Crud, forgot to post this on Halloween week. Well, better late than never.
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In 2026, the word “gypsy” carries so much negative connotation that DC Comics has to rename one of their characters and Mystery Science Theater 3000 changed their robot’s name to “GSP” to keep her familiar. True, the word has been used as a racial slur against the Romani people, but only in a part of Europe most of us have only heard of. If we were discussing the Cher song “Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves”, which frankly would make a good entry in this series, I’d dig into that more. For the purpose of this review, however, let’s use the way most of us did before our current culture of the easily offended, even when that particular person isn’t part of the group that should be offended.
For me growing up in the US, the “gypsy” was a traveller, possibly a travelling performer. The term usually refers to free spirits, which is how Stevie Nicks was using in the song “Gypsy”. Originally planned for one of her solo albums, it instead ended up on Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 “Mirage”, and became one of the singles from that album. Nicks would make her own music but still served as Fleetwood Mac’s lead singer at the same time, part of her up and down relationship with Lindsey Buckingham. We’re going to ignore the drama, but uncovering the story behind this song and what it’s about requires mentioning him because he’s part of it.
Sadly, there’s also a note of tragedy as one her friend’s is also an inspiration for the song…due to a terminal illness. The song is thus a reflection of her time with two important people in her life, though not necessarily about either of them. Check the lyrics and I’ll explain.
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Yes, it’s probably AI pretending to be anime. I like the story, but the presentation shows we’re still technologically behind. Assuming it was written by a human, though.
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(l) Mass Effect Universe protagonist
(r) Stormtrooper from Star Wars Battlefront 3
Over the weekend, a report was released stating that EA, formerly Electronic Arts, had to choose between two big and failing sci-fi video game franchises to push…and I’m sure there’s a lot of debate going on if they chose wisely. This tweet from Pirat_Nation summarizes, since their source is behind a paywall. There’s something fitting about that, given EA’s recent actions elsewhere.
According to Bloomberg’s investigation, EA decided to prioritize a new Star Wars multiplayer game instead of continuing development on the next Mass Effect.
Star Wars won: EA had two major sci-fi projects competing for investment, each expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Mass Effect was cancelled: EA chose Battlefront 3, believing Star Wars was a safer investment.
Was it, though? It could be. I haven’t played any of the Star Wars: Battlefront games and I only had a chance to partly play the first Mass Effect, so I can’t speak to which is superior as a game or even as a story. This is the view of an outsider looking in and doing some research, so take my perspective for what it is. Still, as fans rally around #SaveMassEffect and I don’t know anyone who is a massive Battlefront fan personally, it’s an interesting bit of information. Both games have leaked trailers because both games were cancelled during production. The more I read, though, the more curious the choice becomes to me.
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I don’t think Gunn is stupid. Naive, maybe, but it’s more like all he cares about is the stuff he makes. It’s only canon so he can work with the same people. Look, DC is my favorite superhero universe and I’ve seen it dismantled in comics, movies and cartoons for around a decade now and it hurts everytime some new fail pops up.
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Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.
Last week we lost both Walter Koenig (Chekov) and Patrick Stewart (Picard), and I’m in the middle of a novel that features neither of them. That also means that of the original cast (not counting the pilot) the two actors remaining really don’t like each other. That’s kind of sad. Hopefully both Shatner and Takei are doing well.
Also last week, Sendet insisted he didn’t beam up anything from the planet, despite being seen there. I’m not convinced, but I don’t know if it’s because I don’t like the jerk (which is still a better opinion that Caroline from the comments has, but she’s not wrong) or if I’m remembering something from my original read, or if the evidence still points to him and currently nobody else.
This week’s chapter is a shorter one, and I kind of skimmed the first page while seeing what to tease for this week’s article, and things are not going to go well. Given that we’re only half way through the novel that should be expected. We didn’t set up things just to have Kirk and crew drop off the T’Vet followers and come back without incident. It wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting just focusing on the medical drama. Although…a medical sci-fi drama could be an interesting exploration. Someone who likes science fiction and medical dramas (please do not use sci-fi to “prove” your preference for medical dramas are superior, or you’re part of the current problem in entertainment and thus will ruin a good idea) needs to get on that. As for us, we need to get back to this.
