#christopher erickson

[thenerdsofcolor]

Refiners Must Report Back to the Office When 'Severance' Returns in January

The teaser for the long awaited second season of Severance is here, announcing the award-winning phenomenon finally returns this January. Continue reading Refiners Must Report Back to the Office When ‘Severance’ Returns in January

[tv-moments]

Severance

Season 1, “The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design”

Director: Aoife McArdle

DoP: Jessica Lee Gagné

[stuff-diary]

Severance (Season 1)

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2023

Severance (Season 1, USA, 2022)

Creator: Dan Erickson

Directors: Ben Stiller & Aoife McArdle

Mini-review:

I'm still reeling from that mind-blowing season finale (which might just be one of the best TV episodes I've ever seen), but one thing I can say for certain is that this show is my new obsession. It got me hooked right from the first episode. There's something so unsettling and hypnotizing about the setting, the locations, the cinematography, all of it. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen. And, on top of that, the story is just so original. I have never seen anything like this. I could never guess where the story was going, and all the plot twists caught me by surprise. Especially those in the final episode, which were absolutely insane.

The production design is also spectacular. All those endless, winding white corridors are a great way to express how madness-inducing the situation is. And I also loved all the little lighting and camera tricks they used to distinguish the inside and outside (this won't make sense until you watch it). The performances also helped a lot, cause the whole cast is absolutely perfect. I honestly think Severance is one of the best science-fiction TV shows I've ever seen, and I won't be able to stop thinking about it until the second season begins. Specially after that crazy cliffhanger. I guess now I'll start watching videos analyzing every little detail.

P.S. The title credits video is also brilliant and spine-chilling. Just as unforgettable as the rest of the show. It definitely sets the tone for the show.

[helmstone]

Severance 2 teaser trailer arrives

Severance 2 teaser trailer arrives

Apple TV+ has released a teaser trailer for upcoming Severance season 2. I know it’s been edited, but from this I will be watching on release day, given the chance. Directed and executive produced by Ben Stiller and created, written and executive produced by Dan Erickson, the 10-episode second season of Severance will debut globally on Apple TV+ with the first episode on Friday, January 17, 2025…

[duckprintspress]

National Non-Fiction Day: 31 Titles to Get Your Queer Learn On!

In the past year, we’ve posted a lot about our favorite queer fiction titles. We wanted to take Non-Fiction day to talk about the non-fiction titles that have impacted us! Whether self-help, memoirs, psychology, history, sociology, or a different non-fiction genre, these are books that have helped us learn, helped us teach, helped us improve, helped us see and be seen, and helped us be more informed. So join us as we introduce our thirty-one recommendations for National Non-Fiction Day!

Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing

Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children by Diane Ehrensaft

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen

Here For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians by Austen Hartke

Bitch: On the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

transister: Raising Twins in a Gender-Bending World by Kate Brookes

!Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer

Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century by Graham Robb

London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885 – 1914 by Matt Cook

Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins by Cassandra Snow

Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion

The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities by Janet W. W. Hardy and Dossie Easton

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam

Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society by Cordelia Fine

Peculiar Places: A Queer Crip History of White Rural Nonconformity by Ryan Lee Cartwright

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine

Queer Budapest, 1873 – 1961 by Anita Kurimay

LGBTQ-Inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care by Kimberly D. Acquaviva

Queering Colonial Natal: Indigeneity and the Violence of Belonging in Southern Africa by T. J. Tallie

Handbook of LGBT Elders: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Principles, Practices, and Policies edited by Debra A. Harley and Pamela B. Teaster

LGBT Transnational Identity and the Media by Christopher Pullen

Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations by Serena Nanda

LGBTQ Cultures: What Healthcare Professionals Need to Know about Sexual and Gender Diversity by M. J. Eliason and P. L. Chinn

The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community edited by Laura Erickson-Schroth

You can view this list as a shelf on Goodreads!

It can be so difficult to find good non-fiction resources on queer topics. Which titles to DO you recommend?

[queering-ecology]

Chapter 11. ‘fucking close to water’: queering the production of the nation by Bruce Erickson (part 1)

���A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe” (attributed to Pierre Berton, Raffan 1999b, 225) and “Making love in a canoe is the most Canadian act that two people can do” (45)

Except…actually-- “a Canadian is someone who THINKS he knows how to make love in a canoe” (Ferguson 1997, 158) And it turns out that the person attributed with the quote (Berton) confessed that he did not come up with it.

The canoe is a popular symbol of the Canadian Nation—it’s [been] on currency, sits in the Canadian Embassy in Washington, has been an official gift from the state to foreign dignitaries, and is a part of  the multi-million dollar nature tourism industry…(311)

The construction of nationalism requires a narration of national identity that attempts to override the experiences of the national citizens. There will always be a gap between the ideal image of the nation and the actual performance of the nation in the lives of the subjects within the nation, and the dissemination of nationalism occurs in the processes by which that gap is overcome (Bhabha 1994) (311)

The failure of canoe sex within Canadian nationalism suggests a failure that connects sexuality, nature, and race to the future existence of the state. (311)

Biopower (Foucault)-- shows how the construction of identity in modern capitalism is intimately a part of the production of capitalism. National identity is made into an active part of the biopolitical frame of the nation, such that identity becomes another form of labor that is focused upon normalizing and controlling bodies and pleasures. As Foucault reminds us, sexuality stands at the heart of modern power, and its discourse arose along with imperialism and the power of the modern nation-state. (312)

In the modern world, our quest for identity is inherently productive, as late capitalism relies upon the desires of identity to fuel patterns of consumption.

Nation

“Put another way, nations require particular sentiments of attachment, ones that often rest at least in part on the erotic”—Steven Maynard (2001)

Relationship of landscape to the canoe—about hiding the actual form of the relationship with landscape, whether racist colonialism or the production of heterosexuality, to accomplish a fetishizing of the leisured, supposed innocent connection to the land of the new world. (313)

Columbus’s image of the new world was eroticized from the start:

“In 1492, Christopher Columbus blundering about the Caribbean in search of India, wrote home to say that the ancient mariners had erred thinking the earth was round. Rather, he said, it was shaped like a woman’s breast, with a protuberance upon its summit in the unmistakable shape of a nipple—toward which he was slowly sailing (1995, 21) (313)

Europeans have long eroticized the land of America from the moment of its naming and ‘discovery’, yet the common interpretation of this myth as a form of amor patriae hides the heterosexuality implicit within such genealogies.

Performativity: “it is not that heterosexuality is natural and queer denaturalizing; rather heterosexuality is naturalizing, concealing the masquerade of the natural that queer makes manifest” (Prosser 1998, 44) 314

���Performativity must be understood not as a singular or deliberate ‘act’ but, rather, as the reiterative and citational practice by which discourse produces the effects that it names” (Judith Butler 1993, 2) 314

The claim of nationhood=sex in a canoe naturalizes the relationship between the heterosexual image of the nation and the landscape the ‘performance’ takes place

But the failure of the performance (basically no one ACTUALLY has sex in canoes despite the popularity of the quote)…so it can work like a metaphor… it is not the mere ability to canoe or even to have sex in a canoe that embodies the Canadian-ness but rather the reiteration of desire to canoe in Canada—a desire for Canadian canoeing—that embodies the Canadian-ness through the canoe. This desire privileges heterosexual white desire over any different, non-national, or perverse forms of canoeing pleasure. (314)

Sexuality is not about the truth of the matter but about the power of truth (315)

Foucault: power over sexuality relies on cooperation of two regimes; disciplinary power (focused on the control of individual bodies, increasing capabilities to fuel efficiency, aligning mechanic repetitions toward efficiency) and politics focused on controlling populations—Species body (Foucault 1978, 139) (315) (regulatory controls focused on the reproduction of life, the control of birth and death). These regimes produce a mode of biopower (315)

Capitalism would not have been possible without the controlled insertion of bodies into the machinery of production to economic process (Foucault 1978, 141) 315

Sexual identity, as Foucault shows, is made to be part of that production, an argument only proven more and more correct by the increasing power of the “pink” dollar under capitalism (316). (rainbow capitalism)

Then by extending our examination into the realm of colonialism—our understanding of sexual identity and capitalism is tacitly coded by race, and nation. According to Stoler, racism is not “an aberrant, pathological development of state authority n crisis but a fundamental ‘indispensable’ technology of rule—as biopower’s operating mechanism (Stoler 2002, 159) (316)

These same logistics of sexual control (regulation of bodies and species body) occur at the level of race, specifically as part of a national dream. (316) (the american dream=nuclear family)

“Race anchors a distinction in the use of land that justifies the colonial existence of the nation state. It was the productive use the land in North America that allowed European subjects to justify their acquisition of all the fertile and useful land occupied by First Nations peoples. (i.e. John Locke, Gilbert Sproat) 312-317

The 'failure' of the race allowed for the deployment of sexuality to work in tandem with the techniques of state racism such that populations and bodies, of both the colonized and the colonizer, were subject to the regulations of race and sexuality (317)—>The Reservation System; a space established in which to monitor the reproduction (and in many cases the hoped-for death (see Francis 1992 and Bracken 1997) of First Nations communities…census data, marriage regulations, identity papers utilized to fence in populations that stood in the way of the state to the landscape (317)

“A crucial part of the subjugation of …Native peoples was the destruction of their erotic, gender and social life and the imposition of European social and sexual organization…this story of extreme cultural, social, and physical violence lies at the root of the Canadian state” (Kinsman 1996, 92) (317)

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Color me shocked.

Fox News is hosting the GOP debate in Wisconsin.  During this build up segment, Martha MacCallum introduces the “random Republican voters” in Wisconsin who will watch the debate.  Except, well… there’s a little problem.  MacCallum introduces Chris Lawrence as a “Wisconsin GOP voter” who seemingly supports Ron DeSantis.  However, MacCallum fails to mention that Chris Lawrence actually works for the Koch Network, who have recently pledged to spend $70 million to defeat President Trump.

@RaheemKassam

Hi I looked into “Wisconsin voter” Christopher Lawrence, why didn’t you tell people he’s a paid activist belonging to the open borders network that recently pledged $70M to stop Trump?

‘Globalist’ Koch Network Blows $70M of Donor Cash to ‘Stop Trump’.

From Sundance Treehouse Blog: "The ‘Koch network’ group Americans for Prosperity Action is dropping $70M+ on a bid to stop President Donald J. Trump becoming the 47th President of the United States, according to a new report which suggests the libertarian billionaire backed organization is campaign in the Republican primaries “for the first time in its nearly 20 year history”.

The money is in addition to a $200M+ fund established by corporate backers for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s campaign, and will likely be used for “digital advertising on the issue of electability in the presidential race,” in addition to direct mail. In such scenarios, high percentages of donor cash ends up in the pockets of campaign consultants and vendors.

The Koch network includes groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together, i360, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the State Policy Network, the CATO Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Atlas Network, the Heritage Foundation, the Independent Women’s Forum, the Manhattan Institute, the Reason Foundation, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and many more.

 The organization’s LIBRE initiative even campaigns in favor of amnesty for illegal migrants.

 The co-option of the Tea Party movement was spearheaded by the Kochs, who turned it from a citizen-led organization into a pro-corporate, libertarian shell, before dumping it when press attention became too inconvenient.

“The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade,” Trump tweeted in 2018. “I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas.”

Not only has Chris Lawrence worked for the Koch Network for the past 9 years, he is also the Senior Field Director for the Koch group Americans for Prosperity.  In essence, Lawrence is a political operative planted in the group by Fox News to support Ron DeSantis and make it appear like he is an innocuous voter.  Fox News and Martha MacCallum should be embarrassed, but they won’t be. 

Don’t forget, Ron DeSantis supporters Eric Erickson and Guy Benson sit on the Koch Network AfP Advisory Board (see here).

It’s all one big game of illusion, and Fox News is once again a big part of the Republican fraud.  Proving yet again, that everything in the Ron DeSantis orbit is astroturf, phony, manufactured and made up."

[stardrama]

harvey headcannons || sdv

im love him and want him to have background and substance. these are kinda all over the place oop

***

harvey’s full name is harvey christopher erickson. his birthday is january 14th.

he’s the middle child of 3 siblings. he’s got an older brother (walter jr., who’s a 40 year old mechanical engineer) and a younger sister (christine, a 29 year old therapist). harvey himself is 35.

his dad (walter sr.) died when he was 43 from a heart attack. his mom’s name is donna and she’s still kicking at 63. she’s a waitress and calls each one of her kids every day.

im addition to being blind (rip), he also has really bad acid reflux.

his dad was a crop duster who also taught agricultural aviation. during the summer he would bring his kids to sit in classes because they couldn’t find/afford a babysitter for all three of them. harvey loved listening in, while walt would explore in the fields and christine would draw.

he and walt would have paper airplane contests to see who’s would fly the farthest.

as he got up into adulthood he kinda lost touch with walt, but grew closer to christine. she was the one who suggested he start going to therapy.

he got diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and OCD when he was 28. christine definitely said “i told you so”

he was in marching band as a teen. he played saxophone.

he got engaged to his high school sweetheart, and they stayed together for a year after high school. she ended up cheating on him.

he almost died of alcohol poisoning when he was in med school. now he always drinks in moderation

he drives a honda CR-V.

he had a childhood dog named rascal (a lab mix). his mom brought it home one night after seeing it rummaging for scraps at the restaurant she was working at. he would read stories to him and talk about whatever was going on. walt would roughhouse with him. christine would pamper him. the dog died of old age years later, happy and healthy.

he loves history.

[legally-brief]

MOVIES WITH MEN IN UNDERWEAR (This is outdated- website shutdown early 2000’s)

“J-K”

Title Description of "UnderScene"

======================

Jamón, jamón (1992) (Salami, Salami) Spanish movie: First scene is audition for underwear model. Lots of good shots

Jawbreaker (1999) Comedy. Ethan Erickson in a bedroom scene.

Jeffrey (1995) See this movie!!! Great white briefs scene with male lead; many other shirtless hot men in NYC.

Jerk, The (1979) Steve Martin lives up to the title by wearing white full-cut droopy boxer shorts in several scenes.

Jockaholics (XXX), Sierra Pacific/Tiger Media dir. Jerry Douglas, 1989(?) Jockstrap fetishists will want to check out this pornvid as a jockstrap makes its way from one sexual encounter to another. Phil Bradley, Jason Andrews and others star.

John Loves Mary (1949) Ronald Reagan changes his pants on camera, revealing his dark khaki boxers for all the world to see.

Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI (1986) (TV) Dramatised story of black, female FBI recruit. Her handsome husband (William Allen Young) strips to his spotted white boxer shorts in a bedroom scene.

Johnny Come Lately (1943) James Cagney takes his pants off to give them to the maid for cleaning. He wears long underwear.

Johnny Mnemonic (1995) Keanu Reaves in silk boxers (first scene).

Johnny Suede (1992) Brad Pitt. Major photo opportunity when he sits down for breakfast in his socks and underwear.

Johns (1996) David Arquette in white boxers.

Journey: Absolution, The (1997) Sci-fi. Mario Lopez, Richard Grieco, and a host of other gorgeous guys in white boxer briefs in many scenes throughout most of the movie.

Joy of Sex (1984) Christopher Lloyd, and Cameron Dye, in white briefs. Another guy in red.

Julia Has Two Lovers (1990) Pre X-Files David Duchovny. During the first 20 to 30 minutes, intermittent shots of Duchovny in gray briefs. Some excellent profile shots.

Jury Duty (1995) Pauly Shore as a male stripper at beginning and end of movie. Strips to G-string and struts his stuff. Very big looking bulge.

Just Looking (1999) "After Lenny's (Ryan Merriman's) pants fall down, we briefly see him in his underwear".

Just One of the Guys (1985) Billy Jacoby in boxers and an open robe.

Key To The City (1950) Clark Gable strips down to his A-shirt, white boxers and garters in front of another older man. A funny garter scene comes later in film.

Kid from Brooklyn, The (1946) In a fight in the dark, a milkman played by Danny Kaye, gets half of his pants - one entire pant leg - ripped off, revealing full-cut powder blue boxers.

Kid in King Arthur's Court, A (1995) Thomas Ian Nicholas in his boxers a couple of times during the movie after getting out of bed in the morning, and when he was practising his karate.

Kids (1995) Depicts Brooklyn teenagers running rampant in pursuit of unprotected sex. Multiple views of teens in boxer shorts.

Kiss or Kill (1997) A guy gets into bed with a young boy (both are in their underwear, but nothing else happens).

Kiss Of Death (1995) Rowdy customer who gets out of line at a strip bar is forced to make his exotic dancing debut onstage in his briefs.

Knock Off (1998) Jean-Claude Van Damme has to yank off his pants when he discovers there is a bomb in them.

[medea10]

My Review of My Hero Academia

Okay…okay…

It’s done. It’s taken me 10 whole years, but I finished Gintama. My long-running comedic/drama nightmare has come to an end until they decide to come out with another damn sequel. But for now, it is DONE. And now, I can finally sit down and make good on a promise I made with one of my best friends. I will now watch Hunter x Hunter.

Huh?

No. I said Hunter x Hunter.

Tough shit, loser. You’re watching this shit!

Sorry, Marcus.

Yeah, My Hero Academia has been around for a couple of years now. It’ll emerge every couple of years in the anime world and the manga has been a massive hit. Not as big as Demon Slayer, but then again, no one can be as awesome as Demon Slayer. I had my chance to pick this series up, but I picked Black Clover instead. I made my decision and I stand by it. But once I noticed this series had several films and over 100 episodes to its name, I thought it be best to save this anime for after finishing my long-numbered series. Once I was able to get through Gintama, we can set this up.

Quirks or super powers are in about 80% of humanity. These quirks can vary from being super flashy, awesomely strong…or it could be like the Crest Man.

I was going to make this joke one way or another.

(He’s living in his car)

Many of these people decide to become heroes, especially those with potential. Now what about those 20% of humans that don’t have a quirk? Can they one day become a hero even though they have no power to their name? I guess we’ll find out with a young lad named Izuku Midoriya (or Deku). He has no quirk, no chance of developing one in his later years, and yet still wants to attend an academy that’s specifically for those with quirks.

It wasn’t until he was given a chance by Japan’s #1 hero All Might who sees potential in the young Deku to pass down his powers to him. Due to an ugly fight a few years ago, All Might can only stay in hero form for 3 hours at the most a day. In the span of two episodes, Deku was able to go through 10 months of All Might’s training, inherit his power, and get accepted to UA, the academy for potential students with amazing quirks who want to become heroes. Let’s enter UA to meet all the special students and administration with amazing powers and see who’s going to be a smashing hero one day.

Do keep in mind that I’m only summing up the first couple of episodes from the first season here. Each season has much more going on as Deku and his classmates learn what it means to become a great hero.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: You know, the five years of me not picking this anime up, I would take a look at these characters and say to myself, “Yeah, you’re totally voiced by this person”. Look at All Might, if that guy isn’t voiced by Chris Sabat this world doesn’t make sense. Oh look, it really is Chris Sabat! Hey, it’s a main girl and loved by majority of fans. Gotta be voiced by Luci Christian! It’s like I’m fucking psychic! Sexy big girl, gotta be Jamie Marchi! Wow! Strait-laced megane boy! My lady-loins are on fire so that could only mean a role by J. Michael Tatum. Okay, let me give it a try in the Japanese.

Screaming…

Nobuhiko Okamoto! I only need the word “screaming”. I didn’t need to look at any character profiles to know this. Thank God Bakugo’s screaming didn’t get on my nerves the entire time. I sometimes have a problem with characters who scream so much that you just want to rip their mouths off their faces. Bakugo…he makes me laugh. He’s a tsundere with a short fuse, what’s not to like?!

As you can tell, I watched the majority of this series dubbed. The cast had a wide variety of seasoned veterans and modern favorite voice actors. Juli Erickson was also in the cast for a short time before retiring from voice acting. I’m glad I got to hear her one more time. There was another replacement in the dub. Alex Organ voiced Mr. Aizawa for the first season. After that however, Christopher Wehkamp took over and has remained since then. Scheduling conflicts, I suppose. I wasn’t even aware of the change until I read about it.

Oof. Both the sub and the dub have some great people behind these heroes and aspiring heroes. Let’s just say I give a gold star to everyone here. Even Tomokazu Seki was in this series as the spotted seal hero Selkie. Love it. Love everything about it! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Deku is played by Daiki Yamashita (known for Goh on Pokemon Journeys, Yushirou on Demon Slayer, Joro on Oresuki, Umino on Sailor Moon Crystal, and Shion on UtaPri)

*Bakugo is played by Nobuhiko Okamoto (known for Gladion on Pokemon SM, Accelerator on Railgun/Index, Rin on Blue Exorcist, Garfiel on Re:Zero, Usui on Maid-sama, Ryou on Food Wars, and Liebe on Black Clover)

*All Might is played by Kenta Miyake (known for Giovanni on Pokemon, Scar on FMA: Brotherhood, Avdol on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Pt. 3, Cocytus on Overlord, Zodd on Berserk 2016, and Takaoka on Assassination Classroom)

*Uraraka is played by Ayane Sakura (known for Nero on Black Clover, Tomori on Charlotte, Gasper on High School DxD, Tsubaki on Your Lie in April, Haru on Nisekoi, and Shimotsuki on Psycho Pass)

*Todoroki is played by Yuki Kaji (known for Clemont on Pokemon XY, Eren on Attack on Titan, Koichi on Jojo’s Pt. 4, Finn on Black Butler, Issei on High School DxD, Kuga on Food Wars, and Kenma on Haikyuu)

*Aizawa is played by Junichi Suwabe (known for Greed on FMA, Yami on Black Clover, Victor on Yuri on Ice, Archer on Fate/Stay Night, Hayama on Food Wars, Undertaker on Black Butler, and Grimmjow on Bleach)

*Shigaraki is played by Kouki Uchiyama (known for Soul on Soul Eater, Rui on Demon Slayer, Yurio on Yuri on Ice, Benedict on Violet Evergarden, Ikuya on Free!, Yuuki on Shiki, and Ichijou on Nisekoi)

ENGLISH CAST: *Deku is played by Justin Briner (known for Shou on Fire Force, Luck on Black Clover, Yukito on Cardcaptor Sakura: CC, and Mitarai on Danganronpa 3)

*Bakugo is played by Clifford Chapin (known for Connie on Attack on Titan, Touya on Cardcaptor Sakura: CC, Cabba on DB Super, Langris on Black Clover, Kamui on Psycho Pass 2, and Hamazura on Railgun/Index)

*All Might is played by Chris Sabat (known for Armstrong on FMA, Vegeta & Piccolo on DBZ, Kurabara on Yu Yu Hakusho, Zoro on One Piece, Yami on Black Clover, Ayame on Fruits Basket, and Christophe on Yuri on Ice)

*Uraraka is played by Luci Christian (known for Wrath on FMA, Nagisa on Clannad, Yukari on Azumanga Daioh, Medusa on Soul Eater, Nami on One Piece, Huni on Ouran HSHC, and Alois on Black Butler)

*Todoroki is played by David Matranga (known for Tomoya on Clannad, Bertolt on Attack on Titan, Ookami on Wolf Children, Hinata on Angel Beats, Usui on Maid-sama, and Himura on ef – a tale of memories)

*Aizawa is played by Christopher Wehkamp (known for Ruijerd on Mushoku Tensei, Nyanko-Sensei on Natsume’s Book of Friends, Sylvester on Ascendance of a Bookworm, Hinawa on Fire Force, and Miles on Ace Attorney)

*Shigaraki is played by Eric Vale (known for Kimblee on FMA, Trunks on DBZ, Yuki on Fruits Basket, Sanji on One Piece, Tamaki on Deadman Wonderland, Kisumi on Free!, Arthur on Fire Force, and Nishiki on Tokyo Ghoul)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: I’ve gone through this over and over in my mind. There were a lot of characters I’ve grown to admire and ones I think are pretty nifty. I still can’t believe I was able to keep track of so many characters in this one series, but I think I did a pretty good job. Yes, I have a guilty pleasure for Bakugo. But that’s just it, he’s a guilty pleasure. I like him and am amused by him, but at the same time I can get annoyed with him. But if there was one character who I enjoyed the most out of all the characters that have appeared so far, it would be her.

Tsuyu Asui (a.k.a. Froppy; Tsu)

I love Tsu. She’s best girl. And that’s all there is to it!

DISLIKED CHARACTER: Ooh boy, you all knew I was going to discuss papa of the year over here! Long before I started this series, I was well aware of the existence of a shitty parent by the name of Endeavor. I thought if I sat through this long enough, I would switch my hatred from Endeavor to Overhaul. It didn’t happen. I’m still on this hate-train. Endeavor has had this unhealthy obsession and rivalry with All Might and wanting to surpass him. Thinking he could never reach that position of #1 hero, he stuck to the next generation by making it with another powerful quirk user and have babies.

He had a total of four kids. One of his son’s is presumed dead due to trying to impress his father (wait until season six for the truth). One of his son’s hates Endeavor for what he’s done to the family. His daughter tries her best to keep things together, but you can tell she’s feeling uber stressed. And (Shoto) Todoroki still has daddy issues. I guess you can chalk all of this up to these kids upbringing. Todoroki witnessed his father’s physical abuse first-hand as he was rough with trainings. Not only that, but the abuse of his own wife that led to her mental breakdown giving Todoroki his trademark scar. And somehow Todoroki’s eldest had the worst of it all. All he wanted was his daddy’s approval and was just left for dead. Again, season six has the answers there. Bottom line, Endeavor was a very bad father. But, he is trying.

You cannot expect your fully grown children to pretend that everything is okay now that you’re going to change and be father of the year. Natsuo was partially saved by his father and was unable to give him any satisfaction. And it seems like Todoroki is just using his father to further his quirk and can easily get into work study programs because of him. As for his wife, you know Rei may never forgive him for all that has happened to this family. That’s just my two cents on the matter. I think every one of the Todoroki’s might eventually forgive Endeavor…not the older two sons.

SHIPPING: Guys, seriously. There are more important things to discuss here than which characters should shack up. Japan has a severe problem with villains and these kids specifically signed up to be in an academy focused on serving the public as heroes.

I support Uraraka x Deku

And aside from a few dropped hints by Uraraka, I seriously find no other ship that could…

I also support Kirishima x Ashido

But aside from those two, this show is strictly about kids wanting to be heroes and let’s keep it that way.

Mineta x his hand tonight

Yeah, I had to add that silly ship.

ENDING TO SEASON ONE: It’s been well established since the beginning that All Might was one of the greatest heroes, if not THE greatest. A symbol of peace and justice! And now, he’s a teacher at UA. So, everyone pretty much wants a piece of him. During a field trip to a simulated area filled with terrains and weather patterns, Deku and his classmates were bombarded by villains. This is not a drill, these guys mean business and they also want All Might. While their teacher Mr. Aizawa was busy taking care of some of the bigger villains, the students were being separated so the enemies can learn about what quirks these kids have. Some of the more powerful classmates like Bakugo and Todoroki were able to get rid of their batch of baddies with little-to-no problem. Others, it was a little more challenging. Even Aizawa found himself in dire-straits. Meanwhile, where is All Might?

We all know about All Might’s injury. It’s just that everyone else isn’t aware of it and All Might goes to great lengths to keep it a secret. Rightly so! If it’s learned by the wrong people that All Might has at most 3 hours a day in hero form, villains will swarm the area to cause havoc. Thankfully, dude shows up in the knick of time before these bad guys could do damage to Deku and the rest. Unfortunately, All Might already saved the day in another area and is at his max of what he’s capable of handling. Now these villains don’t know the specifics of All Might’s power, but someone controlling them from the shadows dropped hints about All Might being weaker than in his heyday.

Bad guys Shigaraki, Nomu, and Kurogiri definitely put a dent in All Might, but All Might didn’t let up his bluff in front of the bad guys. But that steam coming from his body is not a good sign. And yeah, the only one who knows about All Might is Deku and Deku was worried about All Might dying on his feet or someone about to find out his big secret. Thankfully, Iida was able to escape and call for backup. The administration at UA came and they were able to put an end to the situation. It’s unknown how much extra damage was done to All Might and it seems like his time where he can spend in hero form has been cut drastically to only 90 minutes at the most. But for now, All Might and Deku can relax for a second knowing their actions saved a whole class of freshmen from being harmed or worse.

Now as for those bad guys like Shigaraki, who is filling his head with ideas that there might be something wrong with All Might? I guess that’s an answer to be filled in another season. Because now we’re about to head into a tournament arc!

Okay, good introduction to the students of UA. Get our feet wet with all the quirks the students have. Even though Deku isn’t a full zero to hero quite yet, he’s certainly one hell of a strategian when it comes to problem solving. And from here on out, the series gains more episodes. This season is the only one with 13 episodes. Every season from here on out will have 25. Just how many chapters are there for My Hero Academia?

SEASON TWO: One recap episode and one Anime Festa OVA later…

The entire school is about to hold their annual sports festival. This sports festival is a big freakin’ deal. Hell, it’s even a bigger deal than the Olympics! Okay, I wouldn’t go that far. The students have opportunities of being discovered by a hero agency and might even become a sidekick for a famous hero. Other opportunities also include having kids from the lower-level classes get nudged up to a higher-level class. After the events of season one, Deku and the kids of class 1-A were getting a lot of fame and news coverage as the students who took out the league of villains that infiltrated a highly secured building of UA. As for the sports festival, Bakugo took home the gold.

Pfft. Watching him bound and getting forced with the gold medal is truly a laughable moment.

This season, we learn about what’s driving these students to excel at UA. Uraraka wants to earn money to help her struggling family. Todoroki wants to escape the grasp of his legendary father, the #2 hero Endeavor. Iida tries following in his big brother’s footsteps in a bit of revenge after someone injured him. And Deku wants to make a name for himself as All Might’s power has weakened significantly. Again, Deku’s the only one who knows.

After the sports festival, the students end up as apprentices for either hero agencies or heroes themselves. This part of the story focuses on Deku learning to control his power and Iida finding the hero killer (Stain) who severely injured his older brother. Dealing with Stain was a very difficult task. Deku, along with Todoroki and Iida were all caught up in that fight. They beat the dude, but couldn’t get any credit due to bureaucratic issues with the police and certified heroes. As a repercussion, Iida ended up doing permanent damage to his hand and it might be the end of his career as a hero (unless the surgery is a miracle). They make this a big deal here, but I don’t recall hearing any more on that subject from season 3-6. Moving on!

The end of this season consists of Deku learning the truth about his power One For All and the originator All For One. This guy is still out there, he’s a dick, and guess what, he’s the head of that league of villains that was behind the attack at the end of season one. Other than that, it’s exam time for class 1-A. Let’s have them fight against the teachers! Aside from two teams failing, everyone did pretty well considering they were up against UA’s greatest. And this was to be especially difficult for Deku as he had to be partnered with Bakugo and fight against All Might.

The final episode consisted of Deku being cornered by Shigaraki. Yes, the guy behind the Nomus and the attack from season one’s finale. We finally see his face and we get a bit of foreshadowing of things to come from the League of Villains. The heinous group has recruited several new villains who we will see more of come season three. Speaking of…

SEASON THREE: It’s time for summer training camp. And for funsies, let’s add class 1-B too. These kids will be pushed to their limits to enhance their quirks. Because while everyone has improved in other departments, their quirk powers haven’t moved much since the beginning of the semester! Gee, wouldn’t it suck if a bunch of villains come in and ruin everything? The League of Villains has arrived with new powerful members including Dabi and Toga. Their target this time is Bakugo! Their attack on the UA students kinda broke a lot of morale with not just the students, but the faculty as well. The end result was that many of the students and the faculty watching over them wound up injured and Bakugo was kidnapped.

Saving face didn’t go as smoothly as anyone would hope. Deku got four of his classmates to defy orders to try and infiltrate the League of Villains to save Bakugo. At that very same time, several ranked heroes did their own rescue mission. It did not go well for either side! On the plus side, Deku and friends were able to save Bakugo without breaking the law by fighting crime without a license. But then All For One wrecked the whole place. He took out so many villains and heroes in his way. I think he might have killed one of them. Didn’t matter to him anyways because he was after All Might! This fight took everything from All Might.

All For One exposed All Might to the entire world his ugly secret. Not only that, but dropped an unfortunate fact bomb involving All Might’s sensei and Shigaraki. And to top it all off, injured him so bad that All Might will never fight crime again. After all of that, the students of class 1-A were highly requested by the school to live in the school dorms from now on. Most parents agreed to it, though Deku’s mother was the most worried. Long story short, he’s living in the dorms now. Not before seeing this poor woman cry again.

The next big arc after the fall of All Might was the provisional hero license exam. We meet a lot of brand-new soon-to-be heroes much like the students of UA from other schools across the land. The end result of that exam, everyone except two students from class 1-A got their provisional license. And surprisingly those two were Todoroki and Bakugo! Bakugo is so obvious that I don’t even need to waste the time explaining why he flunked. Todoroki on the other hand had someone from another school get under his skin with a comment likening him to his father Endeavor.

While Bakugo was angry about not passing his provisional license exam, something else has been grinding his gears and for some time at that. Bakugo’s anger hits fever pitch when he confronts Deku alone after the exam about his relationship with All Might. And throwing punches! Despite that thick layer of anger he puts up, Bakugo is a sad boy who loves his favorite hero All Might. He was of course jealous that Deku got to be his protégé but guilty because Bakugo thought it was because of him being kidnapped that caused All Might to lose his powers permanently. All Might reassured the boys of everything. And then the boys were on lockdown for breaking curfew to fight. In the meantime, the League of Villains is still at it despite All For One being in a maximum security prison. Toga infiltrated the hero provisional license exam by posing as another student. Shigaraki is growing more menacing. And then there’s Overhaul…ooh boy, I can’t wait to talk about this guy in the following season.

And class 1-A got to meet the top students of the third-year class (a.k.a. The Big Three). The strongest of the three (Mirio) wiped out the entire class by himself. Big difference between the power of the first years and this pant-less wonder!

Okay, this season had its ups and downs. But the ups were definitely worth it and we had a big payoff when it came to scenes involving All Might and All For One. Now let’s see what’s going on with that movie that came out around the same time.

TWO HEROES: We got a glimpse of what to expect with this movie in an episode during the third season. Meaning, they gave us a filler in the middle of a tournament arc and are introduced to a movie character for five seconds. Let me guess how this movie goes; this in no way connects to any villain currently in the series, there is no character growth, serves no purpose to the main plot, and the new character introduced is the bad guy.

Most of what I said was pretty true! Deku gets invited by All Might to go with him to a special island that is full of people who manufacture AI technology. Most of the class ends up there under some special circumstances and yes, it’s just the popular ones fans like most. All Might’s friend from his younger days David wanted to help All Might regain his strength (he just doesn’t know the true story of why he’s losing his strength). And David ends up in cahoots with terrorists that took a whole island hostage. And these terrorists are also connected to All For One. Okay, I was wrong, All For One is somehow connected (or at least mentioned by the leader of the terrorists).

SEASON FOUR: So, it’s not just Bakugo that caught onto Deku and All Might’s relationship. It leaked to the press! One reporter knows there’s a protégé out there. And thankfully he has the right mind to shut up about it! Onto the main stuff! Deku and the rest of class-A are about to go through work study programs. And the League of Villains are ready for their next move. But right now, we gotta watch out for a lone Mafioso causing mischief.

Deku winds up doing a work study with All Might’s previous side-kick Sir Nighteye. Several other characters like Kirishima, Tsu, and Uraraka also got a chance for a work study program. Deku unfortunately got a lot thrown at him in the drama department. He learned that Nighteye had a falling out with All Might due to the fatal injury All Might acquired and made worse once he decided to give Deku is One for All power.

Next, all of these students I mentioned, plus their mentors, and the three 3rd years are all caught up trying to take down a lone Mafioso and some of the League of Villains in order to save one little girl. Overhaul was trying to use this young girl (Eri) and her power in order to suppress and end hero powers permanently. Eri has a quirk that can rewind a person’s body. But due to her age, she’s unable to control it properly and that has caused a lot of mental damage to her. Overhaul is quite the disgusting little shit abusing this poor girl. Thank goodness after this long, hard-fought battle, the heroes were able to prevail and save Eri.

But at what cost?

Deku was able to survive with not so many injuries to his person. Some of the other heroes and classmates involved in the giant raid were not so lucky. Kirishima and Fat Gum sustained heavy injuries. Mirio’s power might have been altered permanently due to Overhaul and his gang having these serums that can erase quirks. And Eri (the girl they all saved) is forever haunted by the psychological horror she’s endured. But worst of all was Sir Nighteye. During the fight between the heroes and Overhaul, Nighteye literally got impaled and was at death’s door when All Might, Deku, and Mirio spoke to him. Up to this point, we really never saw death strike any of these characters. This was a heart tugger! Shit is getting real now for Deku. All I can say is…wait until season six. Meanwhile, Overhaul not only got his ass kicked by Deku, but was left powerless and crippled by Shigaraki.

The last half of season four revolved around UA putting together a culture festival. This is both a wise and stupid decision. Wise because these students deserve a little fun after everything the students of UA (especially class 1-A) have gone through. Stupid because UA has been a giant target for villains since All Might became a teacher. And if one little thing happens with a villain coming near the area, the festival is going to be called off. At that exact same time, a new villain emerges and wants to break into the festival. Of course, he does!

This guy is a tea-drinking gentleman with a side-kick I’m so not comfortable seeing together with him. I’m sorry, but this combination makes me feel a little ill inside and confused. Thankfully, Deku happened to be in the area and prevented the festival from getting shut down. Not only does he want to give his school this moment of peace, but because Eri is coming, he wants to make sure she has a great time. Thankfully, Deku was able to break through to this confused villain and he turns himself in with no more damage done. But most important for Deku, the festival went off perfectly. Class 1-A was commended for their performance on stage and Eri was able to smile and enjoy herself.

We end the season off with some severe changes. First of all, Eri is going to attend UA. She’s stable enough to stay out of the psych ward and is all healed up. Deku and Mirio must protect this girl’s smile! And then my question was answered. I thought to myself, will there be another #1 hero now that All Might is retired? Yep, there’s a new top 10 and a new #1 with Endeavor taking the top spot. Will the world see him as the new symbol of peace? Endeavor is put to the test when he and #2 hero Hawkes got attacked by an overpowered Nomu. This was a tough fight as Endeavor was tossed around a lot. Thankfully, he won. He went beyond, PLUS ULTRA!

Also, is anybody else thrown off by the Endeavor fanboy? It doesn’t help that he looks like Natsu from Fairy Tail, but did the English version REALLY have to get Haberkorn to play this guy too?

HEROES RISING: In the second movie, it almost looked like we were getting some action between the UA students and the League of Villlains. In actuality, the villains of this movie get into an alliance with Shigaraki. These new villains end up attacking a lone island that Deku and his classmates just happen to be on as part of hero work. The villains want this one kid on the island because of this special quirk he possesses. We get some pretty primo fight scenes where Deku and Bakugo are actually working together to beat the villains. I’m going to be legit and ask, did anyone fall for that shit about Deku giving his One For All power to Bakugo? Yeah, me neither. There are two seasons after this movie. No way in hell Deku is losing his power this early in the game.

SEASON FIVE: Endeavor’s fight with the superpowered Nomu came with a lot of baggage. His popularity as the new #1 hero is steadily rising. It’s just that people really saw him get his ass kicked pretty badly. And now, dude has a pretty gnarly scar on his face. Just like his son! I almost want to say something here, but…nah, bad taste. On top of that, Endeavor is now going to start acting like a real father instead of the bastard he’s been up to this point. Meanwhile, Deku has been getting visions during his sleep of the past One For All users and kinda using his power while sleeping. It got worse when his powers decided to go haywire during a class competition with class 1-B.

I will say this. The stuff with Deku and controlling the powers of One For All was the only interesting part of the first part of season 5. I checked out when there were many episodes dedicated to class 1-A and 1-B fighting each other. I know several class 1-B classmates showcase their quirks in a big way in the following season, I just wasn’t a fan of this arc of the story. In the second part, work studies seem to be back in effect. And now that Bakugo and Todoroki finally obtained their licenses, they can finally catch up to the rest of their classmates. Geez, you only now realize that we’re halfway into season five with 100 episodes in and these kids are still only first years. Deku ends up joining Todoroki and Bakugo to work study under the world’s #1 hero…the current one.

Okay Endeavor, let’s see if you can redeem yourself a little more. Actually, we only got a few episodes dedicated to Endeavor, his family, Deku, and Bakugo. There was an altercation between some rando villain and Endeavor’s son Natsuo. It happened, Natsuo’s safe, we moved on. Okay, now it’s time for My Hero Academia to turn into My Villain Academia. The League of Villains found themselves in severe trouble as another group of baddies ambush them. This was an ugly showdown as it pushed many of the league members to their breaking points. Himeko almost died and Shigaraki was pushed to remembering his own past.

Yeah, we got the typical backstory for a villain of Shigaraki’s caliber. Misunderstood child, abusive father, enabling family members to abusive father, accidentally murders the entire family, yep, it’s all here on the checklist. Several seasons prior to this moment, we learned that Shigaraki’s paternal grandmother was Nana Shimura. Yes, the same Nana Shimura who was All Might’s mentor and previous carrier to the One For All quirk. Well, Shigaraki’s father was really resentful about his mother because he felt as though he was abandoned by her. That birthed a hatred for heroes and he would get angry if his children mention heroes or wanting to be one. So, there’s that. Shigaraki wound up gaining a quirk and much like Eri in season 4, his quirk went haywire and it took out his entire family. After being a sudden orphan, no one came to Shigaraki’s aid. Not one single hero! All For One did however. He took the boy in, gave him hands of his family members, and gave him a new name and purpose in life.

Shigaraki, while almost broken to the point of no return, he took out Re-Destro and his gang of baddies. This led to an alliance. Shigaraki’s League of Villains and Re-Destro’s Meta Liberation Front have joined together under a new name, the Paranormal Liberation Front. We end the season with class 1-A showing off what they’ve learned from their work studies. Oh, and Hawkes is still infiltrating the newly formed league. Okay, I’m going to say it. This season was pretty lousy. Don’t get me wrong, I liked several moments in this season including Endeavor trying to atone for his sins, Deku’s new ability, and the My Villain Academia arc. But that class 1-A vs. class 1-B crap was for the birds.

There’s a third movie sometime after this. I really don’t feel like talking about it since I felt so disinterested with it. Blah, blah, Deku is wanted by the police, blah, blah, big fight, blah, blah, no one’s going to die here!

SEASON SIX: Hey, I caught up when it was airing!

Shit’s about to go down! There’s a heavier tone in this anime everywhere you look. Even in the eye-catches halfway through an episode. The professional heroes, teachers from U.A., class 1-A of U.A. and even a few other students are all part of this sting operation to take down the newly united villain squad, the Paranormal Liberation Front. Besides going after that group, some of this sting is to get this doctor who was behind the creation of the Nomus and is also shielding Shigaraki until he’s 100% and then some. Shigaraki was in rough shape near the end of the fifth season, so he's being constantly monitored. But during the sting, Shigaraki awakened.

The awakening of Shigaraki led to a domino effect of destruction everywhere. One of the giant villains couldn’t be controlled and ended up wrecking a lot of pro-heroes. Shigaraki’s decay power went berserk and took out the entire area. Deku, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Endeavor went toe-to-toe with Shigaraki and ended up putting a dent in him. Shigaraki is terrifying now, but because he wasn’t finished with the doctor’s experiment yet, his power isn’t what it could be. That’s when All For One took over Shigaraki’s body for his own…even though he’s in super jail. Yeah, I know that doesn’t make a lick of sense, but just roll with it because Shigaraki is going to be a puppet for a while. Moving on!

And now for the moment I’ve been anticipating! League of Villain alumni Dabi comes in to drop a bomb on the Todoroki family. After Shigaraki ended his rampage, Dabi came in to break the news to not just Endeavor and Todoroki, but to the entire world. He put out a video prior to the current chaos to announce that Endeavor, the #1 hero is his father and went into detail about what a horrible father he was. Dabi (or Touya Todoroki) was Endeavor’s eldest son who was thought to be dead. This broke Endeavor inside causing him to look upon both of his sons fighting. Yes, I’ve been looking forward to this story. The Todoroki family story intrigues me.

This giant fight that lasted several episodes (if not half of the season) is finally coming to an end without a happy ending. It’s much worse than anyone jumping into the anime without reading spoilers could have imagined. Many characters got messed up badly. Worse than in any other season. Deku winds up in a coma. Bakugo was impaled, but survived. Mr. Aizawa sliced off his own leg to prevent losing his quirk from one of those quirk deleters that got Mirio the other season. Midnight and several prominent ranked heroes are dead. On the antagonist side, Twice ends up dying by Hawkes after he admits to betraying the front. Many of the villains were arrested including the doctor, Re-Destro, Mr. Compress, and Machia. Himiko is on the loose. Shigaraki ended up torching several prisons releasing many convicts with powerful quirks on the public along with All For One. This leaves the public to wonder if they can ever trust heroes again. If it took all of these heroes to take down all of these villains and they still couldn’t complete the mission, what good are they?

That’s not my take, that’s just public opinion…except the public was a lot crueler when it came to the heroes.

AND NOW THE START OF THE FINAL ARC: With All For One taking over Shigaraki’s weakened state, he can get what he truly wants. The quirk, One For All. Shigaraki mentions it during the giant battle during this season and it catches the attention of Endeavor, Hawks, and even the angry media demanding answers about everything that has happened. Deku decided to make some pretty big decisions once he got out of his coma. Up to this point, Deku’s quirk was only known to All Might and later on Bakugo. Now, he decides to let the rest of his classmates know before he leaves U.A. Deku teams up with All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, and Jeanist to take down the rampant crime going on everywhere. Since season 5, Deku has been seeing past wielders of One For All and slowly unlocking their powers. A lot is riding on Deku with this ultimate power as he can’t pass the power down like All Might did. His life expectancy might be cut short. Kinda like Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan. And he’s getting prepped to take down Shigaraki with no regrets.

I make the Eren Yeager reference here because this is the part of the story that things take a harsher, somber-er tone compared to previous seasons. This includes the opening theme, ending themes, eye-catches, the preview, the background, the music, and Deku.

Endeavor also made a promise to his family that he will take down Dabi (Touya). But for now, we are focusing on Deku teaming up with the top 3 heroes and All Might to take down every kind of crime from small stuff, misplaced anger, and anything involving the escaped convicts from the several jail breaks. With all of the other One For All quirks unleashed, Deku is able to make use of every one of them with his mission. It came in handy when going up against a former hero and present-day convict Lady Nagant. She is one of the escaped convicts. While All For One told nearly all convicts to do as they please, he had other plans for some special ones. He used Nagant to try and take down Deku. But Deku got through to her near the end of their match and it looked like she was going to see life for more than what she was used to. Unfortunately, things have a funny way of working out when All For One is involved.

He planted explosives on Nagant. I’m pretty sure she’s a goner. This did not sit well with Deku. And neither did All For One’s taunt where he copied All Might’s infamous line, “now it’s your turn”. Rogue Deku is in quite the state. And now, let’s add his classmates to the mix. They’re going to bring him back to the academy by any means necessary. One Deku with 7 quirks vs. 19 classmates of his. With many flashbacks and a lot of push and pull, the class was able to subdue Deku and bring him back to U.A. which is currently being used as a refuge area. However, the people are not liking the idea of having Deku in the same place as them because Shigaraki’s looking for him and he has One For All. Thankfully, some kind words from Uraraka and a few supporters, the angry crowd came together to let Deku in.

All For One and Shigaraki’s big threat seems to be looming closer. It’s hard to nail down how long the heroes have. All Might wound up getting this information from the hero-killer Stain. Yeah, you remember him, right? The guy that wrecked Iida and his brother back in season two. I remember Stain always wanting to kill All Might. But seeing All Might the way he is now, either he doesn’t know it’s really him or refuses to believe that’s really All Might. Well, rest up class 1-A because season 7 is gonna be a doozy from what I’ve heard. At least it will be for Bakugo from what I’ve heard. Oh, and we meet America’s #1 hero for a sec, Star and Stripe (voiced by Romi Park).

Wowee-wow-wow-wow! I did not expect to like this series the way I did. I mean, I really do love My Hero Academia. I know I had the opportunity to watch this but chose to watch Black Clover instead. I don’t regret that decision; I just wish I got to watch this a lot sooner and maybe start on the manga. Now that doesn’t mean this entire series is flawless, far from it. There were some seasons that fell flat on its face. I think we all can get on the same page of which season was the one that is the flat can of soda out of this six-pack.

The answer is season five. It’s always going to be season five. No amount of My Villain Academia you throw at the audience is going to undo that. But I suppose that’s where that arc landed and call it bad timing. Long-running manga series have really awesome arcs and really slumpy arcs. Case and point, the anime Food Wars is a good example to bring up here. Their first 2 seasons were really good, but after that is when things started falling by the waist-side. When it comes to My Hero Academia, I had several hits of highs and lows watching. The field trip at the beginning season three, the culture festival at the end of season four, and the majority of season five were my lows. I only put that moment in season three up as, I have to be honest in this review. That arc actually got really good faster than I thought. The other two I mentioned just dragged on. Especially the class competition! I love watching class 1-A in action, but this was just so exhausting to sit through.

I think I’ve beat that dead horse enough. Let’s talk about the characters. I’ve always had the hardest time keeping up with the many characters an anime might have. Especially animes that are set in school and we focus on one particular class. Despite my love for the series Assassination Classroom, I could not remember every single person from that class. With My Hero Academia, I think I was able to recall every classmate. Just class 1-A though. Maybe it’s because of their quirks, some of their looks, or their quirky behavior. The same can be said about characters outside class 1-A like the professional heroes, the villains, the townspeople, Bakugo’s mother…yeah, you have to see the woman who gave birth to a feral, screaming grenade of loud noises.

I do have a legit question for manga readers. Do these kids finally become second years at U.A.? You don’t notice that these kids are in the same grade until it’s season five and you see a Christmas episode and you’re like, “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me, they’re still in their first year”. Don’t answer that. I know they’re probably going to age soon. Okay, enough of my dumbassary here. If you have a lot of time on your hands, I give this a full recommendation. If you’re able to sit through 100+ episodes of this, yes definitely give it a watch. And also keep in mind that Studio Bones animates this and they’re the ones who did Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mob Psycho 100, and Soul Eater. So, that’s a pretty big incentive.

I know I said some pretty rough things about several moments of this series. But here’s how I would break it down. Season one was a nice start as we get an introduction to Deku and what he’s going to go through to become a hero. Season two was wonderful with more of a build-up to the antagonists of the story. Plus, a tournament arc! Season three had a bit of a slow start, but once you get to Bakugo’s kidnapping and All Might vs. All For One, this season was a sure-fire hit. Season four starts great, but it hits a lull spot. Okay, I guess I can accept that as these kids do deserve some time off. Season five had some good moments with Deku learning a little more about the previous users of One For All and the My Villain Academia arc. Other than that, this season was nothing to write home about. Season six will rock you like a hurricane. It’s almost a little overwhelming in the first half with all of these heroes and villains going up against each other. But never a dull moment.

If you would like to watch My Hero Academia, several sites have the series streaming including FUNimation, Crunchyroll, and Hulu. It is also a staple on Adult Swim’s Toonami, so if it’s on, check it out.

Okay, now that I finished this long series, I think it’s high-time I watch Hunter x Hunter Urusei Yatsura! Huh? Okay, guess we’re doing something else instead.

[kwebtv]

Wilbert Francisco Cobbs (June 16, 1934 – June 25, 2024) Film and television actor. On television he played Lewis Coleman on I'll Fly Away (1991–1993), Jack on The Michael Richards Show (2000), and had guest appearances on Walker, Texas Ranger and The Sopranos. In 2012, he had a reoccurring role as George in the sitcom, Go On. In 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series Dino Dana

He also appeared and was a regular on many television programs, including as Lewis Coleman on I'll Fly Away (1991–1993), James on The Gregory Hines Show (1997-1998), Jack on The Michael Richards Show (2000), and George, a blind grief-support-group member, on Go On (2012-2013). He also appeared on Good Times, Sesame Street, The Outer Limits; ER, Six Feet Under; The Others; JAG; The Drew Carey Show; Walker, Texas Ranger, The Sopranos, October Road; One Tree Hill; Star Trek: Enterprise (as Dr. Emory Erickson, inventor of the Transporter); Bill Cobbs also had a small roll, with scene partner, funny, Michael McKean, in Christopher Guest/Eugene Levy hilarious comedy, (dog-show, mockumentary); “Best in Show,” (2000); and many more. (Wikipedia)

IMDb Listing

[awardseason]

21st Annual Visual Effects Society Awards — Film Winners

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Walter Garcia, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, JD Schwalm — WINNER Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Christian Mänz, Olly Young, Benjamin Loch, Stephane Naze, Alistair Williams Jurassic World: Dominion – David Vickery, Ann Podlozny, Jance Rubinchik, Dan Snape, Paul Corbould The Batman – Dan Lemmon, Bryan Searing, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, Dominic Tuohy Top Gun: Maverick – Ryan Tudhope, Paul Molles, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, Scott Fisher

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature Death on the Nile – George Murphy, Claudia Dehmel, Mathieu Raynault, Jonathan Bowen, David Watkins I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Paul Norris, Tim Field, Don Libby, Andrew Simmonds The Fabelmans – Pablo Helman, Jennifer Mizener, Cernogorods Aleksei, Jeff Kalmus, Mark Hawker The Gray Man – Swen Gilberg, Viet Luu, Bryan Grill, Cliff Welsh, Michael Meinardus The Pale Blue Eye – Jake Braver, Catherine Farrell, Tim Van Horn, Scott Pritchard, Jeremy Hays Thirteen Lives – Jason Billington, Thomas Horton, Denis Baudin, Michael Harrison, Brian Cox — WINNER

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Aaron Weintraub, Jeffrey Schaper, Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Mad God, Chris Morley, Phil Tippett, Ken Rogerson, Tom Gibbons — WINNER Strange World – Steve Goldberg, Laurie Au, Mark Hammel, Mehrdad Isvandi The Bad Guys– Pierre Perifel, Damon Ross, Matt Baer, JP Sans The Sea Beast – Joshua Beveridge, Christian Hejnal, Stirling Duguid, Spencer Lueders Turning Red – Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins, Danielle Feinberg, Dave Hale

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature  Avatar: The Way of Water: Kiri – Anneka Fris, Rebecca Louise Leybourne, Guillaume Francois, Jung-Rock Hwang — WINNER Beast: Lion – Alvise Avati, Bora Şahin, Chris McGaw, Krzysztof Boyoko Disney’s Pinocchio: Honest John – Christophe Paradis, Valentina Rosselli, Armita Khanlarpour, Kyoungmin Kim Slumberland: Pig – Fernando Lopes Herrera, Victor Dinis, Martine Chartrand, Lucie Martinetto

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Geppetto – Charles Greenfield, Peter Saunders, Shami Lang-Rinderspacher, Noel Estevez-Baker Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Pinocchio – Oliver Beale, Richard Pickersgill, Brian Leif Hansen, Kim Slate — WINNER Strange World: Splat – Leticia Gillett, Cameron Black, Dan Lipson, Louis Jones Turning Red: Panda Mei – Christopher Bolwyn, Ethan Dean, Bill Sheffler, Kureha Yokoo

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature Avatar: The Way of Water: Metkayina Village – Ryan Arcus, Lisa Hardisty, Paul Harris TaeHyoung David Kim Avatar: The Way of Water: The Reef – Jessica Cowley, Joe W. Churchill, Justin Stockton, Alex Nowotny — WINNER Jurassic World Dominion: Biosyn Valley – Steve Ellis, Steve Hardy, Thomas Dohlen, John Seru Slumberland: The Wondrous Cuban Hotel Dream – Daniël Dimitri Veder, Marc Austin, Pavan Rajesh Uppu, Casey Gorton

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: In the Stomach of a Sea Monster – Warren Lawtey, Anjum Sakharkar, Javier Gonzalez Alonso, Quinn Carvalho — WINNER Lightyear: T’Kani Prime Forest – Lenora Acidera, Amy Allen, Alyssa Minko, Jose L. Ramos Serrano Strange World: The Windy Jungle – Ki Jong Hong, Ryan Smith, Jesse Erickson, Benjamin Fiske The Sea Beast: The Hunting Ship – Yohan Bang, Enoch Ihde, Denil George Chundangal, John Wallace Wendell & Wild: The Scream Fair – Tom Proost, Nicholas Blake, Colin Babcock, Matthew Paul Albertus Cross

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project ABBA: Voyage – Pär M. Ekberg, John Galloway, Paolo Acri, Jose Burgos Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Dan Cox, Eric Reynolds, A.J Briones — WINNER Prehistoric Planet – Daniel Fotheringham, Krzysztof Szczepanski, Wei-Chuan Hsu, Claire Hill The Batman: Rain Soaked Car Chase – Dennis Yoo, Michael J. Hall, Jason Desjarlais, Ben Bigiel

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project Avatar: The Way of Water: The Sea Dragon – Sam Sharplin, Stephan Skorepa, Ian Baker, Guillaume Francois — WINNER The Sea Beast – Maxx Okazaki, Susan Kornfeld, Edward Lee, Doug Smith Top Gun: Maverick: F-14 Tomcat – Christian Peck, Klaudio Ladavac, Aram Jung, Peter Dominik Wendell & Wild: Dream Faire – Peter Dahmen, Paul Harrod, Nicholas Blake

Outstanding Effects Simulation in a Photoreal Feature Avatar: The Way of Water: Fire and Destruction – Miguel Perez Senent, Xavier Martin Ramirez, David Kirchner, Ole Geir Eidsheim Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Simulations – Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicolas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian — WINNER Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: City Street Flooding – Matthew Hanger, Alexis Hall, Hang Yang, Mikel Zuloaga Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Jesse Parker Holmes, Grayden Solman, Toyokazu Hirai, Rob Richardson

Outstanding Effects Simulation in an Animated Feature Lightyear – Alexis Angelidis, Chris Chapman, Jung-Hyun Kim, Keith Klohn Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, Kiem Ching Ong, Jinguang Huang — WINNER Strange World – Deborah Carlson, Scott Townsend, Stuart Griese, Yasser Hamed The Sea Beast – Spencer Lueders, Dmitriy Kolesnik, Brian D. Casper, Joe Eckroat

Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in Feature Avatar: The Way of Water: Landing Rockets Forest Destruction – Miguel Santana Da Silva, Hongfei Geng, Jonathan Moulin, Maria Corcho Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Integration – Sam Cole, Francois Sugny, Florian Schroeder, Jean Matthews — WINNER The Batman: Rainy Freeway Chase – Beck Veitch, Stephen Tong, Eva Snyder, Rachel E. Herbert Top Gun: Maverick – Saul Davide Galbiati, Jean-Frederic Veilleux, Felix B. Lafontaine, Cynthia Rodriguez del Castillo

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project Avatar: The Way of Water: Current Machine and Wave Pool – JD Schwalm, Richie Schwalm, Nick Rand, Robert Spurlock — WINNER Black Adam: Robotic Flight – JD Schwalm, Nick Rand, Andrew Hyde, Andy Robot, Mad God, Phil Tippett, Chris Morley, Webster Colcord, Johnny McLeod The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adrift” Middle Earth Storm – Dean Clarke, Oliver Gee, Eliot Naimie, Mark Robson

Emerging Technology Award Avatar: The Way of Water: Depth Comp – Dejan Momcilovic, Tobias B. Schmidt, Benny Edlund, Joshua Hardgrave Avatar: The Way of Water: Facial System – Byungkuk Choi, Stephen Cullingford, Stuart Adcock, Marco Revelant Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Toolset – Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Sven Joel Wretborn, Douglas McHale — WINNER Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: 3D Printed Metal Armature – Richard Pickersgill, Glen Southern, Peter Saunders, Brian Leif Hansen Turning Red: Profile Mover and CurveNets – Kurt Fleischer, Fernando de Goes, Bill Sheffler

[tv-moments]

Severance

Season 1, “Defiant Jazz”

Director: Ben Stiller

DoP: Jessica Lee Gagné

[industry212]

What are the 10 must-read cybersecurity books for beginners and experts alike?

Cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field, and staying updated with the latest trends, techniques, and best practices is essential for both beginners and experts. Here are ten must-read cybersecurity books that cover a wide range of topics, from fundamentals to advanced concepts:

For Beginners:

"Cybersecurity for Beginners" by Raef Meeuwisse: This book provides a comprehensive introduction to cybersecurity concepts, principles, and practices. It covers topics such as threat landscape, risk management, cryptography, network security, and incident response in a beginner-friendly manner.

"The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data" by Kevin Mitnick: Written by renowned hacker Kevin Mitnick, this book offers practical advice on protecting your privacy and security in the digital age. It covers topics such as online anonymity, encryption, social engineering, and secure communication.

"Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking" by Christopher Hadnagy: Social engineering is a common tactic used by cyber attackers to manipulate human behavior and gain unauthorized access to systems. This book explores the psychology behind social engineering attacks and provides insights into how to recognize and defend against them.

"Hacking: The Art of Exploitation" by Jon Erickson: This book offers a hands-on introduction to the technical aspects of hacking and cybersecurity. It covers topics such as programming, network protocols, buffer overflows, and exploit development, providing practical exercises and examples for readers to follow along.

"The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Finding and Exploiting Security Flaws" by Dafydd Stuttard and Marcus Pinto: Web applications are a common target for cyber attacks, and understanding their vulnerabilities is essential for securing them. This book provides a comprehensive guide to web application security testing, covering topics such as injection attacks, authentication bypass, and cross-site scripting (XSS).

For Experts:

"Practical Malware Analysis: The Hands-On Guide to Dissecting Malicious Software" by Michael Sikorski and Andrew Honig: Malware analysis is a critical skill for cybersecurity professionals tasked with defending against advanced threats. This book offers a practical, hands-on approach to analyzing malware samples, covering topics such as static and dynamic analysis techniques, reverse engineering, and threat intelligence.

"The Tangled Web: A Guide to Securing Modern Web Applications" by Michal Zalewski: As web technologies continue to evolve, so do the security challenges associated with them. This book provides a deep dive into the complexities of web security, covering topics such as browser security models, web application architecture, and common vulnerabilities like cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and clickjacking.

"Blue Team Handbook: Incident Response Edition: A condensed field guide for the Cyber Security Incident Responder" by Don Murdoch GSE: Incident response is a critical aspect of cybersecurity, and having a well-prepared blue team is essential for effectively detecting, containing, and responding to security incidents. This handbook provides practical guidance and best practices for incident responders, covering topics such as incident detection, triage, and containment.

"Network Security Assessment: Know Your Network" by Chris McNab: Conducting thorough security assessments is essential for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in network infrastructure. This book offers a comprehensive guide to network security assessment methodologies, tools, and techniques, covering topics such as reconnaissance, scanning, enumeration, and exploitation.

"The Hacker Playbook 3: Practical Guide To Penetration Testing" by Peter Kim: Penetration testing is a crucial component of cybersecurity, allowing organizations to identify and remediate security weaknesses before they can be exploited by attackers. This book provides a practical, hands-on approach to penetration testing, covering topics such as reconnaissance, vulnerability assessment, exploitation, and post-exploitation techniques.

Conclusion:

Whether you're just starting out in cybersecurity or you're an experienced professional looking to expand your knowledge, these ten books offer valuable insights and practical guidance for navigating the complex landscape of cybersecurity. From understanding the fundamentals of cybersecurity to mastering advanced techniques in malware analysis, web security, incident response, and penetration testing, these books cover a wide range of topics to help you stay ahead of emerging threats and protect against cyber attacks.

Read More Blogs:

Top 10 Cybersecurity Trends for the Next Decade

Cybersecurity in Healthcare: New Innovations and Developments

Challenges in Implementing Cybersecurity Frameworks

[arthur-erickson-officialblog]

Erickson Massey Architects house in new film 

This year was the filming of “Sitting Bird” at the Mao House in West Vancouver. It was originally designed by Bruno Freschi of Erickson Massey Architects in 1967, and later restored and updated by Christopher and Geoffrey Erickson of Studio Erickson: https://www.studioerickson.ca/3 The film is still in production, with a trailer due in the new year. Furnishings by Marginal Production Ltd.

Photos by Lukas Maier, showing examples of modern architecture and landscape used in filmmaking.

[denimbex1986]

'Opening Friday, Sept. 15, the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema Art Theater presents “Oppenheimer,” a cinematographic masterpiece by director Christopher Nolan that looks into a profound historical event, and “A Compassionate Spy,” the incredible and gripping documentary about a brilliant scientist and his profound impact on nuclear history.

The society is featuring these critically acclaimed films as part of its look back on the Atomic Era which kicked off with a sold-out screening of “Top Secret Rosies” and a discussion with filmmaker LeAnn Erickson.

Set during World War II, “Oppenheimer” sees Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoint physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition July 16, 1945, as they witness the world's first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history. The all-star cast includes among others Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon.

Directed by Steve James, “A Compassionate Spy” tells the story of controversial Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall, who infamously provided nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, told through the perspective of his loving wife Joan, who protected his secret for decades. Recruited in 1944 as an 18-year-old Harvard undergraduate to help Robert Oppenheimer and his team create a bomb, Hall was the youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project, and didn't share his colleagues' elation after the successful detonation of the world's first atomic bomb.

Concerned that a U.S. post-war monopoly on such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe, Hall began passing key information about the bomb's construction to the Soviet Union. After the war, he met, fell in love with, and married Joan, a fellow student with whom he shared a passion for classical music and socialist causes, and the explosive secret of his espionage. The pair raised a family while living under a cloud of suspicion and years of FBI surveillance and intimidation. The film reveals the twists and turns of this real-life spy story and the couple's remarkable love and life together during more than 50 years of marriage...'