Random Stuff X: Something Weird

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Grad school is a totally different ballgame. Like the world's sleaziest used car salesman offering to stress you out daily for tens of thousands of dollars. 

[soyperson]

I go to one of the best high schools in Tennessee. It's not plain ol' public school; we get an hour for lunch (or at least we used to, it's on hiatus now 'cause some people did stupid stuff). But it's a good school.

[Quiver he/him]

Me: "I might go see Assassin's Creed"

Co-worker: "It's sitting at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes"

Me: "If I see one movie this year, it'll be Assassins Creed"

[Kaymyth she/her]

1 hour ago, Quiver said:

Me: "I might go see Assassin's Creed"

Co-worker: "It's sitting at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes"

Me: "If I see one movie this year, it'll be Assassins Creed"

Heh.  I have an amusing anecdote about @ThirdGen and his girlfriend.

ThirdGen's Girlfriend:  "This movie was so awesome!  It was JUST like the video game!"

ThirdGen:  (to me, later)  "It was terrible.  It was just like the video game."

[ThirdGen]

The director treats the story with the same reverence as the last movie he shot with Fassbender.  Which was fine before, when the story was literal Shakespeare.

[soyperson]

I haven't seen Assassin's Creed and I do not plan to. 

 

New discovery: if put at the right angle in one's mouth, guitar picks make a buzzing noise when you hum not unlike a kazoo.

Anybody bored/willing enough to let me attempt to entertain you with guitar on the Discord? I have nothing else to do except make eggs and do homework.

Edited January 4, 2017 by bleeder

[Sunbird she/her]

I haven't seen Assassin's Creed, but I would like to. (I haven't played any of the games, either, but I love the "parkour assassins with snazzy clothes" idea. Plus, MICHAEL FASSBENDER.)

[Oversleep]

2 hours ago, Quiver said:

Me: "I might go see Assassin's Creed"

Co-worker: "It's sitting at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes"

Me: "If I see one movie this year, it'll be Assassins Creed"

I don't care whether it's good or bad. I've played through first five games in a about 8 months (and I'm the kind of a guy who went and collected ALL. THE. FLAGS. in AC I where it was totally pointless. I also took pleasure in taking Ezio on sightseeing tours) and have been obsessed with them ever since (it was 2014/2015).

Edited January 4, 2017 by Oversleep

[Sunbird she/her]

I haven't seen Assassin's Creed, but I would like to. (I haven't played any of the games, either, but I love the "parkour assassins with snazzy clothes" idea. Plus, MICHAEL FASSBENDER.)

[Oversleep]

I'm routinely checking Brandon's reddit for new info and I have spent a lot of time reading through Theoryland but new signings are always a problem for me. I don't know how to keep track of info that pops out there without obsessively checking Events subforum. I am obsessed with Cosmere but I'm not that obsessed.

So I came across a reddit post summing up all the December 2016 WoBs and I thought I know all the important stuff and then it turned out I don't. And I don't have time to become more obsessed... I have to read all the WoBs about Sel right now, not compulsively look for new stuff. Is there a way to sort things on theoryland chronologically?

Since we're talking about theoryland: is there some guide/introduction to it? I have a lot of problems with it and I just use google (site:theoryland.com) to search for stuff.

EDIT: I know that there are those googledocs with transcripts out there. Perhaps a thread to aggregate them would be a good idea...

Edited January 5, 2017 by Oversleep

[soyperson]

So I was listening to Triptych again last night, just for the tears fun of it, and I realized something: I go to Desert Bluffs High School. 

DBHS is the initials of my school and I almost started laughing aloud at 10:30 PM when I realized that that would be Desert Bluffs' initials too. 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

51 minutes ago, bleeder said:

So I was listening to Triptych again last night, just for the tears fun of it, and I realized something: I go to Desert Bluffs High School. 

DBHS is the initials of my school and I almost started laughing aloud at 10:30 PM when I realized that that would be Desert Bluffs' initials too. 

I hope that school has lots of smiling faces!

[Quiver he/him]

I have my first driving lesson today.

So far, the best advice I've heard is "Don't hit things."

[Delightful]

2 hours ago, Quiver said:

I have my first driving lesson today.

So far, the best advice I've heard is "Don't hit things."

Wooooooo! Go Quiv!

It's a little scary, go slow, you'll be fine.  

[Sunbird she/her]

7 hours ago, Quiver said:

I have my first driving lesson today.

So far, the best advice I've heard is "Don't hit things."

I think the best driving advice I've ever gotten was "Don't assume that other drivers are going to follow traffic laws."

[Delightful]

4 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

I think the best driving advice I've ever gotten was "Don't assume that other drivers are going to follow traffic laws."

Oh yeah. "It's all the other idiots on the road you have to watch out for."

 

 

[Quiver he/him]

So, on a rambling comic side note...DC might Death in the Family into an animated film.

I think I need to talk about what a terrible idea this is. 

So, for those unaware,

Death in the Family is an 80's Batman story. It's one of the most notorious 80's stories, actually, because it was the storyline in which Jason Todd, Robin, died at the hands of the Joker.

And that? That was a big deal. It's a powerful moment which Batman media is drawn back to again and again, whether it's the gruesome fate of Tim Drake in Return of the Joker, or the costume marred with 'HAHA JOKES ON YOU BATMAN" in Dawn of Justice. It takes a premise which always floats in readers minds -that Batman is hugely irresponsible in allowing children to be his sidekicks- and runs it to it's grisly conclusion. It added a wealth of iconic imagery to the mythos, of the costumes being held in memorial at the Batcave, to Batman cradling Robin's body, to the Joker and the crowbar.

It's also a terrible comic.

The plot goes that Jason Todd wants to find his birth mother. He does, and she sells him out to the Joker. Okay, I can see the tragic potential in that; Robin meets his death trying to find out about his birth. And Jason has always been the impetuous Robin (at leat until Damien showed up), the one most likely to run in guns ablazin'. That helps absolve Bruce of some of the actual responsibility, while still letting him carry the emotional weight and self-recrimation. 

That weight is important, since the second half of the story is Batman going on a roaring rampage of revenge, to the point where Superman has to step in to stop Bruce from killing the Joker.

The Joker...who has been made the Iranian ambassador to the UN, and has brought a nuclear bomb to kill everyone.

...yeah, the second half of that story isn't really mentioned that much. Frankly, the way people talk about it, you'd think the book ended with Jason's death. 

Now, presumably, they would edit the story to streamline the ending and make it less awful. They'd also, probably, edit the earlier part of the story where the Joker bought a nuclear warhead to begin with. 

What that would leave you with is what people think of when they think of Death in the Family; Jason Todd being killed by the Joker. And animating that would be a waste of time.

That's the clincher for why a Death in the Family movie is a bad idea; we already have that moment done better. Under the Red Hood is a great animated Batman film, one which covers the major selling point of Jason's death, but offers a larger story spinning out of it. 

Sure, you lose the imagery of Superman, the custodian of Hope, helping his friend not to give into despair. And Batman's objection to killing the Joker is presented -and has always been- weak and unconvincing.

But Under the Red Hood uses Jason as more than just a punching bag. He's a dark reflection of Batman. He's a lost and wayward soul. And he's the crux of all kinds of fantastic moments. The fact that he forgives Bruce for what happened to him. The moment when he tears down the mobsters of Gotham. Playing everybody to get what he wants; Batman, the Joker, and him.

(To say nothing if the other characters in that film. The Joker is twisted as ever, a tad more brutish than the Hamill version, as befits the situation. "Whose got a camera? Can I get a picture with the crowbar?")

But even better? The book ends of that film. It opens with Jason dying. It ends with Jason's first days as Robin. The last line of that film is "This is the happiest day of my life."

And having seen how the movie plays out for him, the saddest part is that that happy, smiling kid is right. This is the happiest day of his life, because we see what happens to him. We see his death, his painful rebirth, his transformation into the Punisher of Gotham city. We see Jason riddled with the emotional trauma and baggage that comes from being associated with Batman's world.

In Death in a Family, Jason is a plot device. He motivates Batman, and serves as a bodycount.

In Under the Red Hood, Jason is a character with his own storyline, giving his story weight.

[The Invested Beard]

17 minutes ago, Quiver said:

So, on a rambling comic side note...DC might Death in the Family into an animated film.

I think I need to talk about what a terrible idea this is. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So, for those unaware,

Death in the Family is an 80's Batman story. It's one of the most notorious 80's stories, actually, because it was the storyline in which Jason Todd, Robin, died at the hands of the Joker.

And that? That was a big deal. It's a powerful moment which Batman media is drawn back to again and again, whether it's the gruesome fate of Tim Drake in Return of the Joker, or the costume marred with 'HAHA JOKES ON YOU BATMAN" in Dawn of Justice. It takes a premise which always floats in readers minds -that Batman is hugely irresponsible in allowing children to be his sidekicks- and runs it to it's grisly conclusion. It added a wealth of iconic imagery to the mythos, of the costumes being held in memorial at the Batcave, to Batman cradling Robin's body, to the Joker and the crowbar.

It's also a terrible comic.

The plot goes that Jason Todd wants to find his birth mother. He does, and she sells him out to the Joker. Okay, I can see the tragic potential in that; Robin meets his death trying to find out about his birth. And Jason has always been the impetuous Robin (at leat until Damien showed up), the one most likely to run in guns ablazin'. That helps absolve Bruce of some of the actual responsibility, while still letting him carry the emotional weight and self-recrimation. 

That weight is important, since the second half of the story is Batman going on a roaring rampage of revenge, to the point where Superman has to step in to stop Bruce from killing the Joker.

The Joker...who has been made the Iranian ambassador to the UN, and has brought a nuclear bomb to kill everyone.

...yeah, the second half of that story isn't really mentioned that much. Frankly, the way people talk about it, you'd think the book ended with Jason's death. 

Now, presumably, they would edit the story to streamline the ending and make it less awful. They'd also, probably, edit the earlier part of the story where the Joker bought a nuclear warhead to begin with. 

What that would leave you with is what people think of when they think of Death in the Family; Jason Todd being killed by the Joker. And animating that would be a waste of time.

That's the clincher for why a Death in the Family movie is a bad idea; we already have that moment done better. Under the Red Hood is a great animated Batman film, one which covers the major selling point of Jason's death, but offers a larger story spinning out of it. 

Sure, you lose the imagery of Superman, the custodian of Hope, helping his friend not to give into despair. And Batman's objection to killing the Joker is presented -and has always been- weak and unconvincing.

But Under the Red Hood uses Jason as more than just a punching bag. He's a dark reflection of Batman. He's a lost and wayward soul. And he's the crux of all kinds of fantastic moments. The fact that he forgives Bruce for what happened to him. The moment when he tears down the mobsters of Gotham. Playing everybody to get what he wants; Batman, the Joker, and him.

(To say nothing if the other characters in that film. The Joker is twisted as ever, a tad more brutish than the Hamill version, as befits the situation. "Whose got a camera? Can I get a picture with the crowbar?")

But even better? The book ends of that film. It opens with Jason dying. It ends with Jason's first days as Robin. The last line of that film is "This is the happiest day of my life."

And having seen how the movie plays out for him, the saddest part is that that happy, smiling kid is right. This is the happiest day of his life, because we see what happens to him. We see his death, his painful rebirth, his transformation into the Punisher of Gotham city. We see Jason riddled with the emotional trauma and baggage that comes from being associated with Batman's world.

In Death in a Family, Jason is a plot device. He motivates Batman, and serves as a bodycount.

In Under the Red Hood, Jason is a character with his own storyline, giving his story weight.

 

Yeah not to mention the original comic was literally a reader vote on whether Jason died or not. Since the readers hated him, he had to die. Weird gimmicky way to tell your story.

Edited January 5, 2017 by The Invested Beard

[Quiver he/him]

5 minutes ago, The Invested Beard said:

Yeah not to mention the original comic was literally a reader vote on whether Jason died or not. Since the readers hated him, he had to die. Weird gimmicky way to tell your story.

That too.

Death in the Family is just not a very good book. Concept is cool, execution is...not.

Similar complaints could be levelled at Death of the Family, actually. The Joker as the bogeyman of Gotham hiding under your bed, knowing all your secrets, is a neat concept  The Joker wearing his severed face like Leatherface, then slicing off the Batfamily's faces and serving them as food is...not. 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Quiver

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

1 minute ago, Quiver said:

That too.

Death in the Family is just not a very good book. Concept is cool, execution is...not.

Similar complaints could be levelled at Death of the Family, actually. The Joker as the bogeyman of Gotham hiding under your bed, knowing all your secrets, is a neat concept  The Joker wearing his severed face like Leatherface, then slicing off the Batfamily's faces and serving them as food is...not. 

I....I'd ask if that actually happened, but I've become convinced that comics editors believe there is no such thing as a bad idea.  

[Sunbird she/her]

3 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I....I'd ask if that actually happened, but I've become convinced that comics editors believe there is no such thing as a bad idea.  

Hollywood has a similar problem.

[Quiver he/him]

Just now, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I....I'd ask if that actually happened, but I've become convinced that comics editors believe there is no such thing as a bad idea.  

You want a panel? I can show you the panel.

It was, of course, revealed to be a massive fake out on the Jokers part. (The Batfamily's part. He actually had his own face cut off at the end of the New 52's Detective Comics #1. For...reasons?)

Now, cutting off Alfred's hand and implying that he might be an actual supernatural entity that has haunted Gotham for centuries...those were things that did happen.

Though again, the latter was gently walked back...though I think, as with a lot of Snyder's run, it's ambiguous enough that if you want the Joker to be Githam's literal Devil, you could do it. Snyder made his name as a horror writer, so a lot of his plots end on that uncertain "the end...or is it" line. 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

7 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

Hollywood has a similar problem.

Except Sharknado was tongue in cheek enough to know it had a terrible premise, and self aware enough to embrace the ridiculousness. 

6 minutes ago, Quiver said:

You want a panel? I can show you the panel.

It was, of course, revealed to be a massive fake out on the Jokers part. (The Batfamily's part. He actually had his own face cut off at the end of the New 52's Detective Comics #1. For...reasons?)

Now, cutting off Alfred's hand and implying that he might be an actual supernatural entity that has haunted Gotham for centuries...those were things that did happen.

Though again, the latter was gently walked back...though I think, as with a lot of Snyder's run, it's ambiguous enough that if you want the Joker to be Githam's literal Devil, you could do it. Snyder made his name as a horror writer, so a lot of his plots end on that uncertain "the end...or is it" line. 

I....really don't know what to say to that.  I guess there could be something worse than Hydra Cap.

[Quiver he/him]

25 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I....really don't know what to say to that.  I guess there could be something worse than Hydra Cap.

I feel like I should play Devil's Advocate and say that I think Hydra!Cap is a cool idea...for a What If story. 

Seeing how variations of a character would work? That's cool, and can highlight things about the real version of the character. And Steve's backstory has been so extensively re-written that Hydra!Cap IS just an alternate universe version of the character.

(I don't want to call it a retcon though, since the rewriting of the past is the entire point. We aren't learning a secret History of Steve Rogers that changes everything; the point of the story is that Steve has had his history changed by external forces, here are what those changes are and how they are affecting the modern day)

The problem is, rather than a one-off story, this is being pushed as 616!Rogers. If this was an AU!Steve, I think it would be a lot less controversial. The fact that it's the Steve, and is the only depiction of the character right now, is what tips it over the edge.

For comparision...there have been stories published about Superman where his rocket landed in Soviet Russia, on Apokolips, and in Nazi's Germany, and he grew up with those beliefs instead of Truth, Justice and the American Way. Those stories are interesting in that they shine a different light on Superman and show how he would react in situations which would be unthinkable...but they are always, solidly, not the "real" Superman. 

For Hydra!Cap...there is no "real" Steve right now. This is the real Steve now. And, like when Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker body and became the Superior Spider-man...it'll be undone. But just as fans were (understandably) bothered that their hero, the audience surrogate for many, was being taken if the board and being written as irresponsible and not a good hero...

Well, there are lots of reasons why Hydra!Cap is insulting and infuriating. But I do think one of them is the fact that there is no real Steve Rogers to balance it out. if you want a "good" Cap, you're forced to read Sam's book, which is...rather expressly political. To say nothing of the fact that Steve Rogers has his own fans who don't want a Captain America book, they want their Captain America. And they should be able to read him, without having it be this dark mirror version of the character.

EDIT Cool...is actually the wrong word. Hydra!Cap is interesting as a high concept tagline. A story where the world's greatest superhero is secretly the world's greatest supervillain, playing everyone like puppets abd moving pieces across the board, is a compelling concept. The fact that it's happening in the real universe is part of the gimmick -that this isn't an AU or dark future, this is the real world right now- but that is, obviously, really frustrating.

For a point of comparision... in X-Men, Sabertooth is currently a hero. But not because of any arc or character development. He got whammied by a magic spell, so he's good now. That is...ridiculously frustrating. Cap is in a similar situation. His current status quo isn't a thing that developed from the character; he got whammied by external forces. 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Quiver

[Kaymyth she/her]

38 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

Hollywood has a similar problem.

This sort of thing always makes me feel better about my writing.