#no it's not. 'the cg is worse than in the 90s' no it's not? '30 inch front laces' i don't think i would like this person if we met

[leatherbookmark]

i simply Do Not Think exaggeration to the point of lying for the sake of Haha Funny is. well. funny

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 4/23/21: MORTAL KOMBAT, DEMON SLAYER, TOGETHER TOGETHER, STREET GANG, SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS

Ugh. Trying to maintain this column as a weekly entity during the final few weeks of the longest Oscar season ever has been really hard, and I’m not sure that will change once the Oscars are over either, because I look at the number of movies being released both theatrically and streaming over the next few weeks, and it makes my head hurt. Sorry for the kvetching, it just is what it is.

There are two big theatrical releases this weekend, Warner Bros’ MORTAL KOMBAT and DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN from FUNImation Entertainment, both which have already been released internationally. I also probably won’t be able to watch or review either before this column gets posted.

Mortal Kombat seems like the easiest sell being that it’s based on the popular Midway Games video game franchise introduced in the early ‘90s that led to a series of films, books, comics and you name it. It was a very popular fighting game that had over a dozen iterations including one in which MK characters fought against DC superheroes.

The very first Mortal Kombat movies opened in 1995, right amidst MK-mania, and it was directed by one Paul W.S. Anderson, his very first movie in a long line of video game-related movies, including a number of Resident Evil and the recent Monster Hunter. There are a lot of people who love those games, and yes, even people who love that and other movies, but to others, who may have been too old to get into the games when they came out, the whole thing about different fighters fighting each other just looks kind of studio. Even though I’m interested to see what producer James Wan brings to this reboot, I just don’t have much interest otherwise.

Unfortunately, and this is pretty daunting, Warner Bros. wasn’t sending out screeners to critics until Wednesday with a review embargo for Thursday night at 7pm, which is never a good sign, and yet, it continues Warner Bros. continuing the trend of being one of the only studios that screeners EVERY movie to film critics rather than just making them pay to see it on Thursday night or Friday. I hope to watch it and maybe add something Thursday night, time-permitting. Not sure you heard but the Oscars are Sunday.

As far as box office, Mortal Kombat opens on Friday but also premieres on HBO Max, and I’m not sure there will be as much urge to see MK on the largest screen possible, as there was with Godzilla vs. Kong. Because of that, I think the cap for this one over the three-day weekend is about $10 million but not much more and probably more frontloaded to Friday than we’ve seen in some time.

Mini-Review: As you can imagine from my statement above, I don’t hold the Mortal Kombat games or other iterations in any particular high esteem, so I’m basically jumping into this movie, directed by Simon McQuoid, just as a movie and not necessarily as a video game movie.

It starts off promising enough like a samurai movie with a flashback where we watch Hiroyuki Sanada’s hero sees his wife and son be killed by Joe Taslim’s character that will later become Sub-Zero. The general principle seems to be that there’s a world where people from other worlds fight each other to gain complete control. The hero is Lewis Tan’s MMA fighter Cole Young, presumably a popular character from the game? He is also soon attacked by Sub-Zero presumably because he’s marked with a dragon tattoo that deems him a champion of these fights, but he needs to find someone named Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to help him get to the “Mortal Kombat.” At the same time, he meets the movie’s most entertaining character, Kane,

played by Australian actor Josh Lawson, mainly because he swears constantly and cracks wise -- he’s a bit like Wolverine, actually, and he’s actually the best part of the movie.

Otherwise, everyone and everything is always so deadly serious that everyone else we meet just doesn’t have much impact, because frankly, none of these names or characters mean jack shit to me. Sure, some of them sound vaguely familiar but I was more interested in the great Asian actors who turn up including Tadanobu Asano’s Lord Raiden, who is gonna claim Earth if its champions lose at Mortal Kombat. And Sub-Zero basically just shows up and tries to kill everyone.

As with far too many action movies, the action itself is great, the writing and acting not so much.

As it goes along, things become more epic and fantasy-driven but that also makes the dialogue seem even worse. Similarly, the fight choreography is pretty great, but the movie still leans way too heavily on visual FX to keep it more interesting for anyone not too interested in MMA… like myself. When all else fails, they can show off Sub-Zero’s cool ice powers every chance possible as well as the other’s powers, but some of them (like Lord Raiden) just made me think of this as a rip-off of the great Big Trouble in Little China.

The thing is I’m not a fan of the video game nor of MMA, so Mortal Kombat really doesn’t have much to offer me. The whole thing just seems very silly, just like almost everything from the ‘90s. (How’s THAT for a bad take?)

That said, I thought the final battle was great, and I enjoyed some of the gorier aspects of the fights, too, and it all leads to my favorite part, which is the three-way fight between Cole, Sub-Zero, and… actually I’m not sure if it’s a spoiler or not, but it’s a pretty cool fight that almost makes up for some of the dumber characters introduced earlier on. (LIke that guy with four arms. I know he’s a character in the games, but I didn’t even care enough to look up his name.)

It’s perfectly fine that they decided to go Rated R with the movie since most of the nostalgia for this movie and franchise will be towards older guys, but at times, the CG blood is so hinky it feels like the decision to go R-rated was made well after it was filmed.

Even though I went in with the lowest of expectations, I still found most of Mortal Kombat kinda trite and boring, maybe something I’d appreciate more as a teenager but not so much as a grown adult. But what do you expect for a movie based on a video game that’s just a bunch of “cool fights”?

Rating: 5.5/10

And yet, Demon Slayer could be the surprise breakout of the weekend, considering the theatrical success FUNimation has had with theatrical releases of the My Hero Academia movies into theaters in 2018 and 2020, and the hugely successful Dragon Ball Super: Brolly, which grossed $31 million domestically after a surprise $20.2 million in its first five days in roughly 1,200 movies. In fact, it made $7 million its opening Wednesday in January 2019, and FUNimation is hoping that Demon Slayer will have a similar success by opening it for a single day (Thursday) in IMAX theaters before Mortal Kombat takes over on Friday.

Demon Slayer has already grossed $383.7 million internationally compared to Mortal Kombat’s $10.7 million, and you cannot ignore the huge popularity that anime has seen over the past few decades. In fact, a bunch of screenings for Demon Slayer in NYC have already sold out, although you have to bear in mind that these are 25% capacity theaters. Even so, I still think this can make $4 to 5 million on Thursday and another $7 to 8 million over the weekend, depending on the number of theaters. Yes, it will be quite frontloaded, and I’m not sure what the cap is on theaters and how that will affect how it does over the weekend, but expect a big Thursday and a more moderate weekend but one that might give both Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs. Kong a run for the top of the box office.

Also hitting theaters before streaming on Netflix (on April 30) is THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, the new animated movie produced by Chris Miller and Philip Lord, following their Oscar win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s a little weird to open a new animated movies, presumably in select theaters, when such a hugely anticipated animated movie like Demon Slayer is opening, but Netflix won’t

The movie itself is directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, and it involves a family named the Mitchells, whose eldest daughter Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) is leaving home for college, so her father (voiced by Danny McBride) decides that he’s going to drive her there and use it as the chance for a cross-country family trip. Meanwhile, it’s set up how the world becomes overrun with robots when a tech giant creates a new personal assistant.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this even though I’m generally a fan of all of Lord/Miller’s animated movies including both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. It took me a little time to get into the family and the general premise. In some ways it reminded me of Edgar Wright’s The World’s End where it’s trying to merge these two disparate genres, but when they actually merge, it just doesn’t work as well as it may have seemed on paper. That worry is soon expunged, because Rianda finds ways to integrate the two ideas over time.

On the trip, the Mitchells run into their perfect family neighbors, the Poseys -- voiced by Krissy Teigen, John Legend and Charlyne Yi -- and you’d think they might be a bigger part of the movie then they actually are. I’m not sure I would have liked doing the family-vs.-family thing so soon after last year’s Croods movie, but I did love the dynamics of the Mitchells being a very relatable imperfect family with Danny McBride being particularly great voicing the family patriarch. It even has a really touching Pixar’s Up moment of Katie’s father watching old home movies of them together when she was younger.

In general, the filmmakers have assembled a pretty amazing voice cast that includes Conan O’Brien, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett. Actually the weirdest voice choice is Katie’s younger brother Aaron, voiced by Rianda himself, and it sounds like a strange older man trying to be a kid, so it doesn’t work as well as others.

What I genuinely liked about Mitchells vs. the Machines is that it doesn’t go out of its way to talk down to overly sensitive kiddies or skimp on the action while also including elements that parents will enjoy as well, and to me, that’s the ideal of a family film.

While some might feel that The Mitchells vs. the Machines is fairly standard animated fare, it ends up being a fun cross between National Lampoon’s Vacation (cleaned up for the kiddies) with Will Smith’s I, Robot, actually, and yet, it somehow does work. It’s a shame that it’s really not getting a theatrical release except to be awards-eligible.

Next, we have two really great movies I saw at Sundance this year and really enjoyed immensely…

So as I mentioned, I first saw Nikole Beckwith’s TOGETHER TOGETHER (Bleecker Street), starring Ed Helms and Patti Harrison, at Sundance, and it was one of my favorite movies there with Helms playing a middle-aged single guy named Matt, who hires the much-younger Anna (Harrison) to be his surrogate, because he wants a baby. It’s a tough relationship thrown together due to each of their respective necessities.

Part of what drives the movie is how different Matt and Anna are, him being quite inappropriate with his suggestions and requests but not really having a working knowledge of female anatomy, pregnancy, delivery etc, but being really eager to raise a child and having the money that Anna clearly does not.

While I was familiar with Helms from The Office, The Hangover, etc. I really didn’t know Patti Harrison at all. Apparently, she’s a stand-up comic who hasn’t done a ton of acting, comedic or otherwise. That’s pretty amazing when you watch this movie and see her dry sardonic wit playing well against Helms’ generally lovable doofus. What I also didn’t realize and frankly, I don’t really see this as something even worth mentioning, is that she’s a trans woman playing a clearly CIS part, and she kills it. I certainly wouldn’t have known nor did it really affect my enjoyment of the movie, yet it still seems like such a brave statement on the part of the director and Harrison herself. The thing is that Harrison isn't just a terrific actress in her own right, but she brings out aspects of Helms that I never thought I would ever possibly see. (If it isn't obvious, I'm not the biggest fan of Helms.)

The movie has a great sense of humor, as it gets the most out of this awkward duo and then throws so many great supporting actors into the cast around them that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy the laughs. There’s the testy Sonogram tech, played by Sufe Bradshaw from Veep, who tries to maintain her composure and bite her tongue, but you can tell she’s having none of it. Others who show up, including Tig Notero, Norah Dunn and Fred Melamed. Just when you least expect it, Anna Conkle from Pen15, shows up as one of those delivery gurus that make the two of them feel even more awkward.

What’s nice is that this never turns into the typical meet cute rom-com that some might be expecting, as Beckwith’s film is more about friendship and companionship and being there for another, and the lack of that romantic spark even as chemistry develops between them is what makes this film so enjoyably unique. Beckwith’s sense of humor combined with her dynamic duo stars makes Together Together the best comedy about pregnancy probably since Knocked Up.

Another great Sundance movie and actually one of my two favorite recent documentaries AND one of the best movies I’ve seen this year is… you know what? I haven’t done this for a while so this is this week’s “CHOSEN ONE”!! (Fanfare)

(Photo courtesy: Robert Fuhring/Courtesy Sesame Workshop)

Marilyn (Mad Hot Ballroom) Agrilo’s STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET (Screen Media/HBO Documentaries) is a fantastic doc about the long-running and popular PBS kids show that’s every bit as good as Morgan Neville’s Mr. Rogers doc, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Which was robbed of an Oscar nomination a few years back.

Let me make something clear on the day I’m writing this, April 21, 2021, that this is my favorite movie of the year, the only one I’ve already given a 10/10, and the end of the year might come around, and I have a feeling it will still be my #1.

You see, I was raised a Sesame Street kid. It’s not like I didn’t read or play outside or not get the attention of my parents or family, but there was so much of my happy, young life that I could attribute to my time watching Sesame Street, and when you watch Marily Agrilo’s amazing doc, it all comes rushing back. There is stuff in this movie that I haven’t seen in maybe 50 years but that I clearly remember laughing at, and there’s stuff that got into the mind of a young Ed that influenced my love of humor and music and just outright insanity. Sure, I loved The Muppet Show, too, but it was a different experience, so to watch a movie about the show with all sorts of stuff I had never seen or knew, that’s what makes Street Gang such a brilliant documentary, and easily one of the best we’ll see this year. Of that I have no doubt.

From the very origins of the show with Joan Cooney developing a show that will be entertaining and educational to the kids being plopped down in front of the TV in the ‘60s and ‘70s, so they can learn something, it’s just 1:46 of straight-up wonderment.

Besides getting to see a lot of the beloved actors/characters from the show and many of the surviving players like Carol Spinney aka Big Bird/Oscar, you can see how this show tried to create something that wasn’t just constantly advertising to young minds.

More than anything, the show is a love letter to the bromance between Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and you get to see so many of their bits and outtakes that make their Muppets like Burt and Ernie and Grover and, of course, Kermit, so beloved by kids that even cynical adults like myself would revert childhood just thinking about them. Then on top of that there’s the wonderful music and songs of Christopher Cerf and Joe Raposo and others, songs that would permeate the mainstream populace and be remembered for decades.

The movie is just a tribute to the joy of childhood and learning to love and sing and dance and just have fun and not worry about the world. I’m not sure if kids these days have anything like that.

It also gets quite sad, and I’m not embarrassed to say that in the sequence that covers the death of Mr. Hooper, I was outright bawling, and a few minutes later, when Jim Henson dies in 1990, I completely lost it. That’s how much this show meant to me and to so many people over the decades, and Brava to Ms. Agrilo for creating just the perfect document to everything that Sesame Street brought to so many people’s lives. This is easily the best documentary this year, and woe be to any Academy that doesn’t remember it at year’s end.

The other fantastic doc out this week, though I actually got to see it last year, is Lisa Rovner’s SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS (Metrograph Pictures), which will play at the Metrograph, both on demand and part of its Digital Live Screenings (available to join for just $5 a month!). This is an endlessly fascinating doc that looks at the women of electronic music and the early days of synthesizers and synthesis and some of the female pioneers. It’s narrated by Laurie Anderson, which couldn’t be the more perfect combination.

The movie covers the likes of Suzanne Cianni; Forbidden Planet composers Louis and Bebe Barron, who created the first all-electronic score for that movie; the amazing Wendy Carlos, who electronically scored one of my favorite movies of all time, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange; Delia Derbyshire, who was also the subject of Caroline Catz’s short, Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes, which tragically, I missed when it premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March. Derbyshire was also famous for creating the iconic theme to “Doctor Who” while working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the '60s. Others who appear in the movie, either via archival footage or more recent interviews are Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Spiegel, who I was less familiar with.

The point is that as someone who was a fantastic for electronic music and synthesizers from a very early age and for someone who feels he’s very familiar with all angles of music, I learned a lot from watching Rovner’s film, and I enjoyed it just as much a second time, because the footage assembled proves what amazing work these women were doing and rarely if ever getting the credit for what they brought to electronic music, something that still resonates with the kids today who love things like EDM.

An endlessly fascinating film with so much great music and footage, Sisters with Transistors can be watched exclusively through the Metrograph’s Live Screening series, so don’t miss it!

Hitting Shudder this week is Chris Baugh’s BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL (Shudder), which I didn’t get a chance to watch before writing this week’s column, but Shudder in general has been knocking it out of the park with the amazing horror movies it’s been releasing on a weekly basis. This one involves a quarelling father and son on a road who must survive the night when they awaken an ancient Irish vampire.

Also hitting theaters and streamers and digital this week:

THE MARIJUANA CONSPIRACY (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

MY WONDERFUL WANDA (Zeitgeist Films)

WET SEASON (Strand Releasing)

CRESTONE (Utopia)

VANQUISH (Lionsgate)

BLOODTHIRSTY (Brainstorm)

SASQUATCH (Hulu)

SHADOW AND BONE (Netflix)

And that wraps up this week. Next week? No idea… I know there’s stuff coming out but I probably won’t think about it until after THE OSCARS!!!! On Sunday.

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

Gravity Falls S02E13 - Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons

This has to be a reference to Dungeons and Dragons, right? The only things I want are more Stanford, mysteries and family drama. Please the game be a vehicle for that, I beg you. I guess... let's do this?

Wow, the shack looks worse than ever.

I expect it from the kids, but you too, Stan? THOSE WORDS ARE CURSED.

And there you go.

I kinda want to watch a show about Stanford's adventures now.

He looks _so_ proud. He's still that nerdy kid from New Jersey. Just a lot more rugged.

I had to rewind this because he actually said Great Uncle Ford. I was going to comment about how wrong Grunkle Ford sounded.

There's an obvious joke to make here but I won't be the one to make it. Imagine it yourself. Feel it dirtying up your brain. It's all you, dear reader, it's all you.

That's my point! Let Stanford be free and Keep Gravity Falls Weird™️

Just another reminder that everything good ends.

Is Stanford ever going to be part of the crew? At least enough to be in this picture?

...how long is summer break in the US?

EDIT: Two to three months. A _lot_ has happened in very few weeks, huh.

Such a simple joke and it still made me laugh out loud.

That's exactly how they look.

Aren't the twins' parents going to freak out when they find out the Stan they have known for the last 30 years was actually the one they probably grieved for when Stan faked his death?

AO3 in a picture.

Sometimes I feel Gravity Falls was a vehicle for the writer to make fun of things that were popular in his youth but not so much when the show was airing.

I don't want to distract from Blubs's awesome costume but why is the other cop a castle?

Sorry, I meant fortress.

You know _who_ would like that game? STANFORD.

YOU'RE A FCLORPER! YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK

I can't decide if the intended irony is too much or just the right amount.

A glimpse of GF's darkest timeline.

...the goat has a name. Have they mentioned it before? It's a _great_ name

Neeeeeeeeeeeerd. I can't believe they are all going to die because they are going to be too busy playing D & D & D instead of catching that Cycloptopus.

He wants Stanford's approval so much.

It's really cute that Dipper finally has someone who's on the same wavelength as him. Hopefully it'll also work as a warning of what can happen if he gets too deep into his own thing.

Somewhat unrelated but... didn't Stanford spend 30 years in a hellish weird dimension? He seems extremely well adjusted.

Wow, those dices are the ugliest CG I have seen in this show.

The 90s, everyone.

We are seven episodes from the finale. I. NEED. ANSWERS.

So... he has travelled across many dimensions. In that case, why did he wait until Stan opened the portal to come back to Earth?

If this was released this year I'd have thought this episode was parodying the GoT finale.

Hey. hey. hey. Watch your mouth

Oh no, mom and dad are fighting again.

This is so incredibly dumb. I love it.

Welp, with that problem solved now they can watch TV in peace.

Grenda gets me.

Grenda just jumped a lot of places in my favorite character list

Oh my god.

Yup. Grenda is officially the best.

I'm running out of adjectives to describe how great this is.

Magic words for Stan.

He waited until the dice stopped before saying what he wanted. Cheater.

Isn't that just a horse?

Oh no. No no no. It's so much worse than what I had imagined.

...how does Stanford know about the banned monster if it only appeared in the 1991-1992 edition?

You know what? You deserve it, Grenda.

That's very on the nose.

Oh no, this is 100% going to cause problems between Dipper and Mabel (only to solved by talking, unlike the original twins who never did)

FUN AND GAMES ARE GREAT DISTRACTIONS

BUT SMALL THINGS CAN HAVE CHAIN REACTIONS

Uuh, foreshadowing~

---

This was the silliest/most absurd Gravity Falls episode so far. And it was exactly what I needed after so many episodes of plot. I laughed _a lot_.

There's not a lot I can talk about but I did enjoy how they made it very clear that the parallel between Dipper and Stanford is not meant to be subtle. They are very similar in personality, just like Mabel and Stan are.

All the episodes about learning how to talk about what they want and their problems and understanding where the other is coming from would make a lot of sense if it was all to set up a situation in the future where they solve a problem by communicating instead of having everything fall apart between them because they failed to listen to each other (like the older twins.)

I'm really intrigued about where this is going so, until next time!

[jayfromriverside-blog]

Comics I read this week (8/26 - 8/30)

Hey anyone and... anyone I guess. For all those looking to get into comics or who are already comics readers but don’t know which books are good, here’s an opinion on just that! 

Give it a read, let me know what you think, light some pitchforks, whatever you like:

Justice League #30

I was conflicted reading this week’s issue of Justice League: while I’m really liking the direction that Scott Snyder is taking the story, I’m really getting sick of Jorge Jimenez’s art on the series. 

While Jimenez was a breath of fresh air on the “Superman: Rebirth” series with his CG texturized drawing and smooth surfaces, his ultra-stylized and cartoony figures are starting to look more plastic and stretchy as this series goes on. He’s got a bad habit of smoothing over his character’s proportions, which make these heroes that are supposed to be cut and strong look flat and almost doughy. It’s starting to grind on me more as each new issue comes out, and maybe it’s time for an artistic switch-up on this title.

In terms of the story though, this was a good set-up issue for the Justice/Doom war that Snyder and co. have been building up to on this run. We’ve got all the pieces in place: a gathering of forces by both sides; a romp through time which sees the League meeting with both Kamandi and the classic JSA; and everything going awry right from the get-go! 

The only thing I’m slightly concerned about storywise is that Catwoman was in the Doom lineup, and with the rekindling of Bat-Cat in the latest Batman issues, I’m hoping this isn’t a portend for another breakup in King’s run. My heart couldn’t take another.

Superman #14

Let me be clear on one thing before I start in: I’m a fan of Brian Michael Bendis. His work on “Ultimate Spider-Man,” “Daredevil,” and “Alias” are some of my favorite comics, and his more recent work with “Naomi,” and “Event Leviathan” has been really good. With all that being said... man, this Superman comic has sucked hard since he took over.

Let’s just start at the story: 

It’s felt like Bendis has been really looking forward to getting started on his upcoming run with the new “Legion of Superheros,” which is something to potentially get excited about for the near future. What’s not exciting at all is the realization that this whole Rogol Zar arc has been a poorly thought out lead-in to the Legion’s return. SPOILER WARNING FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO READ THIS GARBAGE FIRE: the Legion show up at the end of the issue to invite Jon to join, as a commemoration of the day the United Planets was formed. This is fine, and could be an exciting new direction for Jon that harkens back to the classic comics. BUT did we really have to suffer through weeks of nonsensical story just to get this? 

Just to recap this arc: Rogol Zar appears out of nowhere, looking like Lobo, Doomsday and a garbage disposal with a bland imagination all had an orgy and he was the deformed kid that came out of it. This beefed-up piece of blandness comes out of the sky to fuck up Superman cause he heard there were some Kryptonians still alive in the Universe and apparently he’s a space-racist. 

Superman struggles against this remnant from the 90s while the worlds shittiest not-dead Grandpa, Jor El, is off in space traumatizing Jon and stressing him out so much he ages up to a teenager. 

But it’s ok guys! Jor El knows who Rogol Zar is, they have a connection of sorts! And Rogol Zar caused the destruction of Krypton! But now he’s allied with Jax Ur, and also now Zod maybe? And the Thanagarians are involved? So are the Guardians? Wait, now Rogol Zar is also effected by Kryptonite because he’s a Kryptonian? And now he’s just captured like that, but Thanagar’s under attack, oh wait just kidding it’s not? 

Those last 2 plot points literally happened in 3 pages this issue, right after each other. So this story is confusing and non-sensical and ultimately doesn’t mean anything, because the whole point turned out to be that Bendis needed something, some plot device to make it so Superman could say “we can’t have secrets like this tearing apart worlds like Krypton, we need a United Planets.”

None of this crap story is helped by Ivan Reis’ art, which I know some people love, but to me it looks like everything bad with the 90s except with better backgrounds and textures. But even if I didn’t hate his art, his page and panel composition is often confusing, especially during fight sequences, which doesn’t help when the story is confusing to begin with.

After reading this week’s issue, I want nothing more than to die in the garbage fire Bendis has lit and take this whole comic with me. 

The Terrifics #19

Shouts out to DC for finally figuring out how to write a Fantastic 4 comic, maybe they can show Dan Slott how it’s done. But seriously, “The Terrifics” has been the exact kind of science-adventure story that needs to be around in comics, as the landscape needs it’s fare share of science-criminals and heroes to balance things out.

First thing to note for this week, the art is great. Max Raynor (first time I’ve seen their work) has a great kind of cartoony playfulness to his characters and line-work, while at the same time keeping the models tight and well detailed. 

I’m glad that the writers of the story realized that the Terrifics function best when they’re dealing with light-hearted cross-dimensional adventures, and this new one seems like it’ll be great from the start. In keeping with the “Year of the Villain,” Lex Luthor has made an offer to Bizarro (the one for the HTREA, not the one from the Outlaws), giving him a time-machine device to reek some havoc with. 

I don’t want to spoil the issue too much, as if you haven’t read the Terrifics you really should give it a go, but let’s just say that it involves Bizarro at one point destroying Algebra, and a Bizarro Terrifics team known as “The Terribles” breaking through to the main DC dimension to challenge their Terrific rivals.

If you’re looking for something fun, cheesy, but heartwarming and action packed, definitely give the Terrifics a try.

The Flash #77

Look, I’m still not digging this whole “Force War,” or “War of the Forces,” or whatever the Flash team is trying to build up with these new force users. It felt like the DC Creative team was trying to retcon Flash to be more mythical with “Flash: Year One,” pitting the Flash against the Turtle and creating this whole mythology around the Forces of the Universe to make it seem like this clash was inevitable. 

But what this has done for me is just make the Flash feel smaller and less special. These forces and the grander narrative behind them have just diminished the Speed force, which was still shrouded in some mystery after all these years in the DC Universe, to just one force, just A force. 

There are two silver linings from this week’s issue, one more bittersweet than the other. First off, the art has gotten ten times better than it’s been in weeks. Rafa Sandoval’s pencils are crisp and clean, and though his action feels static sometimes, he’s miles better than what we’ve been seeing for a few months now.

Second, though this Force War already feels like a dud, a cool concept was introduced in a throwaway line. Flash fans, feel free to crucify me, but with the Black Flash’s appearance this week, Commander Cold talked about how he was acting like an anti-body for the Speed Force in trying to eliminate these new force users. If that’s true, it makes the Speed Force almost like a living creature that feel’s like it is under attack. But this also makes me think that, wouldn’t it have been cooler if you had the same motivation for the appearance of the Black Flash, but instead of the Force users, it was Speedsters it was targeting? 

What if all of the new Speedsters were putting a strain on the Speed Force, hurting it in some way that awoke the Black Flash? It’d still give Barry a reason to reconcile with Wallace and Avery, but would also replace this Force War with a Speed War? Spitballing here, but that sounds cooler to me.

Ice Cream Man #14

And now we break up the superheroes for something a little more horrific. For anyone who doesn’t know what “Ice Cream Man” is, the best way I can categorize it is a horror anthology series. 

The story, setting and characters change from week-to-week, except for one presence: the Ice Cream Man. Even when he’s not in whatever nightmare is being doled out that week, his fingers can be felt all over the story, and they dig into the fears you try to hide and pry them open.

The theme of this week’s story was communication, and maaaaaaaaan does this comic have a way of making you feel depressed and scared all at the same time. 

The two main characters are a husband and wife, the former who is deeply dissatisfied and finds escape in crosswords, the latter who is so starved for communication and intimacy that she makes problems out of nothing just to have something to talk with her husband about. 

I don’t want to spoil too much, as I think everyone should be reading this book, but things take a turn for the hellish when the husband goes out to buy more crosswords and finds himself trapped in one, while his wife finds out that her delusions may have been true, and worse than she thought. 

For long-time readers, the biggest thing from to take away from this issue is that perhaps the Ice Cream Man’s influence is spilling out into the world more and more, and things will only get worse from here. 

Spider-Man: Life Story #6

For any fans of Spider-Man, go out and buy this book. Doesn’t matter if you’re a new fan or a hardcore fan, this is a story for anyone who has any love for Spider-Man in any shape. This story isn’t perfect all the way through, but man is it an incredible ride.

For anyone who hasn’t heard of this comic, writer Chip Zdarsky took the gargantuan task of creating one long-form story out of the entire continuity of Spider-Man, from the 1962 till 2019, and showing how this life that we’ve seen Spider-Man live would actually play out in real-time. 

This comic took some of the best and worst arcs, from “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” the birth of Venom and “The Superior Spider-Man,” to “The Clone Saga” and the Inheritors (god those pseudo vampires were dumb), and not only makes them work within this different world that Zdarsky has made, but makes them work as a part of the larger narrative. 

While it’s not perfect all the way through, seeing the characters we know and love, especially Peter and MJ, live their lives with wrinkles and all feels like something special, and I encourage anyone who is curious to go out and cop this 6 issue series and join the ride.

Runaways #24

For all manga fans out there, I’m a huge fan of the “slice-of-life” genre. For any non-manga fans, slice-of-life stories are ones that celebrate the everyday little moments that make up most of our lives. Riding bikes with friends, going to the movies, starting a new hobby, or even just going to the store and deciding what to get for dinner, these are all the kind of topics that a slice-of-life narrative covers. With her run on “Runaways,” Rainbow Rowell has essentially made a superhero slice-of-life comic, and I’m really liking every moment of it. 

This week’s issue focuses almost entirely on Karolina and Nico spending a night out “superheroing.” Except it becomes apparent pretty early on that neither really knows what they’re doing, and whatever little problems they run into (fender bender on the 405, potentially lost children, etc.) are better left to themselves, as they either wouldn’t be able to help or would actually get in the way. It’s weird to say that watching superheroes be ineffective is really entertaining, but that’s exactly what I’m saying, and I think that is in large part to the good character writing that Rowell has done on her run, and the warm art of this series that helps you feel safe and cozy.

My favorite part of the issue is when Karolina and Nico stop for a bite to eat, and Karolina feels like she has to apologize for wasting Nico’s time. Nico just laughs it off and tells her that she was just looking to spend time with her partner, so in her eyes tonight’s mission was a success. It’s cute, it fits with the characters and how we’ve seen them grow over the run, and I like it a lot. 

That’s not to say there isn’t any action in this issue. By the time the story is done there’s a super-powered dance fight and a mysterious new superhero debuting on the scene. I’m excited to see where both of those threads go heading into the next issue.

Justice League Dark #14

Since the Rebirth of this team this has been one of the comics that I look forward to the most each new issue, and this is quickly becoming one of my favorite iterations of the team. While Batman’s gothic-detective aesthetic fit well with the team, he always felt too based in technology and the modern world to really embrace magic. On the other hand, Wonder Woman is a walking myth, a demi-god on earth, someone who is made of magic. Her role as the leader of this team alongside heavy hitters like Zatanna and Swamp Thing, along with smaller characters like Detective Chimp and Man-Bat, has felt natural and authentic.

Another great part of having Diana on the team rather than Batman is that her personality stands out. Whereas Batman and most of the magical characters in DC are generally tragic, Wonder Woman is a symbol of hope and optimism, someone who fights to see the best in people and bring that best version out of them. This works especially well with her band of misfits, who despite having much more experience than Wonder Woman in the world of magic, have far less experience in being part of a team, let alone in being “superheroes” in the traditional sense of the word. 

As for this issue, it’s a set-up chapter that ticks all the right boxes. We’ve essentially got the “Dark” Justice League Dark coming together, led by a newly powered up Circe, who are raring up to wage a Witching War against their good counterparts. While their final players are coming into the fold, the villains have already managed to plant a couple of seeds of doubt into the team which will certainly bloom into dissension. Can’t wait to see where this goes next.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #11

Tom Taylor gets Spider-Man. 

It’s a simple statement, but as we’ve seen over all of the years with Spidey, not a whole lot of writers have really understood what makes Spider-Man so spectacular, amazing, superior, etc. It’s a testament to how well Tom Taylor is writing Spider-Man in this series that he’s telling small scale stories without a whole lot of action, death-defying adventure or real conflict, and yet this is some of the best Spider-Man I’ve read in years. 

The opening pages set the tone for the story right away, with one of the simpler but most honest statements I’ve seen in a Spider-Man book:

“See, Captain America is Captain America. Thor is Thor. But Spider-Man...

Spider-Man is Peter Parker...

And Peter Parker is my responsibility.”

That’s the thesis statement for this story, detailing a day in the life of Mary-Jane Watson, the often under appreciated girlfriend of our titular web-head. 

The story from then on is pretty much in her hands, with occasional monologuing from a sleeping Peter, as Mary-Jane goes about what we can only assume is a pretty typical day in the life of the girlfriend of one of NYC’s premier heroes.

Small scale stories are essential in superhero comics in order to break up long events and arcs. They’re breathing room, time for the readers to catch their breath and assess the new status quo before things get wild again. But they’re also often the stories which show us the foundations of who these heroes really are. It’s been said that power doesn’t corrupt, it reveals, and when characters with as much power as Spider-Man aren’t up against the wall and forced to make a decision, the decisions they do make show us that much more about the person beneath the mask. 

Tom Taylor has managed to show us just who Spider-Man and the people in his life really are underneath their masks by lowering the stakes. The stories are small and simple, the consequences often equally so, but what’s been created is true to the characters more than almost any stories I’ve seen before, and it’s lovely. This is one of the best books being written right now, and if you’re not reading it yet, you need to go out and fix that right now.

Detective Comics #1010

It feels like there isn’t much to say about this week’s issue. We’ve still got the stranded billionares on the island, who are now clearly being held hostage by Deadshot. Meanwhile Bruce is rescued and patched up by two WWII fighter pilots who have been stranded on this island since the war, neither knowing which side won.

I’m a big fan of Deadshot when he leans into his nihilistic killer persona, and this “The Most Dangerous Game” setup with a tech-deprived Bruce and Deadshot duking it out on an island seems interesting. Tomasi has been generally pretty good with his run on Detective Comics, so I’m excited to see how long he runs with this arc of Bruce and Deadshot trying to outsmart each other in this deadly game of cat and mouse.

[anxiousdepressedintrovert]

Otome Friday

Antares Route

-Eggplant is a dumbass. 

-But you already knew that

-I hope the creature eats the eggplant. 

-Damn. Eggplant got away. 

-First aid for Antares.

-Yay! The eggplant got arrested. 

-Lmao “enjoy your title while you still have it”

-*ahem* GIVE CORVUS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS!!! He deserves more than this!!

-Oh fuck. CG nearly made me spit potatoes. (I was eating hash browns at the time of writing this.)

-Meeting with the higher ups went well. 

-Eggplant got demoted and 20 years.

-Final episode

-That went by really quickly

-Why. Why do we have to kiss him in front of the superiors? (Oh ADI no you don’t...No no, I’m going to.)

-I like drama. 

-So no drama. Just Antares showering Zella with compliments 

-Yay, we can get married.

-Oh dear. Zella wants to invite his family. His brother.

-Now he’s pouting like a child being forced to make up with his brother. 

-Oh wait. He is. 

-The Promise crew is precious. 

-Atlas! “Blink once if he’s holding you against your will”

-Omg. I think that’s the first smile I’ve seen from Atlas in this route. 

-Well fuck. The plant for the antidote is gone. 

-Say goodbye to the universe kids!!

Antonio Route

-Here’s hoping I actually like his route. 

-If it’s a betrayal route I’m out. Fuck that.

-So the premise is that he’s sponsoring Grace on a trip. And that’s he’s actually after Ziva. What?

-Here we go

-....University of Barcelona. I’m not jealous. (I am. Spain is beautiful)

-....Damn. Damn him for looking so hot in a fucking t-shirt

-So we’re trying to sell the house in this one

-Oh fuck no! who is this fucing creep!

-Lol they called him “will sleep when he’s dead”

-What the fuck is going on?!

-He gonna come back and bite you Ziva.

-Interesting interaction with Mac.

-Again. Why is Ziva/MC sleeping on the couch? Does that house only have 2 rooms? I doubt it. Considering her parents had a study in there.

-This is a long ass first chapter

-Antonio out here staking mfers

-Ew. Victor’s still in this one. Can we stake him now. Ya know, get it over with?

-Did we have to go the twilight route with the reveal? Really?

-”Why does he have to be so terrible yet so good looking?” That sums up Antonio’s character right there.

-They pulled a “damn bitch you live like this” 

-WTF is that interior?! Omg it’s so gaudy. 

-”He vants to suck your blood!” LOL I can’t take anything seriously

-Okay. We might be actually getting somewhere with the whole Ziva/MC is not what she seems angle

-You know, for a servant, Victor is awfully mouthy

-It’s cute that Ziva is worried about Mac getting roping into supernatural stuff. 

-UGH! What I hate about this route is that Victor’s in it. 

-Arguing with Victor about the decor is my new fav thing

-AHHHHHHHH I love this so much.

-Tired Buyer is up to some shit

-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ziva don’t be stupid!!

-OMG I can’t believe this is actually happening!

-Ziva you’re a dumb ass.

The Royal Romance

-Aw shit it’s back!!

-Gimme my King!

-I can’t resist the opportunity to throw shade. Especially at Neville

-Murderking is excited for the duel. Cause of course he is. 

-And they’re doing this with real swords?

-Okay...

-Yas Drake. Throwing all the shade. “I have respect for my betters. I just don’t consider you one of them”

-WHAT THE FUCK?!!

-Dude just got shot (in the arm) and now he’s getting stabbed! 

-We go from sword fighting to WWE. I love it

-Of course when the sword gets pointed at him, Neville shows how much of a coward he truly is. (And then he shaves his head and goes to word for Eros)

-Where’s your baby Savannah?

-Olivia I love you!

-It’s her Aunt. Like we already knew. 

-Though I was hoping for it to be like Drake’s mom or something. 

-Oh that last option is so tempting. So very tempting. 

-But I don’t need anymore enemies. Middle option it is. 

-Did we really need the purple goblet? I mean I love it but come on. 

-Olivia don’t be sad! 

-Stories about little Olivia. 

-I hope.

-Jesus. Yeah we get more background on murderking

-That’s right Olivia, Riley is here for you!!!

-Say it with me “Frrriiiieeeennnndddsssss”

-And we’re back to dealing with the baby drama

-At least it was free

-I’m just trying to stretch this chapter as far as it will go

-This back and forth is getting on my nerves

-Dude a 14 year old is better at dealing with their feelings than Bertrand 

-OMG!

-Ugh it’s finally over!!

-30 diamonds to spend time with Liam....ugh fine!!!

-Yeah, your favorite spot right after the hedge maze. 

-We got new underwear

-No old people staring while we sleep thank you

-Hey it’s Leo!

-Yes. One of the things Leo’s good for. Backstory.

-Liam though Bastian was a vampire. Cute

-Murderking wants to get sentimental. 

-I notice how Leo didn’t speak to Regina. Like...at all.

-That is a decked out necklace

-gimme

-someone decided to bomb the place. 

-I swear to god. 

-Also can PB treat injuries like they’re actual injuries? 

Blood Bound

-I’m getting tired of this book. Seriously tired of it. 

-I’m gonna try to finish it out but I may drop it after the first one. 

-I want to know what Kelsey/MC is.

-Cause we all know she ain’t human

-Here we go

-Yas Kamilah! Burn them!

-Bruh. Your system is worse than the American Legal system. And that’s fucked

-Nicole you shady bitch. 

-Is there anything Nicole didn’t have her hand in? 

-Lily quoting Missy Elliot is life!

-I’m not touching Nicole unless I have to...

-Nicole. You’re going above and beyond. Calm down. 

-Why did you bring Jax into this?! Leave him alone!

-OMG! 

-Ugh! I think I’d rather be sitting next to Lester than let the Baron touch me. Puke

-Baron backstory? No thank you...

-I need a full body picture of Kamilah in 1920s garb stat!

-Gaius. Why don’t you change your clothes?

-Omg. It’s just like the movie “Daybreaker” (great movie btw)

-Hold shit. Gaius wants(ed) to release a fucking plague 

-One more fragment. (the head)

-I never noticed the pile of bodies in the lower right corner of the tapestry

-Oh I so glad it was part of the plan

-How the hell did you hide those clunky ass goggles under your shirts?

-Why is Adrian half naked?

-I pulled the lever

-WHo’s the little boy?

-I love Kamilah so much!!! “Bashed his head in with a trophy” savage af

-Adrian and Jax sizing each other up. I ship it

-I FUCKING CALLED IT!!!! 

-I KNEW SHE WAS A SHADY HOE!! RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING OMG I FUCKING CALLED IT!!!!

-Shit. I’m gonna go play the lottery 

-This is why I don’t give side characters chances, They do shit like this!!!

Veil of Secrets

-”And then I ran into the masked man” and decided to have his babies

- -And the masked man is....Flynn

-Called it. So did 90% of the fandom

-”Everything ok?” Yeah I just need to calm my thirst.

-ex-con or not. 

-I didn’t ask for a flashback!

-Magelo

-OMG Kate was living out her favorite book!

-Oh ew it’s a nanny cam bear

-lockbox Password is Magelo

-How old are you Flynn!

-Kate suspected Tanner of cheating

-But what if I want to beat Tanner’s face in?

-Going on a yacht with Flynn

-FLYNN!!!

-Ugh Bryce again. (I REALLY hope that the chief of police is his daddy. They look too much alike for it to be otherwise)

-Ulysses is also the ship’s name

-HOLY FUCK!!!! TANNER’S DEAD!!!

-Omg. That was wow!

[orbemnews]

The global chip shortage has come for iPads and Macs What’s happening: Apple (AAPL) just had a massive quarter thanks to sales of new iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, with revenue nearly hitting $90 billion. Sales of iPhones reached nearly $48 billion, a 65% increase over the same quarter last year, as consumers continued shelling out the big bucks to upgrade to Apple’s first 5G smartphone lineup. But that wave of demand is now coming up against major supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic. In a call with analysts, Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said that the company expects revenue will be $3 billion to $4 billion lower this quarter thanks to “supply constraints.” That includes problems procuring chips, which are expected to affect the production of iPad and Macs. “We’ll have some challenges in there, and challenges in meeting the demand that we’ve got,” CEO Tim Cook said on the call. Apple shares are still up nearly 3% in premarket trading. Remember: Carmakers were among the first to sound the alarm about a shortage of microchips, which forced companies including General Motors (GM), Hyundai (HYMTF), Ford (F) and Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) to temporarily shut down plants. On Wednesday, Ford warned that the chip shortage will get worse before it gets better, and will likely cut 2021 profits by about $2.5 billion. Now, even top tech companies are dealing with the fallout. Samsung (SSNLF) told analysts on its earnings call Thursday that it’s working hard to rebalance production to reduce shortages of semiconductors and other key parts, which could weigh on sales of products like smartphones. Big picture: While the pain has spread from autos to consumer electronics, it won’t stop there. In a research note published last week, Goldman Sachs said that 169 US industries embed semiconductors in their products. The bank said its “working assumption” is that there will be a 20% average shortfall of computer chips for those affected. The problem isn’t going away anytime soon. “Because of the proprietary technologies, specialized machinery, and economics of scale needed to produce any given type of computer chip or component — and because many of the mature facilities are already operating near full capacity — the imbalance is likely to persist into the fall and possibly into 2022,” the bank’s analysts wrote. Investor insight: Wall Street is tracking how shortages could hurt corporate earnings, but it’s also trying to puzzle out what they mean for inflation, which is being closely monitored by central banks. A reduction in supply, as fewer cars and tablets are produced, could contribute to higher prices. Goldman Sachs thinks the price of affected products could rise by 0.7% to 3% this year, providing a “temporary” boost to inflation readings. Biden at 100 days: Hottest stock market since JFK The Biden bust that the Trump campaign warned of has morphed into a Biden boom, my CNN Business colleague Matt Egan reports. See here: The S&P 500 is up 8.6% since the market close on Jan. 20, the final day of the Trump presidency. That means President Joe Biden is on track for the strongest stock market performance during a new president’s first 100 days since John F. Kennedy in 1961, according to CFRA Research. The Biden rally squeaks past the 8.4% jump during the first 100 days of the Obama presidency and is well above the 5% increase in the months following former President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Friday will mark Biden’s 100th full day in office, not counting Inauguration Day. Presidents tend to get more credit — and more blame — than they deserve when it comes to the stock market’s performance. Still, the historic gains at the start of the Biden era add to a sense of optimism about America’s recovery from a once-in-a-century pandemic. “If the stock market is any indication, Wall Street appears to approve of President Biden’s attempts to corral the Covid-19 crisis and stimulate the economy,” Sam Stovall, CFRA’s chief investment strategist, told CNN Business. Remember: The US stock market recovered from the pandemic long before the election, boosted by unprecedented support from the Federal Reserve and Congress. Markets gathered momentum last fall as election chaos scenarios were avoided. Wall Street, like Main Street, cheered vaccine breakthrough announcements in November that helped fuel the Dow’s best month since January 1987. Stocks have continued to rally in 2021 as the rapid rollout of vaccines raises hopes for an economic boom. History suggests the stock market has a good chance of finishing the year in the green. Since 1932, only once did the S&P 500 end the year in the red after rising during the first 100 days of a presidential term, according to Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. But that will require investors to continue to shrug off concerns about the virus, inflation and higher taxes. In a speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Biden reiterated his intention to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for trillions of dollars in fresh spending on infrastructure and education. “It’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to pay their fair share,” he said. The Declaration of Independence is going public A copy of the Declaration of Independence will hit the sizzling collectibles market just in time for the Fourth of July — and unlike other rare items up for sale, you don’t have to be a millionaire to own a piece of it. Rally, a trading app for classic cars, baseball cards and other memorabilia, will next month offer 80,000 shares to the public of a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in July 1776. The item is one of just 20 copies from that period that are in private hands. It was previously displayed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Each share will cost just $25, making it a $2 million initial public offering. The IPO comes during a surge of interest in collectibles, with everything from art to sneakers to sports cards skyrocketing in value. A LeBron James rookie card sold for a record $5.2 million earlier this week. And the explosion of digital certificates for art and collectibles known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has been grabbing headlines. The rush has been triggered in part by central bank policy, which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated Wednesday was not changing any time soon. With interest rates at rock bottom, investors are looking for ever more creative places to park their cash. “People are trying to get protection from the debasement of their dollars,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “They want to be in things with limited supply and that have the perception of value in the eyes of many.” Up next Altria (MO), Carlyle Group (CG), Caterpillar (CAT), Comcast (CCZ), Domino’s Pizza (DMPZF), Hershey Foods (HSY), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Mastercard (MA), McDonald’s (MCD), Merck (MKGAF) and Molson Coors (TAP) report results before US markets open. Amazon (AMZN), Twitter (TWTR) and US Steel (X) follow after the close. Also today: The first look at US gross domestic product for the first three months of the year posts at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with initial unemployment claims for last week. Coming tomorrow: Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM) close out a big week of earnings from oil producers. Source link Orbem News #Chip #Global #investing #iPads #Macs #Premarketstocks:TheglobalchipshortagehascomeforiPadsandMacs-CNN #shortage

[dipulb3]

The global chip shortage has come for iPads and Macs

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/the-global-chip-shortage-has-come-for-ipads-and-macs/

The global chip shortage has come for iPads and Macs

What’s happening: Apple (AAPL) just had a massive quarter thanks to sales of new iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, with revenue nearly hitting $90 billion. Sales of iPhones reached nearly $48 billion, a 65% increase over the same quarter last year, as consumers continued shelling out the big bucks to upgrade to Apple’s first 5G smartphone lineup.

But that wave of demand is now coming up against major supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic. In a call with analysts, Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said that the company expects revenue will be $3 billion to $4 billion lower this quarter thanks to “supply constraints.”

That includes problems procuring chips, which are expected to affect the production of iPad and Macs.

“We’ll have some challenges in there, and challenges in meeting the demand that we’ve got,” CEO Tim Cook said on the call. Apple shares are still up nearly 3% in premarket trading.

Remember: Carmakers were among the first to sound the alarm about a shortage of microchips, which forced companies including General Motors (GM), Hyundai (HYMTF), Ford (F) and Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) to temporarily shut down plants.

On Wednesday, Ford warned that the chip shortage will get worse before it gets better, and will likely cut 2021 profits by about $2.5 billion.

Now, even top tech companies are dealing with the fallout.

Samsung (SSNLF) told analysts on its earnings call Thursday that it’s working hard to rebalance production to reduce shortages of semiconductors and other key parts, which could weigh on sales of products like smartphones.

Big picture: While the pain has spread from autos to consumer electronics, it won’t stop there. In a research note published last week, Goldman Sachs said that 169 US industries embed semiconductors in their products. The bank said its “working assumption” is that there will be a 20% average shortfall of computer chips for those affected.

The problem isn’t going away anytime soon.

“Because of the proprietary technologies, specialized machinery, and economics of scale needed to produce any given type of computer chip or component — and because many of the mature facilities are already operating near full capacity — the imbalance is likely to persist into the fall and possibly into 2022,” the bank’s analysts wrote.

Investor insight: Wall Street is tracking how shortages could hurt corporate earnings, but it’s also trying to puzzle out what they mean for inflation, which is being closely monitored by central banks. A reduction in supply, as fewer cars and tablets are produced, could contribute to higher prices.

Goldman Sachs thinks the price of affected products could rise by 0.7% to 3% this year, providing a “temporary” boost to inflation readings.

Biden at 100 days: Hottest stock market since JFK

The Biden bust that the Trump campaign warned of has morphed into a Biden boom, my Appradab Business colleague Matt Egan reports.

See here: The S&P 500 is up 8.6% since the market close on Jan. 20, the final day of the Trump presidency. That means President Joe Biden is on track for the strongest stock market performance during a new president’s first 100 days since John F. Kennedy in 1961, according to CFRA Research.

The Biden rally squeaks past the 8.4% jump during the first 100 days of the Obama presidency and is well above the 5% increase in the months following former President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Friday will mark Biden’s 100th full day in office, not counting Inauguration Day.

Presidents tend to get more credit — and more blame — than they deserve when it comes to the stock market’s performance. Still, the historic gains at the start of the Biden era add to a sense of optimism about America’s recovery from a once-in-a-century pandemic.

“If the stock market is any indication, Wall Street appears to approve of President Biden’s attempts to corral the Covid-19 crisis and stimulate the economy,” Sam Stovall, CFRA’s chief investment strategist, told Appradab Business.

Remember: The US stock market recovered from the pandemic long before the election, boosted by unprecedented support from the Federal Reserve and Congress. Markets gathered momentum last fall as election chaos scenarios were avoided. Wall Street, like Main Street, cheered vaccine breakthrough announcements in November that helped fuel the Dow’s best month since January 1987.

Stocks have continued to rally in 2021 as the rapid rollout of vaccines raises hopes for an economic boom.

History suggests the stock market has a good chance of finishing the year in the green. Since 1932, only once did the S&P 500 end the year in the red after rising during the first 100 days of a presidential term, according to Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

But that will require investors to continue to shrug off concerns about the virus, inflation and higher taxes. In a speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Biden reiterated his intention to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for trillions of dollars in fresh spending on infrastructure and education.

“It’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to pay their fair share,” he said.

The Declaration of Independence is going public

A copy of the Declaration of Independence will hit the sizzling collectibles market just in time for the Fourth of July — and unlike other rare items up for sale, you don’t have to be a millionaire to own a piece of it.

Rally, a trading app for classic cars, baseball cards and other memorabilia, will next month offer 80,000 shares to the public of a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in July 1776.

The item is one of just 20 copies from that period that are in private hands. It was previously displayed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Each share will cost just $25, making it a $2 million initial public offering.

The IPO comes during a surge of interest in collectibles, with everything from art to sneakers to sports cards skyrocketing in value. A LeBron James rookie card sold for a record $5.2 million earlier this week. And the explosion of digital certificates for art and collectibles known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has been grabbing headlines.

The rush has been triggered in part by central bank policy, which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated Wednesday was not changing any time soon. With interest rates at rock bottom, investors are looking for ever more creative places to park their cash.

“People are trying to get protection from the debasement of their dollars,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “They want to be in things with limited supply and that have the perception of value in the eyes of many.”

Up next

Altria (MO), Carlyle Group (CG), Caterpillar (CAT), Comcast (CCZ), Domino’s Pizza (DMPZF), Hershey Foods (HSY), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Mastercard (MA), McDonald’s (MCD), Merck (MKGAF) and Molson Coors (TAP) report results before US markets open. Amazon (AMZN), Twitter (TWTR) and US Steel (X) follow after the close.

Also today: The first look at US gross domestic product for the first three months of the year posts at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with initial unemployment claims for last week.

Coming tomorrow: Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM) close out a big week of earnings from oil producers.

[thelowartgloominati-blog1]

Hey I’m about to whine about how I’m a stupid 2D animation fanboy, you can probobly just... not read this, your life will be unchanged.

Okay, so for those of you who did not heed the warning; if you follow my stupid blog you already know I’m a vintage Disney nerd. I grew up in the 90′s and early 2000′s, I had all those big clam-shell VHS tapes of all the vintage and, at the time, contemporary Disney films, when my family got a DVD player one of the first things we did was get a few collections of 30s-40s MIckey Mouse Cartoons because I used to love those as well (still do), and wore out the few tapes I had. It also stands to reason that I’m a gigantic Disney World/Land fanatic as well, I’ve read whole books on how to maximize any given visit to either park, I know an embarrassing amount about the parks’ history, and I consider The Haunted Mansion essentially my favorite thing that exists in this and presumably any parallel universes.

All of that said, my infatuation with all the Disney properties is rooted in my fundamental love of 2D animation, and that’s where the crux of this wall of text comes in; of all the releases Disney has laid out for the next two fiscal years (and in this case I include all divisions of the Disney corporation, so Lucas Films, Marvel studios, Jim Henson’s studios, all of that jazz), there’s no 2D among them. Alot of you are probobly thinking “Well DUH, Indigo, Disney said several years ago that they weren’t interested in 2D anymore for the foreseeable future, this isn’t news,” and you’re right, this isn’t news. The focus of the company has been, for some time on their 3D animation studios (which, just so we’re clear, have produced some quality films; Tangled, Wreck It Ralph, Frozen, etc.), a series of live action/CGI remakes of many of their older, more well known films (with mixed results thus-far, in my opinion), and a continuation of the Star Wars/ Marvel licensing gravy train that I have no real opinion about (I like Star Wars fine, I respect the original films for how influential they were to film history, I just don’t consider myself a big time fan like some people are; and I don’t care for superhero films conceptually so... yeah). 

Anyway, a lot of people seem to like this stuff, even removing the licensing stuff and just focusing on the in-house Disney productions they’ve announced, this new Lion King remake trailer that they put out yesterday went super viral, even though, if I’m gonna be blunt, there is literally no reason for it to exist. Infact, just for the hell of it, lets break down all the in-house Disney releases slated for Q4 2018 to 2019, shall we? So we’ve got the aforementioned Lion King, Live action/CG remakes of Aladdin and Dumbo in 2019, Mary Poppins Returns later this year, Ralph Breaks the Internet, which is just coming out at time of writing, and Toy Story 4, also next year. Okay, so of all of those the only one that I would say NEEDS to exist is Ralph 2, the first movie was very good, the sequel looks like a lot of fun, plus that series is the exception that I would say DOES need to be in 3D, as the whole video game character angle wouldn’t really fly in 2D, so that gets a pass. Mary Poppins Returns might also get a pass, as while I’d say the original film stands fine on it’s own, it could be interesting to see how some of P.L. Travers’ other Mary Poppins books (there were actually several she wrote) could translate to film, and it’s been over 50 years, so I’d say that’s a suitable amount of time to where the narrative of “X character is gone for a long time, comes back to see how things have changed” makes a reasonable degree of sense, it could work, I reserve judgement until I see it. Toy Story 4... Nah. I Don’t really see why this needs to exist, I didn’t even think Toy Story 3 NEEDED to exist until I saw it, and the ending to that film was, simply put, perfect. There is absolutely no need to continue that story, it’s perfect. Will it be good? Maybe, I was surprised before, I could be again, but I’m skeptical on that one.  As for the remakes, I don’t think ANY of them need to happen. Lion King doesn’t make any sense, as the 2D visuals simply look better to me then the CG they seem to be going with, all the problems I had with the Jungle Book remake would seem to apply here. Aladdin is just a bad idea, because no matter how good the person they get to play Genie is, you can NEVER completely divorce the role from Robin Williams, as he made that character so intrinsically his own. Anyone else playing him will either have to play him completely different and essentially become a different character, or else come off as doing a Robin Williams impression. If they really thought they could put an original or creative spin on the story, they should have put this one on ice until later down the line, that said, I don’t think there is a creative spin to be done on it that hasn’t already been done. As for Dumbo, I really don’t understand what they intend to accomplish, there’s not a whole lot to do with that story that the original didn’t do, and again, THE CGI LOOKS WORSE THEN THE ORIGINAL 2D CELL ANIMATION FROM 1941. 

See I’m a firm believer in the concept of: if you can’t remake it BETTER or bring an original take on the source material, then why remake it AT ALL? This is, by the way, why I really liked Maleficent, from 2014, which you’d think would be a no-no for me, as it was a live action/CG remake of a classic era 2D Disney film, but the reason I liked it was because it brought a very original spin to the source material, the idea of re-framing that story to more or less turn the “hero” and “villain” dichotomy on it’s head, and make you side completely with a character whom in the source material was a textbook example of an “evil because evil” character archetype. Also, that film had a very good reason to be live action, as the whole “everything you know is a lie” narrative gelled well with the contrast of the original vs. the remake, it’s as if the 2D original is some sort of historical account of what happened, but this film is what really happened, in that context I think it worked. I loved that movie, and if the rest of these remakes ended up doing similar things I’d be on-board with them too, but after seeing Jungle Book, and seeing Beauty and the Beast, I really don’t think that’s the angle they’re going for with these, I think it’s a case of “shine up older properties we haven't done anything with in a while, put them back into theatres, get paid, repeat.”

I also would argue that my fondness for 2D is not just nostalgic, but functional in a sense of future proofing these films. Can you say, without Googling, what year Disney’s original Alice in Wonderland came out based on how the movie looks? If you said 1951 you’d be right, but I doubt you’d know that that movie was over 67 years old by the way lit looks, because that’s the magic of 2D animation, and particularly cell animation. TIMELESS is the look that style of animation gives, it still looks colourful, and fluid, and smooth, even over half a century later. It has not aged a day, because the style in which it was made is age-proof. Compare that to the Tim Burton version from 2010, even only EIGHT YEARS after it came out, the CGI already looks dated, the effects were cutting edge at the time, but are quickly showing their age. I’m not saying Alice 2010 is necessarily a BAD movie, although I don’t particularly care for it, but it’s simply a fact that it has visually aged more in 8 years then the original did in 67. 

I know at this point that I sound like a crotchety old man yelling from his porch, and I don’t want to take away anyone’s enjoyment of any of these new films, and if they all turn out to be good, than that’s great! But I just wanted to express WHY, I dislike the direction Disney has gone with their in-house productions, and why I think 2D needs to given another shot, if for no other reason then to shut up nerds like me.

Then we can focus on the real enemy: STAR WARS BRANDING IN DISNEY LAND! (get that “edge of the galaxy” crap out of here!)

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

A love/hate review of the Ghostbusters (3) movie and all the things I wish it could have been. Please note these are my opinions on the film if you love it for what it is then, by all means, keep on watching it! There is far worse content in the world to fill your mind with and there is more than enough redeemable qualities to the film to justify it being in anyone's wheelhouse of flicks.

When I first watched the movie I was unimpressed by the film which failed to straddle that line of both being scary, funny, adult (in humor) and kid-friendly like the first film managed to do and the second Ghostbusters only sorta tapped into. I laughed at the Kristen Wiig joke about how expensive the Firehouse would be in New York City but found myself unamused by the schools Dean tossing up a bunch of middle fingers OR the wonton soup joke which felt forced and repeated. A movie of consistent ebbs and flows made me really enjoy the flick in one moment and kinda hating in others. This reboot failed to catch the spirit of the first two movies (wakka wakka) and ended up making something new in the process, whether it's for better or worse is up to you.

Cast and Crew (Love) The ladies picked for this film are needless to say titans of comedy. I have been a fan of Kristen Wiig for years (loved her in Paul) and Kate McKinnon might be one of THE BEST personalities on SNL of all time (youtube Kellywise SNL). Not lacking any love for Melissa McCarthy or Leslie Jones but I admit it took time for those ladies to grow on me. The point is this movie had an amazing cast of lead female characters and an amazing cast of supporting characters that make you wish you were the wrap party. I am also a big fan of Paul Feig (any guy who brings back Joel McHale gets a gold star by me) and his attempt to provide an all-female Ghostbusters has had positive effects for young girls seeing themselves as action stars, heroes, and scientists. Anyone who can’t see that value is clearly dead inside.

Missed Opportunities (Hate) From a writing perspective, I felt they missed a HUGE opportunity to continue the story of the original Ghostbusters movies. Oscar would be in his late 20′s or early 30′s now making him the perfect candidate to carry on the Ghostbusters franchise. It wouldn't have been hard to do and would have allowed former actors to reprise their old roles as secondary characters while building on what they have done before. Another missed opportunity was not allowing the ‘scientific minds’ of the group (Ray and Egon) be filled by African Americans switching away from the Winston trope of black characters being the ‘everyman’ role which Leslie filled in this movie. They could have hit on the same key points of females as scientists and heroes while showing some love to African community as well (Black Panthers Shuri anyone?). 

Ghosts (Love/Hate) No one can deny that CG has upped its game for the quality of movies. This is no different for the ghosts in this movie, have an XRay effect where you not only see thru them but they are layered by clothes, skin, skeletons and ectoplasm was a really cool effect if you look at the ghosts in the movie (especially the subway ghost). I would like to say from a nostalgic point of view I missed the ‘puppets’ used from the original movies. Perhaps I because I was a kid but those non-human like ghosts the first movies used were a hell of a lot more inventive/scary than the human/balloon/gargoyle/slimmer selection that the new movie used. This all comes down to preference of taste.

Kevin the Himbo (Hate) Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) felt like a strangely step in a wrong direction that I didn't even know I had a problem with. I have never been a fan of character archetypes being so one dimensional but this felt like novice writing at its core. A bimbo role would have not have gone over well with any female audiences but for the sake equality neither should have Kevin's role where a man is literally so dumb he doesn't know how phone works, wears glasses without lenses and basically the only purpose was to be eye candy for Erin (Kristen Wiig). Which all felt doubly inauthentic as it didn't fit her character and basically ok’d a brilliant scientist objectifying a male employee much the way men do in American corporate culture. Maybe that was the joke but I honestly didn't get it.

For The Kids (Love) Despite all my issues with the movie, there is the glaring fact that this WAS NOT made for me. I am not 100% sold it was made for adult women either but if anything it was created for the younger generation. I can chuckle and scoff all day but I can't deny that my nieces and nephew are both enthralled by the movie and ask to watch it over and over, much the way I did in the 80/90′s with the first two flicks.

Conclusion As I said I hated the movie the first time I watched it and still hated it the second time. However on my 5th or 6th time watching it (against my will) for my nieces and nephews sake it isn't all terrible. One simply has to find the moments that are worth watching and find joy in that (much like real life). I really hope though this is both beginning and then end. I might not make friends by saying that but the movie missed the mark and there are other stories to tell but like I said this movie wasn't made for me so who knows what they will do. Regards Michael California