Ooops, sorry about the double thread. Maybe King DAP can delete this. But yeah, looking forward to it!

[but it didn't strike me as intentional in any way]

To be honest, I had nary a single "racist" thought watching the film but only after that, when I read some stuff on the web and Twitter, did I hear people complaining about the lack of mutants of color and/or the cliched disposal of Darwin. Not sure how to take it. It's a sensitive subject and I can't tell someone else they're wrong to feel a certain way, but it didn't strike me as intentional in any way. On a related note, I was bummed that Darwin died so quickly because I would've dug seeing him use his powers more.

I didn't think it was intentional either. It seemed to me like they got rid of him because having someone of his power set might pose a problem later on. I just felt like it would've been good if they went another route with the whole thing, especially since X-Men is all about giving the oppressed minority a chance. But they were under a tremendous time pressure and to be able to make a film of that caliber in such a short amount of time is all sorts of amazing so there is that. But that said, I did like his death scene. I thought it was done well and it serves to focus the rest of the mutants.

And yeah, I also didn't want to see him die so soon. I would've loved to have seen him kick butt later in the movie. I was in total denial the whole time, telling my wife "no, he can't be dead, his whole thing is evolving to survive." I would like to see a deleted scene where he comes back to life.

I have to respectfully disagree with you on Moira though. Rose Byrne is a good actress, for sure (my wife and I watch Damages and enjoy it), but she's way too thin for my tastes, and seeing her in lingerie up against a room full of Playboy Playmate caliber women made her look like she hadn't eaten in 37 years.

I get what you mean. I'm not usually into thin women either but I don't know, there's something about her. Maybe because she was playing an X-Men character. For some reason, I really loved seeing her...

...with a gun shooting at Erik.

Same thing with Olivia Wilde, she's skinny and she doesn't even have boobies but me and my wife both love her.

Jason's on-again/off-again connection completely derailed my train of thought.

That didn't sound like fun Hope you guys have better luck in future episodes.

What's Carnage been up to these days anyway? Is it still Cletus or is he dead?

[Nazi-busting con men and magicians during WWII.]

Part of me was hoping it's Marvel's Hobgoblin but the description looks damn interesting.

Enter Hobgoblin. That is the HBO series being developed by Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman, which features Nazi-busting con men and magicians during WWII.

http://www.slashfilm.com/darren-aronofsky-direct-pilot-episode-hobgoblin-hbo-michael-chabon/

[No deals with the devil, please.]

You know, dissolving Spidey's marriage wasn't the worst idea in the world. I'd even argue that opened up some space to tell more stories. The problem was the execution.

Agreed. I think they could've told new and interesting stories without the Mephisting but it probably recharged the franchise and stirred up more creativity in the creators involved than just them having a meeting and saying "tell new and interesting stories with the same status quo."

I don't mind Lois and Clark's marriage going away. I just hope they don't do it in some horribly ham fisted way. No deals with the devil, please.

I think I'd be fine with the first page saying something like "it's a reboot, deal with it."

I love how the Aquaman dude actually rescued someone from drowning.

I haven't paid much attention to the NFL in a few seasons so some of the names are unfamiliar but I love the reasoning behind his picks. You can tell he's one of us because he left GL until last.

Oh wow, so they're gonna One More Day Superman too?

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2011/06/dan-didio-signals-the-end-of-the-clark-kentlois-lane-marriage/

Good for them

The Mithrios and Windshear Totem looks bad ass! Nice work!

[X-Men First Class spoilers!]

Nice movie talk at the start of the ep, love to hear more of it! I laughed when Jason mentioned Balki.

Karma to Vince for buying the kid the comic book.

3D comics hurts my eyes. Hopefully they figure out a better way of doing it with digital.

Loved the back and forth debate on Flashpoint. I haven't read it but I might have to side with Chris and Jason although it would be nice to have some sort of asterisk or note at the start telling the reader why certain things are the way they are.

Good to know that Jason liked X-Men: First Class. Azazel was awesome and I loved Kevin Bacon. There's a scene at the start with young Erik and a Nazi doctor and they're inside what looks like any regular office. At some point, the camera switches the view 180 degrees and it shows the audience...

X-Men First Class spoilers!

...the doctor's lab.

Does anyone remember that? That was a bit of an awesome surprise WTF moment even though they didn't do anything except to switch the camera view 180 degrees.

The stuff discussed in the spoilers is much better when you see it in the movie (while watching the whole movie as opposed to just a Youtube clip) than it is being told to you.

I totally agree with you guys though about the use of the f-word. They could've said 'piss off' or 'get lost' and it wouldn't have lessened the scene (in my opinion). And this is coming from a guy who curses like a drunken sailor. I'm fine with the use of the f-word in movies but it has to be used appropriately, not just because it sounds cool to adults or whatever.

Would've loved to hear everyone's opinions on...

X-Men First Class spoilers!

...the only black male mutant getting killed midway through the movie. Also Jason, how'd you like Kevin Bacon's death scene? That creeped me out in a good way.

Hey Vince, Moira MacTaggert was hawwwt in the movie, especially as she...

X-Men First Class spoilers!

...shoots Charles in the spine. And also when she sneaks into the Hellfire Club.

Not sure why she had to be American though. Meh, whatever. Hawtness overrules a lot of things.

He's pretty bad-ass himself, but then again, he's Danish so that's a given

I love him in Game of Thrones. That pic of him looks bad ass

I hope Fox doesn't jerk him around and he gets to do what he wants. And hopefully what he wants is something that us fans would like.

He looks a bit like the guy who plays Jamie Lannister in that pic.

Don't forget his role as Alexander "Alec" Trevelyan a.k.a. Agent 006 in Goldeneye.

Woo hoverbike! All it needs are some Tron Legacy neon lights. And Olivia Wilde.

In fact, forget the bike and the neon lights

I'm looking for a good freeware CD burner.  What are peoples favorites?  Bonus points if it will automagically convert flac files to something listenable on a cd player.

Thanks.

I'm a bit late but ImgBurn works great for what I need it to do. Not sure how well it does flac though, you might need an extra codec to get it to work. I did a search and this came up:

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/burn_flac_files_as_audio_cd_with_freeware.cfm

It might do what you need it to do.

you'll LOVE these:

Thanks! I'll send more karma your way once its been an hour I eat all this stuff up. Not having read the books (yet) it helps me understand who's who and where stuff happens. This relationship chart also helped get a handle on the different houses and the relationships between different characters.

I posted it a few pages back but I thought I'd repost in case others didn't see it. Very helpful stuff!

big map of westros:

Awesome! You sir get some much deserved karma

Imagine if the after credits scene for Cap featured Will Smith saying something along the lines of "aww hell naw, the first Captain America was black!"

Thanks for another episode! You guys continue to get top spot on my iPhone Oooh, X-Men: First Class. Did you watch it Vince? I thought you weren't feeling the superhero movies. In any case, I hope you guys liked it. I guess I'll find out when I get home and download this.