DeathQuaker

Anyone interested in seeing Shang Chi in comics action, he showed up in the Domino comic a few issues ago. It was a good story; I wasn't familiar with him before I enjoyed "meeting" him. I look forward to him being in the MCU -- I like the Marvel movies that do their own riff on a genre best (e.g., Ant-Man as heist film, Winter Soldier as political thriller, GotG as space opera, etc.). So, like some others here, I'm keen to see how they'd do a martial arts action piece.

As an aside, iirc back in the 90s, the WB required most of its shows to have a musical segment (or segments) from a new artist signed with WB records, as well as a theme song they owned the rights to and could sell. That's why Buffy and early Charmed had those club scenes for example. It was a cross pollination thing that they hoped to use to sell music (and get fans of a band to be featured to watch the show). While a neat idea, I guess it wasn't lucrative, because these days they cut time for stuff like that for more ad time. So that's one parallel we very unlikely will not be seeing. I wish it had a real theme song too, and I liked the old theme song a lot. That said, by the same token I'm grateful for no shoehorned filler live music scenes that stalled the plot for effectively product placement for a new album/single coming out.

This is one of the best food porn shows I've ever seen. Loved the attention to detail on the processes the artisans used, and the focus on "old school" methods in danger of dying out but people should know about them because they produce a superior product (like making pesto in a mortar and pestle). The passion the people have for what they do shines here as well. Love that this is kind of "highbrow" food exploration, but you are also learning elements of cuisine useful in everyday cooking.

Huh. I thought Khalil was getting more hardened and after killing that dude, snitched on Whale because he didn't like being called Tobias's "bitch." Goes to show people just pick up on different details. I was wondering if the grave was Syonide's -- that he put her in a family tomb, because he seems to be grieving her pretty hard. Jennifer is a much better woman than I am because if a total stranger followed me through the park and called me by my name, I'd at best run and at worst beat the crap out of her. And if I had dangerous powers I couldn't quite control, that woman would likely be dead for scaring the heck out of me. (And I am a Quaker, I do not condone violence. I've just had scary interactions with strangers in parks, and I'm jumpy.) Mind, I liked Perenna in the following scenes and like that Jennifer is getting super-therapy, but her parents were stupid to set it up that way and could have been responsible for a terrible tragedy if their first meeting had gone poorly. I wish a woman would chat me up the way Anissa talks to women she likes. Man she is confident and charming.

I thought the ending insinuated Harry might not be a whitelighter, so maybe that's why his powers don't look right (or they look different to make audiences with meta-knowledge wonder).

While I'll warrant Jane the Virgin's telenovela-inspired melodramedy definitely isn't for everyone, the show is nonetheless a tightly paced and written, complex show, critically acclaimed for its delicate-yet-firm handling of various social issues, balancing real romance with excellent satire, having a well-put-together cast of characters including POCs and LGBTQ persons, and most of all being at its core a story about a family of three, very different, strong women who support and love (and struggle with and still love) one another. With that record, I cannot think of a better show runner for Charmed than Jennie Snyder Urman. (And if you haven't seen the show or only a small portion of it, I strongly recommend giving it the four episode treatment; I can't guarantee you'll like it but I can guarantee it is probably not what you are expecting.) I'd have little hope for this reboot except that she's involved.

Possibilities: - It's flashbacks as Wynterwolf said (although she'd still be *training* in the Red Room, as I assume she would "graduate" around 17-18. This would then presumably be pretty brutal to watch) - The rumor is incorrect or inaccurate (or might be an idea they are floating, but the movie is in such early development it could change) - Her birthdate on record is false, put in SHIELD files to cover for her her youthful appearance (Zola may not have had access to all information), but she actually, as in the comics, is much older than she looks due to Black Widow biotech (a side effect of which is the sterility she mentioned in AOU). This would also explain why she said she worked for the KGB, which was disbanded along with the USSR in 1992, when she would have been 8. I know a LOT of folks who want to handwave that detail as either Marvel using "KGB" as shorthand for Russian Secret Police and/or the MCU has an alternate Cold War history, but I like to think Marvel's writers aren't that sloppy or uninformed in either case (it encourages a bad understanding of history to say "KGB" also means FSB, etc. etc.). I also want to reject the "KGB doesn't actually mean the KGB that was disbanded in 1992" because that argument seems to come mainly from fans who are resistant to the idea of Natasha having any powers--even though they are powers she actually has or had at some point in the comic books, and would explain other unusual things about Natasha, like how quickly she seems to recover from injury (like being shot in the neck by the Winter Soldier and being totally fine the next day). Moreover we know from Agent Carter that the Red Room was specifically a Soviet program (and I will fully admit also wanting the Black Widow biotech to be real so we can see Dottie again some day)--would the (very poor and heavily watched-over by the UN in the 1990s) Russian Republic have continued the program or even been able to? Indeed, while I personally am not keen about the BW movie taking place in the past (I'd rather see her future, and leave some things about her a mystery), doing this gives them the opportunity to reveal her enhanced stamina/slow aging in a way that's just been irrelevant to bring up in the other films. Obviously I vote the third option, but anything could be possible, and again the movie is also very early in development so even if the rumor has merit/a legitimate source, it could still change.

Just watched (most of) this episode this morning. With apologies for nerd pedantry, the man who created the Super Soldier serum was Abraham Erskine, who died in Captain America 1. The person mentioned as the collector was "Ernst Erskine" if I caught the name that flashed across my screen right (I watch with closed captioning on because at least on my computer, Netflix plays music really loud but all the dialogue is whispered). Perhaps a descendant of Abraham, trying to recreate his miracle? Mary is increasingly fascinating to me. I liked her storyline in this episode. I like everyone in this show except Danny and Davos. They deserve each other. Lock them in a room forever and bring us a Daughters of the Dragon show instead.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Food Flirts. Yes somehow they could be too cutesy but they pull it off as fun. I like some of the "food mashups" they come up with.

I am 2 inches taller than my mom was and my sister is 5 1/2 inches taller than me (we are in our 40s, so no hope for a growth spurt!). My two teenage nieces are taller than me. (All of us are genetically related.) Very frequently heights differ a lot in families. I always thought it was bizarre Hollywood insisted on casting "child" characters shorter than a parent and the like, or indeed sisters all the same height. It may fulfil some sort of abstract aesthetic, but it doesn't look natural to me when it's done uniformly. Indeed, that the two "younger sisters" who are nearly identical in height look weirder to me, if there was one that was more of a mid height it would look more "normal." As it is, my own perceptions and preferences aside, the height difference makes it clear the oldest sister is a half sister, and I have no issue. They seem suited to their parts well from what I've seen so far. The acting seems at least on par with the original series based on the trailer, IMO (I recognize opinions differ). But honestly I wouldn't even be paying this show any heed (not keen on reboots, barely a fan of the older show) were it not for the fact that Jennie Snyder Urman is head writer. She is fucking amazing and I trust anything she had influence on is going to be worth at least checking out, no matter what anything else looks like.

So overall, great movie. I could have done without evil business dude being a third person to escape from, felt like it cluttered up the plot---though they did provide the opportunity for some great fights and car chases. Ghost disappointed me for two reasons: first, I miss the anti-corporate schtick from the comics version. Second, because her plot seemed to be lifted wholesale from Jason Wilkes' story from season 2 of Agent Carter: character becomes intangible due to lab explosion, character needs resonance chamber to maintain stability, character grows desperate and hostile as condition deteriorates, solution to character's problem is drawing transdimensional/quantum energy from brilliant lady scientist (evil in AC, good in AM&tW). Sure she gets a cool suit and he gets to kiss Peggy Carter (I think she gets the short end of the stick there) but it was just weirdly similar to me. Maybe it's just me. To boot she also gets no character development other than it hurts, I'm evil now! My favorite ant-agonist was Bill Foster, liked his story, his personality, trying to go to extremes but to do the right thing. I really want to see an Avengers 1970 tale with him, Janet, Hank, and a few others (I realize with the actors' ages it's not feasible, but I can dream).

As awful as she was, I found Grace strangely enjoyable in this episode. I especially liked the transition from euphoria to rage. ;) I also generally hate Robert and yet I like their interaction in this episode. There was a (non-romantic) chemistry between them that Martin Sheen sadly seems to lack with a lot of the other actors. I generally like how flawed human gray area all the characters are--no one is sparkling shiny and no one's fully evil for the most part, they're real. If there's something I dislike in them, there's still something else I like. But Robert is just generally unlikable. So I was pleasantly surprised to watch his scenes for once. I think they need to give him something to talk about other than himself or his relationship with Sol (and use both characters in smaller doses). Being used to the fairly as-accurate-as-reasonably-and-safely-possible babies on Call the Midwife, I found the giant newborn delivered a little funny. It was also only half wet even though it was supposed to have been delivered into the pool. I liked Frankie getting to help deliver the baby, but I'm kind of sad for Mallory--she was there for the bulk of the labor and then just kind of was shoved out of the way and not really appreciated (which seems to be her lot).

I feel like I shouldn't have to explain this, but "scientist" is an extremely broad descriptor--anyone who "does science"--but science itself is a vast array of fields. I don't know/remember what jobs the Four had in the movies (I saw the first when it came out but not the reboot), but in the comics, Reed was at least originally a physicist/engineer (he had PhDs in those things). You could make Sue a chemist or biologist or geologist or and/or any subset of those things and she wouldn't step on Reed's toes, nor he on hers, role-wise. Heck, if one is a quantum physicist and the other a mechanical physicist they still have their own roles to play. I know that yeah, Reed is indeed often depicted as generally brilliant at all things science, but it makes more sense for him to have a specific area of expertise, and same for everyone else. But if one's really concerned she could always be a medical doctor (although if she's an MD who does research, she's still a scientist). I'm less worried about the F4's jobs specifically and more in general about the idea that folding the F4 AND X-Men into the MCU will make the universe even more bloated and overcomplicated than it's already becoming. I am a lifelong comic reader and the Marvel comics universe itself is a struggle to keep up with, with all the various ways folks have gotten powers, who they're involved with, etc. etc. etc. and actually enjoyed they were separate universes in the films. I found it easier to follow and really appreciate/focus on key characters and the themes of the "world" they occupied. And if I struggle, as a longtime comic geek, to keep up with how bloated the Marvel comics 'verse is, your average moviegoer is really going to have trouble if the movieverse gets hard to follow along with. Perhaps I underestimate people however. But I think they're potentially opening a can of worms where quantity of available characters within a given story is going to trump quality of storytelling.

I think the Save Agent Carter gang are still assembling signatures, but I'm not sure what further can be done. As far as I know based on interviews, Marvel is willing and Hayley Atwell would do it (I presume schedule permitting). Based on what I've seen the other actors say, they'd also come back (again presuming schedule permitting). The problem is network. You can't make a TV show without one. So you've either got to get ABC to take it again, which seems unlikely--although as you say, maybe they might after the Inhumans flopped. Mind the show only did slightly worse ratings-wise than season 2 of Agent Carter, but AC was a critical darling and Inhumans.... wasn't. (Also, Agent Carter had the scheduling shenanigans to blame in part for its second season ratings; Inhumans did not have the same particular challenge). Agent Carter I'm sure was far cheaper to make than the Inhumans (even though period shows tend to be more costly than you think, and of course AC had some SFX, I would guess that the Inhumans' SFX demands still made it far more difficult to deal with budget-wise). And then... if there really WAS executive meddling as we are speculating (trying not to let myself get too frothy at the mouth talking about this)... I don't know if I want it to be at ABC when they might just screw it over all over again. Netflix didn't want to take it because of some BS about it not being "original" and because (more legitly) of complications caused by foreign distribution issues. Maybe Hulu is the next hope... it's doing Runaways, and it's the one showing Agent Carter now. Probably it would also be concerned about the foreign distribution stuff too, but maybe once those contracts expire something may be possible. Disney's also purportedly working on setting up its own streaming platform, so it could also be an option for that, but I think it'll be awhile before that shows up. I'm also nervous about any streaming-only options because if Net Neutrality gets busted, streaming may become less affordable (because you'd have to pay for premium Internet AND the service itself), and accessibility becomes an issue. Yes, they just don't have season 2 on DVD in the U.S. Even the blu-ray took a dang while to show up. You can also buy the eps on Amazon Video (which is what I did, since I don't have Blu-Ray).

Having just rewatched that scene with Whitney and her director, you may be onto something there.... Especially since the show appeared on Hulu only fairly recently. I suppose in the Internet age anyone could be a reporter. Make a website and report on it. The hard part is having the time and energy to make the calls and get into the dirt. And yes, not formally having a press pass does limit access. I know. I want to feel joy at the new Infinity War trailer and all I can think is, "You're too easy. We need Peggy." Well the show wanted to make us forget about Angie. Which I also wonder if that was network interference--if someone didn't want things to get "too gay." I wouldn't call myself a Cartinelli shipper but there were tropes used to at least make it look like Angie had a serious crush and work to build a pretty deep connection between the two (you don't have a scene where someone's spilling their guts out to someone else while "Someone to Watch Over Me" between "just friends"). This is entirely in my head--I want to emphasize, ENTIRELY SPECULATION--but I wonder if the network said, "Get rid of the waitress, it's getting too gay." And the showrunners said, "Oh, uh, sure, yeah, I guess we'll have to write Angie out," and then as soon as they finished the conversation with the network, they called Bridget Regan and said, "Hey, in your performance, can you turn Dottie's crush up to 11?" Just to get around the network douchebaggery (even if that meant we only got to see Lindsey Fonseca in the dream sequence). On Ana, I will say--while it is a violent thing to do, in a sense, to take her ability to have children, one thing I thought was fascinating was how Ana herself was like, "this isn't the most important thing." Which is not to say she wasn't sad, but she was like, this isn't all of who I am. Jarvis was the one devastated by it. And that itself speaks to the notion that women are only good for childbearing, and the show flipped that around by having the woman be the one able to look past it. Which of course also could have rubbed our theoretical ABC jerk the wrong way.