ThaOGDreamWeaver

Stolen from Twitter: who would you choose? Me: Agatha (also makes sense, as Wanda said she'd keep her around if needed) Captain Carter (because Peggy - and also a fantastic surprise reveal for anyone who's not seen What If) Too many choices for slot 3, but Loki/Sophie, Deadpool, Wolvie, or the rumoured Tom Cruise variant Iron Man would all be fun.

It's very pretty, with a very pretty cast. But. Gorgeous visuals, epic cheekbone acting and a Patton Oswalt guest shot in a tailgag aside, plus some other weirdo - it doesn't make you care enough about any of these characters. The fractured family dynamic doesn't take hold, the eternal love story at its core isn't convincing, there's a lot of world-building with Big Bads And Terrible Events That Were Probably In Capitals In The Script... So: a shiny bauble, a curiosity, an object lesson on how to do landscape shots and pans... and better on D+ where I can fast forward. Going forward, I'm aware Feige and co have a grand masterplan for phase 4, 5, whatever that looks like the default conspiracy.gif. But I wouldn't mind if Sersi, Arishem and co vanished for good - though more Kingo would be fun, especially if Hotstar wanted their own series - and just pay off the two tailgag sequences.

Cena's Peacemaker feels like that overzealous w***er everyone has at work, who you know is fronting up because they're crumbling inside, and yet you couldn't can't muster up the empathy to reach out to because they just... keep... being... a... ...ahem. And Gunn is playing that beautifully. It's not a million miles from Cena's WWE schtick (though, from local wrestling sources, I can confirm he is genuinely lovely off-stage, if a tiny bit gawky and awkward and worried he's going to break things.)

Billy Gibbons & Company - Oh Well

RHCP - Search & Destroy

Relient K - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Much-anticipated Black Panther sequel has become much-delayed. Partly due to, well, a slight dose of plague impacting work schedules (and release schedules), and a severe injury to Letitia Wright (shoulder fracture and severe concussion, which may have... influenced some other issues, shall we say). But production is more or less back on now - Coogler has filmed as much in her absence as possible, and she's now available to restart. Couple of newish bits though: Release pushed back to November 2022 In Wright's absence, Winston Duke (the mighty M'Baku) has had his role enlarged and has had a consequent pay rise. Also introduces Dominique Thorne (If Beale St Could Talk...) as Riri "Ironheart" Williams, with a D+ series listed in pre-prod. Most of the rest of the supporting cast return, including Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman as the "Tolkien White Guy" (sic) and mistress of wig-fu Flo Kasumba. IMDB doesn't list anyone who looks even vaguely like an antagonist, especially not the rumoured one (Doom himself. But Doom is not concerned with who plays at being Doom, when only Doom is Doom. Doom is above all impersonators, etc etc.)

Important content update

Acquired one of these today... https://www.jamesandsteel.com/bam ...spaced is the word.

Wig Wam - Do Ya Wanna Taste It? Incidentally, for those with a love of / masochistic fetish for cheesemetal, the Peacemaker Spotify OST is here. Don't say you weren't warned.

There's an EPK doing the rounds on Twitter about the making of the titles, in which Gunn said he wanted to "defeat the SKIP INTRO button". So that everyone would see the names of the people who worked hard on the show. A noble cause indeed, but I'm not sure whether people are watching in appreciation, bewilderment or gibbering terror.

Well, I won't be seeing it here in the UK for a while as there's no local distro (Sky - evil Murdoch-spawned scumbuckets that they are - have exclusive rights to HBO, and don't let anything they don't want slide around), and WHAT IN THE NAME OF SWEET FREYA IN ASGARD DID I JUST WATCH

Chic - At Last I Am Free

Star-Tels - Exterminator Man

Thoughts on TW's post:

I'm not a game dev, but an app dev and (back in the day) a bulletin board mod for a talk show. And have been on the receiving end, including being called a Nazi in a newspaper for banning "free debate and discussion". (ie: overt racism, sexism and deeply unpleasant jokes about cancer,amongst other things. Then again, if they didn't want that reported back to their boss, they should have taken note that we displayed their origin server address to them when they posted, which had the name of their newsroom on it). ...ahem. There are fine lines between fan appreciation, enthusiasm, participation, expectation, entitlement, activism and hate. Some people step over them now and then and can be gently nudged back where you need them. Some people bulldoze them. And some people are just trolls. Not taking this stuff personally is damn hard, especially when (a) you're not actually paid to deal with this stuff and (b) they think, say, and occasionally make legal claims that "the fans created this more than you did". I set the rules for the sandbox. They play in it. Without people playing, it doesn't work: when the kids play rough, it doesn't work either. And when they whine, I get a headache, and consider whether having these kids play in my back garden is what I want to be doing. (Though yelling GET OFF MY DAMN VIRTUAL LAWN tends to produce negative responses too...)

The Ronettes - Be My Baby Farewell to a true soul survivor, in every conceivable sense. Rest in light, Ronnie Bennett.

Slay Duggee - The Stick Song (That's probably enough of these isn't it)

OK Go - The Muppet Show

Helmet - Gigantor

Ramones - Spiderman Theme

Yo Gabba Gabba (and special guest) - Doctor Doctor

REM (and friends) - Happy Furry Monsters NB: they'd retired Shiny Happy People a few years before, so this was the last time the song was performed in any form. Also... I love that they made a Kate Pierson muppet.

I Fight Dragons - Heads Up, Hearts Down (Note: saw the keyboard line on this played live... on a heavily adapted Power Glove.)

Grinderman vs U.N.K.L.E - Hyper Worm Tamer