Plus there is news as always. New casting rumors and announcements for Daredevil Born Again. Deadpool getting it’s first teaser during the Super Bowl. A return of a big bad guy to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Which one is the most interesting to you?

Thanks for Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you, again, for listening and for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions: What Show or Movies would you Want On The Marvel Timeline?

Which of our ideas for a Marvel show or movie do you like best? I’m not saying that any of them are likely, probably Doctor Strange 3 is the most likely, but let us know. And do you think we missed one that would make a lot of sense for the MCU?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the 10 Minute Marvel Facebook page as well where you can join in the conversation here. And follow us on YouTube for more content here.

Thank you again for listening, and we’ll see you next time.

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Top 5 TV Shows from 2022

5. Wheel of Time

I know that there are going to be some people who disagree with this one. It isn’t enough like the books, and I agree with that, but I still had a ton of fun with it. I thought that they got a lot of the characters right. And I want to see what is going to happen next. This was never going to be a 14 season series with teenagers, and I don’t think I’d ever have wanted that. But it gave me a look into Robert Jordan’s world and the magic and the turning of the world just maybe from a slightly different universe than the one that he wrote.

And I keep on coming back to it when I talk about it, the casting is really good. The characters are so much fun, and the experience of watching the show, it was almost much watch TV for me. Which, besides Marvel, it’s hard for a show to do that. I still have stuff like Andor, Book of Boba Fett, and Rings of Power on the too catch-up on list.

4. The Witcher

It’s a shame that Henry Cavill is leaving and that like The Wheel of Time, this isn’t closer to the source material. But I am having fun with this series. Henry Cavill is great as Geralt. And while I didn’t like Yeniffer’s storyline at all or her character at all in the 1^st season, she’s a little bit better. I’m still the least interested in what she is doing, but she’s tolerable now. And with where season 2 ended, I want to know what is going to happen next. Even if this is the last season that I watch, I want to know where it is going to go.

3. Locke & Key

Locke & Key is a rare show that got a chance to wrap up on it’s own terms. But I’m so glad that it did, maybe it could have been longer and more keys could have been found. But they did a really good job of wrapping up the story and creating memorable moments. That family has been through so much, and it just worked so well with how the story ended. It makes me want to find another story in that crazy world or something, but also so satisfied with how everything ended.

2. The Dragon Prince

This one might be higher because it was more recent, but I really love The Dragon Prince. And it also might be higher because we watched through the whole series again. This newest season, not a ton happens, really in it, but there is enough fun that it just works. And it had been a while, both in the show and in real life, so it was nice to get to enjoy seeing characters that I love on the screen again. And then of course they are going to have their own dramas as well, but that’s part of the show. And again, they handle some difficult topics very well.

1. Stranger Things

Finally, Stranger Things. I don’t think it’s a surprise. Stranger Things Season 4 was amazing. I’d put it neck and neck with Season 1. The new characters introduced were great. And they really upped the stakes in this season. Not so much in people dying, I won’t spoil who does or doesn’t make it, but just in the level of threat. Which, I must say, is impressive, because they had some massive threats before.

And it was interesting how the three different storylines were really so different this season. Previous seasons they exist but are also closer together. Now they were really spread apart and where it ended, I can’t wait to see how they’ll wrap up the series. Plus they are working on more stuff for Netflix, including in the world of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers that is, so I want to know what will happen that way as well.

What was your Favorite Show of 2022?

Let me know that down in the comments. I will finish up Book of Boba Fett sometime and I do want to watch Rings of Power, Andor, 1899, Wednesday, and more. Which would you start with to catch up? And then I also know there are new shows coming out, that list coming soon, that I’m excited for.

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And then this weeks #10MinMarvel is all about the TV shows. There were eight, not counting specials in Phase 4. How do we rank all of them, which ones stood out to us, and which ones were maybe missing a little bit of what we hoped we’d see from them.

And just a quick reminder, no episode next week. We record our episodes on Sunday night and next Sunday is Christmas Day, so we want to leave that time open for spending with family.

Thanks for Listening to 10 Minute Marvel

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions

Last week is was how you ranked the movies, this week it’s how do you rank the shows on Disney+? Which of the Phase 4 shows stood out to you? And which one is maybe a bit more of a miss than you were hoping it would be?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.

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Why Do People Expect It?

I think before we talk about how you can keep up, we need to talk about why there is a pressure to keep up. And, honestly, if this pressure is even a good thing. I’ll answer the second question first. No, it is not a good thing. But let’s talk about why there is pressure.

People Want You To Like What They Like

This one generally is pretty harmless, though, it can be twisted. People often want you to know what is coming up and be involved in it because they are. They want to be able to talk about it with you, and, at it’s purest form, they want you to have the same joy that they are feeling.

It can be twisted into an expectation, though. Often people will use this as an expectation that you will like what they like. All of these things are very subjective. I might not like The Witcher not because it’s bad but because I don’t like fantasy. Now, we know that to be a lie, I do like fantasy, but as an example.

To Show You’re Cool

This one is never a good reason, liking something doesn’t make you cool. And expecting someone to like someone, or pressuring them to watch something and like something, also doesn’t make you cool. This comes from social media and the expectation that you can post about stuff and that will show a cool credibility. But there are plenty of people who will put on pressure and expectations that you need to keep up, or I need to keep up.

Why Should You Be Keeping Up?

There’s very few good reasons to be keeping up on everything. In fact, I don’t think there is a good reason to keep up on everything. Instead, I think that you can and should keep up on what you really love. But don’t give yourself the expectation that you need to.

Alex Radcliffe from BoardGameCo talked about this a bit with board games and board game reviews in particular. And it makes me think of a review that No Pun Included did on Tainted Grail. They powered through the whole game in a span or a week or two and did not like the game. And you can equate this to a Netflix show where everything drops at once. When you create an expectation for yourself that you need to watch something or play all of something immediately to be first, to be able to talk about it best, it loses it’s fun.

So you should be keeping up with stuff you love at a pace that is reasonable for it. For me, this can look like board games I don’t need to back on Kickstarter. For example, I talked about Mythwind today. This game is on Kickstarter currently and it looks really interesting. It is supposed to be like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing where there is no win condition. I want to play it. But I do not need to back it right now, I can buy it later if I really want to.

How Do You Keep Up?

The answer, to me, is you don’t. Not because it’s bad to keep up, but because you literally can’t. For board games, thousands come out a year, anime episodes, thousands a year, movies, most years thousands a year, comics, thousands a year. I could go on to drive home this point, but the point is that even if you have a very focused hobby, there’s probably more than enough to keep you busy for more than a year.

So I think the question is less how do you keep up, but how to be at peace with not keeping up?

Keeping Up Doesn’t Make You Cool

The first piece is that you aren’t cool by keeping up. Sacrificing sleep to watch a show doesn’t make you cool. Spending lots of money on action figures doesn’t make you cool. And it’s a bit harsh for me to put it that way. But let’s turn it into a positive, you don’t need to feel the pressure of this. It can be a load off of your shoulders as you remember that being the first to something doesn’t make it your life more enjoyable. Instead go at a pace that brings you joy.

Not Keeping Up Means You Can Delve Into Stuff Deeper

For a lot of people keeping up means diving into something 100% for a week and then moving onto the next thing. Netflix seemingly drops a new show ever week, add in Amazon Prime, Disney+, Funimation, CrunchyRoll, Apple TV and more how many things can you keep up on. The speed you’d need to dive into the new favorite thing is going from weeks to a week to eventually days before you need to move onto the next cool thing.

I actually really like that the Marvel shows come out one at a time. Because I get to sit with and think about the show more. I can go into the breakdowns that New Rockstars, ScreenCrush, and Mr Sunday Movies are doing. I can chat about it every week with a coworker who loves Marvel as well. If Disney+ dropped them all at once it’d be a one and done experience.

Relieves The Pressure of Having to Love the Right Things

When you stop trying to keep up, you don’t need to love everything. Or at least seem like you love everything. You now no longer need to think about something that doesn’t interest you. When I stopped watching Game of Thrones it was nice. I always knew I wasn’t that interested in it but it was a group activity, and that group was fun to be around. When that group stopped meeting, I watched some more on my own because I felt like I should.

It was only when I stopped watching it did I realize how much I didn’t care about Game of Thrones. And I was happier for not watching it because it’s a depressing and frustrating show. Now you might love the first seven seasons of Game of Thrones (or even eight) and that’s great, but for me, it was nice not to feel like I should be watching it.

And you can do that with anything. Whether it’s the newest hottest board game, the video game that drops on next week, whatever it might be. And it leads into the last thing.

It’ll Be As Good One Month or One Year Later

If it is something that is great, you can find it later. So going back to Mythwind, if that is a game I want, I can find it later. It might cost a bit more on the secondary market, but that’s okay, it’s not taking up space now. And as much as physical space, it’s not taking up head space. If a game isn’t on my shelf, I won’t see it and think about playing it. Same goes for Netflix or a book. Don’t add a show to your queue, if it’s worth your time you’ll find it again. If a book is really good, they’ll show up at book stores for a long time.

Will you miss out on the initial hype, on that moment in time when to be cool you Tweeted about it? Sure. But will you have the bandwidth to get in on that anyways? The more you have to try and keep track of and keep up with at once the less you can dive into it and enjoy it.

So Don’t Even Try?

There are some things that are worth keeping up with. So it’s not that you don’t try, it’s that you find what is worth keeping up with for you. What do you care about knowing about? What do you want to dive into deeply and get immersed in? That’s up to you, not what is popular at the moment, not the newest hottest thing that is coming out. It’s not that you don’t try, it is that you get to choose what you really care about, which is way more fun. And if something is great, you can always come back to it later.

What is the thing that you dive the most into?

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To answer that question immediately — no, I don’t think I enjoy it less. There’s a sense of excitement about figuring out a twist in a story before it happens, to connecting two things that seemly loosely connected but then really matter. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a show that is built on these loose connections, and connecting those dots before the characters do is fun, because the show does a good job of keeping these things somewhat hidden from the viewer. So, making those connections is fun, and it doesn’t take away from the story.

However, I do think it can for some people. When I’m watching something like Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency or Dark, I’m not what I would consider actively looking for these clues. The shows are built around twists, turns, and mysteries, so as I think about the show, I naturally think about those things. And if you’ve read some of my board game reviews, you know that I enjoy puzzle-y type games, and that I love trying to figure out what clue to give in Hanabi or what cards to play in Gloomhaven to get a perfect score or beat the dungeon. I just naturally think about these patterns.

On the other hand, I know people who actively are searching to make these connections. Their enjoyment is often fulfilled, like mine is, by figuring out these connections, but figuring them out too early or not figuring them out at all can ruin their enjoyment of a story. The hunt is what is enjoyable to them, and once that has passed, it isn’t enjoyable anymore, and conversely, if they can’t figure it out, they don’t enjoy it as much because they felt like the story tricked them or didn’t give them enough to figure out the secret, and they could feel like they are slow because of that.

Finally, there is the type of person who isn’t wired for figuring these clues out, and I think that this can be split into a couple of ways as well — those who don’t care, and those who simply enjoy the story. When Kristen and I watch Dirk Gently, it isn’t as if Kristen is getting less enjoyment out of the show because she doesn’t figure it out ahead of time. She enjoys it as much as I do; I’m just bouncing up and down on the couch because I’m pretty sure I figured something out, and she’s shaking her head and laughing at my antics. That is how it should be — being able to enjoy the story as a story, even if you aren’t picking out all the twists and mysteries as soon as the other people you’re watching it with are.

However, there’s an opposite side of this as well, where someone might feel like they are missing out because they can’t figure the story out as quickly as other people. This shouldn’t be the case, because stories are worth enjoying on their own even if you don’t pick up on the secret before it’s revealed. A fine line can be drawn as to how someone can “help” in this situation, as there are some chance that a person could make it worse. If you are figuring out what is going on before someone else, it can come across as patronizing if you try and say that it is just okay that someone else didn’t figure it out. A better route would be to, when talking about the story, focus on the story itself and what it meant to you, not when you figured out the twists and turns, so that everyone can enjoy the story.

As I started out this post, this was an interesting concept to me. There isn’t a right way to engage with a story as long as you are enjoying it. Remember — even if you figured out the twist in the first scene, don’t spoil it for the rest of us, and let everyone enjoy the story in their own way. To quote what the RPG Academy says (they’re talking about RPGs and how to play them, but I think it’s very appropriate here, too) – “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right.”

Many times in the past, I’ve felt silly for taking so long to get on board with a new fandom, especially when it seems everyone around me knows about all the cool new things before I’ve even heard of them (does this mean I know a lot of hipsters? Maybe). But the longer it’s gone on, the more I’ve realized that my tendency take my time is almost all pros, and very few cons. As I see it, the only real downside is that I’m much more at risk for seeing spoilers before I get around to watching/reading/playing the new thing and have to avoid certain corners of the internet if I don’t want to ruin it for myself (a pretty significant downside, considering my hatred of spoilers, but still). Well, that and the fact that I end up having to endure an endless refrain of “You haven’t seen/played/read it yet? What’s wrong with you?/do you live under a rock?/we can’t be friends anymore lol.” But as truly infuriating as those things are, they can’t overshadow the sweet, sweet benefits that come with waiting a while to try the next new thing.

First, there’s the fact that waiting until something’s been out for some time will ensure that you know about all the bugs in the system before you jump in. Did a new gaming console come out that you can’t afford right now or don’t feel like getting yet? By the time you get one, all the glitches will probably have been fixed (and it will likely cost less to boot). Is there a new anime series that looks interesting? If you wait to watch it, you’ll hear about how there are a bunch of filler episodes you can skip, or how there’s a story arc that’s not worth your time. Basically, this means that you can maximize your enjoyment of the new fandom while avoiding all the nonsense that the early adopters had to wade through. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets to skip all the crap. Trust.

Beyond that, there’s the matter of access. Say there’s a show everyone’s talking about — if you wait a while to watch it, even if it hasn’t been released a whole season at a time a la Netflix original series, then you can binge-watch it to your heart’s content. Or if a book series is already complete, you don’t have to wait ages for the next installment to come out while you sit in agonized suspense longing to find out what happens next; you can just read the books one right after the other if you want (gloating to your friends who started reading them right away is optional, but generally recommended). And perhaps best of all, when it comes time for you to find a copy of Cool New Thing X, you can buy a used one on the cheap, or borrow it from a friend who already has it. Call it laziness, call it delayed instant gratification, call it whatever you want — all I know is that I’m a huge fan of this approach, and I’ve never truly regretted taking it.

And then there’s the fact that as a Johnny-come-lately, geeking out with other people in the fandom is so much more satisfying. Like, for real, you guys. Whether you’re live-messaging your friends about the awesomeness that is Dragon Age (*cough* guilty *cough*), talking about which of your Game of Thrones fan theories came true, or discussing the topic of how the Harry Potter series is amazing despite its plethora of gaping plot holes, it’s gonna be a good time for everyone. As long as your friends aren’t too jaded and too-cool-for-school to squee with you about the new thing you’ve gotten into (which, if they are, y’all need to give them a talking to), you get the joy of experiencing how great a fandom is for the first time while having your friends go “I know, right?!” whenever you talk to them about what you love about it, and your friends get the opportunity to relive its amazingness, all while remembering what it was like when they fell in love with it. As I see it, it’s a win-win for everybody.

And so, my friends, you may disagree with these points, and you may think I’m a bit silly or lackadaisical for doing things this way — that’s just fine (in fact, I get it). But regardless of how silly or strange it may seem, this strategy totally works for me — and, I suspect, for a lot of you as well. And while there are certainly upsides and fun aspects about jumping on board with something right from the beginning, you can keep your ability to do that all for yourself — I’ll just be over here, enjoying the heck out of great fandoms in my own way. Several years later, that is.

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I’ve talked before about managing your time as a nerd, but I want to take a more in-depth look at a trick that helps me maximize my free time, set goals for the things I want to tackle next, and even get a better sense for which of my many hobbies I most value and want to devote more time to. While your mileage may vary with this tool, I’ve certainly found it useful enough to want to pitch it to other nerds who might find themselves having the same difficulty I do.

I call it…the Hobby Calendar!

Lackluster name aside, I’m of the opinion that it’s one of the better ideas I’ve had in a while. The concept is simple, but I’ve found it really helps me stay focused and keep from being paralyzed with indecision every time I have a moment’s free time. I find myself thinking, “I could do anything…anything at all! But what will I choose?” and then end up waffling endlessly over it and consequently wasting a sizable chunk of that precious free time, without making progress on anything whatsoever.

Last year, I decided I’d had enough, and that it was time to take charge. So I sat down, opened up a new spreadsheet, and made a list of my main hobbies in one column. In another, I listed the months of the year, and then proceeded to arrange the hobbies by month in a way that I felt made sense. Here’s what I ended up with:

As you can see, there aren’t many moving parts, and there’s nothing to regularly record (yet, anyway); it mainly serves as a reminder for what’s coming up next. Unsurprisingly, choosing what to put where was the hardest part. Some of the choices were arbitrary, but there was a method to my madness for others — for example, November is National Novel Writing Month, so naturally, that one had to be writing. And I know February is always the month that I end up feeling apathetic and really bogged down by winter, so I picked video games for that month since it’s low-key, doesn’t require much work, and allows me to hibernate.

You’ll also see that some months are doubled up — instead of breaking my hobbies down into twelve different activities, I chose to keep things more broad so that, while the calendar removes the “blank canvas” effect, I still have some freedom to decide what “crafting” or “writing” means to me on a given day. However, this is another spot where you can change things up to work for you. Maybe you work better when things are parsed out in more detail, or maybe you like the freedom that comes with broader categories — either method can be useful; it just depends your preference.

I’ve been using my calendar since June, so I won’t come full circle until May, but so far, this method has been really helpful — and even eye-opening — for me. One thing I’ve realized is that the thing I most often wish I were doing when I’m doing something else is crafting. This tells me that when push comes to shove, if I really had to narrow it down, making stuff would be my top priority. Knowing this, I can proceed with planning future months accordingly (whether that means setting aside more time for crafty activities, or keeping more variety on the list so that I’m more likely to branch out and learn new stuff).

As I more or less expected, some months have gone better than others — for example, reading month was easy, since I can pick up a book for just a few minutes and still make a little progress, which isn’t something I can do with, say, a story I’m working on or a show I want to watch. And sometimes months just end up being really full and I don’t end up with much free time at all (Artwork month just wrapped up, and, well…let’s just say there are a lot of ideas in my head that haven’t made it to paper yet).

But regardless of what I accomplish in a particular month, the sense of focus I get from the calendar means that I still get more done than I would have otherwise. And beyond getting rid of some decision fatigue, the calendar helps me put aside the guilt I’d normally have while working on something, wondering if my time would have been better spent in another way. Say in February I spend an afternoon playing Legend of Zelda, and the thought strikes me that maybe I should be getting more done on the craft languishing on my shelf instead. But when that thought comes, I can just remind myself that it’s video game month, and regardless of what else I could be doing, this is what I’ve chosen to do, and therefore, I have permission to not feel bad about it. In fact, I can enjoy it even more because of that!

So, what do you think, friends? Would you give the hobby calendar a try? What are some other tricks you’ve found helpful in your quest to do All The Things?

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Supergirl actress Malina Weissman will play Violet and newcomer Louis Hynes will play Klaus in the streaming company’s series adapting the gothic children’s novels by Daniel Handler, EW has confirmed.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/26/series-unfortunate-events-lemony-snicket-casts-violet-klaus

There are also rumors of Neil Patrick Harris playing Count Olaf, which would be interesting.