#it's a fun and low-stakes thing to be irritated about every year cheers

[jungwildeandfree]

ultimately i think it's good to have a conversation about whether or not generative AI has a place in cinema, and i'm glad The Brutalist has brought this up, because creators should be considering this issue. and ultimately i think the answer is No

[jokerxtreme36]

Thoughts on Zero One and Kiramager so far + extra (Spoilers)

Man it has been a while since I’ve done this. I was a bit uncertain to really come back and speak my mind on these since I feel what I say doesn’t really matter, I tend to fear what I say could be an unpopular opinion and get flack for it. I’m still hesitant on writing but I felt like wanting to write again after so long. I don’t know if I’ll bring this back but we’ll see. A lot has happened with Toku that’s surprising, I’m surprised how much Toku has been slowly getting itself up to be official over here thanks to various services like discotek and Shout Factory, in an age where you can officially watch the original Kamen Rider series and Kuuga online, If you told me that 5 years ago, I wouldn’t know what to believe.

Recap:

Been three years since I’ve done this iirc, but here’s My thoughts on the seasons I never wrote my full thoughts on.

Kyuranger: This was an up and down series for me. When I first started, I was hating it, due to awful pacing and was doing an awful job of establishing characters, especially Lucky who was hitting the marks of why I disliked Right and Takaharu, thankfully the series picked itself up around the second quarter with Scorpio’s arc and introducing Tsurugi. Would later go down and up with each arc but In my opinion, ended on a decent note. It does suck it never had a crossover with Zyuohger but I did enjoy the Space Squad crossover, which utilized the strengths of the characters really well and was ultimately satisfying.

Ex-Aid: Ex-Aid was a series I was a bit skeptical by but was one over by the end. I enjoyed Emu and his adventures and I give props for the show having two female Riders (Nico counts, fight me!). If there’s an issue, it’d be that I wish they’d just end with the crossover movie cause I feel the V-cinema’s felt like tacked on alternate endings, I do give them credit for trying to connect it to other films.

Lupinranger vs Patranger: A series I’ve seen that’s either enjoyed or disliked. I’m in the former and do like that they experimented with the concept of two different teams. I dig the idea that the Lupins are influenced by more modern Sentai that get the gimmick of the episode while the Pat’s are more akin to classic seasons where they just focus on the Monster, also doesn’t help that Japan has very low views on their justice system so the Lupins are more favorable. Plus I loved the way it ended on an open note, much like how Sanjo tends to do in his writing.

Amazons: Another divisive series and I’m leaning towards those that dislike it.On its own, it’s alright but as a series that uses elements from a classic series, it mostly is superficial in how it uses it cause the original series was remembered for how violent it could be, but there was more to it than just mindless violence. Also doesn’t help the producer’s comment on how “Recent Rider’s aren’t interesting, this series will give it it’s fangs back” saying the shows before it were not good when they were enjoyed by a lot fans. I do give the series credit for trying to write a gray moral type of setting but its flimsily written that it can come off as irritating,, especially around Season 2. Though I’ll give the movie credit for ending the series on a decent note.

Dino Force Brave: A miniseries that caught a lot of fans by surprise, since Korea commissioned a miniseries/continuation for Kyoryuger given how popular it was. It seemed promising, then I saw who was producing and writing it, instead of Sanjo returning. we got Ninninger’s writer. it retcons things like Torin’s not dead and Devius isn’t mentioned (the latter I don’t mind). The series is short which is both its strenght and weakness because for a miniseries, it isn’t given much time to flesh out the new characters, since they only have 12 minutes for each story, shows like the Ultra Fight series work since its serialized and can work as a movie, this not so much but unlike Amazons, I consider this harmless, its nothing too bad and there’s some merit to it (even if they tried saying it was canon in the last Taisen film)

Build: Now this was a series I was actually surprised by, this series is probably my third favorite post Decade Rider series. The series blends the right amount of silly and mature moments. It has a lot of memorable characters and one of my new favorite villlains in the franchise, Evolt was a great villain that really brought the stakes and made you think how this series was gonna deal with him. I remember the ending being divisive but I was ok with it since it does give an explanation for how Build could interact with the other Riders in future crossovers with how the previous seasons (minus Amazons) could connect. plus the V-cinema’s were well handled from an ok one like Cross-Z to a surprisingly Amazing one that is Grease’s V-cinema, now this is how you do a continuation.

Strongest Battle: Now this was a miniseries that caught me by surprise as well since they brought back returning actors to lead up to the next season. Seeing Arakawa still got it and made me hope to see him return writing someday (hint hint).The cast they got surprised me, some I was glad to see return and some I wasn’t too happy with like Takaharu and to an extent Kagura (but too be fair, she wasn’t as bad as Right), but I was intrigued to see what Arakawa would do with them and I was ok with how they were written here though still dislike Takaharu as a character.

Ryusoulger: Ryusoulger is a series that I’ve seen that is pretty loved from what I’ve seen but sadly I’m on the opposite side, I don’t think it was that terrible but more or less disappointing and somehow boring. Strongest Battle setup a lot of things for Ryusoul to follow up on that it felt like a downgrade, like Gaisorg being underutilized that you can tell they didn’t know what to do with him. The writing was all over the place that it was hard to be invested with the characters, who did their best with what they were given but their wasn’t much stakes. If there’s one thing I enjoyed, I really loved the ending arc for giving us not only a Female big bad but also blowing my expectations and breaking status quo, with Red not being the one to finish off the main villain. The ending arc was great yet at the same time was upsetting that the rest of the series wasn’t up to par with it. But now its gonna be the next adaptation after Beast Morphers. With Hasbro in charge, I’m intrigued to see what they do with it.

Zi-o: From the same minds behind Dino Force Brave and Amazons comes what is meant to be a big celebrate/closure of the Heisei era, but threw logic out the window for what is ultimately a fun kind of mess. I don’t mind continuity but I was iffy on how Zi-o retconned the previous seasons as not connected since that’s what they were trying to do until this series went (rip paper) whoops it broke. The series does have some merit with the idea of the Another Rider’s and showing the development of our protagonist and his attempt to defy fate. I also enjoyed when the series stopped time travelling but instead met the characters in the present day cause then the arcs were written better like in Blade and Agito’s tribute episodes. I haven’t watched Geiz’s V-cinema yet but also heard from the producer’s twitter that Woz’s V-cinema isn’t happening, which sucks cause there’s potential in it.

Now that those are done, here we go.

Kamen Rider Zero One:

Now with the start of the Reiwa era, I was hyped since we had Ex-Aid’s writer returning and we got not only a cool awesome secondary but a surprising Female Rider early on and is our third Rider. The first arc starts off strong with Aruto wanting to save the Humagears from Metsubojinrai. Things were looking good until things went downhill thanks to a certain Gold turd known as Thouser, before I get to my issues, I love his suit and how his finishers have a trademark, but that loses its charm when you see him everytime as he’s a very arrogant and obnoxious about his views on how “Humagears aren’t necessary” almost every time. There’s character’s that are meant to be hated, but then there’s characters that you just want to see go away. Once the arc ends the series thankfully pics up with Fuwa getting Rampage, Yua quitting and the return of Izakuchi and Naki. I’m interested to see where things go from here.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager:

Now this was a series I was cautiously optimistic by, since Arakawa returns to write a new series and after my disappointment with Ryusoul, I was nervous but thankfully this series is off to a good start, was surprised we started with episode 0, which does a good job setting up the main 4 before the red shows up. I was a bit skeptical on Juru since he screamed a lot of traits that they could’ve easily screwed up. Thankfully they’ve been doing a good job with Juru, he’s cheerful and imaginative but not a total idiot (what Right should’ve been) and the series has been doing a good job giving everyone their own center episode while not being afraid to take a few risks. I also enjoy the villains like Garza and his rivalry towards Juru due to having a similar ability to his brother that he despised, especially the fight in episode 4 being a highlight. I like that Juru wasn’t sure if he was qualified into being the leader but saw that his passion could help the team in his own unique way. Another thing I love is the Monsters with them going for a Showa aesthetic on mask based Kaijin but with an added twist of a Kaiju counterpart for them to fight, it’s a nice change of pace from just having them grow. The series has done a great job at bringing back an old style and breathing fresh life to it. Was scared hearing what happened to Juru’s actor but thankfully heard he’s doing ok and I’m excited to see what the series brings next.

[flauntpage]

How to Pick Your New Favorite NBA Team

There’s never been a better time to love, watch, or invest your time in the NBA. The most appealing sports league in the world has become more than a nightly roller-coaster ride that lets countless scenarios unfold in the most entertaining ways, on and off the court. It’s a vibrant cultural touchstone with ceaseless momentum, planting seeds in Hollywood and the fashion industry, altering societal stigmas linked to mental health, gambling and marijuana, and engaging with complex and divisive political/racial/societal issues as they appear.

It's imperfect, but also couldn't minimize its own relevance even if it wanted to. While the NFL represents a divided nation, the NBA embraces incongruity. It’s full of young, engaging stars from all over the world. As they enter, ready to make a name for themselves, the identifiable stars who make the league so profitable dip in and out of free agency. They sign with different teams and demand trades. Next year, more recognizable characters will wear different jerseys than they are now—enough to spark countless narratives that are irresistible even to the most casual fan.

It’s helped create a hyper-competitive environment that, unlike the NFL, isn’t tribalistic. Rooting for a favorite team is almost antiquated in a world where people are fine sitting through a random Pelicans-Bucks game just to witness the moment Giannis Antetokounmpo squares up against Anthony Davis, as if it were a thrilling set piece directed by 35-year-old Steven Spielberg.

But nomadic viewership lowers emotional stakes. To cheer for one team over another is to glide from pain to joy and back again with timelessly indescribable feeling. If you don’t have a favorite team, I suggest you latch onto one before opening night; as the 2018-19 season gets under way, with a tasty collection of story lines, rivalries, and rumors all whip into a bottomless reservoir of talent, now is a terrific time to fall in love.

Let this guide do the heavy lifting as you try and find the most appropriate franchise to lead you through what promises to be the most captivating season in NBA history (until 2020 immediately blows it all away, of course).

You’re extremely indecisive: Phoenix Suns

You can’t remember the last time you actually watched something on Netflix, even though you open the app on your iPad every single night. The thought of committing to one show or movie is too difficult when there are so many other options. You mindlessly scroll through streaming purgatory, not quite understanding why you can't just watch everything at the same time.

The Suns—a team that somewhat-curiously fired their GM one week before opening night—don’t know who they are or what they want. Is it the playoffs? A slow-cook rebuild? Should they tank? Pay veterans? If you’re the type of person who returns 95 percent of what you buy on Amazon Prime, you deserve the Suns.

You don't have internet access: Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies

No disrespect to these two teams, which have several interesting and undiscovered qualities that make them fascinating in their own way. But Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson Jr. aren’t enough. Kemba Walker and Mike Conley can, in the right light, be seen as draws all by themselves, but if you don't see yourself staying awake for four quarters when they're on the west coast, don't pick them. On the other hand, if you're indifferent, don't mind losses, and can appreciate how beautiful life's absolute-slightest pleasant surprises are able to be, let's just flip a coin and be done with it.

You're a frontrunner with low self-esteem: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers

Bandwagon jumping is a timeless, ever-irritating sports fandom felony. Not to judge people who willfully commit such crimes, but those involved probably wear knockoff Yeezys with pride and/or regularly test drive a Ferrari through their neighborhood without telling anyone who asks that it’s not technically their car. These people love finishing first, especially if they can get there by cutting corners. They cheat at golf.

The Warriors are here for an obvious reason: they’re the best team, have won three of the NBA’s last four titles, and something will go horribly wrong if they don’t three-peat. If you choose them, you’re avoiding disappointment and the general misery that comes with cheering for any one franchise in a 30-team league. You're also extremely risk averse and painfully boring.

The Lakers (currently) do not have the same cachet as Golden State, but there’s an undeniable swagger that takes shape whenever the best player alive/ever is leading your favorite team. Even though L.A. almost definitely won’t win the championship in 2019—and may not even make the playoffs—there’s a certain confidence that comes with cheering them on. And in the back of your mind, you also know that there’s a decent to definite chance they add another superstar next summer and immediately become the prohibitive favorite. You’re not fooling anyone with this pick. LeBron still equals world domination.

You’re a masochist: Sacramento Kings (application pending: Minnesota Timberwolves)

Fans who’ve spent the past dozen years rooting for these two teams remind me of the flagrantly NSFW opening to Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. They are the hopeless drifter who wouldn’t wish what they’ve endured on their worst enemy.

The Kings are perennially hopeless. If you intentionally choose them, one can only assume that you take cold showers and eat ice cream for breakfast. Your favorite adjective is “numb.” Pessimism lords over your decisions, backed by the belief that something will eventually go terribly wrong because it usually does. Choose this team if you expected Kevin McCallister to die the first time you watched Home Alone 2.

Since 2007, the only team with a lower winning percentage than Sacramento is Minnesota (and they’re coming off a 47-win season!). It’s too early to say whether they belong here, though. Karl-Anthony Towns might be the best player alive in a few years and it’s probably too early to make any definitive statements about Andrew Wiggins’s trajectory. But Jimmy Butler’s trade demand hit this organization like a PTSD diagnosis. This franchise can’t have nice things. Go all in at your own risk.

You’re patient, possibly to a fault: Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls

Even as each one of these organizations embarks on a rebuild with fresh ideas coming in from their front offices and coaching staffs (except Chicago), it’s so hard to trust any of them (including Chicago). The Knicks are carefully constructing a new house, brick by brick, behind David Fizdale’s militaristic obsession with conditioning, but their best and most unique player may miss the entire season. Orlando is all in on size, length, and seemingly illogical physical proportions found in their two most recent lottery picks. The Hawks are collecting assets. The Nets and Clippers have serious cap space. The Bulls are focused on their curious core of talented misfits.

It could be a while before any of these teams see playoff action, and some of these rebuilds may top out with a first-round elimination. But there’s value in getting in on the ground floor with a long-term investment.

You’re either older than 35 or younger than 12: Dallas Mavericks

This is a strange category for any team to be in, but it’s fitting for the Mavs. In what will unofficially be Dirk Nowitzki’s final season, sentimentalists will not want to miss any Mavericks games this season. Given his age (40), it’s possible that any minute could be Dirk’s last. It won’t take much, maybe a badly sprained ankle or severely pulled hamstring. If you believe “stop and smell the roses” is the most important expression ever uttered, ride with Dallas.

Beyond Dirk, this is a fun team that may be on the cusp of something special. Athletically, Dennis Smith Jr. looms as a natural disaster, and Luka Doncic may someday be the face of the freaking sport. The Mavericks won’t make the postseason (again), but it’s not a bad time to get in, even if you don’t remember or care about Dirk’s prime. (If you’re one of those people, please let Ian Thomsen teach you about it ASAP.)

You're searching for a religious experience: Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans

If you can’t fall asleep, stay up and watch Giannis and AD dominate everything. Both will spend random weeks throughout the season looking like God. Right now, there might not be a more terrifying mass-adrenaline moment associated with basketball than whenever these two leave their feet. Neither has yet to peak; each enters the season with a refurbished supporting cast. So long as they stay healthy, you should be extraordinarily pleased with either team. If not, prepare yourself for an inescapably deep depression.

You believe loyalty is the glue that holds society together: Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs

There were moments over the summer when I completely forgot Cleveland had a basketball team. LeBron was (and in some ways, still is) the entire organization. That doesn’t mean the Cavaliers are wretched or incompetent—Kevin Love just signed a lengthy contract extension and Collin Sexton may win Rookie of the Year—but it does speak to how demoralizing it can be to lose the greatest player who ever lived two times in the same decade.

To go from the thrill of an annual Finals appearance to the sudden realization that you may never make the Finals ever again is dark. And if you weren’t born in Cleveland but willingly choose to root for this team two years after they won their first championship and two months after LeBron left town, please know ahead of time that there’s now a hard cap on how much joy professional basketball can bestow upon you.

The Spurs would be in a different category had Dejounte Murray not torn his ACL over the weekend. For an organization that heads into every season with higher sustained expectations than any other over the past 20 years, this season will either be an ephemeral off ramp that Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford withstand as practically as any two minds possibly can, or the epilogue for an era that often felt like it'd never need one.

Choosing the Spurs or the Cavaliers is admirable, but don't do it if you can't handle having people in your life suddenly wanting to avoid eye contact.

You think modest expectations are the key to true happiness: Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz

By far the most fulfilling teams to root for are those talented enough to overachieve, young enough to learn from mistakes, armed with an exciting direction and a clear identity. In short, pick one of these teams if you’re content with a team that will probably fall short, but in doing so provide a memorable, fun season that bears a ton of optimism going forward. And in the outside chance any one of these organizations reaches the conference Finals, or beyond, you’ll look like a genius.

You hate change (and possibly yourself): Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, Detroit Pistons, (application pending: Miami Heat)

This isn’t a statement about how any of these teams play. Each of them has star power—assuming Jimmy Butler ends up in South Beach—and should be pretty good. It’s more an indictment of the hole their front offices have thrown them into. Even with a Pistons team that just fired its president and head coach, these organizations are, for the most part, stale. They aren’t going up and they aren’t going down. Right now, they just sort of exist.

You’re on their side if you don’t understand why your Blackberry is no longer socially acceptable, still watch network television (but found Amazon’s Forever kind of interesting), and have never owned a car with power windows.

You want to have your cake and eat it too: Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers

There are specks of a blatant antagonist in your DNA, but you picked one of these five teams because you hate losing but don't want the grief that comes with attaching yourself to a prohibitive favorite. The Rockets, Celtics, Raptors, Sixers, and Thunder may not favorites, but they're not underdogs either—all of them should be better than the Lakers—and if you pick any one of them, you've done so because you believe they will win the whole damn thing.

You’re setting yourself up for probable disappointment and that’s okay! You’re the type of person who’s 100 percent confident Tiger Woods will win two majors in the next eight months and convinced that fanny packs are a trend with staying power. There’s a decent chance neither of those predictions come true, but anything is possible in your world. We’re talking about a calculated gamble. You acknowledge that all of these teams may lose their last game (with Philly and Oklahoma City far more likely to fall than the other three), but where’s the fun in siding with a juggernaut? Go one or two rungs below that and feel more astute if everything works out. Which...it may!

How to Pick Your New Favorite NBA Team published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/