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 amongst yourselves.

The Catholic Church in Italy is apparently having a hard time finding new exoecists. I dunno, maybe they saw a movie that put them off the idea.

Reprehensible behaviour in North Carolina as BOTH the Republican and Democrat offices are attacked on the same night. But in a nice moment of humanity overcoming ideology local Democrats started a gofundme to rebuild the Republican offices

A good Saturday for UK sci fi TV coming up as Doctor Who spinoff "Class" debuts on BBC3 on Saturday morning and "Thunderbirds are Go" starts season 2 in the afternoon.

Videogame "Overwatch" has released a set of Halloween skins for it's various characters.

The excellent Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 has a trailer and a couple of fun snippets sneakily filmed at NYCC

Jay Rachel Edidin, half of the always enjoyable Jay and Miles Explain the X-Men podcast is currently writing a column about their experiences since they come out as trans, and it offers a fascinating and direct insight on one person's search for their true self. The most recent one looks at finding personally aspirational examples of masculinity in pop culture.

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

Westworld. Thoughts?

[icon_uk]

One of Yul Brynners more iconic roles.

[zapbiffpow]

It was okay, I guess - some wrinkles to iron out, but serviceable TV.

I will tell you this, though - if this doesn't end with Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris artfully whaling on each other Winter Soldier-style, I will be sorely disappointed.

[cyberghostface]

It's good but idk how you can get multiple seasons out of the storyline.

"Arnold" built Dolores Abernathy...

[7dialsmystery]

...but his partner Robert Flood killed him and reprogrammed all the conscious androids into Hosts 30 years earlier. Or Robert Flood is "Arnold".

[laughing_tree]

"But in a nice moment of humanity overcoming ideology local Democrats started a gofundme to rebuild the Republican offices."

Or, if you want to be cynical, a moment of self-indulgent patting oneself on the back overcoming rightful aversion to bigotry. The Republican party being what it is in 2016, I don't see anything nice about helping them rebuild. No more than I would see anything nice in volunteering to help, oh say, the office of a white nationalist organization bigotry rebuild. Speak out against the attacks, sure, but don't help get them stronger.

[icon_uk]

That IS another POV, though given it's two local offices I would see it more as two bunches of people who probably know each other well, probably went to school together and live in the same tow, so whilst they may never agree politically, don't automatically see each other as the embodiment fo the anti-Christ as the more abstract naotional sides appear to.

Look I need SOME sort of mindless optimism to cling to right about now....

[shadur]

Or if you'd like to be *really* cynical, you might note that it wouldn't be the first time the GOP or Trump supporters inflicted damage on themselves in order to create a narrative that democrats are using violence as an intimidation tactic.

[janegray]

Kotaku posted an article about a very interesting-sounding (and free!) sex videogame.

http://kotaku.com/a-sex-video-game-that-always-lets-you-say-no-1787883709

I'm thinking of checking it out when I have a bit more free time. Visual Novels are far from my favourite videogame genres, but I've played a few, and I appreciate the attempt to introduce some Undertale-like choices in a genre that is advertised as "follow your own path" but usually those paths are incredibly restrictive.

Before even reading the article, I'm guessing this is Cute Demon Crashers

[deh_tommy]

Yay! I remember rather enjoying Geek Remix's playthrough of the game (I think this was actually the game that introduced me to their channel).

[lissa_quon]

Hunh might give it a look, I have a really tiny soft spot for visual novel games (and those stupid little phone dating sims). They aren't GREAT games but sometimes you just need little pop corn things to lighten up your day.

[scorntx]

Finally got around to watching some of Robots in Disguise the other day.

It's... it's got a charm to it. It's certainly easier to watch than Prime. The characters are more immediately likeable, for one.
Not that it's exactly great, per se. The animation takes some getting used to, for one. And there doesn't really seem to be any direction to the story beyond "chase escaped prisoners". Sometimes the writing can be a little... ehh, like Bumblebee having to learn not to act like Optimus (necessary weasel and all, but still...), the "Bumblebee trying to make a catchphrase" thing.
But still, there is something about it that just makes it more enjoyable than Prime ever was.

[janegray]

YMMV. I was fond of Prime, but I can't get into RiD at all. I only managed to keep my interest for the episodes with Starscream.

To each their own :)

[owlbrigade1]

It is better than Rescue Bots, so it clears that very low bar, but honestly I wish they'd done an animated version of More Than Meets The Eye comics.

[thezmage]

I got, like, 10 episodes in before the "kiddy" nature turned me off. I don't usually have a problem with that, but in this it just felt so formulaic and manufactured that I stopped watching.

[zapbiffpow]

- What's up with that South Africa science thing - fringe student movement or actual issue? My understanding is that it's like a university thing, so maybe it's something that's going to be discussed in its local academic environment in the near future.

- Tyler Hoechlin as Superman was great - that big bro side hug from this one scene with Kara totally sold me. He's got this brightness that Barry Allen seems to have lost (which, WTH, The Flash?) Also, Legends S02 was fun if super, super cheesy, especially that last JSA scene.

- So what sports does the average s_d'er have the most experience with/like playing? Basketball I guess would be the most common answer, but I'd love to hear a shout-out from a resident caber toss expert or something!

- Apparently FX's Archer is ending after Season 10, so it's time for that usual fan feeling when a TV show's ending and you spend a few minutes contemplating what's in the future for the actors + production team that brought you so much happiness.

- I just realized I haven't eaten pizza (or any delicious offspring of the pizza/pasta family) for a while now. F*ck.

- FUCK.

[owlbrigade1]

Heh, in primary school we did a kids version of a caber toss with light plastic pipes (about six foot length, which is huge when you are nine) painted to look like poles. I tripped when I tried to do mine and and it smacked me on the nose. I had such a nosebleed I had to sit in the nurse's office for ages.

Apart from that the only two sports I enjoyed were falconry and archery, but we couldn''t afford the costs so I gave them up when I was still in my teens.

[janegray]

Apparently they announced a Portal movie.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/29/jj-abrams-a-portal-movie-announcement-is-coming-soon

That probably doesn't mean anything, as they announce movies ALL THE TIME and they rarely, if ever, actually get made.

Plus, a Portal movie would probably be horrible, since the experience relied so much on Chell being an invisible mute protagonist so you felt like GLaDOS and Wheatley were talking to you. The only way I could see it work is if the story focused on Doug Rattmann (I made a post about him a bazillion years ago: https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/3761488.html)

Still. Thoughts?

[zapbiffpow]

Since the experience relied so much on Chell being an invisible mute protagonist...

I think that's a mainline problem with any video game adaptations - part of the appeal of video games is that they put you in control, letting you make the decisions that you wish a protagonist would make. Replacing that with a linear narrative takes out the agency of the thing.

Consider the Fallout series, which appeals not just to different audiences. In different playthoughs, one can go pacifist (Speech, Barter), warmonger (Guns, Explosives), or a scoundrel (Sneak, Science) and still reach the endgame. A movie can't divide its 90+ minutes on individual characters, so it'll go with one character type (usually the action-oriented type, for entertainment purposes.) Not that I'd hate seeing the cheery-dissonant 50's-era post-apocalypse, but in the game, I can spend - even waste - time really exploring and appreciating it in my own way, while the movie needs to be runtime-sensitive.

Not that they shouldn't make movies out of games - there's some great stories out there! Just be careful of immersion bottlenecking, is what I'm saying.

Ironically, I kinda think Portal would be great as a movie. (Probably needs Pixar for it to work, though.)

[the_phantom]

Has anyone else see this "Science Must Fall?" video from last week?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9SiRNibD14

My thoughts after my first watch I just LOLed but after a few replays it's pretty frightening that someone could find logic in this "anti-science movement".

Your thoughts?

[locuatico]

First of all, I should point out that science has "fallen" in the past, but in the sense of the change of what we define as "science". Hell, it is often argued we are at the verge of another chance in what is defined as such. However, that doesn't seem to be what they are suggesting but rather some form of reboot and to begin from zero.
Of course, that way of thinking seems to treat "science" as this vague entity rather than a combination of different disciplines.
It also seems to ignore that removing "science" would have terrible consequences long and short term. that science is used in countless things of our daily lives such as, say, or own economy.
I think they think of science simply as "evolution" and "the earth is round"

[cygnia]

We got our new kittens from the shelter this weekend. A brother & sister we named Dashiell and Mystery. :-D

[janegray]

OMG KITTENS

Any chance you could grace us with pictures? ^_^

[thezmage]

The Jezebel scary story contest started yesterday.

As usual, the ones that I find scariest are the ones with the smallest number of supernatural elements, but the little girl who isn't was pretty pretty scary.

[icon_uk]

There's a link in the comments to a set of entries, one of which is called "Look at Me" which is absolutely terrifying!

http://jezebel.com/11-more-of-the-scariest-stories-weve-ever-heard-1653038439

[scorntx]

Also, managed to pick up the LEGO Dimensions Mission Impossible pack last week.
Was enjoying it up until the boss fight with that frikken button-mashing mechanic that doesn't tell you how it works and goes on forever!
GRAAAA!!!
...
*ahem*
The Adventure World turned out to be much more fun than expected.

Also got the Harry Potter set. That was also fun (though I was more enthralled of the fact that Luna Lovegood and Neville had their movie actors more than anything else.)
Though constantly loosing health from snowball peltings was annoying...

(And for some reason the characters talk less than they used to. It's weird. Back in the first year they'd talk all the time, now it's only every ten minutes or so...)

[deh_tommy]

I bought Skylanders: Imaginators over the weekend (and received the free Kaos toy). I'm having a lot of fun so far (and am particularly happy that Spyro and his friends actually have a larger role this time), though I'm mildly upset by the advertisements for the microtransactions (though since loot is rather easy to obtain, I'm not really sure why they exist outside of the physical toy forms). Compared to other Skylanders, Senseis are surprisingly big - even bigger than the Giants, and around the same size as a Deluxe Transformer.

Has anyone else tried the game yet?

[silverhammerman]

I'm finally back online after having my computer die on me a couple of weeks ago. Everything important was all backed up, so getting things back to normal isn't too much of a challenge. It's much bigger than my previous laptop though, at 15.6 inches I feel like I've managed the unlikely feat of typing on a gunboat.

Beyond the computer troubles, I was hired and then let go as a writer by a small student focused website, which I'm honestly not too broken up about. Having my computer back also means that I can get back to applying for a better day job, as well as resuming for on a comic I'm planning to post on Tumblr at some point.

[leoboiko]

Warren Ellis is restarting Wildstorm—sorry, The Wild Storm! His level of productivity continues to baffle and amaze me.