Techwright

The Fresh Viz of Westview? I never really considered a season 2 as a possibility. WV was really about setting the stage for multiple tales to come, The Multiverse of Madness being first. Clearly the "Vision Mk II" story will be explored at some point, but if there's a dedicated Vison-Wanda storyline, it will probably be titled and pitched differently. The TV version has proudly concluded its broadcast day.

First off, nice catch on our fumble. Second, AoS is essentially what He Who Remains was explaining in Loki: they're a timeline that dovetails into everything the MCU does right up until the snap (blip). It's right at that point that there's a variance that shoots their universe into another branch on the timeline. Because no one blips out, I still maintain Thor went for the head, but I'll accept the argument that it was a combination of the changes to the big bad fight for the AoS as well as something the Avengers & Waukanda did differently. Perhaps Quill listened to reason on Titan... Naaah.

A good list. Peter McNicholl shows up once or twice as well, and... Adrian Pasdar, who is no stranger to the comic book format, has a meaty guest role over a couple of seasons. Patton Oswalt, too. I can't believe he was only in 9 episodes. It feels like...I don't know, maybe four times as many. Joel Stoffer, who has been in Stranger Things drew quite a following in his quirky guest role over a few seasons. Mark Dacascos, who hosted Iron Chef America and played arch villain Wo Fat on Hawaii Five-O also appeared. And then there are the guest appearances of characters from other Marvel TV and movie properties, the season 7 guest being my personal favorite.

Well that just floored me. "Square-jawed" is not what I think of when I consider Matt Lewis. "Chubby cheeked" came to mind. Fast forward to 32, and my not-so-square jaw hitting the floor. There's a couple pics out there on Google search that make me think he certainly looks the part for the next James Bond.

Hmm, I don't know gang...should I mention what part Gabriel Luna played? It might put Luminara over the edge. Yes, O'Mara has an interesting role in season 4. Man, I'm going to have to rewatch Agents of SHIELD for the third time now. Listen, if you do watch the series, just hang in there the first season. It was getting its legs. Season 1 Episode 17 (or 18?) is when they poured gas on their little fire.

There's a reason original ideas don't end up being the final product. A coworker reminded me that I've been carrying around a headcanon idea of the Borg in Star Trek for some time. This may be entirely destroyed by the currently playing Picard season 2, which I've not seen. I'd always wondered, back to when the Borg's first appearance, if the show creators had sat down and thought about the origins of their creation. In my thinking, the Borg might have been shown to be a creation to save a race or federation of races at some past point, something that backfired. In that concept, a war would have precipitated the creation of a new superweapon, a nanite infection that converted the enemy, one by one, into a growing army against the side they'd fought. To give governance to this monstrosity, one of the designer's people voluntarily became the first queen, with a conscious liberty the drones lacked. The hive was also given a mandate to learn anything new, especially technology, so that it might grow and adapt to any future threat. It proved wildly effective, but like some other superweapons, the creation was double-edged and turned on its creators, before reaching out into the greater Delta Quadrant.

Mentioning Evil Fitz is akin to the hyenas saying "Mufasa": fantastic chills run down your spine. Calculating, cold, lacking empathy but not passion, Dr. Fitz is a cross between Joseph Mengele and Palpatine, just minus the force powers. Iain showed some serious acting chops during the full course of Agents of SHIELD, and season 4, where Evil Fitz shows up, is usually a fan favorite. The season is also fueled by the astonishing acting of guest star Mallory Janson (of whom Hollywood should really take note), and solid performances by guest stars Jason O'Mara, John Hanna, and Gabriel Luna.

It is my understanding that she will join Capt. Marvel in the upcoming movie. As will Photon. I've never read the comics with Ms Marvel in them. My only knowledge of the character comes from her several animated appearances, including in the Avengers video game. Within that limitation, I've never been a fan of the character. She falls within what I term the "Yakky Duck character". That is, a character deliberately added by the creators to run their mouth incessantly, usually with unnecessary dialog, to the point of being obnoxious. ("Yakky Duck" being a reference to "Yakky Doodle" the Hanna-Barbera poster-child example of the character type.) To be fair, a bit of this got ironed out in the Avengers video game, where I found it a tad more palatable. Still not a fan. That said, I watched the trailer and was confused out by the addition of a mcguffin of power and a radically different power sent. It came across like they don't trust their character as it stood to be interesting and had to dump a lot of bling in to fancy her up. If, however, as the story advance, the mcguffin of power proves to be something in a broader storyline sense, like the Tesseract proving to be actually a Power Stone, something that Kamala will eventually set aside or lose, and focus on her own ability, then I'd just label the trailer as confusing, and not degrading to the character. As to her similarity to Mr. Fantastic, I've always felt how she was presented had a fundamental difference. Ms Marvel's "embiggen" power not only stretches, there's a mass alteration. So she's just not reaching out to punch a villain, she's stretching out with a fist like a wrecking ball to smash him. Last I knew, and its been years since I read Fantastic Four comics, Reed Richards could stretch, and apparently had some off-the-scale tensile strength, but not a mass shifting nature. If the MCU can support several super soldiers, similar-but-slightly-different Ant-Man and Wasp, and two Hawkeyes, I see no reason to change Ms Marvel just because Reed Richards is similar.

I expect a notable uptick in fresh hobo players...sorry, transient rail aficionados....any day now. Frankly, I'd love to post invites on social media, but my Facebook friends are mostly the types who raise eyebrows at gamers. Our mutual interests lie elsewhere. My only other social media LinkedIn, likewise would not make such a great soapbox podium for promoting the game. I have been promoting it among my coworkers at the two companies where I've worked since returning to the game, but other than water cooler chat interest, including from those who played the game previously, they're far more interested in hot new games.

Would reading only grim children's books and only washing dark clothing count as potential regrets? Wait a sec..."going about his day?" 😕

Oscar-winning actor William Hurt passed away March 13 of cancer. In a body of significant work, I'd point out two that qualify for this forum: Heroic Duke Leto Atreides in the the cable TV version of Dune. Manipulative rogue General (Later Secretary of State) Thaddeus Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Dune, despite it looking like a limited budget work, Hurt managed to breath life and humanity in Duke Leto in a way his predecessor in the Dune movie of the 1980s was not able to (or didn't have the minutes to do so). I knew Leto would have a limited roll in the work, but I found myself wishing Hurt had more to do. Thaddeus Ross is always a pain in the neck regardless of the medium, and Hurt captured that well, first as General Ross in the Hulk movie that belatedly was accepted into the MCU, and later as the promoted Secretary of State that was such a snake, manipulating the story to guilt the Avengers into signing the Accords and force them under his patronizing command. I'd heard through the rumor mill a while back that the MCU planners were looking forward to a third conversion of Ross, turning him into the Red Hulk. I wondered about that at the time, knowing Hurt was approaching his 70's. I thought it an uncomfortable risk to plan distantly for a character whose actor might not be able to perform the role when they were ready for it, and might not even be alive. I wasn't aware that he was also battling cancer. I don't know if Red Hulk (and Hurt?) will show up in She-Hulk. I wonder if the MCU will recast the role to gain the Red Hulk, and possibly continue the emotional button pushing of Ross, or like Black Panther, will they retire the role? Hurt was very good in the role, but like I said regarding the decision about Black Panther: the character should survive the actor. https://variety.com/2022/film/news/william-hurt-dead-kiss-of-the-spider-woman-1235203576/

Is that an actual thing or just a colorful descriptive? If it is, how high does the chart go and how are the ranks defined? Southern boy asking. I spent 3 winters in Indianapolis back in the late 90s, but don't recall any meterings other than "20 inches" for the blizzard of Dec 31, 1998.

Oh, I also forgot Kenobi's great fall during Order 66. As much as I loathed Episode VIII, I have to say I was not put out to see that moment on screen. I was genuinely puzzled by others' negative reactions. Force wielders can literally do anything. The question has never been "can they do it", it has been "have they figured out how to do it, and have they prepared properly". Oh, and apparently, "do they have the midichlorian count to do it?" She's a Skywalker. She does...or did. 😕

Oh, that's easy. Episodes VII, VIII, and IX never happened. It was all a bad dream and it all went away when Patrick Duffy stepped out of a shower somewhere. 😉 I know a lot of people have it headcanon that Mace Windu survived the fall out Palpatine's window and will return at some point. I rolled my eyes at first, but then remembered that surviving falls from great heights, often while crippled, is actually a thing in Star Wars. Luke, Maul, and Palpatine all survived (more or less) great falls after being badly injured. Ahsoka has now survived falling outside a crashing starship. Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc pit. Okay, that wasn't a long fall, but it certainly was a terrifying, seemingly fatal one. There's probably others I could think of if I took the time. So yeah, people's headcanon that Windu survives rush hour sky traffic in a grand canyon of steel, one-handed might just be a thing. Oh, actually I do have one headcanon that I firmly hold to: The Stargate franchise. I firmly contend that the Goa'uld have been around so long, there's no way that all of them were wiped out by the end. I posit that there was another break-away group of snakeheads who opted to go find a galaxy or galaxies of their own to plunder and pillage, leaving Ra and the System Lords (there's a band title!) for centuries, if not millenia. When the renegades eventually do return, it will be to overthrow Ra, having claimed, in their usually parasitic ways, technology more powerful than anything seen by the Asgardians. Of course, they'll find the System Lords wiped out, and upon making inquiries as to who could do this, they'll find that Stargate Command , holders of all technology Asgardian and Ancient, is a threat. Cue Stargate: The Next Generation.

Isaacs' characters are not just villains, they're interesting villains. Grand Inquisitor was one of those. I found myself wishing we'd have a mini-series on him, just to fill in the details on his fall-from-grace backstory. I wasn't too happy that the role ended so soon, save for the one brief, important cameo, and that most of the villain airtime went to less-than-thrilling characters (at least until Thrawn showed up). Isaacs was also, IMHO, one of the few bright spots on season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery, and I finally got a chance to see him play both heroic and villainous roles.

Sorry, the email system won't allow any attachment over 10 mb Lbs.

That moment one realizes that Condorman is a Disney property and could therefore show up in the Marvel Multiverse. 😁 That movie showed up the first year or two after the Disney Channel premiered on cable TV. I watched it every chance I got. The movie came out in 1981 and camp comedy was still a big thing. I was always amazed that Michael Crawford (who was known more for Hello, Dolly back then) was the star and that Oliver Reed, a man who looked more comfortable in Shakespearean-caliber roles, was the big bad. I'd be up for a reboot, if they tightened it up. With modern Disney imagineering, backed by their sibling Marvel, it could be a lot of fun. I wonder what 30-something actor would make good casting in the role, though? Rupert Grint, perhaps?

Deborah Chow is directing/producing this, and she directed 2 of the Mandalorian episodes. So yeah, a Mando alumnus is at the helm. Color me intrigued. I'd watch it anyway just to see Obi-Wan played by Ewan again. I'm going to have to get used to the Grand Inquisitor. I'd fully expected Jason Isaacs, his animation voice actor and model, to play him on any live action flashbacks, and I'm saddened to not see him. I wonder what happened? Schedule conflict perhaps? I'm also not a fan of the new look of the Grand Inquisitor. Pau'ans are supposed to be thin and elongated, and their craniums are as well. This was seen both in Star Wars: Rebels with the Grand Inquisitor's first appearances onscreen, as well as in Revenge of the Sith, where several Pau'ans were seen. Nothing against Rupert Friend, but it looks like they gave him a small football helmet to wear under a latex skullcap. It's an odd departure from source material for something that otherwise looks like it took great pains to get everything correct. Fifth Brother looks pretty good, though he seems very slight in comparison to the stocky, almost overweight look he had in Rebels. Other than those concerns, I'm definitely intrigued. Reva is brand new to the Star Wars universe. A quick search on the web suggests that she will be Third Sister. Reva must be her name from before she became an inquisitor, just like Trilla became Second Sister in Jedi: Fallen Order. Looks like we're going to get to see a live action Nal Hutta. I don't think we've had such up to this point. This probably means Hutts will show up, and Hutts during the Empire years suggests an appearance by Jabba. We've never seen Jabba off Tatooine before. I wonder if we'll see him and whether it will be on Tatooine or elsewhere. Incidentally, Nal Hutta's appearance suggests a solution to how Kenobi can be spotted without giving away his Tatooine hiding place to Vader. If, as Ewan strongly hinted in the first teaser we'll get to see Kenobi and Vader lock blades again, then Kenobi will have to be off Tatooine. Looks like we'll also get to see the underwater Inquisitorius from the canon game Jedi: Fallen Order. I can only hope Cameron Monaghan makes a cameo appearance before jetting off into J:FO2, though I suspect the latter will be set before the events of Obi-wan Kenobi, so probably they won't want to spoil the fate of Cal Kestus or any of his friends. We did see a BD-1 droid on Tatooine in post-Original Trilogy days, though, so there may be a connection somewhere.

Well, there is the original Casino Royale with Peter Sellers and David Niven. It's been decades since I saw it, so I don't recall if it was a good spoof. Oh, and then there's The Private Eyes, the Don Knotts/Tim Conway send up of the murder mystery genre. It was filmed about an hour from my home, and I love watching it just to see all the rooms of the Biltmore Mansion that were used. Well that, and all the zany ways Conway messes up homing pigeons' lives. Another classic send-up of the same genre is Murder By Death. Despite it being star-packed, I don't think it is on par with The Private Eyes. MBD spoofs many famous literary characters. It in turn was imitated by a made for TV movie, Murder Can Hurt You, which parodied all the popular TV detective shows up to that point. EDIT: Just remembered a bizarre film that tried to spoof both westerns and Looney Toons at the same time, in live action: The Villain. Star-packed, with Kirk Douglas, Arnold Schwartzneggar, and Anne-Margret headlining. Haven't seen it in 30 years or more, but just the crazy idea of an actor of Kirk Douglas' Oscar caliber basically taking on the role of Wile E. Coyote had me glued to the screen, and even cracking up laughing. I was still not old and jaded, though. Not sure how I'd react now.

Are you referring to rotating so you can see the face of your character and what's behind him? If so, I press down on the mouse wheel and hold. I can then move the mouse to rotate the camera. Releasing the wheel will freeze the camera into position. If you need to quickly reset it, hit the Page Down key on a standard keyboard.

Do what you love good sir/madame/small furry creature from Alpha Centauri. Tarnished brass is fine, or perhaps oiled brass? I was merely providing a possible option.

I'd love to hear what you think of Tucci's performance in the comedy. And I'll be checking out his Italy broadcasts. I'm pleased, but not really not surprised he's doing this. He's had a history of a love of fine cooking. It's why he made Big Night and I suspect why he did Julie & Julia. And you need not worry about my hunger. My sister married into a Sicilian family of restaurateurs. Such challenges are well known to me now. Do worry for my waistline though.

This one think about, I must. First thing that comes to mind is the superspy romp Undercover Blues with Dennis Quaid, Kathleen Turner, and Stanley Tucci. It's not a blistering satire of its genre like Airplane was, but it has its moments. Tucci had me, and everyone I've shown it to, gasping for breath laughing. As overconfident street thug Muerte, whose vendetta gets him sucked into a superspy game he doesn't understand, Tucci's slapstick skills rival the old masters. Quaid was a perfect foil for him. The movie is not deep, but its one of my guilty pleasures.

I've only recently started dual build on my energy/energy blaster. I love the powersets, but having to slot kb-to-kd on everything for the good of the team reduces his full potential. The second build is a build to remove those restrictions, embrace KB, and give sets one more slot to work with. I'll probably use that for soloing or in events so crowded it doesn't matter, like mothership raids. I do see potential in a dual build for my warshade. I've just not started it.

Just to be contrary... 😛 For my pick I'll say Marvel's Random. He may look like a blaster here, but he literally adapted to most any situation: