SO, a location today, but no theme until Tomorrow

If I were a wise man, I would try to hold out until tomorrow for location as well, and thus be better braced for whatever theme comes!

But today, Wisdom is my proverbial dump stat!

Not knowing WHAT the hell is going on, I choose...The Windy City, Chi-Town itself, the City of Big Shoulders, aka Chicago, Illinois!

Location: Chicago

17 minutes ago, tkdguy said:

 

SCOTUS just ruled 45 can't be kept off any state ballots. 👎

Of COURSE they did.

I hate this timeline.

EDIT: To be fair, there are legitimate reasons why the Supreme Court might think a precedent of defining sedition on the state level without impeachment by Congress might be a dangerous precedent. The fault is in the legislative branch more so than even the Judicial, but to say I am disappointed but not surprised  by this outcome is putting it mildly.

I've got a dozen things I am behind on or neglecting.

Naturally this now gets top priority!

Location on first day as usual, I'm guessing?

1 hour ago, Cygnia said:

He’s Deeply Religious and a Democrat. He Might Be the Next Big Thing in Texas Politics.

 

THIS is what more democrats of Christian Faith need to do. So much BS comes of certain Republican con men in political clothing taking the bible out of context or missing context to misuse the teachings they claim to support.  More democratic politiicans need to call those republicans out on their twisting of gospel. Yes, I get it, the democrats shouldn't have to. The separation of Church and State should at least be a fence if not a wall (For the sake of both sides really imo), but until the lock on the gate between them is tended to, this is the world we live in, and the only way you're going to rob the GOP of their Faux Spiritual Authority is to call them on their betrayal of the very verses they abuse.

18 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Remember last year when two black Democrat legislators in Tennessee were expelled by the Republican majority, then won their special elections by a landslide and were reinstated?

 

Tennessee House advances bill to ban reappointing lawmakers booted for behavior

Yup. Florida maybe crazier, but Tennessee is trying to take the lead in pettiness.

Sympathies, DT. That sounds like the hits just kept coming.

1 hour ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

And now the Supreme Court is going to hear Trump's "presidential immunity" appeal. Doing so gives it legitimacy. They should have shut that @#$% down immediately. I apologize for the frustration in my posts, but I get sick and tired of stupidity and ignorance seemingly always winning....

I get the feeling this case will be set up to slow things down so  Trump can still run.

At this point, if someone in the GOP House says Biden is a lizard man, I'm pretty sure the one making the accusation has scales under a lot of make up and prosthetics. It seems to be what inspires them, whatever they do and try to hide, they accuse the other side of.

On 11/19/2023 at 9:54 AM, Dr. MID-Nite said:

This was from my FB review of Marvels....

 

Movie review: The Marvels (2023). This sequel to the 2019 original links itself to other Phase 4 projects...namely the Wandavision and Ms. Marvel tv series. The plot involves the Kree trying to revive their homeworld while also taking revenge on Carol Danvers. This film works best when it focuses on the interaction between the three leads. The three actresses play off of each other fairly well and they provide most of the movie's best moments. The villain unfortunately isn't all that memorable and certain elements of the story delve into the silly. Still, this is reasonably solid. That end credit sequence though. NIIIIICE!!!!

I FINALLY watched the Marvels on Disney Plus. It was enjoyable enough I wish I had just seen it on the big screen. The leads were ALL good, with Captain Marvel allowed to show feelings now that she was in this movie deprogrammed so she wasn't stuck in mandatory wooden mode like in her first movie. I'm a fan of Monica in the comics, and her actress did her justice given the set up. Iman Vellani as Kamala had already impressed me in her mini series, but she really shone on the big screen as the fan girl turned superhero. Loved almost every scene she was in. Fury made with some funny, but was not made to be the joke , which is different and I'm grateful. It was definitely comedic in tone for a lot of the movie, but I liked the balance in it.

If I had to sum up where it stands compared to other Marvel movies, I think I'd just say I liked it better than THREE of the Thor movies.

6 hours ago, wcw43921 said:

The Doonesbury strip for February 18th--

 

See, I actually LOVE when it gets pointed out that the Civil War had a fair sized group of Southerners stay as Unionists.. THOSE are the guys we should have statues of up more often in our parks etc.

Much appreciated, LL. Unfortunately I cannot break entirely, but I have made my feelings clear, and while I felt like an ass doing it, reminded them of the last time they didn't listen (Which I am sure sounds like an "I told you so"); I've been assured all will be well yadda yadda, but I am, quite skittish about it. I hope that all goes well for them, but I do wish contact with them wasn't a constant source of stress. I am, however, keeping as much distance as I can at this point. I feel like an ass about it, but there you go.

Okay, recently I listened to an Audiobook Star Kingdom Omnibus (Part 1) written by  Lindsay Buroker. I mention that because a good narrator can elevate average writing, and a bad narrator can severely mar an otherwise excellent story. That said, I think I would have loved the story, or more accurately, the characters regardless of (IMO) Fred Berman's excellent voice work. I've mentioned before, I'm a Characters over Plot kind of guy and the characters in this are a LOT of fun!  So not to spoil things too much, but some of our main characters include:

An idealistic, often optimistic, and dorky robotics expert with more allergies than you care to count, a twitching eye, and a big heart who seems to have a knack for rallying others even though they grumble about him.

His roomate, a microbiologist who seems to be borderline autistic, or at least anti-social. She's also a good friend, who writes fantasy novels under a pen name, and has practiced in Kendo.

A burned out jaded star ship captain so deep in debt she can't see daylight, who happened to have once been a bounty hunter with amazing aim.

Her cheeky AI on the ship.

A young woman genetically altered to be a killing machine, but who is sweet as can be and has unicorn shaped wax candles in her quarters.

and more...

The characters start out engaging, and I grew to care for them rapidly. There  is character growth for each of them as well so this isn't something where they start out perfect and just stay that way. They all get into some pretty derring do through out, in the backdrop of greater political machinations on a galactic scale where different forces seek to use them, or, barring that, take them out.

Nutshell of my opinion? I Loved it.  It had a Firefly meets Dumas novel vibe to it... though less Western Twang, and more robots.

I am trying to save a family member from doing incredibly stupid things...

but as they have never listened to me, it's mostly a cause of stress and futility.

When it all goes to hell, AGAIN, you can bet they'll want me to assist in the clean up though

"if you don't have Mojo Nixon, your store could use some fixxin"- Punk Rock Girl

RIP

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366567750/GenAI-tools-could-not-exist-if-firms-are-made-to-pay-copyright Am I missing something here or are tech companies claiming copyright shouldn't apply to their AI because it's all expensive and hard? I myself think Copyright extensions have gone insane the past decades plus, but it does seem they want a 'corporations can break copyright all they want; go after citizens instead' ? Maybe my anti-corporate lenses are blinding me.

 I figured Pulp Hero GMs might have fun with this bit of news, link below

Jade Mosaic Mask Discovered in Tomb of Mysterious Maya King in Guatemala

Because ancient relics and hints of a tale of a king beheading a god mighhhht make for a good plot seed

Ru5150, I don't believe the Duke meant anything with Malice though perhaps he shouldn't name names in case someone did see it that way. It is certainly okay if anyone wants to raise old threads up for renewed or updated discussion. I've done it myself and there were necromancy jokes then too. I don't think they were at my expense, but more a light hearted observation on the passage of time. That said, if it truly offends you, I think the crew around here can be classy enough to ease off.

It's almost like self appointed titles mean little without living up to your own hype. Mmm

Okay. Let's be kind about comparing anyone to lawyers. Not even Lawyers like that

Wakanda's gonna panic when they find out that torso is now 40% vibranium and their monopoly is shot

Retro Gal

Rebeccca "Becky" Garfield has been a lot of things. Born in poverty and a drunken mother, Retro Gal could not leave the rural hill country fast enough. She always felt smarter than them, but when she hit her teenage years, she found out why. Her intelligence, already impressive, grew leaps and bounds. She was a mutant with many brain enhancements... one of them? Super-Genius. She grasped scientific concepts and engineering with amazing ease. She also proved to have other psychic abilities, including close contact telepathy and telekinesis! At 16, she used the latter to set her whiskey soaked mother on fire with a nearby candle after one too many slaps. It was the 1950s, and 'muties' were not loved them. Very little 'different' was. Becky went on the lamb, looking for a better life, and by better, she meant profitable. Had she more maturity then, she might have realized that invention with a few patents would be a safe and legal way to build it up. Instead, she met Mr. Dread. Oh she fell for him hard and he ? He showed her the ropes of villainy. Becky doesn't blame him for her going wrong, per se. She made her own choices. But there's no denying she was taken advantage of.

She grew to be a hardened criminal who went by the name "Ms. Rocket" , well she thought she was hardened anyway. She mostly assisted other villains in their plans, and yes, she robbed banks. She liked robbing banks. Made her feel like she was getting something back from Rich people. A lot of her devices were quickly taken up by the male members of the various teams she joined, some even stealing credit. THAT annoyed her and after a bit, she decided to get saucy about it. Perhaps a bit too saucy... when they had an encounter with a superhero team dubbed 'The Virtue Brigade' and started to lose, her team left her behind. Well, she ended up in Super prison, escaped twice, only to be caught again. At age 35, she finally was let out of jail, a reformed woman. She was a full decade behind the times and the new tech, and she raced to catch up. It was hard, an ex convict and a known mutant?  That's when she met Dr. Daryl Garfield. He was a brilliant man, a former boy genius now grown, shy and skittish. She was smarter than him, but rather than be intimidated, he delighted. He taught her what she had missed. And she? she caught up, and improved it. He didn't want anything from her but her company and for her to be happy. And she was.. .just not used to that. She actually found a decent man.

She had forgotten the world takes advantage of decent men. Time marched on. Marriage , children, and more. Becky found herself a happy enough home maker, but it was the lab with her husband where she thrived. Unfortunately, because of her criminal past ,she thought it best to let him handle face to face finances. They lived comfortably enough, but Daryl was, unknown to her, taken advantage of. Their tech was stolen, and with a sea of lawyers to hide behind and counter sue, the company that stole their idea seemed untouchable. Becky suited up, ready for revenge. And found... her powers, were fading. She had not realized her TK had grown weaker, that her telepathy was even more limited. She became alarmed. Somehow she was aging out of her powers and that would , eventually, include her hyper intelligence. Daryl talked her down twice. First, from becoming a supervillain again and risking capture. And secondly? from suicide.

She remained bright, but where once there had a super genius  with psychic powers, there came to be a simple grandmother. That company that had robbed them prospered, as the truly wicked who know how to work the system do. Daryl became ill.... and they didn't have the money to save him. Becky grand daughter, a muitant herself, found out the truth of how her grandmother and grandfather should have been MILLIONAIRES. She grew bitter on her grandma's behalf... and despite words of caution, went out to become a super villain herself.

When Timelapse appeared before Becky and made his offer, she leapt at the chance. Not for her vanity (Though it is nice to be a hottie again), not for her power (Though she really feels like she was incredibly dim in comparison now that her super IQ is back), or even for revenge (Though with her beloved Daryl gone, she's feeling no shame getting what was theirs from that company) but to help her Grand daughter avoid the same mistakes. Indeed, adopting a steampunk wardrobe (She came late to the genre but found it delightful and Verne esque) she has joined her grand daughter and her villain friends to make sure they don't get used and left to dry like she did. If they MUST be villains, they're going to be successful ones this time. Of course, her Grand daughter doesn't know this new ally is her old grandmother rejuvenated. She only knows they have a friend in the mysterious... RETRO GAL!

Omphalos

(Turned into a wall of text fiction so put in spoilers, but feel free to read)

On 12/15/2023 at 9:28 PM, Lord Liaden said:

Not really apropos to this thread, but for my game I used Timelapse to restore the classic Champs villain Neutron and his flunky Arc from their long-imprisoned, aged and weakened state (as presented in The Stronghold Files), back to their physical and power prime. I never got around to explaining why Timelapse did that, but as published his motives for changing certain people's ages are often mysterious.

Thanks, glad I'm not alone in finding it a fun idea I remember wanting to do this with Timelapse since the Little plotseeds thread of yesteryear (Some of which was sadly lost)

NT: Wicked Revival

The time manipulating villain known as Timelapse is hard to understand, but his powers are many. Recently, he used one of his most coveted- the power to restore youth, on a group of aged villains. Originally none of them were younger than 58 (and many much older than that), now they've all been restored to the physical ages between 21 to 26 years old.  He had a job for reach of them, to pay for this. And they eagerly agreed.

Those jobs done, the villains are young again, powerful again, and ... having to adapt to being back in the game among a generation they don't quite understand. Some maybe more evil than ever, a few may be having second thoughts. We look now at least five of these villains