Tag Archives: Editorial

The Monetization of Geek Hate

Note: This Editorial is just Brian’s opinion. Not those of B42 at large (though they can speak up for themselves).

So, this showed up in r/StarTrek (and was yanked by the mods). The “news” site Giant Freaking Robot is hiring a staff writer where hating Starfleet Academy is a requirement. Look, I get it if you don’t like “NuTrek”. There are legit concerns about the writing, but this feels like we’re actively trying to destroy the stuff that brings us joy. It’s already well-established that social media is built around promoting hate. Getting people angry makes them comment and click.

Better, smarter people than I can probably comment on it. Heck, I should see if my buddy with a PhD in Sociology wants to dive into this.

This feels beyond “criticism” and moves into “angry manipulation”.

Continue reading →

Anime – A FAQ for Parents

I have been approached by some parents on occasion with a fairly complicated question:

“My kids are into anime and/or manga. What is it and what do I need to know so I can monitor what my kids are watching?”

The answer is complicated, and when I present it, it invariably provokes a lot of follow-up questions, so I’m going to present this as a sort of FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions. Hopefully this will clear up some of that confusion, and help parents make better decisions about their kids’ viewing material. Continue reading →

Evangelion 1.0 Isn’t Elgible For Oscar But Ponyo Is

Anime News Network is reporting that Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.0: You Are (not) Alone, the first film of Gainax’s Eva reset film trilogy is, unfortunately, not eligible for the Academy award for Best Animated Feature. According to the Acadamy’s rules, a foreign film is eligible for nomination for this year’s awards if it first opened outside the US after January 1st, 2008. However, Eva 1.0 opened on September 1st, 2007, and Funimation licensed the film around December. Ponyo, however, is elgible, meeting the requirements for US and Domestic release dates. Continue reading →

Comic Editorial – Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day through #600

Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel’s flagship comic title, has seen a lot of changes in the past two years. In the wake of One More Day, readers saw a status quo with some reintroduced elements of yesteryear, some new elements, and the lack of other recent elements. I’ve been behind on the reviews because most of what I have to say about them doesn’t fit neatly into our review formats, so here’s another editorial. (Note that this introduction concludes the spoiler-free portion of the article.)

Continue reading →