#he's here to give editorial not do real combat

[thebramblewood]

MEDIEVAL Requested by anonymous Starring Caleb and Lilith Vatore

What does Lilith hate most in the world? Cleaning up her own messes. What would she hate even more? Cleaning up other people's messes. And Caleb deserved a sword. So I gave him a sword.

[suchalilyofthevalley]

What did you think about Shawn's Rolling Stone interview? I think his team should've done a better job at excluding certain information. That interview made the gay rumors worse.

Ok, this one is hitting me in a way tonight. So, there’s a lot of feels and honest me from both a PR professional and a fan perspective. 

Here’s the thing everyone needs to realize about interviews in context with PR.

If you want full, total and complete control of the narrative, that’s not earned media. That’s pushing your own content through your own means/channels or doing a paid advertorial.

You can absolutely let the writer know prior to the interview that certain questions/subjects are off-limits, but writers don’t send pieces off to talent’s PR for their ‘approval’ before they submit to the editor. That’s not how the process works and it’s completely against journalistic ethics and editorial integrity. Journalists need to be independent. Therein lies the loss of the freedom of the press and the principals of earned media versus paid. 

Here’s two good reference points from LinkedIn by a journalist, as well as from The Groundtruth Project. 

I will say his team gave this writer some pretty solid access cause well it’s Rolling Stone and if they want to do a cover story, you should give them it. And hopefully/god willing, my guess is that SOMEONE from the team was around/with them during it all and like paying actual attention. Even more so, I sure as hell hoped they prepped him before this writer joined them on the road and for such intimate access. 

PERSONAL OPINION: I think the writer saw a lane for him to get his own buzz/clicks and chatter going and just ran with it. You could tell that by the title ALONE. We do not know what hit the cutting room floor, what else he said, what else was talked about. There was a focus put on it and that’s what he went with. Hell, the tweet from Shawn about misconstrued/out of context alluded to it. 

I do think the ‘fallout’ (please picture me using air quotes here ha) afterward could have been handled a hell of a lot better by his peeps. Having him tweet about the taken out of context stuff is one thing. If you wanted to combat the noise like in a real, constructive and positive way - I don’t want to say fight fire with fire, but like this would have been a really good time to do something with like a Tyler Oakley or Calvin from the Trevor Project, or something a little more pointed/in-depth with Elvis. Have that conversation, have it ONCE, flip the narrative away from the ‘gay rumors’ and pull out the bit he talks about in there:

Last Christmas, he was reading YouTube comments about his sexuality when he decided he’d had enough. “I thought, ‘You fucking guys are so lucky I’m not actually gay and terrified of coming out,’ ” he recalls now. “That’s something that kills people. That’s how sensitive it is. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? Who cares if I’m gay?”

So he recorded a frantic Snapchat story. “I noticed a lot of people were saying I gave them a ‘gay vibe,’ ” he told his millions of followers, sounding a little choked up as he stared wide-eyed at the camera. “First of all, I’m not gay. Second of all, it shouldn’t make a difference if I was or wasn’t.”

Make the conversation about inclusion and the anti-LGBTQ sentiments and how our words MATTER, about making it a safe space for folks to come out if they want to and on their own terms, how there’s nothing wrong with an individual’s orientation, etc. He's already been an ally in this, especially with Teddy and her transition. It's not out of left field here.

Also, the sheer fact that folks gave him SHIT about that snap story makes my stomach turn from a PR professional standpoint let alone someone who actually cares about this kid. What in the actual god damn fuck. That was him laying it out there, being honest and being real. No one, no matter what they identify as, should be vilified for being truthful, honest and here emotionally raw. If folks could not take him for his word, shame on them and how dare they. 

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: May 2019

Here’s how I spent the month of May!

……….FILM……….

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) I don’t think I was mentally prepared to get right into the violence and the film doesn’t ease you into any of it. If anything, I found this chapter to rely on the combat more than the previous two and by the end, I was a little numb. Still a great film and perhaps I’ll feel differently on a second viewing. For now, I’d say it’s very good and has like...10 minutes too much fighting.

Bridesmaids (2011) Always great but in watching this I realized what makes the improv stand out from other films: the underlying storytelling. While there’s lots of back and forth between characters that are funny, it’s usually doing something else at the same time (showing characters competing and in conflict with each other, showing the casual report between friends, etc.) The humour never feels like it’s there because the movie is a comedy, but that we’re watching funny people live their lives. It really works.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) So I admit that I know only a surface level of info about Ted Bundy and what he did. With that in mind I found it frustrating that the movie took the perspective of “did he or didn’t he?” I get that the film’s perspective was that of Liz Kendall but then I wanted more concrete proof that he did it (not seeing the crimes, but through evidence in the courtroom). The one bit they did show (the teeth marks) felt flimsy and was undercut by Bundy’s rebuttal. I just didn’t vibe with the coy approach.

……….TELEVISION……….

The Magicians (Episode 1.01 to 1.09) Having read the books, I had no interest watching a series that also centres around Quentin. Only after friends told me it doesn’t revolve around him did I try it out and it’s great! The casting is still a little too CW for me (you can tell if a character will eventually play a major role based on how conventionally attractive they are) but the overall dynamic works. The magic is still dangerous, the fighting is still petty, and the world is still as complex as the novels.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Episode 2.08 to 2.09) So ep 8 (with the mandrake) is peak Sabrina for me: a little horror, a little melodrama, and a fairly contained episode. Perhaps I’m longing for a different type of television but I really want this series to become something in the vein of Buffy where there’s a monster of the week and perhaps it all ties to a bigger plot. The season finale was fun and I mistook the Phantom of the Opera song for a current top 40 hit so...I’m out of touch in a whole bunch o ways.

Queer Eye (Episode 3.01 to 3.08) Ugh what a great season.

Life in PIeces (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) It’s starting to grow on me. The format works well though I’d say their consistency (even within a single episode) varies. Maybe I just need more time with the characters but so far I’m just luke warm to it.

……….READING……….

Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson (Complete) Without giving up too much of the story, this is a heart wrenching read and one that is foreshadowed by the tone and content of the first chapter (a skill I really appreciate in both literature and film). It’s dark and light and human and really left an impression after I finished it.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction & David Aja Omnibus by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, Chris Eliopoulos, and so many more (Complete) Seeing Avengers:Endgame made me long for a Hawkeye that I liked and in rereading this, I found what I needed. I cannot say enough kind things about this run. It’s singular and small in its focus and the art/direction is phenomenal. It at times feels gritty and grounded, and yet has a real spy thriller vibe to the overall tone. If you can get your hands on the omnibus then do it. It’s human and heroic and good-spirited and funny in a dry, world-weary way and Kate Bishop is a wonderful foil to Clint Barton (and vice versa).

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso (Complete) Oof what a read. I knew the book dealt with the aftermath of a woman’s murder, but I didn’t realize it would be such a reflection on the modern media landscape. It deals with conspiracies, allegations of fake news, death threats, and the general paranoia that victims endure after a tragedy. This video essay says it all better than I could.

Be Prepared by Vera Brogsol (Complete) Charming and personal and while I don’t have many experiences with camp, I do feel a deep connection with a protagonist that never quite succeeds at fitting in with the “in” crowd. It’s a great all-ages read and is beautifully illustrated and I can’t say enough kind things about it.

Adventures of a Japanese Businessman by Jose Domingo (Complete) Just fantastic. I picked this up after a glowing review from my friend and it didn’t disappoint. Silent and surreal, the series of unfortunate events told across each 4-panel page is a masterclass in setup and resolution. There are tiny 2-3 panel arcs happening all over and it truly rewards rereads. I loved every minute of it and can’t recommend it enough.

Ragnarök Volume 1: Last God Standing by Walt Simonson (Complete) It’s fun to read a comic about Thor and it not be the Marvel version: the mythology is a little different (closer to the myths), the tone is a little different (Thor and the gods have lost and Ragnarök has happened), and I’m sure there isn’t as much editorial influence since it’s wholly the creator’s vision. It’s fairly self-serious and the overall vibe is fairy 70s Heavy Metal, and it all works. Not necessarily my go-to tone, but it’s good at what it does and is refreshingly different.

Domu by Katsuhiro Otomo (Complete) Just fantastic. Akira was always a little overwhelmingly big (though no less impressive) so this smaller, more intimate story was right up my alley. It’s creepy and kinetic and beautiful and a really good read. It’s hard to come by in print, but if you can find it then I defo recommend.

……….AUDIO……….

Dedicated by Carly Rae Jepsen (2019) You know what? This album is a lot of fun and very good and you should check it out. I really wish it kept the energy of the first couple tracks all the way through, but I really just can’t hold every artist to the level of Andrew W. K.

……….GAMING……….

Curse of Strahd (Wizards of the Coast) What I love about this group is they often spend so much time discussing who is in charge of the money, avoid conflict with a ghost that is trying to kill them, and yet really want to pursue the mystery creature that was rummaging around the pantry two sessions earlier. Also they’re still in a haunted house with ominous chanting and undead everywhere.

Maze of the Blue Medusa (Satyr Press) The party has started to explore other parts of the maze (now moving away from the Lich-haunted gardens) and continue to find countless unsettling beasts and creatures. A couple near death experiences but overall, they’re doing well.

And that’s it! As always, I’m keen to hear your suggestions for what the read, watch, hear, and play next!

Happy Friday.

[ebola-kun]

Lifting of US Propaganda Ban Gives New Meaning to Old Song

Though its ostensible purpose is to fund the U.S. military over a one year period, the National Defense Authorization Act, better known as the NDAA, has had numerous provisions tucked into it over the years that have targeted American civil liberties. The most well-known of these include allowing the government to wiretap American citizens without a warrant and, even more disturbingly, indefinitely imprison an American citizen without charge in the name of “national security.”

One of the lesser-known provisions that have snuck their way into the NDAA over the years was a small piece of legislation tacked onto the NDAA for fiscal year 2013, signed into law in that same year by then-President Barack Obama. Named “The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012,” it completely lifted the long-existing ban on the domestic dissemination of U.S. government-produced propaganda.

For decades, the U.S. government had been allowed to produce and disseminate propaganda abroad in order to drum up support for its foreign wars but had been banned from distributing it domestically after the passage of the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. However, the Modernization Act’s co-authors, Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Adam Smith (D-WA, no relation to the Smith of the 1948 act), removing the domestic ban was necessary in order to combat “al-Qaeda’s and other violent extremists’ influence among populations.”

Thornberry  that removing the ban was necessary because it had tied “the hands of America’s diplomatic officials, military, and others, by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way.” Yet, given that Thornberry is one of the  of weapon manufacturers’ campaign contributions, the real intent — to skeptics at least — seemed more likely related to an effort to ramp up domestic support for U.S. military adventurism abroad following the disastrous invasions of Iraq and Libya.

Read more by Whitney Webb

Five years later, the effects of the lifting of the ban have turned what was once covert manipulation of the media by the government into a transparent “revolving door” between the media and the government. Robbie Martin — documentary filmmaker and media analyst whose documentary series,  “A Very Heavy Agenda,” explores the relationships between neoconservative think tanks and media — told MintPress, that this revolving door “has never been more clear than it is right now” as a result of the ban’s absence.

In the age of legal, weaponized propaganda directed at the American people, false narratives have become so commonplace in the mainstream and even alternative media that these falsehoods have essentially become normalized, leading to the era of “fake news” and “alternative facts.”

Those who create such news, regardless of the damage it causes or the demonstrably false nature of its claims, face little to no accountability, as long as those lies are of service to U.S. interests. Meanwhile, media outlets that provide dissenting perspectives are being silenced at an alarming rate.

The effects of lifting the ban examined

Vice founders Shane Smith, left, and Suroosh Alvi, attend the Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. The formerly independent Vice News saw a precipitous uptick in citations of BBG sources after securing corporate funding.

Since 2013, newsrooms across the country, of both the mainstream and “alternative” variety, have been notably skewed towards the official government narrative, with few outside a handful of independently-funded media outlets bothering to question those narratives’ veracity. While this has long been a reality for the Western media (see John Pilger’s 2011 documentary “The War You Don’t See”), the use of government-approved narratives and sources from government-funded groups have become much more overt than in years past.

From Syria to Ukraine, U.S.-backed coups and U.S.-driven conflicts have been painted as locally driven movements that desperately need U.S. support in order to “help” the citizens of those countries — even though that “help” has led to the near destruction of those countries and, in the case of  Ukraine, an attempted genocide. In these cases, many of the sources were organizations funded directly by the U.S. government or allied governments, such as the White Helmets and Aleppo Media Centre (largely funded by the U.S. and U.K. governments) in the case of Syria, and pro-Kiev journalists with Nazi ties (including Bogdan Boutkevitch, who called for the “extermination” of Ukrainians of Russian descent on live TV) in the case of Ukraine, among other examples. Such glaring conflicts of interests are, however, rarely — if ever — disclosed when referenced in these reports.

More recently, North Korea has been painted as presenting an imminent threat to the United States. Recent reports on this “threat” have been based on classified intelligence reports that claim that North Korea can produce a new nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks, including a recent article from the New York Times. However, those same reports have admitted that this claim is purely speculative, as it is “impossible to verify until experts get beyond the limited access to North Korean facilities that ended years ago.” In other words, the article was based entirely on unverified claims from the U.S. intelligence community that were treated as compelling.

As Martin told MintPress, many of these government-friendly narratives first began at U.S.-funded media organizations overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) — an extension of the U.S. state department.

Martin noted that U.S.-funded media, like Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe (RFE), were among the first to use a State Department-influenced narrative aimed at “inflaming hostilities with Russia before it soaked into mainstream reporting.” Of course, now, this narrative — with its origins in the U.S. State Department and U.S. intelligence community — has come to dominate headlines in the corporate media and even some “alternative” media outlets in the wake of the 2016 U.S. election.

This is no coincidence. As Martin noted, “after the ban was lifted, things changed drastically here in the United States,” resulting in what was tantamount to a “propaganda media coup” where the State Department, and other government agencies that had earlier shaped the narrative at the BBG, used their influence on mainstream media outlets to shape those narratives as well.

A key example of this, as Martin pointed out, was the influence of the new think-tank “The Alliance for Securing Democracy,” whose advisory council and staff are loaded with neocons, such as the National Review’s Bill Kristol, and former U.S. intelligence and State Department officials like former CIA Director Michael Morell. The Alliance for Securing Democracy’s Russia-focused offshoot, “Hamilton 68,” is frequently cited by media outlets — mainstream and alternative — as an impartial, reliable tracker of Russian “meddling” efforts on social media.

Martin remarked that he had “never seen a think tank before have such a great influence over the media so quickly,” noting that it “would have been hard to see [such influence on reporters] without the lifting of the ban,” especially given the fact that media organizations that cite Hamilton 68 do not mention its ties to former government officials and neoconservatives.

The ridiculous, opaque joke from Bill Kristol & Democratic hawks called "Hamilton 68" – mindlessly treated as Gospel by US media – claims that unnamed Russian bots & pro-Russia accounts spent yesterday talking about Ronald Reagan and Antonin Scalia. pic.twitter.com/IKmoNyxt00

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 7, 2018

In addition, using VOA or other BBG-funded media has become much more common than it was prior to the ban, an indication that state-crafted information originally intended for a foreign audience is now being used domestically. Martin noted that this has become particularly common at some “pseudo-alternative” media organizations — i.e., formerly independent media outlets that now enjoy corporate funding. Among these, Martin made the case that VICE News stands out.

After the propaganda ban was lifted, Martin noticed that VICE’s citations of BBG sources “spiked.” He continued:

One of the things I immediately noticed was that they [VICE news] were so quick to call out other countries’ media outlets, but yet — in every instance I looked up of them citing BBG sources — they never mentioned where the funding came from or what it was and they would very briefly mention it [information from BBG sources] like these were any other media outlets.”

He added that, in many of these cases, journalists at VICE were unaware that references to VOA or other BBG sources appeared in their articles. This was an indication that “there is some editorial staff [at VICE News] that is putting this in from the top down.”

Furthermore, Martin noted that, soon after the ban was lifted, “VICE’s coverage mirrored the type of coverage that BBG was doing across the world in general,” which in Martin’s view indicated “there was definitely some coordination between the State Department and VICE.” This coordination was also intimated by BBG’s overwhelmingly positive opinion of VICE in their auditing reports, in which the BBG “seemed more excited about VICE than any other media outlet” — especially since VICE was able to use BBG organizations as sources while maintaining its reputation as a “rebel” media outlet.

Watch | VICE’s Fall From Counterculture Hipster Rag To Neoliberal Mouthpiece

Martin notes that these troubling trends have been greatly enabled by the lifting of the ban. He opined that the ban was likely lifted “in case someone’s cover [in spreading government propaganda disguised as journalism] was blown,” in which case “it wouldn’t be seen as illegal.” He continued:

For example, if a CIA agent at the Washington Post is directly piping in U.S. government propaganda or a reporter is working the U.S. government to pipe in propaganda, it wouldn’t be seen as a violation of the law. Even though it could have happened before the ban, it’s under more legal protection now.”

Under normal circumstances, failing to disclose conflicts of interests of key sources and failing to question government narratives would be considered acts of journalistic malice. However, in the age of legal propaganda, these derelictions matter much less. Propaganda is not intended to be factual or impartial — it is intended to serve a specific purpose, namely influencing public opinion in a way that serves U.S. government interests. As Karl Rove, the former advisor and deputy chief of staff to George W. Bush, once said, the U.S. “is an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.” This “reality” is defined not by facts but by its service to empire.

Meanwhile, counter-narratives, however fact-based they may be, are simultaneously derided as conspiracy theories or “fake news,” especially if they question or go against government narratives.

The revolving door

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan appear on CNN to discuss allegations of Russian influence in the presidential elections. (CNN Screenshot)

Another major consequence of the ban being lifted goes a step further than merely influencing narratives. In recent years, there has been the growing trend of hiring former government officials, including former U.S. intelligence directors and other psyops veterans, in positions once reserved for journalists. In their new capacity as talking heads on mainstream media reports, they repeat the stance of the U.S. intelligence community to millions of Americans, with their statements and views unchallenged.

For instance, last year, CNN hired former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Clapper, a key architect of RussiaGate, has committed perjury by lying to Congress and more recently lied about the Trump campaign being wiretapped through a FISA request. He has also mad racist, Russophobic comments on national television. Now, however, he is an expert analyst for “the most trusted name in news.” CNN last year also hired Michael Hayden, who is a former Director of both the CIA and the NSA, and former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.

Former top US officials who now are analysts for CNN: —Michael Hayden, director of CIA/NSA —John Kirby, State Dept spox, Pentagon press secretary —James Clapper, DNI —Lisa Monaco, homeland security advisor —Spider Marks, head of US Army Intelligence Centerhttps://t.co/7AejlAfi8p

— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 8, 2018

CNN isn’t alone. NBC/MSNBC recently hired former CIA director John Brennan — another key architect of RussiaGate and the man who greenlighted (and lied about) CIA spying on Congress — as a contributor and “senior national security and intelligence analyst.” NBC also employs Jeremy Bash, former CIA and DoD Chief of Staff, as a national security analyst, as well as reporter Ken Dilanian, who is known for his “collaborative relationship” with the CIA.

Stand by for propaganda! NBC hires CIA director!https://t.co/HTcD5xIYRQ

— Defectio.com (@DefectioLive) February 7, 2018

Remember when new NBC analyst John Brennan blatantly lied to NBC's Andrea Mitchell about using the CIA to spy on Democratic staffers investigating torture? https://t.co/ZaetE53gcshttps://t.co/y7fybCi3Dt

— Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) February 2, 2018

This “revolving door” doesn’t stop there. After the BBG was restructured by the 2016 NDAA, the “board” for which the organization was named was dissolved, making BBG’s CEO — a presidential appointee — all powerful. BBG’s current CEO is John Lansing, who – prior to taking the top post at the BBG – was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), a marketing association comprised of 90 of the top U.S. and Canadian cable companies and television programmers. Lansing’s connection to U.S. cable news companies is just one example of how this revolving door opens both ways.

Media-government coordination out of the shadows

Defense Secretary James Mattis chats with Amazon founder and Washington Post owner, Jeff Bezos , during a visit to west coast tech and defense companies. (Jeff Bezos/Twitter)

Such collusion between mainstream media and the U.S. government is hardly new. It has only become more overt since the Smith-Mundt ban was lifted.

For instance, the CIA, through Operation Mockingbird, started recruiting mainstream journalists and media outlets as far back as the 1960s in order to covertly influence the American public by disguising propaganda as news. The CIA even worked with top journalism schools to change their curricula in order to produce a new generation of journalists that would better suit the U.S. government’s interests. Yet the CIA effort to manipulate the media was born out of the longstanding view in government that influencing the American public through propaganda was not only useful, but necessary.

Indeed, Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, who also worked closely with the government in the creation and dissemination of propaganda, once wrote:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

While this was once an “invisible” phenomenon, it is quickly becoming more obvious. Now, Silicon Valley oligarchs with ties to the U.S. government have bought mainstream and pseudo-alternative media outlets and former CIA directors are given prominent analyst positions on cable news programs. The goal is to manufacture support at home for the U.S.’ numerous conflicts around the world, which are only likely to grow as the Pentagon takes aim at “competing states” like Russia and China in an increasingly desperate protection of American hegemony.

With the propaganda ban now a relic, the once-covert propaganda machine long used to justify war after war is now operating out in the open and out of control.

Top Photo | “U.S. Official War Pictures”, propaganda poster by Louis D. Fancher circa 1917. (Public Domain)

Whitney Webb is a staff writer for MintPress News who has written for several news organizations in both English and Spanish; her stories have been featured on ZeroHedge, the Anti-Media, and 21st Century Wire among others. She currently lives in Southern Chile.

The post Lifting of US Propaganda Ban Gives New Meaning to Old Song appeared first on MintPress News.

This content was originally published here.

[thecomicsnexus]

SUPERMAN #385-386 JULY - AUGUST 1983 BY CARY BATES, CURT SWAN, DAVE HUNT AND ANTHONY TOLLIN

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

Lex Luthor latches onto a large meteor left over from the remains of the planet Lexor. He rides the meteor back to Earth where it crashes into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Swearing revenge upon Superman, Lex declares the meteor as L-Island, and begins making plans to build the ultimate Luthor Lair.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent's got Luthor on the brain. He cannot come to terms with the fact that Luthor may have died on Lexor. Though Luthor sowed the seeds of his own destruction, Clark still feels guilty for not being able to save him. He has no idea that Luthor survived.

Meanwhile, Lois Lane returns to the Lane farm in Pittsdale. She goes horseback riding and does her level best to keep all thoughts of Superman clear from her mind.

Clark meanwhile begins hallucinating and sees images of Luthor everywhere. He even causes damage at a local suspension bridge and the Superman Museum because he believes he sees Luthor. Either Luthor has survived and is manipulating Superman's brain somehow, or else he is going completely insane.

Luthor meanwhile, recruits fresh lieutenants for his cause. He extricates five heavy weight mobsters from prison and brings them back to L-Island where they swear fealty to Luthor.

Lex Luthor combats Superman again with a device similar to the one which destroyed Lexor, but learns that Lois Lane no longer feels herself in love with Superman.

REVIEW

I am so glad that the Lois and Clark I know, are the post-crisis ones. I cannot even begin to imagine what it was to have this broken version of them.

I give Cary Bates and Marv Wolfman some credits for trying to do something different with Lois. But I can hardly understand why they didn’t take advantage of Margot Kidder’s Lois (She was one of the inspirations for John Byrne). In the same issue that Lois is happy to function without thinking of Superman, we have the first female astronaut.

Superman has a similar problem, he cannot stop thinking about Lex Luthor, wanting him back.

It’s strange for modern age fans to read this Superman because he is just not the same character. I understand that the Superman titles weren’t selling well at all, and I can see why. Superman and Lois’ problems feel too distant from the reader. In a year that saw the debut of the Outsiders and Vigilante, even the Omega Men book... this Superman has no place among those. I am going to assume that even with the liberties they could take with the characters, Bates and Wolfman were probably restricted by the editor (Schwartz - Bridwell or even Giordano), or the fans, who very loudly dislike seeing changes in Superman and Lois Lane (as can be seen in the letters page).

This fan backlash has been a problem not only for Superman, but for any long-standing character (like Star Wars characters). Fans seem to ignore the full circle nature of comic-books and start complaining too soon about changes that are clearly short lived (Blue Superman, Azbat, Mon-El as Superman, Superior Spider-man, and whatnot). Some cases are more permanent and I understand or even dislike those (Many people complained about the death of Barry Allen, Jason Todd, pre-crisis Supergirl, Ted Kord, random titans handled by Johns or Winick, the trashing of Jonathan Kent). I think the real problem is when there is no change but your favorite character is not the same. That’s the worst change, because you feel betrayed by the writer and editorial (Willingham’s Robin, Bendis’ Superman, King’s Heroes in Crisis, Johns’ Infinite Crisis, the Clusterfuck known as Armageddon 2001).

So I understand the writers here, these characters were too overprotected over the years and at least Wolfman got away with it by pretty much killing the Multiverse and allowing Superman to be rebooted. Bates would do a decent run of Captain Atom, a character acquired by DC in 1983.

I think the “rebirth” of Luthor and Brainiac are not the changes the title needed. And I like Curt Swan’s style, but I feel like his and Kane’s style was also not enough to sell these super-books.

I give this story a score of 7

[thepoliticalbreakdown]

Vote 2018: California Midterm Elections

Two years later, we’re back. I miss political blogging sometimes but adulthood only leaves room for so much.

Anyway.

Did a quick writeup of the local propositions (San Francisco) and state measures on the California ballot. Let me know your thoughts, and go vote! First, the local measures.

Prop A: Seawall Renovations.

Yes. Seems fairly straightforward to both fix and upgrade a 100-year-old seawall so that SF infrastructure doesn’t get owned by the inevitable catastrophic climate change (unless we seize the state and radically shift from a thing oriented society to a person and land oriented society including rapidly shifting away from carbon technologies and redefining efficiency as sustainability, but that’s neither here nor there). The detracting arguments seem fairly petty and unconvincing, saying that sea-facing businesses and residents should fix it themselves. I think it’s the government’s job to take care of large public projects and threats to public works, so going to disagree.

Prop B: Privacy Policy.

This one is tricky, but I’m saying Yes. It’s largely symbolic at this point, stating that privacy is important and setting timelines for coming up with concrete privacy guidelines. The major detracting arguments come from the Sunshine Ordinance on public records and concerns that SF officials could tamper and limit it. After doing some reading this concerns seem overblown. Many groups are already watching for it, officials seem to somewhat flout the ordinance already, and the City Attorney has stated he won’t sign off on anything of the sort. So I think for better or worse we’re ok, and I agree with putting plans in place for comprehensive policy on privacy.

Prop C: Taxing Big Businesses to fund Homeless Services.

Yes. This is the big one, and by far the most contentious. Detractors argue there is not adequate accountability or a plan to spend the 300 million this would bring in. That the plan for homelessness is already rife with mismanagement. I was pretty swayed at first, but I have strongly U-turned. For starters, the money is being used for definitive action. Additional shelter for 1k people, cutting to the root (or one of the roots) of the problem by helping over 7k households avoid homeless, and creating 4k supportive car homes. There will be a committee put in place to manage the money and make sure it’s being used adequately. There are big provisions for mental health services as well. I could go on about this one for a while, but anyone who lives in SF knows how bad the situation is, and I simply cannot say no to taxing large tech companies who have brought in an influx of well-paid tech workers - myself included - to take a dramatic swing at homelessness in SF. And no, tech companies are far from solely to blame for homeless in SF. It’s complicated, yes. But they can handle this tax on profits over 50 million, and I want to see the homeless situation get better. Strongly encourage a Yes vote.

https://48hills.org/2018/08/propc-progressive-politics/

Prop D: Cannabis Tax.

Yes, albeit tentatively. However, most other major cities tax their new cannabis industries and do not seem to have come to great harm. Furthermore, the cannabis industry pushed for it to be delayed - and it was, until 2021. This will give the new industry more time to settle. It would also be relatively simple for the Board of Supervisors to modify the tax rate if needed or lobbied for. Welcome to have my mind changed, but it seems alright to me. Prop E: Hotel Tax to the Arts. Yes. Kind of an odd one. Without increasing the tax on hotel rooms, this would allocate a set portion of that money to the arts instead of all of it going into a general fund. I’m going to say yes because art is important and I’m a huge fan of supporting arts initiatives. The only detracting args seem to come from people worried that other taxes will rise because of this money not going directly to the general fund. But I’m doubtful that this is enough money to cause a huge uproar in the general fund. I’m open to having my mind changed, but Yes for now.

Second, the state-wide measures. This is going to be fast and a little rough around the edges. Happy to hear differing opinions.

Prop 1: Bonds to fund housing assistance programs.

Yes. This authorizes $4 billion in bonds for affordable housing programs and veteran home owning programs. I’m for anything that helps to alleviate California’s lack of affordable housing. We need it, so let’s fund it and let’s build it.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-proposition-1-endorsement-20181009-story.html

Prop 2: Bonds to fund housing programs for individuals with mental illness.

Yes, absolutely. Mental health is real and there is a glut of homeless people suffering with mental conditions. Let’s back initiatives to get them the help they need.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/endorsements/la-ed-proposition-2-mentally-ill-housing-20181002-story.html

Prop 3: Bonds to fund water projects.

This is a tricky one. It’s a lot of money to support very regional interests, but it’s also public infrastructure, which I’m generally in favor of supporting. The LA Times, which I follow and often trust, says no. The League of Pissed-off Voters says it was one of their most contentious but squeaks by on a yes. There isn’t a perfect answer because while some of the money is going towards pretty legitimate public projects, a good chunk is going to private projects and powerful farms. This seems weird to me. I’m torn, but going with No.

Prop 4: Funds for Children’s Hospitals.

This one’s also weird. Private children’s hospitals lobbied to get it on the ballot. It’s hard to vote against something like a children’s hospital but I have questions about its necessity, especially since tax money would be going to private orgs. I know some people who are voting No as it’s possibly a shady method of private hospitals loading up on money they could pony up themselves. Still, the LA Times and League SF both acknowledge the oddities but ultimately find it legitimate. So I’ll got with Yes.

http://www.theleaguesf.org/#prop4

Prop 5: Expand Prop 13 for Property Owners.

This one is way deeper than I can cover here. Long story short, it allows homeowners to transfer low property tax to other residences of greater value where they’d be paying more. Local communities would lose out on this property tax. Most sources seem to peg us it as another easy method for the rich to get richer and avoid paying their taxes. This one is definitely a No.

Prop 6: Repeal the Gas Tax.

Listen, I’m going to keep this short. The answer is No. Do not repeal the gas tax. There’s a massive backlog of needed road fix and improvement projects that the gas and vehicle tax helps fund. Vote No.

https://cal.streetsblog.org/2018/09/27/fact-checking-arguments-for-repealing-the-gas-tax/

Prop 7: Permanent Daylight Savings.

Whatever. DST is outdated and frankly I think it can go. Yes.

Prop 8: Regulating Dialysis Clinic Charges.

So private for-profit dialysis clinics make a ton of money in profits, which is pretty mediocre. I’m all for providing a service and being compensated for it, but wild profits off others’ medical malaise leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This one is a deeply contentious one. Some say absolutely yes mostly because they’re annoyed with dialysis clinic profits (I agree but it seems a little petty and unfocused too). Others say this could drive out much-needed clinics and we should absolutely not. The problem is, I’m simply not sure what the cap would *do*, and the hardcore “yes” sources seem to very obviously avoid answering that. I’m going to say No, but of all the state and local measurements this is one I’m most receptive to further input.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-dialysis-20180720-story.html

Edit: In the course of writing this, I changed my mind to a tentative yes. If only because capping massive profits on healthcare seems important for turning America into the country it very much is not but could be.

Prop 10: End Restrictions on Rent Control.

This is the “Prop C” of the state measures. Likely the most contentious. I’m voting Yes. It’s a longer story but Costa-Hawkins has been a source of conflict since it was passed and limited enacting rent control. Prop 10 does not enact rent control, but it allows it to be a tool that local government can use to combat homelessness, displacement, and skyrocketing rent. Do your reading - there’s plenty of it on this one - but I’ll reiterate my Yes.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/endorsements/la-ed-endorsement-proposition-10-20180915-story.html

https://48hills.org/2018/10/new-study-says-rent-control-doesnt-discourage-new-housing/

Prop 11: Requiring EMTs to remain on-call during work breaks.

Tentative no. I feel like there’s a lot more to this than even the few articles I’ve read has gotten across, but it seems weird for me for ambulance companies to use a ballot measure to win what effectively a labor dispute. Also, don’t call me on my lunch break.

Prop 12: More Space for Farm Animals.

Ugh. Yes. Increase the space that farm animals live in. I don’t love the fact that costs would go up slightly, but from a moral standpoint better conditions for animals I believe trumps it. Yes.

Phew. Cheers. Midterm elections here we come.

Edit: If you want to read more, my sources were mostly The LA Times, the SF Chronicle (though I take them with a lump of salt, as I strongly disagree with their "No" on Prop C), 48 Hills, a careful reading of the City and County of San Francisco Voter Information Pamphlet, and the SF League of Pissed-Off Voters.

[salarta]

Polaris in Blue #24 Thoughts

Okay, I can now comment on Lorna’s appearance in Blue #24, thanks to this post of pictures by @marvelstars.

Keeping in mind that I lack full context, this is good.

Much better than I was expecting from Bunn given his track record and especially Blue #23. Blue #23 had me expecting Malice to be used as an excuse to have Lorna and Havok bone without being a couple yet, or one of several other possible bad approaches, most of them revolving around building Havok up at Lorna’s expense.

For the moment, I feel comfortable saying these pages of #24 show Bunn actually acknowledging who Lorna is and what she’s been through, and providing her some real development and story substance in her own right. They show Bunn putting real thought into Lorna as her own character, not just a character who can benefit Magneto and Havok.

It’s actual character development for Lorna to see her turn the mental possession back on AU Malice. To me, this is Bunn’s biggest accomplishment to date with Lorna.

That said... the potential for Malice use wasn’t fully realized. Because utilizing Lorna’s history with Malice was buried within a storyline that’s fixated first and foremost on Havok and Mothervine, Bunn did not utilize the juicy opportunities that would’ve come out in an issue or story arc dedicated to this.

Lorna fighting for control could have been drawn out so we would see reactions from a wide range of characters as “Lorna” does things she would normally never do. We could have seen a battle between them in the mental landscape - not just combat, but Malice trying to exploit “weaknesses” in Lorna’s thoughts and feelings, Lorna fending them off, etc. We could have seen how much care and respect other characters feel toward Lorna as they talk about what she’s going through and try to help her.

Yes, the end result that Bunn provided was exactly right for her, and I’m glad he went with it instead of a myriad of alternative bad options. But we still missed out on what could have been an amazing narrative journey, because Bunn chose to embed it within a Havok-and-Mothervine-centric story arc and give the greatly abridged version.

These pages change one thing for me: I now think it’s possible for Bunn to do good things with and for Lorna. I think if he puts in real effort, he can bring himself to care about Lorna enough to see her for who she is and work with it.

However, there’s a lot this does not change.

Bunn’s written Lorna poorly enough times that one good depiction isn’t enough. I still expect Lorna will be treated poorly in future issues. I still expect she’ll be written to look stupid and naive so Magneto can “correct” her. I still expect she’ll be written as Havok’s manic pixie dream girl, singing his praises and putting him on a pedestal instead of getting to be her own character.

One case of good writing for Lorna isn’t enough to make me think the trend of poor treatment has been broken and everything’s blue skies from here on out. I’ll need a lot more cases of good writing before that happens.

The cover for Blue #28 remains the big painful sticking point that suggests this issue was a fluke of good treatment before a lot of coming bad treatment.

Covers represent the contents of the comic within. This is a huge warning sign that things will go back to the “status quo” of “dumb rookie daughter” with Magneto and “manic pixie dream girl” with Havok.

No reason to believe #24 is a full-fledged course correction when the cover for four issues from now suggests it’s not.

And the good of #24 doesn’t change what happened with this page of #23.

I’m still miffed about that “haven’t been together in a long time” line, and how blatantly false it is. It’s sticking with me as a loud ringing bell of Bunn really wanting to force Lorna back into the role of Havok’s girlfriend, and all the character destruction that would entail. It reeks of trying to build a case to put them back together by skewing the facts or flat out lying. Same as how Brevoort argued against Lorna being Magneto’s daughter, and used his editorial power to try to exclude her from her family and replace her with other characters.

One good depiction in #24 isn’t enough for me to forget that. I need more. 

I’m still not reading Blue. I still think Bunn shouldn’t be writing Lorna. I still think she should go to another writer that cares more about her and what she can offer.

But I also think it’s possible for Bunn to change my mind and convince me she’s fine in his hands, if he keeps doing right by her. I’ll leave it at that.

[xtruss]

Transcript: Senator Bernie Sanders on "Face the Nation," May 23, 2021

— CBS News May 23, 2021 |

The following is a transcript of an interview with Senator Bernie Sanders that aired Sunday, May 23, 2021, on "Face the Nation."

JOHN DICKERSON: And we go now to Senator Bernie Sanders, who joins us from Burlington, Vermont. Good morning, Senator.

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Good morning, JOHN.

JOHN DICKERSON: I want to start in the Middle East. You have made the case that how the US government responds in this ceasefire period says something about President Biden's commitment to human rights more broadly. And last Sunday, you wrote a piece in The New York Times that said the US must stop being an apologist for the Netanyahu government. Since you wrote that the president has been very supportive of Israel. Do you think the administration is being an apologist for the Netanyahu government?

SEN. SANDERS: Look JOHN, all that I think is that given the incredible suffering in Gaza, where we have a poverty rate of 56%, 70% of the young people are unemployed. And after the Israeli attacks, you have wastewater plants destroyed, clinics destroyed, hospitals destroyed. I think the United States has got to develop a even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We have to be pro-Israel, but we have to be pro-Palestinian. And I hope and believe the president understands that. And I was delighted to see that he is moving forward to try to rebuild with the international community, the destruction- rebuild Gaza after all of that destruction.

JOHN DICKERSON: You mentioned an even-handed approach. When I read a portion of your editorial to Prime Minister Netanyahu, he thought it was preposterous, your claim that he had created the conditions and that- that he'd made peace impossible because he said, how do you have negotiations with Hamas? They are dedicated to the destruction of Israel. President Biden again said that this week when he said, "Until the region says unequivocally they acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as an independent Jewish state, there will be no peace." How do you have an even-handed approach to terrorists who want to destroy Israel?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, what you have got to do is also understand that over the years, the Netanyahu government has become extremely right wing and that there are people in the Israeli government now who are overt racists. You have in West Jerusalem people being evicted from their homes. Tremendous pressure on people within Israel, the Arab community, as well as Gaza. So you have a very difficult situation. You have Hamas, a terrorist group. You have a right-wing Israeli government, and the situation is getting worse. And all that I'm saying is that the United States of America has got to be leading the world in bringing people together, not simply supplying weapons to kill children in Gaza. This last series of attacks killed 64 children and destroyed a large part of the infrastructure of Gaza in a community that has already been one of the most uninhabitable territories in the world.

JOHN DICKERSON: You have put forward legislation that would delay the sale of military equipment to Israel. Would you also put the same kind of conditions you'd like to see on that aid to Israel on any aid the US gives through the UN or otherwise to the Palestinians to make sure that Hamas doesn't get any of it?

SEN. SANDERS: Absolutely. Look, Hamas is a terrorist, corrupt, authoritarian group of people, and we have got to stand up to them. But once again, our job is not simply to put more and more military support for Israel. It is to bring people together, and we can't do it alone. We need the international community. But that's what I think we need to be doing.

JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you about how this has played out here at home. The Anti-Defamation League says there were 193 reports of anti-Semitic incidents this week, up from 131 the previous week. So that's during this period while the crisis began. In the past, you've said it should be possible to be a critic of Israeli policy, but not be anti-Semitic. But it doesn't seem to be playing out that way with this uptick in random attacks.

SEN. SANDERS: Anti-Semitism is rising in America. It's rising all over the world. That is an outrage. And we have got to combat anti-Semitism. We have to combat the increase in hate crimes in this country, against Asians, against African-Americans, against Latinos. So we got a serious problem of a nation which is being increasingly divided, being led by right wing extremists in that direction.

JOHN DICKERSON: There are a number of liberals who use the word apartheid to describe Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, a number of them liberals in the House who use that language. The executive director of the American Jewish Congress, who handled Jewish outreach for your campaign, has said that that word, Joel Rubin, has said that using that word has increased the level of vitriol that has contributed to this anti-Semitism. Do you think those who- who share your view should not use that kind of language?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, I think we should tone down the rhetoric. I think our goal is very simple. It is to understand that what's going on in Gaza today is unsustainable when you have 70% of the young people unemployed, when people cannot leave the community, when hospitals and wastewater plants have been destroyed. That is unsustainable. And the job of the United States is to bring people together. And that is what we have got to try to do.

JOHN DICKERSON: I want to switch to domestic affairs now. The president and Republicans have been going back and forth on this question of infrastructure. The president made another bid, shortened the price tag a little bit. But the central question of what infrastructure means, Republicans say it roads and bridges. Democrats say it includes lots of other things in the environment, childcare, elder care. Is that difference so big that it can't be fixed through bipartisan negotiations and Democrats should just go it alone?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, look, I think most working-class Americans understand that for the last 40 years, what the government has done is catered to the needs of the wealthy and large corporations. The rich are becoming much richer while real wages for average American workers have gone nowhere over the last many, many decades. And I think what we have got to do now, JOHN, is start paying attention to a struggling middle class and struggling working class. What does that mean? It means that at a time when half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, we have got to create millions of good paying, good paying jobs. That is rebuilding roads and bridges. We've talked about that forever, but it is also having to deal with the existential threat of climate. How do you not deal with climate when the scientists tell us that the very future of the planet is in peril? And furthermore, when I think about infrastructure, of course, it means education. How do we lead the world unless we have, in a competitive economy, world economy, the best-educated workforce in the world? Of course, it means childcare. Of course it means health care. And I think we've got to expand Medicare to cover dental, eyeglasses, hearing aids.

JOHN DICKERSON: So, Senator--

SEN. SANDERS: And of course, that means dealing with income and wealth inequality.

JOHN DICKERSON: So in 30 seconds we have left, Senator, with ambitions like that which the president shares, how do you do it through a bipartisan process? Aren't you going to have to go through reconciliation just with Democratic votes?

SEN. SANDERS: That's probably right. And I think that's what the American people want. We would like bipartisanship, but I don't think we have a seriousness on the part of the Republican leadership to address the major crisis facing this country. And if they're not coming forward, we've got to go forward alone.

JOHN DICKERSON: All right. Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you so much for being with us.

[thebuckblogimo]

A vote for 1968 as the most horrible year of the '60s.

March 14, 2021

In some ways it was the best of times. During the summer of '68 the Detroit Tigers won close game after close game en route to their first world championship since 1945. It was the year that pitcher Denny McClain went 31-6. Tiger Stadium rocked, and so did I and all the pals I grew up with playing baseball, at least the ones who weren't fighting in the jungles of South Vietnam.

Also, 1968 spanned my junior and senior years in college. I was 21 years old, and no, George Bernard Shaw, youth was not wasted on me.

But there were a lot terrible things going on in the grown-up world of that time, and while I was rockin' the nights away with a Stroh's "stubby" in one hand, I was giving much thought to the calamities of the day that were being covered by the press on the other. Today, I'd like to take you on a tour of the real world as I saw it back then.

To illustrate how much things changed during the '60s, consider how the music--which was everything to us baby boomers--transformed from January 1, 1960, to December 31, 1969.

During the first month of the decade (I was in the seventh grade), some artists represented in the "top ten" charts included Marty Robbins, Paul Anka, Connie Francis, Bobby Darin and Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon.

During the last month of the decade (the same month I graduated from college), the top ten of what I'll call the rock 'n' soul record charts included tunes by Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Supremes, the Beatles, the Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin.

Hoo boy, talk about a metamorphosis in "the sound." And that's not even taking into consideration the alternative, underground, album-oriented rock that started to emerge toward the end of the decade.

There were radical changes to practically everything going on at the time: the look of our clothes and the length our hair, attitudes toward sex and drugs, nonviolence versus violence in the streets, and, of course, the ever-present, divisive clash over whether my generation should risk dying to fight communism in Southeast Asia.

Here's my take on events that bewildered a 21-year-old's mind back in '68:

The Tet Offensive--I was a junior in college during the early months of the year, living with three pals at Burcham Woods in East Lansing, a student apartment complex that looked like a collection of cheesy two-story motels. Every night we'd watch the CBS News with Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," on our black and white TV in an attempt to improve our understanding of what was going down with the Vietnam War. I don't think I fully comprehended the magnitude of "Tet" at the time. I knew it was a massive, coordinated, country-wide military assault by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong against hundreds of South Vietnamese cities, but I was most concerned about the safety of my high school pals over there who had gone off to combat as helicopter pilots, door gunners, tunnel rats, etc. I only knew that they were fighting for some amorphous cause that didn't seem to equate to the ones our fathers fought for in both Europe and the Pacific during World War II. Shortly after Tet, Cronkite traveled to Southeast Asia to report on the conflict and sit down with the generals there. Then one late February night, upon his return to New York, I heard a TV anchor "editorialize" for the first time when Cronkite concluded that the enemy would never give up on its jungle warfare tactics, that America couldn't beat the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong at their game, and that the best we could hope for in Vietnam was a negotiated settlement. That was the moment President Lyndon B. Johnson is said to have concluded that he had lost the popular support of middle America for the war effort. At the end of March, I was watching that same black and white TV when during a news special, Johnson announced he would not run for a second term. I was shocked. Everyone was. Due to the ramifications of his decision, I started to think that just maybe fewer of my buds would be risking their lives in the jungle in the years ahead...and just maybe I wouldn't eventually have to risk mine, either.

The Assassination of Martin Luther King--I don't remember how I heard about it. What I recall is riding a bike on a cloudy April 4 afternoon into the Burcham Woods complex and thinking incessantly about King's death: This can't be happening...The assassination of John Kennedy has already let the air out of the American spirit...We've lost the two greatest leaders I've known in my life...Now what?...Riots in the streets like the ones last summer?...It can't get any worse, can it? Well, it got worse. There were indeed riots in about 100 major cities across the country. I'd been a huge fan of King. I thought it was brilliant the way he had led the effort to accomplish the things that were accomplished for black people through his adherence to civil disobedience. He was the one most responsible for waking up white America to the plight of poor black people; he led numerous nonviolent marches for civil rights, including the March on Washington; he was the force behind LBJ's efforts to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1964; and on and on and on. King's pacifistic approach was being challenged at the time by some fire-breathing black radicals--Malcom X, Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, the Black Panthers. I was wary of them because I feared their violent ways would win out. And, in large measure, they did. Admittedly, black radicals were involved with some good things for poverty-stricken blacks--food distribution, better health care, emphasis on education--but their advocacy of "open carry" of loaded fire arms, black separatist rhetoric, etc., alienated most of white America. When King died his Gandhi-like approach to nonviolent resistance to achieve civil rights died, too. Like the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King's assassination was a blow from which the American psyche never seemed to fully recover.

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy--June 5, 1968. I think it was finals week at MSU. I know I was anxious to get home to begin my summer job at Rinshed-Mason paint company. The weather was great. But we were inside, glued to that old black and white TV--with aluminum foil attached to the antenna for better reception--to watch the ongoing coverage of the assassination attempt on RFK. He'd just been declared the winner of the California Democratic presidential primary when he was shot, shortly after midnight, by a young Palestinian militant, Sirhan Sirhan, while taking a shortcut to the press room through the kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Among Kennedy's entourage were famed journalist and author George Plimpton, former all-pro football defensive lineman Rosey Grier and former gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympics decathlete Rafer Johnson. There were shouts of "Get the gun...break his thumb if you have to..." as the athletes wrestled Sirhan to the floor. However, little more than 24 hours later, Bobby Kennedy was dead. If you think the world feels crazy today, it felt like "One Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest" after the assassinations of King and Kennedy, just two months apart. And, of course, there was the constant barrage of vitriol between pro-war and anti-war types underpinning it all in those days. I recall reading practically every editorial by every nationally syndicated columnist I could find in the newspapers and Newsweek magazine for clues to understanding what the hell was really happening in the country. When I returned home for the summer, my Dad, in his typically earthy way, commented on the mental state of America in '68: "The morale of the country has turned to shit," he growled.

Chicago Police Riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention--I find it amazing what I don't remember about this event from August 26-29. Probably because I was out carousing with my pals every night when it happened. The convention attracted more than 10,000 young anti-war protesters--student activists, members of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), hippies and Yippies (members of the Youth International Party) such as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin of "Chicago Seven" fame. Authoritarian mayor Richard Daly turned out a like number of police and National Guard members to confront them at Lincoln Park, Grand Park and outside the International Amphitheater, site of the convention. Things got off to a bad start when just before the convention the Yippies mockingly nominated a pig--yes, an actual swine named Pigasus--for president. As the convention progressed, security guards were caught on camera roughing up CBS News reporter Dan Rather, trying to interview a protesting convention delegate being ushered off the floor by the cops. I only know that the whole thing turned out to be a bad scene. Maybe I don't recall many details because I've always been more than annoyed by senseless violence and turned my head away when it happened. In any case, it seems that the cops were ready to administer beatdowns rather than back off at the first sign of tension. Perhaps the young protestors started the confrontation by hurling debris or breaking police lines. I just don't know. I do know that I've said many times that cops often get only a split second to make what can be life-or-death decisions when doing their jobs. But from everything I've ever heard or read, Daly's strategy was to bust heads from jump and not even try to diffuse the situation.

But for all the turmoil of 1968, my life could not have been much better in the fall. It was the beginning of my senior year in college. The "two Ricks," close friends from my Abbot Hall days, and I secured a lease at Water's Edge. Just two blocks from campus, it had the largest living rooms of any student apartment building in East Lansing. At one point we set up a ping pong table, and sometimes we'd buy a keg of beer and charge admission to Friday afternoon TGs. It was wall-to-wall people as we did the "Boogaloo Down Broadway." In October, after watching the Tigers Bill Freehan--yes, on that same old black and white TV--catch Tim McCarver's pop-up for the final out of game seven against the Cardinals in the '68 World Series, we spontaneously decided to hitchhike to downtown Detroit, where we celebrated into the night with throngs of Tigers fans who filled the streets.

Oh, yes, it felt like the best of times.

Little more than a year later, however, all four of us (another Abbot Hall friend had moved in at midyear) were notified by Uncle Sam to take our physicals for possible induction into the army. Amazingly, I flunked mine and was declared 4F (unfit for military service) due to two knee surgeries (osteochondritis) I'd undergone in high school. However, even if I'd passed it, I would not have been called to service because all young, draft-eligible males at the time had been assigned "lottery numbers" after a random drawing on national television. I drew 298, but the government filled its manpower needs by the time it got to 176. My three roommates all drew lower lottery numbers. They were all drafted. But thanks to pure luck they were eventually stationed in West Germany rather than Vietnam.

All four of us had been philosophically opposed to the Vietnam War, but not enough, I guess, to seriously entertain the thought of moving to Canada. Had I not flunked my physical, had I not drawn a favorable lottery number, had I not had the same good fortune as my roommates and been sent to Vietnam, I'd have gone into the military, served and done whatever my superiors would have told me to do.

To be quite honest, however, when I look back on it all, the young men who had the balls to cross the border into Canada, risking the scorn of being called cowards back home, displayed their own acts of courage by standing up for what they believed to be morally right. Because, to this day, I think the U.S. involvement in Vietnam was an exceedingly bad calculation, to put it mildly. Or, as my Dad, World War II veteran that he was, said in 1968, "It's all bullshit, Len."

Nineteen hundred and sixty-eight?

Charles Dickens' opening lines from "A Tale of Two Cities" sum up perfectly that paradoxical year:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

[aurimeanswind]

Let’s Make Up—Sunday Chats—4/22/18

So last week I had a Sunday Chats all written and done, and while writing the last two closing paragraphs, my web browser crashed and Tumblr, being the platform with apparently no fail safes at all, completely lost all of what I wrote. I was initially going to just rewrite it the next day or the following Wednesday (my next day off) but then life happened and to be perfectly honest I had what we call in the biz a godawful week, so it didn’t happen. I apologize, I took your questions and selfishly coveted my answers when you had taken your time to submit them, and I am very sorry for that.

To make up for it, this week I am answering all of last week’s questions IN ADDITION to the few I got for this week, so hopefully it’ll be jam packed. Luckily I didn’t have a big editorial thought-piece ready for last week, so for this week...

The 10 out of 10

So I’ve been playing God of War, as I’m sure many of you readers have been, and I’m delighted by it in so many wonderful ways. But I think the reviews definitely set an expectation that is really impossible to meet. I’m not treading new ground here, I think that’s safe to say (as is usually the case with my writing) but it’s just the thought I’ve had the most playing God of War.

I think you get this idea that it’s a series of incredibly brilliant moments that tie together beautifully, and while I think much of that is true, a lot of what you do in God of War is run around and fight dudes. As great as that is, I’ve only had maybe two big moments in my ten or so hours with it. But the quality of what I’ve seen so far just gets me excited to see what moments I have coming up, especially since at this point, I really have absolutely no idea what the hell is going to happen next.

What i think gets understated in such a masterful score is just the sheer volume of production value poured into every inch of a game. I think that’s something that’s hard to convey across an entire review, let alone just a score, but boy, there is just a ton of polish and excellence throughout the game, from the small animations, to how Kratos always grabs a cliff’s face and doesn’t clip through it.

It’s really excellently made, and I hope everyone out there is enjoying it as much as I am.

What’s on Tap

So I finished Kingdom Hearts 1

I re-beat this game again, finally going and doing all the additional content, like synthesis, extra bosses, grinding to level 100, etc.

I dunno... I think Kingdom Hearts is great but its “post-game” content is really underwhelming. I think none of the bosses are truly “special” in a way that they are in Kingdom Hearts 2. They don’t have these strategies seared into my mind, at least.

That being said, the design philosophy in KH1 versus its sequel is so completely different and fascinating. It’s far more Metroidvania in its intent to have you backtrack and re-explore already searched areas. It feels almost like it’s from a completely different franchise.

Like... There is ZERO platforming at all in Kingdom Hearts 2. Like, none. I can’t think of a section where you have to jump from a thing to a thing, except maybe the extra dungeon they added in the Final Mix version.

It makes me hopeful that maybe they’ll revisit some of these ideas in Kingdom Hearts 3 but eh. I doubt it.

Kingdom Hearts 2 on Critical

I started this and it’s about as frustrating as I anticipated. It’s not terrible or world ending, as its essentially just Proud mode difficulty with half your total health.

But I’m about to fight Xaldin in my playthrough so basically it’s all downhill from here.

God of War

So yes, I’ve been playing God of War. It is indeed, a video game.

I mean it’s really great. I talked about it a lot on last night’s podcast if you want some more detailed thoughts. But here are some standouts:

The combat is labored in a way that makes it so much more intense and significant. Of all the things that remind me of The Last of Us, it’s this aspect. It’s the intensity of each hit, the feeling of desperation in every slam and slash, and the violence that goes with it feels justified in the God of War universe where it absolutely never has before.

I get a ton of Darksiders vibes from this game, specifically Darksiders 2. The way it introduces side areas, side dungeons, side puzzles, and especially chests, reminds me a ton of how Darksiders approached formulaic Zelda ideas. It works very well here.

The Axe is, of course, excellent. But I’d say it isn’t the throw of the axe that works, it’s calling it back.

The ambient dialogue between your characters feels pulled straight out of a Naughty Dog game, and it feels so derivative of that that it makes me like it a bit less that I’d personally want to. It just feels almost exactly the same, just with different characters, and so far, outside of Kratos and how “deals” it dialogue, there isn’t enough separating it.

Overall very good. I will eventually be writing a review for IrrationalPassions.com. Look for it someday.

Questions

Remember to look for my tweet with the hashtag #SundayChats every Sunday afternoon, reply to it with your question, and boom. That’s how the magic happens.

Last week’s questions:

Ya know last week I’d have a different answer but I’ll revisit that later. In short: stuff is happening. I’m trying to live my life. Trying to do good. Failing a lot, but I’ll keep trying.

I’ve been crazy busy too. I feel like this is the year I am trying to teach myself different and new things, whether they be on a technical level, or maybe software, or something else along those lines.

Thank you for the kind words. As for the future, I think there is another question asking a bit of something like this, but it’s trying to stay busy and trying to make bigger and better moves. Like, E3 I think is out of the question, but PAX West isn’t, and aiming for something like that is really exciting and it gives us a lot of new options and opportunities. Plus, we’ve been trying to have actual meetings on the reg about what we’re doing and what ideas we have.

A big one that Scott White has been spearheading you’ll probably know more about by the end of this month, and there are some new shows and new styles of pieces I think we are all trying to do. As for me, I just want to get better with video stuff, with supporting the team, and with GA, as that’s my main new project.

I like milk. I drink milk, by itself, or in chocolate form, pretty regularly. I’ve been at a restaurant with friends and asked for a glass of milk and everyone laughed at me. I’ve since never done that.

Milk is good.

I mean the biggest one was assuredly The Messenger, which is like, my #1 most anticipated. But I was lucky that my team got to go out there and see stuff and present it to me with cool thoughts and perspectives on all of them. Like, Solo sounds super cool and I want to see more of it, and City of Brass wasn’t on my radar at all but seems really cool. Mike convinced me to see Omensight and that’s just a really rad new entry from a team I didn’t think had it in them.

I mean, I don’t even really know who Kid Rock is. I mean I know of him, but eh. I’ve never heard his music before a day in my life. I hear he is like, not good? Like, not a good person, not necessarily a bad musician. But I don’t want to assume. Is this libel? Am I getting black balled out of the industry right now?

Also you look hella cute Roger. So proud of you.

It absolutely was not. A big thing was I was planning on getting a 4K TV, and since I had the Xbox One X I was happy with just that and then the HDR that my original PS4 could reach. But there was a good deal and if I was already investing so much I wanted to get the most out of my TV. So I swear to god if a PS5 comes out next fall I’ll be pissed.

Brian. Nabeshin. Jackson. So I can know what it feels like to be the nicest dude in the world and also a great uncle.

It’s really sad. But also nice since I can be alone again. But also sad.

A bit of a mixed bag.

Pretty much anything in Final Fantasy 15 looks amazing and delicious. But that Beef Bowl in Persona 4... Man, I’ve had dreams about that Beef Bowl.

This week’s questions:

Shoutout to Brandon Gann, who is in ALL WEEK’S questions for Sunday Chats.

Yes, God of War is great. I think I got into it pretty well above, but yes, I really enjoy it. The combat, above all else, just feels so great. It reminds me a TON of DmC Devil May Cry in that it is training me well and I feel really good at it. Plus the way the weapons work kind of reminds me of that kind of combat too.

It absolutely has to be the SNES. I think I’ve lost countless hours to that system, and it’s something that, as a gift for me, I had my parents go and buy of eBay waaay past its time so as I could sit down and revisit all these classic games. Something I’m still incredibly appreciative of to this day.

But A Link to the Past and Super Metroid are just so formulative of my current taste in games and the things I seek out the most in video games (see: adventure and backtracking) and that was the console I sank the most time into without a doubt. I think GameBoy is totally a great choice, I didn’t have my own until I got a GameBoy color, but the GBA was the one I fell in love with the most, and I wouldn’t really get deep into that until much later.

Hey like, real talk everyone? Hey? Everyone bring it down, it’s real talk time?

Like, I’m doing suuuuper not good. Like actively very bad, and it’s just a whole lot going on. Last week is like, top three, top four worst weeks ever for me, and I had to make a whole bunch of adult decisions that, while I was prepared for them, I wasn’t happy about anything, and everything seemed to just make the situation more miserable. On top of that, I just feel like I’ve been really shitty and a shitty friend to basically all the people in my life that matter the most, and on top of that I have a lot of stress from work and money and blah.

Like, in the grand scheme of things, I’m doing okay, I’ll be okay, but I feel bad, it all feels bad, and it’s pretty shitty. Like, I know this probably wasn’t the answer expected, but it’s definitely the truth.

I’ll do better next time.

In my defense, it’s what I was doing up until I started writing this, and, while I do need to go do the dishes before I get back into God of War because lord knows no one else will, I’ll be continuing my adventure in Midgard until I pass out tonight.

I mean I feel really good about it, so long as everyone involved feels good. Like we’ve certainly hit a lot more readers and have broadened our audience in a way we’ve never been capable of before, and we have opportunities now that we’ve never had before, and I feel really good about that. I’m not super into the numbers, but I am into opportunity, ability to cover games pre-release, go to events, things like that.

As for the end of the year, I feel like, or at least I hope, there is a bit more cross pollination as far as skill, like more folks will be able to support Social, and more folks will be able to do video, or host shows, or whatever that may be. But I want that to all happen within comfort: like Social is Jurge’s thing, and if he doesn’t want to share that because of his ownership of it, I get that, I respect that, and I’m all about that. People gotta have their territory of expertise, and since I’ve been jack-of-all-trading it alone this whole time, I’m all about doing that for myself.

Even though I kind of already have and that’s editing.

The Ninja Samurai from Ghosts of Tsushima (upcoming, I know) and Sly Cooper, because I’m all about creating the greatest Ninja clan this side of the land of the rising sun.

That’s all I got for this week. Thank you all for your patience and understanding. I’ll do better next time. I will try and continue to do these more consistently. I love you all, thank you for reading and supporting and listening and being great.

Until next time, keep it real.

[anautisticdragon-blog]

Marvel vs. DC

I've wanted to write this one for a while, but I'm going to sum it up before I begin: DC does diversity and social issues better than Marvel could manage in its wettest, wildest dreams.

That's going to annoy fans. So let's even include my personal bias, just as a disclaimer: I'm really not fond of Marvel's lack of continuity, nor am I a fan of Bendis.

With Morrison's New X-Men, Grant looked at the problems which plagued the X-Men and how every time the books would just go back to telling the same stories. He wanted to unshackle these books from that curse, and he set up the means to do precisely that.

He weaved everything together so masterfully, Corporation X, the second mutant boom, the much needed nod to how mutants aren't all just these beautiful poster models, et cetera. Honestly, how can you stand for the downtrodden if you come across as the one per cent?

Being an X-Man must've had an amazing dental, physical, and mental health plan. No one dared to even be anything less than a perfect icon of the status quo, it was basically what Magneto always wanted. It was really quite difficult to distinguish between what separated him from Xavier.

Grant fixed that. Mutants could be less than beautiful and that was okay, mutants didn't always need to have MacGuffin powers and that was okay too. Then, at the very end, he edited the Marvel Universe to remove mutant prejudice.

That's wild.

It's the end goal of everything they'd just been striving for since the '80s, and the reason they had been locked in this neverending cycle. Now the X-Men could tell new stories. Stories about how it was okay to be interesting, diverse, and not just a living god. It was incredible, I had more hope for the X-Men at that point than I ever had.

Marvel retconned it with the very next issue. Prejudice returns, everyone is beautiful again, and every gift Grant gave them was generally pissed over. Marvel hates continuity. They're so wantonly, gaggingly desperate to tell exactly the same stories over and over and over again.

One of the worst casualties of it all was Beast. Before Morrison, Beast was nothing more than a one-dimensional, Silver Age character. Grant gave him a third-dimension, a dichotomy. Certainly, it was a bit of an old trope (Grant loves those), and yet he used it to give Hank McCoy depth he'd never had in all his years as an X-Man.

Bendis took that away. No more feline Beast for us, no more dichotomy, no more third-dimension. Hank is just a Silver Age airhead again.

Marvel is basically Groundhog Day. This is their problem and I promise you this will all tie together and go somewhere. This Groundhog Day syndrome is at the root of all of Marvel's problems, and why DC are trouncing them right now on every story-telling front.

So, they did it with Iron Man, too.

Tony Stark was always weirdly technophobic for what could only be described as a self-made transhumanist. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can see him operating on himself to give himself upgrades. Not in the comics.

Warren Ellis was the first to set out to fix this -- Extremis. Extremis was pretty okay. I'd say it was definitely a step in the right direction, but Tony still had this technophobic edge to his personality that caused dissonance in anyone who had any minor level of familiarity with technology.

Tony seemed oddly unfamiliar with the tech he'd supposedly been building. Had it turned out that -- in fact -- Tony was just a pretty face, and the real tinkerer and putterer was hiding in his shadow? That would've been interesting!

They didn't go that way, though. So they had to cure Tony of his technophobia. From Extremis we moved onto Matt Fraction's run where Tony really learned to trust technology; In fact, it proved to be more reliable and faithful to him than people did. His distrust moved away from technology to authority, government, and powerful figures like the Mandarin. This provided a strong focus, it provided the reader with reasons.

It reminds me of Mark Waid and Eobard Thawne. Eobard, the Reverse Flash, was just a two-bit Silver Age airhead of a villain. Just evil because evil, no more to it than that. Waid fleshed him out by having him become an obsessive stalker, a crazed fan whose vision of Barry Allen was so idealised that the real Barry couldn't live up to it.

This gave Eobard Thawne a reason to be Barry's villain. Similarly, Tony's newfound distrust of very powerful people and authority gave him a reason to distrust a self-styled, preening, entitled figure like The Mandarin. A character who fancifully imagined himself as an emperor.

It also allowed Tony to explore technology and realise that he wanted to spend more time simply working on it and helping to create heroes to combat men like The Mandarin than showboating hismelf. It set up the scene for both Rhodey and Pepper to replace him as Iron Corps.

Continuity! Evolution! A bold new di--RETCON! Now Tony's a technophobe again who was starkly (heh) terrified of his old technology and went back to sticks, rocks, and showboating because that's what Tony does at Marvel.

And this brings me to why I dislike Marvel. You might've heard that their editors actually blamed their push for diversity for their waning sales. It couldn't have anything to do with this Groundhog Day syndrome of theirs. No, no no no. Of course not. It has to be diversity, right?

Well, no. And, weirdly, yes? You see, their attitude toward diversity is inauthentic. It isn't genuine. I think everyone's catching on. That black kid who's going to be Iron Man? That's Cat Beast, you see? Soon to be replaced by technophobic Tony, completing the cycle.

The new Lady Thor? Cat Beast. Falcon as Captain America? Cat Beast. It'll all revert. It's because they don't actually have any passion behind it. Why did Falcon become Captain America? Oh, he and Steve Rogers had an argument and now he's wearing Captain America's uniform because reasons.

Then he got Cat Beast'd, now he's Falcon again. Steve Rogers is Captain America again. Groundhog Day, everyone! It's Groundhog Day!

Lady Thor? Lady Thor is there because... Um, er, other realities? Reasons? No one really knows, but everyone knows that it's a gimmick. It's not really intended to stick. She'll get Cat Beast'd, and ultimately replaced by Man Thor again.

I mentioned the Iron Corps, right?

This is because of how DC handled things with the Green Lantern Corps. The best example I've seen yet of HOW YOU DO THIS RIGHT.

Hal Jordan? He's being a space cowboy. John Stewart? He's leading the Green Lantern Corps. Your old favourite lantern? Heavily featured in the Green Lantern Corps. New, young, diversified lanterns? Meet Cruz and Baz!

DC does do it wrong, occasionally. I feel like what they did with Barry and Wally was just a massive clusterfuck. That Barry is still present as the League's only speedster is depressing, it's very much contrary to the Lantern Corps and it feels a little Marvel-y, to be honest. It's all about the editorial staff pushing their tastes.

So DC isn't perfect. No. Are they doing almost everything better, regardless? Heck yes! Do you care about social issues? Check out Green Arrow, Batgirl & the Bird of Prey. Do you want diverse characters? Cyborg, Blue Beetle, New Super-Man and many others have you covered. Do you long for nuanced stories that cover a character's life outside of being a hero? Superman has you covered. Do you want old-fashioned superhero comics? Action Comics, Justice League, and Detective Comics have your back.

DC is inclusive. And... AND AND AND... DC never, ever Groundhog Days. If DC does something? Then it sticks. This is why I respect them so god damned much. Even if it's begrudgingly, sometimes. You know? They deserve it, they really do.

The New 52 was a failure, they knew that. So, what's to be done about that? Reboot it and just forget it ever happened? No! Do something really clever and make all continuity matter, forever! That's what DC had done up until the New 52, so it's not that unexpected, but it is refreshing.

They could've been cowardly and just set the clock back to a pre-52 state. They did actually have some pieces in place for that (Waverider, Pandora, et al). Instead, they did something much, much more compelling. They made it all matter. So any new characters they'd introduced and fleshed out? They got to stay, along with the old stable!

And that's why DC will always be better than Marvel. I mean, you know, along with the fact that I don't think that DC has featured nearly as much snuff porn and women getting kicked in the vagina as Marvel has given us (thanks, Bendis). So that's also a feather in DC's cap.

Plus, when a woman is empowered in DC comics, it doesn't just feel like a silly, colourful, 'this is my l'il Universe which is separate from everything else' gimmick (looking at you, Squirrel Girl, sorry). They really are there, in the prime reality, and working to make a difference.

Batgirl & the Birds of Prey is better than just about anything that Marvel has done in its long history. So we're back to being inclusive, can I talk about that some more? Young readers? You've got young, experimental comics with the Young Animal and Wildstorm imprints. Gay audience? You're covered, too! Especially notable, here? Apollo & Midnighter.

When DC does it, it feels authentic, real, and genuine. They put a lot of heart into the story, to set things up. It's a long, drawn out process of handing over the mantle or switching focus. Sure, they screw up occasionally but for the most part they get that right.

It's not BOOP DIVERSITY GIMMICK, which is very much Marvel's schtick. It's why no one is satisfied with Marvel, not even an old, haggard "SJW" like me. I see Marvel's insensitive, tacky gimmicks for what they really are.

If Marvel cared to understand how to do this even remotely right? Apollo & Midnighter, Batgirl & the Birds of Prey, Shade the Changing Girl, New Super-Man, and... Doctor Endless.

Oh. My. God. Doctor Endless. Here's why I'm inspired to write this. It's not just a tacky BOOP DIVERSITY GIMMICK thing, it's not a magical one issue replacement of an existing character. They put in the effort to create new characters that people would care about, it shows DC cares.

Marvel, by comparison, feels like a soulless corporate machine. They're doing diversity not because it's ethical, or inclusive, or it makes people feel good, but rather because they think they're widening the net to sell more of their hugely overpriced comics.

If you replace five existing characters with LGBTQ versions BECAUSE REASONS (without any actual reasons) in a one issue span? It's meaningless. It’s insulting. It doesn't carry any weight or gravitas. It's hard for people to get behind that as their new hero because it all just happened so suddenly that it feels like a trick, they're feeling like Marvel will tug the rug out from under them the moment those characters lose popularity. They'll be gone as suddenly as they appeared.

Inauthenticity, a lack of genuineness, and just an air of being con men. Along with an inability to ever change, evolve, or grow. This is what I think of Marvel as being, now. Like I said, they had some really obvious chances with X-Men and Iron Man to grow. They could've launched off of Matt Fraction's stories to set up an Iron Man Corps, it would've been glorious. They could've had a number of Iron heroes, each with their own fleshed out story which is separate from Stark's own. No tackiness or gimmicks needed.

And you know Marvel is going to just Cat Beast every diverse character. Give it a couple of years and no one will ever remember any of these people they invented over a one issue span, no one will remember that Falcon was Captain America because it happened and it was gone again so quickly that it was forgettable.

It's Groundhog Day, everyone! A really gimmicky, shady Groundhog Day!

There are actually a lot of characters like that throughout Marvel's history, who've either been forgotten or have lost most of their development due to Marvel's love of the reset button. DC only flirted with the reset button once and it almost doomed them. They learned from that.

So now that Doctor Endless is here, they're now here to stay. They're always going to be in the DC Universe. Everything is. Grant fucking Morrison is in the DC Universe as The Writer or somesuch. Yankee goddamn Poodle and Captain Carrot are still present. I LOVE IT.

With Rebirth, DC has made a stand. They're not going to use the reset button to fix the time they -- thanks to some poor judgement -- flirted with the reset button. They're leaving that thing well, well alone.

So while Squirrel Girl enjoys a short stint of popularity as one of Marvel's gimmicks (and this kills me because I adore Ryan North and love his writing), off in her own Universe? Black Canary exists in the Green Arrow, Birds of Prey, and Justice League of America books being generally just the most kick-ass woman ever.

I used to be such a Marvel fan, it's funny. It's just that I began to notice their over-reliance on that bloody reset button back in the '80s. It got boring by the '90s and I was fed up of it. Morrison's X-Men and Fraction's Iron Man gave me some, infinitesimal glimmer of hope, but...

I watched DC continue to grow, grow, and grow. I mean, I'd always had some love for DC thanks to the DCAU and the Justice League, but I was iffy about the comics because they took away one of my favourite characters as a gimmicky stunt (and that felt like a very Marvel thing to do). With Rebirth? I couldn't stand it any more.

I can forgive DC for its one, flawed, gimmicky stunt. The horrible, egregious error that was the New 52. I forgive you, DC. It's okay. It really is okay. You've done everything to make up for it.

However, Marvel is doing reboot after gimmicky reboot all the time. GROUNDHOG DAY, EVERYONE! All of those new first issues, and nothing ever, ever changes. It's just a new issue one to tell exactly the same stories, just with a shiny, new gimmick! And when diversity and social issues are their shiny, new gimmick? I feel especially dirty.

DC is as authentic as Marvel is just a soulless, corporate beast who's only in it for the money. Yeah, sure, DC is a company, too. Owned by Warner Bros and definitely also in it for that money, but it feels different. You can tell by reading the comics, it really feels genuine.

If DC has a book featuring women? It'll often be written (and sometimes drawn) by women. If DC has a comic book featuring minorities? It'll often be written (and sometimes drawn) by those same minorities. This is really obvious with New Super-Man, Batgirl & the Birds of Prey, and so, so, so many others. It really shows.

And there are just too many honest-to-god genuine things going on at DC -- for those who pay attention -- for me to think it's all just a bunch of clever ploys to draw in the money. There's too much effort. If you're just doing it for the money, you do it like Marvel, and you'll succeed all the more. Marvel is simply better at making money than DC comics has ever been.

Sorry, DC.

But DC comics puts out some damn good comics. And they're trying. It's not gimmicks, they are trying and I can tell. I love them for trying.

You need only look at Doctor Endless to fully understand why DC are trying, whereas Marvel is just taking the piss (and your money).

It genuinely reminds me of the Nostalgiasaurus Parx thing I was talking about, recently. Where it turns out that the tyrannosaur had feathers and scales, it wasn't merely scaly as has been incorrectly reported so frequently of late. When people heard it really might've been a Nostalgiasaurus Parx, though, instead of a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Well, it was like their football team had won, or something. Fireworks, celebrations, people crying in the streets, riots. Crazy shit.

I guess that some of us want to preserve the status quo no matter what, right? Some just want to uphold that, keep it steady, no matter how much jury-rigging they have to do, no matter how much Don Quixote-esque self-delusionary nonsense they have to engage in just to keep the world as this overly simple construct that they already knew everything about.

Others? Well... I imagine that this is a scale, where it kind of slides and it has extremes. But on the other end of this sliding scale? I imagine that people will become more open-minded, they'll actually want a constant evolution of change borne out of an ever growing understanding. They can accept that the world is changing around them. There are likely traits and quirks that get swapped between and around to dictate where on this scale a person sits, but that's how ultimately it seems to be.

It also, quite interestingly, ties back into the toxic ideals of perfection that some people have and how problematic they are. And the importance of valuing being humble and understanding diversity instead of just upholding the status quo as some kind of holy default state that must never, ever be questioned.

Marvel kind of does the status quo thing. Yeah, they have gimmicks, and tomorrow it'll be a new gimmick, but they're doing the same kinds of stories they always have. Miles Morales comes along and could serve as the Spidey on the Streets role that people enjoy, allowing Peter to slip into the background as an older person and enjoy a family life, perhaps even take on a team leadership role. Growth, yo! But, no... Peter's still a small-time bank robbery solvin' sort of guy. Which makes Miles Morales utterly redundant, since that's what they brought him in to do.

So Morales was a gimmick. Peter being a teacher, then Peter being a CEO? Gimmicks. Nothing will stick. Ultimately, Peter's always going to be dealing with gang bangers and hoods. He's always going to be stuck at that frozen point in history, never to evolve, grow, or change. And that's Marvel.

Which is... why I prefer DC, and that's that, I guess?

[bigyack-com]

DealBook: Facebook Won’t Take Down Misleading Political Ads

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Facebook stands firm on political advertising

The tech giant just announced that it would not bow to pressure to tighten its rules on political advertising, Mike Isaac of the NYT reports.The social network won’t take down ads with misleading information, like one from the Trump campaign in October that made false accusations against Joe and Hunter Biden, it said this morning. Nor will it end microtargeting for such advertising, a practice that lets campaigns home in on a sliver of users.The company based its decision on “the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public,” Rob Leathern, a Facebook executive, wrote in a blog post.Other tech companies have imposed limits on political ads. Twitter has banned all such advertising, while Google has adopted tighter rules. The decision by Facebook is likely to incense both liberal and conservative critics.“Facebook executives are essentially saying they are doing the best they can without government guidance and see little benefit to the company or the public in changing,” Mr. Isaac writes.More: The controversy over a Teen Vogue article about Facebook’s effort to combat political misinformation — and whether the company paid the magazine for the piece. (It did.)____________________________Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.____________________________

Carlos Ghosn speaks (but not about his escape)

The former Renault and Nissan boss spoke publicly yesterday after sneaking out of Japan late last month. He used the opportunity to denounce the charges filed against him by Japanese prosecutors, Ben Dooley and Michael Corkery of the NYT write.Mr. Ghosn spoke at a news conference, touting his management success and railing against what he said was a conspiracy to oust him from Nissan.He criticized the Japanese legal system, which he accused of unfair prosecution and detention. “Every day, I didn’t know whether I would see the people I love again,” he said. “It was as if I’d died.”He also expressed some regrets about how his time as an auto magnate ended. “Frankly, I should have retired,” he told the NYT.But Mr. Ghosn was silent on how he escaped from Japan. An unnamed source told the NYT that at least 15 operatives were involved in the plan — though some had assumed that they were helping a kidnapped child.His legal troubles aren’t over. Lebanese prosecutors said Mr. Ghosn had to answer questions about his flight from Japan.

It’s still unclear what caused the latest Boeing crash

Investigators are poring over the wreckage of Ukraine International Flight 752, which crashed in Tehran yesterday, killing all 176 people onboard. But they are far from reaching any solid conclusions about what made the Boeing 737-800 crash, write the NYT’s David Gelles, Anton Troianovski and Daniel Victor.Investigators have recovered the plane’s “black boxes,” the flight recording devices that often hold clues to a crash’s causes. But an Iranian government official said that contrary to standard protocol, the boxes would not be sent to Boeing. Ukraine International said it would involve the plane maker in its inquiry.Some experts suspect that an attack may have caused the crash, especially given the heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. Hours earlier, Iran had fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that quarter U.S. troops.“All possible versions of what occurred must be examined,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine wrote on Facebook yesterday, after the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran initially suggested that technical reasons were the cause. But he later walked back that statement.Investors worry about possible consequences for Boeing. If technical problems are found to be the issue, the results could be “devastating” for Boeing, the NYT writes. The company’s shares fell as much as 2.3 percent yesterday, knocking $4 billion off the its market value.More: U.S. airlines are rushing to get their hands on 737 Max flight simulators, of which there are just 34, after Boeing said that pilots needed more training.

Big names back a Los Angeles news start-up

Exclusive: Dot.LA, a news media outlet dedicated to covering Los Angeles’s tech and start-up scene, will announce today that it is beginning operations with a $4 million round of seed financing. Its list of backers reads like a who’s who of the California investment community.• Its co-founder and executive chairman is Spencer Rascoff, a founder of the real estate data website Zillow. Its editor in chief is Joe Bel Bruno, a former reporter and editor for the WSJ and the LA Times.• Venture-capital backers include Upfront Ventures, Thrive Capital and Comcast Ventures.• Financial executives who have invested in dot.LA include David Bonderman of TPG; Brad Gerstner of Altimeter; Navid Mahmoodzadegan of Moelis & Company; and Brendan Wallace of Fifth Wall.The big question is whether dot.LA can be editorially independent, given its backers. Mr. Rascoff says yes, telling Andrew: “When we were raising money, we had all investors sign an agreement acknowledging the independence of the newsroom.”

Tesla sets a new market value high

The electric carmaker’s stock has surged in the early days of 2020. The end result: Its market capitalization of roughly $85 billion is now the highest ever for an American auto company.That’s above the previous peak of $80.8 billion set by Ford in 1999. Ford’s market value as of yesterday was $36.7 billion, while G.M.’s was $49.5 billion.It’s a partial vindication for Tesla after a challenging few years that included questions about its ability to deliver cars and a legal battle between the S.E.C. and Elon Musk, the company’s C.E.O.But there are plenty of caveats. Adjusting for inflation, Ford’s market value peak would be about $122 billion in today’s dollars. And overseas carmakers like Toyota are still bigger by any measure.Tesla also faces many challenges. It has never turned an annual profit, and it is highly dependent on sales in overseas markets, particularly China.

What you missed on Day 2 of CES

The second day of the huge electronics expo in Las Vegas was a mix of product announcements and weightier discussions of public policy. Here’s what happened:• Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the Trump administration’s latest guidelines for autonomous vehicles, which call for voluntary standards. (The National Transportation Safety Board has sought federal safety standards instead.)• Quibi, the short-form video service co-founded by Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, announced $400 million in new funding and a partnership with T-Mobile USA.• The online media personality Casey Neistat is having fun trying to stoke fake M.&A. rumors.• Just look at this robotic Labrador puppy!

The speed read

Deals• The food-delivery company Grubhub has reportedly hired financial advisers to study options including a potential sale. (WSJ)• Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce giant, is said to be considering going public as soon as next year. (Bloomberg)• Buyout firms like Blackstone and Carlyle are reportedly circling Thyssenkrupp’s elevator unit, which may be put up for sale for as much as $20 billion. (FT)• IAC plans to sell its College Humor division to the unit’s chief creative officer, which would mean layoffs for most of its employees. (Bloomberg)Politics and policy• Beijing said that China’s vice premier, Liu He, would travel to Washington next week to sign a phase-one trade deal with President Trump. (Bloomberg)• Mike Bloomberg released a job-creation plan that focuses on regional economic disparity rather than along class lines. (NYT)• The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that Britain’s aim of securing a full trade deal with the E.U. by the end of the year was “impossible.” (Bloomberg)Tech• Uber revised how it calculates some fares in California to give drivers an opportunity to earn more, in response to a new state law tightening rules for contract workers. (WSJ)• Amazon’s Ring security-video division told senators that it had fired four employees over the past four years for improperly looking at users’ video data. (Verge)• David Zaslav, the C.E.O. of Discovery Communications, predicted that only two or three companies would survive the video-streaming wars. (Hollywood Reporter)Best of the rest• The U.S. economy is doing well, but economists foresee gloom ahead. (NYT)• More than 1,600 C.E.O.s left their jobs in 2019, the most departures in a year since at least 2002. (CNBC)• Critics say Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is promoting misinformation about Australia’s wildfires. (NYT)• The business case for letting Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, step back from their royal duties. (Bloomberg Opinion)Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to business@nytimes.com. Read the full article

[ciathyzareposts]

Batman Returns – Final Rating

Written by Joe Pranevich

Christmas in July August!

There comes a time in everyone’s life where they need to put away their toys and provide a numerical rating for a tie-in adventure game written in 1992. More than once, in my case. But before we get into the all-important rating, let’s recap:

Batman Returns is the final game by Bill Kunkel’s Subway Software. Unlike the majority of the games that we play, we have Mr. Kunkel’s on words on the development process in a series of editorials as the “Game Doctor”. We can appreciate his joy at being able to work with the Batman mythos followed by his horror as he realized he was not making the game that he dreamed of. Instead of producing a Batman game that he could be proud of, he had to shoehorn in an adventure game on top of a movie that he did not like, with studio interference telling him what he could and could not include, with a development house that seemed ill-equipped to build the game that he designed. It is perhaps no wonder that this was his final game with Subway, although that may have been as much due to his changing fortunes in the magazine world as frustration with the game design one. Reading his words, I could not help but to root for the game to be better than its reputation. It also saddens me to no end that Mr. Kunkel is no longer with us; he feels approachable and would have been an amazing person to interview. I failed to mention it earlier, but we have also lost Joyce Katz (née Worley), the third member of the Kunkel/Katz/Worley trifecta. Of the three original developers and business partners, only Arnie Katz appears to still be with us, but I have been unable to locate him in time for this post.

Rather than dwell on that, let’s consider what we have: the first ever Batman adventure game and the first game to focus on his abilities as a detective. We successfully pieced the clues together to locate Penguin’s lair and prevent him from becoming mayor of Gotham. We stopped an army of marching penguins with rocket launchers. While we failed to bring Catwoman into the light, I’m going to imagine that there’s a world in the DC multiverse where Burton’s Batman and Catwoman managed to eventually get together and find a good therapist. They both could use one. Batman drove off into a snowy sunset and we can at least be thankful that no one thought to create a game based on Batman Forever.

A clue that wasn’t there yesterday and that has no reason for being there today!

Puzzles and Solvability

Batman Returns tried to do something different. It does not have standard adventure game-style puzzles where you use inventory items on foreground objects until something interesting happens. Instead, we have a game that rewards patient searching; Batman is detective first and a muscle-bound crime fighter second. This works better than you might think and my interest held for a while, but eventually the dearth of different locations led to a feeling of monotony rather than exploration. Objects are always placed in obvious places but usually only for a single day and the game expresses little desire to make the search process interesting or difficult.

With no inventory puzzles, we might surmise that the main “puzzle” of the game is the mystery. That works for a couple of days while we collected evidence to tie Shreck and Penguin together, but it is not enough to sustain the pace of the game. Instead, we might say that the key goal of the game is to find Penguin’s extortion tape, requiring us to discover his headquarters and find a way in. While this seems like a decent puzzle, we don’t have any real control over the resolution. We find clues in the order that the game gives them to us and (if we find the fish on the first day), we eventually get the tape. Within this constraint, there are some good moments– Tony the Fishmonger is my favorite– but we have little control over the pace and direction of the investigation. Combat is a mini-puzzle itself, but once we learn which bat-tools defeat the various villains, it becomes simple. Objects reset when you interrogate someone so a winning strategy is to make good use of the bolo-batarangs to trigger interrogation scenes to refresh our stuff. It is not rocket science and I sorely wish there was more to this game. It shows promise, but the execution is lacking.

My score: 3.

The utility belt is a non-traditional inventory.

Interface and Inventory

This game uses a verbless interface, something we’re going to see a lot more of in the next few years; on that score alone it is quite progressive! Almost everything can be done with a single click and there are often two ways to do things. Want to climb to a roof? You can either click the top of the screen if you have an object that will get you there or click on the object itself in your inventory. Although Batman moves too slowly, I never felt that the interface was a problem. There are some strange quirks here and there like how you can normally go to a system menu by pressing the ESC key, except during combat when you have to press a button on the toolbar labeled “ESC” instead. My guess is a bugfix thrown in at the last minute.

We also do not have traditional “inventory” puzzles. Batman never has to use a ball of yarn that he found in Catwoman’s apartment to fly a kite to attract lightning to fry an electronic lock on Penguin’s lair. Batman is a millionaire. Since he can buy anything he might need, limiting the inventory to evidence and bat-gadgets makes sense. The fact that he has more gadgets than slots in his belt isn’t surprising and works overall. In a stranger choice, we cannot see what evidence we are carrying except when we deposit it in the computer. I like that there is a good rhyme and reason to using gadgets in combat, something I didn’t cover very much in the narrative itself. Some gadgets are good for long-range attacks, while others allow Batman to close the distance and attack with his fists. While the combat is shallow, it is often better than my summaries implied. You can tell that they worked hard on that part of the engine, perhaps to the detriment of the plot-facing parts.

My score: 4

Much of the story is told through the nightly news.

Story and Setting

I am conflicted on this score because there is a lot to like. The designers did remarkably well with a slow build of tension over the first few days as we gradually uncovered the connections between the characters. They transformed a straight-forward action movie that into a mystery that Batman had to solve. The background stories in the computer, and the way some of these details shifted as you played the game, helped to make the setting come alive. Bill Kunkel complained that his team was prevented from deviating from the film and decision alone probably did irreparable damage to the game. We can see glimpses of what he was thinking thanks to some encounters and database items that don’t quite connect, but it doesn’t feel like a finished product.

For all that, the game falls apart at the end as the designers realized that they had to tell the rest of the film’s story all in a rush. This led to too many disconnected cut-scenes, dropped plot-lines, and things happening in the game because they happened in the movie. Alfred shows up! Rocket-launcher penguins show up! There is some foreshadowing to Commissioner Gordon showing up, but the latter third of the game becomes a poor retelling of the movie rather than its own thing. Although I didn’t experience both sides of the fork, the choice as to whether or not we give our evidence to Commissioner Gordon was great. It was a real role-playing moment with an impact on the ending, ensuring that Shreck is arrested rather than killed and Catwoman doesn’t have blood on her paws. That deserves special recognition.

My Score: 4

The rooftop scenes are surprisingly well animated.

Sound and Graphics

The game cuts corners by not giving Batman free movement, but the graphics and sound may be the best part of the game. The snow effects are exceptionally well done for 1992 and I wonder how much of it was animated versus motion capture. The combat engine supports far more somersaults and moves than you expect, making the fights kinetic if not exactly interesting to watch. I love the hand-painted backgrounds, many of which were based on Tim Burton’s set design but some of which are unique to the game. From Kunkel’s blog, we know that the designers visited the movie’s rooftop set during production and I cannot help but feel that they learned a lot about the film’s design aesthetic which they put to good use.

The game also has a secret weapon: Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman score. Those beautiful notes are forever burned into the nostalgia-center of my brain thanks their use in Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series. Even a couple of hooks from that score were enough to elevate otherwise boring “Batman running to the Batmobile” scenes. You can hardly credit the game designers for using a three-year old score, but I am doing it anyway.

My score: 6.

Batman can only arrive at this screen from the roof.

Environment and Atmosphere

Although I liked the graphics, not everything hung together. The city felt claustrophobic rather than expansive and seeing the same hand-painted Gothic architecture over and over again eventually made it mundane. Tim Burton’s designs bleed through into the art and that is quite nice, but it’s not enough to build a cohesive atmosphere. Although a quibble, I still dislike that Batman cannot travel through the city on foot. Even when he just needs to cross the street, he has to grapple up to the roof and cross. I’m all for subtle, but it gets in the way of the city feeling real.

My score: 4.

The bat-computer gives us many details about Gotham’s citizens.

Dialog and Acting

There are two sets of dialogs in this game: that which was written for the game and that which was written for the film, but they do not hang together well. That said, the bat-computer was exceptionally well done with descriptions of major and minor (or even unseen background) characters that would update as the game progressed. It’s a strange bright spot in a weirdly uneven game.

As far as “acting” is concerned, we get some faux-video in the game which consists of characters talking to each other with one of two frames of lip-flap animation. It’s not terrible and may have been based on filming done for the movie, albeit hyper-compressed to fit on a 8-floppy game. I wonder if there had not been plans to make this into a CD-ROM game at one point, abandoned by the time or limitations in the format.

My score: 4

Final Tally

Let’s add up our scores: (3+4+4+6+4+4)/.6 = 42 points! I am going to take one away for having the fish at the beginning of the game be such a “bite the newbie” moment. That gives us a final score of 41 points. Not terrible!

With that, Reiko is our winner this time out with an on-the-money guess at the score! Alas, Mayhaym just missed it thanks to my subtracting a point because of that pesky fish. By what I assure you is a complete coincidence, this is exactly the same score as Ballyhoo, the other game I just played about criminal clowns. We’re in The Black Cauldron and Codename: Iceman territory now which makes sense. These are deeply flawed but playable games and that’s more or less how I feel about Batman Returns. The average guess was 37 so the majority of you thought I would hate it a bit more than I did.

I am very happy that I played this game, not because it was fantastic on its own but because I was able to spend so much time researching Bill Kunkle and his Subway Software. I love discovering stories like his, told by storytellers like him. I am still reading and enjoying his autobiographical tales and Borrowed Time was a nice treat even if it didn’t score all that well. This is the kind of thing that I was looking for when I volunteered to be a writer on The Adventure Gamer and I am glad to have been able to share the experience with you. Don’t be surprised if I look for some excuse to play Mr. Kunkel’s other two adventure games at some point down the road.

This game is a huge milestone for my contributions to this blog, even if I am a bit embarrassed about it: I have now passed up Trickster as writer with the most games played, even if in my case they have mostly been Missed Classics. When I volunteered to play Operation: Stealth, I had no idea that I would enjoy writing with you as much as I have come to. Thanks for being an appreciative audience.

Next up for me is Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Volume II, by another one of my favorite developers.

CAP Distribution

200 CAPs to Joe Pranevich

Blogger Award – 100 CAPs – for finally finishing the game after so long, thanks to the fish.

Classic Blogger Award – 50 CAPs – for playing on Borrowed Time

Classic Blogger Award – 50 CAPs – for playing through Ballyhoo

Will Moczarski – 80 CAPs

Classic Blogger Award – 50 CAPs – for blogging through Reality Ends for everyone’s enjoyment

Intermission Award – 20 CAPs – for blogging about all the other programs Med Systems put out in the 80s.

Psychic Prediction Award – 10 CAPs – for being the closest guesser of the final score of The Archers.

25 CAPs to ShaddamVIth

Ultra-Efficient Panel Beating Award – 5 CAPs – for noticing that we’re driving in a car that was recently wrecked in the ending

Psychic Prediction Award – 10 CAPs – for correctly guessing the final rating of Ballyhoo

Sex Ed Award – 5 CAPs – for reminding me that male lions have manes. Duh. 

A Farm Upstate Award – 5 CAPs – for trying to work out what the Archers’ pig-cow-cabbage-dog graphics are

25 CAPs to Lisa H

Pennywise Award – 5 CAPs – for reminding us that not all clowns wear white makeup

Helpful Hinting Award – 5 CAPs – for helpful hinting.

Are You High? Award – 5 CAPs – for catching my “high wire” typos 

Comparing the Incomparable – 5 CAPs – for funny bits from the hint book 

A Farm Upstate Award – 5 CAPs – for trying to work out what the Archers’ pig-cow-cabbage-dog graphics are

25 CAPs to TBD

Clueless Award – 5 CAPs – for knowing that Movie Batgirl wasn’t Barbara Gordon.

A Setting Somewhere Award – 5 CAPs – for giving advice on emulating Amiga games

Psychic Prediction Award – 10 CAPs – for figuring out Will’s Final Rating MO, thus guessing closest to Reality Ends’ rating

A Farm Upstate Award – 5 CAPs – for trying to work out what the Archers’ pig-cow-cabbage-dog graphics are

20 CAPs to Vetinari

What’s Your Story Award – 20 CAPs – for submitting What’s Your Story answers

15 CAPs to Biscuit

Appreciating Your Appreciation Award – 5 CAPs – for making me feel like the research I do is appreciated

Psychic Prediction Award – 10 CAPs – for correctly guessing the final rating of Borrowed Time

10 CAPs to Laukku

Emulation Award – 5 CAPs – for letting us know that Dosbox has just been updated, helping out those of us who play old games.

A Farm Upstate Award – 5 CAPs – for trying to work out what the Archers’ pig-cow-cabbage-dog graphics are

10 CAPs to Michael

Fettucini Brothers Award – 5 CAPs – for lists of adventure games with circuses

SOUNDS OF SILENCE AWARD – 5 UPPER CASE CAPs – FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT THE LOUDNESS OF THE TEXT IN REALITY ENDS

10 CAPs to Reiko

Psychic Prediction Award – 10 CAPs – for correctly guessing the final rating of Batman Returns

5 CAPs to ATMachine

Arrested Development Award – 5 CAPs – for telling me about the alternate ending if you arrest Shreck

5 CAPs to Rowan Lipivitz

Deep Blue Sea Award – 5 CAPs – for making a “red herring” joke about the fish

5 CAPs to Voltgloss

No Couch Potato Award – 5 CAPs – for consulting a walkthrough and showing that I did tons of optional stuff

5 CAPs to Mayhaym

Willem Dafoe Award – 5 CAPs – for connecting Max Shreck to the movie Nosferatu

5 CAPs to MorpheusKitami

Gone Fishing Award – 5 CAPs – for hinting that I missed the fish when I missed the fish

5 CAPs to Ududy

The Unexpected Virtue of Innocence Award – 5 CAPs – for pointing out that bats aren’t birds

5 CAPs to Alex Romanov

Dehydration Award – 5 CAPs – for pointing out that bat-shark-repellent was used in the 1960s film, not the series

5 CAPs to Laertes

Touch of Death Award – 5 CAPs – for providing some info about the first Batman game for the MSX

5 CAPs to Torch

Golden Ratio Award – 5 CAPs for trying to help figure out Amiga graphics aspect ratios…

5 CAPs to Kirinn

Adventure Game Studio Award – 5 CAPs – for providing another circus adventure game

5 CAPs to Anonymous

Nine Princes Award – 5 CAPs – for pointing out a similarity between Reality Ends and a fantasy novel series.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/batman-returns-final-rating/

[cheapggdbonsales-blog]

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[cathrynstreich]

Communication Is a Make-or-Break Business Skill

The following information is provided by the Center for REALTOR® Development, with assistance from Lauren Hampton and the Podfly editorial team, and is a recap of Center for REALTOR® Development Podcast Episode 19.

In Episode 19 of the Center for REALTOR® Development Podcast, host Monica Neubauer talks with Chris Donaldson about the importance of effective communication skills.

Donaldson is a real estate broker, popular keynote speaker, teacher, business coach, entrepreneur and leadership expert. A businessman with a teacher’s heart, everything Donaldson touches begins and ends with the goal of helping his colleagues and students achieve what they want. Jumping into the world of real estate while still just a college student, he quickly transitioned his love of teaching to become one of the youngest certified real estate instructors ever in his home state of Louisiana. Now the CEO of Donaldson Educational Services, CEO and founder of Donaldson Training Solutions and an active broker, his daily mission is to make life and careers better for real estate professionals at any stage.

Communication is a skill that is critical to any professional, but to real estate professionals in particular. Because property transactions depend so heavily on human needs and interactions, this broad soft skill is one that can make or break your success. Here are some of Donaldson’s best tips and highlights from the episode.

Identify Yourself and Make Contact Easy There’s nothing more frustrating than getting a blind message. When communicating in text or email, make sure the people you are communicating with know who you are—that is, make sure the text or email you send has some type of name or signature so the recipient knows who you are, and can get back in contact with you immediately depending on the situation. Make it easy to let people know who you are and get in touch with you. One of our big goals as REALTORS® is to reduce resistance and process “friction” for our clients. Evaluate the systems in your business to see what you can do to make things easier for your client.

Be Aware of Different Communication Styles There are as many personality profiling tools as there are ways to communicate. One popular system is the DISC profile, which is a personality and behavior profiling assessment which sorts people into 16 different categories, or types. Another similar tool is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which also has 16 types. Regardless of the system used, all personality types have different proclivities and preferences for communication. Some will be direct communicators, and others will be more thoughtful or indirect. You’ll have to learn to be able to work efficiently and effectively with all of these different types of people. You don’t have to be like everyone you work with—but you do have to be able to communicate with all of them professionally.

Use the Technology Method Your Client Prefers Communication between people is as important as it’s ever been—especially with the rise in importance of technology and devices. This is an issue in business and among people in general. One of the most popular forms of communication these days is live voice, even though very few people actually use it as device for conversation. As REALTORS®, it’s important to be aware of which forms of communication our clients are using so we can use their preferred methods. This is also true for communicating with other REALTORS®. In the episode, Donaldson and Neubauer talk about different modes of communication, as well as different attitudes and mindsets to adopt while communicating. Being an awesome communicator really helps client retention, especially during times when the market changes—the tougher the market, the better communication that is likely needed. Tailoring your approach to suit the client’s needs really goes a long way. If they think and know you are doing everything you can to keep them educated and informed, the relationship stays strong. As Neubauer points out, “Good communication is what helps all of us walk together through a listing that is going to be on the market a little longer than expected.”

Maintain Professionalism Remember that we have to be professional 24/7 when it comes to communicating via technology. Just because we’re not speaking with someone face-to-face, it doesn’t mean our tone can’t be interpreted or perceived as rude. This is something to be aware of as you’re communicating with your clients and other people in the business. Early in the relationship, begin by treating communication formally, and then once you’ve established the relationship, bend to the communication cadence and style of the other person. A good rule of thumb that Donaldson uses is to not say anything (especially in writing or digital media) that would come back to haunt you, or that you would be embarrassed to have other people see. As long as you stick to this rule at all times, you don’t ever have to remember or worry about anything you’ve communicated.

When in Doubt, Overcommunicate You may need to rely on several different types of communication to relay the same message. If you’re sending along attachments, or maybe an offer, you may also want to send a text or give them a quick call to let them know those things are on their way. Neubauer refers to this as the “trifecta” of communication. Waiting on only one method of communication could cost your client a deal or become a compliance issue, depending on the state in which you’re licensed.

“One of my tips is multiple lines of communication when things are important, and when in doubt, communicate! Don’t assume the other person doesn’t want to hear from you,” urges Donaldson.

Email Poses Unique Challenges Email is an especially sticky or unreliable form of digital communication. Things can get lost in transit or translation, and it’s very easy to make a typo when entering an email address that could cause your email not to get to its intended recipient. There are also many third-party systems that handle email, and you could potentially unsubscribe from emails that might be important. Donaldson shares a tip: Separate your business and personal worlds in your email. Make sure your real estate-related items are going to a separate place from any personal emails to help ensure you’re not missing important information you need. This will also help you compartmentalize distractions during the day and help you maintain a consistent tone for business versus personal emails.

Keep the Lines of Communication Open It is also important to keep your clients updated, regardless of what’s going on. Neubauer talks about a template-type email that could be sent the same time each week that keeps clients in the loop, or template emails that can be used at each stage of the transaction process. This could potentially save you a lot of time not having to reinvent the wheel. Donaldson shares an example of a daily follow-up, and the “‘no update’ update.” If you’re working with a client on an issue, make sure you update them on the progress. Even if you don’t have an answer, let them know you’re still working on it so they don’t wonder about it. This also enhances your emotional intelligence in working with clients—and, as Neubauer points out, when you get an email, make sure you send a quick reply to acknowledge the email, so the recipient doesn’t worry unnecessarily if it got delivered or not.

Combat Information Overload Technology and communication are amplifying your ability to have one-on-one conversations with your clients. You have to prune both sides—the tech and the personal relationship—to create effective communication between you and your clients. Donaldson shares a strategy he has for maintaining his emails: the four Ds. The first one is “delete”: delete emails that aren’t important, or junk mail. The second one is “delegate”: get things to the appropriate party right away. Don’t use your inbox as your to-do list. The third one is “do”: respond to things that are time-sensitive, but also take time each day to make sure you are responding to emails that need your attention. There are apps in the app store that manage emails that may have more features than the ones that come with your phone.

For much more information and to hear the great conversation (no pun!) between Neubauer and Donaldson, check out the episode at whatever podcast marketplace you use, or check out the links below.

Center for REALTOR® Development’s monthly podcast focuses on education in the real estate industry. It addresses formal education programs (such as those from NAR) and informal sources of industry knowledge (such as peers and mentors). Its intended audiences include REALTORS®, real estate professionals, allied professions, educators, education providers and consumers. To listen or subscribe, visit www.crdpodcast.com.

For more information, please visit RISMedia’s online learning portal from NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Development (CRD) and the Learning Library. Here, real estate professionals can sign up for online professional development courses, industry designations, certifications, CE credits, Code of Ethics programs and more. NAR’s CRD also offers monthly specials and important education updates. New users will need to register for an account.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

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[coin-river-blog]

After beginning its investigation into virtual markets five months ago, the OAG has now released its report, which features significant criticisms of cryptocurrency exchanges.

In April 2018, the New York Attorney General's office announced the Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative. As part of the investigation, the office sent a survey to 13 cryptocurrency exchanges to find out more about their practices and procedures and determine the markets' risk to investors. 

Today the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) released its findings in a 40-page report. Here are some of the highlights:

Exchanges aren't able to combat abuse.

The report found that exchanges have not yet developed sufficient safeguards against potential abuse.

The report states:

"Platforms lack robust real-time and historical market surveillance capabilities, like those found in traditional trading venues, to identify and stop suspicious trading patterns. There is no mechanism for analyzing suspicious trading strategies across multiple platforms. Few platforms seriously restrict or even monitor the operation of 'bots' or automated algorithmic trading on their venues. Indeed, certain trading platforms deny any responsibility for stopping traders from artificially affecting prices."

Exchanges are allowed to do wash trading; people aren't (but probably do it anyway).

Most exchanges have policies that prohibit a single user from opening multiple accounts. These are intended to prevent wash trading, the practice of buying and selling (essentially to one's self) as a means of price manipulation. However, very few exchanges have any means of enforcing such policies.

"A prohibition against multiple accounts is only effective if a platform can actually detect customers attempting to open multiple accounts. That requires robust on-boarding procedures, including multiple forms of identification verification, and other countermeasures."

But few exchanges have extensive KYC polices. And, though customers are (at least theoretically) prohibited from wash trading, the exchanges themselves are not. Unlike in traditional exchanges, in which the exchange operators and employees are prohibited from buying and selling (or, at least, their participation is highly regulated), crypto exchanges operators have complete freedom to execute trades.

"In addition to permitting employees to trade for their own personal accounts, several platforms reported that they engage in proprietary trading on their own venue. In other words, customers who submit an order to buy or sell a virtual asset could have their order filled not by another customer, but by a 'trading desk' run by the platform itself, trading on behalf of the platform for its own account." 

While some exchanges claim this is an attempt to ensure liquidity, it gives them a great deal of control over prices.

Conflicts of interest are rampant.

"Virtual asset trading platforms often engage in several lines of business that would be restricted or carefully monitored in a traditional trading environment," the report says.

Exchanges don't act only as exchanges. They not only frequently buy and sell cryptocurrencies on their own exchanges, but also act as brokers and even sometimes create their own currencies.

The report notes these situations create a web of conflicting interests for exchanges: "Each role has a markedly different set of incentives, introducing substantial potential for conflicts."

There's no "rhyme or reason" to the selection of currencies.

While the investigation found that some exchanges look at "market capitalization" when considering listing a cryptocurrency, the selections largely seemed random.

"Across the board, the OAG found that platforms' determinations of whether to list a given virtual asset were largely subjective. No platform articulated a consistent methodology used to determine whether and why it would list a virtual asset," the report says.

The report also states that, unlike traditional stock exchanges, which disclose fees and any other compensation received for listing a certain stock, cryptocurrency exchanges are typically opaque about such arrangements. "This compensation can come in the form of virtual currency, including a share of the new listing, fiat currency, or other inducements," the report says.

In other words, creators of worthless cryptocurrencies can simply bribe exchanges to feature their coin.

The OAG is dropping a dime on four exchanges.

The overall picture painted by the report should give investors pause. Exchanges can list questionable currencies (or create their own), don't need to disclose the compensation they receive for doing so, have the power to manipulate prices and can do so for their own enrichment – possibly at the expense of investors, who have little recourse if their assets are stolen.

The report does request that those who believe they've been defrauded contact the OAG, and also hinted that some of the exchanges that declined to complete the OAG's survey may soon be hearing from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

Of the thirteen exchanges that were sent the questionnaire, four refused to participate: Binance, Gate, Kraken, and Huobi (though HBUS – the US-based "strategic partner" of Huobi did respond). All four claimed they don't allow trading from New York. The report states the OAG investigated those assertions, and though the report does not say what the inquiry revealed, it does say, "Based on this investigation, the OAG referred Binance, Gate.io, and Kraken to the Department of Financial Services [NYDFS] for potential violation of New York's virtual currency regulations." However, NYDFS may have little power over these exchanges, since all but Kraken are located outside the US.

The authors of the report were most alarmed by Kraken's response to the survey. The report reads:

"In announcing the company's decision not to participate in the Initiative, Kraken declared that market manipulation 'doesn't matter to most crypto traders,' even while admitting that 'scams are rampant' in the industry."

Tim Prentiss is a writer and editor for ETHNews. He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Reno with his daughter. In his spare time he writes songs and disassembles perfectly good electronic devices.

ETHNews is committed to its Editorial Policy

Like what you read? Follow us on Twitter @ETHNews_ to receive the latest NYDFS, Department of Financial Services or other Ethereum wallets and exchanges news.

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