#listen i disliked it too

[hellishvxbes]

i really wanna write a thing out for the leaky leaks but everyone hates it fndkslfnldsk. leak talk in the tags read at your discretion,

[xxplastic-cubexx]

filler

[yardsards]

the english dub translation does toshiro A LOT of favours with this line, as opposed to the manga translation that i read

the dub translation makes him sound (to me) like he was willing to let "asebi" escape and have her freedom if she wanted to, whereas the manga translation made him sound (to me) like he was willing to leave her alone to die as punishment for running away

(but also me having more knowledge of the series by the time the anime came out vs when i read the manga for the first time probably influenced how i interpreted those word choices)

the dub translation characterization kind of fits well with this bit from the adventurer's bible

like portraying toshiro not as a cold heartless person who is totally okay with the fact that his father basically owned child slaves, but as someone who knew something was wrong there but was too meek to actually do anything about the situation

[yellowdressesandyearning]

So I want to talk about Colin’s sexual experiences because I think they do tell a story

When Pen reads his journal, Colin writes about women but also mentions “how one can feel such intimacy but also such great distance” . When talking to his friends, he says along the lines of “why must we act so cavalier about the one thing in life that holds genuine meaning. do you not find it lonely?”

Colin understands that being physically with someone is something meaningful. He understands that he is socially expected to have this experience but does not buy into the need to brag about it. And the minute he kisses Pen, his outlook on intimacy and sex changes. He tries to enjoy himself at the brothel but can’t.

Because for him, kissing Pen is the first time he felt an emotional connection to the person he is being physical with. He understands the depth that he can feel with just a single slew of kisses. So, by the time we get to the carriage scene, we see him fully in love and enjoying sex they way he always thought it should be enjoyed.

[dangoulains-devotion]

this room was built for one chair only,

i'm not empty, i'm just lonely

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

Is there anything more weak than the attempt to shut down all media analysis and critique by appealing to a "everything is valid and different! Stop making it a pissing match," point of view? Either the stories are "too different" to compare and contrast, or they're "ultimately all fma so why should we fight". Maybe some people can't get it through their heads, but disagreement, venting amongst those who feel similarly, and critique are not inherently a fight.

And I'm sorry, but "breaking the cycle of violence" is a shit trope to tack onto a plot that uses a genocide and ethnic cleansing as its foundation, with heaping layers of "those poor little war criminals, stop being mean to them" to add insult to bad storytelling.

[simcardiac-arrested]

wait, that elias?

[buttercupshands]

it's my turn to tear you apart

[helga-grinduil]

okay y’all are actually pissing me off. sorry that the game’s lore isn’t catering to your personal headcanons and interpretation of the events in inquisition (despite numerous other people having a different interpretations that were confirmed), i guess???

i am sorry, but it’s not ‘bioware kinda forgot’, it’s you having an incorrect take on the story/character and being proven wrong 😭

[brionysea]

if stranger things 5 comes out and they're like 'omg! the upside down has been a product of someone's dark and twisted mind this whole time! it's... WILL!' I'll immediately lose interest

[elloras]

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The West Passage

medieval fantasy set in a giant crumbling palace of traditions with forgotten origin, ruled by giant eldritch Ladies

when winter weather comes in the middle of summer, and a beast below the palace begins to rise, two teens from Grey who have suddenly gained a lot of responsibilities set out on separate journeys to the other towers to find a way to stop it, and meet all sorts of strange people and creatures along the way

world where pronouns/names are based on people’s roles

tons of cool medieval-style chapter illustrations by the author

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[weirdmageddon]

sorry for liking davejade in 2023 btw its in a cool way though

[rosiesriiveters]

Rosie in episode 7 is so special to me, because when you re-watch it, you can just see why he’s going to ultimately choose to re-up. You can see it from the first scene he’s in. It’s this guilt of responsibility that will not budge from his shoulders. It’s all these things that keep happening around him and Nate Mann just rocks this role SO well because Rosie has such little dialogue in this whole episode but it doesn’t matter, because you can feel this burning guilt and responsibility building and building in each scene.

It starts with the conversation with Crosby about going to Texas or Florida and his heart clearly not being in it, but listening to Croz’s desperation to get out resonating with him.

It’s Black Monday - the mission that Rosie’s crew was grounded for that cost 150 of the 100th’s men. When the boys tell Rosie what they saw; that the boys that were on their 25th crashed and those that parachuted out of their planes were killed by the Germans anyway. It’s Rosie listening so intently, drinking in their stories despite the horror. He doesn’t try to placate their anger or their sadness, he just acknowledges it for what it is. It’s like you can visibly see Rosie taking and holding on to their words

It’s Rosie surviving 25 and the 100th throwing a party for him and his boys. And in such Rosie fashion, he seeks out Jack when he realises something is wrong, only for Jack to break the news: the tour requirements are changing. It’s 30 missions now.

It’s Shoens looking him dead in the eye saying congratulations Rosie. At least you’ll make it out of this fucking war alive.

And then it’s Rosie watching the parade of vans carrying bodies out of Thorpe Abbotts, unable to tear his gaze despite it all.

It’s all these - sometimes little, sometimes big - instances that build up make Rosie’s decision seem to just make perfect sense to the story, without it seeming overbearing or over the top. It’s understated, yet powerful (much like Rosie himself!).

He barely says anything throughout the whole episode, but I think that’s what makes it a perfect Rosie episode. Throughout the whole series, Rosie is usually the one listening, rather than the one telling a story - but his presence is still so big despite of it. Rosie doesn’t need to talk for the audience to listen.

And I think that’s reflected both in Rosie’s decision and the way Lt Col Bennett reacts to Rosie’s request. Despite barely knowing Rosie, he seems to understand the weight of Rosie’s presence at the base, and the weight of Rosie’s words. And I loved that Bennett decided not to blindside him with the new strategy, but instead allowed Rosie to make an informed decision. And Rosie’s reaction - unflinchingly meeting Bennett’s gaze and accepting his answer is the icing on the cake.

Rosie is outrageously humble! But understands how others see him and he is ready to take on the weight of that love, pressure and sheer resolve all over again.

[shorlinesorrows]

sometimes I run into discourse about The Odyssey vs. EPIC: The Musical and I get tired

this is why I think we need to start taking a more oral tradition approach to stories like the Odyssey tbh, and I'd argue stories in general

The original and the adaptation being different, or the characters being different, doesn't make one or the other Wrong.

EPIC isn't claiming to be a direct retelling of the Odyssey, and the Odyssey doesn't need to be put under a moral microscope just to prove that "Odysseus was a Bad Guy Actually i can't believe you like EPIC" or "The Actual moral of everything is This."

Analysis is good, but we don't have to do it to spite other people's enjoyment of a piece of art!

One of the most beautiful things about many oral traditions is that the story changes over time. It grows to fit the ideas and needs of the people it's being told to and the place it's being told in. Each storyteller remembers different details more vividly, or adds a little flair, or forgets a few words, or adds a few words, and it grows.

EPIC doesn't have to be the Odyssey, and the Odyssey doesn't have to be EPIC. Enjoy them both. Adaptations and spins off of stories aren't a bad thing in themselves, even if they're different.

Heck, the Odyssey was almost Definitely an adaptation, conglomeration, or re-telling of other stories that were told orally before it was written down. And I'd bet that it continued to evolve and change even after it was put to paper. I highly doubt The Odyssey the only version of this story there was, long before our time.

It's fine if you dislike one or the other in any adaptation! Hell knows I've absolutely despised some adaptations of media i enjoyed in the past. That's not a bad thing. But one story isn't objectively morally better or worse compared to another in adaptations.

Basically, my whole point is that both the Odyssey and EPIC are Great to me personally, but they aren't completely the same thing and that's what makes them great.

And I think people maybe need to be ok with that!