Bryce's Pipe Bomb Survival Guide*

It's absolutely no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is predominantly white, male, and almost exclusively hetero. I'm not going to do too much of a deep dive into that, because as a hetero white male, I often feel like I lack the context, or voice, to really talk about it, other than to say: "Yes, of course there should be more diversity." It's hardly surprising that the MCU is in such a state, because it reflects the diversity of the Marvel comic universe and the people who make it. The comics are gradually showing a more diverse picture of life, perhaps too gradually, but we still haven't seen any of that hit the big screen. Superhero couples are kind of a weird thing. In the shared universes of the two biggest comics publishers, the editorial staff seems allergic to two things: change, and stability. As such, a superhero that is not created as a character in a relationship, is generally destined to not have much success forming new ones. Superheroes

 As my previous post stated, I played a marathon weekend of Death Stranding. It was an amazing experience, and I was talking to a friend about it, they asked if the product placements they'd heard were so in your face, took you out of the game at all? Let's be completely clear. The product placement in Death Stranding would be offensive in any game that I could actually take seriously. Whenever you stay in your private room, there are always six cans of Monster Energy Drink prominently displayed on a table. You can drink them to get a temporary bonus to your stamina the next time you venture out. The graphical fidelity of these cans can not be understated. I bought two cans of Monster to go with the marathon experience, since I'd been warned about it. The cans on the screen, looked somehow more real than the can I held in my hand. While you wander in the world, you carry a flask that you can drink from to recover your stamina. It is a flask full of Monster Energy Drink, eve