Mod Post: 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.

Couple of notes for our American members; today is a local election day across the USA. You can check to see if you have anything going on locally here.

Also, enrolment for the 2018 Affordable Health Care Act started on 1st November and ends 15th December, advertising for this program was slashed by a certain someone in the White House, and the website is down "for maintenance" at times during the weekend, so keep trying if you need to register.

Trump is in Asia... and it's going about as well as one might expect. But have no fear, he's back on Twitter after being cut off from it for 11 minutes last week due to the actions of an employee of Twitter on their last day. I think around of applause is called for for this anonymous hero.

The woman who flipped the Presidential motorcade the bird has been fired from her job because she used the photo of the moment, which she didn't take, as her profile picture on social media and that apparently violated social media policy at her workplace.

Another week, another shooting tragedy, this time in Texas. As other, more trenchant observers have noted, one immigrant killing other people by driving a truck, and there was immediate high level talk of cancelling the visa scheme which that person used to enter the US. Another white guy murders dozens with guns... not a word about changing a damn thing. Anyone might think there was a double standard.

The UK Government continues to convulse under a double whammy of sexual misconduct allegations finally being listened too after decades of being ignored or hidden away and the release by a German Newspaper of a list of the great and the good who are using "Tax avoidance" loopholes to squirrel away their earnings without paying tax (This includes the Queen, it would seem). Whilst not illegal it's certainly viewed as being ethically dubious and not really appropriate for those who are supposed to be representing the country and it's governance.

Also Theresa May and co are being forced to publish 58 impact studies over what Brexit might do to aspects of the economy, which they had sought to keep buried. I suspect we'll find out why soon, but we're already getting pre-emptive damage control from our Minister for Brexit, so who knows.

PS: And it turns out they're trying to worm their way out of it, despite very clear instructions

I've finished listening to podcast series EOS 10, which I loved, and was delighted/relieved to find that it will be returning for a third season at some point.

Lego's set of minifigures of "Women of NASA" has become an instant best seller

The Walt Disney Company is looking to purchase most of 21st Century Fox (though not Fox News)

Scientists in Scotland are developing a technique of breeding "Low emmission" cows. So that's a thing that's happening.

Comments

[katefan]

Artist Ethan Van Sciver is being accused of being a Nazi, apparently because of the cover of his art book where Sinestro is portrayed as space Hitler, and possibly because the use of a heavy metal font in the portrayal of his name. Oh, and because he's a Republican. Ethan went to a comic themed pizzeria and later someone vandalized it.

https://youtu.be/31bB8jE_K4U

[icon_uk]

He's certainly been a controversial figure, and I found these from a few months back

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/05/11/ethan-van-sciver-apologises-suicide-jibe-vows-not-vent-social-media-anymore/

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/14/ethan-van-sciver-not-nazi/

He's definitely very Right Wing in his politics, and became an active Trump supporter during last years election campaign (after initially disliking him), and even attended his Inauguration Ball apparently.

I've seen him at cons but never interacted with him so can't speak from personal experience, but I am aware from a fellow (gay) fan who has first hand experience of commissioning him, that he can be homophobic in his comments and manners.

I probably wouldn't use the Nazi label, but he's not a creator I have much time for as a person.

[cyberghostface]

He does come off as a dick but the Nazi bit is a huge stretch and vandalizing places he frequents is incredibly out of line.

[long_silence]

Is there any proof that it was Van Sciver's presence that caused the store to be vandalized or is everyone just assuming that?

[cyberghostface]

Well they threatened him if he were to go and then the place was vandalized the day after.

https://twitter.com/EthanVanSciver/status/927695613432680449

[long_silence]

So far that just sounds like a coincidence.

It's terrible that someone said they wished bodily harm to him and his wife but that's not proof that either event was related.

[thezmage]

I don’t know when the episode will air, but there’s an upcoming episode of Justice League Action called Bare Handed that was uploaded to the Cartoon Network app the other day, where Hal Jordan accidentally loses his ring in an intergalactic gas station bathroom.

If you are a fan of Green Lantern the Animated Series, you will want to see this episode. Trust me on this one.

[md84]

As if the Texas shooting wasn't abhorrent enough, alt-right assholes are trying to paint the shooter as antifa in an attempt to further demonize the antifa movement. The actual motive for the shooting seems to have been personal -- he has a history of domestic abuse and apparently targeted his in-laws, who attended that church.

[icon_uk]

And the Texas Attorney General also took the opportunity to suggest that it might be a good idea if more people took guns into Church.

https://thinkprogress.org/mass-shooting-texas-attorney-general-guns-5e7d75e2149a/

[md84]

To this day I don't understand the attachment so many of my fellow Americans have to their guns.

I don't think I ever will.

[bradygirl_12]

To this day I don't understand the attachment so many of my fellow Americans have to their guns.

I don't think I ever will.

Totally agree. Our countrymen are crazy on this issue.

[janegray]

Watched the final episode of Robits In Disguise.

(Very very vague spoilers, maybe? I'm not going to talk about the episode itself, just my opinion of it, but still figured I should put a warning).

It was a mediocre ending to a mediocre show. I would just shrug it off, but while I never cared for RiD, I did care for the Aligned Continuity. The Cybertron videogames and the Prime cartoon. I never got a chance to read the novels, but my friend loved them, so I trust that they are good too. It's disheartening that a continuity with very good entries, instead of going out with a bang, went out with a sad trombone.

My hope now is that they use comics or BotCon script reading (like The Return Of Blurr, which addressed the fate of Blurr after he was crushed into a cube) to try and improve the end of the continuity.

[nightauditguy]

Can you imagine Deadpool in the MCU trading quips with Spidey?

[icon_uk]

Not really seeing much chance of that, given Deadpool's rather more sweary approach, and the MCU Peter being 16.

[commodus]

I recently had a letter of mine published in a Spider-Man comic! I am so happy about that, as I have read those comics since I was a little kid, and wrote in numerous times, but this is the first time I've ever had anything published!

[janegray]

Congratulations :D

[riddler13]

Cool! Which issue?

[commodus]

It's a Collector's Edition series we get here in the UK!

[icon_uk]

And to think... we knew you when. :)

[cyberghostface]

The Disney deal fell through.

[onsokumaru]

And I hope it keeps failing.

Now that Fox has done a lot of X-Men movies and spammed Jackman everywhere, they are interested in the other parts of the X-verse. We're going to have a New Mutants movie, there will be X-Force, too. And who knows, maybe at some point we'll get X-Factor, X-23 and even some New X-Men.

But if Disney gets the rights back, it's back to square one.
Deadpool trilogy, Wolverine trilogy, X-Men trilogy featuring the same old characters as usual (Storm, Cyclops...)

[janegray]

To be fair to Disney, they would be likely to pick a direction and stick with it. No throwing mud at wall and hope it sticks, no starting a new direction only to change their mind in the very next movie and have the entire previous cast killed off offscreen, no screwing with timelines so messily that you don't even know what happened and what didn't.

Plus, they did make Ant-Man, Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy movies. So it's not like they couldn't be expected to give more obscure characters a chance.

But, yeah. The timing is bad. Years and years of focus on the main X-Men, and just now Fox is starting to focus on other characters. I would have been happy if Marvel got to make X-men movies years ago, but right now would be the worst time for Marvel to swoop in.

[cyberghostface]

Well there are pluses and negatives to both I suppose. If Disney bought X-Men I doubt we'd have ever gotten Logan or Deadpool. We probably wouldn't have gotten something as out there like Legion either.

Marvel definitely deserves credit for building a more cohesive universe but with the exception of James Gunn's stuff (who seems to be able to do whatever he wants) it sometimes feels routine in ways that Fox's output doesn't. Like we're getting an X-Men horror film right now, I can't see Marvel trying that for a theatrical film.

[janegray]

Personally, I'd give Disney the benefit of the doubt. After all, they did make Rogue One, a movie far grittier than standard SW fare, that deals with both the brutally honest ramifications of Spy Ops (OMG you mean when an army fights a war against an oppressive genocidal regime they sometimes have to get their hands dirty for the greater good??? *shock*) and the actual consequences of war (aka "everybody is dead, Dave"). I honestly never would have expected Disney to be able to produce something like that, but they did.

[cyberghostface]

I liked Rogue One but it didn't feel that off the beaten path in comparison to the other films in the series (aside from being a self-contained one-off). It was still a PG-13 movie used to sell toys to kids and banking off nostalgia for the older fans like The Force Awakens did. Disney's never going to make an R-rated adult film under the Star Wars brand or do something with the f-word or graphic violence and nudity.

If anything Civil War was more of a risk taker given that it dealt with the 'reality' of kids being killed as a result of superhero fights, a morally gray villain with a legitimate grievance against the heroes and the most popular MCU hero taking on the role of an antagonist.

[gnarll]

That's terrible. Disney does not let potentially profitable sci-fi series like unused, and Fox owns Firefly!

[owlbrigade1]

And they probably have profitable stuff too.

I never liked Firefly.

[obsidianwolf]

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the deal is dead for good but it also wouldn't surprise me if this took the sony route and went back and fourth in the rumor mill fo r a while before being confirmed as true.

Personally I think if the deal ever happens that it won't be a for a y ear or two and we probably wouldn't see X-men or the F4 into the MCU until the early 2020's (The deal would probably require any completed films be released) and that would be the perfect time for Disney to profit off some fresh focus characters since it would be around the time they'd have to start recasting the main mcu cast and it would give them a window to do it.

[riddler13]

I've been watching the new Netflix series, "Mindhunter", and I am liking it. Seems a good premise with an interesting execution (no pun intended).

[lissa_quon]

I've been curious bout that one - but got wrapped up in Lore and the Kettering Incident and haven't gotten back to Netflix stuff.

[laughing_tree]

Everyone's talking about Disney buying Fox in terms of how it'd affect the Marvel properties, but that's small potatoes. The much larger issue in that it'd consolidate so much of media under one umbrella, which strikes me as deeply unhealthy, creepy, and just a little scary. I don't care how much you love the idea of a shared MCU, it can't be worth that.

[janegray]

That's a really good point. I hadn't even thought about it.

Classic Disney movies and TV shows, Star Wars, Marvel superhero comics and TV shows...

I have greatly enjoyed Disney's influence in media output. But you are definitely right that monopolies are worrisome.

[lego_joker]

Ayup.

Consolidation has always been a word that's made my hair stand up on end when it comes to fictional properties. I'm less leery about it where the MU proper is concerned, since 90% of it sprang between Lee, Kirby, and Ditko (though even then I think the X-Men and maybe Spider-Man are best left in their own separate universe), but at this rate it's only a matter of time before some suit tries to put Elsa on the Avengers...

[viridian5]

The dangers of Disney having a massive monopoly on fannish stuff in particular and a ton of media in general was my first worry on the matter.

[starwolf_oakley]

The Shazam! movie is in the works, with Zachary Levin and Asher Angel cast. I expect the "tie-in" to the Wonder Woman movie will be that the Greek gods (and other pantheons) aren't dead, just limited to helping the world through proxies like the Wizard and Billy Batson.

I hope the movie has Courtney "My stepdad is a mecha!" Whitmore. She can be friends with Billy and have a crush on Shazam/Captain Marvel. When she finds out the truth she's angry, but not at Billy. I hope they use that scene at the end of First Thunder, only replacing Superman with an angry teenage girl.

Wizard: You are here at the Rock of Eternity under invitation and as a favor, Courtney Whitmore. I expect you to...
Courtney: What did you do?!
Wizard: To protect this world from various dangers, I bestowed the powers of the gods to a mortal. I realize that...
Courtney: HE'S JUST A KID!!! This isn't supposed to be his life!

[bruinsfan]

I liked that she developed a crush on Billy when she found out he was actually her own age, and that the carryover from that had old guard JSAers like Jay Garrick concerned about the vibe they were sensing between Captain Marvel and a minor. Did they ever find out that he was actually in his mid-teens too?

[squarepole]

I don't think they did. If I'm remembering it right both Courtney and Billy (but mostly Courtney) decided Captain Marvel's secret was more important and they broke it off rather than tell the truth.

[dr_archeville]

The Marvel properties Fox still has a hold of may not be the (primary) reason Disney's going after them: Fox still retains original distribution rights to Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which they co-produced and co-financed, in perpetuity in all media worldwide. Fox also retains theatrical, nontheatrical, and home video rights worldwide for the franchise’s five subsequent films (i.e., Star Wars 5, 6, and 1-3), which Lucasfilm produced and financed independently, through May 2020, at which time ownership will transfer to Disney. Disney might want those rights now, not later.

[scorntx]

After finishing Mass Effect 1 the other day, moving on to Mass Effect 2.

Definitely enjoying most of it so far, though the difference in gaining experience is a step down, and the combat system isn't so great.

But no bouncing around in the Mako! A minor gain!

[kamino_neko]

Minor? MINOR? Losing the Mako was the greatest advance in video gaming ever! (Although the vehicle from the DLC campaign is a bit of a pain at first, it has a much better learning curve than the Mako.)

[scorntx]

No, the not bouncing around is a minor gain.

No Mako at all, on the other hand, is a definite major step-up.

[skjam]

I've got a book Giveaway going on at my blog! Tell your friends who like free books!
http://www.skjam.com/2017/11/07/giveaway-nine-lessons/

[thezmage]

I did not like Thor: Ragnarok all that much. It was fine, but it didn’t seem to be nearly as funny as it thought it was, and the less comedic moments were repeatedly undercut by the comedy

[kamino_neko]

Gotten a little further through Dual Destinies...still on The Monstrous Turnabout, though not entirely because of having to take Blackquill in small doses...I've just been doing other stuff that required sound. He is growing on me a bit...still don't like him much, but he's finally acting like a prosecutor, not an accomplice... I'm actually surprised how easy it is to poke holes in the murderer's testimony - it's easier than the tutorial case!