I went to a co-worker's birthday party today and on the way home I passed by my local used book store and decided to buy a few books. The had two Indiana Jones books and I got the first book of the Shanara Chronicles. As an 80s baby I'm surprised I've never bought any Indiana Jones books before. Can anyone give any recommendations? I do have some of the comic books from the 80s. Not sure if they are still making comic books (and I doubt if they still are I'd want to read them).

Since Disney is going to make Indiana Jones 5 I guess it is only a matter of time before the articles saying "Indiana Jones was never that good to begin with" and of course I fully expect the torch to be passed to the female co-star. They should've given that series the James Bond treatment and just have a new actor play the role. If we weren't living in a time where the morons on social media have a meltdown when they see a white male lead then I think Cavill or Pratt would be great for the role.

If Disney ends up remaking the Star Wars OT (and considering what I heard about the Kenobi show, it does sound like they will push Leia to be the main star) I expect the same thing with articles gaslighting us about how horrible Star Wars was and how it was never that great.

But back to my original question, does anyone have any recommendations for Indiana Jones novels or Young Indiana Jones (yes, I loved the show but I guess I was the only one) novels?

I used to follow a lot of gaming/nerd sites from back in the day when they catered to gamers/nerds and then started blocking them once they became corporate shills but I still get some articles in my feed and one of the gaming related articles threw out the "women make up half of all gamers" stat. I have no idea how in the world they came up with this stat, but if anyone who has been into gaming for a while would know there is something off about that. I've heard that they count someone playing candy crush or someone like my grandmother playing solitaire on their computer.

Now I get some games can appeal to more women than men. One of my guilty pleasures is the Sims and I've read that has a 60/40 women to men ratio which I can believe (of course the article was celebrating that point), but certain kinds of games like action, FPS, rpg, and sports would probably skew more male I would guess. Reminds me of how they try to push the 50/50 stat with comic books and they seem to include people who at the height of the MCU would claim to be comic book fans because they saw an Avengers movie.

Of course there are women who are into gaming, but the actual female gamers get little attention since they want to play games and not whine about the patriarchy. This whole thing does remind me of something someone posted on this site before. He said that if you want to know if a hobby is male dominated, just look at all the articles calling it "toxic". Take literature for example. I am a huge reader but I would say that women tend to be more hardcore readers than men, but something like Sci-fi is a genre that appeals to guys so we get endless lectures about females in Sci-Fi. Sci-Fi/Fantasy is my favorite genre to read but another genre I like is crime drama/murder mystery and since there are quite a few female authors I've never seen anyone complain about that. So I guess that is a good rule of thumb.

Sorry for the long post, but I am so sick of that stat!

As a Star Wars fan I would definitely say I am a fan of anything pre Disney purchase. I watched the sequel trilogy and gave it a chance. Some of the stuff wasn't bad along with some of the comics but overall it just wasn't for me and considering who Disney hires to write their books now, it is like they actually want writers who are clueless about Star Wars.

If you haven't heard of him, I suggest you check out Darth Angelus on youtube. He is doing a CGI cartoon adaptation of Heir to the Empire broken up into segments like serial. Once he finishes that he will work on the rest of the original Thrawn trilogy. It made me want to re-read Heir to the Empire which I read way back in 92 when I got it for my 12th bday and it opened me up to the Expanded Universe. I must have lost my copies in one of my moves over the years so I had to buy the trilogy again and unfortunately the only copies I could find were the Disney re-releases. I know some EU fans say that people buying their re-releases shows Disney that there is interest still and make them consider more stories within that universe but I seriously doubt it at that point.

I still say if the sequel trilogy was the best they had after throwing out what Lucas gave them then they should've done a loose adaptation of one of the EU storylines. Also, it was very stupid to wipe out Luke's Jedi academy or not have any of his students escape. Could've set them up for future spin-off stories or at Disney world they could've had a Jedi Academy for kids.

I like going to yard sales on Saturday mornings from spring to early fall and this Saturday I was at one where the lady was selling books for 25 cents. There were quite a few Ann Rice novels so I grabbed interview with a vampire and another stand alone book of hers.

The lady who lived there had a shirt that said “be whatever you may be, but always be inclusive”. I wanted to ask her to explain that to me but I held my tongue. So is Ann Rice worth the read?

I know I need to get off of facebook, but I have a ton of cousins and it is the best way to keep in touch with everyone but I really need to stop reading comments on things.

I got sucked into a little argument because someone posted about George Floyd. I guess he was angry because he along with other "protesters" from the summer of love were being told that they worship Floyd and he took exception to that because he said speaking out against police brutality. I told him that it was possible to be against police brutality while also not making a martyr out of people. Like giving Floyd a golden casket funeral like he was some medal of honor winner during the "deadly" covid pandemicthat apparently didn't affect rioters. Also asked him why they don't bother to examine the actual facts of these shootings since pretty much all of them involve not listening to the cops or resisting.

Long story short he wasn't thrilled with that. I asked if he fought against police brutality when Tony Tympa died (of course he hadn't heard of him) and when I mentioned David Dorn he said that Dorn wasn't killed by peaceful protesters.

Long story short he told me I was following white supremacist talking points and blocked me when I said that apparently white supremacy means not doing things that attract the cops.

I still don't understand why people don't realize you can be against police brutality and hold cops accountable while also not worshipping people and making them saints. Interesting how the whole "you can't talk about their past" rules went out the window with Ashli Babbit.

The first time I heard about the Scully Effect where apparently it’s important little girls see scientists on tv so they can grow up and be one was when Eric July was debating an sjw who defended representation in entertainment. I saw someone bring it up today but I never understood this argument. You can be inspired to do something but you still have to put forth the effort. I’ve always loved sci-fi and was interested in space but in my younger years I was too lazy to try to be an astronaut.

I guess this is why every engineer or scientist on tv now is a woman. Just like with hobbies they refuse to accept that certain fields attract more males.

I know engineers from years past said that they were inspired by Scottty on Star Trek but they still had to work for it. I guarantee a lot of other guys liked the idea of engineering but never put forth the effort.

Sorry for the rant but I’m so tired of this logic

Took me longer than I thought to finish it but I guess with the topic of economics I can't just zip through it like a sci-fi adventure. That was a book that was on my "book bucket list" when it comes to economics. I still need to read more Milton Friedman, Adam Smith, and Marx (so I can understand Marxists since they always ask if I've read Marx).

I know it is a silly notion at this point but I think Basic Economics should be required reading in public high schools along with the classics of Western Literature because if you live in the western world then you should understand the culture as well as understand what made it great. I'm all for learning all the good/bad/ugly history but I think we have rehashed the past excessively without any context. Everything the west has done has been done on a larger or smaller scale throughout history.

But back to the book. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. Although it is still a sad reminder that emotion dominates today. One example was when he talks about how stores in inner cities or high crime areas get attacked for "gouging" the customers and charging higher prices when nobody bothers to consider that they have to charge higher prices to make up for high levels of crime or having to hire security. Also reminded me of the arguments I had with the "but those buildings have insurance" crowd because I said they will be the first to scream bloody murder when those businesses move to a nice suburb and it becomes harder for people to find work in their neighborhood.

Plus I think a lot of high school age students would benefit from the idea that proclamations don't solve problems. I can remember in 2016 hearing so many young people acting like they were compassionate for supporting Bernie. I would ask them what they are doing with their own time and money to help the less fortunate.

A co-worker of mine started watching House of the Dragon and asked me to borrow the Song of Ice and Fire books. I gave her the usual disclaimer about the fact that the series may never be finished and let her borrow them.

I am curious as to why GRRM's publisher doesn't cut ties with him or how he can get away with not doing anything with his main series. Is it because he has enough money that it wouldn't matter or that he publishes side books like Fire and Blood to make the publisher happy? Had he released Winds of Winter before season 6 it would've been massive. Granted, I'll still buy it when it comes out ( I am thinking Winds of Winter will come out eventually but I don't think book 7 will).

I honestly think what will happen is that the publisher will wait until he dies and then gather all his writing and hire someone to complete the books with it. I find it highly interesting that now GRRM is claiming the books will be different and attacking GOT. Although HBO is a fool to keep working with him because had he finished the series, GOT would've been much better at the end.

I saw on Bounding into Comics that a “richly diverse” Buffy reboot was cancelled or put on pause. Somebody in the comments made a good point that he wished that show had aired since a good number of Buffy fans are in the woke/sjw category they can see how it feels to have something they like get ruined. If I’m not mistaken I think this was the show that Anita Sarkessian was complaining about. Odd since complaining about her negative influence on a hobby is bad but she can complain when it’s something she actually cares about. Maybe I give her too much credit but I blame her and Zoe for everything wrong with gaming in the past few years. Or at least corporations taking her idiotic ideas seriously

To be fair I have heard the Buffy tv show was pretty good. I haven’t seen the movie either.

So as I've mentioned before I'm working my way out of normie status with Anime and I was curious about something. With Western entertainment I generally don't watch anything made after 2014 without someone I trust (friend/this group/youtuber) recommending it. Is modern day Anime good to watch or has the woke virus attacked it? I remember hearing something about translators having issues.

Also, when it comes to Manga, what do they do differently compared to modern day comic books? In my local comic book store, the back issue section gets the most business to the point where sometimes they put a time limit on people shopping in that section. As expected the new comics don't get as much attention but the Mangas do. Also I notice a good split of men and women. Does Manga understand that certain types of stories appeal to men/women differently and plays to that, or is there just generally a lot of crossover with Manga?

Lastly, until I pay off my remaining debts I won't get anymore streaming services. Are there any free anime streaming services like tubi or crackle? I know a lot of older anime used to be on youtube but I don't see it as much.

Thank you for your time.

I have HBO Max (plan on cancelling once I see all the older shows I want to see) and I don't care to see House of the Dragon considering it is based on a show that will go down in history for one of the biggest crash landings for a popular show. As much as I blame GRRM for most of the issues with Game of Thrones and can't believe HBO would even work with him again, I did enjoy the Ice and Fire books (along with some of his sci-fi). I was wondering if the Fire and Blood book is worth the read if I can find a used copy of course.

Also, I'm surprised they don't tell these actors/actresses of these shows to shut up. These women droning on about how it is all about feminism really make me want to tune in I tell ya.

At least before the first power narrative took over GOT you had some equality of evil characters with men and women being bad

When I heard that the guy who played TC in the original Magnum P.I. died I watched some old reruns of the show. As an 80s baby I remember watching Magnum P.I., Night Rider, and A-Team with my dad when I was a kid. Thankfully in those days it was still ok to have shows that appealed to men. Of course plenty of women liked those shows generally to see the male leads, but that is what you want. As I call the James Bond appeal. Get men to watch for the action and women to watch for the handsome male lead. On the flip side, if you make a female led action movie with an attractive woman who isn't an annoying feminist (basically the opposite of that stupid Charlies Angels movie) I'd be inclined to watch.

But it further reinforced why I tend to watch stuff from 2014 and prior and really need some heavy recommendations to try shows that come out today. Also back then they had shows like Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and Knots Landing to appeal to women. Just makes me realize how entertainment would change overnight if they could simply acknowledge that men and women tend to enjoy different things or maybe they watch the same thing for different reasons. There is a reason as a kid my brother and I loved G.I. Joe and Thundercats while my sister was into Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.

The other day when I was at the grocery store checkout I noticed my cashier had had a lot of Flash gear on and I asked her about it and she went on about how much she loved the Flash and then I asked her if she ever read any of his comic books and she looked at me like I had said the most offensive thing and said no.

Obviously people are free to like what they like and you do need normies to make money. Normie isn't a bad thing as I am a normie in some areas (I mentioned before that I am working my out out of normie status with Anime/Manga). I guess my annoyance is that the people who act like experts about the MCU for instance are the same people who wouldn't have been caught dead reading a comic book or the same people who clap like seals with every "reimagined" butchering of source material. I don't know how many people I've seen in comments section saying that it doesn't matter that Halo/Wheel of Time/LOTR doesn't follow the lore.

I get that casual fans bring in money but in a perfect world shouldn't the people who are in charge of the IPs appreciate the more hardcore fans who actually read the source material. Like Amazon should've taken into account the people who actually read WOT before hiring a douchebag who didn't care or maybe Marvel shouldn't hire showrunners who openly admit to never reading comic books. I get if you have never been into them but if you get a job to direct a show based on a comic book character shouldn't you at least do some research?

As a life long Star Wars fan one of the worst examples is Disney erasing the EU. I get that they wanted to do their own thing but the least they could've done was continue making stories in that universe along with their own as a tip of the cap to the fans who kept Star Wars going by reading books/comics or playing the video games when there were no movies. Or maybe they could've done Clone Wars style animation of some of the better stories. It does make me chuckle to see how Disney will keep re-releasing the EU books because they make money.

Sorry for the long post, rant over.

Does anyone remember a show that used to be on the Sci-Fi channel in the early 90s where they would interview famous sci-fi authors? For the life of me I can't remember.

Sci-Fi channel came out when I was 11 and I loved it, although I guess it is another in the long line of corporations buying something out and ignoring the target audience. My last straw was on their website when they called Wheel of Time sexist because Rand had multiple women in love with him and also bashed Tolkien and GRRM for being white males and then their review of Brightburn was about toxic masculinity and white supremacy. So yea, talk about not understanding your audience!

Wow the critics seem to hate it. I read one review for laughs and they said it panders to red state America. As opposed to pandering to blue haired Twitter weirdos

I know I need to get off of FB but I got this in a Star Wars EU group I'm in and I simply asked the guy who posted it if he thinks he is saying something important? I definitely noticed a big change within the past years in certain fandoms so that isn't just my imagination. But anyways, how would y'all respond and since this is a common thing about current woke "fans" is there anything to rebut this? I know Eric July did a video a while back in regards to comic books.

Forever taking risks since TOS. FOR THE UNEDUCATED. • X-Men is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get X-Men. • Black Panther is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Black Panther. • Captain America literally fought nazis. He is the embodiment of fighting the alt-right. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Captain America. • The Empire in Star Wars is fascist. The Rebel alliance are Anti-Fascist. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Wars. • Doctor Who was about an alien fighting for all of humanity in spite of totalitarian regimes. If you don't get that, you don't get Doctor Who. • The Punisher isn’t meant to be a role model for police or armed forces. So much so that the writers of The Punisher made him actively speak out against it in a comic. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get The Punisher. • Deadpool is queer. He’s pansexual. Fact. If you didn’t get that you didn’t get Deadpool. • Star Trek is about equality for all genders, races and sexualities. As early as the mid-60s it was taking a pro-choice stance and defending women’s right to choose. One of its clearest themes is accepting different cultures and appearances and working together for peace. (It’s also anti-capitalist and pro-vegan). If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Trek. • Superman and Wonder Woman (and a whole host of other superheroes) are immigrants. The stance of those comics is pro-immigration and pro-equality and acceptance. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Superman or Wonder Woman. • Stan Lee said, “Racism and bigotry are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today.” If you’re bigoted or racist, you didn’t get any of the characters Stan Lee created. • The stories we grew up with all taught us to value other people and cultures and to treasure the differences between us. Only villains were xenophobic, or sexist, or racist, or totalitarian. I can’t understand how anyone can have missed that. • If you’re upset that there’s a black Spider-Man, or a black Captain America, or a female Thor, or that Ms. Marvel is Muslim, or that Captain Marvel was pro-feminism or any of the other things right-wing “fans” say is “stealing their childhood” - you never got it in the first place. The things you claim are now “pandering to the lefties” were never on your side, to begin with. If you consider yourself a fan of these things, but you still think the LGBTQ+ community is too “in your face”, or have a problem with Black Lives Matter, or want to “take the country back from immigrants”, then you’re not really a fan at all. Geek culture isn’t suddenly left-wing... it always was. You just grew up to be intolerant. You became the villain in the stories you used to love.

Does anyone know or what would your best guess be when it comes to the ratio of male/female readers of Sci-Fi/Fantasy? I would think fantasy appeals to more women whereas sci-fi appeals to more guys. I ask because my brother who is out of the nerd loop due to raising teen girls was telling me about an article about N.K. Jemison he read that was hyping her as the biggest name in sci-fi today and he was surprised since he felt she just peddles the usual left wing nonsense in entertainment. I then told him about the sad puppies movement and to avoid modern sci-fi and fantasy like the plague.

I am a huge reader and there are a lot of women who read heavily but like everything certain genres appeal to men more than women and vice versa.

The other day I was at my local comic book store (back issues and dollar bin of course) and since I had nothing to do that day I went over to the table top gaming section and some people playing DnD were taking a break and since I've always wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons or something like it I talked to the Dungeon Master and he was very friendly and let me watch their next session. All this to say it really infuriates me how the whole "toxic nerd" or "toxic fandom" perception has become a reality.

Nerds (not meant as an insult of course since I'm one) have always been a pretty open group if you show an interest in the hobby. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten recommendations in this group, especially with Anime/Manga since I am pretty much a normie in those areas (working my way out of normie status with Anime). Also, there have been numerous times where I've talked someone's ear off because they asked me where to start reading comics of certain characters, what Star Wars EU books they should read, endless discussion about Skyrim lore, Science Fiction books, and the list goes on. Also we all remember online forums in the 90s and early 00's.

I just despise how nerdiness is seen as so horrible now simply because people who have been invested in a book, game, or hobby are demonized when some douchebag takes over the IP and makes unnecessary or pointless changes. Rings of Power being the latest example. Heaven forbid as well if you go into the comments section of a gaming site and have the weird idea that a gaming site is for gaming news/info and not for political diatribes of the journalists.

So, who do you blame most for this? Us nerds for being too friendly and not gate keeping properly? Shills in media? The rise of the fake geek and the trendiness of "nerd stuff" to people who then get jobs in things they don't really care about? People like Anita and Zoe?

What is your personal theory about Jan 6. I am curious no matter how wild it may sound. I remember when it happened I figured some over zealous Trump supporters got out of hand. I never dreamed there would be this insane level of hysteria over it. I was initially shocked about the hand wringing over this after seeing the destruction of the summer of love as well as seeing other groups protesting at or in the capital. It is hard for me to take seriously the idea that it was an insurrection because if their goal was to take over the government that was a pretty lousy effort and same goes for Trump. Plus you got people still in jail over this.

What do y'all think is behind all this? I also find it odd how there is no curiosity about Ray Epps.

As an 80s baby I grew up playing Sierra games on PC and one series my brother and I would play a lot was the Police Quest series (along with Space Quest). I found a website where you could play Sierra games (first one I played was Leisure Suit Larry since I wasn't allowed to play it as a kid) and I am considering doing a replay of the Police Quest games and basically a total retro gaming dive until Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 comes out (my main gaming at the moment is Modded Skyrim, Sims, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla).

Can anyone recommend any good cop games whether old or new?

I was watching a show on Prime (an old one of course since they have a good classic library) and there was a trailer for a new movie on Prime about a guy falling in love with a "trans woman" aka dude who thinks he is a girl.

Whenever my dad sees stuff like this he always says "who is clamoring for this?". You will never convince me that there is a substantial market that wants to see stuff like this. I've been saying for a while that execs need to stop listening to what Eric July calls "weirdos on twitter".

The downfall of so much entertainment/hobbies starts with ignoring your main demographic. Comic book companies for some reason thought there was an untapped market of women who will buy comic books (and not bothering to see that Manga has something for everyone). Not women who enjoy them, but women who openly hate them, and they get the jobs in the industry. Similar to video games, and one of the dumbest examples would be Hallmark. They have gone all in on lgbt representation. The former CEO started GAC which he described as a channel for faith based content and he is getting attacked for "anti-lgbt" sentiments, but he is simply understanding who his market is.

I think there is an audience for those who want heavy lgbt content and you could make a streaming service or channel, but for some reason there is an insistence that across the board we all have to watch that. I think Warehouse 13 is one of the best examples of a gay character because it only comes up when it is relevant, but at this point with all the over saturation people are probably just fed up with lgbt, black, female, or hispanic/immigration stories.

Sorry for the rant but I am so tired of this. I guess at this point there needs to be parallel economy. I am a more traditional minded Christian so I guess I'll just do my best to support that content. The value of a streaming service for me depends on how much older stuff it has. I guess I can start my own streaming service and promise no shows made after 2010.

I was talking to a friend of mine who like me is a fan of the pre-disney expanded universe books and comic books and I was telling him that when Disney bought it, they could've easily made their own stuff but at the same time hire some authors to keep writing stories in the EU/Legends universe. Also, since they knew they were doing a streaming service they could've adapted some EU books to do non-canon animated movies like DC has done.

He told me that the problem with that is that it would make Disney look very bad if they did an animated mini-series or movie adaptation of something like Heir to the Empire or New Jedi Order and people enjoy those much more than the sequel trilogies. I figured that since Disney owns the rights to it they wouldn't care since they get the money.

In hindsight it is probably best Disney didn't try to bastardize the EU with an adaptation although they are doing Heir to the Empire I hear.

Do you think that would've made them look bad to have an EU adaptation on their streaming service that was more popular than what disney star wars produces?

I still will never understand why they didn't at least continue it. They had a built-in fanbase, and you need the hardcore fans because normies will leave once the next popular thing comes around.

I hear some youtubers say that the tide is turning and they cite things like the Chappelle special or the Gervais special. I can kind of see where they are coming from, but people still flock to see Marvel movies and Marvel along with other studios still can't shut up about representation.

I would have to see the following to believe a major tide is turning:

Black character in a movie where they don't need to discuss race Male character doesn't need to be surrounded by "much better" women Gay character has a devout Christian friend/relative who still loves and respects them despite their beliefs A book adaptation where the main character is white..... is actually white in the show/movie Period pieces actually look like the people from that period.
Any show/movie that addresses immigration doesn't make anyone who isn't for open borders an evil person.

Yes, I know that is unrealistic but seeing as how Wheel of Time was a book that had plenty of females and non-white characters once they leave their area and they still had to butcher the source material I have little hope and will continue with my rule of "be very wary of anything made after 2014".

What do y'all think? Is the tide actually turning and I'm just too cynical to see it?

I’m going to buy the first comic at least to support and if I like it I’ll buy more. I can respect he is making his own stories and sees the issues with Marvel and DC.