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.

Well, if you're in America, you don't need me to tell you what day it is. Anything that might be said has been said, so batten down the hatches and here, instead, are twenty one golden retriever puppies frolicking in a field.

After previously mocking the Opposition's endorsement of a recommnendation for a two week "circuit breaker" lockdown a couple of weeks back, Boris Johnson announced a new FOUR week national lockdown for England as of Thursday this week. Given how many lives are impacted, I can't even bring myself to make a sarcastic quip about it. This time around, schools and universities will remain open though.

The protests against draconian new anti-abortion laws in Poland has now seen 12 consecutive days of marching, despite near total COVID lockdown.

Actor Johnny Depp lost his libel case in the UK, when a judge accepted that a newspaper's claims that he had beaten his wife Amber Heard were "substatially true".

After 45 years, the gray wolf us officially off the US endangered species list.

A Metro train, which was empty bar for the driver, at De Akkers in the Netherlands went off the rails, but was caught in a method so bizarre that I really can't describe it in a way that does as much justice as the photo does.

Venice has a new inflatable flood defence system

The first big screen James Bond, Sir Sean Connery, has died, aged 90, having been diagnosed with dementia some time ago. A remarkable, charismatic actor with an amazing career, though I confess I was never able to view the man himself in the same light after hearing his comments about slapping women being acceptable behaviour.

Today's question of the week is.... Your favourite music group/performer?

Comments

[iamrman]

At the moment I am alternating between the Dan Jurgens/John Romita Jr. run on Thor and Justice League International.

The specific arc I am at the moment is the one where Thor fights Thanos. The story that so upset Jim Starlin that he came up with the Infinity Abyss to explain that it was only a clone of Thanos.

[donnblake]

Favorite is an odd and ever changing state, but I'll cop to a considerable affection for Terrance Zdunich and Saar Hendelman's American Murder Songs project- they're pretty much the only act I'll go out of my way (by several states sometimes!) to see live.

[cygnia]

Provisional ballot today because of this stupid COVID, but we voted. Slowly regaining my sense of smell. Still terrified of what may happen tonight.

Favorite music group? Rush.

[zachbeacon]

Glad you're starting to feel better.

[werehawk]

What state are you in?

[skjam]

Leg enough better that I went back to work yesterday, but the company gave Election Day off to everyone.

Voted.

And at my blog, one last horror movie watched in October: http://www.skjam.com/2020/11/03/movie-review-beast-of-the-yellow-night/

[zachbeacon]

https://youtu.be/BjWep4QyCrA

I did the thing and got the sticker. My state is very red but high turnout tends to favor democrats so who knows. Now to ignore all social media for the next day or two. Or a week. Maybe just wake me up in February … assuming things go well.

I haven’t been a huge music guy since most Country music became terrible post-9/11. I still enjoy the odd novelty musician (Weird Al, Gorillaz, They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton, Lonely Island, Kirby Krackle, ect). Generally I gravitate towards individual songs more than musicians; nothing like buying a Moby CD only to discover there are only two good songs on it. I think the last time I got really excited about an individual artist was Norah Jones.

Guess I'll go with Norah. What an amazing voice.

(I strongly suspect I’ve spent more time recently listening to the soundtracks to The World Ends With You or RWBY while reading than anything else)

[leahandillyana]

Good luck to you Americans. That’s probably all I can say.
Last month saw a resurgence of Islamic terrorism in European Union. Unlike previous waves, the tactic changed, and now single perpetrators attack targets selected upon their secular (the teacher murdered in Paris), catholic (Nice stabbings) or jewish (Vienna mass shooting) status. The issue is further complicated by the terrorists themselves often being refugees, who arrived in the EU either during the current refugee crisis (Paris stabbing, Dresden stabbing, Nice stabbings), or earlier (the murderer of Samuel Paty in Paris).
Disturbingly, there were a few stabbing attempts by very young boys (primary and middle school aged) in Germany and France. None of them ended up seriously injuring anyone, and they seem to remain unreported in large media, but this sets a dangerous precedent, maybe potential further change of tactics.
This may further fuel the anti-refugee sentiments in Europe, and consequently give right wing parties more popularity. It worked in Poland, with the attacks leading to PIS quickly regaining all sympathy it lost for banning the abortion in the country, despite Poland having very few muslim citizens, most of them Tartars.
Speaking of refugees, what is happening to them? I find current information difficult to find. How did the large earthquake that killed almost 100 people in Turkey affect refugee camps? What happened to people from the camp that burned in the summer? How are they protected from coronavirus? Does anyone at all give a damn about them?
Trouble continues in Poland and Belarus, but compared to what is happening in other parts of the world, I realize they are not as dangerous.
My favourite bands are Nightwish and Kalafina. However, Nightwish lost a large part of its appeal to me after first change of singer, and Kalafina disbanded recently.

[malurette]

re: I live in a Zola novel, as in an out-dated urban lot, with houses in various states of disrepair whose inhabitants range from tired working class to white trash to outright crooks
what was a joke a couple of weeks ago is turning into a tragedy: now complete with a fire, more house intrusions, robberies and squatting!
...wait I think we’ve fallen out of the colourful novel into a bleak documentary on urban jungles

[malurette]

On a semi related note, I think my NaNoWriMo this year went up in metaphorical flames, between the general pandemic/lockdown situation, and my current personal domestic situation, I can't see myself writing anything. Good luck to anyone who'll still attempt the 50K words, may you be successful!!

[janegray]

Some Team Fortress 2 players made an amazing music video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wJqdMm-GrF4

[lissa_quon]

Aw bless this weirdo little fandom

[bradygirl_12]

I voted.

I find it pathetic that cities are bracing for riots no matter what the outcome of the election is. So much for peaceful transfer of power.

[dewinged]

To keep my sanity I focus on happier stuff.

This weekend I watched Truth Seekers on Amazon. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are always fun to watch, Samson Kayo and Susan Wokoma are a delight, and we get surprise Malcolm McDowell and Kelly Macdonald!

[alicemacher]

My hopes, prayers and well-wishes today are with all of you who are American. Regardless of the outcome -- however long that takes to decide -- may peace, sanity and democracy (such as it is) prevail.

Favourite music artist? Beatles. Beatles Beatles Beatles. (So much so that right now I happen to be listening to It's Not Too Bad, which documents -- home demo by home demo, studio take by studio take -- how they constructed "Strawberry Fields Forever.") Close second favourite: David Bowie.

[zachbeacon]

Naming the Beatles just feels like cheating.

Also I think I'll watch Labyrinth again today.

[magicrubbish]

What is the vaccine situation in usa ?? Can anyone share any light on it ?? How soon are they going to hit the market ?? I heard trial was going on.

[icon_uk]

There is no successful vaccine in the US (or indeed anywhere in the world. Russia has claimed it has one, but they are generally held to have been premature in making that claim) as yet. So nothing will be being made available soon.

Trials are going on, but there are multiple levels of trials for different reasons, which all need to be successful

A quick summary can be found here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51665497

[lissa_quon]

I voted weeks back. Glad to find out last night they WERENT getting thrown out. Not sure if anyone follows hte news but those 127k+ votes from Harris County Texas that people kept trying to sue over; Included my fam's votes. We did the drive thru voting for various health reasons, I could have and would have done traditional voting if I needed to but drive thru made sense at the time.

We suspected they'd shut down the voting, didn't suspect they'd fucking drag it to court three times.

So today 'm drinking herbal tea (no coffee today) eating snack cakes and trying not to click on Twitter.

Lets see - fav performers - I have an odd obsession with Tom Waits - like I have so many of his albums. SO MANY. Also fond of Oingo Boingo. Actually fond of many but those two take up most of my collection.

[zachbeacon]

I've been following the Harris County thing in as much as its been getting a lot of coverage in media I follow. My understanding is that the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is to kick it up to the supreme court so they can pull another Bush v Gore.

[smili]

I already voted (my state has vote by mail - best thing ever).

My favorite band - Queen. I have been lucky enough to see them live three times, including their 1982 US tour with Freddie.

[werehawk]

Wow!!!

[mister_terrific]

My wife and I voted this morning. 30-minute wait, people were pleasant if not universally following social distancing guidelines (yeah, buddy behind us, I'm looking at you!).

Music...like to quilt to Sting's "Ten Summoner's Tales", and I run to a variety of 80's and 90's tunes as well as anime theme songs. I'm also partial to Peter Mayer, the guitarist in the Coral Reefer Band.

Been enjoying "Adventureman" and "Once and Future".

As I told my wife, all we can do is what we can, and we'll see what comes of it. Got my fingers crossed.

[tripodeca113]

Finally watched El Camino. It was alright, but I felt that it lacked a crucial something. There was a character I thought was going to die but they didn’t.

I’ve also watched Die Hard. Hans Grubber did nothing wrong. Was he really the bad guy for killing those rich executives? Well expect for the other bad stuff he did…

Oh, look the Y: The Last Man show, is going ahead.

Hooray I finally got Knights of The Old Republic working. So this is what put Bioware on the map.

I’m beginning to worry about pre-ordering Cyberpunk 2077.

Archer season 11 is over. I haven’t seen it, but from what I’ve heard I can’t escape the feeling that the show should have ended years ago.

Someday soon Ahsoka will appear in live action.

I’ve been thinking about watching Moral Orel, but sadly I’ve waited to long. The DVD is long out of print.

[cyberghostface]

Moral Orel is on a few streaming services I think.

[deh_tommy]

Here’s a stupid thought I had: are Captain Planet and the Planeteers Wiccans (or at least pagans)? Apart from following a mother Goddess, each Planeteer and their powers represents a point on the pentacle: Earth, Fire, Wind/Air, Water and Heart (which functions a lot like Spirit). The ring around the pentagram turns that into a pentacle and signifies protection and keeping everything in harmony. The Planeteers get their powers from rings. And what happens when they pool their elements together? They form the ultimate protector: Captain Planet himself. There’s also something to be said about Spirit representing the top of the star to signify rising above the material and Ma-Ti being the best boy/moral centre of the group. When you flip the pentacle upside down (which I believe is meant to be an omen of bad luck and the usual image associated with satanic folks), Fire and Earth form the top and Spirit is pushed to the bottom, signifying the triumph of the material/physical over the spiritual. The Planeteers fight the greedy, the hateful and the materialistic, those who would sacrifice the earth and meaningful bonds in the pursuit of profit and short term power.

I am not a Wiccan or a pagan and I have never seen an episode of Captain Planet, so I apologise if I’ve gotten things horribly wrong on both accounts.

[icon_uk]

They are not Wiccan's or pagans by any stretch of the imagination, or if they are, it's got nothing to do with their role as Planeteers (I don't think anyone's religious preference's were ever mentioned)

Gaia does not demand worship, nor does she claim godhood, she's the embodiment of the Earth, but that's simply who and what she is. Whether she's the Gaia who ended up as part of Greek mythology is never addressed.

There's no pentagram involved, just five individuals Planeteers. They can summon/create Captain Planet from any position, provided all five of them are in proximity to each other and the local pollution level isn't too bad.

[juniper6]

I’ve been watching Stargirl on the CW app. I might like it if the number of ads was low enough to be tolerable. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to just pay for it and skip the ads. If I’m wrong about this, I’d like to know!

Voted a few weeks ago, by mail. My State has already been declared for Biden, not that it was ever in doubt (also, ballots were counted as they arrived and most people voted by mail, so the early result makes sense. I’m hoping to sleep some before finding out the rest of the news. It is now 11 pm, EST.

My lifetime favorite musician is probably Paul Simon, but it’s a crowded list.

[werehawk]

At least you get to watch the 2-3 same (usually medical-related) ads over and over again. My kids were able to recite all the ads by the end of the season.

[silverhammerman]

As far as a favourite musician/group, I'd have to say The Mountain Goats.

A question: What's good coming out from Image Comics right now? I'm not as plugged into Image as I used to be, but it seems like the halcyon days when every hot Marvel talent was jumping ship/hedging their bets with a big creator owned series are long over and the conversation online is dominated by Dawn of X and whatever shameless PR stunt DC can drum up. I know they've got DIE and Commanders in Crisis, but what are some of their other top titles right now?

[zachbeacon]

I’m pretty terrible at keeping up with current books so I skimmed recent solicts and found some things I’ve enjoyed in the past and am likely to revisit.

Image seems to have become the new home for Brubaker and Phillips so …Criminal and whatever else they’re up to.

Chew is back (sorta) as Chu. I liked the first series and have been meaning to check out the sequel (prequel? Side-series?)

I’d recommend Exorsisters just on the strength of the Gisèle Lagacé art. I actually just ordered the second trade.

Looks like Sex Criminals is wrapping up. I’ve been meaning to revisit that.

Black Magick is Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott doing urban fantasy.

Rat Queens is a fun D&D-style fantasy.

[crabby_lioness]

My favorite band depends on circumstances. Probably Afro-Celt Sound System, although lately I've been listening to a lot of RWBY soundtracks (fortunately there are a lot of RWBY soundtracks) and Pride of Lions. But as stressful as today is all I can stand to listen to is Taylor Davis' violin covers of gaming and anime music.

[zachbeacon]

RWBY has such great music. I really hope Jeff and Casey Williams land on their feet when AT&T fires everyone. I mean, I hope that for all of the Rooster Teeth folks but them especially.

[werehawk]

My favorite group was, for a really long time, Nine Inch Nails. And yesterday, Spotify came up with I'm Afraid of Americans (with David Bowie). Pretty fitting for what is a potential Trump win or at least super close.

Current favorite band is Goldfinger. Amazing quarantine videos too that make good comfort music during a pandemic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cQA6d3adPs

[cyberghostface]

It is interesting how audio of Amber admitting to abusing Depp is often overlooked and underreported.