Entertainment Stew

Entertainment Stew LLC is a media production company that specializes in the application of philosophy to entertainment. Entertainment Stew produces original content that showcases these ideas. From putting producing original content such as documentaries and short films, to completing various videography and photography contracts/events for a multitude of clients, to even presenting at academic conferences and fan conventions.

[entertainmentstew]

The Future Of: Spider-Man (Again!)

By Anisha Koilpillai

It has been over a year since I first started the series and have since quickly lost my way through my graduate program. But, fear no more! I am back with the second installment of “The Future Of.” You can check out the first version here.

Now, I know I should probably talk about something else. But, I recently saw some rumors about the second installment of Insomniac’s Spider-Man series! However, these just turned out to be completely untrue and have no basis. So, why am I talking about something that is clearly fake?

Well, despite the lack of veracity, the person in charge does have great ideas for a sequel. Rather than focusing on how they are fake, I will talk about how Spider-Man 2 could potentially incorporate some of these elements.

Some of the things mentioned in this supposed leak include:

New York in winter with weather mechanics including storms

Mysterio and the Green Goblin as villains

A playable Miles Morales as Spiderman

Q4 2021 release

These are all interesting things in a way. For example, the first game did not have different weather mechanics. Having a variable environment could prove to add more to gameplay. For example, heavy snow can make movement and fighting mechanics a little more difficult, whereas this wouldn’t be the case on a clear day.

Mysterio and the Green Goblin are both excellent villains to have in the game, especially knowing that Norman Osborn is a man who would do anything to save his son, potentially causing him to become the next Venom. That can easily seal him to make an appearance as the Green Goblin in the second game. Moreover, with Mysterio’s recent appearance in the MCU, there is enough momentum to include him in the second game.

As I stated in the first “The Future Of” post, I think that Miles Morales will be playable as Spider-Man. These rumors say so as well. There is clearly popular fan support for the idea of a playable Spider-Man Miles Morales. We got to see how Miles became Spider-Man in the first game; it makes sense that we get to experience him learning the ropes in the second game.

So, even those these rumors are fake, what else could we potentially see if we pretend, for just a second in this quarantine, that there is some truth to the rumors? Obviously, with the wealth of villains we saw in the first game, either Insomniac will have to include more than just Mysterio and the Green Goblin (the reappearance of Fisk? Venom teaming up with the Green Goblin? someone else, like the Chameleon?). Moreover, we need some follow-ups for the DLCs of the first game. What’s Felicia up to? Will we see a reappearance of Yuri, this time fully embracing the Wraith persona? Hopefully, Insomniac indulges us with these two things: a hodgepodge of villains and a continuation of the DLCs from the first game.

Of course, these are just a few things that could happen in Spider-Man 2. What else would you all like to see?

All photos can be attributed to Sony Interactive Entertainment and Insomniac Games

[entertainmentstew]

73. Rise of the Bloody Moon

“The Six Diseases: The desire for victory, The desire to resort to technical cunning, The desire to display all that has been learned, The desire to awe the enemy, The desire to play the passive role, The desire to get rid of whatever disease one is affected by.” ― Bruce Lee

With everyone around her, either dead or unconscious Santana Samoon must step up to the plate and take on the hardest challenge in her life.

The stage is set: Santana vs. The Drakewolf

Check out our sponsor for the episode: Found Familiar Coffee, the official coffee provider of World of Vala! Use coupon code “Estew” at checkout and you’ll get 10% off your purchase there!

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We would love to thank Tabletop Audio and Wingless Seraph for the amazing music found in the ‘World of Vala.

[entertainmentstew]

Streaming Pick of the Week: The Boys

By John Magee

I wasn’t sure what kind of show I was going to be watching when I first turned on Amazon Prime’s original show “The Boys”, I’d seen the trailers for it so I knew it was a dark take on superheroes but other than that and the show’s R rating I didn’t really know what I was in for. This is a problem “The Boys” solve very quickly into their pilot episode.

The show opens on Hughie, a salesman at what is essentially the show’s version of a Best Buy. His workday is interrupted by the arrival of his girlfriend Robin and the two flirt and discuss the possibility of moving in together. The camera cuts to a close-up, slow-motion shot of Hughie’s face which is suddenly covered in blood, the audience then sees that Robin is now a fine mist of blood and guts, and a man in a blue superhero uniform stops, comments on how he has to keep running and super-speeds away. The show then follows Hughie’s journey to finding closure for Robin’s death and hopefully holding the hero who killed her responsible.

It was in this scene that I finally understood “The Boys” for the first time and became completely hooked by it. This show is an attempt to show what a world with superheroes in it would really look like, there have been dark and gritty takes on superheroes like the Watchmen, and some of the early DCEU movies focused on how our world would view and possibly corrupt superheroes but “The Boys” isn’t trying to do anything like that which is why it is so interesting. For as dark as this show gets it is often more a dark comedy than gritty realism.

This is best exemplified by comparing this show with HBO’s Watchmen series, even though the show hasn’t even aired yet there are clear themes that will be important in the show. What is the role superheroes play in this society and should they continue to serve in that role or leave policing to the institutions? What happens when those institutions fail to police people justly? Both very serious questions that can be asked of a world with superheroes in it, but this is where “They Boys” differs from other “dark” takes on superheroes.

It doesn’t have an overall message it just creates a world where people have powers and it looks at what might naturally happen next. Despite not having an overarching message through the show “The Boys” does bring up relevant social issues. Superheroes are celebrities in the show and when an aspiring young superheroine Annie is asked to join the seven we learn a little about the pageant life that young girls with powers can get sucked into. When Annie does finally make it to the big leagues of superheroics and joins “The Seven”, this shows version of The Justice League, her first experience of being in the group is a sexual assault where she is coerced into having sex with another team member, a moment that has been heavily influenced by the recent Hollywood sexual assault scandals.

Overall “The Boys” is an interesting, often disturbing, and incredibly captivating show that is much closer in tone to something like Game of Thrones as opposed to the Avengers, it certainly a show I will keep my eye on for any future seasons.

[entertainmentstew]

Lethe Concept art by @alienaunt 🎬🎥 #LetMakeAMovie #Preproduction #philosophy #movieproduction #mixmediaart #mixmedia #commissionsopen #conceptart #art #artistsoninstagram #Aesthetic #blackfilmmakers #blackartist #detective #drawing #digitalart #entertainment #Estew #EntertainmentStew #filmnoir #filmcompany #graphicdesign #graphicart #hispanicartist #Movie #webseries #Youtube https://www.instagram.com/p/BuHiSfRAuyo/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=lz5geze0av77

[entertainmentstew]

AC Odyssey: Shocking DLC Revelations

By: Anisha Koilpillai

Photo is my own from Odyssey’s photo mode.

Warning: Slight spoilers for the main events of the game, major spoilers for the second episode of the Legacy of the First Blade DLC. For this article, I will be talking in terms of Kassandra, as that is the protagonist I am playing for Odyssey.

Note: This is one of many angry articles about the DLC. Ubisoft has issued an apology (which I frankly do not accept, as it is a ‘you’ll see why this happened’ apology), and you can see the various endings to the episode here

ASSASSIN’S CREED ODYSSEY touted itself as a game where you can choose to play your character by whatever sexuality you wanted. My Kassandra is bisexual with a preference for women. She’s turned down both men and women, but honestly, she’s slept with so many people that decent people everywhere would be offended (slight reference to the Office there).

First, let’s just talk romance in general. Odyssey is a game that creators said was influenced by Bioware’s romance-option filled games. However, romance in Odyssey is generally seen as nothing more than a distraction, which to me, is a huge disappointment in itself. I was hoping for romance with a companion or something. Even if the person does not join the crew, it would not be a stretch for Kassandra to visit them from time to time. Most romantic escapades even end in betrayal and/or death. Ultimately, I was left feeling like Kassandra could only be happy alone. That is fine in and of itself, because really, no one person needs another person to make them happy. But, with how tragic Kassandra’s story, a happy ending with a romantic partner (again, preferably a woman for my canon) would have been nice. But, I accepted that Kassandra would just continue her story alone.

However, this all collapsed with the release of Shadow Heritage, which is the second episode of the Legacy of the First Blade DLC.

In the first episode, they seemed to set up a heterosexual romance. This was confirmed in the second episode. No matter what option you choose, you end up in this romance. With a son. Granted, the son is cute, and Kassandra makes a great mother (which, again, made me a little happy because it is what I wanted for Kassandra). It just did not happen in the way I wanted or with whom I wanted. Further, the fact that, again I will repeat, no matter what option you choose, you get this ending, is really bothering. You can say goodbye!!!!! But, you’ll still end up settled down with a kid. That is crazy to me. First of all, what if people were playing their characters as gay? This just completely puts that in shambles. It’s sort of a big “eff you” to the fans. You can’t just promote a game saying you can play the protagonists with whatever sexuality you want, only to release a storyline where the protagonists end up in a heterosexual relationship. That is a huge stab in the back to the fans.

I almost got sick when I saw the scenes play out and read all about how people did not pursue the romance options, yet they still got trapped into those relationships. It is really disturbing to me. That is likely because I am very dramatic. But, this dramatic person believes that all sexualities are valid and that for a company to tout such a thing, Ubisoft really swept the rug out from under the fans’ feet. And that isn’t cool.

Ubisoft says that all will be explained in the third episode, which will likely be released in 6 weeks. While I am eager to see their explanation for this, I am really disappointed with this new development. In a time where many LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination all over the world, many turn to video games as a safe haven, particularly those role-playing games where you can have your character follow your own sexuality and not face discrimination over it (granted, I’m sure not all RPGs are like this, but in Dragon Age at least, there was no overt discrimination about sexuality to my knowledge). Fundamentally, this development was a huge blow to many LGBTQ+ fans of the game, myself included.

[entertainmentstew]

Today in Entertainment History: January 6th

[entertainmentstew]

The year is 2019 and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and Toby Fox collaborated for Kenny's WK main event entrance.

Two of Enterrainment Stew's favorite things. Sign us up!!

[entertainmentstew]

Anisha's 10 Favorite Video Games Played in 2018

By: Anisha Koilpillai

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Ubisoft, downloaded from the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Video games have really been my way to relax in my spare time. Grad school is stressful, yet I made sure to find time to play video games to better my sanity. Here is a list of my 10 favorite games I played in 2018, in no particular order.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

The Wolf Among Us

Telltale’s The Walking Dead series

Detroit: Become Human

Quantum Break

The Witcher 3

[entertainmentstew]

Today in Entertainment History: December 28th

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Today in Entertainment History: December 27th

[entertainmentstew]

One of the most popular npcs in 'The World of Vala.'

Avery Pheonix, medic-knight and the wielder of Godhand.

(Art by @alienauntie )

[worldofvala]

Visit Original Link

In this clip from Episode 7 of the World of Vala. Avery Pheonix and Adesina Talon’s training session begins to heat up as Adesina witnesses the might of ‘The Dragon.’ 

‘The World of Vala’ is a homebrew tabletop podcast. New episodes are released every Wednesday. 

Itunes

Castbox

The World of Vala Landing Page

[entertainmentstew]

Pathfinder Kingmaker: 25 Hour Impression

By Derrick Jean-Baptiste

So it’s been nearly a week since Pathfinder Kingmaker and in that time I have gotten over 25 hours on about 6 different characters. I have played almost every race and I have exhausted a lot of the dialogue options in the first part of the game.

In my nigh endless time of re-rolling characters I have gotten a good idea on the overall story arc of Pathfinder Kingmaker. The overall arc is of starting a community that grows into a kingdom in a relatively untamed wilderness, with ever growing threats. Yet admitteldy the futhest I have gotten is exploring the Stolen Lands, killing a bandit leader and establishing a communitty.

The biggest issue in the game that I have encountered is the difficulty, particularly in the early levels. The devs spend a lot of time talking about how they're sticking to the pathfinder system, but then throw enemies with ACs in the high 20s at you at level 2.

There is a fight in a location called The Old Sycamore. These fights can feel honestly unbearable on higher levels. At some point I realized that the trash felt equal in strength to my party, and I was having to expend way too many resources during and after fights. I also didn't have a full party yet for multiple reasons, but all of this was on normal. I was geared as well as could be expected. That was frustrating but you can slog your way through eventually. What tips the scale into rage territory is the absurdly insane difficulty spikes. The favorite everyone uses is the Treant-Bear you have to kill. You'll clear the other monsters fairly easily, then get to a bear that you're expected to fight at level 2-4 with high DR, and AC in the upper 20s or lower 30s, who can rip your tank apart about as fast as you can spam your few heals. They needed this fight, but there will be plenty of fights like this where you'll feel you're doing ok and then run into a non-optional fight that just destroys you.

In terms of personal preference, I think the combat was done wrong in this game. I think the game should've used more of a Divinity Original Sin type of combat since Pathfinder is inherently a turn-based RPG. As you gain levels you gain so many abilities and spells with certain classes that you have to slow the game down and micromanage even during some lower level combat. Difficulty issues aside, the RPG aspects feel fun, the writing is above average but nothing amazing (some great things mixed with some jarring writing, particularly character dialogue that feels weird), and while I enjoy the kingdom management i don't feel I've gotten enough into it to give a proper account. Overall I recommend it if you were really interested in it before. If you're interested but ok on passing, it's still worth the but but you might also wait a couple weeks for them to do another round of two of patching. Once (if?) they sort out if the difficulty issues the game will be a B+ for me, assuming the rest of the mid game and late game don't nose dive.

[worldofvala]

Visit Original Link

Welcome to ‘The World of Vala!’ Here is a short lore primer for the entire world. With this knowledge, you will have a basic level of understanding of a history that is known by all within this world. 

The World of Vala is a unique tabletop podcast. Within this world, the player characters are not the heroes. The world doesn’t revolve around them, in fact, the world persists without them. So listen as our large cast of characters attempt to survive in the Harsh World of Vala.

[entertainmentstew]

Here is the blog of our tabletop podcast! The podcast can be found on multiple platforms including Castbox and Itunes

[entertainmentstew]

Entertainment Stew had a wonderful opportunity to cover “Jonathan Baptiste and the Urban Intellectuals’ at the 2018 Jacksonville Jazz Festival’ 

Check out an article featuring the jazz group here

[entertainmentstew]

D&D Modules in Video Games

By Derrick Jean-Baptiste

We at Entertainment Stew have really gotten into Tabletop gaming(check out our homebrew tabletop adventure The World of Vala). I enjoy the basic structure immensely, the very detailed and vast shared world that you can just exist in.

Within these worlds, players are able to experience all sorts of smaller stories and adventures in that universe. I’ve always been a bit disappointed that such a thing never took off in video games. Video games have never achieved what I’d like to call “horizontal adventuring,” with many similar games exploring different stories in the same setting.

In most cases, video games have “linear adventuring” i.e. sequels, but the subsequent games vary much in technology and game mechanics that you can’t get that feeling of “many adventures in the same universe.

Of course, what I’m referring to here are often called “campaign settings” in tabletop RPGs. Some examples (from D&D) are Blackmoor, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, etc. The main purpose a campaign setting is to provide a backdrop tying the different adventures/modules of a campaign together, giving players a place to sell their loot, buy new items, and train between adventures.

Read the entire article at Entertainmentstew.com

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Theme #65 - Pomegranate by @wonderfullythemes

Live Preview | Code | Rules

Pomegranate is a one-columned responsive theme that focuses on text post, and text on the webpage. 

In addition to a clear serif font and readable font-sizes, Pomegranate has space for a description as well as an addition quote below the sidebar image. There are 4 customizable links, so linking to an additional about or navigation page would be no trouble at all.

To view the adjustments in design between screens, browse on your tablet or mobile, or by resizing the window on your desktop.

Credits:

unnested captions by @neothm & @magnusthemes

edited tumblr controls by @cyantists

Please like/reblog to bookmark the theme! And let me know if you come across any bugs, I’ll be sure to fix & update the code asap.

Cheers!