Florida, the Trippening Part Two: FUCK YOU

Here's my comment on the Delta Airlines FB page, without edit.

You've stolen a day of my vacation (PTO, which I can't get back), money from the person who was going to drive us, time from the already short visit between myself and my loved ones, and all the execs can say is "recovery has not been ideal and we apologize for that"? Try recovery has been nonexistant, and your loyal customers are the ones paying. I wasn't notified of this any earlier than a couple hours before my flight (for which I got up at 3:30am), and only then because my wonderful husband McKinley checked the times. At least we're not trapped at the airport. Just in our home since we gave our car keys to a friend for the week.

If  cant tell, Delta pushed our flight back by a day due to the massive shitstorm in their Atlanta hub. Bahamute found out about this at 3am Saturday, when we had to get up for our 6am flight. It's now set for Sunday 4/9 at noon. Assuming that isn't cancelled too.

I used PTO today, and I'm not even going to be able to leave the goddamn house. Everyone always said Delta was shit, but my past trips have been great. Guess I was wrong.

Ignore the animations, its the only version I could find.

Now, to wait until a decent hour so we can disappoint Bahamute's father with the news.

Fuck you, Delta.

Florida, the Trippening Part One: Prep

My annual family trip to Florida to see my father-in-law and other Florida family is about to take off.

Hope that pun wasn't too...PLANE for you! Hahahahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Yes, in just a few short days I'll be flying down for fun in the sun with family and friends. You may remember a  previous trip, where I visited a zoo, collected shells, and had an awesome time.

I'm excited to write about it, but at the same time my blogs may be a bit sparser, because I'm going to be having a lot of fun. It'll also be a nice break from the ceaseless pop culture blogs of late.

I'm so excited to be somewhere warm with people I love. If something crazy happens in the world of popular culture I'm sure I'll make time for it. But recently we've already had a new movie with Harley Quinn, the return of Zim, the IT trailer dropping, Wreck-It Ralph's sequel title, and Rick and Morty's surprise premier. What more can possibly happen?

Maybe the announcement of another season? At this point, anything is possible!

ZIIIIIIIM!

Invader Zim is returning with a new TV movie!

 Now, if you weren't a kid/teen/adult who watched Nickelodeon in the early two thousands, let me explain; Invader Zim was a short-lived, but very popular show about an alien named Zim trying to take over earth for his overlords. This is complicated by a neighbor boy Dib, who knows what Zim is, but can't get anyone to believe him due to his constant Mulder-esq spouting of conspiracy theories. Also, by GIR, Zim's insane robot assistant. Also, Zim is a bit of an idiot.

Like many of my pop-culture obsessions, I happened across Invader Zim long after it was popular/cancelled. I didn't have cable when it was on (still don't) but thanks to Netflix, DVD, and piracy, I too can enjoy the adventures of Evil Alpha 5/AKA Daggett Beaver/AKA Orthopox 13.

He's a cool dude.

 I love that studios are starting to bring back things we love, realizing there IS a market and we will watch them. Sure, that means you get a few Fuller Houses in the bunch, but I'll take it for more Invader Zim.

Also, because I can't resist, have some memorable show moments/memes:

Batman & Harley Quinn: Voices, quotes, and plots, oh my!

Kevin Conroy, aka The Best Batman tweeted an important announcement last night:

So, we finally know who will be voicing Harley in the now titled "Batman and Harley Quinn" movie.  The...who is this chick?

Oh, Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory. That's where I know Melissa  Rauch from! I like her on that well enough.

Rauch had this to say about her role: "I love that Harley is a badass and, beyond that, that she uses her humor as another weapon in her arsenal. She knows just how to diffuse a situation with her humor, and how to incite a situation with her sarcasm. It's a dream role."

Okay, good start. But will this Harley sound just like Bernadette? Apparently not: "I knew Harley had a higher pitched tone, and a bit of a New York accent — and I come from a New Jersey family where everyone could be former gun molls. So I wanted to give a nod to my background without being as shrill. In all honesty, I used to speak exactly like that — my acting school professors really worked the accent out of me. So it was fun to find those tones and accent again."

Hey, not too shabby! Apparently this film will center on Harley, Batman, and Nightwing (played by Loren Lester from the classic DCAU) fighting Poison Ivy (played by Paget Brewster) and Jason Woodrue, aka Plant Master, aka Floronic Man.

I know Woodrue from Swamp Thing, where he doesn't get along with the titular character.

At least he didn't wind up in hell, like the last guy who crossed ol' Swampy.

This is not the weirdest team up, plant villain and plant villain. They've even worked together in a terrible anti-pot comic.

See Linkara for a more in-depth analysis.

I'm more interested in the dynamic between Harley and Ivy, who have ranged from bitter enemies, to close friends, to straight-up lovers. Whatever is causing her to work with Bats is gonna be interesting at least.

Not that they haven't collaborated before.

I'll post more when I get it, but this a good start.

Seven Binging Sins

I'm watching another anime. It's about the seven deadly sins.

No, not that one. Not that one either. Wow, that's a fertile well.
(image from here)

It's Netflix's Seven Deadly Sins!

Yes, I know that's not seven. And those aren't all sins. It's complicated.

The Devil is a Part Timer had a similar sense of playfulness, but was even lighter in tone than this. It's nice to watch a fun series about holy wars, perverts, and people getting the crap kicked out of them that can get dark too.

It's not as non-consensual as it looks!

There are  28 episodes so far, and I'm only on episode 12, so I'm trying just as hard to avoid spoilers for you as for me. But the basic idea is that the girl getting groped is a princess trying to find an order of banished Knights known as the Seven Deadly Sins, who are in hiding for murder, treason, etc. The princess is trying to save her family/kingdom from the Holy Knights who are really screwing things up by being general assholes. Pretty standard for anime, or even a basic hero's quest.

There are less loincloths, however.

The draw comes from the characters and the visuals; the animation is bright and cheerful, and the characters are engaging and fun. I've already found a brown-haired firecracker I'd love to cosplay.

Literally a giant badass.

 The ending credits give you a pretty good feel for the 'bounce' the show has (though there are a few minor spoilers for things established in the first three episodes. Be wary!)

It has dark spots too, but even the one episode which was mostly angsty had a lot of  action, and felt organic. It's like Fullmetal Alchemist by way of Dragon Ball Z; great action sequences and lots of fun, but not afraid to get dark if needed.

On a scale from Goku driving cars to the end of Nina, I put this series tone at a firm Dragon Ball Z Abridged Frieza Saga when Killin dies.

Twenty year old spoilers!

I'm super excited to watch more later. This is what binge watching was invented for!

April F*cks

So, on 4/1/17, they released the first new episode of Rick and Morty with no warning.

Predictably, the internet has gone insane. There are spoilers ahead, BTW. Like, major ones.

There's also new promos, which are fun. Frankly, the episode was good, smart, dark, and filled with the crazy turns that I never see coming. And now I want more.

I also want some of that damned sauce. I'm not alone, BTW; go sign the petition.

Now, we do have months to wait until the next episode (no release date yet, just 'summer'). So just remember the reason why we're all here...