#rating number 4

[thetrgger]

Day four:

Merry Christmas Eve you idiots, it's time for our next number of the series, the number 4. The first number that isn't a prime number (except for 1, that one isn't a prime number either, it's a weird number) so we obviously know you can divide it by 2. I loved 2, so having 4 here feels kinda like 2: electric boogaloo, but also kinda cheap. I think 4 is alright, it's not that special in math or anything and it's not particularly nice nor bad to look at. No difficulties nor advantages, nothing special but also no hitches, it feels like an alright number, one you wouldn't mind but would still want for better things. Overall, 4 is still good, if a little mid. Honourable mention of the day: 1 4th/ a quarter.

[thebramblewood]

Master Straud? Oh, Lilith, that's embarrassing for you.

Previous / Next

Lilith: Master Straud, if you’ll just hear me out-

Vlad: I’ve heard you, girl. Your pleas have been relentless. But you seem incapable of hearing me when I tell you it’s a bad idea.

Lilith: You only say that because you’ve decided you hate him, though you’ve never once attempted to truly get to know him.

Vlad: How can you say I hate him when I’ve allowed him to stay? Mortals are immediately marked for death in this place — and yet he lives. Because he’s been under my protection.

Lilith: [rolls eyes] Oh, please. It’s hardly out of the kindness of your heart. You just know I wouldn’t stay without him. [in exasperation] Why not initiate the transfer? He wouldn’t be at risk anymore. He wouldn’t be your responsibility.

Vlad: If he were my fledgling, he’d be doubly my responsibility. He’s a soft boy, Lilith, timid, weak. This existence requires a degree of brutality he does not possess. He serves us better as a familiar.

Lilith: He knows precisely what it entails, and he still wants it. I’ll do it myself if I must.

Vlad: I can guarantee he’ll be unhappy — if he survives. Besides, I remain unconvinced you possess the discipline to-

Lilith: I won’t hurt him! I love him. [pleadingly] He understands me in a way no one else ever will. I need him by my side — forever.

Vlad: [amused] Is it him who wants it more or you? [resigned sigh] Well, I’ll hardly stand in your way if you wish to attempt it. But I’ll be curious to see if you’re singing the same tune after you’ve spent a century together — that is, if you succeed.

-

Lilith: It’s time.

Caleb: He tried to talk you out of it again.

Lilith: Of course he did. He envies the bond between us, even if he’ll never admit it. His jealousy eats away at him. But he’ll soon outgrow his use to us. We’ll be powerful together. Now, are you ready?

Caleb: [shakily] I’m ready.

Lilith: Don’t be nervous, brother. When you wake, eternity will stretch before you, and it will be beautiful. You trust me, don’t you?

Caleb: [murmurs noncommittally]

Lilith: When have I ever let you down?

[despazito]

Shout out to the pet valu employee who correctly guessed what breed he was

[lazzledazzler]

hey wind travelers

[perfectthewayyouare]

buddie will never go canon this, they'll never make eddie gay that, we've been let down before, yes yes i agree but

[paula-of-christ]

married!!! omg can’t wait for you to divorce congratulations!!

I think you're confusing me for your parents sorry that happened to you! ❤️

[pandorasfruit]

Umbrella Academy season 4:

I finished the entire season a few nights ago, so lets talk about some things;

I haven't checked in with the fandom in any way, but from most of the tiktoks i've seen, not many like this season. Completely understandable, makes sense, especially after seeing that weird (a lot of people used the word:) predatory relationship which went down between Five and Lila. I definitely did not see it coming, and though I don't find it predatory myself, as they are both consenting adults, since Five is in the body of an (i think) 20-something year old, but has the mind of an (if i remember right) 60/70 year old(?). I think how it happened can also be an excuse; they were trapped together for (what felt like to them) 7 years. Not to mention that Five had probably been lonely for some time now, and though Lila claimed that her marriage satisfied her, I really don't think it did.

This all however, is totally not an excuse for their behavior. Lila was married with three kids, and Five was the brother of her husband. They were in-laws, which does add to the weird pile.

The only thing I really enjoyed about their "hang", was their travels through all the different timelines. And now we have another academy (The Phoenix Academy), that's just a fun thought. I would have loved to see an episode where they explored the different timelines with different academies.

In other news: I love Luther.

I'm sorry, but I just do. I think the way he desperately tries to keep everything together when it comes to their family is commendable. In previous season, I always hated how he excused Reggie's behavior, but now that he's left that behind and focuses solely on his siblings instead is adorable. Both and he and Allison have given up on the whole incestuous relationship they had, and now they don't even mention it nor acknowledge it. Though normally I would say that that's not a healthy way to deal, I think it's actually better to just leave it all be.

Yes, I know he's kind of pathetic. Yes, I know he is also somewhat selfish. No, I do not care. He's trying very hard to be cool older brother Luther and cool uncle Luther. I think his whole descent into sex work should have been talked about in a better way, but somehow he always brought it up as a thing he enjoys doing? I'm not going to go into prolematic things that the writers have been doing, but this is definitely one of them. There's nothing consensual about sex work, and it should never be shown as something that one might enjoy doing.

This is one of the first actual seasons, however, where we get to witness Diego doing his thing! (I know we've seen him do some other tricks, but they never been this detailed.) I was so shocked to see him do his little spin in the air to redirect the bullets during the second episode, but I was disappointed to see that Lila did NOT care.

Talking about Lila and Diego, did anybody else catch that one part in the first episode about how they basically had the twins accidentally? Diego explains to Luther that though he loves Lila and his kids, he feels exhausted and not at all satisfied. Then he explaines that they had the twins through Lila telling him that since she was breastfeeding, she couldn't get pregnant. It's unclear now if they were both mistaken, but just the way he was talking about it, it felt like to me that he felt betrayed by Lila. I'm pretty sure that Lila was aware that she could still get pregnant, she just knew that she wouldn't be able to convince Diego, so instead she did this.

Viktor is as cool as ever. He's always been very cool, but thinking back to all other old (pre-transition) Elliot Page roles, its so noticiable how uncomfortable he was in his body, and getting to see him now, playing a male character, whos not only accepted by his siblings but Reggie too?! Amazing. And him bonding with Reggie? Delicious, I ate that right up. Reggie calling him "boy" (and other masculine nicknames)? Love, love, love.

This is one point for the writers and Netflix, this is exactly how Hollywood should handle an actor coming out, and I hope that this will be an example for future media that will feature transgender actors in the middle of transitioning.

Klaus is our little weirdo who DESERVES a break. He needs it. Please.

We get to see him clean this season, but I did not expect him to behave like this while off drugs. Honestly, I'm not sure I expected anything. I guess I kind of just thought he'd do drugs anyway? Or that he'd get clean but still behave somewhat the same way.

Poor Klaus was also a character subjected to sex work this season, it just made a bit more sense this time. He definitely did not enjoy it, that was something they made very obvious, but they still couldn't do it just right. It was awful watching him have to make a choice between getting money to pay off his debt and leave or a sole condom for "dealing" with costumers. They didn't make it obvious how many clients he really had, but through dialog, you could kind of guess that he had way more than the one girl whose money he tried stealing.

I loved seeing his relationship with Allison this season. And I loved his relationship with Claire even more. I felt the scene where he went home to rob Allison's place so he could get money to buy drugs was realistic, but since I've never had any experiences with addiction of that kind, I won't speak on it.

The villains of the season were kind of nothing if I'm being honest. I loved their sense of style, but other than that they were basic, text-book style villains, who were mostly around to just help the story along. They weren't too memorable, but neither was Reggie's wife? Partner? I'm not sure who she was, or if she counts as a villain or not? I didn't really understand her role, but I did like how she treated the siblings the first time they met.

Then there is Ben and Jennifer.

I feel like we never really made Ben an official part of the siblings, even though he is supposed to be. His relationship with Jennifer was very cute, but once again, it was not too memorable, even though it was supposed to be the main story of the entire season. I find it weird how it all looks unplanned while also being completely planned? Like, you'd assume that ever since season 1, this has always been the story of Ben's death, and yet it still feels like it just wasn't? It feels like they were putting this whole thing together blindly, and then someone thought of the right thing and that was what made it all make sense.

And I don't like how things with Jennifer went unexplained! What does that fucking squid have to do with anything???

But anyway, other than all that, this season was a very basic example of a Netflix series. It was entertaining but not deep. It was a good watch, but I don't think I could ever do a re-watch. I think it was overall, just nice.

[st4rstudent]

I really like the fact that it seems that Brian has a fondness for the number 4

[lemonduckisnowawake]

Rating (the translated, not actually OG) titles of manhwa/manga because I was bored

Monstrous Duke's Adopted Daughter/The Monster Duchess and Contract Princess - not egregiously long but boring when the story is actually interesting. 6/10. Rename it with something more snappish like the Adopted Shadow or whatever. idk. Have I mentioned I've been banned from naming things?

My In-Laws Are Obsessed with Me - 4/10. Also not horrible but it's clearly a clickbaity title and I roll my eyes. Better to rename it to like ..... something to do with blood maybe? Or if you want to keep it family-themed. Blood Ties? Also boring and you can tell I'm speaking from a western YA-genre reader

Beware the Villainess - 8/10. This needs no change

The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine - .... it's exactly what the title says, ngl. 7/10. But it could be better and less of a summary. Don't know what, though

The Noble Girl Who Finds a Nerdy and Plain Guy Moe Thinks That the Arrogant Prince Is in the Way - 0/10. I just. Why? The official English title is something like The Lady Likes a Nerd over Princes, which I found weird but the summary was interesting (turns out it was a good manga. But the author just has zero respect for the agency of women. Like. Comically so that it's not even funny as it gets a tad bit narratively frustrating as it's used as a device to drag on the plot) Anyway. Just why?

An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride - 2/10. Not as unforgivable as the previous but horrible all the same. And while the concept was interesting and I gave it a try because it was a rec, it turned out to not be for me at all. The title is dramatic, I'll give you that. It reads like it's a self help book for demon kings who want to learn how to Love and that's basically the manga

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End/Frieren at the Funeral/Frieren the Slayer - 10/10. Look. Any of those titles are good. It doesn't pop out but neither does it force you to hide the title out of fear of being misunderstood

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World - 5/10. Inoffensive but another summary title. You could have literally just called it the Savior's Otherworld Cafe instead. Or something

I Listened to My Husband and Brought in a Lover - 1/10. Encourages cheating with consent. Actually, the manhwa kinda did too (the husband cheated first and was like you should cheat too). At least people know what they're in for? Don't want to retitle it. It deserves it for starting with decent potential for that premise and kinda failing to deliver.

I Stole the Number One Ranker's Soul - 6/10. Again, it's pretty catchy and not terrible but I still don't like these summary titles. Manhwa is amazing, however.

Can't Stop Cursing You - 8/10. Dying laughing because it reads as someone going "man, I just... can't stop cursing you. Really can't help myself you know? Sorry not sorry" while zapping you repeatedly with curses. Still pretty stupid when the actual manga was REALLY shiny with all that horror and bloody gore and interesting plot

Gingerly in Love - 10/10. Trust me. Once I saw what it was about, I died laughing. Not the most memorable manhwa but the wordplay of the title....

The Tyrant Wants to Be Good - 6/10. Again. Inoffensive but there's something annoying to me personally. The manhwa is great, though. Love me a woman who makes her trauma everyone else's problem, regrets it, and then internalizes the guilt in her do-over at life so bad that she ends up getting aggressively adopted into a found family

I Got a New Skill Every Time I Was Exiled, and After 100 Different Worlds, I Was Unmatched - 0/10. Why are isekai titles actually the worst sometimes. Manga itself is meh, in my opinion. It has potential ruined by the usual commodification of women, so I dropped it despite my interest

Bonus:

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - 3/10. Twain really was isekai titling when he probably didn't know that Japan was even a thing, huh. Not terrible, but it has that isekai style of summarizing the premise.

Bonus again:

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest and died a Penitent - -10/10. It was an okay book but you shouldn't have had this power over your book titles, Daniel Defoe. Seriously. My edition just says "Moll Flanders". Never have I wanted to shame a dead author more. It's not even an isekai but it's worse than an isekai title. It's a whole anime opening credits.

[kenzan-kiwami]

everybody claims to be a kashiwagi enjoyer but the only time anyone ever talks about him is to say he's the hottest piece of meat in the series

[ejsuperstar]

[thepixelelf]

one time someone rbed my fic and put "4/5" in the tags... sincerely from me to any readers out there: don't do that lol

[glitterslag]

bureaucracy...

[heldenherzchen]

i've got a picture perfect plan, but i can't go in alone. are we whole or just two halves reaching out to the unknown? no, i can't help my ways. (it don't make such sense to me.) all these cold and rainy days; maybe we're meant to be alone. i've got a voice inside my head and a feeling in my gut. i don't know just who to believe. when you're torn in two - who can you trust? and then i met you: i wanted to love you so bad. but i don't know if i'll let myself. — "maybe we're meant to be alone" (bad suns)

[fishparasite]

the thing is that Midsommer could have been really really good but it did indeed fall flat in some ways. there's a few really strong visuals that had me wishing for certain other aspects to be explored that surrounded more of her grief as opposed to "ooo cult creepy". the way the cult handled grief was something to feel and transform you but that wasn't concrete enough to really feel for the majority of those seeing the movie including horror fans (I think this movie suffered a lot from non horror fans seeing it and making it into something it wasn't tbh). Dani comes to us as a girl who lost her whole family due to depression and now she is untethered trying to cling to a boyfriend who is just some douche but ultimately is just that. the uncaring world she came from vs a world that offers "unity" where she can grieve and have everyone stop to grieve with her like we all wish could happen when losing a loved one. there is your core of the movie but it became so muddled with all this other drawn out "oooooo isn't this WEIRD???" that you cease being able to focus on the legitimate issues of what I do believe Ari was wanting to display. the horror is in a grieving girl being able to be taken advantage of because you have a murder cult offering her what those around her will not. the inherent selfishness of those in her life in "the real world" leads her to seek solace in the world of the cult and she ultimately excuses the cruel physical violence because they didn't give her emotional violence, hence the tragedy of her character and why you are left conflicted at that final scene of her smiling because it is supposed to be a tragedy.

anyway if the story had been more focused I think it would have been excellent but it rambled a lot in the middle. still worth a watch tho for some deam sequences and the crying scene that means more built up feeling bad for her. idk I'd give it a 5-6/10. not as good as Hereditary by a long shot but still interesting enough and I think he has a good eye for constructing scenes.

ALSO I think it is really telling that he wrote it after a break up. like I wanted a different movie with the nuggets there does that make sense? like I didn't want it to be what he did with it I wanted the focus on something else

god you're the one who should have written this film not ari aster who apparently thinks the ending is a happy, triumphant one. i think i agree with you overall, it could have been way more compelling if it focused its themes on grief and how easy it is for cults to prey on the vulnerable.

maybe if it knew what it was trying to say it wouldn't feel like some kind of trauma porn film

[13eyond13]

So the book club that I've been in since 2022 has 9 regular members now including me, and we have collectively read a total of 28 books together now. This month we put all of our book choices and the members' ratings of the books on an Excel spreadsheet, and have been having fun figuring out various trends and statistics and so on – what decades we have mostly read from, what countries, what genres, what our most and least highly rated picks were for each year, etc. I also thought it would be fun to use the spreadsheet on my own to figure out who rates things most and least similarly to each other in the club. What shocked me was that I found out that I scored the number one most similar/compatible rater to every single other person in the club except two (I was 2nd most similar rater for somebody and 4th most similar rater for the other). Also, apparently me and the guy who I scored least compatible with based on our ratings/taste have the top rated book selections on average in the club so far. I'm not at all sure what this means except that I just know from now on I'm going to have this secret semi-subconscious goal in my mind of inching my way higher in this one outlier book club member's taste compatibility scoring for 2025 hahaha