#i have no idea how to advertise things btw so if you see me comic posting then thats what im tryig to do

[fakecats]

guys this cold weather is changing me ive been grinding every single day. working on my website working on my p5 fanfic trying to finish my comic . im gonna release so much shit all at once

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Things Dobson mocks because he is too ignorant...

One “talent” Dobson seems to have, is the ability to alienate a lot of people through his opinions. And while he claims to be proud of that talent because he believes those he alienates are just assholes and racists who disagree with him CAUSE he attacks their abhorrent worldviews, the reality is much simpler; On average, people just don’t like him cause Dobson has no idea what he is talking about, which won’t however stop him from mocking the mere existence of certain things/interests and the people enjoying them. And those people tend not to be racists who want to see non-white people go extinct, but simply nerds and enthusiasts who like to enjoy their hobbies without the input of someone who won’t get over how he was bullied as a nerd back in school, but at the same time will bully you for being “nerdier”.

I could go into more detail how I mean that by analyzing a lot of his anime related SYAC strips as well as his soapbox strips on comic culture in a row. However, for the sake of “simplicity” I just like to go over one of his oldest strips, published around 2011. Back when Dobson was portraying himself still as a human. This strip alone will show how even a decade back, Dobson could just be an asshole to any “nerd” who dared to be into stuff he wasn’t, how he could manage to piss off many people all in one going AND be unfunny.

Now the first thing I want to put out is that I do not even think that Dobson’s primary intention with this strip was to mock others and their interests. See, one thing about So you are a cartoonist especially in its early days was, that it was in a way Dobson’s attempt to make himself look likeable in the eyes of others. He portrayed himself just as an Average Joe, wanting to make comics. This strip itself was even part of a series of strips I like to call “Things Dobson likes/dislikes”, which really were just him in each panel pointing at something he is into or not.

 And honestly, part of me does not mind it. It is just Dobson’s attempt to show others how “quirky” or contrarian he is. The problem really steams more from the following two facts: a) It is not really a cartoon or comic if you think about it, because there isn’t a joke, punchline or story attached to them, just Dobson showing off what kind of person he is and b) that his “things I do not understand” comic is really mean spirited compared to the others if you look just a bit deeper into it.

Right from the beginning the strip is just indicative that this will be more mean spirited than Dobson will later like to claim it was. Otherwise he would not feel the need to say “chillax” as a sort of semi defense mechanism, cause if he really intended to make his grievances heard through “good fun” he would not need to say that. So from the gate we can assume its snarkier and more hurtful than it needs to be. So lets get through the things he does not understand, shall we?

Sports: I will admit that I am not really into sports myself, neither as a fan or someone participating in it competitively. I go to the gym however in order to feel good about myself and do something for my health instead of going every Friday to McDonalds. In addition, as long as you do not go overboard with being a fan or participating in it, I understand how sport can unite people (see events like the Olympics and Soccer worldcups) , and while I am baffled upon the fact that the salary of many people in sports (particularly soccer and football) are ridiculous high in addition to money they make with advertisement deals etc. I have respect for them. Respect for how they can stick to a hard training schedule, can take injuries, will do stuff for charity etc. Furthermore, unlike Dobson, I do not believe people who are into sports are dumb. Yes, I know the stereotype about college footballers and sports who only graduated because of their sports activities and are otherwise “meatheads”, but that stereotype does not apply to everything in reality, Dobson. Ever heard of NFL lineman Duvernay-Tardif, who also has a degree as a surgeon? Granted, he made that title only in 2018, seven years after the comic was made, so look a bit further and see what we find… Oh, look: Myron Rolle, college football player and later members of the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers around 2010/12: Has a bachelor degree in exercise science and in 2008 studied for a Master of science for medical anthropology in the UK.

Ron Mix, famous AFL and NFL football player forever immortalized in the Hall of Fame has a Juris Doctor Degree and after his work as a sports became an attorney.

 And that are just three examples googled up in relation to American football. Other famous sports worldwide have degrees in medical and sports related sciences. Heck, one of Europe’s most famous boxer’s in the 2000s, Vitali Klitschko, not only has a doctors degree in sports, he is nowadays head of the governing party of Ukraine, following the independence of the country in 2014.

So stop wiggling your three sets of eyebrows and cease your smug grin and shove that periodic table up your ass, Dobson. I bet you yourself don’t even fucking know the chemical symbol for silver or titanium you Agonizing Twat who never got over the fact some popular kids in school bullied him.

 Final Fantasy: I doubt Dobson ever even tried to play Final Fantasy or ANY JRPG, honestly. Heck, not only does Cloud look pretty wrong (anime hair seems to be another thing Dobson can not draw) but frankly, the statement of Cloud being an emo is false and is based on misinterpretation. Bear with me for a bit; Final Fantasy 7 is in my opinion a good game and it had a major impact on the series and the perception of JRPGs in the west. However, I do also believe that many people overhyped its quality over the years. Including SquareEnix themselves, who particularly around 2005 released all sorts of tie in and sequel games, including also the movie “Advent Children”. Or as I like to call those things, Tetsuya Nomura’s wankfest, because now all of sudden everything is related to some guy called Genesis, we have even more characters to supposedly care about than we already got through the original game, happy end override happens almost on every corner and “goth” aesthetics are everywhere. And Cloud himself became an embodiment of that emo/loner stereotype in anime and manga around that time, despite never having been like that in the original game if you ask me. Yes, Cloud in the original game went through a lot of emotional trauma and he was not like some happy go lucky laid back shonen manga protagonist. But he also didn’t come off as a pretentious fucktard who never showed emotions and shut himself off from his friends and allies. He was more of a determined person who still cared for others and wanted to stop Sephirot so no one suffered like he did. His most “depressing” moment was when Sephirot revealed his false memories, making Cloud question his own existence as an independent being to the point he was broken enough to hand the Meteor sphere to Sephirot, but that was about it.  But hey, “emos” sell better, so SquareEnix tried to sell that aesthetics and others were just so dumb and further misinterpreted it as emoness being Cloud’s main character trait, when in reality freaking Squall Leonhard in his original game was worse than Cloud in comparison.

I also find the implication of Dobson, that Final Fantasy is pretentious in that panel funny as fuck. Cause Final Fantasy 13s’ pretty dumb story and wankery of clicheed anime tropes not withstanding, the average Final Fantasy game has a straightforward fantasy plot of good guys vs bad guys, with some twists and anime tropes thrown into the mix. The most pretentious guys in those games really are just the bad guys when they talk on average about how the world is suffering and misery, and even that is just straightforward nihilism to justify why they want to destroy everything. It is in fact so straightforward, most little kids will get it particularly in the first 6 games of the series, which are just set in more “classic” fantasy worlds to begin with. I am not saying the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole is flawless (I really am not a fan of 13 and its sequels, but if you like it, you do your thing) but you do not need a thesaurus to get why people enjoy it or individual games from it. So stop hating on an entire game series, which btw has actually some pretty awesome female characters in protagonistic roles in it too.

 Twilight: Both an example of Dobson’s hypocricy and idiocy. Idiocy cause frankly, what is hard to understand why people liked the books? Twilight (in my opinion) was just a professionally published self insert fanfiction, in which Bella/the reader fell in love with the local bad boy who just happened to also be a vampire. Sure, a vampire in name only (seriously, if you asked me, the Cullens could be replaced with a lot of other fantasy creatures and it would barely affect anything), but that is beside the point. Shameless romance stories about someone falling in love with the bad boy who deep down has a heart of gold and just needs someone to fix them, are nothing new. So I was not surprised that people, particularly teenaged girls and other women, enjoyed it. It was the romance literature equivalent to fast food which just happened to explode in popularity because Young adult novels were a simultaneous hit and something needed to fill the void after Harry Potter. I read the first book myself and I thought nothing in particularly wrong with it, aside of the fact I thought the book itself was plotwise kinda dull. But that was not why people bought it, they wanted Bella getting together with the bad boy. The fact Dobson did not understand on what the popularity was build up on, is just an example for how Dobson does not even in theory understand how stories work and what it is on a pure technical level that makes them interesting and sell worthy to others.

As for the hypocritical aspect, that comes up nowadays when Dobson claims he feels bad for mocking Twilight all those years ago and how people were bad for making fun of it and Stephenie Meyer. That those who did it were like women hating assholes and still are if they do not apologize. Cause frankly, I feel a majority of people “apologizing” are just dishonest with themselves now. Apologizing primarily because in the eyes of some other people they look up to, if they do not they will be pariahs. Especially when extend of their initial childish disdain for Twilight becomes clear. I e.g. do not hate Lindsay Ellis aka the former Nostalgia Chick, but the fact she made a big apology video on Meyer was laughable when you see how she “stood” to her opinion back in the day to the point she wrote a novel to mock the kind of story Twilight did. Sure, she admitted to a lot of her own faults back in the day so there was also some self reflection to it and I respect that. But I think in a way this was also a tactic to just appease some other people and it does not take away that initially she had those thoughts about Twilight. And frankly, Twilight is problematic in a way.

Again, I read the first book and I did not consider it the worst thing in the world, just kinda dull for my taste. However, having read on a lot of things that happen in the book series itself, it is clear that Bella and Edward are some pretty horrid and selfish characters who barely get called out or face consequences for terrible actions. Take also into account the pacing of the story and you get on average a book series that deserved a certain amount of criticism from a technical point of view and Meyer’s at least being questioned about some of her decisions in the writing process. It did however not deserve book burnings or people mocking and harassing fans and the author, the former being mocked by Dobson here funnily enough.

 Transformers: And what is it you find weird about people caring for cars? This is not even me being a cars fan here or something, I just ask because even that “explanation” is no explanation at all. He is just saying “I don’t care for X because I also do not care much for Y”. The correlation between the two is missing.

As for why people care about those two things Dobson, perhaps it is for the following:

Cars because people like the aesthetics, the technics, like to build stuff or get a rush by driving them. Transformers, because people just like action as well as the lore to the franchise and think giant robots turning into vehicles is cool, as long as Michael Bay is not involved in creating a story.

Furries: As with cars, likely aesthetics. Anthropomorphic animals have been part of our culture even long before cartoons (just look at fables, fairy tales and legends all across the world involving animals) so I assume there is even something more subconsciously involved with it. And frankly, I like furries myself. Some of them are way better artists than Dobson could ever be. That said, I do as an individual draw a line at furries that harass other people and show creators, hurt animals or are combining their interests with some really weird sex fetishes (two words: diaper fur). Which I guess do many other people cause there is a healthy amount of furries and non furries who have standards. The thing is just Dobson seems to think all furries are the same. Not to forget that for a long time he did everything denying he was interested in furries, citing his college as a reason for it cause people there installed a hatred for furries into him. A wonder then he would even enjoy Looney Tunes anymore. And honestly, himof all people mocking people for having a “sick” fetish? I am sorry Dobson, but compared to the kind of inflation you drew, I would say the average furry (as in someone who just draws two adult fursonas making out with each other under consent) is less “disturbing” than you. Someone who did not just inflate the female, at times underaged victims, but also made them pop/killed them.

DnD: I wish I had the comment Dobson posted on deviantart under the comic, as in it he digged himself even deeper with every panel and the explanations he gave. Just to show I am not pulling it out of my ass when I say for DnD one of the main reasons he hated it was that he thought nerds made the fantasy genre even nerdier by adding math to it.

Oh no. The fact people have to add numbers from a couple of dices together is too high of a math concept for Dobson. So those people must have absolutely no lives and are all just fat, bald and with acne.

Seriously though, fuck off. I am not into table top gaming, but whoever is, they shall just have fun. And stop body shaming nerds with the way you draw the DnD player here (and in that other infamous DnD comic he did), especially when you yourself look like a shaved egg in real life. Heck, did you know of all people Vin Diesel enjoys DnD?

Just let the people enjoy their adventure campaigns and come together once in a while instead of being shut offs like you, whose only experience with an interactive fantasy story involves playing Skyrim at 10 fps.

And yes, I am aware that Dobson has changed his opinions on DnD now thanks to some podcast. But based on his record, I feel that Dobson only did join it because it is now the cool thing to care on average about DnD as nerd. In addition he also did not own up to his past “mistake” till people just called him out on his bullshit often enough.

Klingons: Okay, I am not much of a Trekkie myself, but again, I get that people just like the aesthetics of them and the story crafted around Klingon culture within the franchise. So, just let them have fun with it. What is even the “joke” here? That people enjoy it despite it “just” being black Asian barbaric samurai in space, which is a very simplistic, in my opinion even outright racist description based on the choice of words here? Frankly, I am glad he did not just also add a racist Japanese accent to the guy here.

So there you have it: Things Dobson does not understand and essentially mocks for existing. And don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Dobson not “getting” those things. Everyone has their own tastes, likes and dislikes as well as reasons why they are into it or not. I e.g. understand that people enjoy Bob’s Burger, but I myself really do not like the show much, because most characters come off as annoying to me in terms of personality and quirks. That said, I understand the visual appeal to it, if you like it that is fine and if you ass why I don’t like it I will give an explanation to it. What I will not do is make a comic mocking the existence of it, imply that my disinterest is correlated to me thinking there is also something inherently wrong with you if you enjoy it and build my disinterest on none existing issues with the thing in question.

Dobson however seems to have done that quite a couple of times and combined with his self righteous nature, it becomes kinda obvious why people began hating his stuff to the point that almost all of 4chan and tumblr developed a stern disdain for him.

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Four

Wherein we make it to the Citadel, and do a lot of running around.

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

So right away, we meet Udina and the Council, way to throw us right into it.  

It’s a brief introduction and gives us an idea what Humanity is up against and who is representing us.  Basically, we’re supposed to get the idea that it’s a lot of bureaucratic bullshit, I guess.

This is also the first time we see Asari and Salarians, and they’re in reddish-brown and white, which really isn’t the best look.

Bioware continues to push the story forward.  We get enough to know that Udina is kind of an ass, and the Council isn’t going to just trust what some guy says even if he is the representative for billions of people.

And finally, after this, we’re set free.

The Citadel I think is one of the coolest locations in like almost any game I’ve ever played.  They do a great job of both making it feel huge, but also accessible.  Enough bridges to get across to places you need to get to, and after you walk somewhere once, Citadel Rapid Transit is great.  I still choose to take elevators about 80% of the time even when I can CRT somewhere, just because I like the squad conversations and news updates. There’s a shorter elevator rides mod that helps, too.

There’s so much to do and see, and having one of the main areas just be such an awesome combination of scifi futurism and lush greenery + water is both trippy and breathtaking.  I think, especially with the updated graphics mods/settings, the Presidium especially holds up fairly well.  I mean it definitely feels more populated and modern in ME3 but, I just consider this to be more of a residential / professional area of the Presidium and most of what we see in ME3 is a more retail section.

It’d be annoying to be a groundskeeper here, though.  Lots of green areas that you’d really need to climb to, or garden on a steep slant. :p

I always found it interesting that the natural first place to head to is into the ambassador’s office next door, where we find some friendly aliens, and one not-so-friendly one.  But honestly, this is a great place to find out the different ways other species view humanity, and how there’s apparently tiers of respect given to various species.

I always kind of hoped the Elcor would feature more prominently into the world in future games, but at least we got Hamlet.  I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about how Elcor like... do things?  We never see it but you have to assume that their hands have opposable thumbs and they’re able to stand on two legs, right?  I want to see what an Elcor ship looks like and Dakuna specifically.  Give us more elcor, Bioware!

BTW, the Mass Effect: Annihilation (aka the book that was supposed to be based on the Quarian Ark DLC that never happened in Andromeda) is totally worth reading just for the elcor character in it.  It’s also probably the best of the Mass Effect books, in my opinion.

Din Korlack’s got a point though, they not only have to share an office, but their view isn’t nearly as good as the human’s.  This is especially bullshit for the volus, who could stand on that railing and probably STILL wouldn’t have a view.

I love how Mass Effect 2 takes her from a completely forgettable character to making me think  “Sorry you’re gonna die in a few weeks, your mom’s really gonna miss you.” every time I see her.

PALIN DESERVED BETTER.

I don’t remember which ME3 mod it is, maybe the Spectre Expansion Mod or maybe EGM, but thank you whichever modder it was who made Palin’s story and death more clear in ME3.  Sorry Udina got you killed.

Also, it was good to get a dissenting opinion on Spectres from him.

Avina is such a good, optional way to get more loredump.  Yes, you can again ask them about Spectres if you want to hear about them again.  But I liked that each Avina terminal taught you a little more about whatever you were nearby, and the state of the galaxy in general and since they were programmed to be information dumps, it felt more natural to get information this way.

Don’t these people have jobs?

I love the Krogan statue, and the Avina terminal nearby telling you about it.  But now every time I see it, all I can picture is Grunt and his buddies climbing it.  So good.

Managed to get a clean shot of the crew without the UI in the elevator, thanks Flycam!  You have about a half a second to get this shot though, because the camera is stationary while the elevator is not.

Oh hell-lo Pailin, who is your charming-looking friend there?

This entire conversation needs to be longer. It’s a nice, quick introduction to Garrus, but, well, let’s spend a little more time with the main characters!!

I mean how can you not just not immediately love that?  Hey remember how bad Garrus’ face texture used to be?  Thanks, modders.

I just really love the Citadel tower.  Absolutely beautiful and atmospheric.

SO the thing is, if you can pretend that Saren isn’t, you know, already half Reaperized, 100% the Council is right to not just go throwing one of their longer-term agents in jail because Shepard had a bad dream and a random dockworker said the guy who killed Saren looked like this.

Honestly though, this and OH A GOOD CHUNK OF MASS EFFECT 2 would be so much easier if Shepard wore a bodycam. :p

Also, I wonder who took the dockworker’s testimony?  Did Kaidan run back real quick while Shepard was sleeping?

This was an embarrassment for humanity, and I agree with Udina that we needed more to go on before making demands of the council.  The council is right to not convict based off a bad dream Shepard had.  Go get some real proof!  Also, do a bunch of sidequests!

And scan some Keepers for this shady guy!

Which is actually good quest design, because you really have to go to every nook and cranny in the Citadel to find them all, though it would have been nice if they showed up on the minimap.   Really gets you to explore and get to know the area like the back of your hand.

This time around, I forgot to grab the one outside Dr. Michele’s office and had to hunt for it before heading up to grab the last one at the docks.

Thank you, though, Barla Von, for telling us all about the Shadow Broker and telling us about Wrex.  See u in ME3.

Bioware please give us diverse-suited volus in a remaster.  Maybe I’m reusing a pic of Din Korlack, you’ll never know! :p

Thanks, texture modders, for really highlighting what the end of the hanar’s noses look like. 

The hanar are another species I wish we got more of throughout the series.  They are probably the most alien of all the aliens we interact with.   I mean, at least we got Blasto.  I’d really love to visit Kahje someday.  I know it’s in the comics, but you know, in-game.

Annnd let’s go visit Sha'ira.

I have very mixed feelings about Sha'ira.  On one hand, she’s clearly very respected, is probably making bank, in control of her own destiny etc.  On the other hand, she’s probably the asari we have the second most interaction with in this game after Liara, and after just seeing Benezia’s boob-tastic clothing and then heading to Chora’s Den soon to see the dancing asari we’re getting a very slanted view of the species.  I think Bioware course corrects in later games but oof this is such a dude-fantasy alien species in ME1 it hurts.  Especially since Liara is almost a born-sexy-yesterday trope.

Also... don’t touch me if I don’t wanna be touched. =\

Noveria advertisements... that just say Noveria.  I guess this is effective marketing in 2148.

Look how great those shadows from the tree are... actual definition in shadow... wow.

Raise your hand if you’ve missed this conversation in a playthrough before and reloaded like an hour or more past to make sure you get it.

It’s one of those little moments that they didn’t have to put in.  Just a little conversation reflecting on humans and humanity, and our place in the world, and showcasing Ash’s wit and Kaidan’s adorkableness.  Also making sure you appreciate all the work that went into this particular view.  It’s a pause in the action and all the things you have going on, and it’s so great for characterization and making you feel a part of the world.  

Speaking of the view... I decided to flycam it.  Warning, I spoil some of the “magic” below.

Pretty quickly, you see that the arms are actual objects, untextured on the non-visible side.

I decided to head for the closest line of “cars” on the bottom center-left to see what those “cars” looked like.

Flycam feels pretty fast when you’re trying to frame a specific shot just right... but when you need to travel a great distance, it feels verrry slow.

It took me probably close to five minutes of traveling to make it all the way there.

What I discovered was... a few of the buildings are real, the rest are a very good painting.

This is how far away the citadel is from the rest of the map. That grid would be that entire view from outside Dr. Michele’s office all the way to the edge of the shops on the other side, plus some extra.

So both the building that those “cars” (the string of white lights) are coming from and going to are... on the painting.  Neither one are physical objects.

Made some gifs.

You can see the lights moving at a mostly-downward angle, while it looks like they’re just heading south when standing on the Citadel.  Also you can see other lights moving farther up the map.

And here you can see the lights “disappearing behind a building” but they’re really just hitting an invisible wall, the dark angle of that building is just a part of the wall painting.   

Looking up from the wall...

So that was a fun distraction.

Emily Wong deserved:

Better.

An entire shirt.

A mention in ME3 after she gave her life on social media defending Earth against the reapers while keeping her cool reporting on the invasion the day before ME3′s release.

That day before launch though... was amazing.  Bioware did such a great job on social media with the reaper invasion happening on twitter.  I loved that lots of fans got into it, too, posting photoshops and their own reaper invasion stories.  I remember being at work that day but not actually working very much.  A few friends and I had a google hangout going on to report in on anything we saw happening on social media and keep up with it and to be very hyped together online.  

We reblogged a bunch of it on fuckyeahbioware starting about here and working backwards through numbers.  

One of the ME3 mods, and again, sorry, don’t remember which, does give Emily a nice tribute through an email.  She deserves it.

Okay that’s enough for this post!  Will try to finish up the Citadel next time!

[tygerseye]

Chaps my hide

It really bothers me how great movies will come out and either A. No one gave them a chance because they didn’t want to spend money on an original film or B. It was advertised badly and the wrrooonnggg people went to go see it and so the whole message of the movie is completely lost on the general audience.

Two examples come to mind:

Don Jon and Hardcore Henry

Funny thing is both were advertised to the same types of people but the real meaning behind the movies just escaped them.

spoilers ahead

Don Jon Summary: There is a guy who really loves his porn.  He’s a cool guy, a player, till he meets his “perfect girl”.  She controls him using sex and he becomes convinced that this is what love is.. but he continues to watch his porn constantly to the point of obsession.  She finds out, leaves him.  During some point in the movie this guy meets an older lady in one of his college classes and they become close friends.  In the end he learns what love really is and what healthy relationships are supposed to be.

People who went to see it: A lot of bros.. which is cool and I really hope that some of them appreciate the movie... but not many did because they were grossed out that the main character, this young man around the age of probably 23-25 ends up with this older lady.

Movie Meaning: The movie tells a story about how warped our ideas of love have become.  The movie really took a risk showing how women can manipulate men.  In the end Jon figures out to have truly enjoyable, fulfilling sex you need to have an emotional connection to your lover.  The movie also points out that his girlfriend was equally as warped from watching romance movies... she thought that true love was the man sacrificing EVERYTHING for her and if he isn’t willing to do that then he doesn’t love her.

There were a lot of really smart things that went missed... like the older lady’s husband and child were killed in a car accident.  Through the movie Jon displays road rage to the point of punching a guy’s car window out.  The two forming a loving relationship showed how she was finally moving forward from the death of her family and how he was growing and maturing into a man.  Also Jon’s parents were reflective of his future if he had picked the manipulative woman... Jon’s dad is an aggressive beer-drinking guy who just wants to shut out the world and his mother is a overly-dramatic woman who wants to control her family.

End thoughts: Really, it’s a wonderfully witty movie with a LOT of little jabs at society.  If you actually pay attention you’ll really enjoy the social commentary and you’ll fall in love with a character who actually grows and changes.  I was sad that most people avoided the movie because trailers made it seem like it was just a bunch of sex jokes... but the movie is really deep and really gutsy.

Hardcore Henry Summary: guy wakes up in a lab having his leg screwed on by a beautiful woman.  He finds out he was in some kind of accident and the woman is his wife.  She rebuilt him and brought him back to life basically... but almost immediately after he’s brought back this evil man, Akan, who has telekinetic powers tries to kill everyone there.  Henry escapes with his wife but she’s soon kidnapped by Akan’s men.  Henry runs and gets helped by a man named Jimmy (of whom there are about 20 different versions of.. hehe).

Henry continues to try and save himself and save his wife... till he finds out his wife had set up the entire thing with Akan.  The entire time they were recording Henry’s experiences so they could upload them to mindless super-soldiers who needed motivation to fight.

People who went to see it: Also a lot of bros but also gamers.  It was advertised to be a SUPER ACTION PACKED FIRST PERSON SHOOTER VIDEO GAME MOVIE.  Don’t get me wrong, it WAS that.. but it was SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

Movie Meaning: Yes, this was an action packed first-person trip of a movie. ALSO THOUGH this was a movie about friendship.. about self and ego... who are YOU.. what makes you YOU.  Henry’s memories are blocked from him and it isn’t till the end that he remembers who he is and where he came from... What really sells the meaning of the movie is this... the movie starts out with an older grizzled guy saying “You. Little. Pussy.” (opening credits).  The movie repeats this again when a bad guy says “You are half man half pussy!!”.  One more time when Henry gets hit you hear his father say “You little pussy.”

Then.  Henry gets his memory back.... and you hear the rest of what his father says.

“You little pussy.  That’s what my old man used to call me as if it were my name.. and I proved him right by killing all the wrong people.  I love you Henry and I’ll never call you anything but your name... but you gotta decide: Are you gonna lay there, swallow all that blood in your mouth.. or are you gonna stand up, spit it out, and go spill theirs?” (after having been beat up by bullies)

The whole movie you think his father was some abusive prick guy.... and you find out his father was loving, caring.. kind guy who wanted the best for his son.. wanted his son to grow up strong but wanted him to grow up right.  Really, the movie is hilarious and fun as fuck but the movie was actually about relationships and how those relationships form who we are.

End Thoughts: I can not stress enough how good this movie is.  If you’ve ever wished we brought back over-the-top 80s action movies watch this movie.  If you love movies that use practical effects, watch this movie.  If you love comedy watch this movie... soundtrack was fantastic, jokes were hilarious, Akan is the best over-the-top bad guy.. and btw you don’t even get his full story unless you read the comic they produced called Hardcore Akan.  This movie is a god damn gem and worth ever watch.  Not convinced?  The band they worked with (Biting Elbows) did some music videos with the equipment and even a behind-the-scenes for the movie.  If you like what you see here, you WILL love this movie.

1st: The Stampede

2nd: Bad Motherfucker

3rd: For the Kill

Sorry this was long, but it’s been on my mind... it makes me mad to see movies like these go unsung because advertisers SUCK at their job and because the wrong people go see these movies and get the wrong message out of them...

Anyway, don’t be afraid to go see original movies.  Don’t be afraid to go see a movie that might seem shallow from the trailers because oftentimes these types of independent films are god damn amazing.  We need to stop giving remakes, prequels, sequels, unoriginal-cash-grabs all our money! :(

[quintessence-sentimentalist]

30, 22, 15, 9 (this is mykandrakar btw)

Hey! Thanks again for pulling this all together (I sent in a few from my main)! Putting these under a cut because I’m apparently incapable of providing short answers.

9. The first time you encountered W.i.t.c.h.

Hmm, well, I can’t quite pinpoint how I first heard of the series because it’s been 15 years (yikes) and the U.S. market didn’t do a very good job of advertising it, but I do recall coming across two promotional pieces that clued me in. One was a commercial for the chapter books that was included on a DVD - I was never able to recall which disc it was on to find it again, but if memory serves it was this commercial. I also remember seeing a promotional section with randomly selected comic panel previews in an old Disney Adventures magazine, which I was again unable to track down later.

My official introduction came when I started picking up the chapter books from the local library, starting with book/issue #3 because that was the earliest one available at the time. I read the first eight books out of order, and by the time the ninth was released I was buying my own copies from the bookstore because I was a goner for this series.

15. New Power?

I should preface this by saying that I’ve only read the later arcs (New Power until the end, the ones that weren’t officially translated into English) once, so my memory isn’t all that clear and I can’t really speak to the plot, but still… urgh. I’ve already expressed one of my major problems with the arc via my New Power Matt rant, and to be honest, with the exception of maybe Irma and Hay Lin’s outfits, I’m not hugely into the New Power uniform upgrades. And this is around the time when the artwork really started taking a nosedive, so I wasn’t into that either.

I think my main personal issue with the arc is the fact that I found out about it a couple years after the Ragorlang arc - the last official English translation - wrapped up. Since I apparently never thought to check if that was the end of the series in the original Italian, I had already said my goodbyes with the Ragorlang arc and grown to accept it as the ending (and it did work well as a final arc.) So discovering that the comic was still running after that was like coming across a reboot to my beloved series, and… well, reboots can be pretty hit-or-miss, and this one was definitely the latter for me.

22. What would you like to see if the comic (or cartoon) got a reboot?

I did grow to love the cartoon (season 2 specifically) years later, so on that front I still want a season 3 (helmed by Greg Weisman again) that picks up where we left off. That said, I’d also be good with an adaptation that follows the comics more closely and hopefully fills in any gaps or fixes any unclear plot points. Bonus points for beautiful, updated animation.

Comic or cartoon reboot, though, my main wishlist item is pulling in more modern elements, like fashion and technology. Back in the first issue, Will having her own cell phone (with an antenna, and not even a flip phone) was such a cool thing, as was her ability to speak with electronics. Can you imagine what that power would be like now, with the way tech has developed in the past nearly-two decades since and continues to do so? Will would be a terrifying force on Earth as well as in battle.

And to be honest, I’m all too amused by the idea of the W.i.t.c.h. girls and social media. Imagine that the people of Heatherfield pay a little bit more attention to weird things happening around them, enough that they’ll take a moment to snap a photo or tap out a quick tweet. Someone claims to have seen a bunch of dogs flying above the city pound, guided by a winged girl who isn’t suitably dressed for the cold weather. Someone else links back to video footage of Karmilla’s Heatherfield concert, which featured special effects of a similarly-dressed group of girls fighting a massive reptilian monster. And so on, and so on, until the Guardians have become something of an urban legend to the denizens of Heatherfield.

(Bonus: Cedric finds it much more difficult to fly under the radar after “Bookshop Hottie” goes viral.)

30. The final ending of the comic?

Same rule as the New Power situation applies here: I’ve only read this issue once, and I’d already had a final issue in the form of the Ragorlang saga conclusion. As such, I really only remember the last few pages of it, with the powers related to the five senses and Sixtar and such.

Mmmm… frankly, I’d rather have stuck with the ending I originally had, back in issue #74. With that one, it at least felt like there was some closure, or at least things were in a decent place. While it was interesting to have the callback to the five senses motif from the possible past in issue #50 (although if I remember correctly Taranee and Cornelia should have been swapped to be Touch/Smell, respectively), it was an odd development for the final pages of the series. Same with Sixtar - I’m already not particularly into the concept, but that was an upgrade that came at a bad time, unless there were concrete plans for a sequel series. The final issue should have been more focused on closure and celebration, rather than new powers that are relatively useless outside of comic relief in the dwindling narrative.

We did at least get the short heart-to-heart scene near the end, which I also can’t really remember outside of the Irma x Cornelia moment that gets circled around (which is indeed sweet and did catch my interest in the ship). Still, that accounted for only a fraction of a final issue that largely underdelivered.

[thesundowncrew]

The Sundown Crew’s rp plotting cheat-sheet

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name: Dee OOC Contact: Tumblr IM

Who the heck is/are my muse(s) anyway:

In the main crew, we have Sammy, a nerdy ghoul boi who is the embodiment of Samhain (of the Celtic calendar) and Guardian of the Veil; Nightshade, his soul-sister and cat-turned-human witchy familiar; and last but not least Axel, the sadistic, cannibal crow mythos who’s only interested in revenge and fucking people (up).

They’re all super old and supernatural and 2/3 are always happy to meet new people!

Points of interest:

Samhain & Nightshade: guarding the Veil, keeping the balance, protecting innocent humans and mythos alike, adventuring and exploring new places, meeting people and learning new things. Sammy enjoys reading, treasure-hunting and getting lost in his research. Nightshade enjoys cooking, eating, listening to music, and keeping up with the latest memes.

Axel: looking for the biggest, baddest, toughest rivals he can fight to the death with, enjoys challenges, exploring new places, witnessing genocides and mass-murders, causing genocides and mass-murders, fucking people (up) psychologically and physically.

What they’ve been up to recently:

Samhain & Nightshade: their work and responsibilities as Guardians of the Veil. Though the Veil is at its thinnest during Hallow’s Eve (31st Oct), they work 24/7 by hunting malicious spirits and whatever dangerous creatures threatening both humans and mythos that are already existing in the world. When not on the job, they’re either out sight-seeing and visiting friends or chilling at home. They also run a small business from home by making potions, charms and selling spells or rare ingredients. Merchants and traveling caravans often stop by their place so they always have a lot of stock to trade.

Axel: whatever the fuck he wants. Mostly spends his time hunting down prey in the human world, or spreading his wings and exploring new and faraway lands/dimensions. He’s still on his quest to journey to Hell and get his revenge on the demoness who killed his whole family. Always easier said than done, but he’s patient and he plays the long game better than anyone.

Where to find them:

The crew live on an abandoned, magickal island called Sundown. Geographically, it’s somewhere up in Northern Ireland but can’t be marked on any human map. It was magickal long before any of them settled there and because of its supernatural properties, it can hide itself from the naked eye. At the same time the island and its forests are connected to every labyrinth, maze and neck of the woods across worlds and dimensions.

Samhain is always saying that the island has a mind of its own and likes to spirit people away, regardless if their living or dead. People either end up in Sundown when they least expect it, or because it’s where they’re supposed to go.

While you can easily find Samhain and Nightshade at home, Axel can’t stay cooped up in once place too long and travels all over the place. When he’s not hunting, he escapes to the quiet of the wild or the bustling big cities.

Current plans:

The narrative starts with Samhain and Nightshade already experts in their fields and doing their jobs as Guardians of the Veil, and continues with them helping Axel achieve his goal of ultimate payback. The timeline for this blog is infinite after that because I haven’t quite figured out the endgame for anything just yet. Which is why any plot that involves Axel killing Ketele, getting his heart back, and even Nightshade’s life after Samhain’s death, is considered an AU.

In terms of plans for this blog, I’m still working on things so that they can fall into place and serve as proper material for a comic. Once I’ve gotten all my ideas sorted out, those AUs might probably not stay AUs and end up being one huge main timeline.

Desired interactions:

I’d love more threads that explore the darker side of Samhain, whether it’s in the Mainverse or in any of the AUs where he’s not his usual, warm, friendly self or where he’s morally grey. Which is why I love writing him in his criminal verses! Some of my faves are: - Pirate AU: He’s the first-mate and quartermaster who has the gift of ‘Sight’ but he’s as pirate as they come. - Green Eyed Devil: Human-Ghoul hybrid bandit whose crew would do almost anything for money. - Mobprince AU: Classy and more reserved, the quiet but bloodthirsty type. I’ve always been a fan of mobs/gangs/syndicates. - Dark!Samhain: Angsty, overpowered hermit. I rarely get opportunities to write him in this verse which is a shame because I’d like to develop it more.

Nightshade’s all fun and games but once in a while, it’d be refreshing for Nightshade to do a serious thread. Like maybe deal with heavier, more sensitive topics. I’ve emphasized how she’s seen the same amount of horror Samhain has seen but comes out more mentally resilient in comparison, so I’d really like to explore that more about her. I also feel like she hasn’t been able to really connect with anyone as a real friend?? Idk how to explain it but like, I feel like she just floats between different muses and she’s so friendly with everyone, it’s hard to pinpoint whether there is a real connection between them or if it’s just Nightshade being...Nightshade? It’s none of my partners’ faults BTW! I’m reminding me to fix that about myself and how I write her.

Speaking of darker topics, I don’t mind pushing the boundaries when it comes to Axel as long as it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable. I used to write some disturbing shit with him back in the day (like he broke into a drug lord’s flat and killed everyone in it so he could use it as his personal nest, killed and ate two police officers who were investigating the break-in, mutilated, tortured and ate a rapist alive after catching him in the act etc.). But the partners I used to write with are long gone and I feel like Axel needs to get back into the game again.

Offered interactions:

All of the above as well as anything else from my list of AUs! As mentioned on the page, that list is not the TOTAL list of AUs I’ve got. Some are just really small and still in development, and not enough to justify getting a spot on that list. Honestly, I’m open to plotting and coming up with more AUs so if you’ve got an idea, just hmu! I’ve also got a tag for ‘au ideas’ so you can browse there too if you like and tell me if anything strikes your fancy~

Current open post/s:

I don’t make open posts or starters. I prefer writing starters once my partner and I have something in mind and we’ve plotted enough to go about it.

Anything else?:

Though the blog is advertised as a WEEKEND blog (cus I work 9-5 on weekdays), I am usually lurking online thanks to mobile and will answer IMs when free. I don’t like replying to threads on mobile so I’ll usually reply on the weekends. Unless I’m busy that weekend, then sometimes I change up the rules and reply on a Friday or whenever I’m able.

When I reply to threads, I like to release a bunch at a time and then I’ll tag my partners so that they can see how many threads I’ve replied to out of the total count, like so! The total count often changes because we could have dropped threads in between, or partners go on hiatus and they get moved from ‘ongoing’ to ‘cold’ threads. Because of this, I have a threads page which I try my best to update.

Tagged by Stolen from: @bengalisms

[damijon-supersons]

Are you still taking prompts? Damian and Jon playing Mario Kart or whatever video game you want to use.

Okay, since you said I could use any video game I want (haven’t played mario kart, sorry. Aside from Pokemon, Nintendo wasn’t part of my childhood), I’m going to use Injustice 2 XD

Also, I’m sorry anon, but I am going to hijack your prompt! I’m going to use this to express my refusal to believe that Damian will ever go back to becoming an evil character! What I noticed was, in about 4, yes FOUR different times, DC has predicted that Damian will revert back to his evil ways in some way when he grows up.  Nope, I am not having it! (Btw, the ones I’m talking about are the Injustice timeline, Damian’s battle with his illusion future self in Robin: Son of Batman, Batman Beyond Rebirth, and in Detective Comics 966)

Damian has worked too hard, has literally died and back, to prove that he has changed for the better. There is nothing that will convince me that 13 years of great character development for Damian will be thrown aside because he turns evil again in the future! Nothing! 

And you know why I’m so sure of that? Because our Damian in this main timeline right now has someone that all of those evil adult Damian timelines didn’t have…a certain boy named Jonathan Samuel Kent.

“I’m picking Robin,” Damian announced.

He placed the cursor on a portrait of a much older Damian on the screen, and then an electronic monotonous voice intoned ‘Robin’.

“Heh, that’s so like you,” Jon replied dryly. “Well, if we’re picking ourselves it’s not fair for me. I don’t know why but, I haven’t seen a single game with a Superboy on it.”

“Just pick your dad,” Damian teased. “You’re practically the same anyway, except you’re three decades lamer.”

Jon stuck his tongue out at Damian. “Shut up, this Superman isn’t my dad. This one’s like, super evil. I’m never gonna pick…‘not-dad’, he said with finality. He ended up picking Bizarro, earning him a snort from Damian.

“Hey, don’t laugh!” Jon chided Damian. “Jason said he’s actually pretty cool.”

“Todd said the same thing about your costume,” Damian casually replied.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Jon asked with a raised brow.

“Just that his idea of clothing gets him thrown out of most restaurants,” Damian answered with a smirk. “But never mind that, it’s time to kick your ass!”

The boys had gotten a copy of a new fighting video game that was inexplicably based on the world’s heroes, which included renditions of most of the people that Jon and Damian knew. It had an impressive roster of intricately rendered characters like their fathers, the League, and other heroes—including weirdly out of place characters they didn’t know about like an ice ninja, a Japanese thunder god, and a red horned man with a gun.

As the game advertised, it was set in an alternate universe where Superman became an evil dictator, and the whole world decided that being dark and gritty was an essential part of a balanced diet. With equal parts amusement and curiosity, Damian and Jon had decided to play the game with little more intention than to laugh at how hilariously off the characters were compared to their real-life counterparts.

But Damian being Damian, he also played to win. And Jon being Jon, he was definitely not going to lose to Damian in anything.

The Damian in the game was much older, and as Jon put it—much to real Damian’s chagrin—a lot taller and better-looking. He also used a sword which he used in most of his attacks. The real Damian picked up on the controls quickly, and there wasn’t a single moment where game Damian wasn’t swinging his lethally sharp blade. It whistled with a shrill shwing with every strike, making it sound even more dangerous.

Unfortunately for Damian, Jon’s character, Bizarro, had ice beams that shot out from his eyes.

“Gah! You cheater…” Damian grumbled as game-Damian was interrupted from a flashy sword combo by a single ice beam. “Fighting  in a two-dimensional field is idiotic. If it were really me, I’d have sidestepped that!”

“Told you Bizarro is cool.” Jon giggled.

“I hate you and your puns!” Damian groaned. “That’s it, taste defeat, farm boy!” He executed game Damian’s special move—a sword combo with an explosive finish via batarang. It was enough to give Damian the round.

“Hah!” he pumped his fist in triumph.

Instead of looking disappointed with his loss, Jon’s cheeks were almost bursting from stifling his laughter.

“What…what’s so funny?” Damian asked as his smug smile wavered.

“Your special…” Jon began as he breathed in  to compose himself, “was to do an awkward ninja run, look really stiff while using your sword…then pose and wait for three whole seconds before your batarangs hit me.”

“That was two seconds, tops,” Damian said, completely missing the point.

Jon snorted and burst out laughing.

“Damian…your video game self was so extra, it’s like the only thing you left out was shades and shiny teeth.  You were trying way too hard to look cool.”

“Hey,” Damian protested. “It’s a decently styled—”

“The only thing that makes this even funnier is that it’s totally you,” Jon giggled heartily.

Damian frowned. He didn’t know how to retort without making it obvious that for a few seconds, he’d actually wanted to try posing like his game-self did.

The boys kept playing and trying different characters until Damian went back to playing himself. Jon chose Batman for the first time, and he noticed Damian tense up. As the story of the game went, game-Damian turned against Batman and sided with Superman. Game-Batman had readily abandoned his son in turn. Whenever the two of them would face each other in the game, they’d both spew out scathing and hateful taunts that made Damian squirm.

This time, Jon won handily, winning with Batman’s special move.

Jon blinked. “Did your game-dad just…use a bat-shaped jet to drag you in the air and blow you up with a small army’s worth of bullets and missiles…?”

Damian looked as mind-blown as Jon. “That…was the most impractical use of the Batwing I’ve ever seen.”

“That was overkill,” Jon mused.

“And that’s considering that my dad has intentionally rammed the Batwing into things in real life before,” Damian nodded.

“Hey, Damian?” Jon asked as he eyed his friend anxiously. “Are you okay? You seem kinda antsy ever since I picked your dad…”

Damian avoided looking straight into Jon’s eyes. “What do you think about how the game depicted my future?” he asked with a guarded expression.

Jon raised his eyebrows—the question took him by surprise. “It’s a video game. I don’t really care what they said you were.”

“But you thought that the Damian in the game was evil, right?” Damian continued, glancing expectantly at Jon.

“Well, I mean, everyone was sort of on this gray line—“ Jon stopped after seeing Damian’s annoyed look. “Okay, fine, I thought he was evil. The game makes it a point to make you act as unlikeable as possible anyway.”

Damian shifted uncomfortably on the couch. He sighed as if resigning himself to a cruel fate.

“That game…” Damian began, his words calm but measured.  “It’s not the first time that something predicted that I would betray my father and turn to evil in the future.”

Jon listened with rapt attention as Damian continued. He’d never seen Damian this gravely serious before.

“When I was adventuring with Maya, an artifact manifested future versions of ourselves based on the parts of ourselves that we couldn’t come to terms with. I was forced to fight an adult version of myself that was still the bloodthirsty assassin my grandfather trained. I barely survived.”

“Wow…that’s rough,” Jon said gently. He could tell that Damian was upset in a way that could not easily be dismissed.

“That’s not all,” Damian continued. “There’s…something I’ve never told you before. Drake…he created this computer program that could calculate a person’s approximate future based on their experiences and personality. On two separate instances, that program predicted that I’d turn back to my old ways—once as the new ruthless leader of the League of Assassins…

“…and another as a more tyrannical and deadly version of Batman. 

“Either way, it seems like everything agrees that my future will see me becoming the evil I’d sworn to reject.”

Damian ended with a solemn silence. He bowed his head and stared at his knees. “Do you understand why I never told you this before?” he asked Jon, who had a mixed look of confusion and concern on his face. “Knowing what I’d just told you…and what I’m destined to become, no one in their right minds would associate with me. And I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to leave and stop talking to me.”

Jon knew that Damian wasn’t the kind of person who cried much—if at all. But the sheer cold silence that Damian was giving him was worse. It was as if Damian was deathly certain that he would leave right then and there and never come back. Damian had already accepted that Jon didn’t want to be friends with him anymore, and that he was just waiting for Jon to say so.

Jon knit his brow. Damian’s willingness to accept his dark future was frightening, to be sure. But one detail, or rather, the lack of a certain detail, tugged at his mind.

“Damian,” Jon asked carefully. “In all those futures…what happened to me?”

Damian wrinkled his nose at Jon. “Those were my futures, not yours. Why would you ever be in them?” he snapped.

“Because, dummy,” Jon retorted with a stubborn look. “Do you think I’d let any of those bad futures happen to you? Now, tell me where I was in your future, or when exactly you got those predictions. Did we even know each other already  when you got them?”

“Well I…” Damian trailed off, his eyes widening in apparent realization. “No, I suppose we hadn’t met yet when the program had made the predictions. You weren’t there yet when Maya and I were completing my atonement for the year of blood. And you and I’ve only been public as a team recently, so the game wouldn’t have put you in…”

“Then that settles it!” Jon declared ecstatically. “Damian, there’s one thing that your futures didn’t count on—the fact that we became friends!”

“What do you mean?” Damian asked with genuine curiosity.

“Damian…in the first place, I don’t believe that just because some things predict your future, you can’t decide it for yourself,” Jon explained adamantly. He was wringing his hands as if willing Damian to understand.

“I don’t care how many people say your future will get messed up—you’re a good person. You’ve fought and sacrificed so much to become who you are today. You’ve become someone that your family loves and cares about! You’re not Damian, Ra’s Al Ghul’s grandkid. You’re Robin, son of Batman.”

“And more importantly—“ Jon continued, cutting off Damian’s inevitable retort. “Dude, I’m your friend! I mean, sure, we argue sometimes, and you’re mean, and you tease me a lot…”

“Tt,” Damian clicked his tongue as if to say ‘that’s not helping’.

“But…we’re friends.” Jon waved dismissively. 

“Not just because we’re working together as superheroes, either. We’re friends because we want to be. Because I want to be. You…you get what it’s like to be a kid and a hero at the same time, I can talk to you, and we can hang out and stuff. I never tell you this but, I kinda look up to you, you know? You’re always so in control and awesome, and like a ninja and…sometimes it’s cool…”

“Are you saying you think I’m cool?” Damian smirked.

“Shut up Damian! I’m in the middle of something here!” Jon chided him. “What I’m trying to say is, whatever happens…I’ll help you find a future that’s better. I’m not gonna leave you. We’re partners, now and in any future. Your bad futures aren’t gonna happen because I’m here to make sure they don’t.” Jon flashed Damian a toothy grin.

“And if for some reason, I end up having to fight you and fulfill that dark future?” Damian asked coyly. His voice, however, had softened and relaxed.

“Then I’ll beat you, duh!” Jon emphasized. “Laser eyes beats sword, remember?” he finished by sticking his tongue out.

“You sound so sure,” Damian said as he shook his head. Whether it was in disbelief or gratitude, Jon wasn’t sure.

“Don’t worry about your future,” Jon said with a grin. He held Damian’s hands enthusiastically. Before Damian could even protest,  he was already hovering a few inches off the floor, carrying Damian with him.

“Superboy’s got your back!” Jon promised.

The corner of Damian’s lips twitched. He wasn’t in a hurry to show any kind of emotion. But what he said next was better than any sort of ‘thank you’ that he could think of.

“I know. I believe you.”

There you go, guys! Consider this fic my rebuttal against DC trying to make Damian evil as an adult! No way Jon would ever let that happen! I’m convinced that Jon would help keep Damian good if anything would ever tempt him to return to his less heroic ways. I hope this fic was okay, I was agitated when I wrote it and it might have typos and stuff :p

Also shoutout to @harljordan who let me use their awesome edit from Supersons #8 above :)

EDIT:  I couldn’t resist making this edit based on this awesome post script idea by @desolationofzara :D

BUT THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Edits by me, and I screencapped my game for this XD

[maevelin]

PotC 5 Review

So I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead men tell no tales and ...

Well it was far better than the 4th installment but that does not say much. The thing is that the first movie is one of my most favorite movies of my childhood. I have watched her countless times. I could repeat the dialogue by heart but as more movies came along the whole franchise was losing more steam and charm (and I kept trying to pretend it was not happening but...yeah).

The thing is that Johnny Depp’ performance that is the center of those movies has been deteriorating in quality more and more with each movie and that was more apparent and very obvious with this one. Jokes over jokes (badly written ones and even badly acted ones now) can only get you up to a point.

Captain Jack Sparrow in the first movie had charisma. He was not just the comic relief. The things that happened to him were not only caused by rum and pure luck. Despite his funny and even goofy behavior there was brilliance, courage, heart, danger and a moral code underneath. That was what made his whole persona tick. He had a very sharp brain and was a trickster. Somewhere along the way that was completely forgotten and Jack Sparrow became a caricature. The comic relief that was balanced in the first movie overtook everything in a very bland chaotic borderline moronic way. It was as if the producers and the makers and the writers and the directors of the first movie were able to reign over Depp’s tendency to overdo it with his ‘vision’ of Sparrow but as more movies came along they took a step back and could not put a stop to this nonsense.

And these movies now make me feel so very tired but when I rewatch the first movie I still love it and it makes me want to watch it again and again. So my issue is obviously with what I am served now and not with the franchise.

More in particular. The pace of this movie was dragging along. The witch and horologist jokes were tiresome after a point. The script had a nice idea but as it all came together it was mediocre at best. The movie actually felt longer in time than it actually was. Geoffrey Rush and mostly Javier Bardem were the saving grace of this movie. The special effects were fine. There was not much chemistry in the movie. Depp was repetitive. The music had some nice additions. It was nice seeing Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom but their appearances were simply short cameos and over advertised. Also Paul McCartney made a short cameo as Jack’s uncle which was more of a nod to how Keith Richards played his father.

The fact that they forgot the hat in the last scene was also unforgivable and shows how sloppy this whole thing ended up being. Btw the way they brought back the Black Pearl was anticlimactic and if it was this easy why hadn’t Jack found a way to bring it back for five whole years?

On another note the sexism in this movie was really really bad. More so than it was in the previous movies. Like...thanks no thanks.

The Easter egg scene after the credits promises more things to come (please just put it to rest) mostly with Will’s and Elizabeth’s characters but I doubt that Orlando and Keira especially would sign on for a next PotC movie.

All in all a bottle of rum might have made the movie actually entertaining but as it was...

[birdlord]

All the Podcasts I Subscribe to

I’ve been listening to podcasts fairly regularly for about ten years now, and my list of subscriptions has slowly increased over the years to its current epic proportions. The more recent parts (towards the bottom) of this list are in order of subscription (from about The Gist onward) but the older parts aren’t in any particular order. 

I’ve been meaning for some time to add podcasts to my yearly Media Diet posts, but I’ve got to start somewhere if I’m going to mention what I’ve added and what I’ve taken away in a given year, so here we are! I’ve given them star ratings roughly reflecting my current opinion (which is obviously subject to change, as I’m forever editing the list). 

BTW I listen at 1.5 speed, which is the only way I have any hope of getting through all of these!

** BBC: Great Lives - a half-hour profile of a (sometimes dead) luminary, suggested by another (living) luminary. The host is helped along by an expert in the field, so a three-way conversation ensues.

*** Slate: Lexicon Valley - Great podcast about language. Tends to be more topical than The World in Words, the other language podcast I listen to regularly. And it’s now hosted by a linguist, so has taken on more of the air of an expert explaining things rather than journalists uncovering stuff.

*** All Back No Front - a music critic presents a wide-ranging hour or so of new music. It’s a great way to encounter new stuff if you’re too lazy to dig it up yourself (that’s me).

*** BBC: More or Less - A short podcast about the dismal science by Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist. The team investigates uses of statistics in the news, and (usually) debunks them heartily. I’m very happy that the short version and long version now don’t overlap! Well done folks.

** Monocle: The Urbanist - A show about cities that actually goes some distance to include cities in the global south. The posh pose of the hosts can sometimes be grating, though correspondents do come from more varied backgrounds. They have recently started a short podcast released earlier in the week that covers a single item in a world city, which is quite diverting.

** Radiotopia: The Memory Palace - An extraordinarily gauzy and story-telling-inflected history podcast. This is NOT Just The Facts, Ma’am. Your mileage may vary w/r/t the host’s pause-heavy style of speaking, sometimes I find it grating and other times it suits my mood just fine.

***** Max Fun: Stop Podcasting Yourself - I held off on subscribing to this for a long time, since their old ad way back in the Sound of Young America days was SO off-putting. But now? This is the podcast I save to listen to when I have to do something distasteful (treadmill? cleaning the bathroom?) since it’s so consistently good it’ll make any bad task more tolerable. And Jesse Thorn is now otherwise completely absent from my podcast rolls, so we see who won THIS one!

*** Radiotopia: Love + Radio - With many reportorial podcasts, you can grasp a thread, see a connection between their topics from week to week. Not so with L+R, it’s always new, always interesting, always weird.

*** How Sound - this is some deep shit - a podcast about MAKING PODCASTS :O. On occasion, producers from podcasts I actually listen to show up, which is always interesting to get a peek behind the curtain.

***** Radiotopia: 99% Invisible - This is not like, a list of well-kept secrets, so if you’re a person who has any interest in how design functions in the world you’re probably already listening to this. This will change the way you look at any number of everyday objects, and, if you’re the envious type, cause you to think “why didn’t I think of that?!” at least once per episode.

** CBC: Under The Influence - An adman dishes Secrets of the Advertising Industry! The first incarnation of the show had a historical bent, but now stories come from the 21st and 20th centuries alike. I came up with CBC Radio, so I have some affection for its sometimes-repetitive production elements, but seriously: that music bed is HECK OF TIRED and needs to be replaced!

** The Smartest Man in the World - Comedian Greg Proops takes to stages around the world and combines tales of teenage drug adventures in the 70s, celebrity encounters, and (especially recently!) die-hard liberal (def not radical) Democratic politics. This can get weary after a while, but I like to get his take on the issues of the day. 

*** CBC: Ideas - This long-running nightly show podcasts not every episode, but just the highlights. For those who’ve never listened, this is a serious-minded (with some exceptions) documentary series which includes some one-offs, some several-episode series, and some regular features (Ideas from the Trenches talks to PhD students, Wachtel on the Arts, Munk Debates). Wachtel tends to be a couple of steps too “public radio” for me, but the rest is generally listenable with occasional moments of brilliance.

*** NPR: Pop Culture Happy Hour - a weekly chat amongst a slightly rotating cast of NPR folks located in DC. Mostly concentrates on middlebrow TV and movies, with occasional forays into music and books/comics. Sometimes showcases shorter conversations during the week that respond to particular events (awards shows, sport things, interviews with pop culture figures) but the main shows usually cover two topics plus a “What’s Making Us Happy” recommendation section. Gives the impression of being more “loose” than the usual NPR fare but keep in mind that’s a low bar to clear.

** BBC: Food Programme - hosts travel around Britain interviewing food producers and cooks of various kinds, generally investigating one topic per show. Tends to be showcase a non-controversial, posi take on food, focusing on things like new food scenes developing in smaller towns, the revival of old techniques, and immigrant contributions to food diversity. Can sometimes tend towards the dull. 

***** Too Beautiful To Live - TBTL used to be a radio show, so it’s the rare podcast that actually gets it together to put out an episode every single weekday. Success depends on perfect alchemy between the hosts, and their ability to riff amusingly on the topics of the day and their own lives. Don’t be put off by the inside jokes; let them marinate for a couple of weeks and you’ll find yourself drawn in.

**** Answer Me This! - It is a great and powerful tragedy that this hilarious Q&A podcast has, in its eleventh year, gone down to a monthly schedule. Understandable given the hosts new gigs, but still, these are people I like to spend time with! I miss ‘em!

**** Radiotopia: The Bugle - Oddly enough, The Bugle is hosted by the brother of one of the Answer Me This! trio, and was also formerly cohosted by John Oliver, who is clearly now too busy holding American feet to the fire on HBO to muddle about in the podcasting pool. The conceit of the show is that it’s an “audio newspaper” and so most of the content is a comedic take on the news of the day. The non-Zaltzman co-hosts join from a variety of parts of the world, which is helping move the focus away from  strictly the US and Britain.

**** WBEZ: This American Life - The old faithful of podcasts, helped not a little by unnaturally passionate-yet-calm host Ira Glass.

*** BBC: Thinking Allowed - A wry sociologist brings in guests to discuss their papers and/or books on various topics of sociological interest. Feels like a brief & interesting class each week, sans homework! The host’s wry personality mainly comes through in his interstitial responses to emails and letters. 

*** NPR: Fresh Air - Your classic NPR interview show, plus short review segments telling you about the latest in jazz records, oscar-bait films or Complicated Novels. The interviews I find the most enlightening are the political ones, I distinctly remember listening and re-listening to the episodes about the initial rise of the Tea Party. Over the past few years, the number of ads during the show has been ratcheting up, slowly but surely; I sincerely hope by this point that Terry Gross has a solid-gold toaster.

*** BBC: In Our Time - a stimulating academic panel show with host Melvyn Bragg discuss the “history of ideas” which in practice usually means an overview of a particular person’s intellectual output, a scientific discovery, or a historical event. Not overly combative in tone, though genteel disagreements do happen. I’m always a bit surprised, given that this is a BBC product that also goes out on the radio, at how uneven the production is - lots of sticky-voiced talkers too close to the mic, and a veritable epidemic of shuffling papers.

**** WNYC: Radiolab - Radiolab has drifted from science somewhat in recent years, but is still producing solid stories full of new insights.

*** Tiny Spark - A relatively rare totally independent podcast, intended to hold charities and non-profits to account. Really helpful to anyone who is wondering how best to spend money in a way that might help people in a meaningful way.

**** WNYC: On the Media - All week long, I know that if I’m reading something about American politics and I’m not quite getting the nuances, I can count on On The Media to help me out. Don’t think you have to be in the media industry to find this enlightening - it’s really for all news CONSUMERS.

**** Greg Proops Film Club - Every once in a long while, Greg Proops shows an old movie in a theatre with an audience, and this podcast consists of his comedic introductions (which are sometimes heavily connected to the films, and other times largely weird anecdotes about his life). Used to include a bit after the film wherein they discuss its particulars and take audience Qs, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside.

***** Previously.tv: Extra Hot Great - The greatest asset of this long-running TV podcast is its tight group of hosts, who have been working together since the dark-ass past of internet-based pop-culture criticism. This long experience gives them an unmatched rapport, even though the hosts now live in vastly divergent time zones across the US. I miss Joe Reid’s contributions, but that doesn’t stop this from being one of my favourite listens each week.

**** Slate: The Gist - I found Mike Pesca’s former NPR show, The Bryant Park Project (which Luke from TBTL was also involved with) shortly before it ended forever in around 2007. So I was delighted to find him with a daily show that covers politics, science and culture in a snappy 20 or so minutes.

**** Feral Audio: The X Files Files - Sadly defunct at the moment, but hey, this podcast seems to have had something to do with the fact that the X Files returned for a few eps (and certainly for the host Kumail Nanjiani’s appearance in a new episode!) so that’s quite a legacy.

**** Men in Blazers - Yes, I came to be interested in football originally because my partner is a die-hard watcher of the English Premier League. But it was these guys who gave me my own entry into this particular world of sports fandom. They made a great, funny series of videos about each national team for the men’s World Cup in 2014, and then I was totally hooked. I’m a big fan of the fact that Rog and Davo are supporters of women’s football as well, which I’m sure has a great deal to do with them being located in the US, the powerhouse of ladies-kicking-soccer-balls-with-great-aplomb.

*** BBC: Short Cuts - Josie Long hosts a charming show that seems inspired by the explosion of US-based storytelling podcasts. Sadly the show’s season is short, and a few months’ silence usually passes between each one.

**** WBEZ: Serial - The podcast that broke podcasts as a genre to the wider world! So far two seasons, each covering one story, have come to pass. It was unusual, when this podcast began, to cover a single story, ahem, serially, but the experiment worked; not only did Serial become wildly popular, other podcasts covering single stories (true, or no) have since abounded.

*** PRI: The World in Words - an offshoot of the PRI show The World, concentrating specifically on languages. It has a broader scope than the english-linguistics-focused Lexicon Valley, but tries hard to not fall back on the public radio trope of sadly looking on, shaking one’s head slowly while lamenting endangered languages.

*** No Such Thing as a Fish - a podcast offshoot of the Brit game show QI. The conceit is that the four hosts, all researchers for the show, each present the most interesting fact they came across at work over the course of the week. And each fact is discussed and riffed-upon by their colleagues.

*** David Cayley podcast - Cayley was a long-time radio producer for CBC’s Ideas, and this irregular-delivered podcast presents his various series as originally-presented on the radio. Each series is delivered all at once, allowing for serious bingeing. He does provide some context from the perspective of the present day, but only in text form on the podcast description, not in audio on the podcasts themselves. I greatly enjoy the nostalgia value of former Ideas host Lister Sinclair’s mellifluous tones. My favourite series of his is Origins of the Modern Public, available in the show’s archive.

**** Radiotopia: The Allusionist - Helen Zaltzman of Answer Me This has her own short podcast about english words and their origins. It’s on Radiotopia and has a great deal in common (plus has had some crossover eps) with that network’s 99% Invisible. Where Roman Mars investigates buildings and other objects, Zaltzman investigates words.

**** Gimlet: Reply All - I loved this little show about internet culture back when it was called TLDR and I love it still. This podcast has really broken the mould lately, with an episode covering 48 hours of the hosts answering a phone line of listeners’ questions, and one in which they secretly micro dosed with LSD to see how it affected their creativity.

**** NPR: Invisibilia - I used to listen to quite a bit more ‘hard science’ podcasts, and for one reason or another, most of those have fallen off my feed. This is one that has stepped into the breach, combining science reporting with more of the storytelling focus that we’re used to in other podcasts.

** Home of the Brave - You may recognize Scott Carrier’s distinctive voice and style of presentation from his appearances on This American Life, and now he’s off on his own, reporting on things that interest him. He goes into each topic with a remarkably open mind, and seems quite adept at getting people to speak with him who might otherwise be suspicious of a public radio-type interviewer.

*** Earwolf: I Was There Too - One of a galaxy of podcasts that depends on moderately famous LA people knowing other moderately famous LA people, and interviewing each other on their podcasts. The conceit here is more interesting than most, though: Gourley interviews (usually minor but not always) actors from very well-known films, to get their perspective on the both the production and the movies’ reputations. Quality varies a lot depending on interviewee.

*** WNYC: The Sporkful - a light and breezy food podcast, usually consisting of quick and concise interviews. They do occasionally handle larger topics (eating disorders, cultural appropriation) in several-episode arcs, but usually each show stands alone.

*** Max Fun: Baby Geniuses - Lisa Hanawalt and Emily Heller gab together for the first 20 minutes or so, about their lives & careers, and Martha Stewart’s pony Ban Chunch, then invite on a guest with whom they get into a wikipedia article suggested by a listener. Then we get into what, on a normal celebrity guest podcast, would be an interview about their latest project. But not here! Here they get to talk about some esoteric interest of theirs, unrelated to what they do for a living. Weird hobbies and so on! I find the last segment, an improv interview with a fake expert in something, to be totally unlistenable, thus the middling rating. 

** ARRVLS - Documentary storytelling, but with a focus on stories about change and transformation. This is a broad theme, of course! And really encompasses most types of stories - why tell a story if it hasn’t changed you? I do admit that this blends in with the other doc storytelling podcasts I listen to, it doesn’t stand out a ton.

**** WNYC: Death, Sex & Money - Anna Sayle talks to guests about topics that are usually left out of polite society. Style is a former producer on TAL, so this is all part of the TAL-galaxy of podcasts, so it has a similar slick-yet-heartfelt quality about it. Style went on (terrifyingly short! poor Americans) maternity leave a few months ago and had former guests host the show in her absence - cute idea!

*** Call Your Girlfriend - two pals who live in different states get together over the internet and talk about whatever has interested them in the past week. Like many things, this ‘cast has taken a hard turn towards activism lately, which is great and I love it! They take a light hand with editing, but do use music breaks and sometimes ads to smooth over changes in topic.

*** Buzzfeed: Another Round - Of all of the “two people gabbing” podcasts that I listen to, this is the only one that features two black women. Given that radio (and podcasts too, maybe even more since you choose to listen at specific times?) is such an intimate medium, it’s important to hear voices that have a different background and perspective than your own. These ladies are a big deal! They met the president (not the terrible one).

*** The Weekly Planet - My friend Ryan recommended this podcast about comic book movies (mostly) by some dudes in Australia. Comic book movies are not my Main Jam, but these guys are really entertaining and I enjoy listening to ‘em gab while I’m washing dishes or walking somewhere. I HATE the theme song?!

** KCRW: Here be Monsters - documentary that sometimes edges over into the disturbing.

** America’s Test Kitchen Radio - this is the most practical food podcast I listen to, since it includes equipment testing, and recipe suggestions. The main attraction is the call-ins, wherein the hosts answer listener’s food questions - really useful! Hasn’t updated in a few months though, so not sure what’s up with that?

*** NPR: Planet Money - I listened to a few episodes of this back when it started, when the financial crisis first went down (for real: the Giant Pile of Money episode of TAL was listened and re-listened, by me) but for some reason I didn’t ever subscribe. I finally got around to it recently, and have no regrets (except for all the time I missed i guess??).

*** WNYC: The New Yorker Radio Hour - a weekly hour based on what’s appearing in the magazine on any given week. The only thing I find really unlistenable are the dramatized versions of comedy sketches, which never work for me.

*** After These Messages - I’m not a person who is exposed to much in the way of advertising, given my lack of television, but I do still like this podcast about TV ads. The hosts rant about commercials they hate, and even occasionally tip the hat to those they enjoy.

** Fashion Hags - three friends from fashion school get together and chat about the fashion world in general and their own forays into clothes-making as a career or avocation.

**** The Next Picture Show - rather than reviewing a new release on its own, the four movie critics look at a new movie each week by comparing it to a similar (or related) classic film.

*** NPR: Hidden Brain - Though the focus here is brain science rather than money/economics, the formula here feels pretty similar to Planet Money: draw listeners in with an interesting proposition, back that up with a couple of interviews and/or host talk, tidy conclusion.

*** Worst Idea of All Time - two comedians in New Zealand have a terrible idea: they commit to watch Grown Ups 2 every week for a year, and podcast about it! Since then, they’ve gone through two more terrible years, and have gained a loyal worldwide following (but lost…SO MANY HOURS OF THEIR PRECIOUS YOUNG LIVES).

** Making the Sausage - from the Previously.TV folks, this is an occasional, behind the scenes of TV podcast. As opposed to the other LA entertainment-scene podcasts, this one is strictly talking to people like PAs, writers, and directors instead of the front-of-camera folks. Has some persistent audio issues, but it’s an interesting perspective.

**** Radiotopia: The West Wing Weekly - Apparently everyone loves to podcast about long-finished television shows?! This one is terribly charming, hosted by podcast guy Hrishikesh Airway and former West Wing cast member Josh Malina. Since they have such a solid connection to the show, they’re able to get bigwigs like other cast members, directors and musicians to come on & chat about specific episodes.

*** You Must Remember This - episodic but connected seasons of stories about 20th Century Hollywood. The stories themselves are universally fascinating, but the delivery can be patchy - the host sometimes acts out quotes from her subjects, which is almost always some combination of embarrassing and irritating; and the production itself can be heavy-handed.

**** Our Debut Album - the Stop Podcasting Yourself boys are making an album, at the rate of one song a month. We get to listen to the song-writing process, as well as hear about how the producer actually puts the song together, element by element. A good idea and a fun one!

*** Guardian: Token - A black woman and a trans man talk about issues of race and gender. My favourite episodes so far involve Leah and Freddy being confronted with elements of the other’s world, and giving one another permission to ask potentially-awkward questions.

*** Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs - A sort-of offshoot of Extra Hot Great, involving one of the regular hosts and one of their frequent guests, talking about songs (usually one per ep but not always). If you want a great episode to start with, go for the one wherein they rank all of the songs in Madonna’s Immaculate Collection.

**** WNYC: More Perfect - A Radiolab offshoot, about the machinations of the US Supreme Court. It’s been forever since they released and episode, so hopefully it’s not dead & gone for good since I find it so fascinating.

*** Filmspotting - A long-standing film podcast that I’ve only come to recently, so it feels like jumping into a fast-moving stream. It’s mostly concerned with the higher-brow of filmmaking, with occasional exceptions. Keeping track of things like this makes me feel like at least I will be less likely to miss those movies that film critics are watching, or at least I’ll have some idea of which ones I can definitely afford to skip.

***** Election Profit Makers - Dearly departed! This was a pre-election betting podcast by David Rees and his childhood friend, produced by podcast impresario Starlee Kine, and oh GOSH it was good! It was exactly what everyone needed in the nervy pre-election days, and their single post-election episode was cathartic and emotional and very very real. Going back and listening again would be like time-travel, you should try it.

*** Radiotopia: Criminal - preternaturally soft-voiced Phoebe Judge tells complicated short tales of criminals of many kinds.

** WNYC: Sooo Many White Guys - This is a weird one for me. I really enjoy the interview part, which is the bulk of the show, but I can’t stand the host joshing around with her producer - putting a weird “sound-booth” effect on the producer’s voice is a strange and affected choice, but aside from the sound reasons I’m just not into the conversations they’re having; perhaps I’m just not interested in seeing behind this particular curtain? Interviews are still worth it, though!

*** Gimlet: Heavyweight - I have had a checkered past with Jonathan Goldstein - I enjoy his contributions to other people’s audio properties, but I’ve never been able to get into his CBC show. I was uncertain about this show (in which he tags along with someone to solve a problem from their past) but I’m finding it just Goldstein-y enough?

*** Revisionist History - Malcolm Gladwell takes his typical style of making complicated ideas seem simple. As with his books, there’s some great stuff and some eye-rolly stuff.

*** Radiotopia: Theory of Everything - Benjamen Walker’s been internetting around for a long-ass time, and this is the latest incarnation of his work. His most recent series has been on surveillance and the panopticon, which is obviously super in my wheelhouse. He will go at things in a different way than you expect, which is hugely admirable (and entertaining!).

*** Gimlet: Undone - Gimlet has done a great job of coming up with interesting concepts for their podcasts, such that the finished work can feel familiar to podcast listeners (soothing voices, great production values, good music, solid interviews) but they have a hook to catch new listeners. This one’s about old news stories that has had long repercussions, don’t you want to listen? Well you should. It’s been cancelled though, so this will move to my UNSUBSCRIBED list shortly. 

*** NYT: Still Processing - I missed the sound of Wesley Morris’ voice since the demise of Grantland, and thankfully Tim https://twitter.com/doingitwrong tipped me off that he has a new podcast! I particularly enjoyed the episode in which Morris and co-host Jenna Wortham go to the new Smithsonian Museum of African-American History & Culture (or more succinctly, the Blacksonian).

*** Hello Internet - My friend Jenn https://twitter.com/jennipoos is a fan of CGP Grey’s Youtube videos, and a while back she posted one, and I fell into such a CGP Grey hole that I wasn’t satisfied watching every single video, I had to ferret out his podcast, which he does with another Youtuber, Brady Haran. Both are expats living in Britain, and (particularly Grey!) don’t pay much attention to the news, so it’s rare that they discuss any of the tire-fire things that are happening in the world today. A nerdy break from the news.

*** Guardian: Football Weekly - When I was looking for the Guardian Brexit podcast, I discovered that their #1 podcast is this one, which updates twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. It’s a bit more serious and analytical than Men in Blazers, and also covers european leagues, so it’s not too much overlap. This is the podcast that will make a lengthy Shakespeare reference about Leicester City’s sacking of Claudio Ranieri, so that will probably tell you if you will find it to your taste.

** Guardian: Brexit Means… - This is an occasional podcast about Brexit and related issues. Sometimes you need serious information!

** Book Shambles - Another Josie Long joint, this time featuring a co-host (Robin Ince) and regular guests. The chat is nominally centered around books, but in fact is quite wide-ranging and usually takes as its beginning point whatever the expertise of the guest happens to be.

*** Gimlet: Twice Removed - Every once in a while, marketing really hits on something that works. With all of these new (& older) podcast networks, most have one or two high-profile podcasts and some smaller ones. In this case, Gimlet ran almost an entire Twice Removed episode on Reply All, and I was intrigued enough to subscribe. It wooooorked!

** BBC: The Compass - I found this one due to its series (now archived) about creating a hypothetical ideal country made up of things other places are doing well (gun control in Japan, maths education in Shanghai). Not 100% sure I’ll keep it!

** The Royal Canadian Movie Podcast - found this one thanks to its review of New Waterford Girl, and yeah I’m inclined to at least consider the Canadian film industry, if not consume that much of it. This one is also potentially on the bubble, since I find one of the hosts a little on the JAZZ HANDS side of things.

NPR: Code Switch - covering NPR’s racism beat, this is a newish podcast that I’ve just managed to remember to subscribe to, since one of the regular contributors used to do a podcast I liked called PostBourgie. No star rating yet as I haven’t been listening long enough!

[echobasegazette]

The Superhero Email Chain

A little while back, I exchanged some emails with my buddy Ian regarding the most recent superhero films. Originally I was going to post this article right before the first of the new films came out, but I got distracted. About two weeks ago, I found the file and decided that even though all of the films have been released, you can still find out what Ian and I thought about them before they were released. Here is the superhero email chain in all its glory.  

 Ian: Alright I am just going to give you my thoughts on all of the upcoming superhero films and put them in order with less likely to likely to flop.

1.       Captain America: Civil War- This movie is the least likely to fail. Simply put Marvel has already got a major foundation. They are too big to fail at this point with any of the major avenger characters (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk).

2.       X-men: Age of Apocalypse- I also think this is movie will not fail. Fox/Marvel has done a great job with advertising most of their movies and for the most part, they haven’t had any flops. I’m not saying they’ve all been good, but I do believe they are on the correct path. As long as they introduce some new characters and show them off a little I do not see how this movie could be a flop.

3.       Deadpool- I rated this one third because I am little bit torn about this film. Ryan Reynolds, in my opinion, is not necessarily meant to play a "Badass" superhero (he bombed with Green Lantern). Although his body of work is solid I am not sure he can pull this off. HOWEVER, Deadpool is not your typical superhero and Ryan may just be the perfect actor for the roll. Also we got a sneak peek of him kind of playing Deadpool in X-men Origins (Weapon XI). Due to his ability to talk and be cocky/annoying I think he may just pull Deadpool off. With that being said I am still on the fence with this film but ultimately, I do NOT think this will flop.

4.       Suicide Squad & Batman V.S Superman. – I think that these two are the most to flop and the main reason is due to the credibility of DC. I have not been blown away by any DC movies other than The Dark Knight trilogy. Don't get me wrong the trailers look incredible but I am still not sold.  

Questions

Will I eat my words with my statements about DC? Which movie in your case will be most likely to flop?  Which movie will most likely be a HIT?

 Ryan: I generally I agree with what you've said although I have some follow ups for you on each of the movies.

Captain America: I think Disney/Marvel has found the secret to superhero movie success and as long as people don’t get sick of the genre they will be successful. Personally I love Captain America. I think Chris Evans is awesome and the movies are great. I still think Winter Soldier was better than Avengers 1 and way better than the second Avengers film.  So I'm seeing this opening weekend, I'd be shocked if this failed.

X-men: Days of futures past was an awesome movie. And finally they have decided to bring out Apocalypse as a movie super villain; yes I am excited for this movie. My memories of Apocalypse are from the Saturday cartoons and it always brought all of the mutants together for epic battles so this should be great.

Deadpool: I like Ryan Reynolds and think this should be a good movie, he did a fine job in X-men Origins. But this could turn out to be a bad film. Maybe we are reaching the over-saturation point. Are there too many comic book movies?

Suicide Squad:  I hope this is good. I very badly want this to be good. It’s a different type of movie. It has Anti-heroes being heroes, that’s cool. Please be a good movie. Important side note: What was the last good Will Smith Action movie?

Batman vs. Superman: I think this is a stupid movie concept. I know they face off in comic books and Batman always wins, but it seems stupid that Superman would lose. Part of me wants this movie to do well. Batman is my favorite Superhero and I like Ben Affleck and think he’s a good actor. But Superman sucks. He’s sooooo good at everything, how is he going to lose to Batman? The guy's only power is money. I know the plan is to build off of this movie and start a Justice League Franchise (too many superhero movies???) but why would Superman actually need the Justice League? Superman's sidekick should just be a normal guy who shows up and takes away kryptonite from the villains, that’s the only thing he needs help with. All that being said I liked Man of Steel but I am worried this movie is not going to be good. When my mother saw the preview she said, "That’s dumb. How can Batman fight Superman?" For a superhero movie to do well you need non-fanboys to see it, and I don’t see that happening with either DC movie.

Here is what I want to know:

How is DC going to build a Justice league? They’ve already bombed with Green Lantern. Are they going to bring out Aquaman? Is Wonder Women going to get her own movies? What would the ideal..... Ignore those questions, here is the real question. Do people really care about the Justice League? Is anyone excited about these movies? Do you care?

What is the plan with X-Men? They have screwed up the timeline of the movies and they have jumped all over the place, and they beat Wolverine like a dead horse. What X-men need to get standalone movies? Or what story line do you want to see?

I don’t like Superman, do you?

 Ian: The last good Will Smith movie was I am legend btw lol. People, do care about the justice league for a couple reasons.

1.       For the most part everyone knows Batman and Superman... they might be the most popular superheroes in either universe (DC or Marvel).

2.       Generations- I know that my mom loves DC way more than marvel so in her book I can almost guarantee that she is excited for them.

3.       I think people (non-nerds) don't even know the difference between Marvel and DC. They classify superheroes as one big group. Personally I am more a marvel fan but I would love to see Justice League be successful just to see how another superhero conglomerate will play out.

 XMEN- I will admit to being biased towards X-men, they are my favorite!! I love them unconditionally and would love to see a lot more movies. But they need a Gambit movie.  I think there are plans but the actor is that guy from step up (Channing Tatum)........ damn that sucks. They definitely need to stop and go in a different direction. Personally, I think there best move is to constantly introduce new characters because seeing new abilities is awesome. I agree with you on Superman. To me he is to powerful and it doesn’t seem possible that he could be defeated. People talk about Hulk vs Superman as a good battle but I would think Superman would win that fight too.

What about Ant-man vs Superman? He takes a tiny piece of kryptonite and sticks it inside his brain…BOOM done!!!

Who do you think should get their movie or story line? How could we beat Superman? What is the difference between Wonder Women and Super Girl?

 Ryan: Okay, Let start with the easiest question Wonder Women vs. Super Girl: Wonder Women is the leader of the Amazons and her powers are super strength, the lasso of truth, and bracelets that deflect bullets. I think she also has an invisible plane, not sure if this counts as a power.  Super Girl is Superman's cousin and depending on the source she’s either as strong, or slightly stronger than Superman.  At some point Wonder Women was given the power of flight which then confuses people.

I love the X-men movies as well and Gambit was always my second favorite (Wolverine is #1). And so far they've only had Gambit in one movie, the Wolverine Origins movie. The part was played by Taylor Kitsch, and I thought he did a pretty good job. At the time, I was hoping they'd start having Gambit in more movies. But so far, no Gambit anywhere, he’s still only been in one film. And now I find out they are going to have Channing Tatum play Gambit. WTF? I am not excited about that. Nothing against Tatum, but I do not see him as a good fit for Gambit.

The one X-man who should be getting their own show is Bobby Drake the Iceman. Iceman is cool as hell, he should be next.  Channing Tatum? Yuck, that just ruined my day. Who should they cast as Gambit? Who would be a better option?

I hope they don’t go with a Cyclops movie; I’ve always hated that guy.

Superman could defeat every other hero out there including the Hulk that’s why he’s so lame. Why would anyone try and fight him?

I do like your Ant-Man idea, have you seen the new Ant-man movie?

Here’s how you beat Superman.... kryptonite!  If you don’t have it, then you don’t bother.

Do you think Wonder Women should get her own movie? Is Aquaman next? What other thoughts do you have about the DC universe Justice League?

Just based on the movies, what is the coolest X-men power? Which power would you choose? And which X-man has the lamest power?

 Ian: To start I did not know that about Wonder Women and that is a very good point! I would say the Taylor Kitsch should play gambit, not Channing Tatum. Wonder Women should get her own movie as long as they stick with Gol Gadot, she is smoking HOT. Aquaman would be interesting, but how would they do it and would it be cheesy?

The main reason that I would want to see Justice League is to see Marvel vs DC.... probably never happen but what if???

Who are the stupidest X-men?  How about the guy with the spikes that come out of his head?!? Dumb! How would that even be useful?

Also I think toad was a little stupid as well. His powers were a frog tongue and jumping, lame! Angel, the guy with the wings is somewhat lame. Sure flying would be cool but what else can he do?

Badass powers- Wolverine’s ability to heal is cool but when he gets metal claws he becomes awesome. What about Gambit and his kinetic energy!??!?!? AWESOME, anything becomes a weapon... and I love the idea of throwing playing cards.  Emma Frost’s diamond skin is really cool it’s basically impenetrable. I wouldn't mind having that depending on how it works.

Same question to you, just based on the movies, what is the coolest X-men power? Which power would you choose? And which X-men have the lamest power?  And if you could be one superhero who would it be and why based on style and being a badass. Here’s the ultimate superhero question, who would be your pick to save the world?

 Ryan: The DC universe worries me, Superman is lame and so is everyone else except Batman. But I will give DC a chance and see how it turns out. Aquaman is by far the worst I have no idea how that’s going to work out. They are of course going to have to bring Green Lantern back again, which might be hard with one movie bomb under his belt already. I think they should go with John Stewart who was the guy from the Justice league Cartoon.

So I do have some questions about a few powers: What’s the deal with Magneto? He appears to have unlimited abilities as long as it has to do with metal. They never even really talk about if it has to be magnetic. He just always has control over it. He also has some crazy control over what he can do with it. In the most recent movie he was able to bend and flex metal to the point that it infected circuits and allowed him to control robots. How would that even work?

Wolverine's healing powers just seem to have no bounds. The dude can heal himself regardless of the injuries. It’s so insane, he’s basically immortal.

I feel Gambit would be a really cool movie guy. Why haven't they had him in every film? And Taylor would have been a solid choice. Just wait Channing will awesome and this whole chain will look stupid because we both doubted him.

I am going to blow your mind: The worst X-man is Cyclops. While his powers are okay and probably pretty effective, there is just something about him that I hate. He's the worst, he dates the coolest lady mutant, everyone thinks he’s the leader, and I just don’t get it because he’s such a freaking loser. Go away Cyclops no one likes you.

The worst power was that guy with the spikes. I checked and he is listed as a Kid Omega, but the comic book version doesn’t have any spike powers he instead has cognitive and telepathic abilities. So that appears to have been a movie creation. Don't forget about the kid from the second movie who had the power to change the channels on the TV without getting up. Which is either the worst power or best, I’d have to think about.

If I could pick any hero the answer would be Batman. It’s not even really close. Batman is freaking awesome. Wolverine and Gambit would be 2nd and 3rd.

Batman can do it all. He is the most badass hero. He has the ultimate villain in the Joker. His gadgets are awesome. Its batman! He is also the hero to whom we all could hypothetically strive to be, he doesn’t have any “powers” he just has gadgets and he’s smart. This is also the reason that I hate the Justice league. It takes the most realistic superhero, and puts him into a weird ass world with Superman and Green lantern, guys with powers from other planets.

Out of all the superhero movies which are your favorites so far?

 Ian: Magneto apparently is a BEAST; you seem to be correct in that his ability is endless. To me he would be one hell of a guy to try to defeat. If you have too much iron in your body he will kill you from the inside.  I cannot really explain the control over robots unless they were 90% made out of metal. On top of all that how smart is the guy... he can control 10 robots while still talking and having an in depth conversation. I think it is safe to say he is a GENIUS.

Wolverine- I think his powers are pretty unreal however from what I have heard if his head is cut CLEAR off then he will not come back. IS his SPINE MADE OUT OF THAT ONE METAL?

Gambit- I have no clue why he has not been in more movies. And I agree that maybe we will have to shut our mouths and Channing will be great haha.

Cyclops- You d0 have a good point, he is kind of a preppy prick. Like a quarterback. I agree his powers are OK.... however they seem unpredictable and hard to control... almost to the point of pointlessness.

 What are my favorite superhero movies? Here is the list:

Guardians of the galaxy- Story was GREAT and I love Chris Pratt in that role. He does a great job. While the characters theoretically may be weak compared with other superheroes they are pretty cool.

League or Extraordinary Gentleman- Older DC comics movie however I thought it was great and I love those scary fairy taillish people and I loved it when I was younger, the movie the idea everything.

X-Men Last Stand- Three words: SO MANY XMEN!!

It’s hard for me to come up with some more- all the Avengers movies and Marvel characters are good in their own ways.

What are your favorite superhero movies?

 Ryan: Okay, I'd like to talk about a couple of movies that are underrated or not talked about at all.

Spider-Man 3- The first two movies are really awesome and they for sure screwed up the third one, mainly because they tried to do too much. They should have made it Venom vs. Spidy movie. Instead they added in Sandman (who the hell is this guy anyways) and there was too much going on with Harry Osbourne, three villains is just too much. But this is actually a pretty okay film, it’s better than its reputation.

The Amazing Spider-man- I think this series is actually pretty good. They killed Peter Parker's love interest too soon, which made everyone mad. And now they are scrapping this and trying again with a new guy? Too much Spider-man, personally I'm starting to get sick of him.

Mystery Men- This is goofy 90's spoof movie, but it has an awesome cast headlined by Ben Stiller and Geoffrey Rush. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should.

The Hulk movie with Edward Norten - I like Mark Rufflo as the hulk, but Edward Norten did a damn good job when he took over the flaming wreck that Eric Bana left behind. It’s not that people don’t like this movie, most people didn’t watch it because the first was so bad.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen- I agree with you, I like this film.

Batman (1989)/Batman Returns- These have been lost to time because of the Dark Knight trilogy. This is current conversation:

-"Heath Ledger is the best joker ever."

- "Have you ever seen Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989), he was really good."

- "No."

-"Then how can you say that?"

-"Heath Ledger is the best joker ever."

People should check these two movies out, they are pretty good. Plus I like Kim Basinger.

Here is my current top 5.

1.       Captain America 2

2.       Guardians of the Galaxy

3.       Dark Knight

4.       X-men Days of future past

5.       Mystery Men

 Ian: I totally agree with the Spiderman comment and just getting to much of him right now. I think it’s definitely Sony trying to make a money grab. However, I will say I do like the new actor that they have playing spider man. Mainly because he looks and acts how I imagine Peter Parker would act.

Mystery Men!!! So funny I actually had to scroll down to see if I talked about mystery men as one of my top ones. I was honestly going to put in on there because it is so goofy and way out of the norm.

The first Hulk movie was bad and I do think that this turned away fans even though the second movie was better. I almost wish they would re-do it and go more into his story because I find him really interesting.

I do laugh at all the people that talk about the joker. I would say that 75% don't even know that Jack Nicholson played the joker. And that part in the restaurant when he paints everything, it’s a classic joker move.

 Ryan: Well I think it’s safe to say that we are both like superheroes way too much. But this year of superhero movies should be interesting to say the least.

The Movie Guy