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.

Voting is now definitely off and running in the US elections. Voting has never been more important, so if you haven't yet, we actively encourage you to do so.

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of a week.. In fairness, a sentence that could describe pretty much the entire year so far

A week that saw the swearing in of a new Supreme Courst Justice in the US with, many would suggest, inappropriate haste, and cementing a Conservative bias for some time to come unless things change significantly.

A week that saw Pope Francis speak up for civil unions for homosexual couples.

A week NASA confirmed that there is more water on the Moon than suspect, which is good news for any future moon missions.

A week I found the instagram of an adoarably cheery looking hedgehog. Look, it's 2020, we grab our happiness where we can.

The Mandalorian Season 2 starts on Friday, so that's something else to look forward to.

A Happy Hallowe'en to those taking part, to whatever extent the world allows you to this year!

Which actually leads me to this weeks random question(s): How big a deal is Hallowe'en in your neck of the woods? What are the traditions? (I know it varies from country to country and would be fascinated to know regional variations)

Comments

[lordultimus]

California Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring California companies to name minority or LGBTQ leaders.

[donnblake]

Casting a fairly broad net, (a Board of Directors of more than four but less than nine members needs to come up with two individuals who self-identify as "Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native, or who self-identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender," and it's depressing that many are going to fail to do so) but I applaud the move.

[bradygirl_12]

Halloween traditions in New England are pretty traditional: carving/painting pumpkins, decorating houses, trick-or-treating, kids allowed to wear costumes to school on Halloween and have a little parade, pumpkin flavors everywhere! :)

Parties are big, too, obviously not this year, but next, maybe.And haunted houses, Jack O'Lantern displays, and mazes are big, too. :)

Salem is always a big deal, complete with a Witches' Samhain ritual.

I think if the Cheeto-In-Chief loses. he'll barricade himself in the White House and they'll have to drag him out kicking and screaming. 'Graceful exit' are not part of Trump's limited vocabulary.

[owlbrigade1]

I've got a fiver in at my local bookie which says that if Trump loses, he'll flee to Russia during his lame duck period. I was gonna put a fiver on him also starting a nuclear war on his way out too, because he's the sort of fragile masculinity that leads to police saying things like "family found dead, no suspects are being sought" in news reports, but then I realised that one didn't make sense. The bet, not the possibility, I mean how'd I collect if I won?

[owlbrigade1]

I refuse to believe there is that amount of water on the moon until I am sitting there and drinking a cup of tea made from it.

I'll admit, I am a bit of luddite when it comes to "exploration" of that sort though. I believe that until a thing has been confirmed with the old MK1 eyeball, or handled by a human hand directly, it can only be speculation and not exploration.

For halloween around my part of Scotland, it used to be bigger. It used to be a big community event and kids would go out guising [which is not the same as trick or treating, except in the most superficial sense, no matter what wikipedia claims] in unescorted groups, but there seems very little of that now. It seems to have become an in-family thing. Kids will get taken to family in a costume and get a snack and see a movie in an auntie or uncle's house, and maybe a school will have a costume day, but the community part of it seems to have fallen by the wayside.

[zachbeacon]

I will be spending my October 31th waiting for the Great Pumpkin to return.


Well, one more week until we find out if America is at least going to pretend to be a democracy. I don’t have high hopes because neither side even bothered to pretend to care about voters this election year.

Started listening to the new Dresden Files (Battle Ground). Thankfully I haven’t noticed the audio issues that the last one had. So far the story has played out more or less how I expected it to and, assuming there isn’t some major reversal at the end, I wonder how this will unfold in future books. This and the previous book were obviously written as one book so its interesting that Peace Talks went out of its way to say Harry isn’t a monster whereas that is NOT the vibe I get from Battle Ground at all.

For any other Butcher fans the planned titles for future books are…
Cinder Spires #2: The Olympian Affair
Dresden Files #18: Mirror Mirror
…but I can’t find an estimated release date for either.

My general sense of exhaustion this past week (and Funimation’s tendency to freeze or crash) has slowed my media consumption this week but here are some thoughts on recent anime I’ve watched.

Kaguya-Sama: Love is War – The second season is even better than the first.

Dragon Ball Super – Its Dragon Ball. Honestly, I like the downtime episodes more than the giant battles for the future of the universe and have since the driving school episode of DBZ. Piccolo is such a good grandpa.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime – I read the first volume of the manga when Comixology had it deeply discounted and liked it enough that this has been on my radar ever since. I was not disappointed.

Dr. Stone – Man, I would not be useful in the post-Apocalypse.

Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin – A really good Darth Vad, er, Char Aznable story. I would have liked to see more of Sayla Mass and Lalah Sune. Lalah vanishes right after her introduction.

The Quintessential Quintuplets – On the one hand it’s a solid enough harem comedy. On the other, it’s a bit like watching How I Met Your Mother and never finding out who the mom is.

Super Hxeroes – I remember a huge uproar when Funimation dropped Interspecies Reviewers. I never watched the show but, considering this show could easily be renamed “Hentai Sentai”, I’m kind of amazed it got through. I’m used to censorship in the form on strategically placed steam or whatever but there are whole scenes where the screen is mostly white.

A Certain …Railgun/Index/Accelerator – I went into this not realizing that (a) it was a giant franchise and (b)its still ongoing*. After consulting an online watch order, I really liked it. While very different from My Hero Academia, its another “superheroes through a Japanese lens” series. As with some American comic properties, many of my favorite characters are clones.
*I think technically the third season of Railgun ended a couple months ago but it looks like Covid slowed down things on the American side.

Noir – I think this first popped up on my radar when I was looking for anime like the Gunsmith Cats manga. It really isn’t (beyond the superficial “girls with guns” stuff) but its still an enjoyable crime thriller.

Somewhat related, I recently discovered catvibetoanime on Twitter. It is literally the same gag every post but it was pretty cute the first few times.

https://twitter.com/CatVibeToAnime/status/1319566351359483904

Also the Darkwing Duck Ducktales special is free on YouTube so that was my Monday night.

The one other thing I watched recently is the new Borat movie. It’s so weird that it doesn’t seem like that long ago that people were speculating that Rudy Giuliani could become president. Now he’s just a national security risk. Admittedly, so is the actual president.

[thezmage]

There’s been a pandemic going on, and that’s had to change the way a lot of campaigning gets donte. I’ve been getting 10 text messages and 2 emails a day, Biden and Harris hosted numerous online GotV fundraisers including one with the stars of a little obscure film franchise known as the Avengers, while meanwhile the GOP has both been continuing to host superspreader rallies and boat parades whilst simultaneously doing everything up to and including forcing through a Supreme Court nominee that they know will push close races in their favor. Both sides have definitely shown that they care about voters this election year and you kinda have to try to not notice.

There were at least two things in Battle Grounds that came as a rather large surprise to me, but I wasn’t following the meta so maybe everybody else saw them coming a long way away

[donnblake]

I live in a college town, so Halloween traditions tend to involve skimpy costumes and hordes of drunken giggling children roaming the streets from party to party.

I'll be playing Ten Candles, a horror-based tabletop RPG with a unique candle-based mechanic, at a friend's house.

[cyberghostface]

I live near Salem, MA so I sometimes visit around Halloween. They always do stuff for Halloween. For the last few years they’ve had a Halloween film festival but it was cancelled this year due to the virus.

[cainofdreaming]

All Hallows is pretty nonexistent here. I mean, nowadays there's Halloween candy and they sell masks and stuff but I don't think anyone does trick or treating. That's more of an Easter thing here, when kids dress up as witches, or at least used to be.

[leahandillyana]

There’s a war going on that is barely paid attention to outside of participating countries. Ormian-majority Artsakh seceded from Azerbaijan, which was followed by Azer military offensive with Turkish support. Nasty anti-Ormian sentiments returned, and there are substantial fears that Azers and Turks intend to commit a genocide should they get the region back. The war, as of today, has over 5000 casualties, including over 100 among civilians. Pro-Ormian protest a few days ago took place in my town. Police had to separate the Ormians, the Azers, and later both from the Polish neo-Nazis. It was dangerous.
I strongly suspect there was an attempted political assassination by government of Poland two weeks ago. The government intends to seize control of privately-owned banks in Poland (as Hungarian government did before) and arrests the CEOs over bogus claims. The lawyer of one of the CEOs, Roman Giertych, used to be a conservative politician allied with the governing party (PIS) in the 00s. He was arrested over bogus claims and lost consciousness during interrogation under circumstances reminiscent of the “suicide” of an opposition politician over a decade ago. Note that the other former ally of PIS, Andrzej Lepper, mysteriously commited “suicide” a few years ago. To hide potential scandal, the tv is constantly talking about how a decade ago o small town PIS politician was murdered.
Furthermore, Poland introduced a complete ban on abortion on Thursday night. The only loophole is when the pregnancy is killing the woman, and even this is to be closed by politicians who sound were proud of themselves. Moreover, on the same night the government of Poland signed a cooperation agreement with Hungarian and Belarusian governments for international protection of unborn life, losing all credibility in eyes of Belarusian democratic activists. They are also planning to ban the possibility of divorce in Poland.
The decisions spured mass protests everywhere in Poland. At least a million people nationwide are marching and shouting in anger. Houses of prominent conservative politicians are constantly surrounded by angry people. People are invading churches to shout their anger at catholic church, which in Poland is very political and spewing anti-LGBT and anti-feminist propaganda. Meanwhile, right wing supporters are mobilizing and calling this “final war for the faith”.
Attitudes among police vary. In some cases, they simply stay around and protect both sides from clashing. Sometimes policemen join the protesting women. Sometimes they aggressively catch and arrest the protesting women. I intend to go on such a protest today. Our town is small, so it shouldn’t be too heated.
Eastern Europe doesn’t celebrate Halloween. Instead, All Saints’ Day (1.11) is extremely important among all Christians. On this day, families visit the graves of their families and friends. Exact rituals vary from country to country. In Poland, people light funeral lights (znicze), and on ASD the cementeries are lit with hundreds of them, looking as if they were on fire.

[lissa_quon]

I've always wanted to see what All Saints Day looks like. It's not a thing here.

Oh lord - Iv'e been seeing hte news out of Poland, I hope you stay safe. This looks fucking insane. I'm sorry your right wing is gone loopy. Wish I could say I didn't know what that's like.

[lissa_quon]

I'm starting to set up a Online Art Convention/Market for the holidays. We'll see how well that goes. If anyone does arts and crafts and is interested lemme know.

As for Halloween - sadly I live in Texas- a lot of teh bible belt tendancies are backed in here. So Halloween is Satan's birthday - we get some trick or treating and one or two church festivals trying to fight back the demons - aaaaand thats about it. This year with the disease it's even less - like theres nothing going on.

I used to do some art festivals that were Halloween and monster focused this time of year but they all died due to economy and covid this year.

[skjam]

More stuck at home than usual because my leg needs to be elevated as much as possible; running out of time off.

Started watching Dragonquest: Adventures of Dai (old school JRPG cartoon, good if you like old school), Yashahime (most interesting for being a Takahashi property without a designated official couple), Golden Kamuy Season Three (tfw you get hit in the head so much you turn Communist) and The Untamed (Chinese live-action; what if the Dark Wizard really meant well? Sadly toned down from the novel where the main characters are lovers to just being best bros.)

For Halloween, I'll prolly just be watching more horror and horror adjacent movies. Over at my blog, I talk about one that's a live action adaptation of anime: http://www.skjam.com/2020/10/27/movie-review-kitaro-2007/

[zachbeacon]

I've been meaning to watch the new Dragonquest and Yashahime but they seem less urgent right now because they're on multiple streaming services.

Did you see the DQ movie from a while back? That ending sure was ... something.

Hope your leg gets better soon.

[cygnia]

What was supposed to be a vacation for me ended up being hell on earth as I got betrayed by someone who claimed to be my best friend. My life was in fucking danger and even after I got away I'm still shaking and crying.

[lissa_quon]

Well shit - you okay now? Fuck. I'm sorry things went pear shaped for you.

[iamrman]

A perusal of the free comics on Comixology led to a deep dive of the classic Marvel G.I. Joe comics. That, in turn, got me thinking of having barious Marvel characters teaming-up/fighting with the Joes/Cobra folks.

I am particularly taken with the idea of Captain America punching Cobra Commander. He does have previous experience fighting snake villains after all.

[stubbleupdate]

Is that cow t-shirt a reference to the Cher Lloyd girls who can't flush properly?

[werehawk]

I'm from New Jersey so my best memories of Halloween is actually the holiday Cabbage Night the night before (called Mischief Night by some, some places its on Halloween Night). Tons of high school kids running around throwing eggs and shooting shaving cream. Some toilet papering of houses but mostly good natured. Rough for sure, but good natured even for the nerd like I was.

I don't know if its still a thing. It was in the 90s.

[scorntx]

That new episode of Star Trek Disco. It was very Western.
Still not sure what opinion to have on the new season, really.
(Though the Disco crew are frikken idiots letting the genocidal empress wander off on her own.)

... quick question, but that Avengers video game that came out a while back... isn't Kamala Khan supposed to be a (the?) main character in it?
Because those LEGO sets based on that game have zero trace of her.
That's more than a little suspicious.


MCU Spider-Man 3 has the Cumberbatch in it.
... thinking after two movies (and Civil War and Avengers) maybe Spidey as the Inexperienced but Plucky Hero In Need of Mentoring has run its course?
(And Cumberbatch working with an inexperienced but plucky doofus... feels... familiar somehow. hmm... all we need is a sarcastic and lazy older guy and a bad-tempered old lady, might have the workings of a comedy of some kind...)

Apparently Marvel are looking to get Oscar Isaac for Moon Knight.
(Interest in Moon Knight suddenly rising.)

Despite everything, still falling sway to the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla hype.
The post-launch stuff about seeing Ireland and Paris does sound interesting...

[zachbeacon]

Star Trek Disco sounds like a holodeck program.

I was also under the impression Ms Marvel was the POV character in the game where the Avengers all look like slight melted wax figures. Assuming there wasn't any malicious intent this could just be another case of Disney dropping the ball on merchandising. There was a time when Baby Groot and Baby Yoda merch didn't exist (because it would have spoiled the characters' existences) and, when I was working retail we couldn't keep some of the Frozen stuff in stock.

I'm miss Spider-Man movies where he doesn't have to be chaperoned by a Sherlock Holmes.

[bolindbergh]

Halloween was unknown in Sweden until about twenty-five years ago when some capitalists imported it solely as a merchandise-selling opportunity.

[tripodeca113]

Well I had to drop some blogs I was reading, when I found out what they supported. Oh well.

The Way of the Househusband is getting an anime version. Hooray!

I've started playing Metal Gear Solid 2.

Sadly due to space concerns, I was forced to uninstall The Witcher 1. Physical it has been replaced by "Vampyr" and "Of Orcs And Men", but it'll live on in my heart.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed again. Drat.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, a fan artist whose work I've liked, but never commissioned (though I've thought about it), started putting some very pro-Trump footers in their social media presence. Disappointed about that.

[janegray]

Halloween is not celebrated in Italy, we have Carnevale and La Befana.

That said, since Halloween is present in the movies and TV shows we have been watching for decades, it's been sort-of adopted through pop culture osmosis. We don't do trick-or-treat, but stores do sell a bunch of Halloween-related decorations, and some kids have Halloween parties.

[thanekos]

It's October 2020, and Kurt Busiek's offered clarification on that never published Final Fantasy IV prequel comic he worked on.

(I didn't think there'd be a factoid to top him initially thinking " .. Cain is a horrible name for the protagonist's friend " or him having been approached to be then-Squaresoft's " in-house ' Americanizer ' ", but there is.)

[t209]

This is my sounding reply for last week before Election, which Trump MAY win due to pandemic, electoral sabotage, "popular across the states, but electoral district say he wins", or many approval ratings not accounting for people who wil sit out the election combination of covid 19 and "I wanted progressives like Bernie and Elizabeth Warren" before going on a revisionist road of "durr, the other candidate was cool and was cheated" (I mean I have a friend who was upset yet don't even remember the amount of candidates that might split the votes, or realize that any winning candidate would end up with pissed off voter base from others. I would have accepted his opinion if not for the fact that his "political" posts tend to include a source from a right wing, which he didn't check the source because it's from Bernie Bros) ala Al Gore (Source despite what post-sellout Simpsons try to say: https://news.gallup.com/poll/9898/2000-presidential-election-midyear-gallup-report.aspx).
Even if Biden still wins, there is still Conservative-leaning Supreme Court.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDYFiq1l5Dg (Do note that don't be happy all of a sudden since some of it weren't used at all...I mean I was disappointed that the politically-aware and "smart" website that was disappointed with Trump not being impeached despite having a Senate lean in his favor and most of the Impeachment being failed stemmed from this.)
Then there are "anti-establishment" (aka Right Wing posing as "sane guys") like Sargon of Akkad, Ben Sharpiro, former TYT host Dave Rubin, and Tim Poole whose main appeal with young people is their rambunctious nature and emulating George Carlin (despite the type of guy who would chew them out).
Then again, I am not sure if this would be read since it's just my frustration-based comment and I do found flaws here, like assuming that Joe Rogan (well, at least due to half of you don't know what a "Shock Jock" is) and South Park (at least based on some poster here assuming that South Park's "humor" is incapable of protesting Authoritarian policies of China in Hong Kong) are some sort of pro-Trump (at least "I am not pro-Trump, but I am totally biased") group even if I find them to be annoying lately.

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/apple-tv-rights-classic-charlie-brown-holiday-specials-new-series/ For those in the U. S. wondering why they aren't being broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company this year.

[bradygirl_12]

Yeah, a 54-year tradition gone down the tubes.

[cygnia]

Oh, to top everything else off? I now have COVID :(

[icon_uk]

Oh dear!

Please take care of yourself, sweetie!