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, those hoping for a gentle start to 2021 were probably disappointed.

That being said the CGI, and thus only visible if you stayed at home, New Year display on the Seattle Space Needle was lovely

As of last night, to the surprise of pretty much no one except perhaps the Prime Minister and his cabinet, the UK has essentially gone into Lockdown III for the forseeable future, leading to... well, let's be kind and call it "confusion", over schools and exams in particular.

Britain's exit from the EU was completed, and now we see what happens next. I will say, anyone trying to post anything akin to a parcel to Europe, good luck to you, you might well need it thanks to the new horribly complicated rules about posting items.

In the US, Trump clearly heard about the Nixon tapes and said "Hold my non-alcoholic beer" as the recording of him attempting to coerce/cajole Georgia election officials into flipping the State for him by admitting they had "recalculated" the votes in his favour is one of the most breathtakingly corrupt things committed to easily leaked audio.

The US Georgia Senate elections are today, and will decide whether the Senate stays Red or flips to (just barely) Blue, so we'll see how it goes.

Stay safe all over there, things are looking... complicatedly messy.

The Doctor Who New Year Special was, IMHO, rather good. Captain Jack was entertaining enough, we saw a more angry and morose side of the Doctor (which makes sense given recent events), the new Daleks made sense in context, and Chris Noth's corrupt billionaire with political ambitions was, if perhaps a little too on the nose, much more interesting than he was in his first appearance in "Arachnids in the UK". Given how moody and sulky he'd been for most of the episode, Ryan's leaving felt right, if not approaching the overdue. Graham's departure felt sadder, but very much in keeping with his character. The announcement of the likely new companion left me fairly "Meh" (especially if it means we don't have a Doctor and Yaz as only companion season), but I wasn't a huge fan of Catherine Tate's comedy work yet loved her acting performance, so I might be convinced still. Rumours are circulating about Jodie leaving the show, but given the paper they appeared in, hardly conclusive and seemingly at odds with what Jodie Whittaker has said in the past.

Transformers: War for Cybertron - Earthrise hit on Netflix and I quickly found myself just... not particularly caring. We've seen this story a LOT, so could they not TRY something new and different? The uninspired voice acting doesn't help either.

Australia is changing the lyrics to it's National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair", since it's felt that referring to the country as "Young" is overlooking the fact that the country was quite happily populated for many millenia before white guys showed up to colonise it and name it Australia. The words "Young and free" will be replaced with "one and free".

Short (if not sweet) today, so add things as they occur to you

Random question - What thing did you ardently believe was true as a kid, that you were surprised/shocked to discover WASN'T true? (Santa and the Tooth Fairy excluded, we KNOW they're real)

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Well that was a Chibnall episode of Doctor Who if ever I've seen one. It aimed for the dizzying heights of averageness and more or less hit them. The politics on display seem kind if quaint.

I watched the first three seasons of RWBY, it's fairly good.

My bother ordered Scooby Doo :Mystery Incorporated on DVD, the pinnacle of the Scooby Doo franchise.

The Watch show has started airing.....The most diplomatic thing I can say, is that it looks exactly like the show the marketing portrayed it as.

I resubmitted some documents, and got my claim approved for reevaluation. That was the best outcome, I guess.

[icon_uk]

I was going to mention "The Watch", but I only got twenty minutes into it before I decided there were so many OTHER things I'd rather try doing instead: home dental surgery, a self-appendectomy, slamming my fingers repeatedly in a doorframe.. things like that, and I didn't feel it fair to review it on a partial viewing.

[themajesticmoose]

I really enjoyed Revolution of the Daleks myself. My only complaint is that it ran into the problem a lot of Chibnall's scripts have where it takes a while to get to the main event of the plot and then the ending feels rushed because too much of the episode was spent on set up. But it was still a good story I think and had lots of good moments, enjoyable dialogue and gave Yaz some much needed focus

I am going to miss Ryan and Graham but I can see why they are slimming down the TARDIS crew. I think ultimately three companions is too much when every story is a single fifty minute episode where you also have to introduce the episodes supporting characters AND the villains/monsters as well. It means at least one companion will always end up having little/nothing to do. I would say two companions is the most that work with the current format of mostly single episode stories

My one big complaint about the episode?

I really REALLY wish that Jack Robertson had been exterminated by the Daleks in this episode, even more so given recent events . Watching the Daleks kill him would have been hillarious and extremely satisfying

I'm hoping in season thirteen the Master uses him for a plan and then just kills him for fun and laughs at his tiny corpse after he's done. Especially if he finally gets to use his "It's time someone cut you down to size" line that he said he wished he'd used back in The Timeless Children as a call back pun

[dragontail]

I can't figure out what upsets me more about the change to our national anthem: That it's a paltry change, that it's not at all in line with what our indigenous people asked for, that it's such a "here you go, now stop complaining" change, or that it was announced at 5pm on New Year's Eve and thus barely made a dent in the news cycle.

I hope it brings joy for some people here, but the consensus of the opinions I've seen so far have been "this is piss-weak, mate".

I'm firmly in the camp of "scrap the entire anthem and start again"... and the flag for that matter, too.

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, while I think it's a good change, the way Morrison did it absolutely reeks of "here's a piss-weak change to shut you all up, now I'm on holidays again."

I remember the voting on the national anthem in 1982 and I was devastated that as a small child I was not allowed to vote. I don't want the flag to go until we've got something good to replace it, though, otherwise we'll end up with the status quo win like in New Zealand.

[dragontail]

Very, very good point. I agree with you wholeheartedly.

[leahandillyana]

My computer died, but I managed to resurrect it. However, this zombie of a computer may be fine for browsing fanfics and blogging, but is absolutely useless in my job, requiring files with multiple interactive files nestled in them to be added and refreshed multiple times a MINUTE. Meanwhile, my computer REFUSES to load said interractive content AT ALL. And I don't have the money for a better tech! I am hired as a translator. I can well translate many texts on this computer, but I WON'T be able to upload them in the intended way at reasonable speed on a 2005 laptop. I was promised a work laptop this year, but the government banned "uneccessary" travels and I won't be able to reach my employer! And I earn so little I don't think I'd be granted a loan for a new laptop!

[juniper6]

I sent you a DM.

[goodbyebird]

Just like before Christmas, a bunch of extra unexpected work for me, with the added delight of watching my fuckbucket bosses mess up around corona. *grump*

Crossing fingers and toes for Georgia!

[zachbeacon]

I hate it when a terrible telecom monopoly buys an entertainment monopoly I generally like and ruins it with cost-cutting (mostly in the form of layoffs and cancelations) and embracing the anti-consumer practices (like bad customer service, overcharging, and outright theft) of their parent company.

Anyway, I just cancelled HBO Max because they won’t honor a discount I was supposed to be getting through May and I’m seriously considering dropping DCU (or whatever it will be calling itself in a couple weeks). Fuck AT&T.

[donnblake]

That reminds me- has anyone officially taken the line about crushing rebellious Scots out of "God Save the Queen/King"?

[owlbrigade1]

No, they haven't although it is generally omitted, but there are a certain group of supposedly unionist political supporters [which nobody will be surprised are nearly all English and only ever fly the Engish flag] who insist on trying to sing it as loudly as possible whenever they see a Scottish person. Our independence cannot come soon enough.

[owlbrigade1]

We're not out of 2020 yet, the Julian Calendar still has eight more days of it still to run. What, anyone thought 2020 was gonna do the regular thing with its run?

Oh and in interesting developments that probably bear watching, Trump has ordered a plane used for Presidential Transport [not the big Airforce One, one of the smaller ones in the fleet] to go to Scotland the day before Biden officially takes office. Bets being taken on whether it overshoots and lands in Moscow?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/04/trump-biden-inauguration-plane-flight-scotland?CMP=share_btn_tw

[juniper6]

Rumor here (USA) is that Scotland is a feint, and he’s really going to Russia (where I assume he’d shortly suffer a fatal ‘heart attack.’)But no one knows what he’ll do, probably including him. He may actually believe he’s going to serve another term. Joe Biden wondered, publicly, why he even wants the job since he’s not actually doing it.

[icon_uk]

According to legend he ran because Obama mocked him mercilessly at the Correpsondents Dinner in 2011 (A few days after he'd produced his Hawaiian birth certificate) and we all know that Trump has A) no sense of humour, and B) Has the thinnest skin this side of a peeled potato, especially when it comes to jokes being made about him.

[juniper6]

I think it was Seth Meyer who really got under his skin. “I hear Donald Trump is thinking of running for President as a Republican, which surprised me since I just assumed he was running as a joke.”

He never really wanted the job and still doesn’t even understand it, but it’s pretty clear why he wants to keep it now: presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution. Biden knows that as well as anyone; he was just fucking with him yesterday.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, I always assumed he was running as a marketing stunt and it only became real to him when it hit him that being President with his own party in power makes him immune to consequences.

[juniper6]

Fun fact: When my grandfather was born in Romania, they were still using that calendar.

[owlbrigade1]

It had staying power as a calendar, you gotta give it that, a lot of people forget how recently it was in use. It still is in use in certain religious groups, of course, and according to wikipedia the Berber peoples of North Africa still use it for civil use.

[juniper6]

It did. The Eastern Orthodox Church in Romania was the reason they were still using the calendar (I mean the country in general; my family is Jewish so that’s a whole other calendar issue). My grandfather came to the U.S. at age 8 (in ~1899), immediately declared that he had two birthdays now and proceeded to celebrate them both for the rest of his life.

[themajesticmoose]

Well he won't be landing in Scotland, because they have quite rightly said he's not allowed to enter the country

They can't risk a dangerous and vile disease entering the country

And they're worried about Covid-19 as well

[pteppic]

I had an interesting case where a package from the Czech Republic became stuck in Germany from the 23rd until the 2nd due to Brexit related shennanigans. In true German style, as soon as it could move, it looks like it did move and it landed on my mat this morning.

So looks like I've got more parts to fit to my printer this evening.

Good luck to anyone else in these Lockdown isles.

[donnblake]

Maybe technically not off-topic, but I'm looking forward to watching Season 2 of Pennyworth when I can get ahold of it. I predict much shouting of "WHEN ARE YOU *SET,* SHOW?" at the screen.

[mister_terrific]

Watched the New Year's special last night, and my only regret is that they hadn't used a Boris look-alike as Prime Minister.

I was also grateful that Graham's departure was angst-free, because I had visions of "the cancer's back", etc. I really liked Jack's interactions with Yaz, because clearly he's been there and he sees the signs (red flags) loud and clear. Hopefully he can help her with the inevitable loss when it comes.

I've racked my brain on the question, and the only things I can think of are: that there weren't "red gorillas" in Vietnam hiding in caves, firing guns and eating bananas, and that when they had to abort a Gemini space launch, they didn't use a really long rope and lasso. Hey, I had too much imagination even then...

[lordultimus]

Tanya Roberts is NOT dead, apparently.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/arts/television/tanya-roberts-alive.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

[thezmage]

No, she died at 9PM that night.

There was the first death report, then the confirmation that she was actually alive, then she died.

https://www.cbr.com/tanya-roberts-dead-65/

[lordultimus]

Well, that's... quite a start to 2021.

[iamrman]

I am intruiged about the new companion. I am probably biased because they are one of my favourite comedians, so fingers crossed they do a good job.

I never cared for Catherine Tate's comedy either, but grew to really like her as Donna. I still think the in-story reason for her leaving was needlessly harsh. #Justice4Donna

[lissa_quon]

GAHD I was so annoyed how messed up Donna's departure was.

[zachbeacon]

I'm not current on my Who but I thought Donna was a weird case where I couldn't stand the character but the actors involved worked so well together that the results were often better than they should be.

Then again I love Martha and don't understand the fuss about Rose so I'm probably in the minority on companions.

[scorntx]

This new year hasn't exactly gotten off to a running start.
More like tripping over your feet and smashing your nose.
Another lockdown... starting to feel just a bit frazzled.

The New Year's special was good. Don't think I'd go all the way to great, but definitely fun enough.
Daleks killing each other is always fun.
Especially liked Ryan stopping the Doctor's moping in her tracks. Good on him.

Earthrise sounds like it's a perfectly bland story, much like Siege, that suddenly goes into very bizarre territory, like the odder kind of fanfic.
Almost, almost makes it sound worth a watch.

[skjam]

I review a book about Joseph Lister, topical in this time of plague: http://www.skjam.com/2021/01/02/book-review-the-butchering-art/

[llordllama]

Having been locked down/shielding since mid-March last year, I greeted today's new national lockdown with shrug of the shoulders and retired once more to my toilet-roll festooned lair.

I'll confess I really rather enjoyed the Christmas special. Mrs Llama may report that I shrieked with delight when the pepper-pots charged inside a certain object - I couldn't possibly comment. It wasn't a classic for the ages, but I had lots of fun watching it, and that'll do me on NYD. Graham and Ryan's departure made sense, and might have resonated more if I'd not already heard it was coming.

Like others, conflicted with the new companion, if only because I'd love some 1-on-1 Doctor/companion interplay to the level that Chibnall has demonstrated he can write (cf. Broadchurch) to a high degree. Thought I'd finally get to enjoy Yaz being fleshed out more, ah well.

[juniper6]

The Netflix mockumentary “2020” is worth watching, although my husband said, “Too soon.” We’re still on edge for today’s Georgia Senate race and tomorrow’s expected shenanigans from the GOP Treason Caucus. I feel like 2021 really starts January 20, which is a US-centric view, but I’m hearing the same thing from friends in France and the UK.

I still have $10 riding on That Motherfucker resigning before his term ends so Pence can pardon him. I wonder if he understands that Pence would have to actually be sworn in and shit, so 11:59 on January 20 won’t work.

[trooper924]

My (metaphoric) money is on him pulling a John Adams and sneaking out of the White House the night before Inauguration Day. I think he's too proud to ever willingly walk away from the presidency by resigning--even if it's to save his own skin.

[lilacsigil]

Yes. He'll stay in until 1 minute before midnight the day before then make a big display of how he never wanted to be here in this dumb White House anyway.

[zachbeacon]

I mean, he's better off pardoning himself. Sure someone will try to challenge it but he's gotten away with everything else so far and and what's the point of packing the Supreme Court if they don't let him get away with it?

Plus it's a plan that doesn't hinge on trusting Mike Pence ... which is nearly as dangerous as trusting Donald Trump.

Part of me wonders if he's such a narcissist that he doesn't actually think he's doing anything wrong and doesn't need a pardon (as opposed to the kind of narcissist who knows he'll get away with it because he's so "smart" but why not hedge his bets just in case?)

[thezmage]

I watched the Saved by the Bell reboot this weekend. I really liked it. They managed to cast the hero of the original (Both Zak Morris himself and his son Mack Morris) as antagonists without forgetting that he's supposed to be an actually good person deep down, just so deep down even he can't see it some times. Plus half the main kids are BIPOC and one is trans.

New game master month is something that started today, apparently. Not 100% sure what it is yet but it seems to be a series of articles about being a gamemaster with addendums addressing specific games (including my personal favorite, Monster of the Week)
https://newgamemastermonth.com/

We got our first hint at post-Trump twitter discourse with Bean Dad. The TLDR of it is that the singer of the My Brother, My Brother, and Me theme song wrote about badgering his hungry 9 year old daughter to figure out a can opener with nothing but his "you're doing it wrong" commentary for six hours and then recounted it to the internet interspersed with negative comments about her intelligence. First he got really defensive against the people telling him what he was doing wrong, then he deleted his twitter entirely when misogynistic and anti-Semitic comments both from years ago and from early 2020 were found. The McElroys have a new theme song now

[thanekos]

" Mr. Bean " trending on Twitter thanks to " Rowan Atkinson has ' cancel culture '/playing Mr. Bean opinions " is today's fun coincidence.

[zachbeacon]

Twitter is a truly insane website.
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve wondered “why is that trending?” and half the time I never find out because everything that shows up when you click on the topic is other people wondering the same thing.

If it’s a person I’ve been trained to think they either did something terrible or died. Man, it was such a relief that Jim Belushi was just asking for anime recommendations last week.

Anyway, I saw the first part of the “bean discourse”. I didn’t know who he was so I just saw a lot of retweets mocking a terrible father who won’t feed his kid. I totally missed the part at the end where he faced consequences for past actions (or “got cancelled” as some people like to call it now).

[werehawk]

I bet the post from UK to Europe still goes faster than the within-US right now. I ordered a New Year's gift that was shipped on Nov. 27. I got it on January 2. It went from Connecticut to NJ to Massachusetts (wrong direction) back to Connecticut to Maryland (right state finally) then to western MD (wrong direction) until finally to my area in eastern MD. It was like they stuck in whatever bag was nearest. Incidentally, it was glass and very fragile but actually made it intact despite the journey.

I also ordered something on eBay that has not been seen since it was first scanned two weeks ago.

[zachbeacon]

I had an order that - if the tracking is correct - was lost in my local post office for three weeks in December.

Apparently it's a real problem for smaller vendors who are getting nasty feedback and losing customers because of the Republicans' systematic dismantling of the Post Office.

Amazon sure got a great deal on PO delivery though. Their stuff always comes "on time". That's in quotes because even with Prime before 2020 my stuff tended to be a day or three late.

[thezmage]

I don't want to jinx it, but it looks an awful lot like Mitch McConnell is out of power

[zachbeacon]

"Minority leader, Mitch McConnell"

That just feels good to say.

Shame about everything else happening in DC though. The local law enforcement seem to have misplaced the protest-suppressing gear they were using to attack clergy last year. Better buy them new stuff.

[ayasugi_san]

Well, your jinxing it didn't change that he'll lose a lot of his power...

[velacron]

To all those in the Washington D.C. area, please stay safe.

[donnblake]

Mike Pence is my problem with many fictional redemption narratives. In a certain set of them, he, having made the correct choice at a pivotal moment, despite heavy pressure from his putative allies to make the wrong one, would now be considered redeemed and a reliable ally.

Suffice to say that he did make the right choice (and low bar for our society that it was presented as a choice) but I still won't be sad to see him leave office, and I hope his future power and influence is as limited as possible.

[juniper6]

He’s horrible. They’re all horrible.

[zachbeacon]

I trust Mike Pence as far as Donald Trump can throw him.