The Week That Was 120222

Twitter tumult, trading cards, shameless plugs

Twitter Tumult

If you're on social media and/or paying even a little attention to the news, you know things on Twitter are...not great. Amidst massive layoffs and resignations involving, reportedly, critical engineers and technicians that know how to keep key functionality running and some questionable management decisions regarding security, bots, trolls, and hate speech, there's plenty of reason to abandon ship outright and/or prepare for the imminent collapse of the platform. 

I'm still there (@AustinGorton), doing my thing, but I've also branched out onto a few other platforms, mostly to stake a claim now ahead of Twitter's demise as we wait to see which site, if any, rises up to take its place. Hive seems like a pretty close comp and a lot of Star Wars and comics Twitter has setup there, but it currently lacks a desktop application and is reportedly being kept running by just a couple guys (which, to be clear, is an impressive feat given the influx of new users), if it's running at all (they shut down their servers to deal with some security issues and haven't fired them back up, as far as I know). Mastodon is basically a slightly more complex Twitter with stronger infrastructure than Hive (thanks in part to being crowd-sourced). In my experience, it seems like it's the preference of the more tech savvy and political Twitter evacuees.  

I have accounts on both, and update both frequently but irregularly (right now, I'm still using Twitter most of all). I also jumped onto Instagram (more on that below), a move I long resisted because it's emphasis on pictures didn't really appeal to me (I'm a words guy) and because it always seemed like the hip social media platform of the youths at a time when I was not one. Now, I'm even less of one, but the youths have moved to stuff like TikTok (and other platforms my old ears probably haven't even heard of). 

At any rate, feel free to look me up on any of those platforms and hang out while we watch Twitter burn. 

Mastodon: @AustinGorton@mstdn.social

Hive: @AustinGorton

Instagram: @AustinXGorton

I'm also on Letterboxd. And have a link tree setup with all this stuff and am doing my best to keep it updated. 

Trading Cards

This week, I started tweeting out a trading card a day from Marvel Universe Series 3. I will continue to do so for as long as Twitter is around, but beginning with the first card of this set, I also started double posting on Instagram. Should Twitter disappear out from under us, Instagram is where I'll continue posting trading cards, and will at least have the full extent of Series 3 available there (vs. starting at some random point). 

Despite my Instragram misgivings, I went with that as my Trading Card A Day backup in part because it is so image-focused (and what are the trading cards if not a collection of little pictures?). But also, because neither Hive nor Mastodon appear to be integrated with any third-party posting apps, which I need to use to schedule the posts in advance so I don't have to do them twice or every day.  

So follow along on either or both, and just know that if we wake up one day and Twitter is gone, the trading cards will still continue on Instagram (I'm also thinking of some ideas to celebrate the 60th anniversaries of both the X-Men and Avengers next year, and whatever I come up with, will be featured on both sites for as long as there are two sites). 

Shameless Plugs

Just ahead of the Andor finale, for Polygon I wrote about the show's depiction of the Empire and what it means for future Star Wars stories. 

Over at Shelf Dust, I wrote about Avengers #197, a seemingly-innocuous downtime issue featuring some classic Bronze Age Avengers bits (Beast and Wonder Man palling it up! Bureaucracy!) that masks a fairly regressive view of women and motherhood as it starts the buildup to the terrible Ms. Marvel story in Avengers #200. 

Also, I wrote up a Game of Thrones watch order for Popverse. 

What Else?  

What I'm Reading

Shelf Dust began unveiling their list of the top fifty comic book events of all time this week, compiled from the top 10 lists submitted by over 150 critics (including me). At some point I'll probably post the ten I submitted. 

The first two issues of IDW's new Star Trek series have been a blast (issue #2 came out this week). As a big DS9 fan, I love seeing the return of Sisko (it is set three years after the end of that series, and opens with Sisko returning from his time with the Prophets), and the main cast is a great mix of characters from across the franchise. 

What I'm Playing 

I managed Marvel Snap last week; if you're playing (or thinking about playing), check out this article from my friends at Comics XF (I didn't contribute to this one, as I hadn't started playing the game yet. 

The last couple of years my oldest son and I have done duel Lego advent calendars, him the City one and me the Star Wars. I've been tweeting/Instagramming each day's pull as well. 

What I'm Watching 

I enjoyed the first two episodes of the new Willow series; it felt good to revisit that world and those characters, and to have a fantasy series that is first and foremost fun to watch. It is making some stylistic choices I'm not sure are working terribly well, but I do at least appreciate that they're making them, as it helps set the show apart from all the other fantasy stuff that's been streaming of late. 

And, of course, with the Christmas music comes Christmas movies; I'm a Christmas Story guy, but we watched Home Alone last weekend and are doing Muppet Christmas Carol (easily my favorite Muppet movie) with my oldest son this weekend. What are some of your Christmas must-watches?