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.

A Happy Channukah to those who observe it!

The awarding of the first Ballon D'Or for Women's Football to Lyon and Norway forward Ada Hegerberg was slightly spoiled when the host asked, for no readily apparent reason, if she knew how to twerk. To her credit she simply replied "No" and walked off. The host has apologised.

Former President of the USA, George H Bush, died at the age of 94. Like most people, his legacy is a mixture with some noting his presiding over the era when the Soviet Union broke up and signing the first laws requiring the recording of hate crime statistics, but others have a less nostalgic view, especially as regards his embracing of the Evangelical sector Reagan had appealed to, and the resulting treatment of the LGBTQ+ community and the impact of the AIDS epidemic in particular.

A little reminder for those in the US who want to sign up for healthcare, the closing date for the signup period is December 15th, which is not long now, and a than it has been previously (also advertising for it has been slashed, anyone would think the current administration didn't want it to succeed.

Speaking of POTUS 45, excitement builds as his former lawyer plead guilty to lying to Congress about Russian property deals and what the fallout from THAT might be.

France, and Paris in particular, has seen significant violence from those opposed to President Macron's planned reform of fuel tax (as well as other groups basically not liking his policies). Ironically, the group opposing him has largely co-ordinated through social media, the same unusual approach that Macron took to garner support when he was elected.

Tumblr has announced that, as of 17th December it will no longer host graphic adult content. If this was simply dealing with it's fairly massive porn-bot problem then it would probably have got cheers from users, but as it is, reaction has been... less than a ringing endorsement. Certainly barring child pornography and abuse is a laudable goal, though a low bar to set, but a blanket ban and trusting algorithms to decide whether an image is showing a depiction of human genitalia, “female-presenting nipples” or sex acts (including illustrations) seems a little naive perhaps? This may well be the end of the forum, which is a shame as it did provide a good platform for those with quirks and kinks, especially women, looking for a (mostly) non-judgemental environment, though it has to be said it has become home for some of the more toxic branches of certain fandoms.

Just when you thought Brexit couldn't descend into any more of a farce, six opposition parties have tabled a motion accusing the Government of breach of conduct in not releasing the entirety of the legal advice they had received as they were instructed to do. And this is before five solid days of debate on Theresa May's deall, but recent publication of a report that shows that every single version of Brexit that has been analysed will leave the country worse off probably isn't helping things. Sigh.....

Duck Tales had a delightful Christmas episode, which features an unexpected character showing up, a revelation about Della Duck's name which clears up some historical confusion, and explaining the not quite what you'd expect connection between Scrooge and three Ghosts of Christmas.

Miraculous Ladybug debuted Season 3 only two weeks after ending Season 2 which seems a it rapid, but let's enjoy the surprise.

Doctor Who's "It Takes You Away" was an odd one and no mistake. It looked beautiful, great music, and fine performances from Jodie and Bradley (as per usual) and guest Ellie Wallwork as Hanne (The unusual situation of a blind character actually played by a blind actress), however a viewer's reaction to it's finale might be decided by how they feel about frogs... which is not a sentence I thought I'd ever type.

Comments

[skjam]

Trying to ramp up for my Christmas activities, but so tired.

Over at my blog, I review a book about John James Audubon, whose history is a bit murkier than I remembered: http://www.skjam.com/2018/12/02/book-review-under-a-wild-sky-john-james-audubon-and-the-making-of-the-birds-of-america/

[princee740]

Tumbler is not just banning its main content this days, it bans everithing not liked by its management: https://vaspider.tumblr.com/post/180782487261/vaspider-goddamnshinyrock-goddamnshinyrock

[mazway_75]

It's bad as you can understand good intentions (ridding the child porn and such that's too easy to find there) but sadly, they're going about it the completely wrong way. I actually don't use it too much but a shame the management are overreacting so badly.

[thanekos]

Part of it might be randomness.

[kurenai_tenka]

Well, there goes tumblr. I'm old enough to still remember when livejournal ruled supreme and then died a death after repeated purging of adult content, I imagine tumblr will do the same.

[janegray]

Yep. My immediate thought was "Second Coming of Strikethrough '07".

[tripodeca113]

Oh look the people who run Tumblr have gone fucking insane.

In other new I went to see Fantastic Beats: The Crimes Of Grindleward and I can confirm it is indeed two hours and thirteen minutes of boring nothing. Look the local cinema was closing down and I wanted to visit one last time. But still that was $12.50 wasted.

I've also started playing The Last of Us, and despite my best efforts I'm finding myself endeared to Ellie and Gruff McBeardson.

[katefan]

I didn't like the movie either. I think one of the things I disliked about it was they brought Kowalski back. I loved the character in the first movie but his story had been told; it had a cute meet beginning, an entertaining middle and a satisfying end. If he was meant all along to appear in the second movie I think they could have handled it a lot better than the terrible manner we were subjected to. Oh, and I absolutely hated the manufactured tension between Newt and Tina. The movie just felt incompetently written, which is surprising since JK Rowling has sole writing credits and I think she is pretty good at her job.

On another slightly related note, I just found out this weekend JK writes mystery novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the C.B. Strike series. I saw the television adaptation of the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling and it was pretty good.

[gnarll]

I stopped using Tumblr some time ago, after realizing just how much cookies/spyware they put on my machine, and how much data they wanted. I wonder if this might be related. Seems like mining and selling peoples preferences in terms of non-vanilla adult content is more likly to run afoul of laws in various jurisdictions. Getting rid of the adult content may offer more degrees of freedom in terms of targeted ads and selling browsing information.

[deh_tommy]

That's a shame, too, because tumblr was the only real place I know of that provided consistent, easy to find vanilla adult media and content creators that you could just as easily add to your dashboard (as far as I've seen, anyway).

[janegray]

They have been doing such a great job with DuckTales. It's everything I wanted it to be and more!

[mastermahan]

Speaking of DuckTales*, I finished the first season of the She-Ra reboot and rather enjoyed it. It's queer-friendly and mostly light, but can get into some serious topics. The most interesting part is the complex relationship between Adora and her adoptive sister/former best friend/maybe ex Catra.

*She-Ra's showrunner, Noelle Stevenson, wrote for DuckTales, in addition to creating Nimona and co-writing Lumberjanes.

[the_phantom]

Once again CNN has proved you don't have to be right wing to hate them. So one of their Analyst/Contributors Marc Lamont Hill made the mistake (As in it's a mistake to do this while employed by CNN) of addressing the United Nations on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian and calling for "Free Palestine" and was fired from CNN. Oh and he was also smeared by the likes of Ben Shapiro and CNN themselves, But of course they will still strut around a tell us all that they are fighting for truth, freedom of the press and the rights of journalist... what a joke.

Source: https://lobelog.com/double-standards-key-to-attacks-on-marc-lamont-hill/

[owlbrigade1]

In other Freedom of the Press is a distant dream, type of news: In the UK the Tories have banned a Scottish Newspaper from press events for daring not to unashamedly worship the Tories.
https://www.indy100.com/article/national-scotland-newspaper-banned-theresa-may-cover-8658416

[matrix_dragon]

Regarding this weeks Doctor Who, I approve of the Lonely Frog Universe, and hope it makes a happy reappearance one day. Ribbons was an interesting addition, but I think the ep would have worked better with just the alien animals in the cave. And Graham continues to be a wonder of a companion, touching on topics the show usually doesn't touch. His arc with Ryan and their family connection this year has been a wonderful sub-plot that gives me the feels every time it comes up.

On a side note, I am again reminded by how the human villains this season have been better at earning my loathing than the monsters. That's not a criticism of the monsters, but for how real the evils of the human characters have been. When Erik dismissed the concerns about his daughter with 'she's a teenager, there's food in the fridge', I felt so much rage.

INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is out soon! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[deh_tommy]

Only in Doctor Who could you start with a monster in the woods and end with a sentient, friendly but unfortunately toxic pocket cancerverse in the form of a frog in a void in a house in another void that speaks with the voice of your best friend's dead wife.

Time is a flat circle: now people are reminiscing fondly on Steven Moffat's run while bashing Chris Chibnall for ruining the show FOREVER.

Destiny 2's fourth DLC, Black Armoury, releases today! Both this game and the previous on haven't had the best track record with winter releases, so here's to hoping this will be better.

New trailers for Tekken 7's next batch of fighters, featuring old favourites like Marduk, Armor King and Julia! The strangest one is probably Negan from The Walking Dead, whose trailer recreated his iconic scene where he beat one of the cast to main cast to death, but with Tekken characters instead of Rick and co.

Jontron has returned after one of his trademark hiatuses to release the highly anticipated follow-up to one of his most popular videos: Flex Tape II!

Does anyone here have any particular favourite Pokémon movies? Personally, I'm rather fond of Spell of the Unown, Pokémon Ranger, The Rise of Darkrai, The Jewel of Life, Master of Illusions, Victini and Reshiram/Zekrom and The Power of Us (or at least the Japanese dub of that last one).

Speaking of dubs, I've missed almost all of Miraculous Season 2 because I can't find anything of the French dub with English subs, and MiraculouSubs still haven't finished editing them yet (as far as I'm aware). Skylanders Academy Season 3 also came out two months ago without anyone telling me. #firstworldproblems

[malurette]

I never liked Tumblr, it didn't work for me but I finally started using it last year when I decided to try my hand at kinky fanart and it seemed like the only place where my newest fandom might have a chance to bloom. Joke's on me now, where should I relocate? is DeviantArt still a thing?

[deh_tommy]

DeviantArt should still be a thing, yes. Lots of others are relocating to Newsgrounds, Twitter and pillowfort.io, too.

On more serious notes:

[deh_tommy]

If I may be so out of touch and ignorant, why does everyone suddenly seem to hate President Macron? I haven't been keeping up with French politics enough to know why. Were the damage and (especially) the deaths caused by these riots really worth what sparked them (namely, the tax on fuel and/or Macron himself)?

Speaking of politics, hate and hate(d) politics, what's the situation like in Italy and Brazil nowadays, if I'm not being too rude or insensitive for asking?

Re: On more serious notes:

[icon_uk]

I'd say it's just the usual frustration with a politician in charge when they're not as zippy and dynamic as they seemed.

He promised things and is either not able to deliver, or is having to go through some fairly unpleasant steps to do it, and when you're elected as a populist, that can come back to bite you on the ass.

[zachbeacon]

Crazy to think that Bush fought Nazis in WW2 only to watch his political party get infiltrated by Nazis late in his life.

Also worth noting that he's one of the last major Republicans who wasn't owned by the NRA.

[owlbrigade1]

He was head of the CIA, so he probably knows all about bringing Nazis to America though. Frankly that office alone is enough to condemn him, as far as I am concerned.

[laughing_tree]

I haven't really been feeling the new season of Doctor Who, but It Takes You Away (which I insist sounds like the title of a great romance episode) was my favorite so far. I'm not sure, though, whether that's because of its actual quality or because I've finally adjusted my expectations after accepting that the show isn't going to be reaching the dazzling heights of the RTD and Moffat eras again any time soon.

[icon_uk]

I don't think I even see it as "dizzying heights", it's just, a different Doctor, a different approach and it's being very impressive in it's own right. For example, I can't see any previous Doctor handling the Rosa Park episode as deftly, possibly Capaldi?

It doesn't feel as glib as it had a tendency to do (I'm looking at you 10), other people have feelings and they are just as important as the Doctor's feelings and she knows that and acknowledges it, and the Doctor is not about making everyone fear and respect her because of her being "The Doctor" and being vocal about how clever they are (ahem, 11), she's getting on with the job in a competent and largely compassionate manner.

Three politically charged historical's in a ten episode season was a risky move, which I think worked, and I do wish we'd had at least one returning monster.

[cygnia]

Miss having two-parters and I really hope Tim Shaw (or his people) makes a return in the season finale, but other than that, I've really enjoyed this season of DW.

[mister_terrific]

I went through my Tumblr last night to see if they'd flagged anything in their preliminary searches, and sure enough, I found one.

It was a photoset of a cat dragging its new bed up a flight of stairs.

Yeah, this will go so smoothly.

[zachbeacon]

Was the cat naked?

[lordultimus]

On Friday, The Japan Times — the oldest English language newspaper in the that country — announced it has changed how it will describe women who were used as sex slaves and people who were forced into grueling labor in Japanese-owned companies before and during World War II.

From now on, the paper will replace the term "forced labour" with "wartime labourers" to describe Koreans, Chinese, American POWs or anyone else who was conscripted into working in Japanese mines and factories from 1910 to 1945.

In an editor's note, the paper explained:

"The term 'forced labour' has been used to refer to labourers who were recruited before and during World War II to work for Japanese companies. However, because the conditions they worked under or how these workers were recruited varied, we will henceforth refer to them as 'wartime labourers.' "

The Japan Times used the same logic in explaining its revision of the definition of "comfort women." Where it previously defined them as "women who were forced to provide sex for Japanese troops before and during World War II," it will now use the following language: "Women who worked in wartime brothels, including those who did so against their will, to provide sex to Japanese soldiers."

So there won't be any confusion, here's the original text of the editors note (also linked in the above article).

[katefan]

Yeah, while a lot of people see the face of Japan as that way cool country that produces kaiju movies and anime, there is this much darker, racist side that likes to selectively edit their history to make them seem less utterly horrific. As I also understand it the descendants of the Koreans who were brought over to work as slave labor in their factories aren't even Japanese citizens even to this day. They even go to special schools because they aren't allowed to go to the ones reserved for Japanese kids.

You certainly don't see that in anime. :/

[owlbrigade1]

Can I ask people in the UK to consider signing a petition against high powered rifle shooting:
https://www.change.org/p/uk-scottish-government-ban-public-use-of-high-powered-rifles-in-the-uk

Due to a loophole in planning laws, someone has opened -without planning permission- a very loud shooting competition with very high powered rifles, in an area where very many people with PTSD and mental health conditions live due to its (previous) reputation for being a quiet and secluded area of Scotland. It is wrecking those people's health for the benefit of a very few, very rich, people. If people would please consider supporting this petition, that would be great.

[scorntx]

Frankly, more science fiction series should have their lead having a nice conversation with a universe in the form of a frog.
I mean, let's face it, Doctor Who is no stranger to bizarreness. This is barely anything.


After a trip to the Great Smog-Bucket that is London, bought a Star Trek book, which had an... interesting discussion between two characters on the Prime Directive. Which very quickly turns into a very satisfying shot at certain aspects of the franchise's depiction of it.
Wherein an opponent asks what would happen if, hypothetically, someone refused to help cure a disease, or just watched entire civilisations die because that would somehow count as "interfering", and Jonathan Archer says no-one would be that monstrous.
(There's also a very upsetting bit involving Archer's dog. And a funny bit where an alien race's attitude is summed up, in the book's own words no less, as "bring it on!")


Also bought Fire and Blood. Interesting stuff, but damn if it wasn't a long read.

[mastermahan]

You can count me as thoroughly pissed about Tumblr's decision to immolate itself. For a few years I've been using the site to write and share niche softcore erotica. It had *the* best community for doing so, bar none. It was safe(ish) and supportive, and I saw peers come to embrace their identities or find work in the vicious gig economy.

So yeah, screw you, Verizon, and screw you Tumblr. You've destroyed something unique that supported the marginalized.

[raspberryrain]

Verizon? I thought it was Yahoo that owned Tumblr now?

[deathcrist2000]

I wrote a guest post for Bob Proehl's Superman blog.

[icon_uk]

Congratulations!

[dewinged]

Tumblr? Good. Maybe fandom will find a place where people talk to each other again.

The DuckTales Christmas episode was great. Emo-kid Donald, 'You're a relative from the future, aren't you?' and a 'bad guy' (as much as there was a villain in the episode at all) being voiced by the one person you would never suspect voicing one.

Miraculous Ladybug...you know how many folks, after this episode, suddenly started thinking 'You know, from this perspective, Chloe isn't all that terrible...'

[icon_uk]

In fairness Lila has been completely toxic since her introduction, she just hasn't been as omnipresent as Chloe.

And Chloe, for all her many, many... many, MANY faults, is always upfront about her actions, she rarely bothered resorting to being duplicitous because she usually doesn't care if people know or not.

[captainbellman]

I have heard it said that Dreamwidth might make a good Tumblr alternative. Anyone have thoughts on this?

[icon_uk]

Dreamwidth is a lot more... static as it's basically livejournal without the evil overlord owners (Though I confess I've never deleted my LJ account as the 2Gb of free image hosting has proved very useful over the years), and it lacks the handy reblogging function which gave tumble an immediacy and allowed free flowing conversations.

The DW owners have been honest enough to admit that they have no intention of developing more of a social media style interface since they don't have the financial resources to do so.

But I like Dreamwidth, they've always been upfront about things, and S_D has had a happy home here lo these many years now.