Off-Topic Tuesday! - The Back to work/school edition... yay?

[icon_uk]

It's "Off-Topic Tuesday" time!

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 amongst yourselves.

Was the festive season what you hoped it would be?

Hopes for 2016?


I thoroughly enjoyed the return of Galavant to the screens of the world in a totally unexpected second season.

They got things off to a GREAT start when the hero (Galavant) and his slightly clueless mate (Richard) discover that when Richard's father warned him to stay clear of the Enchanted Forest, Richard never realised he wasn't talking about a forest, but a pub... a pub with an exclusively male clientele... very... FRIENDLY male clientele... and then the Queen of all Queens (It took ten minutes for the penny to drop on THAT title, but I was watching this early in the morning) shows up with the classic 80's disco track we never knew we were missing, and who else could play the role but... well, see for yourself! :)

"Watch Kylie Minogue in Galavant "Off With His Shirt"" (Watch on YouTube)

 

Comments

DC comics stuff

[adustyspectacle]

I wanted to read up on mikaal thomas, but I don't know where to start. Really, I've been wanting to delve more into DC comics (I've only read Authority) so if you can recommend me some that has very slashable guys that'd be awesome. But maybe not Batman. Just thinking of the decades worth of canon intimidates me.

Hmm, that's not really off-topic, so... I'm obsessed with Goose House. Does anyone know of other bands/musical groups that have an even split between genders? I like those, especially if all them sing and they do harmony (and maybe contrapuntal stuff?).

Re: DC comics stuff

[icon_uk]

Mikaal being gay (or something similar, it's a little different because he's not human... He had a woman of his own race who he loved, but has been involved exclusively with men on Earth) was only introduced to the character in Robinson's Starman run, a series which I would thoroughly recommend, as it is not only a fantastic series in it's own right, but it does feature a wide range of concepts from the DCU, some common, some not so much, and has the Shade in it, who Robinson turned from a generically evil baddy with darkness powers, to be a fascinatingly near amoral immortal, who HAD been a villain, but more out of an attempt to relieve the boredom than anything else.

If you're looking for slashable pairings, then Batman and Superman are definitely amongst the most obvious due to the nature of some of the comics which saw two men being good friends as being a straightforward thing, and so their innocent banter can provide plenty of subtext and rich pickings there, which are perhaps lost in some more modern, more self-aware comics.

Slash is very much in the eye of the beholder. Some people can see two characters say hello to each other as they pass in a corridor and construct fourteen volumes of torrid sexfic. Others can see two highly sexualised characters hanging around in each other's bedrooms whilst wearing only their skimipiest of underwear (and one possibly smoking a cigarette) and see it as being perfectly platonic.

I can look at Cypher and Warlock's relationship and to say I find it easy to slash ship is a gross understatement (As, in fairness are nearly ALL of Chris Claremont's same sex friendships of that era; Kitty and Rachel, Storm and Yukio, Rahne and Dani, Kurt and Logan), but it's all in what you can get out of it.

As Tom Lehrer put it in a song which is pretty much the scans_daily national anthem

All books can be indecent books
Though recent books are bolder,
For filth (I'm glad to say) is in
the mind of the beholder.
When correctly viewed,
Everything is lewd.
(I could tell you things about Peter Pan,
And the Wizard of Oz, there's a dirty old man!)

So look for slash where you will, something will come along sooner or later. :)

[thatnickguy]

This has been bugging me for awhile. Maybe someone hear can help.

There was an issue of a DC story where the heroes were asked to enter a mystical place. Except, they had to reveal their "true" faces. So, masks off.

Then, Batman just waltzes right in, mask intact. When someone protests, the mystic says, "That IS his true face."

Anyone have a clue where that's from? I think I used to own the comic, but I can't for the life of me remember. Even better if you can post the scan.

[icon_uk]

Can't help there (and I am NOT a fan of Batman being Bruce's real face), but I do remember an issue of Devin Grayson's Titans where they have to sign their names to be given access to a magical dimension, and Dick keeps trying to use "Nightwing" (or even "Robin") as his name, and in the end has, like the others, to sign his full civilian name for the magic to work, suggesting that he and his adoptive dad are still a ways away in worldview.

[q99]

Well, Dick's certainly further from it than Batman!

Greg Rucka's Lazarus

[q99]

The last issue of this (21). Sooooo good!

So rarely has a twist caught be so by surprise. And it's not even a dark twist, just made me reevaluate a lot of stuff.


And then there's no new issues til may, just to taunt me ^^

Re: Greg Rucka's Lazarus

[informationgeek]

Yeah. solid twist overall! It took a bit to process what I was looking at.

Re: Greg Rucka's Lazarus

[q99]

And now there's stuff from two arcs back that I'm re-evaluating and going, "Wait, was that that, or is it *that*...". There's a lotta consequences ^^

[janegray]

I beat Broken Age today. Gorgeous, funny, heartwarming. If you like puzzle/adventure games, I *highly* recommend it :D

It's the story of two protagonists: a boy who is a prisoner in a golden cage (an AI-controlled spaceship, where the computer thinks he is her son and wants to keep him safe at all costs, preventing him from doing *anything* that might ever possibly in any shape or form be remotely dangerous, like cooking or going out or making non-plush friends), and a girl who is going to be offered as a human sacrifice to a monster and keeps thinking "ok but what if we fought the monster?"

Also black woman protagonist and surprise lesbians :)

I enjoyed it a lot, which is reassuring because it means Tim Shafer has still got it and Psychonauts 2 could be a worthy sequel after all :D

[janegray]

So I've been looking for BA fanart since I don't have to worry about spoilers anymore, and found this:



If it pisses off the MRAs you know it's good :P

[informationgeek]

"Everything about it is so unrealistic"

............yes, the game where trees talk, entire religious communities reside on clouds, and giant monsters exist (sort of...)... you... you couldn't figure out this wasn't realistic.

Also, I'm pretty sure he hasn't played this game.

[janegray]

Reminds me of the guy in DMC Fandom who bitched that Lady was a terrible character because "it's unrealistic for a female to be that strong."

Of course. We wouldn't want such blatant lack of realism to ruin the story of a half-demon who turns into a winged monster to travel across a tower that sprouted out of the ground like a flower to act like a gate to hell where a magic sword that turns into a different magic sword can grant the power of Satan's 2000 year old general.

[icon_uk]

And the much ridiculed comment from one of the producers of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (aka Power Rangers: Dino Charge) that they only had one female in the line up of ten Rangers because the Rangers had to fight their robot dinosaur to control it, and it was unlikely that a girl would be able to do such a thing... because you know the differential between human and freaking giant robot DINOSAUR is going to be wildy skewed by gender... (Luckily Dino Charge. a rather fun translation, has already genderflipped one character and at least one or two more are likely)

[kamino_neko]

Eh...I think as a barometer, it goes more the other way.

If it doesn't piss off MRAs, be wary.

[lb_lee]

AUGH AVFM! *throws rotten tomatoes* I had to reference their site for a story I got commissioned for, and I'm STILL cleaning it out of my brain, years later!

Quick, no one tell them about King's Quest 4 and 7!

[icon_uk]

If it pisses off the MRAs you know it's good

It's certainly a recommendation I'd pay attention to.

[kamino_neko]

surprise lesbians

Heh. I think the best game I've played recently (Life is Strange) was trying for that. It didn't end up so much of a surprise for me, though...I spent most of the first couple chapters grumping that Max was a dumb because she totally doesn't connect the dots that Rachel wasn't just a friend to Chloe. (Then when Chloe finally says so, it's in a context that seems to be trying to suggest that this is a surprise.)

[janegray]

Sorry, respectfully I have to skip this comment because Life is Strange is in my backlog and one of the next games I intend to play (although, it's in my backlog after a JRPG, so it will be a while), and I'm in "AAAAAAAH NOOOOOO SPOILERS KEEP THEM AWAY KEEP THEM AWAY" mode ^^"

I'm glad to hear you thought highly of the game, though, it's very encouraging :D

[kamino_neko]

It is a fabulous goddamn game. What's in the queue before it?

[janegray]

I was thinking Tomb Raider, Guacamelee!, Shadow of the Colossus (I already beat it once on the PS2 but my boyfriend gave my the enhanced remake) and Ys Origin :)

Ys Origin has such a great OST, just listening to the trailer makes me happy :D

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/81705/movie480.webm?t=1447355949

[skjam]

The webcomic "Erstwhile" that I posted from a while back has ended. Sadly, they never got around to my favorite Grimm tale, "How the Children Played Butcher."

For December, I participated in #readwomen (deliberately read books written by women) and for this year I'm doing #readPOC2016 (deliberately read books by non-"white" authors.) For more on this, see my blog post on reading challenges here: http://www.skjam.com/2015/12/18/open-thread-reading-challenges/

I've also posted a bunch more reviews, and could use comments/shares and likes. (shameless plug.)

[stubbleupdate]

If you want a book written by a woman, I can recommend everything by Claire North.

[skjam]

It's a teensy late, though I may keep that in mind for the next iteration of #readwomen. Do you have anything (not so likely to be on every other recommendation list) for #readPOC2016? For February, I've lined up The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas.

[lb_lee]

Ooh, ooh, I can rec some comics for your readpoc! Incognegro (about a white-passing black man who infiltrates the Klan), Strange Fruit (focuses on forgotten black people from history, done by a guy I know locally), and Massive, which is a big anthology of gay manga done by gay mangaka.

Man, prose is harder, I've mostly been reading nonfiction and comics lately, and damned if I can remember most nonfiction authors' names. :\ Let's see... dammit, there's an author I really want to recommend but I can't for the life of me remember her name OR the title! >:[ Well, Walter Mosley is always reliable.

[skjam]

Thanks!

I remembered some!

[lb_lee]

Oh, and Sherman Alexie. Alexie's fucking awesome, how did I forget him? And Janet Mock's Redefining Realness is like the only trans memoir I've ever read that I actually LIKED.

[informationgeek]

So... another year has passed... what were your favorite comics from last year?

10. Southern Bastards
9. Batgirl
8. Assassination Classroom
7. A Silent Voice
6. Ms. Marvel
5. March Book Two
4. Outcast
3. Prez
2. Grayson
1. My Hero Academia

I also did a Top 30 as well (you can find if you search online). But anyways, what were on your lists?

[silverhammerman]

I've found myself both picky and generally apathetic lately with regards to a lot of comics, so my top five (in no particular order) are basically the books which I actually look forward to seeing come out each month.

1. Island
2. Head Lopper
3. Midnighter
4. Cyborg
5. The Vision

Special mention also has to go for the concluded Waid/Samnee et al. Daredevil, which is not only one of my favorite comics, but is the single book responsible for getting me to actually start buying comics in 2011. That book was huge for me, and while I'm sad to see it go, I'm glad that it had a good long run.

[lb_lee]

I've mostly been reading small press stuff these days, but my favs!

1. Brain Camp, which is a classic "stupid kids get sent to an elite summer camp, only to find it has a dark secret" story. The writer originally worked on "Who's Afraid of the Dark?" and it shows. I love Faith Erin Hicks' brush work, so of course I loved the art. Probably the least "quality" of the bunch, but I found it at a time I badly needed it.

2. O Human Star. Again, read as a webcomic, but didn't get an actual paper copy until this year--and I did nab the limited-run paper-only porn comic this year. Trans queer robots. Everything I require in a book.

3. Kay and P. About a bi nonmonogamous woman whose best friend is a talking, possibly imaginary skeleton who's hung around since childhood. I'd been wanting to read this for literally years and finally picked up a copy. I REQUIRE MORE.

4. Nimona. I read it when it was web-only, but it only came out this year, so that totally counts, right? Love me some monster girls.

5. Strange Fruit. A comic about various forgotten figures from black history--Bass Reeves, the original Lone Ranger, Henry Brown who escaped slavery by mailing himself in a box, etc.

6. Bash Back. (web-only) It's the gay mafia, and Fyodor Pavlov's art is gorgeous. How could I resist?

7. The Rock Cocks. A porn comic about a rock band whose music inspires orgies. Beautiful colors, and actually really cute.

8. Massive. A book of gay manga and about the gay manga industry, along with the history of the term 'bara' and why a lot of Japanese people are just kinda confused by the English market grabbing it. Fascinating to me as a comics professional; the porn itself didn't do much for me.

9. Empowered vol. 9. I've been buying Empowered as it came out since vol. 4, and it's the only book I buy, sight-unseen these days. I also bought Unchained, though it didn't quite do it for me.

10. ???? The only other book I can recall reading off the top of my head was Poly Glot, Cunning Linguist, by Hazel Newlevant, which was nice enough but not sure it was a FAV; I plan on giving it away when I can.

[thezmage]

Got Lego Dimensions for Christmas. Only in the middle of the Simpsons level right now. Not sure how I feel about the buying of Lego figures to progress in the game. Luckily, I've got a friend who collects Legos but isn't playing the video games who bought the Doctor Who set and will send me the discs, so I don't have to waste my money buying Legos for a toy I've never been a fan of. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/10/24/the-menagerie

Also, anyone else watching "Be Cool, Scooby Doo?" I never thought I'd fall in love with a Scooby Doo series again after Mystery Incorporated ended, but this show is just hilarious

"Heights? Hehe, don't be ridiculous! I'm afraid of widths."

[deh_tommy]

I try to watch the show whenever I can, but I have trouble due to Cartoon Network's typically inconsistent schedules.

Re: "Heights? Hehe, don't be ridiculous! I'm afraid of widths."

[icon_uk]

Heights? Hehe, don't be ridiculous! I'm afraid of widths.

I think it was Rincewind in the Discworld books who notes that though an abject and unapologetic coward, he's not afraid of heights at all. He's fine with heights, he can look at very tall buildings all day. What he IS terrified of is DEPTHS!

That I can get my head round.

[janegray]

I'm not a fan of LEGO games (they are hilarious, but I don't like the gameplay), so I have no intention of spending hundreds of dollars for it plus the sets.

But it makes me sad because I heard that LEGO Dimension's Portal is the closest thing to a Portal 3 we'll ever get :(

I'm thinking of watching a playthrough. Normally I don't like watching games, I want to play them (same for sports), but I really want to know what GLaDOS and Wheatley are up to.

[icon_uk]

Someday I will forgive LEGO Marvel Superheroes for not making the basic New Mutant costume an option the wardrobe design function, so I could build my little buddy (and there is a computer hacking powerset he'd be ideal for), but it won't be today.

I also love the Portal level, though they are at a fairl basic level in terms of complexity GLADoS and Wheatley are in fine irritating form.

[icon_uk]

LEGO Dimensions is my current addiction.

A part of me really does resent buying the extra figures just to get specific abilities to solve certain puzzles, and gain access to certain levels, but it's not use!

I've been trying to be canny and work out what is the minimum number of characters needed to get a representative of all abilites and each licence so I can access their levels .... so I picked Gimli over Gollum, because though both are classed as "Small characters" who can use certain hatches, Gimli has the additional ability of "Superstrength", and I picked Kai from the Ninjago set because he gave me a combination of Swimming, X-Ray-Vision and Spinjitsu and access to the Ninjago microworld, none of which i had already.

I've put WAAAAAY too much thought into this I suspect. :)

As I've drooled about before, the Doctor Who level is unreal in terms of in-jokes, Easter eggs and loving attention to the 50 year history of the show. Like each Doctor having their own console room.

If only the game weren't so darn buggy!

[thezmage]

I found a list on line of the cheapest way to unlock everything.

I just got back from Best Buy, where(in the USA, at least) all the single character packs were half price. I ended up buying the figures I liked the best (Princess Unikitty, Zane from Ninjago, and the alligator man from Chima, who I did see on the "cheapest" list). I already own Benny, because those little Lego space men were my childhood. I'm guessing I'm oversupplied on tech genius characters now, but that's probably down to my character preferences. I'm being good and holding off on level packs until they're either on sale or I've run out of patience. Either/or.

[icon_uk]

I wasn't sure about Be Cool, Scooby Doo, there was something about the character designs (especially on Fred) that seemed... "off", somehow, something about how the eyes sat on the face.

Having now seen an episode, if it keeps this quality of writing, I can live with the oddness, as that was brilliant.

It's not "Mystery Incorporated", but what could be? This looks to be lighter and sillier, but still with a slight twist on the usual formula.

[thezmage]

The animation style made me think they were going to be going for a more "adult cartoon" sense of humor, but I watched an episode on a whim the other day and loved it.

My favorite is definitely either the museum one or the one with the cheese restaurant haunted by a non-thematic yeti

Did Santa bring gifts to anyone here?

[deh_tommy]

I think I had a lovely Christmas this year, and I hope everyone else did, too! May we all enjoy the week back at work/school.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Has anyone else received a warning when trying to connect to SD? I did on Firefox, and as much as I tried to make it an exception, it just continued cycling back to the warning.

Reading/commenting on my phone right now, for the record, which is a mild pain.

[icon_uk]

What sort of a warning message are you getting?

As a Firefox user myself I haven't seen anything.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Huh, weird... I can't seem to replicate it now. Maybe it was a weird one-off last night?

Basically, it was saying that there was an insecure connection or something.