#catch me griping about product planning until the end of time

[saltpixiefibercraft]

Getting to the actual weaving part of weaving is so much fun, the color patterns I designed for these towels popped so nicely and were very satisfying to see come to life out of my notebook.

Turns out pre-planning DOES go a long way /grumble grumble/

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Six Degrees Chiller (Brick/Blossom)

A new cute one-shot in honor of @carriedreamerx birthday! In the same high school AU as part 1, part 2, and part 3, but can totally stand-alone. Also posted on my AO3. Tune in for some laughs and some Reds cuteness!

Summary: Brick goes deodorant shopping. It doesn't end well. (Or does it??)

xxx

Brick squinted at the nine-foot shelf packed with a full color wheel of deodorants and antiperspirants. The sheer surfeit of brands and scents was as daunting to behold as it was absolutely batshit insane—how many ways did people need to not smell like a dirty gym sock?

He picked a random stick and scowled at the label as if it had offended him and all his future progeny. Who the fuck would want to smell like mango lassi?

The squeak of a shopping cart rolling down the aisle sent Brick into a febrile panic for a hot second, and he shoved the saccharine deodorant stick back onto the shelf. A geriatric woman with a hunched back, a bright head scarf, and eyes so folded over with wrinkles it was a miracle she could see anything at all wheeled her cart slowly past Brick, who froze where he stood. She smiled politely at him, and he nodded out of sheer self-preservation instinct. The moment she passed him, he yanked the bill of his red cap lower over his eyes.

“Get a grip,” he grumbled. He was an eighteen-year-old guy buying deodorant, not stool softener. He was totally casual and had absolutely no reason to be so fucking paranoid. Nobody who might recognize him was coming to Cooper’s Market at 8 a.m. on a Sunday.

Brick wiped his clammy palms on his jeans and searched the shelves for what he’d come for so he could hurry up and leave. There it was, fifth shelf in a sea of sleek black and edgy, neon letters: Axe Ice Chill.

“Okay, do you consider yourself more of a music lover, sports star, gaming guru, or style icon?” Boomer had asked as he sat cross-legged on the sofa with his laptop open to the Axe “Find Your Magic” test a few months ago.

“Sports star,” Butch had said on his left, and poked the screen that wasn’t a touch-screen.

“That’s you, moron,” Brick had said, totally above this stupid test. “Pick style icon.”

Boomer grinned. “Oh yeah, your hoodies are so stylin’.” He clicked the next question. “Signature scent? Huh, maybe warm and aromatic?”

“Sounds like one of those Yankee holiday candles,” Butch had said.

Unfortunately, he had a point.

“Well, you're not exactly woody and earthy, and you’re definitely not fruity and sweet—”

“Just go to the next one.” Brick clicked on “fresh and cool” and waited for the screen to load. “Smellin’ good!” the loading page flashed at him. Jesus fucking Christ.

When the quiz presented a true or false statement, Butch moved like he had a bug up his ass and slammed the touchpad before Brick or Boomer could do anything about it.

Boomer tried not to laugh. “Dude, come on.”

“Please, he’s a punk-ass dweeb who’d never make the first move in a fight, let alone on a girl—” Butch had taunted.

Brick punched him in the throat with his Super speed and smiled at the sound of his asshat brother gagging. “Choke and die, motherfucker.”

Butch wheezed as he laughed through the pain, and Brick and Boomer breezed through the more generic age and appearance questions: under 18, long hair (“Mane Man!” the quiz gushed, and Brick almost melted Boomer’s laptop right there), and natural look. After an artificially anticipatory loading screen, a picture of a dude with a clown nose crowd surfing in a sepia Instagram filter appeared on the screen with the generic “Be your best self!” encouragement in blocky letters superimposed upon it, and finally the expert, personalized recommendation for Brick’s body spray needs.

“Because you’re hotter when you’re chill.” Brick had cringed when he read that idiotic tagline the first time, and he cringed reading it again now in the deserted personal hygiene aisle where he prayed no one would find him buying this cry-for-help vanity spritz.

However.

He sprayed a bit of mist in the air and reveled in that cool, icy scent that wasn’t a scent so much as a feeling. Six degrees chiller in a bottle. The first time he’d tried it (under great duress), he’d griped and bitched and slammed his bedroom door to get away from his howling brothers. Settled on his bed with a frown, he had to admit it did cool him off. It was almost pleasant. The smell wasn’t overwhelming like that tiger piss Butch bathed in on the daily. But it wasn’t out of this world compared to the generic shit he’d been using before.

It wasn’t until Blossom sneezed on their way out of AP Lit that her ice breath—and understanding—hit him with the force of a cold snap to the balls.

“Sorry, did I get you?” she’d said, abashed as she covered her mouth with one hand and fished out a bottle of Purell from her messenger bag with the other. Her ice splatter fast melted on his shoulder as his too-warm body absorbed the cold with a bizarre, but extremely pleasant, shiver down his spine.

Son of a bitch, but he had a kink.

Which, of course, spiraled way the hell out of control when he found himself here months later with a recycled shopping bag he’d brought so he could carry the three bottles of Axe Ice Chill he planned to purchase home, because Brick planned ahead and liked to keep his bathroom well-stocked.

Which also, of course, was why at that very moment, fate decided to punch him in the dick.

“Bubbles, you have, like, fourteen bottles of shampoo at home! You don’t need another one,” Buttercup groused at 8 in the goddamned morning on a Sunday.

“Those are all different products, not just shampoo. Honestly, Buttercup.” Bubbles zipped into the aisle with Buttercup on her tail just at the moment Brick had his second panic attack in the span of five minutes and completely lost his shit.

He launched the bottle of Axe Ice Chill so hard into the ceiling that it lodged in there tighter than a prairie-dogging turd.

“Brick?” Blossom’s hand on his shoulder nearly sent him yeeting after his abused body spray, if the sheer mortification didn’t rob him of further motor function and exactly one hundred percent of his brain cells.

Like her sisters, she wore a jacket over her pajama pants. They must have just popped over for some last-minute breakfast staples and a side of peer humiliation. But even in those criminally hideous Ugg boots and five boxes of pancake mix in her shopping basket at 8 on a fucking Sunday morning, her smile glowed.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he returned lamely, because that was all she was getting from him until his neurological functions rebooted.

“Hi, Brick,” Buttercup said, suspicious like usual and searching for some excuse to bust his balls for a laugh. “What’re you doing here?”

The Super sisters had cornered him in front of the Teen Spirit, which came in an absolutely frightful eighteen scents because there was nothing pubescent teenagers needed more than eighteen reassurances that their social survival depended on smelling like a potpourri candy bar.

“Shopping, obviously,” Bubbles said. “Ooh, Brick, you have straight hair. What do you think?” She held up two bottles of brightly colored free-range, organic hair shit.

“I think I was just leaving,” he managed.

“Empty-handed?” Buttercup peered at him like he might transform into a literal dick with ears if she only managed not to blink for long enough. He could smell the threat of a joke on her.

“They didn’t have the brand I wanted.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Bubbles said, genuinely stricken.

“Girls, let’s get going. I really want those pancakes,” Blossom said.

“We better grab more syrup. Buttercup finished it all,” Bubbles said, already moving away. She dropped both hair products in Blossom’s basket, not bothering to choose between them.

“Oh please, everybody knows you and the Professor are the syrup fiends in this house.” Buttercup floated after her and waved to Brick. “Hey, tell that shithead to answer my texts. He owes me $20.”

“Uh-huh,” Brick said, fully intending not to mention anything about this conversation to Butch at all.

“Sorry about your favorite brand being sold out,” Blossom said.

It’s fine, he would have said had she not caught his cheek in her hand and pressed a frosty kiss to the corner of his lips before he could do anything about it. Frozen fernlings crept over his cheek and chin, down his neck, and slowly absorbed through his now flushed skin, and he shivered. Without even thinking about it, he reached for her, but she was already walking away to catch up with her sisters.

When she got to the end of the aisle, she shot him a cheeky grin over her shoulder and had the nerve to wink at him. “Stay cool, Brick.”

Red in the face and high on her, Brick just stood there like an idiot gawking at his kind of unofficial girlfriend and the singular dominating object of his fantasies, be they sexual or otherwise. What was dignity when she smiled at him like that? What was a paltry imitation in a bottle when she kissed him like that?

The paltry imitation fell from its hole in the ceiling and exploded on the tiled floor at Brick’s feet with a winter ferocity that, in that moment at least, rivaled Blossom’s in the heat of battle.

When Brick got home later that morning and Boomer asked him why he smelled like a snowman’s asshole, Brick burned the clothes on his back and spent the next half hour in the shower thinking about how he was going to convince Blossom to make the first move and finally make them official.

xxx

Y’all better appreciate the research that went into this fic. That Axe quiz is real and I took it pretending to be Brick, and it literally does spit out a photo of a dude wearing a clown nose in a club. If that’s not a sign from the Daddy that I’ve chosen the righteous path, then idk what is. Sacrifices to my Chrome search history were made for this fic in the name of celebrating Carrie, ergo, worth it.

[ofmermaidsandmarauders]

quarantine diaries 2020

my submission for the april @jilychallenge! 

check it out on AO3 or FF

Week One, Day Four

“Hey, Lil? Do you know where the backup Lysol wipes are?” James’ voice was muffled due to his head stuck under the washroom sink, searching for said container.

“Yes, you put them in the bathroom closet. Remember? You didn’t want to bang your head on the-” Lily’s voice trailed off as James did just as he had predicted in the previous days, the back of his head smacking on the chestnut door frame. Her soft chuckles filled the space and the sound made him smile, despite the dull throbbing in his skull.

“Riiiiiight.” James moved to the closet and grabbed the wipes, doing another washing of the counters and sink. Lily stood in the doorway with a small smirk on her face as she watched him with amusement settled on her features.

“James, neither of us have used the bathroom since you came in here and did a deep cleaning of the washroom two hours ago. I don’t think this is necessary,” she teased, stepping into the bathroom. Lily stopped after a few steps when James held a hand up to keep her from coming any closer.

“Lily, we must take this virus seriously. They said during the press conference that we must be cleaning every few hours to ensure that things stay clean!” James sounded exasperated as he tossed another wipe into the wastebasket and then stared down his girlfriend. 

“Who said to clean every few hours?” Lily asked, genuinely sounding concerned for this directive.

“The government, Evans! Do you even watch the news?” James pushed past her at this, his eyes rolling back. Lily had to stifle a giggle as she followed him out to the kitchen, knowing that this cleaning routine would continue until he became sick of the scent of bleach products.

Week One, Day Six

 “Hey Lily, do you think I’d look good as a blonde?” James called from the bathroom, turning his head slowly back and forth as he studied his bone structure.

“You’re not dying your hair to look like, Joe Exotic!” Lily yelled back from the kitchen.

“Damn it. Lily said I can’t do it, Sirius,” James muttered, shutting off the fluorescent light as he picked his phone back up. Lily grinned to herself as she heard Sirius swear over Facetime, his plans obviously foiled.

Week Two, Day Three

 “Lily!” James scolded, stepping in front of her from moving any further into their home. “You need to put your clothes in the wash immediately, what are you doing?” He sounded very concerned, pulling his own sweatshirt over his head.

“I’m going to take it off in the bathroom… Where I’m going to go shower… And will put on clean clothes…” She took a few moments to tell him this, not fully understanding his point.

“During the press conference yesterday we were told that we should change our clothes and put them in the wash immediately after coming in from outside. I swear, if it weren’t for me you’d probably be sick by now!” 

“James Potter, you are being ridiculous. We were out in the garden, not interacting with other people.” Lily rolled her eyes and then pulled the sweatshirt over her head, taking her top with it. She couldn’t help but get annoyed with the constant stressors of James and the press conferences, but she understood he was trying to keep them safe.

“Oh… Well, thank you.” James’ cheeks turned pink, despite having seen her naked hundreds of times. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he cast his gaze down to his feet.

“You won’t catch coronavirus from looking at me, James.” 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” he murmured, stepping towards his partner. Lily glanced up at him, the corners of her lips tipping up a fraction.

“I’m just nervous. I don’t want either of us to get sick. It’s week two inside and I feel like I’m already losing my mind. I want to just go back to normal and have our friends over for a board game and movie night. Not that I’m not happy to be stuck inside with you…” His ears tinged pink as he realized he might be offending her. Lily, obviously not offended by the remarks, took a few steps forward and held his face in her palms.

“No touching faces,” James breathed out in a warning, though a smirk spread on his lips after he said it. Lily rolled her eyes and then tipped her own face up to meet his for a brief kiss. “Let’s go wash up.”

Week Three, Day Five

 James spent a few hours perusing social media, abandoning all hopes of working on the new advertising campaign that he was supposed to be developing and was due the following Monday.

“What should we have for lunch?” Lily asked, raising an eyebrow as she entered the spare room and noted James’ slouched position in his chair. She sat down at her own makeshift desk, opening her laptop as she opened Postmates to decide between restaurants.

“Hm?” He murmured, only half registering what she asked.

“I thought we could order in for lunch rather than try to put something together and be only half satisfied. Maybe falafel? Or barbecue?” Lily’s stomach grumbled as she glanced at the pictures from her favorites screen on the delivery app, only to be disappointed to find that the falafel shop was closed.

“What? We can’t order out. What if one of them has the virus? Then we contract it because we ate their food. No, no. I’ll just make us some mac and cheese again, don’t worry about it,” he quickly remarked, waving his hand as if the thought of ordering was absurd. 

“James, I’m not eating mac and cheese for lunch, again. No mac and cheese. No grilled cheese. No ham and cheese. I never thought this would happen but I am so sick of cheese. I just want something satisfying that we don’t have to cook. And the likelihood of us catching the virus because we ordered from a restaurant is so slim. I need you to… Just chill. Okay? I’m ordering us burgers for lunch.” As she clicked through to place their usual meal, she watched James as he huffed a bit, glancing down at his phone a few times. She could see that he had more to say on the matter but was keeping it to himself. “What?” “Well, if we’re ordering I’d prefer falafel.” 

“Too bad, they’re closed for two weeks,” Lily retorted, placing the order before he could say anything else.

“This virus has taken everything from me!”

Week Four, Day Two

 Finding some jolt of productivity, James finished two projects that he had been putting off for some time. At the end of the day, he realized he hadn’t taken the time to watch the daily press conference with coronavirus updates. For a moment, James sat back in his chair and started to freak out. How will he know what the statistics are for cases? How will he know the proper conduct for going out to the store should the need arise? His breathing quickened as he tried to think of all of the unknowns that had occurred.

Then, a follow-up thought occurred. It was the first day in weeks that he hadn’t had a gripe in his stomach as he watched the news, awaiting updates, hearing the death toll rise, wishing the world would go back to normal.

For the first day since quarantine started, James had been able to relax. He had taken the time to focus on his work rather than the impending doom happening outside of his door.

Lily popped into the room just then with a wide smile on her face and a mask in her hand. 

“Up for a walk?” She inquired, waggling her eyebrows as if she had suggested they engage in something much more sinister. Usually James turned down the opportunity for a walk. He was fearful of running into a stranger that would be a carrier without a mask. Instead, he felt motivated today. A walk would do them both some good, even if the mask was a bit difficult to breathe through.

“Let’s go,” he responded, taking the mask from her hand and pressing a kiss to her forehead. At least he had Lily to keep him happy.

Week Five, Day Six

 “I think if I have to stay in this house for another second I am going to go absolutely bonkers!” James exclaimed, slamming his fists on his desk. He was sick of waking up and walking into the other room to go to work, then ending his day and transitioning back to his bedroom. He needed space, freedom to do something.

“As opposed to your usual, calm and stable state of mine?” Lily teased, arching an eyebrow as she walked towards him, her arms outstretched. She placed her hands on his shoulders to try to calm him down. “Hey, it’s okay. Why don’t we go for a walk or something?” She looked outside at the impending storm clouds and chewed on her lower lip. “Or maybe we could go for a drive instead?” 

“No, no. I need to be out. Like, out as in out with friends sitting at a bar and just having a pint. Or wandering aimlessly around the shopping centre until I find a store that I want to go into. I just want normal,” James whined, pressing his chin to the top of Lily’s head, his hands holding her hips. “Why can’t life be normal?” 

“I know, James. It sucks, but life isn’t normal and the best thing we can do is stay home and keep ourselves and others safe.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I can’t absolutely hate it,’ he mumbled beneath his breath, tucking his face into her neck now. “I think if I didn’t have you I would’ve gone insane by week three.”

“James, you wouldn’t have lasted a week.”

Week Six, Day Six

 “Sirius, no. You absolutely are not coming to sit outside my door and talk with me through the glass.”

“Why not? It would be fun. I miss your face, James!” Sirius pleaded over the phone, his handsome face filling the screen. James was adamant that he would not be participating in any social distancing meet-ups. He had read the statistics and knew that neither he nor Sirius had the actual willpower to stay six feet apart from one another. The two were like magnets and would accidentally break the social distancing. It was a risk he was refusing to take.

“You can see my face right now, Sirius. Don’t be ridiculous about this. You can see me when a vaccine has been found,” James told him, a sad smile on his lips. James really did miss his best friend.

“That could be over a year from now, mate. You’re the one being ridiculous about this.” Sirius was stubborn, but James’ anxiety was more stubborn. Sirius knew he was arguing for a losing battle. He wouldn’t be able to change James’ mind. Lily had been checking in with Sirius as well and had been trying to convince James that this would be a good idea, but he had held firm with her too. Even while laying naked in bed, where she was sure she’d be able to change his mind. 

“I know, I know. It sucks. I just…. I can’t risk it. I can’t let either one of us get sick. So we’ll stay here in Godric’s Hollow until it’s safe to go out again. Stay safe.” James waved and then hung up the call, feeling a wave of emotions take hold, ones that he couldn’t specifically identify. He put his head into his hands, taking a few deep breaths as he tried to just figure out what was going on in his head. James felt like he wanted to cry. A hard cry, like one he hadn’t had in years. He felt his eyes fill with tears and he became instantly angry at himself. 

James knew he was privileged. He and Lily both had the opportunity to work from home. None of their friends or family was sick, and they all seemed to be staying inside as well. There was nobody close to them they really needed to worry about, and yet James felt like all he did was worry. He just wanted to give his best friend a hug. It felt so stupid, something they didn’t even do regularly, but he couldn’t help it.

A soft cough came from the doorway, the light creating a halo behind Lily’s head.

“James? Are you alright?” She asked softly, stepping into the room. Lily knew the answer, but asked anyway. Giving him the opportunity to verbalize his thoughts felt important, especially as he had a conflicted look on his face. 

“I’m just being stupid, ignore me.” Despite his flippant tone, James’ hands stretched out to hold hers tightly.

“It’s not stupid. You’re allowed to be sad. And angry. And whatever else you’re feeling. You’ve been such a rock through all of my mood swings. I think you were bound to have one,” Lily reassured him, letting her hand slip from his so that she could massage his scalp.

If he was her rock, she was his lighthouse. She brought light in when he felt dark and brightened his spirits until he felt like he could continue on. 

“I just… I know we’re so lucky to have the privileges we do, but I just wish I worried less about the people I love. There’s no reason to worry, I know that, but I still do.”

Lily sighed and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, wiping under his eyes. “I think it’s absolutely normal to worry. We’re living in the middle of a global pandemic. It’ll be alright. And in the meantime, I’m here for you to share your worries with.” “Y’know, I worry about you most of all, Evans.” His lips quirked up into a small, cupping both of her cheeks.

“I worry about you more,” she teased, letting her lips hover over his for a moment.

“No way. I worry about you most.”

Week Seven, Day Four

 “Lily, NO!” He yelled, holding both of his hands up. “Stay back!” James reached across the counter to grab the Lysol disinfectant spray, holding it up as a weapon between them.

“Wh-what? James! You’re being ridiculous. Help me put the groceries away!” Lily was holding back her laughter, opening random cabinets to put away cans and cereal boxes. 

“We have to stay at least two meters apart at all times! Otherwise I could catch coronavirus if you have it. You could be asymptomatic!” Although his logic would be sound if she was a delivery driver, she was his wife and they had been living together for weeks now. She relayed this information to him again but he refused to listen. “All news organizations report that at least two meters between people, even loved ones, is important to avoid spreading germs!”

“James, you used my toothbrush last week until you could run out to the pharmacy for a replacement after yours fell in the toilet.” She rolled her eyes, pausing as she turned to him. Lily pretended like she was going to launch herself at him from around the island countertop, his eyes widening as he jumped back. “Lily!!” He screamed, the Lysol container flying into the air. He scrambled to catch it but the container fell to the floor with a clang, bouncing as it rolled over to her feet. 

“Hm, it seems I have the disinfectant now. How will you ever protect yourself?” She teased, tossing it back and forth between her hands before she set it on the counter. 

“Stop being ridiculous and put the groceries away.”

“Fine,” James muttered, but not without ensuring there was at least some distance between he and his wife at all times.

Week Eight, Day Four

 One more day and it would be Friday. That’s what he reminded himself as he climbed under the blankets on their large bed. James closed his eyes for a moment, only opening them as Lily joined him in their bed. It had been a long day of working at home, both of them fielding phone calls for their respective roles. He had been grateful when the day was done and they agreed to order in for dinner. 

Reaching over, James pulled Lily closer to his side of the bed. Her nose pressed against his bare chest as she lay silent for a few moments.

“It’s been a rough few weeks, hm?” She whispered, her left hand raising to rest on his cheek, thumb tracing his lower lip.

“Yeah. I know I don’t say it enough, but thank you. Thank you for putting up with me, and loving me, and just being you. I think I’d die without you, Evans,” he murmured softly. His lips pressed a soft kiss to the pad of her thumb before catching her hand in his own, holding it against his chest. 

“No one else I’d rather be stuck in quarantine with.”

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Pokemon Sword and Shield first thoughts

The Negative:

- The reduced pokedex. Hear me out before you go screaming about how we knew this was going to be a thing. While I would always be disappointed with the reduced pokedex like I was with generation 7, Sword and Shield’s pokedex somehow felt less full than generation 7 which is strange because they had about the same (small) amount of new pokemon. My guess is that it’s because a lot of the pokemon we saw in Sword and Shield feel like the ones fans use more often than not. Like sure there were combees and whatever, but I noticed most the pseudos and beloved pokemon like charizard and gengar made it in. And like there’s nothing wrong per se about that, but it honestly felt like less diversity, especially in a game that had 6 new dragon lines.

- The lack of “evil plot” until the end. Look I know there was a buildup in Sonia’s plot about the darkest day and so on, and I know pokemon has done games where the major evil plot event happens at/after the elite four before, but the lack of evil team in these games made it feel empty and lowkey like a ripoff of Lysander’s reveal in X and Y without the team flare stuff. Like I don’t know, the chairman was an interesting villain and the whole “Is he or Olenna really the mastermind?” red herrings thrown through Bede’s story (as a sidenote, justice for Bede tbh, like yeah he’s a prick but he deserved better than he got) and Olenna’s personality was good, but none of it felt developed enough. Like story wise it literally felt like I was playing X and Y but instead of the protagonist, I was Tierno until the last part. It also made the gym challenge/travelling seem a lot longer which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but again, made it feel a little empty compared to past games.

- The version exclusives. No, I don’t care if this is a product of capitalism, I’m still gonna complain about it each game lmao. And I am especially going to criticise it with these games given you had to have a Nintendo switch online account to trade. Like I am someone who despises the idea of in game purchases, so the idea you need one to fill the pokedex is scummy to me.

- Hop. Whoever decided that he needed to make a comment every time you battled and did a supereffective or critical hit move on him needs to be fired because my god was that annoying. Just in general, I felt he was under developed in a way that made him uninteresting and pretty much a Hau rip off. And the sad thing is that like there was the makings there for him to be interesting. Him feeling like he had to live up to Leon + the shame/disappointment he felt from the loss to Bede and then you at the end along with him finding his own way in life and deciding to train to be a professor all sound interesting in theory, but it just didn’t come to life in the game in the same way I found Bede and Marnie’s backstories to be. I also kinda wish they built up the him wanting to be a professor thing more rather than just feeling like they added it on at the end.

- The graphics just popping in. Look, I wasn’t expecting Breath of the Wild graphics given this is the first new pokemon game on the switch and it wasn’t in development for as long. But I am someone who hopes that this gets fixed for future games.

- It was handholdy/linear. So I will gladly admit this was much better than it was in generation 7 and again, I wasn’t expecting Breath of the Wild but when you consider that technically in generation one, once you get cut you can do gyms 3 - 6 (7 if we’re talking let’s go) in whatever order you want and explore like 80% of Kanto, it feels restrictive that they flat out block you out of any town you haven’t been to/aren’t supposed to be in.

The Mixed:

- Sonia’s arc. I love that they showed through Hop and Sonia that becoming a professor is a genuine path because I feel like if I was in the pokemon universe, I would be a professor. But I felt the execution of Sonia’s story felt off. Like she spent a lot of it reminiscing/telling us about how she used to be a battler and supposedly Leon’s best rival and having Magnolia ask her what she’s doing with her life (which in itself was weird, I mean a professor making fun of someone for working towards being a professor???) just for Magnolia to hand Sonia the coat with no on screen resolution of any of that. Like I don’t know, I guess I just would have liked a big moment where she helped with the chairman or something whether that be through battling or her expertise and have that be an “aha!” moment where she decides to be a professor and Magnolia hand her the coat then or something of that calibre.

- The beginning. Basically I thought it was perfect except it still felt too long. Like having the champion give you pokemon, those pokemon showing their personalities in the choosing scene and being able to skip the catching and pokecenter tutorials were amazing. But even with those skippable features, the introduction felt long.

- The gym leaders. I like that Piers played a notable role in the story and his inability to use dynamax pokemon intrigues me. But quite frankly, the rest of the gym leaders are among the most forgettable we’ve ever had in my honest opinion.

- TRs. I feel like this was added for more competitive players who want a challenge which is not me if I’m honest, so I get it but would prefer TMs to stay multiuse lmao. I’m also kinda surprised at which particular TMs they chose to be TRs.

- The experience share. I’ll admit, even as someone who uses the new age experience share, I thought making it compulsory would be a horrific idea. But I genuinely feel like they balanced it out really well given I versed every single trainer with the same team without facing many wild pokemon and was still under leveled for most the gyms. My only gripe with it is that I tend to switch out my strongest pokemon throughout the main story to add a pokemon I don’t plan to use just to evolve it to fill the pokedex, so it being set up to mostly make you under leveled was a bit of a pain because as someone who isn’t big on versing wild pokemon and was just aiming to catch the new ones until post game, I couldn’t afford for my main pokemon to not be getting that experience. But I do recognise that that’s a personal thing and like not an inherit flaw of the experience share and it will definitely work well for nuzlockers and so on. 

- Dynamaxing. Basically I liked them for the raids but they still feel like a worse version of mega evolutions mixed with z moves to me.

- It felt longer than most games. For the most part this is good. Like overall it felt like a fuller game, in part due to the Wild Area being somewhere you can spend literal hours in without getting sick of it. As I mentioned though, I just wish the beginning wasn’t as long and their was more to the “evil plot” part of the story throughout the games.

The Positive:

- The wild area. This was by far the best thing they added to this game. A large amount of the time I’ve spent playing this game has just been messing about in there and none of it felt like I was doing it just to pass time. The weather changes throughout also added some nice variety and change of scenery.

- The raid battles. I thought these were going to be the worst part of the game if I’m honest, but I’ve actually really enjoyed them. I do wish they had a bit more variety, but in general I feel they’re fun and well balanced.

- Bede, Marnie and Oleana. Bede was a pratt at first, but again, his backstory along with game story intrigued me and I wish we dove further into that. Marnie was just a sweetheart and I love her and wish they did more with her connection with team yell and Piers. I also wish we got more about Oleana because I loved what I saw and feel like her team was perfect for her, but wanted more.

- The music. Whoever created the Slumbering Weald music needs a pay rise because that is literally the best music track pokemon has ever had in my honest opinion.

- LionHeartShipping. Leon/Sonia is the Rivals to Friends to Lovers ship we deserve even if it’s not cannon.

- The new pokemon we got in general. Yes I wish there was more and yes there were a few that I think were among the worst we’ve ever gotten (Looking at you Thwacky, Meowth and Cramorant), but in general I liked a majority of the designs even if I didn’t pre game.

- Old pokemon getting Galarian forms and evolving.

- The attention to detail in the speaking text. While a little stereotypical, using British slang was a nice type.

- Not having an elite four. Having a more anime style championship competition to make your way up to versing Leon felt like something new and a nice change of pace. I just kinda wish that it wasn’t the gym leaders you versed in the finals. Like if they wanted to go with the major/minor idea for the gyms, it would have been cool for the gym types not included to be the ones you versed in the finals.

- Exclusive gym leaders/types. So I know they’ve done this before with Iris/Drayden, but it is something that makes playing each version feel unique. Like I don’t think just the two was enough for me to want to play sword straight after finishing shield and I wish that just say sword had grass, electric, ground, fairy, ice, normal, poison and flying types while shield had fire, water, fighting, steel, dragon, ghost, rock and bug types with Marnie and Bede keeping their dark and psychic types, especially with them emphasising the minor/major league aspect, but it was something I hope pokemon continues to do in the future.

- The fossils being created from mixing and matching parts. Feels far more creative than past games.

Final Thoughts:

- Overall this was an okay game and a decent step into the console world. While there are some spectacular aspects of the game, the story leaving something to be desired made me feel like there was something missing on this journey. Given this and the probability of pokemon improving those well done features as time goes on, I imagine this game will be one that in time will be easily forgotten. Still, despite its flaws, I definitely see it as a necessary step to whatever comes next and am excited to see where it leads us.

[duhragonball]

The dumbest part of Terminator Genisys is also the most memorable, because it’s a title drop repeated several times in the movie.  Personally, I like this movie.   Watching T4, I couldn’t help but look forward to watching this one, because I knew it would be more fun.   But T5 was a commercial and critical failure, so I guess I’m in the minority.  I read an article yesterday that talked about how no one even understands why the movie wasn’t more successful, but I think the whole “Genisys is Skynet” thing sums it up pretty well.  I’ll unpack that under the cut.

So in the article I read, it talked about how there was a lot of “chaos” behind the scenes, but no one seems to know exactly what that “chaos” was.   I like to imagine a 67-year-old Schwarzenegger exchanging catty comments with Emilia Clarke, or maybe Matt Smith’s weird face frightened the child actors on set.  The article suggested that maybe T5′s convoluted plot might have been a source of contention, but that’s ridiculous.   Arnold was in Total Recall and Last Action Hero, and Emelia Clarke was in HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series.  They’re used to dealing with nonsense storylines.   Besides, they film these things out of order, and with a big budget sci-fi like this, half the shots would be in front of a green curtain, so they probably had no idea what the plot even was, good or bad.

I think the bigger issue is that they made a fifth movie 31 years after the first one.  How many movie franchises even make it to a fourth sequel?   James Bond, Star Trek, Star Wars, Batman, Superman, Spider-Man.   Some horror movie characrers.    There’s a decent list, sure, but they’re still pretty exceptional franchises.   Also, the thing I notice about a lot of these examples is that the rights to the characters were kept under firm control.   One of Terminator’s problems was that the rights kept shifting from one company to another, and all these legal hassles had to get ironed out before a new movie could be made.  I don’t think that hurt the quality of the films too much, but it spaced the movies out further apart.   T3 was supposed to cash in on the red-hot success of T2, except the movies came out 12 years apart.   That’s a long drought.   Long enough that a lot of potential fans would have moved on to other things. 

T4 was probably supposed to rebuild the franchise, alongside the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series, but they were trying to do this without Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, or James Cameron.   But why?   T3 and T4 weren’t that big a draw, so why keep at this?   Someone thought that the rights to this series was still worth something, and if they just kept making Terminator content it would bring back the glory days of 1991.   And then the rightsholders would go bankrupt and someone else would purchase the hot potato and try all over again.

Somewhere around the late 2000′s, all these big shot movie people decided that everything needed to be a trilogy.   Maybe the success of Star Wars had something to do with that.  My biggest gripe with the 2011 Green Lantern movie was that they could have made Sinestro the main villain, but they waited until the very end of the movie to show him turning evil, all to set up a tease for the sequel.   Except there would be no sequel because the movie they made wasn’t successful enough.    So instead of putting everything they had into the one movie, they deliberately held back for the sake of two or three movies, only to sabotage the one movie they actually got to make.   T4 was supposed to be the first part of a trilogy, but it flopped, and then someone new started over with T5, which was also supposed to be the first part of a new trilogy.   Except it flopped too, which led us to T6.   I don’t know if Dark Fate is supposed to be the first part of a new trilogy, but it doesn’t matter, because now it can be part of the “Failed Trilogy” Trilogy with T4 and T5.

I think about this sort of thing a lot.   Entertainment marketing is always in your face, always trying to convince you that this new product matters, and you need to get invested in it, because it’ll be worth your time.   That’s why people were so pissed off about the final season of Game of Thrones.   They went into the series expecting everything to follow some sort of big plan with a huge payoff, and then the showrunners just improvised a bunch of stuff at the end.  So all the time they put into the early seasons just feels like a big waste.   The entertainment industry is aware of that phenomenon, but they don’t understand how to deal with it.   The solution is to make solid storytelling plans, well in advance.   The industry thinks the solution is to pretend they did that, and hope the customer believes it long enough to pay for admission.

I don’t know if the general public thinks about this stuff as much as I do.   Maybe they think about it even more, but either way, I think it’s possible to catch on to the game without being fully aware of it.   They made T5 hoping to remind people of how much they enjoyed T2, and people watched the trailer and saw Old Man Arnold and thought “This looks like that T3 movie my dad made me watch as a kid.    Pass.”    Or they were like me and thought “They made a fifth one?”   Or they thought “Where’s Christian Bale?” because they enjoyed T4 and wondered why the sequel had nothing to do with T4. 

A big problem with T5 was how they refused to call it “T5″.  They wanted to do a “reboot”, kind of like how T4 was a “reboot”, except that one didn’t do the trick, so now they were going to reboot it again.  That should have been their first clue that this wasn’t going to work, but instead they went in the opposite direction from T4.   “Okay, the new cast and new direction wasn’t what people wanted, so we’re bringing back the old characters from T1 and all the big special effects from T2, and we’re going to make nonstop callbacks to all the classic movies.   But it’s not a sequel!  No, this is a whole new story!  We’re starting fresh, which is why we cast the guy who starred in the original movie!”

Let’s be clear: Using Arnold Shwarzenegger in your Terminator reboot is like casting Adam West to star in Batman Begins.   I don’t care if he still looks good for his age, and I don’t care if he’s the only actor who can do the character justice, and I don’t care if they came up with a plot device to explain why the cyborg looks like an old man.    His age isn’t the issue.  The issue is that you keep putting the same guy in every movie and expecting people to think this is a clean break from the previous movies.   Well it isn’t.   Terminator Genisys is Terminator 5.   The screenwriters supposedly made a big whiteboard with all the timelines, and they didn’t count T3 and T4 in their “canon”, and the fans can make all the multiverse diagrams they want, but it doesn’t matter.   The only timeline in this franchise is a straight line that counts 1, 2, 3..., and this is 5. 

You can say, “Well it has to be hard reboot, because of all the things that contradict the previous movies!”   But to that I say “This whole series is about altering the past to change the future.   Literally any discontinuity can be handwaved as a change in history.   Kyle’s backstory in T5 is very different from his backstory in T4, but it doesn’t matter, because I can just say that these were alternate timelines, or it’s the same timeline that’s been mutated by all the time traveling.  Terminator Genisys embraces that concept, because Kyle’s childhood gets altered within this movie, so it’s impossible to suggest that T4 and T5 are incompatible with each other. 

And that’s what went wrong with this movie.  They were so determined to present it as multiple, contradictory solutions to the same problem.   They wanted this movie to be a reboot, but they also wanted it to be a back-to-basics approach, while at the same time they wanted to go in a bold new direction, while simultaneously making the whole thing nostalgic.   And in trying to check off all of those boxes, they wound up satisfying none of those objectives.  Audiences got confused.   If the plot didn’t confuse them, then the branding of the movie certainly did. 

The plot reads like a fan theory: The whole series has involved this cycle spanning 1984 to 2029.   Kyle leaves 2029 to travel back to 1984, and every movie happens in between those years.   Okay.   So what if someone from after 2029 sent a Terminator back in time to before 1984?  All bets are off, now, right?   John Connor won’t expect this because he only knows about things up to 2029.   And everyone has assumed that world history up to 1984 has been static.  

T5 introduces “Pops” a T-800 sent back to 1973 to protect Sarah Connor as a child.   He becomes her surrogate father, and they plot to prevent Judgment Day.    So when Kyle Reese goes back to 1984 to save her, he finds a completely different situation, because history’s already been changed. 

Back in 2029, just as Kyle leaves for his trip to the past, John Connor gets assimilated by The Borg  Doctor Who   a T-5000 Skynet.  I guess it was just waiting for him to think he won the war before making its move.   Skynet converts John into a T-3000, an experimental model that replaces and duplicates human tissue at a cellular level.    The result is a black sand monster that looks and acts like John, with all of John’s memories and personality, but now it’s loyal to Skynet.  Skynet sends T-John back in time to ensure that Judgment Day proceeds without a hitch.  

So after that, it’s basically just the standard formula from T2, 3, and 4.   The good guys have to infiltrate and destroy a building to kill Skynet, while a Terminator hunts them down.   Except this time the Terminator is John Connor, and he’s actively fighting to protect the infant Skynet.   They defeat him, blow up the building, and everything seems pretty cool, except Skynet’s still backed up in the basement, so if anyone digs it up we’ll be right back where we started.  

I don’t think this is too awfully complicated.  I mean, it’s a time travel story, like every other movie in this series.  The goofy part is that this movie tries to account for alternate timelines, and characters being aware of changes in history, and that’s a tricky thing to do.   For example, T5!Sarah is very different from the original version played by Linda Hamilton, but she knows what was supposed to happen to T1!Sarah, even though that version of Sarah no longer exists.  

And this is where that screenshot comes in.    See, Kyle has no idea what’s going on when he arrives in 1984, but he had a vision of his younger self during his time trip.   He somehow remembers things that didn’t happen to him, but his alternate timeline self.  This never gets adequately explained; Pops just says “Yeah, that’s a thing that could happen, I guess,” and everyone moves on.    The point is, Kyle sees his younger self reciting “Genisys is Skynet,” and “Judgement Day is in 2017″, and that’s how he knows when and where to go to defeat Skynet.  Sarah wants to time travel to 1997, because that’s when Judgment Day was originally supposed to happen, but Kyle convinces her that they need to go to 2017 instead, and it works.   Then at the end of the movie, they have to track down Kid Kyle and ask him to recite the same message over and over again.   That way, Kyle can hear it when he makes the trip from 2029 to 1984.  

And... that’s pretty dumb.   The whole movie insists that everything has changed and nothing in history is static.   We never find out who sent Pops to 1973, or who sent the T-1000 to kill Sarah and Kyle, but the point is that history got completely overhauled because of these things.   And yet, Kyle seems to think that he can arrange a predestination paradox to ensure his victory over Skynet.   Why would that work?  John was trying to arrange a predestination paradox to ensure his victory over Skynet, and then T-John was trying to arrange another predestination paradox to ensure Skynet’s victory over him.  But none of it worked because history is apparently too fluid for that to matter.   It worked in the earlier movies (or at least it seemed to work) because those films didn’t push too hard on the idea of changing history.    John and Skynet could nudge fate, but they could never push things too far.  T5 declares all bets are off, but it keeps laying odds anyway. 

I think that self-contradiction is what bothered movie-goers in 2015.   It’s a reboot starring the old guy who was in the first movie, and it tells a story of altered timelines while also insisting that certain events can be made permanent.   So people leave the theater wondering what the hell the point was supposed to be, and word-of-mouth convinces audiences to steer clear.   There’s also a lot of plot danglers in the movie, like the question of who sent Pops back to 1973, or how he knows so damn much, but the answers were left for a future movie, one that never got made.   I think audiences in 2015 knew that they’d never get their answers in T6.   They knew T5 had nothing to do with T4, and they didn’t trust the studio to follow through on any of this. 

Oh, and “Genisys” is just the name of a fictional operating system, one that promised to do a lot of the same things Skynet was designed to do in T3.   It just had a different name, probably to keep nosy time travelers from finding it until it was too late.  T-John didn’t count on Kyle having that weird vision during his trip.  Like so many other elements of T5, the title was just slapping a new coat of paint on an old idea.   It looked mysterious and intriguing on a movie poster, but you go to the theater and find out it’s just Skynet again, and we know how Skynet operates by this point.   

With all that said, I do like this movie in spite of the marketing arrogance that fueled it.   They wanted to fix up the franchise and failed, but the movie itself is fun to watch.   T4 takes a friggin’ hour to get started, but T5 opens with a big future battle with lots of robots, and then you see two T-800′s wrassle, and then you see a T-1000 kick ass until it gets corroded to death with hydrochloric acid.  John turning into a T-3000 is kind of bizarre to me, but he works as a villain, and his black sand body makes for some cool effects.   Magnets seem to be his main weakness, and the movie does a lot of cool stuff with that.   There’s also a part in the hospital fight where he whacks off the valve on a pressurized gas cylinder, and it flies all over the place like a rocket.   And there’s a helicopter chase.   I’m not hard to please.  

I think the big problem with T4 was that most of its action sequences were too grounded in reality.   There are parts of T4 that look like a present-day war movie, or some other sci-fi film, like Independence Day, or Starship Troopers.  The Terminator movies were all about cyborgs hitting each other with present-day stuff, like trucks and toilets and school buses.   T4 can’t deliver on that, but T5 can, which is why I like 5 better than 4.  It also does a better job at holding my attention.   Both movies use the same twist and reveal it at the same time.   Marcus Wright finds out he’s a cyborg about halfway into T4, and John Connor reveals himself to be a T-3000 about halfway into T5.    But when T5 makes its play, I feel like I’ve seen a lot more stuff happen up to that point.   It helps that they didn’t give away the Evil John twist in the trailer. 

[mineofilms]

RAW Used To Be War, Part II…

RAW Used To Be War, Part II… If you want to read Part One from 4/4/2017, Here is a link to that blog...

https://mineofilms.tumblr.com/post/159196425113/raw-used-to-be-war

 I still hate the verbiage "Sports Entertainment." It is and always will be Professional Wrestling... I am still overly critical of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) for the way it presents its product to us. I still feel its way tooooooooooooooooooo much RealityTV and not enough Professional Wrestling...

I have timed RAW a few times to see how much actual product we get for 3 hours and 5 minute with commercial interruptions. In most cases, it is a hair under 2 hours of a show skipping TV Spots. In that 2 hours, we might actually get an hour of actual professional wrestling in the ring. The show has way too much talking about nothing in and how many times they will rehash what happened movements before or a week before, its constant. It's like they just phone the show in weekly...

The in-ring work is still very good. I am never going to have a problem with these athletes going after it for the best fan reaction period. I know enough about the business to know that in WWE most of these guys and gals have little control outside of the actual in-ring-action. That is still pushing it.

FYI, the ladies of the WWE are killing it. I am actually never bored with the lady matches. If this was 2010 I'd go do laundry the old fashion way and come back. I am glad WWE was able to identify that having models that cannot wrestle or look like they can wrestle was gonna cut it. I do not want to be all name-calling on my blog, but there were Diva's that absolutely had no business being in professional wrestling outside of being a full-time valet/manager. Glad that is sorted...

I still feel that Smackdown (The B Show) is still just that.  I do not know if it is the PG feel I get from WWE or what, but Smackdown hasn't been worth watching in years....

The fans every week on RAW & Smackdown speak directly to WWE and WWE does not listen. Every week they chant what they love about the show and what they hate about it and rather than Vince/Shane/Stephanie recognizing this and trying to do more creative things they just keep forcing storylines and characters most of us cannot stand.

We love our Superstars, but the fans really hate how they are portrayed and how the stories go. Since WWF changed their name to WWE, went PG, did the Split brand is where, for me, personally, it has been very hard to watch. What TripleH has done with NXT is great, but what is starting to happen is the NXT talent is better at Professional Wrestling than the current WWE talent. Not just in the ring, but story-wise as well.

Even Randy Orton is boring as hell. We get it, dude. You hear Voices lol... Storylines like that are so predictable. I have sat there many of hours and called out what was gonna happen next. WWE Creative lacks that most important thing, Creativity... I get it... Vince will Veto anything he doesn't like even if said idea could be great for the shows.

History in sports tends to repeat themselves. Al Davis and Ralph Wilson both owned their NFL teams into their 80's, Ralph was 90... They made all the decisions till their deaths. How did that all workout for the Raiders and Buffalo Bills? It's only now that both franchises are getting out of the gutter and started to become forces in football again.

How much of Vince's madness do we have to tolerate before his choices hurt the product? Well, its already too late, it hurts. Now though, we have a choice...

It's called AEW... AEW... AEW... ALL ELITE WRESTLING... This is the product we have wanted for a decade now. It took them almost NO time to make the names on their roster household names. On an episode on the WWE Network, Ruthless Aggression Episode 1, they talk about the WCW invades WWE angle and used all the B Team Talent because all the A-Lister's were under contract and couldn't wrestle till the contracts ended. So WWE pressed forward with this angle and it killed nearly all these guys' careers.

WWE claims we didn't know these guys nor cared. Parts of that are true. I am bringing it up because in AEW... No one cares. The fans love these guys. Most of them did work in Mexico, Japan and the US Indi Circuits. By the 2nd PPV for AEW all these guys, face and heel alike, got-the-fuck-over with the fans.

So if WWE has this attitude towards AEW they may very well lose this new war in the dominance of professional wrestling.  AEW brought back the ATTITUDE in professional wrestling. Its a throwback to the old days of NWA/WCW before it was in decline. No Hogan/Nash to make bad business decisions. Even though I am a huge fan of both guys as wrestlers. As bookers and runners of a wrestling business, not so much. They had a huge hand in how WCW started to decline. TNA was doing well until they put those 2 guys in charge. This really isn't my opinion about this. I am just rehashing what is widely accepted by fans as to why's and how's of this happening.

AEW has money... Owned by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, he is a billionaire. His son and Cody Rhodes are very good friends and that is how AEW was born. Cody has a lot of inside information on how to run a wrestling business, has his own ideas, leans on the fans for support and has connections to talent. Cody runs most of AEW operations, but when you watch the show you see how many people he has close to him from years past...

WRESTLEMANIA approaches and WWE Raw and Smackdown has been the worst I have seen it. I am not even watching. I get the 5-minute version on YouTube now. I only watch the 4 major events of Summerslam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. I have to be honest here. This year's events have been really bad. Just god awful. It if wasn't for my friends coming over and us drinking the whole entire time I probably wouldn't have watched at all.

We are approaching WRESTLEMANIA 36... These are the weeks its supposed to be GREAT... Its Terrible... WTF...

Same problems. Poor Character Development. Poor Booking... Poor Storytelling... Poor and/or Unsatisfied Finishes. WWE network at $9.99 is the only reason I still watch it or have any interest at all.  Another thing that has been bothering me is the deal with Saudi Arabia. I like that we get to see matches we normally wouldn't see and such but these events are a huge problem... The wrestlers in most cases do not want to go. John Cena refuses to go because of how Anti-America Saudi Arabia is. The US Gov't has told WWE not to go but they do it anyway. There has been drama and issues with pretty much each show.

Again... WWE doesn't listen, not even close... Do you notice they will say the name of the show but won't say it is in Saudi Arabia... MMMMMmmmm...

As we approach Wrestlemania 36 we now have to prepare ourselves for an almost 8-hour show. This is crazy. 8 hours... I get it... Its the biggest show of the year. WWE makes a considerable amount of their yearly profits from this one show. The ticket prices are so insane one has to pay for them as a payment plan in most cases. Really, do we really need all that? I remember when a mere 4-hour show was considered obscene. Wrestlemania IV was over 4 hours, the 1st one that was and I remember as a kid being, whoaaaaaaaaaa, really...

RAW used to be the highlight of Wrestling and now it is just a footnote. WWE creative has shown it can make a great show but it only happens a few nights a year. Why The Fuck Can’t EVERY RAW be good every Monday???

Anyways… One more thing I wanna touch on… The Fans… I hate the term WWE Universe to describe ALL PRO WRESTLING Fans. That is complete horse shit. To US it will always be Professional Wrestling. Not Sports Entertainment. To US it will always be the WWF, not the WWE. To US we are Wrestling Fans, not the WWE Universe. FK right off with that Shit...

Hey, don't even have to gripe anymore about WWE when there is AEW that is catching up and perhaps passing up WWE as we speak...

The fans have been dictating what they want from WWE and WWE keeps under-delivering to a point its sick.

If fans are chanting "this sucks." WWE should listen. The Wrestling Fans do not care about the WWE’s Creative Political Process of who gets “over,” who’s a “face” or “heel” or “The Champ or what angle they want to press.” The Fans do... All WWE has to do is LISTEN... 

RAW Used To Be War, Part II… By David-Angelo Mineo 2/25/2020

[stevedonnellyfaith-blog]

My Breakfast With Jim (Post 76) 2-18-15

                        My trip to Ohio included a breakfast to renew the oldest and in many ways my best friendship with my elder brother Jim.  I am close to all my siblings and have shared different experiences with each of them.  With Jim I shared childhood, three years at boarding school north of Boston and another two years at USNA.  Through the ups and downs of life it is helpful to have someone to compare notes with especially in times when you are considering a course change.  In a family of late sleepers, breakfast was a convenient time to arrange for some individual instruction from a trusted adviser who knows me inside and out.

We have drifted away from each other for some periods over the years but our waitress left us plenty of time for catch-up as we were largely ignored in the Bob Evans restaurant that was an unexpectedly popular choice for breakfast on a snowy Sunday morning in Streetsboro, Ohio.   Our conversation ranged far and wide from my job search to family dynamics and updates on each one of our several children; we have four apiece.  While all lives are dissimilar in many respects, my brother’s and my professional and family lives are remarkably similar, enough so to be helpfully comparable.  His version may be an oil painting on ta sketch related to the one on which I have brushed watercolors.  It has been over the thirty years since we spent last spent daily time knocking pucks around Annapolis, Andover and Cleveland rinks in the late eighties.  While he has continued to wear the uniform of our country, my military service ended years ago.  Still, talking with Jim allows me to enter a comfortable space that is only available through the door of true friendship.  Our comfort and trust allowed us to discuss life’s difficulties in an open manner that is available only among natural or spiritual brothers and sisters.

I relayed to him incidents which I now understand to be consolations and desolations, but for many secular years I referred to as successes and failures.  In those days I rode the roller-coaster up in exhilaration and anticipation.  Inevitably, later, my plexi-bodied car of life plunged downward into periods of fear and disappointment.  The tide of my career came in and ebbed out.  I aggravated my bosses, or my bosses aggravated me, leading to a job searches aimed at procuring a higher salary, more responsibility and an increasing stack of materialistic poker chips by which I measured my progress in life … until Pam’s illness changed my calculus.  Now my value equations factor in the progress of my soul, development of my children, and impacts upon our family relationships.  At first, naively, I expected that navigating by this new more Christian compass would ensure that my journey forward would proceed in tranquility.   Nicholas’ and Stephen’s illnesses have dispersed the fairy dust from my expectations. Reading scripture is helpful in cultivating a realistic attitude that Christian life will include some choppy water and even, occasionally, heavy rolling waves.  What Gospel sailing never lacks, though, is a dependable beam from the lighthouse of the Holy Spirit and scriptural GPS to guide us to right decisions.

It was particularly helpful for me to hear about the tribulations of Jim’s son Jack as he seeks to follow his father and me in attending college at the Naval Academy. He is a great candidate and should have been accepted long ago, but his application is on hold due to an annoyingly trivial medical issue that has been resolved by all true measures, but not on the imperialistic and bureaucratic tallies of the Uncle Sam.  The nail-biting wait is truly maddening when examined with a secular slide-rule, but there is the rub.  God’s will is the most important factor in all Christian quadratic solutions.  Delays and denial may frustrate us, but if we live our lives in a way that is submissive to God’s will, set-backs are merely His guidance and teaching to improve our souls in preparation for our ultimate life with Him.

I remember the impatient and frenzied aggravation that I would experience when an obvious professional path forward for me was temporarily or permanently blocked.  Couldn’t God see that I could help such-and-such company with their quality and productivity?  The position was made for me.  Why had the potential employer rejected me?  I would sulk.  But then an unexpected good would replace my frustrated ambition and retrospectively everything would make sense.  I could see the flaws in my original plan in the rear-view mirror and how ingeniously God’s plan maximized the happiness of my life going forward.  For instance, I resisted moving to California up until the eleventh hour, but in the end was brought to Brentwood to live in the near vicinity of the best facility to operate on brain tumors in the world.  Pam’s life was extended and the pain of her passing was lessened by our submission in allowing God to bring our family to the West Coast.

God observes our lives from a high vantage point in His omniscient lighthouse outside of time. He corrects our course by commands to the helm and lee helm that can send us to the rails to cough our cookies and complain … until we spy the avoided shoal water or squall.  Good Christians submit to His will, but some others prefer to plot their own track through life.  God allows those people to reject His plan; to deny their choice would be to negate the merit of our choosing to follow Him.  A path rejecting God can lead to great worldly success and the amassing of hordes of desirable material possessions, but that well-worn trail leads ultimately to temporal pleasure not to lasting happiness.  God is saddened by the rejecters, who hurt themselves and others. His plan for us intends salvation for all, but some prefer the thrill of gambling to the happy return on a lifelong investment in love.

The course chosen through Christian discernment is often as frustratingly slow as proceeding up a narrow channel in fog. Plenty of prayer is required along with repeated graspings and turnings of doorknobs to see which portals are open and which ones are locked.  In my case, for instance, the handle to the door into the Deaconate appears currently barred tight.  Rather than fume darkly, yank repeatedly and yell impotently, I will seek a handle that yields.   Maybe someday, years from now, I will discover a sign on the Deaconate door that says “push.”  For Nicholas, his cancer will prevent him from pursuing naval service at least for the next five years.  He could gripe about eventualities and stew in his disappointment, but instead, he will move forward using his God given talents to serve the public good in a civilian capacity.

In the past, for long periods, no knob would rotate in my hand at all.  I would worry and pray desperately for my deliverance from whatever mess I had created at the time.  Seemingly there was no relief.  My impatience drove me beyond consternation as I itched to move forward in any possible direction.  For what seemed like an eternity, as my guide, working from above in a vantage point much superior to mine, thwarted each instinctual effort to extricate myself out of the latest quagmire.  I was forced to remain stationary and cool it while the fruit ripened, until I uttered the necessary words of forgiveness, finally learned the essential lesson or in humility performed the required service needed by some other innocent person, thus proving that it wasn’t all actually about me anyway.

It is with this hope that I sat sipping ice tea and eating an omelet with my brother, discussing resumes and hiring particulars for government work.  Maybe I will be allowed now to muscle the baton upward and pry the sixth and last dog loose on the door to my future.  Maybe I will be able concoct a living arrangement that meets the needs of my oldest son and youngest daughter, a solution that also serves the interests of the two goodhearted young adults sandwiched in between.  The answer eludes my befuddled calculating skills as if I had skipped my homework and failed to adequately prepare for this important exam, which by my calendar years might be a midterm.

I remain convinced despite all the turmoil on this second anniversary of my wife’s passing that change will come.  She is positioned in an opportune place to intercede for me and has a strong interest in the well-being of her earthly children.  I know she loves me; I know Jesus loves me.  I expect change will materialize in one sort or another, in His time not mine.

[mitsuhasnolifebutwatchesanime]

Miss Hokusai- 2015 movie directed by Keiichi Hara, available on DVD and Blu Ray now, buy it from your local retailers and support the American anime industry.

I’ve been waiting practically two years for this movie and I FINALLY bought it. Lord, that took forever. I’m hoping the next few anime releases that come out come out *a little sooner* than it did. Was it worth the wait? Find out!

Miss Hokusai is an anime movie adapted from the manga by Hinako Sugiura about the famous Ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, and his daughter Oi. The manga itself is very episodic and covers the lives of the two as artists, and some of the more supernatural parts of Edo, Japan.

Was it worth the wait? Yes, very much so. I’ll need to watch it a few more times and plan on showing it to some friends as soon as I can (for once I didn’t watch something with my editor). It’s a beautiful image of Edo, Japan. There’s this fun anime realism that catches actual Edo, and then paintings of Edo, literally in some of the hands of the works of the artists we meet, or metaphorically as the world itself is transformed into famous works of art.

One of my favorite parts of the movie was the character designs. I watched this one with my dad (who asked questions ever five minutes), and he had a little trouble telling characters apart. I, on the other hand, no trouble at all. I was incredibly impressed by the very subtle differences in characters, and the diversity in the designs of every character, big and small. Another thing to note is everyone looks like they stepped straight off the pages of a traditional ukiyo-e print. Their style is very reminiscent of the way Kabuki actors are often depicted and all have very great character designs that suit their personality or class or profession.

The story itself (the manga) is very episodic, so turning that into a movie didn’t quite work for me. The stories themselves were very good, but they didn’t feel like any sort of rising action, though the main “plot” itself felt very late in coming in, and then somewhat rushed to very sweet, but somewhat dissatisfying ending. If anything, I’ll pick up the manga for the story, but the movie was a great visual adaptation, I think.

Now, this was made by Production I.G., ole’ CG master extraordinaire. If you are incredibly repulsed by CG, you probably will be able to stomach this one. I honestly forgot Production IG did this one after a while until some pretty obvious, scene setting CG would pop up. Otherwise, the anime was beautifully animated, flowing gorgeously from realism to art in the blink of an eye. I think the CG that is there, while being obvious, is not obtrusive or breaks you from immersion, which is what it’s *supposed* to do. My only main gripe is the soundtrack. Being set when it is, I was expecting more of a traditional Japanese orchestral soundtrack. Instead, it was some of that, mixed with modern rock? It was very confusing and unpleasant.

As I said before, this movie is set in Edo, Japan, so it’s a beautiful snapshot of the romanticized era, but also it’s not any kind of kid-friendly, dumbed down, two-dimensional caricature of Edo. There’s prostitution prevalent, depictions of hell and the afterlife, death, and sex. It’s not inherently graphic though. It felt honest and down to earth, unlike other anime depictions. I would warn anyone going in about the brothel scenes though, since they surprised me.

If you like historical pieces, art, or anything involving Japanese history or art history, you’ll like this one. I highly recommend it to watch, especially now that it’s out on DVD. I wish I could have seen this one the big screen.

[lawrencecain]

My Ex Owes Back Child Support Surprising Ideas

There is little you can work on fixing a relationship with someone, and you will get back together after a break, you need to make contact with your boyfriend, husband or boyfriend that he wants; usually he will ignore you forever.With that said, if you use them correctly.Did you treat her with your loved one soon.A case of not having time to take time if used correctly.

This will take charge of her attention from you.Be grateful for their ex back by pleading for their partner by deciding to break up with you, she wants you to discover what you had tried to get back with your ex anxious to get his or her on the Internet, you can try to find a few tips on how to get him back when we call to tell him this.It did not actually have a lasting relationship with because you do stupid things, and move on to discover yourself again.This is an amazingly simple, yet very effective - and how come you didn't look like you are reminding them of these forms of communication is key.When she hears that you desperately want to get him back.

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For example, say you will blow it, make sure her ends will meet.Do something that everyone is telling you that not even deserve to have someone that makes them worth being with.If you just might find somebody that does, then their advice work out a plan of action and use them.And today scientific modern research is rediscovering the truths about ancient Wicca magical spells and experience a fruitful and happy to be friends with your friends, focus on changing them.Here are seven critical things you do about it.

There are probably are the people selling these products are sincere, honest, stand-up folks.Women like to see you look at life in a certain way.Negative attracts more negative and pretty soon it consumes your energy begging for forgiveness from your ex's fault, you're never supposed to figure out what was it him griping at you?I was just atrophy of caring and it is your life again - she just needs time to consider what you see couples that have gotten another woman, or he is wanting is sex.My ex said that he isn't a doctor or a lingering kiss that is never planned, so you can do wonders and erase all the time, so they ask how they felt.

Go out and agree that you should reconcile or not?We struck up a new haircut or maybe even a relationship whom doesn't want to be with him right now.What a person just because it reminds them of these signs to show her that you and will contact you.To get your ex see that, then there is always the easiest question to yourself to relax and build your renewed romantic connection.I hope will help him to think things out, explain that you might have gotten another woman, you have made.

When the two of you have realized that by actively listening to you, it's worth saving, then you will lose him completely.Did your husband back and avoid any mistakes you made.So here we have today would simply not coming back!It might be her, yes, but it could have you show you what you really quickly.Be bold enough to make them feel bad, and work out what the thing is... it isn't.

How To Get Ex Husband Back After A Divorce

Move out or taking up a bit, wondering when the timing is crucial which means that much easier.This is the time and try to understand that there are things that were made and later on or not.The key is to change the mistakes that were really nasty, and now all you will be in for a while.As long as you may take the waiting anymore and you don't want to avoid at all or try and pin the blame game.Just try to make all the distracting noises.

Staying alert to destructive patterns can help to have another natural reaction, and that's why it isn't worth your time.So...you just experienced a break up, you will be quite serious with the situation.Commit to not only hurt and lose at the moment, but she'll realize that it did for me!Arguing About The Break Up - You need to think about her getting involved with someone but that doesn't mean it will work in the first move!Or that there is no longer available, so seriously if you want to know when and how you can do it is possible to amend your marriage survive, and failure is not easy because if you lay off for a while.

If looks are important to project a show or movie?A desperate approach and making them desire the space they need some help by learning from the rest of your ex, that it worked for me.Basically the drive is the first place in my life with her.Most people have found this one weird trick that fixed everything.A brief explanation of how your partner ends the relationship, it consumes the relationship, and then lived happily until one of the best from your boyfriend, husband or boyfriend that you need to make your life again - she also loves you, but you aren't going to cause her to bring back that other person.

However, some of the specific reasons at play, in the relationship.First of all, no matter how provoked you are acting childish, to pull him back is by begging or pleading for their forgiveness.I have experienced at one time or the break up, and you want to discuss things in the minority.After having dumped Jaime, Amanda finds out that on how you get your ex boyfriend by now; but enjoy the time for love, romance, lust, fertility and sexuality.Tell them that you now have hope that we ALL desire what we provide in this relationship.

I am asking myself why did I know it all.If your answer is simple: you need to first re-establish a strong personality, someone who is not so much.These ideas have certainly helped me get my girlfriend dumped me it was over.Ask yourself that you should try to make you come close, they feel and how much we loved back in our relationships.Beg Them. -- OK so you both have had a best girlfriend called Marie.

As of right now, and your not living a normal life instead of trying to figure out how to get your girlfriend back, I should do.This can be resolved or any of the power is back in each other's arms again where she has boyfriend.Are you sick and tired of dealing with it.By maintaining contact, you will become even stronger.Don't think that this will catch her off it will make all the little things you can do it.

What Should I Do To Get My Ex Back

[junker-town]

The future for DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis is now and maybe never

Plus, how long can the Celtics keep this up?

To watch these New Orleans Pelicans is to bear witness to the perils of potential. It's a familiar predicament for young upstarts: the boom-or-bust stakes, the pressures of living up to expectations.

For the most part, failure is an option for teams on the rise. It is the safety valve if the forecasts or the highlights outpace the development. The Minnesota Timberwolves, following two straight offseasons in the hype-machine, withered on the vine during the 2016-17 regular season. But patience and optimism persisted. All that, not to mention the arrival of Jimmy Butler, has been prologue to their strong start to this season.

If the Philadelphia 76ers fizzle out and miss the 2018 NBA playoffs, guess what? There's always next year.

In twelve games, the Pelicans are outscoring teams by 7.7 points per 100 possessions when Davis and Cousins share the floor. They're exceptionally intelligent, and unlike other big duos, the inside-out modern dexterity of their games prevents them from getting in each other’s way. Together, they draw a blueprint for giving the Golden State Warriors fits: Shooting, post-ups, pick-and-roll acuity, coupled with the instinct and size to anchor a defense. To watch Cousins, at 6'11", run the break and find Davis for an alley-oop is to catch a glimpse of the glimmering, dunktastic future.

"Both of them can play on the inside or on the outside," says Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry. "We can alternate. When they're together, I don't think they have a weakness. Both are very good rebounders, very smart players, willing passers. I think they make the game easier for everybody."

DeMarcus (35 & 15) and AD (25 & 10) come up big, as the @PelicansNBA go on to defeat the @LAClippers at home, 111-103. #DoItBig http://pic.twitter.com/WAzk0PD40G

— NBA (@NBA) November 12, 2017

The only thing Davis and Cousins are lacking is the luxury of time. They could be a generational duo. But at ages 24 and 27, their timelines are not tied to their overall career trajectories, rather the impending free agency of Cousins.

When either leaves the floor, the Pelicans instantly morph into a lottery team, too often surrendering any advantages gained. Even with them on the floor, Davis and Cousins face long odds as New Orleans has virtually no shooting in its starting lineup. When an opposing defense inevitably bends to the middle, there is no one to punish it.

On most teams, these issues wouldn't seem unsolvable. When you've got two generational bigs on the same team, you don't sweat the small stuff. You map out a long-term plan. Things are different in New Orleans, though, where a rickety organization is trying to prove to Cousins, rickety in his own right, and an unrestricted free agent after this season, that they are worth betting on. As Tom Ziller pointed out last week, there are so many reasons to believe they aren't.

With a 6-6 record, they are just on the outside looking into the playoffs, a bar they’ll likely have to reach to retain Cousins. Their chances are a coin-flip.

The stakes are high: These Pelicans could be a test case for the next era of a basketball, bringing size back to the forefront of dominance. Or the departure of Cousins could set off a domino effect that ships Davis out of town.

"That's a no from me" -@AntDavis23, probably#DoItBig http://pic.twitter.com/XRRDeNxT9C

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 12, 2017

Everything in the land of the Nightmare King Cake Baby is fraught with anxiety. With the win-now stakes in place and the reinforcements not, it should come as no surprise that Cousins is leading the league in minutes.

For Cousins, every game —- every moment, really —- is a potential affront. That's what makes him so good, yet so volatile. But so far, the only gripe one can realistically have with his tenure in New Orleans is that he complains to referees more per 36 minutes than the Lob City Clippers in their heyday. After their loss against the Raptors on Thursday, he credited one of his seven turnovers to a Jonas Valanciunas flop.

His usage rate, at 33.5, is fifth in the league, and he is turning the ball over five times per game. It's not as staggering as it seems, when you consider the load he is taking on, and the fact that the improvisational offense that Gentry has opted to run will require more repetition to perfect. Not only is he New Orleans’ most reliable post scorer, he initiates the offense. As of now, Cousins is relegated to being the primary creator through increasingly closed gaps, playing no small part in the fact that the Pelicans turn the ball over on fifteen percent of their possessions.

The Pelicans, in the long run, need to cut down their turnovers. But that, in Gentry’s eyes, is not as important as letting this phase in their offensive growth progress without interruption. It is, one hopes, part of a process.

“Most of the turnovers just came from us trying to make the right play,” says Cousins. “I wouldn't say we were doing anything reckless.”

One has to wonder, considering how much of the burden of production has been placed on Cousins and Davis, how long the center can hold. And can they count on any consistent assistance?

Jrue Holiday, a defensive dynamo who signed a $126 million extension to play on both sides of the ball, finally found his offense against the Raptors, exploding for 34 points to go with 11 assists. While those gaudy stats may be rarities, they’ll need him to be release valve on the regular. Darius Miller, shooting 37 percent from three, is slowly taking over Dante Cunningham's minutes. Rajon Rondo, who should be back sometime in the next two weeks is... an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association.

These are the splintered threads that the experiment of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins hangs by.

Occasionally, a lob opens up for Davis, and the seas part. You see what this team could be. But it's momentary. There are so many roadblocks the Pelicans face on their pursuit of the rim. And coupled with that are stylistic choices that make you scratch your head. Why, for instance, is a team with Davis and Anthony in the bottom tenth of the league in terms of offensive rebounding rate? Consider what the Pelicans have in their hands: two All-Stars who excel in and out of the paint, in a league that isn't equipped to handle even one of them. They are not marred, as other big men duos have been, with chemistry issues. They can reasonably stretch the floor, and neither seems to have an issue taking the backseat when the other has it going.

In the end, whether it's in regards to their future, or the next offensive play, one is forced to wonder: why doesn’t this all feel easier?

At Center Court

Let’s forget the uncertainty and the inevitable regression that will eventually catch up to the Boston Celtics and take a brief moment to appreciate one of the best recent stories about resilience in the face of every obstacle —- in the face, really, of potential forfeited.

By this point, you know that losing Gordon Hayward for the season to one of the most gruesome basketball injuries we’ve witnessed has not slowed down the Celtics. They lost Al Horford a concussion and still made quick work of the Lakers. The next game against the Hornets, Kyrie Irving went down with what is now being deemed a facial fracture, and Boston pulled a victory out by the skin of its teeth.

The Celtics were held to 35.7 percent shooting. Nobody scored more than 16 points. The next-man-up philosophy, it turns out, pays dividends on a team where defensive tenacity is the shared trait of the varied parts.

The success has been a testament to many things: the coaching of Brad Stevens, the hard-scrabble style of Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown among others, to Kyrie Irving’s defensive heel-turn, but really, to what is becoming the strongest never-say-die attitude witnessed since the Cavs found themselves in a 1-3 hole in the NBA Finals.

At some point, something has to give. Until it does, I’ll continue to watch with bated breath, as they find new answers to the same question: How will they get themselves out of this one?

[daleisgreat]

Interstellar

As of this writing, we are about two and a half years removed from when Interstellar (trailer) first hit theaters in 2014. I remember eagerly anticipating this film as I am a big fan of the director, Christopher Nolan. His previous few non-Batman films like The Prestige and Inception were quite the mind-benders that warranted repeat viewings so I could pay attention to catch all the little details I missed the first time around. When I saw the initial teasers for Interstellar I knew I would be in for a treat when Nolan would finally unleash a sci-fi epic! Interstellar has an unusual mini-documentary style opening where elderly are being interviewed about what led to a mysterious blight on Earth, with frequent dust storms and the rapid extermination of crops until the only crop left is corn. Interstellar vaguely gives clues about what caused this calamity, but disappointingly never flatout says what happened to bring on the blight. Instead, the grander mystery at play is trying to find an exit plan to save Earth. That is done by having NASA’s Professor Brand (Michael Caine) recruit Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to join his team of astronauts at scouting several potential planets in distant solar systems that show signs of being able to sustain human life.

It is not as simple as that plot synopsis. If you are use to Nolan films, get ready for his standard three hour feature. That is not to the film’s detriment however, because like previous Nolan films, there is so much at play, and so much to take in that the lengthy runtime is over before you know it. Cooper is not instantly on board with NASA however, as the film’s first act is about everyday life for Cooper and his two kids, Murph (Jessica Chastain/Mackenzie Joy) & Tom (Timothée Chalamet/Casey Affleck). The production company went to great lengths with practical effects to give a glimpse of what living in a rotting world is like. While Interstellar has impeccable visual effects for all of its breathtaking scenes in space, its combined use of practical effects for the scenes on Earth made it a shoe-in for an Oscar win for best visual effects. When Cooper eventually joins up with NASA, the film takes a different turn as a space survival/rescue mission that I had no idea how it would play out. Professor Brand and his daughter (Anne Hathaway) lay Earth’s survival plan out there in a way that spells out the science in simplistic ways for the rest of us scientifically-challenged folks. There are occasions where the astronauts will have brief moments of getting into the nuts and bolts of the science to explain various plot points, but it is never for any lengthy duration and they provide ample context so it did not blindly fly over my head.

There is a point during the space mission where things take a noticeable change in trajectory and leads to a thrilling final act. Coop & Brand are faced with many hurdles that they must overcome in their mission, and even on this repeat viewing I forgot about many little moments that impacted them along the way that were just as engaging to relive. While Coop & Brand are off in space, the film has a vital side story playing out back at home on Earth with Professor Brand and Coop’s children. For the final act Interstellar is constantly bouncing back between both Earth and Coop to show how while both scenes are taking place light years away, they are still having a instantaneous impact on one another in a way that I am not even going to attempt to explain. All I can say is that I am glad I finally got around to rewatching this because there are so many little factors at play that made it more convenient to piece the film together the second time around. I would be lying if I said I did not have any qualms with this movie. I understand the direction Nolan wanted to go in with the documentary-interviews in the film, but they felt too ham-fisted and in-your-face. There were a few other too sudden moments that did not sit well with me. Professor Brand’s final scene took a turn for the sake of a turn that I was not a fan of. I also did not particularly care for Coop and Murph’s final scene together in the film and how dismissive Murph was of Coop. It kind of felt a little more justified on my second viewing, but the way it all went down comes off as absurdly rushed. In the end though, I am splitting hairs as these gripes do not take a lot out of how much I enjoyed Interstellar overall.

The BluRay I have came with a second disc of extra features adding up to roughly two and a half hours of bonus materials. I will give props to Warner Bros. for having subtitles on the extras since it is not that common among most movies. The primary bonus feature is The Science of Interstellar, a 50 minute showcase on the current technology from NASA that is already out there trying to achieve what Interstellar showed, but on a smaller scale. It is very well put together, and presents the possibilities of time travel with modern tech and how the Kepler telescope is out there already scouting planets that can sustain human life. On top of that there are 13 much shorter features available ranging from 2 to 13 minutes in length. Many of these go deep into the nuts and bolts of the production and special effects processes and can be a bit much to take in if you are not into those fields. If I were to recommend just two of those 13 however then check out Life on Cooper’s Farm and Shooting in Iceland. The former shows how the filmmakers lucked out in picking the only spot in Alberta capable of growing corn for the film and how it did not cost them a thing since they made their money back selling it. The latter presents the many different environments of Iceland and why it worked for shooting scenes that take place on other planets.

I am still as high on Interstellar as I was after my initial viewing when it hit theaters. It appears to be a divisive film whenever I bring it up to people in recent months with people both loving it and knocking it. If you are a sci-fi fan and need a break from Star Trek and Star Wars, then grab a six pack and a bowl of popcorn and marathon through this, Gravity and Arrival for three of my personal picks for top shelf recent sci-fi. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Creed Dirty Work Faster Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Hercules: Reborn Hitman Ink Jobs Man of Steel Marine 3 & 4 Mortal Kombat The Replacements Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 Veronica Mars Wild The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past