On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

For those who care: this is the tenth anniversary of the launch of Agents of SHIELD and the sixth anniversary of the launch of Star Trek: Discovery. That coincidence shared by two TV series that I favour is worthy of some celebratory attention.

I'm not sure what I think about the Inhuman angle yet. I would not be surprised, though, if Kamala Khan's power set were being modified for MCU purposes mainly because the management doesn't want Reed Richards' power set seen as a knock-off of hers.

https://screenrant.com/ms-marvel-show-art-kamala-khan-mcu-powers/

Searching and researching resumed this morning.

Although, to be honest, the job alerts I've subscribed to via Indeed, Jobilico, Workopolis and the Canadian federal job bank never stop, not even on statutory holidays. So I find myself spending at least an hour a day on weekends and holidays looking at those alone, no matter if I click on any links or not.

I went down to the ByWard Market on Sunday. It's been over a month since my last visit, and I worried that Globe Mags and Cigars and Mags Plus were both finally defunct. I am pleased to report that the first of these is still in business selling newspapers, magazines, and (not so pleased to say the same about) assorted smokeables and related gear. Google Maps tells me Mags Plus on Rideau Street - about a block or so east of ByTowne Cinema - is still active, and I wasn't about to push my luck by personally confirming that as well.

I was amused by the displays currently active at the LEGO Store at the Rideau Centre: the Disney Castle, a replica of a classic Adidas running shoe(!), the apartments of Friends, and a four-story Marvel-authorized Daily Bugle playset, with twenty-five figures of assorted Marvel characters. Both Spider-Men, Parker and Morales. "Spider-Gwen" AKA Ghost-Spider from Earth-65. Daredevil. Firestar. Even Spider-Ham! Venom, Carnage, Doctor Octopus (Otto, not Carolyn), Sandman, "Green Goblin" Osborn, and a few others. Probably runs to C$500 to take that one home, and Marvel fan though I am, I am not that fanatic nor anywhere near that wealthy.

Still waiting for the advisory to go to the pharmacy to get dose # 2. I'm on their e-mail list for this, so that notice should be soon. Perhaps before the end of the week?

Have received word from Lloyd Penney that there will be physical and online components to "Third Monday" tonight, the latter for those of us unable/unwilling to visit Orwell's in Toronto in person. This is good news, I think.

Hoping to see Black Widow next week, finances and health/safety rules permitting. I do continue to read the current ongoing comics series that inspired the movie. Both Natasha and Yelena are core cast members in the comic book series, which is currently set in San Francisco. You should be able to just drop in on the story arc in progress without too much trouble.

More as it occurs to me.

1. Writing workshop today was okay.

2. So was the refresher from Ottawa City Hall on urban planning basics. They hold this class every few months for whoever is interested. The online version over Zoom was as packed as the one I attended in person back in the winter of 2019-2020. (At least I think it was back then.)

3. Still haven't seen WandaVision. Still resigned to spoilers because Disney+. Sounds like I'm missing out on fun stuff. Oh well.

4. More as it occurs to me.

Yeah.

So this happened, apparently to one of the characters connecting those two Marvel teams.

Or at least, their existence was a connection between the two branches of the Marvel Universe until now.

Looks like this particular creative choice backfired, perhaps not unlike "One More Day/Brand New Day" backfired on the Spider-Man comics titles. We'll see what happens in the months and years ahead, I suppose.

Watched Black Panther on ABC tonight.

I am mildly surprised that they decided to not do commercial breaks for this showing. And I shouldn't have been surprised by that, not in today's context.

I am mildly annoyed by the removal of Shuri's middle finger moment. A small thing, but still...

I think Disney HQ got this mostly right tonight. But I don't and shouldn't get to have the last word on this point.

...around the noon hour here in Ottawa-Gatineau, we're still under severe thunderstorm watch as of this blog entry's writing. Probably of precipitation is forecast at 70 %. So, there's that.

Lunch is done, of course, and I'm back at checking job boards, and looking at news service websites.

And I've got two more Garth Ennis things to avoid. Both Punisher-related, of course, one of which will return also to his version of Nick Fury Sr., so...additional motive to avoid. I get that Ennis has a fan base. I used to enjoy the DCU title Hitman, after all.

But him and Marvel...no. Doesn't work for me.

Something that some of us were probably bracing to expect when we got the news that Agents of SHIELD was going to switch from 20+ episodes a year to 13 episodes as summer filler content for this year and the next:

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/agents-of-shield-final-season-7-abc-1203271790/

Next season is the end.

I suppose that, if any of the characters of Agents of SHIELD are allowed to survive the end of the TV series in any meaningful way, they might finally be permitted to join the ranks of the movie series' casts somewhere in the years ahead. The Feige/Perlmutter disputes might yet poison that hope, I fear. I'd much rather that they didn't.

...nor the worst. My lungs, sinus and throat might disagree again about that, of course. It hasn't been the first such occasion, nor will it be the last. I've been sticking close to home this weekend owing to those medical issues, one shopping expedition aside.

Got caught up on Agents of SHIELD, specifically "Principia". Interesting to see some of these loose ends from across what I still hope to be the first four years of the series: gravitonium (but where's Franklin Hall?), Werner von Strucker, Project TAHITI's consequences for Phil Coulson, and so on.

Not sure how much further I want to go into discussing the episode here, but for those interested in discussing it, I do expect spoilers in the comments.

I took a vacation day today. Mental health reasons, shopping reasons, family reasons, exercise reasons. Not going into the details of them, just making note that the reasons exist.

I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming last night. I had fun watching that for a lot of reasons. Sure, it's mildly annoying that this is the third version of the character to hit the movie theatres in the last decade. But since it firmly locks this version into the MCU, and for a lot of other reasons, I can be good with it.

In fact, I am very good with it. Some of those reasons for that mood?

Tyne Daly as Anne Marie Hoag.

(Feeling sad that Dwayne McDuffie didn't live to see that.)

Seeing Midtown High reworked as a specialty high school dealing in science and tech.

(I still felt uncomfortable with some of the high school stuff being no different from my day in the real world. *sigh* )

Spider-Man being part of the fabric of the Borough of Queens.

The first big twist midway through the show.

The surprise ending. Was NOT expecting that.

(Not the Avengers angle. The thing after that. Come back after you've seen it yourself and we'll talk about that.)

This is not a complete list of the good stuff.