For starters (as I'm currently, writing this Wednesday May, 16th) I haven't seen "Infinity War" yet I'm planning on doing so this Friday and avoiding spoilers is as difficult as I imagine it would be for those in the 1300s to avoid The Black Plague, but I remain unspoiled, seeing as how I read the comic book I'm not exactly outside of the know on what happens but I still wish to remain in something of the dark when it comes to this cinematic interpretation of events. Moving right along.
Back when I was a Youtube stiff, I had a series titled The TV Round series where I'd watch trailers from upcoming TV shows and give me thoughts on them. Yeah, basically Youtube put an axe in that project but it wasn't like that project was alive and well as the vast majority of Network shows haven't caught my attention in a LONG TIME! That might change with the introduction of a show (on NBC of all things) titled "Manifest" (not sure how I feel about the title, but I digress). "Manifest" tells the story of a group of people who board a plane and after some turbulence land safely only to discover that they're 5 years in the future and they have all been declared missing persons & legally dead. The overarching mystery of the series and the character relationships alone make this an interesting premise worth spending a little time with. I'll be checking this series out when I can and give you guys a full write up (once again) when I can. But rest assured, it'll happen.
Guys, I know I've written in the past about my current obsession with board games and that hasn't waned at all but unfortunately I'm still unable to find a solid gaming group who are as excited about the games as I am. But lately I've been dying to play a Table Top RPG game however NOT Dungeons & Dragons. . Nothing against Dungeon's & Dragons but it's just too mainstream and too well known for my taste, well that and the wrong group can ruin the fun. Growing up I was never the kind of person who hung out with people (mostly because I hadn't learned to drive back then and I'm a massive introvert, however I did have friends, don't get me wrong). But with living in Detroit and so many of my friends unwilling to make the junket to Detroit to pick me up, I wasn't much of a hang out type of guy.
That being said I never played a TRPG. I probably missed a bunch of opportunities to play a TRPG. Now that I'm older and a father, despite having friends I don't have (you guessed it) the time to play. However, at my current place of employment I have been invited to play a D&D game with some people I've gotten to know, I might check it out but then there's it being on a Sunday and one of my few days off to spend with the wife...so...not sure if I'll make it or not. But after watching "A Sister's All You Need" and reading some and about some really fascinating RPGs, I am jazzed to jump into this new world of gaming. There's a "My Little Pony" TRPG titled "Tales Of Equestria" and I SO want to DM for that but alas, no group, no team. What is a boy to do?
Since we're on the topic of RPGs and fantasy in general I have a bit of a bone to pick with certain things I've been seeing lately. So anyone who knows even the slightest bit about me will know that I'm a writer and a hyper creative person, I've previously written in another Strange Log about Elves and why shouldn't it make more sense for an Elf to be an archer as opposed to a Witch. But lately I've realized what's really been grinding my gears about the fantasy realm is well...the over all lack of creativity I've been seeing. Case in point, I've recently become fascinated by an RPG titled "Blue Rose" the world is fully realized, right down to having their own language and what not BUT in the book explaining it I found Tarot cards and a pentagram...WHY?!! These are symbols ONLY native to us in the REAL world or a world that has some relation to Earth (which "Blue Rose" does not) and therefore Tarot cards and Pentagrams wouldn't exist, and yet the Pentagram is THE MOST common used symbol throughout most RPGs and that makes NO sense to me.
Given the fact that the Pentagram is a symbol common in Pagan circles, I can see how it'd be tied to things like witchcraft and paganism and various forms of the occult...however in a world like D&D & "Blue Rose" such things are common place and therefore wouldn't need any symbol to signify it unless it was a certain sect of witchcraft, and ofcourse in "Blue Rose" & D&D Paganism isn't exactly a thing to begin with anyway...so...why the pentagram? Also something that grinds my gears, again it should be no mystery to anyone that I have an absolute loathing of vampires, I hate them, they're basically human mosquitos. That being said something I've noticed is that in whatever vampire media (if it's not young adult...which don't get me started) it will ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL feature the characters Van Helsing & Alucard, ALWAYS!
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| He's Alucard in a series named "Hellsing"...biggest offender!! |
I understand Bram Stoker's contribution in creating the mythos of the vampire and I appreciate it as much as the next guy but seriously, it's getting old and at least to me it really shows of an extreme lack of creative ability. I mean the first time someone placed Alucard in a story as the supreme vampire (because Alcuard is Dracula spelled backwards, WOW!) that's fine but after the 2nd time it starts to get really old and really dumb and the main hunter of said vampire being Van Helsing himself or a relative thereof, again inspired the first time the second time ridiculous. Are people just not wanting to try? Seriously, go look up Alucard on wikipedia right now, there are 12 documented characters all of them vampires and all of them named Alucard and there are several films and media depicting either Van Helsing himself or his relatives. This is seriously getting old, at least to me and I wish it would stop.
Moving right along, I know, I know, I know, I said I washed my hands with the DCEU but that doesn't mean I can't discuss it considering that Warner Bros. is still trying to get that Marvel money and at this point it's just plain sad. The latest offering from The DCEU is the Zachary Levi lead "Shazam" movie (I'll be calling him Captain Marvel because Shazam is the Wizard and he was Captain Marvel before Carol Danvers, FIGHT ME!) and boy oh boy do we have a few issues but before I get into those, I need to address the new 52. In the Pre-New 52 Universe, Captain Marvel was basically the magic version of Superman, I'm not saying this as a bad thing. In the early comics Superman was presented as having almost any super power the writers the wanted him to have, that includes areas where Superman was basically a genius beyond Newton, and while Superman isn't a slouch when it comes to intelligence these days, he's certainly doesn't crack the top 10 of smartest DC characters. Basically Captain Marvel is Superman from the Silver Age, and is a literal "God" Man as Captain Marvel's power set is described as The wisdom of Solomon, The Strength of Hercules, The Stamina of Atlas, The Power of Zeus, The Courage of Achilles & The Speed of Mercury, hence SHAZAM.
In The Pre-New 52 Universe Captain Marvel embodied those qualities and was a pretty level-headed character in almost all situations. When The Spectre took down The Rock Of Eternity, Captain Marvel assumed Shazam's place in order to keep The 7 Deadly Sins at bay, he counseled Black Adam and even officiated at his wedding, when Black Adam went on a warpath Captain Marvel was savvy enough to change Black Adam's magic word to keep him from transforming, granted this worked for awhile as Black Adam was able to figure it out but it was still a smart move. All of this to say that Captain Marvel despite in reality being a child (I believe he's 10) in his Captain Marvel he's never shown himself to be a child. Unfortunately, in the New 52 Captain Marvel behaves like a child in a God Man's body...hence the poster...
Now listen, I understand that this is just a poster and not indicative of the film at large, HOWEVER, a poster like a trailer is a movie's handshake and this is the equivalent of a limp wrist. While it sums up the New 52 incarnation of Captain Marvel perfectly (unfortunately) this gives the film a vibe that it's going to be a comedy as opposed to being about a character who'll eventually have to face down The Rock. And this is my problem with The DCEU & The New 52 at large is the revising of characters that didn't need it. Captain Marvel has ALWAYS been a kid of the Pre-New 52 Universe showed the reality in much of subtle ways, ways in which his youth was used as an advantage, not a disadvantage. In the previous example I listed of his changing Black Adam's magic word, Captain Marvel changed his word to "Chocolate Egg Cream", a beverage that he enjoyed as a child and a word that Black Adam wouldn't have been able to divine without forcing himself to think like Billy and go to his home town.
But moreover for a character to have all the attributes I listed above, specifically the wisdom of Solomon (note, this is WISDOM not knowledge, wisdom is the application of said knowledge, one can be incredibly smart and unwise at the same time) for someone to have the wisdom of Solomon they wouldn't behave like this;
The debate on whether or not to get a Playstation 4 still rages within as I have yet to see many games that grab me by the balls, "Detroit: Become Human" is still a game that interests me greatly however Jesse Williams' involvement in it has diminished my interest a good deal. "The Last Of Us 2" for better or worse looks to be interesting, "Death Stranding" although I'm not interested in playing it, has my attention, whatever the next "Mortal Kombat" game and the next "Saints Row" game has my attention as well as "Dragonball Xenoverse 2" (hopefully, they make a 3rd). However, I'm still on the fence about it, after all it's a whole new system and more space being taken up in the house. That and I don't know, I was tricked by the "Grass is always greener" mentality with "WWE2K17" only to end up with a carbon copy of "2K14" and I don't know...maybe if I see enough of those games I'll give more considerable thought to buying a PS4.
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| GET OUT OF GAMES I LIKE!!! |
Last but not least I'm currently working on a series of writing advice and observations to potentially help upcoming writers titled The Write Stuff. Originally, I wanted to make this a video series on Youtube but I've given up Youtube a LONG time ago and decided to focus my attention on writing this blog. Previously, I wouldn't given writing advice because everyone has their own writing process but writing as a technique and as a skill is a different animal all together. You can pin-point bad writing and explain exactly why and what makes it bad and this new series isn't a criticism but a criticism and correction of things written poorly and explaining to upcoming writers how to avoid those traps. So be on the look out for those, I doubt I'll have much time to work on it until my wife and I officially move out, but I am working on them here and there.
Anyways, thanks for reading you guy and sorry for the many Strange Logs popping up; I still got some "Anime RE-Claimed" articles, the aforementioned "The Write Stuff" and some proper articles about stuff coming soon. Anyways, here's a GIF of me avoiding spoilers for "Infinity War", ya'll take care!
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