Drifter

So you're deleting entire birthday threads now like they never existed... that's a little D-baggy... not sure who's being the more passive aggressive here... something to think about... so much for reminiscing... less and less left...

Found this video very charming

Harlan Ellison, Award-Winning Speculative Fiction And TV Writer, Dead At 84 This is another one that hurts. One of the Greatest Sci-fi writers ever... it's hard to say anything about the guy without selling him short. He seemed to be everywhere, worked with everyone and had his fingers in everything. A man of immense vision and a massive pain in the ass. "Contentious" doesn't even come close, to hear even his admirers describe him, but many, including myself, still found him endearing. Beloved for his work, There was lot. It seemed that at every pivotal moment in the development of the scifi/fantasy genre he was there and now that he's gone, the future doesn't seem as full as it should be.

Hey, I have all 3 Batman vs. Predator series in individual first run print and graphic novel form... and they all made as much sense if not more than most of the 'official' films. I don't expect there to be a 'canon' to this franchise.

yeah, it's not like the creators ever described their efforts as 'a spiritual journey' and encouraged people to make an emotional commitment to the whole franchise... that sounded way to snarky and bitter... how about: What's to get upset about? When did the Aliens and Predator franchises ever pretend to make sense? They try and crank that crazy-dial to 11 every chance they get. Hell, we're just one massive space-fleet battle away from the sci-fi insanity trifecta with these films.

You know, I find this attitude rather bizarre for a bunch of convention-goers.

Well, academically, it kinda is important: an actual cultural milestone. Star Wars literally jump-started modern fandom. There were always authors and series with cult followings, Asimov, Tolkien, etc. but it was the commercial success of Star Trek that brought them into the forefront of popular culture. Heck, it wasn't until after the success of the first film that Roddenberry was able to convince studios that the torch-bearers of Star Trek were a viable market and was able to engineer a resurgence. Star Wars is the template and artists, writers and media conglomerates have been trying to emulate that success ever since. It's all rather quite fascinating. At work now, I'll get back to baytor in a bit. It's a good trope, if you don't have the time a good short example you should be able to Youtube, Babylon 5 Season 4 finale The Deconstruction of Falling Stars one of the vignettes with two monks discussing things is a good portrayal of the premise and theme.

It's guaranteed to make bank ...though personally I would still like to see Spidey kick around the afterlife with two dumbass rockers in tow

That's the brilliance of replacing them with the cat and dogs. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey 40 million on a 1993 budget with a 87% on rotten tomatoes. A similar return on today's budget and It's guaranteed box-office gold!

Spider-man's Bogus Journey Home There, I fixed it, happy now? Trade-in the two dumbass musicians and give him a fucking Cat and two Dogs as sidekicks and it's a guaranteed moneymaker.

I suppose I say I kinda do and don't give a fuck about this new series. I both want to and I can't, which makes me sad. This new series wants to be Star Wars so bad that it's clubbed it over the head and is wearing it's face in some sick pantomime. I do give a fuck over how I don't feel I give a fuck when I feel I want to give a fuck. Like I've been denied giving a fuck and am very unhappy about being blue-balled. I don't give enough of a fuck that I feel I should. A diet fuck, all the feels, half the cares. At this point, I'm just in it to improve my communications skills. Can I properly convey the delicate balance and irony of distasteful disappointment and retributive indifference? Even if the 'splitting of the fandom' was unintentional, their response of "We've created division and strife amongst the fanbase, therefore we must be creating powerful art. We're gritty, grr!" is as off-putting as it is tone-deaf and not a great sign for the future of this franchise. I admit I was overzealous in pointing this out, but who doesn't love to get to say "I fucking called it?" Several properties since the release of The Last Jedi have had lackluster performances, while there have been no reviews for the second season of Forces of Destiny and Resistance hasn't premiered yet, I do know several game expansions have not performed well, even in the face of improved quality. Reasons why are varied and hard to pin down, but while the over-saturation of the franchise or fucking EA may be a primary driver, I will also point out the mass psychology of the fanbase, and how many of the more die-hard fans that were the targets of these products have vocally expressed recently feeling burned by the powers-that-be and that, that may be playing a larger part in the drop off in interest than many care to admit. I am also familiar with the tropes of how the protagonists need to be beaten low for them to have a larger triumph later and I have no issue in The Las Jedi being the second darker entry into the new series. What I have been questioning all along is the choice of the writers to not base the premise of these films - as shown in the previous film The Force Awakens and now doubled-down on by The Last Jedi - not to base the premise and setting on the ending of Return of the Jedi. The actions and consequences, trials and tribulations, the entire meaning of the first trilogy has been rendered so moot by this new series that if you kept absolutely everything the same and just changed the names of a few characters you could have set these new movies hundreds or thousands of years after the first films and it would have made just as much sense, probably more. I also have no doubt that the director was in some way making a dig at his detractors, but in this day and age... what happens if the fans raise enough money? Also, the mere fact that such a thing like this exists in the first place says a lot. I however, don't believe, as you've intimated, that it is because a bunch of homophobes and misogynists are pissed. You seem focused on the obnoxious minority of Dude-bros, Bigots, and Space-Nazi wannabees and equating any criticism of these new films with approval of the shit they say. Not so. And I too have been concerned for some time that the evil empire has been undergoing some kind of PR image rehabilitation, where they're literally genocidal, there are defenders of the dark side, and how 'a different point of view' has been co-opted from justifying semantic interpretations to deliberately misinterpreting facts with no regards to morality and principles. This is why I dislike all that bullshit about 'Gray Morality' and 'Balance' which are all well and good, but when you start giving cover to a bunch of homicidal, gay-bashing, sexist, xenophobic fascists, you've done fucked up. As for 'deeper meaning' I'm just generally upset that either unintentional or by design, I have been presented with a benign but annoying choice over something that I took great joy in; and that it has been so poorly handled that I'm actually putting undue effort into resolving a rather pathetic internal conflict over the premise of a fucking film series. Why is this important at all? For me, it's simply because something I've enjoyed when I was young, a fictional story that entertained me and portrayed virtues that I admire, has been dealt a disservice. For others, who fucking knows; the need for myth is a powerful instinct and anything that inspires it's own religion shouldn't be dismissed outright, though I am loathed to equate New Age Jedi-ism with Scientology. There it is. And you're still being an ass about it. I should make a essay thesis on the nature of fandom.

Do we know if the new Spider-man films are set before or after Infinity war? Well, if he's still dead by Thanos I would like to see Spider-man's Bogus Journey

Not sure if this going to work in this day and age. Just more privileged white people complaining about first-world problems. It's a catch-22 because to do otherwise will be seen as pandering. It just doesn't seem like a good time for it. In the age of president shithole, less seems funny. Also, since I didn't want to put it on The Handmaiden's Tale thread since I've never seen an episode, I'm sneaking it in here; I didn't title it, read it first before you flog me: Women Are Evil so did you actually read it?