Here's the top MCS tags found for "star"

• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Stargate
• Starcraft
• Star Wars: Episode 6: Return of the Jedi
• Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith
• LEGO Star Wars
• Star Trek: Into Darkness
• Starbucks
• Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Wars: Rebels
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• StarCraft II
• Star Trek: Nemesis
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Battle Beyond The Stars
• Dark Star
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• The Last Starfighter
• Star Wars: Episode 7: The Force Awakens
• Starship Troopers
• Fist of the North Star
• Homestar Runner
• StarTalk
• Star-Lord
• Stargate: Universe
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Star Fox
• Men Who Stare At Goats
• The Star
• The Minnesota Starvation Experiment
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek: Beyond
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
• Star Citizen
• Star Wars: Celebration
• Starfire
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• Star Trek: Discovery
• Starry Night
• Stargirl
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Starsky & Hutch
• Star Trek: Enterprise
• Krystle Starr
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Star Wars: Episode 8: The Last Jedi
• Star Trek: Axanar
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Nichelle Nichols, ‘Lt. Nyota Uhura’, Dies at 89

Deadline is reporting that Nichelle Nichols has passed at age 89.  She had recently stopped public appearances due to health concerns, so this isn’t a sudden surprise, but it’s still sad news to hear.  In terms of books, she only had one Trek related one to my knowledge: Beyond Uhura – Star Trek and Other Memories.  While she didn’t have a large book catalog, she was responsible for a large number of minorities joining the various STEAM fields and she worked directly with NASA to bring in viable candidates through her company “Women in Motion”, which is close to the name of the documentary about her efforts named “Woman In Motion“, it’s well worth your time if you haven’t seen it yet.

Among her many pursuits was music, here’s one of my favorite tracks:

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Conan the Destroyer

Conan the Destroyer: Directed by Richard Fleischer. With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Grace Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Mako. Conan leads a ragtag group of adventurers on a quest for a princess.

Arguably better than the first one, but that’d be a fun argument to have, as both films have exceptionally strong portions and co-stars. In this case Arnold is joined by Grace Jones and Wilt Chamberlain, both of whom did a fantastic job as Conan’s traveling buddies.

Buy On Amazon!

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Samaritan

Samaritan: Directed by Julius Avery. With Sylvester Stallone, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Martin Starr. A young boy learns that a superhero who was thought to have gone missing after an epic battle twenty years ago may in fact still be around.

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The Gray Man

The Gray Man: Directed by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo. With Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thornton. When the CIA’s most skilled operative-whose true identity is known to none-accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.

It’s a Netflix film, dumping ground for some pretty junky films, so it’s always nice to watch a film on their streaming service that’s actually good, which “The Gray Man” is not just good, it was a down right enjoyable film on every level I can think of. Chris Evans continues to chew up every scene he’s in now that he’s no longer the Captain of America and Ryan Gosling is slowing redeeming himself in my movie memories. There’s a few other fun actors that show up, I didn’t recognize Billy Bob Thornton until he started talking, as he’s looking really good now, and I have a visceral emotional reaction every time I see Ana de Armas, she’s simply one of the best actresses on the silver screen right now.

Buy On Amazon!

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Titanic and Omen actor David Warner dies at 80

David Warner, who recently starred in Mary Poppins Returns, dies from a cancer-related illness.

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“Rogue Elements” Wins A 2022 Scribe Award

John Jackson Miller has announced on his Facebook page that his novel “Star Trek: Picard — Rogue Elements” has won a Scribe Award:

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AT&T Falls Most in 20 Years After Overdue Bills Hit Cash Flow

(Bloomberg) — AT&T Inc. fell the most in 20 years after saying some customers are starting to put off paying their phone bills, which contributed to the wireless carrier cutting its forecast for free cash flow this year by $2 billion.Most Read from BloombergAmericans Who Can’t Afford Homes Are Moving to Europe InsteadThese Are the World’s Most (and Least) Powerful Passports in 2022Biden Contracts Covid as Pandemic Shows Its Staying PowerECB Rushes to Tighten as Half-Point Hike Matched by Crisis

Secret Headquarters

Secret Headquarters: Directed by Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman. With Owen Wilson, Michael Peña, Walker Scobell, Jesse Williams. Young Charlie Kincaid, who discovers a secret headquarters under his home that seems to belong to a superhero. He shares it with his friends, and they start to believe that his estranged father might have a secret double life.

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Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted: Directed by James Bobin. With Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey, Steve Whitmire. While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.

I had forgotten how super catchy the music in “Most Wanted” is, and I’m not sure we’ll ever see Ricky Gervais in another Disney film, but it sure was nice to see him in his less traumatic days.

…was this the last time we saw the Muppets? I guess there was that “Haunt Mansion” film last year, but does that count as a Muppet film? It does in my book!

Buy On Amazon!

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Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel: Created by Bisha K. Ali. With Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff, Yasmeen Fletcher. Kamala is a superhero fan with an imagination, particularly when it comes to Captain Marvel; Kamala feels like she doesn’t fit in at school and sometimes even at home, that is until she gets superpowers like the heroes she’s looked up to.

Ms. Marvel starts off slow enough and that first episode felt like it was going to be another one of those D+ shows that meanders just a bit too much or never really figures itself out, but by the third episode I was hooked and now I’m 100% on board with Kamala Khan. I was pretty familiar with the character due to my comic bookin, but even if you know nothing about the character, this is a completely accessible show. In fact, I’d say it’d be better to not know the comic book origins, because in the comics there’s a Marvel-esque series of events that were like 10 years in the making that resulted in the character being made with Inhumans, Mutants, Avengers, space mutants, terrigen crystals, terrigen mists, embiggening, and all sorts of general Marvel wackiness that works for the comics but doesn’t necessarily work for the MCU. Her origins are super simplified, some cool new and exciting stuff is introduced, and there’s a fun lead in to her next appearance.

Buy On Amazon!

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Bachelor in Paradise

Bachelor in Paradise: Directed by Jack Arnold. With Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Janis Paige, Jim Hutton. A bachelor author of sleazy books moves to a family-oriented subdivision where he becomes an unofficial relationship advisor to unhappy local housewives, to the dismay of their respective husbands who suspect him of sexual misconduct.

To be honest, I’m not much of a Bob Hope fan, but this movie convinced me that I should be more open to his work. “Bachelor in Paradise” is a another great recommendation from that “California Tiki” book that I finished last month, I think it’s the last on the list of movies I was interested in checking out. There’s not much actual Pop Tiki stuff going on here, save for one scene where our two main stars go to a tiki bar to settle their differences.

The primary focus for tiki interested people actually isn’t the bar, but the titular “Paradise” that Bob Hope’s Bachelor finds himself in, ostensibly to write a book about the lives of Americans. It turns out to be so much more and there are some fantastic hijinx in the third act. Want to see what kind of lives vets were living with their families after World War 2 or the Korean War? This is a good one to watch to see the pop up residential projects, how modern technology was used to pull them in, how that tech ultimately was mostly just trash, and how completely unfulfilling and empty everyone’s lives ended up being while in the rat race.

Gray Flannel Suits, indeed.

Best line of the movie:
“I don’t care if he loses his head, even if he does have a spare”

Buy On Amazon!

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RIP Eaglemoss

Noted part-work publisher Eaglemoss has reportedly filed for Administration and have taken down their webstore.  They’ve been around for a considerable time, at least since the mid 1970’s, and they’ve published thousands of magazines and books, a large portion of them being Star Trek related, with over 180 entries in the main line of their Star Trek Starships Collection that I first subscribed to in 2013 and 140 issues of the hardcover Star Trek comic book collection, a series that I personally only started about a year ago when Rich Handley mentioned they were done making new ones.

Having subscribed for only a year, I had to ask that nearly every shipment from them be reshipped, as they were shipping four hardcover books loose in a box, so they would obviously be pretty damaged by the time they arrived to me.  Then the inevitable reship would be sent exactly the same way, so it was only complete luck if any of the books actually made it to me without half inch dings in the spine or crushed corners.

it’s a sad ending for a good company that had great products, the general consensus is that the pandemic did them in, but if I were to point at any one thing, it’s the lack of quality control in shipping.  The kitty litter I get from Chewy is better packed for half the price and twice the weight!

Hopefully those of us with outstanding orders with them will see the products, and someone will pick up the company and it’s licenses and continue on the part work subscriptions that were still ongoing.

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Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Charli XCX: Alone Together

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Jury Awards $1.7 Million to Ex-Porn Actress Who Sued Oregon Community College

“They thought I was such a weak, pathetic, disgusting target,” Nicole Gililland said of Southwestern Oregon Community College officials

Foster Cat Nyx

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Baymax!

Baymax!: Created by Don Hall. With Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Dichen Lachman, Sarah-Nicole Robles. The characters in the unique city of Big Hero 6 get their own series, packed with adventures.

You know those shorts that Pixar does before every Pixar film? The ones that usually make you cry like a big dumb baby, but it’s ok because everyone in the theater is doing the same dumb thing?

Well this is a series of sorta unrelated shorts starring Baymax that do the same thing. It’s not Baymax in his Iron Man-esque armor, but Baymax the automated health professional, who goes around the neighborhood solving extremely minor health care emergencies. There’s a typical Pixar ending that will likely make you all misty eyed like it did me, so if you’re a glutton for emotional moments in films, this is right up your alley.

Buy On Amazon!

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Clerks III

Clerks III: Directed by Kevin Smith. With Rosario Dawson, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson. Dante, Elias, and Jay and Silent Bob are enlisted by Randal after a heart attack to make a movie about the convenience store that started it all.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene Suggests 4th of July Shooting Was Orchestrated by Democrats

The conspiracy theorist who once pushed the idea that the California wildfires were started deliberately is, lest we forget, a sitting congresswoman

Scream 2

Scream 2: Directed by Wes Craven. With Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Paulette Patterson, Rasila Schroeder. Two years after the first series of murders, as Sidney acclimates to college life, someone donning the Ghostface costume begins a new string of killings.

I had forgotten how many big names where in this, Jada Pinkett Smith, Heather Graham, Liev Schreiber, Chris Odonnel, Neve Campbell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Timothy Olyphant, Omar Epps, tons of people that were just getting started and went on to make great content afterwards.

All for a pretty good horror film.

Buy On Amazon!

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Comic Books Have Been Added!

Starting a couple weeks ago I began adding a significant number of the Star Trek Comic Books to the Star Trek Book Club, and I believe that I have them all on the site now.  In the process of doing this, I made a determination that the comics and to a greater extent, magazines, should be held separate from the standard “books” category, in nearly every regard with the exception of Storylines, which do have a few crossovers among the various types of stories.  The comics fit nicely into the taxonomies and fields that I already have configured for books, but there’s still a couple things that I need to figure out.  I’ve never been super happy with having two entries for anyone that was both a Narrator and an Author, and adding in comics with it’s various configurations of editors, writers, artists, and other assorted creative credits isn’t going to help things along very well in that regard.

I’d like to thank the fantastic work of the Grand Comics Database. the vast majority of the data points that I’m using for the comic books on the STBC came from their hard work, and you’ll find a link to them on nearly every one of the comic’s details pages.   If you disagree with any of those datapoints, or you think something’s missing, leave a comment below!

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Is Winning In A Casino All About Luck?

The age-old debate over whether gambling success should be ascribed to skill or chance continues today. A combination of both is the short answer to this question. Many casino games require a combination of skill and luck to win. In blackjack and video poker, players can utilize strategy to increase their chances of winning and getting the best casino bonus throughout the game. You can improve your possibility of success at an online casino if you understand that luck and tactics play a factor in the outcome of a game. Chance determines how much talent is required to play. Take, for example, the best slots for real money in slot machines.

Casino, gambling and entertainment concept – roulette table and stack of poker chips

Slot machines are grouped as games of luck because they do not require any talent to play. There is no way to foresee the game’s outcome because you do not influence how the reels spin. Covered below is:

• Poker is a skill-based game.
• Consistent winner, consistent talent (blind – bet).
• Is soccer a game of luck?
• The gambler’s fallacy.
• Is it possible to prevail over the luck factor?
• Is it probable to avoid luck?

Poker as a Skill-Based Game

Let’s start with poker because it is, more than any other game, the one that is most hotly contested in terms of skill vs. gambling factors. The ongoing effort in the United States and worldwide to acknowledge poker as a skill game is critical to breaking free from the restrictions of the casino and its harsh gambling rules. As poker becomes more popular worldwide, more skilled players emerge who are generating a high income from the game. In reality, some judges in countries such as Russia are starting to view poker as a skill game. In essence, a difference must be drawn between poker abilities and pure gambling in casino games such as roulette. While the truism says that poker is 30 percent dexterity and 70 percent fortune for frivolous companies, it is the opposite for mavens.

Poker is so prevalent these days, and so many companies deem they are accepting their skills to the game that they often lose sight of the authenticity that the game necessitates any luck at all. Reflect on the sum of ‘poor beat’ tales that thrive in online forums, and then deliberate how many gamers have paused to contemplate what type of game they’re taking part in. Few individuals will blame their poor performance because they’re participating in a game that is basically a game of chance.

Consistent Winner, Consistent Talent

Steven D. Levitt and Thomas J. Miles investigated a group of highly competent poker players during the 2010 World Series of Poker. The average return on investment (ROI) for that group of participants was above 30%, compared to a -15 percent for all other players in the competition. Why do the top players in the world consistently reach final tables at major events if poker is a game of pure luck, as many jurisdictions throughout the globe believe?

While calculating odds does play a role in poker, as we saw in our first example – after all, a big portion of the game is based on the turn of a card – there are so many other aspects to the game that it can never truly be considered a game of chance. While there must be a loss for every winner in poker, using poker talent helps top players overcome the luck aspect, allowing them to soar above a sea of players who are either losing a lot, a little or breaking even.

Is Soccer a Game of Luck?

According to Tom Tango, author of ‘The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball,’ luck plays a more prominent role in sports results than you might think if you only consider games where a team wins or loses. When Tango’s equations are applied to soccer during a normal 10-month season, differences in results attributable to luck account for roughly 35% of the overall variance (luck), leaving around 65% to ability. 

This is excellent news for talented players because talent has almost double the impact on a team’s victory rate as chance does. However, this still indicates that around a third of a team’s victory rate is based solely on luck. Why isn’t soccer treated like poker as a game of chance if that’s the case? There are better chances of winning the game when played at some of the best slots for real money worldwide.

The Gambler’s Fallacy 

It is also known as the Monte Carlo fallacy, which is the improper impression that if something transpires more times than usual during a precise period, it will occur less often in the future, seemingly as a way of nature equalizing itself. This can happen in the form of sceneries, although it is most frequently connected with gaming, where such faults are prevalent. 

The issue is that it is entirely improper. The most famous occurrence was in a game of roulette at a Monte Carlo casino in 1913, when the ball plummeted in black 26 times in a row (thus the name). Wagerers lost millions of dollars gaming against black, trusting that a long arrangement of red was unsettled.

Is It Possible to Prevail Over the Luck Factor?

Even in a game with a strong skill feature, such as poker, All companies will go penniless at some point — the luck may not be on the gamers’ side, even if they’re making rock-hard gaming choices. So, how can participants overcome the factor of chance? The modest option is to avoid them totally when it comes to casino games that depend so profoundly on luck. Okay, that’s a touch basic, but modest budget control is the key to long-standing victory in any match with odds. Game with a certain quantity of your finance, save your salaries while you’re ahead, and make only lucid choices.

Chance, or luck, is a fragment of all we do. Getting hit by a van, earning a raffle prize, or being struck by lightning are all games of chance, and how you play your luck is just as vital as how you play your cards. Stick to games with beneficial house advantages, such as poker, study, attempt plans, do your research and make the changes work to your benefit. It’s either that or stop gaming entirely.

Queens, Cats, Plants, and Wicked Barley

Had a fun weekend playing cards with my niece and nephew, this is the new one that we played, it was overly complicated and I loved it.  It’s named “Sleeping Queens”

Charlotte and Miles doing their thing.

Odo and Miles doing their thing.

I got some tomato seeds and I had purchased these cheap “grow lights” at the start of the pandemic, so I figured I’d try them again.  They didn’t very well with my first tomato plant 🙁

We all went to a brewery named “Wicked Barley” and they had some awfully nice beers to try out.

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The Dunwich Horror

The Dunwich Horror: Directed by Daniel Haller. With Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner. Wilbur Whateley travels to the Arkham Miskatonic University to borrow the legendary Necronomicon. But, little does anyone know, Whateley isn’t quite human…

I sought this out and found it on Kanopy because of the Gidget (1969) movie starring Sandra Dee, which was about a sweet and innocent teenager that was just growing into womanhood and discovering what she wanted in life. From there I found myself exploring Sandra Dee’s career on IMDB and saw that one of her final movie was an adaptation of a H.P. Lovecraft story that I was only slightly familiar with. I knew it wasn’t the type of film that Sanda Dee was really known for, about a women that was chosen to be the sacrifice to sleeping horrors from another dimension. This was an effort of hers to break out of the “young and innocent” mold that she was stuck in, one that she didn’t strictly feel she was suited much for. She’s still drop dead gorgeous, and it’s a damn shame that the industry was able to chew her up and spit her out the way it did. In the 11 years she was doing work in the movies she was able to put out over 22 movies, but still ended up broke and alone at the end.

I was pretty stoked to see that Dean Stockwell was playing the lead, it was a happy surprise, but boy what a dud this film ended up being. I’m not sure if it was a creative choice or budgetary, but the horrifying creatures that everyone is running from are never really shown and there’s just a whole lot of terrifying screaming and yelling and shooting into the wind at absolutely nothing. Sandra Dee of course was great, but I would have made different choices for nearly every aspect of the film, from the special effects, or soundtrack.

Did get to see a totally boss version of the Necronomicon though, so there’s that at least.

Buy On Amazon!

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2022 Scribe Award Nominees

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers have announced the 2022 Scribe Award Nominees, and two of them were Trek novels!

Star Trek Coda Book III — Oblivion’s Gate by David Mack
Star Trek Picard — Rogue Elements by John Jackson Miller

See the full list of nominees at the IAMTW website.

Thanks to Dayton Ward for the heads up!

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Gidget

Gidget: Directed by Paul Wendkos. With Sandra Dee, James Darren, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O’Connell. A young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.

With a blink and you’ll miss it appearance by Yvonne Craig, this film is much more famous for the first appearance of Sandra Dee, someone that at the start of the film is as pure and innocent as a young teenager can be, then by the end of the story has some much needed experience in the ways of the world. True story here, previous to this I was watching an episode of TJ Hooker that featured James Darren, who I knew from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a hologram, and wouldn’t you know it, here he is as “Moondoggie”, a wannabe beach bum who looks up to an actual burned out beach bum. It’s a very modern take on sexuality and romance, and would be well at home being released in 2022, let alone 1959.

This was another film that was suggested in the “California Tiki” book that I finished recently, and I found it on Crackle, watched it on Crackle, then regretted doing that, as there were about 5 to 8 advertisements every 20 minutes throughout the movie. It’s also on Tubi, so if you want to check it out, skip Crackle and go to Tubi.

Buy On Amazon!

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The Valet

The Valet: Directed by Richard Wong. With Eugenio Derbez, Samara Weaving, Max Greenfield, Betsy Brandt. A movie star enlists a parking valet at a Beverly Hills restaurant to pose as her lover to cover for her relationship with a married man.

It’s an english remake of a French film, without a single recognizable star, which adds to its appeal, since there’s just the story and some actors that honestly all deserve to be seen. It’s a goofy and basic premise, but they’re somehow able to make it work and by the end of the film I bet you’ll be pulling for the “correct” couple to get their due.

Buy On Amazon!

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The G Word with Adam Conover

The G Word with Adam Conover: Created by Jon Cohen, Adam Conover, Jon Wolf. With Nicole Randall Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Sierra Katow, Carol Herman. Follows Conover introducing the civil servants who make it work and take a satirical look at its shortcomings.

You may remember Adam Conover from “Adam Ruins Everything” a series that I believe started on College Humor and graduated to TBS, running from 2015 to 2019. It was basically Penn and Teller’s “Bullshit” but with much more hand holding research and documented sources, explaining the ins and outs about everything from office rights to circumcision. “The G Word” feels like an appropriate sequel of sorts, with 6 episodes dedicated to the broad subject of “The Government”, then focusing in on what makes it work vs what causes the abrupt failures it seems to just randomly have every time a Republican is in office. There’s much more cursing in this series, so it’s never going to be a good fit for highschools, which I find disappointing because other than the explicit language this is a damn right informative series that anyone that has doubts about the federal government should check out.

His prescription for solving the issues we currently have feels a bit too Obama-esque with suggestions to run locally and change your locals laws. I’m not entirely sure that would be something that’s going to result in real substantive change that we need, but what’s the alternative? Guillotines and riots in the streets?

Buy On Amazon!

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Queen of the Damned

Queen of the Damned: Directed by Michael Rymer. With Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Aaliyah, Vincent Perez. In this loose sequel to Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), the vampire Lestat becomes a rock star whose music wakes up the equally beautiful and monstrous queen of all vampires.

This is such a great movie, but I’m really not sure if my opinion of it is because I first saw it in my formative years when I was listening to the type of music featured in “Queen of the Damned”. It’s not only featured in the film, it’s the core component of the entire thing, it’s not just the butter on the bread, it’s the bread itself. I remember having such a crush on Marguerite Moreau, and truth be told, she’s still apparently the bee’s knees. Her career has gone in a direction that doesn’t necessarily interest me, but I’m happy she’s been getting regular work!

Back to the soundtrack, give this a go and tell me it’s not the best thing since bread that’s been buttered:

The story isn’t all that exceptional, with an angry vampire that’s been sleeping for a while, but is woken up by people playing mild rock in his house, which to be clear, he is not in, he’s in his crypt off in the cemetery, but he’s got a psychic connection to the real estate. Turns out that this is the vampire Lestat, the same vampire that was last seen joyriding in a convertible at the end of “Interview with a Vampire”. When they call this a “loose” adaptation, they’re not kidding. Everyone is contrived, over the top, and just extreme for extreme’s sake. Even Aaliyah is playing a vampire that’s too much vampire for modern vampires, so she’s been turned into a statue so she wouldn’t vamp all over the place, and end up just eating every human on the planet. Don’t get me wrong though, Aaliyah is amazing with what she’s given, but she isn’t given much to work with.

I still love the film and suggest it to anyone that likes overwrought vampires hard rock films.

Buy On Amazon!

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Recent Comic Cover Updates For 2022-06-16

Click For The Comic Covers Uploaded This Week

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Jurassic World: Dominion

Jurassic World: Dominion: Directed by Colin Trevorrow. With Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill. Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live–and hunt–alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures in a new Era.

I’m sure no one was shocked that a decision was made to make yet another Jurassic Park / World movie, and I’m sure no one is shocked at all that it’s an entertaining film with some pretty weird narrative choices and dumb plot points that make little to no sense, and that nearly the entire thing is just as contrived as possible. I did enjoy myself, yes, but you really have to turn off your brain and enthusiastically accept that the dumbest / corniest thing that you think will happen is going to actually happen.

I will say that there was one scene that I thoroughly enjoyed, which is when our heroes are getting onto an airplane in a fun and interesting way, there’s a visual reference to the Millennium Falcon, which felt appropriate considering that Bryce Dallas Howard was also in the same scene and how influential she’s been in the Star Wars franchise for the last few years. That one shot, coupled with how they dealt with their problems that were following them was exceptionally satisfying. That’s the one scene though that I really thought was great, the rest of the film wasn’t anything that I’d say “golly that was worth the $40 I just spent”, but luckily I have the AMC A-List thing, so my cost was greatly reduced to something like $10 for the film.

$10 would have been just right for this movie. I look forward to the next sequel or trilogy or whatever it is they decide to do next, this movie ended on a positive note, but there’s still clearly huge problems with having dinosaurs just roaming around our world.

Maybe the next one will feature dinosaurs….. in space?

Buy On Amazon!

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Resistance 2

Resistance 2: Directed by Brian Hastings. With Troy Baker, David Boat, Emerson Brooks, Dan Brown. The Chimera have launched a full scale invasion on both the east and west coasts of the United States. Hale joins a special task force group put together by the SRPA, who are also resistant to the Chimera virus.

Due to a fun quirk of how my day job is letting us work, I now have Mondays off, and I’ve decided that Mondays are going to be days that i work on my video game backlog, starting with the consoles that I’ve owned for years and years, but never really gotten around to playing. First up in my ps3, which I’ve had plugged in for about 9 years but have only played about 3 or 4 games on it, so I think I’ve used more power keeping it in standby than actually playing it. That’s changing one monday at a time! I’m planning on playing 1-5pm Eastern, so subscribe to be on twitch if you want to watch the shenanigans: www.twitch.tv/tgiokdi

First game of this renewed PS3 push is “Resistance 2” a 2008 game that followed up the PS3 launch title “Resistance: Fall of Man” that was released just a couple years prior in 2006. Both of these games came out well after Halo and Halo 2, and have some strong influences but nothing that’s so noticeable that I would say there’s any plagiarism, just some weird coincidences, including the bullshit cliffhanger ending. It’s a solid enough shooter for the time period that I can see why it was as well received as it apparently was. I actually started playing the game back in July of 2015, got distracted by something and never got back to it until June of 2022, so nearly a full seven years later. Total game time was maybe 11 hours, so there really was no good reason to let it sit around all that time.

My one big complaint is something that I’m not sure if it’s because I’m still not used to the PS controllers or what, but my left hand is killing me from holding down the run button for nearly the entire final level. No, it’s not left stick in like every modern game has done, but it’s holding down the left trigger, which on the PS controllers is a pretty heavily tensioned trigger.

Want to see the play throughs? here’s the links, though I should warn you the first video has an hour of just one static image because I didn’t notice that the stupid video capture box I have was frozen, but you’ll get to hear me jabber for that entire time like an idiot:

www.twitch.tv/videos/1496375866

www.twitch.tv/videos/1502724219

This isn’t photoshopped by the way, it’s the same day that I finished the game and wrote this review:

Buy On Amazon!

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Cats, cats, more cats, cats helping with the lawn, cats on the floor, and InfinityCon 2024

I went to InfinityCon 2024 and this is the only photo I took.  No idea why I didn’t take more, perhaps I was too busy looking for Star Trek comics?

Sometimes you stare into the void, something something, the void stares back.

Odo can yawn real good.

Miles lookin pretty in the sun

I got a new weed eater, which I opened under Odo’s supervision.  It’s much more powerful than I was expecting it to be!

Current foster status: cute.

Foster Nyx status: adorable

He’s got some legs on him, that’s for sure.

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