As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of the pre Disney Star Wars Expanded Universe books and comics. I find it interesting they wanted nothing to do with the EU and thought it was smart to alienate myself and all the other fans who faithfully bought the books and spent time in forums, but they seem to keep mining it for content and even more interesting they don’t want to turn their crappy High Republic into a tv series.

Of course we could play a drinking game for when we hear “updated for modern audiences”, “i never played KOTOR”, or showcase the diverse cast

I like to ask this question every few months.

Currently reading Life of Pi by Yang Martel. Saw the movie a few months ago and wanted to read the book. The one I just finished was called Black Ice by Michael Connelly. It’s one of the Bosch books.

The flyer has a list of all the genders that are allowed (essentially women, and delusional men who think they are women or any other trendy delusion, just as long as you aren't a normal man). They are saying that they want to create a safe and fun space for these people. Been going to this store for years, but they changed ownership a few years back and the people behind the register wear nametags with their pronouns. It is weird because they prominently display the lgbt stuff that doesn't sell at the front of the store, but the main comics that are sold are from their large back issue section. Also have a large manga and tabletop section.

As you would expect with comic book stores, the main customers are males so they are following the Marvel/DC model of ignoring the actual fanbase to cater to a very tiny minority. They refuse to accept that the audience who wants heavy lgbt content is small. It is a nice audience. I've been to bookstores that have a gay section but they know better than to make that the main section.

I'm really torn because I'm leaning towards going further out to buy my comic books, but they have a great back issue section and the Manga is a little cheaper than Barnes and Noble.

Really sucks because that place used to be a great gathering for typical nerdy guys to discuss comics or debate whatever nerdy thing you wanted or play D&D. I used to always have long discussions about Star Trek with the assistant manager (way before Discovery was even thought of).

What are some singers/bands that you have everything or as close to everything as you can by? Name no more than ten. Here is mine

Elvis Presley James Brown Otis Redding Hank Williams Sr. Led Zeppelin Jimi Hendrix Robert Johnson Rolling Stones Johnny Cash Iron Maiden

Many more, but I have to follow my own rules.

I was thinking Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith or Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell but those may be a bit advanced

Anyone ever read it? I saw the movie years ago and always wanted to read the book. I notice sci-fi of that era (late 60s) deals with the consequences of overpopulation like the book Soylent Green is based on. It’s a society where people are “put to sleep” at the age of 21 in a future set years after the youth had revolted. I do perceive today that we dismiss elders because young people have “their truth”. M

Anyway it is a good book and I didn’t know it was part of a trilogy. Currently reading the third one called Logan’s search

Just started watching on Crackle and finished the second episode. I like it so far. Surprised I never watched it until now but I’ve seen references to it in other shows like the Simpsons episode when Homer gets sent to the island for exposing that Flu shots are used for mind control and then there is the pinky and the brain episode

If any of yall are into western literature check out Louis L’Amour if you haven’t already. I have quite a few of his books since they are at a lot of yard sales for some reason. I finally read one of his anthologies and loved it. Painted a great picture in my head. Granted I grew with with a dad and big grandfathers who were into westerns.

I really liked the first book due to all the nerdy references and the ending utilizing Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Even when his friend was revealed to be a black lesbian due because it was better to present herself as a white male I just rolled my eyes. The second book on the other hand was garbage. You get the whole women in gaming lecture, the real hero was a woman trope, lgbt stuff of course, and the aforementioned character whining about the lack of representation everywhere they go or whining about the fact that Prince (they visit an area of the Oasis with Prince playing concerts) became a Jehova’s Witness and condemned homosexuality. The book overall seems to use to Sword Art Online plot as well.

It’s like the author felt the need to apologize. Although the the woke crowd a white make nerd from the 80s is evil incarnate it seems

I was watching the Dennis the Menace show from the early 60s on Prime and noticed that it was rated PG13. I was curious as to how this could possible be rated PG13 and it said alcohol use, language, and smoking. That isn’t as crazy as a modern day/gen z warning I saw for Leave it to Beaver that mentioned that “it had outdated norms and it shows all white people”. In the 50s, white people made up over 90 percent of the country so the Cleaver family “reflected the world around them”. Heck, even today a traditional white nuclear family is a much better reflection of an American family than what Hollywood reflects which is some lgbt heavy neighborhood in California or NY.

I saw that the episode was getting a sequel. For me that episode is significant because that was one of the shows that opened my eyes since it has the whole feminism push along with the "evil white male nerd". I remember a review of that episode saying that it was a great stand for girl power and how it stuck it to all the white nerds who think that the 80s were the pinnacle of pop culture. I would've loved to have asked the lady that wrote this article why they keep remaking stuff from the 80s if they were so terrible.

As an 80s baby I do miss the anthology series. As a kid I watched The 80s Twilight Zone reboot, Amazing Stories, Alfred Hitchcock reboot, Tales from the Darkside, Monsters, Hitchhiker, and Tales from the Crypt. Are you afraid of the Dark on Nickelodeon was a good show as well. Black Mirror could've been great but I forgot the time we lived in. They did a good episode about social credit scores but of course the episode that won awards and rave reviews was about lesbians (along with one lesbian living in a home where her Christian parents didn't approve).

Apparently the Red Sonja actress crapped on the source material and said it would be very female empowered and then said something about the “male gaze”.

I love 70s through 90s Conan comics and would sometimes buy Red Sonja along with them. Also there are some great books as well as the original Robert E Howard Conan (which I read a few months ago). Goes without saying that the audience for Red Sonja is male and in the lore (not sure if they have changed it or not) she said she would share her bed with the man who can beat her in a fight. So I’d personally end the movie where she meets the man who defeats her.

Honestly a Conan or Red Sonja series with violence and sexy women would do great. Which is why they would rather give us butchered Wheel of Time or Rings of Power

Since I deleted Starfield (maybe I’ll redownload it one day) from Steam I’m thinking of getting Baldurs Gate 3. I hear it can be fun if you ignore the gay stuff. Are 1 and 2 worth it? Also gonna look for some older RPGs on Steam or hack and slash

The other day I went to the wedding of the son of a good friend of mine and one of the bridesmaids (I think it was the bride's cousin) was a manly looking woman with short purple hair that honestly made me wonder if she wrote for the Mary Sue, Star Wars, or worked for a video game company or Marvel/DC.

The actual ceremony was no more than 25 minutes and I couldn't help wondering why she couldn't just wear a dress (of course she dressed like a dude and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other bridesmaids) for that little bit of time. I said a prayer for her because she is young and maybe one day she will realize that she looks silly trying to act like a man.

I remember when I still worked in HR the first time I came across the phrase "gender non conforming" or "doesn't conform to traditional gender roles". This was like 07 so I didn't think anything of it, but I never would've imagined it would get as insane as it has.

Late summer/early fall I asked yall for some manga recommendations for my nieces for Christmas and I got a bunch. They really love Attack on Titan so I got them the first volume omnibus and I’m told they absolutely love it. I got them some others but I like the fact that I’ve been able to bond with them over manga/anime. If only I could get them into old school super hero comics.

I love all the book and manga recommendations here but I probably will still be reading them well into retirement

Over the years I've amassed quite a few Reacher and Jason Bourne books. I was wondering with Reacher if you have to read the books in order, or are the stories pretty self contained? I do plan on watching the show eventually.

What would be your top 3 biggest entertainment blunders in the last 15 years that had they done it better it would've made a lot more money?

Obviously without saying, the virus that is DEI/obsession with representation has ruined a lot of stuff, but here are my top 3.

1. Not having Luke training Jedi students as one of the opening scenes of episode (could have easily had Han/Luke/Leia and maybe Lando reunite at the beginning, also you could've had Rey be one of his top students and the other Jedi provide an outlet for future stories)

2. Not doing an inspirational Superman movie with Henry Cavill (speaks for itself)

3. Marvel deciding to follow the All-New All Different crap instead of years of better source material for their movies. Why not do a Kirby inspired F4 or the X-Men, Silver Sable, Black Cat, actual Defenders, etc. But of course it makes more sense to push characters who are self inserts whose comic books keep getting cancelled like how they are really pushing Ms. Marvel to be the face of the company. (I know the comic book industry has had issues in the past, but to constantly push crappy female characters or race swapped characters that nobody asked for as well as telling actual comic book fans to piss off is beyond insanity)

Honorable mention: letting some moron showrunner be in charge of Wheel of Time when he cares more about girl power/lgbt representation.

Not sure it cost them money but not having Jon Snow fight the Night King was dumb or at least him and Ayra fight him together.

Lucasfilm not continuing the EU in it's own continuity instead of telling a group of very loyal fans to piss off.

What are yours?

I’m really happy with my Governor and hope he doesn’t back down. This is insane that a president is going after someone for doing what the constitution demands. I do feel there are interests (be it some cabal like Bildebergs, CFR, WEF, etc) that wants to keep sending wave after wave of “migrants” to the western world.

I honestly feel one side will give in and I hope it’s Biden. If they had in guts in DC they would charge him with treason. In the Air Force if I had flat out refused to carry out my duties I would’ve been arrested pretty quickly

I only ask because my sister told me they were mindless fun and said I should add them to my ever expanding queue of books to read. I heard about the disney plus show and I find the author to be annoying for going after people who wanted to see the characters as described in the book. I could honestly respect you if you were to say "They offered me a ton of money to make the usual trendy/modern audience changes to my book" instead of that he wanted to be more inclusive. If he felt that way then he needs to write a fantasy about a black girl or he should've made the character black to begin with. Not sure how many black kids were reading Percy Jackson (I could be wrong but I'd guess not as many as other groups), but I'm sure the ones who read them enjoyed it for what it was.

I know with ESG and stuff this is currently impossible but you could fix at least some problems in entertainment by simply saying that for whatever reasons certain hobbies/genres don't appeal to certain groups in large numbers and running off the core fanbase with the moronic notion that you will get some mythical new audience is absurd.

Exhibit A: Star Wars. I'm strictly pre-Disney star wars at this point. It would have to take new leadership at disney admitting to their mistakes and continuing EU stuff in it's own separate continuity because you had a loyal fanbase that you pissed off immediately. Could've thrown them a bone with some animated adaptations or finishing Sword of the Jedi at least. Comic books, video games, etc. Better yet, if a lot of white males enjoy a hobby, there is nothing wrong. Tolkien wrote LOTR for the British people, but anyone can read it. I am free to read and watch Japanese content. If you want to appeal to certain audiences, then make something you think will do the trick. Granted, it is much easier to bastardize or crap on whatever someone else has made (Wheel of Time).

Ok, sorry for yet another rant.

I asked this question a few months ago and figure I’d ask every few months because it was great to see the large response and it was nice to get book recommendations to add to my ever expanding pile to read. The book I most recently finished was The Cat Who Walked Through Walls by Heinlein and I’m currently reading The Strong Shall Live which is a series of short stories by Louis L’Amour. I have found a ton of his books at yard sales and they are usually sold for a quarter or 50 cents a piece so I have quite a few and this is the first one I’m reading. Also found the book Lonesome Dove along with L’Amour’s stuff. Anyway, what are yall reading?

A buddy of mine sent me an article from a shill media site because he knew I’d roll my eyes and it was the usual tripe attacking fans and praised the last Jedi for “showing” that it’s ok to make bold decisions that fans don’t realize they need. Of course it mentioned that “fanboys were mad because they wanted a heroic Luke”. Of the many reasons I despise that movie, one is definitely this notion that subversion of expectations is brilliant writing.

What’s wrong with wanting to see a hero of a movie be heroic? I hope Rian Johnson never gets a hold of Superman. To be fair TFA should’ve had an opening scene with Luke training new Jedi. Had Rey been one of his students she would’ve been received much better. Plus you could’ve had more Jedi characters to build future stories and could’ve had Luke’s Jedi Academy at Disney world as an attraction.

Anyway, sorry about that rant. I just find that “subversion” as annoying as the Stranger Thigs season 3 where they set up that guy and the girl at the ice cream shop to be a couple (original plan) only to make her gay. Media shills actually called that a bold move. About as bold as race/gender swaps. A show that is an homage to the 80s thought that was a good idea

I've mentioned before that I have a rule of thumb when watching or reading anything to not watch anything made after 2014 without a trusted recommendation. I'm wondering if anyone has a similar kind of cutoff when reading about history? If so what is yours?

With the whole diversity obsession in entertainment it has thoroughly ruined period pieces and what is even more annoying is that the media shills will find some historian to claim that Victorian England was always very racially diverse, Vikings were multicultural, or we get the moronic stuff like League of Their Own/that GREASE prequel with lgbt stuff all over along with interracial relationships.

Funny thing is that I've never heard the argument about Victorian England or the Vikings until these shows started pushing this nonsense. It's as if they have some quack historian on retainer or they say something like "well the British Empire included parts of Africa so it makes sense for them to be in a show about upper crust Brits in the 1800s".

I had to stop reading modern science magazines a while back because I foolishly thought they surely wouldn't go along with the nonsense about transgenderism. I also looked up some information on the African slave trade and the essay grudgingly admitted that slavery existed in Africa but not as bad as American slavery. In America you had slaves that were treated very poorly and very well so I would assume that would be true across the world when slavery was commonplace.

So, sorry for the essay, but any rule of thumb y'all could recommend?