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.

Trumps's increasingly desperate legal challenges are being thrown out left and right (and BY the Left and the Right, several are being made by Judges he appointed) but he can console himself I'm sure by watching them build the stands for the Biden inauguration which are being constructed just outside the White House at the moment.

In the UK, Lockdown 2: Electric Boogaloo ends tonight, and tomorrow the new Tiers come into place... provided the Government wins a vote to approve them this afternoon. The major Opposition parties have announced they intend to abstain from the vote, probably so the can get some popcorn and highlight the in-fighting  from a LOT of the Governents own MP's. Even if they win (and they probably will), it will be a serious dent on the Governemnts authority.

In France, a proposed law which would have made it illegal to record police officers on duty is being pulled following enormous public backlash and huge protests. The case against it was strengthened when video surfaced of four officers beating a black suspect in his own music studio, and it was argued the new law would have prevented that footage being shown (though the Governemtn claims it would not have done)

A strange metal monolith appeared in the Utah desert without any explanation, then vanished just as suddenly, then a similar/the same monolith appeared in Romania.

In hopefully completely not worrying apocalyptic news a dazzlingly bright fireball appeared briefly over Japan. Godzilla was unavailable for comment.

Motorists in Canada are being advised not to let moose lick their windshields in cold weather, for entirely sensible reasons, believe it or not.

The latest episode of The Mandalorian brought priase for it's storyline, action sequences and the introduction of a live action version of Ahsoka Tano, whilst the accusations of transphobic behaviour against Rosario Dawson continued to cause upset.

The man who wore the Darth Vader armour in the original trilogy, David Prowse, died at the age of 85. He was also well known in the UK as The Green Cross Code Man, who taught road safety via various adverts and hundreds of public apperances at primary schools. (Sadly those adverts were also dubbed)

The trailer for the Doctor Who New YEars Day Special "Revolution of the Daleks" finally dropped and we saw glimpses of the family, the Doctor, Captain Jack and a new design of Dalek which looks a lot like the Recon Dalek from "Resolution" and which Chris Chibnall has been quick to confirm (before fanboys had an aneurysm probably) are NOT replacing the existing design.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

In The Mandalorian, we learnt that Ahsoka really doesn’t like Yaddle. Also, her head tentacles have shrunk.

I’d just like to stress Black Friday was made up by the shops. I’d also like to say it was made up by American shops, so I’m disgusted to see it seeping into my country.

I’ve been called to do my civic duty. Sadly, university is over, so I can’t be excused on academic grounds.

I gave up on waiting for the copy of The Hobbit I ordered from the local library to arrive, so I got a copy from the university. I look forward to seeing my favourite film characters Azog and Alfred Lickspittle.

I ran into a pretty major hurdle in Yakuza 7. One of the party members left me, and I ended up stuck on a boss fight. There was another companion available, but they were locked behind a minigame I wasn’t very good at. After a while I was able to figure it out and recruit them. Then I changed the various professions around, and grinded for an hour. Afterwards I managed to win the fight.

You know how a lot of people were very excited for The Outer Worlds, but when it came out it was kind of a mixed bag content wise, as well as being more conventional than Obsidian’s other work? What I’m saying is perhaps I shouldn’t have pre-ordered Cyberpunk 2077.

[zachbeacon]

"I’d just like to stress Black Friday was made up by the shops."

As an American (especially one who spent years trapped in retail hell), I just find it amusing that people used to complain about Christmas creeping in on other holidays* but now "Black Friday" is doing the same. Stores have been in "Black Friday" mode all month and - between the delayed Prime Day and other stores competing with Amazon - it feels much longer.

*"Its Halloween, why are the Christmas decorations out?"

"I’ve been called to do my civic duty"

I've been fortunate*. I've been summoned twice and have.been excused at the last minute both times.

*Mostly. I was supposed to go last Monday which is the worst possible time for a lot of reasons. I tried to cancel my Thanksgiving plans with the immediate family because I didn't want to expose them to who-knows-what. Mom ended up moving it to the Sunday before.

[icon_uk]

I think it's more likely Ahsoka never met Yaddle, who only appears in The Phantom Menace, she's not seen in Attack of the Clones (having apparently stepped down and been replaced by Shaak Ti) and Ahsoka wasn't a Padawan until after AotC

[skjam]

My company is now training people at home, and I had a couple of trainees listen to my calls and then take calls under my guidance. Scary but exciting.

Over at my blog, I review a Disney classic (29 years old this year!): http://www.skjam.com/2020/11/29/movie-review-beauty-and-the-beast-1991/

[zachbeacon]

So, I wonder if anyone else experiences this particular holiday neuroses.

I am asked for gift ideas.
I find a thing I’ve been thinking about for a while but intentionally didn’t get for myself for whatever reason.
I decide the thing is too expensive/niche/whatever to request as a gift and decide to get it for myself.
I talk myself out of getting it altogether.

For example: I have a Kindle that works perfectly fine but it’s a basic model from a few yours ago and has no lights and barely any storage. I saw the Kindle Paperwhite with 32 GB on sale for $110. But that still seems like too much for an e-reader that can’t even handle all those epub books I’ve gotten from Humble Bundle over the years. But I could knock off 20% by trading in my old Kindle (see, now its no longer a gift idea). But It could take weeks to do a trade-in and the sale is only over the weekend. And Amazon is probably due for a new model next year. And I’ve heard interesting things about color e-ink so maybe it’ll have that.

TLDR; almost asked for a new Kindle but didn’t. I do this with something nearly every year.


I barely watch any TV last week.

The last half of The Great Pretender finally got freed from Netflix Anime Jail so I watched that; so much for taking a break from anime*. They sure made some decisions with that dub, didn’t they? Anyway, it’s a fun con artist story that I can’t really talk about without spoilers.

*Though December is for holiday movies/specials and Carole and Tuesday feels like it should enter the rotation so I was probably going to break that rule anyway.

Also I know I’m late to the party on this but I watched Scoob. I don’t have much to say about this that hasn’t already been said; they were more interested in setting up a HB Cinematic Universe than making a new Scooby movie. It have these little glimpses of an actual Scooby movie (like the bowling alley scenes) but failed to deliver one.

Used my time off to read some Batman and Batman-adjacent comics. Among them was Batman Adventures: The Lost Years. It was recently reprinted as Batman Adventures: Nightwing Rising and I’m glad it was because it was one of those BtAS comics that was impossible to find at a reasonable price. The story fleshes out “Tim” becoming Robin, has Batman being a manipulative creep to Babs (though in a less gross way than what would come later), and yet another “how Dick became Nightwing” origin. This is one of those things where the story was fine but I was disappointed because the elusiveness of the comic and the general high quality of that era’s cartoon tie-in comics had built up the anticipation for me.

[owlbrigade1]

I've been struggling to think of gifts for a couple of friends of mine. We haven't seen each other at all this year due to the covid, and all of us struggle to keep up online. I'm just realising how much inspiration we get from regular conversation, it is frustrating.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, I usually pride myself on my ability to find gifts for other people* but I tend to have a harder time finding things for myself.

*Though this year has been more difficult and I think you identified the reason. Weirdly this is the year I DO have an idea for my dad and he's usually very hard to shop for.

[lego_joker]

>Batman Adventures: The Lost Years

More than ten years and hundreds of issues (from every Age) after the fact, that thing is still one of my top contenders for the worst-paced Batman story in existence. The content and concepts are fine, inoffensive at worst, but the pacing... Jesus...

[zachbeacon]

I can forgive a lot of the Dick stuff. I get what they're going for and he seemed like the one with the most interesting arc. Granted, traveling the world learning skills feels more like a Batman story than a Nightwing one and I'm not sure every detail of his costume needed an origin.

(Also Dick maybe should have stayed with the Capoeira group considering how little he got used in the DCAU after this. At least they appreciated him.)

I don't mind that the Babs stuff is there early on but I think the story should have just focused on Dick after that.

The Jason, er, "Tim" stuff was a waste of time. We saw most of it on the screen anyway.

[owlbrigade1]

I must admit, I struggled to watch the most recent Mandalorian episode because of Dawsons transphobia. I wish they'd chosen another actor. And the episode before had another transphobe in it too, albeit a less violent one [ironically, given the actors background], and dropped that episode on transremembrance day too. And I honestly don't know why I expected any better of Disney these days, I really don't.

Still, it makes Ashoka's continuing fall to the darkside easier to believe. Her talk of not wanting to train baby yoda because of his supposed fear and attachment was absolutely dripping with the same fear and rejection of the same. Filoni probably wasn't intending that, but Ashoka completely comes across as being on the same path as Anakin, just at a slower pace.

I wish The Mandalorian would do something to connect Star Wars Resistance to the wider Franchise too. I actually quite liked it, it is a shame it got caught in the wake of the franchise implosion following The Last Jedi and cancelled early because of it all.

[werehawk]

After LOVING Rebels, my kids and I tried Resistance for 2-3 episodes and did not like it at all. I thought it was cancelled because it wasn’t good. But maybe it got better?

[scorntx]

So... that Star Trek, huh?
Once again, the Vulcans show they're arseholes.
Still.
As usual.
(Why would anyone want them back in their club?)

... but, uh, the bigger gripe was the fine display of the show's Limited Character Syndrome.
On a ship with a crew of "hundreds", Saru decides to put as his first officer an ensign. A nervous, neurotic ensign. As opposed to literally anyone else.
Which they don't actually seem to have.
Never mind a first office, who the heck's the second officer? Is it just a free-for-all?
"Nyeh! I got to the chair first!"
(Y'know, people gripe about Wesley - and not without reason - but at least he was just made an acting ensign, he wasn't bumped all the way up to commander...)

also all the stuff about Michael trading on her connection to Spock, which just seemed... weird.
Like, she's Spock's adopted sister so this apparently gives a lot of cachet with the Planet-Formerly-Known-As-Vulcan because why?


It's nice of the Beeb to finally say when Doctor Who's actually going to be on.
... oh, and it's got the obnoxious not-person-I-shan't-name from Arachnids in the UK.
Because he was just so darn lovable and engaging the first time around.
(Never really understood the gripe about the NP Daleks, meself.)


The new series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue started on BBC Radio 4 yesterday.
For extra knife in the heart points, they had Tim Brooke-Taylor singing the lyrics of Funky Gibbon.
Just... of all the songs to chose...


Member of the family's going into the hospital t'morrow.
Not worried about the operation itself, just... Complications, both Covid-shaped and otherwise.
The hope is they should be in and out by the weekend. But given The State of Things...
(On the plus side, I can do some holiday shopping without them learning out what they're getting. Assuming they don't decide to open the package that doesn't have their name on it. Again...)

[stubbleupdate]

This shows the importance of knowing the difference between there, they're and their

[onsokumaru]

Sadly, knowing Macron's government, they will try and find a way to make said law pass, either by including it in another law, or just by using a synonym dictionnary to reformulate it. I would like to say I can't wait for Macron to go away like Trump in 2022, but so far, the most likely person to get elected besides him is even closer to Trump, and I trust the left side candidates with french secularism as much as I trust Sylvester with Tweety. I don't think I'll bother to vote anymore.

I'm trying to watch at least two episodes of anime/series per day, in order to keep my mind away from some infuriating controverses about covid or religion.

Steins Gate: Almost dropped after the first couple of episodes, but I'm glad I didn't. That time travel mistery is grewing more and more interesting and compelling.

Black Lightning: My favorite Arrowverse show, as it avoids the "one episode: one feelgood life lesson" format that I find a bit cringy in Flash.

Prison School, Re:Zero, Cautious Hero, A Certain Series, Deca Dence, Demon Slayer: all those are different kinds of very enjoyable anime.

Dragon Quest: Dai. I'm not sure I would actaully enjoy it if it wasn't for the nostalgia. Most people I see talking about it are those who already watched the first anime or read the manga. It appears some fan service and violence are censored in that new version.

I finished the first season of Altered Carbon. It was ok, but I'm not eager to begin S2. Not sure what else I should watch instead.
I could pick the Good Place, but this would be a personal failure, as I made it my "watching while cycling" show. I... didn't watch it for a long time.
I'm thinking about Star Trek, but I have no idea where to begin. I strugle getting into the first series. Any recommandations?

[cainofdreaming]

Standing applause to all those brave Canadians who will tell a moose that, no, it really shouldn't lick their windshield. Shoo. I'll hit you with my phone, I will. They deserve all the praise they get.

Well, I mean posthumously...

[cyberghostface]

Elliot Page has come out as transgender.

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/elliot-page-transgender-ellen-page-juno-umbrella-academy-1234843023/

[beyondthefringe]

Oh wow! Good for him! I wish him well in his continuing journey and happiness.

[juniper6]

Well, good luck keeping the mooses in their place. 🙂Some words of wisdom: https://youtu.be/S-25gUx35KA

[deh_tommy]

Have you ever watched or read or played or listened to something that you really wanted to like, that you really feel you *should* like, but for whatever reason you just don’t? I think Infinity Train is like that for me. Mind you, I’ve only seen the first season. That’s definitely not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t know, there’s something about what I’ve seen so far that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe that’s because the writing is really, really, REALLY unsubtle and on the nose. Maybe that’s because I found that kind of predictable. Maybe that’s because the humour’s rather hit and miss and the main character herself was pretty mean for a good part of the season.

Maybe I’m projecting my own crippling fear of bad relationships, messy breakups and divorce onto the show or my confusion over the metaphors for said divorce. Like, did Tulip ever try to “fix” her parents’ marriage the way One-One did to the broken cart? The cart was always broken and the inhabitants are pretty happy, but her parents are clearly miserable in and out of their broken marriage so shouldn’t the inhabitants of the broken cart be, too? I get change is important and an unavoidable part of life and you hav Eto adapt whether you like that or not, but that doesn’t mean every change is good or worth embracing (typing that out loud I realise that line of thought is a very slippery slope, but still).

That tries to have good, silly fun while also telling a mature story, but the rest of the show is really scary (if not outright gruesome) and cold and mean that that just sucks all the fun out of the more surreal and zany bits.

I don’t know, I love the concept (that’s like Adventure Time meets Silent Hill), but the actual execution isn’t really for me.

[zachbeacon]

I can't speak to Infinity Train because I haven't seen it but I get not enjoying something that ticks a lot of boxes for you (either because of the execution or because what I thought I wanted wasn't what I wanted.)

Also at a certain point all the "you have to see this, its amazing" recommendations tend to build up unreasonable demands.

[lissa_quon]

Yea a friend tried to get me on Infinity Train cause it SHOULD be my bag. Not sure if it was just 2020 but I found it stressful and like "clever college student thinks he's subtle" levels of writing, which I've been to art school I am so done with that genre.

Though I think the stress part for me was the fact the whole show felt like a liminal space. Odd complaint but *shrug*

[donnblake]

I finally got around to watching Over the Garden Wall, after realizing it wasn't actually about the adventures of a rambunctious garden gnome. A very odd, very silly, very melancholy show, I'm glad I gave it a chance.

[janegray]

I LOVE Over The Garden Wall. "I want to steal" is still one of the best jokes ever.

[SPOILERS]

One thing I especially appreciate about the story, is that it subverts the trope of "person commits atrocities to save a loved one." The guy believes that murdering children is the only way to save his daughter, and he firmly goes "no, I'm not doing that, she'd never want me to and I respect her will." And then, to make it even better, the girl turns out to be alive after all.

[janegray]

I think I got to the point where tragic endings simply can't move me anymore, instead they just raise scorn. "Oh look, yet another depressing outcome, golly gee, will wonder ever cease. Next!"

Aside from SheRa and arguably Frozen 2 (the ending looked perfectly happy to me, but I know people who thought it was sad, YMMV), I can't remember one single story with a straight happy ending in the past two years.

[zachbeacon]

Putting aside my issues with the She-Ra ending ("The war criminals are adorable. All is forgiven") and the fact that I haven't watched that many new movies recently (for obvious reasons)...

I thought Onward had a very happy ending ... though I could see the argument for bittersweet.

Han Solo died in that one Star Wars movie. That's a happy ending for Harrison Ford because he was finally able to escape a character he hates. No, wait. They made him come back in the Last Skywalker. Never mind.

Knives Out had a pretty happy ending as long as you don't think too hard about what almost certainly happened after.

Likewise Carole and Tuesday ended on a really hopeful note but - despite what the show insists - I doubt the world was brought together with a song.

(I might also be thinking of something else I watched recently but saying hit had a happy ending is actually a spoiler. It was one of the many shows I've mentioned here in the past month or so)

Honestly I think the bigger problem is the way media works now. It either goes on long after it should because its profitable or it gets cancelled prematurely because it isn't. Neither of those are likely to generate any kind of satisfying ending, happy or not. Even a lot of the stuff that originally got a proper ending is now getting revived as sequels and reboots.

Like, I enjoy Buffy the Vampire Slayer* but I think it should have ended with season five (or even three), not seven. Even then, between the Angel spin-off and the comics, it didn't really end there. I couldn't tell you how the DH comics ended because I lost interest long before the Boom reboot.

*In the same way I enjoy Star Wars, anyway. I hate large chunks of it, ignore even larger chunks, and REALLY love the small parts I like.

[janegray]

I'll admit, I did love the ending of Onward. In and of itself, it was perfect. If it had come out at a time when most movies/videogames/tv shows had traditional happy endings, I would have been singing its praise as outstanding.

For me, the issue is one of context. We have got to the point where the standard expectation for a story is that it can't end well, even Disney movies aimed at 6 year olds can't have traditional happy endings anymore*, and the ending of the previous Pixar movie was incredibly shitty (after several movies' worth of careful and heartwarming development that built one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of fiction, Woody ditches Buzz to go live with a character who had a grand total of like two lines in 3 movies. I haven't felt this you've-got-to-be-shitting-me since Sam Gamgee randomly brought up a girl in the scene where he and Frodo are dying together).

Videogames are even worse. Admittedly I play a lot of indie games, so this may be different if you stick to AAA titles, but I legit can't even remember the last time I played a videogame that ended well. Even when it seems like you were able to save everybody, there is an after-credit scene that reveals that you are still fucked.

I honestly think the culprit is the inferiority complexes of a lot of writers. They want to be taken seriously as artists, and True Art Is Angsty.

I haven't watched Carole and Tuesday, but I think I'm gonna add it to my backlog now.


---
*as I said, I liked Frozen 2 fine, but my friend found it hurtful that Elsa and Anna had to be separated so soon after they finally got to have a real relationship, after they essentially spent their entire lives as vaguely hostile strangers. Personally I thought it was okay because they exchange letters all the time and even state that Elsa comes visit on the weekends, but my friend wanted them to stay together a little longer to make up for lost time.

[zachbeacon]

I can’t speak to the specifics of that movie because I’ve only seen the first Toy Story but I have so many thoughts about Disney.
When you own nearly every other major studio I feel like you’re personally responsible for the direction of cinema.
Pixar movies seem specifically engendered to make adults cry.
Speaking of engineered; Marvel movies. Don’t get me wrong, I LIKE them most of the time but there’s no denying there’s a formula. Also, a large part of the formula is setting up the next thing so Endgame is the closest we’ll get to an ending.
Likewise, Star Wars will never end.
I agree on context. Heck, decades ago a young teen marrying a prince she just met would be considered a “Happy ending”. Obviously, the people making Brave and Frozen disagree.

I also can’t really speak for games since I don’t play that many of them and finish even less. Admittedly the plot-heavy games I do tend to get invested in are JRPGs and they seem allergic to happy endings, Also I think a lot of the AAA people would rather be making movies so I could see how the same sensibilities come in.

Carole and Tuesday is what happens when the people who made Cowboy Bebop watch too many singing competition shows. It has a lot of amazing music and some very intense personalities. It’s my favorite show of last year.

[deh_tommy]

Angry Birds 2, The LEGO Movie 2, Into the Spider-Verse, Trolls: World Tour, Ant-Man and the Wasp (ignoring the post-credits scene), Scoob!, Spies in Disguise, Christopher Robin, The Queen’s Corgi, The Incredibles II, I’m sure the list goes on.

[janegray]

Angry Birds 2, The LEGO Movie 2, Scoob!, Christopher Robin, The Queen’s Corgi

Not even remotely my genre.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (ignoring the post-credits scene)

Nope, post-credit scenes count.

Into the Spider-Verse

This one has got the saddest ending of them all: the series was handed over to a director I utterly and completely despise with every fiber of my being to the point that just seeing his name raises my blood pressure, so that I'd rather eat rusty nails than watch the sequel, which in turn soured me on the original movie.

The Incredibles II

Ok, I'll give you this one.

Spies in Disguise

Haven't seen it. If you say it has a good ending, I'll check it out.

[deh_tommy]

Sorry I’m not much help. Most of the stuff I watch are cartoons and horror. What would your genre be, might I ask?

And I’m sorry the sequel’s creative team has soured you on the original. If that makes you feel any better, Lord and Miller are apparently working on a Silk TV show.

These may not be in your wheelhouse either or might not count, but: Lupin III The First, No Straight Roads (debatably?), Immortals: Fenyx Rising,

[janegray]

I can't believe I forgot Lupin III The first! I LOVED that movie.

Thanks for reminding me of it. Time for a rewatch!

[lissa_quon]

Been dealing with stupid amounts of bad luck lately. Lost my wallet, found it again only after I canceled all my cards. Then wrenched my shoulder and acquired some like allergic reaction to something and yea. IT's been fun. Scared to move for fear of breaking something.

That said - I also launched my Holiday Market this year. It's basically a fancy website and way to try to help myself and all the other artists this year that didnt get to work conventions or other normal venues.
If anyone wants to take a look at it

[lego_joker]

Yipes. Hopin' that's at least used up your bad-luck quota for the year...

[lissa_quon]

I'm hoping that was my bad luck for the month. I've already had much worse things happen to me over the year. When your new years starts with shingles - your valentines day is the flu and your cat dies as lock down starts - its just...all up from there.

[janegray]

I'm sorry, I hope things get better soon!

[leahandillyana]

I haven't been listening to news this week so I don't know what new and horrible things the governments of Poland and Belarus came up with. Actually, I don't want to know.
I realized one of the major reasons I don't enjoy US (and to a less extend, English language in general) popular ficton - the literarity of the works. I am used to works with several layers of meaning, "decoding" which gives more and more depth and nuance to the stories. I am used to works where the authors play with language. I am used to works that undermine genre cliches, deconstruct various tropes. I encounter those only very rarely in American fiction.