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.

All this time there's been something about Trump's rhetorical style which has seemed familar, something I remembered from somewhere but couldn't put my finger on....and now I know what it was. (Seriously, watch the video, it's not a quick one-off gag, it's approaching the genuinely unsettling)

It's Lara Croft's 20th anniversary today!. (I confess I tried to play one, but died so often on the training level I could never muster the interest to play any further)

2016 continues to give the Grim Reaper some serious overtime, and this weeks death list includes Steve Dillon, Jack Chick, Pete Burns and Bobby Vee.

Special note should e given to the loss, earlier in the month, of Michiyo Yasuda, whose work as a colourist for Studio Ghibli helped shape the look of some of their most important films. If you, as many, can recognise a Ghibli movie just from looking at a single image, chances are it is because of her work.

With the end of it's 6th season, Transformers: Rescue Bots has seemingly aired it's last ever episode.

Doctor Who spin-off "Class", premiered in the UK this weekend past to generally positive reviews. It's not entirely clear what target audience it's aimed at, it's an odd mix of Buffy, Torchwood and Hollyoaks (And not always the best bits of each, though I'd say the Torchwood elements work better when applied to a bunch of schoolkids than they did from a team of apparent expert professionals). A surprising amount of gore, some near swearing and a cast of variable quality (though some are excellent) and Peter Capaldi making an appearance in the first episode.

Lynda Carter made her debut in Supergirl as the President of the USA... Oh, if only....

Comments

[skjam]

Have posted a bunch more reviews on my blog, including this one of "Kill Six Billion Demons": http://www.skjam.com/2016/10/08/comic-strip-review-kill-6-billion-demons-1/

[pyrrhocorax]

Ooooh, I’m going to read this comic!

[janegray]

Check out this stunning short film/music video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzQ6gRAEoy0

Also on Crunchyroll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/shelter/shelter-porter-robinson-presents-shelter-the-animation-722793

Shelter tells the story of Rin, a 17-year-old girl who lives her life inside of a futuristic simulation completely by herself in infinite, beautiful loneliness. Each day, Rin awakens in virtual reality and uses a tablet which controls the simulation to create a new, different, beautiful world for herself. Until one day, everything changes, and Rin comes to learn the true origins behind her life inside a simulation.

Managed to hold back tears until somebody posted a translation of the letter at the end ;_;

Translation of the letter: http://67.media.tumblr.com/23e371aec240f62821760faf31724d06/tumblr_inline_of9jkm6u4L1r5s38n_500.jpg

[janegray]

You may have heard that tons of video game voice actors have gone on strike. Steve Blum, Prime!Starscream's voice actor, sums up the issues quite eloquently:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jim-craig/a-message-from-steve-blum/10157540806655543

I seriously had no idea so many voice actors end up requiring surgery because they are forced to scream until they pass out, throw up, and bleed from the throat. It had never occurred to me that being a voice actor could be dangerous for your health.

[lego_joker]

You oughta read some of the horror stories about Wally Burr, responsible (among other things) for Transformers GN1.

[kamino_neko]

Class also debuted in Canada. I enjoyed it.

I have two main thoughts on it...

1) Why did they completely replace the Coal Hill School with a completely dissimilar new building?
2) I wonder if Ram getting covered in other people's blood is going to remain a once-an-episode thing.

[icon_uk]

At least it's actually referenced as having been rebuilt (and there's a "Barbara Wright" building on the site as well. It might be something to do with the mysterious Governors I suppose.

I did think Ram getting it in the face twice in two episodes was a bit much... though I was more curious as to how he was able to play football in shorts and socks and then get changed in a school changing rom, and NO ONE commented on his orange, glowing, mechanical leg.

[kamino_neko]

Yeah, the leg bugged me, too. (Though I think BBC and Space's copies of the episodes may have had slightly different colour balance...the leg seemed to match Ram's skin colour pretty well, aside from being translucent, on my screen.) Though didn't the main group comment on the rest of the students seeming to have a weirdness filter?

[icon_uk]

It's made of something that looks like smoked glass, with visible glowing bits moving parts inside it..

They mention that no one notices the bodycount, but a more general filter (A perception filter?) might explain a lot.

[kamino_neko]

That is a bit brighter than it looked when I was watching the episode. Looks like it was my TV....just checked the settings and the brightness was weirdly low.

And, yeah, a perception filter would smooth a lot of the bumps, not just in Class, but in the Whoniverse in general.

[scorntx]

After careful consideration, I am not sure if I can bring myself to watch this year's Doctor Who X-mas special.
Which would be the first time in eleven years I'd deliberately not watch an episode of Who.
But after last year's one, and the boring crap that was last year's crop of episodes, I just don't think it's worth it.
I got nothing against Capaldi, think he's alright, it's just... the episodes themselves are utter crap. Even the good ones are just sort of lacking that je ne sai quos.

[icon_uk]

It's certainly an odder than usual sounding one, and the presence of Matt Lucas rarely entices me to watch anything, but I suspect I'll be watching anyway.

[kamino_neko]

I disagree with you on the last series. I found it far more enjoyable than the previous one, or Matt Smith's last one. (I like Missy, but the whole arc was blah.)

[informationgeek]

And we had our final debate last week and once more, allow me to share with you the highlight of Donald Trump's madness:

+ Trump was STILL audibly sniffing into his microphone, albeit less than the first two debates.
+ Trump chose to use the opening question about the Supreme Court to waste time so he could remind everyone about a grudge he was holding against Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg for criticizing him. He lied, however, claiming that Ginsberg was forced to apologize to him, which she did, but voluntarily, calling her commentary on a presidential candidate “ill-advised”.
+ Trump then advocated for the Constitution to be interpreted as “our founders intended”. Critics note that the founders also didn’t think of outlawing slavery, or of giving women the right to vote, and that’s why the Constitution is meant to be amended.
+ On abortion, Trump floundered, saying he felt that abortion should “go back to the states” to decide on its legality, before saying he would appoint “pro-life judges” who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade, and then began to show a lack of understanding about late-term abortions, saying they “rip the baby out of the womb” a day before the due date (which, they don’t, at that late a time, doctors perform a c-section and try to deliver a baby).
+ During the immigration portion of the debate, Trump lied and claimed Clinton supports amnesty for undocumented immigrants (she doesn’t) and repeated the lie he told at the first two debates that he had just been endorsed by ICE, then lied and claimed they were backing his plan to build a border wall, when some have in fact questioned its viability. He then referred to drug dealers as “bad hombres” which drew the ire of many Latino commentators.
+ Trump then repeated two lies he told in all the debates about NAFTA. The first being that President Bill Clinton signed it (it was President George H.W. Bush who signed it), and the second that it was a “disaster”, as economists have said the trade agreement’s overall impact on the United States was, if anything, modestly good.
+ Clinton then reminded the audience that Trump had hired undocumented workers to build Trump Tower. Trump did not argue the point (because it’s true). Instead, visibly flustered, he bizarrely gave praise of President Obama’s record number of deportations.
+ Then he lied and claimed Hillary Clinton wants us to have “open borders”, which her comment about those two words from an e-mail seized by Wikileaks, in context, was regarding energy and trade agreements.
+ Clinton pivoted, pointing out Trump was referencing Wikileaks, and commented not just on the fact that the documents were stolen by Russian hackers, but that Trump has either denied their involvement, or alternatively, encouraged Russia to commit cyber-terrorism against American organizations to benefit him. Trump then began to sputter and not only AGAIN refused to condemn what intelligence agencies have confirmed where acts of cyber-terrorism committed by Russian hackers, but started to claim he didn’t know Vladimir Putin, in spite of all of the times he had said he did on record. He then inflated the number of nuclear warheads in the American and Russian stockpiles from the 1500 that the S.T.A.R.T. Treaty limited them to, back up to 1800, because Donald Trump is terrible with facts that involve numbers.
+ Clinton then said Putin would prefer Trump as president to her, so he could have a puppet, and Donald comes completely unhinged, shouting back, “You’re the puppet!” This is not a good response, as presidential candidates are expected to do better than, “I know you are, but what am I?” in debates. After again denying 17 intelligence agencies’ reports that Russia was behind the hacks, Trump praised Putin for “outsmarting” Clinton “every step of the way”. Chris Wallace had to again ask Trump if he would condemn cyber-attacks committed by Russia before he finally relented.
+ Clinton then segued back to Trump’s discussion of nuclear weapons from a moment earlier into pointing out how he had openly discussed more countries having them, and Trump went back to how he lost the first debate, starting to interrupt and yelling, “WRONG.” Somewhere, Alec Baldwin was grinning, as Trump became completely unraveled.
+ In the next portion of the debate on tax policy, Trump lied and briefly said Hillary Clinton would "double or triple" Americans' taxes, before immediately ignoring the question by trying to steer the conversation back to nuclear proliferation, because he had so badly been pummeled in that part of the debate.
+ Trump then lied and claimed because he had raised questions about members of NATO not paying their share of the cost of its defense, other countries in it had suddenly opened their wallets. Again, not only was this untrue, this was in the portion of the debate where Trump was supposed to be talking about tax policy.
+ Trump then misrepresented facts about the jobs report that came out for September 2016, saying it was “terrible”, when in fact, the economy added 156,000 jobs, and the only negative was that unemployment ticked up slightly… less than one tenth of one percent.
+ Clinton, in a brief misdirection, pointed out Donald Trump uses Chinese steel in building his hotels and casinos. Trump does not deny it (because it's true).
+ Trump accused Hillary Clinton of doing nothing for the country while losing $6 billion while running the State Department. Unfortunately for him, that’s not true. With delight, Clinton responded as much, and then honored Trump’s request to compare what she’s been doing for three decades versus what Trump has (HINT: He walked right into that one).
+ Chris Wallace then had to ask Trump about the women coming forward with accusations that he sexually assaulted them, and Trump lied, saying the reports had been "debunked” (Hint: They Haven't). Trump then claimed violence that has repeatedly occurred at his rallies was instigated by Hillary Clinton, without any proof. Clinton repeated Trump’s non-answer, and then added that through the week, he had dismissed the accusations by the women, saying they were “not attractive enough”, or “were not my first choice”. Trump interrupts, saying, “I never said that,” in spite of there being videotape of him saying that from only days earlier (it’s a habit he has). By the end of the segment, Trump could only meager offer up his untrue brag about himself that “nobody has more respect for women than I have.”
+ Clinton gave the laundry list of Trump’s most offensive moments, and when she mentions that he mocked a disabled reporter, Trump says, “WRONG.” (He did.)
+ Chris Wallace tried insinuating that the Clinton Foundation operated on a “pay to play” basis, and Hillary pointed out its 90% rating from watchdog groups, downplayed any supposed wrongdoing, and then compared it to the Trump Foundation, which Trump had stopped putting his own money into, illegally solicited donations without a license, and used the Trump Foundation’s money to buy portraits of himself. Wallace then asked Trump if his foundation had also been used to pay off lawsuits, and he lied and said it hadn't (it did, and he was fined for doing so).
+ Clinton pointed out we would know more about Trump’s charitable giving if he ever released his tax returns, and he began to say whatever taxes he dodges were no worse than what some of Hillary’s top donors like Warren Buffet do, a claim he made in the second debate that Buffet himself released information to debunk. Still, Trump repeated the same line that failed in the last debate.
+ In the most damning part of the debate, Trump refuses to say that he would respect the outcome of the election if he lost, saying he will “keep you in suspense” if he will or not. Before the night is over, elected Republicans like Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen. Lindsey Graham blast him for this.
+ Clinton lists a series of occasions where Trump has claimed that things were rigged against him, including the Iowa Caucus and Wisconsin Primary (to name a few), and when she mentions how he claimed the Emmy Awards were rigged against him when The Apprentice didn’t win one for him, he interrupts to say, “Should have gotten it.”
+ The topic then changed to the fight with ISIS, and Trump’s answer on Mosul was nonsensical, including how he called our military generals “stupid”. Post debate, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt summed up Trump’s answer as “like an old man in the park feeding squirrels and talking to himself.”
+ Clinton again reminded those watching that Donald Trump had supported the Iraq War after he has claimed he never did, telling them to just Google search it. He interrupts with “WRONG,” twice. (Hint: She’s correct.) By the end of the segment, devoid of any reason or proof, Trump blurts out, “Iran is taking over Iraq.”
+ Chris Wallace then tries to steer the debate to Syria, and the city of Aleppo. Trump starts interrupting him before he can even finish the question. He again appears clueless, and even Breitbart News fact check his incorrect assessment that “Aleppo has fallen” as incorrect.
+ In the portion of the debate about the national debt, Clinton points out Trump, in 1987, was vocally critical of even President Ronald Reagan. Trump, for whatever reason, unprovoked, takes time to criticize the trade policy of the GOP's biggest icon.
+ Trump mentions that he wants to repeal and replace Obamacare, claiming that insurances premiums are about to go up “sixty, seventy, eighty percent”. He’s off by about fifty percent on his figures, which at most will be 25%.
+ Clinton offers her solution of how higher taxes on the rich will stabliize Social Security, mention she would get Trump to pay his fair share, leading him to have his other biggest blunder of the debate, misogynistically saying, “Such a NASTY woman.” It doesn’t rattle her, in the least.
+ Trump, in his closing statement, describes an America outside of reality where people are “shot going to the store”. Remember, nationally, violent crime is down over the past several years.
+ At the end of the debate, Trump wouldn't have to wait for the polls to know he lost. He knew he got crushed. He was caught on camera gritting his teeth, seething, and tearing up his debate notes in rage. He did not engage the audience after the debate, choosing only to briefly huddle with his family, before retreating for the night and leaving his kids to handle the media spin room after the debate, which featured Donald Trump Jr. tersely barking at reporters, and telling them that the presidency is actually a “step down” for his father.

And that's the third debate for Trump. Just... oof. We're almost there people. The election is approaching quickly!

[leoboiko]

Trump'ss Post-Debate Downward Spiral Calendar as of today

[informationgeek]

And something unrelated to the election season, here's a fun music video by the group, Jungle. If you are feeling down, give this a watch (along with their other awesome music videos):

Time by Jungle

Also, from the Tales from the Borderlands soundtrack, Busy Earnin' also by Jungle.

[janegray]

Speaking of Lara Croft, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the reboot.

I could never get into the series as a kid because I suck at shooters. I forced myself to play TR Legend because I really loved her characterization in the Crystal games and because the story and environments were cool, but I just couldn't enjoy the actual "play the game" part >_>

But the 2013 reboot added a lot of stealth options, and I'm actually pretty good at stealth games. I often die in direct combat with firearms, but I can pull off sneaking around unnoticed and taking out a large group of enemies by picking them out one by one. For the first time I was able to sincerely enjoy the gameplay, and had a lot of fun! :D

[kamino_neko]

Heh, this is actually exactly the opposite of me. I can handle myself well enough to at least get through most games in combat, but I'm absolutely shit at stealth. (Unless 'stealth' is an in-game skill, not relying on my actual ability to not get caught.)

[zapbiffpow]

Ah, I'm kind of a mix between you folks. I'd end up rage-quitting a shooter because I'd die often, and not progressing through the story would eat at my soul. That was a few years before I knew what consoles and cheating were. As for stealth, I've just recently really gotten into stealth/melee builds, and it's really fun.

As for Tomb Raider, yeah, total kick ass! You should try the Arkham games, if you haven't already - it perfectly describes that experience you just said.

[janegray]

Big fan of the Arkham games :D

Though I haven't been able to play Arkham knight yet :(. I don't have a PS4, and my PC is not powerful enough. Gonna be a couple of years at the very least until I can buy either a PS4 or a new computer...

Oh well, the plus is that by the time I have the PC/console I'll be able to grab the game for a handful of dollars :P

[minervasolo]

I actually got sick of how much shooting, especially of people, I had to do in the current reboot. Getting up to the radio tower was a slog and involved taking out a ridiculous number of goons for a Tomb Raider game. I miss the puzzle solving elements of the original games. And, you know, the presence of rather more tombs.

(I also slightly take issue with how a confident, powerful adult woman has been turned into a nervous, inexperienced teenager - I don't have a specific problem with bildungsroman game narratives, but female characters who are as competent and lacking in self-doubt as their male counterparts are rare, and it felt like a backwards step to take that away from Lara)

[janegray]

I also slightly take issue with how a confident, powerful adult woman has been turned into a nervous, inexperienced teenager - I don't have a specific problem with bildungsroman game narratives, but female characters who are as competent and lacking in self-doubt as their male counterparts are rare, and it felt like a backwards step to take that away from Lara

While I much prefer the gameplay in reboot, I agree with you there. Lara in Legend and Underworld was awesome, and I will forever argue with people who claim that "Lara didn't have a personality" before the reboot.

[minervasolo]

Honestly, even classic flat-face-pointy-boobed Lara had a solid personality. She wasn't necessarily likeable, but she was ambitious and self-confident and snarky; she had just as much personality as Indiana Jones, but people hold female characters to higher standards (and get confused that she doesn't have a love interest).

[janegray]

Tbh I don't really see her as having a personality, pre-Legend.

But I suppose that could be because she didn't have a supporting cast back then. Indiana Jones had his allies to bring out his human moments, Lara was always alone (or with mute red shirts that lasted all of 10 seconds, or bad guys that existed only for her to throw a snarky line at before she killed them).

It's possible that I started liking her in Legend and Underworld because she got a new personality in those games, but it's also possible the new allies and recurring frenemy brought out what was already there and simply had no outlet before. Which is why I will also forever argue with people who say that the two guys in Legend and Underworld were useless: just the fact that Lara spent extended amount of time with people she wasn't shooting at did a lot to humanize her.

[icon_uk]

This is making me nostaligc for Tia Carerre as Dr Sydney Fox in the "Not Tomb Raider-like at all no sirreee Bob!" TV series "Relic Hunter", with her adorable, hapless and frequent dude in distress, sidekick Nigel (played to floppy hiared perfection by Christien Anholt)

[cygnia]

So the husband, luckiest rat bastard that he is, is now going to Game 1 of the World Series tonight with his brother...

...they're just missing their father's birthday dinner for it.

[kamino_neko]

Their dad's not a baseball fan?

[cygnia]

Not really. Football is more his sport -- but he was a Rams fan before they moved.

[leoboiko]

And here's PROOF!

[icon_uk]

I don't know how you found that, but.... AWESOME WORK!

[leoboiko]

Wow, Marvel is really going overboard with the promotion of their incoming X-men Blue and X-men Gold comic books.

[remial]

Terry Moore is bringing back Strangers in Paradise in 2018!!!!

http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/35870/stranger-no-more-strangers-paradise-return-2018

[stubbleupdate]

This arrived on my doormat today.
The synopsis is ridiculous
Theodore Drown is a"destructive.“ A recovering addict to weirdcore, he s keeping his head down lecturing at the university of the Moon. Twenty years after the appearance of the first artificial intelligence, and humanity is stuck. The AIs or, as they preferred to be called, emergences have left Earth and reside beyond the orbit of Mercury in a Stapledon Sphere known as the university of the sun. The emergences were our future but they chose exile. All except one. Dr Easy remains, researching a single human life from beginning to end. Theodore s life.
One day, Theodore is approached by freelance executive Patricia to investigate an archive of data retrieved from just before the appearance of the first emergence. The secret living in that archive will take him on an adventure through a stunted future of asylum malls, corporate bloodrooms and a secret off-world colony where Theodore must choose between creating a new future for humanity or staying true to his nature, and destroying it.
"File Under” Science Fiction[ Fatal Loop / Emergent See / Lunar Lunatics / Dr Easy ]“
And it's by the author of the stunning and heartbreaking IF THEN

I kind of want to hang the cover of IF THEN up in my new flat, but it's... a bit of a statement

[stubbleupdate]

Our bookgroup read (and I re-read) The Fifteen Lives of Harry August by the disgustingly talented Claire North. She has a day job!
Everybody liked it, because it is bloody excellent.

[q99]

In lighter news,

David Pumpkins!

[icon_uk]

Well, I'm glad they addressed the Pumpkin in the room, but I found that whole thing pretty much encapsulates about 85% of my exposure to American pop culture references (Who? What? Is that FROM something? Should I be finding this funny? If so, whyyyyyy?)

[bradygirl_12]

Don't worry if you don't find SNL funny. It was past its sell-by date decades ago.

[q99]

- (Who? What? Is that FROM something? Should I be finding this funny? If so, whyyyyyy?) -

Ah, so you did get it :)

[joetuss]

I just found out that Regular Show is in the middle of their final season 😭