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 among yourselves.

Last week, I forgot that Divali was upcoming, so I hope it's not too late so say "Let this Diwali burn all your bad times and enter you in good times." to those who delebrate it.

The UK continues to spiral in nine completely different directions, including at least three not found in the usual four dimensions of space and time. We're still in the EU until the end of January, at the latest (for now), we're probably NOT having a second referendum, because two of the parties who thought it was a good idea have now have changed their minds, but we will (probably) be having a new General Election, in December (which may prove challenging, as a lot of places usually used for voting will have booked up with Christmas events (So schools will have their Christmas concerts etc) and no one trusts promises the current Government makes given their track record of breaking the law when it suits them, and students who may be registered to vote at home may be still at college, or vice versa, depending on the date. Lewis Carrol wouldn't have dared put this level of nonsense in "Alice in Wonderland".

(Though I liked the comment that the Government which created the "Fixed Term Parliament" Act is now seeking to circumvent it, because though they categorically refuse to support a second eferendum on the the most far reaching economic change this country has faced in over half a century, is now wanting their third General Election in five years...)

POTUS 45 also announced the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leadesr of the so-called Islamic State/Daesh in Syria, one of, if not the, most wanted men in the world. But even then, the announcement came in terms one might associate with describing an action movie, rather than a co-ordinated military strike involving actual people, and it didn't take long for the criticism about his allies to start.

He also had the unusual experience (perhaps due to rarely appearing in public unless it's a rally or an official meeting) of being publicly booed when he attended a World Series game, and a section of the audience even started chanting "Lock him up! Lock him up!". So THAT'S what karma sounds like.

In news completelely unrealted to the above, research has shwon that narcissist's are generally happier people... HORRIBLE people, but happier, with less stress in their life. So not giving a crap about anyone's opinion than your own DOES have some benefits for the individual person, of no one else? When they phrase it like that it does seem sort of obvious.

An interesting set of photo's of protestors in Hong Kong.

John Legend and Kelly Clarkson have recorded a modified version of the sometimes controversial song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" to clarify issues of consent. The new version includes the exchange;

"What will my friends think? (I think they should rejoice)
If I have one more drink? (It's your body, and your choice)."

As a naive guy I'd always read it as the lady looking for a reason to stay, but I can absolutely understand why people are unsettled by lines like the lady asking "What's in this drink?" in this day and age.

The second trailer for The Mandalorian has aired, with a launch date of November 12 on DisneyPlus

And also from that corner of a galaxy far, far away, "Game of Thrones" writers David Benioff and DB Weiss, are no longer involved in writing for the Star Wars verse as had previously been announced.

Gender non-conforming actor Jacob Tobia has been cast as Double-Trouble, a new to animation (if not the classic toyline) character for next season, a non-binary shapeshifting mercenary who can appear as anyone.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Remember how Adventure Time ended and it marked the end of an era? Well never mind that, their making a sequel miniseries.

Recently I felt the sudden, inexplicable urge to go out and buy The Outer Worlds. I think it was because I realized that I could get a copy twenty dollars cheaper. But I think that excitement has gone away now. Anyway on launch they jacked the price up by ten dollars, so that’s that over with. I look forward to buying a half -priced copy, in the magical future year of 2020.

Fallout 76 has been in the news again. Naturally it’s been bad. “Pay for your own private servers, expect they’re not really private, or well run.”

Oh, look that Baker Street Irregulars comic, is apparently getting a TV show.

Oh look, Benioff and Weiss Star Wars trilogy has been put on hold. Thank goodness.

[icon_uk]

Which Baker St Irregular series, do you know?

I can think of two or three, and that's without looking at the previous Baker Street Irreglar series the BBC has made.

Back in1983 we had "The Baker Street Boys" and in 2007 we got
the movie length "Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars" which might have led to a series, but didn't.

[tripodeca113]

A comic from 2013.

[skjam]

The one with the golem?

[tripodeca113]

No wait my mistake, it actually came out in 2011. It's the one about some kids being lead by Wiggins.

[owlbrigade1]

There is a new adaptation of the classic Welsh children's book series "The Snow Spider" by Jenny Nimmo being developed by the BBC, which is probably good news. Those of us old enough to remember the ITV version of it, so very many years ago, remember the story fondly.
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/cbbc-and-bbc-wales-adapt-snow-spider-trilogy-fantasy-drama-1104081

[owlbrigade1]

Still waiting for a remake/reboot of "The Girl From Tomorrow" though.

[leahandillyana]

I, for once, thank Disney for its decision. Seriously, one time I'm actually grateful.
In less happy news, EU parliament votes against improving search and rescue for refugees in Mediterranean. They were two votes short. Two votes! Most of Polish MPs voted against or abstained, and I feel shameful.

[polly1788]

So jeremy corbyn is backing an election now cause he could not be a bigger idiot than i thought he could be. His party really needs to push him out, he was handed the biggest political gift of the century and wasted it

[gnarll]

Corbyn, I think, is a hard Brexiter. He genuinely believes that a hard Brexit is whats best for the country, and he hasn't changed an opinion since the 70s. But he absolutely wants the Tories to get the blame for Brexit, and the darkness that follows.

So I think his strategy is, run silent and run deep. Let the Tories do the painful things he wants done, and mortally wound themselves in the process. The election he wants to win is the one after the Brexit dust starts to settle.

In my opinion, elections in the UK are not about winning most anyway, but losing least. The determining factors are how frustrated the public are with the current government versus how many people remember how much they despised the last one. Corbyn is taking the poll hits from being silent and seemingly indecisive in the belief that when the time comes, people will hate the things the Tories have done much more that the stuff he hasn't.

Time will tell if he is right, this will NOT be a normal election.

[polly1788]

except the public seems to hate him even more than they hate the tories. The tories will win an election right now, that why i said he has to go. He had chance too push labour to the top didn't and his cowardice will not be rewarded people will not forget this. Also makes it more likely Scotland leaves the UK

[gnarll]

Why would he want to push Labour to the top? Thats hardly in line with his goals. He'd end up with Brexit in his hands, and getting all the blame for it. Pyrric victory, poisoned chalice, tactical victory and strategic loss, losing the war to win the battle etc, etc, etc.

He wants Brexit and he wants the Tories to deliver it and get all the blame. He wants a tory party that is split or so divided it'll be a non-factor for a generation.

[polly1788]

which is why i said he should go cause that will never happen, and there was a chance to stop this fucking mess and i don't think anyone involved in this and didnt try to stop has a real future

[janegray]

I'm glad those two arrogant jerks are not involved with SW anymore. I saw their recent interview and the sheer Nobody-Matters-But-Me-ness was off the charts. They might as well have spat on the entire GoT staff.

[gnarll]

They seemed to have a real genius when it came to translating George R. R. Matins books to a TV series. What they did there was fantastic. But the episodes when they had passed the books and had to do their won things seemed to imply that it was a "Rain Man" sort of genius, with an accompanying inability to do anything well on their own.

[cyberghostface]

I wouldn't even go that far to be honest. D&D's faults as writers weren't as apparent when they had such strong source material but whenever they tried to add or change something it was clear they didn't know what they were doing or they missed the entire point (i.e. the Robb/Talisa storyline).

A few examples:

https://www.cracked.com/article_22164_5-game-thrones-scenes-that-only-make-sense-in-books.html

[werehawk]

I just read that Cracked article and every one is totally true.

Also I do think that some of the acting improved characterizations although having read the books after finishing the show, I was very surprised how much of the dialogue was taken directly from the books (Tyrion especially), but the actors/dialogue were pretty consistent at the end of the show too. Big picture, not so much.

[lissa_quon]

Not sure I'd go so far as to say "genius" but they did at least do a few things right to get people to be invested in the series as long as they were.

Though I was a bit baffled when they admitted they hadn't even tried to look at the big picture themes and said "the theme was power" - like - ooof wow. I'm feeling really god about my creative skills right now. Someone hand me a beloved IP I'm sure I can handle this.

[gnarll]

Valid point, I'd forgotten the Tysha etc issue. And I suppose a lot of the things that worked better in the show was due to actors doing things with characters that brought them home, like Shae etc.

All the same... Netflix bought a pig in a poke, and its pretty surprising that they did not see that.

[janegray]

I'm thinking of getting the book Superman: American Alien, but I'm not sure. I'm undecided.

I don't actually like Superman as a character. But Superman: Secret Identity is one of my favourite comics ever, I truly adore that story. It's interesting, powerful and full of passion. And I've been told that American Alien hits a lot of the same beats. If so, I would love it.

On the other hand, I was told the same thing about the book Supergirl: Being Super, and I hated that one. I found it irritating and boring, and regretted buying it.

Should I get AA or not?

[deh_tommy]

Personally speaking, I thought American Alien was really good, and encapsulated Superman well in the kind of way All-Star Superman did.

On the other hand, the writer, Max Landis, is allegedly quite... sketchy. I really liked his work (American Alien included), but the allegations around him do not paint a pretty picture.

[cyberghostface]

Lines like “what’s in this drink” was referring to a joke where people would blame their actions on alcohol. The punchline was that there was usually nothing in it.

[locuatico]

People who have a problem with the song are aware it wasn't intended to be rape-y

[cyberghostface]

I’ve seen numerous comments to suggest otherwise. I.e. people acting like the guy is trying to get her drunk.

[janegray]

While that is very true, you have to admit, the context has massively changed since then.

Back then, the joke was that people wanted to have sex, but it wasn't socially acceptable for them to admit it, so they would scapegoat innocent things to pretend that they totally wouldn't normally act like that. It was the behaviour equivalent of Dumbo's magic feather.

But these days, "there is something in the girl's drink" has very different implications.

If society changes so much that the meaning of the line is automatically assumed to be about rape by anybody who is not aware of 80-year-old customs, I think it's smarter to make a slight edit.

[thezmage]

This, pretty much.

I don’t honestly understand what the big deal is with this song, why not just let it go? We don’t need to fix it we can just stop singing it

[gadz00ks]

Because devoid of context it's a fun back and forth duet in an era where that's a rarity in music, so I can see people becoming attached. While someone could write something better, right now there aren't many replacements.

Getting back to the lyrics, part of the change in opinion over time I feel has to do with inflections by the singer. Some older versions have both vocalists more flirty and coy (making "what's in this drink" sound more like she was asking for the recipe because it's tasty) but the one on the radio the most made her legitimately sound harassed.

But inflection is nebulous and subjective, so I can see them choosing to amend the lyrics instead. It happens (we're doing an amended version of the Taming of the Shrew at my community theater right now, and practically no-one does the original version of that anymore).

[ozaline]

My take is if the performers are confident in their ability to perform the piece as is and convey the original meaning, go for it... if you want to edit the lyrics (as has been done before this too) go for it.

But yeah I don't expect it going away is gonna happen, as you say there's not a lot of back and forth, witty, romantic duets especially one with a winter connection that can be done for Christmas albums.

[lissa_quon]

Lord I once heard one version of this song where the lady was just not emoting at all so when you get to "whats in this drink?" it sounds like shes already been roofied. Not a good version.

Theres also another version of the song thats more recent where the response to "whats in this drink?" is "pomegranate leqruiox!" and the lines on the dude are tweaked to be very "stay if you want - but if you want to go I'm not keeping you"

[luxshine]

My personal favorite version is the Muppets' one, where Peggy sings the male part, and Rudolf Nureyev the female one. It may be the most uncomfortable one re: no means no, but somehow when it's Piggy, it works. (Not sure how I feel about her version with Michael Bubble)

[donnblake]

To expand on this a bit, it wasn't socially acceptable for *women* to admit they wanted to have sex, which is why it's the woman protesting she should go and the man insisting she should stay. Which is all well and good, but "Just ignore her protests," and "She said no but she meant yes," leads some people into some very ugly associations.

I don't know- the song scans as at least rape culture-y if not out and out rapey to me, but I've got friends of both genders who consider it harmless flirty fun.

I *do* think it's probably not fair to blame it for the rise of Islamic extremism, though.

[locuatico]

So it turns out Overwatch 2 will be a thing. If a leaked image is anything to go by.

As it happens, the image was leaked amidst the current backlash blizzard suffering over their censoring a hearstone player who showed support for the Hong Kong protests.

Oh to of that, the leak happened shortly before Blizzcon. Which is currently expected to be a Winnie the Pooh filled disaster.

In other news, I began rewatching classic Saint Seiya to check if my dislike of the new cg Anime is my nostalgia googles.

It IS dated and arguably "not good"... But I can't deny I still find it far better than the CG one on the basis it does not have the military dude with his army mercenaries.

[deh_tommy]

Is this gonna be like Fortnite 2, or a separate game like Destiny 2? I just hope they finally, finally get their lore and story straight. That thing’s got more holes, retcons and inconsistencies than Sigma’s experiment.

[locuatico]

Will have to wait for Blizzcon, I guess.
My guess is, it will be their Titanfall 2. They will ACTUALLY add a story mode and single-player campaign (maybe Co-op?) on top of the multiplayer.

Speaking of Disney+...

[silverzeo]

The Simpsons had a new promo teaser for the app to.

This one had Bart in full Mickey Mouse outfit and Homer in a Iron-Man suit...

If this sounds familiar, it because they kinda did that in the movie about a dozen years ago. Bart wore a bra ontop of his head to mock Mickey as a mascot of an Evil Corporation, and in the early teasers for the film, they had Homer in a Superman t-shirt...

It kinda says alot that even in the new promotional stuff that the Simpsons are in, they themselves are just recycled jokes and ideas that they did years ago...

[deh_tommy]

WHY MUST ALL MY SHIPS SINK

[janegray]

I sympathise. Happens a lot to mine too :(

[leahandillyana]

Same. I don't expect my same-sex ships to ever leave the port (and here, I was never disappointed), but three times, I shipped male/female ships. One time it was a gothic horror slash romance, so it was given that it won't end happily, but two other ones were cartoons for children, and the characters were main characters, and in one case the sinking of the ship lead to the characters drowning :(

[skjam]

Please support my ability to get advanced copies of things to review!
http://www.skjam.com/2019/10/27/book-review-louis-lamours-lost-treasures-volume-2/

[ozaline]

The World series heads into game seven tomorrow... Go Astros!

[leahandillyana]

More terrible news from Poland:
Celebrations of halloween AND carnival have been officially condemned as non-christian and celebrations are forbidden from schools. On the day that LGBT education event was planned in some schools, the ministry of education had all types of schools (including universities and schools for adults!) instead go clean cementaries. The wording implies that a cementary is the place queer minors belong. World might have moved on, but LGBT accceptance in Poland has not changed since 2007, and in Slovakia it fell slightly. There's some idiotic law about Sundays *not only shops, but all sort of offers are to be closed* and food (school cafeterias will from now on only serve soups without meat, not because of vegan agenda, but because the ministry doesn't have money for anything else, because so much money were allocated for a private university of a celebrity priest popular among right wing).

[deh_tommy]

As an Irish person, this all sounds uncomfortably familiar.

Stay strong, friend. You’ll get through this.

[lizard_of_aus]

Finally saw Joker yesterday evening. About what I could've expected- two hours of misery porn that are best enjoyed when completely divorced in your mind from the comics they supposedly adapt.

On the other hand... on the way back to my car, on passing by a homeless person, I found myself stopping, having a conversation, and giving some change I had on me. Don't remember the last time I did that, will probably do it more often. My point is, if this film on some level gets you to think about the invisibles in our society, and prompts you to spread some compassion in the streets, then maybe it's done its job after all...

[leahandillyana]

There was a trailer for the new Evangelion film. It showed Wile team successfully restoring Paris to habitable condition while Mari kills an angel by impaling it on Eiffel Tower. It was nice, but I want to know what happened to characters I am familiar with, as the only characters from the 90s anime appearing in the trailer were Maya and Ritsuko. Hopeful release date: July 2020.
The trailer was screened in July, but oficially posted online on Halloween. Fitting, as the story takes place in a dead world the characters aim to resurrect.