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.

In the UK, our Secretary of State for Health was caught on camera in a romantic clinch with an aide. But in what is perhaps a more , his subsequent resignation was NOT because of "likely adultery" (Or even "deeply dubious business activities" or "general incompetence"), but because the hug broke COVID regulations that he was responsible for establishing and enforcing for months now.

It'll be the Fourth of July in the US before the next OTT, so let me wish all Americans a "Happy Treason Day!" from this side of the Atlantic! ;)

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Tournament is starting, for those who want some sports beyond soccer filling up their news sources.

An interesting piece on LGBTQIA+ history, "Section 377" is the law introduced by Victorian Britain across many of the countries it colonised, which helps explains why so many countries are STILL so anti-LGBTQIA+ even if, pre-colonisation, they had a history and culture which were inclusive.

For complete cuteness overload wooly jumpers wearing wooly jumpers.

Late news: "Good Omens" Seaons 2 looks like it is going ahead!

Oh and I did forget to mention the chaotic trash-fire unleashed when Jensen Ackles announced a possible spin off to Supernatural (a prequel detailing the love story of... Sam and Dean's parents!! Which sounded like the least desirable spinoff imaginable, given how frankly pretty awful both those characters were), and Jared Padalecki got upset because no one had told him about it... it got.. messy.

Just caught the first episode or two of "Bakuten!!", the sports anime for those who felt that handsome young men splashing around in minimal swimwear with sesiemic levels of UST over at "Free! Iwatobi Swim Club" just wasn't enough, since the sport is Men's Rhythmic Gymnastics, which means they get flashy spandex outfits like "Yuri On Ice" too! (Motion capture CGI floor routines and heart eyes abound.)

Random question of the week - And podcast recommendations?

Comments

[zachbeacon]

As we wrap up another June when companies are more two-faced that usual about their support of marginalized communities, its refreshing to see the new TSR be openly terrible.

Happy Pride Month, everyone.


I was flipping through the new Spider-Man/X-Men Acts of Vengeance collection and I realized that, while it does collect the same material (and then some), as the Spider-Man the Cosmic Adventures trade from 1993, most of the last page of the Spidey content was different. It looks like the 1993 version replaced some Flash and Felica content that was meant as a teaser to a later story with a shot of Spidey swinging and I’ve spent more of my comic-reading life not knowing that story was altered.

(No idea about the Epic Collection as that one is impossible to find at a reasonable price even though its allegedly had two printings)

I’ve seen a lot of collections where they make a minor printing correction (or a new mistake) or pages are removed (I don’t think the Geoff Johns “Hank Pym goes spelunking” stuff ever made it to trade) or an epilogue is added but I wasn’t aware of many instances where pages just got redrawn. Is this a more common thing than I thought?

[stubbleupdate]

TSR?

And Ex Machina's trade collection removes one of the jokes by virtue of cleaning the issue up for trade and removing data not needed for the trade as opposed to the singles

Commissioning Etiquette

[stubbleupdate]

I commissioned an artist at the end of February and paid them 50% as a deposit

The artist's stated target was "4 weeks or sooner"

I've had nothing from them, and no word either.

They've ignored twitter DMs in March and June, though they are still on twitter.

I'm ready to write this off as a loss. Is it poor etiquette to say that by @ing the artist, since they aren't responding to DMs? And what is the most pleasant way to say "I have accepted now that you will not do the work I paid for"?

Re: Commissioning Etiquette

[janegray]

Why would you write that as a loss? Paypal lets you ask for a refund for up to 6 months after payment.

I'm all for being kind and understanding (especially when it comes to artists, whose work requires a certain mindset that is all but nuked through depression).

But if they have been refusing to talk to a paying customer for 5 months (not just refusing to provide what you paid for, but flat out ignoring you entirely), that sounds to me less like they are having a bad time and more like they are a scammer.

[leahandillyana]

Speaking of Section 377, a similar law is currently being written in Poland, banning both medical and legal gender change, public displays of queerness and support of queerness, and sex ed in one piece of legislation.
The minister of children gave an annual report on the state of children in Poland a few days ago at 23:00, saying that there were no problems to be solved while wearing a tacky pro-life t-shirt. When a female leftist member of parliament followed that with talking about rapidly rising educational inequality due to online-only education (half the households has no internet access, leaving poorer children without access to education) since early 2020 and rapidly rising suicide rates among teen and children, especially queer ones, she was met with laughter and applause (applauding the suicides, not her speech).
You can see why I'm not in a good mood. It was worsened by an established writer with an impressive bibliography, somebody I highly respect, calling me closed-minded and foolish for talking how I only want to read stories that have themes I find interesting (at no point alluding to their work). I feel kinda empty.
Summer 2021 will have some great anime adaptations. I greatly recommend Case Study of Vanitas and Magia Record s2, these are honestly two of my favourite stories period.
I plug in this blog: https://tuulikki.tumblr.com/ The author reblogs plenty of posts about various cultures and issues faced by their representatives. It's honestly more educational than reading a newspaper.
A question to Americans: would a storm in USA or Canada be strong enough to turn a brick, stone or concrete building into a pile of said material? I'm asking because I've seen an exceptionally strong wind tear through a village, and while all the windows broke and roofs were torn, the construction took little damage. I was wonder if those would withstand American winds.

[scorntx]

Accidentally caught the UK 'culture secretary' doing an interview on the radio on Saturday.
What a disgusting man.
I don't think I've ever actually heard someone say "virtue signalling" in real life before, much less unironically.
And he kept using the words "small but vocal minority". Guy clearly had the phrase stuck in his head.


In a surprisingly quick development, they've announced who's playing Optimus Primal in Rise of the Beasts, and it's Ron Perlman.
...
Errm.
Don't get me wrong, I got nothing against him, but I don't think he's the best choice for Primal.
Primal's supposed to be an ordinary schmoe thrown into an insane circumstances, and I just... don't believe Perlman is that guy.
(Now, if we were talking Perlman playing Rhinox, I could see that.)
Additional: If we end up with Bryan Cranston as Beast Megs, I am gonna sigh. Gonna sigh so hard, man.


Out and about on the weekend, found an old Star Wars book in a charity shop, one of the New Jedi Order series.
Judging by the look of it, it had never actually been read, which is kind of sad.


The news feed is going loopy over whether there's a new Doctor been cast or not... yet again...
(Luckily, my news feed is so behind the times, it keeps telling me someone called Jodie Whitaker has been cast. Oy...)

Speaking of blond time-travellers, that episode of Loki.
Great character interaction between Loki and Sylvia.
Mite tetchy about the big reveal. Just once, just once, could we have an organisation claiming to do good that actually is just good? No secret turning out to be dodgy or something? No twist, no conspiracy, just exactly what they claim to be? Would that be entirely wrong?
... also, just checking, but Sylvia didn't sound a bit... Northern on occasion, did she?

[deh_tommy]

Lots of planets have a North.

Ron Perlman voiced Primal in Power of the Primes, so that’s not too unprecedented. I am pleasantly surprised to see him come back, though.

[tripodeca113]

I'm becoming increasingly worried, that The Bad Batch mostly exists to set up the Boba Fett show....

Oh, yes speaking of which the actor of one the characters introduced in The Mandalorian, but will be in the Boba Fett Show, talked about how it took her a while to work out that she wasn't filming the third season of that first show. I guess they didn't tell her. Why do that? To try and keep leaks under wrap? But surely, actors would already be under non-disclosure agreements making such things unnecessary.

I finished the first season of Star Trek. It turns out Kirk has a brother who looks exactly like him, but with a moustache. Then I watched the next episode where Kirk and Spock had a fight to the death. That was great.
Hooray Uhura got a decent amount of focus in an episode. Hooray!

Lately I've been going around all the local second hand bookshops, and getting all the Star Trek guide books I can find.

Another book I picked up, was When the Wind Blows. It's about the horrors of nuclear war. While reading it, I noticed a poster someone had put up about environmental issues. I'm worried that the people who control my life, are getting very heavy handed with their foreshadowing....

Well, that's Gargoyles done. One notable part, was when a group of characters travelled across the world. There were some very iffy accents, and attempts to set up spinoff shows.

Plans to read My Hero Academia. Sees a cool character. Tries to find cool fanart. No results. Goes to double check their name. Sees [Character X] dies.

Well that sucks.

[cygnia]

"When the Wind Blows"...I remember reading that as a kid!

[deh_tommy]

Oh my gosh, why did I sleep on Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts for this long? I’m taking this week by week as I want to savour this instead of feasting and famishing like I usually do, but by gosh I’m having a blast so far.

Kazuya Mishima from Tekken is the newest and penultimate DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He looks really cool and faithful to the source material, but never mind him, Dante and Shantae are finally in the game! As costumes for your Miis. Perhaps not what people were hoping for, but I love making Miis so that’s a win in my book (and if they didn’t get in this way chances are they wouldn’t get in at all).

[super_fly]

Kipo is sooo good yo

[stubbleupdate]

Fun trivia I just learned.

The first time Venus Williams appeared in the Wimbledon tournament, Titanic was not yet released in the cinemas

[janegray]

Has anybody seen the anime “Great Pretender”? I have seen a few scenes about it on youtube and it looks funny so I was thinking of watching it, but I have a few questions first.

[zachbeacon]

I generally enjoyed it but I have some problems with the last arc that are pretty big spoilers.

Gur perj frrzf njshyyl pbml jvgu crbcyr jub jurer cbegenlrq nf nofbyhgr zbafgref va cerivbhf nepf.

Also everyone treats the POV character like crap long after he's proven himself.

(Also they made some ...interesting translation decisions with the English dub. YMMV in your area but I had to double check that my audio settings were correct until I figured out what they were going for.)

[donnblake]

I can unreservedly recommend "Myths and Legends."

"Magnus Archives," is also really good, but it's horror, which isn't everyone's bag, and specifically spends the first couple seasons exploring extremely specific horror scenarios, so if you have a "That Thing," that especially freaks you out, there's a decent chance that one of the episodes will concern someone encountering something uncomfortably close to "That Thing."

[thezmage]

Magnus Archives started really strong but I didn't finish it since I never got into the Institute drama and that increasingly became the actual story.

[janegray]

Anybody got anything interesting at the steam summer sale?

I've been playing Ara Fell. Haven't beaten it yet so I can't tell if the ending sucks, but I quite like it so far. The style of old-school but the writing is very modern, I enjoy it.

Also got Lorelai, sequel of The Cat Lady. The Cat Lady is the best horror game I've ever played and I wholeheartedly recommend it, it's so good (though proceed with caution if you have triggers, that game is FULL of triggery stuff). Here is hoping the sequel is good, or at least doesn't ruin the legacy of TCL.

[tripodeca113]

I got some hopefully interesting mystery games. Currently "Interrogation Files: Port Landsend" is the only one I've played. It's clearly inspired by another mystery game (Her Story, in that your looking through a video database, trying to guess the right keywords to find new videos and piece together what happened in an unsolved case). But perhaps a bit more fiddly.

[onsokumaru]

Got my second pfizer shot yesterday.

According to some french conspiracy theorist, it should activate the "GMO protein Magneto" in my body anytime soon.

I guess from now I'll avoid to show my back to anybody named Fabian.

[zachbeacon]

Congrats. Mine was relatively painless. They must have forgot the microchip.

[cygnia]

THERE'S GONNA BE A 2ND SEASON OF "GOOD OMENS"~!!!!!! :-D

http://www.david-tennant.co.uk/2021/06/david-tennant-and-michael-sheen-to.html

[janegray]

I feel kinda weird about that show. I feel it really, really softened Crowley.

In the book, Crowley's demon acts are genuinely harmful. The whole point of Hastur dismissing them as trivial bullshit was that Hastur was too unintelligent and close-minded to see that that they were tremendously effective at damning souls, and that's why Crowley was able to run circles around him despite Hastur being infinitely more powerful (and in turn, why Hastur resented that somebody who was apparently powerless was held in high regards in hell).

But in the show, they actually are presented as barely more than mischief, some silly things he comes up with just so he has something to report to his bosses.

It's not that I mind a softer Crowley (if anything, I much much prefer him like that). It's that so many fans of the show end up assuming that the softer characterisation is true of the books as well, and even when they read the books they just completely ignore the implications of Crowley's history.

Tl;dr: kids and their hoola hops on my lane!

[owlbrigade1]

Proving we live in the Monkey's Paw universe, the replacement for the most recent worst health secretary in history is the next worst health secretary in history who is not only a radical free-marketeer but also a self admitted Ayn Rand idoliser. I never really expected much from the Tories, but they do seem to be determined to put the worst people into positions where they can do the most damage possible. They are a bottomless well of evil stupidity.

[silverhammerman]

Like most of North America I am withering in a heat wave and getting by with a lot of water, an elaborate system of fans which may or may not work, and thinking a lot about how it only gets worse from here.

I finished reading Abraham Riesman's biography "True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee" after discussing it a bit on here last week, and I think I would recommend it for anyone interested in comics history or trying to understand the man beneath the mythology of Stan Lee. It's pretty evenhanded, balancing Lee's less defensible moments by showing what made him a good editor, and very well researched. Most of the early stuff, Lee's life up through his formal departure from Marvel will probably not be entirely surprising if you've read Sean Howe's book or are generally plugged into the history of comics, but all of the stuff after is fascinating. I, like I would imagine most people are, wasn't overly familiar with Lee's post-Marvel career beyond understanding it as a series of huckster-like cash grabs and failures, and Riesman unravels his ventures in clearheaded ways. The final two chapters though are brutal; an account of cynical elder abuse and exploitation which at the time was only whispered about. I think Riesman's book is a good read, and helps to understand Lee as a complex, quintessentially American figure.

[owlbrigade1]

I don't know how you guys are coping with that. Here in my bit of Scotland it is almost 20°, and I'm drookit wi sweat, just the thought of 40° or more sounds like flat out insane. I would be nothing more than a puddle on the floor by that point. Here is hoping you get some cooler weather soon.

[malurette]

Men's Rhythmic Gymnastics? that looks fun!!

And that reminds me, between Yuri On Ice and the great age of reboots and remakes... I'd like to see a new Hikari no Densetsu anime, closer to the manga, with a bigger budget for dance sequences and with more varied animation than Hikari wearing always the same leotard and doing always the same basic routine whatever the competition.

[iamrman]

I got Acts of Vengeance: Marvel Universe in a Comixology sale a while ago, and I am finally getting around to reading it.

The part I am most interested in reading are the Punisher tie-ins where he takes on Doctor Doom. A man with guns fighting Doctor Doom. It's clear how that fight is going to go.

Acts of Vengeance is one of my favourite Marvel events. I just enjoy the idea of villains swapping heroes to fight. I have most of the other issues tying-in to the event in various other trades, but the issues of Avengers and Avengers Spolight have only ever been collected in an omnibus edition that is ling out of print. Thankfully, a trade collecting the carious Avengers-related ussues was released a little while ago so I made sure to snap that up.

I went a bit mad on the Archie sale Comixology had a while ago, so I have a load of that to read. Pretty girls and wholesome shenanigans, what's not to like?

The Midnighter series that spun-off from the Grayson series is also on my list, so let's hope I like that. I here that Extrano, formerly of the New Guardians, appears in the series.

I sure hope he isn't as much of a massive stereotype in this series as he was in New Guardians. It is commendable that the creators wanted to tackle serious subjects, but the execution left a lot to be desired. If anything, at least it gave us the sheer madness that was SNOWFLAME!!

[icon_uk]

Marvel's Acts of Vengeance "Heroes fight villains they've never met before and so are unprepared for!" was sort of spoiled for me when a reviewer pointed out that the basic issue is that "The villains had also never fought these heroes before, so they had no advantage"

Steve Orlando's revamp of Extrano is actually pretty good.

[skjam]

For my 60th birthday, my brother and I went to Brit's Pub, and had Cornish pasties. Quite tasty. Then we went to a Thai "night" market in the suburbs. Having had a heavy lunch, I didn't try any of the food, but did get some wooden elephant toys as presents for my littlest relatives the next time I actually get to see them.

The following morning, the CRUD Buddies online movie-viewing club ran Dragon's Heaven and the animated Fist of the North Star movie in my honor. That was fun.

Over at my blog, I talk about The Goon: http://www.skjam.com/2021/06/29/comic-book-review-the-goon-5-wicked-inclinations/

[thezmage]

RE: Podcasts

All of the recs I made here still stand: https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/8811271.html?thread=207319303#cmt207319303
(Except I feel compelled to mention that Dungeons and Daddies got pretty rough during the Jody arc but really pulled itself back in the subsequent arc.

I'd also like to add:

*The Amelia Project. A comedy podcast about an agency that fakes people's deaths. A typical episode involves a client coming in and giving an interview to the (still) unnamed interviewer about why they need to fake their death and then further going into the process they intend to use to fake it and how they will reenter society.

*Mission: Rejected. (comedy) Agent Chet Phillips of the Extraordinary Missions Force starts each episode getting a message that starts with "Your mission, if you choose to accept it," and it turns out he just realized he can start saying "no," so the mission falls to the back ups to complete.

*A Voice From Darkness. A horror podcast about a supernatural expert who does a radio show where people call him with their supernatural problems and he helps them. Usually.

The Gothic Podcast. An actual play Monster of the Week podcast that does a great job of emulating the feel of the "woman with great hair running across the moors" genre.

*Eidolon Playtest. An actual play podcast where they play a PbtA game that they are currently making that seeks to emulate stories such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Persona. Has two different campaigns trading off every week and featuring such memorable characters as Chili the Fox and President Dracula. Also they have a lot of fun saying my name in the early episodes.

And as I said in the comments there I had intended to include Wolf 359, a sci fi podcast about a space station that receives some interesting transmissions

[icon_uk]

Oh yes, Mission Rejected is fun! I started that the last time I used this question! :)

And "A Voice From Darkness" sounds intriguing thanks! :)

[cyberghostface]

New trailer for The Many Saints of Newark, the Sopranos prequel.

https://youtu.be/dHa95iy2lF0

Podcasts

[rolzup]

Two to recommend: Titan Up The Defense. Two brothers, on alternative weeks, do an in-depth read of The Defenders and The New Teen Titans books, alternating between the two titles week-by-week.

It's honestly one of the highlights of my week. Hub and Cory have a great dynamic, it always makes me laugh multiple times an episode, and I'm deeply enjoying their dismayed reaction to Danny Chase, who has just shown up in Titans.

(On the Defenders side, they've just finished the saga of the Six Fingered Hand.)

If you follow their Patreon, Hub also does a monthly podcast about Howard the Duck (" What the Duck?! A Podcast Most Fowl (But with a "W" '​Cause He's a Duck) That's the Full Name of the Show") with his wife, and it's a joy to listen to a married couple who love each other as much as these two do. They do not love Howard quite so much; Gerber's writing has not aged well, but that just gives them more to talk about.

The other is Archive 81. Currently on hiatus, as it's being adapted into a Netflix series, with four and 1/2 seasons worth of Podcast episodes. Daniel Powell has been hired to digitize an archive of weird audio tapes. A series of interviews with the inhabitants of an apartment building get increasingly weird and disturbing, and...well. Things happen. Surreal fantasy and horror, with well-realized characters.

The first season, while good, is also the weakest. The following seasons embrace the weird even more fully, with travel to other worlds and encounters with the things that dwell there. The sound engineering is fantastic, but where the show really shines is how well it succeeds in creating a genuinely otherworldly reality, where the rules unsettlingly different. And unlike Tanis, which also manages this on rare occasions, there's no meandering. You never have the sense that they're just making the plot up as they go along.

To recommend one episode in particular, #28 - EXIST IN THE PLACE YOU ARE CURRENTLY OCCUPYING -- is a largely self-contained story of an adventure through the world of dreams, and my only regret is that we don't see more of the Barren Isles.

I don't have high hopes for the Netflix adaptation, but I do hope that they make a lot of money from it so they can do more podcast episodes.

Re: Podcasts

[thezmage]

Archive 81 is great, but it's so designed to take advantage of the audio medium that I don't see why to adapt it.

[tinygaylaura]

Welcome to Night Vale and The Magnus Archives are both great stuff

And so is Alice Isn't Dead :)

[numeronone]

"Rude Tales of Magic" might be the best Actual-Play DnD Podcast I've listened to in donkey's years.

[velacron]

I like the "Talk From Superheroes" podcast, not that the movie reviews are terribly original, but there's something about their manner and the talk flow that makes it relaxing to put on in the background

Pod Recs

[stubbleupdate]

Plumbing the death star for in depth analysis of issues in geek popular culture, like "Why is Spider-man poor?" and "Which Super Smash character would be the best stepdad"

Cautionary Tales for a nicely told narrative with some economics moral. Episodes this season have focused on the Light Brigade, airplane hijackers, why you don't break a measles quarantine, even if you feel completely fine and the difference between micromanaging and masterly inactivity. Geoffrey Wright and Helena Bonham Carter have lent their voices in the second series of shows.
Norco 80 is a short show about the bank robbery that changed policing in America. Some of the episodes are very skippable (like the show about the robbers' pasts) and others are compelling. There are a few strange assumptions made (When the sheriff tells his deputies that they can't just bring their own high powered guns to work, i think the authors want us to think that the sheriff is being unreasonable, but no)
Behind the Bastards can be a bit hit and miss, but their read through of Little Benny Shaps' terrible racist novel is amusing enough.

Re: Pod Recs

[zachbeacon]

Behind the Bastards is one of those guest-heavy podcasts that often leads me to others. I just finished the most recent episode of Q Clearance today.

Though its hard to talk about the Ben 'The Human Dog Whistle" Shapiro episodes without mentioning the Worst Year Ever and Even More News podcasts. I actually came across BtB because I was following Cody and Katie's post-Cracked work. I know Robert was also there but I don't remember him being on camera.

[mastermahan]

My all-time favorite podcast is the now-completed Wolf 359, which pulls off one of the most successful genre shifts I've ever encountered. It starts off a scifi comedy, much in the Red Dwarf vein - an uptight commander, a slacker communication officer, an amiable mad scientist, and a glitchy AI, all together on a crappy space station getting on each other's nerves and bickering over the last of the toothpaste.

Then the genre shift hits and you start getting horror, struggles for survival, and in-depth character drama, all while never fully discarding the comedy.

It's just fantastic.

Others I like:

372 Pages We'll Never Get Back: Michael J. Nelson of MST3K fame and Conor Lastowka, head writer for Rifftrax, read terrible books and discuss/joke about them. They started off with Ready Player One, and later books have included William Shatner's TekWar, the sequel to Willow written by Chris Claremont and George Lucas, and The Eye of Argon. Not to everyone's tastes, but I grew up on MST3K, so it's in my wheelhouse.

LeVar Burton Reads: Just what it says. Short stories, mostly SF&F, read by LeVar Burton. Great selection of stories. LeVar Burton. What more could you want?

[thezmage]

These are all also great podcasts.