#the bear is a blatant romantic comedy and i am here for it

[thoughtfulchaos773]

In 1x01, it seems like Richie was set on embarrassing Carmy in front of Sydney. He makes fun of Carmy for making a Panettone and when she doesnt fall for the ridicule, and when Carmy bites back about Mikey leaving the restaurant to him, Richie goes on this mission to make fun of Carmy in front of this new girl.

He's also the first to call out their closeness by calling Carmy her best friend in 1x02

He had to have noticed Carmy being a deer in the headlights when Sydney came back in 1x08 because he's the one that breaks the tension between them.

This is enough said. He's aware that mom and dad are fighting, and he calls it out. This is before he knew Claire and Carmy were hanging out.

Maybe the idea of Syd and Carmy liking each other died down when he saw the distance between them in 2x03-2x05.

Claire is with Carmy in 2x05, It's interesting to Richie only because he knows Claire and Tiffany are close. It's a way to get intel on Frank and Nat notices Richie's underlining motives.

When they start dating, Richie is almost proud to see it, because Carmy is doing something Mikey would have wanted (sidebar did Mikey want carmy and claire exactly, or did he just want Carmy to enjoy life outside the kitchen?)

Either way, Richie tends to catch on to things quickly, except for the thing between Sydney and Carmy. He's blinded by grief and can't see Carmy as a person with his own wants and needs. He could only see him as Mikey's little brother.

What's missing between Richie and Carmy is a heart-to-heart. In 2x09, after Richie says, "Yeah, I like Claire, Cousin," Carmy takes a moment. I also see the look on Richie's face that's very serious. Carmy wants to say something to Richie about his dwindling feelings for Claire (and maybe talk out his growing feelings for Sydney) but he holds back because Richie and Carmy aren't as close as Mikey and Richie.

It's heartbreaking that Carmy says Richie's name in 2x10- he wants to say something about not being really liking Claire as much as everyone wants him too, but Richie jumps at his throat.

When Richie and Carmy have a heart-to-heart-, it's going to hit Richie that Carmy has feelings for Sydney. His dislike for them early in season 1 and season 2- his grievances for Sydney closed his eyes to the truth. That is until 2x08, when he acknowledges that Sydney is a part of the family.

I know this meta was mentioned before, but I see more of Richie witnessing Sydney and Carmys' dynamic.

[ambeauty]

Thoughts on Magic

As I’m sure many of my fellow Bearitos have pointed out one of the main themes this season was Legerdemain/Sleight of Hand/Magic Tricks.

Rewatching legacy made me think of how this show is a magic trick in and of itself. With all the discourse about whether or not the bear is a comedy. I realized that the bear as a television show is a magic trick. Although it was premiered to the world as a comedy. It has shown to be so much more. I still consider it comedic to an extent and in certain instances but I thought that was a pretty interesting idea. That’s not what this is about.

Then I looked up what The Prestige means. Being the Nolan girlie that I am I remember that being the final act of the magic trick. I need the prestige for the bear to be the final reveal that it was a love story all along.

There’s a quote in 309 about telling the viewer you have deceived them up front. So since the beginning cast and crew has told us no romance, no romance no romance. That’s the blatant deception because as we continue to watch we see romance EVERYWHERE. Back to my googling of the prestige. I came across an article about the 3 steps of magic:

Here’s what I think the steps of magic of the bear are. Think of Sydney as the dove and also as the symbol of a love interest. That’s not diminishing her but that’s just what she is especially for this essay lmao. This is great because doves symbolize peace and all that. Show starts with the dove being introduced (classic meet cute). Sydney’s introduction and even the final scene of s1 where she comes back makes her The Pledge.

The Turn: Sydney does something extraordinary. She practically builds the entire restaurant by herself in s2 while Carmy disappears. This also takes us into s3, where Sydney starts to disappear as well. This is not what we expected from her or him at this point. Some of us thought we were at the prestige. But this is when the show became a lot more blatantly romantic. There were definitive love interests introduced, but to me Claire is like the closet(or fridge) the magician puts the dove inside of. To hide the trick!!!!

I hope this shit is making sense 😭

Now we don’t know whether s4 is the final season or not. I’m going to go with the notion that it’s not. However we are nearing the time for The Prestige. I believe at some point in the final act it will be revealed that this show was centered around the building of the romantic relationship of Sydney and Carmy the entire time. There’s lot of meta and evidence for this. And it’s not an unusual occurrence in modern media at all to be deceived by productions all the time.

So I say all of this to say just sit back and relax, enjoy the magic of this television show and wait for the prestige 🤭

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2020 Reviews: brought to you by quarantine

aw shit look who’s got the time to do some of these again yeah that’s right it’s me

22/7

For 11/12 of its runtime this was an astonishingly forced exercise in hacky tragic backstory that thoroughly answers the question of what happens when assembly line jobbers jump on the already rickety KyoAni bandwagon. So I was ready to give it a well deserved meme score of 3.14/10. Then it remembered it actually had a gimmick and managed to completely fail at that as well, with one of the most thematically misguided endings I can think of. Oh well, if nothing else I laughed. 2/10

Asteroid in Love

Well, it’s competent and inoffensive. What else can I say? I guess it’s pretty amusing how blatant the gay marriage implications get by the end, but that’s not really, you know, quality all by its own (and Harukana Receive does it better). It’s also weird how its first season clearly ends at episode 9 and it just quickly does a second one in the time it has left. Apart from that it’s a slightly above-average Kiraralike with good character moments but a real drought of content (note: dropping exposition on your topic isn’t content) in the middle. Fun enough, but really doesn’t leave me wanting more. 6/10

Dorohedoro

This had much potential to suck but then it didn’t. The biggest surprise was that Dorohedoro is a comedy; a splatter comedy with a core story worth taking seriously, yes, but this is not horror, or mystery, or even action, even if it has all those elements at points. And it manages to be consistently funny. The other big surprise is that the nonsense really does start to come together and is meaningful where it counts, so it has much better worldbuilding than most. Looks really good too - you might take exception to the CG, but it allowed MAPPA to make the rest look great so it’s overall still a plus. Definitely needs a sequel though, because the plot seems to just get started and then it ends like there’s an episode next week. 8/10

ID: INVADED

Ei Aoki’s Inception fanfic turned out very nice, with neat visuals, cool characters and a story that comes together in the end. I mean, come on, it’s an anime where Kenjiro Tsuda literally talks people to death, how can I not like it. It’s not perfect; it’s stuck with some pacing problems, strangely superfluous side characters and ultimately less ambition than it could (maybe even should) have. But it’s also weird in a good way and moderately thoughtful without being pretentious about it. 8/10

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die

Romantic comedy? Eh, maybe not quite. Funny riffing on wota dumbassery without being mean-spirited about it? Yep. Oshibudo gets the tone (the critical aspect in a show like this) right and it actually ranks fairly high simply as an idol show when that’s not even the point, which is really surprising. It’s just very charming, even if a little simple. 8/10

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

So everyone’s losing their shit over how great Eizouken is and I’m just like nah, man. Not that it’s truly bad, it certainly has its fun moments and undeniably cool animation at times. But it really says a lot when in a show supposedly all about how amazing creativity is, the no-fun-allowed producer is the only character I like - Kanamori is indeed great, shame about Nerdlinger and Plot Device though. And it’s full of the kind of standard boomer animation bromides that just make me think “well, if Ghibli is supposed to be so great, why am I watching this instead of the real thing?” It also has notably poor and uncreative use of background music, which wouldn’t irk me as much if it wasn’t lecturing on the topic. At this point I’m fairly certain that I simply don’t like Yuasa’s style much, no matter what he does. 6/10

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story

So I’m watching the “final” episode of this and I realize that I care about this random, poorly explained fanservice fight between Mami and Sayaka much more than I care about any of the characters this show is ostensibly about. And that’s pretty much Magireco in a nutshell: It has very little of its own, what it does have is split among way too many video game characters, and it’s at its best when it’s just being dumb and bombastic or lazily replicating the style of Madoka. It’s definitely not good (and the things it does to the Madoka lore are double ungood), but as long as you keep in mind that it’s just meaningless Madoka-ish things, it’s barely entertaining enough. 5/10

Natsunagu!

Natsunagu turned out to be a pleasant (if very cheap) short film that’s severely compromised by broken up into weekly 3-minute chunks. Episodes that short can work, but not for material that depends on atmosphere and character engagement. I can only assume I’d like it more if I watched it all in one go. 5/10

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It

This one started out as a one-note romantic comedy with the rare novel note, which then got more and more tired as it went on, and the introduction of decidedly less novel characters didn’t help. But by the end it recovered somewhat from not being much good at comedy anymore by being actually pretty good at paying off a romance, which is maybe even rarer. Remove bear though, what the hell. 6/10

Somali and the Forest Spirit

Somali just kept doing its thing (which is dadfeels/protect the blob). Still can’t think of another show so intensely laser-focused on that one thing, to the point they’re constructing an entire fantasy universe around it. I liked the fluffy/introspective parts a lot more so than the grimdark/”let’s get Somali into some danger so dad can rescue her” ones, but at least the former ones are more common overall, and I understand that both are important for the other one to work. So yeah, good show, even if I wish it used the big guns less often. 7/10

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

I wasn’t too hot on this one at first (apart from the looks, which were always really cool), but I have to say it has won me over by the end. It has likeable and occasionally funny characters, some meat to its setting and a mildly interesting streak of intrigue running though it. Of course it also doesn’t really answer anything, but I’m satisfied. 7/10

Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki S2

Peer pressure presents: the other tourism short of the season, ft. material that fits the format. While it’s still not really good, it’s an improvement over S1. Mainly because it stops trying to extract humor from the characters themselves and gets back to dropping the hot #nagoyatruths, which are the thing I’m here for. 6/10

[dudence-blog]

Dear Dudence for Way After 24 October 2017

When this post should have published I was drowning my sorrows in a couple bottles of Shiner as the Astros futilely waved their bats in the general direction of Clayton Kershaw being awesome.  Oh well, other people still need questions answered!  Ask your own at AskDearDudence@gmail.com or on Facebook!

My 8-year-old asked me “What is sex?”: I am a very open and honest parent with my inquisitive 8-year-old daughter. We can sometimes have lengthy discussions on a wide range of topics. I try to answer as honestly as possible—within reason, of course, depending on whether it’s appropriate for her to know something just yet.

Dear Help! My 8 Year Old Asked me… did she recently use the toilet while your brother’s girlfriend was bathing?  Nevermind.  Your daughter has some idea what sex is, as evidenced by her recognizing two bears frolicking near each other as possibly sex.  So it’s time for you to suck it up and do your parental duty by explaining it to her in an appropriate manner.  She’s going to keep asking until she gets an acceptable answer, and I guarantee you’ll prefer that answer come from you over the older girls at school or… God Forbid… the internet *shudder*.  NuPru’s “Tell your kid what sex is!” is the sort of answer you expect from a young person who has never had to deal with the thought of explaining the wide wide wide world of sex to a pre-teen.  There is an entire genre of books dealing with puberty and sex, I highly recommend you go to Google or Amazon and start researching them, find a couple that look like they might work, get them, read them yourself, and then prepare for this conversation with your daughter.  Heck, I actually think this is important enough to have the beginning discussion without consulting a whole bunch of resources.  Ask your daughter “Hon, the other day you asked me what sex was, I’d like to know what you think it is.”  Find out what she knows, correct what she’s wrong about, and use that as a starting point for your own discussion with her.  You don’t need to get into the many details of the different things people do with themselves, their partners, or the local minor league semi-pro hockey team.  Touch on the basics in an age appropriate way, but, and this is important, you should let her know this is a subject you want to discuss with her because it is an important part of life.  You don’t need to be perfect or have all the answers.  That she knows you are someone she can trust as a reliable source of information on this topic is what really matters.

Toilet seats: Can you issue a ruling on this? I’m a man. When I use a gender-neutral bathroom to pee, I put the toilet lid down when I’m done. But when there’s no lid, I still put the seat down so if the next person to use the bathroom is a woman (or a man who will be sitting), the seat will already be down and they won’t have to handle the seat. I think men tend to be the ones who make the seats gross in the first place so we should be the ones saddled with this mildest of burdens to occasionally touch toilet seats.

Dear Toilet Seats, put the seat down.  It’s the polite thing to do.  If anyone is putting their ass down in a place they haven’t checked first that’s on them.  You’re asking to have a rattlesnake bite your ass if you’re not checking first (Editor’s Note: AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!).  Don’t let a rattlesnake bite your ass.  That being said, your friends fucking hate you for bringing up this topic.

How do I tell her I’m pregnant?: I am a mother of two perfect, healthy, amazing daughters. I thought I was done having kids and have just started the process of weaning my youngest from breast-feeding. I have been very vocal about not wanting more children. I wanted to really focus on me, my marriage, and raising my two awesome kids.  Well, I just found out I am pregnant with No. 3! Total surprise.  Here is the problem: One of my best friends has been unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant. She is currently doing in vitro fertilization—shots, surgeries, the whole nine yards. I want so badly for her to get pregnant and for this to be an easier road for her.

Dear How Do I… I know how you got pregnant.  You’d think after two kids you’d have figured that one out.  I went to public school in Texas and even I know that banging leads to babies!  If your friend has been struggling to get pregnant to the point where she’s using IVF and other measures you’re not the first, only, or probably last friend who has gotten pregnant while she has been unable to.  Give her the respect to treat her like a friend, not like some sort of defective who needs to have her feelings coddled.  Tell her the same way you’re going to tell everyone: by announcing it on Facebook or Instagram.  That way if she does need some time and privacy to deal with any unpleasant feelings your news generates she can do it in the privacy of her own home.  Unless your way of telling people is to phone them and say “I’m pregnant again and it’s amazing how easy it happened!  I just look at man goo and my ovum fertilizes!  Anyone who can’t get pregnant this easily is probably doing it wrong!”  If that’s how you plan to tell her then I’d reconsider.

Romantic comedy: Last month, my fiancé left me for his ex and canceled our wedding. And I am fine. Now that everything has settled down, I find myself relieved. We were together three years, never fought, and were good on paper together. I used to describe us as OK when the real word was lukewarm. I feel like a fraud for not feeling bad. We lost some deposits, but my ex has lost our entire circle of friends. His family has apologized to me and bad-mouthed his new girl to me. My ex even paid off my car for me as a ‘sorry for leaving you at the altar!’ gesture. His girlfriend wrote me a letter (she seems very nice, actually).

Dear Romantic Comedy, what you do now is let people’s emotions and righteous indignation at his act fade.  It’s been a month, it’s going to take a bit of time for the vicarious shock and hurt of disaffected parties to fade.  You help it along by being honest about how you felt about the relationship; it was fading, you were better on paper than as real people, etc.  Eventually those friends he’s lost will come back around.

Romantic comedy: Last month, my fiancé left me for his ex and canceled our wedding. And I am fine. Now that everything has settled down, I find myself relieved. We were together three years, never fought, and were good on paper together. I used to describe us as OK when the real word was lukewarm. I feel like a fraud for not feeling bad. We lost some deposits, but my ex has lost our entire circle of friends. His family has apologized to me and bad-mouthed his new girl to me. My ex even paid off my car for me as a ‘sorry for leaving you at the altar!’ gesture. His girlfriend wrote me a letter (she seems very nice, actually).

Dear Widow Seeks Celibacy, hummmm… it sounds like you’re fighting this fight on your own.  You’re going to get worn down to frustration and anger that way. Try and find, among your friends and family, people who do understand your choice, why you feel the way you do, and how important it is to you, and explain to them in detail how and why you feel this way.  Get them to start running some interference for you.  The people who are pressuring you to “move on” are, certainly, discussing this amongst themselves.  You need people there when it’s mentioned to intervene and let them know how seriously you mean this.  There is no immutable natural law which prevents a “father figure” from being someone other than “man currently banging mom,” so your kids are not being denied some role model because you’re not dating; that is just a cruel thing to say honestly.  The sad fact is you can’t make people understand, all you can control is your message.  What they do after receiving it is on them.

Feelings for my future fake husband: I’m a manager in the service industry, and I love my job, but insurance under the Affordable Care Act is unaffordable and impractical (the back surgery I need would cost me tens of thousands), and I make too much to qualify for any help.

Dear Feelings for My Future Fake Husband, earlier we had Clueless, now we have the Adam Sandler/Kevin James vehicle “I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry”  I do not like the direction our movie references are going.  We’re going to be in MST3K fodder soon.  Don’t marry Jack because you need insurance.  That being said is there any particular reason you’re keeping your feelings for Jack under wraps?  Actually building a relationship with him based on being open and honest with your feelings probably doesn’t get you into an insurance policy that will offer the surgery you think you need in a timely manner, but he has broached the subject of marriage with you, even if only to facilitate some fraud.  It might not be the worst idea for you to reject his offer of marriage because you can’t make a commitment like that for such a blatant material reason, while at the same time saying you’d like to go out with him sometime.

Is my co-worker joining a cult?: Around two months ago, one of my co-workers mentioned that she was trying a new spiritual practice and has been acting strangely since: She often comes in late or won’t show up at all; she deleted her social media presence; her demeanor is distant and confused instead of bubbly and engaged; and she’s started using terms like “good energy,” “negative energy,” and other similar things in everyday conversations. When she misses work, she says that she was meeting with either a “spiritual counselor” or “godparents.”

Dear Is My Co-Worker… since your co-workers new-found spirituality is adversely impacting your work it’s time to have a discussion with your mutual boss about it.  I will let you know that asking someone “Hey, are you in a cult?” is not likely to elicit an affirmative response, even if they are.  As long as you’re not bothered by the risk of a long explanation about how the Church of Atom can improve your life, do go ahead and ask you co-worker if she’s okay; you’ve noticed she’s been distant, whatever.

To clean or not to clean without permission: Do you think it rude to clean someone else’s home without their permission? When my mother-in-law “Deb” visited from another state, she cleaned our house while I was at work—making me feel ashamed about my housekeeping, throwing out things I still wanted, and reorganizing in what I found to be a confusing fashion. My husband said to just let it go because that’s what his family does and she was just trying to be helpful.

Dear To Clean or Not to Clean… follow your gut and check with Carol, maybe she does want to come home to a clean house, or maybe she wants to come home to the place she left.  Regardless “Deb moving in and rearranging an elderly woman’s home without her permission,” is a bad idea.  Then tell your husband to grow a pair and support you when it comes to establishing boundaries with his mom.

[november-rising]

When you first stated that a heart-to-heart between Ritchie is missing, my mind went to Ritchie talking to Carmy about purpose in “Beef”. Ritchie, in essence, points out that Carmen has purpose. I’m wondering that, as he works more on himself, Ritchie is observing those around him that seem to have meaning/drive in an effort to learn. In watching others, Ritchie picked up more and more on the vibe between Syd and Carmy. Just a thought…

I enjoy reading your metas!

In 1x01, it seems like Richie was set on embarrassing Carmy in front of Sydney. He makes fun of Carmy for making a Panettone and when she doesnt fall for the ridicule, and when Carmy bites back about Mikey leaving the restaurant to him, Richie goes on this mission make fun of Carmy in front of this new girl.

He's also the first to call out their closeness by calling Carmy her best friend in 1x02

He had to have noticed Carmy being stuck in the headlights when Sydney came back in 1x08. Because he's the one that breaks the tension between them.

This is enough said. He's aware that mom and dad are fighting, and he calls it out. This is before he knew Claire and Carmy were hanging out.

Maybe the idea of Syd and Carmy liking each other died down when he saw the distance between them in 2x03-2x05.

Claire is with Carmy in 2x05, It's interesting to Richie only because he knows Claire and Tiffany are close. It's a way to get intel on Frank and Nat notices Richie's underlining motives.

When they start dating, Richie is almost proud to see it, because Carmy is doing something Mikey would have wanted (sidebar did Mikey want carmy and claire exactly, or did he just want Carmy to enjoy life outside the kitchen?)

Either way, Richie tends to catch on to things quickly, except for the thing between Sydney and Carmy. He's blinded by grief and can't see Carmy as a person with his wants and needs. He could only see him as Mikey's little brother.

What's missing between Richie and Carmy is a heart-to-heart. In 2x09, after Richie says, "Yeah, I like Claire, Cousin," Carmy takes a moment. I also see the look on Richie's face that's very serious. Carmy wants to say something to Richie about his dwindling feelings for Claire (and maybe talk out his growing feelings for Sydney) but he holds back because Richie and Carmy aren't as close as Mikey and Richie.

It's heartbreaking that Carmy says Richie's name in 2x10- he wants to say something about not being really liking Claire as much as everyone wants him too, but Richie jumps at his throat.

When Richie and Carmy have a heart-to-heart-, it's going to hit Richie that Carmy has feelings for Sydney. His dislike for them early in season 1 and season 2- his grievances for Sydney closed his eyes to the truth. That is until 2x08, when he acknowledges that Sydney is a part of the family.

I know this meta was mentioned before, but I see more of Richie witnessing Sydney and Carmys' dynamic.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Thanks for reading! I see what you mean. Carmy said Richie is good with people, and he's right. That's his purpose is to really take time to connect with others.

I wanted to point out that heart-to-heart, too. They have a few "heart-to-heart," but it mostly comes from Richie talking about his problems rather than hearing Carmy. For instance, in season 1, when he tells Carmy, he's all he's got and says he should have done more for Mikey. It was all on Richie's side. He has yet to hear Carmy and what he wants. Carmy can make a statement to relate, but there seems to be a one-sided emotional connection between them.

I hope it changes, now that Richie is growing and Carmy needs some male figures that can hear him.

In 1x01, it seems like Richie was set on embarrassing Carmy in front of Sydney. He makes fun of Carmy for making a Panettone and when she doesnt fall for the ridicule, and when Carmy bites back about Mikey leaving the restaurant to him, Richie goes on this mission make fun of Carmy in front of this new girl.

He's also the first to call out their closeness by calling Carmy her best friend in 1x02

He had to have noticed Carmy being stuck in the headlights when Sydney came back in 1x08. Because he's the one that breaks the tension between them.

This is enough said. He's aware that mom and dad are fighting, and he calls it out. This is before he knew Claire and Carmy were hanging out.

Maybe the idea of Syd and Carmy liking each other died down when he saw the distance between them in 2x03-2x05.

Claire is with Carmy in 2x05, It's interesting to Richie only because he knows Claire and Tiffany are close. It's a way to get intel on Frank and Nat notices Richie's underlining motives.

When they start dating, Richie is almost proud to see it, because Carmy is doing something Mikey would have wanted (sidebar did Mikey want carmy and claire exactly, or did he just want Carmy to enjoy life outside the kitchen?)

Either way, Richie tends to catch on to things quickly, except for the thing between Sydney and Carmy. He's blinded by grief and can't see Carmy as a person with his wants and needs. He could only see him as Mikey's little brother.

What's missing between Richie and Carmy is a heart-to-heart. In 2x09, after Richie says, "Yeah, I like Claire, Cousin," Carmy takes a moment. I also see the look on Richie's face that's very serious. Carmy wants to say something to Richie about his dwindling feelings for Claire (and maybe talk out his growing feelings for Sydney) but he holds back because Richie and Carmy aren't as close as Mikey and Richie.

It's heartbreaking that Carmy says Richie's name in 2x10- he wants to say something about not being really liking Claire as much as everyone wants him too, but Richie jumps at his throat.

When Richie and Carmy have a heart-to-heart-, it's going to hit Richie that Carmy has feelings for Sydney. His dislike for them early in season 1 and season 2- his grievances for Sydney closed his eyes to the truth. That is until 2x08, when he acknowledges that Sydney is a part of the family.

I know this meta was mentioned before, but I see more of Richie witnessing Sydney and Carmys' dynamic.