Elliot Page comes out as trans

An unexpected surprise as the star of Juno, the X-Men movies, and The Umbrella Academy (among many other roles) announced via social media that he was living his truth and coming out as trans and would be using he/him and they/them pronouns. The reason why I'm not mentioning his former name is because apparently that's considered a "dead name" within the context of the trans community and that it's considered gaunche to refer to a trans person by their old name. I think there's exception for like historical context, but I'd rather play it safe and respectful by not saying it. Plus, I mean, given that there was only one actor with the surname "Page" in the X-Men movies and on The Umbrella Academy, it's not difficult to figure what his old name was prior to the change.

My hat's off to him and it goes without saying that I and Nerd Trash support both Elliot Page and all trans people because TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.

You can be thankful for these links on Thanksgiving

Things that will survive nuclear war: Cockroaches, Nokia phones, and RadioShack.

Of course Norway had to flex on the world with their newly redesigned passports.

Book dust jackets have had a long, winding history.

Some dude was driving around Toronto, Canada with 30 year old expired tags.

Let's take a look at how New Mutants did at the box office

I totally forgot about this movie until I saw it trending on Twitter today. Then I remembered a post I wrote on here where I pondered how well or bad the movie would do once it was released. So with that in mind, I decided to see how much money it made versus how much it cost to make and well, it did better than I expected? According to several sources, New Mutants cost $80 million on the high-end and made $45 million, falling around $35 million short of breaking even.

I'll be honest, I thought the box office was nothing to be much lower by at least $15 million. The movie was in limbo forever; so long in fact that they couldn't do the standard reshoots that all movies normally do because the actors had visibly aged enough to be noticeable. Of course any money made is a profit for Disney, who didn't bankroll the movie save for possibly the cost of finishing the editing and adding the special effects. Even more money is bound to be made now that New Mutants is out on disc and streaming services. Who knows, maybe the movie will break even after all?

Well, that's real lovely

Evidently I can't make any changes to my blog's tabs, which is real lovely. I wanted to remove some blogs from a blogroll while adding a new one and the popup just won't save the changes. Anyone else having similar troubles?

I finished two books on Thursday and it felt good

 

Even before the pandemic hit, the number of books I was clearing through was on the decline, so as you can imagine, finishing two books one right after the other felt really nice. I finally wrapped up reading Victory Conditions, the fifth and final book in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. I recommend it if you're interested in military SF that isn't hardcore. The series won't blow your socks off, but you definitely will not have felt like you wasted time reading them. Not long after putting that book down, I grabbed my tablet and decided to read some more of All Systems Red by Martha Wells. I love The Murderbot Diaries, so I've enjoyed re-reading the first book in the series. It wasn't long until I was finishing that one as well. This is another recommendation too. The first four books in the series are novellas, so there's no huge time commitment. At least on the surface there isn't, but I can guarantee you from personal experience that you'll tear through each one in rapid order! The fifth book is a full length novel and the upcoming sixth is another novella.

I have no clue if I'll add any more books to my tally before the end of the year, but I started to realize last year that it doesn't matter how many books I read in a year, so long as I'm reading.

Late night bus riding

Because I keep forgetting that it gets dark early, I'm riding a bus and it is dark as a dungeon on here. But I always enjoy being out at night, seeing everything lit up. There's just a different feel, a different atmosphere.

I think we could all use a snuggle buddy right now

Via Wikipedia.

Well, not me, because human contact is just not my cup of tea. Fortunately for the people of Belgium, who went into another lockdown, they are not me, and so they are allowed to have a snuggle buddy, as a treat.

But even De Croo’s plea to avoid physical contact has some exceptions. Under the new national measures, people in need of some physical intimacy are entitled to one “knuffelcontact” (literally “cuddle contact”), with people living alone allowed one extra cuddle buddy. Unfortunately for polyamorous “knuffelaars” however, only one cuddle contact is allowed to visit at a time.

If you're in the Netherlands, then things are even better because you can have a "seksbuddy" instead. I don't think we need a universal translator for that word.

Have fun with your snuggle fests, Belgians. Please wrap it before you tap it, Dutch people.

It's occurred to me that The Hulk has been an Avenger in the movies longer than in the comics

I had that realization pop in my head last week and while it's a minor thing at best, I thought it was interesting enough to post. So Hulk was a founding member of The Avengers when the comic debuted in September 1963. However, he left the team by the *checks notes* second issue in November.

Or to use an American sports idiom, he was an Avenger for a cup of coffee. I'm actually kind of astounded because while I knew Hulk wasn't on the team for very long and was gone before Captain America joined, I didn't realize that he'd left by issue #2.

Even Hulk is shocked by how short that was.

Now contrast this with the Hulk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like his comic book counterpart, he was a founding member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but unlike his counterpart, he stuck around for the long haul, appearing in every Avengers movie. So just on that front alone, he's got the comic book green behemoth beat in appearances. If we were to count actual time spent as a member of the Avengers, he would win there too. The first movie came out in 2012 and the most recent in 2019, so a solid seven years. I have no clue if he was still a member during that five-year span in Endgame between "The Snap" and the time heist. I'm also not counting Civil War because while it did feature the Avengers, it wasn't billed as one.

So clearly, the Hulk of the MCU had the staying power (and marketability *cough*) to be an Avenger, while the comic book original was fated to be a loner, at least for that period of time. I suspect that if they were making comic book movies back then, it would have been a different story altogether.

At this point, I think America would accept Voltan as president

 Just call the freaking election already.

I guess you could say that's...one whale of a tail

A giant sculpture of a whale's tale saved a Dutch metro train from crashing 30 feet after derailing.

Credit: Robin Utrecht ANP/AFP

 The best part is that the installation is called "Saved by the Whale's Tail." You can't convince me that a time traveler didn't come back and put that there specifically for this moment.

"Okay, before we begin construction, I want to make sure that this tail will be built strong enough to hold up a metro train."

"What? Why?"

"I have my reasons."

My new hobby: journaling [Updated]

Hi, thought I'd talk a bit about my newfound and surprising hobby that I've taken up: journal writing. I say surprising because quite frankly, I don't really stick with hobbies once I start them. It's the same old song and dance that I imagine a lot of people go through where they come upon a hobby, think "Oh wow, I'll try this out!" and then give up after a short while. Going into this, I figured much the same would happen once I started journaling and boy oh boy, was I ever wrong! Instead, it's been well over a month since I started and I'm still going strong. I'll admit that I've missed a day or two where I forgot to write, but aside from that I've been writing entries almost daily.

The genesis of the project was just boredom. I live with my mom and act as her caregiver because of her health and back in September, she had to go into a facility to rehab one of her legs. Well, this left me with some time on my hands. At the same time, I stumbled upon a subreddit on Reddit dedicated to journal writing and more specifically a post where someone had shown off their collection of journals stretching all the way back to like 1985. This fascinated me and so I decided to give it a go myself. The other thing that helped is that a local dollar store was selling these small composition notebooks 2 for a $1, so right there the level of entry was low - if the endeavor had flopped, then all I would be out was a buck and even then, one can always use a notebook for jotting down notes and such.

My first journal.

 

My first entry was September 19th and the last entry in that particular notebook was November 1st. I'm astounded that I'm still going with a full head of steam.

In terms of what I'm writing, it's pretty much a hodge-podge of different things: what I'm thinking about at the moment, a review of the day's events, current affairs, etc. It's just nice to be able to get my thoughts down on paper and out of my headspace.

Here's journal #2:

Which is lovely inside.

I really like the faint diagrams and equations on the inside covers and end papers.

The months and days that run along the top of each page is a nice alternative to writing them down for each entry. In my first journal, I was including the time for each entry as well, but I haven't decided whether I'll continue on with it in the new one. I'm already two entries in, so probably not?

So, do any of you keep a journal? Ever thought about it? Let me know down in the comments.

[Edited to replace one of the photos with a better one.]

A Programming Note

Howdy, howdy, I thought I'd chime in and give a heads up on what I'm planning to do with Nerd Trash. I want to start posting here more and on Tumblr less, but at the same time I no longer feel "nerdy" so the plan is to shift the blog away from "nerdy" content and towards stuff that I think is interesting and worth posting.

The reason why I don't feel nerdy anymore is because 1. There's not a whole lot that interests me that doesn't require a subscription to a streaming service or otherwise laying out a fair chunk of money that I don't have. 2. Being nerdy is honestly just too expensive nowadays for those just stated reasons. It's just gotten to be too consumerist for my tastes. There's more emphasis to own things for the "nerd cred" than there is for actually being nerdy and enjoying the aspects of the subculture that made being a nerd fun.

Now, that doesn't mean that I won't ever post nerd content on here, because I will from time to time, but only when it strikes my interest.

In terms of actual changes, I might fool around with the blog's layout and theme, but otherwise there won't be much difference beyond what I post.

Toodles.

A 2,000 year old cat drawing found in Peru

I couldn't think of a better title for this post because my brain is still processing the fact that 2,000 years ago, people in Peru etched a giant cat on the side of a hill.

Credit: Jhony Islas/AP.

Are you kidding me?

RIP Chadwick Boseman

There are no words other than Rest In Power and thank you.

New Mutants is Disney's chosen sacrifice

Via IMDb.

 Tim Knight from the fantastic HeroPress (fun fact: reading HeroPress will give a flowing mane of luscious hair and make you as jacked as Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan) did a post about the release of New Mutants, a movie that's been in limbo since like 2018. It was in the comments, though, that Knight really hit the nail squarely on its head:

It's the canary being lowered into the pandemic-filled coalmine to gauge audience's willingness to return to cinemas, a sacrificial lamb that Disney clearly doesn't care that much about as they're about to totally reboot and revamp the franchise as part of the main MCU.

Exactly. New Mutants is a movie that Disney has no vested interest in seeing succeed at the box office. Remember, this movie was made before Disney bought out Fox, so they have no financial pony in this race, so to speak. Also, the only reason the movie is even getting a theatrical release at all is that they're contractually obligated to do so. If it makes money, The House of Mouse will gladly pocket it, but if it flops (which it almost certainly will), that's no great loss to them. My guess is that they might run New Mutants in theaters for like two weeks before withdrawing and tossing it up on Disney+.

Clearly, Polka-Dot Man will be the MVP of Suicide Squad

 DC released a video yesterday for James Gunn's upcoming Suicide Squad movie showing off who all the members of that team will be.

I like to think that DC Comics opened their entire archive to James Gunn and told him to take his pick of characters to use in The Suicide Squad and he was just like "Yeah, lemme have Polka-Dot Man, Ratcatcher 2, and Weasel."

But in all seriousness, I love that he went that route and loaded the roster with lesser known characters. That's exactly what DC and Warner needs to do: mine that IP goldmine called DC Comics and take risks with lesser known characters. The Arrowverse has shown that that can be winning strategy. The MCU has likewise proven it too.

And if you think Polka-Dot Man is a weird character, just remember DC also has Condiment King, Crazy Quilt, and Ten-Eyed Man, among others.

Please remember to vote

 Just want to point out that I added a trio of important links to the sidebar just now. The upcoming elections here in America might very well end up being one of the most important in the entire history of our country. We currently have a terrible, horrible person as president, a person so godawful that he should not be President of the United States. Folks, the only way we're going to get that bucket of turds out of office is by voting him out this November. As such, it's vitally important that you not only vote this fall, but that you check to make sure that you're registered to vote. Even if you voted in the last election, you should check your status just to be sure because many states are run by a corrupt political party that gleefully purges certain groups of people *coughcoughAfricanAmericanscoughcough* from the voter rolls in order to stay in power.

You can check your voter status here.

You can check to see what the deadline (if any) is to register to vote here.

You can register to vote here.

Finally, when you do go to vote, please don't neglect the Congressional elections. Any real change that happens to this country will only happen in the right party is in control of both chambers of Congress.

Lily LaBeau

 

Let's just say that she's an actress and leave it at that.

Time to stretch

Source: Twitter.

Chiropracty is weird, man.

Elle Alexandra

For folks like Canadian Calvin, who enjoy a good redhead.

1983 Toyota Pickup Truck

Source: Toyota's website.

Something I've come to realize in recent years is that when it comes to vehicles, my aesthetics lie not in the classic cars of the days of yore, but in the ones of the late 70s to around the mid 90s. No idea why other than those are the cars and trucks that I grew up around and rode in growing up. And when it comes to trucks, the trend recently has been towards the compact pickups. I think that, at least, is because they project of image of being zippier and more nimble than their larger, heavy-duty peers.

Of course, I don't have a driver's license nor have I ever even driven a vehicle, so it's a moot point. One day in the near future maybe.

Not Musical Monday: Heart - Barracuda

Musical Monday: Rhiannon Giddens - Louisiana Man

Now that's talent!

Not Musical Monday: Earl Scruggs and Friends - Foggy Mountain Breakdown

And yes, that is Steve Martin!

Comics writer/artist Cameron Stewart and writer Warren Ellis accused of sex misconduct

Not a stellar day in the world of comic books and fiction. Cameron Stewart stands accused by multiple women of misconduct of a sexual nature, including groom of one of his victims when she was a minor. Stewart was the co-writer of Batgirl several years ago when it relaunched with the return of Barbara Gordon as the superheroine. He's worked on other comics since then, including several with Grant Morrison.

From Comics Beat:

The first allegation came when artist Aviva Artzy revealed on Twitter that Stewart had groomed her when she was 16 years old and Stewart was in his early 30s.

Two other women, actress Natasha Negovanlis of Carmilla fame and comics writer Kate Leth, have also come out with accusations of improper behavior.

Sadly, Cameron Stewart isn't the only person in comics currently being accused of inappropriate behavior. According to Multiversity Comics, Warren Ellis is being accused by several women including writer Katie West and photographer Jayne Holmes of sexual coercion. Essentially, he attempted to manipulate them through both friendship and during vulnerable points in their lives in order to try and create a sexual relationship, only to discard them on a whim. Ellis has created several comics such as Transmetropolitan and Planetary. He also wrote the "extremis" story that Iron Man 3 was partially based on.

None of this acceptable, sexual misconduct of any kind ever is. Both Cameron Stewart and Warren Ellis need to take a step back, due some very deep and thorough soul search and reassess their behaviors and how it effects others. Failing that, they can both fuck right the hell off.

Middle of June...and I'm wearing pants and a jacket

I'm going to attribute this more to weather than climate change because there was a tropical storm down South recently that's the likely culprit.

Ain't weather fun?

If you like video games, books, and comics, then boy, has Humble Bundle got a deal for YOU

Humble Bundle is currently selling a delightfully large bundle to help raise money for several charities related to the current fight for racial justice in America. How large is this package? $1,200 worth of books, comics, and video games large. And the price? $30. You can donate less, but according to The Verge, you won't get any of the game keys unless you drop $30. I honestly can't imagine not donating that much considering both the monetary value of the bundle itself and the good feeling you'd get from helping to fight systemic racism in this country.

The list of games is pretty incredible too, ranging from BioShock Remastered, both System Shocks, Kerbal Space Program, Knights of Pen & Paper 2 (I'm sure Tim Knight from HeroPress just perked up), and Elite: Dangerous.

Well, this just seems petty and dangerous

I was reading an article on Vox last night about how a group of (now) six former eBay employees were arrested and charged for stalking and harassing a couple because they wrote critical things about the auction site in a newsletter.

No, seriously.

The “three-part harassment campaign,” as the DOJ described it, allegedly included sending the couple disturbing items including a pig mask, cockroaches, spiders, fly larvae, and a book about surviving the death of a spouse (both members of the couple were and remain alive). There was also allegedly an attempt to send a pig fetus, but the supplier apparently figured out that something strange was going on and didn’t fulfill the order.

Parts two and three of the alleged campaign included sending disturbing Twitter messages and listing the couple’s Natick, Massachusetts, home as a destination for swingers, and then going to their home to try to put a GPS tracking device on their car in August 2019. At this point, the couple became aware that they were being surveilled and called the police.

What in the actual fuck? All this because two people wrote articles that were critical of eBay (the newsletter covered several other online retailers as well)? What makes it all the more disturbing is how high ranking some of these people were. One was the head of the company's global resiliency department and another was senior director of safety and security. It also looks like it might have gone even further to the top because right around the time these people got caught, eBay fired their Chief Communications Officer.

It is somewhat surprising to me that eBay would be involved in this. They are, as far as internet companies go, fairly quiet. They don't make as big of a ruckus as say Amazon or Google. But I guess it just goes to show you that none of them can ever truly be trusted.

Expanding the ole blogroll

I'm looking to add more blogs to the sidebar, anybody got recommendations?

Musical Monday: Brandy & Monica - The Boy is Mine

Trump's latest executive order is bupkis

So yesterday, he of the spray on tan and of empty head issued an executive order aimed at social media because a) didn't like that Twitter fact-checked two of his tweets as being inaccurate and b) right-wingers think they're being oppressed by having their bullshit called out as bullshit. Right-wingers always think they're being oppressed. Idiots. In any case, this EO is about as effective as a fart in the wind because unless I'm mistaken EOs can't alter federal law.

And I'm not mistaken. It'll be squashed as soon as the first lawsuit comes before a federal judge. But that's not the point. This is just an attempt to distract everybody from Trump's incompetent handling of the coronavirus pandemic. If anything, this will probably last time we hear anything about this executive order from the White House.

(Not) Musical Monday: Jinger - Pisces (Live Session)

(Fair warning: Don't listen to this with the volume too high)

YOU too can own...a decommissioned control panel from a nuclear power plant?

Because that's certainly a thing that everybody would love to own. I'm sure it'll fit right in with your man cave decor.

h/t Warren Ellis.

Yeah, I don't feel bad for anybody who bought these "anti-5G devices"

They say there's a sucker born every minute and we have certainly seen that to be true over the past *checks notes* several thousand years. There must have been a population boom during the last presidential election. But we're not talking about that right now. Instead, the particular breed of stupidity that I'm highlighting today is the one that's leading a number of British people to buy a device that's supposed to protect against that fiendish, diabolical 5G. Yeah, some people have it in their head (helped along by the internet and presumably lead paint chips) that 5G is responsible for spreading and infecting people with the coronavirus. Never mind that it's literally not possible for that to happen, but again, there's a sucker born every minute.

Ars Technica has the story here, but basically it boils down to some company selling 128mb thumb drives with some technobabble that would make a Star Trek writer proud for $350. Oh well, maybe this will keep the dunderheads from setting fire to 5G towers which is a thing that inexplicably has happened over there.

I know, people are idiots.

But as I said in the title of this post, I have no sympathy for these morons. If they're gullible enough to be bilked out of their money - especially during a pandemic and economic downturn - then they deserve to be bilked out of their money.

James Bond has No Time to Die this April, will wait until November

So sayeth Polygon. The movie's release has been moved to this Fall due to concerns over the coronavirus.

Imagine spending almost three quarters of a billion dollars on a presidential campaign and only winning American Samoa

Michael Bloomberg could have bought over $600 million worth of American Samoan cookies from the Girl Scouts and it would have still been a better investment than trying to buy the presidency.

If nothing else, it was worth it just for the hilarity last night. What an absolute plank.

This is just the best headline ever

Good job, Polygon, good job.

No, *THIS* is the music that probably plays in Harley Quinn's head all of the time

Tim Knight posted on HeroPress the other day linking to the soundtrack for the upcoming Birds of Prey movie and joked that that was the music that probably played in Harley Quinn's head.

But he's very clearly wrong because we all know that this is what really plays in her head all of the time!