[THE HELL… ?!] Fixing Problems That Didn’t Need Fixing

Since rebooting this blog (a process, I must say, that has been much simpler than rebooting the Sister Site) I have notice a few old standby posts that have fallen to the wayside. One of which is the The Hell… ?!, in which I rant about the crazy things I have seen or have happen to me. I’ve done only two of them since starting over.

Perhaps this is understandable. I was so much younger and slightly (very slightly) less handsome back when I started things here at Welltun Cares Presents. Not a lot shocks and outrages me any more. I may even have become jaded.

Other things that have dropped away are less understandable. For instance, ranting about how stupid Green Arrow is. This never grows old for me. As well as it shouldn’t, as it’s an ever fresh topic. Everyone should rant about how stupid Green Arrow is. At length. With passion.

It’s shocking more people don’t.

WHAAAA?!

In between these two points of obvious understanding and bewildering disbelief sits a third topic: My love for the comic book character Power Girl.

Talking about her wasn’t necessarily a big part of this blog. It’s not like I’m her biggest fan, after all. I have no action figures. I own one collection of her comics, which, I should add, was given to me as a birthday present. While I know a healthy chunk about her history, I can’t point to individual stories featuring her. In fact, calling myself a fan might not be wholly accurate. I might just like the concept.

That said, unlike with the The Hell… ?! series, where I debated not rebooting, I always considered going back to the Other Maid from Krypton. My problem was that for a while there was so very little new pictures going around. It seemed like DC was avoiding using the character.

Looking at the character over to the right, I can see two reasons why this might be. These days it seems the bigger the reasons, the less likely the character is used. And that’s a damn shame, considering how “tolerant” the world is supposedly getting with diversity.

Today, though, Constant Reader henrybrennan has solved two problems for me. He’s given me another The Hell… !? post AND a blessed reason to talk about Power Girl.

I give you this headline.

Really.

Really.

Let’s look at the new costume.

Now let’s look at the classic Power Girl costume again:

Huh.

Huh.

Now let’s look at Supergirl.

And again, Classic Power Girl.

And, again, that new costume.

Yeeeeeeeeyeah. Not really anything different there, is there?

Portrait of a man on the verge of losing a finger. Among other things.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s probably the best costume… oh God, as I’m typing this, I realized something. They’ve recently changed Power Girl’s secret identify to Paige, and I didn’t get why until just now. It was originally Karen, and now Karen has a nasty stigma to it.

Wow am I dense.

Anyway, nice costume. Not sure about the face, as it doesn’t seem to capture the attitude Power Girl has been known to have (should be more like the right, frankly). Though I do like it.

What I can’t see is how it’s any different a change from what she’s been known to wear. The character was already quite distinctive. And not just because of the usual two reasons.

I dunno. Maybe it’s me. Maybe if I was a paid journalist, I could see how the new costume does anything the old costume doesn’t.

Or, as I have admitted, I am dense. Maybe that’s it. Maybe if I studied both characters really hard, maybe then I’ll see and know better.

Yes! Yes, that’s what I’m going to do. An in depth analysis of the two characters.

Total focus, maximum effort! I got this!

You may never hear from me again.

[THE HELL…?!] What is the Point Of the Review, Then?

WordPress has gone all in with the AI. Not only does it have something that will write my posts for me (something I find interesting but repellent) it will also go through what I’ve written and judge me for it. This latter one is actually kind of useful and I might use more of it in future. The former I’ve used for material here and, again, it might be good to go to that well at another time.

What I will not use AI for is the writing of excerpts. There’s a little feature on my dashboard that will write the damn things for me, and to the last I’ve found them more useless than useful.

Here’s a sample, created from my Friday the 13th review (Spoilers for a 40+ flick):

“Friday the 13th” (1980), written by Victor Miller and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, follows a group of young people who attempt to reopen a doomed campground and are killed one by one. The lone survivor, Alice, eventually confronts the killer, Mrs. Voorhees, whose motive is revenge for her drowned son, Jason. The film, while not a cinematic masterpiece, is appreciated for its suspense and classic horror elements. Despite initial mixed reviews, the film is recognized today for its significant impact on the horror genre.

That’s basically my whole frickin’ review right there. Why would readers click on through to read more?

It spoils the damn movie, too. I give spoiler warnings over there for a reason, damn it.

Best of all, I told the thing the desired length was 50 words. That puppy up there? 85 words. So it’s also chatty.

I mean no matter the length I set it will ALWAYS go over. Always.

Do you want to know what a good excerpt looks like? Try this:

A group of young people make the mistake of trying to reopen the wrong campground.

That’s it. That tells you what the film is without ruining the experience. I could give the score, that would be okay. But whatever I do, at least I’m not stomping all over my review.

Geez. The Hell, man. The hell.

Furthermore: The excerpt for this post?

The author expresses mixed opinions on WordPress’s AI features, praising its ability to review posts but criticizing its automatic excerpt generator. The latter, they argue, drafts lengthy summaries that essentially spoil full reviews, and ignore set content length limits. They highlight a manually crafted, concise synopsis as a more desirable excerpt.

51 words. It’s like it’s trying to cheese me off.

Now fair’s fair. Here’s the AI Assistant reviewing what I’ve wrote up to this point:

The post content discusses the author’s mixed opinions on WordPress’s AI features. They appreciate the AI’s ability to review posts but criticize its automatic excerpt generator. The author argues that the automatic excerpts are lengthy and spoil the full reviews instead of enticing readers. They provide a concise, manually crafted synopsis as a better alternative.

Now that’s helpful.

[The Hell…?!] The Pot Sues Kettle?

I debated bringing this category back when rebooting this site. It had been so long since I came across something that made me go… the Hell…?! It didn’t seem worth the effort.

Then I found out something today.

There is a man out there by Demetrious Polychron. An author. Who is claiming Amazon and the Tolkien Estate plagiarized his works for the TV series Lord of the Ring: The Rings of Power.

Now this series has not gone over well. At all. So it is curious why anyone in their right mind would own to having any part of this. The things one does for their fifteen minutes of fame, right?

Only it gets better.

The novel Polychron claims got plagiarized? Is on sale at Amazon.

Wanna know what it’s about? Of course you do! Here’s the blurb in all it’s glory:

Long before Sauron, the original Rings Of Power were forged by the Elven Lord Celebrimbor and Dwarven smith Narvi in Eregion, near the Misty Mountains. These first magic Rings were far more powerful than those that came after and were corrupted by Sauron to be fought for in the War of the Ring.

Elanor, daughter of Samwise, is nervous before her debutante party in the Shire. In the 22nd year of the reign of the High King Elessar, the Blue Wizards return from out of the East bearing grave and perilous news: the rest of the Rings of Power have been found and they are in deadly danger. Thus begins the War of the Rings to End All Wars of the Rings. Before it is over Elves, Hobbits, Dwarves, Men and magical races long forgotten or never seen before will join the Quest to find Celebrimbor’s originals and the last of Sauron’s corrupted Rings of Power.

Elanor, two Hobbit friends, the Crown Prince Eldarion, his Elvish uncles Elladan and Elrohir join the Wizards Alatar and Pallando in a war across Middle-earth fighting for their lives. If they fail, they will witness the return of the Vala Morgoth, the source of Evil and former Master of the long-defeated Sauron. With all the Rings of Power at his command, Morgoth will enslave the whole of Middle-earth – forever.

The mind BOGGLES! Not only is this nothing like the Amazon show, it is, in fact, an unauthorized sequel to a classic work of fiction!!! On sale for almost $12!!!!!

The Hell?!