#i kinda understand now why this series is now in its 3rd season

[apparently-artless]

[p-receh]

Ooo wait are your thoughts on the two boboiboy movies?

Wah, Nice one!

I've had nostalgic memories when I rewatched movie 1. Particularly because it was the last entry I followed before I went on hiatus. ... 8 years ago I think?

Whereas I watched the second one during my marathon session this year.

Due to 'my messed-up order of watching' this series, I ended up knowing big spoilers about The movie 2 and I forced to give up my 'anti-spoiler' act before I watched it. Kinda of a bummer for the general view, but you know what? It made the scene more fascinating to watch!

"Oh this is Retak'ka? THE Retak'ka?"

"No wonder why Adudu is so into martial arts now."

"So that's how Ice got his bow eh?"

"Oh Fu-Yes! The debut of Fusion Elementals!!!!"

ehem.

From a general technical standpoint, they stepped up their game drastically. Of course, it's for movies after all. They went bold for expanding the areas, improving the graphics, increasing action scenes, and also adding more music as well.

At the same time, they also upgrade Boboiboy and Kokotiam gang's power so it's making it a 'bit' op for the sake of spectacle. It's not that bad in a negative way, I understand that because the enemies themselves were hella strong as shit. (the first one used a black hole and the second one used all-in-one power hunger fest that could also destroy the galaxy. Logically the earth's supposed to be gone by now :/).

I loved what they did to the lighting and hue for both movies. it's like watching smash bros ultimate but in the movies(weird reference I know but hope you get the idea :/)

The details! Holy- IT'S SO PRETTY~~~

ehem.

Both of them were also establishing the expansion power of elementals and what they can do about it. The first one was the fight with all elementals showcased and the second one was the alternative way of fighting by combining two elementals.

Alsoooo both finally managed to properly introduce the one and only .... Boboiboy Hatless! :D

I'd say they had a fair share of hiding it perfectly well. Cleverly teasing the audience to grasp 'Why the hell do they keep hiding his hair with that particular angle?' Because... If I'm not wrong, Boboiboy was one of the characters that falls in the same category with Upin&Ipin: limiting the haircut for animation efficiency during the first production.

So when his hat does let off, It is always an impeccable scene to watch. That trick never fails to amaze me. (like Professor Layton's hat case :3)

Now I wonder how much screen time his hat is off for the movie 3? I'm sure it takes a lot more than the previous one since his 3rd tier is pure hat off(and dyed hair).

If I want to say from my opinion. Movie 1 has its standout over Movie 2 and vice versa. Both have ups & downs yet they are equivalent to each other. For instance: the timing to add their theme song was a bit out of place in movie 1 so the latter fixed that, whereas the Fang and Ying banter in their language was lacking in movie 2 when the former had this iconic scene (sound on recommend) :]

Oh speaking of Music, my god their theme songs are epi~~~c

I remember how hyped I was when one of my fav local band, D'masiv, created a credits song for Movie 1 AND Galaxy season 1. But heck all movie themes in order are wholesome af!!! 'Masih Disini' - 'Dibawah Langit yang Sama' - 'Fire & Water' are in my repeat playlist recently. So overwhelming that I actually cried? The montage during Fire & Water played was not a sad moment but heck I cried because it's soo touching for no reason.

Oh yeah, I forgot it's a family movie so they have rights to not make any deaths scene. I can understand why yet I'm still disappointed.

I cried. HARD when I saw Tok Kasa collapsed. It portrayed emphatically well and worked for new characters that was introduced a bit short.

Then, not long after that, we got this

(I guess they didn't want to do another httyd 2 moment. It's too painful for kids to watch)

So... There's my review. Honestly I don't know what goes on for movie 3. It could be anything after season 2. But if I may guess...

It's between father and son now...

[spaceecoffe]

LUZ ISN'T THE PROTAGONIST OF THE OWL HOUSE

Okay, so here are my thoughts after s02e07 (there will be spoilers probably!) and also after reading some of yours posts about series. I will make a list because I hate lists but I can't cope without them.

1. Let's start with the types of some basic narrations

1st Person narration - the one were we see everything from narrators point of view, we usually now their thoughts, the example could be Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

3rd Person narration - in this type we may or may not know character/characters thoughts and also we can follow actions of only one character or jump from one point of you to another. Harry Potter series is an example of following one character while in Game Of Thrones or The Heroes of Olympus we change a character in every chapter.

This is one way to distinguish types of narration. We can also do this by saying which type of character in our plot is the narrator:

The Protagonist - our narrator is also the hero of our story, just like Percy Jackson

The Secondary Character - our narrator is someone who is close to the hero of a story, for example a friend just like in The Great Gatsby or My Friend the King

The Detached Observer - we don't know who narrator is, we never hear his thoughts or opinions, there is never "me" or "I", we can see this type in Harry Potter or GONE

The Commentator - he doesn't take a part in the story but he puts his comments and thoughts to it, I think we have this one (unless something changed in later books) in Series of Unfortunate Events

We can probably add more to it but I think we don't have to do this in this post. What I want to tell is that we always naturally assume that Narrator (or character he follows) = The Protagonist unless we are informed at the beginning that things are different. Usually the author informs us at the beginning if Narrator is The Protagonist or no. It can be like in Series of Unfortunate Events where Narrator tells that this story will be about someone else or like in The Great Gatsby where we can assume this only by title of the book.

But all of this works perfectly in books while in movies/series it is harder to show us the Narrator. Usually we don't think about Narrator when we watch something. We think that no one has to tell us a story when we actually can see it but this is only an illusion. There always has to be a narrator and creators of the movies/series always thinks about this. There are some movies where we get to know who is narrator like The Great Gatsby (I'm sorry, I just love this movie not even for the plot but for its narration which is just so amazing) or in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

In The Owl House if we want to guess who is the Narrator it is Luz. She is the perfect character for it: she doesn't know the Boiling Isles just like we so we get to discover it with her. It is the easiest way for author to show readers/viewers new world. If you think about it authors usually create narrator characters like this because it's the most natural way to show new world to other people. Harry Potter was a part of New World, Magic World, but he didn't know it because he was raised in Muggle World. The same thing goes for Percy Jackson. In Lord Of The Rings narrator isn't any character but we usually, especially at the beginning, follow Frodo who was raised as a Hobbit in Shire so he doesn't really know the world outside. It is not always done like this. In Game of Thrones we are tossed to existing world, we follow characters which knows how this world works and, for me, it was really hard to catch up on events for like first hundred pages. It just didn't felt so natural like when you get to know the world with the character you follow or The Narrator. It can also work with showing as The Protagonist, like in The Great Gatsby, Nick is someone new in his life, so we get to know Gatsby with him.

So, it is natural that in The Owl House Luz is The Narrator. This way Dana could easily show us her world. But that doesn't mean Luz is the real Protagonist of the story.

2. Luz could be The Protagonist

Luz could be The Protagonist. She is new person in Boiling Isles, she changes it just because she is in it, but... That is not all that is needed to be the protagonist. Protagonist isn't the only person who can have an influence on the story. The presence of Nick in Jay Gatsby's life changes somehow his decisions, but it doesn't make Nick The Protagonist. It is still Gatsby, although Nick has an influence on his character.

I fill like in TOH is similar. Luz has an influence on the events but that doesn't mean she has to be The Protagonist.

3. Eda is The Protagonist

Why Eda? Here we will have some subsections (list in a list my dears)!

3.1 We get to know Eda more then Luz

Oh, but how? I've seen posts saying that people don't understand why we doesn't see any of Luz's memories from before Boiling Isles, even little flash backs. It's because she is only The Narrator, we don't have to know her full story, we only need to follow her in the New World to see what is happening in story and to get to know this world. But we get A LOT of Eda's memories. We've seen her nightmares of being cursed, we've seen her memories with Lilith when they were children, we've seen memories of her curse revealing at the fight with her sister, later we get the memories about how her mother tried to cure her and in last episode we see her story w Raine. That's a lot of flash backs. None other character had so many. The only other character that had some flashbacks was Amity and Willow in one episode and King in his episode this season. But it is not as much as Eda gets. And Luz? We didn't see any of Luz's memories!

3.2 Eda is one of the characters with biggest growth while Luz's growth is small

I also saw posts about how Luz is the only character that doesn't change through the series. It isn't totally correct. She changes. She becomes more certain about the fact that she isn't a freak. I mean, okay, she knows she is still kinda freak (for human standards) but she started to love that part of herself. In this season she also learns that she is not the one who is responsible for everything and that she shouldn't blame herself for every bad thing that happens around her. But in comparison to Eda or Amity it is not so apparent.

Eda went from being an outcast, scared of some parts of herself (cursed ones) to the person who accepted her nature. She isn't outcast anymore. She accepted people's presence in her life. We see this in last episode when she tells herself that just when she got used to people being in Owl House they all leave. Sure, at the beginning she had King, but she didn't talk to Lilith or her own mother. Through the series she opened her heart for other people and now she has so big found family. Not only Luz, King and Hooty. She has great connection with her sister, she started to talk normally to her mother. She met Raine and was so open for them. She is even now friends with Bump and helps him in school which she hated! And also I am sure that she really like Luz's friends.

And the curse. She always played cool about it. "Nah, it just happens!". But we could see that she was actually really scared of it. She hated this part of herself even if she was telling Lilith or their mother otherwise. But in one of the episodes of season two we see that she finally accepted this part of herself and fought back with the curse. And this is such a BIG GROWTH WHICH I LOVE SO MUCH. And yes, this is because of the parallel to mental health illness, that you can't get rid of but you can learn to manage it in proper way. And I love that elixirs didn't helped her to handle it, they only helped her to "keep the curse quiet". The moment she started to manage it was when she stopped it by her own. Just like with mental health problems: meds won't help without your own work.

So yes, in comparison to Eda's character growth Luz's is small, but if she is The Narrator she doesn't have to change a lot. In every story it is The Protagonist who changes most, because stories aren't only about how Protagonist has influence on the world and events but, and I think it is even more important, how events changes The Protagonist.

3.3 Eda is connected to everything that is important for the plot

If you think about this, Eda is the only character that is connected somehow to every piece of plot. And here comes subsections of subsections! (yes, I'm practicing before writing my BSc which I should write RIGHT NOW but Eda is now more important for me, sorry my dear archaea and proteins)

Wild Magic - this one goes for Eda and for Luz but the way it connects with them is very different. Eda chose to not go into any coven. She never wanted to gave most of her magic away and that is why she wanted to go to Emperor's Coven. But when she was forced to fight her own sister I think she started to understand how sick covens were. So she decided to not sign to any of them. She decided to become outcast, out of the law, just so she could still have her Wild Magic. In series she looked so cool with this decision, but that is how she is, she always seems cool but we know that it is not always how she really feels. And I think that decision about being "out of coven" was really hard for her but at the same time she knew that it was only way for her and she was ready to do everything to stay with her Wild Magic. And with the years she never changed her decision. While for Luz Wild Magic used by the glyphs is a way to make her dream come true. It is also important, going with our dreams is one of the most important things in our lives, but for the plot I feel like Eda's connection is more important.

Portal - this one goes for the Eda and Luz too, but again, not in the same way. Both of them found portal by accident but! Eda found it in the way that you could think it was waiting there for here. Like, it literally lied in the mud on her way. While Luz found it because of Eda and Owlbert. Without Eda having it, she would never found Boiling Isles. And here comes third thing.

Luz (and Human Realm) - yes, she is also really important for the plot, although I think she's not The Protagonist. But still Luz has a big influence on events and as I said before, if not Eda she would never come to Boiling Isles and would never had a chance to change anything.

Curse - we know that curse she has is strange. No one on Boiling Isles knew this curse, but somehow Lilith bought it at the night market. Just like with Portal, we can think that it was just meant for Eda to get this curse. Like, it was just lying there and waiting for Lilith to buy it and curse Eda with it. I am sure that it is also connected to the Wild Magic.

King's Father - same story as before, she was running away, found a safe place on some island that no one knows about, in some ruins and by accident found King there. We know that before King hatched he heard a roar, probably his father's. We can also believe that his father was mighty. I think that he could be connected to Wild Magic somehow and that is why someone tried to do something to him. But I think that he is also important for the plot, we just don't know how yet.

Lilith as a head of Emperor's Coven - and here we go to some important point. We know that Lilith became head of a coven just so Belos could get to the Eda and her portal, and Belos is this one important point.

There is only one person who has (or can have like with King's father) connection to all this things and this person is Belos, the main Antagonist. He is fighting with Wild Magic, which apparently made him Cursed and because of this he was looking for Portal to go to the Human Realm, but for this he needed Lilith to get to Eda. So Eda is a key to everything that Belos wants and she actually always stands against him. She is not fighting with Wild Magic, but uses it, she is Cursed but she accepted it and she can manage it, she has/had a Portal but never used it for anything bad. She also has a connection tu Human Realm because of Luz, the kid that she loves, and the only reason she would want to have Portal again is to help Luz, and she also never wanted to actually fight with Lilith while Belos made her to do many times. So she is in natural opposition to him and that is also what makes her The Protagonist of main story.

3.4 We know that Luz doesn't have any "big fate" on Boiling Isles

At the beginning I wrote that we usually know that The Narrator isn't The Protagonist because author shows it to us. But we also know that Dana loves to play with us and she loves to hide informations (even with colour coded scenes) and I feel like she did the same thing with The Narrator - The Protagonist thing. Second episode of the series, Witches before Wizards shows us Luz who tries to find her special fate on Boiling Isles. She thinks she is there because of some grater powers of fate but we learn that this isn't true. We always thought that this is about breaking the stereotype of Protagonist being The Chosen One (like in Harry Potter or Percy Jackson) and I love this idea, but what if it was about showing us that Luz is not The Protagonist of a story? Because for me, everything that happened to Eda: the course, finding portal, King and Luz, looks like to many accidents for one character to be just accidents, more like something (maybe fate) or someone (maybe the Tytan himself because he is trapped somehow by Belos) tries to give her every piece she needs to stand in opposition to main Antagonist of Boiling Isles.

4. Summary

This is only my little theory, I don't know if I am right, but I feel like it can be another Dana's game with stereotypes/archetypes, I'm not sure how to call it, with traditional writing, keeping your Protagonist hide until the very end. And if it will turn out like this I will be really amazed. I would love to know what you think about this! And I also really need to start writing my BSc instead of these analyses but this is SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING.

[kingreywrites]

hopefully u don’t mind that I ask the same.. but the new Dream proposals?? I’d like to hear ur thoughts!! :))

Your opinion on _____?

I absolutely don't mind, there's like 70% of my brain devoted to the proposals always, and that's why this post is so long ghdhdhd apologies for that but i love them ur honour 😭💖

1st proposal: (BEA)

my beloved <3 ghdjdkd i know it's controversial but i just. feel like it's such well done conflict, that it could have been written so wrong for so many reasons but was SO well done and i actually love thinking about it. Honestly, this moment is kinda new dream's lowest point in the series, the one moment when their deep love for each other isn't enough to make them be on the same page, and the one moment when the "fairy tale" kinda stops and they really start building their relationship together and I!! LOVE THAT!! I also love how it all came to this, how their own issues made this possible (Rapunzel who has been raised to cater to someone else's happiness at her own personal cost all her life just cannot bring herself to admit anything about how she feels because Eugene is happy and she wants to keep it that way; Eugene who's given everything he could have wanted and more, and has his own abandonment issues to work through, just trying to secure this because he wants them both to be happy and he's scared that it won't last, and, in doing that, missing the discomfort Rapunzel is herself hiding.... that is very good conflict okay)

AND i also very very much love how it was resolved within the episode. We always say new dream is a very healthy relationship, and it's true but like it's the most obvious exactly when things are going wrong between them! They can communicate when they're happy and nothing is happening, but that proposal shows that even when there is a serious conflict between them, even when they actually did not manage to communicate well and Eugene fucked up and put Rapunzel in a tough spot, THEY ARE STILL ABLE TO TALK IT OUT, APOLOGIZE AND ACTIVELY WORK ON THEMSELVES TO MAKE SURE THIS WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN. Sorry for the caps but holy shit. Eugene's apology at the end is such an amazing scene because he acknowledges what he did wrong, he apologises, he also stops rapunzel from apologising because he knows it's not her fault, and then he admits that he still needs to work on himself to understand what went wrong, that not everything is magically fixed because he said sorry, and he tells her exactly what course of action he's gonna take and i just ghdjdk THE FACT THAT THIS PROPOSAL CAN BE USED AS ANTI NEW DREAM BY SOME PEOPLE WHEN IT EXACTLY SHOWS HOW AND WHY THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS ABLE TO WORK EVEN AT ITS LOWEST POINT DRIVES ME CRAZY

(i think about the first proposal a normal amount I swear ghdjdkd anyway onto the others)

Second proposal: (1st one in BTCW)

literally the funniest one because like

Eugene: i was one of the best thieves in the world, master of lying and deceiving people

Rapunzel: did you just say... marry me?

Eugene:

Eugene: Larryme. i said Larryme, the name of... my fake old dog

1/10, worst save i have ever seen, he gets a pity point because i like him and the name Larryme is hilarious i wanna meet this dog

ghdhdkd joking aside it's always funny to see this one brought up as him making an ill-timed proposal again when like, the man didn't even get to try it fgdjdjdk the way it was going, i can definitely see him put off the proposal because lance and hookfoot's advice got to him, but i at least know for sure he wouldn't have done it like that in the caravan 😔

3rd proposal: (end of BTCW)

WHY IS THIS ONE FORGOTTEN ABOUT SO MUCH IT'S A HUGE TURNING POINT IN THAT WHOLE ARC and like!! Eugene is right in that they are very much not in the right time or place to get married, and though he sorta misses Rapunzel's eagerness it's actually a good thing he makes sure they're not rushing this because she's still worried of losing him (he's literally keeping his promise of being patient with her but also he makes sure she's patient with herself too!!) BUT. But, from that point, from literally the first episode of the second season and onward, it's established that Rapunzel wants to get married with Eugene, they both do, and they are on the same page about it. It's not a nebulous distant future in Rapunzel's mind anymore, it's not an anxiety-fueled desire to protect their love for Eugene, they just. do want to get married because they love each other and want to live that together. I cannot stress enough how !!!!!!!!! i am about that asfgsjfj so like a very good proposal, highlighting that they can take their time together which is very good very wholesome

3rd and a half proposal: the Tromus One (rapunzeltopia)

Does this one count? ghdgdh my guy tromus really said the only way to keep her into the perfect dream version of her world where she is completely happy is to make sure she's with eugene 💖 we thank him for that and for the parents au and for the demon au too fgjdhdhf i gotta say, I like how it also highlights how much Eugene has changed and how their relationship is much more solid now. Like, genuinely, after all they went through, Eugene wouldn't propose like that to her anymore, and he also showed that he's ready to say no to make sure that she has the space to discover herself and be certain of her choice. Also I like this proposal because the joy on Eugene's face when she says yes is very cute okay I KNOW IT'S A DEMON BUT IT'S ALSO MY BOY

4th proposal: (Cassandra's Revenge)

ASGSGDHDJDHDHDJJHLSDGSDSG I LITERALLY WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THE GIRL WHO HAS EVERYTHING REPRISE. NEVER EVER I GENUINELY FEELS GIDDY LISTENING TO IT EVEN NOW AND THEN WHEN SHE PROPOSED AND HE WAS LIKE "FOR ME?" AND IT WAS THE SOFTEST THING IN THE WORLD I DIED

i'm also so happy rapunzel got to try to propose a second time because hell yes she would and like i'm glad it wasn't ever questionned and that eugene got to be over the moon because she oves him just as much as he does and !!!!!!! FLUFFY HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS WHERE BOTH PEOPLE WOULD DO ANYTHING TO MAKE THE OTHER ONE HAPPY ARE ALL I WANT IN LIFE ACTUALLY

5th and final one: THE proposal :')

It's literally perfect what can I even say ghdhdh like. the dialogue? Eugene reminding her of his promise, making sure she knows it's a choice, us seeing how far they've come together since the beginning and how it's literally the next natural step for them instead of a tacked on "happy ending" thing?? The sheer emotion and happiness in their voices and their expressions, the intimacy, the gorgeous bi flag sky behind them, the parallel to I see the light, THE EVERYTHING?? this proposal is the best proposal to ever proposal, no one is doing it like them

[meimae]

Look at me, not being on time for my April Immersion Overview as is the usual. (・w・;

First, little blog updates to get out of the way:

I reached 100 followers! Got an influx of people checking out my 1 year update post, and got plenty of nice compliments on my data collection.

For those of you wondering just why I keep up with so much data, it's mostly because it can get really hard to notice how much you're improving in a language especially with something like immersion learning that for people who don't get it feels like a waste of time or a time sink.

Graphs showing consistency, improvement in reading speed, increasing vocabulary counts, and generally just seeing numbers grow turns language learning more fun and motivating for me, and if as a bonus, it encourages someone to try immersion learning then that would be cool!

With that said, whether you're here as a fellow language learner, graphs enthusiast (笑), or just want some Japanese media recommendations, ようこそ! 

Also, made a tiny DP change - it’s チト from 少女週末旅行. Pretty sure it’s the first manga series I ever finished in Japanese (not the first one I started since ちはやふる is still ongoing), and I always felt a bit of a ☆connection☆ with  her - between her book-loving personality and being a no-nonsense kind of person, there was no way for me not to enjoy her character. Great beginner anime/manga if you’re not into most beginner recommendations.

-☆-

April has been a pretty good immersion month, as I was able to dip my toes in a variety of media. A bit competitive, too! The club I joined has been pulling all the stops to get to the Top 20 Immersion Leaderboard in it’s first month. I was able to snag the 9th spot among a bunch of people of different comprehension levels (the majority being N1+ since they’re able to comprehend much more and in turn stand longer immersion hours). Lots of tiny complaints though of potential “whitenoising” content (”listening” and “reading” but not comprehending very well just to get a large number to post), but really what can you do? People lie all the time on the internet. Besides, it’s internet points that doesn’t do anything beyond being a little shiny I guess.

Enough about that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details you came here for!

ANIME

フルーツバスケット

Might need to rewatch this one. Felt like I didn’t connect with the characters the way the rest of its fandom has. I’m kinda sad about it, since I normally love Slice of Life and Fantasy, and I know this is one of my friend’s diehard shows.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project S2

A filler anime to watch tbh. Nice and easy enough to follow for beginners. Pretty good songs. With regards to it being a show about music and moe, I still 100% prefer K-On! if I’m going to be honest, but for a show about non-toxic idols, it’s good!

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

First read this as English translated manga when I was 13 or something. Mistakes were made. Let’s all just agree to throw キュウベえ into a pit of fire and never talk about it again. Great ending and a show that really reworked the magical girl genre. But seriously, I was traumatized by マミ’s death then and now, help.

四月は君の嘘

Already knew what was going to happen even before watching this so I didn’t ugly cry like I was expecting. Still got that awful sinking feeling though. 10/10 would recommend for a good cry. Also, I’m planning to read the manga, might enjoy that more, because I’ve always liked it more than anime actually. *shocked pikachu face*

ホリミヤ

Watched before I even finished the manga which felt like a mistake at first until I realized that it perfectly stops where I stopped reading. Nice and comfy anime, the kind I would have loved as a teen. Fun animation too, making parts very dramatic even though it wasn’t really that deep of an issue even in the manga. Just teens feeling feelings. Still salty that we lose bad boy styled 宮村, but I get why it had to happen.

AUDIOBOOKS

氷菓

Second re-listen. I understand it fine, but it’s very easy to drift off when you can’t catch all the words so I had to replay often. Will have to mine more from the anime/book.

君の名は

I mined from the anime, and was really pleased to be able to follow all 6 hours of this audiobook perfectly fine. Will need to read the book, because I realized just how seamless reading it would be after listening to it with hardly any issue.

BOOKS

キッチェン

Completed! Read my thoughts about it and see my stats on this post.

君の膵臓を食べたい

Still trudging on with this one. It’s not a bad story, it’s pretty well written actually, I just made the mistake of watching both the anime and live adaptation first, so I know exactly what’s going to happen and it’s killing my motivation to keep reading. I guess reading the book first before watching the movie still applies in any language with me. Really need to 頑張れ and finish so I can move on. 

三日間の幸福

Started reading towards the end of the month, mostly because I realized that every chapter is only 5000-15000 characters long, and I was able to read up to 40k in a day with Island most days. Only two chapters read so far though because I got distracted by manga, but it’s shaping up to be a really good plot and potentially a really sad one, too, so I’m interested.

DRAMA

花ざかりの君たちへ イケメンパラダイス

Heard this was a classic so I gave it a try. Loved 生田 斗真’s character in this one the most especially all his internal dialogue acted out. Also, 小栗 旬 in anything is bound to be a good watch. Simple and fun watch. They dragged the ending so much though lmao 

ごくせん

Look, I see 松本 潤, I click. Definitely the kind of show you should watch for some great life advice. Planning to watch the 2nd and 3rd seasons even if there is a terrible lack of 松本 潤, because I love my strong female protagonists, and man, ヤンクミ is such a great character. Need to read the manga, too, if I can find it.

極主夫道

Oof, this was kind of hard. The yakuza talk was throwing me off, but the rest of it was enjoyable. Not really plot heavy as I thought it was going to be. The comedy side of it was fun and predictable after the first few episodes. Overall, pretty good slice of life, family story with a twist.

MANGA

Read a bunch of manga this month, mostly because I am struggling to find the next vn to read.

おやすみプンプン

Read a couple of volumes (6-7). This manga is so good, but it’s so depressing I need to stop to take a breather every once in a while. Please don’t leave any spoilers. The club has been reacting to me reading this, and it has mostly been a lot of crying emotes. It’s both been enjoyable to see and really worrying. 笑

チェンソーマン

Club recommendation. Only read the 1st volume so far. I really need to get into more 少年 anime/manga. That’s currently my 苦手 genre which is awful because literally all the top anime/manga is 少年 help. I just can’t enjoy it much still even though it’s comprehensible to me.

ちはやふる 中学生編

Read Vol. 1, chill read to me at this point after reading 45 volumes of the regular manga. Look, it’s my favorite 幼馴染 manga in baby format, of course I’m going to read this! 太一 has been a flake way before season 3 confirmed. Don’t come at me たいちはや stans bc I also like his character.

約束のネバーランド

Volume 7. I’m taking my sweet time with this one, because I heard the anime for season 2 sucked, so I’m avoiding it like the plague. This is 少年 how am I enjoying this and not everything else what.

ヲタクに恋は難しい

Enjoyed the anime hated the movie why did they make it a musical that sucked (ps i normally love musicals hated this one) 

The オタク jargon is kinda hard to read suprisingly but I do enjoy this ship very much. It’s a lighthearted take to otaku culture which is great because seriously it’s scary out there.

ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

It’s my childhood ship, obviously I will read this again (read in English several years ago). Still as plot twisty as I remember it being (now at a bonus hard level reading it in Japanese 笑). Really enjoyed reading this one (I finished it this May).

-☆-

I’m starting to really dislike furigana in manga. It was a great help as a beginner, but now it’s like training wheels that you can’t take off. I feel like the gains I’m getting from manga is much lower than it was when I first started which makes me both proud of how far I’ve come, but also sad because I love manga. Sad that I might have to start choose VNs over it, because it’s not going to challenge me as much going forward. I mean it didn’t stop me from reading a lot of it this month, but you get the picture.

VISUAL NOVELS

ISLAND

Completed! See my stats and read my long spoiler filled post here.

ファタモルガーナの館

Picked up this VN and finished two doors (15 hours) before stopping. On the fence about it, because it has been kind of predictable so far, and I don’t particularly enjoy the horror genre. That said, this is more psychological than anything, so it’s probably not that that’s putting me off. The language is not exactly difficult, too - maybe some oddly specific words because it is after all historical fiction (which is one of my favorite genres, btw), and 敬語 is definitely interesting to read for once after encountering so many お嬢様 characters in anime/drama so far. 

I think maybe it’s the conversations that are kind of dull - dots (silence) every few clicks that keeps breaking the flow of reading. Probably judging it really harshly too early, because it’s rated so high everywhere, and I just have high expectations. Definitely not dropping it yet though, just taking a break and testing a couple of other VNs before I settle with whatever I end up choosing. It is, after all, going to be another 50+ hour read, and I just don’t want to not enjoy the process, because having fun with the process is a huge part of immersion learning.

Let me know if you’ve read Fata and if I should continue! 

-☆-

That’s it for this month!

If you have any suggestions on what to watch and read next, please send me a reply, especially for VNs because I’m struggling over here.

[amazingorangedangantrash]

The only ending everyone seems to ignore is v3 because it’s just... it’s just a mess.

How do feel about this game survivors? And do you think that everyone woke up from the simulator or tv show like sdr2 or only the survivors?

Hoo boy...

Honestly nonny, having only finished the dang thing yesterday I... don't know.

(I kinda went off into a spiel, so feel free to skip to the part where I talk about survivors and what I think happens next)

I understand the mixed response a LOT. I mean- I see what they were going for. The 4th wall break was cool, and the (sorta?) reappearance of past characters was pretty damn awesome. I like that the creators are definitely self aware- and there's a kind of 'learn to laugh at yourself' sort of thing.

On the other hand it can almost seem a little too mocking?

I get the whole yaknow. 'Fictional characters are aware they're fictional and rebel against their creators' thing but- like-?

As I mentioned before, thing is, Tsumugi is not us? We aren't exactly intentionally cruel? There's a BIG difference between the kind of fiction in our world and in their world.

What does Tsumugi call it? "Real fiction"?. Yeah- thing is- we don't have that. We don't have the technology for it, and I certainly hope we wouldn't abandon ethics for it either!!! We can't have 'real' fiction, because in our world, all fiction is fake! The closest you have is fiction about real people, perhaps, but- that's not even remotely the same thing?

So it does come across as a little... um- preachy.

We're supposed to represent the audience but... like- the audience fucking suck! What was that they said during the argument armament? "This guy should have died instead of Kaede!" Like- fucking hell. Imagine saying that to someone, who can HEAR you say it, and who's MURDER you could potentially watch unfold before your very eyes as a result of YOUR actions. I mean- look how empathetic some of us are to ACTUAL fictional characters. Could you imagine if we were in a similar situation to the outside world in V3???

Maybe it's because I keep imagining the v3 cast as like- sentient AI, instead of "just fiction". Because I can't imagine anyone being so sadistic or apathetic otherwise.

So uh- yeah. I don't... know how I feel about that. It's not- very satisfying?

With sdr2, the whole "none of this is real, the killing game is all a lie, you're in a fake world!" felt like a relief ! Whereas here it's more like- "what?? It's all fake? What the hell was the point then?!"

"Nothing matters!" vs "nothing matters..."

The whole HOPE VS DESPAIR, FUTURE VS PAST thing worked, because, well, it's something we can all understand. We have all felt hope and we have all felt despair. We've all, at some point in our lives, felt stuck in the past, unable to or scared to move on.

(Hey- some of us still feel like that now, even).

The first game was very simple- hope and despair. Still relatable, but fairly basic- effective to set up the foundation for the follow up.

The second game made things a little more complicated. Sometimes it's more complicated then just- choosing between Hope and Despair. We refuse to fall into Despair, but we can't just blindly have Hope.

So we choose the Future. We can't promise it'll be a good one OR a bad one. But whatever happens- we need to move on. The only way we can make things change is by making that choice, to create our OWN future.

V3 felt very... complex. It started to get kind of... uh... philosophical? And- don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that. It just... it kind of shifted from TRUTH VS LIE to FICTION VS REALITY. And whilst the latter definitely sounds interesting- I don't really know if I liked the direction they took with it-? I wish they'd kept the focus on TRUTH VS LIE a lot more.

(Fiction and Reality are like extensions of Lie and Truth but- only to a certain extent? Really?)

It's kind of harder to get into the final fight in V3 because... what are you fighting? The outside world? I mean- I can't speak for the rest of you, but as far as I'm aware I'm not a fictional character.

(If I am- then wow someone's a reallly bad writer huh?)

I can relate to Hope. I can relate to Future.

I can't relate to Fiction.

I THOUGHT maybe the message was a warning of the dangers of escapism ('please dont go as far as to erase your own personality just to be a part of a type of fiction you like' definitely seems fitting for this fandom)- but the message "fiction has the power to change the world!" kinda contradicts that. I mean- I do like that message, but- I don't like the idea of a series about killing games being heavily influential-!

The whole problem was that people grew so obsessed with the series that they threw away their lives! Is that not the point you should be focusing on-!!!!

The outside world in this universe fucking sucks. So they changed their mind, big DEAL! that's not comforting knowing they let this shit continue for 53 seasons-! I mean, maybe Makoto and Hajime were all 100% fictional, but at some point they started putting real people into these games, and everyone was ok with that!

I just-

I'm glad Shuichi got through to them at last but...

Someone said something which resonated with me- "in a vacuum, this is good". Like... on it's own, I thought the ending was great! It was entertaining, for sure. And the whole concept and stuff was unexpected and interesting. You gotta give em points for originality.

The problem comes with it being the 3rd game in a series. (Ignoring UDG I mean-). When a series becomes a Trilogy, you gotta make it good. This is presumably the last game in the (main) series too. And- after the UTTER NARRATIVE DISAPPOINTMENT of dr3- can you blame people for wanting more? People fell in love for THH and SDR2 (and UDG even if its not part of the main series) for a reason- and, for me at least, a biiiig part of that reason was the continued storyline. The last chapter of sdr2 was the hypest shit EVER. when you see glimpses of the previous game bleed into this one, only for it to turn into what's like- a full crossover???? The previous game isn't just mentioned, it's a straight up sequel!!!! I had absolutely no idea Makoto and co would return (i thought the games were separate) so when i saw that they'd be interacting with the new cast- yoooooooooooooooo-!

Hell, even seeing alter ego again made me go WILD.

V3 plays upon these expectations, and subverts them, but... not necessarily in a good way? You- kind of feel cheated? (Idk if you're an avengers fan, but- it's like expecting *Endgame* and instead getting...

Well- Endgame).

The ending isn't bad persay it's just- not quite what one would expect? I can definitely understand why people are disappointed. The problem is, instead of standing alone, you can't help but consider it as part of the series. Individually, I don't think the ending was that weak or bad, but in comparison to the series as a whole?

Meh.

SURVIVORS

(Oh my- I really got off track, oh dear. I'll- get back to what you asked now.)

KEEBO

W H Y

They rllly gonna rub salt in the wound huh?

(Whilst i dont dislike the other survivors, there are a LOT of people i really really wanted to see make it to the end, and it's just the final god damn nail in the coffin to kill off the last of the few characters I came even close to liking the most-)

Killing keebo was dumb

Maki- I liked Maki quite a bit! She's a bit cold, yeah, but I warmed up to her after hearing her backstory.

I found it annoying (if understandable) that no one trusted her at first. I thought it was sweet that her, Kaito and Shuichi had this friendship trio. They really trusted each other- it was very refreshing. I also love me a strong girl. Her romance thing with Kaito was a little... forced. I'd have found it more meaningful if they kept it more subtle/ambiguous (though i suppose they needed smth to use against her in the final trial sooo-).

Himiko-

I-

*sigh*

Ok I'm going to say this once, and once only.

Someoneonthedrteamhasabigthingforlolis

OK! I SAID IT- AND IM NEVER SAYING IT AGAIN

No judgement here of course. Just. Uh. Y-yeah-

(I'm mainly kidding of course, idek if Himiko counts as a loli but-)

I mean... I'm not... the fondest of very small, childish girl characters (Saionji intensifies). I like a bit of childishness in a character but- i mean- it depends.

(I'll never recover from the "seductive whisper" thing from the love suite event

Never.

Never ever.)

Himiko comes across as like An Actual Child at times and at the start it was VERY annoying. Surprisingly, I warmed up to her eventually. I knew in advance she'd be a survivor so i kinda thought "well she's gonna stick around so might as well try to like her". I do appreciate that she underwent a character arc too, and it was sweet to see how she became a more active, determined person. I wish it hadn't taken Tenko's death for her to finally start changing but whatever. She is quite a cute character and after a while became more endearing then annoying.... (for the most part).

Was she in my top 3 picks for a survivor? No.

The top 10 even?

N-no-

I'm glad she's still alive though. SOMEONE damn well needs to be.

Tsumugi- ah. She's not a survivor, is she? I knew well in advance she was the mastermind so I didn't really warm up to her all that much during the final chapters, for obvious reasons.

Shuichi- if shuichi hadn't survived I think that would have been the breaking point for me, honestly.

Overall- uh... they aren't... the ideal picks. Shuichi is the only one I really wanted to see survive, I was neutral towards the others. Tbh I was just happy anyone was alive by the end of that.

Waking up- for the sake of my sanity, I like to think that after the survivors wake up, they threaten to sue and/or maim the shit out of the dr team if they don't start on reanimating their 'dead' friends right fucking now. Surely they gotta keep their consciousness' somewhere in those memories banks right? I mean- what if they ever wanted a "surprise return from the dead" plotline? Surely they gotta keep em somewhere? Right?

Whether or not they reawaken as their in-game or pre-game selves, who knows. Whichever you prefer, I guess. Maybe a mixture of both.

[na-klar]

“all answers! I OKAY with Lukas” translation (part 1)

Annika: So! We didn’t change clothes!

Lukas: Heh, what?

Annika: It’s a few weeks later but we’re still wearing the same clothes. And hello guys and welcome to this video. I already announced a few weeks ago that there will be an extra video about transgender in regards to the series Druck which is also by funk, it’s linked in the description. Its 3rd season was about...

Lukas: ...Matteo, a gay boy who firstly has to accept the fact that he is homosexual himself, and then falls in love with David. But as he realizes that Matteo is very much interested in David, he distances himself because he’s transgender and doesn’t know how to deal with it.

Annika: And we’ll talk about a few scenes I picked out. It’s best if you watch the show first, it’s linked in the info box--

Lukas: There’ll be spoilers here...

Annika: Yeah, here will definitely be spoilers, just now, in fact. I think we should stop rambling now and begin! 

Okay, in episode 25 David distances himself from Matteo because the point is drawing near that he has to come out as transgender sooner or later. Now I wanted to ask you if something like this happened to you in real life as well, i.e. that someone fell in love with you and you had to come out and it got worse because of that.

Lukas: Uhm, no, for me it was that if you’re trans -- this is my experience, I can only talk about my experience -- uhm, during that time where people start dating I had to spend a lot of time with myself, inevitably, because of puberty when things changed that made me not feel comfortable. Which is why during that time there was no place for a relationship or sexuality for me. And my first relationship was when I -- I wasn’t out, I wasn’t out to school -- but the relationship was from a youth club in Hamburg, a LGBT youth club, that’s where I met him and he was pansexual and then we were together. And yeah.

Annika: Yeah cool!

Lukas: But that was -- well, until now I never had this situation regarding a relationship where I really waited such a long time for it to get problematic, but I understand it very well; he came to school with the intention to just get through it, he was bullied at his old school... But I would advise everyone to be as open with it as you can, because at the end of the day you have to talk about it and if you’re really important to that person, then...

Annika: Yeah, I always tell men before they fall in love with me that I’m lesbian, so...

Lukas: Every man, really, right?

Annika: Yes it’s so exhausting!

Lukas: Hello, I’m lesbian, I know, I’m sorry.

Annika: Hello I’m lesbian!

Then there was also an iconic line in the show: “It’s not you, it’s me”

Lukas: Yes!

Annika: A classic, I’ve said it before, have you?

Lukas: Mh... Yeah.

(his phone rings)

Annika: Hey now! Mobile phones have to be turned off during class!

Lukas: My mom called.

Annika: Raise your hands if you said that line at some point. Nice.

Lukas: I think in that moment David says that as well...

Annika: But it’s so true!! I mean if you don’t have feelings for someone than it’s you yourself. Well, also it’s the other person because they’re not compatible with -- okay let’s move on.

So! Next thing I wrote down, episode 28, the outing.

Lukas: The outing. *dum dum dum*

Annika: I wrote this down because... Matteo, in that moment, was really overwhelmed by the information.

(cut to druck clip of David coming out)

Is that-- does that happen often, that people are really overwhelmed with the situation when you tell them that, yeah, I was a woman, I mean-- uh, that’s also reprehensible, isn’t it?

Lukas: Yeah yeah yeah, a woman, ah??

Annika: I mean physically!

Lukas: Physically!

Annika: Phew! It’s so hard, I’m sitting here and have to struggle...

Lukas: Me too, hello? Even I can say something transphobic. But, that’s the thing: when I say something transphobic it’s always like “No. He’s transgender, he can’t be transphobic, that’s complicated”.

For me it’s like that by now, yes. When you’re not passing, when people look at you and are still like... have to think about it then it’s mostly like... “okay, huh, what does that mean?”, which pronouns, which names and stuff, but by now, since I’m very passing fortunately--

Annika: Passing means you are,,,

Lukas: That you’ll be recognized as the gender you feel.

Annika: Learned something again.

Lukas: Exactly. These are the terms. And then it’s mostly just “Huh? Okay?”... But I honestly have to say that I don’t run around and say hey I’m trans when I meet someone.

Annika: Hey! Lesbian!

Lukas: Yeah, like that! Even a lot of the cast -- background info -- a lot of the cast, even when we were in the middle of filming, thought I’m cisgender. They didn’t know I’m trans.

Annika: Awesome. I also thought, I really would have liked to watch this without knowing that you’re a trans man. If I would’ve checked that or not. You can write in the comments how that was for you.

Lukas: Yeah, if one of you didn’t know that spoiler already.

Annika: Yeah, and now a general question that might be a bit emotional, but... does rejection happen often?

Lukas: Rejection... naturally there are friends that come and go. When I came out pubically, in school, there were a few people who distanced themselves but that was okay for me because I don’t need these kind of people...

Annika: I always say you can sort out your friends really well like this. If people stay with you despite that information -- this sounds so stupid -- because you’re still the same person as before, then they are real friends and people who are like “oh my gooood nooo byeee” then you can sort them out, that’s what I always say, which is why it isn’t a loss.

Lukas: Yeah, with transgender it’s always like, “are you someone else now?” but you’re still the same person, it’s just the gender that’s now right and the way you feel and how you want to be addressed as.

I had a job offer with children that was denied because I’m transgender. And that, that was... that hurt a little. But that was in the moment that they told me “can’t you work as female here?”

Annika: What?!

Lukas: I mean, “start working here, that’s almost the same, we also had lesbian people here” and I was like yeah. Cool.

Annika: What is that even-- What even is the difference???

Lukas: Yeah... they were like, “we’re afraid the parents might have a problem with this and that you’re confusing the children”, so these classic statements...

Annika: Oh my god... Every kid that I touch turns lesbian. It is contagious.

Lukas: It’s difficult.

But then I declined with thanks to work there as a girl.

Annika: A scene that I found beautiful is when Matteo talked to his flatmate and the flatmate just said “hey, what even is your problem with David being transgender? What do you like about him?” and this question was so nice, what do you like about him, because I think the same thing. I love that person not because they’re a woman but because the way they are. I mean, that she’s a woman is an influence, but... the person themselves is important. That’s what I wanted to say and that’s what I found beautiful.

(cut to druck clip of Matteo talking to Hans about David)

Lukas: And that is what you have to decide for yourself, to say, okay, can I imagine being with a trans man -- I can’t force anyone to be into me?

Annika: I can.

Lukas: But in the show it was nice for me to have Hans ask what is the important thing.

Annika: Then it comes to the big outing in school. Because the PE teacher doesn’t want to grade David as a man but as a woman.

(cut to druck clip of the coming out)

Lukas: You can’t say that it’s not unrealistic. It is realistic.

The problem with school is always grading and especially regarding PE, boys and girls are graded differently, and...

Annika: I always got so upset because I wanted to be graded the same way as boys, they’re not better than I am! But at high jump I was kinda glad that girls were graded differently...

Lukas: That scene is only on the phone’s display and we started to act this scene in the changing room and Neuhaus says to David “but that’d be so positive for you, you’re getting better grades then!”. Mr. Neuhaus in our story -- that was important for us and the actor -- he’s not just evil. He’s not doing this to make David feel bad but he wanted to help him actually. David reacts accordingly, he’s like uh no? and that’s what makes him mad, he has his plan and that didn’t work out. And with school it’s difficult, there are a lot of things that you have to be aware of. Before I was out I talked to my school for about a month what you can do, with names, on certifications and such, all of that has to do with your ID and burocracy, uh, pretty boring stuff. And toilets, for example, too. In one scene, David comes out of a toilet which is actually a toilet for the teachers. At my school I got the key for the disabled toilet, which is of course a bit... critical... transgender isn’t a disability. That wasn’t what that meant. It draws attention to you, which isn’t convenient but... you have to find solutions so that everyone can deal with it.

I think what you have to say is that the reactions of the students on that staircase are a first reaction. It’s not something where they group up because they’re standing there a bit like chickens on the roost and are like “okay. now you’re over. You’re out of this school”...

People react to a new information that they didn’t expect and that’s the big thing in that moment.

Annika: Especially at that age there’ll be big gossip.

Lukas: When I came out to my school, my classmates reacted really positively and were really nice and I don’t want anyone who’s transgender and watches this show to think this is what will happen, I mean you can also see in the following episodes that--

Annika: That everyone stand up for him because that’s something normal.

Lukas: Exactly.

Annika: Often it’s better to be self-confident, because then people think “okay, I won’t say anything then”. When they realize that you’re an easy target then they attack you.

Lukas: Right. You shouldn’t be ashamed of who you are or what makes you different but be proud because that’s what makes you to the person that you are.

part 2

[tomoyanosekai]

視点 (Shiten: Perspective) ~ Heroes and the Truest Self Behind the Lens~

“Can I get the right shot?... Nahh, this doesn’t look right.” 

- March 10, 2021

It was a cold twilight evening as I laid there on the steps of my front yard trying to find the right angle. I’m sure you’re wondering, “Why are you laying there in a weird position as you take pictures of a bunch of action figures at that hour of the evening?” To begin somewhere, I’ve always been a very big fan and geek of the Japanese hero and drama franchise called “Kamen Rider.” Something that not everyone knows is that I also run a secondary Instagram (and as of recently, a Twitter) account dedicated to taking pictures of my collection; mainly through figure photography. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Kamen Rider franchise, and considering I own a large collection of the suits and characters from a good majority of the series, and mixed with a close friend’s collection, this allowed me access to every suit and every main character from the past 50 years. The challenge that I gave myself this month was to take photos of every main Kamen Rider throughout the past 50 years and post a picture everyday until April 3rd, which is the day of the titular 50th anniversary. My goal was to be posting and building up to something that hasn’t been seen on Instagram or Twitter all that often, especially not through an American fan. Though, as I underwent this creative challenge in March, I kept finding out more and more about myself as I pushed my creativity to its limits. But before I get to March, I think it’s best to start from the end of February.

50 Years Worth of Japanese Heroes captured individually for a whole month #RiderMonth

When I think about last month, February was a frustrating mess for me. Nothing really happened, and having to write down that nothing happened bothered me. January through February can easily be summarized with me contracting COVID-19 through unexpected means, having to recover, and then quarantining for extra weeks so that I can get better. But as February ended, that was when things in my life began to slightly pick up again, and I felt it wasn’t proper to write a blog post detailing those thoughts that hadn’t been developed or processed yet. With the end of February being what it was, the thing I kept feeling was a sense of loneliness. I hated the fact that life wasn’t happening for me at all, and at some point as everyone kept moving forward, it felt like nothing eventful or exciting wasn’t happening. Whenever people reached out to me, I noticed that my conversations were really short; while everyone else’s life was happening for them, the most I could say was “I work everyday, eat and then sleep.” At some point, I stopped reaching out to friends because everyone seemed busy, and later down the line: I eventually stopped reaching out because I felt burnt out trying to constantly reach out all the time. 

“Hrm…. This doesn’t look bad, but this looks… kinda cluttered…”

- March 20, 2021

This loneliness even continued when I was with other people; especially my family. There was one Sunday morning where my family decided to go hiking up at Griffith Park (The place where the Hollywood Sign is.) Although I was with my parents, brother and his girlfriend, it only hammered in how lonely I felt. I was tired of feeling alone where I couldn’t be myself at home, and I only felt even more lonely since my parents had each other and my brother had his girlfriend. I wanted to be with people where I could be myself, but yet also wanted to be alone since I felt that I couldn’t really be myself. Normally, I find it hard to open up and truly be myself in front of other people most of the time; whether that be close friends, acquaintances, coworkers, or even family. I only show certain and specific parts of myself to certain people, but it was never really a thing where I openly showed “all” of myself to everyone; especially towards my parents and my brother. It’s always been hammered into me that I need to be more “normal” so that I don’t get teased or thought of as “weird” for my interests and hobbies.

“Hrm…. I think this looks better... It’s in the right direction I want to go with, but you can still see the fence…” 

- March 27, 2021

As March rolled around, work continued, I got fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at some point, and I decided to take a creative challenge that I called “Rider Month.” (For those who are curious, all my photos can be found on Instagram with the hashtag, “#RiderMonth.”)  But as I embarked on this project, it was really weird talking to my parents about how I was going to take pictures of my collection for a whole month. The most challenging and weirdest part of all of this was learning to be okay about telling my parents about my secondary account. I never intended on them learning about due to a fear of them using that against me. Nonetheless, I initially chose to take on this project because I wanted to celebrate 50 years of Kamen Rider and wanted to have fun remembering each and every series with other fans. Although this came from a desire of just having fun, this personal project only continued to grow on me the more I did it. Sure, I had fun figuring out how I wanted to pose each figure and take their photo, but the thing that really spoke to me were the comments I kept getting. When seeing some of the comments I got on some of these photos, a lot of these photos were bringing back feelings of nostalgia for my followers. Some watched these shows with their parents when they were young children in the 70s or 80s, some of my followers found their way into watching these heroes in the mid 2000’s when they were in middle or high school just like me, and some of these people just barely got into the franchise and has spurred them to explore the franchise even more. No matter their age, each person had their favorite season with their beloved characters and fondest memories, and that ended up fueling and pushing me through this whole month as I created content for my followers. 

“Huh, alright, I think I’m good with this photo… Wait, there’s a photography contest now? Dammit, never mind. Back to the drawing board.” 

- March 29th

Much like taking photos, I think this month has been about perspective and learning to take that step back. Throughout my time working, there was always something that I kept questioning: “How good IS the quality of our products?” For a while, I always wondered about how effective our products were if we kept having to answer the same questions and fix the same problems for people over and over again on a daily basis. It seemed repetitive and honestly discouraging. But at some point during a team meeting, I learned that not all our products at work are always defective; and a good majority of our products function normally and properly for customers. In actuality: there’s more right than wrong with our products, which means we’re doing something right. Likewise, even though I was alone on that hike with my family, I was only reminded how large and vast this world was. Although it’s easy to get swept up in the vast size of buildings and take the same sceneries for granted, I was only reminded of how big the world really was when looking at it from a far.   

Downtown Los Angeles with Griffith Observatory as seen from afar

- February 21st, 2021

Likewise, even though it was easy to focus on how alone I was at the time, it would only be a matter of time where I would be reunited with a few of my friends. I finally opened up to more of my friends this month about my secondary account and some of my work on that secondary Instagram account, and to my surprise, a lot of them were surprised and kept complimenting my work. There was nothing wrong with being me and that’s just fine; it doesn’t matter what other people may think of me. If anything, I feel that this month was also dedicated to me actually learning to see, understand, and accept myself for who I am, just as God sees us. Much like in Psalm 139:14, David writes: 

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Psalm 139:14

I am creative, clever, talented, and driven when I want or need to be. Although I downplay my creative abilities and editing skills, I found that I can be tenacious when I want to be, and the real me is someone who’s always trying to find some different angle when pushed into a corner. I don’t understand who I completely am quite yet, but I have a better understanding and I’m getting closer with each passing day. 

At the time of this writing, there was a photography contest announced specifically for Kamen Rider figures in celebration of the 50th anniversary a few days ago, and even though I thought I could take it easy near the end, I’ve chosen to give it my all. I don’t really care about the prize, and the thing I want to do now even more is to show my creativity and skills, as well as be able to compete against other content makers whom I’ve met who are all better than me. It took me about three weeks to figure out how I could capture this shot. As I captured and edited this shot, I can say that I’m ultimately proud of this one; as this was meant to be the big finish to what I called “Rider Month.” But in the meantime, I have no idea what’s next for April, but with the COVID-19 vaccines coming out to the public and with me learning to accept myself even more, I have something to look forward to as I continue on into 2021. 

“From here on out, it’s my stage!!”

The final product: 50 Years of Heroes; The Ones who Continually Fight for Justice 

- March 31, 2021

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/08/04/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-8417/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 8/4/17

In movie news, Sharknado 5: Global Swarming premieres this Sunday, and The Hollywood Reporter had a great article about the history of the franchise. For one thing, Donald Trump was originally approached to play the President in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, but his people were stalling because he was mulling a run for the actual presidency. When the producers moved on to cast Mark Cuban, Trump got pissed and his people threatened to sue (on what grounds, nobody knows). Also, the production was renamed to Dark Skies because the name Sharknado was turning off potential actors. To the cast’s chagrin, however, it was changed back to Sharknado at release.

The main takeaway from the article is the pay situation. In the beginning, star Ian Ziering was offered $100,000 to do the first film. He reportedly only took it because his wife was pregnant and he needed to keep up his SAG membership for the health insurance. Over time, however, his pay ballooned and he currently makes about $500,000 a film – which, as folks point out, is more than the $300,000 Gal Gadot reportedly made to star in Wonder Woman. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. For one thing, superhero films kinda pay on the low-ish side because there are so many moving parts. The pay tends to start low and then grows over time. By the third or fourth movie, the stars are, then, basically too expensive to keep, so it becomes renegotiation or reboot time. Plus, as I said on Twitter, washed up TV star in a “water cooler” franchise outranks unproven movie star in unstable cinematic universe. Yes, Wonder Woman was a great film, but to say that Gadot deserved more money is simply Monday morning quarterbacking. Nobody was worried about her pay before the film came out because, frankly, nobody gave a shit about her. She’ll eventually make her money, while Ziering will be begging for a Sharknado revival, as the series is clearly on its last legs based on the ratings. Sharknado is a funny thing because the social media impressions actually outnumber its ratings. So, folks feel the need to talk about Sharknado even if they’re not watching Sharknado.

The real crime about pay, though, is that Tara Reid only makes about $125,000 to Ziering’s $500,000 (his salary is about 1/6th the budget of Sharknado 5). When she spoke up about it, they created a poll to the public following Sharknado 3, asking whether or not her character should die. Lucky for her, the fans wanted her back (Production company Asylum claims the poll and her request were unrelated, but we aren’t stupid here).

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll watch even though the last installment was a chore to get through. The franchise really peaked at Sharknado 2: The Second One, but they generate buzz, so they keep coming. I’m still pissed about the last movie, where Ziering’s character, Finn, has a Black daughter-in-law who gets killed by a shark. Not only does the family not react, but she’s never mentioned again. It’s clearly the result of some terrible editing, but I can’t tell if they edited out reactions to her death OR if they edited in the character after the movie was basically done. I figure we’ll get to 6 and then they’ll have to think of something else. It’s too bad the Lavalantula franchise hasn’t enjoyed the same buzz, as I enjoy those pseudo Police Academy reunions.

In TV news, a LOT of folks are upset about that Confederate show that I mentioned last week, even calling for a boycott of HBO. Some folks have reminded the boycotters that their actions would hurt other Black shows on the network, like Insecure and Ballers. Instead, they encouraged that folks make their voices heard directly to HBO, using the hashtag #NoConfederate during its most watched hour last week, Game of Thrones. Well, in seeming retaliation for the show, producer Will Packer and The Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder are creating Black America for Amazon. Whereas Confederate would follow a United States on the brink of its 3rd Civil War, Black America would follow an alternate reality where freed Blacks were given Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi as reparations, and the sovereign nation of New Colonia is formed. Meanwhile, its neighbor to the north, The United States, is in a bad state of affairs.  New Colonia is about to become a world power, while the US is slipping. Due to their proximity, their fates are tied together, but clearly the Black folks are doing better than everyone else.

Is it wrong that I have no interest in either show? I mean, I have no desire to see slavery still going in Confederate, but the whole premise of Black America just sounds like it’s doing too much, and feels more reactionary than anything. I mean, why didn’t we hear about this project before Confederate was announced? And the problem is that both projects are so far in their infancy that they won’t be happening any time soon, if they happen at all. I know the announcement appeased a lot of the anti-Confederate crowd, but neither sounds like a “good” show from what we’ve heard, and I almost feel like they take us away from having the race dialogue that a lot of folks feel we so sorely need as a country. What are y’all’s thoughts on these shows?

In other TV news, it was announced that ABC’s The Middle would be ending after its upcoming 9th season. This elicited to a lot of responses of “That show’s still on?”, and I immediately understood why Trump won. As the title suggests, the show focused on a middle class family, in the middle of the country, as they struggle to make it through. Over the past 8 years, they have been emblematic of the types of voters who feel their voices aren’t being heard as their situations get tighter. That’s the show’s audience, even though they’re not the glamorous demographic that Madison Avenue covets. I actually really enjoy the exploits of the Heck family, but I understand that the show’s not “hip” or “cool”, so it flew under a lot of folks’ radar. The upcoming Roseanne revival has been described as focusing on the Conners as they try to make their way in Trump’s America, but I’d argue that The Middle did it first, and will probably be looked upon as the most accurate depiction when the dust settles.

Across the dial, it was finally confirmed that Erinn Hayes’s character on CBS’s Kevin Can Wait will, in fact, be killed off. The show will pick up after some time has passed, paving the way for Kevin James to reunite with his The King of Queens costar Leah Remini. I understand shows sometimes need a retool, but all evidence was pointing to the show as a moderate success. The only sticking point was Remini guested in the season finale, and suddenly everyone wanted that chemistry back. To me, I’m good. I still have 8 seasons of The King of Queens to look back on (I don’t count that last season because it felt like they hated each other by that point, surprising me that they’d reunite. To me, this is almost like Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell doing a new show together). Hayes will bounce back, as she’s already been cast in Amazon’s The Dangerous Book for Boys, but I still don’t feel like the show did her right.

In comics news, it was revealed that the Milestone comic line’s reboot has been stalled because the creators behind it were trying to cut out the estate of co-creator Dwayne McDuffie. If you’re not familiar, the Milestone line was comprised of a bunch of minority-focused superhero books from the early 90s. There was Hardware (Black Iron Man), Rocket (Black Captain Marvel?), Blood Syndicate (Black…I dunno. I didn’t read that one). Oh, and Static (Black Lightning Jr, basically). The original creators were Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Derek T. Dingle, and Michael Davis (if we ever meet, ask me my Michael Davis stories. Dude is crazy, but I ain’t putting that stuff in writing for him to find it).

A few years back, they announced a revival of the Milestone brand, but Davis had been cut out and replaced by former BET head Reginald Hudlin. They kept saying an announcement was forthcoming, while Davis took to the internet saying it’ll never happen. He was hurt he’d been left out of something he’d had a hand in creating, but he also knew there were roadblocks that the group wouldn’t be able to get over.

Well, this week, McDuffie’s widow sued the group because his estate had been left out of recent negotiations, as Cowan, Dingle, and Hudlin were going to create a new entity to cut out McDuffie’s stake. There’s a lot of potential in the franchise, with recent cries for representation in fantasy media, but I’d like to go on record and say that those books just weren’t very good. They were just Black characters the same quality of the Image output of the time. I used to read Hardware and that book, ugh…Maybe they’ve got some fresh new takes on the characters, but I don’t think they’re even interested in comics at this point. They just want to control the intellectual property. Anyway, for all McDuffie did in the comic industry, it seems like he was constantly screwed over, even in death. I hope his estate is at least getting some money for the use of Damage Control (which he created) in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but I know it was work-for-hire blah blah blah. Anyway, here’s hoping Mrs. McDuffie gets what she’s owed.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Divergent franchise sequel, Ascendant, is now being developed as an ongoing TV series for Starz

The Black-ish spinoff, college-ish will now known as grown-ish

Vin Diesel is reportedly working on a Miami Vice reboot on NBC for the 2018-2019 season. I really hope they set it in the 80s. Otherwise, it’s just gonna be nothing but Pitbull and Flo Rida cameos…

The Will & Grace revival has already been renewed, despite the fact it hasn’t aired yet. It was also revealed that it will ignore the series finale, just like Roseanne…

Late 90s MTV staple, Total Request Live (TRL) will return in October, with FIVE hosts. I guess they’re trying to bring back that VJ position again.

Speaking of MTV, hot on the heels of removing gendered categories, MTV has changed the coveted Video Music Award from the Moon Man to the Moon Person. It will be able to use any space bathroom that it chooses.

Soap actor Hartley Sawyer will recur as The Elongated Man this season on The Flash

Speaking of the Arrowverse, the next 4-show crossover will take place over two nights this season, November 27th and 28th

Apparently hot ass Scientologist Catherine Bell from JAG has been on a show on Hallmark Channel called Good Witch for the past three years. Who knew? Anyway, it’s been renewed for a fourth season

Aussie actress Teagan Croft cast as Raven in the Titans series

Amazon is adding Carsey-Werner shows such as Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun, A Different World, Cybill, Grace Under Fire, and Grounded for Life to its streaming library

Pacific Rim: Uprising‘s release has been moved from Feb 23 to March 23

Hasbro has called off talks to buy Lionsgate. In other news, apparently Hasbro was trying to buy Lionsgate.

Agent Carter‘s Hayley Atwell will reportedly join Ewan McGregor in Disney’s Christopher Robin 

Formerly a staple of Baltimore Comic Con, the Harvey Awards will move to New York Comic Con in 2018

They’ll be calling it Hawaii Five-WHOA, as Joey Lawrence is slated to guest star on the CBS series this season

Because he’s never turned down a job, Nick Cannon will host Lip Sync Battle Shorties, a kid-centered spinoff of Lip Sync Battle to air on Nickelodeon

During the 2017 Teen Choice Awards, Fox will experiment with 6-second commercials. This is how that subliminal programming shit starts!

Remembering where he came from, Kenan Thompson (who’s also now the longest-standing SNL cast member) is reportedly developing a live action sketch show for kids.

Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee, will open against Aquaman on December 21st, 2018

Blumhouse Television is bringing horror reality show Scare Tactics back to TV

Due to how he perceives Starz doesn’t appreciate his show, 50 Cent has threatened to snatch Power off the network.

Pokemon: I Choose You will get a two-night theatrical run in November. I’m not telling you the dates because the movie is a retelling of Ash & Pikachu’s meeting, yet it removes Brock and Misty from the story. Fuck this movie!

So, there was some crazy stuff in the comic industry this week, as a picture of of some women Marvel editors brought out the crazies. It all started with this pic:

Marvel editor Heather Antos and some other female editors got together for milkshakes, and based on the hashtag, it was to honor recently deceased former Marvel secretary “Fabulous Flo” Steinberg. A seemingly innocent thing, right? Well, here was the reaction on social media:

Wow, right? From dudes making inappropriate sexual remarks to folks blaming this on Social Justice Warriors, a certain corner of the internet lost its mind over some damn milkshakes.

But then came the backlash to the backlash. Fans and creators started posting pics in solidarity with the ladies.

The support even came from the “Distinguished Competition”, as they tweeted the following pic:

What started out as a snake bed for trolls turned into a show of solidarity that not only shed light on what women editors face on a daily basis, but also seemed to strengthen some relationships “across the aisle”. I mean, this is the best Marvel/DC crossover since Amalgam! As I said on Twitter, when history classes look back on this period in time, they will see that it was not blockbuster events but milkshakes that saved the comic industry. That’s why female comic editors had the West Week Ever.

  By the way, I’m apparently 16 years old because I just signed up for Sarahah. So, swing by and leave me some anonymous comments. Oh, and please don’t make me cry!

[spiralingworm]

Let's Switch it up!

So us you probably all know I like Nintendo products. There are couple of reasons for that, but I think nostalgia has a lot to do with it. I liked playing games like Contra or Mario in my younger times, because those games were simply fun. Nintendo still has some great ideas when it comes to game designing. I think Splatoon is one of the prime examples here.

(You’re a kid, you’re a squid now!)

For those of you that don't know about what game am I talking now Splatoon is a team based platforming arena shooter about squids. Oh and paintball... You win by covering map with your team colour, and by turning into a squid you can swin in your paint for higher movement speed and longer jumps. If this very brief explanation doesn't seem exciting for you it's okay, because I really think you need to play it or extensively watch to understand. This whole bizzare concept for a game came from young team of game designers in Nintendo. In the world of really violent shooters like Titanfall 2, Doom or Battlefield the non-violent route seems risky to say the least. Nintendo is known from this high risk high reward move or in other words cheese.

(Triforce... cheese joke...)

Nintendo's whole bussines relies on three fundamentals let's call this a Triforce for humour purposes.

Zelda

Link started his adventure on Nintendo Entertainment System with Legend of Zelda and it quickly proved everyone that he is here to stay. There is something magical about all those games starring Link. Maybe it is everyone's dream for the grand adventure where you save a princess. You know the one that takes place in a kingdom far, far away. You just pick up a sword and charge into unknown. Is it safe out there? Of course not and that is why you have a sword. Maybe it is the fact that Link is just another random noname boy and he simply believes that what he is doing is right. By the way this is courage App... back to the point. I know that this seems like a typical  story in typical world by lazy writer, but I don't know it just works. It is simple and it is fun.

Mario

Platformer about a plumber who saves a princess, but in Mario defense those games actually have very little story to it. This game is all about precise jumps and last second decisions. Nobody actually cares who Mario is, why he is here or why the hell he has a mustache. He just is here to beat King Koopa and his minions and free princess Peach from her prison. Ridiculous? Of course it is, but again this a game about story. Everyone plays Mario for great level design and interesting mechanics or power ups. Thanks to the succes of the first game Mario became an icon for Nintendo. So much so the company venture into other genres with him like kart racing or RPG. He even was briefly considered as a playable character fo Splatoon and thank Jim they went with squids. Mario is on the front line for gaming not just for Nintendo.

Gimmicks

Wait, what? Yes, I think that trying to be as innovative as possible with every product is the fundament of Nintendo and it is the most important one for them. It is at the same time a blessing and a curse for them. I mean just look at the Wii succes versus Wii U failure. Yeah the marketing for the latter was just so painly bad that it is hard to even comprehend, but it is also showing the mentality of Nintendo “Play big or don't even bother”. They create hardware that relies on some new interesting idea and then they will try to build a game that use it to its fullest potential. Most of the times this approach really works and we receive a well balanced gameplay that is just fun to play around. The problem appears when N will try to reinvent a wheel and gameplay will suffer because they refuse to use schematics that simply work. Nintendo is Nintendo biggest enemy in this situations.

(That was actually very good)

Okay so with all that in mind let's talk march 3rd and the upcoming release of Nintendo Switch. Brand new hybrid of handheld and stationary console which was, for a very long time, known under a codename NX. As, hopefully, you can see the premise is simple but actually really exciting. Play your games on a TV and when you need to leave your home just snap Joycon's on the console and take your game with you. Even the click sound is something that still sits in my head and does not want to leave. I don't know this console just spoke to me when on october 20th this clip saw the light of day. It was awesome till like 5 minutes after the clip realeased. It went only down for me after that.

(My excellent hype versus time line)

I think the biggest problem for me is the attitude that Nintendo presented after that. They simply refused to say anything about their shiny new console until January 12th. They didn't want to comment on anything, not even a confirmation that Skyrim would be ported for the device. Why would you show gameplay of a game if you aren't ready to acknowledge it will be on your console. You could say that they wanted to avoid drowning in sea of mud that is christmas, but for me this just shows that you don't believe in your product. You don't have anything new this holiday season so why in the hell you go silent? Okay so maybe this is just my gamer ADHD speaking. Maybe the January presentation will be awesome and it will be all fine.

(I feel kinda meh..)

Well... yes and no. The price is actually quite nice and of course the games are actually really interesting. Of course we already knew a lot about Breath of the Wild and it actually looks really good from gameplay perspective. There is of course new Mario game which looks really weird and awesome at the same time. The hat throwing in particular seems like a mechanic that can provide really hard and really satisfying manouvers. Splatoon is coming back with some more splatting and while it looks like just more of the same it is fine, because this game is just that good. Of course Nintendo wouldn't be itself if it didn't introduce something entirely new to the table.

(Arms a new IP)

Arms is game about putting on some boxing gloves and stepping on a ring to fight 1on1 with some absurd enemy. Oh and your character is also absurd just to let you know. I mean the over stylisation is fine, because at this point you just don't expect anything else from Nintendo. Not to mention that they are the company that actually can deliver when it comes down to simple fun from gameplay. So actually while Arms may as well seem really stupid it can actually work pretty well.

(Series of mini games.)

1-2 Switch is actually series of mini games that tries to show off what an actual hardware can do. In most cases you don't even need to look on the screen to play. There are games like cow milking, wizard fight, cowboy quick draw... Simple stuff that will entertain your guests for like an hour and it will be put back to the box and never shown again. In their defense Wii Sports is on the second place when it comes to copies sold, but it also was bundled to Wii for a very long time. 1-2 is not budled it is a stand-alone product with MSRP 49.99. This is a lot I don't care how many mini games are there.

(Those are of course included in base console, but additional cost...)

I think this is the problem I have with Switch the cost is low, but not as low to reason day one/year one purchase. It may seem like there is a lot games coming to Switch now in March, but no. Mario will be released in holiday season. Arms will be month or two after Switch and the same goes for Mario Kart. Splatoon 2? Summer 2017. Of all that games only Zelda and 1-2 Switch  is coming day one. No, wait Bomberman R... wait no... Do I want to count it? Well early adopters sure as hell will need to do it because there is nothing else they will be able to do with this device.

(Wii U got crap for too big controller. How is it any different?)

There will be no video apps available for them at launch and before you ask. No, not even Youtube. Meaning that you are either happy with Zelda or will use Switch as shiny statue on your shelf. I don't expect Zelda to suck as the matter of fact I can safely claim this will GOTY for 2017, but some choice would be nice. Surely we can compromise I mean Wii U had some awesome internet browser and almost everything worked there. There is only one small exception for this Nintendo Switch will not feature aa internet browser on launch. If and when it will appear remains a secret. Not that you could use internet on the go. Switch will not have sim card slot for 3G or something like that. So maybe let's turn to third parties, indies of this world.

(The indies)

So there will be World of Goo on day one, great. Except people that would want to play this game already did on other devices. We have Binding of Isaac great game that will debut on march 17th, but wait currently only for NA region. Despite claiming on the presentation that will not be region locked we still need to jump through hoopes of company own regional politics. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't sometimes pissed on Sony for the very same thing, but I swear Nintendo is worse. We also have Shovel Knight great game... here actually have a list and sort by date here. It seems like a lot but keep in my mind that most of those are just rereleased products. Please don't exactly believe people saying something along the line of “X game is amazing I bought it on y, z and t, and I will buy it for Switch”. I mean maybe believe them, but are you seriously consider them sane? For comparison PS4 here, and of course sort by date and look at day one/month one anything after that is pointless.

(JoyCon)

Remember when I said that the biggest enemy of Nintendo is Nintendo? I think the villain strikes again. Aside the horrendous accessory prices for Switch. Single Joycons that presumably are perfect for a grown-up. Like hell they are... There is the problem of power. There is reason as to why specifics about GPU or CPU can be found only in rumours and leaks. Official specifications here basicly says “Yes, we have a GPU here.”... Well I hope so. The internet got mad about Mohammad Alavi comment "No. F*** no. No you're not going to be able to fit Titanfall on it. That's the same Zelda from the Wii U [laughs].". This is Respawn Entertainment senior designer saying no to prospect of porting TF2 to Switch. Just to let you know they did exceptional optimisation for PS4 in my eyes. You receive nice 60 FPS and I swear sometimes I blinked and missed the load times for couple MP matches. The amount of work needed to downgrade a game like this so it will work like this is absurd and not worth the money. AAA developers would need to create games specifically for Switch and they will not create games for a platform that doesn't sold well. It didn't sold well because people are not especially keened on buying Nintendo only exclusive device... I mean I have Wii U, but I am not entirely sane... exactly... So the playerbase will stay low and... You see where I am going here? Okay, but you could say Wii and try to shut me down this way.

(Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii)

Well the whole premise of motion controls simply worked for everyone. Gramma, granda, mother, father, uncle, three year old sister, that cousin that hate games. Pretty much all of them know how to swing a tennis racket or play golf using Wiimote. The stereotypical housewives played Wii Sports to stay fit and it was a perfect sell. I mean if there was one thing that nerds don't do is exercise. So no I don't think Switch even remotely compares to what Wii have to offer. Not to mention that those housewives does not have any reason to buy a new shiny box. At this point I am fairly convinced that Nintendo hardware would endure atomic bomb, napalm strike, Cyclops laser beam, dropping from 100 meters and Hugh Jackman.

(That’s right!)

As always only time will tell if Nintendo is a genius or they will need to live through another generation of weak sales. I wish I was wrong. I wish that Switch will be a great game changer, but at this point I think there only be one true game changer. Pokemon. If there ever was a franchise that literally moved consoles and people bought a device only to play one game it is this one. It would also need to come with the news of killing New 3DS. It is possible, but when?

[destressjournal]

DCOM Rankings #77: Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

Wizards was probably one of my favorite shows growing up. And I’m not talking just on Disney channel, like, all time. It was a cute little sitcom with lots of lore and world building and character development sprinkled in. I honestly think this show was ahead of it’s time, at least by a few years. I will probably talk about the show at some other point but for now, let’s discuss the DCOM.

So real quick, I have no idea if this was supposed to be considered the finale before season 4 came along. Because this movie was pretty intense at some parts, and the finale of the show itself played out much differently and almost....anti-climactic-ly. But I guess it doesn’t matter. I was just wondering why the movie didn’t end up being the series finale like a lot of other shows do. Well I guess Hannah Montana is another exception cuz it had a theatrical movie release before its last season.

Ahhh getting off topic. Okay, right off the bat, this is a classic “be careful what you wish for movie” which honestly makes sense and can easily be done with a family full of wizards. In other DCOMS it’s like “jimmy finds a magic coin” or “billy was dreaming all along”. So it is nice and refreshing when you can just have a character wish for something and have it come true and not be totally weird.

HOWEVER, and this will get into the biggest flaw of the movie, it seems it took a bunch of liberties with the magic logic.

-for one thing, it’s never explained how Alex’s wish came true, I mean it had to have been a spell but spells in this universe are usually done in rhymes and only really powerful wizards can do them without having to say anything. Like, every kid gets mad sometimes and says stuff like “I wish you guys never met” or whatever, maybe it was the power of her anger that triggered it?? That’s the only explanation I could come up with, but my god I feel like Alex as a character would have said this more than once. I don’t know. Just the fact that one angry outburst caused this much of a problem is like...ehhh but like I said it’s one of those movies.

- that no one could reverse the spell but the kids. And that wasn’t explained either. That they had to speed up the wizard competition because reversing the spell could only be done by a full wizard. How does the dad know this when he barely knew the context in which the spell was cast?

-the wizard competition in itself. I loved watching it but the dad is just thrown into all of it and it’s really weird how he manages to just go along with it when he hardly knows what’s going on. ALSO!! I figured they were transported to some secret wizard location in the magical dimension. But the mom, a mortal, just waltzes up and throws Alex the stone and says here ya go. Like where is this place then?? How did she know where to find it?

The other flaw that I had was a flaw of the show from pretty much the 2nd season on, and that was the character of Max. Max is very under-utilized and underdeveloped as a character, in contrast to Alex who is one of the most complex and interesting characters to come out of Disney channel. It’s always been a battle between Justin and Alex, while Max is pretty much pushed to the side to either be the comedic relief or to play a minor role in the story. I like Max as a character, don’t get me wrong, and having 3 kids fight for the crown of wizardry instead of two makes for a more complex story, but not when the 3rd kid doesn’t really take any of it seriously or isn’t even given the opportunity to show what he’s got. I haven’t seen the show in years so I’m not sure if there’s an episode or scene that addresses this that I’m not aware of (there probably is) but I know the outcome of the finale of the show and that’s all I’ll say about that.

The good stuff

- honestly the CGI and visuals were pretty, a little bit outdated obviously but for the time, in a TV movie, it’s pretty good

-the acting as always is amazing. Jake T. Austin’s acting got SOOO much better since his last DCOM, and throughout the wizards show too. I knew it would and I was here for it.

- the character of Alex Russo, she is just such a refreshing character and I could never get enough of her. I still watch clips of her in the wizards show to this very day (not every day but occasionally) because her scenes just steal the show, she is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and fully admits to being a slacker lazy person who doesn’t really try in school or in life. Normally that would describe a bad/antagonist character, but Alex is also a character that’s deep down, full of heart and compassion, and understanding. Because she gets it. She understands the pressure and the struggle of everyday life. And that’s why she’s so likable because she’s clearly not perfect and is okay with that, and won’t blame anybody for not reaching a certain threshold. She’s very down-to-earth. Characters like Hannah Montana or teddy or raven, are still great characters to me, but fall short because they seem so put together and perfect, even when they mess up.

Okay enough girl crushing on Alex, another good thing about the movie is the emotions it brings up. The conflicts between Alex and Justin and Alex and her mom were greatly handled in my opinion. When Alex and Justin had that heart to heart on the floating rock, that was just so genuine it didn’t feel like I was watching a cutsie disney channel movie, like, this is real stuff that kids go through with their siblings or friends. Justin is jealous of Alex because she still succeeds even without really trying, and Alex is jealous of Justin because he gets the approval from their parents and gets all the perks from that. Justin thinks he has to keep up that “perfect” image to please his parents, though, so that’s another layer to his character that his perfection isn’t natural, he really works so hard to be liked and praised. Whereas Alex’s success comes more naturally. I love that dynamic, and how both of them feel like they wouldn’t be loved by their parents if they were to be fully themselves. I’m sorry that’s just really deep for me.

And then again, the conversation they had the second she won the wizard competition and Justin started forgetting everything. My god that was art. That scene always gets me. Alex was so desperate for help and felt like everything was taken from her. Her brother was the last one left who could help and he now couldn’t remember her name. So sad, even if it only lasted a couple minutes.

I know this movie is trying to explain to kids, yeah parents can be unfair sometimes but they love you so you should appreciate them. This specific plot isn’t unique but it’s the character dynamics that make it special between Alex and her mom. Also it helps that this movie already has an established TV series that’s been going for 3-4 years to build these characters up. It’s why a lot of the character moments feel so powerful, we’ve been with them for so long. It’s not like in movies like “You wish” where we only had time to learn about all the characters in 90 minutes. But even aside from that fact, Alex is such a great character that when she even learns to appreciate her mom, it hits hard.

Overall, the movie is really intense at some parts and I remember watching it when I was younger and hanging off the edge of my seat. I still kinda felt the same way watching it for this ranking. Of course it all resolves in a matter of minutes because “c’mon guys we gotta wrap up”

The antagonist in this movie wasn’t really the main antagonist, it was moreso Alex’s struggle with herself and her family members. This guy is an okay character. He doesn’t do too much until the very beginning and very end, cuz he was only needed to supply the map and then steal the stone. If he WAS the main antagonist I would suggest building some kind of real trust before the betrayal. But since he’s clearly just a side conflict, I don’t really care. What they have is fine. I just wish the dialogue with him was a little funnier.

Okay, grading time! I really thought about giving this an A+, but for now I might stick with A. Only because this is an awkward placement in the series for this movie and honestly it doesn’t move the overall story much forward at all. It’s a very self-contained story. I almost wish they made it the finale and have it be the wizard competition, the real one. Cuz the actual finale is just a two-part episode with TV-level graphics. I feel like these two events should have been flip flopped.

So yeah! There you have it! The next movie is one I consider to be my guilty pleasure DCOM. I can’t wait to revisit it and see if I feel the same way or not. See you then, whenever that may be!

[flyingcookierambles]

w..what happened to this thing???

so now now that ive begun my fall into the idol hell game that is enstars music (because even tho i played utapri shining live i couldn’t really relate to the characters since its kinda like the 3rd or 4th game in a video game/anime series), i started visiting twitter accounts that make fan translations/fanart of the game and i recently saw some vague joke tweet that was something like “i cant believe these guys really just dropped this bop and then disappeared off the face of the earth” or something + a video that was a 3d anime music video and it was actually really good looking?? 

so i thought that it was like maybe some really good indie thing or mmd project or something, but no!

i learned that this video is a music video for some other idol raising/rhythm(? not actually sure what the gameplay was really) game for a small new-ish (?) franchise called Readyyy! Project. they’re backed by sega of all people and basically they released their idol game/mobile app sometime in like April or march of 2019, and then only 2 or 3 months later in June or July they killed it?? I'm so confused???? like???? 

the MV looks really good + the song is decent. according to an ANN article i found it sounds like a lot of work went into the app?????

“Deho Gallery will handle the game's backgrounds. The backgrounds will depict authentic locations in Kamakura in different seasons, with the game having over 500 different background illustrations. Production I.G is credited with the original character designs. Sega will announce more details on the project at an event on March 14.” - rafael pineda, anime news network writer

the Readyyy! Project wiki also says that the project is technically still ongoing, but i guess they’re just 2d idols/vtubers now? idk??? the youtube and official twitter are still active?? i just. i just don't understand?? there were multiple 3d music videos made for this game? and 500 DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS ARE YOU KIDDING ME???????? these videos of some of the game’s levels have 3D CHIBI MODELS IN THEM RECREATING THE MUSIC VIDEO DANCE???? THE ENTIRE GAME SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS HIGH PRODUCTION VALUE THING???? THIS COST MONEY??? WHAT??? WHY??? IM SO CONFUSED HOW MUCH MONEY DID SEGA LOSE OVER THIS? WHY DID THEY SHUT DOWN THE GAME WHEN IT WAS ONLY LIKE 2 MONTHS OLD??? THESE 3D ANIME MUSIC VIDEOS ARE SO GOOD, THE MOVEMENT IS REALLY SMOOTH (i wouldn't be surprised if it was like some irl dancers/choreographers in motion capture or something??), THE LIGHTING IS GOOD, THESE COST MONEY TO MAKE. WHY???

I KNOW THAT THE PROJECT IS TECHNICALLY STILL ALIVE AND ONGOING, JUST THE APP GOT CANCELLED, BUT I STILL FEEL LIKE IM SEEING SOME WASTELAND, SOME DESOLATE GHOST TOWN AFTER THE APOCALYPSE HIT. WHAT IS THIS EVEN WHAT HAPPENED. ALL WE GOT WAS SOME “unable to provide a service that would satisfy all players” MESSAGE???? 

(honestly it just sounds like they bit off more than they could chew, because the whole thing is only 2-3 years old and they tried to make a game app in only the second year i guess??? still, this is just so weird to see what the heck even is happening????

welp i hope they can make a comeback or something in the future, i get the vibe that sega’s leaving them out to dry or something....????)

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Tsukigakirei 6 | Kado 6 | Boku no Hero Academia 20 | Royal Tutor 7 | Grimoire of Zero 6

Apparently there weren’t 2, but 3 .5 episodes (i.e. series recaps) this week (although after Tsukigakirei and Kado, I haven’t found the 3rd series that was affected by such a thing)...with Boku no Hero Academia’s Hero Notebook, that makes a few recaps too many in one season. Still, it does (sadly) mean a break from Tsukigakirei and Kado for one week in regards to simulcast commentary, and it’ll be noted in the next commentary post’s title too (as I’ve done previously for Erased).

Tsukigakirei 6

Wait, there’s a 6.5? I don’t know about you, but a lot of times the .5 ep is a recap. With Tsukigakirei’s current track record of Very Bad CGI Background Characters, I’m not sure I need a .5 ep.

Kinako.

Aren’t there firearm laws in Japan? I’ve heard it’s the safest place in the world…

The piano here (I turned on the volume around here) is quite nice.

The mascot is part of Akane’s background. I guess I should’ve known.

Leaving out the fact Chinatsu likes Kotaro is going to damage you, Akane. That’s how it always goes in these sorts of shows…

I didn’t think Chinatsu would be so understanding…

I didn’t notice Hira had freckles. Or maybe someone added them by accident?

I wouldn’t recommend ditching friends who like the same guy as you (just as a pointer from someone who cuts off relationships a lot).

“Boxes”? Isn’t there a Box app out there or something?...There is indeed a Box app, but it’s for business and FTP. Boxes is then a parody of Dropbox.

I also wouldn’t recommend being sorry for falling for someone. If your feelings are genuine, then that’s all that matters.

Apparently there’s a LINE convo in the ED that changes every ep. I’ve never noticed it because I skip the ED of this show most times. This convo seems to be about finishing exams, at least for the top half or so, and it seems to be a convo with “Kanojo-san”, which could mean “Girlfriend” or just “Her/She” (more than likely the former).

Huh? Never seen this before, this “Sakura’s Fantasies”. It seems to be an omake, appended to the show itself. However, it’s kinda boring…Sure, there are good things about this show, but the show hasn’t actually tried its hand at humour until now (not to my knowledge) and this shows exactly why.

I keep forgetting who Roman is, so…Roman is pink-haired dude? Okay then.

Roman is definitely referring to a wedding dress, I know, but she’s already wearing a dress while looking at the mag, so the wording makes the joke fall flat for me.

Kado 6

Uh-oh. There’s a .5 episode on this show, as well…(it means we get more Kado, sure, but it may be a cost-cutting measure).

I found a guide on the Anisotoron language used for the ep titles while looking for spoilers (because I heard Shindo was forcefully promoted to a higher state of existence without zaShunina telling him…but since that’s an event that occurs in this ep, that doesn’t require a spoiler tag).

Well, it makes sense that those who are more “go with the flow”, like Shindo, would be able to…no, that’s not the right words for it. I think the key component of making a proper Wam is empathy.

Get your hands back on, Shunina. By the way, why’d you take Shindo’s Wam?

Note for later: Kado movement on Aug. 6th 2017. Kado is set in our current year…(I wonder what’ll happen if the anisotropic do arrive in our universe in the future? Would they laugh at zaShunina?)

Amplitude…after all of Kado’s physics, here’s one thing I happen to know about…if you don’t know about amplitude, check the explanation here). What does Kado have to do with waves…?

…Maybe it’s the amplitude of the ground…? That would explain why Kado can conform to a lake’s surface.

Notice there’s a red marking on the map for where Kado is and will be. Not sure if the demo cube is magentised…it’s definitely not velcro though.

Lookit Asano, sleeping on the fold out chairs…LOL.

There’s a box near the mother (on the counter) that says “Delicious Eggplants”.

For some reason, they chose to make the “visiting mother” scene in 2D, and…you know what I’m going to say, right? Knowing me and my gripes with CG? Yeah, you guessed it – it looks a lot better than if it were CG. It would’ve been costly to render the sunglasses and face mask too, I bet, and it seems to give the scene some gravitas due to the sudden contrast.

Octopus tentacles are meant to be snacks, in case you didn’t figure that out from the size of the serving.

…er, CGI Shindo drinking beer completely causes the gravitas to be lost. Welp, it was beautiful while it was happening.

I wonder what it means to show the origami turtles as a trio…it’s gt to be foreshadowing of some sort. Either it’s saying Shindo’s dad is dead or Shunina’s going to reveal how he breeds…well, those are my thoughts, but I heavily lean towards the latter as being true. (By the way, I always thought Shindo was a guy with siblings. Did anyone else think the same thing?)

I know your feels about having to get up early, Hanamori, but why were you running like you were trying to get away from Godzilla?

BVLCARI? Well, Asano’s watch seems to be roughly of that brand (as in, I may have gotten a letter or two wrong).

They’re going to drag Kado by the corner? I’d never think of that, but now that they’ve revealed this, Shindo made it (figuring out how to move Kado with least ground contact) seem a little too easy.

Kado spinning, with all those clouds around it, took my breath away…

Visually speaking, it’s interesting they showed kids on cube-like structures in a park. If I were an anime scholar, I’d want to analyse things like that. Unfortunately, there is no such title as “anime scholar”…

Geometrically speaking, it’s interesting they put Kado, a cube, next to a Ferris wheel, a circle. It’s almost like minimalist art.

*lowkey tries to stifle laughter* That’s not a brain! It’s an egg, or a pill or a lozenge, with brain-like designs in it!...Er-hem. Well, I knew this from the spoilers, but basically, what they implied with the “brain” was “Shindo hasn’t had to sleep since he got anisotropised (or whatever you call it)”.

Boku no Hero Academia 20

“Nabooh” is apparently a Star Wars reference. I hadn’t caught on to that sort of thing until my second watch through of the first season, where Deku cleans up Tatooin Beach and I thought, “That name is a little weird for an anime”.

Brainwashing. I’ve tried that sort of thing in stories before (it was in Conquest Dreams before it got deleted), but seeing the pros and cons of powers is something only the user can really see.

The static was a nice idea, visually speaking.

Ojiro, that’s not selfish at all…

Deku’s looking scary right now. Be careful not to become a villain, or else you’ll fall into the Nietzsche trap*! * - Nietzche once said, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

The judo throw seems to be a favourite of Deku’s, eh? We saw it in his fight with Bakugo in s1.

I think I get Shinso, actually. The power of stereotypes is a harsh mistress.

I see…Shinso was pointing out Midoriya’s gullibility, in a way.

If Shouto wants to win over his dad, he should face off against another ice user. That’s how these things work, y’know. I should know because I tend to write these sorts of things (see White Parasite for one).

There’s a person in a tiger onesie…well, their onesie kinda looks like a tiger.

Royal Tutor 7

Make sure to keep your torte properly, Leo, or else…ew…

Aw, Bruni. Sad though it is, I know exactly how you feel. I used to be good at a lot of subjects, and in the advanced classes for them, but now I’m average, potentially even struggling in things I thought I was good at.

I have fond memories of a certain show where they’d have home improvement stuff that I’d watch on Friday nights with my dad. It’s still going as we speak, but it’s a shell of what it used to be in my opinion. Why do I bring up this show? It’s because this flashback reminds me of that nostalgia.

Why does Viktor want to have a “backup” successor then, if Eins is so good?(!)

I could see that “I will not have you as my apprentice anymore” line coming, although the line straight after it roped me out of dropping the show.

Dat Bruno sleeping at his desk. That would be me, if I were capable of sleeping at my desk.

Yeah, silver-haired man. In the words of the Who, “Who are you?”

*does double take* Smirdy-what???

(when Dmitri’s drinking his wine) Why do I have the feeling something’s about to go very wrong?...(when Bruno is asked to go away from Granzreich) Yep, must be that dastardly Count…

So Mr Fancy Hat (Heine version) is Eins’ high steward??? You pulled me right back into watching for at least the third or fifth time.

Ooh-wee, Mr Fancy Hat. That’s some soft power, carrot Machiavellianism you’ve got going on there.

Wuh? An old man making a Sailor Moon gesture is funny, but it does make me question exactly how drunk he is. It also makes me question stereotypes again (see Boku no Hero Academia above for the first time).

Ah, Bruni. I don’t just understand you, I grok you (as much as I’d hate to admit it). Back when I was writing Ro.Te.O, the demon of envy (Skyrua/Astaroth) was the easiest to write…

Smirdy-man, you do know what “sophistry” is, right? For reference, here’s Google-sensei to the rescue.

Borscht? I heard of it once, through Cooking Mama…(LOL. Shows how much I suck at recognising cuisine.)

For one second, I thought Heine was a mini ninja, not a mini teacher.

*ROFLs* They’re actually using the live-action version of the ED??? That’s a surprise I never saw coming! (Note: Prior to this ep, I saw the teaser version of this ED on ANN.)

Grimoire of Zero 6

“Grimoire of Zero” is shortened from “Starting the Magic Grimoire From Zero”…or something along those lines…

Thirteen’s name is actually a title, “The Thirteenth”.

How does being an animal correlate with “Because I’m eating, I won’t die?”…?

The thing about the clash of ideologies is that both sides can be as correct as each other…

I have the feeling the final opponent Albus and Mercenary will have to face (I think they’ll regroup) is not necessarily Thirteen, but Zero herself…*shivers*

Ah, the Machiavellianism strikes again! (See Royal Tutor above for the first time.)

A woman (Taichi You) voices Albus, and Takehito Koyasu voices Thirteen…hmph. What a cast.

[wbwest]

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/21/17

I haven’t been doing such a great job with my movie tally for 2017. We’re more than halfway through the year, and I’ve barely watched anything. Well, I kinda made up for that last weekend, as I caught Keeping Up With The Joneses on HBO. This is one of those movies that came and went, and might find a fan base on TV, but will probably just be forgotten. If it should be remembered for anything, it’s that it features both Gal Gadot and Isla Fisher in lingerie. That’s about all it’s got going for it. What’s it about? Well, Isla Fisher and Zack Galifianakis star as a milquetoast suburbanite couple who become suspicious of their new neighbors, Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot. So, they’re pushed out of their comfort zone when they find out Hamm and Gadot are spies, and they get wrapped up in their latest mission. This is the kind of movie I would’ve killed a chunk of a Saturday afternoon on had it aired on Fox 5, but I can understand why nobody went to see it in theaters. Folks loved Don Draper, but for whatever reason, they have no desire to help along Jon Hamm’s movie career. And this was pre-Wonder Woman Gadot, so there was no heat on her yet. It doesn’t suck, but it’s got no Wow Factor either. Once it hits FX, it might be a good way to waste away a rainy Sunday afternoon.

I finally got around to watching The Nice Guys, too. I’d tried a few months ago, but I only got as far as the Ryan Gosling fully clothed in the bathtub scene, where I went, “What the eff am I watching?” I wasn’t ready for the absurd that night, but I was ready now. Like everyone had told me, it was really good. I still have trouble with heist/mystery films because my brain doesn’t work as fast as the film, so sometimes I have to reflect back on the thing when it’s over just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Ryan Gosling is a private investigator who teams up with local tough guy Russell Crowe to track down a missing girl. Sure, there’s some stuff about porn, and the Detroit auto lobby, but that’s the gist of the movie. It’s got a precocious kid, a cool 70s aesthetic, and titties. Can’t really hate on any of that. Anyway, I could see this as one of those movies I drop everything to watch whenever I see that it’s on. If you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out.

My new favorite reality show debuted this week on Bravo, called A Night With My Ex. It’s just what the title says: a former couple spends the night together to see if the spark is still there and/or to reopen old wounds. In the premiere, 28 year old virgin Rachel is reunited to smarmy douchebag ex-boyfriend Fabian. They dated for four years, but he cheated on her with a sexy Tinkerbell at a Halloween party because he had a major case of blue balls. When the show starts, you don’t think Fabian is really that bad of a guy. He knows he made a mistake, and he even plans to propose to Rachel because he wants her in his life forever. But things go south quickly. He chastises her for scraping her plate with her fork as she eats, and he tries to make her give him a handjob once they’re in bed. All the while, she’s trying to actually apologize for basically pushing him to cheat by withholding sex, but he never lets her get a word out before saying/doing something stupid. Finally she declares that she deserves better than him, and basically laughs in his face when he proposes. That was some damn good television! If anything, I’d say the show is too short at 30 minutes, but they only spend one night together, and not the whole weekend, so I guess that’s all they could edit together. It’s a lot like MTV’s old show, The X Effect, only the couple’s current partners aren’t spying on the date like they were in that show. Anyway, it’s only been one episode, but I count me in for the next nine!

In TV news, it was announced that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have lined up their post-GoT project, Confederate, which is an alternate history series set prior to the United States’ 3rd Civil War. Well, this rang some alarm bells for some folks, as you can’t really get into the Confederacy and Civil War without dealing with slavery. And folks weren’t really happy about these White showrunners making what some considered to be “slavery fanfic”. What hasn’t been covered extensively, though, is that the project is really just coasting on the fact that the GoT showrunners are attached, but they’re not the only ones involved. Husband-wife team of Malcolm Spellman and Nichelle Tramble Spellman , who are Black, will be partners on the show along with Benioff and Weiss. Plus, the show it’s so deep in its infancy that there aren’t even character names or an outline yet. It was originally developed as a two-hour movie, but they decided it could be fleshed out and taken to television. There’s basically nothing on paper for it yet, though, so there’s not much for folks to be upset about at this stage other than mere speculation. The Spellmans acknowledge the criticism, but say that they’d rather it had followed the premiere of the show instead of starting now, as it’s being announced. At this point, I think it’s safe to say that this criticism will go into shaping the show going forward, so we may never get what they originally intended to put out.

We got a new trailer for Marvel’s Inhumans. Still looks like garbage. I’ve loved Iwan Rheon since Misfits, but I can’t follow him here. This just looks so bad. Look, I’m gonna watch it, but I really don’t see how there’s any damn way I’m paying for an IMAX ticket to see it in theaters.

We also got a new teaser for The Defenders, which teases the Punisher series at the end. People are going nuts online about this thing because it’s narrated by Stan Lee, but I actually think he’s tonally wrong for this clip. When I think of Stan, I think of his marquee, larger than life characters – NOT the street-level vigilantes. I almost feel like it would’ve been better narrated by Bendis or Brubaker, but they don’t have the recognition factor that Stan has. I get that. Still, it just feels like a hollow waste of a cameo.

 Things You Might Have Missed This Week

The good Lord answered my prayers, as Chris Hardwick and Comedy Central have “mutually decided” to end @midnight. I won’t miss his smarmy face or those stupid hashtag games.

I guess the third time’s the charm, as Paige Davis will start her 3rd hosting stint on Trading Spaces when it returns to TLC later this year

Ed Sheeran was on Game of Thrones this week, and I guess some folks didn’t like that. I dunno. I kinda couldn’t care less about Sheeran or GoT, but folks were hatin’!

Meanwhile, it was reported that Lena Dunham will join American Horror Story for season 7, and folks lost their shit about that, too. Apparently she’ll only be in one episode, but that was enough for some folks to claim they weren’t gonna watch anymore.

Transformers: Titans Return will debut in November as an animated micro series on the Go90 app, featuring the voices of Green Ranger Jason David Frank and the original Rodimus Prime himself, Judd Nelson.

MTV is in talks to reboot Teen Wolf before this iteration’s final season has even concluded. Slow it down!

Sega broke up with Archie Comics over Twitter, thereby ending the Sonic The Hedgehog comic after 24 years of publication

Seacrest IN! Ryan Seacrest has officially signed on to host ABC’s revival of American Idol. I feel like I’ve written this sentence 3 times in the past already, but now it’s for real for real.

Coming as no real surprise since The Vampire Diaries ended, The CW announced that its spinoff, The Originals, will end after its upcoming season.

In an odd choice, the directors of the original Catfish documentary (the movie, not the show) are in talks talks to helm a Mega Man film that will be produced by Masi Oka of Heroes fame.

Words with Friends is being developed into a television game show. Ya know, so it’s basically the Scrabble game show being rebooted.

Meanwhile on Black Twitter, R. Kelly is allegedly running a sex cult, Usher paid a woman $1.1 million for her to keep quiet about the fact that he gave her herpes, and Kevin Hart allegedly got caught cheating on his pregnant wife. I’m just waiting for some crazy Steve Harvey news to round out the week.

At San Diego Comic Con, MGM announced Stargate Origins, which appears to be a prequel webseries that will run on the Stargate Command website this fall.

Shazam! will be the next DC film to go into production, following Justice League and Aquaman, but it’s unclear if Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will co-star as Black Adam.

There might soon be a new Cutco salesman on the block, as OJ Simpson has been granted parole from the armed robbery that landed him in prison nine years ago. The Juice is almost loose!

I love those weeks when the West Week Ever recipient presents itself early in the week, ’cause it’s pretty much smooth sailing after that. This was one of those weeks, as history was made across the pond. The Doctor Who franchise is over 50 years old, but every time the Doctor regenerates (a clever in-story mechanism for recasting the actor), he just turns into another White dude. That’s pretty much been the unending pattern since 1966, when the first regeneration occurred. Folks have been saying it’s time for a change, and they were hoping we’d either end up with a Doctor of color (with The IT Crowd‘s Richard Ayoade coming up in a lot of the discussions) or a woman Doctor. Well, half of them got their wish, as Attack the Block‘s Jodie Whittaker was announced as the 13th Doctor. And, as you’re probably not surprised, folks lost their shit.

We’re always taught the the Brits are so proper and upstanding, but the comments sections of several sites proved that they can troll with the best of them. At the end of the day, it’s a bunch of folks who are afraid of change. A friend of mine, however, did point out that the victors in these circumstances also tend to trigger the backlash against themselves. For example, it would be one thing if this was seen as a bold move forward for a progressive franchise. The problem, however, is that some people take it too far, and get on the “I’m savoring these fanboy tears” soapbox, making it about something that it really didn’t need to devolve into. Sometimes the winners can suck just as much as the losers in these scenarios. This can be seen as a “win” for some without it being a “loss” for someone else. How about framing it as a win for everyone? Nah, the internet doesn’t really work like that.

I have never gotten into the Doctor Who franchise because it just seems so daunting. Sure, folks claim you really only have to start with the Eccleston season, but when I get into something, I go ALL IN. To me, that’s like telling someone they can start Star Trek with The Next Generation (which I’d probably do, since I hate The Original Series, even though I’d still feel like I was cheating them out of an experience). I feel like I’d have to watch all 54 years of the show, which is impossible because those seasons ain’t streaming anywhere, and a good chunk of them have been lost to time. It’s a franchise that cannot be wholly consumed! I hate mysteries that can’t be solved. Still, I can respect a longstanding institution, and I understand when change is a big deal. It’ll be interesting to see how fans take to the new Doctor, but the one thing to remember is that she’ll probably do it for 2 years, and then regenerate into another old White guy (the Doctor role has the retention rate of a community college). So, everyone gets their wish! I am kinda curious about the next season, though, as rumor has it Kris Marshall (Colin: God of Sex from Love Actually) is going to be the Doctor’s next companion. I loved that dude!

Anyway, I know which side of history I want to be on, and it’ll be interesting to see this all play out. The way the franchise works, we won’t see her until the Christmas special, and then won’t see her again until late 2018 at the earliest. So, folks have got some time to get used to the idea. Still, I think it goes without saying that Jodie Whittaker had the West Week Ever.

[wbwest]

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 2/17/17

On the movie front I finally got around to watching Central Intelligence. I’ve been wanting to see it since it was in theaters, as I love Kevin Hart movies, but I didn’t get to see it until it hit HBO. And I’m glad I waited. In the film, Hart plays a middle-aged accountant whose best days were in high school, when he was the most popular kid in school. Meanwhile, The Rock was the fat kid that all the other kids made fun of. Hart’s life is thrown into high gear when The Rock comes back into his life and turns out to work for the CIA. Hart gets wrapped up in murder, intrigue, and secret files. Yeah…On paper, this probably sounded like a great idea. The trailers looked hilarious. Surprisingly co-written by actor Ike Barinholtz (MadTV, The Mindy Project), it’s got a great cast, but they’re not necessarily bringing their A game. It was kinda weird to see Hart essentially playing the straight man, while The Rock had this weird goofiness to him. I know he’s trying to make the audience wonder if he can be trusted or not, but I don’t feel he sells it well. I almost bought this on Black Friday, and I’m glad I put it back on the shelf, as I don’t need to see it again.

In movie news, it’s rumored that Mel Gibson is being courted to direct Suicide Squad 2. Now, this is pretty interesting. I mean, who better to direct a movie about deranged criminals than a deranged actor/director? Seriously, that dude couldn’t be poked with an 8 foot pole a year ago, but since Hacksaw Ridge, it’s like all has been forgiven. I mean, he told his girlfriend he hoped she was “raped by a pack of niggers”! And let’s not forget all the antisemitic stuff. Anyway, I guess everyone deserves a second chance or whatever, but I don’t even see why he’d take the job. Even with all the controversy, a comic book film seems…beneath him, even if it would be great PR to restore his image in the public eye.

In other controversial movie news, A Cure For Wellness took a page out of the “fake news” playbook for its marketing campaign. 20th Century Fox partnered with fake news sites to run false stories alongside ads for the movie. Considering how the concept of fake news is upsetting a lot of people on both sides of the political aisle lately, this was considered to be in poor taste. A Fox spokesperson tried to explain that the film is about a fake cure that actually makes people sicker, so they thought the campaign was fitting. Fox has since apologized for the move, but I’ll bet it’s not the last time someone does this.

In TV news, ABC announced that the next season of The Bachelorette would star Rachel Lindsay as the first Black Bachelorette. This is important for a few reasons. First off, ABC is essentially torpedoing the notion that the current season of The Bachelor even matters anymore. After all, Lindsay is still in the running as one of the remaining finalists of the current cycle of the show. By doing this, ABC is spoiling the fact that she doesn’t win, before the finale has even aired. I’ve never watched the show prior to this season (What? It’s on at the gym!), but I’ve read that this is a particularly disappointing season. The current Bachelor, Nick Viall, is pretty boring, and is also on his fourth go-round with the franchise, having previously been a contestant on seasons 10 and 11 of The Bachelorette, as well as season 3 of Bachelor In Paradise. I mean, if he hasn’t found love by now, then he’d might as well just pack it in! The odd part to me, though, is the choice of Lindsay. I mean, I’ve been watching TV for a LONG time, and it used to be that the most outlandish cast member is the one who gets the spin-off. This season, that honor goes to Corinne, a 24 year old businesswoman who has a nanny for HERSELF, and has repeatedly tried to fuck Nick into choosing her, only to be rebuffed every time. She’s always shocked that someone could reject someone as hot as she is, but that shock never stops her from trying again. If you want good television, you make Corinne the next Bachelorette. Plus, Lindsay isn’t even that interesting. In all the episodes I’ve seen, I can’t really understand why she’s still around unless the plan was always for her to be the next Bachelorette. I mean, after 33 cycles of all three shows combined, it’s time for some diversity, and it’ll definitely make things interesting – ESPECIALLY when they do the home visits. But right now, I’m just not seeing any reason for the choice of Lindsay other than the fact that she’s Black. And she’s not even the best Black chick they had this season. Nah, they sent those chicks home already.

There was an interesting interview over on TV Line with Arrow‘s co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim, where he basically revealed that those previously-announced DCTV contracts don’t really mean that much. If you remember, over the summer it was announced that Wentworth Miller, John Barrowman, and Katie Cassidy had signed DCTV exclusive deals, which would allow them to pop up in any of the Berlantiverse shows. While the details of the deal were unknown, it certainly seemed like they’d be doing more with them than they are. Sure, Miller has popped up as a hallucination on Legends, and Barrowman’s also on Legends, but Cassidy hasn’t really been used outside of Arrow this season (that I know of. I’m still behind on The Flash). When asked if Cassidy would be popping up before Arrow‘s season is over, Guggenheim replied:

“We have an idea for how to see [Katie] again, but we haven’t made a deal with her,” Guggenheim shared. “She’s not a series regular anymore, so we have to make a contract with her, and she’s got to be available. We haven’t had those conversations. But… we know exactly what we do want to do.

They have to make a contract with her? Then what was the point of last summer’s announcement? I realize it’s pilot season, so she’s got to look out for herself since she’s no longer a series regular, but the contract seemed to ensure she’d have work, and be available for it should it arise. It’s starting to be clear that these “exclusive” contracts are just as useless as comic exclusive contracts, which basically just mean you can’t work for Marvel if you’re working for DC and vice versa. You can still work for Image and nobody bats an eye.

In a surprising announcement, we’re getting a Love Actually sequel, but it’s not what you think it is. See, in the UK, they have this charity event called Red Nose Day, where they air a TV special to raise money for Comic Relief, which helps people in need in Africa and The UK. In its 30 year history, the event has raise over £1 billion. In the UK, Red Nose Day culminates in a telethon where all sorts of specials and reunions occur. The idea was brought to the US back in 2015, with Walgreens selling the red noses for charity. Well, this year, a bunch of members of the original cast of the film are getting back together for a 10-minute special that will show us where they all are today. Right now, the special is expected to include Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Martine McCutcheon (YAY!), Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Rowan Atkinson (really? He wasn’t even that important), Andrew Lincoln, Lucia Moniz, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Olivia Olson. It’ll be really interesting to see where these characters are, 14 years later. It’s a shame we’re only getting ten minutes, but I’ll take what I can get. The special will air March 24th in the UK and May 25th in America. Yup, two months later. So, look for it on YouTube March 25th.

Rejoice, fellow titty enthusiasts! After a year of trying to “go legit”, Playboy has announced that nudity is returning to its pages as of its next issue. The decision to remove nudity didn’t really help sales much, which was somewhat surprising to me. See, I figured the lack of nudity would mean you’d see it in grocery stores and pharmacies, right next to Maxim and GQ. But that never happened. I guess it’s because the Playboy brand is known for nudity, even when the magazine itself decides to eschew it. But you bushwackers are gonna be disappointed, as the returning nudity will only feature breasts and butts for the time being.

This week, I had the pleasure of joining my pal, Classick, on the newest episode of Classick Team-Up. We discussed 24 Legacy, Turkish Airlines, and Trump’s America. Trust me, it all makes sense. Anyway, if you’re looking for some podcastin’ fo’ yo’ ears, check check check it out!

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Adele “robbed” Beyoncé of the Album of the Year Grammy at this year’s awards ceremony. Whatever…

Country newcomer Maren Morris pulled off a major upset by winning Best Country Solo Performance Grammy over established award darlings Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Miranda Lambert

With recent successful revivals of old shows, Fox is finally keen to revive sci fi cult fave Firefly – the only catch is that show creator Joss Whedon has to come back, and they figure he’s too busy right now. I hope he doesn’t call their bluff. That show bored the shit out of me.

Speaking of Fox, they blew my mind by renewing Lucifer this week for a 3rd season. I didn’t think it would make it through season 1!

ABC renewed their TGIT lineup comprised of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder for next season.

NBC renewed the wonderful Superstore for a 3rd season.

Cloverfield director Matt Reeves is in talks to replace Ben Affleck as director of The Batman. Meanwhile, the rumor is that Affleck is trying to walk away from the film completely.

Poor Alanis Morissette! I recently wrote about how her former manager stole around $5 million from her, and this week over $2 million in jewelry was stolen from her home.

In the Remakes Nobody Wanted department, Frank Grillo will star in an American version of modern-day action classic The Raid

In what I’ve heard was a dreadfully unfunny stand up special, Nick Cannon said that NBC was keeping him from being himself as host of America’s Got Talent. As a result, he’s said he’s leaving the show.

Man, before Sunday night we had no idea who or what “Gnarley Davidson” was. Now, I can’t understand how we ever lived without him. At the Grammys, Cee Lo Green debuted his new solid gold persona, bewildering millions. And the meme machine got crankin’. He was photoshopped into pictures of Donald Trump’s house.

He was photoshopped into pictures of the Power Rangers.

The best part, however, wasn’t even a meme, but actual video of his departure from the awards. After all, he didn’t win anything, so why stick around?

That, folks, is how a true West Week Ever recipient leaves an awards ceremony. So, it should go without saying at this point, but Cee Lo Green/Gnarly Davidson had the West Week Ever.