Michael*

I see another winning avatar . I have a few of those that don't translate to the small box very well.

Thanks Joe, that one is an absolute cracker.

As it turns out, when you settle upon having a Mantis avatar, and you also insist on having one with legible text (which I do ) the above image is your only viable option. I must say though, I'm fairly happy with the end product.

In that case, I won't go too far in case you're still to see it. Suffice to say (chances are you'll have heard about most of it anyway ) that the main story of 'Guardians' is pretty standalone at surface level, although there are of course plenty of callbacks to past movies and things going on in the background that further the wider continuity. A lot of foundations are laid for things that'll be happening in 'Phase 3', too. Overall though, I'd highly recommend 'GOTG'. I thought it was up there with the best of Marvel's output, great set-pieces, thrilling and funny in all the right places.

 

I get the feeling that they like to keep 'Agents' pretty malleable so they can intertwine it with the 'bigger picture' of the MCU at fairly short notice. Probably as a matter of necessity too, since several elements of the movies are no doubt in a state of flux until quite late in the day. Although it had already started to evolve into more character-driven stuff before 'Winter Soldier' arrived, it was only when the movie plot was presumably finalised that the show seemed to really find some forward momentum.

I'm sure you'll have heard the news that Robert Downey is signed on for 'Captain America 3: Insert Subtitle Here' in 2016 (in a story taking its cue from the Marvel Civil War books) too, feels like a bit of a turnaround after the previous reports that he wasn't sold on making any more Iron Man movies. Money talks though, I guess - so much so that they're now talking about an 'Avengers 4'. Presumably, the civil war erupts when the rest of the team find out about the size of Iron Man's pay cheque.

I'll try watch it as soon as it comes out on DVD, maybe I'll get it for Christmas I did however see the preview they had (that scene where they escape from prison) before it came out so I do have some familiarization with the plot I think it's great since a lot of people have positive views on it so I can see there being some really neat sequels to follow (apparently it's quite comedic too? Typical James Gunn movie )

Yes I have a feeling that's why Mockingbird is in the series. We also had Fury and Hill in the series so it gives them some context for the film too. I do wish though they'd have the rest of the Agents do something in a major movie, I think they're very likeable and interesting characters. Not sure if it's come out in the UK yet but I have to say Ward will give you the heebie jeebies with his new somewhat confused crazy look (that's how I see him)

If I had RDJ's paycheck I sure would be happy. I think the movie will have to be interestingly done, as I did a quick search and apparently the "Avengers Initiative" was the outcome in the comic books, but we know that's already been and gone. But they've got something to work on since Black Panther comes up, and he's been a character subject to numerous rumours on whether he'll get a film or not. Did you also see the Avengers 2 trailer? Cap's shield is broken, but obviously he shouldn't be in the running to be that main character that gets cut off/dies. 

Yes I have a feeling that's why Mockingbird is in the series. We also had Fury and Hill in the series so it gives them some context for the film too. I do wish though they'd have the rest of the Agents do something in a major movie, I think they're very likeable and interesting characters. Not sure if it's come out in the UK yet but I have to say Ward will give you the heebie jeebies with his new somewhat confused crazy look (that's how I see him)

If I had RDJ's paycheck I sure would be happy. I think the movie will have to be interestingly done, as I did a quick search and apparently the "Avengers Initiative" was the outcome in the comic books, but we know that's already been and gone. But they've got something to work on since Black Panther comes up, and he's been a character subject to numerous rumours on whether he'll get a film or not. Did you also see the Avengers 2 trailer? Cap's shield is broken, but obviously he shouldn't be in the running to be that main character that gets cut off/dies.

Yeah, I'm beginning to warm to Ward a bit now, although I'm hoping they're not tempted to bring him back in any sort of 'good guy' capacity in the near future, because he's so much more interesting as a villain. He always seemed out of his element and a bit dopey as a Shield agent, but it's easier to take him seriously now that they've fleshed out the character a bit more. I thought they did a very good job of making his history with Garrett feel convincing and lived-in, which in turn makes his current unhinged demeanour all the more believable.

Overall, I think the writers should be congratulated for the way they tie 'Agents' into the continuity of the MCU. It would be nice if the show were to become a more of a 'launching point' for characters to establish themselves in the movies though, the Sitwell thing in 'Winter Soldier' was quite cool and I'd like to see more tie-ins like it.

That's right, I forgot about the Avengers Initiative thing being in the first movie. I suppose they could re-establish it at some point in 'Civil War', but I do worry about storyline feeling a bit underpopulated, since they won't be allowed to make use of Spider-Man, the X-Men or the Fantastic Four (for obvious reasons). I was really impressed by the 'Ultron' trailer though, looks excellent. Who knows, if they'd had all the time they were hoping for to put it together, it may have looked even better. Although I did like how the Marvel Twitter feed blamed the leak on Hydra.

Are you interested in the Ant-Man movie at all, Raf?

Do you think Mantis will get the typical 21st century reboot treatment? Its doubtful that Squirrel girl will get the call, but she might get a shot. I figured that Flash was next, but the show they gave him seems to be targeted to the American teen girl demographic and thus doesn't do much for me . Well, the Superman and Flash in the Justice League cartoons were both preferable on my end. I personally wouldn't mind seeing Daredevil get another shot. I thought some were a little too hard on the last movie. It was no Captain America, but not bad considering the fact that Affleck was in it. The character has a lot to work with though and could definitely justify another crack at it.

I'd like to see it, Mantis operates in the Avengers and the Guardians circles, and since both groups exist within the current MCU continuity, I think that versatility would translate pretty well into the movies. She's a victim of the old 'All Asian Characters Know Martial Arts' trope, but they could quite easily leave that part out and just focus on her other superpowers in the comics (psychic empathy, healing injuries, that sort of thing) instead. It would still work.

Yeah, I figured 'Flash' would be something akin to 'Arrow' and of course it is to some extent, but at the same time it seems to skew more towards a younger crowd. It's very comic-book-ish, fantastical and light-hearted and the lead characters seem a lot younger than their Starling City counterparts. On the plus side, I really enjoyed seeing a smiling superhero for once - Grant Gustin makes a great Barry Allen, even if he channels Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man a little too much for his own good at times. I don’t know yet if I’ll watch the whole season, but I don't begrudge the success it's had so far and overall, I think there's a place for it. Tell me Joe, have you watched any of 'Gotham'?

For what it's worth, I always thought Marvel were missing a trick by not giving Daredevil his own Arrow-style series until now. The source material is essentially a ready-made mixture of two of the most popular television genres ever, it's a legal drama mixed with a cop show and has a superhero as its central character. Plus, portraying his powers (and those of his biggest enemies) and street-level crime-fighting antics would be well within a TV show's SFX budget. An instant winner, provided of course that you don’t cast Ben Affleck.

Interesting insight on the Flash thing. I didn't think of it that way, but from that perspective, I wont begrudge it either. I haven't seen any of Gotham because I was afraid of getting into it and it not lasting. It appears as though that already happened without my involvement  . Well, its not as much the one season shows as the ones that have no closure at all that bother me. 

 

Great points about Daredevil too. They could indeed win over the law crowd and the superhero crowd at the same time. In that case, a show is definitely best as that's the only way to guarantee Affleck not being cast . I'm not familiar with Agent Carter at all. I actually thought it was Carmen Sandiego from the commercials .

Kind of a pain for me too, to be honest. I like a show that delivers a proper conclusion.

I'm about half a dozen episodes into 'Gotham' now and overall, I don't mind it. It doesn't seem to have a clue whether it wants to be a serious cop show, a dark adventure show or a light-hearted spoof, but that's quite fun in a weird way, because you never know what they're going to hit you in the face with next. I suppose the problem will be, from more of a long-term kind of viewpoint, that it'll have to end at a point where Gordon has no chance of winning his war against the criminals of the city. If he's able to arrest most of them over the course of a season (or six ), then Bruce Wayne's eventual decision to become Batman can't really be justified.

Was really looking forward to 'Agent Carter', but it seems there's some doubt about when (and if) it'll be shown over here. Almost makes me wish Sky had gotten hold of the Marvel stuff instead of Channel 4, they would have bought into the continuity in the same way they have with 'Arrow' and 'Flash'. I'll probably try and find a way to see it somehow though, you can pretty much count me in for anything involving 1940s styled Hayley Atwell.

I hope you have a grand christmas and new year Michael*  

Hola sir how was your New Years?

I hope you have a grand christmas and new year Michael*

Happy new year to you too Katchi, hope 2015 is treating you well!

There's a comic series called Gotham with the premise that Gotham has enough crime to go around . The focus of the stories is what the police do either before Batman gets there or when he's not around. I guess they figured that wouldn't translate as well to a show because then you would need to decide how much Batman involvement to have.

 

Anything interesting and new on the Indie scene for you ? I guess it isn't technically a genre, so I guess I should say non-household name music that isn't underground then .

Yeah, first Gotham, then Suicide Squad. I'm starting to think an email must have gone out asking for Batman vehicles to be produced without Batman.

Truth be told, I'm playing a bit of catch-up on the musical front at the moment, although I did get into two albums in a major way recently. What are you listening to at the moment?

http://youtu.be/2ZVn1UrCvjc

Hola sir how was your New Years?

Evening, good sir!

Pretty uneventful to be honest, although I do always enjoy Christmas time (couldn't help but notice that it started snowing today, a couple of weeks too late ). How about you, is 2015 treating you well thus far?

Weather is being a bit wacky here again too. We are having a similar patter like that of last years where a high pressure dome is basically kicking all our storm up north to only dive down after the Rocky mountains to slam the rest of the country in bitter cold while we have pool weather And as for the new year, all is well here no complaints yet. Although I could use a nice sushi dinner soon

LOL, I guess Batman is busy enough as it is . Wow, that Ex Hex song sounds like it could have been made several decades ago :| although a good old song that is . I'll have to look up more
from them. I had heard of and like the second one. The strange place I'm in right now is that I've distanced myself so much from say U.S. Billboard hits type music that I've somewhat lost my sense of what's new and what's not . That is at least the sense I previously had. Obviously if its an anticipated release, I know its new. There are some groups though like the ungooglable 'Television' that I thought was a throwback band but they turned out to be an actual older band . Then theres New Wave where I never paid attention to how old or new it was anyway. I was hoping a new Sara Blasko album was on the horizon, but I don't see any. I don't know if you like the Cold War Kids or not, but they are another one I listen to. The song is probably a year old, but they have a new video anyway.

Weather is being a bit wacky here again too. We are having a similar patter like that of last years where a high pressure dome is basically kicking all our storm up north to only dive down after the Rocky mountains to slam the rest of the country in bitter cold while we have pool weather And as for the new year, all is well here no complaints yet. Although I could use a nice sushi dinner soon

We were being told to brace ourselves for a blizzard last week, but in the end, nothing materialised. I get the impression that the Met Office has never really gotten over failing to predict that hurricane we had.

On a slightly different note (not sure if I mentioned it before or just thought it), the Elsa set is another cracker!

LOL, I guess Batman is busy enough as it is . Wow, that Ex Hex song sounds like it could have been made several decades ago :| although a good old song that is . I'll have to look up more

from them. I had heard of and like the second one. The strange place I'm in right now is that I've distanced myself so much from say U.S. Billboard hits type music that I've somewhat lost my sense of what's new and what's not . That is at least the sense I previously had. Obviously if its an anticipated release, I know its new. There are some groups though like the ungooglable 'Television' that I thought was a throwback band but they turned out to be an actual older band . Then theres New Wave where I never paid attention to how old or new it was anyway. I was hoping a new Sara Blasko album was on the horizon, but I don't see any. I don't know if you like the Cold War Kids or not, but they are another one I listen to. The song is probably a year old, but they have a new video anyway.

 

 

Yeah, Ex Hex's three members have all been around in one guise or another for at least a couple of decades. Mary Timony was most notably in Wild Flag (a pretty short-lived project that brought together members of Sleater-Kinney and The Minders), as well as Helium and Autoclave, while drummer Laura Harris and bassist Betsy Wright played with The Aquarium and Fire Tapes respectively. I suppose they could be considered a supergroup of sorts, albeit one who seem to exist in a bubble that's untouched by any real commercial success.

On first listen, their album sounds like obvious, hook-laden punky rock music, but it still manages to sound fresh and exciting. Taking into account just how difficult it is to achieve that in this particular genre in 2015, I'd say it's one of my albums of the year so far.

Thanks for that one, I was always a fan of Cold War Kids' jittery guitar sound and this encapsulates everything they were good at first time around. CWK, TV On The Radio and Interpol all releasing solid music, it's a bit like 2006 all over again. But in a good way.

We were being told to brace ourselves for a blizzard last week, but in the end, nothing materialised. I get the impression that the Met Office has never really gotten over failing to predict that hurricane we had.

On a slightly different note (not sure if I mentioned it before or just thought it), the Elsa set is another cracker!

So another dud of a forecast eh? Consider yourself lucky you're not piled on upon the way Boston is at the moment When one has to go hiking just to traverse the sidewalk, I think it's officially a record season or close to it Poor Pinky now that I think about it

Why thanks All credit goes to Fashiondream for the set

LOL! Thanks AllMusic Guide* . 'Obvious, hook-laden punky' . Great to hear about the backstory too. Ironically, I saw a Deep Purple documentary earlier about the group 'famil tree' almost made my head spin :| . The thing that really deepens these plots I guess is the fact that some bands that were technically never signed to labels are included in a lot of the stories.

Oh, thoughh I still haven't seen Gotham it is getting a lot of acclaim here. Agent Carter on the other hand is for me. I was glad to see the actress from the first Captain America movie since I loved them both in that. The only thing that bothered me slightly was a female friend saw a scene where she was in disguise and some cleavage was showing and she was like, 'I see why you like it.' My response was that I was offended because I don't recall ever noticing them before and I would have to be paid to watch Baywatch beyond the theme song, thank you very much :persuazn: ! Could it be that a man can like a female character by the same merit as a man, you sexist, capitalist dog of a woman! Woa, random vent there .

Why thanks All credit goes to Fashiondream for the set

 

So another dud of a forecast eh? Consider yourself lucky you're not piled on upon the way Boston is at the moment When one has to go hiking just to traverse the sidewalk, I think it's officially a record season or close to it Poor Pinky now that I think about it

Weirdly, I was just talking about this with someone who had a relative over in Massachusetts - I'm told that the top whack temperature-wise there is something like minus 10 at the moment. He said something else that I wasn't sure if he was having me on about (I might actually ask Pinky about this too), that if the weather is bad during the week but better at the weekend, then the kids have to go to school on Saturdays? Obviously, if it's true, they have my deepest sympathies.

No such thing as 'bad' weather though of course, only the wrong clothes.