#Like the way they adapted the human characters in season 1 also wasn't perfect......

[tio-trile]

I'm unironically so mad we never got to see grown up Adam. That would have been so cool. Like yes I love focusing on my gay husbands but it came at the expense of every other character that's ever existed. Beelz and Gabe's romance got 7 seconds of screentime, same with Maggie and Nina. Muriel hardly even existed and I keep forgetting their name. What happened to Adam, or the Them, or Warlock, or Anathema and Newt? Did they just, like, die? I don't need a 10 episode explanation on what happened to everyone else but it'd be nice if we could acknowledge that other characters than AziCrow existed. Damn. :(

(Sorry if you're totally getting sick of GOS2 asks! The wound is still fresh.)

Aziraphale and Crowley were the fan-favorite side characters from the book, so Amazon saw "fan-favorite" and ran with that. I'm not going to pretend that I liked the human characters more than I liked Aziraphale and Crowley, but MAN watching the season made me realize how much sense it made to have them not be the main characters 😂 who knows, maybe we'll see returning faces in season 3, but what's done is done and that's not going to fix everything for me.

[lemonhemlock]

so, after having a little break and seeing the last two episodes in pretty quick succession of each other, i will have to say that overall i thought they were fair to middling, sometimes decent, sometimes with abysmal plot choices, alternating with nuggets of greatness (welcome back, alyssa targaryen).

i don't think they are going to solve my fundamental problem with this adaptation, in that, with my specific narrative preferences, i just find myself uninspired when presented with a heroic framing vs a villain-adjacent one. this dynamic remains too simplistic for me to be super enjoying the writing. i just find myself weighing out these interactions and coming off dissatisfied.

i'm turning into a broken record, but it's disappointing to see how they just always seem to lean towards showing the greens as supremely disconnected, cynical and cold to each other, disassociated from any kind of positive emotion or bond, except for a couple of very brief, very rare moments (eg. aegon/jaehaerys). i am a little surprised at the reviews suggesting that the blacks stagnate in their boring ways, because, to me, the writing for tb has improved massively since last season. if the children were borderline NPCs in season 1, i thought they did a pretty decent job in fleshing them out this time, making effective use of limited screen time.

jace, baela and rhaena get to be frustrated with their family, confused, struggling, but also get scenes of genuine connection, they seem to like each other, they look like an actual team. people who could fight for each other and who have kinship even if they don't have perfect relationships.

that being said, i was appalled at how they completely reversed the corlys-baela dynamic (that man did everything in his power to prevent baela from inheriting) and had baela say with her own mouth that she wasn't suited to be the heir to driftmark. i maintain that baela & rhaena should have developed resentment for being cheated by rhaenyra (and corlys!) out of their inheritance and will probably die on this hill. they tried doing this a little with rhaenys by highlighting this point of conflict with her husband, but to have baela outright refuse driftmark is nuts. a targaryen dragonrider can't hold a keep of her own? on what grounds? is dragonstone not also an island surrounded by salt water and boats and sailors? rhaena has this storyline of feeling useless and sidelined by her family because she doesn't have a dragon, yet being overlooked for driftmark doesn't make her feel any kind of way?

imo that remains a huge weak point in how they're writing the girls, but at the very least i can appreciate that they are trying to forge a sense of connection between these people, because they still have to explain how they didn't betray each other and go on their merry way. human relationships can be complicated and sometimes the ones you love the most hurt you and disappoint you the most, so there maybe even is a believable story here.

a story that could very well also be applied to the greens, but they are just almost invariably made to act so frigid with one another. it would be something else if it were just one or two characters, but all of them? all the time? while the other side get to be friendly and affectionate? even rhaenyra and mysaria get scenes of sincere camaraderie. whereas whatever the greens get, it's always in this somber negative light. the non-canon additions overwhelmingly carry this nefarious vibe: aemond tries to kill aegon (not canon), aegon is too dumb to speak high valyrian (not canon), killing the ratcatchers is suddenly so upsetting it can damage the war effort (not canon),* the smallfolk are eager to rebel in king's landing (not canon), alicent actively opposes and is distressed at aemond becoming regent (not canon), the smallfolk think slaying meleys (who killed a lot of innocent people during her escape) is an ill-omen (what the hell?), even the not-canon alicole can't just be sexy, it has to be frostily tinged somehow with the guilt of child murder. compare that with the non-canon addition of rhaenyra and jace working together to organize the dragonseeds or the messianic speech she gives him about how he has to pass on aegon's prophecy.

*they even have AEMOND, who, by then, has committed kinslaying twice and has one attempted regicide under his belt, comment on how, yes, the ratcatchers should be absolutely taken down because it is bad form.🤦‍♀️

it would be something else entirely if the greens were in a stand-alone story and this was the characterisation given to them. we would be having a completely different conversation about dysfunctional family relationships. but they are presented IN COMPARISON to another side and thus you cannot analyse them in a vacuum and it is impossible to escape this comparative approach or pretend that it doesn't directly invite the viewer to a pre-determined conclusion.

(even cersei & tyrion or tyrion & tywin had moments when they were just chilling and not at each other's throats)

likewise, they make every decision taken by the greens range from bad to catastrophic. name one thing that otto, alicent, criston, aemond or aegon get to do that the writers chose to paint in a positive light. one success. it's alicent wanting peace because she feels sorry for rhaenyra. meanwhile, tb has ONE character that acts out and on whom everything unsavory can be pinned: daemon. everything unappealing about rhaenyra's war effort can be traced back to daemon. everyone else in her camp is just so earnestly engaged in harm-reduction.

i'm not even getting into how AEGON of all people is the least developed dragonrider in the show, he who was supposed to have the best and purest bond with his dragon🤦‍♀️meanwhile we've seen how many shots of caraxes and syrax by now? even MOONDANCER. i'm sorry, guys, but baela rode her ass just THEE ONE TIME. for fuck's sake. even rhaena is going to have more flying time than aegon by the end of this show.

the way i can explain my dissatisfaction better is like. imagine succession (yes, it always comes back to this, doesn't it). only that, alongside the dysfunctional roys and their hot mess of a family and questionable (atrocious) morals, you would simultaneously be presented with, say, the old-money pierces. only THEY get to be a quirky bunch of honest-to-god people just tryna do their gosh darn best in this wacky late stage capitalism. unironically. maybe they have a couple of flaws, maybe they even fight sometimes and say things they regret, maybe they have an old crazy un-woke uncle that they try to keep under wraps (hey! nobody's perfect!). but with little to no commentary on their misdeeds and heroic framing compared to the roys. also completely ignoring that they, too, have a corruptible media empire of their own. it would be much worse as a show, no?

[quincywillows]

a scattered and overall supportive review of percy jackson season 1

let me just say first of all, it's extremely fun to be enthused about a tv show like this again. the adaptation isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun, and you can tell there's plenty of heart and good intention behind what they're doing. i'm very much enjoying tuning in every couple of episodes and catching up -- and avoiding the relentless commentary of the internet while i do so lol.

but now it's time for MY commentary!! to preface, i was a huge fan of the books when i was younger, am a stalwart long-term advocate of the original five books as some of the best children's lit of our lifetime, but i also enjoyed the films a decade ago for what they were and think people (including cough rick cough) are way too harsh about them. justice for logan lerman. anyway

i'm not going to do like a play-by-play, but in summary, here are my takeaways from the first season -- what i thought worked, what did not, and things i'm optimistic about going into the future seasons.

the good

for an adaptation of the original series (which, to be fair, i have not reread in years), i felt this was honest and faithful. there were tweaks, obviously, but none that took me too out of it or felt irredeemable. there was a lot to like about this show, so i want to start right from the top with my highest highs.

the worldbuilding / production design. i absolutely loved getting to see how they imagined certain iconic characters, locations, and sequences from the books. it was so exciting to get to see camp halfblood for the first time on screen (at least, in this adaption) -- that moment in episode two definitely felt like a turning point where we picked up from the somewhat laggy pilot episode. i especially loved the design of mount olympus, aspects of the underworld (hades and his upside down castle were baller, though how did percy and grover get up there lol; and i absolutely loved the choice for asphodel and the ghosts being rooted like trees, i never would've thought of that myself but it was so chilling and unique... just wish i could see it better through the terrible lighting, but we'll come back to that), and of course, camp. even down to the small details, like the camp beads... it's just very cool to see it come to life.

the casting. i wasn't sure about some of the casting when the news was breaking, but i'm very happy to have been pleasantly surprised all around (and have majorly avoided people bitching about every single thing). there wasn't any role where i felt like someone was horribly miscast, and you could tell that everyone involved really wanted to be there and committed. i thought the casting of the gods was especially inspired at times. some of the highlights for me personally:

adam copeland as ares. i had no idea he was apparently a wrestler turned actor until my sister told me, but i thought he was absolutely spectacular. very charismatic, with just the right amount of cringefail that ares needed. i found him thoroughly enjoyable in all his scenes.

lance reddick as zeus. having just played horizon zero dawn recently, oh my lorde was this an inspired choice. he was absolutely brilliant. i'm so so sad about his passing, i don't know how they're going to recapture his performance, but i have faith now that they'll find a way.

timothy omundson as hephaestus. i love that they took a softer, more mad scientist approach to his role than like ugly basement blacksmith vibes... i just thought it was really refreshing. his scene with annabeth, where we got so much humanity from him in such a short span of time, was one of my favorite scenes of the season.

jason mantzoukas as dionysus. i mean. what else can be said. obvious choice, but he was so fun lol. i hope they give him more to do next season.

other standouts beyond the main youth cast for me were jay duplass as hades (his brief appearance in 107 was thoroughly enjoyable) and dior goodjohn as clarisse (she was by far the acting standout of the first couple episodes to me). also very happy to see jessica kennedy parker and sinclair from the 100 get work, lol.

walker as percy jackson. it was really wonderful watching walker grow as an actor even just through the first eight episodes. the difference from 101 to 108 is almost night and day. you can tell how much he cares about the project and percy as a character, and he upped his game with every episode. i cannot wait to see what he turns out in the coming seasons. to be fair, i thought all of the youth cast did a decent job, and i'm giving them a lot of leeway and room to grow since they are literally child actors -- it takes time to hone your craft, and im optimistic they're all going to do a great job as the series goes on. but walker was, definitively and thankfully as the protagonist, the standout.

charlie bushnell as luke. i was so excited when i heard he got cast because i loved him in diary of a future president, and he did not disappoint. i kind of wish he had more to do, but all of that was forgiven in the finale when he had his final confrontation with percy. oh, the acting popped off then -- i can't wait for him to get to chew up the scenery more in the coming seasons.

grover and percy's friendship. it was so sweet to see this come alive, and i thought walker and aryan had excellent natural chemistry together. they were so endearing, and i really believed their friendship basically from the start (them swapping their sandwich fillings is a tiny detail from the pilot that has stuck with me since; i just loved that choice so much). they definitely provided a lot of my favorite moments in the season, and i think evoked the most genuine "aw wow" moments from me.

percy's relationship with sally. since sally was, understandably, absent from the original novel, it was awesome to get the flashbacks here that allowed us to more deeply understand their bond. i thought walker and virginia did a great job with this, and the young actor who played little percy also did a surprisingly great job (he was actually one of the stronger youth actors in the pilot imo lol). you totally understood why percy was doing everything he was, because that mother-son bond felt believable. big shout-out to the absolutely baller line "i am sally jackson's son." one of the first writing moments where i was like oh snap!

the music. a good score really can't be understated, and this one did not disappoint. did just what it needed to do. i also loved the closing title sequence and the art direction there with the epic music -- just such a nice touch that i'm so glad they included.

some of the writing. i'll get more into some of my qualms with the writing below, but there were definitely some great moments that deserve their flowers. i thought they did a great job weaving in some early themes without being heavy-handed about it (percy having to define who he is for himself, mostly). there were some genuinely funny moments that made me laugh out loud, including "i am impertinent," annabeth's "i'm multitalented," and the entire exchange on the road side when the trio to ares are like no... we're fine... ahaha bye... oh and percy trying to drive the taxi out of the garage at the casino was absolutely hysterical.

pivotal scenes hitting their mark. when the show needed to deliver, i thought they really delivered. i absolutely loved the staging and acting in the final luke and percy confrontation -- the lighting of the fireworks was such a cinematic touch. percy's arrival at olympus and scene with zeus was also a big standout. i loved a lot of the st. louis arch episode, and thought the hephaestus golden chair sequence was really well done. overall, the episodes i thought were strongest were without a doubt 104, 105, and 108.

expansion where expansion was welcome. one of my favorite aspects of the series is how it's giving more nuance to the monsters and "villains" of the books. i loved that we got a little more motivation for alecto beyond evil -- that she clearly wanted to accomplish her own mission and retrieve the helm, whether out of loyalty or fear. i loved how medusa got much more depth and humanity, that we're sort of reexamining the fairness of how myths are told rather than just taking it all at face value. i'm really looking forward to seeing how that continues in the next seasons.

the decent

percy and annabeth. to be fair, i think my issue with this is more on the fan reaction than the show itself. i think the show is doing a decent, if somewhat awkwardly paced job, of building their friendship and offering small little hints of what could blossom in the future in classic youth awkward ways -- unexpected hugs, banter, etc. i think walker and leah are both doing a good job, and i look forward to seeing how it develops. but my god, people on the internet are really jumping the shark so hard here. i can't handle seeing more "uwu percy is in love" posts when it's like. y'all. THEY ARE 12. THEY JUST MET. LET THEM ORGANICALLY BECOME FRIENDS FIRST... i just hope the creators don't feed into that and also jump the shark. like yes, we all know where this is going, but can't we enjoy the actual journey to get there instead of forcing what isn't there yet? in any case, on the positive side, some of the moments between them i really enjoyed: the conversation on the train when grover was asleep, the hephaestus chair sequence, annabeth giving him her camp beads before going to olympus (that was a slay... that was a legendary slow burn start moment worth hyping up), the way percy smiled at her in their last scene... that's the good stuff. let's not rush through what we're getting folks. the water is fine.

lin manuel as hermes. here is the thing. i thought lin did a good job. i thought his casting was apt, and fun, and he did a great balance of hermes charisma and like, a darker edge. it's just... the thing about lin manuel is that he's lin manuel. and this is coming from someone who likes him, but it's like he shows up on screen and i'm just like. hey it's lin manuel. it's a bit of a "takes you out of the moment" stunt casting, but i'm not mad about it. i wouldn't call it a bad thing. hopefully it'll wear off (though i doubt it). i guess i'm just deciding that hermes is just lin manuel, which honestly, would kind of track.

the youth acting. mentioned this above, but again, some of that early delivery was rough. but i am giving a lot of grace, and i think they've already improved plenty in the first eight episodes. i felt the same way about shadowhunters back in the day when i thought kat mcnmara was hard to watch in season 1, but by season 3 she was my absolute favorite cast member and came so far. i have no doubt these kiddos will do the same. so very much looking forward to that.

the not so great

the pacing. this was definitely the weakest part of the story writing wise. it wasn't irredeemable, but it did hinder the first half of the show (which didn't lock in for me until about 104, when the stakes truly shot up at st. louis). and that also affected how dynamics and plot points were able to unravel. the biggest victim of this...

the luke reveal. from the start, i was worried about this. since luke was only really in episode 2, i had doubts about whether the reveal of his betrayal would be at all satisfying or earned. i don't know that i can speak on it for sure, since i knew what was going to happen as someone who read the books, but i still feel we should have gotten more of those luke-and-percy-bonding scenes and convos earlier in the series rather than tacked onto the finale as flashbacks. it worked there, but i think it could've been better. thankfully, all of that didn't hinder the delivery of the finale confrontation, which as i said, was a standout moment for me.

the fight scenes. with rare exception, i was pretty underwhelmed with many of the monster battles and confrontations this season. given that's such a huge gimmick of the novels, i hope they're able to revisit and polish up the pacing of these in the future... i just felt that scenes like the museum clash with dodds were so rushed and anticlimactic. or not even confrontations at all, like the scene with crusty. we got a bit more of this at the back half of the season, in the sword fights with ares and luke, but i wanted more of that epic feeling throughout. i'm hoping it's maybe just a budget concern and that it'll improve in the coming seasons -- especially as the bosses get bigger and the stakes get higher -- but i'm not sure i'm optimistic just yet.

some of the dialogue. it was... wooden, to say the least. i think the worst moments of this were when they were trying to force Kid Bants -- which just felt stilted in the earlier episodes -- and whenever they were explaining greek myths point blank to the audience. there were moments it worked, but many where it didn't, and i hope they flesh out how to better info dump in the future episodes. i didn't mind the change of having percy be more familiar with the myths and thus more aware, but they could afford to finesse how they relay that information to us in the audience without basically reading from wikipedia in percy's voice.

the ugly

oh my god i can't see. i can't SEE. this show went to the teen wolf academy of employing one lightbulb and it's actually criminal. there were so many scenes where i really wanted to see what was happening because the stakes were high or the scenery was so pivotal -- the entry into the underworld for the first time, the vastness of medusa's basement of stone, THE FIELDS OF ASPHODEL -- but the lighting was so god awful i legitimately couldn't see a thing. in asphodel i literally could barely see the trio's expressions, it was that bad / flat. the audience is smart, we understand it's dark out. we can suspend our disbelief so you can add some visibility to this thing. i was turning up my brightness constantly but it wouldn't go any higher. please, disney execs, rick, anyone -- GET ANOTHER LIGHTBULB. i'm losing key immersive aspects of the show to this and it's a bummer. when they were walking through waterland for the first time and annabeth was like "wow can you believe this craftsmanship" i was like i don't know, girl, I CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT. begging on my knees that they fix this next season.

well, that ended up longer than expected, but oh my gods it is so nice to be writing paragraphs about a tv show again. all in all, i'd say 7.5/10 from me in this first season. there's so much to be keen for here, and i'm really happy with how it's going so far.

friends and fellow demigods, what did we all think?

[sassy-pistachy]

About the Three Body Problem

Books, Chinese and Netflix adaptations.

Bear in mind this is coming from a HUGE fan of the books. I've read the books twice, watched a chunk of the Chinese series, and finished the Netflix one. Also, this is just my opinion.

None of the Three Body Problem versions is perfect. NOT EVEN THE BOOKS. And it makes me sad realizing all the hate the Netflix series gets. I get where the criticism comes from, I was the first one hating on it before watching it. But now, boy do I love it. Is it perfect? No, of course not. But it's such a good fucking adaptation.

The books are obviously amazing, but even they are flawed. The characters are so plain and one-dimensional, they can be described with 1 sentence and that's their whole personality (with like, two exceptions) (and let's not talk about the blatant misogyny through the trilogy, that's a whole new conversation). I get that within the narrative of the 3 body world, individuals are not important. The important character is Humanity as a whole, not the specific individuals we follow. They are mere tools to carry the story, and the way they are discarded so easily shows their insignificance against a huge, dark universe. But honestly, IMO you can convey the same feelings of insignificance with well built characters. Hell, it's even BETTER if you do it with well built rounded characters, because the more you empathize with the character, the more it's going to hurt when they get thrown away.

The Chinese adaptation. Honestly, I couldn't push past episode 10. This saddens me, because I was enjoying it, I really liked how they did the characters. But it's so damn long, it's unnecessary. They tried to be so accurate to the source material, they kinda failed. It's an adaptation guys, the things that work in a book might not work in a TV Show. Things must be changed. Besides, they DID change some stuff. There's things in the Chinese adaptation that don't show up in the books. And I couldn't understand the reason behind those changes, they didn't add anything to the story or fix anything.

The Netflix adaptation. Does it change stuff from the books? Oh yeah it does. But I UNDERSTAND the reason behind the changes. I know the books, I watch the show, and I get why they do what they do. It has it's flaws, obv. I wish it wasn't so whitewashed, there's no forgiving that. I wish it were a bit longer, so they could spend the time necessary for some concepts to really have impact. But the characters, I LOVE the characters. They have depth, life, true connections between each other (they also fixed the misogyny issue, yay). I'm getting so invested with them, by the time the second season releases and Some Bad Stuff happens to them, I'm going to feel the Cruel Dark Universe hitting them way harder than with the books.

At the end of the day, each version has it's strenghts and it's flaws. Different flavors so everyone can pick their favorite. But it kinda annoys me when people shit on the Netflix adaptation without watching it just because they hate the dudes that fucked up Game of Thrones. Do yourself a favor and give it a try. I did it, and I'm so pleasently surprised.

Peace!

[sorcave]

Finished all the anime eps so far so here goes.

Kunikida is a man of ideals - a quality that he wastes no time asserting once he takes center stage as early as Season 1. He strives to live a life of virtue and has planned out every step of it in his notebook, from his dreams and aspirations to his love life and even just his daily schedule. It's a rigid structure to live, but one which Kunikida views as a guiding light to not only live his best life but to live in a way that benefits society and upholds justice.

So, naturally, this detail-oriented man with a diligent work ethic finds his sense of equilibrium frequently shaken by the eclectic oddballs comprising his friends and co-workers. Resultingly, he's not quite as stoic of a leader as Fukuzawa. For all his composure, he is prone to bursts of comical anger, most often directed at Dazai, whose mischievousness and carefree attitude are his antithesis.

It's no secret why Dazai is such a beloved character and the mesmeric core of the story. He's on the side of good, but his past and layered personality suggest a dark side that makes him extremely compelling. People love bad boys, but it's worth noting just how pivotal Kunikida is in making Dazai such an effective character. If there wasn't a straight-laced "good cop" bouncing off of Dazai's witty jabs, the banter wouldn't have the same charm.

In the pre-Chuuya Nakahara era of Bungo Stray Dogs, Kunikida was the perfect foil to Dazai, hence their being partnered up at various points in Season 1. Episodes 6 and 7 were adapted from the very first Bungo light novel, a story which originally was set two years before the series began. Instead, the anime places this story after Atsushi has joined, which works just as well and, in fact, significantly benefits Kunikida's character.

It's not difficult to see why Kunikida might slip under the radar for some fans when considering favorites among the cast. He's a Lawful Good character and the trouble with them is that they can be received as boring because they play by the rules and audiences like characters who break rules. After all, sometimes the audience wants to break the rules themselves, so it's cathartic, while also yielding a flawed protagonist that might be more relatable.

These are generalizations, of course, but one doesn't have to hate Kunikida or the Lawful Good archetype to demonstrate indifference based on such surface-level qualities. And make no mistake, it's only the surface-level qualities that set Kunikida even remotely apart from a large cast known for consistently bold introductions. If Kunikida is overlooked compared to the rest of them, then it stands to reason that he's lacking a certain something.

Finding out what is a conundrum because what makes a character someone's favorite can be anything from the biggest plot points to the most subtle moments. Ranpo's backstory in Season 4 made an already great character even better, same with Yosano that same season. All it takes is a single good episode to become obsessed with someone who, up until that point, might have been just another character. Lucky for Kunikida, he got two early on.

The Azure Messenger story is very much the defining tale of his character; one that challenges the ideals that define him, through the return of an old case that's come back to haunt him. It's a story that ends in tragedy and which leaves him furious and frustrated. Next to Season 2's Dark Era arc, it's one of the first dramatic moments where Bungo gets serious in a way that demands pause. Yet, despite not reaching a favorable conclusion, Kunikida stands firm.

Another thing that - again, on a surface level - can be frustrating about Lawful Good characters is how their conflicts can be rooted in their innate goodness. Thus, the villains, human nature, or even the universe at large, endeavor to tarnish it and "break" the hero. A less charitable interpretation of such a character might conclude that they lack a substantial flaw.

The trouble with this conclusion is that it sort of eschews the point of a character arc. If a more relatable, flawed character is compelling, it's because they are challenged to confront said flaws, either fixing them or giving in. In the same way, an idealistic character is useful because their conflicts challenge their propensity to be the kind of person that the audience should hypothetically strive to be.

Kunikida is a compelling character because he represents how hard it is to live up to ideals, and the importance of striving to despite the impossibility of never faltering. And it isn't a conclusion that he comes to without a struggle. The best part of the Azure Messenger case is how it affects him throughout the rest of the season. Despite his assertions, Kunikida becomes more jaded, which leads him to discourage Atsushi from trying to save Kyouka.

But Atsushi doesn't give up, and Kunikida noticeably has some of that faith in his ideals restored. One of the best creative choices the anime made was adapting the first light novel as they did. It allowed the climax of Season 1 to be even more impactful by giving Kunikida a complete arc, the drama of which would be echoed in future seasons.

Truth be told, the most pressing reason why Kunikida has faded from the discourse is his seeming lack of relevance since Season 3. Between the underrated Episode 25 and the Cannibalism arc, Kunikida cements his place as a leader. However, the death he witnesses in that same arc is a harrowing event that has yet to truly take hold and push his story forward.

There have been suggestions of an inner conflict, like in Kunikida's scenes with Jouno of the Hunting Dogs, but as of the end of Season 5, they haven't amounted to much. With any luck, Bungo Stray Dogs' next arc will have something exciting in store for him, because it would truly be a tragedy not to see this man's search for ideals end prematurely. Although I feel a lot of this is remedied once I read through the manga along with the light novels.

[eponastory]

Hey, saw the post where you think Aang is not suitable to be with anyone, and I...kind of agree. I mean, even though Bryke royally screwed up his character like a mother-effer, he's still fictional...and in the words of every person who likes somebody, but sees their dark side, "I can fix him!". XP But yeah, no, in the show, he's really just a shitty self-insert, the worst kind...gosh, I feel like everyone is brainwashed and accepting Aang's idiotic decisions in the comics and all the other crap media that relates to the original show.

But mark my words! The LA version of Avatar: The Last Airbender WILL BE BETTER than the cartoon! And people will know that soon. So get your nostalgia glasses off, Avatar 'fans', cause we gettin' real with this version. Meaning, your cartoon wasn't perfect, it wasn't flawless, it wasn't even epic! It was just a generic show, up when it reached season 3, and that's when it all went downhill. Yeah, I'm salty over the fans, bada-bing-bada-boom! XP

But yeah, even though Aang is played by an actual person, would you say that you like this Aang better than the cartoon version of Aang? Not because it's played by a real person, but maybe because this version of Aang is the REAL Aang that was needed in the cartoon? :O

Absolutely on all counts.

See, when it comes to animation, writers can get away with a lot of tropes and goofy things because it's a different kind of media. When it comes to acting out those goofy things and tropes, it is really hard for a human being to act in the exaggerated manner characters do in animation. That being said, this does lend more of a human connection to LA adaptations, and I also think that's why a lot of adaptations do fail. NATLA has a lot of work cut out for it, but I do think they have the right cast and made the right changes to reflect that. This is why it's getting a lot of heat from OG fans because they seem to forget that animation is hard to adapt. For what it's worth, I do think the show did a good job for the first season. It works. It definitely has some cosmetic and storytelling flaws, but I don't think it completely ruins it.

Looking at you, 2010 disaster.

I do love Aang in the LA because he is much less naive and actually more grounded, which is a plus.

But I do think the show would benefit from not having the romantic subplot of season 3 or the whole series in general. They did well in season 1 with the developing friendships, and I hope it stays that way. Otherwise, I think we will have the same problems that we had in the OG.

BTW Sokka and Suki being very awkward and cringy in the LA is exactly what happens when teenagers meet each other. If you don't remember those days, it's probably because you were born after Facebook was invented.

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey Crusher, I was interested in watching the X anime, and wanted to know your thoughts on it. It seems to have polarizing opinions regarding the quality on the story, characterizations and such. Is it consistently good or bad? Are the games’ stories adaptations good? Is Chris that bad? Are the characterizations good? Is the Metarex arc good? Is the Jp version that superior? Wanted to know your answers and if you recommend it.

I do have a nostalgic soft spot for Season 1, since I caught that season on TV back in the day. It's the most formulaic and most Chris-heavy of the three seasons, but despite that, I think it has some charm, some legitimately great episodes (like episode 14, which revolves around Helen), and the game characters were mostly decent aside from a weird moment here or there. It wasn't perfect by any means, but for the reasons mentioned, I'm not as harsh on this one.

I'm much less forgiving towards Seasons 2 and 3. The former had dodgy adaptations of the Adventure duology and Battle, complete with Chris occasionally taking roles that were occupied by other characters in their original tellings. The latter was a generic space voyage with little to help it stand out, complete with the Metarex being very forgettable antagonists, although I do think Cosmo on her own is a decent character. And both of them not only upped the flanderization for certain characters (Amy, Knuckles, arguably Sonic himself in some ways), but also dealt a massive blow to Eggman's public perception by having him gradually become more of a non-villain. To the point of doing such things as being the moral voice of reason on multiple occasions, nursing Sonic back to health with no ulterior motive behind it, and becoming somewhat of a father figure for Chris. You can guess how someone like me would feel about all that.

As for the JP version, I would say it's an improvement overall, but not by much. IMO, many of the problems with X are still present in that version in some form or another... although it did give us the iconic moment where Eggman complained about anime, that was admittedly funny.

And for my personal opinion on the accursed Thorndyke... I don't have a burning hatred for him per say, cause I have bigger fish to fry as far as most loathed Sonic characters go. But having watched the whole thing, it's very easy to see why he became infamous; a lot of the things Elise is accused of, Chris was actually guilty of, and I sincerely believe that if the show had to have an audience surrogate, Helen would have fit the role a lot better. Ironically, I actually like most of the other human characters.

So on the whole, I wouldn't exactly call it a great adaptation, or a great Sonic show in itself. But it has some good episodes, moments, and ideas on occasion, and I wouldn't say it's complete garbage in the same way that I would about a certain comic that's allegedly about Sonic and Co. So despite my mostly meh thoughts on it, I think it's worth checking it out for yourself, and seeing what you like and/or dislike about it.

[hannahstarshade]

I never watched The Walking Dead. I'm familiar with and love a lot of zombie apocalypse media: Resident Evil, The Last of Us, I Am Legend, Dead Island, Zombieland. I even watched the three Telltale Walking Dead playthroughs by Two Best Friends. Here I am over a decade later and I'm finally giving the series a try. Surprisingly, a lot of it was new to me. I only knew a little bit about The Walking Dead just from cultural osmosis:

Zombies are called walkers. They need a shot to the head to go down for good. Doesn't matter if you die or get bitten, you'll come back as a walker either way.

The main character Rick wakes up in a coma after the zombie outbreak is well into effect. He meets up with his wife Lori and his son Carl. Lori hooked up with Rick's best friend Shane after she was sure Rick had died a long time ago. Drama ensues.

Daryl is the guy with the crossbow. Michonne is the woman with the katana and walkers on leashes. Aside from Rick, these are the two most featured on posters and promotional material. This must mean they are the most popular and capable badass characters.

This past weekend I finished the first two seasons. My honest opinion is that they were pretty solid, each serving a purpose for the narrative at large. Season 1 focused on the novelty of walkers and how society has had to quickly adapt. Seeing governing bodies and fail-safes crumble under the pressure is uncanny, given the most recent pandemic we were/are witness to. Season 2 is more character driven. Not to say Season 1 wasn't, but the second season is filled moral dilemmas that span multiple episodes. Is it worth bringing children into this scary world, and will they put other people at risk? Is suicide an individual's right to choose, or are others obligated to dissuade them? Do you sacrifice the life of someone you barely know at the risk of the group of people you care about most?

I am really attached to this group of characters. Everyone is so dramatic, and are constantly being pushed to their limits. I can believe that the woman who lost her sister and gained a new lease on life would want nothing more than a weapon in her hand to prevent disaster from striking the group again. I can believe that the man who hooked up with his best friend's wife has diluted himself into thinking it can continue because it's the only semblance of the past reality he has left. I get where everyone is coming, even if I don't personally agree with them or if they are delulu. Of all the character deaths in those first two seasons, it was Dale's that really got to me. He was one of the only people in the group that desperately clung to any sense of humanity and goodwill. He latched onto the idea of "we don't kill the living" and made that point at every opportunity. RIP rv roof guy, you will be missed.

All this to say that yes this show is not perfect by any means. I was taken aback by the amount of racism, sexism, and homophobia right out the gate. There is also a level of humor and levity that feels out of place at times especially in the first season with pop-punk or rock-n-roll music cues after a dire situation. I can sort of understand, given this was a decade ago and airing on public television. I did notice while it's still present, those moments and phobias have been scaled back a bit. That doesn't make it less cringy when someone calls Glenn "Short Round" or when Lori gets mad at Andrea for patrolling instead of doing "women's work" like cooking and cleaning.

With that said, the plot so far and the characters we have left have me hooked to see what happens next. Plus we get Michonne in the next season!

[tealottie]

Look, I usually don't publicly campaign on Tumblr for these polls, but this is the last one and I have to speak my piece of mind.

AstroBOYD is a wonderful episode; it highlights the central theme of the show, adds depths to team science characters, has wonderful rep among us neurodiverse, and has gorgeous animation. My heart goes out to AstroBOYD - that episode could be a movie in its own right.

But that last point is why I'm not voting for it. What Ever Happened to Della Duck is inherently linked to all three seasons of DuckTales 2017. That episode MADE DT17 the series it is today - it gave us something unique to make this duckverse media stand out amongst all the others - it gave us HER. It gave us DELLA DUCK.

So why is Della Duck so important? I'll briefly touch on three main points here, points being; she brings representation to the table, she is a phenomenal mother character, and she is what makes or breaks this series (spoiler alert: she made it)!

1) Representation

Della is a queer, disabled, mentally ill mother, and none of it was forced! All of these points felt like they happened authentically! (And not to mention that she is the twin sister of Disney's second biggest mascot)??? Of course, the Della being sapphic announcement wasn't until way after the series, but it still says something that we were all thinking it from the beginning anyways. But I want to talk about the disabled rep more; Della crashlanded on the moon before HDL were hatched - a crash in which she lost her leg and was isolated for a whole decade. This was shown ON SCREEN. Her leg crushed under the ship? That was on screen! But that incident and the following trauma she suffers in What Ever Happened to Della Duck is SO important to show in kids shows!

This allows kids to see that shit happens - sometimes bad things happen in life, and sometimes they stick with you for the rest of your life (like Della needing a prosthetic), but kids also need to understand that trauma does not have to define you. Every single scene in the episode showcases Della's determination to get back to her family - every single screwup just leads to more determination. Even with her prosthetic, she doesn't let that get her down or hold her back! Instead, she uses it in battle or during adventures - she finds ways to adapt instead of letting her past define her.

Della is also allowed to be vulnerable, though. We see in Moonvasion that she's terrified of losing her family again BECAUSE she has PTSD! And kids/viewers also need to understand that that vulnerability is okay. Letting yourself feel things is okay. Della always looks ahead toward the future, but that doesn't mean she has to be happy all the time - she's allowed to feel because she's human. I won't claim that the PTSD rep is perfect, but it was still a step in the right direction for portrayal of mental health in kids shows!

2) Motherhood

Focusing back on What Ever Happened to Della in specific; this episode sets up one of the best mother figures in modern cartoons, in my opinion! Della is a mom, but that is not ALL she is. She is driven by her motherhood and her connection to her family, but her titles as a woman are not ALL she is - she's not just HDL's mom, Scrooge's niece, Donald's sister - she is Della Duck.

Think of cartoon moms that you know; typically they are always so wise and levelheaded and nurturing and mature - and not to say that Della ISN'T mature, but she sure as hell ain't a paragon of wisdom that's for sure. She is a messy person; she lets her anger control her at times, she acts on impulse, she thinks she knows better than she really does - but all of this is what MAKES her writing SO good. She is so flawed! She hopped into a rocket when her boys were still eggs because she is reckless! And that recklessness leads to consequences that she has to face.

Moms can make mistakes too, guys! And something that's so important about this episode is that Della brings a sense of humanity to childrens' mothers everywhere. When I was a kid, my mom was the smartest person in the world to me - I truly thought she could do anything - that she was invincible! But she's a person just like me and I never got to see that side of her growing up. Della brings to perspective the fact that our moms are 3-dimensional people. Della doesn't have the answer to everything and even she needed help despite being a mom! The episode shows a very human side that hopefully kids watching are able to extend to their own parental figures in their lives.

And not only does Della bring that sense of personal humanity, she also brings to the table that being a mother is not her whole personality. She is a mom, yes, and she shows those characteristics - but before Della was a mom, she's a pilot, she's an explorer, she's an adventurer, she's a PERSON. She isn't girly by any means - she likes to keep her appearance tomboyish and is more rowdy than her brother is! She has a kickass robot leg and rebuilt a rocketship all on her own! She is allowed to be herself in writing and we know this was effective because we all see her as Della - a strong, standalone character who can carry a whole episode on her own while having it be her debut. We don't see her as JUST a mother.

3) The Episode

What Ever Happened to Della Duck is a masterpiece in itself. I wouldn't claim that it could be a movie like AstroBOYD or Duck Knight, but that's exactly why we should be voting for it! This episode is so heavily tied in to all three seasons that without it - the show would not be the same.

The writers took a big risk with this episode. It is Della's official debut - a character who had relatively been lost to time - and the episode is ALL about her. There's no opening theme song, and there are no other characters besides Penumbra and Lunaris at the end. This episode is unapologetically Della. This was a huge risk because all the knowledge we had on her character was from season one, which even then was entirely based on Scrooge's perception of her (which is amazing writing might I add), and not only that, but this was a REBOOT. There was also huge risk in knowing that they may lose a lot of their 1987 faithful audience by pushing on with Della's storyline. But they did it. And God did it pay off!

When I think of DT17, I think of this episode because it stands out in such a phenomenal way. The episode tells you everything you need to know about Della Duck within a span of 20-ish minutes. I'll be honest! I wasn't sure about Della when I started watching the series - I was worried that she was going to be a "girls can do anything" character that wasn't strong enough in writing to keep up with the rest of the already established cast, but OH MY GOD did she prove me so wrong (see points 1 and 2). And not only was I proven wrong, I was swayed within this SINGLE episode to have her as my favorite character. The writers took a risk, and that risk was bold as hell for Disney.

Not to mention the writing of the series as a whole with this episode being its glue, but the writing within the episode is amazing as well (again, see points 1 and 2). The composition of the scenes are all so beautiful, and the emotional scenes can make anyone's heart ache. And the homage the music pays to the NES game is so heartwarming - taking a classic soundtrack staple and turning it into Della's motif for the series was brilliant! This episode also ties in her origin story from the Dutch comics in a brilliant and creative way! You can just feel the heart that they poured into this episode that streches across the whole series.

Della Duck is the heart and soul of DT17. She is what made this show. And, again, I will pay my respects to AstroBOYD - but as i stated earlier, having a movie-quality episode is not what we're voting for here. If AstroBOYD never happened, not much would have changed. If Della's debut never happened, then what would that mean for the series as a whole? Della haunted the narrative in season 1, became the narrative in season 2, and became the heart of season 3. You simply cannot have DuckTales without Della Duck.

So with all that being said, I hope people will spread their love to Della. Obviously, if she loses then she still wins in my heart! In the end, this is for fun! Nobody is obligated to vote from an objective standpoint, and if people have their reasons to vote AstroBOYD, then I have no agency to police what they do. I just hope that my stance will be heard and seen and respected! <3

ROUND #6 [FINAL]

[jeanandthedreamofhorses]

It was already heavily implied that humanity wasn't extinct as soon as we knew the titan trio came from outside the walls. Ymir's story being moved in the anime made it hit a lot harder emotionally. In the manga its placement came years after we'd last seen her, and knowing she was probably dead by then made it feel flatter. And Marco's death coming up when Reiner was having an identity crisis made more sense of how the stuff going on in his works. And it's important for Annie, too.

Sorry for the late response; I’ll answer point by point.

1) Not necessarily, because remember, at around the same time we knew that they came from outside of the walls (Reiner and Bertholdt’s reveal) we also learnt that all titans were once humans. I don’t know what general fandom consensus was, but I at least assumed humanity was still extinct but there were a select number of titans who had managed to shift back into humans. Alternatively, there could have been a small human community that survived the apocalypse and existed rudimentarily beyond the walls. There was nothing to strongly suggest that the apocalypse never happened at all. 

The early inclusion of Ymir’s flashback revealed explicitly that the cause of the titans was humans creating them, knowledge which skips a massive part of SNK’s thematic journey from monster to human - the whole purpose of the Uprising Arc is to introduce the idea that the Titan threat is really a human one. Revealing this now undoes a large part of what makes it so great and essential in SNK’s unwinding narrative. But, it shouldn’t be all that surprising given that this journey has been undermined before by the removal of Eren’s sympathy for Annie, which was its first major step. As is sadly so often the case with producers of adaptations, they clearly haven’t looked for anything below the surface. 

Additionally, Ymir’s backstory is far more enjoyable to watch with the knowledge of who the real Ymir actually is, and the presentation of it as a series of images flashing besides the letter’s quiet melancholy to a loved one shortly before death was, to me, much more moving than the anime’s basic flashback technique, entirely within the mind of a character and at a random time for the sole purpose of filling up the episode quota of the season; which is also dumb, because since Clash is quite a short arc and Uprising was quite a long one, why oh why didn’t they just combine the two into a 25-episode run like last time and allow adequate time for both? I mourn for the inevitable compression of Season 3. No matter what anyone else says (even Yams himself!), I really liked how the manga paced it.

But most importantly, Ymir’s letter fits with thematic perfection at the end of an arc about the uncovering of mysteries and delusions and dealing with the emptiness that exists beyond them.

Return to Shiganshina was the arc of Pyrrhic victories, the arc that really tested whether the lives lost in this grand pursuit were really worth it after the human and morally ambiguous elements were emphasised in Uprising. Erwin never got to see the basement, and though Eren did he found that the thing meant to bring an end to the war only revealed it to be far larger than he thought. Grisha’s revolutionary dreams are destroyed after being betrayed by his own son and realising the monster he’s become. Mikasa finds out the person she’s been fighting to protect will inevitably die in a few years. Armin who had longed for acceptance finds the man he had looked up to has died because of him and now is the figure of widespread distrust. Levi has to make the choice to let the man he lives to serve die, and fails to avenge him. Hange loses both people closest to them as well as their eye. Jean is unable to completely conquer his humanity for the sake of the mission (his constant struggle from the start, now being tested again in the latest chapter - I think he’ll try and shoot anyway but Magath will jump on him and sacrifice himself to save them), Connie is unable to avenge his family, Sasha is flat-out knocked unconscious in an explicit deprivation of ability. Marlowe loses hold of his grand ideals at the end. Reiner’s attempt to be a hero fails in just about every way possible, Bertholdt’s attempt to take responsibility ends with his death and the loss of the Colossal Titan power, and Zeke’s arrogance is humiliated by his ignoble defeat by Levi. 

The revelation of Ymir’s death fed into that greater theme as, to Historia, just as to the reader, her mystery and her absence kept us hoping - but now that hope is dashed against the wall as it is revealed that she was not a god like her name suggested, but a human, and one had already died long ago. And so Eren can take no pleasure in seeing the sea, because the dream associated with it is dead. It’s this nihilistic pit that allows the SC, and especially Eren, to commit the atrocities they are now - hopefully the final Arc will eventually help the, rediscover the passion, hope and soul they have lost after too much time spent with monsters.

So, if it’s disappointing to hear Ymir’s backstory knowing she’s likely dead…that’s the point.

2) I don’t see how it helps to have a flashback of Reiner’s split personality to explain his split personality. That’s not explanation, just…repetition. The reason Reiner’s role in the death scene is so effective in the manga is that Reiner’s reaction is the crown on top of the helplessness of the situation of the Warriors (and all sides) - Reiner had acted as the monster figure but it’s just part of his inability to process his grief, superbly perfecting the tragic pathos for the Warriors throughout the scene even while doing something so terrible. Three flashed images cannot compare to the drawn-out desperation of the situation that gradually generates the pathos culminating in Reiner’s reaction, nor does it explain (in the season itself) why they do it in the first place. And once again, thematic timing! Bertholdt’s death so clearly parallels Marco’s that if they don’t include this scene in Season 4 I’m gonna get mad - and just with Bertholdt’s death that gave no-one any satisfaction, so it was with Marco - another example of the Pyrrhic victory that belongs to the RTS Arc.

3) While I agree wholeheartedly that Annie deserves the best treatment, they had the good sense of including her training Eren to build sympathy for her (although still no “Maybe I could teach you” ARGH), and the Lost Girls light novel made Annie sympathetic before the Marco scene was even written. Including it before its time in both the season and the OVA was unnecessary and thematically harmful padding.

The SNK anime has been unsalvageable since Episode 25′s Rage-Monster Eren; even their attempts to fix their mistakes just disturb other careful formations. Its value lies solely in its music, voice acting, and function as a gateway to the manga. 

TLDR, the SNK anime is to the manga what this cake is to The Simpsons:

[thisnerdsadventures]

a 2021 update

Ah, so I have forgotten to update in a million years, per usual

~ Random thought section ~

I woke up this morning and read this tweet thread about Alice Wu's director's note for her movie The Half of It. It's streaming on Netflix, and I highly encourage to go watch it, it's probably one of my favorite movies from the past few years. Anyways, she talks about how she produced the film while digesting the heartbreak of a friendship breakup - the whole thread hit me on a different level, but here's a quote that really hit home for me, especially a month from graduation: "The end of the film is each of their beginnings. And for my characters, I can think of no happier ending." We spend a lot of time worrying about the end of things and the uncertainty of things to come. Yet, there was a time where we worried about the exact same things for the very chapter we are now so nervous about leaving.

1. I'm nervous about leaving school and starting the..... rest of my life???

2. I'm nervous that my friends will slowly fade away. I'm nervous that they'll get on with their lives and I'll be slowly still trying to get my bearings, stuck in limbo.

3. I'm nervous that starting adulthood will be difficult because there are no more college orientations, no more awkward freshman dinners, perfect opportunities to meet new friends who are just as nervous as you are.

In writing this out, I felt a sense of deja-vu, like I had written these words before. So I just looked back at some of my posts right before entering college, and lo and behold:

08-18-2016: Today I said goodbye to one of my closer friends, and i realized that without even knowing it, Sunday’s party was the last time I would see some of my closest friends. It’s awful that way, that you don’t even know it’s the last time until it’s passed, and you’re left to pick up the the end of a chapter of a relationship from the scraps of an unexpected and improper farewell.

I feel like I’m in a weird twilight zone between college and high school where my present friends are all beginning to fade away to move on in their lives, and I’m yet to really meet anyone in my class yet, so at the moment,,,,,,there really isn’t anyone.

I wrote this less than a week from moving to Boston, and it's so shocking to me that I also experienced the "unexpected and improper farewell" part in senior year. It's almost the exact same thing that happened in COVID and is continuing to happen. You never know when the last time you might see someone might be, except instead of consolidated over the course of one pre-college summer, it's over the course of more than a year, the time that this pandemic has been going for.

And I hate that I said the "fade away and move on" thing verbatim, literally nearly five years ago. To be honest though, it's true, a lot of them did fade away and move on. But so did I, I wasn't left behind. To some extent, I was the one who did a lot of the moving away. And like many things in life, a couple of us continue to hang around, and maybe our friendships cycled in and out over college, but have come around again after a few years. I guess those are the ones that you know will stick around. The limbo period between chapters is a hard one, and it's nice to know that present-day me isn't the only one who has felt this. It's nice to know that past me met so many incredible people so fast, that I forgot this limbo period happened.

I know this part is getting a little long, but there's just a couple more snippets I want to share:

08-13-2016: I recently read Marina Keegan’s essay The Opposite of Loneliness, and one line resonated with me a lot: We’re so young. It seems silly and almost pretentious for me to think that this party would be so final, and yet it does, even though we have decades upon decades to build and connect or reconnect.

We’re so young, but that doesn’t stop the understanding that we are going to a new chapter in our lives and that it’s going to redefine our relationships. I hope it doesn’t change them too much.

I suppose much of the anxiety of going to college results from having to build my own community from the ground up again.... I tell myself the pieces will fall together and everything will be ok, but it doesn’t stop the increasing anxiety from, well, increasing.

I loved this collection of essays, if you haven't read it, I recommend you do. In moving around for so many years, I haven't been able to keep a lot of books in my possession, but I kept this one because that essay really hit home for me, and continues to, no matter what part of life I'm currently experiencing.

I think moving to college did change my relationships. But change is not a bad thing - your childhood friendships, the few of them that survive, end up strengthening and growing into adult friendships. And in the end, isn't that better than not changing at all? I'm hoping that a few of my college friendships will do that too - we'll go from college friends to family friends, and my kids will call them "Aunt" and "Uncle" and they'll grow up watching their parents talk for hours in the front yard before finally getting in the car and leaving for home.

08-13-2016: But hey, this is part of what I signed up for, I knew I wasn’t going to have much of an initial safety net, but I’m sure I’ll survive. We, as humans, always find a way to adapt right?

I think I survived and adapted. Not in the way I saw things going, but we can never really fully predict things, can we? One day, I'll learn to give myself a safety net for the next chapter, I'm sure. Today's not that day though.

Going back to her director's note, there was one more thing that just struck an emotional chord for me:

Fun fact, Alice Wu actually went to MIT for a bit before transferring to Stanford, and then she became a software engineer at Microsoft! I relate a little too much to her. Maybe one day I too will dump coding for my art form. But for now, in this above example, I relate far too much. I worked on my album, Imperfect, a little too obsessively this past winter while trying to digest the throes of heartbreak from one of my own friendships that ended. I still don't know if there was an ending for that friendship. I think I've spent a lot of time trying to put off the end, like a TV series that just keeps adding more and more seasons. Regardless of whether it needs to end or not (which I have not decided and will continue not to do so), I spent a lot of time thinking about who I was before and after that friendship, and I've concluded that a lot of who I am now, what my life looks like now is a result of that friendship. I'll give you a hint: I really like who I am now, compared to who I was before, and it showed me a lot of parts of life and friendship that I never expected would happen. That friendship was (is?) one of the most beautiful things that has happened to me in my life.

Let's finish off this reflective post with a quote from Khalil Gibran, that's kinda related to that point about how transformative the past can be, and how we're far better off in future chapters of our lives because of it.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

Again, if you haven't read his collection of poems, you should absolutely 100% drop whatever you're doing right now and do so! Wow, I really just assigned an entire reading list in this post.

I hope in making this movie, Alice found peace. I would hesitate to say that I found peace when making my album. I wrote a lot of songs about the heartbreak I felt from that whole experience. But the last song I wrote, "Best Friends," ends the whole thing on a positive note, that at the end of the day, I remember how my friends (past and present) literally saved my life and how things are looking a little better, and whatever happens, I hope my best friends will be there waiting for me, whoever they end up being.

- OK I PROMISE I DIDN'T SET OUT TO BE 100% SO EMO -

But yeah, I haven't really been doing much otherwise? I guess just tryna stay alive, I've been cooking a lot and cooking a lot of good good food, I did apply to an MBA program, I got my COVID vaccine (second shot this week!), I am excited to announce I am publishing a paper in my MEng lab, which is a really big accomplishment imo, I am thriving in my (1) econ class that I kept, even though I didn't realize we had readings assigned like for the past month, I went to try pastries from this Turkish bakery, I biked, probably, 15 miles over the past month, I've read at least 4 or 5 books this year so far, and am hoping to knock another one out today. Currently dying because trying to finish my thesis in like . a week, which is looking a little challenging, but I'm sure it'll happen!!!??