#level 3 reviews

[trustedteflreviews]

This is the new Trusted TEFL Reviews Google Sites page!

[jawz]

i saw the tv glow is legitimately one of the stupidest, most tryhard movies i've ever seen in my entire life. absolute dogshit. and everyone is pretending it's the most lifechanging thing they've ever seen LOL give me a break! the gall to claim this is inspired by fucking DAVID LYNCH??? i can't

[hyog-blog]

Fangs of Fortune (ep. 18 - ep. 20)

I've just noticed the truly abnormal amount of crying all the characters do in this show (like, it's so pretty I'm not complaining, but poor actor babies, I can't imagine the amount of work and emotional turmoil that went into acting all this out for us to enjoy). God bless them pretty people who cry so beautifully - this is truly an art form!

As Zhuo Yichen wisely mentioned in ep.20 "the sea of suffering is endless" - I think it's an actual motto of this show. Like, how many characters can you make suffer in the course of one episode? Quick answer - many, and then some more.

First and foremost - we lost Li Lun! I didn't expect he'd go so early in the series (checks episode count), well, okay, not too early, but I kind of expected him to torment Zhu Yan till the very end. He was such a poor and bitter meow-meow I can't even hate him despite whatever wrongs he has done. Deeply hurt, wounded, lost, and 'betrayed' by his probably only friend. Never even tried to understand his point of view, just went on hurting and hating and plotting his revenge to hurt Zhu Yan the same way he hurt him, and probably even more.

Whatever happened to them was fate (well, at least at this point in the series), but then he chose to follow the path of pain and suffering. Judging by how toxic his revenge has gotten in the end, he must have really loved Zhu Yan. And the irony of Li Lun joining forces with the very people who caught and tortured demons back then, when he and Zhu Yan parted ways. I mean it was kind of narrow-minded of Li Lun to just ditch his only friend so fast. And condemning the whole of humanity just because a few people are bad apples, well, is the same as condemning all demons because some of them are violent. But still, there are those who aren't. What an epic saga of grief and misunderstanding D:

At this point, Zhu Yan must be the saddest Great Demon in the history of Great Demons. I mean come on, how many more deaths and sufferings can he take? (nope, don't answer that, there are still 14 episodes left, I'm sure the show will surprise me more than once XD). I mean, when speaking about being unfortunate, he has had it the worst in the series (he was just 'lucky' to survive long enough to get some happy days and encounters mixed in there as well). But with a countdown of 1 month hanging over his head, I have a feeling things won't be all sunshine and roses for him (again, and again, and again, ah).

"You don't have a heart, but aren't you living in agony, too?" Spot on, Yichen-baby, spot on. I think Zhu Yan's heart might just be bigger than most human's.

Also, how come Zhuo Yichen has gotten even prettier? I love his new look with hair tied up in a bun, official robes and all. He has also matured. The way he was talking about Zhao Yuanzhou merely being the blade of that malicious force and that he shouldn't be punished for what it did through him - my thoughts exactly! The screenwriters conveyed this message so well and I'm happy that the characters also realize this inside the show (still, I have a bad feeling about how things will end for him).

Bai Jiu being a 'traitor' was a fresh take! Cool plot twist. But this is how this Chongwu camp operates - finds people's soft spots and uses either threats or bribes to make them do bad stuff for them. Luckily, no one got hurt (well, uh, not yet). And Pei Sijing has been working with Zhu Yan all this time, yay))) I never wanted to believe that she was an actual traitor, the girl is too cool (and they have a cute thing going on with Wen Xiao, hehe).

Also, I've noticed how in the course of the last few episodes both Zhu Yan and Zhuo Yichen acknowledged each other's, how should I put it, awesomeness? Zhu Yan calling the other guy a dignified gentleman with a righteous heart, unbreakable will, and a character as strong as gold, and Zhuo Yichen admitting that Zhu Yan was a compassionate and righteous demon and that he didn't want to kill him any longer :3 A little bit of honey to balance out the bitterness, ah.

[firestorm09890]

if you love kingdom hearts but think kh3 had some issues, that's pretty understandable. the expectations placed on it, the massive number of threads it was set to wrap up, it was all too much, and future games might not have that issue. but if you think the series should've stopped at kh2 and are for some reason still following the games, you'll never survive the winter (read: kh4 will absolutely not be what you want it to be so you should probably just look for something else)

[blueskittlesart]

profs will set the due date for the final as april 24 and then STILL NOT HAVE THE FUCKING ASSIGNMENT UP TO SUBMIT THE PAPER BY 11PM ON APRIL TWENTY FUCKING THIRD

[jimalim]

After years of wanting one, but not being able to justify the price tag, I finally treated myself to a PS5. It's been an incredibly rewarding weekend getting to play Spiderman 2 for hours upon hours and not have to worry about work for a while. It's been a stressful year, especially these last few weeks, and I still have a ton of stuff to get done before our winter break, so this was a much needed respite to relax and recharge for the next couple weeks.

[volfoss]

Everyone loves me and I'm so so so employable<- affirmations

[seaofreverie]

Starting a challenge tomorrow where I listen to one TMBG album a day chronologically until my epic journey starts

[thenostalgiadepartment]

Here is my reading list for December 2024. I read more digitally this month than I usually do. There were several titles I wasn't ready to commit to purchasing physically (and some that I'm glad I didn't) 🧵

Home Office Romance by Kintetsu Yamada

The newest one-shot by Kintetsu Yamada (the mangaka of Sweat and Soap) is about two people who meet during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This slice-of-life romcom is adorable and sweet in all the right ways. Rating: ★★★★☆

Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! by Shinta Harekawa

This single volume story is a workplace romance about a senior CG designer that mentors a new hire who shows nothing but indifference towards him. That is until he finds out underneath that frosty exterior this new hire is his biggest fan.  I think this story needed more time to develop its characters to have the emotional pay off. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go out of their way to read this title. I think there are a lot of better manga to read in this genre. Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Let’s Eat Together, Aki and Haru by Makoto Taji

Two roommates share a love of cooking and eating together. The art style is very adorable and goes great with the slice of life theme. Don’t be hungry when you read this though or it’ll make you salivate.  This manga was very similar to She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat if genderswapped and the two main leads started out as two best friends but a little lighter on overall store depth. With only three volumes it's worth reading if you’re looking for some cozy manga. Rating: ★★★☆☆

H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu by Gou Tanabe

“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” After the death of his grand-uncle, a young man stumbles upon a link to a disturbing cult and a mystery that changes his life forever. Tanabe captures the unhinged and terrifying themes from these Lovecraftian stories just as they’ve done in previous adaptations. The full page spreads, the dark ink background, the expressions of these characters, all shown in an art style perfectly befitting these eldritch horrors. Rating: ★★★★☆

This Wolf is Not Scary by Riko Sakura

A story about two half-human, half-animal guys on the opposite ends of the food chain. I didn’t really get what I wanted from this manga. The story has no depth or character development even for a single volume, but the art is nice. Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Solo Leveling vol. 10 by Chu-Gong, So-Ryeong Gi and Hyeon-Gun

This volume picked up towards the tail end with the start of a fight that's been simmering since volume 2 of this series, quickly escalating into a heavy hitter duel. Beru is one of my favorite characters despite his origins. His chibi form is adorable. Rating: ★★★☆☆

Colette Decides to Die by Alto Yukimura

Overworked apothecary Colette decides to jump into a well one day to avoid her never ending droves of patients. She unknowingly travels to the underworld to discover not even the underworld can keep her from work when Lord Hades is in need of an apothecary as well. I love this story so far and the artwork. It has a surprising amount of depth I wasn’t expecting. This series is emotional and caught me off guard a few times with how introspective this story is. Rating: ★★★★★

All or Nothing by Shikke

A four man friend group is suddenly split when two of them reveal they are dating. The two outcasts then decide to try a physical relationship to see what the big deal is. There really is nothing here for readers. No story or character development. Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary vol. 1 by Mine and Area Ikemiya

A broke mercenary is forced to join an incompetent new party for funds. After a disastrous first mission, he learns one of his companions is more than she seems. This manga is based on a Light Novel. The artwork is good and the main character was interesting enough. The end of the volume started to develop the story more. Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Confession by Nobuyuki Fukumoto and Kaji Kawaguchi

After a hiking accident, two friends become lost in a blizzard. Thinking his death is imminent, the injured man confesses to a murder. However, instead of dying, they both find shelter. The problem is now that their rescue is on the way, the secret hangs heavily over them both. The premise of this story was interesting but the execution was comically bad. Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The Second Alpha by Shibue Yofune

On his first day of his new job an alpha meets his fated mate only to discover the omega of his dreams is already wearing a wedding ring.  Finally an actual STORY in an omegaverse manga, and a good and unique premise too! I would give it 4 stars but there’s a dubcon heat scene at the start of the manga. Other than that the story is actually quite heartwarming and deals with what happens when you get a second chance at love. Rating: ★★★☆☆

I Hear the Sunspot: Four Seasons vol. 2 by Yuki Fumino

The cliffhanger from the last volume is finally explored, bringing with it the amount of drama you would expect from this series. I’m curious to see how all the plot threads evolve as the story continues. Especially with the troublesome new hire. The romance is still going at a snail's pace, but the story and side characters make this series worthwhile. The last section of this volume was a short story titled My Little Boy. This story in particular showcased just how wonderful Taichi’s grandparents are. His grandfather is 10/10. Rating: ★★★★☆

Thunder 3 vol. 1 by Yuki Ikeda

Three friends travel to a parallel universe to save one friend’s sister. The retro gag manga style cover first drew my interest however the story isn't that deep so far. The art style transitioning from gag manga to hyperrealism does a lot of the heavy lifting for this story. Rating: ★★★☆☆

[mothmvn]

sorry! didn’t realize you were ftm trans! I assumed you were a cis man. but that’s what happens when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.

the point that it’s not the same still stands. young boys don’t deal with osteoporosis.

of course it's not the same! they are different processes with different underlying causes. they're just a lot more similar than i expected!

you hear about male puberty and menopause as these very gendered things, as experiences that can't possibly be relatable to the "opposite" gender. and here i am - i'm not going through either one of them, really, and also kind of going through both, and expecting symptoms that are from either one or the other (or both!) depending on how my transition goes.

on the osteoporosis specifically... as mentioned, i'm a young man going through male puberty with HRT. in the interest of my comfort in my body as a man, i could get a total hysterectomy that would leave me without ovaries - this would masculinise me further, but leave me with no internal hormone factory. this would leave me with osteoporosis risks on par with most-menopausal people. in that case, am i still a young man going through puberty, or am i now going through menopause, now that i'm also taking my HRT for osteoporosis risk reasons?

i'm just saying, i see more similarities between these categories than differences! it's easy to talk about it in Men and Women terms if you fall into one of those categories more neatly, but i'm right at the crossroads and that's just my experience.

[sherlock-is-ace]

.

[thewhizzyhead]

before I sleep, here is my definitive ranking on all the NPMD songs and some rambles on why I placed them there - also the ranking is based on how much I vibe with them (music production and lyricism have different rankings)

1. Hatchet Town (aka the hatchetfield trilogy theme song like this tune perfectly encapsulates the chaos Hatchetfield has to go through with every Starkid project pos-2018 and I love it - kinda wish it was a number that is more integrated with the plot with the kids tho BUT I REALLY DID LIKE that this melody was quite prominent in the other songs too)

2. High School is Killing Me (I've watched many teen centered musicals and believe me when I say that this song is one of, if not, the best introduction numbers out there for this genre - also it's a really great opening hook for a show)

3. Nerdy Prudes Must Die (FUCKING AMAZING HONESTLY - amazing way to REALLY re-establish a villain back from the dead and to establish the main theme for the nerds here: "I'm Not A Loser" (tho i fucking wish that motif was used a bit more))

4. Just For Once (everyone cheer for Lauren Lopez flexing not just her high tier soprano skills, but also how amazing of a fucking actor she can be like the concept of this song is quite layered and to pull it off both comedically and emphatically takes great lyrical and acting prowess)

5. The Summoning (a well-anticipated onstage introduction to all 5 of the LiB that balances out befuddling neon-entertainment with genuine fucking menace)

7. Cool As I Think I Am Reprise (A FUCKING GENIUS REPRISE I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW COOL I FIND THEM RECONTEXTUALIZING THE OG SONG AND IF I LOVED YOU TO FIT THE SITUATION AND BOTH OF THE CHARACTERS GROWTH. LIKE IN TERMS OF THEMATIC IMPLICATIONS WITH CHARQCTER DEVELOPMENT, THIS SONG AND ITS SCENE WOULD BE THE TOP)

6. If I Loved You (I think this song could be a bit more honestly like I know how much Starkid has explored Steph and Pete's relationship in their other projects and I was really hoping that they would have it more portrayed here - however the song is a bop nonetheless and it matches neatly with their themes and the harmonies are top tier. I placed this higher than the next just due to my personal bias like I really do like the song)

8. Dirty Dudes Must Die (A GREAT TWIST THAT MAKES ME WANT ANOTHER MUSICAL ABOUT GRACE CHASITY'S DERANGED SELF - also the new context of the song Grace is reprising here makes her a villain even scarier than MAX of all people but that's just me)

9. Literal Monster (A very catchy beat and well structured song that provides a good introduction to a jock-bully with the god complex. also kinda foreshadowing to nerdy prudes must die)

10. Cool As I Think I Am (the instrumentation reminded me of Dear Evan Hansen ngl fjsjd but it really does sound like an I-Want song from a teen-musical which is of course what they are going for - it sounds very nice and earnest though and I loved how it was utilised in the reprise. However I still fucking wish that the I'm Not A Loser motif was used more)

11. Dirty Girl (look I'm sorry for ranking this quite low on the list but like there is no fucking way I'm using this as bait to lure other people in like they'd be scared away I'm sorry fjdjs BUT I love how Will and Angela perform this though like top tier starkid performances ever - its not just what I would listen to on repeat personally jgjdjs)

12. Go Go Nighthawks! (This one gets plus points because of FUCK YOU CLIVESDALE GO GET FUCKED. otherwise its nice and cheery and perfectly shows how happy everyone is without Max but um I kinda wish it could be a bit more especially in terms of showing how happy the other nerds are now that Max is gone but that's just me)

13. Bully The Bully + Bury The Bully (Look I couldn't decide which was better like they both are the same melodies so like gjxjs these two are cute though and I liked seeing the 5 kids bonding in Bully The Bully since we don't get that many scenes with them)

14. The Best Of You (the pop-punk happy number is a staple of teen-centered musicals and it does really sound nice - just isn't that much of a standout compared to the others.)

[maydaymemer]

Hitman WOA: Ambrose on Trial - The Case for and Against

Back in 2022 IO released their final sandbox level for the Hitman trilogy: Ambrose Island. This level took place between the events of vanilla Hitman 2’s penultimate and final locations, but due to being released during Hitman 3’s lifecycle it was never treated as such. Instead Ambrose sat in an obscure spot of a specific menu, placed after Hitman 3’s locations but never having a mechanism during either campaign to go to it naturally. Until recently when a patch brought Ambrose to its chronological placement: now players upon beating Whittleton Creek’s Another Life will be prompted to play Ambrose’s main mission before moving onto the rest of Hitman 2

But was that a good decision? Even before this happened I was planning this post with the premise of if a new player should try to incorporate Ambrose into their first playthrough, but now it’s reality I want to examine if that made sense as a decision. In this little essay I will example the case FOR and AGAINST chronological Ambrose:

FOR #1 Convenience of Discovery

The first argument for placing Ambrose into chronological order is that every map of the trilogy is part of the main campaign, and keeping this consistent will ensure not only can old players who want to play Ambrose cant get there as convenient as possible but new players will know Ambrose exists without having to be told about it by the internet. Someone binging the trilogy now has a quick throughline to know what to play next, what has been played and what can be played

Even if Hitman 2’s cutscenes now change from motion comic style to cheap full motion back to motion comic and then to slightly less cheap full motion it’s at least consistently inconsistent. It was already precedent with Hitman 2’s DLC to have each level follow another in chronological order. You dont go from Sgail to Dubai; you go from Sgail to New York to Haven to Dubai. IO released this trilogy episodically so even retroactive releases earlier in the timeline should be accounted for

It also may be confusing for new players to play Romania and then see storyline targets they don’t recognize, granted they may still do that with New York and Haven but hey that’s IO’s fault for not having a convenient bundle of all the DLC

FOR #2 Fanservice, Plot, Development

It just makes sense to play Ambrose in its chronological place because the map’s identity as a pretend-lost chapter in H2 is so engrained into the design and premise of the map that anyone currently playing Hitman 2 will appreciate the details more having just played everything in a big glut. The map mixes set-pieces and characters from Hawke’s Bay, Colombia and Mumbai to give you the sense that this happened soon after those, so just outright playing it in that order will enhance what they were going for

It also helps to know what’s going on in the plot if the events are fresh in your mind. Taking out Grey’s militia is a big part of H2 but putting too much space between that and your playthrough of Ambrose might make you forget some details

With the foreknowledge of Hitman 3, IO went into Ambrose trying to patch up mistakes in the trilogy’s writing, and to clarify some plot points that were previously obscure details

For example, a conversation in Isle of Sgail that The Constant has on his phone directly references that Grey disbanded the Militia after the killing of Janus in Whittleton Creek. This detail is never mentioned again and if you dont ever hear this again the idea of “what happened to the militia?” might come off as a plot hole. Even though it isn’t a plot hole, closing an entire narrative thread in one phone call is still a bit strange

So Ambrose already fixes this, but the major problems come in Hitman 2’s DLC which inadvertently created a shadiness in Grey’s character that H3 had to correct. With the context of Ambrose people will be less inclined to get a false impression of Grey’s motives

The introductory briefing then provides minor foreshadowing of Diana’s character arc in H3, which isn’t much but it’s nice to make the trilogy seem more cohesive story-wise by including that

FOR #3 A Better Penultimate Level

I would argue that if you look at Ambrose and Sgail as two sides of the same coin, there’s some interesting thematic mirroring between the dingy, dark island of the Militia and the dark but opulent island belonging to an asset of Providence. I think its important to have that juxtaposition especially since this is the last major map of the trilogy where we tackle these sorts of themes, at least until Berlin

I also think that if you were to consider Whittleton as the penultimate level of Hitman 2, it’s a little easy. To go from a relaxing level like that to the last level in the game and one of the most intense it’s a little too abrupt. This stopgap also helps to buildup the location in-story as an important and secure area, which adds to the mystique and imposing nature when you get there

AGAINST #1 Pacing and The Themes of H2

My main issue with Ambrose’s placement is how it retroactively fucks up the one constant of Hitman 2’s design philosophy and that’s the contrast between levels

In the lead up to marketing and BTS of the trilogy each entry’s main philosophy is always touted as follows: Hitman 1’s theming is clean professionalism with each level showing 47 at the height of his career, Hitman 2’s theme is the criminal and colorful with each level visually and conceptually being the complete opposite of the last and Hitman 3’s theme was of the emotional journey, it starts out light, gets darker before ending on a more hopeful note

Unlike Hitman 1 and 3 which are more homogenous for the sake of the tone they’re going for Hitman 2 aims for this contrast and keeps it even into the DLCs: the quiet and stormy Hawke’s Bay is followed by the bright and bombastic Miami, then by the quiet and naturalistic Colombia followed by the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, then the serene Suburbia ended off with the dark and ominous Isle of Sgail which is then contrasted with the very small and modern Bank which is then contrasted by a tropical paradise in Haven

Ambrose fits the criminal and colorful (which doesnt need to mean literal color, because H2 has a ton of dingy and monochrome areas, moreso it refers to the colorful personalities of career criminals). It even adheres to Hitman 2’s more blue collar theming, contrasted with New Money in H1 and Old Money in H3. The problem is its aesthetic of the night time storm is already similar to Sgail, which is the very next map chronologically. The progression from Whittleton to Sgail was always intended to wow the audience, and I feel this plus H2 vanilla’s amazing pacing will now be lost on new players because H2 now has three levels made post-launch that are tacked onto its campaign

AGAINST #2 Difficulty Spike

The problem with Ambrose being considered now as part of H2 is it isn’t a H2 location in terms of its design philosophy. It makes use of mechanics like crafting, shortcuts and the camera which aren’t properly tutorialized until H3 and even Freelancer

I actually have any conclusion I drew from admittedly anecdotal evidence and it’s nowhere near conclusive but the fact Ambrose Island doesnt have guidance for its mission stories kind of assumes you have enough experience playing Hitman to know what you’re doing. When Berlin did this it was a calculated decision and the amount of signposting was carefully crafted to give a sense of freedom without being aimless. Ambrose isn’t nearly as well designed to accommodate the inexperienced player

So when I see streams of new players going through Ambrose I see them getting lost and finding the map impenetrable. This is with half the maps under there belt, but it seems Ambrose is maybe too much of an enthusiast’s map to be sprung on a player in the middle of a more guided experience like the other H2 maps

AGAINST #3 Repetition

This is more of a misc. category but there’s problems with Ambrose’s placement in a visual and gameplay sense. Just to rapid fire those complaints:

- The fact it reuses so many assets from Colombia and Mumbai so soon after playing those maps will make the map seem odd

- The fact there’s three island maps almost in a row from Ambrose to Sgail to Haven will potentially fatigue the play on that structure of level design

- Its briefing menu clearly uses the H3 style, but also the fact the pre-Sgail cutscene is meant to follow on from Janus death gives a slight anachronistic order to the whole affair

The Verdict

Now that Ambrose is forever part of H2’s gameplay experience, I think it’s up to the individual player to decide whether it works as part of the campaign or if they think it comes off as padding. Ive given reasons for and against, and I hope next time you play Ambrose or try it for the first time in its new Chronological order if it was truly better that way or not

And that may seem like a cop out, but that’s just because it is

[gravityglitch-blog]

I really hate to make a post like this, but I feel others should be aware before buying the novelization for Sonic Movie 3.

Since forever, I have been that little geek who scooped up the novelization of whatever movie I was excited over; it's a time-honored tradition.

It's also the first time I've ever encountered this

The story is incomplete! What I'd call the entire third act just isn't there!

As you can see, this is from the Kindle edition.

I don't know if the print edition is any different.

But if you're like me and collect movie novelizations, I thought I'd give a heads-up and maybe save you a little time and money.

[moths-in-a-coat]

officially 1/9th of a way through the first draft of my final paper for environmental science!

[nico-the-overlord]

Going to complain about homework real quick. Thanks!