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Jun. 7th, 2019 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Things I found funny on DW...which admittedly doesn't say much for my sense of humor does it? Or is demonstrative for how dark and biting it can be?
* "you should never throw a bucket of flaming kerosene out the front door without first checking to make sure your mother hasn't unexpectedly returned."
LOL. May depend on how you feel about your mother?
* "Waking Up at 4 A.M. Every Day Is the Key to Success. Or to Getting a Cold."
This would explain why various people I work with seem to have perpetual colds.
* "Alton Brown's Good Eats Is Returning After Seven Years to Save Summer TV"
I didn't realize it needed to be saved. And by Alton Brown of all people?
*" Big Little Lies season 2 is brilliantly acted and all over the place"
Sort of like S1 and most of Lian Moriarity's books. And...wait, this is the same review I read from critics on Good Omens, Game of Thrones, and Dark Phoenix. Is it just me, or are the critics struggling for new soundbites?
2. There's a streaming service that contains filmed Broadway shows, entitled Broadway HD on Roku...whoa. And apparently there's a theater fandom???
I must find.
Yes, I'm an incorrigible theater geek. You know this. I know this. Let's move on.
3. Looked at Rotten Tomatoes to get a feel for Dark Phoenix's reception, then I jumped over to see how they ranked "Bumble Bee" which was the cheesy and insanely bad Transformers film that I watched via "On Demand" last weekend. Guess what?
Their rating with a 94% fresh tomato scale -- eh, no. I just lost all respect for you as a source for reviews.
Dark Phoenix reviews are all over the place, which is par for the course for X-men films. They've always been weirdly reviewed. I don't think the boy critics know how to handle the X-men, which is a female superhero heavy franchise -- unlike the Avengers, there's actually more interesting women characters in the franchise than male characters, and the characters are weird, queer, and ambiguous on the moral scale. Also at times, activists turned pseudo-terrorists against an authoritarian government that well, employs teams like the Avengers. SHIELD and THE AVENGERS are the bad guys in the X-men comic verse.
I remember when I was much younger, way back in the 1980s, hunting for any cartoon, anything with X-men. You could find the others, but not the X-men. It wasn't until the 1990s that we got a really weird animated series, with weird comic art, and strangely ret-conned stories that completely changed the characters in the books.
Then came the movies -- which also did not fit any of the characters in the books.
Outside of maybe Wolverine, Magneto and Xavier, the characters in the films did not resemble the books at all. And actually of those three? I think Michael Fassbender's came closest. Ian McKellan is not the Magneto I know from the comics. And James Patrick Stewart came closest to Xavier. Cyclops - character assassination. Jean Grey? Ditto. White Queen? Ditto. Wolverine -- Jackman nailed him, except for one thing? Wolverine is 5 foot or possibly 4 foot ten. He's called the runt. OR Wolverine -- a small spiky beast from Canada, similar to a Tasamian Devil. He's not 6'2. But other than that -- Jackman nailed him and made him appealing, he also hijacked the series -- which annoyed me. Downy Jr did a better job with The Avengers.
Anyhow, getting a decent X-men film is hard. That said, I liked all of them except for two -- X-men Last Stand and Wolverine Origin.
Ranking X-films?
1. Logan
2. Days of Future Past
3. X-men United
4. X-men First Class
5. The Wolverine
6. The X-men
7. X-men Apocalypse -- which I liked better than most people did. Because it introduces various beloved characters quite well. Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, and Jean Grey.
8. X-men Last Stand/Wolverine Origins
Note - I would rank Logan and Days of Future Past up there with the best superhero flicks of all time.
Over-time, I've slowly come to the conclusion that the Batman films are overrated. For one thing, I have not managed to rewatch any of them. Saw them once, that was enough. I found all of them boring upon an attempt to re-watch. Why? Because what Marvel did right and the Batman franchise did wrong -- is give the spotlight to the heroes not the villains. In the Batman films -- the spotlight is hogged by the villains. It's more a villain origin tale. Batman sort of falls into the background.
Superman is slightly better -- but again, the villain is more interesting. That's the problem with the DC verse -- the villains are more developed than the heroes.
It's why the films aren't that re-watchable. (And yes, I've seen all of them, many in movie theaters.)
There's a reason the MCU is doing better in theaters, it's more fun and rewatchable.
4. Speaking of X-men ...bloody Marvel is rebooting the comic franchise again. (I'm not really that surprised by this -- I knew they'd do that once they regained the movie rights. Also, the current story is clearly leading in that direction. But. Damn. Again?)
Dear Marvel, please stop rebooting the X-men comics. They bloody difficult to follow as it is. And honestly, all your readers truly care about is the characters. Stop killing them off and bringing them back, and rebooting them.
A little consistency, would be appreciated. Also not as many books to follow, and cheaper ones.
Thank you,
Your devout but extremely frustrated readership.
To date -- Marvel has rebooted the X-men about twenty times. The writers and artists get bored or pulled to another title, new writers and artists jump on and don't like the world or the story to date (because it has either undoubtedly jumped the shark at this point or become insanely controversial) and feel the need to reboot or fix it. Granted they aren't wrong most of time, and it does require fixing..because the X-men have jumped the proverbial shark at least fifteen times over the years. It's a long running soap operaish superhero serial -- what do you expect? Also the X-men are an extremely controversial comic that has a tendency to appall and offend the very audience that adores them.
Apparently one artist felt the need to hide Islamic protest quotes in the artwork of X-men Gold. Which I found sort of silly and rather funny. Only in the X-men. I surprised it hasn't happened more often.
And recently, a few fans got upset or offended with the killing of a side character, who for reasons that escape me, they thought was representative of queer or transgender people and a political message. Why someone who is queer or trans would decide that a mutant that turns into a werewolf is a metaphor for transgender or being queer (and no, I'm not using these interchangeably, those are the two groups of fans that complained) -- I don't know. Also, why anyone would consider Wolverine of all people as a metaphor for queer or transgender is also beyond me. Folks? Really?
Honestly, I read the comic and while I can see that sort of thing in pop culture and media, it wasn't here. The fans are projecting and without any logic or basis whatsoever.
People are interesting -- particularly fans -- in that they get terribly myopic about what they love, and seldom see beyond their own limited perception. They are also convinced their perception is correct. It may not be. We bring our own baggage to stuff. Also our gut and physical ailments. And our brain likes to tell us lies and make up stories. The human brain is a twisted messed up thing.
A fan's favorite character can do now wrong, is underutilized, and horrible actions are justified, while their least favorite characters are overused and have not been punished enough. And if you question their logic -- you are a nasty bully. Also, if the artwork is not representative of their experience, their issues, and their identity or political views in a way that validates their world view -- it's an offensive piece of crap that must be boycotted at all costs. And if you don't agree with them? You are evil and back such horrible things. (Honestly you may not see it and just disagree.) The internet has, unfortunately, made this attitude worse. You think it would be the opposite, because we are after all exposed to a wide and diverse number of views on the topic. But alas no. People tend to be, for the most part, stubborn about their views, and heavily invested in them.
This by the way is not isolated to the comic book fandom.
And oh, they do have their favorites and least favorites, and they are very vocal about them and convinced that of course EVERYONE agrees with them OR that they are a disenfranchised minority view, whoa is me. It's one or the other.
My favorite quote of the week? "You do not know EVERYONE."
I thought of this when I saw a youtube rant about 10 reasons why "everyone" hates Cyclops. (Eh, no, maybe a few thousand if that. For one thing not everyone knows who the character is, and two, there's quite a few people including the writers who adore him and he won a twitter poll recently. Plus you are on youtube, so..)
Human beings like to exaggerate and tend to be prone to hyperbole.
* "you should never throw a bucket of flaming kerosene out the front door without first checking to make sure your mother hasn't unexpectedly returned."
LOL. May depend on how you feel about your mother?
* "Waking Up at 4 A.M. Every Day Is the Key to Success. Or to Getting a Cold."
This would explain why various people I work with seem to have perpetual colds.
* "Alton Brown's Good Eats Is Returning After Seven Years to Save Summer TV"
I didn't realize it needed to be saved. And by Alton Brown of all people?
*" Big Little Lies season 2 is brilliantly acted and all over the place"
Sort of like S1 and most of Lian Moriarity's books. And...wait, this is the same review I read from critics on Good Omens, Game of Thrones, and Dark Phoenix. Is it just me, or are the critics struggling for new soundbites?
2. There's a streaming service that contains filmed Broadway shows, entitled Broadway HD on Roku...whoa. And apparently there's a theater fandom???
I must find.
Yes, I'm an incorrigible theater geek. You know this. I know this. Let's move on.
3. Looked at Rotten Tomatoes to get a feel for Dark Phoenix's reception, then I jumped over to see how they ranked "Bumble Bee" which was the cheesy and insanely bad Transformers film that I watched via "On Demand" last weekend. Guess what?
Their rating with a 94% fresh tomato scale -- eh, no. I just lost all respect for you as a source for reviews.
Dark Phoenix reviews are all over the place, which is par for the course for X-men films. They've always been weirdly reviewed. I don't think the boy critics know how to handle the X-men, which is a female superhero heavy franchise -- unlike the Avengers, there's actually more interesting women characters in the franchise than male characters, and the characters are weird, queer, and ambiguous on the moral scale. Also at times, activists turned pseudo-terrorists against an authoritarian government that well, employs teams like the Avengers. SHIELD and THE AVENGERS are the bad guys in the X-men comic verse.
I remember when I was much younger, way back in the 1980s, hunting for any cartoon, anything with X-men. You could find the others, but not the X-men. It wasn't until the 1990s that we got a really weird animated series, with weird comic art, and strangely ret-conned stories that completely changed the characters in the books.
Then came the movies -- which also did not fit any of the characters in the books.
Outside of maybe Wolverine, Magneto and Xavier, the characters in the films did not resemble the books at all. And actually of those three? I think Michael Fassbender's came closest. Ian McKellan is not the Magneto I know from the comics. And James Patrick Stewart came closest to Xavier. Cyclops - character assassination. Jean Grey? Ditto. White Queen? Ditto. Wolverine -- Jackman nailed him, except for one thing? Wolverine is 5 foot or possibly 4 foot ten. He's called the runt. OR Wolverine -- a small spiky beast from Canada, similar to a Tasamian Devil. He's not 6'2. But other than that -- Jackman nailed him and made him appealing, he also hijacked the series -- which annoyed me. Downy Jr did a better job with The Avengers.
Anyhow, getting a decent X-men film is hard. That said, I liked all of them except for two -- X-men Last Stand and Wolverine Origin.
Ranking X-films?
1. Logan
2. Days of Future Past
3. X-men United
4. X-men First Class
5. The Wolverine
6. The X-men
7. X-men Apocalypse -- which I liked better than most people did. Because it introduces various beloved characters quite well. Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, and Jean Grey.
8. X-men Last Stand/Wolverine Origins
Note - I would rank Logan and Days of Future Past up there with the best superhero flicks of all time.
Over-time, I've slowly come to the conclusion that the Batman films are overrated. For one thing, I have not managed to rewatch any of them. Saw them once, that was enough. I found all of them boring upon an attempt to re-watch. Why? Because what Marvel did right and the Batman franchise did wrong -- is give the spotlight to the heroes not the villains. In the Batman films -- the spotlight is hogged by the villains. It's more a villain origin tale. Batman sort of falls into the background.
Superman is slightly better -- but again, the villain is more interesting. That's the problem with the DC verse -- the villains are more developed than the heroes.
It's why the films aren't that re-watchable. (And yes, I've seen all of them, many in movie theaters.)
There's a reason the MCU is doing better in theaters, it's more fun and rewatchable.
4. Speaking of X-men ...bloody Marvel is rebooting the comic franchise again. (I'm not really that surprised by this -- I knew they'd do that once they regained the movie rights. Also, the current story is clearly leading in that direction. But. Damn. Again?)
Dear Marvel, please stop rebooting the X-men comics. They bloody difficult to follow as it is. And honestly, all your readers truly care about is the characters. Stop killing them off and bringing them back, and rebooting them.
A little consistency, would be appreciated. Also not as many books to follow, and cheaper ones.
Thank you,
Your devout but extremely frustrated readership.
To date -- Marvel has rebooted the X-men about twenty times. The writers and artists get bored or pulled to another title, new writers and artists jump on and don't like the world or the story to date (because it has either undoubtedly jumped the shark at this point or become insanely controversial) and feel the need to reboot or fix it. Granted they aren't wrong most of time, and it does require fixing..because the X-men have jumped the proverbial shark at least fifteen times over the years. It's a long running soap operaish superhero serial -- what do you expect? Also the X-men are an extremely controversial comic that has a tendency to appall and offend the very audience that adores them.
Apparently one artist felt the need to hide Islamic protest quotes in the artwork of X-men Gold. Which I found sort of silly and rather funny. Only in the X-men. I surprised it hasn't happened more often.
And recently, a few fans got upset or offended with the killing of a side character, who for reasons that escape me, they thought was representative of queer or transgender people and a political message. Why someone who is queer or trans would decide that a mutant that turns into a werewolf is a metaphor for transgender or being queer (and no, I'm not using these interchangeably, those are the two groups of fans that complained) -- I don't know. Also, why anyone would consider Wolverine of all people as a metaphor for queer or transgender is also beyond me. Folks? Really?
Honestly, I read the comic and while I can see that sort of thing in pop culture and media, it wasn't here. The fans are projecting and without any logic or basis whatsoever.
People are interesting -- particularly fans -- in that they get terribly myopic about what they love, and seldom see beyond their own limited perception. They are also convinced their perception is correct. It may not be. We bring our own baggage to stuff. Also our gut and physical ailments. And our brain likes to tell us lies and make up stories. The human brain is a twisted messed up thing.
A fan's favorite character can do now wrong, is underutilized, and horrible actions are justified, while their least favorite characters are overused and have not been punished enough. And if you question their logic -- you are a nasty bully. Also, if the artwork is not representative of their experience, their issues, and their identity or political views in a way that validates their world view -- it's an offensive piece of crap that must be boycotted at all costs. And if you don't agree with them? You are evil and back such horrible things. (Honestly you may not see it and just disagree.) The internet has, unfortunately, made this attitude worse. You think it would be the opposite, because we are after all exposed to a wide and diverse number of views on the topic. But alas no. People tend to be, for the most part, stubborn about their views, and heavily invested in them.
This by the way is not isolated to the comic book fandom.
And oh, they do have their favorites and least favorites, and they are very vocal about them and convinced that of course EVERYONE agrees with them OR that they are a disenfranchised minority view, whoa is me. It's one or the other.
My favorite quote of the week? "You do not know EVERYONE."
I thought of this when I saw a youtube rant about 10 reasons why "everyone" hates Cyclops. (Eh, no, maybe a few thousand if that. For one thing not everyone knows who the character is, and two, there's quite a few people including the writers who adore him and he won a twitter poll recently. Plus you are on youtube, so..)
Human beings like to exaggerate and tend to be prone to hyperbole.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-08 06:55 pm (UTC)I think the problem with social media discourse and email is the instant or quick response time. Unlike letters or other forms -- we don't have time to re-read and ponder prior to posting something, that upon re-read comes across not quite as intended. What sounds perfectly fine in my head doesn't always sound that way outside of it.
Also, it is very easy to be a jerk or an idiot online. Much harder to be mindful or kind, I've discovered. I'm on one fanboard on FB, which the moderators created after being bullied on other boards. They decided to make it closed, private, and with about five or six hard rules. No swearing, no attacking of actors or posters (characters yes, actors, no), no posting of false spoilers or promotional ads (ie spam), no politics and no religion. Smart.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-08 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-08 10:00 pm (UTC)