Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the It’s A Stampede! newsletter. It’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it?
Yep, I’ve not published an edition of the Newsletter for about a month and this is largely because I am knee-deep in blockbuster season (more about that in the next Newsletter), which means I’ve been somewhat busy. At the moment, I seem to spend most days at the cinema, and when I’m not there and I’m not writing various articles for It’s A Stampede!, I’m trying to enjoy the random bits of sun we get between June and July in the UK.
Anyway, the purpose of this edition of the Newsletter is to update you on what I’m doing behind the scenes, to prove I’m a fully-rounded human being, and not someone who just watches films and pumps out blog content. Although, I’ve probably failed in this assignment, as here I am pumping out yet more stuff for you to read.
Ah, well.
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The TV journey continues
In previous editions of the Newsletter I’ve spoken about my efforts to a.) catch up on TV shows, and b.) rinse the various streaming services for all they are worth. Well, this has continued over the last month and I have been working my way through various shows – or trying to anyway.
On Disney+ I watched Punisher: One Last Kill, which was fine, but I felt like it was a bit pointless; Echo, which was a bit hit and miss; and I’m about to star The Doomies, which I know nothing about. I’ve also started Season Two of X-Men ‘97, which is excellent.
Meanwhile, on Prime Video I recently finished Spider-Noir, which was impressive, although I’m not entirely sure it was for me; and I’m almost at the end of Clarice, which is a short-live TV spin-off of The Silence of the Lambs. Clarice is fine at times, and I can see it is trying, but something isn’t quite working and it is pretty clear why it was ultimately cancelled after a single season.
I’m also in the process of re-watching The A-Team which has recently been added to Prime. If streaming services want to keep me using their service instead of hopping to another one, then they need to be adding classic shows like this, as old shows from yesteryear are largely what keep me viewing.
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Read all about it!
Outside of TV I’ve been continuing to dive back into comics, with X-Men being my current obsession. And I do mean obsession.
Marvel is pumping out multiple X-Men titles each month, like it’s the 1990s, and I’m readily gobbling up comics with careless abandon. I’m currently reading X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Inglorious X-Force, Wolverine, X-Men ‘97, X-Men: Outback, and X-Men Unlimited.
For the most part right now, if it’s an X-Men comic and it’s an enjoyable read, then I am on board. My wallet is less happy about this situation.
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Take-my-breath-away
Speaking of X-Men, with X-Men ‘97 back on screens, fast food restaurant, Dave’s Hot Chicken currently has an X-Men ‘97 tie-in promotion which includes a meal & an X-Men ‘97 toy.
It’s a limited edition thing with four toys to collect, including mini-figures of Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, and Jean Grey. The toys are blind bagged, so presumably you get what you are given, although they may rotate each week I honestly don’t know.
Anyway, being a 44-year-old child of the ‘80s, who will buy any old crap if it’s part of a fast food tie-in, I felt compelled to get my ass to Dave’s Hot Chicken to check it out. To create some drama and tension I’d like to say this was an epic journey, where I had to traipse across the city in the blazing hot sun, but in reality I live a five minute walk from a restaurant.
It was my first experience of Dave’s Hot Chicken, and I have to say the food was fairly pleasant. But pleasant enough or not, it was still ruddy expensive.
Drinks don’t come as part of the meal (Dave knows how to get you there), so for the X-Men ‘97 meal (chicken and chips) plus a drink, it was an eye-watering £15.98. Rather expensive indeed.
I’m presuming this meal is supposed to be aimed at kids, but how kids are expected to afford this kind of thing is beyond me. How parents are supposed to pay for it either is another puzzle.
Anyway, there are four toys to collect and I got Wolverine. I can safely say I won’t be going back for the other three, but for a brief afternoon I got out of the house and ate some fast food.
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Blogging on
The above pretty much covers all my free time over the last month (other than some dog walking). Outside of this I’ve been updating It’s A Stampede! on a daily basis.
If you’ve been following the blog recently you’ll know I’ve written various discussion pieces, including ‘Why critics and audiences see movies so differently‘; ‘The X-Men characters who deserve their own spin-off show‘; ‘Supergirl is the internet’s latest punching bag‘; and ‘Do audiences want the ’80s – or just movies that look like the ’80s?‘. These posts, and a number of others, are long-form articles which have something to say, and are worth your time if you fancy a read.
More of these will be popping up on It’s A Stampede! just as soon as the frequent trips to the cinema calm down. And as mentioned above, I’ll be talking about the summer blockbuster season very shortly, so be sure to look out for the next edition of the Newsletter.
Until then, enjoy the sun-times and fun-times of the summer.
Alex
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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this Newsletter. For more posts be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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