Category: Musings

In Hindsight…

I wish that Atari had bought Activision…

Sure, they probably couldn’t handle Call of Duty…

But think of all those wonderful 2600 games they could have brought back to the fold.

Pitfall, River Raid, Keystone Kapers, Enduro…

Yes, even Dragster deserves another chance to shine…

But no, let’s give it to Microsoft so that Nintendo can get back Battletoads or something.

Fuck off.

Bye.

Recovery

It’s been a little over a month since my recent hospitalization. If you haven’t heard, I suffered a pulmonary embolism and a relapse of Crohn’s. I won’t go into the details here; there’s a Bite Commentary that I posted last week which pretty much has that covered. I implore you to read it because it paints a clear picture in terms of health.

So I’ve reached the point to where I’m more or less back to the same state that I was before. I’m breathing a little better, I’m moving a little better, I’m back to my usual daily routine (for the most part), I’ve been continuing my meds and even got my first major treatment a week or so ago, which went by rather smoothly.

I want to say that I’m in a better place right now, but at the moment, I’m just… not quite where I need to be. Hell, I’m not even sure if I’ll ever get there… but one day at a time, I’ve been told. We’ll see…

Screen Rant Is Worthless

Who actually reads Screen Rant around here?

It seems like every time I look up news for a particular piece of entertainment – whether it’d be a long-running franchise whose only presence is relegated to a monthly comic book or a recently-released motion picture based on a comic book property and is also part of a long-running cinematic universe – I’d see dozens upon dozens of these headlines from Screen Rant in general and they’re usually among the most inane pieces that I’ve come across.

Sometimes it’s complaining about a sequel that never came and devoting no more than a handful of articles dedicated to this supposed missed opportunity. Other times, it’s talking about minor plot points in a film that, oh yeah, thanks for spoiling, assholes. (Not that I’d care; I’m usually looking up the synopsis on Wikipedia for these things anyway.) And on rare occasions that they’re actually dispensing some sort of actual news articles, they’re written in a way that feel more like opinion pieces than actual news articles that, you know, tell you the news.

People will now go “But Dave, you fool! You sometimes post links to news pages and then share your thoughts! What’s the difference?!”

Difference is that this is a blog where I share my thoughts on things. I’m not reporting news; I’m just regurgitating what’s there, add my thoughts, and if you want to learn more, here’s the page I got the news from. Also, I don’t get paid for this shit. The shit on that site, however, is content that people are paid to write. People earn money writing this crap. I get this is an age where anyone can get monetized if they want, but there has to be a limit in terms of the quality of the material.

Is this me being bitter?

I don’t know… I’m not sure if I’d consider what I do here worthy of commission. I just post thoughts and move on with my day. You’d figure that anyone in the so-called professional field would put more care into their work.

But no, I’m being annoyed… at these search engines who brings these inane opinion pieces up and try to pass them off as news.

That and the clickbait.

Oh, boy… the clickbait.

That shit can go fuck itself too.

This has been your Sunday Morning session of old man yelling at cloud.

Bucky Lynch Vs. Larry Valkyrie

A friend of mine had asked me this week if I was watching tonight’s Backlash PLE from St. Louis, which is being headlined by the 271,752,716th encounter between John Cena and Randy Orton… to which I replied “No, I dropped Netflix shortly after Wrestlemania.”

He then asked about someone called Larry Valkyrie, to which I raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“You know. Larry Valkyrie. Bird lady with the Irish accent?”

Took me a while to figure out who he was talking about, but then I knew and I told him, “Dude. It’s not Larry Valkyrie. It’s Lyra Valkyria.”

My buddy was like, “Eh?”

“Her name is Lyra Valkyria, not Larry.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Oh… well, what about Becky Lynch? Is she back yet?”

“Oh yes, but she’s no longer Becky Lynch. Now she goes by Bucky Lynch.”

“BUCKY Lynch.”

“Oh yeah… taking this whole MAN thing to another level.”

My buddy looked at me for a moment before realizing that I was pulling his leg. We got a good laugh out of it and went on with our day.

But yes, all the best to Larry Valkyrie and Bucky Lynch on their PLE match tonight.

And also fuck Pat McAfee. Hope GUNTHER destroys his sorry ass.

The Folies Of A Title

In case you missed, the new Thunderbolts* movie came out in theaters… or are we supposed to call it the New Avengers now? Does it really matter?

I’ve heard good things about it, for whatever it’s worth. And it’s probably one of those movies that I wouldn’t mind watching if I had nothing better to do… but at no point did I felt compelled to want to watch this in theaters and a title change isn’t going to change matters. Instead, I just went back and watched the old Avengers movie and… lo and behold, that still holds up. I actually want to go back and write a quick thing about why that Avengers work and this one… kinda doesn’t… but that’s another story.

And hey… don’t feel too bad, Marvel. It takes a rare film to actually make me want to put with up with the overpriced experience of sitting in a stinky hall with a bunch of obnoxious kids flashing their FUCKING TELEPHONES (GET REAL) and being irritating little shits who wouldn’t shut the fuck up. I’ll watch your Thunderbolt Avenger thing when it hits Disney+ and I can be bothered to put up with your shitty, shitty, interface.

Anyway, that’s not what I really wanted to talk about. It’s just something that conveniently fits with the title of this post… but even before this whole thing became a thing, there was a sudden thought that came to mind one day that I wanted to share… and believe it or not, it’s not entirely dreadful or negative… maybe partly, but not mostly… close enough, I suppose.

So I’ve read somewhere – not going to link the source because it’s a “problem” site for some people due to certain triggering viewpoints that I don’t share, but they do make me laugh – that some people have issues with the title of the next Spider-Man film with Tom Holland. For those who don’t know, the next Spider-Man film will be called Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Why do people have an issue with Brand New Day as a title? Because it’s the same title as the storyline that immediately followed the controversial and much derided One More Day storyline… you know, the one where Spider-Man made a deal with the devil to end his marriage for the life of Aunt May.

Now, it’s no secret that I absolutely despise One More Day, both as a storyline and also as an attempt at a soft reboot of sorts. It is the absolute low point and creative nadir of Spider-Man that pretty much destroyed any interest I have in the character. I can go back and re-read old Spider-Man comics just fine, but anything that has come out afterwards – with the exception of the brief Superior Spider-Man run – I refuse to give even a passing glance. I’ve read stuff here and there, but for the most part, I couldn’t give two fucks about Spider-Verses or whatever bullshit they got going on where they bring Spder-Man up to a higher level, only to take him down several pegs because “down on his luck Parker” is something we can’t move past because the people involved in the creatively bankrupt direction of the character are a bunch of talentless hacks.

So naturally, I should take exception to the fact that the movie shares a name with a storyline that follows the lowpoint of Spider-Man creative… except I really don’t. And the simple reason is that Brand New Day the comic event and Brand New Day the movie are two different things that share a similar premise; a brand new start for Spider-Man.

In the case of Brand New Day the movie, this is following No Way Home, where – spoilers – the world has forgotten Peter Parker and the character is pretty much given a clean slate. The next movie is essentially a soft reboot where he’ll have a new supporting cast, be involved in a new situation, and stuff happens from there. In this particular context, Brand New Day makes sense as a title because it is a new beginning, as it were.

Also, last time I checked, Dr. Strange is not Mephisto, who is supposed to be the devil… now if you want to make a case for Benedict Cumberbatch being the devil, that’s another story entirely, but for now, we’ll give Sherlock the benefit of the doubt.

So, it’s the same deal when they decided to dub the third Captain America movie Civil War. Both the comic event and the movie shared similar plot points and both went in similar directions. And again, I was not a fan of the Civil War event in the comics – in part due to its contributions in the progressive destruction of the Spider-Man character as a result of One More Day – but also, I just didn’t like the story in general. On the flip side, I did enjoy the movie. I thought it was good and it did introduce the world to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, which I still think is a great take on the character at a younger age. I had no issues with the movie sharing the same name as a comic event I didn’t care for, because I know it wasn’t going to be the same thing.

So, for anyone who has some quibble over the name of the next Spider-Man movie, the movie isn’t following Spider-Man making a deal with the devil to end his marriage. It’s following Peter Parker in a world that has no knowledge of who he is. Brand New Day denotes a clean slate and this fourth movie is looking to be pretty much that… and I can’t help but be curious as to where they go from here. Because at the end of the day, I still enjoy Spider-Man. I don’t enjoy what they’re doing with the character these days, but a part of me still wants to see that character endure and do well.

And hey, I tell a little fib. I actually do enjoy the current Ultimate Spider-Man book. That’s a good comic. I just hope Marvel doesn’t fuck that up like they’ve fucked up everything else they do these days, but… I’ll try to enjoy the ride while I can.

A Word Of Recovery

Added this for the Youtube crowd, but figured I would repost it here.

A new video review thing is coming tomorrow… and also a health update because it never occurred to me to do that here. Long story short… I’m feeling better than I was last month, starting some treatments to take care of stuff that needs taking care of. Slowly but surely getting back to the old routine… appreciate the few well wishes I get. The road to recovery continues…

Yeah, it’s all I’ve got.

In other blog-related matters, I do have a Bite commentary coming up that talks about my recent health scare. It should be up on Thursday. Do check it out when you can because it brings you up to speed on everything.

Why Do We Call It “The Evil Art Of Emulation?”

Every so often, someone will invariably ask why I refer to “the evil art of emulation.”

Because it is the work of pure evil… and so it must be addressed as such.

In actuality, it started off as a gag of sorts from ages ago… when emulation was a relatively new thing and people were questioning the ethical and moral implications of such a deed. In fairness, that’s something being questioned today, but that has more to do with context. Emulation is something that is more widely adopted thanks to various compilations and services offered by the people who make these consoles in the first place.

I’ve dabbled in emulation back in the day. I dabble in emulation today. I will continue to dabble in it tomorrow in some form or fashion. I’m not going to tell you whether it’s good or bad. I’m not going to tell you whether you should embrace it or not. If you don’t care for emulation or think it’s as evil as they say, I won’t argue otherwise.

I just call it “the evil art of emulation” because it’s just fun to say.