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.

Not much time today, so will be fairly brief.

Last weeks virtual DNC saw Joe Biden formally approved to run for President, with Kamala Harris as his VP.

The virtual RNC is running this week, stating that they will forego their own platform to 100% support the Trump Administration so they will basically use the 2016 platform (which, it has been noted included opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender military personnel, and supported LGBT+ conversion therapy and the rights of businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples.). And some of the speakers seemed to indicate that even if Trump does lose in November, there will be plenty more like minded souls to take his place in future. Make of that what you will.

Bad weather on both sides of the Altantic, so stay safe all!

Schools in Scotland have re-opened for the new school year, and already the rules have changed to make pupils aged over 12 wear masks in communal area's but not in classes, as social distancing rules are already being enforced.

To the delight of those who care, the Last night of the Proms, WILL include "Land of Hope and Glory" and "Jerusalem" (Rare to have a hymn which asks a question which can pretty much instantly be asnwered with the word "No") though only instrumental performances as there will be no singing allowed.

Not watched much new TV this week, though I am do have the first episode of "Lovecraft Country" to watch and the reviews have been impressive.

Someone taught themselves 3D rendering during the lockdown, got a little carried away, and THIS was the result!

I did finish the new Night Vale novel, "The Faceless Old Woman who Secretly Lives In Your Home" which is impressively written even if I'm not sure this is anything like the background I'd pictured for TFOWWSLIYH. It manages to be grander and, at the same time, pettier and cruller than I'd thought it would be. Impressive though.

Next up is "At Childhood's End", the Doctor Who novel where 7th Doctor companion Ace meets the 13th Doctor, all written by Ace herself, Sophie Aldred. So far it's excellent, with some interesting discussion about the Doctor's hypocrisy about weapons... S/He may not carry a gun (apart from the times they have) but 7th certainly didn't object to Ace carrying and using Nitro-9. Also how Ace managed to become a multimillionaire philanthropist. :)

Random question of the week: Most importat advice you'd give your younger self were you able to?

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

Who told you social distancing rules are being enforced in Scottish schools?

[icon_uk]

In classrooms they, apparently, are. And now I feel I should be adding a question mark there

[tripodeca113]

My test results came back, I’m healthy.

Supernatural season 15 is planned to start airing again, after a length hiatus. In October the Winchesters long, long journey will finally end. I remember a person in high school saying that the show had been going downhill since season six. I don’t know what happened since then….

The head writer of Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2, has been replaced. Along with the game’s release being pushed back, this doesn’t inspire much confidence. I see two options,1) the next few months are spent fixing a mostly finished game up for release, 2) a bunch of major changes are made to the games design and story in the last few months.

Well the local care centre has shut down. They haven’t said it outright, but most people assume it’s to bulldoze it and build new beach front properties, and if they have to screw over disabled people then so be it.

Finally broke down and pre-ordered Cyberpunk 2077. Having finished The Witcher games, there’s a lot to be excited for, but I am familiar with their common shortcomings.

El Camino that Breaking Bad movie, is going to be released on DVD.

The New Mutants, is finally going to be released. Obviously, Disney has no faith in it, and is quietly kicking it out the door, thankfull that due to the pandemic they might get away with this.

[thezmage]

The thing with Supernatural is that it was planned with a five season story arc that it stuck with, then never really sat down and plotted more than a season ahead since then.

[zachbeacon]

Congrats on the clean bill of health.

New Mutants looks like it could be fun (hey, Lockheed!) but I will not be watching it for a long time because they decided to put it in theaters instead of streaming or direct to dvd/blu ray. At least it isn't a thirty dollar rental on Disney +, I guess.

[janegray]

Never watched Supernatural, but I know through Tumblr that the characters have gone through a ton of torture porn. After 15 seasons of suffering, I hope they finally get a happy ending.

[thezmage]

The advice I’d give my younger self is pretty simple and, I’m guessing, universal: “you’re not straight, you can’t make yourself be straight, stop pretending”

[cygnia]

Ace/13? I need to get a copy of this!

[janegray]

Been watching Gravity Falls, I'm up to half of S2.

To be honest, it was a huge disappointment. Absolutely everybody had been praising this show to high heavens, never heard a negative opinion about it, so I expected to enjoy it. But I just find it mediocre :/

[owlbrigade1]

I could never get into it due to the art style. The whole over stylised thing is just overdone to me, I'm ready for characters to look vaguely human again. So I'm glad to hear I haven't actually missed anything.

Anyway, there is your negative opinion. Being a Negative Nelly, it is a service I provide. :)

[deh_tommy]

What do you think is wrong with the show, might I ask (or at least not as good as lots of others say that is)?

[zachbeacon]

I don't think it lives up to the hype but it was enjoyable enough. I get why people love it.

I am completely baffled at the praise for the show about the lesbian space rocks, though. Is there an episode I can skip to where the plot picks up?

I think that's why I avoid a lot of long running anime now. I keep hearing "Jo Jo is great once you get past the early stuff". I want something I can enjoy now.

Speaking of Anime, I just finished the first arc of the Great Pretender (a show about con men cheating bad people) and its great. Its a shame the last half of the series is locked in Netflix jail.

[leahandillyana]

The situation in Poland gets rapidly worse. There's a sharp increse in violence for trivial reasons: for having colourful hair as a teen or colourful clothes as a child, for running a climate change awareness compaign, for displaying support with Belarus, or even liking Asian food. Brown shirts are openly marching and heil hitlering through the streets. Nowhere is safe. I feel like a coward for not facing them openly. Honestly, the advice I'd give a younger me would be to emigrate to Ireland as fast as I could, health be damned.

[deh_tommy]

You are not a coward and I’m sure you do more than you give yourself credit for. I think in that kind of climate, each day you live is an act of bravery and defiance in and of thatself.

If I’m not being rude, might I ask: why Ireland?

[lilacsigil]

You're not a coward. Living as yourself in that environment is an act of bravery.

[iamrman]

I have been binging the complete Onslaught and DC Rebirth Superman. I started to lose interest near the end of the Onslaught event, but the DC Rebirth Superman was fairly decent throughout. I especially liked that Jon socked Damien in the stomach the first time they met.

[thezmage]

Greg Berlanti is going to do a live-action adult Powerpuff Girls show for the CW. Pretty clearly a bad idea to anyone paying attention but I’m busy speculating on what the first spinoff will be

I’m betting Dexter’s Lab

[icon_uk]

Live action versions of PPG and Dexter's Lab would be... unsettling.

Johnny Bravo might be inherently less disturbing? I guess?

[cyberghostface]

Netflix cancelled 'I Am Not Okay With This' because of the coronavirus. Real shame as the first season was fun.

[speedingtortoise]

Aw damn it! That is incredibly disappointing. I thought the first season was amazing.

[skjam]

I reviewed the book version of Lovecraft Country a bit back, liked it.

This last week I was on the Convergence Online 80th Anniversary of Marvel panel, hope to have a Youtube link by next week.

Over at my blog, I post my thoughts on my recent binge, Singapore crime drama "Unriddle." http://www.skjam.com/2020/08/24/tv-review-unriddle-season-one/

Advice to younger self? "Here's the winning lottery numbers for (date), don't spend all the winnings in one place."

[elf]

The RNC plan of "we'll just leave the platform as-is, and support the president" is both horrifying and hilarious, because the 2016 platform was designed as an anti-Obama rant. The former plan was basically, "condense the platform into a postcard."

But instead, by renewing the 2016 platform and handwaving any new ideas with "eh, whatever That Guy says," they're (still) saying:

The President has been regulating to death a free market economy that he does not like and does not understand. He defies the laws of the United States by refusing to enforce those with which he does not agree. And he appoints judges who legislate from the bench rather than apply the law.
...
The President has refused to defend or enforce laws he does not like, used executive orders to enact national policies in areas constitutionally reserved solely to Congress, made unconstitutional “recess” appointments to Senate-confirmed positions, directed regulatory agencies to overstep their statutory authority, and failed to consult Congress regarding military action overseas. He has changed what John Adams called “a government of laws and not of men” into just the opposite.
...
Our most urgent task as a Party is to restore the American people’s faith in their government by electing a president who will enforce duly enacted laws, honor constitutional limits on executive authority, and return credibility to the Oval Office.
...
With all our fellow citizens, we have watched, in anger and disgust, the mocking of our immigration laws by a president who made himself superior to the will of the nation. We stand with the victims of his policies, especially the families of murdered innocents.

[zachbeacon]

The RNC really made a much better case for a Biden presidency than the DNC.

(Aren't election years the one time politicians are supposed to pretend to care about voters?)

[leahandillyana]

Full chronicle of August events in Poland
❎ 07.08 - LGBT activist arrested in Warsaw for attacking a homophobic van. Contrary to common sense, guarantees of famous people and legal opinions, the court decided to arrest her for 2 months. On the same day, the police brutally pacified the protest in defense of the activist, arresting a total of 50 people. The official Facebook profile of the Warsaw police joked about its brutal action, comparing it to the murder of George Floyd.
❎ 07.08 - In Warsaw, hooligans tried to break into the apartment of the pro-abortion activist of the Dziewuchy Dziewuchom Foundation.
❎ 07.08 - In Poznań, two teenage girls were brutally attacked by a woman because one of them had pink hair.
❎ 9.08 - MEP Joachim Brudziński said that "leftism" should be enjoyed, because Putin deals with LGBT people differently.
❎ 11.08 - In Poznań, a man was beaten with a baseball bat and a man was robbed for "fagot appearance".
❎ 14.08 - In Wałcz, a man attacked a 17-year-old boy, his 10-year-old sister and a 15-year-old friend, because the boy had colored hair. The attacker hit the victim in the head with a dummy pistol.
❎ 15.08 - The "Victory March" organized by nationalists took place in Warsaw, with a large number of neo-Nazi circles. The organizers have announced a war with the LGBT community.
❎ 15.08 - In Warsaw, an activist, Linus Lewandowski, was beaten up in front of his home because he was holding hands with a boyfriend.
❎ 16.08 - A homophobic rally was held in Warsaw at the gate of the University of Warsaw. Its participants threatened LGBT people, including gas chambers and lit rainbow flags.
❎ 16.08 - In Warsaw, a group of men gathered in the evening in front of an apartment with a rainbow flag hanging on it, threatening its tenants with death.
❎ 17.08 - A van appeared on the streets of Poznań, spreading lies and hatred towards LGBT people. Despite the court ban, when the police are passive, the van plays hateful content from the speakers.
❎ 17.08 - Światrolnika.info website announced that "LGBT ideology" threatens Polish agriculture.
❎ 18.08 - Legal billboards with homophobic content were hung in Białystok.
❎ 18.08 - The Kai Godek Foundation presented a draft amendment to the law prohibiting LGBT manifestations.
❎ 18.08 - In Sosnowiec, several hundred people attacked, insulted and threw eggs at an LGBT picket.
❎ 19.08 - Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced that municipalities that lost EU funding due to homophobia will receive money from the Justice Fund. The first of them (Tuchów) received three times more money than expected from European funds.
❎ 20.08 - In Poznań, a participant of the Short Waves Festival was physically attacked for his "fagot" appearance.
❎ 20.08 - On TV Trwam, the Łódź education superintendent said that "LBGT is a virus". He was later fired. On Monday, PiS chairman Ryszard Terlecki said he agreed with the words of the former curator.
❎ 21.08 - In Warsaw, a random woman was dubbed a "rainbow whore" and the attackers threatened to tear her clothes off because she had a striped dress that was considered an LGBT symbol.
❎ 21.08 - A demonstration of local neo-fascists "Stop LGBT" took place in Katowice. At the sight of a person with colored balloons, the participants rushed at him and, with the passivity of the police, began to make a Nazi greeting.
❎ 21.08 - In Bydgoszcz, a group of men beat the clients of the LGBT Red Pub club.
❎ 21.08 - In Wrocław, a woman was attacked on a bus for rainbow sneakers.
❎ 22.08 - In Lublin, local neo-fascists organized an evening patrol against LGBT people, "Lublin is a city without freaks".
❎ 22.08 - In Gdańsk, a woman had insults curled at her because she had two rainbow flags in her backpack. She was threatened with death, and none of the passengers reacted.
❎ 22.08 - In Bielsko-Biała, masked attackers destroyed the stand of the Together party and attacked its activists with gas, because there was a rainbow flag at the stand.
❎ 23.08 - In Wrocław, a man devastated the stand of the "Change your stove" campaign because he had read "Change your gender" wrongly.

[juniper6]

Apparently 2020 was not sucking enough for my family, so this week’s news is that my mother has stage 4 lung cancer. Treatment will be palliative only. She’s 83, and just for the record, a lifelong non-smoker.

BTW I had to get a new Dreamwidth account because, um, reasons. My username before was junipepepper and now I’m juniper6, which I actually prefer. I have the same default icon. I only comment intermittently, but I figured I should let y’all know so in case anyone is carrying any feelings of affection or (more likely) irritation for me, you’ll know where to direct them.

[icon_uk]

My sincerest sympathies.

Having been through a similar situation, the politest thing I can say is that cancer can just fuck the fuck off, though I also found palliative care staff to be amongst the most amazing people I have ever met.

[gnarll]

My local theatre has started selling tickets for New Mutants.

[zachbeacon]

Looks like AMC is doing 15 cent tickets.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/media/amc-reopening-ticket-prices/index.html

It doesn't seem worth it.

I'm saying that as someone who has waited years for this movie.

[werehawk]

Speaking of Powerpuff Girls, I wish the Powerpuff had crossed over with Marvel's Empyre crossover.
https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/Beat_Your_Greens/Gallery

[werehawk]

And Buttercup beat Baby Yoda to the bite:
https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/Beat_Your_Greens/Gallery?file=Tumblr_p88v2byEwL1qhry52o6_400.gif