#best of the super juniors 2019 day 3 review

[hazyheel]

Best of the Super Juniors 2019 Day 3 Review

First up, Jonathon Gresham took on TAKA Michinoku. Gresham had broken fingers from his match with Scurll, which I imagine will be his story going forward in the tournament. While it seemed like Gresham would be only a technical guy in the tournament, this match really was proving otherwise. The two exchanged both submissions and strikes throughout the match. Taka went straight for the fingers during the match, which greatly angered both the ref and Gresham. Gresham countered that game plan by working the arms. The two had a really great technical exchange, which culminated in Gresham locking in the octopus hold for the win. Gresham: 2, Taka: 0.

Grade: B. I really like this kind of stuff, and I am into Gresham’s story so far in the tournament. He is definitely an underdog throughout the tournament, and he is not too known for the Japanese crowd, so he is still trying to get over with them. Taka did a lot of work making him look good, and I like how the match turned out. 

Next up, Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru. This was actually one of the matches I was more looking forward to, because I love how Tiger Mask feuds with the people of Suzuki Gun. Tiger Mask started out with a vicious attack before the bell, and that made me smile. Kanemaru, of course, took advantage of the knee injury whenever he could. Tiger Mask really couldn’t get anything started because of the targets on both the knee and the mask. At one point, Tiger Mask was able to drill Kanemaru with a tombstone and a tiger driver, but Kanemaru kicked out. In a similar vein, Kanemaru was able to hit the deep impact for only a 2. Kanemaru was able to lock in the figure four, but Tiger Mask fought out of it and survived. In the finish, Tiger Mask went for a tiger suplex, but Kanemaru fought out and tried to lock in the figure four again, only for Tiger Mask to roll up Kanemaru for the win. Tiger Mask: 4, Kanemaru: 0.

After the match, Kanemaru was able to steal Tiger Mask’s mask. Fun times.

Grade: B. Not as strong as the opener, but still very exciting. I loved his two matches against Suzuki-gun, and in my mind, Tiger Mask has won a victory for this best of the super juniors. He beat his two biggest rivals, and they were exciting. This was a good match, and I could really feel the hate. Kanemaru is really one of the best heels in the company, making a slow match feel exciting. 

Then we had Shingo Takagi against Titan. This was a classic speed vs. strength match. Shingo actually had a lot of trouble with Titan’s lucha style. Titan had control for the entire beginning of the match, until he overextended and Takagi dropped him on the top rope.  Titan was doing a great job selling Takagi’s strength in the match. At one point, Takagi challenged him to a chopping contest, but he collapsed before they could even start. At another, Titan hit a suicide dive that really cemented my belief that luchadores are the best at them. In an interesting counter to the noshigami, Titan reversed it into almost a sunset flip. Titan went for Titanics, but Takagi escaped almost with ease, then drilled Titan with a noshigami, a pumping bomber and a last of the dragons for the win. Takagi: 4, Titan: 2

Grade: B+. This was a good match. They started off a bit slow, with Titan really trying to work up to this guy who is being treated as the most dangerous in the block. He gave Takagi everything, including his inescapable pinning combination, but Takagi still beat him. Takagi showed some weakness against high speeds in this match, but he was really rolling once he got the momentum. 

Then we had Taiji Ishimori against Marty Scurll, Bullet Club vs. former Bullet Club. Commentary played up the fact that Scurll had Brodie king in his corner when Ishimori came out alone. Ishimori was able to go hold for hold with Scurll, which was interesting. he also quickened the pace whenever Scurll had the advantage, showing that Ishimori wasn’t going to challenge Scurll at his game. Scurll tried to work on the arm during the match, but Ishimori normally had a counter for it. Scurll even attempted to get in ishimori’s head, and it actually worked. The both of them became furious and exchanged vicious strikes over and over on each other. At one point, Ishimori drilled Scurll with a spike rana off the top, but Scurll rolled through into a pin for a near fall. The two tried to do a reversing tombstone spot, but when Ishimori tried to reverse it, he lost his balance and ended up hitting the tombstone while falling over. it was an awkward exchange but it actually looked alright. Scurll was able to lock in the crossface chicken wing a little bit, but did not fully lock his fingers, so Ishimori was able to escape. Ishimori locked in his yes lock, but Scurll reversed into his own yes lock, before trying to roll him into chicken wing. In another crazy spot, Scurll hit a package piledriver. Scurll went for the black plague, but Ishimori reversed and hit a high knee, followed by the bloody cross for a near fall. Ishimori: 4, Scurll: 2

Grade: B. I think this was a strong B, but while the good stuff in this match was really good, it also was quite slow between those parts. They had an awesome finishing exchange, and some really good striking contests. No finger break in this match, so Scurll isn’t trying to tell that story for everyone. I really liked this, and I think the best man won. 

And in the main event, we had Dragon Lee vs. SHO, a rematch of one of the best tournament matches last year. The two immediately tore into each other with strikes. Although Sho has proved that he has a strong submission game, it  was all striking for him in the beginning of this match.. Sho began to work over the arm, softening him up for an armbar later on in the match. Dragon Lee tried to target Sho’s arm as well, although he can’t capitalize as well due to a lack of submissions. At one point in the match, the two were so focused on attacking each other on the outside that they were both nearly counted out. At another, Lee proved my earlier statement wrong by locking in a fujiwara armbar on Sho. In a cool spot, Sho went for a German off the top, but Lee countered and hit the double stomp in the corner. Sho was able to hit the shock arrow at one point, but Lee was able to kick out. Sho then hit a series of crazy strikes and lariats, followed by a lumbar check and then a powerbomb onto the knees for a near fall. Lee was fighting from behind, but he was fighting hard. Lee went for the Desnucadora, but Sho countered into a devastating armbar, but Lee powerbombed out of it. He followed that up with two awesome knees to the face for a near fall, and then hit the Desnucadora for the win. Lee: 2, Sho: 0

Grade: A. Another classic from these guys, absolutely great. They brutalized each other throughout this match. Sho really looks like a star on this tour, and I don’t imagine that that will stop. Lee is looking really good too, but Sho is probably the best part of the tournament. At 0-2, it is looking kinda tough for him, especially with two projected winners, Takagi and Ishimori already pulling to 4 points ahead. But if he keeps putting on matches like this, then I think he will come out as one of the most accomplished men in the tournament. 

Overall Grade: B+

Pros: All matches were really good here; good commentary too

Cons: I guess the tombstone botch

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 10/1/21: VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY II, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK, TITANE, MAYDAY, THE JESUS MUSIC

Yeah, so I haven’t had the time over the past couple weeks to write a column, and I kind of hate that fact, especially since I’m coming up on a pretty major milestone for me writing a weekly box office column and reviewing movies. In fact, that milestone comes next week! And once again, I’m struggling to get through the movies I was hoping to watch and write about this week, because I’ve been out of town and once again, very busy over the weekend. Let’s see how far I get...

Before we get to this week’s wide releases, I’m excited to say that my local arthouse movie theater, The Metrograph, is finally reopening for in-person screenings, and they’re kicking things off with a 4k restoration of Andrez Zulawski’s 1981 thriller, Possession, starring Sam Neill and Isabell Adjani, who won a Best Actress prize at Cannes for her performance in the film. I actually saw this at the Metrograph a few years back, and Metrograph Pictures, the distribution arm of the company is now distributing the 4k restoration. There’s a lot of exciting things ahead at Metrograph, including an upcoming four-film Clint Eastwood retrospective, including White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) and A Perfect World (1991) this Friday. Also, Lingua Franca director Isabel Sandoval will be showing her fantastic film from 2020 (a rare chance to see it in a theater and I’ll be there!) as well as program a number of other favorites of hers. Sunday will have screenings of Ingmar Berman’s Scenes from a Marriage (1973) in its full four plus hour glory, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993) and John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994).. In other words, the Metrograph is back!

Moving over to the weekend’s three wide releases, the first one up being Sony’s VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (Sony Pictures) with Tom Hardy returning as Eddie Brock aka Venom, joined by Woody Harrelson as the psychotic symbiote, Carnage. Taking over the directing reins is Andy Serkis, who has only directed two other movies, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Breathe, but as an actor, he’s been heavily involved with the CG VFX (and performance capture) needed to bring the characters in this Marvel anti-hero movie to life.

Venom has been one of Spider-Man’s most popular villains and sometimes allies for quite a few decades now, starting out life as a cool black costume Spider-Man found on a strange planet during the first “Secret Wars,” which turned out to be an alien symbiote that had malicious intentions. Spider-Man got the costume off of him but it then linked up with Eddie Brock, a sad-sack journalist whose emotions drove the alien symbiote to become the Venom we known and (mostly) love, thanks to one Todd McFarlane. Venom continued to play a large part in the Spider-Man books before getting his own comics, and not before a super-villain was created for him in Cletus Kasady, a vicious serial killer whose infection by the symbiote turns him into Carnage. And that’s who Harrelson is playing.

Being a sequel, we do have some basis to go on, although the original Venom movie, released in early October 2018, also arrived at a time when it was only the second time the character of Venom was brought to the big screen -- the first time being Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, in which the character was received without much love as Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And yet, Venom did great, opening with $80.2 million and grossing $213 million domestically, which is more than enough to greenlight a sequel. (It made over double that amount overseas, too.) For comparison, the Wolverine prequel opened with $85 million but at the beginning of summer, so it quickly tailed away with other movies coming out after it. Venom: Let There Be Carnage has to worry about the new James Bond opening a week later, so it very likely could be a one-and-done, opening decently but quickly dropping down as other big movies are released in October (basically one a week).

I’ve already seen the movie, and by the time you read this, reviews will already be up --including my own at Below the Line. Social media reactions seem to not be so bad though, so maybe it’ll get better reviews than its predecessor, which was trashed by critics, receiving only a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But if you look at the fan ratings, they’re higher with 81%, although it’s hard not to be

I’m thinking that bearing COVID in mind and the law of depreciation since the previous movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage will probably be good for around $50 million this weekend, maybe a little more, but however it’s received, I expect it to drop significantly next week, though a total domestic gross of $135 to 140 million seems reasonable.

Another strong sequel to kick off October is the animated THE ADDAMS FAMILY II (MGM), which is following up the 2019 hit for MGM/UA Releasing with most of the voice cast returning, including Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Finn Wolfhard, as well as Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Bette Midler voicing the popular characters from the New Yorker cartoons, a popular ‘60s TV series, and two Barry Sonnenfeld movies from the ‘90s.

The 2019 animated film was a pretty solid hit for the newly-launched UA Releasing, grossing $100 million domestic after a $30.3 million opening, making it one of MGM’s biggest hits since it was restructured under UA and became its own distributor again. Who knows what’s going to happen with Amazon’s plans on buying MGM and whether the latter will remain a distribution wing, but MGM still has a number of movies out this year that likely will be awards contenders. But that doesn’t mean much for The Addams Family II, which will try to get some of those people who paid to see the original movie in theaters back to see the sequel… and if they’re not going to theaters, MGM is once again offering the movie day-and-date on VOD much like they did with last year’s Bill and Ted Face the Music, which opened much earlier in the pandemic (late august, 2020), so it far fewer options to see it in theaters compared to this animated sequel.

It’s highly doubtful that The Addams Family II was going to open anywhere near to $30 million even if there wasn’t a pandemic, and it wasn’t on VOD just because MGM just doesn’t seem to be marketing the movie as well as its predecessor. You can blame COVID if you want, but it’s also the fact they’re distributing the company’s first James Bond movie in six years, No Time To Die, on their own vs. through another distributor, ala the last few Daniel Craig Bonds. But we’ll talk more about that next week, since that’s going to be an important movie to help cover MGM’s expenses for the rest of 2021. (I haven’t had a chance to see this yet, but it’s embargoed until Friday, so wouldn’t be able to get a review into the column regardless.)

We’ve seen quite a few family hits over the past few months even when the movies were already on streaming/VOD, but parents are probably being a bit more careful with kids back in school, many younger kids still not vaccinated, and the Delta variant still not quite under control. Because of those factors, I think The Addams Family II is more likely to do somewhere between $15 and 18 million its opening weekend, maybe more on the lower side.

Third up is THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK (New Line/WB), David Chase’s prequel to his hit HBO series, The Sopranos, which went off the air in 2004 but still finds fans on the new HBO Max streamer. Ironically, this prequel will air on the streamer at the same time as it's getting a theatrical release, which probably won't be a very tough choice for fans.

Chase has reunited with director Alan Taylor, who won a Primetime Emmy for his work on the show in 2007 before moving onto other popular shows like HBO's Game of Thrones. Taylor has had a bit of a rough career in film, though, having directed Marvel Studios’ sequel, Thor: The Dark World, a movie that wasn't received very well although there were rumors that Taylor butted heads with the producers and maybe didn't even finish the movie. He went on to direct Terminator Genesys, which honestly, I can't remember if it was the worst Terminator movie, but it was pretty bad.

What's interesting is that because this is a prequel set in the '70s and '80s, none of the actors from the show appear on it, but it does star Alessandro Nivola, a great actor in one of his meatiest roles for a studio movie. It also introduces Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini (who played Tony Soprano, if you didn't know), playing the teenage Tony, plus it has great roles for the likes of Jon Bernthal (as Tony's father), Vera Farmiga (playing Tony's mother), Corey Stoll (playing the younger "Junior” Soprano), and Lesile Odom Jr, as the Sopranos key adversary, even though he ends up coming across like the good guy of the movie. It also stars Billy Magnussen, who oddly, also has a key role in next week's No Time to Die.

I'm sure there's quite a bit of interest in seeing where Tony came from and to learn more about his family, many who were dead long before the events of the HBO show, but will that be enough to get them into theaters when they already have HBO? I already reviewed the movie for Below the Line, and reviews are generally positive, which might get people more interested in this prequel.

As with most of Warner Bros’ movies this year, Many Saints will also debut on HBO Max and unlike some of the studio’s other 2021 offerings, it will actually make more sense to watch this one on the streamer since that’s how most people watched The Sopranos. That seems like a killer for Many Saints, and it’s likely to keep it opening under $10 million, where it might have done better on a different weekend (like sometime over the last two weeks).

This is what I have this weekend’s top 10 looking like:

1. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) - $50.4 million N/A

2. The Addams Family II (MGM/UA Releasing) - $16.5 million N/A

3. The Many Saints of Newark (New Line/WB) - $9 million N/A

4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel/Disney) - $7.5 million -44%

5. Dear Evan Hansen (Universal) - $4.1 million -45%

6. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $3.3 million -30%

7. Jungle Cruise (Disney) - $1.1 million -35%

8. Candyman (Universal) - $1.3 million -48%

9. Cry Macho (Warner Bros.) - $1 million -52%

10. Malignant (Warner Bros.) - .7 million -53%

Opening in select cities is French filmmaker Julia (Raw) Ducournau’s TITANE (Neon), the genre thriller that won this year’s coveted Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It stars Agathe Rouselle as a young woman who has an interesting relationship with automobiles, but she also has psychotic tendencies that leaves a trail of bodies behind her. On the run, she decides to pretend she’s the missing son of a fireman (Vincent Lindon), who has been missing for 10 years, and things just get weirder from there.

I honestly wasen’t sure what to expect from this although I do remember walking out of Ducournau’s cannibal movie, Raw, just because it was so gross, even though so many of my colleagues and friends swear by the movie, and this one, for that matter. Sure, there’s a certain “prove it” factor to me watching a movie that wins the Palme D’Or, because it’s very rare that I like the movies that do win that benchmark cinema award.

After a flashback to Agathe’s character Alexia when she was an obstinate young girl kicking the back seat of her father as he’s driving. They crash and she’s forced to get surgery that puts an odd looking piece of metal in her head. Decades later, she seems to be a pseudo-stripper at weird punk rock car show -- I guess they do those things different in France -- and hooking up with a fellow “model” afterwards. Agathe is actually a very popular model/dancer but when one fan gets too grabby, she pulls a knitting needle out of her hair and stabs it through his ear, killing him. Oh, yeah, she then has sex with a car and seemingly gets pregnant, but that only happens later. First, she goes on a bit of a killing spree and then goes on a run and decides that by strapping up her breasts and breaking her nose, she can pass off this fire captain’s son… and it works!

So the second half deals with acting great Vincent Lindon’s absolutely bonkers steroid-addicted man who seems to be sexually attracted to his own son, and most of his fellow firefighters knows that he’s gay but in the closet, but I’m honestly not sure what that matters. He’s a pretty disgusting character whose 70-year-old ass we see way too much of, and even those who might find Rouselle to be quite fetching, there’s a certain point where her nudity is not alluring but quite horrifying.

Oh, and at this time, Alexia (or Adrien, as she’s now going) has also gotten significantly pregnant, but it’s not a normal pregnancy because what should be milk from her breasts seems to some sort of motor oil. That’s because she FUCKED A CAR earlier in the movie!!! What do you expect when you fuck a car and don’t use protection, girlie? The fact Alexia/Adrien is trying to hide the fact she’s a pregnant woman from a station full of men isn’t even particularly disturbing. The part that really got me was when she broke her own nose to pass off as this guy’s son -- I actually had to look away for that part.

Listen I’m no prude, and I think I can handle most things in terms of horror and gore, but Titane just annoyed me, because it felt like Ms Ducournau was doing a lot of what we see more for shock value than to actually drive the story forward. There just doesn’t seem to be much point to any of it, and once the movie gets to the firehouse, and we see her interaction (as a young man) with her “father” and his colleagues, it just gets more grueling.

It’s as if Ducournau had watched a lot of movies by the likes of Cronenberg or David Lynch, or more likely Nicolas Refn or Lars von Trier, and thought, “I could be just as strange and horrific as those men… let’s see what people think of this.” And way too many people fell for it, including the Cannes jury. While I normally would approve of any good body horror movie, especially one with cinematography, score and musical selections as good as this one, I doubt I’d ever want to watch this movie again. And therefore, I don’t think I can recommend this movie to anyone either, at least no one I want to remain my friend.

As far as the movie’s box office, NEON is opening the movie in 562 theaters to build on buzz from various film festivals, including the New York Film Festival earlier this week. I think it should be good for half a million this weekend, although maybe it'll surprise me like NEON's release of Parasite a few years back. I just don't see this getting into the top 10 but maybe just outside it.

And then we have a few more movies that I got screeners for but just couldn’t find the time to watch, but might do so once I finish this verdammt column.

The faith-based doc THE JESUS MUSIC (Lionsgate) by the Erwin Brothers (I Can Only Imagine, I Still Believe) takes a look at the rise of Christian Contemporary Music through artists like Amy Grant and Stryper and everything in between, featuring lots of interviews of the artists’ trials and triumphs. Even though there isn’t much CCM I ever listen to, I’m still kind of curious about this one, since I generally like music docs and this is guaranteed not to be the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of most of them. I have no idea how wide Lionsgate intends to release this but it certainly can be fairly wide, because the Erwins have delivered at least one giant hit for Lionsgate, and I Still Believe may have been another one if not for the pandemic. It actually opened on March 13, just days before movie theaters shut down across the country, so it's little surprise it only made $7 million domestic. That said, the acts in this one have a lot of fans, and if Lionsgate does release The Jesus Music into 1,000 theaters or so (which is very doable), then I would expect it would make between $1 and 2 million, which would be enough to break into the Top 10.

I haven't seen any of the movies based on Anna Todd's YA romance novels but the third of them, AFTER WE FELL, will play in about 1,311 theaters on Thursday i.e. tonight through Fathom Events, and may or may not continue through the weekend. These movies just kind of show up, and again, having not seen any of them, I'm not sure what kind of audience they have, but this one stars Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes, as well as Stephen Moyer, Mira Sorvino and Arielle Kebbel with Castille Landon directing.

Grace Van Patten (Under the Silver Lake) stars in Karen Cinorre’s action-fantasy film MAYDAY (Magnolia), playing Ana, a young woman who is transported to a “dreamlike and dangerous” coastline where she joins a female army in a never-ending war where women lure men to their deaths. It also stars Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin and Juliette Lewis. It will be in theaters and On Demand this Friday.

The great Tim Blake Nelson stars in Potsy Ponciroli’s action-Western OLD HENRY (Shout! Studios/Hideout) about a widowed farmer and son who take in an injured man with a satchel full of cash only to have to fend off a posse who come after the man, claiming to be the law. Not sure who to trust, the farmer has to use his gun skills to defend his home and the stranger.

The romantic-comedy FALLING FOR FIGARO (IFC Films) is the new movie from Australian filmmaker Ben Lewin (The Sessions), who I’ve interviewed a few times, and he’s a really nice chap. This one stars Danielle Macdonald, Hugh Skinner, and Joanna Lumley, and it will be in theaters and On Demand this Friday. This rom-com is set in the world of opera singing competitions with Macdonald playing Millie, a brilliant young fund manager who decides to chase her dream of being an opera singer in the Scottish Highlands. She begins vocal training lessons with a former opera diva, played by Lumley, where she meets Max, a young man also training for that competition. Could love blossom? This actually sounds like my kind of movie, so I’ll definitely try to watch soon.

The second season of “Welcome to Blumhouse” the horror movie anthology kicks off on Amazon Prime Video on Friday with the first two movies, Maritte Lee Go’s Black as Night (which I’ve seen) and Gigi Saul Guerrero’s Bingo Night (which I haven’t), and actually I’ll have an interview with Ms. Go over at Below the Line possibly later this week. The former stars Ashja Cooper as a teen girl living in Louisiana who has a bad experience with homeless vampires, along with her best friend (Fabrizio Guido).

Also, Antoine Fuqua and Jake Gyllenhaal’s remake of the Danish film THE GUILTY will begin streaming on Netflix starting Friday after premiering at TIFF a few weeks back. I never got around to reviewing it, but it’s pretty good, maybe a little better than the original movie but essentially the same. I’d definitely recommend it if you like Jake, because he’s definitely terrific in it.

Also hitting Netflix this week is Juana Macias' SOUNDS LIKE LOVE (Netflix), a Spanish language romance movie that (guess) I haven't seen!

A few other movies I didn’t get to this week, include:

STOP AND GO (Decal) VAL (Dread) BLUSH (UA Releasing) RUNT (1091 Pictures)

Next week, it’s not time for James Bond, it’s time for James Bond to die… no, wait… there is NO TIME TO DIE! Also, a very, very special anniversary for the Weekend Warrior….

[1358456]

Review Response, Dec 22 - 28, 2019

“28″, but I’ll be including the reviews that came in this morning. Because hey.

And... there are a lot. The most this year.

Legacy Prologue - Kalos

1) That first part DEFINITELY reminded me of the XY chapter, except Y is being the Hikikomori (shut-in) and X is trying to drag her out... It’s a good role-reversal!

I also wanted it to be like the time in XY where Y found out what happened to her mother and she got super depressed. Except this time, X tries to do something about it. Finally.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legacy #008

1) LOVED IT!

Thank you!

2) Poor moon. I loved this chapter

Hey, it’s you! <3 Thank you kindly.

3) WoW cool chapter. So blue confessionele next chapter hopefully? Lol have been waiting on that for the entire story so Lets hope its the case

Haven’t we all. ... Except for those that don’t like this pairing...

4) It’s nice to see platinum trying to help blue move things was a good chapter with nice interactions with the juniors and seniors all under the same roof

It’s like a big Dex Holder family! ... But not too big, since there are far too many of them nowadays! And despite Platinum not really wanting to get involved, she helps out anyways, as “foretold” by the Headcanon Chronology!

5) While Moon really should rest, the idea of her getting that Spirit of Vengeance team you posted about on your Tumblr sounds way too awesome. ...Also Umbreon bias since it's my first (and only) shiny, but yeah.

Poor Blue - it really is probably only going to hurt her the longer she keeps it in. Wonder how that is going to play out, since I guess Platinum's now put things in motion. I think the first scene in this chapter is the one I enjoyed the most.

Damn, for Moon's Pokemon to die like that...that's gotta be traumatizing. I have to admire that determination though, even though she's shaping up to be a revenge-obsessed character from what I see.

Awesome chapter as always and can't wait for the next one!

Hehe. Spirit of Vengeance. The amount of curse in that team would be quite terrifying. Hehehe... ... Only shiny, you say? Aww...

Platinum has gotten the ball rolling despite not really wanting to. MVP of the confession? Hehe... Sisterly bonds, indeed. Now, will it work out in favor for Blue??

Moon can’t be filled with a lust for vengeance if none of her friends and Pokemon have perished. And so now she rises from her agony with ice cold determination for blood to be spilled for the blood that had been shed. ... Or does that saying go the other way around? Heh. Regardless. She’s pissed, has a bow, lethal poison, and soon to be a team packed with ghosts (and Dark types).

Thank you as always! And you won’t have to wait long~!

6) Eh lucky really isnt my cup of tea but the way you write stories is pretty awesome keep up the good work!

I could tell by the anon ID you picked. To each their own. And thank you!

7) Awww blue being so shy hahahaha. Its like the roles have reversed since the first time they met thats so cute! Anyway Great story as usual

Hehe. Timid Blue~! It’s new and very cute, isn’t it? And thank you.

8) Hey man Great story looking forward to the next chapter

Thank you. It’s coming very soon.

9) Wow this is A really underrated story I really like how you keep most characters so in character!

Still underrated... in comparison to my previous stuff. But that’s to be expected, I guess. And thank you.

10) Well Colour me surprised ! A Pokemon story thats not forcing crack pairings! Anyway Where is green in this story?

Heh. Crack pairings... Only once in a solar eclipse. And... who? Heh. He’s in Kalos and thus off screen.

11) Wtf did moons Pokemon just die? Great story but damn thats fucking dark

Yes they perished in the fire. “Die, insect” and all. ... And one of them was an insect! Heh. Ahem. ... Dark? That’s not dark. Have you seen the stuff I did in SA and Destiny? Heh...

12) I mean I kinda like the story but isnt specialshipping canon? Also this is really really dark

No, it’s not canon. What is canon is that Yellow has a crush on Red. What’s also canon is that Red is uncomfortable with the idea. And of course he is. He thought she was a guy the whole time and then suddenly found out all at once that she was a girl and had a crush on him. His response is not going to be positive. And again, this is not dark. ... Though I guess that depends on your sensitivity.

13) hey sorry for not leaving A review for so long but I still really like the story lol!

Hey, you’re back. ... Then... who’s the anon with the v2 of your ID?

14) I love your writing style!

Thank you!

15) I somehow found Pearl smacking Black across the face to wake him up funnier than it should’ve been. Haha

I wonder if Blue really will confess to Red today. If so, I wonder how the opportunity would present itself.

Its quite sad that Hau, Lillie, and two of Moon’s Pokemon died. I guess this is where Moon’s overhaul comes in. I cant wait to see Moon’s viciousness unleashed when she inevitably meets the guys responsible for all that.

I look forward to more!

Hehe. Black always getting smacked around in my stories, literally and figuratively.

Will Blue truly confess on that day (which is a day before the stuff in Alola happens), or will she fail again due to anxiety? And will it end well for her??

Moon’s overhaul is happening now, yes. For that, she’ll have to go to Galar too. And I don’t know sh*t about that region, so... that’ll be difficult. Hehe. And much later in the story when she meets her foe... oho, Rage Unleashed Moon!

16) Moon and Lillie sure get burned really bad. Also, what about the kid with the malasadas? Hopefully, Blue will confessed to Red soon...

The local boy with the malasada had the same fate as Lillie. Two stretchers with a body on top, with the white blankets pulled all the way up.

17) I figured that now would be the best time to give a review for one of your works. therefore, I should review my personal favourite.

I been a consistent and long-time reader for numerous years now without ever leaving a review. I simply didn't have an account until recently just so I can give my thoughts on some of the series that you make.

Regarding Legacy as a whole, it truely showcases your ability to take the wide variety of dexholders and thiee different personalities and place them in situations that would absolutely never occur in the actual story. I have always loved the way you portray each individual character, improving thier teama and strategies and having genuine character growth. Although Sun and Moon are my uncontested favourite characters so far, I adore the way you use Platinum B in your stories, giving her a genuine personality and character traits.

You also generate a wide range of different and creative settings for each of the characters to go through. Legacy is the perfect example of this in terms of one truely coherent story setting. by using the opportunity of the highest stakes that these dexholders may ever face, you use the opportunity to explore all of the aspects of each character amazingly and how they would face this danger.

Since Sun and Moon are my favourite characters, the wait for this chapter absolutely killed me. Although it sucks that due to the lack of reviews for these characters I will get few opportunties to read your way of presenting the characters What I am trying to say is that the way you write your characters makes them feel REAL. I genuinely believe that these are the actual characters as they personalties are replicated and refined to perfection The way both Sun and Moon react in this chapter is exactly the way I would have expected them to. Being a Deliveryshipping day 1, seeing even the slightest interactions in any media, especially in your stories always brings joy to me. I have regulary reread most of your works such as Special Chronicals and Distinct Events becuase each story is chapter is amazing in its own right.

Your amazing work has inspired me to possibly start my own project one day. I am sorry for the stress that you have gone through this year and the issues with the Discord. It will get better this year. Seeing as you use reviews to indicate the popularity of a particular series, I had to write this review so that this series can get the update it deserves so that we can all see how this fantastic story ends. Thank your for all of the amazing work you have done.

Whoa, hello. Haven’t gotten a review this long since a certain someone stopped with Destiny reviews back in July.

Accounts aren’t necessary for the reviews. Guest reviews exist! And if you use the same anon ID, I’d know it’s you. But thank you for going through the effort! It’s much appreciated!

Aww, thank you very much! <3 And while I don’t know about Sun, but Moon is going to be in the spotlight quite a lot, so enjoy it! Since Platinum is my uncontested favorite, she gets plenty of development in my stories, with new character bonds, teams, battling style, etc. And unlike in DPPt, she actually gets to do things against the enemy.

Of the three major stories I’ve written (SA, Destiny, Legacy), Legacy has the lowest stakes. But I think it’s also the most personal, which I guess means it’s much more important for individual Dex Holders. Well, we’ll see as time passes. And yes, these are kind of things that would never happen in the actual arcs, so the Dex Holders get to be stress-tested. How would they react given their personalities, tics, relationships, etc, in a realistic situation?

Oh. ... Ahem. Sorry for making you wait 7 months. Ehehe... And while it’s true that Sun and Moon currently have the lowest “viewership”, that changes as time passes. Like Black and White in SA and X and Y in Destiny. As the “meh” torch is passed down to Sword and Shield, Sun and Moon might rise in popularity, thus increasing the chances of them appearing in my stories.

I don’t really know if this was how Sun would react though. But I also don’t know how he would’ve actually reacted, so this might not be outside the possibility range. I kind of had him act like Black, really, but without being as sweet... or loud. Well, there will be more Sun & Moon interactions for you to enjoy in the upcoming chapters, so... there you go!

You should start your own project! Go for it! And eh, Discord. Sh*t happens. I wouldn’t call that stress. Anyways. Yes, I use the review count as an indicator of how many people have finished the chapter. Of course, there are plenty of people who read the chapter to the end without reviewing, and the number of people who review after reading tends to fluctuate. But if there is a trend, that indicates a trend in viewership as well. And that is what I look at. Hence the charts. And yes. We’d all like to see how the story ends. Me included. Keep up with the reviews and we’ll all see it by 2021.

And thank you so much for the review and the... sweet talking. Hehe <3

18) Just found this story and am enjoying it thoroughly. Big fan of your Blue characterization as well, I used to enjoy shipping Red with Yellow, but recently, I've come to enjoy Blue with Red.

A small nitpick - Did none of the juniors comment on Red and Blue sleeping in the same room/bed while they stayed in Red's house in the last two chapters? I would assume the female juniors already know Blue likes Red and so won't say anything unnecessary, but I guess the guys are a little more tactful than we give them credit for?

Looking forward to me. Cheers.

Red with Blue works very well. And it’s cute! Hehe... ... biased.

Heh. The girls... already know, since the girls who are in the house were Platinum, White, and Y, and they already know of Blue’s crush and all that. So White and Y would just snicker at the fact that Red and Blue are sleeping on the same bed, while Platinum would just smile. As for the boys... Diamond might notice something if he spent more time talking to Red and Blue before and after. But I doubt Pearl or Black would notice anything odd. They’d probably just assume that Red and Blue are sharing the bed because a ton of guests were sleeping in the living room, so there were no other options.

Of course, all that’s assuming that the juniors know that Red and Blue are sleeping on the same bed. I don’t recall having Red and Blue give them a tour of the house, so as far as the juniors know, there might be another bed upstairs. ... Though a house tour is generally the first thing you do, but... heh. Ambiguity. No one knows for sure.

And I look forward to seeing more reviews from you!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well well. Would you look at THAT. Way above the average now. So... looks like I’ll have to keep my word and update Legacy again before this year ends in 3 days. Heh. Of course, I did notice a few things but... well... whatever.

18. That’s the most reviews I’ve gotten in a chapter in all of 2019. Or 2018. ... And vast majority of 2017 (Legacy Prologue - Kanto was in January 2017). If this kind of thing happened much more frequently, I would be updating Legacy like once every two weeks, instead of 3~4 times in a year.

But, there you have it! New record in almost 3 years. As a result... Legacy update in 3 days.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DE #031

1) Sun and moon are so cute. I love them

Support the new...ish pairing!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And with that, DE #031 is no longer in the top 4 least reviewed. Yay!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SC #017

1) Awesome story.

Thank you.

2) Well that was...brutal alright. Thugs deserved it though. I'm mildly surprised no one died, but I think that's more because I'm used to seeing that from your old "doom hammer" chapters.

I admit the Santa part was an amusing touch, and I guess that explains why you needed to release this by the end of the year. Heh, Blue's gadgets are useful as always and very effective - that's a nice disguise. That action scene was awesome and easily the best scene in this chapter. The situation aside...it was nice to see Red be a hero even without his Pokemon.

You were right - this is an enjoyable chapter and I like this "brutal Red" experiment. Can't wait for the next chapter!

Heh. The doom hammer is for serious stories. Not comical ones. So no one dies in the hands of Santa Claus. This time.

Ahem. Well, there’s the inspiration for the chapter, and the reason behind the line of “Or Santa will go jolly on your naughty asses with a candy cane axe”. Hehe. Cheers, everyone, Santa has come to town!

And the duo of Red and Blue becomes much stronger. Mercenary Red with technological support!

Hehe. Much more serious brutal Red (instead of comical) to come up later as the experimentation continues. Ohoho!

3) holy crud, santa beating up a gang is greatest thing ever

Yep. Santa going to town on their naughty asses with a candy cane bat. What’s not to love?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And with that, the latest SC chapter is now in the top 4 least reviewed. For now?

... Looks like the “A Day at Work” chapters are failing miserably, since they’re at 1 and 3 reviews respectively. So... I guess I won’t be doing that again.

And with this, the longest review response post of 2019 has come to an end.

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW SUPER J CUP 2019 Review

Day 1 (August 22nd, Temple Theater, Tacoma, WA)

SUPER J CUP ~ First Round

Rocky Romero vs. Soberano Jr.  ***

Clark Connors vs. TJP  ***3/4

Carístico vs. BUSHI  ***1/4

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jonathan Gresham  ***1/4

Robbie Eagles vs. El Phantasmo  ****1/4

YOH vs. Dragon Lee  ***1/2

SHO vs. Taiji Ishimori  ***3/4

Will Ospreay vs. Amazing Red  ****3/4

Day 2 (August 24th, Student Life Events Center, San Fransico, CA)

SUPER J CUP ~ Quarter Final Round

Carístico vs. Soberano Jr.  ***

El Phantasmo vs. TJP  ***1/2

Dragon Lee vs. Ryusuke Taguchi  ***

Will Ospreay vs. SHO  ****1/2

Day 3 (August 25th, Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, CA)

SUPER J CUP ~ Semi Final Round

Dragon Lee vs. Carístico  ***1/4

Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo  ****+

SUPER J CUP ~ Final: Dragon Lee vs. El Phantasmo  ****1/2

Photos.

This was a great tournament which featured an absolutely tremendous main event on all three nights, and there wasn’t a match that was anywhere below being good. However, lets get the negatives out of the way now; the presentation of these shows (from a home viewing perspective) was atrocious. The camera work was sub-indy levels, with nauseatingly jerky movements, and even missing some key spots, and some of the lighting wasn’t much better. It all lead to this whole tournament being brought down a bit for me. The second night in particular suffers as its a single hard-cam show, which is focussed soley on the ring, essentially with just the turnbuckles on either side in frame. This means that whenever someone dives out of the ring, or if the action ends up outside the ring, and with this being the J Cup, that essentially means every match, they disappear into the void and all we can see is an empty ring and a crowd popping for unseen spots. This effects the commentary too as whenever the action spills outside, Kevin Kelly for example, on the English feed, has no idea whats happening, so there’s just dead air until they get back inside. Also, the camera is placed in such a way that if someone goes on the top rope, their head and shoulders vanishes out of sight too. This was very frustrating as it really hurts some of the action, a lot of which was probably way better than we got to see here, and I feel somewhat unfair rating a lot of the matches on this night, as you do miss quite a bit. I know that these are essentially fancy house shows, but this is pretty unforgivably shoddy production from a mainstream promotion. Anyway, these gripes aside, onto the action. In notable happenings from the three nights:

The Tacoma show saw former LA Dojo Young Lion TJP very unsurprinsingly roll over current LA Dojo Young Lion Clark Connors in a surprisingly great little match, that ended up being amongst the best of the tourney. The dastardly ELP was victorious over Robbie Eagles in an excellent 12 minute match. The was the second best outing of the first round, and both guys looked great. Phantasmo won after hitting a punch straight to the dick, followed by a small package. The finish was flat given all that came before it, but it playedinto the bigger story they were telling with Phantasmo. Dragon Lee’s victory of YOH, and the latters tag partner SHO’s win over Taiji Ishimori were both really good indeed, with SHO/Ishimori being the better of the two. Lee put YOH away with Desnucadora, and SHO advanced with Shock Arrow. On the plus side, Ishimori looked much better than he has in a while since injuring himself in the BOSJ. And in the final first round outing, Will Ospreay advanced over one of his childhood heroes, Amazing Red, in a fantastic high flying outing, that was the best match of the Cup, and the best match I’ve ever seen Red in. He looked like a guy in his prime out there, and it was like it was 2003 again. They went 28:19, which it felt half of, and the worked incredibly well, with Ospreay doing everything in his power to make Red’s offence look great. Of course, Ospreay went over when he put the veteran away with Storm Breaker. Will put Red over on the mic in the post-match, and thy hugged to send everyone home happy.

The second show in San Fran had the problems I mentioned above in that it just wasn’t possible to keep track of a lot of the action, so as a result it’s kind of hard rate or review them. The one exception was the Ospreay/SHO match, which was excellent. Yes, it featured the complete blind spot whenever they left the ring, but the action in the ring was exceptional. It was a hard-hitter which went 30:32, and was slightly more methodical than Ospreay’s match with Red the previous night. It was, however, a completely different kind of match to almost anything else in the tournament, so it really stood out. To the surprise of no one, Ospreay won with Storm Breaker to advance to the semis.

The final show in Walter Pyramid saw a couple of excellent contests. Dragon Lee was the first to advance to the finals after he pinned fellow CMLL superstar, Caristico, in a good Lucha outing, when he pinned Caristico with Desnucadora in 11:10. ELP moved to the finals next when pinned foe Will Ospreay with CRII after Taiji Ishimori broke up a Storm Breaker attempt, and layed the Ariel Assassin out with Bloody Cross. This was a fun grudge match, but was lkept short (11:25), undoubtedly so they could have rematch for the Junior Title down the road. It was still a ton of fun, regardless of this though. And in the finals of the 2019 Super J Cup, the dastardly Phantasmo won the sought after golden jacket, when he pinned Lee after hitting a second rope, walking reverse TKO, followed by CRII, at 25:33 of an exceptional and dramatic Tournament final. There was an amazing spot which lead to ELP bleeding heavily from the forehead after powerbombing the masked man onto, and through, the announce table, then followed up with a massive double stomp off the top, and over the guardrail and into the wreckage. Upon landing though, he slipped and hit his head off a chair in the crowd, which lead to the juice. After winning, Phantasmo disrespected Jushin Thunder Liger by kicking over the cup as he was handing it to him, then demanded the legend adorn him in the winners jacket. This disrespect brought out Ospreay, who was laid out by Ishimori again, but this time Robbie Eagles charged down to even the odds. Ospreay buried ELP on the mic, then promised to get his win back in a Junior Title Match.

NDT

[bccity]

JULY 2019 BC ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of July 31 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly limit).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on the monthly schedule.

Threads and solos do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Overall Company

BC artists are again encouraged to attend WISH’s concerts again this month, especially once news regarding Goeun’s case drops. The success of WISH’s concerts will be one of BC”s two main media play defenses. Thankfully, the news won’t lead to too big of a stock drop like the initial lawsuit news did, but all idols under BC are still forbidden to publicly speak about the case to the press or fans.

Post-July 8 update: All idols are still forbidden to talk about the case and it seems that the higher-ups that know more about what’s going on have been told not to be open with people about more details as well. The general atmosphere of the company this month is a little tense, with management on high alert to keep all of their charges out of trouble. Any questions raised about Goeun will be dismissed and those questioning will be told to focus on their own schedules instead of other people’s business.

Important dates:

N/A

BC Soloist 1

Now that her debut is imminent, she has a packed schedule this month. The album has already been fully recorded and choreographed, but the music video still needs filmed. She’ll also make a special surprise appearance on an episode of Weekly Idol with senior soloists that will air a week before her debut to introduce her to the public.

Important dates:

July 8: Release of pre-debut single “Week”.

July 15: Why Don’t You Know MV filming.

July 16: Special appearance on Weekly Idol Soloist Special filming (also appearing: Dimensions Soloist 1 and Gold Star Soloist 3, to air July 24).

July 31: Release of “Why Don’t You Know” & Hands on Me mini album/debut showcase, promotions continue until August 31.

Decipher

Along with the company’s two other boy groups, Decipher is being sent off to KCON NY this month. Decipher is a bit less popular than their two junior groups overseas, but they still have a number of fans that will be attending just for them. The week before KCON will be packed with group and individual English lessons packed in to provide the members with, at the very least, memorized lines to recite. They’ll have a hi-touch, a meet and greet, and participate in the second concert day.

Important dates:

July 7: Performance at KCON NY at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, USA (also performing: 7ROPHY, Knight, & CHARM).

              ↳ Decipher R & V

After the meeting last month with Decipher V, the members will be called into concept meetings this month and record the single for their comeback at the end of the month. It’s a song that had originally been in consideration for a full group comeback but has been repurposed for the unit after management deemed it more fit for them after deciding Decipher V should make a return.

Important dates:

N/A

BEE

After music show promotions end on the fourth, they get the news from the manager that they’ve been gifted almost two weeks of vacation time from the 6th to the 18th thanks to their successful comebacks since re-signing their contracts. The members are free to leave Seoul or the country as long as they remain on their best behavior. Once they come back from vacation, they’ll be met with the news of a new brand deal with hair care brand Mise En Scene, which they’re scheduled to film a CF for straight away. At the end of the month, they’ll hold a fan sign for the brand deal.

Important dates:

July 4: End of music show promotions.

July 19: Mise En Scene CF filming.

July 28: Mise En Scene fan sign in Jung, Seoul.

Knight

Management is confident that this comeback falls comfortably into Knight’s image and artistic niche, but the results after the mini-album drops might say otherwise. It could be the numerous albums BC has made Knight pump out every year for the last few years catching up to them with the fan base, poor marketing, a song a bit too dark for the season, or the fierce competition from groups like Femme Fatale and Fuse for digital points and music show wins hurting their chances with casual fans, but this comeback under performs much more noticeably than the last in physical sales, digital charting, and music show wins. They’re still clearly going to end the year in the top three selling groups of the year physically as always, but with BC more concerned with building up CHARM, it becomes obvious BC doesn’t plan to have them come back again until next year and they’ll be relied on for second half of the year concert profits instead.

Important dates:

July 6: Performance at SBS Super Concert at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong (also performing: CHARM).

July 7: Performance at KCON NY at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, USA (also performing: 7ROPHY, CHARM, & Decipher).

July 9: Release of “Now or Never” & Sensuous mini album showcase, promotions continue until August 9. 

July 13: Fan sign in Yeouido, Seoul.

July 14: Fan sign in Gangnam, Seoul.

July 27: Filming of “Now or Never Suit Version” choreography video.

July 27: Performance at Boryeong Mud Festival in Boryeong.

              ↳ White Knight

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

Lipstick

Music show promotions continue to go well though BC doesn’t have them promoting too extensively. As soon as promotions end, the members will be hopping on a plane for their Taiwan concerts, then returning to South Korea where they’ll be shooting for a summer-themed photo book and behind the scenes video on Jeju Island that will be released near the end of summer for fans (admin note: if you want to reference exact outfits/concepts/photo pairings, you may use the respective AOA line distribution with the maknae aligning with Choa since Chanmi is absent from the shoot). After that, they’ve got one last tour stop for the month in Malaysia. They’re asked to keep attending pole dancing classes in preparation for their Japanese music video as well and, in general, avoid putting themselves too much in the public eye this month following the news on Goeun’s case.

Important dates:

July 19: End of music show promotions.

July 20: Prima Donna tour concert at National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

July 21: Prima Donna tour concert at National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

July 23: Lipstick Hot Summer photo book shooting day one in Jeju Island.

July 24: Lipstick Hot Summer photo book shooting day two in Jeju Island.

July 25: Lipstick Hot Summer photo book shooting day three in Jeju Island.

July 27: Prima Donna tour concert at Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

              ↳ Lip Gloss

No schedules.

CHARM

This month, the members will only be in Seoul for around a total of two weeks, from July 5-6, 9-12, and 18-25. The rest of the time, they’ll either be doing their Japanese concert and fan meeting tour or performing at the SBS Super Concert or KCON NY. This means English lessons the first week of the month and expectations to be studying Japanese if needed the rest of the time. Time when they are in Seoul will be spent learning and recording for their Japanese single album Happy Ending and in practice learning the choreography for it so the music video can be filmed and released next month.

Important dates:

July 2: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.

July 3: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.

July 6: Performance at SBS Super Concert in Hong Kong at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong (also performing: Knight).

July 7: Performance at KCON NY at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, USA (also performing: 7ROPHY, Knight, & Decipher).

July 13: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Ecopa Arena in Shizuoka, Japan.

July 14: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Ecopa Arena in Shizuoka, Japan.

July 16: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

July 17: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

July 26: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

July 27: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

July 28: CHARM 2019 Japan Tour ‘Haru’ concert at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

July 29: CHARM Japan Fanmeeting - ‘Hana’ at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

July 30: CHARM Japan Fanmeeting - ‘Hana’ at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

WISH

The stricter diets and curfews and additional practice time don’t let up this month, but their public schedules do at least. Their tour begins this month with dates in Seoul and Bangkok. The rest of the time, they’re scheduled to film a Pocari Sweat CF and record for their Japanese releases for next month. The double title tracks for said Japanese comeback will be filmed at the end of the month with contrasting concepts, one more typical bright pop WISH and one more in the vein of their latest Korean comeback.

Important dates:

July 6: WISHlights Tour concert at KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea.

July 7: WISHlights Tour concert at KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea.

July 11: Pocari Sweat CF filming.

July 25: Happy Happy MV filming.

July 27: WISHlights Tour concert at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. 

July 31: Breakthrough MV filming.

[goldstarnation]

APRIL 2019 GOLD STAR MEDIA SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of April 30 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly total).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on their monthly schedule.

Threads do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Overall Company

CEO Bang Sunyoung has recently collaborated with a trendy, up and coming fashion brand to release a line of men’s and women’s accessories and shoes with her name attached and all Gold Star artists have been tapped to help model the line in two different groupings this month for the brand’s summer look book. The idols will do group shots (if they’re in a group), individual shots, and some PD-chosen mixed groupings as well.

Important dates

April 7: Accessories line lookbook photo shoot (Gold Star Soloist 1, Gold Star Soloist 3, Aria, Impulse, Femme Fatale)

April 19: Shoe line lookbook photo shoot (Gold Star Soloist 2, Silhouette, Origin, Element, Fuse)

Gold Star Soloist 1

To tide fans over until the next comeback, Gold Star has decided she will be releasing a fun and bright summer-themed photo book, which she’ll be traveling to Jeju at the end of the month to model for, with pictures taken by a popular photographer.

Important dates:

April 20-25: Photobook photo shoots in Jeju.

Gold Star Soloist 2

She’ll be flying out to the United States at the beginning of the month to perform in a gig there, but once she returns, it’s time for her to buckle down and focus on the final month of her solo concert preparations. After a lot of talk and seemingly fruitless studio recordings, there’s also word that Gold Star is going to go ahead with giving her a comeback later in the year.

Important dates:

April 6: Performance at concert at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax County, VA, USA.

Gold Star Soloist 3

At the end of the month, he’ll be performing his first domestic solo concerts in four years, so that is the priority on his schedule for the month. The weekend before his concert, Gold Star is sending him out busking for publicity and he’s scheduled to do a couple of radio appearances in the week between for additional promo.

Important dates:

April 20: Hongdae busking.

April 21: Hongdae busking.

April 22: Guesting on COOL FM radio show.

April 25: Guesting on Arirang Radio.

April 27: I COLOR U concert at Blue Square iMarket Hall in Seoul.

April 28: I COLOR U concert at Blue Square iMarket Hall in Seoul.

Silhouette

Following the end of their music show promotions for “I Love You”, Gold Star has booked Silhouette a gig on Running Man as a group, which they’ll be filming amidst the tour preparations for their June Japan tour that the rest of the month will be focused on, with performance rehearsals and promotional photo and video shoots.

Important dates:

April 6: End of music show promotions.

April 9: Running Man filming (to be aired April 28)

Aria

Gold Star is very happy with the performance of their last comeback and are going forward with initial plans to throw Aria into the summer comeback and are also talking about fitting a third comeback into the end of the year to please investors. In the meantime, April is largely a vacation month as congratulations for a job well done for the group other than a performance at the Korea Times Music Festival to cap off the month.

Important dates:

April 27: Performance at Korea Times Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Origin

Though the planned comeback date earlier in the preparation process was for May, Gold Star has pushed the comeback up to the last week of April to best accommodate overseas promotions for the new album. Origin will film their music videos during the first few days of the month and then they’re slated for two concerts at the end of the first week of the month. The group will fly out to the US on April 23rd after pre-recording a handful of comeback stages for Korean shows and will remain there to film promotional appearances content until they finish their comeback stage on Saturday Night Live on the 27th, after which they’ll leave immediately on a private plane to make it back to Korea just barely in time to perform at the SBS Inkigayo Super Concert and pre-record more music show stages before they leave back to the states on the 29th (after their press conference) for the Billboard Music Awards next month.

Important dates:

April 4: Interview and photo shoot for Entertainment Weekly magazine.

April 6: Love Yourself tour concert at Rajamangala International Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

April 7: Love Yourself tour concert at Rajamangala International Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

April 10: Release of pre-release MV for intro “Persona”.

April 24: The Fact Music Awards.

April 26: Release of title track & Map of the Soul: Persona, promotions continue until May 26.

April 27: Appearance as musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

April 28: Performance at SBS Inkigayo Super Concert in Gwangju.

April 29: Map of the Soul: Persona Global Press Conference in Seoul.

Impulse

Following their juniors Fuse and preceding their seniors in Silhouette, Impulse’s Japan tour will start next month, and that keeps them busy with stage rehearsal and other concert preparation this month like fittings and photo shoots. They’ve also been chosen at the new ambassadors for Est Cola in Thailand, so they’ll be flying there to film a CF near the end of the month.

Important dates:

April 20: Est Cola CF filming.

Fuse

Fuse’s Japan tour is this month, and they’ll be in Japan for the latter half of the month, save for a short return to Korea to attend an awards show. Before that, they’ll be scheduled for some form of concert rehearsal and/or Japanese lessons nearly every day. There’s some talk among management regarding a summer comeback to continue their success over the past couple of years during the season, but nothing has been confirmed and A&R are only in the stages of fielding possible songs.

Important dates:

April 21: Redmare tour concert at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.

April 24: The Fact Music Awards at Namdong Gymnasium in Incheon.

April 26: Redmare tour concert at World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. 

April 27: Redmare tour concert at World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. 

April 29: Redmare tour concert at Yokohoma in Yokohoma, Japan. 

April 30: Redmare tour concert at Yokohoma in Yokohoma, Japan. 

Element

With approval from the higher-ups, Element is set for a mid-May comeback and with it, they’ll be promoting a new song for the first time in eight months. Some back and forth within marketing and the company investors ended up with only a single approved for release, but the company is hoping to see good results nonetheless. The members will record the song in the studio this month and will spend long hours learning and perfecting the choreography. Gold Star is going sexier for this comeback than their last one, so more pressure will be put on the members visually. The pattern of VLives they fell into will be broken to focus on comeback preparations, but each member will be asked to film a solo cover video of some sort to upload on YouTube to keep fans engaged. The members are encouraged to lean into a sexy concept for the cover they either choose or are assigned, but it is not required.

Important dates:

April 24: 4lement tour concert at Shibuya Duo Exchange in Tokyo, Japan.

Femme Fatale

Now that filming for their reality show has wrapped, the members will be put into full focus on their summer EP. Gold Star wants their title track to be the hit of the summer and for it to make waves in a way that will justify their first tour and possibly even an American push in earnest in the second half of the year so the members are on a tight leash to maintain their collective it girl images. The members won’t make any scheduled public appearances this month in favor of spending time in the studio recording and learning choreography, but the plan is for this to increase buzz and hype about a potential comeback from them. A repackaged Japanese album will be released at the end of the month, but it won’t feature any new content from the members.

Important dates:

April 24: Release of Japanese repackaged album Re:Femme Fatale.

[babywhereyougone]

[Translation] Weekly TV Guide 2019-01-11: HiHi Jets x Mouse: CHUU Talk (original scan: nsnsns_mmm@twitter)

[T/N: Onomatopoeia for mice sounds is “chuu” so the topics they discuss have “chuu” in it.]

Mizuki x Yuto x Soya Igari: Yuto is always [shōCHUU] taking his clothes off! It’s limited to when it’s hot, but he’s topless during rehearsals. Takahashi: Well, that’s… Igari: You did that, right? Takahashi: I mean I did 😐 Igari: Taking your clothes off and leaving them all over the place during the break! Takahashi: Hey (lol). Igari: Looking back on the video we have where you have nothing on is hilarious (lol). Takahashi: It’s just, I didn’t want to get my clothes sweaty! Inoue: Bwaha (/burst out laughing/)! Then why do you come dressed? Takahashi: Why does that matter! It wasn’t just rehearsals that day, there was something else. And so, so I… Igari: Didn’t want to sweat? Takahashi: Yes, exactly. Practice wear can be washed at the studio but it won’t be dried. So for that day in particular, we danced a lot. And, I didn’t want to get it sweaty so I took it off. Igari: I still don’t get your explanation. Takahashi: Gari-san, you have something too. You always buy something when you go into a store! Igari: Ahaha, I do! I’m terrible at refusing! When I go into a store, the store clerk is so helpful, it’s business (lol). Inoue: Hehehe (lol). Igari: And, I think it’s bad to leave without buying anything so I ended up buying a shirt. Takahashi: But, you went in there wanting to buy a dress shirt (lol). But, it was too expensive so you didn’t buy it and got a t-shirt instead. Which was also expensive, but you told yourself it was cheaper (lol). Inoue: What a great customer. Takahashi: For Mizuki-kun, your smartphone case is always [shōCHUU] cold (lol)! Igari: There’s a smartphone when you open the refrigerator (lol)! Inoue: My smartphone overheats quickly so I have to cool it down in the fridge. Takahashi: Not a thing that gets overlooked over when it’s in the fridge (lol). Inoue: Next up, for the topic of making requests [CHUUmon] to members… Sakuma’s snoring is so loud! All 3: (Cracks up.) Igari: I have a video of Saku-chan sleeping! (Hashimoto, doing his interview next to them: “I have a video of him too!”) Takahashi: And so Saku-chan quick said he’s buy a pillow to reduce his snoring (lol). Igari: And even though there was a product review after the commercial, he bought it before the CM ended (lol). Inoue: And we also have Yuto’s singing (lol)! Igari: Loud singing out of nowhere! Takahashi: I’m the type of person who’s too embarrassed to sing in front of others! Igari: Nah, but it’s super annoying (lol). Inoue: What was he singing? Like the chorus of something. Igari: A CM jingle that repeats the same phrase over and over. Takahashi: It was stuck in my head! This isn’t funny! I’m hopeless in this area (lol). Igari: And there were so many parodies. And it’ll start halfway through the B melody. It’s so bad. Takahashi: Not even the hook (lol).Inoue: It’s super, super annoying (lol). Takahashi: But, seriously, it’s super catchy, though? (/Three of them sing the CM jingle, and afterwards, Takahashi laughs and double claps!) Igari: And also this thing (lol)! I want you to stop doing this too! The double clap when you laugh is super annoying!! Takahashi: This just happens without thinking (lol). There was once where my finger was injured, and something on TV was funny, and I clapped as I normally did and it really hurt. Inoue: Are you stupid (lol)? Igari: It makes me really happy you laugh at the joke, but getting the double clap for a minor joke is rough when a bigger punchline is coming is rough. Takahashi: Laugh too easily huh? Igari: Way too easily (lol).

Ryo x Sakuma Sakuma: I have headphones on when I’m engrossed [muCHUU] in something. I bought them to use on the airplane on our way to Hawaii. Hashimoto: Ah, so that’s why you bought them. Sakuma: They’re big and bulk so I only use them when I’m long travel of long stretches of time to myself. I’m really pleased with them on the airplane so I’ve really gotten use out of them. Hashimoto: I get it. Buying headphones is a great purchase. I bought my really nice pair I like, too. Sakuma: There’s a lot of functions I played around with—listening to one song and jumping to the next one. Electronics have a lot of settings to play around. Hashimoto: I love electronics, but the good ones are quite expensive (lol). Sakuma: It is. I usually save up money so I don’t purchase much. For clothes and going shopping, I go about once per season. Hashimoto: Yup, saving. Sakuma: I write warnings to myself that remind me when I pick up my smartphone. Here, take a look. (Shows his mobile screen.) I wrote, “Track Your Finances.” Hashimoto: Hahaha! Totally get it. When I’m short on money, I write, “Seriously, don’t spend any money.” A warning to yourself (lol). Sakuma: The sentence changes depending, but it always keeps it real. Hashimoto: I want to live on my own someday so I’m saving now. Well, I just usually try not to waste money. Sakuma: Let’s do our best to save (lol). Hashimoto: Ahaha. Well, the next “CHUU” is junior high student [CHUU gakusei]. Sakuma: …I was a junior high student up until last year (lol). Hashimoto: Crazy (lol). Sakuma: Right, it’s hard to believe. I can’t even comprehend. I was still a junior high schooler during the Kurie (Johnny’s Ginza 2018) press conference. Hashimoto: Now that you mention, I was also in my third year of junior high when I did my first press conference. I was there with Mizuki for the “Johnny’s World” press conference, and it was my first. Nervously, I said, “(In a baby voice) We’re HiHi Jet. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu” (lol). Same feeling. Saku-chan, you had some nervousness about being added to an existing group, but it was also different. Sakuma: Yeah, having Igari there helped a lot. But, it wasn’t different from the things I was already doing. Though, the form and format of what I was doing was different. Hashimoto: But, you feel more grown up now that you’re in your first year of high school. You have two more years left of high school? Sakuma: Two more years left. Long ways (lol)!Hashimoto: Long time left. Sakuma: Right. Still two more years of studying. And moving onto the next “CHUU”… somersaults [CHUUgaeri]. Hashimoto: Ah, I want to be able to do that soon. A backflip though. Sakuma: You’re always saying that. Hashimoto: I can’t seem to do a backflip no matter how hard I try. Sakuma: You’re almost there, Hashimocchan. Hashimoto: I’ve had the courage for a while now, but my body hasn’t caught up to it yet (lol). Sakuma: That desperate (lol). I think you’ll get it if you spend time on it. Hashimoto: It just isn’t my specialty (lol). Saku-chan has already mastered it. Within our group, it’s only Mizuki and Saku-chan who can do it. Sakuma: If we were to say something was lacking in our group, that may be it. It would change things if you three could do it. Maybe. Hashimoto: Right, that flip is my goal. I’m probably more likely to be able to do it now than in the past. Through with accepting limits, absolutely fearless. Sakuma: Whoo!

[hello-biblioflower]

OWLs Readathon 2019

Hello beautiful people!

My name is Amanda and I am just becoming active in the online book community. I have been watching booktube for around five years, which is actually before I really got into reading and pretty much what made me get into reading. For a long time, I have wanted to be a part of the community, but I have been searching for the right platform to be a part of. I finally decided that a blog is the best choice for me and I am super excited to join this community of amazing people! 

I’ll be posting more about me and my reading interests soon, but for now, I want to talk about the OWLs Readathon (created by the lovely BookRoast on Youtube) which just started today and is the first readathon that I will be participating in. So I wanted to share my TBR here! I shared it on Twitter this morning (@biblioflower), but I wanted to add a little more depth to it. So here we go!

So this year the creator decided to add careers to the readathon (I’m not going to go into detail, but if you want more information head over to her channel, she has a whole video about it!), and I decided to pursue the career of a Hogwarts professor. So for that, I need OWLs in: a subject I would like to teach, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and 5 additional subjects. So here are the books I chose!

1. Charms: An adult book

This is the subject that I chose that I would like to teach. I think Charms is super cool and as much as we all love Professor Flitwick, eventually he’ll need a replacement and I’ll be right there prepared. So for this, I chose The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I don’t know if this is ~technically~ an adult book, but I have never read it and it’s been on my TBR for quite some time, so I decided to give it a go for this readathon. It also helps that it is quite short and will most likely be a quick read for me.

2. Defense Against the Dark Arts: A book that starts with the letter ‘R’

For this, I chose Rebel Springs by Morgan Rhodes. This is the second book in the Falling Kingdoms series. I read the first one last year and I was not crazy about it but I can definitely see the potential of this series and hope that it lives up to it.

3. Ancient Runes: A retelling

Okay, so something that you should know about me is that I am absolutely OBSESSED with The Little Mermaid. Like it’s my absolute all-time favorite movie. I picked up a copy of Part of Your World by Liz Braswell a couple months ago solely because it is a Little Mermaid retelling and have been dying to read it ever since, but things keep getting in the way (@life, mental health, school, y’all suck). When I saw this prompt I knew that I had to choose this one. This book is obviously a retelling of The Little Mermaid, but with a twist--Ariel never defeated Ursula. That’s pretty much all I know about it and I am super stoked to dive into this story.

4. Arithmancy: A book with 2+ authors

For this, I chose My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. This book has been on my TBR for a hot minute and I’m excited to finally get around to it. I honestly don’t remember what exactly it is about, but I do know that it’s supposed to be a really fun/funny read.

5. Astronomy: A book with the word ‘star’ in the title

This is the book I chose to start with and let me tell you I am LOVING it. The book is The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi. This book is about a girl whose horoscope when she was born foretold a marriage of death and destruction, and because of this she was hated and feared by most everyone in her father, the Raja’s, kingdom. Until she marries a mysterious king from a land she’s never heard of. I am about 50% through this one already (it’s still April 1 and the readathon just started) and it is so amazing.

 6. History of Magic: A book published at least 10 years ago

So I’ve been rereading Harry Potter for the past couple months and I thought that it was only fitting to add a Harry Potter book into a Harry Potter inspired readathon. So, for this, I am reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I’m so not ready to relive some moments in here, but I guess I’ll live...

7. Muggle Studies: A contemporary

I chose In 27 Days by Alison Gervais for this one. Okay, so I don’t think a lot of people have heard of this one which is an absolute tragedy, because it’s amazing. It was originally written on Wattpad, but it was eventually published in a physical book. I read it like three times on Wattpad and I’ve read it once in a physical book, and every time it was amazing. This story follows Hadley, a high school student in New York, who goes to school one day to find out a classmate of hers, Archer, has committed suicide. Hadley was not close with him, but she felt off after it. She is then approached by Death who gives her the chance to go back in time 27 days to save Archer’s life. This story is so good and I’m excited to reread it.

Those are all the OWLs that I need to complete and that I am prioritizing. However, there is one more that I would love to get to this month if I have the time.

8. Transfiguration: A book with a red cover

For this I have Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This is a book I read back in the summer before my junior year of high school, and that I’ve really been wanting to reread for a couple months. This book is a Christian non-fiction book about the sacrificial, unconditional, reckless, crazy love of God for His people. This book hit me hard when I read it the first time and I really want to read it again as a more mature Believer to see the impact again.

I am so excited to be a part of this readathon. I think it is such a cool and unique concept. I’ve been super immersed in the Harry Potter world now that I’m rereading the books so this just fits my mood really well right now. I’m thinking that I will post reviews for at least some of the books, but probably not all. I will be posting updates on my Twitter if anyone wants to follow along with that! Anyway, that’s all for now! 

xoxo 

Amanda

[gdwessel]

Road to the New Beginning Night 3 - 1/29/2018: KUSHIDA’s NJPW Farewell; Updated Giant Baba Memorial Show Card

The tour continued today, with a match that sees the end of the NJPW career of Yujiro Kushida, best known as KUSHIDA around these parts. You can see it now on NJPWWorld.

Kushida's origins were actually based in MMA, as his first training was in the Takada Dojo run by the legendary Nobuhiko Takada, training under Takumi Adachi. He began training during junior high school, debuting in the MMA promotion ZST in 2003, where he would win their Genesis Lightweight Tournament in 2004, ending his MMA career with 6 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses, while also attending Senshu University and working part-time for Tokyo Sports. It is generally assumed that Kushida's pro wrestling debut was in Takada's HUSTLE promotion in 2006, however he first debuted in Mexico in 2005 after learning lucha libre under El Oriental.

During his time in HUSTLE, Kushida would also work matches in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Osaka Pro. He left HUSTLE in 2009 after what amounted to a "loser leaves town" match, which lead to Kushida going abroad, wrestling all over North America, in Canada, Mexico and the USA, notably Chikara and OVW. In 2010, he would join Yoshihiro Tajiri's SMASH promotion, which is what got him into NJPW, with an appearance in 2010's edition of Best of the Super Juniors.

Kushida's NJPW career proper began on 4/1/2011, and the rest, as they say, is history. During his NJPW career, KUSHIDA became one of the best and most popular junior heavyweight wrestlers in the entire world, first as one-half of the Time Splitters tag team, with the now-retired Alex Shelley, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles twice, as well as 2012's Super Jr. Tag Tournament. As a singles wrestler, KUSHIDA is a 6-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion and 2-time winner of Best of the Super Juniors, along the way having massively popular feuds with Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi. Outside of NJPW, KUSHIDA was also the winner of the (ill-fated) 2016 Super J-Cup, the 2017 WhatCulture Pro Wrestling World Cup, and was even an ROH World Television Champion for a little while. He even managed to win the 2016 Cuadrangular de Parejas tag tournament in CMLL, along with partner Marco Corleone, and was #20 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's yearly PWI 500 list in 2017.

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that KUSHIDA's departure is a loss for NJPW, and in very many ways, a lost opportunity. I think he should have had a shot at competing in the heavyweights, as had been rumored for the last few years, and it's bittersweet that in his final match for the company, he finally gets a singles match with Hiroshi Tanahashi. He's been one of the best, most consistent workers in NJPW in his time with the company, and he will be missed around here. Best of luck to him, whereever he may end up.

Results:

- 1/29/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ren Narita d. Yuya Uemura (Belly-to-Belly Suplex Hold, 6:24)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi d. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino (Tenzan > Yoshida, Anaconda Vice, 7:30)

Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi (Yujiro > Henare, Pimp Juice, 8:50)

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma d. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] (Makabe > Owens, King Kong Knee Drop, 10:23)

Jay White & Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club]  d. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (Fale > YOSHI-HASHI, Grenade, 11:52)

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG] (EVIL > Kanemaru, EVIL STO, 16:41)

KUSHIDA Farewell Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi d. KUSHIDA (Texas Cloverleaf, 24:34)

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that KUSHIDA lost his farewell match, but even so... KUSHIDA gave a speech at the end, thanking everyone for the last 8 years, but said he was leaving now. Jay White did attack Tanahashi post-main, much as Fale hit Okada (and Uemura!) with Grenade, and Naito did to Taichi with Destino. Ren Narita v. Yuya Uemura is getting rave reviews in some corners, and I am inclined to agree.

More matches have been announced for the Giant Baba Memorial show at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan on 2/19/2019. Thus far, no further matches with (current) NJPW talents have been announced, however it is confirmed that both Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomoaki Honma (the latter of whom has also worked in AJPW and BJW) will be there, as well as current Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara. Of all people, Atsushi Onita will ALSO be on this show, in an 8-man street fight. Just have a look at the card below. It’s going to be a mixed bag but should be a fun one.

Giant Baba Memorial Battle Royale: Mitsuo Momota, Kim Duk, MEN’s Teioh, TARU, Ryuji Hijikata, Yuto Aijima, Joe Deaton, Masao Orihara, More TBA (Referee: Mighty Inoue)

Eight Man Street Fight Bunkhouse Tornado Tag Team Deathmatch: Atsushi Onita [FREE], Kendo Kashin [FREE], Hideki Suzuki [BJW] & Hideki Hosaka v. Shuji Ishikawa [AJPW], Great Kojika [BJW], Mitsuya Nagai & Hikaru Sato

Masanobi Fuchi [AJPW], Yuma Aoyagi [AJPW] & Yoshiaki Fujiwara [FREE] v. Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto [AJPW] v. SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino [NJPW]

Jun Akiyama [AJPW], Takao Omori [AJPW] & Taiyo Kea [FREE] v. Satoshi Kojima [NJPW], Yuji Nagata [NJPW] & Osamu Nishimura [FREE]

Naomichi Marufuji [NOAH] v. Masaaki Mochizuki [Dragon Gate]

NOSAWA Rongai [FREE] & Kaz Hayashi [W-1] v. Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras

Abdullah the Butcher Retirement Ceremony

Also appearing: Hiroshi Tanahashi [NJPW], Tomoaki Honma [NJPW], Kento Miyahara [AJPW], Daisuke Sekimoto [BJW], Kazushi Miyamoto, Stan Hansen, Tomohiko Hashimoto

Tomorrow is a busy day for NJPW. We have another tour show, which it turns out WILL be live on NJPWWorld. This features a NEVER Openweight 6-Man Comedy Tag Team title match, as well as Shingo Takagi’s 2nd ever NJPW singles match. Then there is also the first day of the controversial New Beginning USA tour, which that will be later in the evening, so i probably won’t blog about that until Thursday since I’m on Eastern time. Enjoy the show if you’re going to that.

- 1/30/2019, Miyagi Sendai Sunplaza Hall (NJPWworld)

Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita v. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV

Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi [SZKG]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] © v. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi

The New Beginning USA - 1/30/2019, Globe Theater, Los Angeles, CA

Alex Coughlin v. Clark Connors

Jonathan Gresham v. Tyler Bateman

Colt Cabana v. Shane Taylor

Marty Scurll & Brody King [Villain Enterprises] v. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. [SZKG]

Jeff Cobb [FREE] v. Karl Fredericks

David Finlay Jr. [Lifeblood] v. Chuck Taylor [CHAOS]

One Night Only Roppongi Vice: Juice Robinson & Tracy Willams [Lifeblood] v. Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero [CHAOS]

[feedmeramyun]

Hey friends, it’s Feedmeramyun’s 2018 in Kpop! (Pt.4)

It’s only seven days into 2019 and I’m already! so tired! But since I survive on a diet of Diet Coke, Kpop and spite: it’s time for Part Four of my 2018 Kpop review. This time, it’s the collaborations. 

One of the many things that the Kpop industry does excellently is collaborations. SM’s Station alone could have filled this list three times over, after all. Collaborations are fascinating, because often they let artists explore a side to them their core output doesn’t allow for through unexpected combinations and experimental avenues. All of these have been difficult to whittle down to just five songs, but I think this has perhaps been the hardest category overall. Hwasa & Loco’s ‘Don’t’, Hyolyn’s ‘Dally’ featuring Gray, Zico & IU’s ‘Soulmate’, Alisha’s ‘Drunk Texting’ with Jimmy Brown have all been regular residents on my speakers this year, but since I had to pick (I didn’t have to, I did this to myself, but hey): here’s my top five. 

You can find Part One [here], Part Two [here] and Part Three [here]

Part Four: ‘It’s better if we do it together’: The Collaborations 

1. Baekhyun & Loco - Young

I honestly, genuinely did not know what to expect when this was announced but oh my god, did it completely blow me away. Baekhyun harmonising WITH HIMSELF? Loco running rings round everyone with his rap verse? ‘Young’ delivered, hard. The video also managed to capture that same, electrifying essence that popularised MV’s in the heyday of the mid 2000s: it’s that arresting feeling of not knowing quite whats happening, but that somehow you’re being spoken to directly, with something subversive, dangerous and alluring (have you ever seen the video for the Pendulum remix of The Prodigy’s ‘Voodoo People? No? Go watch it. Because that is a great example of what I mean). Cos now you love me - with that XOXOXO. 

2. Taemin & Bewhy - Pinocchio 

‘Pinocchio’ is, without out a doubt, one of the best things to ever come out of a variety show. I love Taemin’s solo work, and the way in which he’s constantly experimenting with masculinity, identity and the artistic persona. The combination of his breathy, uniquely Taemin vocals with Bewhy’s one of a kind rap is really beyond perfect. The lyrics are darker than Taemin’s usual style, but it suits him well. It’s no surprise this did as well as it did, but I particularly like the performance video because of the way Taemin uses his movement is so jarringly beautiful. 

3. Super Junior & Leslie Grace - Lo Siento 

Si te beso hoy! Mañana me voy - loca por ti no estoy! 

You guys, when this dropped, I lost my tiny mind. ‘Black Suit’ was a tour de force of a comeback for suave, mature Super Junior but ‘Lo Siento’ is hands down my favourite thing they’ve ever done. I speak not as good as I used to Spanish and I’m a huge fan of Latin pop and reggaeton (for context: I did my GCSE Spanish presentation on Shakira’s Donde Estan Las Ladrones and my A Level oral exam on the history of flamenco. Also I went to see Shakira live in Barcelona this year. It was amazing. I cried. This is only tangentially relevant) and ‘Lo Siento’ was everything I didn’t know I wanted. Even the questionable styling choices in the video couldn’t put me off of this one: it’s a bop. 

4. Suho & Jane Jang - Dinner

‘Dinner’ is the understated epic of 2018. The first time I showed it to @sweet-teeth-mfs​, she told me she had to pause it as soon as Suho started singing because it was too beautiful. And it is. Suho’s voice blends so well well with Jane Jang’s, and the overall effect is hauntingly, painfully beautiful. It’s not exactly upbeat (though luckily we got ‘Do You Have a Moment’ for that) but it proved Suho’s leading man credentials and showcased just how good his vocal range is. Dinner’s melancholy is, admittedly, some what at odds with every thing else I’ve recommended so far but it’s too heartbreakingly brilliant not to include it. 

5. Lee Jin Ah & Gray - Run

If you’re not familiar with Lee Jin Ah, then I highly recommend her: her style, her vocals and her musicality are wonderfully original and fresh, all of which ‘Run’ showcases really well. The MV has serious in indie film/Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face vibes, and the whole thing is just down right delightful. It took me a few listens to fall for this one - the music is almost off kilter (in a good way) which can take a while to get used to - but it’s just so charming it wasn’t long before I was humming the tune everywhere. 

[hazyheel]

NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Day 9 Review

We opened up with Lance Archer vs. Kota Ibushi. Archer floored one of the Young Lions as he came in. Archer had a wicked size advantage here, so naturally Ibushi opted to target the legs. Early on, Ibushi went for a hurricanrana, but Archer held on and tried for a powerbomb to the outside, but thankfully Ibushi countered with a rana over the ropes. Ibushi went for the moonsault, but Archer hung him up on the turnbuckle and beat him on the outside. Archer worked over the ankle a bit to soften Ibushi up, but it was clear that this was more of a way to hurt Ibushi rather than an endgame strategy. Archer was constantly trying for the EBD Claw, which left Ibushi to desperately counter it each time. Ibushi was just trying to halt Archer’s momentum, such as when he countered the derailer with double knees to the face. He was fighting at a severe disadvantage, but he did it well. He started to use more flying to keep the big man off his game, capitalizing on an agility advantage. At one point, Ibushi went up top, and Archer met him there. So, Ibushi slipped out and grabbed him for a powerbomb and a near fall. Archer fought back with a surprised somersault senton, followed by a great chokeslam for a near fall. Ibushi had was most effective when Archer was on the ground, such as when he nailed a bomoye to the back of the head. He tried to follow up with a kamagoye, but Archer nailed him with a knee of his own before Ibushi could hit it. Archer then tried for a moonsault, but crashed and burned. Ibushi nailed another bomoye, and then a kamagoye, but Archer didn’t even go down. It took a second Kamagoye right in a row to finish Archer. Ibushi: 6, Archer: 4.

Grade: B+. Good stuff here. If you are trying to have someone lose and look good doing it, this is what you need to do. Archer didn’t kick out of the Kamagoye, he no sold it. That is one of the most protected finishers in the company, and he no sold it. Archer has gotta go onto big things after the G1, because he seems to be getting over, and he looks like their biggest monster heel that they have. Ibushi got another victory using his cunning, speed and agility, and continues a winning streak. 

Up next was Will Ospreay vs. Bad Luck Fale. The two have only fought once, in the New Japan Cup this year. It was the biggest upset in the bracket. Fale had never been eliminated in the first round before, and he lost it to a junior heavyweight. Chase Owens and Jado cornered Fale in this match. During Ospreay’s entrance, Owens grabbed Ospreay’s leg as he entered the ring and Fale knocked him off the apron. The ref frantically started the match, but Fale intimidated him into looking the other way while Owens and Jado attacked Ospreay. Ospreay did fight out of their clutches, allowing Jado to hit Owens with the Kendo stick and knocking down Jado, before springing into the match. He started with the advantage, but Jado quickly hit him with a kendo stick to the back and allowed Fale to gain control. At one point, Ospreay was lying on the edge of the ring, and Fale distracted the ref, allowing Owens to tear off the athletic tape on Ospreay’s neck. Fale viciously targeted the neck here, harkening back to the various neck problems he has had in the past. Ospreay slowly fought back into the match and nearly hit the Os Cutter, but Fale shoved the ref into him and sent him tumbling out of the ring. On the outside, Ospreay flipped out of Owens’ package piledriver and hit a hook kick, then narrowly avoided Jado’s kendo stick, but was run over by Fale right after. Fale then hit the grenade, but the ref was still down. By the time the ref got back in the ring, Ospreay was able to kick out. Ospreay was desperately fighting a 3 on 1 match, and he was doing alright. He was able to hit Fale with the Os Cutter, but as the ref counted three, Owens pulled him out of the ring. Ospreay then fought off Jado and stole his kendo stick. He went to hit Fale with it, but Owens ambushed him. He attempted another package piledriver, but Ospreay slipped out. He went for the handspring flip kick, but Owens nailed him in the back with the stick and finally hit the package piledriver. Red Shoes then ran out, as the other ref was down for the count. Fale was in a cover on Ospreay, and Red Shoes counted two, only for him to hang up the count on three. He flipped off Fale, said “fuck you,” and disqualified him. Ospreay: 4, Fale: 2. 

After the match, Fale chased Red Shoes around, and he narrowly escaped. Although Red Shoes did take the time to raise Ospreay’s hand in victory. 

Grade: C+. Fine match. It was all about the story here: could Ospreay survive a 3 on 1 match, and the unfortunate truth was that he couldn’t. If it wasn’t for the heels over extending when it came to bending the rules. Both men had a visual pin in this match, so no one really got over here. The real hero of this match is Red Shoes, the most badass referee in wrestling today. But other than that, this was an overbooked gimmick of a match. Leave it to Ospreay to kinda pull it off too. 

Then we had Zack Sabre Jr vs. EVIL. These two have had quite the rivalry this year, ever since he and Suzuki wanted to take the tag titles from Evil and Sanada earlier this year. Evil has only beaten Sabre once, and Sabre holds at least two other victories over him. Sabre tried to lock up right away, and Evil obliged. Right from the bell, Evil tried to use his strength to keep Sabre on the defensive, and the second that Sabre started to reverse a hold, Evil transitioned into striking. Evil won a quick contest of strength early on, and targeted the shoulders with a submissions. Zack eventually escaped and forced the match to the canvas, opting to target the neck with strikes and submissions. The two jockeyed for position on the mat, with Evil nearly locking in a scorpion deathlock, only for Sabre to transition it into a triangle. Evil powerbombed him out of it and tried again, but Sabre reversed into a modified scorpion deathlock of his own. Evil escpaed to the floor and the brawl continued there. Evil gained the advantage after a swinging neckbreaker from the apron. He tried to capitalize in the ring, catching a kick and going for his superkick to the stomach, but Sabre caught his leg and locked in a kneebar. The knee seemed to be tweaked after the modified scorpion deathlock, so Sabre focused on that. The two scrambled for control, and Evil was able to reverse the kneebar into a kinda wonky scorpion deathlock, but Sabre still escaped. Sabre then opted to try some pinning combinations, but still nothing worked. Evil wasn’t staying down, and he was dealing a lot of damage with his strikes. In the finish, the two were constantly countering each other’s strikes, when Evil suddenly got himself in position for Everything is Evil, and the win. Evil: 6, Sabre: 2. 

Grade: B+. This year, I have praised Evil quite a bit. I wasn’t always a huge fan, but his brawling style really impressed me. In this match, I saw a new, technical side to Evil, and it was certainly interesting. He isn’t as naturally gifted at that as he is brawling, but it was still good. Sabre lost once again, and against an opponent that he was incredibly confident against. He was pissed, to say the least. Evil seems to be getting quite the push in A Block, and it makes me interested to see whether or not he beats Lance Archer. Both are monsters of their block, so that will be an exciting match. This was an interesting outcome in and of itself, because of the Royal Quest show coming up. Evil beat the Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion, so he may be in line for a title shot. Given how much he has fought Sabre this year, I think it is more likely that Sanada gets that shot, or someone who beats him later on, but it certainly could happen. But this was a very good match, probably their best together since they have been fighting. Also, Sabre’s tantrum was wonderful. 

We went right into Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA. The crowd was super loud at the beginning of the match, and the crowd was pretty evenly split between the two competitors. Interesting, I didn’t realize how much of a following Sanada has gained until this match. The two started with a bit of grappling on the mat, feeling each other out. Neither man wanted to commit to a strike, so they jockeyed for position from a knuckle lock. The two eventually escalated to strikes, and they both caught each other’s kicks. They went to put their legs down at the same time, but Sanada faked it and used it to attempt the paradise lock. So although Sanada is the favorite, he is acting a bit more heel. It took a while for Tanahashi to start with the dragonscrews, but he eventually did, and the match became a duel between two competitors trying to destroy each other’s knees. The two then exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring, ending with a twist and shout from Tanahashi. He held on, and hit another twist and shout, but Sanada countered the third into a hangman’s twisting neckbreaker off the top rope. The two then traded finishers, both missing their move off the top rope, and both crashing and burning. After that spot, Sanada started working towards a submission finish out of the skull end. Tana reversed the first one into a roll up, but Sanada kicked out. Tana then tried a bridging pin, which Sanada kicked out of and reversed it into a skull end. Tana then turned it around into his own, only for Sanada to do the same. Tana then flipped out of it, giving Sanada almost a Destino, but he neglected to go for a pin. Instead, he opted for a dragon suplex, but still a near fall. He went up to the top one more time, delivering Aces High, and finally hitting High Fly Flow for the win. Tanahashi: 6, Sanada: 2. 

Grade: B. Pretty good match, but they didn’t really have much urgency in here. It just felt like a lot of moves that were strung together. It was good in the beginning when it came to grappling, but it fell apart as they continued to develop their match. Still though, the counters here were very interesting. A lot of their moves required similar setups, so they were in constant series of reversals. It also showed that Sanada has the capacity to be the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, considering he is just as popular as the ace of the company. That is something to keep your eye on. 

And in the main event, we had the two block leaders facing off. KENTA vs. Kazuchika Okada. Naturally, this was one of the matches that I was most looking forward to. The two started a bit nervous. This is their first meeting in a singles match, so they were wary to over extend. They know each other’s reputation, so they know that the match could end quickly. Okada did his classic rope break early on, which Kenta didn’t seem to mind. He was shockingly stone faced in the early part of this match, when he is normally very expressive and aggressive. I ate my words almost right away, when Kenta had to break. He gave Okada the pats on the chest and then a hard slap to the face, prompting the two to start striking. Kenta seemed to have the striking advantage, but Okada was certainly no slouch. At one point, as the two traded hits to the face, Kenta baited one of those strikes and then went low and swept the leg. Kenta was constantly being disrespectful, knowing full well that not only is he in enemy territory, he is in the tent of their leader. They started to pick it up a bit, harder hits and a more urgent pace. Kenta seemed to constantly have an answer for Okada’s offense, peppering him with strikes only to lock in a submission when Okada tries to fight back. He was unpredictable, and it was throwing Okada off his game. The two continued to blast each other with the best shots that they had, constantly trying to outdo each other, both in ferocity and disrespect. Okada took the match to the outside to attempt a DDT on the floor, but Kenta fought back. He dropped Okada on the guard rail, delivered a pair of kicks to the head, and then gave him a flying double stomp. Okada barely beat the countout, and started to emulate Kenta’s moves. He gave Kenta a shotgun dropkick into the corner and then a delayed dropkick, which looks much more painful when it is a 6′4 guy. Okada then went for the elbow drop, but Kenta countered it, picking the arm and locking in a triangle, before quickly transitioning into Game Over. Okada was able to break out so Kenta nailed him with a double stomp off the top, but still only a near fall. The two then battled for position, Okada looking for a tombstone and Kenta looking for Go To Sleep, but Okada was able to slip out, nailing Kenta with a pair of dropkicks. The two went back to their striking contest, absolutely nailing each other with forearms and palm strikes. Kenta came out on top. Okada still fought back, nailing a twisting Tombstone and then the Rainmaker for the win, and for the lead in the block. Okada: 10, Kenta: 8.

After the match, Okada offered his hand, and Kenta took it. 

Grade: A. Phenomenal match. Okada adapted to a new opponent that he has never fought before, and one that seemed to have his number for a large portion of the match. He fought super hard against odds that seemed impossible. Eventually he was able to do it. This match shows why Okada is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He can fight against incredibly difficult opponents that should be able to beat him, adapting and figuring out their weaknesses so that he can come out on top. He waited for Kenta to make mistakes, and he capitalized on them. He refused to stay down, despite the wild amount of punishment that he took. Okada has amazing endurance and constitution. That is why he won here, and it is why he is leading the block, undefeated. As for Kenta, he is far from done. I imagine that he will end up second in the block, and he will go far in this company. Great match, one of my favorites of the tournament. Match of the night.

Overall Grade: B+

Pros: Ibushi vs. Archer; evil vs. sabre; sanada vs. tanahashi; okada vs. kenta; red shoes is a badass

Cons: sanada vs. tanahashi kinda disappointed considering the caliber of the wrestlers involved. 

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. 26 Day 8 Review (May 23rd 2019, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall)

Ren Narita vs. El Phantasmo (B Block)  ***1/4

Titan vs. TAKA Michinoku (A Block)  ***1/4

BUSHI vs. Robbie Eagles (B Block)  ***1/4

Tiger Mask vs. Jonathan Gresham (A Block)  ***

YOH vs. DOUKI (B Block)  ***1/2

SHO vs. Marty Scurll (A Block)  ****1/4

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Rocky Romero (B Block)  ***

Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (A Block)  **1/4

Will Ospreay vs. Bandido (B Block)  ****3/4

Dragon Lee vs. Shingo Takagi (A Block)  ****3/4

photos.

Well this was by far the best night of BOSJ action so far this year. In terms of consistency, it was amongst the most enjoyable shows of the year. The undercard was an absolute breeze to sit through and the top half of the card was incredible. B Block leader El Phantasmo was predictably victorious over Young Lion Ren Narita in a very fun opener. Narita scored some great near falls which had Korakuen going crazy, but in the end Phantasmo hit his long distance Big Splash for the win in 6:59, to remain undefeated in the tournament so far. Titan beat the winless TAKA Michinoku in another fun bout. This had a messy ending in which Titan hit his Titan de Happonesa finish, and he clearly thought TAKA was supposed to kick out, so it lead to a very awkward pause. The masked man walked away with the win at the 8 minute mark. BUSHI scored his second consecutive tourney win over Robbie Eagles in another fun 8 minute sprint, after pinning the Australian with MX. Tiger Mask’s loss to Jonathan Gresham was a step slower than the high speed stuff we’d seen up to that point, and was a good technical outing. The Octopus scored the 2 points when he pinned the masked legend at 9:21 with a small package. 

YOH and DOUKI had a wild brawl around Korakuen Hall to start their very good clash, which saw YOH score the win in 11:22 of hot action, in which both guys looked great, when he pinned DOUKI with the Dragon Suplex. The other half of Roppongi 3K squared off with Marty Scurll next in an excellent encounter. This was way better than anticipated, with Scurll playing the dastardly heel, and SHO playing the babyface who has to overcome the heel tactics. This was a hard-hitting affair, which saw SHO win after Marty “snapped” the fingers, but he powered through, hitting a couple of big lariats, scored a near fall with the Last Ride onto the knees, then pinned The Villian with Shock Arrow at 13:18, to end a great, dramatic match. If I have one complaint, it’s that SHO didn’t sell the fingers at all, throwing up the question; “why even do the spot?” (it’s also worth mentioning that Jonathan Gresham has been wrestling with his fingers taped to sell this spot since the first night!). The gears changed in the next couple of matches. Firstly, Rocky Romero and Taguchi had a battle of the “coaches”, which saw Taguchi win a fun little 10 minute comedy bout with a cradle. This was fun, but descended into slapstick a little too often for my liking, then Yoshinobu Kanemaru cradled his way to victory over Taiji Ishimori in just 3:51 and by far the weakest match of the night. They teased another countout here, playing on what happened yesterday with SHO, but Ishimori made it back in. After some shenanigans with the whiskey bottle, Kanemaru scored the quick win with a cradle.

The last two matches were amongst the best all year. Will Ospreay and Bandido, who had an excellent match in New York during Wrestlemania weekend, blew that match out of the water with a phenomenal high-flying display that had Korakuen Hall going crazy. The crowd were white hot from the off, and it featured all kinds of madman moves. Bandido hit a terrifying Shooting Star to the floor in which it looked like he might not come out of the tuck. He ended up hitting it perfectly though, and followed up with a springboard rana for a near fall. Ospreay flipped out of a 21 Plex attempt, landing on his feet, then scoring a near fall with the standing Spanish Fly. Bandido hit the top rope Moonsault Powerslam, but Ospreay makes the ropes. Will caught Bandido on a quebrada attempt, then hit Stormbreaker for the win at the 18:03 mark. This was an insane match, probably the best of the tournament so far, and the Korakuen faithful gave Bandido a huge ovation afterwards. This left the battle of the Dragons main event with a very difficult task in following. But!... they did, producing another classic BOSJ match in the process. This was a very different match, but just as tremendous as the one that preceded it. This really picked up after a lariat exchange, when the Jr champion hit a crazy tope suicida, wiping out the first three rows. Lee scored a near fall with the corner double stomp, but Shingo reversed a Desnucadora attempt into a Samoan Drop. Takagi shakes off knee strikes by his masked opponent, then hit Noshigami and the Pumping Bomber for a 2 count. Lee then hit an amazing sequence which saw him nail Shingo with a running knee strike, a rebound German, another knee, a reverse rana, and a third big knee, but Shingo kicked at one to a huge pop.  A fourth knee gets a near fall for the champion, Takagi turns a Desnucadora into Last Of The Dragon to take the win and remain undefeated at 17:20 of a fab match. Both guys looked phenomenal here, and Lee lost nothing in defeat, whereas Shingo continues to look like the best ‘junior’ in the business. This show is well worth checking out. It was great.

NDT

[thezachrogers]

TOP 50 OF 2017

(revised 1/15/2018)

Well everyone, as 2017 comes to a close, and as the holidays are just a head of us full of the best and most anticipated films of the year...it is time to recap some of the best and worst movies I have seen so far this year...50 of them to be exact!

WORST TEN:

10. Life (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Sony was very vague about if this was a prequel to the upcoming Tom Hardy Venom spinoff. Even if it was or wasn’t, it would not make this film any better. So if and only if it is in fact a Marvel film, SPOILER ALERT, the symbiote makes it back to Earth, darkens (goes from white to black when hitting Earth’s atmosphere) and can kill or keep its hosts alive. The end.

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes 67% My score - 2/5 Stars

9. Transformers: The Last Knight (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

This is arguably the worst installment of the explosive franchise. I keep scratching my head as to why these films keep getting made. And then I remember, “oh yea, toy sales.” Even though Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg are calling it quits, a sixth installment is in motion set as a prequel in the 80s that will be loyal to the original transformers animated series will drop sometime in 2019. Don’t waste your time on this piece of garbage. 

IMDB - 5.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 16% My score - 1.5/5 Stars

8. Death Note (available for stream on NETFLIX now)

I laughed repeatedly at how ridiculous this movie was. Based off the anime, Willem Dafoe stars as Anti-hero/Villain Akira who is a demon that comes along with a book titled “death note” that allows you to kill anyone you want by writing their name down in a book. Production is quality for Netflix, and I can say that I did enjoy this movie even though I knew it was bad. Definitely one for the tweens.

IMDB - 4.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 40% My score - 1.5/5 Stars

7. GOLD (now available for stream on Netflix, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Why does Matthew McConaughey now think he has to completely change his appearance and body weight in order for us to assume he is a good actor? It worked with Dallas Buyers Club because he didn’t just change his body, but it was also the token gay film of the year to take home all of the awards. Gold however has no gay undertones, neither does it have humor, nor a good story. Just a fat, balding, snaggle-toothed version of himself with an excessively hot out of his league version of Bryce Dallas Howard. Another true story that is crap and should have been made into a movie, this film should have been a straight to Redbox or Netflix feature. 

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 43% My Score - 1.5/5 Stars

6. The Heart of Man (one night only documentary for Fathom Events at AMC)

I don’t even know y’all. Why do Christians feel the need to put crap like this in theaters? I can’t even call this a documentary - there was this weird analogy/metaphorical scene throughout the film with this “God” like character (old and bearded hipster) playing a violin and this other dude, let’s call him gaptooth, running away chasing his definition of hot girls (guess they couldn’t find any to be in the movie) and he didn’t want to play violin anymore. Then the girl he is making out with turns into a crack head dude (so I guess she’s a tranny?) and he/she locks gaptooth in a cave. Whaaaaaaaaaaa? Throughout the “artpiece” there were people spilling out their guts in interview format on committing adultery. Yea it was weird. I walked out with my community group thinking “so do all of our wives think we are cheating on them? 

Yea this was just a giant turd. Don’t bother seeing it.

IMDB - 8.6/10 (probably from christian bloggers) Rotten Tomatoes - no score (surprised?) my score - 1/5 Stars

5. Baywatch (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Wow, this was so bad. I don’t know when Dwayne Johnson will ever make a good film. How is this dude the highest paid actor in Hollywood when he ONLY makes trash movies? I know he’s a great person and all but...we need a good movie from you man. With the exception of the eye candy as seen above there is nothing watchable about this movie. 

IMDB - 5.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 19% My score - 1 star

4. Power Rangers (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

You are probably not surprised, but the worst five films I have seen this year were all my wife’s doing. This one is on the list as well. I grew up a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers fan and knew this one was going to be terrible as well. Another movie made simply to sell toys. Such a garbage movie with too many good actors like Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks, and Stranger Things 2′s Dacre Montgomery. Please don’t waste your time with this movie unless you have kids that want to watch as they will probably love it and want to go to the store after and buy toys.

IMDB - 6.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 43% My score - 1 star

3. A Dog’s Purpose (now available on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD)

AND THE WORST MOVIE THAT I SAW IN 2017 GOES TO...

AND THE WORST REBOOT OF ALL TIME GOES TO...

AND THE WORST START OF A UNIVERSE/FRANCHISE GOES TO...

AND THE WORST MOVIE OF RUSSEL CROWE’S CAREER GOES TO...

AND THE WORST MOVIE OF TOM CRUISE’S CAREER GOES TO...

2. The Mummy (2017) (now available to not watch on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

1. Flatliners (review coming soon)

IMDB - 5.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 16% My score .25/5 Stars

TOP 56 (revised 1/15/18)

56. The Lost City of Z (Now on Amazon Prime, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)The cast is superb. This a true story as far as script goes, not really much you can change..it’s just not a great story. No great character development, even though the acting is great; halfway through the movie, junior has a time jump and grows to be Tom Holland, who we now know and love as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The movie is just weak.IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 87% My score - 2.5/5 Stars

55. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

54. The Case for Christ (2017) (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Not bad Pure Flix Studios, not bad at all.

IMDB - 5.9/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 55% Me- 3 Stars

53. Despicable Me 3

52. Bright (Review Coming Soon)

51. Better Watch Out (now on Digital)

Fun, suspenseful, thrilling movie that brings a twist on the Holiday genre. Another one for Dacre Montgomery in 2017...this is a satirical horror, and is nothing like Home Alone as what you may have thought from the trailers.

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 90% My score - 3/5 Stars

50. The Fate of the Furious (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

49. Kong: Skull Island (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Do we need another King Kong reboot? No. Was the movie cool? Yes. This film also sets up to be a follow-up of 2014′s Godzilla and opens up to a monster universe franchise. 

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 76% My Score - 3.25/5 Stars

48. Murder On the Orient Express (2017) (now in theaters)

Probably the most A-List Ensemble cast of 2017 and directed and starred by Kenneth Branagh, this movie was lots of fun! I would recommend waiting for rental early in 2018 rather than seeing in theaters but without seeing the original film, this story will keep you guessing till the end on who did it!

IMDB - 6.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 60% My Score 3.5 Stars

47. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (coming soon to Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Just as fun as the first movie, excited for the third!

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 51% My Score - 3.5/5 Stars

46. Hush (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 94% My Score - 3.75/5 Stars

45. Lady Bird (Review coming soon)

44. Gaga: Five Foot Two (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

A peak into the life of the last two years of Gaga’s life recording and realasing her latest album “Joanne” leading up to her superbowl halftime performance. 

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 75% My Score - 3.75/5 Stars

43. Silence (now available on Digital and DVD)

42. Super Dark Times (now on Digital)

This has been the year of suspense/horror! This film is super dark (pun intended) and definitely a period piece that captures life for teens in the late 90s during the times of the Columbine shootings. Video Games do affect the brain y’all!

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 91% My Score - 4/5 Stars

41. Logan Lucky (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

The Redneck Ocean’s Eleven from the same director with dry humor. I enjoyed, definitely a must rent.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% - My Score - 4/5 Stars

40. Ingrid Goes West (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Brilliant film about people obsessed with instagram likes and revolving their whole world around social media. Reminds me of ABC’s The Bachelor/The Bachelorette pretty people. 

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 85% My Score - 4/5 Stars

39. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

The fourth and final film of Adam Sandler’s four film Netflix contact, he FINALLY delivers. Meyerowitz has already won sever film festival awards and critics’ awards. I see Oscar nods for the future of this movie. Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Adam Sandler, and Ben Stiller all deliver in this melancholy dry-wit drama, definitely has a taste of Woody Allen in it.

IMDB - 7.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% - My Score - 4/5 Stars

38. Justice League (in theaters now)

37. Happy Death Day (review coming soon)

36. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

35. The Founder (now available to stream on NETFLIX, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

34. The Lego Batman Movie (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

33. Beauty and the Beast (2017) (now available to stream on NETFLIX, Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

32. John Wick: Chapter 2 (now available to stream on HBO GO/NOW, Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

31. American Made (now in theaters)

Based on the events of the life of pilot Barry Seal. Seal (Cruise) was an airline pilot recruited by the CIA to pilot for Pablo Escobar and the Medellin and Cali Cartel and monitor activity for the CIA. Ironic how one of Cruise’s best and one of his worst films can come out with in three months of each other. 

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 87% My Score - 4/5 Stars

30. Our Souls at Night (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

When three Hollywood legends like Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, and Bruce Dern are on screen together; it’s movie magic. Hands down, Netflix’s best original film to date. I’m throwing Oscar nods it’s way.

IMDB - 7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 91% My Score - 4/5 Stars

29. Goodbye Christopher Robin (review coming soon)

28. War for the Planet of the Apes

The final installment into the Caesar’s prequel trilogy, this is hands down the best Apes film of them all. Woody Harrelson plays the best antagonist in the Apes saga and this movie ends with you wanting more.

IMDB - 7.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% My Score - 4/5 Stars

27. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (review coming soon)

26. The Greatest Showman (now in theaters)

25. IT (2017) (now in theaters)

The reboot of the infamous clown that terrorized my childhood. Blows the original 1990 miniseries out of the water. I am so jacked up for the second installment as this film has made so much money that tells me that the all grown up versions of the characters will get an A List cast!

IMDB - 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 85% My Score - 4/5 Stars

24. Split (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

23. Wind River (now in Theaters, on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

No, this is not a Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), and Punisher (Jon Bernthal) spinoff...however it is one of the best thriller/suspense/murder mysteries to release in the last decade! The whole cast brings it on a story about a murder on a Native American reserve where the law can barely touch. 

IMDB - 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 88% My Score - 4.5/5 Stars

22. Hidden Figures (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

21. Blade Runner 2049 (now in theaters)

Not my 11th favorite movie of the year, but it deserves to be this high up on the list of “best films” to appreciate what the first Blade Runner did for film and the sci-fi genre as a whole. If you’re wanting a lot of Harrison Ford, this is not your movie, he doesn't show up until 1 hour and 55 minutes into the movie. Gosling is definitely the protagonist. They left it open for there to be third movie but I also think they left it open for us to imagine what comes next as if there will not be a third. All in all it was visually stunning and was a great script for the long awaited sequel 35 years in the making.

IMDB - 8.4/10 Rotten Tomatoes 87% My score - 4/5 Stars

20. Dunkirk (Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

My all time favorite director made another masterpiece. I can say that this was an attempt at story, not character which was a little shocking to say the least coming from Christopher Nolan! Harry Styles definitely stole the show with this one! Tom Hardy's character arc was my favorite story line out of the three narratives in the film. Definitely a Blu-Ray to buy for Christmas!

IMDB - 8.3/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 4.5/5 Stars

19. Spider-Man: Homecoming (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

read review in previous post here

18. The Big Sick (now available for stream on Amazon Prime, Digital, Blu-ray, DVD)

Hilarious and heart felt, this is the true biographical story of Kumail Nanjiani as portrayed by Kumail Nanjiani.

IMDB - 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 98% My Score - 4.5/Stars

17. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (now in theaters)

16. Patriots Day (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

15. Stronger (review coming soon)

14. Get Out  (now on digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

review posted here 

13. Darkest Hour (review coming soon)

12. The Disaster Artist (now in theaters)

11. Wonder Woman (now on digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

review posted here 

10. Baby Driver (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Filmed in Atlanta, takes place in Atlanta, shows off some hot spots in Atlanta I have been to on several occasions, I can say I have some bias on why this movie is so far up there. Unfortunately, this will probably be the last film of Kevin Spacey’s long career. I do enjoy his work, hate to hear who he is as a person though. Spacey did play a very minor role in this film. Arguably the best role of Jamie Foxx’s career, Ansel Elgort’s breakout performance and definitely throws 2015′s Live Action Cinderella’s Lily James as an A-List actor from here on out. Great film to watch in 4K as it is action packed, check this movie out now!

IMDB - 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% My score - 5 Stars

9. Brawl In Cell Block 99 (now on Digital)

Hands down, the best film of Vince Vaughn’s career. He should be nominated for the Academy Award. 180 from Wedding Crashers y’all, believe me. This film is exploding with hand to hand combat violence and acting like I’ve never seen from a comedic actor in my life. Probably the darkest action film this year next to LOGAN. I cannot say much more as I do not want to give the plot away, I think it’ll be the worth the watch if you don’t know much before watching the movie.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 5 Stars

8. I, Tonya (Review Coming soon)

7. Coco (now in theaters today!)

Pixar never disappoints as this is one of their best films yet! Heart-warming, fun, and full of laughter, I would say this is Pixar’s best film since 2015′s Inside Out! This Pixar instant classic will remind adults and show kids the importance of family (especially this time of year)!

IMDB - 9.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 95% My Score - 5 Stars

6. Thor: Ragnarok (now in theaters)

Now in my top three favorite MCU films EVER!! (next to Avengers and Iron Man) Ragnarok will make you pee your pants laugh as it is funnier than Guardians 2 from earlier this year and as it was directed by co-creator of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords Taika Waititi! Learning the movie was 80% improv by the actors made it this movie that much better. The entire cast from Hemsworth to Ruffalo to Blanchett, Thor finally gets the movie this superhero deserves.

IMDB - 8.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 5 Stars

5. Wonder (now in theaters)

Can’t...stop...crying. The feel good movie of the year. Ask my wife, I literally cried from the first five minutes to the last second of the movie. This film broke my heart in all the best ways. Wonder (based on the NY Times best selling fiction novel) is a very real story about boy with Treacher Collins’ Syndrome (facial deformities) starting public school in the 5th grade and everything that comes along with it for his family and friend’s as they walk through this journey with Auggie. One of the best takes on character I have ever seen in film. This picture will be nominated for several Academy Awards including best lead actor by none other than Auggie Pullman himself 2015′s Room’s Jacob Tremblay. I want to hug every kid in this movie, the entire ensemble cast was superb.

IMDB - 8.1 Rotten Tomatoes - 86% My score - 5 Stars

4. The Post (review coming soon)

3. Molly’s Game (review coming soon)

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

1. LOGAN (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

see review in previous post here.

and there it is fam - my top 50 list of 2017! Feel free to share, comment, and like! As the holidays are coming upon us this list will get updates and I will be posting single movie reviews as well! 

- Z

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: HOCKEY NEWS AND NOTES

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - While in our safe places under a pandemically-induced house arrest, there is some limited hockey news still going on. XL CENTER The XL Center, despite being shut down, progress on the facility's brand spanking new chiller project has officially begun. According to Michael W. Freimuth, the Executive Director of the CRDA (Capital Regional Development Corporation), a construction management contract was awarded to Hartford's Consigli Construction Co., Inc. “Consigli has bid out the chiller package to two qualified bidders who have completed NHL chillers in the past – Cimeco & Ice Builders – those bids are currently under review. The remaining bid packages are going out today and the bid packages are due on April 15th.” The project schedule indicates mobilization to begin in May and is set for completion by September 2020 in time for the start for both of the 2020-21 college hockey and AHL Wolf Pack regular seasons. NHL DRAFT Sadly, another victim to the COVID-19 virus that initially began in Wuhan, China is the summer NHL Draft spectacular that was slated to be held in Montreal on June 26-27. The NHL combines, NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas and the NHL Draft were all shut down. It looks like the NHL Draft will be held remotely at the NHL offices and will likely occur with a video hookup with all 31 teams. It will be handled with NBCSN and TSN who were going to broadcast Day 1 and TSN Day two. That is unless conditions dramatically change in the next three months in the US, Canada, and Europe and that doesn’t seem very likely. PRO SIGNINGS Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Matt Donovan, has re-signed with the Milwaukee Admirals for the 2021-22 AHL season. The team also signed ex-Pack captain, Cole Schneider (UCONN), to a new AHL, one-year deal for next season. Meanwhile, in Sweden, 2019 second-round draft pick of the Rangers center Karl Henriksson signs a deal with Frolunda HC (Sweden-SHL) and is eligible to play for Sweden 2021 WJC Team. This season just concluded, he played a majority of his games with Frolunda HC J-20 team in the Super Elite League, got in eight SHL games and was loaned out to Sodertalje SK in Allsvenskan League and skated for the 2020 Sweden WJC Team. -Ex-Pack Nick Latta signs with EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL) for next season after three seasons with EHC Wolfsburg. While ex-Pack Steven Moses goes from Jokerit Helsinki (Finland-KHL) to SC Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland-LNA). -Greg Ireland, former AHL head coach with Grand Rapids and San Antonio was named Italian Nation team coach replacing Clayton Beddoes who he replaced with HC Bolzano (Italy-EBEL) mid-season. Beddoes had a solid college career with Lake Superior State in their heyday in the early 1990s and played for several years with Providence before heading over to Europe. COLLEGE HOCKEY The player signing numbers have picked up over the past week with several each day. The Wolf Pack latest signing was skating not far from the XL Center. Alex Whelan, a 6-0, 210-pound native of Ramsey, NJ, played four seasons at Quinnipiac University (ECACHL), including 13 goals,11 assists and a 24-point performance in 29 games this year as a senior for the Bobcats. Whelan, 22, an assistant captain led the Bobcat squad in plus/minus, with a plus 16, and finished second on the team in goals and third in points. He notched his second collegiate hat trick January 17th, in a 4-3 win at Holy Cross, and had a college career-best six-game point-scoring streak (4-3-7) from November 30 through January 10. In 141 career games with Quinnipiac, Whelan totaled 48 goals and 30 assists for 78 points, along with 38 penalty minutes.  He led the Bobcats in goals his sophomore season, 2017-18, with 16 in 38 games, and twice topped Quinnipiac skaters in shots-on-goal, with 175 in 2017-18 and 152 in 2018-19 his junior season. Whelan also earned ECACHL All-Academic Team honors for three straight years, from 2016-17 through 2018-19. - The latest signing came late Friday afternoon as freshmen Trevor Zegras (Avon Old Farms) left Boston University after one year and signed a standard three-year two-way entry-level contract. Joining him in SoCal in a rare Ivy League early exit is forward Jack Badini (Old Greenwich/CT Oilers-EHL) from Harvard to the Ducks. Hobey Baker candidate, Jason Cotton of Sacred Heart University (AHA) and his brother David of Boston College (HE) both signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. Jason signed a one-year free-agent deal and David, a two-year entry-level deal earlier in the week. Mattias Samuelsson, son of former New Haven Nighthawk and one time Ranger Kjell Samuelsson, has left Western Michigan (NCHC) for the Buffalo Sabres on a standard three year, two-way entry-level deal. Several Notre Dame (Big 10) players have signed deals like Callahan Burke (Colorado-AHL) and Colton Poolman (Calgary-NHL). The top school with the most signees is the Western Michigan Broncos (NCHC) with six, including the recently inked Rangers forward Austin Rueschhoff at 6’7 and 230 lbs. departing a year early on a two year, two-way entry-level deal. The other school with five signees is the Ferris State Bulldogs (WCHA), then with four are the University Vermont Catamounts (HE) and Michigan St. Spartans (Big 10) led by Patrick Khorodorenko who played one game with the Wolf Pack after signing before the season was suspended. In total, 58 Division I players have signed and 68 in total have signed pro deals so far. The Big 10 conference has 15 players, Hockey East has 14 signees and the WCHA and NCHC each have 10. Just one player has signed in Europe, in Teemu Pulkinnen Nebraska-Omaha (NCHC) with Jukerit (Finland-FEL) and there is just one grad transfer in Sean Dhooggee from University Wisconsin Badgers (Big 10) to Arizona State Sun Devils (NCAA Division-1 Independent). -Ryan Donald, an assistant coach with Yale University (ECACHL) has left to become head coach/GM of the expansion Cranbrook Bucks (BCHL) signing a four-year deal. He has been an assistant to head coach Keith Allain since 2014-15 and played four years for Yale. -The 10 finalists for the Mike Richter Award for the top college hockey goalie were announced including Spencer Knight (Darien/Avon Old Farms) of BC, unsigned Rangers draft pick senior Tyler Wall UMASS-Lowell (HE) and Jeremy Swayman, Maine (HE) who recently signed with the Boston Bruins. -The NCAA Division I/IIII Player of the Year is Norwich University Cadets (Northfield, VT) goalie Tom Aubruen (Chamonix, France). He finished with a 23-2-2 record and an obscene 0.77 GAA and a .967 save percentage in gaining, the Sid Watson Award. He was no academic slouch either with a 3.77 GPA in business management. His career playing numbers 65 games, a record of 50-8-5 and a .946 save percentage. He should get a training camp deal from some team in the NHL, AHL or ECHL. JUNIORS Very sadly, the Canadian Hockey League, the governing body for all three Canadian junior hockey leagues the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL formally canceled the playoffs and the 101st edition of the Memorial Cup, one of the great hockey treats in late spring. -The WHL has set its Bantam Draft for April 22nd and completed its first-ever US Prospects Draft on Wednesday, a two-round 44 player process of selecting prospects from the Western US. The only name of local interest is Riley Bassen, son of former NY Islander and Springfield Indian Bob Bassen, the current Director of Alumni Relations for the Dallas Stars who resides in Frisco, Texas.   EUROPE The KHL became the last hockey league to shut down as they canceled the rest of the Gagarin Cup playoffs at the quarterfinal round. This was necessary after two teams from outside Russia, Barys Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan and Jokerit Helsinki in Finland, because of their governmental restrictions they couldn’t host playoff games and travel restrictions prevented them from leaving their country. -The NHL announced this week that KHL free agents cannot be signed by NHL clubs till after May 1st. -One of two leagues to finish its tournament and crown a new champion was Turkey. The seven-team short season Turkish Super League (TSL) saw Buz Beykov SK of Istanbul end the five year run of Zeytinburnu SK as champion with a 4-2 championship-clinching win. Serkan Gumus, the first Turkish born non-import to win the scoring title tallied all four goals in the victory for Beykov. The Telford Tigers of the English Tier two National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) defeated the Peterborough Phantoms 8-3 to win the title with Brandon Whistle, nephew of former New Haven Nighthawk, Rob Whistle scoring a hat trick in the National Cup victory. In Serbia, they played just one game before the finals were canceled as Crvena Zvezda (Belgrade) won 4-2 over Vojvodina. -The Southern Hemisphere hockey season set to begin next month has been paused as well. The AIHL (Australian Ice Hockey League) has delayed the opening of its 30-game 2020 season that was slated to begin on April 18th. Neighboring nation New Zealand is still ready for its short season 16 game per team (five teams) NZIHL schedule and is holding firm on a May 15th start date, but are monitoring developments like the rest of the planet. The Southern Hemisphere is now entering its winter season and the possibility of a COVID-19 outbreak is expected from South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. -The IIHF has canceled the Worlds Championships scheduled to be held next month in Davos, Switzerland (Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States) and all the other world championships tournaments as well. Division I: Group A in Ljubljana, Slovenia (Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, and South Korea), Division I Group B to be held in Katowice, Poland (Estonia, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, and Ukraine ). Division II: Group A in Zagreb, Croatia (Australia, China, Croatia, Israel, Netherlands, and Spain) and Division II Group B in Reykyavik, Iceland (Belgium, Bulgaria,  Georgia, Iceland, Mexico, and New Zealand). Division III: Group A set for Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg (Luxembourg, North Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and United Arab Emirates-UAE). Then Division III Group B in Cape Town, South Africa (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Thailand) Lastly, Division IV in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and the Philippines) all were canceled. Read the full article

[iwantunique]

20+ best stocking stuffers for toddlers 2019

Oftentimes, best stocking stuffers for toddlers 2019 or to choose toddler presents are some of the most difficult tasks on your shopping list. What’s your type when you choose the presents for your tot, like funny, cheap, useful, educational, and expensive? Well, there are heaps of miniature gadgets that will amaze your child by seeing the brimmed stocking! But it is always fair to indulge at least some things that the receiver of the gift (whether it’s your parent, child, or might your cute dog) gets really surprised; feel enjoyed while receiving those presents; at the same time, it would be the icing on the cake if they’re useful too! To help you out in this thorough process of figuring out the suitable Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 for preschoolers this year, we have assembled some of the best products aptly suited for the best stocking stuffers for toddlers 2019. These stuffers include items right fro, quirky toys to gag gifts, the very useful gadgets, beautiful accessories, and so much more.  Here, you’ll find the best stocking stuffer toddlers ideas for your little cutie pie! And remember while adding the excitement taste under Christmas Tree, fill these stocking stuffers with something that spreads enchantment and joy! The list of these best stocking stuffers for toddlers 2019 will make Christmas morning or the annual holiday present list a very special one! We test, research, and recommend the best of the best products. So, glance further to buy something unique for your child. Best stocking stuffers for toddlers 2019 1.Turbo Race Car Twin Bed The Turbo Race Car Twin Bed from Delta Children! Designed to resemble a classic race car, fun details include a rear spoiler, a front grill and racing tires with chrome-colored rims. Made of durable molded plastic and decorated with cool decals, this sleek bed will kick any car-themed room into high gear for years to come. The high sides of the race car act as secure guardrails and allow kids of all ages to easily enter and exit the bed. Perfect for any child who dreams of racing cars.

Promising review: " I bought this bed for my 3-year-old son. He loves cars and we were trying to motivate him to stay in his own bed. He loves his own bed and I have fallen back in love with my own bed."--Doognik Get it from Amazon for $252.89 2. Warmtree $100 Dollars Bill Funny Money Napkin This funny napkin is soft and comfortable,it looks and feels like real money, perfect for themed parties and interesting games.

Promising review: " Very happy with my purchase! Larger size than expected!"--Ashley Mcneil Get it from Amazon for $10.99 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 3. Children's Night Lights Touch Sensor Vibration Birdcage Chargeable Hand-held Lamp Made of ABS and PC+TPU,Food-grade premium quality,safe and non-toxic materials ;High emulation lawn cute round animal in clear cap glowing soft light (birdcage shape).Build in 700 mAh battery,Rechargeable and energy-saving with an USB line(1200mm) Charging time:5h, Battery life:15h;USB charge it by your computer or power bank, etc.Base switches with 3 modes :ON / OFF / VIBRATION.VIBRATION: three status of middle-bright, high-bright, turn off , lights will cycle when your hands touch the cage.

Promising review: " My daughter loves it. It is a great night light."--Lenka Hrebickova Get it from Amazon for $19.99 4. Totoro Anime LED Night Light Kid's Character Lamp USB Charge, Desk Night Table Reading Lamp Whimsical lamp in the shape of Totoro holding an umbrella. Totoro is a popular Japanese animation character, loved by adults as well as children. Soft light emanating from Totoro's stomach or his umbrella are perfect as a nightlight. Charges conveniently with USB, making the lamp useful for outdoor camping and travel. Charging Time: approx. 2~3 hours. Light lasts about 8~15 hours.

Promising review: " Great little lamp. Super bright! Recharges with USB cable (included). Light comes out his belly or from the umbrella. Again both are fairly bright. It comes in a box and you snap the umbrella into place. The box I received also advertised the fan variant, so it might confuse someone if you're giving this as a gift. Overall my 12 year old daughter loves it. Very good resemblance to the beloved Totoro from his classic film."--James Wyatt Get it from Amazon for $27.00 5. My Neighbor Totoro Sleeping Bag Sofa Bed Twin Bed Double Bed Mattress for Kids Bed sack: 100% Polyester *Inner padding: 80% Polyester, 20% Cotton *Overall Size: 230CM * 175CM (90” * 69”) *New Weight: 13KG *Tail Size: 80CM (31”)

Promising review: " I Absolutely Love this. This one from this seller is better than I expected. My daughter absolutely loves it. Absolutely NOT made cheaply. Now my other daughter wants to buy one for my granddaughter. It's huge and comfy and no need to add more stuffing although we thought we were gonna have to with some reviews. Also it has a zipper if you do wanna add stuffing or remove it to clean it. Absolutely 100 % Completely Satisfied and A Very Happy Birthday Girl who turned 10! "--Sonja Schlegel Get it from Amazon for $273.64 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 6. R/C Award Winning Tracer Racers High-Speed Remote Control Infinity Loop Track Set with Two Cars for Dual Racing Racing cars feature undercarriage lights that not only make these cars look almost like they are hovering rather than rolling - the lights also leave glowing streaks in their wake showing how the racers are "burning" up the track takes your racing to the next level with Tracer Racers High-Speed Remote Control Glow in the Dark Racing. Tracer Racer racing cars feature undercarriage lights that not only make these cars look almost like they are hovering rather than rolling - the lights also leave glowing streaks in their wake showing how the racers are "burning" up the track!

Promising review : " very good investment - not cheap, but will be used for many, many hours by my grandson and myself - so well worth the price - can see us buying more track pieces to create different designs - lots of fun to race, simple to charge - good quality product, did have an issue with one car when opened, called company and got immediate response - they sent new product out same day of call and I got it in 2 days - impressive - grandson loves hot wheel and RC cars - this is perfect for him - also light up track is very good - extra bonus!"--Wayne Get it from Amazon for $119.99 7. Hamburger Junior Beanbag Chair Fresh off the WOW! grill, The Double Stack beanbag is hot and ready! Warning: the delicious appearance of this superbly soft beanbag may cause slight drooling. Soft and cushy construction that lends a touch of whimsy for any area and is certainly a fun conversation piece. Digital printed fabric treatment projects real life-like appearance. Wow! Works bean bag unique chairs will wow you! Product Materials: Polyester, High-grade EPS Bead.

Promising review: " Bought it for my sons 9th birthday. It was a big hit! the chair is the perfect size and the print image is great. The only thing i didn't love is that the "beans" are really big. I am buy smaller filler to replace it."--TLC Get it from Amazon for $38.99 8. 95 Foot Zip Line Kit with Stainless Steel Spring Brake and Seat Our zip line used the 5.3 Foot Stainless Steel Spring Brake instead of the bungee cord braking system. All customers who have purchased our zip line before, if there is any problem with bungee cord braking system, please Contact us, we will help you replace the new Stainless Steel Spring Brake for free! This zip line meets the international quality standards (RoHS & CE) and can easily hold up to 250 lbs. Are you looking for a wonderful outdoor activity or a birthday gift that will help you bond with your kids and enjoy unforgettable moments? Look no further. Now you can spend endless hours of backyard fun with your children. Your backyard will instantly become a stunning amusement park, and you will become the neighbourhood’s coolest parent!

Promising review: " We LOVE this zip line! We were looking for something to draw our screen magnet youngest child outside with increased frequency. This fits the bill!! Installation was definitely a two-person job, just as we expected. It took us a part of a morning to put it up. Tightening it was a little tricky and required some trial and error on our part, but I'd call that operator error related to inexperience, not a flaw in the kit. We have installed a secondary brake just to add a back-up for safety. It's only been up for about five days but I bet we've made 500 trips down the line already. We have six children with an eighteen year age spread between them. All six have enjoyed multiple trips down the line along with their friends."--Dayna Strand Get it form Amazon for $161.27 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 9. Giant Inflatable Ride-On Banana Float Huge over-sized inflatable banana ride-on float enjoyed by kids and adults alike for a great pool experience. Use as a lounger or for just any fun pool activities. Made of durable heavy duty PVC and measures 59 inches long. Not recommended for kids under 6 years old and children should have adult supervision.

Promising review: " I got this as a gift for my friend, and didn't realize that it's likely meant for kids, so can't really handle adult weight as well. It made such a fun floatie to even try to get on top of the thing! It's basically the water version of the mechanical bull."--Mia Get it from Amazon for $16.99 10. Baby Kids Play Mat Foldable Soft and Washable Toys Storage Organizer Children Play Rugs with 59 inches Large Diameter Winthome toy storage bag can store the toys in order, no longer need to find toys everywhere. It is very Simple, Portable and Sturdy. Ideal solution for leaning up small toys like trains, cars, dolls, stuffed animals and more. Mummy's good friend. Use this to make sure your child is having fun without worrying about the mess.You can also bring it with you while you are outdoors, making sure your child is safer and more comfortable when playing.

Promising review: " Purchased this mat for our 7 month old daughter and it's absolutely perfect! Easy to sinch up and move into another room. Just enough padding to keep her comfortable on our hardwood floors. I was nervous to wash it but no change to the quality of the mat after washing it. It's big but not too big. Big Brother can easily join her for play and there's room for everyone. Highly recommend."--EmmyB Get it from Amazon for $29.99 11. Baby Play mat Kid's Puzzle Exercise Play Mat for Floor Crawl mat for Baby with XPE Foam Thicking 0.8in This baby mat is easy to Splice as puzzle and take it out.You can optionally splice baby play mat baby mat play mat playmat extra large foam play mat according to your preference. Depending on the size of the space, different shapesbaby play mat, baby mat,play mat,playmat extra large foam play mat. The play mat is big and thickening 0.8 inches and Changeable Size so easily .baby folding mat play mat extra large foam play mat play mat large foam baby crawl mat playmat foam folding play mat baby foam mat folding baby play mat foam play mat for baby folding mat for baby foam baby play mat .

Promising review: " I wish I come across this baby mat sooner... My daughter is almost 2 and the mat is perfect to put at Grandma's. She goes there a few days a week and Grandma likes that it is foldable so it can be put away when it's not in used and depending what toys they put out, Grandma can adjust the playmat accordingly. The material is good, the prints are cute, I cleaned it a few times with disinfectant wipes, easy to clean, no colors were wiped off. This mat can be used for tummy time, crawlers, and of course toddlers, I really like the foldable design."--Doleman Get it from Amazon for $49.99 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 12. Pool Floats for Kids - Llama Pool Float, Baby Floaties for Toddlers and Kids Baby water float and inflatable pool float features a unique trendy design for 2019 - only available from USA Toyz; these llama pool inflatables introduce little ones to these gentle South American animals. Let kids have fun splashing around with these swimming pool floats; this floaty for baby features 2 leg openings in the swimming ring for toddlers to sit safely, and should be used responsibly with adult supervision.

Promising review: " I loved this floaty. I loved that it is a cool llama, its actually fun to choose different animals / shapes every year, I had just become tired of the same old Aligator or Shark or even those flamingos that were popular the last couple of years. Llamas are cool, my kids got a huge kick out of it, and when their friends come over they also love it. It seems very sturdy, after a couple weeks and I don't know how many kids using it, it is still in tact as good as ever. The material seems thick and high quality. Nice design. I also think it is very reasonably priced for its size. I have seen floatys in the store for upwards of $50, so this was a great deal."--Julie S. Get it from Amazon for $15.99 13. Light Up Football : Glow in The Dark LED Ball Composite leather footballs and textured lace provides exceptional grip and control especially with Football Gloves, we’re talking solid spirals for days during your American football games. Butyl bladder locks in air for optimal pressure and shape retention for a consistent throwing during your football games. USES: Beach football, night-time football, recreational football games, playing in the pool, park, ootball practice.

Promising review : " Very cute- my son,Chance, will be thrilled when he gets it! "--SallySue Get it from Amazon for $24.99 14. Capture the Flag REDUX: The Original Glow-in-The-Dark Outdoor Game for Birthday  It's the classic game of stealth, speed and strategy that people have enjoyed for over 90 years – now adapted for today's generation using glow-in-the-dark lights! It includes battery powered game pieces for jail markers, territory lights, light-up wristbands and glowing crystals that serve as each team's flag. With a fresh look and the added dynamic of low-light game play, this activity inspires people of all ages to put down their phones and do something active together. Learning how to play is easy. Your objective is to enter the other team’s territory, steal their Orb (aka “flag”) and get it back to your home side without getting tagged. Tagged players go to “jail” and must remain there until a teammate reaches them without getting tagged.

Promising review: " I am a youth minister and this game was used on our Fall 2016 Retreat. Was a huge hit! A couple lights went out and I emailed them about it a few months after and they sent new parts without any hassle. Extremely good customer service and a great product. Well worth it for any size group. My group is bigger than what this game gives arm bands for so we use cheap glow stick bracelets for extra team identifying."--Mason Cothren Get it from Amazon for $59.90 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 15. Anime Hooded Cloak Flannel Cape Hoodies for Sleep Nap Critter Blankets 100% brand new & high quality.Note:The snaps that connect the sleeves are the same which style just like the pictures.FUNCTIONAL:The versatility of this plush blanket allows to be a perfect camping, traveling, napping, playing, sleeping and reading companion.COMFORTABLE:Very soft and comfortable flannel,it can keep you warm in the winter or sleep under an air conditioning in office.OCCASION:You can use it as cosplay cloak,role play,Halloween,Christmas,all kinds of parties or daily wear.One Size:90*160cm(35.43*62.99inch).Package: a cloak.

Promising review: " I love it! It's super soft, the quality is way more than expected. I am just worried about the whiskers.... It might fall in the washing machine. And It should have a bigger version! So it could cover my whole body. SO cute!"--Bianca Get it from Amazon for $28.99 16. Glow Battle: A Light up Sword and Ninja Game  Family, friends and neighbors play organized sword fighting games using (harmless!) glowing foam weapons. Choose from 10 different ways to play or create your own! The perfect interactive game for team building, icebreakers and developing strategy for large and small groups. Get youth off their screens using the 28 glowing game pieces included in this kit. Make exercise fun as boys and girls run, swing and dodge to win.

Promising review: " This is a really fun product for the family. The glow bracelets and swords stay lit for a long time. I love that the batteries are replaceable. I would recommend that you play outside since its an active game. The ONLY thing I didnt like is that at the end of the battle need swords is plastic and can hurt someones face, you know if you're getting crazy, like kids do! We use safety glasses as always with any sport. I didn't take pics because we are having too much fun. Also, fun for adults in the forests. Not even kidding."--crystal knigge Get it from Amazon for $49.90 17. Kids Kick Scooter w/ 3 Wheel Deck, Handle Bar Grips, Sit-or-Stand Removable Folding Seat Adventurous tots gain a smooth-gliding companion with this cool convertible Kick Scooter from Modera Kids. Designed to adjust as kids grow up and fine-tune their motor skills, the three wheeler features a foldable/removable seat, adjustable easy-grip handlebars, built-in back brake, extra wide anti-slip deck, front basket for toys, and an additional platform where toddlers can rest both feet while sitting.Like a balance bike, the scooter’s sturdy design and lean-to-turn wheels support little ones as they hone their coordination and control. Watch as they rip up the pavement and gain confidence on the road to adolescence! Parents also save a bundle with a toy that conveniently collapses and converts as kids get older. So give a gift that actually grows with them—add a sit-or-stand Kick Scooter to your cart today!

Promising review: " This is a awesome little scooter. My so t had played with it everyday since it arrived. Quality built and. It cheap as I was afraid it may have been. I’m super impressed."--J Guthrie Get it from Amazon for $49.99 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 18. Colored Clip in Hair Extensions 20 inch Rainbow Heat-Resistant Straight Highlight Hairpieces Cospaly Fashion Party Christmas Gift For Kids Girls 12 Color in 24 pcs Colored hair extension are affordable ,lightweight,and easy to apply,these color extension snap into your hair and can be taken out in a matter of seconds.High quality synthetic fiber,DIY your look you want ,and instant highlight without any chemical dye to damage your hair ,it is a perfect accessory for special occasions which can make you stand out from the crowed.Color:Bright red, lilac purple, pink, yellow, orange yellow, sapphire blue, fruity green, rose red, beige, violet, purple, vanilla green.

Promising review: " Sometimes I want to dye my hair a crazy color but I realize it would be expensive because my hair is long and dark. So I got this extensions pack to just try out colors. That way I have the fun hair colors without the commitment. It’s a good value for the amount of extensions that come in the pack. The clips are easy to put on and there are a lot of color options. I had more than enough colors so I gave some to my 6yr old niece and she had a lot of fun trying on the different hair colors."--Abbie Get it from Amazon for $14.99 19. Giant Beach Ball 6 ft Soccer Ball Diameter Extra Large Inflatable Beach Ball Pool Toy Jumbo Beach Ball 6 Feet Tall Beach Ball Inflatable Soccerball 12FT Pole-to-Pole Inflatable Beach Ball Pool Party BallsIntroduction:A huge size version of a classic sports ball! Kids and adults will have a blast chasing, kicking, and watching the ball soar. Add a unique touch of fun to any party, cookout, or beach day!Item Specification&Features:Material：Made of thick, durable 30mil vinyl with reinforced seamsSize: 6 Feet Tall/12FT from pole-to-poleLarge, secure airtight valve keeps air in and won't tear or detach from the vinylNew rapid valve allows for the fastest inflation and deflation compared to traditional valvesFun eye catching colors inspired by the classic beachball design, great for adults and kids of all agesThis is a great ball for kicking, punching, throwing, and climbing on top of .

Promising review : " This item is the size and style I expected when ordered. It arrived in the time frame that was given. It inflates and deflates great, no holes. I would order this again"--Lyndsi Donner Get it from Amazon for $49.99 20.Remote Control Car Boat Truck 4WD 6CH 2.4Ghz Land Water 2 in 1 RC Toy 360 Degree Spins and Flips- This is a multi-functional stunt rc car, unique design let it easy to complete 360 degree spins around, best gift for boy and girls.Waterproof Design- Equipped with waterproof rubber ring to protect inner accessory of the car which makes it possible to even drive on the water, amazing fun land & water rc toys.

Promising review: " I bought 2 of these are they were way more fun than I anticipated. My 5 year old daughter and I were driving them in and out of the surf for a good 20 minutes. They're not super fast, which was perfect. They're quick enough to be fun, but not so fast that my kids couldn't control it. I highly recommend this toy. I bought spare batteries too (all blue). and used my spare batteries first and they lasted over 20 min of near continuous use. Next I put in the batteries that came with them (one blue and one green). The blue one performed the same, but the green battery died after 5 minutes. I think I got a bad one since I charged again over night and it died quickly the next day."--Rory Get it from Amazon for $37.98 21. Water Balloon Launcher Water Balloons Slingshot Cannon 3 Persona Balloon Launcher 250 Yard Wheter you're having a party or looking for a wet and wild sort of battle, Whizbuilders balloon slingshot has you covered. Out water balloon launcher is the perfect choice for anyone that wants to rain down balloon filled with water on their friends and family to enjoy the surprise look on their faces. This 3 persons water balloon sling is designed to launch balloons further and faster. Our 3-person water balloon launcher can shoot a balloon up to 250 yards to surprise friends and family at backyard parties, pools and more.

Promising review: " This is exactly what we expected. So much fun, for adults and kids. With an adult on either side, and an adult pulling the sling shot - we were able to launch a water balloon from one backyard, across the street, and into another backyard. Totally worth it!! "-- Kristen Get it from Amazon for $16.97 Best Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers 2019 Read the full article

[krsyarchive]

Evidence, you

"The final, crucial piece of evidence...you."

-

Reasons to fall:

1. Darkness

" Im.."

"What is it? "

" Kinda thinking about change this 'broken white' wall's colour-"

"That's good.."

" I'm gonna paint this wall with black-"

" Wait, what? Don't be ridiculous no one will come here at night because of the dark.."

" Well, haha.. Are you afraid with the darkness?"

" Not really.."

" Liar~"

" I'm not. But may I just ask why are you really love those dark colors?"

" Then I'll just ask you back before I answer that. What do you think about 'black'? Let's forget about navy or grey because everyone usually like that."

" People usually think that they describe the darkness, or maybe sadness(?)"

" Right, that was people thought. But, I don't think the same. It's a serenity for me."

" I see.. So that was your reason, huh?"

" Yes. So if I change this room colour will you-"

" No."

" Ok nevermind forget that I'm just kidding"

2. Photography

" Why is this so confusing..."

" What's wrong?"

" I'm getting confused with this camera, why is this so hard to change the settings I don't get it."

" Which part?"

" The results make you looks brighter-"

" Are you trying to say that I'm too 'dark'?"

" Yes hehe ok no I'm kidding but you look so pale here"

" Let me see that and stop make me curious- wow yeah I'm too pale".

" How to change that? There are too many buttons I'm confused."

" Come here I'll show you. There's nothing wrong with the exposure, you just have to change the ISO. Here's the button.. So I'll let you try it, here..."

" You're right.. Thanks"

" I learned about camera when I was in the high school. I often borrowed my friends' camera, and then asked how to set them.."

" Hmm.. Ok got it."

" You said you want to be a photographer. Then you should have to learn a lot about how to set camera. Don't give up! I'll help you later."

3. Nyctophilia

" Here let me take a picture of you."

" Don't, I'm not im the mood, really.. Why don't you take a pict of Isola instead?"

" Hmm you know? I often went here at 10pm.."

" Going here? At night? Wow, I'm surprised that you didn't afraid.."

" I told you earlier I'm not afraid of darkness.. Why should I? Besides, I really enjoyed the night view of Isola.. It's so beautiful.. You should try it sometimes."

" I will, and what were you doin'?"

" Not much. Just read my books & drank a cup of coffee, and layin' outhere to see the sky.."

" I see.. Anyway, thank you for you recommendation.. I'll try it maybe if I have a chance.."

" Anytime, I'll promise you won't regret it".

4. Casing

" Im, I wanna ask you something".

" Go on.. What was that?"

" Have you bought something online?"

" I have, and why is that?"

" Um, how to?"

" ....buy something online?"

" Y-yeah.."

" Do you want something?"

" I want to buy a phone case like yours."

" Hm? Like mine? Oh....black, isn't it?"

" Hehe..."

" Do you think I want to have a same phone case with you?"

" Hm, no?"

" Exactly."

" Ok nevermind but please help me find another black phone case, will youuuu?"

" Why me?"

" Psssh I don't know how to buy something from an online shop and I don't know how Sh*pee works. Besides, I heard it's more cheaper if we bought it online. Can you show me?"

" Are you sure you didn't know about that?"

" I am... Please help me."

" Fine.. What's your phone type?"

" Xiaomi, Redmi Note 5A.. Ah yes, without fingerprint."

" Ok what about this?"

" No.."

" this one?"

" Hm no?"

" This one?"

" Too expensive please can you find another cheaper case? I trust you a lot."

" I am. Just wait till you saw this..... How about this one?"

" Oh sure.. I like this one."

" Okay.. I will bought a clear case too, so we can share the shipping fee together."

" Agree."

" Do you want me to use your address? Or mine?"

" Mine was fine."

" Ok.."

" So how long the shipment is?"

" About 3-4 days...usually."

" 3-4 days? Ok fine."

Day 1

" Im, why is the packages isn't arrived yet?

" I said it takes time around 3-4 days, and this is the first day so be patient."

" Ok."

Day 2

" Im, why is the packages isn't arrived yet?"

" This is the 2nd day and still on it way, calm down."

" Ok."

Day 3

" Im, why is the packages isn't arrived yet? This is the 3rd day, you say it."

" Nah, maybe tomorrow."

" Ah, I see. Ok"

Day 4

" Im, I want to talk with you after your division's briefing."

" Why? Is there anything you need?"

" Just finish it quickly-"

" If you asked me about your packages can you-"

" Hehe actually it was arrived last night."

" Oh, so how was it?"

" I like it very much! See?"

" That black phone case suits well with you."

" Yeah, and this is yours."

" Alright.. It's easy to buy something in online shop. But you have to check their shop review before buy something. Got it?"

" I will remember that."

5. Low contrast, High Exposure

" Im, can you please change the tone of your edit? It makes me more ugly-"

" Hehe finally you realized it."

" But it's too dark on me.. I took a bath before this photoshoot so please make it visible."

" With?"

" The brightness, Im........"

" Fine.."

" Listen, you just need to low its contrast and make the brightness higher. See? It looks like you use a 'soft filter' presets on this pic."

" Ah you're right. Isn't this edits technique looks like the 05 presets on VSCO?"

" I don't know... But I usually edit my pics like that."

" I see.. Thank you so much, Faw!"

6. Physics

" Why did you choose Physics, Faw?"

" Because I love it. And why did you choose Arabic?"

" It's my parents choice.."

" Oh, I thought you're the only one who choose your study."

" I let my parents choose too."

" Actually, I didn't want to be here. I really want to be a part of ITB. But, yeah-"

" Fate?"

" Yeah, something like that. But, I'm not going to regret it.."

" I see.. I feel the same. Actually, I have an interest to Chemistry, but yeah I'm not good at Physics and Math.."

" But, Chemistry is more difficult than physics"

" No, I think physics is more difficult."

" Ok what about biology?"

" I'm weak at memorizing something"

" Same here."

" Why are you so tall anyway?"

" I don't know either.. Maybe it's just my mom.."

" Your mom?"

" Maybe she eats bamboo when she's pregnant(?). Hehe I'm just kidding, because I don't know."

" Me either..."

7. K-POP

" Im, do you know this song?"

" iKON's Love Scenario?"

" True!!"

" DO YOU LIKE KPOP?"

" Hehe but I'm not a fans. I just love their song. Do you know about Super Junior?"

" Mr. Simple?"

" Yes, but my fav's Superman.."

" But, actually I'm STILL speechless because of this.."

" Hahahaha, you know? I have my old kpop song's folder. Oh, do you know this song?"

" It's SNSD's.. The boys, right?"

" How about this?"

" It's Big Bang's.. Monster."

" And this?"

" Wow, it's Trouble Maker's! Wait, DON'T TELL ME YOU SAW THEIR MV TOO PLEASE BE HONEST."

" HEHE BUT JUST ONCE I SWEAR!!"

" I DIDN'T TRUST YOU."

" Oh come on.. Hey, I have to show you something."

" What is it? WAIT, IS THAT YOU?"

" Y-yeah, the bald one."

" Did you just- did you join the dance club?"

" I- I did, in the past. When I was in the mid school."

" Seriously, you make speechless twice in a row."

" Surprised, aren't you?"

" Kinda.."

" Please just keep it secret I am shy."

" Anyway, you should hear BTS' songs. It's good, really.. You'll like it.."

" Ah I've heard about BTS before.. So maybe I'll download their song later.."

8. Patience

" Im, can I talk to you now?"

" Sure.."

" Where have you been? It's been a while since you didn't come to our secretariat. Why is that? Do you have any problems?"

Actually, I'm just dissapointed with all of them but-

" I'm alright.. There's no need to be worried."

" Are you sure?"

" I will talk about this later."

" Hm? Why didn't you just say it here?"

" It can't.. I have to tell you directly.."

" So can you just come-"

" No."

" Okay, let's meet again, later?"

" Yeah, okay..."

" See ya!"

9. Last scene, white rose

" Isn't today your graduation, Faw?"

" Um- yeah.. Will you come?"

" I will.. So when you'll be free?"

" Maybe after the ceremony.."

" I have to go to the Gymnasium or the-"

" Please just go to FPMIPA instead.."

" Okay, I'll call you later."

14.49 PM, FPMIPA

" Where are you?"

" In front of the building"

" Where?"

" Turn around!"

" Oh!"

" Happy graduation.."

" Thank you"

"......"

"......"

" So, you really graduated now."

" I am.. Why is that?"

" YAH WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME SO SOON?!"

" Hahaha, am I not be able to graduate?"

" It's not like that but, finally.. Baraakallahu fii Ilmi.."

" Thank you."

" Let's take a pic"

" Sure, but can you send it to me later?"

" I will!"

" Thank you, Im.. Please, forgive me. So sorry, I can't protect you from them earlier.. I'm sorry."

" Nevermind, just forget that problem. I should apologize too.. So sorry, I didn't contribute to you as much as I can do. I'm sorry too, I didn't do my best.. I didn't help you a lot.."

" It's okay.. Thank you for being my partner."

" I should say the same things to you.."

10. You, the crucial piece of evidence.

Bandung,

Starts from May 2017 till February 2019.