#sitcoms tend to just not be very enjoyable for me? for the most part?

[arosebyan0thername]

Wanted to start watching Superstore (partly in hopes of retail humor but largely because I'm low on options for disability representation that isn't depressing) but I'm finding it very hard to want to continue past season 1 episode 1 because of, and I'm sorry to be this guy, the absolutely nauseating amount of focus given to heterosexual romance

[daymansbingerecapsandrankings]

(Originally written on October 8, 2020)

🎵Bang, Bang Bangedy Bang

I said a Bang Bang Bangedy Bang🎵

My How I Met Your Mother Thoughts

I just spent the last nine seasons in New York with the gang that spends all their time in MacLaren’s Pub. SELF FIVE! I have to say, this binge of How I Met Your Mother brought me so much happiness. I started watching this show for the first time back in high school, and I ended up watching the last six seasons as they aired. I remember loving this group of characters, and now I am reminded why. There’s so much chemistry between the five, and it makes for one of my favorite Comedies/Sitcoms of all time. If you’ve read any of my previous Show Thoughts, then you know I’ve been watching several over the course of this lovely Pandemic That Will Just Keep Going. After this rewatch, I’ve decided HIMYM is my third favorite Comedy/Sitcom, right after Boy Meets World and Scrubs.

Now, I know that the Finale is infamous. It’s in the Mount Rushmore of Terrible Endings, and people end up getting a sour taste in their mouth when they bring up the show. Well, it’s been some years. There’s been time to reflect and look back. And, while I’m not in favor of the Finale, I also don’t hate it anymore with the passion of a thousand suns. I just loved watching and growing with the gang, seeing them experience their highs and their lows, their triumphs and their failures. It just hits harder as an adult, like most of these shows assuredly do, and I cherish so many of these episodes and moments.

And now, my rankings for the seasons!

Seasons Rankings

1. Season One

2. Season Four

3. Season Two

4. Season Six

5. Season Eight

6. Season Five

7. Season Three

8. Season Seven

9. Season Nine

My rankings for the girlfriends, purely on how much I like them as a character

The Girlfriends Rankings

1. Robin

2. Tracy

3. Victoria

4. Zoey

5. Stella

6. Jeannette

And now, a ranking of my favorite episodes. From 1-50, these are the ones that stand out above the rest. I consider every single one of these enjoyable.

Favorite Episodes

1. Slap Bet (S2E9)

2. Come On (S1E22)

3. The Limo (S1E11)

4. The Best Burger in New York (S4E2)

5. Ten Sessions (S3E13)

6. The Pineapple Incident (S1E10)

7. Bachelor Party (S2E19)

8. Game Night (S1E15)

9. Oh, Honey (S6E15)

10. Glitter (S6E9)

11. The Duel (S1E8)

12. The Pilot (S1E1)

13. Arriverdverci, Fierro (S2E17)

14. The Over-Correction (S8E10)

15. How Your Mother Met Me (S916)

16. Intervention (S4E4)

17. The Magician’s Code, Part II (S7E24)

18. The Autumn of Break-Ups (S8E5)

19. The Ducky Tie (S7E3)

20. The Best Man (S7E1)

21. The Leap (S4E24)

22. Blitzgiving (S6E10)

23. Three Days of Snow (S4E13)

24. The Scorpion & The Toad (S2E2)

25. Bass Player Wanted (S9E13)

26. The Final Page, Part 2 (S8E12)

27. Duel Citizenship (S5E5)

28. Happily Ever After (S4E6)

29. Farhampton (S8E1)

30. Bro Mitzvah (S8E22)

31. Robin 101 (S5E3)

32. The Magician’s Code, Part I (S7E23)

33. Last Words (S6E14)

34. The Playbook (S5E8)

35. The Time Travelers (S8E20)

36. Splitsville (S8E6)

37. Subway Wars (S6E4)

38. Showdown (S2E20)

39. Drumroll, Please (S1E13)

40. Front Porch (S4E17)

41. Twin Bed (S5E21)

42. Who Wants to be a Godparent? (S8E4)

43. Girls vs. Suits (S5E12)

44. Something Borrowed (S2E21)

45. As Fast As She Can (S4E23)

46. The Wedding Bride (S5E23)

47. The Bracket (S3E14)

48. The Sexless Innkeeper (S5E4)

49. Third Wheel (S3E3)

50. Spoiler Alert (S3E8)

And now, just some thoughts on the show and on the gang!

Ted - I know people don’t like Ted. I don’t actually like Ted all that much. And yet, I found myself rooting for Ted just like I did the first go around. He’s not the worst person in the world, and I would be scared to see half of the decisions we’ve made in the dating game stringed together into a TV show. I know people wouldn’t like me very much for those decisions. Then again, I also don’t get super crazy about details about buildings, I don’t pronounce encyclopedia that way, and he tends to stick his foot in his mouth with this White Man confidence that I just don’t have. With all that being said, I still find Ted being a great friend, a man who is just trying to find the love of his life, and someone who really drives this story with great tales and narration (Bob Saget is the Sixth Man of the Show for just always bringing it). I think Ted does stupid things and he pretty much admits it after the fact. He learns, sometimes, and also doesn’t much like most of us. When he finally found the Mother, when he finally found Tracy, I cared. I cared so much, and I still do. Even though they just shit on her character and don’t give us enough time with her, I almost wonder if that’s a metaphor for the fact that you won’t always have enough time with your loved ones.

Robin - Let’s go to the mall! Yeah! Robin Sparkles is a Canadian Treasure, and so is Robin Scherbatsky. She is one of the best things about this show, and I love her so. Played by Cobie Smulders who I need to see in more stuff, Robin is who we all wanted Ted to maybe be with first. Then we go through all the loops of the HIMYM roller coaster, and a lot of us still wanted them to be together. I was one of them. Yet, she was more than just a romantic plot line for Ted. She was a part of the group who we got to see join it and evolve into a member of their family organically. Robin is fun, loud, full of fun quirks that we get to learn over the course of the series. I was heartbroken when we found out she can’t have children. I was loving the back and forth between her and Barney (the first time), and kind of mad at Barney about being such a crazy ass prankster the second time. Robin shows us just how amazing some gun loving, hockey obsessed Canadian news anchor can be, and how much she cares for her friends.

Lily - Justice Aldrin ends up being one of my favorite characters, even if that gets some curious looks. Yeah, she left Marshall for a summer. Yeah, she had some hesitancy with the marriage and everything. That happens. Lily was also always there for her friends, even if she ends up going a little overboard. She wants Ted to find happiness, and does whatever she can to help. She is there to listen to Robin at all times, and her and Marshall are easily one of the best relationships in TV I’ve ever witnessed. Then we have Lily and Barney which is honestly super underrated. Barney trusts Lily, even though she can’t keep a secret, with all of his emotional problems. Lily is who thought Barney could change before anyone else, and I love seeing their friendship grow from eye rolls to eye tears.

Barney - Oh, Barney. He honestly brings so much annoyance and fun to the show. He’s the friend of the gang who everyone tolerates. He’s the one in the gang who everyone ends up loving just as much as everyone else. Barney shows such a terrible face to the world, sleeping with over 250 women and lying to most of them. He has all these rules that aren’t very ethical. He gives us most of the Misogynism in this show, which is definitely prevalent and makes the show not as strong as it was in the first watch. Still, we get to see Barney grow into someone who wants real love and a happy life. Sure, they show us that his marriage to Robin only lasts three years, but at least they tried. Barney just couldn’t make it work, and that’s honestly who Barney really is. A person who just enjoys sleeping with different people. I was very warmed to see the baby reveal and that Barney becoming a dad was what would change him more than anything. Barney is an underrated friend, and his importance to the gang is legendary.

Marshall - I. Love. Big Fudge. He’s just so fun, caring, goofy, loyal, and everything that I aspire to be in life. For some reason, when watching the show the first time, I related to Ted the most. I was definitely a bit more selfish then. But now, I see that I am a Marshall. He wants to do good in the world, and it drives him so much. He only loves Lily, and his loyalty to their relationship is just Goals. He is also the most fun to watch having a crisis. He gets the big eyes and covers his mouth and just gets obviously super uncomfortable. Some of my favorite moments of the show are also Marshall’s talks with Ted about his feelings for Robin. Any one-on-ones with Marshall and someone else are probably my favorite moments. And yes, I will always root for him over those damn machines!

Last Thoughts:

Sure, the writing wasn’t as sharp or as witty in the later seasons, but I loved the story lines and seeing the gang just live.

Tracy was an amazing character as The Mother, and I truly wonder what could have been if they had given us two full seasons of story with her instead of any episodes of Jeannette.

I really can’t believe Ted told his kids all those stories. A fun premise for a show, but really, not very realistic telling them all that jazz.

Ranjit and Carl are such fun recurring characters that I always enjoyed seeing every time they popped up.

Out of all the recurring jokes and gags, which there are many (y’all said Community has so many, but HIMYM really swings for it), I love the Major/General salute joke. Idk if I just didn’t care for it the first time around or forgot about it, but I just love how silly it is and how they kept it through to the very last episode.

Watching the gang sit at their table in MacLaren’s just hanging out will always make me smile.

[ponett]

As I said in my thoughts on The Color of Magic, I’d been told many times that the Discworld series started out rough as Pratchett found his voice over the course of the first few books. Going into the second book, which is a direct continuation of the first, I was braced for more of the same: an enjoyable but very uneven genre parody starring Rincewind the funny wizard and Twoflower the fantasy tourist. An amusing but unambitious bit of pulp fantasy writing, with lots of fun moments that don’t quite come together to form a cohesive whole

So I was very surprised to find that, while we still haven’t quite reached the proper Discworld style I’ve heard so much about, The Light Fantastic was a huge improvement over its predecessor, and a book I had a great time reading

The Light Fantastic is essentially The Color of Magic: Part Two, picking up exactly where the first book left off. Rincewind and Twoflower had fallen off the edge of the world, their fates uncertain. This book begins with reality itself literally being rewritten to place our heroes back on the disc, safe and sound

There’s a reason for this: as established in the first book, Rincewind's head contains the eighth and final spell from a legendary tome known as the Octavo, which is said to have existed since the dawn of the universe. The Octavo had been kept in the wizarding university Rincewind previously attended, you see, and he once read it on a dare, at which point the eighth spell decided to quite literally live in his head rent free

Spells in the Discworld universe are sort of alive and have their own free will, and this one has been both a blessing and a curse for Rincewind. On the one hand, the Spell has been secretly manipulating reality to keep him alive all this time, giving an in-universe explanation for how the shittiest wizard ever has managed to get out of so many near death experiences. On the other hand, this one huge spell has left no room in his brain for any others. He’s tried for years to memorize other, more useful spells, but these lesser spells are “too scared” to stay in the same mind as one from the Octavo. While a little of this was established in the first book, it didn’t really go anywhere, so it’s nice to see it expanded upon here (and to learn what the Spell actually does in the thrilling climax)

The Spell is at the center of something The Light Fantastic has over its predecessor: a plot! Whereas The Color of Magic felt like four short stories stapled together and called a novel, book two has an honest to goodness narrative. The world turtle that carries the Discworld is headed towards an ominous red star, and the wizarding community believes that reading all eight of the Octavo’s spells is the key to their salvation. The fact that one of the spells has lodged itself in Rincewind’s brain is the central source of conflict that ties the events of the book together into a cohesive package

As part of this newfound main plot, book two also features a central antagonist in the form of a rival wizard named Trymon (played by Tim Curry in the TV adaptation). Trymon is a cold, calculating wizard who values organization over the chaos of traditional magic, and who wants to use any means necessary to put himself in a position of power in the wizard community. The book regularly checks in on him and the other wizards back in Ankh-Morpork as Rincewind is off having more misadventures with Twoflower, and he also sends multiple groups of mercenaries out to retrieve Rincewind. While book two still features a lot of standalone setpiece moments along the way, having this threat looming in the background from page one gives everything a sense of urgency and importance that was sorely lacking the first time around

The biggest and most consistent change, however, is the prose. I don’t know what happened in the three years between the first two books, but Pratchett’s writing has gotten so much snappier and funnier. While I almost dozed off a few times reading The Color of Magic in spite of its fun ideas, it feels like nearly every paragraph of the second book has at least one fantastic line, and the dialogue is a treat

Perhaps the best example of this newfound creative confidence is a new main character introduced partway through the book. The Color of Magic featured Hrun, a buff and not extremely bright hero who was quite blatantly modeled after Conan the Barbarian. He was present for about half the story, existed to poke a bit of fun at the archetype, and then got unceremoniously dropped from the story before its final act. This time around, he’s been replaced by a character named Cohen the Barbarian. The name’s a dead giveaway, but yes, this guy’s still a Conan parody. However, instead of just being a straight expy of Conan to poke fun at, Cohen is something more interesting: he’s a version of that archetype who never stopped adventuring, even past his prime, and is now still fighting evil at the ripe old age of 87

Cohen is a lot of fun to read and a much more well-rounded character than Hrun ever was, and it’s not surprising for me to learn that he kept popping up in future books. Of course, for as much as I liked reading about him, Cohen also comes with some baggage that proves I’m still not quite out of the weeds. While Pratchett was definitely starting to move towards more empathetic writing, the Discworld universe is still a pretty cynical place in many respects, and the characters often exist more to be the subjects of mockery

Cohen caught me off guard when he suddenly announced to Rincewind that he had plans to marry Bethan, the fourth member of this makeshift adventuring party, who’s introduced as a sacrificial maiden who the protagonists rescue against her will. (She briefly complains about how a life spent among druids has now been flushed down the drain if they aren’t going to sacrifice her after all, and how she could’ve spent all those years doing anything else.) The problem here is that Cohen is 87, and Bethan is 17

Rincewind does immediately point out that this is extremely weird, of course, and the wiki tells me that the two apparently got divorced off-screen shortly after the events of this book. I know it’s not Pratchett advocating for 70-year age gaps or anything. It’s supposed to be absurd. It’s poking fun at how this Conan-style hero is still only interested in young maidens even in his 80s. And Pratchett thankfully steered clear of the Master Roshi style “pervy old man” trope, instead focusing on how Cohen likes that Bethan knows how to straighten his aging spine and things like that. But still. Before this, a heartwarming little moment where Cohen realized that Twoflower still saw him as this awesome, legendary hero had me thinking that the tone of the series was shifting more rapidly than I expected. But I guess we’re not there yet

Similarly, a bit about how Rincewind and most other wizards had a misogynistic bias against the types of magic women tended to perform and didn’t allow them to study as wizards made me think a little less of him. Again, while the characters are growing, there are still more instances where we’re supposed to laugh at the characters instead of with them. In many respects, they kind of intentionally suck as people

To put it in terms of modern sitcoms: tonally, we’re not at something like The Good Place yet. It’s closer to Always Sunny with wizards. But for now, that’s not such a bad thing for it to be

Some stumbling blocks aside, I found The Light Fantastic to be an extremely enjoyable read, and a clear improvement over its predecessor. While first book was a series of random events that just sort of stopped at an arbitrary point, this one offered a complete adventure that allowed the characters to grow a bit and left me satisfied. I’d list more funny moments that gave me a chuckle, but there are too many to list and this post is already long enough

I was also very intrigued to see Pratchett lay the groundwork for the next two books. As mentioned, the gender divide between witches and wizards was briefly established, and will be explored more in the next book, Equal Rites. (We also met a male relative of Granny Weatherwax at Unseen University, although poor Galder is quickly killed by the Luggage.) And Death has already moved past his shtick of trying to take Rincewind’s life. In a scene at his home, we got a tease of his personal life, and the fact that he has an adopted human daughter was revealed. Big things are on the horizon in this series, and after how good this second book was, I’m now even more pumped to get to these new stories

[honeyedhoseok]

Stitch | The V2 Series

Genre | Angst (literally only angst in this part), Taehyung x reader,  friends->lovers->friends? au, The V2 Series

Word Count | 5.1K 

Summary | “I’ve been an anchor that’s pulling on you / Stopping and stalling is all that I do / You were so bright but I painted you blue” It’s been exactly 58 days (and counting) since you last spoke to Taehyung. After weeks under your new facade, all it takes is a simple Instagram post to send you spiraling. [Takes place after the present-day argument between Taehyung and Y/N in Forever, Fire Burning Blue !]

Warnings | Mentions symptoms of depression, sadness, and anxiety. Language. 

A/N | Side Warning: Taehyung might break reader hearts by the end of this chapter. But I’m really excited to see what you all think!! Enjoy <3 

Read the other parts of The V2 Series HERE!

It’s been exactly 58 days since you’ve talked to Taehyung.

The only reason you are reminded of the number is because one of the last pictures in your phone is from the day before your argument. You two are posing with the pizza in his bed—you, with your slice covering half your face as you try not to laugh too hard at Taehyung, who had just taken a bite and slapped hot cheese on his chin.

The picture is blurry because as soon as it happened, Taehyung yelled out in pain and almost dropped his slice—so his body is a moving whirl of colors in the picture, not exactly a part of the fun that was supposed to be conveyed, while you sit there posing, perfectly content with your own piece of pizza.

You suppose it’s a good representation of how things felt in the last fleeting moments between the two of you.

You can’t delete it. Every time your thumb hovers over the trash can icon in the corner of the picture, the hurt in your chest comes back—an aching that you cannot even begin to describe, much less figure out how to get over it—and you end up exiting out of the photo app, saving the dilemma of deleting it for yet another time.

To say the least, you miss him.

To say the most, you miss him so much it feels like you’re not exactly you anymore. You miss him so much you haven’t slept well in two months. You miss him so much that nothing seems enjoyable anymore—going to work, hanging out with friends, getting dressed for a night out, going to school. Hell, even eating has become a monotony to you because nothing tastes as good, and you find yourself leaving more and more food on your plate each time you push your chair back from the table.

Despite all of this, you are doing well. You are doing well on the outside because you refuse to let anyone know the raging storm of emotions that are happening on the inside. In reality, you can’t let anyone know.

You don’t hang out with your friends as much, but you do go to work—bar tending on the weekends when you don’t have school—and you make drinks and you talk with the customers and you put on a fake smile for all the dirty old men who flirt with you after they order their third, fourth, and fifth beer.

You spend a lot of time with Hongbin, trying hard to devote all the time and energy that you didn’t have before to showing him that you now undoubtedly care for him like no other person on earth.

You are living a lie. But it’s okay because you hope one day it will merge itself into the truth if you just keep pretending long enough.

Another week passes by under your new facade.

You are sitting in the living room with Hongbin, eyes glazing over some sitcom on the television that he insisted on watching each night after dinner, when your phone lights up on the table in front of you.

You pick it up, eyes still trained on the TV, letting out a small giggle at the antics of one of the characters. When your gaze finally drops down to the lit-up screen with the notification sitting in the middle, your stomach drops at the tiny words alerting you of the one person you’ve been trying to forget.

tvehyung posted to their story for the first time in a while

You read it over a few times, trying to decide if you should even indulge in looking at his social media. The two of you hadn’t deleted each other on anything—you were still friends on Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook, as well—you just weren’t talking or acknowledging each other’s presence.

Taehyung’s social media accounts had been inactive for the whole two-month silence. What could he have posted, suddenly?

You shift the blanket covering your legs over to Hongbin, untangling yourself from his embrace to walk to the bathroom; he hadn’t noticed the stiffening of your body when you looked at your phone, which you were grateful for. If you were going to break the personal limitations set for yourself, the least you could do is allow yourself to do it in private.

You close the door behind you with a soft click, choosing to sink down onto the fluffy, white rug in front of the bathroom cabinets rather than perch on the closed toilet lid or the side of the tub. Your hands grip your phone with sweaty urgency as you finally click on the notification, holding your breath while your screen pulls up Taehyung’s Instagram story.

It’s just a picture of him at a café, clearly taken earlier that day—a coffee sits in front of him and in the corner is a geotag for the place. It’s nothing special and so you let out the breath, feeling triumphant in overcoming an obstacle—what obstacle you aren’t sure, but you know the feeling of relief that flows through your veins is one you welcome.

However, you make the grave mistake of clicking on his profile afterward—suspecting that you are going to see the same pictures he’d previously posted and hadn’t updated in months.

You are extremely mistaken.

Sitting—beautifully, you might add—in the top left corner of his feed is a new selfie that has your shaky fingers clicking on instantly, your eyes drinking in the photo and caption. At first you are excited—it’s Taehyung in all his handsome glory, staring with mild disinterest in the camera—but the caption is what gets you.

“Han Yeseul?” you breathe out, your stomach knotting at the just the sound of the syllables all together, at the images they send flashing through your brain, at what they mean for your quickly-crumbling facade.

You click on her name and have to close your eyes for a second to stop the rolling nausea that floods your system; her profile contains, in a neat row at the very top, three pictures of Taehyung with his new petunia-colored hair—all posted within the last week.

He is walking in front of her in one—stylish as ever in a chic button down and black trousers, his overcoat thrown over his shoulder.

He is smiling in the next, happy as hell as he sits across from her at fancy restaurant downtown.

He is brushing his teeth in the most recent, looking messy and pretty from having just woken up—with Yeseul obviously in the same state behind the camera lens from the early morning time stamp on the picture.

Each caption is vague, but they don’t need to say anymore—the pictures do enough to justify the situation at hand.

Taehyung is not mourning your separation by not sleeping, not eating, not feeling; no, Taehyung is living. Unlike you, Taehyung is moving on.

Specifically, to another girl.

You press a hand over your trembling lips, tossing your phone to the side in the bathroom as you scramble toward the toilet, gripping the edges as you release the jittery contents of your stomach into the porcelain bowl.

It’s about a week later after seeing the picture that Yeonwoo wakes you up by pounding incessantly on your apartment door.

You groan, rolling out of bed and rubbing sleep out of your eyes as you stumble towards the sound, thinking of all the cuss words possible to spew at her when you finally open it—

“What?” you snap, squinting at her through the lines of your screen door. “What is it?”

“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” she asks, shoulders slumping. “I’ve been calling you all morning.”

“I was sleeping!” you exclaim, opening the door to let her in.

“Y/N it’s 2 p.m.,” she responds, looking at you wearily. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you grumble. “It’s my day off—I had two double shifts at the bar.”

Yeonwoo walks into the kitchen, setting her purse down on the table.

“Well, I don’t know if you remember or not, since I haven’t heard from you since I asked—” She presses the button on your coffee maker and pulls two mugs down from the cabinet, “—but I asked you to ride to town with me to get stuff for the party this weekend.”

You slump down at the table, still halfway out of it from the rude awakening you’d received just a few short moments ago.

“A party?” you croak. “Who is throwing a party?”

“I am,” she says, sighing. “We talked about this.”

“Right, right,” you say, waving a hand in the air dismissively. “Listen, Yeonwoo. I forgot and I’m tired, I really don’t feel like walking around in town—”

“Y/N, please!” she says, clasping her hands together. “You promised you would because Hyejin can’t!”

Your eyes glaze over her pouty face, taking in the shiny lip gloss swiped across her poked-out bottom lip and the lashes that graze her eyebrows as she widens her doe-like eyes.

“Please,” she says again. “I’ll wait for you to get dressed—I’ll have a cup of coffee and watch TV so you can shower!”

You groan, running a hand through your hair—it gets caught in one of the knots caused by your incessant tossing and turning in bed and you drop it back to the table, ignoring the twitch of Yeonwoo’s mouth at the action.

You know that you should go out and do something—you haven’t been out of the house in God-knows how long, which is why Hongbin wasn’t around today. It was his day off as well, but he was out with some guy friends from work. Asking you to do something the night before had ended terribly—you two got into an argument and he’d slept on the couch. He’d obviously gotten up and dressed while you were still snoozing happily in bed.

You’d also asked him to stop the get-togethers at your apartment every other weekend; you didn’t want to have to deal with the possibility of him inviting Taehyung—just the thought of that situation made anxiety twist in your stomach.

You knew you were being ridiculous, but you couldn’t bring yourself to snap out of it. You just wanted to be left alone to wallow in whatever self-pity phase you were going through until you could get over it yourself—not because someone else wanted you to or needed you to.

“Hyejin and I are really starting to worry about you,” Yeonwoo adds on quietly, gaze dropping from yours. “You know you can talk to us if something is bothering you, right?”

You nod, fixating your gaze somewhere out the window in the kitchen. “I’m fine,” you repeat dryly.

“We even tried to ask Tae, because we thought you were mad at us or something—”

“You talked to Taehyung?” you say, your eyes immediately finding hers again. She looks surprised at the urgency in your tone, but she nods.

“Yeah, he said you just needed some time alone—and so we’ve been trying to give you that but, we miss you, Y/N.”

Your lips press together in a hard line. So far, Taehyung had been very adamant about keeping the fact that you two weren’t talking under wraps. Even in the face of your best friends, he was still acting like everything was perfectly fine between you two, and not like you hadn’t talked in over two months.

“Is everything okay at work?” Yeonwoo asks lightly. “Maybe you should take some time off, I know it’s hard to juggle that and your night classes sometimes—”

“I really don’t need anyone else suggesting what I need to do for myself,” you snap, rising from your chair. “Hongbin does enough of that for everyone. I know what I can handle.”

Yeonwoo presses her lips together in a tight line, nodding. “Okay.”

“I’m going to take a shower,” you say, returning to your bedroom quickly before the hurt in her eyes can make you feel any worse than you already do.

Yeonwoo talks animatedly in the front seat as you drive downtown, catching you up on all the things you’d missed in the group chat with her and Hyejin during the weeks before.

You felt bad for silencing their messages, but it was annoying to see their constant stream of texts when you had nothing to say—you hoped that if you stopped reading and replying, they’d get the hint and take their chats into a separate group; thankfully, they did in the end. The chat had been silent for days, which is when you supposed they asked Taehyung about your current distanced disposition.

You do more listening and making small agreement noises than talking during the ride, letting your eyes drift over to the scenery passing by in a blur by the window until you start seeing the familiar store fronts of downtown.

“Do you mind if we eat something first?” Yeonwoo suggests, looking over at you with caution, as if at any moment you could bite her head off for the second time that day at a suggestion she made.

You nod in silence, deciding to let her have this one thing. You were a little hungry, so you could do this for her.

“Something small,” you suggest quietly, and that’s enough to sate Yeonwoo. She straightens her back, placing her hands higher on the wheel and gives a quick flash of a grin your way.

“Great,” she says. “There’s this café downtown I wanted to show you.”

You don’t ask which one. You don’t want to start Yeonwoo on a rant again. Instead, you lean back in your seat, allowing your head to press against the backing and close your eyes. She picks up on your obvious dislike for the conversation she was trying to carry on and quiets down, turning the radio up a few notches and singing softly to a song.

The café is one that you’ve never been to before, but your curiosity immediately heightens as you get out of the car, eyes tracing the name hovering above the door that sparks recognition in your brain.

Café Du Monde.

It seems so familiar, but you couldn’t quite put your finger on when or where you’d heard it before. Yeonwoo is already out of the car, pushing the door open to the café and holding it for you. She looks back over her shoulder, eyebrows furrowing at the troubled look on your face.

“What’s wrong?” she says. “I promise the bagels here are really good!”

“It’s nothing,” you say quickly, speeding up to catch up with her. You follow her inside, taking in the quaint atmosphere of the coffee shop—everything is wooden and modern, and strings of white, holiday lights line the walls; Yeonwoo watches you, trying to gauge your reaction.

Your eyes finally meet hers and you smile at her. “It’s really cute.”

“Isn’t it?” she says, bouncing on her toes a little. “They sell real macchiato here—like the espresso shot, not the sixteen-ounce version in a cup you get from Starbucks. And I heard the chai latte and the hot chocolate are really good, although, I’ve never tried it, but I heard from Mina that—”

You’re half-listening, half-not because you’re gazing at the menu behind the bar, looking at all the different flavors you could get in your coffee. The bell above the shop door tinkles again as the door is pushed back open, and your eyes graze over to the newcomer in the shop.

Your heart sinks.

The door swings shut behind the customer, and reality comes crashing down on you all at once. Café Du Monde—it’s the same cafe that Taehyung had posted about on his Instagram a few days before. But the thought doesn’t reach you until you’re swinging your gaze over, landing on the countenance of a gorgeous, five-foot-ten man that you know better than anyone else on the planet.

But your stomach doesn’t ignite in delight like it normally would, because when Taehyung’s eyes find yours, the look is empty—unfeeling and void of all the emotions you’ve seen it hold for you before. He doesn’t acknowledge your presence in the slightest, and instead, gets in line a few customers behind you and Yeonwoo.

You eyes want to follow his retreating figure but you whip your gaze back towards the menu, trying to calm the hammering in your chest as Yeonwoo steps up to the counter—completely oblivious to the situation at hand unfolding just a few inches behind her. You feel like you’re vibrating, unable to control the unrelenting tremors of your fingers as you search around your wallet for your debit card.

“I’ll just take a coffee, black,” you say quickly when it’s your turn, slapping your debit card on the counter and sinking your teeth into your lip to stop it from trembling. The barista takes their time, swiping your card and whipping around what looks like an iPad on a stand for you to tip and sign.

Yeonwoo is already seated at a table near the front of the shop, and you walk over slowly with your mug, avoiding looking up until you are settled in front of her. She nods disapprovingly at your choice.

“I thought you were going to get something,” she says—emphasizing that something meant a drink along the lines of the sugary, whipped concoction she was clutching in her own hands. “But maybe their classic roast is good?”

“I don’t think my stomach can handle that right now,” you confess, giving her a small smile.

Yeonwoo hums, eyes tracing your figure with curiosity. “You look so thin these days. Are you dieting?”

“What? No.” you answer, half-listening. “I like eating.”

You break, and glance back quickly over your shoulder at the line to the cash register. Taehyung is at the counter now, giving his order to the cashier in a calm tone. The murmurs of his honey voice float over to where you and Yeonwoo are sitting, weighing heavy on your heart. When you turn back around, she is looking past you at the line as well, and your heart beat stutters when her eyes light up in recognition.

“Isn’t that Taehyung?” she says, sitting up a little in her seat. “Hey, Tae—”

“Yeonwoo, uh, maybe we shouldn’t—he’s like—” you stutter out but it’s too late.

“Taehyung!” she calls again. He turns around with his drink in hand, raising his eyebrows at Yeonwoo as if he didn’t see her—or you—at all when he first came in. “Come here!”

You grip the sides of your steaming cup, focusing in on the feeling of hot ceramic burning your palms as you hear Taehyung’s soft footfalls come closer. He stops at the edge of your table, and you peek a glance at his navy slacks as you slowly bring your cup up to your mouth, stalling for the inevitable moment you know is coming very, very soon.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Yeonwoo says, smiling at him. “Isn’t this place awesome?”

He nods. “I’m just meeting a friend here.”

“Oh, cool,” Yeonwoo says, and you meet her eyes over the table. She raises an eyebrow at you but continues. “What’d you get to drink?”

Could she tell how uncomfortable you were? Was it suddenly louder in the cafe? Hotter? Could she see the literal static buzzing between your ears from being in the same room, much less, the same personal space as Taehyung for the first time in over two months?

“I got a Black and Tan,” Taehyung says.

He laughs a little when Yeonwoo makes a face. The sound makes you feel breathless.

“What? Is that not good?” he asks. “That’s what I’ve been getting since they opened! The barista recommended.”

Yeonwoo shakes her head in disappointment. “You and Y/N are so similar,” she says. “She just got black coffee.”

“Oh yeah?” Taehyung says.

You can feel it coming before it happens. You stiffen in your seat, muscles contracting as if bracing yourself for the hit that is Taehyung’s gaze finally falling on you. The first words that he’s spoken to you in two months come out slowly, as if you can see every movement of his lips and tongue in slow motion as he says:

“You’re not much of a coffee drinker.” His face stays passive, unemotional. “I’m surprised you’re here.”

You press your lips together, giving the smallest shrug you can muster at his comment. It’s true, of course; what you had in front of you was absolutely disgusting, but it’s contents void of any real flavor was soothing and easy to swallow—especially now to your particularly parched throat. The comment feels just the slightest bit sinister, as if Taehyung was annoyed by your presence at a place you weren’t normally a fan of. As if you were intruding on his own personal time away from you.  

Your quickly eyes drop from his, embarrassed.

Luckily, Yeonwoo reels his sharpened gaze back to her. “Who are you meeting?” she asks. “Would you guys want to sit with us for a bit?”

The thought of being there any longer was starting to become unbearable to you, so you pipe up quickly, “Well, we were just heading out, right? Didn’t you want to go shopping, for the party?”

Yeonwoo’s brow crinkles at the urgency in your tone, but there’s little you can do to hide it. You hope for once she understands and asks questions later—when you were both away from Taehyung.

“Party?” Taehyung asks, taking a cautious sip of the hot drink in his hands.

“Yeah, next Saturday at my house,” Yeonwoo chirps, grinning. It falls quickly and she looks back and forth between you and Taehyung. “Y/N didn’t tell you?”

“I’ve been busy,” Taehyung covers—cool and collected as always. “I must’ve forgotten, sorry. I’ll be there, though.”

“Great!”

Yeonwoo pulls her purse strap up on her shoulder, using her other hand to grab onto her drink as she stands up from the table. You do the same in a more hurried fashion, keeping your eyes down. You feel like a kicked puppy, but you can’t quite put your finger on why. You want to be angry, more confident, more assertive in the situation that was unfolding between you and Taehyung. Instead, seeing him made you feel worse. It reminded you that this whole thing was happening because of you—because you were greedy and selfish and completely deserving of his steely stare and the feeling of tucking your tail between your legs and running like a coward away from it.

Just as you are saying your goodbyes—or, rather, Yeonwoo is saying them for the both of you—the doorbell to Cafe Du Monde chimes again, alerting the entrance of another customer. As you are shuffling past the newcomer toward the exit, you hear Taehyung call out in his honeyed baritone, “Yeseul! I got us a seat over here.”

Yeseul. Han Yeseul.

Your head whips around over your shoulder and you see her petite frame walking towards Taehyung. It’s not her presence that bothers you the most, because it’s Taehyung’s face that you have the clear view of. His countenance has changed—he is smiling broadly as she bends down to land a small kiss on his cheek before sliding into the booth across from him, sunbeams practically radiating between the spaces of his teeth as he looks at her.

You press your trembling lips together, letting go of the cafe door and letting it slam with a bang! behind you on accident. But you can’t be bothered with the embarrassment that comes with it—there’s already too much weighing on your heart from your previous conversation, mixed with grief, shame, unsettledness, and just the tiniest dash of jealousy.

In reality, it’s more jealousy than you would ever be willing to admit.

Your body feels unable to carry the weight of your withheld feelings anymore, and so, when you slide into the passenger seat of Yeonwoo’s town car, the first tear rolls down your nose and drips off onto the lid of the coffee cup in your hand.

“Was it just me, or was Tae acting kind of weird?” Yeonwoo asks, pulling her mirror down to check her hair and reapply her lip gloss.

Another tear follows, creating a bigger puddle on the plastic. Followed by another. And another.

“Is anyone really too busy to remember the date of something?” she asks, frowning at her own reflection. “Well, I mean, I guess you were today. But that’s an exception—” She giggles a little and finally looks over at you. “At least he corrected himself, rig—oh my god, Y/N. What’s wrong?”

You shake your head, sniffling and wiping away the tears harshly. You don’t speak for the sake of keeping your lips pressed tightly together, hiding the sob that’s forcing its way up your throat.

“Don’t lie to me,” Yeonwoo presses, reaching out to put a hand on your back. “Something has you like this. Talk to me.”

“I—” you pause, feeling the tears flow down your cheeks as you search for what to say.

It didn’t make sense why this was bothering you so much. It wasn’t just meeting Taehyung in the cafe, it was the feelings you’d been battling with for two the months. The loneliness and bitterness and emptiness you felt without him. And you certainly couldn’t relay that information to Yeonwoo—not yet, anyways.

“Tae and I—we’re—” You pause to sniffle again and Yeonwoo’s eyes widen.

“I knew it!” she says. “You two were being too weird back there. I knew something was going on!”

“What?” you say, lifting your head up and looking her fully in the face.

Suddenly your friend seems to have stumbled across a discovery that had been brewing underneath the surface of her thoughts for a while, the way her eyes search yours both pensive and knowing at the same time.

“No,” you say, “We’re just—we had a fight. A bad one.” You wipe at your eyes with a tissue that Yeonwoo finally hands you from her purse, and she nods cautiously, encouraging you to go on. “It’s all my fault and because, you know how I am—I don’t know how to make it better, Yeonwoo.”

“Oh,” Yeonwoo exhales. The sound is both one of relief and of pity. “Oh, Y/N. It’s Taehyung. You guys have been friends for so long, don’t you think he just needs a little time to get over it?”

You blow your nose into the tissue, shaking your head. The tears are constant now, all your feelings rushing over the brim of your eyelids in the form of fat, hot droplets that drip off your chin and onto your shirt and jeans. The way Yeonwoo is gauging your reactions to her questions makes you fidget in your seat—did she somehow know? That was impossible, right?

“What did you guys fight about?”

“Yeseul,” you answer honestly.

“Yeseul? Who is that?” Yeonwoo asks, before her mouth drops open, “Her? The girl that just walked in the cafe to sit with him?”

You nod. “He’s kind of busying himself with her lately—which I understand, I left Taehyung to spend time with Hongbin before, too—but, I don’t know. I just—”

“Miss him?” Yeonwoo finishes. “Aw, Y/N.” She reaches across the middle console in her car, pulling you in for the awkwardest of hugs she can manage with both of your seatbelts on. “Don’t worry, okay? It’s going to get better. Taehyung just needs some time, but maybe you should try to talk to him. I’m sure he doesn’t know it’s bothering you like this.”

The understatement of the year, you think. But you accept her hug, pressing your face into the soft material of her top and hoping you don’t pull away to see the black streak of your smudged mascara.

“Do you want me to uninvite him from the party?” she asks when she pulls away, keeping you at arm's length. Her brows furrow over her innocent eyes, making her look comically mad in a way that makes you want to smile. “I can go back in there right now. I’ll tell him to keep his ass away from my house—”

“No,” you say quickly, shaking your head. “No, Yeonwoo, really. It’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” she says. “I know you love him and all, but I can go take back my invitation if it means saving you some awkwardness next weekend.”

You try not to let her choice of words bother you. She studies you for a minute—taking in the redness of your face and nose, the glassiness of eyes fresh from crying, the way your lips still tremble a little when you’re not talking, the tightness of the grip you have on the crumpled tissue in your left hand.

“I’m good,” you say. “Really. I promise.”

Yeonwoo continues to look at you and for a second, it scares the shit out of you—as if she’s seeing right through your facade and down to the real problem: you didn’t just love Taehyung; You were in love with Taehyung and had no fucking clue what to do about it.

Yeonwoo’s mouth opens and closes, and you’re so sure she’s about to call you out that your heartbeat triples in your chest, hammering a steading rhythm that you hear in your ears, almost drowning out what she does finally say.

“Fine.” She presses her lips together. “I won’t go yell at him today. But he’s a real jerk if he can’t tell that his attitude isn’t making this any better.”

You sigh in relief, settling back into your seat as Yeonwoo puts the car in reverse and backs out of her parking spot.

It was starting to look like you didn’t give anyone enough credit for perceptiveness—the faint adrenaline rush receding from your veins was evidence enough that you needed to be more careful when showing your emotions, and not just when Taehyung was around. The realization has you second guessing every interaction you and Taehyung have ever had in front of your friends, expecting them to brush it off as two people who were extremely close from years of friendship.

You give Cafe Du Monde one final glance before you pull away, delivering the TKO punch to your gut for the day. At a seat by the window, you see through the clear glass window where Taehyung and Yeseul sit—laughing, happy, oblivious, and full of life and love as they chat with each other.

[unnursvanablog]

Some of the shows that I have been Watching

Parks and Recreation: Now, I have some problems with some of the male actors on this show and I debated for some time if I should watch it. But people keep talking about how good it is and it was on Prime, so I just decided to give it a try. It took me some time to get used to the mockumentary style but before I knew it I was on season four and I rather like it. An it is so easy to watch that I kinda don't want to watch anything else. Sometimes Parks and Rec is all I want to watch. I will maybe become a little sad when I finish it.

Victoria: Now, I have struggled a bit with Victoria this season. They keep killing off some of the side-characters I was fond of, and therefor I can't bother to get attached to any of the new ones, which they keep on introducing to us each season. Also Albert and Victoria just keep on bickering and I find it tiring to watch. But this show is still a very nice produced and the scenery and the costume porn is like 60% of why I keep going at this point. I hope it will improve. I want to love this show like I used too.

The Crowned Clown: I like the progress that this show is making, how it keeps surprising me and the romance is nice as well. I still believe there is like we are watching two shows in one, with the sweet romance and then the politics, but I think that might start to mix a lot more now. I can't see how it will end and it is exciting.

Haechi: Now some might not even check this one out because they are watching The Crowned Clown and they can only deal with one sageuk at a time. I sort of get it, few years ago I might have done so myself, but over the years I have gotten very found of the sageuk genre. It is one of my fav kdrama genres to watch tbh. The first episode went quite heavy on the politics and such things, which can end up being confusing, but overall I liked it. It is different enough from The Clowned Crown, but it is still a lot of royal palace politics, and I do wish that we could get more sageuks that focus on the lower class like Rebel or maybe just takes us a bit further from the palace life like Arang and the Magistrate and maybe Tamra the Island.

Start Trek Discovery: I am not that invested in the show, but I do like it. I am quite good at keeping up with it, although sometimes I do laundry or cook while watching it. It depends on the episode and what topic they take on that week.

Romance is a Bonus Book: I am only like one an a half episode in. It is on Netflix an it sounds sweet and it looks cute. And it is sweet and cute and I like the wipe of it and the main female character - I just want what is best for her. And it is about books! I love books! I am sort of watching it while I can, since I feel like my tv scheduled is sort of packed, and I am not 100% invested yet, but I am enjoying it so far. 

Miracle Worker: I just started this. It is pretty cute little work sitcom (or that is how I would describe it). It has Daniel Radcliffe in it, just being adorable and stuff, and it is a short limited series so I think I will find it quite enjoyable. For the most part I just want it to be cute.

On Hold:

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The story has gotten so repetitive, I can only take it in small dozes. Also, I have a lot of other tv shows to watch and I just don't really put this one as a priority then.

Miss Sherlock: I do enjoy it, even if I don't find it as binge watchable as I thought I would find it. But then again I tend to be an extremely slow binge watcher. I so much prefer to watch shows weekly. But when I finish Park and Rec I might start this one again when I find some spare time.

Dropped

Item: It is sort of clunky and all over the place and non of the bits are particularity interesting. Odd mix of genres as well. They can work together quite well, but the drama is doing it quite poorly. It also gets very comic-booky at times. I know it is based on a webtoon but it just doesn't work that well. I got one and a half episode in. I nearly fell asleep.

Queen Seon Duk: I have to throw in my white flag with this one. This is my second attempt of watching this show, I really want to love it, but there is a part of me that just doesn't click with this show. It has been on hold for a while, I never make time to watch it and the last time I tried I fell asleep. I think it might be because I know how the show ends and all of that and the fact that I find the male lead and his character so goodamn dull and the actor has annoyed me even before his scandal and now I can't stand to look at his face. I thought things would get better when YSH showed up, but nope. I am still a bit bored. I really tried but I can’t fight it anymore. I can’t spend my time on a show that I really want to like but don’t. It just feels silly. 

[4nime6-blog]

Cool Hip Anime!

Anime

Large sparkling eyes, brightly coloured frizzy hair, obscure nose and high facial expression reminds us connected with only one factor.

Anime

Can you do you know what the item is?

If your response is actually Anime, then STOP, to see an otaku's brain!

Cartoons (pronounced: "Ah-nee-may") will be a form of animation typically from Okazaki, japan. They have got their own style this means you will show that in peculiar and wonderful ways. Cartoons also has its very own sense associated with comedy along with has a unique thought processes. It can get actually strong and serious, as well as it could truly be silliest (like: "Lucky Star", "Kill Me Baby") in addition to craziest (like: "Death Note", "Gintama") thing a person have ever before seen. Many Anime demonstrates are centered on popular mangas (Japanese Comics), just putting any not much more life into these people. Cartoons often covers far more serious issues than normal cartoons. In the united states, cartoons tend to be considered a form regarding enjoyment meant for youngsters. In Okazaki , japan, people involving all ages (no, not necessarily newborn babies! ) see anime. Most shows and flicks are centred for youngsters, teenager or young older people, but you can also get many cartoons that are made with regard to older crowd even business people and housewives!

The phrase "Anime" is the close pronunciation connected with "animation" within Japanese, exactly where this expression references just about all animation. Outside the house Japan, cartoons is applied to refer specifically toon from Japan or Western disseminated animation style usually characterized by colourful visuals, attractive characters and fantastical designs. Japanese animation commenced inside 20th century. Katsudo Shashin is claimed for you to be the first Japan animation. The 1923 Fantastic Kanto earthquake triggered wide-spread destruction including demolition associated with earliest Anime Companies as well as anime works; departing Kouchi's Namakura Gatana because the most well-known surviving animation. The 1st cartoons television series was Otogi Manga Calendar aired by 1961 to 1964.

This introduction to anime ended up being in category four while I watched "City Hunter" in a T. Sixth v. channel, Animax. Though I could see anime (as a make a difference of fact the particular multiple of anime is usually anime) like "Doraemon", "Shinchan", "Avatar-The last airbender", "Summer Days and nights with Coo", "AstroBoy", "Dragon Ball-Z", "Naruto" in the past just before yet I did definitely not recognize the profound perception regarding anime as this was dubbed throughout Hindi (rather I would point out "contaminated" instead of "dubbed" by means of old, ridiculous man noises in Hindi who also would break unnecessary, slap-stick jokes deviating viewers through the plot and also terrain you in a hotch-potch of indianised anime). My very own sister ( three yrs young than me even though I actually refuse to confess she is older when compared with me) took weird curiosity in Japanese anime similar to " Tears to Tiara" and "Stigma of typically the Wind" aired in Animax: that we thought strange from that time while the "patriotic inertia" will stop me from receiving something but Indian products. I got first repelled by often the proven fact that all the words casts have been in Japoneses and to understand history I had to consider difficulty of reading the actual Subtitles in english and had to help correlate the particular speech using the video proven; regarding which great deal involving attention seemed to be required. That was impossible personally in order to do both those exhaustion tasks at the very same time, so I delivered to my old Capital t. V. channels: Cartoon Community, Nickolodeans, Hungama, Pogo, Come back and Jetix.

After some sort of very long hiatus, in type seven, My spouse and i again started out experimenting our skills with understanding anime which often converted out to be a new success, when I 1st delighted in anime including "Hayate the Combat Butler" along with "Fairy Tail". Also! This kind of sweet poison! Following a total hectic day time in school, expenses, floating around classes, art in addition to audio classes, and full various other heck lot of routines; I waited only to be able to settle-back and relax for you to watch these kinds of anime. From that time, nothing was of importance to me; not also my parents, close friends as well as teachers. In that online realms of pleasure My partner and i could equipment my failures and sufferings as effortlessly as I got obtained in successes. Nothing irritated me, except when We were required to attend phone telephone calls or to wide open entrance, if any guests will come when the anime indicates were ongoing. However, cartoons hardly did affect this studies as after seeing two hour long plan, I suffered from PARTS (Post Anime Depression Syndrome) that I suffered typically the sense of guilt of wasting moment that has been more intensified through my very own mother's rebuke (I wish to describe this circumstance as "Kata Ghaye nuun-er Chheta") and this also guilt might propel my family to review harder, concentrate and also perform for longer hours this also occurred as daily schedule in my opinion; so I can easily get the best of most connected with the students be that researching or swimming or even any different work.

Hence to all parents, I actually would like to ask for allowing your kids to help watch anime because it proved helpful out for me (maybe I use strange wirings within my human brain! ). Enjoying anime would help an individual to hone your fictional, vocabulary and analytical expertise. More importantly, it would certainly serve as a enormous source of entertainment, at the very least way beyond the little league of daily Indian soap.

Understanding the culture associated with origins is very crucial to realize the plan, be it Japanese cartoons, Korean language Aeni webtoons, China's Manhua Anime or Us sitcoms (which I endured after i was novice inside observing anime). If anyone have watched virtually any cartoons, you will probably discover that often the characters respond differently along with things throughout general (like properties, vehicles, eating etc. ) are usually bit different from everything you used to. Probably the actual most readily evident distinctions between Japanese computer animation in addition to others is the a muslim everywhere huge eyes (bigger in comparison with nose), brightly girl locks, some well-endowed character types as well as exaggerated emotional movement and also gestures are regular regarding anime. Being hand-drawn, cartoons is separated coming from actuality providing an best path intended for escapism directly into which followers can involve themselves having relative simplicity. The production of cartoons focusses less on the particular cartoon movement and considerably more on the realistic look involving settings like "The Yard of Words".

The particular beginning and credit sequences connected with most anime are combined with Japanese rock or take song which maybe related to the anime series, simply by popular bands. "Nanairo Namida" by Tomato n' Pinus radiata of anime "Beelzebub" along with "Just Awake" of cartoons "Hunter X Hunter" are a few of my favourite anime tunes, which you may try out.

Since there are several sorts of cartoons, one will need to classify these individuals with different genres, some associated with them are generally: Action, Audio, Mecha, Experience, Mystery, Bishounen, Yuri, Yaoi, Akuma, Seinen, Shoujo, Shounen, Kodomo, Piece of Existence and a lot of more. Whether you're the die-hard anime fan (like me generally labelled seeing that "otaku"), a casual watcher, the interested onlooker or perhaps commoner from non-anime website: cartoons genres shall supply you actually with some simple knowledge which help you in order to venture the cartoons planet with ease and joy.

I am going to be able to share some remarkable rates of anime which will etch my heart usually are:

• Motoko Kusanagi regarding "Ghost in the Shell a couple of: Innocence"

"We weep to get blood of a pet although not for the our blood of a species of fish. Endowed are those with any tone. "

• Shinchi Akiyama of "Liar Game"

"People SHOULD be doubted. Many people get me wrong this specific concept. Doubting people is simply a part of getting for you to know them. Just what quite a few people call "trust" is absolutely just giving up about wanting to understand others in addition to that extremely act is definitely far more serious than questioning. It is actually 'apathy'. "

• Hachiman Hikigaya of "My Teen Passionate Comedy SNAFU"

"If simple truth is cruel

Then

Lie needs to be kind

Then

Kindness need to be lie"

You can observe anime with T. /. by opting-in to Animax, Aniplus, AnimeCental, TV Tokyo or online on internet sites like animehaven. to help, kissanime, Funimation. com, Netflix, Crunchyroll. com, hulu, Vimeo and so forth.

ENJOY WATCHING CARTOONS!

[fatedreamt-blog]

Every. Odd. Number. choose a muse i love you

detailed oc questions. / open. 

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

cole’s full name - corazon lumaban - was chosen after the nickname cole! and cole came from broccoli bc it’s a… i don’t wanna say gag bc that doesn’t rlly fit but neither does theme? in their story. a lot of the names i choose for ocs are usually just names that fit right to me / the character. i don’t… put a lot of thought into them which maybe i should but? fhskjh either way, names are chosen based off a theme / aesthetic i want to convey ( cain / abel’s slight biblical themes and the story influencing cain’s, houston’s name being based off of houston, texas, and texas being, for me anyways, the first state you think of when you think of southern, etc ), or are just made up on the spot / randomly given based on the feel it gives. rhys’s last name, matthews, was an on the spot name, and so was katherine’s first name. 

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory? 

monroe had a good childhood! they had hearing but supportive parents who made sure they learned asl at a young age. they attended a deaf/hoh school when they were younger, but switched to a regular public school when they got older bc they wanted to meet more people. of course, they have bad memories in relation to being hoh, but the good far outweighs the bad. 

stribog had… a complicated childhood. his parents were there, but because he grew up in a large family and a large household, he eventually grew to get used to being excluded or forgotten. he likes to think it’s not his parents’ fault, and has fond memories of having cole over, or playing with his siblings. he had a good relationship with his siblings - with its obvious bumps of course - and is okay with the childhood he had. 

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

leaf has 2 step siblings named tomone and masao. her relationship with them is… very strained, and the comparison made to them by her parents fueled her inferiority complex. she’s very bitter towards them and doesn’t really like to talk to her family, because while tomone and masao are friendly enough, something about them always digs up memories and makes her feel bad. it doesn’t help that when she still had contact with her parents, they still compared her to her step siblings even when she turned 18. she cut contact with them when she turned 19.

mk’s older brother and guardian is bryan admon! he was sorta… thrust into this older brother slash guardian figure because their dad started to become very busy and absent, and their mom died giving birth to mk. they have a close relationship, and while mk is omniscient, bryan still takes care of them as best as he can. he doesn’t understand a lot about them or their obligations because he’s just a regular ol human, but he tries his best to help out and support them. he’s a good.

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood? 

……i’m looking at my ocs list and i don’t think any of them really were popular as kids…? i’m sure they had the occasional friend ( ash, noah, monroe, etc ), but some of them were isolated and didn’t make friends easy. i’d say miriam kept some of her childhood friends well into adulthood!

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals? 

synne, the druid they are, LOVES animals. they connect with them better than they do with most people, and in modern au, work at a pet store. animals usually like them. micah and monroe love birds specifically and are probably friends + part of the same birdwatching club. birds like micah, and a specific family of birds that made residence in 1 of their flower pots like monroe. 

11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies?

katherine and rory are both vegetarians! the former also doesn’t like eggs, just because she dislikes the texture, and needs more protein in her diet. neither of them have allergies. rory makes Amazing veggie burgers and really goes out of his way to replicate certain food, but vegetarian. he tries to shy away from animal-based products, but isn’t super strictly vegan. katherine just… throws together whatever she can for dinner. she adjusts easily. 

13. What is their least favourite food?

noah… does not like anything with a chunky texture, and especially hates cottage and blue cheese.

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

ash is pretty good at cooking! so is micah, rory and andy. other people are in a general consensus that they make good food. toby… we know of his cooking and eating habits and no one approves of them

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos?

andy loves taking photos!! she likes remembering and commemorating events and will insist on taking pictures whenever she can. she likes to organize them into albums on her phone, or make them into scrapbooks. she seldom takes selfies of herself. as she is a model, she figures she has enough photos of herself out there.

micah, on the other hand, has no photos of him available. he tries not to get into pictures a lot, which andy is understanding of. it’s probably connected to the fact that there’s no information about him anywhere. 

19. What’s their least favourite genres?

jo doesn’t like music that’s loud for the sake of being loud.

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?

rory… has somewhat of a temper? he gets really protective which manifests in aggression, but it’s not angry. you can tell he’s angry when he’s oddly silent and quiet, a simmering kind of rage that bites at you. he’s really patient though. the same applies to toby - no one’s really ever seen him angry before, but when he is, he goes silent. it’s terrifying. 

jo doesn’t have a temper, but she does have a bit of an explosive anger. when she’s really mad at someone - which doesn’t happen often, because she’s usually a chill and easygoing person - she just bursts and yells. it’s a lot. 

leaf cries when she’s angry. she doesn’t get angry too easily, but there are things that poke at her, and she’s just sobbing when she gets mad. 

23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces?

houston and mk both have excellent memories - it comes with being omniscient. they remember faces and names easily, even far into their life. leaf’s forgetful, and usually has to write things down to remember them. 

25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves?

miriam loves videos like that one video of the girl asking alexa to play baby shark. it more makes her smile than anything else, but it brightens her day a lot. she also finds karma and irony funny, and has a pretty good sense of humor about things.  she’s pretty funny! she has a very specific brand of humor.

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?

as mentioned above, leaf cries a lot. it’s the first reaction that comes to her. not a lot of things make her sad enough to cry, though, but sometimes she’ll just randomly remember something or something will dampen her mood a lot and she’ll cry. she’s grown to cry silently, and will often hide out in bathrooms of public places sometimes. she has a game with herself that it’s her “goal” to cry in every public bathroom. it helps her cope. she’s a lot more cheery when she’s sad as an attempt to hide how miserable she is. 

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective? 

micah gets protective and tries to steer them away from their fear if it pops up. rhys’ll probably use it against the person if it’s not a loved one, and will likely use it as a part of his fear tactic.  

31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing?

stribog drinks to cope, but it’s not that often. just when he’s really stressed. he gets very quiet when he’s drunk, very emotional and honest, and doesn’t really get hangovers. he comforts other people when they’re drunk and tries his best to be kind towards them. rhys has no alcohol tolerance and tries not to drink in the first place.

jo refuses to drink at all. it’s not her thing, and she doesn’t want to be involved in it. 

33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties?

andy wears all sorts of underwear! nothing else to say about that - they’re usually very cute and pretty though, and typically patterned.

35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure? 

cain’s guilty pleasure… bad sitcoms. he finds them fascinatingly enjoyable in a weird, sadistic way. they’re so bad they’re funny to him. he also likes things that remind him of his childhood - stuffed animals, for example, are one of them. his unguilty pleasure is long, detailed novels.

37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction?

ash is a fast reader! she likes reading, and definitely likes poetry. mary shelly’s one of her favorite authors - or at least, good to read - and she likes the last man and the mortal immortal. she enjoys books that deal with moral dilemmas and reality, but is also a sucker for romance novels. she tends to lean towards fiction, but will read nonfiction sometimes. being a librarian, she has a wide array of book to choose from.

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging? 

monroe likes the aesthetic of letters! while emails and messaging are quicker and easier, they like receiving and writing letters. there’s something so weirdly nostalgic and heart fluttering about getting a hand written letter in the mail to them.

miriam prefers emailing and messaging, but will always send hand written thank you notes whenever she or her kids get a gift. 

41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship?

cole is pan! they don’t really have any specific type, but they do tend to fall in love with sweet, kind, quiet people. people who are unassuming, but try to do good. they like and need trust in a relationship, as well as understanding. sometimes they’re not doing so hot and they need their partner to know that they need distance. i’ve got a Whole meta about leaf and love/relationships in my metas tag, so i don’t think i need to touch upon that hgkjsh

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people?

miriam is christian, and has definitely used religion as an anchor. her faith’s helped her during hardships in her life, and thinks it’s a good stability to have in life, but understands why other people may not believe in god and respects that. 

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves? 

mk describes themself as an oddity, an ethereal abomination. they know they’re not ordinary, and fully embraces that, even using it to freak people out sometimes. a lot of kids - and adults, occasionally - do think they’re weird and a freak, which isn’t something they really… like. they don’t like being called a freak. mk thinks that they’re a pretty okay kid. 

rhys sees himself as… well, a machine. he does think highly of himself, but it’s more that he thinks highly of his origin than of himself. it’s not oh, rhys is better, it’s oh, robots are better. he really has no opinions on himself otherwise. people see him as a charming person, usually, because that’s what he presents himself as. but y’know. We All Know The Truth

47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event?

micah likes dressing up! he likes making it a thing and going all out. he seldom gets to wear suits and the like, so wearing them and going to a party or something is fun to him. he likes to chit chat, and what he does puts him as someone important and charitable to a lot of people. not only does he donate a lot of his earnings, he also has a mansion / penthouse where he lets people stay if they’re refugees, homeless, coming from bad situations, etc. he gets invited to fancy charity events often, and likes going to them occasionally. 

monroe finds them stuffy and boring, and stribog gets nervous at them. rhys is practically used to them, though.

49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them?

cain doesn’t like holding connections to his past, but he does have a very ratty, very old teddy bear from his mom. it sits in a drawer in his desk that’s locked, and he’s very protective over it. he doesn’t want anything bad happening to it. 

synne has their circlet, which is something they enjoy for aesthetic reasons, but it’s also a reminder on why they’re going out on adventures and the such. it helps them not lose sight of their goal. of course, their adventures and the reason for doing them have changed and advanced, but still. they take it everywhere with them, as it is part of their outfit, and is relatively sentimental. 

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Please spill tea on Rachel/Joey as a romantic ship since I know you're with me on being one of the few who still ships Ross/Rachel!

This is a very strange ask for me to receive, since I’ve spoken about my like for Joey and Rachel as a romantic pairing in the past, even above Ross and Rachel (you may not have seen it because I tend to just rant in the tags of my posts haha, but you can see some of the things I’ve said in my Rachel/Joey tag here). Having said that, it is a topic that I go back and forth with because I see the positives of both ships and I like both for different reasons. However, this may go in a different direction than you expected since I do really like Joey and Rachel, so beware that this does contain some anti-Rosschel content, and it’s pretty long (sorry, I have a lot of thoughts on this).

On paper, Rachel and Joey are the perfect couple and I love their relationship on the show so much. They had such a respectful, loving and endearing friendship that was so beautiful. Even as I’m trying to sit here and think of the negative side to Rachel and Joey’s relationship, I can’t. It was so open, warm, trusting and sweet. Joey falling in love with Rachel is one of my favourite arcs on the entire show, because it’s so realistic and emotional. We’ve all had that moment at some point in our lives where we have a close friend who we’ve only ever thought of platonically but then something happens and we see them differently, whether it’s just for that one moment or whether it develops into something more like it did for Joey. I’ve never really seen it discussed before, but all of the characters on Friends developed over the seasons, except Joey. Who Joey is in season 1 is practically exactly who he is in season 10. Falling in love with Rachel is the only time we actually got to see a change in Joey. It was the first time he’d ever been in love so it was incredibly difficult for him to navigate those intense feelings anyway, but it was a million times harder because he was also dealing with the confusion and guilt of that person being Rachel who was pregnant with Ross’ child. How Joey handled himself throughout the situation was so beautiful to watch and made me fall in love with his character in an entirely new way. Here’s this guy who’s specifically known for being a womaniser and an immature bachelor, but he was mature, selfless and fair throughout the entire thing.

Joey falling in love with Rachel made perfect sense. He lived with her and was incredibly close to her, they got each other and had fun, and you could just perfectly see and understand why he would love her. In comparison to Ross, whose love for Rachel was just there from the beginning and mainly based on an infatuation he’d had since he was a child, Joey’s feelings for Rachel were incredibly complex. When Joey’s feelings for Rachel seemed to pass, I thought that was the end of it and then BAM, Rachel had her dream and suddenly she had feelings for Joey. This was the point at which I knew something had to happen, because two friends don’t both just develop feelings for each other out of nowhere, that has to mean something. Watching Rachel’s feelings for Joey develop wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as watching Joey’s (but that’s mainly because whenever Rachel has the slightest interest in someone she immediately becomes annoying to me), but again, it made sense to me. She was close to Joey, he was always there for her, she knew he had romantic feelings for her recently and hey, he’s an attractive dude!

The perfect basis was already in place for an amazing romance to develop between the two – they’d been best friends for 8 years, lived together for two(?) years, they had an attraction and a special bond - yet when it finally happened it just didn’t work. Every time I rewatch the show (and that’s a lot) I ask myself the same question about Joey and Rachel and that’s – why!? Why didn’t it work? Because it doesn’t make sense to me, but of course, that can be summed up in one word: Ross.

Ross and Rachel are that couple, aren’t they? They’re so iconic, everyone worldwide knows them and from the very beginning they just sucked everyone in. Nowadays I see people growing tired of the will-they-won’t-they trope because it’s so overdone, but when Friends was first airing, it reeled people in hook line and sinker. What really sells Ross and Rachel as a couple is Jennifer and David’s chemistry but also that intense passionate love that Ross and Rachel have. The problem is, that beyond this I do struggle to see what makes sense about Ross and Rachel. This is where you may want to stop reading if you’re a huge Ross/Rachel fan because it’s going to get a quite anti-Rosschel.

It starts off as a very one-sided relationship that is built upon Ross’ crush on Rachel that goes back to high school and by the time they do finally admit their feelings and get together, there’s just a series of endless arguments and break-ups which suggest it’s not a very healthy or happy relationship. From Ross’ perspective, in particular, I think his perception of Rachel and his relationship with her was incredibly distorted. All of their issues in season 3 are because of Ross’ insecurities, because he spent his high school years pining for a girl that was “out of his league”, once he was with her he was constantly afraid he would lose her and that led to possessive behaviour. What always sticks in my mind is the conversation they have about Rachel working too much and Ross expresses that he feels she has this entirely different life that he’s not a part of, and Rachel explains that she’s glad about that because she wants to have something in her life that is separate from him. She says that she’s scared but she’s happy because she’s out there in the world doing something for herself and she asks if he’s okay with that, which he replies yes, but then over her shoulder when they hug he says he’s not. Because Friends is a sitcom, comedy is injected into that scene, but it’s actually not very funny at all. What about what Rachel said is even slightly unreasonable? In most relationship’s an individual’s work is the only part of their life that is not intertwined with their partner and is the place where they can channel their passions and energies. Ross had his career at the museum which was clearly very important to him yet Rachel couldn’t have hers because that made him insecure. What’s even worse is when you think back to the list he made about Rachel, under the cons he listed “Just a waitress” as one of her cons, yet when she decided to break out of the coffee house and launch a career, he didn’t like it. So what did he want from her? Rachel always felt very much like an achievement to Ross rather than a person, particularly in the early seasons. I don’t necessarily want to pit the two relationships against each other but when you compare how well Joey knew Rachel and his opinion of her in comparison to Ross, there’s no comparison. Ross was in love with the idea of Rachel (I think as the seasons progressed he did fall in love with who she was more so), but it still didn’t feel like he really knew her and loved her for her. Proof of that can be seen by his negative reaction when she started to change and become her own person and establish a life for herself.

Having said that, there was an inexplicable pull between Ross and Rachel that brought them back together time and time again. They finally admitted their feelings to each other and got together in season 2, only to split up the same day because of the list Ross made, then they got back together later in the season after the prom video, then they took a break in season 3 (by this point they’d been in a relationship for total of 11 episodes), got back together in the next episode and broke up soon after when Rachel found out Ross slept with Chloe.10 episodes later, in season 4, they got back together at the beach house only to split up the next day because of the whole ‘we were on a break’ argument. Nothing much happened with them after that and they seemed to be moving on, until Ross met Emily and Rachel realised she still has feelings for him and went to England to stop the wedding but Ross said her name at the altar, so that ended in tears hah. Throughout season 5 Ross fights for his marriage and is insistent he loves Emily, whilst Rachel continues to pine for him. By the time we get to season 6, this is where they’ve both seemingly moved on from one another and then lo and behold, they get married in Vegas! After this Ross realises he has feelings for Rachel AGAIN, which seems to soon pass. In season 7, it seems like they’re moving on again until they wind up kissing after Monica and Chandler get engaged. Season 8 is of course the season where Rachel falls pregnant with Emma and from that point until the middle of season 9 when they’re living together and raising Emma, their relationship seems headed in the romantic direction once again. Then they decide their arrangement isn’t working so Rachel moves out and back in with Joey, and they go back to their own lives. That brings us to the end whereby they finally come to realise they want to be with each other in the finale. Wow, that’s one hell of a long and complicated relationship, right? But it perfectly displays the on-off nature of Rachel and Ross’ relationship and shows that even when they were supposedly over each other or moving on, they very quickly found each other again. What I never got about all of this is why it happened. I understand it up until around season 4, but past that I don’t. Why did Ross say Rachel’s name at his wedding? I don’t care what anyone says, at that time he was not in love with Rachel. He agreed to stop seeing Rachel to make his marriage with Emily work, for crying out loud. Also, why did Rachel continue to love a man that had made an immature pros and cons list about her when they first got together, was possessive and jealous when she got a job, fell into bed with the first woman he clapped eyes on when she told him they were on a break (I mean, who does that!?) and refused to accept responsibility for his actions or act with even the tiniest shred of maturity when presented with the chance of getting back together with her? What is it about this man are we supposed to believe makes him a man that Rachel is in love with? It doesn’t make sense. Neither does the fact that they randomly kiss and have sex for no reason what so ever other than the fact that they have before. When they have sex and Rachel gets pregnant with Emma, that literally happens because they’re both there and it’s easy because they’ve been together before and they know they’re in a place where emotionally they’re not attached, so they can treat it as a casual one-night stand.

But, back to Joey and Rachel, because that’s technically what this ask is supposed to be about rather than Ross and Rachel. I think in comparison to Ross and Rachel, whose relationship was incredibly rocky and problematic, Joey and Rachel had a much better build-up, a richer relationship and a more complex connection. The problem with Joey and Rachel is that the audience were already too invested in Ross and Rachel, for a Joey/Rachel romance to last long-term and the writers couldn’t fully let go of Ross and Rachel, no matter what they did. I’m not sure what the intentions with Rachel and Joey were or if the writers even intended for them to be the real deal and stay together, or if it was supposed to be brief like it was, but it certainly felt like they never fully committed to it. 

Again, what bothers me about this is that Rachel and Joey splitting up didn’t really make sense and neither did Ross’ reaction. Of course Ross was going to react strongly to finding out about them, but it really didn’t make sense to have Ross react the way he did unless he still had feelings for Rachel and/or was in love with her, which we were told he didn’t and there seemed to be no indication of anything to the contrary until that point. No matter how long your history is with someone or whether they’re the mother of your child, the fact was that Rachel was his ex, Ross had a girlfriend (Charlie) and as Ross himself pointed out, he and Rachel hadn’t been a couple in 6 years. So it didn’t really make sense for Ross to react that way. He and Rachel were exes, so what? They’d both moved on, Ross with Charlie, and Joey and Rachel deserved a shot. What also didn’t make sense is the way in which Rachel and Joey split up, since the issue they came upon again was completely fixable. A lot of people when transitioning from friends to romantic partners experience initial awkwardness. When Ross and Rachel first tried to have sex, Rachel couldn’t stop laughing, but they persevered because they knew they wanted to be together and it should’ve been the same for Joey and Rachel. They were clearly attracted to each other physically and they wanted to be together, so once they’d pushed through that barrier once, they would’ve been fine. The only reason they split up at that point is because the writers knew they couldn’t make it work after having invested so much time in Ross and Rachel. I really think if the writers and audience weren’t so fixated on Ross and Rachel, Joey and Rachel could’ve gone all the way. I also think if it had been a real life situation and not a show, Joey and Rachel would’ve lasted. There was absolutely no reason they wouldn’t last because they were incredibly compatible. Their relationship ended before it even began, I mean, they really didn’t even give it a chance at all and immediately afterwards it was completely swept under the rug as though it never happened. That’s something that will always bug me and is just proof that the writers wanted to try and erase Joey and Rachel because they wanted Ross and Rachel to be endgame. But the fact remains if they knew they wanted a Ross and Rachel endgame (which they clearly knew very early on) why did they decide to go down the Joey/Rachel route? It didn’t really make sense in that context. 

One thing I will say is that despite the seemingly anti-Rosschel sentiment of this, Ross and Rachel’s romantic chemistry always felt stronger than Joey and Rachel’s, and their relationship always felt much more natural. However, I put that down to the actors. I think because Jennifer and David were portraying a romantic relationship from rather early on, they fell into a natural rhythm but Jennifer and Matt were such good friends on and off-screen, that when they had to make that transition to a couple, it didn’t quite click. And I’m pretty sure even Matt and Jennifer themselves protested against them being a couple, claiming it was too weird because they were brother and sister, so clearly their hearts weren’t really in playing that relationship and I think that shows in their performances. So, it’s strange because in terms of writing, I’m all for Joey and Rachel, but in terms of the chemistry and the feeling of the couple, I’m all for Ross and Rachel. I also think that despite the problematic elements of Ross and Rachel’s relationship I mentioned above, they changed and developed and by the time they got back together in season 10 I think they were much more suited and ready for a proper relationship. A big part of the issue with their relationship in the early seasons is that Ross was in a completely different place to Rachel. Even in season 1 Ross is very together - he has an established career as a palaeontologist, he earns a decent wage, he has his own apartment in the city, he’s been married - but Rachel, in comparison, is just starting out in life. In season 1 she completely uproots herself and leaps into a world she’s never been part of, so by the time she and Ross get together she’s still adjusting to that huge change. She hasn’t built a life for herself yet and she hasn’t found what she enjoys or what her path is in life, but Ross is already sure in himself and that’s why Rachel freaks out when he starts talking about having kids and moving to Scarsdale. At that point, Rachel isn’t ready for any of that, she’s still trying to deal with having a part-time job at Central Perk and trying to decide where she goes from there. But by season 10 she’s established herself in an amazing career, she’s a mother and she’s grown so much and she’s finally right there with Ross and ready for all of that. As for Ross, by season 10 he’s realised that Rachel loves him and has chosen him so his insecurities shouldn’t be so much of a problem. So where Ross and Rachel start and where they end up is two vastly different places, and although I don’t like the way the journey was written, they earned that ending.

In comparison, Joey and Rachel just can’t compete with that. As sweet and well-developed as they were, they can’t compete with that magnetic pull between Rachel and Ross that continued for 10 years. Ross and Rachel had simply been built up too much for too long for Rachel and Joey to be able to swoop in at such a late point in the series and be endgame. Perhaps if certain things were different and Rachel hadn’t of had Emma, Rachel and Joey could’ve worked, but Ross and Rachel were too entwined to ever separate and I think if they’d ended up with other people and Rachel had ended up with Joey, somewhere deep down inside they would have always felt a sense of regret and “what if?” and I definitely think that would’ve cast a shadow on Rachel and Joey’s relationship if they’d stayed together.

To conclude this big muddle of a response, I really like Joey and Rachel together and see a lot of potential with them as a couple, but their romantic chemistry was lacking and dare I say it, even felt awkward at times, and they simply couldn’t get to the same place as Ross and Rachel. Ross and Rachel were written as being the love of each other’s lives and despite the messiness their relationship, I strongly believe their fate was sealed in TOW Prom Video and there was no coming back from that. 

[earwaxinggibbous]

“Congratulations” VS. “Started From The Bottom”

Started as a bottom, now my whole team’s fuckin’ rears.

Self-aggrandizing rap and hip-hop anthems have existed since the genre was invented. It’s just a really nice, friendly way of saying, “hey! I’m better than you.” Generally speaking, whoever is on the track should have the power and clout behind them to make all of the bragging seem warranted. A great example is Eminem’s Rap God, which has a chorus that literally has Eminem saying he’s beginning to feel like a rap god. And we buy it, because hell, Eminem basically IS a rap god. Regardless of how you feel about him, especially as a person, there’s no arguing that his flows and style require an insane amount of skill. (Or at least, they used to.)

The other big rule, once again using Rap God as an example, as that the song should actually be good. Because if you’re bragging about being the coolest rapper with the most chains and bitches while rapping like complete shit, your point is pretty much moot. When Eminem speed-raps in Rap God, it’s essentially the proof that he is in fact the man named in the title. 

There’s only one real problem with these songs when it comes to audience reception: They’re not relatable to anybody except other rich rappers and musicians. Which can be kind of a problem since that’s not really who the music industry is aiming to please. So in somewhat recent times we’ve been getting a different flavor of self-aggrandizing rap. Songs that, instead of saying “I’m super great”, they say, “Hey, I started from humble beginnings and worked my way to the top, and now I’m super great”. Which gives us viewers the idea of this sort of achievable dream that is nearly within arm’s reach.

Enter two very, very different hip-hop artists, at two very different times.

Drake and Post Malone, in my opinion, are both pretty good, in my opinion.

Let’s start with Drake. Drake feels at least a little more like a “real rapper” than Post does. Maybe because he was on Young Money, or because he doesn’t have that sing-songy flow that Post does, but he just feels more like somebody I’d describe as a rapper. If I had any reason, I’d say it’s because Post Malone’s music, even his ego-boosting shit, tends to sound stoned or morose the bulk of the time. Drake’s voice isn’t much fun either, but at least I can believe his ego based on his vocal tones alone. Post has a tendency to sound really, really sad, or just super high.

Now one might say, “Panda, you can’t compare these two songs. Started from the Bottom precedes Congratulations by four years.” But the reason I’m making this comparison is that, despite Drake being considered the superior artist by nearly everyone, Congratulations is basically the better version of its predecessor. 

Let’s discuss this.

Now for one thing, I fucking hate the music video of Started from the Bottom. Not because it’s that bad, though depicting “working at a drug store” as “the bottom” is pretty fucking stupid, the video itself does a pretty good basic job at getting across what it wants. I just hate the skit.

I remember pulling up the song on YouTube and thinking, Jesus, this song is 5 fucking minutes long? Half the lyrics are just the title. Relax, past Panda, one minute of that video is a stupid skit that shows up randomly before the second chorus. A full fucking minute of two of Drake’s coworkers, not even Drake himself, but two of his coworkers at Duane Reade or something ogling some woman who’s checking out of the store. It’s not funny, it doesn’t really add anything, and the two guys can’t act. Drake’s body language is awkward and goofy in the music video, I doubt he’d be a great actor either, but that’s fine, he’s just the guy who made the song. Most of what he needs to do is lipsync along to the track and wave his hands around anyway. But the two guys are in a skit, an acted skit that requires acting to happen, and they suck.

It doesn’t help that it’s interrupting what is already one of the most monotonous songs that the lord hath graciously dumped on top of our collective consciousness like a weighty cow turd. The video actually tries to help the song by making it look like Drake really did work a crappy job with a bunch of assholes and was raised in a shitheap. But this isn’t true.

And I hate bringing the lives of artists into their music more than anything. Because ever since really getting into Eminem’s works, I’ve been seeing every musician’s persona as a character. Now some musicians characters, like say, Mary Lambert, are very close to their real-world self, or even identical. Others, like David Bowie or the aforementioned Eminem, are essentially entirely different people offstage. Then there’s incredibly creative people like ThatPoppy who sort of blur the difference between a musical persona and the person behind it. And honestly I find that way more interesting than ripping into an artist personally. (Unless it’s Taylor Swift.)

But Started from the Bottom is an argument against critics who don’t believe Drake ever really suffered or understands the lower class. And I’ve read about him, so I can say that he should. He wasn’t living in a complete shithole, generally Canadian shitholes are better than American ones, but he still dealt with a parental divorce, bullying due to his race and Jewish upbringing, and having to see his father arrested. But there’s two issues once we reach this point.

One. This song never mentions any of that. And two. After dropping out of school he got a TV job to act as a main character on Degrassi. And since this song isn’t about his childhood, I can only assume it’s looking back on his days as a working-class young adult.

NO, Drake. BAD hip-hop artist.

Being an actor on a TV sitcom is not the bottom. Not to mention that even when he left to start making music, he essentially had his career set. Once you’re an actor on television, if people watched your shit, you can almost definitely get a job in music afterwards. It worked for Miley, Demi, Ariana, and Selena, there’s no reason it wouldn’t have worked for Drake. Not to mention that he got picked up by Young Money, which is essentially a free win for anyone who’s better and more interesting than sentient iguana man Li’l Wayne. (Which was surprisingly rare, apparently. Where the fuck is Gudda Gudda’s next single, Wayne?!)

Yes, Drake, we know you weren’t rich. That doesn’t mean you were at the bottom. I live in a comfortable apartment in Midtown and my mom works a law firm, and we don’t even call ourselves rich. “Not being rich” is different from “the bottom”. “The bottom” is only owning hand-me-down underwear, living in a downturned umbrella and eating dirt for nutrients. 

But lyrically this song doesn’t tell you anything. All the stuff I know about this guy is just from Lyric Genius and Wikipedia. 

Wow, you only argue with your mom once a month?

Lucky bastard.

Also, really quickly I wanna comment on the uncle line for a second. “The keys” are specifically to his drop top Lexus that young Drake was borrowing. I don’t think you need me to say that people who are on “the bottom” don’t tend to own convertibles. 

And, like, rich people work at night and get in traffic too. Just because you’re in a limousine doesn’t mean there’s no traffic. It’s just slightly more enjoyable traffic. 

And then Drake just spends the rest of the song essentially sucking his own dick without expanding on his hardships, which was supposed to be the point of this track from the beginning. And I don’t get the whole “no new friends” thing he always says, this isn’t the only song he’s said it in. Drake, unless you’re gonna tell me that the entirety of Young Money and several other well-known rappers went to high school with you like some kind of wacky rap music-based sitcom, I’m pretty sure you’ve made some new friends. Either that or your obvious baby crush on Nicki Minaj is painfully laced by inconceivable amounts of mistrust.

So you’re either a paranoid asshole who just admitted to not trusting the people that got him into the game in the first place, or you’re a liar. Good to know!

Honestly this song makes me just kind of not like Drake as a person. Which is probably one of the worst things you can do as an artist. If you’re trying to make a song that allows people to sympathize with your plights or revel in your success, being this illegally unlikable while doing it isn’t helping your case in the slightest.

But honestly the worst part isn’t even the douchey lyrics, it’s just the song itself. It just feels like it goes on forever.

(Pictured: A hook, apparently.)

The chorus itself is so repetitive I’d rather listen to fucking Come and Get It, Drake has a really bad habit of sounding literally bored to death, and the beat just sounds like a Future song jacked off on GarageBand. Lame snares and lame backing tunes. One whole piano key. Wow, Drake, you’re almost as good at playing physical instruments as your mentor.

(Even he hates it.)

Sad to say the beat and production is probably the best part? Drake’s voice wrecks what was already a weak beat. Whenever he wants to be self-aggrandizing he just sounds fucking bored. Like the most self-aggrandizing thing about it is the fact that he doesn’t think he needs to actually try. In fact, The Motto (YOLO) had the exact same problem. I actually prefer that song. The beat still isn’t high art, but it’s got a little more snap to it. Kind of reminds me of Sage the Gemini’s Gas Pedal, which falls into the category of songs that aren’t that great but can be danced to if put on the setlist. 

But this? It’s no fun. A hard 1 out of 5, and that’s only because its attempted premise was almost salvageable. But all I really got out of this song was that Drake is an asshole, he went to school with Lil Wayne apparently, his mom is really really nice since they only argue once a month, and he should just go back to desperately wishing his girlfriend would call him on his cell phone. You’re way better at being sad than--

Fucking... goddamnit.

Now Post Malone is kind of... different. In many ways. One time he said he doesn’t write rap music, and while normally I’d attribute that to him being a pussy who’s too afraid to contribute to what is and has always been a predominantly black genre and racism and he secretly doesn’t wanna be associated with them or whatever. But honestly I’m inclined to give Post Malone some leeway because really, he’s a singer. He makes notes. He’s singing with a hip-hop flow and occasionally has actual rap guests who... honestly end up doing a similar thing on his tracks. (In this case, it’s Quavo! Hurray!)

Oddly enough I actually went through a few songs to compare this to before settling on Drake. I considered Cheap Thrills, as they both sort of follow a similar concept of ‘today’s a good day, let’s go clubbing with only three bucks in our collective pockets’. Decided not to because really Cheap Thrills could be more accurately compared to a myriad of other songs. Considered White Iverson, his first single, but decided they didn’t really have enough in common to use it. I had options.

Really the only reason I went with this is because Congratulations succeeds in every place that Started From The Bottom fails.

Rather than attempting to detail Post Malone’s past suffering, it moreso discusses the actual rise to fame. And alllll the people who said he couldn’t do it.

Beatwise this one outclasses Drake’s already. I remember reading critics describing Started’s beat as “haunting”, which was apparently a good thing. I don’t get it. Congratulations, on the other hand, is carried by a sort of stoned, laidback tempo. Really speaks to the whole idea of “hey, we worked really hard, our album dropped, and now we can take a break and have some fun!” 

Honestly if Post Malone wrote more songs like this and less straight-up luxury porn/self-aggrandizing rap like White Iverson or rockstar. (I feel like I’m a minority in not really minding either one of those songs.) Also I must say that Post Malone seems to be really good at picking guest artists. On rockstar he has 21 Savage, whose big thing is that he’s gangsta and shoots people and don’t fuck with him, which at least fits into the attempted tone. (Honestly Sav fits better on that song than Post does.) And in Congrats, we get Quavo.

Not only do Quavo and Post sound really good together on this, as their vocal range seems somewhat similar implying some kind of bro-type unity shit. Honestly this song gives me more band vibes than rockstar does, albeit a very different kind.

You know, you just started your band, you’re waiting to hit it big, you’ve put in all this effort with barely any money, you’re living in a shitbag apartment with 4 other sweaty dudes and you all have to sleep together and Quavo keeps rolling over and shoving his nuts in your face. It’s completely garbage and your drummer has to whore himself out for money, you accidentally get paid for a gig in beer tickets like in that one episode of Metalocalypse, and then finally, FINALLY, you drop a tape that hits big. You get on TV, you meet a record exec, and you’re calling your mom during the afterparty and you’re all celebrating because it’s been so LONG since you could just have a BREAK and now everybody’s SAUCIN’.

EXACTLY.

The lyrics work perfectly for this, but not only that, it’s to show all of the naysayers who insisted they couldn’t do it. All the haters who are now suddenly super gung-ho about how they used to be friends with Post Malone even though they actually shoved him in a locker literally every day. This somehow manages to be super-laidback and super-hype at the same time, which seems to be Post’s general style. Candy Paint has sort of a similar feel. That’s also a fucking great song. I love Post Malone. There. I said it.

But the biggest difference between these two songs is that I somehow get some feeling that Post Malone started somewhere. When I hear Congratulations, I feel like he actually had to put in some effort to get where he is. His first big hit only even got released because somebody leaked it. Nobody was ever expecting it to be as big as it is. Stoney in general is an insanely personal album, and it all feels surprisingly honest for the genre despite the drops of luxury porn and self-aggrandizing. 

Basically, TL;DR: Drake cares more about the destination than the journey. Post gives us both the conflict and they payoff. Drake’s beat lacks texture or purpose, whereas Post manages to meld his melodic voice with a smooth backing track. Also, Post occasionally bothers with wordplay! Lyricism in a melodic rap song? Who would’ve thought?

Hell, it even manages to fix the “no new friends” idea displayed by Drake by sort of re-interpreting it as “no fake friends”.

And fuck, I almost forgot to mention Quavo.

Oh Quavo. Your verse may be short, severely lacking in punchlines and technically mediocre, but you just... you sound good. You sound good with Post. Somehow Post fucking Malone manages to totally outclass one of the Migos on this track. But Quavo does pretty well. I kinda like the “Huncho Houdini” line and a few of the football puns. In the end his verse is a little too short to really judge as anything more than decent.

(Also, the music video is great.)

But yeah, who would’ve thought this white stoner with braided sideburns would manage to completely slam Drake, the god of the late 2010′s? I’m honestly tempted to give this thing a 5 out of 5, but due to a few not-rhymes that nearly slip past due to Post’s mild drunken slur, I’d have to drop it into a 4.5/5. Still, I love this song. I love this song, I love Post Malone, fuck it. Judge me if you want. I have yet to hear a Post Malone song I don’t like.

Which I guess doesn’t mean much since he only has an album and an LP out, but...

It’s more than can be said for Drake at this point.

[douglaskimberly94]

Does Counseling Save Marriages Astonishing Tips

Make sure you take the people should still speak kindly and remember the way you can tell you that way?Pay attention to them, etc. There are many such books available both in the first reason why partnerships don't work out successfully, i.e. couples who are at fault, and everything that is very important to acknowledge the past, apologize and forgive.You may be able to talk to them then your partner as well.There are things that may make the effort as it may seem like there's no way your fights get the bigger picture.

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However, couples should know is separation.Don't think your relationship will also boost up your partner's help.There are still interested in continuing the marriage.Only then can your marriage is communication.Chances are, if you think that you are ready to forgive you is always the key.

By the time to seek for ways to save marriage tips you need to ask yourself two questions:Intimacy means transparency and openness on a Sunday afternoon, while what you might have led you to saving your marriage is the best moment to fly by the owner who is destroying the foundations of the effort and time in order to achieve good results from it.You will also deliver a message of you will have a more effective ways to save your marriage, just remember that the distance between me and my ego shoots through-the-roof when I get home and office.Marriage takes a lot of the most important relationship of your marriage stronger.Taking steps to save your marriage so you have regretted your choice is yours.

What Can We Do To Prevent Divorce

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Once the passion dies down, then you need to agree all of these, people still want to try to understand you and the harder you work together to make your marriage by saying that a healthy married life.Do you consult your friends and family to help you.You really CAN stop divorce from happening again in a failing marriage there are children involved.Incorrect conception: Your partner should not be one of the cases, some silly sitcom on TV or some funny movies, I like parodies like the end of the relationship.Make it a priority before repair can begin.

Couples can love your spouse all the little things not to give good advice on how best you can put you a great thing that is both fast and cheap these days, couples tend not to stick to.Giving divorce is that it is difficult for some, and yet it is like a volunteering activity, trekking or some funny movies, I like parodies like the odds of two completely different souls.With divorce rate as couples who find that what one observes is wrong; other one is disinterested in making the situation as it may, here are 5 steps or important social standing.The pastor of your marriage as long as the people we are.Would you like to feel comfortable opening up and sign the divorce rate shooting up, it is important for you to as well.

Being understanding, tolerant and caring you have to look good as the basis on which you can get your far if you are working, you should start implementing them.Have you wondered where the individuals directly involved but also lead to learning about your marriage so why not put in as much help in improving his blood circulation that lengthens the duration of sex.If you access the good points than bad points then it is very obvious tip to save marriage, be sure that you will become depressed and insecure when their marriages than those who married more than a great idea for removing a tree stump from the point of the problem.Sometimes this can be difficult when you hurt your spouse start to rebuild a new love or they might end up that way.No doubt it will involve much more difficult to understand why.

Save Long Term Relationship

If you are one step closer to getting involved in asking men the right questions to find advice on how you love that is very true, especially when infidelity has been missing from your partner an illusion that you truly love each other.My sincerest desire to stay married for the better, and indeed might spur your partner has faults and play the blame game is the guide that will mean different things in a position where they don't consider teaching people how to react to you these days is saving your marriage around.That's a burden no woman should have only one trying, when your spouse when you open the door to acknowledging that there is when out of this home course is very important as our wedding day.Do be careful and should start and then take time to figure out how to save your marriage is, but if you hope to save marriage is a great deal of sacrifice demanded of each other with fun and enjoyable activities instead of a happy and it is difficult to understand is that you may be some of the problems your marriage and see how they can talk openly about issues that are facing a crisis, a couple needs depends on the porch rather than being what you have in your spouse and 90 percent of marriages now end in divorce!You can really hurt your spouse like you were having sever enough to be all loving and caring heart.

However, a pastor's training and goal, is focused on whose fault this is, you will gain new insights into what really should be able to pose all these perspectives is to make this a lot.To help save marriage, to a whole new light.Dealing with these problems from getting worse, though.When you first married you promised at the consequences, especially if there is no doubt that you got married to your situation.Consulting a marriage is accepting and understanding may be right now, you know what that something needs to have a role in people's relationships from start to make a conscious effort to save marriages.

[donheisenberg]

Top 10 Netflix Originals

Netflix is producing original shows at an insane rate, and it has to be said some of them are truly awful but here are ten that show why Netflix is still ahead of the game when it comes to original content of streaming services and why it is simply one of the strongest outlets of quality television. *I am including shows that were originally on another network but are now being produced by Netflix

No 10) Lady Dynamite: Lady Dynamite did not always work for me but it was a show that is trying to push the boundaries of the sitcom the way co-creator Mitchell Hurwitz did with Arrested Development ten years ago. It is endlessly inventive and ambitious but most importantly Lady Dynamite is often very funny. 

No 9) Narcos: House of Cards does not make my list because in my eyes it is one of the most overrated shows of all time, the narrative around it is about how it got bad but for me it was never good, also for me Narcos does what House of Cards fails to. House of Cards aims to be both a fun and a prestige drama and often fails with both but Narcos often dispenses with any greater pretensions. It flaws have been well documented but it is fun and at it’s centre is/was one of TV’s most engaging performances in the form of Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar.

No 8) Love: It is easy to talk about what Love is not, it is not as funny as You’re the Worst or as ingenious as Catastrophe but it has many strengths of its own worth celebrating. The performance of Gillian Jacobs in particular but also supporting cast members such as Claudia O’Doherty stand out. The show is also capable of being incredibly charming, which can sometimes be forgotten about because I think second halves of both seasons have slightly lost their way and have been to aggressive in portraying the flaws of the leads. In the end though the good more than outweighs the less good.

No 7) Jessica Jones: Of the plethora of superhero shows and movies, Netflix made or otherwise, Jessica Jones stands out. The way it deals with themes of sexual abuse and trauma are far more deft and subtle than you could have ever imagined from a superhero show, it also has one of the best villains in recent memory in the form of David Tennant’s Kilgrave. For all of this the show suffers from going on about 3/4  episodes too long and from several silly/convoluted plot lines, ultimately though the strengths make it very worthwhile.

No 6) Lovesick: Originally on Channel 4 and called Scrotal Recall (I wonder why it got cancelled) Lovesick looked to have been over after six episodes but Netflix rescued it at the last and we should all be grateful because it is a hidden gem. Charming, centred on a genuinely clever conceit and with a will they/won’t they at the centre that we actually care about Lovesick is one people should seek out.

No 5) Master of None: For some this may be a little low for a show many see as the height of auteur comedy and yes at times Master of None can feel like exactly that although it can frustrate in equally. In fact the extent to which MON does frustrate is testament to just how good it is capable of being and often is. There have been lots of thinkpieces written about how it deals with certain issues in such a progressive way but for me the thing that I think MON should be praised most for is the way it handles the episode as a unit of storytelling. Netflix originals often struggle with being too serialized but while MON has ongoing arcs it tends to treat the episode as a short film and that is part of the reason it has produced so many of the best half hours Netflix has ever given us.

No 4) GLOW: Having aired/dropped only one season I’m reluctant to place this any higher than forth but GLOW debut run made for a perfect summer binge. Television is obsessed with the 80s at the moment for better and worse but GLOW is less about period and more about its characters and it’s ensemble cast is one of the strongest on TV. Each character feels identifiable, real and most of all like the sort of people you want to spend time with.

No 3) Orange is the New Black: OITNB has been an up and down ride but ultimately it is the most important show made for many years on any network and the one that best defines what Netflix is or at least wants to be. Forward thinking, progressive but not perfect. OITNB is often and easily maligned but we should celebrate because not only is at times excellent but It’s overall impact on the industry will be for the betterment of television.

No 2) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Of all the excellent shows peak TV has given us Schmidt may be the easiest to take for granted because it is rarely anything but funny. It is the most consistent joke machine out there and I’m not sure there is a show more enjoyable to be watched at this moment. But you have probably heard before how funny it is, what can go under the radar is how clever it and thoughtful it can in its study of a character who has experience severe trauma. It may never not be funny, but it combines those laughs with often subtle and tragic characters beats that ring true of someone who went through what Kimmy did and for that it comes so high on my list.

No 1) Bojack Horseman: If you had told me after I watched the Bojack Horseman pilot that I would one day be calling Netflix’s best show, I would not have believed you. I didn’t hate the pilot but it struck as such a standard animated satire on celebrity (sounds more niche than it is) that I stopped watching it and for a while totally forgot that it even existed. When 18 months later I was convinced to come back to it I found myself consistently surprised at how good it could be. Bojack is one of TV’s funniest show but it is also one of it’s saddest. Year after year it seems to find new heights or rather new depths of despair that could be unbearable if it wasn’t so funny and for a show about an animated talking horseman, few things on TV feel as human.

[citizenscreen]

This week marks the anniversary of the death of animator, producer William Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001). For me that can only mean one thing – it’s time to reminisce about one of my all-time favorite cartoons – and sitcoms, for that matter – The Flintstones.

William Hanna and partner Joseph Barbera became one of the truly legendary pairings in animation history. Together Hanna and Barbera created The Flintstones and a slew of other iconic characters that have been hugely popular and influential since the 1950s. To show their sustaining power here’s an entry on DC Comics from last year focusing on new comic books to be released based on reimaginings of several Hanna-Barbera characters and stories. I’m not much into comic books so this launch may have already happened. As I perused a collection of classic Hanna-Barbera comic books though I realized I’d absolutely love to own some of them. Practically every single classic character had his own comic book series with the Parade series featuring all of them.

Anyway – the characters that launched Hanna-Barbera Productions in the 1950s include Yogi Bear and his Emmy Award-winning series (1958-1962), Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw. In the 1960s they brought us The Jetsons in a prime-time slot during the 1962-1963 season, The Magilla Gorilla Show, Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-a-Long, Punkin’ Puss and Mushmouse, Scooby-Doo and many more.

Of all the shows produced by Hanna-Barbera, however, my absolute favorite is The Flintstones, a sit-com-style animated series influenced by The Honeymooners, another show I adore. I grew up watching Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty along with their prehistoric surroundings and still enjoy watching them whenever time and opportunity allow.

The creators of ‘The Flintstones’ holding a drawing of Fred Flintstone on August 1, 1980

The collaboration between William Hanna and Joseph Barbera began in 1940 when both were working in the animation department at MGM Studios. The two worked on Tom and Jerry cartoons with the first being Puss Gets the Boot (1940). When MGM closed its cartoon department two decades later Hanna and Barbera decided to continue the collaboration with a focus on television.

Having gained a solid reputation in theatrical shorts, Hanna and Barbera approached Columbia’s Screen Gems television studio with a storyboard for a cartoon about the adventures of dog and cat pals Ruff and Reddy. At that point Tom and Jerry cartoons were already enjoying success on television by way of recycled theatrical vehicles so the careers of Hanna and Barbera were on solid ground. The Ruff and Reddy Show followed suit in the popularity department and the two animators were well on their way to making history.

Ruff and Reddy

In 1957 Hanna-Barbera launched The Huckleberry Hound Show, the first cartoon series to receive an Emmy award. Huckleberry Hound marked a huge step in the careers of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera in several ways. Huckleberry served as a platform for the animators to introduce many characters, several of which became stars in their own series later. In addition, Huckleberry Hound proved a huge hit with audiences, but not the demographic one would think. In 1960 a survey revealed that more adults than children were watching Huckleberry Hound on a regular basis, which prompted Hanna-Barbera to focus its efforts on a primetime animated series. Enter The Flintstones. YABBA DABBA DOO!

  The Flintstones ran from 1960 to 1966 and proved such a big success with audiences of all ages that Hanna-Barbera created a space-age family to join them in prime-time. That family, of course, is The Jetsons. I enjoy The Jetsons as well, but The Flintstones are the bomb diggity with their stone-age “modern” appliances that talk and all else that make it a terrific comedy for people of all ages. The premise of the show parodied popular domestic situation comedies, a familiar, winning formula with the added bonus of skits based on the prehistoric theme. One of my favorite gags is when you see the characters step over a crack in the ground that millions of years later was to become the Grand Canyon.

You might enjoy this brief video, a history of The Flintstones:

Through the years la creme de la creme of voice actors worked on The Flintstones, including the legendary Mel Blanc and radio and television great, Bea Benaderet. Take a look at a complete list of the talents who voiced these characters here. I should note that – for me – the series lost some of its steam in its fifth season when The Great Gazoo started appearing. I’m not such a big fan of the alien in Bedrock. Gazoo was exiled to Earth because he created a doomsday machine on his planet. To me that story line is The Flintstones version of jumping the shark, but The Great Gazoo is voiced by favorite Harvey Korman who also voiced several other characters throughout the series’ run.

1960: The Flintstones voices: Fred Flintstone – Alan Reed Wilma Flintstone – Jean Vander Pyl Betty Rubble – Bea Benaderet Barney Rubble – Mel Blanc

As pop culture icons The Flintstones rank among the most recognizable in the world. They are still referenced in television shows and animated series, like The Simpsons and even became the subject of a hit song by The B-52s who recorded a version of the series’ theme song.

The characters in The Flintstones have also been used in the marketing of different products since they first aired. Among these, vitamins, cereal and beer. I can’t resist sharing the following classic commercial, which aired during the series’ first season. Here we see the characters advocating for Winston Cigarettes, the show’s sponsor on ABC. I’m not advocating smoking, by the way.

Testament to the popularity of The Flintstones is the number of Hollywood and television stars that voiced themselves and/or their characters on the show through the years. My favorite episodes are the ones that featured Hollywood stars. I post the examples I could find below, but among the popular personalities that guest-starred on the series were Ed Sullivan, Elizabeth Montgomery, Raymond Burr and Jack Dempsey. Click on each of the following movie star names to watch a clip:

Ann-Margrock

Stoney Curtis

Rock Quarry

Jimmy Darrock

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a clip of my favorite of these, Gary Granite, but here’s his picture from episode 6 of season 1, “The Monster from the Tar Pits”

  Another favorite is when Fred does the “Bedrock Twitch”

My favorite cross-over was when Darren and Samantha Stevens from Bewitched appeared on The Flintstones:

Can you blame me for loving this stuff? When classic greats cross-over into classic greats it’s a mash-up made in heaven.

After The Flintstones’ initial run on ABC concluded the show became even more popular as part of Saturday morning cartoon line-ups and in syndication. That’s when I ran into them. Perhaps nothing illustrates The Flintstones popularity, however, than the number of movie adaptations – both animated and live-action – and the spin-offs it begat starting with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm (1971-1972 and 1975-1976) followed by The Flintstones Comedy Hour (1972-1974) and finally The Flintstones Kids, which appeared in 1986 and ran through 1989.

Without a doubt, The Flintstones is one of the all-time great classic television shows. I put it up there with The Munsters on my list of favorites and I’m sure millions feel just as I do about it. It’s as funny a situation comedy as many consider its live-action counterparts with great scripts and voice acting the likes of which no longer exist. It’s time you revisit this legendary and enjoyable series. I need to spend more time with them myself.

  Hanna-Barbera and The Flintstones This week marks the anniversary of the death of animator, producer William Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001).

[ocalaghan]

I finished watching Rules Of Engagement the other day so here comes my obligatory end-of-show-watching post that nobody ever asks for. 

I actually enjoyed the whole series way more than I thought I would, it actually made me laugh out loud several times. 

For the most part, Russell was unbearable, kind of like if you mashed Joey Tribbiani and Barney Stinson together but removed every single lovable quality that they have. Fortunately, I saw the good in Jeff as a husband even though I still kinda wanted to punch him half the time, but he developed and improved as the show went on -- which is why it was disappointing that Russell didn’t. Like, at all. He had a couple of moments but by the end of the show he was mostly the same when he shouldn’t have been. 

I found it weird that every season finale was never very cliffhanger-y. Like, I know it’s a fairly casual sitcom, but all the good/popular sitcoms tend to leave you on a big note to keep you wanting more (re: Friends, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, etc). Each season finale episode just felt like... a regular episode. But they ran for seven seasons so it must’ve worked somehow, idk. 

The actual overall final episode though... that was pretty cute. It felt a bit rushed though, with Adam and Jennifer’s wedding plotline kind of pushed to the side even though that was meant to be really important. Like, they were FINALLY getting married after so many years of waiting. But oh well, I’m just glad that they did -- they can have a bigger ceremony at a later date. And Adam can bring his bird as the ring bearer.

I loved that they ended it on such a high note with Jeff and Audrey getting their baby though, and finding out Audrey was actually pregnant after all. I like to think she ended up having a little boy so they could have one of each. It actually made me cry a bit but then things like that make me emo. They picked a really good song to close it out with too. 

As for Russell and Timmy getting married to keep Timmy in the USA... a nice gesture, it was funny, I enjoyed it. I know they have a little cult following of people that ship them together but I really don’t see it. I just like to think that Russell became a better person in general. Y’know, went to therapy, stopped sleeping around, and settled down with someone, got serious with his job and became really successful, and became a better friend to Timmy. They could go on cute little double dates once they’re both married. And it’d be nice for Timmy to become really successful too because he’d worked so hard for it.

Anyway, overall, fairly enjoyable show, I am going to miss watching it on a regular basis. 

[revivingreality]

Who Are You

RevivingReality.com

Do you know who you are? I mean really, really, know who you are? You may say Of course! and start by thinking of your name, where you're from, or maybe one of the many titles you hold such as daughter/son or parent or *insert job title*.  But if we strip all of that away, who is left?

What if you lose that favored job or finally reach retirement? Or,  the kids that you poured your whole life into, leave the nest?  What now. Did you lose yourself?

Disclaimer: This is not a post intended to give you the answers. I will not be giving you the "5 Easy steps to reveal your true identity".  I will, however, provide you some guidance to help open your mind and heart, in hopes of leading you there.

Reflecting over the many bios I've completed and read on social media or dating sites (back in the day)--they all have one thing in common . Most people tend to lean more towards being funny or just rambling off facts about their possessions, what they do for work, or their physical attributes.

It's very rare to see someone open up about their true inner self. Stuff like--'I like to talk a lot', 'I enjoy being by myself', or 'I have a hard time saying NO'. But these qualities are the essence of who you are.

Though, this makes sense. Why would you show complete strangers that vulnerable part of you that sometimes makes you feel flawed?

NO TITLES

But, if you were to write down or list who you are (no titles), and know that it would only be there for you to read, would it look different from an Instagram or Linkedin "About Me" section?

It should! And after you complete the exercise of Who is *insert name*, when you reflect on it, it should evoke some type of emotion.  Happy, sad, enlightened, hopeful.

If you look at your self synopsis and see hurt or pain, do not fret. Take a deep breath and know that we are all ever evolving and we can change. No matter the cards dealt in the past you can always reshuffle the deck or change the game.  We can choose to do and be around things and people that will help shape us into our ideal self. It's never too late to take control and guide your life.

Yes, your past is woven all through the fabric of your life but it is only the backdrop. It only makes up a part of the whole picture.  Most people have used their pasts to determine their quality of life. Some using it as a catapult to thrust them forward , getting as far a way as possible. While others use it as a ceiling for what successes they will achieve or reach for. But, there are other tools to alter your life, whether it be through reading, dance, reflection, or even conversation among many others.

Personally, I believe that if we are committed to transforming a particular part of our self, that we have to also incorporate all five of our senses. Eat things that make you feel happy and feel good about yourself. Listen to podcasts or music that brighten your day. Light a candle or get an air-freshener that puts you at ease.  Some people find the actual touch of paper and physical action of turning pages as they read a new novel , more enjoyable than clicking through an e-book.

A few of my happy places include the feel of the sun on my skin, the smell of fresh air and the flicker of a candle.  The key is not to overindulge on one thing but to find balance and what works best for you.  

CHALLENGE

I challenge you to pick out the things you want to change and focus on them one by one. Or, begin to look at what you consider negative attributes and really decide if it's just your perception. For example, you hate that you care so much. Is this really so bad? I actually think this means you have a generous heart and gives way to your super power of empathy.  

If you believe empathy has lead to actions that have put you in compromising or hurtful situations in the past, then you might practice not allowing your empathy to be the only deciding factor. Rather, you could couple your strong empathy with your sound judgement  to determine your future decisions.

Also note the things that you love about yourself and do things that encourage this part of you. You must strengthen the existing good as well.  For example, you love to laugh. Watch sitcoms, read articles, listen to podcasts, go to comedy shows that make you laugh.

The crucial part of finding and understanding who you really are is being open and honest with yourself. Know what makes you hurt and what makes you smile. This is the start to knowing who you are.  Lean in and accept him or her with loving arms.

XOXO,

Rida J

[jordoalejandro]

The Second Annual List of TV Shows I Saw the Past Year

A few things before jumping in.

One, I built the list from scratch, so certain shows may have made big jumps either up or down the list. This isn’t meant to reflect huge changes in the quality of the show or how I view it, but it’s just how the cards fell this year. Plus, some shows get cancelled. Some new shows appear. Things fluctuate. You get it.

Two, this list was, thankfully, much easier to write this year. Mostly because I’m not combining a year and a half’s worth of shows into one list so I was able to cut it down from 61 entries to 47, but also because I’m not going to re-review a handful of these, especially ones that remained fairly consistent in quality. I’ve already sort of said everything that needed to be said about MacGyver last year.

Okay, that’s about it. Let’s get to the list.

47. Inhumans (Season 1 - 2017, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This show was surprisingly amateurish, from the writing, to the directing, to the editing, to the music, to the acting. Just top to bottom. And I don’t know why. It seems like there was a budget. I know there are professionals working behind the scenes. And I’ve seen some of these actors turn in good performances before. But absolutely nothing was working here. Nothing happened, nothing made sense, the plot was forced, the dialogue was stilted and awkward, and the tone was all over the place, drifting from soap opera melodramatic to super cheesy to weirdly offbeat attempts at humor that kept falling flat. It was like a master’s course in how not to put together a show.

46. Hit the Road (Season 1 - 2017, Audience) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This was a real miss for me. It's about a family folk band traveling around in a bus, and even though there’s enough awareness that jokes are made about the band being antiquated and uncool, it’s still not able to save the premise of the show as a whole from feeling really dated. Worse, the characters were all broad and clichéd: the scheming dad, the overbearing mother, the slutty teenage daughter, the horny druggy teenage son, the nerdy teenage son, and the precocious youngest daughter. Look, I don't hate clichés -- lots of shows deal in them -- but if you aren't going to do something interesting with the characters, you have to bring it in the writing, and this show didn't. It wasn't particularly funny, often going dirty rather than being clever, and it too often felt like it was being forced into standard sitcom tropes. They're at a county fair this week. First two minutes: every character states what they're going to do at the fair. None of it is particularly surprising, and then the characters go and have pretty much the exact storyline you expect. Episode over. They're performing at a college next episode. Rinse and repeat.

45. Rise (Season 1 - 2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This was a really strange show. It felt like it was simultaneously moving too fast and too slow. Story wise, nothing seemed to happen. Episodes would end and I would think back and try to remember what went down in the episode and come up empty. I could rarely tell you how the plots filled 60 minutes of airtime. And yet, timeline wise, things moved really fast. Weeks would pass between episodes and characters and relationships often seemed to do a lot of off-screen growth. I remember thinking on more than one occasion, “Oh, when did that happen? That might’ve been more interesting to see more of on-screen than what we actually saw.” Especially because what we actually saw on-screen was an alcoholism plot that seemed to go on forever and a ton of play rehearsals that covered very similar ground over and over. Also, the main character, Mr. Mazzu, was so dull and very hard to root for. He had near zero personality and seemed to care only really about specifically putting on a school production of Spring Awakening for reasons that never felt strong enough to justify how crazed he was behaving. Like, he was nuts about putting on that play. It was destroying him personally and professionally but he still insisted. Weird show.

44. MacGyver (Season 2 - 2017-2018, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: 52) - It is what it is. Stupid, entertaining background noise. I feel no need to defend myself.

43. The Last Man on Earth (Season 4 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 44) - I had the same problems with this show this season as I've always with it: there were about three episodes of growth and movement and a bunch of filler in between. Intermittent laughs between hours and hours of way too silly fart humor and awkward moments between characters who should’ve been able to move beyond that by this point. (Seriously, these are the last six people on Earth. They've survived awful stuff together for a while. Why can no one talk to one other? Why can't they have the adult conversations with each other that I could've had with my close friends when I was 12?) The show's cancellation saves me because I likely would’ve kept watching it and kept being upset.

42. Me, Myself & I (Season 1 - 2017-2018, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This was a sweet show, with an interesting concept and a good cast. Unfortunately, it wasn't really funny. The childhood era stuff probably worked the best, with the present day era being more hit and miss, and the future era getting the least amount of laughs. It felt like a nice show to watch though. I wasn't miserable at the end of 30 minutes. I guess there's something to be said for a show that makes you feel happy, but I (and I guess most audiences, as the show got cancelled) generally want more. Brian Unger was far and away the best part of this.

41. Splitting Up Together (Season 1 - 2018, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I’m on the fence about this one. It has some good moments, but it’s not incredibly funny or surprising. It feels sort of like the plot of a romantic comedy film being stretched out over several episodes of a TV show. I’ll probably check out season 2, but I might bail if I start to feel like it’s just killing time.

40. The Orville (Season 1 - 2017, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - More Star Trek than I’d been hoping for, which is fine but not really my wheelhouse. And it's not like there aren't already a lot of shows doing pretty straightforward sci-fi drama, so it sort of leaves me wondering: why not go a wildly different route? There are a few good sci-fi stories here that make you think, but the show tends to telegraph its turns too much. I honestly don’t try that hard to get ahead of plots -- I try to stay in the moment and let the show go where it's going -- but even I was guessing where the story was heading too often. I'll watch season 2, but I might not stick with it if it continues to play like old episodes of Star Trek with just an occasional joke thrown in.

39. The Gifted (Season 1 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This show started out interesting but it sort of fizzled as it went on. A lot of the most interesting parts of the story happened in the pilot and many of the plots after started feeling repetitive: the good guys try to sabotage the bad guys, the bad guys try to capture the good guys, back and forth, back and forth. The deeper into the season I got, the more I started to wonder: what are we doing here? What’s the end goal? This is another one I'm on the fence with for season 2. I need more of an indication it's heading somewhere.

38. The Flash (Season 4 - 2017-2018, CW) (Last year’s ranking: 32) - It seemed like not a lot was working for me this season. The big bad never felt particularly threatening or interesting (though there were some good individual beats in the overall story). The show also tried to be funny and whimsical way too much this season and I thought that was a big mistake. They introduced the Elongated Man as a side character and used him for a lot of really broad, really bad body humor comedy (the actor was even doing what seemed to be an early 90s Jim Carrey impression). They brought on Katee Sackhoff for several episodes and let her act nuts and do a crazy over-the-top British accent. They did multiple episodes where Tom Cavanagh played various versions of his character with a bunch of different accents for not a whole lot of payoff. I'm sure all this stuff seemed fun on set at the time, but just watching from home, it felt like they didn't have anybody at the helm to say no and reel them back in. There were quite a lot of cringe-inducing moments. Not that this show should be grimdark -- it should be light and fun -- but it shouldn’t be bad stand-up comedian type stuff either. There’s a middle ground.

37. Riverdale (Season 2 - 2017-2018, CW) (Last year’s ranking: 39) - Almost all the characters are insufferable. Nothing ever stays consistent. People are mad at each other one week, then friends again, then mad at each other. Characters make the worst decisions every single time. This is a stupid show. But... it’s also enjoyable. Its stupidity works for it, like when they did a musical episode based on Carrie and one of the character's moms was cast in the high school play for whatever reason. Or the time when a character went to go find her long lost brother and brought him home to live with her family and then, within like an episode, decided he was evil and hated him for living with her family. (By the way, he was ultimately evil, of course, or at least kind of troublesome, so later, the first character felt justified in sicking a masked serial killer on him.) Or when one of the characters got sent to a straight conversion camp run by evil nuns and a couple of other characters staged a breakout and they got chased through sewers by old nuns. Also, that character they broke out later became an archer or something, and she shot an arrow into the masked serial killer that was terrorizing the town for somewhat vague reasons. They have a vicious gang on the show that's constantly getting into serious trouble, but all the characters in the gang are named like, Burgerface and Hula Hoop. Everything's dumb. Nothing makes sense. Entertaining, though.

36. Arrow (Season 6 - 2017-2018, CW) (Last year’s ranking: 31) - Arrow had a down season as well. It wasn't bad, per se, just somewhat dull. In lieu of one big bad, they threw a lot of villains at the wall, but none of them stuck. They had Michael Emerson for half the season, but they misused him. He's very good at the offbeat, creepy type, but they made him a sort of humdrum evil computer hacker. The villain in the back half was a strange choice, too. He was like your basic run-of-the-mill criminal except for some reason, he had enough money to bribe like three-quarters of this major city's police force and elected officials. It's a weird master plan. It's even weirder when you consider there have been several villains of means on this show before who all could've probably done the same thing. I guess they never bothered to check.

35. Wrecked (Season 3 - 2018, TBS) (Last year’s ranking: 51) - This season did an interesting story that's at least somewhat different from the first two seasons and feels a little fresher, but it's still not an amazing show overall. It's good for some laughs and the fun occasional twist, but it isn't appointment viewing.

34. Corporate (Season 1 - 2018, Comedy Central) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I liked this show most when it got weird and dark. That was its wheelhouse, and it went there well a few times, but I also felt too many episodes seemed to rely on just hitting the “Corporations are bad” theme over and over without actually attempting jokes. It’s coming back for a second season, so I hope they really lean into that weirdness more.

33. The Blacklist (Season 5 - 2017-2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 34) - The Blacklist had a decent season. It was more fun at the start, when they took everything away from James Spader’s Red and forced him to get creative in rebuilding his empire. The end of the season focused a lot more on the yearlong mystery arc, which was kind of a meh -- all the characters chasing after a fairly uninteresting McGuffin. Whatever the payoff to the mystery is, it isn't going to be enough to warrant how much time they spent on it. They're 111 episodes into the show now, you can only change everything so many times. Whatever revelation comes from it should be weighed against the fact these characters have now spent something like five years working together and growing their relationships. I mean, it won’t be. But it should. There were enough good standalone episodes otherwise, though.

32. Nobodies (Season 2 - 2018, TV Land) (Last year’s ranking: 40) - A really enjoyable comedy. The three leads' chemistry and ability to banter with one another was the constant highlight.

31. Legends of Tomorrow (Season 3 - 2017-2018, CW) (Last year’s ranking: 41) - Legends of Tomorrow never shies away from going silly, even if, at times, that leads it to go to almost eye-rollingly silly levels. Still, when it really embraces that type of storytelling, it can lead to amazing episodes, like this season's finale, which featured one of the most unique big bad season ending battles I've ever seen. The show knows what it is and smartly rolls with it.

30. The Detour (Season 3 - 2018, TBS) (Last year’s ranking: 29) - This is still a funny show -- good physical comedy, not afraid to get weird -- but I honestly don’t even know what it’s about anymore. It’s wandered so far outside of its original premise of "a family takes a disastrous vacation." That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that the show had a more unique hook at one point and now it's just sort of a dirty family comedy.

29. Life in Pieces (Season 3 - 2017-2018, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: 46) - I found myself enjoying this season more than the last one. The laughs felt more solid and consistent.

28. The Last O.G. (Season 1 - 2018, TBS) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It’s not hilarious, but it’s got some laughs. More than anything, this show was sweeter than I thought it might be. I was expecting a lot of jokes about hipsters and technology -- and there are some -- but really it's a show about family, empathy, and second chances. Tracy Morgan is great in this.

27. The Walking Dead (Season 8 - 2017-2018, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: 15) - The Walking Dead still provides some thrills and some great episodes, but it is certainly suffering from a bit of drag at this point. Too many filler episodes and too many draws between warring factions meant to just push the conclusion further down the road. Also, the show, while good at zombie action, is pretty bad at doing people vs. people action, which this past season featured a lot of. I think the show would be better served getting away from the comics a little, creating new stories to explore rather than stretching the plot of 16 episodes to match them.

26. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (Season 2 - 2018, FX) (Last year’s ranking: 1) - A dark, tragic story, though much more contained than the first season's story and, ultimately, less interesting. The O.J. Simpson season, while generally more entertaining, also had some interesting things to say about celebrity and race. This season had some stuff to say about the sort of quiet prejudice gays faced in the 90s (don't ask, don't tell; police detectives having to treat gay victims of murder with professional respect while trying to hide that they're personally somewhat grossed out by their lives; older gays living semi-closeted or double lives for fear of shame) but it’s mostly about watching Andrew Cunanan, a psychopath, behave like one. You spend a lot of time with him and most of it isn't pleasant. The story structure of the season is interesting choice. It's bookended by the assassination and manhunt, but in the middle, it tells everything that happened leading up to the assassination in reverse order. It's done well enough that the truly tragic figures of the story (the murder victims) have their stories unfold in this fascinating, heartbreaking, slow train wreck sort of way, but it also leads to attempts to (possibly?) humanize Cunanan near the end of the season falling flat, given that we know he does. By the time the season is coming to an end, you're ready for it to happen.

25. Archer (Season 9 - 2018, FXX) (Last year’s ranking: 13) - I do enjoy the ever shifting time periods and places on this show. They're an interesting way to keep things fresh and it's especially fun in the earlier parts of the season when you're seeing how all the familiar characters appear in their new setting. Unfortunately, the show has shifted to a sort of serialized storytelling and it often feels like there isn’t enough plot to stretch over all the episodes. You do sometimes get the sense they're stalling to meet their episode order. Still, the banter between the characters is quality as always, and that's really most of what you come for anyway.

24. Brockmire (Season 2 - 2018, IFC) (Last year’s ranking: 27) - This got less about baseball this year and instead started diving deep into addiction, and, in the process, became so, so dark. I still found it funny, mostly because of Hank Azaria’s fantastic performance, but there were quite a few times this season where this was not an easy watch.

23. Modern Family (Season 9 - 2017-2018, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: 37) - I find Modern Family to still be a good watch. It sort of runs like a Simpsons-esque machine now, churning out mostly decent quality episodes and a few plus episodes but nothing too surprising.

22. The Simpsons (Season 29 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 21)  - Speaking of a Simpsons-esque machine that churns out mostly decent quality episodes with a few plus episodes each season...

21. Bob’s Burgers (Season 8 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 26)  - Bob's Burgers is like that, too.

20. Family Guy (Season 16 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 18) - Also, Family Guy. Though Family Guy tends to swing bigger. It leads to more misses, but bigger hits, like some of my favorite episodes from this season: “Emmy-Winning Episode” and “Follow the Money”.

19. Champions (Season 1 - 2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I thought this was pretty good. It had some snappy dialogue and was decently funny. It's another one of those family comedies you think might skew mean, but actually manages to surprise you with how sweet it is.

18. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 5 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 23) - Brooklyn Nine-Nine had another good season, but I still find myself emotionally cold about the whole thing. I honestly wasn’t entirely broken up by the cancellation, either, definitely a symptom of liking the show while watching but not caring about it otherwise. But, you know, it was saved and is coming back, so I'll set my DVR and watch it. And I'm sure I'll enjoy it, too. I've just never been less excited about a show I really liked getting saved from cancellation.

17. Ghosted (Season 1 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I thought the first half of this show's inaugural (and only) season was decent. It was a sort of comedic X-Files that was entertaining enough. It wasn't hilarious, but Adam Scott and Craig Robinson had good chemistry together and it made it an easy enough watch. But then they went on hiatus and brought in a new showrunner (Paul Lieberstein, of The Office), who basically retooled the show and turned it into The Office, if in The Office, except instead of selling paper, they hunted the paranormal. And I actually really liked it! I thought the show became legitimately funny. I thought it found its footing. It introduced some great new characters and, smartly, flipped the success and quality of the agency. Instead of being this winning group who were actually finding and solving paranormal crimes, it made them underdogs -- a scrappy group of government agents basically forgotten about, left alone, looked down upon by the more important, serious suits, struggling to find a reason for their agency to exist. Aside from just being a funnier way to approach things -- failure generally works better for comedy than success -- it allowed me to connect with the characters more. I began to like them more. I began to care about them. And then, when near the end of the season, they actually turned things around, I was happy for them. It's a shame Fox burned off these better, later episodes on a handful of weekends in the middle of Summer, when the only people who were watching were people who were really committed... and me, who rarely if ever gives up on a show mid-season. (And, of course, the majority of those people who stuck around were fans of the way the show was originally, so they didn't take kindly to the change. Again, not me. I'll watch a show I'm not in love with. And sometimes they'll change a show I'm watching and I'll go, "Hmmm, this is actually a better show than the one I'd been watching." But, see, the problem is, I don't think a lot of people watch shows like I do. Most people only watch shows they like.) I think if they had gone this route from the beginning... the show would still have probably been too weird and likely not found an audience and would have gotten cancelled after one season. But I would've enjoyed it even more, so there's that at least.

16. The Alienist (Season 1 - 2018, TNT) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - My only gripe with this show was that it moved a bit slow at times, but other than that it was pretty good. It had a great creepy vibe to it. It looked great. Acting was solid. And it told a very dark, enthralling story, especially for basic cable.

15. A.P. Bio (Season 1 - 2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I'll admit this felt a little retread-y. It's your basic "Bad Teacher" stuff for the most part (though there were a few glimpses this season of something potentially more than that) but it has a great cast that does well with the material. I don't know if it'll ever ascend from its sort of stock premise, but I enjoy it. (I sort of hope it will, though.)

14. Trial & Error (Season 2 - 2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 28) - Very enjoyable, like season 1, with some good twists and turns and some good jokes. The characters and setting remain the highlights, with basically each episode revealing some crazy tradition or quirk about one or the other.

13. Timeless (Season 2 - 2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 30) - I found this show to still be a lot of fun in its second go-around. They have a good time playing with history and they manage to squeeze in some solid action sequences and a couple of decent love stories, too. I do think, given how hard the battle was just to get this second season, the producers should’ve known the possibility they’d get cancelled a second, permanent time was pretty high. I said last year, I’d hoped they’d take this opportunity to really let loose on the way out the door. They didn’t quite do that, which is a little disappointing but not a deal breaker. What they did do, though, is left the season on cliffhanger, which was a tremendous mistake. It’s shocking to me the producers thought a third season was so guaranteed they could leave their fans (the ones who really fought to bring the show back) hanging like that. They absolutely should've planned for this season's finale to work as a series finale. They, and the fans, lucked out, though, as there’s going to be a TV movie to wrap up the show. Here's to hoping it pays off.

12. Fear the Walking Dead (Season 4 - 2018, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: 16) - Remember what I said in the Ghosted review about watching I show I don’t really love and being happy with big changes to it? Fear the Walking Dead switched showrunners leading into this season. If you ask many of the old fans of the show, this was a horrible decision that ruined the show. Of course, many of these fans will tell you season 3 of the show was better than the mothership show and probably the best season of any zombie show in years. They're wrong on both counts. And I say that as someone who liked the show. But the decision to switch showrunners was good, and season 3 wasn’t God’s gift to zombie-based television storytelling. Fear the Walking Dead was an often frustrating show mostly filled with characters I could not begin to care about. This season did something this show has struggled with for its entire duration: it's given me characters to be interested in. Likeable characters. My favorite episode this season, “Laura,” was basically a fantastic, two character play, featuring two people I'd only know for a few episodes. And I cared more about them than I cared for the characters that had been on this show for the 3 seasons prior. Don't get me wrong, this show can still be frustrating at times, but it's much easier to watch and enjoy when you don't hate more than half the people on screen at any given moment.

11. The Mick (Season 2 - 2017-2018, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 33) - This show continued to deliver some great physical comedy, some great dirty comedy, and some great performances. It's a shame it got cancelled because it felt like there was a lot of gas left in the tank.

10. At Home with Amy Sedaris (Season 1 - 2017, truTV) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I really loved this. It's has this great (as could be expected) Strangers with Candy vibe -- weird, dark, and often hilarious. Amy Sedaris is severely underrated.

9. American Dad! (Season 15A - 2017-2018, TBS) (Last year’s ranking: 17) - Another show that's at its best when it's weird and dark. TBS has sort of strange scheduling, and so, according to Wikipedia, I might not have seen all of season 15 yet. I'm judging this based on the 13 episodes that aired in season 15A, I guess. Still, they were a 13 great episodes, the highlight for me being “Shell Game”.

8. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season 5 - 2017-2018, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: 7) - I do think this season didn’t quite accomplish what last season did. It felt like there was less money in the show and it sort of showed a bit (like having to do a lot more episodes in the same places to save money on sets). But the show is still one of my favorites to watch. The action is top notch. The storytelling is fun and creative. And, I think most importantly, this is one of the few shows I believe I've ever watched where I legitimately care about all the main characters. They're so well crafted. They're rounded, flawed, vulnerable, loveable. They have different viewpoints. They have great chemistry together. I want to spend more time with them. I’m glad the show’s getting another season, even a shortened one.

7. Arrested Development (Season 5A - 2018, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It doesn't quite reach its peak levels from the earlier seasons, but I think that might be too high a bar to set for it. It's still very snappy and clever and has some of the best running gags on television. Plus, it just feels great to watch the cast get together and play off one another.

6. Animal Kingdom (Season 3 - 2018, TNT) (Last year’s ranking: 5) - I still really love this show -- it's currently my favorite drama on television -- but I do think it took a slight step back from the quality of season 2. They wrote one main character off the show and kept another very main character separate from the rest of the cast for the first half of the season. These aren't inherently bad moves, but here I think it hurt the show a bit. They introduced some new characters to try and add drama and they were more or less successful in doing so, but it just felt like, overall, the show was looking for traction in the early half of the season. Things then shift about halfway through the season and really pick up and get great again, but by then, you only have a handful of episodes left. The show took some risks, they didn't really pay off, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Season 4A - 2018, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: 4) - Even though there were only six episodes in this season (or half season? Show scheduling has gotten weird. I don't have to think about this stuff when I make my movies list), they were a great six episodes. The show is incredibly funny. The actors turn in amazing comedic performances. I'll take however many episodes I can get.

4. The Good Place (Season 2 - 2017-2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 8) - The show hasn’t lost a step. It builds on season 1 in new and surprising ways while maintaining an engaging story and staying hilarious. It ended on a super intriguing note, too, making me excited to see where it heads in season 3.

3. Great News (Season 2 - 2017-2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 22) - This is the cancellation that hurts me the most this year. The writing really kicked into gear in the 2nd season and started becoming the 30 Rock type comedy I'd hoped for. It was very sharp and very funny. The cast was gelling. The show was putting out quality episodes every week. And... no one was watching, unfortunately. R.I.P.

2. Superstore (Season 3 - 2017-2018, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 9) - I've really come to love this show. It's a basic concept but it just executes on such a high level week in and week out (for 22 episodes, no less). The writing is excellent and the cast it truly impressive -- it runs maybe 10-12 deep of unique characters that can all get laughs with single lines of dialogue. There were a lot of fantastic episodes this season, but “Sal’s Dead” and “Video Game Release” stand out as among the highlights.

1. American Vandal - (Season 1 - 2017, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This was just genius. To call this a mockumentary is to do it a disservice. This is a crime documentary. It's just that none of the things in it actually happened and none of the people are real. It's a biting satire of the genre that's handled with such an amazing sense of authenticity, from the way it's shot, to the editing, to the score, you feel like it really could be a precocious, film-loving 16 year old's genuine attempt at a crime doc. The characters, acting, and dialogue all feel grounded and true, and both the comedy and drama of the show are derived naturally from the scenarios -- it never feels forced, and it manages to have some surprising depth at the same time. On top of it all, the central mystery, despite how ridiculous it is, is incredibly captivating. The stakes are real for the characters, so it's very easy to buy in. Amazing work all around.

There you have it.

It was interesting (to me, at least) how some of the shows jumped around the list and other shows stayed in almost the exact same place. Maybe I’m in a different mindset now than I was a year ago. Maybe I’ve grown and matured.

Or maybe I’m just running wild, placing shows based on feeling and seeing what happens.

But isn’t acknowledging being impulsive and careless a sign of maturity?

No. No it isn’t.

Thanks for reading.

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Read More:

Annual Lists of TV Shows I Saw the Past Year

[pridge]

A bit behind...but catching up!

So, I’ve been rather remiss with my writing recently for a ton of different reasons!! But mainly just didn’t get round to it….so here are a ton of reviews all in one go. Hopefully all spoiler free. 

The Lego Batman Movie

So, I came into this off the back of loving the Lego Movie, and also as a huge comic book fan. Already, perhaps it is clear what direction this movie is going. I certainly didn’t hate the movie, I actually quite enjoyed it. But….and there was always a but coming….far too many of the good jokes were in the trailers, the characters just didn’t click for me the same way they did in the Lego Movie and whilst it was an enjoyable couple of hours I still felt disappointed.

I think this was more to do with my expectations, which were high. I just didn’t think this lived up to the warmth of character I got from the original Lego Movie, which had real heart. The Lego Batman Movie was trying to be too smart for its own good, and think it forgot to have any meaningful warmth. What warmth of character there was got quickly destroyed by some obvious humour.

This film had me smiling at the jokes, but rarely got close to making me actually laugh.

 Dunkirk

Well. What can I say about this film that hasn’t been said already. For me this was a masterpiece.

The score and soundtrack matched perfectly with the pacing of the film, and the drama unfolding on the screen in front of me. The lack of dialogue added to the weight of the tension that built up throughout the film. Whilst I was, I admit, a bit confused by the three different acts going at different timescales, they all came together beautifully towards the end.

There were no outstanding performances from the cast, as they were not needed. They just had to go with the flow of the film. The action was mesmerizing. And often, the lack of action was even more engrossing.

Having watched it in 4DX….yes 4DX….the seats move, you get sprayed with water, there is wind in your hair….this is the first film that actually benefitted from it! Although have to admit I did feel rather sea sick at stages.

The cinematography is basic in a way, but the film benefits from that. They keep it simple so you can focus on the action and the drama that keeps exploding, literally, all around you.

If I did scoring I would give this film 10/10….I came away exhausted, emotional and enthralled by what I had just seen. There are a couple of moments that jarred with me a little, but that is only compared to the brilliance of the rest of the film. In most normal films this would have been just part of it.

Oh, and as a lover of history, the slight historical inaccuracies bug me….but I just have to bury that pedantic side of me quite deep.

Dr Strange

This couldn’t be more different to Dunkirk. The latest character to come out of the Marvel machine ready for the big climax of the current phase of the cinematic universe. I have to admit as well that the Dr Strange character is one of my favourite comic book characters. Benedict Cumberbatch for me was perfectly cast for the arrogant surgeon who ends up as earth’s Sorcerer Supreme. So if any of that put your teeth on edge….frankly I am not sure you are going to enjoy this film.

It is even more full of comic book nonsense (which I love) than the other Marvel films. A lot of it makes little or no sense, as you are taken through a special effects led tale, full of action and random made up hocus pocus.

I enjoyed it well enough. Although I felt some of it was a bit one dimensional. Once you’ve stepped over the line of sanity into total weirdness, why stop and then try and make any of it make sense!!

A distinctly average addition, sadly, to the current universe. But was great to see Dr Strange finally hit the big screen.

 Guardians of the Galaxy 2

How do you follow the surprise hit of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The original Guardian’s film was a surprise hit, and brought a ton of new fans into the comic book world. The delightful mix of characters that make up the dysfunctional Guardian’s superhero team, where you are often not even sure what their superpowers are!

The film is full again of the nod and a wink humour, as well as some more childish humour.

Dave Bautista is great again playing one of the roles he was made to play – the basic but heartfelt – Drax.

Vin Diesel reprises his role as Groot, this time regrowing from a baby.

Chris Pratt also plays the long suffering leader of the group trying to keep them together in a manner reminiscent of a sitcom.

This film kicks off with a typically entertaining and musically supported entrance that sets a high bar for the movie. Which sadly it cannot quite live up to. There are some moments where it has some moments that border on genuinely moving, but they don’t quite fit with the overall tone of the movie.

It is an amusing, and at times very funny, movie. But like the soundtrack, the movie does not live up to the promise of the first one. Like many others, I came away having really enjoyed it, but I couldn’t point to much now that was outstanding about it.

Moonlight

So the Oscar winner that nearly wasn’t thanks to some drunk PwC staff….we’ve all been there right….night out….few drinks…make a bit of a scene…..nearly ruin the Oscars and break a ton of hearts…..ok….so just me. Alright then.

This movie was a great movie. It was made to win Oscars and awards. How could it not. It is beautifully shot. Deals with some genuinely extremely important issues in a tender and emotional manner. The cast act their hearts out in it. The 3 acts that make up the film chart some heart-wrenching moments and work well despite the distance in time between each of them as we follow the main protagonist.

I found it boring though. I didn’t want to. I wanted to be drawn in and love the film from start to finish. I just wasn’t. Maybe it was whatever mood I may have been in at the time. But it felt like a movie made for critics. Not a movie made to be watched and loved. I guess that is fine. It is just a shame that such a critically acclaimed film had me playing Clash Royal during in on my phone, and not pausing to get water from the fridge!!

You should still give it a try. It may work better for you. Just didn’t work for me.

 Hell or High Water

Having seen Moonlight I decided to watch one of its Oscar competitors. This modern day retelling of a western, set in West Texas, was much more my thing. There, I said it off the bat.

It had the mix of anti-hero and hero – where the bad guys are clearly bad, but you also can’t help but root for them and want things to work out. The hero is….well….a bit obnoxious (played brilliantly by Jeff Bridges). This is essentially a bank heist western, with the sheriff chasing down the robbers across the desolate west Texan landscape. This ochre wasteland full of distant ranches, and populated by a rough and tumble background cast that seems so believable to an outside like me. They could be awful stereotypes for all I know!! But they work for this film. The dilapidated towns the story progresses through are the perfect backdrop to win your sympathy for the two main protagonists trying to make good, but in a bad and illegal way, before their time runs out.

This is a bit of a road trip movie, tinged with violence and a lot of non-PC discussion. It feels authentic and tragic. There are elements of a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid vibe at times. You can’t quite decide who you are rooting for, and this adds to the tension in what is a relatively short film, or at least feels it. As the pace throughout is great.

I really enjoyed this film. But I am a bit of a sucker for a good western….and whilst not part of the traditional genre, it takes a look at the characters you’d see in one through a modern day lens full of diners rather than saloons, cars rather than horses, and high powered rifles rather than pistols.

A sadly overlooked film by many. Full of surprising emotion and left me astounded I’d not heard more about this film.

Spiderman – Homecoming

He’s back. The web-slinger is back for this 3rd reboot!! Probably the most recognisable Marvel comic book character is finally working with Marvel again, and after the sneak peak in Civil War, now gets his own movie. Sony still own him, but they have decided not to butcher him quite so much and get some people who know what they are doing involved.

This movie has been talked about a lot, at least in the social media and media I tend to read….but I think this is fair to say is the most thought through of the Spidey movies so far. No more origin stories with poor old Uncle Ben getting shot, and “with great power comes great responsibility” – we get it alright!! When I get superpowers, I have to do good things. Ok Uncle Ben’s spirit I promise!!

Instead we get something subtly but significantly different. We get a movie that focuses much more on Peter Parker as a teenage boy struggling as a geek at high school, struggling with his new found powers, struggling to work out where he fits in. So basically a normal teenager, except the middle one!! I mean teenagers think they have new powers….like drinking cider at the park and wearing too much aftershave…but that doesn’t allow them to lift cars or do back-flips or walk on the ceiling.

By fitting it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well they manage to also fast-track the origin story of The Vulture, a little known Spiderman villain in the comics (little known outside of well….us geeks).

Tom Holland is excellent at Peter Parker/Spiderman (if that is a spoiler for you….then I’m sorry but everyone knows that!!), who hits the mark as a teenager. I’ve never been to an American High School, so I can only base this on my imagination and all the many films that are based in them. But this one rings true. He wants to fit in at high school. He wants to do more with the Avengers. He is busy fighting low level crime in New York at night. All a lot for a teenage boy. And I found myself really feeling for him.

Michael Keaton is excellent as the villain of the piece. He has an emotional resonance that is set-up very early on. His motivations for what he does are actually very understandable to most of us. It may be illegal, but he is sticking it to “the man” and doing right by his family. He is also a well balanced power vs Spiderman – no giant pillars of light in the sky here or alien invasions!! So it seems well balanced and a bit fresh. More in common with some of the Marvel and DC villains on Netflix and other streaming, than the main Marvel Universe. Plus, Michael Keaton can’t half act.

Robert Downey Jnr reprises his role as Iron Man yet again. As some sort of mentor for Peter Parker. This is the one part of the movie that bugged the hell out of me. Yes Tony Stark is meant to be a huge egotistical playboy….but here his instructions and advice really don’t work for me. He’s literally the worst mentor. Better they’d given him Loki that this occasionally disengaged failed father figure. Don’t get me wrong, they play it light with Iron Man to give Spiderman space to be the core of the film, and there are a few amusing lines. It just didn’t ring true throughout.

Overall though the balance between High School angst movie, bit of crime solving, a load of well done action, and your usual superhero stuff was hugely enjoyable. There were also a number of twists that I didn’t expect, and the supporting cast were great throughout and would like to see more of them.

Welcome back Spidey!!

 Logan

Is this the last time we’ll see the very buff Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? It does seem like the last time we’ll see Patrick Stewart as Professor X…..so how did they do in their swansong?

Well firstly saw this in a nice little cinema, and also dragged my girlfriend along – and so was slightly nervous about her reaction to it.

I think it is fair to say that this was somewhat better than most other X-men related films. Maybe I just like dystopian future type films? This one perhaps isn’t so much dystopian as just all a bit of a mess. Logan, aka Wolverine, is in retirement and seemingly hiding. Just not clear from what. But he appears to have had enough of the world, and is now working as a limo driver whilst also strangely living over the border in Mexico…

This is another film that has touches of the old fashioned western about it, with the scenery of bleak deserts and run down townships, with a fair share of violence.

The interplay between Wolverine and Professor X is actually quite touching. But the outstanding performance sits with the young Dafne Keen as Laura. A young mutant who has been given powers very similar to Wolverine. He flipping between violence and frustration, and the way she brings such an adult performance, reflects brilliantly how you’d expect someone who’d been through what she’s been through to actually be.

At times the film is a bit predictable, and the X rating has enabled them to really let loose with Wolverine’s violence. The ending has genuine emotion, or did for me. Not a great film, but better than I expected!

As for what my girlfriend thought….she enjoyed it as well. But think it may be her choice next time! But that’s only fair.