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. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.

There is still hope though: In Montana, speeches by trans and non-binary representatives helped switch the vote of enough Republicans to stop anti-trans legislation

Also, the current US Administration (using the term in it's loosest possible sense) has started losing the many court cases brought against them by those who they summarily fired, and organisations tried to defund.

"Daredevil: Born Again" debuted last week with a two episode drop.

"Ramadan Mubarak" to those who observe it.

Sorry, one of those days where little time for posting! Gotta go!

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Yay! I found $20 on the ground!
And my missing Frisky Dingo DVD!

hmm apparently The Witcher show is going to feature a character from the games!.......A fairly minor antagonist from the first game?
I'm half convicted the fansite which reported this got him mixed up with the guy from the books who had the same surname.


Twilight Zone season four: oh it's so much less convenient to watch now the episodes are double the length

Death Ship: Okay so I get the astronauts being trapped in limbo until they realize their dead. But the commander refuses to believe the situation and he denies it so hard he resets it back to the start of the episode and they'll be trapped forever in an endless loop.
How was he able to do that? How can he drag the other astronaut out of heaven?

Jesse-Belle: Something terrifying happened in this episode! Rod Serling didn't provide an ending narration. Instead they used the chorus of the song they'd been singing throughout this story.

The woman called the witch 'granny' so I assumed she she was her grandmother who wanted to covert her to the dark arts, but the other character's called her that as well so I guess their not related.

Miniature: man back in 1963 you could get fired and then less then a day later find an idyllic fantasy world and eventually be sucked into it.

No Time Like The Past: "Man I hate the twentieth century so much. All the hate and prejudice. It's like mankind's on the fast road to extinction. All the filth and poison in the food and water we eat. Now I'm going back in time to the utopian society of 1881 small town America."

Actually the guy first tried to use time travel for good attempting to evacuate Hiroshima and kill Hitler, but decides it's impossible to change the past (I think he might be jumping to conclusions since he botched his assassination attempt pretty hard, and he only gave himself seven hours to evacuate an entire city).

The Parallel: You know this episode was going pretty well up until the last 13 minutes. The astronaut had figured out during his mission he'd slipped into another subtly different dimension, and it seems like the scientists examining his space capsule are willing to believe him. What's going to happen next?
oh standing next to the capsule suddenly warps him back to his home dimension.
And then we spend seven minute with him in a hospital bed recounting what happen to him.

I Dream of Genie: well this was kind of interesting. Apparently people we're gaming the system so now genies only grant one wish. The genie is also a jerk, but explains the terms and conditions pretty clearly, also advising him not to wish for wealth because it'll get him in trouble with the tax man.

Anyway the most of the episode is our hero thinking about a potential wish then realizing the obvious flaw ('What if I married a famous actress? I wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time with her and she'd probably cheat on me with someone more famous', "What if I was president? Oh I can't handle that kind of responsibility.')

But the one were he was wealth was weird:

"Your old university is in trouble. We need over a million dollar. We don't expect you to pay the whole thing, but you can-"
"Here you go! That should cover everything!"
"What the hell's wrong with you? I was going to ask all the other former students to help their beloved college in it's hour of need and helping me would have made them all feel so good! But you had to go and ruin it!"

Now the guy telling him it's his patriotic duty and privilege as an American to buy another yacht (and otherwise the poor workers will starve!) was clearly fucking with him.....

[numeronone]

"Phil, grappling with the cold reality of death, has no pithy rejoinder."

"Oh shut up Phil."

"Nyeh!"

[icon_uk]

There's a long tradition of any elderly woman being referred to as "Granny" or "Nanny" or "Old Mother", regardless of family status. See also "Auntie" and "Uncle" being used to describe a relative roughly the same age as your parents, even if they are not your auntie or uncle but are third cousins etc etc

And in fiction, Esme Weatherwax was notable for not being a grandmother (Well, Esk in the early books but that was sort of retconned out) but everyone called her Granny, or when speaking to her the more respectful "Mistress Weatherwax".

[iamrman]

People seemed amenable to the idea of me posting Silver Age Teen Titans and Justice League Detroit, so I thought I would branch out to more DC titles.

Batman and the Outsiders. “Her name is Katana, etc...”
Birds of Prey.
Blue Beetle. Ted Kord version.
Booster Gold. Can’t do a Blue Beetle series without his bro.
Catwoman. The fanservicey 90’s series.
The Flash. Wally finally steps out from Barry’s shadow.
Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner. Emerald Twilight, etc.
Guy Gardner: Warrior. The Best Green Lantern doesn’t have to share with those other losers any more!
Hawkman. Let’s see just how convoluted Hawkman's history gets.
Impulse.
Legion of Super-heroes. I was thinking of the Preboot, but couldn’t settle on a place to start. The Reboot Legion seemed like an easier starting point.
Robin.
Superboy. Something-something, tactile telekinesis.

I am also reading Aquaman by Peter David, classic Cassandra Cain Batgirl, Batman, Post-Crisis Superman and Wonder Woman but they’re just for my own enjoyment.

The Web of Spider-Man omnibus is coming out next week, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm sure posting three Spider-books won't get confusing at all.

[zachbeacon]

Last week's Invincible and Daredevil are really case studies on the right way and the wrong way to get rid of a character, huh?

re: Getting rid of a character

[michaelmrt]

Absolutely.

Without spoilers...

Invincible: [REDACTED] has an entire multi-season arc where he/she goes from annoying and immature to... well.. less annoying and more mature. Given that I hated him/her early on and didn't mind him/her at the end, I'd call that a win for the character. And that sacrifice? Epic.

Daredevil: Producers be like "Hey, look! Those characters you really wanted back are back! PSYCH! Just kidding!" Given how Daredevil handled the issue I am aborting watching the rest of the season. I'd have preferred they completely omitted those two characters and pretended this was an Alt universe and then, at some point in season 2 or 3, they (with the original actors) be reintroduced and treated respectfully. This was just a slap in the face to fans of those two characters and one that added ZERO to the current ongoing story.

Re: Getting rid of a character

[zachbeacon]

Invincible Comic and Invincible Cartoon Spoilers

Jura Xvexzna xvyyrq gur punenpgre va gur pbzvp, V tbg gur frafr ur jnf whfg trggvat evq bs n punenpgre gung unqa'g orra cybg eryrinag sbe n juvyr. Gur qrngu fprar jnf bar bs gubfr guvatf gung sryg yvxr vg fubhyq unir orra n onqnff zbzrag ohg vg whfg qvqa’g jbex orpnhfr V guvax gur ernqref zbfgyl erzrzore gur punenpgre nf fbzrbar’f nffubyr rk.
Gur raq bs frnfba gjb naq nyy bs frnfba guerr ernyyl erqrrzf punenpgre naq znxrf gurz n yvxnoyr crefba...fb vg gjvfgf gur xavsr rira zber jura gurl qvr va gur rknpg fnzr jnl.
Vg vf whfg trarenyyl orggre fgbelgryyvat.


Netflix Daredevil and Daredevil Born Again Spoilers

Obea Ntnva whfg guebjf njnl lrnef bs ohvyqhc gb xvyy* bss bar punenpgre naq jevgr nabgure bhg bs gur frevrf.
*(V’ir frra sna gurbevrf gung Sbttl vf va jvgarff cebgrpgvba naq – juvyr gurer’f pbzvp cerprqrag – vg srryf yvxr jvfushy guvaxvat)
Naq Zngg unf nyernql ercynprq gurz jvgu n arj yrtny cnegare naq vairfgvtngbe fb V thrff gur Obea ntnva jevgref qbrfa’g guvax gurl’er irel vzcbegnag.

[deh_tommy]

...they totally killed Foggy and Karen, didn’t they? I know that caused a bit of backlash when it was revealed they weren’t going to be part of the show at first and then I think it got leaked why, so I’m assuming they’re dead. That or they decided to crib from the comics and Karen sells out Daredevil for drug money.

[scorntx]

If it helps, Karen does not sell out Daredevil for drug money.

[zachbeacon]

I mean, considering how poorly Vanessa has been written, there's always the possibility that they'll retcon that in just for the hell of it.

It's very funny that I've seen articles comment that introducing the relative of another character might mean they're going to fix the mistakes Netflix made as if the Disney+ show isn't 90% mistakes.

[scorntx]

With that relative I was worried they'd be killed off first time around for cheap drama.
Didn't happen then, but showing up in Daredevil is just bringing those concerns up all over again.

[zachbeacon]

Gurl xvyy bss bar va gur svefg svir zvahgrf bs rcvfbqr bar naq gur bgure vfa'g cerfrag va rcvfbqr gjb.

Onfvpnyyl rcvfbqr bar rkvfgf gb cvff bss gur crbcyr jub jnagrq Sbttl naq Xnera naq gura rcvfbqr gjb - juvpu frrzf gb or gur erny cvybg - fgnegf nsgre n gvzr fxvc.

[leahandillyana]

In the deluge of blood and bullshit two very significant developements can be easily overlooked:
The prime minister of Poland revealed that the country aim to obtain nuclear weapons and other unconventional weapons. The country also left international convention against the use of land mines. Both decisions show how much the paradigm has shifted - five years ago even proposing those things would have made you a lunatic, and even three years ago you would be immediately silenced as panicking. Now the decision seems not only rational but also they only way to ensure that Poland will not be invaded. I'm surprised that there seems to be no international backlash, but it seems that everybody is focused on usamerican excesses.
In Syria, the islamist government and the leadership of Kurdish forces reached an agreement integrating the Kurdish institutions into general Syrian institutions. This is a big step as before any Syrian government has been extremely anti-Kurdish. At the same time, bloody fights resumed around the coastal Russian base where remnants of assadist regime have retreated. It is very difficult to say what exactly is happening, but I've seen reports of massacres of alawites (religious minority with a distinct version of islam, facing bigotry from shia majority) by government forces. I really hope the fighting doesn't spread and reignite the civil war.

[metadronos]

I think that, depending on how so-called "negotiations" go on the Russia-Ukraine war, Poland may soon not be the only country in the region to at least consider building nukes. How soon Russia's potential targets could actually do so is a question only those far more knowledgeable than I about their respective resources and economies could answer.

Here in Canada, I've seen a few armchair commenters on news sites advocate for the development of a nuclear arsenal. But as far as I know there isn't anyone in actual or potential positions of power suggesting it, given that for all the White House blather about Canada as a future U.S. state, the likelihood of America trying to accomplish that through brute force, Putin style, is pretty much zero. Most analysts don't even think the orange entity would succeed in doing that through economic means.

Worth pointing out...

[justhere4comix]

... and I have nothing nice to say about Trump or his weird ideas re: Canada, but if Canada became the 51st state, it would have the highest population of any state, and therefore the most electoral college votes. It would be darned hard to win an election without the state of Canada. Which I'd like to think would be nicely "blue". :-)

[cainofdreaming]

It doesn't seem that a week goes by that someone here at Finland too doesn't go on about leaving the Ottawa treaty. Even though our military leadership has told repeatedly that we have adequate replacements. Though they mostly suggest that Sweden or Norway should get nukes instead of us.

[deh_tommy]

Maybe it’s a good thing Poland calling for nuclear weapons hasn’t received the international attention it should have, lest Trump find out and throw a hissy fit over it.

I take some small comfort that a genocide is not sanctioned but actually opposed by a country’s government for once. Even so, what a tragedy.

[scorntx]

This week, the Diet Torys have said they're going after the benefits system.
(Because when you get rid of all the people who need that money to live, all the other problems will magically fix themselves.)
Particularly liked the meaningless pile of guff about "the dignity of work" and "British values".
... somehow, I get this feeling that when 'Sir' Keir talks about the system being unfair he does not mean unfair to the people who really do need that money.


Since Disney+ was refusing to work worse than usual last week (like, absolutely nothing would play. Even trailers wouldn't load), got bored and wandered around Amazon and decided to watch some She-Ra.
Whoof, that was a load of rubbish! Gloriously bad rubbish.
(Going in with familiarity from Princesses of Power is also colouring my perception. 80s Bow is a major step down... 80s Scorpia's also a letdown.)

Once Disney+ started working properly, watched that Born Again.
...
... if you want to entice me into a show, doing that in the first twenty minutes isn't the best way to go.

Meanwhile, White Tiger!
I do like how there's nobody scoffing at his saying he has a magic amulet. The MCU has apparently now progressed that they are past such things as going "ooh, magic's not real!"
But on the other hand, the total non-reaction anyone has to this guy just having a magic amulet is strange as well.

[cainofdreaming]

Particularly liked the meaningless pile of guff about "the dignity of work" and "British values".

Isn't that just upper class speak for "Work? Don't we have lower classes for that?"

[scorntx]

Pretty much.
(Can't say I was paying much thought to the idea of dignity while digging trenches or trying to get a shredder to work, but hey-ho.)

[deh_tommy]

I was so confused for a minute and thought you were dunking on modern She-Ra at first because of familiarity with the original.

[scorntx]

Nah, Princesses of Power is solid.
(well, I'm na wild about Frostra, but apart from that!)

And it's more razzing than outright dunking...

[bolindbergh]

For the first time in a number of years, Sweden sends a not very serious entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

[poshmerchant]

The Swedish entry is cute. Thanks for the link!

[cainofdreaming]

I would be remiss if I did not thank you guys for doubling Finland's chances to win, now that we have entrants from two countries. So thanks. :p

[bolindbergh]

You're welcome.

I predict that many speakers of Finnish will get tired of out-of-context chants of "Yksi, kaksi, kolme, saunaaa!" long before May 17.

[mister_terrific]

Well, with great relief I can announce that our old house in the Midwest is officially sold. We travelled from Florida, made a stop in Indiana to check on my ailing FIL, then headed over to St. Louis for the closing. Ironically, our proceeds from the sale ended up being almost exactly what we paid for the house back in 1987!

And of course we had to endure several days of icy cold, accentuated by blasts of wind. As my wife said, "This is why we moved to Florida!" Brrrrr.

Since my funds are a wee bit tight right now, I've been availing myself of Comixology Unlimited and picked up the "One Bad Day" series. Overall I enjoyed them, though Tom King's Ridder story...of course, it's King, so that's all there is to say about that. :)

[shakalooloo]

Congratulations!

[numeronone]

Started sublimating my stress by purchasing "Shadow of Mordor", an 8-year-old game about fighting Orcs, for an extremely low discount on Steam.

It's wonderfully brainless fun so far, the mental equivalent of eating a bagful of candyfloss while on a rollercoaster ride.

[cyberghostface]

I got around to seeing ‘The People’s Joker’ which is a parody of the Joker as a trans woman (the writer/director/star Vera Drew being trans irl). It was better than I thought it would be (trailer made it look like an adult swim sketch), a lot of it is based off their experiences but filtered through Batman/Joker iconography. It’s also neat how the Joker has been embraced by lgbt people and has become a cultural symbol, if it were “The People’s Superman’ or any other character I doubt it would have the same effect.

https://youtu.be/_iZa2PxmK1k

[goodbyebird]

Wheel of Time season 3 drops its first three episodes on Thursday! I was able to tune in to some of the fan event and see about half of the premiere. I'm feeling hopeful :)