Mirie it is while sumer i-last

This seems a fairly decent conversation; while the original question has been removed, as r/secondlife's Rule 4 is post nothing against ToS, the question is retained (mostly) in Reddit's email to me. Under the title "Copyrighted content for personal use and Linden Lab", this question: "I am not sure if this has been discussed before. I want to upload a mesh model to use as an avatar from a different game for my personal use, I don't want to sell it ever. My question is: does Linde". Her question finished with something close to "Linden labs allow this?" And the easy answer is no. No copyrighted content from other games.

But there are some valuable viewpoints in the comments, one of which had this link, which, while it discusses a specific case of copyright infringement, also contains valid information on what is and is not allowed.

Still, the simple answer works: no, we are not allowed to upload copyrighted material from any other property without permission from that property. Now, if we have permission to make an avatar, clothing item, object, from the rights holder? Go to town. But without those rights it's copyright infringement, and there can be penalties for that.

In other news...the leaves are changing!

13th Autumn In Caledon... boo!
Sun, Sep 22 2019 12:39:35 AM PDT

Miri it is while sumer i-last
With foulës song;
Oc now neghëth windës blast
And weder strong.
Ei, ei, what this night is long,
And Ich with wel michel wrong
Sorwe and murne and fast.

This is from the earliest surviving secular song known in English. Oddly, I knew the summer version, but I'd never heard this one.

Are you bored with cooking? Want a challenging recipe or two to follow? Try AI cooking may not help you eat, but it will give you a challenge to follow.

And in other other news, this chat capture about Marvel vs. DC:

[21:34] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: There will really be a JOKER movie coming out soon.
[21:35] Emilly Orr: Yes, but it's non-canonical according to DC.
[21:36] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: but it has the DC logo?
[21:36] Emilly Orr: Sure. It's from DC.
[21:36] Emilly Orr: What they're saying is, they're making it, but it's alternate universe.
[21:37] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: oh, yes..an alternate world.
[21:37] Emilly Orr: Like the What If series Marvel used to put out--What if Wolverine was a vampire? What if Iron Man turned evil? What If took those concepts and did one-offs based on them.
[21:38] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Sounds like fun..and The Joker movie looked interesting.
[21:38] Emilly Orr: So, yes, we are getting a better reboot of Joker than we got with the execrable Suicide Squad, but unless it, itself, spawns a sequel, that movie's Joker won't cross over into other DC films.

Apparently, dissatisfaction with Jared Leto's Joker performance is so high that, while Suicide Squad is getting a sequel, it's turned into a story of Harley breaking up with him and striking out on her own with other superheroines.

[21:39] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: lets hope not, He looked just as scary as the others.

Actually, the only thing that comes close in the terms of "official" Joker portrayals that comes close to Leto's is the time in the comics where Joker cut his own face off. (There are pictures of the panel. I am not linking them. You want to go search, they're not hard to find.)
Every other portrayal could line up with the new alt-Joker upcoming.

[21:43] Emilly Orr: While that is true, at least the upcoming Joker would never tattoo "Damaged" across his forehead in italic script. Because really? Really? Come on now. And silver teeth? Really?
[21:44] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: apparently this Joker did not end up in a chemical bath like the original did.
[21:49] Emilly Orr: No, he actually has an incredible reason for becoming the Joker. Hard, hard life, in a hard, violent city, when all he wanted to do was lighten the mood. And getting ground down day after day until there was nothing left. Nothing but the Joker.
[21:50] Emilly Orr: It's entirely plausible.
[21:50] Emilly Orr: I am tentatively looking forward to it.
[21:50] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: True.
[21:51] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: I don't know how DC could have the characters they do, and mess up their movies so much in comparison to Marvel.
[21:51] Emilly Orr: Oh, I can answer that.
[21:52] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: It is hard too translate what the creators and writers of Comics into a Movie.
[21:52] Emilly Orr: So, Marvel is more cohesive--it's always been an umbrella company with multiple departments. They're all interconnected, the movie people talk to the tv people talk to the comics people talk to the toy line people.
[21:53] Emilly Orr: Versus DC. DC maintains a singular, monolithic upper office, with distant toy lines (which is why sometimes costumes, faces and such are off on the toys), an entirely separate TV/animation branch, and an entirely separate movie branch.
[21:53] Emilly Orr: If you watch DC animation, it is BRILLIANT. Smooth lines, great art, great plots. Genuine heartfelt characters that feel RIGHT.
[21:54] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: DC's big Justice League movie with all their major characters made only 659 million worldwide
[21:54] Emilly Orr: Yes. That figure includes DVD/Blu-Ray sales. It's staggeringly bad.
[21:54] Emilly Orr: But the upper brass doesn't talk to the 'lower' companies.
[21:55] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: That is only about 40 million more than "Ant Man and the Wasp"
[21:55] Emilly Orr: Case in point: one of their animation series, Justice League, I think, was doing amazingly well. Popular, people wanted to watch, wanted to interact, wanted to buy product tie-ins.
[21:55] Emilly Orr: DC upper brass canceled it. Because too many girls were fans.
[21:55] Emilly Orr: And they wanted boy fans.
[21:56] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: Dumb.

Very.

[21:56] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: Marvel just wants people's money. Smart company :)
[21:56] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Too my obseervations over the years..ever since after the "Crisis of infinite earths' comic books both DC and Marvel have gotten more violent

Actually, the violence comes and goes. Violence is always somewhere, but some things are played more to the heart, some things are played more for laughs, some things are just knock-down, drag-out fighting. Flow and ebb.

[21:56] Emilly Orr: Which...is not how the world works anymore. Just as there were always female fans of so-called "male" properties, they're even more visible now.
[21:56] Emilly Orr: Exactly.
[21:57] Emilly Orr: Now, granted, Marvel sold off some of their bigger characters (hence why, until the last two Avengers movies and the first Spider-man movie in between, Spider-man was under the control of Sony Entertainment), and what they had left was the B-roll.
[21:57] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: I don't follow the comic books. Too expensive.
[21:57] Emilly Orr: But look at what they've done with it.
[21:57] Emilly Orr: Iron Man went from a dated, suffering timeline to a headliner through several films.
[21:58] Emilly Orr: Guardians of the Galaxy, an absolutely NEGLECTED comic, has two movies and a third planned, and show up in cameos in Avengers films.
[21:58] Emilly Orr: People embraced these characters because all Marvel really dd was say "Hey, we like these guys. We think you will too."
[21:59] Emilly Orr: DC, on the other hand, relies far too much on their target demographic figures, and how to push them in the direction the head office wants them to go, not the direction they organically go.
[21:59] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: I really liked Captain Marvel. I'm told by people who are more into the comics that the character has always been kind of d-list in comics. But the movie was great and made over a billion worldwide.
[21:59] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Yesh, but they only made two Fantastic 4 movies..and they did not appear in End game.
[22:00] Emilly Orr: There's a reason for that, Fantastic Four is cursed.
[22:00] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: I thought Marvel did not own the rights to them or to the X-Men.
[22:00] Emilly Orr: NO ONE has ever made a successful Fantastic 4 film. EVER. The only success they've ever had beyond the comics is about a year run in animation.
[22:00] Emilly Orr: They don't anymore, which is also why X-Men movies are being made by other people.
[22:02] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: There are4 (Mavel) Captain Mavels..one a Kree with power bands on his wrist, the other Afro american female whose power was Light and lasers( I liked Her), Ms. Marvel, and an other alien.
[22:02] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: I'm probably atypical of Marvel movie fans. I never see them in theaters. I rent them over the Internet several months later.
[22:03] Emilly Orr nods
[22:03] Emilly Orr: Not the worst pattern, not everyone likes the theatre experience.
[22:03] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: Or several years in some cases. I'm still waiting to rent Infinity War and Endgame back to back.
[22:04] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: And yes, I know who dies. I can't help it :)
[22:04] Emilly Orr smiles
[22:04] Emilly Orr: I actually managed to dodge the spoilers!
[22:04] Emilly Orr: We saw Endgame for the first time last night.
[22:04] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I have not bought a comic book in five years..no..since 2000..if i do, i go too Barns& noble and buy a graphic novel..collected stories.
[22:06] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Good night, Caledon. Sweet dreams
[22:06] Exxxxxxxx Pxxxxx: Goodnight
[22:06] Kxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hugs Emilly and Elenabeth.
[22:07] Emilly Orr hugs Kara
[22:07] Emilly Orr: Good night!

And that was that. Though I still think my conclusion is correct: Marvel suffered a financial blow, sold off some successful properties, and is now making the best with what they've got left. DC is trying to play to the safest bets, with overdone market research, and ignoring half of it, and won't let writers really write for the movies. And as a result, they're hamstringing themselves.

he can tap against the glass but I'm not coming out

What a great quote:

"I hope it can spark someone to say, 'I'm not a superhero, but I can be a scientist or build the next spaceship, like Shuri.'"
~~Letitia Wright

In other news, are you tired of playing an average, grizzled, 30-40 year old white male in videogames? Do you want more from your books and your comics than an unending parade of pallor? Selena Mills has you covered, with seventeen great books and games (for kids, sure, but hey, nothing says adults can't play or read 'em!).

So let's talk about the end of reading, or at the least, the end of Barnes and Noble. Because it's coming. As the author of that post put it,

“Whether the Andrea Gail rolls, pitch-poles, or gets driven down, she winds up, one way or another, in a position from which she cannot recover. Among marine architects this is known as the zero-moment point – the point of no return.” –Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm

A lot of us are seeing the signs of no return, and fully expecting B and N to either fold up shop and fire everyone, or declare bankruptcy, then fold up shop and fire everyone. After appropriate golden parachutes for all the upper management they want to placate, of course. And adding hefty end-turn bonuses for themselves.

There's some tie-in here with Best Buy's closure, and Borders, as well, as similar practice happened in each case. And we're going to see it a lot more, as more business owners realize they can make more money by investing it instead of actually employing people and selling things. After all, why bother, right? No one reads anymore, right? No one buys books. Or games. Or anything. We just rent them, and they can be taken from us at any time.

Apologies, usually I'm cynical and bitter, but I don't show it on the blog. I see the changes coming, but I have no idea how to fix them. I only know they're going to hurt thousands of workers along the way.

Anyway, I think I'm going to tie this up by telling you a bit about Paladins, and HiRez Studios. Now, I don't play Overwatch, I don't play Paladins, I never played SMITE and while I have loves telling me I'd get a kick out of Heroes of the Storm, not really interested in that either. Arena games really aren't me, it's too...PvP, I'm more a quests and challenges gamer.

But because I have friends who play Paladins, I hear occasionally about how awful some recent changes in the game have been. Like last November's "Cards Unbound" expansion, which seems--both to me and most of the other active player base--as HiRez directly implementing a pay-to-win system into an otherwise (mostly) level playing field of a game. This seems deceptive, and rather vile.

There have been several protests over this decision--both in and out of the company, though by far I think this one is the best reaction to date--yet, until today, HiRez seemed pretty determined to hold onto the changes.

Until today. Today this decision was handed down by the new head of HiRez. To wit, these changes will be employed:

• Legendary Cards will now be called Talents.
• Talents will only have a single level.
• Talents will be unlocked for free by earning XP and gaining Champion levels (for example; level 1,5,10,15).
• All Champion Cards will now be free (No cost or grind).
• Deck creation will return to a point system where players can distribute 15 points across the five cards they select for their loadout.
• Each Champion Card will have five ranks to choose from.
• Talents will not have ranks, and are not included in the loadout point cap.
• Talents and Decks will continue to be chosen at match start to allow players to tailor their playstyles based on their opponents.
• New Talents will be added over time and give further varied playstyles.
• Champion Mastery will no longer be capped at level 25. Instead, it will work similarly to Player Account leveling (which has no cap).
• Card chests will be removed from the game.

So...that's good, right? Along with launching Paladins: Battlegrounds as a separate game.

I think that gets them out of the pay-to-win accusations, as well as un-miring them from the current sticky controversy surrounding lootboxes in games in general. It seems, at least to me, the only people out much, right now, are those who spent the insane amounts necessary to cheat using the Unbound rules in the first place, and...hey, even if they were cheating with the studio's permission, I say it still counts. I do hope HiRez works to repay the cost of all those cards, but...pfft, they shouldn't have jumped in with such vigor in the first place. It was a dumb idea.

it's poison and it's blood

The first official, in-costume shot of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman have been released. Yep, the last bit of hope in me just died that Wonder Woman will receive any kind of fair treatment from this forthcoming abomination. But hey, Guardians of the Galaxy still looks good, right?

More Hair Fair coverage! (Part the first, part the second, part the third, part the fourth, part the fifth, part the sixth, part the seventh, part the eighth, part the ninth, part the tenth, part the eleventh, part the twelfth, part the thirteenth, part the fourteenth, part the fifteenth, part the sixteenth, part the seventeenth, part the eighteenth, part the nineteenth, and part the twentieth, seen previously.)

So, running low on time now, with one day left. Now we start cherry-picking, unfortunately. Which is sad, because there's still so many inventive styles left to see!

(from the Hair Fair album)

From EMO-tions, this is "DREAMWORLD" in Autumn Brown, with the horn headdress, and the hair wrap in dark green.

Not shown: ENVY, FENIA, LOVE_WAR, and TITANIA. You can find EMO-tions in the Redhead sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From Eaters Coma, this is "Hair 52" in Funky Blue.

Not shown: Hair 53, Hair 54. You can find Eaters Coma in the Brunette sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From Exile, this is "Stone Cold Seduction" in Domino from the Natural Fusion color HUD.

Not shown: Blown Away, From Yesterday, High and Dry, and Young and Beautiful. You can find Exile in the Redhead sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From eXxEsS, this is "TETA" in the second tone from the fourth bar from the left, on the 'Blond' HUD.

Not shown: JAGODA, LIBUSSA and RADANA. You can find eXxEsS in the Noirette sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From [fashionably dead], this is "Olli" in Pastel 4.

Not shown: Crystal, Momo, Princess, and Tiffany. You fan find [fashionably dead] in the Redhead sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From fiore, this is "ISABEL" in color #49 from the Ombres HUD.

Not shown: ALANNA, TIEN. You can find fiore at Hair Fair, but no idea where--they don't honestly appear to be listed.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From Gauze, this is "Unseelie" in the third tone on Set 2 for the 'Color-ified' HUD.

Not shown: Gravity, Harley. You can find Gauze on the Blonde sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From [geek], this is "Life Beyond Sprinkles" (no tinting available on their demos).

Not shown: Blueberry, Monster Crossed and Paper Planes Collide. You can find [geek] on the Brunette sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From [iren], this is "Morning Bird" (no tinting available on their demos).

Not shown: Afternoon, By Night and Lana. You can find [iren] on the Redhead sim.

(from the Hair Fair album)

From [INK], this is "MARY" in Ash.

Not shown: BULGE, DIST, and UBER. You can find [INK} on the Noirette sim.





And the usual report of what I'm wearing, now from high above the Sanguinarius Community Center:

Eyes: These are the Oni Collection 'Cumulus' eyes in "Silver" from The Plastik. I can't remember if I picked these up in-store or at Fantasy Fair; either way, they have fantastic gloss and I want more shades.
Skin: This is the "Acorn" Party Girl skin (Light tone) in the 'Cured 2' variation from Curio. It was a group gift.
Tattoos: I wanted a slightly different eyeshadow to pair with the eyes, so I'm wearing the "Lavender Fields" eyeshadow from [MOCK] Cosmetics.
Outfit: This is a printed mesh stretch dress in blue from AlaFolie. I think it was a freebie, but it's very nicely made. And I'm wearing it with a set of white socks and black wedge Mary Janes from Dark Water Designs (not shown).

And using Annan Adored Optimal Skin (No Shadows) for the Windlight setting, and pushed up the graphics a little to include basic shaders, atmospheric shaders, and the Advanced Lighting Model setting. (It's important to note that even under the relatively stripped-down Singularity viewer, my current drug of choice, that I still can't move with Advanced Lighting on, because of the induced shading, I think.) Today I've also added Ambient Occlusion, because I'm insane. More to come!

he'd find a powersource and then he'd pick what plugs to pull

If you don't mind the fact that the maker is pretty much ripping off everyone on and off the grid with copyright-infringing avatars...then you can take advantage of a 90% off sale on Marketplace. You know, if you don't care that practically everything you see there was likely first built in 2009 and hasn't been updated...or that much of it is direct theft of other game developers' intellectual property. But hey. Go wild if you want. I'm not your mom.

Also, apparently Thor's female now. (Comics-verse, not movieverse, it should be noted. Still, entertaining.)

More Hair Fair coverage! (Part the first, part the second, part the third, and part the fourth, seen previously.)

(from the Hair Fair album; a perky, tousled style called "Andrew" that's suitable for either sex)

We start with Alli&Ali's "Andrew" hair. It's not the best front shot, because it nearly makes it look like it has a heightened, lofty crown, but in actuality, it's a tousled razor bob, that seems--at least from showing it on me--to be pretty reasonably unisex. I'm showing in in "Hair 4" (a dark brown) and "Hair 7" (a copper-red), respectively.

(from the Hair Fair album; the sadly executed "Barbarella")

Next up, the "Barbarella", which I wanted to like with every fiber of my being. (Because...Barbarella, come on now.) It's an iconic hairstyle for an iconic character, which Alli&Ali...utterly fails to pull off.

In the banner shots, I'm showing off "Hair 10" (the pale blonde) and "Hair 6" (a rich burgundy). But it really doesn't matter what color we're discussing, as shown below:

(from the Hair Fair album; the flaws in "Barbarella")

This points out the flaws seen in all shades of this style by concentrating on the shades "Hair 3" and "Hair 6", I believe. There are more than a few issues, but I'm specifically discussing the alpha issues--which are prominent and annoying--and the misaligned strands (specifically shown here down the back, but there's a few on the bouffant crown, too). It's depressing to think that in 2014, there's a designer who's still putting out styles that look like they were made in 2008.

(from the Hair Fair album; "Fiona" and its frizzy flaws)

Then there's "Fiona", which I'm only showing off in "Hair 11", because it was the only hair I actually had to adjust and resize out of the box. It also suffers from alpha issues, but not as much as "Barbarella".

(from the Hair Fair album; the "Gaby" style for Hair Fair 2014)

Finally, there's "Gaby", and...the less said about it, the better. I will say one thing: I really wish they'd taken the trouble to add better texturing, on the hair rollers if nowhere else.

All in all, these styles had promise and creativity behind them, but...outside of the first, spunky unisex "Andrew", they're not exactly hits out of the park. Which is sad, because with a little updating, some mesh templates here and there, even, they could meld the old and the new and turn out some really innovative things, I think. Things that wouldn't look like the standard center-part long-mesh style we're seeing everywhere these days.

You can find Alli&Ali on the Brunette sim.





And the usual report of what I'm wearing, now from high above the Sanguinarius Community Center:

Eyes: Poetic Colors gives out a LOT of freebies, but Lano Ling also makes really good eyes for sale. These happen to be the "autumn moon" freebie, bright sclera version, but I do have more than a few PC eyes that I've bought. Really excellent shading, and incredible color variations.
Skin: After Curio returned to the grid, Ms. Phoenix sent out the "Party Girl Megapack" to everyone in her group. This is the "Moonbeam" (light tone) skin, "Potion 1" variation.
Outfit: The "Demon" asymmetric strapless number from FashionNatic for the dress (and I honestly can't remember if it was a freebie, or if I bought it on the Marketplace), then SN@TCH's "Aspen" knit stockings in Red (not shown), and DV8's "Eternal Love" boots in Red (and DV8 is unlinked, because they closed again) (also not shown).
Tattoos: Lipstick is from The Sugar Garden; it's the "Bitten" Dolly Lips in Dark. And the chest tattoo is from REDRUM, it's the "Sacred Heart" tattoo.

Still using Nam's Optimal Skin 2 for the Windlight setting, and I've also pushed up my graphics a little to include basic shaders, atmospheric shaders, and the Advanced Lighting Model setting. (It's important to note that even under the relatively stripped-down Singularity viewer, my current drug of choice, that I still can't move with Advanced Lighting on, because of the induced shading, I think.) Anyway, there you go--these shots are not my norm of point-and-shoot standard-midday lack-of-Windlight pics. More to come!

just leave me out, you name-dropper, stop trying to catch my eye

Yes, yes yes, I wandered away again. I know. It's been a somewhat exhausting week.

Part of it is we're coming close to the end of the summer event--the Midsummer Festival of Sune--in Neverwinter. Sune is the goddess of love and beauty in Faerûn, the game setting in which the Neverwinter MMO plays out--for some obscure reason known only to the writers of game quests--most of her celebratory events involve fighting.

Being as the worship of Sune involves meticulous care to be sweet of word and pleasing of feature, one would think the contests would involve writing poems, singing songs, practicing temple dances, and exclamations of courtly love. Instead, they're divided into three main quests, in three different areas of Sune's festival grounds:

1. Protecting the Feasting Grounds. Given that part of the Festival involves keeping the feasting tables piled high in hospitality, there's a great deal of cooking that goes on. The main "grilling grounds", however, have been set upon by mountain trolls, for...some reason. Our job as celebrants is to...kill the trolls. No, really. And we're rewarded for doing so with a few bolts of blue and green fabric, lightweight linen thread, filigree trim, and flower petals.
2. Harvesting Fireflower blooms. Apparently the only time the Fireflower blooms is during midsummer, and it is apparently both a vital currency to the clergy and an important ingredient in making...festival garb. No, I'm not making that up. So, as a result, we as celebrants are sent off to gather blooms. The catch: the blooms are guarded/preyed upon by kobolds, who are addicted to the flower, and it makes them territorial, aggressive, and angry. They're kind of like kobold PCP. Our job: well, what else? Kill the kobolds. For this, we get packs of flower petals, plus various harvest foods we can use to make into squash soup, caprese (not even kidding, it's called that in the game, and that's exactly what it is), and...watermelon sorbet. Again, not kidding.
3. Harvesting and Herding. Lastly, mystical, blessed corn needs to be gathered--because apparently, clerical barbecue requires roasted corn--and chickens and pigs must be herded into the pens so the...erm...messy stuff can happen, to get meat to the grilling grounds, and...that's our task, too. At least this one doesn't involve battle, just frustration. Our task: run towards chickens or pigs until a bright, radiant sun appears over their heads, then run them towards the pens until they cross the glowing green barrier and are 'counted'. We get one point for ten ears of corn harvested, two points for each chicken brought in, seven points for each squealing pig, and--should we be lucky enough to encounter one--thirty points for the larger, named 'Golden Chickens' that pop up now and again. And again, for doing all this running around trying to herd animals, and gather corn, we get more farm-fresh vegetables, more flower petals, and...I suppose...a sense of accomplishment about everything?

Honestly, I'd rather engage in drinking and country dances.

And these three things must be done every day, because we need the ingredients to make the things that will get us the festival garb, or special flower-bedecked armaments, for...reasons. Oh, and there's a dirty pig we can buy with the flower petals, too, that will--I'm being serious, here--roll in the mud and scatter that mud on enemies, distracting them enough to ignore us for a bit while we kill them.

MMOs are strange.

I'm thinking I'm going to start culling through the many, many pictures I've been taking over the past two or three weeks, too, and start tossing them up, but sadly, I no longer remember the sims in which I took most of them. More's the pity.

In the meantime...some links! And we're starting with the iodine clock reaction first seen on io9. Now, it's been some time since I was involved in chemical experiments--and, among my friends and I, that usually meant things that blew up, whether we wanted them to or not--but I remember the iodine clock. And it's just as fast as it seems to be. It's like...magic, in a sense, only it's pure SCIENCE!

And science is cool, so there, link, go watch, be amazed.

There's a certain link on translating British English to American English that's gone viral, and it's absolutely brilliant. I rather wish there'd be a version where American English is translated into proper British terms, for reverse understanding, but...I have a feeling it would involve cursing, or something else vastly inappropriate.

In other news from the Telegraph, I can't figure out if this link is a joke, or not. Because it sounds so very much like something the Onion would write up. If it's not a joke, things have gotten very, very odd in Turkey and Egypt.

In comics news, I'm increasingly unhappy with Dan Didio. Actually, it's more a general unhappiness with DC Comics in general (last week simply being the most stunningly stupid example of the tar-laden flailings of DC Comics as a corporate entity that I've seen in some time.

But the signs have been there for some time, I've just been trying to ignore them. Because, in the brand-loyalty department, I've always been a DC girl. I've liked the characters better, the plots better, and then...current management took over. And by "current" I mean "the idiot micromanagers who've been destroying DC for the last five years".

Most particularly, though, the straw that broke my figurative camel's back in this instance surrounds their callous treatment of Harley Quinn as a character. To wit, from the official DC link describing the contest:

PANEL 4
Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the inevitable death. Her expression is one of "oh well, guess that's it for me" and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen.

Now, if you look at the page as it stands--which has been substantially revised--there are other comic panels added. There's also been a fair amount of explanation and context given as to why they thought this was a good idea to do in the first place. According to officials within the company, this was never about supposedly "sexualizing" suicide, it was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek meta-commentary on the absurd directions DC writers--and, by extension, comics writers in the industry as a whole--take on occasion with female characters under their purview. (See TV Tropes' excellent description of the 'women in refrigerators' concept that's plagued comics for over three decades, at least.)

Which I suppose would have been tenuously fine, save for two things:

1. They released the fourth panel alone, on the original contest page, with no meta-context given at all for why this was happening; and
2. They announced the contest during Suicide Prevention Week, thus raising this to a PR nightmare the likes of which was only seen before during the dickwolves debacle on Penny Arcade.

I have no place in my brain--or heart--that allows me to keep supporting a company that is--even as a meta-commentary--willing to sponsor a contest supporting the slaying of a popular female character, especially after the same company has refused to allow LGBT characters to marry, invalidated previously assumed marriages, tossed Wonder Woman at Superman like she's some sort of party favor for Superdickish behavior...I mean, dear gods, the list can and does go on. It's horrifying watching them flounder--and anger fans in the process.

And in the meantime, very nearly effortlessly, Marvel's figured out the trick to keeping fans happy: giving them real characters of depth, that can get married no matter what gender--or species--they are, that have real problems in spite of being superheroes, that we can relate to as fans, as fellow beings, and as consumers of media--be that media movies, television or comic books.

You'd think DC would've figured out the same thing, but no, they're still the mammoth in La Brea, slowly sinking, without ever really seeming to comprehend why. It's deeply sad, but they're still stupid for doing it.