#it's also just a really enjoyable star trek movie because it feels like it was made with love

[blinkees]

not a request but i more so was wondering if you have a list of media you're not comfortable with doing requests on, just in case :)

i've said in the past i didn't think i should make a list, because i didn't want it to be searchable, and i didn't want people to make assumptions about me based on the list.

but i also feel bad because people spend a lot of time writing up requests for things i can't do :[ so i think the best compromise is if i sort of Vaguely Allude to them? i hate being unclear but it's the only solution i've thought of so far OTL

i won't take requests for the terf wizard series for hopefully obvious reasons

the most common i get requests for is probably the horse cartoon that rhymes with shy brittle tony. nothing personal against people who enjoy the horse cartoon at all!!! it's just something my ex was really really into and it makes me think of her so i don't like to do requests for it i'm sorry </3

i don't do requests for a certain very popular scifi movie series (star trek is fine. it's the other one lmfao) again personal silly reasons, nothing against people who enjoy it <3

most adult swim cartoons unfortunately (again nothing against enjoyers, just a personal discomfort)

that miiiight be about it? i'm sure there's more that will come to me later but those are the more common ones.

[diamondsandlemons]

Tulip's best of 2024

honestly it wasn't a huge year for media for me. I had to pair down some of the categories because I didn't have enough nominees that really fit the bill (in my opinion, of course). Still, some of what there was was really great, so let's take a look:

MOVIES (mixed 2024 originals and belateds):

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

The Wild Robot (2024)

12 Angry Men (1957)

the Yuru Camp Movie (2022)

the Mystery Cuddlers pilot (2024) (does a cartoon pilot count as a movie??? it kinda does if we’re using anime terms…)

(^case in point about there not being a lot of options 😅) Mystery Cuddlers was cute and I'm glad Pen Ward is still working on original stuff, but this would absolutely not be here if I had seen another Really Good movie this year.

The two robot movies at the front are surely not a surprise if you know anything about me lol. Ghost in the Shell was a lot more talky and philosophical than I expected it to be, which is probably what saved it from being placed a couple spots lower on account of there being a lot* of gun-based action scenes, which are often boring to me. That said, it was never gonna be that low, being a robot girl movie and all, lol. *At least that's how I remember it from when I watched this one six months ago. Grain of salt, I guess.

The Wild Robot had been hyped up a bit before I saw it, and it (mostly) lived up! I also feel like it has a bit of a pacing issue, and a weird sequel hook that's kind of abruptly resolved at the end(?), and I was a little conflicted at first about the fact that it's a talking animal movie (I hadn't seen any trailers or anything beforehand), but nah actually that one scene where Roz learns to speak animal language is peak enough to be worth it imo. Enjoyable film 👍

Anyway thank god I'm not strictly adhering to last year's structure or else I'd've been forced to put Megalopolis on here, and no one wants that.

TELEVISION 2024 originals:

Dungeon Meshi

Girls Band Cry

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

Oshi No Ko

Star Trek: Lower Decks

HONORABLE MENTION: Game Changer

Surprising no one, Dungeon Meshi was my favorite thing to watch this year after I loved reading the manga last year. I don't think there's a higher honor I can bestow an anime than watching the new episodes twice every week just because I wanna see what the dub and sub are doing differently.

GBC and Jellyfish are both great and it's really noticeable how extremely similar their premises are for shows that were airing simultaneously; I couldn't bring myself to put one on here without the other. GBC edges ahead only because I'm in love with the way those 3D models move. like how did they do that

RIP Lower Decks, you will be missed 🙏 Back when it started I checked it out because I was in the mood for a funny scifi show, and not only did it deliver on that front, it also got me very attached to its characters and, to some extent, its world, even though I didn't understand any of the very frequent Star Trek franchise references. Will this be what finally entices me to get into Star Trek more generally...? Only the new year will tell.

belateds:

Re:Zero (2016)

Spice and Wolf (2008)

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018)

Pokemon Concierge (2023)

Northern Exposure (1990)

Okay look. As the wide genre of generic isekais go, Re:Zero is really good. You have to be prepared to meet it on its level, but if you do that it WILL hook you. It will make you cry. You just have to let it work on you. There's not that much anime bullshit, even. Way less than other shows I've liked. Also uhhh I just realized that this should technically go in the above category since it did have new episodes airing in 2024. but. whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

RotTMNT may or may not be on next year's top 5 as well, depending on how I end up feeling about it at the end of its run. I'm only half way through it rn but I really like what its doing (...for the most part. This is my first foray into Turtles but even I can tell they kinda ruined Splinter).

Of the shows that my mom wants me to watch, I think I'm actually enjoying Northern Exposure a bit more than The X-Files. I'm always intrigued by the way it gently pulls at your suspension of disbelief that it takes place in the real world. It wouldn't surprise me if this show eventually gets JoJo's Bizarre in a slow way that makes it feel totally natural.

BOOKS (mixed 2024 originals and belateds):

Tamsyn Muir - Nona the Ninth (2022)

Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites (1987)

Tamsyn Muir - The Unwanted Guest (2022)

Alex Hirsch - The Book of Bill (2024)

Momo Tachibana - Little Witch Academia: The Nonsensical Witch and the Country of the Fairies (2019)

yeah so Nona the Ninth is just as good as the previous two Locked Tomb books, and features an interesting outside perspective on the empire that I'd been hungry for the whole time! Can't wait for book 4! ...now, was it cheating to include the bonus short story as a separate entry? Yeah, probably. But you can't stop me.

I've also been getting (back) into Discworld this year! In high school I'd read the first two books (The Color of Magic (1983) and The Light Fantastic (1986)), which I enjoyed, but I didn't really feel the momentum to keep going with them. In 2024 I gave them another go (in audiobook form), and still had a lot of fun, and was also reminded of the ever-present classic fantasy sexism that they were rife with. The kind where only, I think, 4 women have names (across two books, and many various adventures within), and two of them are basically naked for no real reason, and the other two didn't really feel like complete people either. By the end of TLF I was starting to wonder if it wasn't being done intentionally, as part of the parody of fantasy fiction that these books are? It still wouldn't be great if so but there would be, like, a reason at least.

Imagine my surprise when Pratchett's third book, Equal Rites, is literally all about the unexamined sexism of the discworld, and stars the world first female wizard trying to overcome all of that. Without that one big problem weighing it down, and featuring the same witty writing style, it's definitely my favorite so far (I also read Mort (1987) and I didn't like it as much. But I'm still going through 'em!)

The LWA light novel probably wouldn't be here if I was more of a reader than I am. It was pretty mid all things considered, though I'm definitely glad it exists because more Little Witch Academia content is always a good thing. It's kind of a funny reading experience because (in classic light novel fashion) it's written in first person, and Akko is just not the type of character you'd ever expect to be a narrator.

COMICS 2024 originals:

Cam Marshall - Flying Saucer Video

Abe Tsukasa - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Aki Hamazi - Bocchi the Rock! Side Story: Kikuri Hiroi's Heavy Drinking Diary

Ryan North - Star Trek: Lower Decks - Warp Your Own Way

Keiichi Arawi - Nichijou

Look, as long as Cam Marshall is writing/drawing queer women, I'm here for it. After I read their webcomic Matchmaker and liked it enough to buy a physical copy and then immediately read the whole thing a second time, I was on board.

Now take what I said about liking the Dungeon Meshi anime this year as much as I liked the manga last year, and flip it around, and that's how I feel about Frieren. It's Frieren! It's pretty great =)

Oh, also, hello again Lower Decks. When the show ended I was curious to check out the comics, especially once I learned they were written by Ryan North, whose work I've really enjoyed on Adventure Time and Squirrel Girl. This book in particular is a choose your own adventure style story, and its written in a particular fourth-wall-breaking-ish way that kind of makes you confront the fact that you're holding a book. I really liked it, and more LD in any form is obviously always welcome.

belateds:

John Allison - Giant Days (2013) (also 2015, to print. It's a different thing)

Ryan North - The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015)

Natashi Allegri - Bee and Puppycat (2015)

Ryan North - Star Trek: Lower Decks (2022)

Shouichi Taguchi - Futari Escape (2023)

GIANT DAYS!!!!!!!!! This is probably my favorite thing that I, like, interacted with, this year. As if you couldn't tell, lol. I don't know what it is, maybe the two-parts-humor/one-part-genuinely-emotional-writing that Adventure Time turned me onto, maybe its that I strongly relate to one of the protagonists, maybe that its just that its a story about women roughly my age, maybe its the toxic yuri. Whatever the reason I couldn't put it down once I started, and I was sad to reach the end so soon. I wish there was more! I love it!

Oh, also, hello again, AGAIN, Lower Decks. This volume has Dracula in it. So that's neat!

VIDEO GAMES (mixed 2024 originals and belateds):

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (2024)

Splatoon 3: Side Order (2024)

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2012)

Pseudoregalia (2023)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies (2013)

Oh yeah! It was also the year of Ace Attorney! In particular, the year that I caught up with every game in the series. Now let me tell you, I've heard a lot about how aa5 and 6 are the black sheep of the franchise, and after having played them, I wholeheartedly agree that Spirit of Justice is fucking abysmal and the worst game in the series by far (except for Uendo, he can stay). Dual Destinies, though, isn't close to being that bad. It's not a great sequel, and its kinda frustrating how little it seems to care about anything that happened in aa4 (and they fumbled another trans woman character, but at least this one is likable and not purely a caricature at our expense), but as a game onto its own, I actually really like its cases and the story they tell altogether. And what more can you ask from in an Ace Attorney game?

Now the Layton crossover is a beast unto its own. This game is insane. That's an understatement, but I really can't express to you how much I never could have predicted how this game starts, much less how it ends. It's a wild ride but its worth it, trust me.

No comment about Paper Mario. You already know it's good.

Honestly Pikmin should be considered an honorable mention here too. After playing every Pikmin game last year, I went through them all again this year with my girlfriend, and then a third time by myself again. I ❤ Pikmin.

ALBUMS 2024 originals:

Louie Zong - BYTE BALLADS

Louie Zong - RAT TAXI

Even Call - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Original Soundtrack)

smiling broadly - for a moment i saw myself as inexorably beautiful

penny pyrope! - cat allergy

belateds:

They Might Be Giants - My Murdered Remains (2021)

The Beths - Warm Blood (2016)

ThorHighHeels - POSITIVE YELLOW DX (2021)

Belly - Star (1993)

Uchu Conbini - 染まる音を確認したら (2013)

As weird as it to say, I'm kind of new to music. As in, I never really used to be someone sought out bands or albums, I just found one song that I liked at a time and downloaded it and that was that. That's been changing ever since I started my TMBG journey in, like, 2020? but its a slow process, and, as I think this list clearly demonstrates, I still don't really tend to seek out new artists. And I definitely still don't feel equipped with the language to talk about music. These were all albums I really enjoyed though! Check 'em out! And maybe my horizons will be further expanded in 2025.

[nerdieforpedro]

People I'd like to get to Know Better

Last Song: Bad Girl by Usher (because it's a song I will sing full volume with windows down - no matter if I'm losing my voice or not) 🤣

Favorite Color: Blues and Reds. I like the juxtaposition of cool and warm together and I feel I look good in both. 😎

Currently Watching: Just finished Bosch on Prime. Keeping up with Chicago PD, Med and Fire (I love them all okay), Tulsa King (I enjoy this show way too much and should not just be watching for Mitch but I am so it is what it is.), Star Trek Discovery - watching with my mom is really fun. I'm enjoying Brilliant Minds and I just have to remember it's TV - stop getting mad at the screen (due to medical inaccuracies but it really is an enjoyable show. It's because of my job.) I still have to figure out if I'm caught up on Found of not but I loved what I saw of it.

Last Movie: It was either Rebel Ridge or Blink Twice. I know I saw Blink Twice in theaters and I think I came home and tried to watch Rebel Ridge which was a bad idea. Didn't finish Rebel Ridge. I'll try watching it again but then it made me want to watch John Wick or The Equalizer for a faster pace. 👀 I'll need to give it another shot. Blink Twice had a warning about the material which I was surprised to see but is was well warranted and still didn't quite prepare me for what I saw. Excellent movie though.

Current Obsession: Playing my video games since I can't seem to write. I've been playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Final Fantasy 16 and got a game trial to Baldur's Gate 3 because just from the TikTok's it seems like I would have the same type of obsession with that game I had with Final Fantasy Tactics. Which honestly maybe that isn't so bad. I also have way too much sunscreen (always trying different ones because my skin is now combo - oily forehead and nose with dry cheeks and acne because it's been there since puberty, my longest relationship outside of family lol) 🤣 Though Korean ones work well for my skin it seems as well as cleansers and stuff.

Relationship Status: Single and chilling.

Last Thing I Googled: About a sunscreen. Nerdie be nerdy. 😊

I was tagged by @bitchwitch1981 @soft-persephone @yopossum @inept-the-magnificent @baronessvonglitter

Like most things I'm late to it so if you'd like to do it, please do and tag me. 🤗

[demonlorddante]

can you please explain German star trek and spuck PLEASE. what is going on. you sound like you're having so much fun with it!! I would love to feel a fraction of that enjoyment! Also I do not know anything about non-german star trek so please keep that in mind. Thank you <3

Okay so basically unser traumschiff/traumschiff surprise are a German parody of Star Trek: The Original Series (raumschiff enterprise in German), aka the Star Trek series from the 60s that includes Kirk and Spock. The parody originates from a 1997-2002 sketch comedy show called bullyparade which was super popular in Germany, so originally it was just a bunch of short sketches. However, bullyparade fans got to vote a few times in the 2000s for sketches to be turned into full films, so that’s how traumschiff surprise was created. Now for an explanation of the parody itself: the premise is basically “what if Kirk (captain), Spock (Vulcan first officer), and Scotty (head engineer) were super flamboyantly gay. Wouldn’t it be funny” and then it plays off of it by putting them into silly situations and seeing how they react. So in this parody the main characters we have are Captain Kork, Mr. Spuck, and Mr. Schrotty. Spuck is the most flamboyant of the three and has actually been memed outside of his original context before (Spock on his puter) and he plays a really important role in the movie which is why he’s kind of like the golden boy of the parody because how could you not love him. I’m not actually sure what else to explain about it but basically it’s very silly and very gay and very fun ❤️

[allisonreader]

9 people tag game

Thank-you for the tag @rowenabean

Last song: I honestly couldn't tell you. I went to bed last night listening to classical music, so I couldn't tell you which song I remember before falling asleep.

Last movie: I watched The Out-Laws with my parents last night.

Currently watching: I'm going to list a few here. I've been rewatching Star Trek Enterprise, I just finished a Turkish show called The Protector that I really enjoyed (even if it was a touch more violent and had more death than I generally like... as in don't get attached to anyone but the two main characters.), Star Trek Strange New Worlds (a little sad that there's only 2 episodes left of the new season, I've enjoyed every episode except for episode 8, and found episode 1 to be on the weaker/less enjoyable side), I have also started rewatching Home Improvement again (I can remember watching it with my parents when it was on tv, but I don't remember any of the episodes really, just the overall tone of the show, the fact that you never see Wilson's face in full, that I really liked Al {and still do}, and how bumbling toolman Tim was). Also watching Amazing Race Canada, Claim to Fame, and Stars on Mars.

Currently reading: A Star Trek Next Gen crossover with Voyager fanfiction, but a book that I had put on my favourites list went on sale for only a couple bucks the other day, so I bought it and intend to read it soon.

Last thing researched for writing: I can't recall a particular topic for writing... (as lately any of my research has been more along the lines of premature wedding thoughts) but I did have to look up the spelling of memoir for something that I was writing. (Because I was struggling with spelling that day.)

I don't feel like thinking of people to tag, so if you've been camping any time within the past year and you feel like doing this.

[lenievi]

Do you recommend SNW? I’ve been trying to get into it because I like Gia Sandhu and enjoyed some episodes like The Elysian Kingdom. But I’m finding it hard to like what they did with Spock. I like Chapel as a character but Sp@pel isn’t my thing even though Gene Roddenberry wanted it to be canon. (Roddenberry apparently wanted Spock to be a Byronic character who circled between Uhura and Chapel before finally settling on the latter.)

Ok, I’m sorry, but first… people call it SPAPEL? This is the first time I’m seeing it lol took me a moment, anyway…

I’m probably not the best person to ask because I’m not watching Star Trek for… Star Trek? My favourite Star Trek is Discovery which is apparently not Star Trek at all to most people, so…

I think that overall SNW is a good series, but the focus on romance is, quite frankly, disappointing. (You can call me a hypocrite if you want, since I’m all into Kirk/La'an, but I still maintain that Kirk should not be in this show at all at this point - or only as an AU version of himself, since that’s fun - but since he is in it, well, I’m going to enjoy him - since I do like Wesley’s portrayal - and ship him with La'an.)

What is also disappointing is the focus on Spock. Again, I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t enjoy Spock’s journey in the first season, but I would prefer it if romance wasn’t the focus, and Spock was featured way less and other characters more. I have enjoyed Spock a bit less in s2, but I… enjoy Spock overall less even when I watch TOS; he’s just not my primary focus atm

I like La'an, I like M'Benga, I like Una, Uhura, Hemmer, Kirk, I enjoy Pelia, I like Pike when he doesn’t cook, so there is plenty to focus on for me (watching TV is about characters for me).

There are things I’m disappointed with (that are mainly: where are my strange new worlds? LOL), but I try not to dwell on them (except complaining every week about how Una was underutilized again lol), because they don’t really hold me back from enjoying what the writers are offering.

I don’t mind Spock/Chapel. I quite like them tbh; I’m interested in where it’ll go or rather how it gets there. (At this point, I’m most interested in “Is Chapel going to leave the Enterprise and the show at the end of the season?” because I feel that’s where it’s heading atm I don’t want it to happen, but I started to wonder because of Korby…)

I’m just very easy to please tbh and that’s why I don’t recommend things to people (I’m the kind of a person who will tell you that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the best TOS movie lol and it is my favourite~) I’m just lucky, so far, that SNW is matching my expectations and even validates some of my TOS readings and various headcanon. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want some things to be different, but I’m not the one writing the show.

I do like SNW, even though my reaction to episode 5 last week might suggest otherwise lol The comedy aspect just didn’t work for me… I’ll probably change my opinion after I rewatch it in a few months though.

also, I didn’t like The Elysian Kingdom when it aired, even though I cried at the end. I liked it more when I rewatched it in preparation for s2, but it still isn’t anywhere near my fave episodes. (I checked my rewatch ranking - based strictly on my enjoyment, not how good the episode is - and I put the episode as second to last, so… we might actually have different taste, so my opinion might be completely irrelevant to you…)

[spocks]

now that ive finished strange new worlds ive decided its. Okay. the first half of the season did not win me over at all so i took a break. a two month long break (oops). anyways, the second half really found its footing in the tos style/vibe and i was actively enjoying it. a lot of the characterization choices (mainly tos characters) are irritating but uhura, ortegas, la'an and hemmer are fantastic!!!!! it also feels like one of the writers in the writers room thinks they're trapped in a marvel movie or something because i found myself thinking "oh wow the writing's been pretty good this episode!" and then someone says a one-liner and i Remember.

anyways. it grew on me and i am actually excited for season 2 now that it's embracing the original series a little more. the last half felt very campy with seriously good emotional and suspenseful episodes thrown in (king of elysian, the gorn episode) and i guess i love it now. so goes being a star trek enjoyer

also edit because i forgot but mrs. mcmurray from letterkenny is there and thats just. hilarious to me i hope she's in more of season2

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #586

Top Ten Lego Games

Ah, Lego. It’s great. I love Lego. And it feels almost a natural fit for videogames; simple, freeform construction with regular polygonal shapes. Funny, then, that the most popular and successful Lego videogames are, essentially, third-person comedy-action adventures where the actual process of building Lego is an adjunct.

Yes, the series of games by Traveller’s Tales (aka TT Games) is long-running – nearly twenty years old, my goodness – and is something of a holy text in our house. Ever since the first game – the Revenge of the Sith tie-in Lego Star Wars: The Video Game in 2005 – I’ve been hooked. I remember playing that and being flabbergasted by how fun it was; how delightful the central gameplay hook was, and also how much daft humour it wrung out of the Star Wars licence. And, for the most part, things have only gotten better from there.

There’s something inherently innocent but also faintly ridiculous about Lego. As such, once you render a famous character as a minifig – whether it’s Darth Vader or Indiana Jones, Aragorn or Batman – it instantly feels like something of a parody. I think this allows the talented developers to lean into a franchise’s giddiness and silliness, to find the inherent absurdities that all long-running and popular storylines possess. And I’ll tell you what, they do it so well. One of the disappointing things for me with the Lego Batman Movie was how first-base and obvious its Batman-related jokes were; in three different Lego Batman games, they’ve always managed to get deep-cut nerd gaggery out there, and more nuanced and – frankly – funnier takes on the source material. These are games that are, on the one hand, surface-level comedy – slapstick pratfalls, animal antics, characters’ heads on the wrong way round – but also humorous love letters on behalf of fans, referencing obscure elements of history and one-off random bits of lore. The ability to unlock characters such as Bat-Cow, for instance; where the hell did that come from, other than an adoration of the more sublime aspects of a franchise?

Coupled with that is the core gameplay loop. The games are relatively easy if you don’t mind dying a lot; you can sort of just brute force your way to the end of a level. But there’s something so enjoyable about the way the combat works, right from the off; the satisfying sound effects of scenery exploding into a shower of Lego studs. And then there’s the many differing objectives; secrets to unlock, minikits to discover, perfections to attain, to say nothing of a great use of achievements (killing Jar Jar; having Human Torch and Captain America on the same team). Again, the love and care is evident.

And – and! – these are perfect games for playing with little kids. They’re forgiving, they’re fun, they work great in co-op, and they star a host of child-friendly characters dressed as Lego. It’s arguable, sadly, that the golden age of Lego games has passed; they managed to release a game every year from 2005 to 2019, but after last year’s Skywalker Saga it doesn’t look like there’s another game imminent. This is a shame, because the franchise is so good as “my first game”; a new generation of nippers deserves the pleasure of getting Jimmy Olsen to beat Steppenwolf to death on the moon.

(Fun fact: I don’t actually know if either Jimmy or Steppenwolf are playable characters in any of the DC-based games. But you can go to the moon)

Anyway, the series is terrific, and I hope it does continue. I’d like another Lego Marvel and Lego DC title; one that combined the expansive nature and improved combat of Skywalker Saga with the tighter level design and simpler structure of some of the earlier titles. And now that Hasbro and Lego have joined forces with the excellent Lego Optimus set, a Transformers themed title would be awesome. But really the most obvious franchise to get the Lego treatment is surely Star Trek; sixty years of stories, multiple different casts, a plethora of costumes, and a host of inorganic sets and locations that lend themselves to simple Lego-esque shapes. Come on, you know you want to!

Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013): the platonic ideal of TT’s Lego games. The Marvel cast lends itself not only to the collectible character-fest of Lego games; but their colourful depictions and – generally speaking – moderate power set means it doesn’t stray too far from the template established by Star Wars. The central hub of New York – a Marvel mainstay – perfectly threads the needle between pseudo-realistic open world city and quirky, funny, Lego town. But the missions themselves remain discrete and focused, recognisable as core “levels” and distinct from the hub city with its side-quests and secrets. It may be showing its age a little but it still has all the elements in the best possible order.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (2022): returning to the origins of the franchise is a good move, and the already bulging Star Wars cast is further bolstered with characters from the newer films and shows. The open galaxy structure of the game is expansive and mostly very rewarding; it’s great fun to jet off from Tatooine to Hoth and run around collecting stuff. Gameplay and graphics improvements are very welcome, but there is a slightly wonky nature to a lot of the missions, which blur too much into the open-world gameplay and often too simplistic or repetitive. Marrying the open galaxy approach with more discrete and separate missions could have made it the best Lego yet.

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (2014): the DC universe is just as jam-packed with fun and colourful characters as Marvel, even if the often extensive powersets of, say, Superman and Wonder Woman don’t translate quite as neatly to the formula as Iron Man and Captain America. Despite all that, we still have a tremendous game with really strong missions and a host of different smaller hub worlds spread across the planets of the DC Universe. It’s fun to find secrets like a cow on the moon, and locations such as the Justice League Watchtower or the Batcave are incredibly well designed. Plus the secrets and nods to the comics are probably the best in the series’ history.

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (2006): back to basics and the early days of the franchise here, but there’s something so pure and well-executed that it can’t be ignored. After the first Lego Star Wars, detailing the prequels, we went back to the classic trilogy and every aspect was refined. Controls and cameras tightened, graphics improved, missions more focused, and – it has to be said – better source material. The Mos Eisley Cantina hub is wonderful, becoming increasingly populated with characters as you unlock more and more. Yes, its structure feels simplistic nowadays, but perhaps this simplicity is also a strength.

Lego Dimensions (2015): a bold and daring experiment in the short-lived “toys to life” genre, one seemingly made for Lego. Outside of the amusing and entertaining (and, er, expensive) gimmick of being able to “connect” real Lego kits and characters to the game, it’s still a really cool journey through the Lego multiverse, as your mismatched team (including Gandalf, Batman, and Wyldstyle) bump into characters from properties as diverse as Ghostbusters and The Wizard of Oz. Sprawling and perhaps a tiny bit unfocused (its multiple worlds and modes can be confusing for kids), it earns so many points for the gag where The Doctor will regenerate into a different incarnation every time he dies.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (2017): the sequel to the greatest Lego game of all time does a lot of things right, but this is – I feel – where a bit of the bloat and confusion starts to creep in. by opening up the Marvel multiverse (a year before Spider-Verse came out, predating the whole multiverse boom!) we get some cool variants of classic characters and it does a good job showcasing the likes of Spider-Gwen and Squirrel Girl. But the open world, featuring a mishmash of alternate New Yorks (News York?) just isn’t as fun, and the divide between the casual exploration of the hubs and the individual missions is blurred. It’s just messier, basically.

Lego Batman: The Videogame (2008): like with Star Wars, we go back to basics for this fantastic entry. Shorn of the structure of adapting the Star Wars trilogies, this is an original story that skews Adam West in its levity but is pleasingly Animated Series in its aesthetic. Without quite so many hero characters to choose from, the use of alternate suits for Batman and Robin is inspired, creating a very satisfying puzzle element. And, of course, the Rogue’s Gallery is ideal for a game like this, especially with the nice hook that you get to play levels from the bad guys’ perspective too.

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (2008): often maligned, I really liked this, and it’s one of the very (very) few games I’ve ever 100%-ed. Whilst the Indy characters aren’t as varied or colourful as others, the level design and gameplay mechanics made it feel more like an old-school action adventure as you pick up tools to solve puzzles along the way. It adapts the films’ set-pieces really well and the university hub is well-realised and full of secrets. Plus you get to be a Lego Sean Connery, what more do you want?

Lego Lord of the Rings (2012): one of the first Lego games to have a true open world about it, as you set off from the Shire on the adventure. Again we see the use of tools and different characters’ abilities as you progress, even if the roster is inevitably less varied or dynamic than with, say, Marvel. But the subject matter does suit the gameplay very well, and of course there’s a quirky sense of humour to Jackson’s films making the game’s silly jokes marry quite well. Feels like a good bridge between the more simplistically structured early games and the expansive open worlds of later years.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game (2005): going back to where it all began with the very first Lego game, and one that genuinely blew me away. Seriously, I was surprised at just how good this was, because, well, who expected it? But TT were onto something right from the start. Yes, it’s very similar in structure to later, better games – especially it’s direct sequel. Yes, you could argue that both games can be sampled in the Complete Saga compilation. But there’s still loads to enjoy here. And yes, as should be obvious, I’ve not played one of the Harry Potter games. I’ve heard they’re pretty good though.

[themovieblogonline]

SXSW 2023: If You Were The Last Review

If You Were The Last is a story about two astronauts. Adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, two astronauts argue over whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more. THE GOOD The humor in If You Were The Last takes some getting used to but once you do it's pretty friggin funny! I did a double take at first at the cinematography because of the low-budget CGI. There's a scene early in the movie where we see out the window and see outer space. This shot here might turn people off but further into the movie we see that this is intentional. The movie uses low-budget CGI and special effects to lull you into a sense of comfort. After we meet Adam and Jane I find myself laughing at the absurdity of the "special effects". We sometimes get scenes showing the spaceship flying through space and the "special effects" ship juvenile. They actually look like they were made by young children with cardboard boxes and strings this helps to set the tone. The chemistry between Anthony Mackie and Zoe Chao is cute. Both come off as a bit weird and awkward but things begin to make sense as we learn the circumstances of their situation. These two are stranded in space with their spaceship unable to provide navigation or communication back to Earth. We don't initially see how long they've been there so understandably they may be a bit socially awkward. I think my favorite part might be when they start dancing. They have a lot of routines to fill out their day but definitely, the most fun(ny) is when they begin to dance. I feel like Anthony Mackie has two left feet but that doesn't stop him from going all in and having fun with his performance and I'm here for it. THE BAD The low-budget effects can definitely be pretty off-putting. I definitely thought twice about watching If You Were The Last at first glance. There's an overall juvenile look to the environment of the spaceship. The closest I can get to describing the looks of the spaceship is maybe the 1960s Star Trek TV show. Everything has large handles, big knobs, and super simplified computer screens. The look is intentional but it is definitely a deterrent because it doesn't make a great first impression. The pacing in If You Were The Last is inconsistent. There are moments when I found myself really immersed in the humor and then all of a sudden things get really serious. I just want to see Captain America try to grow weed and then they fudge it up by having these two have a philosophically deep conversation. I wanted to laugh more dammit. If you were the last is very serious and the contrast with the special effects is really tough to enjoy, all things considered. Overall If You Were The Last is a fun film but it's also an acquired taste. This is not a movie that I would recommend to everyone but it's enjoyable if you are willing to give this movie a chance. Read the full article

[dragon-of-the-night]

OK, so only six of them are continued from TOS with the original actors playing the original characters, three are "new" (the first one came out in 2009, which I count as new, but I guess they're getting on in years now) films about the TOS characters, but played by different actors and four of them are about the TNG characters (I won't talk about them, because I haven't watched any of them yet). So, the original TOS movies...

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - This is a bit of an odd one - some people like it, some people don't. I wasn't really sure what to make of it when I watched it. The plot is a bit odd, way too many minutes of the film are dedicated to long shots of the Enterprise, which can get a bit boring after a while, and the outfits are weird, to say the least. But overall, I think it's a good film that's underappreciated (and the director's cut is supposed to be better, however, unfortunately I don't own that version and haven't watched it :(). If you want to skip any of the Trek movies, I'd say this is your one to skip, it doesn't really add to the characters or later plots that much (but as a hardcore Trek fan, I think it's worth watching all of them, if anything just to make up your own opinion on the lot :D).

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - What most people consider to be the absolute best out of all of them. It's not my favourite, personally, but I understand why it's considered one of the best. For one thing, it brings back an old TOS antagonist and not only that, the actor who originally played him! There's lots of drama in this film and an ending that will leave you shocked, speechless and heartbroken. Definitely worth a watch. If you watch this one, however, it's crucial to watch the next two films, as they make up a sort of trilogy inside the six movies.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock - My personal favourite of the lot. The emotions in this film are intense and so real you feel them along with the characters (which is perfect for me, as someone who loves angst). The plot isn't nearly as ludicrous as you might think after watching the ending of TWOK - it does actually make some sense. This is also the film that makes me really love Kirk as a character, as I usually prefer the other characters to him. But in this film, Shatner plays him perfectly. Also, Doctor McCoy gets a decent part in this film, which is always a bonus for me, as he's my favourite character ;)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Goodness, where to start with this one? TVH is the comic relief movie after the intense drama and emotions of TWOK and TSFS. Not only is it hilarious and enjoyable to watch, but it also works climate change and anti-whaling messages into the plot. Basically, the plot is about saving a couple of humpback whales. A perfect movie with zero flaws!

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - The one everyone hates! The worst Star Trek movie of all time! Ironically, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I love this movie. Sure, it's bad - the plot is awful and there are some terrible writing choices, but it's such a fun movie to watch, I genuinely don't understand the hate it gets! The first time I watched it, I kept waiting for it to get worse, but it just didn't. Perhaps it's because I had already seen the worst bits in edits and a few movies clips, but I just couldn't hate the film. It might also be because I'm a hardcore McSpirk shipper that I love this film - all three main characters get pretty much equal screentime, which makes a very welcome change. We get to see triumvirate go camping, roast marshmallows and sing Row, Row Your Boat together! Kirk nearly dies from falling off a vertical rockface he was climbing for literally no reason! Spock has rocket boots that are never seen again in future films! Scotty and Uhura hook up, which is also never mentioned again! I didn't even hate the character of Sybok as much as I thought I would (although I really wish they hadn't given him that character twist near the beginning - whoever had that idea should have gotten fired). You don't really need to watch this film in terms of plot continuation, but it's a really important piece of Trek history, so in my opinion, it's a must-watch.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - This is a film I never really see anyone talk about. I hope you like Klingons, because this one's got lots of them! I kind of have mixed feelings on this film - it's definitely not my favourite, but I in no way think it's a bad film - the tone is pretty melancholy throughout, as they knew it was to be the last TOS film. My favourite part of this film was having Kirk and McCoy stranded together. McCoy was always an underused character even though he was one of the main three and it was nice (as much as I love Spock) not to have the generic Kirk and Spock pairing in all the dangerous situations. You don't really need to watch this one either, but as the very last film with the entire cast of original characters left, I wouldn't skip it, personally.

Star Trek AOS, AKA New Star Trek TOS, AKA JJ Abram's Star Trek - The new-ish movies. I have mixed feelings on these to be honest. There's only three of them currently. I enjoyed them when I watched them, but I have a lot of problems with them collectively. For starters, I didn't find the characters nearly as compelling as the TOS versions. Even in the third film, I didn't really feel like the character relationships had developed properly. They bring back Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness (the second film), but while I like Benedict Cumberbatch overall as an actor, he definitely was not the right person to play Khan. They totally whitewashed a Mexican character. If you skip any Star Trek movies, these are the ones to ignore. They don't really bring anything to the Trek timelines (apart from Leonard Nimoy appearing in two of the films, that was pretty epic).

I hope that my accidental-Star-Trek-essay helped! I personally wouldn't skip any of the films, but if six feels a bit daunting, just prioritise watching TWOK, TSFS and TVH - they're the best and I think the most universally-enjoyed. I hope you have a fun time watching them!

I've finished star trek TOS!!! It was fun, but I think the movies will be better, at least I did until I found out there were like 13 of them! Which ones are good/ important to understand the characters and which ones can I pass? Or are all of them good??

[thevalleyisjolly]

Star Trek Beyond ramblings under the cut, because I love this movie so much:

I was just watching Star Trek Beyond again, and it’s really just such a good ensemble movie.  It wasn’t a Kirk-is-the-hero movie or a Kirk-and-Spock movie, it was an Enterprise movie.  Everyone in the crew had roles, not just isolated moments of badassery or humour, but actual places in the narrative that showed off their character and development.  I mean, we see:

Bones being a doctor, what that actually looks like apart from waving a scanner around and jabbing people with needles.  How he interacts with his patient, the brusque bedside manner that nevertheless goes hand-in-hand with his genuine concern, improvising treatments when he doesn’t have the advanced tools he normally does.  Damn it, the man is a doctor, and he’s a good one, and we get to see that!

Sulu and Uhura taking initiative, being leaders!  Uhura putting herself at risk again and again to do what’s best for the crew, Sulu taking a leadership role with the surviving crew members and trying to keep them safe.  TOS Sulu eventually becomes a captain, and you can really see the echoes of those leadership skills emerging here.  And Uhura, separating the saucer to give the escape pods a chance, breaking out of the cell to send a distress signal, asserting what’s right and standing up to Krall.  In many ways, she gets the hero(ine) role that in the past, has been given to Kirk or Spock.

Spock’s more introspective side.  He spends a lot of the movie considering his place in the universe, his responsibilities, the legacy of Ambassador Spock, mortality.  He doesn’t Vulcan-logic up a genius plan in the nick of time to save the day, it’s a softer, more measured Spock we see here, and it’s fantastic.

Scotty being a mentor and a father-figure, reaching out to Jaylah and being a figure of kindness and encouragement and concern.  He saves the day in a different kind of way than whipping up an engineering miracle or three - he saves the day by reaching out to someone who was lonely and being a person who cares.

Chekov alone had less to do in the movie, but we still see him taking on leadership during the attack, making sure everyone on the bridge got in an escape pod safely, being the second last to abandon ship, only after everyone else had already gone.  It’s a far cry from the childish, almost comedic role he’s had so far.

Jim being a captain, not a hero.  When Commodore Paris congratulated him on saving Yorktown and he said that it wasn’t him, that really rang true.  Kirk spends pretty much the entire movie affirming and reaffirming that his crew is capable, that they achieve things together, and it’s something the movie’s structure reinforces as well.  More on that later.

And yes, the ensemble structure means that individual characters don’t get a ton of time focused on their own arcs, but you don’t necessarily need a lot of time in an ensemble movie, you just need to make effective use of what time you do have.  Which I won’t claim every character had amazing character moments, but there was pretty solid and consistent characterization throughout, and the characters who did have time to shine shone brilliantly.

The whole theme of this movie is, as Uhura asserted to Krall/Eddison, “strength in unity.”  It’s very much not an action/super hero type movie, where a single extraordinary individual saves the day.  It’s the crew of the Enterprise, working together to their respective strengths, that succeeds. 

Conversely, Krall/Eddison is strong so long as he still has his crew with them, but once he loses them, he loses his power.  While he still has Kalara and Manas, his plans proceed well - Kalara ensnares the Enterprise, Manas helps him get away to Yorktown.  Without them, he has no support.  The contrast of that final confrontation with Kirk, Kirk with the entire crew of the Enterprise talking to him, giving him instructions, providing back up, and Eddison, standing alone, dying alone and in silence amidst the emptiness of space.

I mean, that scene when the U.S.S. Franklin is facing the swarm, if you watch, it’s literally the entire crew coming up with the solution together.  One person has a realization, another follows that up with a suggestion, another builds on that, so on and so forth.  It’s all of them, talking together, that solve the problem.  No one person has all the pieces to the puzzle or some sudden mastermind plan, it’s everyone contributing what they have.

And I think that leads me into another thing that’s so great about this movie, is that it recognizes the competence and the ability of these characters.  When faced with danger, everyone knows their duties, everyone performs their duties with competence and skill, they’re not just cogs in a machine, but well-oiled cogs.  The movie respects these characters, respects their capabilities and their foibles and their development.

Which goes into this movie and legacy, and honouring what came before while growing into something new.  We see the impacts of previous events on these characters, we see that they mattered.  Someone else has already pointed out how the escape pods are called Kelvin pods - the destruction of the Kelvin in the first movie mattered, not just to Kirk, it mattered to Starfleet and they made damn sure that their crews should always have a chance to live.  The destruction of Vulcan and Spock wondering about his potential duties to his people - of course that’s going to be something that lingers!  The horrors of genocide aren’t just the immediate loss of loved ones, of a planet, it’s something that continues to have an effect on survivors’ lives and futures.

(There are the good legacies too, the bittersweet legacies.  Ambassador Spock’s belongings, that picture of TOS cast, ugh)

((Also, the core of Eddison being that he can’t move forwards from the past, from the legacy he was a part of, that he helped build.  Wanting things to stay the same - and the irony is that in trying to keep the universe at war, he changes himself so drastically from what he was.  And to have his legacy, his crew’s legacy, be changed by his actions.  As Commodore Paris said, “For generations, we taught that they were heroes.”  Now they’re a tragedy))

It’s interesting because both Spock and Kirk have storylines around questioning their place in the universe, of living with legacies and living their lives now.  And we have Kirk and Bones having that conversation at the start, Bones very keenly pointing out that Kirk has been living for his father for so long but not for himself, and then the movie switches gears and works out these feelings with Spock.

(Love how both of them end up having these conversations with Bones, give the man a gold star friend award)

And we don’t really see Kirk working through this, except we do.  Kirk doesn’t talk about it outside of his captain’s log or with Bones, but we have Spock’s conversation.  We see the static-y legacy of the Franklin, we see Eddison’s despair and rage in his captain’s log, we see the crew of the Enterprise rising up to the task, confronting the past and saving the present.  We see Jaylah face the trauma of her memories and find trust and belonging in others, we see old meeting new, loneliness and despair but also love and hope.

We see everything except Kirk’s own internal struggle (save for Chris Pine’s frankly stellar facial acting), but maybe we don’t need to.  Because everything Kirk wrestles with is everything we come to realize through the movie, and as much as we are watching what’s going on, so is he.

(See?  It is a Kirk movie in a way, in that his internal conflict inspires the overall themes in the movie.  But Kirk is also the audience, watching the tragedy of Eddison and the Franklin, seeing the crew, his crew, work together.)

Also, loved the unconventional character groupings.  We have Sulu and Uhura as a team, Kirk and Chekov, Scotty and Jaylah, and the absolute genius of Bones and Spock.  I wish all Star Trek Beyond scriptwriters a very pleasant evening for giving us the absolute gift of Bones and Spock together.  We have been so blessed.

[dexabite]

because i'm bored: here's what i think about the characters of ride the cyclone!

ocean o'connell rosenberg:

definitely was a huge snob. in my language, we call those kind of people "maldita" HAHAHAH

she sounds so much like a high school bully that it's hilarious... but also, i feel like she was bullied in elem and was consequently also mean in highschool? idk she gives me that energy

DEFINITELY the kind of person to love legally blonde and mean girls and just projected it onto her persona LMAOO

though she's probably really very much a big softie once she developed at the end of the musical, but still hides it behind her bitchy and rude exterior

she looks like she would take someone's phone and squint whenever someone shows her a meme, like the way a mother would

noel gruber:

mean gay. that's it.

it's canon that whenever he's nervous or uncomfortable, he picks on his nail polish! and i love that! he's just like me fr!

i think the thing he really wanted was just a life outside of his simple one when he was alive... and i think monique gibeau was his drag persona

that said: NOEL DRAG QUEEN AAHHHH

feels like he would be more reserved because he's trying to look normal because of his mom yk, so he probably didn't have many friends outside of the choir (who weren't very close to begin with, judging from the way they talk in the beginning of the musical)

but besides that, he wants to be FLAMBOYANT and FEMININE and i love him

mischa bachinski:

iconic. stole boxes of communion wine for his eight year old cousin because of birthday. im in love with him.

sorry to noel, but he's the REAL most romantic boy in town. nothing compares to the way he sings about talia as if he couldn't live without her. get yourself a man like mischa.

probably loves ridiculous memes. would laugh at them for so long and show everyone in the choir

i think he doesn't actually watch horror movies but watches analysis videos on youtube about them like i do.

when he actually watches horror movies, he squirms around and does all of these weird movements and noises to cope with the fear 😭 not outright scream though, he's too emasculated /j

ricky potts:

he is an oc writer just like me. i love him for that.

was most likely into warrior cats as a kid, obviously marvel comics and star trek too. no way he wasn't.

he mooost likely didn't want to be in the choir in the first place but ocean forced him in it, based off his reaction to ocean trying to get people to like her again after singing about social darwinism 😭

that said, he's just like me fr... using escapism as a coping mechanism for his lonelines... i love you ricky and and your sexy cat ladies from zolar

and actually, i think he's one of the most underrated characters apart from constance which is such a SHAME...

he's so nerdy and JUST LIKE ME FR!!!

i think that before his hands degenerated, he was an artist. not a good one, but enough for people to recognize it!

jane doe:

CREEPYPASTA ENJOYER I CAN SMELL IT OFF OF HER.

creepy... i love her...

and i think that she's really good at crocheting, to add onto the whole doll aesthetic. makes tiny sweaters for ricky's cats, probably made a phone case for constance made out of wool... no matter how inconvenient it was

i think that noel would've painted her nails black too because she deserves it!!!

anyway, her and ricky are the "the bad bitch i got thanks to my autism" meme definitely. going both ways

anyway her actor's voice always sounds like an opera singers it's so impressive! that's why i believe that she can actually sing opera if they ask her to

definitely knows obscure facts about medieval torture and lions... just because!

FOORNICATION UNDER CONSENT OF THE KING!!!!

constance blackwood:

HER SONGS MAKE ME FEEL SO MANY THINGS IT'S CRAZY

the unique lesson of "there's no shame in loving my small town" ...my god you never hear that in musicals EVER

it's always "GET ME OUT OF HERE PLEASE!!!!" not the lesson that's in sugar cloud

that said, god... the fact that she doesn't like being called nice because it means that no one truly got close enough to her to know her for her goofiness... her weird thoughts, and her silly mannerisms and she had no one to vent to </3

hell, even her so called BEST FRIEND is mean to her!!!

but i feel like they'd still be close, despite that yk? best friends always stick together and as ocean develops more i think that they'd get closer until they're literally the only two who knows the other better than themselves

OH and i think that constance would've loved writing fanfic... she just has that kinda energy yk? she and noel would bond over writing and they'd talk about what they write and constance would hesitate because she doesn't want to admit that she writes gay fanfiction on ao3 😭🙏

[jones-friend]

Avatar: The Way of Water

December 18, 2009: Avatar releases

2010: I have my first girlfriend

2011: I graduate high school and attend college moving from Illinois to Iowa, making a number of lifelong friends in the early months

2012: I declare a cinema arts major

2013: me and a small number of friends form a media production company, I have no idea what I’m doing

2014: I get more into dnd and mtg as hobbies with my friends

2015: I graduate from Iowa with a bachelors in cinema arts and move to Chicago interning in the Hancock building

2016: my grandmother passes away from a stroke and I return to semi-country Illinois to live with my grandfather

2017: I have a major falling out with friends I have had since elementary school and college leaving a permanent scar on multiple friend groups

2018: I escape a league of mentally detrimental jobs that put me in a dark dark place and start working in higher ed

2019: family life becomes so stressful I am forced to move out of my grandfather’s house

2020: COVID rocks the world and changes everything. We are locked down with a life threatening virus running rampant as US fascism hits its fever pitch

2021: I cut ties with my biological family

2022: multiple friends have had children or are pregnant, forming families of their own

December 16, 2022: Avatar Way of Water releases

I’ll be 30 this coming year. It has been 12yrs, 11mo, and 29 days between Avatar films. 410,140,800 seconds. It is an interesting feeling to come back to a world depicted on screen after so much time has passed, very nearly half the amount of time I’ve been alive.

My initial impressions of Avatar Way of Water is that if you enjoyed living in the world of Pandora in the first movie and would love some more adventures in Pandora you will enjoy the second movie. If you liked the tighter moviegoing experience the first offered you will feel a little let down. I don’t think this is a bad movie by any means, nor is it a mediocre movie. It is good. It just isn’t as tightly crafted as the original movie was.

God knows, it’s been so long most movies have been remade since then. Or revived under new premises a la Fantastic Beasts (which is a whole other animal to tackle). But I fully understand I’m coming to Way of Water with an entire kit of analytical skills I did not have when I watched the first movie, and this will impact my enjoyment of the second and let me look back fondly on the first.

Thinking between these two, not much has changed. Humans are one note greedy, comfortably made into cannon fodder for thrilling fight sequences. The navi are in tune with nature, peaceful, someone we can root for without complicated emotions. We have a new McGuffin or item everyone wants but it gets a back seat to the grudge match that takes importance over it. And rightfully so.

This is a movie that wants to do a lot of things in the three hours and twelve minutes it runs for. I’m not sure it is successful in all of them, feeling a bit like Star Wars Episode IX in that scenes run fast and loose, a little too loose in some places. The ending especially felt that fervent pace and could not slow down where it really needed to and let some scenes sit for more than a few seconds, instead summarizing via voice over because with 20-30mins of trailers frontloading this your audience has been sitting for four hours and we gotta get👏this👏shit👏going.

This movie s a Star Wars in that its science fantasy and don’t worry we can just make computer chip copies of your brain. It’s also a Toy Story 3, we’ve aged up the characters and moved their lives along to reflect the aging audience who first watched Avatar. It’s also a Star Trek IV where we’re saving the whales. This movie is trying to be a lot of things in 3hrs 12mins. Roughly, it succeeds.

There is a lot to be charmed by in the world of Pandora. It is a different kind of movie because in describing it, the movie acts more like an immersive experience with the viewer so I wouldn’t say “characters do X Y and Z” but you as the audience get to “make friends with a whale” and “learn to ride alien dolphins”. It is a world that continues to be lovingly crafted, like sitting in dnd with a dm who has laid out so much of their own lore and worldbuilding its just a delight to immerse yourself in.

Even when it is unfocused Avatar Way of Water is far and away a better experience than so many other theater movies. It’s drop dead gorgeous, and it doesn’t mind getting its hands dirty in that new aquatic environment immersing scenes in and out of water with ease. If you enjoy escapism I absolutely recommend seeing it while it’s in theaters, preferably IMAX.

A lot has changed since the first Avatar dropped 12 years 11 months and 29 days ago. Well, longer now, writing this on January 2nd. This movie is a comfortable return to the world of Pandora with uncomplicated premises and setups that do not challenge the viewer. It is a movie made by an action movie director with a long resume of quality work. If you bothered reading through my ramblings you likely have already made up your mind on whether or not you’d enjoy such a thing. I give a recommendation to seeing it, I love fantasy, I love escapism, and I love the world of Pandora. I am always down to revisit this chapter and will be excited to see later movies. Is it perfect? God no. There’s alien jesus, major death retcons, silly pacifism philosophies, its got flaws. But I do enjoy the quality of the world it gives me. Its one of the few things that can instill a sense of childlike wonder in myself and I treasure that sensation greatly.

[sirfrogsworth]

Analysis: Are my speakers too damn loud??

Katrina was worried that my big home theater speakers could be damaging my hearing. So I downloaded a decibel meter on my phone and took some average readings of some of my listening habits.

First, what volumes are safe?

According the the OSHA chart, anything 85 decibels or higher is iffy. Some feel that chart isn't conservative enough. Most hearing specialists recommend the NIOSH chart instead.

Except for extraordinarily loud sounds, hearing damage is cumulative. So the charts give you a time limit for how long you can listen to certain decibels in a 24 hour period without too much risk of hearing damage.

It's not a perfect chart. There are some variables it can't account for. Some people have more sensitive hearing. Some are more prone to hearing loss due to genetics. And the older you get, the more at risk your ears are.

I also read that bass frequencies can do less damage because they pass through objects more easily and vibrate your eardrums and cochlea at a slower rate. That was on a forum post, so take that information with a grain of salt.

That said, I'm pretty sure much of my volume is due to my subwoofer, so I may have to retest things without it to get a more accurate picture.

I did my measurements with the free "Sound Meter" app over several minutes and got an average result. I held the phone's microphone close to where my ear usually is. I picked volumes that felt natural to me—that I found most pleasing and immersive for the given content.

The Results

Background Listening - 70 dB This is when I'm working on the computer and not paying attention to what I'm watching or hearing.

Attentive Listening - 78 dB This was the average for most of the stuff I measured. Probably 80% of my listening per day. This is when I was really interested in the content and wanted to take advantage of my good speakers for more enjoyment and immersion. This included talking-head YouTube videos, shows with mostly dialogue, and some music that didn't have crazy bass or drums.

Sci-fi/Action Listening - 80-82 dB This was the average when watching Star Trek: Lower Decks. It had a good mix of dialogue, orchestral music, explosions, and other spacey sound effects. I also tested Free Guy which was more dynamic and had Atmos with sound from my ceiling speakers. It went from 78 and maxed out at 82. I did have some peaks above 90 but only for a split second at a time and it was definitely the subwoofer.

General Music Listening - 82 dB This was when I really wanted to enjoy my music and cranked it up to feel the subwoofer vibrate my innards. I could probably be perfectly happy listening to music 1 or 2 decibels quieter, but I only listen to music for a few hours per day at most.

Heavy Metal Music - 86 dB This was the highest average and probably the only super concerning one. I think this was due to the constant double bass drum keeping my subwoofer active. So it may not be as worrying as it seems if that thing about low frequencies is true. I should probably retest without a subwoofer at some point. Even so, I will keep this in mind when the next metal song appears in my playlist and just nudge the volume down a bit. Also, I am only an occasional connoisseur of Satan's serenades.

Conclusions & Other Thoughts

I think with a few adjustments to my habits I'm pretty safe. My natural volume seems to be 78 dB which both charts feel is in the green. And I don't think I'd ever binge a big sci-fi or action show for more than 16 hours in a day. Sometimes I sleep 16 hours in a day. Hopefully this will quell Katrina's fears.

She was worried because when she visited she felt everything was super loud. But she had never experienced a home theater like mine before. I basically crammed a movie theater into my room. I think big speakers can be deceptive. They *feel* louder because they are just pushing a lot more air around the room. They also have a huge frequency range so you are hearing more sounds than with regular TV speakers or cheap soundbars. It's coming from every direction and the subwoofer is super intense if you aren't used to it outside of a cinema.

I was surprised to find out my tiny TV speakers measure about 75 decibels at comfortable and easily intelligible volumes. That is 5 dB higher than I felt my big speakers needed to be in order to easily understand what people were saying.

It seems smaller speakers that are farther away need to work much harder to make their limited frequency range more understandable. With my nice speakers, I probably could have decreased them several more decibels and still been able to understand everything perfectly. Having a dedicated center channel for dialog helps a lot too.

Oh... and do you want to know what the loudest thing I measured in my room was?

My new fidget clicker got up to 95 decibels! I'm not too worried because it was right next to the phone when I was measuring and the sound is literally for a few milliseconds at a time. But I couldn't understand why my maximum peaks were getting so damn high.

[space-blue]

Star Trek SNW review through SW lens

So I finished season 1 of Strange New Worlds (Star Trek), and it's such a bitter sweet thing.

I mean, the show is sweet. It has incredible trope use, adorable characters who have rich dynamics, cool set designs even if they don't aim for hard core realism (maybe precisely because of that).

More importantly, I feel like it perfectly managed to mix "adventure of the week" with overarching plot and character arcs.

The bitterness is because I'm a Star Wars fan.

I wish SW creators would look at SNW and learn a few things. They had it going in Mando season 1, until the easter eggs morphed into the plot itself.

This show didn't feel trapped by its legacy. It wasn't afraid to recast, and to tell its own story. I'm not a big trekkie (I watched the OG series on TV reruns as a child, missed a lot of episodes. I owned the Wrath of Khan tape though, and then saw the recent trilogy. Abandoned Discovery in season 1) so there's plenty of details that flow right over my head. I'm also conscious of the people being on tumblr saying "This isn't the Spock I know".

So I'm both unlucky (for the lack of depth) and lucky (because I loved that Spock, unbothered by other interpretations of the character).

I know how being too sauced in a fandom can really impact enjoyment. Re: being a SW fan. But I feel like the approaches have been incredibly different.

Can you imagine a SW show having fun with itself? Using tropes like Body Swap or Time Travel visions in a fun and thoughtful way? Even season 1 of Mando was an endless video game fetch quest, with the odd homage to movies like Seven Samourai. It worked fine then, but season 2 really devolved into a forever-fetch-quest, only for it to be completely invalidated/made pointless by BoBF.

I was positively giddy when the body swap happened, and the following shenanigans were GOOD. Well written, not too tropey, and genuinely useful for the characters.

Also, FUCK ME but it had FOOD. It had warmth and characters bonding. But the food really got to me. It's just *never* a thing in SW. They eat bland stuff or aren't shown to eat at all. You can go an entire film without a single meal. Meals are important!! People bond over food! Food is culture! A single shot of sawdust turning into beef stew isn't interesting. Characters having a moment over a shared meal is! There's a reason you see Spock and Pike giffed in the scenes where they talk about drinking tea or finishing the dishes. Those were fun dynamic moments that highlighted the character's relationship on a simple level we all understand deep down.

Fuck, I WISH SW would just try and bother to have people keep track of some internal culture, and make us relate a little more. The fashion is so bland, the food not present. Religions never mentioned. Politics dumbed down and pushed aside. It's no wonder they have nothing left but self cannibalising and Easter Eggs all the way down.

I'm this fucking close to dropping everything I'm doing to watch all of next generation and discovery. Like, maybe trekkies are better treated as fans than us. I certainly didn't spot any rabid toy marketing in SNW!

Okay okay I'll calm down. Basically, even if you don't know anything about any of the characters, go watch SNW. It's fantastic, the characters clearly had fun with their roles. The odd stiff acting or shoddy CGI is much more excusable, the world feels deep and well realised. You don't need background knowledge to enjoy yourself. Even if Pike has stuff going on that refer to another series, they never made me feel out of the loop.

Go watch it. It's the best scifi fun I've had since the Expanse.

[diesoonandsuffer]

my thoughts on the undiscovered country And the 2009 star trek movie

i don’t feel like making two separate posts. also for once i’m typing these first and not on letterboxd.

the undiscovered country:

knowing what little i know about the next generation i guess i understand why this had to be the plot of the last movie. like if klingons coexist with everyone else then the war can’t still be going on. so i get that. it just sort of seems like a weird choice to be the ending of the original series’ story. for all of final frontier’s faults, it felt more final and definitive than this movie did. it also seemed like a weird choice to include a mystery/conspiracy plot to this movie. i didn’t dislike it but it just feels like it should have happened earlier. also are we not supposed to see the twist coming? because i saw it coming. this is only semi-related but, god. society if saavik was given her justice.

anyway this movie mostly...bored me? like it was fine but a lot of it i either wasn’t paying attention to or actively disliked. kirk’s characterization in the latter three movies just gets worse and worse. i’m barely rooting for him at all in this one. spock got some fun moments at least but, idk. this movie just didn’t do it for me.

star trek (2009)

okay so this is the start of the kelvin timeline with chris pine. i didn’t know a whole lot going into this and i’m still not really sure what to think. i think for this one i’m gonna do a straight-up pros and cons list.

pros:

1. fun references to the past films

2. the entire sequence of bones just constantly injecting kirk with random shit

3. characterization of kirk that i mostly, not completely, liked

4. in general new spins on the characters, i.e. chekov being only 17

5. this version of bones (i just remembered he’s fucking divorced)

cons:

1. weird sexualization of uhura

2. straight spock

3. spock prime made me sad :(

4. kirk became a bit too unlikable at some parts

5. didn’t use bones enough, i liked this new bones a lot

6. time travel storyline (make head hurt)

so i guess with one more con to a pro i technically dislike this movie, but that’s not true. i had fun. the first half was more enjoyable than the second but that might have been because i was excited by all of the new introductions of the characters. i cannot even begin to describe how much spock and uhura’s dynamic bothered me but whatever this is an alternate universe.......sigh...

i’m curious as to how i’ll like the other two. hopefully they will stay on paramount plus so i don’t have to fucking rent them off youtube