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.

It's not been THAT good a week for POTUS 45 in his social media stakes. He retweeted a video of his supporters, one of whom was shouting "White power!" at a protestor, his Twitch account was suspended and his Reddit account was banned.

In the UK, our COVID-19 lockdown is no sooner easing than our first RE-lockdown takes place in the city of Leicester.

The rest of the UK news is kinda depressing (It involves our political leader being his usual self and frankly, I don't need to be reminded of that right now).

The Greens gained ground in France in local elections there.

One of the co-founders of Cards Against Humanity has left the company, following a number of highly unpleasant allegations about a culture of sexism and racism.

Designer and artist Milton Glaser, creator of the "I Heart NY" logo, and who worked on everything from a famed psychedelic haired Bob Dylan poster in 1967 to the final season of Mad Men has died, aged 91.

Doom Patrol Season 2 started up, with three episodes being released in one go. It looks like it's maintaining the bizarre energy that the first season built up, thankfully, with Dorothy now a part of the deeply dysfunctional family (along with a few of her not-quite-as-imaginary-as-they-probably-should-be friends), Jane's Underground in turmoil, Cliff being a pretty unforgiveable asshole, Rita wanting to try a new career, and the likes of the Candlemaker and Red Jack showing up already. I MISSED THIS SHOW SO MUCH!

Power Rangers Beast Morphers finished it's run in the UK, with a lot of slightly random homages to the past (Dr K showing up from RPM was a highlight) and one episode including a genuine Power Rangers first; a full blown musical extravaganza!!

A new Muppets series has been announced via a teaser dropping

To end on a definitely positive note, as Pride Month reaches an end, Pearl Mackie, who played Bill Potts in Doctor Who, has come out as bisexual.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Adventure Time returned with the first episode of Distant Lands and we got some lore.

Oh no! The She-Wolves of Winterfell has been delayed again.

My essay’s are done and now I can play The Witcher 3 again. I've finished the main story in the second map, so now I'm just going to finish up some side-quests then move on.

I went out for the first time in a while. The various shops seem to have varying standards of restrictions in place, which I fear may cancel each other out.

EB Games seems to have largely phased out PS3 games, so now their “3 For $15” sales aren’t really worth it, because they have about six games. They sure are ugly now that they have all this vapid merchandise everywhere.

I discovered another failing in the terrible Deviantart layout. When searching you can’t filter the result to a specific medium. Wow. It’s a clunky, awkward mess, that manages to remove ever convenient, useful feature the original had.

Why is Rassilon being played by a guy who’s younger than fifty? Rassilon shouldn’t look young Big Finish.

I found a list of writers who will also be involved in the Discworld Watch show. They don’t exactly have the most encouraging resume, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Shocking Power Rangers news, that I won’t spoil here.

[viridian5]

I would usually post my window display photos to DeviantArt as well as Flickr, but the new design makes everything too complicated and time-consuming. How do they keep making dA worse?

[stubbleupdate]

What is it with the culture of euphemism on this community?

I can appreciate that people might wish to put some emotional distance between themselves and something horrible but having a staff member forcibly detained in a mental health institute because they objected to use of the N word in company materials is more than "highly unpleasant".

I had this discussion with somebody on the community two weeks ago about posting up people being violently killed with some twee non-description and I'm fed up of it.

What is the value in being cutesy or folksy about things that are real and are bad. I get that understatement is used for comedic emphasis but I don't feel that it is the mod's place to make light of things like this.

[cyberghostface]

I don’t think it was his intention to be comedic or folksy here?

[icon_uk]

It certainly wasn't meant as comedic effect and there were two reasons I phrased it like that.

I'm not certain to what extent the various allegations have been confirmed (The one about the committment is being strenuously denied, for whatever value one places on that from CaH right now), as it's still a breaking story as far as I'm aware.

Also, I felt that if someone wanted to go and get more details from the link then that was up to them, but a warning that the content would be unpleasant would be enough.

But perhaps I should have been more specific, and it's a point I'll bear in mind.

[beyondthefringe]

I've seen confirmation from a confidential source connected to CAH that the commitment story, as presented in the article, is at least fairly inaccurate.

[deh_tommy]

I’m sorry. That’s never my intention to be cutesy or humorous in scenarios like this. That’s just how I talk.

[iamrman]

I don't know if it us still going on, but Comixology made several comics featuring black heroes or black creators for free. Probably old news, but it was new to me.

I already had the Don McGregor Jungle Action issues and Christopher Priest's Black Panther, but I was able to get the first volume of Luke Cage's 90's series, the first volume of Dwayce McDuffie's Fantastic Four and the Falcon's short-lived post-Secret Empire series.

I have finished reading the DC Rebirth issues of Wonder Woman, so I have decided to go back and re-read the Posr-Crisis issues by George Perez. I am beginning to run out of new Batman comics to read, so it looks like I will have to re-read some old issues. I have a soft spot for the Knightfall story line, so I am hapoy to have an excuse to revisit that again.

I finally git around to watching Into the Spider-Verse. I never got to see it at the cinema, so I am glad I decided to see it. I might even go and check out some Miles Mirales comics. I am still yet to watch Aquaman, Shazam!, and Spider-Man: Far from Home.

[zachbeacon]

"I don't know if it us still going on, but Comixology made several comics featuring black heroes or black creators for free. Probably old news, but it was new to me."

Just Marvel? Thanks, I almost missed that. They've been making a bunch of stuff free the last few months and they have been terrible about advertising it. Everyone should get the first Damage Control mini.

I'm surprised DC still has all that Scooby content for free.

[iamrman]

I believe only the Marvel comics are free. There is a bit on the front page about anti-racism graphic novels as well.

The Black Panther movie inspired me to read the old Jungle Action comics. The issues introduced several things that would go on to be important in the future. Plus, T'Challa fights racists near the end and who doesn't love that?

[skjam]

Had my birthday last Friday, one year to sixty.

Over at my blog, the movie that was going to revolutionize how we thought of CGI actors:http://www.skjam.com/2020/06/29/movie-review-final-fantasy-the-spirits-within/

[icon_uk]

Many happy returns!

[janegray]

Happy birthday!

[deh_tommy]

Happy birthday to you! May your future be bright and happy.

[cygnia]

So, bit the bullet and drew up a will legally last week.

[icon_uk]

It is an odd feeling isn't it?

I kept putting it off, then remembered the fuss my parents had to deal with when one of my uncles died without making a will, and realised it wouldn't fair to my own siblings (especially after I bought property) since I don't have anyone else to leave things to.

But questions like do I want to make cash settlements on people? Well, I might, but whan if I don't have that much money when I go? How embrassing would that be for all concerned?

[cygnia]

It really is.

A friend of my husband's asked him for help in finding a lawyer so he could draw up his estate and give his sister Power of Attorney due to his health issues. That kinda got the ball rolling...

So, last week, we drew up our own wills. I've made sure that my best friend is getting a majority of my cash should I pass before the hubby (and hubby's cool with it -- he's the primary breadwinner anyways).

Now, back to watching "Ask a Mortician" to pre-plan my wake before it's too late!

[icon_uk]

See if you can find the number for the lady who will attend anyone's wake, wearing dated black clothing, wearing a full veil and carrying a lace parasol. She's say nothing to anyone, will stand off to one side at the graveyard, and depart without a word (I think the horse drawn carriage is a good deal more expensive, but probably worth every penny for the rumours that would start!

Either that or the person who will rush in, mid funeral, wearing the some outfit you died in, who will then pull out a sonic screwdriver and say "Right, this is where it gets complicated!"

[janegray]

...Wait, is it not normal to have a will?

I made one in my early twenties, just in case.

I mean I love my stuff. I really really love my stuff. I don't want my family to throw out my treasured collections of books/comics/games/china if I get in a car accident or something.

Plus I made a list of internet friends I want them to contact.

[cygnia]

For me, it was a combination of laziness and depression as to not getting one drawn up decades earlier.

[icon_uk]

Oh it is, it was just a weird personal blindspot for me.

[bruinsfan]

I don't have one, but I'm single and child-free with no siblings, rent rather than owning a home, and my Mom's name is already on all my bank accounts and my 401k in case I should die first. I really don't think a 15-year-old Chevy and a wall full of videotapes is worth making a will over.

[kamino_neko]

The lines of communication between my primary care provider and my pharmacy apparently keep breaking down and I have been without several of my meds for some time. Spoke to my nurse about it last week, and she said she'd contact them, but I still haven't received them. Given that one of them is for frigging anxiety, calling the pharmacy to get that cleared up is...something I'm going to have to suck it up and do, but I'm not happy about it.

[alicemacher]

If the fault is on the pharmacy's end, is there another one, within a convenient distance, you could get your prescriptions transferred to?

[kamino_neko]

The one at my nurse's clinic is, like, 2 blocks away from the one I'm with now, so...yeah. >_>

[cainofdreaming]

Huh. Weird. Here we can get our meds from any pharmacy in the country, so that kind of difficulties are hard to fathom. Hope things resolve for you.

[kamino_neko]

Huh. How does that work?

[cainofdreaming]

Apotecharies and hospitals use the same system for prescriptions nowadays, I believe. It's all digital anyway. You still could even before that too, you just got the prescription on paper and showed it in the apotechary.

[kamino_neko]

OK, with a physical scrip, you could go anywhere, here, too...but for ongoing things, where the patient only needs to do something other than pick it up (or accept the delivery) if there's a problem (as here) or when it comes time to reassess whether they need the meds, it's generally dealt with by faxing between the pharmacy and the PCP - the pharmacy faxes the renewal request, the PCP faxes back the renewal.

[cainofdreaming]

Ah, it's about renewal not just picking up the meds. You can do that through the apotechary here too, they just use the computer rather than faxes, or you can make a request yourself through the internet. So there's usually no hangups between the docs and apotecharies since it's all in the net.

[blueprintstyles]

Man I love Doom Patrol, the new season great so far.

Casually Comics

[ozaline]

So I've been watching some of the youtuber "Casually Comics," lately she's got a nice relaxed delivery style. Her videos are why I made the "Super-Girl," post actually.


She also, not long ago, made an 18 minute video about Nightwing's ass... which might be of interest to certain persons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-P1ZRAeN4Y

Re: Casually Comics

[iamrman]

I have been watching the Casually Comics channel as well. The video about Nightwing's ass was surprisingly deep. It wasn't just a case of 'lol, booty'.

Re: Casually Comics

[icon_uk]

"It wasn't just a case of 'lol, booty'."

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Ahem, I might have seen that video too, and it is very good.

Re: Casually Comics

[iamrman]

Hey, I'm not complaining. I just wasn't expecting such an indepth essay about the best butt in comics.

[tcampbell1000]

I feel like Cards Against Humanity's 15 minutes might be up, regardless.

[thezmage]

20 minutes too late

[donnblake]

The attempt to gamify the cut-up was of passing interest, but I find that "Edgy," as a category of humor without much further depth (and given the format of the game it's not clear to me how that depth could have been added) fails to have much staying power.

[silverhammerman]

Scott Lobdell is leaving Red Hood, after a near decade-long run on the character, seemingly on good terms. This comes on the heels of renewed talk about his track record of sexual harassment, and following his public announcement of the departure there's been a fresh round of accusations against him.

Certainly the larger issue at play is what this says about the culture of the industry, but the idea that Red Hood of all things has had one of DC's longest creative runs of the past decade, from an at best mediocre talent, is mind-boggling even before factoring in the accusations against Lobdell. Snyder and Capullo on Batman, five years, same for Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns' Green Lantern is the only thing of similar length that I can think of. If someone were to ask me to encapsulate everything strange and bad about the comic book industry I could simply reply "Well, Scott Lobdell did a decade-long run on a major Batman spinoff, despite being both talentless and a known sexual harasser for most of that time".

Comics are bad, sometimes.

[beyondthefringe]

Scott Lobdell is like a Hungry Man frozen dinner. Inevitably disappointing, but sometimes it's all you got, and sometimes all you can stomach is the lowest common denominator from the back of the freezer.

I always figured he saved someone's life in "the war" and they owed him and that's how he always gets work.

[silverhammerman]

That's always been my guess too, part of the Boys Club with just enough reliability and an impressive enough pedigree that his buddies would have kept him employed forever.

[zachbeacon]

Personally I never got Scott Lobdell's staying power. I've liked things he's done here and there but I'm pretty sure he's mostly known for being the 90s X-Men writer who wasn't as good as Fabian Nicieza.

Considering which one has worked consistently over the last decade and which mostly dropped off the face of the Earth*, there's really no justice in the world.

*Though apparently Fabian is working on a novel and had a Juggernaut mini that was delayed due to the plague.

[scorntx]

The insanely and probably ludicrously naïvely positive suggestion is that he was on Red Hood for so long to keep him away from any of DC's bigger titles and characters.
Like Teen Titans. Or Superman.


(And didn't Grant Morrison quit Batman because he was burnt out by the New 52 stuff?)

[silverhammerman]

I did always get the impression that his role on Red Hood was very much just a way of giving him a paycheck and an out of the way book to keep him occupied. Which isn't how, y'know, a business should be run, but that's comics for you. It's a shame because I'm convinced that there's absolutely a good Jason Todd book to be done, either by leaning into the idea of Robin-becomes-The-Punisher or casting him as a troubled heartthrob.

I've never been sure about Morrison's departure. The New 52 was essentially a wholesale rejection of everything he'd built, but he was still allowed to wrap up Batman Inc relatively untouched, even if it was no longer the main book. It's been ages since I read it but at the time I couldn't help reading the conclusion to that run as being a rebuttal to the New 52.

[locuatico]

It really does paint a grim picture when you remember they attempted to kick Gail Simone from Batgirl (Despite the book doing pretty well) and only reversed the decision because the Batgirl fandom was furious over it... or the original Batwoman creative team quitting in protest because of DC refusing the Kate & Maggie wedding (which I believe they had given the greenlight then changed their mind. so you know... really professional)... or George Perez quitting Superman because of poor working conditions... or -You know what? I just remembered the Nu52 was a complete mess.

[deh_tommy]

I like his stuff more than most might and I’ve always had a soft spot for his Red Hood/Outlaws stuff, but with everything I’ve heard about him over the years I feel like this has been long overdue and I’m shocked that this didn’t happen sooner.

Warning for potentially disturbing imagery

[deh_tommy]

Over 350 elephants (maybe more and/or counting) have mysteriously died over in Botswana. No one knows how or why just yet. Freaking 2020, man...

[leahandillyana]

There was a presidential election in Poland and old president, the one who said LGBT are not people, won. It's worse: his first actions was to free a child abuser to "protect the family from being incomplete", say one of his rivals is a "pervert and a sodomite" (he's gay), talk that women shouldn’t have voting rights, and proudly present a political diagram showing his politics are closest to fascism. He has over 50% support, more than any politician ever in Poland. The fuck is wrong with this country.

[werehawk]

This is WAY off topic, but as a scientist, I think it is really important. Some of us are trying to change the names of birds named after (sometimes terrible but all representing a colonial attitude of the past) people.

https://twitter.com/BirdNames4Birds/status/1277995340688490496?s=20