#ride & review

[johnnyprimecc]

Thirteen Water

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE: This 13-course omakase joint is a pretty great deal for just $75. It starts off with a few really awesome pieces like the medium fatty tuna, the shima aji and the tuna with truffle. Then in the middle you have some really unique stuff like the salmon with tomato, and a real banger with the ebi (shrimp). And toward the end, you get the otoro fatty…

[genieinanovel]

Recent Adaptations I Want to See

I’m pretty skeptical when it comes to movie adaptations of my favorite books because most of the time there is so much that they change that it bothers me. Last year I was so excited for the Love & Gelato adaptation to come out on Netflix, but I couldn’t even get through half of the movie because so much was changed and it was falling flat from the beginning. There are rare times when changes in…

[thejewofkansas]

The Weekly Gravy #132

The Big House (1930) – *** The Big House won two Oscars, one fairly well deserved, one not so much. The first was given to Douglas Shearer for Best Sound Recording, and from the prisoners’ marching which plays over the opening credits, the film makes good use of sound, whether it’s conveying the overlapping voices in the yard or the mess hall, the roar of the machinery in the mill, the sounds of…

[basementdoll]

Spanish Inquisition

Wednesday 13

What does this part-time Murderdoll, chicken lovin’, eyebrow shavin’, horror movie watchin’ dread head have to say for himself when Cardinal Doran asks him your questions and applies the thumbscrews? Read on and find out. Noose of the world: Brother Naki.

Weds: “Right, you must be here to ask me lots of offensive questions?��

Hammer: Usually when we do this we only get questions about how gay are you or how much dick do you love to suck, but this time we’ve only got questions about chickens.

Weds: “Cool! Questions from real fans!”

READ THAT YOU HAD A PET CHICKEN, OMAR. DID YOU JUST GET SICK OF LOOKING AFTER HIM AND EAT HIM?

Pear Black, Via Email

Weds: “No. Unfortunately, not being farmers or anything and not knowing how to take care of chickens, he died. We had a little chicken coop at the side of our guitar amps and our drums. It was the summer, we’d go to practice and leave him and he died of heat exhaustion. So I chopped off his legs and made a little memorial for him by hanging them off my guitar but they got ripped off during one gig. Peace Omar.” [Thumps heart emotively.]

Hammer: What benefits are there to having a chicken instead of a normal pet like a cat?

Weds: “None. The reason I got the chicken was cos when I was a kid people always told me that people like Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper used to bite the heads off chickens live on stage and drink their blood. So for me, I’ve always associated chickens with rock’n’ roll. I never wanted to kill the chicken, I just always wanted it to be there. I'd recommend your readers get a cat instead.”

Hammer: But chickens are good for voodoo rituals as well.

Weds: “And for feathers…”

Hammer: Say if you were going to cook a chicken, what recipe would you use?

Weds: “I’m a big fan of Cajun chicken. I bake chicken pretty much every day of my life, except when I’m on tour because you don’t have access to a stove. You put the chicken in the oven and sprinkle it with salt, pepper and spices and cook it until it isn’t pink in the middle - unless you want to get sick.”

WITH ERIK JOINING NAPOLEON BLOWNAPART, BEN IN NOCTURNE, ACEY IN TRASH LIGHT VISION AND JOEY IN SLIPKNOT, IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR THE MURDERDOLLS GETTING BACK TOGETHER?

Decaying Wench, Hell, Third Door On The Left

Weds: “Well, yeah. There’s always hope. Everybody’s doing their own thing. Joey went back to Slipknot and I started doing this so everybody had to find something to do. I can only speak for myself, because I don’t know what the other guys are doing, but I’m putting 100 per cent into this and it is my number one priority, I’m going to tour this record for as long as I want to. But when the time comes right, everybody feels like doing another Murderdolls record and everybody is on the same page, then yeah, I’ll do it. But there’s no way it’ll happen next year.”

Hammer: How has the material off ‘Transylvania 90210’ been going down?

Weds: “Amazing. I was expecting to get raked across the coals but the kids have been digging it and the reviews from the journalists have been really good as well. People are telling me that it’s much more diverse than the Murderdolls; a lot more like a rollercoaster ride and it’s got many different levels to it.”

HEY TUESDAY, DON’T YOU THINK THAT THE MURDERDOLLS SOUNDS LIKE A REALLY BAD GOFF PORN WEBSITE?

Dan, Chiswick

Weds: “I don’t go to goth porn websites and I don’t think it sounds anything like one. Frankenstein Drag Queen sounds more like a goth porn website.”

Hammer: What are your views on pornography?

Weds: “It happens. I don’t find myself ringing lines or going on websites but if that’s what people do and it makes them happy then more power to them. You won’t be finding me turning up in any porn films by the way. Unlike Fred Durst.”

Hammer: He didn’t come out of that looking well.

Weds: “Fred Durst doesn’t come out of anything looking well.”

SAW YOUR TATTOOS IN METAL HAMMER AND WANTED TO KNOW THE TATTOOIST’S NAME?

Chris, South Africa

Weds: “There was this old guy that I used to go to in my home town of Charlotte, North Carolina but the guy pissed me off and I don’t go to him any more. My new guy is called Mark Evans, who did my stitches which are healing up and he did the new Michael Myers tattoo. I don’t promote my old guy because he was a douchebag.”

Hammer: Did you weep like a six year old girl watching ET when you got them done?

Weds: “No. As I was getting them done I was watching Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure so I was laughing. They hurt though. The ones on the wrists, I think I would have been better just chopping my hands off and sewing them back on: it would have hurt less. It was pretty painful.”

AS THE FUTURE PRESIDENT OF KFC, WHICH DO YOU PREFER: POPCORN CHICKEN OR A FAMILY BUCKET?

Cyhiraeth 13, Via Email

Weds: “Family bucket. Popcorn chicken is different here. In America it is actually just what is left over from the other chicken in the bottom of the tray dumped into a bucket. But also the way you guys cut chicken here is totally different. It baffles me, I don’t know what I’m eating. In America you have a leg, a breast, a thigh and a wing. Over here you have a throat, an ass, an elbow…”

Hammer: We don’t have chicken’s elbows.”

Weds: “What the hell am I eating here? It’s all fucking mixed up, I think I had a throat today!”

Hammer: Just say you developed a food intolerance to chicken what would you do then?

Weds: “I’d eat turkey. I’d just move from one bird to another. And turkey’s better for you.”

Hammer: You should try ostrich. Terminator X, the old DJ from Public Enemy, is now an ostrich farmer in the USA, that’s why he doesn’t go on tour with them because someone’s got to stay home and look after the ostriches.

Weds: “I can’t say that I’ve seen a Kentucky Fried Ostrich restaurant yet but when I do I’ll stop by. I fancy a KFO.”

RECENTLY MY MUMMY BROUGHT HOME A BABY CHICK. AS YOU USED TO HAVE A PET CHICKEN, CAN YOU GIVE ME A FEW TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE IT BE QUIET? ITS TWEETING IS DRIVING ME INSANE.

Eddie, London

Weds: “There’s no way to keep them quiet. Keep them out of the heat. Don’t feed them after midnight. They will actually eat anything you put in front of them. They’ll eat chicken, so give your chicken some KFC and watch it become a cannibal.”

IF YOU COULD REMAKE A HORROR MOVIE AND STAR IN IT, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHICH CHARACTER WOULD YOU TAKE?

Charlotte Humphreys, Andover

Weds: “Probably The Abominable Dr Phibes and I would be Dr Phibes because he was the master of revenge and it is my favourite Vincent Price movie. He didn’t really even have to talk to be frightening.”

HEY WEDNESDAY, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU MANAGED TO EAT ONE MILLION PIECES OF FRIED CHICKEN IN 2004 LIKE YOU PREDICTED YOU WOULD?

Storm McCracken, Paraparaumu, New Zealand

Weds: “There’s a good possibility, yeah. I lost count along the way but probably. Not this year though because I turned over a new leaf and now I only eat grilled chicken. I’ve been trying to make sure that I don’t have a heart attack before I’m 30.”

Hammer: Speaking as a bit of a tubby bastard, I was wondering how you stay so slim on such a chicken rich diet?

Weds: “It is basically not eating fried chicken. I went on a diet and I lost 40lbs which shows you how bad it can be.”

COULD A REGULAR PERSON KILL A SHEEP WITH JUST ONE PUNCH TO ITS FACE? I DON’T THINK SO.

Ken B Wild, The Fields 

Weds: “Hmmm. It depends on the person. Me? No. I can’t punch a sheep to death but say you’re Tor Johnson from the Ed Wood films, the big guy, he could probably hit a sheep once and break its spine.”

Hammer: I reckon The Thing from The Fantastic Four could waste a sheep.

Weds: “Well, Tor Johnson is probably the closest a human has ever got to being The Thing.

Hammer: What is the biggest creature that you’ve ever killed? Purposefully, that is. Not just forgetting that you’ve left a chicken in a hot room.

Weds: Probably a grasshopper. I don’t hurt animals. When I was a kid I used to do mean stuff but I don’t now. I go out of my way not to hurt stuff.”

DO YOU STILL BELIEVE IN THE EASTER BUNNY?

Goldfinger Rule 502, Via Email

Weds: “Hell yeah! He just came to my house a couple of months ago. He brought my kid a box of candy and $20.”

Hammer: What are your favorite kinds of sweets?

Weds: “I love peanut M&MS. Those things are addictive. I will eat about 10 bags a day if I don’t watch it.”

DEAR WEDNESDAY 13, ARE THINGS STILL TENSE BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR RIVAL THURSDAY 14?

Antibody, Via Email

Weds: “Yeah, we’re still going head to head. One day we’ll meet and slug it out but I will win.”

Hammer: It’s Wednesday the 13th soon, do you do anything out of the ordinary on those days?

Weds: “Not normally but this year we are doing the London show so that should be really remarkable.”

DOES YOUR MOTHER FEEL ASHAMED THAT HER GROWN UP SON FEELS THE NEED TO DRESS LIKE A SPAZZ AND WEAR BAD MAKE-UP?

Eyen, Poshland

Weds: “My mom’s pretty proud of me. She goes out and buys all of the magazines and everything else. She is totally supportive of me and is into what we’re doing.”

WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT BETWEEN A GRIZZLY BEAR AND A SIBERIAN TIGER?

Bobby G, Via Email

Weds: “A grizzly man! You can’t fight a bear! I’ve seen a bear- you can’t fight them.”

Hammer: You saw a bear?

Weds: “On TV. In a zoo. You can’t fight them.”

Hammer: My Chemical Romance got attacked by a moose once. What is the biggest animal you’ve ever been attacked by?

Weds: “I got attacked by a Doberman when I was eight years old. And they can kill you. The dog had cancer and it had this giant tumour on its side and they were going to put it to sleep in a few weeks. But it came up to me while I was on my trampoline and put its legs up and started growling. I was like, ‘Oh shit, what do I do?’ So I decided to try and run down the hill to get home and the dog jumped at me, knocked me down and I ate grass. It never bit me but it stayed right on my ass growling and I just cried all the way home. Which is OK if you’re eight: a Doberman could bite your arm off!”

Hammer: If you say so. Are you nervous about dogs now?

Weds: “I’m not a big dog fan. I like cats and small dogs but big dogs give me the old phobia.”

ISN’T WEDNESDAY A GIRL’S NAME, LIKE THAT BINT OUT OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY? SHOULDN’T YOU BY RIGHTS BE CALLED PUGSLEY 13?

Mr D Monkey, No Fixed Abode

Weds: “Well you know, I don’t have to buy the rights to be named after the day of the week and yeah, I was totally inspired by the character out of The Addams Family, I’ve always admitted that and never tried to hide it. She was always much cooler than Pugsley because he was a little fat guy.”

WHY DON’T YOU HAVE A JASON VOORHEES TATTOO?

War Machine, Via Email

Weds: “It’s in the process. I’m getting Voorhees and Freddie very soon. So gimme some time dude!”

WEDNESDAY, WHY DO YOU SHAVE YOUR EYEBROWS OFF? IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A PLOPHEAD.

He Man, Reading

Weds: “A plophead? A guy with a plop on his head? What is that? If you mean shit head, say shit head. You know, I shave my eyebrows off for one simple reason: my hair is blond. When my eyebrows grow out they are blond, it just doesn’t look good. I don’t have cool eyebrows, so I shave them off. You can hardly see them anyway. I do notice not having them because of the sweat. If you ever see me on stage squinting like this [scrunches up face as if in agony] that means my eyes are burning out of my fucking head.”

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Saturday! First off Hallelujah the actors strike is over. Now it’s just semantics and such before we get our ship back on our screens. Just saw the SAG board approved the deal with 86% percent in favor on Friday. All that is left is getting it ratified and an episode order. We’re on the right track I can not wait. Been too damn long since we’ve been excited about some new content.

Till then I shall continue my rewatch. Hoping to line it up ending it whenever a premiere date appears. So fingers crossed on that. Once we do have that might amp it up to 3 reviews a week instead of 2. This one is not a huge content heavy one for them. It's shorter than normal, but it is Lucy’s first ep as his aide. They’re riding back together. I love it so much. Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say. Some good moments peppered in this one. Sassy married moments we all love. Off we go.

4x04 Red Hot

We start off with our lovely duo at the end of roll call. Tim coming in hot and sassy. Calling her Gofer right off the bat. Asking if she’s ready to go? He had to know he was gonna get a sassy reply calling her that first thing. Man knows what he’s doing. Tim loves their little dance and banter. So he lights the fire and waits for the results. (Also good Tall/Smol shots here my fav.)

Lucy matching said sass with some of her own. A little flirting mixed in cause they can't help it. Not showing an ounce of fear with his 'authority' haha Tim picking up on that right away. Flirting right back saying he’s sensing a lack of fear in his authority.

Oh Timothy you lost that long ago my love. You have her utmost respect but the fear? Yeah that went bye bye some time ago heh Some pre-shift foreplay going on here. We know they’re both just excited to be riding together again. It’s all over their body language and this flirty exchange.

Her ‘Yes, sir.’ So cute basically saying for her 'You don’t scare me.' LOL Lucy's body language is everything with that flirty smile. She has no problem roasting him. Tim loves it despite the words coming out of his mouth. Sunshine x Grumpy ride again. I'm so happy for it. Missed it since 3x09 that’s a long time apart for them. We’ve had lovely moments in between but nothing better than them riding together. Plus they needed time to miss one another.

They’re so obvious together. Grey hears their exchange and is holding back a chuckle as he comes up to Tim. Wade knew long before they did...That is a fact. They continuously forget everyone can hear them. It’s so funny. Carrying on like a married couple in front of their colleagues.

Lucy and Tim end up joining Nolan on his missing wife call. (So happy they’re riding together. Making my heart happy) His call has gotten more complicated because well it’s John’s call….Nolan tells them she was drugged and the people claiming to know her we're speaking Russian. So they all go back to the house where the call originated.

No one is there when they arrive. They notice the house seems off... Like it’s staged and no one actually lives there. John noting it feels a lot smaller on the inside. Tim saying it’s like a reverse Tardis...Lucy’s reaction is so damn funny. Props to Melissa for the facial expression here. I’m dying. Tim already sensing her judgement cuts it off. She doesn’t even have to say what she’s thinking. He just knows and defends himself.

S4 is the fruit of all that rapport building. We get to see the end result constantly. Watch how close they are. That silent communication coming through, the comfortability and playfulness. Not even trying to hide it anymore. The amount of sass in Tim's reply. My god she has rubbed off on this man. I love it sfm I can’t stand it. Such flirty dorks in front of Nolan it’s the absolute best. So nice to have them together on cases again. I missed it.

They get a report the car was torched but no sign of the woman over the radio. Nolan opens the cabinet and sees an impressive setup. A panel with cyrilic buttons they can't read. Goes into contractor mode saying they have 500 MCM wires. Running 400 amp service out of this place. Lucy not knowing what that means but wanting to save face says her line above. Also knows Tim may not either so she throws him under the bus LOL

It’s so cute and cheeky. The theme of this episode for them is sass. 100%. The way Tim looks at her plus his little leg stamp. LMAO His reaction saying 'Seriously Lucy?' He’s not even mad about it so much as in awe of her being so damn fresh at this point. Doesn’t even fight her giving him shit anymore. Just accepts it. Smitten man right here. Front and center.

Nolan goes on to say a normal household doesn’t tend to go past 200. Whatever they’re powering is big because just the minimum can power a house and a/c under that. Nolan starts messing around with the panel like an idiot and trips something. Because well it's Nolan. Like an unattended child. It locks down the entire house and they pull their guns in case.

Tim’s reply is the best. ‘I don’t know what it says so I push it?’ LMAO Roasting John like a marshmallow. Sassy Tim has come out to play and I’m dying. A tv turns on showing surveillance of the entire neighborhood. John asks if human traffickers normally are this sophisticated? Tim replies no…It’s a safe house.

Lucy’s interest is piqued of course. Asking if it’s for spies? Tim gives her a small peak into his past. Which you know she will eat up like crazy. Always craving to know about it. Hell me too. Any morsel we can get from Tim’s past I’m all about. Lucy in wifey mode tries to get it out of him. The when and where? You can see the absolute curiosity all over her face. He just drops a bomb like that and expects her not to try and dig a little deeper?

Tim is classic in his reply. Saying it’s classified and that is that for his answer. I'm sure he was wanting to impress her with that reply. When really she's just annoyed at him haha Lucy’s reaction is so damn funny. She is offended he won’t just share his classified past with her in front of Nolan LOL That wifey look in the second gif. Ha. Look at them just flirting away no problem in front of John. That’s not an issue but asking about his past is. These two... Also when they talk in this scene it’s like Nolan isn’t even there. I love this about them. They only pay attention to one another when they get like this. I just love their banter. It’s fantastic.

Nolan discovers a panel after hitting another button. It leads to a whole other hidden part of the house. It’s clearly where they were torturing her. They dig a little deeper and find more surveillance camera's set up. Looks like they tried destroying everything before they took off. There is still some paper work and such lying around. Looks like they didn't get everything. Tim wants them to take pictures of everything before the feds show up. Because they’ll ice them out ASAP. I love when he’s a sexy leader directing everyone. yum. gimme.

This next section when the feds finally show up is primo. Mike Weston introduces himself and Tim knows right away he’s CIA. The feds are with him though. Reason being Weston has to work with them since he isn't allowed to work domestically. Tim has some serious smug husband energy going on in this scene. Watching his girl square off and win with this guy. Lying on his behalf it’s amazing. Lucy handles herself like the bad ass he knows her to be. Coming up with this on the fly. That UC training kicking in right here.

The immense amount of pride on his face is everything. He didn’t even have to tell her to lie she just did for him. Their silent communication once again is out of this world. He just stands there proud af. Like yeah that’s my girl. Doesn’t have to say a damn word. Knows she’s got this covered. Smugly smiling at this guy trying to get them to do their job. Knowing they secured the scene and got all the photos they needed. Part of that smugness is from knowing they’re not sharing. Lucy shutting them down completely and he just stands there happy as a clam while she handles the situation.

Lucy is bummed they’re taking over. Nolan reminds them she touched his hood. Tim says they can get a true ID. Try and solve this thing before the feds and CIA know what hit them. I love this. They get a hit in the database. She’s a Russian citizen here on a NGO visa. Tim saying it’s perfect cover for a Russian agent.

Lucy with her social media skills found her Instagram page. Linking her to an Air Force major named Lyle Marks. Who she was apparently dating. Nolan says she was probably dating him just to get to secret information. Lucy calls him a cynic heh I love it. Then says yeah that’s probably the most likely scenario…

That he works for drone command and hasn’t shown up for work today. Tim says no need to loop in Weston. If they’re onto something good he will find them. They show up to Mark's house and find him tortured and killed. Weston of course shows up right after they find his body. Just like Tim said. He’s so smart. Beauty and Brains.

The fact that a soldier was killed this can’t be contained any longer. Weston realizes he’s going to need their help. Especially since this is on US soil. He brings them back to his fancy spy van. So they can have a private conversation protected. Tim gets right down to business. Asking what they know about Katerina? Mike tells them they believe her to be a FSB case officer. Just like Tim said earlier. Sexy how smart he is. Intelligence is attractive af.

Apparently she went rogue during her mission. She was supposed to be recruiting intelligence assets for Russia. It’s why those two guys came into the country after her. Rather her die than be in the hands of the CIA after she escaped. Tim asks if they knew about the relationship with officer Marks? Weston replies no or they would’ve stepped in weeks ago.

Also let’s note the lack of space with them in this scene. The Grand Canyon between John and Tim. The smallest sliver between Tim and Lucy. Another theme of this season. Personal Space? Never heard of her…

This next part is more of that proud/smug hubby energy from Tim. The way she dismantles Mike is glorious. Trying to say she’s naive and espionage isn’t a romance novel. She crushes him with some solid ass logic. Lucy owns this guy not once but twice in the same day. Lucy came to play and it's so fun to watch her confidence. The way she handles herself now. So self-assured it's just as glorious to watch as Tim's growth.

I love the look on Tim’s face. (also him licking his lips I see that tongue sir. Mmm.) His reaction is 'Wifey is right and you are dead to rights sir.' He couldn’t be prouder of her confidence with this man. Held her own from the jump. The growth here is amazing. Lucy just confidently owning her moments. Tim backing her without a second of hesitation. True partners. Nolan gives a 'Told you so' look too but it’s not as important as Tim’s LOL Weston concedes and says she has a fair point…

That being said Mike said he’s read her file. That isn’t the type of person she is. They ask why she was dating Marks then? Weston says he ran the entire west coast drone command. That he had the keys to the entire program. Tim then poses if she wasn’t stealing secrets or planning to defect then what’s her play? Mike says doesn’t know..and that scares the hell out of him

That’s their last scene together for the ep sadly. We find out with just John and Bailey she killed Marks. He issued a drone strike that killed her brother. The flash drive Nolan finds in his shop is what she wants. She wants to kill everyone else on the list of the mission. Sadly Lucy’s love theory is kaput after that haha That's all she wrote for this one. Short but sweet one for them.

Side notes-non chenford

I love Lucy reaching out to Aaron to be his support through training. He fights her at first then gives in and calls her when he has bad experience with an old friend. Aaron does stick his foot in his mouth about Jackson. Poor Lucy still hurts her talk about him.

Then they bond over it. He talks about Patrick and says it still gets him too. How it sneaks up on you. You could be having normal day and something triggers it. Aaron tells her it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Love this friendship being built.

Thanks as always to those who read these reviews and show your support through likes, comments and reblogs. It’s my fuel haha so thank you. Shall see you all in 4x05

[cutekittenlady]

Since Fields of MIstria has landed and been, at least as far as I can tell, such a success (I mean I love it and you guys seem to as well so I consider that a success) I figure I'd highlight bits of the roadmap they posted on steam.

There are no specific dates but under the current roadmap we can expect the following in the fourth quarter of 2024.

NPC heart limits are planned to be raised from 4 to 6 (8 or 10 seems to be the max but that update likely wont be til later). With romanceable characters getting a 6 heart event. There will also be additional dialogue for NPCs which I'm assuming includes the non-romanceable villagers.

More monsters and drops will be added to the dungeon. Seems like getting more levels will likely be something we'll have to wait on.

The towns renown cap is going to be raised 20 levels with more requests and rewards. The museum will also be getting more content and more rewards as well. Theres also a new festival to expect tho what kind of festival it is isn't mentioned.

There will be more skill perks in future with the total level you can reach being raised to 45.

The player home will get another upgrade and, naturally, there'll be more clothes, cosmetics, furniture items and more.

Beyond that the devs seem to plan to include the following down the line;

Fully integrating romance with more heart events,marriage and kids

Additions to the mines questline and more spells.

The roadmap mentions additional biomes. I dont know if thats referencing the mine/dungeons levels or the Deep Forest which isnt reachable at this time.

It looks like they want to add pets and the ability to ride some of the larger animals (the horses are likely tho it'd be cool to ride the cows, alpacas, and others). Not sure what kind of pet options there will be, but given the part of the character creation screen that says "pets unavailable" it's likely we'll be able to pick out a pet at the start. Not sure if we'd have those pets from the start or if its something we'd unlock, but we'll have to see.

No idea when we're getting the two mystery romance characters (one of whom is Calderas, but wondering what his non-dragon form looks like.)

Thats a rough summary of what I think we can expect from the game in future. Remember to help Fields of Mistria get a boost by reviewing the game on steam and, if you encounter any issues, be sure to send the developers a report!

This is one of the funnest farm sim games thats come along in awhile and I really want it to be a success!

[bisexualhobi]

exo - exist review

i just wanna start by saying that this comeback is the highlight of my year already. i did have high expectations because after all, this is exo and their discography is easily at the top of the entire industry... and for groups that debuted over a decade ago they're one of the last still standing, so after a 4 year old hiatus the expectations were high to say the least. did they manage to meet them? let's find out!

the title track deserves a whole paragraph so:

cream soda - a high paced r&b pop song with a luscious instrumental and a collection of high notes that flex the strengths of the group. it definitely packs a punch and i think it would benefit from getting a slower intro but even so, the song doesn't disappoint. it kinda reminds me of a maroon 5 song during their golden years and i think it's the perfect balance of "grown men r&b" and playfulness (coupled with less than subtle sexual innuendos about popping like a soda bottle this is a great evolution for exo, who have been known to always make pussy popping music but have struggled to shed the high school boys image sm is so fixated on giving them). rating: 9/10

regret it - literally straight out of the pcy1 vault and you can't convince me otherwise. soooo happy to hear an r&b jam straight out of the 90s since that is literally exo's blueprint. i love the production on this track because it has enough elements to keep it interesting and the chorus is super catchy. chanyeol takes the crown for me for obvious biased reasons but i love kyungsoo and jongdae's runs in this. rating: 10/10

hear me out - sounds much better like this. like now i get 100% the reasoning behind this song and the style it has. it's really such a chill vibe and a welcome breather after the one two punch of the previous songs. i feel like the prechorus and post chorus of this song could have been amped up way more and a breakdown for the bridge would've made it ten times more fun tho. rating: 9/10

random observation i noticed: the resting silences between songs are a tad too short for my liking. we need to let this marinate and sometimes it does feel like the album is sprinting towards the end.

private party - chanyeol opening the song AS HE FUCKING SHOULD. this beat is nasty... it's the perfect combination of exo's r&b sultry side and a hot sexy beat to shake ass to. it's just fun and good and takes you on a sonic ride from start to finish. i did expect the weeknd vibes from the title alone but i'm glad with the result here. rating: 10/10

cinderella - oh marz. oh you.... i knew exactly what the beat drop was gonna sound like from the second the song started and i'm not mad about it! this is another old school r&b infused serenade song while giving it a fresh modern style with the synth arrangements. taking a point off just because the mixing is too compressed and the synth takes over the landscape in an overbearing way (happens all the time with flume too so i get it but i feel like this could've been prevented here). rating: 9/10

no makeup - okay so the whore music run of this album from private party to no makeup is insane. we get it. these men fuck. they made sure to let us know they're in their 30s and it was about DAMN time. that post that's like they melted their dick and balls into a flashdrive and fucked the console in the recording studio.... yeah. the background harmonies are TOP TIER too but i didn't expect anything less from exo. props to jongdae, minseok and chanyeol cause they were working overtime layering these vocals. rating: 10/10

love fool - deadass was expecting this to be the slower snoozefest of the album... but exo are intent on making every track off this album COUNT. this is such a classic exo jam... every element of this song works in their favor. great melody, great instrumentals, great topline, great chorus. this is PURE quintessential exo. rating: 10/10

another day - this is good song! a great song even. my notes for this one just say "good song. really like it" it's just not something that stuck out to me enough to analyze it further. i think that's fine. the layering of vocals is once again great. i don't love the topline specially for the chorus (feels super nct 127 past their peak) but it's still a good song. rating: 8/10

let me in - this is their boyz ii men serve of the year. perfect closer. perfect slow ballad and i'm not a fan of those in the first place. definitely the vocal highlight of the album. that's all i can say. exo did it once again kids. rating: 9/10

[popculturebuffet]

The KaBlammiest Retrospective: KaBlam! Season 4 Review: See Ya When We See Ya (Comission for Cory Bryant)

Hey there kablammoids, assume the crash position, keep your heiner in the recilner and get ready for more KaBlam! It's been a long ride but we're almost at the end: we're at the show's final season and next time we have some loose ends, some final thoughts, and close out this retrospective proper.

For now though we're looking at Season 4 of KaBlam, the final season, one constantly shuffled and screwed around by the network. The "screwed by the network" part isn't remotely suprising as Nick, for all the warm fuzzies it brought us as kids... has a track record of being absolutely awful in how it treats it's shows. A show is LUCKY if it gets two seasons most of the time, especially nowadays, and even if you do get those two seasons or more, the final season may be shuffled around all hours of the night and day so that you can't actually watch it. KaBlam, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold, a LOT of nick shows had their final seasons just.. trickeled around. And tha'ts if your lucky: once sister network Nicktoons was established it became Nick's go to to dump off a series when it didn't meet their impossible expectations (I.e. being an overnight success, of which only Loud House has really met those goals in recent years), the third season of My LIfe as a Teenage Robot was left in limbo for years, and currently they just decided to.. not air the rest of big nate season 2 at all and remove the rest from paramount+. Viacom is awful is what i'm getting at and always has been.

So KaBlam getting kicked in the teeth in it's final go round wasn't a suprise. It's also not suprising given the series meta nature that they amped up the shots at the network, creating Mr. Stockdale, the exec running KaBlam this season to clearly vent about how brainless the execs at Nick were/still are.

It's also clear even with a possible spinoff.. they knew they were towards the end. There's episodes about the kids fretting about their future careers, and the ending makes it clear they knew they probably weren't coming back, leaving it OPEN to a return (or a revivial, HINT HINT PARAMOUNT), but knowing it probably won't happen. The end was a comin and this was a last hurrah and the Henry and June shorts made the most of this.

Outside of the host segments, there's a unique feel to the season: Sniz and Fondue are now truly gone, and in their absence we get more pilots than ever. There are a TON more animated shorts this season. This is a mixed blessing as there's a ton of great new shorts and we get not one but TWO music videos for they might be giants as well as a wholly original concept from the same team as the Henry and June segments, Dave Son of Hercules, and some true bangers to go out on.. but also a few misfires that were likely given the space as they needed whta they could get. It feels right though that KaBlam goes out with an influx of original shorts: it came in giving indie animators a shot and goes out giving every last one it had left a shot.

This torch would be picked up by O-Yeah Cartoons at least, but that's a story for maybe another day. For now let's see what KaBlam saved for it's final act.

As I mentoined in the overview , the final season of Henry and June shorts doubles down on the mocking of executives as their now given a character to represent them, Fred Stockdale.

Mr. Stockdale is a spacey old man who is barely aware of anythinmg happening to him, takes naps in his office frequently, and forgets what he's doing. He is a burden to deal with most times our heroes have to and most times he interjects with the show he messes with it. The writers were not subtle.

Stockdale features in about half of the episodes and how entertaining he is largely depends on the joke. Him just saying Henry and June's names wrong or being spotty.. is something i've seen done better by better characters

He works best when he's clearly just off in his own weird world, offering them snacks when they bring up a labor dispute, smashing his cell phone because it annoyed him , not realizing he's lost in the woods, or spending a good chunk of the show's budget on a train because he likes choo choos. He is also decent satire, showing how execs tend to be completely detached from projects they have far too much say in.

Another thing i noticed is the show keeps it's secondary cast around. Henry's mom appears for the third season in a row and gets two apperances, and i'm utterly exastic to report Jimmy , June's sidekick from last season returns.

Stylistically season 4 of Henry and June largely trucks on. While there are more shots at the network, and again not unresonably, it's otherwise a lot like season 3

That being said even with the unfair cancelation.. you can feel fatigue setting in a bit. The first half has a decent ep or two, but as I typed out my thoughts on each episodes I realized a lot of these are just.. meh. Not terrible to watch, but nothing really special like the last two seasons. There's an exception or two but most of these are just passable. Not bad, but probably best the series ended where it did. I do wish Marek would ge tmore work though as his work is great and the art here is as good as ever, and the final episode and his original segment for it show he still had legs. It's just clear they kinda took these two as far as they could.. and makes me dread the spinoff pilot next time. For now though..

Sasquatchersise: Henry and June have put on some weight, which heavily reminds me of a later home movies episode with the same premise, but honestly does it just as good: turns out they have to pass a physical fitness test and there's only one man who can help them

Yes fitness guru Richard Simmons. For those less familiar with him he was a fitness instructor who made a killing via vhs and has currently retreated from the public eye. He's doing fine, he simply decided to live privately and occasionally post on facebook. And honestly given the number of celebrties going the right wing jackass route, it's refresshing that richard simmons isn't ranting into daily wire he's simply.. retired. That's it. That's all. Good fo rhim

He tries his best but ultimately can't help the two loose weight in time.. thankfully in a really nice button it turns out they just have to withstand slapstick. A decent start to the season, mostly because I have a soft spot for Richard due to a combo of my grandma having his tape as a kid and that simpsons bit.

Takes a Knockin and Keeps Tick Tockin: This is a strike episode, as Henry goes on strike after finding out Mr Stockdale is having him injured for money. Given the sheer amount of abuse Henry takes, I can't say I blame him. June naturally only gets involved when she gets hurt and even more naturally they get replaced by robots.. and only get their jobs back because the robots malfunction. This one has a good start but fizzles out in the second half. The robots thing just isn't that funny nor is our heroes begging for their jobs back. It's mehtacular!

In It To Win It: A fantastic one as Henry and June get a today show style window outside their set and quickly the fandom grates on them. From unsettling hairy men to june cosplayers beating June up not realizing it's her, to their attempts to ignore them leading to their viewers looting the set it's a really great time.

The Best of Both Worlds: Our heroes want to go to the real world and try various shenanigans to get there. The first half is fine, but it really gets good in the back half when they casually find out there's just.. a door to the real world and we get real kids in wigs overdubbed playing the two, who decide the pain isn't worth it. My faviorite part is the final joke as it turns out Mr Foot just gets pizza from the real world all the time and our heroes hot doggin and grandstanding quickly deflates. Decent stuff but like Takes a Knockin and Keeps Tick Tockin, a bit lopsided.

A Nut in Every Bite: This one's a tad dervative as "boy gets crush on girl but won't actually talk to her" is a Nickelodeon staple. What works here is unlike some of Nick's own examples, Henry is portrayed as an idiot for not talking to Mr Stockdale's niece dawn, especially since she makes it clear she just wants him to say it himself. Henry doing more slapstick than usual to get her attention and June's utter exapseration make this one work.

Now With More Flava: This one is just.. depressing in hindsight. It's one of the better eps of the season objectveily, but it's VERY hard to seperate from reality. The opening bit is funny as our heroes find John Stamos, who I think is voice dby himself, working security and worry their star is fading. The thing is.. the characters stock DID go down eventually: while they did host segments fo ra while they disappeared and unlike most other nick shows from the era, nick dosen't seem to give one iota of a shit about this one nostalgicly: henry and june are just.. absent form murals, posters, group shot merch, all that good stuff. So this episode was just sadly prophetic, ending with the two working security themselves after trying to cash in.

Timeless: This one is a lot of fun as the two bury a time capsule and our heroes keep pissing off mr foot by forcing him to redig it: We get henry trying to bury his report card, June dumping out the stuff henry wanted for her merch, and a giant capsule getting dumped into some poor guys apartment. It's good stuff. The ending, mr foot stuffing them in , is fine if a bit obvious. Still it's such a fun segment it's hard to complain too long.

The Ka-Blair Witch Project: Another classic. The Ka-Crew have a team building retreat in the woods, with Henry, June and Mr Foot joined by Jimmy, Mr Stockdale and Henry's Mom in her final apperance. Mr Foot abandons them, even if he comes back in the credits, leading to lots of fun hyjinks from our heroes. It's good stuff. I've seen plenty of camping disaster episodes, but this one benefits from using the characters to their fullest.

Going the Extra Mile: This one.. was annoying. Ryan, an annoying kid from their class, wins a fan contest. His voice just.. grates on me on an atomic level and his schtick is something i've seen on a LOT of shows and done better. You know the drill. And given it was almost 2000 by this point, it's late neough in the shows run that I can't give it as much slack for this. The annoying fan plot was done better and would be done even better after this. Spongebob and Flight of the Conchords eat this episodes lunch. As does the film hot rod if only for richardson's sweet moves.

On the bright side Ryan does get shoved in the trunk of Mr. Foot's car, which h'es excited about as he's driven off to dig his own grave.

Under New Managment: This one is okay. Mr Stockdale tasks our duo with firing mr foot, a task made hard by the fact he won't wake up for them to do it. Henry tries twice, mostly because well Mr Foot has pummled him a bunch. The payoff joke, that they get him a new job as an executive is fine, it's just a forgetable plot>L it's a good concept they just don't do much with it apart from June getting him a job as an air traffic controller... so mr foot murdered a LOT more than the three people we've seen thus far on his way out. classic mr foot

Just Chillin: Our grand finale and while the rest of the episodes are mostly ... fine, Just Chillin is an instant classic and a worthy finale for these segments and the show as a whole. It's got a simple meta premise: Henry wants to make KaBlam more exciting as they don't know how much time they have left in the show , a nod that this could be the last episode and ended up being it. This is one of those episodes written as a finale, but not as defntiive in case the show got renewed. It didn't but this serves as a great one.

So they decide to have a KaBlamaganza! Pomp, ninjas and train chases... and the consequences of trying to give the people more than they could ask for results in their budget going away: the actor for the train fight gets fired, with Mr Stockdale hilariously trying to fill in, our heroes are reduced to black and white then cutouts, then learn their lesson and get their animation back.. not because they learned an animation but because Mr. Stockdale likes Choo Choos. They get hit by a train.. and will see us when they see us. It's a fitting end.. a bit of slapstick, some meta jokes, and a goodbye that feels final rather than the usual "see you next time". It hit hard, and i'm REALLY going to miss this show and while it was a releif getting to the end, as this project while fun has also been exausting and gotten delayed at times, it was also deeply sad. I'll miss this show.. and i'll miss you henry and june. Thanks for.. oh right we still have a LOT of ground to cover. My apologizes.

Action League Now!'s final season goes out on a high note, fitting as they'd later get their own show repackaging these segments for people who only liked this show and not the rest of kablam

Or just wanted to rerun the episodes without the league. There is one short specific to a tryout special for said series we'll get to next time.

Season 4 is mostly the same, with the quality going back up to around season 3 with the exception of two episodes. The big diffrence from the other seasons is movie parodies: Outside of the Jaws parody "Incident at Chlorine Lake", Action League now mostly stuck to either broader genre parodies or it's own thing. Even it's parody of aliens landing films was mostly "how badly can our heroes fuck up first contact. For the record it's sonly real tv/comics parody the red ninja being a parody of storm shadow from gi joe and the heroes that upstaged them being based on the challengers of the unknown.

Season 4 on the other hand is half movie parody, half buisness as usual and one literary parody with Flowers for Algernon. We get parodies of Armageddon, Jurassic Park, Face/Off, and for some reason Stephen King's Thinner. It works due to most of the parodies working well with the show, and a nice spread of regular stories. The Face Off Parody in paticular is my faviorite for reasons we'll get to shortly. Otherwise it's one last hurrah for the action loosers as they once again fuck up a bunch, somehow save the day, and go out with a great final season. I started pretty salty on this show but I can't help but love action league now er.. now. It's creative, hilarious, and lasted long enough to do a LOT with the premise and the world , but not so long it wore out it's welcome. I'll miss these idiots.

The Naked and the Dumb: A rare short that shadows the main Henry and June plot. The team is given apptitude tests to stay in the league and everyone passes.. including meltman somehow. Frankly i'm suprised he didn't stab himself iwth a pencil repdeately. The Flesh of course drew a kitty and thus is going to get kicked out, and the team needs him since he's their tank. We get a fun bunch of destructive hyjinks as they try to teach him, the great visual gag of them just.. writing notes on him, and the amazing punchline: he drew a doggy instead. I like both personally but hey it's a decent start to a great season.

Winds of Evil: The Mayor menaces people with a giant fan. At least he's not throwing them into it. It's a simple but amazing premise. At the same time the action league don't want to party at stinky's because he lives in an actual toilet, a joke so simple it's amazing. He refuses to shelter them after feeling snubbed by this, and only saves their lives if they agree to spend a weekend at his beach place, which was a porta potty a joke way better than it has any right to be, just like this episode.

Chickie Chickie Bang Bang: The Mayor tries to black market chicks, played by actual baby chickens, who are adorable.. and also peck out his eyes. The League is forced to calm them. This one was okay. Great premise, somehow not at all memorable.

Armageddon Out Of Here: Great title and a solid armageddon parody. It uses the same framework, our heroes have to blow up a meteor, but uses our heroes stupidity and selfishness well. They only agree to the mission because they get to blow shit up, and end up stranded because Flesh forgot the explosives, though still giving us an explosively good episdoe. I also applaud it for just.. leaving the league stuck there. While their back next episode I like to think there's at least one timeline where Chief is free of this mummy's curse of a team and maybe gets a spinoff in florida with bill the lab guy.

Yurplastic Park: This one is weak. it's a Jurassic Park Parody

That's all they have. I expect better and dumber from this show. It's one good joke is our heroes and the dinosaurs being saved because of sequels. I mean I do like the one where the guy realizes he shoudln't of given his robot dinosaur a penis because like everything with a penis it's gonna want to use it's penis.

Grief for the Chief: Thankfully the episode rebounds with one of the series best. The team's stupidity puts Chief in a coma and they remember all the good times.. and all the times they accidently injured him, either through good nature or stupidity. it's both sweet to see how much they genuinely like the chief.. and hilarous that his rage over their actions wakes him up. Simpsons had a similar gag, but this ones just diffrent enough to be great too. Good stuff.

Hey! Who Stole My Face?: I just read that title while picturing nicholas cage screaming it. Your welcome. Anyways it's a face off parody in that face's get swapped, so it's a loose one.. but ti works: the chief and the mayor get their faces on each others bodies.. and it's both so obvious and so hilarous. Everyone including bill is an idiot about this, so the Cheif has to rely on stormy, the dog I forget's on the team half the time to escape a prison beating, while the Mayor easily traps the league.. and the mayor looses his actual face. One that thrives purely on it's visual gags but what a gag it is

A Flesh of Genius: This one's boosted by a brand new villian, smarty pants, a baby doll dressed up as a neurotic nerd.. aka what I look like as far as you know. Our heroes cram the world's knowledge into face to keep it safe from this know at all, only for this to backfire as the flesh is now a smug jerk who constantly corrects grammar and is a pain to bea round. The Flesh normally kills or injures a LOT of people daily, but he's at least not telling the chief that you and I shit. You and me is just as fine. We get a final chess duel between the two, and the flesh loosing his intellect but winning by pure luck. A solid ep that uses a well worn premise decently.

Tune Up of Terror: Hodge Podge's final hurrah as he hyjacks the action mobile remotely. The premise is clever, he's using an rc remote, but otherwise the ep is just kinda.. eh. Meltman driving is kinda funny, I cant really knock him for taking a while to get a liscnse as I don't have one, but I can mock him for not being funny. He.. he no funny. Dammit. You win this round Meltman

What's Eating the Flesh: This episode has a great premise: the flesh rides a diseased guiena pig

And thus spreads a flesh eating virus to the team. I love how their left as head, how the treesap cure is dish soap and how when bill looks at the virus he sees mrs pac man. It's great. It's big drawback is that it has a racist sterotype bill goes to for help and I can't really FULLY enjoy the ep as a result. It's just bad even by late 90's/year 2000 standards. That Pac Man joke is an all timer though. one of the best in KaBlam as a whole.

Fatter: This one is just.. bad. They make a parody of Stephen King's it, where an old romani woman curses the chief.. only he overeats instead of looses weight.

It's painful, miildly gross and i'ts only redeeming factor is the chief blowing up after the ypop him and even that gets too gross to fully enjoy. A really whimper of an ending for the shows KaBlam run that makes me glad there's one more short to cover.. three actually but two are pilots. more on that next time.

So here's a shocker... I loved this season of Prometheus and Bob. Yes.. really. After three seasons of just absolute abivelence to this segment, just checking out to the point I went into a sleep deprived tangent last time... I loved this season of the show. The segments were funnier, played with the formula well and had more jokes than "caveman don't get it and monkey is asshole". I'm happy I enjoyed at least one batch of these: the premise isn't bad, the claymation is great and the two leads designs are iconic. It just wasn't for me... but i'm happy to say this season was.

Softball: Bob learns to

IQ: Bob takes an IQ test...... it took a second to figure it out because the wikipedia entry for this, which I use as the episode guide for prometheus and bob on the kablam wiki uses the number for the tape instead of the actual episode order. But this one was REALLY funny. Bob is given a test to put blocks in holes.. and puts promethus in a rock nearbye... just makes hims tand in a corner. So not only does bob get the test for once, but it's hilariously done.

Tape One: This was my faviorite as it's one of the most obvious things to do, but it fits they held off till the final batch: we see how Prometheus met bob. Prometheus comes down, and the other caveman understandably run away as they really can't.. comprehind the thin alien man. Bob dosen't.. because his hair is really stupid long and passes out. We do get a geninely nice moment form Prometheus who is usually just.. hung up on his job.. but cuts bob's hair to help him see. It's practical sure but it drives home he's really TRYING to help bob he just dosen't get that maybe bob dosen't need every advancement prometheus tries. We also find out why bob's bald, which isn't info I needed but I love the explination: he got a hold of the clippers and kept going and apparently just.. keeps doing that. He laso defends prometheus from the other cavemen, before prometheus rescues them both. Also they were going to eat the monkey. It's a fun origin story: we didn't NEED these explinations, but they were fun to find out which is how a good origin story should go.

Exercise: I forgot this one so..

Hey I said I liked this season I didn't say I liked every episode.

Dating: Prometheus tries to wingman for bob, which is cute. It dosen't go well, and she ends up falling for Prometheus but he tried. One of the series best.. which coming from me is nothing, but I still really liked this one. I especially liked the monkey for once NOT fucking everything up and instead just comforting bob at the end.

Pet: .. I dont' have anything for this one. Uh... here's wolverine fighting a dinosaur?

Yeah!

Evolution: Okay this one is REALLY fun as Promethus just.. gives up and tries to speed up bob's evolution.. and accidently ends up devolved. So we get a model swap which is a lot of funa nd had to be a lot of effort. I also like the solution: Monkey HYPER evolves and resets everything. This is also the final short and feels like a proper finale. Seriously every recurring segment seems to go out on a high EXCEPT action league now. It's weird. Speaking of which

It's time to bid farewell to Life with Loopy, which was always one of my faviorite segments, but I can say with confidence after four seasons is KaBlam's best. It's the most consistent, creative and fun of the recurring segments and goes out on a high note. Season 3 is a touch better, but Season 4 is still really good. Shorter, like Prometheus and Bob it was in less episodes and thus there's not AS much but what's there of this last batch is pure quality. The show ends well and i'm REALLY sad to see this one go. There may never be another show like you loopy. Thanks for letting me see your life.

Alternative Hamsters: Loopy experiments with Alternative Energy. Huh if I'd known about this one I would've snuck it into the earth day specail. At any rate this naturally leads to her hamster turning into a giant monster and her having to save it from teh military blowing the poor guy up real good. Thankfully she realizes her hamster can run on a wheel to provide energy to the whole town. A pretty standard start to the season, which says a lot about this show and a lot about me that this dosent phase me. It's not a radioactive killer hamster from a planet near mars after all.

Mister Macho: Larry gets bullied at the beach, but chooses to be chill about it. Loopy, is not so chill and uses an old muscle man add in a comic. Larry turns into a hulked up rage monster... which somehow is a very COMMON PLOT: skinny kid gets buff then lets it go to his head. It's done very well here it's just.. weird that for once the stock plot is something this oddly specific. It happens quite a bit but we never really talk about it. even simpsons did it, but we don't talk about that one for a lot of good reasons. Also it was marge instead of bart for some reason. I do like how it's solved; turns out the guy who made it's Zen now and helps larry loose his muscles and his zen attitude scares the guy off. Which is good because Loopy would've torn him assunder. After all where Zen ends, asskicking begins.

Times Up: Loopy beats click by a decade or two by making a fast forwarding remote. Instead of learning a lesson about time, she has to run from the time police. I love how she's entirely flippant to them. It's a common theme honestly. She gives not one iota of a fuck to the powers that be and it's amazing.

I (Don't) Belivie I Can Fly: Dave the Canadian Duck is back!

Dave's migrating again and since his best buddy left the south pole with him to attend to some pressing matters

He's back to get help migrating again. This time Loopy teaches him to fly a plane. It's a cute little episode as Dave is forced to face his fear and I love these two's little friendships and his promise to see her again next year. Sadly we woudln't see that.. but I like to think he just showed up every year to visit.

Good Food Gone Bad; This is a classic loopy premise: she takes a concept literally and turns out to be right. I am glad the show broke out of this formula, finding more weird shit to do, but it's kinda nice to go back to it once in a while. Staying in a formula forever can be draining but you can still find new life in it. And they do as Loopy's mnilk goes bad and she tries to help him on the wrong side of the track, dealing with a bad guy bar for expired food, a literal bad egg and a gang of greaser milk including her old one who she finds new lives for as cheese. It's wholesome, creative and has a lot of fun designs, this show in a nutshell.

Down the Drain: Loopy deals with a clog. This one's fine. Also I just now found out their family's last name is cooper. Huh.

Rock N Roll Loopy: My faviorite of the batch. We finally meet Bugsteak, Larry's faviorite band and I like how they've kept his love of them consistent. They haven't come up in a WHILE, but it's nice that they werne't forgotten. Larry can't afford tickets to their concert so he asks for tickets, since their down with the youth. Now Bugsteak IS within their rights to tell him "no thank you", or to at least make it up. Instead their response is, summed up...

Loopy is naturally pissed and while Larry sleeps at a friends house, she confronts bugsteak at their hotel. She points out their current fancy livin, lalalalala, and stuck up ways have made them loose touch with thier fanbase and dares them to spend one night like a real kid.

So we get a lot of funny bits as Bugsteak is not happy with meatloaf (which I don't get at all as a meatloaf guy), has to listen to dad talk for several years, and mom cuts their hair. They realize they were wrong, make a song about the experince and sing it to Larry. I just love this concept: a bunch of stuck up 90's rockers being put off by having to live like teens again. It's fucking great and the live action actors do a great job as bugsteak.

Bargin Hunters From Beyond the Stars: Is a decent finale. I admit the episode above would've made a better one, but it's still a good note to go out on. Loopy has a yard sale and sells most of the stuff they had.. but accidnetly sells her dad to a pair of aliens and has to find a trade. The gag is once again he goes on too long, which seems to be a trait exclusive to these final two episodes, but it fits the guy well enough that I don't mind nor do I mind it being reused as the contexts are diffrent: with bugsteak it's simply what Larry goes through every night, while here it's the old "annoy the aliens into getting rid of you" chestnut. It's a decent ending to an incredible show.

While our time together was way shorter, I'll also really miss race rabbit. It was a fun segment and it's , like most of kablam, sad ot see it go. But it goes out with both a nice cluster of episodes and on a high note.

Dog/Prince/Ham: Race has to deal with Gold Dingo, a mysterious criminal mastermind whose also a dog, and of course the boolies.. thought his time they pretend to like gold dingo, have kidnapped the prince.. only for the bigger boolie to get beaten up. I also like how he saves the prince: getting him out of the car and letting Gold Dingo go off a cliff a sdog's can't read. I don't know the science on that but ti's a goofy enough gag to get a pass

Robot Rabbit: I prefer Rabbot myself. Race dates a robot rabbit which can relate, but it dosen't work out as it was made by the boolies. How fast he moves is funny as is Max being exasperated for good reason for once.

The Championship: The finale and fittingly the best episode of the shorts. Race has to deliver the secret to strawberry cream, but has to deal with a bunch of pastry chefs all huddled in the same car throwing pies at him, which is just.. it's beautiful man. It's so frickin beautiful. The boolies also have a good plan for once: a heat seeking missle. IT's neat to see race force dup against two threats at once, as the Boolies were sidelined for the gold dingo thing, and I love how he solves it: putting hot chill on the chefs, taking both out, delivering the microfilm and saving the day. That's how it's done old sport.

JetCat's final two shorts are.. a mixed bag. Todd is less annoying in one and still so very punchable in the other. Still a decent superhero work, seen better, movin on.

Lunchtime: Melanie's lunch is interuptted by a mad shark man stealing the cities water and threanting the new wate rpark she and todd want to go to, while Todd guards her mother's cookies

For once he dosen't fuck up, not only not eating them, but also protecting them from said super villian. The series best episode. not a super high bar, but still neat.

I Was a Grade School WereMoth: This one has a great villian in Vicki Von Verman, an insect who hopes to turn JetCat into a hybird bug monster but instead gets Todd because he wans to be a sidekick and drinks strange liquids in hideouts proving why he's not. I mean most human sidekicks to powered heroes do fuck up: Jimmy Olson got transformed once a week and was forcebly married to a gorilla

Ron Stoppable became a super villian and accidently created one. But both these guys are also geninely good dudes who are helpful. Todd is just annoyingly overconfident and stupid. He's a child, and I do give child characters a wide berth for being assholes, but Todd is just so consitently jerkish, selfish and terrible I question why Mellanie hangs out with him. He dragged these shorts down to the depths of hell and while there's good company down there

It still shoudln't be this bad. I've rarely seen a character piss me off this much and that includes the other hall of shamers he's with.

As I mentioned in the intro, the show made up for loosing Sniz and Fondue, as well as what seems to be a dwindling number of Life with Loopy and Prometheus and Bob shorts to use something I only noticed after writing those sections, with a LOT of pilots and a few extra music videos. It's a fair trade off; KaBlam's always featured a ton of unique animation styles and pilots, it's just now spread out instead of an end of or mid season thing.

As usual the shorts are visually diverse, creator driven affairs and really fun to look at. There are more duds than usual, a lot of the weaker one off shorts i've seen from KaBlam reside in this section, but it's counterballanced by all but one of these shorts having great animation and a LOT of great shorts spread throughout. Also we get two They Might Be Giants Music Videos, which is always a good thing to put in your childrens cartoon, so that alone makes this influx of shorts worth it. So let's see what we have

Emmet Freedy: Emmet Freedy has a great art style, using a lot of puppetry to create some fun ugly puppets, and a lot of love and care went into this one and I admire that. The problem is the short itself is pretty stock for nickeldoen, if coked up a bit: Emmet Freedy lies about having lice to avoid a project, only for things to get out of hand. The grossout bits don't help. I wish I liked this one better because it's expertly crafted.. but they used that craft to make something pretty generic by 90's/00's nick standards.

Fuzzball: This one's just genericA tomboy named Fuzzball breaks her dad's bowling trophy when he breaks a promise to take her to the carnival, so she hustles to get a new one. I've seen better tween slice of life shows like As Told by Ginger or All Grown UP after this, and even before this the Girl with her head coming off was way better.

Garbage Boy: After two weak segments, Garbage Boy was a LOT of fun and has a far more intresting premise: Danny's dad works at the local dump, and thus bring shome various pieces of garbage that end up in the basement, and Danny uses them to solve his problems. In this case he dosen't have a pet ,the local bullies snake is eating his friends pets, and his parents won't get him one. His sister is also an abomination of some kind but they don't talk baout it for some reason. So he builds himself a dog that comes to life and wisecracks because the 90's and beats the bully. IT's a fun boy and his dog story with a dash of frankenstien and I like the art style: it's thorughly weird, patching together bits of photos like a ransom note but outsid eof said devil baby it works fantasticly.

The Shizzagee: This one blows. I'd be nice about it, but it wastes a good premise, an extinct creature is brought back and becomes friends with ab oy, on an annoying as hell beast that won't shut the fuck up and awful cg animation. Part of it is age, but even giving it that much, it just looks.. bad. It has a soundtrack by they might be giants but nothing else.

Little Freaks: One of my favorites and a simple premise: a weird supervillian uses moths to eat everyone's clothes so he can make them all dress the same and slowly conquer them, so it's up to the little freaks to stop them, a group of three friends who all look diffrent: Tryla, a three eyed girl with a triangle face, Briangel, a kid with a brain in a jar on his head which melts if he overthinks, and Dubbs, conjoined twins. It's a fun little short with a nice silver age parody flair, something done a lot but done right here. It's cute, fast and a lot of fun.

Doctor Worm: My faviorite segment. It was close, LIttle Freaks and our final indie short are very close. This last batch in the final few eps was really damn good.. but I have to give it to this one. It takes the They Might Be Giants classic and gives us the tail of a little worm who likes to play the drums and tries to get a band looking for a drummer's attention. It takes the song and makes it the tail of a cheery guy who clearly just wants friends. The animation is great, the live action blending is fantastic, and it's sheer fun to watch. Ther'es a reason I made it the title card for this one.

Stewy the Dogboy: This one's.. fine. It's a premise similar to teacher's pet and was actually going to get a full series order before that series got greenlit over at disney. It's not bad, it's fun and I like the payoff of Stewie's chaos getting him seen as a genius by the principal, as well as stewie's voice, it sounds nicely doggish and innocent. It's just Teachers Pet simply did this premise better, and that's not this short's fault. It's still a good boy.

Why Does the Sun Shine?: Another TMBG music video, another banger. I prefer Dr. Worm but this is a one for "The sun is a mass of incadesant gas" and I assume if you grew up after a certain point, you know this one. A boy tries to look at the sun, a sicentst doctor and asun grooves. Really fun stuff.

Dave Son of Hercules: The show's final original short and it' sluckily a banger. It's also unique as it's the only one done by Henry and June animator and creator Mark Marek. It's a really fun premise I wish had got it's own series and it's all in th etitle: Dave is a pretty normal 90's kid whose dad is Hercules. Herc .. really hasn't adjusted to modern life, and thus we get a LOT of fun antics: the guy drives a chariot, slays a serpent ride at the carnival, goes to a greek restraunt to consult the gods, and when realizing he let his boy down, offers to pluck out his eye or liver. Herc is just loveably dramatic: he really wants to be a good dad, he's just out of time. I also like the greek restraunt bhit as the owner, rather than turn herc away, actaully gives him advice, getting Herc genuinely thinks he's the gods and just needs a friend. His advice is good too: quality time. It works.. it ends in the police station for a bit but it works and while Dave is embarassed, he's genuinely impressed and the short ends adorably witht he two skipping rocks. What helps is Dave is embarassed by his dad, but you get he loves the guy.. and unlike a lot of embrarssed kids in children's cartoons you aboslutely get why. A divine finish to KaBLam.

Our Penultimate KaBlammy awards. Next time we'll give out both ones related to our odds an dends.. and overall ones. Best episodes, best segments for series overall. The works. For now, this season

Best Henry and June: Just Chillin. It's not even close. Just Chilin is a fun finale that sends the series out on a high.

Action League Now!: Hey Who Stole My Face? A thorughly stupid, thorughly hilarious face off parody.

Prometheus and Bob: Tape One. A fun origin story and easily the best of these shorts. Sorry to spoil that now but it's true.

Life with Loopy: Rock N Roll Loopy. Beefsteak are too much fun.

Race Rabbit: The Championship, a grand finale for a grandly silly series.

Jetcat: THe one that dosen't ahve todd being a jackass.

Suprising Short: Doctor Worm. They call him doctor worm, good morning to you he's doctor worm.

Next TIme: We finish this. Every little bit of KaBlam I found under the couch cushions. Pilots, shorts KaBlam didn't use the works. ONe last hurrah. See you next week and thanks for reading

[lazyrants]

The Laziest Town (prod 122)

(From now on, all screenshots in these reviews are taken BY ME.)

Original airdate: June 6, 2005

Story by Magnus Scheving

Written by Noah Zachary, Cole Louie, Magnus Scheving

Directed by Raymond P. Le Gue, Magnus Scheving

Executive producers - Magnus Scheving, Ragnheidur Melsted, Raymond P. Le Gue, Mark Read, Brown Johnson, Kay Wilson Stallings

Starring Magnus Scheving, Stefan Karl Steffanson, Julianna Rose Mauriello

Puppeteers - Ronald Binion, Gudmondor Thor Karason, Jodi Eichelberger, David Matthew Feldman, Julie Westwood, Amanda Maddock, Sarah Burgess

The Laziest Town - an episode of LazyTown I haven't watched in about two or three years. I remember a lot, but is it really the same now?

The episode begins with Sportacus having his breakfast. Knowing him, it's not normal. He grabs a ping pong paddle. A ping pong game for breakfast..? Ew. He grabs a banana and starts peeling it and eating it like a normal person.. nah, joking.

He slices the banana (not peeled) in midair with the ping pong paddle, drops to the floor and catches all the slices in his mouth. I know he's my favourite character, but come on. That's just weird, dude.

Sportacus decides he hasn't had enough, so he wants some apples. But his supply has run out, so he decides to go get an apple. Now instead of just riding to town, doing a somersault frontflip and grabbing onto an apple (or apple tree), he ties his feet in a rope and attaches the magnet to the metal part of his door and LITERALLY DIVES to an apple tree.

Then he flips back to his ship. Honestly pretty complicated and not needed, but admit it, it was awesome.. and about a million times cooler then catching banana slices in your mouth while having a potential stroke on the floor.

Milford is in his office, checking his to-do list - polishing his shoes, writing a new speech, checking the energy meter, eating the ba na na -CHECKING THE ENERGY METER? So, he goes to the energy meter to see where the ball marking how energetic the kids are is. And it's on the bottom.

It turns out Robbie is in a 'disguise' (literally wearing his normal clothes.. with a mustache) and is giving out TRIPLE-scoop ice creams.. for a penny. (Penny Pestella reference??!1!!!1?) It is a very good plan. Milford literally asks 'WHY AREN'T THE CHILDREN PLAYING???' as if they're obliged to (LOL) and calls help from Sportacus.

Milford thinks he is a failure of a mayor, but Sportacus tells him it's okay to eat ice cream sometimes. Then Milford elaborates further by bringing him to the office. Sportacus gives the kids some apples to energize, and they look all smiley and ready to do anything! After one SINGLE bite.

So, they go to the Mayor's office and see the energy meter at 0, and if they don't amp it up to 100 by 5 p.m they'll be named 'The Laziest Town on Earth'! If you think about it, if they did even get the ball to 75, there'd be at least one town lazier then them.. but nevermind. It's a kids show. So Sportacus runs on the spot while eating his apple and gets it up to 5.

Then he stops running and it's back down to zero percent. So the kids and Sportacus promise Milford that they'll keep moving and the plan is great until Milford announces everyone must move. Robbie at least has the decency to move sometimes (he's more active then he thinks he is) and Bessie gets Milford to do everything for her. So, Bessie, a protagonist in this show.. is being lazy, which is exactly what the main antagonist is doing.

Sportacus tells the kids to meet him on the sports field in five minutes and to run as fast as they can.. Ziggy then forgets why he has to run - so the energy meter goes up. Sometimes, I just don't know about that boy.

Robbie's world has fallen as he tries offering the kids more ice-cream cones, but they all decline... Ziggy, however declines too, but it takes him about 10 seconds to come up with the strength to say 'Maybe Later'. What a sigma! No, I unironically do not that say that word on a daily basis.

Robbie is shocked and he himself says 'WHAT THE SIGMA?'.. nah just joking. He does say 'WHAT?!' though. So Milford is busy trying his best to explain what's going on to Bessie, but of course, the annoying whiny woman she is, she starts talking about how she doesn't have any clothes to wear.

Sportacus has taken the super spinner from the airship (we get to see him use it again in Sportacus on the Move!) The first move is jump rope (background music from Superhero Moves CD), and in the office, the ball on the energy meter is up to 5. I'm surprised with a dude like Sportacus it's not at 75 already.

Milford is lifting weights (he's the mayor AND he can exercise, what a dude!) while Bessie is going on and on about her outfit. Then she discovers that Milford is sweating and is offended, accusing Milford of wanting Bessie to ruin her clothes. Fatness & fanciness, or Healthiness & happiness? Anyways, the kids have finished jumping, and the next move is pushups. Robbie is annoyed and he reports this to the mayor.

Satan- I mean, Bessie has came to pester Milford once more with different hor- CLOTHES and asks Milford to tell her what he honestly thinks. He tells her clothes don't matter while exercising.. and she is offended. Again. I HATE BESSIE. Now the energy meter is at twelve, and Robbie is in the mayor's office with a mustache. Then he takes it off and throws it away.

His excuse? He forgot to shave. Anyways, he tries to file a report but Milford asks if this can wait until later, and he tells them about the 'prize' they'll win if they don't get up and move. What does the laziest guy in town who hates moving do? Moves.

It backfires when Milford announces to Robbie he is moving the energy meter UP to 30. So he promises to himself to not blink, breathe and/or move a muscle.. until he sneezes.. and moves a lotta muscles.

So the meter goes up to 30 and the super spinner's next move is skiing. They all perform the song 'Go For It', and I cannot tell how much people have trashed this song. It's amazing! Who cares how Jellyana's voice sounds? She's still a pretty good singer, not to mention the fast-paced instrumental and lyrics! This song is awesome!

So, the energy meter hasn't reached 100 yet so Stephanie comes to the conclusion that one person isn't moving. Two, actually, but she tries to go convince Bessie to move. Bessie is relaxing in her clothes when Bessie gets a phone call from Milford and she answers it really fast.

Stephanie has the idea for Pixel to set up every phone booth in LazyTown and have Bessie run & pick them up. Pixel gets his computer. Now, from the plan, it sounds like there are about 30 phone booths in the town.. right? NUP. There are THREE. 3. TROIS.

Anyways, they start the plan and Bessie runs as fast as a human can make a puppet run. Milford calls the first phone and tells her she is doing wonderful. She is exhausted at the second phone (can relate) and Sportacus gives her a bottle of water.

So she keeps running, and she slows down again. But Sportacus throws her an apple (that hits Robbie in the head LOLZ!) but to really up it a notch, the Chariots of Fire theme song reprised by Mani Svavarrson plays as she runs to the last phone booth in slow motion. She's made it! Woohoo! I'm surprised she didn't get Milford to run for her, but she did it! Woop woot!

So, Sportacus has spinned the super spinner a buncha times to get multiple moves and do them all at the same time as fast as he can, but even he gets tired. They have failed. The meter is only up to 90. It's 5pm.

Until Robbie starts to dance and move frantically out of excitement that his plan to stay still so the meter doesn't reach 100 and Sportacus is so ashamed he leaves town.. and then the meter reaches 100. Three cheers for Mr. Rotten, and he's not enjoying a single second of it.

So he leaves to his lair and they sing Bing Bang. Robbie is so annoyed he promises he's never ever gonna move for the rest of his life until Robbie's phone rings and he picks it up about ten seconds. It turns out to be a wrong number. Then he rages.

I love this episode. Bessie saw herself as someone who was only good at answering the phones, but she was the person who got the energy meter up to 90.

10/10

[audioaperture]

The Dirty Nil: Des Moines, Iowa – 6.22.24 show review and "Free Rein to Passions" album review

The Dirty Nil’s latest album, "Free Rein to Passions," is an explosive amalgamation of punk rawness, stadium rock grandeur, and metal intensity, all served with a hefty dose of tongue-in-cheek humor. Hailing from Ontario, the trio has once again proven their prowess in crafting infectious anthems that are as lyrically sharp as they are musically ferocious.

The album kicks off with "Celebration," a high-octane track that immediately sets the tone for what’s to come. The riffs are heavy, the drums relentless, and Luke Bentham’s vocals are as gritty as ever. The production quality is polished yet retains the raw edge that fans of The Dirty Nil have come to love. Each track is a testament to the band’s ability to blend different rock subgenres seamlessly. From the punk energy of "Undefeated" to the Anthemic metal-infused "Am I the Menace” the band showcases their versatility without losing their distinctive sound. "Free Rein to Passions" explores themes of rebellion, individuality, and the absurdity of modern life, all wrapped up in a package that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The humor is a vehicle for deeper commentary, making the album both thought-provoking and fun.

One of the band’s stand out features is their lyrics. The Dirty Nil has always had a knack for injecting humor into their music, and this album is no exception. In "Stupid Jobs," the band takes a jab at the monotony of everyday life with lines like, “No offense to my friends in the workforce / I’m just saying what we’re all thinking / Fuck’em.” It’s a humorous yet relatable take on the struggles of the modern working class, delivered with a sneer that only The Dirty Nil can pull off.

Another lyrical theme is positivity in the face of existential dread.  On the title track," Bentham sings, “’Cause if the powers that be / Drop the bomb on you and me / I’m gunna sing with a big old grin / What a beautiful life it’s been.” In “I am the Menace, Bentham declares “Do some living while you’re able / try not to be ungrateful for the gift of suffering / the light, the void, everything”  It’s this kind of clever, biting humor that elevates The Dirty Nil’s lyrics, making them not only entertaining but also memorable.

Like the album, their live show is a wild ride from start to finish, filled with headbanging anthems, razor-sharp wit, and infectious energy. It’s a must-listen for fans of punk, metal, and rock alike, offering a refreshing take on these genres with its unique blend of humor and intensity. Luke Bentham, sporting his signature guitar moves, commanded the stage with the swagger of a rock deity. His solos were electrifying, his riffs sharp and relentless, each note echoing through the packed venue with the power of a thousand amps. Bassist Sam Tomlinson and drummer Kyle Fisher provided a thunderous rhythm section that could have filled a venue ten times the size. The chemistry between the three was palpable, their synergy on full display as they powered through their setlist with the intensity of a band playing to a crowd of 60,000 rather than 500.

The Dirty Nil's set was a barrage of anthems and rock star moves that simply couldn't be contained. "Celebration" and "Am I the Menace" had the crowd jumping, their choruses designed for mass sing-alongs. Even in such a small space, the energy was immense, each song a call to arms for rock fans. The connection between the band and the audience was electric. When they launched into “Nicer Guy,” Bentham’s cheeky lyrics resonated with the crowd, particularly when Bentham sings “can I get an Amen?” to which the crowd responds, “Fuck you!”  This struck a chord with the audience, many of whom undoubtedly related to its humor and biting social commentary.

Whether playing to 500 or 60,000, The Dirty Nil performs with the same unrelenting passion and exuberance, making every show feel like a stadium rock show.

The Dirty Nil’s album and live show isn’t just music; it’s a celebration of the chaotic, the rebellious, and the downright fun.

[candycryptids]

3 & 4 for chuu from the latest ask meme!

3-what is your wol's evening routine? do they prepare for the next day? do they just wing it? do any weapon or gear upkeep? just pass out because that's tomorrow them's problem?

Chuu in her usual non-WoL setting tends to make everything her Future Self’s problem, but she likes to wash her face and brush her hair before bed, and will snuff all the lights and close the curtains tight against the morning light before putting on an eye mask anyways and curling up in a marble alcove bed with the curtains on that closed TOO. Do NOT disturb! (Despite the fact that she can and will fall asleep in her workshop, lights on, chaotic music blasting, Sprawled in an uncomfortable position. If she’s CHOOSING to sleep in bed it’s going to be Comfy.) Her weapons get upkeep in the morning while she’s slogging through yogurt and granola or eggs and bacon or pancakes or, archon loaf sliced thick with melted butter and fruit preserves smeared across its toasted surface (depends on what Tuesday/Talia/Whoever’s home at the FC makes in the morning. Archon loaf is for when it’s just her, because it’s filling, and she has trouble caring what it tastes like when she’s alone)

Her WoL-iverse self cleans her gun before bed, and sleeps with it under her pillow, even if that’s wildly unsafe, lmfao. She’s a little high strung during many of the expansions though. Tired of being caught on the back foot. She’ll spend late nights fine tuning her drone to see if she can’t amp up the firepower without sacrificing mobility. Face washing/hair-brushing takes a back seat in evening care, and she gets really scrungly over time. That said, her weapons are meticulously maintained and her armor is kept in good repair, even if it means seeing a local mender in every town to touch things up at every opportunity. She’ll grab 20 winks in any situation though. Chocobo-back. During a long-winded explanation on the mission. Boat rides. Sitting too long waiting for people to gather up for a meeting… In Maggie’s Cockpit with autopilot on for trekking across the Steppe from Reunion to Cirina’s…

4-how does your wol's echo manifest itself? do they see visions as they happen? all at once? delayed? do they get any physical symptoms from it?

Her (non-WoL) Echo manifests in splitting migraines being tuned to Mechanical Creations- where Krile can sort of see the intentions/voice of the Soul (from what I can recall it’s been a minute) Chuu can, hear the voice of the machine? In a sense- I described at as Interfacing once and I stand by that. Things that can’t normally be programmed or looked at without some sort of external screen or input pad she can kinda, bypass. By being the Screen+input (think…… matrix… I guess..? Or Augmented Reality…??) …. This does give her migraines and occasionally nosebleeds but it doesn’t really cause her to hesitate wanting to do it again. A machine is easy and clean cut to understand compared to People.

I hadn’t given her ‘WoL-canon’ echo a lot of thought outside of it operating as it does on the tin, since even though she’s my main and going through the MSQ first she… isn’t/desperately doesn’t want to be the WoL, but, crucially, there’s a few plot beats where the Echo working as a review of the souls past memory is pretty important, and the weird support echo I gave her doesn’t play into that very well, lol.

[Pre-DT ?’s prompt list!]

[johnnyprimecc]

Centurion

First, check out my kickass Ride & Review video HERE: If you haven’t heard about this place, it’s a very exclusive Amex Black card-holders joint. You CAN get access to it you have an Amex Platinum card, which my wife has. We were able to snag a reservation for 6:30PM on a Friday, and the experience was incredible. Seriously – watch the video above for the full effect. We started with some…

[milesonthenet]

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 2: A Great Start for a Great Series

Welcome back to the House of Milesverse.

Hoo boy, have I got a surprise for you all today. As I said before, I was going to do it, and now? I'm doing it.

Today we'll review the first half of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur's second season. I will discuss some key points about the series and what it does well. I hope you all are as excited for this as I am, I've been waiting for this for a few months now!

Now let's bring on the Moon Girl Mania!

How Lunella tackles her trauma:

Let's start with the debut episode - Moon Girl is stranded on an alien planet, with just The Beyonder. That already is a scary enough concept but imagine her family. Her grandma is the only one who knows her identity besides her best friend, and she gets to see her granddaughter be taken to an alien world. Mimi was really trapped in a realistically terrifying situation.

On her own, Lunella manages to create a semi-functional armor from what she finds on the planet. However, the place is also littered with nasty threats that want The Beyonder's head. Our interestingly sassy friend may or may not also be to blame for this (He is, that is the joke).

This all comes to its peak with the Molecule Man, a formerly benevolent alien, and creator of the planet. When we first see him, he's vengeful and deadly, wanting vengeance against The Beyonder. The entire goal was about trapping The Beyonder on the planet so he could personally kill him.

The reason why is simple; the world was destroyed from Beyonder playing a game of galactic golf. Yes, that sounds about as silly as it does, just sub in the golf balls with meteors. It is still the motivation behind the Molecule Man's actions.

This all leads to one of two fights that we see against him. The Molecule Man's first fight against Lunella doesn't go so well. Why? He utterly thrashes her, and it's made painfully clear that she could have died from it. The entire event leaves Lunella with much trauma, which she spends plenty of episodes going over.

Lunella loses her mojo, and this season really amps up that idea. We got to see her fear of clowns in a past episode. This time, we get to see all the gross, and nasty effects of post-traumatic stress disorder play out.

This plays out in the next episode, and it does get rectified. Lunella's ensuing panic attacks lead her to overcompensate with her new suits. Every model is bigger and more covered up, she can barely even move in it. Ultimately, it's a lesson from Mimi that gets her to shed some of her fears about the subject.

The Molecule Man (And how scary he is):

Continuing on from the above, the Molecule Man is one scary dude. He really is the definition of hatred, and how much it poisons you. Molecule Man's powers also evolve more scarily; he uses his body to attack. He can use the molecules from his body to create spikes and death traps.

His hatred of the Beyonder eventually extends to tracking down Lunella. He attempts to kill not only Lunella (a child), but also her family as well. It was lucky that Lunella had recovered from her fears, and managed to defeat him.

By the end of the episode, Molecule Man has been redeemed. Lunella felt sympathy for the villain, so she used her suit to repair him. Despite that, I still think he's a standout villain for the series. He's a step-up from most other threats Moon Girl has had to tussle with.

Ex-Supervillains, and an interesting allegory:

The episode Ride or Die focuses on Moon Girl teaming up with a criminal named Quickwhip. Voiced by Robin Thede, Quickwhip is actually portrayed in a sympathetic manner compared to other villains. This sympathy is an interesting eye-opener to an issue we have in the real world.

Quickwhip, known as Zakiya, came to New York City to open a Michelin Patisserie. Zakiya dreamed of becoming a pastry chef, but the high rent cost pushed her away. It led to her being recruited by the Hand and becoming the number two to Lady Bullseye (Daredevil villain).

Quickwhip wants to own a pastry shop, but she fears that her reputation as a criminal will stop that. It's an application of a real-life problem people have with former criminals. People only see their past and refuse to look beyond that. This naturally leads some criminals to relapse.

Ex-Criminals struggle to find work, and this puts them in bad positions. People think the worst of them because they think that they might re-offend. Some people are afraid of hiring former criminals because of this reason.

It is hard for ex-convicts to reenter someone when we don't make it easier for them. Some criminals might just be who they are, and that is fine. Other criminals want to make a positive change for themselves and find improvement in new areas.

Quickwhip is willing to make a change and by the end, she does. With Lunella's help, Zakiya works at a pastry shop and pursues her dreams. It is a positive moment for the character, and one worth watching for.

Just make it, don't break it, and the troubles with pressure.

Make it, Don't Break it! is another episode with an important lesson. The episode focuses on Lunella's classroom gaining a new teacher. Who is she? She's Dr. Akonam, Ojo, an impressive science teacher from Wakanda. Naturally, Lunella is already excited to show off her concepts for robots. This is also important because the class competes in a tournament game featuring robots fighting to the death.

Needless to say, Ojo is not impressed by Lunella's various efforts in robot making. She belittles her, and this prompts Lunella to work harder. The episode has a clear message about overworking yourself to the bone. This is further reinforced with Ojo's harsh methods, which forces Lunella to enter a panic attack when she loses.

Dr. Ojo is forced to apologize to Lunella for treating her like this. There were better ways to bring out Lunella's potential, which she admits. The two can part on amicable terms, with the potential for Ojo to come back someday. I would not bet on it, but I think it could be an interesting solution.

Lunella is ambitious, and always willing to rise to the challenge. Yet, Ojo forces her to confront the pressures of needless perfectionism. Ojo puts it perfectly; you can be a diamond, hardened by all the pressure and flawless. Or you can be a piece of coal; the average, perfectly fine with all of their flaws and base qualities.

Lunella is not flawless; she is far from being 'flawed'. She's already a diamond, despite her imperfections. She's human, just as anyone else is. This episode acts as a good proving ground for that concept. You can always aspire to be greater and push yourself to meet those ideals. It's a problem when it's at the cost of your emotional state.

Lunella's new BFF; Kid Kree:

Moon Girl's second season saw the addition of a new recurring character. Lunella gets a new friend who's got more than a few secrets. Who is he? He's Mel-Varr, one of the Kree Warriors, and also known as Kid Kree.

Lunella and Kid Kree start as enemies but eventually settle their differences. It's a good scenario where Lunella finally finds someone as an 'equal'. This is true if you think about it for a few minutes. Just like Lunella, Mell-Var is incredibly smart, and resourceful. He creates gadgets which, like Moon Girl, is used for the purpose of fighting.

Even better, this helps contrast Mel-Varr with his own father, Pad-Varr. Pad-Varr is a mighty kree warrior, who acts as a general for the empire. Pad-Varr wants his son to follow in his footsteps, and become a respected warrior.

Mel-Varr's desire to please his father is fairly pronounced throughout the episode. Ultimately, his father comes to appreciate his skills and scientific prowess. It's a good lesson to show that children can choose their own path in life and be happy with that.

Conclusion:

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is a good series that genuinely is in the right place. The fact it can keep that fire going for a second season, even if it's the first half is great. I look forward to seeing what the second half can be like.

What I hope to see is more team-ups. Season 2 has put Lunella in some interesting team-up scenarios. I mean, Kid Kree is one thing, but we also gained Turbo as well. Maybe in the next season over, we can have her team up with Captain America (Preferably Sam since he's already shown up), or one of the X-Men?

[dustedmagazine]

Meatbodies — Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom (In the Red)

Chad Ubovich plays bass in Ty Segall’s Fuzz. He is the source of that band’s monumental churn and buzz, the noisy foundation for Segall’s psychedelic flights of fancy. Here in his own project, Meatbodies, he roils up a similar irresistible undertow, a stomach-vibrating low-end that grounds even his most playful tunes in heaviness.

Undertow is, possibly, the right metaphor, because by all reports, Ubovich fought the abyss to make this record—surviving the pandemic, mental instability, substance abuse, homelessness and an accident that left him unable to walk. He released 333 (“You could draw an upward slanting line from the disc’s snarling, disconsolate opening towards the mystic certainty that fills its later tracks, but the whole journey is worth taking,” said I in my 2021 review.) while still wrestling this material away from his demons. It is a sprawling, roaring, wild beast of an album, a double whose songs largely exceed the pop framework, rampaging forward five, six or seven minutes.

Even the disc’s most concise and lighthearted cuts lean into the gnostic. “Silly Cybin,” psychedelic on at least two counts, rides a catchy, boppy little tune about mushrooms into the whirlwind, amid blustery drums and spiraling, caterwauling guitars. “They Came Down” bristles with distortion, its main riff a dog chasing its tail in circles. But its chorus swaggers into stately view from there, not agitated at all but grand, anthemic and ritual. And “Move” judder to life on a dark echoey bass line, channeling the Wipers at their most apocalyptic, the Obits at their blues-torturing best.

It's all pretty intense, but like Segall, Ubovich looses dreamy psych meditations to float over turbulent distortion. Consider a shipwrecked sailor flailing through rough seas but glimpsing a brilliant sunset as he goes down. The struggle is all-consuming, but it opens out into brighter, freer, calmer vistas. In “The Assignment” slow booming bass riffs sound off amid snaggle-toothed guitar riffs and rolling explosions of drums. But the words dance without a care in an upper register untouched by conflict. “Wiggle your hips and sing all his songs,” Ubovich croons, way up high and there’s a party going on up there.

That, of course, sounds like Ty Segall and you can definitely trace the similarities. Still, this is a powerful piece of work, as serious about the trippy silliness as about the pitch and heave of amp overload. Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom, like its title, is several things at once. It rocks like a hurricane, dreams like a lotus eater.

Jennifer Kelly

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

IN MEMORIAM -- 60 YEARS AGO TODAY -- "RIDE, JOHNNY, RIDE!"

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1806x2560 -- Spotlight on a killer poster design of the infamous JFK assassination sleeve art from the 1978 "Bullet" EP by American horror punk rock band THE MISFITS. Original sleeve art by Glenn Danzig.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "The title track ["Bullet"] was the most hard-hitting of the four. Between the brutal lyrics and faster, darker, and edgier take on the Ramones’ music style, it really set the tone for the rest of the EP and the band in general."

-- PUNK NEWS, by Ricky Frankel, "Bullet" (1978) 7 inch review

Sources: www.pinterest.com/pin/475411304406293758 & www.punknews.org/amp/review/16129/the-misfits-bullet-7-inch.

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Weekend all :) This one was very fun to review for me. Its one of my fav eps of s1. Such good content for Chenford and Lucy. Non stop goodness from beginning to end. Had to take some screen shots with my phone while watching cause there wasn't a gif for everything. Luckily have new phone so they came out pretty nice. TON of moments and I only get 30 gif/image limit which I hit quickly and felt on this one haha Lets delve in shall we?

1x14 Plain Clothes Day

First off Tim in street clothes? Yum. Gimme. I’ll take that all day. Plus he’s in a Henley too whew lord. What a distraction to have haha Second you can see he’s already fully enjoying himself. Ah plain clothes day. I’m sure Tim has been looking forward to this for awhile. They all look so excited. Lucy is as amped as the other two to make decisions solo. Well that is until Tim opens his mouth.... He is very eager to get under her skin. Asking her what she's looking at? That he's not even there...

You can see the nerves written all over Lucy’s face now. All she wants is to prove herself to him and this is her biggest opportunity to do so. You can see how uneasy she is while the other two still seem psyched af. Oh the amount you will grow in this episode Lucy. You have no idea.

All the T.O.’s start to talk bout their wash out numbers on PCD behind them. Tim saying his is in the double digits by now. 11 to be exact. Tim is an ass and says he’s looking to making it an even dozen today. (Like he would ever actually want that... please Timothy why you always lying? ) Lucy’s discomfort only continues to grow. Poor thing. It’s clearly a tactic to get under all their skins, sadly working on Lucy more so than the others atm.

Lucy is loading up the shop when Tim pulls out an envelope. She sees it has her name on it and asks what he’s doing? Tim informs her that he already filled out her eval. Lucy looks confused as hell saying they haven’t even started yet. How could he possibly have her eval done? Determined to be under her skin and live there today, Tim tells her he already knows how this day will end. So mean good sir so mean..

Lucy is refusing to let him psych her out, but then gets in the passenger side LOL Oh my girl it's gonna be a long day for you haha. He does say Thank you when she leaves the passenger door open for him though ha

Tim hands her the envelope. She is not allowed to look at it till end of shift. I do love her tenacity/confidence after he does this. Lucy has gained back some in this moment. Telling Tim she’s gonna prove him wrong with whatever he wrote about her. As I said earlier she wants so badly prove herself to him. Even if she has to puff herself up in order to do it. Wants Tim to see her bravado before they head out.

Sadly it doesn't last long. Its his mission to rattle her cage as much as possible today. He goes and squashes that confidence out the gate. Because Tim be Tim. The fact that he knows Lucy this damn well is backfiring on her hard. Instead of leaving the garage confident she leaves deflated.

Doesn’t take long for Lucy to find her first criminal of the day. A perv pretending to be a cable guy filming a woman in her house. I do love Tim watch her during it all. The way he silently observes as she handles it. Her taking that guy out with her door was pretty bad ass. Trying right off the bat to show him she’s capable. Lucy is feeling pretty damn proud of herself atm. Caught a pervy guy early on and thinking she has totally got this. That look from Tim is so very telling as Lucy puts that guy in their shop. It's a 'We'll see.' as she puts away their criminal.

Speaking of criminal It should be to look this damn good leaning against a van. Even though Tim is being smug af in this scene, he looks fine as hell just standing there. Ovary explosion for me haha that badge, his Henley riding up over it. *fans self* Eric you’re so attractive it’s not fair haha

Lucy starts rattling off her checklist before they leave. Making sure she's done everything right. Tim is clearly trying to get her to notice the van for which he is leaning on. It’s for more than just looking sinfully delicious. He’s trying to get her to put two and two together and finish this scene up properly. He has his phone in his hands for a reason. Just in case she doesn't pick up on the clue he's trying to emit to her. Lucy senses something but she isn't sure what.

He gives her ‘the look’ the one Lucy has learned and seen for months. The one he gives her when he is trying to get her to think a little more. This is his other way of trying to get her to connect the dots. Now Lucy notices he’s giving her his 'Bradford' look. She just isn’t sure why....

Lucy finally says they’re all wrapped up confidently. That this is a solid arrest. Trying to prove to him she did a good job on her own. Tim pushes off the van as his last ditch effort to get her to notice it. Lucy sadly doesn’t do this or realize what she is leaving behind. Her body language is reading she isn't sure of herself now and no idea why but leaves anyways.

They make it to back to the station and Lucy pulls out the eval when she’s alone. Or thinks she is. Naturally Tim knew she was going to open it early. He knows her like the back of his hand. It’s not the real eval and he catches her. Uses this as a opportunity to tell her about the van she left behind. Tim goes over how she left a treasure trove of evidence on the street. Didn’t process the scene as throughly as she should’ve. Or thought she did. That he saw this coming because he knows everything she is going to do. Lucy panics and checks the pervs phone in evidence and sees he’s texted a friend to get his van.

She rushes back to the scene only to find it gone. Lucy calls it in and finds out it was impounded. Tim had it taken care of for her. Hence the phone in his hand the entire time he was near the van. Teaching her a lesson without actually getting her in trouble for missing evidence. It was a stressful adrenaline rush for Lucy to go back, but she’ll never forget to do that again. She may not think he was taking care of her in the moment but he is. Lucy thinks he’s doing it to humiliate her. She's so frustrated she is lashing out at him.

He explains he did it this way cause she overlooked a massive detail. That he is teaching her to control her environment, be detail oriented and honestly she will never ever forget this. It’s rough for her but like everything else, Tim is challenging her like this because he knows she will rise to the occasion. Lucy wouldn’t have remembered this if he had just handed it to her. She is rattled and annoyed. This is a rough rough start to her plain clothes day.

They move onto Lucy’s next call. It’s for a noise complaint for a dog. Lucy tries to calm the dog down and the dog barks at her. Tim comments this isn’t what he meant by her ‘controlling her environment. ’ The guy Akers is a douche and not good to his dog. Honestly I would’ve wanted to verbally eat him too tbh. I’m with Lucy on wanting to take this guy down. You’re mean to animals something seriously wrong with you IMO. Animal lover in me was rooting Lucy on in this scene. She tells him she's going to make him her 'Personal Pet project' leaving both Tim and Akers stunned.

The way she says that line what a BAMF. Also lets talk about the look on Tim’s face. It’s a mixture of impressed and a little bit of ‘Why am I turned on right now?’ Baha You know he didn’t hate seeing her with some serious confidence after that first crime scene. That attraction for him with her for sure growing in this moment. Sadly even though she feels justified with what she said it comes back to bite her in the ass. She over compensated and threatened the man while trying to prove herself after the van incident. They are called to Grey's office with some bad news.

Akers has decided to call in a rude conduct complaint on Lucy. His way of getting her back for putting him in his place. You can see how visibly upset Tim is over this. Grey tells them he called it in saying she threatened him. To be fair he made the first threat but she’s supposed to be better than him. Being the bigger person always sucks and is never fun. Lucy now faces possible firing and washing out. IA has been notified and Lucy looks devastated.

They go to lunch and she of course is freaking out she’s gonna get bounced. Talia and Tim are talking about it as well. She asks why didn't Tim step in if Lucy threatened the guy. He says its cheating and he is a man of principals after all. Talia is actually very worried Lucy could get terminated. Its then you see that protective side of Tim come out. Saying he won’t allow her to get fired. That this guy is a jerk but there is no way he would let anything happen to her. Plain clothes day or not.

Talia calls him out on that, she thought he was a man of ‘principles’. He of course is going to contradict himself for Lucy. Like in previous ep when Tim said circumstances dictate his actions. Well he’s not going to let this ass hat take her career principles be damned. Any other rookie he would've let wash out. Or even been ok with that. Not Lucy. He wants her to succeed so badly. Everything is different with her. He would go against his principles to save her. That is the thing of importance to note here.

This is the second best scene the entire episode for them. Tim refuses to let his schmuck get her fired. Lucy say's they shouldn't be back here. This guy filed a complaint against her. Tim tells her she's not he is. He’s bending his own rules to save her job. By saying she 'made' the decision to have him save her career. Sneaky sneaky Tim, good way around your own rule.

Lucy recognizes he’s going to bat for her here. That he's had her return them to this house so he can fix it. Tim is going to scrape and claw to keep her from washing out. Even if it means taking on the complaint himself instead of her. I don’t think Lucy has ever had anyone believe in her or protect her the way Tim does. Now at this point in time we don’t know her parents. Or the emotional damage they’ve inflicted upon her. But if you do you can see why this would mean so much to her. It’s a career her parents don’t want for her and were hoping she would give up on, and here is this man who believes in her and is willing to fight to keep her around.

Tim can’t expose too much vulnerability in this moment. So he deflects her appreciation for what he’s willing to do for her. Says if she’s going to be fired it’ll be because of him. The irony of that statement in this moment. Such a small but impactful moment for them. It’s what makes Chenford great. All these small moments that add up to what makes them so damn incredible in first place. That foundation being laid.

The chat doesn’t go in Tim’s favor at all. Acker says he’s going to file a complaint against Tim too. He returns to the car and tells her drive. Lucy notices the dog crying at the garage and pacing. They see blood on it and Lucy says she has probable cause to check. Tim tells her if she’s wrong she will definitely get fired. That this is her call to make though. Lucy doesn’t hesitate in going to check the garage. Acker sees her and tries to stop her.

They open the garage and find the body of his neighbor. Guy tries to take Lucy out. She takes him down easily and Tim looks on impressed as hell with her. Not only for that takedown but her initiative and going with her gut in the moment. She noticed the blood on the garage and knew something was wrong. Then made the right call when the moment called for it. That’s all Tim wanted her to do all day. Trust her gut. He knows she’s a great cop He just needs her to believe that. His goal was to build her self esteem and he did.

This final scene really seals the deal for the building of that self assurance. Tim knows right now she needs some comfort. So he has Lucy read her evaluation. Lucy thinks it’s the end of the road for her so what’s the point? He needs her to know how well she did today. Not the whole day mind you but she was clutch at the end. Lucy is only going to remember what she did wrong today not what she did right. Tim knows this about her. Why he makes her read it. To him it’s not how you start it’s how you finish and she finished strong as hell.

Tim is very attuned to what Lucy needs and when. At this moment in time she needs comfort, and words of assurance. He compliments her for the first time really. Lets her know yeah her day started off really rough. But when the chips were down she didn’t hesitate. She made the right call when it mattered and he knew she would. He is dying for Lucy to see what he see's in her. This scene is the start of that. The start of her believing in herself as a cop. Because when the pressure came at her she was strong, self assured and kicked that situation in the face.

Tim knows this is not the time to hold back what he thinks of her. To put away the tough ass T.O. in this moment. He’s so damn proud of her and wants her to know it. After he's built her up he tries to lighten the moment for her. Makes his little shot of 'Now he has to rewrite the damn thing.' Cause she proved him wrong. He wants to make her smile before her meeting with the Capt. He would never tell her as much but he’s probably so relieved and happy to do re-do her eval. Their foundation is so damn solid I can’t get over it. He believes in her so much. It’s why he pushes her the way he does. I know he thinks she’s exceptional he just needs Lucy to start believing that.

The ending is perfect. The work flirts continue but this time on Lucy’s end. She walks over to Tim and hands him an envelope. Tells him it’s her evaluation of him. Tim tells her that’s not how it works. Lucy replies ‘If you don’t want to read it don’t.’ and cooly walks away. Lucy ushers the boys out before Tim can open it. When he does he realizes it’s their bar tab LOL just like in 1x06 when she steals his wallet he’s too impressed to actually be mad haha such a good episode for them top to bottom.

~~~

Non Chenford stuff didn't really have any. Too much Chenford goodies haha

As always thank you all for your support, likes/comments and reblogs. I can't express how much they mean to me. put a lot of effort into these reviews and the support I get back is incredible so thank you all. I shall see you in 1x15 when I can. :)