#awkward reviews

[mgu-h]

Lando Review 116/? • Apr 2023 • Max's Twitch

[psychicfaggots]

Ok this one is my favorite one. This one is the best of the best. Those last two sentences sealed his fate, it’s over bro you’ll never beat the allegations.

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.11 thoughts

[WitchCon 2024]

(Topics: praise - comedy, narrative progression, world building, thematic analysis - freedom vs. order, predictions)

Make 'Em Laugh

Y'know, for a chapter that was like...90% political dialogue and exposition, this still managed to end up being one of the funnier chapters so far: Desscaras' report being a comic book that makes her look like the hero and Shirabedonna just throwing it away, Ichi straight up leaving the Zoom call to get food, Togeice goofing up her dramatic entrance; and that's not even every funny bit from this chapter

Handled wrong, this could have come off as a super dry and meandering chapter, but for the sake of setting up the conflict of revealing Ichi's existence to the world, I think an in-depth analysis of both sides of the argument was necessary

Better to Ask Permission than Forgiveness

While I agree with Togeice that Shirabedonna's conclusions are being made on too few datapoints (one grateful village and three unusually quick hunts in only two weeks), I'm also inclined to agree with Shirabedonna that this is a tricky situation to maintain

The longer Mantinel tries to hide Ichi, the more contradictions and public distrust are bound to pile up. Coming up with excuses later to explain every little detail will just make discussing it more difficult, and Mantinel will only look more suspicious. On the other hand, coming clean now less than a month in should be fairly understandable given the implications of Ichi being a male Witch that acquired Uroro - some people will be mad, sure, but most people would probably be forgiving of the caution exercised

More than that, though, Mantinel's acquisition of the first male Witch would do wonders for their reputation, as that's a historic discovery. Even if he ends up being dangerous, the narrative wouldn't be too hard to spin in Mantinel's favor, as no one could have predicted how a male Witch would behave

The fun thing about this argument to me, though, is the acknowledgment of other Witch organizations

Frog in the Well

We haven't been shown a world map or anything yet, so we don't really have any sense of scale to this world, but I wouldn't have been too surprised either way if either Mantinel had a monopoly on Witch administration or if they were just one of many such organizations

The acknowledgment of an equivalent of Japan last week was a good clue that there was more to this world than...whatever this one country is called, but we still know nothing about this fantasy-Japan's society other than that they still have sashimi

Do they have their own Witches Association? Do they even have Magiks there in the first place, or are they endemic to the current focus country?

Black Clover kept expanding to reveal that other nations had different relationships with magic, while JJK revealed that Curses pretty much only exist in Japan for...some reason. I would imagine that this is more like the former, but the realization that one nation is hoarding the concept of magic would be pretty wild, wouldn't it?

Then there's the fact that ch.1 told us that there's only a 0.001% chance of a man being able to acquire magic even if he did have the capacity to pass a trial and physically handle casting spells. That seems like a low number, but...it's one in a thousand

For every thousand men, one of them has the capacity to acquire magic. Presumably this number is compounded by the ability to use it, since the narration said there were so many other factors that had to line up perfectly first, but that just means that the chances of finding another man with the potential to overcome those factors aren't actually all that slim

EDIT: It's been brought to my attention that I goofed the math and this is one in a hundred thousand, but my point stands! I thought it was going to be like one in a million or even a billion, and it ended up being a lot more generous than I anticipated! In our world, that would still be 40,000 men with the capacity for magic!

In other words, it's only a matter of time until another male Witch is found

From there, the method for cultivating male Witches will likely start to become more widespread, and eventually the proportion of female to male Witches should approach an equilibrium

That's probably looking too far ahead, though. That's the kind of thing that would probably take several generations to pass, so while we may have like...a dozen male Witches by the end, they probably won't be a normal part of Witch society until a far-flung epilogue

For now, I'd like to focus on the worldbuilding that we actually received this chapter: that Ichi's acquisition rate is ridiculous

Gotta Go Fast

Ichi has three Magiks under his belt in less than two weeks, and Shirabedonna tells us that one week is on the fast end for a hunt. That seems especially strange to me, since one of the first trials we're ever told of was only set for an hour, but I suppose that figure is based on the number of attempts and the prep-time? It's easy to assume "oh, they got it one," but this statement gives the impression that almost no one acquires a Magik on their first try

I do think it kind of skews our perceptions to tell us the upper and lower limits of one week and ten years without also giving us an average or at least a mean. All she says is "some take X amount of time," like that means anything statistically...

It also doesn't help that the first hunt we actually saw would have been over almost immediately had it not been for the circumstances: Desscaras immediately stabbed Uroro's heart, and only failed to pierce it because she was a woman. Now, Desscaras is likely an outlier herself because she's ostensibly the strongest living Witch, but sub-10 minutes is nowhere near a full week!

Again, it's entirely possible that the hunt for Uroro was on a constant timer since Mantinel first started trying, so that would be an extreme circumstance no matter what. I suppose in a sense that would mean Ichi has the record for clearing both the shortest and longest hunts?

But just being fast or lucky doesn't make Ichi an expert, and it's only a matter of time until he hits a wall where his unique perspective fails to compensate for his lack of experience in the field he's so suddenly found himself in

Rising to the Level of Your Incompetence

Togeice is being presented as morally incorrect here, with her talk of reforming Ichi into a "proper Witch" being accompanied by a vision of all of Ichi's best qualities being sanded down to a bland scholarly appearance, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have a point

Ichi's lack of experience makes him something akin to an outsider artist, which is what allows him to discover unconventional methods within the field, but it also means that he's not familiar with the pitfalls of the profession. Ichi took Hisame's challenge in a different direction than what was intended by the rules; it worked out, but if Hisame hadn't been impressed with this loophole, then that gamble would've gotten everyone present killed. Since she expressed that she wanted to attack another village as a palette cleanser, it's entirely possible that she could have taken this approach as an insult and gone on an even worse rampage after the fact

In fact, Ichi going straight for attacking Hisame could have resulted in her not even bothering to issue her trial, which would have effectively made her invincible in the resulting combat encounter. Perhaps Magiks don't work that way and they have to share their trial in order to maintain their power, but there's no precedent for that yet, so Ichi's ignorant and rash behavior could have sabotaged the entire mission

There's also the possibility that Ichi will continue to acquire stronger and stronger spells that he's less and less equipped to control and will cause some kind of huge disaster. He already used Parthion to create an entire new ecosystem on Druid Mountain, which could well have untold consequences on the local wildlife and nearby settlements, so what's to stop him from naively trying to save a desert village with Poltata and just washing them all away?

Togeice's desire to force her vision of order onto Ichi is obviously wrong and potentially detrimental to Ichi's value, but she is right that he's not capable of wielding his powers effectively or responsibly. Even if Ichi is a perfectly moral and upstanding Witch, if his trump card will only result in him being rendered unconscious for three days, then he's only going to be a liability when the time comes to use it against a major threat

The goal then should be to cultivate Ichi's sense of freedom and experience using magic while also giving him a clear sense of the responsibility that he carries. Fortunately, he's already demonstrated the capacity for that with his strict adherence to Death for Death, but unless he can prove to Togeice that he already has the discipline she's looking for, she won't be able to trust such an unknown with her back

Fortunately, the upcoming challenge provides the perfect opportunity for Togeice to get to know Ichi

Just a Little Guy

It was pointed out to me by @wickedsick that because the mushroom Magik isn't a human-hater, it likely doesn't hold any ill intent towards humans and doesn't go out of his way to hurt them, and therefore shouldn't trigger Death for Death. This would likely prevent Ichi from harming it, and in turn give Togeice the opportunity to take the win

The way I see it, there's five ways that this could go

Ichi loses because the mushroom isn't hurting anyone and he can't bring himself to hunt it -> school arc, Ichi learns valuable lessons, though he doesn't fundamentally change the way that Togeice wants him to

Ichi is just hopelessly outclassed and decides he has plenty to learn from Togeice and Mantinel -> same outcome as above

The circumstances of Ichi's refusal to hunt the mushroom somehow prove to Togeice that he's already plenty disciplined -> she wins, but still lets him go free because she doesn't believe she has anything to teach him after all

The nature of the trial doesn't necessitate Death for Death, and Ichi wins solely through his specific skillset -> Togeice realizes that she was not equipped for this specific scenario and different approaches will always be necessary for different circumstances, so she drops her objection

Togeice accidentally goads the mushroom into triggering Death for Death and realizes that it was her irresponsibility that endangered people, not Ichi's -> same outcome as above

For sure, there are more nuanced outcomes available, but those seem like the most likely either for developing the themes of the story or driving the plot in a specific direction. I'm definitely open to whichever route Nishi chooses to take, as I think that the two broadest outcomes of Ichi going or not going to school both provide interesting opportunities for the story going forward. Whichever she chooses, I have faith in Nishi that it'll be a fun time

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[doomed-jester]

If I've taken away anything from the Quinton Reviews situation, it's to never reach out to people I admire because they'll publicly shame me for being weird and awkward

[earlycuntsets]

mcr unboxing lame time

-frank iero's hallowed grounds coffee by la paisa bonita

-strange fan-made mcr vhs from ebay of "fireside bowl 2002"

my sweet husband wanted to go all out for the production of this and I am forever grateful to him. he does tech repair/3d printing tutorials.

he also 3d printed the little franks in the top left of the shot that were drawn by @horrorhare.

@myxchemicalximbalance & @ronna-rue here's my coffee review lol

wanted to use @batman-gifs comment below in the video! But I jumped the gun and missed the opportunity. They just capture the mystery of the vhs really well lol

also there's an easter egg in the audio when i pour the coffee high fives to anyone that catches it

[so-long-soldier28]

i finished the show 😭 (minor teen wolf spoilers)

it was way less a tragic ending than predicted, thank god. everyone and their mother showed up in the last thirty minutes and i loved it, coach, especially; you CANNOT tell me he didn't know something was up. man was johnny on the spot with that stick. minorly confused on alec, but i think i understand, the more i think about it? oh!, and mason and corey were so cute. scott without eyes is my sleep paralysis demon. they should've kissed in the elevator.

[through-the-rabbit-hole]

I'm reading Babel, and, in regards to the research projects that the Hermes Society has been undertaking, there's a footnote attached that essentially complains about how white European translators add too many footnotes with explanatory context in non-European texts, thus leading the reader to read the text the way they want it to be read.

And I just find this funny, because this is the exact criticism I have of R. F. Kuang's use of footnotes. I wonder if she added it in some bout of self-awareness, or if it was just another fun fact. ( Long ramble under the cut. )

Don't get me wrong, the added context is appreciated; there are a lot of people ( myself included ) reading Babel not because they have an extensive knowledge of the 19th century and Victorian England, but because they heard the book is good and popular. The historical context helps the reader understand the circumstances of a situation or the character motives much better.

But it also has a flaw I always notice in a book, which is when the author's voice intrudes upon the narrator's voice. You can clearly hear the author's own grievances and opinions in the tone and the language, even in the choice of highlighted facts. On one hand, I get it: a Chinese-American author is writing a story set in colonial England, told through the third-person lens of a Chinese boy. The story is steeped in commentary about colonialism and racism, and when the protagonist you're following is directly affected by the issues raised in the book, you would expect to see a lot of criticism of said issues. It would he decidedly weird if it wasn't this way.

However, Kuang specifically wrote Robin as someone who is not entirely immune to lies and propaganda. Robin is not as educated, nor did he suffer humiliation at the hands of the white European bourgeoise as, say, Ramy did. Robin is not, at all times, as critical of Victorian England as the real author is, and as the real author likes to emphasize. So in this case, the author is speaking over the narrator when she adds footnotes providing further context that carries her subjective tone. It pulls the reader out of the text, reminds them that this is the real author's opinions and observations; not Robin's.

The funny thing is that I'm not saying an author isn't allowed to show their feelings on a subject unless the author is also the narrator of the book. In fact, R. F. Kuang achieves this in Babel consistently and within full reason: the characters have all the right to point out and discuss the prejudice and injustice they're facing, as well as many other topics that Kuang is clearly passionate about ( this even applies to the discussion of different topics in the field of linguistics in the book ). Like, yeah, of course they would! And this is the ideal place for the real author to do so, where they won't interject themselves into the book.

But by doing so in the footnotes (which, I have never seen so many and such wordy footnotes in a book before), and at times throughout the book, the real author does what, to me, she is exactly complaining about. ( I also have to complain, briefly, about how awkward these sometimes feel, almost like the author wanted to say something more but didn't know where to put it, so it was all thrown into the footnotes. ) I don't think this is a matter of whether these footnotes are objectively correct or not. Her criticism was that non-European texts were burdened with context from white European translators, which implies that this context was subjective, incorrect, misleading, or at the very least, trying to lead the reader to think about the text one way or another. And I agree; context should be objective, it should help fill the gaps where the majority of the reading audience might not be as knowledgeable about a topic, event or person, might not understand a quip or comment because of the missing context.

But Kuang doesn't incorporate these seamlessly enough. In fact, these would be much less jarring, if not at all, if the book was written from Ramy's or Victoria's point of view. Because they're much more aware of the world they live in, are more resistant to and firmly critical of colonial England just like Kuang, because this kind of context, even if it slightly carried the author's voice, would match Ramy's or Victoria's better than Robin's. The point isn't whether Kuang is right to point out the many injustices of the white European man, and whether the white European man is right to add his own context to a non-European text.

The point is how they do it, how prominent their voices are, how much they affect the way the reader will consume and experience and view the book. When you blur the lines between fictional and real communication, when the author is not covert enough in a heterodiegetic narrative, you form a direct, unobstructed line between author and reader that, in this instance, feels out of place. The reader will have to wonder, while reading the text, whether it's the author or the narrator speaking to them, and how this might affect their perception of the events of the book.

Feel free to disagree with me on this, and also I fully admit I am not that well versed in narratology (which is why the terminology is a bit all over the place). In fact, I would appreciate insight from someone who is more knowledge about it than me. These are just my personal feelings on how the author unnecessarily interjects herself into the book, when I feel like it's something that could have been changed during the editing process. I can tell she struggled a lot with the footnotes, because she had a lot more to say without knowing how to add it seamlessly into the book.

(I might revise this, too, at some point in the future; halfway through writing this I stumbled upon Manfred Jahn's Narratology 2.3: A Guide to the Theory of Narrative, and now I'm super curious about it.)

[puppppppppy]

if escape rooms as team building exercises became popular im not sure if id be more excited or terrified

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Or even better, you can become a YouTuber. That way you can edit your streams or just ramble non-stop about lore for shit you like

oh i fear that'd involve listening to my voice and i'd rather die than do that

[why-the-heck-not]

>:(((( I have a phonecall today that I have to answer, and ofc some other random phone call came in and I answered bc thought it was that. >:((( it wasn’t and now today’s total is going to be 2 phone calls. this is my nightmare

[screechingfromthevoid]

The reviews are in folks shit hurted

[mytastessuck]

Sam Reich & Dan Gurewitch & Amir Blumenfeld: Awkward Rap

From the early days of Collegehumor, the Paleolithic Era of 2008 comes this decent comedy rap that will ALWAYS hit too close to home. Jake and Amir team up with current Dropout CEO to remind you why you put your face in your hands every time you're alone.

Song Score: 1996/10

[helianskies]

my throat is so dry and sore but whenever i sip water as im supposed to im throwing it back up within the hour like cmonnnn i cannot let myself be dehydrated like this

[asian-drama-whump-blog]

Cherry Magic Movie

I FINALLY FOUND IT! You guys probably got a hold of it ages ago but I just couldn’t find the movie anywhere! Here’s the link to it on youtube. I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet but I can confirm there is whump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YlPjhuScxA

[about27th]

bad girl

spoiler alert—though to be honest, there's nothing to spoil. everything is already in the trailer

After waiting for two months, I finally got to see Babygirl. It was an absolute disappointment.

I’m a big fan of sensual films; I’m intrigued by human nature when it comes to seduction and temptation—what drives someone to lose all sense of reason and chase something they know is dangerous, yet irresistible? Watching how creators interpret human desire fascinates me. It’s beautifully fatal, and in a strange way, it’s what makes the world so colourful.

I was genuinely expecting a deeper story from Babygirl, but it turned out to be just another one of those movies where the trailer gives away everything. What you see in the trailer is exactly what you get—two people randomly bump into each other, and for no apparent reason, they click. It left me with no choice but to think that the woman must be so desperate she’s ready to latch onto anyone who catches her attention.

From a woman’s perspective, I think the movie does a good job of depicting the emotional needs and internal struggle women experience. Yes sometimes, girls want to be wild, treated like they’re still young, and experience love like it’s their first. The flirty atmosphere is handled well, especially in scenes like the night out and in the office, where the intern gives the CEO butterflies. Apart from that, there’s really nothing to dig into. Everything feels flat and predictable.

What makes the intern so special that a successful CEO would fall for him? Just by calming down a dog, giving her a glance or being that edgy but rude type? I didn’t see any chemistry between them. The whole interaction, when placed in reality, feels downright awkward. Then of course, there’s the classic: the intern shows up at her house unexpectedly, followed by the CEO getting mad, and the intern pulling away, which drives the CEO crazy.

I MEAN COME ON.

To be fair, all the actors were perfect for their roles and did a great job. I just feel sad that the characters have so little to work with. Despite their strong performances, everything feels so dumb.

For movies of the same erotic genre, Unfaithful does a much better job of showing how the characters' affair begins and unravels. In No Night is Too Long, the way Lee Williams and Marc Warren meet is so simple yet provocative. Even in Human Contract, while the toxic relationship doesn’t make sense, the process through which the characters evolve into one still does—sexy and dangerous from the get-go. I really think more effort should have been put into creating a stronger story of what sparks their interest and leads them down the rabbit hole, to make the subsequent madness more believable to the audience.

Throughout almost two hours, I was constantly checking my phone, just hoping this movie would end as quickly as possible. It feels more like the director fulfilling their own fantasy than telling any interesting story—especially when many scenes are unnecessarily long and add no value. For example, the intern dancing at the hotel and the two hyped up at the rave night: it was beautiful at first, but the director didn’t know when to stop so the whole thing ended up feeling like I was watching someone’s daily life which I didn’t care about. It’s a shame; it should have been a shorter film that could still deliver everything and be entertaining, or the two hours could have been used to tell so much more. I was so MAD after watching this movie🙃this is what I get after waiting for so long? damn!

My only takeaway from this movie is Madison Beer's song 'Make You Mine'—what a good (sexy) song.

[snappingtwiggs]

Stik's Movie Review Corner: The Wild Robot.

Hey. you. You should go watch The Wild Robot. The advertising team really failed this movie HARD.

I literally knew of the movies existence, nothing more, and that's because the advertising didn't tell you anything about this movie. Well, I am here to tell you that it is a 8/10 to 9/10. And I think going in with literally no expectations is a very good thing to do. Its a little awkward sometimes, but all in all its a really good movie. Soundtrack killed me too. I know I'm not hard to make cry, but man. It hits right. In particular the main theme. I wasn't planning on seeing this movie before my sister said she wanted to see it. And I think that's a bad thing. You should want to see this movie.

Anyway... I don't really feel like spoiling anything for you, and that's how I know its a good movie. Other than I guess mild gore warning (In a PG movie somehow, like more than I think I've seen in a decent amount of PG 13.) and the robot designs are super sick. So uhh... Go watch it.