#but its not like rick and morty or south park where there are little to no consequences for shitty behavior. the consequences are very real

[2024skin]

I absolutely love bojack horseman I love that Diane and bojack literally are the same except Diane could never get as low as bojack because bojack is a man and has a power over other people (particularly over women) that Diane has never had so even though they are both damaged in a similar way Diane isn't a manipulative sex pest and that's literally the biggest difference between failwomen and failmen. that's real life

[brunhiddensmusings]

the irony i explain to people with stuff like this and ‘adult animation’ that somehow ‘adult animation’ like rick and morty or south park is mostly enthusiastic about booze, shitting your pants, ‘jokes’ about sex that exist only to be crass and offensive, political stances that anyone who cares is dumb and wrong, open misinformation up to and including spreading racist propaganda, and violence for reasons either absent or stupid where its usually not even funny or well done and the contrast that a show -specifically for kids- like bluey, my little pony, she-ra, kipo, or the like actually tackles things like how its hard to trust after youve been betrayed, that you may feel bad when someone you care about moves on with their life but you need to understand whats good for them may make you sad, or that people other then you are living lives every bit as complex and sometimes even more meaningful then yours so, yeah, weve understood ‘adult/mature’ has no meaning anymore and are just trying to figure out how to put it into words that dont make us sound like were proud of daydrinking

The real reason millenials say "Adulting" is that that if you say something is "for adult reasons" or "grown up reasons" we've been trained to associate that with sex and shit when we just wanna say, be vague about our chore habits

[fizzbot]

I L O V E U (For the ask game :3333)

AWWW thats cute :33333 but of caurse!!!!! <333 love u too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fandom ask game og post here!

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? uhh. a couple, probably?? but i cant think of any off the top of my head :PP most of the ones that i can think of ALSO come from things like. me growing up. like, south park?? i grew out of that one HARD, but also seeing all the incredibly weird/bad takes on tumblr really sped up the process LOL. other ones i have never been into but their fandom just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. like, welcome home?? yikes

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.) uhhhhhh......okay.........ill say charlie. as much as i dont really like her character, i will say. she makes up for it by how well her energy bounces off others. even though im basically never interested in her by itself, its almost HARD to come up with a dynamic with her that ISNT interesting in some way!!! one of my favorite little pasttimes is looking up rarepair edits/art, and even if none of them are ROMANTICALLY compelling to me, its really fun to imagine what charlie would be like with basically anyone!!!!!

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of? LOVE this question!!!!! LMAO one of them immediately jumped to mind, but i decided that wasnt "random" enough so i hit shuffle on my music playlist and. it landed on that song, anyway. so this isnt hellaverse related, but my (current) favorite song of all time is 'sin eater' by penelope scott!!! i associate it with basically the entire smith family from rick and morty, esp rick prime :PPP thats not hellaverse related though sooooooo skdfhsjkfd 'twist the knife' by that handsome devil is THE MOST vox/radiosilence coded song ever. like come on

V - Which character do you relate to most? like. ever? out of all characters ever made? not that is matters because the answer is (unfortunately) blitz.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? LOL we basically dont do anything else <33333333333 the stupid bit of lore we came up with of "the deadly sins went on a roadtrip and mammon let (baby) charlie wander into the woods of wrath where she got lost for 3 hours" gets me literally every single time. also just. madam. they are insane

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. OH FUCK YES. umm. im gonna combine all of the hellaverse here to say "striker" as my number 1 over all. hes my favorite because he is the only one in his show that has ANY SENSE. plus his character design is good, his voice acting is great (i miss you norman reedus) i cant imagine not liking him the most. thats my snake boy. extra points for being so hot. umm.......rick and morty came to mind next, again, bc thats what we were into last. birddaughter is my fave character in that one :) she has.....what, 20 seconds of screentime?? and yet she is perfect. shes emo, shes got the CUTEST voice, i am so goddamn obesessed with herr!!!!!! i need to see her more NOWWWWWW SEASON 8 OF RNM PLEASSSEEE. annddd the last character, a classic, im sure you know who im gonna say, is papierwaite from sam and max!!!!! before the hellaverse i wouldve said he was the guy i related to the most, he takes easy second place. i love him to death, he FASCINATES me. skunkape release the remaster for devils playhouse PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU

[vrisrezis]

Hello can i request a matchup for south park? First of all i have short wavy/curly dark brown hair with curtain bangs and brown eyes, tanned skin but not too tanned. I am 5'2 and wear contact lenses. I generally hate typing but i love calling with my friends if im really comfortable with them. I like playing videogames like league of legends, ghostrunner, assassins creed. And i sometimes play vrchat with friends. Im sometimes optimistic and is really into quotes sooo i hope im good at communicating. From what my friends say i can be sassy alot but most of the time its sarcastical well thats what they think. Anyways i play violin in an orchestra im really pro at it. I have two rats and an annoying little sister and a nice mom. My rats are like my children i love them so much and use msot of my money on them. I also generally like kid toys. I like slime a lot. Kid toys are fun to open and sometimes i play barbie with my figures. hehe. I like trolling a lot and pretending to be people. Although just because i seem like i have a normal life i have some cons. I suffer from severe depression & social anxiety + some attention problems. I struggle giving someone attention and listening to a person. Usually people can get mad or sad when i dont listen to them or daydream. I can often forget easily what people tell me due to not being concentrated at it. I also cant listen to someone without moving my hands like cracking them or moving a part of my body. I also usually can ignore someone easily without realising it. I also struggle communicating or socializing with peopple due to my social anxiety :) I got friends and i really open a lot to them but never my problems or anything! I dont wanna be annoying to them LOL. I go to psychology every week. I also go to a place once a month where u meet other people that also got some problems like you! Most of the time i go there so i dont stay in my room and so i can practice communicating with people. dayum bruh i got too emotional writing that. ANYWAYS i get connected to animals REALLY REALLY FAST. You literally cant take me to a pet store and let me look at them or pet them i will love them too fast and start crying for not getting them. I also get attached to people really quickly. I love music A LOT. I like dancepop and love dancing. I also like dressing up pretending im a model and take pictures lol. I like taking photos of beautiful stuff that i see in the streets or city and even nature. I love going camping and i also really like going on vacations. Sleeping is also something i do a lot!! Sometimes when i just wanna go away from everything i tend to go sleep to dream and do stuff in my dreams instead :). Im also a "witch" not really a witch but i tend to do tarot and witchcraft. Ive been studying for it about 3 years so id say im average at it. I also do subliminales and have also been doing it for 3 years! I used to do commissions and get a lot of money from it. I have a part time job at a restauraunt. I try to get as much as money for my rats and myself. :). I have to pay everything for my rats on my own so i need a job for that lol. My fav series are skins, rick n morty, bojack horseman and south park. I also have a smoking addiction im trying to get over :)) but i really think thats it LOL

Hello fellow bojack horseman enjoyer

I ship you with ..

Stan ! !

He would of course enjoy gaming with you, and video chatting if your comfortable. Stan also has a habit of being sarcastic, even without meaning to, so you guys can be sarcastic with eachother a lot. He thinks it’s cool you can play violin and he thinks the amount of care you put into your rats is sweet. He’s a sucker for animals, so this is a given. He kinda shrugs off your love for more childish things, not caring too much but also teases you about it. He totally trolls people online with you, but he doesn’t go too far with it like you might. He doesn’t care that you’re bad at listening too much, since he’s not much of a talker. He has a hard time too sometimes, he usually can just take you back to reality whenever you’re having that issue and he’s quick to realize what’s going on too. He tries to get you to open up more about your problems but understands if you don’t. He can relate to you on feeling attached to animals easily, not so much people though. He can’t say he shares your love for dancepop, but he does enjoy dancing with you regardless.

[adultswim2021]

The Brak Show #24: “Enter the Hump” | November 2, 2003 - 11:30 PM | S03E05

Here’s one I’d put in the good column. In Enter the Hump, Brak’s dad gets bit by a radioactive camel as well as some radioactive bats, causing Brak’s dad to sprout a hump, bray like a camel (which involves facial shape-shifting), and also be able to hang upside down from the ceiling.

I think this one is pretty good, actually. There are a few memorable scenes, including a lengthy and hilarious cameo from Space Ghost who reveals that he’s been holed up in Brak’s basement. There’s a great bit here where Brak calls him George and not Space Ghost. Another great scene involves Thundercleese showing up to laugh at Dad. It all adds up to a good time. Man, The Brak Show would be considered a good show if you just deleted half the episodes. The bad half, I mean. When the series is over I may have to make a list of the good ones. It’s a keeper, mate!

MAIL BAG

Is there anything on TV right now worth even the slightest bit of shit? I feel like I've been just watching youtube and old shit for the past 5 years and its driving me bonkers.

Buddy... I’ve got no FUCKING idea. I am so mired in watching old movies and rewatching old shows that I’ve lost my status as the guy to ask this question. Did you not ever know that I used to be that kind of guy? Well, I was. I am going to set a timer for five minutes and I’m going to list all the shows I’m aware of that are actual television shows that I think are WORTH WATCHING. Not even favorites! HERE WE GO:

Rick and Morty

is It’s Always Sunny still on

Joe Pera

I heard Beavis and Butt-head is coming back.

The HBO Looney Tunes

was that Johnny Ryan show he did for Nickelodeon good? still on?

heard good things about Atlanta. Don’t know what it is

Oh there’s a show I think on hulu called like Lodge 49 or something. My wife loves it. Seems good!

Hey South Park! that’s still on right?

Smiling Friends. Is that what it’s called? It’s on Adult Swim

WILD ON E!

pathetic showing but what are you going to do? I’ve lost touch! I’m a hasbeen!

Sorry if I'm uneducated, but what's SNL?

Suck Nuts, LADY! (we are married). the parenthetical is part of it, because Lorne believes in traditional marriage. Traditional marriage! What a fairy’s tale! 

I never heard Tom Scharpling's radio show but I know him from podcasts and stuff. Pretty unassuming but funny guy. He has a book coming out. Did you read it? Would you recommend it.

It’s a national best seller, you gotta respect that. The book is good I read it in very close to one sitting. It was NICE

Sorry, it turns out I skipped a paragraph at the end where you mentioned and recommended Tom Scharpling's book. And while I'm not one for squealing myself it seems like it is a glowing rec. Wow. I simply don't have anything more to say. Thank you!

You are welcome and I’d like to hear that squeal from ya real soon. Oh, make sure you buy it using this link! I’ll get a little percentage of the sale if you do. Thanks.

What if someone said "say hello to my little friend" and it was Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force! How delightful.

That guy is all smiles and I for sure would be too. Thanks.

[a-little-ray-of-fantasy]

To be honest, I am a little bothered... I dont want to be mean or rude and bring this up in the nicest way possible but like, why do you like hazbin hotel so much? I dont know much about it other than there are dumptrucks of discourse about how it is really bad and harmfull... and um, I followed you for a long while and adore you so much, but whenever you reblog it it brings me great big anxiety- but i want to trust you...

why /this/ show? do you know its seen as super bad?

Um.. man i dont know why im sending this ask, its bugged me alot for a while and im too shy to ask outright so anon i go haha ^^'

Please know im not trying to stir up anything i swear.. I still think you are lovely and wonderful to see on my dash! Im so sorry!

No problem at all, anon! ^_^

Now, it's kinda surpring for me too; normally, adult shows are not my cup of tea: shows like Family Guy or South Park, I've often steered away from, since I'm not a huge fan of crass humor and curse words. I've heard good things about Rick and Morty and Bojack Horseman, and I see Final Space as one of the best adult shows around, but still, adult shows are not the first thing I'd watch.

First time I've seen Hazbin Hotel and being advertised, I liked the animation and creative character designs. But I got officially hooked when I learned about the characters, especially Angel Dust, has that chaotic energy that I really enjoy, while having emotional depth and issues. Same with Helluva Boss, I stuck around because I saw the characters having appealing designs and chaotic antics, while being more three dimensional than you'd think (Stolas and Blitzo are a great example of that).

I guess it IS weird that this is one of my favorite shows: anyone who knows me personally would see me and say "I can't see you watching this", and yet I am, and I'm sincerely enjoying it. My best guess is because of the character design and characters: I've grown to care about them, and I want to know where their stories are headed.

As for the super bad things, well, one thing is the characters being in Hell, and the other is them who are headed to develop and grow emotionally. But you're probably talking about the things behind the scenes. Well, as for that, I've heard that many of the things you hear about the creator, Viv, have been blown out of proportions. She has made her mistakes in her teens, as many of us did, and has explained many times she's grown out of them and is improving. People who keep digging them out try to do so just to steer drama, which is sadly the state of many fandoms I know of (like Steven Universe). My suggestion is to take everything with a grain of salt, and not being jerks to other people in the fandom.

So to conclude, I love Viv's works for the effort, passion and depth she and her crew put in building characters, setting and stories, but I know it's not for everyone, and you have every right to feel uneasy about it. The last thing I want is to cause you grief with my content, and I apologize for causing you problems: if you can, maybe it's better if you blacklist the tag, so to avoid content that could cause you anxiety. As for me, I'm doing my best in tagging all the posts, so you know what to avoid.

Hope this answers your question. You're very kind, anon: I wish you the best. ⭐

[rawiswhore]

Triple H x Fem Reader- "Knock on Wood"

The second most iconic cartoon duo of the 90's behind Beavis and Butthead was Ren and Stimpy.

"The Ren and Stimpy Show" was a groundbreaking cartoon that was like nothing else on television during the early 1990's and would end up ushering in the cartoon renaissance from the 1990's to even today.

"Ren and Stimpy" influenced and paved the way for so many cartoons that came after it---from kids cartoons like "Spongebob", "Adventure Time", "Rocko's Modern Life", "Invader ZIM", "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", "CatDog", "Cow and Chicken" and many more to cartoons aimed at adults and teenagers like "Rick and Morty", "South Park", "Family Guy" and "Beavis and Butthead".

"Ren and Stimpy" was also one of those cartoons that was popular enough to cross over into popular culture and be referenced and parodied on various TV shows and cartoons.

You bought into "Ren and Stimpy"'s hype after seeing commercials for it on MTV and seeing it referenced and mentioned in just about every TV show you watched, some of your friends and peers had even wanted you to watch "Ren and Stimpy" because of how funny and off the wall it was, and you ended up enjoying that show, although it could be really gross and WTF at times.

You were even high on drugs while watching "Ren and Stimpy" a few times thanks to the reccomendation of some friends who watched it while high.

When you had joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, you not only still continued to watch "Ren and Stimpy", sometimes even with some wrestlers, but also watched it while getting high with other wrestlers high on drugs.

At the beginning of 1998, the WWF was undergoing a makeover, where they were no longer kid friendly, but now edgier, darker and more boundary pushing.

"Ren and Stimpy" was a boundary pushing kid's cartoon that made jaws drop over some of the content, making you think "how did they get away with that?".

And this new current WWF era was that same way, that new WWF era being known as the Attitude era.

In January of 1998, the former Hunter Hearst Helmsley is now known as Triple H and he spent the majority of the month in that year on crutches, which meant he couldn't wrestle.

However, despite being on crutches that month, he still would cut promos in the ring.

Once, on a "Monday Night Raw" episode when he had wooden crutches underneath his armpits, he said "For all you ladies out there, don't you fret, don't you fear, there's plenty more WOOD where that came from!".

When he said the word "wood", he put emphasis on that word and made one of his hands motion a chopping gesture next to his crotch as well as thrust his crotch when he said the word "wood".

Yep, he was making a dick joke, typical of him during his D Generation X days throughout 1998.

During that same aforementioned "Monday Night Raw" episode, during a short vignette that played the guitar riff to Slam Jam's "We're All Together Now", you were backstage in a locker room standing on the floor on your knees in front of Triple H while he had those wooden crutches underneath his arms.

The camera filmed Triple H standing on his right side, and you don't mean right side as in him looking really good.

Your face was right in front of Triple H's genitals, looking like you're about to give him a blowjob, and his hands were unzipping and unbuttoning his jeans, his hands grabbing onto the tops of his jeans as if to show you his penis underneath.

Your eyes grew wide and your mouth dropped open, pretending to be shocked at the sight of his penis.

Yeah, like you've never seen Trips' dick before, when you used to get caught with Hunter in limos making out with him and looking like you're about to have sex!

"Your wood is so thick and heavy" you gushed, your eyes as well as face looking in concern up at Triple H, only for your eyes to look down at his genitals again, your voice raising so the audience can hear you "I don't know if I can take it"

You can take it, obviously, especially your character you play in the WWF!

One of your hands, specifically your fingers, looked like you were wrapping your fingers around his shaft and holding it.

"What is goin' on?!" Jerry Lawler asked. "Is she doin' what I think she's gonna do?!"

"Just suck it!" Triple H suggested, grinning while he said that, his hands joining together and making an "x" shape above his genitals and thrusting his crotch out.

You leaned your face into his genitals, burying your face there and looking like you're gonna give him a blowjob, and right as you appeared to look like you're gonna perform fellatio on him, the camera cut away from something else.

Bah.

Just getting to the good part and they cut away.

One of the most iconic musical numbers and moments from "Ren and Stimpy" was a commercial for a literal log that parodied the Slinky commercials and jingle.

There's a line in that song that says "It's log, log, it's thick, it's heavy, it's wood!".

Hmmm...it's big, it's heavy, it's wood...

Either I have a dirty mind or that line sounds a little bit sexually suggestive.

"Ren and Stimpy" was notorious and infamous for its sexual innuendo.

When Triple H had those wooden crutches that month and mentioned his wood (and you don't mean his crutches), your hand grabbed his crotch and gushed and purred to him "You've got some thick, heavy wood" while grinning at him and trying to sound sexy, though you said this to him when there weren't people in the audience and this wasn't being filmed on television.

It was your idea to reference that "thick, heavy wood" lyric from that Log commercial on "Ren and Stimpy".

When Brian Pillman had joined the WWF at the end of 1996, he was on crutches due to falling asleep at the wheel earlier that year.

You actually walked up to Brian, got close to him and grabbed his crotch, purring "Your crutches aren't the only thick, heavy wood" while grinning and looking at him.

Brian has a personality somewhat similar to Ren Hoek from "Ren and Stimpy" when he goes crazy, and both Brian and Ren were ticking timebombs who did some crazy shit.

You've wanted to reference "Ren and Stimpy" in the WWF, having Mankind and Brian Pillman cut promos inspired by Ren Hoek's crazy ramblings, or having Shawn Michaels, Triple H or another member of DX shout "I'll teach your grandma to suck it!" while crotch chopping, referencing the "I'll teach your grandma to suck eggs!" line from Ren and Stimpy's iconic "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song.

Wonder if the audience would've gotten the references to "Ren and Stimpy" considering that was such a popular cartoon throughout the 90's?

Speaking of which, if you watch the Attitude era during the late 90's, you'll notice there are so many signs and posters in the audience that have "South Park" characters on them.

I know "South Park" was a hugely popular cartoon in the late 90's, it was the most popular adult cartoon then, but where were all the signs that had a "Simpsons" character, Beavis and Butthead or even Ren and Stimpy on them?

Because the characters on "South Park" were easier to draw and because it was the new popular adult cartoon, that's probably why...

[curious-minx]

A ranking of four 200 Hundredth Episodes: Bob’s Burgers’ recent victory lap stands above the rest

The Bicentennial. How many among us get to be a part of something that get’s broadcasted for over 200 episodes? In the world of animated sitcoms it is a small, Fox dominated burrow. Bob’s Burgers is the latest series to become bestowed with this particular honor, and is possibly the best of the Fox line-up to do so. Family Guy’s 200th episode, Season 11 - Episode 12,  is the only Fox series to be given a full blown on-air anniversary treatment. The episode is a Valentine themed Brian and Stewie lark and like all of the other entries on this list celebrates it’s 200th episode anniversary in a more casual, blithe fashion. Family Guy is the only show Fox has bothered to air an entire half hour  special, but months before the actual airing of the 200th episode in Februrary. I am deliberately skipping over Family Guy and South Park’s 200th episodes. In the former’s stead I chose to watch American Dad’s 200th episode, because McFarlane is such a titan in adult animation that deserves recognition. The South Park episode is too exhausting for me to get into. South Park’s 200th episode, Season 14 - Episode 05, is the one that evoked the wraith of a  New York based Radical Muslim organization that would soon be “shut down” (i.e. members arrested) a few months after the episode aired on April, 2010. The 200th episodes of South Park and the Simpsons are the only two series to have received Emmy nominations, and in Simpsons case a win, due to their 200th episodes. Here’s hoping for Bob’s Burgers to get a similar recognition, because I think its 200th episode is pretty special and straight to the point.

///

1.) Bob’s Burgers - “Bob Belcher and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Kids” 

Out of all the 200 episodes is episode the most consciously in conversation with itself. The 200th episode has been treated with a reasonable amount of respect with The A.V. Club bringing their Bob’s Burgers coverage out of retirement and Variety and Salon also got into the mix. Gotta be honest a part of me over at The Curious Minx would prefer if the Bob’s Burgers recap lane was kept on the narrower side, but on the other hand this is a fabulous series that should be written about by as many different publications. 

In a recent  tired and routine zoom Variety interview (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/bobs-burgers-remote-recording-200th-episode-1234830796/) BB’s creator Loren Bouchard touches upon how this 200th episode is supposed to serve as something of a pilot. An episode so fully realized that even if you are someone with no active bank of knowledge about the Bob’s Burgers minutiae of the Belcher family dynamics and still enjoy this episode as much as a full blown series fan. The episode is written by Steven Davis, a producer and writer with an extensive amount of episode writing and producing credits on Bob’s Burgers. The quality of a Bob’s Burgers script in the pandemic era  is becoming more relevant, because of the diminished role of improv, and this episode definitely feels crafted by a creative team fully in touch and aware of their characters and how to put them in satisfying situations.

Compared to any of the other animated sitcom families, the Belchers are noticeably the more lower middle class. There is a pervading sense of an overall struggle for survival and prosperity that is cooked right into the series pilot debut. Season 1 - Episode 01 “Human Flesh” sets the tone of the series, despite the overall writing and characters being sharper, the stakes have not changed much. Bob’s Burger’s like any American restaurant not under the protective aegis of a Big Franchise is in a state of perpetual turmoil. In the pilot episode the difficulties of running a standard American restaurant are made even more complicated by dysfunctional family hijinks. 

The 200th episode differs from the pilot in one dramatic way and that is the presence of the extended Belcher family member Teddy. In the original pilot Teddy is completely absent, whereas in the 200th episode Teddy’s role as surrogate family member is made even most distinct by having Teddy being invested above and beyond in helping save his pal’s Bobby’s restaurant. The return of the ornery and quirky Health Inspectors Ron and Hugo are serving as the most obvious form of echoing of the pilot. I highly recommend rewatching the pilot after viewing this episode, because I had completely forgotten that the Belcher’s saving grace is that Hugo and Linda were once in a relationship together. The pilot is noticably very contained setting wise, focusing exclusively in and around the Belcher family restaurant. Whereas, the 200th episode explores more settings with the Belcher children going across town to find a replacement for Bob’s broken oven part, an oven that they feel they are entirely to blame for destroying. A couple of celebrity guests Stephanie Beatriz and SNL’s Kyle Mooney that true to Bob’s Burgers spirits are usually just playing characters of little to no consequence. Unlike the other Fox family in this list that really leans in on having celebrities playing themselves, the best celebrity guest appearances on Bob’s Burgers tend to be the most anonymous, and Kyle Mooney’s put upon hardware store clerk is a great example of this. 

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t dwell on the satisfying Linda contribution of the episode. Linda makes the critical set piece that ignites the restaurant fire. Linda’s gnarly mermaid sculpture is a great visual metaphor for the series. Especially when the Mermaid Statue is used to build up a very well constructed song-based gag. The whole episode made me feel really good about the state of the series and especially the Movie (And Loren Bouchard backs this up by giving interviewers the impression that the film’s delay has only improved its quality). As far as 200 episodes of long running animated sitcoms go, you certainly can’t go wrong with this one!

////

2. King of the Hill - Hank’s Bully

By all accounts the most unremarkable episode on this list. An episode that also has a trollish spirit that gets a sadistic glee in tormenting the fuddy duddy Hill patriarch. This is the also the 200th episode with the lowest stakes, the least of a spectacle, and most unassuming 200th episode. While trying to research anything of note to include in my review of the episode all I could find was this reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/KingOfTheHill/comments/bpl235/hanks_bully_was_near_impossible_to_watch/) where a user is criticizing the way in which Hank it mistreated. When I was rewatching this episode my partner also found this episode hard to watch and sympathized with Hank’s plight against a Clifford-like malicious imp of a hateful child who’s sole purpose is to make the lives of everyone else around him more difficult. 

To me what most stands out about this episode is the fantastic direction by longtime King of the Hill animator, former Bob’s Burgers animator, and current Rick and Morty director, Kyoung Hee Lim. A seemingly badass woman  working in a field that is not particularly kind to women or to women of color. I am pretty shocked that no one in all of her years as a director on some pretty important shows has brought her up or did an interview piece on her. Maybe this is something the good folks at The Curious Minx can aspire to? I am definitely going to be taking a further dive into the 22 episodes of King of the Hill that she directed and revisit the 15 episodes of Bob’s Burgers to see if I can discern what makes a Kyoung Hee Lim episode. 

One major ploy detail that I noticed in this episode, a detail that is also oddly prevalent on the other two 200th episodes, is the trash talk. And by that I do mean literal trash talk. The B-plot of this episode is what makes the episode pop for me in that the pairing of Dale and Peggy is a really successful one. The episode finds Dale frustrated with the Arlington Waste department and how they won’t take his refrigerator full of dead squirrels and his freeze full of dead crow. Dale then takes advantage of this dead blessing in disguise by getting into the world of competitive taxidermy with Peggy’s creative eye complimenting Dale’s gruesome technical prowess.   Both of these characters operate on such an oddly similar wave lengths that watching the two of them embark on a taxidermy journey together was strangely touching and fun to watch. And I am a vegan that feels weird about killing animals in video games, but the ending visual gag of the episode is especially inspired. My one complaint is that the episode is severely lacking in Bobby Hill. Probably because I just recently finished watching Better Things and basically want every show to be the Pamela Adlon show all the time. 

/////

3.) American Dad - “The Two Hundred”

Visually and conceptually this 200th episode really impressed me. As previously mentioned at the start of the post, I am not someone that is particularly warm to the McFarlane brand of comedy, but American Dad really is where he saves his best work for. This 200th episode got the complete opposite treatment of Family Guy. Airing on a Monday night on TBS this episode was pretty much given a shrug, but that does not tamper down any of its ambitions. The whole episode is basically a pastiche of Apocalyptic Dystopian alternative timeline tropes centering around an alone and traumatized by his past Stan. The episode has one of the most clever ongoing visual gags I have seen on a show where flash backs are teed up by Stan’s ridiculous new post apocalyptic tattoos. The core family and ancillary characters of American Dad are all given terrific moments to shine in this heightened post apocalyptic hellscape, and the key to any enduring series success if whether or not you can tell that the creatives involved respect and enjoy the characters that they are writing for. This being a McFarlane project there are a couple of embarrassing lines of dialogue from the show’s respective gay and Black characters and an over indulgence on Rodger based humor, but overall this 200th episode left me with more appreciation for this series as a whole. I will still always make sure to appreciate whenever a long running creative property takes stylistic swings and risks.While there is nothing particularly fresh or novel about a cannibal laden post apocalyptic wasteland this 200th episode managed to find some find fun character beats to subvert tropes or double down on them. The visual of a consistently on the move runaway train that is also mysteriously always on fire was also especially well executed. This episode could easily have been a series finale if the series hadn’t already played around with alternative timelines like in their Christmas specials. 

This episode also features more trash talk! One of Stan’s tattooed regrets revolves around Francine failing to get the trash picked up on trash day because Stan had purposely neglected to take it out. This rather odd pattern is about to make a whole lot of sense with the fourth and my least favorite 200th episode by the Simpsons.

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4.) The Simpsons - Trash of the Titans

How many more times can I impress upon you that the 200th episode  of your animated sitcom is an  an occasion for trash talk? One more time. This 200th episode of The Simpsons is by far the most trash centric 200th episode of them all. The first animated adult sitcom to get over the 200th episode hump, the 200th episode  “Trash of the Titans” has some fun real-world trivia attached to it, but other than that this is one of the lesser “Golden Era” Simpsons offerings by a long shot. 

My primary source on contention with the episode lies in the direction Homer takes in most of the episode. A 2016 Uproxx (https://uproxx.com/media/simpsons-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/) article gained traction and a Wikipedia citation by comparing Homer’s antics to that of possible former rising Dictator Donald Trump. The episode involves Homer acting at his absolute most abhorrent in an election to boot, and his behavior in this episode is some of the most irredeemable Homer has ever been. The article oddly neglects to make note of the fact that Homer in this episode also makes similar slights against Mexico, referring it to an inherently “dirtier” country.  The episode ends on a truly groan inducing aged as fine as old socks in the cheese drawer with a crying Native American gag. Ah 1998 when we could pretend that the Crying Native American commercial was just silly social commentary and not racial minstrelsy. 

There is also one other instance that didn’t sit well with me and that’s when Homer is seen physically assaulting a woman working the booth at a U2 concert. I could handle the bullish descent into crooked politician, but watching Homer violently push a woman out of the way felt out of place. A retread of all the growth and development we’ve seen him go through over the course of 200 episodes. Of the other three patriarchs discussed on this list a Homer Simpson centric plot tend to not work as well for me especially if you compare him to the other animated TV fathers. 

The episode also features two celebrity guest spots. One made by Steve Martin who does a good job becoming more or less unrecognizable as the original Springfield Sanitation Commissioner Ray Patterson. The other celebrity guest appearance is more of an ill-portent of signs to come with U2 playing themselves. Whenever a celebrity is playing themselves on The Simpsons it usually does not work out. Not everyone can be used to advance a plot as seamlessly as Barry White. Although it is funny, funny in a “oh, we were so much simpler” sort of way that this episode garnered controversy and a ban on UK television over U2 and Mister Burns’ use of the word, “wanker.” Flash forward to 2009 and Bono is once again throwing around his favorite cheeky pejorative this time in reference to fellow earnest bland frontman Chris Martin (https://www.music-news.com/news/UK/24741/Read). 

Resting Wanker Face

The other fun factoid about this episode once again is not related to the show, but the show’s influence spilling out into the real world. In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Adams Mine was an abandoned pit located somewhere in Ontario situated in a term I’m learning for the first time, the “Canadian Shield.” An exactly similar proposal is made by Homer Simpson during his reign of Sanitation Commissioner. This sweeping of trash under the rug does culminate into a satisfying visual gag as a climax that feels like a Garbage Pail Kid/Toxic Avenger version of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. More bizarrely and unfortunate, this episode also aired a week after the passing of Linda McCartney. How messed up is that? Couldn’t they just have waited at the end of the season or at least on an episode that doesn’t involve wallowing in filth? 

The episode features another developing bad habit in terms of the inclusion of songs and song parodies. There is virtually no connection to Willy Wonka in this episode other than the fact that both “Candy Man” and “Trash Man” have share a similar pronoun. Unlike the use of songs in Bob’s Burgers where they tend to be unique to the character’s reaction to dramatic consequence, on the Simpsons it’s more often than not a  a song for the sake of a song. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but why not go for a joke about parodying real musical trash titans, The Cramps, or even trash up a U2 song? On the episode’s Wikipedia entry in the Production section Matt Groening is quoted to saying that the visual gag of a department store sporting the slogan, “Over a Century Without a Slogan,” wasted a lot of man hours. So much effort and reach for a joke with a fraction of a minimal of pay off is essentially the Simpsons ethos in one visual gag. 

Once again, it bears repeating that this episode is also rewarded for an Emmy. If you break down the episode as starting off as a satire of Holiday Commercialism with the creation of the cynical Love Day holiday and ending the episode as a foreboding parable about the very real ecological repercussions of improper waste management. This clearly sounds like classic Simpsons reverse engineering management. Instead this is a classic case of an episode of the Simpsons being more interesting to think about than it is to actually watch. This is also the 200th episode that least honors its central cast of characters. Marge and Lisa are both afforded meager moments of wisdom and decency, but Bart is more or less even more irrelevant to the plot than Bobby Hill was on his 200th episode. 

As for today it seems like the only Simpsons anniversary that will likely rouse any more attention it’s way will be the 1,000th episode.. Think how much more trash we as a collective species will have made by the time that milestone roils around!

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In Conclusion:

When you start to make 200 episodes of anything the one feeling that seems to creep up is one of, “taking out the trash,” or you’re making art out of trash. Trash being a metaphor for the entire medium of Television. The TV market is an ever growing landfill, one of America’s Rapiest Dads made a whole cartoon about kids living and learning life lessons in a junk yard. So much of Television is only a means of  mass marketing  ground up pieces of detritus. Then you’re supposed to be grateful that your detritus gets to be a bumper for advertisements and the occasional merchandising. You’re an adult, you’re not supposed to take cartoons seriously. They are empty calories, brain noise, and at best background noise. Yet they are the only types of shows that can consistently manage to get over well over the 200 episode mark. At least back before the Netflix business model of show’s only deserving 1.5 seasons. 

Bob’s Burgers is reaching its 200th episode in an unfathomable media landscape, one that is completely demolished and in the process of being rebuilt from the aftermath of the coronavirus. The 2020s could be a turning point for animation going forward, animation is a severely grueling and technically difficult sector. This newfound interest in the medium may finally be  the financial boost and support that it dearly needs in order to properly pay artists for their work. The creators of these series may not think of what they do as art and to keep themselves afloat have to think of the act of bringing an animated sitcom into the world as necessary as taking out the trash. Our trash is a mirror. Inside the landfill we see our own morals and values reflected right back at us. Bringing forth life means a lot of shit. With every year you keep an infant human alive that means (x) amount of disposable diapers piled up. I suggest we make like the Belcher children and try to salvage our trash, put a wig on our trash, put a crop top on our trash, paint some lashes on your trash, because we’re all in the end up going to be put into the ground (beef). 

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Steve Yurko

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My next guest in this series is Steve Yurko, co-host of The One Piece Podcast, a podcast with a subject you can probably guess. He's also a former storyboard artist for Rick & Morty and is currently working for Netflix Animation. As a ride-or-die Sanji fan, Steve chose the Baratie Arc, where Luffy and the gang run into an East Blue restaurant with a cool chef that loves to cook and kick.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Baratie arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Arlong Park arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: So a friend tells you, "I'm done with the Syrup Village arc and I'm not sure if I want to watch this next one. I think I might be tapped out on this whole One Piece thing. In one sentence, how do you get them to stay and watch the Baratie arc?

  Steve Yurko: The Baratie arc laid down the foundation and created the formula of the One Piece arc as we know it.

  That's pretty good!

  Yeah, I’d say that, when I first started it, One Piece was my third favorite. I was more of a fan of series like Shaman King and Naruto, but after Baratie, things shifted. It was a turning point for me. I would hope that it would do the same for anyone who’s, say, previously apathetic towards the series.

    How old were you when you first read it? Or watched it?

  It feels weird to say this, but my introduction to One Piece was Chapter 1. Like Dragon Ball Z, the first episode I can remember watching was, like, Yamcha training on King Kai’s planet, and I’d get Goku and Yamcha confused and stuff, because I had just dived in. So for me to start a story like One Piece from the beginning is kind of rare. I was 15, I think.

  So, we're jumping into Baratie, and we first see the guy with the brass knuckles, Fullbody. He's trying to act cool on a date and he's being mean to everyone else. And then we have Sanji being typical Cool Sanji and Fullbody acts up and Sanji just tears through him. How did you react? Did you know immediately that you'd like this waiter?

  Well, I don't want to alarm you here, but my first thought was “Sanji’s cool!” I’d seen images of him before, and I saw his black suit and blond hair and I figured, “Oh, another crew member, probably. Looks distinct enough.” So I often have to look back and wonder “Did I like him because of his edgy coolness?” but I think now it’s because there were more layers to him. Like, he definitely stands out from the other Straw Hats, but he also has this distinct fighting style with cool reasoning. He’s a cook and he doesn’t want to bust up his hands trying to punch people in the face, so he uses his feet. So, he does like these cool capoeira kicks, which only gets better as they go along because I feel like so many anime characters, the stronger they get, the more they start to fight the same with fast volleys of punches and laser blasts. So Sanji’s kicks are a great way to differentiate himself from the main cast and other anime heroes. 

  So, then we have Luffy, he shows up by damaging the Baratie. Enter: Zeff. Full disclosure: In my infinite naivete when I first watched One Piece, I thought Zeff was going to be the new crew member. And then I thought Gin was going to join the Straw Hat crew. And then when Sanji finally joined, I was like, "This guy? Really? Dark horse candidate over here."

  You didn’t know yet?

    I guess I hadn't watched the first ED yet — when the crew slowly shows up and stands beside one another.

  You saw Usopp’s silhouette appear and thought, “Eh, I’ve seen enough.”

  "That must be all of them."

  It happens.

  So, you meet Zeff, and you learn about Sanji and Zeff's relationship, and we get a big One Piece flashback. What do you think of that? Because it would become a staple of the series to kinda pause, see what happened to an important guy, and then come back.

  Such an incredible story and so gruesome and terrifying. Sanji’s original flashback is so underrated because it could happen to anyone! Like, you’d have to go out of your way to get stranded on an island, but going days and weeks without food or any real comfort? I think people underestimate how traumatizing that would be. And then Zeff losing his leg because he hacked it off for food, it’s brutal. Just thinkin’ about that, I feel it in my shins. Because that almost happened to me with a minor injury. I let a minor injury get infected, and I could’ve been close to losing a leg.

    Wait, what? Gahd.

  I was doing box jumps at a gym, and my shin hit the corner of this wooden crate.

  Yeah, those things have no give in them.

  Absolutely. And at the time, I thought it was just this dark spot on my shin. And I figured it was, ya know a bruise. So I let it be. And then I picked at the scab and I realized “Wow, that’s a little deeper than I thought. I guess I’ll go to the doctor if it gets worse.” And I kept going to the gym, wearing pants over like this open wound. And my left leg is so swollen. So I went to two different doctors, as the first one did tests and then sent me to another one. And when this doctor saw me, the look on her face said “Oh, this is bad.” So I laughed out loud about how dumb I was and the doctor turned to me and said “This isn’t funny. This IS SERIOUS.” It had gotten infected with bacteria and it was spreading, and she just took a sharpie and drew around the infected area, and gave me antibiotics and was like “You have to keep this elevated, and if the redness goes outside of this line, go to the hospital.” But luckily, I recovered, even though the doctors were like “Honestly, we thought you’d go to the hospital.” So when Zeff severs his foot with a rock, how does anyone not feel that? 

  Do you think that's one of the reasons Luffy is fascinated by Sanji at first? His mentor, Shanks, lost his arm and was cool about it. Zeff lost his leg and was cool about it. Basically twins.

  That’d be an interesting conversation that we never got to see. Just two dudes talking about how weird it is that both their father figures did that, with only Luffy thinking it’s cool. 

    Don Krieg's ship gets blown in half by an incomprehensibly cool character, Mihawk, the first Warlord to appear in the show. You see Mihawk arrive — what is your reaction to him? Because it's not a case of "The villain of the villain is my friend," but rather "Oh, he did that to the villain? I hope he does not do that to us, as that would suck."

  It’s almost like the good guys meeting the bad guys, and then a tornado comes in. But here’s the thing: I missed the issue of Jump where Zoro fought Mihawk. So I assumed that Zoro had just won. The greatest swordsman in the world shows up and Zoro beats him. Boom. The climax of his character arc has been achieved. Nothing left for Zoro. 

  He just did it.

  I didn’t find out until so much later that Zoro lost. I wasn’t quite aware of what made for a captivating story yet. At that time, an obstacle appears, an obstacle gets taken out, ya move on. I almost want to apologize to Mihawk. 

  I love how One Piece does this though. They do it with Smoker and Aokiji and the like. It reminds me of The Witcher III when you go off the path a little bit, and you're at a Level 4 and then a Level 39 Gryphon swoops down and decapitates you. It keeps the "power levels" interesting.

  Luffy starts up Breath of the Wild and goes right for Calamity Ganon. But Mihawk is like the analogy for the Grand Line. He represents it, without revealing too much. Mihawk is like a Pizza Hut demo disc of danger.

  I really like that. And no one knows, to this day, exactly how powerful he is. Over 20 years later, and we're still wondering how he matches up against Shanks or Blackbeard or whatever. One Piece has so many characters where Oda hasn't shown his full hand in regards to them, yet we're totally emotionally invested in them. That's good storytelling.

  He’s doing something right. And I love that Mihawk has a little character arc here, too, where he shows up nonchalantly slicing up Krieg’s ships, probably doesn’t expect much, and then he’s taken aback by Zoro’s gusto, because he hasn’t seen anyone like that in a while. And he slices Zoro down. But he respects him, when in the beginning, he clearly didn’t respect anyone around. Mihawk wants to see him be better and try to take him down one day. For him to willingly build someone up like that is rare. Like Frieza wouldn’t do that.

    So, Don Krieg — what were your opinions of him at the time? Because he's a really bad guy surrounded by more morally grey guys like Mihawk and Gin.

  What I like about the East Blue saga is that every main villain is an antithesis of Luffy and what makes Luffy a truly great captain. Buggy is all about treasure. Kuro is about ambition and the fortitude to be a pirate. Krieg is about might and strength, and Krieg thinks he has both of those because of his weapons and armor. But Luffy has willpower and ambition and doesn’t let the world change his views. Luffy is incorruptible whereas Krieg is willing to poison his own crew when stuff starts going south. Krieg isn’t fondly remembered, but he really serves his purpose in the story.

  So, after Krieg is defeated, Sanji turns down Luffy's offer to join the Straw Hat crew. Now, he knows this is a bad idea. He's not gonna find the All Blue floating around on the Baratie. Why doesn't he go immediately?

  Well, he knows it’s a bad idea but he’s completely misinterpreting Zeff’s sacrifice. He feels that since Zeff sacrificed his leg, he has to repay him by working for him indefinitely. But the reason that Zeff did that was because he wants Sanji to live on and chase his dream. That’s why Zeff took pity on him in the first place. He’s an older, worn-down man now, and he stopped chasing his dream. And now he wants to see Sanji or someone get a win. It lifts his spirit to see Sanji and live kinda vicariously through him. 

  So, the second time I ever cried over One Piece was during Sanji's goodbye and Zeff's "Don't catch a cold." The first time was when that little dog was trying to protect his dead owner's shop in Orange Town, but that's a different story. But this shot of Sanji on his knees thanking Zeff with all the cooks surrounding them is so iconic, and Sanji's acting like it's a gift that Zeff gave him that Sanji could never repay, while as you said, Zeff just wants Sanji to be happy. What did you get out of that? I assume that you're a human with human emotions.

  I cry every time I watch that. When I first saw it, I was like “How? How is a series this good?” And there’s so much to that ending sequence. Because the Baratie is built on this rough, angry masculinity. Just these dudes being mean and fighting each other and customers all the time. There’s never a time or a place for lending a shoulder to someone else. No emotional embraces of any kind. Just everyone berating everyone. No one can open up — just stupid man babies. And then you get to this moment where Sanji is leaving and they’re all trying to be cool while playing it off. Especially Zeff, who can’t give a legitimate goodbye, but rather a “Don’t catch a cold.” But there’s so much to that statement and the facade crumbles. All these grown men start bawling. 

    I've never thought about it that way. There's all these little hints of kindness, like feeding the bad guys, and it's a masculinity powder keg. And then Sanji, in an ultimate display of putting his heart out there, bows to the man who saved him and the keg explodes. That's really cool.

  ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  Favorite One Piece character?

  Sanji

  Favorite One Piece villain?

  Enel

  Favorite One Piece moment?

  March to Arlong Park

  Favorite Straw Hat Crew pairing?

  Luffy and Zoro

  Favorite moment of the new Wano anime arc?

  Soba Mask’s debut

  If you could eat one Devil Fruit, what would it be?

  Whatever Kanjuro’s fruit is

  Moment that made you cry the hardest?

  Sanji leaving the Baratie

  Moment that made you cheer the loudest?

  Straw Hats at the Tower of Justice standing across from Robin

  One Piece location that you'd like to live in?

  Whole Cake Island. Ya eat well, ya know, you can survive Big Mom

  Favorite fight scene?

  Sanji vs Mr. 2, of course

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with Botchamania creator Maffew about his favorite One Piece arc: Alabasta!!

        Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

[lovemesomesurveys]

How do you feel about full length beards? I’m not into a lot of facial hair. I like some scruff, but that’s it. Have you ever been to a circus? Yeah, once. I was naive and didn’t know about the abuse that went on at the time. Do you know anyone who’s gone to a Fat Camp? No. Do you use Facebook IM everyday? No. I don’t even remember the last time I used it. How many surveys have you done already today? This is my first.

What’s the WORST show on Adult Swim? I don’t care for the Adult Swim shows. Family Guy and American Dad is okay, but after that it gets too stupid and weird for me. Sorry. Like once I saw this show, Mr. Pickles, and uh... wtf. The episode I saw was very disturbing. I don’t get the appeal of Rick and Morty at all. And why the hell is Mike Tyson Mysteries a thing? That’s just to name a few. I see previews of other shows and I just... wow. Do you have any relatives that have shunned you, or vice versa? No. Has anyone ever posted a HORRIBLE picture of you for everyone to see? Not maliciously or because they thought it was horrible and wanted to embarrass me, but yeah. My mom has posted photos where she didn’t see anything wrong and she thinks I looked fine, but I was like EW NO take that down it’s hideous. I reallyyyy don’t like photos of me taken by someone else. I have to take my own photos if I’m going to take one at all because I know the angles and lighting and can add a filter. Plus, I can take a ton before finally settling on one. If someone else takes the photo and they want to post it, I have to approve. Which grade in school was the most fun for you? I enjoyed elementary and middle school. High school had its ups and downs, but there were parts I liked. I liked the last 2 years the best. Which would you rather have, a new puppy or kitten? I wouldn’t want another pet right now to be honest. We have our doggo and one suits our family best right now. Does drama seem to follow you everywhere you go? No, thankfully. I have other issues I struggle with, but not drama. Do you ever just want to go away to a new place where no one knows you? I don’t live in a small town where everyone knows everyone and I was never Miss Popularity, so apart from family and a few other people, not a lot of people know me. However, I do want move away to a new place. My family and I have wanted to for a long time, we just haven’t been able to. A change of environment and scenery would be really nice. You’re ordering a pizza, you can have any kind of toppings, what are they? I’m a simple gal, I just like white sauce, feta and ricotta cheese, garlic, spinach, and crumbled meatballs with pesto drizzled on top. Do you hit ‘quiet’ or ‘ignore’ on your cell? Which one usually? Nah. If my phone rings and I don’t want to answer it, I just let it ring. Do you ever regret giving your number to people? I have before with some people. Have you ever been told that you’re afraid of your own shadow? Haha yeah. Have you ever tried Gouda cheese? Nope. Does/did your high school have pop machines? No. They decided to remove them the year I entered high school, which I was mad about. Do you use a public computer, or do you have your own? I have my own laptop. Do you ever find it odd how you type LOL when you’re not really laughing? >> No, because I understand that its function has moved far beyond representing actual laughing-out-loud. <<< Yeah. I remember discussing that in a class once. Have you ever gambled? A couple times. Not my thing. Although, what really made my experience unenjoyable wasn’t so much the gambling, it was that the casinos I’ve been to allow smoking and I don’t do well with cigarette smoke. At all. It gives me a killer headache, makes my heart rate go up, and makes me feel dizzy and sick. It’s awful. The smell in the casinos was too overbearing for me, so I spent very little time inside. Do you know anyone who’s won the lottery? No. If you could work at any retail store, which one would it be? I really don’t want to work retail. And that’s not shade toward retail workers AT ALL. I salute you, honestly. You deal with a lot of shit. What’s the shortest you would ever cut your hair? I had a “bob” for a few years. Do you listen to any deathcore? No. Do you subscribe to any teen magazines? Which ones? No. I’m also 30 years old. Do you know someone who never smiles? Never? No. Has anyone ever made you feel uncomfortable at work? I’ve never had a job. Do you still watch South Park? I never did. I mean, I’ve seen bits here and there before because my brother used to watch it, but I was never into it myself. Tell me one movie you’ve seen recently that sucked: My mom, brother, and I recently watched this movie on Netflix called, The Platform. It had potential and was interesting at first, but the ending was just... no. It seemed abrupt and I was just really confused. Have you ever carved something into a dinner booth somewhere? No. When’s the last time you were carded at a bar? When I last went to the bar, which was almost 10 years ago. Do you smoke little cigars? Have you ever tried them? Nooo. You’re babysitting, what do you expect per hour for pay? Pfft, no I’m not babysitting. What’s the last thing you returned at a store? I very rarely return things so I have no idea. It’s been a long time. What’s the name of the last cat you pet? I don’t even recall the last time I petted a cat. Do you still look at clouds and make shapes of them? I haven’t in a long time. If you had to dye your hair for one year, what color would you pick? I already do, I dye it red. Who’s got your heart? Me. What’s your television addiction? I have several shows that I’m into. Have you ever stringed green beans before? No. What do you do to make yourself more relaxed when you’re nervous? It’s hard to calm myself when I’m anxious, but I try to distract by talking to someone, listening to ASMR, watching TV or something on YouTube, or reading.  Do you cook? If so, what’s the last thing you made? The only thing I cook is ramen. Oh wait actually I made a grilled cheese sandwich the other day. ha.  Have you ever had any painful dental work done? If so, what? Yeah, a few things. How do you usually spend your Saturdays? I spend all my days and nights the same, really. Do you make your own jewelry or clothing? Last year I briefly got into making beaded bracelets. I made a few. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re bored? I do the same things everyday whether I’m bored or not: spend time on my social medias, watch YouTube, read, watch TV, scroll through Tumblr, do surveys, just lie there.... ha. Somedays just feel like they’re dragging and going by extra slow and the things I listed above that I like doing just don’t cut it so I just lie there mindlessly watching TV or go to sleep. Do you use drawing to describe what you’re feeling? No. Do you like the smell of new school supplies? As a kid I did. Like getting a new box of crayons. Do you give everything you do 100%? No. I certainly haven’t with life... Do you shop at any independent music stores? No. I don’t shop at any music stores. How do you feel about mainstream music? I like a lot of it.

What song lyrics describe your mood at the moment? *shrug* Do you have healthy eating habits? No. My eating habits are messed up. I have issues with appetite and other issues.

If you could transform into any kind of animal, what animal would you be? A dog. Are you superstitious? If so, what are you superstitious about? I do the knock on wood thing, but it’s just out of habit, really. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be? There’s so many places I’d like to visit. What food disgusts you the most? I don’t do seafood at all. What is your favorite thing to cook? Ramen. One place you would never want to get lost in in the dark? I wouldn’t want to get lost anywhere in the dark. :O Are you claustrophobic? Yes. What is your worst flaw? Oh where to start. One thing that always creeps you out? ALL bugs. What is your biggest fear? Losing loved ones, death, never getting better/getting worse, never doing anything with my life and just wasting away... If you could be reincarnated, would you come back as another human or an animal? If an animal, what kind? I don’t believe in reincarnation. Ideal way you’d like to die? Obviously painlessly, but jeez. If you could be roommates with anyone of your choice, who would you pick? I like living with my family. What is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard? Uh, a lot of things. Your favorite kind of dog? I love doggos, but I definitely have a special thing for Labs and German Shepherds. Do you have any scars? If so, how many? I have a lot of scars. I’m not going to count them. What is your favorite scary movie to watch in the dark? I don’t watch them in the dark. Unless I’m at the theater, obviously. I love scary movies, though. Would you rather be buried or cremated when you die? Cremated. What is your favorite thing to drink? Alcoholic and non alcoholic? Coffee and Starbucks Doubleshot energy drinks. That’s also coffee, but you know what I mean. I don’t have a favorite alcoholic drink, I don’t drink. What is your favorite food around the holidays? I love either ham or turkey depending on the holiday and mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, and rolls. Easiest way to scare you? I’m such a jumpy, easily scarable (it’s a word, shh) person so you could really just say hi and I’ll jump. haha. Like my back faces my bedroom door and if I don’t hear anyone coming in or they just poke their head in to say something I’ll jump. lmao. Tell me one of your biggest secrets? Nah. What was your last nightmare about? It’s been awhile since I’ve had one, thankfully.

[janethepegasus]

So i saw Matpat’s latest video about shared universes (starting with Doom and somehow connecting it with Kingdom Hearts) and my crazy brain thought it would be a good idea to expand it even FURTHER all because he used Spider-Man to connect to Thanos in Fortnite (yes seriously)

So behold, all the shit i had to go through to make connections to everything i can find and think of

So since all Spider-Mans are in one multiverse, that means all versions of Spider-Man are canon, so let's look at two cases of alternate Spider-Mans. Theres the Japanese Spider-Man, which was created by Toei as a collab by Marvel, Toei also created Super Sentai, which has connections to Kamen Rider (Super Hero Taisen), Metal Hero (some crossover movies), and obviously Power Rangers. Power Rangers had a crossover with TMNT, which has connections to not only other versions of TMNT but also other series like Batman (basically the whole DC universe is involved), Archie, X-Files, Ghostbusters, Rabbids (they were an extra character in a fighting game, as like a promotion for the new game), and all the toons that showed up in Cartoon All-Stars, like the Smurfs, Alf, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Winnie the Pooh (which is already tying back up to Kingdom Hearts), Muppet Babies, Looney Toons, and Ducktales.

Now Muppet Babies is part of the Muppet franchise, the Muppets are connected to Sesame Street, which opens up a can of worms for connections. Some characters cameoed in Between the Lions, Mr Rogers' Neighbor Hood, The Electric Company, Reading Rainbow, Poky Little Puppy, and a bunch of these characters appeared in a We are Family music video, which has *inhales* Bear in the Big Blue House, Barney, Arthur, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Rugrats, The Magic School Bus, SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue's Room, Blue's Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Kim Possible, The Proud Family, LazyTown, Lilo & Stitch: the Series, Madeline,Little Bill, The Fairly OddParents, Zoom, AND a whole bunch more shows.

Obviously Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Odd Parents had a crossover (three in fact), but those other shows had crossovers too, like Rugrats having a crossover with Wild Thornberrys, Lilo and Stitch had crossovers too, they had crossovers with The Proud Family, Kim Possible, Recess, and American Dragon Jake Long. Spongebob is connected to a lot of Nicktoons shows through the bumpers on the channel and had a major crossovers with Fairly Odd Parents, Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron, Tak, and Invader Zim in the Nicktoons Unite games.

Looney Toons is connected to all other Hanna Barbera property, which had crossovers as well (look at Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, they're LOADED with crossovers with other series), as for the Looney Toons cast themselves, examples include Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pokemon (in a commercial in Kids WB), The Justice League, Wild Kratts (Kinda? The two characters, Road Runner and Wild E. Coyote, were pretty much referenced as a way to say that real life coyotes can catch up to road runners), and The Amazing World of Gumball. And Pokemon had a crossover game with Nobunaga's Ambition called Pokemon Conquest. AND Ducktales is connected to Darkwing Duck and the same goes with the reboot.

Okay now back to where we started, Power Rangers had a crossover episode with Masked Rider, which is an adaptation of Kamen Rider Black RX, Kamen Rider had a FEW crossovers with other series, like Crayon Shin-chan, Pac-Man, Osomatsu-San, Hello Kitty, Pretty Cure, and a few others. Pretty Cure only had crossovers with itself but there is one pic floating around the internet showing one of the Cures standing in front of Arresterdramon Superior Mode, so it might hint to a commercial happening during that time. Hello Kitty has a ton of crossovers with different series, such as Sonic, Cookie Run, Pac-Man, Puzzles and Dragons, Doraemon, Yokai Watch, and several others. In Osomatsu-San Hesokuri Wars, they have costumes/sets of the six brothers being yokai, magical girls, monsters, angels, knights, super heroes, greek

gods, and others. Yokai is also connected to Yokai Watch, which has it's own crossovers with other series, like Final Fantasy, Terminator, Inazuma Eleven (which had commercials that crossed over with Despicable Me), The Seven Deadly Sins, Detective Conan, Hello Kitty (which brings this back to Hello Kitty and its crossovers), Inuyasha, Professor Layton, and several others. Professor Layton had a crossover game with Ace Attorney, which has many references and a small amount of crossovers.

Now let's move on to another Spider-Man, the one from Ultimate Spider-Man, obviously he's connected to the other Marvel shows that take place in that universe, but Spider-Man had crossover episodes/specials with Phineas and Ferb and Jessie, Jessie having connections with other Disney Sit-com shows like Austin and Ally, Good Luck Charlie, Liv and Maddie, and a few others, HOWEVER Mr. Moseby from the Suite Life of Zach and Cody appeared in one episode, which means that Jessie is in the same universe as That's So Raven, Hannah Montanna, Cory in the House (yeah yeah yeah, i can hear the anime memes from a mile away -_-), and Wizards of the Waverly Place. Phineas and Ferb also had crossover specials/episodes with Star Wars and Milo Murphy's Law, Star Wars has many crossovers and references in other shows, like the Muppets, Seasame Street, Captain N, Mario (in that old Mario cartoon episode where they parodied it), Putt-Putt, Megaman, Duke Nukem, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Dragon Ball, Transformers, Metal Gear, Angry Birds, Lego, Club Penguin, and several others.

The Star Wars references were in Megaman V and Megaman Zero, sprites from Megaman Zero were used to create sprites of TV Tome Adventures, which then became TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise and then it turned into the video game version of that show, the creator of the show, Kirbopher, did an animation related to Super Mario RPG, and had many voice roles like in Mob Psycho 100, Pokemon, and other series. Dragon Ball is the prequel of Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Super made it clear that there's other universes so all of those are connected as well, and Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z had crossovers with other shows like One Piece, Dr Slump, Astro Boy, Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo, and a few others. Metal Gear had crossovers and references in Terminator, Gundam, Castlevania, Mario, Zelda, Ape Escape, Yugioh (which connects itself to the other seasons like GX, 5D's, Zexal, Arc-V, and Vrains), Monster Rancher, Yoshi, The Standley Parable (only in the demo), and several others. Transformers, since it's made by Hasbro, is also connected to other Hasbro property, such as My Little Pony (and Equestria Girls), and they had references to other series in both the show and in the IDW comics, like pony versions of Rick and Morty appearing in one episode, pony versions of characters from Sailor Moon, Gravity

Falls, Kill La Kill, Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Frozen, and few other shows and even pony versions of IRL people like Gordon Ramsey. Transformers had crossovers and references to other series as well such as G.I Joe, Doctor Who, Spider Man, Star Wars, Marvel, and several other shows, and apparently Jem, Inhumanoids, C.O.P.S, and Robotix takes place in the Transformers universe.

Angry Birds had crossovers with other series like Rio, Star Wars, Puzzles and Dragons, Transformers, Sonic, The Muppets, and many levels in their games make references to other series. Lego Dimensions is full of crossovers, like The A-Team, Adventure Time, Back to the Future, Beetlejuice, DC Comics, Doctor Who, E.T, Fantastic Beasts, Ghostbusters (both the original and the 2016 reboot), The Goonies, Gremlins, Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Knight Rider, Legends of Chima, other Lego property, Lord of the Rings, Midway Arcade, Mission: Impossible, Portal, Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, Simpsons, Sonic, Teen Titans Go!, and The Wizard of Oz. Speaking of The Simpsons, they had crossovers with other shows like Family Guy and Futurama, AND they cameoed appeared in South Park, and Family Guy is in the same universe as American Dad and The Cleveland Show. The Simpsons also had crossovers with The Critic, X-Files, King of the Hill, Robot Chicken, Bob's Burgers (which means it's also connected to the Archer Show), Rick and Morty, and several series get mentioned in the show itself. As for Sonic, he had a crossover comic series with Megaman, he had crossovers in the comics with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and DC (it was part of a Sonic Super Special comic but for some reason the Wikis won't tell me if it's generally DC or some part of it >:/ ), Sonic had levels in Sonic Lost World that were crossovers with NiGHTS, Legend of Zelda, and Yoshi's Wooly World, in Sonic Forces, there's DLC costumes that are based off of NiGHTS, Beat from Jet Set Radio, AiAi from Super Monkey Ball, and Joker from Persona 5. Sonic had crossover games with other SEGA series, but in Sonic Dash, they had events that had crossovers with Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and Pac-Man. In one of the Vocaloid games, Miku had a costume that was a Sonic hoodie, to celebrate Sonic's anniversary, Vocaloid made many songs and some of these songs branch out into their own series, one of them being Black Rock Shooter, and i swear BRS was a guest character in some fighting game but i don't remember what the name was.

Okay, now let's head back to Marvel, one of the characters that's paired up with Spider-Man (except for the Movie universe) is Deadpool, and in one comic, he takes a girl to see Hamilton. In one of the Hamildrops, they did a crossover song which was a mix of Story of Tonight and You'll be Found from Dear Evan Hansen called "Found Tonight", one of the actors from Dear Evan Hansen is now playing the role of Jeremy in Be More Chill, and in the original 2015 performance of BMC, the actor who played Jenna also played Martha in Heathers, and Eric William Morris, who played Squip, also played Jordan in The Ballad of Little Jo. And since we're using actors to connect series...*inhales* Lin Manuel Miranda (who plays Alexander in Hamilton) also had roles in In The Heights, 21 Chump Street, Mary Poppins Returns, Ducktales Reboot, Do No Harm, Looking for Maria Sanchez, Sesame Street, House M.D, and a few others. Mary Poppins Returns is a sequel to the original Mary Poppins so they instantly connect, and i'm gonna make a crazy theory of House M.D taking place in the same city (or state) as Blue Bloods and Forever, both shows have characters played by Eric William Morris, who had roles in Trust, Greed, Bullets, and Bourbon, Royal Pains, As The World Turns, and few other small roles. But one of his current roles is Carl from King Kong Broadway, which is based off of King Kong, and King Kong had a crossover film with Godzilla, and there's a short film that had Ultraman and Kamen Rider (i think it was Godzilla?? It was a giant lizard thing :/). However, King Kong was the inspiration behind Donkey Kong, which now has connections to both Mario and Donkey Kong series. Donkey Kong had crossovers/references with Frogger, Pitfall, Qubert, Mickey (from Disney), Punch Out, Mother, Earthworm Jim, Kirby, Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Scott Pilgrim, The Fast and the Furious, Class of 3000, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Big Bang Theory, Metroid, Pushmo, Minecraft, Gravity Falls, Wreck It Ralph, Pixels, Skylanders, several others, and had japanese exclusive songs in Donkey Konga that had songs from Super Sentai, Pretty Cure, Pikmin, Naruto, Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball Z, Star Fox, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Ice Climbers, and several others.

Minecraft had a Super Mario texture pack in the Switch version of Minecraft, plus a Steven Universe texture pack as well, there are console exclusive skins based off of characters from Gears of War, Halo, Banjo-Kazooie, Dust, Tony Hawk, Left 4 Dead, Boarderlands, Conker, Half-Life, Portal, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, and several other shows. Steve from Minecraft can be an unlockable character in games like Super Meat Boy, Choplifter, Retro City Rampage, and Creepers can be found in Blocks that Matter, Boarderlands, Torchlight, and Minecraft is refernced in Adventure Time, Octodad, The Stanley Parable, Skyrim, and South Park. And since Minecraft has Halo skins, this ties into Red VS Blue, a show that uses assets from the Halo series. And Red VS Blue appeared in a promotional video alongside the main cast of RWBY. Mother (or Earthbound) is the inspiration for Undertale, which had a sequel called Deltarune, and in one of the locations in Deltarune is a place called "Ice-E's Pezza", and Burgerpants mentions a guy named "Purple Guy" which is a reference to Purple Guy from Five Nights at Freddies. Crash Bandicoot had two crossover games with Spyro the Dragon and had references in Uncharted, Futurama, Johnny Test, Family Guy, Jimmy Neutron, The Country Bears, Jak and Daxter, Friends, The Simpsons, Tomb Raider, and several others. And Mickey is one of the characters in Kingdom Hearts, so now we come in full circle with Matpat's theory.

So started with Spider-man (well two versions of Spider-man) and ended it with Mickey, i'm sure there's other series out there that i forgot to bring up but eh, this is long enough :/

[hallelujuh]

shay’s favorite tv shows from 2017

this has been in my drafts for.... nine months.... fuck.

Written in December 2017, updates are from September 2018.

Considering how many new, innovative shows are around these days, I didn’t get too adventurous this year, but I’m satisfied with the ones I did watch. I discovered new shows, I was impressed by the shows I’ve been following for years, and I learned to appreciate the work that goes into television more. Here’s my top ten TV shows..

10. Thirteen Reasons Why - In all honestly, this is only here because I haven’t been able to watch Peaky Blinders yet, and it’s probably too late. (UPDATE: Watched it in Jan and it was amazing.) This show received a lot of backlash, and for good reason, although it had its moments. The characters were well-written, the relationships were given depth that is often lacking in other high school-set narratives, and the tone was great. I’ve always loved watching things that make me profoundly sad, and this show did just that. (UPDATE: Season 2 was fucking garbage lmao.)

Standout episode: Tape 1, Side B. It’s a cripplingly depressing show, but this episode stood out as a moment of light in Hannah’s dark reality. Her friendship with Jessica and Alex was nice in the beginning - their banter, them having a spot in the coffee shop. I remember assuming Alex was gay (I believe his actor is, so I wasn’t too off) and thinking that’d be good for Hannah, to have a guy friend who wasn’t interested in her and wouldn’t add relationship drama to her life. Boy, was I wrong. Still, having seen the show at the beginning of the year, this episode is the only one I remember as enjoying, so it gets this spot.

9. A Series of Unfortunate Events - I read the books in elementary school, and they’re one of my favorite series of all time. I’m also a huge fan of the film, though I know most aren’t. So I was very excited for this series, and it didn’t completely disappoint. While I found myself longing for the actors from the 2004 motion picture, and some of the directing decisions weren’t choice, it was cool to see The Miserable Mill finally come to life, and I loved the Baudelaires just as much here as anyone else. I’ll be tuning in to next season, since I’ve very, very excited to see how they handle the next three books. I can’t wait to meet the Quagmire triplets, and Esme, and Jacques! It’ll be awesome. I hope they portray it well, but there’s no film to compare it to from here on out, so maybe it’ll be different.

Standout episode: The Reptile Room: Part One/Two. Like I said, I wasn’t a huge fan of how most of the characters were portrayed in this adaption, but I did love Uncle Monty. He was just as wonderful as he was in the film and books. Watching his interactions with the kids was really nice, and as always, made me wish they could’ve remained with him. Stephano wasn’t as menacing here as he is in the film (that knife scene is the point in the film where you go, “woah, this dude’s for real. he’s scary”), which was a bummer because I still thought Olaf was a laughably bad and incompetent villain by the finale, but I did like Poe’s hysteria, and I really loved the movie theatre scene.

8. Riverdale - Oops I never wrote this dfdsbfjdbfjds.

7. South Park - While we all can agree the last season was a mess, and this one was only a slight improvement, it did have it’s moments. I’ve been a fan for five years now, so at this point, they’ll never disappoint me, tbfh. 

Standout episode: Doubling Down. While Put it Down was wonderful, both satirically and because of Craig and Tweek’s adorable relationship, the eighth episode of the season was my personal favorite (UPDATE: Not sure why ‘cause I didn’t specify then and I’m not sure now.)

6. Dear White People - I didn’t do this one either damn. 

Standout Episode: Chapter V. While the show is a comedic take on racial relations, this episode is an emotional, serious change. The Barry Jenkins-directed episode shows us that the subject is no laughing matter, and it very clearly deserves this spot.

5. Rick and Morty - Yet another show I discovered this year, during the summer. I’d been meaning to watch it for ages, and I finally got around to it. While the fanbase is pretty much poison, the show is pretty damn good. Maybe not what it’s hyped up to be, but great none-the-less. I’m a big fan of adult cartoons, and RaM isn’t entirely satirical like South Park, and it’s not self-aware like BoJack, but it holds up. It’s probably so popular because of how unique it is.

Standout episode: The Ricklantis Mixup. While my personal favorite of Season 3 was The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy, because I adore Jerry, I think we can all agree that the was the best episode of the season, if not the series. Like, really. Holy shit.

4. Gotham - I began watching this show last year, and caught up to season three around halfway through it. It began to drag a bit, admittedly, like it couldn’t carry it’s own weight - but now the show’s on season four, and it gets a little wild sometimes, but it’s holding quite a bit better, I’d say. I was pretty fucking impressed, especially with the Nygmobblepot stuff.

Standout episode: A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight. Although Mad City: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies from Season 3 is a close runner-up, for all the loose ends it ties up, and so cleanly, too - the winter finale gets this spot. It had me on the edge of my metaphorical seat (since I was actually curled up in bed) the entire time. While Sophia’s character and her motivations had remained muddy since her introduction, her badassery finally came to the forefront, and it was awesome. The way she tore down Penguin from his throne? Incredible. We know he’ll return, as he has so many times, but really, that was so incredible. Considering he’s my favorite character, I should feel worse. However, Sophia executed her plan so well, I was too awed to hate her. Also, Jerome’s back! I’m extremely excited to see Jerome’s role in the upcoming episodes. (Update: Oh, honey, you got a big storm coming...)

3. BoJack Horseman - I binged the hell out of this show just before season four came out, because it was so creative and thought-provoking and hilariously depressing. The fourth season was notably wonderful in a lot of ways, particularly because of Todd’s sexuality arc (the first out asexual character in a TV show!) and how well it was handled, but also because of the mature themes they took on. Princess Carolyn’s miscarriages, Diane and Mr. PB’s failing marriage, BoJack’s struggle to forgive his mother, Beatrice’s own troubled upbringing, Hollyhock’s eating disorder. I watched the whole season in three days when it was first released, four months ago, and I’m currently considering re-watching it after rereading the summaries of each episode to refresh my memory. I’d forgotten how phenomenal it was. It’s on another level - it really is.

Standout episode: Time’s Arrow. Though there wasn’t a single weak episode this season, this one definitely stood out. Following the tradition of uniquely depressing eleventh episodes, Time’s Arrow focuses on BoJack’s mother and how her turbulent childhood affected her. Gorgeously executed, it makes us pity the woman who made our favorite alcoholic horse the way he is, and it concludes with BoJack making peace with his mother, who he had spent so long resenting. It’s just a gorgeous episode. I think I’m going to rewatch it right now, haha.

2. Mr. Robot - I’ve wanted to watch this show since it came out, but I finally began and finished the first two seasons just weeks before Season 3 came out. Since I’m discussing my favorites of 2017, I won’t be talking about those first two seasons here. I’ll be focusing on Season 3, which has been, in my opinion, incredible. What began as a modern, nerdy take on Fight Club has become so much more; a masterfully dark and suspenseful fictionalized look at the looming political state of our world. We’ve gotten new characters (Irving, who’s a gem), we’ve learned more about older but mysterious characters (poor repressed Dom), we’ve had to say goodbye to old characters (I’m still mad about ******), and best of all, this season has been Tyrell heavy, and we even got to see Elliot make peace with Mr. Robot.

Standout episode: S3/EP8, eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko - The previous episode had already established a gorgeously melancholy setting through the use of Mac Quayle's gorgeous production 2.0_6-madame3xecutioner.oga, which, as a huge fan of film scores, I instantly fell in love with. The song is featured during a scene I watched several times - the scene when Angela repeatedly rewinds the explosion, unable to cope with the reality of it. It left me feeling similar to the way I had after watching American Beauty for the first time - like the world was a different shade. I thought this would be the only moment the show could invoke that response from me, but then the next episode came out. Unlike Ep. 7, Ep. 8 didn’t have a single moment. The whole episode brimmed with pain and sadness. The show’s already sad, but the lonely, isolated feeling is often overwhelmed by the suspense, drama, and excitement. This episode let the characters hurt without interruption, and it was wonderfully emotional.

1. The Get Down - I was so thrilled when I discovered this show in April, literally a few days after Part 2 had aired. I downloaded all the episodes for a road trip, and literally could not put it down the entire tme. It blended all my favorite things - the art of rap, the origin and evolution of hip hop, how battle rapping/deejaying came to be. The music was stellar, the cinematography was breathtaking, the acting was (for the most part) wonderful, and the cast was fantastic. I’ve seen some criticizing it, because of its occasionally choppy narrative and the fact that Baz Luhrmann added his usual whimsical take on something that was historically fairly dark, but I thought it was flawless. It was definitely groundbreaking in its amount of representation, and it was fun and colorful and emotional and, overall, just absolutely wonderful. Like many others, I was pretty devastated when they cancelled it. I understand why, but I wish it could get the Sense 8 treatment and receive a movie. There’s too many loose ends - it’s a real bummer. Still, I’m grateful we were blessed with this gem of a show at all.

Standout episode: S1/EP11, Only from Exile Can We Come Home - The final episode gets this spot for a single scene; the one where it alternates between Mylene singing “I’m my #1″ in the hotel room with Jackie and all the drag queens, and the scene where an unreleased Miguel song is playing while Dizzy & Thor paint on each other, and then Shao calls Dizzy his “alien brother.” That scene was easily one of my favorites I’ve ever seen in any show, in my entire life. If that episode was a film, that scene alone would guarantee it a spot on my favorite films list. It was that good.

[groundramon]

I don’t like south park because, at the risk of sounding heterophobic, I’m not interested in the cishet white male’s opinions of our society.

I guess put a (tm) by that white cishet male because, specifically, I think of the one episode of south park I did watch.  Was doing a little experiment where i checked out four of the most popular adult cartoons at the time (/still are, as of writing this) and those four cartoons were Rick and Morty, Family Guy, South Park, and Bojack Horseman.  All of these cartoons I went in knowing what to expect - the only one I expected to like was Bojack, and I didn’t expect to like the first episode.  The two that offended me the most were Rick&Morty and South Park.  Rick and Morty probably offended me because I was probably lowkey hoping I’d change my mind about it, even if I didn’t realize it, and also it’s harder to deal with being right about knowing you’d hate a popular show when everyone around you says its great.  But whatever, it was more of a personal thing.  South Park I went into fully expecting to hate, hoping I could understand where some of this fake-intellectualism came from but ultimately still expecting to be offended and annoyed.

How did it piss me off more than I expected?  How did it piss me off more than Family Guy?  By the way, I googled the ep I watched of South Park - it’s smack dab in the middle of fan-rated lists of South Park.  It’s not like I happened to randomly select one of the worst episodes, or went to the beginning of the series.  I picked a modern-ish episode at random, and it seemed based on my research that it was a fair sample of the show.  Family Guy’s episode I watched I didn’t look up, but the particular ep didn’t have any ableism jokes at Joe’s expense (besides the old age concept of people in wheelchairs being like “fuck stairs” but that’s just understandable, idk if thats ableism or not but its not rlly my decision so ill shut up now) so I was bored but also like.  Whatever.  I think they killed a guy?  I don’t know.  It wasn’t as offensive as it could be but knowing Family Guy’s worst episodes, I’m thankful I managed to pick an ep at random.  (Also I’m not here to defend Family Guy, so if it just so happens that the ep i watched was one of the best modern Family Guy episodes, well, I can’t complain with the conclusions you draw from that either.)

But South Park blew every expectation I had out of the water as far as horridness goes.  The animation isn’t any better in action, the voices are EXTREMELY grating (people praise the VA in this and critique the VA in chipmunks??  It’s the same thing dude), and guess what - it’s just as racist as I expected!

I had a conversation about someone who likes South Park/was trying to defend the episode on dA back when I first watched it - and it was a good conversation, don’t get me wrong!  They helped me make sense of what the episode was at least TRYING to do, which DID make sense.

But the “message” of the episode was, basically, that pursuing dreams is pretty worthless because shitty people always end up in power through unfair circumstances.

And there’s about 15 things wrong with that, but here’s a few I can come up with on the top of my head. - You have the emotional maturity and mental foresight of me when I was 14.  I’ve been actively trying to combat that mindset ever since I was able to recognize my depression because I know it’s bad for me (as an ambitions-driven person).  I don’t need people telling me that the work industry - particularly, the work industry that I want to get into - is unfair as fuck. - Can you imagine the galls of the writers who fucking thought this was a good idea?  Have you no goddamn self-insight?  Like...you realize YOU ARE THIS, YOU ARE THIS PROBLEM, right???  You could become part of the solution!!  You’re an influential show!!!  But nah let’s be racist instead - Did I mention the entire show is about being racist - Did I mention that the show has to have goddamn pedophilia to make this point.  Not tasteful pedophilia or anything!  But definitely pedophilia!  And everyone is just like :] thats just how it is - Okay so specifically, this show singles out a single “fake” hollywood type (and definitely, definitely isn’t intentional that she’s hispanic) and just mocks her for the entire episode.  I don’t give a fuck shit about jennifer lopez and she’s probably problematic but not for any reasons that the people behind South Park care about, that’s for damn sure. - ALSO HEY yknow how South Park creators hate liberals??  Because we fucking criticize them??  And they call us hateful and cruel because we critique them and insult them by name??  LMAO....GUESS WHAT BITCH!  YOU DO THAT FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD TO SEE ON YOUR DAMN SHITTY SHOW!  ILL MOCK YOU AS MUCH AS I DAMN WANT (and I DONT have to do it by implying your significant other is a pedophile, lmao)

God I need to get off my computer but ill add more on mobile if i get pissed off enough but this is just what i can think of off the top of my head

TLDR: South Park isn’t smart, it doesn’t have a right to call itself “challenging society”

[samdukewieland]

Stuck Inside Media Diary Week 7

I realized that I didn’t include my watching of the Parks And Rec special thing that was on. By no means was it perfect, though I imagine that it was the best case scenario for something like that (in terms of being an original story, as opposed to a table/script read that the Community cast put together that’s coming out...ur, at some point). Is it necessary as a piece of media? It raised a lot of money for Feeding America and did its best in trying to shine some optimism in really unsettling times. Kinda nice.

Sunday, May 3

Filmworker, Zierra 2017 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

Interesting take on a documentary about, but not about Stanley Kubrick. It would be unusual for any Kubrick dude to not know or have some kind of inkling that he was a complicated figure (an asshole), especially when it came to making movies, so the point of the movie isn’t really to inform that aspect of of it (though it probably confirmed suspicions, should you have any). It’s more a case example of how toxic relationships like these work and how dangerous it is to deify people, especially your own heroes. Of course, should any of us be given the opportunity to work or be near someone we look up to, how’re do we know what our breaking point is for them before we reach it (unfortunately for Leon Vitali, it wasn’t until Kubrick passed away that he could see just how far deep he was). This is also a pretty good example of how companies and corporations will treat you like garbage just to advance their credibility and how sometimes it feels like a documentary’ll show you that but not really do anything change that (as far as I know).

Mad Men, [season 4 premier] “Public Relations”, “Christmas Comes But Once A Year”, “The Good News”, “The Rejected”

So I definitely haven’t watched Season 4 as a more grown person than I was back in high school when this first aired. So I’ve known Don’s life is a nightmare, but never really processed why or thought about why; I was not the most keen observer (probably because I was thinking about not turning in homework). Now with all that said, jeeeeeeez Don’s life is a super depressing nightmare oooof. Now Season 4 feels like it needs some more runway to catch up with itself and its momentum it revved up to at the end of season 3, so the first couple of weeks feel a little wobbly (though wobbly Mad Men is leagues better than some other dramas at their best). However, the Don and Lane friendship does gets established in this slew of episodes, two men who couldn’t be more different, but can’t help but be bonded by a miserable moment in time. 

Three Busy Debras, “Barbra”

Holy shit this episode is so genius. So many shades of Stangers With Candy in this one.

Rick And Morty, “Never Ricking Morty”

Believe me, I don’t want you to know that I watched this either.

The Last Dance, Parts 5 & 6

These were probably my favorite parts of the doc so far, probably because its the most enjoyable stuff you can watch (hold for destroying any chance Charles Barkley had at winning a championship). Jordan as a brand, both figuratively and literally-the concept of celebrity through a Michael Jordan lens; I could lap that up for hours. It makes me mad that there’s only two hours left (now), because there’s clearly so much more that could be covered, but will leave unturned (more on this next week).

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (Lawyers Cut), “The Not-So-Interesting Beginnings”

Good example of the subjects not getting in the way of the subject matter. Probably the thing that leaves to be desired is seeing the remaining members (this was made in 2009, so Chapman was the only deceased member at the time) together and interacting with one another. You get a little bit of Michael Palin and Terry Jones together, but not in an interviewed capacity, which faintly scratches that itch. If I had to guess, I’d say that they all don’t love being together without Palin there as a buffer, just based on what I know about Monty Python. Lotta strong and brilliantly smart personalities with no real acknowledgement on who’s the best, because they all think they’re the best (maybe not Palin or Jones). Also, this is a surprisingly self-aware interview with Idle, which really shattered any preconceived notions I have for him-might have to do some self-evaluation.

Monday, May 4

Escape From New York, Carpenter 1981 [as of now this is available on Prime]

I’ve definitely lied to people about having seen all of Escape From New York before. Why? Because it made me appear better than I actually was. It and Die Hard With A Vengeance (another great New York movie, though for the record, I’ve still never seen all of it) seemed to be two movies that I kept catching just enough glimpses of throughout the years without having actually seeing all of it. For instance, I had no idea that Harry Dean Stanton was in Escape From New York, which instantly elevates movies for guys like me from being “pretty good li’l B movie” to “this is actually advanced and high art” (this isn’t always the case on the HDS matrix, but it is consistent, see Repo Man). 

Mad Men, “The Chrysanthemum And The Sword”, “Waldorf Stories”

Real fool me once with your racism shame on you you, Roger Sterling. Fool me twice, shame on me (re: “The Chrysanthemum And The Sword”). “Waldorf Stories” is really the first episode put in gear this season, maybe it’s because we’re getting Ken Cosgrove back (hell yeh) or maybe it just feels that way because “The Suitcase” is next and I know it; it’s an incredible build-up, what with hindsight and all that. 

Tuesday, May 5

Mel Brooks: Unwrapped, Yentob 2018 [as of now this is available on HBO]

Listen, this isn’t very good. I think some of it has to do with Brooks, who kind of gets in the way of it all, which is a very hard thing to admit. It’s got some moments, when it actually tells you something about Mel Brooks, but for the most part its just a British guy not taking command of his own documentary and subject and that’s just like barely interesting. Mel Brooks is still a king, though.

Mad Men, “The Suitcase”

This is regarded as the best episode of Mad Men and one of the best episodes of television in the 2010s. I don’t know how it stands up by itself, like I don’t know if it resonates well with someone who’s never watched Mad Men outside of the vacuum. Usually going into one of these episodes that almost transcends its own show I tend to be weary, be it brand new (like when I watched “Pine Barrens” for the first time when I watched The Sopranos) or on a re-watch like this. I trick myself into thinking “well I bet its not that good” because you’re told to the contrarian take is the most interesting take, but I didn’t with this one. I remember the first time I watched it and I don’t think I’ve gone back and watched it in years, so I had forgotten almost all of the context around the episode, except for the argument. This episode is really special, hands down. Don’t love the ghost, but pobody’s nerfect. This podcast talks about it way better than I ever could, listen to that instead of reading this (I just want yer clicks, suckers!)

Wednesday, May 6

Heartburn, Nichols 1986 [as of now this is available on Prime]

I say this as someone who doesn’t travel in Mike Nichols circles (though this is the fourth movie of his that I’ve watched during all this, so maybe I do and I just don’t know it), but why isn’t this trotted out more as one of his best movies? My Nora Ephron bias might be showing a lot here, someone I didn’t really appreciate until I watched Everything Is Copy about a year ago (it’s an HBO doc-meaning it’s available on that platform if you want nice documentary to watch sometime), but this movie’s great! And it has two of the most famous movie stars to ever live as the two lead roles and Jeff Daniels as a bit player. And yet its legacy only feels relevant to those who seek out Mike Nichols or Nora Ephron movies, which feels odd, considering one half of that creative team is best known for The Graduate and the other for When Harry Met Sally (or Sleepless In Seattle or You’ve Got Mail).

Thursday, May 7 

Kingdom Of Heaven (Director’s Cut), Scott 2005

I’ll be honest, I wanted to watch Return Of The King, but that just wasn’t an option. This movie’s technically good, like more Ridley Scott movies are than they aren’t, but really lacks any kind of new message besides “Religion’s pretty fucked up how it made people do that, huh?” Which to a lot of people is super appealing, but when you make a movie that only exists because of Lord Of The Rings’ success, you’d hope for something more (though isn’t this always the case with these kinds of movies?) Like make the movie about David Thewlis or Jeremy Irons. Obviously the battle/fight sequences are really cool to watch and look at, and that’s not an at all terrible critique to give it either. It’s fine that there’s dumb-guy Lord Of The Rings (which is semi-controversial considering a lot of the book nerds already consider Lord Of The Rings [movie] is dumb-guy Lord Of The Rings).

Mad Men, “The Summer Man”

Ah yes, the Don journals and goes swimming episode. It’s good considering it has to follow up “The Suitcase.” I can’t think of any from this particular episode, but (and I think it checks out, cultural timeline wise too) this is the season where it almost feels like the writers/directors figures out that their show was ripe for meme-dom and .gifs-sometimes when that happens it goes real south for the sake of quality, but luckily not Mad Men. 

Friday, May 8

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, Gelb 2011 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

I bet David Fincher loves this movie. I’m not a huge sushi lover (it’s fine, but way too expensive) so I guess I’ve figured that’d be a huge barrier for me to jump over to enjoy this doc. This thing’s got a weird, but great energy to it, where it feels like four twenty-minute segments sewn together; right when you think “well this should’ve just been a quick package on Frontline” it adds another wrinkle. Would probably be constructed more differently now, considering how food docs/series’ work now, but its strengths lie in its simplicity.

Top Chef, Season 17 episode 8

Great Restaurant Wars this season. Very compelling stuff and almost athletic. Andy Greenwald said it best.

Mad Men, “The Beautiful Girls”, “Hands And Knees”, “Chinese Wall”

“Beautiful Girls” is another entry into the best Mad Men episodes (though like “The Suitcase” I don’t think it would necessarily resonate out of context). Iconic closing shot and a great Sally Draper episode, who I’ve feared I might’ve been overrating for the last couple of years. Nah, Sally Draper is underrated even. Big spiral moves for Don as well in here, though hopefully he can course correct after tasting Sally’s rum-cooked French Toast (it won’t!)

Saturday, May 9

Basic Instinct, Verhoeven 1992

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be completely neutral about this movie; your life must be so care-free, so calming, so unconcerned with trying to figure out how exactly to start calling your close friends either “cowboy” or “hoss” as if you’ve been doing it your whole life. Also, listen, I get it about that one shot and it being the thing people kept talking about and the thing most associated with this movie, but nothing and no one prepared me for seeing Gus in a cowboy hat in that bar/club before the Nick/Roxie chase. That and all the ice-pick stabbings. And the opening crime scene. And a whole lot of other stuff that takes place in this movie.

Mad Men, “Blowing Smoke”, “Tomorrowland” [season 4 finale], “A Little Kiss Part 1 & 2″ [season 5 premier]

The letter! Disneyland! Marriage again! A lot of things happen in these four episodes that are the end and beginning of seasons. But when I realized that I was going to get “Zou Bisou Bisou” in this block of episodes, it was game over. I’ve had it stuck in my head every day for a prolonged amount of time since Saturday and the only thing that makes it not terrible is knowing how pissed off Don was that it happened to him. Don’t marry a 25-year-old. Season 4′s a weird one for Betty as the show tried to navigate how to keep her involved with the show even though she and Don aren’t married anymore and it’s not....great. Probably because they keep making her “true” emotional foil children (specifically Glen and to a greater level Sally, but the tribulations that come between a mother and almost teenage daughter shouldn’t be the same as a mother and some weird kid down the block who just happens to be the son of the show’s creator).

[eknowledgetree2015]

Netflix vs Hulu vs amazon prime vs Hotstar: Which is the Best Streaming Service?

The 21st century has made the tv industry obsolete. As the internet opened the doors to entertainment to billions of people. As streaming services took over the dying network media by storm. The viewers at home gained much more by choosing the streaming service over the networking media. No longer they have to pay for every little thing that came with the package, with the streaming service, the viewers are in charge of the service.

Netflix vs Hulu vs amazon prime vs Hotstar

Now in 2019, picking the best streaming service can be a tough thing to do, as more and more prominent companies have started getting into the streaming service pool. For example, now you can sign up for a streaming service for each sport that you used to watch on a sports channel. There is freedom in the streaming service. Before this, people used to pay for every sport on the channel because the channel had that one sport that they liked the most. Now with the streaming service, you can just start your membership with any sport that you want to watch unlike in the tv cable medium where you have to pay for every sport because the channel had your sport. Over the year many streaming moguls like Netflix, Hulu, Hotstar, and amazon prime has expanded their coverage to more people and providing great benefits with the product. Before we decide which is better than which, first we have to go through every one of them. So we can extract the detail information that will conclude which one of them is the best streaming service available in the market. 

Netflix: 

The letter N on a red background has been a recognized symbol for Netflix. They are the ones who started the revolution of streaming services even long before streaming service was a thing. Now they have a massive catalogue of all sorts of shows that appeals to every demographic. The only word that is synonymous with Netflix is the quality they offer for the price they charge for membership. For people who like movies, Netflix has the best collection of movies that you just watch in your home without going to the theatre. They even produce and create movies, and it opens the door to all the small creators with a camera and a dream. And many big-name directors have been moving to the Netflix streaming service to premiere their movie. Because of the streaming service in the future. Netflix has over 150 million members worldwide, 60 million of them are from the United States. Many special shows from the different regions have found a home on Netflix. That’s why Netflix has become a great streaming service for anybody looking for a diverse range of the program. You can expect movies, but with movies, you will get special tv shows, anime, sports, live concerts, and most important them all Netflix specials. These specials are what Netflix considers as watch worthy for the viewers. Out of the famous shows they have under them – Orange is the new black, south park, The OZ, Arrested Development, Stranger Things for the people who want the tv experience. For the people are more into adult theme cartoon, Netflix has a great list of Anime for you – Death Note, Naruto, Castle Vania, and many more. There is another reason that adds more weight to the Netflix, They always keep their list updated every day and add new stuff every season. So, people won’t get bored with the service. Netflix understands watching the same stuff over and over again might make the audience switch to other streaming services. The market competition makes every streaming service to add something new to their list every single month to be the best streaming service available in the market. The viewer will also get the option to download the shows, In case if there is a networking problem in your area, or you just don’t want to be connected to the internet all the time. Netflix also supports a wide variety of devices for you to stream without putting hassle on the set up of the task. Netflix offers a quality dark-themed interface to browser whatever you want to watch. This looks good and it won’t hurt your eyes if you open the app at midnight for a binge-watch a show or watch some movie on the couch. When it comes to the price point, Netflix starts its membership fee for $8.99 a month for the standard definition. For the people with HD tv, if you want the High definition experience of a show, you have to pay a little more than the standard definition users, $12,99. And for the people with a 4k screen, Netflix has you covered with Ultra HD package for $15.99.

 Hulu: 

Hulu started focusing more on networking tv than the movies. Hulu launched its service one year after Netflix launched theirs, in 2007. If you compare Netflix vs Hulu, Netflix has the experience and the more featured diverse list of shows under their belt. Many networking shows found Hulu as their secondary option of broadcasting shows. NBC universal found its place on the internet through Hulu. Now prominent programs of the ’90s can be found on Hulu. Good wholesome shows such as Friends, Seinfeld can now be streamed via Hulu. The question still stands, does Hulu has what it takes to become the best streaming service for the viewer? While other streaming services offering their work for the worldwide audience. Hulu is only available in the united states. They have the eyes of 28 million people to their service. When it comes to Netflix vs Hulu, Netflix has the number. The number for Hulu has been going up every year, in 2017, Hulu changed their business model. As they started adapting more Live tv shows on their streaming service. On Hulu Live streaming service blew up pretty fast. Where more people went to Hulu for a live broadcast without paying any extra fee. Just like every entertainment medium, Hulu is owned by Disney. Hulu had 5 year deal with the CW for streaming of shows such as Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Supernatural, but the contract has been expired, and all the shows have gone to Netflix. When it comes to Netflix vs Hulu, Netflix has a wide range of shows packing in a different category, Hulu lacks the content that another streaming service has to offer. Hulu now has the popular sitcom Seinfeld, Family Guy, and south park. All of these shows are the best what the entertainment media has to offer. With Hulu you will also be able to have access to the past season of highly popular Rick and Morty, Handmaiden’s tale, Chance, Casual, and many other shows to pass your time. Hulu has been adapting to the premiering of the original shows broadcasted on ABC, CBS, and FOX. As the originals shows are getting better reception by the critics and the audience. In Netflix vs Hulu, Hulu takes the cake here by providing the live telecast of the networking shows in your handheld devices. Hulu packs in a lot of channels for a few bucks from your pocket. If you want to watch other than the shows from ABC, CBS, or FOX. Then you have to pay some more, for example, you can watch the Game of Thrones on Hulu for $14.99 a month by getting the HBO channel package. With Hulu, you will get the entire channel under your disposal. Showtime for $10.99, Cinemax for $9.99. At the price point, Hulu comes in $5.99 per month. But this includes the commercial between the programs. If you are not an AD friendly person, you will have to switch to the non-ad Hulu service, which starts at $11,99 per month. 

Amazon Prime: 

Amazon has been reaching towards the streaming service too with brand new content on their list and proving many more benefits to the normal amazon member. We are now living in an age where streaming content has taken the centre stage of all entertainment mediums. And Amazon is not falling behind the schedule. They are on their way to becoming the best streaming service in the market. So far, compare it to the other streaming services in the market amazon prime offers their streaming services for a cheaper price. There are other benefits that a viewer will upon becoming a prime member of Amazon. For example, you are going to get a faster delivery service without any shipping fee. If you shop for a product on amazon, and the selective product doesn’t match the ideal rate for free delivery, then becoming a prime member would get you a free delivery option. When it comes to the show that they have to offer, it pretty lacks lustring. They are not that good while at the same time they are not that bad. Shows such as Jack Ryan, Marvelous Maisel, The Man in the high castle, Downton Abbey, The boys, The expense, and many more. All of these may not bring the best answer to the entertainment that you want, but they will quite a lot of fun to watch with your loved one or sharing with the family. The price tag for Amazon prime sets at $12.99 per month and $129 per year. If you join amazon prime now you are going to get a 30-day free trial which will cover up the shows and the shipping charges for your shopping. If you are a frequent Amazon shopper than amazon prime membership is a must-have, the benefits of the membership also expands to the entertainment system. This makes Amazon the wholesome choice for entertainment. If you are living in India then the prime membership would cost you around 999 rupees, which would land somewhere between $13 – 14 per year.

Hotstar:

By far the cheapest among all the streaming services and providing good quality content to match the price range. Hotstar is owned by the beloved star company. It features a lot of national and international program without making the viewer going for another streaming service to get access to their favourite program. As Hotstar manages to get all of the favourites into one place.  Star network brings all sorts of entertainment channels to the touch of your fingertips. Not only you will have access to the tv shows and movies but you will also get access to the sports section without paying any additional price for it. And if you prefer watching shows from HBO, with Hotstar you will get access to all the mainstream show under one app. This makes Hotstar the best streaming service in the market. As shows such as the game of thrones, silicon valley, West world, girls, True detective will be in one app without signing up for a new deal with HBO Go. And the fun doesn’t have to stop at the tv section. With Hotstar you will have access to thousands of movies from different genera all of it covered under one price point. No additional money is required to access each category of entertainment with Hotstar. Just download the app and enjoy the services.  Hotstar also features the live telecast of sports. For anyone like to glue to their tv in cricket season or football or basketball season, Hotstar is a perfect place to get your sportsmanship going to another level. As all of these will be available to you at the same time as they are being premiered throughout the world. With Hotstar you won’t miss your favourite program or fall sort on tracking your favourite sports team. Because you will be watching your favourite team playing the match on your handheld device and keeping up with the events in your favourite show. The regular subscription plan for Hotstar starts at 199 rupees per month, and 696 rupees per year. The price point makes the Hotstar the best choice for anyone looking for a streaming service on their phone or computer.  That’s it! The answer to the best streaming services available in the market is totally on you to decide which one of them spiked your interest in getting a monthly or yearly subscription. With Netflix, you are going to get access to specials, anime, tv shows. With Hulu you are gonna get the blast from the past shows, with Amazon Prime, you are going to get a decent amount show but extra benefits to your online shopping, and with Hotstar you are going to get every entertainment program and sports package under the cheapest price range. Read the full article

[bellyofkorea]

Gripes

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful house-keeping type day. It was raining in the morning, I did laundry, and I watched all the most recent episodes of Rick and Morty. 

One thing I want to address and hopefully overcome here is my horrible anxiety. I had anxiety before I came here and will probably still have it when I leave, but I want to get better at how I manage it and how I calm myself down. In NYC I’d get anxiety in hectic public spaces - Union Square subway station was a huge trigger for me. So many people walking in really disorganized and blind directions. I felt like no one was paying any attention to anyone else around them (too focused on their phones) and like no one was following any rules or organized routes within the station (the station is absolutely not set up in a way that gives any organized flow to traffic). 

 I’d get anxiety dealing with money, with plans, with work, with my apartment. It really didn’t matter. I would get stressed easily about anything and everything. 

But, my biggest issues always stem from the fact that I get anxiety from interactions with any human. It doesn’t matter if I’ve known the person I’m interacting with for 15 years or 2 years or 2 seconds, I still get anxiety the first few moments of any interaction. I think this is why I’ve always gravitated towards and taken immense comfort from animals. It’s also why I sometimes wonder if I’m on some spectrum of social disorders. 

I learned to lessen my anxiety in NYC by highly structuring my time. To the point that I would have dinner dates with friends planned months in advance. I could pick out where we were meeting, what I would be wearing, what time I’d get there, what train I’d be taking, and what plans I would have afterwards. This gave me illusion of control by me knowing exactly what to expect and that usually would temper any anxiety. 

Seoul has been challenging me a lot because I have a lot of unstructured time and I have the added complication of not being able to communicate properly during the majority of my interactions with people. It’s a complete 180 from what I was doing in NYC and I’m having a REALLY hard time with it. Every morning I wake up feeling stressed, like I NEED to figure out what to do right away. The reality is that I should be able to just enjoy my free time and take pleasure in simple things like breakfast and the morning air on the roof with Honey (the dog). 

I have been eating very weirdly here because I get so anxious about little things like grocery stores or ordering food from a restaurant. On top of that, I don’t feel quite at home in this apartment still, and that adds to my stress surrounding the ritual of eating food. 

In short, to end this long gripe about my paralyzing issues with anxiety, Seoul is definitely challenging me to seek out new ways to deal with my personality quirks. 

ANYWAY. I was originally planning on writing this update about some of my cultural shock gripes, but it made me realize my gripes all stem from anxiety I have... so now you have a backdrop to understanding the following list:

(panoramic from the rooftop)

1. Garbage disposal - The South Korean garbage disposal system is significantly more involved than any US system. The closest comparison I’ve experienced would be Seattle, but South Korea takes the cake for most complicated. At the apartment I have to figure out some weird system involved with separating compostables, plastics, metal, paper, and “regular garbage??”. And I still feel like I’m doing it wrong because my aunt never seems to be pleased with how I put things in the garbage. 

But, whats worse, is that there are no public garbage cans (or at least in the majority of places I’ve explored -- only exception being the Olympic Park). This means that any time I get coffee to-go, I have to carry that coffee cup around with me until I go to another store where I can properly dispose of the cup. Many koreans have solved this issue by just leaving their cups wherever. It’s frustrating to see because this city is so careful with how they handle trash, yet their biggest flaw in the system is not having a better system in place for their public trash issue. 

Lesson learned: never take anything to go unless I’m taking back home. Always drink coffees at the store and dispose of garbage before heading out. 

2. Male/Female differences - This is really broad, but there are a couple things that bother me. Older, professional men, seem to be really entitled and gruff. They will literally walk into me if they think they have right-of-way on the sidewalk or subway. Women, all seem to adopt this extreme hyper-feminine appearance. I feel so butch in my most feminine outfits (who am I kidding, I’ve always toed that line in NYC too). The women all wear the same clothes too, with a few outliers. The other day I miraculously wore a stripped shirt on the same day as every other woman in Korea. I felt like I was suddenly part of an unspoken club. Like there is some memo that goes out - today we’ll all wear loose fitting stripped t-shirts with high-waisted pants. 

Additionally, all South Korean women have dyed their hair to some extent. They’ve lightened it to a weird orange-y brown (the vast majority) or put some highlights in their black hair, or dyed it a different color entirely or bleached it. It makes me really sad - even though I know it’s a cultural phenomena. I feel like these women aren’t really embracing their natural qualities and are trying too hard to appear westernized. I hate it, but maybe that’s just some weird purist in me. 

I could go on, but those are the main points. 

3.  Ajummas hate me. “Ajumma” refers to middle aged or elderly married women in Korea. I think it also can mean aunt, but it is mostly used to describe the latter. Ajummas have a real problem with my appearance. Majority of my experience comes from my aunt, her mother (Halmoni), and a multitude of women that materialize in the apartment... I don’t know who these ajummas are, but they keep just walking in the door at the apartment here. I think some of them are caretakers, some are house cleaners, some are relatives - but none of them are introduced to me. 

The ajummas in the apartment just seem to think I’m some strange foreigner (which I am) and also seem to be really confused about how to handle my presence. Ajummas on the street usually give me the ol’ once over while scowling at me. All ajummas hate my tattoo (most gazes linger there) and they all hate any time I wear tank-tops, which leads into my final gripe. 

4. Womens clothes. I guess this could fall back under my previous gripe, but this deserves its own number. Women in South Korea also seem to always cover their shoulders and arms. I don’t know if it’s a modesty thing or if it’s something about protecting their skin from the sun (pale skin in very “in” in Korea). Women in South Korea will wear short shorts, skirts, and dresses, but always with their shoulders covered - usually all the way down to the wrist. 

For me, being naturally extremely sweaty, this has been an extreme challenge. I love the option of a tanktop because it allows my arms to breathe and usually prevents catastrophic pit stains. 

I want to be polite and match the dress code as much as possible here - but at the end of the day, I usually shed down to a tank-top. That’s when all the ajummas stare at me like I’m a lunatic. 

Okay, that’s it. I have more to say and write about, but this post has probably become one giant block of text, so I’ll end it here. Heres another pic just to spice this post up a bit.

Honey the dog, in the living room of the downstairs part of the apartment (there are two levels to this apartment). I have a whole post about Honey coming up tomorrow morning...