Archives July 2011

Amazonia

Vancouver's masked superhero: Thanatos

Originally posted: http://www.straight.com/article-404514/vancouver/vancouvers-masked-superhero-thanatos
by Adrian Mack on July 19, 2011 at 6:05 PM
Thanataos, aka the Dark Avenger, patrols the Downtown Eastside in a Rorschach-like uniform topped off with a creepy green and black skull mask. He hands out water, energy bars, peanut butter, blankets, and other necessities to those in need, and leaves behind a card inscribed with the motto “I do what I can, when I can…” He’s a pretty pragmatic real life superhero.
Like any masked avenger, Thanatos also keeps his real identity secret, although filmmaker Michael McNamara got a rare glimpse behind the mask when he was filming Thanatos for the “Real Life Superheroes” episode of Fanboy Confessional, airing Wednesday night (July 20), on SPACE.
“We were in Vancouver for probably the hottest days last summer,” the Toronto-based director tells the Straight, “and he was out delivering water and energy bars during the day, and at night he was bringing the bundles of blankets and food and stuff, and it was really, really, really hot. And he ultimately revealed himself to us. But we’re all sworn to secrecy.”
McNamara adds that it still took a long while for Thanatos to finally fold. He says that the Vietnam vet is “incredibly fit” for a man in his 60s. “He can take care of himself. My whole crew was wilting, and he was ready to go,” he says.
Thanatos is an oddly noble figure, well known to the police and the locals of the DTES. As he tells McNamara in the show, “If hell has a street address, it’d be Main and Hastings… This is the real world.” He finances his superhero work out of his own pocket. “He’s not poor, but he’s certainly by no means upper middle class,” McNamara says. “Like a lot of people involved in these kinds of fandoms, they make a choice about what they’re going to do with their disposable income, and so he actively chooses to augment his persona and come up with the raw materials he needs to help out.”
In contrast to McNamara’s other subject in the “Real Life Superheroes” episode of the six-part series, there’s a genuine gravity to Thanatos. DC’s Guardian, on the other hand, is a well-meaning but somewhat goofy patriot who stalks the Mall of the US capitol sharing his fuzzy all-American values with anyone who happens to get in his way. It’s reassuring to hear that he’s more innocent than delusional.
“People like DC do have a sense of humour about what they do,” says McNamara, chuckling. “And they do realize that what they do borders on obsession.” He knows of what he speaks. McNamara is a proud fanboy himself, being a lifelong record collector (and friend of Allan Zweig, who made the slightly disturbing documentary Vinyl about what you might call pathological record collectors). Indeed, the overriding impression left by the Fanboy Confessionalseries is that the nerds really have inherited the earth, and that it’s not a bad thing at all.“You can come home from work and you can veg in front of the television, or you can come home from work and make a ray gun,” as one LARPer (live action role-player) told McNamara. “There’s something really cool about that,” he says, “and it’s the same way with the cosplayers. The girls are learning skills like how to sew, and leather studding, and bead work, and they’re building communities, and trading these things around, and getting involved, and they’re getting out in the world, and doing cool things. It’s a way to get out of your parent’s basement. It’s a completely different kind of fandom now. There’s a kind of sharing going on that’s quite vital.”
The show is also quite thought provoking. Thea Munster, who pioneered the Zombie Walk in Toronto, tells McNamara in the “Horror” episode that “North American culture has no celebration of death.” Suddenly, something that seems silly becomes surprisingly profound.
Laughs McNamara, “It’s very deep for a zombie!”

Angle-Grinder Man

Apocalypse Meow

Don't Accept Limits!

Nadra Enzi
Capt Black
I don’t do limits.
Artificial barriers like fear ( on my part ) or prejudice ( on someone else ) aren’t acceptable.
Telling me expressing myself against injustice will get me in ” trouble ” means accepting an artificial limitation.
After years of getting myself into ” trouble ” I’ve discovered that whatever others threaten only has power if you buy into it. All their huffing and puffing has yet to do anything but indicate they don’t like being challenged.
Whole populations are controlled by limitation acceptance. One underlying tenet of patriotism is resisting covert or overt invasion because the enemy will impose limits upon you after victory.
Civil rights activism and anti-crime advocacy are replete with struggles against limitation. Offenders in government; private industry or even street gangs, despite obvious differences, stand united in their resolve to make others fit involuntary limitations.
Consider the absence of credible scientific evidence to justify limitation schemes like India’s caste system; American Jim Crow; South African Apartheid; Old style Soviet Communism; sexism; homophobia, etc. The list easily stretches toward infinity as one group plots to curtail another’s freedom.
I don’t accept limits because doing so means someone else becomes your absolute ruler. In this context every activist who defies limitation is a reminder that we are limited by others in direct proportion to our acceptance of their terms.
That’s why there are so few activists relative to the rest of their peers. Add unique activist subgroups like real life superheroes ( RLSH ) and extreme altruists ( X ALTS ) and percentages shrink even more! Limitations are one of mankind’s most unkind inventions and as such are not to be accepted in any form or fashion.
If we do, then we have no right to complain about mistreatment.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK promotes finding your ” super ” through creative crime prevention; homeless outreach and political advocacy. (504) 214-3082
 

Black Arrow

Black Monday Society

Captain Jackson

Project EON – Mach 1

Some of you may know of my long running Project EON. Some of you may not. This week I reached a major milestone in the project by completing the Mach 1 Phase.  It seems a good time to brag about this humble endeavor.
EON will be wearing the suit at a major RLSH event called HOPE 2011 at the San Diego Comic Con the weekend of the 23rd.
Project EON is an attempt to build a super suit somewhat akin to a real life version of Iron Man. Now if there are any comic book nerds (or even comic movie nerds) in the audience, you already know who Iron Man is. Tony Stark is a normal guy in a metal suit that gives him all sorts of super powers. It does this by ignoring those laws of physics that I harp about all the time.
Of course the Real Life version must work within those laws. So we will have to scrap some of the Iron Man super weapons in favor of more realistic available gadgets. And unlike Tony Stark, who is a billionaire, we have to do it on a modest budget.
The first six months of the project were completely eaten up by trying to decide what to build into the suit, make it super, and still meet those physics requirements. There are several hundred pages of archived brain-storming from some of the finest, most creative minds in the RLSH community. Some people joined the community JUST to work on this project. Probably 80% of the gadgetry that I build has come about as a direct result of this project. To say the least it is an incredible undertaking.
Now the Mach 1 is complete and on its way to EON.
Well, you might ask what does that consist of? And why is it the Mach 1?
The Mach 1 is the lite patrol version of the suit. It consists of The Blast Boots, a utility belt, a UHMW level III bullet resistant vest, an MK6 Kevlar helmet, flash Kevlar gloves, the Shock Collar, armored forearms, a stinger flash light, various bits of first aid gear, and goggles. Because modern heroes wear goggles, not because I forgot to make the mask. The whole ensemble weighs in at about 25lbs. That is right where we wanted to be for the Mach 1.
See the Mach 1 suit here.
We looked at a lot of the stuff that Iron Man does, and asked: What would be a real world counterpart?
Iron Man is invulnerable thanks to his super alloy skin of Titanium and Vibranium. Vibranium is comic book metal and doesn’t really exist. Our answer was to add in some bullet resistant materials such as Kevlar and UHMW in the vest. UHMW, or UHMWPE, is a type of polyethylene plastic. It stands for Ultra High Molecular Weight. That just means that the molecular structure of it is very dense. Dense enough to stop a bullet.
Iron Man has repulsor rays in his hands and feet. That really isn’t going to happen in the real world. We replaced these weapons with the shocking voltage of stun gun technology. The Blast Boots came from needing a weapon on the foot. Also because we were watching Ultra Man, and thought it would be cool to kick a bad guy and shock him at the same time. The hand repulsors were replaced by flash Kevlar gloves with carbon fiber knuckles. EON can put out a small fire with the fire resistant gloves, or bap a bad guy in the face with the reinforced knuckles. Hopefully it will never come to that.
The other things that Iron Man can do such as fly, communicate via integrated wireless, computational systems, and super strength,… Those things will be addressed on the more advanced Mach 2 and Mach 3 components. Wait till you see some of this stuff.
EON will wear the Mach 1 equipment most of the time for his patrols. Technically the helmet is for the Mach 2. There will be a mask made for the Mach 1 in the next few weeks and the helmet will be kept for the Mach 2. The Mach 2 will be a bigger, badder, more super, suit that can be worn on special missions. When it is ready, I will update you again, here on Get You Gadget On!

Real life superhero takes to Vancouver's streets

Originally posted: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/real-life-superhero-takes-to-vancouvers-streets/article2098046/
SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER— From Friday’s Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jul. 14, 2011 9:06PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Jul. 15, 2011 1:24PM EDT

Before he heads to the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside to hand water, food and blankets to the city’s most vulnerable citizens, costume-wearing superhero Thanatos prepares one final item for those living on the streets –
white slips of paper with the word “friend” scrawled on them.

“I hope that they keep it because they remember that they have a friend out there, they have someone out there who cares,” he said. “Even if it’s a crazy guy in a costume, they know that they have somebody out there who’s trying to look out for them.”
For four years, Thanatos has patrolled the neighbourhood performing good deeds, handing out items he buys himself. He was once told by a policeman that the end of life is all some homeless people have to look forward to, so the former U.S. military man – who says he moved to Canada in 1973 – named his alter ego after the Greek god of death. “I thought if that’s the case, death better get out there and take care of these people,” he said.
During an interview at – where else? – a cemetery, he says the slips of paper were found on 16 people who died last year, a testament to the rough shape some of those he tries to help are in.
His dark costume is a mix of The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Doc Savage and even a little Batman. Along with the black and green mask, he sports a long trench-coat, skull-and-crossbones tie, and wide-brimmed hat. Around his waist is a utility belt equipped with, among other things, a Swiss Army knife and bag of marbles.
Thanatos twice taps himself on the chest while describing the costume. A dull knock confirms he’s wearing a bulletproof vest, because even though he doesn’t view himself as a vigilante, trouble sometimes finds him in the form of a knife or gun.
“I was doing a water handout and a fellow came running around the corner,” he said. “I thought he had a black automatic pistol and he put it right up against me here. I grabbed at the automatic because I’ve been trained to disarm someone and my intention was to jack the slide back so the gun couldn’t fire. As I tried to do that, it broke apart in my hand. It was a squirt gun that had been painted black.”
Thanatos is a member of The Real Life Super Hero Project, a league of caped crusaders that aims to feed the hungry, comfort the sick and better neighbourhoods. As a sexagenarian, Thanatos is the oldest member of the group. He’s quick to note the heroes don’t fight bad guys and leave them tied up for police – that only happens in the movies.
As he walks past rows of tombstones inside the cemetery, the interview is continually interrupted by curious onlookers. Thanatos disarms their concerns with a confident hello and tip of the cap.
He talks at length about the missions he makes to the Downtown Eastside several times a month, but is much less willing to discuss the man under the mask.
All he says about his day job is that it’s “in a corner of the death industry.” He won’t release his name because he fears that if his identity is revealed he’ll be drummed from his profession.
Thanatos mentions a wife and teenage daughter, both of whom support his cause, he says. His wife sometimes joins him on the streets to serve as a spotter, and his daughter has said she’d like to help some day as well. She knows she’s not yet ready for the intensity and heartbreak, he says.
Thanatos appears to choke up when talking about a man named Wayne. He says Wayne was “just a nice guy” who suffered from alcohol problems and couldn’t land a job. “They found him behind some dumpsters where he had tried to go and get warm,” he said.
The deaths take their toll but he has no plans to give up. “It weighs on me,” he said. “It hurts. But it just strengthens my resolve. It always reminds me of what I’m out there for.”
Thanatos was not on the streets during last month’s Stanley Cup riot but expresses disappointment that it occurred. For those unsure how to better their city, he has a rallying cry: “If you’re really upset about the riots and you want to make things better, everybody go out and help 10 people. If you can’t give them anything, give them something that’s really even more important – five minutes of your time.”
Vancouver police spokesman Constable Lindsey Houghton confirmed the department has heard of Thanatos, who says he’s been in touch with officers on several occasions. Thanatos says he even collects shell casings on the chance they might be of some assistance to police.
“We’re aware of his existence and that he’s anonymously doing good deeds and helping people out in his own way and phoning 9-1-1 at appropriate times, which is all we ask of people,” Constable Houghton said.
During a tour of the Downtown Eastside, Thanatos heads under a bridge to highlight a narrow crevice where people sleep. Inside lies a blanket. A message has been left for him in chalk, indicating when the owner of the blanket will return.
Thanatos leaves a bottle of water and dashes off, eager to find the next person who needs his assistance.