Cameron H.

But the next DC movie is going to be awesome, right guys? I saw the trailer and it looked great. Right, guys?...Right?

I gather The Phantom talk is winding down now, so if anyone wants to talk about the new Luke Cage trailer, I'm all for it! All I can say, besides the fact is it looks awesome, the trailer gave me the two things I really wanted to see: Luke Cage in his Power Man "tiara," and a first glimpse of one of my comic book crushes--Misty Knight. I just hope they can squeeze Danny Rand in there somewhere, but I imagine Luke and him won't meet until Iron Fist.

Gosh, this is hard... I voted George as he's usually my default answer--but the reason I choose him should probably disqualify him as my "favorite" Beatle. I like George because he seems to be the perfect marriage of Lennon and McCartney--taking the best qualities of each. He was acerbic and funny like John, but incredibly melodic, and as musically gifted, as McCartney. Even his voice, especially during his time with the Beatles and the early 70's, seems to be a blend of both Lennon and McCartney. I look at George as more this normal-ish type of guy who was surrounded by these two geniuses (not to say he wasn't a genius in his own right) and rather than sit in the shadows (which he very well could have done), he used that opportunity, and that proximity to two great songwriters, to improve his own set of skills. I love John, but I feel like a lot of his solo stuff was poorly produced. I also don't like how often he would attack McCartney for his "sentimentality," when he could be just as guilty of it ("Oh, Yoko" and "Woman" anyone?) Paul is also wonderful ("Dear Boy" off of Ram is one of my favorite songs), but I feel like, at least for a while, he was trying to be a little too commercial--to good and bad effect. However, there is at least one or two songs on every McCartney solo album that I absolutely love. And I actually enjoy his latest, New , quite a lot. And Ringo...well, he's great. However, to me, he's always been more of a Personality (capitalization intentional). He's kind of like the Kevin Smith of the Beatles. He has some middling to pretty okay stuff, but he's more of a "character" than a standout in his field. The problem with a lot of their solo stuff is that they were still producing about the same level of quality music, but having to fill a whole album by themselves. What I've always wanted, and I'm sure I could put together if I really had the inclination, is to construct a series of "Beatles" albums spanning 1970-1980. Using basically the same formula as when they were together, (i.e. 1 song from Ringo, 2 from George, and 5-6 each from Lennon/McCartney) and listen to what they "might have been." 1970 might have been All Things McCartney Ono Band Blues, and might have looked something like this: 1) Working Class Hero (Lennon) 2) Every Night (McCartney) 3) Hold On (Lennon) 4) Another Day (McCartney) 5) What is Life (Harrison) 6) Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney) 7) Look at Me (Lennon) 8) Momma Miss America (McCartney) 9) Beaucoups of Blues (Covered by Starr) 10) Junk (McCartney) 11) My Sweet Lord (Harrison) 12) I Found Out (Lennon) 13) All Things Must Pass (Harrison) 14) God (Lennon) Although not perfect by any stretch (I could probably do without "Another Day"), but if produced by George Martin, I think it would have been a pretty awesome Beatles album. The last four songs could even be done as a medley much like the end of Abbey Road.

And then let us know your Divergent factions. Amiright?

It is as you say.

Ellen, I'm "liking" your post out of sympathy. If you ever need a diversion from the bullshit, we're here for you.

Yeah, I think it is mostly for actors, but I don't think he'd be too persnickety if she has good stories. For example, Martin Casella was Spielberg's assistant for Raiders of the Lost Ark and he spoke about that...Just a thought.

Just a quick potpourri of Phantom observations... 1) In the movie, Remar initially appears to be just a mercenary that Drax hires get recover the magic skulls. Now I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that Drax wanted these skulls for his own evil purposes and that he is not himself a member of the Sengh Brotherhood. However, we learn early on that Remar's character is a part of the Brotherhood. I also got the impression that Remar's character was not particularly fond of Drax ("I don't like to ask Drax questions. His answers scare me.") So, I guess my question is: why would Remar hand the skull(s) over to Drax in the first place? Drax wants the power for himself, but it seems like Remar wants the power for the Brotherhood. Aren't they working at cross purposes? I get Remar working with Drax so that he has access to the green skull, and the amount of adventuring he needs to do to acquire them might require capital that is beyond his means, but why turn the skull over to Drax at all? Why not conveniently "not find" the first skull, steal the second, and deliver them both straight to his beloved Brotherhood? 2) A "Devil's Vortex" is that thing when you perform oral sex with an overly salivating tongue in a firm and relentless clockwise motion. NOTE: This act should be performed in a counter-clockwise motion when participants are in the Southern Hemisphere.

I'm not sure if your mother would be interested, but it sounds like she might be a fun candidate for Matt Gourley's I Was There Too podcast.

I know, I know. I know what you're all thinking: "I've conscripted (kidnapped?) this small, indigenous child to help me navigate the dense jungle of this remote fictional island to locate a hoard of magical pirate treasure, what do I care about his safety? I should absolutely allow him to drive this truck full of our supplies across this ravine." And while I agree that's a smart move--why risk your life when his is basically worthless--don't let your enthusiasm for child endangerment cloud your good judgement. If you're fearing that the weight of your truck will be too much for the rickety rope bridge you're trying to cross, maybe it's not the best idea to allow that child driven truck to go last. Y'know, lest your fears come to pass and the weight of the truck is too much for the bridge. I mean, who cares about the kid, but if that truck takes out that bridge, then you're going to be stranded on the wrong side of the ravine with no equipment! No. The correct way to navigate this situation is to send one of your men across first--preferably with a length of rope slightly longer than the width of the crevasse you're trying to cross. If the irrepressible jungle waif you've absconded with is one of the Rope People, all the better! While you sneak into their village in the middle of the night to steal him out of the arms of his crying mother, you can pick up some rope at that time. It's called, "killing two birds with one stone." Next, you send the kid across. If the truck goes plummets to the bottom of the gorge and explodes into a fiery conflagration of twisted shrapnel and child limbs, so what? Yes, you lose all your equipment, but you will be on the right side of the ravine to make your way safely back to your boat, re-equip yourselves, and try again. Sure, it may take some effort to rescue your compatriot stranded on the other side, but with that length of genuine Rope People Rope™ you remembered to bring, you can easily have him traverse over the smoldering wreckage and back to safety. And best of all, nobody gets hurt!

The biggest issue with The Phantom's father was how completely and utterly useless he was. You would think that since he's shuffled off this mortal coil and ascended into the ether to become One with the infinite universe, he might be able to offer his son more than bland, fatherly platitudes. In fact, when we first meet his father, he has less information than the Phantom does! It then seems like it's Zane's job to dump a truckload of exposition on his father, even though his father has absolutely nothing to do with the story. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I just feel like if you're going to introduce ghosts in your movie about magic, laser beam shooting skulls, I feel like that should replace any scenes where the protagonist is flipping through the pages of a dusty old book. Shouldn't his Phantom Father be like Ghost Google?

Great episode! Wonderful guests! They brought up the murder by microscope, but what wasn't brought up was why that guy was killed in the first place. At the charity ball, Mannequin 2's father reveals to the mayor and police commissioner that he has a "source" at the city library that has informed him that Drax has been "researching esoteric volumes" that are "kept under constant lock and key." If these volumes are so special, and potentially dangerous, why aren't the kept somewhere more secure than the city's public library? Does this mean that my local library also has a super secret section full of ancient, eldritch tomes full of forbidden mystical knowledge? And, if so, how do I go about getting special dispensation to access this collection? Preferably without the librarian ratting me out to my local newspaper publisher...

Congrats, June and Paul! I expect mine will be here in the next couple of weeks. Once he's born, we should really set up a play date. Might I suggest... We got to get 'em watching these shitty movies while they're young.

I agree. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I simply do not get the appeal of Alan Moore. He seems to obsess over both sex, and especially, sexual abuse. I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but the stuff I have read I feel like, "Hey, I'm on page thirteen and no one's been raped yet! [turns page] Oh...never mind."

Enthusiastically seconded on every count! On a separate topic, is anyone reading or planning to read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? To be honest, I'm pretty burnt out on the whole Potter-verse, but I was still intrigued. However, when I learned Rowling was didn't actually write it (just "story by") I became dubious. My plan was just to read just enough of the Wikipedia article on it to see if it seemed interesting, which it did...at first. Needless to say, I couldn't help myself and read the whole thing, and I have to say, what I read sounded like the worst fan fiction gobbledegook I've ever seen. I was just wondering it reads better on the page...

One of my favorite topics! For your Godson, I can not recommend The Immortal Iron Fist and Hawkeye enough, both by Matt Fraction and David Aja. Both are pretty much self contained stories (The complete Iron Fist comes in two volumes) that don't require the reader to be familiar with years of continuity. As far as cost goes, yes, it can get up there which is why I usually go for "Complete," "Absolute," or "Omnibus" collections from the site I linked above. I find their prices to be pretty fair, although I'm not sure what the cost to ship to Ireland might be. In the US, you get free shipping if you spend more than $50. Still, the prices can still be a bit high up front, but--depending on the collection--you usually get somewhere between 15-50 issues at a pop. Another possible solution is to subscribe to a service like Marvel Unlimited. Basically, it's like Netflix for the Marvel catalog. You pay by the month (or by the year for a discount) and you have digital access to years of back issues with new issues added about 6 months or so after their release date. Just another option. I don't know if DC has a similar service...

...and these people are not only allowed, but encouraged, to vote.

What? No, "Hallelujah?" A song so overused that even the songwriter suggested that we should all give it a rest. I'm disappointed...

Oh, I know. I just can't resist putting literal neckbeards in their place. C'mon, people! Let's put a minimum amount of effort into our appearance.

You might want to start making those excuses now.... It's always the fucking neckbeards, isn't it? Maybe all that extra hair around their neck is, like, cutting the circulation off to their brain... Oh, and on the topic of Suicide Squad, color me unsurprised that Suicide Squad isn't getting rave reviews. I'm not even sure I know where the hype was even coming from... Were people seeing different trailers and images than me?

Yup! Right there on the table. What did you think I was talking about?

I'm going to put this behind a Spoiler tag, just because I know C&O's are definitely going to be a part of the Howdies, and while I don't know if "win" statistics will be included, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who might want to wait for the episodes to come out.

Ha! Paul had said on a mini-episode that he wondered if people were keeping track of the wins. I was already listening to the mini's for the Howdies anyway, so in the off chance they wanted to include that information, I went ahead and kept track.