Pattern Ghost

I think you mean "alleged" billionaire, if it's who I think it is.

A holiday song for the times, spoilered for MANY F-bombs, but worth it: Also check out her Princess Rap Battles.

Sounds like a polarizing opinion to me.

I thought they did a decent job with Morbius, but it suffered for being an origin story movie and a very simplistic plot. There wasn't anything new about it, but it wasn't awful.

point ================/Squishedtogetherpostdivider/============================================ This puts it on the production company/show runners. They chose to take a huge risk of running out of material. Martin was already proven not reliable.

Re-read the first sentence of my post. I said if it doesn't affect the quality of the show. Team dynamics are another matter. I doubt that someone getting paid millions to be the lead actor in a show is going to quit because someone in the writer's room disrespects the source material if it doesn't reflect on the end product. In the case of the Witcher, I've only heard that it sticks pretty closely to the original stories. The show's runners are the ones who guide the direction of the show. If Bob the Naysayer from the writer's bullpen is disruptive because he doesn't like the original material, he doesn't necessarily impact the quality of the product, just annoys people. I seriously doubt Bob the Naysayer has any impact on the lead actor's career decisions.

I don't think it really matters what the writers think of the books, as long as the show is good and retains what people like about the source material. My understanding is that the quality of the writing in the original stories and books is fairly mediocre anyway, so they may not be wrong. (The books may be the best thing since sliced bread, as far as I know. I've yet to check them out, though I intend to.)

Looks like Cavill is making room in his schedule to continue as Superman: The Witcher Renewed for Season 4 by Netflix, Liam Hemsworth to Replace Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2022/10/24/gain-of-function-experiments-at-boston-university-create-a-deadly-new-covid-19-virus-who-thought-this-was-a-good-idea/?sh=22703e8f5ca3 I guess they never heard the expression, "curiosity killed the Human race."

The direct quote I'm referring to was, "However, for legions of nonwhite readers, that relatability was only partial — at least until Miles Morales came along in 2011 to embody Lee’s vision for the rest of the world." Granted, it says "only partial," so does use a qualifier. Seems to be splitting hairs, though, with that "for the rest of the world." Do you get total relatability from Miles Morales' skin tone? I doubt it. Does it add a dimension of relatability? Sure. But there's generation, culture, etc. All of these things factor into how well you relate to someone. I worked in Seattle, but I'm from the Southeast (Florida), with one parent from Alabama and the other from Pennsylvania. I had far more in common with my black co-workers who were from the East Coast or the Southeast than with my white West Coast co-workers, and more in common with anyone closer to my age. Just to be clear, I'm not saying representation isn't important. God knows, there have been enough poorly-written characters of whatever ethnicity, gender, creed, or whatever in every media that I'm all for seeing more representation both on the page or screen and behind the keyboard. But toss in a good story while you're at it. Miles Morales wasn't popular because he was Hispanic and Black, but also because his stories were good. I think the writer of that piece and others like it kind of miss out on that point sometimes.

I think the Monica Rambeau one was a bit of a stretch, tbh. I liked the way she was introduced in Wandavision, and it wasn't her show, so the focus not being on her in the finale is entirely understandable. (I read the full article linked in the one above for hers.) For me, they did a great job of introducing the character, and made me look forward to seeing more of her. Some of the analysis is interesting, and on point, particularly the stuff about Superman near the beginning of the article. Some of it seems like a bit of a stretch, like Spider-Man not being relatable to people of color until Miles Morales. That's just a divisive point of view, to me. Spider-Man is a guy who has problems that anyone can relate to. Why dwell on the fact of his skin color, instead of the things that are common to all of us as people? He makes mistakes. He has money problems. He has a boss who's a pain in the butt. He has a lot of personal commitments to juggle. All of that is what makes him relatable. If you only find things to identify with in a person of the same color as you, then maybe the problem isn't in the character, but in yourself. People are people. We have more in common than not. This isn't to say that it's not important to have mainstream heroes of color, or good female heroes, etc., just that it's nonsense that you can't relate to a hero because of their skin tone. I've met plenty of non-white Spider-Man fans predating Miles Morales by decades, and tons of white Miles Morales fans.

If the staffer's initials were P.J., then I believe her.

We really don't need boots on the ground to end this. Ukraine can supply that, since they're the defenders. What we need is to use our massive air power advantage to obliterate anything Russia attempts to throw at Ukraine. But we won't do it, because Russia might have functioning nukes. (Note the "functioning" qualifier: they haven't shown much of a penchant for equipment maintenance.) I strongly suspect that Russia would fold under direct military intervention from the US, but I'm not so sure they wouldn't start something nuclear in retaliation. The whole situation reminds me of the old Sid Meier's Civilization (first version) video game, where once a country had nukes, every diplomatic interaction ended in "Our words are backed by nuclear weapons!"

Another problem created by having Wong be Sorcerer Supreme is that in order for Strange to become Sorcerer Supreme . . . something has to happen to Wong. I think at this point if they kill Wong off, it'll cause an uproar. He could retire or lose his ability to use magic or something less drastic, but he'll have to be sidelined in some way, which probably won't sit well with the fans.

I like Wong. But the line of succession is Ancient One > Strange. They could have simply kept the Ancient One around a bit if they wanted to show him grow into the role. They could have just started with him as Sorcerer Supreme and shown the backstory as needed in flashbacks, through dialog, through interactions with other characters, etc. They could have really ramped up the rivalry between him and Mordo if both were working for the same order, and rivals, under the Ancient One (who they don't need on screen much, really), then had to compete when it came time to pass the torch. The way they handled the succession and Mordo really sells Mordo and Strange's relationship short. They could have done a slower turn with Mordo, akin to what was done with Sinestro in some of the DC animated stuff.

The sidekick to whom? The girl was basically the McGuffin, and Wanda was the villain, so who's left? I remain annoyed at Wong being Sorcerer Supreme, though. Don't know what the logic behind that change was.

At a gourmet lunch for a bear, I'd say. Mmm, groundhog!

Fact checking just leads to accountability. Can't have that slowing them down!

Anyone thinking Black Adam would be either cheerful or bombastic is probably not really a genre fan. If they're going to knock him for picking that role, why are they even reviewing the movie? Reviews should discuss how well he portrays the character, not the reviewer's viewing preferences.

Yeah, I hope they use her more if they get a second season.

Making fun of them is fine, but there are two problems I have with it: It wasn't interesting, and I don't believe in feeding the trolls. I'm not saying it ruined the show, but it was one of the problems I had with it. Even if they kept that as the main throughline, the execution could have been done better. They could have put some more focus on Titania (whose actress was wasted -- she was great on The Good Place) and Jen's relationship/rivalry. The villain would have been perfect for the two to play off of, as it'd give Titania a chance to be less two dimensional.

I didn't really see evidence of any mind control going on. For all we know, K.E.V.I.N. just gave Matt another case. I don't think he'd need to be mind controlled into having lunch with Jen and her family.

Yeah, having the show so far removed from the rest of the universe's rules is problematic if they want to use any of its events as canon. I'll just assume she lives on a different Earth than the main MCU for now. Does anyone recall how they handled that aspect of things in the comics? I'm guessing they just ignored it?

Quoth Jessica Gao: "The Jon Byrne comic run was the one that made me fall in love with this character in the first place. What was so great about that run was that it was so fun and light. There was this great levity to it that you weren't used to if you read a lot of superhero comics, because, you know most superhero comics are very action-oriented, very dramatic, a lot of them tend to get heavy. It's a lot of serious men dealing with serious issues. This run of She-Hulk comics was such a breath of fresh air to have this fun, irreverent, female-forward comic about this woman who, even if she was dealing with saving the city or saving the universe, she was doing it with this lightness to her." And it does seem that it's taken a cue from the Byrne run. It may not have had the best execution, but she's saying she read the comics, and I don't see any reason not to believe her. I didn't think it was great, but it was OK enough that I'd like to see a second season, but with a little more oversight from someone who understands how to structure a show, and less of an agenda of "well, let's make fun of the guys who don't like female superheroes." It'd be interesting to see something, even from the same crew, with more focus on story and less on sticking it to the haters. Let 'em hate. Make a good show. You can make a good show exploring women's issues without it being a dialog with the most toxic part of your fan base.