ThaOGDreamWeaver

Fun thing: Ralph went Method for Galactus. No, not becoming a planet-devouring overlord. Not sure even Dan Day-Lewis would go that far. But he did do his mocap in the full, practical Galactus armour - which was apparently heavy as all hell. He also described a new technique I've never heard of before. He was shot with an ultra-HD camera on an all-white set, bathed in very bright white lights (which made that armour get very hot.) That footage can then be blown up to giant scale without losing detail and digitally matted into real or virtual scenes. So, in effect, he was a human miniature prop. He rather liked that idea. He also practiced lines while standing on top of the tallest buildings he could find, to get the perspective of belittling pathetic Earthlings. As the man says, it's not easy to talk down to a small X of gaffer tape on a studio floor, so you've got to have your mind in the right place...

Thoughts:

The Blasters - Dark Night (Live in Pittsburgh) (NB: intro spiel is mildly NSFW)

Dolly Parton - Drive Me Crazy (FYC) - Live

Finally managed to catch this on D+, and both I and my non-True-Believer partner loved it. All-in-all, the most flat-out, no-notes-enjoyable Marvel offering since Shang-Chi, and definitely up there with the likes of Homecoming.

Neat little featurette: 40 years ago, F4 rights holder Bernd Eichinger phoned the late, great Roger Corman. He needed an F4 movie to keep them, and he needed it now. It wasn't exactly going to change the world, but the actors, director, artists, makeup crew and FX team squeezed everything they could out of a meagre $1m budget (and a slightly dodgy script). And it never got released. That is not going to change on D+. (Probably. They might do something like drop it for April Fool's Day.) But Matt Shakman loved all of them so much, they were invited back to take bit roles in the new movie. If you love moviemaking - especially the "trenches" of no-budget stuff - this is a nice little watch, and I think I'd like to take all of them for a pint next LFCC.

Good news for any junior demon hunters out there, and any parents/Aunties/Uncles who were thoroughly sick of Frozen. (Or just wanted something more in their range. I think I've lost at least one vocal cord trying Let It Go's E♭5. MENZEL!!! *shakes fist*) KPop Demon Hunters II is now In Development, with Maggie Kang and Chris Applehans back helming. Dev window is pretty long, with early reports 2029 - but it's a high-quality digital animation gig. And remember, kids, do not risk confronting or unleashing the forces of darkness in or near your own home. Choose a sensible location, such as your nearest abandoned quarry, Chuck E. Cheese, or MetLife stadium.

The songs alone are worth the ticket to enter, but then again I love a good showtune. Just in case you missed Season 1, here's Alastor with a little recap song for you...

Since the HC devs are liking playing more with audio now (no spoilers, but... well played, Labyrinth designers, well played)... I'd like to introduce a classic Aliens-style motion tracker. This would light up your map with rings around your current position: and if anything happened to be in those rings, it'll light up, including green arrows for hostages. Ideally, audio feedback would also tell you when you're quite close to something. However, the tracker is both audible and quite loud. So it also works as a 50' radius Taunt.

Thought:

Regenerating this thread for a very small update. The good news: the series is not dead, and will return with a Christmas special in 2026. So that's a decently long break. The somewhat expected news: Disney+ will no longer be supporting the show. It's not done nearly as well as expected, and it wasn't really a good fit alongside the Marvel types. Plus D+ are still working on major budgetary concerns and are looking to fold in ESPN. (You do gotta wonder, though: if the Disney and the BBC had gone all-in and licensed the Doc to Marvel Studios rather than D+... can you imagine the crossovers?) The (possibly) bad news: RTD is still at the helm. So he's got a whole year to come up with something workable.

The Skatalites - Skalloween

The Toasters: FrankenSka

Research Me Obsessively - Brittany Snow

A cape management sim from the crew at AdHoc - a renegade mob of escaped TellTale devs - and the Critical Role crew. Bob Robertson/MechaMan (Aaron Paul) is facing forced and humiliating retirement from hero life. However redemption - of a sort - comes with a job offer from Blonde Blazer (Laura Bailey: Critical Role/Vox Machina/etc). All he has to do is use his experience to match which super(s) ought to be matched to which mission, help guide them through, and use his hacking and tactical skills to keep them ahead of the enemy. Sounds simple enough...? Similar to the Telltale model, the game is released in bi-weekly chunks, and while the management piece is important, managing and motivating your team via dialogue trees is also going to determine your success or failure. Paul and Bailey are joined by Jeffrey Wright, deadpanning his way through some choice lines, plus assorted Critical Role castmembers and a number of their friends and family. Visuals look decent and a nice balance of humour and drama. If the game proves successful, there will also be a tie-in TTRPG, live-action events, an animated series, and, of course, merch. What do we think?

Visions Of Atlantis - Hellfire (New discovery: wildly overdramatic Euro orchestral goth pirate metal? Arr, that be gladdening me black heart, me hearties...)

FEX - Subways Of Your Mind

We offer… …Louvreage.

KISS - New York Groove

Frehley’s Comet - Into The Night

It's tricky to piece together exactly how this is going to play out, but having read a few different pieces... . ..seems that Simon goes looking for Trevor - as one of the very few (sorta-) approachable people who's been involved with superheroics, but is also an actor. And while Trevor's a cantankerous, manipulative, needy old bugger, he does come to realise exactly how much Simon wants this and is going pretty much Method to get it. So he swings in behind him. Though whether Trevor's help will prove useful, backfire horrifically/hilariously, or both, remains to be seen...

D’Angelo - Cruisin’

Peter Gabriel ft Brian May & Phil Collins - Sledgehammer

SHEL - Enter Sandman