The, "Shang-Chi," Trailer Has Dropped

 "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," was going to be a Summer release but a shuffling of when movies will be coming out resulted in it being set for September of this year. As that date is creeping closer the first trailer for the movie has been released and it looks pretty cool! It has the look of taking a classic martial arts movie and infusing it with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's special effects, humor, and whatnot. 

I've said before I prefer Marvel movies/shows that focus on just an individual character or small group as opposed to the mega-movies with everyone teaming up which results in little room for characters to really breathe. This looks like it'll be able to flesh out the character of Shang-Chi (played by  Simu Liu) quite well and as someone who enjoys Awkwafina I'm pleased to see her in the movie too. Even the Marvel movies I don't love are generally great as Marvel hasn't made an unwatchable movie yet ("Thor: The Dark World," drags but isn't awful). This may be simply, "Good," but I'm hoping it is awesome!

The Comic Book Presser Does it Again!

I don't hesitate to share my great experiences with The Comic Book Presser, AKA Chris. Well, I have a new one to share. I got a killer deal on this, "Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel," #1 comic. It looked amazing when I got it but wasn't exactly perfect. I wanted to ensure I'd get the best grade possible, so I sent it to Chris and let him and his team work their magic. Then, my comic went to CGC and sure enough, it got the stellar grade of 9.8! I am so pleased with this grade and just, as always, want to thank Chris and the rest of his staff at The Comic Book Presser! As many of you know, if you're going to get a comic graded you should almost always get it pressed and cleaned beforehand. If you need a quality presser, go with Chris! His prices are stellar, his turnaround time is solid, and the results speak for themselves. Thanks, Chris!

Nashville Hot Chicken Chips are Delicious and Burn My Mouth so Much

I was at Aldi the other day and something caught my eye. Nashville hot chicken chips. They are the Clancy brand, which is exclusive to Aldi, and man they are delicious! Oh, and painful. They burn my mouth so, so much. When you put a Nashville hot chicken chip in your mouth it has a nice crisp flavor and then the heat smacks you upside your head and is almost too much, but you want to keep eating it because it is so tasty. Get yourself some at Aldi the next time you go there or order some on Instacart and strap in for the heat.

A Legal Fight is Brewing over, "Predator."

Marvel was going to do a big launch of a, "Predator," comic this Summer and have lots of variant covers on their comics that tied in with the Predator. This was because Disney recently acquired the rights back to the franchise when they bought 20th Century Fox and had the licensing deal Fox used to have with Dark Horse expire. Disney owns Marvel, so Marvel was going to publish all, "Predator," stuff from this point forward. However, all the comics were suddenly canceled and it was said they'd be solicited at a later date. People thought this was maybe because Marvel would have a new distributor later in the year and wanted a big new comic to go through that. Now, however, with some recent news that there is a fight brewing over the rights to, "Predator," perhaps it was a preemptive move due to a lawsuit.

Yes, John Thomas and John McTiernan wrote the original script for, "Predator," and the initial draft--then titled, "Hunter," is now 35 years old. This is important as there are certain copyright clauses that may allow them to regain the rights to the original movie--and therefore the bedrock of the Predator franchise. Disney doesn't plan to let, "Predator," go without a fight, obviously, so let's all gear up for a big copyright dispute. They seem to happen every few years when people try to fight a big corporation to regain control of their works. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, often settlements are made with the exact amount of money exchanged kept secret. We will see what happens in this situation, but it's bound to get ugly.

"The Tankies," Review

Garth Ennis is a comic creator who loves to write war comics. He excels at them and while some of his superhero work is where a lot of his fame has come from, I think if he were allowed he'd do nothing but write war comics. Carlos Ezquerra was a fantastic artist who collaborated with Ennis for a war comic known as, "The Tankies," which followed an assortment of characters who piloted tanks in WWII as well as the Korean War, with the link between the stories being Corporal Stiles, then Seagrant Stiles, as he tried his darndest to get his tank crews alive out of some seriously nasty battles. "The Tankies," has been collected in one big and impressive trade paperback by publisher Dead Reckoning and I was fortunate enough to acquire a copy for the purpose of review.

What else is there to say about a Garth Ennis war comic besides that with his immense knowledge of past wars and ability to write compelling characters that Ennis does a fantastic job making us care about all the Allied characters we meet--especially the link between all the story arcs, Stiles.  Ezquerra was a skilled illustrator too, with his drawing of the other main characters besides the humans--the tanks, being impressive in their detail and how imposing the metal machines of death look. "The Tankies," is a phenomenal read for fans of Ennis, war comics, or those who simply want an intense tale of battle that is blunt and honest about the brutality of war. Get yourself a copy at Dead Reckoning's website or all finer bookstores!

5 out of 5 stars.

Colton Underwood from, "The Bachelor," Has Come Out as Gay

I have been extremely critical of Colton Underwood in the past and didn't like his term as, "The Bachelor," very much. I also expressed concern when it came to light that after he and the woman he chose on, "The Bachelor," Cassie Randolph, broke up, he began stalking her to the point she took out a restraining order against him (it was later dropped). All of that said, I only want to offer my support towards him for having the strength and courage to come out as gay. He gave an interview to, "Good Morning America," where he said he wanted to speak his truth, and he did so. 

He attributed a lot of his past behavior to trying to deny who he was and, "Hating," himself. He admitted to dealing with dark thoughts and even contemplating suicide. Now, sharing he's gay doesn't excuse bad behavior towards others such as Cassie, but it does put a lot in context. To his credit, Colton said on GMA he wanted to specifically apologize to her for, "Any pain and emotional stress," she had during their time together and after breaking up. I am happy that Colton is willing to live as his true self and congratulate him on being open and honest about it. Plus, straight or gay he will always reliably be a media whore as in the very same day he came out (today) it was announced he'll be doing a reality show for Netflix about being out of the closet. No matter who we love sexually, it seems we all love the dollar equally.

Stealing is Almost Always Wrong, but When it's a Confederate Monument You Threaten to Turn Into a Toilet that's Just Funny

Excuse my extremely long post title, but I wanted to get my point across. My point being, it was pretty funny some pranksters stole a Confederate monument from the racist organization, The United Daughters of the Confederacy, and because it was a stone chair owned by Jefferson Davis they had the clever idea to threaten to make a hole in it and use it as a toilet. For those of you still unsure what I'm getting at, they were going to poop through it. This is tacky, childish, and just freaking hilarious. The organization in question was, "White Lies Matter," and they said they'd do this if the UDC didn't display a banner outside their headquarters with a quote by Assata Shakur. That quote? "“The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives."

The Confederacy lost the Civil War, but the way some people carry on about that centuries-ago saga in American history you'd think Jefferson Davis' traitorous, "Nation," was still alive and well. I don't think we should outright hide or get rid of Confederate monuments, but we shouldn't celebrate them either. Put them in museums, give them context, and then maybe you won't have to deal with people threatening to turn them into a toilet. This chair didn't suffer that fate as the police tracked down the chair after being given coordinates and finding it unharmed--some of the prank-loving thieves were found too. The chair has been returned unharmed to the UDC. I'm not sure what the lesson is here beyond how we shouldn't honor the traitorous Confederacy, but that was a lesson everyone should've known before a chair was stolen and threatened with being used for a dump session.

The Promise and Problem of, "Tomorrowland," at Disney's Parks

Disneyland and Disney World's Magic Kingdom both feature a Tomorrowland. It is both a neat theme for a park and one filled with issues. All the other lands are mystical and magical places that don't really exist while Tomorrowland is ostensibly our reality, just in the future. As someone who likes science-fiction and thinking about the future, I've always really liked Tomorrowland. It features Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe, my favorite park restaurant. It has, "Space Mountain," the whole area contains a neat design, it's just fun! As this fascinating article by SFGate's Katie Dowd points out, tomorrow always comes and can make a place dedicated to the future actually start to seem dated.

Tomorrowland promises us a glimpse into the future, but every decade our idea of what the future looks like changes. We used to imagine a World like, "The Jetsons," with flying cars, meals in pill form, and so forth. Now it's more about how we are always connected to the internet and constantly streaming and watching one another in a World with no privacy. The, "Future," keeps changing and makes the way, "Tomorrowland," pictured the future look weirdly retro for a vision of an upcoming time. It still holds an optimistic promise of a hopeful and happy future compared to how nowadays the upcoming decades look like they'll be trying between climate change, political unrest, a still-raging pandemic that could give rise to other problems, and so forth. There is no easy answer on what to do with the current Tomorrowland setups. I just hope if changes are made over time they keep Cosmic Ray.

April 2021 Links and News

 April--a Month and a Popular Name

It's April, the weather is (mostly) nice lately, and I've got some news and links to share.

Get to Readin'

"The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," had quite the intense fourth episode. This article by Matt Patches at Polygon points out how the show keeps raising question after question about ethical and philosophical questions but seems to be overloading itself with ideas that lack much follow-through. We'll see how the last two episodes work out, maybe?

I've actually interviewed comic-creator Charles Forsman before and always love reading other interviews with him such as this one at NeoText.

Back in the day, we had shareware, demo discs, and such for our video-games. Kotaku examined the fascinating history of this method of marketing which with the rise of the internet basically disappeared.

Kyle Lukeoff shared in an article for Jezebel how he wrote the children's book, "Call Me Max," with the goal of writing a tale about a transgender kid so inoffensive and, "Basic," that it couldn't be protested on the grounds of questionable content for any reason unless the protestors were just outright complaining about it featuring inclusivity. People still protested.

I wasn't really digging Marvel's event, "King in Black," and felt they were forcing the big new bad-guy, Knull, on us way too hard. The comic has wrapped and you can find plenty of articles saying the whole event was basically a dud with a weak ending (I won't spoil it as the comic has been out less than a week, but it was pretty meh).

In closing, vaccine rates are increasing at a stellar rate in America, but the danger of COVID-19 variants is on the rise too. Anyone who can safely take the vaccine needs to do so.

Enjoy the Rest of April

We're halfway through April and working hard to get life back to a semblance of normalcy as the pandemic hopefully resides. Remember to occasionally take time for yourself. Take a deep breath now and then, focus, and get that bread AKA money.

Starbucks Debuts a Cup Borrowing Program

Starbucks is testing a program where you can, "Borrow a cup." You get a cup, pay a dollar deposit, and then when you return it that dollar is given back. So...kind of like mugs or tumblers? Five Seattle stores are testing this out and it sounds like it is going well. The cups are returned, sterilized, clean, and then sent back out with the coffee order of the next person to use them. So yeah, like using mugs or tumblers, how revolutionary! I'm being silly, but anything good for the environment is obviously a smart thing to try out. I applaud Starbucks for trying to cut down on waste.