Sniffing Around the Place Again

    This was a gossip column written by my dog Sunny, for the fictional Fenceville Weekly News. Written July 17, 2012; originally posted as a Facebook note; published on here September 4, 2015.

    As my fellow beagle Snoopy once said, "Good writing is hard work." Sometimes it comes easily and news just rolls right off my tongue, other times I can barely get my paws to set on the keyboard and make it come alive.

   My good friend Sport Bossdog passed away a year ago this morning, he was 86. He was born in Pryor, Oklahoma on May 12, 1999, one of a litter of about eight purebred Austrailian Sheperds. He met our family the day after the Fourth of July that year, they'd just moved to Morris, and Wesley could finally have a dog of his own. He was a playful puppy, flying around this way and that, sometimes kinda knocking people down in his excitement. He was devoted to his family, and always tried to keep them happy and safe, Mom's training served him well. As he grew up, he became friends with Taz and Ty Rae, Ty and Snowy Haworth, and Max Byars(of course, I was there, too, for some of the time, but this isn't the time for my story). He and Max were closer than I ever saw with another dog, they'd often dig through the fence to explore the other's yard(okay, I sometimes helped a little. Nope, a lot. But, I was young and carefree - What's that saying that's so popular lately, "YOLO"? Well, you do only live once). In wintertime, Sport would work, aside from his regular duties as a security gaurd, as a sled dog, pulling Wesley, Courtney and their friends down the pool-table sloped streets of town, a particular trick I remember was dumping the riders into the snowbanks of a ditch which always happened to be conveinently nearby whenever he wearied of his husky imitation. And one time when the family was visiting Grandpa, Sport came along and decided that he may as well do some work while he was there, he rounded up every single cow in the pasture and herded them up by the gate. He was pretty proud of himself over that one. He would help babysit Trevor and Amy, making sure nothing happened to them on his watch. He hated fireworks, his favorite TV show was "The Rockford Files". When Skeet came along he taught him how to lead, which was odd, since he didn't make friends or take a liking to people very often. Just the family, was about all the people, and Max, Jenny and I were the only dogs I know of. He had his faults, yes; but don't we all? A workaholic, he didn't have much need for attention, but he was devoted to those he loved, and tried to make their lives better.    

   Wesley...it's hard to believe he's going to college next month. Should he be shooting baskets in the backyard or something? Learning how to tell the news? Having conversations with me about stories that needed plotting, that girl at church he sort of likes, the backstage pass on what what happeneing with the homeschool group's musicals and skits? Babysitting my puppies, helping me name them, those sadder times when Mimi, Shadow, Rocky, Klipsey or Sport died. He was so scared before he went off to camp for the first time...I said, "If you can just force yourself to leave, by the time you're two hours into the trip you'll have the time of your life." And he did, too. All the things that've happened over the last year, he's had a lot of change, and he's never really been the kind who likes that. Wish I could tell ya what was going on with him...but we haven't really had a chance to talk lately, and my English isn't perfect(but then, neither is his Dog), and I'm not even sure he knows how he's doing, it's a little hard to say what's happening in life when you aren't even sure of it yourself. Kind of a happy/sad/nervous/excited swirl, I'd guess. Reflecting on all the moments that've gotten him here, both pleasant and unhappy, looking forward to the new chapter of life he's headed into, but not sure what to expect. "Never be afraid to put your unknown future in the hands of a known God", Corrie ten Boom said once, I'll need to remind him of that.    

   Courtney's been commuting to Weed Valley a couple times a day to help run Buttermilk's Dairy, and learning how to play the mandolin Wes got himself for graduation. I'm not much for instrumental music, but it seems like they're both getting the hang of it pretty well. She's counting the seconds until she leaves for church camp next week, hopefully she and her pals will have a great time.  

    Caleb and Trevor have been building forts and trapping rabbits and fishing at the lake whenever Mom lets them, Trevor sprained his ankle last week.    

   Amy's eyesight is improving, she got a new prescription for her glasses the other day. And she's just made leaps and bounds in talking - Whole sentences, and she knows her colors, and can even count some!! (Math never was my strong point.)  

   Dad's shoulder is recovering slowly from his surgery last month, but it's coming along.    There just isn't much to read about in the newspapers during the summertime...nothing ever happens.    

   Copper Caynine isn't much liking this heat, she's always complaining about it. I agree, it's a pain, but there isn't really anything you can do about the weather, except sit quiet and wait for it to leave, so it'd be kinda nice if she could lower her volume.  

    Buttercup and Inigo Kidd are both doing well, playing outside often and taking naps under a shade tree.    What grass is still alive is tall and flourishing, because all the lawn mowers are broken. The weed-eaters are either sidelined or out of string.  

    Mom's been planting a fall garden, we aren't allowed in the courtyard any more. And my favorite comfy chairs are in there...   

   The Olympics start Friday, July 27, at 6:30 p.m. on NBC, you can bet I'll be watching them all I can. It's too bad they're on only once every four years...they're so interesting!    

   The youth group is doing a study on Wednesday nights at Dex Cox's old place, they're discussing a set of sermons by some fella named David Platt, on "Angels, Demons and Spiritual Warfare". Interesting-seeming subject, but I'd prefer to discuss Shakespeare instead. He was one of those speakers at the Louisville Bible conference in April.  

   Wes and some friends went to see that new Spider-Man movie a couple weeks ago. I'd tell you how that went, but he already wrote about it on his blog, so you'll have to go there if you wanted to know.   

   That's about it for news here lately, except that the ticks are awful again this year, so in case I don't see ya, good morning, good afternoon, and good night! 

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy

      "Who am I? You sure you want to know? My story is not for the faint of heart..."

       That's how the greatest trilogy in cinematic history(arguably, right up there with both sets of Star Wars movies, Back to the Future, and Toy Story, some people would most likely include Indiana Jones and Rocky to that list) opens.

       This story, whose narrator warns us by those intriguing words, begins about forty years before, with a guy named Stan. He was one of those group of people who are born storytellers, and who work at it, too, so that they can improve their stories and engage and please their audience. The audience he worked to wanted tales about heroes(but who doesn't?). In particular, heroes that were teenagers. Stan was a writer in the comic-book industry, and the people buying Marvel comics had spoken. So he got together with a guy he worked with named Steve, and they bounced idea off one another until somebody thought of creating a superhero with the powers of a fly - To crawl up walls, mainly, and be able to move really fast. "A fly? That's...um..." "Kinda dumb?" "Yeeahh." "I guess you've sort of got a point...isn't really that sexy. But I like the idea." "Yeah, just NOT a fly. What about...." (Long list of insects and other creepy crawly things) "...a spider!" "Yeah!!! But what about the alter ego?" "Hmm..." 
       The character Stan Lee and Steve Ditka came up with that day was revolutionary to the world of superheroes, and the entertainment world at large: The tale of Peter Parker, a bright but nerdy high school student, skilled at science and physics, who was bitten by a radioactive spider, which injected some of its' DNA into his bloodstream, giving the teen arachnid-like abilities. That wasn't really the incredible part, though. What was, was the fact of who Peter was: A perfectly ordinary person, complete with anxieties and doubts, troubles with zits, girls, his aunt, and paying next month's rent. 

       He started out in entertainment, wrestling and TV stunts and such, until his Uncle Ben was killed by a car thief, which began his trajectory into the world's most well-loved superhero. Motivated by vengeance at first, to track down his uncle's killer, but gradually he came to understand something that he'd been told just before the accident, that "With great power, comes great responsibility. I want you to remember that, Pete."

       Over time, throughout the comics(which I have never read), he went to college, got a work-study job in the science department at Empire State University and as a freelancing photographer for the The Daily Bugle newspaper, dealing with his cranky boss J. Jonah Jameson, always ranting against Spidey's protection; dating, first Gwen Stacy and then Mary Jane Watson, dealing with the aftermath of Gwen's death and his best friend Harry Osborn's drug addiction. And then the arsenal of supervillians that have come along over the years: the Green Goblin, the Lizard, Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, the Rhino, Carnage, the Hobgoblin, many, many others...

       Over nearly fifty years, with who knows how many people writing the stories, a lot of details don't really match up, or sometimes outright contradict each other, so it's hard to tell exactly how the story goes. But for most of us teens and twentysomethings now, we were lured into Spidey's web by the 2002 movie directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. I was twelve or thirteen when I saw it for the first time, and I loved it. Such a well-told story, Pete is so relateable(is that a word?), you know exactly what he's going through. That scene where Pete's taking the trash out, and he has that talk with MJ, we know exactly what that being afraid, yet hopeful for the future, is like. I mean, I ever put some of that scene into my graduation speech, that's how good it is. The nerdiness, it's perfect, like when he's trying to figure out how to use his webs, that quick little montage of fourteen different ways that don't shoot, with the sound effects and grunts and everything. One of the things that really made an impact om me was the scene in front of the library, when Uncle Ben delivers the "With great power comes great responsibility" line, before that, he says: "These are the years a man changes into what he's going to become for the rest of his life. Be careful who you change into." As a young teen, that really stuck, I've tried to heed that advice. The last scene, in the cemetery, was not written well, at all, way too over-dramatic and sappy. But we understand what's going on in his mind, the pain he's facing: "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, the ones I love will always be the ones who pay." That's why he tells MJ that "I will always be there for you, I will always keep you safe. I will always...be your friend." "Only a friend?" "...That's all I have to give." It tears us apart inside, to hear that she loves him, to know that he's loved her since he was six, but yet he can't say it, can't act on it. But, really...isn't that part of really being a hero, really loving someone? To keep them safe and happy, out of danger and trouble as much as possible, even if it rips us apart to do that? Because it's better for them? And, in an odd way, even Norman Osborn knows that, telling Peter not to tell Harry about his past as the Green Goblin. 

       And then it continues two years later, both in the story's timeline and literally, with the second movie of the trilogy. Pete's just been fired from his pizza delivery job, JJJ is bashing Spidey every chance he gets, Aunt May is being evicted from her house, Harry won't hardly talk to him, and MJ just started tentatively making something out on Broadway and as a model...which means her face plastered up on billboards everywhere throughout the city. College isn't going all that well, not having that much time to study, things aren't looking very good. And Mary Jane has just gotten engaged to this hotshot astronaut, who just happens to be Jameson's son. That night Peter has dinner with Otto Octavious and his wife Rosie, they talk about poetry, how they met, about science, and the nuclear fission device the doctor is working on. Rosie asks if Pete has a girlfriend, he says "Um...I don't really know..." Doc kinda laughs at him, but isn't that how a lot of us guys feel sometimes? Then, of course, the reactor explodes, tearing everything apart, shredding Rosie by flying glass shards, and melting the inhibitor chip, which lets the tentacles take over and drives Doc Ock insane. Pete has a lot on his plate, he loses sight of what he's supposed to do, he even loses his powers there for a while. Aunt May reminds him, while packing for her move, that there's a little bit of a hero inside all of us, that sometimes we just need an extra-special hero to give us that spark of courage to go about our everyday lives. In the climatic fight at the end of the film, the reactor is proving too powerful, it has to be destroyed. Peter reminds Doctor Octavious that intelligence is a privilege, and should be treated as such, to use for good, and not for evil. "And...sometimes...we have to be steady, let our dreams go, in order to do what's right, even if it means giving up what we want most." Don't we need to be reminded of that? He realizes what the tentacles have done to him, blinded him into thinking he was serving the greater good, when really it was too powerful a creation, too destructive, too harmful. So he drowns the reactor, and in so doing also drowns himself. Kind of a parallel to what Christ did on the cross, not a perfect one, but the similarities can easily be drawn.

       Two years after that in the storyline, and three years in reality, Peter and MJ are finally together, Harry's figured out that Pete is Spider-Man, and everyone loves him while MJ's career is falling apart. Vanity can get to you, and for him, it does. He becomes a jerk, basically, angering Mary Jane by never taking the time to actually listen to what her problems are, always leaping ahead to Spider-Man this, Spidey that. And the fact that Harry discovered his father's stash of Oscorp goodies at the end of the second movie just sets up perfectly. So now not only does Harry have the malice behind him to crush that little bug, he now has the tools, too. During a long, bewildering fight as Pete's on his way to ask Mary Jane to marry him, Harry is tripped and knocked unconscious, getting amnesia, and the last thing he remember's the three of them are all still starting college, and none of these webs and criss-crosses that happened, they're all still friends. That throws a new wrinkle in things, proves to be a pretty big storyline. And this escaped convict, Flint Marko, he gets loose, to see his daughter Penny, stricken with cancer. He didn't have the money or anything to pay for treatment, so he tried to raise some cash the fastest way he could find: By holding up some people. That didn't go as planned, and he inadvertly shot Uncle Ben. He was later arrested, and in his escape from the police, crossed into a particle reactor test, becoming...well, sand. With rage at that, at his inablilty to help his daughter, his anger at Spider-Man, and generally the world, he goes on a rampage. Also, there's this otherworldly symbiote that attaches itself to Peter, bringing up his levels of aggression and confidence, he realizes eventually it's turned him into something he's not, in a fierce struggle on a Catholic church roof, he separates himself from the symbiote, which then bonds with a recently fired Daily Bugle photographer named Eddie Brock, who hates Parker for exposing the fact that he cheated, he becomes Venom. (Wow...these plots are crazy to explain. Of course, I've never been good at summarizing books or movies, I study them too in-depth, but still...Trust me: they make sense when you watch them!! Wonderful movies.) Anyway, before proposing to MJ, he talks with Aunt May about it. She gives him some good advice about how to treat your wife, how that a man has to put the woman he wants before himself, and his wants and desires. That you should take your time, plan carefully, not rush into something as big as that. 
       Well, over time, Harry regains his memory, remembers his vow to kill Spider-Man, there's a mini-fight there. Peter pleads with his best friend, that Mary Jane's in trouble. They need to put aside their differences and work together to save her. During that ultimate fight, Venom and Sandman have teamed up to eradicate Spider-Man, Harry(as the New Goblin) comes to his aid just when he needs it most. During the course of the battle, Eddie is separated from the symbiote, Pete's telling him that "I know what it does to you, what it feels like. It isn't safe, it's dangerous." One of Harry's pumpkin bombs blows it up, but not before Eddie leaps desperately back towards the symbiote, not willing to give up his newfound power, and thus dying in the process. Harry was mortally wounded, but working together they manage to save Mary Jane and thwart Venom, Eddie dies in the explosion, daylight comes, and Harry lies there dying, with MJ and Pete beside him, with nothing they can do. 
       Flint Marko states quietly, gesturing at the destruction and debris, "I didn't want this, but I had no choice." "We always have a choice. You had a choice when you killed my uncle." "My daughter was dying, I needed money. I was scared...I told your uncle all I wanted was the car, he said to me..'Why don't you just put the gun down, and go home?' I know now he was just tryin' to help me. Then I saw my partner running over with the cash...and the gun was in my hand. Did a terrible thing to you, I spent a lot of nights wishin' I could take it back. Not asking you to forgive me, I just want you to understand." Peter swallows. "I've done terrible things, too." "I didn't choose to be this...the only thing left to me now, is my daughter." Peter stares at him, dealing with some long-held emotion. "I forgive you." Marko nods, then floats away, leaving Peter to go back to Harry.
       "I'm sorry I hurt you, said those things..." "None of that matters, Peter. I'm your friend." He nods, "Best friend." he whispers. And then...he's gone, leaving a gaping hole in both his best friend's lives. As the credits start to come in, this is Peter's final monolgue: "Whatever comes out way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we'll always have a choice. My friend Harry taught me that. He chose to be the best in himself...it's our choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right."

       I've made the movies sound like they're just one big love story, which in a way, they are...but they're so much more than that. All the action(they are action movies, after all), can't really be described all that well. And they definitely have elements of comedy, too; all the pathos of how perfectly awful things in Peter's life are going, the witticisms and barbs thrown back and forth during battles, Mr Dinkovich the landlord and his daughter Ursula. They're all well-edited, the way it cuts quickly, leaves you spinning for a second with an unexpected cut, implying action so well. And they way all three movies tie together so well, the little things you don't notice until you've come to know the characters, what they're going through, what each inside joke or uncomfortable pause means. 
       And they're so...inspiring, somehow. They make you think, they make you laugh, they make you cry, they're good pictures, to paraphrase Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Edsel Adams. You want to strive to be more heroic, to fulfill your little mundane everyday tasks well, even the ones that people don't really notice if they're done or not. That's what Spidey's whole job is, most of the time; and compared to him, what do we have to complain about? Sure, our problems are numerous and ever-expanding, it seems like, but we don't have supervillians on our tail, besides all that. We might be having trouble talking with a friend or something, but he's not scheming to kill us. Our personal problems and relationships might be chaotic, but not anywhere near as messy as what Pete, MJ and Harry are going through. When life gets tough and God throws a new disaster into our lives to grow us, well, hang on and fight through it, we'll get whatever help we need at exactly the right time(By the way, witty comebacks towards the direction of the problem don't hurt, either).  The advice given and wisdom shared that we get to understand, is invaluable. These are just some of the reasons why I love these movies, and why the web-slinger is my favorite superhero. 

       (Postscript, occurring five years after the conclusion of the trilogy.) 
       They had planed on making a third sequel, a fourth movie, to come out in 2010, but somewhere along in production, that plan fell through. With Sony having to use the character within a certain amount of time to avoid having the rights return to Marvel penalty-free, they had to whip something up in a hurry. Meanwhile, all of us fans were curious to see when the wall-crawler would return, and what story would be spun around him this time. We weren't exactly expecting the one we got. It was completely recast, with a new director and everything, a total reboot of the franchise, which took two years more than anticipated to hit the big screen.
       Anyway, with heading off to college soon and everything, I needed a change to get myself ready for whatever is thrown my way here in a couple weeks. I was kind of stuck in a rut, doing the same type of things day after day, etc. So I think about what might be labeled an adventure, what was totally out of the ordinary, but still realistically feasible. What I came up with was going to a movie, specifically, The Amazing Spider-Man. Adventure picked. Now who to go with...so I asked around, Sam loved the idea, and it's been forever since we hung out, Josh wanted to come, too. From there it was more like a construction project to plan, once we got when to see it down, then there was the "I wanna come! No, wait, I can't...No, I'll be there!"s to deal with, and then the where-are-we-going-to-see-this problem, which was quite interesting to solve. And, of course, the transportation tangle of getting from the church to the theater and back home. But, anyway, Sam and I got all those details figured out, and we set out after church last Sunday to go see the movie. There was me, Sam, and Marie(the Seniors); Josh and Suzanna; my sister Courtney; writing buddy Cassie; Bennett, the oh-so-fun-to-tease; Katie and Lilya. Lunch had its...interesting moments, which won't be revealed on here, but caused frowns, groans, and hysterical laughter(but then, it's most of our youth group, that 's kinda to be expected, haha). We made a wrong turn coming out of the mall, ended up walking around the whole entire place like it's Jericho or something, til we finally get on the right track, and then it's a race against time to get to the theater before the show starts. 
       We make it - barely - endure the waiting-for-those-ordering-popcorn, find our seats as the previews are starting. They went for twenty solid minutes!!! Once the movie got rolling...you could feel the difference right from the title opening. It had a slow, meandering pace, interspersed with authentic-looking violence, and the camera didn't cut away, it just showed everything. The actors playing Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy(some British dude named Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone) seemed way too old for their roles, there was a lot of mumbling. It took some getting used to, Aunt May and Uncle Ben were much younger, he was killed in a different way, and the spider bite was much different.  We knew that coming in, but it's hard to tie together with all the memories of the trilogy, to reconcile those contradictions and stuff that I mentioned earlier. Peter rides a skateboard? And his hair was too cool-looking to be a nerd, that was distracting. The writing felt like it was patched together in a hurry(it no doubt was), but then do you have to over-act it, too? The only character I believed was Curt Connors, everyone else seemed too forced. 
       The plot: Peter's parents disappear when he's four years old, leaving him with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who raise him. He grow into kind of a jerk, really; when the basement floods, he finds a briefcase that had belonged to his dad while saving stuff from water damage, and looks into it. He finds...well, not much. A few scraps of things his father used in his work, a lead in the form of an old newspaper clipping. So begins Peter's quest to find out what exactly happened to his parents. He accidentally gets bitten by a radioactive spider and unintentionally turns Dr Connors into the Lizard, and only reluctantly goes into the superoing business, after numerous vigilante attacks on muggers who might have killed his uncle. It's a more subtle film, I guess you could say, than the others, supposedly more in line with the way he got started in the comics. Jonah's always railing against this masked menace called Spider-Man, well, maybe he has a point. There was still some entertaining moments, Stan Lee's cameo was the best yet, the way he yanks the keys off his laptop while researching spider bites, that sort of thing, which was interesting. And a few good one-liners, like when he comes to Gwen's apartment for dinner one night, knocking on her window. "How'd you get up here?" "Fire escape. You have a very intimidating doorman." The little things like bringing Aunt May a carton of eggs after a long night out, or wolfing down her meatloaf. "Something's wrong, Ben..." "I'll say....nobody likes your meatloaf." "....They don't? Why didn't you tell me that thirty-seven years ago? Do you know how many times I've made that?" The scene where Peter asks Gwen out was good, seemed like it could happen easily. (There were about twenty people in the theater, counting our ten. I probably heard fifteen laugh out loud there.) It was interesting. Didn't have much of a plot, and what there was was tangled up in a cobweb, but since this is the beginning of a new trilogy, holds some promise. Compared to the trilogy, it was far inferior, compared to the story of the first movie, it's lacking, but I think as a movie, it might be about equal. I'll definitely need to see it again. It's another side of Spidey, one that's darker, but that needs to be examined, in order to better understand who he is.