The Queue: New Elysium

I am on record as loving Celldweller and New Elysium is on repeat lately.

I know I haven’t been around much lately and I’m sorry for that, but honestly, you’re probably a little bummed to get me this week instead of whatever cool thing Liz was going to do. I guess I could talk about a dinosaur or something, but really who cares?

It’s the Queue. Anyone who can guess what that header image is all about will get one free dinosaur fact in next week’s Queue.

I blame Red Letter Media.

No, seriously. And not just them, either — Cinema Sins, the Angry Video Game Nerd, and other online critics made over the top, almost histrionic levels of hate for media into their bread and butter and in the process poisoned the well for the next fifteen or so years. Now, comedic and over the top criticism has its place, but in the end, how many screaming manchildren did we really need to tell us how bad the things we enjoyed actually were until we could no longer enjoy anything? Not as many as we got.

In general, with so many people out there trying to caber toss their most frothing scorn for a children’s movie, a backlash was inevitable, and just like the thing it was a backlash to, it went too far in the opposite direction. Now we have The Neckbeard Menace screaming invective about how having a woman as a lead character in a movie about space wizards and laser swords was unrealistic while other people who just didn’t like the movie’s pacing were decried as trolls.

I mean, I liked The Last Jedi for the Luke and Rey scenes, but man, every time Oscar Isaacs showed up I wanted to punch him. He was like a sucking chest wound to the movie’s pacing. And he gave Laura Dern no respect. Laura Dern. I don’t care who Laura Dern is pretending to be in your movie, you do not disrespect her.

So yeah, I blame Red Letter Media.

I’m 53 and I still prefer a new video game to a NATO field pack, so I guess it’s just you?

It’s gonna have to go pretty hard to beat what I thought was going to happen, but I’m interested to see if it makes it.

What? I like Star Wars and I like fun TV shows.

Screaming and train noises.

Okay, Red. I want you to take your phone out, switch the camera input so that it’s showing you your own face, and then look at your scalp. Do you see something like this?

Okay. So that is what you see? Okay, that’s why.

Don’t worry. They’re mostly benign, save for how they make you play a Paladin even though you already know that you’ll hate every second of it.

Still one of my favorite comics of all time.

Take care, everyone. Hug your loved ones while you can.