Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Postmania]

Government have announced that the state funeral for the Queen will be next week on Monday.

It will be a bank holiday.

However, the government have also said it is down to the discretion of individual employers if they want to give people the day off.

What is the point of having the stupid monarchy if we don't even get a guaranteed day off when the stupid head of state dies after 70 years of reigning. Like, it's not like this will be a regular thing. If Charles has anything like the genetics of his mother and father, he will live well into his 90s. We've got another 20 years minimum before we have to do this all again.

Why not just give us day off? -___-#

That's strange bc didn't you get some things closed already for the passing?

I saw someone saying something like "Now, I have no problem with people mourning the queen, but why are they shutting down football this weekend?" lol

[Nik Hasta]

Yeah, suddenly he's a 'prisoner of the police'. Even after Reed tells him that he still has all of his power. Nothing he can do!

Cops are magic, don't you know.

In other news, finished the first edit on 2022's New Year's story. Runs just over 34K words, probably won't change a lot in length now. Nice length - not too long.

WeeklyTubeShow's dub of this sequence was quite funny. 02:35 for the moment itself.

That's strange bc didn't you get some things closed already for the passing?

I saw someone saying something like "Now, I have no problem with people mourning the queen, but why are they shutting down football this weekend?" lol

Well, when the Queen died a "National Period of Mourning," was announced for the country.

Which meant... something... but no one had defined it. So, some sporting events were cancelled - football fixtures for example - whereas Rugby is still on because they decided to just play the national anthem and have a minute's silence ahead of the game. A lot of shit got cancelled before the government issued any guidance on what the official mourning period entailed.

[Iron_Twister]

Yeah, suddenly he's a 'prisoner of the police'. Even after Reed tells him that he still has all of his power. Nothing he can do!

Cops are magic, don't you know.

In other news, finished the first edit on 2022's New Year's story. Runs just over 34K words, probably won't change a lot in length now. Nice length - not too long.

Very nice. As for Magneto...I guess his mind was blown at how much of a fool he was for jumping to conclusions.

...Still hilarious I admit

[Sharpandpointies]

So, I'm watching Spider-man: No Way Home for the first time. I'm not finished it yet - we'll get to that tomorrow. But watching it, I'm struck by how well - in a certain way - the movie manages to capture a specific feeling of the first Spider-man movie, mixed in there with the general MCU vibe that I've grown to like less and less.

And it comes - as it did in the original - from the Green Goblin.

The Green Goblin in the original Toby McGuire movie is a bit of a standout character in Spider-man movie history (and MCU stuff in general). In Spider-man 2 and onwards, there's kind of a mood to the villains - they're somewhat sympathetic, in certain ways (I mean, Doc Ock from the movies is probably the most popular and sympathetic villain in Spider-man history). They seem like decent people who ended up in bad situations, driven insane by circumstance or power, or whatever. In the new Spider-man movies, not so much, but even then the villains are shown to at least be relatable, and to have funny sides. They get funny lines, maybe they're working class with a chance to become rich, maybe they're trying for fame, etc. Even their violence is rather sanitized in the new movies. Like a lot of MCU stuff, it's very lighthearted.

But in the original movie, the very first one, this wasn't the case. Watching No Way Home, I remembered this. Made me think about Osborn, about who he is and who the Goblin is, and how they're treated in both movies.

See, while the original Spider-man movie had some funny parts, the general mood was very, very serious. Sometimes in an ugly way. And so was Norman Osborn. He wasn't some lab-tech who was used and abused and became a super-villain, or a working class Joe who stumbled across something and wanted to become rich, or someone who had big plans to advance humanity and because of an accident ended up insane/became a monster and wreaked havoc. No - Osborn was already a monster: an emotionally abusive, weapons-tech multi-billionaire who was carrying out unethical and illegal research. He then willingly experimented on himself.

And became the Goblin.

And the Goblin, he wasn't funny. Not at all. Neither was the action, the violence. I recall him tossing pumpkin bombs that literally incinerated people's flesh onscreen, burned them instantly to skeletons or something of that sort. Killed them horrifically on-camera. He didn't think twice about threatening to murder dozens of people. He did, in fact, do this, by tossing bombs around and blowing up celebrations. He was vicious, cruel, relentless, and not at all a sympathetic villain.

And here comes No Way Home.

Now, they did try to make Osborn at least sympathetic in this movie. But he's sympathetic not in a 'we want you to like this character' way, but in a 'we want you to pity him' way. Octavius, they gave funny scenes and such, because he IS the most-liked villain, and he pulls it off so well. But Osborn? Nope. Either he's a broken man, nothing funny about that, or he's the Goblin. And once again, the Goblin is cruel, vicious, and nothing but malicious (rhymed, but unintentional).

And the Goblin kills.

He blows up police officers. He murders Edit: okay, an important character, won't say who on the off chance someone is like me and plans to see the movie but hasn't yet, for no other reason than he can (it's not 'collateral' and it's not 'she's in his way', he really has no reason to do it other than 'because he can and decides to hurt Peter').

And so I watch this, and while there's a lot the MCU does these days that doesn't hit me, and I see some of that in this movie, I do catch glimpses of the mood of that very first Spider-man movie that kind of proved that superhero movies could be legit blockbusters.

Just something running through my head I wanted to get down to get it all organized in my mind. ^_^

[Guy1]

[Guy1]

"Do the Crane, Danny-Boy!"

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Crunkula]

...What.

What makes this scene so awesome is Magneto having an existential crisis over a fucking wooden gun.

[The MunchKING]

Yeah, suddenly he's a 'prisoner of the police'. Even after Reed tells him that he still has all of his power. Nothing he can do!

Cops are magic, don't you know.

I mean they arrested THANOS don't you know! Magneto's only hope was to get that gun away from reed before the cops showed up.

[Sharpandpointies]

No Way Home slipped a little in the ending, but was otherwise good. For me, one of the best MCU things in more than a few years. Granted, bar is low, but I still feel this movie delivered.

Am now halfway through Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness. Good lord, this is a poorly-made movie. All eye-candy and nothing more; it has all the depth of a frying pan.

[Jcogginsa]

[Len Ikari145]

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Good lord, this is a poorly-made movie. All eye-candy and nothing more; it has all the depth of a frying pan.

This echoes my thoughts on all but one, maybe two, of the phase 4 projects I've seen. Which admittedly isn't many; though that itself is an indictment as I've watched all of Phase 1-3.

[Len Ikari145]

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

No Way Home slipped a little in the ending, but was otherwise good. For me, one of the best MCU things in more than a few years. Granted, bar is low, but I still feel this movie delivered.

Am now halfway through Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness. Good lord, this is a poorly-made movie. All eye-candy and nothing more; it has all the depth of a frying pan.

That's being insulting to the frying pan. Why so mean Mr. Pointies