universe. We may only be animals, but we are also molecules and atoms, the exact same matter that once cooked in the heart of ancient stars. I don't know if God exists, but I do know that we are not separate from the cosmos around us, we are part of it.

We are the universe made manifest trying to figure itself out, and so maybe the answer you are looking for is: Yes, thinking about that makes me tear up, and I'm not even certain why. More importantly, why don't more people get excited by this? Amazed by this? Moved to be a part of this? Hopefully, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Cosmos will help change that.