#i'm a terrible sports fan if you're too good. i just can't do it

[batsplat]

I want to know which current F1 drivers meet your ‘worthy of interest’ standard? Because I honestly find most of them pretty boring.

well, a dead giveaway for me mostly agreeing with your assessment is that I don't really post about f1 on here. which, okay, admittedly there's a lot of things I don't post about on here, like tennis for instance.... but y'know. there's more of a motorsports tumblr crossover, whereas nobody's following me for my tennis takes and the tumblr community isn't really my scene. with f1, I do actually follow it a lot through tumblr... and. I mean, I have plenty of opinions and all that, I enjoy engaging with it, but I'm not posting long psychological deep dives on here for a reason. I kinda follow f1 differently because it's a sport I got into with my flatmate, who I watch the races with whenever we can. and relatively speaking, our conversations about the sport are like... more focused on the team side of things in addition to the drivers, driver market gossip and news stories and all of that, just having fun with the controversy of the week etc (or every few months it's me sending her very long messages about how I think an x men f1 au would work, which she very generously puts up with despite only having a passing familiarity with the x men franchise)

that being said! ofc it can be fun to root for and against some guys in a more casual way! and I've definitely developed and refined my preferences for drivers in the last couple of years... the ones I primarily root for are george, lewis, alex and esteban. george has that like... idk, exceedingly obvious hunger to him that I really appreciate in athletes - I can tell every single second just how badly he needs this... how he does want to be loved and sometimes thinks too hard about how to achieve it... but when it comes down to it, he will ALWAYS choose winning. very compelling!! I love how even in his current situation where he knows a lot of lewis fans despise him... he still can't entirely help himself, he's still going to push it. because he just can't function any other way - he's not the type who can really be bullied into submission, which slaps. also he's clearly quite thoughtful, somebody who thinks a lot about his craft and is really committed to constantly working on himself. again, it's all about the hunger, that sense that he'll pounce every time given half a chance. that edge of neuroticism paired with the constant accusations of inauthenticity... plus, idk, there's a real air of uncertainty surrounding whether he'll ever be able to fulfil his potential, and I am a sucker rooting for someone who brings out my natural pessimism. but the thing is, he does have that dawg in him - if he ends up not making it, won't be because of his mentality

lewis in all honesty I missed so much of his career that it's always going to be a different type of investment for me... idk I've just never been the type of fan who can care if someone finishes p6 or p8 if they've won eighty million races. I have the same thing with marc too, had it with valentino back in the day, like I'm sorry but you've won so much it's just very... okay wake me up when you're fighting for something real. obviously I do enjoy all the narratives he's picked up over time, the nico stuff in particular is a lot of fun... I like his steel and grit and the way he's defied the odds to become one of the greatest to ever do it, and again the hunger he's got about him... got some real affection for how he's also kinda paranoid, moody, pessimistic, irascible, enough of an edge to him to be just a touch nasty. not a stranger to mind games himself, of course. and he's an excellent pr merchant!! such a carefully constructed persona, idk, makes him more compelling somehow. I enjoy whenever there's been a hint of tension in that particular teammate relationship, shame merc never had a good enough car for it to get worse. here's hoping he's not too washed to crash out leclerc next year or something fun like that

alex,, yeah, obvious underdog charm. bit of an odd route into f1 and has of course had to fight pretty hard to get back into the series at all. he's got a good dry sense of humour as well as quite a whiny streak that makes him more interesting, plus I like his friendship with george, (my general bar for caring about athlete relationships is 'do I think corporate is pushing this on me', which is true of a lot of these f1 'friendships' but not this one.) he's just quite easy to root for idk, my bar for rooting for athletes is way lower if you're not winning everything. like it's only if you're at that top tier that I need you to be an absolute dickhead for you to sustain my interest. and then with esteban, again, underdog appeal partly just because of how rough a road he had into f1,, not just another rich kid... also how many other drivers he's pissed off. pairing the on-track terrorism with a really sweet smile off it, which is always such a fun combination imo. AND too many people hate him, which makes me naturally root for him more

so yeah, y'know, I have thought about them a fair bit and talked about them with my flatmate and all that, but it's all relative in terms of the amount of time and interest I've invested in them. mostly I just bully them all a lot in messages that will remain unavailable for public consumption

[cc-kirby]

CC's Spring 2025 anime season Progress Report, 1/4th of the way into the season

On my Neospring, my friend Pen asked me to rank all of the Spring 2025 anime season stuff I've been watching so far in order of enjoyment, and I was getting so longwinded and detailed with all of my thoughts (surprise surprise) that I was breaking the character limit over there, so I figured I'd just do a short version there and post my longer Thoughts in a post over here. So if you're curious, check after the post break if you wanna see what I think of this season so far!!

Tumblr is terrible and makes it impossible to have line breaks in numbered list that look any good (how do people say with a straight face this is a good blogging platform?) so just pretend that it's numbered from 1-10.

This season has been *wild* and something that is on the bottom level of this list would probably be near or at the top of the list any other season so if you're like "why is it that low?" I promise you it really isn't. Every single one of these shows is one I'm enjoying so far.

Catch Me at the Ballpark! Fairouz Ai voicing a very tease-y and playfully mean gyaru girl who works baseball stadiums as a concessions/vendor girl was going to knock me out from the start but then I found out that this is actually an ensemble cast anthology series about the comings and goings of the fans, employees, and even baseball players who are all in one way or another involved and intertwined with the stadium and what I thought was going to just be a cute weekly series ends up having way more charm than I was ever expecting. That being said, it's not for everyone but even the sports stuff is handled in a way that makes it easy for non-sports fans to get into, and there's a lot of characters that you'll end up attaching to and cheering for and being excited over when you see them making more appearances in other episodes!! For a low stakes series that'll make you feel good and also laugh it's easily my top choice of this season, and one that I think is really being slept on big time.

mono. From the Laid Back Camp author so I knew I was going to like it. It's basically Laid Back Camp but they're all lovers of photography (and girls honestly) as opposed to camping. This is one of the series that started later than the others but immediately I'm liking the rampant stupidity of all the girls (Aoi Koga voicing another whiny and vaguely unhinged girl, which seems to be the role she's born to play at this point, has been the highlight, but the other girls are great too).

Rock Is a Lady's Modesty. LORDY. I needed a god damned cigarette after the first few episodes of this one. The angry, EXTREMELY lesbian-coded dynamic between Lilisa and Otoha needs to be studied in a lab for future generations. Otoha especially has been so funny with her vaguely stalker-ish need to want to be friends with Lilisa so bad while also verbally eviscerating her anytime they play together. It feels like "Girls Start a Band" has been a thing every season ever since Bocchi the Rock! blew up the way it did and while anyone else would argue that it's tired, I am like just keep bringing them on. Let's make the girls even more unhinged. Can't wait to see where this one goes, and we haven't even gotten to the rest of the band yet!!

Food for the Soul. Cute Girls Doing Cute Things never fails to win me over and once again, this one is no exception. Honestly group goals, this is exactly the kind of dynamic I wish I had more of in college. Another one that started late but has made Saturday my favorite day of the anime season.

Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey. Not for everyone but if you were looking for more cozy Laid Back Camp vibes with somehow even less stakes than that series had this is the one for you. Another one that's being slept on but might be a little too boring for some. I'm enjoying it though!!

Yaiba: Samurai Legend. I have my misgivings about remakes that I've talked about to death in the past but this has done a solid job so far and I hope the strong positive reviews have led to this series getting new fans. Like I get that it's only happening in the first place because Gosho Aoyama is a walking money making machine at this point but I'm glad because Sayaka is adorable and she needs more love and this series has always been overlooked.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX. Watching this series has made me realize that I need to do a better job of watching Gundam in general and has led me to debating if I should make "watch all the past Gundam stuff properly and in order" one of my unwritten resolutions for this year. The Char-centric second episode was great and I love the dynamic between the two girl leads and this newly introduced very non-straight boy from the third episode. There is a lot of stuff that they just throw around that will bewilder and overwhelm people whose first Gundam series was G Witch and while I wouldn't say that I'm an expert (a lot of my older Gundam viewing was watching stuff without context and out of order on Toonami and going "oh shit this whips I need to watch all of this" as well as watching random stuff with friends in college, including lots of Zeta which… well… you know. At least Zeta's OP whips) there's definitely some stuff where I'm like "oof, hoo boy" and I kinda feel for people. But I'm loving it a lot!!

Please Put Them On, Takamine-san. This is is the sleaziest and trashiest thing I'm watching this year and I'm not gonna get all that mad if you think it's garbage but it's got me entertained each week and I do like how the more we see of Takamine the more we see there's a sweet girl hidden under all of that sludge. The latest episode's adorable flashback has been a highlight so far for sure. Ecchi fans won't be disappointed and episode three was so raunchy that it even scared Crunchyroll (understandably so honestly).

Apocalypse Hotel. Oh man this series caught me by COMPLETE surprise. Came into it not sure what to expect but it's got enough goofy comedy charm and also some secretly muted lowkey horror aspects hiding under the surface that gets kind of answered in a GREAT way at the end of the third episode. Such a cool little series!! I love the doofy doorman robot so much.

Kowloon Generic Romance. OH MY GOD SHE IS SO FUCKING HOT DUDE WHAT THE HELL. How in the hell can that main male protagonist see the most gorgeous girl I have ever laid my eyes on is literally throwing herself at him and dismiss her like that? Loser coward. As a semi-romantic comedy it does its job with lots of cute little moments while it feels like at the tail end of every episode they pull the 1970s daytime soap opera card of dropping just a little more of a crumb of the overarching uneasy feeling of mystery you get about the series to keep you dragged in and wanting to watch more and I think that's fucking hilarious but also I'm all about it. Fuck yeah. It's lower on this list solely because I'm worried that the direction it's going in is going to be a bit of a letdown and honestly Mystery Theater slow build payoffs never really satisfy anyone enough, but I'm still liking it a lot!!

I'm also watching "Lycoris Recoil: Friends are thieves of time." but since it's only gonna be six episodes that are about 2-3 minutes each it feels kind of like cheating to even rank it but surprise surprise it's mostly been the slice of life parts of the regular series that were my favorite part of that entire show (I always thought the main villain was corny and it took me out of the series a little bit) I am getting fed all the cute Chisato and Takina moments that I've been missing so much.

[uglytsumugi12]

shine▲polyhedric tri-lights 【ep 7】

♢ characters: natsume, tsumugi

♢ season: winter

― ☆ ―

〈 Next morning 〉

Natsume: …..

Tsumugi: Oh! Good morning, Natsume-kun! You're early today.

Huh? I see you're looking up sports articles on your phone. Ah, an interview with an athlete, that'd for sure be helpful!

Natsume: Excuse yOU? It's rude to peek at someone's phoNE.

Tsumugi: Ah, sorry. I couldn't help seeing it from this position.

Still, it's reassuring to see everyone's taking this matter at heart. I believe Sora-kun was reading a fashion magazine in the shared room yesterday, too.

Natsume: OH. Sora was in tHE, uM, the shared rOOM?¹

Tsumugi: Yes. Students who belong in sports club often frequent that room. He mentionned wanting to talk to them, and it was the perfect occasion.

I was exhausted though, so I immediately went back to my room. Ah, Sora-kun's energy is impressive…

Natsume: WeLL, that being saID, what'd you come here fOR? Office work agAIN?

Tsumugi: Hey, I'm not always working in the office, you know~? I had some ideas about Switch for today.

I planned to contact the company through the office's PC so they give me resources concerning their past collaborations. I thought I'd ask them now.

We could use that information not only on idols, but also on famous athletes as reference for our own project.

Natsume: HM. I guess² it's good to see you're enthusiastic about IT.

--Or maybe it was that fruitless enthusiasm brought by this proposal that put us in such miserable situaTION. What a nuisaNCE.³

Why in hell did you write this proposAL? We're both terrible at spoRTS.

Sora's for sure okay with iT, but it's obvious this project isn't suitable for the both of uS.

Tsumugi: Ahaha. It's embarrassing to admit, but I guess that was mostly youthful enthusiasm.

Natsume: Surely they weren't aiming for athletic idols on the high roAD⁴, rigHT?

Even with the world upside doWN, that'd never be possibLE. If a world exists where Senpai is considered a high road idOL, I think I'd despaIR.

Tsumugi: Hey, I don't exactly want to be on the high road either, y'know?~ When I was still in fine, I quickly realized being on the high road wasn't for me.

Proof is there. Switch isn't a unit aiming for the high road, after all ♪

Natsume: HaH? Are you saying fine can do what Switch can'T? Are you saying we're not good enouGH?

Tsumugi: Eeh? I never said that!? How am I supposed answer then?…

I just worded it wrongly… I prefer to be an idol close to his fans rather than being far away from them because of popularity.

Natsume: …WeLL, you're only saying thinGS.⁵

Tsumugi: Eeh~… Then how am I supposed to have you trust me?

…Oh? Woah, I immediately got a reply to my email.

Seems like the company's had a lot of projects in the past. I should go make a copy of these documents real quick.

Natsume: You're constantly busy with woRK, aren't yoU? Won't it take too long to go all the way over theRE?

Tsumugi: Hehe, don't worry about it. I have my schedule cleared completely to focus on Switch. I'll get this done when working on tasks later ♪

Natsume: HM… WeLL, you're free to do whatever you waNT, buT--

--Don't return home too laTE. You'll have to be well-rested for Switch work tomorrOW.

Tsumugi: Yes, understood ♪

Ah also, Natsume-kun. If you don't mind, could you read my future with tarot?

Natsume: WhY.

Tsumugi: Why? Well, yesterday, you said you did a reading for Sora-kun, so...

If Sora-kun got his reading, I can have mine from Natsume-kun, too~.... Right? ♪

Natsume: Five hundred trillion yEN.

Tsumugi: H- hey, I can't afford that! And Sora-kun didn't have to pay, did he..?

Natsume: Shut uP. From your positiON, you're in no right to have such an attitUDE.

They're waiting for yOU, so get moviNG.

Tsumugi: You're right. I wanted to see if I could get any good omen, but... I'm sure you know there aren't any bad outcomes on the way.

Alright, I'll get going now. I'll bring lots of references!

Natsume: YeS, yES. Get going alreaDY.

...HmPH. That Senpai made me lose too much tiME.

Why'd he suddenly ask for a tarot reaDING. WeirDO...

......

"Wheel of Fortune"...⁶

...This doesn't feel right.

— 1- i suppose natsume isnt aware of this room?? or at least unfamiliar with it w this hesitation here 2- natsume uses an expression like "though not quite good" or like" more or less" so expressing some kind of condescension…harsh 3- omg here natsume mentions like "this is yakubyogami" who's an evil god believed to enter houses bring disease and misfortune to whoever it meets. i love how dramatic natsume is LOL 4- ok this is kinda hard to explain but its lit. the "royal road", or like a sort of "podium" where the most famous units are or sthn…royal road just sounded a bit eh 5- lit expression is like "you can say whatever with your mouth" which is close to like without actions words dont mean anything or smth like that yk 6- ok here i ABSOLUTELY have to mention this. so this is a tarot card as u might have guessed, and also concerning the separated chapters-- "the tower" is also a tarot card meaning danger, unforeseen change and crisis in a way. and "wheel of fortune" card means a life-changing element, a sudden change in a situation, such as the poor becoming rich or rich becoming poor. GOD I LOVE THIS SM

― ☆ ― ♢ previous chapter ♢ next chapter

✦ masterlist

[starleska]

aaaa I kinda wanna make a DHMIS side blog and write some fic but seeing so many ppl start getting harassment out of nowhere is so discouraging 😂 wishing you all the best, I love your warren stuff (and sorry about those mean anons!!)

oh, sweetheart. i'm so, so sorry that you feel this way. this is dreadful. Don't Hug Me I'm Scared fandom, look at this ask. over the past week myself and many other fans of the shorts and show have been receiving vile messages. death threats, wishes that our favourite characters should die in horrible ways, and personal attacks. the level of harassment the fandom has reached is unconscionable. if you're one of those individuals who thinks it's a great time to spew filth into people's inboxes, or to scream at artists/writers/theorists through tags because you really don't like a fictional character, or even enjoy watching the fireworks like people's emotions are some kind of sport? re-evaluate your life for a moment. right here, you have an individual who is too scared to engage with their interest because of this harassment. now, i'm thankful i'm in a good place mentally and am able to laugh this stuff off. i've liked weird characters and been bashed for it before, and it will happen again. but these people are forming an unsafe, toxic environment. it's not 'lmao this freak likes the worm i'm gonna send death threats 😂'. it's them taking time out of their day to make others miserable because they can't handle other people liking something they don't. i find it unbelievably ironic that it's posting about Warren, of all characters, that is drawing such ire. joking about how he's ugly and a terrible person is one thing, that's all in good fun - he's both! but did the actual message of that episode go entirely over their heads, or is their media comprehension so dim they believe it to be a one-to-one depiction of reality? for anyone who has been made to feel unsafe in this manner - whether in this fandom or another, for liking an unpopular character or for just trying to enjoy themselves - you don't need to give these people your energy. go ahead and make that sideblog. post those headcanons. make your art and write about your ships and create your AMVs. and do everything you need to do to keep yourself and your mental health safe. it's okay to turn off anon, it's okay to delete replies, and it's okay to block liberally when assholes come into your space looking to ruin your day because their own lives are so vapid and hollow. anon, thank you so much for your kind words and for being so sweet to me - i'm really glad you like my silly Warren content! i think you should make that sideblog and have a blast with it. for every awful ask i've received, there's been a hundred other messages, reblogs, tags and more gushing and theorising and just having a great time. the fandom as a whole isn't bad - it's just a couple of people who have nothing better to do and want to project their insecurities outwards. don't worry about them. they're leading profoundly sad lives. take care of yourself, and i hope, with time, these people grow up a little and learn to enjoy themselves. 💖

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression - Niconama Xmas Special

Part 1

K: Hi, this is the third installment of our live Niconama broadcasts. I'm Kaoru from Dir en grey.

J: Yep, and I'm Joe Yokomizo, pleased to be here.

T: I'm Tasai from Tokyo Sports. Happy to be here.

*applause*

J: We're started!

K: Whats that (in the comments)?

J: A guitar!

T: Great

J: They remembered a lot.

T: Ah, people saying 'Good evening', ahh, good, good.

J: Thank you everyone. Now, as for today, well, Kaoru just mentioned this, but its our third time doing this, you're already sending over lots of comments, so keep them coming. That reminds me, last time you allowed on-the-spot requests from the comments, Kaoru. We had a lot of comments, including many requests. So this time, Kaoru, can they make requests this time too?

K: Well, yeah, they can say what they like.

J: Whether you have to do them or not can be down to me and Tasai.

T: Yeah. Like ???

J: Yeah, we were like that last time. This time I thought we could be more ???, so everyone, please keep commenting, and making requests. On top of that, we want to hear comments about Christmas happenings and also of course, opinions and questions. Also, people using Twitter can tweet using the hashtag # TFOE. Right, well, today, you may already be able to tell by looking at your screen, but our studio has a different atmosphere today. This is actually a live broadcast from the kitchen studio. 

*applause*

T: The atmosphere is really different.

K: Its like being at home.

J: Yes, it is, isn't it? And the staff have made it so the kitchen is all prepared, so today we are gonna try cooking food. As its nearly Christmas we are gonna do Tasai's Christmas man food, and Kaoru's black cake!!

*applause*

T: Black cake?!

J: Yes, black cake! Because Christmas is so close, we are gonna try to make Christmas food. First will be Tasai's Christmas man food. Well, we did this once before on Youtube.

T: Yeah

J: The man curry, everyone, do you remember? So what are you gonna make today?

T: Well, you can kinda see, but...tadaa! Its KFC!

K: A Christmas must, right?

J: Ah, its chicken.

T: So what I'm gonna do with this, is make Christmas Kentucky rice, in the pressure cooker.

J: Ah, the pressure cooker. It must have been difficult to carry that here.

T: Mm, yeah, it was. Haha.

K: It looks heavy.

T: It was really heavy! But I brought it.

J: Do you normally cook this? With KFC?

T: I've actually made it once.

J: Oh, you have?

T: Well, as for the taste, you can look forward to that later. Ok, well im gonna get straight on with setting this up.

J: Oh, yes please, Tasai is moving to the kitchen. So while Tasai is cooking, Kaoru is gonna try his hand at making a cake. What do you think about that Kaoru?

K: Its just like mixing the cream and stuff, and putting it on, right?

J: Yeah, we are not actually baking the sponge cake. The sponge cake is pre-made, but we are  gonna make a black cake like we said earlier, by decorating it all black.

K: Ah, yes.

J: A jet black cake.

K: Yes.

T: *From kitchen* Uh, do you want to see me make this?

J: Oh, yes, sorry Tasai, you're over there. Cameraman, please look at Tasai.

T: So, Im gonna throw in this rice

J: Easy

T: Then, water. This niconico water, get it in there. Ah, it looks good.

J: They women will love you, seeing you cook like this.

T: What do you think, everyone? I doubt it.

J: I don't know, you hava a lot of fans, Tasai.

T: Haha.

Kami: Can you feed me some of this too?

T: Kami, what is that voice? haha

Kami: I wanna have some too.

K: You're voice Kami, haha.

J: Your voice is strange Kami, but whether we we feed you some, I can't say. Ah, terrible..Oh, someone commented, 'I love Tasai' 

T: Which type do you like? Skin on or..

K: Does it have to be only one type?

T: Well, one piece each.

Kami: I wanna eat it with skin on.

K: Haha, that voice.

J: Its strange, isn't it?

Kami: *To Tasai, who is picking up chicken* That piece is no good.

J: Ah, someone said 'Kami is cute today too'...'Kami's here, Kami's here'....'Good evening Kami'...'Kami's voice!'

K: Is 'cute' referring to that photo?

J: Ah, the cat, yeh.

K: Yeah, the cat.

T: Ok, Cameraman, look this way. Hey, I'm making this now. *Holds up piece of chicken* I'm gonna throw this in. There we go. Can you see?

J: Yeah

T: Ok, another one..

J: Ah, but it does look nice...the chicken.

T: Ok, there we go, finished.

K: Thats it?!

T: Yep, haha. I'll put the lid on it.

J: Ah, great! Hey, hang on a second, Tasai, did we really need to rent this kitchen studio??

T: Yeah.

K: But yeh, we did the same thing before in that old place, didn't we? haha

J: We did, right! We managed it before. But we went for this kitchen studio on purpose.

T: Haha, thank you.

J: Ah, someone said it looks delicious already. So is that it?

T: *switches on pressure cooker* Ok, its cooking. We're done now.

J: Finished? Its cooking?

T: Yeah.

J: Actually, Tasai, is there a reason behind using a pressure cooker? Wouldn't a regular pan work?

T: Uh, well, honestly, I think this would probably work in a rice cooker too.

J: I see. Do you recommend specifically using KFC for the chicken?

T: Uh, this is on KFC's website too, but there are a lot of recipies like this, for example cooking it with rice etc. This one was causing a bit of a buzz online....KFC rice.

J: Ehh?

T: It looked really good, so I wanted to try it out.

K: They comments are saying 'Cooking Papa'. haha.

T: Thats right, I'm the real-life Cooking Papa. haha. I have a load of ??? at home.

J: By the way, is the rice Japanese rice, or Thai rice, or..?

T: Oh, it doesn't matter which type of rice you use. Regardless, you just need rice, water, and chicken.

Kami: Thai rice would be good.

T: Thai rice?

Kami: Yeah, I bet it tastes good.

T: Ah, Thai rice is ok too.

J: Yeah, that seems like it would be good. Uh, how much water do you use?

T: The normal amount that you would use when you cook rice.

J: I see.

T: Well, please look forward to this!

J: Ok, so Tasai started off the cooking, so we'll just wait for that to finish, and in the meantime,  our leader, Kaoru, will make a cake for us. So, just to explain, there are various ingredients laid out here in front of Kaoru, so lets just look at them quickly. Ah, a comment saying 'Kami's speaking style is terrible!'. Now, Kaoru will be making a black cake during this live broadcast.

T: Kaoru, have you ever made a cake before?

J: It doesn't suit him.

K: I have never made one, we havn't, right?

J: No, I havn't either. Of course not. People would be shocked if Dir en grey's leader was a cake maker.

K: Yeah, uh, no I have never made a cake before.

T: Exciting!

J: Well, this will be no ordinary cake.

K: We got chocolate here, and whats this? Fruit?

J: Yeah, fruit.

K: And this powder, and stuff.

J: Yeah, there's chocolate too.

K: And a sponge cake.

J: Yeah.

K: And cream, and more chocolate.

J: With this pen, you can cut the end of and draw stuff with chocolate or whatever, so you can go all out with it.

T: That comment sats, 'Whatever Kaoru makes is ok with me'....'Will Takumi come?'

J: Will he?

K: Uh, no, haha

J: ???? (*something about Takumi*)

T: You could draw a heart with this chocolate pen, Kaoru.

J: Someone asked 'Is it all chocolate?'. Its not all chocolate, is it, Kaoru?

K: No, there are these...

T: Raisins.

J: Yeah, we have raisins.

K: Ok, Im gonna start. *reaches for cake* Oh! No, not this. We have to do the cream first.

T: You have to put in this black food colouring (shokubeni), right?

K: Food colouring...we have a song called 'Shokubeni'.

T: Eh?! From what era?

K: Oh, quite a long time ago.

J: Do you remember that time? Were you using food colouring while...?

K: I don't remembemer.

J: Oh, don't you? ???

K: ???

T: They are saying, 'Its a good song'.

K: Oh, this is powder!

J: Oh yeah.  Are you gonna ??? now?

K: Well, yeah...

J: Oh, right.

K: What are you goin on about??

J: Hahaha

K: Do I...?

T: You mix it with this.

K: With this? I'll just put a bit of colouring in it. Im not sure how much....Oh. (*loads falls in*) Ah, its ok.

T: Put more in.

J: Make it as black as me.

K: I can just put it all in.

J: All of it??

K: Well, we'd probably need to use it all eventually.

J: Yeah probably. Ah, there are loads of comments. Everyone, while you are watching this, send some requests for Kaoru to do. Its my mission to get him to do something.

K: *mixing* Its not going that black.

T: Right.

J: Black or grey.

T: Mix it a bit more.

J: Ahh, it isn't going black, is it?

T: This is a very rare shot, Kaoru mixing cream.

J: Ah, someone commented 'Taste it'.

T: Oh, not yet.

J: Yeah, its still too early. Uh, I don't think its gonna get black. Oh, here is some more. Black icing powder.

K: Eh? You need water...?

J: Scissors, scissors.

T: Joe can cut it.

J: Yes, I will cut it. We can use this, right? Its ok to add it?

T: They prepared well.

K: Ok, im gonna add all of it.

J: Ah, this might make it black. But the powder is quite grey, so we have more if you need it, Kaoru. Lets keep going until it gets properly black.

K: Ah! Its quite...I can smell it! It smells good. Ah, its going a bit darker...but its still grey.

T: Well, shall we switch to black mode.

J: Yes.

T: Could you open this?

J: Yeah, though you know, the cream looked nice before, the darker it gets the less appetizing it looks.

T: Like cement! Haha

J: Yeah, yeah. It doesn't rouse the appetite, but if it rouses the comments, thats ok.

T: Ah, there are a lot of comments saying it looks like cement.

J: It does.

K: But the smell is a bit different from earlier.

J: What does it smell like? Im wearing a mask, so...

T: Someone asked if regular cream is better?  Or that grey is ok.

K: Its like cookie cream

J: Ah, but its getting a lot darker. 'The same colour as Kaoru's clothes', Cement cake', 'Fresh cement'..lots of comments like this.

T: Kaoru's jumper is good too, Karate kid..Its Miyagi's.

K: Yeh, Miyagi's.

T: We can talk about that...ah! Its working!

K: Yeah, but...I wanted it to work more than this.

J: Do we have any more black? Oh, we do? It looks like we do. We have one more, thank you. Oh, look, this is really black.

K: Oh, this is more like it. Black powder.

J: Its open at the top already.

K: We should have used this from the start.

J: Well, at least they got to see you do lots of stirring. Ahhh! This is black! It was grey up to now, but..

T: Haha, Kaoru.. *K knoocking the powder out of the bowl*.

K: Isn't this better?!

J: Yes, its working!

T: Ah, this is black.

J: Ah, great! Its working.

T: 'It'll be difficult to spread if the cream gets hard'.

J: Oh, really? It will lose adhesion..I mean, moisture?

K: They know a lot about this, don't they?

T: Yeah.

K: Ah! It's gotten hard. Its hard to stir!

J: Haha, your face is so focussed!

T: 'What are you showing us?' Ah, 'Its a cake of darnkness'.

K: Is this enough? Should I put a bit more in?

J: Yeah, go on. Someone wrote 'Yami (darkness) en grey'...'Jet black cake'..

T: Ah, one comment said, 'Black cake! Love it!!'. Are they watching from overseas too?

J: Yeah, ...'Im worried about the taste'...Thats right! You guys are just watching this, but we are the ones who have to eat it!

T: Haha.

J: The cream looks a bit gross though, if I had to say.

K: Well yeh. But I think this might work if I hold back on the mixing now.

J: The colour is ok, but there is like bits of powder on the surface.

T: Haha, its like those bits were impossible.

K: I think it might be ok to try it like this. I feel like there is more black in it though.

J: Its becoming more and more like a solid. You can't make that swirly cream pattern with it any more, can you?

K: No, lets try to stay away from conventional thinking.

J: Ah, yes, of course. Its all about the black cake. Someone asked, 'What flavour is it?'

T: Ok, Kaoru is going to apply the cream to the cake. 

K: It goes like this first, right? *lifting off top piece of sponge*

T: Ah, right, yeh.

K: We make a sandwich

J: Ah, sandwich it together?

T: You've never made a cake before, and you know that??

To Part 2

[shinovii]

What do both of these episodes tell us, everybody..........two Louds get to be adorable and have an awesome time with the elderly!

"OH NO, A LYNN EPISODE!!! EVERYBODY RUN, WE'RE GONNA BE IN FOR A BAD TIME AND-" *AHEM*........That episode wasn't terrible, you're too hung up on it, Lynn has gotten better. There, are we done with the common formalities? Great, let's all try to be "Good Sports" here and take a nice look at this Lynn episode, shall we?

It's game time everybody, and Lynn Loud is in hype mode! It's the world championships in football (because Nick would have to pay the NFL money to say Super Bowl I'm guessing lol), and she's hoping to see her Lions win it all. However, it seems she's left without anybody to watch it with (guess when you're one of two sports junkies in the house, that can happen a lot), that is until a rather unexpected sound rings her ears during the game. Turns out it was good old Mr. Grouse cheering on the Lions as well, prompting LJ to pay him a visit! Turns out he's as big a Lions fan as well, and Lynn figures he'd be a good watch buddy for the big game! This sounds like fun, but is it everything Lynn expected it to be?

Yes to this episode, as this was just Lynn being incredibly good in it! She was exciting, cute, and was humble to a degree all in one, which of course is a good thing to have for her. But I must say......thank you TLH for adding even more background to Mr. Grouse cause good gosh he's rather underrated at times! Sure he throws some barbs at the Louds time and again, but even he has layers and I guess it took our lovable sporty girl hanging out with him to show us that! The halfway point also is as relatable as can be and any sports fan will totally understand why that is. Gotta say, it's quite nice to see Lynn have another episode that shows she's got a soft and humble side to her, as well as give Mr. Grouse time in the spotlight too. A good one to watch often and no doubt this was enjoyable in my eyes.

From one Loud hanging with an elder to another, it's time to take a look at Lisa's side in some fun "Geriantics"!

We join our super genius Loud child being read a scientific bedtime story by her dear Pop-Pop! After a discussion about bringing human teleportation to reality in 73 years (can ya speed it up child, I wanna have the powers of Nightcrawler from X-Men), Albert notes that he won't be around long enough to see that, which prompts Lisa to try and find a way to prolong Albert's lifespan to ensure he'll be around! Will she succeed?

Okay wow.......an episode that brings to light the fact that yes, Albert is in the later stages of his life and won't be long for the world at some point. While death isn't an unfamiliar concept in the show as we've seen it acknowledged a number of times, to see it talked about a loved one of the family like Albert is a bit more hard hitting. Having Lisa be the one to go through a plot like this works even more because as young as she is, the thought of Albert not being alive for her later years is quite saddening. Seeing her go through many lengths to keep him going for longer than ever shows us just how much Lisa actually cares for people (contrary to what fans may say, hehe). Sure her methods are a bit much, but at least it's coming from a good place (tho the latter half was.......stupidly funny). I will say that episodes like this are NEEDED for Lisa because my goodness does she need her child side to show more often. Often times it's ridiculously easy to forget that she's only a 4 year old kid......with a PhD and has invented time travel......yeah. At least Albert is still entertaining as ever. I'm glad we got to see him hang out with Lisa Really this was a good episode that I wish had much more heartwarming moments, but it delivered on what it did give us so I can't complain too much. This one did well and I loved it.

Also some math for ya: 3 × 5 = this number per day.......you'll find out.

Well I guess that's it for this batch of episodes! I'm not sure if we're getting any more for the rest of this year, but you'd be surprised as to what could come up. For now I'll gladly take some time to prepare for the next new episodes, and I do hope they keep the Saturday slot as it's been working super well! Until next time, stay Loud......stay proud!!!

[jimnocturnalsblog]

Classic Album

Cardiacs - Sing to God

Or more accurately, disc 2 (or sides 3&4 or second half) of Sing to God, which is quite simply the finest, most unhinged beauty in the whole of music.

Dirty Boy: there isn't a lot that hasn't already been said about this song but, seriously, if you claim there's a better song in music you're clearly lying. The opening crash. The never-ending ascension in mood and music. The what-the-fuckery. The choir on helium. The ecstacy. A bit of a fight over breakfast or something. The suffocation. The delirium. The stupid grin pretty much throughout.

Billion: Like a genius songwriting elf sitting on a dandelion singing about lost love.

Odd Even: Taking the piss out of Blur by writing a Blur song kind of based on Cardiacs and doing it better than Blur ever could. Kind of like Anakin Skywalker showing a mockney Luke Skywalker how it's done. Cars and aprons. The cars are nice.

Bell Stinks: The sound of a farting, rapidly deflating balloon zipping around a barn.

Bell Clinks: If Andrew Lloyd Webber got off his bollocks on acid, rewrote Jesus Christ Superstar for a cast of punks and got Jimmy Somerville in on backing vocals, it would sound like this only not as good because Andrew Lloyd Webber is terrible, awful shite.

Flap Off You Beak: marvel at the poetry: 'High and mighty beady bird eye'. 'Doggy-eyed graceless in my home'. 'Poison in the drops of black and white pearl on the leaving the cinema girl'. Then laugh your arse off at the fact those glorious lines are contained in a song called 'Flap Off You Beak'.

Quiet as a Mouse: if you ever wondered what Cardiacs would sound like if Cardiacs leader Tim Smith had brought in Chris Morris and Vic Reeves instead of Jon Poole and Bob Leith, wonder no longer.

Angleworm Angel: A philosophical gardener listens to Slayer and goes on a rampage around the allotments, bumping into Tim Smith near the carrots and talking science fiction classics. So I believe. Thrashes about like a gnome with a scythe.

Red Fire Coming Out From His Gills: Any song that describes the sea as 'untidy' is genius. That's all I have to say on the matter, apart from the fact it has the best song title in history. Often seems to me the closest Sing to God comes to 'old-style' circus-on-crack Cardiacs.

No Gold: Cardiacs do Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles. But sad, and I'm not even sure why. Also glorious, and I'm not even sure why that either.

Nurses Whispering Verses: One of those 'anthems' Tim Smith liked to chuck out from time to time. Only this anthem sounds like mice pretending to be guitars. Repeats that ace trick of having a genuinely catchy chorus that has no words, just a guitar line. Kind of like Is This The Life did. Makes people sound daft as they sing along to guitars rather than words. White Stripes did it too with Seven Nation Army and made a generation of sports fans sound like dickheads. Cardiacs managed to do it with just Cardiacs fans, or at least this Cardiacs fan. The song finishes to the sounds of the Pond all Cardiacs fans dwell in.

Foundling: Majestic. 'I COULD WALK WITH ANGELS BUT I'D RATHER WALK WITH YOU'. How you manage to end a disc/half/whatever that starts with Dirty Boy with another song that touches the same level of beauty and euphoria just blows my tiny mind to Tim-smithereens.

Record an album better than that. Go on. I dare you. You can't, can you? And it's only ONE HALF OF THE BLOODY ALBUM. The other half contains Fiery Gun Hand, for flip's sake. It's ridiculous, really.

So go on - discuss it. Have rows. Debate the crap out of it. Flounce off if you have to. But I'm right and you bloody well know it. And if you've made it this far - congratulations. I may have been drinking.

Love ❤ to the Pond

Jim Bert