#even if it only worked once the potato Was introduced in episode 1 if they pick force

[hubz88]

So Aaron asking Ben to move in and this plot about his dad seemed to be more about the parallels with Liv’s drinking problem then any real character development for Ben or their relationship.  Surprise, surprise. 

I had a few people jumping on a twitter response of mine last week, don't really do twitter much and wasn’t hoping to invite a conversation from Ben fans, Ben/Aaron fans, but anyway I was completely baffled, fascinated and mad and had to get my thoughts down.

Firstly my comment was about how weird I find it that on top of having this abusive father his whole life, Ben was so happy to forgive and forget the bullying that Aaron put him through, that made him want to die, within a day and a vague apology wanted to date him and it was brushed under the carpet.  I got two different responses from the fans that I want to look into because it has been on my mind all weekend.

1) About 2 or 3 people commented that I have clearly missed some episodes

This is hilarious to me, not only have I never missed an episode, but I have over analysed all Ben and Aaron scenes a thousand times over, without ever watching back I remember a great detail of what was said, weird dialog, acting/directing choices and facial expressions.

But mainly on this I am just hugely confused by what scenes they actually think I missed? There have been very little actually story about this bullying backstory full stop, no real content and no real resolution or explanation as to how come Ben got over it so quickly.  Given that I was referring to the first week or so on screen, it literally went like this.  Ben having no words in the Hop whilst Liv was acting like Aaron goes their all the time to see Ben at the Hop.  Ben orders a jacket potato and chilli whilst Chas awkwardly tries to suggest that Aaron gets back on the dating horse, hint hint hint to this random man who we know nothing about at this point and if he is even gay/into men.  Ben with Al and Kayak’s getting introduced to Aaron.  Aaron going back on his own to ask about Kayak lesson when Ben flips with the you don’t remember me, now I can hit back and you made me want to die etc. Ben’s car breaks down, Aaron says he can help, gets his number to text about parts or something.  They go for a drink as you do with your school bully.  Aaron explains vaguely about having a tough up-bringing and struggling with sexuality.  Ben has no reason to really trust him at this point or take his word for it but decides to awkwardly start trying to flirt and talks about the bullying he suffered as “reminiscing”, (weirdest line to use in context, I certainly don't reminisce about the kid that used to call me names at school let alone actually kick my head in on the daily). Then Aaron goes to the Hop and asks about a lesson, clear indication of a date.  This was all over a few days episodes, but one actual date time-wise.  That is is, whole story wrapped up.  No Ben talking to other people in the village that tell him to give Aaron a chance, no forced to work together, share friendship group, locked in a room together or whatever contrived plots soaps like to use to get people talking.  No longer story of getting to know each other, Aaron proving he had changed.  Just one conversation and it was all fine. Like what was the point?

Then from that point on we got a couple of episodes were Ben turned up out of nowhere, no build up, no aftermath, again no discussions with other people in the village, friends, co-workers, so we never saw his motivations or reasons for wanting to be with Aaron he just showed up apologizing for their disaster pint or Aaron apologised.  So much so that Ben was only in 11 episodes from September to January and many of those were like one or a couple of scenes, which is so poor when you compare to the other new characters introduction, interactions and multiple mini stories that played out.

The 4.5 months Ben was off screen was also used as a reason some how to explain how the lack of actual relationship discussion makes sense, like they talked again when he came back, (about his sister being an alcoholic), as if that suddenly makes it ok that they haven’t address the bullying or that argument again before Ben became a literal cardboard cut out glued to Aaron’s side. 

2) There was one person who replied saying it wasn’t a date at that point with the first lot of pints, which those terrible pint plots arguably were meant to be a date, but in any case they were still planning to meet up just the two of them, Ben kicked off after Ben didn’t turn up after divorce papers and Kayak lesson etc. So it still doesn’t make sense to want to get so pally with your ex bully. Through-out this point Aaron was pretty hot and cold and damn right rude at times.  Yet Ben kept following him around and showing up wanting to talk and try again and they suggest a pint several times.  One person did not like my response about him following Aaron around as if it was Aaron following Ben around because Aaron was the one that suggested the Kayak lesson to begin with.  But this person clearly hadn’t seen the scenes where Ben kept showing up out of nowhere wanting to get in Aaron’s orbit, Aaron largely seemed uninterested and said about them being friends beginning of December, (I think), which was never shown on screen and apparently didn’t happen according to January scenes at Aaron’s birthday when Ben said the friendship thing hadn’t worked out. 

3) There were the comments of the conversations on his return in May and the scene in the Hop discussing the bullying over some table football, you know do completely casual.  Again ignoring this does not change the facts of how this story started and how poorly it was executed regarding the bullying. Also in my opinion that chat was way little too late, they were official at this point and had only really been seen discussing Liv, her drinking problem, Liv being missing, Ben’s alcoholic dad and oh the mystery guy Ben put in a taxi.  Therefore no actual relationship or feelings chat anyway at this point, other than I’m miserable and we apparently have a laugh despite the fact we haven’t seen that onscreen. So why would I expect any in depth relationship story.  Even the Aaron Ben fan said they “try” with the Hop chat.  And like fair play, if you are happy with such shit a story and effort, then go live your best life hun.  But wow really, what are you liking here?

In actual fact Aaron still seemed quite offish on many occasions with Ben and snappy upon Ben’s initial return once again and yeah he was worried about his sister but why would Ben want to be around this permeantly, with someone he barely knows still, and would have possibly been triggering for him but yet he is promising to support him no matter what, you aren’t on your own Aaron, you have me, we and us etc. .

On the point of proving Aaron had changed the show has made a point this last year of many characters talking about how aggressive Aaron is, Liv about how he pushed her instead of Luke that whole time and calling him a control freak and lots of nasty names.  Mandy calling him a bully when Paul first died before she found out the truth.  Luke calling him a violent thug or something whilst Ben was there and talking about bad boys and stuff moments later, Ethan and Charles talking about him being scary and the same from Vinny at as well.  On top of the Pollard nonsense plot with the brooch and Ben was well aware that he was up for a bulgary/assault charge of which Ben had no real reason to believe he was innocent again he didn’t really know. He had only just re-connected with him after months off screen following the toxic argument, which also never got resolved, no sorry I didn’t realise Liv had a drink problem, I get your concern now, sorry for what I said, sorry for how I treated you, which as much as I don’t like Ben I feel he sort of would have deserved after how Aaron spoke to him.

Finally, and I realise no one is going to read this haha.  In one of my responses to these people before I gave up and said we are never going to agree, let’s leave it. I said content wise the story has been poor, there has been such little effort with the writing and Ben isn’t really a character right now, still only serving for other Aaron related plot and after 10 months on the show has only one small chat about gay marriage with Charles and the weird gay app conversation with Vic, Ethan and Luke outside of Aaron which is just not a proper character on a soap that it is 6 times a week.  Funnily enough, I got no response on that, no comeback or pathetic or disillusioned excuse. So do they all know how bad the story is and choosing to fight on the missing episodes I haven’t seen, whether those pints were dates or the fact they spoke after Ben’s disappearing act, which does nothing but really prove what a nothing of a character he actually is more than anything as there is no way I really believe it was all just down to COVID when other plots didn’t suffer the same way.

I will shut up now!

[kaiju-z]

Seon Adventures, Episode 37: The Client

When last we left off, Akar’Niel showed himself before the adventuring party, the Cultbusters for the 2nd time in two weeks time, after their group finished the most important part of their dungeon delving quest within the Tomb of the Fallen King.

With his re-introducing words of “Did you miss me?”, Akar’Niel takes the stage.

And there he was, leaning on a pillar.

Face to face again, this time before rest would overtake them, Akar’Niel makes himself known to the party. The Half-Elven man is met with a mix of intrigue from Jun and Luck, distaste from Mournimar and Belli and a careful study by Malak.

Morgan surely would be by his partner’s side due to the surprise appearance, while Arryn? Arryn was taking a well needed rest, oblivious to the conversation that was transpiring.

With the semi-hostile atmosphere coming from the party, Akar’Niel reveals to the lot of them that he is the client, who requested the fetching of Ena, currently in Luck’s possession.

From the initial interrogation, it’s hard to tell much about his intentions with the blade, aside from keeping it gathering dust in the tomb, or a museum to just be gawked at. However - Belli and Mournimar gather that he’s asking intently about the sword, but based on his physique, there’s a reason he’s not trying to wrestle it off. And Jun? 

Jun knows he lied and knows who River is. There’s an eyebrow twitch, when Luck asked why it mattered to him. He’s very emotionally invested in this artifact.

Furthemore, he tells the party he is of the Circle of Shaksban, the exclusionary spellcaster guild in Crystalgate. To try and gain the party’s trust, Akar’Niel offers himself to be placed under a Zone of Truth spell and willfully fail his save.

Belli casts said spell and a question and answer series begins, wherein he re-affirms he is who he is and what his intentions for the sword are. To hand it to the Darksbane Army for use, specifically, as they are considered by many, in different tones, as “the noble sort”.

During the talk, while Belli slips up and mentions that there’s only one human in their party, despite Luck wearing his disguise, Jun takes note of something about Akar’Niel.  She can see his eyes have a bit of a yellow flicker that moves like a vine in the wind. Furthemore, There’s almost like a faint breeze going through his hair, despite there being no wind?

The conversation carries on for about as long as the Zone of Truth permits, with an air of tension being raised from a half-suspicious and half-amicable side of the party. And Ena herself speaks to Luck, when he asks her what her take is on this arrangement.

Ena finds the party’s client a smug man, but is indifferent in who wields her, as long as blood can be shed. A bit unnerving, if honest answer from the weapon of a late king.

A deal ends up being struck, where the party agree to return Ena themselves, rather than hand it over at this moment to Akar’Niel. And that whenst he checks on the group the sound of wind chimes will follow.

With his departure, the six go to sleep, taking a long rest.

And in the morning? Luctan brings out the Dragon Skull for Malak to question. After debating what the questions should be...

Malak casts Speak With Dead. And for flavor and more amicable conversing, he asks in Draconic:

- 1. ”What were the names of you and the other dragon that attacked?”- “I’m Izyr. Lord of the Sands. My companion is Zamberrut , the Barbarian.”

- 2.“What destroyed the dwarves and dragonborn?” – “A magic not even I know.”

- 3. “Do you know who cast it?” – “The wizards. The magic users, who enforced my brother and I.”

- 4. “Do you know any of their names or locations?””I don’t know their names. They gave us fake ones.”

- 5. “What were the names they gave you?” – “We met with a man, who called himself Nehren and a woman, who called herself Seriza.”

Curious.

Very curious. And requiring further questioning.

Malak would ask again, after sharing his findings with the party.

- 1. “What did they use to compel you and the other dragon?” – “The same thing it always is. A fuck ton of cash.” They were bribed!

- 2. “What did the people that compelled you look like?” – “Well, the tiny one had a weird face, gray hair. Very old. And the woman, a heavier set woman. Human?!”

- 3. “Where did you first meet them? At the mountains, a little bit north of here. Right near the border.”

- 4. “Were they wearing any identifying marks? Jewelry, anything. Special cloaks.”- “No? I don’t think they did. This was like five years ago, man. One of them had this three headed dragon guy, which I found weird.”

- 5. “Did he have 3 heads or a symbol with 3 heads?”- “A symbol.”

Interesting info. They were hired. But it wasn’t clear if it was the work of the council. But one of them was a Fornas worshippers, the little graying man. A 3 headed Dragon symbol meant just that.

Why though? Why would a Fornas worshiper do this sort of cruelty?!

The party once again agree to proceed to Guan.

And so begin the days of travel once again.

On the first day, they go north and come across what one can tell are the remains of a town, just based on the slight shapes. There are visible peaks of what was once the town of Hertis. The travelers could hear faint whistling as they’d pass through. A jaunty little tune.

How jaunty? Jaunty enough that it slaps!

Following around a corner of the remains of a building, the group finds themselves in front of a lone tent. A campsite. This here seems to be a homemade farm with tomato plants in buckets. And the whistling is coming from inside the tent.

As though we are heard, the tune carries on with it’s performer stepping out to see their guests. And it is a female Kenku, 3ft tall and carrying firewood in her arms.

Most of them hadn’t seen one since the tournament, from the team of rogues, but as she speaks in a variety of intriguing voices, Luck and Belli remember hearing of this particularity of the Kenku before. They were cursed to not speak in their own voices, so they learned to mimic others’.

“Well hi!” Zooter would say in one voice. (which we later learned OOC was of the gril from session 3 or 4, who flirted with Belli).

From what the group can gather, Zooter, as she introduces herself, is a lil’ survivor, making a life out here for themselves.

The Cultbusters and the lone citizen, Zooter exchange pleasantries and foods. With the party giving her dried meats for a potato, much to her delight. To a point where she even states that if they ever need a safe spot to rest the night, she will offer them one.

(Seriously, Zooter has such a cool mix of voices. Scorpion among them.)

Surprisingly, from the corner of their eyes, Luck, Belli and Mournimar can see the inside of the tent. What the surprising thing is the small shrine to Ebriosus, which eventually also comes to Jun’s knowledge.

And she reaches into her wares, pulling out tens of platinum coins, which she hands Zooter and the two bond over their connection through Her.

Excited, Mournimar buys of the plant that would grow into the intoxicant “Steam Root” and through some big brain thinking, decides to plant it in the pot Malak bought for him.

(And many weed jokes were had.)

“You know? I loved you from the moment I saw you.” Zooter would say to Jun in another familiar voice, which she herself would specifically and only her recognize.

Later down the line, the group would carry on with their journey, parting ways with Zooter, the friendship made that day cherished forever.

And some good progress is made in travel.

On day 2, nothing really happens. If there’s any nasty shit in the desert, they see and avoid it. But that night, as they settle down, take their usual watches and the like, Jun has a dream to herself.

Day 3. That evening comes to a close and on the next day it’s very open dunes. They travel on more rocky/mountainous terrain. Very hilly. (And they are alive with the sound of music). Their awareness of our surroundings is good enough to where we’re safe. They sleep and nothing happens.

Day 4, the sand is less and the rock is more. Still wasteland, still no water They come across small streams at least once a day.

On the evening of the 5th day, Malak has a specific dream as well.

On day 6... They climb to the top of a little canyon that’s going on. Because they’re higher up, there’s no risk of danger. They get a feeling that for the next few days they’ll be pretty safe.

The 7th day comes and goes and on the 8th, Luctan has a dream. A promissing dream.

Then comes  Day 8.  Smooth as fuck.

Day 9.  They march and march on through and Arryn informs his travelmates that at this point today? They’ve been in Guan for a few days. He didn’t want to mention anything, ‘cause he didn’t want to jynx the group when they passed the border on day 6.

On day 9  the travelers come across to a barely a settlement. A few tents. Some lizard folk, the occasional kobold too. No farms, but there are caravans. We can tell they’ve been there for a while. On the outside, there is one Lizardfolk, more beefy than the rest.  And he is digging a hole. Diggy-diggy-hole.

He welcomes the party and proclaims that they are coming through in a good weather season. “Isn’t it lovely?“ Sand storms and humidity. Yep.  It’s been wild.

He introduces himself as  Eknam, the town burrier. So essentially, he is the undertaker of this settlement. Low on town people, but he’s optimistic that things are turning around. One of their ladies is swollen. So, it might be a big clutch!

They lost their town location, but what’s left of them, they’re called the Gromlets.  Eknam’s idea was Bog Creatures, but they have no bog.

They’re trying to find a place that’ll support them and the water supply isn’t tainted?! Aside from the side effects, there’s the whole limbs dropping off if you drink water 2 years in a row?!  Due to their resistances, it takes longer for the Lizardfolk to be affected, but for others? Much-much quicker.

Malak offers help and eventually clears the water for several days with Purify Food and Drink, while speaking to the settlers in draconic: “Hello, I’m the water technician. I’m here to clean your pipes.”

Greatful, Eknam welcomes the lot of them to Guan.

Eknam notes, upon us mentioning where they’re headed, that they’re going in the right direction of the capitol. Only have to go east and if they don’t get to it, they’d go north.

After some more directions, regarding going through the canyons, Eknam mentions that if the party bring them anything interesting they’d enjoy, they’d welcome the Cultbusters into the family.

While the directions are given,  Jun shifts into a lizard folk and searches for the pregnant lady, whom she finds in an open tent, resting comfortably, big and next to an egg that had recently been laid by her.  Bless her.

Jun congratulates her, before going off to search for the strongest camp person. Who would be Eknam in this case. The expecting mom’s a bit confused about the congratulations, but is grateful.

It is then that Jun talks with Eknam.

She asks him to keep her safe and sound from any harm. Eknam would ease her concern for what could be by stating how she is their highest priority. Always watched. Noting how every settler in the area kept a close eye on her tent.

“She is always our priority.”

Before the party leave, they give them some stuff to help them along with the developement of their settlement. Clothes and the like.

With goodbyes being made, the party would carry on to the next leg of the journey.

Previous Episode / Next Episode

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break, ch. 5

Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wēn Qíng, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Granny Wēn, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī

Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Secrets, Crying, Masks, Soulmates, Truth, Self-Esteem Issues, Regret, It was supposed to be a one-shot, Fix-It, Eventual Relationships, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, wwx needs a hug, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Filial Piety, Handfasting, Phobias, Sleeping Together, Fear, Panic Attacks

Summary: The visit to the market, the special dinner, and an unwelcome surprise.

Note: Meilin’s name means “plum jade.” Wen Qing seems to refer to Fourth Uncle as shifu, but I did excessive research and it can also be jifu, so I went with that. Yes, I brought in the concept of zhiyin, which has historical origins and has been talked about as a word that could have been used in The Untamed, a missed opportunity that means both “soulmate” and more literally “understanding the music,” as in of the heart/soul. Which, given that Lan WangJi wrote Wei WuXian a love song and they play a duet of it near the end of CQL, like omg. I did far too much research on shit like dying cloth and what plants grow best in poor soil, etc. Some dialog is adapted from episode 29 of CQL.

AO3 link

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

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The trip to town is blessedly uneventful. Wen Qing sends one of the older aunties, who had introduced herself as Meilin-jie at breakfast and who is put in charge of the money, and Wen QiongLin, who insists Lan WangJi call him Wen Ning.

He sends the missive to XiChen first, then does his best to distract himself from what must follow before his brother’s arrival: a long overdue conversation with Wei Ying. After his musings of the morning, Lan WangJi had realized perhaps the best way to minimize damage and protect his zhiji was to, with his consent, formalize the handfasting from years ago.

He only hopes the idea does not upset or offend Wei Ying; Lan WangJi himself has no scruples on the matter. His understanding of his feelings toward his soulmate have cleared since coming to Burial Mounds.

With the letter sent, Lan WangJi has only days to approach him.

Wei Ying is, unsurprisingly, easily sidetracked in each shop, flitting around to browse while Meilin selects supplies for sewing blankets and fibers for the making of bedding. Lan WangJi is pleased when she asks his opinion when it comes to fabrics for the more practical robes the aunties will sew for him, letting her explain the benefits of certain fabrics. Ultimately the choice is simply a matter of color.

Lan WangJi is practical, and chooses the least expensive option, an undyed fabric that’s a mottled cream. His choice receives a nod of approval from Meilin. She easily haggles the price down further by buying a bulk amount, clearly planning to make more robes.

“On the way home, we’ll harvest bamboo leaves,” she tells him, and pats his arm with a smile. “We can use them to dye the fabric a pale green for you. Very light, but it will even out the color, make it look nicer. We’ll get a cheap mordant in the market.”

Her thoughtfulness toward him, when he’s foisted himself on the refugees, is touching.

Wei Ying chooses that moment to wander over. “Light colors stain so easily, though.”

Meilin only laughs at him. “Not everyone is like you, young master. There are other dyes we can create for you, darker ones. I was once a seamstress, you know!”

Lan WangJi had never considered the art of fabric dying to be something he would learn, but he is willing to help the aunties if needed; any learning is worthwhile.

She chooses other, heavier fabrics for use creating blankets and bedding, haggling ruthlessly but buying in large enough quantities that the shop owner is satisfied.

A bookstore is nearby, giving Lan WangJi the opportunity to quickly peruse books about plants and farming.

“Carrots, beets, squash, beans, tomatoes,” he reports when he rejoins them outside. 

He feels mildly guilty for perusing without purchase, but practicality dictates his actions now.

“There are a lot of v-varieties of squash,” Wen Ning contributes. “So we can t-try to grow several?”

“Not potatoes?” Wei Ying asks, sounding a bit put-out.

“Wen Qing is correct in that they are not as easy to grow,” Lan WangJi tells him.

Wei Ying just sighs. “Well, at least it’s something other than radishes.”

Meilin insists they have a bit of lunch to tide them over, purchasing inexpensive food from street vendors. Wen Ning does not require food, and Lan WangJi claims to be practicing inedia and insists Wei Ying eat his share. And with the three of them watching expectantly, he for once doesn’t argue.

Since they expect XiChen in the coming week, Wen Qing had given them leave to purchase a small amount of tea. Lan WangJi selects based on scent, choosing one he is certain his brother has never tried, but is likely to enjoy.

After some time in the market purchasing plants, seeds, herbs, produce, meat, and building material, it becomes easily apparent that bringing their purchases back to Burial Mounds will not be a simple endeavor. Meilin’s suggestion that they buy a cart, which will also be useful during farming and building, is a welcome one.

By the time they head back toward Burial Mounds, Wen Ning pushing the laden cart, the sun is starting to set, and dusk is fast approaching when they reach its borders. The trek to the small settlement leaves them nearing twilight. Though it is still hours until hai shi, Lan WangJi’s day has been full, and he looks forward to rest. He can only imagine Wei Ying, whose body is weakened by prolonged lack of food, is exhausted.

Wen Qing seems to agree. She takes one look at him and tells him to go lay down “before I make you,” holding up a needle.

While Lan WangJi prefers she not threaten him, he also knows his stubborn nature likely has made that a necessity. Wen Qing waits until Wei Ying is past her on his way to the cave, then looks at him pointedly and jerks her head subtly in a silent order to go with him.

He leaves the rest of the settlement to unload the cart, his mind turning once again to the need to address their relationship, the need to address what he knows Wei Ying does not understand about what happened in the Cold Spring cave those years ago.

A-Yuan’s interference, running for Wei Ying the moment he sees him and insisting upon being picked up, allows Lan WangJi to catch up. Popo is lagging behind the boy, looking quite tired.

“Ah, Wei-gongzi, a-Yuan hasn’t taken his nap yet. He was too excited waiting for you.”

The slight smile on her face tells Lan WangJi that the elder had made sure of that; it’s nice to know these people are also trying to care for Wei Ying however possible.

Wei Ying doesn’t seem to notice the smile, swinging a-Yuan around in his arms. “Okay, my little radish, let’s get you a nap before dinner.”

Lan WangJi offers a short, polite bow to popo who waves it off in embarrassment, and follows them to the cave.

“I will play ‘Rest,’ so he may sleep easier.”

That gets a sideways glance from Wei Ying, but he seems to accept that Lan WangJi isn’t going to yield.

While they nap, Lan WangJi attempts meditation, but is kept from it by his own thoughts, his own fears. Instead he finds himself watching them, Wei Ying curled around the boy protectively, a-Yuan’s face snuggled against his chest.

He expects Wei Ying will be angry he never told him of the handfasting, but he also fears he will be against the very idea. Lan WangJi feels as though they have danced around defining their relationship for years. During the Phoenix Mountain hunt, he thought perhaps that had changed when Wei Ying called him zhiji.

But there were different types of zhiji, and he has never asked what Wei Ying means by it. Lan WangJi would be happy for Wei Ying to be his zhiji, his zhiyin, and beyond. His everything. 

He longs to be the same to Wei Ying.

He fears his regard for Wei Ying surpasses Wei Ying’s regard for him, that he will regard Lan WangJi with disgust.

It is an old fear, one he is well-acquainted with, and one he can no longer allow to control him.

He also hopes to convince Wei Ying to confide in XiChen about his golden core—at least about no longer having one, if not how.

Lan WangJi does not usually keep secrets from XiChen—the handfasting is the exception. But even though Wei Ying had not asked Lan WangJi to keep his secret, he will not reveal it to XiChen himself.

Lan WangJi has already done so much to lose Wei Ying’s trust, and he never wishes to give him reason to doubt him again.

Eventually Wen Qing comes to summon them for dinner. They exit the cave to find red lanterns hung on the trees and structures, and only then does Lan WangJi remember her comment about a “special dinner” the night before. 

Wei Ying looks surprised to see the Wen remnants waiting in the communal area. They stand and gather around when he walks in.

“Ah, you’re all still awake? Isn’t it late?”

Lan WangJi realizes that they probably retire shortly after dark, keeping to the schedule of farmers.

“All these lanterns… Aren’t the lanterns too costly?” Wei Ying asks.

“We made them, of course,” Wen Qing replies, carrying in a plate of food and setting it on one of the tables. “We’ll hang more along the mountain path. The last thing we need is you slipping and breaking a leg, making more work for me.”

Wei Ying laughs softly, and sits at a table. None of the others move.

“What, you haven’t started dinner yet?”

“No. We were waiting for you.”

Wei Ying blinks at Wen Qing.

“Why did you wait for me?”

She offers him a cup, acting as a proper hostess. 

“You’ve worked hard,” she tells him.

Though he takes the cup, Wei Ying looks uncomfortable. Lan WangJi knows he’s never been comfortable with gratitude, even though he’s often earned it, almost as though he still feels unworthy. When he thanks others, it’s often in a self-effacing way, as though he is undeserving of the kindness he has received.

“You’re suddenly talking so nicely to me,” he comments, grinning. “I’m a little scared.”

His voice is undeniably fond, and another laugh ripples through the small group. There’s a camaraderie among these people, one Lan WangJi hopes he might be able to join. These months and their struggles have made them close, though he doubts Wei Ying allows himself to feel a part of it.

This dinner, he realizes, is the way they have chosen to let him know he truly is family. Wei Ying adopted them when he saved them from certain death, and they have adopted him in return.

Wen Qing smiles. “In fact, they all wished to have dinner with you. To thank you. But you’re always running around and busy, or shutting yourself in your cave for days on end not letting anyone disturb you, and they didn’t want to disrupt your work and annoy you.”

Lan WangJi watches Wei Ying, the way his face slackens from the smiling expression he usually maintains, the words of gratitude making it hard to maintain the mask he presents to the world.

“They thought you didn’t like interacting with others and didn’t want to talk to them,” Wen Qing scolds gently, “so they were too embarrassed to protest.”

A murmur of agreement rises among the Wens.

Surprise crosses Wei Ying’s face, and Lan WangJi realizes he had probably kept his distance believing the Wens would want little to do with him. Regardless of the unconcerned face he presents to the world when he’s criticized and when crass and slanderous stories about him are shared, he knows his zhiji feels them deeply. The smiling mask he presents to the world hides the pain of all the traumas and ills he has suffered.

And with Wei Ying’s role in the war, he had probably assumed despite having saved them they would fear him. So he had kept his distance, had split from his adopted clan to appease cultivation politics, and had accepted loneliness as his only companion all these months.

Lan WangJi’s heart aches for him, remembering his reaction over lunch just yesterday to the news of his shijie’s impending wedding, the excitement so quickly followed by a forlorn dejection as he realized he would never see it, that he had sacrificed that ability through his choice to remain true to his sense of justice and righteousness.

Wen Qing smiles at him again with a soft sigh, the expression gentle as though she too knows Wei Ying’s pain.

“Now a-Ning woke up, and we’ve been busy celebrating. Hanguang-Jun’s decision to stay, we’ve been busy with arrangements. Meilin-jie said you had a nice lunch in town, but even if you’re not hungry, please sit with us and chat and have a few drinks.”

The Wens take this as a call to disperse to the gathered tables to eat, and Lan WangJi takes a seat at Wei Ying’s table, along with popo, a-Yuan, Wen Qing, and jifu.

Wei Ying’s expression is momentarily reflective, but then perks up.

“Drinks? There’s liquor here?” 

He is clearly excited, as though Lan WangJi hadn’t bought him wine during lunch just the previous day. Wei Ying’s obsession with alcohol, combined with his mental state, worries him.

Someone brings over a jar, and jifu opens it, smiling widely.

“Fruit wine,” he clarifies. “Made from the wild fruit growing on the mountain.”

Lan WangJi focuses on filling his bowl, not commenting as he would like that perhaps the fruit would have been better for Wei Ying to eat, given his emaciated state. But this is not his celebration, and the Wens are obviously elated to be able to offer a luxury to their benefactor.

But given the spread of food on the tables now, the fact that there are still funds remaining, the comments he’d heard over breakfast about the impending radish harvest, he can focus on helping ensure Wei Ying gains health again.

These refugees and Wei Ying deserve a bit of luxury in the face of all they have lost. Such small luxuries offer slivers of hope in the darkness they have faced.

“Jifu likes drinking. He knows how to brew, and he made it especially for you,” Wen Qing tells him. “He’s been trying for a while.”

“Really? I’ll have to try some!” 

Wei Ying sounds excited and eager, the first Lan WangJi has seen since Yiling the previous day, and his excitement only grows when he tastes and deems the wine delicious. Jifu watches, laughing, his expression one of paternal affection.

When jifu offers some to Lan WangJi, he thanks him but declines. Wei Ying’s laugh is unexpected, his eyes turning to half-moons with glee.

“Lan Zhan has no tolerance for liquor!” His smile is true and beautiful, the kind he hasn’t seen from him in what might be years now, since before the war perhaps. “I once tricked him into drinking and he passed out after only one cup! If all Lans have such low tolerance, no wonder alcohol is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses!”

Gentle laughs rise up from the tables around them, but Lan WangJi isn’t offended. Though he had submitted himself for punishment, that the memory gives Wei Ying joy now is enough compensation for him.

“Ah, I was a brat,” he comments. “But somehow we became close anyway.”

“You still are a brat,” Wen Qing tells him.

Wei Ying makes a show of being offended, but is quickly distracted when Wen Ning brings out more food and jifu pours him another bowl of wine.

Through the conversation, Lan WangJi learns Wen Ning has cooked all the dishes, is a proficient chef. He gathers the food is better prepared than they are used to, with a wider variety of flavors. He doesn’t contribute to the conversation while eating, and Wei Ying explains that Lan principles prohibit speaking while eating, and the Wens nod in acceptance. They still speak to him, but don’t expect a response.

A-Yuan giggles at Wen Ning’s appearance, as he has streaks of charcoal across his face from cooking, and calls him Coal-gege, to the laughter of the group. Wen Qing stands to wipe his face gently, in a motherly way.

Wei Ying’s eyes grow distant at that, the smile fading a bit, and Lan WangJi knows he is thinking about what he lost. He starts filling his zhiji’s bowl, taking care to avoid radishes, and it has the desired effect of distraction.

“You’re spoiling me, Lan Zhan,” he murmurs, his smile still dimmed, but firmly in the present again.

“You’re too thin,” popo tells him. “Always giving your food to a-Yuan.”

“Mn,” Lan WangJi agrees, skirting the line of the principle about speech without directly violating it.

He is, after all, not in the Cloud Recesses, even if he chooses to follow the rules regardless.

“And no one wants to have to carry you drunk to bed,” Wen Qing adds, “so you need to eat if you’re going to drink more.”

More soft laughter follows, along with a toast to “Wei-gongzi.” Lan WangJi joins with his cup of water. The atmosphere of the meal, the soft chatter at each table, is wholesome and comfortable, and very different to what he is used to, lacking the silence of Cloud Recesses or the strained feeling of banquets.

Distinctly distant from his own experiences, a sort of controlled chaos, and yet he finds it soothing.

Too soon, it seems, it is hai shi. Lan WangJi bids the room goodnight. Wei Ying waves as he heads out, still engaged in lively banter and drinking with several of the uncles, including jifu. Popo carries a sleepy a-Yuan from the area, accompanying him partway to the cave.

“Goodnight, Rich-gege,” the boy murmurs, half asleep. “I’m glad you’re staying.”

“I am as well.”

He pats the boy’s head before retiring to the cave.

Lan WangJi is still only somewhat familiar with life on Burial Mounds, and though he would normally wash his face before sleeping he will need to learn where to go for water in the morning instead.

Hours later, he’s woken by a shout of panic and a thump, followed by Wei Ying tripping over him blindly. He lights a talisman to find him plastered against the wall, his eyes wide and wild.

“Wei Ying?”

Wei Ying barely glances in his direction, then back to the center of the chamber, his flute held out like a shield. 

“Dog. Dog, Lan Zhan.”

His voice is filled with more panic than Lan WangJi has ever heard from him, even in the midst of the worst battles in the war.

A growl catches his attention and elicits a whimper from Wei Ying.

Near the boulder Wei Ying uses as a bed, Lan WangJi can make out a pair of glowing red eyes. As he focuses, he can see the outline of a large dog, its body made of and leaking resentful energy. Animal ghosts aren’t uncommon, but this one seems especially hostile.

The normal protocol is to attempt liberation first, followed by suppression or elimination if necessary, but Wei Ying is pressed against the wall, curled in on himself, his voice a hoarse croak.

And so Lan WangJi does not feel guilt manifesting his guqin and using Chord Assassination to eliminate immediately, rending the resentful energy into wisps that dissipate into the shadows. He dismisses the instrument, and turns to Wei Ying, who is shaking, his breath coming in short, panicked gasps.

“Wei Ying, it’s gone.”

Wei Ying looks his way again, and Lan WangJi realizes he’s beyond words, his pupils blown wide in terror. He’s beyond even speaking, just mouthing “dog.”

Lan WangJi worries that manifesting his guqin again could send him into a full panic, that he could hurt himself. So instead he imbues his spiritual energy into his voice and hums “Clarity,” letting the song reach out to him to soothe.

It takes a couple of verses before Wei Ying’s tension starts to ease, the flute lowering. But his shaking doesn’t stop. Lan WangJi reaches for him slowly, pulling him away from the wall, closer to him. 

“It’s gone, Wei Ying,” he repeats.

“Gone?” 

His voice cracks in the middle of the word.

“Eliminated,” he clarifies. “It won’t come back.”

The sound Wei Ying makes in response is almost a sob, and he goes almost boneless in relief on the cave floor. Even now, he’s trembling, his breathing erratic, and Lan WangJi recognizes he’s having a mild panic attack.

He didn’t know Wei Ying was so afraid of dogs, never expected a phobia of this intensity—he’s seen him face down some of the most terrifying monsters with barely a blink, but he’s been sent into a state of near-hysteria by a ghost dog.

But Wei Ying is in no condition to explain, and he’s still in the throes of panic; he shouldn’t be alone. He doesn’t resist when Lan WangJi pulls him closer, shifting on the bedroll to share it, covering them both with the blanket, barely reacts at all. Wei Ying’s breath smells of alcohol, and he’s certain it made his fear worse.

Lan WangJi imbues his voice again and hums “Rest,” letting his zhiji settle against him. When he’s still, his breathing even, he softly sings “WangXian” to him somewhat self-indulgently, then listens to Wei Ying’s breathing until he, too, has fallen back to sleep.

[harrytheweedman]

Season 4 episode 1

I think that season 4 is one of the best and worst seasons of drag race. This season is the first season with a decent prize package so there’s that. But this season also welcomes the return of judge Michelle Visage, who on a panel with Santino is a blessing. It’s a rough season when Michelle is the judge you favor.

Willam is the first queen introduced into the workroom. Her outfit screams pedestrian but as we know, Willam is delusional and assumes its fierce. Willam isn’t my least favorite queen but I find her constant peacocking and delusion to be off putting. If she had the talent to back her words than it would be a different story.

Lashauwn Beyond is next and shes a fierce bitch. her looks are always captivating and fresh, but her confidence is what will be her downfall. 

Jiggly Caliente comes after and she is a mess. In a good way. Shes one of the funniest queens, but she is messy honey. Her entrance look isnt bad but its not anything to right home about either. It’s basic.

Phi Phi Ohara arrives next. Her entrance look isnt bad but it makes her look shorter than she already is. She’s one of the smallest queens and she picked a look that made her appear squat and its unflattering to her. From the beginning I liked Phi Phi, but as the season progressed I could tell that she was getting the villain edit and thats a shame. Phi Phi has some of the best looks and even today she’s a fierce bitch.

My least favorite queen of the season is next. Madame LaQueer has the worst looks, the worst attitude, the worst name, the worst everything, her entrance look is so boring and it only gets worse from there.

Milan comes after and her look is alright. I like when queens aren’t afraid to wear pants, but the I dont like animal print on anyone. Phi Phi says she looks like a pimp and thats pretty accurate.

Alisa Summers is next and I forget that she’s on this season every time I watch it. Her entrance look is all over the place. She claims to be fishy and I bet that she thinks she’d edgy, but really it’s just forgettable.

Dida Ritz comes next and I love her but Lashawn was right when she said her wig was dry. It looked so thirsty. If you know you're about to be on TV in the Olympics of drag, maybe you should brush your damn wig. Spoiler alert: her wigs are thirsty all season.

Next is the Princess. her entrance look is on of the best and one of my favorites. Shes one of the few queens this season that has concepts and actually seems to have some sort of idea of what she’s doing. I want to point out how beautiful her makeup was too.

Little Kenya Michaels is next. The only queen shorter than Phi Phi. Her entrance look is very pedestrian but she makes it work. She is so beautiful that she could probably wear anything. Her downfall is how clueless she is and how she appears to be a run trick pony. 

The legendary Chad Michaels is next. She was famous before drag race and rightfully so. Her Cher is phenomenal but I feel like that’s all she can do. Also out of drag her face scares me. I feel like she only has the face to be Cher. Anything else is scary.

Sharon Needles, the bitch who changed the game and is the only reason to watch this season, finally come into the workroom. Sharon is spooky in all the right ways. She is fierce but also campy. Her entrance look is super cute and simple but it works.

Latrice Royale is last. Her look is extremely ugly. The colors are awful and the dress just isn’t flattering. She looks like some kind of gay baked potato.

After we are introduced to the queens, there is a lame little bit with Shangela and boxes. Overplayed. I love it 

Now it’s time for a super lame photo shoot. Like super lame. For the mini challenge the queens have to stand on a spinning table and have paint sprayed on them while getting their pictures taken. We’re just gonna move past that.

Moving on and skipping forward, its time for the maxi challenge. Ru takes the girls to what is essentially a back alley and has them chase after “zombies” that are really just queens from past seasons done up. It’s always nice to see some familiar faces. Once the queens take their shit from the zombies, which is random pieces of clothes and basically shit, we head back to the workroom for the design challenge. 

I love and hate design challenges. I love them because there are some really talented queens that can sew, but I hate it because there are always queens that don’t know how to see. It’s always unbelievable to me how many queens are surprised that they have to sew. Watch the damn show. Do your homework before you compete on a televised show. It should not be a surprise to any queen. 

After watching the queens struggle to come up with something decent for the Apocalypse, it’s time for the runway. So I dont have to waste my time, we’re only going to talk about the queens who aren’t safe on the runway. If you’re safe then you are garbage. That means that you did not make an impression and are therefore not worth my time. 

The runway song is Glamazon, which is a true bop. Def one of Ru’s better songs because I mean it when i say that this song slaps. 

First up on for judging is LaShauwn Beyond. Santino comes up with some bullshit meaning behind her look but we all now that she was just stacking garbage on top of garbage. I liked it but the judges did not like her lack of confidence and I can see how that’s a turn off. I didn’t get apocalypse from her look but overall is wasnt terrible.

Next is up is Sharon Needles. I will usually refer to her as Noodles. Noodles hands down has the best look on the runway. She’s the only one who understood the challenge and actually had a Apocalypse look. The judges loved her and it made sense that she won the challenge. This look is fierce. Noodle really came to play straight off the rip. 

Jiggly is next and her looks is garbage. it literally looked like she was blindfolded just gluing shit on her mannequin. There is no concept and what seems like no thought or effort put into this look at all. She’s wearing sneakers and I was so surprised that nobody read her for that. I guess her horrendous outfit took the heat away from her lazy foot attire. Jiggly promised the judges that there is more and she can do better. Ru said that they’d heard it before and was skeptical. Rightfully so. I would love to say that Jiggly steps her puss up after this, but she doesn't and she doesn't keep her promise. Oh well. At least she ended up in the bottom two.

Kenya Michaels is next. her outfit makes absolutely no sense at all. Shes a fire bird because she thinks of fire when she thinks end of the world, Bitch what. Shes clueless, but shes cute so the judges loved her. If she wasn’t so fierce she would have been in the bottom for her sparkly diaper alone, but on drag race personalty can really save you.

Alisa Summers is next. I didn’t hate her outfit as much as everyone else did. The judges really laid into her and it didn’t seem fair when she at least looked like she tried while some of the other looks were way worse. Michelle is the only one who stuck up for her and I agreed with her. There are no rules in fashion. Santino is a fucking dick and I hate him. He has no business being a judge on this show. I will say that her makeup is a little heavy, but she’s a drag queen sp who cares. Was it the best? Hell no. Was is the worst? Absolutely not, but she ended up in the bottom anyway.

Last to the slaughter is the Princess. I love stripes and anything nautical so I’m already a big fan. I liked that she has a concept and I liked that it was completely different from what everyone else did. The Princess has such a good stage presence and I feel like she did really well and killed the runway. She’s really under appreciated on this season.

After the critiques the queens go untuck and the judges talk about the queens behind their back. They save the good shit for when the queens are not around. Then the queens come back and we learn that Jiggly and Alisa Summers have to lip sync for their lives to the tune of Toxic by Britney Spears. Gasp.

There is no doubt that Jiggly absolutely stomped Alisa. I that wearing sneakers makes dancing a little easier. Alisa, the poor soul, really thinks that she was killing it but Jiggly pissed all over that stage and made it hers. Alisa just couldn’t match Jiggly’s energy and unfortunately had to sashay away.

Not bad for a first episode. Tune in next week when the drag queens try their luck at wrestling. 

[sbnkalny]

Drop it like oh yeah That's so trashy How low can you go How dirty can you get nasty fucker Drug through the dirt Razor cut that eight millimeter make it hurt Chain sleaze leather face Fucker please, you must be smokin' rocks Kill it, kill it Kill it, kill it Hit it, fuck it, feel it, whip it, burn it, turn it out and kick it to da curb Shut it down Forged in the flames, said it before and ill say it again Quasar game maximum vacuum rotation spin s-s-s

Better Begnning's mod installer one point eight times t close parenthesis close parenthesis is ).

[twdmusicboxmystery]

AMC/ABC Actor Patterns

Okay, I said I’d get this posted this week. Let me first say that this won’t be terribly ground-breaking. It’s actually just more evidence for something I and many others have pointed out before. But I’ve been thinking about it off and on since Michael Cudlitz’s show—The Kids are Alright—was cancelled.

Quick recap: Many of us thought that the show Emily did a few years ago—Conviction—was kind of suspicious. It was small, produced by ABC (a partner/sister-network of AMC), promoted by AMC and TWD, and only lasted one season. We had lots of reasons it was strange. It seemed like Emily just took a small potatoes roll she and the network knew wouldn’t last, which adds to our theories of her return to TWD.

I most recently talked about this HERE when I pointed out that, just this past season, Lauren Cohen followed a similar pattern. The major difference is that they didn’t try to make us think Maggie was dead. They wrote her out of the show from the second half of the season (Ep 6-16), but just said she’d left, going to another place. So everyone assumed she’d be back.

But in the mean time, Lauren did Whiskey Cavalier. Other than Maggie’s character not having a death fakeout, it followed the exact same template. Lauren did a show that was produced by ABC, promoted by AMC and TWD, and only lasted one season. I thought WC had a better chance of getting picked up for additional seasons than Conviction ever did…but it wasn’t. So it ended up being the same. I saw that as simply being more proof that Emily will return to TWD at some point. And granted, we haven’t technically seen Lauren return yet, but it’s been confirmed that we’ll see her again in S10.

When Michael Cudlitz’s show got cancelled, that was the first time it occurred to me that his show followed this same pattern. Let’s examine the evidence, shall we?

First, let me say that this isn’t a team delusional/he’s really alive theory where Abraham’s character is concerned. I don’t think he survived Negan at all. How could he have? His injury was far and away more deadly and final than Beth’s was. So while I think Beth is alive, Abraham, not so much.

1.  During S4 of FTWD, we were introduced to Althea, who used to be an investigative journalist. She takes video of people she meets in the apocalypse. In her collection of tapes, one of them was labelled in a way that suggested it might possibly be of Abraham and Eugene. Michael Cudlitz even commented on this on Twitter.

2.  There’s a humorous commercial I remember seeing that features Abraham and Eugene. It’s for one of the TWD games. I haven’t seen it on TV in a while, but it aired long after Abraham’s death. Kinda suspicious. I mean, if we’re suspicious that they still use Beth and Daryl to promote the show, thinking it means that relationship will return at some point, then we have to apply the same thing to Abraham and Eugene. Check it out on YouTube.

I also think it’s important to point out that most of the deceased characters from TWD are not used this way to promote the show. We don’t see commercials including Bob, Tyrese, or Sasha that are used to promote the show. And similarly, there have been absolutely no whispers or rumors of their return to the show or the spinoff. So we can count on these kinds of promos as being hints of some sort.

3. It’s been said (X) that the new TWD spinoff, which we don’t have a title for yet, may feature the backstories of deceased TWD characters. Of course that could be any deceased character, but the fact is that this makes the idea of Abraham returning—showing his backstory BEFORE he met Glenn in S4—a real possibility.

4.  On this last episode of FTWD, Daniel had a cigar very reminiscent of the ones we saw around Abraham, and said a friend told him to save it for when things got better. I thought of Abraham, and given this edit I reposted from @theinfectedtwd (IG) obviously I wasn’t the only one. 

Even more “coincidental” (that’s sarcasm) is the fact that the FTWD crew is currently hanging out in Texas. Remember that Abraham and Eugene met and started out in Texas. Houston, if I remember correctly. So the idea of them having once run into Daniel and/or Althea really isn’t far fetched at all.

5. MC just finished up one season of The Kids are Alright, also produced by ABC, also promoted by AMC and TWD, and also only lasting one season. (I was thinking he’d done two seasons of this show. Maybe it’s just because ABC shows have longer seasons of 22-24 episodes, but I thought he’d done 2 seasons. Nope. Only one. Cancelled after that.)

So we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. But assuming we see a lot of Maggie in TWD S10, and assuming Abraham and Eugene’s backstory shows up in the spinoff, that will now be three mainstream, TWD characters who left the show for a time, did a small-potatoes ABC series that lasted one season, and then returned. Well, I guess two. Beth hasn’t returned yet. But my point is that this is simply more evidence that she will. This is becoming an undeniable pattern.

In fact, if you google this, there’s a LOT of people talking about Abraham’s possible return to the show. Some even claim it’s been concerned, though most of those are clickbait articles, so I wouldn’t take their word until and unless AMC officially confirms it. But at this point, his return is almost a foregone conclusion.

In closing, let me throw one more thing out there. This is 100% my own opinion, based on all my years of research into this stuff, and not something I can prove, but I thought I’d share anyway. In each of these cases, the networks (both ABC and AMC) and the actors and everyone else involved goes into these short-lived ABC series acting like they genuinely believe/hope the series will succeed and be on the air for many seasons.

And of course they do. That’s their job. It’s the actors’ job to promote their shows and the everyone else’s job to be optimistic and gush about how great this series is. Otherwise, no one would watch.

But again, in my humble opinion, I think that’s a little deceptive on their part. I think each of these actors has gone into these ABC series knowing full well that the series won’t last long. Because ABC and AMC are sister companies, they can collaborate and choose to put the actors in the series that are least likely to run for the long term.

That may sound weird, but most networks start a number of new series each season. They use a lot of different variables to determine which ones are more likely to succeed and sink most of their advertising dollars into those ones, more or less ignoring the others. So why do these series if they’re not going to succeed? Because they have to put something on the air and you never know when you might get a runaway hit (like TWD).

So they may ask ABC to cast their actors in the series most likely to only run one season. They may also put into their contracts that, for example, Lauren will be returning to TWD in S10, so if ABC wants to continue Whiskey Cavalier, they’ll have to replace her with another actress.

But I digress.

The details really aren’t terribly important, and I don’t pretend to know the detailed ins and outs of this industry. Truly, I don’t. But I have a basic understanding of how big business works and I’ve been following this franchise closely for more than 4 years now.

I just find it suspicious that, despite how many people loved WC and how critically acclaimed it was, it was still cancelled after one season, and now we’re hearing that Lauren will definitely be in S10 a lot more than she was in S9.

Similarly, we have a lot of hints that Abraham might show up in a new TWD spinoff. It’s in the works and they’re casting for it now. I’m assuming they’ll start filming before too much longer. And suddenly, his show is ending. Which means he’ll be available for filming. Just saying.

One other thing I thought of while writing this. I was going to say that while, yes, we saw several deceased characters in Rick’s hallucination in 9x05, those were small, 5-minute roles. Not the characters returning to some branch of the franchise for an extended amount of time. And that’s true. But it occurred to me that we DO think Beth will return, and we heard her voice, but didn’t see her face. Who else’s voice did we hear? Abraham’s. An interesting parallel, if both of them return to the show in some way. I don’t know if this will end up being a thing—we’ll have to wait and see—but the other voices we heard were Morgan’s (already in another branch of the franchise) and...Lori’s. Interesting.

[parsleybabe]

Home Made Simple S01E02 - Product Placement Overload

The episode starts out with the same host and same chef but two different renovators. Imma call them Wood Guy and Deco Guy.

The family consists of a mom, a dad and their two daughters – one is a toddler and one is still a baby and completely disappears from the entire episode right after being introduced. They’ve just moved into a home and the goal is to renovate the living room and patio so the family can throw a party to introduce themselves to the neighborhood

So, here are my personal highlights of this episode:

There’s actually very little gender bias in this one. It starts out with Chef Guy talking about how they’re going to make party comfort food like a mom would make it, but without the love handles. That’s not even that cringey, I guess. I just didn’t like it how he connected comfort food with mom and love handles. Could be me being a bit oversensitive here, though. I did find it interesting however, that, in this episode, they didn’t explain why the mom was gonna participate in the cooking while the dad was helping with the tools. I mean, contrary to the previous episode where the mom doing the hard work was presented as a surprise. Just saying.

But, let’s stick to the title of my review and move on to product placement #1:  Fairly early on, the family dog is introduced (he completely disappears from the entire episode after this one scene btw, much like the baby before). And isn’t dog hair just THE WORST? It really, really is a huuuuge problem and it’s seriously “going to ruin the wall treatment”, Deco Guy explains. So he introduces Swiffer Sweeper Vac with the words, “I live by these things” and “it’s absolutely amazing”. They even give instructions to the mom who tries it out, “Push forward… push forward... it swivels… good job!” and then she is left alone in the room sweeping the floor as if she’s never done that in her life before.

What’s super funny though is that, later on in the episode, when they’re actually cleaning the same floor after all the renovations are done, they DON’T use the swiffer but another brand sweeper and it’s super obvious too because the swiffer one is neon green and the one they later use is grey and dark blue. That really cracked me up.

Anyway, let’s move on to Wood Guy who is working with the dad on wooden benches with storage space inside for the patio. Except… they don’t really show how to build them. They just talk about how that’s what they’re gonna do and then the dad gets to use a power saw once. Suddenly, they have a bunch of finished wooden boxes (I assume they built them, but it’s not shown or explained) and they line up some wooden bars on top of one for the lid (but we don’t get to see them screwing them on or explain how the lid works at all). Instead we see them paint the finished box benches. Because that’s important, I guess. Btw, we actually see one of the benches open very briefly in the background during the end credits, and you can see some metal lid mechanism, but that’s never explained on the show. And, honestly, why would we need to know how to do that, right? If we wanna build storage benches, we should focus on the essentials like painting them.

Meanwhile, Chef Guy explains to the mom how to make meatloaf. Honestly, it’s just your everyday bog standard meatloaf recipe, (just baked in cupcake forms and later mashed potatoes spread on top). But the meatloaf recipe alone is a huuuuge revelation to the mom, apparently, and she can’t stop praising it. The funniest thing about this scene, though, is how they use whipping cream for the mash. And while the info bar on screen suggests that you could replace it with nonfat buttermilk if you’re worried about calories, Chef Guy who is so massively opposed to love handles uses whipping cream. Consistency is key. 

Anyway, back to topic and on to product placement #2: On the patio, Wood Guy discovers the BBQ grill and desperately needs to show the dad how to clean it. He whips out some Mr Clean Magic Erasers and starts putting them to work. Which is not only a lackluster presentation, but also doesn’t show the actual “magic” of the product (the thing can remove stains from walls and grime from plastic furniture ffs, and there’s tons of products better suited to clean a fucking grill - honestly, I’ve tried the erasers on a grill, that’s the one thing they suck at). But hey, who cares. And of course Host Lady comes in and chimes, “This is amazing!”

Also, fun little side note, I found it super endearing how they got a BBQ on the patio and clean it and display it, but for throwing their patio party they don’t use it at all. Instead they serve meatloaf. Smart.

I briefly find some true respect for Deco Guy, because he takes the mom garden shopping and drops some actual gardening knowledge. I mean, nothing new, and none of it is actually used on the show, but at least he seems to know what he’s talking about. I guess some viewers who aren’t familiar with gardening at all could benefit from that.  I’m genuinely impressed.

Back home, Deco Guy wants to repaint the already existing patio table. It’s a super rustic, solid metal table that looks great as it is, but he wants to add color, so. Host Lady almost loses it when she hears that he picked bright yellow for the new color. I’m not kidding, she actually goes “Whoaaaaaaa! YAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!” and jumps up and down and claps her hands. I don’t even know, I guess she hasn’t seen any yellow in a really really long time?

Anyway, before painting the table they have to clean it. And, of course, they don’t use the magic erasers for that, even though THAT would have been the perfect moment to introduce the real selling point of the genius little fuckers  (in all honesty, I’m a huge fan of those things), but no, they use cloth, water and soap.

And then they paint it and make the solid metal table look like cheap plastic. But let’s not focus on what is a clearly a matter of taste. The true highlight of this scene is how Deco Guy gets spray paint on his pants and is devastated. I immediately lose all hard-earned respect for the guy, because… The guy’s supposed to be a professional renovator and should know not to wear his favorite jeans when doing paint work. I mean, come on.

The sprinkle on top, though, is when Host Lady asks how to get the stains out, he replies, “that’s a different show”. And I’m munching on my popcorn, because… I mean, they didn’t mind introducing a dog hair sweeper and they’re making meatloaf and all that on a renovating show, but talking about getting paint stains out doesn’t fit the format. This is getting more and more interesting by the minute.

Moving on to the living room: Deco Guy introduces the idea to put wallpaper on one of the walls and everybody is just purely floored by the idea, because nobody has ever thought of putting wallpaper anywhere apparently. The mom, who is actually a clothing designer says she’s always loved wallpapers but never thought of getting any. She literally goes “It’s very different” and I don’t even have words.

Not gonna talk much about how Chef Guy then teaches the mom to toast ready bought cinnamon bread and spread ricotta on it. After all, that’s just the subtle introduction to the true message of the scene: product placement #3, where Chef Guy casually asks the mom if she’s nervous about meeting the neighbors, while nonchalantly putting a Cascade dishwashing tab into the machine with the container on full display in two separate locations inside and on the counter and the camera following his hand. Veeeeery subtle. They don’t even mention the name this time, I’m impressed.

Host Lady is on a roll throughout the whole episode, by the way. Not only does she get overexcited about everything around all the adults, she actually turns it up a notch around the toddler. She speaks in this weird baby voice. Later, when the parents are discussing the emotional value of family photos, she just snatches the kid and hugs her as tight as she can. At this point I genuinely wonder if they’re related, because if any stranger had grabbed me like that as a kid, I would have hidden in the farthest corner of my bedroom and not come out again until highschool. If they’re not related, that family has one heck of a tough kid.

Time for final results. The living room is decorated and it looks alright. They didn’t really add much, but mostly changed the furniture placement. The walls have new paint and wallpaper, and there’s some family pictures thrown into the mix. The biggest change, imo, is that they hung three huge white plastic gazelle heads onto the wall. And I know this is a matter of personal taste, but they look really weird, reminiscent of hunted animals on the edge of extinction (which feels wrong), but plastic (which looks cheap on top), and they are white on a yellow-white wallpaper, so they don’t even contrast anything really. They just look super wrong to me. But, anyway, like I said, matter of personal taste. However, while I genuinely thought that we weren’t hit with the gender bias in this episode, Host Lady dishes one out last minute by pointing at the gazelle heads and telling the dad, “This is for you. This is the manly touch!” Ahh, no wonder I didn’t get it.

Finally, they move on to the patio and the best and sole improvement of the whole episode is that there is now an awning spreading over part of the patio. It’s perfect because it matches the request that the family had in the beginning (which was less direct sun), but they never showed how it was made or bought or installed on the episode at all. It’s just there when the family comes to see the end result. But, I mean, why would you show that, right?

[satoshi-mochida]

Spike Chunsoft has released new information and screenshots of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning further introducing four of the game’s eight main characters—Haruto Higurashi, Ryo Mikajime, Rinko Susukino, and Yuma Mashiro—as well as the game’s ruins, creatures, and more.

Get the details below.

■ Characters

Haruto Higurashi (voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga) – Editor of Sloth

Editor at the industry-leading publisher Mashiro Shuppan. 25 years old. After a certain something pushes him over the edge emotionally, he heads for the rooftop, but—when he wakes up after, it was in a world where humanity had fallen.

Haruto is a diligent leader, but to that extent lacks flexibility. He is the last to wake up among the eight people on Gareki Island, and Extend TV declares that his awakening completes the last survivors of humanity. He likes spicy foods and dislikes sweets.

Ryo Mikajime (voiced by Toshihiko Seki) – Artist of Envy

A young and upcoming bondage artist who makes artwork that binds together people and objects. 25 years old. As he cannot afford to make a living off his artistic activities alone, he also works as a cameraman to get by.

Bondage is and always will be his style of art, and he only sees the things he binds as sexual “once in a while.” He is cheerful, sociable, and quick to open his heart to anyone he meets. He can also be unexpectedly cowardly, and at first has a negative attitude towards exploring the danger-filled ruins.

Rinko Susukino (voiced by Haruka Yoshimura) – Florist of Lust

A lovely woman who works for her parents’ flower shop. 25 years old. She is a hard worker with a very helpful and kind personality, but is also a bit of an airhead. When she awakens on the island, she is unable to deal with the sudden change of the conditions around her and seems to be stricken with considerable panic.

Due to the nature of her work, she knows flowers and their language very well, and judges Ryo Mikajime to be a “Cactus-like person.” She believes that she and the others are part of a television reality show, and goes into the ruins, but…?

Yuma Mashiro (voiced by Ayana Taketatsu) – Heiress of Gluttony

The only daughter of the leader of the world-famous enterprise known as Mashiro Group. 25 years old. She is an elusive character with a cool attitude, who does things at her own pace and does not often show emotion. Since she is from one of the wealthiest families in the country, her behavior is somewhat other-worldly.

At any rate, she is obsessed with eating and maintaining style. When the topic of food comes up during conversation, she has a habit of eating fantasy “air meals.”

■ Explore the Ruins to Reveal the Pasts of the Eight Main Characters

The eight main characters are cloned humans who can only live for 13 days, but can regenerate any number of times through the “Extend” system. You will have to explore dangerous ruins while dealing with both the problems of gathering parts to complete the “Extend Machine,” through which it is possible to free the clones from their restricted life spans, and earning the amount of Score required to be able to “Extend” before they reach the end of their life span. Here, we will introduce the connection between the ruins and main characters, as well as the dangers of the ruins that go beyond wild animals.

Gimmicks: The Eight Characters Must Be Alive to Open the “Zanki Hatch”

In the ruins, there will sometimes be a thick steel gate known as a “Zanki Hatch.” In order to open this gate and progress, all eight characters must be alive.

Every chapter has plenty of ruins, which are remnants of buildings that were used in everyday life, such as commercial facilities. But it seems unnatural for gates like the Zanki Hatch to have been installed before the world was destroyed.

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning has a variety of gimmicks beyond the Zanki Hatch, including pressure-sensitive switches and small holes that only children can fit through.

Every Ruin Has a Common Feature

At first glance, the ruins that appear in each chapter, which include station buildings and tree-house style leisure facilities, do not appear to be connected. However, the ruins actually have a common feature. That is, “among the eight main characters, there is a major connection to someone’s past.”

Learn the Pasts of the Eight Main Characters through the Ruins

In Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, the character that the player takes the perspective of changes for every chapter, and the ruins you explore are also connected to that character. In these ruins that are deeply connected to the characters, like if they once worked at an office, the incidents and traumas they experienced in the past will come to light.

The first chapter unfolds from Haruto’s perspective and plays out from there. He will explore the ruins of the “Mashiro Garden Tower,” which is the station building where Mashiro Shuppan, his former place of employment, was located.

“Memories of the Ruins” Recorded in Mysterious “Capture Videos”

Within the ruins are several old televisions like the one in the garage on Gareki Island, which broadcast the same “Extend TV” station as the one in the garage. Depicted on the televisions are episodes of Extend TV in which Sho discovers a mysterious video tape (VHS) and checks it out with Mirai. According to Mirai, these tape are “Capture Videos,” and are “meant to be used to understand the memories associated with the ruins and clear it.”

The first Capture Video, which is questionably titled “Laziness #1: The First…,” shows Haruto as a new employee at Mashiro Shuppan, but how can it be used to clear the ruins as it is intended to be used? And what kind of memories are recorded in the second volume and so on?

Monstrous Creatures will Attack the Survivors

When the main characters discover the figures of humans in the ruins, they express happiness in there being other survivors besides themselves. However, what stands before them is not human, they are monsters with the appearance of humans…

According to Extend TV, these monsters are called “creatures” and are natural enemies to humanity, as they are dangerous beings who mean to take lives of the main characters. Also, Mirai says that “‘creatures’ are the ‘shadow’ of what humanity once was…”

Some Creatures can even speak. Are they really a shadow of what humanity once was?

Mirai says that creatures are not only aiming for the lives of the main characters, they are also aiming for the “Cross-Key.” However, the reason they are aiming for the Cross-Key is unclear.

—Cross Key

The Cross-Key is a cross-shaped metal part attached to the navel of all eight main characters. It preserves all the information, experiences, and memories of the clones.

Due to the information recorded by the Cross-Key, the clones preserve their original personalities no matter how many times they die. In other words, in order to create clones with the Extend Machine, that character’s Cross-Key is required.

In terms of the game system, when a character dies, their Cross-Key is automatically collected. You can rest assured that you will not lose it or forget to collect it. Also, since Mirai is actually a cloned sheep, even she has a Cross-Key attached to her left ear.

■ Shigabane Collection

Here is a look at two of the Shigabane players can obtain. If you missed our previous coverage, read up on Shigabane here.

I Fought a Lot, But Still Died

Condition: Death after attacking enemy more than 100 times

Effect: Attack power increases by 10

Death by Potato Allergy

Condition: Death after a character with a potato allergy eats a potato

Effect: Overcome allergy so that eating a potato does not kill you

■ Digital-Only Extend Edition (PlayStation 4, PS Vita)

A copy of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning

Special Soundtrack Extend Ver. – A soundtrack including over 50 songs, including the ending song.

Eight Swimsuits Costume Set* – Includes swimsuit costumes for the eight main characters. The swimsuit costumes also appear in 3D model events.

Nine Clone Avatars and One Animal Set* – Avatars of Haruto and the other eight clones, as well as the Extend TV mascot.

*Both the “Eight Swimsuits Costume Set” and “Nine Clone Avatars and One Animal Set” will be released as paid content via the PlayStation Store after launch.

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is due out for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita on July 5 in Japan. It is also planned for release on PlayStation 4 and PC in North America and Europe, but a release date has yet to be announced.

View the screenshots at the gallery.

[livingcorner]

Aaron Song@|hell\’s kitchen season 3 what was wrong with aaron@|https://ift.tt/3hmbZGF

“ I’m Aaron. Oh, you already know my name because it’s on my shirt! ”

Aaron Song (November 19, 1959 – November 30, 2010) was a contestant on Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen. He ranked in 10th place. On November 30, 2010, he passed away as a result of diabetes complications.

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Aaron was a kind and passionate chef. Unfortunately, that didn’t do any favors for him. He was a consistently poor performer in the kitchen, slow during service and prep, and was constantly ill. He fainted during punishment and was not able to continue the competition.

Season 3

Episode 1

The twelve new aspiring chefs were heading down to Hell’s Kitchen in SUVs, while getting to know each other on the ride. Once they arrived at Hell’s Kitchen, Jean-Philippe introduced himself, but before he could go into how he and Ramsay met, the latter appeared and told the former to cut the crap. Afterwards, Ramsay ordered the contestants to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Aaron was final person to have his signature dish judged by Ramsay, and surprised the latter with his cowboy appearance. Ramsay if he brought his horse, and he claimed it was parked outside, with Ramsay saying he has never seen an Asian cowboy before. He made a finger food platter, but while Ramsay liked it, he said there were too many things on the plate.

Before dinner service, Aaron struggled to make the ice cream in the blue kitchen and was starting to feel stressed, but Rock came to help him. During the briefing, Ramsay asked him how he was feeling, but he broke down crying. While Ramsay tried to calm him down, Jean-Philippe stalled the waiting diners outside the restaurant. Eventually, he calmed down as he knew he could do it.

During dinner service, Aaron was on the meat station with Josh. He sent up his first order of chicken, but it was black on the bottom. As he tried to redo the chicken, he felt useless as he could not do anything correct all day while Ramsay ordered him to wipe off his snot. Later, he started to get dizzy and left for a while, but an unsympathetic Brad wanted him to get better at cooking and felt that he gave up when he walked outside. Ramsay checked on him at the back, but he refused to quit as the former tried to calm him down. Josh took over the meat station but found out that all of the meat he cooked was ruined, leaving the men with no meat to continue service. A dismayed Sous Chef Scott asked how they could be out of meat if they have not served any.

During the post-mortem, Ramsay asked Aaron how he was feeling, and he claimed he was feeling a lot better. The blue team won the service, but while being dismissed, he felt he dodged a bullet, hoping for the best if his body held up.[1]

Episode 2

Back at the dorms, the men expressed concern for Aaron’s health problems in service, but he reassured them that he was alright. However, his comment on under eating caused more concern, and he secretly knew he was the weakest link on the men, knowing he must suck it up for the team.

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Before the Dover Sole Challenge, Aaron started to cramp when he was carrying his bucket along with Eddie, much to the latter’s concern. He sat out because he felt dizzy, but at the same time, it evened the teams at five members each. The blue team lost the challenge 8-9, and they were punished by prepping all the Dover soles and both kitchens for the next service. During the punishment, Bonnie told him to get better and take care of himself as he slept for four hours until he came back. However, he was still dizzy and aching from his cramps. He contemplated quitting the competition due to his poor health, but Brad called bullshit as it would leave the men down a member. So, he was convinced to stay, with Rock knowing that the most important mission was supporting him through the next dinner service. Afterwards, the men had a group hug.

Later that night, Aaron confided to Julia about his standing with the younger men as they knew more than him, but she told him not to worry about the men’s experience. Before dinner service, Brad named him the one to serve and clean Dover Soles tableside. One hour before service began, he went out to the dining room to meet with Ramsay and Jean-Philippe. Even though Ramsay tried to give Aaron a pep talk, he continued to black in and out during the talk, eventually sitting down due to stress. Fortunately, he bounced back, and Ramsay told him to come out of his shell, even though he was still cloudy.

During dinner service, Ramsay spotted Aaron talking with the diners instead of being at his station and told Jean-Philippe to get him out of there. After receiving Vinnie’s Dover Sole, he prepared to serve it tableside but was very slow at deboning the fish, taking fifteen minutes for one fish and leaving it cold for the customers. Later, his deboning was not going well as many customers found tiny bones in the Dover Sole. When Jean-Philippe told Ramsay that, the latter called him over and told him to concentrate when he claimed that he could not see the bones due to the poor lighting. After several mistakes, Ramsay kicked the blue team out of service, accusing him of failing to filet a fish. The blue team lost the service, Ramsay reminded he how he shook hands with everyone in the dining room like the President of the United States, and he apologized for failing that night. Rock was named the “Best of the Worst”.

Aaron was not nominated for elimination, even though he was really surprised by that decision.[2]

Episode 3

At 5:58 AM the following day, a group of navy officers and army soldiers woke the teams up and ordered them to get dressed. Aaron was cramping again and needed Rock and Brad helped him get dressed as they refused to leave a man behind. During the Army and Navy Service Challenge, he started off at the omelet station. Despite having the confidence to cook breakfast food, his omelet pan caught fire and threw two burnt orders in the trash. His poor performance on omelets was slowing momentum, causing Brad to name him the blue team’s weakest link. Josh and Brad took over his station, but he was seen going silent and accidentally dropped a pan of bacon, further putting the men behind.

The blue team lost the challenge, and they were punished by doing KP duty, which included prepping a thousand pounds of potatoes and onions. During the punishment, he collapsed due to the stress of moving the bags into the kitchen, much to his team’s concern. They called the medic over, and Josh was scared for him as he was sent to the hospital in an ambulance. The following day, at the hospital, he received a phone call from Ramsay, and learned that he could not return to Hell’s Kitchen because of his health, much to his disappointment. Ramsay gave no comment on Aaron’s departure, and he received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence immediately after the phone call.[3]

Nomination History

Week 1 Win Week 2 Safe Week 3 Hospitalized

Season 4

Episode 3

During the red team’s reward, Aaron made a cameo, where he was a customer at the Saddle Ranch Chop House. When the team and Ramsay entered the restaurant, he was riding the rodeo, and greeted Ramsay and the red team, giving all of them big hugs. Ramsay mimicked his crying before the opening night on the previous season, but he declared there was nothing to cry about now. After, he wished a good day to everybody and left, and Vanessa compared him to a big teddy bear.[4]

Season 6

Episode 1

Aaron made another cameo appearance during the opening of that season, and gave a rule to the contestants about what not to do. He said that he was so excited for his first dinner service, and then, a clip of him crying when both teams were lined up minutes before service was shown. Finally, he revealed the final rule “There’s no crying in Hell’s Kitchen”.[5]

Post Hell’s Kitchen

After his appearance on the show, Aaron became a celebrity chef. He also gave cooking demonstrations and worked with the Salvation Army to teach veterans how to cook. He was also a spokesperson for Henry’s Farmers Markets, before passing away in November 2010.

Trivia

He is the second contestant who withdrew from the competition for health reasons, following Larry (Season 2).

He was the second Asian-American contestant to compete on the show, following Wendy (Season 1), and the first male Asian-American contestant to compete on the show.

He is the first contestant to be medically removed who received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence on the episode that he left.

He was the first ever contestant to reappear in the show after departing that was not a winner. However, he is not the first to reenter the competition as that title would go to Robert (Seasons 5 and 6) three years later.

He is the only contestant in the season who was never nominated for elimination.

By nearly two decades, he was the oldest contestant of that season, at 48 (would be 62 today, passed away at 51), and would’ve been the oldest Hell’s Kitchen contestant ever when adjusted for time.

He and Bonnie (also from Season 3) are the first two contestants from the state of California.

He is the second former contestant to pass away, following Rachel (Season 2). He is the oldest contestant who passed away when adjusting for time (born 1959).

Quotes

“I left it parked outside, chef.”

(Out of breath) “Hehe, I knew I shouldn’t have worn this outfit!”

(To Chef Ramsay) “I’m cracking up right now……”

(While crying) “I can’t believe I’m cracking up right now!”

(Greeting the customers) “Hi, welcome to Hell’s Kitchen. I’m Aaron. Oh, you already know my name because it’s on my shirt!”

(After withdrawing) “I feel disappointed. I mean I’ve worked almost 40 years in the kitchen, for what? Guess I’m coming home.”

Gallery

Aaron’s Intro Spot

Aaron in Blue Jacket

Aaron’s Confessional

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Aaron after collapsing

Aaron medically evacuated

Aaron’s Signature Dish

Aaron in Season 4

Aaron in Season 6

References

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source https://livingcorner.com.au/aaron-songhells-kitchen-season-3-what-was-wrong-with-aaronhttps-static-wikia-nocookie-net-hellskitchen-images-c-c7-aaron_song-jpg-revision-latestcb2017120819075125/

[margsld]

Outlander Episode 3.08 Recap

First Wife, hair like a burn. Second wife like to burn things, particularly First Wife.

I love that there are different writers and producers creating each episode and are involved with each season. Joy Blake writes for the first time with Outlander with this episode, First Wife.  I think she blew us all away with her insight into this part of the book. *claps

We open with Claire, Jamie and Young Ian arriving at the gates of Lallybroch.  Instead of the tail of the gentle Outlander theme tune playing, it should be something akin to the tune of Darth Vadar arriving on the Millenium Falcon.  All doom and forboding. These three travellers all have the expression of a child waiting to see the Principal, after a nasty rock-throwing incident.

Darth Potato Queen aka Jenny is guarding the front door of Lallybroch and is ready to greet her long lost sister-in-law with flowers and showers of kisses.  Umm well, maybe an eyeroll and firm grunt or two in Claire’s general direction will have to suffice. Motherly instinct kicking in, Jenny gives Young Ian a smack up the head and all is forgiven.  Ian Senior is trying to maintain his role as man of the house and just gives everyone a dirty look.  Cosy, fun times ahead at Lallybroch!

Inside, the distinct lack of hugs were evident as Jenny laid into Jamie, Young Ian and Claire in equal bouts of tongue-lashings. She was not happy that Jamie had Young Ian working for him and doing dodgy jobs. Her attack was almost as vicious as that time Black Jack shined his boots on Claire’s kidneys. Almost.  I don’t think any of these three are making it onto Jenny’s Good List this Christmas....

Jamie and Ian Snr escape Jenny’s verbal-ashtray-throwing session by heading outside.  They get over their grievances quickly as they watch Young Ian make cow patties/fire bricks for his punishment.  Au de Coo by the fire? Noice.  Meanwhile, is that smoke coming from Lallybroch’s chimney or is that Jenny still going off?

Back inside Wentworth prison errh, I mean Lallybroch, Jenny is introducing Claire to her 356 grandchildren because zero birth control. Claire and Jenny reminisce about the fact 20 years has passed since they last stood together in the house.  Jenny sees this as an invitation to again make Claire feel guilty for her mysterious disappearance.  She’s so subtle about it too.  You’d barely notice it apart from her apron having ‘ No one holds a grudge like me’ written on it.  

Claire offers to help change wee no. 44′s nappy and Jenny says ‘No, we don’t want to bewilder the bairn with a strange face’.  Someone pass the fire extinguisher to Claire, please.

Later outside, Jenny is washing 356 nappies and Jamie stops by for a chat.  As you do.  Jenny pesters him for the truth about where Claire has really been and why Jamie didn’t confide in her all these years.  Jamie can hardly admit that Claire is from the future so weaves a tale of her having fled Culloden and gone to safety in the Colonies, thinking Jamie dead.  Jenny smells a giant red-haired rat and says that’s not the Claire she remembers.

In the evening, Jamie and Claire are discussing how to appease Jenny’s curiosity. Jamie warns Claire there is no way they can tell Jenny the truth.  Not everyone is as forward thinking *cough as Murtagh.  

No ideas spring to mind so Jamie distracts Claire by filling her in on his time at Ardsmuir, when he thought she had returned.  He had swam out to the Selkie isle and instead of finding her (yeah, coz she’d just be hanging around with the seals. *eyeroll) he found the treasure instead.  Not being able to carry all the jewels, he took one.  One!

Someone needs to tell Jamie about the digestive system.  It’s a whole extra handbag!

Jamie digs himself a big hole by telling Claire about the fact he gave a giant sapphire to his gay best friend.  Change the subject, quick!  

So he decides to talk about sad as f**ck geese? 

I think it’s gaelic for ‘I’m horny’.  One track mind, old Jamie boy! 

Guilt gets the better of him though and it’s finally time for him to tell Claire his big Secret - he has another wife.  Gasp!  It better not be Laoghaire.....anyone but that beyotch!!

Just as he’s prepping her for the dramatic climax, in it walks in the form of two young girls calling him Daddy.  Yeah, cue hysterics.  Eeek! 

While Claire absorbs the shock of two girls calling Jamie Daddy, in walks the wicked witch of the North, Laoghaire channelling Jack Nicholson!  

Laoghaire is just as disgusted to see Claire as she is seeing Laoghaire.  It’s not a quaint, welcome home tea party but a hissing, spitting venom hurling shout-fest by Laoghaire, who wants to rip Claire a new one.  Sadly, she is the one to drop the bombshell right into Claire’s lap, spiky end first, that Jamie is now her husband.  Wowwwwww and Whyyyyy?

The room is starting to feel a little bit too cosy so Jamie ushers Laoghaire aka Leghair out the door but not before she shoots the C-Bomb at Claire.  Claire is reeling and barely breathing with shock as Jamie successfully pushes the snarling 2nd wife out the door.  The girls run out behind their still ranting mother, casting looks at Claire as if she had sprouted horns.

Downstairs, Laoghaire has gone and Jamie is quietly explaining to young Joan who Claire is.  It’s a sweet moment and well played by the young actress.  Joan is concerned that she’ll lose her new Daddy.  Jamie assures her he’ll still take care of her.  Just in a way that involves him never having to be near Laoghaire again.  The AVO says 500 metres.

Back in the bedroom, Jamie finds Claire starting to get her clothes on.  He begs her to understand and she’s still processing the unfortunate non-fake news.  Jamie reassures her that the children aren’t his and his marriage to Laoghaire was a mistake.  Claire is not happy and like us, can’t fathom how Jamie could ever have married her.  Especially after Claire nearly got burned at the stake because of Laoghaire in Season 1.  Laoghaire was handing out marshmallows!

Jamie says he won’t let her leave and they start to scuffle.  He forcibly kisses Claire and they tumble to the floor where he kisses her again and says he loves her.  They are angry and confused but still have that undeniable connection which leads them to make out and not in the gentle, lets-take-a-whole-episode-and-wheel-of-cheese time to do it.  They are making such a ruckus that Jenny comes in and tips water on them. Rutting is the perfect term for this scene.

Jenny says they need to consider the household before they can rut like beasts and Claire storms out in an embarrassed huff.  She finds comfort by the fire and young Janet sweetly pours her a dram to calm the nerves.  She confesses it’s her fault and tells Claire that ultimately it’s Jenny who is to blame for Laoghaire turning up.

Claire confronts Jenny about it but Jenny questions why Claire didn’t come looking for Jamie before now.  Family writes letters!

Claire tells her a half-truth version about having another husband in America and having to survive. (If only she could share a picture of Frank in his turtleneck, she would totes understand....) When he died she came looking for Jamie’s grave but instead found him alive.  Jenny hasn’t lived to her ripe old age of 40+ without being able to pick a liar when she sees one and says so to Claire.  She says the bond they once shared is gone and is not repairable before storming off again.

The next morning Claire tries to leave Lallybroch and Jamie tries again to stop her. He is in love with her.  Always has loved her.  Always will.  Simples.

She’s not convinced staying is right though but before they discuss it any further,  Leghair turns up with a gun and points it at Claire.  We all know this is not going to end well.  Sure enough, Jamie gets shot in the arm.

Laoghaire intending her target to be Claire, is mortified to have hit Jamie but before she can console him, Claire shoulder-charges her like a champion front-row-er, sending her scuttling off.  They take Jamie back into the house for Claire to check out his wounds.  She’s transformed into Doctor Claire and is concerned about infection.  She’s going to need to get the pellets out.  Without anisthetic!Jamie’s sedation choice is to slug down a bottle of Whisky and lay down on the dining table till he passes out.  Job done, Claire is ready to operate.  Young Ian observes then insists on Claire celebrating with a whisky when she’s done.  Just like the old days with Joe in Boston.  Ha!

In his recovery and Claire still angry af, Jamie tells her the story of how he got with Laoghaire.  He had his beer goggles on plus he just wanted to be a dad.       With having to say goodbye to Willie and never knowing Bree, he just wanted to be a husband and have the things he thought he was going to have with Claire. It was a special time.  So special.  Especially those joyous times when Laoghaire stopped throwing peat bricks at his head.  Ultimately, Joan and Marsali filled his heart and taught him to moon-walk.

Eventually Jamie realised that Laoghaire wasn’t all there in the head and he didn’t want her being afraid of his touch any more, so he went to Edinburgh.  Claire sees he’s now looking rather unwell and realises he’s got a bad fever.  She whips out her Penicillan syringes (thanks Boston hospital) and gives him a jab in the arse.  He asks why does he need it in the arse when the pain is in his arm.  Claire says ‘next I’ll give you a teaspoon of cement so you can harden up, Princess’.

When Jamie is out of danger, Claire joins Jenny on the steps out front.  Jenny is still on her mission impossible for the truth.  She will not let it go.  Eventually she realises that Claire can’t tell her the full truth.  Jenny said she had thought of Claire as a sister.  *feelings

Claire says she still loves her, despite her bad attitude, constant bitching, grumping and guilt-trippin’.  She’s really fun.

Finally Ned Gowan turns up to counsel Jamie on how he’s going to get away from Laoghaire.  Jamie didn’t fancy donating his bollocks for Laoghaire to make a new purse out of so asked Ned how much money she wanted. A lot.

To pay Laoghaire’s alimony, they decide to fetch the treasure from Selkie Isle and then sail to France to hock it for cash.  They convince Jenny & Ian to let them take Young Ian too so that he could spend some time in France.  Young Ian offers to swim for the treasure as Jamie is still recovering from Leghairgunitis. 

While Young Ian swims to Selkie Isle (no boats available apparently), Claire takes the opportunity to say how she is struggling with 18th Century life again.  No turtlenecks for weeks does that to a woman. 

However, Jamie sweet talks her again.  Its life babe, when has it ever been easy?  He says ‘You belong with me. Will you risk the man I am for the sake of the one you once knew?’ We miss the kilt too. Sigh.

Suddenly Claire spots a boat out near the island then watches in horror as Ian and treasure, are kidnapped.  There is nothing they can do, helpless on shore, but watch the strange boat sail away.

The End.

[analysis-by-vaylon]

So far, Ludo is the only character to undergo a full-fledged hero’s journey.

This revised analysis owes a nod to /u/Malthus1, a redditor who commented on the original post, for pointing out that some episodes of Star vs. the Forces of Evil feature self-contained, miniature versions of the hero’s journey. Nevertheless, Ludo is the only character who has the opportunity to undergo his hero’s journey over the course of several episodes.

Before I begin the analysis, I should introduce Joseph Campbell's theories and their relevance to the show. Campbell's monomyth, or hero's journey, is well-known in literary circles and in popular fiction: George Lucas famously borrowed Campbell's ideas in order to provide a mythological framework for the Star Wars films. The influence that Campbell has had over storytelling -- especially with screenwriters -- for the past several decades has been considerable, to say the least.

I did a little digging and discovered that a writer named Christopher Vogler, working for Disney, wrote a now-famous seven-page memo summarizing Campbell's theories; he later turned this memo into a textbook for screenwriters and taught at various California universities in the Los Angeles area. I have a hunch that the Star vs. the Forces of Evil staff are familiar with Vogel’s work, if not the memo itself, and may have used it while writing the series; therefore, my analysis will use Vogler's original seven-page memo as the particular guide for dissecting Ludo's heroic journey. It's a short read, so I would encourage you to read the entire thing for yourself.

With that out of the way, let's take a step-by-step look at Ludo's development. Remember, I'll be using the memo's outline as a guide for this analysis.

1. The Ordinary World. At the beginning of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, we are treated to the status quo: Ludo tries to steal the wand, Star beats him, of course, and Ludo retreats only to try the same ineffectual thing over again. This pattern is not only how cartoons classically play out (the villains are always beaten but never learn their lesson), but also taken directly from Vogler's memo: unless the hero learns from his mistakes,

he’s doomed to repeat the adventure until he does. Many comedies use this ending, as a foolish character refuses to learn his lesson and embarks on the same folly that got him in trouble in the first place.

That certainly sounds like season one Ludo to me. It isn't until Ludo undergoes a life-or-death struggle that he begins to learn from his mistakes.

2. The Call to Adventure. After having finally reached the limits of his patience, Ludo decides to hire someone new to manage his team in "Fortune Cookies." Toffee proves to Ludo that, with a good enough plan, obtaining the wand is possible, and that potential renews Ludo's interest in stealing it. (As an aside, I wonder if the fortune cookies themselves are a kind of meta-joke poking fun at rigid social structures -- or screenwriting techniques.)

4. Meeting with the Mentor. This one occurs slightly out of order, but I believe that, over the course of season one, Toffee acts -- unintentionally -- as a mentor to Ludo, teaching him a different way to do things: how to become a true remorseless villain. Indeed, in "Storm the Castle," Ludo begins to imitate Toffee, discarding Buff Frog as soon as he no longer has a use for him:

But then Star showed up, and I don't need you anymore, you big old meatball!

If the popular theory that Toffee inhabits Ludo's wand is correct, then Toffee also acts as Ludo's mentor in season two as well. I don't know whether or not this is truly the case, however; the presence in the wand might be someone new altogether. We shall see.

3. Refusal of the Call. Unfortunately, despite his desire to obtain the wand, Ludo hesitates in taking it in "Marco Grows a Beard," and it's this failure which proves to be the start of his downfall, getting him ejected from his castle by Toffee.

It's important to note that Ludo is shown to have a tremendous fear of hair; he overcomes this fear later on, growing out his own beard in a symbolic display of growth and wisdom.

5. Crossing the Threshold. This takes place in "Ludo in the Wild." As Vogler's memo puts it:

The hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure gets going. . . . The hero is now committed to his/her journey and there’s no turning back.

Instead of showing mercy to him after he's left with nothing, Star carelessly throws Ludo into a portal leading nowhere. I say "carelessly" because Star is the one who unwittingly enables Ludo's character development: due directly to her actions, Ludo is thrown across the threshold and into his adventure, where he learns from his mistakes and comes back stronger, eventually besting her. This isn't the first time (nor will it be the last) that Star's rash behavior has unforeseen consequences -- and that itself is a running theme of the show.

Some versions of the hero's journey call this stage of development the “descent to the underworld” or the “abyss.” Abyss -- now where have we heard that before? Oh, yes -- here:

Star: Ludo! You're back?! Marco: (gasping) Ludo's back! Ludo: Yes, I am! Star: I tossed you into the abyss! Marco: She tossed you into the abyss! Ludo: (menacingly) Yes, you did.

Star and Marco aren't aware of the true, full meaning of the word "abyss," of the physical and spiritual hell that Ludo goes through, but Ludo is, and so are we -- and that's irony.

It's also worth noting that at the end of "Storm the Castle," Ludo hatches from an egg after having been swallowed by one of this own minions. If this weren't enough symbolism of rebirth, consider the on-screen text in "Ludo in the Wild": Day 1, which the episode does to reinforce this notion that Ludo is now living a new life in the mythical underworld.

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies. As shown in "Ludo in the Wild," Ludo suffers from exposure to the elements as well as intense starvation, and he tries to survive in any way he can, even going so far as to eat the dripping blood of a slain insect -- truly his lowest and most desperate moment. He meets two characters who at first are enemies, Spider and Bird, and tries to learn from them whatever he can.

7 and 8. Approach to the Innermost Cave and Ordeal. Ludo sees his prize -- the golden potato chips -- taken away from him by Spider, which finally compels him to viciously fight her for what he believes is rightfully his. From Vogel's memo:

The hero comes at last to a dangerous place, often deep underground, where the object of the quest is hidden. . . . This is a critical moment in any story, an ordeal in which the hero appears to die and be born again. It’s a major source of the magic of the hero myth. What happens is that the audience has been led to identify with the hero. We are encouraged to experience the brink-of-death feeling with the hero.

Ludo enters the literal cave where Spider lives and has a life-or-death fight with her over the chips. Through a combination of trickery, luck, and perseverance, Ludo is victorious over Spider, taking the chips for himself. Instead of killing off his foe or selfishly eating all the chips himself, however, Ludo shows mercy to Spider and shares his prize with her, transforming her from an enemy into an ally.

9. Reward. As a reward for his victory, Ludo is now able to feed himself; he also gains another ally by capturing and taming Bird. While reflecting on his new life, Ludo sees a vision of Star, which leads him to the real prize: the missing half of Star's broken wand. Ludo realizes he's on Mewni, and the day counter, which had been at 90, resets to Day 1: Ludo's life in the abyss is over, and now, transformed by hardship and wielding a powerful new weapon, he can begin his journey back to the world he left.

10. The Road Back. The road back shows Ludo's adventures on Mewni and involves his learning to master his new weapon as well as gather new allies and resources. It takes place over several episodes: "Wand to Wand," "On the Job," "By the Book," and "Is Mystery" -- all of which show Ludo as not only having clear, serious goals but also competency in implementing them. Ludo's willingness to learn from his mistakes continues from his defeat in "By the Book," where he learns that Star has a book, leading to his greatest victory yet.

11. Resurrection. "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown" is all about resurrection; ostensibly, it's about Bon Bon's promise to come back from death, but it's actually about a metaphorical resurrection for Ludo, who, armed with reconnaissance and further mastery over his wand, launches a surprise attack against Star when she's at her most vulnerable -- a subtle callback to "Matchmaker," by the way -- and once again triumphs through a combination of trickery, luck, and perseverance.

Interestingly, Vogel's memo mentions the repeat of an earlier stage:

There is often a replay here of the mock death-and-rebirth of Stage 8, as the hero once again faces death and survives.

We do, in fact, get a repeat of a near-death experience for Ludo: Star uses Mystic Room Suck Transform in an attempt to once again banish Ludo. But this time Ludo survives the mock death-and-rebirth and escapes with the book of spells.

In this episode, trick candles -- since you blow them out, and they come back -- symbolize resurrection, both for Bon Bon, who does actually return, and for Ludo, who has now gained enough power and wisdom to defeat Star. Funnily enough, it's Bon Bon who is banished in Ludo's place as an unintentional sacrifice. The entire setup is masterfully-executed irony on the writers' part, taking something so frivolous -- clowns and trick candles -- and suddenly making it mean so much more. It's truly a stroke of genius.

12. Return with the Elixir. This is last stage of the outline in Vogel's memo, and he has this to say:

The hero comes back to the ordinary world, but the adventure would be meaningless unless he/she brought back the elixir, treasure, or some lesson from the special world. Sometimes it’s just knowledge or experience.

We know from the end of "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown" that Ludo escapes with Star's book. We also know a little more about what happens in future episodes thanks to the episode synopses -- which I won't mention here due to spoilers -- but you can draw your own conclusions, I'm sure.

I hope I've convinced you that Ludo's progression is indeed based on the hero's journey; as for what the significance of that is, well -- I think it's meaningful that neither Star nor Marco (nor any other character, for that matter) has gone through such lengthy and starkly-defined development on-screen. That's why I say that, despite being a villain, Ludo is the only character so far depicted undergoing the hero’s journey.

I can only guess at why the series writers chose to have Ludo of all characters go through such a development. Maybe they're making him more powerful so that defeating him will feel truly satisfying, or maybe there's something impressive -- something truly heroic -- in store for Ludo, or maybe they're trying to subvert the very idea of a heroic journey altogether. I can't say for sure. And it's still possible that any or all of these ideas will be subverted by the series writers -- but regardless of what they decide, regardless of whether they intentionally used the hero's journey or not, the cultural consciousness of mythopoeic structure has left an indelible stamp on Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

Thank you for reading this post; I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to send an ask to suggest something else in Star vs. the Forces of Evil that you'd like to see me write about!

[gleefail]

Glee Memories: 1x12 MATTRESS

A long, long time ago, as Glee was approaching graduation in Season 3, I found myself nostalgic with some rare free time on my hands. So I decided to rewatch the series from the beginning and jot down some memories, discrepancies that have arisen since, fave quotes, tally solos - all that good stuff, strictly for shits and giggles.

8 years later (eek!) and once more I find myself with an unexpected abundance of free time. With so many revisiting or being newly introduced to the show between binge watching during Quarantine and all the tragedy that has surrounded the show since it went off the air, I figured I’d finish what I started. And by finish, I mean go through the end of S3. Cause I truly cannot acknowledge what happened after that. Except for 5B.

Kicking this off by reposting the first 15 episodes I already went through. Enjoy!

1x12 MATTRESS Yearbook pictures. Ruh roh. I remember this ep. It ended sad for me. :(

Ken thinks he’s gonna drop 20 pounds in less than a week. Oh boy.

Remember that time Ken totes planned his and Emma’s wedding the same time as Sectionals so she couldn’t go, then pretended he didn’t, then Emma stood up for him when Will caught on? That was fun…douche Ken.

“Got myself a bit of an eyelift. And while they were in there I told em’ go ahead and yank out those tear ducts. Wasn’t usin’ em’.”

Is Sue right – do yams really draw the water out of the skin? Hmm…yam diet, eh?

“We have all felt the cold humiliation of a slushie in the face” Not yet, Kurt. But apparently you ALL will. Still double-checking that. Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Puck, Kurt, Mr. Schue.

“What’s a patriotic wedgie?” “It’s when they hoist you up the flagpole by your undies.” “Strangely it did make me feel more American.”

It is TERRIFYING, the fates of these kids in previous glee yearbook photos whose pictures were defaced. OMG.

“He barks at my mom.”

Alright. I gotta say it. It is totally not right or legal I’m sure for Figgins to ask for Glee to pay for their own photo. He’s saying that’s what a full page ad costs…but the school doesn’t pay a thousand dollars for each club’s picture. Shenanigans.

Okay. So I’m watching this post-Props/Nationals. And I’m pissed. Rachel just came storming into Figgins’ office to petition for a Glee yearbook photo. She says “As you may know, this is my first year in Glee Club” – THE FUCK?!?! So she wasn’t in Glee her freshman year?!?! So she started the same time as Tina, Artie, Kurt, and Mercedes?!?! So we DIDN’T miss a year of her ‘earning it’ more than anyone else around her? THE FUCK, Glee?! THE FUCK, I ASK YOU!

Hey, remember that time that Rachel joined every club possible? Hey, remember how 2 seasons later she’ll say she doesn’t have extracurriculars for her NYADA audition application? Hey, remember how in Props she says she’s involved in 6 clubs? WTF? #oops

Quinn wants her kids to look back on her yearbook pics and be proud. “Not the bastard one I’m carrying now…” Ha!

Quinn is gonna get in that yearbook photo for the Cheerios and back on that squad whether Sue Sylvester likes it or not. Quinn is braver than I’ll ever be.

Terri is so supportive. She just told Will to wear the tie for the Glee Club photo that’ll go best with the cool kids defacing of it.

“Oh great. Why don’t you take the food out of the refrigerator and give that to the kids?” hahaha. Overdramatic and exaggerating, but still funny.

Will is going behind Terri’s back to pay for the photo. Yup. That’s a strooooong marriage they got there…

Ok. Rachel just said if she is in one more club she would officially be the most involved student in the school. Yet she HAS to run for Senior Class President because she has nothing for her NYADA application and she is convinced she won’t get Maria…and even after she GETS Maria, she still doesn’t drop even though her ‘friend’ Kurt really needs it and really wants to be prez to make a difference while in the position. She is awful. They turned her into an AWFUL human being. That we’re no longer supposed to laugh at, but admire. And honestly so far in the series, she’s not so bad. So…lemme see if I can pinpoint in my rewatching when the decline of her character started…

The look Kurt has when he just gets up and walks away from Rachel’s GayLesbAl suggestion. Hi. Lar.I. Ous.

And Mercedes is chillin’ with Matt and Mike. I’m tellin’ ya, I thought she was like, a popular girl!

“I nominate Rachel.” “Second.” Kurtcedes love.

…two things: 1. I think Will uses Emma’s counseling services more than any student. Or all of them combined. 2. He does know she’s not a psychologist, right?

haha. Emma and Will are acknowledging how annoying Rachel is. It’s cruel, but..yes. Teachers do that.

As captain of the Glee Club, did Rachel (or Finn) ever have to do more than have the responsibility of this first yearbook photo? I know at times Finn tries to take on a leadership role but…it’s such a useless position.

:) Aw.Rachel went to Mercedes first to be co-captain. I like that. Maybe it’s cause I’m thinking of TroubleTones and how well and fairly she led them.

“Because I don’t wanna be in a picture with you, it’ll get defaced.” “No it won’t.” “Yes it will, I’ll be the one doing it.”

Rachel is saying that the football players and cheerleaders are only in Glee because of Finn. Hmmm….well, Quinn kinda but more cause of Rachel trying to steal him. We don’t know exactly why the football players joined but it was after they won that game and danced with Kurt and Mr. Schue…and wasn’t it Finn that didn’t choose Glee over football when all the rest of them did? Did I imagine that? No? Just checking.

Haha. Smile. I like this song. I had a friend who hated Glee because everyone loved it. He’s one of those “If everyone loves it it can’t possibly be because it’s good, it’s cause it’s a stupid fad” people – you know the type. He was into this girl and I knew she liked the show so I liked to tease him about how he probably watched it with her. I think he said this song was the first time he saw any of the show and he was confused. I remember I was like “oh, you saw like, the first time they did a song that made no sense in the moment at all. Like, it wasn’t used to further the story, it was out of context except the title of it and it wasn’t supposed to be a performance either. They never do that though. Watch it again.”. Wow. Thinking back on that now…this was the first moment that happened. And it ended up happening SO many more times.  Just…wow. Historic moment right there.

And still, this song is such an odd choice for learning to pose for a yearbook photo. It could’ve been cut completely. Why wasn’t it? It didn’t even bother to further the Finchel storyline either. It was cute and fun and I like the song and I’m glad they did it so I have it on my ipod for workouts, lol, but…unnecessary.

It annoys the crap outta me when they act like they’re sightreading sheet music on this show. No. You are not. And you do an awful job pretending like you are. Just stop.

Ooh, Brad’s getting his jam on, lol.

hahaha. Karofsky just asked how to spell loser. Really? Also, is he officially a football guy now instead of a hockey guy? Ok. Sure. Why not.

I always wonder how people act to a pre-recorded voice-over of inner monologue when there’s more than just “I’m sad” happening with their sub-text. How do they sync that up to the acting journey so well like in this moment that Rachel’s giving her self a pep talk in the mirror? It’s like magic to me, lol.

“I can cry on demand. It’s one of my many talents.”

“Aside from nudity and the exploitation of animals, I’ll pretty much do anything to break into the business.” It’s funny cause I saw Lea Michele topless in Spring Awakening prior to this.

Finn bitches about Glee bringing down his reputation, take three.

“Do you think I have a potato head?”

haha, I do love love love how Rachel shames Finn during this scene. Every time she says his name it’s like a bitch slap for bailing on the yearbook photo.

they’re reeeeeeal excited about selling mattresses. Wanky.

Oh, this brilliant brilliant script for the mattress commercial:                *sigh* “Ah me”                “What’s wrong?”                “We just lost our jobs. At the factory. And we can’t get a good night’s                   sleep” (emphasis on ‘night’s’)

“We should perform.” “Perform the lines…as I wrote them.” I wonder if that was a shoutout/threat to this cast from RIB. Or how many times they’ve heard that if they ever bring up continuity etc. Just me?

Oh Jump. Ok. Let’s talk about this. Super fun number. Great vocals. Also the first time I realized AmberRiley is the shit. Except it took a couple people to make me realize it wasn’t just cause I love listening to her, it’s cause she’s a one of a kind, super rare talent. My one friend pointed out the actual notes she’s belting like it’s a fuckin’ hiccup. ‘Ain’t no thang. I’m Amber fuckin’ Riley. What? Can’t everybody belt that?’ That’s what I imagine she thinks when she pulls off shit like this. Also, one of my students ALWAYS requested this for warm-ups because “she’s so fucking amazing”. And despite the profanity, I was so proud of him for realizing that, even though he was a 16 year old popular-ish boy and she wasn’t the cheerleader or super popular hot chick on the show. And watching my students reacting to her in this and praising her. All of that combined made me go “how did I miss this? Normal people can’t sing that way.”

Will just found the pregnancy pad. Oh shit. Shit’s about to get real. Terri did tell a very convincing lie, without batting an eyelash about how it was just so she could try on clothes for the coming months. That says a lot.

This scene is good. To the point it makes me uncomfortable.

“This marriage works because you don’t feel good about yourself!”

“Quinn Fabray”. Ugh. I can’t even imagine being Will in that moment. How deceived and betrayed he must feel. Man. I’m uncomfortable watching this.

It drives me nuts when people bring up promises made under false pretenses. Terri brings up now how Will promised to remember how happy they were and that they loved each other…at the fake ultrasound. Yeah. Your lie negates the promise, idiot. Rachel does something similar in regards to “you said you’d never break up with me” to Finn in season 2 after she cheats with Puck. People are fools.

Seriously though, how does Will not even question those mattresses and just bust one out. And couldn’t he have slept on it without taking it out of the plastic? High maintenance much? ;) Honestly though, if I found a stack of MATTRESSES delivered to my drama club kids saying “thanks for all your hard work”..I’d raise a fuckin’ eyebrow and question what they’d done to earn that. It’s sort of suggestive, is it not? Or do I just have a dirty mind?

haha. Something I’ve always loved about this moment when Sue overhears the mattress commercial at the tv studio is that moment where she thinks she just hears Rachel Berry near. Her reaction, and me always thinking “what would I do if I thought I heard Rachel Berry outside of the one place I’m forced to have to” always makes me laugh.

“oooohhhh, I got nuttin’ to say to you, preggo.”

They’re disqualified from Sectionals!!?? Oh no! Lol. This was before I knew what RIB was capable of. When I thought they’d go the honorable, legit route with this show. I was wracking my brain to figure out how they’d get out of this one. Oh how wrong I was.

“And what if I were to innocently murder you, William?”

“I’m sorry, but Glee club is over.” “It’s. OVER!” Dun dun dun!

“It’s like looking at a porno star in a nun’s habit.” re: pregnant Quinn in her Cheerios uniform. Amazing. 

Season tickets to Cedar Point!! Yay for accuracy, Glee!

Listen. Quinn has a lot of rage. She’s talking to Sue like she’d talk to Rachel or some other underclassmen ‘loser’.

Quinn just quit Cheerios sorta to be in Glee club instead. We’ll find out, but my memory is that she’ll start wishing she was back on that squad and complaining about it real soon. No?

Okay. HOW is Will disqualified for being paid for what he does…when he gets PAID to RUN the Glee Club? Makes noooo sense. He should be fine.

Charlie Chaplin Smile. Such a sad song. This montage is so good though. It’s one of those times Glee kinda moved me. I got choked up. And my heart dropped to see people defacing this photo when they’d all taken a step forward and were so proud. This is hard to watch right now with Glee Graduation mere days ahead. :(

Also, I miiiight still listen to this song when I’m having a hard day to try to turn it around. Good song.

Aw, Karofsky figured out how to spell loser. Good for him.

Okay, so I’m pausing this to take a look at the comic brilliance of these cool kids defacing the picture. They gave Santana a pitchfork. No shit, Sherlock. They’ll all call her Satan in Glee soon enough. They gave Kirt a skirt and boobs. Cause he’s gay. Brilliant. :/ They gave Finn buck teeth. Matt got a fro (RACIST!). Puck got devil horns. Mercedes got…a cigar? No, giant buck teeth and…a lollipop? They drew a happy face on Tina (? The fuck?). Nothing to Mike Chang or Britany. Artie got devil horns and a mustache. Rachel got a pitchfork. Quinn got..a giant Rabbi beard? They crossed out Rachel’s face and wrote ‘lame’ with an arrow pointing to her. This is the most UNcreative defacing ever. I’m disappointed. Be better bullies! Or funnier ones at least! SOLOS: Rachel (3), Finn (3), Mercedes (1) MERCEDES TAKES THE GLORY NOTE: 3rd time

[icepeak-blog]

That Was the Year That Was – 1948

Free healthcare, free schooling, free love – and now early retirement free from the financial woes that plague the rest of us. Could there be a luckier year to have been born than 1948?

As pensions fall off a cliff, the smug 61-year-old is planning the next safari or cruise. Nourished and nurtured by a "cradle-to-grave" welfare state and protected by final salary, the holy grail of pension schemes, the 1948ers would appear to have had it all.

Those of every generation are inclined to believe themselves more fortunate than the previous. But in Britain, 1948 keeps ticking the boxes. "We are, indeed, the blessed people," says the author and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who attributes their timely conception to the "bitterly cold and austere" nights during the 1947 fuel crisis.

"We missed out on national service. We had the golden age of the Eagle and the Beano together. No other generation had them combined."

Sharing his birth year with Prince Charles, Lord Sacks, the chief rabbi, and the singer Lulu, he detects another trait. "Everyone born in 1948 was a great achiever. You either become chief rabbi or king. It’s almost automatic."

BRITAIN 1948

Britain has changed greatly since 1948. Today people are much richer. They live in far more comfortable homes and ordinary people can afford things that were luxuries in 1948 (like foreign holidays). People are also healthier and they live longer. They also have things like the internet that were not even dreamed of in 1948.

British society has changed a great deal since 1948. In the 1950s large numbers of West Indians arrived in Britain. Also from the 1950s many Asians came. In the late 20th century Britain became a multi-cultural society. There was another changed in British society. In the late 20th century divorce and single parent families became much more common.

For a long time after 1948 unemployment remained very low and the late 1940s and the 1950s and 1960s were a long period of prosperity. However this ended in the mid-1970s. In 1973 there was still full employment in Britain (it stood at 3%). However shortly afterwards a period of high inflation and high unemployment began. In the late 1970s unemployment stood at around 5.5%.

In 1948:

A quarter of British homes had no electricity.

People often lived in the same town all their lives, near their families.

There were often more than three children in every family.

One third of the British population went to the cinema at least once a week.

There were only 14,500 television sets in the whole country and there was only one channel (BBC). Hardly any homes had a television.

Most families listened to the wireless (radio) for their entertainment.

Many homes did not have a telephone or an indoor toilet.

Cooking was done from scratch using produce grown locally. You could only buy items that were in season and most of what you bought was made or grown in the UK.

There were only just over a million cars on Britain’s roads.

Petrol rationing remained until 1954. For most people, this made the car an unaffordable luxury. Most people used public transport to get around.

Air travel was mainly for the rich. To go abroad, most people travelled by ship.

The average weekly wage was £3 18s (£3.90). Now it is about £400.

In 1948, most people in Britain worked in manufacturing industries, where they made things (in factories for example). Heavy industries like coal mining, iron and steel making, ship building and engineering employed millions of workers. Most of these workers were men. The majority of women stayed at home to look after their families and their homes.

Today, most people work in service industries such as education, health, shops, banks and insurance, where they provide services for other people. There is very little heavy industries left. People can buy of make the same things cheaper elsewhere. New technology means that factories use more machines to do the work and fewer people.

More women work today. It is normal for women to have jobs, even if they have young children.

SS Empire Windrush

The arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in June 1948 at Tilbury Dock, Essex, in England, marked the beginning of post-war mass migration. The ship had made an 8,000 mile journey from the Caribbean to London with 492 passengers on board from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands.

Most of the passengers were ex-servicemen seeking work.

This marked the beginning of post-war mass migration.

When they walked down the gangplank onto British soil they could not have imagined that their journey would begin an important landmark in the history of London and the rest of country.

The passengers on board the Windrush were invited to come to Britain after World War Two, to assist with labour shortages.

Many of the passengers had fought for Britain during the war.

They later became known as the ‘Windrush Generation.’

Later, Enoch Powell, the Tory Health Minister from 1960-1963, was to invite women from the Caribbean to Britain to train as nurses.

It was he who several years caused an uproar with his anti-immigration ‘rivers of blood’ speech.

In reality the response to the call for labour was minimal and by 1958 only 125,000 workers had arrived in Britain from the Caribbean islands. However, there were also other factors at play.

National Health Service is established

The National Health Service, established by the post-war Labour government, represented a fundamental change in the provision of medical services. The General Practitioner (GP) service became organised on the basis of a ‘capitation fee’ paid by the government on every patient registered with a doctor. Voluntary and municipal hospitals were integrated under state control, exercised by the Ministry of Health.

Olympic Games open at Wembley Stadium in London

The so-called ‘Austerity Games’ were held in London while rationing was still in force in Britain. Fifty nine nations took part, but the defeated powers of Germany and Japan were excluded. London saw the first Olympic photo finish, in the 100 metres, and the introduction of starting blocks for sprinters. These were the first Games since Berlin in 1936. The 1940 Games went to Tokyo, then Stockholm, but were cancelled – as were the 1944 games – due to World War Two.

UK cost of living 1948

Price of an average house £1,651.

Average Salary £300 a year.

Average Family Car £590.

Litre of Fuel £0.02.

FLOUR 1.5KG £0.04.

BREAD 1 LOAF £0.02.

SUGAR 1KG £0.05.

MILK 1PT £0.08.

BUTTER 250G £0.04.

CHEESE 400G £0.04.

POTATOES 2.5KG £0.03.

BACON 400G £0.17.

1948 News & Events

1 January – British Railways created when the government nationalizes the railway industry.

4 January – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

5 January – the first episode of the radio serial drama Mrs Dale’s Diary is broadcast on the BBC Light Programme.

12 January – the London Co-operative Society opens Britain’s first supermarket, in Manor Park, London. In the same month, Marks & Spencer introduce self-service in the food department of their Wood Green store and also this year Portsea Island Mutual Co-operative Society opens a self-service supermarket in Portsmouth.

17 January – all-time highest attendance for an English Football League game as 83,260 people watch Manchester United draw with Arsenal in a match played at Maine Road.

30 January – 8 February: Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and win 2 bronze medals.

4 February – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. George VI becomes King of Ceylon.

March – Trades Union Congress and Government agree a formal policy of voluntary wage restraint.

The Administrative Staff College (established in 1945) runs its first courses at Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, the UK’s first business school.

The "New Look" in women’s fashion becomes available in British stores.

17 March – Britain signs the Treaty of Brussels with Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

23 March – the radio comedy Take It From Here, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, is first broadcast by the BBC.

1 April – Nationalisation of the electricity supply industry under terms of the Electricity Act 1947 comes into effect.

Fire services in the United Kingdom return from the National Fire Service to control of local authorities (under terms of Fire Services Act 1947).

15 April – Rowntree’s introduce Polo mint sweets.

16 April – arrival of Australian cricket team in England for a tour in which it will not lose a match.

24 April – Manchester United F.C. defeat Blackpool 4–2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium to claim their first major trophy for 37 years.

30 April – the Land Rover is unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

4 May – release of Sir Laurence Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which will be the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

13 May – National Assistance Act supersedes the old Poor Law system.

14 May – the murder of June Anne Devaney, a three-year-old girl in Blackburn leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.

14–15 May – at midnight, the British Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated as the state of Israel comes into being.

June – Professor Lillian Penson becomes the first woman elected to serve as Vice-Chancellor of a British university (London).

5–13 June – first Aldeburgh Festival.

21 June – the Manchester Baby, the world’s first electronic stored-program computer, runs its first program.

22 June – The ship HMT Empire Windrush arrives in Britain with 492 Jamaican immigrants

An Order in Council removes the title of Emperor of India from the Royal Style and Titles, recognising the independence of India in 1947.

1 July – The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and its equivalent in Scotland come into effect as the foundation of modern town and country planning in the United Kingdom, requiring planning permission for land development and establishing the system of Listed buildings.

The National Museum of Wales opens the Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans to the public, the first open-air museum in the UK (director: Iorwerth Peate).

4 July – 1948 Northwood mid-air collision: A Scandinavian Airlines Douglas DC-6 and an Avro York of No. 99 Squadron RAF collide over Northwood, London and crash killing all 39 people aboard both aircraft.

5 July – The National Health Service begins functioning, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use.

Changes to the National Insurance social insurance scheme come into effect.

The Children Act 1948 comes into effect, transferring responsibility for child welfare from Poor Law Guardians, Approved schools and voluntary organisations to new local authority Children’s Departments with professional Children’s Officers.

15 July – first London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.

25 July – end of post-war bread rationing.

29 July – 14 August: Olympic Games held in London. Great Britain and Northern Ireland win 3 gold, 14 silver and 6 bronze medals at the event, which is televised by the BBC.

29 July – Stoke Mandeville Games are held for the first time, the predecessor of the Paralympic Games.

The highest ever daily Central England temperature value, 25.2 °C (77.4 °F) is reported for this day.

30 July – gas boards created as the government nationalises the gas industry.

18 August – jockey Lester Piggott, aged 12, wins his first race, at Haydock Park Racecourse.

September – The first new comprehensive schools open in Potters Bar and Hillingdon.

Judicial corporal punishment (birching and flogging) is abolished in the UK.

6 September – flying the de Havilland DH 108, John Derry becomes the first British pilot to break the sound barrier.

8 September – Terence Rattigan’s play The Browning Version premieres in London.

October – the Hoover Company open a new factory for the mass production of washing machines at Merthyr Tydfil.

12 October – topical debate programme Any Questions? first broadcast on the BBC Home Service. It will still be on the radio more than sixty years later.

20 October – 1948 KLM Constellation air disaster: a KLM Lockheed Constellation airliner crashes into power cables on approach to Prestwick Airport in Scotland, killing all 40 people on board.

27 October – 6 November: first postwar Motor Show held at Earls Court, London. A record 562,954 visitors witness a wide range of new products from British manufacturers. Most successful will be the Morris Minor and Land Rover; but there are also the Morris Six, new Morris Oxford and Wolseley 4/50; Jaguar XK120, the world’s fastest production car at this time, and Mark V; Hillman Minx Mark III; Austin A70 and Atlantic; Vauxhall Velox and Wyvern; Singer SM1500; Sunbeam-Talbot 90; and Bristol 401.

8 November – the King issues Letters Patent granting the title of Prince or Princess of the United Kingdom, with the style Royal Highness, to the children of The Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. Their first child is due later this month.

14 November – Princess Elizabeth gives birth to a son.

15 November – rising actor and comedian Ronnie Barker, aged 19 and from Bedford, makes his stage debut in the play Quality Street at the County Theatre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

19 November – Peter Griffiths is hanged at Liverpool’s Walton Gaol for the murder of June Anne Devaney.

December – Patrick Blackett wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation".

10 December – T. S. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".

15 December – the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s one-month-old son (later The Prince of Wales) is christened His Royal Highness Charles Philip Arthur George of Edinburgh.

26 December – the first series of Reith Lectures, Bertrand Russell on Authority and the Individual, begins broadcasting on the BBC Home Service.

Undated

Scottish advocate Margaret Kidd becomes the first British woman King’s Counsel in Britain.

Snettisham Hoard discovered near King’s Lynn.

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain is founded.

From the end of the year, manufacturers are permitted to make Utility furniture to their own designs.

“Black widow” road safety poster (slogan: “Keep death off the road – Carelessness kills”) by William Little issued.

Posted by brizzle born and bred on 2019-01-13 16:19:55

Tagged: , That Was the Year That Was – 1948 , United-Kingdom , UK , 1948 , 1949 UK news and events , UK news headlines 1949 , Britain

The post That Was the Year That Was – 1948 appeared first on Good Info.

[cynthiamwashington]

Primal Health Chef: Using Food For Health

It’s Monday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

I’m a Certified Executive Chef by the American Culinary Federation. I have about 20 years of experience in the field.

During my training as a Chef and years working in kitchens for all kinds of outlets (Restaurants, Hotels, Employee Cafeterias, Dining Services of Universities), I learned and then implemented the knowledge that a balanced nutritional plate is supposed to have 3 components: a protein, a vegetable and a starch, and how to control the amount of fat used to produce this plate.

I moved from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Columbus, Ohio, USA, to finish my Chef training. The possibilities of success here were much better, so my wife and I decided to make it our place to grow our family.

After several years working in a great restaurant, I started to have episodes of headaches that would end with me throwing up and having to leave work. This would happen at least once a week. I ended up going to the doctor and found out that I had very high blood pressure (180/150 mm Hg), so the doctor started me on BP medicine. My BP was under control for several years until one of my yearly visits to the doctor. After my vital signs were taken and the blood work came back, the doctor told me that he needed to increase my BP medication and that I had become pre-diabetic. He said that in the next visit he would probably have to prescribe some diabetes medicine to me. I refused to believe that I was becoming a diabetic person and have never been very friendly to take drugs, so I asked the doctor if I had any other ways to turn this around. His answer was that all of this was hereditary and there was nothing else I could do about it.

I decided to look for a second opinion. I was lucky to find a functional doctor. Before the visit, there was a questionnaire. I remember that one of the questions was something like “write down what your goal is for when you retire.” That made me realize that I really wanted to be able to see my kids graduate from college, get married, have kids, and be around when my grandkids graduate from college. Considering that my kids were still in elementary school at this time, I had to stay healthy for a long time.

This new doctor presented me with an elimination diet that I started the same day I was inspired by the question from the questionnaire. At the end of my visits I was presented with the Paleo Lifestyle, which (without knowing) I always had a sense was the right thing to do. After about a year, I was almost out of the BP medicine and had lost 30 lbs. I also never had to talk about diabetes as my blood work was pretty good—until I left a job of 7 years and let myself go back on eating grains and sugars while looking for a new job. When I went back to the doctor for my yearly check up, my blood work results came back as the worst I ever had. It only took 6 months to reverse all the good this lifestyle has done on myself. I realized that I had done wrong, and started back with even a stronger belief that the right thing was to avoid all grains, legumes and sugars. After 3 months my blood work was back to almost perfect.

About this time I started listening to the Primal Blueprint Podcast (it was sometime before the launch of The Keto Reset Diet. I had read The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat from Robb Wolf, but had never read anything from Mark Sisson. I really liked Mark’s approach and also liked the podcast. Something about it started making me think about wanting to help others to improve their health, so after doing some research on the different coaching programs that existed at that time, not too many, I decided that the Primal Health Coach Institute was the best option. Now I’m a certified PHC. So far I had only one client that requested a menu with easy recipes to be able to follow the program.

As I’m a Chef who has been training young students in University environments as new kitchen employees—and being aware that most people in the States don’t know how to cook and are afraid to be in their kitchens—I decided that my best option is to help people to be re-introduced to their kitchens, creating simple recipes and teaching them how to cook.

As we believe that 80% of our health is what we eat I strongly believe that everyone needs to learn the kitchen basics to be able to cook and better understand how to make special requests in restaurants when eating out, eventually making an educated decision when picking a restaurant.

My motto is: Food for Health Because you are worth it

I still love cooking and I have a project that is on the final stages of a loan application to build a Primal Food Truck in Columbus Ohio. I’m hoping to have it ready for Spring 2019 to start the Food Truck season here in Columbus. The name will be PH Chef, PH has to do with Primal Health and also to ph balance as I relate that to the balance food gives you when you eat right.

I’m sharing with you the menu that I’m planning to start with, probably with some changes as I have time to keep playing with food.

Appetizer

Baked Egg on Avocado Pork Belly and Avocado Dressing

Salad

Romaine Heart Big Ass Salad Jicama Slaw

Proteins (all grass-fed, pasture-raised or wild-caught)

Kombucha Smoked Pulled Pork Pulled Braised Beef Pulled Roasted Chicken Baked Sockeye Salmon

Sides

Braised Red Cabbage Sweet Potato Hash Smashed Cauliflower Pico Buttered Green Asparagus

Liquids

Mate and Hibiscus Kombucha Mate Cocido Bone Broth Fresh Water

My website is https://www.theprimalhealthchef.com/.

Joel Linik

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[rememberthattime]

Chapter 28. Rothenburg

It’s fall again, our third autumn in Europe.

Every year, I write about how much I love this season: crisp air, colorful leaves, scarves, football... People (Chelsay) say Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but they’re wrong. Sorry hun, you can’t beat sweater-weather, brisk walks, and crunchy leaves.

Along with the above “basics”, Chelsay and I have started another autumn tradition since moving to Europe: an annual trip to Germany. There’s just something enchanting about fall in Germany that’s brought us back each year. The goulash is heartier, the deep forests are more colorful, and the foggy countryside is spookier. Plus the Germans say “Hallo” as their greeting. 

In 2015, Chelsay and I visited Munich and the hero view at Neuschwanstein. In 2016, we visited Berlin, taking in the city’s sobering history. Now, for round three, Chelsay and I spent the weekend in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a romantic half-timbered town left 800 years in the past.

Before getting to Rothenburg though, let me talk more about fall: it’s undeniably the best season.

I mentioned Chelsay and I’s brisk walks earlier, and we really took those to a new level this fall. See, one of our favorite things about London is the peaceful, wild, unpolluted nature of the city’s parks. I already wrote about the greatness of these green slices of heaven(Chapters 13 and 14), and this autumn, we returned to all the classics: Richmond, Hampstead, Hyde, and Regents.

We didn’t settle for just the classics though... We also introduced the world-renowned Kew Gardens into our catalogue, and even took a long day-trip to the Cotswolds (which I’d written about in Chapter 6).

Quick time check though: it’s Halloween as I write this (Happy Birthday Matt!), and I bring that up because the Wedding post is still not 100% done... two full months after September 4th. That post is way more important, so although I could write more about our fall weekends, I’ll stop digressing and move on to Germany.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in the entire world. Though it’s certainly known to tourists, the village has kept its half-timbered charm thanks largely to how difficult it is to visit.

Nuremberg, the 14th biggest city in Germany, is the closest airport. Flights in are understandably rare to such a small city, and even if you’re lucky enough to find one, it’s still another two hour train ride into the Bavarian countryside. I looked hard into easier alternatives, but Rothenburg was consistently listed as THE village to visit. We’d have to make it work.

Chelsay and I ended up taking a later Friday night flight into Nuremberg, staying near the central station so we could easily find a train the next day. Despite arriving around 11, we took a quick and chilly stroll around the old town’s famous sites.

The next morning, after a necessary coffee but unnecessary Bavarian crème-filled donut, we caught the early train to Rothenburg. Thanks to season 2 of Stranger Things, the two-hour trip flew by and we’d arrived before we knew it. 

From the train station just outside of town, it was hard to see much: like most medieval villages, Rothenburg is surrounded by a tall fortress wall. Passing through the main gate though (moat and drawbridge included), Chelsay and I were instantly transported back into the 13th century.

With Stranger Things in mind, Rothenburg was some sort of time-warped version of the Upside Down: unchanged since the 1200s despite 800 years of advancement happening just outside the city gates.

It’s like the fortress wall is the membrane separating the two worlds: outside, the modern world continues as we know it, while inside, the town is blissfully ignorant to current events.

Picture the town from Pinocchio… because Rothenburg was literally its inspiration.

The central street is cobbled and wobbly. The timber-framed buildings are quaint and cozy, but dangerously teetering. Wrought iron posts stretch from each shop door, signifying each store’s offering: the baker hangs a pretzel, the butcher a cow, and so on.  Colorful flowers adorn every window frame, and the red roof tiles mirror the town’s name, Rothenburgh: “red fortress”. Finally, rising 200 feet, the town’s many guard towers cap your line of sight.

Chelsay and I felt like Hansel and Gretel… 800 years ago, a feudal peasant could have been standing in the same spot. As he looked around, likely dirty and illiterate (hence the sign posts), he would have taken in this exact view.

We quickly dropped off our bags at the beautiful Hotel Eisenhut before heading out for the day. Soon, we grabbed lunch at restaurant whose name matched the traditionally German setting, Reichsküchenmeister, and enjoyed an equally traditional meal of spaetzle and goulash.

The hearty meal was perfect before stepping back into frigid fall air. Coming from mild London, October in Germany feels cold every time we visit. In both our 2015 and 2016 autumn visits, I specifically wrote about our frequent hot chocolate breaks, thawing at Beluga in Munich or Fassbender & Rausch in Berlin. The weather wasn’t any different this year, so Chelsay and I made regular and necessary stops.

Between cups of hot chocolate, we joined our go-to guide Rick Steves for an audio tour through Rothenburg. I’d compare these audio tours to studying a painting: the painting is aesthetically pleasing without any explanation, but to fully appreciate its beauty, you have to know the story.

So what did Rick teach us?

First, in the 1330s, this tiny village was one of the 20 largest in the Holy Roman Empire, with a population of 5,500. For reference, my current apartment has around 1,000 tenants! There are only two main streets in this entire town, yet it was one of the 20 largest cities in 14th Century Europe. …Basically no one lived “in-town”, which gives you an idea of how farming-dependent the world was back then.

Regardless, as one of the “large” cities in the world, Rothenburg was included in the Church’s Holy Blood pilgrimage, where Christ’s blood was distributed throughout the Catholic world. The city retained the relic, and it is still on display 700 years later, encased in an intricately carved wooden altar.

Fast forward 300 years (or the ENTIRE history of the US!) to the 1630s. Rothenburg, a Lutheran city, fell during the Thirty Years’ War between Catholics and Protestants. There were few survivors, and shortly after, the bubonic plague killed most of the town’s remaining residents. The town stopped growing, thus preserving the medieval appearance still present today.

Finally, in the late 1800s the town was rediscovered and quickly drew interested tourists. By the 1930s, Rothenburg was recognized as one of “the most German of German towns,” and therefore gained popularity with Adolf Hitler. Hitler believed Rothenburg was the finest example of what a German hometown should be, and stationed troops nearby to protect the celebrated village.

By 1945, things weren’t looking good for Hitler. The Allies were pushing into Germany and had Rothenburg surrounded. US troops were given the order to bomb the small village, but aware of its historical significance, gave the Nazi soldiers an opportunity to quietly surrender. Ignoring Hitler’s orders to fight to the death, the Germans raised their white flag, thus saving the town.

After the Rick Steves tour, Chelsay and I raised our white flag too. We retired back to the hotel to rest our legs and warm up over several episodes of Stranger Things 2.

Once sufficiently thawed, Chelsay and I visited Zur Holl (translated: “To Hell”). Pun absolutely intended, our meal at this creaky medieval restaurant was one hell of an experience. First off, this place dates back to 900! WTF!? Is that hygienically safe for a kitchen? Is it structurally sound? Why is this timber building so reliant on candle light!?

Chelsay and I calmed our nerves with some phenomenal Franconian wine. It was bitter at first, but we quickly developed a taste for the regional specialty.

Then, the real Halloween treat: the food itself. We started with traditionally German brown bread and “butter”. The quotation marks were included on the menu too, but it was tasty so we didn’t ask about it until after we finished (turns out the secret ingredients was lard).

Our main courses were even better than the “butter”. Chelsay got the ribs, which were delicious, but the real star was my veal meatballs and potato dumplings.

I took one bite and was immediately bewildered. Chelsay saw my confused face and hesitantly asked if it was good… “SO good.” Chelsay tried and had the same reaction. We were stumped. What made these meatballs so flavorful?? You think of meatballs as bland, but these were juicy, salty, oniony and absolutely PACKED with flavor. We were pleasantly perplexed, but to be safe, didn’t make the mistake of asking for the secret ingredient this time.

Finally, for dessert, Chelsay and I tried the restaurant’s very autumn special: fried apples. The warm, doughy rings came with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, topped with seasonally appropriate cinnamon spice.   …There’s a reason this restaurant has been around for over 1,000 years.

In an attempt to work off our heavy meal, we took a brief walk around the quiet town at night before retiring to the hotel for more Stranger Things.

We woke up slowly the next day. I’ve written about this in my last few posts (Bologna, Azores, Croatia), but Chelsay and I have certainly slowed our travel pace. For Munich in Chapter 1, our Friday night flight landed at midnight and we still made an 8 AM train to Neuschwanstein the next morning. After two years and 28 chapters, that’s not happening anymore.

Our measured pace wasn’t a bad thing though: it was rainy anyway. We enjoyed a slow breakfast at the hotel, staying safely dry while watching the stormy weather outside.

The weather improved later in the morning, but Chelsay and I still maintained a slow pace. We walked around the city’s mile-long fortress wall while taking in the views. One side story here: the planks that we were walking along were timber, but especially slick from a combination of leaves and the rain earlier. Chelsay held her eyes on the city for a step too long and peeled out… She didn’t quite fall, but did what I can only describe as the Russian folk dance where you lean back and kick wildly.

After her traumatic experience, we decided she’d earned a treat and swung by the town’s Christmas Market.

I said that somewhat offhandedly, but this place was serious business: these shops (one store that takes up two side-by-side buildings) are each three storeys and are completely decked out in glass ornaments, cuckoo clocks, wooden trains, and German Christmas pyramids. Chelsay was in heaven (just look at her face), and we browsed around the winter wonderland for at least an hour.

Our flight home was very late that evening. This is something I try to avoid on Sundays, but there just aren’t many flights to London from the 14th biggest city in Germany…

With the extra time, Chelsay and I leisurely made the return trek from Rothenburg to Nuremberg, binging a few more episodes of Stranger Things on the way. We actually finished the 9 episode season... in one weekend... while we were traveling. Is that an accomplishment?

Nuremberg actually has some historical significance itself so, after returning, we spent the rest of the day exploring the city.

Given its central location in Germany, Adolf Hitler selected Nuremberg as a rallying site for Nazi conventions. The rallies, which were held in Zeppelin Field from 1927 to 1938, attracted hundreds of thousands of Germans from across the country. Anytime you picture a Nazi rally (thousands of soldiers saluting as Hitler fanatically howls from a white grandstand, with massive Nazi banners waving in the background), you’re thinking of Nuremberg. The propaganda film Triumph of the Will was made to commemorate these rallies.

Based on the success of the Nuremberg rallies, Hitler began building a congress in the city, intended to host 50,000 Nazi leaders for the Fuhrer’s annual speech. It was built in the style of the Roman Colosseum, but would be twice as large.

Needless to say, it was never used for Hitler’s intended purpose. Instead, it’s a parking lot today.

I mentioned that my wedding post still isn’t 100% done, so I need to wrap this one up. I’ll close this post by saying that our third autumn trip to Germany provided exactly what we’d hoped: hearty goulash, colorful forests, and spooky sites, just as Munich & Berlin had provided before.

With our likely return to the States later this year, it may be awhile before our fourth “annual” autumn trip to Germany. Luckily, Rothenburg was the type of fairy tale village we’ll fantasize about until next time.

...The town hasn’t changed for 800 years, so when we finally do return, I’m betting it will be just as we remembered.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

BnHA 38 (FINAL) | Idolmaster Side M 0 | Black Clover 1 | Juuni Taisen 1 | Reflection 11 | Urahara 1 | Sengoku Night Blood 1 | TsukiPro 1 | Classicaloid 27

I saw King’s Game with my anime club recently. It’s definitely not going to be covered here as a result…

Also, I thought I was going to miss out on Classicaloid s2 because Hidive is annoying, but apparently s2 ep 1 will go free in a week, like all the other services!

BnHA 38 (FINAL)

I’ll miss these guys when they’re gone. Oh well. At least we have an s3 lined up.

Wow. Apparently Himiko is popular with the Western fanbase so it was weird seeing her animated for once.

(as Tomura gets out of the room) Tomura reminds me of Bakugo right now. Talented, but angry.

Deku, why are you wearing a shirt saying “T-shirt”? Don’t think I can’t read Japanese, you BnHA staff.

Ashido has a singlet that says “Pinky” on it, as expected of her.

Apparently, putting an arm around someone when they’re not OK with it can be counted as “harassment”…at least, where I am, it can.

That face of Tomura’s is creepy. However, he has a beauty mark near his mouth, which is a nice touch.

Why does he have to not put down his third finger, of all the fingers??? Dangit, Tomura. You’re weird.

An ideal can’t be human and a human can’t be an ideal…can they? That’s what All Might is trying to suggest, I think.

“Let’s capture All For One properly this time.” - Does this mean they let it go at least one time before?

Shouto’s got some strawberry milk with him. That’s cute.

Oh my gosh. What a stinger! Now I really want that 3rd season, dangit.

Idolmaster 0

So, here it is. The first show of the fall 2017 season. Apparently it runs a little longer than the usual, but I’m fine with that…(It means I can procrastinate for longer, LOL.)

Okay, what? It’s visually pretty but this MV is so angsty, regardless of if you have the volume on or not. At least when the song ends, it sounds kind of like you’re in a real concert…

This is my first shot at Idolmaster things, but it seems like these guys left 961 (Kuroi) Productions for a year…? What’s up with that?

This boy with the glasses is Nishiyama, isn’t it?! Update: ANN doesn’t say he is, although I could easily be wrong…I’ve been wrong on these sorts of things before…

This brunette appears to be called Touma (based on audio).

Shouta reminds me of Goku from Saiyuki last season.

The guitar music while Jupiter are in the city is really nice, and the “little angels” reminds me that Kanade (Hoshino, of Superstar wa Nemurenai) never got that far…at least, from what I handled.

Oh, you can actually translate “live concert” as just “live” in English? Well, I’m not as up to scratch on idols as other people are, so…yeah.

315 = Saitou. Okay then. Plus, you can’t see Saitou’s eyes for some reason.

Saitou and Touma’s competing really makes me LOL. It’s on point.

Yeah, the more I watch, the more I seem to be missing some information. Like I’m going into Katsugeki blind (that’s a bad comparison though, considering I didn’t go into Katsugeki blind)…

I realised they don’t use hako like from Superstar wa Nemurenai. (Hako is a word regarding the concert venue, IIRC.) Hokuto used “live house”, subbed as “venue”, at one point though.

Oh, so Hokuto was a model and Shouta has an older sister. Okay then.

These still shots…they’re kinda jarring, but it’s understandable for a prequel that’s 10 minutes longer than the norm.

It’s so obvious Hokuto works on a Mac, LOL.

All these girls that appear in these brief are Idolmaster girls too, right?

Ribbon-chan must be from the original Idolmaster as well, right?

Oh wait, Ribbon-chan is one of the middle girl in all these 765 ads! She’s…uh, Haruka Amamiya? Am I correct? Update: Haruka Amami is the name of the girl I was after, but I’m not sure if Ribbon-chan is Haruka…

There’s something about the fluoro green jackets that really gets me. It’s a transformation, and I love transformations, you know? The CGI integration (if there was any, it was hard to detect) was pretty top notch, too, which means the show’s future looks bright regardless of whether I continue with it or not.

The caption prior to Ken’s debut says “Jupiter’s Rebirth – a few days later”.

Is Ken voiced by Nishiyama? Update: Nope, his voice is by Kengo Kawanishi.

Hey wait. These guys? They’re from the promo stuff I saw on this show, although I don’t remember their names…

I assume this last shot was of the player-insert character, although I couldn’t see them very well.

Well, that was a fairly good start to the season. It wasn’t too big, but it was pleasing enough that I’ll stay on for another ep.

Black Clover 1

When you don’t subscribe to Jump but you subscribe to their email newsletter, you hear about the same popular series again and again. Black Clover is one that gets brought up a few times in said email newsletter, and because it’s got magic and an underdog story where the protagonist starts with no magic, it sounds like it’s for me (because I love to write stories like that – “Future is Crimson” started out with those traits, for example).

Uh, okay. I knew this was coming, but the last time a girl was used as a “prize to be won”, that was Bakuman, and I did not like that aspect of Bakuman.

Marimo boy, people don’t clap like that.

Ouch, Asta. Yuno’s right about you not being attractive to women. Yuno is also voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki, which means Yuno is probably more right than you think he is, since Shimazaki is the voice of a lot of woman-getters in anime such as Suna (Ore Monogatari). If this show is going to pull a Gurren Lagann though, you could be attractive to women in the future though (LOL).

I think I got slightly dizzy just watching Asta do situps…

This show at least has the Western (as in, spaghetti Western) look going for it. IIRC, Asta’s group is the Black Bulls, so yeah, I’m not wrong there.

We’ve had the Pirate King, the Hokage, the who-knows-what of shinigami and now the Wizard King. Don’t be so cliched.

I swear Asta is going to fight Yuno one day. That sort of thing’s always big in Naruto and every single other shonen out there.

Cue Blue Exorcist plot twist. It’s interesting when taken into account of the show, but Blue Exorcist is also cited most times when it comes to “cliched shonen”.

You can always spot a cliched jerk, regardless of the series.

“Tatoes”? Like, potatoes?

I swear when Asta yelled “I’m never gonna give up!!!!!!!!!!!!” with that pan to the Wizard King statue, that was at least the 5th time he’d yelled. Good thing I had the volume off, eh?

These chains look like they came out of Hand Shakers! Eurgh! (At least the CGI is handled slightly better here and there’s no garish colours to deter me from watching the rest of the show.)

“Underground”? Y’mean this is inching towards Half-Paid Heroes territory? Hey hey, I have my ways and Yuki Tabata has his. (Unfortunately, enough spoilers have told me Asta will get a 5 leaf clover, but…yeah. This is straight shonen, plain and simple. Of course he gets a grimoire.)

If I had enough ideas, then maybe one day I could write you all a shonen plot generator. Luckily, Google tells me no one’s written one yet, so…”In a world where A (magic/pirating/manga…) is everything, the main boy (or girl!) is aiming to become a B (a master of A, or a very revered position involving A). Using C (a tool of some sort, incl. magical skills or birthright-linked traits), many friends and possibly a lot of shouting, (s)he will do whatever it takes to become a B.” (LOL.)…Hey, you could even apply this to writing novels! Someone make me a manga on that, stat!

Interesting how Asta hasn’t given up for all this time and gives up when Revchi tells him, even though he’s been up against Yuno and the entire world since day 1. You gotta admit he developed a hard skin, no matter how cliched this is.

Huh. It’s like Negima, eh? A hero who can easily fall to the dark side?

It’s…not bad, actually. I’m probably only attached to it for all the shonen comparisons I can throw at it and the analysis of how my previous daydreamt stories match up to it, but hey. It must’ve gotten an anime for a reason.

Juuni Taisen 1

I’ve read the first two chapters of the manga, so I actually know something about this show. (It seems to be a straight adaptation – book -> anime -> manga so far, aside from using slightly different titles between manga and anime.) I don’t care about Hikaru Nakamura or Nisio Isin, it’s Ume-chan for me!

I’d assume these episode titles are Nisio Isin’s trademark wordplay, but of course they only work in Japanese and I’m not educated enough in Japanese to know what all these sayings are so…*shrugs*

Actually seeing this stuff animated just shows how cool it is, entertainment-wise. Also, did you notice the little “tusk” in Inoshishi’s ponytail?

Duodecuple. Like Decim, but for 12.

Now it’s a straight, but fleshed out, adaption of the manga.

You’d know, when you are an avid mystery writer or reader, there are many ways to describe killing, whether they be euphemism or blunt verbs. As a Detective Conan fan whose debut internet work was a fantasy/mystery, of course I know this fact.

That one panty shot really annoyed me.

The CGI candle holder didn’t quite do it for me, but yep. I’m sold on this show otherwise.

Do note the bird in the rubble’s midst. That’s important.

The manga started by introducing a character called Navi, who hasn’t shown up at this point in time. Let’s see whether Inoshishi is going to instigate Navi as the one who blew the floor down.

…nope, it’s Usagi. Navi hasn’t shown up at all yet, but maybe he’s a manga-original character?

Aishu and Inochigoi are her guns. According to manga ch. 1 on the Shonen Jump website, they mean “lost love” and “no mercy”.

…seriously, is it Inonoshishi or just Inoshishi? I’m pretty sure the exact word for boar is the latter. By the by, the names for each warrior are written in kanji different to their representative animals. Trying to translate Inoshishi’s literally would give you something like “strangely capable meat”, so you definitely have to be well-versed in Japanese wordplay to translate this.

This is definitely topping the debuts of the fall season right now.

Reflection 11

I get what you’re saying Wraith, but there’s only so much monologuing that works for me, y’know? Juuni Taisen was able to suit me just fine but…I think you went over my Monologuing Limit.

Oh great. First the bad guys have Stan Lee, now they have Daft Punk (one of them)! Kind of sort of, but you get my drift.

I think there were some new shots in the OP….? There was a 9 alongside the letters (for the magical girls)…

Is this snow? Or the desert? Update: There’s my answer. The artstyle makes it ambiguous though.

Wait, so is Eleanor an Allen too?

If I were to pull out my Dictionary of Cliches, I would say X-On says, “Defeating Wraith won’t bring your crew back.”

Holy Apprentice, Batman! I just saw Donald Trump in my anime!

Well, okay. From what I gather of this monologue, Wraith is just doing what he was trying to do for 9 weeks of this anime, but on a larger scale. Can we please just get to the magical girls?

This show can’t pull off sunsets…it really can’t.

“How did it come to this?” – That’s what I ask of this entire anime…

How does X-On fly???

Ugh, there are still no magical girls 11 episodes in…why, Stan Lee, why???

Urahara 1

I’m here to either give it a good evaluation or a bad one. There is no in-between on it.

First impression: It’s like someone barfed Tamagotchis and pastels on to some Lolita’s (fashion style) inspiration board!

Second impression: I don’t get it. That’s a bad sign, y’know, considering Tamagotchi is one of those lowkey definers of the anime boom that wasn’t anime itself…

It’s like someone created a Lolita (fashion style) Flip Flappers. There, I found a better description for this show.

What does Sudo have horns for?

Oh great, another one. This time, it’s cat ears. Do cat ears make her related to the cat Rito was with earlier?

The transitions and cuts in this show are disorienting. I don’t think the director knows what it means to take in the scenery, since this seems to be a show where freneticism doesn’t always work in its favour. Kekkai Sensen on the other hand…

What was the black cat in the corner for?

The thing Mari said about clothes is playing on my mind. As much as I like to imagine about fancy clothes for magical girls and big events like masquerades in my stories, I’m actually not a person who believes clothing is magical in the way these three believe.

Karl Lagerfeld. The name rang a bell, but I wasn’t sure until I checked him up.

Urahara means “the back streets of Harajuku”. I forgot to mention that earlier…

Kotoko irks me a little, so if I ever drop this show, it’ll be a testament to how bad she is. Why? She’s such an obsessive fangirl who jiggles and wriggles in ways that, while they’re good for attention-deficit eyes, just go against the more mellow aesthetic of the other two girls. I get they need contrast, but the gap between Rito/Mari and Kotoko is pretty big.

The movement of the girls is a bit too stiff to be believable and Kotoko would probably be better as a stoic girl…

When even your helicopters and tanks look like they’ve been barfed from a cupcake buffet, you know there’s something weird with your aesthetic.

Mari’s repetition of stuff reminds me of The Reflection, which is a bad comparison to get. Actually, The Reflection is slightly better than this, because at least Reflection is serious. I’ve already lived through the hell known as The Reflection for one season, so that’s another strike against Urahara.

The girls didn’t even ask their parents whether they were fine and just either assumed it or got way too many worried texts sent to their devices? That’s just plain weird.

That “divorce” anvil just crushed the sugar-sweet nature of this show, and that was a contrast even bigger than the one between Kotoko and Mari/Rito.

Why does Mari move her head so much? I mean, I get it’s probably for the sake of her acting implications mentioned earlier, but actresses don’t move their heads like that (right?), so she’s just being a stuck-up princess.

Apparently Park is a real place, according to the stuff I’ve read from CR…

So, it’s a talking shrimp. Which also functions as a scarf. My mind is bent. I thought I thought some weird things, but wonders never cease in this world…Also, Misa would stand out way too much in America, don’t ya think?

Oh, so it wasn’t a scarf. It was just an illusion. However, it’s still a talking tempura shrimp, which is bending my brain backwards…and why did it say its intro line five times???

I appreciate the amount of individuality this has shown, magical girl themes-wise, but it’s visually and dialogue-wise confusing to a certain degree…

So, where did the cat go? Did the Scoopers get it?

Aw, I want my magical girl sequence! I’ve been hankering for one ever since The Reflection didn’t deliver on its 9Nine magical girls…they’re still teasing it, as of episode 12! *bangs fists on table angrily*

When did Mari ever say she was not a fan of being “Mari the Witch”?

These action scenes have no sense of action, dammit! It’s just hair waving in the wind!

Too many sweets are bad for you, kiddies. Remember that.

I see a koala and a whale in that parfait. The Wildlife Fund is going to have a field trip with this one…Also, how the heck was this parfait formed? It was basically a flash of light. Magical girl shows do best when they’re visual spectacles.

Okay, that’s enough complaining from me. That’s dropped.

Sengoku Night Blood 1

I’m here for the voice actors! I checked out the game site, so I kind of know the characters’ names, but not very well…

I find it strange they chose to animate the girls in the back, rather than the front of the image…

It looks pretty, but I don’t think it’s handled its plot too well yet. After all, that beginning is kind cliched.

After living through Nobunaga no Shinobi, I feel like I kind of know these Sengoku guys better. After all, no-mouth Nobunaga has a counterpart here which actually has a mouth…and a nice ponytail. Then again, he does kinda look like some Twilight extra, which is why he’s not my favourite, LOL.

What’s up with this mauve-tinted scene? I guess it was a noise cue, but I can’t tell – I have the volume off.

Hideyoshi, aka that ol’ monkey from Nobunaga no Shinobi. LOL, he still looks like a monkey here.

I have a bad feeling they’re going to introduce a bunch of guys I should be familiar with, and I’ll be feeling like a rookie Touken Ranbu viewer all over again…*gulp*. I think these dog-eared boys have Saizou Kirigakure (a previous AniList icon of mine), though.

I’d assume Kenshin is the father of Kanetsugu…or Kanekatsu? I dunno.

Wait, it’s just some werewolf boys on horses monologuing for 30 seconds straight? The fight scene was good. Gimme more fight scenes.

For my own reference: Kanetsugu is the one with red-tipped hair. Kagekatsu has blue hair, they’re in the…uh, what camp? Hideyoshi’s, probably. Update: Oh no! I forgot, it’s Kenshin Uesugi so the Kane-bros should be in the Uesugi camp! My bad.

This werewolf with the tennis visor kinda reminds me of Akoya on first glance. Either that or Hachisuka Kotetsu from TR.

For my own reference: Nobuharu is the werewolf that looks kind of like Tonbokiri from TR, he’s in the Shingen camp.

Shingen got a shiny intro like Hideyoshi. It’s already obvious he’s faction leader…

For my own reference: Masatoyo is the Arima-like one in the Shingen camp.

Shingen’s nail polish is an interesting touch…

Hey! It’s my boy Saizou Kirigakure! Hi, Saizou!

Wait, what’s a yakuma?

Hoodie boy is Kamanosuke. He’s in the Sanada camp. Got it.

Ooh, nice castle. Plus here’s Oda. Also, some vampire that kind of looks like Kinshiro…?

Katsuie (in the Oda camp) is the one that looks like he came out of Diabolik Lovers. Okey-dokey.

Katsuie’s shota companion is kinda creepy when zoomed in like that.

Ah! I found the Ume I was waiting for (Masamune Date, the droopy-eared werewolf)! Thank you, seiyuu gods for giving me this blessing!

So this Atsushi (Kinugawa) boy is Mitsunari, scarred muscle man is Toshiie, the girly one is Hanbee (I love Hanbee from Nobunaga no Shinobi, y’know???) and the Ookurikara one is Kanbe. Okey-dokey, I just need a running count of all these boys.

“I’m sure he has a plan.”

Seriously, why does this girl (Yuzuki) not try to run away? Why does she only think about it??? If she really feared for her life, she would’ve actually run away.

Are there really no girls in this land aside from the Himemiko?

That transition (when Hideyoshi slashed the curtain) was so not fluid *grumbles*…

Didn’t your parents teach you about stranger danger, Yuzuki? Why do you let Hideyoshi pull you around so much?

Okkkkkkkkkkkkkayyyyyyyyyyyy. This is edging into awkward Twilight territory, right down to the sexual symbolism of vampires.

“Nobunaga-sama”?

…Dangit! Aramaki was Kagekatsu and Nishiyama was Masatoyo!

Okay, that’s dropped. I don’t think I need even anime!Twilight in my life. One Twilight is enough to dodge.

TsukiPro 1

Another idol/band show. Man, this season’s spoiling me for bishie choice.

These intro cards are a bit weird – even the Sengoku Night Blood ones seem more natural than this. Also, this show seems really bright and washed out for some reason.

SixGravity and Procellarum are idols from a series that was airing last year (TsukiUta). Unfortunately, the show was Funi-exclusive in the English speaking world…

Fluna and Sereas are SixGravity and Procellarum’s female counterparts.

The Budokan. I first learnt of it through ConRevo. (The Beatles played there!) Now, here it is again.

This song sequence…it’s fluid, but there’s some instinct that tells me this is probably motion-capture, CGI or both.

ProAni? I never got used to that abbreviation in the synopses for this show…

Haiduki is just another speling for Haizuki, although that’s because of different hiragana said roughly the same way…

The eyes are a bit unsettling and the CGI isn’t the most integrated, but it’s a good effort…

“…four new songs to perform.”

Hmph, one’s a uni student. He’s even a guy working on a thesis, which you don’t see often in media…

Ooh, these cherry blossom night scenes are pretty! The first person camera is slightly unsettling, though…

That ad was so not funny, it crossed right back into funny territory! I don’t think that’s ever happened before for anything for me…

*laughs quietly in corner* I thought Burny!! was bad as a song name…Crazy Baby Show just topped it.

Aw, dangit! I wanna see my Ume character in a fanservice scene too. Not drinking water like an ordinary person.

Aw, these positive emotions are nice. Good thinking, boys.

Wow, this Soara guy is really in the know. How did he know that, though???

“Dack Haneil’s”…really???

How does Tsubasa’s scarf do that???

LOL, I just found out one of the show’s sponsors is Docomo. Basically, it was a Minority Report or Truman Show kind of advertising…

Between the badly-animated long faces and my raised standards from The Reflection, I’m kind of on the fence about this. We’ll see whether any better contenders come and knock it out of the park later, I guess. There’s still lots of time in this season…

Update: After giving it a better think, I’m knocking it off the list. For some reason, the weekend is filled with shows so even though I could do with a non-weekend show, I realised I was questioning things a little too much this first ep, which is normally a bad sign.

Classicaloid 27

Yay! My magical composers are back!

Ah, it took one non-speaking montage to realise…it’s good to be back in the Otowa Mansion.

Oh! Wagner is such a smol-! I don’t think he’ll ever be my favourite simply because he’s a shota, but heck. I’ve heard that voice before…Update: It’s Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. He’s known for Kirito (SAO)…but I’ve only ever heard the dub of that…and, uh, Tohru Yukimura from Aoharu x Machinegun. But Tohru’s voice is deep and not like Natsuki Hanae at all (this does kinda sound like Hanae, doesn’t it?).

Himeka is the name of her mother???? That’s news!

I didn’t know the Japanese word for hippo until now. It seems to be kaba in katakana.  

The keigo in question is arigatougozaimasu. I didn’t notice until a second playthrough because it translated well…

Soramame is apparently broad bean, while edamame and adzuki are also types of bean. I’m quite partial to edamame myself.

The text difference on Hidive are helping with differentiating who’s speaking and stuff. It’s really handy, even though ads keep appearing unexpectedly…

I almost choked from laughter right there, LOL. I knew Suwabe was cast as Dovo-chan, but actually hearing the hippo being voiced by Suwabe has to be heard to be believed!

Oh, I see. The out of Africa hypothesis.

“…put on a show like that…”

Wagner appears to be light green in these ending shots. Dovo-chan appears to be a light blue that is almost white.

Oh! New endcards! That probably means new Musik!

There’s a CGI hippo train going across the bottom, if you didn’t see it.

Oh, Tchaiko even! Klasky:Clasky’s coming back, people!

Did you notice the background seem to be of the composer’s place of origin, with the exception of more generic modern ones like Chopin, sitting on the stairs? Tchaiko’s one was definitely Russia, because of the swirly-top building (Kremlin).