DEAR TUMBLR
I wish you would all alllllllways tag your gifsets with the name of the TV show/movie you are posting pics from because some of us are occasionally stupid and find ourselves (myself, ok, ok) laughing uncontrollably and then going, Wait, what the fuck is this?
Co-signed. (Plus, you know, credit where credit’s due and all that.)
This week on the letstalkcomicspodcast we talk to internet superstar agentmlovestacos! We talk everything from working at marvelentertainment to how he broke in! This is not one you want to miss.
Check out older episodes at www.letstalkcomics.com
While you’re at it – subscribe on iTunes or leave a glowing review! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-comics/id756248890?mt=2
I’ve talked about my love for this podcast before, but for Internet/Social Media geeks like me, the last half hour or so of this one is really great stuff – Marvel’s Ryan Penagos (AKA Agent M) talks about the company’s use of social media, the Internet, etc.
An old book on the poisons
of madness, a map
of forest monasteries,
a chronicle brought across
the sea in Sanskrit slokas.
I hold all these
but you have become
a ghost for me.I hold only your shadow
since those days I drove
your nature away.A falcon who became a coward.
I hold you the way astronomers
draw constellations for each other
in the markets of wisdomplacing shells
on a dark blanket
saying ‘these
are the heavens’calculating the movement
of the great stars
Michael Ondaatje, ix from The Nine Sentiments.
Which brings us to Moffat. Notably, Moffat starts with what looks like a faithful imitation of the Davies approach. But five episodes in he shifts the game, with the Doctor actively refusing Amy’s interest in him (after a story in which the Doctor confronts his seeming wife) and Amy thereafter focusing her attention on her life with Rory. Which is how she remains for the next two seasons – a woman with her own life that travels with the Doctor sometimes. As does River. As does Clara. This is unheard of in Doctor Who – the idea that the companion might have a life outside the Doctor. For all that Moffat gets stick for defining female characters in terms of the Doctor, we shouldn’t forget that he’s the one who finally came up with a credible response to the problems posed by Sarah Jane’s anguished “you were my life” in School Reunion. The Doctor isn’t the life of any of his companions under Moffat.
So, I finally found Philip Sandifer and the Tardis Eruditorium, far later than I should have considering my love of all things Doctor Who and smart writing. It’s been bookmarked for further exploration, but I’m particularly taken with this defense of Steven Moffat from accusations of sexism and being anti-feminist.
I’m reminded of Sherlock, and the fact that in both series, the portrayal of women is problematic in that it’s very… objectified, but in a way in which the women of both shows are frequently smarter/more able to see through the pretense of the male leads than their male counterparts (This is especially true in Sherlock).
Food for thought.
Exact details of the character are vague but the part is believed to be a Jedi apprentice.
Variety reports on actors who may (or may not) be in the running for the lead in the new Star Wars movie. I like that the part is “believed to be a Jedi apprentice;” I completely imagine someone at Lucasfilm just making shit up and going “Fuck it, they’re a Jedi apprentice, that sounds believable, right? Who isn’t a Jedi apprentice in these movies?”
Just in time for the new movie opening Friday, any Veronica Mars fan can legally write and sell their own stories starring Veronica, Logan, Wallace, and any of the characters or plotlines from the cult classic TV show starring the titular high-school-outsider-turned-PI. In Creator Rob Thomas’s words: “Veronica Mars’ fans are amazingly loyal and anything we can do to give them more access to her world and that of her character is great…I’m looking forward to seeing what new worlds and characters are created by fans and Kindle Worlds writers.”
Veronica Mars is now available on Amazon’s monetized fan fic program, Kindle Worlds. I can only imagine the number of Logan Echolls stories that will be submitted as a result.
Early signs are that the ploy seems to be working. Tara McGuinness, a Whitehouse communications advisor tweeted that FunnyorDie.com, the site which hosted the video, “is the #1 source of referrals to HealthCare.gov right now”. And the official Twitter account of Healthcare.gov – the site where people can enrol for insurance – has said it received almost a million visits on Tuesday, up 40% from the previous day. The decision to make the appearance will have been carefully weighed up by Obama’s team, and “rooted in data which proves that these things work”, according Alec Ross, a former digital advisor to Hillary Clinton.
The Obama Between Two Ferns episode turns out to do its job quite well. Doubtlessly, conservatives will complain.
