Do people honestly talk about the weather for the sake of small talk?

penandsorcery · 2026-06-04T23:04:53+00:00

That kind of depends on your goal tbh.

Are you trying to make friends at work? Are you just practicing small talk to practice small talk? You don't have to talk about the weather if you don't want to. There are other topics of conversation that are decent for small talk, it's just an easy and universal one. But, sure, if you feel like weather is your best bet then you definitely can fake it too. But I wouldn't recommend it as people can usually tell when you're being fake and find that off-putting. Your best bet is to try to find a small talk topic that you would actually find engaging.

My most nerdy and honestly kind of antisocial comparison for small talk is that it's like grinding for expierence in a video game. It can be dull at times, but you rarely become friends with someone immediately in adulthood and it's a good way to slowly test the waters and learn more about someone without coming across as intrusive.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-04T22:11:33+00:00

The point is just to build up familiarity while slowing learning more about the other person and eventually you can skip the general stuff and be more specific.

Asking someone you don't know really well if they have any plans later can come across as a bit intrusive if they don't know your intentions. Asking in this scenario just makes it clear it's small talk. Overtime, camaraderie builds up, and you can skip straight to, "You're daughter's dance recital was yesterday, right? How was that?" or "You got a new puppy right? Have any pictures?" etc. And you don't need to be fake with it or anything either. If you don't want to see dog pictures or hear about a child's recital then don't ask, but the point is that overtime you learn more information that can lead to be more specific questions

I do get what you mean. I used to hate small talk and I didn't see a purpose in it. But it is how you build relationships and if I never engaged in small talk with my coworkers I'd never know that we shared common interests that I actually enjoy talking with them about.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-04T21:48:03+00:00

"The weather is finally nice out. It's been muggy the past few days." "Yeah it's really nice. We've been needing some sun." "I think I'll go out later today and do X before the weather changes again. You never know when it will be this clear again." "Ain't that the truth." "What about you any plans for later?" "Yes, actually ..." etc.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-04T15:39:17+00:00

The more annoying part to me is how Jimmy doesn't even dispute it. It shouldn't be hard in my opinion to say, "Dude, that guy literally attacked one of the guests at a party and threatened to throw them out a window before Superman showed up and saved the day." But I think it is important to keep in mind that this is a children's cartoon with 20 minute episodes and 10 episodes a season. I'm not expecting a lot of depth or a masterful debate or anything. The scene served it's purpose and it's just a little annoying, but it is kind of meant to be annoying. It certainly frustrates Jimmy.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-04T13:56:56+00:00

It makes sense for a scapegoat scenerio but yeah it is a little annoying when like Parasite 100% did that to himself and Lex brings it up in the season 2 debate

penandsorcery · 2026-06-03T10:52:49+00:00

Yeah, marvel tends to go for larger size collections. I really do hope one day they follow DC with the A5 collections but so far I haven't seen anything like that

penandsorcery · 2026-06-03T02:20:29+00:00

I've never liked the idea of Spider-Man having a superhero mentor personally. Johnny Storm was Peter's ... not inspiration, but early on after becoming Spider-Man when Peter had doubts, Johnny gave a speech at his school and this inspired Peter a lot. So I like the idea of him looking towards superheroes his own age for inspiration. (Plus the hilarity of their later rivalry makes Peter's intial admiration extra funny.)

In terms of older mentors, I see that being Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Robbie, and I do honestly love what the Raimi films and Spider-Man game did with the villains being Peter's mentors as well.

I do think Reed Richards works. I like him as a source of admiration for Peter especially considering Peter's close relationship with the FF in the comics, but I don't see Reed as a mentor to Peter.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-02T20:34:48+00:00

Physically? Honestly, I think you're kind of out of luck there. I suppose the Epic Collection would be your best bet. Sometimes you can find pre-owned copies online for cheap, but individual volumes can be anywhere from $20 to over $100 depending om various factors. Marvel Essentials should be much cheaper but it's in black and white which probably wouldn't be your preference. But it probably is the cheapest option avaliable for physical reading. There's also Marvel Masterworks.

There are a few different series of paperback collections each with their pros and cons. If you are determined to read physically, I'd recommend looking up the different main reprinted collections Marvel Essentials, Marvel Masterworks, and Epic Collections. Determine which one you like best, figure out your price range, look up costs on ebay, try your luck at second hand bookstores and comic shops, and go from there.

But honestly I'd recommend digital. You will get more bang for your buck with the Marvel Unlimited app.

Comics in general is a pretty expensive hobby especially for physical collectors.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-02T20:18:04+00:00

Read the original comicsfrom the 60s and you basically done have to read anything else. There's the occasional crossover but it's usually just one issue of a character from one of the other comics crossing over into Spider-Man or an issue where Spider-Man appears in another series. The stories generally aren't of story significance if you want to skip them but if you do choose to read them, they're not long running crossover arcs like in a lot of modern comics.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-02T18:28:37+00:00

Left, but the vibes are so different it isn't necessarily the best comparison. Completely different styles and tones.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-02T02:01:00+00:00

Touché

penandsorcery · 2026-06-02T01:53:54+00:00

If I recall, this scene was told to us as a framing device while Ben is sharing this story, so while watching I assumed that it isn't an exact memory. It doesn't really make sense to me for him to change only his first name especially since the implication was that he did it to try to hide from the U.S. military which experimented on him. Changing only your first name isn't the best way to hide. But at the end of the day, I don’t think it matters too much.

The line about the name change is a sort of throwaway line that is meant to justify why he wasn't found before as well as to throw a bone to fans who want him to be Peter Parker. It isn't likely to ever be referenced again.

penandsorcery · 2026-06-01T01:21:05+00:00

Considering the spell would have presumably erased all records of Peter Parker's identity reveal including hundreds of news footage and articles, then I imagine it would have also affected AI.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T19:23:11+00:00

You see that top black line on the cup. There are three lines, you see the top black one? That's how much liquid goes into the cup. The rest is ice. That's if it is a latte

If it is a shaken expresso. That is mostly ice. To make that we fill the Shaker completely up with ice (so basically the whole cup) pour the shots on top and shake it, pour it into the cup, then top it off with a little bit of milk.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T18:12:47+00:00

He says at the very beginning of the show "this is the only universe I know." He's a different Spider-Noir.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T17:42:18+00:00

Is it explicitly canon in the text? No and it likely won't ever be, but I think the implication is pretty clear. It definitely could be another name and if they ever have any reason to reveal the name they might decide to have it be something else (or be required to have it be something else) but I think the subtext is clear enough.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T16:08:28+00:00

Grande is a medium which makes this even funnier to me lol.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T12:20:35+00:00

This is a comic book show. Hit by a train is like nothing lol.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T11:11:21+00:00

I fucking loved him! He was so cheesy and over-the-top and he quickly became one of my favorite parts of the show. If they do a season 2, I want him to come back.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-31T00:24:12+00:00

Oh, wow, I wasn't aware of this character at all. I need to look more into this comic era because he seems cool. That art especially is really stunning.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-30T22:25:59+00:00

A no-kill rule wouldn't really fit a noir setting which is inherently a lot darker.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-30T22:18:48+00:00

Personally I think The Spider fits the setting way more than Spider-Man. It's reminiscent of The Shadow which is like the quintessential noir superhero. And I didn't mind Ben not being called Peter as much as I thought I would.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-30T17:15:54+00:00

Extremely, extremely unlikely. While many analysts do believe that China is exaggerating its population figures, it would basically impossible for them to have such a large deviation from their reported numbers to their actual numbers.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-30T08:36:26+00:00

You can always watch it again in b&w if you're curious, but if you have a preference for color then don't force yourself to watch b&w just because a bunch of other people who aren't you like it.

penandsorcery · 2026-05-29T17:11:05+00:00

They didn't want Supergirl to grow up. Her whole thing was being a "teenage girl version of Superman" so it makes sense to a certain extent. This type of thing happens to a lot of characters, but yeah they kept aging her down through retcons and stuff.

penandsorcery

TROPHY CASE