Stock Market & United suffer HUGE glitches same day #ComicCon2015 opens – Coincidence? #NerdsRule @RoosterTF pic.twitter.com/EJKaZJaku4
— Don McMillan (@donmcmillan) July 9, 2015
Now that the Big Reveals and Surprising Twists are out there, what’s the verdict?
SFAW
Surprising Twits?
Trump doesn’t surprise me.
Oh, wait …
RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac)
The P5+1/Iran nuclear deal may be done as soon as tomorrow. Hoping it is.
redshirt
Even though it will no doubt be by the numbers, I was excited for the Superman v. Batman trailer. Pretty freaking awesome – with Wonder Woman!
Germy Shoemangler
@redshirt: I liked Wonder Woman, I liked Alfred the Butler, I liked Bruce Wayne running toward the collapsing building (Wayne Enterprises) while everyone else ran away.
The guy who wrote “Argo” was brought in by Affleck for re-writes. I’m looking forward to seeing this film, because I was a Superman-Batman-DC comics kid back in the ’60s.
Tree With Water
Not me.
But TPM.com is reporting the following, and thank god some folks (Werewolves!) are on the ball down there:
“If President Obama really is planning to implement martial law under the guise of a military training exercise beginning Wednesday, hundreds of civilian volunteers will be ahead of him. A surveillance group called “Counter Jade Helm” says it already has 200 volunteers..”.
redshirt
@Germy Shoemangler: Yeah, the scene of Bruce Wayne running toward the wall of collision debris already feels iconic. I’m suddenly very much looking forward to this movie.
I wonder how much/how little they’ll reference Nolan Batman.
trollhattan
@RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac):
Whose brain explodes moar bigger: Krauthammer, Bolton, Cheney (your pick), Kristol?
redshirt
@Germy Shoemangler: Also, Argo has this strange connection to a sci-fi book from the 60s called Lord of Light. It’s weird.
The book is awesome – highly recommend if you like sci-fi.
Germy Shoemangler
@redshirt:
It’s a different universe. The costume Bruce Wayne finds defaced by the joker is the late Robin’s.
http://screenrant.com/batman-v-superman-trailer-analysis-comic-con-2015/
satby
Has ruemara provided any on-the-scene reports?
redshirt
@Germy Shoemangler: Nolan is an executive producer, is he not? At least he was on Man of Steel.
sharl
Has ruemara reported in? I think she is in attendance.
Also from ComicCon – via a commenter in an earlier thread (I forget who) – a rather awesome tweet regarding participant John Lewis. Yes, THAT John Lewis.
ETA – Satby at #10 beat me to the ruemara question.
Germy Shoemangler
@redshirt: The biggest criticism of Man of Steel was all the collateral damage; all the building and city-destroying battles.
Batman v Superman addresses this. The reason Wayne is so pissed is because of all the loss of life. Superman has to appear in court! Angry demonstrators outside the courthouse.
Corner Stone
@Tree With Water:
Skin color = 100% caucasian
Avg male weight = 250lb+
Avg mastery of the English language = mediocre at best
Avg ownership of RRA assault rifle = 85%
Camo exposure = High
Night vision goggles sourced from the USSR = laughable
Germy Shoemangler
@redshirt: Batman v Superman produced by Charles Roven & Deborah Snyder. Nolan is listed as executive producer; special advisor.
Iowa Old Lady
Jeebus. Scott Walker is planning a Winnebago tour through every country in Iowa. I hope he gives fair warning of his route.
Redshift
@sharl: Look back to last night’s threads – ruemara was at the John Lewis panel!
trollhattan
@Germy Shoemangler:
Was stuck watching MoS on a long flight and my #1 bitch was it was over half an hour before it was over. How. Long. Must. These. Two. Fight?
Awful. I awarded my full basket of raspberries.
SFAW
@redshirt:
One hopes that Henry Cavill has learned that there’s more to acting than just yelling inarticulately (as in Aaarrrggh! or Yaahhhhh!) a lot.
redshirt
@Germy Shoemangler: I dig this very much. It’s believable and gives a good motivation to both Batman and some antipathy towards Kal El.
Many people didn’t like Man of Steel for the destruction and the seeming lack of care over the destruction/loss of life. It didn’t bother me because I felt from the start this was a true origin movie, and Kal El is not yet Superman until the events of this movie. He’s not perfect from the start.
That they are consequences to his failures is very cool in a movie series and I’m excited now to see how they use Affleck’s Batman to utilize them.
trollhattan
@Iowa Old Lady:
Following in the fabulously successful steps of Santorum, I see. May he have the very same results.
Davebo
I was stuck after United’s computer issues waiting for a flight to SFO Wednesday. I got a chance to speak with the pilot and he admitted he couldn’t even get a flight plan.
Not surprisingly two boarding passes for the same seat were issued on a fully booked flight causing the FA’s to escort one passenger off the aircraft before push back. Was not pretty.
Corner Stone
@Iowa Old Lady:
So you can properly plan your schedule to harass him noisely at every stop?
Germy Shoemangler
@redshirt: And Jeremy Irons/Alfred Pennyworth yelling at Wayne about Superman: “He’s not the enemy!”
The first teaser trailer had Neil DeGrasse Tyson. And what added realism is hearing Villagers like Charlie Rose discussing the implications of a “super man” on earth. Because you know they love to talk.
Corner Stone
Still not sure how fireworks inspire a small girl to want to some day join the US Army.
01jack
@Tree With Water: I laughed out loud:
… but …
SFAW
@trollhattan:
You’re probably one of those sourpusses who complained that Return of The King went from being a moderately complex and diverse book to being just one extended battle scene after another, and where Peter Jackson blew a year’s worth of CGI budget on the scene with the oliphaunt, which consumed all of three paragraphs in the book.
Probably.
SFAW
@Corner Stone:
Either that, or get Suzanne to visit, and heckle at the rallies.
MattF
@trollhattan: The War Party in both the US and Iran will be distraught. I’d suggest they have joint pity party, except they might take that advice seriously.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
*cough* IED *cough*
Iowa Old Lady
@SFAW:
LOL. I was just about to say I’d have to import Suzanne. She’s a lot tougher than I am.
Corner Stone
@SFAW:
I’ve decided to not comment further on this, at this time.
sharl
@Redshift: Thanks! Used your hint to track it down here.
Botsplainer
I’ve always felt like The Batman was a hair’s breadth from playing in the guts of his victims like Dexter.
Superman is always this close to being the Cromwell who takes over Earth.
I’d read those comics…
Redshift
@Corner Stone: The relatively small number of civilian jobs in demolitions?
Corner Stone
@Davebo:
What happened to the unfortunate passenger? Any idea?
Corner Stone
@Redshift: I’m thinking about making a second career in either master electrician or demolition. Both are pretty fascinating, if you ask me. Which you didn’t.
redshirt
@Botsplainer: That’s why I like this take on Superman – because he really is an alien so powerful he could conquer the entire planet if he wanted to. But he doesn’t – instead, he wants to make it better for everyone. It’s a good myth.
Corner Stone
That damn GoDaddy ginger commercial is fucking freaky.
Redshift
@01jack: These guys are such geniuses! If only Poland had thought to deploy 200 volunteers to “monitor” German troops, WWII could have been prevented.
redshirt
@Redshift: Hey Redshift?
Redshift
@Corner Stone: Sounds like a fine plan. I was at one of the Mythbusters stage shows, and one of the q&a questions was from a teenage girl who wanted to know how she could have a career in blowing things up. Jamie gave a very solid answer about the options and what to study.
Redshift
@redshirt: Yeah?
MazeDancer
Ben Affleck looks surprisingly good as Batman. Henry Cavill looks wooden and not appealing. Which is pretty much how he looks as Napoleon Solo in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. remake trailer. None of the swanky, swellegance needed. Armie Hammer as Illya Kuryakin looks equally miscast.
The essence of TMFU was the two dreamboats, the bromance, the banter, the plot twists. The trailer has none of the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Ky4KPzKwY
scav
@01jack: “No nut-jobs will be put in the field.” Because we need them in command and control?
It’s a fractal 27% all the way down.
Brachiator
@Germy Shoemangler:
Good catch. The heroic significance of Bruce Wayne running toward danger just now sank in for me.
This is just a touch worrisome since it suggests that the script was bulked up for Batman’s (Affleck’s) benefit. I think you still have to make this new Superman the center of action, even if you have other cool characters in it.
Overall, though, it looks interesting. Still, the Star Wars people don’t even need to do any marketing. They could just hang a sign that says, “You know you want to see it” and drop the mike.
Back on the comic book movie front, Suicide Squad is looking very interesting. Really good villains are the weak spot of the Marvel movies, and here a hint of Joker drives the crowds wild.
@SFAW
You have to blame the screenwriter and director for this, not Cavill.
The semi-weird thing is that instead of locking Cavill up and releasing the second Superman movie quickly, he is also going to be Napoleon Solo in the upcoming Man From UNCLE movie.
Redshift
OT: Some interesting (though not terribly surprising) info about the donors behind the major PR group opposing the Iran negotiations, pried loose in the course of an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit. Sheldon Adelson (of course) and Thomas Kaplan, who I’m not as familiar with, but who, in addition to being a right-wing billionaire, also owns companies that have been pushing investments based on expected unrest in the Middle East, and even based on the prospect of mining output from Iran becoming inaccessible as a result of a nuclear confrontation.
That’s some serious evil!
rikyrah
The coolest thing I saw from ComiCon was John Lewis, and a group of youngsters looking up at him like he was a rock star.
https://twitter.com/topshelfcomix/status/619910243422638080/photo/1
https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/620249542370328576
Germy Shoemangler
@MazeDancer: I disagree about Henry Cavill. If I want a wooden superman, I watch “Superman Returns” which was a major disappointment.
I thought Henry was a good man of steel. His american accent was believable. He even portrayed a convincing, petulant teenage Clark Kent in the scene where “Pa” Kent gets blown away.
Redshift
I had also missed that a couple of years ago, foreign-policy genius Adelson said that we should fire a nuke at an uninhabited area of Iran as a negotiating tactic. <shudder!>
Germy Shoemangler
@trollhattan:
I saw it in a theater in 3D. I usually shy away from 3D, but we decided to go for the whole enchilada.
Germy Shoemangler
@Redshift: How many in the GOP klown kar would appoint Adelson secretary of state if they won the white house?
All of them, Katie.
redshirt
@Redshift: YEAH!
rikyrah
@Redshift:
tell the truth.
Iowa Old Lady
@efgoldman: The only thing I have from that entire list is a microwave.
My idea of hell varies, but a Winnebago tour of Iowa would be one form it takes.
Gene108
@redshirt:
That’s also what makes Superman movies so hard to do.
How does the audience sympathize with the actions hero’s struggles to overcome the bad guy, when the only thing that can hurt the hero is some radioactive rocks from his home world that counter act the super powers our yellow sun gives him and make him mortal.
In theory Superman should win every fight he gets in because unless you have Kryptonite handy, you cannot hurt him.
Batman is an easier subject to make movies about because he has no superpowers and has to rely on superior training and intellect to win.
Brachiator
@Redshift:
The relatively youthful (52 or 53) Kaplan hasn’t previously seemed to be that interested in politics, and maybe not much hint of an Adelson connection. But could he be Lex Luthor?
An odd concentration of focus for someone supposedly just interested in finance.
Germy Shoemangler
@Gene108: I always enjoyed the old Superman animated films from the early 1940s. His powers weren’t so absurdly awesome; he couldn’t even really fly in the beginning, just jump like a human flea. He definitely had to work harder in those cartoons.
Gindy51
@Redshift: Who’d a thunk war profiteers would be behind thwarting a disarmament proposal!
Germy Shoemangler
Economically Healthy “Daily Planet” Now Most Unrealistic Part Of Superman Universe
“I can play along with Superman using a steel girder to swat someone into outer space, but I just can’t get past the idea that The Daily Planet still occupies one of the largest skyscrapers in all of Metropolis and is totally impervious to newsroom layoffs or dwindling home subscriptions,”
SFAW
@Iowa Old Lady:
Definitely tougher than I am.
Redshift
In other unsurprising news, Jim Webb continues to be an ass.
“Forgotten by both parties”? We passed Obamacare to take care of those people, and if the Virginia GOP wasn’t blocking Medicaid expansion, they wouldn’t need a charity clinic!
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: “Or a poke in the eye with a blunt stick? What do you want from life?” They played on campus when I was an undergrad, great show.
Suzanne
@SFAW: If Walker comes to AZ, I’ll go and heckle him, too.
SFAW
@Brachiator:
Yeah, you’re right. Not sure why I took it out on Cavill.
Germy Shoemangler
@BillinGlendaleCA: Are the Tubes completely forgotten now? Does anyone listen to “Don’t Touch Me There” anymore? If not, we are diminished as a nation.
Bostondreams
@Botsplainer:
Then read ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’. It’s better than the game it’s based on. After Joker uses Scarecrow’s fear toxin to trick Superman into killing Lois and destroying Metropolis, Supes snaps, killing the Joker, and takes over the world, with heroes siding with him or Batman, who fights the takeover. It’s a fantastic ongoing series.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Germy Shoemangler: Or…White punks on Dope.
ETA: My college roommate used to sing that, while getting quite stoned.
Suzanne
@SFAW: I’ve just been an asshole so long that I’ve already alienated a lot of people. (You can see I’m deeply upset about this.) I’m used to it.
I also have a fair amount of contempt for my fellow ‘Murikans. With apologies to Emma Lazarus, we have all the tired, lazy, unintelligent, belligerent, violent, racist, God-bothering people we need. Maybe that’s why I support immigration: because I like the newbies better.
Brachiator
@Gene108:
Superman, Hercules, Samson are all heroic saviors that people easily relate to. Samson even has an easily comprehensible vulnerability. And the original 1930s Superman was not quite all powerful.
Until the 1970s, maybe, there might have been more Superman movies, tv shows, movie serials, etc, than those related to Batman. But you’re right that Batman has almost always been as big a hero as the Man of Steel.
Redshift
@Gene108: The very early Superman comics are fascinating to read. They start out having him go after criminals, like other costumed heroes. Since he can catch and defeat any of them without breaking a sweat, they had to invent Lex Luthor just to give him a challenge. It makes you wonder how supervillains would have developed if Superman hadn’t been unbeatable by any normal means.
SFAW
@Suzanne:
Well, that was a given.
I’m still not sure why you put yourself through all of that (e.g., the Fox-watching), however.
Yatsuno
Just read this. It’s part of the austerity plan Greece has to do. Basically it reforms most of the institutions of Greek society.Personally I think it’s to get them to divorce from the Euro before they get kicked out. And I hope they say, “FUCK YOU!” to this bullshite:
http://s.kathimerini.gr/resources/article-files/draft1600_final.pdf
SFAW
@Suzanne:
You ‘n’ me both, kid.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
The coolest thing I saw from ComiCon was John Lewis, and a group of youngsters looking up at him like he was a
rock starsuper star. FTFYBecause he is a heroic super star, look at what he did in his youth, and where we are today because of what he and the other freedom riders,marchers and leaders did! He helped save his people from oppression by violent control freak haters.
Those same white supremacists are still out there, and now the FBI and police watch them like hawks.
JPL
@Yatsuno: If they have to sell off the electrical grid, then leave the euro and debt behind. Sparrow is still over in Greece and was talking about some of it earlier.
The EU is creating a situation where Greece will be a third world country for ever.
Gene108
@Brachiator:
The changes to Superman’s powers is why DC has problems with movies, outside of Batman, when compared with Marvel.
The writers have been tinkering with Superman’s powers every generation. Their continuity sucks and is much more muddled than Marvel’s.
Too many writers doing too many different things to the core characters over the decades.
Trying to streamline all the different iterations of the characters into something coherent for a movie, I think will always leave DC a step behind what Marvel has done so far.
Corner Stone
Who would have ever thought that Germany could be such an asshole?
“But beware, we Germans aren’t all smiles und sunshine”
? Martin
@Yatsuno: I don’t think so. All parties have a huge problem here. They basically need a uniform set of public policies with respect to entitlements for the ECB/Euro situation to hold, otherwise they fall into a rather huge moral hazard trap. Complicating that is that everyone wants to get paid for past mistakes so even if Greece adopted Germany’s social structure entirely, there’s still the matter of billions of debt to forgive so they could afford that, as well as the matter of an underdeveloped economy which can’t sustain German (let alone Greek) social institutions.
The ECB doesn’t want Greece to fall out because that begs the question when Italy and Spain will bail. Basically it’s an admission that the Euro is a failure. The EU is what the US would be without a federal government – with Alabama doing whatever they are inclined to do and Massachusetts doing what they are inclined, and then Mass bailing out Alabama to an even greater degree.
Greece is smart enough to realize that the austerity is only going to contract their economy further, making the debt even more overwhelming, but the alternative is no better – massive deflation. They’re fucked no matter what. It’s just a matter of deciding if they are better in the hands of the EU or in the hands of Russia/China/whoever tries to turn them into a proxy state.
Suzanne
@SFAW: Here is why I do that shit: These racist assholes spend a lot of time in the company of others, saying racist, offensive shit. Maybe it’s among family, or church friends, or the other PTA moms, or whatever. They do so because they know they are on friendly ground. However, they have enough grace to keep their mouths shut in certain situations where they know they are in mixed company or not the dominant group. Racism and hate and that bullshit exist even among otherwise “good” people when no one can be bothered to pay the social price of shutting that shit down.
However, I want them to know that the rest of us, those who are minorities or marginalized or are their allies, are EVERYWHERE and their hate is welcome NOWHERE. We cannot and will not change everyone’s mind—some of them don’t have a mind to save. But we can get them to shut the fuck up, or at least feel intimidated. And that is a small victory, because the weak-minded and the young don’t want to associate with the unpopular. That’s how racism will die, or at least become less virulent.
Gene108
There’s a “Bar Rescue” marathon that I have wasted this afternoon watching. I am just sucked in by how many small business owners lack any real capacity for self reflection until they are in a deep hole and even then it is often a struggle to get them to realize they need it to change.
I deal with small businesses in my line of work and the lack of introspection seems to be common across industries.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I wish I were a GOP candidate for President so I’d have the honor of you heckling me.
You are awesome.
Corner Stone
@? Martin:
Good sweet babby christ. “Moral hazard”?
Tree With Water
@Redshift: Wow, that would be an astonishingly dumb remark for anyone to make, much less as accomplished an individual as Webb. Guess he never paused to reflect his much ballyhooed Scotch-Irish frontiersmen and their families all had teeth in need of proper care, too. Maybe he thinks they’re all privy to some backwoods-dental-herbal-catch-all remedy, that only they know of..
Yatsuno
@? Martin:
So what? The design of the currency union was flawed from the get go.
Mass already bails out Alabama as it is, and that’s because there are federal structures to essentially share tax revenue from Mass for the benefit of Alabama. The fact is, this benefits us as a country. And it this exact structure that the EU lacks and either needs to suck up and form (which would put Merkel out of a job so good luck) or admit that the monetary union just can’t work as designed. But nothing should give the EU the right to tell Greece how they want their fucking.
Russia is bleeding money due to sanctions. China is experiencing a huge pop of a bubble that they are totally unprepared to deal with. What makes you think they can take on a huge Greek debt situation? And yeah it will suck at first once the drachma comes back, but then Greece can at least default on the debt and negotiate the terms in a way that works for them instead of being fed a shit sandwich.
I’m not dismissing Greek culpability in this. But Merkel is crazy if she thinks the German banks aren’t going to take a haircut here.
Randy P
@Gene108:
The “Lois and Clark” TV show actually did a good job with this via Lex Luthor in the first season (before they fired the wonderful producer who had created it, and degenerated into silliness). Basically, Lex was smart and Clark was… not so smart. Invulnerable, yes. But easily outsmarted by your basic supervillain.
I also liked the take on Lex in that show (handsome, suave billionaire who nobody knew was also a supervillain). Having not kept up with comics, I have no idea if that reinvention of Luthor came from the comics or not. But I liked it a lot.
WaterGirl
@Baud: What happened to Baud! 2016! ??
Emma
@MazeDancer: There will never be another Ilya. Ever.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: No one would have the huevos to hurt me. I’m a white lady.
WaterGirl
@Emma: Tough act to follow!
Suzanne
@Baud: Well, thank you.
Seriously, fuck those people. they get away with it because they are cowards and only hang out with each other. Their hate never gets checked. Thats why protesting works. It proves to them that they are not going to go unopposed.
Gimlet
Mr Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, is understood to believe that Greece’s latest proposals, which were approved by the parliament in Athens on Friday, are insufficient. One German official labelled them “a joke”, according to Bild, a German newspaper.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jul/12/greek-debt-crisis-eu-leaders-meeting-cancelled-no-deal-live#block-55a22d46e4b05111b7559b75
Incidentally, our readers flag up that the organisation which could take control of €50bn of “valuable Greek assets” is linked to none other than Wolfgang Schäuble himself.
The Press Project has done some digging on the Luxembourg “Institution for Growth” to which the 4-page eurogroup paper demands that €50bn of Greek state property must be transferred. Guess what. This Luxembourg “institution” is wholly owned subsidiary of German KfW and the chairman of its board is a certain Wolfgang Schäuble.
The Institution for Growth was announced just two years ago, by Schäuble and Greek PM Antonis Samaras.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Thanks for correcting my addled brain. Well, the scribblings from it – there ain’t no correctin’ the braims itself.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: Likely not. It was early afternoon, there was over an hour wait in the heat/sun to get in, there was security and lots of police on hand (even SWAT), and the street vendors were only selling water and ices.
JPL
@Suzanne: Did Trump ever mention that most of the undocumented immigrants came here legally with visas and then disappeared. Ice has never been funded to track them down.
Emma
@WaterGirl: Lord, yes. I remember when we got our first tv when we moved to the states and I saw the reruns. I thought — still think — David Mccallum was one of the most beautiful men I had ever seen.
debbie
@Suzanne:
Wish there was some way I could import you next Thanksgiving to deal with my rabidly GOP family. I just stomp out of the room.
SFAW
@Tree With Water:
Scots, or Scottish. What few Scottish-heritage friends I have get a little peeved when they’re called “Scotch.” To them it’s not unlike calling a Persian an “Arab.”
Well, first they construct a door with a doorknob — not easy in the deep woods — then they tie a string to it, and then …
? Martin
@Yatsuno:
Agreed, but you now have half a billion people living in it, and if you are committed to it, you have to make it work as best as you can, or you need to concede that you fucked up and either tear it down or reform it. Obviously the ECB is trying to make it work and I suspect they are realizing that perhaps they cannot.
Not just share tax revenue but to share policy as well. Fuck, that’s what Obamacare is all about, and federal same-sex marriage, and all that. So Alabama and Mass have the same minimal pension structure, etc. The EU needs a strong central government. I don’t see it happening. I agree that the EU doesn’t have the right to tell Greece how to treat their people, but they likely feel as though they don’t have a choice for the sake of the Euro. Keep in mind that the ECB knows full well that Greece can’t pay off their debt even with these proposals. Greece at this point is mostly a sacrificial lamb to lay down a set of policies being broadcast to Italy, Spain, Portugal and any other EU country that hits the rocks. They know it won’t work. Greece knows it won’t work. The only solution is to forgive much of Greece’s debt and pump money into their economy so they can expand and put people to work. Everyone knows that deep down – they just can’t bring themselves to do it because they know that there are a number of countries lining up for the same benefit.
Now, as rightfully noted above, the problem is Germany. If they can break Germany (don’t count on it) then maybe something sensible can happen. I really hope it does because this austerity shit needs to end everywhere.
Because it’s not huge. Their total debt is 300B Euro, which is a lot, but the investments needed to bail them out are a lot less than that. Their debt/GDP improved last year and was improving this year, but their economy is now cratering due to a lack of money. If that continues, it means they need a diminishing investment as that ratio continues to improve. As it does, interest rates will fall, banks will be willing to convert rates, and it’ll get steadily better. Just look at how quickly the US debt situation improved from that very cycle. China can easily afford it even with the cratering market at home. It’d get them a foothold in Europe. Russia is desperate for that as well. 30B would buy them a friendly EU vote. That’s cheap.
Steeplejack
@Gene108:
Lack of introspection and self-awareness is quite common in big businesses, too, but they have more structures in place to protect executives from their idiocy—and to keep plodding along even if no one is really directing things.
Suzanne
@JPL: Of course not. He didn’t say anything that made any sense. He spoke for just over an hour, and without exaggeration, at least 35 minutes of that was talking about his business deals and how this backlash hasn’t hurt him at all. Apparently everyone is cutting up their Macy’s credit cards, if you believe him.
Brachiator
@Gene108:
I guess. Marvel has been obviously been incredibly successful, and they have a blueprint that they are following. But some of their (to me) best movies have varied from the formula, notably Guardians of the Galaxy and the second Captain America movie. I liked the first Avengers movie; the second was a mess. I really don’t know what is behind DC’s movie problems, especially since their TV and animation work is quite good (and Agents of SHIELD is just crap).
I really don’t care that much about canon or continuity. The characters have been around so long that you have to tinker with them to appeal to wider audiences. Growing up in Smallvile, for example, was not part of the very first Superman stories.
And Marvel’s biggest bit of luck was in getting Robert Downey Jr to bring wit and sass to a secondary Marvel character, not stuff that sprung from the minds of comic book geniuses.
I think that DC may be letting Snyder have too much influence over too many DC characters, especially if this impacts future products. But aside from this, I don’t think that DC has to mimic Marvel or consider what Marvel has done as the best template. Nor does Marvel have to look over their shoulder to see what DC is doing.
Also, I wonder. Could a hugely successful Star Wars movie and series threaten the success of comic book movies in terms of audience expectations?
Davis X. Machina
@Redshift:
Both sides do it. It’s axiomatic. You don’t need to prove it.
Webb is running for the “My party left me!” vote.
Anne Laurie
@JPL:
Apparently the European Masters of the Universe want a third-world playground within easy reach by private plane. They complain that Spain’s full of lower-middle-class tourists, Italy’s crawling with dark-skinned immigrants, and Monaco is too parochial/uptight. But they can pretend that Greece is “unspoiled”, if only they can crush the Greeks economically to the point where they’ll be forced to settle for serfdom.
Tree With Water
“Scots, or Scottish. What few Scottish-heritage friends I have get a little peeved when they’re called “Scotch.” To them it’s not unlike calling a Persian an “Arab.”
I know the type. I’ve always disdained “professional Irishmen”, and San Francisco is full of them. Or used to be. They’re the same breed of cat as your friends- generations removed from Ireland, but more Irish than the Irish. They’re probably a dying breed in the city nowadays, but the woods were full of them when I was a kid.
Origuy
@SFAW: “Scotch-Irish” has a particular meaning. It refers to the Scottish Protestants planted in Ulster by James the Sixth and First and his successors, and to the descendants of those people who immigrated to North America. Most of the original Scotch-Irish were from the Borders, where they grew up aggressive and xenophobic. Some of their descendants, both in Ulster and America, have kept that trait.
Call someone directly from Scotland “Scotch” and they will object for this reason.
The Fat Kate Middleton
We had United reservations the next day after the computer failure – we were given new reservations on Delta that were far better times for us (12:30 p.m. vs 6:30 p.m. departure), and only discovered once we were on board that we were in the “free drinks” seats, Woohoo!!
redshirt
Who would win in a fight?
Hulk v. Superman