Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday
Jan. 12th, 2021 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyIn 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, I hardly need to ponder on what counts as the BIG event of the last week, as it has hogged headlines in every part of the world for days, but just in case, armed protestors/domestic terrorists invaded the Capitol Building in Washington DC last week as part of what was initially a protest against the official, more or less ceremonial, accepting of the 2020 election results in the US, by the current Vice President.
Five deaths resulted, one police officer and four of the protestors and multiple explosive devices had to be made safe.
This incident was directly encouraged by the President himself at a rally before the march. Said President is now likely to be the first person in American history to ever be impeached TWICE (This time for "Incitement to insurrection"), though it's unclear as yet how that will go. He's already had his Twitter and other social media accounts closed, and the Parler app, popular with ultra far right and consipiracy nuts, has also been shut down.
Footage of the invasion was broadcast live around the world, to the shock (it perhaps not surprise) of most of the planet.
Questions are already being asked about how differently these (largely white male) protestors were treated by Police and Security compared to other recent, much more peaceful protests like Black Lives Matter.
There have been moments of heroism, an African American police officer has garnered praise for luring a mob away from the Senate chambers, but there have also been suggestions of possible complicity from some members of the police, considing how easily the Capitol was breached and how well the layout was known, but these will, I am sure, along with the whole situation, be discussed and investigated for years to come.
The FBI has issued warnings for State capitals around the country that armed protests are likely if trump is removed from power eearly or at the time of the Inauguration of President Elect Biden next week. PLEASE stay safe folks.
And this shouldn't overlook the Georgia Senate run off wins which give the Democrats effective control of the Senate, and included the first ever POC Senator from Georgia.
And of course the pandemic continues around the world, even as the vaccines roll out also begins in earnest. The UK passed 80,000 Covid 19 related deaths this week and we're not through the worst of the current spike either by all accounts.
In less intense news (though at this point, pretty much everything feels less intense)...
I've started watchom "Lupin" on Netflix, a French series starring Omar Sy as Assane Diop, a man inspired by the stories of Arsene Lupin, the original "Gentleman Thief" to seek his own sort of justice against the man who framed his father for a crime. So far it looks extremely entertaining (and Omar Sy is even MORE extremely easy on the eyes!)
I also caught Robert Rodriguez' "We Can Be Heroes" where the guy who gave us "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" and the "Spy Kids" movies has another go at kid superheroes. Very silly, full of Rodriguez's brand of "Don't think about it, just enjoy the ride" family movie logic, but by darn it believed in it's own premise and ran with it!
Discovery Season 3 reached it's finale on an upbeat note, though I felt the Emerald Chain was pumped up as a major threat, then sort of slapped down rather too easily. I've come to like a lot of this crew though and I do hope to see more.
Disenchantment Season 3 begins this week, which indirectly reminds me I never finished Part 2.
I started watching the last season of "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", but am constantly being reminded of how, despite an amazing cast, there is very little about the actual Sabrina character I find particularly likeable. Nearly all the problems the show faces (once one accepts that msot of the cast are active demon-worshippers and thus inclined to some seriously poor role-models) are caused by her thoughtlessness or selfishness, which can make her a hard protagonist to root for. Oh well....
Well, I hardly need to ponder on what counts as the BIG event of the last week, as it has hogged headlines in every part of the world for days, but just in case, armed protestors/domestic terrorists invaded the Capitol Building in Washington DC last week as part of what was initially a protest against the official, more or less ceremonial, accepting of the 2020 election results in the US, by the current Vice President.
Five deaths resulted, one police officer and four of the protestors and multiple explosive devices had to be made safe.
This incident was directly encouraged by the President himself at a rally before the march. Said President is now likely to be the first person in American history to ever be impeached TWICE (This time for "Incitement to insurrection"), though it's unclear as yet how that will go. He's already had his Twitter and other social media accounts closed, and the Parler app, popular with ultra far right and consipiracy nuts, has also been shut down.
Footage of the invasion was broadcast live around the world, to the shock (it perhaps not surprise) of most of the planet.
Questions are already being asked about how differently these (largely white male) protestors were treated by Police and Security compared to other recent, much more peaceful protests like Black Lives Matter.
There have been moments of heroism, an African American police officer has garnered praise for luring a mob away from the Senate chambers, but there have also been suggestions of possible complicity from some members of the police, considing how easily the Capitol was breached and how well the layout was known, but these will, I am sure, along with the whole situation, be discussed and investigated for years to come.
The FBI has issued warnings for State capitals around the country that armed protests are likely if trump is removed from power eearly or at the time of the Inauguration of President Elect Biden next week. PLEASE stay safe folks.
And this shouldn't overlook the Georgia Senate run off wins which give the Democrats effective control of the Senate, and included the first ever POC Senator from Georgia.
And of course the pandemic continues around the world, even as the vaccines roll out also begins in earnest. The UK passed 80,000 Covid 19 related deaths this week and we're not through the worst of the current spike either by all accounts.
In less intense news (though at this point, pretty much everything feels less intense)...
I've started watchom "Lupin" on Netflix, a French series starring Omar Sy as Assane Diop, a man inspired by the stories of Arsene Lupin, the original "Gentleman Thief" to seek his own sort of justice against the man who framed his father for a crime. So far it looks extremely entertaining (and Omar Sy is even MORE extremely easy on the eyes!)
I also caught Robert Rodriguez' "We Can Be Heroes" where the guy who gave us "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" and the "Spy Kids" movies has another go at kid superheroes. Very silly, full of Rodriguez's brand of "Don't think about it, just enjoy the ride" family movie logic, but by darn it believed in it's own premise and ran with it!
Discovery Season 3 reached it's finale on an upbeat note, though I felt the Emerald Chain was pumped up as a major threat, then sort of slapped down rather too easily. I've come to like a lot of this crew though and I do hope to see more.
Disenchantment Season 3 begins this week, which indirectly reminds me I never finished Part 2.
I started watching the last season of "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", but am constantly being reminded of how, despite an amazing cast, there is very little about the actual Sabrina character I find particularly likeable. Nearly all the problems the show faces (once one accepts that msot of the cast are active demon-worshippers and thus inclined to some seriously poor role-models) are caused by her thoughtlessness or selfishness, which can make her a hard protagonist to root for. Oh well....
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Date: 2021-01-12 01:03 pm (UTC)I was also managed to catch up on the various Disney and Pixar releases I had missed out on. Soul, The Incredibles 2 and Christopher Robin were all good. I tried to enjoy Ralph Breaks the Internet, but all the product placement made me cringe.
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Date: 2021-01-13 03:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 01:26 pm (UTC)Giving the Capitol police absolutely no benefit of the doubt as to their ideology or intentions, I think that a second riot in Washington is likely to be met with considerably more force. One thing police pretty well universally don't like is when civilians kill police officers.
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Date: 2021-01-12 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-12 01:49 pm (UTC)Was just listening to media coverage wondering if the attack on the Capitol was coordinated by any particular groups (as if they haven’t left a massive digital paper trail). Many of these are the same people who talk about “Antifa” as if it’s a specific organization.
So apparently Parler is suing after they were forced to close by radical leftist *checks notes* Jeff Bezos. Its always weird when you’re rooting for rooting for the giant corporation to crush the other guy.
A lot of shows I’ve been waiting for (WandaVision and new seasons of the Magicians and Disenchanted) drop on streaming services this weekend. In the meantime, I’ve been watching episodes of Food Wars. I love this show but it is making me hungry and I’ve already put on enough quarantine weight.
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 03:02 pm (UTC)Like I wasn't sad to see Gawker go, particularly, but "Tech billionaire uses a third party to crush media outlet as personal revenge," is still sort of worrying.
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Date: 2021-01-12 04:33 pm (UTC)Cut off the head and the body dies
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Date: 2021-01-12 11:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-12 02:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 03:26 pm (UTC)...and I am my own landlord so I have to call the repairman myself, but when they showed they told me I had the wrong guys, they couldn't fix the heater but made disparaging comments about the state of my neighbourhood and my house, so now I'm out of spoons, overworked, and still cold
and lowkey wanting to die TBH(at least I can shower at work but)
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:07 pm (UTC)Deadpool will be in the MCU and rated R
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Date: 2021-01-13 03:57 am (UTC)For Pete's sake, Doctor Who and Torchwood managed a crossover back in the day!
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-12 04:35 pm (UTC)And I don't want there to be even a 0.1% chance that this disgusting nazi pedophile piece of dogshit could ever set foot in the white house again
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:17 pm (UTC)Right from the off, it seemed damned sus that the police were either unable or unwilling to do anything. If those had been literally any other kind of protesters (and frankly, calling them that is pretty damned generous), they'd have been gassed to within an inch of their lives and holding their teeth in little bags before they got anywhere near the building.
Some of those thugs had body armour and bombs. Fucking bombs.
And the chickenshits were still dragging their feet and hemming and hawing and going "no-one could've seen this coming." even when it was clear the maniacs wanted to lynch people.
Even though hotels in D.C. were closed because they knew shit like this was going to happen.
The bit most disgusting, as a non-American, was watching the Beeb's coverage the morning after, where they got a total crank in as part of their idiotic notion of being fair and balanced, and she was saying "oh, no, you can't blame him for all this. Black Lives Matter was far worse."
(On the other side, on the night, they had a pollster in who was so outraged by the events he was moved to say the word "crap" on live television, and then the newsreader apologised to viewers for it.)
... about the only thing close to a positive is the hope that this might at least put an end to all the "tee-hee, Biden is old" 'jokes'.
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Date: 2021-01-12 03:41 pm (UTC)Most Presidents are smart enough to stay in the shadows. Some future Presidents may have had a hand in (or knowledge of) the coup of November 22, 1963, but they escaped censure and punishment because the official version is 'lone nut'. So it was an interesting week.
Now we have to get ready for state capitol insurrections. Zealots are nuts!
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:36 pm (UTC)The British government announced they plan on inoculating the most at risk people by mid-February.
Which, given their track record, is probably a sign they'll manage to lose all their vaccine supplies somehow.
And of course, the day after they make a big thing about how everyone must follow the rules... the PM goes and breaks the rules and No. 10 go "what? He didn't do anything wrong."
Finally caved to the hype and decided to watch The Mandalorian, definitely not motivated by any kind of guilt over a family member getting Disney+ for me over the holiday season. Just so's we're clear.
Enjoying it (though the audio is out of synch which is... very frustrating, and can't find a way to fix it. Mutterwhingegrumble...)
Mainly just looking forward to WandaVision on Friday.
But I'm still living in dread at the thought of "And Emma Thompson as Agatha Harkness."
(Nuthin' against her, but it's just a very obvious casting choice.)
Apathetic about Disenchantment, given it's been so long between series, and the wait just... isn't that worth it.
At most, it's been solidly average, like later-day Simpsons and revival Futurama (fancy that). Funny, maybe, but not consistently.
The season finale of Discovery was... well... it was definitely a series of events shown in sequential order, no denying that.
Some of it really had the ring of "we don't know if we're getting a season 4. Gotta wrap everything up!"
It wasn't terrible, just... it was a very random season. Which might have something to do with all those producers the credits list. Seems like way more producers than a single series needs.
Apparently Whoopi Goldberg tried asking if she could be the Doctor, and was rejected.
Which is upsetting, because that actually sounds pretty epic.
I'm guessing, ageism and knowing the Beeb racism (and probably some xenophobia) aside, another factor would probably be cost. I really don't think they could afford her as the Doctor full-time.
They'd have to go back to sets made of tinfoil and cardboard.
No more location shooting in For'n Parts, they'd have to go back to dressing up Welsh quarries.
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Date: 2021-01-12 02:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 03:43 pm (UTC)90% of my computer problems turned out to be cause by my shit-tier internet connection, something I cannot afford to change. This after instlling new hard drive, keyboard and mouse and reinstalling a new system twice. That was not cheerfull at all.
2021 is shaping to be AMAZING in terms of anime, perhaps the best year since 2007. Not only are we getting new seasons of long-anticipated series (Attack on Titan, The Promised Neverland, ZOmbieland Saga), not only are we FINALLY getting new installments of long-anticipated reboots (Sailor Moon Eternal, Rebuild of Evangelion, Getter Robo Arc), but FINALLY we'll be getting full adaptations of a handful of cult classic manga series (Hathaway's Flash, Tokyo Babylon, Cestus). Furthermore, we are likely getting a new animated Avatar series this year, though no details were given. I'm cautiously optimistic.
Additionally, I own a handful of tiny, wallet-sized anime calendars I got as freebies. I sent them to you if you want to :)
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Date: 2021-01-12 04:25 pm (UTC)So I am posting this because this issue might come up.
I mean this board is for social progressivism but the fact that fear of political correctness and “puritanical and pure” practices from socially liberals (good when you are doing a message board, but not in political sphere), mostly imaginary, being one of the many factors in current anti-establishment crowd might not help with current political climate. Yeah, that kinda response would make the Capitol Hill riot look less like idiot, and more “idiot who have one point correct”.
https://www.cracked.com/blog/freedom-sucks-and-thats-why-we-have-to-defend-it/ (Also the fact that 60% of younger people wanted First Amendment to be reinterpreted that might bring consequences even for good intentions. Not to mention that their experience happened to be Trolls, conservative commentators, and anti-SJW crowds using it, at least applying to what they like event though criticism is part of Free Speech. Plus lack of political neutral anti-PC comedians from 90’s and South Park’s clips being used as tools might not help with first experience).
I am not some troll, just sharing my concerns as someone who’ve been with Libertarian-leaning fandom boards who I’ve seen had reactionary attitude due to not being informed on social issues (worse when they know progressivism from cherry picked tweets and tumblr) even if they are well-educated, socially liberal (at least knowing that discrimination and homophobia is bad) and not a Trump supporter.
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Date: 2021-01-12 06:37 pm (UTC)Been playing Cognition, it's a good game, but I seem to have reached the point where the budget was running out, and the deadlines were coming up fast..
American Gods season three was released. Seemingly it's an improvement over the second season.
My copy of Marvels arrived. It has all sorts of neat extras. My personal favourite is when they show off all the full newspaper articles Kurt Busiek wrote for the comic. For the ones that would only be partially shown, he had some fun. He mocks the legal mistakes in an Iron Man story, and has a report on the baffling phenomena of newspaper suddenly printing full articles rather than just a photo, headline and a bunch of gibberish.
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Date: 2021-01-12 07:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 06:38 pm (UTC)Over at my blog, my movie reviews will be a bit different this month as I am having them chosen by Twin Cities Geeks. First up, a classic romance: http://www.skjam.com/2021/01/10/movie-review-an-affair-to-remember/
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Date: 2021-01-12 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-12 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-12 07:51 pm (UTC)100% on the money as far as I'm concerned. Some thoughtlessness and selfishness could be chalked up to her being a teenager but at some point you just have to scream at the TV screen "HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM PAST EXPERENCE?" And no, going by the current season she hasn't.
Bad Consequences resulting from for bad/stupid/thoughtless / selfish actions don't seem to be a thing in the Sabrina-verse.
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Date: 2021-01-12 09:35 pm (UTC)I really was not happy, and I mean that in a very serious way, with the way the show leaned on the romantically together in death trope for her and Nick too. That is not just a bad move in a show which has a large teen fanbase, it is an actively dangerous one.
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Date: 2021-01-13 12:25 am (UTC)Part of it is, probably, that I don't think anyone could ever fill Alex's shoes for me (Jeopardy!, and thus Alex, has been a huge part of my life since I was seven...and I have a tangential connection to him thru Reach For the Top), but Ken, as likeable as he is*, just...doesn't have the right personality for the job - while he, based on tonight's episode, understands what made Alex good at the job, he doesn't seem to actually be capable of putting it into practice. I can't wait for the next guest. (Of the people put forward as potential new permanent hosts, I think Levar Burton would probably do the job best, and Mayim Bayalik would probably be in the right ballpark.) Still, his first episode is sitting next to Alex's last in my PVR's permanent collection.
* If you just go by his on-screen appearance, and ignore his twitter, where he frequently steps in it, most recently defending Bean Dad.
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Date: 2021-01-13 12:38 am (UTC)For some reason I assumed Mayim Bayalik was going to retire to a castle made of Big Bang Theory money but I keep seeing ads for that new generic looking sitcom so I guess not.
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Date: 2021-01-13 01:17 am (UTC)I also watched Soul on Disney+ Which gives me a weird sort of cross pollenization when you get to elysium and all the humanoid enemies become little soul orbs when you defeat them and you have to beat them again before they respawn.
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Date: 2021-01-14 12:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2021-01-13 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-14 12:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
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