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.

Much of Europe is suffering from waves of freezing cold and snow coming in from Siberia or "The Beast from the East" as the UK media has dubbed it. Stay warm and safe Euro-folks!

Ironically the UK is also suffering from an excess of hot air as the politicans start to realise that they can't be fuzzy about terms of Brexit any more (Shocking, I know). The Labour Party has formally decided to change tack and, whilst still rejecting a second referendum, support the UK staying in a Custom Union arrangement with the EU after Brexit (Whilst still wanting to cherry pick the terms, which seems unlikely to get very far) which at least gives it something practical to disagree with the Conservatives over (and also exploit the significant number of Tory remainers who've more or less be told to shut up and keep voting along party lines, up until now). This show will run and run... right off a cliff in all probability.

In the US the gun control argument following the recent Florida school shooting is taking some interesting turns. Whilst the POTUS declares that he would have run into the building to tackle the shooter even if he didn't have a gun himself, the media-pilloried armed security guard who stayed outside has said that he was following the training he was given.

Meanwhile the NRA is apparently heamorraging corporate support, with several companies severing business links with them (so no discounts for NRA membership for several car rental firms, Symantec Security Software, and both Delta and United Airlines.

Schools are threatening to penalise students who skip class to join gun control protests (though it should be noted that schools are legally not permitted to treat skipping class for that reason any more harshly than they would for any other reason), but colleges have been quick to point out that they would not count such action against anyone making an application to them.

Doctor Who has an official (and, IMHO, rather elegant) new logo and a newly released image to go with it, as well as a little video to launch it.

India is mourning the death of Bollywood superstar Sridevi Kapoor. An actress with a phenomenal success over multiple decades, she was a rare example (in Indian cinema) of an actress whose presence in a movie could ensure success, without needing a male star to be present too.

In the UK we sadly lost actress Emma Chambers, best known from her thirteen year role as the endlessly good natured and kind, but quintessentially dim, Alice Tinker in "The Vicar of Dibley" opposite Dawn French.

The new kinda-but-not ReBoot series; "ReBoot: The Guardian Code" got a trailer and it proved to be... not massively popualr amongst fans of the old school show, and it's not terribly hard to see why since it focusses on humans... when the point of the original was that there WERE no humans. I'll give it a chance, but this seems a lot more like a remake of Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad than the inspired madness of ReBoot.

And I got an indirect name-check in the latest "Jay and Miles Xplain the X-Men" for an attempt at an X-Men themed Tom Lehrer pastiche! Yay!

Comments

[shadur]

The NRA and its paid mouthpieces both elected and official are already denouncing it as a personal attack and vow to retaliate

Apparently the free market only means freedom for them to do what they want with their money; when other people make different choices it's suddenly unfair bullying...

[icon_uk]

I love the fact he's threatening apparently unconstitutional retaliation against the largest private employer in his own state.

Like, there's no way THAT could come back to bite him on the bum is there?

[kamino_neko]

Whilst the POTUS declares that he would have run into the building to tackle the shooter even if he didn't have a gun himself

I, for one, have no doubt that he totally believes that. Despite the other things he's said and done. He's a master of retconning his life.

I finally watched Justice League last night, and...it's certainly got issues (the FX on the whole were terrible for a big budget movie...), but I really quite enjoyed it. My only problem with the writing is the humour wasn't well integrated...anything other than Barry's issues or Clark and Vic's gallows humour at the end were weirdly timed, and Bruce got way too many punchlines - he should be the straight man, most of the time, dammit...it gives any punchlines he does get extra...well...punch.

[shadur]

Yeah, Cadet Bonespurs has already convinced himself he totally deserves that purple heart a marine gave him when he mentioned he'd like a medal.

[bradygirl_12]

Mr. Draft Dodger would've run right into that building as the bullets flew! Yessirree!

[janegray]

https://78.media.tumblr.com/71aabe3f156280c3ce8ff6b345b8bd2c/tumblr_p4tbtr8iub1twiwvzo1_1280.jpg

[zachbeacon]

So I guess China is thinking about abolishing term limits. The phrase "President For Life" will always make me uncomfortable.

Meanwhile Italy is apparently thinking about experimenting with fascism again. That always goes well.

There's so much I want to say about Florida. I love these kids so much. The NRA puppets really ought to know you can't win a fight against teenagers online.

[dr_archeville]

Today (February 27th) is National Pancake Day, so to celebrate IHOP is offering customers a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes today, between 7am and 7pm, at its locations in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Mexico.

I'm starting the Freelance Writer thing, and here is my first article: a review of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein!

A November 2017 update to the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy may mean that Dungeons & Dragons podcasts & vids -– like "Taking20" and "Critical Role" and "The Adventure Zone" -– can be redistributed by anyone without crediting the original creators.

Per this FB post from Logan Allen Wolf, the Giant Superhero Photoshoot for Dragon Con 2018 has been canceled, due to the convention's new policies regarding access to stairs & an unwillingness to set up space inside the hotels for big photoshoots.

A 6th grade teacher in Chicago, IL is using the lively conversations coming from Black Panther as a springboard for an entire lesson plan, the "Wakanda Curriculum", to drive discussions about black revolution, black feminism, and the legacy of colonialism and anti-black racism. A Google Doc of the curriculum can be found here.

China officials have launched its latest crackdown on funeral strippers. Yes, funeral strippers. (What's a funeral stripper? Someone who dances around a bunch of stiffs...)

Brendan Fraser -- Encino Man, George of the Jungle, Rick O'Connell -- was recently interviewed by GQ, opening up about why he dropped out of the spotlight. Part of the reason: he was sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, former President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The NRA gave FCC Chairman Ajit Pai an award -- in the form of a "Kentucky handmade long gun" -- for his efforts to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules.

During a White House meeting on school safety Thursday, Trump voiced concern over the level of violence in media (movies & video games), suggesting "something" might need to be done, like some sort of rating system. He seemed unaware that the MPAA and ESRB are things that already exist, or that other countries are exposed to movies & video games as violent (if not moreso) than what is produced in America but don't have American's mass shooting problem.

ReBoot's, er, reboot, titled ReBoot: The Guardian Code, now has a trailer. Reviews have been mostly negative.

"America's Pastor" (and native of my home state) Billy Graham passed away recently. He was an antisemitic, anti-Catholic, anti-feminist homophobe who'd urge Nixon to drop nukes on Vietnam& laid the groundwork for the "Prosperity Gospel". Per his request, his casket was built by inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary (i.e., prison slave labor). His son Franklin, who is still alive and active, preaches all the same points but doesn't even bother hiding behind a pleasant facade.

While survivors of the Parkland School Shooting looked on, the Florida House declined to even debate a ban on assault weapons, but did support a bill that declared pornography was a health risk. As an associate on FB pointed out, if porn/sex work and drugs are such huge health risks, how is anyone in Amsterdam still alive?

Six months ago, the Durham County (NC) Sheriff's Office announced an aggressive pursuit of protesters who took part in dismantling a Confederate monument in front of the county administration building (during a 2017 August 14 rally held in response to a violent white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville the weekend before), charging twelve people with not only damaging the statue but also inciting a riot, which is a felony. In November, the District Attorney's Office dropped all charges against three of those people. In January, the remaining defendants saw their felony charges dropped. And then, last week, the state was unable to prove that the first three defendants to go to trial had anything to do with the actual crime. Defense Attorney Scott Holmes questioned whether the witnesses' identification of defendants in the videos was credible -- dramatically illustrated when one witness, a security manager who had filmed that act, said he didn't think one of the defendants resembled another woman in the room, whom Holmes later identified as the defendant's twin sister. Holmes also argued that the statue’s presence violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments and a state law that prohibits using public buildings to advocate for the overthrow of the government, as the Confederacy did in trying to secede.

[icon_uk]

I've read that Billy Graham did apologise in his later life for some of his comments in earlier years, though that does remind me of my parent's assertion that, when you apologise for something, you should make sure you apologise just as loudly as you complained, that's only fair, and an apology for hateful actions in an interview is not the same as using that hate as a springboard for a series of evangelical rallies..

[zachbeacon]

Funeral strippers? Well I guess that's one way to try to raise the dead.

[janegray]

It has been a longtime tradition in rural China for residents to hire strippers to partake in bawdy performances at funerals in order to attract a larger attendance of mourners.

[kamino_neko]

Today (February 27th) is National Pancake Day,

Wait...the people who decided on when to put National Pancake Day, decided to put it within 2 weeks of, but not ON, Shrove Tuesday...AKA Pancake Day?

Just poor planning, that.

[kore]

....okay, I dunno why the Angola bit really weirds me out, but it does. Conditions there remain infamous, and they had inmates building the very plain wooden coffins that so impressed Graham because before that, prisoners were buried in cardboard boxes that tended to fall apart. Demanding he be buried in one....just....ack.

[laughing_tree]

Anyone got any recommendations for stories about stories? Stories -- in any medium -- about the power of stories or the nature of stories? I'm in that kind of mood.

[icon_uk]

"The Neverending Story" is a classic for a reason and the first genuine metafiction I ever read.

Though it's an undercurrent in several of his booeks, Terry Pratchett's "Witches Abroad" concerns the power ot storytelling and the dangers it presents if you allow yourself to be part of someone else's story, inasmuch as it can be exciting and amazing, but ultimately you're either the star of your own story, or a background character in someone else's and that rarely ends well.

Roald Dahl's "Matilda" is a sort of example of the power of books.

Jasper Fforde's series about Thursday Next special agent for SO-27, the Literary detectives.

Grant Morrison's "The Coyote Gospel" from Animal Man might fall into the category you're looking for.

[lego_joker]

I've heard Redshirts is a pretty good novel in that vein...

[zachbeacon]

Pratchett (especially in the Discworld novels) and Gaiman (especially in the Sandman comics) have a fair amount of that in their work.

[janegray]

Princess Tutu. Seriously. Most definitely.

Although I can't tell you why PT is about the power of stories, because it's a huge spoiler. PT is one of those things where telling you what makes it awesome robs it of the plot-twist that makes it awesome and therefore makes it much less enjoyable. You really have to see it for yourself, or else miss out on half the fun.

Just, you just have to get through the tame (and, IMHO, not particularly good) first season before the real fun begins.

Here is the thing. Season One of PT is basically the most stereotypical, cutesy, suragy, cookie-cutter version of the Magical Girl narrative we have all seen a million time before. The only thing that saves it from being utterly boring are the unique ballet angle and Tchaikovsky's beautiful music.

Then Season Two of PT takes all those tropes and plot points and apparent conclusions, and subverts the holy hell out of them. A common saying is that S2 of PT is darkfic of S1, and though I don't entirely agree (darkfic is usually cynical, S2 is dark but still ultimately hopeful) I'd say it's close enough.

And the most notable trope it subverts is life in a fairytale, and how it affects those reading and those living it.

[janegray]

- It snowed in my town for the first time in, oh, thirty years. And even though it was only one or, at worst, like maybe two inches tops, it was chaos.

Here is the thing. Southern Italy is hot. We get mild winters and hot summers. We don't get snow. EVER.

So when it did happen, people were completely unprepared. I mean, a ton of adults had never even seen real snow in their lives. It was just a thin layer of snow, but it was enough to block big roads (and consequently shut down a lot of stores and school services) because people had no clue how to drive over that icy slippery muddy stuff and kept messing up.

And, as people and cars struggled around like newborn fawn over something like 3 cm of snow, I kept remembering a video that an American friend sent me when there was an honest-to-god snowstorm in her backyard and feeling deeply embarrassed.

(Note: this is only for Southern Italy. The snowfall was much stronger in the center and the north, even if still nowhere near snowstorm levels).

- I couldn't find the comics of Morrison's Klaus sequels anywhere :(

I really enjoyed the original series, and wanted to buy the Witch and Crisis comics as well, but none of the European stores I buy from have them.

I hope they eventually get collected in a trade, that should make it easier to find them. Morrison said he wants to do a new one shot every year, so there should be enough material for a sequel trade eventually.

[bruinsfan]

I shudder to think of people driving the way I've see driving depicted in Italy suddenly having to deal with icy streets, even if it is a relatively small amount of winter weather. I hope you were able to stay indoors until it melted?

[coldfury]

The Reboot uh... reboot reminds me more of Code Lyoko than the old Reboot show.

Ah well, there was little chance of getting that genie back in the bottle.

[zachbeacon]

I liked Code Lyoko.

Reboot I could never get into.

Maybe I'll give it a look if it shows up somewhere streaming

[informationgeek]

In positive news, InfoWars is one strike away from being kicked from YouTube. Don't know what took so long, but here we are!

[deh_tommy]

What small, minor things in media you’ve consumed bother you that probably shouldn’t?
-Black Beatle doesn’t really have anything to with the Beatles and Pillowtalk isn’t really about pillow talk.
-Dear Future Husband is really catchy (to me, at least), but the lyrics sound rather unironically toxic (if not downright abusive in places)
-Almost everyone’s name in Dragon Ball is very slightly changed from the manga to the anime
-On that note, ‘Bulma’ sort of ruins the naming conventions of the Briefs family, especially since her original name in Japanese was ‘Bloomer’
-“In the daytime, I’m Marinette.” She’s also Marinette in the nighttime and Ladybug in the daytime, since (unless the Akumatised villain is some sort of nocturnal creature like a vampire) Akuma attacks aren’t determined by the time of day (or night)
-Also, why isn’t Ladybug called Coccinelle in the French dub?
-With DC’s recent Hanna-Barbara reimaginings, there’s still no HBO/BBC drama-esque Top Cat book.

[janegray]

Also, why isn’t Ladybug called Coccinelle in the French dub?

Same reason Batman is not called homme chauve-souris.

[mesmiranda]

The new kinda-but-not ReBoot series; "ReBoot: The Guardian Code" got a trailer

[skjam]

I am now taking live calls at work, and will soon be transitioning to my actual team.

Still reviewing stuff at my blog, but this time I'll feature something topical: a collection of essays on activism for the YA audience: http://www.skjam.com/2018/02/24/book-review-how-i-resist/

[siamesa]

Realize I'm a bit late here, but I finally got a job-ish-thing, and got to spend Tuesday with rescued miniature donkeys, and I just feels that as many people as possible need to know about that bit of happiness.

[icon_uk]

Awesome news, congratulations, and you're more than welcome to mention it next Tuesday in case this doesn't get the coverage it deserves! :) The world needs more happy rescued miniature donkey feels!