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.

I feel we have to mark the passing of SCOTUS Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died on Friday at the age of 87. Her combination of absolute willpower, ferocious intellect, biting wit and her tireless campaign against gender discrimintation has helped shape the social playing field in the US for decades.

In contrast, the unseemly scrambling of the current administration to fill her vacant seat before the November election is a display of breathtaking hypocrisy, even by the standards of orchestrator Mitch McConnell, who notably prevented the Obama administration from appointing a Judge to SCOTUS 10 MONTHS before the 2016 election because it was "too close". We shall see what develops, but it's unlikely to be edifying.

In the UK, the Prime Minister is about to announce yet another set of changes to the rules about social interaction in light of a rise in Covid-19 cases. As you might imagine, we are breathless and agog for this latest, what feels like the 413th, amendment in the past six weeks, and this time to close things down further.

In good news, the WHO has confirmed that the WHO African Region is free of wild poliovirus.

Sadly, Netflix and the Henson Company have confirmed there will be no Season 2 of "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance", the day after it won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. (Not sure I'd have said it wasa children's program)

Miraculous Ladybug has a movie "Miraculuous World" on Disney Channel this Friday as Paris' finest visit New York and meet THEIR local heroes.

Watched "Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous" a new animated series on Netflix which is a sort of side story about the advanced preview visitors to what sounds (as so many things do in JW) like the cool idea of a kids summer camp within the grounds of JW but which (as so many things do in JW) is a complete disaster in terms of Health, Safety and general Survivability. It's... okay, the kids are generic but, with one exception (a neurotic kid who has read ALL the emergency procedures before arriving), they have the survival instinct of a depressed lemming and that's before the events of "Jurassic World" happen at the other end of the island... It's kind of hard to root for them to be honest, but it's set up so there's a season 2.

Random question - Your favourite dinosaur?

Comments

[owlbrigade1]

My favourite dinosaur is not a dinosaur, but a synapsid. I love dimetrodons. It gets lumped into the dinosaur genre though. Before my dad died of cancer when I was a kid, he gave me a big bag of dinosaur toys, back when we thought that T-Rexes and Iguanodons were green scaly tripods [yeah, I'm old] but the dimetrodon was the one he ended up playing with me the most. So, even though it is not an actual dinosaur, it is dino enough for me.

I am legit surprised that a souped up version has not appeared in the Jurassic Franchise yet. They'd probably have it breathe fire or something though, so maybe it is for the best.

If I was a kid, then I'd have enjoyed Cretaceous Park though. Obviously as an adult I can't help but see all the plot holes, and I'd have enjoyed it more if vg unq unq gur thgf gb npghnyyl bss n xvq vafgrnq bs bayl cergraqvat gb qb fb, but the kids will love it and it isn't so glaring that adults can't also enjoy it in a turn your brain off kind of way.

As far as the rest of the world goes, I am going to take a Douglas Adamsian approach and declare it to be a room on which I have closed the door on. For now, at least. Maybe when I reopen that door everyone in the room will have figured out how to not ruin everything.

[leahandillyana]

My dinosaur favourite are the Scansoriopterygidae, a family of tiny bat-winged proto-birds. My depression has worsened significantly recently despite spectacularly good Saturday (I bought several specimens of various minerals at mineral market, bought half of Black Butler series dirt-cheap, baked a divine spicy apple-plum-pomergranade tart, played with a kitten, and found a family of amazing parasol mushrooms in the forest). I lost 10 kg weight during the summer despite not really trying. That's good news, I think. I don't have much else to say.

[tripodeca113]

Hooray the Mulan live-action remake has been a bust in China! Disney wanted to court Chinese audiences, but made no effort to do any research or get consultation, alienating them with a generic Western story, with a handful of concepts that they badly mangled.

The Mandalorian season two had a trailer!....Sadly I don’t believe in internet streaming, so I’m waiting for the DVD release.

Archer season 11 has started.

Oh fuck, they redesigned to local library website so it’s ugly. I can only assume this a ploy by The Man to destroy public libraries.

Oh no. I’ve learnt about a planned US remake of Peep Show. We’ll that announced last year, so it’s probably been delayed.

The Harry Potter game chosen a bad time to release its trailer….

[donnblake]

So their willingness to cozy up to Chinese markets extends to supporting human rights violations but not to bothering to figure out what sort of movie Chinese audiences wanted to watch?

Huh. Setting aside the ethical considerations as probably irrelevant to the people making these decisions, you'd think that sheer greed would cause the two of those to weigh differently in the balance.

[deh_tommy]

I’m don’t have much attachment to the original Mulan, but by gosh is the new one such culturally tone-deaf, sexist, boring drivel. The cool bird witch deserved a better movie. Heck, how cool would that be to see Mulan fighting the bird witch?

Why, what happened with Harry Potter? Did J.K. Rowling say something bad again?

[icon_uk]

At this point I don't think JKR needs to.

She's generated enough ill will against herself to have people go off her already without anything new being added.

It's sort of a shame as the "Hogwarts Legacy" PS5 trailer looks okay, but suffers from the fact that since technology is not a thing in the Wizarding World, Hogwarts in the late 1800's is pretty much indistinguishable from the present day version.

[stubbleupdate]

I assume that if Hogwarts Legacy is set before the invention of indoor plumbing, it'll include students shitting on the floor and magicking it away

It is canon

https://twitter.com/wizardingworld/status/1081242428105998336

[thezmage]

I'd always assumed that to mean they crapped their pants and magicked it away

[stubbleupdate]

Not if they're wearing robes.


If Hogwarts Legacy doesn't have a designated button to make your teenage student drop a squat on the cobbles and shit out last night's dinner, it will be an affront to JK's legacy.

Of course, that would turn the whole school into a gender neutral bathroom, and i can't imagine her being happy with that

[thezmage]

The robes in the series were more like overcoats or the like, they still wore pants over them

[owlbrigade1]

There has been such a torrent of bad J. Karen rubbish that I've lost track. Have we mentioned the new book of hers, written under the male pseudonym that honours one of the fathers of conversion therapy, which is all about a male predator who dresses as a woman? And to make it extra skeevy, adds Islamophobia to the transphobic tropes by having him do murders in a burqa; so that it plays into all the early oughties only evil people wear burqas tropes too. Was that one last week? It just all kinda runs together right now.

Anyway, a new HP game came out and Warners Bros and the Dev Team have been hitting the PR trail saying J. Karen had nothing to do with it, in order to try and save profits, which has riled up her stans and the transphobes to promote her in some really horrible rhetoric. And it has also prompted a lot of much more decent people to point out that even if she isn't involved creatively, she still gets royalties and can use monies it made as future bargaining chips for more money for her to splash on anti-trans campaigns in future contracts.

It is a whole mess. Don't buy Harry Potter or her Strike novels merch, please.

[cyberghostface]

I’m no fan of Rowling but the book is not “all about” a man who dresses up and preys on women, nor is the character defined as being transsexual or transvestite.

https://amp.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/sep/15/rowling-troubled-blood-thriller-robert-galbraith-review

[skjam]

I continue to work from home; last update was maaybe visiting the office in January. I miss random treats. The last thing the company handed out was neck gaiters for everyone in early April. I also miss humans, but on my weekly trips to the grocery store, I see so many mask slackers that I'm not going to push my luck.

Favorite dinosaur? I am basic, and like old-fashioned T-Rex.

Over at my blog, I am into my Falloween viewing, so have a Christopher Lee movie. http://www.skjam.com/2020/09/22/movie-review-horror-hotel-1960/

Currently, I'm reading "Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak", which is a licensed book that has a character with Ginger Rogers' name and likeness, but clearly not a dancer and actress. One of the weird bits is that it's written by Ginger's real life mother!

[cyberghostface]

I’m a fan of velociraptors.

[informationgeek]

Big fan of the Dilophosaurus (or at least, the Jurassic Park version). Very cool looking. Like the frills on it. Though, the real versions are said to be even larger, so that's nifty!

Won this cool Mickey Mouse comic collection on eBay. Its one of those classic collections that Fantagraphics likes putting out for 30 bucks a pop. Got my book for only five books, so that was nice. ^^


Also also, Wandavision. It looks sooooo cool. Not sure what's going on, but I can't wait to find out!

[janegray]

You know what they should make? A live action remake of Banana Fish, with a different ending.


Spoilers spoilers spoilers


Because it's too much of a shame that a series as wonderful as that had such a shitty ending.

The Word Of God justification for it pisses me off too.

"X had to die because they were a murderer."

So the gay character, who started murdering people as a direct result of being sold to pedophiles as a child, has to die for his sins.

But the straight character who murdered people for personal gain gets to live.

Fascinating.

[malurette]

Favourite dinosaur, favourite dinosaur, I don't know, all of them? Can I say any dinosaur-shaped cookie?

Gotta add, sweet little Petrie from Land Before Time is not my favourite but has been on my mind lately because the guy who voiced him in the old French dub recently passed away--and as he was also Astérix' original voice, he's going to be dearly missed. RIP Mr Carel and thank you for all the childhood memories.

[deh_tommy]

Dangit, I haven’t even properly watched Miraculous Season 3 yet. Miraculousubs (last I checked) isn’t active anymore and that’s still not on Netflix in our country (the subtitles there are frustratingly lifted directly from the English dub, but still).

I really liked Henry Stikmin from a while back, so I’ve been playing Among Us! a fair bit. That scratches my Cluedo itch, but man am I a horrendous detective. I swear I’ve killed more people as a Crewmate than as The Impostor...

I made a Doctor Who AMV (LAMV?). That’s pretty rough, but I had fun making that. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to watch (if any). Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!

I’m not sure if that’s fair for me to choose a favourite anything, since that usually depends on my mood and I feel like everything deserves a chance, but I’ve always been fascinated with pter[anodons/odactyls] and ankylosaurs.

[scorntx]

Favourite dinosaur? Dunno. They're all pretty great.
Kind of have a fondness for Spinosauridae as a whole.
... except Spinosaurus, which let the team down by turning out to look goofier than it used to.
Favourite non-dinosaur that might as well be a dino is Lipleurodon.


Speaking of favourites, the Radio Times did a poll to see who everyone's favourite Doctor is.
David Tennant won, just beating out Jodie.
Poor Peter Davidson was last. Ouch.
(Kind of surprised that Capaldi was third place, given there was that whole hoo-ha of "ooh, nobody's likes Who anymore because it's got an old guy!"
... though the cynical response might just be he's third place because he was the last guy in the job?)

Wouldn't have gone for Tennant meself. While I do think RTD's run (at least, seasons 3 and 4) was when the show was really firing on all cylinders, I'm not just so wild about Tennant himself.
... but that's mainly because the man seems to be frikken everywhere these days.

[donnblake]

For completely non-objective reasons, my Doctor is and will probably always be Eccleston. I'm not surprised Tenant won, though- I think a lot of the current fandom, at least in the US, came on during the Tenant years.

[mazway_75]

It's like when the show hit the U.S. and for most American fans, Tom Baker was the Doctor (thanks to how long he played the role) and the visibility helped.

For another example, when I was a kid, I always thought Roger Moore was the "only" James Bond and didn't get into Connery until later. Then reading kids of '90s thinking Brosnan their Bond and sure current kids would think Craig.

This is mostly my biases against the Chibnall era seeping through, but...

[deh_tommy]

Okay, I love Jody as the Doctor, but how did she get second place?

Re: This is mostly my biases against the Chibnall era seeping through, but...

[scorntx]

She's the current incumbent?
Just a hunch.

[mazway_75]

Reading on Dark Crystal Age of Resistance axing, sounds like the problem was that Netflix expected large budget but it ballooned in production which also ran much longer than they'd planned. Then some backstage issues and also how planning for season 2 taking much longer so it might be a year before they could start filming so Netflix cutting it.

I liked it but another factor on the budget was the insistence on a big A-list cast when you really couldn't tell who was voicing who. A regular voice cast might have been much better both budget and performance wise and just too distracting.

[iamrman]

I'm going to be pretty basic and say my favourite dinosaur is the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Especially Rexy from Jurassic World. It was good to see an older lady give those young-uns what for.

[stubbleupdate]

Has anybody else read Piranesi?

I really enjoyed it and blitzed it in only a few hours. Very readable, and very unlike Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

[juniper6]

Rest in peace, RBG. May your memory be for a blessing. Her passing during the holiest period of the Jewish year is portentous; we shall see what comes of it.

Also this week, my beloved cousin died—and no one had informed me of her rapidly deteriorating condition, so that was terrible. My mother, it turns out, does not have lung cancer as previously reported; she actually has metastasized melanoma in her lungs (still stage 4), and they’re doing scans this week to see where else it might have spread to and whether there’s anything they can do. Also this week, my 25-year old daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy after having had a number of major clinic/tonic seizures. She will be forced off of our health insurance in on her birthday in March per U.S. law, unless the fucking Republicans manage to get the whole Affordable Care Act overturned, in which case she’d be tossed off the policy immediately. My husband is a PhD computer scientist who specializes in wireless network security, so given the state of the world, he’s badly overworked. But at least he’s well-paid. We probably won’t be bankrupted by our daughter’s condition.

Sorry. I just feel like I’m standing in rough surf. I can barely catch my breath before the next wave hits.

There are about three volumes of Astro City that I never got around to reading, so I think I’m going to buy one or more of them for some escapist reading.

[donnblake]

Apropos of very little, it occurs to me that given the proliferation of facial recognition algorithms and mass surveillance, if I were part of some shadowy government/corporate cabal, the *last* thing I would want to do is manufacture a crisis that encourages everyone to wear masks.

[silverhammerman]

I've always been partial to the ankylosaurus. I just love those armored plates!

My reading continues apace, at least until I return to work next week. Rereading The Metabarons I was reminded again of how much I'd like to see Aghora's story dissected by someone more qualified than myself. Aghora, for those not familiar, is the fourth Metabaron, the brain of a male infant implanted into the body of a female. He ends up as this whole tangle of trans-ness who Jodorowsky is clearly unprepared to handle in any meaningful way.

[remial]

father and brother: don't care
mother: Brontosaurus
me: either Iguanodon or Ankylosarus

[zachbeacon]

The passing of RBG is a tragedy and the discussions around her death are terrifying. Mitch McConnell is a monster and one 87 year old should not be the one thing preserving our government.

I took off work last week for my birthday and did very little. Now I’m playing catchup at work.

So Funimation decided to charge me two weeks into my one month free trial. Considering their customer service still hasn’t gotten back to me and the streaming service has major issues anyway, I think I’m going to watch as much as I can in the month that I’ve now paid for and then cancel.

My favorite dinosaur as a kid was the Deinonychus.

[thezmage]

Yeah, if only more people had voted for Hillary RBG could have retired and we could have had a liberal majority supreme court.

[zachbeacon]

She won the popular vote. Aside from Kerry, every Dem since her husband has. It doesn't matter because the Electoral College decides the election. Considering the mess Trump is making of the Census, that already broken system is going to be even worse in the next ten years.

The deeply frustrating thing to me is the GOP stonewalled Merrick Garland for nearly a year after Scalia died and now it looks like the Democrats are letting them force someone through in a month.

[thezmage]

The Democrats aren’t letting them do anything. There is literally nothing they can do to stop the GOP from doing this. If four GOP members discover that it is in their best interests to block this then it’ll happen but that is the only scenario in which they don’t “let” this happen. But that certainly won’t happen if they know that people will blame the democrats for “letting” this happen instead of the GOP for making this happen.

[janegray]

The GOP had the majority so they could do whatever they wanted. Because right-wingers always vote, even mid term.

I agree that the Dems have the tendency to let their civility get in the way of actually getting shit done (Mrs. Obama, you are a wonderful person and I love you, but "they go low, we go high" is an absofuckinglutely terrible strategy that is guaranteed to fuck you over. It's why the side with 30% support has been driving the country for 40 years).

At the same time, the Left is stuck in this loop where people refuse to vote Dem because the Dems aren't doing enough -> the Dems get too few seats and are effectively rendered powerless so they can't do anything regardless of intentions -> people refuse to vote Dems.

[thezmage]

Also the Republicans are focused on making the government as powerless as possible while the Democrats want the government working and helping people, so any sort of attempt to use leverage is inherently more powerful when used by the GOP, who wants to shoot the hostage, than the Democrats, who want the hostage alive and healthy

It would also help if the media and others didn’t seem bound and determined to treat the Democrats as if they were the only ones with agency and, thus, anything the GOP does is the Democrats fault for “not stopping them” instead of their fault for actually doing it.

[thezmage]

Supergirl is ending next season.

The episode #ItsComplicated of Superhero Girls just aired. Carol Ferris is dating another guy to make Hal jealous, only it turns out that the guy is actually Sinestro, who is dating Carol... to make Hal jealous. Thought that would interest the people here.

I have decided to distract myself from the nightmare reality/celebrate Halloween by watching all of the Scooby Doo movies (That I can watch for without paying more than I already have, that is) in chronological order by Halloween.

I made it through the direct to TV ones so far:

Scooby Doo Goes Hollywood is imminently forgettable. You can see the seeds of the "Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy run around for 11 minutes" episodes in this one.

Scooby Doo Meets the Boo Brothers barely has the Boo Brothers in it at all (good) and actually has a bit of a mystery to it but apparently Shaggy is descended from a confederate general? Is that really continuity we want to establish? At least he didn't keep any of that racist's money.

Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School shows that the boys are terrible teachers. They come in with no lesson plan, barely do any teaching, gets the girls kidnapped, and then leaves with no notice. Otherwise an enjoyable film.

Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf is just extremely random and unfocused. Dracula for turns Shaggy into a werewolf so he can compete in a car race. Despite being released only a month after Ghoul School, the very character designs in this one are drastically different and you can see how A Pup Named Scooby Doo was either inspired by or inspired these designs.

Scooby Doo in Arabian Nights was not as racist as I feared a 1994 Arabian Nights movie would be. It's also not really a Scooby Doo movie as most of the movie is Yogi and Boo Boo as the genies in a gender swapped Aladdin and Magilla Gorilla as Sinbad the Sailor.

It was rough. I'm not the biggest fan of the "This time, the monsters are real" era but the contrast with the pre-Zombie Island movies will definitely make me appreciate them more.

[zachbeacon]

Honestly, I find enjoyment in both stories where the monsters are real and fake so I’m fine either way as long as it’s a good story and there isn’t too much Scrappy or Flim-Flam.

Besides, everyone knows there are really only two realities in the Scoobyverse; the one where Shaggy is a vegan and the one where he isn’t.

Have you seen the Scooby/Batman movie from a couple years ago? Obviously their team-ups go way back but I especially enjoyed this one because its Brave and the Bold Batman and IIRC the gang seem to be the Mystery Incorporated versions.

[thezmage]

I am okay with real monsters but I do honestly feel like the show loses a little something when they occur. Either they eschew a real mystery in favor of just having them run for 11 minutes or they pull out some weird bullshit to give them an actual fighting chance (Samurai Sword). Witch’s Ghost is still my favorite real monster movie because first they solve a mystery and then when the real monster shows up they use their cleverness to work out how to defeat them using their smarts rather than some random power up.

The Brave and the Bold crossover was one of my favorites. Maxwell Atoms (of the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) has written the next movie that comes out in three weeks in which they’re apparently fighting Johnathan “the Scarecrow” Crane with the help of Elvira and Bill Nye (I don’t really get what the thought process behind this mix of characters is)

[lego_joker]

Maxwell Atoms has written what?! Are you serious?

The Scooby/B&B movie is one of my all-time favorite installments from either franchise (the Arkham scene alone is worth the price of admission); they're actually rolling out a sequel?

[thezmage]

Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo, coming out October 6th

While it does have the Scarecrow in it, I don't know to what degree it is going to function as a sequel to BatB, as it reportedly has no DC superheroes in it. It does appear to be in the sort of continuity that spans Curse of the 13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island

[hamimi_fk]

My son (9yo) loves The Dark Crystal and I haven’t had the heart to break the news about there not being another season. I’m disappointed about it too tbh.

My son is also a MASSIVE dinosaur enthusiast and refuses to watch the new show until he gets a new JW toy to sit and watch it with. Fun fact that I have not told my son yet: There’s toys for the new show! My first thought when I saw a commercial for them was wtf. =\

My son’s favorite dinosaur is probably the T-Rex, though I know he wishes he could say it was mosasaurus (but you know, the whole not a Dino thing lol). Mine is the Spinosaurus.

[bruinsfan]

Favorite dinosaur: brontosaurus

I received a great surprise this morning, as my outdoor/alley cat who'd been missing 9 days turned up wet and miserable but in good health. The only one more thrilled than me is his 6-month-old daughter, who is now glued to his side.

[chalicother]

My favorite dinosaurs is Therizinoisaur, but I have love for Aquilops and many others.

Waiting for a response from my interview last week for another paleo-monitor job.

Have to deal with the courts later.

Read some comics on Comixology. The Red Goblin saga seemed to me to be all right..? I don't know. Felt less grand than it felt it was suppose to be. Also felt that Jonah's mistake was treated out of character for Peter for that period of his life.

Still keep tabs on Once Piece, Fairy Tail, and New Prince of Tennis.
Still hoping for Chooper to get screen time as a Chooper fan.

Fairy Tail....I just want Gajeel screen time.

New Prince of Tennis.....Let Tezuka win.

Also read the Megatron Comic.

Got a gift, Binti

My Igbo classes ended, but I still really need to study badly.

Saw the last episode of Samurai Jack, but only episode 2 and 3 of Season 5, so I got the jist, but hope seeing the rest of the season.

Though I will admit I am getting tired of time travel to fix stories, when the story spent most of the time in the future.

Finally, getting a chance to finish Punisher.

Finally have Grad Schools to apply to, but I am just so anxious that it's hard to apply.