The Early Days of March Bring News and Links

The phrase often goes that March is, "In like a lion, out like a lamb," with that holding true in our region, at least, as the debut of March brought ample rain. While we sit inside trying to remain dry, how about examining some interesting news and links?

The, "Lanterns," show has a snazzy new trailer. It seems relatively low-key and contemplative compared to something like, "Peacemaker," but could be quite fun and will (hopefully) have plenty of cool Green Lantern powers shown off when the show launches this August.

A number of random comics have been quite hot in the market. Many are random indie publishers or technically-indie with Image.  Javier Perez explores this latest trend/bubble over at Comicsbeat.

Also at Comicsbeat is a discussion of how the founder of Dark Horse Comics, Mike Richardson, is out after 40 years there. It was officially acquired by Embracer in 2022, shifted around in 2024, but mostly left to its own devices by the megacompany. Not any longer, as--kind polite phrasing aside--he was basically fired. What does the future hold for Dark Horse? We'll see!

You might have heard that the United States entered a war with Iran because Donald Trump just kind of felt like it. He didn't desire to get approval from Congress, either. Little effort has been made to even retroactively complain or try to limit Trump's ability to make a mess because the idea of actual checks and balances in our Government has become a joke during his second term.

Back in the day, if children or teenagers wanted to learn about investing, they could pretend to do the stock market via different worksheets/games/etc. Now, it seems companies want kiddos to invest real money and put it in absurdities such as cryptocurrency. One big proponent of this? That man with the big weird smile and nothing behind it but a black hole (he seriously lacks any discernible personality), Mr. Beast. Yes, thanks to Jimmy Donaldson, your teen can lose a bunch of money via an upcoming app that will possibly be full of pump-and-dump schemes. Yah?

Last off, Corey Plante at Polygon has an interesting piece about how the continued rise of Pokémon and its cards essentially resulted in it occurring where, "Pikachu defeated Michael Jordan in the trading card grading boom." I remember when only 151 Pokémon existed. Now we've got over 1,000. I feel old.

Mr. Beast is Being Sued by his Own Burgers

I previously admitted to not understanding the exact appeal of Jimmy Donaldson AKA Mr. Beast. I later tried his branded food from a ghost kitchen, Mr. Beast Burger. I thought it was decent. Other individuals did not have a good experience with Mr. Beast Burger, however. There was enough negative response that Mr. Beast himself said he wanted to disassociate from the company behind the brand, Virtual Dining Concepts. They responded by suing him for not being supportive enough of his beastly burgers. Everyone is suing everyone!

I think Mr. Beast has more of a case against VDC as they are hurting his brand with food that is at times inedible and making people sick. He just tweeted how he didn't like people hating the food and that VDC should have focused more on quality than expanding into a ton of markets with a subpar product. Either way, get your Mr. Beast Burgers while you can before they're gone...just make sure they're cooked the whole way through too.

I Tried Mr. Beast Burger and it was Decent

Back in February, I wrote about how I don't really, "Get," Mr. Beast. I want to understand, though, because he is massively popular and people say he's entertaining. He's had a ton of success and is at the point where he has enough money that he's bought a chunk of a neighborhood for his employees. I'd heard before he does food themed for his brand via, "Ghost kitchens," and my wife and I decided to try Mr. Beast Burger. We were moderately pleased with just one item being a huge misfire and the rest being solid.

Our food arrived from Uber Eats a smidgen ago and I was half-expecting Mr. Beast himself to deliver it and ask me, "Do you want this meal or do you want to double it and give it to someone else?" Anyways, Samii got a, "Chris style," burger but it lacked the fries and bacon that normally come upon it (the kitchen made a mistake, clearly) so it was basically the standard burger. She remarked how the mistakes aside the burger was actually quite tasty. I sampled the hot Nashville chicken sandwich and enjoyed it--not too spicy or anything. We also tried the grilled cheese and it was solid. The plain fries were so-so and the signature fries were the big disappointment of tonight. They were absurdly spicy and needed to be drowned in tons of ranch. My mouth is still burning now a good 25 minutes after I ate.

In summary, the entrees were good, with Samii liking her burger despite its mistakes, and I liked the chicken sandwich and grilled cheese. The plain fries were quite forgettable, however, and the signature fries had way too much heat to the point it was pain-inducing with minimal enjoyable flavor. Even if the fries let us down the main stuff was good. Was the food worth the Uber Eats surcharges? Perhaps if you're a huge Mr. Beast fan. The, "Name," association aside though, you don't have to rush to your phone and order this. As I said, it was good, not great.

3 out of 5 stars.

Can Someone Explain Mr. Beast to Me?

Mr. Beast

I am online a lot so I've heard of Mr. Beast. I have seen some of his videos. He is quite possibly the most popular, "Influencer," in existence, worth nearly a billion dollars. I don't get why because I don't get it. His videos are perfectly fine. He usually has some silly contest or gimmick where he gives money to people if they do a challenge. To his credit, I've never seen a nasty/gross/otherwise mean-spirited challenge. I know he has faced criticism for, "Public altruism," like when he did a video paying for surgery to help people with vision issues see better. Mr. Beast, or Jimmy Donaldson if we're using his real name, seems like a pleasant enough dude. Why is he so popular though? Why do I not find myself entertained by his videos like other folks who comment with the affection of a borderline cultish love? What am I not getting?

I'm 34 and nearing 35. Am I just too old to get it? Do the younger folks adore Mr. Beast because they find his videos really entertaining in some fashion? Is he hyped up a lot because folks like to fantasize about Mr. Beast giving them a ton of money somehow or some way (kind of like how when you buy a lottery ticket you're paying a couple bucks to get to imagine what it would be like to have a windfall)? His earlier videos were fun little viral stunts that he did, I see some charm in those. Maybe kids love him because he used to be a teenager making silly little videos and now he's stinking rich--is it a, "If he can do it anyone can," type of thing?

I don't like Mr. Beast. I don't dislike Mr. Beast. I simply don't get Mr. Beast. Can someone explain him to me? Anyone is welcome to do so. A fan can do so. A hater can offer an opinion. Hell, Mr. Beast can call me up and explain what his deal is to me if he feels like it in-between making videos or apparently doing branded food delivery among other projects. I just want to get it, whatever it is. That, or maybe I am too old and should go back to remembering the 2000s and our viral-video stars of that era. Whatever happened to that kid who bit Charlie's finger?