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.

Meryl Streep spoke out eloquently against a certain P(E)OTUS in her Golden Globes lifetime achievement award (Too many sources for me to need to link to one). The retort was... less elegant. (and the MMA have invited her to attend one of their competitions after she dismissed them as "not an art"... I'm hoping she goes)

Mark Hamill recorded the self same person's New Years message Tweet in one of his more famous incarnations... It works a little TOO well

The latest "Sherlock" seemed to be about to tell the story of an actual crime, and an investigation and a resolution, but then in the last minute and a half... WHAM! There goes the plot twist.

The Senate Confirmation Hearings over the latest candidates for the Legion of Doom... I mean Cabinet Positions are today, though ethics agreements have not been reached for a number of them.

I'd try and summarise the current Brexit situation, but since no one else seems to know, including the Government, why should I make the effort.

And a US Army Interpreter and an Iraqi soldier have found love together in a story which does sort of restore my faith in the capacity for love to overcome obstacles.

Comments

[informationgeek]

It's been a while since I talked or posted about politics, mainly since it is almost impossible to keep up with the crazy s**t that keeps spewing out of Trump and his Legion of Doom. But I did find one thing, one thing worth really mentioning that most haven't heard about.

Kellyanne Conway, the body double of Ann Coulter, said the following recently when being interviewed:

You have to listen to what the president-elect has said about that. Why don't you believe him? Why is everything taken at face value? You can't give him the benefit of the doubt on this and he's telling you what was in his heart? You always want to go by what's come out of his mouth rather than look at what's in his heart.


I... what?!

[cyberghostface]

I was going to ask why Meryl focused on Trump making fun of the disabled guy as opposed to all of the numerous sexual assault accusations (on top of him admitting to committing sexual assault), but then I realized she's a Polanski supporter so that probably didn't bother her.

Also love that Hamill is still doing Joker although you can tell it's starting to hurt his throat at times (compare the message he left for Jim Lee to any episode with him on BTAS for example). Hope he doesn't wear it out.

[mrstatham]

To be fair, Hamill's been doing the Joker for going on twenty-five years, now. I'm not sure it's necessarily that doing the voice makes his throat hurt, and more that he's approaching his seventies, so his approach to the voice has naturally changed.

[cyberghostface]

I don't have the quote right now but I think he's mentioned the strain on his throat as one of the reasons why he's 'retired' Joker in the past.

[mrstatham]

Huh. I wonder if he's found a way around it, then. I do remember him saying that he was pretty much done after Arkham City, but he also later said he'll basically keep coming back as long as they'll have him.

Which, so long as it doesn't physically hurt him, suits me just fine. The only weak Joker performance I've really seen from Hamill was The Killing Joke, to be honest... And I think part of that was the direction, which.. Well, was controversial elsewhere, to say the least.

[kamino_neko]

He's also doing the same voice as Trickster in The Flash. (The Earth-3 version that appeared just before the show went on its winter hiatus was pretty much just the Joker.)

[icon_uk]

You mean his Joker voice is the same as his Trickster voice, he played the Trickster on 90's The Flash TV series, a couple of years before he was cast as the Joker.

;)

[kamino_neko]

Yeah, but the 1990 version didn't use the same voice, from what I remember (doing a quick search seems to back up my memory). (Though he did when he played the character, clearly based on the 1990 version, on Justice League.)

[icon_uk]

I think she had to pick one (His treatment of the Gold Star family would have been another choice contender), otherwise she'd never be finished.

[cyberghostface]

I'm sure, I just don't think she has much of a moral high ground if she's one to say "I'm sorry [an unrepentant child rapist] is in prison" for whatever reason.

[janegray]

You know that frustrating moment when you play a game and you really love the story, but the gameplay is terrible? It's such a shame. I can't even say "this should have been a movie/novel" because the videogame approach to storytelling, experiencing the events in first-person, does work in its own unique way that can really make a difference. But it has to be done well, and when the gameplay (insane loading times, ridiculously random puzzles, shallow and repetitive combat system, etc etc) sucks it ruins the whole thing.

A much more dignified but still unapproachable relative is when the gameplay IS legitimately good, but you hate it anyway because it's just not up your alley. Like, I love everything I've seen about the story of Saints Row IV, it's precisely the kind of absurd over-the-top Mel-Brooks-comedy-ish hilarious insanity that I enjoy! ...But holy shit, do I loathe open-sandbox GTA-style games. I tried, honestly I tried, but I just cannot stand that type of gameplay. Not even the world's funniest rocket-climbing scene could make me put up with it.

[informationgeek]

I think you described my experience with the first Mass Effect on PS3. While the story was great and game play was alright, the technical issues and bugs made the whole thing an absolute slog. Three times the game froze up on me and one towards the final mission.

[bizarrohulk]

The thing is, while I appreciate the general points that Streep raised (Trump IS a bully, and there is a real danger that this kind of behaviour is being normalised), I'm not convinced that Trump did intend to mock Kovaleski - or at least not his disability specifically. That weird flailing-arm thing is something that Trump does a lot when he's trying to make fun of someone; there are lots of examples of it on YouTube. I have no idea WHY he does it, because the only person who comes out of it looking stupid is Trump himself, but the point is that it doesn't appear to have been targeted specifically at Kovaleski.

[his_spiffynesss]

Yes, his defense being that he was just doing "standard retard" (as Ann Coulter explained) as if that makes things all better.

[owlbrigade1]

Ah yes. The famous old "I wasn't insulting one person with disabilities, I was insulting all people with disabilities" defence.

Podcasts

[thezmage]

So, once again I'm caught up on all of my podcasts. Anyone got recommendations?
1. Fiction preferred
2. First person horror is the best (already caught up on nosleep)
3. No Night Vale products

Re: Podcasts

[icon_uk]

The Lift or "Victoria's Lift" is a decent Twilight Zone sort of a story where people with choices to make find themselves in a mysterious building with an old lift operated by Victoria, a strange little girl from another era, carrying a music box (cue creepy music) who shows them their options, in ways they might not expect.

Victoria is more than just a catalyst though, she has her own character arc which is becoming interesting.

The WIcked Library isn't quite as good as NoSleep IMHO, but has it's moments.

I've just finished as much as possible of "Paralyzed" but can't say it gripped me as much as I'd hoped, superb sound engineering, but the characters were rather bland.

Am thoroughly enjoying The Bright Sessions, a podcast about a therapist seeing various "atypical" patients (eg metahuman)

Re: Podcasts

[thezmage]

Thanks.

The Wicked Library is the only one here that I haven't listened to yet.

I actually just dropped The Lift after their clunky Christmas episode. Why they thought we needed the rules of the priest explained to us in clunky exposition, I'll never know, but really I just wasn't enjoying it. 3rd person horror just doesn't have the sense of immediacy that first person does. Also, karmic horror is a tough sell for me. If the world is fair, it mitigates the horror somewhat.

Case in point on the first person front, Paralyzed. I'll admit none of the characters are particularly worth writing home about, but because of the first person perspective and the excellent sound design, I feel more like I'm in his head than many other horror stories.

Pretty sure I recommended Bright Sessions to you the last time the subject came up. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes this season

Btw, the first story in this episode of the Simply Scary podcast is one of my favorites.

Also worth checking out: Lesser Gods (the story of the last twenty somethings on Earth), the Alexandria Archives (half horror anthology, half surreal radio show), and The Box Podcast (mix of journals of monster hunters, one woman's quest to uncover the truth of same, and a few interviews with real people who write on the paranormal)

Re: Podcasts

[janegray]

Can it be a game?

Re: Podcasts

[thezmage]

I haven't tried any of those "people playing D&D" podcasts yet, go ahead. Even if it's not for me, somebody else might like it.

Re: Podcasts

[janegray]

Well, I meant a videogame ^^

If those are okay, The Cat Lady (http://store.steampowered.com/app/253110/) is an excellent horror game.

Re: Podcasts

[thezmage]

Ahh, see, now work tends to frown on playing games while working in a way that they don't when it comes to podcasts

[thezmage]

Checking my privilege

[scorntx]

Recovering from a bit of surgery had the other day. It's been less than fun.
Difficult eating, drinking, sleeping, can't really read or watch anything (not allowed to wear glasses), a terrifying case of heart palpitations on Sunday morning, and lots of oozing.
Not fun.

In much lighter news, managed to get the second issue of Optimus Prime the day. Wreck-Gar's very entertaining (wish he wasn't. Smiling's incredibly painful at the moment). Not so much Obviously No Good-Bot with him, though.
Though the comic's Planet of Hats portrayal of the colonists is getting... a leeetle bit irritating.
After the two issues Roberts did with some nice worldbuilding, all of them being portrayed as Prime-worshipping god-botherers and noting else is kinda annoying.

[trooper924]

Personally, I've always seen that tweet as more of a Riddler line than a Joker one.

[locuatico]

in sme brighter news, the trailer for the second season of Voltron was released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pvEw4R0vfY

[stubbleupdate]

Now I want to re-read all of GYWO

[stubbleupdate]

For those who are too young to remember, GET YOUR WAR ON! came from the creator of My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable (and its office based companion strip My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable) and was the author's way to make sense of American foreign policy post 9-11.

At that point, a foreign policy of "Bomb them all" was strange and terrifying. I'm not sure if 2002 was a simpler time or not.

[dr_archeville]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns tonight, with a storyline about Darkhold-corrupted LMDs.

[his_spiffynesss]

Yeah, it's a comic book based TV series ain't it?

[richardak]

I, for one, was thrilled that Streep said what she said, and I hope that she and other Hollywood leftists keep it up.

[md84]

It's important that we remember that Trump is an asshole. As are many of his supporters. And that too many people were willing to overlook his assholish behavior, as well as all of the other, frankly dangerous, things he has said and done. Things that do not bode well for his administration.

Fortunately (I guess...) I get the feeling Trump is going to remind us that he's an asshole at least once a week via Twitter.

Speaking of upcoming gov't disasters...yeah, Brexit. That definitely sounds like it's not going to work out well. The vultures are circling the UK and waiting for March.

[thezmage]

Well, at least we're getting some fun pee jokes out of it.

this is my favorite so far.

[md84]

It's definitely a rather unique take on the GOP's "trickle-down".

[joetuss]

I was with Streep all the way, until she took a shit on Martial Arts and Football. What she said sounded like complete ignorance.

[viridian5]

Yeah, I didn't appreciate her putting those down. It didn't do her cause any favors.