#a short story last year said that vol. 4 was coming out soon so hopefully that will come out this year but who knows

[feralnumberfive]

So this is the last year of TUA, huh

[screenandcinema]

State of the Slate

Five years ago this fall, Marvel Studios held a press conference where they announced the next phase of Marvel Cinematic Universe, nine films in total due to be released between 2016 and 2019. Since that momentous event, Marvel Studios has not announced a single new film pass 2019 and with their triumphant return to Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con after a one year absence set for tomorrow evening, it is likely that a new slate of films, encompassing Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is likely to be announced. To mark this occasion, I wanted to look back at that previously announced slate to grade Marvel’s ability to execute their vision and look forward to what movies will likely be coming from Marvel next before tomorrow’s event.

When it comes delivering on their initial promise, Marvel Studios did an impressively good job. Only one of the originally announced nine films didn’t happen, that being Inhumans - which instead was developed as an abysmal ABC television series that even I couldn’t get all the way through. Not to mention three films came out over the period in question that Marvel didn’t announce that day in October 2014, that being Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The lack of inclusion fo the Spider-Man films is easy to explain as at this point in 2014, Marvel Studios had yet to reach a deal with Sony to produce Spider-Man movies so there was no foresight to announce said films. And as for Ant-Man and the Wasp, the first Ant-Man film had yet to even be released at this point, so there was no way to know how well the film would fare. Also it likely that the plot of Avengers: Endgame, announced here as Avengers: Infinity War - Part II, was not fully fleshed out yet, so there was no way to know that a second Ant-Man film would be integral to developing that story-line for audiences. Release dates didn’t always hit their marks and films were shuffled around to make room for these three new unannounced films which is understandable. As a whole, the accuracy is impressive especially compared to Warner Bros. who announced a similar slate of ten DC films due for release between 2016 and 2020 and has so far released six of those films with the remaining four nowhere near hitting cinemas any time soon including Justice League Part Two. As well as the next wave of DC Film like Joker, Wonder Woman 1984, Birds of Prey, and The Batman not being on their radar at all in 2014.

What can we expect from the future of Marvel Studios when they put their forecasting to the test tomorrow? Aside from new details about Disney+ series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki, hopefully, Marvel Studios will fill the giant gaps in their future film release date. Currently, Marvel has planted their flag on multiple release dates in 2020, 2021, and 2022 with no films announced at all. Officially it is two dates in 2020 (May 1 and November 6), three dates in 2021 (February 12, May 7, and November 5), and three dates in 2022 (February 18, May 6, and July 29). I don’t think it is outside of the realm reasoning to expect Marvel to announce all eight of those movies tomorrow. But what eight will there be?

Some are easy to point out. A Black Widow prequel film has been filming in earlier this summer, so it is likely one of the 2020 films, if not the May 2020 one, since it would difficult for Marvel to have any other film ready in the less than 10 months between now and then. Directors Ryan Coogler, Scott Derrickson, and James Gunn have all signed on to helm sequels to their Marvel characters, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively. A Black Panther sequel looks primed for that February 2021 date since the first film was released in that month in 2018. A second Doctor Strange is set to begin filming in early 2020, which feasible could be ready for November 2020, since the first one came out in November 2016, just under a year after filming had begun the previous October. Filming of a third Guardians of the Galaxy won’t begin until 2020 at the earliest due to Gunn’s commitment to The Suicide Squad with DC, so the May 2022 date seems like a likely destination for that film. Just last week, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi signed on to direct a fourth Thor film, and as there is no timetable yet, there is no real way to gauge where it would fall in the slate, but let’s pencil it in for November 2021 at this moment.

Let’s recap the predicted release dates at this point:

May 1, 2020 - Black Widow

November 6, 2020 - Doctor Strange 2

February 12, 2021 - Black Panther 2

May 7, 2021 - ?

November 5, 2021 - Thor 4

February 18, 2022 - ?

May 6, 2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

July 29, 2022 - ?

Before going into what new properties/characters will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are other films in need of sequels. Captain Marvel grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide so there is no way that a sequel is not in the cards very soon. The same goes for a third Spider-Man film, but since Marvel only produces those films and they are released by Sony, it is likely that any future release date won’t be set by Marvel Studios and will instead come from Sony at another time (Sony will not have a presentation at Comic-Con this year). A third Ant-Man movie also seems highly likely, but it could be something left for 2023 and beyond. The same goes for newer properties coming into the Marvel Studios fold like Fantastic Four and X-Men after Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox. While an announcement of a new film with either set of characters would likely draw crazy enthusiasm in Hall H, both seem unlikely to rebooted after 2022, with Fantastic Four likely joining the MCU first. 

What does seem likely are the announcements of a Shang-Chi film, as well as a  The Eternals film as rumors of their casting and production have run rampant as of late. Both films already have directors hired apparently, and The Eternals is rumored to begin filming this fall. Those two films and a Captain Marvel sequel could easily fill the remaining gaps in the release date slate, but where would they fit it? It would seem unlikely that Marvel would launch a new property on the first Friday of May (Summer Movie Day), something that hasn't been done since 2011 and the first Thor. It is possible that building off the enthusiasm of Black Panther, that film’s sequel could be pushed to May, to leave the February date open for a new franchise. The spring has regularly been a jumping-off point for new MCU characters, with Black Panther and Captain Marvel being released then. With that in mind, The Eternal, set to film this fall, could slip into that February 2021 date, with Shang-Chi coming a year later in February 2022. A second Captain Marvel could look to that July 2022 or possibly a third Ant-Man (since all previous films have come out in July), if Marvel Studios feels the summer 2022 one-two punch of Captain Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy is too cosmic for movie-goers.

With that in mind, here is the revised full predicted slate:

May 1, 2020 - Black Widow

November 6, 2020 - Doctor Strange 2

February 12, 2021 - The Eternals

May 7, 2021 - Black Panther 2

November 5, 2021 - Thor 4

February 18, 2022 - Shang-Chi

May 6, 2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

July 29, 2022 - Captain Marvel 2 or Ant-Man 3

This slate leaves out the possibility of Marvel Studios announcing a third Spider-Man, a giant surprise like Fantastic Four or a New Avengers, or a film scheduled for beyond 2022. But in the end, it is just a prediction, one that is likely very wrong. Be sure to keep an eye on official news out of the Marvel Studios event San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow and check back next week for a short commentary on all the things right with these predictions and (more likely) all the things wrong.

-MB-

[catherinewilks-blog]

I can’t drip feed

It is so not possible for me to do this! I can’t drip feed. I can only dollop. 

I can’t do the work and communicate it at the same time- I wish I could.  

So this is a huge catch up of what I have been doing and what is going on in my world at the minute.

Feeling very supported…

Externally at the minute we have a lot of support, a lot of championing and a lot of good will. This takes an awful lot of communication and conversation. I feel like I am having a lot of very open, honest conversations and as a result a lot of trust is building.

A snapshot… (because there is so much more)

The Morgan Foundation have agreed a top up grant for this year of over £7000 towards training and development.

This is going to include some time together to clarify roles and responsibilities, are we all working together on the same purpose, what is a team and what does it take to make it work, communicating with clarity and future action planning.

I have telephone meetings and face to face meetings booked in with potential facilitators. 

The Henry Smith Charity invited me to speak at their annual conference, they loved our story, our work and what we were trying to achieve. They recognised the challenges. They spoke very positively about the future of our funding relationship and can open doors, make connections for us that can support us in the future. The opportunity to do this was amazing for us.

The CCG visited us recently to support us with the documents, policies we need to have as part of the Lampard Review (the inquest in to Jimmy Saville) They loved seeing and hearing about where we are now in our journey, what we are doing, and have offered more support going forward.

There is a new member of staff involved with Mental Health now at the CCG and I have contacted her to arrange a vist.

 Mental Health in Shropshire

A couple of weeks ago I went to a cross sector meeting about the new mental health strategy that is being written for Shropshire. What we are learning and experiencing was being shared by so many people, but what I felt like was happening was that we were all talking radically about the future- there was energy and enthusiasm and joined- up-ness.

I am following up on a lot of these conversations with people working in the Trust and others in the vol community sector.

The partnership with Samaritans is getting stronger. Richard has been a huge support to me in the last couple of months and I think the future of Designs in Mind is stronger because of this partnership. I want to do more to connect with Shropshire Mind, still figuring this out.

I have invited Dave Wilkinson to come to the studio from Redwoods- Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team. I think this will be very important. I loved hearing him speak at the strategy meeting. 

More lines being drawn but still keeping the warmth (really aware of the compassion)

I think a lot of people are noticing that more lines are being drawn, some of the grey areas are becoming less grey. This is a challenge and a positive in equal measure. It is a challenge because it is change and it effects how we feel, but it is positive because some clarity is starting to emerge and that is making some people feel more secure, not feel misled or have misapprehensions.

Today an email has been sent out to all the staff and people on the Executive with a proposal for a new organisational structure and ideas about clarifying how decisions are made. I would say that a years (if not more) conversations have gone in to this with people from across the organisation. It will be discussed at the next Executive but anyone can chat to me about it any time. There are still lots of things to discuss but I see the next steps being…

I will meet with every volunteer and member of staff over the next couple of months to go over role descriptions. In these meetings we will discuss any elephants in the room and ideas for the future.

Bob, from Practical Governance, will facilitate a group conversation with us all to check in with how we are as group with all of this, how it relates to our vision, mission, values and action planning for the future.

Jenny has been working incredibly hard on getting our policies up to date, setting up the team room and inducting everyone in to it. Now we are almost ready for phase two which is about continuously connecting people to the Team Room, policy changes and updates and making sure we are feeling secure in what we are doing- backed up to flourish.

The Lampard Review, Safeguarding and Critical Incidence have taken a lot of our time recently and over the next couple of months social media policy and business risk will.

When the CCG visited us recently they said they are very pleased with our Governance arrangements

Ruth (from Derwen, on Executive) is currently reviewing our Safeguarding policy and procedure and changes Ros suggested after recent scenarios training

There have been some new experiences recently, particularly difficult conversations about life outside of Designs in Mind, for members, volunteers and staff-  but I feel like they have been managed very well, incredibly hard, emotional, but again with lots of open and honest conversation, and also backed up by policy and procedure and a number of people across the team coming together. 

I am currently writing a new ‘whole team’ handbook and looking at the Members Agreement to make sure all the changes that have been discussed in any of the above are reflected in these documents.

Impact

Are we still making a difference…

I have loved hearing and seeing what is going on in the studio lately, it is a great place to be

The work being produced is stunning and everyone who is in there makes it a great place to be- I miss it soooo much when I am working from home. And I love sharing the work with the world. It really does make my job a pleasure. 

I feel that new referrals groups have changed quite a lot, and I really enjoy chatting to people and meeting so many new people.

I think it is on a lot of peoples radar at the minute about how busy we are, how many people want to come to Designs in Mind. We’ll keep talking and figuring out this very difficult balance. 

I have loved spending a bit more time in the shop- what an achievement. I really think things are starting to change, and I feel quite bubbly about the potential of this space again- I love that everytime I check in with anyone about different parts of it- people are on it, and have moved things forward.  I loved working in there this week.

In 12 months we have all worked incredibly hard and it is so visible.

I am currently drawing all the reviews, finance info, shop stories, randomness from everything over the last 12 months to write the Annual Report- this should be done by the end of April.

I have asked Alison to chat to people about the recent review process and feedback at the next Executive about what people think- there are already some changes to make to the form, but we can talk about at the Executive.

Listen and Connect

I think Delyth is amazing! I am so pleased with how this area is developing, it feels like it is a huge conversation unfolding- yes I know, lots I am having, but with lots of space for group conversation to. Next group meeting is on the 2nd May at 10.30am with Samaritans. I am meeting with two new potential volunteers soon for first phase of induction. 

The Building

Scotty’s- I feel like I know the people at Environmental Health too well and seen Simon (landlord agent) too much. Hopefully I think this is being resolved in the next week or two, but it has meant that for a lot of us, time and energy has been spent on this at the expense of other priorities. This is frustrating and disappointing. I don’t think having the extraction fan is going to solve all the issues, so the long term plans about our future in this building or another are becoming more pressing.

Elin and I have been to visit one potential venue, but it is a huge project that will require substantial backing and a commercial partner. At this minute in time I don’t think we can prioritise this.

There is one other venue I am trying to arrange an appointment with to start a conversation

Another option is buying our building, and I have asked the landlord for a quote. 

There is quite a lot of maintenance that needs doing on the building. Budget wise and I am prioritising the lift, lighting and the CCTV. We have been asked to re-paint all the external windows but I am going to try and push this as much as I can. If we have to do this, this will be a huge hole in our budget.

I am aware that the air conditioning could be an issue again this summer. This is soooo much money to fix- happy to prioritise finding money for this, but something else will have to give. It is a big project.

Finance

I’m not going to go in to too much detail in short- main challenge is lack of reserves, second challenge is not enough money to invest in shop products (we are being very creative at the minute, we have to earn more, however we are through to the 2nd round of reaching communities grant- however that is far from straight forward) 3rd challenge- capital costs 4th challenge- need to earn more …. I could go on.

On a huge plus side- Tray has transitioned fully now to new accounting package and Kathryn is fully on board. New systems are ace and hopefully we all start benefiting from this new knowledge soon. Big up Tray.

Hoping to share cash flow and budgets across the departments at the Executive- may get pushed.

I have a meeting on the 2nd of May with some potential partners to put in a joint bid about supporting members to become self employed. After this meeting I may pass this to Delyth but difficult to know when to do this.

Possible joint bid idea developing across us, Qube and the Library- still waiting for next meeting date. 

People are raising money for us and I don’t know what to do to support them. They want championing on social media-  I am rubbish at this. Jeanne McCarley is doing the Big Swim for us. Clare Aspinall is doing a huge trek for us and then there is Selattyn Fete. How can we champion our external supporters more?

New Volunteers and Work Experience

I am meeting a new potential shop volunteer next week for an induction. She will then meet Julia and if it works she will be starting on Tuesdays from mid May.

Two new work experience people are starting in May- one with studio team (Lauren) focusing on printing and one with me focusing on Marketing. Sam will focus on the stories behind designs in our products- mainly from Eden and Bijou collections. We are then going to work out a plan of how to communicate this and showcase this more. 

New volunteer recruitment and induction procedure is in process. It is lengthy, but needed, after too many difficult and challenging experiences over the last year. 

External Events

I have spent time booking in external events, as some of you will know as I think I have passed them all on now. On the whole I am saying no more, but this is a difficult thing to manage. I think we need to have a think about how we manage these- within the new organisational structure there is possibly one area we can develop- I am pondering. Every time someone would like us to do something externally it takes a lot of planing, conversations and some challenging decisions and conversations about who is going and why. It is an area that really needs discussing. 

We have 3 events coming up in May with the Eden Project, Enable and Selattyn. 

Blogs

We have had 5 safe space blogs, but could do with more.

I would like to hold an open meeting soon about this so we can discuss what is a safe space- as a follow up to members day in February. 

We have had some hands blogs and they are lovely, I will start sharing these in May. I think more people will write when they have seen others.

Social Media

I am going to focus on the MHAW stuff (Not what it looks like) and then leave most other stuff to other people

We are being consistent now and it is looking good, it really is shared across the team

We could do with revisiting the brand document soon to make another action plan (this needs to link to the general shop plan- which is also in my head to revisit after last budget meeting)

Design Commission

I have written the text for the brochure

Elin is now working on the design

We are waiting for feedback from London on the text

Marketing action plan being written

Karen is still focusing on Belu- I think something will come of this connection but we have to be patient.

Feeling very positive about all this.

Staff and Volunteer supervision support

No-one responded to our tender, but I think the main reason for this was I didn’t promote it enough. I have sent it out again and asked for some meetings with people to try and find someone.

 A lot is happening- but we are all doing an amazing job, and I wanted you all to know it is being noticed- out there in the world.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 3/11/19

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 10 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – Welcome to the first volume of Chise Potter, though hopefully we won’t get a Professor Quirrell. Chise gets settled in at college, choosing a dorm by choosing cats, which in my opinion is how every college should do it. Elias follows along, of course, as a teacher, and there’s a gaggle of new characters, most of whom I didn’t really get much from at all. Chise is, thankfully, much less awkward at being social than she used to be—in fact, it’s her roommate who’s the tough nut to crack. That said, most of this volume was pure setup, and I suspect it will read better after I’ve read the next two. I’m definitely grateful that this series is continuing, though, and it’s worth the eventual reread. – Sean Gaffney

Cutie Honey: The Classic Collection | By Go Nagai | Seven Seas – My first real introduction to Cutie Honey was through Shimpei Itoh’s modern manga adaptation Cutie Honey a Go Go!. It was a fun series, so I was looking forward to delving into Go Nagai’s original manga from 1973. Fortunately, along with an essay by novelist Hirayama Yumeaki and an afterword by Go Nagai, Seven Seas has collected the entirety of Cutie Honey in a single hardcover omnibus. Cutie Honey is an entertaining if somewhat absurd series. Much of the manga’s humor tends towards the lewd and admittedly some of the jokes aren’t as socially acceptable as they may have once been. Between the titular heroine’s transformation scenes and the frequency of characters’ clothing being ripped to shreds, there’s a fair amount of nudity in the action-oriented manga. Since the cast is primarily made up of women, it’s mostly female nudity, but the men aren’t immune from sudden clothing loss either. – Ash Brown

Durarara!! re: Dollars Arc, Vol. 4 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Aogiri | Yen Press – Once again, I’m left feeling that the anime and novels handled this material better—the wait between releases doesn’t help, plus the author’s plotting, which involves everything happening at once, makes the manga more diffuse and confusing than it has any right to be. The best bits probably involved Ruri and Shizuo’s brother, who bond over their difficulty with basic human emotions, like so many other Narita couples. Last time I said Izaya was about to jump start things, but he’s absent from this book, meaning that it meanders a bit too much. It really needs someone making everyone’s lives miserable again. Which I’m sure will happen soon. Maybe. – Sean Gaffney

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 9 | By Izumi Miyazono | Viz Media – The final volume of this series ties up everything that’s been getting in the way of Asuka and Ryu getting married. Ryu decides he does love Asuka and resolves to return and fight to save their relationship. Asuka realizes that she doesn’t have to get married NOW and uses that to spend three years doing so well at her job that she can now take a year off to get married and have a baby and NOT have to worry about being fired for being a married woman. Heck, even Asuka’s friend who was perfectly happy to not get married is getting married. So in the end the title proves to be true, and you’re really happy to see the two of them finally work everything out. A very good josei series, bring on more of them. – Sean Gaffney

Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods, Vol. 4 | By Takuto Kashiki | Yen Press – I joked on Twitter that after the girls from Girls’ Last Tour died, they were reincarnated as Hakumei and Mikochi, and while Hakumei may be a bit too sensible for that to map exactly, there is very much the sense of exploration across both volumes, even though the two should be more familiar with their setting. We meet Mikochi’s sister in this volume, who is a writer and a tease, not in that order. There’s a festival chapter (sort of), a hot spring chapter (sort of), and a chapter which will make you cry at the death of a coffee grinder. In short, most of why readers read this series is on full display here. I enjoy this more and more with each volume, and always smile as I read. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 7 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – There’s some good comedy here at the head and tail of the book. My favorite chapter was probably the one involving Miyuki, who is no longer sleep-deprived, losing the bags under his eyes—which terrifies everyone and makes Kaguya realize that her love of them may be a fetish. But the bulk of this book is to introduce a new major character, Miko, the girl on the cover who is super earnest and also super awkward. She’s running against Miyuki in the election, and her ideas are great but her stage fright isn’t. Fortunately, Miyuki takes a page from Hachiken’s book and makes himself the bad guy to fix things—fortunately he wins anyway. I want to see how Miko adds to the dynamic. – Sean Gaffney

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 2 | By Waco Ioka and Midori Yuma | Viz Media – I enjoyed this second volume more than the first, not uncommon with Shojo Beat stories. Aoi’s still having trouble getting anyone to give her a job, but after she gives some home-cooked food to a passing drunk who turns out to be really important, she’s making important connections. More to the point, Aoi compares her story explicitly with Beauty and the Beast, and she’s not wrong. There’s also a jealous woman who attempts to sabotage things and is caught and about to be humiliated. That said, that’s the cliffhanger, and I’m fairly certain Aoi’s going to save her with the power of niceness. I am OK with following this yokai series now that Kamisama Kiss has ended. – Sean Gaffney

Maiden Railways | By Asumiko Nakamura | Denpa – Somehow, I’d gotten the impression that this was a girls’ love anthology, but in reality, only one couple depicted herein fits that bill. Instead, we get stories about a pickpocket helping an inattentive husband make up with his wife, a girl who’s moving away seizing the moment to confess to a boy, a ghost with lingering regrets, and a guy whose wife thinks he’s cheating on her because he works late and brings home cake. Trains figure prominently in each story—in a couple we get some detailed timetables as one party tries taking a different train to catch up with someone, but in some stories the action is just rooted around a train station, or perhaps about a beloved late relative’s model train set. They’re all low-key and they’re all enjoyable, even if they ultimately don’t leave a strong impression. I look forward to Doukyuusei by this author, coming soon! – Michelle Smith

Skip Beat!, Vol. 42 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – Kyoko’s audition for the role of Momiji continues. She’s emerged victorious over the scheming Kimiko in terms of swordfighting, but that alone isn’t enough to convince the director to cast her. Overhearing another actor deduce that Kyoko likes Ren, Kimiko manages to convince Kyoko that Ren is in love with her, with nearly disastrous results. There are some frustrating things in this volume, like Kyoko almost telling Moko about her feelings for Ren but chickening out and her taking in some intel about Kimiko liking some other guy without actually questioning her conclusion that Ren’s secret love is Kimiko. I know, I know. Shoujo gotta shoujo. But I am just so ready for some real movement on this point, as much as I love seeing Kyoko kick ass career-wise. Soon, please? – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown