#zann talks

[corvosdaughter]

goddd the way andreas finds the loss of august so unbearable that he'll fully suppress any thought of him while talking to other people who have been through the same thing. it's easier to pretend he just has rich artist problems and drive a wedge in between himself and everyone else. and knowing exactly how shallow he sounds causes his grief and depression to spiral into self-loathing... but the thing is, those he has that conversation with still care for him even if they're put off in the moment. the understanding and support he needs is right there no matter what. and he would literally rather walk through fire than accept any of it.

[the-acid-pear]

Every time a fandom gets too big and a bunch of variations of a beloved character start showing up I start shaking like a Chihuahua

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAP 4 Thoughts

Spoilers for Ep 4, obviously.

So that's it? What we're some kinda...Magnus Protocol?

Big thing up top; Tim Fearon's Augustus is fucking excellent. The Lovecraft inspiration was very on the nose in both prose and theme but it was also a really good take on that style. Not surprised this was a guest writer too given that style. Tim Fearon really nails the cadence and intonation needed for this sort of thing and I'd love to see him narrate some actual Lovecraft sometime. The Music of Erich Zann obviously would be a good place to start. Anyone that doesn't think this is Jonah at this stage is just out of their mind.

The incident is also interesting in that it's the most straight TMA Fear we've seen so far. It's just a Slaughter ep through and through really.

Creepy cursed item pedlar feels like a recurring character to me. I expect them to show up again. Which makes for 3 non-OIAR characters we can expect back.

For an additional ARG detail or two; Starkwall is a reference to Starkwall Protection Services that we know from the ARG used to be associated with the OIAR. They announced the discontinuation of this association on Jan 3rd, 2000. Before that they were affiliated with Rightforce International, formerly Diligence Security Systems, if that proves relevant down the line. More interestingly the character Lena was talking to in that very end scene was named Klaus. Klaus provided us (the ARG solvers) with an excel sheet in German that was Freddy style case numbers and DPHW's. He also seemed to have set up the whole thing in-universe too. My pet theory was that Klaus was the German name for Freddy but it's an actual dude and it could be a couple of people from the ARG. Actually, I'm sticking to that theory. Klaus isn't actually called Klaus and assumed the name from kl4-u5, or kl4-u5 is named after Klaus.

DPHW Theory continuation: I honestly don't think much needs to be said. It's a pretty clear fit here. So it's 7494 and you've got music that makes people want to kill themselves and each other, the instrument through which that's achieved requires a blood sacrifice but it needn't be yours, you are however seemingly under its control in more than just the compulsion to play it, and it's got some elements of the uncanny in how it was manifesting. Nothing exciting but more evidence that I'm correct.

CAT#R# Theory: Apart from Sam messing it up and missing out the R again I think this mostly disproves the tria prima idea. I was willing to discount the last ep's case number because of how mistaken it all looked but without more to go on it's really hard to discount this one too. More data, or thought, required to link this all together.

Header Nonsense: Nothing much to say other than that "Collection (blood) -/- musical" is a very strange header in comparison to the others.

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: ETHICS: Part 2

How can we have good thoughts about people?

When a righteous believer evaluates people and incidents, he interprets them in a good way and thinks of good things. Having good intentions and good thoughts is an indication of the inner beauty and goodness of a person. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following:

"There are three things because of which hatred does not enter the heart of a Muslim: Sincerity in doing an action for the sake of Allah; having good thoughts about all Muslims and giving them advice; being in unity with Muslims in thought and deeds." (Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 1 8)

It is among the essential duties of Muslims to wish goodness for people and to lead them to goodness. The Prophet (pbuh) received allegiance from people "on condition that they will have good intentions toward all Muslims..." to attract attention to this fact. (Bukhari, Iman, 42). However, what should not be forgotten here is the Prophet’s word "all Muslims". It is the duty of a Muslim to wish good things for all Muslims without any exception and to have good thoughts about them.

A Muslim must be mature and perfect in his deeds and attitudes toward unbelievers and polytheists in terms of making their hearts feel warm toward Islam; his heart should not love them and their bad traits.  

One of the attributes of righteous Muslims is not to have bad thoughts about people. The following is stated in the Quran:

"O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin." (al-Hujurat, 49/12)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following about having bad thoughts (suspicions) about people and telling lies about them:

"Avoid suspicion because it is the worst lie." (Bukhari)

Thus, he described zann (suspicion/having bad thoughts about others) as the worst lie. A truthful Muslim will not utter words resembling lies.

Muslims should decide about people based on appearance. He should keep away from suspicion, doubt, gossip, delusion, and slander. Trying to find secret things about people, intervening in others’ private affairs and talking badly about their honor is not among the ethical characteristics of a Muslim. A Muslim acts based on what he sees. He says what he has seen. He does not make a judgment based on suspicion and his ideas. Umar b. Khattab stated as follows:  

"People decreed based on revelation during the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Revelation has ended now. We will decree based on your deeds that we see. We will protect those who do good things and allow them to approach us. We are not interested in what they conceal. Allah will call them to account for what they conceal. We will not rely on those who do bad deeds and will not approve of them even if they say that their hearts are clean." 

Therefore, a conscious and pious Muslim will never forget the following verse when he speaks and makes a judgment:

"And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)." (al-Isra, 17/36)

A Muslim will not speak against others. For, he believes that every word he speaks is recorded by an angel:

"Behold, two (guardian angels) appointed to learn (his doings) learn (and noted them), one sitting on the right and one on the left. Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him, ready (to note it)." (Qaf, 50/17, 18)

A Muslim who is conscious of those orders is afraid of the responsibility of every word he utters. Therefore, we see him uttering every word carefully. For, he knows that a word he utters can elevate him to the rank of the consent of Allah or lower him to the lowest layer of Hell. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) states the following regarding the issue:

"A slave of Allah may utter a word which pleases Allah without giving it much importance, and because of that Allah will raise him to degrees of reward: a slave of Allah may utter a word carelessly which displeases Allah without thinking of its gravity and because of that Allah will record a penalty for him up to the Day of Judgment." (Bukhari, Riqaq, 23; Muslim, Zuhd, 49, 50)

A pious Muslim who has a clean heart will not heed the illogical words of others and what he hears from the gossips, rumors and doubtful words; he will not report to others what he hears before checking its trueness. On the contrary, he knows that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) regards reporting whatever one hears to others without finding out that they are true as haram. He acts based on the following principle: "It is enough as a sin for a person to report to others whatever he hears."

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 4, Episode 3. X-Men ‘97 Spoiler-Free Review

The X-Men are back! Ron and Mon caught the Canadian premiere of X-Men '97 at Toronto Comicon 2024, and the following episodes. We share our review of the new season, all the feels about seeing our favourite X-people onscreen, and what we're looking forward to from the rest of the season. No spoilers!

Read Mon's Episode 1 review at Vocal, and learn more about the creation of the show with Mon's Comicon recap. Ron shares her experience at the X-Men '97 activation at Toronto Comicon 2024 on WWAC.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

(L-R): Beast (voiced by George Buza), Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), Morph (voiced by JP Karliak), Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann), Gambit (voiced by AJ LoCascio), Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith), Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase) in Marvel Animation's X-MEN '97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of Stereo Geeks.

I'm Mon.

And I'm Ron.

Today, we will be discussing X-Men ‘97.

The new season of the 1990s X-Men animated show has got everybody a flutter.

We managed to catch the Canadian premiere at Toronto Comic Con 2024, and the hype was real.

I have never seen this many X-Men t-shirts, X-Men cosplayers, X-Men art, X-Men love, anywhere ever before.

And as two X-Men fans, this was a jam.

We literally went to Toronto Comic Con this year, just trying to get as much X-Men stuff as possible, and we did well.

Well, it's also nice because you suddenly see that there are other X-Men fans out there.

They love this franchise.

They love these characters.

Some of them are a little too enthusiastic.

But the highlight for a lot of people was the X-Men activation at Toronto Comic Con.

But it was an experience, getting in there.

Listen, with these exclusive things, it's always a bit of planning, a lot of loss of sleep, considerable anxiety before you can actually get there.

Sometimes you get lucky.

The stars align, the timings of your transporter line, and you get there well in time to stand in line and actually get into the room where it's happening.

The X-Men activation, we were already told several times, limited seating, you should get there early.

So that's exactly what we did, even though we'd spent all of Friday at Comic Con and it was kind of a late night for us.

But yeah, we were there first thing in the morning for the X-Men activation zone.

And it's a good thing that we went as early as we did.

So the activation was called Xavier's Lounge for Gifted Youngsters.

At first, I thought this meant it was only for young folks, like family zone or something.

Thankfully, it was open to everyone.

It was just, the naming of it was a bit odd.

But anyway, basically what this activation was, it was a couple of conference rooms turned into a giant North American living room like you would have back in the 90s.

It was Saturday morning, which is when the original show used to air.

And that's when they had the premiere.

I'd say there were about 10, 12 people before us, and this was a good half an hour, 40 minutes before the show even started.

So yeah, we were there really early.

Yeah, and you're talking about the show as in Toronto Comic Con.

That's not even when the screening started.

That started later, and it actually ran late.

So we missed another session.

But anyway, all in all, it was such a cool experience to be sitting amongst all these X-Men fans.

A lot of people had dressed up, a lot of t-shirts out there.

We were also wearing our X-Men t-shirts.

And just a great deal of buzz and excitement about this franchise that so many of us have loved for a really long time.

The thing is, you and I didn't grow up with this X-Men show.

It never came to India.

The X-Men movies, they came, and then we suddenly just fell in love with this group of characters, and we've been in love with them since.

But for a lot of people in North America, this was their introduction to the X-Men.

This is how they got into the comics.

So for them, this revival is huge.

Yeah, but also just spending time with the X-Men is so special.

It's weird because the X-Men weren't a thing when we were growing up.

Not just this show, but just in general, you never saw X-Men comics.

You never saw anybody refer to them.

So the movies were a game changer for us.

And then on the back of those movies, we had the PSP game, X-Men Legends 2 Rise of Apocalypse.

That really changed how we saw these people because there were all these characters in there, so many of them who still haven't made it to the big screen.

Then we went into reading the Wiki articles about them and finally got to the comics.

And that's how we learnt about this amazing group of people.

Now listen, comics, man, they're tough.

Some are good, some are bad.

Most of them are disasters.

You'll go through some runs and you're like, why do I like these people?

But in general, the X-Men do speak to a kind of community a lot of us feel, which is that you feel different, you feel like an outsider, you don't feel like you belong, and then you have the X-Men to turn to.

This is a really very important group of folks for us, and for a lot of people as we figured out at Comic Con this year.

And we were really like, you get pulled into that excitement.

Even if you're a little bit apathetic or unsure, I was like, oh, you know, like, you just get sucked into this.

Yeah, and we were so excited for anything X-Men related at Toronto Comic Con that we watched all five seasons of the 90s X-Men show on Disney Plus in anticipation for this event.

And I'm glad we did because at Toronto Comic Con, most of the main conference rooms were running the trailer for the X-Men ‘97 show.

And that starts with the ending of the 92 show.

Which has a huge spoiler for what happens in there.

So yes, I'm glad we watched it.

We marathon watched it.

Maybe that wasn't the best way to watch it.

And also as adults, you kind of do look at things differently.

On top of that, we're entertainment writers, so you're constantly analyzing everything you watch.

We are not devotees of the original series.

We have our criticisms of it.

But listen, it's the X-Men.

We had so much fun spending five seasons with them.

And I've gotta say, there were some very interesting notes in that original series.

And when I think about it, I'm like, wow, in the 90s, they were doing this.

I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

And there were some minute character changes, which I really enjoyed as well.

So yeah, I just enjoyed watching all these characters that we've completely fallen in love with for so many, so many years.

And I've been reading the Krakow era comics.

I keep telling you about everything that's been happening.

It's tough to get into those.

It's so vast.

There are so many different series.

I still don't know how certain plots ended because they weren't in the runs of the books that I was reading.

And I'm just like, okay, I'm just going to have to accept that this character died and just move on from that.

I will never find out how it happened.

Well, this revival is also happening at the same time that a comic book revival is happening.

So that's interesting.

I might actually start with these new comics because as you said, the Krakow era, I started it, but it's just too much.

There's too much to do in the world to catch up with that many comics.

I was kind of six months behind on the Krakow comics during Christmas.

And I literally didn't do anything else during the Christmas break, aside from reading comics from the Krakow era.

I'm caught up now and now I'm behind.

Such is the life of a comic reader, especially the Marvel comic readers.

Never know.

Anyway, shall we talk about 97?

Indeed, X-Men ‘97.

There's already a little bit of controversy just before the show launches on Disney Plus with creator and showrunner, Bo DiMeo, unceremoniously being fired.

No idea why.

And I think it's kind of odd because he was talking a lot about how much he loves the X-Men.

I don't know what happened.

We can't really speculate or anything, but it is a bit strange.

And it was obvious from the cast and previous producer and director, Larry Houston, when they were at Toronto Comic Con, nobody mentioned Bo DiMeo.

I was like, obviously the PR people got to you guys.

It's always uncomfortable when you start off something with a little bit of controversy.

His name is still in the credits from what we saw in the screeners.

So there's that.

But anyway, aside from the controversy, there's also been a lot of discourse about Morph.

We won't get into that because that's not even there in the first three episodes.

So let's just talk about the story.

First of all, we are not going to share any spoilers for the first three episodes.

The first two will be dropping on March 20th.

And then there'll be weekly episodes, total of 10 episodes.

All happening on Disney Plus.

So the show kicks off from the previous storyline.

It's not immediately after.

Things have changed.

Visually, things have definitely changed.

The animation style is gorgeous.

I would say it's almost too sexy.

I love the animation, the colors, the movement.

Actually, Larry Houston kind of said, that is really the Disney money because he couldn't get any of that kind of movement when he was doing the show in the 90s.

But yeah, oh God, it looks so good.

And there's a scene that for some reason, they've already shared it on Marvel's Instagram of Jubilee dancing.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

You would not have got that kind of movement in the 90s show.

Definitely not over here.

It's like your eyes just cannot move away from the screen.

Yeah, and the music is outstanding.

Not only has the theme tune been tweaked and updated to be more modern, but there's like these beautiful synth pop background tunes going on, which I'm like, this is exactly what I like.

Yeah, I'm like, are they going to unveil Leila Cheney here?

But you know, she wasn't there.

So one thing the voice cast at Toronto Comic Con mentioned was that the creators of the new show wanted to showcase the X-Men using their powers, but in new ways.

And that's obvious from the first episode itself.

And speaking of the powers, that's what makes the action in this episode so spectacular.

Each character and their awesome powers are introduced one by one.

This allows audiences old and new to acclimatize to the new era as well as the characters.

It was great to watch this.

And it's a really tight episode.

And honestly, it was more fun because we were watching it to the crowd and we were all like oooing and eyeing when the characters were in peril and ooh, they got out of that tight situation, yes.

So yeah, it was a lot of fun.

And another thing that, not that I noticed it, but the cast actually mentioned that the episodes in this season are going to be slightly longer.

So looking at the runtime, it's about 30 minutes for each of the episodes.

And I believe the 92 show, the episodes were generally about 21, 22 minutes.

So you get about six, seven minutes more story.

And I don't know whether that's the reason why it's only 10 episodes long.

We'll talk about that later.

Yeah, so the first episode really sets up a bunch of plot lines, which we're going to be seeing throughout the show.

The story does seem interesting.

The main story maybe, I don't know.

And then there's the Magneto drama, which honestly, I am far more into that than anything else.

Listen, if there's one thing that the X-Men is extremely good at, it's drama.

We don't care about who these big bad guys are that are attacking them.

We live with the drama.

Superhero soap operas, that's what we like.

Let's talk about Storm.

I know that the creators had said, oh, she's going to be powerful and cool.

In the first episode, she is definitely powerful.

She's never been more bad as before.

Yes, Storm's mohawk hair, like that just signifies that this is going to be an era.

I thought she was so cool, so powerful, and I love what she does with her powers.

It's different.

And I don't know whether it's because I've been reading the Krakoa era comics and all the characters are super powerful.

I just feel like it's a nod to what she can do in those comics.

So yeah, I like it.

On the flip side, Morph's look, that's a choice.

Well, Morph's look is much more consistent with their comic book look.

He looks like that?

In the comics, yes.

And now Morph and Bishop have been added to the main cast.

As you see, they're in all of the promos, etc.

Morph's human looking face, I don't know, I felt like it's been softened a little bit from the rather severe angles of the original show.

I don't know if it's a different choice because they have adopted a different default look or if it's just part of the animation style.

Bishop on the other hand, his powers are just so cool.

Again, the way they're using their powers in this show this time around, it's gonna blow people's minds.

I also feel like Rogue's face is slightly more soft.

The angles are gone.

I don't mind it, but because we've been watching the old show, and immediately after we see this one, you feel it.

I don't think this is a spoiler when I say Roberto da Costa has been added to the cast.

A lot of these characters, as we know, they sort of expand their roster, but it's not like they have full on main cast roles and screen time.

But love seeing Roberto, the way he's animated, so beautiful, really beautiful voice acting as well.

Now, we have seen one other new mutant in all this while.

One and a half, if you take into account little Ileana.

But what about the rest of the new mutants?

Also, so Bertro is like a little bit problematic in the comics, especially when he was first introduced.

I really hope they don't have all that misogyny in there.

Listen, when I see Bertro, my lad, I am so happy.

Listen, we lost Adam Cantor, who was a very lovely Bertro to see on the big screen.

I was so happy to see him, and it's really sad that we lost him.

But now we've got Bertro in this show, and he's being voiced by Guy Agostini.

I think he's doing a great job.

It's exactly what I'd imagine Bertro to sound like.

He's not sleazy here.

He's actually kind of sweet, very lost, and I really enjoyed the way they did his story.

There's a particular line that he says that got everyone in the feels.

Having said that, I don't think anybody ever gets Bertro's skin color right.

Like the New Mutants movie, let's not even start with that.

Bertro's mutant powers kick in because he's being bullied so badly because he has dark skin.

He's a very rich young boy.

It doesn't matter.

He's still getting bullied because of his skin color.

I just don't think it's correct in this show.

Like I love the fact that Bertro is here, but it's not right.

Yeah, no, I agree with you.

I really wish that they had just gone with the darker skin tone.

It's always these little things, you know.

Well, one course correction here has been the voice actor for Jubilee.

She's finally being voiced by Southeast Asian actor Holly Cho.

The original Jubilee actor, Alison Court, she said that she has a different role on the show, and she's actually very happy that she has passed on the baton to somebody who has the lived experience of Jubilee.

Court did not mention who she's playing, though.

Very, very sedative.

Yeah, I'm very happy that Holly Cho is taking over this role.

She got a really great shout out actually from Alison Court during the Q&A section.

She's really very happy about this new addition to the cast.

I'm really glad to see that they're willing to make these changes, you know, after everything that happened during the pandemic.

So it's a good change.

Can't help but wonder why we needed it in the first place.

Having said that, I did do some research, and at the time that Alison Court got the role, when she was, I think she said she was like 16, 17, they didn't tell her Jubilee's origins.

Poor thing was a bit shocked when she found out.

Well, at least they cost corrected.

So another cost correction, if you can call it that, is that this show is finally realizing how hot Gambit is.

Listen, I'm a writer at WWAC.

The WWAC team loves Gambit.

We once did an entire post about how much we love Gambit.

That's how much we love Gambit.

This episode, oh boy, people are going to love Gambit in this one.

Wow, yeah, how is Gambit this hot?

That's all we're going to say.

We're going to leave the rest to your imagination, because he doesn't.

That's a good one.

Oh wow.

So we had a kind of sad reason for a new addition to the cast.

Ray Chase has joined the cast as Cyclops' voice.

And this is unfortunately because the original voice actor Norm has passed away.

I absolutely love Ray Chase.

He is doing a great job.

When I started listening to Cyclops' voice in this show, I was like, this is it.

This is how Cyclops sounds.

Chase is doing a really good job of channeling Norm Spencer, but his voice acting is just so perfect.

He is exactly the way I hear Scott in my head.

I don't know what it is.

Maybe the timbre in his voice or something.

Scott is still a little bit more snarky in both these shows than I would expect him to be, but I love it.

It's so good.

I would listen to Scott in this show forever.

So we'll end the review for this episode by saying, it gets you in the feels.

There's a lot of emotion involved, not least because of the nostalgia value.

You're back with these characters.

You're spending a whole 30 minutes with them, which is honestly more time than you get to spend with the X-Men most of the time.

So this is great.

The best part of this episode is kind of in the trailer, but at the same time, every time I think about it, still makes me kind of teary.

This is quite an experience.

I don't know if it was heightened because of the Toronto Comic Con community and the whole premiere and the voice cast and meeting the person who made most of our favorite shows from our childhood, Larry Houston.

I don't know what it was.

It was a combination of a lot of things, but let's just say this first episode is worth the wait.

100%.

We can't really talk much about what we see in episodes 2 and 3.

We did get screeners to see them.

Let's just say they're quite different from the first episode, and comics fans are really, really going to love this.

From episode 2's credits itself, your mind is blown.

They're openly telling you nothing is the same anymore.

Without revealing anything about the episode, I will say that it was very tense, and honestly, there was one scene which I felt like it was riffing off the January 6th insurrection in the US.

Those sort of visuals and the tension of it, really scary stuff.

Now, whether it's intentional or whether we're putting those sort of visuals together because it literally happened not so long ago, I don't know.

Sometimes I do think art is sending a message, and if an X-Men show is not sending a message, it's not doing it right.

But from the scary to the sublime, if Magneto is so bad, why is he so hot?

That costume, that's something else.

It's making me question a lot of things.

Oh man, well, you know, Magneto's outfit is straight from the comics.

But I think it's the way it's drawn in this animated show.

It's really striking.

And I think it's because you don't usually see male characters dressed in that combination.

We can't reveal too much.

It may already be in the trailer, but when you see it in action, it definitely has a different feel to it.

And on top of that, you have this beautiful animation style and the colors are so beautiful, which actually makes a lot of sense because the X-Men are so colorful.

Like you have to have a colorful show.

Now what I do like, especially in this episode, is how they amalgamate a bunch of storylines into one tight story arc.

It's great because especially if you read different comics, you'll be like, oh, that bit's from this comic arc and this one's from that run.

I really love how they've done that.

Episode 2 for me was the best episode so far in 97, but probably the best episode of all of the original series as well.

Wow, that is high praise.

And I understand the sentiment because the X-Men, the 92 show, it kind of consistently had one message.

No matter what the mutants do, no matter how many people they save, humans will still hate them, humans will still hunt them.

The way that the Krakoa era comics have been going right now, that is the underlying theme.

It doesn't matter that the mutants have found their own island, that they're trying to just help people, cure people, it doesn't matter.

At the end of the day, they'll always be other, and because they are other, they must be eradicated.

This episode leans into that, and I think that's why it really hits you that these events can keep unfolding over and over again, despite what's happened to the X-Men.

The humans in this world will not accept them ever.

Well, one of the things which you can intuit from the first two episodes is that the humans are gonna hate the mutants because they don't see them as people.

And that is literally the real world issue with so many marginalized communities.

The people in power don't see them as people, so they don't see their suffering as an issue.

Now, how many people watching this in the year 2024 are gonna be able to draw that through line?

I have no idea.

Well, one of the things that was really hard hitting during the Q&A at Toronto Comic Con, George Booza and Lawrence Bain, both talked about how the X-Men appeal to people who don't fit in, who feel like they're on the periphery of society, the freaks, as Lawrence Bain called them.

They find refuge in the X-Men, which is what George Booza said.

And that's what makes the X-Men so enduring.

I do have to say that the Krakow era comics, I don't think they did justice to that feeling.

They got kind of lost in all the sci-fi stuff.

Very interesting to read, very imaginative, but so often I would be reading it, and I'm like, all those strong messages about it doesn't matter who you are, what you are, who you love, you're still a person who deserves respect, and the right to not be killed, whether you're mutant or human.

It just didn't come across that much in the Krakow era comics.

I'm hoping that the rest of the season really plays with that, because if you look at it, every time Bishop travels back and forth from the past, he's doing the same thing.

He's trying to save mutants, because humans just will not stop fighting mutants.

And honestly, at a time when the world is so divisive and so ready to fight over absolutely nothing, we need this show to send a message.

And I think it is, in its own way.

I think we're getting very maudlin over here.

Let's talk about the action.

The action was great.

Like the first episode, I loved the action.

It was so crisp.

And again, because we've been watching the old series literally days before, the movement of the characters was really something to behold.

What I loved about the action in the second episode is it's really hard to predict the outcome.

Again, maybe it's the crisp animation, but I felt I could really follow the different characters as they were fighting.

And sometimes in the old shows, I didn't always feel like I could figure out which character was fighting which.

I guess you could say the direction is a little bit crisper.

Again, technology has improved, so you can move animation and camera angles, et cetera, in a different way.

So it's much easier to follow, and it really ups the tension and the pacing a lot.

And Storm has a very interesting storyline here.

It's very different from episode one, but I believe we know which storyline from the comics this is.

So I'm very intrigued to see how the show is going to handle it.

So we mentioned the music in the first episode and how fun it was.

In this one, I felt like there were some musical throwbacks to the films, and it kind of reminded me of the Gotham Knights TV show, Short-lived, Why Did It Get Cancelled?

It was so good.

But that show had a few musical throwbacks to the Dark Knight trilogy.

It really worked to cement that show as part of that universe.

I kind of liked it.

Yeah.

Alright, episode 3.

Now this one, we really can't talk about anything here.

I swear every frame was a spoiler.

So we'll just give a sort of brief idea of this episode.

It kicks off with some extremely disturbing horror imagery.

If I was a child watching this, I would be awake for a few weeks.

This is not for the faint of heart.

And it actually makes me think, is this show for kids anymore?

The original show definitely was.

It was a Saturday morning cartoon.

It was meant for children to watch.

But watching the aesthetics of this show and some of the story arcs, I'm beginning to think this is a show for the people who had been kids when the original was around.

Yes, this episode was the first time when I thought to myself, who is this show for?

Because there are some really mature themes thrown in here.

They do scale back on some of the costumes because the comic storyline, oh boy, they did not leave anything to the imagination.

So that's definitely a bit different here.

But even then, like the horror elements, those were pretty disturbing for adults.

Forget children.

So the other thing I'd say, and I don't know if you noticed this, but Berthold's powers, it's borderline giving me trypophobia.

I really hope it doesn't actually because in the comics it never bothered me, but over here, because of the movement again, I don't know, it was like, oh boy, oh boy.

I really hope it doesn't get any worse.

Oh wow, I didn't notice that.

Now I'm worried.

But I do like how they're adapting stories from the comics.

And the original 90s show also did that, with Dark Phoenix saga and everything.

But the one that's in this episode takes place over several issues, and it's all kind of clumped together in this 30 minutes.

I don't know if that had to be so rushed.

I agree, it felt really rushed.

This was definitely one of those stories that required multiple episodes for the entire arc to run.

But again, how do you squeeze in a multi-arc story when you only have 10 episodes in this season?

The original show, one of the seasons had 13 episodes.

Some of the other seasons had 17 episodes, 19 episodes.

That's a good long time to base out your story.

But also there were a couple of other moments in this episode where I was just like, are people going to know who these characters are?

Because if you're a comics fan, you're like, oh yeah, oh yeah, this is great, this is wonderful.

If you're coming to this show as a newbie, you're going to be like, who's this?

There was definitely one character who I felt like, okay, they've put this character in there because they were part of the original comics arc, but there's no way the X-Men know about this person.

Or does this person even exist in this timeline?

It just doesn't make sense.

It's a great Easter egg, but it just doesn't make sense story-wise.

Talking about things that don't quite make sense story-wise, there's that love triangle.

Where did this love triangle come from?

I mean, it's alluring because the people involved are kind of hot.

But at the same time, it's also ecky.

Was it even canon in the comics?

When you guys watch it, you will know what I'm talking about.

Was it?

Okay, but I think we read about this in the trivia section of the Rise of the Apocalypse game.

I'm pretty sure.

But still, that doesn't mean it's canon.

Must be canon at some point.

This is so weird.

It's really weird.

This is probably the first episode of the three where I could tell that Gambit has a new voiceover artist.

He sounds a lot gruffer.

I couldn't tell.

He sounds the same.

He just looks great.

Yeah, the animation is so beautiful.

Yeah.

So yes, after watching these three episodes, how do you feel about the show?

Oh, I am super excited.

I'm enjoying it.

I love how many of the comic stories I can actually recognize.

I'm interested to see what's happening with the characters.

The animation is just so, so stunning.

I really just love being able to see it.

But I'm very intrigued by some of the story arcs that they've decided to adapt for this season.

And honestly, more X-Men.

Can't go wrong with that.

I completely agree with you.

Enjoying the action, the characters, the storyline, it's all great.

And we love the X-Men.

So glad this show is back.

And that's all from us talking about X-Men ‘97.

What did you think about the show?

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[fipindustries]

Out of curiosity, what Lovecraft stories have you read? And of those, which one is your favorite?

oh geez, a bunch in order of publication which i dont remember now. i had a volume with all his early stories collected, the problem with those stories is that many of them just kind of blur together.

i remember the music of erich zann, the one about the guy who had invented a special device that allowed him to see all the invisible weird monsters that live among us, the one about herbert west, the cats of ulthar, the doom that came to karnath, the color from beyond the sky and dagon.

there is an extra complication that i read alan moore's providence and that makes such a fantastic job at homaging and referencing those stories that frankly now i cant remember wether i read it in the original story or in that comic.

i also read jorge luis borges "there are more things in heaven and earth" wich was borges writing a tribute to lovecraft, which to this day tickles me to no end, the idea that boger read lovecraft and he decided to write a homage to him.

i also read lovecraft's sweet ermengarde which is a short humorous story that is basically the dover boys if written by lovecraft.

i would have to re-read the color from beyond the sky because out of all of those i remember that one being the one that scared me the most, but i read it when i was 15. beyond that i dont know if i can pick a favourite.

if we are talking about lovecraft stories that i havent read but i know what they are about, i might really like the doom that came to insmouth if i were to read it in full, ive only read the ending of that and it feels like the strongest out of the bunch. there is also the one about the loli girl who switches bodies with grown men and then has sex with them. that sounds fucking based.

but honestly i think his best work has to be by far The Other Gods.

[yvtro]

👀 any suggestions for reading more gothic horror

i would say go for classics! just read critically. think about orientalism.

i probably don't have to tell you about most of them, but for an overview:

"frankenstein" is an absolute must, and it's also interesting because it both relies on othering as horror and introduces the other as a romantic hero.

vampire-wise, you can't exclude "carmilla". i enjoy reading "dracula" as a part of DD and for cultural criticism reasons, but it's not the most engaging novel by itself.

“the picture of dorian gray” is a good example of late victorian gothic fiction.

lovecraft was more of cosmic horror writer, but one of his stories with a more traditional gothic setting is “the music of erich zann”. 

If you’re feeling ambitious, I’d say go for works that are not necessarily strictly gothic, but influenced the genre, like ‘paradise lost’ and/or goethe’s ‘faust'. 

i’m a bit wary of labelling non western literature as gothic, but there are some writers who were clearly influenced and imitating the western genre, so for example edogawa ranpo’s stories are distinctly gothic. (he openly referenced poe when talking about his writing) 

and if you’re looking for something more contemporary, some of sarah waters’ novels have strong gothic themes; although i’m personally not the biggest fan of her style. 

+ this might sound weird, but there's plenty of science fiction lit that is distinctly gothic in spirit, for example "do androids dream of electric sheep?" (that's the novel that "blade runner" was based off in case you don't know) androids there are both the Other and the hidden romantic hero, which i find extremely interesting and very reminiscing of "frankenstein"

[questionsonislam]

How can we have good thoughts about people?

When a righteous believer evaluates people and incidents, he interprets them in a good way and thinks of good things. Hawing a good intention and good thoughts is an indication of the inner beauty and goodness of a person. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following:

"There are three things because of which hatred does not enter the heart of a Muslim: Sincerity in doing an action for the sake of Allah; having good thoughts about all Muslims and giving them advice; being in unity with Muslims in thought and deeds." (Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 1 8)

It is among the essential duties of Muslims to wish goodness for people and to lead them to goodness. The Prophet (pbuh) received allegiance from people "on condition that they will have good intentions toward all Muslims..." to attract attention to this fact. (Bukhari, Iman, 42). However, what should not be forgotten here is the Prophet’s word "all Muslims". It is the duty of a Muslim to wish good things for all Muslims without any exception and to have good thoughts about them.

A Muslim must be mature and perfect in his deeds and attitudes toward unbelievers and polytheists in terms making their hearts feel warm toward Islam; his heart should not love them and their bad traits.

One of the attributes of righteous Muslims is not to have bad thoughts about people. The following is stated in the Quran:

"O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin." (al-Hujurat, 49/12)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following about having bad thoughts (suspicions) about people and telling lies about them:

"Avoid suspicion because it is the worst lie." (Bukhari, Wasaya, 8, Nikah, 45, Muslim, Birr 28)

Thus, he described zann (suspicion/having bad thoughts about others) as the worst lie. A truthful Muslim will not utter words resembling lies.

A Muslims should decide about people based on appearance. He should keep away from suspicion, doubt, gossip, delusion and slander. Trying to find secret things about people, intervening others’ private affairs and talking badly about their honor are not among the ethical characteristics of a Muslim. A Muslim acts based on what he sees. He says what he has seen. He does not make a judgment based suspicion and his ideas. Umar b. Khattab stated as follows:

"People decreed based on revelation during the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Revelation has ended now. We will decree based on your deeds that we see. We will protect those who do good things and allow them to approach us. We are not interested in what they conceal. Allah will call them to account for what they conceal. We will not rely on those who do bad deeds and will not approve of them even if they say that their hearts are clean." (M. Y. Kandahlawi, Hayatus-Sahaba, translated by A. Meylani, IV, 253).

Therefore, a conscious and pious Muslim will never forget the following verse when he speaks and makes a judgement:

"And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)." (al-Isra, 17/36)

A Muslim will not speak against others. For, he believes that every word he speaks is recorded by an angel:

"Behold, two (guardian angels) appointed to learn (his doings) learn (and noted them), one sitting on the right and one on the left. Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him, ready (to note it)." (Qaf, 50/17, 18)

A Muslim who is conscious of those orders is afraid of the responsibility of every word he utters. Therefore, we see him uttering every word carefully. For, he knows that a word he utters can elevate him to the rank of the consent of Allah or lower him to the lowest layer of Hell. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) states the following regarding the issue:

"A slave of Allah may utter a word which pleases Allah without giving it much importance, and because of that Allah will raise him to degrees of reward: a slave of Allah may utter a word carelessly which displeases Allah without thinking of its gravity and because of that Allah will record a penalty for him up to the Day of Judgment." (Bukhari, Riqaq, 23; Muslim, Zuhd, 49, 50)

A pious Muslim who has a clean heart will not heed the illogical words of others and what he hears from the gossips, rumors and doubtful words; he will not report to others what he hears before checking its trueness. On the contrary, he knows that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) regards reporting whatever one hears to others without finding out that they are true as haram. He acts based on the following principle: "It is enough as a sin for a person to report to others whatever he hears."

[qnewsau]

Clover Moore claims record sixth term as Sydney lord mayor

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/clover-moore-claims-record-sixth-term-as-sydney-lord-mayor/

Clover Moore claims record sixth term as Sydney lord mayor

Clover Moore is on track to secure a record sixth term as Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, claiming victory on Saturday night after what she called the “toughest campaign” she’s had.

Voters across New South Wales headed to the polls for the state’s local government elections on Saturday. Counting of votes was paused late last night and will resume on Monday.

On Saturday night, Australia’s longest-serving lord mayor had an early lead over her Labor, Liberal, Greens and independent challengers.

Cr Moore was up against nine other candidates but with 35,000 votes counted she had secured 37 per cent of first preferences

This was double the closest contender, Labor’s Zann Maxwell, who was at just under 18 per cent.

Cr Moore acknowledged the final result was still some time away but declared she was “winning in every booth” and was on track for another four-year term.

“Thank you, Sydney! I am grateful for your support and excited about continuing the work to ensure our city is the best place to live, work in and visit,” she wrote on Instagram

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Clover Moore AO (@clovermoore)

Clover Moore says campaign was ‘pretty nasty’

Clover told her supporters at the Arthouse Hotel in Sydney, “I think the toughest campaign I’ve ever had. There was a really concerted campaign to try and get rid of me.

“I didn’t think any of the other candidates had anything to offer.

“They said we need a change and fresh ideas. I listened very carefully to hear what the fresh ideas were and there weren’t any.

“There was a sense of real desperation about trying to get me out of Town Hall. That was expressed in the candidates’ forums, which I think were pretty nasty.

“No one really talked about fresh ideas or new policy. They were just attacking me. It was a pretty weird campaign, actually.”

She said affordable housing, action on climate change, Oxford Street and Chinatown as among her priorities in the next term.

Read more: ‘I love the work. I’m a worker’: Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore talks to QNews

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[albedostartarus]

I’m fucking. Why do my friends still even tolerate me, Z and K definitely hate me and if they don’t. Idk even they have several reasons to do that. Im just. I’m fucking stupid I don’t deserve any of these peoples’ love and attention. I just realised that Zann was alr embarrassed about the stupid fucking shoot and her question and comment about being hurt on the arm and if I minded that cuz my .. thing didn’t have any sleeves might’ve been about. about the scars. And I asked her to do a shoot with that, NOT KNOWING if she’s comfortable with it and then asking if she’d be ok to shoot for 2 hours in the cold in a crop top and whatever sad excuse for a wearable I’d come up with so that I could redeem MY failure through a photo shoot.

Not only did I fail and disappoint myself, I also attempted to embarrass and discomfort a friend in the process whos already going through their own stuff.

I deserve only hate from my friends, I should’ve killed myself in 10th. But nooooooooo it’ll all be ok once I leave home. Fuck if it’s okay, putting myself in bad places due to my SHEER FUCKING INABILITY TO COMMUNICATE AND SOCIALISE is one thing but my friends????? They are the best people ever, they deserve better than someone who ignores them, can’t talk to them, makes them uncomfortable and is just all round a fucking asshole.

I can’t do this anymore I want to be better but Im just a big fat fucking waste of everything. Love, affection, money I have everything I could ask for and I waste all of it. I can’t even take care of myself all I can do is look in the mirror and fucking complain

Me dying woukd literally be better for most people in the long run I don’t see why not

[corvosdaughter]

pentiment not giving a definitive answer to the act i and ii mysteries isn't because all the suspects are equally likely to be guilty. i've seen people interpret it that way and then complain that the ending is a copout but like does anyone genuinely think ottilia did it. i know "possibly but uncertainly" is not that far off "equally likely" but i think it's an important distinction to make when it comes to understanding what the game is focused on.

it's not about who were the actual killers, it's not even about the circumstances that make it impossible for that to be known, it's about what made YOU point the finger at someone and the consequences of that choice. did you actually think they were guilty, or were they just an asshole? did you think it was someone else but held your tongue because they deserved to live? what about their age? community standing? did convenience factor into it? alternatively, what would happen if you dirtied someone's name and they were still around years later?

if there was a fixed answer everyone would just get caught up on whether they picked up all the hints and if they were chose the "right" or "wrong" path. that would detract from everything the game is trying to say. as it is, i think people who come away really wanting those mysteries solved, saying "i don't know who it was and therefore i might as well have spun a wheel and not wasted 15 hours to get here" have missed a lot of what it's really about.

[dreameasel]

me: i cannot put a 35min experimental electronica piece that samples people talking about death in his playlist me: puts a 5 min one about falling nightmares and the 18min music of erich zann reading

[cbmnet]

#XMen97 #Marvel 3CBM

[grokkingchair]

The Good Spiritual Friend

[I’m going through my old drafts. This was from May 2016.]

“The practitioners who do not understand continue to be caught in words and phrases and obstructed by terms such as holy, profane, etc., so that they cannot open their wisdom eyes and therefore cannot see the real nature of things clearly. The Twelve Divisions of the teachings were only devised to show clearly that real nature. Practitioners who do not understand bend in the direction of words, mistakenly searching for insight therein. That attitude of seeking a place to hold to and rely on, makes us fall into the cycle of cause and effect and prevents us from leaving the cycle of birth and death in the three realms.

“If you wish to roam in birth and death as a free person, you should recognize who it is who is listening to the Dharma here. Although that person has no form, no distinguishing sign, no basis, no origin, and no place of abode, he is living, infinitely active, and able to display tens of thousands of wonderful functions, and all those functions have the nature of non-abiding.

“On the other hand, the more you look for something, the farther away you are from it, the more you are off the mark. This is called the wonderful mystery.

“My friends, do not identify yourselves with this illusory friend, the body, because sooner or later it has to be returned to the hands of the demon impermanenoe. In this world, what is it you need to turn toward in order to find liberation? All you need is a bowl of brown rice, a mantle of cloth, and apart from this you should give all your psychological force and time to find the good spiritual friend. Do not waste your days and hours following various pleasures. Time is precious, life is impermanent, the four great elements (mahabhuta) and the four signs (birth, abiding, changing, ceasing) are driving you on.You must recognize right away the signless nature of these four so as not to be pulled around by your surroundings.”

- excerpted from Record 15 of Master Linji, as translated by Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Battles

A little over three weeks ago my best friend succumbed to the renal cell cancer against which she’d been fighting for three years.  Her death came suddenly, caught me unawares.  And yet was completely expected--in fact, overdue, statistically speaking.  

For the past three weeks I’ve been trying to characterize in my own mind the nature of my relationship with Zanne.  I’ve come up with terms like:  “Best Friend”, “Pal”, “My Person”, “My Other Self”.  All of these are accurate, but I think the best description is, “My Good Spiritual Friend”.  

Zanne encouraged me to start the “baby sangha” in my home.  Many years ago, standing in the parking area outside of the Bikram studio, sweaty after the morning class, she mentioned that she used to have a friend that she would practice [meditation] with but hasn’t had that in a while.  I needed no more than that nudge to encourage the seed that was already forming in me to start our sangha.  

Our friendship grew slowly, steadily over the years, neither of us in any particular hurry.  Zanne was like a talking mirror, helping me see the good things in myself that I never allowed myself to acknowledge.  She would also be there to course-correct me in her southern-gentility-imbued way--indirect yet unmistakable. She was my confidant and cheerleader, and I was hers. 

All of our friends are Good Spiritual Friends, if we see with clarity.  But some are effortless. For me, those ones don’t come along every day--the ones who get me, and whom I get so effortlessly. 

As I sit down to complete this post, several years later, I realize that that the effortlessness comes from the ease borne of authenticity. Artifice is taxing; personas are exhausting. I don’t know what alchemy it is that allows free authenticity between two people, but it’s pure joy. Authenticity....resting easy in yourself, resting easy in the Way.

May we all have many Good Spiritual Friends. 

And thank you, Zanne, for being my Good Spiritual Friend. 

_()_

[bnprime]

so i’ve been DMing my first dnd game for about a year now. three of the five players are new to the game, and two are experienced. the title of my homebrew game is “the king in yellow journalism” and it’s a mishmash of cosmic horror, x-files references, jokes about new england and america in the late 1880’s, and having to write articles for one of the two magazines (one is based on national geographic, the other is based on “the fortean times.”). in order to generate excitement and subscriptions for both magazines, the editors have decided to send the writers out to cover the same thing from their different perspectives. as the players are slowly discovering, there are many things wrong with their world. aside from the prevalent racism and oppression, i mran… they explored a farm which was the site of a meteor impact, where all the people got turned into monsters (the color out of space). they visited a pirate village which had gotten too friendly with fish people (shadow over innsmouth). they’re currently investigating a west virginian miners strike, involving a missing union leader, and a bunch of other weird crap. anyway, it’s wild. but here’s the cool bit. of the five players, i think only the two veteran players and this other guy caught onto the cosmic horror vibe from the start, when i told everyone the title of the campaign. the other two are both entirely unfamiliar with the genre stories, and the general way people play dnd. which is great, because the new players are gonzo. one of the characters is a halfling who is pure id. they will just eat anything i put in front of them. cursed fruit? poisoned food? yes! they are ready for adventure! and they also roll very high for lore checks. so anytime someone mysterious wanders past covered in mysterious symbols, our halfling immediately recognizes them and knows their significance. uh, for example. they were camping in a cursed orchard (two of them had just eaten some weird contaminated fruit) and our halfling was on watch duty. and they saw a weird robed guy harvesting the contaminated fruit, so they went over to talk to him (!!) and then (when seeing that they had eaten the fruit and become contaminated) he invites the camp to go to a meeting. and they say yes, on behalf of the camp (!!!) . so he teleports them to a big cult gathering (!!!!) where the halfling eats more of the fruit and then can see the goddess they are worshipping, and because they always roll high on lore, they know that the thing being worshipped isn’t the goddess they are naming and oh boy. another new player is a aarakocra bard who plays a cursed viola (leading to a ‘the music of erich zann’ subplot somewhere in the future). and he is just terrific. like, he’s just this bro guy, but he’s always excited to perform and people just like.. want to be his friend and tell him everything. he’s become the group’s “face man,” and he also makes unpredictable choices. like adopting a partially monsterized little girl who had a horse head, and then asking his parents to take care of her. i really love our other characters too, but that’s probably enough for now. but if you have a fun setting you’d like to play in, and know some people who and clever, playing dnd in your homebrew universe with your friends is really great because everyone gets invested into your story, and things work out in really unexpected unpredictable ways. especially of the characters your friends make have no impulse control.