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.

Given the media storm surrounding the whole thing, Trump's Covid-19 infection and treatment doesn't need any coverage from me, apart from mentioning that his first public rally in Florida seemed to be a spectacularly bad idea. Make of the whole suituation what you will.

The GOP in California have been accused of creating the voter fraud they keep saying is an issue by putting up unofficial ballot boxes, and then doubling down when caught doing it.

The UK has instituted three new levels of Covid-related Lockdown levels (already dubbed by some wags "Tiers for Fears") amid resurging infection rates. It's perhaps suggestive of the state of things the three levels are "Medium", "High" and "Very High", they haven't bothered with a "Low". Hopefully the details are not stored on an Excel spreadsheet, because they have a bad track record with that

The Daleks animated series debuts in Novemeber and we saw a first clip at the New Yorks Meta Comic con thingie which shows the unexpected retrun of a VERY old enemy, but a natural for some Dalek-y conflict.

Two new games for Doctor Who were also trailed The Lonely Assassin and The Edge of Reality

The new BBC co-production "The Watch" which was supposed to be based on Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series about the Ankh Morpork City Watch , has had, perhaps, the final nail in it's coffin before it's even aired. Fan reaction to it's trailer has been less than positive (and I only phrase it that way because "communally shat upon it from a great height" might be seen as indecorous) and now Pratchett's daughter and executor Rhianna Pratchett has stated that the series "shares no DNA with my father’s Watch". 

I've been giving anime "Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront" a try, lured in by a action figure I saw in a sale with an interesting design, and a catchy ending (Which apparently has been parodied countless times by fans of other animes who substitute their own characters for the originals.) Not sure about it yet, but it's not bad so far.

I'm trying not to get hooked on "Disney Magic Kingdoms" mobile game. My one absolute rule is I am not spending money on this wretched thing, no matter how tempting it may be.

Random question of the week: Hot beverage of choice on a cold day?

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

"Pound Shop Jacob Wohl" Darren Grimes has been promoting a Times opinion piece that says of him

“For Mr Grimes, the humiliation is less grave but nonetheless real. He has, by his own admission, been exposed as naive, deeply unserious and incapable of behaving with even the minor degree of responsibility required of a figure of mild public renown.”

[zachbeacon]

I can't wrap my head around that description. I though Jacob Wohl was the discount Jacob Wohl.

(Still have no idea how he isn't in prison)

[stubbleupdate]

I won my first 100% trophy this weekend when I completed everything in Control.

Of course, I still have work to do in The Foundation and in AWE



In a way, it's a shame to have finished it off as I enjoyed discovering things in it, and it's a beautiful game


I expect that my next game will be Valhalla, and I'll give the PS4 a rest and read some actual books between now and then. I've just picked up Marisha Pessl's Neverworld Wake after adoring Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

[leahandillyana]

I wanted to write about NICE things todays. About how fun of a deconstruction The Boys tv series was and how I enjoyed *redacted* being pumelled down by heroines more than any other girl power scene. About how I enjoy Assault Lily Bouquet simply because of the reference storm of the series, despite not knowing yet what it is about. How my kittens recovered and one was already adopted. About how I myself want to adopt another kitten. But nope. This is no country for happy or even neutral, mundane news.
The biggest controversy right now, something most Poles for some god forsaken reason care about? Communion into hand, standing. Currently to be given holy communion you have to kneel before the priest and open your mouth wide about at the level of the priest's groin, which was giving me naughty thoughts ever since I've been eight. Communion into hand is standard in most European countries, including catholic churches elsewhere. But in Poland apparently it's a heresy. There are billards displaying a dirty hand reaching for the eucharistia, and it positively ANGERS me. How dare these people think that Jesus, who personally washed the feet of his followers, would reject a dirty hand reaching for him?!! These people just want to feel better than the others, to be metaphorically fellated by the common faithful.

[icon_uk]

Funny you should mention that, because yeah, Communion by mouth has been a topic over here too, for a local event where one priest wanted it and the congregation didn't, partly because of Covid, partly because of it making no real sense to insist on it.

But though the official rules are that the primary method is by mouth (So that none of the fragments of the host which might get left on the partakers hand are wasted), I haven't been at a Mass in probably forty years or more where communion by hand wasn't the choice of at least 98% of the congregation.

The priest didn't win the debate.

[deh_tommy]

I want to be excited for the new Destiny expansion, but given the current climate and pretty much literally every story (including Destiny!) ever, the “use the dark side” angle doesn’t appeal to me too much. Which wouldn’t be too much of a problem to me if they weren’t going to force you down that path, probably so they can chew you out for doing the thing you have no choice in doing.

Anyone here like FNAF?

[donnblake]

I read "Gideon the Ninth," a pretty fun book with a cover blurb of "Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space," and I think that's probably enough for you to know if it's a book for you.

I like cocoa.

[mastermahan]

I second Donn's recommendation. I read the sequel, Harrow the Ninth, as soon as it came out. They're really enjoyable. Cool necromancy action, star-crossed lesbians, and scads of entertaining characters. They're funny, warm books.

[janegray]

Normally I drink Lady Gray tea, Assam tea, or carefully made white tea.

But specifically on cold days my tea of choice is a large mug of boiling hot water on green tea leaves with half a lemon juice and abundant honey. Which, I'm aware, is blasphemy, and does indeed taste horrible. But it's super effective at keeping me from getting sick. That stuff is better than medicine at cold prevention.

[owlbrigade1]

Random question of the week: Hot beverage of choice on a cold day?

Because apparently I am somehow a little old lady in the 1940s, my favourites are either a mug of cream of mushroom soup, a cup of bovril, or a horlicks. It depends on the exact type of cold and what level of comfort I am looking for.

In actual news, via Dan Murrel's youtube channel, Warner Bros is the official studio of wanting people to get infected by Covid and is saying that Wonder Woman will never be shifted from its cinema release date, and -like Tenent- is supposed to be viewed in a movie theater. To which I say: Good luck with that, guys.

I mean, I ain't going. I was falling out of love with movie theaters even before the pandemic, and I sure as hell am not going to be risking my life going to one during a pandemic. I respect the commitment to the visions of auteurs and purveyor of spectacle and the associated prestige thereof, but it ain't enough respect to risk my health for.

Dan Murrell's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/noledan540

[janegray]

I feel conflicted between my loathing for Funkos (those things are hideous) and my desire to own a Demona figure.

I love Gargoyles. That show was formative for me. And Demona is such a fascinating character. I always, always wanted some Demona merchandise.

But the only Demona merch there is is a Funko.

Not even the Rock Candy type, which can actually look decent (the Bombshells Harley Quinn Rock Candy Funko is surprisingly cute). No, just the regular hideous gremlin Funko.

To buy or not to buy...

[icon_uk]

There was an action figure back in the day which still pops up on e-bay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gargoyles-Demona-Sealed-Kenner-Toys/224190083357?hash=item3432c5311d:g:3AoAAOSwvAJfgyFg

[cyberghostface]

I sometimes play Disney Magic Kingdoms but it's all but impossible to finish the limited event quests unless you pay for the premium characters.

[thezmage]

Celestial Seasonings has a Vermont maple ginger tea that I am just addicted to. Almost completely supplanted chai in my diet.

Star Trek Lower Decks had an amazing season finale. After their penultimate episode used the holodeck to tell an epic movie homage story I figured they were gonna go low key for the finale but they actually managed to top themselves.

On the Scooby Doo movie rewatch front, I powered through the rest of the What's New era.

Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness Monster was pretty good. I think they spent a little more on the animation for this than the others. The monster was pretty scary and the music they played for their chase scenes were all very catchy.

Aloha, Scooby Doo was a bland film with some off model characters showing up and a portrayal of native Hawaiians that I, as a white guy, felt might be problematic. Frankly, most of the What's New films had a feeling of exoticism to them that I wasn't sure about. Also a waste of Adam West

Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy was probably the best film in this era. The twist of this film (Iryzn jnf gur bar gur bar snxvat gur zhzzl'f phefr va beqre gb punfr bss gur gernfher uhagre) elevates it over the standard fair, even if there was still a mostly pointless Shaggy and Scooby subplot that took over a fourth of the film. Also Christine Baranski makes everything better.

Scooby Doo Pirates Ahoy was fun. The solution was a bit unrealistic (I know, in a Scooby Doo film?) but it worked by the rules established. There's a great scene where one of the other passengers on the mystery cruise they're on says "If you're such great detectives, maybe you can help me find my missing watch" and it takes them all of ten seconds to deduce exactly where it is (He dropped it under his bed), showing that they can solve mysteries that don't involve masks.

Chill Out Scooby Doo took place in the Himalayas. Other than a reoccurring character from Loch Ness Monster, more exoticism, and a truly torturous explanation for how the kids get involved in the mystery in the first place nothing much to say.

Scooby Doo and the Goblin King: Monsters are real, there's no mystery, a few scenes are macabrely amusing but other than that a stinker.

Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword: Monsters and magic are real, the plot is more disjointed and random than ever, and of course Shaggy and Scooby take all of a day to train and get good enough with a sword to beat an ancient immortal samurai demon, why wouldn't they? I'm convinced that the writers of this spent even less time googling Japan than the previous movies' writers spent googling the Himalayas, Scotland, Egypt, the Bermuda Triangle, Hawaii, Australia, or Mexico. "There's a statue of a dog called Hachiko? Perfect, I'm sure I can fill in the rest by myself"

Scooby Doo the Mystery Begins: Live action cartoon network original film. Even by 2009 basic cable standard the special effects are shit. Real ghosts controlled by a fake one were relatively clever if only they didn't look like they were added with an overhead projector.

Abracadabra Doo starts the most recent DTV Scooby era. Musical chase scenes are replaced with actually tense and dramatic ones. The gryphon was actually a pretty clever monster and we get (hopefully) the last reference to Daphne being clumsy for awhile.

Camp Scare is still my favorite Scooby-Doo movie. Three scary monsters, an underwater town, a mystery you can solve yourself by paying attention but not too easy, fun side characters, funny jokes, entertaining action sequences, everything I could want.

Up next I must endure the sequel to The Mystery Begins, then very few clunkers on the horizon

Never played Disney Magic Kingdoms, but I do enjoy the app game Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. They just added Kim Possible to the game

[deh_tommy]

Wait, Lower Decks came out? I’m not really a Star Trek person, but I was looking forward to that one. Is that any good?

[bradygirl_12]

I've been binging on the Canadian TV series, Murdoch Mysteries, and enjoying it immensely! The characters are compelling and the stories very clever. They mix drama with comedy very well, and can range from crime to spoofing alien invasion stories with the blink of an eye or Halloween traditions that are genuinely spooky. :)

The series starts in 1895 and after 13 seasons (#14 currently being filmed), they are well into the first decade of the 20th century. Set in Toronto, it's a rich, very pleasing series to indulge in, especially if you like beautiful costumes and settings.

[icon_uk]

The Murdoch Mysteries is a lot of fun, and Yannick Bisson is very easy on the eyes

[iamrman]

At the moment I am reading the first volume of Spider-Man: The Next Chapter. Aunt May's chaeacterisation is back to Silver Age levels if annoying, namely being a senile old biddy who keeps fussing over Peter because he's 'such a frail boy'.

Frankly, I lost all sympathy for Aunt May when I found out she used to keep a mermaid captive.

[donnblake]

"Aunt May... used to keep a mermaid captive."

Yeabuwhanow?

[bruinsfan]

Hot chocolate with marshmallows is my cold weather brew.

Back when DC Universe was first running those "fuck Batman" promos for its Titans series I rolled my eyes and took a hard pass. But I checked the Season 1 DVD out of my library recently and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of both the acting and the writing. I've really enjoyed almost everything except the Jason Todd character (which was a given, and I have to hand it to the actor for nailing his snotty punk face-in-need-of-punching vibe) and that guy who played Niles Caulder in the one episode. All of the principal actors and most of the guests have been outstanding. So serve me up my plate of crow—but don't tell Raven!

[icon_uk]

Yes I do like that Niles, but I can't blame the Doom Patrol series for going with Timothy Dalton when they got the chance.

[zachbeacon]

My go-to drink year-round has become tea with honey. In the winter I usually just don’t let it cool as long.

[mister_terrific]

When I was recovering from my brain surgeries back in 2017, I started raiding my wife & daughter's considerable tea stash. I discovered I had a taste for Irish afternoon tea--specifically, the Connemara blend, which sadly isn't available any more. But a few months ago I discovered Bewley's, and it does the trick quite nicely.

[tripodeca113]

The Watch trailer....geez.... I don’t know what I was expecting, but it looks even worse than I thought. Why is Vimes wearing eyeliner? Why is he acting like that? Why does it have a completely different style of humour than the books?

Amazon’s Lord of The Rings show, is apparently going to have more sex and nudity to be like Game of Thrones. Oh dear…

I think Usagi Yojimbo is finally going to do the Tengu Wars storyline. As I understand it, it was first mentioned back in 2006.

The Walking Dead season ten returned after a lengthy hiatus, and got the shows lowest ever ratings.

Supernatural also returned, beginning it’s final run of episodes, and then finally it will be all over.

I finished reading Scott Snyder’s Batman. In the past my high school library only got up to “Death of The Family”, and I got the later volumes out of the library. Kind of a mixed bag overall.

[deh_tommy]

“Amazon’s Lord of The Rings show, is apparently going to have more sex and nudity to be like Game of Thrones...”

Oh for fudge’s sake. Maybe I’m just a prude or maybe that’s arrested development, but unless that’s done well I can’t stand when things add in gratuitous or superfluous “adult” or “mature” bits or when things go dark and gritty for the sake of said maturity/adultness. Especially when they’re steamy makeovers of fairly tame properties like The CW is wont to do.

[hamimi_fk]

Trump saying he’s now immune from Covid and telling a crowd how powerful he feels, saying he wanted to go into the crowd and kiss ever body including “the men (awkward pause) and the very beautiful women” has blown my mind to new heights of WTF. My 7yo nephew even went WTH when he heard what I heard.

Best drink for any cold day will forever be hot chocolate!

[icon_uk]

Well, there was a lot of discussion about the side effects of the steroid that Trump was given.

[agent8]

In respect to the California GOP fraudulent drop boxes. A political analysis site I visit opines that this is a deliberate attempt pick a fight for PR reasons. They project 4 possible outcomes once the CA Secretary of State or the AG calls the Republicans out on it and start legal action:
"The Republicans will complain long and loud about how hypocritical and unfair Democrats are, or how the Democratic Party is trying to suppress Republican votes, or how the Democratic-run government in California is out of control, or all of the above. Meanwhile, this also gives Donald Trump tweetstorm ammunition for a couple of days. "
For those interested the site is electoral-vote . com

[scorntx]

Apparently, DC's looking to make a TV series about Green Lantern, and not focused on Hal, but rather All The Rest.
(Huh. Green Lantern was nine years ago... gosh. You'd think DC would move on by now.)

And apparently they're looking to have the pilot written by Marc Guggenheim.
... sounds about right for DC.


"Communally shat on from a great height" would be a fitting, if crude, choice of words for something about Ankh-Morpork, the city where a god can't say "let there be light" without a multitude of voices responding "what colour?"

... it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, most of the adaptations of Pratchett's works have been kind of solidly okay, usually leaving out the funniest parts.
(No, not still steamin' that Good Omens left out the Elvis joke. Okay, maybe steamin' a bit.)
And some alterations to an adaptation can be necessary... but if you change absolutely everything than in what sense is it an adaptation at all?

[zachbeacon]

I mean I never really liked Hal in the first place but your "all the rest" glosses over the fact that NONE of the three most popular GLs (Hal, John, and Kyle) are on that team. That's baffling.

I mean I'm of the opinion that most people who are really into Hal are are older than me so I can only concluded that all the hard core Alan Scott fans are dead. I've yet to be convinced that ANYONE likes Simon Baz.

I'm cool with Jessica and Guy getting some exposure, though.

[lissa_quon]

Enh been quiet. In the sense of I'm purposely avoiding dramatic shit and news so my serotonin hangs around.

So yea been doing a lot of art - and crocheting. Been doing a "spoopy" art post a day on my twitter. I didn't have the energy for Inktober and co. but by God I have an archive of work to draw from damnit.

My absolute fav warm drink that I rarely get is a good chai latte. I jsut settle for drinking chai black and crying.

[werehawk]

Does no one here drink coffee?!?!

I am not a coffee addict so do enjoy a cup on an occasional cold day.

[janegray]

I drink Italian espresso. That type of coffee is extra strong extra concentrated caffeine, so you are supposed to drink a tiny tiny amount of it. Think sake cup. Anything you can drink in a single sip is not much help to warm you up on a cold day.

[werehawk]

We have leahandillyana to thank for bringing our attention to Poland's really messed up situation for everyone LBGTQ+ (a huge understatement I know). But it looks like CNN is finally reporting about this as of today:

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/world/lgbt-free-poland-intl-scli-cnnphotos/index.html

leahandillyana - I am interested on your take on their reporting...