mattingly

A small note on ST: SNW's episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow": I liked the little exchange about, no, they aren't in New York City, they're in Toronto. I've heard that Toronto is often called upon to stand in for other cities; it's nice to see it on TV as itself. (Though IIRC "Forever Knight" was set in Toronto, so it does get to shine under its own name now and then. I still found it amusing. I also appreciate any acknowledgment by TV that North America consists of more than New York and California.
 
It would have been even funnier if they'd filmed somewhere else and said it was Toronto. But IMDB tells me that Strange New Worlds is filmed in Ontario.
 
Dean Shomshak

It gets EVEN BETTER!
 

It gets EVEN BETTER!
 

It gets EVEN BETTER!
 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two finally came in at the library. I've seen the first three eps and Im impressed. Season One was pretty good overall, but no eps I would call really great. Season Two is starting strong, with three eps I rate as very good. The actors seem more comfortable in their roles, and the writers are daring to push the characters harder. "Ad Astra Per Aspera"deserves special mention as the best attempt at courtroom drama I've yet seen from ST, with a wily lawyer actually finding a way to use Federation law and Starfleet regulations to get the result she wants. Considerably better than "Cpourtmartial" (TOS), "The Measure of a Man" (TNG), or the TNG one with Ardra (though that was still a pretty good story).
 
Dean Shomshak
 
I look forward to the rest of the season.

This.  To be fair, if it was my $100M, I'd be less inclined to take risks too.
 
That said, the current Planet of the Apes franchise has been massively underrated.  Rise, in particular, had no business being as good as it was.  Idk how the upcoming fourth installment will be without Andy Serkis Caesar, though.

(maybe Hermit should skip this.  )

Q: What's the difference between a chemical engineering major and a marketing major?
 
A: The chemical engineering major learned how to make things for profit and the benefit of society, while the marketing major had a girlfriend. 

Q: What's the difference between a mechanical engineer and a civil engineer?
A: A mechanical engineer makes weapons. A civil engineer makes targets. 
 

I got a chance to see the first bit of a little-known animated series called Phantom 2040.  The Phantom is a superhero from the jungles of -- somewhere -- called "The Ghost Who Walks" because he seems to exist everywhere in history. The reality is that the mantle of the phantom has been passed along the generations for centuries. And in this series, set in the then-distant future of 2040, the new Phantom emerges in a near-dystopian cyberpunk-style world. The newest son is a grad-school ecologist trying to save a global ecosystem that is rapidly disintegrating, which unknowingly pits him against a ruthless mega-billionairess and her psychotic son (who usually speaks as though he is conveying the wishes of his ever-present cat, especially when he is being excessively cruel -- in hi8s very first scene he murders his robot butler for no reason whatsoever).
 
In this episode, I found the style of the animation quite interesting and so different from the superhero-cartoon aesthetic of its times that I had to wonder where I had seen it before -- until I put my finger on the source. Which was the legendary MTV adult cartoon Aeon Flux. Those of us who were old enough to watch it will probably never forget the angular, languid look of the series. And while Phantom 2040 was aimed at a younger audience, it shares many themes in common with its predecessor. But while Aeon embraced and even relished the decay in her world (and her eternal rivalry with the powerful Trevor Goodchild), the Phantom is trying to reverse the decay and restore hope to a planet that has precious little of it left. 

I'm not sure if you're aware that The Phantom is one of the seminal figures in the evolution of comic-book heroes, having first appeared in newspaper strips in 1936, and published almost continuously ever since. He was the first hero to wear a colorful skin-tight costume, and a mask with pupiless eyes. He had a secret jungle headquarters and animal companions. He's often considered a transitional figure between pulp-era characters like the Shadow and Tarzan, and the likes of Superman, Batman, and Captain America.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom

How many altos does it take to change a lightbulb?
 
 
How do you know that there's a soprano at your door? 
 

This one is from "Thing Explainer", a book by Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd.  It's worth the $24.