Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

[icon_uk]

In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.

Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.

The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than me.

That being said, yesterday was... a lot, and none of it in a good way. If you avoided the media coverage of the Inauguration of POTUS 47 then I don't think anyone would blame you, but the world is going to be dealing with the ramifications for a very, very long time.

Rather than go into a rant though, I will offer a shout-out to the behind the scenes government folk who apparently put in a LOT of overtime to get passports with people's correct genders out to them before the new regime arrived. Such people are to be lauded.

(I did mention a specific post regarding the Neil Gaiman situation was going to be created, and my apologies for not having sorted that out yet, it will come soon)

Jay and Miles "Giant Size Special" episode covers the short lived Warlock (as in "former New Mutant", not "Cosmic soul-gem weirdness") series from 1999 and the very short lived M-Tech subline.

Just found the free "Into the Tardis" podcast, which legally streamed sample stories from Big Finish. And, by way of that, a happy 91st birthday to Tom Baker, as of yesterday.

Comments

[deh_tommy]

I was going to make a joke about how Hasbro’s making a MARVEL Legends figure of Rom the Spaceknight so nothing else matters, but then yesterday happened and now I’m just sad. I mean... what can you even say about a man that sincerely admires Manifest Destiny in this day and age?

[leahandillyana]

I'm saying that he is a demented old man who cannot even finish his sentences. During first rund of Trump foreign translators had the habit of correcting and beautifying his speeches. Now that it was broadcasted live and apparently not written in advance, people worldwide could see how much of an idiot he really is.

[leahandillyana]

Very anxious about international aid being frozen. Does it cover the billions for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel? What about the developmental programs for SWANA countries that already passed the parliament to my knowledge?
Very anxious about financial situation of my friend. She relies on donation to treat cats that would die without treatment. She is not nearly close to her goal for the week. I gave her my monthly salary in whole.
I wrote a vignette yesterday though. Cannot talk about it more because it's for an exchange. I feel glad that I can still write. I am normally only working and sleeping.

[thezmage]

Rest assured, if cutting off the aid is cruel, Trump is doing it.

Remember everyone who told you it didn't matter who won the election and how wrong they were

[full_metal_ox]

Meanwhile, from the Gulf Coast of Florida: the last time I had occasion to shop for eggs, around Christmas, they were $4.25 USD a dozen, so I decided to wait.

This past Saturday they were $5.00. For whatever it may be worth.

[zachbeacon]

That Jay and Miles episode caused me to binge a good chunk of the new Avengers Academy Infinite comic yesterday.



Trump 2.0 hasn't really even started and it's already a nightmare.

He got a very helpful endorsement from China via the completely manufactured TikTok drama ...that he started.

(Marvel Snap is back online too but, given Second Dinner's willingness to lie on behalf of their Chinese partners, I'm not sure it will survive much longer)

[tripodeca113]

oh look it's the tenth anniversary of the Star Wars Rebels episode were Lando hits on 16 year old Sabine.
what the fuck writers?

Well I was finally able to read the last two volumes of Powers.

All The New Powers: The Bureau miniseries had a very abrupt ending and this story doesn't address any of the fallout. Still the mystery was more interesting than the series has been for a while.
But there's a sense of been there done that. This is the THIRD time Walker quit the force. Sure he seems to be taking harder than before but it still ends with him rejoining the police again (now this volume did only last eight issues and ended halfway through a flashback story so maybe Bendis had something planned like Walker tries to battles his demons only to fail at a crucial moment).

The Best Ever: well that was a fitting ending, and probably the best we could have hoped for considering the series dips in quality over the years.
Still I can't really say it ties Powers into a single cohesive whole. It would probably read just as well if you missed the last four volumes.

It does seem to have a fairly major continuity error and the fact Bendis got such a basic detail wrong is weird.
(actually thinking about it a lot of the details in the flashback story don't really line up with previous stories....)

Other stuff I read

Bad Girls:I kind of expected this story about high school bullies getting superpowers to end in a killing spree. Granted that does seem a little too dark for the story they were telling, but the actually ending wasn't all that satisfying.

Dissident X: So in the 90's they published a comic. Then 25 years later they republish it with a new prologue and story pages. It's a pretty decent story, but I didn't really like the new stuff. The shift in artstyles is pretty noticeable, it's disconnected from the main story and it's set in a more hi-tech dystopian future than the rest of the comic. So maybe you should read the original version Triple X (hmmm I guess that's why they renamed it)

Starlight: Well I spent $12 on this but thankfully it was a good Mark Millar comic.

The Twilight Zone:

A Stop at Willoughby: In the fast paced modern world is it really so wrong for a man to find himself longing for the idyllic past of.....1863?
YES

The Mighty Casey: There's a story behind this episode. It's not funny but here it is. The original actor they hired to play the baseball manager died three days after they finished filming. His haggard, tired attitude wasn't because he was drunk like they thought. It was because he was dying. So they recast his character and re shoot most of the episode.

A World of His Own: So this ones about a writer who has the ability to bring fictional characters to life. Naturally he uses this to cheat on his wife.....who is also one of his creations. boy this one has layers to it....
(Also he kills Rod Serling)

[numeronone]

For your sake, icon_uk, I hope that one day you'd be able to write "the world situation is NOT the world situation".

We've been watching a lot of M*A*S*H at home lately, and just got to the entrance of two perfect precious angels (Major BJ Hunnicutt and Colonel Sherman Potter). This is when the show really picks up, to my eyes.

If it helps anyone feel better: solar energy is skyrocketing at a giant pace, as it becomes increasingly more efficient and offers a route for communities in the Global South to side-step the power struggles that the North play with re: oil and gas. It's predicted that - at *conservative* estimates - solar energy will supply 48% of the world's energy needs within the next 12 years.

[deh_tommy]

Let’s just hope the U.S. and the like don’t try to sabotage that so they can stay on top this time.

[ghost13]

As a German I should probably be offended that Musk did the Nazi salute on the inauguration of the friggin POTUS. They maybe have some excuse like "it only looked like a Nazi salute". But still... why does nobody stop these monsters? I can only hope I will remain unaffected, but with the EU declining we´ll probably become the lickspittles of MAGA. Like they complain we don´t do these damn five percent military spendings, which if Putin wouldn´t invade Russia I´d hardly care about. Is it a problem I don´t like the military, or at least spending huge sums of money on it that could feed the poor? I met a young officer who was a pretty nice guy, at least at first, but it still seems like a waste to me...

[full_metal_ox]

Oh, Musk meant it, all right. An alt-right joke is a threat with a laugh track (another example being the “joke” family photo Christmas card where the mother and daughters were bound and gagged and the father and son wearing smugly triumphant expressions; the caption was “PEACE ON EARTH.”)

If it was a joke at all: it’s reached the point where they’re not even bothering with hypocrisy or plausible deniability any more.

[zachbeacon]

The Anti-Defamation League went so far as to "well actually" the people pointing out that he went full Nazi.

[scorntx]

Trying to avoid looking at the news. Almost, almost successful.
Just...
At least four more years of this. At a bare minimum.
(And four more years of "why are you angry about this? Don't be angry." from family members...)
Having to resist the urge to go on angry tears.

...
Not got much else to talk about.

Visited a bookshop in another city the other day.
The only Star Wars books they had were Legacy of the Force.
And only the Karen Travis ones.
Pretty sure that's someone's ironic punishment.

But since I didn't want to go all that way for nowt (over £70 a train ticket which wouldn't work at any barrier...) wound up buying Shadows of Kyoshi.

Darths & Droids started its coverage of Rise of Skywalker today.
This should be delightfully nuts.

While discussing Marvel's upcoming releases (and concerns for Fantastic Four) with a family member, they blanked out on which one was The Marvels.
Took them a moment to remember it.
They went to see it at the cinema. (Admittedly, they were just tagging along, but still. Ouch.)

[bolindbergh]

Google finally admits that it doesn't have a web search engine; it has an advertisement delivery engine.

[full_metal_ox]

I found something claiming to be “the disenshittification Konami Code” that seems to be working so far, at least in Safari on IPad: https://udm14.com/

[ghost13]

Oh there is good news, I read AFD is a bit down, apparently becomes people vote the smallest parties a little more. This is actually a blessing for democracy. Its a big lie that the small parties killed Weimar, they actually kept the democracy alive for longer. So we probably should get rid of the damn five percent hurdle and diversify, even if some of these parties can get a little silly. The more the merrier.

Motivational Speeches

[bmaryott]

I'm curious what comics motivational speeches y'all love.

Most everyone here has read the "No, YOU MOVE" one by Captain America to Spider-Man in Civil War, but are there other ones that make you want to get back up after having gotten knocked down?

Re: Motivational Speeches

[full_metal_ox]

"Fight for the life on planet Earth!"

"Defend even those you don't understand!"

"Believe in the love beyond anyone's control—"

"—and risk everything for it!"

—The Crystal Gems’ credo.

Which is still an excellent one however red Rose Quartz’ ledger might have been (I suspect that part of the reason she’s come to be derided as the Scarlet Harlot of Babylon is that the audience witnessed her character development in reverse. See also River Song.)

[ladymidath]

Happy birthday Tom Baker, he will always be my favourite doctor.
I have been avoiding the news and as for the Neil Gaiman situation, there are no words to describe how horrified and disgusted I am with what has happened.
Other than that, I have been avoiding the news as everything seems to be getting worse. The upside is I have more time to concentrate on reading.