today's post inspired by an interview with Joss Whedon. And also, Spore.

+ Prodigeek's Interview: Joss Whedon on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I'm looking forward to Dr. Horrible (oddly enough, not in the obsessive fan way, so much as the curious onlooker way), and this interview is a nice overview at the background of its creation and so on. But, really, I was intrigued by Joss's response to this question:

Prodigeek - Your work’s always been geared towards fantasy and sci-fi. Is that a coincidence or is that where you wanted to be?

Whedon - It’s never “This will work with this!” I love what I love. They seem to go together. Dr. Horrible seems like a no-brainer for me because superheroes are already one step removed from people. So it’s easier for people to watch a superhero movie, especially if they’re singing, than it is for them to watch people singing and accept that it’s going on.

People love musicals. All people love musicals. Most of them don’t know it or can’t admit it. The trick on Buffy was nobody on Buffy wanted to be in a musical. They were forced to sing. Once you had that, the audience could accept it. The audience had the same feeling, “Why is Buffy singing? Oh wait, that’s pretty.” And they’re bigger than life. It is a bigger than life world, and there are superpowers and heroes and villains.

In addition to the shallow pleasures of seeing NPH and Nathan Fillion sing, I am deeply curious to know how Joss will play with the superhero cliche. After reading Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Alan Moore's Watchmen in a very short period of time (both highly recommend, incidentally), I've been doing something heavy thinking about what superheroes do in media and the idea of the symbol. It should be interesting to see what Joss's take will be.

+ Nathan Fillion's myspace. I don't have anything to say, really, except for the part where I wish I was his friend. He seems like such a cool dude.

+ Tales of the Black Freighter, A Reconstruction. Speaking of Watchmen, I recently came across this reconstruction of "The Black Freighter." "The Black Freighter" is a comic-within-a-comic from Watchmen and one of my favorite parts of the novel (graphic novel? How does one categorize it, exactly?). While I don't know if this will be terribly interesting to anyone who has not yet read Watchmen, it's fascinating to see how fully realized the universe is, with another publication within its panels. Also, "The Black Freighter" is just so damn good. [comics]

+ Pete Wentz: "I'm Becoming My Dad." This is probably the more unlikely links I'm putting up, but a) I have an inexplicable fondness for Pete Wentz, and b) it's kind of relevant. If you squint and turn your head, anyway.

A rep for the musician has also denied reports that Wentz and his wife have registered for blue items at a popular L.A. baby boutique.

When I first read it, I didn't realize why that was remotely interesting. Then something clicked and I went, Ohhh, blue. Like for a boy. It's just so mindboggling to me that something like that says so much. (See? Symbols! It's related!)

+ Sporelebrity: Celebries' Spore creations. Someone referred to Masi Oka's as "oddly useless, but adorable!" and now I can't get that out of my head. Because, really, it's so true! [random]