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.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

I haven't had much of a chance to pay attention to the news this week, what with one thing and another, and what i did see didn't really leap out at me much, so you'll need to add such focus and attention for yourself. Have fun.

I do kow E3 has happened, so I'm sure there was more video game news revealed than most weeks.

Probably more ON topic than not, but Sasha Colle's Supergirl costume from the upcoming The Flash movie has been revealed.

A trailer for the upcoming "Masters of the Universe: Revelations" dropped.

And for those of us in European lands (and possibly beyond) a new Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds movie is coming to cinema's soon! (And sorry/not sorry to anyone who now has the theme stuck in their heads for the rest of the day! :) )

Now we just need a proper Ulysses 31 revamp! (Cartoon or live action, either might work)

Random question: Any book recommendations you currently have?

Comments

[leahandillyana]

Google app for android crashed in the night today, giving all Android users an annoying communicate that doesn't go away. I uninstalled Google and it disappeared. Dunno if it will cause any other side effects, but I realized other apps do not update. I will NOT reinstall the app unless I'll be sure the problem is solved.
Warsaw Pride March happened on Saturday and shockingly it was NOT accompanied by mass counter protests and violence. In fact, there were almost none counter protests at all. And then I realized that most of neonazis are football fanatics and that day Poland played on Euro, which was apparently more important than any ideology those fascists hold. It was over 40C/110F, so many people marched in their underwear, and I spotted one woman topless. Nothing you wouldn't see on a beach though.
Izreal is bombing Palestinian territories again. Al-Aqsa Mosque was desecrated by Izraeli army. I don't think signing petitions holds any power at this point. Please keep donating to people.
As for books, I always recommend a holy trinity of trilogies:
-Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat starts as a kinky fetish novel, becomes an adventure romance in the second book, ans a surprisingly deep mix of genres in the third. It's a very dark story, so many trigger warnings apply.
-Machineries of the Empire by Yoon Ha Lee is a military science fiction trilogy that offers a multitude of novel if not unique themes and uses typical science fiction tropes in unusual way.
-Poppy War by Rebecca Kuang is a fantasy story that can be best described as Avatar by the way of Castlevania - it has a similar setting and magic system, but is very much Not For Children.
For a one off story, I recommend Your Name by Makoto Shinkai, about a boy and a girl who sometimes switch bodies. The humorous premise leads to a high stakes adventure.
(A relatively short comment by me? Impossible!)

[deh_tommy]

“Warsaw Pride March happened on Saturday and shockingly it was NOT accompanied by mass counter protests and violence. In fact, there were almost none counter protests at all.” :D

“Izreal is bombing Palestinian territories again. Al-Aqsa Mosque was desecrated by Izraeli army.” D:

Which version of Your Name would you say you liked more, the book or the film?

[mastermahan]

I second Machineries of Empire and the Poppy War. Yoon Ha Lee is a transman with a husband, and it affects his work, because it is extremely LGBTQ+. It has characters of every shade of gender identity and orientation. It also has the rules of technology powered by the local calendar (read cultural dominance), which is fascinating.

The Poppy War, meanwhile, is very consciously inspired by ATLA, but it's a response to Avatar, rather than an aping of the story and style. Aang was inspired by the Dalai Lama. The main character here was inspired by Mao Zedong. It's excellent.

I can't second Your Name, though. The Twist just requires so much coincidence and contrivance and characters never noticing things they absolutely should have that it snapped my suspension of disbelief in half. If it had just stayed a bodyswapping romantic comedy, it would have been great, but The Twist is just such nonsense. Pretty as hell, though.

[dewinged]

The Masters of the Universe trailer has me seriously hyped, I have to say. I'm getting sick of the naysayers who are bashing it, making claims that Smith said weren't true months ago. Apparently, they saw a version of the trailer that allows them to read Smith's mind.

Between this trailer, the GotG game trailer, and Loki, Bonnie Tyler is taking in the royalties. (But I still believe the Saunders version from Shrek 2 is the most epic.)

[skjam]

I am turning sixty on Saturday. My brother is taking me to eat British food (as adapted for Americans.)

As to book recommendations, well, that's what my blog is for. This week, I look at a graphic novel for children (I met the author on a Discord for B-movie fans.) Feel free to look at earlier entries as well!

http://www.skjam.com/2021/06/21/comic-book-review-dragon-racer/

[stubbleupdate]

I'm curious as to what British food for Americans is

[bradygirl_12]

British food adapted for Americans? Sounds scary! ;)

[zachbeacon]

You say “recommend a book” and I hear “how would you like to be paralyzed with choices?”. Actually, I do have something that’s been out for a while that seems of interest to this community; Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe. I remember hearing that a recent Stan Lee bio was kind of a hatchet job and really most portrayals of him seem to either give him credit for everything or portray him as some sort of cartoonish villain. MCtUS is the only thing I’ve come across where Stan feels like a person.

Kinda tired today. I’m tired a lot but this time its my fault because I was up late playing a video game. A Short Hike is really good.


Anyway, on to that new movie everyone was talking about …until it came out.

Luca is …fine.

It’s the second best Pixar movie to be sent directly to Disney+.

It’s the second best 2021 animated movie where Maya Rudolph plays an overprotective mom.

Also, despite a lot of pre-release chatter about having the first-openly-gay-Disney-character-no-seriously-we-mean-it-this-time, it’s still only the second gayest 2021 animated movie where Maya Rudolph plays an overprotective mom.

(In fairness, this time it seems to be less a Disney press release and more fans reading too much into it)

Lbh pbhyq trarebhfyl nethr gur znyr yrnq unq n fhzzre syvat jvgu n thl ohg raqrq hc jvgu gur tvey va gur raq.

My main takeaway was that I should watch The Mitchells vs. the Machines again…and maybe buy a Vespa.

[donnblake]

You know, with all the queer coding that tends to accumulate around sea-folk, has anyone just gone ahead and come out with a Gay Mermaid Story?

I guess there was Disenchanted, in that extended probably-not-a-dream-sequence.

[malurette]

I don't care for football/soccer as a sport and dislike it as a business but I've just learned that for the upcoming Germany-Hungary game the German stadium could be illuminated in rainbow lights to protest against Hungary's recent anti-LGBT law and I'd like to see that?

[icon_uk]

Sadly, it appears UEFA has blocked that decision

However it looks like a good few other German stadia, not being bound by UEFA decisions, DO plan to join in

I wonder how many other municipal and private locations might decide, purely coincidentally to light up too.

[tripodeca113]

Yay I now own all the Usagi Yojimbo comics, that have been released in trade format! EDIT: I was wrong. I bought the wrong thing...

I how own 91% of Invincible. Sadly the remaining 9% I need to bridge the gap has not yet arrived. I wonder if I have actually saved any money [Seven hardcover collections for $20 each = 140+ one hardback for $57+ a $82 compendium] Okay that's $279, while just getting all three compendiums would be $246. Okay right then.

I read The Wolf Among Us comic. It features quite possibly, the most disturbing thing I've seen in a video game tie-in comic (feel free to share any similar moments you've come across). All in all, it was okay. I understand having flashback to flesh out the game original characters and backstory, but it gets pretty weird towards the end, with the introduction of an entirely new alternative dimension which isn't quite fully explained.

I decided to try and play Metroid Samus Returns (the remake). Sadly, it seems as if, it's a rare and valuable commodity. I guess I should try the Metroid Prime Trilogy games I own.

The Klingon's have shown up in Star Trek. I don't think I ever quite realize how Asian inspired they were before, and with he white guys in brown make up...oh dear...
In another episode when they travelled back to 1930 Kirk tried to pass Spock off as being Chinese. Huh? I don't think Spock is meant to be Oriental, but I guess there might be some overlap between him and crude stereotypes. If it was intentional, I can understand why they dropped it.

The casting calls for the live action Avatar The Last Airbender show, have been released. It sounds more suited for a show about high school students with magic powers than the original. I've seen it suggested, that they've been giving out fake ones (with somewhat similar character descriptions) in order to prevent leaks. Still it did cause both of the original creators to leave, so scepticism is justified here.

I found a toy elephant on the group. I left it where I found it, but it was still there the next day so I took it home.

[owlbrigade1]

In the UK the Government has decided to blame minority children and discussion of "white privilege" for the drop in educational attainment in working class white kids, and not, say for example, a decade of conservative rule defunding every government service including education to the point where the very basic threads of society are breaking down. Also some more British Middle Class idiots came out with another giant heaping helping of transphobia over the weekend, but what else is new there? That is just what the British papers do now.

Worse news, my tomatoes seem to have picked up an infestation of red spider mites. I've obviously not been keeping the air humid enough for them.

And new heat records have been set in the Arctic, with parts of Northern Siberia hitting forty degrees Celsius. I'm sure this is fine...

[stubbleupdate]

[malurette]

Yay, book recs! Besides the obligatory Good Omens and the whole of Discworld, let's see...
The Deep by RIvers Solomon (during the Triangular Trade, pregnant slaves were thrown overboard to drown; what if the Ocean saved their unborn children by magically turning them into mermaids?)
La Passe-Miroir ("The Mirror Visitor") series by Cristelle Dabos (...how do I start describing it? I'll go with steampunk world with functional magic, complicated court politics and unexpected apocalypse? plus, unconventional protagonists and disabled representation! and a sentient scarf!!)
oh and if we include manga, Witch Hat Atelier!

[donnblake]

Wait, is The Deep a book? I knew it as a rap/electronica project.

[iamrman]

I am off work until 1st July. The plan was to go to Spain, but that ain't happening. I'm just going to chill at home instead.

In comics news, I am enjoying Chip Zdarksy's run on Daredevil. I have to admit that I am more interested in Wilson Fisk struggling with the rich assholes rather that Matt Murdock's latest self-destructive nonsense. Elektra's hair game is strong though.

I have just started reading Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica. I am enjoying the cameos. Sabrina fangirling over Zatanna and Catwoman turning up at a Josie and the Pussycats concert.

[deh_tommy]

Between Coco and Soul, what’s with Pixar and casual animal death?

I’ve been getting back into Skulduggery Pleasant, so I guess I’d go with any of those. I don’t read as many books as I used to, so I’m just going to vomit out some names and hope something sticks.

A Christmas Carol
Alex Ryder
And Then There Were None
Artemis Fowl
Black Beauty
Captain Underpants
Coraline
Dracula
Epic
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Haruhi Suzumiya
Good Omens
Pretty much anything from Halo
Harry Hole
Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen
Horrible Histories
How To Train Your Dragon
Mass Effect: Annihilation
Poirot
Pride and Prejudice
Ring
Sherlock Holmes
Snowglobe 7
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Earthsea Cycle
The Gruffalo
The Shining
The Spooks
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Unfamiliar Fishes
We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

[scorntx]

Mass Effect: Annihilation?
Unusual choice.
Just out of curiosity, why that one?

[janegray]

Watched Soul and Luca.

I thought Soul was okay, but the guy was too much of a self-centered dick for me to truly love it. I know that character development is the whole point, but it came too late for me to really care.

Luca imo was much better. It was basically a Ghibli movie with Pixar style. I really liked it.

[deh_tommy]

Soul is one of those movies like WALL•E or Ratatouille everyone seems to love, and... yeah, I guess I kinda liked them fine, but they’re not the sort of things I’d watch over and over or cherish like Pixar’s other stuff. I kind of wish Wolfwalkers won the Oscar, but I’m probably biased in that regard.

Speaking of which, you’re Italian, aren’t you? How did you find Luca‘s depiction of Italy, if you don’t mind me asking?

FINGERSMITH

[stubbleupdate]

Sapphic
Victorian
Con caper

I have never felt so much while reading a book. I'll say no more, but I recommend it unreservedly

Re: FINGERSMITH

[bluapapilio]

Seconding this!

[scorntx]

The end of Loki episode 2 did not contain the twist I was expecting.
I thought it was going to turn out to be Richard E. Grant, but nope...
(also, with all the discussion characters make about [CHARACTER], I'm thinking it's leading to a twist that [SOUND OF TRAIN GOING PAST].)

Read The Terminatrix Objective.
Now, I normally like a nice bit of convoluted time-travel, but I am wondering what the point of that series even was, besides showing Kang and Ravonna's relationship is messed up. (In case the literal backstabbing hadn't been a hint.)
also it seemed like it was going to be a team-up between U.S. Agent, War Machine and Thunderstrike, and it's a shame that didn't get more play through.
Also the remainder of the collection had some of the Gatherers Saga, which was... ... well, it was very 90s?

Netflix now has Power Rangers Dino Fury on it, all in one go, which I'm guessing is something to do with the current state of the world.
Liking it so far. Mucus is very adorable for an evil blob of mucus.
But will it continue with a strong opening, or be like Dino Charge? Good strong half, weak second half.

Also Netflix seems to have discarded their annoying, vague descriptors in favour of descriptions that actually tell you what's going on.
also also, there's a lot of Gundam on there all of a sudden.

Hasbro have announced the title for Transformers 7.
It's "Rise of the Beasts", and it - and this is a genuine shock - has Beast Wars characters in it. (also Nightbird.)
... ... if we get Beast Wars Megatron on film, and he's voiced by Kaye, literally everything about those movies will be worth it.

[iamrman]

Oh, God. The Avengers in the 90's were... not good. I mean, who thought it was a good idea to make Hercules clean-shaven? And just, whatever the Hell was going on with Sersi and the Black Knight.

[thezmage]

So I just found out that there was an indiegogo campaign back in 2013 to fund a fifth and final volume of the Middleman that crosses over the TV show with the comic book with the TV series and solves the mysterious and as-yet unexplained disappearance of Wendy Watson's father in both timelines. There's even a live table read featuring the cast of the show here: https://www.o2stk.net/

Renegade Studios just launched a Kickstarter for the newest wave of expansions for the Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid board game. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/renegadegamestudios/power-rangers-heroes-of-the-grid-rangers-united
The first one covered the Mighty Morphing era with both the green and white rangers, the second one had Zeo plus an expansion with all of the Tommy forms, and this one has Dino Thunder. I'm curious as to what the next wave will bring seeing as, unless they go with a Forever Red package, they're all out of Tommys.

Book recommendations:
If you like Harry Dresden, the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka is a good read-alike. A British wizard who is constantly overlooked as "just a diviner" at the start of the series ends up proving everyone wrong through a series of adventures

Rachel Aaron's Heartstrikers series: a genuinely nice dragon navigates clan politics in a world in which magic has just recently returned to the world. Conflicts are pretty much all solved with actually talking them out and good-faith negotiations, no matter how hard it is.

Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes. A mild-mannered accountant is attacked and turned into a mild-mannered vampire and learns just how many other supernatural beings roam the night.

Spells, Swords, and Stealth series, also by Drew Hayes. An interesting addition to the LitRPG genre featuring four normal townspeople who have to impersonate an adventuring party in a fantasy world and deal with PCs controlled by other people in our world (including a fair number of murder hobos.

EDIT: Trailer just dropped for the upcoming Scooby Doo/Courage the Cowardly Dog crossover film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yku_UyiPE8

[lilacsigil]

Yes, I contributed to that Middleman kickstarter and the resulting comic was really good!

[melplayspersonal]

I'm on the "meh" side when it came to the Masters Of The Universe trailer. Yeah, the animation looks cool, and anything using Holding Out For A Hero usually draws me in, buuuuut... I dunno, it just didn't seem "different" enough. Like nothing that stands out from any other show. I think I'll wait until it's out and reviews come in before I give it a chance.

As for books... the last thing I read that wasn't fanfiction was "Solutions And Other Problems" by Allie Brosh. I loved her last book, "Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened". Yeah, a long title, but it's based off her blog, "Hyperbole and a Half" - it's where the "clean ALL the things!" meme originated.

In both books, Allie talks about herself - childhood, struggles with depression, her dogs, milestones in life - with occasional illustrations. While it's mostly hilarious (no surprise that any stories involving the dogs are a riot) she does talk about some super serious things (the aforementioned depression, a shocking death in the family) and yet can whip back into the funny not too long after. Personally, I think it's a great way to help others understand the struggles with mental health and how one deals with tragedy.

[lissa_quon]

Finally dug my way out of a depression hole. Sort of. A week and a half of that was - not great. I haven't had a funk that long in a while.

E3 really didn't reveal many like - earth shattering things really. Bethesda revealed a trailer that tells us nothing about their new game. Everyone's more or less taking bets on how busted its going to be.

Slime Rancher 2 is happy news
Saw a trailer for Gloomwood- some Thief-esque game that - is so much like its inspiration it probably runs on the same 25 yr old game code. It made me smile - cause I'm a taffer, but I also sad that it just shows had neglected that actual franchise is.

Read Harrow the Ninth - and wish I hadn't. That was such a maddening experience. Not in the usual way a book is frustrating. This was just so many writing gimmicks wrapped in a trench-coat.

Books to suggest - if you want weird romance novels T. Kingfisher has the Paladin series. It's light - its fun - with random wtf monsters so the romance doesn't get too sappy.

For non-fiction there's Mary Roach. She sort of was a good touchstone for me earlier in lockdown, when I wanted to just believe in logic and facts.

She did a series of like humorous science books. Stiff, Spook, and Bonk (there are others but those are the ones I read). They are books about the science of, and the culture around, certain topics. Stiff is about what happens to cadavers, Spook is about the afterlife, the search for ghosts, spirits, the soul, etc. And Bonk is a book all about the science and research of sex. Good education reads, if you want to share fun factoids like "Kinsley also researched the length of stream of ejaculate - the record is 7 ft across a room."

[zachbeacon]

Glad you're starting to feel a bit better.

Also, I second the Mary Roach recommendation ... though you've reminded me I still need to listen to Bonk.

[zachbeacon]

Another book recommendation.

Patrick Weekes’ Rogues of the Republic trilogy (starting with The Palace Job) is a bunch of heist stories set in a fantasy world. I could go on about specific characters or the worldbuilding but honestly “fantasy heist” was good enough to grab my attention so I imagine it might get some of you too.

[donnblake]

In a similar vein, the Gentleman Bastards series (three so far with more planned... eventually) which does the best job I've seen of capturing the feel of a heist film in book form- and which happens to be fantasy.

[werehawk]

Top five-ish books:

Watership Down

Les Miserables

Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin

maybe the Power of One (been a couple of decades so I don’t know if it holds up as War and Peace used to be on this list but when I reread it I was less impressed. As was Stranger in a Strange Land but I doubt that holds up for all the sexist stuff in there).

Dune (read it before the new movie comes out!)

In one respect, I like that almost all of these have gotten exposure to even more of the masses in other media, but feel that the books are far superior (with the possible exception of Les Mis in which the play is a different kind of beast with the same plot - and tangentially gave us the best SNL skit of all time, Diner Lobster).

[werehawk]

And my concern about Power of One is the whole white savior of black people trope.

[tinygaylaura]

Book recommendations? A dear friend of mine recently let me borrow her copy of Chameleon Moon and I've been enjoying reading that a great deal

I love Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith and I've been having fun reading some good old fashioned smutty lesbian BDSM in the form of Owning Regina this month

It's helped improve my mood as well as I've felt a little depressed lately. What has also improved my mood is enjoying the Marvel Voices Pride special today which has brought a smile to my face

I think the new Supergirl costume looks great! Very cool. And I hope that Sasha Colle is going to get to play the character in a Supergirl solo film after her debut in The Flash when that comes out. Though I do still wonder if the Flash movie isn't going to end up a bit of a Spider-Man 3 style mess with trying to cram so much in but I hope it'll be good

I need to see Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds

I need to support these heroic dogs

Speaking of dogs my cousin adopted a rescue dog this week and they are the cutest little thing.

I've been watching the Loki tv series and it's been fantastic so far. Very quirky and fun and with lots of moments that made me gasp, cry and laugh. I have a lot of theories about where things might be going and what the true nature of the TVA might be and how it will play into Loki's redemption arc but I am curious if any or all of them will turn out to be right

Over in Jolly Olde England the press has apparently started their speculation about Jodie Whittaker leaving Doctor Who. I was getting worried when nearly a whole year had passed without them making up speculation about her leaving the show and calling it news. Still dissapointed that the Sun appears to have stopped guessing that every single female guest star ever is the Rani but we can't have everything

The trailer for the new Snake Eyes film came out recently and I am pretty excited for this GI Joe reboot. The original two films were a mess, though the second was a bit better and I'm hoping this time the movies do a better job of adapting this very odd comic book which I'm pretty fond of. I hope it's going to embrace all of the weirder ideas from the comics

[iamrman]

I think I can guess your favourite part of the Marvel Voices Pride issue.

[numeronone]

Have you heard about the latest shit coming out of Northern Ireland?

https://tinyurl.com/ucehjs97

[icon_uk]

That was a lot more... literal than I had expected.