Posted on General

Am I Evil? In Your Hands!

Stay tuned to the Am I Evil? Facebook page, the Am I Evil? website, and the Am I Evil? IndieGoGo page!

Updates will be coming soon with information about the campaign to get yourself a low-price, Indy graphic novel of “Am I Evil?” based on the classic song.

This is about creating a widely-available print version, but it can also get you access to the e-comic and the 17,000-word novella.

1,152 thoughts on “Am I Evil? In Your Hands!”

  16. Finally watched the finale of Mrs Davis, the whole series has been a fun ride and the finale hit me in the feels a few times.

    I hope they don’t do a S2, it’s a perfect one off mini series.

  17. I was unaware of the 1979 Dracula with Frank Langella as the Count.

    Aside from being hopelessly dated, it’s . . . ok. It’s like they gave some scriptwriter a bunch of cocaine and a list of character names with 2-word descriptions.
    So many inexplicable changes from the novel and the original movie. Also: For some reason, all of the characters are assholes. You’re not really rooting for any of them.

    Frank Langella and his Love Boat hair are great.

  19. Ah Airdrie.
    Another newspaper front page pic that doesn’t match the headline
    This week the pic is of a bunch of kids on a miniature train, the headline warns of traffic delays on the highway due to construction

    • I know both Ed and Rhett have rented cars so we should have enough. We can’t count on the husband to join us much so I’ll only have the one car to use myself

      • Yep, I will have a car rental. Hopefully, I’ll have my passport as well. The soonest date I could get was in Tucson June 2nd. I’ll get it expedited.

  25. It’s my least favourite of the HH books but I started a reread of Mostly Harmless yesterday. The ending I hate but the journey is compelling, DA was a unique talent.

    • The only HH book that I’ve only read once.

      Did you ever read Eoin Colfer’s official book 6? I do think Mostly Harmless was better than that one.

  30. The Boy George Do You Really Want to Hurt Me video does not age well.
    To refresh your memory, he’s in a courthouse. The entire jury is in black face

  31. Today we’re going to do our civic duty and vote for a provincial premier (similar to your governor, I think?)
    We really dislike our current one but it’s a really tight race at the moment so it’s possible she might get back in

  36. So the new Little Mermaid is a massive improvement over the original. All of the changes are positive, some corrective, some just nice added detail.

    Still not for me. It’s too damn long – – and I think they could have made even more changes – – but overall, fans should be pleased.

    I’d say I’m baffled by the griping, but I should never be baffled anymore by griping.

  37. I skimmed past a heading that said something about Corey Taylor comparing [band name] to early Slipknot.

    So I went looking for Sleep Token, thinking it might be something I’d enjoy since I enjoy Slipknot.

    Sleep Token… is nothing like Slipknot. It’s interesting but not engaging, if that makes sense.

    Swollen Teeth, on the other hand, does remind me of Slipknot and seems very interesting.

    … So where the heck did I come up with Sleep Token, when I’d never heard of them before?

  41. So that new D&D movie is a good time. Definitely recommended. Lots of fun little touches from the game, but no game knowledge required.

  45. Happy Day Off, to all who benefit. And I do believe in the sentiment behind the day. War is never noble, but sometimes necessary. The men, women, and children who’ve died while attempting to end those conflicts need to be recognized.

  53. We watched ep 1 of Silo, based on all the hype.
    This first ep was by-the-numbers dystopian Sci-Fi. It has potential. We’ll keep going, but I remain unconvinced.

    I’d never read the books, so IDK if that helps or hurts the cause.

  54. Two of the biggest companies in our lives – – Netflix, Amazon – – have gone from “We will do whatever it takes to provide you with excellent service” to “We don’t care in the slightest about your convenience or customer satisfaction.”

  55. They’re doing cheesy videos again on the music station. Steve Perry has really tight jeans on. I’m not sure how he can walk

  65. Another hubbiless evening. It’s times like these that I kind of wish he went into education or something where he’d be off work at 3:30… oh, wait.

    • A couple of enormous challenges wrapped into one issue there. Feels like responsible, collaborative social planning could have lessened all of them.

  75. The Sphere in Vegas is seriously impressive from the outside. It’s one of the most Sci-Fi things I’ve ever seen in the real world.

  78. JW: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

    Still a good film, but some of the SFX (especially some of the zeppelin shots) feel inferior to ToD.

  80. Continuing the MMMMeetup chat from earlier in the page: Expedited passport application is away! Now I know where to find the post office with the dedicated passport center in Omaha. The staff there were very helpful and said that since mine is a renewal, it should process relatively quickly.

    Thanks so much for renting cars, Ed and Rhettro. Did you guys both end up booking the same hotel? I need to make my reservation still.

    • I believe Ryah recommended either the Best Western or Days Inn in Airdrie. I’m booked close to the Calgary airport. This was done because Teresa had points she could apply toward the cost. Speaking of, it looks like Teresa will be coming after all. 🙂

      The Westin Calgary Airport
      671 Aero Drive NE
      Calgary, Alberta T2E7Y5

      I filed for my passport yesterday in Tucson, all the Phoenix locations were booked. And I paid for the expedited review. The longest standard reviews were putting me right at the week we leave. I’m hopeful the extra fee will shave a week or two off the delivery date.

  82. Currently playing Deliver Us Mars which is a sequel to Deliver Us The Moon.

    This leads to the question, why is it called The Moon but we don’t call it The (any other planet)? We don’t say “look at the mars,” or “look at the venus” but we do say, “look at the moon”.
    Why?

    • I recall Crystal Skull being a pile of turds, but I actually don’t hate the most infamous scene. I thought the fridge thing was kinda fun.

      • Leave it to me to think that the fridge scene is fun and ok, but the trucks speeding through the forest cutting trees down to a drivable level at 55 mph is what pisses me off.

  85. “Across the Spiderverse” gets a thumbs up from me. This is an animation feature that really exploits the fact that it is an animation.

    • My sister-in-law insists that Tiffany and I go see it.

      Is it 5-yo-friendly? The Parents’ Guide at IMDB makes it seem mostly tame, though with an intense finale.

      • It’s pretty frantic in its pacing, think Liquid Television X11. I don’t think there are any scenes that would keep me from showing it to my kids if they were 5, but at the same time, I don’t think a 5-year-old would follow what is happening. Depending on the kid they might get confused, and frustrated by the confusion.

  87. So I’m recording the Am I Evil? novella as a – – ahem – – Podiobook to be released in conjunction with the campaign.

    Well, the episodes will be exclusively on YouTube, so not quite a Podiobook.

    This process is still a challenge, but it’s nice to do it again, like revisiting an old playground. With old, rusty slides and swings.

    • No doubt. And it’s not like they need him involved, but California have certain laws about the use of images, names, etc of living people. They only need to wait until he’s dead and then they can do all the Luke shows they want.

  91. Thinking of the future as in 2024, the solar eclipse visible from North America is April 8th 2024.

    There was some talk about a Texas meet-up, anybody have thoughts on this?

    • I have thoughts that, probably, only Van would understand.

      Short answer is, I most likely won’t be going to Texas

    • I think it’d be fun to chase another eclipse, and to see someplace new.

      But I’d always vote for the event that gets the most of us to attend.

      • Agreed. Didn’t realize the eclipse was that early in the year.

        For 2024, if we decide not to do another eclipse meet-up, and like to suggest picking a meet-up weekend that doesn’t conflict with either Dragon Con (Labor Day weekend) or Creation Star Trek Las Vegas (first weekend in August, usually). I really want to hit up both next year.

    • My wife has expressed a preference for that one to be a family trip for us…so, it doesn’t look like I won’t be up for hosting duties on that one.

      That said, one of these years, I’d be up for hosting a Houston gathering if folks were interested. While we’re not a big tourist destination, there’s a fair bit to do around here. Our zoo is pretty well regarded for the folks that are into that 🙂

  92. Ok, what is advantage of using stones in a glass of whiskey over ice.

    I guess the dilution factor but then why bother with the stones?

    • I tried stones. I prefer ice. I find it keeps the whiskey cooler longer. However, ice does dilute it somewhat. It really comes down to personal preference

  98. So the local cinema showing Across the Spiderverse is only showing it in small cinemas that have no seats with enough legroom for me to sit comfortably.

    /sigh

  103. Crap joke for the day:

    What is the difference Ironman and AluminiumMan?

    One stops the bad guys the other just foils their plans…

    • I’ve made some pro-quality pencil drawings – – I’ve surprised myself when doing drawings with and for my little one, but I think I’d need to quit everything and take some classes to round out my techniques and go pro.
      I did a sketch of Vandr from Am I Evil? – – and it didn’t come close to the pics that my artist Kyle has done. The talent gap between him and me was clear.

      Why do you ask?

      • I ask because one of the levels of the Am I Evil IndieGoGo page has a drawing from you as a tier bonus. Tier Fire ($100) has a “portrait by Jack”. “The portrait created by Jack Mangan, who is not remotely pro artist, based on a picture you provided.”

        • I realized why you;d asked awhile after responding to you. . . 😀

          I completely forgot I’d made that offer.

          I’ve posted some of my pencil drawings to Facebook in the past. I’ll post a few in the days ahead.

  105. I enjoyed Across the Spiderverse, although not gory I did wonder by one couple brought their three year old kid to watch it.

    If there was a team #SpiderGwen I would be on it.

  109. So I am still sitting in Newark.
    Rumor has it, if all this dirty brown smoke were to clear out – it would STILL be a Hellscape.

    • He can’t spread fear or disinformation anymore, nor can he pilfer money from the naive. The world is better without him in it.

  112. There is an expression my Dad used to say when when anybody in the family was ill; “you be are only fit for the glue factory”.

    Feel like I’m heading in that direction sooner than I was expecting.

  113. There is an expression my Dad used to say when when anybody in the family was ill; “you are only fit for the glue factory”.

    Feel like I’m heading in that direction sooner than I was expecting.

  117. So watched the Blackberry biopic before I went to a gig. Was not bad at all although I read some liberties were taken with the plot.

  119. When a friend you haven’t heard from in awhile calls you, and you start the conversation jokingly, only to learn that they’re calling with bad news to share. . . . 🙁

    He wasn’t a famous podcaster, but he was well-known and well-loved in the community. RIP Bruce Press, and fuck cancer.

    I won’t claim that he and I were BFFs, but I always liked him and his family. He was here in Phoenix a few years back, and we just couldn’t make it work. I always had something going on and couldn’t get out to meet up with him. “Next time,” is how we left it off.

  122. In happier obituary news, Ted Kascynzki (sp?) is trying to catch up to Pat Robertson on the Highway to Hell.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/unabomber-ted-kaczynski-found-dead-prison-cell-rcna88702

    I’m told that there are people saluting him, which is horrible yet unsurprising.

    I’ve never read any of his manifesto, and never will. He was an intelligent person, so I’m sure he had some decent observations about society. That doesn’t make him someone to venerate.

  124. Watched Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure with the little one.
    My favorite moments still hit for me, but. . . man, this movie hasn’t aged well.

    Nothing offensive or insensitive, just so many jokes that fall flat. The first 5-or-so minutes before his bike is stolen are nigh-unwatchable.

    Or may be it’s aged just fine, and I’ve aged into an old crust.

    • Odd that. I’ve had a song from Hair rolling through my head all morning out of nowhere. I must be being haunted my Treat.

  130. I may uninstall Chrome and reinstall it.

    My day-to-day requires that I use all 3 major browsers. That is sometimes a burden, but it’s the only one that craps out.

  132. Oh, sorry. That was supposed to be a reply to Jack. I was trying to guess what the three major browsers would be now. Edge and Chrome are Blink. Safari is WebKit. Firefox is Gecko. Brave, Vivaldi, and even (I think) Opera all use Blink.

    • I always have Edge, Chrome, and FF open. I realize some of them copy off of each other’s papers, but I didn’t know the actual names of their backbones. Do you work with this stuff?

      Safari is the third most-used – – way ahead of Firefox – – but that’s mainly on iPhones, so I don’t have that on my Windows machine.

      • I’m working on turning my technophilia into a career. I expect to graduate in 25 and get to actually work with these things. I actually thought that “Blink” was Chromium until I looked it up because I knew I didn’t know Firefox’s web engine off the top of my head.

        I use mainly use Vivaldi but Edge has Microsoft’s excellent “read aloud” tool. That helps me digest technical reading a lot faster.

    • The Road was a life-changer for me, as a reader and as a writer. It’s one of the most devastating and beautiful things I’ve ever encountered.
      “Blood Meridian” is a long, long, punishing journey, but his language is always just awe-inspiring. The scene that caps off with “I’ve never seen that man before in my life” (quoting from memory) is as good as it gets.

      RIP. We’ll never have another Cormac McCarthy.

      • I didn’t care for “The Road”. I found it to be ponderous, and depressing read and it didn’t seem to add anything new to the post-appocolypse genre.
        Maybe I shouldn’t have read it at the beach‍♂️

        • Good day to you, sir. Good day!

          I found the movie of The Road to be just OK, because it basically just tells another apocalypse story.

          But reading the book, man. . . Paragraph after paragraph of just incredible beauty.

  137. We took our sweet time getting through it, but we finished the HBOMax “His Dark Materials” series. For such a clearly-expensive show, I never heard or saw anyone talking about it.

    I’ve never read the books. Overall, the series is good. The final two episodes are a mess, but they don’t wreck the series.

    • In short:

      The recent expansion team rules are designed to give new franchises a headstart, so the Vegas Golden Knights entered the league just a few seasons ago as instant contenders. Seattle is the other brand new city, and they also had a legitimate outside shot at the championship.
      This feels frustrating and unfair for all of the teams who have struggled and toiled away for years. Decades.

      That said, I still wanted them to beat Florida. I was in Vegas for about 24 hours right before the Finals began, and it was good to see the VGK colors and logos EVERYWHERE.

    • Yes, we just finished watching it here. A strong start to the new season.

      Though, we watched the S1 finale again last night to get back in the mood. That is certainly one of the top episodes in all of Star Trek.

  146. Been reading The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. It’s pretty mind-blowing. My timing isn’t great. . . .I am not giving it the attention it deserves.

    • “Jordana (legal assistant, New York City): My boss gave me a PalmPilot as a bonus instead of money. I rode the subway to work and played Dope Wars on my PalmPilot. I think I only ever used that PalmPilot to play Dope Wars.”

      My wife got a Palm III as some kind of prize back in the late 90’s. I got a IIIx shortly thereafter and that was the end of our Franklin Planners.

      I’d probably have to translate all that into English for my kids.

  160. The eldest daughter took me to see the new Spider-verse movie last night. It was good, sure, but I don’t love it like everyone else seems to. I’ve never seen such an ADD movie. I was also frustrated by the “to be continued. . .”

  161. Listening to the latest WTF episode with the Ben Kingsley and what an insufferable pratt he is, BK that is.

    Few things make me ashamed to be English but that interview did.

  169. We rented John Wick 4 tonight, because I missed it in the theater.

    The first half was fun and stylish, in line with the rest of the series, but the second half started to feel really tedious. I was ready for it to be over.

    But John Wick 5 is confirmed to be in development!

    You guys can tell me if I’m just getting old and cranky.

    • I think the could have trimmed a good 30 minutes and had a tightly paced movie that would have been the pinnacle of the series.

      I was talking to a friend about this one today. Each action set piece was magnificent…but then ran about 20% too long.

      I enjoyed it, but not as much as the previous ones. It was less than the sum of its parts.

  172. David Gerrold – – the guy who wrote a a bunch of Star Trek episodes, including “Trouble With Tribbles,” and who’s also won tons of awards and published tons of books, stories, and other stuff – – has a gofundme to help his family’s move.

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-move-david-gerrolds-family-to-vermont

    I don’t doubt that this is legit. It’s just sad when even artists with incredibly successful, hall-of-fame careers are struggling like this.

  173. Watched “Hobes and Shaw” on network TV the other night. (if there are many of those, I couldn’t tell you which one it was.)
    It was really well done for a piece of mindless fun.
    Good enough that I wish I had seen it on a streaming service to avoid the commercials.
    Doubt I’ll go back and watch it again though.

  177. Speaking of AI –
    Was having drinks with my NASA buddy and he proposed that a natural use for the GPT AI was to catch the high end Tax Evaders.
    His premise was that the trumps of the world make their taxes so convoluted that it can take thousands of hours to sort through all the data and try to figure out what they have done. The IRS already did not have enough employees to do the job and then the last administration gutted their ranks even further.
    I forget the number he mentioned but the estimated loss in tax revenue was astounding.

    Any way, he suggested that letting GPT sort through those large data sets could vastly speed up the process.

    • I guess I don’t understand how the GPT AI could find irregularities in bogus tax filings, but if it would work, go for it!

      The real question: is there legitimate interest from government officials in auditing ultra-wealthy tax cheats?

      • I think this new breed of AI can learn. So you give it the tax code, then you feed it the body of work for those who have gotten creative and convoluted and somehow it learns what the mechanisms are. It could certainly sort through a mountain of offshore, shell companies in record time. Picking up on certain kinds of financial patterns that indicate “creative accounting”.
        For years the main way the 1 and 2% cheat is by moving stuff around between accounts and renaming ownership so much that it can take a human accountant YEARS to sort through just on guys financials.
        In theory, an AI could learn to do this in a very short time.

        In answer to your other question, absolutely not. The very guys who would have to sign off on this are the ones taking advantage of it not happening. 🙁

    • OceanGate statement in full
      We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.

      These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.

      This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission.

      We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.

      This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea.

      We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.

    • I wonder if he meant that music used to be important to HIM but now was just a thing he was doing in the background of the rest of his life?

  182. Your profound question of the day:
    Being the product of a god and a mortal, would you compare Jesus to Perseus, Heracles, or the Minotaur?

  185. I watched “American History X” for the first time in years. It is still an excellent movie. And, sadly, it feels even more relevant today than when it first came out.

  191. Saw a bunch of old friends yesterday at Chuck Tomasi’s pool party, including the lovely Hastings!

    And then did a Daddy-Daughter Dance with the little one. A fun, full day.

  194. Frustrating day.
    I would like for Am I Evil? to suddenly make $25 million, please. That would solve a lot.
    We’re not quite there yet.

  196. S2 of The Bear is as good if not better than S1.

    Like how the side characters are getting more attention this season. The cameos are good as well.

  198. Hubby got his X-ray back and his foot is all better. Now he can “wean himself off the cast”. Whatever the hell that means

    • We knew this would be the outcome, but still sad.

      I’m not worried about it with (most) of my friends, but I certainly hope I don’t see anyone trying to compare his tragedy to the billionaire submersible tragedy.

    • Well, I say this not to play down the level of gun violence in America, it is unacceptable. But discounting suicides by gun, the odds of someone dying by getting shot are about half that of dying in a car accident while driving to the event. Point being, if the car ride isn’t causing you an equal amount of anxiety, perhaps some perspective is in order.

    • Tron: Legacy wasn’t bad, nor was it groundbreaking. It just sort of “was”. I’m hoping for something more compelling the third time out. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but the Tron 2.0 video game was so good, I feel like Tron already got a proper sequel.

  211. Oh some arsehole writer on the Daily Mail saying a certain person making a cameo in Indy 5 was unrecognisable.

    Everybody in the cinema knew who that person was in relation to the Indy series.

    Come back when you look that good in your 70s..fucker!

  213. So finally give myself a mental slap for being stupid and ordered a device that helps you put your socks on when you have hip problems.

  216. We liked ep 2 of Secret Invasion a lot more than the first. Good intrigue, and it’s always great to see Samuel L. Jackson doing what he does best.

    There’s one bit of plot machinery that feels a little far-fetched, but it’s fine, and it serves the narrative.

  217. Crap joke for the day:

    A lady was driving down a country road when she suddenly hit a squirrel. She slammed the brakes and ran back to where the poor critter lay. Frantically looking around, she saw a veterinary office across the road. She scooped up the squirrel and ran inside, where she found a crusty old veterinarian sitting in a plush old chair reading a newspaper and looking mildly disturbed by her sudden entry.

    She said, “Sir, can you help me? I seem to have hit this squirrel with my car, and now I don’t know what to do.”

    With barely a glance in her direction, the crusty old vet said, “He’s dead. That’ll be $30 for the office visit.”

    The lady was a little taken aback, and said “How can you say that he’s dead from all the way over there, without even looking at him? And the nerve, to charge me for an office visit, at that!”

    The old vet got up and wordlessly took the squirrel, and laid it on an exam table. Then he left the room, and returned with a mangy old cat that was probably as old as he was. He placed the cat on the exam table by the squirrel. The cat sniffed the squirrel from nose to tail; then let out a forlorn single “meow”, jumped off the table and left. The old vet nodded a couple of times, then left the room again, this time returning with an old Labrador retriever. He lead the dog over to the exam table, and the dog started licking the squirrel up one side and down the other. Finally the dog let out a forlorn “woof”, and walked away.

    The old vet looked at the lady and said “I’m sorry ma’am, we did all we could do but he didn’t make it; he’s dead. That’ll be $500.”

    The lady was becoming apoplectic at this point and could barely control her rage. “How can you charge me $500 for THAT?!”

    “Well,” said the old vet, “it’s $250 for the cat scan and another $250 for the Lab work.”

  219. The husband gave me a bright colorful pencil. They give them to the kids on their birthdays. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it but there you go

  222. So, it seems that IndieGoGo was set to default to “anonymous” for all contributors, so that’s made the “Social Media Shoutouts” perk a bit uncertain.

    Please message me here or via email if you didn’t intend to be anonymous.

  225. Interesting work fact:

    Modern browser usage is mainly divided between Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Firefox is down to 2% of users.

    I am typing this using a Firefox browser.

  229. For Mother’s Day I took one of those Ancestry tests. I got the results today. No surprise, my mother is a liar and we have no idea who my father really is.
    It was interesting to look at and I’m glad I did it, but I didn’t really learn anything new.

  232. So I’m still in limbo in regards to the knee op so it’s looking very unlikely that I will be able to go to the meet-up this year.

    Don’t exclude me from the emails though.

  236. What I learnt today:

    Kurt Russell turned down starring in Highlander to play Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Littke China.

  237. What I learnt today:

    Kurt Russell turned down starring in Highlander to play Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China.

    • I did not know that. I guess I’m fine with the way things turned out.

      Christopher Lambert is kind of a terrible actor, but he was a perfect Connor McLeod.

      Kurt would have been better, but I’m glad we got him as Jack Burton.

  240. Super skeptical of Silo in the beginning, but it pulled me along to a few pretty exciting climactic episodes to end season 1.

    Like Snowpiercer in many ways, you just have to take a deep breath, accept the whacked out premise, and keep watching.

    • I also kept noticing the name “Billy Postlethwaite” in the end credits, and it turns out that yes, he’s the son of the late, great character actor, Pete Postlethwaite. Looks nothing like him – – but he’s the long-haired deputy from the lower floors.

  243. I finally caved and upgraded my Google storage. $19.99/year won’t break the piggy bank.
    I was spending a lot of time deleting e-mails to go from 96% full to 93% full, when it’s the word and image files that are the real issue, especially with the Am I Evil? project files. I’ll still delete clutter, but now I can spend less time worrying about running out of storage space.

  246. Currently listening to Stan Freberg’s – “The United States of America”
    … as any true American should on this day

  247. Off to the RCMP after lunch. Because he deals with kids, hubby has to get a background check done on himself regularly

  248. I hope everyone enjoyed the 4th.

    This years seems to have been the worst I’ve ever seen for the amateur hour fireworks around the neighborhood. The only part that bothered me were M80s after midnight.

  252. Well.
    Went to the effort of going to see the new Indy Jones flick tonight. First trip I’ve made to the Cinema in maybe a year.
    Theater was dirty with very few employees.
    Best part was that with 20 minutes left, the picture went out. The audio kept going and after a minute or so of listening to spoilers we walked out.

    • Maybe the projectionists opened the final film reel and their faces all melted?

      Hilarity aside, that is an awful movie-going story. I hope the theater gave you money back plus free passes for another showing. At least.

  256. We had to go back to the RCMP today. They accidentally filled out hubby as “female” on the form. Luckily, the same person was there so it was easy enough to get it changed.

  257. I was today years old when I learned that William Hootkins, the guy played Porkins in Star Wars, was also the “Top Men” guy at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
    He was also a crooked cop in the 1989 Batman.

    He died in 2005, but would have been 75 today.

  258. And so, in just over 24 hours, I’ll be done forever with Am I Evil? crowdfunding.
    I’ll be busy as heck for the following few weeks, getting the Special Edition copies of the book printed and making the perks, and getting everything shipped out, and other finalized versions of AIE-related things. . .

    After all THAT is done, I can start thinking about other things again.

  264. CW: The X-Files S7 E21

    The genie episode, my fav episode of the entire series and the only episode I’ve rewatch multiple times.

    I’m a sucker for a genie story and only today I realised it was written and directed by Vince Gilligan…THAT Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.,,

    • I think I saw that episode when it first aired and then never again and yet it still sticks with me. So I guess it must be one of my favorites as well.

  267. Ok, watched the first two episodes of My Adventures with Superman, the new WB animated series.

    Enjoyed them and have to agree with the twitter crowd that choosing the guy who voices Jerry in Rick and Morty as the bad guy was a great choice.

    • I think I recognized all but a couple of the videos parodied in the video.

      Bonus points because it parodied a Weird Al video.

  269. All y’all been quiet this weekend! I have too – – but only on the internets.

    Tiffany and I did the rare grown-ups night out last night, saw Drunk Shakespeare, which was fun. (A cast of 5, one of them downs a bunch of shots, then they all run through a Shakespeare play. None of them take it seriously. We got Macbeth).

  275. CW: The Midwich Cuckoos E1

    This is the recent adaption from Sky, with seven episodes I feel they might be stretching it out a bit as the book was 1950s short.

  277. Bummer! I’d thought that GotG was out for rental, but no, it’s only available to purchase. So we just did a few eps of What We Do in the Shadows instead.

    And I sent some AIE perks emails.

  281. On the whole social media micromessaging thing:
    https://www.pastemagazine.com/threads-bluesky-twitter-replacements-meta-instagram

    I NEVER liked Twitter, not even when it was in its early days. If I were still engaging in that kind of thing, I’d have left Twitter the moment the human cesspool took charge of it. However, I don’t feel compelled to jump on any other service. I’ll participate on Facebook, and I have a Mastodon account. That’s probably good enough for me.

  287. Thanks for the wishes. I’m going out to buy some new jeans, cheesecake, and then pick up Taco Time and Slurpees for lunch.
    After that it’s video games and we’ll stream a movie.
    All in all, a good, relaxing day to be had.

    • That’s a shame. I know last month they were ceasing distributing outside California, so I had hoped they would avoid shutting down. One can only hope an angel investor will save the company.

    • I never enjoyed their beers, but that’s not really the point. This is a shame.

      I also didn’t know they were “America’s oldest craft brewery.”

  293. I don’t agree with all of the “it’s too slow-paced” griping about Secret Invasion. . . but. . . if you’re going to break up the tension with a slam-bang action scene, then you gotta do a little better than that. #notaspoiler

  295. Thing I learned today: The whooshing sound of the Enterprise in ST:TOS was ad libbed by Sandy Courage and is just his voice doing sssssHHHHHHhhhhhh.

  296. The husband and I realized most of our guests come in the winter when it’s actually dark at night. Today we hung blackout curtains in the guest room so our upcoming guests won’t be disturbed by our very long, sunny evenings.

  298. I saw the new MI film, it was fun.

    One aspect I did like was the original tv tune seemed to feature much more often than previous films. Although it’s been a while since I saw 6 so maybe my memory is betraying me.

  300. On the closing of Anchor Brewing; “Its pretty frustrating to see their press release take the typical SF cop-out and blame it on “high production costs” to piggy back off of people thinking sf is in a state of decay. When in reality a big huge foreign business bought a local staple, tried to brute force it through their own business practice, failed almost immediately and now have to liquidate a 130 year old brand. Classic.” Dave Hahn Madrone Bartender.

    I can’t verify his claim, but it’s an interesting wrinkle.

    • The original article that was shared here was actually pretty crystal clear in blaming Saporro for the demise. Seems like this person is using any statement they can find in the article to bring their personal torch to bear on the issue.

      “Another problem has been Sapporo, the Japanese beer company that bought the brand in 2017. Employees complained to VinePair last month about Sapporo’s alleged mismanagement and lack of understanding of craft beer in the United States. In addition, a 2021 rebrand of Anchor was criticized for pivoting too far away from the brand’s classic look.”

  301. Guess whose shiny new passport just showed up today? I also reserved my flight and my room at the Airdrie Best Western within the past few weeks, and ordered new walking shoes tonight. I’m excited for MMMMeetup! 🙂

    Jack – I, too, caved in and paid for the Google storage upgrade just before my May trip. I didn’t want to run out of room for photo storage.

  306. I support WGA and SGA 100%, but Matt Damon probably shouldn’t be saying, “We gotta get what we’re worth,” considering the paychecks he gets per movie. The bad guys will point to the small minority of mega-rich actors and call them greedy, when this is really about cutting corners and boxing people out of making a livable wage at every single job title, with the exception of “Executive.”

    As for the WGA side, I saw a factoid stating that the average big studio writer makes about $69K per year; Bob Iger makes $70K per day. If true, then this a discrepancy that needs to be corrected.

    And it’s also a high-profile microcosm of every industry in the Capitalist world right now.

    However… cynical me believes that the bad guys will win out in the end of this – – and all labor conflicts to come. They have all the cards, at this point, and they know that most of us will consume whatever scab product are shoved onto our screens.

  309. I am considering going to a local dive and hearing some local Punk bands tonight.

    I wonder what the kids consider “punk” these days.

    • So I went and was pretty underwhelmed.
      4 bands. Each had their moments but on the whole, not so much.
      Hard to put my finger on it but it felt kind of fake. Like these kids were putting on a show. The musicians ranged from their 20’s to 30’s with one or two “old guys” thrown in.
      I’m not sure how many in the crowd would even know who the Ramones were.

      Anyway, glad I went out and did this because I have been telling myself for a couple years that one day I would.
      Don’t think I will be going back though.

  317. Took the little one to Elemental. The “Up” short at the beginning was pretty sweet.
    The feature was. . . fine. This is not the aggressively-creative, consistently amazing Pixar of yesteryear. Sure, there are some clever bits.

    And hey, Pixar: we get it. Parents shouldn’t burden their kids with their own expectations. Message received.

    • I love animation, but I have a harder and harder time watching the same coming of age tale told over and over and over again. I get that new audiences need to hear that message.

  318. From Nick Jack Pappas (I don’t know him):

    Hi, all. I write jokes for TV, but not long ago I was a financial analyst. I had my Series 7.
    For those who say Fran Drescher or any SAG-AFTRA member should stop whining and appreciate what they have, let me give you a lesson in capitalism.
    The WGA and SAG-AFTRA are dealing mainly with publicly traded companies, companies that have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. Netflix, for example, has 88.21% of their shares held by institutional investors – banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, etc.
    This morning, Netflix stock hit a 52-week high. They made institutional investors alone $106+ billion dollars this year.
    $106 BILLION.
    Fran Drescher, for her entire life, is worth $25 million.
    It’s easy to get mad at Ted Sarandos or David Zaslav or Bob Iger, but they get paid so much because their only job is to make rich people richer.
    The WGA and SAG-AFTRA aren’t fighting against rich CEOs. They’re fighting against an entire system incentivized to exploit workers.
    A-list actors get paid so much because they’re worth it. Someone has done the math. You don’t have a poster of Bob Iger hanging up in your room. You don’t binge watch a show with David Zaslav. You don’t go to Comic Con to meet faceless billionaires.
    You pay to see stars.
    Not to mention that, in reality, 87% of SAG-AFTRA union members don’t qualify for health insurance.
    How much do they have to make to qualify? $26,000 a year.
    These are working class people, just like you.
    The wealthiest 1% hold 53% of ALL stocks. The top 10% hold 88.6% of ALL stocks. Every dollar these media companies don’t give to a writer or actor, they hand to millionaires and billionaires.
    When you say actors and writers are spoiled, you’re on the wrong side of history.

    • Thanks for sharing that.
      It’s true and it doesn’t get said enough.

      Any time some group that isn’t part of the 1 or 2% tries to rise up and make their lives better at the expense of a few billionaires, those profiting from keeping them down will find the handful of exceptions and parade them in front of the media as supposed examples of the thousands you will never see or hear of.

      • I feel like another important takeaway is about Ted Sarandos, David Zaslav, Bob Iger. They have absolutely played villains in this conflict (see what I did there?), but they’re just the public faces of the oppressors.

        And sure, there are some wealthy actors and writers on the picket lines, but whatever their motive is, greed, ego, attention, the cause, human decency – – whatever! – – they’re fighting to keep creative jobs viable for future generations of humans who weren’t born into wealthy or famous families.

  319. https://geektyrant.com/news/ashley-eckstein-strongly-encourages-star-wars-fans-to-watch-animated-shows-before-ahsoka-is-released

    Ashley Eckstein says “I highly recommend that you take the time to watch Clone Wars, and watch Star Wars Rebels, and even Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. Because if you don’t, you’re going to miss out on crucial, crucial backstory that you really need to know to fully enjoy the Ahsoka series”

    So, I won’t be watching the Ahsoka series. I haven’t had the inclination to watch the animated stuff that is even more targeted to children than the movies. So I’m likely not going to get it.

    • I need to clear up a misconception: The animated series of Clone Wars and Rebels aren’t anymore targeted to children than the original movies and prequels.

      These two series are excellent and I highly recommend them, though I warn people about bearing with the Jar Jar episodes in Clone Wars. But, you are free to watch what you want of course.

      • I agree with ditto’s take – – mostly. There are moments that are definitely aimed at the after-school crowd.
        I complained loudly about the first season of Rebels for this reason, but they set the course right after that and produced some truly great moments.

        • I still think I didn’t get my point across clearly, so I’ll try again. Lucas has always been clear that kids have been his primary target audience. That’s not to say he’s not making fare that adults won’t enjoy, but he is always thinking first of how kids will react to his movies. And that is exactly the same in these animated shows.

          • Agree that kids were always the primary audience. However, I feel like Episodes IV and V were not targeted equally at children and adults. Return of the Jedi is where I feel the dividing line is set. Before that, both adults and children can equally enjoy things. After that, children have been targeted at the expense of adult viewing. This is one of the reasons I like Rogue One so much (but I digress). I tried watching some of the animated series and they always seem to revolve around CW-like teen age drama and/or kids learning life lessons. I have been convinced to watch Tales of the Jedi, so I’ll start there and see where it goes from there.

            Oh, and of course, the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars was brilliant. So I’m not necessarily anti-animated SW. Just have to find the right set of episodes from the right series to draw me in. And I have to find the hundreds of hours to watch everything.

          • Time is always an issue. I get it.

            I think Ed will agree with me that the final 4 episode arc of Clone Wars is some of the best Star Wars out there. Hands down. And I love Rogue One.

          • This is a conundrum I have pondered for sometime without ever reaching a conclusion.
            When someone creates media, that makes you a huge fan as a youth you generally want to continue consuming that entertainment as you get older. The problem is what you want from your entertainment as an adult tends to be different than what you wanted as a child.
            So what is the content producer supposed to do? Do they change the Contant to continue to serve their original fan base or do they continue as they started and try to attract a whole new generation of fans?
            I don’t know the answer.
            I do know that I have no interest in animation aimed at kids unless it’s really really well done (PIXAR used to be able do this). It’s not that I am against Star Wars aimed at kids. It just doesn’t amuse me enough to give it my time.

          • I have found that there is a lot of “children’s animation” out there that really has the ability to appeal to adults as well. As a college student, I really loved Ren & Stimpy without needing the excuse of having kids around. When my kids were growing up, I found a whole new era of cartoons that I was able to really, really enjoy such as the Power Puff Girls, Invader Zim, CatDog… all those 90s Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon cartoons. And Cartoons like Samurai Jack and Avatar the Last Airbender really seems to speak to the adult audience exceptionally well. I would love to find the time to get around to watching the newer “children’s animation” like Gumball and Regular Show, which I hear are just as bizarre and out there. I think it’s absolutely possible to make animation that speaks to younger and older audiences. It just takes an effort and wanting to write that way.

    • Apologies for being Mr. Contrary, especially since I’m always down to play Tom Cruise Crazy, but that article isn’t all that damning. Saying he was “noncommittal to picketing, but offered to help in other ways” isn’t great, but he’s not standing with the Igers.

      I’m following this news event fairly closely. I just don’t see the writers and actors winning. Big Money holds all of the cards, and all of the – – money, and has none of the morality or the interest in art or in lower-level people’s survival, and has nothing to lose. Their opponents in SAG-AFTRA (minus the celebrity exceptions) will all starve in a protracted standoff.

      Writers (mostly) want to create art, execs want to manufacture cheap product. Execs see a future when AI will make films for pennies, monitored by one minimum-wage button-pusher, as opposed to teams of high-priced creative. How many more billions in their pockets, if they can replace millionaires with minimum-wage? They’re not going to cave.

      • Not to mention that actors in SAG get a portion of movie proceeds, so Tom Cruise asking that actors still be allowed to promote their movies is still on the side of the actors. That being said, I’m not a fan of Tom Cruise mostly for his Scientology and anti-actual-psychology stances. He’s actively promoting things that hurt people and asking them not to do things that will actually help them. No bueno.

      • I don’t think the general public understands what they are poised to loose at this point in the timeline.

        For decades now, the studio system has leaned heavily into producing “product”. They have a formula that makes a known amount of dollars and they try to tare apart every script and rebuild it to that formula.
        What keeps it from all being the same 5 films over and over again are the humans in the mix. Talented people on the production teams who make a lot of little changes here and there, directors who start a film and then try to hold out to do it their way, Actors who only agree to do a film if the studio lets them do a future project of THEIR choice.

        When all these people with the decades of know how to take “product” and squeeze art out of it are forced out, replaced by interns and computers and AI … we will have nearly nothing but “product”.

        IMHO- Society never recovered from the rise of “Reality TV”, which blossomed from a writers strike several decades ago.

  331. Catching up after a few days – yes, the animated shows, particularly Clone Wars and Rebels, are some fine and worthy Star Wars content, I don’t care how old you are.

    Do you have to have seen them to enjoy Ashoka? No, but you’re not going to enjoy it as much as those of us who have seen the development of the Ashoka character through those shows.

  337. Dug a grave today in 112 degree heat, how about you?
    My daughter is pretty broken up. It’s awful, the snake should have lived many more years.

    • Definitely sounds interesting. Just added it to my podcast list. I’ve definitely been struggling to find new bands that I really want to get into. I’m mostly good at finding old bands that I missed and/or just never got too deep into and geeking out on them for a while.

  345. So this week I bought Planet of Lana on Steam.

    The reviews have compared it to Limbo but the lovely visuals and low poly count of the main character reminds me of Another World on the Atari ST. Anyway as a puzzle platformers go it’s pretty good.

  346. So asked the Bing AI search fpr the best games for the Atari ST:

    The Atari ST was a popular home computer and gaming platform in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It had a large library of games, many of which are still fondly remembered by retro gamers today. Some of the best Atari ST games according to various sources are:

    Prince of Persia12: A classic platformer that introduced fluid animation and realistic physics to the genre. The player had to escape from a dungeon and rescue the princess in 60 minutes, avoiding traps, guards and puzzles along the way.
    Populous12: A god game that let the player shape the land, influence the people and wage war against rival deities. The game featured 500 different worlds to conquer, each with its own terrain, climate and challenges.
    Super Sprint12: A top-down racing game that was based on an arcade hit. The game supported up to four players on one screen, competing on various tracks with obstacles, power-ups and hazards. The game was fast-paced and fun, with simple but addictive gameplay.
    Lotus Turbo Challenge II3: A point-to-point racing game that was praised for its smooth scrolling, realistic sound effects and varied scenery. The game featured 32 tracks across different countries, weather conditions and terrains. The game also had a split-screen mode for two players.
    The Chaos Engine1: A steampunk-themed run-and-gun game that was developed by the Bitmap Brothers. The game had six playable characters, each with their own skills and weapons, who had to fight their way through a world corrupted by a machine called the Chaos Engine. The game had co-op mode for two players and featured impressive graphics and sound.
    Dungeon Master45: A groundbreaking role-playing game that pioneered real-time combat, 3D graphics and mouse control in the genre. The player had to lead a party of four adventurers through a labyrinthine dungeon, facing monsters, traps and puzzles. The game had a complex magic system, character development and inventory management.
    Lemmings45: A puzzle-platformer that became one of the most popular and influential games of all time. The player had to guide a group of lemmings, small creatures that followed each other mindlessly, to an exit on each level. The player had to use various skills, such as digging, building and exploding, to overcome obstacles and prevent the lemmings from dying.
    These are just some of the best Atari ST games that you can play today. There are many more games that you can explore on websites like Atarimania4 or My Abandonware4. You can also use emulators like Hatari or Steem to run Atari ST games on your modern computer.

    I hope this helps you find some great Atari ST games to enjoy. Happy gaming!