#it honestly looked like a fairly cheap show to produce

[labec99]

🚨 WE’RE GETTING ANOTHER SEASON OF CIA HIMBO LAWYER 🚨

[sketchyjessieblog]

My Experiences Making Stickers

Machines

In terms of making stickers, you don't inherently need any machine whatsoever. If you can find decent sticker paper to draw on, some kind of laminate or protective adhesive coat, and scissors, you can make stickers just fine. Hell, you don't even really need the laminate/coat, but people tend to use stickers in situations where they'll need that protection to stand up to rain, weather, or condensation.

However, importantly, producing stickers without a machine is slow as fuck. Hand drawing is much slower than printing, and hand cutting is much slower than using a machine like a Cricut. Ultimately, I'd recommend at least a printer, as it will probably be able to print on more material than you can draw on, and it's a fairly cheap way to speed up production. But going without a Cricut is a lot more reasonable, as the Cricut is quite expensive, and you'll likely not need to produce at a large enough scale where hand cutting is impractical initially.

I personally have both: a printer and a Cricut. I like them both, and the Cricut allows much more precise and uniform cutting than I can do myself. But I honestly might have gone without the Cricut if I had better realized it wasn't really necessary to create good die cut style stickers.

Paper

Sticker paper is fairly easy to find online, and I've seen some decent material in stores like Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart. Generally, you'll get more for your money going with bulk options online, but a smaller order might be more in budget and more practical early on.

In terms of material, I'd personally recommend something along the lines of printable vinyl, or otherwise something with a coating already on it. I have some sticker paper that was effectively uncoated paper, and it doesn't stand up well to weather on its own. And laminate and coating options have been difficult to work with in my personal experience. The spray I tried ended up being scratchy and weird, and laminate sheets are extremely thick, to the point that the Cricut struggles to cut it, even on the highest setting I have (poster board).

Another note, home printers can be quite finicky when it comes to thick material. Try to pick fairly thin, but still durable, material when possible, as thicker materials can get snagged in the average home printer. I effectively couldn't print on some heavy cardstock I got because of this.

On a final note, unless you need very uniform, standard shapes, like circles, rectangles, etc., I don't recommend getting pre-cut label sheets. Die cuts tend to look much more interesting and work with much more designs, and it's fairly easy to make them even without a Cricut if you make the outline simple enough.

Designs

In terms of design, you can get away with a lot as long as you're working with a printable material. I'd recommend making the files fairly bright and saturated, as this tends to come out looking better. If you're working with an incredibly dark piece, make it slightly brighter than you would think it should be. In my experience, a lot of detail can get lost with darker works, as the print looks darker than what's on screen. I'd recommend going more saturated with very light, pastel works. I've had issues with the material coming out near white, with the color barely showing through. Ultimately, it may be best to simply test things out with your own machines, but these are my experiences.

With hand drawn stickers, something I haven't personally tried, you'll have to consider your own personal limitations and tools. Again, this is something you can probably experiment with, but be mindful of your body. You don't want to treat yourself like a printing machine and develop medical problems like carpal tunnel because of it. We already risk that enough as artists.

Selling

If you'd like to sell your stickers, I recommend ensuring they're fairly weatherproof, as the average person is going to want to stick them in places where that's at least somewhat important. Laptops, tumblers, their car, etc.

I won't get too much into places to sell items, because that could probably be its own post, but in terms of pricing, I'd base that on the effort, material, and size. For me, I tend to price tiny stickers (roughly 1-2 inches) at 50 cents and larger stickers (2-4 inches) at $1. I don't usually make much larger stickers, so I don't have personal pricing there. Beyond my anecdote, I'd recommend looking around at local events, sites like etsy, and possibly even calculating sheer cost to yourself plus the profit you want to make. Analyzing general “market trends” plus your own costs will probably be the best route to get a decent price tag.

Shipping is something I have limited experience with, but I'd recommend going with a fairly protective shipping container, such as a bubble mailer. Even with decent weatherproofing, stickers can be fragile. In addition, you may want to charge your customers for shipping. I've personally paid upwards of $5-6 to ship individual bubble mailers with artwork and stickers in it, but I was also paying for tracking. The prices without tracking were more around $1-2, and obviously this will vary massively depending on the size of your mailer and the weight of your items. You may also be able to talk to your local post office or research business shipping. I don't know much about how to keep shipping costs low, but I've seen options for savings on things such as bulk shipping.

Products

Cricut Explore Air 2 - Pretty useful, but I had some issues with calibration initially. Also glossy materials have some issues with the scanner: I've used scotch tape over the lines the scanner looks for to help that. You can also use some cloth to gently clean the scanner if it's having issues. You definitely need the software that works with it, the Cricut Design Space, and use the Print Then Cut feature for printed sticker designs. I personally print from the Design Space as PDF, then print out the PDF, because the Design Space doesn't have proper paper type settings from what I can see.

Cricut Machine Mat - I found some decent off brand ones at Hobby Lobby. The machine comes with one, but I damaged my first mat and had to buy more. Good to have at least one extra on hand just in case.

Cricut Weeder - This makes removing stickers from the mat very simple. You can get a lot of the big parts off by hand, but the weeder is good for getting little details off without damaging the sticker.

EPSON EcoTank ET-2803 - Pretty decent printer. I haven't had to change ink since I got it a couple months ago, and I use it pretty regularly. It can be finicky with paper and get jammed easily, but otherwise it's fairly reliable to me.

Cricut Printable Vinyl - I just started using this properly, but I ran tap water over it, and the damage was pretty minimal from what I could tell. It was still usable after the fact, and the art was undisturbed. Prints fine, though it likes to fold on the edges a bit and get ink on the very tips, which doesn't impact much in my process.

Pen+Gear Self Adhesive Laminate Sheets - Too thick for the Cricut, but useful for other applications. Would work amazing for hand cut stickers. I personally use this for bookmarks atm, and the stickers I got using this are incredibly well protected.

Scissors - Any brand works. Good to have even with a Cricut. Useful for less precise cutting.

[philosophicalparadox]

I mean, that’s a decent point, in a way, though honestly equipment costs are but a tiny drop in the very big bucket of funds the Akatsuki actually needs.

Uniforms are simultaneously cheap and expensive; it’s easy to commission a company to produce the same thing hundreds of times, but the tedium pays, and so does the exclusivity.

Uniform production is fairly simple although Akatsuki cloaks are a bit more complicated because they need to have Hidden Pockets. The nearest thing I can reasonably compare them to is a WW2 era German Trench Coat, which at the time had an adjusted value in today’s money of around 160-200 bucks a coat. That’s pretty average for military uniforms tbh and it’s not that different from what you’d expect to pay for a decent trench coat even now.

But. Akatsuki cloaks get absolutely wrecked in some of the fights they have. Look at Deidara. Man blew through — excuse the pun — 400 bucks worth of just uniforms.

Honestly now that we are on the subject, being a shinobi has to pay pretty goddamn well because all of that equipment ain’t cheap. And we do know that ANBU are paid extremely well, courtesy Tenzou showing off to the kids by buying a stay at a very high end Inn and accompanying it with an entire freaking banquet. And him being very chill about it, like it wasn’t a big deal.

But back to the Akatsuki, because working as independent contractors (ahem, Mercenaries) as they do, while also brandishing a uniform? God damn do they make bank. No way they don’t. And the cloaks, dumb as they seem on the surface, are kind of like Swiss Guard uniforms. If you know, you’ll run. Makes it easier. But also serves as great advertisement — not a bad thing at all when you’re a relatively small organisation trying to come up with more money than god. And I don’t mean that rhetorically.

The reason they need so much money that they can’t sustain themselves on their commissions, which have got to be insane, is solely because they are fundamentally funding an entire nation (land of Rivers) and a hidden village (Rain) and using political funding/lobbying to their advantage, AND paying for equipment that is constantly being destroyed, AND conserving funds for what Pain hopes will be essentially the Nuclear MAD principle, (while also having that squirrelled away by our dear Obito) AND THEN they STILL have to actually PAY their members. Handsomely. Not just the cloaked Mercenaries, who are actually the only ones to wear the cloaks, but allllllllll the other subordinates and their connections, who want their piece of the pie. They have to be paid or otherwise paid off, too. Given how much underground the Akatsuki uses. That’s also not cheap.

It’s especially not cheap when you’ve got heinous competition trying to undermine you everywhere either (Orochimaru and company, for as long as that lasted). If it weren’t for Nagato/Pain promising the people of the Land of Rivers and especially the Hidden Rain that they would not be involved in another war, they’d of absolutely been in SO many wars. Honestly I wonder how often Orochimaru tried his damndest to incite them. Just to be petty. Perhaps that’s why the Hidden Sound got founded in the Land of Rice Paddies — which is literally right next door to the Land of Rivers.

I’m just musing about it don’t mind me lol

[pure-ablution]

Do you know any similar bracelets and jewelry to Cartier Love Bracelets, that are just really basic and simple? I want to buy some jewelry that can be worn anywhere.

The Love Bracelet is the ultimate basic rich girl bracelet. I don’t really wear mine anymore but I used to wear it all the time, it’s ubiquitous and can be worn with any casual daytime outfit without causing any undue fuss or attention. The Love Bracelet is weird because it’s so well-known, everyone and their mother has a rep these days and it’s seen on the wrists of prostitutes and princesses, and yet it can still somehow go unnoticed as long as you don’t actually jangle it in people’s faces. From afar it looks like a simple gold or silver bangle, it’s unobtrusive and honestly, I do think that every girl could do with having a 15-dollar rep tucked in the back of her jewellery box, just in case.

Basic simple bangles:

Olivia Le, £45; Lily & Roo, £75; Karin Andréasson, £116; Dower & Hall, £165

The basic, simple bangle is what I prefer over the Love Bracelet these days. You can show a bit more character, go vintage or niche, designer or high street, and have a little fun with it. I love my vintage Tiffany bamboo bangle and I wear it all the time, and I collect enamel bangles from Michaela Frey, too. I’ve chosen a selection of gold-plated bangles (all—apart from Olivia Le—also available in silver!) that I think are fun but simple enough to go with everything, but you could really put anything in this category, it all depends on your personal style. Wear them stacked or on their own, they work both ways and give a little lift to an otherwise boring outfit.

Love bracelet dupes:

QVC Diamonique, £30; Kate Spade, £75; Coach, £95; Tory Burch, £165

These are just a few dupes (i.e. Cartier ‘inspired’ pieces) I found whilst looking through the ‘product’ section on Google. The Love Bracelet is iconic and has been copied and reinterpreted by almost every brand, and I’m fairly sure you could get a dupe at Claire’s at this point if you looked hard enough. I’ve linked pieces at a range of price points from brands I trust not to steal your money or break upon first wear; there are a lot of shady jewellery sites these days, and not only the cheap ones, either, so if you’re looking for an ‘inspired’ bracelet rather than a straight-up fake, then I recommend you stick to known brands and mid-tier jewellery houses.

Straight-up reps:

If you live in, or are going to soon visit, South or West Asia, then get yourself down to the jewellery district, into the bazaar or souk, and find yourself a decent jeweller or gold merchant. It’s almost too easy to find perfect, solid gold replicas of one of the world’s most famous bracelets. The same goes for Southeast Asia, I know several excellent jewellery merchants in Indonesia and Malaysia who do amazing replicas and fantasy pieces from all the big houses. What I will say is that gold is soft, and scratches easily—genuine Love Bracelets notoriously scratch like hell, and all the solid gold replicas I’ve seen have scratched equally as badly.

I personally think that, unless you’re in pursuit of 1:1 perfection, then you’re better off buying stainless steel from China. It won’t scratch as much, and it’s cheap. There are two factories producing the largest proportion of replica Love Bracelets in China, and they both make at what I’d consider to be a low-mid tier, the interior details of the bracelets are incorrect and the screws are set too deep, but unless you take it off and show it to people who have an eye for jewellery and the authentic bracelet on hand for reference, nobody is going to call you out. There’s no point, in my view, in paying hundreds for 18k Chinese reps when you could contact an Indonesian or Indian or Emirati merchant and have the same thing for much less, and there’s no point in buying mid-tier through WhatsApp sellers when they source from exactly the same factories as DHGate and AliExpress. I’d drop links but they’d expire quickly anyway, so just go on AliExpress, find yourself a jewellery seller with over a 97% approval rating and reviews with photographs, message the shop and ask for real photos before you buy, pay like £25 max for your bracelet and go off on your merry way.

[skyhopedango]

State of the Season pt 3

Following pts 1 and 2...

Bishounen Tanteidan

I've been struggling with how to go about writing about this, because every single sentence I thought of ended with "...and this is why Ouran Host Club is superior and everyone should watch that instead."

I mean, it's not like the show is trying to avoid comparisons? Or maybe they thought Ouran Host Club was so long ago nobody would notice or care? But I mean come on, starting with the whole premise of "pretty boy club where the 'pretty boy' part is of central importance, and where the members are all eccentrics, especially the leader, takes in a girl disguised as a boy as their new member, that girl likes to snark at the eccentricies of the other members, and also she is voiced by Sakamoto Maaya" - even aside of that, there's also the whole "incredibly opulent school" setting, the "incredibly opulent" visuals in general, and...

Well.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's really obvious. And frankly, Bishounen Tanteidan is not doing itself any favors by setting itself as being directly comparable to Ouran Host Club, because Ouran Host Club is superior to it in every way. Sure, I'm biased - Ouran Host Club is one of my favorite anime shows ever, it's cute, funny - like really funny not "smirking sometimes" funny - it's extremely relatable to me and my fandom experiences, the voice acting is impeccable (Miyano Mamoru when he still gave a shit!), the direction and the visuals are handled by a sure hand, thoughtfully and with a purpose, and the characters are not simply charming and fun - they're just extremely well-written (most of them, anyway) with depth enough to sail a submarine through. (Also: Ouran Host Club is one of those rare anime adaptations which are so much better than their manga source material that it's almost unfair.)

In comparison Bishounen Tanteidan is basically one of those cheap chocolate Easter bunnies. It looks nice and tasty, but once you take off the shiny wrapper and take a bite you'll find that it's 1. completely empty inside and 2. the "chocolate" is just a cheap compound mix.

Really, I could talk about how the visuals are just opulent without any particular purpose, to the point where you just end up tuning them out because when everything is shiny nothing is really shiny; or how it's full of characters talking and talking and talking and talking and saying stuff that sounds complicated and smart but once you stop to think about it it's all banalities at best and pretentious bullshit at worst; about how the "cases" are just random shit happening until someone stops the story to give a lengthy exposition to explain the whys and wherefores, and it's usually incredibly dumb in a not-fun way... really, there's so much I could talk about, but to me the main issue is the characters.

Like, in Ouran Host Club after two episodes you already have a good idea of who these characters are, what are their main character traits, what are their relationships with one another, etc., and it only gets more detailed later on. In Bishounen Tanteidan we're on episode 7 and... who are these people, other than loose collections of randomly assembled tropes? There's Girl With Super Vision who is sometimes reluctant sometimes not; there's Boy With Legs who has legs; there's Boy With Pretty Voice who might be a lolicon and who mostly functions as Mr Exposition; there's Boy With Red Hair who is kind of gruff and likes cooking I guess; and there's Silent Boy who I'm told is artistic but that doesn't really figure into anything really. It's been 7 episodes and the only one with a clearly defined personality is Manabu and even that personality is "annoying and not in a charming way."

Anyway, I'm watching because I do enjoy the character designs, Boy With Pretty Voice does have a very pretty voice and he looks gorgeous, and overall it's a harmless way to spend 20 minutes a week. But honestly, the most enjoyment it brought to me was inspiring me to rewatch Ouran Host Club. Seriously people, watch Ouran, it's great.

.

Shadows House

This one, though! After Godzilla SP, this is another very pleasant surprise. I went into this not knowing what to expect, and got a really fun mystery with cute and likeable characters, some nice designs... just overall it's a very entertaining little show with a pretty interesting story so far. (It's taking me some self-restraint not to just get the manga and read ahead.) This is one that I look forward to each week, and I'll definitely read the manga once it's over.

.

Megalobox 2: NOMAD

Aaand there's this. This show is just great. Nothing more or less. Like the first season it's a well-rounded, well-produced, really well-done show that basically does everything well and despite being built on obvious tropes, despite the story being predictable, it's so smooth, so well-done, so raw and passionate, it has so much heart - that it never once feels tired or boring. It's a perfect example of how you don't need to reinvent the wheel to make a show good, that tropes themselves are not bad only when you use them wrong (same case with Ouran Host Club vs Bishounen Tanteidan above, btw). It shows how to take something that might be tired and infuse it with a new life.

I mean... sure, these things are incredibly subjective. But personally, Nomad generated a ton more emotions in me with its recent episodes than To Your Eternity which keeps being hyped as the emotional heavy hitter of the season. The episode of Nomad where the past happenings are revealed was really hard for me to get through, because everything in it was either way too relatable or way too real.

So yeah, so far Nomad is one of the best shows of the past years, much like Megalobox was, and I'm fairly confident that it's going to be able to stick the landing.

.

..

...oh yeah, and there's also Fairy Ranmaru. :D But I'm blabbering about that one separately I guess?

[drferox]

Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19

Anonymous said: Hydroxychloroquine is apparently effective at combating covid if used early in the treatment process... have you heard anything about this?

Just about everybody on the planet has heard the Trumpkin mouthing off about things he doesn’t know about to deflect blame, and I am about 98% sure that Hydroxychloroquine is going nowhere with COVID-19. A big, flashy promise to distract the masses while he ‘Makes America Great Again’.

There was a study of 26 people out of France, that wasn’t peer-reviewed so should always be viewed with caution, but particularly because it made strong claims about the efficiency of this medication while ignoring all the people who dropped out of the study because of side effects. So it claimed a 100% cure rate while it was really more like 57% on the treatment, and to be honest even in ICU with current treatments COVID has at least 50% survival rate if there’s enough equipment available, so it’s not a whole lot better than what’s already happening.

Hydroxychloroquine is also a super nasty drug. It has a bunch of fairly common, potentially extremely severe side effects including but not limited to blindness, paralysis, liver failure, mouth blisters, urinary incontinence and mood disorders. It’s used in certain immune mediated conditions because the untreated medical condition is worse than that and there are people with these conditions, vulnerable members of our community, who need this medication and its close relatives to function or live.

The whole reason the world is quarantining itself instead of letting COVID-19 run rampant and ‘thin the herd’ is because we decided we were going to protect our vulnerable, so let’s not rob some of them of their life-sustaining medication out of panic, yeah?

Hydroxychloroquine is not an anti-viral. It’s a weird anti-malarial which has odd immuno-modulatory effects. Lots of drugs modulate the immune system, including antibiotics like doxycycline and metronidazole, but that’s a degree of knowledge far beyond what I possess. There are also lots of compounds that deactivate coronavirus, including perfectly ordinary soap and water so it’s not totally a surprise to think any random drug on the shelf might have some sort of effect. The question then becomes whether that drug is clinically useful or not when you factor in dosages, side effects, and availability of the drug. And limited availability of these drugs mean they’re probably not useful for anyone, and only going to end up in panic hoards.

You want a far more interesting drug to look at? Something widely used, with few side effects, commonly available and cheap?

I’m watching ivermectin.

Ivermectin is another anti-parasite drug which is known to have some poorly explained anti-viral properties for other viruses, preventing the replication of many in test cultures, and inhibiting pseudorabies replication in live mice. That’s way more data than we have for Hydroxychloroquine. (Link)

Ivermectin has a bunch of advantages:

Cheap, produced in massive quantities. You can treat a sheep for about 20 cents, even if you’re dosing a human daily it’s not going to be that expensive.

Long acting. Could probably use once a day dosing or less for anti-viral activity.

Can be used directly on skin, or by mouth, or injected.

Easily available. You can get it in headlice treatments over the counter, without a prescription, in most places.

Known safety profile for use in humans. We know how much humans can use, we just don’t know for sure whether it’s helpful against COVID-19

Most patients would have no side effects, unless you’re mixing a few other medications or you have a particular unlucky mutation.

You’re not stealing somebody’s lifeline by re-purposing it.

And honestly if essential workers choose to buy up some single-treatment, ivermectin-containing head lice shampoo and wash their hands in it each day before work so they have that residual drug sitting on their hands for hours at a time? It’s not going to harm people like sucking up Hydroxychloroquine would do. There are other headlice treatments out there for people.

Just don’t go self-medicating with the oral or injectable versions without at least checking with your friendly neighborhood pharmacist. This is currently all speculation, but there’s a few research paths being pursued. Personally I think ivermectin shows a lot more promise than Hydroxychloroquine has.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Just found out that Koisuru Asteroid soundtrack is on Spotify, featuring character songs, so let’s continue “Josh reviews music apparently” and talk about them.

“Ano Hoshi no Mukuo ni” is Mira’s song and has chill vibes, and also is way better produced than I expected it to be going off of most character songs in anime sounding like ass. I really like this one though. Added to the playlist baybee.

“Chippoke na Negaigoto” is Sakura-senpai’s song, and since she’s voiced by Nao Touyama I was looking forward to this one a lot, and listening to it it’s decent. It’s got a more playful energy than Mira’s song, though it’s still fairly subdued until the more energetic chorus. But idk it’s sorta plain, doesn’t really feel that memorable. That thing I just said about Mira’s song sounding pretty well produced, it doesn’t really apply as much here, this one feels more like “yeah we need character songs, just drop out whatever”. And the results are, fine, but idk it’s not something I’d listen to. I mean I don’t know anything about music production, this one specific song just felt like, idk too normal for me to feel like it isn’t sorta cheap. I’m sorta just talking out of my ass at this point honestly.

“Kokoro Atlas” is Ino-senpai’s song, and it’s a cute title by the way, which fits a cute song, it sorta reminds me of Fool For You from Ace of Hearts which is a song I really like, like it’s got the energy of that combined with a small cute blonde anime girl who likes maps a lot, but the chorus slows down a bit for her to give us a nice title drop that’s really fun and stuff. I liked this one. It got added.

“Polaris wo Mitsuketara” is Monroe-senpai’s song and it immediately has some pretty swaggy vibes, it slows down a bit after the intro and introduces a nice sounding piano but honestly it sounds like a Sonic CD good future song to start with or something, that’s the vibes I got, and then afterwards it’s just another actually nicely produced and enjoyable song, I really like it actually. Kinda surprising honestly, cause like Monroe-senpai is probably worst girl of the 5 featured here, so I didn’t really have anything especially worth looking forward to with this song. But nah it’s nice. It’s getting added.

“Kimi to Mita Hoshi” is the one I most looked forward to since it’s best girl Ao’s song, cause even though her voice isn’t actually my favourite of the show I’ve still gotta commit to the culture of being most excited for her stuff, and uh, I quite like hers. It’s a way slower ballad than the rest, but it’s one that fits her voice and character quite nicely, so I added it. That’s uh, basically all I have to say about it. 

Anyway that’s it, pretty good showing, none of them are like, the best thing ever, but given the usual cookie cutter character songs released with cute girl anime being pretty bad, I sorta thought these wouldn’t be great too, but only really Sakura-senpai’s fits that description. Don’t know why that surprises me when Koisuru Asteroid is as good as it is, like it deserves better character songs I guess. Spotify autoplay’s putting me through the first couple songs on the OST, just the tracks from the anime, and I forgot how nice the soundtrack actually was. Fuck dude, I wanna rewatch this show.

That’s the post.

[mashitandsmashit]

America’s Got Talent: Season 14 - Finals

Well now I feel like a jerk! I ranked Emanne and Benicio as my Bottom 2 in my “Rooting For” list last week (though to be fair, between them, VoS and DYC, the factors that ranked them in the order they were in were practically nonexistent, because it was too close to even think), but I had no idea that BOTH of them had birthdays this week (and that Emanne’s was tomorrow). I mean no disrespect to the birthday boy and girl...

And again, I must emphasize that I have nothing against any of the acts that made it this far (barring some not-so-great performances from some of them). But when there are several acts that deserved to be here more than several of the acts that ARE here (oh, how naive we were to believe that Marcin EVER had a chance), and almost every act just feels like part of a big mushy sap monster, it was hard to feel much excitement going into tonight...But I kept the most open mind I could...

Let’s do what the judges aren’t willing to do and compare everyone based on their pros, cons and overall experience...by doing a Top 10 list!

...Oh yeah, and...Whoop-dee-doo, Finals and stuff...Let’s just get to it...

10: Detroit Youth Choir. It’s their audition all over again, but with more Nazi salutes! ...I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself...But seriously, they either didn’t have time to prepare a new song, or something happened keeping them from performing what they were ORIGINALLY gonna do...Either way, Macklemore is gonna be there tomorrow, so does that mean they’re gonna perform it a THIRD time!? Two nights in a row!? I guess I’m biased since this is the act that single-handedly ruined the Finals for me (just ONE guitarist in their place would have made all the difference in the world), but I really did honestly see a lot of potential in this act, and it’s kind of a shame that they fizzled out after they peaked at the Quarter-Finals...

9: Tyler Butler-Figueroa. It might be my anger at the Cowellization infesting these Finals why I’m putting Simon’s Golden Buzzer this low on the list after being overall positive to him throughout the game, but this one felt like a mess to me! The violin was scratchy and hard to listen to, it sounded like he couldn’t keep up with the backing-track, and there were no unique dances or staging to really help the entertainment value...At the end of the day, this kid really IS one of the acts that didn’t deserve to make it this far over other certain acts, despite how much I’ve enjoyed him overall...Brian King Joseph is coming back tomorrow; Maybe he’ll teach the kid a few lessons and help him hone his skills, because I know Tyler WILL be a great dancing violinist someday...He’s just not there yet...

8: Benicio Bryant. Well, the Benicio Bros are still by his side, even after he looked and sounded more lost than ever tonight! It’s a shame, because I still found his song to be fairly catchy...I mean, he’s no Robert Finley, but I see a lot of potential in him as well! He just needs to get over his stage fright is all...And maybe cut down on the Mr. Rogers sweaters...I WANTED to say Cosby, but I was worried about what that would imply about him...

7: Emanne Beasha. No real step up from before...She seemed a little shaky as well, but it didn’t bring the performance down as badly as Benicio...Uhhh, Happy Birthday to both of them?

6: Kodi Lee. Once again, this wasn’t his best! Is everyone just in denial or something!? I still stick by my opinion that he was at his best during his first two performances! But what do I know!? I’m just some schmuck writing countdown lists on a website that’s getting sold (yeah, heads up Frank, we might have to jump platforms again). Nothing I say is gonna stop Kodi from taking the win tomorrow night...

5: Ndlovu Youth Choir. I knew it was only a matter of time before they performed this song, and it was as fun and upbeat as I could have asked for! That being said, this didn’t have anything to offer that they didn’t give us before...THAT being said, they are definitely still the superior Youth Choir, regardless of which one gets more votes tomorrow...

4: Ryan Niemiller. Not the funniest material we’ve heard from him either, but I still love his energy and presence! I guess I’m committing a hate crime by not voting for him, but technically EVERYONE tonight qualifies for that...

3: Voices of Service. Maybe it’s because I came into tonight with a more open mind than last week, but whereas I quickly forgot about these folks before, tonight they were hands down my favorite singers! I guess I could go on about the same old stuff regarding their harmonies as well as their individual talents (I don’t even remember hearing much from the skinny guy before, but he might actually be the best singer of the bunch next to the lady!) It’s clear why they made it this far to begin with, but at least they have the talent to back up those cheap ‘n easy votes...

2: Light Balance Kids. THIS is the kind of creative, fun, well-choreographed, well-made performance I’ve been waiting for from these kids throughout the entire live shows! It had the same charm as their Judge Cuts performance, but with even more nicely-done effects! Kinda wish they put more focus on being this hip 90s-style youth group throughout the season...But either way, this should TOTALLY be the new “Let’s all go to the snack bar!” that plays before the movie...The goofy presentation with the food monsters would fit PERFECTLY with “It Chapter Two″! You’ll float too!

1: V.Unbeatable. They REALLY ramped up the crazy flips THIS time! Not much else to say...It’s good to know that they’re as popular as they are, but will it be enough to give them the win that they most definitely deserve...? Well, if nothing more they will DEFINITELY be in the Top 3 tomorrow...

You can tell Howie was trying to carefully dance around saying that this was the the “Best Finals Ever”, because he was contractually obligated to say it like he is every year, but I can definitely see why Simon would say that! These finals were everything he could have dreamed of! Oh, so many tear-jerking Cinderella stories...It’s enough to make a TV producer moan in ecstasy!

But when factoring in what actually MATTERS, tonight was about as lackluster as a line-up like this could have suggested...Only a few REALLY rose to the standards of the Finals...

My Votes: Appropriately enough, the two acts I was rooting for were also the best performers hands down tonight! For that, I used all three voting methods to give them as many votes as I could...

Result Predictions: There’s a case to be made for everyone tonight, but I do have a few observations...First of all, Ndlovu will probably be near the bottom in the votes, because they never had the support that the other Youth Choir had throughout the season...And I think the reason for that is the old factor of DYC being a group of dozens of kids, who each have numerous family members to vote for them along with all of the people giving them the sympathy vote...Ndlovu doesn’t have this luxury, not only because there are less of them, but also because the majority of their relatives are clearly still in South Africa, where they can’t vote for this show...This is why Ndlovu ended up in the Judges’ Choice TWICE, whereas DYC keeps getting easy passes in each round...

I’d like to think that LBK will get enough of that variety vote (that ESPECIALLY seems common in the Finals) to end up in the Top 3 like all acts of their nature tend to land...But they haven’t been as popular as the original Light Balance, and they might not have begged for nearly as many sympathy votes as say, Tyler or VoS...Chances are, the variety votes might end up concentrated on V.Unbeatable...

Which brings us to our main candidates for the Grand Prize: V.Unbeatable and Kodi Lee...It seems practically guaranteed that they will both be in the Top 3...I say Top 3, because there is a side of me that predicts that there may be an act coming between them for the Runner-Up spot! Whenever there are these two acts, one of them a cool variety act and the other some singer that’s been held up on a pedestal throughout the game, and they are BOTH being considered as candidates for the win...it’s usually not the both of them in the Top 2...Usually one of them gets a shock elimination in Third (and more often than not, it’s the cool variety act), and some dark-horse might end up as the Runner-Up...Who that might be is hard to call, but I’m actually considering Benicio being that act standing side-by-side next to Kodi at the end, because again, the Benicio Bros are ever dedicated, to the same degree that Angelica Hale’s fanbase was...

So I’m gonna go ahead and do what Frank usually does by predicting what I think the final rank will be...I’ll keep it pessimistic just to avoid being let down TOO much tomorrow...

10: Ndlovu Youth Choir

9: Emanne Beasha

8: Ryan Niemiller

7: Voices of Service

6: Light Balance Kids

5: Tyler Butler-Figueroa

4: Detroit Youth Choir

3: V.Unbeatable

2: Benicio Bryant

1: Kodi Lee

As for which guest performers will perform with who, I already made my guesses for Tyler and DYC, but I hear that Chris Jericho will perform with Ryan, and I’m willing to bet that Cher will be Kodi’s partner...I'll leave everyone else to surprise me, as opposed to what the final results will be...

(Sigh) Now let’s get this season over with...

[zukadiary]

Casanova ~ Flower Troupe 2019

Last week I saw Casanova shonichi in Tokyo. That’s all that’s in the cards for Hanagumi this trip, so I won’t get the required minimum number of viewings for detailed impressions, but it’s fairly easy to follow and I have some thoughts about the production as a whole.

Casanova is the first two-act musical directed by Ikuta-sensei, with two-acts recently being a privilege largely reserved for Koike. I’m eager to see the sorts of big productions the other Takarazuka directors can write, and this was a nice introduction. The story is pretty simple—deceptively simple for such a long show, which made me think I missed a bunch of things that it turned out I didn’t. 

The gist: Casanova (Mirio) is arrested on numerous counts of womanizing and fraud (and sorcery??). He meets Balbi (Maitii), a disheveled former priest in jail, and they break out and go on the run. Antonio (Rei) is whatever the 18th century version of local police chief is, and he spends the whole show trying to catch Casanova again because a) it’s his job b) Casanova slept with his former lover (Juria) and c) his wife??/sexy sorceress Chinatsu wants Casanova for her collection of pretty things just because. Beatrice (Yuki) is the mayor’s niece, recently returned from getting her education at a convent. For the most part she has the traditional views of a sheltered wealthy child, but she’s adamant about marrying someone of her choosing for love and not convenience. Beatrice meets Casanova at a festival while he’s on the run. She hates Casanova because of the nature of his crimes, so he lies and says he’s not Casanova but is also trying to catch him. The show is basically just a cat and mouse game of Casanova evading Antonio while Beatrice first discovers the truth about him and then comes to terms with falling in love with someone she thought she hated. 

The most notable thing about the show for me is the music. They brought in Dove Attia to do it, and while it’s VERY impressive I also have mixed feelings about the way it was handled. The songs themselves are JAMS, all great energetic big musical numbers that you’d want on a playlist, and they feel fresh and distinctly different from the in-house produced original Takarazuka music. The prologue was probably my favorite and it pulled me way way in right from the start. My main gripe about it—and about the entire show, honestly—is that unless there was someone I couldn’t see sitting in the pit playing a synthesizer live, the orchestra was only partially accompanying a lot of pre-recorded backtracks (much of the offstage harmony also sounded recorded to me, versus the usual kage box singing). It gave off a cheap pop vibe and took me out of the big epic musical world I wanted to be in. I’d have much preferred if it was all live orchestra.

(My other gripe was that Maitii, while brilliant, was unfortunately unsexy in appearance).

Mirio was in top form, and I think for me this was the most impactful her already good singing has ever been. Her demeanor as Casanova was spot on, and she was appropriately funny at times. She has an effortlessness in the way she interacts with the players around her that on one hand worked for cool sexy aloof Casanova, and on the other hand makes me wonder if she’s giving 70% and how devastatingly good it might be at 100. 

Yuki, in my opinion, is the best actress in the troupe, otokoyaku or musumeyaku (at least of the ones who they actually let show off their abilities). This is a very nice sendoff for her, especially considering how hard it is to give someone (who isn’t the top otokoyaku) a juicy sendoff without a revue. She isn’t the quiet demure princess that most of her top roles have forced her to be; she gets to be youthful, vivacious, and sassy, and it takes Beatrice and Casanova so long to untangle their situation that for most of the show she’s distinctly doing her own thing, not just supporting Mirio. I’m sure for her fans it’s nice that she has her own sayonara show, but personally, considering she’d have only had to stick around for one more, I’d have liked to see her and Mirio go together. 

Chinatsu’s character is sort of a token mystical sexy evil lady, but it’s still a good opportunity to see the impressive breadth of her talents (and the length of her legs). Her vocal range is REALLY amazing, and I loved her villain song. 

With all the recent announcements, I could help but imagine Future Hanagumi while watching this, since they’re removing Yuki, Chinatsu, Mirio, and a bunch of strong older musumeyaku in basically one fell swoop (I also have a hard time seeing Akira staying past Mirio). And it’s VERY weird, and hard to picture a production like this without them. I want to start by saying that I absolutely think Rei is top star material—she stands out, she’s an extremely talented dancer, and in my opinion she just kind of has an intangible something that sets her apart—but I also think, based on Casanova (and just about everything post-Kiki up to now), she’s not getting something that she needs. I don’t know if it’s just more time, or a little experience under another top star just to get a perspective different from Mirio (who has been the only top star she’s seen since she was ken6), or what... but unless there is some kind of big transfer shuffle, the remainder of the troupe with that top tier gone feels about 80% baked to me right now. I’m curious to see how the rest of the year goes. 

Overall I think this was a successful first two-act for Ikuta; it was impactful, pretty to look at, and just funny enough. I hope this is the beginning of more directors (coughkoyanagianduekumicough) getting the opportunity to try the same.

[mst3kproject]

Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe

This is another treasure from the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, and unlike some movies I have acquired thus (Samson vs the Vampire Women comes to mind) it was actually worth spending a buck on.  It’s bizarre and hilarious and put me in mind of MST3K even before it became a Rifftrack – and the Rifftrack is great.  It gets off to a very strong start with Mike laughing out loud and going, “no seriously, what’s the real title?”

Abraxas is a Finder, one of ‘the cops of the universe’. His partner Secudus has gone rogue and is out to create a being called the Comator, who will solve the Anti-Life Equation.  What does that mean?  I have no fucking idea but it’s definitely bad, so Abraxas is sent to stop him. Secundus is eventually captured, but not before he impregnates a woman named Sonya, who promptly (and I do mean promptly) gives birth to her son Tommy.  Abraxas is ordered to kill Sonya and Tommy both, but spares them – which just means that six years later, Secundus can escape from prison again and returns to Earth to claim his son.  This is all set to music that sounds like a Kenny G. Christmas album.

This entire movie is just one big what.  You can usually tell what they’re going for but the execution is always weird, starting with the title.  Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe sounds like a shitty 80’s cartoon created to advertise a line of cheap action figures. What the film actually is, is a ripoff of Terminator II: Judgment Day, and nobody much bothers to try to hide that. There’s a precocious little boy with a very important destiny, his independent and protective mother, and two equally threatening burly dudes, one of whom is trying to kill him and one of whom is trying to protect him.  A family dynamic forms between good Burly Dude and the mother and son, while bad Burly Dude pursues them implacably until the final showdown between good and evil.

Because the makers of Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe couldn’t afford to be sued by James Cameron, they have of course made a number of changes to the story, most notably using aliens instead of robots from the future, but the script gives the impression of having been written in too much of a hurry to get these changes right.  For example, one of the rules of the Terminator universe is that you can’t take anything with you back in time, so nobody has any weapons or even any clothing from the future.  Abraxas doesn’t need to keep this rule, but it does anyway, by ‘crossing the teleportation streams’ or something so that both Abraxas and Secundus lose their weaponry (but not, thank god, their clothes) on their way to Earth.  There’s no reason for this, it’s only there because it was there in the Terminator movies.

Occasionally the movie tries to be funny.  It rarely works – the only bit that actually got a snicker out of me on purpose was when a waitress presented Secundus with his bill and he ate it.  The rest of the jokes just fall flat.  There’s a scene in which one alien snippily informs another that “parsecs are not an appropriate Earth time unit!”, and it’s obvious what they’re referencing but that’s not the same as being funny.  Another really bizarre moment has Abraxas telling some campers that the artificial intelligence implanted in his wrist, his ‘Answer Box’, can find Secundus by detecting his vibrational frequency, and what he actually says is “my Box has V.D.” Was that a joke?  If so, was Ventura in on it?  Or did somebody just think it would be really funny to trick him into saying that his vagina has an STI?  What?

On a similar note, there’s a bit where Abraxas, sitting in bed with no shirt on, tells Tommy he’s going to tell him a story ‘about two men who were partners’.  I’m at least pretty sure that wasn’t an intentional innuendo but man, it’s an icky thing for a large hairy man to say to a six-year-old boy.

The main thing people who’ve seen this movie remember about it is the soundtrack, which is entirely inexplicable.  There’s one little strain that really does sound like the opening to I’ll be Home for Christmas on alto saxophone, and the fact that the whole movie happens in the winter only heightens the effect.  This is the entire score, too – Sonya contemplates killing her child, then decides against it, to saxophone music.  Abraxas and Secundus pursue each other through the woods to saxophone music.  The one major exception is the song that plays over the final showdown and that’s equally out of place.  What were they thinking?

Performances and casting are weird.  Ventura and Sven-Ole Thorsen mostly come across as robotic, which is okay for nigh-immortal defenders of the cosmos but quickly crumbles when they’re supposed to display emotion, as when Secundus proudly addresses Tommy as ‘my son’ or when Abraxas starts to develop feelings for Sonya.  I have no idea how old Sonya is supposed to be – an early scene with her parents suggests that she’s a teenager but Marjorie Bransfield (Jim Belushi’s wife, if you’re interested) is clearly thirty-odd and nobody tries to make her look younger.  Everybody else is kinda low-level bad with one rather stunning exception, and that’s Francis Mitchell as Tommy.

Tommy never speaks throughout the movie, until he finally gets two words in voiceover at the end – this means that his entire character arc must be communicated non-verbally.  We see that Tommy loves his mother, that he knows he has strange powers and is afraid of them and the harm he could do with them, and that he’s terrified of Secundus but doesn’t know if he should trust Abraxas either. Mitchell isn’t a brilliant child actor but he’s good enough in a movie where very little even rises to that level, and that’s fairly impressive.

If this movie has a point, it’s that there is no destiny – Tommy can be the Comator and bring about the end of the universe, but he doesn’t have to be if he doesn’t want to.  He can choose how he uses his powers.  This is the same thing Kyle Reese tells Sarah Connor in The Terminator: the future isn’t written yet, and our choices are important.  In this one instance, Abraxas actually manages to make its point a bit better than Terminator did, because it doesn’t have the time travel.  The story of Terminator was a closed loop: John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to meet Sarah so that John can be born.  All this must happen because in a sense it already did.  Abraxas is not chained to its own ending in this way, and so Tommy’s destiny is entirely his own without requiring a sequel to make it so.

This is also, as the summary implies, a film about rape, and the way the topic is treated ties in with the idea of our destiny being based on our choices.  When Secundus kidnaps Sonya, he tells her I need your body, and makes it clear that he will use it with or without her consent.  When she comes home with an infant, her father throws her out, accusing her of being sexually irresponsible.  Sonya herself is tempted to do violence to the child who will always remind her of this traumatic evening.

But Sonya is actually a pretty tough cookie. She defends herself to her father, telling him she has nothing to be ashamed of.  When she finds herself out in the cold, she picks herself up and builds a life for herself and her child, and she never lets the awful circumstances of Tommy’s conception colour how she treats him.  Because Sonya raises him with love and support, Tommy is able to understand that his destiny does not have to be destruction.  He can at last allow himself to speak, knowing his words will harm no one unless he chooses.

That’s honestly a really powerful arc for a movie, but Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe doesn’t use it effectively.  The acting is way too bad and the situations far too silly for it to have an impact, and the ending focuses on Abraxas and Secundus fighting when it should be about Tommy’s internal struggle. Admittedly, external fistfights are way easier to film, but Sonya and Tommy are the emotional crux of this story, and after the arcs they’ve been through they deserve better than to be spectators at the end.

At some point in the writing process for this movie somebody seems to have realized that if Abraxas is going to be the main character he needs to learn something or evolve somehow, so that’s what they try to do.  How do they do that?  They have him learn emotions.  Yes, it’s really corny.  Yes, it involves falling in love with Sonya and deciding to retire and stay on Earth.  I wonder… if they have more children, will they do it the human way, or will Abraxas hold a hand over her stomach while his Answer Box announces reproduction commenced?  The other way they show us Abraxas learning emotion is having him argue with his Answer Box and eventually tell it to shut up, signifying that he’s becoming less of a machine, himself.  The movie seems to think this is really funny but it’s not.

After two pages of complaining I need to reiterate that Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe is not annoying­-bad, it’s hilarious-bad.  In true B-movie style, its entertainment value lies in the disconnect between what the film-makers were going for and the result they produced.  It’s much like Space Mutiny that way, trying so hard to be epic and falling comically short, and it would have made for similarly classic MST3K.

[zerochanges]

Valentine’s Chocolates and Glass Masks

The romance genre in anime is a little weird, and honestly on the whole the majority of the genre in anime is probably a bit too slow for its own good. “Will they or won’t they” is something most romantic fiction is guilty of, but I think you’d be hard press to come across 150 episode TV series dedicated solely to that premise anywhere else. And this has nothing on the pure silliness that can come with the genre; hand holding, indirect kisses, masked secret admirers, all that good stuff. Really, I’m not here to trash talk romantic anime though, but as I sat down and tried to think about writing a Valentine's Day blog post I just couldn't help but think to myself how romance anime might be the hardest to explain to anyone not in the fandom. I mean, I think I’d have an easier time explaining the plot of any given saga in DBZ than I would explaining “Notice me, senpai” to somebody.

You know what though, I kind of ironically enjoy all of this. Yeah, pure romance anime can be cheesy, but it’s just the right amount cheese that it’s like, c’mon, how can you not enjoy this? Perhaps the worst (or best!) offender of this are older shoujo titles where they can seem almost downright like a soap opera at times. Shows like these are just so full of bizarre, off-the-walls, and over-the-top melodrama that they manage to suck me completely in. They’re heartbreaking, they’re engaging, and the times when they fail at being those things they are hilarious. 

My most recent experience with an older shoujo title like this would have to be studio Eiken’s 1984 adaptation of Glass Mask. Now Glass Mask (or Glass no Kamen as it is known by some) is a manga that started life in 1976 and to this day has yet to be finished, with the manga creator Suzue Miuchi stating she would like to finish it soon, but hasn't quite figured out when that will be (move over Hunter x Hunter fans). Having been one of the earlier shoujo titles starting back in the mid-70’s the series is full to the brim with pretty much every cliche and trope you can think of for shoujo anime, and to a modern audience it can often be almost hilarious at times to sit through. It is important to remember that for its time Glass Mask was a trend-setter and arguably if not the creator than certainly the reason why a lot of these cliches became cliches in the first place. Over the years Glass Mask has received its fair share of adaptations and even parodies, and currently has 3 different animes as well as a live action drama series and real life stage plays based on it. I heard the most recent anime, the 2005 TMS adaptation of Glass Mask, does a pretty great job at modernizing several aspects of the series, but unfortunately I have yet to watch that to weigh in so all I can say is that I was inundated with more cliches than I could count and laughed a ton while watching the 1984 series and I loved every minute of it. 

Glass Mask is the story of a young 13 year old girl Maya Kitajima, who has a dream to be a great theatre actress. Unfortunately for Maya she’s from a very poor family, and even more unfortunately for her, she is incredibly average looking with no flair--and don’t worry, the anime will remind you of that fact countless times every episode. Despite her damnable curse of “just looking kind of average” Maya will stop at nothing to pursue her dream and eventually runs away from home after getting a scholarship for an acting school. There, the enigmatic Chigusa Tsukikage notices Maya’s talents and takes her on as her protege. Soon, Maya learns that her mentor Tsukikage was once a legendary actress thought to be truly one of the all time greats who due to a tragic Phantom of the Opera style accident had her face hideously scarred and retreated out of the spotlight. 

Tsukikage is looking to pass on her talents to the future generation and eventually pass on her greatest possession, the rights to the elusive Crimson Goddess play--a supposed legendary masterpiece that has not been seen by anyone in decades; not since Tsukikage’s career ruining accident. For some reason the director and creator of the the Crimson Goddess play saw it fit to beseech all the rights to his masterpiece to Tsukikage and thus nobody else has been able to produce this elusive phantom play since. It won’t be easy for Maya and the Tsukikage acting school, as media conglomerate and mega corporation Daito Entertainment will stop at nothing to get the rights to the Crimson Goddess, and isn't afraid to sabotage them at every step of the way. Perhaps Maya’s greatest rival however is the young Ayumi Himekawa, the daughter of an already famous actress who is said to be the favorite to inherit the Crimson Goddess role, and is everything Maya isn't; beautiful, rich, famous and well loved by all, and while not a student of Tsukikage she is more than willing to pass on the rights to Himekawa if Maya fails to prove herself.

It’s easy to already see the cheesiness just from me trying my best to summarize the basic plot, and we haven’t even gotten into the romances yet. Maya’s relationship with the young Yu Sakurakoji is fairly simple at first, as he helped rescue her from a feral dog and despite being in rival acting schools--one affiliated under Daito no less, he’s a pretty chill guy that enjoys spending time with her and doesn't care about all that stuff. It’s only after Maya starts to take off in her career that Sakurakoji starts to spiral into this insane inferiority complex centered around her, where he thinks she has become too good an actress for him to be around anymore and starts to give her the cold shoulder all because of his own make-believe shortcomings. It’s very odd and sudden, and the entire thing is blown out of proportions as Maya clearly does not think that and Sakurakoji eventually has to be lectured by bad boy Masumi of all people to come around and start spending time with Maya again. Even after this however it isn't like the old days anymore and the gap that was created from his own complex still lingers.

And oh boy, don’t get me started on Masumi, he’s quite the character. Masumi Hayami is the 24 year old son of the president of Daito Entertainment and is currently running the corporation in his father’s stead. Masumi serves as both an antagonist and love interest (because of course he can be both) in the early parts of the story and is often behind some (but not all) the sabotage done to Tsukikage’s acting school. Masumi will eventually take a more reasonable approach when it comes to trying to yank the rights of the Crimson Goddess away from Tsukikage’s hands as the anime progresses, often just by having his acting school beating Tsukikage’s students in contest and the like, and it’s here where we usually see Masumi’s employees that work under him being the more underhanded characters instead of Masumi directly engaging in the conflict.

Despite being on different sides, so to speak, Masumi catches one of Maya’s earliest performances, her role as Beth in Little Women, and falls in love with the young girl, impressed by both her potential as an actress and her fortitude for going on with the show despite suffering from a dangerously high fever and immediately being rushed to the doctors after the curtains fall. From this point on her takes the role of “Mr Purple Rose” named for the bouquet of purple roses he sends to her at every show. As her secret admirer and the first fan Maya has ever had he means a lot to her yet as his true identity of Masumi he’s an enemy that Maya cannot stand to breathe the same air as. So in short, Masumi is just your average 24 year old CEO of a mega corporation crushing on a 13 year old girl from a small acting school he is trying to ruin and also her secret admirer. Somehow Masumi is one of the best characters in the series, and is my best boy. Only in shoujo!

So far I've been having some cheap laughs at the expense of the 1984 Glass Mask anime but it’s not all like this. The over-the-top bombardment of old school shoujo cliches and the laughs I got from them may be one of the most memorable component of my viewing but there’s actually a lot more to this anime than that. When you get beyond the silly age gap romances and the flowery melodrama of young teenage love, Glass Mask is a story of artists trying to pursue their passions and dedicating their everything to them. Maya may be cursed to forever be “only average looking” but I really respect her drive to dedicate her entire life to theatre. 

Well, that is to say, the times when she isn't acting like punching bag to the rest of the cast (Glass Mask has a tendency to make Maya into a Cinderella surrounded by tons of wicked stepsisters). When Maya is written not as a Cinderella she’s fiercely determined, and never backs down despite some straight-up abusive behavior she is put through. At times her mentor Tsukikage is absolutely savage, regularly beating Maya and putting her through some training that is definitely highly illegal, at least for today’s standards. For instance she once threw Maya in a shed and locked the door refusing to let her out until she finally understood her character she was assigned. Did I mention it was in the middle of the freezing cold winter and snowing out and Maya only had the clothes on her back for warmth? She was out there for days with no food, water, or even warmth. But don’t worry, she had her script to read and that made it all okay. Like goddamn, somebody call child protective services on this lady.

Speaking about “the art” and everyone’s passions, the more you watch the series the more it becomes obvious that the creator, Suzue Miuchi, really cares for theatre and isn't just using it as a vehicle to propel her own story. There are countless renditions of classic plays shown in Glass Mask, such as the mentioned already Little Women, The Miracle Worker, and Wuthering Heights, just to name a few. Some of these plays are presented without any changes while others may have reinterpretations made to them by the characters who are trying to give their roles a life of their own away from the original source material. Miuchi very much understands theatre and does a great job converting many famous plays into a more compressed and easily digestible form of entertainment that can be viewed on a week by week bases. The analysis characters give about the plays and other characters’ performances, the ways characters interpret their parts, and how the plays that we are privy to see in the series end up all show a deeper understanding of the medium. Watching Glass Mask is almost like taking a beginning course in theatre that covers all the classics, only with way more melodrama and over-the-top romance than you will find in your local theatre group. I hope.

What’s the most impressive however goes beyond just Miuchi’s renditions of other classic works and instead are her own plays that she creates herself. As not only does Glass Mask use pre-existing plays it also has its own original productions that will spring up in-between the real world plays. A lot of these self created plays are very enjoyable too, and some feel way more fleshed out than they have any right to be and you often find yourself regretting that you are only privy to a small part of the performance and not able to just sit there and watch the entire play like the characters in the anime do. Maybe that’s why it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that some of the plays Miuchi has created for her manga have later been adapted into real life plays in Japanese theatres. This is probably the greatest testament to the series’ popularity right there, where its own fictional works are turned real. I can’t think of many examples of something like that happening before.

I’d be remiss not to mention the visual aspect of this series before wrapping up my thoughts on it too. While certainly no powerhouse in animation, Glass Mask 1984 goes for a more picturesque route, and does a great job with tons of beautiful still shots and intricately detailed background images. It’s a humble production but with the right use of lighting a lot of scenes can really shine (pardon the terrible pun it was an accident), especially the night shots which can be pure art. Hang it in a museum, I say. I’m almost surprised we don’t see more “aesthetic” anime blogs mining images from this series. Veteran director Gisaburo Sugii (Dororo, Touch, Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix) leads the production with skilled marksmanship you would expect from his previous (and future) pedigree, and along with legendary animator the late Shingo Araki (Ashita no Joe, Galaxy Express 999, Saint Seiya) the series has a wonderful 80’s flair to it that just fills any retro anime fan full of nostalgia whether or not they have seen the show before.

Studio Eiken’s 1984 Glass Mask adaptation is a short, briskly paced 22 episode series that is easy on the eyes and not hard at all to still sit through for modern audiences. It’s full of tons of laughs (both ironic and sincere) as well as tons of melodrama and over-the-top romance. Most importantly though, it’s a full of passion; lots and lots of passion. During its short episode count the series watches Maya progress as an actress and grow older, with her finishing middle school and beginning high school while also balancing full time acting jobs on the side. The ending is left open--and let’s face it the manga hasn't even ended some 35 years later still--but there’s enough forward momentum in the series to really feel like your time with the characters wasn't wasted and that they were able to accomplish something--not to mention the ending spot is a pretty decent one leaving the viewer wanting more but enjoying a satisfying conclusion to one of the more interesting story arcs adapted. Overall I think anyone who enjoys cheesy anime romance can sit down with this series and have a fun Valentine’s.

[stussybrad]

IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN! 

Yes I know, I died for a bit but I’m back for release week! And as a blog tradition, here’s my messy reaction of Night & Day: Day Edition

Just My Type

Initial reaction: SICKEST BASSLINE. i love that i could actually hear the guitars. love the breakdown in the prechorus with the claps

Full listen: a really strong lead single - sick beat and shows maturity with the lyrics. EXCITED TO SING ALONG TO THIS ON TOUR. 

there’s a girl still on repeat plays in my mind won’t let me sleep

Hair Too Long

Initial reaction: love all the bg vocals. catchy af. bit surprised with the second verse but i love it especially love the ‘it might seem cruel’ part bc holy vocals

Full listen: i fucking love this song. idk what this was (promo single or what) but it deserved better 

i don’t wanna be this cold shivering into my bones someone reset my soul

Talk Later

Initial reaction: that beat omg. THE HOTEL LOBBY SONG!!!! love how it builds up and you expect a huge bass drop but its a pretty chill chorus. also very cheeky. wait why is there a piano out of nowhere????

Full listen: though the lyrics are a bit cheeky i really love how this was written. also how can you not love that beat???? one of my favs for sure

i get confused, putting labels on things makes them complicated

Too Good To Be True

Initial reaction: my boy serving vocals. a bit overproduced. mgk’s verse surprisingly fits the song

Full listen: idk why they had to rearrange the verses on the album version though it threw me off a bit but yes i love it

I’m hung on your words give me something to believe in

For You

Initial reaction: WHAT. SAM SMITH VIBES W THAT PIANO. OHMYGODDDD WHATTTT???? LOVE THAT CHOIR LIKE CHORUS. HIGH NOTES HELLO!!!  AND THOSE LYRICS GIRLLLLL MY HEART IS BURSTING!!!!!

Full listen: ITS SO DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST FEW SONGS BUT I FUCKING LOVE IT. Brad started writing this 4 years ago AND!!! he produced and mixed this!!!! WHAT A TALENTED MAN I LOVE THIS EVEN MORE

remember all the mornings you would make me late cause i couldn’t bare to leave you when you look at me the way you do

What Your Father Says

Initial reaction: BRAD I LOVE YOU BUT I CANT UNDERSTAND A THING. ALSO BIGGEST LIE OF THE YEAR: BRAD IS BAD NEWS??? CHORUS SOUNDS LIKE HE’S LIKE SCREAMING INTO MY SOUL??? HE DONT LIKE MY HAIR HE DONT LIKE MY MUSIC OHHHHHH DAMNNNNNN

Full listen: WHAT THE HELL I DIDNT EXPECT THIS AT ALL?????? ALSO FUCK WHAT YOUR FATHER SAYSS!!!! i watched the explicit live acoustic version after this and went to fucking heaven 15/10 IN MY TOP 3 FAV SONGS FROM THIS ALBUM

told me he dont like my hair he don’t like my music told me that i better run otherwise he’ll lose it

Cheap Wine

Initial reaction: okay another dancey track i dont mind. it kinda reminds me of hideaway/scars. CHORUS IS CATCHY AF

Full listen: YEAH OK I GET WHY PEOPLE LOVE THIS SONG. I LIKE IT. do i think it’s next single-worthy? NO they have better songs in this album soz

I drank too much cheap wine gonna spill this heart of mine

Time Is Not On Our Side

Initial reaction: ITS NOT ACOUSTIC WHY??? but i could actually understand the words now!!! ALSO THANKS I DIDNT NEED MY HEART TODAYYY

Full listen: SUCH A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN SAD SONG. I still wish they kept it acoustic (kinda like million words) but I love it so much. and i admit i didn’t really like this when they first performed it on tour but what a mistake ITS A DAMN BEAUTIFUL SONG

looking in your eyes night after night night after night and i see where i gotta stay day after day day after day to find peace

Pictures Of Us

Initial reaction: interesting song but it doesnt leave a mark on me. sounds too generic. the lyrics are great though and you get the sentiment

Full listen: i mean its not bad but i think they could do better. Day deserved a better album closer. But who knows maybe it’ll grow on me

Is it your eyes or my eyes that’s making the tears fall?

Overall

WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS. I wish i could unhear the previously released songs so i could experience this album in its entirety. THAT WOULDVE BEEN AMAZING. also i really love their songwriting on this album bc it shows their maturity and i feel like this really is their most personal one yet. i think for me, it’s more like summer night vibes than day? and the night edition was like autumn night vibes? idk if that makes sense lmao but that’s how i hear it. also they said this was more like meet the vamps with all the guitars but… where? I mean I guess the songs are more focused on the instruments but still far from MTV. But at the same time, I’m not expecting it to be. I understand their need to grow and evolve as artists (i hope everyone does too).

That being said, I still think this is a very solid effort from the boys. I applaud them for being able to write songs that shows maturity and at the same time be able to pour out their emotions through it. Releasing a great album every year and touring all over the world is a great feat for a fairly young band like them so I respect that a whole lot. And maybe we’ll never go back to the MTV era but they are creating music they love, bringing out bops after bops, getting recognized for their hard work and honestly, I couldn’t be more prouder of them.

Rating: 4.5/5

Quick notes about the bonus songs:

Sometimes it rains in LA deserved to be in the standard version

If I Was Your Man and Kiss is okayyy

I fucking love Con’s & James’ bonus songs

I didn’t know NHC was in one of the songs I love it

Juicy Fruit in one word: W H Y ?

‘SOMETIMES’ BROKE MY HEART. MADE ME APPRECIATE BRAD EVEN MORE AND HAVE DECIDED TO LOVE HIM FOREVER AND EVER

DON’T FORGET TO BUY/STREAM/LISTEN TO THE ALBUM HERE: 

NIGHT & DAY: DAY EDITION

[metalindex-hu]

„I was happy to get a second chance with Abomination”

„I was happy to get a second chance with Abomination” - http://metalindex.hu/2020/11/30/i-was-happy-to-get-a-second-chance-with-abomination/ -

Paul Speckmann’s name doesn’t need any introduction. In this interview he speaks about one of his bands, Abomination’s first full length record, that was released 30 years ago.

Paul, before I ask you about Abomination, being based in Chicago, do you think that Trouble and Zoetrope were the first original heavy metal bands who were actually really heavy and not hard rock?

This hard to say because although I followed the bands in the beginning like everyone else, the notoriety of the two really became evident after the Metal Massacre 4 was released which also included Witchslayer, War Cry and Thrust which were also booming on the scene by this time!

Were they the first to maybe define a sound of heaviness in the scene and maybe everyone kind of took that sound a little?

Not in my opinion. I would say they helped shaped their own future of course early on, but there were many other bands evolving by this time in the Chicagoland area.

They (Zoetrope and Trouble) were the earliest bands that brought everyone together, weren’t they?

Both of them were influential…

Abomination

Was the early Chicago metal scene a traditional heavy metal scene? Do you think that Zoetrope, Trouble, Witchslayer, Slauter Xstroyes (previously Naj, White Which), Hammeron and a little bit later Thrust, Iron Cross, War Cry, Mayhem Inc. etc. belonged to the first wave of Chicago’s metal?

The Thirsty Whale connection was certainly there, so I guess you could call this the first wave! Many of the bands supported one another during this time period before some bands got signed and jealousy prevailed, but this was later on! We would meet up for drinks nearly every weekend, was really quite the scene I would say. We had a blast in those early days!

Were all of the bands different from each other and just sounded completely different from each other?

All the bands were influenced by early Heavy Metal, some more pop than others, etc. Many of bands were paying homage to the Glam scene as well! There was quite a mix to be honest, at least in my opinion!

On the Metal Massacre IV compilation appeared five Chicago bands (Trouble, Zoetrope, War Cry, Thrust and Witchslayer). In your opinion, did it help a lot to attract the fan’s attention to the Chicago based outfits?

Honestly only Trouble, Zoetrope and Thrust did anything after this release. Nothing came of the scene, the exact opposite really. I left War Cry after hearing Venom, Slayer and Motörhead repeatedly! Chicago never really gets credit for influencing the rest of the world with their excellent bands!

Abomination was formed in 1987 by you on vocals/bass, Aaron Nickeas on drums and Mike Schafer on guitars. How did you get together?

Actually, the band was formed by Chaz Baker and Mike Paul and Nickeas respectively! I went to see the original lineup a few times and was interested in the drummer. Needless to say, late nights after the Funeral Bitch rehearsals in 1987, I would join Nickeas for these late-night rendezvous with Shafer as we began our own band. Aaron decided that the name Abomination was his and soon we became Abomination.

What was your goal that you wanted to achieve Abomination with?

Obviously, we were a crossover band with many different ingredients at play in the music. We were trying to succeed in bringing the band to the world’s stage and in the end, we had several opportunities to enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Was Master on hold or did the band break up at this point?

The band had broken up by this time for several years already. I was happy to get a second chance with Abomination.

How about the musical past of Mike and Aaron?

Mike was playing guitar in Impulse Manslaughter before we met up!

Two demos (Demo 1 – 1988, Abomination – 1989) were released; can you tell us any details about them?

Not a lot to tell: Shafer came in with a few songs he had written and I wrote the rest. Mike sang his songs on the first demo, and I sang all the tracks I wrote. The only sad thing about the first demo was the crappy guitar sound. Shafer had no clue about sound at the time. Greg from Znowhite actually came to Seagrape Studios in Chicago to help me with the mixes, but said he could do nothing with the shit guitar sounds and left. After a falling out with Shafer over who knows what anymore, Aaron said he had a friend that was a killer player and this would prove to be true. I wrote all the tracks on the 2nd demo and we began rehearsals with Dean Chioles (R.I.P.) and proceeded to record again. This time the guitar sound was better, but still a bit rough.

Were these tapes heavily spread around in the scene?

The tapes were spread around the scene just as the Death Strike and Master demo were. Some of these early demos went on the influence a heavier genre of music later labelled as Death Metal!

Did you try to draw the fan’s attention to the band and to attract labels’ interests?

No, no one was interested in Abomination whatsoever until that fateful day at the woods. I had just finished working my moving job and my partner Mick said let’s go drink a few cold ones at the forest near where we worked. I cracked open an Old Style just as a few Harley’s pulled up. I smiled as I saw one of my high school rivals get off the bike with another fairly already well-known character from the band Righteous Pigs. I laughed as Ninos was speaking his usual nonsense to me and about me, when Joe Caper began burning Ninos and talking about my bands, Master, Death Strike and Abomination, mentioning that he had seen a few gigs and liked what he saw. As luck would have it, I just happened to have a copy of this latest red demo from Abomination in my pocket. Caper spoke of this new label called Nuclear Blast, and honestly, I didn’t hold my breath, because in this world talk is cheap. Well, the legend Joe Caper spoke the truth and a week or so later I received a letter and contract for Abomination from Slatko from Nuclear Blast Records. A week later another contract arrived for Master.

Did other record companies also show any interest in signing the band?

No

When did you start working on the debut album?

Obviously shortly after Chioles joined the fold we began to put together a repertoire for the first release!

How did the recording sessions go?

Actually, in my opinion the recordings were pretty weak in the end, Bob Pucci was recruited by Chioles and Nickeas to mix and produce this first album at a commercial studio. After listening to these recordings of some commercial Heavy Metal bands Pucci produced, they convinced me that this was the way to go. This was actually the first time I recorded outside of Seagrape Studios in many years.

Do you agree with, where Master played a raw Death Metal influenced Thrash Metal, Abomination is more straight Thrash Metal?

Hmm, there was no Death Metal at the time?

Was it a conscious decision to diverge from Master’s musical direction?

YES, the idea was to forge a new direction with Abomination and I believe we succeeded.

Paul nowadays

Did you manage to do a more interesting, varied album compared to Master/Death Strike?

You’d have to ask the listeners. I personally sat at the helm and produced the 2nd album with Mike Konopka again at his Seagrape Studios, and this is by far the best representation of the band at least sound wise. There were some great songs on the first release but the sound was shit!

Is it a pretty raw and unpolished version of US Thrash Metal, played loud, raw and with a savage attitude?

Sure! We were never about nail polish!

This album was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Donald Robert Speckman. Was he your father?

Yes, my father and mother died during these periods of recording!

To support the record, you went on tour with Master and Pungent Stench. What do you recall of it? Can you tell us detailed about it?

This was a difficult tour in the middle of winter. Today in November it has yet to snow, but back then snow covered the ground. Chioles, Martinelli, Nickeas, Jim Daly and I had to snuggle up together to stay warm in these Volkswagen vans to keep warm. We had many adventures, trials and tribulations during this tour. The band split up after this adventure and we all went our separate ways for years. One thing I will always remember was driving around after the shows looking for vegetarian restaurants in the bitter cold to help the PS fellas to survive! This was difficult sometimes in the bitter cold because these special places didn’t exist as they do today. Man, times change! Thankfully in today’s day and age all these animal lovers can find their vegetables without worries!

Abomination seems to be active again. Any plans for the future?

Abomination was only active for a few decent paying gigs to keep the previous band members working, and of course to share some of the killer tracks with fans in Europe.

[dipulb3]

The Anker Nebula Mars II Pro portable projector performs proficiently

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/the-anker-nebula-mars-ii-pro-portable-projector-performs-proficiently/

The Anker Nebula Mars II Pro portable projector performs proficiently

The Nebula Mars II Pro by Anker is a cute, tiny portable projector.

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Anker’s Nebula Mars II Pro is a surprising little projector. And I do mean little. It’s small enough to hide completely under a six-pack of Coke. With built-in streaming and a battery good for around three and a half hours of projection, the Mars II Pro is a great companion for a movie night in the backyard or somewhere farther afield. And in addition to being a projector, it’s also a big Bluetooth speaker.

Like

Compact size

Built-in battery lasts up to 3.5 hours

Surprisingly loud speakers

Don’t Like

Poor brightness and contrast

Inaccurate color

Limited app store

Requires charging brick

Video quality will be good enough for many viewers, but compared with a similarly priced home projector it’s far dimmer, with worse contrast ratio and color accuracy. Compared with other tiny, battery-powered projectors however, the image is very watchable and speakers sound surprisingly powerful. 

The main reason to get the Mars II Pro is if you want ultra-portable video, especially outdoors. It’s easy to put near a wall or screen and stream some Netflix within minutes, anywhere. If you plan to use it regularly in the same room inside, however, you’re probably better off with a more traditional projector.

Basic specs

Native resolution: 1,280×720 pixels

HDR-compatible: No

4K-compatible: No

3D-compatible: No

Lumens spec: 500

Zoom: None

Lens shift: None

Lamp life (Normal mode): 30,000 hours

The Mars II Pro is smaller than you might think. It would fit easily inside any backpack with plenty of room to spare for a water bottle, hoodie or camera. Anker could have made the carrying strap out of cheap-feeling plastic, but has a faux-leather top and is soft underneath. It’s nice to touch.

There are buttons on the top for all the basic functions, but no controls for zoom or focus. This is logical since there’s no zoom and focus is automatic. An integrated slide-open lens cap also turns the projector on and off.

To get a 100-inch image, the Mars II Pro needs to be about nine feet from the screen. Resolution is 720p, which is pretty low for a projector these days and lower than the competing ViewSonic M2, which is 1080p. The LED lamp is rated at 30,000 hours. 

Max brightness is a claimed 500 lumens. I measured about 37 nits, which calculates out to about 337 lumens. For comparison, the ViewSonic M2 produces 349 lumens by my measurements, while the slightly more expensive, but far less portable, Optoma HD146X puts out around 1,146. 

Anker claims the internal 12,500-mAh battery is good for about three and a half hours viewing time, and about that long to charge back up again. If you keep it in the high brightness mode, that drops to one and a half hours. If you’re just using the Mars II as a Bluetooth speaker, Anker claims about 30 hours for audio-only playback.

Though not specifically mentioned as a feature by Anker, some apps treat the Mars II Pro as a mobile device, so you can actually download shows to its 8GB internal storage. 

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Connectivity and convenience

HDMI inputs: 1

USB port: 1 

Audio input and output: 3.5mm output

Digital audio output: None

Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n

Remote: Not backlit

There is one HDMI input, which is plenty on a projector like this. The USB port lets you stream content from a USB memory stick, or you can charge a device (like your phone), using the Mars II Pro’s beefy battery. 

That’s it for physical connections, other than the power port, which requires a separate power brick. That’s a bummer: I’m a hardliner “everything portable should charge via USB.” If you want to charge the projector away from home, you’ll have to pack the brick too.

The Mars II Pro’s runs Android 7.1, which puts all the streaming capability inside the PJ. So all you need is to tether the projector to your phone or connect to some available Wi-Fi. 

You don’t get the full Google Play Store, however, or even Android TV. Instead, it’s Aptoide, a sort of culled or curated version of the Play Store. It’s a bit of a liability with the ViewSonic M2, and it’s no better here. There’s Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus and others you may or may not recognize. There’s HBO Nordic and HBO Go, but no US HBO or HBO Max. Chromecast is not supported. Overall it’s not bad, but you might not be able to find every service you’re used to.

The remote is wafer thin, but not backlit. That’s fine because you’re probably not going to use it. Instead, there’s the Anker Connect app (Android and iOS), which connects easily and does all the same things. In fact, some of the apps actually require the app. Control in the projector’s menus works fine, but it’s a bit clunky in the Netflix app for instance. Not a big issue, but it could be smoother.

There are two side-firing 10-watt speakers and a rectangular passive radiator in the front. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s fairly loud and the sound quality is better than I expected from such a small device. This is one of the few projectors I’ve actually turned down to achieve a normal listening level.

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Picture quality comparisons

I compared the Mars II Pro to the ViewSonic M2, another portable projector, and the Optoma HD146X, a traditional plug-in PJ. The M2 is very similar to the Anker, can run off a battery and also runs apps from the Aptoide store. The Optoma is a very different projector, and only a direct competitor in one sense: price. 

I have a feeling the Mars II Pro might attract the attention of someone not typically interested in projectors, so the Optoma is here as an example of what similar money can get you in a non-portable, standard projector. I connected these via a Monoprice 1×4 distribution amplifier and viewed all on a 102-inch 1.0-gain screen.

Top view with carrying strap

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

First up is brightness. The M2 and Mars II are remarkably similar. Their light outputs and contrast ratios are basically identical. In both cases, this amount is “fine.” Considering the size and their ability to run off batteries, somewhere around 300 lumens is acceptable. When creating a 100-inch image that equates to about 37 nits. That’s enough for a watchable, albeit dim, image. You’re better off moving the Anker closer, which will create a smaller but brighter image.

The Optoma, on the other hand, is significantly brighter than either one. On a same size screen I measured over 127 nits, which is over five times brighter than the Mars II. The Optoma is much more watchable at 100 inches. And if you use the Optoma’s most color accurate mode, it’s still twice as bright as the other two. 

And we definitely need to talk about color. The Mars II Pro has some of the least accurate colors of any projector I’ve ever reviewed. Blue is the only color out of the three primary and three secondary colors that is accurate. Green is oversaturated. Yellow isn’t but is quite greenish-yellow. Magenta is oversaturated and too blue. The result looks like you’ve got the color control a few ticks above where it should be. It’s not weird, per se, and overall it still looks better than the M2, but overall it’s definitely more Speed Racer than The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

Side by side with the Optoma, it’s night and day. Or at least Technicolor and Kodachrome. The Optoma isn’t super accurate itself, and actually errs on the side of being undersaturated, but its colors look far more natural than the Anker.

Unlike the Optoma, the Mars II doesn’t have extensive picture settings. It has two. You can adjust the color temperature: Normal, Cool and Warm, and even the most accurate (Warm) is still way too cool. You can adjust the lamp settings: Standard, Battery and Auto. Standard is its brightest. Battery is dim but gets you that three-plus hour view time. Auto switches between the two other modes depending on whether or not the projector is plugged in. That’s it. No brightness, contrast, tint. One result is that you can’t adjust contrast to restore clipped details in bright whites.

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Contrast ratio, like the brightness, is acceptable given the category. I measured an average of 354:1 across all modes. That seems low, and it is, but the majority of sub-$1,000 projectors are only two or three times that. The high end of that performance range, the BenQ HT2050A is 2,094:1. The ViewSonic is basically the same as the Anker, at 376:1. The Optoma is 568:1. 

The Anker’s image lacks punch but not as much as you might think. In fact, because the Anker’s black level is a little lower than the M2 it looks a little better. The M2 is very slightly brighter, which isn’t noticeable. That black level is even lower than the Optoma, but that projector is so much brighter this edge isn’t relevant. 

Lastly we come to detail. Both the M2 and HD146X are 1080p to the Anker’s 720p. On a 100-inch screen this is most noticeable if you’re close enough to notice the individual pixels, which are fairly large. If you shrink the image down to 60-80 inches, it looks detailed enough that it doesn’t look soft. 

Conclusion

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from the Mars II Pro. I’ve been underwhelmed with most battery-powered portable projectors I’ve reviewed. I’ve also found that companies not known for video gear tend to miss some important things when it comes to projectors. For instance, picture quality. 

Overall I’m impressed that Anker got a lot right with the Mars II Pro. At least when graded on the curve of price, size and battery power. Compared with an average home projector it comes up short in every performance metric, so If you’re looking for something that will never stray too far from an outlet, you’re better off with a more “traditional” projector. But if you want something portable to watch movies outside, the Mars II Pro has a great design, sounds good, is easy to use and has a more watchable image than the ViewSonic M2 — all for less money.

As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, airplane graveyards and more. 

You can follow his exploits on Instagram and YouTube, and on his travel blog, BaldNomad. He also wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-sized submarines, along with a sequel.