ThaOGDreamWeaver

To the team, but particularly the mighty Melissa The War Witch... a question in two parts. ...what's your favourite joke or Easter Egg in the game, and are there any still to find after all this time?

They've finally found a way to make the Boston Dynamics thing not terrifying. ...though if they went to the Creature Shop and got the OG version, I'd be saving up for one.

Thing from DisneyStudios Insta… …how this works plotwise, your guess is as good as mine, but this is A Good Thing.

Spinoff from the Sandman series - not quite up to the magnificence of Neil’s production, more a neat little side gig. Ep1 has a little too much worldbuilding going on. Has the feel of one of the recent hyperkinetic Doctor Who episodes and some of the stuff needs a bit more room to slow down and breathe. But enough fun and funny stuff to keep me interested. Plus must get myself an iron cane and have a stern word with my familiars, now I’m in my CILF* years… *Crone In League With Forces Of Unspeakable Wossnameness

Just for once, some actual good news from the world of Srs Internet Bzns. Along with numerous other internet-favourite sites, The Onion got gobbled up by a media conglomerate that didn't know what to do with it and starved it of income, then sold it off in bits (the A/V Club is now its own thing.) For a while it looked like it could go to be one of those portal sites that executives talk about excitingly being powered by AI so they could fire the writers... ...but a company called Global Tetrahedron - one of the site's running gags made real - has bought them out, fronted by Jeff Lawson of Twilio, who should know what he's doing from the business end of things. There will be investment, the team will stay together...and ONN is coming back. If you never saw these while The Onion wasn't having its profits drained by various vampiric holding corps, it's... I mean... ...look, just watch this. I can't post some of the other flat-out-best ones because politics ("...they've got me building this hive...") but do go take a look for them. Okay, one more...

I'm aware. This displeases me. I may be goth (black is such a happy colour...) but pretty happy around anything and anyone that likes to stand out. Bought new place with my partner a few years back: the estate agent tried to apologise for the previous owner's décor, but I can quite happily live with gold pineapples and psychedelic parrots. Even added lustre paint so the the neutral-toned walls now gleam just a little bit gold. I regret to dispel your illusions, but I have and probably never will have looked quite as cool as Siouxsie. Think more black leather shorts, pointy boots, waistcoat top, black and purple belts and detailing, and big flappy coat over the top (because cold when not clubbing, and also big and flappy.) Also deep crimson hair, partly because I loved old movies with dangerous redheads, mainly from falling asleep in the bath with henna in. ...but hauling this thing back to the topic in hand... Have now tapped up episodes 1 and 2, and yes, classic facial hair spotting aside, liking it a lot. There's more balance between Blackthorne and his captors, hosts, and allies, and you feel like you're being drawn into the chess game along with Blackthorne and the crew. Production-wise, costumes look less like they came from an 80s branch of Woolie's/Walmart's bed linen section, talkie scenes get the treatment they deserve, the action is properly dynamic and involving, and everything looks an awful lot better in HD Digital/film transfer. The location shots are gorgeous... if deceptive: I've always wanted to visit Japan, but seems Vancouver is capable of doubling for more or less everywhere. Again. (ティムホートンズはどこですか, as they say.) Cast are uniformly pretty good so far, particularly Hiroyuki Sanada oozing menace by the bucketload as Toranaga, and Blackthorne, Mariko and Yabushige all grabbing the camera in their different ways. Will try not to binge the whole thing in a weekend and make it last a bit.

Bet it doesn't have full on Richard Chamberlain Riker Beard action, though. Rawr. edit: I also don't know why he's dressed like a corporate logo for a particularly dull hotel or insurance chain. This is what you young whippersnappers don't get: we were wearing either dayglo (or black 'n' purple in my case) because everything else in the Eighties was beige. Beige or burnt orange. ALL OF IT. The walls. Car interiors. Even some of the people, and we don't want them coming back...)

Beats me. Maybe they're merging characters, or I misinterpreted one of the stories, but there's no cast member named as Rocco yet. (James Madio is currently unassigned, and could probably carry that off.) Or, quite possibly, Sofia has some "side interests". If Tony Soprano can get away with borrowing other family members' girlfriends and mistresses, it's only fair. But unless 5 eps of this are set in or around a Sunshine State slam, he could be a (very) much larger character.

Not just real, nearly finished: filming completed in February with only a handful of pickups, and it's in post-production at the moment. Release is expected probably Thanksgiving-ish. As to who's going to be in it DC-wise: a lot of the main character names haven't been released yet, probably to avoid spoilers. But I think it's going to be very underworld-focussed, so not much additional cape-related action if any. On that note, I'm not seeing any GCPD or legal system characters show up on the cast list either - Jim, Harvey B, Renée, Angel, Maggie, Harvey D, so all about the crimelords. One name we do have as a major-ish player - or at least listed for 5 eps - is Dom Gigante, played by the wonderfully-named and rather large Myles Humphus. (That name woulda been no fun in high school.) The character winds up marrying Sofia Falcone (Christina Milioti), so maybe they're pencilling him in as a literal heavy made good.

I suspect there's going to be a lot more where that came from - I'm sure you've all noticed the destroyed 20th Century Fox logo by now...

We have a new trailer, and look Hugh it is…

Just watched a little video about the series that brought me up to speed on that. If you haven't watched Episode 8 yet, DO NOT OPEN...

Let’s test this out…

Finished it… and still don’t have access to spoiler box, so some general thoughts… Playing the gung-ho hero isn’t always your best option, Max. Pops was a popsicle. Didn’t see that coming. (Did anyone see Lee’s name on the freezer chest manifest?) They said the line! Twice. And I’d have just gone with Walton’s take on it, but the other one did have more surprise value. Don’t mess with audio nerds. We’re mean. And inventive. Nice slight nod to the game ending when our heroine glimpses some of the people she’s helped. I think they did everything pretty well except stick the landing, but I think they weren’t meant to… …as it’s leading into S2. Amazon are a fickle bunch so it’s not guaranteed even with the extremely positive reviews and figures. But looking forward to it… …so see them all down the road on the next map. Thangyallver’much.

Currently on mobile so can’t use SPOILER frames. But up to ep 6 and it does keep getting better, more involved, with a rich backstory that doesn’t feel like you’re having stuff painfully explained to you coughRebelMooncoughsorrycoughnotsorrycough but can still turn around on a dime and surprise you. Oh, and word of advice: nice people don’t gas people and drop them through trapdoors. Well, I do, but only double glazing salesmen and they generally have it coming.

So, binged through the first 3 episodes... WARNING, CITIZEN! RADIOACTIVE SPOILERAGE AHEAD... All in all, very watchable stuff. Looking forward to another double or triple helping tomorrow, I think...

They've been a bit hit and miss, I'll admit. I quite liked the Willow TV series, and while not perfect, it didn't deserve to get Batgirl'd out of existence. There is far worse lurking in the bowels of the House of Mouse. Discovery's had its high and low points, but so did all the other series. And the magic mushroom drive that taps into dark matter or whatnot is, admittedly, pretty silly. But then quantum physics in general can stretch credulity to breaking point. (Not least, as a cat owner, I postulate the cat is neither alive, nor dead, but in a quantum state known as "hiding behind the sofa plotting your demise"). Tried to watch Wheel of Time... never read the books, couldn't get behind the characters. Ignored the LOTR series. Absolute dregs: Witcher: Blood Origin. I have never seen an actor have more obvious contempt for the script he's been given - with good reason - than Lenny Henry as the moustache-twirling Grand Vizier type. To the extent his accent goes more back to his native Brummie the more annoyed he gets. Me myam won't let me do the Ritual Of Eternal Damnation in the kitchen, I gotta go and do it in the gaaaardiin... 'snot faiiir... And then of course, there's the good: Last Of Us. Nailed it. And more. Far better than a game adap deserves to be. And if what Bella's been foreshadowing on her socials is right about preparing to weather Internet hatred, I suspect they're not going to dodge anything in part 2. Back to Fallout: the series should stand up or blow up on its own merits - and given what we've seen in the trailers, I think they've got the worldbuilding and characteristic dark humour down pat, plus one hell of a cast. That's no guarantee, but since it's dropped worldwide now, I expect to be seeing your thoughts...

So Joker gets a sequel… and Gaga gets a shot at an Oscar? Being the massive movie nerd I am, I’m loving all the tiny nods to classic musicals in the dream sequences, and the way tiny splashes of colour start to drift into Arthur’s grey-green world. And of course, there’s Burt… The relationship gets a (slightly unlikely) new origin story, and we get a new key character - Steve Coogan as a prison official, probably a therapist, who I suspect may be just arrogant enough to think his star patient is fixable. I’m not sure it’s gonna be everyone’s cup of La La Land, including some of the first one’s more vocal Internet fans. I’m sure the YouTube screaming has already begun. But… twisted love story with show tunes? Yeah, that could be more up my dark, red-lit alley full of lonely silhouettes…

Can't wait. Incidentally...

Replying to m'learned coll's threads:

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one…

On principle: ergh. But that said, if it's a new movie with new characters using the Matrix worldbook... maybe? Not least because the Wachowskis encouraged all kinds of different takes on the lore, with the manga tie-ins, short films, comics, a ballet (do you do bullet-time ballet with ballet-time bullets?), albums, books and games (of variable quality on that last one - The Matrix Online was pretty decent, and if it had lived as long as CoH would have got a lot more of the polish it needed: Enter The Matrix, not so much, even with the starry cast delivering pretty well.) I honestly don't mind that much if people use stock characters and worlds we know, as long as they bring something new to the table. Do it well and you can give the whole thing a new lease of life, not just a new topcoat and New Rocks. Very, very side note: I was a Matrixgoth growing up - well, as much as I've ever bothered growing up. Finally sold my Reactors - very Gene-Simmons-Casual footwear - late last year to a young and awestruck goth. I loved 'em, they gave me a good extra two to three inches, and regularly scared the hell out of airport security. Apart from one smöl-but-FIERCE TSA lady in St Louis who was a dead ringer for Marion Ramsey, who just looked at those things going past on the belt with starry eyes... "You want to, don'tcha?" "Oh hell yeah." "Be my guest." ...so we strap her in, and she starts clumping around ordering people about, including her supervisor, who just squeaked "Yes, Mistress." Neither of them are gonna forget that in a hurry.

It's pretty faithful to the original - though as it's on cable... wait, streaming, they don't have ABC's Saturday Morning censors or angry cereal/washing powder execs to worry about. There is just one way they could have improved it...