Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday
Jan. 20th, 2026 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyIn 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 scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.
Well... yes... the world is... isn't it?
Dolly Parton celebrated her 80th birthday (All hail one of the few utterly admirable people around) and it was also the anniversary of Edgar Alen Poe's birth too. I suspect there's a cosmic balance involved in that.
To my own eternal shame I managed to overlook that the 1966 Batman show had it's 60th anniversary last Monday
Disney made something of a tactical error when they asked on Threads for people to post Disney memes about their current mood. Remember a few years back when Elmo asked "How is everyone doing today?" on Twitter and there was a deluge of what social anxiety? Imagine that, but with anger and frustration
Starfleet Academy debuted with two episodes with the anticipated rigmarole from fans and "fans".
No art is above criticism, but the level of vitriol that got sprayed at this show was like a firehose often from those who hadn't watched it and never planned to. I'm not sure what was the worst of it: Was it the racist comments? The sexist comments? The fat shaming? The many combinations of two or more of those?
Was it a perfect show? No, of course not. It's a new show, with a new cast, and a LOT of stuff to shovel into it's premiere episodes. But I thought it showed promise, Sandro Rosta's Caleb is a bit of a dick at the moment (but it pretty enough in a Power Rangers sort of a way to get away with it for maybe one more episode), Holly Hunter is both tiny and imposing, Karim Diané's Kraaag is my favourite Klingon in years, and Gina Yashere's Lura Thok is fantastic! And I love the many easter eggs dotted around the place (There's a passing shot of a Brikar, an Exocomp student, and a scene-stealing extra as a Kelpien who has Doug Jones "Bob Fosse-like" Saru arms swinging thing down to an absolute T so when they're in a scene you NOTICE!)
If you're wanting an even handed but generally positive approach to Trek, I'd suggest the "Trek Culture" YT channel, where their "Ups and Downs" reviews are geeky as hell, but in the FUN way.
I think my biggest gripe was the shiny new "Trek Franchise" opening logo has some lovely new models of the main starships from each series (With the Defiant for DS9), but omits the Protostar and the Cerritos, which just seems rude!
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 scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.
Well... yes... the world is... isn't it?
Dolly Parton celebrated her 80th birthday (All hail one of the few utterly admirable people around) and it was also the anniversary of Edgar Alen Poe's birth too. I suspect there's a cosmic balance involved in that.
To my own eternal shame I managed to overlook that the 1966 Batman show had it's 60th anniversary last Monday
Disney made something of a tactical error when they asked on Threads for people to post Disney memes about their current mood. Remember a few years back when Elmo asked "How is everyone doing today?" on Twitter and there was a deluge of what social anxiety? Imagine that, but with anger and frustration
Starfleet Academy debuted with two episodes with the anticipated rigmarole from fans and "fans".
No art is above criticism, but the level of vitriol that got sprayed at this show was like a firehose often from those who hadn't watched it and never planned to. I'm not sure what was the worst of it: Was it the racist comments? The sexist comments? The fat shaming? The many combinations of two or more of those?
Was it a perfect show? No, of course not. It's a new show, with a new cast, and a LOT of stuff to shovel into it's premiere episodes. But I thought it showed promise, Sandro Rosta's Caleb is a bit of a dick at the moment (but it pretty enough in a Power Rangers sort of a way to get away with it for maybe one more episode), Holly Hunter is both tiny and imposing, Karim Diané's Kraaag is my favourite Klingon in years, and Gina Yashere's Lura Thok is fantastic! And I love the many easter eggs dotted around the place (There's a passing shot of a Brikar, an Exocomp student, and a scene-stealing extra as a Kelpien who has Doug Jones "Bob Fosse-like" Saru arms swinging thing down to an absolute T so when they're in a scene you NOTICE!)
If you're wanting an even handed but generally positive approach to Trek, I'd suggest the "Trek Culture" YT channel, where their "Ups and Downs" reviews are geeky as hell, but in the FUN way.
I think my biggest gripe was the shiny new "Trek Franchise" opening logo has some lovely new models of the main starships from each series (With the Defiant for DS9), but omits the Protostar and the Cerritos, which just seems rude!
Anybody grow up on classic Yu-Gi-Oh, FMA, Inuyasha or Magical Girl manga?
Date: 2026-01-20 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 09:58 am (UTC)All hail long weekends! Thanks to the last one, I managed to finally finish The Patient S Remedy. The adorable main character is safe! His adorable love interests are safe, which is twice as satisfying as each represents an archetype of a different kind of lovable character that is sacrificed in a manga for the sorrow of main character, so it felt not only as if I safed Haruki, Manabu and Mitsuo, but also Kotori, Asuka and Kamina, and they remember him and will almost certainly form a happy poly relationship with him, and it’s sooooo heartwarming and unique! I love this game, man. It’s insanely emotionally satisfying. Are there any other BL games with a harem/polycule ending besides Nu:Carnival and Togo Mito’s other game Naked Butlers (which sounds kinda extreme but I am very curious about it after finishing Patient)? I think there should be more queer polycule options in games. Which reminds me that Out Of The Ocean, Ebi-hime’s newest yuri visual novel where a love interest is a mermaid and you can form a polycule with two human girls and her, has premiered recently. I’m buzzing with excitemement! What’s more, an extra scenario for All Scars and Starlight, one of her BL visual novels that I loved, is in the works, exploring yet another way the story of Yuel and Tavi can go wrong. So thrilling! I’m sadly out of funds this month, but when the new scenario is released, I want to purchase it, Out Of The Ocean, All Ashes and Illusions (otome game that provides the context for All Scars and Starlight) and maybe Naked Butlers. I also replayed the good ending of Room no 9, and when to think of it the story actually leaves open the possibility of the leads developing a romantic relationship, just not yet. Let me have some hope! Also! While I’ve found some Room fanfiction on AO3, there’s only one (1) fanfic for Patient, which is pretty shocking given that the game’s been translated for some time and the characters are very easy to love. Such a mystery. On phone game front, I only had time and energy to play Magia Exedra, and the game finally canonized what various spin-offs implied: a timeline doesn't end once Homura goes back in time. In the most recent event, we follow Oriko timeline after the end of the manga, after Mami, Kyouko, Yuma and new magical girl Koito Asako have defeated Walpurgisnacht and Koito, whose older sister was killed by Kirika, deals with the fallout of Oriko's schemes. It's something really interesting that the franchise has not explored before.
I am also watching a relatively large number of anime this season. I don’t remember if I’ve talked about it before (please forgive me, I am not feeling well in general and my brain has not been working to the full capacity). Almost every series is of the guilty pleasure variety – something I watch for a specific theme that appeals to me deeply, while not necessarily being of the highest quality. All these series are shoujo/josei/BL:
-The Champignon Witch is the one series that I’d genuinely recommend for its artistic quality, unique stylistics, and sheer novelty when compared to the rest of the season. It tells the story of an adorable lonely witch whose touch is poisonous to humans, forcing her to live in a forest with her animal friends.
-The Holy Grail of Eris is a villainess story where a noble young lady framed for a relatively minor crime gets rescued by the ghost of executed villainess who posessed her. In exchange, the villainess wants the girl to investigate who framed her for assassination attempt against a princess, leading to her death, and help her punish the real villain.
-The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbouring Country is a pretty unremarkable villainess story with the twist of the cast having several reincarnators; I suspect that the villaines’ love interest knew her in her original life and will be watching to see if I were right.
-The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter is a BL isekai story where a workaholic salaryman wants to improve the accounting departament in the fantasy world he found himself in, and a militaryman just wants to keep this strange, suicidally stupid man alive.
-To You In Full Bloom is a cult classic manga about an obsessive Japanese-American girl who transfers to a Japanese all-boys school to be close to the teen athlete she has a crush on, even if she has to pretend to be a boy. The girl has tachi energy, it’s fun to watch.
-In Clear Moonlit Dusk is a love story between a very masculine tomboy and a rich and handsome boy who likes her for who she is. It’s almost like an Oscar/Fersen modern Japanese high school AU. I am unfamiliar with the manga, but am curious how the story develops.
-Tamon’s B-Side is a comedy about a girl who is a very dedicated fan of a boy celebrity, only to discover during her housekeeping job that his real personality is the opposite of what he shows to public, and decides to support him in both private life and carreer. Super cute.
-Does It Count If I Lose My Virginity to an Android? is a an adult only yuri miniseries with the excuse plot of a female programmer being given a very pushy sentient sexbot (female). It’s basically Chobits if the authors went through a softcore pornography angle.
What are you guys watching this season?
In manga news, big online scans reading website Bato, known for hosting some obscure and older titles, is down. I've seen sentiment split between fans of manhwa or webtoons and manga or manhua. Korean comics' fans tend to celebrate the victory of publishers, while fans of Japanese and Chinese comics tend to mourn a loss of an archive of multitude of works that are not legally accessbile in English to begin with, nor are they likely to become accessible in the future. It's a second blow to manga reading community within last year, after the purge of Mangadex titles. It's certainly a big win to the creators that English-only fans have it now more difficult to read The Rose of Versailles I'm sure. /s
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Date: 2026-01-20 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-21 03:25 am (UTC)I recently binged through all of what's out so far of Magus of the Library. Quite interesting, with some gorgeous art.
Secrets of the Silent Witch is fine.
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Date: 2026-01-22 07:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-23 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 10:29 am (UTC)Starman. Roger Stern has gone, but the book manages to limp on without him. The unfunny fill-in issue by Keith Giffen and Peter David didn’t help. I'm not going to complain about Phantom Lady joining the cast though.
Sub-Mariner. The Gerry Conway run. Namor is in self-imposed exile, thus comes an excuse for overwrought dialogue. (Conway even admits as much in the introduction to the Masterworks volume I am reading from.) So much for Llyra and Tiger Shark being arch-villains, they keep getting defeated by their own incompetence. It’s a miracle Llyra ever managed to kill anybody Namor ever cared for.
Swamp Thing. There is an encounter with a stranded alien, but the message that “Man is the real monster” made me roll my eyes. I guess a horror comic is the wrong thing to read if I wanted optimism. There is also a story in which the supporting cast get attacked by giant worms, but I can’t get over how much their googly eyes and extended snoots make them look like those Magical Wiggler toys.
Thor. The Walter Simonson run. Do I really need an excuse to read this run again. Beta Ray Bill. The Casket of Ancient Winters. The Surtur War. Skurge standing alone at Gjallerbru. Frog Thor. Banger after banger.
Thunderbolts. The Nicieza/Zircher run was a slog, so I decided to go back and read the Busiek/Bagley run again. On the flip side, I found the New Warriors series to be a slog after Nicieza left and as such will be reading that series again from the beginning.
Titans. Let’s see how long it takes me to stuck with this this book before I get fed up of Roy Harper being an ass. Hey, if I can get over my dislike of Green Arrow, maybe I will come to tolerate his old sidekick.
Transformers, the Marvel Years. Ah, G.B. Blackrock. Totally not Tony Stark. Also, the Dinobots. Him Grimlock not bozo, him king!
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Date: 2026-01-20 09:38 pm (UTC)It sounds like an odd combination.
Odder still given the two that it wouldn't work.
-It's a miracle Llyra ever managed to kill anybody Namor ever cared for-
All she could manage was Dorma.
*ba-dum tish*
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Date: 2026-01-20 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 10:42 am (UTC)what's that internet gossip site? The original shows creators wanted to make some changes for the live action TV show and they were so stupid and bad Netflix fired them because the creators are stupid and bad? Well I see no reason to doubt your unbiased opinion now I'm off to complain on Reddit.
Well I've begun my mad quest to watch all of The Walking Dead....
thank God the first season is only six episodes. Actually they managed to create a well-structured and eventful story in the time they had, disproving the claim that eight episode season aren't long enough to tell compelling story's.
In the first two episodes the zombie's act a little differently, seeming to have some trace memories of their old selves, and are able to pick things up and climb over fences, all things they'll never do again.
You I know that Shane and Lori can't have sex in the middle of camp, but going into the zombie filled forest seems like a bad idea.
Speaking of in episode three Carl and Sophie run out of the woods being chased by a zombie. But wait how'd that happen? Did their parents let them go play in the woods, or did they sneak away? Neither one makes their parents look all that great.
I think episode five had the show's first character inconsistency. In episode two Rick seemed pretty adamant that the old world was gone forever, but now he's suggesting that if the government survived they'd probably be in the Disease Control Center. Now maybe he means some guys holed up in a bunker rather than a functioning government, or he needed to come up with something to try and deal with the infected group member.
(Dale also has a moment where he clarifies that when he said they should kill the infected guy what he actually meant was that they should ask him what he wants. Sure you did....)
I have to wonder if the Shane story can support a longer story. Like if were going by the comic the big confrontation between him and Rick should have happened in episode 5 or 6. And him having a breakdown and trying to kill Rick isn't something you can draw out all that long.
Considering how Daryl would become the popular character and Rick 2.0 it's surprising how much of a jerk he is here. Wow he's pretty racist as well, the nicest thing you can say is that he's not as racist as his brother.
Ah T-Dog, he actually had a bit more character than I expected. Season two will get rid of that.
hmm according to the scientist's video-log it's day 63 of the global infection, but he's also been working on the project for a 100 days, so I guess there was some secret patient zero which inspired the world's governments to start trying to find a cure.
Now the building he's in explodes and collapses into a pile of rubble, but as I understand it he show up later on in one of the spin-off shows to tell us the zombie virus is mutating and they'll be making Walking Dead spin-off shows for years to come.
truly death would have been the kinder fate....
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Date: 2026-01-20 01:06 pm (UTC)Work has been hammered with calls, including people who never got the multiple notices back in September that they needed to find new insurance by December 31. It was on the news, people!
Marvel Puzzlequest: Cosmic Invasion season had Cosmic Ghost Rider as the new character, and we are now in Agents of Atlas so the chase character is Lin Lie, the Sword Master from the most recent version of that team.
The new season of Pretty Cure is coming up soon--apparently it's going to involve time travel and detectives.
Speaking of which, latest entry at my blog is a time traveling robot. https://www.skjam.com/2026/01/18/comic-book-review-robot-archie-and-the-time-machine/
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Date: 2026-01-20 04:06 pm (UTC)"Yeah, that was in the first movie. It was awesome"
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Date: 2026-01-20 04:37 pm (UTC)New BTS pic, NSFW
https://images2.imgbox.com/b0/c1/w6kb3oDo_o.png
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Date: 2026-01-22 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-22 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 05:09 pm (UTC)Yesterday went on a lengthy trip, totally forgot one of the things I'd gone on that trip for until it was a little too late.
But while I was there, did manage to find a Quickstrike. So not a 100% loss.
Didn't know the new series of Die had started up. Interestin'...
Bought copies of "Invasion of the Zygons" and "Seeds of Doom" since bloomin' iPlayer doesn't have 'em.
I was thinking going in to Zygons the worst would be ridiculous and / or borderline offensive depictions of Scotland.
Which, in fairness, there was (not cool, Sarah-Jane. Not cool.)
But then we got to the Loch Ness Monster.
Aw, man. That's Invasion of the Dinosaurs level rubbish effects!
Look at it! Who's an adorable sock monster? Who is? Is it you? Is you?
... *ahem*
Apparently there's a re-release of Bishop's Crossing coming out th' morrow.
(apparently because the local's a bit spotty on that score. We'll see.)
Interested, despite A: Lobdell writing and B: That Bit With The Hellions.
Also C: That really annoying thing with the sideways pages that was all the rage.
But it's mainly for the Nicieza bits.
Might've said it before, but golly gee, there sure are a lot of X-Men releases for this year.
What could that be all about.
(not so much on Simonson's X-Factor, which is a shame.)
Definitely coming down wi' a touch of Doomsday hype.
Wondering about rewatching some of the films. The Plus shows... ehhh...
Still mad about what F&TWS did to Battlestar.
Suppose can probably skip Eternals and Multiverse of Madness.
(odd random bit: A family member who's watched all the Marvel movies totally blanked out on who Kang was, but can remember Eternals and asked if Marvel was ever going to go back to them.
I'm gonna say "ouch" for Kang.)
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Date: 2026-01-20 05:23 pm (UTC)You are wuse to skip Eternals and Multiverse. And Love and Thunder.
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Date: 2026-01-20 09:24 pm (UTC)Not 100% (the big twist is annoying), but it's alright.
Oh, yeah. Love and Thunder. Forgot about that.
Possibly intentionally.
(It looks like Doomsday is playing Thor a bit more serious, but I'm not assuming anything until the actual film is out.)
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Date: 2026-01-20 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-21 12:35 pm (UTC)Excited for it, but also trepidatious.
Not just because of Marvel's... variable quality level since '19, but just because this looks like a very ambitious movie with a lot that could go wrong.
(Synergy-wise, I'm more concerned Marvel's going to do what they did with Thanos and just have Doom absolutely everywhere. And we already had One World Under Doom.)
It's Cyclops being killed off I is most worried about.
Partly because that was most of his role in the Hickman Secret Wars, but also because being dunked on is mostly what's happens to Cyclops in the movies anyway.
And it's criminal misuse of his actor, if nothing else.
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Date: 2026-01-21 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 05:11 pm (UTC)https://let-us-cultivate-our-garden.tumblr.com/post/706924142956609537/no-no-thats-a-bop-i-love-it-woman-cried-i
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Date: 2026-01-20 06:01 pm (UTC)(Totally unprompted)
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Date: 2026-01-20 05:47 pm (UTC)As an Ultra member, I get an actual dead tree book delivered to my real life door.
Year 1 it was a choice between Death of Superman Anniversary edition or The Batman Who Laughs.
Year 2 it was Death of Superman, Superman Birthright or Batman Who Laughs
Year 3 it was Death of Superman, Superman Birthright, Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow or Batman Who Laughs.
I do wonder how bad a book can be for me to still choose it over Batman Who Laughs.
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Date: 2026-01-20 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-21 03:44 am (UTC)It's not quite as a dark as I expected, and ultimately comes together really well. I'm going to have to figure out whether to visual novel or manga Higurashi now.
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Date: 2026-01-21 06:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-21 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-21 07:10 am (UTC)I hear it's pretty good. ^^;;
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Date: 2026-01-21 01:55 pm (UTC)I haven't seen Academy, yet. Discovery was well received at first, but I guess now the consensus is that it wasn't good (or went really wrong at some point)? Strange New Worlds was supposed to be really great...but then people were unhappy about...something? A certain contingent of Star Wars and Star Trek fans complain when they don't get new material and then complain even more when they DO get it, unfortunately.
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Date: 2026-01-21 11:50 pm (UTC)I'm still boycotting CBS and Paramount + ( their new evil overlord, Skydance Media is the reason, and well...DJT.) But that has nothing to do with Trek or the creators of Trek. Can't help but wonder if the vitriol being thrown at it - may be a side-effect of that? Maybe not.
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Date: 2026-01-22 12:22 am (UTC)And no, whilst I udnerstand where you're coming from, the hatred seems to be a singularly unpleasant combination of: accusations of "wokeness" from people who have the mindset of
- I do not think these people should be on TV (or in some cases exist) and yet this show is making them the main characters
- Ewwwww! Pronouns!
- No fat chicks
I sincerely wish I was making these up, but we had the Elongated Muskrat retweeting complaints about how unpleasant it is to have to look at women who are not svelte, or who wear glasses, on Trek.
Put it this way, DJT advisor/puppetmaster/escaped lab experiment (and not in the fun "Lilo and Stitch" way) Steven Miller posted a tweet about how this is so bad (It's a clip including Holly Hunter in glasses, and the heavily built Gina Yashere and Linda Black) he thinks Paramout should make peace with William Shatner and let him take compete charge again.
And, whilst I may have my issues with many of William Shatner's opinions, I will give him full credit for shooting the ghastly little organism down.
It's all very asinine and tedious. But at least the new He-Man movie teaser coming out tomorrow will give them something else to whine about.... I guess?
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Date: 2026-01-22 02:38 pm (UTC)Now, I want to watch Starfleet Academy. I love Holly Hunter, and well, actually prefer diverse casts. Not a huge fan of OG Trek, more an STNG , Voyager, Picard, and Discovery Trekkie.
And oh god, really? Did these nitwits miss what Roddenberry was trying to say in Star Trek?
I admittedly avoid DJT, SM, and the Muskrat like the plague on social media - so was oblivious to this.
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Date: 2026-01-22 04:13 pm (UTC)Our mutual panopticon, dispelling the illusion of inherent maturity in " adults " with " adult " jobs.
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Date: 2026-01-31 06:31 am (UTC)I have not done a lot of reading; it has been crazy busy lately.
I hopeeveryone has a great week.