Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday
Sep. 7th, 2021 11:28 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.
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.
Texas has introduced one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the USA, including the right for lawsuits to be brought by private citizens against those who aid, abet or perform abortions carried out after six weeks.
The UK Government has denied it has plans for an October Lockdown, so we might as well plan for that happening.
El Salvador has become the first country in the world to approve the use of BitCoin as legal tender.
The house Jim Henson lived in when he was in London, is to receive an official English Heritage blue plaque.
ABBA has released two tracks from their forthcoming new album Voyage, their first in over 40 years. "Don't Shut me Down" is classic ABBA pop with their typical melancholic twist, and "I Still Have Faith in You" is a classic ballad. Given that both the lead singers are now in their 70's, their voices are amazing!
Finally watched the end of Schmigadoon. It was a little over-obsessed with referencing specific classic Broadway musical numbers at times, but that that did give us Kristen Chenowyth's shot in one go and sung live "Tribulation and Strife", ("Ya Got Trouble" from "The Music Man") and Jane Karkaowski's Cole Porter inspired "I Always, Always, Never Get my Man".
And a Happy Rosh Hashanah to those who celebrate the Jewish New Year!
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.
Texas has introduced one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the USA, including the right for lawsuits to be brought by private citizens against those who aid, abet or perform abortions carried out after six weeks.
The UK Government has denied it has plans for an October Lockdown, so we might as well plan for that happening.
El Salvador has become the first country in the world to approve the use of BitCoin as legal tender.
The house Jim Henson lived in when he was in London, is to receive an official English Heritage blue plaque.
ABBA has released two tracks from their forthcoming new album Voyage, their first in over 40 years. "Don't Shut me Down" is classic ABBA pop with their typical melancholic twist, and "I Still Have Faith in You" is a classic ballad. Given that both the lead singers are now in their 70's, their voices are amazing!
Finally watched the end of Schmigadoon. It was a little over-obsessed with referencing specific classic Broadway musical numbers at times, but that that did give us Kristen Chenowyth's shot in one go and sung live "Tribulation and Strife", ("Ya Got Trouble" from "The Music Man") and Jane Karkaowski's Cole Porter inspired "I Always, Always, Never Get my Man".
And a Happy Rosh Hashanah to those who celebrate the Jewish New Year!
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Date: 2021-09-07 11:46 am (UTC)My life was saved by a cellphone game. I felt very suicidal last week, but at that time a) I had an incredible luck in Shining Nikki, getting three new Designer Reflections (best items in the game, coming with extra character stories) in two days and b) the game updated, adding the feature of creating a nail salon, which is a very fun addition, especially since there’s very high limit of what a player can put on one nail, opening the flood gates for the most nonsensical and exciting designs. This made me feel good enough to rethink the reasons while I felt so miserable and come up with a more reasonable view and plan of action. I love Yexiao’s development, she reminds me of Fuhua from Honkai Impact 3rd. I love it when my favourite series take inspiration from each other.
I watched the first season of Moriarty the Patriot. It’s an EXCELLENT story, I recommend both manga and anime. It’s explicitly anti-classist story, more black and white than Rose of Versailles (which made sure both the aristocrats and the revolutionaries were mostly sympathetic characters), but nonetheless a very good tale, with an excellent art style reminding me of CLAMP. I also got up to date with Magia Record anime, which is about to cover the most interesting plot points of the game, and seemingly both at once! I’m actually excited about the next episode. Still not watched Case Study of Vanitas, but I plan to finish Moriarty first. I am so happy that I finally feel good enough to watch anime. There’s a stash of books I want to read later, including third volume of Eva Anima.
Sebastian is getting better. Thank you everyone who send him positive energy and prayers. :) I feel kinda cranky because his treatment ate through almost all my money and I’ll have to wait until my next salary comes to buy anything. Like, I have all the necessities at home, but I don’t like the idea of not being able to buy something small, from a coffee to a new pair of earphones, if I wanted or needed to. It’s only a few days though, but I wanted to attend a geological exhibition and buy some small fossils (I have one small ammonite and would be super excited to add a trilobite, an insect in amber and a shark tooth to my collection), and now I cannot afford even a ticket. Goddamnit, I want to go so much. I love fossils and minerals. I hate asking my parents for money, but if I won’t receive my salary by Saturday I 99% will.
I see youths on the internet calling attractive characters and celebrities ‘breedable’ and I’m all O_O. How did a fetish term find a way to teens’ slang. Why this particular fetish. I feel very mildly concerned.
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Date: 2021-09-07 11:52 am (UTC)I'm not a fan of french cinema, but I will always love "Ace of Aces", an action comedy movie featuring a WWI french veteran in nazi Germany. I'll never get tired of the scene where Belmondo trolls the gestapo in a jewish bookstore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymw7qxZNZUU
Buichi Terasawa's famous space outlaw Cobra's physical appearance (and general attitude) were inspired from Belmondo. It seems to be also the case for Jean Giraud's Blueberry (from a famous french western comics) and Monkey Punch's Lupin the Third.
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Date: 2021-09-07 11:57 am (UTC)Comixology will continue to exist as a dedicated comics reader on phones and tablets (which is good because the Kindle app is terrible for comics)
I’ve seen a lot of concerns raised that didn’t get addressed in the email announcing these changes and checking the FAQ and Twitter for answers didn’t really help because a lot of it “will be announced at a later time”.
Apparently linking Comixology and Amazon in some parts of the EU is difficult if not impossible.
There’s no mention of wish lists migrating to Amazon along with purchases. I’ve seen their support team say they will but I’m skeptical. There are a lot of comics on Comixology that aren’t even on Amazon.
Once the change happens, new purchases of previously DRM-free comics (mostly Image and indies) won’t come with the DRM-free copy but apparently you can still get the PDF/CBZ files from old purchases. I have no idea where they’re going to be if the Comixology site doesn’t exist anymore, though.
The Amazon storefront is terrible and I worry about the lack of discoverability. Even when I know what I’m looking for I can’t find it half the time. “No, I don’t want a battery. I’m searching for POWER PACK comics”.
So, um, anyway…I’ve been reading the Superman Rebirth stuff on Comixology. That was what I was originally going to talk about.
Its good. So far, I feel like Action Comics and Superwoman are doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of reconciling things with the Nu52 because Superman doesn’t seem remotely interested in answering those questions. Honestly, I think it’s the right call because my favorite Superman is “Rookie Superman” (though Superdad is pretty great too) and I like seeing Jon grow into his powers. I could have done without the bit with the cat though.
Also Atomic Skull and Bizarro Superwoman might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever shipped.
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Date: 2021-09-07 12:43 pm (UTC)Dr Crusher is gone, replaced by a Dr Pulaski. Mostly she just seems to be mean to Data.
Wesley is apparently allowed to serve on the bridge, despite having no formal training. Okay. (My theory about him being Picard's son would explain this).
The Child: .....um.....It had great potential as a horror story.
Elementary Dear Data: Seeing Data and Geordie dick around in a Sherlock Holmes story was fantastic. Seemingly the holodeck is the most dangerous thing to ever exist (and think about the ways the transporters can get you). One poorly worded command and it deactivates all fail-safes, and it's directly linked to the ship's main computer. Whoever safety-tested this thing failed miserably.
The Outrageous Okona: "Wow, Okona you sure are a daredevil maverick, who lives a life full of excitement and adventure, and constantly has sex with a lot of attractive women" says the characters, when in actuality he's a very boring person. Meanwhile people get confused, when Data doesn't understand the unfunny nonsense they say.
Unnatural Selection: Pulaski get's to do stuff other than bully Data. But far more importantly a random extra received a name. O'Brian. He has a name and a job. He is a real person now, and nothing can stop him now.
A Matter of Honor: Riker goes on a cultural exchange program. Seeing him pal around with Klingons was great.
The Measure of a Man: Three good episode's in a row, will miracles never cease? Very next one is about Wesley getting a girlfriend. So yeah it's over now. Still we did get to see Worf have an unconvincing fight with a bad looking monster.
Avatar The Last Airbender news. Apparently their making a CGI movie. Also a TV show (which is implicitly not CGI).
Hooray, I got Comxiolgy to recognise my card. Yay. Went through the sales on indie comics. Saw some strange things.
Ah, Metal Gear Solid 2. Kojima really predicted so many aspects of contemporary life. I think we've all had to endure annoying swimming sections, at one point.
Well that and fighting a former head of state in a duel.
Came across a creepy Regular Show video on Youtube. I sure hope no kid stumbles across that one.
In the latest Walking Dead episode Deadmeat 2, Deadmeat 3 and Deadmeat 4 died. Sniff, they shall be missed.
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Date: 2021-09-07 12:54 pm (UTC)I never saw The Wire but I loved him as Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire.
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Date: 2021-09-07 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 01:19 pm (UTC)Will the app still have a storefront?
It's a bit galling, considering how much I've spent on Comixology (I refuse to work it out) but also many of those were impulse buys or disposable purchases.
While I would like to revisit G. Willow Wilson's Wonder Woman, I don't think I would want it sitting in my house on a shelf
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 01:22 pm (UTC)It was really good. The wildly different tones for the arcs was a bit weird at first, but they all dovetailed together in a way that wasn't suspiciously convenient.
I rate it. An easy 30 issues to power through.
And I'm now convinced that mainlining through comics is much preferable to reading them monthly.
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:38 pm (UTC)One of the few things they've done that I think was actually as good as people said
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 01:45 pm (UTC)Elementary Dear Data is great. That and The Measure of a Man are probably the two absolute stand out classics of the first two seasons of the show. From season three onwards the ratio of good episodes gets much more consistent and we get lots of great stories each season but these two were very good ones in a season that wasn't stellar
O'Brian has grown too powerful he must be stopped
I had a serious Mandela Effect moment when I watched Elementary Dear Data again a while ago because I absolutely remembered it with Dr Crusher in Dr Pulaski's role. Like I was dead certain that she appeared in this story.
At least the holo deck didn't make an Evil Lincoln
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:50 pm (UTC)Things I didn't like: Where to begin....
Destruction of Genosha (BOOOOOOOOO)
Cassandra Nova
Why is everyone so awful
What is Sublime what even is going on
Comparing a Jewish holocaust survivor to the Nazis which is a new low for Marvel comics. The bar was practically on the floor but they limbo-ed under it like Hermes Conrad himself
Quentin Quire
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 01:51 pm (UTC)But it did actually do some long overdue societal groundwork that no other writer had bothered to do, like the establishment of a mutant culture outwith the spandex set, so we had things like mutant fashions and mutant poetry (I think) being mentioned for the first time.
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:52 pm (UTC)Apparently people online have been flooding the "Tip line" with Shrek porn and memes and to these people I say keep up the good work and Fuck Texas
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:53 pm (UTC)I don't think it was Morrison who re-established Lorna as Magneto's daughter tho. I think that was Austen
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Date: 2021-09-07 01:59 pm (UTC)... though it was only after I was a long way out of the store I noticed it was damaged, and I'm too non-confrontational to do anything about that.
Tried rescuing a mouse from the sociopathic ball of murder that is the cat the other day.
I thought I had succeeded, but two hours later... seems it hadn't fled far enough, and the cat found it again.
So that's a downer.
Re-read some of Morrison's Action Comics the other day.
It's... not their best (even going over the hurdle of Grant's linguistic quirks being a bother to begin with), even without that Nu52 attitude all over it.
Renaming Brainiac "the Collector", the exploits of Lois Lane's hyper-genius step-niece, Myxzpytlk's EVIL son...
Some of the Fisch backup stories are quite nice, though.
Finally got around to watching that Frozen 2.
Eeeeehhh...
For one thing, it feels like it's trying to be a lot of things at once, and never really succeeds at any of them.
It's a plot set to "blend".
... also I prefer Panic at the Disco's cover of "Into the Unknown" there i said it.
Only about a month until Young Justice season 4 comes out.
Seems a mite quick for Young Justice. Season 3 was only two years ago.
Wondering what plot threads will be brought up and not go anywhere this time. Will any of the old ones get any resolution? Will the Light continue to get away with abso-fucking-lutely everything with no real consequences?
And given the title is "Phantoms", will it have anything to do with either Phantom Woman, Phantom Girl, the Phantom King, the Phantom Zone, or the Funky Phantom, even?
Managed to find some of the Marvel Minifigs. In one fell swoop, got me a Scarlet Witch, a Sylvie and Kroki, a(nother) Captain Carter and... Gamora.
Pretty darn good for a first run.
Now the hunt is on for Captain America, Cha-Cha and Monica...
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Date: 2021-09-07 02:04 pm (UTC)Yeeeah.
"So it turns out it's not simple human prejudice that's responsible for the long history of human-mutant violence, it's an ANGRY BACTERIA manipulating everyone."
... sometimes the way other writers tend to just ignore whatever Grant does can be mildly annoying, but with that, and just straight up "NOPE"-ing the ***** out of their depiction of Magneto, it's pretty easy to see where they're coming from.
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Date: 2021-09-07 02:09 pm (UTC)This is the email text...
Date: 2021-09-07 02:18 pm (UTC)For those of you who don't know me, I'm David Steinberger, co-founder and CEO of comiXology. It's been a while since I personally wrote to comiXology customers, but it's for a good reason: the comiXology team has been hard at work making important changes that you'll start to see soon, and today I'm excited to share what's coming.
First, though, I want to ask you to merge your comiXology and Amazon account so you can use these new services — in fact, once we update this fall, you'll need to use an Amazon account to use comiXology at all. You can do so, here. Thanks!
In 2014, comiXology did what all great comic book heroes do: a major team-up. Teaming up with Amazon was the best way to support our mission — to make everyone on the planet a lifelong comics, graphic novel, or manga fan. Since then, we've been adding features like Guided View and comiXology Unlimited to Amazon and the Kindle app. We made our amazing comiXology Originals titles available free-to-read with a Prime Reading, Kindle Unlimited, or comiXology Unlimited membership. These additions have helped us reach more readers of comics, graphic novels, and manga than ever before.
This fall, we're introducing an upgraded comiXology app along with a new way to shop for digital comics and manga on Amazon.com. Here are some of the changes you can expect:
Our upgraded comiXology app will feature flexible filtering and sorting, and some fun book navigation features.
A revamped digital comics shopping experience on Amazon where you'll be able to browse, buy, and borrow books to read on either the comiXology or Kindle app. You can visit the new shopping experience today as we continue to bring new features online. ComiXology.com will redirect to this new experience when we launch.
Faster, more reliable downloads on Android and iOS devices. Plus read-while-downloading is new for Android customers. (Yes, we've heard you!)
Kindle Unlimited and Prime members will be able to borrow from a large library of graphic novels and manga and read on the comiXology app, in select countries.
ComiXology purchases will be readable on Kindle apps and devices. Soon, you'll also be able to read purchases from comiXology on the Kindle app, giving you more flexibility to decide where and how you read your books.
The team and I can't wait to share more about our new features and exciting changes over the next couple of weeks.
If you have questions I didn't cover in this email, visit our FAQ or join our conversation on Twitter.
Thanks for being a reader of and an advocate for this amazing art form. I'm truly grateful to work with such a passionate team of comic and manga lovers. I look forward to releasing our new app this fall and following up with great new features and improvements at a more rapid pace.
For those of you who haven't enjoyed a comiXology Original title yet, read Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook's The Stone King for free until 9/30/2021 as a token of our appreciation. I love this book!
All the best,
David
Co-founder and CEO of comiXology
GM Digital Comics, Amazon
PS: I wanted to share something pretty amazing: Stephen King's new novel, Billy Summers, has not one but two mentions of
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Date: 2021-09-07 02:19 pm (UTC)(and there were a few ideas in Multiversity which were intriguing.
So naturally they're ignored until someone wants to Mad Stan 'em.)
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Date: 2021-09-07 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-07 02:22 pm (UTC)John Byrne introduced That Which Endures back in 1989